The Phenomena of Fireflies and Star... - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

October 24, 2023
Tuesday
Subdivision
4:25 AM
Ames hadn't jogged in a while, but his legs were still keeping up just fine. He didn't know what to make of what had just happened and what was coming for him. He did know, however, that he had to do something about the problem at hand. He wouldn't be taking on this problem with a war in his mind. He needed a reboot.
His red cotton jacket matched his red running pants. He lowered the zipper to just below his chest. The dawn air was cool, and he could use the refreshment. The black tank top underneath his jacket gave off a pleasant odor. Ames had a habit of wearing a fruity fragrance whenever he jogged, just to keep his mood up. His red running shoes were almost noiseless as he jogged on.
Street lights provided illumination. A few minutes ago, he had jogged by some of his neighbors who worked on a graveyard schedule. Not an issue. Cordial neighbors. He hadn't brought the pepper gun along, having gone with the spray instead. The canister of his pepper spray hung on the garter of his pants.
Music played on his wireless earphones. Industrial music. He hadn't set up his running playlist before heading off for the run, and so the songs played out in alternating genres.
He followed the turn of the street, excited by the long path ahead of him. The houses in this street looked larger, and they lined the sides quietly. Some of these homes were owned by micro-business owners, and Ames used to see them setting up shop this early back in the day.
He jogged onward, loving the cool air against his face as he picked up speed. He couldn't bring himself to really smile, but he knew he was regaining energy.
'I can't let this bullshit take me down,' he thought, his thoughts lining up to the aggressive beat of Electro Afternoon by The Ankhs. 'I need to see what's on the contract first. I wanna' know how they play the legal game.'
'But I also need something I can pull easily. Something quick.'
'Scratch that. Just don't give them anything. No need to be a smartass.'
Annoyed by how the thoughts were coming back to him, he ran faster, feeling the wind hit him harder in the face.
'Run. Run right now. No thinking.'
So he did. Another hour wouldn't be a problem.
He made it to the mini-park located at the center of the subdivision. It had an artificial pond and a small bridge over its waters. It was empty, but the lights were on. On a normal dawn of jogging literally anywhere in the subdivision, this place would've appeared creepy to Ames.
Today, it didn't.
Cold sweat beaded the inside of his clothes as he walked on the cemented path that led to the bridge. An empty swing set rusted out by the elements stood still, close to some wooden park benches.
Reaching the end of the bridge on his side, Ames found it interesting that people still had the heart to feed the school of common carp that swam in the pond. He would've done so, if only he had a bag of worms. Then again, he was afraid of worms and small wiggly things. He jogged to the peak of the curved bridge and rested his tailbone and hands on the railing.
Way past the houses that lined up in his vision, he caught sight of the differently colored lights that clustered in one space. They were familiar to him. In a few seconds, he finally remembered.
'Hall of Heroes,' he recognized. Despite how far the Hall was from the subdivision, its illumination was enough to be seen from here.
'Maybe, if Harvey didn't happen, I would've been warmer to the idea of having people flying around and lifting cars.'
'But if Harvey didn't happen, I never would've come to know Max the way I know him now.'
'I don't know how much farther all of this superhuman drama will go, but I'm in it now. As much as I hate it.'
'I just have to find a way to get through this. If there is going through this, at all...'
He observed in silence as a pair of joggers made their way past the park. They noticed him and waved courteously.
He waved back.
'Husbands, Owen and Pratt,' he recognized them. They had participated in his data-gathering last week, enjoying the experience and announcing interest in The Mastermind.
They eventually disappeared, continuing on their way.
Ames remembered how he and Harvey used to be jogging buddies, always trying to outrun each other. Good times.
They used to chat as they jogged side-by-side.
"You ever let up on your plan?" he remembered how Harvey would question him. "You know that there's such a thing as not enrolling again, right?"
"Come on," he remembered protesting, as he usually had done. "It's for a good cause. Would you rather I go back to gang ops?"
"No, but I do like to bring you back down to Earth when I feel like you need it."
"I've planned this out. I'm enacting the plan."
"Of course, you are. I just don't want you to get too carried away. Don't wanna' lose yourself over it, right? Or anything, at all."
"Believe me. I won't."
'Stubborn son of a bitch,' he thought to himself. He redirected his thoughts to the distant lights of the Hall of Heroes, not wanting to dwell on the past anymore. It was just that Ames had always known himself to be stubborn, and the people he loved knew that very well and had called him out on his stubbornness many times. 'I've already gotten this far. What exactly do I do?'
He would have to run back home eventually.
He took out his phone from a secret jacket pocket to listen to some music and just drown away. He had paused it before entering the park.
A familiar guitar-strumming sound came up, trailing the end of the previous song at which Ames had apparently paused.
'Fricking Amber Shoreline,' he thought, shutting his eyes and lifting his head up high for a good neck stretch.
"The morning comes
Another day with you
Like every day with you
Toward that sunset glow..."
'How ironically fitting,' he thought further. 'Love and its perseverance through struggle. You can interpret that any other way and this song still slaps. Somehow.'
It would sound a lot better if Max sang it to him again. Max had definitely made a stronger rendition of it. Considering how long the man had been around, Ames knew that Max could never sing this song without coming from a place of identification and introspection.
'I hope I'm not tiring Max out,' the thought came across his mind as the song went on in his ears. It brought him back to the night he had passed the guitar down to Max. 'He's always been such an angel. I hope he hangs on.'
Ames pushed off the railing, wanting to take the listening experience on the road. He intended on jogging the moment the song changed to the next one. For now, he wanted to walk. He made his way off the park and let the song play out.
"You got me in
Down the spiral, we go
Falling in
And never letting go
Hold you close
Under the sunset glow
Our little sunset glow..."
'Don't worry about me, Max,' he thought as he made his way through the street. 'We'll get through this.'
'I just need to know how.'
'It's going to take some time, but I will. I promise. For us.'
Andrade Residence
6:00 AM
"...And never letting go
Hold you close
Under the sunset glow
Our little sunset glow..."
Ames reached into his secret pocket to get his phone and pause the music, dunking it back right after. He had decided to put Sunset Glow on repeat, having found it to be very comforting without being so juxtaposed to what he was feeling. He made his way through the gate, carefully closing it behind him. Max, however, was already awake, sitting on the porch step with a large cup of coffee in his hands.
"Shaking off?" Max asked, making a slight offering gesture with his coffee cup. "You want some?"
"No, thanks," Ames replied, approaching Max to join him on the porch step.
Seeing Max immediately made Ames feel better. It wasn't enough to perk him up, but it definitely was a reassuring sight. Max looked comfy in his black oversized t-shirt, blue boxers, and slightly unkempt bedroom hair.
Ames sat down on the space beside Max, hugging his legs close to his chest.
They sat in contemplative silence for a while, glancing up to the fresh morning sky from time to time. The air was a gift to breathe in, and the pleasant smell of Max's coffee added some fluff.
"When all this is over...," Max said after a while. "Would you like to join me on a vacation?"
Ames's instinct was to scoff, but he held his tongue. He wasn't sure if everything being over was an optimistic thought to have, but he chose to feel Max out.
'Thank God, he's taking it so well,' Ames thought guiltily. 'If I were him, I probably would've given up on me by now.'
"Vacation where?" Ames inquired, resting his head on Max's shoulder.
"I dunno', actually...," Max replied. "Anywhere but here. Somewhere far. Just the two of us."
"Like a beach trip? A road trip to the province?"
"Sounds nice. I think we deserve some peace and quiet."
An idea came upon Ames's mind.
"Blackbird Peak," Ames suggested, gently parting from Max's shoulder to convey his interest. Ames actually smiled at the thought of it. It wasn't something he forced. He was glad about that. Blackbird Peak was important to the both of them. It would only be fitting. "You and I. We'll camp for a week. Bring our books, our stuff, whatever safety blanket we have. No one will bother us. Sound good?"
Max scanned Ames's face for a while.
"You're smiling," Max commented, smiling in response. "That means it sounds good."
That got Ames thinking about something else.
"You're always so ready to give me what you think will make me happy," he pointed out. "I was just suggesting. What do you want to do? I'll go with you. No questions and no complaints. Take your shot."
"Hmmm...," Max looked away for a moment, as if in deep thought. When he looked back at Ames, there was a pleasant sliver of cleverness in his eyes. "Make you happy. Go with you. No questions and no complaints. Shot taken."
That was so corny—and so undeniably sweet—that Ames finally couldn't contain the smile on his face that Max had always succeeded in drawing out. He hated it. He loved it. He was feeling both.
Max definitely looked proud of what he must be thinking of as a mention-worthy achievement.
"You're so corny," Ames complained, dumping his head on Max's shoulder again, but with slightly more playful aggression. "Stop making me smile. I wanna' feel this out. We've got a big thing coming up."
"I know," Max replied with an admirable mix of empathy and firmness. "We've got a big one incoming. I just don't want you to think that you're alone in this."
"I'm not alone, Max. Just tense. Rearing for a challenge I didn't want."
"Well then, maybe we should be tense together. Whaddaya' say?"
"Is that your Plan A?"
"Better than nothing."
"Plan A, it is," Ames echoed, his hand slipping into Max's and holding it firmly. The gesture was so sweetly and comfortably reciprocated; it was good enough to make Ames manage a smile again. It was a different smile. It wasn't necessarily happiness. Ames didn't think that was possible at the moment, especially in the face of the problem at hand.
It definitely was, however, a smile of strength.
October 25, 2023
Wednesday
12:41 PM
Invisibility field up, Max hovered a good distance away from the Diameter building. It was a large white dome. From the height and direction that Max was checking the place out, it appeared that the lot itself was actually a big one, built upon Maharlika Hill and overlooking the other buildings in the vicinity. He could make out some moving figures on the lot.
'Workers,' he determined. 'I'm gonna' have to be as invisible as possible.'
He flew forward, keeping a manageable speed that got the job done quickly without popping the air like a sonic boom. He steered through the wind currents, eyes aimed at the dome.
He was approaching fast. The windy noise he was making as he flew through the sky blue space was starting to feel like earmuffs. The dome was looking larger and larger the closer he got. In fact, it looked much larger than he had earlier perceived. He could see the people on the Diameter ground going about their businesses. Some were working on crates while some did hasty documentations.
He slowed down the moment he was about twenty meters away, adjusting his posture in flight to prepare for landing.
'Their uniforms are familiar,' he observed as he lowered himself to the ground. He landed without a sound, staying alert to avoid getting hit by anybody walking around. 'Wait. I can't let them breach my field either. Even for a brief second. They'll detect me.'
He willed the field to shrink closer to himself, pulling it nearer to just about an inch away from his outermost layer of clothing.
'Now, where to?'
He looked around him, investigating the workers first and foremost.
The workers' uniforms were white jumpsuits, but more sophisticated and more put together than the common jumpsuit. Violet accents to the overall design gave the uniform a different, almost futuristic, aesthetic. It was the insignia woven into the left breasts of the uniforms that popped out to him. The insignia seemed to be a combination of Division's seal, which resembled the crown of a diamond, and the stylized "W" seal of Wang Industries.
'They've got this partnership down to the last detail,' Max thought, scoffing at how fast this whole thing had developed. 'With The Mastermind in their hands, this could be worse.'
His eyes eventually found the dome entrance, where some workers were currently walking through.
He would have to find a way to get in.
'Light distortion detectors are issued only to agents and used only in field operations, in accordance to Division's Code of Ethics,' he recalled. 'That, alone, is a good start.'
Max made his way to the entrance, deciding to hover toward it instead of walking through a busy lot. Landing just in front of the entrance's glass doors, he could already see the interior of the dome. It seemed to be quite busy. It wasn't a shopping mall kind of busy, but it definitely was bustling with activity.
'I can't just go in,' Max realized, almost forgetting that doors opening up to virtually nothing would set off the guards, who were standing beyond the metal detector near the doors. He had just almost walked right in, distracted by the convenience of his own invisibility. The doors were automated, and they parted and closed whenever somebody walked toward them. He'd have to wait.
One worker eventually walked close. When the doors parted open, Max wasted no time and tailed him closely. Instead of going through the metal detector, however, Max slipped off to the side.
'Whew,' he thought, proceeding forward. 'I'm in.'
'This place is bigger than I thought!'
The place was impressively large and spacious.
There seemed to be three floors. That was a lot of ground to cover. Max would have to come back home and help Ames out. He didn't have enough time to walk around. What really caught his attention, however, was the large cylindrical structure walled by what he figured would be bulletproof glass. It served as the heart of the dome, erected from the ground up all the way to the top.
He walked toward the cylinder, noticing the closed working area that encircled its base. The working area had translucent violet walls, and Max could see through them the illuminations of the computers and the silhouettes of the people working inside.
He stopped at a close enough distance from the cylinder, right outside the circular working area. This allowed him a better view of the interior of the cylindrical structure—a room, as it appeared—before him. From where he stood, he could see a familiar octopus-like machine suspended from the cylinder's ceiling. It connected to a metal skeleton that had blinking and steady lights in well-distanced spots. What looked like a tall metal pedestal had been built from the ground up at the center of the cylinder, stopping meters below the overhead machine.
'They won't be transporting the Creaton,' Max recalled. 'Just the isolated shards.'
'Will they be using a pod to house the shards?'
He looked around him, trying to see if there were any thermal imaging cameras. There didn't seem to be any. There were plenty of security cameras, however. The first floor was a mostly open space, with a circle of offices and facilities following the circumference of the dome's ground level. The upper floors, on the other hand, both seemed to have spacious corridors walled only by metal railings that stood at an approximate height—as per the standard—of forty-two inches. The corridors opened to a clear view of the cylinder and the wide open space around it. Each of the upper floors had a circle of offices, too. Stressed out employees could just step out of their offices to lounge in the corridors and enjoy the view of the cylinder and the rest of the open space. The white walls, silver metals, and violet décor and furniture really gave the place a different vibe. The illumination of the place was also high tech. The lights—except for the LED emergency lights—had been installed in such a way that they looked like they'd been built into the structure of the place. The air conditioning was excellent, too. It was just the right amount of cool.
People walked around in some parts of the dome, some of them tapping away on what Max figured would be work tablets.
'Just like Division's working environment.'
'Then again, this is an offshoot of Division. Collaborating with Wang Industries meant double the budget.'
'Never thought I'd live long enough to see the day, but here I am.'
Curious by what else the Diameter housed, Max silently floated off the ground.
He flew upward carefully, keeping graceful control as he swam up the open space. Flying could definitely feel like swimming in air to Max sometimes. He hovered for a while, checking out the corridors of the upper floors as he flew around the cylinder. He couldn't make a full circle, however, because each floor had an office directly connected to the cylinder. It was still a smooth flight, and Max was glad that he could turn invisible and fly around so liberally.
The place really was quite a structural and technological marvel. Max had taken some architecture and engineering classes back in his earlier years in the Enforcement program. They'd been trained to keep infrastructure, establishments, and other structures in check, especially when on the field and dealing with rogues. The possibility of collateral damage was always high. It was lucky how flying was a common denominator in the superhuman skill set. They could easily take their battles to the sky without risking not only people but also buildings, roads, and cars. They hadn't always been successful, especially after 2010, when the existence of superhumans had become public knowledge. Heated encounters with rogues, powered up or not, had picked up and taken more dimensions. Ground encounters had since become more common. Insurance rates had also risen up. The government, consequently, had since begun trying to find ways to either resolve the increased costs of living or navigate their pressures strategically.
He scanned the offices next, dipping to the ground floor to start from there. Swimming through the open space and avoiding obstacles felt like a chore, but he had no real time to waste. The first floor definitely had more people walking around, requiring him to hover above them and scan the rooms from an elevated level. He went around the upper floors as well. The entire thing felt like an adventure in a space shuttle. At least, as he had seen it in videos.
The only rooms that truly seemed to matter were the ones that were connected directly to the cylinder. They also seemed to require special ID cards, judging by the scanning units installed by the doors.
That was a challenge, but Max had an idea.
He just hoped that he could pull it off.
Andrade Residence
2:30 PM
Max landed on Ames's lot on three points, having deactivated his flight a little too early. He turned his invisibility off as he stood.
'I've got a plan,' he thought, pumped by his recent infiltration. 'Ames's green light is the next thing I need.'
When Max walked into the house, however, he found Ames sitting on the living room floor in front of his laptop with a lot of paperwork surrounding him.
"If you want some merienda," Ames said, glancing at Max for merely less than a second before immersing himself into his work again. "I prepared some sandwiches for you. They're on the table."
'Dammit,' Max thought, taking his shoes off and setting them aside. 'He's busy.'
'I'm still going to tell him. I have to.'
"What're you up to?" he inquired, walking over to the sofa and plopping down. His legs brushed slightly against Ames's arm, which was covered by the sleeve of a beige cardigan. It seemed like Ames was looking into some codes. Red codes shone from his laptop screen, and the sheets of paper that surrounded him looked like instructional papers. "Are you coding?"
"Just a little something...," Ames muttered, still fixated on his work. Max found Ames's pulsations weird this time, describable only as a duet of strong-mindedness and regret. It was as if the two emotions were intertwined very intricately, and Ames was riding with the twists and the turns. Picking up the pulsations made Max feel a bit tight around his head. "Just in case."
"Alright," Max replied softly, lightly stroking Ames's hair as he stood off the sofa. "I'm gonna' go and change clothes, yeah?"
Finally getting a nod from Ames after a few seconds, Max made his way up the stairs and into the bedroom. He headed straight for the large armoire of clothes, but something he hadn't noticed recently stuck out to him. It stood on top of the dresser, harmless but suggestive.
He picked it up and brought it close to his face.
"Antidepressants...," he muttered, putting the bottle of pills back down.
He noticed a silhouette in his periphery.
"I didn't take that," Ames announced from the doorway, making Max look toward it. Ames had his arms crossed before himself, his gaze honest but guarded. "Nothing wrong with it if I actually did."
"I get it...," Max replied reassuringly. He hadn't heard Ames follow him up the stairs. Max had nothing against the use of prescribed medication. He just knew that if Ames had contemplated taking another pill, then he could be slipping back to the way he used to be when Max had first met him. "I get it."
Ames's response was a nod, just as guarded as the look in his eyes. It had a hardness in its slow pace that seemed to warn Max from prying further and yet respecting that he would be motivated to try. This was one throwback that Max didn't ask for, but at least, he knew a bit better now just how much deeper this could go and how problematic it had already truly become.
"Don't worry about me," Ames added. It didn't sound like the many other times he had previously said those words. This time, the words came as a polite warning. Polite, indeed, but a warning, nonetheless. Max didn't know what to say.
Ames seemed to have caught the darkness in his own voice, lowering his head slightly in what came to Max as a flicker of realization before descending the stairs in silence.
10:35 PM
Max woke up to mechanical clicking sounds that he knew very well. Tonight, he and Ames were supposed to share a cushion on the floor. As it appeared, however, Ames had yet to even consider being tired. Max found Ames sitting on his computer chair, slightly hunched over his desk as he tinkered with something.
When Ames set aside a loaded magazine, Max sat up swiftly.
"Ames?" he demanded, his voice a bit hoarse from slumber. "What are you doing? Come here. Let's go to sleep."
"I'm cleaning the Stallion," Ames replied plainly, looking back at him and showing a disassembled gun. It was a compact 1911 type. Max had worked with 1911s before. "Go back to sleep. I'm good."
'Not the time, Ames,' Max thought, standing up from his position.
"You're cleaning a gun late at night, and you've barely had any sleep," Max pointed out firmly, making his way to Ames's side. "You can't tell me I shouldn't be concerned. Don't do that."
"I'm going to visit the range tomorrow with Eliza," Ames went on resisting, his voice annoyed but controlled. "You think I'm gonna' go nuts because my life hasn't turned out the way I envisioned it?"
"I think there's a lot of fire in you," Max's hand rested on Ames's shoulder. Ames's pulsations had been alternating between a comprehensible kind of anger and something darker for the past two days. Max couldn't just ignore it. As someone who'd had to face the darkest shadows within himself, Max knew very well now how to deal with his own darkness. He had spent eight decades going back and forth between taming his shadows and dining with them in necessary civility. "A lot of fire that I know very well. And I'm starting to think it's controlling you more than you're controlling it."
Ames looked offended, glaring up at him in response.
Max didn't break eye contact. He refused to. Not this time.
"You think I don't understand?" Max demanded. "Ames, I spent decades in darkness. I lived a life of pain almost without any real friends. Before Division turned me into something else, I lived a life where "normal" meant that nothing lasted forever. That's my family, my life, Dicoy, and every good thing that I have no power to bring back."
Max could see Ames's resistant glare softening. The pulsations that Max was getting transitioned from offended willfulness to guilt and embarrassment. It wasn't the effect that Max was opting for, but he was, at least, getting through.
That was a start.
"What do I do with this fire, then?" Ames spoke up, gesturing toward the disassembled gun parts before him. "I'm so angry, but I don't lash out. I try to keep my bearings even behind closed doors, but what the hell, Max? I wanna' hit a wall. I wanna' shoot something. I can't. I can definitely pop off some rounds at the gun range and get some release! At least!"
"Everybody gets angry, Ames," Max didn't know why he went down on his knees, but at this point, he was about to beg at the stubbornness he was facing. "It's okay. It's not okay, but it's okay. What's really not okay is when it takes over you, the whole time convincing you that you're keeping it on a leash."
"I'm sorry for sounding selfish, Max," Ames responded. Max could tell that the statement was sincere. It was also incomplete. "But I'm a human being, and I'm not as strong and as good as you. I could never be. I thought that we were getting far from the things that threatened us, but we're still here."
"But that's why you can be so much stronger, Ames. Your humanity. Having powers feels like a privilege that has me cheating my way out of my problems. But when you're human, and you survive like you always have, you're already strong."
"I'm really screwing this up for the both of us, huh?"
"No...," Max replied. "Not yet. I can't dictate to you how you should feel. That would be unfair. But I can be with you. Really be with you. You just gotta' stop blocking me. And you gotta' stop yourself from getting to the point where you're really screwing things up."
"I'm not blocking you," Ames insisted.
"Yes, you are," Max pushed. "You know it in your heart. I thought we were through with this, too."
Max adjusted his position to make some distance and allow Ames to turn the chair to face him better.
"I'm so angry, Max," Ames said in a softer voice, but the intensity in his eyes remained. "I'm so sorry. But I am. I'm not gonna' hurt myself. I'm not gonna' hurt other people. I just can't keep carrying this weight in my chest. You gotta' let me express it, Max. Or I'm gonna' blow the hell up."
Max knew Ames had a point, but he still couldn't just turn a blind eye to how dark Ames had gotten in terms of his personality. There had to be a middle ground. Max could settle with that.
"Fine," Max conceded, holding Ames's gaze with his own. He took Ames's hands into his, holding them in place without squeezing them. Max had to be firm this time, too. "Let off steam. Get that anger out. But for now, for as long as I feel is appropriate, I will be here to help you aim it in the right direction. We have a deal?"
"Deal," Ames muttered, breathing through his nostrils. "I just need this anger out, Max. That's all I ask."
"Okay," Max replied, pressing his mouth down onto Ames's hands. His instinct was to plant a kiss onto them, seal his assurance in the sincerest way that he could, but he felt it could be inappropriate. He didn't want to wrongfully express himself. He kept his lips where they were, but he kept them still. Unmoving. Respectful. "Okay?"
"Yeah," Ames replied. Max understood what Ames was going through. He'd been there before. Many times. If Ames was walking through the fire, he wouldn't be alone. "Thanks. For the unlimited patience."
"Count on it," Max said, lifting his head up. "Just because you know me for my light doesn't mean I don't know darkness. I came from darkness."
"I'm sorry I forgot," Ames said softly.
"No worries," Max replied. "I haven't."
October 26, 2023
Thursday
Golden Mare Gun Shop and Shooting Range
9:45 AM
Max observed as Ames and Eliza opened fire, each of them in a separate cubicle. He stayed close behind. While Ames was demonstrating impressive accuracy and precision as he blasted a hole through the bullseye of his target's head section, Eliza was being just as competent as she took on her own target's chest bullseye.
Ames was definitely steadier, though. He gripped his .45 ASP Stallion-ONE firmly, but Max could tell that Ames had relaxed into laser focus. He had seen Ames accurately shoot a small rock with a pepper gun from a distance that was logical for a non-lethal projectile shooter, but it was new for him to see Ames not miss a mark from 30 meters away. With a compact gun, no less.
Eliza's gun was a Canary X-40 pistol. It was quite strong, too: .40 Canary, striker-fired, and a good 12-round double-stack magazine. Max couldn't remember Ames sharing about this hobby of his that he enjoyed with Eliza, but it surely looked impressive.
Max also noted how they fired in different stances: Isosceles for Ames and Weaver for Eliza.
He remembered his first time handling a gun. It had been decades ago.
He had learned pretty quickly. Accuracy hadn't been a problem for him. He could remember back in the day how he would borrow his father's rifle out of boredom. He would always make sure that the ammunition had been safely removed. He'd always been more concerned about how steadily he could aim the rifle. Of course, his eventual recruitment into the Uwak had led to the development of his aim into an actual asset in combat.
As for the fire that he hoped Ames was channeling healthily, Max could feel it burning underneath the calm confidence that Ames was exuding as he cleared one magazine after the other. That was a good start. That should serve as a release. Ames was channeling it well so far, turning his anger into accuracy.
Max looked back at the bulletproof glass behind him. He was pleasantly surprised by the onlookers that awaited their turn. They seemed to be very impressed by the pair. Max couldn't blame them, however. Ames and Eliza were truly a pleasant surprise. The supervisor nearby observed with the same gusto.
When the session was done, Ames and Eliza pressed the buttons on their respective left cubicle walls, summoning the target boards to themselves.
'Wow,' Max thought, looking at how impressive the shots really were. If it had been a real-life situation, Ames would've blasted a hole in his target's head while Eliza would've reduced her target's heart to red tissues.
They compared target boards. Eliza was evidently more enthusiastic than Ames, who maintained a firm control over his fire with calm. However, Max could still feel that their chemistry had changed. They were both letting off steam, but their motivations differed. They differed only slightly anyway.
"You may now take off your earmuffs," the supervisor announced. "You both are sharp. It's like you're in the wrong range."
The three of them pulled their earmuffs off, respectfully returning the protective devices to the supervisor, who proceeded to sanitize them from a good distance.
"It's been a while since I took the Canary out," Eliza commented, tracing the bullet holes in her target board with her finger. "Needed this break after all those meetings. Good shots, by the way, Ames."
"I'm not exactly in the mood to miss," Ames replied, looking at his headshots with pride.
Max reminded himself that he wasn't supposed to know anything. As far as Eliza knew, he had been cleaning the car during her trade secret sharing with Ames days ago.
"You don't know how to miss," Eliza reminded Ames. There was a trace of sadness in her voice. Max could tell that she was dropping hints. "Even if you miss the alpha, you always make sure to land a close enough shot, anyway. You know that, right?"
"As do you," Ames replied, reflecting the same hints. "That's why you're my best friend."
Max couldn't help but sympathize with Eliza, too. She was only trying to help a friend. If Max had read her right, it was her nature to be a helping hand whenever she could be.
The friendship that Ames and Eliza shared was something that Max couldn't help but respect. He hadn't had deep friendships for a long time. Ames followed after Dragon and Midnight Sambac. That had been a damn long time of just getting by and feeling out social interactions until Ames's eventual arrival in his life. While he could still remember how human friendship worked, at least, whenever he looked back at his years prior to his transformation, he found the modern world to be something else. It wasn't something to take lightly, and the advancement of the digital world had only reduced actual moments to share for making memories. Not to mention, the gradual departure from communications that ensured accountability.
"Nothing else to do here," Ames said after a while of just admiring his shots.
"I'll get the car started," Max said, lightly ruffling Ames's hair as he spoke.
"Yes please, Max."
"Thank you for coming along, Max."
"No problem," Max replied, giving Eliza a fist bump as he went for the door.
He walked out to the lobby and then outside, headed for Ames's car. It was quite a hot day out. The car would be steaming by now.
So far, Ames was doing well. Max realistically didn't expect for Ames's anger to just fade away. What Max wanted to make sure of was that the anger that plagued Ames's heart wouldn't have the strength to override him. The key to handling anger was consciously keeping a high level of authority over it.
Today's target shooting adventure had surely reinstated Ames's control over his fire, as Max had detected earlier. That was a good enough start. Whatever Ames's thought process had been during his shooting. If Ames were to deal with the agents tomorrow, he would definitely need a clear head.
Max still didn't know if Ames had already cooked something up, but he expected no less.
But the secrecy, if ever he was right about his expectation, surely was bothersome.
If Ames had already devised a plan of action, Max hoped to be informed of it. Speaking of plans, Max hadn't even shared his yet.
He unlocked the car upon reaching it, proceeding to turn the engine on. The heat in the car really was something. The air conditioner turned on with the engine, beginning to work its magic. Max pushed off the car for a while, leaving the door open so that the heat would drift away more quickly.
Soon enough, Ames and Eliza walked out of the gun range's main doors, parting ways from the steps.
"What's next in your itinerary?" Max asked Ames, who walked briskly toward the car, carrying his target board and gun case. "We going home already?"
"Not yet," Ames replied, stopping just beside the car's passenger seat. Max wondered what else Ames had in mind. There were a handful of things that Ames had been keeping mum about these past few days. "There's someone I need to visit."
"Where to?"
"Falco City Police Department."