To say that convincing Colosso was hard would be an understatement. Max had to predict the remaining of the week and recite all of Colosso secrets to make him take him seriously.
"So let's say, hypothetically that you are from the future," Colosso began, gaining Max's attention. "Why did you came back?"
"I didn't come back willingly, truth be told I thought I died."
"What do you mean?"
Max took a deep breath. He told Colosso everything. How he turned against Dark Mayhem, how he became a hero in the end, how he and Phoebe became candidates for the Z force, how Phoebe turned evil, how he killed her.
"Max, I'm so sorry," Colosso said sincerely. He knew that despite their fights Max truly cared about Phoebe.
"So you believe me?"
"I do. What you told me seems too specific to be a lie. Not to mention, that I couldn't find a reason why you would lie to me."
"Then I need your help Colosso, I can't do this without you. If you won't do it to save an innocent girl's life, at least do it for me, your best friend, please?" Max begged desperately which left Colosso speechless. Max begged before, but all the times he has heard Max beg for something it was half-assed. Now he could hear his desperation clear, sounding like a man without any other options. Both of them knew that Colosso was his only hope to save his sister. And despite the animosity, he felt towards Phoebe, Colosso could not in good conscience let her die.
"Of course Max! You're my best friend and even though I don't like Phoebe I don't want her dead."
Max smiled in relief. "Thank you Colosso."
"Do you have a plan yet?"
"I do, but it's incomplete. First I need to disable the stick bomb I left in the Hero conference room. While it may have lesser security than other buildings owned by the Hero League, it would be tough to sneak in and out undetected. That's why I need to craft a stealth generator, then something that creates a high amount of energy to destroy the stink bomb. Then I'll hunt Dark Mayhem down. And I must do all this without my family finding out."
"That's all? I thought it would be more difficult than this," said the rabbit sarcastically
Max smirked. "I already started working on the stealth generator and the weapon, they should be finished by tomorrow. I can use my jetpack to get to Metroburg and back. Then we'll focus on Mayhem."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Max, but you can't beat Mayhem on your own."
"I know. Before I came back I made a suit that enhanced my strength, agility, endurance and my powers, but since it was a prototype it was destroyed easily. I'll need to make it even better if I am to beat Mayhem. But I'll need some special components from the black market, which I don't have the money to buy."
"The answer to that is easy Max: either steal the components or steal money to buy them."
"I don't want to rub banks," Max said sharply. "I want to make people believe I want to be a supervillain, not become one."
"Alright, so stealing the components it is. In that case, I hope that stealth generator of yours will work perfectly."
"It will."
The bunny scoffed. "I've yet to see an invention of yours that will work."
The young man glared. "My inventions do work," he said before going up.
Today was Ditch Day, probably his favorite day because he got to spend time with Phoebe something he never truly appreciated back then. Before they started their snowball Max made sure to deactivate the security cameras in the school.
"That was fun," Phoebe said as both of them rested on the staircase.
"Yeah," he agreed. His gaze dropped on his lap as his heart started to rise. "Listen, Phoebe, there is something I have to tell you," he said seriously, making Phoebe looked at him in curiosity. Max rarely got serious. "I just want you to know that no matter what I say or do I care about you, a lot," he confessed and Phoebe's eyes widen. While she knew that deep down Max cared about her she never expected to say it out loud, especially to her. She was so shocked that she couldn't say anything, so she let him continue. "And I'll always care about you, even if you hate me," he finished his confession, feeling his palms sweaty and his heart hammered in his chest. He took a deep breath to calm himself, confessing his feelings was a difficult thing for him to do since he only did it only once with Allison.
Phoebe smiled and hugged him. She felt him go stiff for a moment before he turned and hugged her fully. "I could never hate you, Max. I love you."
Max's mind flashed to that fateful day. His throat became tight and his eyes began to sting as he held her close. "I love you too," he said softly.
She pulled back and grabbed his hand. "Come, let's go home."
And they went home, their hands intertwined
When everyone in the Thunderman household was asleep, Max sneaked into the kitchen and opened the secret compartment that housed the Animalizer. He quickly started to work on it, modifying it so that only Colosso will be affected by it. He didn't feel right for doing this to his best friend, but he couldn't take any chances. Colosso sold him out in the past and while he wasn't a saint either, he couldn't risk it now when the stakes are so high. He snapped a picture of the blueprint to make his own Animalizer in the future. Once done, he quickly put the weapon back and went to his room.
The following night, Max sneaked out. He activated the jet back and flew to Metrobourg as fast as he could. He made a mental node to tinker with the jetpack later. Once he arrived he pulled the schematics of the building on his phone. There was a vent on the roof that he could use as an entrance and exit. He pulled the grate and entered the ventilation ducts, following the map. Unfortunately, the vents didn't have direct access to the conference room, so he had to drop in a restroom. He activated the stealth generator and made his way towards the stink bomb. He didn't encounter any guards, nor was he expecting any. The only need he had for the stealth generator was to avoid being seen by the cameras. He entered the conference room and quickly found the bomb.
He glared at the object that was responsible for destroying his life. No, the object while being the cause of his misfortune was just that, an inanimate object. One person was responsible for Phoebe's death in the alternative time: himself. He could blame Mayhem, for leading him down the dark path, he could blame the villain for encouraging him to be evil, when it came down to it he chooses to become a villain, he chooses the dark path, because of his childish envy of Phoebe. He was envious of her because she had everyone's love and admiration. Because of this envy, he pushed everyone away, thinking that they didn't care about him, but he was wrong; his friends and family cared about him, Phoebe cared about him. He did make amends for his mistakes, but it wasn't enough. Phoebe turning evil, her dying by his hand, they were punishments for his crimes.
He hated himself. He was the one responsible, it was all his fault. The hated he felt was nothing he had ever experienced before, so much so that he was releasing telekinesis energy without realizing. This energy interfered with the stealth generator, causing it to malfunction. Max let out a curse and turned his attention to the task at hand.
He obliterated the bomb and made his way towards his exit. He activates his stealth generator, but instead of making him invisible he only made him transparent. He closed it with a scoff.
Looks like I'll have to do this the hard way.
It took nearly an hour, but he managed to exit the building without being spotted. He made it back home around one in the morning sneaked into his lair.
"Did you succeed?" asked the rabbit.
"Yeah," he responded while undressing. "Did you find some of the components by now?"
"I found all of them. Apparently, a villain by the name of Cinders wants to purchase a lot of power conductors, insulators, power cells, circuits, plastics and control modules. The deal is about to take place here in Hiddenville since it hasn't any assigned superhero. The plan is to sneak into the van that has the goodies and get away."
"I'll need something that disables tracking chips in case they attach one on the van. Luckily, I've got just the thing. When is the deal going to take place?"
"In two days, in an abandoned deposit at the edge of the town at midnight."
"How did you find all this info?"
"I still have contacts in the villain league who owe me favors."
"You used a secure channel to contact them, right?"
The former villain scoffed. "What are you taking me for? A rookie?"
"Right, sorry."
"Let's just go to sleep already, I'm tired."
Max wordlessly complied.