Sleepwalker

M.A.X.

   The strange man scooted to the side and waved for them to enter. No one dared to move.

    "Quickly! Before someone finds this mess!"

    "How can we trust you?" Amber demanded.

      The man seemed to groan in exasperation, "If I wanted to alert the authorities, I'd have done it when I first heard all of the racket you've been making. But right now, there are more important things going on here!"

Ace stepped forward, unwilling to trust but willing to get his team out of the open. That didn't stop him from glaring sharply at the stranger hidden by the shadows casted from the lights of the room behind him.

   "If this is a trap, you'll join your friends over there," he challenged with a jab of his thumb to the piles of shrapnel behind him.

    He didn't give the man a chance to answer as he entered the room, and his first assumption of the man being a scientist was proved true. The entire far wall was one massive holoscreen covered in illegible notes and diagrams scrawled on it without any discernible pattern. Several long metal tables stretched across the center of the room with beakers and various chemicals lining their surfaces. The wall to Ace's right curved, and three large windows provided a clear window view of the Launch's glass dome reflecting the midday light. 

    "No known torture devices or interrogation equipment," he mused aloud after hearing the others shuffling in behind him, "I think it's clear."

   Ace froze when he turned around, finally getting a clear view of their host. He wasn't sure if he should be impressed or repulsed at the obvious modifications. 

   Fiery orange hair stood straight up in perpetual static, highlighting the surprisingly young man's pale skin. Freckles covered every inch of visible skin as if he'd been caught in a blast of paint splatter. 

    But what really drew everyone's attention was the sheet of metal covering the left side of his head, abruptly replacing that side of his hair and running all the way down till it stopped just above his lip. A single red optic contrasted sharply with the blue eye glinting in unmasked curiosity on the opposite side of his head. Metal plating curved around the same side of his neck like mechanical gills, and Ace could see his robotic left hand reflecting light from the windows.

   "Master Analyst X, or Max, if that's easier," he introduced himself with a smile too cheerful for the worn teens. Max lifted his mechanical arm but stopped as if he just remembered that it wasn't supposed to be metal.

   "Oh, yes," he laughed awkwardly, "I was part of an experiment at the end of last year that gave me a few upgrades. Do you like it? I love it!" he answered for them, falling into a jumbled, scientific rant that reminded Ace vaguely of the professor waiting for him. 

    "Not that this isn't fascinating," Diego interrupted, "but why did you bring us here? Why aren't you reporting us to the authorities?"

    Max paused. "Well, for one, I wasn't about to just leave the daughter of Ambassador Tanaka standing outside my lab when it is much safer in here."

    Cho curled into herself slightly, her pale cheeks turning a pinkish shade at her friends' stares. Max didn't give her the time to explain as he continued, locking on to Ace with unrestrained fascination. 

   "And second, you! I've never seen technology so advanced and refined! Where on the Rings have you been hiding? I told the Department to let me analyze their designs before field tests!"

   "What are you talking about?" Amber asked, "Why are you acting like Ace is some sort of bot?"

   "Ace?" the, arguably mad, scientist practically squealed, "That's what they call you? What's your acrostic?"