Karras

Hydra

Max had already gone through fire academy, got his paramedic card and had a successful interview  with the New Orleans fire department. It all happened quickly and now it was his first day as a volunteer firefighter. He entered the fire station's recreational room, a backpack strapped to his shoulder. A man approached him with a  smile and shook his hand, "Karras? Max Karras, I assume." "Yes, that's me." "I'm the captain. Marshall." "Nice to meet you captain." Marshall giggled. "I assume you know the rooms in a fire station." Max nodded, "Yes, of course." "I'll show you where you can put your stuff and give you a little tour later." Marshall led Max to a little dorm space with a bed and a desk.  Max looked around, "Cozy." "Yeah and the tv room, that's a good place to go if you want quiet." Max nodded, "Good to know." Max put down his backpack on the bed. "Well, I gotta go write up a report. I'll talk to you soon Karras." "Thanks, Marshall."

Max was in the middle of sweeping the hallway floor when the fire alarm went off. Max put the broom off to the side and immediately rushed to the apparatus bay support section of the station. He got all the gear on in seconds then rushed on to the fire truck. The fire truck cruised down the street, Marshall was right next to him. "First fire as a firefighter, Karras!" "But not my first fire." Marshall chuckled. They pulled up in front of a building engulfed in flames. "Everybody out! Go!" 

Karras entered through the back with instructions to look for trapped people or animals. Hoses were already being sprayed at the flames and by the looks of it, the massive fire wouldn't extinguished for a while. Max entered what appeared to be a bedroom with Marshall following behind. He heard a dog whining but saw no dog. "There's a dog somewhere!", Max said. The dog whined again. Max's head turned in the direction of the sound, seeing a big closet. Marshall and Max approached the closet. Max opened it, a border collie was sitting in the closet panting and shaking. "Come on buddy." The border collie slowly walked toward Max. Max touched the dogs head then took hold of his collar. "He's still shaking and we got to get him out of here." A portion of the wall in the next room fell. Marshall nodded, "Pick him up." Max picked up the dog and the three made their way out. 

Max set the dog down when they reached the truck outside. A woman was crying hysterically as she ran towards the dog. The woman hugged the canine, "Max! Max! Thank god! Thank you!" Max couldn't help but giggle a bit. Marshall asked the woman, "Is anyone else in the building?" The woman shook her head, "No, I don't think so." Marshall looked at Max, before he spoke Max opened his mouth, "I'll go back inside." "Young's going with you too." Marshall pointed at the building where the other firefighter was at. The hoses had put out some of the fire but there was still a ways to go. Max made his way inside the building. 

"Help!" Max heard a scream come from the other side of the house. Young, a fellow volunteer firefighter was right by Max's side. "Where are you?" They pushed forward, the flames spiked higher and they jumped back. The two got up against the wall and made their way around the flames. Their was a woman laying face first on the floor in the middle of a room. Max got closer to the woman, "Miss?" The floor caved in as Max fell through. Max kept falling into a dark void. He finally landed and looked up, seeing Young looking down the hole in the floor but he was frozen. The woman looked up at Karras with black eyes, "Karras, you're mine!" The floor opened up and Max fell deeper. He landed on a gravel floor in a dark room.

"You're all alone, Karras!", Hades said. Max looked around but didn't see Hades anywhere. "Let's see how powerful you really are." A giant hydra dragon with three heads approached Max. Max stood up and looked at the creature with wide eyes. One of the heads breathed a stream of fire towards Max, he jumped out of the way. Max let out his own stream of fire, hitting the hydra's middle head. It just shook it off, unharmed and let out a roar. A harpe sword appeared in the middle of the dark room. Max ran toward the sword, one of the dragon's heads swung towards Max, knocking him into a wall. Max grabbed his arm in pain then raised his other arm, tearing a chunk of the rock floor out and threw it at the dragon. The rock hit the dragon in the chest and sent it flying backwards, hitting the wall.

Max rushed towards the sword, grabbed it and slid away from another dragon stream of fire. Max held up the sword. "Come on!" The hydra pushed off the rock and got back on it's feet.  The hydra tried to bite Max, he chopped off the head. Max raised his hand, quickly emitting fire to the dragon's neck sealing the wound shut. Just like he read about in the books. Another head swung at him he chopped off that one too, sealed that wound shut. He did the same to the third and final head. The dragon's body still moved around then fell on its side. "Now, we bury the..." The floor caved in, Max started to fall. He shoved the sword in the side of the hole. He hung from the side of the hole as he watched the three heads fall down. He tried to climb up out of the hole but didn't have the strength. Max closed his eyes to focus, a gust of wind picked him up into the air and out of the hole. He hit the ground and was knocked out cold.

"Karras?! Karras?! Max!" Marshall was shaking an unconscious Max. He and Young picked up Max as a wall was starting to collapse. They got him outside and got the young god on a gurney. 

—

Max's eyes were slowly opening. He had an oxygen tube in his nose and a bandage wrap around his head. Cordelia and Derek sat next to him on one side while Mel sat on his other side. Mel stood up seeing his eyes opening. "Hi." Max's eyes were still droopy, "We have to stop meeting like this", he joked. Max let out a short cough. Cordelia took her son's hand. "It's okay. Take it easy." She fixed the cream colored blanket that covered him. Mel sat on the side of the bed and touched her bump. Max slowly reached for her stomach, Mel took his hand and placed it on her bump. "How's baby?" "She's fine." "You hit your head. Inhaled too much smoke", Cordelia said. "They said the floor caved in and you fell",  Derek said. "Oh, I fell alright. Fell into a cave or something. There was a hydra. I fought it." Cordelia was surprised, "What? Really?" "Mmhmm, and somebody sent me a sword too. Would've died without it." Delia fiddled with his blankets a bit, "We can talk about it later. Just rest."