Josh ducked a punch from Max and attempted to counter with a punch of his own. Before he could however, Max' knee shot up and caught Josh in the face. Josh fell backwards and shook the stars out of his eyes in time to see Max rearing up an ax kick. Josh rolled out of the way as Max's heel carved a foot long gash into the cement sparring ring. Josh pushed himself up just in time to spin away from another of Max's punches. The punch still grazed him, but Josh took the pain from the wound and transferred it into the strength of his elbow as he spun around and stabbed it into Max's shoulder. Max took the hit and if it hurt, he didn't let it show. Josh tried a round kick to Max's knee, but Max leaned into it, "YEOW!!!" yelled Josh, hopping on one foot, and holding his other which he had bruised against Max's knee.
Max gave a snort and started walking towards the hopping Josh. Suddenly, Josh let go of his foot and sent it thrusting into Max's gut. Max doubled over from the surprise attack, but before he could recover, Josh swung a massive uppercut into Max's nose. Max reared up, about to fall, then lowered his face to glare at Josh. There was not a scratch on it. Josh pushed aside his exhaustion and began delivering an onslaught of punches, most of which Max blocked, but still pushed Max to the edge of the ring. Then Josh crouched and dashed forward, ramming Max in the stomach and trying to take his legs out from under him. This was the first time Max showed even an inkling of concern, or perhaps more accurately: irritation. Max's eyes flashed red and before Josh could get a hold of him, Max leapt up and over Josh, gripping his shoulders, and swung his legs down for a landing behind Josh. The momentum of Max's leaping maneuver, coupled with his own strong grip on Josh's shoulders, sent Josh flying more than twenty feet across the ring and off its edge. Josh bounced twice and rolled a bit further, finally coming to a stop at the feet of Jake and Ferris.
"Game over." Laughed Max triumphantly, "I win!" Ferris and Jake couldn't help but applaud. When they had entered, Ferris had made to stop the fight, but Jake had held his arm up to stop her. "If they were fighting for real," he lectured her, "would they really have taken the time to come all the way to the arena chamber?" Ferris was glad for the lesson, but as always, slightly irritated by the arrogance with which Jake conveyed it. "Most impressive," said Jake, looking down at Josh, lowering a hand to help him up, "not even I can last more than a minute in the ring with Mechanic." Josh accepted the hand and stood up as quickly as he could. He looked quite uncomfortable, unsure of whether he should salute or try to shake his hand, which he had already let go of. He compromised by just scratching his head and standing a little straighter.
"Uh, Mr. Scientist, it's an honor to meet you?" "You can dispense with the formalities Josh." Said Jake tersely, "I know you know who I am." "Yeah..."Josh assumed the scrunched neck posture Ferris had adapted earlier, "sorry about that Jake." Jake sighed, removing his mask and goggles. Josh couldn't think of what to say. He hadn't had much time to think up what he was going to say, and right now he could decide whether to treat Jake like his god-brother or the Scientist. He still was having trouble believing it. Jake Erickson was his god-brother who had known Josh since he was born. They had grown up together. Played together. Josh knew everything about Jake, from his fear of chainsaws to his dream of becoming an astronaut. Despite the crazy hair, Josh would have never guessed that the timid, soft-spoken little boy could possibly be the smartest man on the planet. Leader of the first ever superhero organization that had struck fear into the hearts of criminals and corrupt politicians alike. How do you address someone like that? Josh finally settled on, "I like what you've done with the place."
Jake made to speak but Ferris beat him to it. "You smell like shit." Said Ferris. "You know," said Max, putting his arm around Josh's shoulders, "real men smell..." "And real women like it." Josh finished, just as Max had instructed him earlier. "Computer, activate cleansing field on these two." Nothing happened, "Computer?" "Oh right," said Josh, "I kinda unplugged her." "You did what?" growled Jake, storming out of the arena and down the halls to the main chamber. "Well Max was about to shoot her." Josh defended, rushing after Jake. "You were about to what?!" Jake yelled, turning his anger towards Max. "She had it coming." Drawled Max, sauntering along behind them. "How could she possibly have a bullet through the motherboard coming?" "She hurt his feelings." Piped up Josh. "Max has feelings?" joked Ferris who had followed the entire walking exchange with the utmost amusement. Max shot Josh a crimson glare, "Shut up Josh." "She kept calling him Retard." "She did what?!" asked Jake. They had finally reached the computer and Jake plugged it back in. "Retard!"
"What did you call me?!" The computer was silent for a moment. "Forgive me Scientist, I was defragmenting my programs and..." "Computer, I programmed your deception protocol myself. I know when you're lying to me." The computer did not respond for a couple seconds and Ferris started to wonder if it had frozen. "He started it." "You lying bitch!" "You see what I've had to deal with?!" "That is no excuse to hurt people's feelings." "Stop saying I have feelings damn it, it makes me look weak!" Jake ignored Max and continued his lecture, "Mechanic is an integral part of our team, and I expect you to show him as much respect as he shows you." "What respect?" asked the Computer.
"I'm not going to force you to apologize, and you know I could write a program that would make you. So just stop calling him a retard. With his brain damage, you know it hurts his feelings." Max cocked his deagle and aimed it at Jake, "Say I have feelings one more time!!! Say it!!!" "Don't do it!" yelled Josh, "He's serious, he almost shot the computer!" "Quit whining fatty," said Max, "They're just rubber bullets, and he's used to it by now." "Intruder alert. Unauthorized individual present." "Oh don't start that again!" growled Max, aiming his deagle at the computer again. "Look, can't we just get this over with?!" growled Ferris. "Get what over with?" asked Max, Josh slapped him upside the head, "The thing I told you she needed to tell you." Max looked like he was about to shoot Josh for messing with his hair, but turned to Ferris, "Is this gonna take a while?" "Well yeah." Said Ferris, somewhat indignantly, "It's kinda really a big deal." "In that case, I'm gonna need some snacks."
