Data

Max Steel no Chishiki Baiten

General disclaimer: Max Steel belongs to many companies, Kids’ WB!, two different computer animation companies, and a whole mess-o corporate executives. This story is my personal work derived from my inner child getting hold of an uzi and obliterating my good side.

Max had just returned from another successful mission, covered in glue, which had nearly cost both he and Rachel their lives. The mission in itself had been simple: pose as Dread soldiers, get a program disk. Unfortunately, Max lost his helmet in an unlucky fall, and Psycho just to happened to have his “cover-your-enemy-with-glue-and-keep-them-from-getting-away” gun handy, and had shot at him, completely ignoring Rachel. Amazingly, she had managed to get the specified disk before they left.

“If I ever see another bottle of glue again, I’ll run,” Max promised as he entered his room, a towel draped over his shoulders, rubbing the last drops of water from his hair. Berto was busily playing Judo Enforcer 3000, and barely looked up. Rachel, who had been watching him, stood.

“Feeling better?” she queried. Quite frankly, she was more concerned about what could have been in the glue.

“If I die in the next day, you’ll know something was in the glue,” Max replied, as if he’d read her mind. He sat down and picked up a controller.

“This time, I’m gonna beat you,” he told Berto, who laughed.

“Like you beat me the last seven times?” the younger teen asked in a very sarcastic tone.

The next day, Team Steel was called down for a conference. The first thing Max noticed when he entered was a rather young looking female redhead wearing an N-tek uniform, standing near the vid-screen at the front of the room. Max was about to go ask her name, then decided that it would be explained at the conference. Presently, Rachel and Berto entered, and the three of them took their places. The large picture screen clicked on, showing Smith in his office.

“Max, Rachel, Berto, I see that we’re all here,” he greeted. He looked at the girl, who stepped forward from her place. “This is Data Engin, a new agent. I’d like the three of you to watch her until she gets used to the job,” Smith explained. Data smiled shyly and pushed her long reddish ponytail back behind her shoulder. Rachel smiled at her reassuringly. Smith continued to explain some of Data’s background, while Max regarded the new agent with curiosity.

“Max, I’d like you to come down to my office as soon as possible,” Smith requested at the end of the conference. Max nodded. He, Rachel, and Berto stood to leave, and Data came over to them.

“Hi, Max. It’s very nice to meet you,” she smiled, offering her hand to Berto.

“Uh, I’m Berto. He’s Max,” the Spanish teenager stuttered in confusion, pointing at Max. Data gasped in surprise.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry!” she wailed, looking close to tears. Rachel stepped up, and put her hand on the younger girl’s shoulder.

“It’s all right. You just met us a few minutes ago,” Max assured. Berto, still a little disturbed by being called “Max,” had left by then. Max left, heading for Smith’s office.

“Come on, I’ll show you your room,” Rachel offered to Data, who smiled softly, saying nothing. The two women left.

Max hurried throught the halls of N-Tek, came to his father's door, rapidly punched in his authorization code, listened to the whir and beep of the machine accepting his ID, and entered his father’s office.

“Dad, you wanted to see me?” he asked, walking over to the huge desk.

“I did. I want you to keep an eye on that new girl, especially during missions. She’s very knowledgeable about computers, but she’s shy. Try to keep her out of trouble,” Smith explained. Max grinned, this was new. Normally, he was listening as other people were ordered to watch him. With a nod, the teenager left, heading down to see how Data, what a strange name, was settling in.

A week had passed, and Data was still trying to get the hang of the training drills, taught by Rachel. When Max and Rachel went out on their various missions, Data spent the time with Berto, helping to watch Max’s varying transphasic levels. She caught on to this easily, but no matter how hard she tried, the girl just couldn’t work through the training drills properly. Max suggested that it was because she was still adjusting.

In one of the training rooms at N-tek, two agents stood, one leaning against the far wall, the other sitting on a balance beam.

“How long has it been, a month?” Rachel was saying to Max, in an attempt to start a conversation while they waited for Data and Berto. N-tek teams were supposed to train together.

“Since what?” Max asked cluelessly. The blond agent muttered something to herself.

“Since Data joined,” Rachel explained patiently. Max took a moment to calculate.

“Yeah, it’s been about a month,” the nano-tech powered teenager replied.

“And she’s just starting to be able to work through the drills,” Rachel mused.

“Sometimes, this stuff takes time,” Max suggested.

“It took you a week,” Rachel reminded him.

“Yeah, so? She’s more interested in electronics than I am,” Max argued stiffly.

“That’s because you are electronic,” Rachel quipped under her breath.

“Hey, you two, stop fighting,” Berto said suddenly, appearing in the room.

“We’re not fighting,” Max protested. Berto rolled his eyes, actions speaking for themselves.

“Sorry I’m late,” a soft feminine voice called. Everyone turned to see Data standing in the doorway, her by now trademark shy smile spread across her face..

“Data, hi!” Max greeted brightly. Rachel shot him a sideways look, and Berto smiled.

“Okay, let’s get started,” Rachel suggested, walking towards the training course. As usual, all four of them posed at the start of the beginning. A loud bell went off, and they took off. The course was simple, but taxed all the essential acrobatics skills, running, jumping, flipping, crawling, climbing, etc., to the limits. As usual, Max finished first by a fair stretch, then Rachel, then Berto, who had never been one for sports, and finally Data.

“Very good, Data. You’re getting better at this,” Rachel complemented, her body heaving slightly from the workout.

“Thanks,” Data replied quietly, self-consciously brushing a stray lock of her hair away from her face. They ran the course several more times before Rachel decided that they had done it enough times.

Among the members of Team Steel, Data had made quick friends with Max, was on good terms with Berto, and with Rachel, the two got along well, both finding it a relief to not be stuck working with only men. The quiet girl was rarely outside the vision range of any of the three agents, and not because she had been told to stick with them. She merely trusted Max, Berto, and Rachel the most.

It was two months after Data joined when Smith called only Max, Rachel, and Berto down for a mission briefing. Normally, he would include Data, but for some unexplained reason, he hadn’t.

“Recently, Dread has gained access to several super missiles. He has threatened to bomb downtown Del Oro, unless his demands are met. Max, Rachel, and Berto, I want all three of you to go to the base the missiles are located at, and disarm them. Berto, your knowledge of mechanics is invaluable,” Smith explained.

“What about Data?” Max asked.

“The more people we send, the more dangerous it becomes. I’m very reluctant to send both Berto and Rachel as it is,” Smith replied. Max nodded, though the gesture of agreement didn’t quite reach his eyes.

The three agents had everything needed packed and ready, and were occupying various places of the control room, taking a final “breather” before the mission.

“Hey, what’s with all the luggage? Where are you three going?” a familiar voice called.

The three members of Team Steel turned to see Data standing in the doorway.

“We’re heading out on a mission,” Max explained. Rachel nudged him violently.

“Well, then why’s Berto going with you? I thought he worked in the control room,” Data observed intelligently.

“I do, but sometimes I go out on missions too,” Berto explained stupidly.

“Can I go?” was Data’s next question. She tried to appeal to the male members of the group with a big, hopeful smile. It worked on the boys, not on Rachel.

“Smith said extra agents could cause complications,” the blonde agent stated quickly.

“Oh, come on, Rachel. It won’t hurt to have an extra person. Who knows what could happen if she doesn’t come?” Max wheedled in his most beseeching manner. Rachel shook her head.

“We have our orders,” she reminded the two male teens beside her. Berto, who always either sided with Max or with neither of them, chose to side with Max.

“What harm can having her along do? It’ll be good practice,” he added. Rachel finally let the trio have their way. Better than having Max, and possibly Berto, complain the whole time.

“But, you three will get in trouble if we get caught,” she warned. Max shrugged confidently, certain that they wouldn’t be accused. Data rushed to collect her stuff, then they hurried toward Behemoth, as Smith had directed.

Rachel gave them another lecture as they landed Behemoth near the Dread base. Mostly to scold her younger colleagues, Rachel also stressed the importance of silence until the last possible moment. As they left the plane, Berto noticed Data’s unusual bout of silence.

“Data, are you all right?” he asked, thinking she was sick or something.

“N-no, not really,” Data stuttered. Max clapped her back reassuringly. The blow, well-meaning as it was, nearly sent the young woman to the floor.

“You’re just worried about the mission, I bet. Relax! It’ll be a piece of cake,” he told her confidently. Data smiled, but the look didn’t quite reach her big blue eyes. The senior agents pretended not to notice her look, and they scaled the building quickly. Max ripped the vent grate off one duct, and the group crawled in. Berto looked down at the watch-sized computer around his wrist, and said something the others couldn’t understand before pointing down a tunnel. They pulled themselves along, trying to figure out the right room. Twice, either Max or Data bumped the wall, making a fair amount of noise. Guards nearly caught them both times.

It took almost twenty minutes to navigate the entire complex and find the area where the missile room might be.

“It should be the next room,” Berto whispered, consulting his computer again. As promised, the four missiles Smith had described were in the next room. Conveniently, the duct opened into a sort of space big enough for all four of them to gather in a rough circle.

“Okay, we’ll drop down, and Berto, you disable the missiles, Data, you can help him with that, and if guards show up, Max and I will take care of them,” Rachel instructed in a low voice.

“Let’s do it,” Max cheered quietly, as he and the others securely anchored themselves and prepared to drop. Max pried the vent grate up, and one by one, the they dropped down. Berto, flanked by Data, ran to the missiles.

“Hmm...this should be easy enough,” Berto muttered, tapping some keys on the side of one missile. After that, he ripped several wires from the missile, making it useless, and moved on to the next one. Max and Rachel were standing nearby, studying their surroundings. Berto had just ripped the last wire from the second missile, when a dozen Dread guards appeared. Max and Rachel stepped in front of Berto and Data.

“Keep going!” Max ordered, and he and Rachel attacked. Loud cries of battle erupted. Berto continued disarming the missiles. Data, who had been helping him before, now just stood there, a look of strange remembrance on her face. Berto yanked the last wire, and turned to Max for guidance. Should they help? Run for it?

“You and Data get out of here! Rachel and I will meet you later!” he called. Berto answered with a nod, and grabbed Data, who was still acting dazed, by the hand and led her towards the hallway. Data seemed to come at least partially back into the real world, and waited for him to keep going. Berto paused before leaving, and turned to give one final glance around the room before pulling on Data’s arm to follow.

“Hiya!” Rachel shouted, slamming her knee into an unfortunate Dread guard’s groin. Before he doubled over, the guy punched his attacker, sending Rachel into one of the huge crates behind her, shoulder first.

“Arrgh!” she groaned, clutching her wounded limb, in too much pain to think. Max saw this, and glanced up to see four guards shoving a crate off the top of it’s current resting place, right above Rachel’s head.

“Rachel! Get out of there!” the teenager shouted frantically, pointing up. Another guard body-checked him then, and Max temporarily forgot about Rachel. He heard the anticipated crash, and then the unexpected cry of pain, coming from his partner. He turned to see what had happened. Rachel had tried to dive to the side, but she moved too late. The enormous box caught her lower body, pinning her to the ground. She was laying on her side, trying to push the object off of herself, but it had taken the combined efforts of four guards just to shove it on her, so her efforts were in vain. Max quickly dealt with the remaining four guards, then rushed over to help.

“Going turbo!” he shouted, clicking a button. Using the extra energy, he gripped the corner of the box and shoved it off his partner. Rachel seemed to have entered another state of consciousness or something. Max picked her up carefully, and headed up a ladder. Halfway up to the roof, Max noticed her go unusually limp. He suddenly recalled something from one of his classes, victims of severe blows should not fall asleep. Only, he couldn’t remember if that only went for head trauma patients, or for full body trauma as well. It would be horribly painful for Rachel to be awake through all this, but he wasn’t going to take the chance. Gently, he shook the arm circling his partner’s shoulders.

“Rachel, wake up!” he whispered urgently. The girl in his arms shifted, blinked, and winced violently in pain. “Rachel,” he repeated, getting her attention. The confusion in her eyes, behind the glazed over look of pain, gave Max serious reason to believe she was delirious or something.

“Rach, do you remember getting hit by a big crate?” he asked, still moving along the grating. He knew the route, but it was taking much longer than he would have liked, especially with Rachel injured like she was. Rachel thought about what he’d said before answering.

“Yes,” she croaked in a strained voice.

“Can you feel anything that was under the crate?” he continued. Rachel flexed, or tried to, her legs, ankles, knees, etc. Then winced sharply.

“Nothing below here,” she replied after a moment, gesturing to her abdomen. Max grimaced, knowing that wasn’t good.

“Okay...just try to stay awake. We’re almost out of here,” he stated as calmly as possible.

Berto stood on the roof near the vent, waiting for Max and Rachel to appear. Data, still acting like she was in her own world, was standing a few feet away, lost in some private thought.

“Can you give us a hand?” a voice called from inside.

Berto started, hearing Max’s voice. He leaned over the opening, and saw Max, lifting Rachel up to the opening. Without question, Berto grabbed Rachel’s hand and drew her up. Max scrambled up without any assistance.

“What’s wrong with her?” Berto asked.

“A crate fell on her, and I’m not really sure how bad she is,” Max replied, picking up Rachel again. Berto paled slightly, but said nothing.

“Behemoth can’t find my signal if we’re too close to the building. We have to get down from here,” Max announced.

“But how?” Berto asked. Max hastily scanned the area. No one had thought to bring rocket boosters or anything like that, not even parachutes. At last, he pointed.

“We could jump into that tree. It’s close enough for us to jump safely, and far enough that Behemoth could find us,” Max suggested. Berto looked at him like he’d lost it.

“How could we? Data’s the only one who could even stand a chance to make it. I can’t jump that far, and you can’t either, not if you’re hanging on to Rachel. Max, we need another plan,” Berto argued. Max sighed, tightening his loosening grip on Rachel’s body. She had fainted again.

“Well, we need to do something! Who knows how badly Rachel’s hurt?!” Max snapped.

“I know, but it won’t help if we’re all bloody smears on the ground,” Berto replied, folding his arms across his chest. Both were ready to duke it out, much the way of Max and Rachel.

“There they are! Get them!” a voice yelled.

Max and Berto turned to see Psycho, and a few Dread guards, standing on the other side of the roof, near the roof entry door.

“Got any ideas?” Max asked Berto quickly.

“None whatsoever,” Berto replied, already knowing what Max’s next words would be.

“Then we use the tree. Data, come on!” Max replied, calling to the other agent. The three of them zipped to the edge of the roof, and prepared to jump. Psycho ran forward. In the darkness, all he could make out were three forms, one tall one, and two shorter ones. The tall one was obviously Max, and as much as he wanted the kid dead, those were not his orders. They were about the same height, so he couldn’t tell Berto from Data. Oh, well. If he got the wrong one, the others would surely be back for their partner. Just as two of them jumped, he reached the edge. Before the last one could leap, he smashed his metal arm into the person’s head, knocking them to the ground.

Max jumped, he saw either Berto or Data leap with him, and then he heard a punch, and whoever was still on the roof groan. Max panicked, but couldn’t do anything about it. Instants later, he crashed into the tree. He heard the other agent land as well, and set Rachel down to see who had made it. Data, looking somewhat disoriented, was picking herself up. Max sighed gratefully, then started climbing up to make sure that he had indeed heard another N-tek agent on the roof. But even as he climbed, Max prayed to himself that it wasn’t Berto, he had heard wrong, Psycho had accidentally struck one of his own men, and his friend and partner would magically appear. He reached a point where he could see the roof without being seen, and peered at the site. Psycho was still there, along with his lackeys. A very still form was sprawled near Max’s enemy, and even in the dim light, thanks to his N-tek abilities, Max could see that is was Berto. Wether or not he was alive was another matter. As Max watched, Psycho reached down and grabbed Berto by the front of his uniform and lifted him up. In comparision with the muscular cyborg, the Spanish agent seemed much smaller than he was. A sharp wind was blowing, and not even Max’s enhanced hearing could pick up what Psycho said. Max was having enough trouble keeping his place in the tree against the wind at the moment anyway. He looked up to see Berto, still hanging off the ground, mumble something incoherent. Well, at least he was alive. The teenager wasn’t about to attempt some daring rescue attempt. He probably couldn’t make a jump back to the roof, he’d need a running jump, and a platform was not available, and knowing Psycho, he would just pitch the young man off the edge anyhow. No, the safest thing to do would be to wait, and be ready in case Berto looked like he was in any immediate danger. As he watched, Psycho dropped Berto back onto the roof, and said something to his followers. Two of them picked the agent up and then the whole group followed Psycho back into the building. Max punched the tree limb he sat on. It was an N-tek policy not to let the scientists be captured by an enemy, no telling what they could be threatened into doing. Max knew Berto could take just about anything, but then, Psycho was brutal. I need to get us back to N-tek, Max realized suddenly. He clambered down back towards his partners.

Rachel seemed to have come back into their world by the time Max arrived. She was talking to Data when he came back. She glanced up when she saw him drop from the branches above. However, her talking didn’t mean she was fine.

“Where’s Berto?” she asked quickly.

“I think Psycho has him,” her younger partner answered.

“You think, or you know?” Rachel was definitely feeling better.

“I think. It’s dark, I couldn’t really see anything beyond body shapes. It sounded like Berto, and the person was Berto’s size,” Max tried to defend his response. Rachel seemed to understand.

“We really need to get back,” Data spoke for the first time since they had found the missiles. Max was unwilling to just leave Berto, be he was also worried about Rachel’s condition.

“How are you feeling?” he asked Rachel.

“I still can’t feel my legs,” she replied.

“Can you move them?” Max returned. Rachel slowly shook her head. Max sighed and hit a button on his bio-link.

“I signaled Behemoth. It should be here any second,” he explained. As promised, the plane appeared, floating just outside their tent of leaves. Data stepped forward and opened the hatch and waited to help Max with Rachel. Max scooped his partner in his arms, and carried her inside. Fortunately, there was a sort of medical room aboard Behemoth, so Max left Rachel in there, with Data. He closed the hatch and stationed himself in the pilot’s seat. As the plane zipped away, Max turned on his bio-link to N-tek’s main frequency.

“Behemoth to base. Behemoth to base. This is M-X-ONE with priority alert for Dr. Yevshenko,” Max barked in his most official tone.

“This is Yevshenko,” the doctor said, coming online.

“I have one agent down,” the brunette teenager informed.

“Agent code?” Yevshenko’s slightly tinny voice rang over the bio-link.

“A057,” Max replied, forcing his tone to remain official.

“What about M275*?” Yevshenko questioned. There was a short pause on Max's end.

“M275 is unconfirmed,” Max stated.

“Unconfirmed? Max, what are you talking about?” Yevshenko forgot completely about formalities.

“Berto was grabbed by Psycho,” Max clarified, starting to feel exasperated.

“And you just left him?” Yevshenko queried. What had remained of Max’s patience was lost right at that moment.

“What was I supposed to do?! That was the first time, and I didn’t know what to do. Rachel is hurt. The only thing I could think of was to get the rest of my team out,” Max snapped. Yevshenko saw through the response.

“Steel, are there other agents with you?” she asked calmly.

“Yeah, Data is here too,” Max said after a minute, then cringed mentally, waiting for the expected lecture. It came within a few seconds.

“Max, you were told to take only Leeds and Martinez. Smith gave you specific orders,” the female doctor scolded.

“I didn’t think taking one of my partners would be that bad!” Max almost shouted.

“Well, it turned out that way. Never mind, just get back here as soon as possible,” she sighed finally, clicking off. Max all but threw down the radio. A hand hesitantly touched his shoulder. He whirled around, scaring Data. She stepped back quickly, as if expecting him to attack her.

“Something happen?” she asked timidly. Max started to shake his head, then nodded.

“I’m dead meat when we get back,” he said simply. Behemoth was in the air seconds later.

Shortly after, Rachel had been installed into the medical area, Data seemed to have vanished, and Max had been thoroughly chewed out by his foster-father.

“Why do I get the strangest feeling something new will happen, just to make absolutely sure I have the worst day possible?” Max grumbled, speaking to Data. Both agents were in the control room, more or less hiding out from the rest of N-tek.

“It could be that blinking light,” Data suggested, pointing at the incoming e-mail light. Max leaned over and pressed a button. The monitor went from black to dark blue, and white letters formed on it.

“We want our program back. Promise of scientist’s safe return in exchange,” the e-mail voice said sternly. Max stared blankly at the words. Data turned white.

“Program...wow, wonder what’s so important about that thing,” Max muttered, almost to himself. Beside him, Data sighed.

“I’d kinda hoped he’d forget about me,” she murmured, looking at the floor. Intrigued, Max turned to face her.

“Huh?” he asked pointedly. The young woman looked him in the eye, then averted her gaze quickly, as if looking at him hurt.

“That program Dread wants is a prototype holographic,” she began softly. Max mentally asked himself why she would know about this, but said nothing about that subject.

“Which is about what?” he pressed. Data smiled faintly, and shrugged nonchalantly.

“Not very good with electronics, are you? I’m that program. I’m the hologram. I don’t exist,” she spelled it out very slowly, allowing him plenty of processing time. Max only raised an eyebrow, and chuckled.

“You, a hologram? Get real, Data. Holograms aren’t solid. You can stick your hand through one. You’re a real person,” he told her, lightly punching her arm. As he expected, his hand didn’t pass through.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Technology’s advanced, Max. I’ll prove to you that I can’t be human...because a human can’t do this,” she told him, then touched the console, and seemed to be sucked into it. Max gasped in shock as her body from the shoulders up appeared on the screen. She smiled slightly.

“Point taken?” she asked casually. Max nodded wordlessly. Data looked around, inside the computer. Several lights flashed on the console.

“I’m convinced. But why are you working for us instead of Dread? Not saying that you should or anything,” he added quickly. Data shrugged, and came out of the equipment.

“That disk you stole a couple months ago was my program file. Dread’s got a few dozen disks like mine, but I was the only working one. Fortunately for your organization, you got the disk after he’d come up with the way to make the hologram like real person, but before he could load it into the other disks. Your Mr. Smith had the file uploaded, and here I am. But that’s not important. Berto’s important right now. Max, I know this is a hard thing to do, but you have to get my disk from the security computer, and take it to get your partner back. But delete all the files on the disk,” she explained gently.

“But what about you? What’ll happen if the disk is removed?” Max questioned, even though he knew what would happen. A program can’t work without a source.

“I’ll be gone. But it’s not important. I’m just a computer file, and Berto’s a living person. You won’t be killing me by sending that data to the recycle. Think of it as deleting a dangerous file,” Data told him in a quiet tone. Max shook his head.

“You’re my partner, I can’t do that! I want to get Berto back safely, but this...” he trailed off. Data put a hand on his shoulder.

“Max? Just do it. Come on, I’ll help you get the disk. I can disable the security, and then it’s up to you,” she said calmly, leading him out the door. He went into stealth mode, then followed her with a heavy heart.

A small room, off to the side, held the uploading room. Data entered the wiring, and crushed it. Max walked in, and was quickly joined by the young woman. He stood in front of the hard drive, unable to take the disk. Data stepped to his side, and turned him to face her.

“You’re doing the right thing. Tell Berto and Rachel good-bye for me, okay?” she said in her gentlest tone, then leaned up and pressed her lips to his. He closed his eyes, asking himself silently why this had to happen to him. She pulled away, and nodded to the drive.

“I’ll miss you,” he said one last time, then tapped on the keyboard. The entire contents of the disk was put into the recycle bin, and then he emptied it. Data shimmered a little, then seemed to just dissolve. The young man silently took out the disk. He looked at the name printed on the front. Prototype Holographic Agent Name: Data Engin.

He didn’t know how he knew where to go, there had been no specifics on the location he was to meet Dread’s carrier at. Yet, Max knew that he was supposed to go back to the same building Berto had been captured at. He glanced up at the roof. His sensitive vision picked up a collection of figures. However, he couldn’t tell one from another. It was, after all, past midnight, and the moon was still high in the sky.

“Hang on, bro,” he muttered to himself, slipping on a jet pack. The roar of the propellers was loud, he pushed off, and headed straight up to the roof.

“Steel, it’s been a while,” Psycho greeted coolly as the young man landed on the roof. Max’s eyes narrowed. Berto was off to one side, handcuffed and held by two guards.

“I’m not here to chat, Smiley. Just let Berto go, and you can have the stupid disk,” the teenager replied shortly, holding up the black plastic case. Psycho motioned to his men to bring their hostage closer. Berto obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. Max sighed loudly as he handed off his part of the deal. Psycho looked at it, then handed it to one of the guards.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Steel,” the cyborg chuckled. Max growled under his breath.

“We’re not done here. Let Berto go,” he ordered. Psycho turned partially, grabbed the young scientist roughly by the front of his uniform, and jerked him forward. If Berto even realized what was going on, he didn’t look like it. Psycho paused for a moment, then in a swift movement, threw the boy off the roof.

“Ah!” was all Berto could yelp.

“No!” Max shouted, and dove off after him. The jet pack activated, and the older teenager just barely managed to catch his younger friend, several feet from the ground. He sighed in relief, set the younger teen down, and snapped the handcuffs.

“You okay, bro?” he asked, patting him on the shoulder. In response, Berto dropped to his knees, holding his head. Alarmed, Max knelt beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m fine, just a bad headache,” Berto assured, slowly getting to his feet. To his left, Max heard a door open, and the sound of a troop of guards. He put an arm around Berto’s shoulders.

“We need to get out of here,” he warned. With a little help, the injured teenager was loaded into the jet, and the two boys took off.

Back at base, Berto was treated for a concussion, and told to avoid bright lights for a few days. Rachel ended up having broken both legs, and would be out for a few weeks.

“One mission, and we end up with three agents out,” Max said casually, in a bitter tone. Berto turned to look at him, still holding an ice pack to the lump on the back of his head.

“Three? I thought it was just me and Rachel,” he replied. Max sighed, and then quickly relayed the conversation with Data to his partner.

“And Dad doesn’t know I took the disk, no one’s asked me about Data, but I am going to be in major trouble when someone finds out,” he finished.

“I’m sorry, Hermano. Well, maybe you’ll get off with just a couple weeks of floor scrubbing,” Berto offered lamely. Max rolled his eyes.

“I guess it’s like...I understood her, better than I can you or Rachel. Must have been because we were both at least part machine,” he shrugged. Berto nodded, and yawned.

As Max had predicted, he did get into trouble for taking the disk, and then destroying it. First a long lecture, then a probation; he couldn’t leave N-tek, at least in his Max form, until Rachel and Berto were both healed. I.e., no missions for at least two months.

“Well, wasn’t as bad as I thought,” the teenager said, punching a few keys on the controller. His character in Judo Enforcer 3000 jumped and tried to punch his opponent.

“True, it could have been worse, Smith could have accepted my idea of 24-hour macarena through the bio-link for a week,” Berto chuckled, turning a page of his book. A strategy guide for Judo Enforcer 3000, of course.

“What exactly is up with you and that, anyway?” Max replied, shutting off the game. Berto shrugged nonchalantly and looked up.

“What’s wrong with the macarena?” he asked, a little defensively. Max raised his hands in a “chill out” pose.

“Nothing, just so long as it stays away from any microphone connected to the bio-link,” the teen explained calmly. Berto nodded and turned another page of his magazine.

*- I don’t know if this is really Berto’s authorization code. I’m pretty sure it’s not, I was just guessing for the story. Maybe we’ll find out someday.