The Max Effect. 1

You'd better give her space

"How much time does she need? Asked Langer.

"I can't answer that, Langer. She'll come around, but you need to give her space. She needs time to come to terms with things at her own pace." said The Professor.

"We didn't handle this the right way, did we?"

"We?" questioned The Professor.

The Professor continued his meeting with Langer. He had his bombshell to drop.

"Langer, I'm going to leave the C.S.A. My time needs to be invested fully in Project Xx. I have potential recruits, and thanks to your investment, I can push ahead with the project," explained The Professor.

"I'm not going to get sentimental here, nor will I try and stop you leaving. But stay loyal, my friend, and keep clear of the military. They will hijack your project and mark my words, and they will push you out. You will lose control. Don't let this tech fall into corrupt hands." said Langer passionately.

Langer was loyal. He was clumsy, maybe in his personnel skills, but you could trust Langer. He funded the technology behind Max. Langer gave Woods what he needed to develop his research and the freedom creative minds demanded.

"I regret the kill switch!" said Langer.

"Unfortunately, Langer, due to her overwhelming power-there, had to be a failsafe!" reasoned Professor Woods.

"I'd never kill her, never. I just wanted to protect her. If she ever fell into enemy hands," said Langer.

"That is the most emotion you have ever shown, Langer!" Woods smiled.

"Look, I'll always be working with you, Langer, just not for you. Our friendship is solid," Professor Woods was sincere.

"And, Give Max as much time as she needs. She will come back to you," reassured Woods.

A few days had now passed since Max quit. Her emotions were up and down. She needed to figure out her emotions and deal with the betrayal she felt. Since she stormed out of Langer's office, she still hadn't been to the C.S.A. Office or checked in. There had been no contact, mind you. No one had made contact with her. She still had no desire to speak to Langer. Max had no idea if she still had the job after assaulting him. She began to regret ever coming over to the C.S.A., completely overlooking the fact that Langer had saved her life.

On a whim, Max decided to leave for a few days. She assumed if the C.S.A. could kill her, they knew where she was. Still unsure of precisely where to go, Max felt lost. Max decided to get a train and go for the wild side of the county. It would help her get some peace and deal with her emotions. She needed the wide-open space of the wilderness.  Max grabbed some essential items and some clothes and filled her rucksack. She took her C.S.A. phone as well. She didn't know if this was from a sense of duty or because she wanted Langer to contact her.

Max arrived at the train station. It had been a long time since she had read timetables, and they were still as complicated as ever. Max stood on platform one, trying to figure out what train she needed and if, indeed, she was on the correct platform. Max looked across to the other platform. The correct platform. Max grabbed her rucksack and sprinted up the stairs across the over-bridge and down the other side,

The steam train moved forward, clouds of steam filling the air. As Max reached the bottom step, she saw the last car moving away. At a glance, no one was around. Max grabbed the buffer on the passing carriage. Her hand reached out, and as her grip tightened, her hand quickly crushed into the thick steel buffer, muscles flexing in her arm with incredible power as she pulled back, and started to exert more force than the locomotive's steam-driven efforts. Max's calve muscles locking and braking. Her off-white Nikes skidding for a short moment as Max's strength conquers. Her powerful thighs expand with her muscles. The steel driving wheels began to screech against the steel tracks, sparks flying as the train grinds to a halt. The steel wheels continue to spin as Max's strength easily surpasses the power the train can muster. The train groans under the strain as her muscles soak up the resistance. A loan guard comes to the side window, looking out, confused and bewildered by the sudden stop. His whistle blows, and some passengers look out of the carriages. All they see is Max, who has now let go of the buffer. She stands there with an innocent look as she hides behind her rucksack. The train staff walked up and down, looking for any sign of why the train came to a sudden stop. Confused looks on their faces.

"Can I hop on?" she bashfully asks.

"Did you see anything strange?" asks the guard

"Like what?" asks Max

"I don't know. The train stopped. I have no idea why!" the guard scratched the side of his head.

"Sure, get on, as long as you have a ticket", advised the guard.

Max nodded and got on. She fucking loved the Nanos. She found it hard to believe that she had just stopped a train with one arm, a single arm. She was overpowering the huge industrial beast. It ran through her head that she ripped the whole thing apart with her bare hands. She loved the feeling of being so strong, and before the Nanos, she enjoyed being powerful and stronger than most other people. The feeling of her bicep when she exerted her strength, the results of a good pump when she exerted her strength as it might burst out of her skin. She wondered what the limits of her strength were. Professor Woods said her strength was unlimitless. The Nanos would constantly evolve and change, adding that the next phase would give her advanced speed, and the upgrades in the future would be unimaginable.