"How do you intend to help out?" Wave asked.
"Well, I could try lifting the ship for starters" he replied still confident.
"Lift the ship? That's crazy" Gears said.
"It might sound crazy to you but every day I go out saving the good people of San Francisco I find myself getting stronger. No better way to test out my strength but here"
"I think we should let him try" The fat guy from earlier said.
"I think so too" Wave added.
"Ok, if you say so. But how are you going to lift it up? We currently have no chains long enough or strong enough for you to pull on" Gears stated.
"I will try going under, there should be space under the ship for me to fit into" he said.
"Alright let's do a quick scan to confirm in" Wave said with his boosters already winding up for take-off.
"Don't worry I've already checked" Max said.
"And how did you-"
"One of my abilities is enhanced vision so I was able to see below the ship from here" he stated cutting Gears short, leaving them even more impressed.
"Alright Mr, the stage is yours" Wave said.
He nodded and flew towards the ship then hovered next to it for some seconds.
"You think he's getting cold feet?" asked Gears.
"I doubt that" he answered.
Max took a deep breath then went underwater, he moved towards the middle of the ship and saw the rocks that have ran into its side, now that he was underwater, he had another idea to break the rocks but then he brushed away the idea. Since it was rumored that the rocks might have punctured the haul, he feared that in breaking the rocks it might cause more damage to the ship and an oil spill. He moved under the ship lifting up his arms and began to push of the rock bed below him with every muscle in his body, he gritted his teeth underwater as bubbles arose from his mouth but that didn't stop him. He knew the ship was going to be heavy but what he felt was way more than he expected, he kept on pushing up with his arms using his whole body now plus his back as he tried to overcome his limits and pushed through for the sake of the people.
'For the sake of the people, for the children, for those who use this oil and ship as a means to feed their family, for them I am willing to put everything I have and risk it all for them. For them and them alone' he said in his thoughts.
He began to scream underwater giving it his all not to fail those people watching through their tv screens with every save he made he felt it was one step in the right direction towards peace and he would do everything he could to make that happen. Gears and Wave looked on with no movement or sign of him, they turned their heads feeling disappointed for him.
"I guess he didn't know his limits" Wave said with both their backs facing the ship while the officials there kept on watching not giving up.
"Oh well, back to the drawing board" Gears said.
"Look the ship is moving" a female official said.
Her words struck them and immediately they turned around facing the ship. Slowly, the ship began to move up above the water and there was a sense of relief and happiness that swept through their hearts like a hurricane.
"I don't believe it" Gears said dumbfounded.
"You better believe it brother" wave said slapping him on the back.
They had no idea how hard he was screaming underwater to lift this thing, everything within had given up but even with that he persevered pushing until he finally felt the ship start to move up, he had to move the vessel forward a bit so that the sharp rocks wouldn't damage the ship any further and then he began to go higher and higher and higher as more of the haul was seen rising out of the water.
"I cannot believe my eyes folks but it turns out that Maverick is lifting this behemoth of a ship up all by himself" a female reporter said to the camera which was broadcasting globally.
"At a boy!" Ramon celebrated leaving Jessica to hold his phone.
"Ramon for once in your life can you behave yourself" she said as she watched her friend run around the house like a kid on a sugar rush.
"Let me be, I'm the happiest man on the planet right now" he said zipping down his stairs screaming.
"What a child" she sighed.
Max was soon hovering twenty feet above the water and wanted to go higher but judged that the height was okay not wanting to push himself to hard and risk his body giving up on him. He moved out to see away from all the rocks so that the captain could move the ship in the right direction, the captain and his crewmates were all astonished that they were being carried above their flying ship. Their captain ordered them to remain calm and man their stations so that as soon as they hit the water they would proceed to docking. Max would have dropped them by the dock but considered letting them handle that so that he doesn't damage anything or get squashed not knowing how deep the water there would be. Within fifteen minutes he was submerged again leaving the ship to float on its own again then rose from the water to the captain and his crew applauding him, he nodded in acknowledgement and flew back to the other two heroes. Upon his landing, he was surrounded by workers and the officials from earlier as the clapped and cheered him on with some touching his upper body like his back, chest and arms as he walked forward to the others. He met them with the crowd and people around cheering for him.
"Wow, that was incredible" Wave said still mind blown at what had just happened.
"It seems the people here love you" Gears added.
"I guess so" Max responded as someone patted his head and others took pictures.
"It was a pleasure working with you two" extending his hand shaking Gears.
"No, the pleasure was ours" he said.
"I trust you can handle the press" he said retracting his hand and taking two steps back.
"We can but why won't you entertain questions?" Wave asked.
"I'm not really the press type"
"But how can we contact you in case we need your help in the future?" Gears asked.
"Don't worry, when you need me, I will be there" he said.
With nothing more to say he took to the sky after telling the people to get back nicely before the other were about to get flooded by journalists.
"What a nice guy, he could come in handy someday" Gears stated.
.................................…
Max sat down on top of a crane by the dock with his eyes and physique returning back to good old Max and just got of the phone with an excited Ramon who was going to start promoting him as the strongest hero on the fanbase which was more likely t get him into more trouble than he bargained for. As he watched the boats go back and forth, he didn't notice someone had joined him on the crane.
"Nice view huh" a familiar voice said.
He instinctively got his powers active and moved off the crane facing who spoked him ready to fight.
"Easy there, I come in peace"
Max recognized him, it was Night.
"Oh dear, I thought it was a villain" he said giving a sigh of relief. "What brings you here?" he asked.
"Well, I came to say hello, it's been a while since we've seen plus to congratulate you on that big save you pulled off today" he said.
"Oh, thank you" max said floating back to the crane. "But I'm still getting the feeling that that's not all you came for" Max added.
"I don't know if you're aware but the heroes in this city usually converse together to discuss issues and what we can do to up our security or even ask for help if any is needed" he explained.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Since that you've been a hero for some months now it was only right for me to invite you to our meeting" Night said.
"Okay, so where are we going to?" he asked.
"You'll see"
They went to an old observatory situated on a cliff next to the sea, it had a killer view as well, they walked into the Observatory where Night led him to a desk on the ground floor.
"What you're about to see, you cannot tell anyone about it, do you understand?"
"Not a word to anyone" he answered.
He typed on the keyboard which was hooked up to a monitor that was older than Max maybe and then to the left of him, the shelf of books opened up revealing an elevator.
"Cool" Max said walking into it.
They went down for a couple minutes and then the elevator stopped and its doors opened up to reveal Night's lair.
"Welcome to the Den" he said as it was more of weapons vault than anything, it wasn't very spacious or small, just comfortable enough for him to get his work done.
It housed all his weapons ranging from a Swiss army knife to a rocket launcher, he also had a motorbike and a jet ski even though you hardly see him use any of them, it had a computer with five monitors that always changed views every five minutes suggesting he was tapping feed from every security camera in the city. A radio was there and it had cops talking through it suggesting that he was tapping their frequency as well, the Den also had three sofas surrounding a circular glass coffee table which had a screen in front of it, the rest of it was pretty plain but he did have a toilet. On the sofas sat Ravage, Water Woman and Boulder Bowler who were chatting and didn't notice when he and Maverick entered.
Night coughed to get their attention. "Ladies and Gentlemen as a hero your guard must always be kept up or be at risk of getting ambushed, what if Maverick and I over here were assassins. You would all be dead" he said in a plain manner.
"Give it a rest man, no one is ever going to find us in here" Ravage said lying down on one sofa taking up all the space.
"Ravage, I will not repeat myself, get your boots of my sofa"
"Alright man" he said going moving into a sitting position. "By the way, huge save you got there carrying that ship man, bet your rankings are going up by a lot now, maybe you'll be above Boulder Bowler over here"
Boulder Bowler turned his face and scoffed.
"If I may ask night, what is he doing here?" Water Woman pointed right at Max.
"He is a hero just like all of us in here and so he needs to be part of this meeting" he said not understanding why she would behave like that.
"He will never be a hero in my eyes" Boulder Bowler scoffed again.
"Are you sad that he is now the strongest hero in the city? Or sad that you couldn't fly to Brazil to lift that ship with your dumb rocks?" Ravage said in a mocking tone.
"How dare you" Boulder bowler said angry at Ravage's disrespectful words.
"I'm just saying because the jealousy is giving you a stench or is that your normal odor. Damn, I'll pity your wife if you have one cuz she would have to inhale that disgusting smell every time you got home from whatever it is that you do" Ravage added.
That seemed to be the last straw as Boulder Bowler got up to punch him being on the sofa that backed the entrance and Water Woman was on the other. Max moved on impulse with a fwoosh and appeared in front of Boulder Bowler catching his fist leaving him shocked.
"It seems you're slower than him too" Ravage added from behind Max.
"Let me go" he said angrily pulling his hand out of Maverick's grip.
"You're a hero Boulder, start acting like one or do you want to switch sides?" Night said with disappointment and seriousness clearly passed through his words.
He grunted and looked away from him.
"You can sit with me, its clear those two don't want you around" Ravage said.
"Thanks, I guess"
"Now that I finally got someone watching my back, I can get on Boulder's nerves as much as I want" Ravage said taking a relaxed sitting position.
Night walked towards the screen infront and turned it on so that their meeting could commence.