UKHoneyB's Re-Imagined

[UKHoneyB]

Cars and guitars - I love it.

And yay! for foreshadowing the year at sea. Poor Laura... just a little bit Put On A Bus, huh?

I thought you might The fact that it was a Vox amp is a little inside joke for me: Mark's brother-in-law works for the company, and he was one of the designers of the Night Train amp.

And yes, Laura is going to be put on a bus for a bit, right about the same time that Rachel is pulled out of missions o:) Laura and Rachel will definitely be coming back, so it won't be a Long Bus Ride

Poor Laura Though I agree with the yay on the ship thing coming up now and not as a way to just get rid of her. Is Josh/Max gonna have to save Pete from his crazy girlfriend sometime? lol

Yeah, I did imagine that, for such a long time away from college, it would need to be approached at least a year in advance. Mosh saving Pete from his girlfriend? Nah, not gonna happen

[Blackrose715378]

TA DA!!! ALL THE MISSED REVIEWS IN ONE OBSCENELY LARGE PACKAGE!!! XD XD XD


Nov 7 installment:
“I do not want any attempts at escape or trying to outsmart anyone”
*Giggles at the ‘outsmart’ bit*
“and Orrin seemed to be fine with being the only presenter on the show.”
“I want my base ball game back…” XD
““I can’t compete in sports any more; even if I could, I’d be constantly having to check on my abilities, ensure that I’m not overstepping the boundaries or making any new records.”
Which brings up the question, why was he suddenly able to make a career out of sports again in season 3? Never seemed to have any problems there…

November 8 installment:
“No matter what Josh did, it was never good enough in David’s eyes”
Smart brother XD
“Sylvia skated up to Pete and helped him up, only an eye-roll betraying her feelings on the matter. “
Haha makes me think of that episode where he asked Josh to eavesdrop on what two girls in class were saying about Pete, but it turned out they were just talking about how gross he was XD
*Blinks* Why am I blanking on who the mercury brigade is? I thought it was something you made up until reading Julia’s and Akili’s comments…

November 9 installment:
“and thus wasn’t too far from where he lived, either “
*Suggestive eyebrow movements*

“ and cheerfully woke Rachel up with the sound of shaving”
Hahahaha when I read this I imagined Josh sneaking up to a sleeping Rachel and turning on his electric razor next to her head to wake her up XD

November 10 installment:
“One was securing the two look-outs, another two were patrolling the parking lot, and the other three…”
Orgy.

November 11 installment:
“Not from the way Rachel told it,” Kat said, leaning her chair back. “Word is you tried to take them down when your back-up was only a couple of minutes away from being able to help.”
Trust Kat to be the one to hand it to him while he’s in the hospital for being shot. Love it XD

November 12 installment:
““Yes, my dad does want me to check the plant. I promise that I’ll be there for the wedding rehearsal.””
Bao wei zan gong?
“Leeds will be outside the building, providing audio support and also will be on the lookout for any movement in or out of the building”
Oh wow would that be hard to explain. Laura: So. You’ve been sneaking out for days on end, and it just *happens* that Rachel is in Shanghai. Coincidence? Bull. Shit.

November 16 installment:
Haha the part with the Cheng minion on the speedboat cracked me up when I watched that ep. “Please, speak English. Your Chinese is very painful.” XD
“This?” Max asked, pointing to his bio-link. “N-Tek’s latest time-piece. Completely waterproof, practically indestructible, linked to bio-rhythms...you name it, it’s probably got it.”
*Imagines what would’ve happened if the guard insisted he remove it and put it in the little bucket, like at airports*
“Faina May-ling, courier for John Dread.”
Woo-Whoop!!! GO TEAM DREAD!!! XD XD XD
“she wasn’t carrying anything suspicious”
That’s cause she don’t need anything. Dragonelle’s badass all by herself XD

November 17 installment:
I did like how the show gave Ivan Vostok a little head nod in this ep, since we knew he was one of Big Jim’s enemies way back when.
I did a little double take also when I realized John Dread was just appearing here, but then I remembered the whole “reimagined is different than canon order thing” hehe

November 18 installment:
Always think it was assuming a lot that Cheng would merely through Max overboard and not say, oh I don’t know, SHOOT HIM first…

November 23 installment:
I’m with Aki on this one…*flash to Max’s dreams that night* XD XD XD oh we’re so bad

November 29 installment:
“So…Sophia being kidnapped, this means that the mission was compromised from the start?”
I still don’t get how ‘Sophia’ got from the ship to the limo as fast as she did without being two different people…
“Get INTEC to do the dirty work, and he reaps all the reward.”
*Beams* that’s my boy!

December 11 installment:
“I’ll find the money,” Kat said, walking up to the till with the ticket.
Josh was unaware she had been selling naked pictures of him on the internet for months.
“It won’t be until next August, there’s plenty of time.”
Plenty of time to ditch a cheating scum of a boyfriend, that is.
“it would break down some of the problems that being a spy had.”
Yeah…like having an affair on the side…
I definitely think Pete and Laura should be sleeping together behind Josh’s back. It would be so…poetic…*evil grin*

[UKHoneyB]

““I can’t compete in sports any more; even if I could, I’d be constantly having to check on my abilities, ensure that I’m not overstepping the boundaries or making any new records.”
Which brings up the question, why was he suddenly able to make a career out of sports again in season 3? Never seemed to have any problems there…

If I ever get that far, it's going to be answered in -- hopefully -- a reasonable way. Personally, seeing how much of season one was thrown out, I guess Mainframe decided it'd be nice to throw most other things out and do what they wanted

*Blinks* Why am I blanking on who the mercury brigade is? I thought it was something you made up until reading Julia’s and Akili’s comments…

Season 2, episode 1, hijacked a tour bus in New York, season two episode eight the ones who were holding someone hostage in Aspen.

“Not from the way Rachel told it,” Kat said, leaning her chair back. “Word is you tried to take them down when your back-up was only a couple of minutes away from being able to help.”
Trust Kat to be the one to hand it to him while he’s in the hospital for being shot. Love it XD

Kat doesn't take crap from anyone, not even injured super-agents

“Leeds will be outside the building, providing audio support and also will be on the lookout for any movement in or out of the building”
Oh wow would that be hard to explain. Laura: So. You’ve been sneaking out for days on end, and it just *happens* that Rachel is in Shanghai. Coincidence? Bull. Shit.

*laughs* Yes, thankfully Laura and Rachel don't meet in this episode.

“This?” Max asked, pointing to his bio-link. “N-Tek’s latest time-piece. Completely waterproof, practically indestructible, linked to bio-rhythms...you name it, it’s probably got it.”
*Imagines what would’ve happened if the guard insisted he remove it and put it in the little bucket, like at airports*

Yes, that'd be a little tricky seeing as the watch cannot be removed XD

“Faina May-ling, courier for John Dread.”
Woo-Whoop!!! GO TEAM DREAD!!! XD XD XD
“she wasn’t carrying anything suspicious”
That’s cause she don’t need anything. Dragonelle’s badass all by herself XD

That she is

I did like how the show gave Ivan Vostok a little head nod in this ep, since we knew he was one of Big Jim’s enemies way back when.
I did a little double take also when I realized John Dread was just appearing here, but then I remembered the whole “reimagined is different than canon order thing” hehe

Yeah, the main reason I shoved episode three to being the series finale is that I doubt Max would have shrugged off the effects of an EMP as quickly as he did...plus re-working that episode gives me a chance to get rid of Rachel for a bit *angel*

Always think it was assuming a lot that Cheng would merely through Max overboard and not say, oh I don’t know, SHOOT HIM first…

Well, Cheng did state that he wanted to make an example of Max, I'm not sure shooting him and dumping his body works as well as tying him to an anchor and letting him drown

I’m with Aki on this one…*flash to Max’s dreams that night* XD XD XD oh we’re so bad

XD

“So…Sophia being kidnapped, this means that the mission was compromised from the start?”
I still don’t get how ‘Sophia’ got from the ship to the limo as fast as she did without being two different people…
“Get INTEC to do the dirty work, and he reaps all the reward.”
*Beams* that’s my boy!

Meh, just enjoy the fic :p

“I’ll find the money,” Kat said, walking up to the till with the ticket.
Josh was unaware she had been selling naked pictures of him on the internet for months.
“It won’t be until next August, there’s plenty of time.”
Plenty of time to ditch a cheating scum of a boyfriend, that is.
“it would break down some of the problems that being a spy had.”
Yeah…like having an affair on the side…
I definitely think Pete and Laura should be sleeping together behind Josh’s back. It would be so…poetic…*evil grin*

ROFL at everything you've put here. I will state that I have been looking at and trying to see who could be put in relationships and how (if I wanted to put something like that in).

No idea when the next update is going to be.

[UKHoneyB]

Okay, here's the next ~2 pages of Reimagined. Hopefully not needing to write the rest of this will allow me to ponder ideas and how to write the next sections.

-----

Heading in to the ops room for the second time that day, Max also spotted two figures in the room. That wasn’t surprising, but what was surprising was that one of those people was not someone he had expected to be in the ops room at all.

“You really need to work on your time-keeping, Steel,” Kat said. “It’s bad enough that Rachel’s ill --”

“Rachel’s ill? Do I sense an impending sign of the apocalypse?”

“Grow up, Steel. Not only is Rachel ill, but I’m now supposed to be baby-sitting INTEC’s wonder-boy?”

“You weren’t this snide the other day when I offered to drive you to the mall.”

“I wasn’t snide because I needed something, and if I recall you said that unless I shut up, I’d be walking to the mall.”

Berto kept quiet during the discussion, doing his best to tune the two agents out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very successful.

“The reason you’re here is that someone’s sent a threat against Del Oro,” Kat said, jerking her thumb towards the main screen.

“…It’s blank,” Max deadpanned, and Kat rolled her eyes.

“Martinez, play the video.”

Typing in a couple of commands, a grainy video appeared on the screen and began playing.

“Greetings, INTEC.” On the screen appeared a woman with shoulder-length brown hair and looking to be in her mid-thirties. “I am sending you this warning because I felt it only best if you were given advance notice of a situation which is going to occur -- it’s no fun challenging someone if they have no idea a challenge is occurring, and thus do not show up.

“At six in the evening today, you -- INTEC – will be given a demonstration of what we hope will be one of a number of new weapons in our arsenal. Please enjoy the show in downtown Del Oro.”

“Didn’t we just have a threat against N-Tek?” Max said with a sigh, and Berto turned his chair around.

“That was against the DOX and the public face of INTEC; this is dealing with the security side. Whoever this person is, they know what INTEC is -- while this video was addressed to be sent to the CEO of N-Tek, they’re directly referencing INTEC.”

“Six in the evening…that’s only an hour away.”

“’Fraid so, Steel. Means we’ve got to get moving if we’re going to get there before six. I am really not liking this set-up.”

Berto turned to look at Kat. “If you don’t like how this has been set-up, you’re more than welcome to complain to Mairot, he was the one who assigned you two together.”

“Assigned?” Max said. “You mean I’m supposed to scout out Del Oro with her?”

“That a problem, Steel?”

“Mairot suggested the two of you to go on the mission together,” Berto said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “He obviously is inclined to believe that the two of you would cooperate on this mission, otherwise he would not have assigned you two together.”

“Whatever,” Kat said, turning and heading towards the door. “You coming, Steel, or am I going to have to do this on my own?”


x x x


The two of them arrived in downtown Del Oro just under forty minutes later -- thankfully with no injuries to either themselves or the car -- and Kat quickly claimed the central square as a look-out point.

Being downtown was not necessarily a boon for any businesses that were there -- the main attraction was the beach-front location, and aside from Wipeout, any business that wanted to be known attempted to rent space there. Unfortunately, because of high demand, rental prices were also high, driving out practically all but the most successful of businesses. Those that couldn’t afford or were too niche to compete instead headed downtown.

“Twenty minutes,” Max commented as he sat down to the right of Kat, and received only a nod in reply. Between the two of them, they kept an eye out for anyone who looked out of place -- in this situation, a thirty-something brunette woman, although the idea that she may have been Dragonelle in disguise did not disappear from Max’s mind, leading him to cast suspicion over almost all women in the area.

Unfortunately, one of the women in the area had to be Laura.

“Hermano, you need to get rid of her,” Berto said as Laura turned to stare back at the person who was looking at her. Seeing that it was not only someone she recognized, but someone who was not meant to still be in Del Oro, her suspicions were raised.

“Hello Max.”

“Hi…Laura, wasn’t it? How are you?” Max said in reply, practically hearing Kat sniggering next to him.

“I’m doing well. Quite frankly, I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Oh?” Max said, raising his eyebrows.

“I was under the assumption that you didn’t live in Del Oro. Yet, here you are, a few weeks after the DOX, hanging out with…” Laura trailed off and looked at Kat. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Kat Ryan,” Kat said shortly. “Steel’s a friend of mine, ever considered that he’d visit people other than where he lives?” Laura said nothing for a few moments, instead seeming intent on getting in to a staring match with Kat.

“I’m sorry, I thought Steel would be able to answer the question by himself. Strange how he never mentioned you.”

“He’s not exactly the type to let out his life story to a stranger.” Kat glanced down at her watch. “Wow, known each other for five minutes. You gonna tell me all your friends and your relationships to them now?”

Laura said nothing, but instead turned back to Max. “Well, I need to head home, I trust you enjoy your visit.” With a parting glare at Kat, she turned around and walked away.

“Did you have to be so snarky?” Max said once Laura was out of earshot.

Kat shrugged. “Got her to disappear.”

-----

As for what happens next: the woman in the video (an OC Dread operative) unleashes the fungus on to downtown Del Oro -- fortunately, the fungus is reasonably slow-moving and the only dangerous section is the first inch or so of growth. Max and Kat call in to INTEC for help/back-up, and manage to get in to a minor scuffle with the Dread operative. She disappears, back up arrives to cordon off the area and collect samples of the fungus for investigation.

Mission over, Josh heads back to his house, and Laura informs him that she met Max today. Josh reacts without muchsurprise, raising Laura's suspicions, but she says nothing. The next morning, Rachel still isn't in (period trouble, plot surfaced when I had trouble and wanted to inflict pain on a character: P), and so Max slips away during lunch to go and see her (the probes affecting his memory so that, even though the route to Rachel's apartment is reasonably complex, he can find his way there easily). Unfortunately for Max, Jake is already there and there's some minor friction between the two of them. After a couple of minutes Max leaves, stating to Rachel that he hopes she feels better soon, and heads down to the lake to wonder why his life has started to get screwed up.

Next chapter: my reimagining of Spear Carriers.

[Julia456]

Let's see...

KAT: 1, MAX: 0
KAT: 1, LAURA: 0

I sense a pattern.

And how dare you cut short the fungus chapter?? I demand more fungus, right now!!

[Blackrose715378]

there is a whole lotta snark in this chapter XD

[UKHoneyB]

There's a whole lot of Kat in this chapter, what do you expect?

And Julia, if you really want to see the fungus that badly, the summary is up there; you can start writing it

[UKHoneyB]

Status update: I am actually working on chapter ten! The muse kicked in (albeit not on the story I wanted to write), and while this may be a short chapter, I should have an update very soon (maybe even tonight if I'm lucky).

Of course, just watch me get hammered by chapter 11 instead

[Julia456]

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

You don't how excited I was to see a new post in this thread. The only thing that could've been more exciting would be ACTUAL FIC INSTEAD OF THE TAUNTING PROMISE OF FIC-TO-COME, YOU CRUEL, CRUEL MONSTER.

[UKHoneyB]

I'm not cruel!

Much

I imagine there will be one more update after this, wrapping everything up and answering that all-important question: just where was Rachel

-----

Max sighed. “She is my girlfriend, I’d --”

“No,” Kat said, instantly cutting him off. “She’s Josh’s girlfriend. You--” Kat pointed at him “--are Max Steel. Two completely different people, at least to those outside the know. You’re pretty shitty at keeping your two identities separate.”

Max said nothing in reply, instead deciding that sitting and silently fuming was a better use of his time. With no more distractions, Kat had taken to scanning the area in case of the minute chance their target would appear in an open, unguarded space.

“Woman to your left looking lost,” Kat commented, dragging Max out of his daydream. A quick look over -- including nano-enhanced zoom -- didn’t seem to show any resemblance to the woman in the video.

“I’m not seeing it,” Max said, earning himself a shrug from Kat. “Never said I wasn’t going to keep an eye on her.”

“Huh, you do learn. Rachel’s got you at least slightly trained then.”

For the second time in five minutes, Max opted not to answer.

A few minutes later the woman got a relieved look on her face and was soon swept up in a hug by a random male. After exchanging a few words the pair walked off and Max broke his gaze, satisfied that they were of no importance.

“Seen anyone else?” Max asked, receiving a shake of the head from Kat. “Are we certain that they were going to attack today.”

“They did state it would be today; video could be a hoax, but I’d rather wait and know it’s a hoax than leave and put someone in danger.” Kat gave Max a side-eye.

“I never said I was going to give up; I’m just complaining about sitting here and doing nothing.”

“Get used to it, Steel. Being an agent isn’t all fast cars and explosions.”

“Yeah, well, then TV and movies lied to me.”

Kat snorted, a smile quickly appearing on her face before she managed to suppress it, and continued her scan of the crowds.

A sudden yelp of surprise drew both Kat and Max’s attention; cautiously getting up from where they had been sitting they approached the origin of the sound, only to be blocked out by a crowd of curious people, all surrounding the two people Max had seen earlier.

“What’s the problem?” Max muttered to himself, not expecting an answer from anyone.

“Some…weird grey stuff on one of the buildings. No idea what it is but it can’t be good, can it?” one person to the right of Max said, and Max sighed.

“Sounds like the warning was right,” Berto said, his voice accompanied by a rapid typing of keys. “I’m calling for back-up.”

Times like this I wish INTEC was officially recognized, he thought. “Any ideas, Kat?” Max asked, turning to the left to look at Kat.

Slight problem: she was gone.

Cursing silently to himself, Max scanned the other people in the crowd without success. He knew Kat wouldn’t back away from anything, so...

...she was approaching the grey goo-covered building.

“God damn it, Kat,” Max muttered, starting to push his way through the crowds, a chorus of “hey”s and “watch it”s accompanied by apologies from Max.

“Kat, slow down!” Max called out, but Kat didn’t even hesitate, continuing her steady walk towards the building.

“Kat!” Max broke in to a trot, catching up with Kat and grabbing her elbow. “We don’t even know what that is. For all we know --”

“It’s six o’clock, and it’s potentially dangerous. That’s all I need to know.” Kat wrenched her elbow from Max’s grip and continued walking. “Does base know?”

“Base should know,” Max said, tilting his head slightly to wait for a reply from Berto.

“Hugins and Tavloridez have been cleared and should be on their way now.”

“Hugins and Tavloridez should be on their way,” Max replied, and Kat snorted in annoyance. “Problems?”

“Hugins is, to take a phrase from him, a massive git. Think Rachel, only more annoying and much, much less useful.”

Max didn’t reply, knowing that half of Kat’s issues with other agents were self-inflicted, and he really didn’t want Kat bitching at him for the rest of the mission. “And Tavloridez?”

“Blonde bimbo. I do not know how she passed the training.”

“Somehow.”

“Somehow I do not want to know.”

During their discussion Max and Kat had gotten close enough to the building to see that, instead of being a solid coating, the grey matter covering the building was, in fact, multiple small items, all moving and growing and multiplying and...

...living.

Max looked down towards the ground to see that the grey matter was no longer contained to the building; it was now covering the ground in front of the building and slowly, ever so slowly, beginning to creep towards Max.

“Berto? We’re going to need a lot more help.”

Max took a quick step back, keeping his eyes on the matter all the time. It seemed to sense Max’s movements, turning away from Kat and towards him, gradually picking up speed.

“Looks like it likes you, Steel.”

“Just what I always wanted. A goo pet.” Max took a couple of more cautious steps back, planting his feet softly on the ground. The matter followed him still, albeit in a much more cautious manner, wavering in its path as opposed to heading in a straight line.

Curious, Max lifted a foot and slammed it back down, cracking the concrete as he did so. The matter stopped wavering and instead began to head directly for Max again.

“Well, now we know how it tracks,” Max stated, looking over at Kat. “Get back towards the civilians, make sure they’re out of harm’s way.”

“Oh, and let you claim all the credit for containing this thing? I don’t think so.”

“How fast can you run? ‘Cause I imagine this would move pretty fast once it’s found a target.”

“I can run fast.”

“Nanotech fast?” Max sniped back, and Kat frowned. Without another word she slipped back to the gathered crowd, taking command and issuing orders.

Max only hoped that the people would have enough sense to listen to her.

Max tapped a button on his bio-link, feeling the warm rush that transphasic energy offered him. While he wasn’t certain he’d need the extra energy (the matter did seem to be moving reasonably slowly), he’d rather have it ready to use at a moment’s notice.

And besides, it wasn’t like he was going to run out of energy any time soon.

Max backed up from where the matter was, being careful to send vibrations through the ground when he moved, but also cautious enough that he wouldn’t damage the concrete (again).

The matter certainly seemed to be following his movements, initially approaching faster the further away he was but slowing down as it got further and further away from the building. Keeping one eye on the civilians Kat was still trying to command, Max circled around so that he was heading deeper in to the cluster of high-rise buildings...and further away from anyone else.

“Berto, what’s Hugins and Tavloridez’s status?”

“Still ten minutes away. You’re on your own for this one.”

“Any ideas?”

“Other than what you’re already doing? Sorry, hermano.”

“Great,” Max muttered, turning his back on the matter and jogging to the nearest building. A glance over his shoulder told him that the matter was still following him...although the creaking sound he could now hear was not in any way a good sign.

Stopping abruptly, Max spun around on his toes, carefully took a couple of quiet steps to the left, and looked back the way he came. The first building he and kat had seen, the one covered in the matter, was beginning to sway and creak.

As Max watched, one of the panes of glass on the higher floor -- something which hadn’t been covered by the fungus -- was popped out of its frame, falling to the ground and shattering in to hundreds of shards.

“That’s not good.”

“Master of understatement. Tell Kat to get everyone back further; I’m going to try something.”

“Try what?”

“Follow the leader,” Max said, and took off running.

While it looked like he’d made the plan up on the fly, he hadn’t. Well, he hadn’t made up ten percent of it on the fly -- he had considered the fact that the matter was following him in to consideration; that the matter only moved from the ‘head’; and he had also considered that the matter was only moving on surfaces. If he was able to draw the matter in to some place where it couldn’t move -- the air, for example -- he should have it contained.

He hoped.

The building behind him had begun to creak even more ominously, more panes of glass popping out of frames and shattering on the ground, but Max took no notice of it. Instead, he scanned the nearby buildings looking for one to suit his purpose, and had almost run out of buildings by the time he had spotted one.

Glass doors, wooden reception, exit door on the roof.

Max was certainly glad he’d activated his transphasic energy early.

A quick glance behind showed that the matter was still following him, keeping pace with his running and showing no signs of slowing down...or speeding up. If it had any signs of a visible brain, Max would have said it was playing with him.

The glass doors swung open as Max approached them and he hesitated, waiting for the matter to catch up to him. The first wave reached him before the doors closed, leaving the rest of the matter to wander aimlessly around the glass doors before it came to a halt.

On wood, the matter sped up slightly, and Max put in a small burst of speed. He glanced around, trying to find the staircase, and only found an emergency set. Bracing himself for the alarm he knew would go off, he slammed his shoulder against the fire door, looked around for the stairs, and ran to the right.

The stairs were metal, and the matter was moving even faster now, almost clipping Max’s heels as he ran. His bio-link beeped twice, an indicator that he was half-full on energy, and he pushed himself to run just that bit faster.

Hit the landing. Turn to the right. Up the next flight of stairs. Hit the landing. Turn to the right. Up the next flight of stairs.

Even with the transphasic energy, running up the stairs was rapidly becoming difficult; he was fighting both early signs of exhaustion (four beeps, thirty percent energy, where had it all gone) and gravity wanting to pull him back to the planet’s surface.

-----

[Julia456]

“Get used to it, Steel. Being an agent isn’t all fast cars and explosions.”

“Yeah, well, then TV and movies lied to me.”

BWHAHAHA!

Also: FUNGUS!!! *happy dance*

[Akili]

Yay! Fungus attacks!

The fungus needs it's own fanclub lol