MAXY - ACT 3

After confronting Mod for the last time, Maxy takes what spoils he can from the power plant and tries to build back a life away from even the idea of Mod.

Biography

WORKSHOP LIFE NICE LIFE

Maxy settles himself on the other side of the city, in a good house and with a comfortable job as a mechanic in a self-renovated garage. Having stolen some contact registers on top of enough money to rebuild his life, Maxy's intentions are those of offering a reference point for the city's pyromancer community now that the Arena had fallen, on top of managing the whole situation in a less exploiting way.

During this time period Maxy develops a huge sense of responsibility and a stick up his ass lol towards what he's holding onto his shoulders: he no longer lets himself to bouts of violence unless there are situations where it's needed (and Maxy takes advantage of his past fearsome reputation to scare off ill-intentioners before resorting to beating the shit outta them. Responsible!).

He's got his routine of day job where people can come to him to tell him about their issues with the community and night survelliance routes in case any over-the-top pyromancers have the bad idea of causing some mayhem. All in all, he does a decent job of keeping peace and quiet around the city.

someone puts his big bad nose in Maxy's business guess who

One day, in which Maxy was peacefully minding his own business in his workshop like an old man sat outside his patio, a big posh car stops right outside Maxy's repair shop. Sauro casually steps out of the car, asking to be accompanied somewhere. Maxy sighs and joins him, only to be brought right back to the Power Plant, now seemingly abandoned. Right inside, Maxy finds Sauro holding a very regular person-looking Mod by the neck, asking if Maxy knew him and what would he do for him to keep this shrimp alive.

Of course Maxy tells Sauro that he'd gladly see Mod dead, so Sauro unceremoniously snaps his neck and they throw him down the pier nearby, uncaring of Mod's fate and thinking of him as surely dead.

Maxy doesn't let the chance for a deal with Sauro be dropped though, as managing his day job and community responsibilities altogether had been getting quite heavy for him. He deems Sauro as having enough balls and, seemingly, experience to manage the Pyromancer situation (given that somehow, as per contract, he managed to get his hands on the Arena's property without the intention of restoring the fights).

Still deeming him untrustworthy though, Maxy decides to keep hold of all the registers and contacts and give Sauro only the bits of information he's asking. This brings Sauro to Maxy's workshop often and said events aren't empty of bickerings between the two, mainly regarding Maxy's firm ideas on how he does things(tm) to avoid any overstepping of boundaries from Sauro's side.

Maxy and Sauro ☆get to know each other☆

Coincidentially with Sauro's appearance, Maxy begins sighting an unknown armored carbon creature touring the roofs of the city. Fearing for a menace, Maxy follows him to ask for his intentions, though the unknown person playfully refuses to answers. After an intense confrontation the other manages to escape only to reappear a couple of nights later, sparking various instances of this cat-and-dog chase.

During one of said fights, a fall in a rooftop pool in the rich part of the city "puts out" their fire armors and reveals the identity of both. TURN OF EVENTS!! They both know who they are now, imagine the walk of shame when they have to get home

Anyway, let's say knowing who each other is makes them get closer on a personal level on top of being work partners. Discovering that your collaborator is just a little bit funky like you are has his effects :]

A call from Vitality Corp.

After a handful of relatively peaceful months Sauro gets contacted by Vitali, head scientist of Vitality Corp. They meet up and Sauro and Maxy get informed that Mod is most likely still alive, still hidden around the city and he wants them to find and hand him over.

Maxy takes the news as if a bucket of iced water had been dunked over his head, even more when Sauro discovers he had been actually found and hidden without the knowledge of the others.

After a brief search Mod gets retrieved and temporarily moved into Sauro's office with surveillance, and when Maxy inevitably comes in contact with him, even with Sauro's presence, he discovers his baggage from the Arena times is still going strong, as he's got the instintive reaction to do as Mod says when approached. Embarassing.

The discovery doesn't leave Maxy alone, as for a while he lives with the ghost of his past actions and life haunting him.

During an impulsive course of action Maxy sneaks into Sauro's office by night in an attempt to harm Mod, but things go south pretty quickly. With nothing left to lose, getting harmed and possibly killed by Maxy's hand is exactly what Mod wants and Maxy realizes it in the middle of his actions. Feeling like an absolute moron for having thought that such low actions would make him feel better (even though he knew and excused them due to knowing Mod's tendencies. No harm done to the shrimp :D ) and devastated by the fact that he followed what Mod desired once again, Maxy reaches a breaking point and reaches out to Sauro for emotional support.

This is the moment in which Maxy starts to actually face his past issues instead of compromising with them, and also the moment in which he starts to actually get emotionally involved with Sauro. Nice and cute....

Vitality Corp. is busy with 28473 other things but AT SOME POINT they do something relevant

Time passes, Mod calms down a bit and actually seems to try to be a decent person so Maxy starts to be able to live with that. The two have a talk at the pier in which Mod admits his side oif the blame - or better, he is ready to take all the blame for having manipulated Maxy, but the latter is very conscious of the fact that he had willingly dived face first in the violence and dubiousness of it all, so they have both been terrible people. They eventually realize each of them have their issues to resolve, and try not to influence each other negatively.

Everything seems to go on smoothly, until it's clear that Vitali had smelled something suspicious with the group (most likely through moles among civilians or some shit, Mod was generally able to go out and about so: no surprise the news spread).

After trying diplomacy and good manners Vitali decides to deploy a totally feral Ezra as a human weapon, with the intent to forcibly grab Mod by the nape of his neck and bring him back to Vitality. The group confronts him at least a couple times, with the last ending in Ezra being incapacitated and almost dead.

With a bit of convincing from Mod, Ezra gets spared and seems to recuperate physically and mentally, at the point in which he escapes the hospital with him "for a weeklong holiday, then we'll get back"

Knowing that Sauro absolutely had the means of surveilling the duo's activities, that Mod was easily reachable through cellphone calls and MOST IMPORTANTLY that this meant having the two out of the way for a week, Maxy adds his efforts to Mod's to convince Sauro to let them go have fun for once. He even offers to keep an eye on Ezra when he'd get back by making him stay at his own place. Sauro, half-heartedy, accepts.

[TBC]

Relationships

Maxy and Mod (continued):

Maxy is NOT happy in learning that Mod survived not only one, but two near-death experiences, and even less happy he is to find out that he is in a location so close to him.

After the two meet again , Mod's first reaction is to test if he still has some power on Maxy (which he has), which is generally regarded as a bad move and he's kindly asked to stop.

After Mod starts making friends with Alyosha and softening up a bit, he realizes that maybe he's been a bit of an ass to Maxy. He tries to make amends but for a long while he finds himself an external participant of Maxy's life, seeing that he's finally going on with his life and being happy. Their likemindedness and past knowledge of each other mindset still stick in some ways, especially when they have to discuss strategy stuff in the presence of Sauro, but apart from that they're generally cold to each other.

Things start warm up a bit once Mod starts to be around Maxy while Ezra lives with him and Mod's attention isn't solely focused on Maxy himself. It's the first chance in which the two (especially Mod) try to be actively nice and bearable around each other and this brings to a finally positive development between them.

Maxy and Sauro Ziegler:

Maxy and Sauro call themselves business partners, though they'll probably never admit that with time they become way too affectionate with each other to call it so. Their relationship start tumultuous and with a good amount of mutual annoyance, but as they get to know each this develops into mutual appreciation. Maxy is a very practical person and can find Sauro a bit paranoid at times, but they balance each other out. Sauro's probably the person Maxy has genuinely cared about the most during his life at this point.

Maxy and Ezra Ziegler:

After Ezra is spared and escapes the hospital he was assisted in, Maxy pitches to Sauro the idea of hosting him in his own home to keep an eye on him, and later he directly asks Ezra if he'd want to give a hand at the workshop to keep him busy. The two develop a very bro-like friendship, even if Ezra tends to overshare about his activities with Mod - at least for Maxy's tastes.

See Also:

• His Refsheet page for a complete art archive.
• A short playlist for da vibz: