Mr. Thunderman, Your Son is a Rocket Scientist, Part II
[A/N: Here have the second part of 'Mr. Thunderman, Your Son is a Rocket Scientist'! I tried my best to give some more background and keep everyone in character! Hope you like it!]
Original Snippet - Part I - Part III (DRAFT) - Part III
“Uhhh, what are you doing?”
Max looked up from the invention he was working on, only to blink at the sight of his twin sister standing at the top of the stairs that led to his lair. She was wearing a rather deadpanned look on her face as she gazed at him with a confused and slightly irritated look. Max frowned slightly, as he removed his tinted goggles from his face, and wiped his sweaty forehead.
“Working on an invention. What are you doing here?” The 15-year-old boy answered snidely and rolled his eyes as he moved to take another look at the plans he formulated earlier in the day. Hm, maybe he should change the metal alloy for the wiring, a copper titanium alloy doesn’t seem to be the best choice for what he’s planning-
“Calling you up to dinner, dummy.” Phoebe interrupted his train of thought (rather rudely) as she moved down the stairs and across the room to stand next to him. Her arms were crossed and her right knee was overextended (‘You’re gonna get joint pains at this rate, Pheebs, you should stop doing that.”) as she gave him ‘A Look’.
Max blinked in slight surprise and confusion and looked at the clock in the far corner of his room. He almost cursed when he realized he had spent over 10 hours cooped up in his lair and had missed Lunch.
Truth be told, Max was the type of person to not care about his health much. If he didn't have his mom or sister remind him that he needs to eat he can, and will, forget about it entirely. He's also the type to snack on anything, even if it was over 6 months expired.
However, at the moment, the excitement and the itch to create were simply too much for him to want to eat or put anything in his mouth, so it was with trepidation that Max looked at his sister’s no-nonsense face and winced internally as he tried to come up with an excuse that would get her to leave him alone, “I’m not hungry-” He started slowly, but Phoebe was having none of it.
“Please,” His twin rolled her eyes, “I know when you get like this, all inventions and nothing else,” She paused in her speech for a moment before her eyes widened and a flush of embarrassment filled her cheeks, “Not like I care or anything but mom will have both our heads if you don’t eat something!”
“Aw come on, Pheebs! I don’t have time right now!” Max whined as he gestured to the work laid out on the table behind him, waiting to be finished. Phoebe rolled her eyes before she grabbed his right arm and started dragging him up the stairs. Max stared at Colosso desperately as the rabbit watched the scene with malicious amusement. Sometimes, Max forgets that the rabbit is, well was, a villain.
“Your inventions won’t die without you for 15 minutes! Now stop struggling!” Phoebe growled out in irritation when her twin brother dug his heels into the ground and refused to move.
Max rolled his eyes and wrenched his arm free from her grasp, “You don’t get it. The science fair the school is hosting is right around the corner, I need to get this done by-”
“Science fair?” Phoebe interrupted incredulously, “Max that's next weekend! They gave us a week off to prepare!" Phoebe's expression turned confused as she paused in her tracks, "Wait, you usually never participate in those. What’s gotten into you?” Suddenly her eyes narrowed suspiciously, “This isn’t about the science fair I won in elementary school, is it?” She crossed her arms again and tapped her foot impatiently while she glared at him.
“What!?” Max exclaimed in surprise and no little amount of confusion, “No! Phoebe, Robert Lee is a judge on this science fair!” Max stressed.
Phoebe’s nose scrunched in confusion, “So?” She asked dubiously as she tilted her head.
Max felt his jaw drop as shock consumed his body, “You don’t know who Robert Lee is?” Max whispered hoarsely, feeling as though the floor was caving under him.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow at his (extreme-) reaction, “Well, not really. I only know that he works for NASA or something.” She trailed off as Max’s expression got more and more shocked.
“KIDS! DINNER!” Barb’s fed up voice sounded from upstairs. Phoebe's eyes widened as she realized how long they were taking and quickly turned to Max.
“COMING!” Phoebe bellowed as she seized Max’s arm again and proceeded to drag him to the kitchen.
Max blinked slightly as his sister dragged him into the brightly lit first floor and wrinkled his nose in irritation as the tantalizing smell of food wafted into his nose.
He replayed the conversation with Phoebe in his mind as he murmured absent-minded greetings and sat at the table with his family, waiting for food to be served. A week off huh? Well, that was more than he needed but he couldn't afford to slack off! First, he'll finish his invention, then he'll allow himself to rest.
Max ate in silence as idle conversation sparked around the dinner table and he found himself smiling with slight satisfaction and fondness. He wasn't sure why, but he had an inkling it had to do with his affection for his family members (even if he doubted their affections in return).
In the end, he was kind of glad Phoebe dragged him from his dark lair. Only kind of.
He was still a supervillain after all. Positive emotions weren't in the job description unless they were evil.
Colosso watched over Max for the next couple of days as the boy declined the need to eat and sleep in favor of finishing his invention. His mother and sister tried everything but the kid refused to set a foot outside his lair until the thing he was making was finished.
As a technopath, Colosso could understand the attachment to machines. The hum of 'life' any good piece of technology gives when it first activates is the pride and joy of every creator ever. Being a technopath, somehow, managed to enhance the already exhilarating experience to an all-time high and Colosso often used to find himself in the same position as Max.
Nowadays his powers, his human emotions, and his freedom to have opposable thumbs were hindered by his animalistic form and, while Colosso remembers the days of being able to create without limits fondly, he can never experience those feelings again. Well, not without being returned to a human being.
And so Colosso watched as Max poured his everything into the invention for three days straight until, finally, the boy wiped his forehead and looked at Colosso with a tired, yet incredibly satisfied, smile.
