Chapter 2: An Inch can Equal a Mile
The Sun rises over the small town of Atomberg. Crops of corn and wheat light up in the sun’s golden light as two are the small buildings and homes of the various people that live in the small town. One house, in particular, is the home of the Smol family and its residents are mostly quietly still sleeping except for its newest resident. Maxwell Smol has recently returned to this home from his job as a big city superhero for unknown reasons that will be revealed later. But for now, he is hard at work on a nearby shed in his normal clothes on a ladder hammering a painted sign. As Max continues his work an adult woman walks up sipping a mug of coffee.
Sam: “What are you doing?”
Max: “I’m setting up the office.”
Sam: “That’s a shack.”
Max: “It's a shed that my parents don’t use anymore.”
Sam: “How are your folks?”
Max: “I don’t want to talk about it! There done!”
Max slides down the ladder to the ground and turns to Sam.
Max: “What do you think?”
Sam looks up to the sign and reads aloud the words on the poorly painted piece of wood.
Sam: “Max The Biggest Superhero in town.”
Max: “Got to show the people they can rely on me. That I can be trusted.”
Sam: “And this shows you can be trusted?”
Max: “Exactly! Come in let me show you the place.”
Max opens the door to the shed and he and Sam walk in. Looking around the walls and roof of the shed are old wood as expected. There's like one small widow against one of the walls and a rack of various tools against the back wall likely belonging to Max’s father. A small wooden desk has been placed in the middle of the shed with a chair behind it. The most out-of-place object is the clean white and metallic superhero costume that Max occasionally uses which is leaning against another wall like a ragdoll. All in all, it's amazing that this place is somehow standing.
Sam: “Max I don’t trust to be alive in here for more than an hour.”
Max: “Look, I know it's not a lot, But I’m not really liquid right now.”
Sam: “Don’t you have any money saved from your old business?”
Max: “Not enough for a real office space, not like there’s anything for sale or even worth buying.”
Sam: “Still not gonna tell me what happened huh?”
Max: “No!”
Sam: “Alright, alright fine keep your secrets to yourself. But seriously now what do we do?”
Max sits at the desk chair and puts his feet up on the desk.
Max: “Simple, Now we wait for some poor unfortunate soul to walk in with some problem worthy of a superhero.”
Sam: “How long is that gonna take?”
2 hours later!
Max and Sam are sitting around the office bored out of their mind. Max is still sitting at his desk but his head is facing down. Meanwhile, Sam is lying back on the ground of the shed throwing her mug into the air and then catching it as it comes back down. As she catches it again Max picks his head off the desk.
Max: “Where are these people!”
Sam just shrugs at the angry question.
Max: “Does nothing happen in this town?”
Sam: “Maybe no one knows who or what this is?”
Max: “The name’s right above us!”
Sam: “I mean I didn’t go to your big city college or anything, but shouldn’t we be doing I dunno some advertisement or something?”
Max: “Well I didn’t really need to advertise there would just always be coming to me and the media would spread the story.”
Sam: “Well that’s not gonna work here I mean you were lucky I remembered you much less the whole town.”
Max gets quiet at that statement.
Sam: “Max the town knows your back and who you are right?”
Max doesn’t answer.
Sam: “Max are your parents, Dan, and I the only ones who know you're here?”
Max: “Uhh well…”
Sam: “Oh My God! Max!”
Max: “It’s not like I had many friends here, to begin with.”
Sam: “Max how do you expect to help anyone if no one knows you?”
Max: “I didn’t know the people of the city so.”
Sam: “Max listen if you want to be a hero here you might have to do things differently.”
Max: “Come on you have to be kidding me.”
Sam: “Listen with this town an inch can go a mile. If just one person says good things about you then everyone will know you.”
Max: “Fine I’ll try. How do we start?”
Sam: “To the public park square!”
Moments later the pair are in the Town’s Park Square. A grassy park with trees and benches scattered about. There are plenty of people around now in the morning light. Sam and Max are standing in the middle of the park. Max is now standing in his costume. Looked around at the people kinda nervous. Some townsfolk pass them by giving them strange and confused looks others try to look away and avoid eye contact with the pair.
Sam: “Come on, come all! Meet Max the Superhero. He can fly, shoot lasers, nigh-invulnerable armor that gives him super strength.”
Max: “What Am I a sideshow attraction! This is never going to work.”
Max turns to see Sam’s ramblings have begun to form a small crowd of on-lookers.
Sam: “Say that again?”
Max gives Sam an annoyed glare as she continues.
Sam: “Come on impress the people.”
Max sighs in annoyance and the flies off in the air with blue burning energy coming out of the bottom of his costume’s boots. As he flies in the air the crowd oohs and ahhs in amazement.
Sam: “Yes! This is just one of Max’s many great abilities. He can fight evil villains, and save people from terrible disasters.”
Random Old Woman: “There aren’t any disasters in town or supervillains! What's the point of him!”
Sam: “Ummm, Well that’s not all Max can help with. He can help with pests, plumbing, and any other issues the police refuse to help you with!”
Max flies back down landing before the people.
Max: “So who wants a hero?”
Random Citizen 1: “Help me remove a bee hive!”
Random Citizen 2: “My weeds are growing out of control!”
Random Citizen 3: “My water won’t run!”
Random Citizen 4: “Dang Raccoon varmints are in my basement!”
More and more of this group of townsfolk yell out their demands
Max looks over at Sam confused and annoyed. And whispers to her.
Max: “Sam what did you tell them?”
Sam: “An inch can go a mile remember these small things will lead to bigger ones.”
Sam turns back to the coward.
Sam: “Alright, don’t worry everyone will get to all of you.”
Max: “This is going to be a long day.”
It's slighter later in the day now as Max is in a person’s garden pulling random weeds.
Max: “Well, this could be worse.”
Moments later Max is running through a yard shooting energy blasts behind him as a swarm of maybe millions of wasps chase him.
Max: “You said they were bees, not Wasps!”
Sam who's standing nearby watching the scene unfold responds.
Sam: “What’s the difference.”
Max: “They sting harder!”
Some more time has passed and now Max is in someone’s kitchen lying on his back underneath the sink. He works on the pipes as the homeowner watches above him.
Random Citizen: “Do you know what you're doing?”
Max pops his head out from under the sink to show it is covered with wasp sting wounds.
Max: “I got it.”
As he states that he turns some pipe and dirty water begins spilling out onto his face. Some more time passes as now Max is walking through a dark and creepy basement with barely any light. His hair and face are wet and still covered with wasp sting wounds. He looks around as creepy noise fills the room. Suddenly a raccoon jumps and clings to Max’s face scratching and biting at him. Moving time forward again Max and Sam are back in their shack of an office. Sam is attending to Max’s wounds. His mask headset thing for his costume is off and on the desk. Max’s face is wet, covered in wasp sting wounds and scratch marks,
Max: “Is there no pest control in this town!”
Sam: “Supposedly the old animal pest control guy died last year too a spider bite.”
Max: “And why can’t the police handle this?”
Sam: “Apparently the Sheriff is violently afraid of animals.”
Max: “Violently afraid?”
Meanwhile, across town in the Atomberg Police station, Sheriff Dan Plateau is standing above a smoking broken laptop holding out his smoking revolver.
Dan: “That's what you get for recommending me funny cute cat videos!”
Back with Max and Sam. Max pushes the medical stuff Sam is rubbing on his face away from him.
Max: “Okay this has been enough. These are no tasks for a superhero.”
Sam: “I know it's not fighting bad guys or lifting cars or whatever it is you sued to do. But people are gonna be talking about you.”
Max: “Oh yeah big time superhero gets his face destroyed by bugs and animals. That’s a great image!”
Sam: “Max, what do you want from me? It’s not like I can just manifest a deadly situation out of thin air.”
Suddenly the doors of the shack swing open as a man bursts in.
Man: “I have a deadly situation that needs assistance.”
Sam: “Do I have superpowers?”
Max: “No, now shush. What’s the situation with my good citizen?”
Citizen: “Are you Max the superhero? I’ve heard of you.”
Sam: “Ah ah see an inch can equal a mile.”
Max: “Yes Sam I get it. Can you stop shoving the moral down my throat and let the man speak.”
Citizen: “Please come with me at once!”
It's sometime later as Max, Sam, and the citizen are at a farm. They look upon the farm field filled with cattle.
Max: “I'm sorry you want me to what?!”
Citizen: “Replace my cattle fences.”
Max: “You said this was an emergency!”
Citizen: “This is an emergency. My workers are all out sick.”
Max: “And you can’t wait for tomorrow?”
Citizen: “Listen these aren’t normal cows.”
Max: “Yeah sure, they Moo weird or something.”
Citizen: “Hey you need to take this seriously.”
Max: “You know what no. I’m done I’m out of here.”
Max begins to walk away.
Citizen: “Hey! You can't just walk away! What you think you're better than me or something!”
Max: “Yeah I’m not gonna spend my day in manure.”
With that Max starts flying away rocketing into the sky as the farmer citizen guy yells into the sky shaking his fist.
Citizen: “People will hear about this!”
Sam: “Max wait!”
Sam calls out to him but to no avail. It’s the next morning as Max sits in his kitchen at home. As his mother cooks up some grub and his father sits across him reading the morning newspaper.
Mrs.Smol: “What the matter honey?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
She asks with a smile as she sets down a plate of pancakes.
Sam: “Max!”
Sam comes bursting through the door.
Mrs.Smol: “Samantha what did we talk about knocking?”
Sam: “Umm sorry Mrs.Smol. Hello Mr.Smol.”
Mr.Smol: “Grumble.”
Mr.Smol grumbles as he trunks the page of the paper. Sam sits down close to Max.
Sam: “Any way you’ll never guess what people are saying about you. Oh, cool pancakes.”
Sam takes some pancakes and begins eating them making sounds of joy at the taste of the pancakes.
Sam: “Oh my god. Mmmh. Oh. These are amazing Mrs.Smol. They taste like God’s soul!”
Max watches in annoyance as Sam eats his breakfast.
Max: “Sam!”
Sam: “Right, Right! That farmer guy refused to help and told everyone what you said and now the whole town is against you.”
Max: “How did that happen so fast?”
Sam: “I keep telling you…”
Max and Sam: “An Inch equals a Mile.”
Mrs.Smol: “Oh I remember that commercial.”
Max: “Comercial?”
Sam: “I remember now. That insurance commercial”
Mrs.Smol and Sam: “When other companies only give you an inch. We give you an inch that equals a mile!”
Max watches on as the two sing the jingle and responds as they finish.
Max: “You got that stupid moral from a commercial!”
Sam: “It was a good commercial.”
Max: “You know what I don’t even care. So what? The people don't like me. Fine! I don’t want to deal with their little problems anyway.”
Mrs.Smol: “Maxwell Marima Smol! I did not raise you like that. Every problem no matter how big or small is important, every problem could use a hero. For that, I take your pancakes.”
Max’s mother quickly swipes away the plate of pancakes that Sam is still eating.
Sam: “My pancakes.”
Max: “Come on Ma, I really don’t think plumbing issues, bees, raccoons, or fixing a farm fence requires the work of someone of my standing. I mean what’s the worst that can happen.”
Meanwhile back at the farm from earlier the absolutely worst is happening as the cows stand around eating grass a lone bee flies close. The bee flies and lands on one of the cow's rump, the cow unaware of its landing counties to chew grass. Then in one mighty thrust, the bee stings the cow. The shock of the pain is immediately felt by the bovine as it reels in pain.
Cow: Moooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!11
This surprises the other cattle as the cow charges forwards, and quickly the other cows follow suit forming a stampede. They run toward the field fences and crash through one breaking it to pieces. They begin to run down towards the town it doesn't take long for them to get there. In moments the fine people of Atomberg are running in fear of the bovine terror. The cows run and charge amok throughout the town as people scream.
Various people: “Ahhhh!”
The cows knock into cars and vehicles denting them, they kick down fire hydrants, street lights, and telephone poles. Some of the cattle stop onto cars and one cow in particular runs into a china shop. At the counter of this shop is a teenager not paying attention and doing something on his phone. The cow then quietly steps over and grabs a plate from one of the shelves with its mouth and brings it over to the counter gently placing it down.
Teenager: “That’ll be Forty-Three Dollars.”
The cow then coughs up a coupon which lands on the counter. The teenager quickly looks at the coupon from her phone.
Teenager: “Sorry Ma’am that coupon is expired.”
Cow: “Mooooo!”
Teenager: “I said the coupon is expired.”
Cow: “Moooo!”
Teenager: “I am the manager! Sigh, Cows in China shops I tell ya!”
Back at the Smol House the family and Sam are still at the table.
Sam: “Max do you remember how you started on your path to being a superhero?”
Max: “Of course.”
Sam: “You started out with nothing but that big numb brain of yours.”
Max: “It is pretty big.”
Sam: “Day in and Day out you would work on your inventions to give yourself powers and little by little you did it. Each of those inches leads you to bring a hero. And the same can be true for disasters as each little problem can lead to a bigger one. Now I’m sorry you no longer have the fame or admiration that you always have but you can’t just expect a disaster to strike that’s worth your time anymore.”
Suddenly the side door to this room busts open as Sheriff Dan Plateau comes in quickly closing the door behind him and sealing it off placing his back against it. He pants heavily from fear and exhaustion.
Dan: “huff, huff, huff, There’s a serious situation that’s worth your damn time.”
Everyone quickly looks at Dan as he states that and Sam quickly looks back at Max her mouth open and finger raised as she’s about to say something.
Max: “You still don’t have powers.”
Sam: “Darn it.”
Max: “This better not have anything to do with animals!”
Dan: “These aren’t just any animals there are the most vial, vicious creatures imaginable!”
Ms.Smol: “Lions?”
Sam: “Tigers?”
Mr.Smol: “Grumble!”
Dan: “Worse! Cows!”
Max: “Oh you gotta be kidding me!”
Dan: “They busted out of farmer Lactate's field and are now terrorizing the town.
Sam: “Max! That’s the farmer whose fence you didn’t fix! Because of that, they got out!”
Max: “Now that’s just silly, what could a couple of cows really do to a town? Shoot milk everywhere!”
Dan: “Listen! You made a promise to me to help defend the town. Now get off your butt and fulfill that promise and get rid of those dead-eyed mother utters.!”
Max: “Pffft. Fine! Come on, my suits in the shack, let's go.”
Max, Sam, and Dan exit the house and begin to make their way to the shack.
Max: “I guess it’s True that you are scared of animals Sheriff not that I get that.”
Dan: “Animals can’t reason and think like humans they all instinct and desire. And many of them have abilities beyond human power. They come big and small; worst of all is their horrible, ugly dead eyes, and the one's behind me aren’t there.”
Sam: “Uhh No One’s Behind me!”
Cow: “Moo!”
All turn to see the bovine which stands peacefully in place. Dan quickly in fear raises his gun to the animal, but Sam acts quickly grabbing his hands and forcing them down.
Sam: “Are you crazy! This is a peaceful creature.”
Dan: “That’s what it wants you to think!”
Max: “ It’s a cow, I’ve eaten at least a dozen of things in my life.”
Maz states that as he walks up to the cow.
Max: “Come on Bessie or whatever your name is get back out of here.”
The cow turns around and begins to walk away as Max speaks up again.
Max: “Go on get you stupid cow.”
As Max says that the cow kicks max sending him flying back towards the shack. Max lands on his back on the soft ground in front of the shack with a thud.
Max: “Oww.”
Sam: “Max!”
Cow: “Mooo!”
The Cow turns back to Sam and Dan and then two more cows come from behind the pair and all three of the Cows begin to circle them.
Cows: “Mooo! Mooo! Moo!”
Max groans as he picks himself up and walks into the shack.
Max: “What the hell is going on with these cows.”
Meanwhile, Sam and Dan are still surrounded by the cows. Dan shakes in his boots as Sam sticks close to him
Cow: “Moo! Moo! Moo!”
Sam: “Max!!! Help!!!!”
Suddenly Max flies over wearing his superhero costume and picks up Sam and Dan and flies them away to a nearby area.
Max: “You two stay here I’m going to check this out.”
With this Max flies up into the sky and flies off over the town. Max watches from above the town and sees the devastation and destruction that has befallen the town. He sees the cows charging through the streets as some eat from people's yards. As Max looks on he thinks to himself.
Max: “Did this really all happen because I didn’t help with a simple fence? Is Sam right?”
Max lands in the midst of the chaos and looks up as he sees the citizen farmer from earlier hanging onto a street light pole.
Citizen: “Hey! Your that jerk that didn’t fix my fence.”
Max: “Hey! Your that jerk who a jerk!”
Citizen: “This is all your fault you know.”
Max: “Typical place all your problems on someone else.”
As Max states that another cow charges into Max sending it back into a car. Max raises his hand and points at the cow charging blue energy ready to fire.
Citizen: “Please! Please! Don’t hurt my cattle! They’re my livelihood!”
Max sighs and lowers his fist.
Citizen: “Also watch out for the milk breath.”
Max: “Milk Breath?”
Cow: “Moooo!!!!”
Suddenly a beam of milk blasts out of the cow’s mouth hitting Max straight in the torso. It blasts him through the car causing him to fly back through the streets causing him to turn and tumble to the ground. Max coughs up some milk as he gets up and flies toward the citizen.
Max: “Why do the cows have Milk breath!”
Citizen: “Selective breeding?”
Max looks at the guy with his arms folded and a look of nonbelief on his face.
Citizen: “I bought some weird stuff off the internet it said it helps my cattle but it made them all weird.”
Max: “Why, why would you do that?”
Citizen: “They were cheap and the harvest festival is coming up.”
Before Max can do anything else he’s hit by another milk beam causing him to crash to the ground. He gets up shaking the milk off himself and looks around as more cows come from the streets of the town and begin to surround him.
Cows: “Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo! Moooo!”
Meanwhile, Sam and Dan are where they are at.
Sam: “I hope Max is doing okay. Dan, how do you think we can help him?”
Sam looks over to Dan and sees he's sitting on the floor in a fetal position.
Dan: “They're white with black spots, or black with white patches. Their horrible smell, and their sound, that horrible, horrible sound!”
Sam squats down behind Dan and whispers
Sam: “Moo.”
Dan: “Ahhh!”
Dan jolts up out of his position and Sam stands up too to meet him.
Sam: “Get yourself together! Seriously what happened to make you so scared of animals?”
Dan: “It started small, back when I was a boy. Originally I was just scared of bugs and spiders, just one of those childhood fears you get you know what I mean. Then one day I saw a spider get eaten by a lizard and thought anything that could so casually eat that was just as scary, then I saw that lizard get eaten by a bird, and that bird eaten by a dog and from there it sort of developed to an all animal sort of thing.”
Sam: “Well today is a perfect opportunity for you to face this fear.”
Dan: “You got to be kidding me! Do we even have time for this?”
Sam: “Ehh, Maybe. I don’t know.”
Dan: “What about Max?”
Sam: “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
Meanwhile back with Max, he's knocked away by another rampaging cow launching him into the air. Another cow blasts him backward with a beam of milk. Max falls to the ground and a Cow steps on him again and again.
Max: “Ahhh! Get off!”
With his epic strength, Max throws the cow high off of him. As Max manages to stand up he sees the cow he threw flying in the air in a summersault. The cow lands gracefully on another cow’s back. The lower cow stands up on its hind legs lifting the higher cow on its shoulder and grabbing its hind legs with its hooves.
Max: “What the…”
Before he can finish that statement the lower cow throws the higher cow back at Max. The cow flies in a summersault at the hero. It impacts him sending them crashing into a nearby building. Returning back to Sam and Dan they have made their way to a small group of cattle that are in the park eating grass.
Sam: “Alright here we go just some nice peaceful creatures, enjoying themselves eating on plain grass. No harm here.”
Dan: “Yeah that’s what they want you to think.”
Sam: “Come on. All you have to do is touch one.”
Dan: “Okay, Okay. “
Dan slowly and carefully tiptoes towards the cow and closes his eyes and slowly reaches his hand out to the animal. And when he opens his eyes he’s touching it. The cow remains calm and motions less chewing on its grass.
Sam: “There you go, see nothing happened.”
Sam says that as she walks up to him.
Dan:: “It is smooth and soft.”
Sam: “Alright, now get you but on it.”
Dan: “What! How is that starting small!”
Sam: “It’s the logical next step,”
Dan: “I don’t know you that well or for that long, but I don’t think I should trust your logic.”
Sam: “Come on Trust me.”
Dan: “Fine… Okay, okay, You're the sheriff your faced down criminals and the worst this town has thrown at you. You can do this.”
Dan with some hesitant still in his heart slowly climbs onto the back of the beast. As he rests he takes a breath of relief.
Sam: “There you go!”
As Sam states that she gives a hard slap to the butt of the cow. And Dan gives a quick affair glance at her as he realizes what she has done. Sam’s mouth is open as she also realizes what he’s done.
Cow: Moo!
The Cow gives a loud moo as it feels the pain of the slap and quickly charges forward with Dan still hanging on to its back.
Dan: “Ahhhhh!!!!”
Sam: “Ahh, alright hold on I’m coming.”
Sam goes over to another cow and hops onto it. She then strikes the butt of the cow as hard as she can.
Sam: “Hiya!!!”
The cow crushes forward with Sam on its back. She and her ride chase after Dan who is holding on to the cow he’s on for his dear life.
Dan: “Ahhhh!!!”
Sam managed to ride up next to him. She reaches out to him and yells out.
Sam: “Grab my hand!:
Dan: “What The! How are you doing that?”
Sam: “I don't know! Just trust me!”
Dan: “Oh yeah cause that worked the first time!”
Max: “Ahhhhh!!!!”
Both look to see Max hurtling toward them at high speed. Max knocks into the cow Dan is on sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Sam: “Guys!”
Sam jumps off her cow and runs to the fallen pair.
Sam: “Are you two okay?”
Both men groaned in pain.
Max: “Ohhh, Sam you were right! I should have just swallowed my pride and fixed the guy's fence. I should have stopped the problem before it exploded out of control.”
Dan: “This is partly my fault too I guess. If I wasn’t so afraid of animals, justifiable so I might add then I could have taken care of all these wild problems sooner.”
Sam: “Well it’s good to know that getting your butt kicked by cows got you to learn your lesson.”
Max: “Well what am I going to do? The cows are still destroying the town.”
Sam: “Well when the problem gets too big, you think big right?”
Max: “Think Big?... Oh, Wait! That’s right.”
Max gets up on his feet and sweeps the dirt off himself.
Max: “It’s time to Maximize!”
Sam and Dan both groan in cringe at that line from Max.
Max: “What it’s my catchphrase?”
Dan: “Just get rid of the cows already!”
Max: “Alright.”
Max presses a button on his glove and he grows in size. Max grows and grows and then stops as he stands now the size of a one-story building. Max’s voice booms as he speaks over the town and bovine. The legion of cows looks up at the giant Max as he speaks.
Max: “Alright cows it's time to come home.”
Cow: “Moooooo!!!!!”
One of the cows moos and the other cows gather around it and all begin to moo.
Cows: “Mooo!!!! Mooo!!!! Mooooo!!!”
Max: “There we go come on now. Wait what are you doing?”
Max watches as the cows begin to climb on top of each other and lock their limbs together. More and more cows keep coming to continue this process until finally all the cows have come together and form one story tall man-shaped figure made out of cows.
Cow Kaiju Man: “Moooooo!!!!”
Max: “Oh you got to be kidding….”
Before Max can finish his thought the Cow Kaiju Man punches him in the face.
Sam: “Come on Max punch that cow kaiju man??? Woah!”
Sam quickly grabs Dan and pulls him away as Max’s giant foot comes crashing down. The two titans keep going at it. The cow kaiju man throws another two punches which Max dodges. Max throws a punch back at the monster and it connects knocking a couple of bovine off of it sending them to the ground. The kaiju looks at the spot where he was hit and lets out another loud roar.
Kaiju: “Mooo!!!!”
The Kaju blast out a large Milk beam at Max. Max is slowly pushed back and tries to hold his ground. Max fires back with his beams of blue plasmatic energy. The two beams clash in mid-air causing an explosion of energy and milk. The cow kaiju then punches Max in the side who grunts in pain. Max throws three more punches each one manages to connect with the beast knocking off more and more cows. The cows fall to the ground landing on cars and rooftops.
Cows: “Mooo! Mooo! Mooo!”
The Kaiju tries to throw a punch, but Max manages to dodge it, grabs the monster's arm, and ribs it off, causing more cows to fall to the ground.
Max: “Hey cows, Get Milked!”
Max throws one final punch as the kaiju of cows explodes into a bunch of bovines all falling to the ground. The cows land on the ground and all of the cows that have fallen are unconscious but overall unharmed. Expect maybe one cow that got shamed for being a Karen. Max shrinks back down to his regular size with his eyes closed as Sam and Dan run up to him.
Max: “There we go problem Slove….ed”
As Max finishes his sentence he opens his eyes. Max sees the destruction that has befallen the town. He sees destroyed cars and smashed-up buildings, the knocked-out streetlamps and telephone poles, and the spilling water from the fire hazards.
Max: “Man what a mess.”
Sam: “To think such a big mess could have been prevented by a small simple task.”
Max: “I said I got the point already.”
Sam: “Still though.”
Dan: “What caused all this anyway?”
Sam: “Max refused to fix a guy's fence.”
Dan: “Not surprising, but I meant the cows I ain’t no animal expert but those were not normal cows.”
Max: “Something about their farmer buying some kind of weird drug off the internet.”
Dan: “Guess I’m gonna have to deal with that.”
Sam: “Dan I’m sorry I tried to make you face your fears, I kind of get it now.”
Dan: “What so now you're scared of animals.”
Sam: “No, just diary.”
No one laughs at that joke.
Citizen: “There he is!”
The trio stops their conversation and looks over to see the citizen farmer guy from earlier. Behind him is a mod of townsfolk all with angry expressions on their collective faces.
Citizen: “There he is! He’s the one that caused this! Let's get him!”
The mod looks ready to strike when suddenly Sam speaks up.
Sam: “Wait!!!! My townspeople think of all the good Max has done for you over the last day. Yes, this was a mistake but it was not one he was entirely responsible for.”
Max: “Wait but you said..!”
Sam gives him a slight punch to his gut, but it hits his armor which hurts her hand and she shakes it in pain and holds her tongue from letting out any noise.
Citizen: “Look at what he has done to my cattle!”
Dan: “So you're the one responsible for these horrid beasts?”
Citizen: “Uh Yeah?”
Dan: “And you bought what I can only assume is an illegal substance off the internet that made them act crazy/”
Citizen: “You…You can’t prove that.”
Sam: “Did you delete your search history?”
Citizen: “Uhhh…I would like to go home now.”
Dan: “Yeah no you’re under arrest.”
Dan quickly pops the handcuffs on the guy and leads him off to the police satio to be processed.
???: “Em hem.”
Max and Sam look back over to the angry mod.
Angry mobster: “We’re still angry!”
Sam: “People of Atomberg. Max will personally clean and fix every inch of this mess and will deal with all your problems free of charge the rest of the day.”
Max: “Wait where we even paid for the earlier jobs?”
Sam: “Not now.” she whispers to him.
Max: “This is gonna be a lot of miles.”
It takes Max the rest of the day but slowly he fixes the damage. Using a combination of his super strength, flight, and energy beams he reattaches the lampposts and telephone poles helps rebuilds buildings and helps tow cars away. Of course, he helps carry the unconscious cattle off back to their pasture. There he finally rebuilds the fence at high speed getting the task done in no time. Max and Sam finally return to the shack where this whole adventure started. Max plops down in the chair of his makeshift desk and lets out an exhausted sigh.
Max: “Man thank god that's finally over and everything is back to normal.”
Sam: “Excluding the town’s opinion of you. Now, most people have a mixed opinion of you.”
Max: “Well after everything I guess that’s better than nothing.”
Sam: “At the least, I’m glad you learned a lesson.”
Max: “Yes, yes an Inch equals a mile.”
Sam. “And….?”
Max: “And what?”
Sam sighs in annoyance and rolls her eyes.
Sam: “Whatever I’m going home see you tomorrow.”
Max: “Laters.”
Sam walks out the door leaving Max all by himself. Max tabs the side of the headpiece of his costume. The display on his screen shows him a battery bar that lists 80%.
Max: “Problem is how many miles do I need to get out of this place?”
End of Chapter 2