Note: Sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes and sounded like I wouldn't finish the story if I didn't get reviews. If you like the story continue reading, there's more to come. Besides, how can I publish the sequel without finishing the story that inspired it?

MAX STEEL: STORM FURY PART 19

His naked back felt cold, and when he tried to move his arms and legs he couldn't budge them. They felt like they were restrained by metal clamps. But he didn't know for sure because he was in complete darkness. The last thing he remembered was getting the beating of his life from Tempest in the brig of Dread's submarine. But it was obvious he was not on the sub any longer, he couldn't feel the tech/bulk-head plate vibrations that a vessel like that created.

He didn't know where he was, and he couldn't be sure how long he was unconscious. His whole body hurt, but his nanoprobes were making the appropriate repairs to his body; but they seemed to be taking their sweet time. His ribs hurt like hell, they were probably broken; and if he could see them they'd probably he severely bruised. His face also felt sore and was probably black and blue.

He had never been beaten to unconscious like that before, but there was always a first time for everything. Tempest had fun, too much fun actually, and too bad the fun was only one-sided. But once he got free and foiled John Dread's plans, he'll have a little fun of his own.

Maybe, if he ever got free that is. He didn't know what John Dread had planned for him or where he was, so perhaps the idea of trashing Dread's scheme for world domination was a bit premature. He had to rescue his friends and Tommy Sykes and his father first. Well, actually, he had to free himself before he did any of that.

He knew John Dread's plan: to clone an army of super soldiers from his DNA, but what could he do about it? John Dread had connections and access to practically any technology he could get his criminally insane hands on. He might be able to do it, though his methodology did sound futuristic and a little far-fetched. It sounded like something that belonged in science-fiction. His nanoprobes were in the same vote, but they were an icon of science-fact. So, maybe Dread did have the means to do exactly what he had planned. He had to stop him somehow; yeah, somehow.

A bright light temporarily blinded him, and his pupils stung from the sudden pain they caused them. He would normally rub them, but as his arms were clamped down to what felt like a metal table, he to blink to align his vision and focus properly.

It was then that he saw a surprising sight considering the circumstances. "John Dread," he said, "funny meeting you here."

Max lay on an upright medical table with his wrists, thighs and ankles restrained with metal clamps, and John Dread stood in front, facing him. "Delightful wit as usual, Mr. Steel, I would hardly expect anything less from you," John Dread said. "But again, you were never one to recongise the seriousness in anything."

"I'm taking your scheme for world domination pretty seriously, Dread," Max said. "But be realistic, you know it'll never work. Cloning an army of super soldiers and sending them out into the world as your enforcers to takeover the world is a pretty far-fetched plan. It'll never fly."

John Dread cocked his head slightly to the left and smiled amused. "And where did you hear such a ridiculous idea like that?" he asked him.

"Electrix told me, she told me everything," Max said confused. "You mean you aren't going to create an army of cloned super soldiers?"

"Parish the thought, Mr. Steel. I believe Annabelle has been feeding you mistruths, or having some fun at your expense," John Dread said. He stepped aside and revealed two cryostatis chambers on the other side of his lab. "You give me too much credit. You're a smart kid, but you could never see the whole picture. I wouldn't go through all the trouble of kidnapping Dr. Martinez and Ms. Ryan if I was planning to clone super soldiers. That would be too easy and I wouldn't need you do complete it. I have a much more ingenious idea in mind."

Max saw his friends in tall, thin, cylinder, cryostatis chambers, surrounded by Infinity Ice, only their faces were showing, and he went ballistic; his emotions ran wild. They looked dead. He pulled at his restrains in a desperate plea to escape, but his efforts were futile.

"You murdering bastard! What have you done to them?"

"Calm down, Mr. Steel," John Dread said. "They're perfectly safe, and very much alive. I've placed them in cryo-statis, hyperbolic sleep. They're unaware of what is going on. To them, the world—even time—has stopped. The readouts on the bottom of each chamber indicate their vital signs and as you can see everything is green across the board."

"Let them go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, not quite yet," he said. John Dread went over to the chambers and he brushed a hand across the glass gently, feeling the coldness from each. "You see, they are very much a vital component to my experiment as you are. But you are the final piece. Your DNA in culmination with theirs will cultivate the ultimate in bio-tech soldier, unlike Psycho. He was my first success with this technology, but as you see there were a few minor abnormalities and I had to replace portions of his body with cybernetic components. I say he turned out quite remarkable regardless of those problems, wouldn't you say?"

"So, Dr. Frankenstein finally admits to his monster. I say he takes after his creator. You're both insane!"

"I admit, there were some behavioral modifications I made to his personality during his conception to make him the way he is and I do regret eliminating some inhibitor nodes from his brain, but he is controllable. Little did I know he would turn out as mentally unstable as he turned out to be. But this time things will be different. After all, he was cultivated from your DNA, and you turned out normal. So as long as I leave the behavior sequencers alone, this one should be perfect."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Psycho is your brother," John Dread said blunt.

Max was agape.

Dread grinned. "I'm surprised you were left in the dark about that. I was under the impression that Jefferson Smith informed you. Yet again, he must have felt it better if it were kept from you because perhaps it was best you didn't know. Besides, how would you feel if you were sent on a mission to kill your own brother?" Dread pressed a button on a computer console next to the chambers. "Psycho, would you please come in here please."

Psycho was waiting outside the lab and entered through a door next to the chambers as requested.

Dread continued. "You see, due to a genetic default in my genetic make-up, I learned I can't have children. I always wanted a son so I used your DNA a hair sample I stole sample from N-Tek's classified files to clone one and accelerated his growth. But I miscalculated some of the genetic sequence codes and the clone developed some rather grotesque abnormalities. But instead of destroying him I decided to simply replace the damaged parts."

"You sick, twisted, perverted man," Max said.

"You have all people should praise me for my accomplishments, for if it wasn't for the collective talents of myself and others at N-Tek, you would not be alive today. Dr. Martinez may have urbanized the nanoprobes that now swim inside your body, but I wrote the mock prototype of their design and created Trans-phasic technology as their catalyst. They are a marvel of engineering and of human ingenuity. My ingenuity. However I could never sustain them in a controlled environment for longer than three seconds. When Jefferson Smith got whim of what I was secretly developing I was fired as administrator of N-Tek and he was promoted to my position. A clever way to climb the latter. He later authorized my project be reinitiated. It wasn't until Dr. Martinez took up my research years later and continued my research was my dream finally realized."

"So, if you really created the N-Tek probes, what were you going to use them for?"

"I'm glad you asked that," Dread said. "N-Tek was developing nanoprobes for medical purposes to help cure cancer patients by injecting them into the sick to destroy the cancer cells. But I had a much broader use for them. I wanted to use them to help battle terrorism. By injecting nanoprobes into a person and using them for interrogation, we could help prevent terrorist acts before they happened."

"How noble of you, Dread," Max said sarcastically.

"Quite," Dread said. "It wasn't until later I realized my reason for developing them was flawed. Why develop such a sophisticated technology and waste them in such a minor role? So after I was fired from N-Tek and fled the country before they could prosecute me for developing a potential bio-weapon, I started to build an organization to oversea my vision of the future for the world. The concept of world domination is so cliché, but the idea of order in a chaotic world was very appealing and with the nanoprobes it could become a reality. So I planted a sleeper in N-Tek to advise me of all operations and special projects and he's been there ever since and he advised of the nanoprobes."

"You mean Jean wasn't the only double agent?"

"Jean didn't become a part of my organization until afterwards. Even Dr. Clemo was secretly helping me with the project back then, as he is now."

"You had everyone in your back pocket, didn't you? Who's the sleeper?"

Dread smirked. "That is privileged information," he said. "His identity is a closely guarded secret and it shall remain such."

Dread continued. "Back to the story," he said. "The story continues when I sent Psycho to steal a sample of Dr. Martinez's nanoprobes. He accidentally blasted the stasis chamber in which the nanoprobes were kept and they were integrated into your body. You were on your death bed until I learned of your condition through the sleeper. I made a phone call to Jefferson Smith and told him how to integrate Trans-phasic energy with the nanoprobes as both worked in a symbiotic relationship with the other. He was hesitate, but he agreed to try it. It was the only way you'd survive and a daily dose of "T" Juice would continuously replenish any energy the nanoprobes expended during their daily routine in keeping you healthy."

"So everything falls back to you," Max said. "Did you kill my father too?"

"Such a ridiculous question," Dread said. "No, he was killed on a mission. I had nothing to do with your father's death."

BioConstrictor exited from a walk-in freezer with a mask over his reptilian face and he was holding a rather large looking syringe with an even scarier needle. He approached John Dread, and as he did so the medical table Max was secured to, slowly began to tilt backwards until it settled vertical. BioConstrictor stood at Max's right side.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Max asked.

"Extract some of your DNA, naturally," John Dread said, and nodded to his accomplice.

Without hesitation BioConstrictor slowly plunged the needle into Max's stomach. Max gritted his teeth in pain and with held a scream.

"Forgive the lack of antithetic, but we can't afford to damage the cells of your DNA in any way. The lining of the stomach is the most viable place to obtain unaltered cells. Don't fret-it will only sting for a moment."

But Dread lied, it was agony. It felt like being shot in the stomach, and if you asked anyone who had been shot there, it was the worse pain imaginable.

BioConstrictor slowly extracted Max's DNA into the clear syringe, and when he was finished he removed the needle from his stomach. He then examined the contents and nodded to John Dread indicating he got what he needed.

"Excellent," John Dread remarked. "Doctor, you know what to do."

BioConstrictor nodded, and then left the lab with the syringe.

"You have what you needed, now let my friends go," Max said.

"I don't have everything yet," John Dread said, and Psycho went to Max's right side.

"There is still one more thing I need, something essential for my plan to come to complete fruition." Psycho had a small, rectangular device in his head with four metal prongs and he inserted it in the right side of Max's temple. Max screamed as he felt its insertion. The lights on the device blinked for a few moments and then stopped. Psycho removed it and gave it to Dread. "Thank you, Mr. Steel. That's all I need."

"What did you do?" Max asked, still reeling from the pain it had caused him.

"I copied your brainwave patterns, without them my cloned soldier would be nothing but an empty shell," he said. "I would have preferred someone with a slightly higher IQ, but yours will sufficient." He turned to Psycho. "Provide Mr. Steel with comfortable accommodations until such time he is needed again."

John Dread then left them and exited the lab with the device in hand.

Psycho turned to Max, and placed his metal claw around his throat. "Helpless, infant-like; it would be so easy to crush you windpipe right now, but I'll let you reel in the fact of our blood relation. I believe the realization of that fact will be torture enough." He chuckled.

"Dread's lying, we could never be related," Max said.

"Play your delusions, but the same blood runs through our veins."

"No, I don't believe it! It can't be! I won't believe it!"

Psycho chuckled wickedly.

He then raised his other hand and sprayed a paralyzing nerve gas into Max's face from a small bottle, and all of sudden, Max couldn't feel any part of his body, and nor could he speak. He felt numb all over.

Psycho released the clamps to the medical table and picked up Max and draped him over his shoulder. Then he carried him into an elevator and down several levels of Dread's underground complex in Arizona. He took him down a lengthy hallway and threw him into a jail cell carved out of stone. He activated a control panel on the wall and erected energy bars to keep Max Steel secure inside, not like he was going anywhere.

"At least you're not alone, Maxy," Psycho said. "You have young Tommy to keep you company." Tommy was huddled in the darkest corner he could find in the cell. Psycho laughed and then left, leaving a single foot soldier to guard the hallway to the cell.

When Psycho was gone, Tommy ventured out of the corner and went to Max. "I'm sorry, Mr. Steel, it's all my fault. If I wasn't so reckless and allowed myself to be captured by that lunatic you wouldn't be in this situation."

Max tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't move. He could only make odd noises, but sighed when he couldn't even tell Tommy it wasn't his fault.

If it was anyone's fault, it was his-Max's-and now that he knew the secret behind Psycho and who really developed the nanoprobes, things would never been the same.

-to be continued…