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As time passed
Frink found himself putting all his effort into his work. Working
helped him to take his mind off of the pain. What he hadn't realized
was how over protective he had become of Max. He added a few
changes to the electrophage design and prepared to leave the office.
Again he found another note, a shorter one. "Do not proceed
further on the Thanos Project." Again he ignored it. Stupid
pranks. He was closer now than ever. He left work to pick up
Max from School. Maximillian was no longer allowed to ride the
bus and he was not allowed to leave the house when Frink was not
around. He had put Floyd in charge of watching over and protecting
Max while he was working and soon the child began to feel like
a prisoner in his own house. Two weeks had passed and it was
the weekend. Max grabbed his skateboard and tried to sneak out
the door. Floyd rolled up on his treads and blocked his path.
"Aw, come on Floyd. Please let me through. I just want
to play outside."
"Sorry…young…master."
"MAX!" Frink yelled from upstairs. "Go play in
your room. I don't want you going outside. We've gone over this."
Max stomped his foot and threw his skateboard at Floyd cracking
his dome head and knocking out a few circuits in the process.
The large robot fell over on its side twitching.
"Oh no, now I have to fix that." Said Frink as he slapped
his forehead. Max ran up the stairs and stuck his tongue out
at his father making a raspberry sound, then slammed the door
to his room shut on him.
"Oh dear." Said Frink realizing that something was
really wrong. He thought he'd give the boy time to cool down
so Frink went downstairs and revived Floyd fixing his damage.
"Sorry about that, Floyd. He's become so difficult ever
since Caroline died. How are you?"
"Fully…functional…master. May…I suggest something?"
"What? What do you want?"
"Go…talk…to him." Frink nodded to the robot
and walked upstairs. He knocked on the door then stepped inside.
Max was sitting on his bed with his knees up, arms over them
and just looking out the window dreamily.
"Max, are you alright? I'm sorry about everything. We were
never like this. What's happening?"
"Dad! Could you lighten up on me?? I haven't done anything
bad yet I feel like you are punishing me by not letting me do
anything. I know you miss mom, I really miss her too but you
can't keep stifling me like this. I'm no longer having fun and
it's pushing us apart. You can't protect me all the time!"
"You know, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry. This hasn't
been easy on any of us. I love you, Max." He said hugging
the child. He was so relieved to see the boy smile again.
"Everything's so different now without mom." Max said
with a quivering voice.
"I know, Max. It will be different, and it will be hard.
The two just held each other a moment. "I'll tell Floyd
to stop blocking the door. And you can go out and play with your
board today if you want."
"Oh dad!" Max said as he squeezed his dad harder.
"I don't think I have been having any fun either. I hear
there's a parade in town tomorrow, would you care to go with me
to that, goh hay din hey?"
"A parade? I'd love to!!" Said Max excitedly.
"Good. Then tomorrow we'll have fun together."
The following
day the two were screaming and having fun at the parade in the
middle of town. Everyone was there and confetti and streamers
rained down from the tall buildings around them. Frink carried
Max on his shoulders so the child could see the floats better
over the heads of the adults. Several different floats rolled
by, one was shaped like a lion, another was a heart others were
just covered in flowers or company logos. Quite a few were handing
out prizes or throwing out beads to the children.
"Dad, can I go to the front and catch some of the stuff they
are giving out?"
"I don't know, muh hay. There's a lot of people you'd have
to push through and I don't want you to get lost."
"I won't get lost. Please dad! I can just crawl between
people to the front."
"Well alright." Said Frink as he lifted Max off his
shoulders and set him down on the ground.
"Thanks dad!" Yelled Max as he gave his father a hug.
"Go get 'em kido!" Said Frink as he nudged Max in the
arm. He watched from the back as Max literally crawled between
people's legs to get to the front. A loud speaker blazed in the
distance and as it came closer it became more understandable.
It was a large float with a huge papier-mâché shark
as its centerpiece. They were picking certain kids out from the
crowd to go up on the float and receive a small action figure
as their prize. They called up a pigtailed girl and she ran up
waved at the audience and got her toy. Then from the other side
of the street they picked out a young boy to come up. Max's eyes
went wide. He really wanted to win one and even though it had
already passed by he screamed as loud as he could and waved his
arms up and down. To his surprise it stopped and one of the guys
looked back and pointed at him.
"The little boy with the crazy hair. Come up you're our
next winner." Max thrust his fist in the air not believing
his good luck. Frink watched the float. The men running it looked
awfully familiar to him. He adjusted the glasses on his face
and took another look. Yes he was sure of it, he had seen them
before, but where? It suddenly hit him, those were Owen's men!
He had only seen them at the research facility once may-be twice.
He did not know what part they played in the Thanos project but
they where definitely Owen's… "Good Glayvin!!
MAX!! Don't go up there! MAX!!!" It was too late, Max was already
on the float and Frink had so much crowd between him and the street.
"Hello little boy." Said one of the men into the microphone.
"What is your name?"
"Maximillian." He responded with a huge smile.
"Isn't that a nice name? Now tell us Max, what is your
last name?"
"Excuse me, coming through. Let me pass!! Goh hay!"
Said Frink as he shoved people left and right trying to get to
the front. Lenny happened to be the next one in front of him
and Frink tapped him on the back. "Excuse me, let me through.
I simply must get to the front."
"Frink." Responded Max once again into the mic.
"Maximillian Frink." Said the man. "Yep, he's
the one."
"Listen here, Frinky. I got this spot fair and square.
I'm not moving from it, if you want it you'll have too…"
The next thing Lenny saw was a fist in his face as Frink drew
back and nailed him right between the eyes knocking him flat on
his back. Frink had no time to argue, he had to get to his son.
"Congratulations kid. Here's your prize." Said the
strange man as he grabbed Max by the arms hard and drew him in.
Two other guys on the float came over and began to beat Max before
the stunned crowd.
"NOOOO!!!" Yelled Frink as he pushed and elbowed people
out of his way more violently than before.
"Stop. Please." Cried out Max between screams. He
was crying now and the tears were clearly visible on his little
cheeks. A fist to the face partially shattered the lens over
his left eye. Half his vision became blurred yet he could still
see as jagged lavender glass hung before part of his eye.
"What is it with these Frinks that they don't die when they
are beaten severely?" Asked one of the float men.
"I don't know but this is taking too long!" Responded
the other clearly frustrated that the plan wasn't going as smoothly
as they wanted. Frink stumbled out into the street at last and
his world was thrown into slow motion as he watched the man pull
out a handgun and press it right against Max's chest. He saw
his finger pull back on the trigger and a stream of blood and
shattered bone spray out of Max's back in a nearly symmetrical
cone. Even the sound was muffled and drawn out. The blast was
strong enough to knock Max off his feet and he flew backwards
off of the float. He twisted and turned in the air still alive
and caught a glimpse of his father staring at him helplessly in
pain. Max felt no pain though. It was very strange; he felt
nothing at all. He was flying and he was no longer frightened.
Tears still streamed down his face and mixed with the blood that
trickled down his nose. He knew his father was watching him and
he smiled at him and mouthed, "I love you, Daddy."
Time returned to normal and Max hit the ground hard, face down.
The crowd pulled back as the little body landed at their feet
limp and lifeless. The blood from his wound poured out into the
street and pooled under him as it had for his mother. The three
men had gone under the float and a black car burst from its center
and roared off down the street disappearing on the horizon. The
crowd gathered and watched in horrified silence. The whole town
had witness the event and just stared. Frink ran over to his fallen
son and turned him over onto his back. His lavender glasses had
broken in half when he hit the concrete and now wide lifeless
eyes looked up at Frink.
"No Maximillian!! Not you too!! NOOOO MAX!!!!!" Frink lifted him
up and held him close against his chest. He was still warm.
Torrents of tears cascaded down Frink's face and he felt as though
something had just been wrenched out of his heart. "You
can't leave me alone like this. I need you MAX!
Parents aren't supposed to out live their CHILDREN!!"
He sat on his knees bent over the child's body, his hair flopping
in his face. In two short weeks Frink had lost the two most important
people in his life. He looked at him again and closed Max's eyes
slowly. He saw the broken glasses on the ground to his left and
carefully picked up both pieces and held them up to the light.
"So this is how you saw the world. It must have been a
wonderful sight." He said as he placed them in his other
pocket. Frink couldn't see through his own tears now. He felt
lost, alone, frightened. He then felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
It was Ned Flanders. "Say there friend, let me give you
a ride home. The chief is here and well he's gonna take care
of things. Okaly dokaly? Please let me help you." He said
holding a hand out to him. Frink said nothing and continued to
clutch his son in his arms. Chief Wiggum kneeled next to him
and gently tried to take the boy out of his arms, but Frink pulled
away and screamed, "NO HE'S MINE!!!" "The chief is here to help.
Please cooperate with him." Said Flanders. Frink looked
up at both of them, he had a frightened look on his face, but
at last he loosened his grip on the little body and Wiggum placed
Max on a stretcher. Ned still had his hand out before Frink.
Frink said nothing, but took his hand and Flanders helped him
to his feet. They rode most of the way in silence. Flanders
wanted to say something but he didn't even know how to begin talking
to the professor.
"You know Frink, I…I saw you at my wife's funeral.
Well sir that really meant a lot to me. I can understand what
you went through but I certainly cannot relate to losing a son.
I can only imagine how you must be suffering. I'm really sorry
and well if you ever want to talk you can give 'ol Neddy a call.
Oh and here we are." He said as he pulled in to Frink's
drive way. Frink stepped out of the car. "Thanks for the
ride." Is all he said and he trudged into his house. After
attending Maximillian's funeral alone, Frink felt so lost and
empty. He no longer cared about anything and for the first time
he experienced a new feeling. For the first time in his life
Frink felt hatred.
"Screw the
funding!" He said as he made his way down to his basement.
He'd brought home some supplies from both his labs. He dusted
off the old suitcase that housed his death ray and pulled it out
looking at it, scrutinizing it. He still didn't have everything
he needed to make it work properly but he had enough to make it
destructive. Frink made all the adjustments that he possible
could on his own. It was time to test it out. He walked upstairs
with a cold expression on his face.
"Floyd, get in here!" He yelled.
"Yes…master?" said the robot as it rolled into
the room and stood to Frink's right. Without even looking up
Frink lifted his arm and pulled the trigger. A red beam shot
out and nailed Floyd dead in the chest sending him flying through
the kitchen and out the sidewall into the yard. After the dust
settled Frink walked through the hole in his wall and looked down
at the remains of his robot. The head shield had completely shattered
along with all the bulbs in his head and there was a gaping hole
in his chest the size of a basketball. Frink held up the death
ray before his face, cocked his head to one side and looked at
it quizzically.
"It's ready." He said content with an insane smile.
Walking back inside, he stopped in front of the budgie cage.
He calmly place his death ray down on a near by coffee table,
opened the cage door and grabbed the budgies. The two little
white birds made no fuss. They did not move at all as they sat
in Frink's firm grasp. He opened the window and held out the
two birds. "Go on you two and find Max and Caroline. But
leave Springfield. This will not be a pleasant place to be."
And with that he threw the two birds out the window and watch
them fly away.
Frink walked back
into the living room holding his head with both hands as though
he had a massive headache. The Springfield police were a bunch
of slobbering idiots. They couldn't solve a crime if they saw
it happen before them and they had. Frink now knew who was to
blame for the death of his wife and child. All his life he'd
been pushed around, thrown around and stepped on. He'd taken
it with good cheer, he'd allowed it to happen when he should have
not. No longer would he be the sweet lighthearted professor everyone
knew him to be. In a swift motion he scooped the death ray off
of the coffee table and held it out aiming at some imaginary target.
Slowly he lowered his arm when he saw that he was pointing at
a bookshelf and directly at his high school yearbook. Frink pulled
it off the shelf and threw it to the ground. It opened to the
page of his senior year.
"They voted me most likely to become a 'mad scientist' and
I am not about to disappoint them."
