Max spent to much time at the Talon. Talking with the others carried on long enough that it would be a waste to head to the caves at this point. So it was scheduled for the morning instead. What he wanted required light anyway. The spell involved needed to be done with the sun shining on the caves.
Ritual spells had all kinds of tags attached to them. But restrictions were their for a reason. More powerful spells always had that kind of stuff. Made the reward even better when done.
As for Clark, he did not drop his guard against Max. Ear hustled a lot the talks beteen Max and anyone. Which was fine really for Max. Lois had "found" Max during a morning run. More of snooped out that he was on a run anyway. Pried from Lena Luthor the previous day.
"Mr.Wayne." Lois ran up on Max's side. Not very subtle at all. She still had a ways to go to be a great reporter. Which was fine since she has not gone to college yet. "Care to chat for your run?" Her hair was tied in a ponytail and she was in borrowed sweats from her cousin. She was slightly dolled up. Why, most likely a little trouble she planned on causing later for someone.
Max was in some spiritual clothes. To a regular person, it looked like a windbreaker and a thermal shirt. On his back, was a "bag" that had an assortment of things inside. But a few tags on it as well looked high grade. Which a rich person would have.
Perception helped with a lot f things. Considering Max's build, a thief would have to be stupid to tussle with for one. A few of the locals gave friendly waves.
"If you can keep up, go for it." Max said simply. His breath under control as he gave only a small glance towards her. Considering he was leaving from town and going towards the farm stretch of the area. Several farms were barely struggling to make ends meet lately. Ever since Max "convinced" a senator to cut them a break. "I am just starting really."
"Right.. so no bullshit then." Lois cut straight to it. She eyed Max with an appreciative look over. Something she picked up from her dad. Nothing like hard work to make someone worthy of a little respect. "What do you plan on doing here?"
"Harvest the meteor rocks and provide support to those affected by it." Max said simply. The two just passed a cyclist. "The farms in the area were screwed over by the bank, which is not unusual. I provided a bailout for them. Met with a bunch of people to get that taken care of as well. Returned farms back to a few people."
"Sounds to good to be true."
"It is in a way." Max grinned. He received a lot of Virtue energy from doing so. Which made up for the money spent tenfold. Not that they need to know that. Gaining while losing some, always training. "I technically own the land. If they can not meet the guidelines, I will take it back from them in 10 years."
"Guidelines such as?" Lois arched her brow trying to move further ahead of him. It didn't work. A semi-trained teenager could not match a cultivator, let alone Max a magic human. "So they have their farms but then they don't really?" She tucked away that maybe Max should be introduced to a female recruiter. Especially since he like older women if the rumors were true.
"The guidelines state they will follow government mandates. As well as state ones. A few searches to make sure nothing.. weird is happening." Like mutant insects and bugs developing and to be ready for when the next Meteor Shower or alien refugee arrived. "10 years is a long time to get your shit togethor. If you can't, then the farm did not mean shit to you anyway."
Max adjusted himself. Virtue-Endurance pulsing in his body. Lois provided a little from working so hard next to him. Max sent a small bit of it refined back to her.
A runner's high achieved in a way.
"Yeah.. gotcha on that." Lois kept pace thinking it over. Trying not to ask something that would piss him off. But with Max answering so much so simply, she wanted to just dig deeper in. "The meteorite rocks, the government wants it to. Gonna compete against them for it?"
"Pft, nope. The rocks I gathered are drained, tested, and destroyed for some parts. A process to help turn them into something good is a long way away." Max took a left down a dirt road.
Heading down to an abandoned farm road that he purchased. As well as the land of course. Quite a few farms went belly up. As well as a lot of people no longer able to deal with the town and it's weirdness.
A glance showed heavy machinery getting unloaded. Watching his people fix it up some. Max turned back to Lois after seeing it was ok.
"I am not one of those that think things need to be preserved for study. Some things must be eliminated." Max's eyes bore into her hard. "Some Xenos need to be killed." No humor in his voice leaving no room for doubt to Lois.
"Sounds a little evil. And crazy." Lois eyed his non-changing facial expression. "Rumor mill says you are trying to save the Planet. A lot of circles think you are a dreamer hippy."
"Ah, General Lane. Wonder when you would quote your old man." Max gave her a genuine smile. Pace kicked up after he saw all he needed from his people's work in another area. "I do not need to understand everything to be happy. I know what the Earth needs. And that is.."
"Hold on!" Lois said quickly. She looked a little winded. Max came over checking her over. She was sweating heavy, but shouldn't be this bad. "Just.. give.. me a minute."
A slight green pollen was in the area. Confirming a test that he needed to do on someone already. Lois helped him a good bit unintentionally.
"Take this." Max passed her an inhaler. "The area .. has an issue in the air. Makes it hard on a few people. Most people who have a lot of smog in their lungs. Like a city slicker from Metropolis. Something a bit like hay-fever happens. Or maybe you are just out of shape?"
*Chuush!* Lois used the inhaler and felt better in an instant. She held it tight looking over the side. It was a pretty big inhaler. But it tasted really good. It was FDA approved. And something very expensive she noted. A product of his company no doubt.
"I am not out of shape. How far have we run anyway?!" Lois asked a little ticked off. She did not want to give the inhaler back. "Why are you not even tired!?"
"I am in perfect shape that's why. I run over.. well. Let's just go with a lot. Under stressful conditions. As well as meditate and ate really healthy for a long time. Glad that is over." His face held a slight grimance. "So many days I wanted to eat a bbq bacon cheeseburger." Max leaned against the fence post. Feet kicked at the grass. Green bits of pollen shut up. "See, the problem. The locals are fine. But someone else.."
*Chuush!* Lois took another hit. The moment the spores made it to her, almost made her start a coughing fit. She was reminded about Chloe saying to be careful of this road after looking around.
To be fair though, Chloe told her to be careful of a lot of places in Smallville.
"Maybe some things do need to be destroyed?" Lois recovered but did not like the pollen on her arms. A quick thought about how that could be weaponized and demolish any city area passed in her mind. "Well, this is not good. I feel really hot." She wiped it off when Max passed her a towel. The spores blocked her sweat glands a little. "What do you have in that bag anyway?"
"Water, first aid kit, towels, change of clothes, and some nutrient bars." Max grinned at her wide-eyed look. "And a camera, pen, and paper. Oh, and a tablet. I am going to.. "explore" after my run."
"The clothes?" Lois blinked at him. Her eyes looking him over cautiously. Something about Max made her cautious all of a sudden. The spores combined with the inhaler already doing something to her slightly. And the little spiritual energy Max sent her way acted as a catalyst. 'I feel complete invigorated. Why is he making my heart thumb so much!? I need a distraction!'
"In case I stay out to late and get.. messy." Max's voice came out a little off to her. It was in case he killed someone or was injured screwing around in the caves. "One needs to be prepared. What do they teach you in school? Bet General Lane would be displeased you are out for a run with a playboy, as Clark put it."
"You heard that?" Lois became clear-headed after Max's voice reverberated in her head. A slight spell to help things. 'I might become addicted to running. Has to be the reason for all this.' She convinced her self easily enough.
"He mumbled it a few times yesterday." Max shrugged. "It matters not to me. I am worse than any playboy. Shit, worse than a good majority of the Planet."
"Then buying a good image I take it?" Lois had her hands on her hips. Max gave her a nod. "But you have not done anything bad yet. Have you?"
"Maybe." Max answered playfully. He took back the towel. Placing it in a different section of the bag. He also took out a strange device and stabbed it into the grass. Lois walking to his side. To curious about what he was doing. "It is a marker. Taking in data of the soil, air, and spore content."
"How many of these have you planted?" Lois has seen some things like this before. In a picture, her dad had of some marsh in the east. Or was it the south? She couldn't remember as she needed to play innocent when he returned to her office.
"Umm about 3,000 or so." Max stood up and made a quirk mark in his notebook. Turning to her, seeing she should had recovered enough. "You ready?" She gave a slight nod. "Good. Time to go."
"What do you do with the data?" Lois asked.
"It is all collected and stored. Match it with other places all across the world. A few places that were not even affected by the meteor shower show traces of things like the pollen. Especially along the coast." Max's face furrowed a little bit. "Matches a few chemical dump sites. In Gotham, Metropolis, Coast City, Star City, five different Provinces in China, and in Quebec."
"Chemicals.." Lois rembered something her father mentioned. "You purchased a chemical factory in Boston. Are you storing the chemical there?" Max nodded. "To do what exactly?"
"Trying to develop ways to neutralize it from the soil. So far, small success. Only a few things react in a good way. A chemical fire went off one time." Max frowned at the loss of the samples. "We loss to many treatments. Which was not that bad, if we didnt lose the other batch to the government."
"Yeah.. my dad received a lot of crap for that." Lois frown at that as well. The soldiers that confiscated it are still in the hospital. Not handling the chemical correctly. Despite the protocol, Max's people told them when they took it away. "Your staff didn't even put up a fuss. They were even helpful. Weirdest damn thing I heard of."
She quoted her father directly. Max even allowed them to search the files of the places. Considering everything was on the up and up, it did not matter in the least.
"Yeah, we did not want a spill. Or worse." Max stopped at a junction and went down the way. "But, people did not listen. Such a shame really. Really needed those samples."
"If you had it back.." Lois grabbed his arm. Still keeping pace mind you. ".. could you develop a way to help those soldiers?" Max stopped dry and looked upset.
"I filed to get the samples returned. Even the wasted material that we were told was compromised." Max knew it was a lie that it was all gone. But, had to let the government get a few wins. To soon to take a harder approach. "So, that was a lie then."
"Just.. can you do it or not?" Lois couldn't answer that any other way. If she could help her dad somehow, it was more than good enough. As well as the soldiers' families. "Please."
Max checked his tablet to confirm some things.