#toxzon

———

“I generate the power, Steel has the alien tech to control it!”

———

The entire premise of this AU hinges on the base suit having enough of Steel’s work in it for Toxzon to extrapolate how Turbo modes work.

Like, I cannot get it off the ground if Steel cannot be removed from the process. Max’s unique biology isn’t even an issue in comparison.

Toxzon is canonically a fucking genius, though. And he’s not working with just the base suit, he’s working with camo mode. The mode whose very fucking existence being discovered would reveal that Max Steel’s transformations have a lot more room for creative liberties than previously believed.

Like, say, a Turbo mode designed to poison the user’s body and mind? Oh, the thought of doing to Max what Max Steel did to him is too poetic to pass up!

That will take time to develop, though. And his test subject is getting a little… volatile after a few hours without his counterpart. A pity.

Fortunately, it’s a much more viable short-term solution to simply alter the virus he’d originally planned to use to turn Max against his mom into something subtler. Something that will pull him under when exposed to certain stimuli rather than completely overtake his consciousness after incubating.

Toxzon has to alter it anyway because his first attempt didn’t work and he ended up having to kidnap this kid to find out why. It paid off massively, though, so Toxzon can’t be too upset about not getting it first try. One can’t account for outliers that are this extreme, after all.

So he modifies the virus to only seek someone like Max as a host, tests its effects on Max, and sends him right on home with maybe an hour to spare before an overload.

Max gets home feeling a little under the weather and very confused about why everyone’s so worried about him taking a walk, but he eats dinner with his mom and goes to bed that night before curfew like nothing’s wrong.

The very next morning another bouquet of roses arrives from his mom’s “secret admirer.” Steel teases him about it, but Max can’t bring himself to stress about it anymore. It’s fine. His mom’s an adult, she can make her own decisions.

And besides, the flowers smell really nice! Can we keep leaving them out, Mom? I like them. They make me wanna go outside, maybe take a walk.

Don’t wait up, Steel! I’ll be back before you know it. Promise.

——

Damn. I’m not usually one for body horror but the shit Max would hear Toxzon planning on doing to him when he’s not entranced in that lab absolutely counts. He’s gonna be in for it.

Too bad he’s usually too out of it when he goes off to meet Toxzon to properly appreciate the horror of it. It’s almost a waste that half of Max Steel won’t even know what hit him. Bah, no matter. His partner and mother will be appalled enough for the three of them!

——

There’s a lot of potential in Toxzon acting fatherly towards Hazard, especially while he’s still working on permanently corrupting him. This shit is gonna take weeks, after all. It’d be hard not to get attached to your pet project, especially when being affectionate gets better results.

As cool as Ven-ghan is, he doesn't beat Berto.

Berto is kind, smart, forgiving, and more like a brother than just a friend to Max.

He does all kinds of favors for Max and Steel, just because they're friends. I love him.

Toxzon is up there, without question. But It's Fishy that takes the title as my favorite

Like i love a good mad scientist, and Toxzon is amazing, I love him, but that top hat waring fish?

If ya don't wanna read until the whole thing is out, we understand :D

Stand Master: Toxzon

Stand Name: The Sickness

Basis: Down With the Sickness, by Disturbed

Appearance: The Sickness is a dark red - almost to the point of appearing black - humanoid Stand, with pulsating, toxic-green veins spread across its forearms, legs, and chest. It has deep pits of toxic green liquid on the back of the shoulders, and its head resembles a gaping skull with decaying flesh wrapped around it.

Abilities: The Sickness has the ability to spew a noxious gas from its mouth: specifically, a gaseous form of the very same toxin that mutated its user into his current form, complete with all of its side effects. When inhaled by humans, this toxin converts them over a short period of time into a zombie-like state, during which they act mindlessly and attack everything without thought. In addition to this, the liquid on its shoulders acts as a powerful acid that it can spew outwards like a geyser.

Stats:

Power: B

Speed: D

Range: B

Durability: B

Precision: C

Developmental Potential: C

~~

I mean there’s the obvious reason.

Molly and Forge, at the very least, are gonna be in such deep denial. Molly because that’s her son who would surely never do this willingly and Forge because he’s more likely to continue to think the worst of Steel than anything else. I mean, how could Max possibly be expected to resist an Ultralink?

(Especially one insidious enough to run such a long con. Forge can’t believe he let that thing play the amnesia card for this long! Even after it started using Jim’s memories to string Max along. Convince him of something impossible to yank him around with. He should’ve seen it for the manipulation tactic it was rather than lie outright to keep Max from prying for answers. Maybe if he’d told Max what Steel really was from the start…)

The other three are also close enough to be biased but they probably paid a little more attention to Max’s spiral before those two fully went rogue. Not to mention Berto pointing out that Max is smart enough to have sent them some obvious signals that he’s under duress if he was really being used entirely against his will.

And that got me thinking.

What if Max has been sending NTek distress signals?

But not because of Steel.

I started thinking about why any villain would be willing to work with these two when Max has such strict lines that would get in the way of their biggest ambitions. Then it hit me.

Max Steel isn’t the one fucking up their plans by dragging his feet or arguing about morals. NTek is putting a stop to the worst of this shit.

Because Max is tipping them off. (With Steel’s approval, usually. Some of these plans are just destructive for the sake of it.)

If a villain wants to cash in a favor with them to set up something really bad, they’ll follow through. They’ve got a reputation to keep up.

But that damned NTek always swoops in just in time to foil their plans! Of course it’s occurred to people that Max Steel could be ratting on them, but NTek’s hostility towards Steel and the fact they target him so heavily muddies the waters there.

And they’re usually owing these favors because Max needs a villain’s help to save Steel from Ntek, sooooo. It evens out.

I’m thinking about what these villains must think of Max Steel’s alleged plummet from grace.

The Ultralinks think Steel’s finally got his processors on straight. He fed them some bullshit that felt disgusting to say about how his systems malfunctioned upon contact with Mk’rah’s Turbo energy. But after all this time he’s managed to adapt and overcome the interference. It’s more difficult to suppress this host than it should be, sure, so please ignore his vessel’s insignificant yapping. Rest assured that Steel is the one calling all the shots now and they’re free to clear the way for Makino’s glorious conquest! Or whatever.

Extroyer, who knows it’s possible to suppress an Ultralink instead of the other way around, thinks that’s horseshit. But he can understand wanting more than what your superiors think you’re due. Good on them for breaking free from NTek’s cage. They better not get too comfortable, though. There’s only one apex predator in Copper Canyon, after all. They should know their place on the food chain.

Toxzon is kind of convinced Max had a similar arc as him, actually. His old allies think him mad for colluding with his clear criminal mastermind friend? Bah, good riddance! Toxzon is sure they can make NTek and THI pay for doubting their expertise. Though Max Steel still has a lot to learn in the ways of villainy. Even Fishy agrees they need to work on their ruthlessness.

Dredd knows that these two are fucking lying about going to the dark side because they’re telling him the truth. Wisely. They’re far from the sharpest schemers and if they’re willing to be of use then Dredd is magnanimous enough to work their goal into his own designs. Isn’t he so generous, helping save his old friend like this? Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside doesn’t it? Or maybe that’s the Turbo energy he’s also getting from this deal. Ha.