Max Harden

Max Harden (played by Scott Cooper) was the teenage son of Sheriff Harden who came across a mysterious means of attaining speed greater than the human eye could perceive, which he would later use to commit double homicide.
==The Rushing Conflict==
Max was a student at Adams High School in his hometown of Pittsfield, Virginia. At some point before early 2000, Max trespassed into a restricted area of the local forest and entered a cavern, where he stepped into a strange circle with a light beam shining on it. Thereafter, he developed superhuman speed, which he would use to cause trouble for his own amusement. His girlfriend, Chastity Raines, was also exposed to the "rush", and, being thrill-seeking delinquent youths, both quickly became addicted to the sensation, regularly re-entering the area to retain the power. Unknown to Max, however, his "rushes" were causing him extreme levels of exhaustion, with high body temperature and heart rate, low blood sugar, signs of acidosis in his electrolytes being pointing towards him having developed a physical dependency on the "rush". It may have also accounted for his much older appearance of a grown man in his 20's, rather than a 16 year old, highlighting his much more evident and repeated usage of the "rush" when compared to Chastity, who was beginning to have second thoughts.
The pair eventually decided to introduce new student, Anthony Reed, to the cave with the speed-giving property while unaware, as well, but they were stopped by Deputy Ronald Foster. Harden attacked Foster with incredible speed, bludgeoning him to death with his own flashlight so forcefully that his entire head caved inward. and were called in to investigate, with Tony Reed becoming the obvious suspect.
Eventually, Mulder began to suspect that superhuman speed was involved when the flashlight was stolen from a monitored evidence locker. Dr. Charles Burks analyzed security footage and was able to identify a blurred object in a single frame that had the local high school's colors on it. Mulder also found bits of melted rubber at the scene.
Meanwhile, at the school, Harden arrived late to a midterm exam being supervised by his despised teacher, Mr. Babbitt. With only two minutes left, Max sat down and handed in the paper with the whole sheet filled out in a few seconds. Despite getting every answer correct, Babbitt accused him of cheating and gave him yet another failing grade. Later that day in the school cafeteria, Harden humiliated Babbitt by tripping him and spilling his lunch., then brutally beat Babbitt and launched him into a wall with a lunch table, all within seconds. Already dying from nearly being severed, Babbitt was killed when Harden threw a chair at his head, blowing it apart.
This savage attack took a bodily toll on Harden, who collapsed shortly after in the school parking lot and had to be taken to the hospital, where Mulder recognized that his vitals were all indicative of an unusually high amount of physical exertion and stress that could kill him in the long run, but was unable to prove anything substantial after confronting the teen with this. Further examination showed that his muscles had several tears and his bones had undergone heavy trauma, which would occur in high-speed crashes or decades of repeated blows to the body in professional sports. Against her better judegement, Chastity helped Harden after he escaped the hospital, begging him to stop using the cave, to no avail. Seeing that Harden had become mad with power, Chastity decided it was time to stop Harden's killing spree and teamed up with Tony Reed, leading him to the cave to even the playing field. By this point, even his father, who had aggressively pushed the FBI to allow for the conviction of Reed, came around upon discovering that his son had the flashlight used to kill Deputy Foster. Harden confronted his father and injured him, but was stopped from murdering him by Reed, who took his gun and ordered him to leave. Following this, Chastitiy and Tony made their way to the cave, hoping to get there first before Harden could recharge and take them out as well. 
Their fears were well founded, as Harden had arrived before them and knocked out Chastity when she attacked him, then took Reed at gunpoint. Just as he was about to shoot him, Harden was himself killed with the gun he had just held in his hand by Chastity. Realizing her life was never going back to normal, she stepped in front of the bullet while it appeared - in her ultra-fast state - to be moving very slowly through the air. Both she and Harden were found dead by the time Mulder and Scully arrived. ( "Rush")
Harden, Max
Harden, Max
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Monster of the Week
Category:The X-Files characters
Category:Humans