Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Sixteen
Maria was babbling on in an incessant stream of reassurance that she was fine and that the baby was fine. The one problem that Liz, sitting at the foot of her cot, had with Maria’s blathering was that she was taking deep breaths every few minutes and biting her lips- two major signs of stress for her.
Attention divided between wondering where Alec went, and what to do about Maria’s continuing health issues; Liz fidgeted slightly. Fighting the habit, Liz tried to remember where Max had said she intended to take Sandeman. The interrogation room that they had used to hold Raed and Ethan captive- that had to be it.
“Maria,” Liz said, cutting off the other woman.
“What?”
“I have to go do something, but I want you to do exactly what the medics tell you okay? Do not get up. Do not argue. Just…take it easy, okay?” Liz soothed back a bit of hair that had crept over Maria’s face, covering half of one eye. She seemed to fragile in that moment.
“Okay.” Maria agreed without fighting.
Giving Maria a quick hug, Liz fled the infirmary. She swept through the darkening streets, moving passed groups of socializing transgenics, and passing a few on duty. Liz was becoming accustomed to life in Terminal City, and the sites around her no longer seemed bizarre. Liz remembered how weird she thought Roswell was when she finally settled there. It had taken her much longer to acclimate herself to that atmosphere.
Making her way from street to street and building to building, Liz finally arrived at the right one. She marched through the doors, face turning to stone, and stopped only when she reached her destination. Two nameless guards stood stoically in front of her- neither acknowledged her presence, and Liz ignored them as she walked right passed them and into the interrogation room.
Liz took a quick assessment of the room. Alec was in a far, shadowy corner; Sandeman was seated at the- now- only chair in the room; Max was expressionless while asking questions; and a single walking stick sat against a far wall. It was hard to tell how long the conversation had been going on, or what had/would be said, but Liz focused her attention on Sandeman.
“Why did you create us?” Max asked. Liz’s head snapped to Max and then to Sandeman- everyone in the room held their breath for a moment, except for Sandeman; his face relaxed as if they were having a friendly chat.
“My work started when I was young- fresh out of college and looking for a promising future. I had an avid interest in genetics and artificial selection. The idea for Manticore started when I met a young man with a broken past- Colonel Lydecker. He was smart, very intuitive, and held similar interests. I had hoped to create an infallible being. Someone not beyond humanity, but a culmination of all that unrealized talent,” Sandeman shifted in his chair as he spoke, his hand coming up to run through his hair.
“How did you meet Lydecker?” Asked Max.
“In a bar. He had just been honorably discharged by the army, and he was working off the stress of the day. I happened to talk a stool beside him at the bar.”
“Why did you leave Manticore?” Max demanded, her face hardening slightly.
Sandeman seemed to shift uneasily in his seat before answering, “Manticore took a turn for the worse. It was not my dream to lock people- or innately human creatures- in cages and put them through harsh trials; they were meant to be ultimate beings of prosper and health, not lab rats. I knew what was coming for Manticore, and I had something very serious to do. I left after my plan was set in motion, knowing one day, I would be sitting here with you.”
Liz glanced in Alec’s direction and his eyes met hers. Did they believe that he was telling the truth? Trusting a complete stranger had proven to be a poor decision in the past, could they risk that now? In such a pivotal time of unrest?
Looking back to Sandeman, it hit Liz that this man had more answers for her than she thought. Max too appeared disconcerted by the graying man in the old, rickety interrogation chair.
“What plan did you set in motion?” Max continued to grill him after taking a steadying breath.
“My plan was for you and your sister,” Sandeman informed her, smiling benignly.
Sister, Liz thought. Wondering what the hell he was talking about.
“What sister?” Liz questioned, opening her mouth for the first time, and drawing every eye in the room toward her.
Sandeman opened his mouth as if to say something, but Max cut him off , “I don’t have a sister. You must have me confused with someone else.”
Tense moments passed before Max resumed her line of questions. They learned that a toxic warfare began after the pulse. Other countries had been developing a strain of virus that would eventually breed and spread to the mass population and kill off every American citizen in the country. This only further incensed Sandeman to work on improving transgenics. He said that with each batch of super soldiers, he took one step closer to finding a cure. A fellow colleague who had attended college with him in America had procured a large enough sample of the virus in his home country to help Sandeman in his research.
The way Sandeman told the story showed touches of compassion, a gentleness not associated with Manticore. Liz wondered what it would have been like had Sandeman stuck around. Would they all be so fucked up? Would their childhoods still have been the stuff of nightmares.
“So this virus, it’s still a threat?” Liz spoke up, thinking of Maria and her baby. Her mind touched on Sketchy and OC, she didn’t want them all to die.
“Yes, very much so. In fact, it was recently seen in several Americans- it has already begun to mutate. I have managed to continue procuring samples to see if it is following the pattern suggested when I first came across it. It is, so there is hope,” Sandeman explained, intertwining his fingers and looking directly at her. Liz wanted to fidget under his stare- as if he were her father- but she curbed that particular urge and gazed back defiantly.
“How?” Alec jumped in. He had been watching the exchanges, but it was the first time Liz had heard him speak.
“If I can find two very significant transgenics- I might be able to save our country.”
A pin could have dropped and even Sandeman would have heard it. It sounded like a life or death mission- Liz was so tired of life and death missions. She had faced the FBI, aliens, parents, Manticore, Lydecker- she was ready to be done with everything.
Unable to handle how this conversation was going, Liz scoffed and stormed out of the room. Nothing was ever simple. That statement was as true to Liz as ‘life isn’t fair’. Max- boy king of aliens- had once asked her what was so great about normal. Maybe the fact that normal people didn’t have to save the world repeatedly, face emotional and physical trauma on a daily basis, and discrimination on a worldwide scale.
“Liz wait!” shouted Alec from behind her. She had heard him advancing, but increased her speed. She wanted silence, darkness, and to be left the fuck alone.
“Not now, Alec,” she called back behind her.
In a blur, Alec was in front of her, and Liz had to jerk to a stop to avoid crashing into him. Sometimes being a transgenic and living with other transgenics really sucked.
“Listen, I know that what Sandeman had to say was a lot to handle-” Alec began.
Liz held up a hand and thanked God when Alec stopped talking. Gathering her remaining patience, Liz responded to him.
“I just need to be alone. I can’t-” Liz searched for the right words. “-I just can’t take all of this in right now.”
“If you really want to give this thing between us a chance, you have to open up to me,” stated Alec, crossing his arms with an air of finality.
Ignoring his statement, Liz rerouted her course and took deep, calming breaths to stop herself from exploding when she realized Alec was following her. She expected no less. He was insistent and domineering and- someone she had come to want around. Even now, when she was thinking of how many ways she could strangle him for denying her privacy, her heart beat just a little faster.
They reached Alec’s apartment- which surprised them both. Neither spoke when they entered, but Liz took a seat on his rumpled bed and laid back, closing her eyes. Hands crept up and around her waist, pulling her close to a muscular chest. Liz pressed an ear against Alec’s chest and listened to his heartbeat. The steady, continuous rhythm lulled her- stress slipping away.
Eyes still closed, Liz began to do as he asked, open up.
“I’m scared. For Maria and Sketchy and OC. Good people still exist- I know it- and they’re going to die. We’re hoping for some miracle cure from a guy with abandonment issues and a walking stick. I miss my friends, I miss my family, and I don’t know where I belong. I’ve been fighting my whole life for something normal. I used to be excited by Max, Isabel, and Michael’s abilities, but now that I have them it only makes me feel even more detached. I cannot get a break,” Liz whispered. “Have you ever felt so utterly alone, so cut off, that you feel like you’re in a black whole and nothing is going to pull you out of it?”
“Yes,” he replied, stunning her with his answer. His voice was raw with emotion too, and Liz pressed her body more tightly against him. “I used to be the perfect soldier. I got the job done, every assignment. I’ve always been in control and never faltered. Until Berrisford.”
“What was the assignment?” Liz prodded.
“I had to infiltrate a political figures home and get close enough to set up a bomb for his termination. My disguise was as Rachel Berrisford’s piano tutor. I spent several weeks teaching her, and gaining his trust. The day came that I planted the bomb and I was told to finish up. After I set up the explosives for her father’s car, I realized that I loved Rachel. I wanted to protect her, and I knew more than anything what her father meant to her. I confessed, told her the truth, and she raced to the car just in time for it to explode.
“I thought she had died in the explosion, and I was carted off to Psy-ops. Six months saw that she was erased from my memory- until I started working at Jam Pony as a bike messenger and had to deliver a package to the Berrisford residence.”
There was something in his voice that rang so sincere Liz felt his pain. She wanted to know more, but she didn’t want to push. They were sharing a level of intimacy Liz never thought she’d feel comfortable sharing with anyone.
“What happened to her?” Liz asked, she couldn’t resist. He either would or wouldn’t tell her.
“I found out that she had been in a coma from the car explosion. Her father had her set up in her room. I got to see her one last time before she died. I don’t know if she ever heard me tell her how sorry I was, or how much I loved her, or even goodbye,” Alec’s voice was husky and his heartbeat had skittered up and down.
Opening her eyes, Liz leaned up over Alec, balancing her weight on one elbow. She brushed her fingers against his face and used her index finger to trace the features of his face. His eyes were watery, his face slightly contorted in sorrow. She had never seen him so vulnerable.
“I was in a coma once,” Liz confided. She had never told anyone this before, not even the royal four, or Alex, or Maria. “I got into a fight with a medic when I tried to steal hospital supplies for a broken leg. The medic stabbed me with a pure shot of adrenaline, right in the heart and it stopped. I was rushed to the emergency room and they shocked me back to life, but my brain had been missing too much oxygen for too long. I stayed in a coma for a week. I heard everything going on around me. It was like I was dreaming, but I could only hear what was going on. Rachel heard you.”
Alec’s face changed to a look of pure relief and the water collecting behind his right eyelid burst forth in a single tear. Liz leaned down and kissed him softly. It was a brush of lips at first, and then it became rough, demanding, passionate. His arms pulled her down against his chest and fused their mouths together in a devouring kiss. She caressed her tongue against his, swirling the tip around his. She was hot and achy, her body lighting up and becoming needy.
Breathless, they pulled apart slightly. There was question in his eyes, those gorgeous eyes, and Liz knew that it was all or nothing and time to make a decision. She had to stop running and face what he was offering her. The only thing he could give her- himself.
“I still want to take it slow, but…I want to share myself with you.” It was saying a lot. It was saying she wasn’t closed down.
“I don’t want you to regret this,” his told her, his words rough.
Liz overrode his words with her actions, taking him in another beseeching kiss. A groan left him, and Liz knew that his resolve disappeared. A hand came up to massage one of her breasts, and Liz arched against him. She felt herself spiraling out of control and into something intangible. That hand slid from her breast and down her body only to tease the bottom of her shirt before disappearing up the material and into her bra. The kiss became more intense and Liz jerked a bit when Alec tweaked a nipple.
It was exhilarating and intoxicating, overwhelming her judgment and overriding inhibition. In his arms she felt perfect, gorgeous; smart; sexy- no one had ever made her feel so right. Max Evans, alien king, had put her on a pedestal and treated her like a queen, but never had his touch incensed her to surpass thought and logic and to move forward into passion and mutual selfishness.
Running a hand down his hard body, Liz massaged him through his standard fatigues, and could feel his growing hardness. The response in her body was a rush of liquid and a pooling of desire, an inconsistent up and down of arousal. His other hand tangled in her hair and the jerk of his hand brought her head back and his lips to her neck. Fiery and expanding, his kisses and bites against the creamy column of her neck sent shivers and tingles down her spine.
“God, you’re so wet,” he murmured huskily as his hand went from her breast to massaging her as she massaged him. The sound of his voice and his obvious excitement caused dizzying sensations in her lower abdomen.
Getting braver, Liz undid his pants- with his help- and began to work her hand up and down the magnificent length of him. The fact that his body was responding to her in such a way made her feel emboldened and powerful, beautiful and tempting. A pearl of pre-cum swelled at the head and Liz disentangled herself from his hold while making her way down his body.
Briefly their eyes connected and Liz kissed the mushroom head of his cock, allowing her tongue to slip out and lick at the moisture. Alec’s pupils dilated and his hands clenched. Liz teased the tip a bit more and then slid her tongue from tip to base before taking the entire length of his shaft into her warm, wet mouth. A groan fell from his lips and Alec’s eyes slid shut- his hands coming down to twine in her hair in an almost painful grip. She had never done this before, but the sounds he was making urged her on, and Liz felt a natural rhythm taking over. Her head bobbed slightly as she sucked as much of him into her mouth as possible, her hands resting on his thighs. Daringly, she forced herself to accept as much of him into the hot cavern of her mouth and felt him quiver in response.
Her right hand slid over to the remainder of his length and pumped in time with the movements of her head. The salty flavor of his pre-cum was disconcerting, but not entirely unpleasant. She sped up as she felt his grip on her tighten, but at the last moment before she knew he would come, Alec pulled her free. His breathing was labored and his eyes were feral and they both felt a primitive part of themselves stirring.
“Liz, I don’t want this to be all about me. Just lay back,” Alec insisted, placing her beside him on his bed, and waiting for her to comply.
Liz was slow in her movements. She hadn’t expected him to stop her; she had reached the point that she didn’t know if she could stop herself. Once she lay on her back, Alec moved up her body and kissed her voraciously, stimulating the nerves in her lips, and thrilling her taste buds with his unique flavor. He undid her pants, his own still absent, and moved a line of kissed down her jaw, neck, and unhurriedly moved the material of her shirt and bra away to expose a plump, rosy, breast to his mouth. He flicked the lip of her nipple at first, and Liz arched into his touch. She was sensitive to his every move, and when he took her into his mouth, her whole body jerked in need.
His left hand slid to her exposed core, rubbing lightly against her lips, then delving deeply into her hot, wet sheath. Goosebumps rose up over her skin and the air around them seemed to heat up. Her breath turned to heavy pants of desire and tension as his right hand came up to cup her other- covered- breast, and a gasp rent the air.
One hand came up to hold Alec’s head to her breast, the other clenching his back. His tongue did sinful, arousing patterns, sending shocks of enlivened energy searing her intimately. Liz removed her hand from his head and with both shaking hands, pulled him up her body and dragged his mouth to hers- locking them in a kiss so unyielding they were lost to the sensation.
Liz was lost in the touch and feel of him. Nothing had been so right in her entire life. An instinctive voice controlled her hands, causing them to soothe down his body and cup his ass tightly, pulling him against her. Alec paused her, his jaw tightening as he fought the urge to enter her. This wasn’t the time for that, Liz realized, but a bigger part of her wanted them to be one so badly she strained against Alec’s hold. His face sneered and his hands bit into her hips as he held her firmly.
With an excruciatingly slow pace, Alec thrust against her core- not entering her- but brushing against her. He guided the tip with a hand to her clit, and began a rhythmic thrust upward and against the sensitive nub. Liz’s body was overcome with zings of pleasure and incitement causing her insides to vibrate and her mouth to open in a breathless exclamation of want. A hand slid from her hips up her torso and encompasses one of her lush breasts- both of which were arched up into the air, begging for attention.
“So wet,” Alec whispered against her, and the tip of his cock slid down to her center and the bulbous head pushed lightly at her entrance, teasing it, and barely entering it.
“Alec, please,” Liz implored, running her nails down to score his back. He arched against her then, hissing and groaning with frustration.
“No, this time is for you,” he told her again. His thrusts increased and more of her spicy honey coated his already glistening member.
Something was building inside of her. Powerful and electric. Liz’s muscles tensed, her back arched painfully, her toes curled, and her breathing became even more erratic. Alec sped up his pace, knowing that she was close, and Liz bit his shoulder until she drew a small amount of blood.
Growling, Alec captured her mouth, pulled her hair, and rode her to oblivion. Liz’s thoughts vanished, her body exploded in shattering bits of relief, pleasure, and liveliness- every cell that made up her body alive and humming at once, and a never-ending stream of satisfaction liquefied her senses.
They lay together for long moments after. Alec was still hard against her soaking core, but he had no words for her. His arms came to hold tightly around her waist. Liz couldn’t form thoughts, words, or images. She had never had an orgasm before, but even in her greatest imaginings she hadn’t quite gotten it right.
Twirling her fingertips against the slight amount of his chest hair, her mind started to return. She felt bad for his current situation and attempted to move and return the gesture in kind, but his arms held fast, leaving her virtually incapacitated.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, his eyes coming down to meet hers as he changed them into a more comfortable side by side position.
Liz’s breath caught, but her eyes softened. She allowed that part of herself that she had thought long gone to resurface- Liz Parker. He had made her feel things she had never felt and want things she had never let herself want. With Alec, Liz saw a future. He was her cocaine, her rush- a dangerous drug that she could let herself all too easily get wrapped up in.
“I wanted this to be good for you too,” confessed Liz, kissing his chest just above his heart.
He turned her in his arms, pressing them more closely together, “This was special for me.”
“I’m just not used to this type of relationship,” Liz confided. She was telling the truth in that moment. She hadn’t experienced this sort of closeness with Max- even though he had made vein attempts to woo her.
“Let’s try and leave both of our pasts behind us, okay?” Alec asked.
“Okay.” Liz agreed, nodding a little and then releasing a ridiculously long yawn. They shared a laugh and then Liz sensed things getting fuzzy. She was drifting off to sleep. She heard Alec’s breathing evening out beside her and gave in to the inevitable.
Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I appreciate all of you who kept reviewing and encouraging me to update. This chapter is for all my reviews that have stayed with me so long. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think. EK!
Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT)EpilogueComplete11/20/10
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Egyptian_Kiss
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) A/N 3/10/09
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Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) Ch16 3/27/09
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Seventeen
Alec rolled over and bumped into someone beside him. Waking up slowly, eyes still blurry with sleep; he saw Liz’s outline and the way her arms were curled around herself- protectively. It was odd seeing her so vulnerable, every second she was awake she was on guard, or ready to fight. Seeing her face smooth without worry caused something inside of him to shift. He curled his body around hers and drifted off to sleep again.
By the time Alec reopened his eyes, fully awake, he found himself alone in his bed. He sat up straight like a bullet and focused all of his senses on his environment. He heard faint footsteps coming down his hallway and heard the opening of his apartment door. Liz’s scent hit his nose and he relax slightly, his muscles unclenching, and his resumed breathing.
“Oh, you’re up.” Liz stood in the center of his apartment with a bag of food hanging from her fingertips.
“Where’d you go?” Alec asked, reaching over the side of his mattress to grab a plain white tee. Liz had on a new set of fatigues and her hair was shiny and straight- freshly washed.
Liz blurred to the bed as Alec was about to get up, and he felt the weight of her hands as she pushed him back onto the bed.
“I went out to get us breakfast,” Liz stated, joining him on the bed and pulling out two old, used plastic containers. She handed him one and then leaned back against the wall and opened her own.
Alec flipped the lid open on his container and saw the decent spread laid out before him. There were pancakes, two small pieces of sausage- a rare find in Terminal City, three pieces of melon- a rare find in all of Seattle, two slightly burnt pieces of toast, and a small pile of slightly runny, scrambled eggs. Looking over at Liz, he noticed that she had less than half of what was in his container.
“I have plenty here if you want some,” Alec told her. He was still trying to figure out how she had managed to sneak away without him knowing.
“It’s okay. I don’t have a big appetite. I don’t usually eat much, just like the sleep thing. I can go a longtime on a little fuel,” Liz informed him with a small, side-smile. She did that around him a lot, Alec noticed- she smiled a small, side-smile.
“Where did you find all of this anyway? We don’t usually have that much of a spread,” asked Alec, taking a lush, juicy bite of melon. It was honeydew- his favorite.
“I got take out,” Liz mumbled, shoving in another fork full of pancakes in her mouth to have an excuse not to respond further.
Alec did a double take at that answer; how did she get take out? What did she mean take out? “What do you mean?”
Liz’s eyes shifted from his face to her plate of food and she took an even heartier bite from her eggs.
“OC might have been on her way out of the city when I caught her near the gate and asked if she could grab some food for us. I have some cash…and I thought it’d nice to have breakfast in bed.”
“You what?” Alec couldn’t believe what he was hearing. OC was not supposed to leave Terminal City, unless she was accompanied by someone to protect her, and that was only in dire circumstances.
“Don’t freak out. She had to go out anyway. Something about the monthly drop for Max. She had people with her. It was only a slight detour in her plans. She got back fine. I would not have asked her if I thought she would get hurt,” Liz explained. She was biting her lip and then seemed to realize what she was doing before stopping with a glare.
“You shouldn’t have done that. I won’t say anything to Max, but it’s important that we do not stay out of TC too long. And where did you get money?” The last question was the one that had confused him the most.
Liz looked hard at her food for a few minutes and then reached back into her fatigues and pulled out a water bottle that had been dipped in black paint. He had seen her carrying it on her from time to time- and more often than not he had seen it with Maria in the infirmary. He hadn’t really thought twice about it.
“I used to work as a waitress in my parents restaurant. I pulled in a lot of money and a lot of tips. I saved all of it; I guess I thought someday I’d be going college. I also had some inheritance from my grandmother. Anyway, I’ve held on to it- it’s how Maria and I survived when I couldn’t steal us food. I have it in cash because it’s not traceable that way.” As Liz told him this, she took the cap off the tall, large-mouthed, black bottle and upended it onto Alec’s mattress. Alec stared at what had to be at least fifty-thousand dollars in five-hundred and thousand dollar bills.
He watched as Liz pulled four twenties and some change out of her pocket and throw that down too. When he looked up at her confused she shrugged, “I had to pay for breakfast right? I let OC keep a hundred in exchange for her trouble.”
“Why didn’t you mention any of this?” Alec asked.
“If you had thousands of dollars in cash on your person, would you tell people you don’t know well-enough to trust?” Liz countered.
Scratching his head, Alec gave her a smirk, “Guess I see what you mean. But why are you telling me?”
Liz gazed at him for a few long moments, nibbling on her own melon before answering. “Because I
trust you.”
Well that was big, Alec thought. Alec was sneaky, underhanded, and sometimes a jerk- he could admit that. He had messed things up for Maxie on more than one occasion, including the time he broke in on her job at the museum. Somehow hearing from Liz that she trusted him, he wanted to make sure she could. After last night, Alec realized there wasn’t anything he would keep from her- nothing he didn’t want her to know.
Liz started stuffing the money back in her bottle and when she was down to a few hundred she looked up at Alec, “I know that you don’t have a lot of money here, and times are tough. If you ever need-” Liz gestured to the last few bills as she was dropping them in, “just ask.”
“Liz, I appreciate the offer, but you hold on to that. If I need anything, I can figure it out,” Alec assured her, his heart swelling at her generosity. He almost couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth- never in his life had he turned down money, or sex- which he had last night. Something was seriously wrong with him.
Going back to eating his meal, which was one of the best he’d had in months, he gave her a playful wink and watched as she gave him that small, side-smile again. They finished the rest of their meal while Alec asked her questions about her job in her parents restaurant, and what that was like growing up, and by the time they were done eating Liz was laughing while telling him about her tricks with fake alien photos and Crashdown customers.
“You sound like you were a totally different person,” Alec said. He meant that too, she sounded like she was happy and normal- not the Manticore soldier she was raised to be as a child.
“It’s funny, for awhile, I let myself think that too. I know that my unit’s escape caused problems for you and others left behind- but I’m really glad that I left, and that I got to have some watered down version of a normal life; for a while anyway,” Liz sounded like she was in another world, thinking about her other life in Roswell.
“I think I would have liked to have met Liz Parker- teenage super-soldier in hiding,” Alec said, laughing a little. Liz threw him a playful glare, but the way her eyes lit up told him that she was amused with him, and that she was letting up on her hard-ass shell.
When they stood and headed out for morning drills, Alec realized that the sun was still down- though sunrise wasn’t too far off- and that the reason he hadn’t heard Liz leave was because he had only been asleep for four hours when she slipped out. He still didn’t like the idea that he had been lax enough to not hear her coming or going, but he just decided he would have to be more alert.
As they were about to pass the infirmary, Liz excused herself for a moment and blurred away. She was back beside him fifteen seconds later and they headed back down to training.
Max was already on the field when they arrive and the units were still falling in. The sun started to rise in the background, but no one paid that any attention. Alec broke off from them both and watched as Liz- face now grim- marched toward her troops. Max made an announcement about an upcoming mission, and that whichever unit performed the best until the night before would be going. Alec was pissed that he had not heard about it sooner, but figured that Max must not have worked out all the details yet.
“Alright, roll call. Name and designation- go,” Alec shouted out over the morning hum. He heard his order repeated throughout the field from other COs go up around him, and multitasked by listening as each unit listed off.
Four hours passed and the shifts changed up. Alec was sweating with the exertion of working out on the field in the mid-morning sun. He had stuck around more to fight, taking on different transgenics from different units as the time passed. He passed Liz more than a few times and each time he heard her giving decisive instruction. She made a good CO whether she wanted to believe that or not. Alec could already see others looking upon her with respect. Respect that she deserved.
As Alec stood over a fallen opponent, he heard someone call his name from behind him. Turning he saw Shelia- a Nomalie that Mole hung around with. She had long, thick dark-blue hair and looked perfectly human, except for her claws and the feathers that stretched along her arms. Her eyes were an ebony color that made her look beautiful and fierce at the same time. He knew the hair was a dye job, but the feathers and claws were a testament to her avian mix.
“Hey Shelia,” Alec greeted, slamming his foot down on top of the X5’s to stop the transgenic on the ground from rising.
“Mole needs to see you,” she said, her voice bored, her eyes expressionless. That was the only thing about her he couldn’t stand- the woman never showed emotion. It was disconcerting. She was intelligent and a sight to see when fighting, but she wanted for personality.
“And he sent you? Aw, I feel special,” Alec joked. He eased up his foot on the transgenic and offered the male a hand. The X5 had mouthed off to more than one CO and had a problem with authority, Alec had found great pleasure in kicking his ass, “Ten laps around the perimeter and then four weeks latrine duty on top of your usual assignments. We clear?”
The considerably smaller, scruffy X male nodded his head before rushing off to do as told. People just did not mouth-off to Alec, and if they did, they ended up a walking bruise.
Alec turned back to tell Shelia he would be along in a moment, but she was already gone. He hated when she did that. Appear and disappear like an aberration. Sighing, Alec resigned himself to desk work. He tossed out a few orders to the COs and made one more sweep passed Liz’s unit- which were doing standard formations- and gave her a flirty wink when she imperceptibly nodded in return.
Making his way to Mole and Command Central, Alec noticed that everyone was where they were supposed to be- no one was in the streets socializing. It took less time than he thought it would to reach Command, and noticed that Mole was waiting near the doors for him.
“Hey Mole, what’s up?” Alec liked Mole, he always got right to the point.
“I’m planning a mission for Max and the unit that she decides to take with her, and she told me that you were needed specifically to approve my plans,” Mole replied curtly.
Alec felt like he could have preened right then, nothing like someone deferring to his judgment to stroke the ego. It was always nice to feel wanted, Alec thought, his face outwardly smirking.
“What Maxie wants, Maxie gets,” Alec joked. “Show me the plans.”
Mole led Alec to a table on the upper-platform and pulled out several cylindrical containers, opening each and unfurling large blue-prints and blue-print style maps of sector checkpoints. A number of side notes and short-handed comments caught Alec’s attention. He followed the maps and notes and read through the list of definite transgenics that would be going on the mission- his name among them. The list was long already, and the idea that Max would be rallying an entire unit to add to it had him looking over the mission statement. Holy shit- they were going to be taking down another government based facility and swiping something called “Product X”.
“Mole, where is Max now?” Alec was lost in thought, but he heard the Nomalie say “the interrogation room” before taking off in that direction.
If Max was planning another take down that means that whatever she was going after- “Product X”- would be dangerous. He blurred through the streets and entered the building, rapidly approaching the interrogation room. When the guards came into site he moved passed them without stopping to greet them. Just as he entered the door, Max was about to leave.
“Alec, what are you doing here?” Max asked, glancing over her shoulder to where Sandeman was lying on a cot- apparently his suite had been updated.
“We need to talk,” stated Alec, his eyes also straying to the withered, old man.
Grabbing his upper-bicep angrily, Max stomped out of the room, taking Alec with her. She didn’t stop moving until they were a good hundred meters from the outside doors of the building.
Spinning around, Max pinned him with a glare. “What?”
“What is ‘Product X’ and why are we destroying an entire setup to get it?” Alec wasn’t pulling any punches- now wasn’t the time for Max to spare words.
Glaring at him some more, Max gave him a customary eye-roll, “It’s important and the new ‘setup’ is Lydecker’s newest attempt at another Manticore. He and White are doing just what we are doing- training and preparing. We need to hit them soon.”
“Wait, another Manticore? How do you know?” Alec couldn’t imagine the kind of resources Lydecker would have to have to pull off such a thing, but given the fact he and White were now in league together, anything was possible.
“Sandeman has been a good source of information. I can’t disclose anything else until we get closer to the mission- it’s too dangerous and too important. Just do me a favor and help Mole with the plans. It has to be flawless- I don’t want to lose anyone and I want to succeed,” Max ordered, wringing her hands in an uncharacteristic show of nerves.
“Do we really trust Sandeman enough to put our lives on the line?”
Max remained quite for a pause then nodded. He didn’t like the look in her eyes, like she wasn’t sure, but she wanted to believe. He had seen it a lot in people far more foolish and hopeful than Max- he had always considered her a realist. He wasn’t going to cloud her judgment though, Max was right about this being too important, “You got it. I’ll go back to Command and finish up. Everything looks in order, but until you pick a unit we won’t be able to finalize.”
“I know who I’m going to pick. I just want everyone working their best until then,” Max told him. She looked more at ease now that the conversation had shifted slightly.
“Who?” Alec inquired.
“Liz and her unit. I want her there and I know that her unit will be ready by then. I trust her,” Max whispered the last. She didn’t trust many people and it had come back to bite her in the ass on more than one occasion- and that was only since Alec had met her he saw this.
“I do too,” Alec confided. Max raised her eyebrows at that and Alec shrugged with his usual nonchalance.
“You scamming on Liz?” Max asked, her eyes flaring, ready for a fight.
“What business is it of yours?” Alec asked defensively, he didn’t want to get into this with Max, not again.
“Don’t fuck with me, Alec.”
“Damn it Maxie, I like her,” Alec shouted. He surprised them both by his outright declaration. He didn’t take it back though, he did like Liz. He liked her the way he liked Rachel, and he wasn’t going to fuck that up this time. Max was staring at him guardedly, but didn’t say anything for a couple minutes. They
were staring off.
“You better,” Max finally replied, her stance lessening into a friendly one.
“You want to hit the bar later? I’ll take you in pool,” Alec offered, smirking his smirk.
“Maybe. I got something I got to do first. OC made her monthly and I’m getting the shakes. I need to give out some Tryptophan. Good news though, one of the medics has been working on our genetic sequencing and might have found our predisposed trait for seizures.” Max smiled triumphantly at him.
“Good to hear. I’ll catch you later, Maxie,” Alec said as he departed. He headed back to Mole and Command and after an hour there they worked out the finalized plans. Alec wanted to know what “Product X” was, but decided it was better not to mention it, or question it- they didn’t need anyone hearing too much too soon.
“Alec?” Someone called out to Alec from behind as he was exiting Command. Turning, he noticed Ash standing around the outer-edge of the ring where a three-way fight was going down.
Ash was a pretty little thing and Alec made his way over to her side while watching the ring. “I thought you were on CO duty this morning?”
“Max asked me to cover the ring today- something about a special assignment. Zack is covering my unit,” Ash informed him, smiling flirtatiously.
“I noticed. I was actually going to ask about that earlier, but I got side-tracked with an assignment of my own. How are they?” Alec asked, waving his hand to some the young transgenics- maybe thirteen or fourteen years in age- zipping around the inside of the ring.
“Good. Excellent progress, good skill sets- they’ll make excellent soldiers,” Ash told him, watching as the smaller one went down from a kick to the side before quickly recovering seconds later.
“Hopefully they won’t have to be,” Alec rejoined, leaning a hip against a nearby fold-out table.
Ash nodded her agreement and then moved to join him leaning against the table, her body brushing his from the side. “So I was thinking that we might get drinks later. We haven’t hung out in a while and it might make for a fun distraction.”
Alec sighed mentally and raised his left hand to rub at his neck- a quirk he had when in an awkward position. Ash was good-looking, sure, but he had something going with Liz now and he didn’t want to fuck that up less than 24-hours in.
“Actually, I’m going have drinks with Liz later,” Alec lied smoothly. He took in the way Ash’s mouth tightened around the edges, but she didn’t show any other sign of annoyance.
“Oh, that’s nice. Maybe another night,” she suggested, her lips going from tight to sexily tipped in a salacious smile.
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll let you know,” Alec told her- taking the decision out of her hands. It was a clean brush off, and from the way Ash’s shoulders tensed, she knew it too.
“Yeah, you do that. I’ve got to get back to work. Maybe I’ll see you later,” Ash slid soundlessly from his side, and head back ring-side.
Alec remembered that he was headed back to check up on the units and took off out the exit and down the relatively empty streets- devoid save for intermittent guard postings- and made it to the field in no time at all. He did his rounds, purposely saving Liz’s unit for last- and then lingered watching as they had moved on to weaponry. Nothing like watching a soldier and their weapon of choice- it could be a thing of beauty. Alec knew that the weapon itself became an extension of its’ holder.
Liz took them through formations, offensive attack, defensive retaliation, and the art of speed in an attack. These were not new techniques, nor were they flashy, or overtly brutally- but when employed in battle- with true expertise- they were formidable.
The rest of the day ran long, the heat from the unseasonably, sunny weather had everyone sweating. By the time the COs were finished out for the day each of them were covered in sweat, dirt, and laden with the exhaustion from their instruction.
Alec peeled his own sweaty, grimy shirt free from his body as he dismissed everyone from their assignments. He heard the stomp of boots like the stampeding of bull and pulled off to the side to wait for Liz. When he spotted her, he noted that she was sweaty and unkempt- her hair sticking out in several places and her face flushed red with exertion. She looked sexy as hell, in Alec’s opinion, and he joined her immediately.
“Hi,” Alec said, smiling down at her- even through his exhaustion he was flirtatious.
“Hey,” Liz replied, returning his smile as she took a pull from a canteen she’d been using. “I think I’m going to take a shower and then visit Maria.”
“Can I come?” Alec asked.
“Take a shower or visit Maria?” Liz teased. Alec felt his fatigues get tighter at the prospect of a shower with her.
“Both,” Alec said with challenge. Then Liz did something that Alec would remember forever, she threw back her head and laughed. It wasn’t just a short, quick laugh, but a full-on, body-shaking, can’t-control-yourself laugh.
When Liz finally stopped laughing, she noticed that Alec was staring at her and she blushed, “Well since I actually want to see Maria tonight, how about we take separate showers and I meet you outside the infirmary once I’m cleaned up?”
“Deal,” Alec said, but before she could move off the field and run off for her shower, he took her around the waist and pulled her up to press his lips to hers in a heated kiss. He set her back on her feet a brief moment later and smiled at her surprised- not smirked, smiled. “You have a sexy laugh.”
Liz blushed harder and rolled her eyes at him- reminding him a lot of Max- and then watched as she walked off the field. Alec started for his apartment and realized he’d better make his shower a cold one.
Author's Note: Yes, I am alive
I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I am here now. I had a lot of personal issues to deal with- including personal family crisis. But now my crisis is over and my muse has decided to drop in for a visit. I hope you all enjoyed this last chapter. Thank you for all your support. EK! 
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Seventeen
Alec rolled over and bumped into someone beside him. Waking up slowly, eyes still blurry with sleep; he saw Liz’s outline and the way her arms were curled around herself- protectively. It was odd seeing her so vulnerable, every second she was awake she was on guard, or ready to fight. Seeing her face smooth without worry caused something inside of him to shift. He curled his body around hers and drifted off to sleep again.
By the time Alec reopened his eyes, fully awake, he found himself alone in his bed. He sat up straight like a bullet and focused all of his senses on his environment. He heard faint footsteps coming down his hallway and heard the opening of his apartment door. Liz’s scent hit his nose and he relax slightly, his muscles unclenching, and his resumed breathing.
“Oh, you’re up.” Liz stood in the center of his apartment with a bag of food hanging from her fingertips.
“Where’d you go?” Alec asked, reaching over the side of his mattress to grab a plain white tee. Liz had on a new set of fatigues and her hair was shiny and straight- freshly washed.
Liz blurred to the bed as Alec was about to get up, and he felt the weight of her hands as she pushed him back onto the bed.
“I went out to get us breakfast,” Liz stated, joining him on the bed and pulling out two old, used plastic containers. She handed him one and then leaned back against the wall and opened her own.
Alec flipped the lid open on his container and saw the decent spread laid out before him. There were pancakes, two small pieces of sausage- a rare find in Terminal City, three pieces of melon- a rare find in all of Seattle, two slightly burnt pieces of toast, and a small pile of slightly runny, scrambled eggs. Looking over at Liz, he noticed that she had less than half of what was in his container.
“I have plenty here if you want some,” Alec told her. He was still trying to figure out how she had managed to sneak away without him knowing.
“It’s okay. I don’t have a big appetite. I don’t usually eat much, just like the sleep thing. I can go a longtime on a little fuel,” Liz informed him with a small, side-smile. She did that around him a lot, Alec noticed- she smiled a small, side-smile.
“Where did you find all of this anyway? We don’t usually have that much of a spread,” asked Alec, taking a lush, juicy bite of melon. It was honeydew- his favorite.
“I got take out,” Liz mumbled, shoving in another fork full of pancakes in her mouth to have an excuse not to respond further.
Alec did a double take at that answer; how did she get take out? What did she mean take out? “What do you mean?”
Liz’s eyes shifted from his face to her plate of food and she took an even heartier bite from her eggs.
“OC might have been on her way out of the city when I caught her near the gate and asked if she could grab some food for us. I have some cash…and I thought it’d nice to have breakfast in bed.”
“You what?” Alec couldn’t believe what he was hearing. OC was not supposed to leave Terminal City, unless she was accompanied by someone to protect her, and that was only in dire circumstances.
“Don’t freak out. She had to go out anyway. Something about the monthly drop for Max. She had people with her. It was only a slight detour in her plans. She got back fine. I would not have asked her if I thought she would get hurt,” Liz explained. She was biting her lip and then seemed to realize what she was doing before stopping with a glare.
“You shouldn’t have done that. I won’t say anything to Max, but it’s important that we do not stay out of TC too long. And where did you get money?” The last question was the one that had confused him the most.
Liz looked hard at her food for a few minutes and then reached back into her fatigues and pulled out a water bottle that had been dipped in black paint. He had seen her carrying it on her from time to time- and more often than not he had seen it with Maria in the infirmary. He hadn’t really thought twice about it.
“I used to work as a waitress in my parents restaurant. I pulled in a lot of money and a lot of tips. I saved all of it; I guess I thought someday I’d be going college. I also had some inheritance from my grandmother. Anyway, I’ve held on to it- it’s how Maria and I survived when I couldn’t steal us food. I have it in cash because it’s not traceable that way.” As Liz told him this, she took the cap off the tall, large-mouthed, black bottle and upended it onto Alec’s mattress. Alec stared at what had to be at least fifty-thousand dollars in five-hundred and thousand dollar bills.
He watched as Liz pulled four twenties and some change out of her pocket and throw that down too. When he looked up at her confused she shrugged, “I had to pay for breakfast right? I let OC keep a hundred in exchange for her trouble.”
“Why didn’t you mention any of this?” Alec asked.
“If you had thousands of dollars in cash on your person, would you tell people you don’t know well-enough to trust?” Liz countered.
Scratching his head, Alec gave her a smirk, “Guess I see what you mean. But why are you telling me?”
Liz gazed at him for a few long moments, nibbling on her own melon before answering. “Because I
trust you.”
Well that was big, Alec thought. Alec was sneaky, underhanded, and sometimes a jerk- he could admit that. He had messed things up for Maxie on more than one occasion, including the time he broke in on her job at the museum. Somehow hearing from Liz that she trusted him, he wanted to make sure she could. After last night, Alec realized there wasn’t anything he would keep from her- nothing he didn’t want her to know.
Liz started stuffing the money back in her bottle and when she was down to a few hundred she looked up at Alec, “I know that you don’t have a lot of money here, and times are tough. If you ever need-” Liz gestured to the last few bills as she was dropping them in, “just ask.”
“Liz, I appreciate the offer, but you hold on to that. If I need anything, I can figure it out,” Alec assured her, his heart swelling at her generosity. He almost couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth- never in his life had he turned down money, or sex- which he had last night. Something was seriously wrong with him.
Going back to eating his meal, which was one of the best he’d had in months, he gave her a playful wink and watched as she gave him that small, side-smile again. They finished the rest of their meal while Alec asked her questions about her job in her parents restaurant, and what that was like growing up, and by the time they were done eating Liz was laughing while telling him about her tricks with fake alien photos and Crashdown customers.
“You sound like you were a totally different person,” Alec said. He meant that too, she sounded like she was happy and normal- not the Manticore soldier she was raised to be as a child.
“It’s funny, for awhile, I let myself think that too. I know that my unit’s escape caused problems for you and others left behind- but I’m really glad that I left, and that I got to have some watered down version of a normal life; for a while anyway,” Liz sounded like she was in another world, thinking about her other life in Roswell.
“I think I would have liked to have met Liz Parker- teenage super-soldier in hiding,” Alec said, laughing a little. Liz threw him a playful glare, but the way her eyes lit up told him that she was amused with him, and that she was letting up on her hard-ass shell.
When they stood and headed out for morning drills, Alec realized that the sun was still down- though sunrise wasn’t too far off- and that the reason he hadn’t heard Liz leave was because he had only been asleep for four hours when she slipped out. He still didn’t like the idea that he had been lax enough to not hear her coming or going, but he just decided he would have to be more alert.
As they were about to pass the infirmary, Liz excused herself for a moment and blurred away. She was back beside him fifteen seconds later and they headed back down to training.
Max was already on the field when they arrive and the units were still falling in. The sun started to rise in the background, but no one paid that any attention. Alec broke off from them both and watched as Liz- face now grim- marched toward her troops. Max made an announcement about an upcoming mission, and that whichever unit performed the best until the night before would be going. Alec was pissed that he had not heard about it sooner, but figured that Max must not have worked out all the details yet.
“Alright, roll call. Name and designation- go,” Alec shouted out over the morning hum. He heard his order repeated throughout the field from other COs go up around him, and multitasked by listening as each unit listed off.
Four hours passed and the shifts changed up. Alec was sweating with the exertion of working out on the field in the mid-morning sun. He had stuck around more to fight, taking on different transgenics from different units as the time passed. He passed Liz more than a few times and each time he heard her giving decisive instruction. She made a good CO whether she wanted to believe that or not. Alec could already see others looking upon her with respect. Respect that she deserved.
As Alec stood over a fallen opponent, he heard someone call his name from behind him. Turning he saw Shelia- a Nomalie that Mole hung around with. She had long, thick dark-blue hair and looked perfectly human, except for her claws and the feathers that stretched along her arms. Her eyes were an ebony color that made her look beautiful and fierce at the same time. He knew the hair was a dye job, but the feathers and claws were a testament to her avian mix.
“Hey Shelia,” Alec greeted, slamming his foot down on top of the X5’s to stop the transgenic on the ground from rising.
“Mole needs to see you,” she said, her voice bored, her eyes expressionless. That was the only thing about her he couldn’t stand- the woman never showed emotion. It was disconcerting. She was intelligent and a sight to see when fighting, but she wanted for personality.
“And he sent you? Aw, I feel special,” Alec joked. He eased up his foot on the transgenic and offered the male a hand. The X5 had mouthed off to more than one CO and had a problem with authority, Alec had found great pleasure in kicking his ass, “Ten laps around the perimeter and then four weeks latrine duty on top of your usual assignments. We clear?”
The considerably smaller, scruffy X male nodded his head before rushing off to do as told. People just did not mouth-off to Alec, and if they did, they ended up a walking bruise.
Alec turned back to tell Shelia he would be along in a moment, but she was already gone. He hated when she did that. Appear and disappear like an aberration. Sighing, Alec resigned himself to desk work. He tossed out a few orders to the COs and made one more sweep passed Liz’s unit- which were doing standard formations- and gave her a flirty wink when she imperceptibly nodded in return.
Making his way to Mole and Command Central, Alec noticed that everyone was where they were supposed to be- no one was in the streets socializing. It took less time than he thought it would to reach Command, and noticed that Mole was waiting near the doors for him.
“Hey Mole, what’s up?” Alec liked Mole, he always got right to the point.
“I’m planning a mission for Max and the unit that she decides to take with her, and she told me that you were needed specifically to approve my plans,” Mole replied curtly.
Alec felt like he could have preened right then, nothing like someone deferring to his judgment to stroke the ego. It was always nice to feel wanted, Alec thought, his face outwardly smirking.
“What Maxie wants, Maxie gets,” Alec joked. “Show me the plans.”
Mole led Alec to a table on the upper-platform and pulled out several cylindrical containers, opening each and unfurling large blue-prints and blue-print style maps of sector checkpoints. A number of side notes and short-handed comments caught Alec’s attention. He followed the maps and notes and read through the list of definite transgenics that would be going on the mission- his name among them. The list was long already, and the idea that Max would be rallying an entire unit to add to it had him looking over the mission statement. Holy shit- they were going to be taking down another government based facility and swiping something called “Product X”.
“Mole, where is Max now?” Alec was lost in thought, but he heard the Nomalie say “the interrogation room” before taking off in that direction.
If Max was planning another take down that means that whatever she was going after- “Product X”- would be dangerous. He blurred through the streets and entered the building, rapidly approaching the interrogation room. When the guards came into site he moved passed them without stopping to greet them. Just as he entered the door, Max was about to leave.
“Alec, what are you doing here?” Max asked, glancing over her shoulder to where Sandeman was lying on a cot- apparently his suite had been updated.
“We need to talk,” stated Alec, his eyes also straying to the withered, old man.
Grabbing his upper-bicep angrily, Max stomped out of the room, taking Alec with her. She didn’t stop moving until they were a good hundred meters from the outside doors of the building.
Spinning around, Max pinned him with a glare. “What?”
“What is ‘Product X’ and why are we destroying an entire setup to get it?” Alec wasn’t pulling any punches- now wasn’t the time for Max to spare words.
Glaring at him some more, Max gave him a customary eye-roll, “It’s important and the new ‘setup’ is Lydecker’s newest attempt at another Manticore. He and White are doing just what we are doing- training and preparing. We need to hit them soon.”
“Wait, another Manticore? How do you know?” Alec couldn’t imagine the kind of resources Lydecker would have to have to pull off such a thing, but given the fact he and White were now in league together, anything was possible.
“Sandeman has been a good source of information. I can’t disclose anything else until we get closer to the mission- it’s too dangerous and too important. Just do me a favor and help Mole with the plans. It has to be flawless- I don’t want to lose anyone and I want to succeed,” Max ordered, wringing her hands in an uncharacteristic show of nerves.
“Do we really trust Sandeman enough to put our lives on the line?”
Max remained quite for a pause then nodded. He didn’t like the look in her eyes, like she wasn’t sure, but she wanted to believe. He had seen it a lot in people far more foolish and hopeful than Max- he had always considered her a realist. He wasn’t going to cloud her judgment though, Max was right about this being too important, “You got it. I’ll go back to Command and finish up. Everything looks in order, but until you pick a unit we won’t be able to finalize.”
“I know who I’m going to pick. I just want everyone working their best until then,” Max told him. She looked more at ease now that the conversation had shifted slightly.
“Who?” Alec inquired.
“Liz and her unit. I want her there and I know that her unit will be ready by then. I trust her,” Max whispered the last. She didn’t trust many people and it had come back to bite her in the ass on more than one occasion- and that was only since Alec had met her he saw this.
“I do too,” Alec confided. Max raised her eyebrows at that and Alec shrugged with his usual nonchalance.
“You scamming on Liz?” Max asked, her eyes flaring, ready for a fight.
“What business is it of yours?” Alec asked defensively, he didn’t want to get into this with Max, not again.
“Don’t fuck with me, Alec.”
“Damn it Maxie, I like her,” Alec shouted. He surprised them both by his outright declaration. He didn’t take it back though, he did like Liz. He liked her the way he liked Rachel, and he wasn’t going to fuck that up this time. Max was staring at him guardedly, but didn’t say anything for a couple minutes. They
were staring off.
“You better,” Max finally replied, her stance lessening into a friendly one.
“You want to hit the bar later? I’ll take you in pool,” Alec offered, smirking his smirk.
“Maybe. I got something I got to do first. OC made her monthly and I’m getting the shakes. I need to give out some Tryptophan. Good news though, one of the medics has been working on our genetic sequencing and might have found our predisposed trait for seizures.” Max smiled triumphantly at him.
“Good to hear. I’ll catch you later, Maxie,” Alec said as he departed. He headed back to Mole and Command and after an hour there they worked out the finalized plans. Alec wanted to know what “Product X” was, but decided it was better not to mention it, or question it- they didn’t need anyone hearing too much too soon.
“Alec?” Someone called out to Alec from behind as he was exiting Command. Turning, he noticed Ash standing around the outer-edge of the ring where a three-way fight was going down.
Ash was a pretty little thing and Alec made his way over to her side while watching the ring. “I thought you were on CO duty this morning?”
“Max asked me to cover the ring today- something about a special assignment. Zack is covering my unit,” Ash informed him, smiling flirtatiously.
“I noticed. I was actually going to ask about that earlier, but I got side-tracked with an assignment of my own. How are they?” Alec asked, waving his hand to some the young transgenics- maybe thirteen or fourteen years in age- zipping around the inside of the ring.
“Good. Excellent progress, good skill sets- they’ll make excellent soldiers,” Ash told him, watching as the smaller one went down from a kick to the side before quickly recovering seconds later.
“Hopefully they won’t have to be,” Alec rejoined, leaning a hip against a nearby fold-out table.
Ash nodded her agreement and then moved to join him leaning against the table, her body brushing his from the side. “So I was thinking that we might get drinks later. We haven’t hung out in a while and it might make for a fun distraction.”
Alec sighed mentally and raised his left hand to rub at his neck- a quirk he had when in an awkward position. Ash was good-looking, sure, but he had something going with Liz now and he didn’t want to fuck that up less than 24-hours in.
“Actually, I’m going have drinks with Liz later,” Alec lied smoothly. He took in the way Ash’s mouth tightened around the edges, but she didn’t show any other sign of annoyance.
“Oh, that’s nice. Maybe another night,” she suggested, her lips going from tight to sexily tipped in a salacious smile.
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll let you know,” Alec told her- taking the decision out of her hands. It was a clean brush off, and from the way Ash’s shoulders tensed, she knew it too.
“Yeah, you do that. I’ve got to get back to work. Maybe I’ll see you later,” Ash slid soundlessly from his side, and head back ring-side.
Alec remembered that he was headed back to check up on the units and took off out the exit and down the relatively empty streets- devoid save for intermittent guard postings- and made it to the field in no time at all. He did his rounds, purposely saving Liz’s unit for last- and then lingered watching as they had moved on to weaponry. Nothing like watching a soldier and their weapon of choice- it could be a thing of beauty. Alec knew that the weapon itself became an extension of its’ holder.
Liz took them through formations, offensive attack, defensive retaliation, and the art of speed in an attack. These were not new techniques, nor were they flashy, or overtly brutally- but when employed in battle- with true expertise- they were formidable.
The rest of the day ran long, the heat from the unseasonably, sunny weather had everyone sweating. By the time the COs were finished out for the day each of them were covered in sweat, dirt, and laden with the exhaustion from their instruction.
Alec peeled his own sweaty, grimy shirt free from his body as he dismissed everyone from their assignments. He heard the stomp of boots like the stampeding of bull and pulled off to the side to wait for Liz. When he spotted her, he noted that she was sweaty and unkempt- her hair sticking out in several places and her face flushed red with exertion. She looked sexy as hell, in Alec’s opinion, and he joined her immediately.
“Hi,” Alec said, smiling down at her- even through his exhaustion he was flirtatious.
“Hey,” Liz replied, returning his smile as she took a pull from a canteen she’d been using. “I think I’m going to take a shower and then visit Maria.”
“Can I come?” Alec asked.
“Take a shower or visit Maria?” Liz teased. Alec felt his fatigues get tighter at the prospect of a shower with her.
“Both,” Alec said with challenge. Then Liz did something that Alec would remember forever, she threw back her head and laughed. It wasn’t just a short, quick laugh, but a full-on, body-shaking, can’t-control-yourself laugh.
When Liz finally stopped laughing, she noticed that Alec was staring at her and she blushed, “Well since I actually want to see Maria tonight, how about we take separate showers and I meet you outside the infirmary once I’m cleaned up?”
“Deal,” Alec said, but before she could move off the field and run off for her shower, he took her around the waist and pulled her up to press his lips to hers in a heated kiss. He set her back on her feet a brief moment later and smiled at her surprised- not smirked, smiled. “You have a sexy laugh.”
Liz blushed harder and rolled her eyes at him- reminding him a lot of Max- and then watched as she walked off the field. Alec started for his apartment and realized he’d better make his shower a cold one.
Author's Note: Yes, I am alive
I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I am here now. I had a lot of personal issues to deal with- including personal family crisis. But now my crisis is over and my muse has decided to drop in for a visit. I hope you all enjoyed this last chapter. Thank you for all your support. EK! Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Egyptian_Kiss
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) Ch17 7/2/09
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Eighteen
Max was holding the attention of all the COs, lined up against the ring in Command Central. After Liz had taken her shower and met up with Alec in the infirmary, and they’d gone to the bar for a drink or two after visiting with Maria when they had gotten the message that all COs were to report to Command immediately.
In addition to Max and Alec, the nomalie named Mole, the big one named Joshua, and she recognized Jondy, Krit, Syl, and Zack standing in the background near the computer mainframe. They all stood up on the higher platform overlooking the assemblage while conferring with one another. A few of the COs around her were talking amongst themselves about who might get picked for the upcoming mission- none of them looked her way and she was perfectly fine with that.
“Okay listen up. We’re leaving on mission tomorrow morning at 0400 hours. Based on the assessment of your units, I have decided that the CO Liz’s unit will join our mission. Those of you not chosen will not pick up training as schedule tomorrow. There will be a change in the arranged schedule, each of you and your units will be deployed to several different security tasks in the absence of such a large portion of X operatives. Your individual mission statements will be handed out to you as you exit Command Central. You are to debrief your unit tomorrow morning on the field. I do not want anyone off task- if I find out that you, the punishment will be sever. If I find out that something goes wrong tomorrow during our mission, the transgenic responsible will be punished- and if it is drastic enough, you may be removed from Terminal City.
“This is not a joke. People’s lives are at stake; your lives are at stake. Each of you is to eat a good meal, get as much sleep as possible, and be prepped and ready to go by 0300 hours. Have your favored weapons ready and in top condition. Dismissed,” Max called out over the crowd. Her words were stunning, halting, and harsh.
Moreover, Liz couldn’t believe what she had just heard- she was supposed to lead her unit into the upcoming mission? Was Max serious? She had barely just managed to get her unit to begin respecting her authority, she wanted to test that in a significantly, important mission? Alec knew, Liz thought. It wasn’t just suspicion egging her thoughts on, she remembered the look on his face- he had been unsurprised when Max summoned them, and from the look he gave her during Max’s announcement- proud and respectful- he had obviously expected this bombshell, and Liz wished she could say the same.
Some of the COs were glaring at her on their way out the door, receiving manila folders with their names and designations printed across the top tab. Liz gave as good as she got, and then marched up to the platform and vaulted up the stairs to stand in front of the hulking Joshua. He was kind, she had seen as much in the little interaction she’d had with him and the rest of TC; he even spared her a smile when she stopped short of plowing into him.
“Liz doing good?” Joshua asked, tilting his head downward as she gazed up at him.
“Not at the moment. Thanks for asking,” Liz responded, trying to be nice while glaring holes around him at Alec who lost his look of pride and gained one of uncertainty.
“Why not?” He asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now Joshua. Can I get passed? I need to talk to Alec and Max,” Liz said, trying hard not to snap at him. He seemed to realize her bad mood and moved aside so she could move around him.
“You knew,” Liz spat angrily, her accusation taking form as she stared at Alec, his arms folded across his chest defiantly.
“Yeah, I knew, but I only found out today,” Alec told her. He scratched his head in that cute, nervous way, and Liz wanted to smack him.
“You had plenty of time to tell me about this before I got here,” Liz said. Her eyes running the length of him, from his petulant face to his hard chest and biceps, down his torso and legs. She realized she was sizing him up and bit back the urge.
“I couldn’t say anything because Max wanted to make sure the other COs were doing their best today, staying on task. You heard her, we cannot afford any mistakes,” Alec offered in excuse.
If she weren’t so composed, Liz would have rolled her eyes and huffed, but she hardened herself. Glancing behind Alec, Liz watched Max conversing with Jondy about something in a hushed tone- if she wanted to, she could overhear what they were saying, but Liz didn’t feel it was the right moment. Giving Alec another hard look, she pushed passed him- which he allowed for without a word- and marched over to Max.
Max took a moment to wrap up her talk with Jondy before dismissing her, and turned to face Liz. “Hi Ad..Liz.”
“Max I don’t think it should be my unit going on this mission. They need more work, and I they don’t trust me enough yet,” Liz said, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Max shared a look over her head, presumably with Alec, which only furthered her anger, and then locked eyes with Zack- who stood beside her. He seemed inclined to agree with Liz rather than with Max, she could see it in the way he didn’t respond to Max’s gaze.
“I made my decision. You are an excellent soldier and your unit has come very far- they are ready for battle if necessary and they already have built in stealth. Whatever problems you have with them will be set aside for this mission. You will do this and I won’t change my mind so anything else you have to say against it is moot,” Max replied, her voice hard as Liz’s glare.
Liz struggled with her inner-stubbornness and tamped down anymore argument she felt compelled to share- she was a soldier, she would do as told to earn her keep. Max was right, if her unit had a problem with her; they would get over it and themselves and deal with the mission at hand. Furthermore, if they wanted out, they would have to leave Terminal City because Max’s word was clearly law, she sat in power and that was that. Giving a nod of her head, Liz snapped to attention, saluted Max resolutely, and waited for dismissal- which Max shook her head as she granted it- and then stormed passed Alec and down the platform. When she reached the door, she snatched up her manila folder and marched on out.
As she walked the streets of TC, her mind ran through the list of reasons she was angry. It was not because she was angry about having to go on mission- she was a soldier, that was a given. She was angry because Alec hadn’t told her and she’d been confiding all her secrets in him; she was angry because what she said about her unit was true; she was angry because she’d have to leave Maria; she was angry because none of that matter.
Power was rising up inside her, and Liz remembered this out of control feeling. The welling up of emotion and alien ability that pushed to the surface, testing her self-control. Gritting her teeth, Liz tried to force it down, bit back on her resentment, but it didn’t stop the coming. It rolled over her skin in crackling beads of green energy, her skin becoming transparent and glowing ethereally; the black well of her bad mood dilating her pupils till the white receded back leaving only darkness. Her breath came out in pants and her mouth quivered with barely controlled restraint.
Liz rode that wave of frustration and rage that usually settle untapped within her and dropped to a crouch, slamming her hands palms flat against the dirty asphalt ground. A ripple of heat and energy sizzled the ground, sending out waves of power that caused the black-top to heave up and explode like lava erupting from the fissure cracks. Her eyes began to overheat- the skin around them turning red and hot to the touch- and Liz closed them, knowing what came next, trying to cease it, trying to control it, but ultimately failing.
Her eyelids drew back in a snap when she couldn’t contain it any longer and light shot in a waving stream from both orifices, and she was temporarily blinded by the violent, purple light. The pain was intense- like nothing she could ever imagine- as if her brain were imploding, and when it finally subsided, her body collapsed- empty and exhausted. The emotional slate had been wiped clean and everything around her was mute, sightless, and numb.
It took her a moment for her mind to register that someone was shaking her, trying to bring her back. A shiver went through her as her lungs began breathing again and her heated skin felt the chilly bite of the evening air. Hands were clutching her, pulling her against a hard chest, and they were trembling. She had to open her eyes, Liz knew someone had seen.
Slowly, painfully, Liz opened her eyes. Normally when this happened it took her at least a half hour to do so, but she fought the pain and tiredness to make it happen. Her vision was blurred, light and shadow dancing in front of her, and it intensified the ache that came with her power surges. Everything began to clear up bit by bit until she was staring at Alec’s concerned face, contorted with fear. He was talking to her, but she couldn’t hear yet- that took some time to come back too.
“Can’t hear you yet,” Liz said, or at least she thought it came out because she felt the vibrations in her throat. Alec stopped talking, he must have heard her. Good.
A residual wave wracked her body and she clenched her teeth, and smacked her palm against the ground quickly from its dangling position. One of the fissures in the ground steamed in response. It was clear that Alec had seen it as his eyes widened a little bit in response before refocusing on her face. This had been a really bad one- usually she had some muted control over the explosions, the tidal wave of emotions- not tonight. It had built up inside her.
Sound was trickling back. She heard the air around her, listened at the ground still sizzled in front of them down the alleyway. When she was certain that she could hear; she looked up into Alec’s eyes.
“I can hear now,” Liz mumbled, not certain she wanted to hear what he was about to say.
“Are you okay?” He asked. Not what she expected.
“I will be fine. I’m going to sit up,” Liz said, more for her benefit than his. He pushed her back as she compelled herself forward, her body sending shocks through her torso, making her stomach muscles sore.
“What just happened, Liz?” questioned Alec.
“I cannot talk about this here. We have to go somewhere private. Did anyone else see?” Liz asked, dreading the answer. God if anyone knew- she didn’t want to think about it.
“No, only me. I was trying to catch up to you since you left Command Central,” Alec told her, getting up and then offering her a hand up, but she ignored it and rose on her own. She was a soldier and she would be damned if she couldn’t get up from the ground on her own.
“Let’s go to my apartment its close,” Alec offered; his face stony at her rejection of his help.
Liz nodded and stretched her legs before following behind him, more slowly than she would have liked, but her body was a walking bruise at the moment. The ground beneath their feet was hot as they walked, and they had to avoid still sizzling fissures. As they rounded the corner, Liz saw a lump of melted plastic that used to be a set of crates, hopefully they weren’t necessary.
The going was slower than Liz had expected, Alec had dropped his pace when he realized that Liz was several feet behind him. She didn’t acknowledge her weakness and neither did he. As they neared his building, Alec took her hand in his, and winced perceptibly when it burned his- still overly heated from the beads of green power. Seeing this, Liz tried to pull her hand back, but Alec held firmly onto it, almost dragging her to his door.
Inside, Liz again tried to disengage her hand from his to stand against the far wall, but he pulled her along with him and tugged her down to the bed. She might have sagged with relief if she weren’t so tense about what they were going to discuss.
“Liz, tell me what happened out there,” Alec asked again, taking her other hand and rubbing soothing circles on both. Liz was staring at their interlocked and relishing the moment, not wanting it to end with the forthcoming news.
“Remember what I told you about Max, Michael and Isabel, about their powers. I mentioned how I have them too, but I hoped I wouldn’t ever show that to you. That’s how it manifested in me, how he manifested in me. When I get too full of anger, or resentment, or any kind of emotional overload- it builds and builds and then it has to be released. Sometimes I can curb it, sometimes I can hold back its full blast, but other times I just have to find a secluded place- hope that I can- and ride it out. It’s destructive. It’s terrifying. I could kill so many people and not even mean to because of it. I hate it. I hate that it’s a part of me,” Liz said, her voice going from a whisper to a shout.
Yanking back her hands- causing pain to ripple up her arms and knock the breath from her lungs momentarily- Liz blurred to the other side of the room. While Alec stayed seated, she felt his eyes lock on her, and forced herself to meet them. She expected disgust, anger, maybe even some fear- but he just looked concerned and confused.
“What is it you did exactly?” Alec asked, his voice not judging, but uncertain.
“I don’t know what you call it. I don’t even know what it really is. But if I don’t put my hands on the ground, the green energy forces its way out just like the purple heat. It burns, it rips through me and destroys everything in its path,” Liz answered honestly.
“Have you ever…hurt anyone with it?” He questioned, tone gentle.
Liz bit her lip hard until it bleed in her mouth and pooled. She turned from him and a tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered the one time it had happened. “Yes.”
“Can you tell me about what happened?” His voice drifted back to her, still not moving from his seat.
“It was when Maria and I were on the run a few weeks after White came to Roswell. Maria and I were eating in a backstreet somewhere in Wyoming. Some guys came down the street- gang members, I think, and one dirty cop. They approached us, the cop in the back, and the others up front. They hassled us about money, demanding we hand whatever we had over, and I refused.
“Maria knew how strong I was and stood by my answer, even though she was terrified. They slapped her, and she hit a wall- she was knocked out with blood dripping down her face. God, I still see it in my head; I hadn’t been quick enough to stop them because I hadn’t had any sleep for over five days- not a good enough excuse.” Liz muttered the last darkly, self-loathing hanging from every word.
“They came at me next and I took them on. The gang members went down quick, but when I turned around the cop had grabbed Maria by the hair, a gun at her head. I was so angry, I looked at him and I thought of what he was supposed to represent, and I wanted to kill him. I wanted him dead and the soldier in me did too, but the alien part reared up first. I managed to get the gun away from him and knocked him down toward his group of thugs. Then it happened. Just like today, but I didn’t know back then how to control it at all, or what to do with my hands.
“I was in a rage, I grabbed the cop by his neck and I squeezed so hard. It wasn’t necessary to kill him- and I don’t kill without reason, I won’t,” Liz whispered, her eyes tearing up. “But I couldn’t stop it from happening, my hands got hot, the beads started running, he was clawing at me to let him go and I should have, but I wanted to hurt him so bad.
“The guys on the ground were too close. Even if they had been a few more feet away they might have been sort of okay. My eyes got hot, I’d never had it happen that bad- and it had only happened twice before. My mind went blank as my hands released the energy and the cop’s head exploded…in my hands. I looked down at the guys on the ground, not really seeing them, not comprehending what had just happened. And that’s when my eyes went off- they burst with the pain and the heat and the rage, incinerating them to nothing,” she stammered out, gasping in small breaths of sorrow. Remembering how one of them opened his eyes just as her became sightless- she barely caught his look of absolute horror before it happened, but she caught it nonetheless.
“I passed out. I woke up a half hour later and Maria was still out cold. There wasn’t any trace of what happened left behind except for the twisted metal of the cop’s gun. I used my shirt to cover my hands and picked it up- throwing it in a dumpster two blocks over. I carried Maria eighteen city blocks, got us both on a bus heading out of state, and we left. She doesn’t know what happened. I didn’t want her to because…I don’t even want to know what I did,” Liz finished. Tears were running down her face and she was staring at her hands like they weren’t hers. The feel of the cop’s neck beneath her clenching, squeezing fingers all too real for her in that moment, she couldn’t move with the thought.
The sound of the mattress creaking alerted Liz to Alec’s movement, but she still refused to turn and look at him, caught up in the nightmare of her memory. She had told him, and now he knew that part of her was a monster- part of her could kill without thought or discrimination. Something people might say all transgenics did, but in truth- they always had a choice as an X operative, even if it wasn’t much of one they had the control.
Alec’s arms came around her and Liz sagged against him, giving in to her weakness. She didn’t want him to hate her- that meant so much to her right then. Her heart beat a weird rhythm and she waited for him to speak.
“You couldn’t control it,” he said, and that was her point exactly, Liz thought. “You didn’t just kill those people to kill them, Liz. You couldn’t control it. You didn’t get a guidebook, or a choice. You didn’t know this was going to happen to you. I would never call you a victim, because that is a weakness I know you won’t claim, but this wasn’t your fault.”
He didn’t hate her. That was all that Liz cared about in what he said. He might be right in that she didn’t chose to kill those people, but she still did it. Pulling that aside at that moment, letting the pain of that memory die for now, she turned into him and hugged him to her tightly. They stayed like that for a long while before he tugged her to the bed, laying them down side by side, arms curled around each other.
“Does it hurt every time?” He asked in a calm whisper, soothing her.
“Yes. It burns from the inside out,” she mumbled into his chest.
“You have learned some control?”
“A little, but not much. It’s exhausting, and fighting it intensifies the burn, making it more likely I’ll explode worse the next time,” Liz confessed, twisting her fingers through his long hair.
“But you have learned some, which means someday, you might be able to control it,” he replied, rubbing circles on her back.
“I don’t know; it feels too big to control, too painful to contain. But I try, I really do. I don’t want to hurt other people, innocent, guilty- whoever. Not without making that choice,” she whispered, her body relaxing more and more due to the toll her body had taken.
“I know; I believe you. Get some sleep; we have a mission in the morning. We’ll get up early and go over your folder,” Alec said, closing his own eyes.
Liz felt her heart well up. She closed her eyes. She promised to try harder next time. She vowed to do well on the mission tomorrow. She wanted Alec to be right about her. She would make sure of it.
Author's Note: Okay so I went on a bit of a hiatus with WLL, but I'm back now. I hope everyone enjoyed this update. I look forward to your feedback. I hope you all have happy holidays! Until next time, EK!
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Eighteen
Max was holding the attention of all the COs, lined up against the ring in Command Central. After Liz had taken her shower and met up with Alec in the infirmary, and they’d gone to the bar for a drink or two after visiting with Maria when they had gotten the message that all COs were to report to Command immediately.
In addition to Max and Alec, the nomalie named Mole, the big one named Joshua, and she recognized Jondy, Krit, Syl, and Zack standing in the background near the computer mainframe. They all stood up on the higher platform overlooking the assemblage while conferring with one another. A few of the COs around her were talking amongst themselves about who might get picked for the upcoming mission- none of them looked her way and she was perfectly fine with that.
“Okay listen up. We’re leaving on mission tomorrow morning at 0400 hours. Based on the assessment of your units, I have decided that the CO Liz’s unit will join our mission. Those of you not chosen will not pick up training as schedule tomorrow. There will be a change in the arranged schedule, each of you and your units will be deployed to several different security tasks in the absence of such a large portion of X operatives. Your individual mission statements will be handed out to you as you exit Command Central. You are to debrief your unit tomorrow morning on the field. I do not want anyone off task- if I find out that you, the punishment will be sever. If I find out that something goes wrong tomorrow during our mission, the transgenic responsible will be punished- and if it is drastic enough, you may be removed from Terminal City.
“This is not a joke. People’s lives are at stake; your lives are at stake. Each of you is to eat a good meal, get as much sleep as possible, and be prepped and ready to go by 0300 hours. Have your favored weapons ready and in top condition. Dismissed,” Max called out over the crowd. Her words were stunning, halting, and harsh.
Moreover, Liz couldn’t believe what she had just heard- she was supposed to lead her unit into the upcoming mission? Was Max serious? She had barely just managed to get her unit to begin respecting her authority, she wanted to test that in a significantly, important mission? Alec knew, Liz thought. It wasn’t just suspicion egging her thoughts on, she remembered the look on his face- he had been unsurprised when Max summoned them, and from the look he gave her during Max’s announcement- proud and respectful- he had obviously expected this bombshell, and Liz wished she could say the same.
Some of the COs were glaring at her on their way out the door, receiving manila folders with their names and designations printed across the top tab. Liz gave as good as she got, and then marched up to the platform and vaulted up the stairs to stand in front of the hulking Joshua. He was kind, she had seen as much in the little interaction she’d had with him and the rest of TC; he even spared her a smile when she stopped short of plowing into him.
“Liz doing good?” Joshua asked, tilting his head downward as she gazed up at him.
“Not at the moment. Thanks for asking,” Liz responded, trying to be nice while glaring holes around him at Alec who lost his look of pride and gained one of uncertainty.
“Why not?” He asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now Joshua. Can I get passed? I need to talk to Alec and Max,” Liz said, trying hard not to snap at him. He seemed to realize her bad mood and moved aside so she could move around him.
“You knew,” Liz spat angrily, her accusation taking form as she stared at Alec, his arms folded across his chest defiantly.
“Yeah, I knew, but I only found out today,” Alec told her. He scratched his head in that cute, nervous way, and Liz wanted to smack him.
“You had plenty of time to tell me about this before I got here,” Liz said. Her eyes running the length of him, from his petulant face to his hard chest and biceps, down his torso and legs. She realized she was sizing him up and bit back the urge.
“I couldn’t say anything because Max wanted to make sure the other COs were doing their best today, staying on task. You heard her, we cannot afford any mistakes,” Alec offered in excuse.
If she weren’t so composed, Liz would have rolled her eyes and huffed, but she hardened herself. Glancing behind Alec, Liz watched Max conversing with Jondy about something in a hushed tone- if she wanted to, she could overhear what they were saying, but Liz didn’t feel it was the right moment. Giving Alec another hard look, she pushed passed him- which he allowed for without a word- and marched over to Max.
Max took a moment to wrap up her talk with Jondy before dismissing her, and turned to face Liz. “Hi Ad..Liz.”
“Max I don’t think it should be my unit going on this mission. They need more work, and I they don’t trust me enough yet,” Liz said, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Max shared a look over her head, presumably with Alec, which only furthered her anger, and then locked eyes with Zack- who stood beside her. He seemed inclined to agree with Liz rather than with Max, she could see it in the way he didn’t respond to Max’s gaze.
“I made my decision. You are an excellent soldier and your unit has come very far- they are ready for battle if necessary and they already have built in stealth. Whatever problems you have with them will be set aside for this mission. You will do this and I won’t change my mind so anything else you have to say against it is moot,” Max replied, her voice hard as Liz’s glare.
Liz struggled with her inner-stubbornness and tamped down anymore argument she felt compelled to share- she was a soldier, she would do as told to earn her keep. Max was right, if her unit had a problem with her; they would get over it and themselves and deal with the mission at hand. Furthermore, if they wanted out, they would have to leave Terminal City because Max’s word was clearly law, she sat in power and that was that. Giving a nod of her head, Liz snapped to attention, saluted Max resolutely, and waited for dismissal- which Max shook her head as she granted it- and then stormed passed Alec and down the platform. When she reached the door, she snatched up her manila folder and marched on out.
As she walked the streets of TC, her mind ran through the list of reasons she was angry. It was not because she was angry about having to go on mission- she was a soldier, that was a given. She was angry because Alec hadn’t told her and she’d been confiding all her secrets in him; she was angry because what she said about her unit was true; she was angry because she’d have to leave Maria; she was angry because none of that matter.
Power was rising up inside her, and Liz remembered this out of control feeling. The welling up of emotion and alien ability that pushed to the surface, testing her self-control. Gritting her teeth, Liz tried to force it down, bit back on her resentment, but it didn’t stop the coming. It rolled over her skin in crackling beads of green energy, her skin becoming transparent and glowing ethereally; the black well of her bad mood dilating her pupils till the white receded back leaving only darkness. Her breath came out in pants and her mouth quivered with barely controlled restraint.
Liz rode that wave of frustration and rage that usually settle untapped within her and dropped to a crouch, slamming her hands palms flat against the dirty asphalt ground. A ripple of heat and energy sizzled the ground, sending out waves of power that caused the black-top to heave up and explode like lava erupting from the fissure cracks. Her eyes began to overheat- the skin around them turning red and hot to the touch- and Liz closed them, knowing what came next, trying to cease it, trying to control it, but ultimately failing.
Her eyelids drew back in a snap when she couldn’t contain it any longer and light shot in a waving stream from both orifices, and she was temporarily blinded by the violent, purple light. The pain was intense- like nothing she could ever imagine- as if her brain were imploding, and when it finally subsided, her body collapsed- empty and exhausted. The emotional slate had been wiped clean and everything around her was mute, sightless, and numb.
It took her a moment for her mind to register that someone was shaking her, trying to bring her back. A shiver went through her as her lungs began breathing again and her heated skin felt the chilly bite of the evening air. Hands were clutching her, pulling her against a hard chest, and they were trembling. She had to open her eyes, Liz knew someone had seen.
Slowly, painfully, Liz opened her eyes. Normally when this happened it took her at least a half hour to do so, but she fought the pain and tiredness to make it happen. Her vision was blurred, light and shadow dancing in front of her, and it intensified the ache that came with her power surges. Everything began to clear up bit by bit until she was staring at Alec’s concerned face, contorted with fear. He was talking to her, but she couldn’t hear yet- that took some time to come back too.
“Can’t hear you yet,” Liz said, or at least she thought it came out because she felt the vibrations in her throat. Alec stopped talking, he must have heard her. Good.
A residual wave wracked her body and she clenched her teeth, and smacked her palm against the ground quickly from its dangling position. One of the fissures in the ground steamed in response. It was clear that Alec had seen it as his eyes widened a little bit in response before refocusing on her face. This had been a really bad one- usually she had some muted control over the explosions, the tidal wave of emotions- not tonight. It had built up inside her.
Sound was trickling back. She heard the air around her, listened at the ground still sizzled in front of them down the alleyway. When she was certain that she could hear; she looked up into Alec’s eyes.
“I can hear now,” Liz mumbled, not certain she wanted to hear what he was about to say.
“Are you okay?” He asked. Not what she expected.
“I will be fine. I’m going to sit up,” Liz said, more for her benefit than his. He pushed her back as she compelled herself forward, her body sending shocks through her torso, making her stomach muscles sore.
“What just happened, Liz?” questioned Alec.
“I cannot talk about this here. We have to go somewhere private. Did anyone else see?” Liz asked, dreading the answer. God if anyone knew- she didn’t want to think about it.
“No, only me. I was trying to catch up to you since you left Command Central,” Alec told her, getting up and then offering her a hand up, but she ignored it and rose on her own. She was a soldier and she would be damned if she couldn’t get up from the ground on her own.
“Let’s go to my apartment its close,” Alec offered; his face stony at her rejection of his help.
Liz nodded and stretched her legs before following behind him, more slowly than she would have liked, but her body was a walking bruise at the moment. The ground beneath their feet was hot as they walked, and they had to avoid still sizzling fissures. As they rounded the corner, Liz saw a lump of melted plastic that used to be a set of crates, hopefully they weren’t necessary.
The going was slower than Liz had expected, Alec had dropped his pace when he realized that Liz was several feet behind him. She didn’t acknowledge her weakness and neither did he. As they neared his building, Alec took her hand in his, and winced perceptibly when it burned his- still overly heated from the beads of green power. Seeing this, Liz tried to pull her hand back, but Alec held firmly onto it, almost dragging her to his door.
Inside, Liz again tried to disengage her hand from his to stand against the far wall, but he pulled her along with him and tugged her down to the bed. She might have sagged with relief if she weren’t so tense about what they were going to discuss.
“Liz, tell me what happened out there,” Alec asked again, taking her other hand and rubbing soothing circles on both. Liz was staring at their interlocked and relishing the moment, not wanting it to end with the forthcoming news.
“Remember what I told you about Max, Michael and Isabel, about their powers. I mentioned how I have them too, but I hoped I wouldn’t ever show that to you. That’s how it manifested in me, how he manifested in me. When I get too full of anger, or resentment, or any kind of emotional overload- it builds and builds and then it has to be released. Sometimes I can curb it, sometimes I can hold back its full blast, but other times I just have to find a secluded place- hope that I can- and ride it out. It’s destructive. It’s terrifying. I could kill so many people and not even mean to because of it. I hate it. I hate that it’s a part of me,” Liz said, her voice going from a whisper to a shout.
Yanking back her hands- causing pain to ripple up her arms and knock the breath from her lungs momentarily- Liz blurred to the other side of the room. While Alec stayed seated, she felt his eyes lock on her, and forced herself to meet them. She expected disgust, anger, maybe even some fear- but he just looked concerned and confused.
“What is it you did exactly?” Alec asked, his voice not judging, but uncertain.
“I don’t know what you call it. I don’t even know what it really is. But if I don’t put my hands on the ground, the green energy forces its way out just like the purple heat. It burns, it rips through me and destroys everything in its path,” Liz answered honestly.
“Have you ever…hurt anyone with it?” He questioned, tone gentle.
Liz bit her lip hard until it bleed in her mouth and pooled. She turned from him and a tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered the one time it had happened. “Yes.”
“Can you tell me about what happened?” His voice drifted back to her, still not moving from his seat.
“It was when Maria and I were on the run a few weeks after White came to Roswell. Maria and I were eating in a backstreet somewhere in Wyoming. Some guys came down the street- gang members, I think, and one dirty cop. They approached us, the cop in the back, and the others up front. They hassled us about money, demanding we hand whatever we had over, and I refused.
“Maria knew how strong I was and stood by my answer, even though she was terrified. They slapped her, and she hit a wall- she was knocked out with blood dripping down her face. God, I still see it in my head; I hadn’t been quick enough to stop them because I hadn’t had any sleep for over five days- not a good enough excuse.” Liz muttered the last darkly, self-loathing hanging from every word.
“They came at me next and I took them on. The gang members went down quick, but when I turned around the cop had grabbed Maria by the hair, a gun at her head. I was so angry, I looked at him and I thought of what he was supposed to represent, and I wanted to kill him. I wanted him dead and the soldier in me did too, but the alien part reared up first. I managed to get the gun away from him and knocked him down toward his group of thugs. Then it happened. Just like today, but I didn’t know back then how to control it at all, or what to do with my hands.
“I was in a rage, I grabbed the cop by his neck and I squeezed so hard. It wasn’t necessary to kill him- and I don’t kill without reason, I won’t,” Liz whispered, her eyes tearing up. “But I couldn’t stop it from happening, my hands got hot, the beads started running, he was clawing at me to let him go and I should have, but I wanted to hurt him so bad.
“The guys on the ground were too close. Even if they had been a few more feet away they might have been sort of okay. My eyes got hot, I’d never had it happen that bad- and it had only happened twice before. My mind went blank as my hands released the energy and the cop’s head exploded…in my hands. I looked down at the guys on the ground, not really seeing them, not comprehending what had just happened. And that’s when my eyes went off- they burst with the pain and the heat and the rage, incinerating them to nothing,” she stammered out, gasping in small breaths of sorrow. Remembering how one of them opened his eyes just as her became sightless- she barely caught his look of absolute horror before it happened, but she caught it nonetheless.
“I passed out. I woke up a half hour later and Maria was still out cold. There wasn’t any trace of what happened left behind except for the twisted metal of the cop’s gun. I used my shirt to cover my hands and picked it up- throwing it in a dumpster two blocks over. I carried Maria eighteen city blocks, got us both on a bus heading out of state, and we left. She doesn’t know what happened. I didn’t want her to because…I don’t even want to know what I did,” Liz finished. Tears were running down her face and she was staring at her hands like they weren’t hers. The feel of the cop’s neck beneath her clenching, squeezing fingers all too real for her in that moment, she couldn’t move with the thought.
The sound of the mattress creaking alerted Liz to Alec’s movement, but she still refused to turn and look at him, caught up in the nightmare of her memory. She had told him, and now he knew that part of her was a monster- part of her could kill without thought or discrimination. Something people might say all transgenics did, but in truth- they always had a choice as an X operative, even if it wasn’t much of one they had the control.
Alec’s arms came around her and Liz sagged against him, giving in to her weakness. She didn’t want him to hate her- that meant so much to her right then. Her heart beat a weird rhythm and she waited for him to speak.
“You couldn’t control it,” he said, and that was her point exactly, Liz thought. “You didn’t just kill those people to kill them, Liz. You couldn’t control it. You didn’t get a guidebook, or a choice. You didn’t know this was going to happen to you. I would never call you a victim, because that is a weakness I know you won’t claim, but this wasn’t your fault.”
He didn’t hate her. That was all that Liz cared about in what he said. He might be right in that she didn’t chose to kill those people, but she still did it. Pulling that aside at that moment, letting the pain of that memory die for now, she turned into him and hugged him to her tightly. They stayed like that for a long while before he tugged her to the bed, laying them down side by side, arms curled around each other.
“Does it hurt every time?” He asked in a calm whisper, soothing her.
“Yes. It burns from the inside out,” she mumbled into his chest.
“You have learned some control?”
“A little, but not much. It’s exhausting, and fighting it intensifies the burn, making it more likely I’ll explode worse the next time,” Liz confessed, twisting her fingers through his long hair.
“But you have learned some, which means someday, you might be able to control it,” he replied, rubbing circles on her back.
“I don’t know; it feels too big to control, too painful to contain. But I try, I really do. I don’t want to hurt other people, innocent, guilty- whoever. Not without making that choice,” she whispered, her body relaxing more and more due to the toll her body had taken.
“I know; I believe you. Get some sleep; we have a mission in the morning. We’ll get up early and go over your folder,” Alec said, closing his own eyes.
Liz felt her heart well up. She closed her eyes. She promised to try harder next time. She vowed to do well on the mission tomorrow. She wanted Alec to be right about her. She would make sure of it.
Author's Note: Okay so I went on a bit of a hiatus with WLL, but I'm back now. I hope everyone enjoyed this update. I look forward to your feedback. I hope you all have happy holidays! Until next time, EK!
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
-
Egyptian_Kiss
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 194
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:40 pm
- Location: Arizona
Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) A/N 2/18/10
Hey guys sorry for the constant excuses, but life is a little much right now. My grandmother passed away last weekend and I've been bogged down with work from school; I haven't had time for much else. I'm two pages away from finishing this chapter, but I'm really down right now, so I'm not sure when I'll have the time to post, or get on the computer for fun. I know I've left you all hanging and I apologize. I'm not one to give previews, but since it's been so long, I've decided to give you a little something from the start of the next chapter. Thanks for all your understanding, Caitlin aka Egyptian_Kiss.
Chapter Nineteen Preview
Dawn appeared on the horizon outside Alec’s apartment window- yellow and orange and full of light- the sun rose. Alec stood leaning against the wall, staring as the day broke, and the mission drew nearer. He could not wait to get through the crappy day ahead. Turning his head, he gazed down at Liz, still sleeping- a miracle in itself- in his bed.
Alec ran a hand through his hair, knowing he must look like a rag; unlike Liz, he needed sleep, but that was impossible- it had eluded him all night. Dropping to the floor, he started doing push-ups it always helped release his tension. While his arms worked his body up and down, Alec thought of what Liz had told him. He had not expected her to answer his questions; he was just as blown away by her confessions as he was when he opened up to her about Rachel.
The bed creaked and Alec caught Liz’s movement out of the corner of his eye. She stretched and watched him for a few moments, and then dropped to the floor beside him, taking up his rhythm in turn. God she was sexy, Alec thought; he watched her more obviously as her muscles pumped and released, her skin gaining a healthy color. He watched and admired the straight line of her back, the way she controlled her breathing, the taut stretch of her calf muscles- it was intoxicating. Soon, her body began to excrete natural pheromones, and Alec increased his pace in response, his body revving up and winding tightly, testing his control.
A smile appeared on her face, feral and seductive, and Alec’s groin tightened in response, refusing to unclench. Gritting his teeth, baring them at the floor, he finished his final set, and propelled himself backwards to a stand. He yanked Liz up from her push-ups and fused his mouth to hers in fiery greeting. When he felt the skin on his biceps tearing, blood trickling down his arms, and the bite of nails, his inner-beast preened.
Like being connected to a livewire, Alec felt charged, energy coursing through him while he thrust his tongue into her mouth, the roughness pleasing him, his body humming with it. He moved his right hand downward, resting it against the small of Liz’s back, and compelling her more closely to him.
Liz pulled back from him, and Alec rested his forehead against the crown of her head, their breathing synced. The healthy color her body had worked up from exercising was now a full-blown blush, and the smile on her face had turned sweet, so different from any one he had ever seen from her. Her eyelids were cast down and her chest brushed his with each new breath; he could feel the teasing of her hard nipples through the material of their tee shirts.
“Good morning,” Liz breathed, tilting her face up to his, her eyes soft.
“Mhm,” Alec murmured, leaning down to her, placing another- gentler- kiss against her lips.
“How’d you sleep?” Alec asked, chin resting atop her head.
“Good. Surprisingly good.” She moved her head to the side, her ear resting against his chest, the weight of it comforting to him. He had never felt so intoxicated by a woman before, though many had made memorable impressions. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” he said, delivering the lie with Manticore ease. Alec could feel her sigh against him, and pulled back to look down into her wide, brown eyes.
“You’re a really good liar, but I’m a light sleeper,” Liz told him, raising her eyebrows at him.
“Let’s go over that folder,” Alec said, changing topics in his not-so-subtle way.
Liz sighed again, but agreed, and when Alec patted the bed beside the spot he’d taken up, Liz joined him. They went through the layout of the new base, found the weaponry, four main post centers, the lab schematics, and a mock up of the underground levels- however the lower levels had little detail, as if someone had done a good job hiding whatever was down there. The set up for the facility was unusual, not Manticore format, and not something that Alec thought Lydecker would have built if he had had free reign over the blue prints during construction. Overall, though, the compound was neatly organized with little margin for error with what Max had planned.
“Do you think Max can pull this off? I’m not one to question insane missions- I have had my fair share- but this is a pretty big base of operations with three levels. The lower levels that only Sandeman claims to have an intimate knowledge of and that he cannot, or will not go into detail about.” Alec watched Liz’s face as she listed her concerns, watched the way she dropped her badass shell to voice her uncertainty; she looked like an normal girl, not a genetically-altered warrior.
“Maxie has got this thing wired, don’t worry about it. She took down Manticore, and she’s not afraid of improvising if something whack does go down. Besides, you’ll be there; I know it will be fine.”
Leaning in, Alec pressed his lips to hers again, massaging his hands up and down the length of her arms; smirking when he felt goose-bumps rise up over her arms. He nipped her lip, teasing her, pulling her out of her doubts, and it worked. She looped her arms around his neck, tugging him lower, bringing herself up on her tiptoes to even out the separation in their height difference. He felt one of her hands disappear before a startling pinch to his ass shocked him out of their kiss.
Liz giggled mischievously and took off through the apartment, out the door and down the halls. He stared dumbfounded at the spot she had just been before smiling wickedly, and then gave chase, taking off after her with her scent lingering in his nose, the stroke of her tongue still tingling on his.
Their steps were soft and imperceptible, but the vibrations of their running shook the floorboards, and Alec instinctively slipped into predatory mode, pulling back and looking for the tell in her patterned run. Going with his gut, Alec veered off into a vacant, dust-covered room, vaulted out the broken window, and used both hands to catch the handrails of the sliding fire escape ladder, riding it down to the first floor window below, and swung through it, shattering glass in a halting sound before tackling Liz to the rag-covered floor.
They rolled, struggling for dominance until Liz gave in and allowed for sweet victory to be had. Alec pressed their lips and tongues together again in a fevered rush of the adrenaline, savoring her taste, feeling the smooth, silken texture of her tongue- toying with her cloyingly, entreating her to enter his mouth as his tongue retreated back. She gasped a needy sound when their lips separated for a small amount of oxygen and Alec pushed her harder against the floor, pushing away from her in tandem. He stared into her self-satisfied eyes, crinkled around the edges from the grin stretching across her beautiful face. God, she was so incredibly sexy when she smiled.
“I think we should change into fresh fatigues and head over to Command,” he told her, removing one hand from her arm and reaching up to stroke the skin behind her ear, tucking her splayed hair away, over her left shoulder.
“I think we were just in the middle of something personal, and you know what they say about mixing business and personal,” Liz whispered softly up at him, demurely; then in a flash, Alec found himself on his back, her legs on either side of his lower torso...
To be continued....
A/N: Well there is the preview. I hope to have the rest out soon. Thanks again for understanding, EK!
Chapter Nineteen Preview
Dawn appeared on the horizon outside Alec’s apartment window- yellow and orange and full of light- the sun rose. Alec stood leaning against the wall, staring as the day broke, and the mission drew nearer. He could not wait to get through the crappy day ahead. Turning his head, he gazed down at Liz, still sleeping- a miracle in itself- in his bed.
Alec ran a hand through his hair, knowing he must look like a rag; unlike Liz, he needed sleep, but that was impossible- it had eluded him all night. Dropping to the floor, he started doing push-ups it always helped release his tension. While his arms worked his body up and down, Alec thought of what Liz had told him. He had not expected her to answer his questions; he was just as blown away by her confessions as he was when he opened up to her about Rachel.
The bed creaked and Alec caught Liz’s movement out of the corner of his eye. She stretched and watched him for a few moments, and then dropped to the floor beside him, taking up his rhythm in turn. God she was sexy, Alec thought; he watched her more obviously as her muscles pumped and released, her skin gaining a healthy color. He watched and admired the straight line of her back, the way she controlled her breathing, the taut stretch of her calf muscles- it was intoxicating. Soon, her body began to excrete natural pheromones, and Alec increased his pace in response, his body revving up and winding tightly, testing his control.
A smile appeared on her face, feral and seductive, and Alec’s groin tightened in response, refusing to unclench. Gritting his teeth, baring them at the floor, he finished his final set, and propelled himself backwards to a stand. He yanked Liz up from her push-ups and fused his mouth to hers in fiery greeting. When he felt the skin on his biceps tearing, blood trickling down his arms, and the bite of nails, his inner-beast preened.
Like being connected to a livewire, Alec felt charged, energy coursing through him while he thrust his tongue into her mouth, the roughness pleasing him, his body humming with it. He moved his right hand downward, resting it against the small of Liz’s back, and compelling her more closely to him.
Liz pulled back from him, and Alec rested his forehead against the crown of her head, their breathing synced. The healthy color her body had worked up from exercising was now a full-blown blush, and the smile on her face had turned sweet, so different from any one he had ever seen from her. Her eyelids were cast down and her chest brushed his with each new breath; he could feel the teasing of her hard nipples through the material of their tee shirts.
“Good morning,” Liz breathed, tilting her face up to his, her eyes soft.
“Mhm,” Alec murmured, leaning down to her, placing another- gentler- kiss against her lips.
“How’d you sleep?” Alec asked, chin resting atop her head.
“Good. Surprisingly good.” She moved her head to the side, her ear resting against his chest, the weight of it comforting to him. He had never felt so intoxicated by a woman before, though many had made memorable impressions. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” he said, delivering the lie with Manticore ease. Alec could feel her sigh against him, and pulled back to look down into her wide, brown eyes.
“You’re a really good liar, but I’m a light sleeper,” Liz told him, raising her eyebrows at him.
“Let’s go over that folder,” Alec said, changing topics in his not-so-subtle way.
Liz sighed again, but agreed, and when Alec patted the bed beside the spot he’d taken up, Liz joined him. They went through the layout of the new base, found the weaponry, four main post centers, the lab schematics, and a mock up of the underground levels- however the lower levels had little detail, as if someone had done a good job hiding whatever was down there. The set up for the facility was unusual, not Manticore format, and not something that Alec thought Lydecker would have built if he had had free reign over the blue prints during construction. Overall, though, the compound was neatly organized with little margin for error with what Max had planned.
“Do you think Max can pull this off? I’m not one to question insane missions- I have had my fair share- but this is a pretty big base of operations with three levels. The lower levels that only Sandeman claims to have an intimate knowledge of and that he cannot, or will not go into detail about.” Alec watched Liz’s face as she listed her concerns, watched the way she dropped her badass shell to voice her uncertainty; she looked like an normal girl, not a genetically-altered warrior.
“Maxie has got this thing wired, don’t worry about it. She took down Manticore, and she’s not afraid of improvising if something whack does go down. Besides, you’ll be there; I know it will be fine.”
Leaning in, Alec pressed his lips to hers again, massaging his hands up and down the length of her arms; smirking when he felt goose-bumps rise up over her arms. He nipped her lip, teasing her, pulling her out of her doubts, and it worked. She looped her arms around his neck, tugging him lower, bringing herself up on her tiptoes to even out the separation in their height difference. He felt one of her hands disappear before a startling pinch to his ass shocked him out of their kiss.
Liz giggled mischievously and took off through the apartment, out the door and down the halls. He stared dumbfounded at the spot she had just been before smiling wickedly, and then gave chase, taking off after her with her scent lingering in his nose, the stroke of her tongue still tingling on his.
Their steps were soft and imperceptible, but the vibrations of their running shook the floorboards, and Alec instinctively slipped into predatory mode, pulling back and looking for the tell in her patterned run. Going with his gut, Alec veered off into a vacant, dust-covered room, vaulted out the broken window, and used both hands to catch the handrails of the sliding fire escape ladder, riding it down to the first floor window below, and swung through it, shattering glass in a halting sound before tackling Liz to the rag-covered floor.
They rolled, struggling for dominance until Liz gave in and allowed for sweet victory to be had. Alec pressed their lips and tongues together again in a fevered rush of the adrenaline, savoring her taste, feeling the smooth, silken texture of her tongue- toying with her cloyingly, entreating her to enter his mouth as his tongue retreated back. She gasped a needy sound when their lips separated for a small amount of oxygen and Alec pushed her harder against the floor, pushing away from her in tandem. He stared into her self-satisfied eyes, crinkled around the edges from the grin stretching across her beautiful face. God, she was so incredibly sexy when she smiled.
“I think we should change into fresh fatigues and head over to Command,” he told her, removing one hand from her arm and reaching up to stroke the skin behind her ear, tucking her splayed hair away, over her left shoulder.
“I think we were just in the middle of something personal, and you know what they say about mixing business and personal,” Liz whispered softly up at him, demurely; then in a flash, Alec found himself on his back, her legs on either side of his lower torso...
To be continued....
A/N: Well there is the preview. I hope to have the rest out soon. Thanks again for understanding, EK!
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
-
Egyptian_Kiss
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 194
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:40 pm
- Location: Arizona
Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) A/N-CH19 Preview 3/5/10
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Nineteen
Dawn appeared on the horizon outside Alec’s apartment window- yellow and orange and full of light- the sun rose. Alec stood leaning against the wall, staring as the day broke, and the mission drew nearer. He could not wait to get through the crappy day ahead. Turning his head, he gazed down at Liz, still sleeping- a miracle in itself- in his bed.
Alec ran a hand through his hair, knowing he must look like a rag; unlike Liz, he needed sleep, but that was impossible- it had eluded him all night. Dropping to the floor, he started doing push-ups it always helped release his tension. While his arms worked his body up and down, Alec thought of what Liz had told him. He had not expected her to answer his questions; he was just as blown away by her confessions as he was when he opened up to her about Rachel.
The bed creaked and Alec caught Liz’s movement out of the corner of his eye. She stretched and watched him for a few moments, and then dropped to the floor beside him, taking up his rhythm in turn. God she was sexy, Alec thought; he watched her more obviously as her muscles pumped and released, her skin gaining a healthy color. He watched and admired the straight line of her back, the way she controlled her breathing, the taut stretch of her calf muscles- it was intoxicating. Soon, her body began to excrete natural pheromones, and Alec increased his pace in response, his body revving up and winding tightly, testing his control.
A smile appeared on her face, feral and seductive, and Alec’s groin tightened in response, refusing to unclench. Gritting his teeth, baring them at the floor, he finished his final set, and propelled himself backwards to a stand. He yanked Liz up from her push-ups and fused his mouth to hers in fiery greeting. When he felt the skin on his biceps tearing, blood trickling down his arms, and the bite of nails, his inner-beast preened.
Like being connected to a livewire, Alec felt charged, energy coursing through him while he thrust his tongue into her mouth, the roughness pleasing him, his body humming with it. He moved his right hand downward, resting it against the small of Liz’s back, and compelling her more closely to him.
Liz pulled back from him, and Alec rested his forehead against the crown of her head, their breathing synced. The healthy color her body had worked up from exercising was now a full-blown blush, and the smile on her face had turned sweet, so different from any one he had ever seen from her. Her eyelids were cast down and her chest brushed his with each new breath; he could feel the teasing of her hard nipples through the material of their tee shirts.
“Good morning,” Liz breathed, tilting her face up to his, her eyes soft.
“Mhm,” Alec murmured, leaning down to her, placing another- gentler- kiss against her lips.
“How’d you sleep?” Alec asked, chin resting atop her head.
“Good. Surprisingly good.” She moved her head to the side, her ear resting against his chest, the weight of it comforting to him. He had never felt so intoxicated by a woman before, though many had made memorable impressions. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” he said, delivering the lie with Manticore ease. Alec could feel her sigh against him, and pulled back to look down into her wide, brown eyes.
“You’re a really good liar, but I’m a light sleeper,” Liz told him, raising her eyebrows at him.
“Let’s go over that folder,” Alec said, changing topics in his not-so-subtle way.
Liz sighed again, but agreed, and when Alec patted the bed beside the spot he’d taken up, Liz joined him. They went through the layout of the new base, found the weaponry, four main post centers, the lab schematics, and a mock up of the underground levels- however the lower levels had little detail, as if someone had done a good job hiding whatever was down there. The set up for the facility was unusual, not Manticore format, and not something that Alec thought Lydecker would have built if he had had free reign over the blue prints during construction. Overall, though, the compound was neatly organized with little margin for error with what Max had planned.
“Do you think Max can pull this off? I’m not one to question insane missions- I have had my fair share- but this is a pretty big base of operations with three levels. The lower levels that only Sandeman claims to have an intimate knowledge of and that he cannot, or will not go into detail about.” Alec watched Liz’s face as she listed her concerns, watched the way she dropped her badass shell to voice her uncertainty; she looked like an normal girl, not a genetically-altered warrior.
“Maxie has got this thing wired, don’t worry about it. She took down Manticore, and she’s not afraid of improvising if something whack does go down. Besides, you’ll be there; I know it will be fine.”
Leaning in, Alec pressed his lips to hers again, massaging his hands up and down the length of her arms; smirking when he felt goose-bumps rise up over her arms. He nipped her lip, teasing her, pulling her out of her doubts, and it worked. She looped her arms around his neck, tugging him lower, bringing herself up on her tiptoes to even out the separation in their height difference. He felt one of her hands disappear before a startling pinch to his ass shocked him out of their kiss.
Liz giggled mischievously and took off through the apartment, out the door and down the halls. He stared dumbfounded at the spot she had just been before smiling wickedly, and then gave chase, taking off after her with her scent lingering in his nose, the stroke of her tongue still tingling on his.
Their steps were soft and imperceptible, but the vibrations of their running shook the floorboards, and Alec instinctively slipped into predatory mode, pulling back and looking for the tell in her patterned run. Going with his gut, Alec veered off into a vacant, dust-covered room, vaulted out the broken window, and used both hands to catch the handrails of the sliding fire escape ladder, riding it down to the first floor window below, and swung through it, shattering glass in a halting sound before tackling Liz to the rag-covered floor.
They rolled, struggling for dominance until Liz gave in and allowed for sweet victory to be had. Alec pressed their lips and tongues together again in a fevered rush of the adrenaline, savoring her taste, feeling the smooth, silken texture of her tongue- toying with her cloyingly, entreating her to enter his mouth as his tongue retreated back. She gasped a needy sound when their lips separated for a small amount of oxygen and Alec pushed her harder against the floor, pushing away from her in tandem. He stared into her self-satisfied eyes, crinkled around the edges from the grin stretching across her beautiful face. God, she was so incredibly sexy when she smiled.
“I think we should change into fresh fatigues and head over to Command,” he told her, removing one hand from her arm and reaching up to stroke the skin behind her ear, tucking her splayed hair away, over her left shoulder.
“I think we were just in the middle of something personal, and you know what they say about mixing business and personal,” Liz whispered softly up at him, demurely; then in a flash, Alec found himself on his back, her legs on either side of his lower torso and her lips firmly planted to his. He felt the heat growing between Liz’s thighs and when her tongue snaked out to thrust forcefully into his mouth- Alec groaned into her mouth. It would be so easy to take her rough and hard, letting her ride him while he pumped up into her before rolling her on her back and dictating to her pleasure with his deep, hard thrusts.
Alec pulled back with a growl rumbling in his chest, ready to take her, ready to show her what pleasure meant. Instead, Alec bit down painfully on his inner cheek, clutching Liz’s arms to hold her at a distance even as she thwarted his attempts to stop her with the grinding of her pelvis into his bold, hard erection.
“Liz,” he said, his voice commanding. She stilled above him, staring down at him as her hips jerked to a stop. He leaned up and kissed her forehead, calming her, attempting to soothe back his own hunger, “Time to go.”
She nodded reluctantly, and Alec watched her rise, her sexy, tight muscles teasing him. He watched her like a man possessed, and at the moment Alec wanted to possess her- all of her. The sound of her moans in his hears, her screams echoing off walls, her wet warm heat gripping him. Shaking his head, Alec grunted and got to his feet. They walked more calmly, close but not touching, and made their way toward command.
Liz stopped in to see Maria, and Alec watched their interaction. It was light at first, and Alec kept by the door to give them some semblance of privacy, but he tuned in to the conversation as their voices became angry and less-whispered.
“You’re going to get yourself killed, Liz,” Maria emoted angrily.
“No I’m not. I was trained for this, Maria. I know what I’m doing, and I can’t just say no,” Liz reasoned, he heard the edge of irritation in her voice.
“Yes, you can. They can’t make you do anything. God Liz, what would I do if you didn’t come back? What would happen to me and the baby?” Maria’s voice grew louder and several Xs turned to stare at the two women, even Alec was hard pressed to keep his eyes on the door as if he couldn’t hear every word.
“I was born to this life, and I’m going to earn our keep. This is war, Maria. What we faced back in Roswell is nothing compared to this. I am coming back, but if I don’t you will be taken care of. You may not like what I have to do, or what I am, but this is real Maria, and you have to face the truth about who I am,” Liz whispered back vehemently, her eyes cold and unreachable. They stared at each other for a long time- Alec stole a look to see them staring off- before Liz moved her eyes to Maria’s large, protruding stomach. It seemed to be growing at a fast rate, Alec noted, and he wondered how long it would be before Maria popped.
“It’s like I don’t even know you anymore. I’m your best friend, Liz,” Maria told her. He heard the tears before he smelled the salt of them. Zack stiffened beside him, and Alec glanced at the X5, his head facing the entrance too, but his ear tilted toward Liz and Maria.
“You are my best friend, Maria, and I’m doing what I have to in order to keep us safe. Look at you, the baby is so big. You need medical help and we are right where we need to be for you to get it. I’m still your best friend, Maria.” Liz suddenly gasped and Alec’s head snapped toward her involuntarily.
A glowing, moving handprint appeared on Maria’s not-fully-covered stomach. Liz reached out to touch it and Alec leapt from his spot over several cots and pulled her back. “Liz don’t touch it, you don’t know if it’s dangerous.”
“It’s a baby,” Liz said, her eyes going from his face to the glowing stomach. He let her turn from her, but kept both hands on her waist to stop her from getting too close. “Let go Alec.”
“What if he’s right, Liz?” Maria asked, her eyes full of more salty, fresh tears. “I mean it’s not like there’s a ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting Aliens’ guide book out there.”
“I know that that baby is fifty percent Maria Deluca and fifty percent Michael Guerin and neither of you are bad people. Even if you two aren’t perfect this baby is going to be a good person, no matter what it is,” Liz said, breaking Alec’s hold and getting to her knees beside the cot. She touched her hand to Maria’s stomach and the glowing hand pressed back.
Alec watched her closely, Liz’s eyes growing unfocused and her mouth opening slightly. Her breathing grew erratic as he grew nervous. The hand pressing against Liz’s began to glow a soft blue before Liz was sent flying back, crashing into Alec, and the two of them skidded back a few feet- slamming into a cot that overturned as they came to a hitting halt.
“Liz!” Maria screamed, jerking up in bed as her stomach stopped glowing.
“I’m fine,” Liz called and Alec sat up, pulling her with him.
“What the hell was that?” Alec bit out, getting up and dragging her along with him. They stopped at Maria’s bedside and Liz stared at Maria’s baby bump again. Alec noticed that her eyes had a vulnerable quality to them.
“We connected Maria. She showed me stuff. She showed me…Michael and Max and the baby- they were in some sort of weaponry. They saw me, Maria,” Liz whispered. Alec noticed Liz shifted uncomfortably while staring into Maria’s eyes. They looked like they were wrapped up in a silent conversation.
“You saw him? How did he look?” Maria asked, her eyes big with tears ready to spill out.
“He looked fine. They all looked…just fine.” Alec heard the way Liz’s voice dipped lower at the end, her eyes glinting hard as ice.
“Well what-” Maria started but was cut off by Zack calling to Liz and Alec that they needed to get to Command.
“Later Maria, we have to go. Stay safe and listened to whatever Alec or Zack tell you while I’m gone. They aren’t going to let anything happen to you or my niece,” Liz said, throwing in a smile that barely broke the cold shell that had hardened around her.
“Please don’t go, not now!” Maria demanded, the tears falling. Liz seemed to have shut herself off to emotions now, and Alec watched as Liz leaned over Maria, kissed her forehead, and pulled back ready to go.
“I’ll be back soon,” Liz said in way of goodbye, and then she turned to Alec and he felt his breath catch at the brief flicker of sadness he saw- obviously Liz had seen more than she was sharing. But like she said, she’d be back soon and it could wait till later.
When Alec opened the door for Liz leading into Command, they noticed that almost everyone else had already assembled for any last minute debriefing. Two transgenics stood on either side of the bathroom entrances handing out fresh fatigues. Liz murmured something about changing and walked off toward the door with ‘Women’s’ written across it.
Making his way to the upper-platform, Alec noticed the new hardware they were totting. Everyone was receiving a specially-directed comm. unit hooked into a mega-framework of screens wired together to form a huge surrounding area of visual feeds. The screens- all appeared to be new- were mounted up and labeled with each Xs designation. Mole was hooking up live feeds as he handed out each of the devices to the long line forming.
Max and Sandeman were having a discussion just as Alec got to the main set of screens in the center of the raised platform.
“You will need to do your best to keep up, if it gets too much Joshua will care you. If you receive an order, you are expected to fall in line- just like the rest of us. This is going to be very dangerous, you need to know that now,” Max told him as she secured her long hair back in a bun at the base of her neck. Her hands were moving jerkily, an unusual display of irritation.
“I understand,” Sandeman replied, securing his own comm. device to his neck and ear.
“Good, go find Joshua. I need to get this going,” Max ordered, turning after securing her device, and staring out at the crowds. Alec remembered the last time she had taken down Manticore and it had been hard on her then, not knowing what she had unleashed unto the world, now they she did she was probably having a bit of anxiety.
“You cool Maxie?” Alec inquired, bracing his hands on the railing overlooking the forming lines of the unit as they prepped.
“I’m a’ight. I know the dealio,” Max said, her voice sounding hard- just how Liz’s had sounded earlier.
Alec didn’t challenge her statement; he just stepped aside to let her address the crowd below. Everyone was strapped with guns and weapons, an identical sea of black, steel, and shiny boots with different faces looked up at them. Sandeman had taken a place beside Joshua, and was waiting for Max’s orders.
“You all know your assignments, you all have your comm. units, you’ve been debriefed and weapon equipped. There is no margin for error today people, this is a mission. Be ready to retreat and return here to Command the moment you hear the first set of explosions. We clear?” A hush fell over the room and
Max’s voice rang off the walls in the utter silence that answered her. “Good. Move out.”
Alec watched as the clear cut lines moved with precise, organized structure. The doors leading out to the South exit from TC were thrown wide open as the soldiers marched in tandem to Max’s direction. Liz was one of the last to leave, and Alec stared as she marched, her boots stomping in time with the others issued. When she was about to pass through the door, she looked back. That’s all that Alec needed, that tiny indication Liz was there, even deeply buried in the soldier- even with Adia’s eyes shining back at him.
Once the last X exited, the doors to Command were closed and transgenics were zipping from station to station, focusing on live feeds, computer maintenance, and checking in with the Xs on guard around the perimeter. They had doubled security from the last mission, tight rotating lines of defense surrounded the barrier fence around Terminal City- not a stray soldier wandered the streets. Everyone had an assignment.
Turning back to the screens, Alec noticed that the audio feeds were down, but all the visuals were in check. “Mole, what’s up with the audio?”
“We had to cut the audio for all the screens. The computer’s hard drive is too loaded with commands as it is with all the visual feeds, if we added in the audio it would short out the motherboard and we’d lose our whole operation. We have a main feed here,” Mole gestured to a single screen next to his cigar box, no designation was written on a piece of tape across the top. “We click on this box here, punch in the command line- whose ever designation we are looking for- and click on the line that pops up. It automatically transfers the feed from the designated screen to this one, and we can adjust the volume to hear the audio.”
Alec followed from point A to point B and nodded that he understood. He moved from the comm. units to the TC area cameras. He watched the steady progression of Max and her chosen unit as they made their way through the city and out the South tunnels leading down to the last docks near the market before they lost sight from the TC cameras.
For a while, the transgenics in Command watched the monitors with interest, waiting for Max and the unit to arrive at the new Manticore, but several chose to take up in the ring to relieve some of the built up adrenaline. Alec stood behind Mole, giving commands on which feeds to bring up, and braced his hands behind him on the railing as he stared. The unit had just reached Manticore when one of the Xs monitoring TC came rushing up the platform steps to Alec’s side.
“Alec, we have a problem,” said the X- a short red-haired male of the X6 series. “White and his men have arrived. They’ve broken through the South tunnels and stormed the city. There are at least fifty of them. We have two men down already.”
Blurring to the monitors in question, Alec hit the play by play command keys to show how White had broken in. Two X7s were with him; they came up through the tunnels and took down the two guards on immediate standby. When they had made a hole through security, White and his breeding cult posse came up next. The X6 had been right when he said they were storming the city, the enemy was swarming up from the tunnels, engaging the double guard, and making a steady advance to the heart of the city- to Command Central’s door.
“Everyone in here who doesn’t need to be, I want you at South in two minutes. Go!” Alec shouted and Xs blurred from all around him, taking to the streets, and grabbing weapons Max and the others had left behind.
“Mole I need to get to the infirmary. Hold Command no matter what. I want those doors barricaded until you see me at the doors. Don’t lose the feed, but shut it down if White or any of his men manage to break in. Do not tell Max what is going on here unless she is approaching on return and the problem isn’t solved. Dismissed,” Alec ordered. Mole nodded his ascent and Alec took off at a run for the doors. Two transgenics who were guarding the doors let him pass and he reiterated the order to barricade.
Guns were going off in the distance, a loud explosion from the Southwest sector of the city went off, and transgenics on guard duty were running sleekly through the streets. Smoke, thick and black, clouded over part of Terminal City and Alec raced faster to the infirmary. He barreled through the entrance way and came to halt in front of an armed Zack. Zack relaxed his fighting stance as he recognized Alec.
“What’s going on out there?” Zack asked him, walking with him to Maria’s cot where she was not sitting up and hyperventilating.
“White has breached the South end. He and fifty of his buddies are duking their way toward Command. We need to get Maria back there before he gets there,” Alec explained, giving the order to the medics to clear out any and all patients- which was a grand total of five pregnant Xs. They started packing up some supplies and lifting the woman from their beds to carry them toward Command.
“Maria, you have to relax for the baby,” Zack told her. Alec noted Zack’s change of tone from harsh to calm, but ignored it for the moment, he could always rib the guy later.
Alec moved passed Zack and lifted Maria into his arms. Her stomach was covered but a light was shining through the cotton of her clothes. “I’m taking you to Command, Maria. You’re safe with me.”
Meeting her eyes, Alec noticed she was almost in hysterical tears and would have sighed if the situation wasn’t demanding his immediate attention. Zack was on their heels till they reached the door to the infirmary, and Alec turned, “You need to get to wherever White is and take him out. I need to hold down Command. Go now.”
“I’m on my way,” Zack replied, not arguing. His soldier face was in place and he raced off ahead of them, then forked left on the next street and disappeared from their sight.
Alec ran as quickly as he could with Maria in his arms. They were two blocks from Command when they hit a wall of resistance. White’s men were everywhere, squaring off with Nomalies and X series soldiers alike. He tried to find a way through. Glancing up, Alec’s eyesight enhanced, and he saw an emergency ladder on one side of the building to his right and another on the building in front of it ahead of where they stood back from the fray.
“Maria, hold on as tight as you can, okay?” Alec asked, but before she could answer- though her arms did tighten around him- he was bending low before springing up and to the right, one hand catching the ladder above them and the other holding securely to Maria’s fragile form. Scaling the ladder one handed was not new to Alec- hell he’d done everything physically straining at least once- but doing it with a pregnant chick weighing him down was a whole new tack.
They reached the roof and Alec had to put Maria up top ahead of him before he could swing overhead and land beside her. As he pulled her to her feet Maria began screaming. Water gushed from between her legs and landed on his boots and her sock-covered feet. The sound of a gun behind them alerted Alec to a new presence and when he turned around, White was standing there on the rooftop across from them- on the next building they needed to reach. Where the fuck was Zack? Alec wondered. Not important, he thought.
“Alec?” Maria whispered, her hands clutching her stomach while she was bent over wheezing.
“Stay down Maria. Don’t move unless you think you’re going to get hit by a bullet.” Alec instructed her and turned his full attention to White. Taking two giant steps, Alec pushed off from the rooftop and landed hard against the top of the next building.
“Aw your girlfriend looks like she’s in pain,” White sneered, leveling his gun on Alec. A shot rang out and Alec blurred out of sight only to slam against White hard enough to knock them both to the asphalt rooftop.
A fist came up and collided solidly with Alec’s right temple and his vision went for a moment, long enough for White to shove a foot in Alec’s stomach and heave him off with the force of his leg extending. Alec rolled mid-air and landed in a push up. He propelled himself backward onto his feet, and charged White again, this time taking him up and over the side of the roof’s low-wall. Nails dug into his back as they fell and Alec felt them roll as they landed- him taking the brunt of the fall on the dirty, war-ridden street below.
The cool press of steel against his abdomen indicated a knife, and Alec brought his knee up between them before grabbing hold of White’s knifeless hand and yanked him to the side with the force from his knee.
They rolled and Alec was on top again. Growling at the feel of the steel stabbing his side, Alec bent his head to the hollow of White’s neck and bit into the pumping artery just beneath his vile flesh. The bite went deep and cleans through and when Alec pulled back the cartilage and blood and veins came out with a gush of warm, wet blood. It stained Alec’s mouth and shirt and sprayed his face while running in rivers down White’s body. The thrill of the kill sent adrenaline pumping faster and harder through his veins, and it only took him seconds to scale the same ladder and land beside Maria.
Maria was panting and crying, her hands ghosting over her stomach in an attempt to calm the painful contractions as they came. Alec lowered himself to her side and picked her up again, moving faster and vaulting the two of them over the gap between the buildings and kept going until they were two buildings from Command’s main entrance. There was no fighting the nearer they got to Command Central, and the door’s were flung open to admit them when Alec finally came to a stop outside.
Rushing in, Alec called for one of the medics who had managed to get to Command before him and the others. “She’s in labor.” Turning back to Maria as he laid her flat his eyes suddenly went to the bright, red liquid that was slipping down Maria’s exposed left leg. Apparently White had hit a target after all. “And she’s been shot.”
The medic came over carrying a large duffle bag filled with supplies. He started cleaning and fixing her leg first: cutting off the blood flow, picking out the bits of bullet stuck in her leg, tying it off, cleaning it out, and bandaging it. He then administered a low-level pain killer which helped Maria stop crying, and focus on what the X was telling her to do.
“You are not fully dilated yet, but it won’t be too much longer before you are. I need you to relax and focus on your breathing,” said the X- he didn’t look much older than 20- but he was down there between Maria’s legs and Alec was grateful it wasn’t him.
“The baby can’t be here yet. It’s too soon. Ow! And Liz needs to be here. I can’t do this alone,” Maria said, starting to cry again and turning to Alec with big watery eyes.
“Maria, we need you to stay calm. I’m going to check the monitors and see how the mission is going. I have to check on Terminal City too, but I’ll be right back. You aren’t alone,” Alec told her, but she didn’t seem to relax.
Alec was at Mole’s side in an instant, and he was watching the main screen where Max’s monitor was pulled up and her audio was playing through the surrounding speakers. She was alone in one of the labs- from what they could see- with Lydecker and one of his pet Xs. They were having a verbal tete-a-tete while the rest of the unit seemed spread out, in various parts of the compound. Liz was setting up a detonator in the lab room connected to the one Max was in. Everything seemed to be going as planned.
Moving from Mole to the TC monitors, Alec scanned the city. Twelve breeding cult lackeys were aborting; already back at the South tunnels and making their expedient escape. Ten were left fighting, not far from Command, but the number of transgenics far out weighted the number of enemies present. Searching for White, Alec watched as two of his buddies tried to lift his body up off the ground, out of the pool of his own blood, but both were ambushed and soon decapitated. Alec shouted to one of the guards barricading the door and told him a small group of pregnant Xs and medics were coming, and the doors were opened quickly and then closed just as quickly behind the small group.
“Alec!” Maria screamed, and her body heaved up as the glowing in her stomach got brighter and brighter, the light bluish green in color.
Blurring to her side, Alec watched as the wide-eyed medic reexamined Maria’s expanding vagina, the crown of the baby beginning to show. The medic ordered Maria to push and she grabbed hold of Alec’s hand and squeezed with all her might, screaming and crying and gasping for air. Zack was with them in the next moment, holding Maria’s other hand as she rested her head against his arm and sobbed.
“Push!” the medic ordered. “Push!”
“I am pushing you fucking- AH!” Maria pushed and the head came out and Alec’s eyes were wide and his arm was losing circulation and he could not believe what he was seeing.
“Push!” the medic ordered again.
“Son of a-” Maria shouted while giving it her all. Her scream cracked and the shoulders were out. Another grand effort and the baby slid free, a long cord along with it. Alec turned from Maria as she cried in relief, releasing his arm. His stomach felt queasy, his insides were turning, and the sight of the baby was not all tender and cute like he was expecting. Thoroughly wigged, Alec watched as Zack comforted Maria while the medic found clean water and towels and snipped the cord. When the baby was finally in Maria’s arms, Zack staring down at them, Alec felt something else completely new to him. But he didn’t have time to label his feelings, they had a mission to complete and a battle to finish.
Returning to the Terminal City monitors, Alec saw that the last of the fighting had ended, the dead were being carried to the training field- they had to be buried. He counted nine X causalities on sight, and more than half the invaders were sprawled dead on their streets too. “You two, I want you out their picking up bodies or securing the South tunnels. Now,” Alec told the two guards barricading the door. The barricades went up and they were gone.
“Mole report,” Alec ordered, taking his previous position behind Mole’s chair braced against the railing.
“The labs are down. The hallway connecting the containment rooms and the labs is full of our people, but poisonous gases have been released in the containment rooms. If they don’t get there in the next couple minutes there won’t be any Xs to rescue,” Mole bit out, chopping on his cigar end like there was no tomorrow.
“Who’s closest to the containment rooms?” Alec questioned, moving forward to study the monitors.
“Liz and Joshua. But Josh isn’t leaving Sandeman unprotected- he won’t be of any help,” Mole told him.
“Pull up Liz’s feed,” demanded Alec, hearing the clicking off buttons as Mole complied. Liz’s comm. device popped up and her audio rang clear. The sound of fighting and clanking and shouting filled the speakers along with Liz’s controlled breathing.
“Liz?” Alec tested.
“I’m here,” Liz responded immediately.
“They’re releasing poisoned gas into the containment rooms. Can you get to them?” Alec hated the idea of her inhaling that stuff, but someone had to do it.
“How long do I have?” Liz asked, but she didn’t catch the reply as she was thrown into one of the thick, bullet-proof glass walls. Alec concentrated on the screen as she elbowed her attacker and swiftly unlatched a gun from its holster strapped to her inner-thigh and shot the woman stabbing at her in the gut.
“How long?” Liz re-questioned.
“Two minutes,” Mole said. “Make it fast; some of the young ones are fading.”
They followed Liz’s progression through the fighting mass of bodies and weapons. She had to battle her way through half the crowd before jumping into the air and kicking her legs for extension, landed just near the doors to the containment cells. She was trying to punch in the code, but it wasn’t working.
“Mole I need the code.” Liz said and Alec watched her beat at the keypad in frustration.
“I don’t have it,” Mole told her, going over his papers.
“Fuck this shit. Alright,” Liz whispered into her mouthpiece and the next moment the comm. device was short-circuiting, fuzz showing up on the screen and then re-tuning to her visuals. Alec was mesmerized by her glowing skin, the blue veins popping against its translucency, and her fingers were twitching. She slapped her bare energy-pulsing hands against the door and it exploded outward into her. Liz flew back into another wall, several sparring pairs also taking in the blast, and the door seemed to disintegrate as the light died out.
Transgenics from inside the cells poured out in a frenzy, but some of the cells were still locked inside. Alec’s eyes were on Liz when she finally moved and raced into the cells ahead, face covered by the thin material of her shirt. The gas was yellowy in color, putrid looking. Alec noticed that two small children were curled up together in the corner, one passed out while the other watched on protectively.
“Come on, we need to get out,” Liz said to them, her voice clear and stable now that the light and energy had gone.
The little boy holding the smaller boy’s passed out body nodded and staggered to his feet, pulling helplessly at the dead weight connected to him. Liz rushed up- getting hit in the face with a newly released gust of gas- and bent coughing to retrieve the child. She pulled him up into her arms and slammed her hand against the button that stopped the other two cells from opening and the last of the adults and two children raced from the rooms and out the empty doorway.
“Get out of there, Liz,” Mole shouted and just as Liz raced out of the contained area poisoned darts shot out of hidden holes in the cell walls.
The fighting was raging strong still as Liz made it back into the hallway, the passed out boy in her arms, and she had an even harder time getting back to Max. Alec saw that the door separating Liz from Max also had a code, but Liz knew this one and was inside quick.
Max was facing off with the X7 Lydecker had brought with, and Alec cringed when the kid blurred behind her and kicked her face down to the ground before dislocating her shoulder from her arm.
Liz put the child down far from Lydecker and the fighting duo. Max was up and fighting again, but Alec noticed Liz’s steps going to Deck, her hand coming up to his neck, cutting off his air.
“Down Boy Wonder or your owner gets it,” Liz threatened, tightening her grip on Lydecker’s throat as he gasped and kicked out, his arms coming up to pull at Liz’s slender fingers.
Alec couldn’t hear the X7’s reply, but the kid stopped and Max was up and by Liz in a heartbeat.
“Max, get the X6 by the door,” Liz instructed, loosening her grip a little. “Now are we going to play nice or do I have to remove a few body parts?”
Lydecker squirmed against the wall and ordered the X7 to back off. “Nice it is,” Liz said, letting his feet come down to touch the floor.
“Liz what are you doing?” Max asked, her arms full with the small boy.
“Getting us out of here. Come on Dick, time to move. When we get to the hallway you are going to give the order for your men to stand down and follow, understand?” Liz asked Lydecker, her eyes only for him and Alec watched as he inclined his head in a courteous manner.
Alec and Mole noticed the X7 fall in behind them, no longer aggressive- completely passive. The fighting in the hall stopped slowly as everyone moved from fight mode to falling in line. Max, Liz and the unit surrounded the enemy, giving orders and watching as Deck nodded his head for them to follow.
“Looks like we’re expecting company,” Mole said, pulling out a new cigar from the box near the screen.
“Looks like. I want security back up and running now, and when they come through the tunnels I want a twenty-man welcoming committee to escort them here. I have to get back to Maria.” Alec said to Mole and the Nomalie who entered from the unbarricaded door to tell them they had a total of eleven deaths on their side and twenty-eight deaths for the enemy.
When Alec appeared beside Maria, she was sleeping and Zack was holding the baby. Alec leaned in closer to see the cleaned, clothed baby girl. Her big eyes were green- like Maria’s- and her head was completely bald. She had a small, pert nose; tiny rosey lips; and pale, pale skin. Her tiny hands and feet were kicking and she was making small, unintelligible noises.
“She’s cute,” Alec commented, taking a seat by Zack who was still staring down at the bundle in his arms- a small, army-issued blanket enfolding her.
“She’s beautiful,” Zack rejoined and when he looked up, they shared a smile. Alec took in the fact Zack was leaning protectively near Maria’s sleeping form, and he knew something was going on there.
“We better get them back to the infirmary before Max and the unit gets back, they’re bringing the party with them,” said Alec, pointing to Maria and the baby as well as the other medics and pregnant Xs around the ring.
“I’ll get on it,” Zack said and Alec nodded, repeating the order to the medics and moody females. Shortly after they were packed up and headed out, Mole shouted back to Alec.
“They’ll be here in two clicks,” Mole shouted out.
“Ready to shout surprise?” Alec joked as he raided the weaponry.
“Only if Deck’s the party favor,” Mole said back, smirking into his cigar.
Alec threw out another flippant comment, took station at the door, and waited for their arrival.
Author's Note: Well here is the long awaited Ch19. It would have been up sooner, but my computer keeps locking me out of my account and erasing my files. I had to create a new account and start over after I'd already had 10 pages done. However, I like this second draft even better. I want to thank everyone who has stuck by this story even with my infrequent updates and trip to the graveyard. I really enjoy your reviews so let me know what you think and thanks again. Egyptian_Kiss!
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Nineteen
Dawn appeared on the horizon outside Alec’s apartment window- yellow and orange and full of light- the sun rose. Alec stood leaning against the wall, staring as the day broke, and the mission drew nearer. He could not wait to get through the crappy day ahead. Turning his head, he gazed down at Liz, still sleeping- a miracle in itself- in his bed.
Alec ran a hand through his hair, knowing he must look like a rag; unlike Liz, he needed sleep, but that was impossible- it had eluded him all night. Dropping to the floor, he started doing push-ups it always helped release his tension. While his arms worked his body up and down, Alec thought of what Liz had told him. He had not expected her to answer his questions; he was just as blown away by her confessions as he was when he opened up to her about Rachel.
The bed creaked and Alec caught Liz’s movement out of the corner of his eye. She stretched and watched him for a few moments, and then dropped to the floor beside him, taking up his rhythm in turn. God she was sexy, Alec thought; he watched her more obviously as her muscles pumped and released, her skin gaining a healthy color. He watched and admired the straight line of her back, the way she controlled her breathing, the taut stretch of her calf muscles- it was intoxicating. Soon, her body began to excrete natural pheromones, and Alec increased his pace in response, his body revving up and winding tightly, testing his control.
A smile appeared on her face, feral and seductive, and Alec’s groin tightened in response, refusing to unclench. Gritting his teeth, baring them at the floor, he finished his final set, and propelled himself backwards to a stand. He yanked Liz up from her push-ups and fused his mouth to hers in fiery greeting. When he felt the skin on his biceps tearing, blood trickling down his arms, and the bite of nails, his inner-beast preened.
Like being connected to a livewire, Alec felt charged, energy coursing through him while he thrust his tongue into her mouth, the roughness pleasing him, his body humming with it. He moved his right hand downward, resting it against the small of Liz’s back, and compelling her more closely to him.
Liz pulled back from him, and Alec rested his forehead against the crown of her head, their breathing synced. The healthy color her body had worked up from exercising was now a full-blown blush, and the smile on her face had turned sweet, so different from any one he had ever seen from her. Her eyelids were cast down and her chest brushed his with each new breath; he could feel the teasing of her hard nipples through the material of their tee shirts.
“Good morning,” Liz breathed, tilting her face up to his, her eyes soft.
“Mhm,” Alec murmured, leaning down to her, placing another- gentler- kiss against her lips.
“How’d you sleep?” Alec asked, chin resting atop her head.
“Good. Surprisingly good.” She moved her head to the side, her ear resting against his chest, the weight of it comforting to him. He had never felt so intoxicated by a woman before, though many had made memorable impressions. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” he said, delivering the lie with Manticore ease. Alec could feel her sigh against him, and pulled back to look down into her wide, brown eyes.
“You’re a really good liar, but I’m a light sleeper,” Liz told him, raising her eyebrows at him.
“Let’s go over that folder,” Alec said, changing topics in his not-so-subtle way.
Liz sighed again, but agreed, and when Alec patted the bed beside the spot he’d taken up, Liz joined him. They went through the layout of the new base, found the weaponry, four main post centers, the lab schematics, and a mock up of the underground levels- however the lower levels had little detail, as if someone had done a good job hiding whatever was down there. The set up for the facility was unusual, not Manticore format, and not something that Alec thought Lydecker would have built if he had had free reign over the blue prints during construction. Overall, though, the compound was neatly organized with little margin for error with what Max had planned.
“Do you think Max can pull this off? I’m not one to question insane missions- I have had my fair share- but this is a pretty big base of operations with three levels. The lower levels that only Sandeman claims to have an intimate knowledge of and that he cannot, or will not go into detail about.” Alec watched Liz’s face as she listed her concerns, watched the way she dropped her badass shell to voice her uncertainty; she looked like an normal girl, not a genetically-altered warrior.
“Maxie has got this thing wired, don’t worry about it. She took down Manticore, and she’s not afraid of improvising if something whack does go down. Besides, you’ll be there; I know it will be fine.”
Leaning in, Alec pressed his lips to hers again, massaging his hands up and down the length of her arms; smirking when he felt goose-bumps rise up over her arms. He nipped her lip, teasing her, pulling her out of her doubts, and it worked. She looped her arms around his neck, tugging him lower, bringing herself up on her tiptoes to even out the separation in their height difference. He felt one of her hands disappear before a startling pinch to his ass shocked him out of their kiss.
Liz giggled mischievously and took off through the apartment, out the door and down the halls. He stared dumbfounded at the spot she had just been before smiling wickedly, and then gave chase, taking off after her with her scent lingering in his nose, the stroke of her tongue still tingling on his.
Their steps were soft and imperceptible, but the vibrations of their running shook the floorboards, and Alec instinctively slipped into predatory mode, pulling back and looking for the tell in her patterned run. Going with his gut, Alec veered off into a vacant, dust-covered room, vaulted out the broken window, and used both hands to catch the handrails of the sliding fire escape ladder, riding it down to the first floor window below, and swung through it, shattering glass in a halting sound before tackling Liz to the rag-covered floor.
They rolled, struggling for dominance until Liz gave in and allowed for sweet victory to be had. Alec pressed their lips and tongues together again in a fevered rush of the adrenaline, savoring her taste, feeling the smooth, silken texture of her tongue- toying with her cloyingly, entreating her to enter his mouth as his tongue retreated back. She gasped a needy sound when their lips separated for a small amount of oxygen and Alec pushed her harder against the floor, pushing away from her in tandem. He stared into her self-satisfied eyes, crinkled around the edges from the grin stretching across her beautiful face. God, she was so incredibly sexy when she smiled.
“I think we should change into fresh fatigues and head over to Command,” he told her, removing one hand from her arm and reaching up to stroke the skin behind her ear, tucking her splayed hair away, over her left shoulder.
“I think we were just in the middle of something personal, and you know what they say about mixing business and personal,” Liz whispered softly up at him, demurely; then in a flash, Alec found himself on his back, her legs on either side of his lower torso and her lips firmly planted to his. He felt the heat growing between Liz’s thighs and when her tongue snaked out to thrust forcefully into his mouth- Alec groaned into her mouth. It would be so easy to take her rough and hard, letting her ride him while he pumped up into her before rolling her on her back and dictating to her pleasure with his deep, hard thrusts.
Alec pulled back with a growl rumbling in his chest, ready to take her, ready to show her what pleasure meant. Instead, Alec bit down painfully on his inner cheek, clutching Liz’s arms to hold her at a distance even as she thwarted his attempts to stop her with the grinding of her pelvis into his bold, hard erection.
“Liz,” he said, his voice commanding. She stilled above him, staring down at him as her hips jerked to a stop. He leaned up and kissed her forehead, calming her, attempting to soothe back his own hunger, “Time to go.”
She nodded reluctantly, and Alec watched her rise, her sexy, tight muscles teasing him. He watched her like a man possessed, and at the moment Alec wanted to possess her- all of her. The sound of her moans in his hears, her screams echoing off walls, her wet warm heat gripping him. Shaking his head, Alec grunted and got to his feet. They walked more calmly, close but not touching, and made their way toward command.
Liz stopped in to see Maria, and Alec watched their interaction. It was light at first, and Alec kept by the door to give them some semblance of privacy, but he tuned in to the conversation as their voices became angry and less-whispered.
“You’re going to get yourself killed, Liz,” Maria emoted angrily.
“No I’m not. I was trained for this, Maria. I know what I’m doing, and I can’t just say no,” Liz reasoned, he heard the edge of irritation in her voice.
“Yes, you can. They can’t make you do anything. God Liz, what would I do if you didn’t come back? What would happen to me and the baby?” Maria’s voice grew louder and several Xs turned to stare at the two women, even Alec was hard pressed to keep his eyes on the door as if he couldn’t hear every word.
“I was born to this life, and I’m going to earn our keep. This is war, Maria. What we faced back in Roswell is nothing compared to this. I am coming back, but if I don’t you will be taken care of. You may not like what I have to do, or what I am, but this is real Maria, and you have to face the truth about who I am,” Liz whispered back vehemently, her eyes cold and unreachable. They stared at each other for a long time- Alec stole a look to see them staring off- before Liz moved her eyes to Maria’s large, protruding stomach. It seemed to be growing at a fast rate, Alec noted, and he wondered how long it would be before Maria popped.
“It’s like I don’t even know you anymore. I’m your best friend, Liz,” Maria told her. He heard the tears before he smelled the salt of them. Zack stiffened beside him, and Alec glanced at the X5, his head facing the entrance too, but his ear tilted toward Liz and Maria.
“You are my best friend, Maria, and I’m doing what I have to in order to keep us safe. Look at you, the baby is so big. You need medical help and we are right where we need to be for you to get it. I’m still your best friend, Maria.” Liz suddenly gasped and Alec’s head snapped toward her involuntarily.
A glowing, moving handprint appeared on Maria’s not-fully-covered stomach. Liz reached out to touch it and Alec leapt from his spot over several cots and pulled her back. “Liz don’t touch it, you don’t know if it’s dangerous.”
“It’s a baby,” Liz said, her eyes going from his face to the glowing stomach. He let her turn from her, but kept both hands on her waist to stop her from getting too close. “Let go Alec.”
“What if he’s right, Liz?” Maria asked, her eyes full of more salty, fresh tears. “I mean it’s not like there’s a ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting Aliens’ guide book out there.”
“I know that that baby is fifty percent Maria Deluca and fifty percent Michael Guerin and neither of you are bad people. Even if you two aren’t perfect this baby is going to be a good person, no matter what it is,” Liz said, breaking Alec’s hold and getting to her knees beside the cot. She touched her hand to Maria’s stomach and the glowing hand pressed back.
Alec watched her closely, Liz’s eyes growing unfocused and her mouth opening slightly. Her breathing grew erratic as he grew nervous. The hand pressing against Liz’s began to glow a soft blue before Liz was sent flying back, crashing into Alec, and the two of them skidded back a few feet- slamming into a cot that overturned as they came to a hitting halt.
“Liz!” Maria screamed, jerking up in bed as her stomach stopped glowing.
“I’m fine,” Liz called and Alec sat up, pulling her with him.
“What the hell was that?” Alec bit out, getting up and dragging her along with him. They stopped at Maria’s bedside and Liz stared at Maria’s baby bump again. Alec noticed that her eyes had a vulnerable quality to them.
“We connected Maria. She showed me stuff. She showed me…Michael and Max and the baby- they were in some sort of weaponry. They saw me, Maria,” Liz whispered. Alec noticed Liz shifted uncomfortably while staring into Maria’s eyes. They looked like they were wrapped up in a silent conversation.
“You saw him? How did he look?” Maria asked, her eyes big with tears ready to spill out.
“He looked fine. They all looked…just fine.” Alec heard the way Liz’s voice dipped lower at the end, her eyes glinting hard as ice.
“Well what-” Maria started but was cut off by Zack calling to Liz and Alec that they needed to get to Command.
“Later Maria, we have to go. Stay safe and listened to whatever Alec or Zack tell you while I’m gone. They aren’t going to let anything happen to you or my niece,” Liz said, throwing in a smile that barely broke the cold shell that had hardened around her.
“Please don’t go, not now!” Maria demanded, the tears falling. Liz seemed to have shut herself off to emotions now, and Alec watched as Liz leaned over Maria, kissed her forehead, and pulled back ready to go.
“I’ll be back soon,” Liz said in way of goodbye, and then she turned to Alec and he felt his breath catch at the brief flicker of sadness he saw- obviously Liz had seen more than she was sharing. But like she said, she’d be back soon and it could wait till later.
When Alec opened the door for Liz leading into Command, they noticed that almost everyone else had already assembled for any last minute debriefing. Two transgenics stood on either side of the bathroom entrances handing out fresh fatigues. Liz murmured something about changing and walked off toward the door with ‘Women’s’ written across it.
Making his way to the upper-platform, Alec noticed the new hardware they were totting. Everyone was receiving a specially-directed comm. unit hooked into a mega-framework of screens wired together to form a huge surrounding area of visual feeds. The screens- all appeared to be new- were mounted up and labeled with each Xs designation. Mole was hooking up live feeds as he handed out each of the devices to the long line forming.
Max and Sandeman were having a discussion just as Alec got to the main set of screens in the center of the raised platform.
“You will need to do your best to keep up, if it gets too much Joshua will care you. If you receive an order, you are expected to fall in line- just like the rest of us. This is going to be very dangerous, you need to know that now,” Max told him as she secured her long hair back in a bun at the base of her neck. Her hands were moving jerkily, an unusual display of irritation.
“I understand,” Sandeman replied, securing his own comm. device to his neck and ear.
“Good, go find Joshua. I need to get this going,” Max ordered, turning after securing her device, and staring out at the crowds. Alec remembered the last time she had taken down Manticore and it had been hard on her then, not knowing what she had unleashed unto the world, now they she did she was probably having a bit of anxiety.
“You cool Maxie?” Alec inquired, bracing his hands on the railing overlooking the forming lines of the unit as they prepped.
“I’m a’ight. I know the dealio,” Max said, her voice sounding hard- just how Liz’s had sounded earlier.
Alec didn’t challenge her statement; he just stepped aside to let her address the crowd below. Everyone was strapped with guns and weapons, an identical sea of black, steel, and shiny boots with different faces looked up at them. Sandeman had taken a place beside Joshua, and was waiting for Max’s orders.
“You all know your assignments, you all have your comm. units, you’ve been debriefed and weapon equipped. There is no margin for error today people, this is a mission. Be ready to retreat and return here to Command the moment you hear the first set of explosions. We clear?” A hush fell over the room and
Max’s voice rang off the walls in the utter silence that answered her. “Good. Move out.”
Alec watched as the clear cut lines moved with precise, organized structure. The doors leading out to the South exit from TC were thrown wide open as the soldiers marched in tandem to Max’s direction. Liz was one of the last to leave, and Alec stared as she marched, her boots stomping in time with the others issued. When she was about to pass through the door, she looked back. That’s all that Alec needed, that tiny indication Liz was there, even deeply buried in the soldier- even with Adia’s eyes shining back at him.
Once the last X exited, the doors to Command were closed and transgenics were zipping from station to station, focusing on live feeds, computer maintenance, and checking in with the Xs on guard around the perimeter. They had doubled security from the last mission, tight rotating lines of defense surrounded the barrier fence around Terminal City- not a stray soldier wandered the streets. Everyone had an assignment.
Turning back to the screens, Alec noticed that the audio feeds were down, but all the visuals were in check. “Mole, what’s up with the audio?”
“We had to cut the audio for all the screens. The computer’s hard drive is too loaded with commands as it is with all the visual feeds, if we added in the audio it would short out the motherboard and we’d lose our whole operation. We have a main feed here,” Mole gestured to a single screen next to his cigar box, no designation was written on a piece of tape across the top. “We click on this box here, punch in the command line- whose ever designation we are looking for- and click on the line that pops up. It automatically transfers the feed from the designated screen to this one, and we can adjust the volume to hear the audio.”
Alec followed from point A to point B and nodded that he understood. He moved from the comm. units to the TC area cameras. He watched the steady progression of Max and her chosen unit as they made their way through the city and out the South tunnels leading down to the last docks near the market before they lost sight from the TC cameras.
For a while, the transgenics in Command watched the monitors with interest, waiting for Max and the unit to arrive at the new Manticore, but several chose to take up in the ring to relieve some of the built up adrenaline. Alec stood behind Mole, giving commands on which feeds to bring up, and braced his hands behind him on the railing as he stared. The unit had just reached Manticore when one of the Xs monitoring TC came rushing up the platform steps to Alec’s side.
“Alec, we have a problem,” said the X- a short red-haired male of the X6 series. “White and his men have arrived. They’ve broken through the South tunnels and stormed the city. There are at least fifty of them. We have two men down already.”
Blurring to the monitors in question, Alec hit the play by play command keys to show how White had broken in. Two X7s were with him; they came up through the tunnels and took down the two guards on immediate standby. When they had made a hole through security, White and his breeding cult posse came up next. The X6 had been right when he said they were storming the city, the enemy was swarming up from the tunnels, engaging the double guard, and making a steady advance to the heart of the city- to Command Central’s door.
“Everyone in here who doesn’t need to be, I want you at South in two minutes. Go!” Alec shouted and Xs blurred from all around him, taking to the streets, and grabbing weapons Max and the others had left behind.
“Mole I need to get to the infirmary. Hold Command no matter what. I want those doors barricaded until you see me at the doors. Don’t lose the feed, but shut it down if White or any of his men manage to break in. Do not tell Max what is going on here unless she is approaching on return and the problem isn’t solved. Dismissed,” Alec ordered. Mole nodded his ascent and Alec took off at a run for the doors. Two transgenics who were guarding the doors let him pass and he reiterated the order to barricade.
Guns were going off in the distance, a loud explosion from the Southwest sector of the city went off, and transgenics on guard duty were running sleekly through the streets. Smoke, thick and black, clouded over part of Terminal City and Alec raced faster to the infirmary. He barreled through the entrance way and came to halt in front of an armed Zack. Zack relaxed his fighting stance as he recognized Alec.
“What’s going on out there?” Zack asked him, walking with him to Maria’s cot where she was not sitting up and hyperventilating.
“White has breached the South end. He and fifty of his buddies are duking their way toward Command. We need to get Maria back there before he gets there,” Alec explained, giving the order to the medics to clear out any and all patients- which was a grand total of five pregnant Xs. They started packing up some supplies and lifting the woman from their beds to carry them toward Command.
“Maria, you have to relax for the baby,” Zack told her. Alec noted Zack’s change of tone from harsh to calm, but ignored it for the moment, he could always rib the guy later.
Alec moved passed Zack and lifted Maria into his arms. Her stomach was covered but a light was shining through the cotton of her clothes. “I’m taking you to Command, Maria. You’re safe with me.”
Meeting her eyes, Alec noticed she was almost in hysterical tears and would have sighed if the situation wasn’t demanding his immediate attention. Zack was on their heels till they reached the door to the infirmary, and Alec turned, “You need to get to wherever White is and take him out. I need to hold down Command. Go now.”
“I’m on my way,” Zack replied, not arguing. His soldier face was in place and he raced off ahead of them, then forked left on the next street and disappeared from their sight.
Alec ran as quickly as he could with Maria in his arms. They were two blocks from Command when they hit a wall of resistance. White’s men were everywhere, squaring off with Nomalies and X series soldiers alike. He tried to find a way through. Glancing up, Alec’s eyesight enhanced, and he saw an emergency ladder on one side of the building to his right and another on the building in front of it ahead of where they stood back from the fray.
“Maria, hold on as tight as you can, okay?” Alec asked, but before she could answer- though her arms did tighten around him- he was bending low before springing up and to the right, one hand catching the ladder above them and the other holding securely to Maria’s fragile form. Scaling the ladder one handed was not new to Alec- hell he’d done everything physically straining at least once- but doing it with a pregnant chick weighing him down was a whole new tack.
They reached the roof and Alec had to put Maria up top ahead of him before he could swing overhead and land beside her. As he pulled her to her feet Maria began screaming. Water gushed from between her legs and landed on his boots and her sock-covered feet. The sound of a gun behind them alerted Alec to a new presence and when he turned around, White was standing there on the rooftop across from them- on the next building they needed to reach. Where the fuck was Zack? Alec wondered. Not important, he thought.
“Alec?” Maria whispered, her hands clutching her stomach while she was bent over wheezing.
“Stay down Maria. Don’t move unless you think you’re going to get hit by a bullet.” Alec instructed her and turned his full attention to White. Taking two giant steps, Alec pushed off from the rooftop and landed hard against the top of the next building.
“Aw your girlfriend looks like she’s in pain,” White sneered, leveling his gun on Alec. A shot rang out and Alec blurred out of sight only to slam against White hard enough to knock them both to the asphalt rooftop.
A fist came up and collided solidly with Alec’s right temple and his vision went for a moment, long enough for White to shove a foot in Alec’s stomach and heave him off with the force of his leg extending. Alec rolled mid-air and landed in a push up. He propelled himself backward onto his feet, and charged White again, this time taking him up and over the side of the roof’s low-wall. Nails dug into his back as they fell and Alec felt them roll as they landed- him taking the brunt of the fall on the dirty, war-ridden street below.
The cool press of steel against his abdomen indicated a knife, and Alec brought his knee up between them before grabbing hold of White’s knifeless hand and yanked him to the side with the force from his knee.
They rolled and Alec was on top again. Growling at the feel of the steel stabbing his side, Alec bent his head to the hollow of White’s neck and bit into the pumping artery just beneath his vile flesh. The bite went deep and cleans through and when Alec pulled back the cartilage and blood and veins came out with a gush of warm, wet blood. It stained Alec’s mouth and shirt and sprayed his face while running in rivers down White’s body. The thrill of the kill sent adrenaline pumping faster and harder through his veins, and it only took him seconds to scale the same ladder and land beside Maria.
Maria was panting and crying, her hands ghosting over her stomach in an attempt to calm the painful contractions as they came. Alec lowered himself to her side and picked her up again, moving faster and vaulting the two of them over the gap between the buildings and kept going until they were two buildings from Command’s main entrance. There was no fighting the nearer they got to Command Central, and the door’s were flung open to admit them when Alec finally came to a stop outside.
Rushing in, Alec called for one of the medics who had managed to get to Command before him and the others. “She’s in labor.” Turning back to Maria as he laid her flat his eyes suddenly went to the bright, red liquid that was slipping down Maria’s exposed left leg. Apparently White had hit a target after all. “And she’s been shot.”
The medic came over carrying a large duffle bag filled with supplies. He started cleaning and fixing her leg first: cutting off the blood flow, picking out the bits of bullet stuck in her leg, tying it off, cleaning it out, and bandaging it. He then administered a low-level pain killer which helped Maria stop crying, and focus on what the X was telling her to do.
“You are not fully dilated yet, but it won’t be too much longer before you are. I need you to relax and focus on your breathing,” said the X- he didn’t look much older than 20- but he was down there between Maria’s legs and Alec was grateful it wasn’t him.
“The baby can’t be here yet. It’s too soon. Ow! And Liz needs to be here. I can’t do this alone,” Maria said, starting to cry again and turning to Alec with big watery eyes.
“Maria, we need you to stay calm. I’m going to check the monitors and see how the mission is going. I have to check on Terminal City too, but I’ll be right back. You aren’t alone,” Alec told her, but she didn’t seem to relax.
Alec was at Mole’s side in an instant, and he was watching the main screen where Max’s monitor was pulled up and her audio was playing through the surrounding speakers. She was alone in one of the labs- from what they could see- with Lydecker and one of his pet Xs. They were having a verbal tete-a-tete while the rest of the unit seemed spread out, in various parts of the compound. Liz was setting up a detonator in the lab room connected to the one Max was in. Everything seemed to be going as planned.
Moving from Mole to the TC monitors, Alec scanned the city. Twelve breeding cult lackeys were aborting; already back at the South tunnels and making their expedient escape. Ten were left fighting, not far from Command, but the number of transgenics far out weighted the number of enemies present. Searching for White, Alec watched as two of his buddies tried to lift his body up off the ground, out of the pool of his own blood, but both were ambushed and soon decapitated. Alec shouted to one of the guards barricading the door and told him a small group of pregnant Xs and medics were coming, and the doors were opened quickly and then closed just as quickly behind the small group.
“Alec!” Maria screamed, and her body heaved up as the glowing in her stomach got brighter and brighter, the light bluish green in color.
Blurring to her side, Alec watched as the wide-eyed medic reexamined Maria’s expanding vagina, the crown of the baby beginning to show. The medic ordered Maria to push and she grabbed hold of Alec’s hand and squeezed with all her might, screaming and crying and gasping for air. Zack was with them in the next moment, holding Maria’s other hand as she rested her head against his arm and sobbed.
“Push!” the medic ordered. “Push!”
“I am pushing you fucking- AH!” Maria pushed and the head came out and Alec’s eyes were wide and his arm was losing circulation and he could not believe what he was seeing.
“Push!” the medic ordered again.
“Son of a-” Maria shouted while giving it her all. Her scream cracked and the shoulders were out. Another grand effort and the baby slid free, a long cord along with it. Alec turned from Maria as she cried in relief, releasing his arm. His stomach felt queasy, his insides were turning, and the sight of the baby was not all tender and cute like he was expecting. Thoroughly wigged, Alec watched as Zack comforted Maria while the medic found clean water and towels and snipped the cord. When the baby was finally in Maria’s arms, Zack staring down at them, Alec felt something else completely new to him. But he didn’t have time to label his feelings, they had a mission to complete and a battle to finish.
Returning to the Terminal City monitors, Alec saw that the last of the fighting had ended, the dead were being carried to the training field- they had to be buried. He counted nine X causalities on sight, and more than half the invaders were sprawled dead on their streets too. “You two, I want you out their picking up bodies or securing the South tunnels. Now,” Alec told the two guards barricading the door. The barricades went up and they were gone.
“Mole report,” Alec ordered, taking his previous position behind Mole’s chair braced against the railing.
“The labs are down. The hallway connecting the containment rooms and the labs is full of our people, but poisonous gases have been released in the containment rooms. If they don’t get there in the next couple minutes there won’t be any Xs to rescue,” Mole bit out, chopping on his cigar end like there was no tomorrow.
“Who’s closest to the containment rooms?” Alec questioned, moving forward to study the monitors.
“Liz and Joshua. But Josh isn’t leaving Sandeman unprotected- he won’t be of any help,” Mole told him.
“Pull up Liz’s feed,” demanded Alec, hearing the clicking off buttons as Mole complied. Liz’s comm. device popped up and her audio rang clear. The sound of fighting and clanking and shouting filled the speakers along with Liz’s controlled breathing.
“Liz?” Alec tested.
“I’m here,” Liz responded immediately.
“They’re releasing poisoned gas into the containment rooms. Can you get to them?” Alec hated the idea of her inhaling that stuff, but someone had to do it.
“How long do I have?” Liz asked, but she didn’t catch the reply as she was thrown into one of the thick, bullet-proof glass walls. Alec concentrated on the screen as she elbowed her attacker and swiftly unlatched a gun from its holster strapped to her inner-thigh and shot the woman stabbing at her in the gut.
“How long?” Liz re-questioned.
“Two minutes,” Mole said. “Make it fast; some of the young ones are fading.”
They followed Liz’s progression through the fighting mass of bodies and weapons. She had to battle her way through half the crowd before jumping into the air and kicking her legs for extension, landed just near the doors to the containment cells. She was trying to punch in the code, but it wasn’t working.
“Mole I need the code.” Liz said and Alec watched her beat at the keypad in frustration.
“I don’t have it,” Mole told her, going over his papers.
“Fuck this shit. Alright,” Liz whispered into her mouthpiece and the next moment the comm. device was short-circuiting, fuzz showing up on the screen and then re-tuning to her visuals. Alec was mesmerized by her glowing skin, the blue veins popping against its translucency, and her fingers were twitching. She slapped her bare energy-pulsing hands against the door and it exploded outward into her. Liz flew back into another wall, several sparring pairs also taking in the blast, and the door seemed to disintegrate as the light died out.
Transgenics from inside the cells poured out in a frenzy, but some of the cells were still locked inside. Alec’s eyes were on Liz when she finally moved and raced into the cells ahead, face covered by the thin material of her shirt. The gas was yellowy in color, putrid looking. Alec noticed that two small children were curled up together in the corner, one passed out while the other watched on protectively.
“Come on, we need to get out,” Liz said to them, her voice clear and stable now that the light and energy had gone.
The little boy holding the smaller boy’s passed out body nodded and staggered to his feet, pulling helplessly at the dead weight connected to him. Liz rushed up- getting hit in the face with a newly released gust of gas- and bent coughing to retrieve the child. She pulled him up into her arms and slammed her hand against the button that stopped the other two cells from opening and the last of the adults and two children raced from the rooms and out the empty doorway.
“Get out of there, Liz,” Mole shouted and just as Liz raced out of the contained area poisoned darts shot out of hidden holes in the cell walls.
The fighting was raging strong still as Liz made it back into the hallway, the passed out boy in her arms, and she had an even harder time getting back to Max. Alec saw that the door separating Liz from Max also had a code, but Liz knew this one and was inside quick.
Max was facing off with the X7 Lydecker had brought with, and Alec cringed when the kid blurred behind her and kicked her face down to the ground before dislocating her shoulder from her arm.
Liz put the child down far from Lydecker and the fighting duo. Max was up and fighting again, but Alec noticed Liz’s steps going to Deck, her hand coming up to his neck, cutting off his air.
“Down Boy Wonder or your owner gets it,” Liz threatened, tightening her grip on Lydecker’s throat as he gasped and kicked out, his arms coming up to pull at Liz’s slender fingers.
Alec couldn’t hear the X7’s reply, but the kid stopped and Max was up and by Liz in a heartbeat.
“Max, get the X6 by the door,” Liz instructed, loosening her grip a little. “Now are we going to play nice or do I have to remove a few body parts?”
Lydecker squirmed against the wall and ordered the X7 to back off. “Nice it is,” Liz said, letting his feet come down to touch the floor.
“Liz what are you doing?” Max asked, her arms full with the small boy.
“Getting us out of here. Come on Dick, time to move. When we get to the hallway you are going to give the order for your men to stand down and follow, understand?” Liz asked Lydecker, her eyes only for him and Alec watched as he inclined his head in a courteous manner.
Alec and Mole noticed the X7 fall in behind them, no longer aggressive- completely passive. The fighting in the hall stopped slowly as everyone moved from fight mode to falling in line. Max, Liz and the unit surrounded the enemy, giving orders and watching as Deck nodded his head for them to follow.
“Looks like we’re expecting company,” Mole said, pulling out a new cigar from the box near the screen.
“Looks like. I want security back up and running now, and when they come through the tunnels I want a twenty-man welcoming committee to escort them here. I have to get back to Maria.” Alec said to Mole and the Nomalie who entered from the unbarricaded door to tell them they had a total of eleven deaths on their side and twenty-eight deaths for the enemy.
When Alec appeared beside Maria, she was sleeping and Zack was holding the baby. Alec leaned in closer to see the cleaned, clothed baby girl. Her big eyes were green- like Maria’s- and her head was completely bald. She had a small, pert nose; tiny rosey lips; and pale, pale skin. Her tiny hands and feet were kicking and she was making small, unintelligible noises.
“She’s cute,” Alec commented, taking a seat by Zack who was still staring down at the bundle in his arms- a small, army-issued blanket enfolding her.
“She’s beautiful,” Zack rejoined and when he looked up, they shared a smile. Alec took in the fact Zack was leaning protectively near Maria’s sleeping form, and he knew something was going on there.
“We better get them back to the infirmary before Max and the unit gets back, they’re bringing the party with them,” said Alec, pointing to Maria and the baby as well as the other medics and pregnant Xs around the ring.
“I’ll get on it,” Zack said and Alec nodded, repeating the order to the medics and moody females. Shortly after they were packed up and headed out, Mole shouted back to Alec.
“They’ll be here in two clicks,” Mole shouted out.
“Ready to shout surprise?” Alec joked as he raided the weaponry.
“Only if Deck’s the party favor,” Mole said back, smirking into his cigar.
Alec threw out another flippant comment, took station at the door, and waited for their arrival.
Author's Note: Well here is the long awaited Ch19. It would have been up sooner, but my computer keeps locking me out of my account and erasing my files. I had to create a new account and start over after I'd already had 10 pages done. However, I like this second draft even better. I want to thank everyone who has stuck by this story even with my infrequent updates and trip to the graveyard. I really enjoy your reviews so let me know what you think and thanks again. Egyptian_Kiss!
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Egyptian_Kiss
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) Update A/N 4/29/10
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty
The first thing Liz notices as Max ordered them through the South tunnels leading into Terminal City was the gaping hole in their secure perimeter. Max was shouting into her headset at Mole, demanding answers. What the hell happened while they were out?
Gritting her teeth, Liz observed the damage done to the city as she marched in tandem to the footfalls of her unit- gripping Lydecker’s arm viciously as he marched beside her, silent and staring. Out of the corner of her eye, Liz saw Zack helping sort and retrieve bodies from the fall out of what appeared to be a city-wide fight. He hefted an armless body, blood dripping from the open wounds, and poured out over Zack’s fatigues in red rivers that smelled of decaying flesh and viscous fluids.
“Max,” Liz called out, grounding to a halt. Lydecker turned curious eyes on her and Liz bit the inside of her cheek- drawing a metallic blood taste into her mouth. It almost wasn’t worth talking to Zack to give up her chance to tear Lydecker to pieces, but she needed to calm down and think clinically. He would get his when the time was right, and she’d be the one to give it to him.
“Halt,” Liz heard Max shout, and the ranks fell still.
In a blink, Max was beside her, surveying the damage, “Soldier, report.”
“Permission to stand down?” Liz asked, her voice neutral while she flickered her eyes from Max to Zack and back- the message clear.
There was a hesitant look on Max’s face, but her sister took hold of Lydecker’s free arm- her hold looked just as painful and unforgiving- and tugged him roughly to her side, “Permission granted. Be at Command in fifteen minutes. We clear?”
“Yes ma’am, we’re clear, ma’am,” Liz replied, giving a brief salute, to which Max responded; putting up a formal front until the mission was fully determined as complete.
“March,” Max shouted upon returning to the front of the crow, unit falling into step with their hostages at hand.
Making her way to Zack, Liz stepped over weapons and bodies, and around transgenics given the clean up assignment. Some of the bodies were their people, lying in pools of chilling blood, and others were White’s men- twisted, breeding cult killers, with odd tattoos and snake marks. Obviously White had seen an opportunity and taken it.
“Zack,” Liz called, he was returning from the training field.
“Adia, what happened?” Zack asked, forgetting for a moment to use her new alias. Liz chose to ignore his slip up even though a part of her started at the reminder of her soldier’s name. They were two halves of a whole, the woman and the warrior.
“Not important. Where’s Maria? How many of us are down?” Liz questioned, glancing down at one of the dead.
“Alec has the official count for both sides, I’m working on city-wide retrieval. Maria and the baby are in the infirmary, both fine,” Zack reported, hefting another body over his shoulder and turning from her. Liz blurred in front of him and gave him pause.
“Do you mean the baby-”
“Was born, yes,” Zack finished for her, a rare smile gracing his features, it lit up his face entirely- in a way Liz remembered fondly. “She’s beautiful, Liz.”
Liz nodded, stunned, and watched in a daze as Zack returned to his assignment. More transgenics milled around her, and Liz snapped out of her frozen state, breaking into a blurring run to the infirmary. Pregnant women were resituating themselves on the cots that were left- many having been overturned, others broken in the fray. Maria lay asleep on the farthest one from the entrance, an open cardboard box beside her bed.
As she approached, a medic X came to check Maria’s vitals with equipment that had miraculously survived the invasion.
“How is she?” Liz whispered, knowing he would hear her and not wanting to wake Maria. She looked down into the box, and her heart paused- skipping a few beats.
Liz barely heard the medic say “fine” as she saw Maria and Michael’s baby for the first time. She truly was beautiful, all pink and white skin with startling green eyes, and Michael’s nose (if Liz could picture him as a baby) with Maria’s bow lips. Her tiny hands and feet curling and uncurling as she grabbed at air while lying on a bed of folded blankets in the box. There was something intelligent behind her eyes, a recognition as Liz reached in to pick her up; the skin Liz touched soft and perfect.
“Hi baby, I’m your auntie, Liz.”
The baby’s head laid heavy on Liz’s arm while she made soft, curious noises, and opened and closed her mouth over and over with gentle smacks of her lips. One of her small hands wrapped around Liz’s hair, then let go and laid it against her chin.
Liz felt her heart melt and allowed her eyes to cloud with tears. Michael should be there, she though, to see this amazing baby girl, his baby girl.
As if the baby knew what Liz were thinking, she put her other hand on Liz’s chest and energy suddenly pulsed between them, and Liz experienced the sucking sensation she had felt earlier when she had seen Antar. Again the tunneling of her mind, the surge of foreign lights and sounds, and suddenly she was on a beach, beside a towering metal castle with glass doors, and intricate iron archways with purple , blue, and white tinted windows as big as the doorways. Liz stared at the sand in wonder; it was a brilliant, azure blue- and massive moons sat large and opaque in the vast expanse of open space. Magenta water lapped at the blue shore, pale pink foam floating in and out with the tides. Liz stared in wonder as rainbow fish and purple dolphins swam in schools near what seemed like shallow shores.
“Liz?” came a voice from behind her.
Turning, Liz came face to face with Michael and a tall woman- exceeding seven feet tall- whose features were slimmer than anyone Liz had ever seen, and eyes that sat too high on her forehead in a freakish appearance. The two stood in long robes with garish symbols sown over their hearts with gold thread that stood out against the green material- a giant beaded V with five points across the breadth of their chests. Michael’s hair had been shorn short, while the woman’s hung well below her calves in an intricate braid, held back by a metal band.
“Michael,” Liz said, uncertain of what to say.
“Liz, how are you here?” Michael asked, stepping closer, away from the woman at his side and grabbing her in an unexpected embrace. His arms were real around her, tight and warm.
“Michael, is this really Antar?” Liz whispered, her eyes not leaving the woman who was staring at her with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it amazing?” Michael said back, not lowering her voice, but pulling back to stare at her. “You look different.”
“A lot has happened. Michael…Maria had a baby.” Liz said, letting that absorb into his mind, trying to be softer with him, trying to be Liz Parker- it was disconcerting.
“What?” He asked, his eyes big, his hands clenched.
“Michael, she had your baby,” Liz said, dropping the bomb as she felt her stomach pulling her, as if it were tugging her away from him, away from Antar.
“My-” he said something, but it didn’t come through to her ears. His image was growing more distant. Liz fought against the tug, push against it, and Michael came in clear again. “How?”
“Look Michael, whatever is keeping me here- and I’m pretty sure it’s your baby- is pulling me back. Maria and I are Seattle, in Terminal City. I’m not who you thought I was, there is more going on than you know. If you can come back, we need you. I don’t know what you guys know up here about the goings on of Earth, but transgenics exist and I’m one of them. We are fighting a losing battle and a disease is spreading through the United States, fast. I’m trying to help find a cure, and we are safe right now, but that won’t last. Get Max, find Isabel and get the hell off this rock and come home. We need you, Michael. I’m not asking, I’m telling. We are part of your unit too, you can’t just leave us behind,” Liz told him and part of her refused to beg him, but he was her family too- to an extent. He had trusted Liz when she was a complete liability to them and now she trusted him to do what was right.
“Transgenics?” Michael asked, confused. His face scrunched up familiarly and Liz felt that tugging again, stronger this time.
“Genetically enhanced super-soldiers who have hybrid DNA that’s mixed with animal compounds. I don’t have time to explain everything,” Liz said, and just like that she was back on Earth, in the infirmary, standing beside Maria’s cot holding the baby.
“Liz?” called Maria, lying on her side and staring up at Liz with tired eyes, eyes that were slowly closing and fluttering open.
Looking from the baby in her arms to Maria’s face, Liz slipped a complacent mask over her face. She smiled down at the baby, and placed her back in the box, gently.
“How are you?” Liz asked, taking Maria’s hand in her own as she took up a small seat on the edge of the cot.
“Tired,” Maria whispered, smiling softly at Liz. It reminded Liz of her mother, of that look her mother gave her when she was content and motherly. It made her heart ache and remember what Nancy Parker had looked like in life- before White had gotten to her.
“Big day, huh?” Liz said rhetorically, brushing a long strand of Maria’s blond hair away from her face. There was a delicate glow about Maria, her skin was pale from overexertion, but beautiful.
“Yep, and I got shot too,” Maria said, chuckling a little. Liz started and grabbed the blanket covering Maria- pulling it down to her ankles and staring at the bandaged thigh wound.
“Oh my God, Maria. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. How?” Liz asked, trying to bite down on her rising anger. How could Alec allow for this to happen?
“White was fighting with Alec and he shot off his gun. It fucking hurt like a bitch, but they gave me this needle and now it’s all better. Ten times better than cypress oil,” Maria joked and Liz regained some of her composure, sliding the blanket back up to Maria’s chest, and hugging her tightly. “Your man saved the day, you know. He got me to the main building with all the computers and stuff and he killed that White guy.”
White was dead? Liz’s inner-soldier gave a delicious thrill of excitement as she stared at Maria, hearing those words. Liz would have liked to have been the one to kill him, to rip his still-beating heart from his chest, breaking through flesh, bone, cartilage, and veins, but Alec doing it sent a whole different feeling spiraling through her. It was hot and needy and vicious. She wanted to see him for a whole new set of reasons.
“I went in to labor right after he got back up on the roof. He carried me onto a roof, Liz! We jumped over a freaking gap in between buildings! He was like Superman or something,” Maria told her excitedly, her words jazzed even as her hand gestures drooped.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I wish I had been there,” Liz replied, glancing down into the open box again.
“It’s okay. Alec and Zack were there. Zack helped me a lot,” Maria whispered, her cheeks turning a bright blush color.
“You like Zack, don’t you?” asked Liz.
“Yeah, but not like, you know, a lot a lot, just you know,” Maria said, rolling her eyes and turning on her side more fully to look down at the baby.
“I saw Michael, Maria,” Liz told her.
“Yeah, you said-” Maria started, but Liz shook her head.
“Just now. The baby, she connected us. I told him to come back,” Liz said. She didn’t want this to be sprung on Maria if they did come back, if Michael and Max and Isabel suddenly came back. She hadn’t thought about how it would affect Maria’s growing affection for Zack; they needed back up and that was what had mattered.
Maria was quiet for a minute, and then she put her arms out into the box and picked up her daughter, so tiny and fragile.
“I don’t know what that means,” Maria finally said, not looking up at Liz. “I miss him so much, you know. I want him to come back, but things aren’t the same. We’ve been on the run for so long, and so much has changed- I’ve changed. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I have. And I do like Zack, you know- a lot.”
“We need the help, Maria. The mission went sideways, and now Lydecker is here, and his men and things are getting bad- they’re getting worse. The disease is showing up in parts of America now, and I don’t know if we’re going to be this alone.” Liz admitted, keeping her voice down, and noticing that several transgenics had turned their way to listen.
“I know why you did it, Liz. I still get that about you, you do what’s best for everybody. You got us here, didn’t you?” Maria said, smiling up at her friend just then, a knowing looking passing between them and Liz felt like they were back in high school again- reading each other like no one else did.
“Yeah, I did. I promise, I’ll always be here for you and my niece,” Liz said, putting out one of her hands to smooth over the baby’s head.
“I’ve come up with a name,” Maria announced to Liz, and stopped for a moment, looking over Liz’s shoulder.
Glancing behind her, Liz saw Zack coming in, stripping off his dirty t-shirt and pulling on a new one as he walked over to them. His eyes were on Maria and the baby, his smile automatic.
“Hi Zack. You’re just in time. I was telling Liz the baby’s name,” Maria reiterated, smiling especially sweet for him and Liz ran a hand through her hair- it was growing somewhat, still choppy and short, but a little below the front of her shoulders. “Her name is Jillian Michelle Guerin. Alex helped me pick out her first name like way back when we were in middle school and Michelle is the feminine form of Michael, and he is her dad, so she deserves his last name.”
Liz thought it was fitting, and she had to look at the ceiling when she mentioned Alex. Alex had been her greatest failing, Liz thought. He was the one truly good person Liz had ever met- through and through an innocent. She had failed him. She hadn’t seen what was right there. Shaking off the bad memories, Liz smiled for Maria and told her how nice that was as Zack agreed it was right for her.
“I have to get to Command,” Liz informed them, standing abruptly as Zack moved closer.
“Okay, go kick butt. I’m going to feed Jillian and then I’m probably going to sleep. Will you visit me later?” Maria inquired, even though her eyes were constantly drawn back to Zack like a magnet.
“Always,” Liz told her, and left quickly. She made her way through the carnage of the city- noticing that many transgenics were gathering bodies, or parts, and heading toward the training field as Zack had earlier. She sped up and was at Command’s doors quickly.
Inside, transgenics were everywhere, holding the new hostages, glaring at Lydecker, and listening as Alec gave them new orders. He looked savage, and it was sexy as hell.
Ignoring all others, Liz scanned the crowd for Max and made her way over. Lydecker and Sandeman were staring at each other- neither blinking. It was like a silent pissing contest, Liz concluded, and realized a small part of her was rooting for the old man.
“Liz back Max,” Joshua said upon seeing her, and Liz offered him one of her rare smiles- he was genuinely good too- even though she had seen the fierceness that had come out of him during the mission as he protected Sandeman, his ‘father.’
“Take Lydecker to the interrogation room. Sandeman and I have to have a little chat about the dealio with the virus,” Max ordered, thrusting Lydecker at Liz with an extra vicious grip.
Nodding, Liz took Lydecker’s right arm and marched him through the parting crowd. Adults or child, all the transgenics watched their progress from one end of Command Central to the other, even as they slipped through the back exit and toward the building that originally housed Ethan and Raed. Thinking of them, Liz wondered where they had been- they hadn’t been in the visible range of the growing numbers in Command.
“It’s good to see you, Adia,” Lydecker said, his head turned to look at her even as Liz ignored his stare and continued to keep her head facing forward. “You are even more beautiful now than you were as a child.”
The animal instinct to maim and kill was riding her, Liz realized. Just the sound of his voice riled her disgust and hatred, the need to dispose of her enemy. Never had she wanted more to be free of duty and responsibility- never before had she craved the kill so much.
They passed several guards- the streets now free of body parts and corpses in the West end. Once they reached the building and Liz retraced her steps to the room she had visited so frequently in the past weeks, did she allow herself to look at him. She turned the knob on the interrogation room, noting the two guards that had set up station, and shoved Lydecker down to the floor where he fell ungracefully in a flat sprawl. His face was weather with age, forehead lined, his lips tight and crowed, his hair receding, his hands wrinkled and covered in liver spots; but those eyes were the same, intelligent and calculating.
“Why’d you leave, Adia? You had so much potential, you were perfect,” Lydecker asked, his face soft and caring- a falsehood draped in manufactured compassion.
“My name’s Liz,” Liz told him, saying it between gritted teeth.
“I have to say, I liked Adia better,” he said with a mild shake of his head.
Liz couldn’t help her next move, it was instantaneous. She hauled him up from the floor, slammed him into the wall, and brought her fist down against his jaw- leaving a red mark that foretold future purpling. The feel of her fist slamming down against his face came with a rush of adrenaline and feral pleasure that she did it again, harder and quicker- a blur of excitement. Breathing deeply, Liz recentered herself, gathered her inner-soldier and clamped down on the animal that lived and breathed within her.
“If I want to know your opinion, I’ll give it to you,” Liz whispered, her words lethal and cautionary, her eyes wild with threats they both knew were warranted and real.
“Yes ma’am,” Lydecker mocked, his tone serious while his eyes told another tale.
Shoving him down into the single metal chair that sat in the middle of the room, Liz went to the door and shouted for duct tape, thick and abrasive robes, as well as a lighter and pocket knife. Long moments passed where they just sat and stared at one another and Liz saw the rolling flashes of her Manticore memory lane. Images of her brothers and sisters confined by metal chains at the bottom of military commissioned pools; of the bullet wounds purposefully inflicted to test healing capabilities; of scientists with needles and poisons that made them puke and piss themselves in their sleep until they prayed for the bliss of unconsciousness; of the lasers that seared off their barcodes for missions; of the parade of tutors and tapes that reinforced Manticore directives. In the time it took for the guards to gather her requests, Liz replayed the litany of tortures her childhood boasted- that Lydecker represented and reinforced even now. She remembered the hot-cold press of metal and the burn of liquid chemicals jolting her body and reforming her insides. It all happened yesterday, in that moment, tomorrow, the next day- it was a loop of forever in her mind just then.
“So angry,” Lydecker commented, breaking their silence as Liz roped him to the chair, knotting him expertly and efficiently.
Tossing the tape to the ground close by, Liz began lighting the tip of the fold out blade, watching as the metal grew red first and then glowed angrily like her mood. Lydecker’s eyes stayed on hers and hers his while her hands did the work her mind knew routinely.
“What’s so special about me?” Liz asked, her eyes flicking to the various parts of his body she had to chose from, depending on his answers.
“You’re perfect,” he answered, smiling. Staring into his eyes, Liz pressed the heated blade to his exposed neck, listening to the sizzle and smelling the burning flesh as he cried out.
“How am I perfect?” she asked once she had removed the blade and spit on the bubbling wound- a cool relief and a harsh, vindictive respite all in one.
Breathing heavily and staring at her with more weariness than before, Lydecker replied, “Like Max, you have no junk DNA. Every part of you is coded to achieve something. Every piece of who you are is crafted to uphold the skills necessary to be a perfect soldier,” he told her, eyes on the blade the whole time. Teasingly, Liz drew it close to the other side of his neck and a malicious smirk graced her lips when he flinched from it.
“How am I any different from Max if we have the same kind of DNA coding?” Liz questioned, drawing patterns in the air with the knife and relighting it with the lighter closer to his face, slightly below his ear.
Gulping soundlessly, Lydecker met her gaze, “Your brain is larger, but that isn’t what makes you magnificent. The average human uses eight percent of their brain, maybe ten. The average transgenic used twenty-five to thirty. You, Liz, use well over seventy-five percent of your brain, at a time. There is not a moment that you are not functioning on more than three-fourths of your intellectual abilities. Where others can jump ten foot fences, you could leap over thirty. Where others have tactical teams, you are one. When you see something- anything- you take it in in dimensions, each facet connecting to a single cell that lights up all at once and processes at the same time.
“Multi-tasking is a figure of speech for everyone except you. The human mind was meant to process one thing at a time, some more rapidly than others- those are who are known as multi-taskers. Transgenics can achieve three to four thoughts at once. You, however, are capable of so much more. Right before you left us, we tested that. You were able to process fifteen itemized thoughts at once. Now, your abilities are exponentially greater- I’m sure,” he explained, his face beaming at her with pride. It sickened her that he was proud.
Quickly, Liz ripped open the chest of his shirt and drew the blade from the top of his sternum to his belly button, pressing deep enough to draw blood, but not enough to kill him, or drive him to a delirium passed reasoning. His screams, the sight of his blood, the sound of his cauterizing skin, and the hiss of breath that left her filled the room and Liz rode the wave of sadistic joy cresting through her chest. She withdrew the knife for a moment and then plunged the blade through his left shoulder and listened to the whistle of wind as she cut so fast through the air it too emitted a noise.
“Oh God,” he said, dropping his head forward.
“The devil asking God for help? Blasphemy,” Liz whispered near his ear, and then repeated the plunging strike to his other shoulder after ruthlessly ripping it out of his left.
“Please,” he cried out and Liz twisted the blade.
“Why should I show you mercy? Isn’t this what you hoped to achieve with me, with the others? We were barcodes and numbers until you needed us to maim, kill, hunt, observer- this was our purpose. Aren’t you pleased?” Liz asked with hate welling inside her chest, envisioning little Michael and herself and the others- every person whose innocence was stolen by the greed of their government, by the tinkering scientists who made them what they were.
The door opened behind them and Liz, still crouched beside a restrained Lydecker tugged out the blade- a large portion of blood pouring out with it. Alec, Max, and Sandeman stood at the entrance: Max worried, Alec smirking, and Sandeman impassive.
“Ah, the sister arrives,” Lydecker said between gritted teeth before spitting out a mouth full of blood- he had bitten the inside of his cheek while screaming.
“Shut up,” Max ordered, her worry evident. “Maybe you should go to the infirmary, to Maria, Liz.”
“Coddling your baby sister won’t get you anywhere, Max. Even your mother knew that when she left her with us,” Lydecker continued and Max crossed the space between them and had her foot connecting with his chest before his breath had fully rushed out, sending the chair skidding back several feet.
“What are you talking about?” Liz asked, her attention back on the captive. Her eyes met Max’s panicked ones before meeting Lydecker’s satisfied smile.
“She didn’t tell you?” he asked.
“I said, shut up,” Max restated, not meeting Liz’s eyes.
“No, I want to know,” Liz told her, looking again at Lydecker. Alec and Sandeman now stood forgotten, even as the door slid shut behind him.
“Liz-” Alec tried, but she held up a hand and he quieted.
“You and Max are sisters, it’s that simple,” Lydecker said.
“Yeah, and?” Liz asked. She knew this. If he was going to be uncooperative she might start relighting the blade.
“No, not unit sisters, biological sisters. You have the same mother,” Lydecker informed her, the words ringing hollowly off the walls. Liz looked to Max to see her reaction- she didn’t have one, her face was stoney and blank. Suddenly, Sandeman’s words about the cure came rushing back, everything he had said, and his first implications.
She turned to him then, looking him up and down, “Is it true?”
Sandeman appeared uncomfortable in that moment, but he nodded, “Yes.”
Max’s stone face cracked a little and she offered Liz a smile, “I wanted to tell you after all this was over; when we could sit down and not deal with some whack war.”
Shock flooded her and Liz put up a wall. Her face went still and blank, but her mind reeled. She had an honest to God sister- one she had known all along. Not just cooked up in a lab, or redefined by genetic comprehension, but a blood to blood sister. And she hadn’t even told her. She was going to let all those people get sick and not say a word. They might have died and Liz would never have known.
Furious, but deadly calm, Liz turned back to Lydecker and slammed the blade into his torso- hitting a bloody area that would see him bleed like a pig, but nothing to sustain irreparable damage. He grunted and the smug expression on his face dropped. Without another word, Liz left the room, the building, the street, and finally, ducked out into one of the tunnels leading out of the city- the whole time moving faster and faster as her skin glowed a dangerous hue and Alec, calling her name, fell hopelessly behind.
Author's Note: Okay so there you have chapter twenty- a few days overdue, but decidely longer than I was originally planning. Thank you everyone who reviewed, they are always a real treat to read. I just started a new fanfiction- a True Blood fanfic in the Other Shows Fanfic forum. It's Eric/OC and if you enjoy the show you should pop over and take a look; I also posted the link on my works by author's page. I hope everyone enjoyed this, let me know what you think. EK!
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty
The first thing Liz notices as Max ordered them through the South tunnels leading into Terminal City was the gaping hole in their secure perimeter. Max was shouting into her headset at Mole, demanding answers. What the hell happened while they were out?
Gritting her teeth, Liz observed the damage done to the city as she marched in tandem to the footfalls of her unit- gripping Lydecker’s arm viciously as he marched beside her, silent and staring. Out of the corner of her eye, Liz saw Zack helping sort and retrieve bodies from the fall out of what appeared to be a city-wide fight. He hefted an armless body, blood dripping from the open wounds, and poured out over Zack’s fatigues in red rivers that smelled of decaying flesh and viscous fluids.
“Max,” Liz called out, grounding to a halt. Lydecker turned curious eyes on her and Liz bit the inside of her cheek- drawing a metallic blood taste into her mouth. It almost wasn’t worth talking to Zack to give up her chance to tear Lydecker to pieces, but she needed to calm down and think clinically. He would get his when the time was right, and she’d be the one to give it to him.
“Halt,” Liz heard Max shout, and the ranks fell still.
In a blink, Max was beside her, surveying the damage, “Soldier, report.”
“Permission to stand down?” Liz asked, her voice neutral while she flickered her eyes from Max to Zack and back- the message clear.
There was a hesitant look on Max’s face, but her sister took hold of Lydecker’s free arm- her hold looked just as painful and unforgiving- and tugged him roughly to her side, “Permission granted. Be at Command in fifteen minutes. We clear?”
“Yes ma’am, we’re clear, ma’am,” Liz replied, giving a brief salute, to which Max responded; putting up a formal front until the mission was fully determined as complete.
“March,” Max shouted upon returning to the front of the crow, unit falling into step with their hostages at hand.
Making her way to Zack, Liz stepped over weapons and bodies, and around transgenics given the clean up assignment. Some of the bodies were their people, lying in pools of chilling blood, and others were White’s men- twisted, breeding cult killers, with odd tattoos and snake marks. Obviously White had seen an opportunity and taken it.
“Zack,” Liz called, he was returning from the training field.
“Adia, what happened?” Zack asked, forgetting for a moment to use her new alias. Liz chose to ignore his slip up even though a part of her started at the reminder of her soldier’s name. They were two halves of a whole, the woman and the warrior.
“Not important. Where’s Maria? How many of us are down?” Liz questioned, glancing down at one of the dead.
“Alec has the official count for both sides, I’m working on city-wide retrieval. Maria and the baby are in the infirmary, both fine,” Zack reported, hefting another body over his shoulder and turning from her. Liz blurred in front of him and gave him pause.
“Do you mean the baby-”
“Was born, yes,” Zack finished for her, a rare smile gracing his features, it lit up his face entirely- in a way Liz remembered fondly. “She’s beautiful, Liz.”
Liz nodded, stunned, and watched in a daze as Zack returned to his assignment. More transgenics milled around her, and Liz snapped out of her frozen state, breaking into a blurring run to the infirmary. Pregnant women were resituating themselves on the cots that were left- many having been overturned, others broken in the fray. Maria lay asleep on the farthest one from the entrance, an open cardboard box beside her bed.
As she approached, a medic X came to check Maria’s vitals with equipment that had miraculously survived the invasion.
“How is she?” Liz whispered, knowing he would hear her and not wanting to wake Maria. She looked down into the box, and her heart paused- skipping a few beats.
Liz barely heard the medic say “fine” as she saw Maria and Michael’s baby for the first time. She truly was beautiful, all pink and white skin with startling green eyes, and Michael’s nose (if Liz could picture him as a baby) with Maria’s bow lips. Her tiny hands and feet curling and uncurling as she grabbed at air while lying on a bed of folded blankets in the box. There was something intelligent behind her eyes, a recognition as Liz reached in to pick her up; the skin Liz touched soft and perfect.
“Hi baby, I’m your auntie, Liz.”
The baby’s head laid heavy on Liz’s arm while she made soft, curious noises, and opened and closed her mouth over and over with gentle smacks of her lips. One of her small hands wrapped around Liz’s hair, then let go and laid it against her chin.
Liz felt her heart melt and allowed her eyes to cloud with tears. Michael should be there, she though, to see this amazing baby girl, his baby girl.
As if the baby knew what Liz were thinking, she put her other hand on Liz’s chest and energy suddenly pulsed between them, and Liz experienced the sucking sensation she had felt earlier when she had seen Antar. Again the tunneling of her mind, the surge of foreign lights and sounds, and suddenly she was on a beach, beside a towering metal castle with glass doors, and intricate iron archways with purple , blue, and white tinted windows as big as the doorways. Liz stared at the sand in wonder; it was a brilliant, azure blue- and massive moons sat large and opaque in the vast expanse of open space. Magenta water lapped at the blue shore, pale pink foam floating in and out with the tides. Liz stared in wonder as rainbow fish and purple dolphins swam in schools near what seemed like shallow shores.
“Liz?” came a voice from behind her.
Turning, Liz came face to face with Michael and a tall woman- exceeding seven feet tall- whose features were slimmer than anyone Liz had ever seen, and eyes that sat too high on her forehead in a freakish appearance. The two stood in long robes with garish symbols sown over their hearts with gold thread that stood out against the green material- a giant beaded V with five points across the breadth of their chests. Michael’s hair had been shorn short, while the woman’s hung well below her calves in an intricate braid, held back by a metal band.
“Michael,” Liz said, uncertain of what to say.
“Liz, how are you here?” Michael asked, stepping closer, away from the woman at his side and grabbing her in an unexpected embrace. His arms were real around her, tight and warm.
“Michael, is this really Antar?” Liz whispered, her eyes not leaving the woman who was staring at her with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it amazing?” Michael said back, not lowering her voice, but pulling back to stare at her. “You look different.”
“A lot has happened. Michael…Maria had a baby.” Liz said, letting that absorb into his mind, trying to be softer with him, trying to be Liz Parker- it was disconcerting.
“What?” He asked, his eyes big, his hands clenched.
“Michael, she had your baby,” Liz said, dropping the bomb as she felt her stomach pulling her, as if it were tugging her away from him, away from Antar.
“My-” he said something, but it didn’t come through to her ears. His image was growing more distant. Liz fought against the tug, push against it, and Michael came in clear again. “How?”
“Look Michael, whatever is keeping me here- and I’m pretty sure it’s your baby- is pulling me back. Maria and I are Seattle, in Terminal City. I’m not who you thought I was, there is more going on than you know. If you can come back, we need you. I don’t know what you guys know up here about the goings on of Earth, but transgenics exist and I’m one of them. We are fighting a losing battle and a disease is spreading through the United States, fast. I’m trying to help find a cure, and we are safe right now, but that won’t last. Get Max, find Isabel and get the hell off this rock and come home. We need you, Michael. I’m not asking, I’m telling. We are part of your unit too, you can’t just leave us behind,” Liz told him and part of her refused to beg him, but he was her family too- to an extent. He had trusted Liz when she was a complete liability to them and now she trusted him to do what was right.
“Transgenics?” Michael asked, confused. His face scrunched up familiarly and Liz felt that tugging again, stronger this time.
“Genetically enhanced super-soldiers who have hybrid DNA that’s mixed with animal compounds. I don’t have time to explain everything,” Liz said, and just like that she was back on Earth, in the infirmary, standing beside Maria’s cot holding the baby.
“Liz?” called Maria, lying on her side and staring up at Liz with tired eyes, eyes that were slowly closing and fluttering open.
Looking from the baby in her arms to Maria’s face, Liz slipped a complacent mask over her face. She smiled down at the baby, and placed her back in the box, gently.
“How are you?” Liz asked, taking Maria’s hand in her own as she took up a small seat on the edge of the cot.
“Tired,” Maria whispered, smiling softly at Liz. It reminded Liz of her mother, of that look her mother gave her when she was content and motherly. It made her heart ache and remember what Nancy Parker had looked like in life- before White had gotten to her.
“Big day, huh?” Liz said rhetorically, brushing a long strand of Maria’s blond hair away from her face. There was a delicate glow about Maria, her skin was pale from overexertion, but beautiful.
“Yep, and I got shot too,” Maria said, chuckling a little. Liz started and grabbed the blanket covering Maria- pulling it down to her ankles and staring at the bandaged thigh wound.
“Oh my God, Maria. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. How?” Liz asked, trying to bite down on her rising anger. How could Alec allow for this to happen?
“White was fighting with Alec and he shot off his gun. It fucking hurt like a bitch, but they gave me this needle and now it’s all better. Ten times better than cypress oil,” Maria joked and Liz regained some of her composure, sliding the blanket back up to Maria’s chest, and hugging her tightly. “Your man saved the day, you know. He got me to the main building with all the computers and stuff and he killed that White guy.”
White was dead? Liz’s inner-soldier gave a delicious thrill of excitement as she stared at Maria, hearing those words. Liz would have liked to have been the one to kill him, to rip his still-beating heart from his chest, breaking through flesh, bone, cartilage, and veins, but Alec doing it sent a whole different feeling spiraling through her. It was hot and needy and vicious. She wanted to see him for a whole new set of reasons.
“I went in to labor right after he got back up on the roof. He carried me onto a roof, Liz! We jumped over a freaking gap in between buildings! He was like Superman or something,” Maria told her excitedly, her words jazzed even as her hand gestures drooped.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I wish I had been there,” Liz replied, glancing down into the open box again.
“It’s okay. Alec and Zack were there. Zack helped me a lot,” Maria whispered, her cheeks turning a bright blush color.
“You like Zack, don’t you?” asked Liz.
“Yeah, but not like, you know, a lot a lot, just you know,” Maria said, rolling her eyes and turning on her side more fully to look down at the baby.
“I saw Michael, Maria,” Liz told her.
“Yeah, you said-” Maria started, but Liz shook her head.
“Just now. The baby, she connected us. I told him to come back,” Liz said. She didn’t want this to be sprung on Maria if they did come back, if Michael and Max and Isabel suddenly came back. She hadn’t thought about how it would affect Maria’s growing affection for Zack; they needed back up and that was what had mattered.
Maria was quiet for a minute, and then she put her arms out into the box and picked up her daughter, so tiny and fragile.
“I don’t know what that means,” Maria finally said, not looking up at Liz. “I miss him so much, you know. I want him to come back, but things aren’t the same. We’ve been on the run for so long, and so much has changed- I’ve changed. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I have. And I do like Zack, you know- a lot.”
“We need the help, Maria. The mission went sideways, and now Lydecker is here, and his men and things are getting bad- they’re getting worse. The disease is showing up in parts of America now, and I don’t know if we’re going to be this alone.” Liz admitted, keeping her voice down, and noticing that several transgenics had turned their way to listen.
“I know why you did it, Liz. I still get that about you, you do what’s best for everybody. You got us here, didn’t you?” Maria said, smiling up at her friend just then, a knowing looking passing between them and Liz felt like they were back in high school again- reading each other like no one else did.
“Yeah, I did. I promise, I’ll always be here for you and my niece,” Liz said, putting out one of her hands to smooth over the baby’s head.
“I’ve come up with a name,” Maria announced to Liz, and stopped for a moment, looking over Liz’s shoulder.
Glancing behind her, Liz saw Zack coming in, stripping off his dirty t-shirt and pulling on a new one as he walked over to them. His eyes were on Maria and the baby, his smile automatic.
“Hi Zack. You’re just in time. I was telling Liz the baby’s name,” Maria reiterated, smiling especially sweet for him and Liz ran a hand through her hair- it was growing somewhat, still choppy and short, but a little below the front of her shoulders. “Her name is Jillian Michelle Guerin. Alex helped me pick out her first name like way back when we were in middle school and Michelle is the feminine form of Michael, and he is her dad, so she deserves his last name.”
Liz thought it was fitting, and she had to look at the ceiling when she mentioned Alex. Alex had been her greatest failing, Liz thought. He was the one truly good person Liz had ever met- through and through an innocent. She had failed him. She hadn’t seen what was right there. Shaking off the bad memories, Liz smiled for Maria and told her how nice that was as Zack agreed it was right for her.
“I have to get to Command,” Liz informed them, standing abruptly as Zack moved closer.
“Okay, go kick butt. I’m going to feed Jillian and then I’m probably going to sleep. Will you visit me later?” Maria inquired, even though her eyes were constantly drawn back to Zack like a magnet.
“Always,” Liz told her, and left quickly. She made her way through the carnage of the city- noticing that many transgenics were gathering bodies, or parts, and heading toward the training field as Zack had earlier. She sped up and was at Command’s doors quickly.
Inside, transgenics were everywhere, holding the new hostages, glaring at Lydecker, and listening as Alec gave them new orders. He looked savage, and it was sexy as hell.
Ignoring all others, Liz scanned the crowd for Max and made her way over. Lydecker and Sandeman were staring at each other- neither blinking. It was like a silent pissing contest, Liz concluded, and realized a small part of her was rooting for the old man.
“Liz back Max,” Joshua said upon seeing her, and Liz offered him one of her rare smiles- he was genuinely good too- even though she had seen the fierceness that had come out of him during the mission as he protected Sandeman, his ‘father.’
“Take Lydecker to the interrogation room. Sandeman and I have to have a little chat about the dealio with the virus,” Max ordered, thrusting Lydecker at Liz with an extra vicious grip.
Nodding, Liz took Lydecker’s right arm and marched him through the parting crowd. Adults or child, all the transgenics watched their progress from one end of Command Central to the other, even as they slipped through the back exit and toward the building that originally housed Ethan and Raed. Thinking of them, Liz wondered where they had been- they hadn’t been in the visible range of the growing numbers in Command.
“It’s good to see you, Adia,” Lydecker said, his head turned to look at her even as Liz ignored his stare and continued to keep her head facing forward. “You are even more beautiful now than you were as a child.”
The animal instinct to maim and kill was riding her, Liz realized. Just the sound of his voice riled her disgust and hatred, the need to dispose of her enemy. Never had she wanted more to be free of duty and responsibility- never before had she craved the kill so much.
They passed several guards- the streets now free of body parts and corpses in the West end. Once they reached the building and Liz retraced her steps to the room she had visited so frequently in the past weeks, did she allow herself to look at him. She turned the knob on the interrogation room, noting the two guards that had set up station, and shoved Lydecker down to the floor where he fell ungracefully in a flat sprawl. His face was weather with age, forehead lined, his lips tight and crowed, his hair receding, his hands wrinkled and covered in liver spots; but those eyes were the same, intelligent and calculating.
“Why’d you leave, Adia? You had so much potential, you were perfect,” Lydecker asked, his face soft and caring- a falsehood draped in manufactured compassion.
“My name’s Liz,” Liz told him, saying it between gritted teeth.
“I have to say, I liked Adia better,” he said with a mild shake of his head.
Liz couldn’t help her next move, it was instantaneous. She hauled him up from the floor, slammed him into the wall, and brought her fist down against his jaw- leaving a red mark that foretold future purpling. The feel of her fist slamming down against his face came with a rush of adrenaline and feral pleasure that she did it again, harder and quicker- a blur of excitement. Breathing deeply, Liz recentered herself, gathered her inner-soldier and clamped down on the animal that lived and breathed within her.
“If I want to know your opinion, I’ll give it to you,” Liz whispered, her words lethal and cautionary, her eyes wild with threats they both knew were warranted and real.
“Yes ma’am,” Lydecker mocked, his tone serious while his eyes told another tale.
Shoving him down into the single metal chair that sat in the middle of the room, Liz went to the door and shouted for duct tape, thick and abrasive robes, as well as a lighter and pocket knife. Long moments passed where they just sat and stared at one another and Liz saw the rolling flashes of her Manticore memory lane. Images of her brothers and sisters confined by metal chains at the bottom of military commissioned pools; of the bullet wounds purposefully inflicted to test healing capabilities; of scientists with needles and poisons that made them puke and piss themselves in their sleep until they prayed for the bliss of unconsciousness; of the lasers that seared off their barcodes for missions; of the parade of tutors and tapes that reinforced Manticore directives. In the time it took for the guards to gather her requests, Liz replayed the litany of tortures her childhood boasted- that Lydecker represented and reinforced even now. She remembered the hot-cold press of metal and the burn of liquid chemicals jolting her body and reforming her insides. It all happened yesterday, in that moment, tomorrow, the next day- it was a loop of forever in her mind just then.
“So angry,” Lydecker commented, breaking their silence as Liz roped him to the chair, knotting him expertly and efficiently.
Tossing the tape to the ground close by, Liz began lighting the tip of the fold out blade, watching as the metal grew red first and then glowed angrily like her mood. Lydecker’s eyes stayed on hers and hers his while her hands did the work her mind knew routinely.
“What’s so special about me?” Liz asked, her eyes flicking to the various parts of his body she had to chose from, depending on his answers.
“You’re perfect,” he answered, smiling. Staring into his eyes, Liz pressed the heated blade to his exposed neck, listening to the sizzle and smelling the burning flesh as he cried out.
“How am I perfect?” she asked once she had removed the blade and spit on the bubbling wound- a cool relief and a harsh, vindictive respite all in one.
Breathing heavily and staring at her with more weariness than before, Lydecker replied, “Like Max, you have no junk DNA. Every part of you is coded to achieve something. Every piece of who you are is crafted to uphold the skills necessary to be a perfect soldier,” he told her, eyes on the blade the whole time. Teasingly, Liz drew it close to the other side of his neck and a malicious smirk graced her lips when he flinched from it.
“How am I any different from Max if we have the same kind of DNA coding?” Liz questioned, drawing patterns in the air with the knife and relighting it with the lighter closer to his face, slightly below his ear.
Gulping soundlessly, Lydecker met her gaze, “Your brain is larger, but that isn’t what makes you magnificent. The average human uses eight percent of their brain, maybe ten. The average transgenic used twenty-five to thirty. You, Liz, use well over seventy-five percent of your brain, at a time. There is not a moment that you are not functioning on more than three-fourths of your intellectual abilities. Where others can jump ten foot fences, you could leap over thirty. Where others have tactical teams, you are one. When you see something- anything- you take it in in dimensions, each facet connecting to a single cell that lights up all at once and processes at the same time.
“Multi-tasking is a figure of speech for everyone except you. The human mind was meant to process one thing at a time, some more rapidly than others- those are who are known as multi-taskers. Transgenics can achieve three to four thoughts at once. You, however, are capable of so much more. Right before you left us, we tested that. You were able to process fifteen itemized thoughts at once. Now, your abilities are exponentially greater- I’m sure,” he explained, his face beaming at her with pride. It sickened her that he was proud.
Quickly, Liz ripped open the chest of his shirt and drew the blade from the top of his sternum to his belly button, pressing deep enough to draw blood, but not enough to kill him, or drive him to a delirium passed reasoning. His screams, the sight of his blood, the sound of his cauterizing skin, and the hiss of breath that left her filled the room and Liz rode the wave of sadistic joy cresting through her chest. She withdrew the knife for a moment and then plunged the blade through his left shoulder and listened to the whistle of wind as she cut so fast through the air it too emitted a noise.
“Oh God,” he said, dropping his head forward.
“The devil asking God for help? Blasphemy,” Liz whispered near his ear, and then repeated the plunging strike to his other shoulder after ruthlessly ripping it out of his left.
“Please,” he cried out and Liz twisted the blade.
“Why should I show you mercy? Isn’t this what you hoped to achieve with me, with the others? We were barcodes and numbers until you needed us to maim, kill, hunt, observer- this was our purpose. Aren’t you pleased?” Liz asked with hate welling inside her chest, envisioning little Michael and herself and the others- every person whose innocence was stolen by the greed of their government, by the tinkering scientists who made them what they were.
The door opened behind them and Liz, still crouched beside a restrained Lydecker tugged out the blade- a large portion of blood pouring out with it. Alec, Max, and Sandeman stood at the entrance: Max worried, Alec smirking, and Sandeman impassive.
“Ah, the sister arrives,” Lydecker said between gritted teeth before spitting out a mouth full of blood- he had bitten the inside of his cheek while screaming.
“Shut up,” Max ordered, her worry evident. “Maybe you should go to the infirmary, to Maria, Liz.”
“Coddling your baby sister won’t get you anywhere, Max. Even your mother knew that when she left her with us,” Lydecker continued and Max crossed the space between them and had her foot connecting with his chest before his breath had fully rushed out, sending the chair skidding back several feet.
“What are you talking about?” Liz asked, her attention back on the captive. Her eyes met Max’s panicked ones before meeting Lydecker’s satisfied smile.
“She didn’t tell you?” he asked.
“I said, shut up,” Max restated, not meeting Liz’s eyes.
“No, I want to know,” Liz told her, looking again at Lydecker. Alec and Sandeman now stood forgotten, even as the door slid shut behind him.
“Liz-” Alec tried, but she held up a hand and he quieted.
“You and Max are sisters, it’s that simple,” Lydecker said.
“Yeah, and?” Liz asked. She knew this. If he was going to be uncooperative she might start relighting the blade.
“No, not unit sisters, biological sisters. You have the same mother,” Lydecker informed her, the words ringing hollowly off the walls. Liz looked to Max to see her reaction- she didn’t have one, her face was stoney and blank. Suddenly, Sandeman’s words about the cure came rushing back, everything he had said, and his first implications.
She turned to him then, looking him up and down, “Is it true?”
Sandeman appeared uncomfortable in that moment, but he nodded, “Yes.”
Max’s stone face cracked a little and she offered Liz a smile, “I wanted to tell you after all this was over; when we could sit down and not deal with some whack war.”
Shock flooded her and Liz put up a wall. Her face went still and blank, but her mind reeled. She had an honest to God sister- one she had known all along. Not just cooked up in a lab, or redefined by genetic comprehension, but a blood to blood sister. And she hadn’t even told her. She was going to let all those people get sick and not say a word. They might have died and Liz would never have known.
Furious, but deadly calm, Liz turned back to Lydecker and slammed the blade into his torso- hitting a bloody area that would see him bleed like a pig, but nothing to sustain irreparable damage. He grunted and the smug expression on his face dropped. Without another word, Liz left the room, the building, the street, and finally, ducked out into one of the tunnels leading out of the city- the whole time moving faster and faster as her skin glowed a dangerous hue and Alec, calling her name, fell hopelessly behind.
Author's Note: Okay so there you have chapter twenty- a few days overdue, but decidely longer than I was originally planning. Thank you everyone who reviewed, they are always a real treat to read. I just started a new fanfiction- a True Blood fanfic in the Other Shows Fanfic forum. It's Eric/OC and if you enjoy the show you should pop over and take a look; I also posted the link on my works by author's page. I hope everyone enjoyed this, let me know what you think. EK!
Last edited by Egyptian_Kiss on Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Egyptian_Kiss
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- Posts: 194
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:40 pm
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) Ch20 5/16/10
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alec slammed back another double shot of bourbon and placed the glass back down on the counter before refilling it with the half empty bottle beside him on the bar. The fire of it burned down his throat in a hot rush of comfort and the cool feel of glass in his hand made his fists clench along with his teeth. Five fucking hours had passed since Liz had disappeared out the perimeter of Terminal City and two hours since Alec had lost her in too thick sea of people, cars, bikers, and flying heat scanners.
Why did she have to bolt? Why couldn’t she stick around and deal with the problem at hand for once? Damn it, why did they have to tell Liz now? Couldn’t it have waited until Max was alone with her to lay her blood relation to Liz on her?
Glaring at the bar top, Alec shot back another dose of liquor and ran a frustrated hand through his hair before turning his miserable gaze on the bottle. Nice brand, Maker’s Mark, pre-pulse. Normally he’d savor the taste of it, or share it with a lucky lady. But Liz changed that, Alec thought. And here he was sitting alone drinking a handle to himself.
“Hey Alec, buddy, how’s it hanging?” Sketchy said, taking up the stool next to him-as if he looked like he really wanted company.
“Not now, Sketch.”
“What’s the deal, man? I ain’t seen you in here in forever.”
“Not now, Sketch.”
“Aw come on. I found these suckers by the pool table and I know you can take ‘em. Maybe we can go fifty-fifty on the action-”
Alec moved so fast he was a blur to Sketchy, and a fast moving weapon to the Xs scattered throughout the bar hall; he took hold of Sketchy by his t-shirt and brought him down against the bar with a heavy thud. “I said, not now, Sketch.”
Eyes wide, Sketchy brought his hands up to Alec’s wrists and tugged. “Yeah man, whatever.”
Suddenly Alec felt a fist collide with the side of his head, knocking his grip free and releasing Sketchy while he tumbled to the floor over a few stools and against the side of a pool table. The inhabitants of the game snatched up their money and backed away as Max came at him. She jumped down on top of him, straddling his chest, and used one of her hands to press the side of his face against the cool floor.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Max thundered, her voice booming through the bar as transgenics watched on.
“Having a drink,” Alec responded. He kicked his legs up over their bodies causing them to flip and Alec to gain the upper hand. Instead of continuing, he yanked his body up and offered her a hand- which she ignored- and blurred back to his seat at the bar; Sketchy long gone.
Max sat beside him, signaling to the X5 behind the counter to bring her a shot glass. Promptly it was set on the bar in front of her, and she reached over for the bottle to fill her own shot after Alec did the same. They shared a look and took the shot and that set the rhythm of the next hour.
After that bottle was empty and the next was well under way, Alec studied Max. She was not her usual self, more sullen and retreated. Her eyes were staring into the bottle of bourbon and a small frown tipped down the corners of her full, lush lips- so much like Liz’s.
“What are you thinking?” Alec asked, genuinely unable to kill his curiosity. He examined her while she examined her glass and then they looked at each other and her eyes watered up, which she compensated for by upending the clear bottle causing it to bubble as she noisily drank a fourth of its contents.
“Easy Maxie.”
“I always fuck it up, Alec. With everyone important, I always fuck it up. Logan ditched out ‘cause he couldn’t deal with my past and this whack virus. Liz peaced. And I don’t have anybody else,” Max said back, her voice deadened by the husk of alcohol.
“That’s not true, Maxie. You got me. You got OC and Sketch. We’re all here,” Alec rejoined. He felt the stir of the liquor in his gut and couldn’t help but reach for the bottle again; taking it from Max’s clutching hand. “Beside, Logan was an idiot, he didn’t deserve you. You’ll find somebody.”
She looked up at him with those watery brown eyes, so big, just like Liz’s, and saw his own misery reflected back at him.
“There is somebody I care about, but it’s too soon. Right?” Max said, her question catching Alec off guard as he poured them each a new shot.
“Nah, you waited long enough for that pompous asshole. Whoever this guy is, he’s lucky to have you,” Alec responded, making a cheers motion with his glass before kicking it back. Max replied in kind. “Who is it anyway?”
Glancing around, Max met Alec’s eyes and blew out a breath, fragranced by MMs, and poured the next round. “Raed.”
Raising his eyebrows, Alec made a ‘huh’ face, shook it off, and drank up. He didn’t know much about the transgenic, but he seemed alright. A little uptight with protocol- sort of like Zack- but he had a sense of humor. Alec had told a few crude jokes in front of him and Raed had chuckled with the rest of the guys.
“When’d that happen?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just realized it a few days ago. I’ve been spending time with Ethan and Raed to help them get used to this place, you know, the dealio around TC. It’s sort of like knowing someone, but having to reprogram the way you see them. Somehow, I just started caring about him. It’s like the whole Logan disaster all over again- one minute we cool and I’m all ‘what’s up’ and the next he has me all flipped out.”
“Hey you don’t have to tell me, I’m in love with your sister.” It came out before it processed in his head, that’s the only logical explanation Alec had to offer for his sudden proclaimed epiphany. As if he was stating a fact of life, it just rolled off his tongue.
“What?” Max said behind him, and he swore he heard the female bartender sigh regretfully.
“I, um, shit; I’m in love with Liz.”
“No you aren’t,” Max said fiercely, her face a cross between anger and confused.
“Yeah, I think I am,” Alec said. He shook his head, mentally rolling his eyes at himself, and then took the bottle and repeated Max’s earlier example, but finishing off the bottle with a gasp and signaling for a fresh one. His vision swam a bit and faded around the edges before clearing. Good old transgenic DNA, Alec thought.
“Don’t play with me, Alec,” Max ordered, standing from her stool to cross her arms over her chest.
Shaking his head once, Alec turned his head to look up at Max, and scoff at her, “What the fuck do you want me to say, Max? I don’t want to be in love with Liz anymore than you wanted to start this fucking war- but here we are.”
Growling in frustrated anger, Max marched passed him, pushed by a tall, muscular X5 male and stomped her way out the door. Half the bar was pretending not to have heard Alec and Max talking and the other half were switching their eyes between the door and Alec.
When the Maker’s Mark bottle hit the bar, Alec snatched it up, dropped a thirty for the bartender, and headed for the exit. He broke into a run once he was outside, enjoying the woozy, light feeling of moving so fast on his feet- blurring around street corners, over crates, and breezing down the alleyways. He came to an abrupt halt when he spotted the infirmary, and peeked in the doorway.
Looking inside, Alec noted the sight ahead of him with surprise as he lifted the liquor to his lips. Zack was sitting with Maria between his legs, arms around her, and he was just holding her. They seemed so peaceful. His heart ached and Alec chugged the bottle like a suckling baby, lowered it after he needed a deep lungful of air, and averted his eyes to the ground. He wanted that with Liz. He wanted to hold her and have her look at him the way Maria was staring up at Zack- with love.
Rubbing his forehead then his jaw, and up over his lips, Alec held his face for a moment, took a breath, and then dropped back into running stance- taking off like a bat out of hell. He made it up the steps to his place, in the door, and dropped on the bed. It smelled like Liz. It was covered in her scent, teasing him, taunting his anger, rousing his lust.
“Ar-ah!” Alec grunted loudly at his ceiling, turning to lie on his side and pitched the bottle across the room at his wall and watched it shatter into uncountable shards, the liquid running down the wall, and the sound deafening in the silence.
He collapsed back against his mattress; eyes closed, and thought of her. She had the sweetest smile, the prettiest eyes, the softest lips, and dark, dark hair. He wanted to bury his face in her neck, smell that shiny, silky hair, and hold her against him- bare chest to bare chest. They fit together perfect, it made his inner-animal preen with content, purring seductively to take her. And when she looked at him, he was Alec. He was everything she wanted him to be, and all the bad stuff wasn’t there.
He was in love. Talk about a toss of the dice, him falling in love- again.
Hours passed with him just lying there on his bed, arm over his eyes, body tense. Then a knock pounded his door and despite the long minutes he let it go on, Alec had to get up and answer whoever was out of their mind enough to approach him.
Opening the door, it was Ash. Great.
“Hey, I heard that Liz took off. I just wanted to drop by and say I’m sorry,” she greeted, her smile genuine even though her eyes were roaming over Alec’s chest- at some point he had thrown off his shirt.
“Look, Ash, I’m not in the mood for company. Not to be harsh, but I got shit to do,” Alec said, trying to hurry her out.
“Aw, come on, Alec, I’m just being a friend,” she whispered, moving close to him when she reached the doorway which he hadn’t budged from. She placed a hand on his left bicep and dug the tips of her nails into his arm lightly, teasingly as she had in the past.
“If I thought you were just here to be a friend I would let you stay a few, but we know that’s not why you’re here, Ash. So it’s best you leave, now.”
Pouting prettily, she tilted her head back and blinked coyly at him. He knew if it were a different time and Liz had never entered his life he would take her up on her offer, ‘cause Ash was a sweet ride and a nice piece of eye candy, but that wasn’t the case.
“I’m serious, Ash. Don’t make me order you,” he said, as he gently pulled her grip free of him.
“All right,” Ash said with a sigh, her pout turning genuine as she crossed the threshold and moved into the hall. “She’s a lucky girl, you know. But I’ll be on the lookout in case things don’t work out between you. I like you, Alec. You have a lot to offer.”
“Thanks Ash, but, uh, Liz isn’t just somebody to me. Things are…gonna work out,” he said unconvincingly. Ash gave him a placating smile and retreated as Alec closed his door again and lay back down.
Another knock- this one booming- sounded at his door, and Alec jolted from his stupor, wishing he had another bottle to smash in his irritation. He vaulted from the mattress to his door and pulled it open. “What!”
Max stood at his door, pale and worried. Shit, Alec thought, not good.
“What is it, Maxie?” He asked while she shifted from one foot to the other.
“Liz is on TV. Alec, they have her up on a cross in the middle of downtown Seattle. They’re gonna burn her alive. We have to go; I already sent a team ahead. Come on.”
The alcohol mist cleared and his blood revved up. Every cell in his being roared to life and his chest swelled as he booked it down the stairs after Max. Her bike, one for him, along with Krit, Syl, Jondy, and Zack right outside the building doors waiting for them. Alec hopped on his and he started it as Max kicked up her kick stand and got ready to take off. In two rows of three, they sped sleekly down the Terminal City streets and burst out onto the pavement beyond the gate as twelve transgenics worked to quickly open and shut the main gate while maintaining perimeter. The sound of their engines as they rode was a loud announcement that they were on their way.
Alec felt ready to kill, his mind slipping into the assassination head space he used when he had been sent on missions. Flashing images of Liz seared his brain, and Alec tried to go faster even as his speedometer pushed passed the full limit of its speed capacity. The others were as verdant in their pursuit, tires burning up mile after mile and taking turn after turn following Max’s lead as she navigated to wherever the hell they had Liz strung up.
The sound of a cheering crowd, screams, and fighting became louder and louder as Max steered them to the heart of the mess. People dodged out of their ways and cursed them with foul mouths. Some transgenics- the contingency sent on ahead of them- were interspersed with men and women who called them abominations and a band of armed humans blocked the circumference of Liz’s pyre.
As they came upon the scene, Alec stared angrily up at Liz. She hung from a crude, wooden cross with her head hung forward. A cross was carved into her shirt and chest- blood dripping down her body and splattering the pile of rubbish that had been assembled. Some of it was already on fire, fanatics squirting gasoline at the flames and cheering as they rose higher and hotter- casting guilty shadows against the sides of the buildings nearest them. The flames rose and Liz merely hung there, unmoving and uncaring.
“Liz,” Max cried out beside him, jumping from her still moving bike, over the crowd and taking out two of the circle guards in her attempt to reach Liz. The fire was too hot and too near to Max for her to clear it and the mobbing crowd grabbed hold of her too- but not long, soon she was fighting as fiercely as the team who arrived before them.
Jondy, Krit, and Syl were battling it out too. Zack was disposing of the people pouring gasoline on the open fire, trying to keep it from spreading and looking for a weakness in their line, or a break in the blistering heat.
“Liz,” Alec called and her hands twitched, her wrists moving against the ropes that were knotted
securely around her. “Liz.” Another twitch. “Liz.” Finally she looked up.
Her eyes scanned the crowd and when they connected with his, Alec pressed onward with his bike, no longer pushing at people to keep them away from him, but gunning them down with the intimidating rev of the bike. Someone jumped in front of him, sure he would stop him, but Alec hit him full on, and didn’t wince once when the man rebound off the front the bike and to the side into the brawling masses.
“Liz.” She began to fight against the ropes binding her and cough through the black, thick smoke that was billowing up around her. “Fight harder, Liz,” he shouted, making steady progress to the circle’s
perimeter.
Suddenly, her skin was glowing, turning translucent, her veins standing out brightly, those dark luminous eyes of hers darker and the pupils gone. Her hair seemed to pick up from her shoulders, lifting lightly around her as the air crackled and the fire grew impossibly higher. Alec watched as people were flung back as the fire exploded outward at them, waving over the crowd as the transgenics blurred to hit the ground.
Still Alec rode toward her, the fury of her attack about to bath him in an incendiary inferno when he pulled up on the handlebars, his back wheel kicking up and using a fallen body as leverage as he hefted the bike into midair, over the lapping flames, and into the empty circle of rubbish surrounding a glowing, floating Liz. Her palms were white and faced out at her sides- the ropes dust in the wind- and her fatigues burned away.
“Enough, Liz, enough,” Alec shouted- calling to her over the sound of rushing wind, roaring fire, and human screams. Like a light going off, Liz fell into his arms, the waving fire extinguished, and her skin reverting back to normal. Wasting no time, Alec jerked off the jacket he had grabbed to cover his upper body and put it on her, zipping her into it and tugging her against his hard, sweaty chest. He revved the engine of the bike, now smoking and the rubber of the tires not altogether stable, before driving off the pile of trash and making a jagged, zig-zaging path through the chaos.
The sound of other bikes coming to life and following them through downtown Seattle arrested Alec’s ears, and his heartbeat began to slow. His body was in frenzy from the adrenaline high and the image of Liz hung from that sacrificial pyre. He clutched at her shivering body and felt her wrap her arms around his middle.
“Shhh, it’s okay baby,” he said over the rush of wind and pressed a kiss to her head without taking his eyes off the road.
His chest felt the moist drops of her tears splattering over his chest and he grit his teeth. As soon as they were at the gate it opened and he drove in and straight to the infirmary. Coming to a jerky stop, Alec carried Liz bridal style inside and gently placed her on a cot.
“I need some help,” Alec said to the nearest transgenic, little Michael. The kid took off with fear in his eyes and came back seconds later with a trained medic.
“I need to examine her,” the medic said and Alec stood to the side, holding her hand.
“I need you to back away and let me have a thorough look.”
Getting in his face, Alec sneered, “Just fix it.”
“I will once you step aside and let me have a look,” rejoined the medic, the male X6 not backing down as he pointed to an empty cot a few beds away.
Grabbing him up by his shirt front- much as he had Sketchy- Alec growled in the transgenics face as more medically trained Xs came over to help, “If anything happens to her, I’m coming for you.”
With one last glance at Liz, her eyes now closed and her body still, Alec went to the cot nearby and plopped down on it, watching as they cut Liz open and her heart flat-lined as they hooked her up to the monitor.
Author's Note: Well I really enjoyed all the reviews for chapter 20. I hope you all equally enjoyed this one. I look forward to reading your reviews. EK!
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alec slammed back another double shot of bourbon and placed the glass back down on the counter before refilling it with the half empty bottle beside him on the bar. The fire of it burned down his throat in a hot rush of comfort and the cool feel of glass in his hand made his fists clench along with his teeth. Five fucking hours had passed since Liz had disappeared out the perimeter of Terminal City and two hours since Alec had lost her in too thick sea of people, cars, bikers, and flying heat scanners.
Why did she have to bolt? Why couldn’t she stick around and deal with the problem at hand for once? Damn it, why did they have to tell Liz now? Couldn’t it have waited until Max was alone with her to lay her blood relation to Liz on her?
Glaring at the bar top, Alec shot back another dose of liquor and ran a frustrated hand through his hair before turning his miserable gaze on the bottle. Nice brand, Maker’s Mark, pre-pulse. Normally he’d savor the taste of it, or share it with a lucky lady. But Liz changed that, Alec thought. And here he was sitting alone drinking a handle to himself.
“Hey Alec, buddy, how’s it hanging?” Sketchy said, taking up the stool next to him-as if he looked like he really wanted company.
“Not now, Sketch.”
“What’s the deal, man? I ain’t seen you in here in forever.”
“Not now, Sketch.”
“Aw come on. I found these suckers by the pool table and I know you can take ‘em. Maybe we can go fifty-fifty on the action-”
Alec moved so fast he was a blur to Sketchy, and a fast moving weapon to the Xs scattered throughout the bar hall; he took hold of Sketchy by his t-shirt and brought him down against the bar with a heavy thud. “I said, not now, Sketch.”
Eyes wide, Sketchy brought his hands up to Alec’s wrists and tugged. “Yeah man, whatever.”
Suddenly Alec felt a fist collide with the side of his head, knocking his grip free and releasing Sketchy while he tumbled to the floor over a few stools and against the side of a pool table. The inhabitants of the game snatched up their money and backed away as Max came at him. She jumped down on top of him, straddling his chest, and used one of her hands to press the side of his face against the cool floor.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Max thundered, her voice booming through the bar as transgenics watched on.
“Having a drink,” Alec responded. He kicked his legs up over their bodies causing them to flip and Alec to gain the upper hand. Instead of continuing, he yanked his body up and offered her a hand- which she ignored- and blurred back to his seat at the bar; Sketchy long gone.
Max sat beside him, signaling to the X5 behind the counter to bring her a shot glass. Promptly it was set on the bar in front of her, and she reached over for the bottle to fill her own shot after Alec did the same. They shared a look and took the shot and that set the rhythm of the next hour.
After that bottle was empty and the next was well under way, Alec studied Max. She was not her usual self, more sullen and retreated. Her eyes were staring into the bottle of bourbon and a small frown tipped down the corners of her full, lush lips- so much like Liz’s.
“What are you thinking?” Alec asked, genuinely unable to kill his curiosity. He examined her while she examined her glass and then they looked at each other and her eyes watered up, which she compensated for by upending the clear bottle causing it to bubble as she noisily drank a fourth of its contents.
“Easy Maxie.”
“I always fuck it up, Alec. With everyone important, I always fuck it up. Logan ditched out ‘cause he couldn’t deal with my past and this whack virus. Liz peaced. And I don’t have anybody else,” Max said back, her voice deadened by the husk of alcohol.
“That’s not true, Maxie. You got me. You got OC and Sketch. We’re all here,” Alec rejoined. He felt the stir of the liquor in his gut and couldn’t help but reach for the bottle again; taking it from Max’s clutching hand. “Beside, Logan was an idiot, he didn’t deserve you. You’ll find somebody.”
She looked up at him with those watery brown eyes, so big, just like Liz’s, and saw his own misery reflected back at him.
“There is somebody I care about, but it’s too soon. Right?” Max said, her question catching Alec off guard as he poured them each a new shot.
“Nah, you waited long enough for that pompous asshole. Whoever this guy is, he’s lucky to have you,” Alec responded, making a cheers motion with his glass before kicking it back. Max replied in kind. “Who is it anyway?”
Glancing around, Max met Alec’s eyes and blew out a breath, fragranced by MMs, and poured the next round. “Raed.”
Raising his eyebrows, Alec made a ‘huh’ face, shook it off, and drank up. He didn’t know much about the transgenic, but he seemed alright. A little uptight with protocol- sort of like Zack- but he had a sense of humor. Alec had told a few crude jokes in front of him and Raed had chuckled with the rest of the guys.
“When’d that happen?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just realized it a few days ago. I’ve been spending time with Ethan and Raed to help them get used to this place, you know, the dealio around TC. It’s sort of like knowing someone, but having to reprogram the way you see them. Somehow, I just started caring about him. It’s like the whole Logan disaster all over again- one minute we cool and I’m all ‘what’s up’ and the next he has me all flipped out.”
“Hey you don’t have to tell me, I’m in love with your sister.” It came out before it processed in his head, that’s the only logical explanation Alec had to offer for his sudden proclaimed epiphany. As if he was stating a fact of life, it just rolled off his tongue.
“What?” Max said behind him, and he swore he heard the female bartender sigh regretfully.
“I, um, shit; I’m in love with Liz.”
“No you aren’t,” Max said fiercely, her face a cross between anger and confused.
“Yeah, I think I am,” Alec said. He shook his head, mentally rolling his eyes at himself, and then took the bottle and repeated Max’s earlier example, but finishing off the bottle with a gasp and signaling for a fresh one. His vision swam a bit and faded around the edges before clearing. Good old transgenic DNA, Alec thought.
“Don’t play with me, Alec,” Max ordered, standing from her stool to cross her arms over her chest.
Shaking his head once, Alec turned his head to look up at Max, and scoff at her, “What the fuck do you want me to say, Max? I don’t want to be in love with Liz anymore than you wanted to start this fucking war- but here we are.”
Growling in frustrated anger, Max marched passed him, pushed by a tall, muscular X5 male and stomped her way out the door. Half the bar was pretending not to have heard Alec and Max talking and the other half were switching their eyes between the door and Alec.
When the Maker’s Mark bottle hit the bar, Alec snatched it up, dropped a thirty for the bartender, and headed for the exit. He broke into a run once he was outside, enjoying the woozy, light feeling of moving so fast on his feet- blurring around street corners, over crates, and breezing down the alleyways. He came to an abrupt halt when he spotted the infirmary, and peeked in the doorway.
Looking inside, Alec noted the sight ahead of him with surprise as he lifted the liquor to his lips. Zack was sitting with Maria between his legs, arms around her, and he was just holding her. They seemed so peaceful. His heart ached and Alec chugged the bottle like a suckling baby, lowered it after he needed a deep lungful of air, and averted his eyes to the ground. He wanted that with Liz. He wanted to hold her and have her look at him the way Maria was staring up at Zack- with love.
Rubbing his forehead then his jaw, and up over his lips, Alec held his face for a moment, took a breath, and then dropped back into running stance- taking off like a bat out of hell. He made it up the steps to his place, in the door, and dropped on the bed. It smelled like Liz. It was covered in her scent, teasing him, taunting his anger, rousing his lust.
“Ar-ah!” Alec grunted loudly at his ceiling, turning to lie on his side and pitched the bottle across the room at his wall and watched it shatter into uncountable shards, the liquid running down the wall, and the sound deafening in the silence.
He collapsed back against his mattress; eyes closed, and thought of her. She had the sweetest smile, the prettiest eyes, the softest lips, and dark, dark hair. He wanted to bury his face in her neck, smell that shiny, silky hair, and hold her against him- bare chest to bare chest. They fit together perfect, it made his inner-animal preen with content, purring seductively to take her. And when she looked at him, he was Alec. He was everything she wanted him to be, and all the bad stuff wasn’t there.
He was in love. Talk about a toss of the dice, him falling in love- again.
Hours passed with him just lying there on his bed, arm over his eyes, body tense. Then a knock pounded his door and despite the long minutes he let it go on, Alec had to get up and answer whoever was out of their mind enough to approach him.
Opening the door, it was Ash. Great.
“Hey, I heard that Liz took off. I just wanted to drop by and say I’m sorry,” she greeted, her smile genuine even though her eyes were roaming over Alec’s chest- at some point he had thrown off his shirt.
“Look, Ash, I’m not in the mood for company. Not to be harsh, but I got shit to do,” Alec said, trying to hurry her out.
“Aw, come on, Alec, I’m just being a friend,” she whispered, moving close to him when she reached the doorway which he hadn’t budged from. She placed a hand on his left bicep and dug the tips of her nails into his arm lightly, teasingly as she had in the past.
“If I thought you were just here to be a friend I would let you stay a few, but we know that’s not why you’re here, Ash. So it’s best you leave, now.”
Pouting prettily, she tilted her head back and blinked coyly at him. He knew if it were a different time and Liz had never entered his life he would take her up on her offer, ‘cause Ash was a sweet ride and a nice piece of eye candy, but that wasn’t the case.
“I’m serious, Ash. Don’t make me order you,” he said, as he gently pulled her grip free of him.
“All right,” Ash said with a sigh, her pout turning genuine as she crossed the threshold and moved into the hall. “She’s a lucky girl, you know. But I’ll be on the lookout in case things don’t work out between you. I like you, Alec. You have a lot to offer.”
“Thanks Ash, but, uh, Liz isn’t just somebody to me. Things are…gonna work out,” he said unconvincingly. Ash gave him a placating smile and retreated as Alec closed his door again and lay back down.
Another knock- this one booming- sounded at his door, and Alec jolted from his stupor, wishing he had another bottle to smash in his irritation. He vaulted from the mattress to his door and pulled it open. “What!”
Max stood at his door, pale and worried. Shit, Alec thought, not good.
“What is it, Maxie?” He asked while she shifted from one foot to the other.
“Liz is on TV. Alec, they have her up on a cross in the middle of downtown Seattle. They’re gonna burn her alive. We have to go; I already sent a team ahead. Come on.”
The alcohol mist cleared and his blood revved up. Every cell in his being roared to life and his chest swelled as he booked it down the stairs after Max. Her bike, one for him, along with Krit, Syl, Jondy, and Zack right outside the building doors waiting for them. Alec hopped on his and he started it as Max kicked up her kick stand and got ready to take off. In two rows of three, they sped sleekly down the Terminal City streets and burst out onto the pavement beyond the gate as twelve transgenics worked to quickly open and shut the main gate while maintaining perimeter. The sound of their engines as they rode was a loud announcement that they were on their way.
Alec felt ready to kill, his mind slipping into the assassination head space he used when he had been sent on missions. Flashing images of Liz seared his brain, and Alec tried to go faster even as his speedometer pushed passed the full limit of its speed capacity. The others were as verdant in their pursuit, tires burning up mile after mile and taking turn after turn following Max’s lead as she navigated to wherever the hell they had Liz strung up.
The sound of a cheering crowd, screams, and fighting became louder and louder as Max steered them to the heart of the mess. People dodged out of their ways and cursed them with foul mouths. Some transgenics- the contingency sent on ahead of them- were interspersed with men and women who called them abominations and a band of armed humans blocked the circumference of Liz’s pyre.
As they came upon the scene, Alec stared angrily up at Liz. She hung from a crude, wooden cross with her head hung forward. A cross was carved into her shirt and chest- blood dripping down her body and splattering the pile of rubbish that had been assembled. Some of it was already on fire, fanatics squirting gasoline at the flames and cheering as they rose higher and hotter- casting guilty shadows against the sides of the buildings nearest them. The flames rose and Liz merely hung there, unmoving and uncaring.
“Liz,” Max cried out beside him, jumping from her still moving bike, over the crowd and taking out two of the circle guards in her attempt to reach Liz. The fire was too hot and too near to Max for her to clear it and the mobbing crowd grabbed hold of her too- but not long, soon she was fighting as fiercely as the team who arrived before them.
Jondy, Krit, and Syl were battling it out too. Zack was disposing of the people pouring gasoline on the open fire, trying to keep it from spreading and looking for a weakness in their line, or a break in the blistering heat.
“Liz,” Alec called and her hands twitched, her wrists moving against the ropes that were knotted
securely around her. “Liz.” Another twitch. “Liz.” Finally she looked up.
Her eyes scanned the crowd and when they connected with his, Alec pressed onward with his bike, no longer pushing at people to keep them away from him, but gunning them down with the intimidating rev of the bike. Someone jumped in front of him, sure he would stop him, but Alec hit him full on, and didn’t wince once when the man rebound off the front the bike and to the side into the brawling masses.
“Liz.” She began to fight against the ropes binding her and cough through the black, thick smoke that was billowing up around her. “Fight harder, Liz,” he shouted, making steady progress to the circle’s
perimeter.
Suddenly, her skin was glowing, turning translucent, her veins standing out brightly, those dark luminous eyes of hers darker and the pupils gone. Her hair seemed to pick up from her shoulders, lifting lightly around her as the air crackled and the fire grew impossibly higher. Alec watched as people were flung back as the fire exploded outward at them, waving over the crowd as the transgenics blurred to hit the ground.
Still Alec rode toward her, the fury of her attack about to bath him in an incendiary inferno when he pulled up on the handlebars, his back wheel kicking up and using a fallen body as leverage as he hefted the bike into midair, over the lapping flames, and into the empty circle of rubbish surrounding a glowing, floating Liz. Her palms were white and faced out at her sides- the ropes dust in the wind- and her fatigues burned away.
“Enough, Liz, enough,” Alec shouted- calling to her over the sound of rushing wind, roaring fire, and human screams. Like a light going off, Liz fell into his arms, the waving fire extinguished, and her skin reverting back to normal. Wasting no time, Alec jerked off the jacket he had grabbed to cover his upper body and put it on her, zipping her into it and tugging her against his hard, sweaty chest. He revved the engine of the bike, now smoking and the rubber of the tires not altogether stable, before driving off the pile of trash and making a jagged, zig-zaging path through the chaos.
The sound of other bikes coming to life and following them through downtown Seattle arrested Alec’s ears, and his heartbeat began to slow. His body was in frenzy from the adrenaline high and the image of Liz hung from that sacrificial pyre. He clutched at her shivering body and felt her wrap her arms around his middle.
“Shhh, it’s okay baby,” he said over the rush of wind and pressed a kiss to her head without taking his eyes off the road.
His chest felt the moist drops of her tears splattering over his chest and he grit his teeth. As soon as they were at the gate it opened and he drove in and straight to the infirmary. Coming to a jerky stop, Alec carried Liz bridal style inside and gently placed her on a cot.
“I need some help,” Alec said to the nearest transgenic, little Michael. The kid took off with fear in his eyes and came back seconds later with a trained medic.
“I need to examine her,” the medic said and Alec stood to the side, holding her hand.
“I need you to back away and let me have a thorough look.”
Getting in his face, Alec sneered, “Just fix it.”
“I will once you step aside and let me have a look,” rejoined the medic, the male X6 not backing down as he pointed to an empty cot a few beds away.
Grabbing him up by his shirt front- much as he had Sketchy- Alec growled in the transgenics face as more medically trained Xs came over to help, “If anything happens to her, I’m coming for you.”
With one last glance at Liz, her eyes now closed and her body still, Alec went to the cot nearby and plopped down on it, watching as they cut Liz open and her heart flat-lined as they hooked her up to the monitor.
Author's Note: Well I really enjoyed all the reviews for chapter 20. I hope you all equally enjoyed this one. I look forward to reading your reviews. EK!
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Egyptian_Kiss
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 194
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:40 pm
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) Ch21 6/15/10
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings:Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was dark and cold, Liz couldn't see anything. She heard muffled voices and someone screaming her name. She felt the pain in her body, throbbing in time with each passing second. Where was Alec? She remembered him holding her against his warm body. Maybe that had been a dream.
"Liz?"
Still she couldn't see anything, but Liz heard that voice clearly. She tried to get into fighting stance, but her muscles weren't responding.
"Liz." That same voice called to her again.
"Whose there? Answer," Liz shouted hoarsely into the oblivion. Was she blind? How had that happened?
"Liz, it's me. Kyle."
Trying as hard as she could to widen her eyes and see, Liz admitted she couldn't even feel if her eyes were open.
"Kyle's dead."
"I know I am."
Chills raced along her spine and Liz attempted to raise her arm, swing out at whoever was there.
"You can't hit me, Liz. You can't even see me." It did sound like Kyle. Liz felt like he was there. But that would mean she was dead too, which wasn't true.
"No, you aren't dead, Liz. Not yet. You can't see me because I'm not where you are."
"Stop talking in riddles!" Liz screamed. She hated this feeling of immobility, of nonexistence.
That laugh that was so Kyle filtered into the darkness and Liz felt a hysteria overwhelming her.
"I'm dead, Liz. I'm where people go when they die. I can talk to you because you're somewhere in between. You are lost. Get it now?" He asked, his tone condescending in his joking way.
Liz didn't know how to respond to that, so she didn't. She stared into the nothingness and the distant murmurs faded in and out.
"Ignoring me now? Real mature, Liz. I came all this way just to help you and I get the silent treatment?"
"I don't know what you want me to say," Liz returned. She kept having flashes of when she pulled the plug on Kyle and the Sheriff. Why would he be there to help her?
"Because I care about you, Liz. You did what you had to. My dad and I were lost like you are now, and you came to set us free," Kyle said. He kept answering her thoughts.
"Is that what you're here to do? Set me free?"
"No. I'm not here so you can die, Liz; I'm here to tell you it is okay to live. It is okay to be happy. When you left Roswell, you stopped living. Don't you see you have a new life now?" Kyle told her, his tone more serious than she could ever remember him being.
She did have a new start now. Liz had Alec and Max, Zack and Maria and the baby, even little Michael, and her old unit- but she wasn't good for them. Even the humans could see it.
"People hate what they don't understand. You know that, Liz. You never let that stop you. You didn't let it stop you when you found out who Max, Michael, and Isabel were; or when Tess rolled into town. I know you, Liz, and you can't just stop caring."
Not true, Liz thought. She had turned off her emotions for a long time when she left Manticore, and then again when she left Roswell- she could bury it and let the animal inside turn her cold.
"Yes I can," she whispered into dark. A painful jolt shot through her chest and Liz gasped out.
"They're calling you back, Liz. You still have so much you can do. The Liz Parker I knew was made of braver stuff. And I loved that about you, Liz," Kyle called out. Another jolt wracked her chest and zipped down her spine.
"How can you forgive me when I'm the reason White came to Roswell. I'm the reason your dead; the reason your dad is dead, and my parents," Liz cried out, voice rough.
"It's over, Liz. White's dead too, and he's the one that killed me, not you. He didn't have to kill anyone. If you keep letting other people's mistakes be your fault, you'll never be happy. For Buddha's sake, Liz, that's not what we want."
"Buddha, huh? So is he the one really running the universe?" Liz asked, smiling at her memories of him quoting Buddha.
"There's got to be somebody in charge. I just like to call him Buddha," Kyle said with a laugh, and Liz would have cried if she could.
Warmth began to fill her and Kyle's voice faded slowly in the distance. Liz didn't want him to go yet, she didn't want to stop talking.
"We'll see each other again, Liz. But live okay. 'Cause a lot of people need your help. Say hi to King Max for me."
"I love you, Kyle. I'm sorry." Liz said, feeling weightless as the aches inside started to ease.
"I love you too, Liz; and I forgive you."
Colors and light swam in front of her eyes, blurring her vision, and Liz could now clearly hear the voices around her. Hands were pressed warmly against her chest with a familiar touch radiating throughout her body.
"Liz," she heard and her eyes began to clear. The sound of Maria wailing in the background caused her heart to jolt in her chest.
"Alec," she whispered.
The hands on her chest were removed and someone shifted near her.
"I'm here, Liz. Can you hear me?" Alec said, his voice so concerned the warmth kept spreading.
In that moment, her eyes cleared and she saw his face looming above her. Worry lines were etched in her forehead, and his face hovered close to hers. She leaned up and kissed him, pulling him by his neck with her bloodied hands to strain against him. His arms encircled her, and she sobbed against his mouth.
She pulled back and buried her head in the juncture of his shoulder and neck while sobbing in deep breaths. "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Liz. Are you okay? Does it still hurt?" he said back in a strong, loud voice.
"I'm okay. I found you, I'm okay."
"Liz," said a soft, male voice from behind Alec.
Alec kissed her head, hands molding to her back, and then slowly released, stepping back for the person behind him to come forward. It was Max, Michael beside him, and Isabel holding a crying Maria.
"You came back," she said, lips mouthing the words as the sound barely escaped her. King Max, she thought, that's what Kyle meant.
"We came back," he replied, staring at her in that way that used to sear her through and through; but the very real strength of Alec's hand in hers as he stood tall to her left made it powerless.
"Liz, thank God," Maria shouted, trying to get up and succeeding as Isabel and Zack heaved her forward. As she collapsed on Liz's cot, Max stepped aside for her. Liz accepted Maria's hug, still in shock, and rubbed Maria's long blond hair while staring blankly as three of the four square joined in a line at the foot of her bed. They were back.
"Where's Max?" Liz asked Alec over Maria's shoulder.
"She left for Command when they-" Alec paused and Liz met his eyes straight on, "-when they started to harvest your blood. You were dead, Liz."
Turning to the nearest medic X, Liz saw that his eyes were downcast, and just behind him, little Michael stood staring at her.
"Hey," she said to him. The medic X moved out of his way and little Michael came forward. "You can you do me a favor soldier?"
He nodded his head, mute.
"Go tell Max I'm okay; tell her to come to the infirmary?" Liz asked.
He nodded and Liz saluted him and he returned it. When she broke salute, he broke out of his daze and leaned in to give her a quick hug- arms overlapping Maria- and then blurred off before she could respond.
"Who was that?" Michael asked from his place beside Isabel.
"That was Michael, a transgenic," Liz told him. Michael's eyebrows rose up for a brief moment, and then he shot a look to Max who was standing with his arms folded over his chest. They were all wearing dark robes with the Antarian symbol over the left breast.
"No questions what a transgenic is?" Alec barked, his face unwelcome to questions.
"I'll explain it to them later," Max said to Alec, both men facing off with equally hostile stares.
"Testosterone check, please. Liz just came back from the dead here," Maria inserted. "Which by the way, how is that possible? I thought you couldn't heal the dead Max."
"He couldn't before," Isabel said, jumping in for the first time. "But he's the king now. His powers are tenfold. All of our powers are."
"I guess Antar was good for you," said Liz, meeting each of their eyes.
"Adia," exclaimed Max, bursting in with her hair swept up behind her. She looked stunned at seeing strangers in the city, but she blurred to Liz's side regardless and stood to the right. When Maria leaned back from Liz, Max took up in her stead.
"I'm sorry I ran," Liz apologized, hugging Max in return.
"We cool. Just, try not to run off and almost get kill next time we have a fight, 'k?"
They shared a laugh and Max pulled back, her big brown eyes full of light catching tears.
"We're sisters." Liz stated. Somehow admitting it aloud caused her hard shell of anger to crack and Liz struggled with her own tears.
Remembering the audience they had, Max gave a hard glare to the medics around them and Alec started to give orders to available Xs to take up perimeter security.
"Max, these are my friends from Roswell. Max, Michael, and Isabel. Max saved my life," Liz told her sister, watching as Max stood and assessed each of them.
"How'd you get here?" Max asked Michael, the nearest one to her.
"We light-ported. It's an intergalactic means of travel. I'm captain of the guard in the Antarian army. This is Isabel, princess of Antar, and Maxwell Evans, king of Antar," Michael stated, crossing both arms over his chest, fists clenched and pressed against opposite shoulders while his head bowed in a single nod.
"Antar?" Max asked Liz, glancing down at her sister.
"The aliens I told you about," Liz said, watching as Zack brought Maria baby Jillian.
"Is that," Michael asked, not finishing his thought as the Maria looked up into his eyes, her arms full of their daughter. Maria nodded at him and Michael looked up at the ceiling, then down at Maria again.
"Her name is Jillian Michelle Guerin," Maria told him, her eyes only on him. It took as long as Maria finishing her name and no longer before Michael was down on his knees in front of her, staring with an outstretched hand toward the baby.
"Can I?" he asked, touching the soft, smooth skin of his daughter's head.
"Just support her head and put your arms like mine," she whispered.
In the background, Liz watched as Zack slipped from the tent and Alec met Liz's eyes when she tilted her head in his direction. Sighing noiselessly, Alec gave a slight nod and took off out of the infirmary. Isabel and her sister Max were off to the side talking, and King Max came 'round to her right as Michael took hold of Jillian.
"Hi," Max said in his shy boy voice. It was like no time at all had passed since high school- but so much had changed.
"Hi."
"Tess is dead," he told her. Her eyes drifted to the side as that piece of information filtered in and the beast inside her roared with triumph as the human went numb. "She killed Alex, Liz. She had the baby and when I named him Zan Alexander Evans, she told me. I'm so sorry. So sorry I didn't believe you about her, and that I left you here alone, and about Kyle and your parents and the sheriff. I'm so sorry, Liz." He was kneeling now on the ground, head on the cot not quite touching her legs, and tears were streaming from his eyes.
Her hand rose up to rub his head, his hair longer than when she had last seen him, and she said "it's okay" over and over again as his hands came up to clutch her waist. And it was okay. Kyle had made it okay. He helped her find her way back to Liz Parker, and even though she reveled in Tess's punishment, she mourned for Max because he was clearly not okay.
"I was gone, lost, until you saved me, Max. When you and the others left Roswell and White came, I lost myself. Alec and Maria and my sister, Max have been helping me find my way, but I've been lost. Kyle came to me, Max, when I was…dead. He said he forgives me and," she let out a laugh, "he told me to say hi to King Max for him. It's okay now, Max."
Max wiped at his tears and look up into her eyes and she felt that old spark. Without a thought his lips came up to hover near hers, but Liz shook her head and he pulled back.
"But if it's okay now-" he started to say, but stopped when Liz shook her head again.
"I'm with Alec. I love him. I mean that it's okay to let go of the past now, Max. You're a king and I'm a transgenic. We have different destinies."
"I don't care about destiny anymore, Liz. Destiny was wrong. Tess and I-"
"Had a baby together. That's a destiny. And you love him, right? Maybe that was why you two had to be together. So Zan could be born. My sister and I are going to save America from a disease, maybe that's what I was born. Whatever; for whatever reason things happened this way, they did. Thank you for saving my life," Liz said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. His eyes slid shut for a moment, and then he nodded.
"We came back because Michael wanted to see his baby, my niece. And I'm not leaving until we help you and the people here find a way to live safe lives. My Antarian forces are coming down- they'll be taking up camp in Montana, Colorado, and here. We haven't forgotten you, or your loyalty to us."
"Hey Max," she said, glancing at Michael and Isabel then back at him, "I missed you."
"Me too, Liz."
Pushing up from the cot and pulling on a t-shirt that little Michael had retrieved from one of the medics, she stood up. Her sister and Isabel noticed and came over.
"Where do you think you're going?" Max asked, her lips bowed down in a frown.
"I have to go find Alec. He went after Zack," Liz explained.
"No way. You have to rest," Max ordered her, taking charge again.
"Yeah Liz, you should relax," Isabel chimed in smiling at her.
"King Max does good work. I'm fine. But I have to go do this," Liz told them.
"Maybe they're right, Liz," Michael said, his face split in a wide smile as baby Jillian made noises at Maria who was cooing to her in baby talk.
"I'll be back. Promise," Liz told them and with one more glance at all the people from her past and present, Liz went out into Terminal City streets in search of the one she loved.
Author's Note:I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I enjoyed reading them. I hope this chapter was enjoyable. There are only a few chapters left before Where Loyalty Lies comes to an end. Max and the aliens are back and the virus is on the rise. I hope to update again soon, but my mother recently had a quadruple bypass and my home life is taking presidence over most of my spare time. Let me know what you think, EK!
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings:Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was dark and cold, Liz couldn't see anything. She heard muffled voices and someone screaming her name. She felt the pain in her body, throbbing in time with each passing second. Where was Alec? She remembered him holding her against his warm body. Maybe that had been a dream.
"Liz?"
Still she couldn't see anything, but Liz heard that voice clearly. She tried to get into fighting stance, but her muscles weren't responding.
"Liz." That same voice called to her again.
"Whose there? Answer," Liz shouted hoarsely into the oblivion. Was she blind? How had that happened?
"Liz, it's me. Kyle."
Trying as hard as she could to widen her eyes and see, Liz admitted she couldn't even feel if her eyes were open.
"Kyle's dead."
"I know I am."
Chills raced along her spine and Liz attempted to raise her arm, swing out at whoever was there.
"You can't hit me, Liz. You can't even see me." It did sound like Kyle. Liz felt like he was there. But that would mean she was dead too, which wasn't true.
"No, you aren't dead, Liz. Not yet. You can't see me because I'm not where you are."
"Stop talking in riddles!" Liz screamed. She hated this feeling of immobility, of nonexistence.
That laugh that was so Kyle filtered into the darkness and Liz felt a hysteria overwhelming her.
"I'm dead, Liz. I'm where people go when they die. I can talk to you because you're somewhere in between. You are lost. Get it now?" He asked, his tone condescending in his joking way.
Liz didn't know how to respond to that, so she didn't. She stared into the nothingness and the distant murmurs faded in and out.
"Ignoring me now? Real mature, Liz. I came all this way just to help you and I get the silent treatment?"
"I don't know what you want me to say," Liz returned. She kept having flashes of when she pulled the plug on Kyle and the Sheriff. Why would he be there to help her?
"Because I care about you, Liz. You did what you had to. My dad and I were lost like you are now, and you came to set us free," Kyle said. He kept answering her thoughts.
"Is that what you're here to do? Set me free?"
"No. I'm not here so you can die, Liz; I'm here to tell you it is okay to live. It is okay to be happy. When you left Roswell, you stopped living. Don't you see you have a new life now?" Kyle told her, his tone more serious than she could ever remember him being.
She did have a new start now. Liz had Alec and Max, Zack and Maria and the baby, even little Michael, and her old unit- but she wasn't good for them. Even the humans could see it.
"People hate what they don't understand. You know that, Liz. You never let that stop you. You didn't let it stop you when you found out who Max, Michael, and Isabel were; or when Tess rolled into town. I know you, Liz, and you can't just stop caring."
Not true, Liz thought. She had turned off her emotions for a long time when she left Manticore, and then again when she left Roswell- she could bury it and let the animal inside turn her cold.
"Yes I can," she whispered into dark. A painful jolt shot through her chest and Liz gasped out.
"They're calling you back, Liz. You still have so much you can do. The Liz Parker I knew was made of braver stuff. And I loved that about you, Liz," Kyle called out. Another jolt wracked her chest and zipped down her spine.
"How can you forgive me when I'm the reason White came to Roswell. I'm the reason your dead; the reason your dad is dead, and my parents," Liz cried out, voice rough.
"It's over, Liz. White's dead too, and he's the one that killed me, not you. He didn't have to kill anyone. If you keep letting other people's mistakes be your fault, you'll never be happy. For Buddha's sake, Liz, that's not what we want."
"Buddha, huh? So is he the one really running the universe?" Liz asked, smiling at her memories of him quoting Buddha.
"There's got to be somebody in charge. I just like to call him Buddha," Kyle said with a laugh, and Liz would have cried if she could.
Warmth began to fill her and Kyle's voice faded slowly in the distance. Liz didn't want him to go yet, she didn't want to stop talking.
"We'll see each other again, Liz. But live okay. 'Cause a lot of people need your help. Say hi to King Max for me."
"I love you, Kyle. I'm sorry." Liz said, feeling weightless as the aches inside started to ease.
"I love you too, Liz; and I forgive you."
Colors and light swam in front of her eyes, blurring her vision, and Liz could now clearly hear the voices around her. Hands were pressed warmly against her chest with a familiar touch radiating throughout her body.
"Liz," she heard and her eyes began to clear. The sound of Maria wailing in the background caused her heart to jolt in her chest.
"Alec," she whispered.
The hands on her chest were removed and someone shifted near her.
"I'm here, Liz. Can you hear me?" Alec said, his voice so concerned the warmth kept spreading.
In that moment, her eyes cleared and she saw his face looming above her. Worry lines were etched in her forehead, and his face hovered close to hers. She leaned up and kissed him, pulling him by his neck with her bloodied hands to strain against him. His arms encircled her, and she sobbed against his mouth.
She pulled back and buried her head in the juncture of his shoulder and neck while sobbing in deep breaths. "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Liz. Are you okay? Does it still hurt?" he said back in a strong, loud voice.
"I'm okay. I found you, I'm okay."
"Liz," said a soft, male voice from behind Alec.
Alec kissed her head, hands molding to her back, and then slowly released, stepping back for the person behind him to come forward. It was Max, Michael beside him, and Isabel holding a crying Maria.
"You came back," she said, lips mouthing the words as the sound barely escaped her. King Max, she thought, that's what Kyle meant.
"We came back," he replied, staring at her in that way that used to sear her through and through; but the very real strength of Alec's hand in hers as he stood tall to her left made it powerless.
"Liz, thank God," Maria shouted, trying to get up and succeeding as Isabel and Zack heaved her forward. As she collapsed on Liz's cot, Max stepped aside for her. Liz accepted Maria's hug, still in shock, and rubbed Maria's long blond hair while staring blankly as three of the four square joined in a line at the foot of her bed. They were back.
"Where's Max?" Liz asked Alec over Maria's shoulder.
"She left for Command when they-" Alec paused and Liz met his eyes straight on, "-when they started to harvest your blood. You were dead, Liz."
Turning to the nearest medic X, Liz saw that his eyes were downcast, and just behind him, little Michael stood staring at her.
"Hey," she said to him. The medic X moved out of his way and little Michael came forward. "You can you do me a favor soldier?"
He nodded his head, mute.
"Go tell Max I'm okay; tell her to come to the infirmary?" Liz asked.
He nodded and Liz saluted him and he returned it. When she broke salute, he broke out of his daze and leaned in to give her a quick hug- arms overlapping Maria- and then blurred off before she could respond.
"Who was that?" Michael asked from his place beside Isabel.
"That was Michael, a transgenic," Liz told him. Michael's eyebrows rose up for a brief moment, and then he shot a look to Max who was standing with his arms folded over his chest. They were all wearing dark robes with the Antarian symbol over the left breast.
"No questions what a transgenic is?" Alec barked, his face unwelcome to questions.
"I'll explain it to them later," Max said to Alec, both men facing off with equally hostile stares.
"Testosterone check, please. Liz just came back from the dead here," Maria inserted. "Which by the way, how is that possible? I thought you couldn't heal the dead Max."
"He couldn't before," Isabel said, jumping in for the first time. "But he's the king now. His powers are tenfold. All of our powers are."
"I guess Antar was good for you," said Liz, meeting each of their eyes.
"Adia," exclaimed Max, bursting in with her hair swept up behind her. She looked stunned at seeing strangers in the city, but she blurred to Liz's side regardless and stood to the right. When Maria leaned back from Liz, Max took up in her stead.
"I'm sorry I ran," Liz apologized, hugging Max in return.
"We cool. Just, try not to run off and almost get kill next time we have a fight, 'k?"
They shared a laugh and Max pulled back, her big brown eyes full of light catching tears.
"We're sisters." Liz stated. Somehow admitting it aloud caused her hard shell of anger to crack and Liz struggled with her own tears.
Remembering the audience they had, Max gave a hard glare to the medics around them and Alec started to give orders to available Xs to take up perimeter security.
"Max, these are my friends from Roswell. Max, Michael, and Isabel. Max saved my life," Liz told her sister, watching as Max stood and assessed each of them.
"How'd you get here?" Max asked Michael, the nearest one to her.
"We light-ported. It's an intergalactic means of travel. I'm captain of the guard in the Antarian army. This is Isabel, princess of Antar, and Maxwell Evans, king of Antar," Michael stated, crossing both arms over his chest, fists clenched and pressed against opposite shoulders while his head bowed in a single nod.
"Antar?" Max asked Liz, glancing down at her sister.
"The aliens I told you about," Liz said, watching as Zack brought Maria baby Jillian.
"Is that," Michael asked, not finishing his thought as the Maria looked up into his eyes, her arms full of their daughter. Maria nodded at him and Michael looked up at the ceiling, then down at Maria again.
"Her name is Jillian Michelle Guerin," Maria told him, her eyes only on him. It took as long as Maria finishing her name and no longer before Michael was down on his knees in front of her, staring with an outstretched hand toward the baby.
"Can I?" he asked, touching the soft, smooth skin of his daughter's head.
"Just support her head and put your arms like mine," she whispered.
In the background, Liz watched as Zack slipped from the tent and Alec met Liz's eyes when she tilted her head in his direction. Sighing noiselessly, Alec gave a slight nod and took off out of the infirmary. Isabel and her sister Max were off to the side talking, and King Max came 'round to her right as Michael took hold of Jillian.
"Hi," Max said in his shy boy voice. It was like no time at all had passed since high school- but so much had changed.
"Hi."
"Tess is dead," he told her. Her eyes drifted to the side as that piece of information filtered in and the beast inside her roared with triumph as the human went numb. "She killed Alex, Liz. She had the baby and when I named him Zan Alexander Evans, she told me. I'm so sorry. So sorry I didn't believe you about her, and that I left you here alone, and about Kyle and your parents and the sheriff. I'm so sorry, Liz." He was kneeling now on the ground, head on the cot not quite touching her legs, and tears were streaming from his eyes.
Her hand rose up to rub his head, his hair longer than when she had last seen him, and she said "it's okay" over and over again as his hands came up to clutch her waist. And it was okay. Kyle had made it okay. He helped her find her way back to Liz Parker, and even though she reveled in Tess's punishment, she mourned for Max because he was clearly not okay.
"I was gone, lost, until you saved me, Max. When you and the others left Roswell and White came, I lost myself. Alec and Maria and my sister, Max have been helping me find my way, but I've been lost. Kyle came to me, Max, when I was…dead. He said he forgives me and," she let out a laugh, "he told me to say hi to King Max for him. It's okay now, Max."
Max wiped at his tears and look up into her eyes and she felt that old spark. Without a thought his lips came up to hover near hers, but Liz shook her head and he pulled back.
"But if it's okay now-" he started to say, but stopped when Liz shook her head again.
"I'm with Alec. I love him. I mean that it's okay to let go of the past now, Max. You're a king and I'm a transgenic. We have different destinies."
"I don't care about destiny anymore, Liz. Destiny was wrong. Tess and I-"
"Had a baby together. That's a destiny. And you love him, right? Maybe that was why you two had to be together. So Zan could be born. My sister and I are going to save America from a disease, maybe that's what I was born. Whatever; for whatever reason things happened this way, they did. Thank you for saving my life," Liz said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. His eyes slid shut for a moment, and then he nodded.
"We came back because Michael wanted to see his baby, my niece. And I'm not leaving until we help you and the people here find a way to live safe lives. My Antarian forces are coming down- they'll be taking up camp in Montana, Colorado, and here. We haven't forgotten you, or your loyalty to us."
"Hey Max," she said, glancing at Michael and Isabel then back at him, "I missed you."
"Me too, Liz."
Pushing up from the cot and pulling on a t-shirt that little Michael had retrieved from one of the medics, she stood up. Her sister and Isabel noticed and came over.
"Where do you think you're going?" Max asked, her lips bowed down in a frown.
"I have to go find Alec. He went after Zack," Liz explained.
"No way. You have to rest," Max ordered her, taking charge again.
"Yeah Liz, you should relax," Isabel chimed in smiling at her.
"King Max does good work. I'm fine. But I have to go do this," Liz told them.
"Maybe they're right, Liz," Michael said, his face split in a wide smile as baby Jillian made noises at Maria who was cooing to her in baby talk.
"I'll be back. Promise," Liz told them and with one more glance at all the people from her past and present, Liz went out into Terminal City streets in search of the one she loved.
Author's Note:I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I enjoyed reading them. I hope this chapter was enjoyable. There are only a few chapters left before Where Loyalty Lies comes to an end. Max and the aliens are back and the virus is on the rise. I hope to update again soon, but my mother recently had a quadruple bypass and my home life is taking presidence over most of my spare time. Let me know what you think, EK!
Last edited by Egyptian_Kiss on Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Egyptian_Kiss
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 194
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:40 pm
- Location: Arizona
Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) A/N 8/31/10
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A block ahead of him, Alec watched as Zack ducked into the bar, and again he couldn't believe that he was out chasing down a love-struck jealous transgenic who he could barely stand half the time. But Liz wanted him to and he was so damned grateful for the fact she was alive again, he'd have done whatever she said in that moment.
Following after Zack, Alec opened the door to the bar and on instinct ducked as something whizzed past his head and into the alley behind him. Nostrils flaring and teeth gritted, Alec jumped up and over the nearest pool table as the next dart thudded into the floor where he had just been. Sneering at a group of three transgenics as they cheered at the prospect of a fight, Alec snagged a pool cue from the table top and ducked below.
Coming out in a lightening move, Alec swung the wooden cue up and to the right- striking Zack across the jaw and dodging another dart as it stuck in the side of the table he had come from under.
"Dude, dial it down a notch. I'm not here to fight. I just want a drink," Alec said, relaxing his stance and walking casually toward the bar. He took a seat on one of the stool and asked the cute X6 behind the counter if she could fetch him a bottle of Jack and two shot glasses.
A horrible scrapping sound rend the air and Zack plopped down beside him as Alec poured two shots from the half empty bottle of Jack the bartender had placed on the counter. Se was an efficient little thing.
"I know Liz sent you," Zack muttered angrily, eyes glaring holes in the bar as he sat stiffly with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Look buddy, I been where you are, and it sucks. In fact, I think this is my seat from the other night I was here trying to figure out my own woman issues," Alec told him, swallowing his shot and pushing Zack's in front of him.
"I don't need to talk about it, and I'm not having woman issues," Zack said heatedly, fists clenched.
"You're full of shit. Maria's a pretty little number. Spitfire attitude too- she can yell or talk your ear off. And you got it for her just like she has it for you," Alec told Zack and he shot back another one before taking a deep breath as the Jack burned down his throat and shot lances of warmth in his stomach.
"What does my sister see in you?" Zack asked in disgust, finally turning his eyes to look at Alec who gave him a side glance and a raised eyebrow.
"Sex on legs," Alec replied smirking.
Glaring more intensely, Zack reached for the pool cue Alec has set against the bar.
"Cool it Sparky and take a drink," Alec said, rolling his eyes and kicking the pool cue across the bar with his booted foot.
Giving in, Zack took his shot and made a disgusted face. "Get me a beer," he told the bartender, and Alec shook his head- some guys just couldn't take the hard stuff.
"What makes you an expert on women," Zack asked.
Alec shrugged and thought of all the transgenics and humans he had encountered, and a satisfied smile came to his face. "Just know a lot of them."
"So I'm supposed to take your advice because you were a whore before you met Liz?" Zack rejoined, smiling into his mug of beer.
"Hey you don't want to talk, fine by me. I'm enjoying my Jack and I'd rather keep it that way," Alec told him, and he took another shot.
"Why do you want to be nice to me?" Zack questioned, face stony.
"I don't know. Why did I bother chasing Liz when she didn't want me around? I guess I'm just a people person," Alec joked, remembering the night Liz had chased after him out of the bar.
"Isn't she lucky," Zack whispered, scoffing sarcastically.
"Wrong. I'm lucky. I'm lucky 'cause everyday for the rest of my life I'm going to make sure she's with me. I'm going wake up to her beautiful face and her gorgeous body and all her smarts, and I'm going to be lucky. You gonna have that? You gonna be able to say you got somebody? 'Cause I don't think I've met anyone like Maria Deluca in my life, and I doubt she's going to sit around waiting for you to get things right." Alec took a long drag straight from the bottle while Zack drowned his disgruntled comments in his beer.
"She doesn't need me. She's got him now. Michael," Zack said stoically face straight like a soldier's.
"How long is he going to stick around? Do you know? 'Cause if he's an alien, I'm sure he's got some home planet to beam off to."
"Aren't you a little suspicious of their sudden arrival? One minute Liz is dead, the next her ex-boyfriend turned alien king appears to save the day. What about that?"
Alec's mouth tightened up and he tried not to haul off and knock Zack off his stool. He was trying very hard not to think of Liz and King Jackass getting cozy in the infirmary while he played big brother to an insecure asshole.
"I trust Liz," Alec managed after another biting swallow from the dwindling bottle. Good thing the bar had a decent supply.
"Trust? That's what's going to stop her from running off with a guy she used to love? Come on, you've heard the rumors about Liz's past just like I have. Terminal City isn't that big a place," Zack replied. He was still nursing his first beer.
Taking another pull of alcohol, Alec hefted the shot glass and threw it against the far wall behind the bar, satisfied when it crashed and exploded noisily.
"Cut the shit, Zack. You're a soldier and you're an animal. Now are you an alpha or a beta? Because Maria isn't going to just sit around waiting for you to make a move," said Alec. Maybe that could be true of Liz too, Alec thought, but he stomped down the rage that thought spread and shook it off.
"They have a baby together. What am I going to do or say that's going to make that not matter?" Zack finally broke, throwing his own mug across the bar and against the same spot Alec had shattered his shot glass and watched as beer and glass hit the wall.
"Hey! You guys either need to stop breaking shit or get the fuck out of the bar. I'm not going to tell you twice," shouted the busty brunette bartender.
Zack glanced at Alec and Alec stared back at him and Zack let out a laugh. Alec stared at him for a moment as Zack kept laughing, and then suddenly he couldn't help but laugh too. But once it happened they both couldn't stop, their stomachs aching with the intensity of their laughter- their sides bunching up in stitches as they fought for air. Alec felt the alcohol kicking in, his face turning red, and his breathing wheezed out as he struggled to contain the laughing.
They stopped a minute later and Alec was clutching the bar while Zack clung to his stool for support.
"I guess I should get back to the infirmary," Zack said, standing up once he had gained control of himself. He left some money on the counter for the bartender- a nice gesture considering how strapped for cash everyone was.
"Yeah," Alec said, taking another quick pull from the bottle and standing up.
"Thanks man. I guess my sister could have done worse," Zack said, and Alec nodded at him, earlier anger forgotten.
Light spilled in from the bar entrance door, and Alec watched as Liz walked in. The few transgenics frequenting the bar stopped talking and watched as she entered. Her hair was stringy and blood crusted, her clothes were shredded almost to bits, singe-marks surrounded her exposed stomach, knees, and ankles, and her face was smudged with ash from the fire. But her skin had a glowing quality to it, luminescent and pure. Her eyes were a light hazel in the door light, and Alec moved to join her where she stood staring at him.
"I'm glad you're okay, Liz," Zack said, passing through the door and stopping on the outside to hug her warmly while one of her hands twined with Alec's fingers, warming them.
"Me too. Maria's in the infirmary with Jillian and little Michael. She might need your help getting around, but Max has arranged for her to move into an apartment in Alec's building," Liz explained.
Alec pressed flush against her side, his inner-beast demanding her touch. He controlled the urge to sweep her up into his arms, and waited for Zack to retreat.
"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked first.
"I came to get you. I want to go home. Can we go to the apartment," Liz asked, her body resting more heavily against his.
The fact that Liz wanted to go to his apartment and that she had called it home made his chest fit to burst with pride. He could provide for her, take care of her, and Alec held the door open for her as they walked out into the cooling night air.
"I saw my friend when I was…out," Liz told him and Alec loved the sound of her voice. It was so nice to hear after that horrible sound the heart monitor made as she flat-lined.
"Which friend?"
"Kyle. I dated him once, but he was like a brother to me, and I realized that after I met Max. But he died because of White-" she was talking in a whisper, but Alec heard her and he held her arm and hand more tightly. "He told me to move on and that I can be happy."
"Good advice. I'm all for a happy Liz."
"So you think we can have that? We can be happy?" Liz asked.
"I'm happy right now, with you here beside me."
She became quiet beside him and Alec glanced from the line of brick buildings ahead of them down to her where her head was tucked into his side and her arm crossed his stomach to wrap warmly around his waist.
"I'm happy every time I see you, Liz, for no apparent reason. You've had me tied up in knots since the moment I met you," he said, voice dropping down seductively and Alec felt a rush of heat and his erection growing in his dirty fatigues.
"Why do you love me?" Liz murmured back and Alec pulled them to a stop outside his building.
"Why do you breathe?" Alec rejoined. "Because I need to. I couldn't breathe when you died Liz. Have you ever been so numb inside your can't breathe? Never do that again. Never just leave." He went from happy to angry and Alec was trying to curb it, but it had slipped into his tone and she was finally looking up at him- annoyed.
"I was upset okay? I was pissed off that Max kept something as big as our being sisters to herself all this time. And I don't have to answer to anyone," she said, her face scrunching in anger.
"No, wrong. You do have to answer to someone. You aren't running anymore and it isn't just you and Maria. I love you and Liz, if you love me, that has to mean something to you. I saw you strung up on TV and I knew what they were going to do to you, Liz. Do you get that? I was going to watch you die, and I might not have made it," he growled throat roaring with the sound as it vibrated in the air and bounced echoing down the street.
"I'm sorry!" she shouted, crossing her arms and turning from him, but Alec refused to let that be the last word. He grabbed her from behind, holding her in an unbreakable hold against his chest, and snarled in her ear.
"I love you," he breathed into her ear. "And I'm not letting you go, Liz. Not to run away, not to die, not for anything. So get used to it, and just be happy. Just let it happen- let yourself be happy. Because I want you like I've never wanted anything else, and I fight for what's important. That's not gonna change, ever."
Alec heard her sniffle and felt her turn her face to the side, pressing it against his chest in their awkward hold. His heart beat faster beneath her ear on his chest, and something inside of him reared up excitedly.
"Okay. I'm sorry. I love you and I won't do it again. I didn't mean to scare you," she whispered, tears slipping over her cheeks and wetting his shirt.
Turning her in his arms, Alec held her close and breathed in her scent, kissing her head, her cheek, her eyes and nose, and stopping to rest against her lips as thunder cracked in the distance and lamp lights flickered nearby as rain drizzled down from the dark sky churning overhead.
Liz kissed him back and Alec groaned into it, mouth eclipsing hers in its voracious hunger, tongue coming out to wet Liz's lips as she gasped, tilting her head back.
"I'm yours," Liz exclaimed as Alec pinned her beneath the light in the wall near the entrance, his thigh slipping between hers, spreading them wide, and hoisting her up against him.
"Mine," he grunted, pulling her shirt up and over her head, trailing kisses down her neck even as rain began to drum harder on the asphalt.
Liz divested him of his shirt with a rip from behind and smooth fingertips traced his back muscles as he flexed, straining into the press of her soft, curvy chest. Her shirt came off with a quick pull- the last threads holding it in place breaking, and her hot, creamy skin pressed against his hard chest, and her skin chilled where the rain pelted her. He ran his fingers over her arms, and rested at her waist where they toyed with the belt holding her pants in place.
When Liz moved her legs up to wrap firmly around his waist, Alec thrust his pant clad erection to her core, and Liz's huffs puffed against his right ear, her tongue tracing the shell and inflaming him. He tore at her belt and lowered his pants below his aching cock. Liz's hand came up between them, engulfing his shaft and rubbed at it with just the right pressure to make his knees weak and his arms tighten.
"Touch me," she cried out, leaning her head back to the wall for support, rain slipping enticingly over her nipples, perky and tan.
Without a moment's hesitation, he brought a hand up between her thighs, and between her lips to her core, and thrust a finger into her warmth. Moisture had already gathered in her excitement, and Alec felt his eyes rolling up as she teased the rim of his cock, the head sensitive and wanting.
Not trusting his control, Alec stopped her hand, bringing it up over his shoulder, and used both hands to lift her up and align his body with hers before thrusting up into pleasure. A thrill surged through him, from tip to toe, as Liz's muscles pulled him into her body. Her sheath quivered around his cock and Alec picked up a frenzied pace as Liz cried out in ecstasy, her voice lost on the wind and rain beating at them, creating an inky darkness around them.
"So tight and good," Alec told her, and Liz nodded into his chest, her small frame arching into his and her hips thrust to meet his, beating skin to skin in a familiar rhythm. The sound of their coupling was clear as the smacking of skin to skin and heavy breaths puffed loudly. Her body was so soft, it fit perfectly in his arms.
"Harder, I want it more," Liz demanded and she dug her nails into his sides, pressing herself harder into the brick building and using her leverage to hoist herself up and down, his cock throbbing and threatening to spill.
Renewed vigor came to him as Alec slammed her harshly into the wall, rational concerns gone, and his beast calling for more. Pumping deeper and with bone splintering power, Alec plunged as deeply as he could into Liz and held her, biting her shoulder and pulling back to double his speed- his free hand not supporting their weight slipping between their slick bodies to massage Liz's clitoris, her nerves causing a fluttering in her womb, and Alec exploded inside of her, throwing his head back in a howl of triumph and satisfaction as his seed spilled, Liz's spasms driving his pleasure higher.
Thunder rumbled louder and shook the ground, a streak of lightening crackling in the distance, lighting up the street and casting the couple's shadow across the building front.
Heart pounding in his ears, Alec pulled Liz to his chest, and her body fell against him as her breaths tickled his left shoulder and her cool cheek met his flushed chest.
Catching his breath, Alec leaned his left cheek against her head.
"Couldn't wait till be got inside?" Alec teased, as he held her content to let the rain pour over them.
"I wasn't the only one in a rush," Liz mumbled and then yawned.
"Rain sex, hot," Alec replied. Liz slapped his chest hard and the quick sting of it sent goose bumps down his arms.
"You think all sex is hot."
Chuckling, Alec nodded and Liz shifted in his arms. He met her eyes when she looked up into his, and brought a hand up to smooth back her hair and hold the back of her head as he leaned in to kiss her lips, eyes closing against the rain. It was soft and tender and then it was over, and Alec held her to him as he carried Liz inside- leaving their torn clothes behind on the ground.
"I'm glad Maria hasn't moved in yet. I couldn't imagine her seeing us coming down the hall naked," Liz mumbled, another yawn escaping.
"Did I tire you out already?" Alec teased, cupping her butt with both hands as he climbed the stairs.
"No," Liz said stubbornly, but Alec could tell she was biting back another yawn.
He maneuvered them into the apartment and kicked the door shut behind them. He crossed the distance between the door, the kitchen, his bed, and to the bathroom in a blur, and placed Liz on the counter as he turned the water on warm.
"What are you doing?" she asked, leaning her head back against the mirror, legs spread, and Alec wanted to take her again.
"You need a bath, and then I'm taking you to bed."
"Sounds great. I want to be on top this time," Liz whispered, eyes drooping to half mast.
Fighting back the feel of his cock growing as the water filled the tub; Alec poured some soapy bubble bath into the water. Getting luxuries like bubble bath after the pulse was like getting pre-pulse alcohol- damned near impossible. Expect for Alec.
Gathering a dozing Liz in his arms, Alec stepped into the bath and seated himself as the water sloshed up around him in waves and the wet heat of it began to warm their chilled skin and wash away the rain water as foaming bubbles clung to the lip of the tub and teased Alec's chest as Liz woke enough to move into a more comfortable position.
"It smells pretty," Liz said, her hand playing with the suds as Alec searched for the empty peanut butter jar he used as a bucket. He found it beside the tub and dunked it in the water, using it to pour a waterfall over Liz's head. She squealed in his arms and Alec fought the feeling of her rubbing against his growing erection.
"You look good all wet," Alec said, hand slipping down her front as her back leaned into his chest.
"So do you," Liz told him over her shoulder. He took his time washing them both in the steamy water. "This feels good."
It sure did and Alec fought himself to finish up washing them as quickly as possible and hoist Liz out of the tub. She accepted the towel he pulled from under the sink, and Liz commented on how nice it was to have a hot bath. It was nice, and Alec knew that he wouldn't be able to do it again for a least two weeks- water might flow in Terminal City, but Max had her ways of making sure they had so much hot water per apartment during the month. Mole had the whole thing wired on generators.
Alec gave Liz one of his shirts and he threw on a pair of pants and slipped into bed, pulling her down beside him.
"I thought we were going to-"
"Not tonight, Liz. You need sleep." Alec told her as she straddled him and kissed his neck. "Liz."
"Mhm," she murmured, slipping down his body, the covers pulling down with her as she kissed a trail down his chest and abdomen to his hips. She nipped at his right hip and played with the zipper on his pants, and Alec's cock tented under the material.
"You should rest," he tried again, grabbing her shoulders to stop her, but she looked up at him and he almost died when she lowered her head to his zipper and yanked it down several inches with her teeth while her arms were held captive.
"I want you," she told him and Alec fought the boil of desire and want. "Let me have you."
Giving up, Alec let her go and watched as Liz stretched her body up, sitting on his thighs, and pulled his shirt over her head. Her beautiful breasts stretched with her and Alec leaned up to take a nipple in his mouth, loving Liz's gasp and biting lightly as the nipple hardened. A hand undid his pants and Alec laved his tongue over her areola when Liz gripped his shaft and tugged it from his jeans.
"Bite it harder," Liz demanded, and Alec did as she said. Her back arched and her hips thrust in an upward sweep that brushed her hot, wet opening against his fully erect shaft. He wanted her to push down and taken him into her tight body, muscles clenching.
Sucking harder on her breast, Alec lifted her enough to kick off his pants and settle her just above his cock, waiting for her to take over. She did not disappoint. Alec groaned into her breast, face turning to the side as Liz sat down on him, taking his cock into her, his erection thrusting up to slam home deep inside her. Liz stilled and Alec kissed up to her shoulder and down her upper-arm, stopping at the elbow to nip at the bend where a vein pulsed.
Liz pushed him back into the mattress, her hands remaining on his chest for leverage as she pumped up and down on him, muscles squeezing and milking him, making him grow harder as she grew wetter, and the thudding sound of their bodies meeting was loud in the apartment. Alec's legs were tense with the rush of need. Soon Liz sped up, her knees straining harder against the bed while she cried out to the ceiling, moaning, and rotating her hips. She began to quake above him and her voice quaver as she called "Alec!" and came around him quivering.
She fell forward against his body, and Alec took the opportunity to grip her hips and hold her in place, his took over the rhythm and pumped into her, the need to come burning inside him as his balls tightened and his body became charged.
"Look at me baby," he ordered, and Liz leaned up as her body shivered.
When their eyes met and her mouth opened wordlessly, he came inside her. His orgasm ripped through him and his muscles tightened as surge after surge of sating lust tore through him. Liz called his name in his ears and he whispered hers as her fists slammed against the mattress and her second orgasm came over her in waves, clenching and releasing around him, holding his cock inside her.
"Don't move baby," he told her, the angle perfect as he could see them joined and her deep eyes.
They stayed like that as Alec's breathing began to calm itself, and he pulled Liz down against him, kissing her cheek, and rubbing his face into her hair. He pulled out of her and tucked her into his side.
"Love you," she whispered, a yawn following.
"I love you, Liz," Alec said back, and he closed his eyes to sleep.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I managed to find some free time to update this chapter sooner than expected. Let me know what you think, EK!
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A block ahead of him, Alec watched as Zack ducked into the bar, and again he couldn't believe that he was out chasing down a love-struck jealous transgenic who he could barely stand half the time. But Liz wanted him to and he was so damned grateful for the fact she was alive again, he'd have done whatever she said in that moment.
Following after Zack, Alec opened the door to the bar and on instinct ducked as something whizzed past his head and into the alley behind him. Nostrils flaring and teeth gritted, Alec jumped up and over the nearest pool table as the next dart thudded into the floor where he had just been. Sneering at a group of three transgenics as they cheered at the prospect of a fight, Alec snagged a pool cue from the table top and ducked below.
Coming out in a lightening move, Alec swung the wooden cue up and to the right- striking Zack across the jaw and dodging another dart as it stuck in the side of the table he had come from under.
"Dude, dial it down a notch. I'm not here to fight. I just want a drink," Alec said, relaxing his stance and walking casually toward the bar. He took a seat on one of the stool and asked the cute X6 behind the counter if she could fetch him a bottle of Jack and two shot glasses.
A horrible scrapping sound rend the air and Zack plopped down beside him as Alec poured two shots from the half empty bottle of Jack the bartender had placed on the counter. Se was an efficient little thing.
"I know Liz sent you," Zack muttered angrily, eyes glaring holes in the bar as he sat stiffly with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Look buddy, I been where you are, and it sucks. In fact, I think this is my seat from the other night I was here trying to figure out my own woman issues," Alec told him, swallowing his shot and pushing Zack's in front of him.
"I don't need to talk about it, and I'm not having woman issues," Zack said heatedly, fists clenched.
"You're full of shit. Maria's a pretty little number. Spitfire attitude too- she can yell or talk your ear off. And you got it for her just like she has it for you," Alec told Zack and he shot back another one before taking a deep breath as the Jack burned down his throat and shot lances of warmth in his stomach.
"What does my sister see in you?" Zack asked in disgust, finally turning his eyes to look at Alec who gave him a side glance and a raised eyebrow.
"Sex on legs," Alec replied smirking.
Glaring more intensely, Zack reached for the pool cue Alec has set against the bar.
"Cool it Sparky and take a drink," Alec said, rolling his eyes and kicking the pool cue across the bar with his booted foot.
Giving in, Zack took his shot and made a disgusted face. "Get me a beer," he told the bartender, and Alec shook his head- some guys just couldn't take the hard stuff.
"What makes you an expert on women," Zack asked.
Alec shrugged and thought of all the transgenics and humans he had encountered, and a satisfied smile came to his face. "Just know a lot of them."
"So I'm supposed to take your advice because you were a whore before you met Liz?" Zack rejoined, smiling into his mug of beer.
"Hey you don't want to talk, fine by me. I'm enjoying my Jack and I'd rather keep it that way," Alec told him, and he took another shot.
"Why do you want to be nice to me?" Zack questioned, face stony.
"I don't know. Why did I bother chasing Liz when she didn't want me around? I guess I'm just a people person," Alec joked, remembering the night Liz had chased after him out of the bar.
"Isn't she lucky," Zack whispered, scoffing sarcastically.
"Wrong. I'm lucky. I'm lucky 'cause everyday for the rest of my life I'm going to make sure she's with me. I'm going wake up to her beautiful face and her gorgeous body and all her smarts, and I'm going to be lucky. You gonna have that? You gonna be able to say you got somebody? 'Cause I don't think I've met anyone like Maria Deluca in my life, and I doubt she's going to sit around waiting for you to get things right." Alec took a long drag straight from the bottle while Zack drowned his disgruntled comments in his beer.
"She doesn't need me. She's got him now. Michael," Zack said stoically face straight like a soldier's.
"How long is he going to stick around? Do you know? 'Cause if he's an alien, I'm sure he's got some home planet to beam off to."
"Aren't you a little suspicious of their sudden arrival? One minute Liz is dead, the next her ex-boyfriend turned alien king appears to save the day. What about that?"
Alec's mouth tightened up and he tried not to haul off and knock Zack off his stool. He was trying very hard not to think of Liz and King Jackass getting cozy in the infirmary while he played big brother to an insecure asshole.
"I trust Liz," Alec managed after another biting swallow from the dwindling bottle. Good thing the bar had a decent supply.
"Trust? That's what's going to stop her from running off with a guy she used to love? Come on, you've heard the rumors about Liz's past just like I have. Terminal City isn't that big a place," Zack replied. He was still nursing his first beer.
Taking another pull of alcohol, Alec hefted the shot glass and threw it against the far wall behind the bar, satisfied when it crashed and exploded noisily.
"Cut the shit, Zack. You're a soldier and you're an animal. Now are you an alpha or a beta? Because Maria isn't going to just sit around waiting for you to make a move," said Alec. Maybe that could be true of Liz too, Alec thought, but he stomped down the rage that thought spread and shook it off.
"They have a baby together. What am I going to do or say that's going to make that not matter?" Zack finally broke, throwing his own mug across the bar and against the same spot Alec had shattered his shot glass and watched as beer and glass hit the wall.
"Hey! You guys either need to stop breaking shit or get the fuck out of the bar. I'm not going to tell you twice," shouted the busty brunette bartender.
Zack glanced at Alec and Alec stared back at him and Zack let out a laugh. Alec stared at him for a moment as Zack kept laughing, and then suddenly he couldn't help but laugh too. But once it happened they both couldn't stop, their stomachs aching with the intensity of their laughter- their sides bunching up in stitches as they fought for air. Alec felt the alcohol kicking in, his face turning red, and his breathing wheezed out as he struggled to contain the laughing.
They stopped a minute later and Alec was clutching the bar while Zack clung to his stool for support.
"I guess I should get back to the infirmary," Zack said, standing up once he had gained control of himself. He left some money on the counter for the bartender- a nice gesture considering how strapped for cash everyone was.
"Yeah," Alec said, taking another quick pull from the bottle and standing up.
"Thanks man. I guess my sister could have done worse," Zack said, and Alec nodded at him, earlier anger forgotten.
Light spilled in from the bar entrance door, and Alec watched as Liz walked in. The few transgenics frequenting the bar stopped talking and watched as she entered. Her hair was stringy and blood crusted, her clothes were shredded almost to bits, singe-marks surrounded her exposed stomach, knees, and ankles, and her face was smudged with ash from the fire. But her skin had a glowing quality to it, luminescent and pure. Her eyes were a light hazel in the door light, and Alec moved to join her where she stood staring at him.
"I'm glad you're okay, Liz," Zack said, passing through the door and stopping on the outside to hug her warmly while one of her hands twined with Alec's fingers, warming them.
"Me too. Maria's in the infirmary with Jillian and little Michael. She might need your help getting around, but Max has arranged for her to move into an apartment in Alec's building," Liz explained.
Alec pressed flush against her side, his inner-beast demanding her touch. He controlled the urge to sweep her up into his arms, and waited for Zack to retreat.
"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked first.
"I came to get you. I want to go home. Can we go to the apartment," Liz asked, her body resting more heavily against his.
The fact that Liz wanted to go to his apartment and that she had called it home made his chest fit to burst with pride. He could provide for her, take care of her, and Alec held the door open for her as they walked out into the cooling night air.
"I saw my friend when I was…out," Liz told him and Alec loved the sound of her voice. It was so nice to hear after that horrible sound the heart monitor made as she flat-lined.
"Which friend?"
"Kyle. I dated him once, but he was like a brother to me, and I realized that after I met Max. But he died because of White-" she was talking in a whisper, but Alec heard her and he held her arm and hand more tightly. "He told me to move on and that I can be happy."
"Good advice. I'm all for a happy Liz."
"So you think we can have that? We can be happy?" Liz asked.
"I'm happy right now, with you here beside me."
She became quiet beside him and Alec glanced from the line of brick buildings ahead of them down to her where her head was tucked into his side and her arm crossed his stomach to wrap warmly around his waist.
"I'm happy every time I see you, Liz, for no apparent reason. You've had me tied up in knots since the moment I met you," he said, voice dropping down seductively and Alec felt a rush of heat and his erection growing in his dirty fatigues.
"Why do you love me?" Liz murmured back and Alec pulled them to a stop outside his building.
"Why do you breathe?" Alec rejoined. "Because I need to. I couldn't breathe when you died Liz. Have you ever been so numb inside your can't breathe? Never do that again. Never just leave." He went from happy to angry and Alec was trying to curb it, but it had slipped into his tone and she was finally looking up at him- annoyed.
"I was upset okay? I was pissed off that Max kept something as big as our being sisters to herself all this time. And I don't have to answer to anyone," she said, her face scrunching in anger.
"No, wrong. You do have to answer to someone. You aren't running anymore and it isn't just you and Maria. I love you and Liz, if you love me, that has to mean something to you. I saw you strung up on TV and I knew what they were going to do to you, Liz. Do you get that? I was going to watch you die, and I might not have made it," he growled throat roaring with the sound as it vibrated in the air and bounced echoing down the street.
"I'm sorry!" she shouted, crossing her arms and turning from him, but Alec refused to let that be the last word. He grabbed her from behind, holding her in an unbreakable hold against his chest, and snarled in her ear.
"I love you," he breathed into her ear. "And I'm not letting you go, Liz. Not to run away, not to die, not for anything. So get used to it, and just be happy. Just let it happen- let yourself be happy. Because I want you like I've never wanted anything else, and I fight for what's important. That's not gonna change, ever."
Alec heard her sniffle and felt her turn her face to the side, pressing it against his chest in their awkward hold. His heart beat faster beneath her ear on his chest, and something inside of him reared up excitedly.
"Okay. I'm sorry. I love you and I won't do it again. I didn't mean to scare you," she whispered, tears slipping over her cheeks and wetting his shirt.
Turning her in his arms, Alec held her close and breathed in her scent, kissing her head, her cheek, her eyes and nose, and stopping to rest against her lips as thunder cracked in the distance and lamp lights flickered nearby as rain drizzled down from the dark sky churning overhead.
Liz kissed him back and Alec groaned into it, mouth eclipsing hers in its voracious hunger, tongue coming out to wet Liz's lips as she gasped, tilting her head back.
"I'm yours," Liz exclaimed as Alec pinned her beneath the light in the wall near the entrance, his thigh slipping between hers, spreading them wide, and hoisting her up against him.
"Mine," he grunted, pulling her shirt up and over her head, trailing kisses down her neck even as rain began to drum harder on the asphalt.
Liz divested him of his shirt with a rip from behind and smooth fingertips traced his back muscles as he flexed, straining into the press of her soft, curvy chest. Her shirt came off with a quick pull- the last threads holding it in place breaking, and her hot, creamy skin pressed against his hard chest, and her skin chilled where the rain pelted her. He ran his fingers over her arms, and rested at her waist where they toyed with the belt holding her pants in place.
When Liz moved her legs up to wrap firmly around his waist, Alec thrust his pant clad erection to her core, and Liz's huffs puffed against his right ear, her tongue tracing the shell and inflaming him. He tore at her belt and lowered his pants below his aching cock. Liz's hand came up between them, engulfing his shaft and rubbed at it with just the right pressure to make his knees weak and his arms tighten.
"Touch me," she cried out, leaning her head back to the wall for support, rain slipping enticingly over her nipples, perky and tan.
Without a moment's hesitation, he brought a hand up between her thighs, and between her lips to her core, and thrust a finger into her warmth. Moisture had already gathered in her excitement, and Alec felt his eyes rolling up as she teased the rim of his cock, the head sensitive and wanting.
Not trusting his control, Alec stopped her hand, bringing it up over his shoulder, and used both hands to lift her up and align his body with hers before thrusting up into pleasure. A thrill surged through him, from tip to toe, as Liz's muscles pulled him into her body. Her sheath quivered around his cock and Alec picked up a frenzied pace as Liz cried out in ecstasy, her voice lost on the wind and rain beating at them, creating an inky darkness around them.
"So tight and good," Alec told her, and Liz nodded into his chest, her small frame arching into his and her hips thrust to meet his, beating skin to skin in a familiar rhythm. The sound of their coupling was clear as the smacking of skin to skin and heavy breaths puffed loudly. Her body was so soft, it fit perfectly in his arms.
"Harder, I want it more," Liz demanded and she dug her nails into his sides, pressing herself harder into the brick building and using her leverage to hoist herself up and down, his cock throbbing and threatening to spill.
Renewed vigor came to him as Alec slammed her harshly into the wall, rational concerns gone, and his beast calling for more. Pumping deeper and with bone splintering power, Alec plunged as deeply as he could into Liz and held her, biting her shoulder and pulling back to double his speed- his free hand not supporting their weight slipping between their slick bodies to massage Liz's clitoris, her nerves causing a fluttering in her womb, and Alec exploded inside of her, throwing his head back in a howl of triumph and satisfaction as his seed spilled, Liz's spasms driving his pleasure higher.
Thunder rumbled louder and shook the ground, a streak of lightening crackling in the distance, lighting up the street and casting the couple's shadow across the building front.
Heart pounding in his ears, Alec pulled Liz to his chest, and her body fell against him as her breaths tickled his left shoulder and her cool cheek met his flushed chest.
Catching his breath, Alec leaned his left cheek against her head.
"Couldn't wait till be got inside?" Alec teased, as he held her content to let the rain pour over them.
"I wasn't the only one in a rush," Liz mumbled and then yawned.
"Rain sex, hot," Alec replied. Liz slapped his chest hard and the quick sting of it sent goose bumps down his arms.
"You think all sex is hot."
Chuckling, Alec nodded and Liz shifted in his arms. He met her eyes when she looked up into his, and brought a hand up to smooth back her hair and hold the back of her head as he leaned in to kiss her lips, eyes closing against the rain. It was soft and tender and then it was over, and Alec held her to him as he carried Liz inside- leaving their torn clothes behind on the ground.
"I'm glad Maria hasn't moved in yet. I couldn't imagine her seeing us coming down the hall naked," Liz mumbled, another yawn escaping.
"Did I tire you out already?" Alec teased, cupping her butt with both hands as he climbed the stairs.
"No," Liz said stubbornly, but Alec could tell she was biting back another yawn.
He maneuvered them into the apartment and kicked the door shut behind them. He crossed the distance between the door, the kitchen, his bed, and to the bathroom in a blur, and placed Liz on the counter as he turned the water on warm.
"What are you doing?" she asked, leaning her head back against the mirror, legs spread, and Alec wanted to take her again.
"You need a bath, and then I'm taking you to bed."
"Sounds great. I want to be on top this time," Liz whispered, eyes drooping to half mast.
Fighting back the feel of his cock growing as the water filled the tub; Alec poured some soapy bubble bath into the water. Getting luxuries like bubble bath after the pulse was like getting pre-pulse alcohol- damned near impossible. Expect for Alec.
Gathering a dozing Liz in his arms, Alec stepped into the bath and seated himself as the water sloshed up around him in waves and the wet heat of it began to warm their chilled skin and wash away the rain water as foaming bubbles clung to the lip of the tub and teased Alec's chest as Liz woke enough to move into a more comfortable position.
"It smells pretty," Liz said, her hand playing with the suds as Alec searched for the empty peanut butter jar he used as a bucket. He found it beside the tub and dunked it in the water, using it to pour a waterfall over Liz's head. She squealed in his arms and Alec fought the feeling of her rubbing against his growing erection.
"You look good all wet," Alec said, hand slipping down her front as her back leaned into his chest.
"So do you," Liz told him over her shoulder. He took his time washing them both in the steamy water. "This feels good."
It sure did and Alec fought himself to finish up washing them as quickly as possible and hoist Liz out of the tub. She accepted the towel he pulled from under the sink, and Liz commented on how nice it was to have a hot bath. It was nice, and Alec knew that he wouldn't be able to do it again for a least two weeks- water might flow in Terminal City, but Max had her ways of making sure they had so much hot water per apartment during the month. Mole had the whole thing wired on generators.
Alec gave Liz one of his shirts and he threw on a pair of pants and slipped into bed, pulling her down beside him.
"I thought we were going to-"
"Not tonight, Liz. You need sleep." Alec told her as she straddled him and kissed his neck. "Liz."
"Mhm," she murmured, slipping down his body, the covers pulling down with her as she kissed a trail down his chest and abdomen to his hips. She nipped at his right hip and played with the zipper on his pants, and Alec's cock tented under the material.
"You should rest," he tried again, grabbing her shoulders to stop her, but she looked up at him and he almost died when she lowered her head to his zipper and yanked it down several inches with her teeth while her arms were held captive.
"I want you," she told him and Alec fought the boil of desire and want. "Let me have you."
Giving up, Alec let her go and watched as Liz stretched her body up, sitting on his thighs, and pulled his shirt over her head. Her beautiful breasts stretched with her and Alec leaned up to take a nipple in his mouth, loving Liz's gasp and biting lightly as the nipple hardened. A hand undid his pants and Alec laved his tongue over her areola when Liz gripped his shaft and tugged it from his jeans.
"Bite it harder," Liz demanded, and Alec did as she said. Her back arched and her hips thrust in an upward sweep that brushed her hot, wet opening against his fully erect shaft. He wanted her to push down and taken him into her tight body, muscles clenching.
Sucking harder on her breast, Alec lifted her enough to kick off his pants and settle her just above his cock, waiting for her to take over. She did not disappoint. Alec groaned into her breast, face turning to the side as Liz sat down on him, taking his cock into her, his erection thrusting up to slam home deep inside her. Liz stilled and Alec kissed up to her shoulder and down her upper-arm, stopping at the elbow to nip at the bend where a vein pulsed.
Liz pushed him back into the mattress, her hands remaining on his chest for leverage as she pumped up and down on him, muscles squeezing and milking him, making him grow harder as she grew wetter, and the thudding sound of their bodies meeting was loud in the apartment. Alec's legs were tense with the rush of need. Soon Liz sped up, her knees straining harder against the bed while she cried out to the ceiling, moaning, and rotating her hips. She began to quake above him and her voice quaver as she called "Alec!" and came around him quivering.
She fell forward against his body, and Alec took the opportunity to grip her hips and hold her in place, his took over the rhythm and pumped into her, the need to come burning inside him as his balls tightened and his body became charged.
"Look at me baby," he ordered, and Liz leaned up as her body shivered.
When their eyes met and her mouth opened wordlessly, he came inside her. His orgasm ripped through him and his muscles tightened as surge after surge of sating lust tore through him. Liz called his name in his ears and he whispered hers as her fists slammed against the mattress and her second orgasm came over her in waves, clenching and releasing around him, holding his cock inside her.
"Don't move baby," he told her, the angle perfect as he could see them joined and her deep eyes.
They stayed like that as Alec's breathing began to calm itself, and he pulled Liz down against him, kissing her cheek, and rubbing his face into her hair. He pulled out of her and tucked her into his side.
"Love you," she whispered, a yawn following.
"I love you, Liz," Alec said back, and he closed his eyes to sleep.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I managed to find some free time to update this chapter sooner than expected. Let me know what you think, EK!
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr
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Egyptian_Kiss
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Re: Where Loyalty Lies (DA,XO,UC, ADULT) Ch23 9/3/10
Where Loyalty Lies
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Liz heard knocking- more like pounding- on Alec's apartment door; and she yawned as she stretched luxuriously against Alec's hard body. He was warm and silent beside her on his mattress. The blanket covering them has twisted around his legs and only a corner flap covered Liz's upper-body. Shoving off, she stood and snatched up Alec's shirt as she made her way to the door.
"Stop knocking!" Liz said through the door and the incessant noise cut off.
Glancing over her shoulder to see Alec sitting up, Liz sighed and pulled open the door.
Zack and Maria stood in the door way, Jillian bundled up in Maria's arms.
"It's kind of early for a visit, Maria," Liz chastised. No light had been streaming in from the windows which meant the sun hadn't even peaked the horizon.
Shouldering in front of Maria with a serious face, Zack took the lead, "This isn't a social call, Liz. You and Alec need to get dressed and hurry down to Command. Sandeman has spent all night working on an antigen for the virus spreading which is spreading by the hour. We're going in for talks with political leaders in downtown Seattle. We need every soldier up and ready by 0400."
"How is it even possible for Sandeman to have created the virus that fast? I know biology, it should take weeks at the least," Liz asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She could hear Alec zipping up his pants and the sound of a door opening and closing behind her, but she tried to stay in the here and now.
Maria was looking up at Zack with wide eyes as she shooshed baby Jillian, bouncing her up and down against her chest as she fussed.
"He's been working on Max's blood since we found out about the virus. Your blood completed his original formula. We haven't tested it yet, but Max is trying to arrange a peace conference. It seems like a waste of time, but she won't listen to me," Zack said, and Liz read the frustration on his face. He was used to being the CO in charge and Liz knew he hated taking a backseat- some things never change.
"Maria, you need to bunk down and stay safe. If we end up leaving Terminal City, you won't be guarded out in the open. Krit and Syl live in a building two blocks over. Zack, if they aren't coming with us, I want you to leave Maria and the baby with them. Alec and I will be ready," Liz ordered.
As she went to close the door, Maria's fingers reached out and wrapped around her arm. Liz knew what she was going to say, about the danger, but now wasn't the time. Breaking her hold, Liz stepped back and snapped the door shut.
"We'll talk about this later, Liz! I'm not going to forget," Maria shouted through the door as Liz padded across the floor barefoot to where Alec was securing his belt and sheathing a number of concealed weapons. Liz took in the weaponry and the seriousness awash over his face, and licked her lips. It was sexy when a man was armed.
"I don't have any fatigues here," Liz murmured, glancing around for something.
"There should be a pair in your size in the bathroom. I meant to give them to you last night, but…" Alec looked up as his sentence trailed and a smirk was fixed on his face.
"Don't be sexy right now, I need to think. Not jump your bones," Liz teased and it felt good. It felt good to be normal again, for just a moment. To pretend like their worlds weren't about to fly apart, and that their relationship came first. But it couldn't. Not after they left the apartment, not when they got to Command and faced Max and dealt with Lydecker, not after the aliens found out what was going on. But right then, it felt good.
"Can I be sexy later? Or do you want to take turns," Alec said, wagging his brow up and down and Liz let out an honest-to-God giggle. It was high pitched and girly and so Liz Parker- Liz thought to herself, smiling as she raced passed Alec and into the bathroom.
In the cramped space, Liz managed to tug on the fresh clothes and braid back her hair, tying it off with a plain rubber band that had been twisted around two pieces of a broken hair brush- Alec barely had the essentials fully intact.
"Let's take turns," Liz called to him, emerging from the short hallway leading into the bathroom door.
"Or you'll pin me to the bed again?" Alec whispered, approaching her, tucking her under his chin and embracing her arms and back. Liz heard him breathe in her scent and she closed her eyes and did the same. He smelled like heavy musk with clean soap, wildness and man- a mix of savage civility. It was an instant aphrodisiac.
"I just might have to," Liz said, rubbing her cheek against his pecs, the hard cut lines of his soldier body purr-worthy.
"When this is all over, we're not leaving the room for a week," he promised and Liz felt an internal shiver as they broke apart, kissing hard once on the mouth, and then snatching up the last of the knives from a box in the corner.
Walking through TC was like walking through a ghost town. Nobody was on the streets, sentinels were posted at every exposed area of gating, and the only noise came from Liz and Alec's footsteps, thudding in a resounding stomp over pavement.
The doors to Command Central were closed, locked, and barred. Alec pounded on the door twice and Liz let her face freeze in calculation. She could feel Adia taking over, the animal inside the woman.
Upon walking in, Liz noted Lydecker and his Xs surrounded by heavy guard, and the ring was empty. A group of young X5s stood tall in straight rows at the bottom of the raised platform. Max, Mole, Joshua, Isabel, King Max, Michael, and someone Liz didn't recognize stood in front of the main computer screen that towered above the rest and an attractive looking blond woman with plump lips, green eyes, and pixie cut hair was arguing with them.
The ranks of young X5s parted for Liz and Alec as they marched up the platform and joined Max.
"Who is she?" the blond on the big-screen asked as Liz took lead beside her sister. It felt natural to fall in line beside her, to stand at the forefront with Michael, Max, and Isabel at her back.
"Asha, this Liz. Liz,this Asha of the S1W- a friend of Logan," Max introduced, her voice harsh.
"Hi," Asha said and Liz stared at her unspeaking. Whoever Asha was, she wasn't important enough to talk to, otherwise she would already know who Liz was.
Turning to her sister, Liz raised an eyebrow, "I thought we were leaving for peace talks."
Max's face was still unhappy, severely unhappy, but she nodded, "We are. Logan's sick, but he's been working with the government trying to find a cure for the virus. He knows the people in power, or he did before he contracted a strain of the virus. Asha is working to set up our meeting with a group of politicians who would side with transgenic rights."
Turning back to the screen, Liz sized up the pretty, little blond. She seemed too normal to be caught up in this, too housewife in the 'burbs for soldier training, too self-important to actually hold power.
"If Logan's contracted the virus, we might not be able to help him," Liz stated. If what Liz had heard was true about the virus that kept Max and Logan apart, than an antigen made from her own blood and Max's would kill him.
"I know."
"And is that problem?" Liz asked only because it looked like it was, from the way the blond had been arguing with Max at her arrival.
"Yes. I won't do this if you can't save Logan. I want a guarantee that he'll be okay. I'm not helping out any more transgenics for nothing anymore. All you do is cause problems," said Asha bitterly. Liz could hear the personal vendetta in her words- Max had better be weary.
If the antigen couldn't help Logan, Liz knew who could. She peered over her should at King Max, standing tall and proud, his eyes only on her. Their gazes touched for a moment and their old connection flared to life; Max still knew her better than most and he nodded his head as she tilted her head back up at the screen.
"I guarantee you a cure for Logan. I know someone who can do it. If I send them to you, you will be following our orders. Correct?" Liz stated, noting the still silence that fell around the platform as Maxie sucked in a tiny breath beside her.
"You mean, Logan will be healed? Like right away?" There was so much hope in Asha's eyes that Liz could relate. She was in love and Logan was her only concern- Liz knew what that felt like, that feeling just doesn't die.
"Yes."
"Then yes."
"Good. We'll get back to you. Give your address to Mole and he'll chart a course from us to Logan. We'll send help within the hour. He'll last that long won't he?" Liz checked as Mole began pulling up area maps and satellite feeds.
"One hour," Asha warned and she gave Mole the coordinates.
"Are you crazy? We can't travel across the country in one hour? And all we have to fix this virus is the antigen. How can you promise her a miracle cure?" asked the man Liz had yet to meet. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and non-descript features. He definitely wasn't a transgenic.
"Liz, this is Ryder Marin. He used to work for Jam Pony, my old job. He's here to help us take down hover drones. His father created the invention," Max filled in, waving a hand at the stranger, and Liz nodded.
"Nice to meet you. Now get out of my way," Liz ordered, attempting to pass him at the ramp leading off the platform toward the ranks. He pulled up short in front of her and Liz felt her nostrils flare before she roughly shouldered passed him, making sure to leave a nice bruise for later.
"Max, we need to set up security around one low rise and get everyone from the infirmary and the surrounding buildings inside. The guard around the gates will need to pack heavy weapons, and Lydecker and his people are going to have to come with us as prisoners. If we leave him here, he'll try to take over our base. Zack should stay on to run Command with Mole, but Joshua is going to lead Sandeman and Lydecker into the talks- he's strong enough to keep the rogues in check," Liz started saying, and then she jerked to a stop when a bright light appeared in the center of the room.
The light vibrated, sending off waves of force that would have caused Liz's knees to buckle out from under her if she had kept walking toward it. A woman- the one she had seen Michael with on Antar- appeared in the center of the beam, and the brightness slowly faded away. She was wearing pale blue robes that were fitted to her obscenely tall stature, and her weirdly placed eyes flicked around the room, settling on the platform behind Liz.
"Michael," she said, stepping forward, and Liz immediately felt her skin glowing, turning translucent and the spark that flared inside her drove her to a height of panic. Flipping forward in assault mode, Liz blocked the woman's advance and grabbed her by the throat, threatening to crush her breathing tube.
"Don't move," Liz warned, voice low and dangerous, an inhuman strength coursing through the words.
"Liz!" Michael shouted from behind her and she felt him approach, allowing her grip to tighten marginally, restricting the flow of blood and oxygen.
"Liz, it's okay! Let her go, she's with us," Michael said in a panic, his hands coming up to grip her own.
"Hey, let her go. Back up," Alec shouted and Liz watched Michael's hands fall away. She had been seconds away from kicking his legs out from beneath him, but she fought the humming inside her body, the glowing of her skin and veins, and released her hold from the woman's neck.
Gasping, the woman fell back from Liz, landing on the floor.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Liz snarled, crouching low beside her.
"Michael?" the woman whispered, reaching out to her side. Lighting quick, Liz unsheathed a thigh blade and held it to the woman's neck.
"Liz, she's from Antar. Let her go. She's my sister," Michael said in a soothing voice.
Pulling back the knife, Liz turned to him. "Sister?"
"Half-sister. She can't harm you, or anyone here. Her powers are defense only- a shield like Max's, some dream-walking like Izzy," Michael rushed, dropping down beside them and tugging the strange looking woman into his arms.
"You have family," Liz whispered before straightening. "Good for you."
"And I'd like it if she made it out of here alive."
"Then get her out of here because it's not going to stay safe," Liz told him, stepping away as he helped her up. But Liz still felt the powers rising up inside of her and she knew that every eye in Command was focused on her.
She glanced up to see Max, so stoic before, gaping open-mouthed at her while Isabel bit her lower lip nervously and whispered about Liz's unnaturalness to her brother (she probably didn't realize that every transgenic in the room heard her talking.)
"What are you?" Lydecker asked, his voice carrying across the length of Command. What was she, good question, but Liz still wasn't sure how her powers factored in to her life.
"Anyone who plans on going with us to the meeting, front and center. Anyone staying behind for security, get to your assigned posts. Everyone else, eyes on the exits. Move!" Max shouted out the orders and Liz rejoined her on the platform, the farther away from Michael's sister she got, the less Liz's skin glowed.
"Liz, when did you start glowing?" Isabel asked as Liz stopped in front of her.
"Around the time you left the planet. Look Max, you and Isabel can do that light-porting thing too, right?" Liz asked.
Max and Isabel nodded.
"Good. Mole, you have those directions yet?"
"Got 'em right here, Liz," Mole said through a mouthful of cigar butt.
"Max, I want you to heal Logan. Isabel, you can either go with him, or you can go with me, or you can leave Earth. Those are you options because anywhere else on Earth, is not going to be safe for you," Liz told them both. She could see the icy façade slip over Isabel's face as she stood a little taller and she could see Max's awed expression turn neutral as he accepted her command.
"I'll go with you, Liz. You might need help," Isabel explained.
"And me?" Michael asked, he and his sister standing at the end of the platform looking up- they had the same colored eyes; even though his sister's were higher up on her forehead.
"You serve the Antarian version of a military right? How would you feel about regulating security around Terminal City?"
Liz noticed the way Michael's chest puffed out and she would have smiled if his sister's sudden nearness hadn't set her skin to glowing again.
"You give me the layout of the city and I'll set up a plan," Michael announced. Liz saluted him briefly- which he returned- and then pointed him in Mole's direction.
"What about me?" asked Michael's sister in a musical tone.
What about her, Liz wondered. Something in her eyes set Liz off, not in a bad way, just in an unfamiliar way. She couldn't explain what she felt, but it was worth exploring.
"If you're staying, you might as well help. Michael will find you something to do," Liz said, turning back to Max who was having a side argument with Ryder.
"You can't go," Liz heard her sister say as Raed appeared at her side. Liz had seen him just minutes before restraining Lydecker after his outburst at Liz.
"But I can help. My dad is the one that created those things, I can disable them. It'll keep you moving faster," Ryder argued.
"Can you move so fast you become a blur? If someone has a gun on you, what can you do? Do you know how to hold a knife? If you're shot, can you still run? No, you can't because you're human. So you can't go, got it?" Liz finished. They didn't need liabilities.
"Look, either I come, or I don't tell you how to disable the hover drones," Ryder stated, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling smugly.
It took all of two seconds for Liz to flip him over the platform and join him on the main floor. His body crumpled, back flat, on the ground, and Liz's booted foot slammed over his windpipe and she pulled a small handgun from the waistband of her pants tucked below the small of her back.
"Say that again?" Liz asked, calm anger imbedded in each word. She eased her boot up enough for him to draw breath and speak.
"You shoot the drone from the top, the memory chip and power reader are under the metal surface above the view finder of the camera," he gasped out.
Liz picked up her foot and then dropped down over him to straddle his waist, the gun coming down to point at his right temple.
"You are an easy target. Get it now? Do you still want to play soldier?" Liz whispered lethally.
"Ease up, Liz," Max ordered and Liz glanced up at her sister, gun poised, and tilted her head.
"He needs to understand how serious this is. Everyone needs to understand how serious this is. If Asha leads us into a trap, our security might now be enough," Liz shouted in her first real display of anger. She hated this mission, she hated this snot-nosed asshole beneath her, and she hated that she couldn't predict what would happen next. They were shooting blind in the dark with these government people, and Liz could still remember her flashes from Max back in Roswell when they kissed and White in all his evil glory standing triumphantly before Max. She could remember every harsh edict, all the commands, and the insanity of Manticore as a child. It had all led here, and now they had to trust the very nation that had created and manipulated them? A heinous plan, but necessary.
Getting to her feet, Liz left Ryder cowering on the floor and took a stand by Alec. He had been instructing the ranks of young X5s in which units they'd be running.
"Liz," Isabel said, and Liz felt and saw as a bright light appeared again in the center of the room.
"I'm leaving," Max said from beside his sister. He had come down the ramp in front of Max and beside Alec , stopping by Liz's side.
"Be careful. Try not to expose yourself more than necessary. And come back here or go back to Antar after you're done. We can't risk exposure- not right now," Liz said. She was being driven by her in alien when her glowing skin came out to touch his shoulder. It was so foreign, but it caused the waves of vibration to concentrate on her hand, and Liz could almost feel Max's thoughts in her mind, and she tried to convey to him her thanks- and somehow it worked. Or it must have because Max staggered back from her and stood in the light, a glowing handprint shinning on his skin, the material on his shoulder disintegrated from her touch. The light beam increased in power and then faded into nothing- King Max of Antar gone with it.
All this abnormal activity filtered in through a haze of non-conventional understanding. Soldiers, Xs, were focused on their tasks, Lydecker and his crew of rogue Xs standing staring at her, and Max was too busy giving orders to the tiny party of people that would leaving Terminal City with them.
"You alright?" Alec whispered to her, standing beside her, leaning against the railing.
"I have to be."
"That was a pretty impressive message."
"I meant it to be."
"That glowing thing, it didn't bring on the other-"Alec began and Liz shot him a look that stopped him. He was about to mention what he had seen that night in the alleyway and Liz did not need to think about that. Because if she were being honest, she wasn't sure if that would be a problem at the peace talk. If she couldn't control that rising spark inside of her, she would have to leave- not just the meeting, but Terminal City. Lydecker was already too interested in her, and if the government found out, who knows how long it would be before aliens were exposed, and she was back to being a lab rat for a secret government organized project.
"We leave in one hour," Liz heard Max say, and she tuned back in.
The hour trickled away slowly as Michael and his sister- Vralia- went over schematics with Mole, Max, Raed, and the late-to-arrive Zack. Zack assured Liz that Maria was safe with Krit and Syl, who would be staying to help guard the low rise, and that the baby was sleeping. He seemed distracted, from Liz's position beside Alec, and that made Liz wonder if he was ready to leave Maria.
Asha came back up on the big-screen and Liz took up the center of the platform with Max and Isabel flanking her, Zack, Alec, and Mole surrounding the control panel.
"I don't know what just happened, or how that guy fixed Logan, but you kept your side of the bargain. A meeting is already in place. I'm sending Mole the location as we speak, and they are ready to listen. Good luck," Asha said and her face blinked out from the camera's view. A beeping sound signaled the arrival of a message going through one of Mole's scrambled proxy servers, and three maps of downtown Seattle came up on the screen. The meeting was in a secluded building off the harbor near the airport. There were four sets of blue prints for the building they were going to enter and Liz realized that there were lower levels that were probably supposed to be on the down-low.
"Alright people, fall in. It's time to get going," Max shouted over the assembled crowd, and Liz joined the ranks- Alec at her side and Isabel just behind her.
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Roswell, nor Dark Angel.
Category: Roswell/Dark Angel XO
Rating: ADULT
Pairings: Liz/Alec, Max/Raed, Maria/Zack, Krit/Syl
Summary: Takes place after series finale of DA and Departure on Roswell- except Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all left for Antar; set in DA timeline. When White and his agents get a trace on Liz they come after her and everyone she knows. Kyle is killed along with her parents and the Sheriff. Fleeing for their lives, Liz takes Maria to the one place she has heard of rebellion, where her sister is the leader of 'their' kind. Nothing is certain, but for a supersolid and her Ordinary friend- loyalty is their only protection.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Liz heard knocking- more like pounding- on Alec's apartment door; and she yawned as she stretched luxuriously against Alec's hard body. He was warm and silent beside her on his mattress. The blanket covering them has twisted around his legs and only a corner flap covered Liz's upper-body. Shoving off, she stood and snatched up Alec's shirt as she made her way to the door.
"Stop knocking!" Liz said through the door and the incessant noise cut off.
Glancing over her shoulder to see Alec sitting up, Liz sighed and pulled open the door.
Zack and Maria stood in the door way, Jillian bundled up in Maria's arms.
"It's kind of early for a visit, Maria," Liz chastised. No light had been streaming in from the windows which meant the sun hadn't even peaked the horizon.
Shouldering in front of Maria with a serious face, Zack took the lead, "This isn't a social call, Liz. You and Alec need to get dressed and hurry down to Command. Sandeman has spent all night working on an antigen for the virus spreading which is spreading by the hour. We're going in for talks with political leaders in downtown Seattle. We need every soldier up and ready by 0400."
"How is it even possible for Sandeman to have created the virus that fast? I know biology, it should take weeks at the least," Liz asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She could hear Alec zipping up his pants and the sound of a door opening and closing behind her, but she tried to stay in the here and now.
Maria was looking up at Zack with wide eyes as she shooshed baby Jillian, bouncing her up and down against her chest as she fussed.
"He's been working on Max's blood since we found out about the virus. Your blood completed his original formula. We haven't tested it yet, but Max is trying to arrange a peace conference. It seems like a waste of time, but she won't listen to me," Zack said, and Liz read the frustration on his face. He was used to being the CO in charge and Liz knew he hated taking a backseat- some things never change.
"Maria, you need to bunk down and stay safe. If we end up leaving Terminal City, you won't be guarded out in the open. Krit and Syl live in a building two blocks over. Zack, if they aren't coming with us, I want you to leave Maria and the baby with them. Alec and I will be ready," Liz ordered.
As she went to close the door, Maria's fingers reached out and wrapped around her arm. Liz knew what she was going to say, about the danger, but now wasn't the time. Breaking her hold, Liz stepped back and snapped the door shut.
"We'll talk about this later, Liz! I'm not going to forget," Maria shouted through the door as Liz padded across the floor barefoot to where Alec was securing his belt and sheathing a number of concealed weapons. Liz took in the weaponry and the seriousness awash over his face, and licked her lips. It was sexy when a man was armed.
"I don't have any fatigues here," Liz murmured, glancing around for something.
"There should be a pair in your size in the bathroom. I meant to give them to you last night, but…" Alec looked up as his sentence trailed and a smirk was fixed on his face.
"Don't be sexy right now, I need to think. Not jump your bones," Liz teased and it felt good. It felt good to be normal again, for just a moment. To pretend like their worlds weren't about to fly apart, and that their relationship came first. But it couldn't. Not after they left the apartment, not when they got to Command and faced Max and dealt with Lydecker, not after the aliens found out what was going on. But right then, it felt good.
"Can I be sexy later? Or do you want to take turns," Alec said, wagging his brow up and down and Liz let out an honest-to-God giggle. It was high pitched and girly and so Liz Parker- Liz thought to herself, smiling as she raced passed Alec and into the bathroom.
In the cramped space, Liz managed to tug on the fresh clothes and braid back her hair, tying it off with a plain rubber band that had been twisted around two pieces of a broken hair brush- Alec barely had the essentials fully intact.
"Let's take turns," Liz called to him, emerging from the short hallway leading into the bathroom door.
"Or you'll pin me to the bed again?" Alec whispered, approaching her, tucking her under his chin and embracing her arms and back. Liz heard him breathe in her scent and she closed her eyes and did the same. He smelled like heavy musk with clean soap, wildness and man- a mix of savage civility. It was an instant aphrodisiac.
"I just might have to," Liz said, rubbing her cheek against his pecs, the hard cut lines of his soldier body purr-worthy.
"When this is all over, we're not leaving the room for a week," he promised and Liz felt an internal shiver as they broke apart, kissing hard once on the mouth, and then snatching up the last of the knives from a box in the corner.
Walking through TC was like walking through a ghost town. Nobody was on the streets, sentinels were posted at every exposed area of gating, and the only noise came from Liz and Alec's footsteps, thudding in a resounding stomp over pavement.
The doors to Command Central were closed, locked, and barred. Alec pounded on the door twice and Liz let her face freeze in calculation. She could feel Adia taking over, the animal inside the woman.
Upon walking in, Liz noted Lydecker and his Xs surrounded by heavy guard, and the ring was empty. A group of young X5s stood tall in straight rows at the bottom of the raised platform. Max, Mole, Joshua, Isabel, King Max, Michael, and someone Liz didn't recognize stood in front of the main computer screen that towered above the rest and an attractive looking blond woman with plump lips, green eyes, and pixie cut hair was arguing with them.
The ranks of young X5s parted for Liz and Alec as they marched up the platform and joined Max.
"Who is she?" the blond on the big-screen asked as Liz took lead beside her sister. It felt natural to fall in line beside her, to stand at the forefront with Michael, Max, and Isabel at her back.
"Asha, this Liz. Liz,this Asha of the S1W- a friend of Logan," Max introduced, her voice harsh.
"Hi," Asha said and Liz stared at her unspeaking. Whoever Asha was, she wasn't important enough to talk to, otherwise she would already know who Liz was.
Turning to her sister, Liz raised an eyebrow, "I thought we were leaving for peace talks."
Max's face was still unhappy, severely unhappy, but she nodded, "We are. Logan's sick, but he's been working with the government trying to find a cure for the virus. He knows the people in power, or he did before he contracted a strain of the virus. Asha is working to set up our meeting with a group of politicians who would side with transgenic rights."
Turning back to the screen, Liz sized up the pretty, little blond. She seemed too normal to be caught up in this, too housewife in the 'burbs for soldier training, too self-important to actually hold power.
"If Logan's contracted the virus, we might not be able to help him," Liz stated. If what Liz had heard was true about the virus that kept Max and Logan apart, than an antigen made from her own blood and Max's would kill him.
"I know."
"And is that problem?" Liz asked only because it looked like it was, from the way the blond had been arguing with Max at her arrival.
"Yes. I won't do this if you can't save Logan. I want a guarantee that he'll be okay. I'm not helping out any more transgenics for nothing anymore. All you do is cause problems," said Asha bitterly. Liz could hear the personal vendetta in her words- Max had better be weary.
If the antigen couldn't help Logan, Liz knew who could. She peered over her should at King Max, standing tall and proud, his eyes only on her. Their gazes touched for a moment and their old connection flared to life; Max still knew her better than most and he nodded his head as she tilted her head back up at the screen.
"I guarantee you a cure for Logan. I know someone who can do it. If I send them to you, you will be following our orders. Correct?" Liz stated, noting the still silence that fell around the platform as Maxie sucked in a tiny breath beside her.
"You mean, Logan will be healed? Like right away?" There was so much hope in Asha's eyes that Liz could relate. She was in love and Logan was her only concern- Liz knew what that felt like, that feeling just doesn't die.
"Yes."
"Then yes."
"Good. We'll get back to you. Give your address to Mole and he'll chart a course from us to Logan. We'll send help within the hour. He'll last that long won't he?" Liz checked as Mole began pulling up area maps and satellite feeds.
"One hour," Asha warned and she gave Mole the coordinates.
"Are you crazy? We can't travel across the country in one hour? And all we have to fix this virus is the antigen. How can you promise her a miracle cure?" asked the man Liz had yet to meet. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and non-descript features. He definitely wasn't a transgenic.
"Liz, this is Ryder Marin. He used to work for Jam Pony, my old job. He's here to help us take down hover drones. His father created the invention," Max filled in, waving a hand at the stranger, and Liz nodded.
"Nice to meet you. Now get out of my way," Liz ordered, attempting to pass him at the ramp leading off the platform toward the ranks. He pulled up short in front of her and Liz felt her nostrils flare before she roughly shouldered passed him, making sure to leave a nice bruise for later.
"Max, we need to set up security around one low rise and get everyone from the infirmary and the surrounding buildings inside. The guard around the gates will need to pack heavy weapons, and Lydecker and his people are going to have to come with us as prisoners. If we leave him here, he'll try to take over our base. Zack should stay on to run Command with Mole, but Joshua is going to lead Sandeman and Lydecker into the talks- he's strong enough to keep the rogues in check," Liz started saying, and then she jerked to a stop when a bright light appeared in the center of the room.
The light vibrated, sending off waves of force that would have caused Liz's knees to buckle out from under her if she had kept walking toward it. A woman- the one she had seen Michael with on Antar- appeared in the center of the beam, and the brightness slowly faded away. She was wearing pale blue robes that were fitted to her obscenely tall stature, and her weirdly placed eyes flicked around the room, settling on the platform behind Liz.
"Michael," she said, stepping forward, and Liz immediately felt her skin glowing, turning translucent and the spark that flared inside her drove her to a height of panic. Flipping forward in assault mode, Liz blocked the woman's advance and grabbed her by the throat, threatening to crush her breathing tube.
"Don't move," Liz warned, voice low and dangerous, an inhuman strength coursing through the words.
"Liz!" Michael shouted from behind her and she felt him approach, allowing her grip to tighten marginally, restricting the flow of blood and oxygen.
"Liz, it's okay! Let her go, she's with us," Michael said in a panic, his hands coming up to grip her own.
"Hey, let her go. Back up," Alec shouted and Liz watched Michael's hands fall away. She had been seconds away from kicking his legs out from beneath him, but she fought the humming inside her body, the glowing of her skin and veins, and released her hold from the woman's neck.
Gasping, the woman fell back from Liz, landing on the floor.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Liz snarled, crouching low beside her.
"Michael?" the woman whispered, reaching out to her side. Lighting quick, Liz unsheathed a thigh blade and held it to the woman's neck.
"Liz, she's from Antar. Let her go. She's my sister," Michael said in a soothing voice.
Pulling back the knife, Liz turned to him. "Sister?"
"Half-sister. She can't harm you, or anyone here. Her powers are defense only- a shield like Max's, some dream-walking like Izzy," Michael rushed, dropping down beside them and tugging the strange looking woman into his arms.
"You have family," Liz whispered before straightening. "Good for you."
"And I'd like it if she made it out of here alive."
"Then get her out of here because it's not going to stay safe," Liz told him, stepping away as he helped her up. But Liz still felt the powers rising up inside of her and she knew that every eye in Command was focused on her.
She glanced up to see Max, so stoic before, gaping open-mouthed at her while Isabel bit her lower lip nervously and whispered about Liz's unnaturalness to her brother (she probably didn't realize that every transgenic in the room heard her talking.)
"What are you?" Lydecker asked, his voice carrying across the length of Command. What was she, good question, but Liz still wasn't sure how her powers factored in to her life.
"Anyone who plans on going with us to the meeting, front and center. Anyone staying behind for security, get to your assigned posts. Everyone else, eyes on the exits. Move!" Max shouted out the orders and Liz rejoined her on the platform, the farther away from Michael's sister she got, the less Liz's skin glowed.
"Liz, when did you start glowing?" Isabel asked as Liz stopped in front of her.
"Around the time you left the planet. Look Max, you and Isabel can do that light-porting thing too, right?" Liz asked.
Max and Isabel nodded.
"Good. Mole, you have those directions yet?"
"Got 'em right here, Liz," Mole said through a mouthful of cigar butt.
"Max, I want you to heal Logan. Isabel, you can either go with him, or you can go with me, or you can leave Earth. Those are you options because anywhere else on Earth, is not going to be safe for you," Liz told them both. She could see the icy façade slip over Isabel's face as she stood a little taller and she could see Max's awed expression turn neutral as he accepted her command.
"I'll go with you, Liz. You might need help," Isabel explained.
"And me?" Michael asked, he and his sister standing at the end of the platform looking up- they had the same colored eyes; even though his sister's were higher up on her forehead.
"You serve the Antarian version of a military right? How would you feel about regulating security around Terminal City?"
Liz noticed the way Michael's chest puffed out and she would have smiled if his sister's sudden nearness hadn't set her skin to glowing again.
"You give me the layout of the city and I'll set up a plan," Michael announced. Liz saluted him briefly- which he returned- and then pointed him in Mole's direction.
"What about me?" asked Michael's sister in a musical tone.
What about her, Liz wondered. Something in her eyes set Liz off, not in a bad way, just in an unfamiliar way. She couldn't explain what she felt, but it was worth exploring.
"If you're staying, you might as well help. Michael will find you something to do," Liz said, turning back to Max who was having a side argument with Ryder.
"You can't go," Liz heard her sister say as Raed appeared at her side. Liz had seen him just minutes before restraining Lydecker after his outburst at Liz.
"But I can help. My dad is the one that created those things, I can disable them. It'll keep you moving faster," Ryder argued.
"Can you move so fast you become a blur? If someone has a gun on you, what can you do? Do you know how to hold a knife? If you're shot, can you still run? No, you can't because you're human. So you can't go, got it?" Liz finished. They didn't need liabilities.
"Look, either I come, or I don't tell you how to disable the hover drones," Ryder stated, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling smugly.
It took all of two seconds for Liz to flip him over the platform and join him on the main floor. His body crumpled, back flat, on the ground, and Liz's booted foot slammed over his windpipe and she pulled a small handgun from the waistband of her pants tucked below the small of her back.
"Say that again?" Liz asked, calm anger imbedded in each word. She eased her boot up enough for him to draw breath and speak.
"You shoot the drone from the top, the memory chip and power reader are under the metal surface above the view finder of the camera," he gasped out.
Liz picked up her foot and then dropped down over him to straddle his waist, the gun coming down to point at his right temple.
"You are an easy target. Get it now? Do you still want to play soldier?" Liz whispered lethally.
"Ease up, Liz," Max ordered and Liz glanced up at her sister, gun poised, and tilted her head.
"He needs to understand how serious this is. Everyone needs to understand how serious this is. If Asha leads us into a trap, our security might now be enough," Liz shouted in her first real display of anger. She hated this mission, she hated this snot-nosed asshole beneath her, and she hated that she couldn't predict what would happen next. They were shooting blind in the dark with these government people, and Liz could still remember her flashes from Max back in Roswell when they kissed and White in all his evil glory standing triumphantly before Max. She could remember every harsh edict, all the commands, and the insanity of Manticore as a child. It had all led here, and now they had to trust the very nation that had created and manipulated them? A heinous plan, but necessary.
Getting to her feet, Liz left Ryder cowering on the floor and took a stand by Alec. He had been instructing the ranks of young X5s in which units they'd be running.
"Liz," Isabel said, and Liz felt and saw as a bright light appeared again in the center of the room.
"I'm leaving," Max said from beside his sister. He had come down the ramp in front of Max and beside Alec , stopping by Liz's side.
"Be careful. Try not to expose yourself more than necessary. And come back here or go back to Antar after you're done. We can't risk exposure- not right now," Liz said. She was being driven by her in alien when her glowing skin came out to touch his shoulder. It was so foreign, but it caused the waves of vibration to concentrate on her hand, and Liz could almost feel Max's thoughts in her mind, and she tried to convey to him her thanks- and somehow it worked. Or it must have because Max staggered back from her and stood in the light, a glowing handprint shinning on his skin, the material on his shoulder disintegrated from her touch. The light beam increased in power and then faded into nothing- King Max of Antar gone with it.
All this abnormal activity filtered in through a haze of non-conventional understanding. Soldiers, Xs, were focused on their tasks, Lydecker and his crew of rogue Xs standing staring at her, and Max was too busy giving orders to the tiny party of people that would leaving Terminal City with them.
"You alright?" Alec whispered to her, standing beside her, leaning against the railing.
"I have to be."
"That was a pretty impressive message."
"I meant it to be."
"That glowing thing, it didn't bring on the other-"Alec began and Liz shot him a look that stopped him. He was about to mention what he had seen that night in the alleyway and Liz did not need to think about that. Because if she were being honest, she wasn't sure if that would be a problem at the peace talk. If she couldn't control that rising spark inside of her, she would have to leave- not just the meeting, but Terminal City. Lydecker was already too interested in her, and if the government found out, who knows how long it would be before aliens were exposed, and she was back to being a lab rat for a secret government organized project.
"We leave in one hour," Liz heard Max say, and she tuned back in.
The hour trickled away slowly as Michael and his sister- Vralia- went over schematics with Mole, Max, Raed, and the late-to-arrive Zack. Zack assured Liz that Maria was safe with Krit and Syl, who would be staying to help guard the low rise, and that the baby was sleeping. He seemed distracted, from Liz's position beside Alec, and that made Liz wonder if he was ready to leave Maria.
Asha came back up on the big-screen and Liz took up the center of the platform with Max and Isabel flanking her, Zack, Alec, and Mole surrounding the control panel.
"I don't know what just happened, or how that guy fixed Logan, but you kept your side of the bargain. A meeting is already in place. I'm sending Mole the location as we speak, and they are ready to listen. Good luck," Asha said and her face blinked out from the camera's view. A beeping sound signaled the arrival of a message going through one of Mole's scrambled proxy servers, and three maps of downtown Seattle came up on the screen. The meeting was in a secluded building off the harbor near the airport. There were four sets of blue prints for the building they were going to enter and Liz realized that there were lower levels that were probably supposed to be on the down-low.
"Alright people, fall in. It's time to get going," Max shouted over the assembled crowd, and Liz joined the ranks- Alec at her side and Isabel just behind her.
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal~Pamela Vaull Starr