The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 26 - pg. 19 - 12 / 9 / 20
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 3 - pg. 3 - 1/27
I've been away, so this is an extremely belated birthday wish, but I hope it's not too late to say Happy Birthday, and thank you for another great update!
Of course, you've left me feeling nervous, and unsettled and maybe panicking just a little now that everyone is scattering and in danger. I'd really like to know what's happening to Max and which faction is behind it, and what kind of planning will Liz be able to do, adrift on the subway system with an unconscious bodyguard on her hands?
Van and his people seem to have been observing Max and the others for quite some time - what do they expect from them? Van is looking for signs of Zan in Max, but does he expect Zan to become dominant? If not, what use would Max be to them? If Van is Max's brother, why does the rebellion still need Max?
I was thinking about your point and whether doing the right thing to the best of your knowledge actually makes you one of the good guys. What's right for Van and Antar may not necessarily be what's right for Max and co and Earth. So are Van and what he represents necessarily the good guys? Can we take that on trust?
As usual, you've left me with so many questions - and I love it! I can't wait for the next update and I guess, a trip back to the past. Hope you're able to come back soon, Alix
Of course, you've left me feeling nervous, and unsettled and maybe panicking just a little now that everyone is scattering and in danger. I'd really like to know what's happening to Max and which faction is behind it, and what kind of planning will Liz be able to do, adrift on the subway system with an unconscious bodyguard on her hands?
Van and his people seem to have been observing Max and the others for quite some time - what do they expect from them? Van is looking for signs of Zan in Max, but does he expect Zan to become dominant? If not, what use would Max be to them? If Van is Max's brother, why does the rebellion still need Max?
I was thinking about your point and whether doing the right thing to the best of your knowledge actually makes you one of the good guys. What's right for Van and Antar may not necessarily be what's right for Max and co and Earth. So are Van and what he represents necessarily the good guys? Can we take that on trust?
As usual, you've left me with so many questions - and I love it! I can't wait for the next update and I guess, a trip back to the past. Hope you're able to come back soon, Alix
Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 3 - pg. 3 - 1/27
I was rereading some of this story I came across your reply to my comment from a earlier chapter. No, that doesn't make them good guys except in their own visions. The war between "devils" and "angels" is simple. In the angels we would see the face of God. I don't think God particularly takes sides on day to day battles. I want, someday, to really do a story about Daniel Pierce. I won't here, apply this to the present political situation, except to say that Right and wrong can only be told by history. Serial killers found on Television can be seen to be evil without any redeeming features. True soldiers, in real life, are much more complex. If I was Max I would be stalking old Daniel with two guns blazing. I am not sure that this would make Pierce evil, it would just be a question of personal survival.as I went writing and discovering not only my characters but the circumstances they were in, things started to get rather gray. If everyone is doing the right thing according to their knowledge, though, does that mean they are all the good guys?
Characters are pitted against each other in life and death struggles, just because they believe differently and each sees no room in their survival for this difference. I think readers are stronger when they do not look for devils, but rather conflicts in collusion. My father's favorite story was "All Quiet on the Western Front," by Erich Maria Remarque. Dad fought in WWI and this story tells about the war from the German side.
Wonderful writing as usual,
ken r
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.
Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 3 - pg. 3 - 1/27
Hey all! Thanks for coming back to read!
It's been a zoo at my office, but let's hope things are calming down. Working eleven hours every day every week is not funny anymore ¬¬
I'll be back tomorrow to answer the so much appreciated reviews! But for now, let's see what happened eight years ago
Part 4 : Paperwork
1 : Dave
February, 2003 - Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
“—and the people from the office in Berlin are asking when they are going to see the blueprints for the stealth aircraft you promised them three months ago. That finishes our list for today, but you should notice that—”
Susseth’s long list of to-do’s was one of those things that Dave’s mind heard, but never really listened to. They were on the private jet towards Germany’s capital city, and the redhead was efficiently bringing him up to date. He’d told her he had ten days of “vacation”, while in reality he’d just ended one week of interviews with six teens who could hold the fate of the world in their hands. Ten days where his plan had hung in the balance. But finally, finally, Max had accepted.
“—because the research team is lacking the source material that would endure the—”
Langley had not replied to his message that they had stayed, which didn’t surprise Dave. Langley did things on his time and no one else’s. Van, on the other hand, would soon receive news of this, and he would want to know every single detail there was to know about Antar’s mighty king.
Well, Van, I can tell you Max is still a kid who needs a lot of guiding, but at least he’s still alive…
He wondered how life had treated an Antarian prince. Had Zan been spoiled? Been a whiny little brat? The fact that there was a Rebellion in his name should say something about the man Zan had become, the king who had ruled, however briefly. On the other hand, Max was not yet a man but he’d seen far more things than anyone his age should.
“—but the Network Keepers said it was just a glitch. It looked as if the accountant hadn’t made the transactions the way the logs were displaying but the second attempt was a verified hacker attack that—“
“Wait, what?” This time, he did pay attention. Susseth’s long eyelashes contrasted perfectly with her white skin, and she would have looked beautiful had she not been staring at him in annoyance. “The Network Keepers. I sent you a report about it twice every day. Did you even care about your inbox, at all?”
No, I cared about saving the world from the hands of one pissed off alien rebel. He made a motion with his hand for her to speed things up. This was not a new argument on her part. She just thought life was too short to waste it on nonsense like vacation time. Even if his had been fake vacation time.
She glared at him. He raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay… There have been several money transactions from six different main accounts in the past week alone. Keepers have been busy in Europe tracking the money. They got most of it back, and are working on getting it all right—”
“Where?” Dave interrupted her. He didn’t care about the money. He cared about the breach.
“Sweden, and one in London,” she said, typing and clicking on her laptop to get him the most accurate data. “The money was lost for two hours, thirty seven minutes. The latest hack was five hours ago.”
“And they still haven’t gotten it back?” he asked, surprised. No one had ever managed that feat, let alone for that long. Susseth shook her head. She didn’t know much about computers and codes, but she knew Dave ran a tight ship. This was extremely unusual news.
This hacker was getting bolder and better. Either the kid who’d tried to breach Level Six codes had a friend, or he’d been busy while Dave had been in the air. Or both, he grimly thought. He had too many things going on in his mind to be chasing some glorified programmer around. Now was so not the time.
"Call Ray. Tell him to get half the Keepers around the world chasing this lead. Tell him whoever finds that money will get it as a bonus on their next paycheck.”
Susseth gasped. “That’s fifteen million, three hundred seventy-five dollars and fifty-one cents…” she whispered, pronouncing each number carefully, maybe afraid he would miss the fact of how much money he was talking about.
“Then it’s going to be an interesting competition, don’t you think?”
She stared at him as if he were nuts, a common thing by now after eleven years of working together. She didn’t even blink. “Susseth, are you breathing?” he asked a second later. She shook her head. And then sighed.
“If you had been reading my reports, you wouldn’t be making these rash decisions,” she muttered as she typed Dave’s instructions. He internally rolled his eyes. Money was just a means to an end for him, just as it was that to her, but Dave had a thousand ideas that would give him profit in months if he ever felt the need to use them. Susseth didn’t. She had ideas on how to spend it on projects with no returns. She saw to the needs of a few. Dave saw to the needs of the world. Or at least he liked to think so. Liked to believe his parents would think so, too.
2 : Jake
February, 2003 - US Compound
“I’m telling you, Jake, Michael turned all the bullets into ashes just to see me squirm…” Ray was saying with an uncharacteristic fear in his eyes. Dave had left the compound the week before, and Sunday meant the kids—along with Jake and Ray—had the day free.
“At least now you know he can turn them into ash,” Jake patiently said, writing his own comments and notes for the week to come.
“Yeah, tell me about it… Are you sure this is going to be the right thing to do?” Ray asked, still not liking the idea of spending so much time with their hybrid friends.
“They need to develop the fine points of their skills, and that won’t happen if all they do is blow stuff up. With these exercises, they both practice and get a useful lesson in survival. That will motivate them to do the practice.”
“It’s not like I don’t see your point, I’m just nervous they are going to use me to blow off steam. They think they can’t touch you, but no one said anything about me.”
Jake stopped typing, and smiled at Ray. “You need to show them what you can do. Dave already did with his ambush. I somehow already did just by wearing a lab coat, which is already creepy in and of itself, but I’m not going there. Why don’t you give them a live demostration?” Jake suggested.
“With the telekinesis I don’t possess?” Ray asked, clearly not understanding where Jake was going.
“Do you remember how it was that you impressed Dave?”
“Yeah, at a bar fight in Dublin… Are you suggesting I get them drunk?”
“No," he chuckled, "show them your prowess. All they’ve heard from you is theory. Bring a couple of them to the floor and earn their respect. Liz, Maria, and Kyle are going to start taking self-defense lessons, anyway. Show Michael, Max and Isabel that by the time you’re done with the human part of their group, they won’t have to be so worried about them.”
Ray thought about it for a moment. “If Maria so much as breaks a nail, Michael will kill me…” he murmured. Ray was no coward, but he was no idiot either.
“We’ll figure it out, Ray. They are scared kids who’ve just made one of the biggest decisions of their lives. They are bound to be a tight bundle of energy and distrust.”
Ray wearily looked at him. “Do we figure that out before or after they toast me?”
“Preferably before…” Jake said, starting typing again. He would postpone any type of physical samples for at least a month, but without purpose, activities, goals, boredom and fear would consume their vulnerable minds.
“So, what have you planned so far?” Ray asked, finally beginning to lose that fear and gain a bit interest.
“I’m not sure yet. I want to do something with images… Maybe with a tennis ball…”
3 : Max
March, 2003 - US Compound
“Do you see anything yet?” Max quietly asked, while his eyes focused so hard on the image he had in front of him, that it seemed it could start to smoke any minute now.
“A house?” Liz asked from the other side of the couch in their tiny living room. It was the first time they were trying to see if they could pass an image along their connection. Max was staring at an image, and Liz was trying to see it in her mind.
Max shook his head. They’d been going at it for the past twenty minutes, and he was starting to feel self-conscious. He wasn’t sure if he should be concentrating on letting her in, or if he had to try to get inside Liz’s mind, and try to put the image there.
For the past month, Michael, Isabel and himself had started doing Jake's odd experiments, and things were certainly interesting around the doctor, and more than a little weird.
“Something green?” she asked, eyes closed.
“No,” he said, contemplating the red umbrella he was staring at. Maybe he should try to think just in a color. Or a form. Maybe starting with a thing had been too much. That’s what Jake was trying to do, break something big into small chunks, and work on it step by step. Like a puzzle, just starting with random pieces.
She sighed in frustration a minute afterwards. “You said it worked with Isabel, right?” she tentatively asked, biting her lower lip.
“We were holding hands, so that’s different,” he soothed her, leaving the small stack of images aside. “It felt more like… a blurry picture. Sort of an impression, I guess.”
“Is it weird?” Liz asked, sitting next to him now that they weren't breaking scientific ground, “I mean, to discover something new like this?”
Max blushed slightly. Talking about his powers, even with Liz, always made him feel awkward. “Jake was trying to understand how flashes work. But we weren’t getting any, so he said, ‘maybe if we start with something small…’ I honestly thought it wasn’t going to work. I mean, we were trying to get a flash. How we jumped to this, is anyone’s guess. But… it's a bit scary, you know? Knowing there are still things we don't know about ourselves, and that no one has a clue either…”
Liz nodded in understanding. None of them had said anything to Jake about how they’d been able to actually communicate an image between them, but Jake had known something was going on.
“I keep wondering,” she said, taking his hand in hers, “if I’ll ever get another vision.”
“Liz…” he whispered, feeling an old guilt rising in his throat.
“No, it’s not that I don’t understand that you had to take them away, because I do. It’s just,” she shrugged, “something I wonder about. How would I live with that? Not knowing is scary, but I don’t think knowing would have been… better,” she ended, frowning. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, life, present life, would lose all its meaning, always looking into the future, always trying to fix things... It saved our lives, don't get me wrong, I'm—I'm incredibly thankful I had it, and—"
“I wish you hadn’t had to go through it…” he whispered before she had to feel guilty or apologize for being "normal" again. He hugged her to his chest. “And I know you’ve always said that you’re happy with how things are, but what I wonder is… if your life had stayed normal—"
“Boring,” she corrected him, chuckling.
“Yes, and boring, maybe you would have had more opportunities in life. A place with real windows, and not having to deal with any of this. With powers, or deals, or your husband trying to see if there’s any way you can picture the same thing I’m picturing.”
Liz smiled at that. This was an old argument, Max knew, where she would say everything was fine, and he would still feel guilty about having dragged her into this without her ever having much choice. There was silence for a whole minute as he contemplated life without Liz Parker as his wife.
“I would have died at 16, Max." The statement shattered his view of a happy Liz in a happy life. He wanted to argue the point, but she didn't let him. "Every time you doubt this—this life, the way it is, the things we deal with—don’t think about all the things that you took from me. Think that none of this would have happened if you hadn’t risked your life that day. Don’t you think I find it a little bit worth it? To be alive?”
She hugged him, and he hugged her back. Even after all this time, he still needed to hear some variation of the same answer: I chose you. Despite everything and anything, I chose you. At times like this, there was no Zan, and no powers, or hunters or deals. Just Liz, and the fact that she’d stayed.
4 : Michael
April, 2003 – The Compound
“A red umbrella,” Isabel said after thirty seconds had passed. Max nodded, and went to the next image. The three of them were taking a day in one of the huts, taking some time off. Jake had had to do something or other, and instead of going to watch Kyle, Maria and Liz practicing with Ray, they had chosen to keep practicing, away from prying eyes.
“A blue sweater,” she said, faster this time.
On the other side of the living room, Michael was tossing a tennis ball against the wall. It bounced off the wall, then the floor, and back to Michael’s hand. And in the process, Michael had changed its color three times. In two weeks, he’d gone from being able to change the color once, to three times in a single throw. He was making progress, and he liked it.
“You’re getting good at this,” Max commented to Isabel, turning the next image while she happily shuffled her half of the stack. They were taking turns trying to see the image the other one had.
“It’s just coming clearer,” she said, a smile on her face. She was really getting into this, and Michael couldn't be prouder. Embracing this side of them so fully had always been something they had both feared and wanted in equal parts to the point they had just been stuck. Now there were no excuses.
“Michael, do you want to try it?” Max asked. Michael threw the ball once more, this time to Max.
“I changed it 27 times in a minute. See if you can do it better,” Michael challenged. Max simply smiled and, taking Michael’s place by the couch, started to get the hang of it.
“Who would have thought such simple things could help us improve so much?” Max said, the ball going from green to purple in a space of a blink.
“If this is your way of saying how great Jake is, save it,” Michael said, his mood getting dark. That Max was trusting Jake far more than any of them ever should was no secret. That Michael was against it was no secret either.
Max's ball became black. It seemed they had been arguing over just about anything when it came to Jake or Dave.
“Don’t,” Isabel said in a fierce tone. “We’ve always been afraid of trying things on our own, that’s a fact,” she pointedly said to Michael, “I’m not happy some guy in a lab has more ideas about how to go about our powers than we do,” she continued, “but I’ll take any help I can get.”
Michael opened his mouth to protest, but she beat him to it. “We want this, Michael. Not for Jake’s sake, but our own. We have to decide how much we should show him, though…”
“We can’t be dragging our feet all the time, he’ll know something’s up,” Max pointed out, the ball forgotten in his hand. Michael sighed in frustration. Leave it to Max to want to be the straight A student.
“We need to compromise,” Isabel pointed out. “Not so fast, but not so slow.”
"He doesn't know what to expect," Michael argued back, "We can go as slow as we want."
"But if we just suddenly do something too advanced…" Isabel said with uncertainty.
“Maybe we shouldn't hold back just yet," Max said, thoughtful. "We are just beginners, after all. Once we are more practiced then we'll know how to hold back," he pointed out, the black tennis ball turning back to green.
"I don't like him knowing what we can do…" Michael said in a somber tone, feeling watched all over again. Reluctantly, he grabbed the images Max had been using a moment before, while Isabel turned the next one on her lap, getting ready to send Michael what she was seeing.
"None of us like to feel so exposed," Max agreed in a quiet tone, placing a hand on Michael's shoulder. An image formed instantly in Michael’s mind. A second after, Max frowned. "A green car," Max said, naming the exact thing Michael had seen. Both men turned to look at Isabel, expectant.
"Yes!" she said, showing them the green car she was holding in her hands. "Max! You weren't even trying!"
The three of them looked at each other in equal parts surprised and excitement. They really were getting better. And from now on, the sky's the limit, Michael thought with a smirk.
5 : Jade
May, 2003 – Antar
Things were changing fast.
Being a rebel had taught Jade quite a few things, especially how to read a person, a group, and more importantly, the mood in a room. Few had been called to this meeting, as usual, but all eight of them were shifters, a fact that was not lost within the group. He couldn't remember a day when he hadn't felt the oppressive atmosphere that came with secret meetings, no, but there was also a glimmer in Van's eyes today that he had never seen before.
It's a mission, Jade thought with glee. Finally! Something important enough to have all of us together and Van himself, here!
Jade had done his share of missions, plenty of small ones and a few medium ones. Shifters were closely followed, and eluding tracking could be a pain. If they were caught aiding the Rebellion, death would not come swiftly.
There were fewer shifters being engineered now, too, a growing point of discord amongst his kin. Khivar did not like shapeshifters, and tolerated them because they were a commodity too valuable to let go. But his campaign against gene manipulation at all costs rang hollow to a race of beings who had been entirely created thanks to that, and who could not reproduce themselves without it. Shifters as a whole remained mostly neutral, waiting to see where the balance would fall. But the few who were aiding the Rebellion, who were aiding Van, had been promised true freedom, away from the tracking system and a life condemned to the military.
Though the tracking system has already been cracked, Jade idly thought as they were waiting for Van's second in command. We are living proof that we can get away from it. If the Rebellion hadn't been so close to getting the upper hand, Jade would have escaped eons ago. But a fugitive shifter was alone, hunted like an animal, and killed on the spot if not worse. A rebel shifter had the aid of the Rebellion, plus it had a nicer ring to it.
So, Jade had decided a few weeks back, if things don't change soon, I'll take my chances as a fugitive living for a few months free, than staying for the slim hope that someday I'll be free, and die a slave anyway.
"The mission you're about to be briefed in," Van started without his second in command present, "has two purposes." A hologram came to life, a blue planet lazily rotating. An alien planet, since none of the five sister-planets in Antar's solar system were blue. "You'll familiarize yourselves with the culture in the following months, and those of you who excel at your training will become the Invisible Guard."
Van looked at each of them in turn, all having been stunned at the announcement. The Invisible Guard was not only the highest honor a shifter could earn in his entire life, but it meant Van was entrusting them with the king's location. They would be his bodyguards.
There hasn't been an Invisible Guard since before I was born, Jade thought, swallowing hard. Zan had been the last ruler to honor the tradition, that was no secret, and even to someone like him, a would-be-deserter, the offering seemed astonishing. Jade had heard that those shifters closest to Van had been using the term loosely until Van had forbidden it. It was that important even to their leader.
"Those of you who do not earn one of the four honors will still be sent to this planet and aid the Invisible Guard in whatever task might present itself. I don't have to tell you the monumental importance of the information you're about to hear. If you accept this mission, you won't see Antar for a long time. You won't even leave this place to say good-bye. Is that understood?"
It would later occur to Jade that if any of them had refused, they would have been killed outside their meeting place once they had left. They had already learned too much.
Yet When do we start? was all Jade had been able to think that night.
It's been a zoo at my office, but let's hope things are calming down. Working eleven hours every day every week is not funny anymore ¬¬
I'll be back tomorrow to answer the so much appreciated reviews! But for now, let's see what happened eight years ago
Part 4 : Paperwork
1 : Dave
February, 2003 - Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
“—and the people from the office in Berlin are asking when they are going to see the blueprints for the stealth aircraft you promised them three months ago. That finishes our list for today, but you should notice that—”
Susseth’s long list of to-do’s was one of those things that Dave’s mind heard, but never really listened to. They were on the private jet towards Germany’s capital city, and the redhead was efficiently bringing him up to date. He’d told her he had ten days of “vacation”, while in reality he’d just ended one week of interviews with six teens who could hold the fate of the world in their hands. Ten days where his plan had hung in the balance. But finally, finally, Max had accepted.
“—because the research team is lacking the source material that would endure the—”
Langley had not replied to his message that they had stayed, which didn’t surprise Dave. Langley did things on his time and no one else’s. Van, on the other hand, would soon receive news of this, and he would want to know every single detail there was to know about Antar’s mighty king.
Well, Van, I can tell you Max is still a kid who needs a lot of guiding, but at least he’s still alive…
He wondered how life had treated an Antarian prince. Had Zan been spoiled? Been a whiny little brat? The fact that there was a Rebellion in his name should say something about the man Zan had become, the king who had ruled, however briefly. On the other hand, Max was not yet a man but he’d seen far more things than anyone his age should.
“—but the Network Keepers said it was just a glitch. It looked as if the accountant hadn’t made the transactions the way the logs were displaying but the second attempt was a verified hacker attack that—“
“Wait, what?” This time, he did pay attention. Susseth’s long eyelashes contrasted perfectly with her white skin, and she would have looked beautiful had she not been staring at him in annoyance. “The Network Keepers. I sent you a report about it twice every day. Did you even care about your inbox, at all?”
No, I cared about saving the world from the hands of one pissed off alien rebel. He made a motion with his hand for her to speed things up. This was not a new argument on her part. She just thought life was too short to waste it on nonsense like vacation time. Even if his had been fake vacation time.
She glared at him. He raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay… There have been several money transactions from six different main accounts in the past week alone. Keepers have been busy in Europe tracking the money. They got most of it back, and are working on getting it all right—”
“Where?” Dave interrupted her. He didn’t care about the money. He cared about the breach.
“Sweden, and one in London,” she said, typing and clicking on her laptop to get him the most accurate data. “The money was lost for two hours, thirty seven minutes. The latest hack was five hours ago.”
“And they still haven’t gotten it back?” he asked, surprised. No one had ever managed that feat, let alone for that long. Susseth shook her head. She didn’t know much about computers and codes, but she knew Dave ran a tight ship. This was extremely unusual news.
This hacker was getting bolder and better. Either the kid who’d tried to breach Level Six codes had a friend, or he’d been busy while Dave had been in the air. Or both, he grimly thought. He had too many things going on in his mind to be chasing some glorified programmer around. Now was so not the time.
"Call Ray. Tell him to get half the Keepers around the world chasing this lead. Tell him whoever finds that money will get it as a bonus on their next paycheck.”
Susseth gasped. “That’s fifteen million, three hundred seventy-five dollars and fifty-one cents…” she whispered, pronouncing each number carefully, maybe afraid he would miss the fact of how much money he was talking about.
“Then it’s going to be an interesting competition, don’t you think?”
She stared at him as if he were nuts, a common thing by now after eleven years of working together. She didn’t even blink. “Susseth, are you breathing?” he asked a second later. She shook her head. And then sighed.
“If you had been reading my reports, you wouldn’t be making these rash decisions,” she muttered as she typed Dave’s instructions. He internally rolled his eyes. Money was just a means to an end for him, just as it was that to her, but Dave had a thousand ideas that would give him profit in months if he ever felt the need to use them. Susseth didn’t. She had ideas on how to spend it on projects with no returns. She saw to the needs of a few. Dave saw to the needs of the world. Or at least he liked to think so. Liked to believe his parents would think so, too.
2 : Jake
February, 2003 - US Compound
“I’m telling you, Jake, Michael turned all the bullets into ashes just to see me squirm…” Ray was saying with an uncharacteristic fear in his eyes. Dave had left the compound the week before, and Sunday meant the kids—along with Jake and Ray—had the day free.
“At least now you know he can turn them into ash,” Jake patiently said, writing his own comments and notes for the week to come.
“Yeah, tell me about it… Are you sure this is going to be the right thing to do?” Ray asked, still not liking the idea of spending so much time with their hybrid friends.
“They need to develop the fine points of their skills, and that won’t happen if all they do is blow stuff up. With these exercises, they both practice and get a useful lesson in survival. That will motivate them to do the practice.”
“It’s not like I don’t see your point, I’m just nervous they are going to use me to blow off steam. They think they can’t touch you, but no one said anything about me.”
Jake stopped typing, and smiled at Ray. “You need to show them what you can do. Dave already did with his ambush. I somehow already did just by wearing a lab coat, which is already creepy in and of itself, but I’m not going there. Why don’t you give them a live demostration?” Jake suggested.
“With the telekinesis I don’t possess?” Ray asked, clearly not understanding where Jake was going.
“Do you remember how it was that you impressed Dave?”
“Yeah, at a bar fight in Dublin… Are you suggesting I get them drunk?”
“No," he chuckled, "show them your prowess. All they’ve heard from you is theory. Bring a couple of them to the floor and earn their respect. Liz, Maria, and Kyle are going to start taking self-defense lessons, anyway. Show Michael, Max and Isabel that by the time you’re done with the human part of their group, they won’t have to be so worried about them.”
Ray thought about it for a moment. “If Maria so much as breaks a nail, Michael will kill me…” he murmured. Ray was no coward, but he was no idiot either.
“We’ll figure it out, Ray. They are scared kids who’ve just made one of the biggest decisions of their lives. They are bound to be a tight bundle of energy and distrust.”
Ray wearily looked at him. “Do we figure that out before or after they toast me?”
“Preferably before…” Jake said, starting typing again. He would postpone any type of physical samples for at least a month, but without purpose, activities, goals, boredom and fear would consume their vulnerable minds.
“So, what have you planned so far?” Ray asked, finally beginning to lose that fear and gain a bit interest.
“I’m not sure yet. I want to do something with images… Maybe with a tennis ball…”
3 : Max
March, 2003 - US Compound
“Do you see anything yet?” Max quietly asked, while his eyes focused so hard on the image he had in front of him, that it seemed it could start to smoke any minute now.
“A house?” Liz asked from the other side of the couch in their tiny living room. It was the first time they were trying to see if they could pass an image along their connection. Max was staring at an image, and Liz was trying to see it in her mind.
Max shook his head. They’d been going at it for the past twenty minutes, and he was starting to feel self-conscious. He wasn’t sure if he should be concentrating on letting her in, or if he had to try to get inside Liz’s mind, and try to put the image there.
For the past month, Michael, Isabel and himself had started doing Jake's odd experiments, and things were certainly interesting around the doctor, and more than a little weird.
“Something green?” she asked, eyes closed.
“No,” he said, contemplating the red umbrella he was staring at. Maybe he should try to think just in a color. Or a form. Maybe starting with a thing had been too much. That’s what Jake was trying to do, break something big into small chunks, and work on it step by step. Like a puzzle, just starting with random pieces.
She sighed in frustration a minute afterwards. “You said it worked with Isabel, right?” she tentatively asked, biting her lower lip.
“We were holding hands, so that’s different,” he soothed her, leaving the small stack of images aside. “It felt more like… a blurry picture. Sort of an impression, I guess.”
“Is it weird?” Liz asked, sitting next to him now that they weren't breaking scientific ground, “I mean, to discover something new like this?”
Max blushed slightly. Talking about his powers, even with Liz, always made him feel awkward. “Jake was trying to understand how flashes work. But we weren’t getting any, so he said, ‘maybe if we start with something small…’ I honestly thought it wasn’t going to work. I mean, we were trying to get a flash. How we jumped to this, is anyone’s guess. But… it's a bit scary, you know? Knowing there are still things we don't know about ourselves, and that no one has a clue either…”
Liz nodded in understanding. None of them had said anything to Jake about how they’d been able to actually communicate an image between them, but Jake had known something was going on.
“I keep wondering,” she said, taking his hand in hers, “if I’ll ever get another vision.”
“Liz…” he whispered, feeling an old guilt rising in his throat.
“No, it’s not that I don’t understand that you had to take them away, because I do. It’s just,” she shrugged, “something I wonder about. How would I live with that? Not knowing is scary, but I don’t think knowing would have been… better,” she ended, frowning. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, life, present life, would lose all its meaning, always looking into the future, always trying to fix things... It saved our lives, don't get me wrong, I'm—I'm incredibly thankful I had it, and—"
“I wish you hadn’t had to go through it…” he whispered before she had to feel guilty or apologize for being "normal" again. He hugged her to his chest. “And I know you’ve always said that you’re happy with how things are, but what I wonder is… if your life had stayed normal—"
“Boring,” she corrected him, chuckling.
“Yes, and boring, maybe you would have had more opportunities in life. A place with real windows, and not having to deal with any of this. With powers, or deals, or your husband trying to see if there’s any way you can picture the same thing I’m picturing.”
Liz smiled at that. This was an old argument, Max knew, where she would say everything was fine, and he would still feel guilty about having dragged her into this without her ever having much choice. There was silence for a whole minute as he contemplated life without Liz Parker as his wife.
“I would have died at 16, Max." The statement shattered his view of a happy Liz in a happy life. He wanted to argue the point, but she didn't let him. "Every time you doubt this—this life, the way it is, the things we deal with—don’t think about all the things that you took from me. Think that none of this would have happened if you hadn’t risked your life that day. Don’t you think I find it a little bit worth it? To be alive?”
She hugged him, and he hugged her back. Even after all this time, he still needed to hear some variation of the same answer: I chose you. Despite everything and anything, I chose you. At times like this, there was no Zan, and no powers, or hunters or deals. Just Liz, and the fact that she’d stayed.
4 : Michael
April, 2003 – The Compound
“A red umbrella,” Isabel said after thirty seconds had passed. Max nodded, and went to the next image. The three of them were taking a day in one of the huts, taking some time off. Jake had had to do something or other, and instead of going to watch Kyle, Maria and Liz practicing with Ray, they had chosen to keep practicing, away from prying eyes.
“A blue sweater,” she said, faster this time.
On the other side of the living room, Michael was tossing a tennis ball against the wall. It bounced off the wall, then the floor, and back to Michael’s hand. And in the process, Michael had changed its color three times. In two weeks, he’d gone from being able to change the color once, to three times in a single throw. He was making progress, and he liked it.
“You’re getting good at this,” Max commented to Isabel, turning the next image while she happily shuffled her half of the stack. They were taking turns trying to see the image the other one had.
“It’s just coming clearer,” she said, a smile on her face. She was really getting into this, and Michael couldn't be prouder. Embracing this side of them so fully had always been something they had both feared and wanted in equal parts to the point they had just been stuck. Now there were no excuses.
“Michael, do you want to try it?” Max asked. Michael threw the ball once more, this time to Max.
“I changed it 27 times in a minute. See if you can do it better,” Michael challenged. Max simply smiled and, taking Michael’s place by the couch, started to get the hang of it.
“Who would have thought such simple things could help us improve so much?” Max said, the ball going from green to purple in a space of a blink.
“If this is your way of saying how great Jake is, save it,” Michael said, his mood getting dark. That Max was trusting Jake far more than any of them ever should was no secret. That Michael was against it was no secret either.
Max's ball became black. It seemed they had been arguing over just about anything when it came to Jake or Dave.
“Don’t,” Isabel said in a fierce tone. “We’ve always been afraid of trying things on our own, that’s a fact,” she pointedly said to Michael, “I’m not happy some guy in a lab has more ideas about how to go about our powers than we do,” she continued, “but I’ll take any help I can get.”
Michael opened his mouth to protest, but she beat him to it. “We want this, Michael. Not for Jake’s sake, but our own. We have to decide how much we should show him, though…”
“We can’t be dragging our feet all the time, he’ll know something’s up,” Max pointed out, the ball forgotten in his hand. Michael sighed in frustration. Leave it to Max to want to be the straight A student.
“We need to compromise,” Isabel pointed out. “Not so fast, but not so slow.”
"He doesn't know what to expect," Michael argued back, "We can go as slow as we want."
"But if we just suddenly do something too advanced…" Isabel said with uncertainty.
“Maybe we shouldn't hold back just yet," Max said, thoughtful. "We are just beginners, after all. Once we are more practiced then we'll know how to hold back," he pointed out, the black tennis ball turning back to green.
"I don't like him knowing what we can do…" Michael said in a somber tone, feeling watched all over again. Reluctantly, he grabbed the images Max had been using a moment before, while Isabel turned the next one on her lap, getting ready to send Michael what she was seeing.
"None of us like to feel so exposed," Max agreed in a quiet tone, placing a hand on Michael's shoulder. An image formed instantly in Michael’s mind. A second after, Max frowned. "A green car," Max said, naming the exact thing Michael had seen. Both men turned to look at Isabel, expectant.
"Yes!" she said, showing them the green car she was holding in her hands. "Max! You weren't even trying!"
The three of them looked at each other in equal parts surprised and excitement. They really were getting better. And from now on, the sky's the limit, Michael thought with a smirk.
5 : Jade
May, 2003 – Antar
Things were changing fast.
Being a rebel had taught Jade quite a few things, especially how to read a person, a group, and more importantly, the mood in a room. Few had been called to this meeting, as usual, but all eight of them were shifters, a fact that was not lost within the group. He couldn't remember a day when he hadn't felt the oppressive atmosphere that came with secret meetings, no, but there was also a glimmer in Van's eyes today that he had never seen before.
It's a mission, Jade thought with glee. Finally! Something important enough to have all of us together and Van himself, here!
Jade had done his share of missions, plenty of small ones and a few medium ones. Shifters were closely followed, and eluding tracking could be a pain. If they were caught aiding the Rebellion, death would not come swiftly.
There were fewer shifters being engineered now, too, a growing point of discord amongst his kin. Khivar did not like shapeshifters, and tolerated them because they were a commodity too valuable to let go. But his campaign against gene manipulation at all costs rang hollow to a race of beings who had been entirely created thanks to that, and who could not reproduce themselves without it. Shifters as a whole remained mostly neutral, waiting to see where the balance would fall. But the few who were aiding the Rebellion, who were aiding Van, had been promised true freedom, away from the tracking system and a life condemned to the military.
Though the tracking system has already been cracked, Jade idly thought as they were waiting for Van's second in command. We are living proof that we can get away from it. If the Rebellion hadn't been so close to getting the upper hand, Jade would have escaped eons ago. But a fugitive shifter was alone, hunted like an animal, and killed on the spot if not worse. A rebel shifter had the aid of the Rebellion, plus it had a nicer ring to it.
So, Jade had decided a few weeks back, if things don't change soon, I'll take my chances as a fugitive living for a few months free, than staying for the slim hope that someday I'll be free, and die a slave anyway.
"The mission you're about to be briefed in," Van started without his second in command present, "has two purposes." A hologram came to life, a blue planet lazily rotating. An alien planet, since none of the five sister-planets in Antar's solar system were blue. "You'll familiarize yourselves with the culture in the following months, and those of you who excel at your training will become the Invisible Guard."
Van looked at each of them in turn, all having been stunned at the announcement. The Invisible Guard was not only the highest honor a shifter could earn in his entire life, but it meant Van was entrusting them with the king's location. They would be his bodyguards.
There hasn't been an Invisible Guard since before I was born, Jade thought, swallowing hard. Zan had been the last ruler to honor the tradition, that was no secret, and even to someone like him, a would-be-deserter, the offering seemed astonishing. Jade had heard that those shifters closest to Van had been using the term loosely until Van had forbidden it. It was that important even to their leader.
"Those of you who do not earn one of the four honors will still be sent to this planet and aid the Invisible Guard in whatever task might present itself. I don't have to tell you the monumental importance of the information you're about to hear. If you accept this mission, you won't see Antar for a long time. You won't even leave this place to say good-bye. Is that understood?"
It would later occur to Jade that if any of them had refused, they would have been killed outside their meeting place once they had left. They had already learned too much.
Yet When do we start? was all Jade had been able to think that night.
"There's addiction, and there's Roswell!"
Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
I'm so excited that you're opening out the story to include the Antarians.
I love the insights we're getting into Dave, Jake and Ray. I love the way you're catching the kids' characters in just a few strokes. Max, always the straight A student - made me smile, and his love for Liz comes through very strongly. Their mixed excitement and wariness in discovering the extent of their abilities rings very true.
I thought I wanted to know most of all what was happening in the present but this flashback reminds me how the past informs the present. Than you for another great update Misha and thanks for finding the time to post this. Hope life calms down for you soon, Alix
I love the insights we're getting into Dave, Jake and Ray. I love the way you're catching the kids' characters in just a few strokes. Max, always the straight A student - made me smile, and his love for Liz comes through very strongly. Their mixed excitement and wariness in discovering the extent of their abilities rings very true.
I thought I wanted to know most of all what was happening in the present but this flashback reminds me how the past informs the present. Than you for another great update Misha and thanks for finding the time to post this. Hope life calms down for you soon, Alix
Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
I have been working in a universe where the hybrids are still learning about their powers. Reading here i wonder how much any of us know about our own power. I remember once when there was a seizure in a class. They called me out of my class to help. Why I don't know, when shit happened they usually called on me. I now think they wanted to see me fail. Going into this situation somehow I brought all I had ever been taught or read about seizures. It was almost like some one else was doing things. Your hybrids are taking a better direction by asking what could they do. I guess it would be hard for someone else to dare you to extend yourself, but if ideas don't come they you go to those who have ideas.
We forget that while the episodes of Roswell were happening, there still was a revolution going on back at their home.
as always very good
ken r
We forget that while the episodes of Roswell were happening, there still was a revolution going on back at their home.
as always very good
ken r
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.
Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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- Roswell Fanatic
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
Still there are lots of questions in the outstanding story.....
However...."Max is not yet a man yet he has seen more than his age should".........that says it all!
I am glad Liz realizes she would have been dead without Max saving her.
Can't wait for more.......and answers to some of the questiions.
Carolyn
However...."Max is not yet a man yet he has seen more than his age should".........that says it all!
I am glad Liz realizes she would have been dead without Max saving her.
Can't wait for more.......and answers to some of the questiions.
Carolyn
Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
Ha, so Ray is scared of Michael? He hasn't lost it, huh? He'll always be the intimidating one, in the group. With Isabel close behind. She can be scary, too .
Interesting that we learn more about the aliens. I kind of like them. Usually, I prefer to read about our characters but I really appreciated knowing more about Van and his life, his way of thinking. I think he will play an important role, since he is developped early in the third story.
Interesting that we learn more about the aliens. I kind of like them. Usually, I prefer to read about our characters but I really appreciated knowing more about Van and his life, his way of thinking. I think he will play an important role, since he is developped early in the third story.
Michael : From day one, I knew you were the girl for me, I never wanted anyone else.
- Timelord31
- Enthusiastic Roswellian
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
when we getting the next part?
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
Yes Misha - I'm addicted again now too and really must have the next part!
- Misha
- Addicted Roswellian
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 4 - pg. 4 - 3/1
hey giiiiiiirl!!! ::tackles::
Chapter 5 is done and betaed. I just need to figure out if I leave the last part there, or make it the first part of ch. 7. All in all, it should be sometime next week
Chapter 5 is done and betaed. I just need to figure out if I leave the last part there, or make it the first part of ch. 7. All in all, it should be sometime next week
"There's addiction, and there's Roswell!"