The Rise & Fall Of The Guardians (AU, CC, Adult) [WIP]

[Sundae]

Banner by: Me

Title: The Rise & Fall Of the Guardians

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Belongs to Katims, Metz...etc etc.

Parings: ALL, CC - Heavy on the M/M, but will have decent amount of all the other couples

Rating: Adult

Summary: A plan is put into motion and through it, four guardians awake and the lives of several people become in-twined like never before.

Warning: Dark Universe. This fic revolves around murder and because of that, I have no idea how dark I will get. Character deaths of MINOR/SIDE characters.

Author’s note 1: The shooting at the Crashdown never happened, here the the podsquad don't know they are aliens (they know they're a little different, but their powers aren't developed enough). They're all adults with their own careers.

Auhtor's note 2: Pretty nervous about posting this. This is the first thing I'm releasing...and it's scary. Hope you guys like it. My main characters do not get introduced till chapter four. I know (hides behind book), but there is heavy back-plot that will lead to the involvement of my characters and it needs to be told. I hope you give it a chance and your patience doesn't run thin.

*Thanks to Valentinebaby for being an awesome beta!


CHAPTER ONE

"Wake up Santa Fe, this is your merrily host Spence and you got that right, it's time for another round of 'what's that sound.'"

The buzz of the forgotten radio stood still among the soft peaks of the morning grass, busily chattering away to its otherwise non-responsive host. The morning dew had just settled into a fine frenzy, happily giving roots of arubela supplely peaking from the vibrantly colored ground a nice sheen of dewy moisture.

Everywhere…the air was clean and crisp, and smelled of sweet honeysuckle and fresh jasmine – a sure sign of the emerging light. Up in the sky, the sun had just settled and peaked its first cloud as twittering birds took to the sky, singing a soft melody as the flowers below began to stretch, lazily opening their petals and yawning out their color to the rest of the world.

And there, right there, underneath that silvery oak tree adorned heavily with pearl colored moss, slept Pier Marlow on the blood-thirsty, rusty colored bench. His mouth was hanging open, a long drop of drool hanging low and high, as if taking musical cues from Pier’s snores themselves. His feet were dangling off the bench, one trailing the ground, while the other was off at an odd angle, hanging off the top of the bench in apparent ease. His disheveled hair was dark and messy, small freckles adoring his young face of only fifteen and his clothes were strewn and mismatched, one shirt tail un-tucked while his pants rode dangerously high on his ankles…giving a definite air of being an “oddity” to a passerby who didn’t know any better.

Pier missed the first of the tapering feet, slowly making its way towards the vaulted and gothic like parliament building that sat just opposite the rusty colored bench. He also missed the second, and third, fourth and fifth…all up to the hundredth skittish feet, as they ran across the now empty courtyard, obviously quite late for an important meeting based on the way the feet jumped and skidded to halt at the reddish-brown wooden doors that separated the inside from the outside. It was only the insistent and annoying buzz of the radio that finally aroused Pier from his heavy slumber, acting up as it usually did every so often. Pier slapped a heavily sleep induced hand against the radio, missing and cursing, as he shot up when his hand swiped across a rusty colored nail on the bench instead; drawing blood. Cursing a few times, Pier frowned as he sucked his finger indignantly, eyeing the abominable bench warily, stupid bench he thought; before finally rubbing his eyes and looking around. He had just turned his freckled face around to see a swish of black enter the double doors of the parliament building and immediately shot up into the air, cursing like a sailor as if his own hide had been on fire.

Oh no, oh noooo, oh no, no, no! Pier’s eyes grew wide ah he hastily tucked in his shirt tail, while plopping his feet back into his bulky and black leather bound boots. He swiped his hair out of his eyes in one quick motion before turning and pushing his “coffee and scones” cart across the courtyard at lightning speed only to halt it squealingly, causing birds to shoot up from the nest and squawk indignantly. Pier swiped his hands at the birds before turning around and running back to the blood thirsty bench, swiftly picking up his radio and giving it a gentle caress before moving back to navigate his rickety cart across the pale colored concrete.

It was only upon reaching the ivory steps of the parliament building, that Pier for the first time teetered on his feet in hesitation. But not thinking twice, Pier smoothed down his slight beige button down shirt nervously before taking a deep breath and slowly lifting his cart up the steps one by one. He almost slipped at the puddle of water at the top of stairs had he not reached out to steady himself by holding onto the iron brass door handle with velocity. A sheepish grin excited his face as he quickly patted his shoulder in simple triumph before entering the building, thankful that he hadn’t messed up or ruined his clothes so much so that he missed the cold chill that had suddenly passed through the courtyard behind him.

Out in the courtyard, a chilling figure smoothly glided across the pavement, his feet barely making a sound as they touched the concrete. His dark hair was long and sleek, tied back in an attractive pony tail and his small goatee was trimmed spectacularly, pronouncing his strong jaw line and declaring his handsome face even more handsome if that was possible. A slight frown marred his face as he unconsciously twirled a few fingers round and round in the air, causing the leaves on the trees behind him to wilt and die, the grass instantly turning brown, a shimmer of ice coating their fragile greenery, while everything in his wake turned a shade of cryptic and chilling black.

The figure smoothly went up the stairs, the puddle now magically dry as he pushed open the doors in careless abandonment. Soft hues of yellows and oranges met his hard cold eyes, but he paid no attention to the lavishly decorated building, nor to the girl at the desk waiving madly at him to check in, for his stride immediately took him forward to the double doors down the corridor. Opening the doors in one quick motion, sending them blasting against the wall in echoing crack, Khivar entered smoothly, his cunning face impassive as he took in the elders sitting upon their mighty high thrones in what he thought should rightfully belong to him.

“Khivar, so nice of you to finally join us.” Archer Forsyth, First Emerald Elder of Antarian Class, gave no smile as his inquisitive eyes wandered over the walls, watching small spider cracks quickly forming upon the wall as a result of the brute impact of Khivar’s ill-directed power.

“Archer, it’s a pleasure as always.” Khivar smiled as she strode across the hall, ignoring the little minions of court insects – filthy alien-human hybrids who had no real right to belong to the court of elders as far as he was concerned; and took a seat in the royal court next to the other one-time world leaders.

“Good, now that we are all accounted for and present.” Archer gave a nod towards Pier, who was sitting cross legged in his chair, tongue in cheek, and a pen and paper in his hands as he prepared to transcribe every spoken word. “It is my honor as First Emerald Class to call this meeting into order.” He waved his hand and everybody watched in awe as the door suddenly closed, the shutters pulled themselves down and a packet of a dozen or so odd papers flew to each member present in the hall. “As you may have heard, the human population is in grave danger. The new XEF virus that they have so un-wisely named has been determined by our own scientist to be of alien nature.”

The hall erupted in small gasps as heated whispers broke out in small groups here and there. “Because of this new development,” Archer went on above the now hushed whispers. “The elders and I have come to a decision that it is time for the humans to know that we exist.”

Everywhere, heavy grunts and voices of disapproval erupted in a fiery outburst. “Well that is just preposterous.” A brown fellow with white hair stood up. “We cannot let the humans know of our existence, think of the ramifications it could have, not just on our powers but on our very own personal lives. They will want to study us and then limit us. I am running for mayor in my own hometown’s upcoming elections, revealing the truth will only hurt my chances. My life will be ruined; everything I have worked for will be ruined. And please, let’s not forget what happened to those aliens captured in 1837. These humans crucify their very own, claiming witchcraft and voodoo when something strange occurs. What makes you think that we would be treated any different now?”

“Aye,” another fellow stood. “I agree with Henry there. We cannot let the humans know of our existence, too many blood wars have been fought when battling species collide. We have lived in peace on earth for eight hundred years now; I don’t see why we cannot continue to do so.”

“Well I disagree.” A short stout woman, with regal looking hair stood. “I think it’s high time that we let the humans know of our existence. Heck, most of us are already married to humans and even more of us have hybrid human children. It is time that our kids can walk outside and not have to fear being found out by another human when their powers blindly erupt, seeing as they are so uncontrollable at that age.”

“No, I just don’t see why this is necessary. If this virus if affecting humans, why not just provide them with an antidote from one of our scientists and move on. Why is it necessary for the humans to know of our existence now?”

“Yeah, it’s not like we don’t look like humans to walk into a facility and provide them with an antidote. Why now?” Muffled cheers and grunts echoed in the air as swarms of chit-chat erupted in the halls.

“OUR concern,” Milton Fulbright stood tall from the elders table, his willowing beard and red robes immediately drawing the scattered conversations to a close. “Is as Mary has expressed. Many of us have already taken to human mates, and even more of us have produced off-springs as a result. Don’t you see what this could mean for our children and human partners? This virus is not only affecting humans but hybrids as well, our children are dying and our own scientists are baffled at how to combat human illnesses that seem to be just as large a factor as the virus itself. Our knowledge of human illnesses and medicines is limited, and our antidotes are only effective against alien viruses…and since human medicine seem to have an adverse effect on our alien genes, it will only be a matter of time before our children suffer and we fall into a dying breed. Thus far, it looks like the virus is only affecting children – humans and hybrids alike…but we are racing against time. We do not have the resources, or the time to create a dual antidote. This virus is an old world Antarian virus, specifically designed and programmed to infect the dominant species and destroy them. If we don’t step up now, the human world as we know it will no longer exist…the earth’s atmosphere will be ruined and it will no longer provide us the immunity we seek from other alien planets that choose to seek and destroy us. And we have nowhere else to go, for Antar is dust, and Questia is nothing more than a raging ball of inferno, Earth is our only option and it is time that we learn from our past mistakes, learn to co-exist among those that have given us refuge…and the only way to do so is to start from a platform of truth.”

Small grumbles and jeers echoed in the hall, but no one seemed to question the elder. He was right, and if this virus was affecting their very own species, ignoring the problem now would only make things worse in the future.

“Our decision is not yet final.” Archer stood once more as he gave a fleeting nod to Milton, who had once again taken his seat. “Three of our elders are away on inter-galactic business, and till they return, our decision is on hold. However, we are expecting full backup and support and therefore must warn all of you to prepare. This revelation will not be an easy. We will meet opposition, we will meet prejudice and even violence, but it is our duty to remain as civil and as non-violent as we can. If we want to continue living on Earth, then we must first show that we can abide by human nature and its rules. The elders are expected to be back in two weeks…till then, go home, prepare, and tell your loved ones. There is no doubt in our minds that many of you will lose jobs and your livelihood, but just think that this is for the greater good, both yours and ours and our future generations. We are expecting to reveal ourselves to the government in one month’s time. Till then…thank you.” Archer stepped down from his platform and walked over to the other thirteen elders sitting on their thrones, shaking each one’s hands and conveying small forms of thanks and secret words.

The people in hall all stood; baffled, confused, happy, sad – every possible emotion running through their bodies as they tried to process the meaning of today’s meeting. Knowing that the elders had powers beyond them, knowledge and hindsight that allowed them to foresee the future, no one dared complain. Especially since the elders themselves were bound by humility and the very need to see their people prosper. If they were to cross the lines, their pain and suffering would be enough to make someone fall to their knees to their deaths, the sadness itself being too great to witness.

Down at the royal courts, Khivar stood angrily, his fists clenched tightly while his blood boiled angrily in his cold veins. This was not how it was suppose to go. The virus was never meant to push the elders into revealing themselves to the humans; no, it was meant to push them into opening the portal to the other worlds. Angrily, his swiftly wrapped his cloak back around his body, his eyes threatening to burn holes in the elders heads as he made his way across the halls…one month, he had one month to stop this sheer atrocity.

TBC...

[Sundae]

Begonia9508: Ahh thank you so much for your response. Your one meant so much. Thank you. Hope you like the next chapter...if you thought that one was frightening...well...

Thanks to Valentinebaby for being an awesome beta!

Author's Note: Okay...so, just want to clear some confusion about the podsquad that I have received. When I introduce them, for the most part they will be as you have always known them. Four kids found (since Tess is not evil here) wandering out in the desert. Max and Isabel still get adopted by Diane and Phillip Evans, Michael goes off to foster care/orphanage, Tess gets adopted by a different family. In this universe though, the podsquad don't know they are aliens...and they will all be adults with their own careers. Also...this is the darkest chapter I write...so if you can handle this...you can probably handle the rest.


CHAPTER 2

Archer smiled as he approached his young nephew, seeing him bent low in his chair in sheer concentration as he penned each and every word spoken by the elders. “Pier, I am so happy that you have decided to transcribe again. Your powers are genuinely specialized; so many these days forget old magic and opt for crude forms of technology instead. Transcribing is an art and it is a livelihood in itself and I am proud that you have chosen to continue to do so.”

Pier frowned for a moment, looking at his pen before looking up at his uncle, a small but genuine smile grazing his lips. “Uncle, what I have here is nothing…you call this magic, but I…I just don’t see it.” Pier bent low again, putting a finishing mark on the paper before looking away, hesitant to look up at his uncle after his confession.

“Ah boy, it is magic. You just have to believe. I know how much it hurts you to know that you are an enigma…but you must see that power and magic are one…and that they come in many forms. So…you do not possess physical power, but that doesn’t mean you do not have it in another form.” Archer smiled, patting his nephew on the shoulders. “You have it here,” Archer pointed that the piece of paper and pen, “and here,” he pointed to Pier’s heart. “And that is more than many a man have possessed.” Archer smiled. “But now, enough of this babble, tell me, did you bring me my favorite scones?” He asked eagerly.

Pier smiled and chuckled at his uncle. “Yes sir, how could I forget your scones?” He rolled his eyes as he stood up. “My cart is just outside the doors, wait here and I’ll go get it.” Pier stood as he raced outside to the doors, only to turn back around and abruptly run into something hard. “Oh sorry, sir, I didn’t see you there.”

Khivar hissed as he looked at the filthy boy that had knocked into him. “Stupid, filthy vermin, it’s because of scum like you that we are now forced to cut ourselves open to humans who have never otherwise shown us mercy.” Khivar swiped an angry blow at the boy, knocking him backwards and into the wall.

“KHIVAR,” Archer stood angrily. “What do you think you are doing?” He strode forward to face the brute man. “I have warned you time and again, if you use your powers to cause harm, I will revoke them, and trust me Khivar…you do not want to go through that process.”

“Archer…what is it that I have done?” Khivar sneered as he looked at the balding man. “I was merely talking to the boy before he decided that he should run into the wall and bang himself across the floor…it was quite an abysmal show…you might want to have his head checked, I hear enigma’s are prone to lunacy.” With that, Khivar didn’t give Archer another chance to respond before swiftly leaving through the double doors. His time was limited and he was needed elsewhere.

Archer shook his head and sighed heavily before quickly running to his nephew. “Pier? Dear, are you all right?”

“Fine n’ dandy, like cotton candy.” Pier spoke clumsily, happily, as he gave a sheepish grin to his uncle…definitely quite out of it.

“Oh dear,” Archer chuckled as he helped his nephew up. “Come on now son, up you go,” he heaved Pier into an upright position before standing up himself. “I better get you home, or your caretaker will think that I am responsible for your current state and God knows what she will do then.”

-------

Khivar paced back and forth in his study, still visibly angry at the turn of events from today’s meeting. This was no good, absolutely no good. These elders were fools, sheer and utter fools who were doing nothing more than ruining their blood lines. He had to stop this. If there was any chance of him reclaiming the throne of power he had held seventy years ago on Antar, he had to act now and he had to act fast. If he couldn’t have another planet, then by all means necessary, he was going to take Earth.

“Sire’, we have word from that archeologist we hired to work in the desert, Grant Sorenson, says he found a burial ground there.”

Khivar jerked his head up at the news, a shrewd smile encompassing his face. Well it looked like things just might happen quicker than he thought. “Prepare the car and get the kit ready.”

“Yes sir.” The servant left and hurriedly raced down the hall, briefly stopping to tell the butler to prepare the car, before entering the lab. “Vilandra, we need another batch of the virus, make it a double and you might want to get dressed, Khivar is leaving for the desert.”

Vilandra lifted her head up from the microscope; her short spiky hair and gothic make-up making Timothy shudder as he quickly backed out of the lab, wanting to get as far away from her as possible. Vilandra stood, a cruel smile on her face as she picked up a vial. “This little piggy is going to the market,” Vilandra sang, “and this little piggy,” she picked up another small vial and placed it in the black kit before closing it, “is going to go ka-boom.” She laughed heartily as she picked up her coat, quickly securing it around her body before walking out of the lab, black kit in hand.

“Do you have the kit?” Khivar asked as he looked at his reject-lover.

“Of course,” Vilandra smiled as she stood up on her tipy-toes, placing a kiss to Khivar’s lips.

Khivar quickly shook her off as he wiped his mouth. “How many times have I told you? NOT when we have business to attend to, and NEVER when someone is around.” Khivar pushed her away before swiftly entering the black limo, immediately giving directions to the driver.

Vilandra growled angrily, but immediately wiped her anger away as she slipped into the car from the other side. Whatever, she would have him when all this was done.

By the time they arrived at the desert, it was pitch black, the sun having descended a couple hours ago. Grant Sorenson was waiting out by a small freshly dug hole, a shovel in hand and a small flash light in the other. He visibly straightened up upon seeing the limo arrive and cursed his palms for getting sweaty and his heart rate for racing. He was doing this for Isabel; he just had to remind himself of that. All he needed was three thousand dollars more, then he would be able to get her the engagement ring he knew she had her eye on. No need to stress on the fact that he was dealing with an extremely shady man that always seemed to send chills up his spine.

Khivar stepped out the car, his hands encased in sleek black gloves as he approached the filthy fucker. Human…God, he detested humans. Smoothing his face to convey surprise, he approached the little minion and reached out his hand, shaking the other man’s with harsher force than what was required. “The burial site?” He inquired immediately.

“Ahh…yes sir, uh, well let’s see, according to my maps, it should be around here.” Grant quickly moved as he pointed towards the ground where had placed orange markers. “I’ve mapped out the general area with orange markers, but those green ones you see are the exact pinpoints of where I think the underground site begins and ends. And as you can see, it wraps around a pretty big parameter.”

Khivar looked at the ground carefully; noting the small indentions and markings only his alien eye was trained to see. Yes…this looked more like it. He had been looking for the burial ground where the elders had incased the guardians of the royals a mere seventy years ago. They were placed here after it was found that one of the guardians had turned on his duties, and instead of protecting the royals as it was designed to do, instead it chose to seek out power, sucking the life out of those aliens and humans alike and melding their sprits into its own persona. Bending low to the ground and emitting a soft hum of energy, Khivar smiled when suddenly the ground caved in to show a small cave covered in blue and green crystals.

“Wha…what…how…where…?” Grant took a couple giant steps back, his eyes widening in shock at the image before him. “How…how did you do that?” He looked up at Khivar, suddenly feeling a cold, sinking feeling entering the pit of his stomach.

“How?” Khivar smiled cunningly. “Oh…how about I show you instead?” He slowly approached the cowering man, removing the sleek black glove from his right hand before roughly grabbing Grant, placing his hand on his chest. “This is how.” Khivar whispered wickedly as he focused his energy on burning the other man, fucking him to the ground and into death where he belonged.

Grants eyes bulged in shock, pain suddenly emitting in his chest so fast, that he didn’t even have time to register what the other man was doing…no, instead, he caught sight of a familiar looking girl smiling happily as she exited the car. “Isabel…?” He whispered before he was gone, crumpled to ground, lifeless.

Khivar frowned at the stupid man’s last words. He was expecting pleads of mercy and cries of agony…not….not…Isabel, what was that? Following his gaze to the car and seeing Vilandra exit, his mind spun circles as to why this filthy minion called her Isabel. Why would he call her Isabel and why did he look like he recognized her…could it be? But before Khivar could finish that thought, Vilandra approached and snuck a hand around his waist.

“Hmm…I love when you put them in their rightful place.” She purred as she let her hands roam over his chest, her tongue sneaking out and trailing a wet passage on his neck.

Khivar quickly shook her off. “Not now, we have things to do. Bring me the kit.”

Vilandra reeled back; Shock, hurt, and anger written across her face. But knowing better than to question Khivar, she swallowed her feelings and opened the kit. “Which vial do you want?”

“The black one….I want to make sure that when I wake these guardians, they are under MY control.”

Vilandra nodded as she began to prepare the vial. Using her powers, she heated the vial until it scorched her hand, burning it until it singed black, but paying no attention to the pain she was feeling, she swiftly picked up a syringe, filling it with the toxic waste she had created the day before.

Khivar stood back in ease and watched Vilandra work in interest. Isabel…interesting, why would that fucker call her Isabel? Discretely stepping back to the crumpled body of that minion, Khivar bent low to search the dead man’s mind. Luckily for him, memories don’t fade until the body fully decays. Reaching out with his mind, Khivar placed his stealthy fingers on Grants forehead and concentrated on pulling out his memories. Sudden images flew past his eyes and Khivar’s heart thudded in his chest as he caught sight of his queen, his beautiful queen, the real one. Isabel Evans. Oh how had he not known, how had he not known that his queen existed in such grandeur and exquisite light, her beauty, her light…she was everything he was looking for, the very thing he needed to complete his throne. Khivar quickly shook himself of the images as he turned to face Vilandra and his blood surged in anger, she was a royal, SHE was a fucking royal and she didn’t tell him. The fucking bitch knew about Isabel, the fucking bitch knew and lied to him; the fucking reject piece of shit. Khivar stood angrily, hovering over his ex-lover’s soon to be ill-fated form, anger…anger boiling in his veins.

Vilandra stood once the vial was complete. Turning around, she smiled at Khivar. “It’s ready.” She spoke seductively as she trailed her fingers over his silky white button down shirt. God, he was gorgeous, she thought.

Khivar quickly gripped her hand, stopping its roam over his chest as he crushed it, putting all his power and energy into burning and breaking her bones. She needed to be taught a lesson and she needed to pay. Ignoring her squeals of pain, he roughly pushed her closer to his body, swiftly bending down and kissing her lips harshly, biting on her lips till he drew blood. “My dear Vilandra,” Khivar smiled as he snaked his tongue out, capturing the small droplets of blood that were beading out from Vilandra’s lips before lifting his finger and trailing it down her face. “Why did you lie to me?” He asked in a hushed whisper.

Vilandra’s eyes grew wide in fear; tears welling in her eyes at the overwhelming amount of pain she was feeling in her hands that she didn’t even realize that Khivar had bitten her lips until she saw the blood on his. Pushing roughly against him, she shook her head not understanding why he was acting like this. “Khivar, what are you doing?”

“Me?” Khivar gave a grunting laugh. “ME?!,” he repeated once more, a crazed gleam threading his eyes. “No, the question is, what are you doing.” He pushed her till she fell to the ground, hoping that he didn’t have to kill her. She was after all, extremely useful and resourceful.

“What are you talking about? I haven’t done anything!” Vilandra shuffled back in a rare portrayal of fear, wincing in pain when her bruised, burnt and broken hand met the ground.

“Does the name Isabel Evans mean anything to you?” Khivar abruptly knelt to the ground, crowding her in her space until she was forced to completely lie down.

“Isa…Isabel? I…I don’t know what—“

“Don’t fucking play your little tricks with me Lonnie, you fucking piece of shit. Why didn’t you tell me you were a royal?” Khivar looked at her, wanting to kill her right then and there…but no, there was a time and place and he was going to make her suffer. “ANSWER ME!” Khivar shook her.

Vilandra screamed when Khivar shook her, not expecting this kind of cruel treatment from him. Yeah, he’d hurt her before…but this…here…he looked like he wanted to kill her. “What do you want me to say, royals don’t exist no more. Bloodlines gone, what difference does it make if I’m a royal or not…don’t’ matter neways seeing as I’m the defect.”

“GET UP!” Khivar pushed her. “I said, GET UP!” He lifted her off of the ground. “You still have work to do before I kill you.” Khivar spoke smoothly as he ignored her, picking up the black kit as he handed her the syringe. “You know what to do.”

Vilandra slowly looked at the syringe in her hand, the words before I kill you, echoing over and over in her mind. He was going to kill her, why? She had given up everything for him, her life, her brothers and sister. Everything.

“HURRY UP!”

Vilandra looked at Khivar briefly, hesitantly, before taking the syringe and climbing down the in-cave. Inserting the needle into the green crystal, she pushed the black liquid into it, watching as it suddenly hummed to life, swirling electrical sparks of red and purples as it reacted with the blue crystals. Quickly getting out of the cave, she was met with a heavy blow to her chest as Khivar blasted her.

Vilandra screamed as she fell with a giant thud against the desert ground, her body shaking and spasmping just from the sheer impact of the pain that coursed through her body.

Khivar ignored her shrieking form as he hopped down into the in-cave, his hands moving over the blue and green crystals, a generous smile on his lips. Quickly pulling out a white crystal he had procured long ago from a child, he inserted it into the base, watching as it melted into the metal groundings causing a white beam of light to shoot up into the sky as the metal casing that held the guardians cracked.

Fully stepping back, Khivar gave a menacing laugh, welcoming his new servants, welcoming his ticket to his right full throne.

TBC...?

[Sundae]

Thanks once again for the feedback.

April - Thanks for the feedback. And lol at Lost. I have such a love/hate relationship with J.J Abrams, I could go on and on about him. But have you noticed that any show he has produced...as soon as he brings in a story line that revolves around (destiny, prophesy, or the one) it starts to go downhill. And I swear...I don't think he's ever going to give up on that particular point until he's finally successful at it. I mean he did in Alias, Lost...he's doing it in Fringe....its so

And the child...well that will be revealed in the future chapters, you're just going to have to read.

Begonia - Thanks for the feedback...your characters are coming in the NEXT chapter. I know...I took a risk making this the first story, but ah well. Hope you like this chapter.

Authors Note

So one day late...but ahhh, extra long update. It's enough for two chapters, so you can't hate me for it.

And you guys probably hate me right? You're wondering where M/M and the other characters are, and you don't like me because I haven't delivered yet. It's okay...I kinda hate me too. But sometimes creativity comes in a certain way...that it's better to let it be free than hinder it or try to mold it. Thanks for sticking with this story so far...and I am happy to say...this is the last chapter - so next one...FULL OF OUR MAIN CHARACTERS


CHAPTER 3

Four beady eyed creatures tore through the red gel and porous like fabric, stretching the material until it gave way and revealed their true form. Seventy years…seventy years they were stuck under the ground, their bodies decaying, dying that their true alien skin meshed with their former human persona. Their skin was now black, cracked at several places as if dehydrated. Their muscles and tendons were easily seen, defined and depressed after years of lack of nourishment and all of this was in sharp contrast to their eyes. Three stood tall with white eyes and one stood tall with red. Nasedo.

The one with red eyes was the first to move. Sensing that the others had awakened just as he; he cocked his head to the right, ignoring the laughing man in front of him for a second. With sheer strength, he quickly turned his body, swinging his right hand straight out like a chopper, forming an energy blast at the same time and instantly slicing a complete tear through the throats of other three guardians.

Three sets of white eyes instantly faded as they fell to the ground, crumpled and lifeless. Gone

Khivar shrieked in an almost girlish scream as he panicked and dodged out of the way, ducking below in the in-cave and cowering away from the bullying monster. His heart thudded in his chest and his eyes grew wide upon seeing the other three guardians now lying by his feet, their silvery green blood oozing out and onto his cloak, their blank eyes now staring up at him almost imploringly. Fear gripped his mind and chest as he tentatively looked up, whimpering slightly at seeing the black monster now looking at him with genuine interest; his red eyes lingering on his form almost hungrily.

Khivar backed away and toppled over some rocks, maneuvering himself quickly into the small space of the cave as Nasedo walked closer, watching as the monster bent low to the ground, his stiff bones and muscles making a cracking sound in the process.

Nasedo cocked his head to the right, then to the left as if studying Khivar, a small sneer forming on his lips as recognition finally dawned. Pathetic. Seventy year and still the fucking swine hadn’t changed one bit. Still the fool who thought himself to be the almighty powerful one, well…that was soon about to change, Nasedo thought, laughing at the thought of the other man finally dead. He had been nothing but a fucking thorn in his hide since his inception as a guardian.

Almost instantly, without another flick of his head, Nasedo jumped towards Khivar, forming an energy blast as he prepared to slice Khivar to death. Absolution. That is all he wanted, freedom from the elders and freedom from this fucking swine that always managed to somehow get him to do his dirty work. No more.

An echoing blast suddenly pierced the air as both bodies collided, Nasedo’s own energy blast rebounding back to him, throwing him against the wall in an shattering blast, the side wall of the cave suddenly caving in and burying him under a pile of stone.

BOOM! Khivar backed away, turning his body into a ball as he tried to protect himself from Nasedo’s attack only to be met by…nothing. Huh? Slowly opening his eyes, Khivar shifted slightly seeing the ruminants of green shield quickly disappearing. Oh….It worked…the virus worked. All these years, he had been trying to perfect the virus, get it to do what he needed and finally, finally it worked. Nasedo was under his control. Marveling in that thought, Khivar smiled as he watched the now cowering Nasedo, lying huddled in the cave, his right arm tucked close to his body, nurturing it, soothing it as if he was in pain. “What did you do to me?” Nasedo questioned as he look up at Khivar, his voice coming out scratchy and dry. “What did you fucking do to me?”

Khivar split a smile, a knowing sneering teetering on the edge of his lips. Roughly getting up from the ground, he circled closer to Nasedo. “I have work for you.”
“Work?!” Nasedo stood, pushing through the debris. “What makes you think that I work for you?”

Khivar smiled. “Pick up that rock!” He gestured with his head toward a stone lying nearby and watched as Nasedo’s body jerked.

Nasedo’s body jerked a feather like shift towards the chosen rock. Gritting his teeth, he fought the urge to pick up the fucking stone. His body shook, his muscles vibrating, before his strength finally snapped and he bent low, picking up the stone. Cursing his body’s revolt, Nasedo screamed as he hurled the rock towards Khivar’s, missing him by inches as another green shield of protection formed, deflecting his weapon. No! No, it couldn’t be! Nasedo watched in horror as the green shield disappeared…

Khivar laughed heartily…an amused grin on his face. “I would think twice before attempting to kill me,” Khivar piqued as he jumped out of the in-cave. “I hope that showed you who your new master is. Now, come out here and into the light so we can discuss things.”

Nasedo looked around the cave, cursing his body’s involuntary moment towards Khivar’s direction. Fighting the request, Nasedo instead ran forward and immediately pinned Khivar to the ground. "What makes you think that you can control me?" He asked as he cocked his head to the left, his hands on Khivar’s throat, almost chocking him. “I defied the elders…what makes you think that I couldn’t do the same with you?”

“You won’t” Khivar laughed.

“And what makes you so sure?” Nasedo growled as he tightened his grip on Khivar’s neck…a small energy blast building in his body.

“Because I can give you what you want…power and freedom.” Khivar watched in interest at seeing Nasedo’s demeanor suddenly change at the mention of power and freedom."

“How?” Nasedo stepped back, releasing Khivar.

“The elders are a nuisance and they need to be stopped. But seeing as they are protected by old magic, elder’s magic, I cannot touch them.” Khivar heaved himself up from the ground, wiping the dirt off of his pants. “But you…you are the only one that I know of who has ever defied the elders. You went against their powers; you bent the rules and defied your orders.” Khivar gave Nasedo a curious look. “I need you to kill them.”

Nasedo let out a huffing laugh. “Even I can’t do that, believe me, I’ve tried. I may have been able to defy their orders but I still can’t touch them.”

“You can now. Your ties to the elders are cut. You saw it and you know it…why else would you have picked up the rock when I told you…why else would there be a shield protecting me from you.” Khivar looked at the man. “Your loyalty has shifted, but you still have the power to defy them. I need you to kill them. Think about it Nasedo, without the elders in the picture…you will no longer have to be limited in the type of power you can have. They won’t be there to stop you this time.”

Nasedo perched his head in his hands as he thought up about the meaning of everything. This was all too good to be true…what was Khivar up to? “But what makes you so sure that I won’t defy you then? If I am no longer under the elder’s rule, then they are of no burden to me.”

“They have power.” Khivar smiled, expecting the question. “You are an original shape shifter, part of you powers include taking on someone else’s form and powers alike. Since you are no longer under the elder’s rule, you can kill them and take their power. The elder’s have just as much power as the royals…just imagine…sixteen elders all with unique power, just ready for your taking.”

Nasedo lifted his head up, the alluring thought of power making his head spin.

Khivar smiled. Little did he know…that the more power he acquired…the faster the virus would work to kill him. Oh well!

----------

Vilandra quietly watched from her position on the ground as she struggled to get her body under control, finding it difficult as her body continued to shake uncontrollably as wave after wave of pain rippled through her. Lifting her head slightly, she caught a glimpse of Khivar's pacing form and gritted her teeth in anger. He blasted her! The son-of-a-bitch fucking blasted her, he was just going to he kill her like that, after everything she had done for him, after everything she given up for him.

Slowly sitting up, she strained to hear what he was saying; chocking slightly when she caught sight of Nasedo standing there...Oh God, he looked like a monster. Moving closer, she ducked behind a large boulder as she strained to hear what Khivar was saying.

"The elders are a nuisance and they need to be stopped....I need you to kill them!"

Vilandra shuffled back as the magnitude of the words hit her. He was going to kill the elders? No...that was not what she had meant to do when she helped Khivar release the guardians. The elders were the only reason she and other royals were alive today. The elders gave them a second chance...when Antar had died seventy years ago; the elders brought them to Earth and made it so that no one would recognize them. They gave them a chance to live out their lives in peace...without the preconceived notions of being a royal, the true ones or the defects. They were meant to live freely and equally, Antar was gone and with it was the royal rule... Earth was a gift to them. And now it would all be taken away if Khivar succeeded in killing them.

She watched as Khivar blasted a hole into the ground, covering up the remains of the cave and all the evidence that anything happened there before swiftly entering the car. She had to stop him!

Slowly moving her hand, she riffled through her pockets until she found another vial. It was too late to reverse what had already happened here, but maybe this would at least hinder Nasedo some. Moving her body slowly until she reached the forgotten kit, She quickly worked to prepare the vial, filling it up with the synthesized drug she had made only days before. Looking over her shoulder, she gave a rueful nod at seeing Nasedo still hunched over the ground, his head in his hands. Good, at least he wasn't moving, it would make things easier.

Slowly moving forward, Vilandra crouched low behind a large boulder, her hand shaking with both the weakness from Khivar's earlier blast and at the fear of what she was about to do. She tipped her head back, taking a few long breaths before lunging forward, maneuvering her whole body in the air so that when she landed she immediately puncture Nasedo with the syringe.

Vilandra landed in a heap on Nasedo's side, her arm quickly moving out in front of her as she pierced Nasedo in the chest, near his heart. Not even giving herself a chance to think, she quickly emptied the contents of the syringe before being met with an echoing blast from Nasedo, throwing her body across the desert floor. A piercing scream met her ears and she watched for a minute as Nasedo struggled with his body, the drug taking it's full effect...before she passed out.

---------

Earlier that morning....

"He's gone." The receptionist ducked her head into the hall and nodded her head at the elders who were seated around a large conference table.

"Do you think he bought it?" One of the elders questioned as he looked at Archer.

"Aye, we have word from Timothy that he has gone to the desert." Archer spoke softly as he turned his head to look at Pier who was sitting quietly a couple of chairs away, his head busy in some hand-held game.

"Good, for this to work, it is imperative that he believes we plan on revealing ourselves to the human race. Khivar has gotten away with too much and it is time he sees that Earth is not Antar and whatever power or position he once held there, it has no merit here."

"We should have never brought him here when Antar died...what were we thinking?"

"That we would finally be able to repay the Antarians for coming to our aid when Questia died. If it weren't for them, we and our people would have died had they not provided us refuge and transport to Earth those eight hundred years ago"

"We should have foreseen this sooner, Khivar was a monster there, he killed his own people and now he's going to kill ours."

"Every man deserves a second chance--"

"Oh and at what cost! The lives of our children? We have finally learned how to blend in with Earth's society in the most natural of ways...but now, everything we have strived for, everything we have aimed to give to our people is going to be ripped from us and we are powerless to stop it."

"We are not completely powerless Dino and you know that."

"Not powerless?! Our views conflict with these Antarians and all we can do is try to compromise and hope that the Antarians will follow suit. They don't want to be part of our society...even in their own race, they fight. Look at the skins. How much power do we really have? Antarians can defy our rules because they are not bound by the same constraints as our people...it's why we couldn't control Nasedo. And now we've brought Khivar here and we can't control him either."

"Khivar doesn't know that he can defy us Dino. He was a fool all those years ago when he attempted to kill us. He thought that protection we had was our own, he didn't realize that it came the guardians themselves."

"But--"

"Enough!" Milton finally spoke. "It matter's not now. What has been done cannot be reversed and there is no point in arguing over it now. Khivar needs to be stopped...so much so that the Antarians themselves have approached us. They are willing to work with us now, what happened in the past needs to be put to rest."

"But this is our death sentence...if this doesn’t work--"

"There is no reason for this to not work. We have already foreseen this...and so far Khivar has done exactly what we have expected him to do. Khivar is at best predictable and blind to anything that doesn't concern him."

"But he is also explosive and a loose cannon. He may be predictable, but one move from him has ripple effects greater than the stormiest of seas. And what about the boy, do you think it's wise to transfer our powers in him."

"Our power should be safe in him. He cannot access physical power; therefore the chances of our powers being abused once we have passed on will be less likely."
Just then, there was a knock at the door and receptionist again ducked her head inside the doors. "Timothy is here and his has the latest batch of the virus."

The elders all nodded as they stood. "It has begun." Milton was the first to break the pin-drop silence that had suddenly taken over the room. Slowly walking forward, Milton approached Pier, patting him on his back and unbeknownst to the boy, quickly transferred all his powers into him. Eventually, each elder followed suit, patting or shaking Pier's hand and transferring their powers into him until only Archer was left alone in the room."

Archer slowly walked up to his nephew, a sad smile on his lips. "Come, Pier, we have one more thing to do and then we can go home."

Pier quickly got up from the chair, making sure to take his game as they headed towards the halls once more. Right before entering the hall, Pier frowned for a moment before looking up at his uncle. "Uncle, I feel weird."

Archer smiled as he patted his nephew, transferring all his powers into Pier before opening the door. "I know."

They entered the meeting hall and were immediately greeted with the voices of those that had participated in today's earlier meeting...all but one. Khivar. "Did he believe it? Do you think he bought it? Does that fool really think we would reveal ourselves to the humans?"

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. Archer stood back and watched as Milton introduced Timothy, revealing that dupe on Khivar was successful. He watched as the elders all said a final farewell, handing over the virus batch to their scientists, letting them know that they would be able to create an antidote easily, instructing them to ship out the vaccine to every hospital and clinic immediately. His head was spinning, today was his last day and he couldn't help as a lone tear slipped down his face as he silently said farewell.

-------

Present time

7:15 AM. Roswell, New Mexico

"Give me a signnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.....hit me baby, one more time. Oh baby, baby!" Greg Stent drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, bopping his head and singing along to the infamous Britney Spears tune he secretly loved, but would never admit or listen to except for in the confines of his own truck cab or in the privacy of his own home.

He was that much of man okay?! At least he didn't go blaring out "I'm a slave for you," in front of everyone like some gay dude. He liked beer and he loved football. And he liked Britney for her body - pre baby days! Any real man would be lying if they said they weren't attracted to the earlier Britney, so he enjoyed her music a little as well. But you have to appreciate the whole package to truly get the whole Britney experience.

Right?! That's fucking RIGHT! Greg rationalized in his head.

He was currently driving along route 17...somewhere...Greg ducked his head so he could read the green sign that was coming up. Roswell, New Mexico. Home of the aliens. Great! Another stupid tourist town, he hated them...the people in touristy towns always...lingered. Uhg, he just wanted to drop his shipment of frozen meals off and leave, not have a fucking conversation about where he was from and tell some stranger his life story. Luckily for him, this was his last long trip before he was set to take a two week long vacation out to the Caribbean Islands.

Turning up his radio at prospects of a beautiful beach, the island sun, all he could eat buffets and an iPod full of Britney's greatest hits, Greg smiled as he sped up a little. There was nothing more appealing than--

Screeeeeeeeeeeech....Greg's semi shook unnaturally when something black and huge collided with the front of his windshield. Quickly slamming onto his breaks, Greg swerved when the black thing suddenly moved; smashing what looked like a fist straight through the windshield and into his face, knocking him out in one heavy blow.

Reeling back from the heavy blow...Greg's eyes drooped lazily, his mind disorientated, his face throbbing...feeling something sticky run down his chin before he found himself slowly going in and out of consciousness....his foot no longer pressing down the on the brakes, his hands now at his sides instead of the steering wheel. Faintly realizing this, Greg opened his eyes once more, his heart leaping out of his chest when he caught say of a man and boy…and his truck…heading straight for them.

[Sundae]

Begonia - Thanks! Ah...they do belong on Antar...but it's always fun when they threaten human population causing our favorite characters to flex their muscles a little. Aliens huh? Stories are more fun when you can identify with something...so things that are already scary get even more scary since you have a visual image to along with it. Glad you're liking the story so far, your feedback means a lot. And as promised...here are some of our favorite characters.


CHAPTER 4

Maria DeLuca stared blankly at her computer screen, feeling completely uninterested and unmotivated towards the current story she was writing. Bending her neck to the left and then to the right, she stretched her fingers wanting to add at least another paragraph or two before calling it a total waste only to be caught off guard by the TV screen blaring out today’s top news.

And in Chaves County, authorities are still investigating the horrific accident that occurred along Route 17 early this morning that has left one man dead and another critically injured. No reason has been identified as to what may have caused the accident, but according several eyewitness accounts, it seems as though an animal attack may have had something to do with it. Our investigative reporter, Jana Esquire has been following this story closely since early this morning, lets switch on over to her and see what she has to say…Jana?

Thank you, Mark. Yes, standing here on route 17, I can tell you that the mood is quite grim and sorrowful. The accident was by no means a little fender bender. Fire trucks, ambulances and several police cars litter this dusty old road as they work to clean up the scene from today’s earlier tragic accident. According to our sources and eye witness reports, Greg Stent, a truck driver from Atlanta, Georgia was driving his semi along route 17, when a black bear suddenly jumped onto the front of his truck causing him to lose control and hit a bystander that was walking by alongside the road. Author—

I’m sorry to cut in here Jana, but did you just say a black bear? Does Roswell even have bears?

Yes Mark, a black bear. Unbelievable, I know…but that is what several eye witnesses have claimed to have seen. Of course, authorities are not releasing and details on the accident, or on the identity of the second victim, the bystander that was tragically hit and killed….so until we get more details, we are in dark just as you as to what truly happened here on this chilly November day. However, I can tell you that a press conference has been scheduled for later this afternoon by police commissioner Jim Valenti. We will be bringing you the story live at that time…Mark.

Thanks Jana. We will be looking forward to that when the time comes and in the meantime, our hearts go out to the victims and their families…

Maria stared at the TV screen, her mouth slightly open in shock at what she was seeing and hearing. She couldn’t believe it, that son-of-a-bitch Sommers had shut her out of a story. He knew about it and he didn’t tell her! Reeling back in disbelief, Maria quickly shut off her computer before grabbing her purse and rifling through it to find her blackberry, which come to think of it, had been a little too quite this morning if you asked her.

Finding it buried underneath a mountainous pile of things she considered constant must have items, she closed her eyes and softly cursed.

Shit…it was off! Dammit, she must have forgotten to turn in back on after today’s board meeting.

Taking a moment to calm her emotions, she quickly took a sniff of her favorite vial, duly noting that she was desperately running low and would soon need to get more. How…she wasn’t sure since she and Michael were no longer on speaking terms, which was unfortunate because it would make stealing his cologne that much harder from now on.

Brushing away the sinking feeling in her stomach Maria shook her head as she stood up; squaring her shoulders and nodding her head once. Right…she was going to do this…she was going to tell Sommers off...this was the third time he knowingly pulled her out of a story and she wasn’t having more if. Narrowing her eyes at her boss’s door, Maria marched straight into her boss’s office and shut the door.

Be strong DeLuca.

“So you figured it out huh?” Jonathan Sommers smiled as he dropped his pen and leaned back in his chair. He’d been expecting this all morning. “I was wondering how long it would take,” Jonathan briefly looked as his watch and raised an eyebrow. “One whole hour, wow, call me crazy DeLuca, but I’d almost say you’re starting to lose your touch.”

And her resolved crashed.

Maria rolled her eyes as she took a seat in front of Jonathan’s desk. “Not likely, but is there a reason why you neglected to tell me Armageddon was going on outside?”
Jonathan sighed and closed his eyes. He should’ve known she’d go straight to the point. “You know why Maria, I needed you here today. Board meetings take precedence over reporting assignments, you know the rules.”

“Not over stories that are that big,” Maria pointed towards the muted TV screen in the corner. “Look at that, I can count…one…two…eight police cars, three fire trucks and two ambulances, that’s more than just a little side story, that’s something major.”

“It was a black bear, the driver lost control of his vehicle and—“

Maria snorted. Please. “Call me crazy, but most black bears do not jump in front of moving vehicles. And seriously…aren’t you even a little peeved over the reporters you sent out there, “does Roswell even have black bears?” I mean common, they’re two-bit straight outta university graduates that don’t even know their Roswell history let alone well known facts.” Maria smiled as she looked at her boss, “You know Johnny, if I were a board member watching channel 10 news today and I heard that, I would be very mad.”

Jonathan snorted, “Oh so now you care about what the board members think, why just this morning, I had to bribe you with coffee and donuts just to get you outta the car so we could meet them.”

“That’s beside the point.” Maria waved her hand. “Focus here boss, the fact is, I should have been notified.”

Jonathan chuckled. Maria was one of his best hiring decisions, albeit, she was little high maintenance, but he wouldn’t have her any other way. “And you were, if you check your phone, you’ll see that I left several messages.”

Maria pouted and crossed her arms. “Jonathan that’s not fair and you know it. I always forget to turn my phone back on after meetings. You knew that and you used it against me.”

“Maria…if I had told you about the story this morning, would you have listened to me if I had told you that I didn’t want to you going out there? You and I both know you would’ve left me high and dry, I needed you here DeLuca, and so I took advantage of the situation. You’re my best reporter and it comes with the territory…if the board members want to hear from you, they will.”

“Exactly, your best reporter that should’ve been out there covering a major story instead of being cooped up in some board room catering to prissy old-folk.”

“Those prissy old-folk pay yours and mine salaries as well as keep this agency afloat. And I’m not about to argue with you over this one…I’ll let you go on your other duties but not on this. And regardless of whether or not if there was a board meeting to attend to today, this morning, that scene was just an accident…and still is as far as I can see…it’s way below your territory, you know that as well as I do… so why don’t you tell me why you’re making such a big deal out this…besides, wasn’t it you that came to me a couple months back saying you didn’t want to do broadcast journalism anymore?”

“I know…” Maria closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “I dunno, I guess I just miss it.” That and she didn’t think that he would pull her out of major stories and stick her in a board room because of it; she was a reporter, not some administrator.

“You miss it or do you miss Michael Guerin?”

Maria sharply looked at her boss. “I miss it, Michael Guerin has nothing to do with it.”

“So…you’re telling me that you’re not making a big deal out of it because he was spotted out there this morning?”

“What?!,” Maria reeled back in shock. “Michael was out there this morning? You mean, he’s back in town…and he’s reporting again?”

“Wha…you didn’t know?” Jonathan studied her closely and then frowned. “Well, no, not as far as I can tell…unless he’s working a side job, which seems unlikely as no reporting agency or media outlet will touch him at the moment. But—“

Maria quickly stood up and made a dash for the door. If Michael was out there…that means he was back, back in town and maybe back in the scene.

“Oh Johnny,” Maria briefly paused at the door before turning around, a coy smile on her lips. “I want back in, no more board room meetings…and, I’m bringing Michael with me.”

--------

“And what do we have here?” Detective Max Evans muttered under his breath as he exited his 98 Ford Explorer and ducked through a row of yellow tape as he approached the scene. There were three things he hated most: people, reporters, and accidents…and this damn place was buzzing full of it. Figures…he thought as he looked around and spotted his deputy. “Hanson!” Max nodded his head. “What we got?”

Sam Hanson quickly approached Roswell’s finest detective as soon as he pulled into the scene. Wiping his sweaty palms on his uniform, he laughed nervously when he noticed Max’s eyes drift down to his pants before moving back up to his face. Shit…he’s shouldn’t have done that. Confidence. He must exude confidence…it’s what all those self help books had taught him time and time again and here he was blowing it. Quickly clearing his throat, Sam gave a nervous smile…it’s okay, he mentally cajoled himself, it was just one mistake right, I mean he was good at his job, it’s the reason why police commissioner Valenti had told him to stand out here and wait for Detective Evan’s himself when he could have just sent his own son instead. Gaining some of his confidence back, Sam grinned. Yeah…he was the man.

“Uh…forty-eight year old white male from Atlanta, Georgia…was driving his semi heading east towards town when he apparently lost control of his vehicle around seven-twenty this morning causing him to veer of the road and run straight into a bystander that was walking by alongside the road.” Hanson rushed to keep up with Max as he moved towards the semi, making sure to keep two paces behind at all times…there were certain rules every deputy at the Roswell Police Station knew by heart and the biggest one was to keep out of Detective Evans’ way.

“Have you done a sweep of the scene, tire and skid mark readings, do we know if there alcohol involved? What about any eye witnesses, and who was the bystander? Do we have his name and have we done an ID on the truck driver, to make sure he says who he says he is? And do we know why the bystander was walking around here at 7 am this morning; there are no bus stops for at least ten miles both ways.” Max stopped and cocked his head to the right as the caught sight of the windshield…a slightly pungent smell meeting his nostrils. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Max moved forward as aimed to look closer at the…Oh God…“Hanson!” Max turned around to find Sam ten paces behind him with a slightly sourly expression on his face.

Max watched as Hanson turned an opulent shade of green before hurling and throwing chunks across the pavement floor. “Oh…I’m…sor…so…rry.” Sam bent low and dropped his papers, literally emptying his stomach as reporter after reporter started snapping pictures of the famed Roswell P.D. “I’m sorr…but…that’s…”

“Damnit, Hanson. Fuck…get the hell outta here and send me Valenti, you’re contaminating the scene.”

[Sundae]

April - Thanks for the compliments. Is Khivar the ultimate bad guy? I think for some characters in the fic, he will be, just because he touches their lives more than others. For other characters, Nasedo will be the ultimate bad guy, and for others even beyond that...it may be something/someone completely different. Does that answer your question? lol

As for your other questions...hmm...you're just going to have to wait.

Begonia - Actually after I wrote the first bit of chapter 4, I decided to google black bears in New Mexico because I didn't want to sound dumb...and apparently, New Mexico does have a small population of black bears...and mountain lions too. Weird. And actually, you find that most of our characters are already tied.

nibbles - Gracias...and I know finally right? I take total blame. How do they not know that they are aliens? Somewhat same from the show, four kids found wandering in the desert. Their powers aren't developed enough to physically show...or so it seems. And they don't remember much of their younger lives,

CHAPTER 5

“Detective Evans, Detective Evans! Hey can you tell us the name of the victim that was killed? Is it true that it was Archer Forsyth, the famed Roswell historian?”

“Hey Detective, what’s behind the plastic canvas, why are you blocking off the scene? Detective…”

Max closed his eyes and turned away from the reporters. This was going to be a long day and he would rather be somewhere else, working on a more important case as a matter of fact. Still there was something definitely off about this accident and he couldn’t put it to rest until it was solved. Slowly pulling the latex gloves out of his pocket, Max quickly stepped over Hanson’s puddle, before coming to a stop in front of the smashed windshield of the semi. There was a solid break, a hole about the size of a football going straight through the driver’s side of the windshield and Max knew immediately that whatever had caused this had to be something very powerful. Most windshields remain intact, even if broken these days but this…this however, just didn’t make any sense. The impact of whatever had caused this had left a single hole straight through while the rest of the glass looked unbroken, not even a single crack extending from the impact site. Now how was that possible?

Moving to the side, Max traced his fingers across the front hood of the semi, noticing small scratches and holes in the upright corner. There should be more damage, Max thought again, but there wasn’t. Letting his finger trail a path down the side of the semi, Max crouched low to the ground and came to a stop at the passenger side door, finding three slashes that had effectively cut through the metal. What the hell?

So completely engrossed in studying the slashes, Max didn’t hear the small sounds coming somewhere from the trees behind him nor the soft footsteps that were slowly making their way towards him from behind.

--------

The moment that Max Evan’s had arrived on scene, Nasedo’s body went into overdrive. He could practically feel the power exuding from the man and couldn’t help but smirk at his luck. He had been forced to take cover in the trees until he regained his strength after the killing. Whatever that bitch had injected him with had caused his body to lose energy. He couldn’t seem to hold a shape-shift for more than thirty minutes, let alone form more than one energy blast. It was as if his body was constantly being drained of energy the more he used his powers and now he was struggling just to breathe.

Cradling the arm that was currently hanging by a thread from his shoulder, Nasedo crouched low on the ground and licked his lips. The signature on Max Evans’ body was immeasurable. Powerful, but at the same time broken and frayed; whatever, it didn’t matter. It would be enough to get him out there, he was sure of that.

Taking a tentative step forward, hating the look of his alien body’s exposed state, Nasedo formed an energy blast low in his body and slowly began moving forward.

“MAX!”

Nasedo stopped in his tracks, his muscles suddenly quivering, tightening of their own accord. Sweat dripped from his body and it was as though he was rooted to the ground and unable to move. What the hell was going on with him? Cursing his stiff legs, Nasedo quickly dodged out of sight. He was going to have to find someone else.

The hair on the back of Max’s neck prickled for a second and he was just about to turn around when he heard his name being called. Slowly straining his neck from the side of truck, Max snorted when he saw Michael Guerin making his way over to him. He should’ve known.

“You know, I can have you arrested for trespassing on a crime scene.” Max cocked his head. “Step past that yellow tape, I’ll book you myself and I swear to God, I’ll go for the maximum sentence.”

Michael rolled his eyes as he shoved his hands in his pockets, maneuvering his steps so that he was walking the edge of the yellow tape but not crossing it. “I’d like to see you get that past Amy, she would probably have Jim lock you up instead.” Michael smirked.

Max chuckled as he took off his gloves, slowly putting them in a zip lock bag with all the other evidence before approaching Michael. “What the hell are you doing here anyways? Please don’t tell me you’ve regained your passion for reporting again? You and Maria are the sole reason the P.D’s got such high insurance costs and that’s saying a lot considering that Maria’s Jim’s daughter.”

Michael stiffened at hearing Maria’s name but gave a crooked smile nevertheless. “Nah, I’m actually here to see you. You haven’t been returning any of my phone calls or messages, thought maybe you were dead and I should come investigate it seeing as no one knows if you’re alive or dead at any given time.” Michael looked at Max noticing the dark circles under his eyes and a heavy five o’clock shadow along his face . “You’ve been drinking again?”

Max turned away from Michael quickly, studying the crime scene report instead. “You know…you don’t have to take care of me Michael, you don’t owe me for that night I got you outta Hank’s trailer.”

“Yeah…well, you were there when I really needed you and now— “

“Yeah well this is different alright, you can’t fix this! Nothing can ever fix this.”

“Max—

“If you need to get a hold of me, Tess or Jim should know where I am.” With that Max walked away and back to the crime scene.

---------

Maria quickly arrived to the scene of the accident shortly after her meeting with Jonathan and couldn’t help the butterflies that had suddenly invaded her stomach as she got out of the channel 10 news van. This would be the first time she would be seeing Michael in four months and she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to go well.

Waving away her current partner, she immediately searched through the crowd that had currently formed around the accident scene for Michael. She knew him well enough by now to know that if he was out there, it was for a specific reason. Something must have caught his eye enough for him to want to be surrounded by his former colleagues. He probably had the same feeling about the accident scene as her. There were too many cops blocking off the scene for it to be just an accident. Something had happened here and from the looks of the road blocks now in place, the cops didn’t want them knowing about it.

She has just been about to turn around to look for Michael in a different direction when she caught sight of him. He was making his way towards…a red Jetta? Maria scrunched her nose up. Hey that was HER car…well use to be until she had finally bought a new one. How did…mom! Maria cursed; her mother must have sold it to him when she had given the car to her. But that meant that Michael had been in Roswell for a while now. And that he’d been in contact with her mother. Maria couldn’t help but feel pang of pain. He’d been in Roswell for awhile and she didn’t even know.

Seeing him getting ready to enter the car, Maria quickly ran forward. “MICHAEL!” she waved as she tried to get his attention. “MICHAEL!”

Michael instantly froze when he heard his name being called. He didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was.

Quickly opening the car door, he briefly paused to look back at her. Shaking his head, he got in the car and sped off before she could stop him.

---------

“Max, are you almost done here?” Detective Kyle Valenti slowly approached Max who was one of the last ones still on the scene. “We’re almost ready to pack it up. The reports have been written and I’ve got a tow truck ready to transport the semi to the crime yard if you’ve think you’ve gotten everything?”

“Yeah…” Max stepped away from the truck and frowned. “I don’t know, something’s just not right about this picture. I mean just look at the windshield, high impact crash that shows something came piercing through it, but what could do that and where is it? If it came flying through, it should still be in the truck cab.”

“Or in Stent’s face.” Kyle shrugged as he pinched his nose at the pungent smell of the green liquid coating the front of the semi. “He’s a bloody mess at the moment and the doctors aren’t sure if he’s going to make it out of surgery. I’ve got two deputies down there to see if we can question him once he’s out of surgery.” Bending low, Kyle looked closer at the green liquid, “man, what the hell is this shit?”

“I don’t know, that’s another thing that doesn’t make sense. I’ve never seen anything like it. Makes me think that this was a deliberate act.”

Kyle turned around. “You mean staged? Like someone actually planned this?”

Max shrugged. “We got one man dead and another critically injured to the point that we don’t know if he’ll survive. My guess is, someone was after one of them or both.”

Kyle nodded as he motioned with his hands to let the towing crew come in now that they were done. “Well…we won’t know until we get all the evidence back from the lab. And I’ve set up an appointment time to visit the morgue on Monday morning so we can take a look at the body.”

Max nodded as he finished putting his equipment in his SUV when he felt something odd draw his attention to the trees. Stopping short of closing his car door, Max cocked his head as he slowly approached the wooded area.

“Max? Hey man, are you alright?” Kyle slowly put his hand on Max’s shoulder.

Max felt a prickle of something, he wasn’t sure what…but it was as though he just sensed that something was there, just beyond the trees. Quickly moving forward, Max slid down the ditch, swatting away branches and jumping over puddles as he pushed his way through the thick wilderness and overgrown trees.

Cursing, Kyle ran after Max when he had suddenly taken off. No, no. no…he wanted to go home. Watch football; be with Tess, not more work. Sighing Kyle ran forward and slid down the ditch, pushing through the trees and shrubs. “Hey Max, I appreciate the whole—whoa!” Kyle’s left eyebrow shot up when he saw a little boy, no more than twelve or thirteen years old, completely naked and covered in mud and currently hugging the crap out of Max’s leg.

-------

The lights of the 7 eleven sign above Nasedo’s head flickered on and off, the sign desperately needing a new light bulb. Slowly moving forward, Nasedo entered the dingy gas station, stopping just short of the counter whose owner was too busy watching the television in the corner of the store than paying attention to the store and its occupants. Slowly moving forward, Nasedo inched around the counter, keeping his eye trained on man while collecting the last of his power into his hands.

In one quick motion, just as the man had opened his mouth to laugh at some line from the TV screen, Nasedo grabbed him, ripping open his shirt before using his powers to burn the other man, taking his energy and draining him of life force; finally acquiring enough power from him to shift into something more presentable. Dragging the now dead body of the man into one of the store rooms, Nasedo quickly rid the man of his clothes and wallet before dressing himself. Melting the lock, he moved to the front for the gas station, grabbing some cash out of the register. With one final look at the TV screen, Nasedo shot a spark of energy through one of the electrical sockets, busting the TV screens and camera’s alike before exiting the store.

TBC...