Rating: Mature
Category: M/L
Summary: The story picks up at the end of Max to the Max. Maria, Michael, Isabel, Alex, Tess, and Liz have decided to wait for further instructions from Nasedo before pursuing Max, much to Liz’s dismay. Max’s in the white room, but what will happen when the agency brings in an unexpected pawn? The main focus is M/L, however, MM and AI will also be present.
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. The characters, the music, the movies referenced, none of it is mine.
Author’s Note(s): This has been an idea that I’ve had in my head for a while. The original idea came from a dream I had. I will be borrowing some of the parts of the White Room, but the rest is my own plot. In part one a, the italics are Valenti talking to Deputy Fisher about Max Evans a few days before the beginning of this story.
Thank you to my beta, Timelord31.
This amazing banner was created by lizard_queen. I absolutely adore it.
Part 1a
“I don’t know what it is about him. I never heard much of him until the day in the Crashdown when shots were fired. Some tourists reported that Liz Parker got shot and he went up to her. They said that they did something to her, and she was healed. Her uniform had a bullet hole in it, with some blood around the opening. We never found the bullet.”
Liz Parker sat in her favorite booth in the Crashdown, the one that Max had been sitting in when she was shot. Everyone had been here not a half an hour before, but eventually they all realized they had to go home. Isabel had to explain Max’s absence to her parents, because she wanted to hear from Nasedo before telling them. Telling them where he was would mean telling them that they were aliens. Michael, Isabel, and Tess had all decided to wait a few days for Nasedo to show up before going after Max. Liz still wasn’t entirely convinced that it was a good idea, but Tess had Michael, Isabel, Alex, and Maria convinced that it was for the best. Tess returned to her empty house and Alex went home after the Pod Squad had left, but Maria stayed behind upon Liz’s request. Liz wasn’t taking Max’s abduction well, and Maria was her best friend.
“Liz Parker never came forward with any information about it. Do you know that she dated my son, Kyle? A few weeks after that episode in the Crashdown, she broke up with Kyle. According to him, she had a thing for Max.”
Maria was up in Liz’s room at the time, getting ready for bed. Liz had told her that she would be up in a few moments. Liz sat with her head held in her hands, her elbows on the table. Max came to save her, with disregard to his own safety. That reckless disregard had saved her, but now his fate was uncertain.
“I don’t know what was going on for a while, though. Liz entered some blind date thing, setting her up with a boy in college. She didn’t even make it though the date. Apparently Kyle went out with Max, and Max somehow won her back again.”
No one knew who Pierce was. He answered to no one. That’s what scared the group the most. As Liz thought about it, a tear ripped down her cheek. She may never see Max again. She shook the thought from her head, she had to think positive.
“From then on, I rarely saw them apart. The always told their friends that they were in love with each other, and let me tell you, it didn’t look like a teenage love to me. It always looked like the real thing. Liz doesn’t trust me anymore. She used to. I think they’re hiding something.”
She heard a creak behind her, like someone was creeping in the back room, but she ignored it. It was probably Maria snooping through the kitchen, anyway. She began to weep as she remembered how Max came after her and followed her through the maze. When he was caught, he didn’t take his eyes off of Liz, and it broke her heart.
“He would do anything for her. I don’t think that most people realize the connection that they have. Every time I enter a room that the two of them are in, he steps in front of her. He’s determined to keep her safe; I think he’d do anything to protect her.”
Liz lay her head down on the table, closing her eyes. She wanted to help Max so badly. If everyone’s safety wasn’t on the line, she would have been looking for clues already. Everyone was in danger now, though.
“Yeah, I reckon he’d do or give anything to save her.”
Liz was suddenly highly alert. It sounded like more than one person was in the back room. She heard someone go upstairs and try the doorknob. For some reason, the door was locked. Liz was too petrified to look behind her. It could just be Maria and Alex playing around with her, but she doubted that they would pick such a delicate time to play a prank. The door swung open, and Liz kept her eyes squeezed tight. The footsteps approached her booth and stopped right behind her. Liz got the courage to lift up her head. She slowly opened her eyes and began to turn her head towards where the footsteps had stopped. She never got a chance to see who the person behind her was. They had, at that moment, injected something into her that made her go unconscious the moment it was stuck into her.
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Part 1b
“He’s not telling us anything.” One of Pierce’s men was growing tired of watching the interrogation of the alien. Pierce continued to fire questions at the boy, but he was only telling them things like where he lived and requesting that they call his parents.
The dark-haired teenage boy looked nothing like an alien, and he certainly dressed like every other teenager in the country. His looks were deceiving. When they got the multiple test results back, everything was normal except for two things: his blood and the amount of brain activity. His brain was normal, but the activity was way off the charts for a normal human brain. It was like he had tapped into some unlocked portion of it.
After the results had come back, Pierce had continually tried to question the boy, but he wouldn’t answer anything. The agents were growing antsy.
“Don’t worry,” Pierce smirked, “We’re getting ready to go into the next phase. We’ll get our answers… at any cost.”
On the other side of the one-way window, Max Evans was sitting, strapped to a table in a room with four white walls, a white ceiling, a white floor, and no apparent entrances or exits. He was completely petrified sitting there. He had been poked and prodded to the nth degree, and he knew that his captors had no thought of release. Suddenly a section of the wall opened up and in strode a man with clean room gear donned.
He spoke in a jesting voice, “You and I don’t need procedure, now do we, Max?” He removed his gear and smiled smugly at Max.
Max strangled a cry of disbelief, gasping, “You’re the deputy?”
Pierce smirked again and spoke in a fake Southern accent, “You have your tricks, I have mine.”
Max’s eyes were vacant. With Pierce’s disguise as one of Valenti’s deputies, there was no telling how far the corruption goes. Valenti could be in on the whole thing. Even worse, Valenti could be perfectly oblivious. That put everyone in even more danger, because Pierce could use his position to get to everyone else.
“And since you haven’t been giving us any answers, I needed to use one of my tricks.”
Pierce waved his hands towards one of the walls. Max tensed up. Despite his restraints, they hadn’t done anything but test him. Over the intercom, they filled Max in on the results. They had proven he wasn’t from around here. It was then that Max started to think that he’d never make it out of the White Room.
A door opened suddenly on the wall at the top of Max’s head. Several men walked in, donned with clean suit gear. One was wielding a syringe, filled with a substance that Max didn’t recognize. Max clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as they walked closer. Pierce stood at Max’s head as the man took his position at Max’s side. He was about to inject Max’s arm when Pierce held up a halting finger.
“When you wake up, I have a surprise for you. I think you’ll rather enjoy it.”
Max struggled against his restraints as the needle drew nearer and nearer to his flesh. The hopelessness and despair grew, his insides churning. The joy laced into Pierce’s voice as he told him about the surprise filled Max with agony. Anything that made Pierce happy couldn’t be good for him.
The last thing Max saw before he fell asleep was Pierce’s smug face.
Max opened his eyes and he was in a pitch-dark forest. The only sounds that could be heard were him stumbling around on the forest floor, searching blindly for something. He didn’t know exactly what that something was, but its presence was strong. Tree limbs caught at his arms, causing him to bleed. A tree root surprised him and he fell over, tumbling.
He lay on his back for a minute, and then heard a voice calling to him softly, “Max.”
Sitting up, he looked around him. Directly in front of him, no telling how far away, was a bright light. He stumbled towards it, tripping over countless things. He started to run faster, desperate to get to the voice, “Max.”
He got into range of the light and realized that the light was actually two small ones. He reached out towards the lights trying to touch them. He was a few feet away when it felt like something slapped him hard across the face. He fell over onto his back, and knocked the back of his head on a rock, instantly falling unconscious.
“Max!” A feverish voice spoke from above him, and someone shook his shoulder.
The serum was starting to wear off, and he wearily blinked his eyes. “Liz,” he gasped, not believing his eyes. He started to talk to himself, “That’s not Liz. It can’t be. You’re hallucinating, it’s the only reason.”
He closed his eyes, groaning. He longed to be with her, to hold her, to look into her brown eyes and kiss her once more. He would never have that joy again. Tears fell from his eyes and he tried to move his hands, tried to lash out, anything. But he couldn’t. His hands were still tightly bound to the cold, hard table. He screamed in frustration, and then warm, comforting fingers touched his cheek. The fingers were trembling, and his eyes slowly traveled up them and found an arm. That arm lead to a neck, a whole person that should’ve gone away, but hadn’t.
Liz’s hand was stroking him, stroking his face. “No,” he mumbled. An aching pain was starting to grow in the back of his head, causing his speech to slur, “You’renotreal. Not Real. You’re. Pierce. A trick.”
“No, Max. I’m here. I’m real.” Liz’s other hand cupped his other cheek, and she slowly bent over, kissing him on the lips.
The kiss made him more aware, “You’re here. Oh God, you’re here.” His voice wasn’t thankful but frightened and full of self-blame. The sudden movements had made his head pound even more and he winced. “I’m so sorry, Liz.”
Liz shook her head, “Don’t blame yourself, Max. You can’t blame yourself. I was careless, too. And that headache’s from the drugs they’ve been giving you. It’ll go away. Maria was upstairs when they took me and…” She seemed to be unable to control what was coming out of her mouth.
Max cut her off at the same moment that the door behind his head opened once more. He struggled to speak quicker, “Liz, are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
Liz stopped him, “I’m fine Max, and we’ll get to me later. Are you okay?” Two suited men walked up behind Liz and grabbed her, forcing her away from Max.
Max struggled against his restraints, “Don’t touch her! Let her go!” He screamed at the men as loudly as he could manage, the blood pulsing through his veins. He continued to struggle, grunting and gasping as the bindings cut into his flesh. Blood began to trickle from his wrists and ankles. They couldn’t get to Liz. Nothing that she could ever say would convince him that her capture wasn’t his fault. He’d never be able to forgive himself if something happened to her. He didn’t think he would be able to survive.
A calm voice spoke from the doorway, one that made Max cringe, “It’s alright, Max. We’re not going to hurt her. But right now I’m not here to talk to you. I’m here to talk to your friend, Liz.”
Liz turned a shocked face to Pierce, her voice cracking with sorrow for Max and fear of Pierce, “What do you want with me?”
“I merely wanted to tell you my plan for Max. You see, the agency wants answers. Max hasn’t been giving us these answers, and from what Valenti said, you two are very close,” he stressed the last two words, lacing them with self-satisfaction, “So we plan on… persuading Max to give us these answers. Let’s just say that this won’t be a verbal persuasion. Here’s the kicker – you’re going to be on the other side of one of these walls, watching the whole thing.”
Pierce paused, studying the two and then continued, “I would like to make it known that if at anytime, either of you decides to talk, the persuasion will cease.”
At Pierce’s last words, Max’s entire body was washed over with cold. He couldn’t tell Pierce many of the things that Pierce wanted to know, because he himself didn’t know them. He wouldn’t tell Pierce the things that he did know, because it could put Michael, Isabel, Tess, Nasedo, and the others in danger.
Max looked to Liz. He could see her trembling from here and her face had gone stark white. She tried to make a step towards him, but the men held her back. She opened her mouth to say something, but Max shook his head. He couldn’t afford to let Pierce know anything else. He had exposed himself, ultimately when he healed Liz in the Crashdown, and he was willing to accept the consequences of this. He had to prevent Michael and Isabel from assuming his fate.
Pierce made a gesture with his hand, and the men started to move out, dragging Liz with them. Liz tried to fight back and remain behind with Max, but they were overpowering her. Max spoke shakily and quickly, “Liz, no matter what they do to me, you can’t tell them anything. Don’t tell them anything, no matter what. Promise me, Liz!”
Liz’s head shook, telling Max that she couldn’t make that promise, tears flowing from her eyes, “Max, I can’t…”
Max yelled desperately, “You have to! Promise me!”
Liz whispered as she was about to leave the room altogether, loudly enough for him to hear, “I promise.”
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Max empty and cold. He had to try and shut down, not only for his sake, but for Liz’s. He was alone in the room for what felt like days. The silence was driving him literally insane, not a sound from the outside floated in. His body grew restless from being kept in the same position. The blood that had trickled down his wrists and ankles while Liz was here was dried onto his flesh, causing him to itch.
His mind wasn’t with him. The entire time he laid there, his mind traveled to dark places. Places where Liz was being kept in a room adjacent to his, starving, afraid, and alone. His own well-being didn’t matter at all, Liz’s did. The fear for her safety drove him to try to escape from his restraints a few times, it never worked.
He was fighting a losing battle, but he was fighting it for her.
The thoughts of her tormented him, until he finally cracked. He screamed to no one, limbs trying to thrash about, “You can’t do this to her! Let her go! You have to let her go! She doesn’t know anything! She’s not involved!” His screams went unanswered and he grew more frustrated. Tears were steadily streaming down the sides of his face and he whispered to himself, voice cracking with emotion like someone who had gone insane, over and over again, “It’s entirely my fault. How could I have let this happen? I’m so sorry Liz.”
The whispering continued and he grew hoarse. He ignored this and kept whispering, as if it would bring her to safety. When his throat was completely dry and began to throb, he kept whispering. He could feel blood trickling down the back of his throat as different sections cracked from being so dry, but he couldn’t stop. The tears fell until he could cry no more.
Over that long period of time that he was in there, emotionally torturing himself, no one came in with food or water and no one came over the intercom. He grew weak and pale, often times growing faint. Max wouldn’t allow himself to sleep. While Liz was here, he couldn’t afford it. He had to stay awake just incase. Just incase.
When the door finally opened again, he fully believed that it couldn’t get any worse. He was never more wrong in his life.
I wanted to on the last part, but I couldn't find the time. All of the feedback has been mind-blowing. I don't realize when I write how suspensful that it comes across to you, so I've been trying to get out everything as soon as possible. My life's going to be getting a little more hectic later in the week, but I hope to have anoth part out to you by then:
