Okay, there is a lot of violence in this fic. I won't lie. Anyway, thank you for all the feedback.
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“I said get back in that room.”
The gun in Alex’ back twisted, making him wince at the feel of it. He held his hands up as he complied, not looking back to see who it was behind them.
“I’m goin’.” He whispered, praying that she did not pull the trigger. Alex led himself and the other back in the basement.
“I want you to listen to me okay?” The woman asked harshly.
He nodded, “Anything.”
Releasing the gun from his back, she turned him around to face her. “Topolsky?”
“If you want to ever see your sister alive and out of this hell hole again, I suggest that you answer every question I ask truthfully and listen to every single work that comes out of my mouth.”
Alex, Kyle and Maria silently agreed to the conditions. Kathleen motioned for them sit on the ground, “Where is the other guy?”
Kyle looked around, then back to Alex and Maria, “Where did Ed go?”
“That’s not important. He won’t be able to get five feet near that door without me.” She sighed and glanced at her watch, “Let’s just hope he’s smart enough to hide out. It time for the guards to change shifts.”
Anxious to get out of the room again, Alex prompted Topolsky to ask what she needed to, “What did you need to know?”
Taking a deep breath, Kathleen started out with the only logical question to ask first, “Why did Liz heal Max Evans?”
________________________________________________________________________
3:47 PM.
Walking the room with a huge smile on his face, Pierce searched for Liz, “Parker?” he asked sweetly.
He heard her frightened whimper coming from the corner.
“Ah, there you are. Come here.” He waved her over; pointing to chair that was near him.
Liz shook her head no, “I don’t want to.”
He moved in front of her and held his hand out to her, “Trust me. I am not going to hurt you. Look, I don’t have anything with me to hurt you now.”
Taking her arm by force, he lifted her up and took her to chair. “Take a seat,” he slammed her in the chair. “You see, I’ve wondered why you have been answering my questions. Then I realized that you have human emotions. You can take the pain we cause physically…but you feel everything from happiness, laughter, love…fear.”
He walked behind and whispered in her ear, “Do you love Max?”
The sound of his name made her stiffen.
He let out a heartfelt laugh, “Of course you do!” Pierce rubbed her shoulders, “That’s been my problem all along Liz. It’s not that you’re half-alien…it’s that you’re half-human.”
“What are going to do?” Liz staring at with tears in her eyes. She clenched her jaw and looked at the floor.
He snapped his fingers to get her attention, “Hey, look at me sweetie.” He reached under the chair and grabbed an odd shaped piece of metal that had two prongs. “Do you know what this is?”
Liz shook her head no.
“Well, back in ‘47, when the ship crashed, a lot of technology was developed to fit our own needs.” Pierce took the metal and placed it on her head, “We found this attached to an officer that had been on the site first. He shot himself two hours later.” He pulled out a small remote, “After years of studying it we found out what it does. It shows you thing you do not want to see based on you memories. In his case, prior to him killing himself, he revealed that he saw his wife and children be killed.”
Liz felt prongs pressing against the side of her head.
“You see, I know that you love Max and your family. And so, I think that I should give you a choice.” He pulled out a small remote, “Tell me what I want to know or I start killing everyone you know.” He pointed to the watch on his wrist, “You have ten
seconds.”
She was shocked at the feeling of pressure on her head. The prongs had pushed themselves under the skin. Her head ached, when sudden images flashed before her eyes, Max, Her parents, Alex, Maria, her PE teacher, Michael and Isabel.
“Tell me Liz, who do you want me to kill first?”
An image of Max, dead came into her mind, causing Liz to scream out. “No!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.
“It’s not real Liz.” He said calmly, walking around her in a circle, “But it will be if you don’t answer me.”
The prongs pulled themselves out of her skin and Liz began to sob, “Please, I’ll tell you anything…just don’t hurt Max.”
“Where is the pendent?”
________________________________________________________________________
After two hours, Alex and Maria were growing restless. “Please, if you believe us, just let us go get her?”
Kathleen pointed the gun at, “Hey, I believe that Liz healed Max out kindness but I still believe that she killed that agent.”
Maria held her hands up and sighed, “Then why the hell are you ’helping’ us?”
“I got a phone a call about five hours ago, from Valenti, explaining everything things he saw last night.”
“What did he see?” Kyle asked from the corner of the room.
“Two Liz’s. So, do I think that Liz is a murder? No.” She sighed, “Do I believe she has never killed anyone? No.” No.”
Maria spoke up, “You said you got a call in the afternoon that the Agent was killed right?”
Kathleen nodded.
“Liz was with us until the carnival. There is no way she could have killed the woman. It was the shape-shifter the Sheriff saw.” Maria pointed out, “Does that help you?”
It hit Kathleen like a ton of bricks. All this time she had been right about Liz not killing anyone. “Still, we have to be totally prepared to go in there.”
“We are.” Kyle commented.
“If you were than how come it was so easy for me to sneak up on you?” Kathleen turned back to Alex, “Pierce, Agent Summers, and I are the only people who know what you look like. Oh, and Agent Burns. We don’t need to worry ant them because Summers and Burns aren’t on the base right now.” Topolsky comment as she checked her watch nervously.
Kyle noticed her demeanor, “What?”
Topolsky held her hand, pointing to her watch with the other, “They’ll be back in about three hours.”
“We should have her out by then…right?” asked Maria.
Kyle felt it was a good time to pipe in and show his ‘concern’ for Liz as well. “Hopefully. Maria, things will be okay. Liz is a strong woman.”
She looked at him gratefully, “Thanks Kyle.”
Kathleen didn’t want to dash their hopes but she was not about to say they would get Liz alive. It was too difficult. Too many obstacles stood in the way. Checking the entrance to the basement to see if it was clear, Kathleen turned to the three aliens. “Give it a few more minutes. Then we’ll leave.”
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Max stood in the middle of Isabel’s room. They had gone to her house for a few hours while they waited for the others to call. Their conversation with the sheriff had stayed on his mind. It was almost night time now and they had heard nothing about getting Liz out. Liz. The thought of her sent Max back into his hell of mental pictures of what they were doing to her in there. He knew she was pain. The day seemed to drag on forever. Still, they had managed to keep the parents off their backs. It was good things Liz and Alex’ parents where gone; it would have been hard to keep this from them.
Max looked at the clock again. Sheriff Valenti could help; he had a way to protect himself and whoever was with him. A blast of energy wasn’t much good if the person you are fighting is behind you where you can’t see them. Without warning, he stood up.
“I’m going to the sheriff.”
. “Max, wait, give them a little longer,” Isabel pleaded, scrambling up from her position on the floor. She didn’t want to put Liz in any more danger than what she already was and going to the sheriff might just do that.
“You said to wait a little while longer and we have, I don’t want to wait anymore.”
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Kyle was pacing back and forth while Alex and Maria talked with Topolsky, how could they trust someone, especially a FBI agent part of the same unit that was studying their sister? He could just see Ed rolling his eyes at him now, ‘You had to let them get involved with another human didn’t you? Idiot.”
Even though he had been deep in thought, he saw an Alex and Maria motion for him to come over, “Kyle, come here. You need to hear this.”
“What is it?” he asked as he walked up to them, rubbing his eyes. He had to admit he was tired, being up almost two full days had begun to take its toll on him.
“She said that if Ed could get inside the room where they have Liz she can help us get her out of here.” Alex informed him, he did not know why Kyle had not been listing to Kathleen. It was as if he really didn’t care about getting Liz out alive sometimes.
Kyle shook his head and looked at Maria, “Do you really believe that?” he asked her. Maria just shrugged, “I don’t think we have much of a choice here, not to sound redundant or anything.”
Kathleen looked at Kyle. “Do you have anyway of talking to him?”
“Who?”
“Ed?”
Kyle nodded, “I can locate him, but I can’t talk to him.”
Kathleen nodded, “I think what you had planned could work if you have my help. I have access to all of the files and can be in the observation room.”
Maria stopped her, “Wait, what’s the ‘observation room’?” she noted Topolsky’s reluctance to answer her.
“It’s where we can watch her or what watch while they operate in her. You know, their way of letting us in on the action,” she said in a disgusted voice.
Maria, who was now so sick of everything she didn’t know if she was tired or angry or if she just wanted to fall apart couldn’t help the next question out of her mouth. “How can you be apart of something so evil?”
Topolsky felt her eyes drop to the floor, “Until I met Liz I thought we were doing a good thing. I mean, we don’t represent the rest of the FBI, trust me, if it was run like the FBI was Liz would be the last person we would bring into the White Room.”
Changing the subject, Kathleen turned her attention to Kyle, “Do you have anyway of contacting him?”
He nodded, he was not about to tell him about his communication device so he used his mental abilities, “I’ll try. Give me a moment.”
Kyle closed his eyes and focused on Ed, searching for him. He felt him, he was in the morgue, right outside the entrance doors to where they had Liz and Ed could not go any further because he was unable to pass the security screen.
“He’s in the morgue, waiting.”
_____________________________________________________________
“Max are you sure about this?” Isabel asked. She and Michael were sitting back as Max drove to the Sheriff’s office. “I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I knew I could help her and didn’t.”
“But what if he doesn’t help us?” Michael called out from the back seat. Max glanced back in the rear view mirror, “He will.”
Isabel sighed and plopped back in her seat, “I hope for everyone’s sake you’re right Max.”
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After they reached the morgue Topolsky motioned them to enter. “Here, you go and tell him what’s going on, I’ll keep a lookout.”
Maria stopped in front of her, “I am trusting you with my sister’s life, don’t disappoint me please.”
Topolsky nodded, “I won’t.”
Maria walked in after Alex, “Is he in here?” she asked. Kyle searched around the room; “He should be.”
They looked in the room, Alex and Maria feeling somewhat uncomfortable by the bodies.
“So you let another human in on the deal didn’t you?”
They all jumped as Ed stepped in front of them. “And a FBI agent no less. How long will it take you to learn?”
Maria jumped to Topolsky’s defense, “Hey, she has inside knowledge. That‘s more than I can say for you and Kyle..”
“Humans are insignificant. They have weak minds and bodies.” Ed stated as he approached her, “If you trust them you might as well be handing your life over to the Special Unit or you could just drop your self off at Pierces door if you’d like.”
Alex folded his arms, “Ed, quit trying to make us hate humans and just help us. Right now, we have little to no options left as far trust goes. And why shouldn’t we trust Topolsky?” he asked, not waiting for an answer, “We are trusting you aren’t we?”
Ed almost walked out right there, “Well, well, well, I think you are trying to insult me.”
Stopping him from continuing Alex said, “Can you stop with the pride thing! We have been in this building for heaven knows how long and how far have we gotten? To the morgue!” He turned around to Kyle; “Can you two please just help us get our sister back?”
Before he could respond Topolsky leaned in through the doorframe, “Let’s get going, I can get you trough the doors now.” Ed adjusted his suit, making sure he looked in order.
They followed her to the door. Topolsky whispered to them what she had planned; “All right, Alex Maria and Kyle will follow me to the entrance of the White Room. Ed will be given clearance into the room. But how are we going to get her out of there without Pierce knowing?”
Kyle piped up from the back, “I’ll mind warp him.”
Kathleen glared back, “You’ll what?”
“I can make people see things that are not there, it’s called mind warping. I’ll make Pierce think Liz is still in the room until we can get her a safe distance away.”
Kathleen turned around and stopped their progress, “How long can you do that for?”
He shrugged, “a few minutes if it’s on one person, if it’s more than one I can’t hold it as long.”
Kathleen looked at them; “You’ll have to learn to hold it fast because you’re going to have a lot of people to mind warp.”
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Pierce watched as Liz rested. The picture of a dead Max really made an impact. She gave them the location of the pendent right away. He was calling Burns to recover it in few minutes. The new strategy was working better. It only took a second to break Liz that time. He had given up on the home planet question for now. But he would get his answer later.
“Sir, I believe that she should have the dosage.” The doctor said as he walked up to Pierce. The Dosage he referred to was the serum that kept Liz’s powers at bay.
“Give it to her soon.” He said as he stared straight a head form one of the observatory windows. There are two. One was a room where all of the controls for room where located, which was where was and the other one was just for watching her.
The doctor sighed; he was the one that believed her. He felt horrible for doing this to her, he didn’t know why. Everything he knew told him she was evil, yet, he felt a strong sense of compassion for her. He didn’t if anyone, human or alien would’ve been able to handle what Liz had been put through and not say anything unless they really didn’t know the answers. He pressed a button and waited for the door to open.
He stepped in the room. The room was so bright it was hard to see when you first walked in. And since Liz was wearing, an all white scrub set it was hard to see her at first also. He walked up to her and took her arm. She was so tired; she didn’t even flinch as the needle entered her vein. When his attention turned to her eyes however, he saw that they were open. She was looking at him, “Is that going to kill me?”
The man in the suit shook his head, “It just keeps you from using your powers. That’s all.” He pulled the needle out and marked it on chart. He gave Liz a sad grin, “I hope you make it out of here.” He whispered.
________________________________________________________________________
Max walked quickly to the Sheriffs station, he was going to tell Valenti that he needed his help. That Liz needed his help. Once he reached the doors, Valenti came rushing out, bumping into him in processes.
“Sheriff, I need to talk to you!”
Valenti, realizing who it was stopped dead in his tracks, “Max, what are you doing here?” he asked. Max sighed and rubbed his arms; “You know how you told me that you would help Liz?”
He nodded.
Max looked around. “Someone has Liz, someone bad. And we need your help getting her out alive. They are hurting her Sheriff. Now, think what you will but, Liz is a good person, and so are Alex and Maria.” Max watched Jim’s face, paying attention to his reaction. “I can’t tell you everything you want to know, Sheriff, it’s not my place, but, what I can do is ask for your help. Will you do that?”
Valenti didn’t give moments hesitation, “Of course.”
_____________________________________________________________
Topolsky led the small group to the scanner. “I’ll do it. They know I’m still alive,” she whispered to Kyle. She held her hand over it and the door next to it opened. “Come on.”
“Where is she?” asked Maria
“You see that gated area right there?” Topolsky responded. “That’s where the white room is. They keep it gated just in case unless you have accesses to that area. Which I happen to have.”
Alex felt his stomach tighten as he got closer to the room. There was the faint sound of screams coming from it or something that sounded like it. He didn’t think he could handle seeing them torture Liz in front of them. From the way Maria was shaking next to him, he could tell she felt the same way.
“Are you ready?” Topolsky asked Kyle.
He nodded, “I think so.”
She punched in a pass code, opening up the gate. “All right, when I say so, Kyle you start with whatever it is you’re doing. Ed, you go in and get her and I’ll get us out of the building.” They got in front of the room, where Liz was strapped to a table, the screaming stopped but Pierce was looking at her.
Stopping her from moving forward, Ed placed a hand on her shoulder, “Are you sure we can trust you?” he asked.
“Well, I don’t think you have choice now do you?” She glared back at him. “After all, I’ve gotten you this far haven’t I?”
“I could have done this.”
“Not past that door. It’s changed since you last checked in. We are dumb enough to keep an Agents finger prints active in our system once we know they’re dead.”
Alex butted in, “Hey, can we get going please?”
Kathleen signaled to Kyle, “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
“You have forty five seconds to get Liz out of this building once the mind warp is over. Kyle how long can you hold it on five people?”
“One minute at the most.”
Kathleen looked at Maria and Alex, “How fast can you move?”
Maria swallowed hard, “We can do it.”
Ed snapped his fingers, “Kyle, start in three seconds.”
Kyle closed his eyes and started the mind warp.
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“Liz, I’ve told you. You need to answer me.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
Pierce leaned down close to her face, “I don’t believe you.”
Shaking, Liz openly questioned his logic in front of the staff he had working on her. “What if I’m telling you truth? What if you spend all this time on me only to find out I don’t know shit about my species?” She was so busy yelling at him that she didn’t see the dazed look on his face until she finished her sentence. She saw the rest of the people in the room had the same appearance.
Before she could do anything, the door opened and a man came in.
“Come with me,” he said, “here, I won’t hurt you, it’s me, Ed.” He said softly, getting her attention.
“Wh-wh-what’s happening?” she asked as he untied her straps.. “Come on Liz, it’s okay, I’ve got you.” He told her as he picked her up and left the room.” You’re safe now,” he said.
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“I can’t hold it much longer!” Kyle exclaimed as Ed left the room. “I’m loosing it!” he yelled as the mind warp dropped and all of the people inside the room began looking around to seeing where she went.
“Let’s go!” Kathleen yelled,” Let’s get out of here!”
They all began to run meeting up with Ed and Liz once they reached the doors that left the security area. “Here they come!” Alex said as he heard Pierce coming after them, “Let’s get out of here!”
Time moved slowly as the door opened only to find Two Men standing on the other side, waiting with guns. Ed held up his hand and blasted them back as best he could while holding Liz.
“Go! Go!”
Pierce ran to them, when, out of nowhere Sheriff Valenti came out, “Let’s get her out of here!" He called to Ed, he got a brief look at Liz, she was, for the most part out of it and her body was limp. Blood was trickling down her arm where it appeared as though somebody had been cutting her.
He stopped as Pierce held up his gun and pointed at them, causing Jim to reach for his own and to shoot, hitting him in the chest. “Ahh!” Pierce screamed, flying back from the bullet.
“Move!” Topolsky commanded everyone. They ran down the halls and out of the base to the cars, reaching them just in time to see men coming after them.
The Mirror Of Reality(AU,M/L,TEEN) Updated 6-06, [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
Sorry for the short part coming up. And thank you for the feed back. I am currently planning to revamp the story, kind of, re-editing them so to speak. I am planning to fix the past parts in some places that I just do not feel are right or whatever. Anyway, thank you again for the feedback!
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Once they got out of the building, they made a run for their cars. The sound of gun shots in the distance could be heard whirling past them, hitting a tree next to Alex as he ran with Maria a few feet behind him. There was small patch of trees after they cleared the fence before their car was located.
“Hurry!” Ed yelled.
Alex reached the cars first. He would have asked what Max, Isabel and Michael were thinking going to the sheriff but he knew they didn’t have time for it. He saw Maria and Kyle, along with Sheriff and Topolsky running to them.
As far as Max could see there was a stranger carrying Liz. He heart pounded in his chest as she came closer, her body was limp and her eyes were half shut.
Ed glared at the humans as came running to them with Liz in his arms; he was still in the form of the agent.
The blood from Liz’s arm was soaking through his suit. “Here,” he called out to Max, “Take her.” He said as he placed her in his arms. Ed glared at the humans, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Michael cocked his head to the side as he glared right back. “And who the *fuck* are you?”
“It’s Ed. Kyle’s ‘dad’,” Maria said as she ran over to open the jeep. Although she wanted to know why the Sheriff was there, she wasn’t about to ask at this time. “Where are we going?” Maria asked as she jogged over to Michael, the running had caught up with her.
Ed glanced at Topolsky. “You guys split up, I’ll call you in one hour, and I’ll tell you where to meet me.”
Michael moved over to wrap his arm around Maria, who was shaking from all of her nerves, “What are we supposed to do until then?”
“Just…drive.”
“No, this not something that you get to decide on your own.” Isabel said from the back of the group, something no was expecting from her. “I say we decide a place to meet now while we have the chance.”
She said while she wrapped her arms around herself. Alex was standing next to her, “She’s right.” He glared at Kyle who was about to say something, “Kyle. We get to decide together.”
Valenti offered his suggestion, “We can go to my house?” he noticed that no one jumped at the chance; “It’s safe for now.”
Liz, who was leaning against Max, looked at the Sheriff, “I called for back up,” Max whispered to her. “You can trust him.” She nodded, “Thanks.” Liz knew that Max would not have gone to Jim had he not seen reason enough to trust him. And it was clear from his offer that he was eager to help, but with how things had just gone inside, she doubted it would be a very good idea to hide out at his house.
“We can meet at the UFO Center,” the words came weakly from Liz’s mouth. She felt sick. Her entire body ached and the feeling a nausea that had taken over her body during her stay in the White Room was still crashing over her in waves. Had it not been for Max holding her up she would have fallen to the ground, unable to hold her self up. “Brody will be out of town for the next few days and it’s safe,” she said, it was true, and he was kind of a nut to most people. He believed aliens were coming to take over the world and he had the only safe place to be. He had a bomb shelter of sorts with food, water and a giant computer that could search any alien sightings, rumors, or stories over the last fifty years.
Everyone seemed to agree, except for Ed who began to back away into the night; “I have to go.” His eyes were on Maria as she stepped up to him, “Wait, go where?” she could not believe he was doing this, with so little time. “I have to protect you any way I can. I will meet you at the center, don’t worry. I will meet you there.” He said as he ran off into the night.
“Where is he going,” Alex yelled at Kyle, who just shook his head, “I don’t know! But, guys! Let’s get going!”
Max picked up Liz and carried her over to the Jeep; “We need to get going.” He said as he gently sat her in the passenger side of the jeep. Alex came over and looked in the back seat, “Here,” he said handing Liz a bag, “Clothes.” Liz nodded and took them from him weakly.
Alex stared at her, “Liz, I didn’t…” he motioned to the sheriff. He wasn’t sure what to think of him at this point. Should he trust him or not? “It’s okay,” Liz said as Max jumped in the front seat. Alex and Isabel followed suit and jumped in the back. “Let’s go.” Isabel said. The distant sound of siren rang clearly in the air.
_____________________________________________________________
Michael, Maria, Topolsky and Kyle all rode with the Sheriff to the center, the ride was mostly silent for the first fifteen minutes until Jim, unable to deal with the uncomfortable silence asked, “Why did Liz say to meet at the UFO center?” He glanced in the rear view mirror at Maria, “What about the owners?”
Maria leaned her head up from Michael’s shoulder where it had been resting; “Well, because Brody is out of town right now, it’s shut down for a few days. Liz still has access to it though,” she answered him. After she was done talking, Maria rested her head back on Michael’s shoulder, “Thank you.”
“For what?” He asked confused, he had not done anything as far as he was concerned. To Maria however, he had helped her just by being there for her. From the moment Liz had been taken up until this very moment, Michael had given Maria more strength than he could ever imagine. “Just thank you.” She answered.
As Jim drove he thought about what was happening, Max told him it was not his place to explain what was happening and Jim respected that. But this whole thing with School counselors and FBI blasting people away somehow with just a flick of their wrist had raised some flags with Jim. He wanted to know the truth; he needed to know so he could protect them. He had already begun lying to Tess about his involvement with them. He called her right after Max came to him.
“Tess, listen, I have to go help some people. I’ll be back sometime tomorrow…most likely.”
“Where are you going?”
“Tess honey, I’ll explain it to you when I get back.”
“But, Jim, where are you going to be if I need to get a hold of you?”
“Call my phone, but, Tess…don’t let anyone know what’s going on. Okay?”
“How can I, if you’re not telling me?”
He turned down a back road and headed into town, he hoped it would be safe once they got there. These kids deserved that, to be safe. However, in order for him to help they had to be honest with him. How could he help them if they did not tell him everything?
“Maria, I hate to ask you this. Especially at a time like this but…I need to know.”
He waited with bated breath as Maria lifted her head from Michael’s shoulder and yawned, “Know what?” she asked, but something told Jim that she knew very well what he meant. He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat, “The truth.”
He saw Kyle straighten up in his seat from the rear view mirror, “Maria….” The words came out of his mouth softly, as though he didn’t want Valenti to hear, but they held just as much warning in them.
Maria shot a glare at him, “Kyle, he deserves to know.” She was going from just plain annoyed with Kyle to pure hatred. She didn’t get him or his ‘don’t trust anyone, but believe and listen to every last thing that comes out of my pathetic little mouth’ syndrome. “I would at least wait for Liz,” his tone changed significantly from the last time, now it was kind and thoughtful with a touch of caution rather than warning and distaste. Maybe he was catching on…
“Sheriff, The FBI, well, actually Agent Pierce wanted Liz because…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, feeling rather, until Michael squeezed her hand and whispered in her ear, “It’s all right.” She gathered her thoughts and continued, “Liz, Alex, Kyle and I are not from here.”
“From where?”
“Here. Earth. We are not human…”
She watched as Jim didn’t react at all, he did not even take his eyes off the road it appeared from the rear view mirror. For a moment Maria felt as though all of her fears about him were coming true, he was not going to help them anymore now. She let Liz and Alex down, she almost told herself…almost.
But when Jim finally spoke, it was not fear, disgust or hate; it was concern. “Who else knows?” he asked, not taking his off the road.
“Michael, Max and Isabel. Now you and Topolsky, but something tells me she already knew.”
Topolsky nodded, that was entire reason she knew of their very existence, to prove Liz was an alien. And she had, just not the way she expected. In all actuality, Topolsky wanted Liz to be the killer at first, that way she had a real reason to hate her. But, as time went on and Liz and those who knew her well began the ‘mandatory’ meetings, she found out that Liz was not only not who they were looking for, she was a loving, caring person who wanted nothing more than a normal life.
“So Max was really shot that day?”
“Yes, everything you heard about him being shot was true.”
“But, your parents don’t know?”
Maria shook her head, “No, somehow, they’ve never picked up on how different we really are. That and we don’t tell any really.” Jim took a deep breath and smiled something that threw Maria totally off guard, “Don’t worry, your secrets safe with me.”
_____________________________________________________________
Alex was leaning up in between the front seats of the jeep. He watched, as Liz slowly became increasingly aware of her surroundings, like she was watching them although her eyes were closed. Although he did not want to admit it, Alex could feel things in him changing. He could his powers becoming stronger whenever he used them and knew Liz and Maria felt the same way. Ever since that pendent had been put back together things were different. Alex just was not sure how different they were going to become.
“Liz, are you okay?”
Liz stirred some. She had not changed her clothes yet; she was wrapped a blanket but was still shivering. “Liz,” he said again, touching her shoulder, this time she responded. “Yes,” she faced him, “What is it Alex?” She glanced over at Max who was driving, he was tired and it showed. She felt like it had been a lifetime since she last saw him when, in reality, it had only been since last night.
“Are you okay?” Ale asked again, this time with less of an edge to his voice. Liz smiled at him; “I am now. You guys saved me.” She turned back to face the road; it was long and dark. She felt so…drained. The White Room had left its scars already and she knew that as time went on they would begin to show more before they faded. What Liz worried about was how long it would take. “Have you talked to your Parents, Max?”
Reaching over with his free hand Max took her hand in his, not taking his eyes off of the road, “I talked to them earlier, I told them we all were going camping, and Michael and Isabel did the same thing.” Max turned off on an exit; it was somewhat of half way marker. “Almost there.”
Isabel sat in the back listening to the conversation that had taken place. It was not what some may call an important one but this was the most Liz had talked since they got here out of the base. She knew it was partly because of how tired Liz was, she could barley walk, and so talking must have been difficult too.
Isabel sighed and shut her eyes, it was about ten o’clock and she felt exhausted, she prayed to God that they would be safe, but something told her that being safe again would require a miracle.
_____________________________________________________________
Once they got out of the building, they made a run for their cars. The sound of gun shots in the distance could be heard whirling past them, hitting a tree next to Alex as he ran with Maria a few feet behind him. There was small patch of trees after they cleared the fence before their car was located.
“Hurry!” Ed yelled.
Alex reached the cars first. He would have asked what Max, Isabel and Michael were thinking going to the sheriff but he knew they didn’t have time for it. He saw Maria and Kyle, along with Sheriff and Topolsky running to them.
As far as Max could see there was a stranger carrying Liz. He heart pounded in his chest as she came closer, her body was limp and her eyes were half shut.
Ed glared at the humans as came running to them with Liz in his arms; he was still in the form of the agent.
The blood from Liz’s arm was soaking through his suit. “Here,” he called out to Max, “Take her.” He said as he placed her in his arms. Ed glared at the humans, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Michael cocked his head to the side as he glared right back. “And who the *fuck* are you?”
“It’s Ed. Kyle’s ‘dad’,” Maria said as she ran over to open the jeep. Although she wanted to know why the Sheriff was there, she wasn’t about to ask at this time. “Where are we going?” Maria asked as she jogged over to Michael, the running had caught up with her.
Ed glanced at Topolsky. “You guys split up, I’ll call you in one hour, and I’ll tell you where to meet me.”
Michael moved over to wrap his arm around Maria, who was shaking from all of her nerves, “What are we supposed to do until then?”
“Just…drive.”
“No, this not something that you get to decide on your own.” Isabel said from the back of the group, something no was expecting from her. “I say we decide a place to meet now while we have the chance.”
She said while she wrapped her arms around herself. Alex was standing next to her, “She’s right.” He glared at Kyle who was about to say something, “Kyle. We get to decide together.”
Valenti offered his suggestion, “We can go to my house?” he noticed that no one jumped at the chance; “It’s safe for now.”
Liz, who was leaning against Max, looked at the Sheriff, “I called for back up,” Max whispered to her. “You can trust him.” She nodded, “Thanks.” Liz knew that Max would not have gone to Jim had he not seen reason enough to trust him. And it was clear from his offer that he was eager to help, but with how things had just gone inside, she doubted it would be a very good idea to hide out at his house.
“We can meet at the UFO Center,” the words came weakly from Liz’s mouth. She felt sick. Her entire body ached and the feeling a nausea that had taken over her body during her stay in the White Room was still crashing over her in waves. Had it not been for Max holding her up she would have fallen to the ground, unable to hold her self up. “Brody will be out of town for the next few days and it’s safe,” she said, it was true, and he was kind of a nut to most people. He believed aliens were coming to take over the world and he had the only safe place to be. He had a bomb shelter of sorts with food, water and a giant computer that could search any alien sightings, rumors, or stories over the last fifty years.
Everyone seemed to agree, except for Ed who began to back away into the night; “I have to go.” His eyes were on Maria as she stepped up to him, “Wait, go where?” she could not believe he was doing this, with so little time. “I have to protect you any way I can. I will meet you at the center, don’t worry. I will meet you there.” He said as he ran off into the night.
“Where is he going,” Alex yelled at Kyle, who just shook his head, “I don’t know! But, guys! Let’s get going!”
Max picked up Liz and carried her over to the Jeep; “We need to get going.” He said as he gently sat her in the passenger side of the jeep. Alex came over and looked in the back seat, “Here,” he said handing Liz a bag, “Clothes.” Liz nodded and took them from him weakly.
Alex stared at her, “Liz, I didn’t…” he motioned to the sheriff. He wasn’t sure what to think of him at this point. Should he trust him or not? “It’s okay,” Liz said as Max jumped in the front seat. Alex and Isabel followed suit and jumped in the back. “Let’s go.” Isabel said. The distant sound of siren rang clearly in the air.
_____________________________________________________________
Michael, Maria, Topolsky and Kyle all rode with the Sheriff to the center, the ride was mostly silent for the first fifteen minutes until Jim, unable to deal with the uncomfortable silence asked, “Why did Liz say to meet at the UFO center?” He glanced in the rear view mirror at Maria, “What about the owners?”
Maria leaned her head up from Michael’s shoulder where it had been resting; “Well, because Brody is out of town right now, it’s shut down for a few days. Liz still has access to it though,” she answered him. After she was done talking, Maria rested her head back on Michael’s shoulder, “Thank you.”
“For what?” He asked confused, he had not done anything as far as he was concerned. To Maria however, he had helped her just by being there for her. From the moment Liz had been taken up until this very moment, Michael had given Maria more strength than he could ever imagine. “Just thank you.” She answered.
As Jim drove he thought about what was happening, Max told him it was not his place to explain what was happening and Jim respected that. But this whole thing with School counselors and FBI blasting people away somehow with just a flick of their wrist had raised some flags with Jim. He wanted to know the truth; he needed to know so he could protect them. He had already begun lying to Tess about his involvement with them. He called her right after Max came to him.
“Tess, listen, I have to go help some people. I’ll be back sometime tomorrow…most likely.”
“Where are you going?”
“Tess honey, I’ll explain it to you when I get back.”
“But, Jim, where are you going to be if I need to get a hold of you?”
“Call my phone, but, Tess…don’t let anyone know what’s going on. Okay?”
“How can I, if you’re not telling me?”
He turned down a back road and headed into town, he hoped it would be safe once they got there. These kids deserved that, to be safe. However, in order for him to help they had to be honest with him. How could he help them if they did not tell him everything?
“Maria, I hate to ask you this. Especially at a time like this but…I need to know.”
He waited with bated breath as Maria lifted her head from Michael’s shoulder and yawned, “Know what?” she asked, but something told Jim that she knew very well what he meant. He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat, “The truth.”
He saw Kyle straighten up in his seat from the rear view mirror, “Maria….” The words came out of his mouth softly, as though he didn’t want Valenti to hear, but they held just as much warning in them.
Maria shot a glare at him, “Kyle, he deserves to know.” She was going from just plain annoyed with Kyle to pure hatred. She didn’t get him or his ‘don’t trust anyone, but believe and listen to every last thing that comes out of my pathetic little mouth’ syndrome. “I would at least wait for Liz,” his tone changed significantly from the last time, now it was kind and thoughtful with a touch of caution rather than warning and distaste. Maybe he was catching on…
“Sheriff, The FBI, well, actually Agent Pierce wanted Liz because…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, feeling rather, until Michael squeezed her hand and whispered in her ear, “It’s all right.” She gathered her thoughts and continued, “Liz, Alex, Kyle and I are not from here.”
“From where?”
“Here. Earth. We are not human…”
She watched as Jim didn’t react at all, he did not even take his eyes off the road it appeared from the rear view mirror. For a moment Maria felt as though all of her fears about him were coming true, he was not going to help them anymore now. She let Liz and Alex down, she almost told herself…almost.
But when Jim finally spoke, it was not fear, disgust or hate; it was concern. “Who else knows?” he asked, not taking his off the road.
“Michael, Max and Isabel. Now you and Topolsky, but something tells me she already knew.”
Topolsky nodded, that was entire reason she knew of their very existence, to prove Liz was an alien. And she had, just not the way she expected. In all actuality, Topolsky wanted Liz to be the killer at first, that way she had a real reason to hate her. But, as time went on and Liz and those who knew her well began the ‘mandatory’ meetings, she found out that Liz was not only not who they were looking for, she was a loving, caring person who wanted nothing more than a normal life.
“So Max was really shot that day?”
“Yes, everything you heard about him being shot was true.”
“But, your parents don’t know?”
Maria shook her head, “No, somehow, they’ve never picked up on how different we really are. That and we don’t tell any really.” Jim took a deep breath and smiled something that threw Maria totally off guard, “Don’t worry, your secrets safe with me.”
_____________________________________________________________
Alex was leaning up in between the front seats of the jeep. He watched, as Liz slowly became increasingly aware of her surroundings, like she was watching them although her eyes were closed. Although he did not want to admit it, Alex could feel things in him changing. He could his powers becoming stronger whenever he used them and knew Liz and Maria felt the same way. Ever since that pendent had been put back together things were different. Alex just was not sure how different they were going to become.
“Liz, are you okay?”
Liz stirred some. She had not changed her clothes yet; she was wrapped a blanket but was still shivering. “Liz,” he said again, touching her shoulder, this time she responded. “Yes,” she faced him, “What is it Alex?” She glanced over at Max who was driving, he was tired and it showed. She felt like it had been a lifetime since she last saw him when, in reality, it had only been since last night.
“Are you okay?” Ale asked again, this time with less of an edge to his voice. Liz smiled at him; “I am now. You guys saved me.” She turned back to face the road; it was long and dark. She felt so…drained. The White Room had left its scars already and she knew that as time went on they would begin to show more before they faded. What Liz worried about was how long it would take. “Have you talked to your Parents, Max?”
Reaching over with his free hand Max took her hand in his, not taking his eyes off of the road, “I talked to them earlier, I told them we all were going camping, and Michael and Isabel did the same thing.” Max turned off on an exit; it was somewhat of half way marker. “Almost there.”
Isabel sat in the back listening to the conversation that had taken place. It was not what some may call an important one but this was the most Liz had talked since they got here out of the base. She knew it was partly because of how tired Liz was, she could barley walk, and so talking must have been difficult too.
Isabel sighed and shut her eyes, it was about ten o’clock and she felt exhausted, she prayed to God that they would be safe, but something told her that being safe again would require a miracle.
Last edited by T.D.O on Sun Apr 09, 2006 12:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Max’ heart skipped a beat as he pulled in the back of the UFO Center. He saw a large SUV and for a brief moment feared, it was the FBI before his mind registered that it was Valentis.
He glanced around the jeep, “We’re here.” he tried sounding happy but he just didn’t have the energy. He shut the engine off and jumped out, going to Liz’s side to help her.
“I’ve got you…,” he whispered in her ear. His arms were cradling her.
Liz groaned, “I think I can walk, Max.” This was not what she wanted right now; she hated being treated like she was crippled.
Max looked at her, “And your point?”
Rolling her eyes, Liz wiggled her legs, “I don’t need you to carry me.”
Tears came to his eyes, “I want to.” The pure love coming through made Liz feel guilty instantly.
Near the building Isabel searched for the others “Maria?” she whispered, looking to Alex “Do you think they went in?”
He nodded; “Maria probably used her powers to get in.”
Just then, Michael popped his head out the side of the door, “Hey! Over here!” he called, just loud enough for them to hear but not enough to cause a disturbance in case they had been followed. Michael walked over to Max as he carried Liz into the building; shocked by the way she looked.
He had seen her when they helped her escape but didn’t get a really good look at her then. He moved ahead of them and went in the small back room that everyone was currently sitting in, waiting for them to meet with them; “They’re here!” He called.
The UFO Center was huge, it sat right across the street from the Crashdown so it attracted a lot of tourist who wanted something do before sitting down to dinner.
It had two main rooms and a theater that the public could access and about four little rooms that only Brody and his ‘authorized personnel’ could enter. One of which was he called ‘The Shelter.’ It held enough food storage for about five years and a small cot in the corner. One of the other ones, where everyone had settled into was the break room. From what Brody told Liz, ‘The Shelter’ was as important to him as the area that held his super computer, which contained nearly every documented UFO and alien encounter there was.
Maria lifted her head up from her hands; she had been resting it there, tired, but unable and unwilling to fall asleep.
She held up the bag of clothes that Alex gave when he saw her, motioning for Max to follow her; “Max, now, I know you are happy to see her…” she trailed off as she led him to the bathroom where Liz could change.
When they reached the bathroom he sat her down, “You okay?” Liz rolled her eyes, “Yes!”
Maria pointed to the door, “Well, I don’t think we have gotten that close Max.”
Max knew what she was talking about, “Oh, didn’t even cross my mind,” he said holding up his hands, it felt nice to joke around a little. It made things easier sometimes.
He sat outside the room as Maria helped her change; he could hear Liz talking, saying that she was not a peace of glass, just really sore. It made him chuckle, that was Liz, not breakable, but a little fragile. The smile faded as tears came to eyes as he thought about the day. The stress began to build up slowly and soon his through hurt from his shear resistance to cry.
“It won’t kill you to let it out.”
He jumped slightly from being startled. He lifted his head to Topolsky standing over him with her hand out, “Come here.” She motioned him to follow her, “Let’s talk…” he almost didn’t want to follow, but his instincts told him to trust her.
_____________________________________________________________
“Thanks Maria,” Liz hugged her, noticing how Maria was trying to hold her up, “I’m not crippled, I just have some trouble walking.” She hadn’t even been out of the room for three hours and everyone was already acting like she was helpless.
Almost laughing and almost crying Maria choked out, “Sorry, but you know you’d do the same thing…”
Liz pulled back from where they were standing “See.” She said with a proud look on her face, “I CAN stand on my own.” Liz could tell Maria was not buying the ‘all is well’ ploy and sighed, “I’m sorry, you know how I hate pity.”
Maria didn’t even give a second thought to what she said next, “Yeah, well, Liz you’d better get used to it. ‘Cause, if I have anything to do with it, and I will, those bastards will pay for what they just did to you. Every last one of them.”
Liz didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say, she knew Maria was telling the truth, that is how Maria always has been. She could be campy, kooky, but when you messed with her family; you messed with the wrong one. Maybe that is why her powers where more defense and attack based.
When Liz looked up, she noticed something that caught her eye in the background. This painting had aliens in it, there were standing over something with a sharp point; shaped like a scalpel, too much like the one they used on her. She turned away suddenly as an unwanted image came into her mind of Doctors and knives.
As she turned to face away from the offending sight, she lost her balance and fell to the floor, unable to catch herself on the nearby sink as she was falling. “Liz!” Maria rushed down to pick her up, the fact that she was shaking so hard was not the only thing that scared Maria, and her pale complexion had gotten even whiter. “What happened?” she asked frantically, debating if she should call for help or not.
“I just got nauseous. That’s all.”
Liz wasn’t lying, she did get sick, and it just wasn’t the reason she was shaking. She was shaking from the flash back. She pushed back the tears, controlling them, now was not the time to break down. She didn’t know what her deal was; she’d seen the picture thousands of times. She worked here for havens sake!
“Has Nasedo called yet?” Liz said quickly, changing the subject before Maria began to ask questions.
Maria shook her head no and reached in her pocket to look at her phone again, “Nope, it’s been going on like two hours now.” She glanced at her watch, it was ten minutes slower than her phone, and she was just too lazy to fix it.
Liz glanced around the room again; she hated cleaning this thing when the Center closed for the night. It was smelly and most of the time a good portion of toilet paper all over the place from messy kids and lazy adults.
Then there was Maria, she was looking around the room nervously, a flashing light going off on her head couldn’t have made it more known hat she had something to talk to her about. “What is it, Maria?”
“Liz, I hope you’re not mad…I told the Sheriff the truth about us.”
“You did?”
Maria nodded and led the way out of the smelly bathroom, her and Liz walked into the break room where Liz plopped down on one of the big couches Brody had placed in there for his employees, all five of them.
“I think he deserved to know,” Maria glanced at Liz as she sat down next to her, wanting to gage her reaction, for the most part she figured Liz wouldn’t be angry that she told Valenti but a part her worried of how she might react to someone else learning their secret so soon.
“I think you’re right.”
Maria sighed, “Good to see we agree on that.” She shivered, not from cold, but because her body was so worn out that even walking to the couch used too much energy and she could feel herself ready to fall asleep right where she was sitting,
“Liz, you know that….if you want to talk about it….”
Looking at her with a mock questioning in her eyes, Liz tried her best to play down the comment. She wasn’t one to talk about inner emotions really, at least not this soon after it happened. However, she was willing to give Maria the answer she wanted, “I know.” She reached over and hugged her again, “Thank you.” She meant it.
_____________________________________________________________
Max and Topolsky were walking through the back of the UFO Center, the area where Brody kept all for the storage for his exhibits. Topolsky stepped in front of Max, looking at the alien figures in the open box sitting next to the door, “So Liz works here?”
Max nodded and shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve never really understood why. Brody kind of gives me the creeps, if you want the truth.”
“You’ve met him?”
He picked up a small alien doll, “Yeah,” he studied it, wondering if that’s truly what other aliens looked like. So far, the aliens he had met looked normal, but Ed was shape shifter, so that meant that he could take any form. Human or other wise. The doll had big black eyes against an oval shaped head with little features for its face. Is this what Ed really looked like?
“What’s he like, he looks to me like he has a lot of money?”
Max chuckled, “Have you ever heard of Willie Wonka?” When Topolsky nodded yes, Max set the doll down, “That’s him. Minus the chocolate. This is his factory”
Topolsky laughed at the reference, she had never meet Brody, but from she heard around town and from Liz and Max, he sounded eccentric to say the least. “Would he be mad if he found Liz lodging here with six or seven of her closest friend?”
“He’s in England right now from what Liz tells me, something about visiting family. I really don’t think our chances of him finding us here are big.”
Max shoved his hands in his pockets and motioned to the break room, “I guess I’d better get back, Liz might need me.” He walked over the others, leaving Topolsky there to think about what just happened over the few hours, things in her life had taken such a dramatic turn that it took until now to hit her that is was really happening.
Kathleen knew where she was in her life before she was assigned to the Parker Case. She grew up in New York City and became an FBI Agent about five years ago. She was made part of the special unit when, about three years ago, a series of UFO sightings over parts of South America had made the Unit more alert than usual.
She became excited when she heard about this case where a shooting in Roswell, New Mexico had the local sheriff making a big huff over it with Stevens came to her. She orders was given where basically prove that Liz was this killer that they had been looking for and investigate to see if there were anymore.
But when she started talking to Liz things changed, she didn’t have the gung-ho feeling for ‘convicting’ Liz so to speak that she once had. She felt like she could trust Liz, and that Liz wouldn’t hurt a fly. When Burns had let Pierce and Smith know of her doubts about the case, she was pushed back from fieldwork.
But, unfortunately for her, she had to deal with the White Room. The readings from the machines and the notes form the doctors. Plus, she had to see pictures. She was on her way to the office of the Agent to pick up her photos to document and catalog when she saw something suspicious. That was when she founds Alex and Maria.
Now, she had not only for sure lost her job, that is, if they were ever caught, she would have no chance to ever work in the unit again. But those things didn’t bother Kathleen as much as she thought it would have. Right now, her biggest concern was getting these kids to safety. Something that they couldn’t do until this ‘Ed’ contacted them. If he ever did…
_____________________________________________________________
Kyle sat on a couch with his head leaned back, tying to get some sleep. They had been here for over two hours now and no word from Ed. This didn’t surprise Kyle; Ed did this to him all of the time, leave for days on end and no word from him. He was alone in the room for moment, Maria and Liz had ventured off to find a bed, knowing Brody the way Liz did, he most likely kept a few here in case of ‘emergency’. He had no clue nor did he care where Valenti or Topolsky were but he figured they were just walking around the Center, seeing what all it had to offer without having to deal with the smoke and lights that were usually going when it was open.
What Kyle wasn’t used to was the way Maria and Alex had been treating him. It was like no matter what he did, he couldn’t get through to them. He couldn’t get them to understand humans were inferior. It didn’t matter what race they were, Antarian or a Skin, the human mind and body in its current state on Earth was unimportant and weak. That was why the Antarians fell under the rule of the Skins on Sedna; they focused on the emotional part of everything. Unlike the Skins who perused a more unemotional approach to things.
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like to be back on Sedna. He had his memories but he wanted to know what it would really be like on his home planet. To stand on the solid ground and breathe in the air. He guessed that was part of his motivation to do what he was doing to the group; he wanted to be home again where he belonged.
The other part was how he was brought up to think. He was told from the time he was young that he had a mission to do and only he could do it. Kyle would admit that he sometimes didn’t agree with what Ed done but when it came down it, it was for the good of their people. He had to be selfishly unselfish in his mind. Kyle knew he would be hurting Liz, more than likely killing her in the long run but, it was for the greater good.
Kyle had this burned into his head from the time he came out of the pod. Ed made sure that he knew of his ‘mission’ on this planet. According to Ed, Kyle was to either succeed or die.
In the midst of his thoughts Kyle failed to notice Maria who came around the side of the couch to sit down next to him. “Hey,” she said, he jerked his head up to see who was talking to him. “What do you want?” he asked cautiously, not used to one of them coming up and talking to him voluntarily.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing….”
She couldn’t believe she was doing this, Maria told herself. She didn’t want to be nice to Kyle but she knew that he had helped them a great deal today and without them Liz would still be in the White Room.
Kyle scoffed at the comment, “Since when do you care about how I am doing?” the mocking tone in his voice let Maria know he wasn’t happy with her.
Jumping to her own defense, Maria shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I wanted to see if you needed anything and I…” she trailed off again, but quickly picked back up where she was, “…I wanted to…thank you.”
“Thank me?”
Maria nodded, “Thank you for helping us today.”
“What?” Kyle was flabbergasted; Maria was being nice to him. “What did you just say to me?” He asked with astonishment. This was totally unexpected.
“I said thank you.”
Looking at him, Maria sat up straight, “I guess I feel kind of bad for the way I’ve been treating you…in a way. I mean, you’ve helped us. Granted, you have gotten on my nerves…but you’ve still helped.”
He tried swallowing the feeling of disgust he felt at the thought of making friends with his enemies but he couldn’t. And yet, he was glad Maria came over and thanked him. His thought about what Ed might say if he was standing in front of him now. He would applaud him for the way Maria approached him, or say he was an idiot for growing closer to her. Ed was like that to Kyle.
Kyle just accepted the fact that he would have to be their friends if he was going to get inside the group, “That means a lot to me Maria.”
Maria patted him on the shoulder and smiled, “I’m sure it does.” She said right before getting up and walking away. Leaving Kyle to wonder if she joking about the comment or if she meant it.
Maybe he was catching on? Maria thought about as she left.
_____________________________________________________________
“What is Liz doing right now?”
The Sheriff walked into back room where everyone was gathered. Maria glanced up at his question, “She’s sleeping right now. We found ‘The Shelter’.”
Jim laughed, “The what?”
Rolling her eyes as she explained, Maria gave Valenti the whole story Liz told her, “As the whole town of Roswell knows, Brody is like super paranoid of Aliens, so he keeps like this room he calls ‘The Shelter’ in case he needs to hide out here when they attack.”
“You mean when ‘we’ attack?”
Maria quickly snapped her head in Kyle direction, “What?”
“You know, when our leaders give us the orders to break out of our shells and suck the lives out every human we can find?” Kyle said, not getting the reaction he wanted. The Sheriff looked almost as pale as Liz looked when she was in the room and Maria just looked pissed.
“Kyle, this not a good time to talk like that.” Maria scolded him, that little glimmer of hope that he was becoming a nice guy just faded into the darkness of the poorly lit room.
“Oh, come on! It was joke!” He held up his hands as he shrugged his shoulders, “What, I didn’t mean it!”
_____________________________________________________________
Max kissed Liz’s cheek, “It’s okay.” He held her as she was lying in the cot that was in the room. It wasn’t very comfortable but it would do for the night. Liz snuggled into his arms; they made her feel safe for the fist time in what seemed like forever.
Liz could feel her head start to hurt from trying to block the memories that were trying to break free. She didn’t want to think about the White Room ever again. It had taken a part of her innocence she supposed. Before, she thought that if anyone had ever captured one of them they would see that they weren’t evil. Before, she wasn’t even sure if ‘they’ were real and not just some science fiction authors’ imagination at work. Now, she knew she was wrong about all of it.
‘They’ did exist, and they didn’t care if you meant any harm or not. What if they had gotten Alex or Maria? What if they had gotten Max too, sure he was human but it was plain to see Pierce didn’t care what you were if you had even the littlest connection to aliens?
Try as she might, she couldn’t stop the storm that was brewing, she only wondered if she would be strong enough to fight it.
“You’re thinking too hard again.”
Max’s tender voice brought her out of her thoughts; he was staring at her with a grin on his face. “What?” she asked, wondering why he was grinning. Max chuckled, “When you think too hard your eyebrows get this cute little furrow in the middle.” He gently rubbed his thumb over her eyebrow, his grin fading, “Liz, I’m sorry that things happened like they did.”
She stopped him before he could go any further with his thought, “No, don’t even Max, it’s not your fault.” It’s mine, for not being smart enough to do the right thing, she added silently.
Before she could say anything else Max grabbed her and kissed her. The unexpected gesture made it hard for Liz to block her thoughts of the White Room and through their connection; Max began to receive flashes from it.
Liz tied to a table with Doctors operating on her. He saw her being drug by men in white jump suits to a chair; he saw them putting needles in her arms and wrists. Doctors hovering above her, taking notes on how she reacted to the things they were doing to her.
Many other flashes came into his mind before he could break away. Things he hoped he would never see again. What was worse were the things he felt, he felt her anger, her confusion, the fear from not only the White Room but from just showing other people the side to her that Liz didn’t know that much about; her alien side. The fear of what she was. Her hatred for what she was. It was at that time that Max learned something about Liz that he never had known nor thought of; that she hated every thing about her alien side, that, in her mind, it would bring the downfall of her family.
“Liz!” he pulled back to see Liz looking up at him with the saddest expression he had ever seen before, it had guilt, sadness and confusion all in one. They were no longer laying down, but sitting up on the bed, their back against the wall that the bed was pushed up against.
“I didn’t want you to see that,” she said softly, biting her bottom lip. Looking away, she brushed the tears from her eyes, “I’m sorry.”
Max was shocked at the things she’d been so successful in hiding from him. It never once occurred to him that the only positive thing Liz saw to being alien was the fact that she healed him. “Why haven’t you said something?”
Standing up from the bed Liz looked at him, with the same confusion showing in her eyes. Max now knew what that confusion was, she didn’t know why he was with her, and she didn’t know what she did to deserve him. “Why don’t you deserve me?” he asked getting up, following her in case ran away from him.
“What?”
“You heard me; I want to know why you think you don’t deserve me.”
She swallowed hard, not holding eye contact with him. Darn connection, darn flashes. “Max…” she bit back tears that had formed in her eyes again.
“No, Liz, give me one good reason why you think you aren’t good enough for me!” he whispered stepping up to her, placing his hands on each of her arms. When she tried to look away he stopped her, “Don’t run from this Liz, please.” He pleaded with his eyes, “Please, don’t push me away. Talk to me.”
The lump in her throat made it almost impossible to talk, why did he have to have such hold on her heart? “I…just…” She couldn’t get the words out, her emotions were flying out of control and she didn’t like it but never wanted it to end at the same time.
Max gave a half smile, “See, you can’t even think of poor reason.” He leaned down to kiss but stopped himself and just looked at her, mesmerized by her beauty, she was trying to think of something to say. She fidgeted when she couldn’t think of something to say in response to someone.
“Can’t think of anything to say?”
Liz gave a tear-filled laugh, “You know me too well.”
“How about this, I love you. What better reason is there for us to be together than that? I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He glanced around the jeep, “We’re here.” he tried sounding happy but he just didn’t have the energy. He shut the engine off and jumped out, going to Liz’s side to help her.
“I’ve got you…,” he whispered in her ear. His arms were cradling her.
Liz groaned, “I think I can walk, Max.” This was not what she wanted right now; she hated being treated like she was crippled.
Max looked at her, “And your point?”
Rolling her eyes, Liz wiggled her legs, “I don’t need you to carry me.”
Tears came to his eyes, “I want to.” The pure love coming through made Liz feel guilty instantly.
Near the building Isabel searched for the others “Maria?” she whispered, looking to Alex “Do you think they went in?”
He nodded; “Maria probably used her powers to get in.”
Just then, Michael popped his head out the side of the door, “Hey! Over here!” he called, just loud enough for them to hear but not enough to cause a disturbance in case they had been followed. Michael walked over to Max as he carried Liz into the building; shocked by the way she looked.
He had seen her when they helped her escape but didn’t get a really good look at her then. He moved ahead of them and went in the small back room that everyone was currently sitting in, waiting for them to meet with them; “They’re here!” He called.
The UFO Center was huge, it sat right across the street from the Crashdown so it attracted a lot of tourist who wanted something do before sitting down to dinner.
It had two main rooms and a theater that the public could access and about four little rooms that only Brody and his ‘authorized personnel’ could enter. One of which was he called ‘The Shelter.’ It held enough food storage for about five years and a small cot in the corner. One of the other ones, where everyone had settled into was the break room. From what Brody told Liz, ‘The Shelter’ was as important to him as the area that held his super computer, which contained nearly every documented UFO and alien encounter there was.
Maria lifted her head up from her hands; she had been resting it there, tired, but unable and unwilling to fall asleep.
She held up the bag of clothes that Alex gave when he saw her, motioning for Max to follow her; “Max, now, I know you are happy to see her…” she trailed off as she led him to the bathroom where Liz could change.
When they reached the bathroom he sat her down, “You okay?” Liz rolled her eyes, “Yes!”
Maria pointed to the door, “Well, I don’t think we have gotten that close Max.”
Max knew what she was talking about, “Oh, didn’t even cross my mind,” he said holding up his hands, it felt nice to joke around a little. It made things easier sometimes.
He sat outside the room as Maria helped her change; he could hear Liz talking, saying that she was not a peace of glass, just really sore. It made him chuckle, that was Liz, not breakable, but a little fragile. The smile faded as tears came to eyes as he thought about the day. The stress began to build up slowly and soon his through hurt from his shear resistance to cry.
“It won’t kill you to let it out.”
He jumped slightly from being startled. He lifted his head to Topolsky standing over him with her hand out, “Come here.” She motioned him to follow her, “Let’s talk…” he almost didn’t want to follow, but his instincts told him to trust her.
_____________________________________________________________
“Thanks Maria,” Liz hugged her, noticing how Maria was trying to hold her up, “I’m not crippled, I just have some trouble walking.” She hadn’t even been out of the room for three hours and everyone was already acting like she was helpless.
Almost laughing and almost crying Maria choked out, “Sorry, but you know you’d do the same thing…”
Liz pulled back from where they were standing “See.” She said with a proud look on her face, “I CAN stand on my own.” Liz could tell Maria was not buying the ‘all is well’ ploy and sighed, “I’m sorry, you know how I hate pity.”
Maria didn’t even give a second thought to what she said next, “Yeah, well, Liz you’d better get used to it. ‘Cause, if I have anything to do with it, and I will, those bastards will pay for what they just did to you. Every last one of them.”
Liz didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say, she knew Maria was telling the truth, that is how Maria always has been. She could be campy, kooky, but when you messed with her family; you messed with the wrong one. Maybe that is why her powers where more defense and attack based.
When Liz looked up, she noticed something that caught her eye in the background. This painting had aliens in it, there were standing over something with a sharp point; shaped like a scalpel, too much like the one they used on her. She turned away suddenly as an unwanted image came into her mind of Doctors and knives.
As she turned to face away from the offending sight, she lost her balance and fell to the floor, unable to catch herself on the nearby sink as she was falling. “Liz!” Maria rushed down to pick her up, the fact that she was shaking so hard was not the only thing that scared Maria, and her pale complexion had gotten even whiter. “What happened?” she asked frantically, debating if she should call for help or not.
“I just got nauseous. That’s all.”
Liz wasn’t lying, she did get sick, and it just wasn’t the reason she was shaking. She was shaking from the flash back. She pushed back the tears, controlling them, now was not the time to break down. She didn’t know what her deal was; she’d seen the picture thousands of times. She worked here for havens sake!
“Has Nasedo called yet?” Liz said quickly, changing the subject before Maria began to ask questions.
Maria shook her head no and reached in her pocket to look at her phone again, “Nope, it’s been going on like two hours now.” She glanced at her watch, it was ten minutes slower than her phone, and she was just too lazy to fix it.
Liz glanced around the room again; she hated cleaning this thing when the Center closed for the night. It was smelly and most of the time a good portion of toilet paper all over the place from messy kids and lazy adults.
Then there was Maria, she was looking around the room nervously, a flashing light going off on her head couldn’t have made it more known hat she had something to talk to her about. “What is it, Maria?”
“Liz, I hope you’re not mad…I told the Sheriff the truth about us.”
“You did?”
Maria nodded and led the way out of the smelly bathroom, her and Liz walked into the break room where Liz plopped down on one of the big couches Brody had placed in there for his employees, all five of them.
“I think he deserved to know,” Maria glanced at Liz as she sat down next to her, wanting to gage her reaction, for the most part she figured Liz wouldn’t be angry that she told Valenti but a part her worried of how she might react to someone else learning their secret so soon.
“I think you’re right.”
Maria sighed, “Good to see we agree on that.” She shivered, not from cold, but because her body was so worn out that even walking to the couch used too much energy and she could feel herself ready to fall asleep right where she was sitting,
“Liz, you know that….if you want to talk about it….”
Looking at her with a mock questioning in her eyes, Liz tried her best to play down the comment. She wasn’t one to talk about inner emotions really, at least not this soon after it happened. However, she was willing to give Maria the answer she wanted, “I know.” She reached over and hugged her again, “Thank you.” She meant it.
_____________________________________________________________
Max and Topolsky were walking through the back of the UFO Center, the area where Brody kept all for the storage for his exhibits. Topolsky stepped in front of Max, looking at the alien figures in the open box sitting next to the door, “So Liz works here?”
Max nodded and shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve never really understood why. Brody kind of gives me the creeps, if you want the truth.”
“You’ve met him?”
He picked up a small alien doll, “Yeah,” he studied it, wondering if that’s truly what other aliens looked like. So far, the aliens he had met looked normal, but Ed was shape shifter, so that meant that he could take any form. Human or other wise. The doll had big black eyes against an oval shaped head with little features for its face. Is this what Ed really looked like?
“What’s he like, he looks to me like he has a lot of money?”
Max chuckled, “Have you ever heard of Willie Wonka?” When Topolsky nodded yes, Max set the doll down, “That’s him. Minus the chocolate. This is his factory”
Topolsky laughed at the reference, she had never meet Brody, but from she heard around town and from Liz and Max, he sounded eccentric to say the least. “Would he be mad if he found Liz lodging here with six or seven of her closest friend?”
“He’s in England right now from what Liz tells me, something about visiting family. I really don’t think our chances of him finding us here are big.”
Max shoved his hands in his pockets and motioned to the break room, “I guess I’d better get back, Liz might need me.” He walked over the others, leaving Topolsky there to think about what just happened over the few hours, things in her life had taken such a dramatic turn that it took until now to hit her that is was really happening.
Kathleen knew where she was in her life before she was assigned to the Parker Case. She grew up in New York City and became an FBI Agent about five years ago. She was made part of the special unit when, about three years ago, a series of UFO sightings over parts of South America had made the Unit more alert than usual.
She became excited when she heard about this case where a shooting in Roswell, New Mexico had the local sheriff making a big huff over it with Stevens came to her. She orders was given where basically prove that Liz was this killer that they had been looking for and investigate to see if there were anymore.
But when she started talking to Liz things changed, she didn’t have the gung-ho feeling for ‘convicting’ Liz so to speak that she once had. She felt like she could trust Liz, and that Liz wouldn’t hurt a fly. When Burns had let Pierce and Smith know of her doubts about the case, she was pushed back from fieldwork.
But, unfortunately for her, she had to deal with the White Room. The readings from the machines and the notes form the doctors. Plus, she had to see pictures. She was on her way to the office of the Agent to pick up her photos to document and catalog when she saw something suspicious. That was when she founds Alex and Maria.
Now, she had not only for sure lost her job, that is, if they were ever caught, she would have no chance to ever work in the unit again. But those things didn’t bother Kathleen as much as she thought it would have. Right now, her biggest concern was getting these kids to safety. Something that they couldn’t do until this ‘Ed’ contacted them. If he ever did…
_____________________________________________________________
Kyle sat on a couch with his head leaned back, tying to get some sleep. They had been here for over two hours now and no word from Ed. This didn’t surprise Kyle; Ed did this to him all of the time, leave for days on end and no word from him. He was alone in the room for moment, Maria and Liz had ventured off to find a bed, knowing Brody the way Liz did, he most likely kept a few here in case of ‘emergency’. He had no clue nor did he care where Valenti or Topolsky were but he figured they were just walking around the Center, seeing what all it had to offer without having to deal with the smoke and lights that were usually going when it was open.
What Kyle wasn’t used to was the way Maria and Alex had been treating him. It was like no matter what he did, he couldn’t get through to them. He couldn’t get them to understand humans were inferior. It didn’t matter what race they were, Antarian or a Skin, the human mind and body in its current state on Earth was unimportant and weak. That was why the Antarians fell under the rule of the Skins on Sedna; they focused on the emotional part of everything. Unlike the Skins who perused a more unemotional approach to things.
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like to be back on Sedna. He had his memories but he wanted to know what it would really be like on his home planet. To stand on the solid ground and breathe in the air. He guessed that was part of his motivation to do what he was doing to the group; he wanted to be home again where he belonged.
The other part was how he was brought up to think. He was told from the time he was young that he had a mission to do and only he could do it. Kyle would admit that he sometimes didn’t agree with what Ed done but when it came down it, it was for the good of their people. He had to be selfishly unselfish in his mind. Kyle knew he would be hurting Liz, more than likely killing her in the long run but, it was for the greater good.
Kyle had this burned into his head from the time he came out of the pod. Ed made sure that he knew of his ‘mission’ on this planet. According to Ed, Kyle was to either succeed or die.
In the midst of his thoughts Kyle failed to notice Maria who came around the side of the couch to sit down next to him. “Hey,” she said, he jerked his head up to see who was talking to him. “What do you want?” he asked cautiously, not used to one of them coming up and talking to him voluntarily.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing….”
She couldn’t believe she was doing this, Maria told herself. She didn’t want to be nice to Kyle but she knew that he had helped them a great deal today and without them Liz would still be in the White Room.
Kyle scoffed at the comment, “Since when do you care about how I am doing?” the mocking tone in his voice let Maria know he wasn’t happy with her.
Jumping to her own defense, Maria shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I wanted to see if you needed anything and I…” she trailed off again, but quickly picked back up where she was, “…I wanted to…thank you.”
“Thank me?”
Maria nodded, “Thank you for helping us today.”
“What?” Kyle was flabbergasted; Maria was being nice to him. “What did you just say to me?” He asked with astonishment. This was totally unexpected.
“I said thank you.”
Looking at him, Maria sat up straight, “I guess I feel kind of bad for the way I’ve been treating you…in a way. I mean, you’ve helped us. Granted, you have gotten on my nerves…but you’ve still helped.”
He tried swallowing the feeling of disgust he felt at the thought of making friends with his enemies but he couldn’t. And yet, he was glad Maria came over and thanked him. His thought about what Ed might say if he was standing in front of him now. He would applaud him for the way Maria approached him, or say he was an idiot for growing closer to her. Ed was like that to Kyle.
Kyle just accepted the fact that he would have to be their friends if he was going to get inside the group, “That means a lot to me Maria.”
Maria patted him on the shoulder and smiled, “I’m sure it does.” She said right before getting up and walking away. Leaving Kyle to wonder if she joking about the comment or if she meant it.
Maybe he was catching on? Maria thought about as she left.
_____________________________________________________________
“What is Liz doing right now?”
The Sheriff walked into back room where everyone was gathered. Maria glanced up at his question, “She’s sleeping right now. We found ‘The Shelter’.”
Jim laughed, “The what?”
Rolling her eyes as she explained, Maria gave Valenti the whole story Liz told her, “As the whole town of Roswell knows, Brody is like super paranoid of Aliens, so he keeps like this room he calls ‘The Shelter’ in case he needs to hide out here when they attack.”
“You mean when ‘we’ attack?”
Maria quickly snapped her head in Kyle direction, “What?”
“You know, when our leaders give us the orders to break out of our shells and suck the lives out every human we can find?” Kyle said, not getting the reaction he wanted. The Sheriff looked almost as pale as Liz looked when she was in the room and Maria just looked pissed.
“Kyle, this not a good time to talk like that.” Maria scolded him, that little glimmer of hope that he was becoming a nice guy just faded into the darkness of the poorly lit room.
“Oh, come on! It was joke!” He held up his hands as he shrugged his shoulders, “What, I didn’t mean it!”
_____________________________________________________________
Max kissed Liz’s cheek, “It’s okay.” He held her as she was lying in the cot that was in the room. It wasn’t very comfortable but it would do for the night. Liz snuggled into his arms; they made her feel safe for the fist time in what seemed like forever.
Liz could feel her head start to hurt from trying to block the memories that were trying to break free. She didn’t want to think about the White Room ever again. It had taken a part of her innocence she supposed. Before, she thought that if anyone had ever captured one of them they would see that they weren’t evil. Before, she wasn’t even sure if ‘they’ were real and not just some science fiction authors’ imagination at work. Now, she knew she was wrong about all of it.
‘They’ did exist, and they didn’t care if you meant any harm or not. What if they had gotten Alex or Maria? What if they had gotten Max too, sure he was human but it was plain to see Pierce didn’t care what you were if you had even the littlest connection to aliens?
Try as she might, she couldn’t stop the storm that was brewing, she only wondered if she would be strong enough to fight it.
“You’re thinking too hard again.”
Max’s tender voice brought her out of her thoughts; he was staring at her with a grin on his face. “What?” she asked, wondering why he was grinning. Max chuckled, “When you think too hard your eyebrows get this cute little furrow in the middle.” He gently rubbed his thumb over her eyebrow, his grin fading, “Liz, I’m sorry that things happened like they did.”
She stopped him before he could go any further with his thought, “No, don’t even Max, it’s not your fault.” It’s mine, for not being smart enough to do the right thing, she added silently.
Before she could say anything else Max grabbed her and kissed her. The unexpected gesture made it hard for Liz to block her thoughts of the White Room and through their connection; Max began to receive flashes from it.
Liz tied to a table with Doctors operating on her. He saw her being drug by men in white jump suits to a chair; he saw them putting needles in her arms and wrists. Doctors hovering above her, taking notes on how she reacted to the things they were doing to her.
Many other flashes came into his mind before he could break away. Things he hoped he would never see again. What was worse were the things he felt, he felt her anger, her confusion, the fear from not only the White Room but from just showing other people the side to her that Liz didn’t know that much about; her alien side. The fear of what she was. Her hatred for what she was. It was at that time that Max learned something about Liz that he never had known nor thought of; that she hated every thing about her alien side, that, in her mind, it would bring the downfall of her family.
“Liz!” he pulled back to see Liz looking up at him with the saddest expression he had ever seen before, it had guilt, sadness and confusion all in one. They were no longer laying down, but sitting up on the bed, their back against the wall that the bed was pushed up against.
“I didn’t want you to see that,” she said softly, biting her bottom lip. Looking away, she brushed the tears from her eyes, “I’m sorry.”
Max was shocked at the things she’d been so successful in hiding from him. It never once occurred to him that the only positive thing Liz saw to being alien was the fact that she healed him. “Why haven’t you said something?”
Standing up from the bed Liz looked at him, with the same confusion showing in her eyes. Max now knew what that confusion was, she didn’t know why he was with her, and she didn’t know what she did to deserve him. “Why don’t you deserve me?” he asked getting up, following her in case ran away from him.
“What?”
“You heard me; I want to know why you think you don’t deserve me.”
She swallowed hard, not holding eye contact with him. Darn connection, darn flashes. “Max…” she bit back tears that had formed in her eyes again.
“No, Liz, give me one good reason why you think you aren’t good enough for me!” he whispered stepping up to her, placing his hands on each of her arms. When she tried to look away he stopped her, “Don’t run from this Liz, please.” He pleaded with his eyes, “Please, don’t push me away. Talk to me.”
The lump in her throat made it almost impossible to talk, why did he have to have such hold on her heart? “I…just…” She couldn’t get the words out, her emotions were flying out of control and she didn’t like it but never wanted it to end at the same time.
Max gave a half smile, “See, you can’t even think of poor reason.” He leaned down to kiss but stopped himself and just looked at her, mesmerized by her beauty, she was trying to think of something to say. She fidgeted when she couldn’t think of something to say in response to someone.
“Can’t think of anything to say?”
Liz gave a tear-filled laugh, “You know me too well.”
“How about this, I love you. What better reason is there for us to be together than that? I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Last edited by T.D.O on Thu Apr 13, 2006 12:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thank you so much for the fb. It’s much appreciated! I have ‘re-done’ (More liked fixed) the next two parts of the fic. I will continuing this until I get caught up and get the story flowing how I want it to. So thanks for sticking with me!
____________________________________________
“Where do you think he is?” Alex asked as he bounced a rubber ball off a wall back and forth.
Maria wrapped her blanket around herself tighter. “I say he went to a Cher concert.”
“What?” Kyle laughed. He propped up on his elbow; “You’re kidding?”
“Of course.” She answered. It was nice to forget for five seconds that they were being hunted. “It’s scary.” She whispered softly. “All this time we’ve talked about being chased. Now were really are and we’re not prepared.”
Isabel pulled Alex closer to her, stopping him from bouncing the ball. The constant sound of it hitting the wall was driving her mad. The night was so long. She glanced around the room, taking in the sight of everyone. Alex and Her were on the couch against the back wall, just below a small window they covered up after they got there. Maria was huddled on chair next to Michaels place on the floor. Kyle was on the other couch just across from them. She didn’t know where Valenti and Topolsky were, they left room about a half an hour ago.
Michael looked at Kyle. “Any idea what he could be up to Kyle?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“Great,” Michael leaned back on his make-shift pillow, “Just great.”
______________________________________________________________________
After a half an hour of watching her sleep, Max saw Liz was stirring. He held her all night. The small cot was not much for space or comfort but after a night like they just went through, it felt like heaven. Liz stirred some more and snuggled closer to him, holding him to her. His mind drifted to how luckily he was to find her. Even now, with the situation being as dire as it was, he still with her and that was all that mattered to him.
His fingers ran through her hair, noticing the small bumps around her forehead. He knew it was from the white room. Her steady breathing was all he wanted to hear now.
He shifted a little, noticing he was sore; he didn’t know why. He had felt like this ever since he had gotten in the jeep. He figured it from the lack of sleep and brushed off any further thought of it, turning his attention back to Liz.
He heard Maria and Alex talking in the next room over, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He closed his eyes, feeling himself float back into sleep slowly, if they needed him, they would come and get him.
_____________________________________________________________
“How long has it been?” Kyle asked as he paced.
Maria stared at the ceiling. She figured that Nasedo wouldn’t cantact them for a while but this was ridiculous. “I have no idea.”
Her thoughts went to the pendent and vision she had when she touched it. She thought about it from time to time, but when she didn’t get any answers from Eddie or River Dog, she gave up on it. To this day she didn’t know what any of it meant. The two sets of Liz and Alex, the faceless people, none of it made sense. She wondered if Kyle or Ed would know anything about it, since they seemed to know everything about them.
“Is he ever going to call us?” Michael asked, breaking Maria out of her thoughts, he was getting sick of waiting for Ed. He yawned and adjusted himself; his leg was falling asleep from being one position for so long.
Kyle got up and stretched, “He should. He’s just probably trying to figure out how to take care of Pierce.”
Isabel sat up, “What do you mean ‘take’ care of Pierce’?” She asked, “I thought Valenti shot him.”
Kyle sighed, “Okay, even if Pierce did die, there would be someone to take his place in less than 12 hours. That why they aren’t looking for us right now, Pierce is either dead, or in the hospital.”
Alex’s head shot up, “Wait, they’re not looking for us?”
Topolsky was confused also, in all the time she had been in the unit she never once hear of anything like what Kyle was talking about. “How do you know they are not searching for us, Kyle?” She stood up, “We went in and took their experiment, and Valenti shot the head of the Special unit. Trust me, they have more than enough agents to take care of Pierce and search for us at the same time.”
Kyle scoffed, “Hey, I have been running from you guys all of my life. I think I know what I am talking about.”
“I’ve worked there for years, Kyle. I’ve been on the inside. I know how that place works and I know how the people think in there.” Topolsky almost laughed at him, “You think you know what you’re up against?” she swallowed and shook her head, “You have no idea, Kyle. You have no idea.”
Valenti sat up. “Guys, Liz and Max are trying to sleep in there!” he whispered loudly and pointed to the hall, leading to Max and Liz’s room, but his comment went unnoticed.
Alex spook up from his seat, “I don’t really think fighting about is going to do any good is it?” he said, but it went unnoticed too. “I could dream walk him?” he said, interrupting the feud between Topolsky and Kyle.
“What? Ed would never let you in his head.” Kyle brushed it aside.
“No. Pierce. I can dream walk Pierce, see what is happening.”
Kyle thought about it, “It could work.” He said. It was a good idea, Alex could dream walk Pierce and find out if he is alive. He tucked in his t-shirt, man how he wanted to change clothes. He changed his clothes back to normal after Ed turned into a suit at the base. He reached in his pocket, “Here, you need picture don’t you?” he asked handing it him.
Alex nodded, “Most of the time, sometimes I don’t.” he said, taking it from him. He looked at the photo; it was a surveillance photo, even in a picture like this, he looked mean and sinister.
“What if he’s not asleep?”
Kyle gave him a sympathetic look, “If he’s alive and not asleep, than you’ll be able to tell. Just like when you dream walked Liz in the White Room.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for Liz to wake up before doing this?” Alex asked, glancing up at Kyle.
“Doing what?” Liz said, coming from around the corner. Kyle noticed that Max and Her holding hands.
Kyle cleared his throat, “Alex can dream walk Pierce to see if he’s still alive.”
Not letting go each others hand, Max and Liz made their way to a couch, “Did Ed call?” she asked, sitting down, Max next to her.
Kyle gave a silent groan at the site, “No, don’t you think we would have gotten you?”
Liz rubbed her face, “Kyle, listen, the last thing I have any energy for is putting up with you, so let’s just go ahead with what ever you were doing before I came in,” Kyle noticed the way Liz leaned into Max while they sat on couch. Max smelled her hair, trying not to be noticed by anyone else. That almost made Kyle feel a sudden overwhelming wave of guilt at what he was doing. He was ruining a beautiful relationship by what he was going to be doing and by what he had already done.
“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep and I’m cranky.” He ducked his head, feeling sorry for snapping at Liz. He cleared his throat and turned back to Alex, “Are you ready?” who nodded and closed his eyes, right before he could make a connection to see if he could feel Pierce, the shrill sound of Maria’s cell phone filled the room.
*Ring!*
The sound of her phone made Maria almost jump out of her skin, “Hello?” she answered franticly. “Why would you be doing something like this without me there?” the man on the other end asked her. Maria looked around the room, “Why haven’t you called?” She covered the phone, “It’s Ed!” she whispered.
Everyone leaned in at the mention of his name, “It’s him?” Topolsky asked. She wondered why it took him so long to call, for a second a pang of fear hit as she thought that maybe he was hurt.
“I asked you, why would you do something as important as this without my consent?”
“Doing what?”
He laughed, “Having Alex dream walk Pierce?”
“How do you know about that?” Maria began searching around the room, looking for him. The question and tone of her voice caused Alex and Liz to begin searching along with Maria, “Is he here?” Alex asked, Maria didn’t answer him, she continued her search, Was he watching them all along? Ed answered the silent question, “I’ve been checking in on you, to see if you done anything stupid. It appears you already have.”
“Oh, by the way Maria, don’t scream.”
Before Maria could respond the sound of Isabel’s blood curdling scream filled the room, “It’s Pierce!”
____________________________________________
“Where do you think he is?” Alex asked as he bounced a rubber ball off a wall back and forth.
Maria wrapped her blanket around herself tighter. “I say he went to a Cher concert.”
“What?” Kyle laughed. He propped up on his elbow; “You’re kidding?”
“Of course.” She answered. It was nice to forget for five seconds that they were being hunted. “It’s scary.” She whispered softly. “All this time we’ve talked about being chased. Now were really are and we’re not prepared.”
Isabel pulled Alex closer to her, stopping him from bouncing the ball. The constant sound of it hitting the wall was driving her mad. The night was so long. She glanced around the room, taking in the sight of everyone. Alex and Her were on the couch against the back wall, just below a small window they covered up after they got there. Maria was huddled on chair next to Michaels place on the floor. Kyle was on the other couch just across from them. She didn’t know where Valenti and Topolsky were, they left room about a half an hour ago.
Michael looked at Kyle. “Any idea what he could be up to Kyle?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“Great,” Michael leaned back on his make-shift pillow, “Just great.”
______________________________________________________________________
After a half an hour of watching her sleep, Max saw Liz was stirring. He held her all night. The small cot was not much for space or comfort but after a night like they just went through, it felt like heaven. Liz stirred some more and snuggled closer to him, holding him to her. His mind drifted to how luckily he was to find her. Even now, with the situation being as dire as it was, he still with her and that was all that mattered to him.
His fingers ran through her hair, noticing the small bumps around her forehead. He knew it was from the white room. Her steady breathing was all he wanted to hear now.
He shifted a little, noticing he was sore; he didn’t know why. He had felt like this ever since he had gotten in the jeep. He figured it from the lack of sleep and brushed off any further thought of it, turning his attention back to Liz.
He heard Maria and Alex talking in the next room over, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He closed his eyes, feeling himself float back into sleep slowly, if they needed him, they would come and get him.
_____________________________________________________________
“How long has it been?” Kyle asked as he paced.
Maria stared at the ceiling. She figured that Nasedo wouldn’t cantact them for a while but this was ridiculous. “I have no idea.”
Her thoughts went to the pendent and vision she had when she touched it. She thought about it from time to time, but when she didn’t get any answers from Eddie or River Dog, she gave up on it. To this day she didn’t know what any of it meant. The two sets of Liz and Alex, the faceless people, none of it made sense. She wondered if Kyle or Ed would know anything about it, since they seemed to know everything about them.
“Is he ever going to call us?” Michael asked, breaking Maria out of her thoughts, he was getting sick of waiting for Ed. He yawned and adjusted himself; his leg was falling asleep from being one position for so long.
Kyle got up and stretched, “He should. He’s just probably trying to figure out how to take care of Pierce.”
Isabel sat up, “What do you mean ‘take’ care of Pierce’?” She asked, “I thought Valenti shot him.”
Kyle sighed, “Okay, even if Pierce did die, there would be someone to take his place in less than 12 hours. That why they aren’t looking for us right now, Pierce is either dead, or in the hospital.”
Alex’s head shot up, “Wait, they’re not looking for us?”
Topolsky was confused also, in all the time she had been in the unit she never once hear of anything like what Kyle was talking about. “How do you know they are not searching for us, Kyle?” She stood up, “We went in and took their experiment, and Valenti shot the head of the Special unit. Trust me, they have more than enough agents to take care of Pierce and search for us at the same time.”
Kyle scoffed, “Hey, I have been running from you guys all of my life. I think I know what I am talking about.”
“I’ve worked there for years, Kyle. I’ve been on the inside. I know how that place works and I know how the people think in there.” Topolsky almost laughed at him, “You think you know what you’re up against?” she swallowed and shook her head, “You have no idea, Kyle. You have no idea.”
Valenti sat up. “Guys, Liz and Max are trying to sleep in there!” he whispered loudly and pointed to the hall, leading to Max and Liz’s room, but his comment went unnoticed.
Alex spook up from his seat, “I don’t really think fighting about is going to do any good is it?” he said, but it went unnoticed too. “I could dream walk him?” he said, interrupting the feud between Topolsky and Kyle.
“What? Ed would never let you in his head.” Kyle brushed it aside.
“No. Pierce. I can dream walk Pierce, see what is happening.”
Kyle thought about it, “It could work.” He said. It was a good idea, Alex could dream walk Pierce and find out if he is alive. He tucked in his t-shirt, man how he wanted to change clothes. He changed his clothes back to normal after Ed turned into a suit at the base. He reached in his pocket, “Here, you need picture don’t you?” he asked handing it him.
Alex nodded, “Most of the time, sometimes I don’t.” he said, taking it from him. He looked at the photo; it was a surveillance photo, even in a picture like this, he looked mean and sinister.
“What if he’s not asleep?”
Kyle gave him a sympathetic look, “If he’s alive and not asleep, than you’ll be able to tell. Just like when you dream walked Liz in the White Room.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for Liz to wake up before doing this?” Alex asked, glancing up at Kyle.
“Doing what?” Liz said, coming from around the corner. Kyle noticed that Max and Her holding hands.
Kyle cleared his throat, “Alex can dream walk Pierce to see if he’s still alive.”
Not letting go each others hand, Max and Liz made their way to a couch, “Did Ed call?” she asked, sitting down, Max next to her.
Kyle gave a silent groan at the site, “No, don’t you think we would have gotten you?”
Liz rubbed her face, “Kyle, listen, the last thing I have any energy for is putting up with you, so let’s just go ahead with what ever you were doing before I came in,” Kyle noticed the way Liz leaned into Max while they sat on couch. Max smelled her hair, trying not to be noticed by anyone else. That almost made Kyle feel a sudden overwhelming wave of guilt at what he was doing. He was ruining a beautiful relationship by what he was going to be doing and by what he had already done.
“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep and I’m cranky.” He ducked his head, feeling sorry for snapping at Liz. He cleared his throat and turned back to Alex, “Are you ready?” who nodded and closed his eyes, right before he could make a connection to see if he could feel Pierce, the shrill sound of Maria’s cell phone filled the room.
*Ring!*
The sound of her phone made Maria almost jump out of her skin, “Hello?” she answered franticly. “Why would you be doing something like this without me there?” the man on the other end asked her. Maria looked around the room, “Why haven’t you called?” She covered the phone, “It’s Ed!” she whispered.
Everyone leaned in at the mention of his name, “It’s him?” Topolsky asked. She wondered why it took him so long to call, for a second a pang of fear hit as she thought that maybe he was hurt.
“I asked you, why would you do something as important as this without my consent?”
“Doing what?”
He laughed, “Having Alex dream walk Pierce?”
“How do you know about that?” Maria began searching around the room, looking for him. The question and tone of her voice caused Alex and Liz to begin searching along with Maria, “Is he here?” Alex asked, Maria didn’t answer him, she continued her search, Was he watching them all along? Ed answered the silent question, “I’ve been checking in on you, to see if you done anything stupid. It appears you already have.”
“Oh, by the way Maria, don’t scream.”
Before Maria could respond the sound of Isabel’s blood curdling scream filled the room, “It’s Pierce!”
Last edited by T.D.O on Tue May 02, 2006 12:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Okay, here it is. It took me many months and all I could come up with for the time being is this. I will post a longer part very soon. This is just to set things up. Like I said, I would suggest you re-read the fic because much has changed. Hope you like what little is here.
Thanks for the feedback!
____________________________________________________________
Liz felt the air leave her lungs at the sight of Pierce. She didn’t know what to do. She’d just gotten out of that hell and Pierce was standing in front of her. Isabel’s voice as she screamed sounded muffled compared to the rushing blood in her ears and before she knew it, she was leaning against something or someone.
Strong arms wrapped around Liz as she fell back. Max felt his heart racing as he looked in the face of Agent Pierce.
Valenti pulled his gun out as Alex and Maria held up theirs hand, all simultaneously. Topolsky reached behind her back and grabbed her gun. Everyone pointed it at him.
“Relax!” Pierce laughed.
Valenti pulled the trigger, making everyone scream at the sound.
“Shit!” Pierce held hand up and blocked the bullet with a nearly black force field.
Michael stood back up from where ducked, “It’s Ed!”
Changing his shape back into that of Ed Harding, Ed clenched his jaw together, “You know you could have killed me.”
“That was the point.” Valenti glared at him as he put his gun in its holster.
Alex’ face turned bright red with anger, “Where have you been?!”
“Whoa, settle down there,” Ed walked up to Liz who was still holding on to Max. “How is she doing?”
Max felt himself holding back on attacking him, “How do you think?”
Before Ed could make comeback, Kyle jumped in, “You could have called us.” He said looking right in Ed’s eyes. Ed hated when anyone did that.
“Well I’m sorry but I was busy trying to save your sorry asses.” Ed glared back at Kyle. He wasn’t expecting Kyle to talk back to him like that.
Maria sat down, “It’s almost day light outside. It’s been way more than ’one hour’.” She stared at the floor. “Why didn’t you warn us that you’d look like that?”
Ed shrugged, “Didn’t think it was important. Besides, I got them off our back for about four or five hours. They think they‘re supposed to be in Utah and Nevada right now.”
“Oh, but forget about the person who just spent a day being tortured by the dickhead!” Maria yelled at him.
Liz gathered herself together, “It’s okay.” She whispered to Maria.
“No it’s not; he has to learn he can’t treat people like that.”
Ed butted in, “No that’s just it! You need to learn these things or what happened to Liz yesterday will happen again.” He pointed to Liz, “She just spent a day in a room that was made just to hurt our kind. It was made by humans. These people you trust so much.”
“Max, Isabel and Michael didn’t put Liz in there.”
Ed threw his hands up, “But they caused it!”
Max jumped out of his seat, “That is bull-shit and you know it!”
Ed turned to face, “If I were you young man, I wouldn’t raise your voice at me.”
Max stared him down. “Or you’ll do what?”
Before Ed could open his mouth Liz stood up, “Yeah, what will you do?” She folded her arms across her chest. “Ed-Nasedo what ever the hell we’re supposed to call you, whether you like it or not they help saved me.”
“I saved you.”
“I’m not stupid Ed. I know that you would have left in there if Kyle and Maria and Alex hadn’t pushed you.”
Ed walked up to her and yelled, “You know nothing!”
Sensing Ed’s temper getting out of control, Kyle stepped up and grabbed his arm, “Let’s stop arguing. It’s time we figured out a plan. I say we leave Roswell. The Five of us.”
Maria shook her head, “No way.”
“Hell no!” Maria interrupted Kyle’s brain storming. “We are not doing anything until you answer some things for us.”
“Like what?” Ed questioned her.
“Like, where we’re from, why we came here. Who you guys are and why Liz and Kyle are meant to be together.” She looked at Liz and Alex, “Am I right?”
They nodded in agreement.
“Okay, that’s settled. Ed. Kyle. Sit down because we are not going or doing anything until you tell us what we want to know.”
Kyle shook his head, “We don’t have time, Maria. The FBI could be on our trail.”
“Ed just said he took care of it for at least another what, four hours?” Topolsky pointed out.
“So, what I want to know is this: why is it so important that you and are together?” Liz asked Kyle.
Kyle sighed and looked at Ed helplessly. “Ed?”
Liz stopped him, “I didn’t ask him.”
Giving Kyle the signal, Ed let Kyle tell the story.
“Liz, you were a queen. I was meant to be your king. We were to be married. That when a war broke out between the two main races on our home planet-”
“What’s the name?” Maria cut him off.
Kyle turned to her, “Sedna.”
“Anyway,” he got back on track. “We all died the day the battle was lost for us. We were sent to Earth to reunite and save our planet.” He sat there in silence, letting it sink in.
It took less time than Kyle and Ed anticipated, because Maria was already moving on the next question. “Why did it take us almost fifty years to…hatch…” she hated saying that.
“The crash did something to both sets of pods.”
Alex piped up, “Both sets?”
Ed nodded, “There were two sets, both were damaged, we don’t know what happened.”
“Who was in the second set?”
Kyle answered, “That’s not important.”
Isabel rolled her eyes, “I am so sick of hearing that.”
“Hey, this has nothing to do with you.” Ed snapped at her.
Alex jumped on him, “If I were you I’d watch how you talk to her.” He said in the same tone Ed spoke to Max earlier.
“Listen, what else do you want to know?” Kyle got back on track.
“Why did it take so long for you to find us?” Alex gritted out. He was still pissed.
Ed smirked at him, “Because, we had to leave.” Without warning, Ed felt his head almost explode in pain. “Ahh!”
“What?!” Liz yelled.
Ed knew the feeling; Serena or Cal was trying to get in his head to find where he was. That meant they knew they were around the Royals.
____________________________________________________________
Serena and Cal held the stones; the glowing made the dark room bright.
“Is it working?” Serena asked over the loud humming coming from the energy.
“I can feel him. He’s changed his shape recently.” Cal said. “Shit!” He yelled as the connection was broken. Once he pulled himself together he looked at Serena, “Sorry.” He wasn’t used to watching his mouth. She hadn’t asked him to but he still respected her new-found beliefs.
“I told you, I used to talk like that. I don’t care Cal.” Serena said helping him up. “You don’t ask me to not go to church when I visit you.”
“Still, I don’t want to offend you.”
Serena laughed as she patted him on the shoulder, “You know, just because I don’t talk like that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard “Bad Words” before.” She made quotations marks with her fingers when she said ‘bad words’.
“Why can’t we fight them yet?”
Serena shrugged, “River Dog isn‘t talking.” She sat down, “I don’t understand why Kalsen hasn’t told any of the Skins to attack yet. He can’t kill any of them yet.”
Cal didn’t know if that was the case or not. “Maybe.” He stretched his arms out, “This is why I didn’t want to get you involved again.”
Serena glared at him. “You didn’t. River Dog did. When I last saw you and Larek we all agreed to go our separate ways until needed. River Dog contacted ME. So, I got involved again that way.”
“Kalsen’s in Roswell?” Cal asked.
Serena nodded, “That’s what I’ve gathered. He’s with the Royals.”
“You think we should go there?”
“I don’t know...we’re still not ready yet. Have you talked to Larek?”
Cal picked up a stone, “No. I will though. He still wants to forget the war completely. He likes his fishing boat too much.” Cal’s voice lowered, “Serena, I think the war is about to flare up again.”
“It already is. I can’t even image why Kalsen would up and attack River Dog and kill Eddie like that without some reason. Maybe he found out something.”
“What if he found out how to use the portal?”
Serena raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know. Kalsen was better off to just get the Royals to trust him. Killing Eddie and trying to kill River Dog was risky. They could have taken care of them right off but if they did they won’t have bargaining chip with Elizabeth and Kyle.”
“Elizabeth?”
“That’s the queen’s name.”
“And Kyle is?”
“Our favorite little toad. Rath.”
________________________________________________________________________
“Sorry,” Ed said, trying to think of an excuse. “I get those after I change shape sometimes.”
“Really?” Max asked not believing him.
Ed knew how Max meant it, “Really.”
Isabel glanced out the small window they kept covered up, “What are we going to do?” she asked gently.
Valenti searched his mind for answers that he just knew weren’t there. He wanted to help them the best he could. And at first he thought he was helping a lot. But once the adrenaline from everything dropped he felt just as helpless as the four young aliens.
After a few minutes, Kyle and Ed where off in a corner talking. No one was able to hear what they were saying. Alex looked back over to the couch they piled on, “I think they’re up to something.”
Michael looked at him, “You think?”
Leaning forward to put his head in his hands Alex felt himself getting dizzy from the lack of real sleep. “I hate this!” He yelled as he jolted up from his seat; getting everyone’s attention.
“Alex.” Liz whispered.
He moved away from the couch, “No, I’m not putting up with this anymore. All we did for hours was sit and wait in some leaky basement while you where in the White Room.” His face was turning beat red, “And now where are we? We’re in a tourist trap!” He laughed bitterly, “We’re hiding from the FBI in a ‘UFO Center’!”
Ed and Kyle walked over to him, trying to calm him down. “Do you have a better suggestion?” Ed asked.
Alex glared at him, “You…” he said through clenched teeth, “All you do is start trouble.” He pointed to Kyle, “And you…you think you’re so great and important to us but you’re nothing but extra baggage,” he growled at them.
Maria grabbed him by the hem of his shirt, “Alex, we have nowhere else to go. We can’t go home.”
Kyle raised his eyebrow, “We can run though.”
Their head snapped to him, not sure what he meant.
“Kyle,” Liz started with caution, “You’re not saying that we…leave Roswell?”
He and Ed nodded, “Like I said. Run.”
Slowly, Liz, Alex and Maria exchanged glances. Maria cleared her throat, “Umm, I think I speak for all of us when I say: Hell No!”
“What do you suggest than?”
“I say we fight back.” Maria stated plainly.
Ed rolled his eyes, “Fight back how? Like Alex said, this is the FBI we’re talking about here.”
Maria stood as tall as she could, “Look, we got Liz out didn’t we?” She held eye contact with Ed, “If we can do that, fighting back should be much harder…should it?”
Thanks for the feedback!
____________________________________________________________
Liz felt the air leave her lungs at the sight of Pierce. She didn’t know what to do. She’d just gotten out of that hell and Pierce was standing in front of her. Isabel’s voice as she screamed sounded muffled compared to the rushing blood in her ears and before she knew it, she was leaning against something or someone.
Strong arms wrapped around Liz as she fell back. Max felt his heart racing as he looked in the face of Agent Pierce.
Valenti pulled his gun out as Alex and Maria held up theirs hand, all simultaneously. Topolsky reached behind her back and grabbed her gun. Everyone pointed it at him.
“Relax!” Pierce laughed.
Valenti pulled the trigger, making everyone scream at the sound.
“Shit!” Pierce held hand up and blocked the bullet with a nearly black force field.
Michael stood back up from where ducked, “It’s Ed!”
Changing his shape back into that of Ed Harding, Ed clenched his jaw together, “You know you could have killed me.”
“That was the point.” Valenti glared at him as he put his gun in its holster.
Alex’ face turned bright red with anger, “Where have you been?!”
“Whoa, settle down there,” Ed walked up to Liz who was still holding on to Max. “How is she doing?”
Max felt himself holding back on attacking him, “How do you think?”
Before Ed could make comeback, Kyle jumped in, “You could have called us.” He said looking right in Ed’s eyes. Ed hated when anyone did that.
“Well I’m sorry but I was busy trying to save your sorry asses.” Ed glared back at Kyle. He wasn’t expecting Kyle to talk back to him like that.
Maria sat down, “It’s almost day light outside. It’s been way more than ’one hour’.” She stared at the floor. “Why didn’t you warn us that you’d look like that?”
Ed shrugged, “Didn’t think it was important. Besides, I got them off our back for about four or five hours. They think they‘re supposed to be in Utah and Nevada right now.”
“Oh, but forget about the person who just spent a day being tortured by the dickhead!” Maria yelled at him.
Liz gathered herself together, “It’s okay.” She whispered to Maria.
“No it’s not; he has to learn he can’t treat people like that.”
Ed butted in, “No that’s just it! You need to learn these things or what happened to Liz yesterday will happen again.” He pointed to Liz, “She just spent a day in a room that was made just to hurt our kind. It was made by humans. These people you trust so much.”
“Max, Isabel and Michael didn’t put Liz in there.”
Ed threw his hands up, “But they caused it!”
Max jumped out of his seat, “That is bull-shit and you know it!”
Ed turned to face, “If I were you young man, I wouldn’t raise your voice at me.”
Max stared him down. “Or you’ll do what?”
Before Ed could open his mouth Liz stood up, “Yeah, what will you do?” She folded her arms across her chest. “Ed-Nasedo what ever the hell we’re supposed to call you, whether you like it or not they help saved me.”
“I saved you.”
“I’m not stupid Ed. I know that you would have left in there if Kyle and Maria and Alex hadn’t pushed you.”
Ed walked up to her and yelled, “You know nothing!”
Sensing Ed’s temper getting out of control, Kyle stepped up and grabbed his arm, “Let’s stop arguing. It’s time we figured out a plan. I say we leave Roswell. The Five of us.”
Maria shook her head, “No way.”
“Hell no!” Maria interrupted Kyle’s brain storming. “We are not doing anything until you answer some things for us.”
“Like what?” Ed questioned her.
“Like, where we’re from, why we came here. Who you guys are and why Liz and Kyle are meant to be together.” She looked at Liz and Alex, “Am I right?”
They nodded in agreement.
“Okay, that’s settled. Ed. Kyle. Sit down because we are not going or doing anything until you tell us what we want to know.”
Kyle shook his head, “We don’t have time, Maria. The FBI could be on our trail.”
“Ed just said he took care of it for at least another what, four hours?” Topolsky pointed out.
“So, what I want to know is this: why is it so important that you and are together?” Liz asked Kyle.
Kyle sighed and looked at Ed helplessly. “Ed?”
Liz stopped him, “I didn’t ask him.”
Giving Kyle the signal, Ed let Kyle tell the story.
“Liz, you were a queen. I was meant to be your king. We were to be married. That when a war broke out between the two main races on our home planet-”
“What’s the name?” Maria cut him off.
Kyle turned to her, “Sedna.”
“Anyway,” he got back on track. “We all died the day the battle was lost for us. We were sent to Earth to reunite and save our planet.” He sat there in silence, letting it sink in.
It took less time than Kyle and Ed anticipated, because Maria was already moving on the next question. “Why did it take us almost fifty years to…hatch…” she hated saying that.
“The crash did something to both sets of pods.”
Alex piped up, “Both sets?”
Ed nodded, “There were two sets, both were damaged, we don’t know what happened.”
“Who was in the second set?”
Kyle answered, “That’s not important.”
Isabel rolled her eyes, “I am so sick of hearing that.”
“Hey, this has nothing to do with you.” Ed snapped at her.
Alex jumped on him, “If I were you I’d watch how you talk to her.” He said in the same tone Ed spoke to Max earlier.
“Listen, what else do you want to know?” Kyle got back on track.
“Why did it take so long for you to find us?” Alex gritted out. He was still pissed.
Ed smirked at him, “Because, we had to leave.” Without warning, Ed felt his head almost explode in pain. “Ahh!”
“What?!” Liz yelled.
Ed knew the feeling; Serena or Cal was trying to get in his head to find where he was. That meant they knew they were around the Royals.
____________________________________________________________
Serena and Cal held the stones; the glowing made the dark room bright.
“Is it working?” Serena asked over the loud humming coming from the energy.
“I can feel him. He’s changed his shape recently.” Cal said. “Shit!” He yelled as the connection was broken. Once he pulled himself together he looked at Serena, “Sorry.” He wasn’t used to watching his mouth. She hadn’t asked him to but he still respected her new-found beliefs.
“I told you, I used to talk like that. I don’t care Cal.” Serena said helping him up. “You don’t ask me to not go to church when I visit you.”
“Still, I don’t want to offend you.”
Serena laughed as she patted him on the shoulder, “You know, just because I don’t talk like that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard “Bad Words” before.” She made quotations marks with her fingers when she said ‘bad words’.
“Why can’t we fight them yet?”
Serena shrugged, “River Dog isn‘t talking.” She sat down, “I don’t understand why Kalsen hasn’t told any of the Skins to attack yet. He can’t kill any of them yet.”
Cal didn’t know if that was the case or not. “Maybe.” He stretched his arms out, “This is why I didn’t want to get you involved again.”
Serena glared at him. “You didn’t. River Dog did. When I last saw you and Larek we all agreed to go our separate ways until needed. River Dog contacted ME. So, I got involved again that way.”
“Kalsen’s in Roswell?” Cal asked.
Serena nodded, “That’s what I’ve gathered. He’s with the Royals.”
“You think we should go there?”
“I don’t know...we’re still not ready yet. Have you talked to Larek?”
Cal picked up a stone, “No. I will though. He still wants to forget the war completely. He likes his fishing boat too much.” Cal’s voice lowered, “Serena, I think the war is about to flare up again.”
“It already is. I can’t even image why Kalsen would up and attack River Dog and kill Eddie like that without some reason. Maybe he found out something.”
“What if he found out how to use the portal?”
Serena raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know. Kalsen was better off to just get the Royals to trust him. Killing Eddie and trying to kill River Dog was risky. They could have taken care of them right off but if they did they won’t have bargaining chip with Elizabeth and Kyle.”
“Elizabeth?”
“That’s the queen’s name.”
“And Kyle is?”
“Our favorite little toad. Rath.”
________________________________________________________________________
“Sorry,” Ed said, trying to think of an excuse. “I get those after I change shape sometimes.”
“Really?” Max asked not believing him.
Ed knew how Max meant it, “Really.”
Isabel glanced out the small window they kept covered up, “What are we going to do?” she asked gently.
Valenti searched his mind for answers that he just knew weren’t there. He wanted to help them the best he could. And at first he thought he was helping a lot. But once the adrenaline from everything dropped he felt just as helpless as the four young aliens.
After a few minutes, Kyle and Ed where off in a corner talking. No one was able to hear what they were saying. Alex looked back over to the couch they piled on, “I think they’re up to something.”
Michael looked at him, “You think?”
Leaning forward to put his head in his hands Alex felt himself getting dizzy from the lack of real sleep. “I hate this!” He yelled as he jolted up from his seat; getting everyone’s attention.
“Alex.” Liz whispered.
He moved away from the couch, “No, I’m not putting up with this anymore. All we did for hours was sit and wait in some leaky basement while you where in the White Room.” His face was turning beat red, “And now where are we? We’re in a tourist trap!” He laughed bitterly, “We’re hiding from the FBI in a ‘UFO Center’!”
Ed and Kyle walked over to him, trying to calm him down. “Do you have a better suggestion?” Ed asked.
Alex glared at him, “You…” he said through clenched teeth, “All you do is start trouble.” He pointed to Kyle, “And you…you think you’re so great and important to us but you’re nothing but extra baggage,” he growled at them.
Maria grabbed him by the hem of his shirt, “Alex, we have nowhere else to go. We can’t go home.”
Kyle raised his eyebrow, “We can run though.”
Their head snapped to him, not sure what he meant.
“Kyle,” Liz started with caution, “You’re not saying that we…leave Roswell?”
He and Ed nodded, “Like I said. Run.”
Slowly, Liz, Alex and Maria exchanged glances. Maria cleared her throat, “Umm, I think I speak for all of us when I say: Hell No!”
“What do you suggest than?”
“I say we fight back.” Maria stated plainly.
Ed rolled his eyes, “Fight back how? Like Alex said, this is the FBI we’re talking about here.”
Maria stood as tall as she could, “Look, we got Liz out didn’t we?” She held eye contact with Ed, “If we can do that, fighting back should be much harder…should it?”
Last edited by T.D.O on Tue May 02, 2006 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thank you all so much for the feedback and putting up with me. I know there are a lot of things in this part that may have people scratching their heads but it's all in a good cause. 
The parts with Serena and Cal and everyone is sort of a way to introduce them to story and give their side of the story. It'll be a while before they meet the rest of the group but when they do it's going to crazy and a little fun even. Hehehe.
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“I say we fight back…”
“Fight back?” Ed scoffed at the notion Maria presented. “That’s your great plan?”
Michael defended Maria; “It’s better than just running away.”
“That is the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard!” Ed said honestly. Really, it was. Even he was too afraid to go after the FBI Special Unit. He smirked for a split second and then asked, “And how do you suppose we do that?” Ed circled Maria in a fit of anger; “Should we…use guns? Knives? Our powers?”
“Our powers can help us now,” Maria said.
Kyle yelled, “HELP US HOW?”
Everyone’s eyes where on Maria who sighed. “I know that it’s not the smartest thing we’ve ever done but think about, who is more afraid of who?”
“You’re not making sense Maria.” Kyle said.
“Kyle, Liz, think about it,” she looked at each of them, “We’ve been hunted. They took you,” she pointed to Liz, “and did unimaginable things. Yet, we’ve been hiding in plain sight for how long?”
Liz rubbed her eyes. “Maria, they weren’t hunting us ‘till about six months ago.” She knew Maria meant well, but after what she just went through she didn’t think she had it in her to do anything but run.
“Alex, Liz, you are really willing to never see home again?” Maria asked. Liz shook her head.
Walking to her, Maria put her hands on Liz‘s shoulders and said, “Then we don’t have a choice in this do we?”
Alex nodded at her, “I’m with Maria.”
Isabel and Michael stood up. “I’m with Maria,” said Isabel.
“Count me in, “Michael said as he took Maria’s hand. “I say we stand up for ourselves.”
Maria smiled up at him and mouthed a silent ‘Thank You’. She glanced at the adults, “Valenti, Topolsky?”
They both nodded in agreement with Maria.
Max looked down to the floor, and then squeezed his eyes shut. His life was pure hell the past 32 hours and nothing could ever convince to go through it again. But he knew if he didn’t do something Liz might have to leave him.
“Max?” Kyle folded his arms.
Max lifted his head, tears shimmering in his eyes. “I say we go with Maria.”
Liz sighed, not knowing if it was the right thing, but everyone seemed to agree with Maria. “Okay, what do you have in mind?”
________________________________________________________________________
Pierce lay in bed, recovering from the gun shot wound he received. Burns had come to inform him of the progress of the search.
“Sir, so far we’ve checked every border and no sight of them.”
Pierce clenched his jaw shut, and shut his eyes in disgust. “Why did this happen?”
Clearing his throat, Burn handed him a picture. It was a surveillance photo taken from the base. “This is everyone who was in the building helping her.”
“Topolsky?” He groaned, “I should have known.”
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“There were more. Several more helping her last night.” Burns said. His heavy breathing was easy to hear for Pierce. That was the first thing Pierce noticed about Burns was his breathing. It was gruff and threatening like Burns himself.
“Agent Burns, do you think they’re in New Mexico still?”
Burns nodded yes. “With the Sheriff helping them it could be a bit more difficult to find them but we will.”
“Have you checked their homes?”
“No sight of them.”
“Parents?”
“Apparently they have a cover story for every thing. The Parkers are out of town for a few days and the others believe they are camping.”
“Camping?” Pierce asked. “How do you find out these things?”
Burns clicked his tongue, “I just ask around. These aren’t the smartest parents I’ve ever heard of.”
________________________________________________________________________
Making sure no one was around. Valenti motioned for the group to exit the UFO center. They followed silently, all previously knowing where to go.
Max and Liz held hands as they made their way to the jeep, Liz on the drivers side. Alex and Michael followed, sitting the back.
Topolsky and Valenti took the SUV, leaving before anyone else.
Ed, Kyle, Maria and Isabel all got in the car Ed had stolen.
Without a word everyone went in different directions, all with one goal in mind.
________________________________________________________________________
Valenti drove out of town, his destination burning in his mind. The road seemed to get longer and longer as the time passed. Topolsky felt the pressure of the situation just as strong. She glanced over at him, “Do you think this has a chance?”
“No,” he answered plainly.
“I didn’t think so.”
Not looking over, he replied, “I hope it does.”
“Hope is all we have now.”
Jim glanced over at her. “That was the cheesiest thing I’ve heard all day.” The road ahead was ominous of things to come. Valenti saw it almost as metaphor for his life. It was going in direction he didn’t want to go. Tess would be hurt if he died. She would never know the truth. “Listen, I have a niece. Her name is Tess. She’s seventeen years old. Blonde, blue eyes. “
“I‘ve met her. I was the school counselor, remember?”
“She will need help if something happens to me. If something bad happens to me…let her know I loved like my own daughter okay?”
“We need to make sure none of that happens.”
________________________________________________________________________
Liz drove down the street to her house, getting ready to meet the rest of group outside of Roswell. She needed some things from her house first.
“Liz, I believe this’ll work…” Alex whispered from the back seat. He knew his sister was drained. Her eyes said it all. She wanted it to be over. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying his best to reassure her that he would fight for her as best he could. “It’s going to be okay.” He was sick of saying that almost.
“You know everyone says ‘it’s going to be okay’ but it’s not Alex. It never is. It wasn’t okay when Valenti started chasing after us. It wasn’t okay when Pierce started following us and is sure as hell wasn’t okay when the Special Unit captured me. I am sick and damn tired of being told everything is alright when it is anything but!” Liz yelled as they pulled into the drive way of their house. Tears where in her eyes, but failed to spill over.
“Liz I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just-”
“I’m sorry, Alex.” Liz said looking at her lap. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It‘s okay.” Alex said softly. He wasn’t mad at her. She was going through a tough time and he knew she wasn’t herself right now. He leaned closer to Liz and whispered softly, “Let go and get the stuff.”
They got and walked to the house, everyone keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Once they got in, Liz turned and said, “You guy look out for anything, Alex and I will go and get the stuff we need.”
Everyone agreed, taking their places. Max stood by the window in the living room, just across from the kitchen, Michael, looking out one of the side windows of the front door.
Meanwhile, Liz and Alex where searching for the healing stones and necklace.
“I can’t believe Pierce didn’t come get this stuff.” Liz commented. Causing Alex to turn around from the bed. “Why?” he asked.
Liz put in it her pocket, “When I was in the room, Pierce asked me where it was. I told him. I’m shocked he didn’t come get them.”
Alex reached under Liz’s bed and searched with hand for the box he was looking for. “Got it.” He said once found it. He pulled it out and opened the top to make sure the contents where still intact.
“They all there?” Liz asked.
“Yup,” he stood up. “Let’s get going.”
________________________________________________________________________
“You got the stones?” Maria asked Liz, “Okay, we’ll talk to you later. Meet at the old gas station out side Hondo.”
Ed sat next to in the passenger side, “This isn’t going to work.”
Maria hung up the phone, “Why, because this requires you do something to help us?”
“Hey, I’ve helped you.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, saving Liz after she was captured. Wait! That was your fault wasn’t it?” She retorted in a sarcastic tone.
“We would be in this position if it weren’t for the stupidity of your human friends.” Ed grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
Maria grew upset with Ed. He was always bringing their problem back to the humans when they had nothing to do with it. “How did they cause this?” She asked.
“Guys, this isn’t the time, really.” Kyle called from the back seat. “We have more important things to worry about.”
Isabel raised an eyebrow, “Mark this down, I think I agree with Harding here.”
With a mock sense of appreciation, Kyle sacristy grinned at Isabel. “Why thank you, Whitman.”
Snapping her fingers, Isabel winked at him. “Not a problem.”
“Alright, listen, once we are at Hondo, Ed here is going to shape shift back into an Agent. Kyle, like I said, will be mind warping them once we know we have their attention.” Maria said. She turned to Ed, “You said Hondo was where that Burns guy would be right?”
“Agent Burns, yes. As well as Summers who has been watching you probably.” He tried cracking his knuckles, “I would be careful to underestimate this ‘Burns guys’. He is not someone you want to piss off.”
Kyle tapped Ed on the shoulder, “I think that’s the point.”
________________________________________________________________________
Tess dialed her uncle’s number again. “Damn it! Answer!”
She slammed the phone down. She picked it up again and dialed Deputy Fisher and waited.
“Fisher.”
“Oh, thank the Lord. This is Tess.”
“Oh hey, how’s school going?”
“Great, I’ll be graduating in month. Um, listen I can’t a hold of my Uncle. Do you have any idea where he is?”
“Nope. I can try reaching him on the radio?”
“Could you do that please?”
“Yes. Hold on just a moment.”
Tess waited while Fisher tried to contact her uncle. Something in her gut told her it had to do with Liz.
“I’m sorry, I can’t get him.”
“Thanks.” She said before she hung up the phone.
She sighed and leaned her hand in hands. Something was going on and she didn’t want to loose her Uncle. He was her only family. She only two people in this world that she thought she could trust. Jim and her cousin Joshua. For a while Max was someone Tess hoped she would be able to place her trust in, but that ended with Liz Parker and the shooting. It was hard enough loosing Max to Liz but the way her uncle had been obsessed with the Parker case scared her. If Liz was dangerous as she was led to believe Uncle Jim might have more than he bargained for. She tapped her fingers on the counter as she tried thinking of anyway she could find him. Driving around town hadn’t helped. Calling everyone in Roswell hadn’t helped either.
Suddenly, there was knocking at the door. She ran to it, hoping it was her Uncle.
“Jim!” She yelled she opened the door, only to be disappointed at the sight of a man in suit stood there.
“Are you Tess Valenti?”
“Yes, what is going?”
“I need you to do everything I tell you okay?” Agent Summers said to her.
________________________________________________________________________
“Dang it!” Serena yelled. No matter how hard she tired she couldn’t get through to Kalsen. “Why does Mother Nature hate me?” she asked no one.
Without warning, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, causing her to jump.
“Holy Hell!” She yelled.
“Shhh!” her husband whispered. “I’m just listening to you talk to yourself again.” He smiled as he rested his chin on her shoulder, “I like it when you do that.”
“Josh, I love you dearly but now is not the time.”
He pulled up and took her hand in his, “If you need anything let me know okay?”
“I will. I just…want you to get hurt.” She looked back at him, “Josh if I lost you I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, at all.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “Hey, you saved me once. Maybe one day I can save you.” He cupped her face and brought it for a gentle kiss. After a few seconds their moment was lost by the sound of a phone ringing.
“Never fails.” Josh rolled his eyes. He walked to the phone, “its Sister Spacey.”
Serena set the communicator down. “I guess I could talk for minute, it’s not like Kalsen going to be popping up anytime soon.” She walked over and took the phone, “Hello?”
Josh stepped away as his wife talked on the phone. He walked near the table wear the communicator was located and looked at it. He didn’t dare touch. Last time did he dropped it and the thing started going off. He would have thought alien technology could cover things like that but he was wrong.
“Okay, the Young Women are meeting Tuesday at seven…”
Josh listened to her, when he heard a soft beeping. He looked around for where the noise was coming from. He could find anything by the time it stopped.
*beep*
There was that noise again. Serena didn’t pay attention to it at first. But Josh searched some more. Then a flashing light caught his eye. It was the communicator. He ran to it and motioned for Serena, careful not to say something the Sister Spacey could hear. “Hey,” he whispered, grabbing Serena’s attention.
She pulled the phone away from her and covered the mouthpiece, “What?” she whispered.
Josh pointed to the device, “It’s going!” he pointed to it.
She stared at it as the beeping got louder, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She turned back to the phone, “Can I call you later? Thanks bye.” She hung up the phone and ran over to it, “Let me see that.” She picked it up, “CAL!”
Cal ran in, “What’s going on?”
“It’s decided to work.”
“No way, let me see that.”
He picked it and closed his eyes, letting the flashes take over his mind. He opened his eyes, “That’s not Kalsen it located. It‘s just acting up again.” He said.
“Why would it do that?” Serena asked.
Cal shook his head, “I have no idea. This thing is old anyway. They have got better ones.”
Josh rubbed his forehead, “You talk about those things like it’s a cell phone or something.”
“Well, to us, it is in a way. But they are for more advanced than anything on this planet. We just need to get Michelle to give a new one.” Cal reasoned to Josh. He turned to Serena, “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back in a couple of days. I’ll see if Michelle is in good mood so she can give us one that works.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
Cal left the house and got his phone out; he dialed a number he had dialed so many times before. He waited, “It’s me. We’ve found Kalsen. No. I told Serena that it’s a busted communicator. Yeah, I don’t think she knows.” He listened to the voice on the other end. “No. I let you know as soon as I know. Bye.”
He got in is car and drove away, on his way to Michelle who was in Colorado.
________________________________________________________________________
Burns drove down the road; he was in his way to Hondo. The radio played some old Johnny Cash song. He listened to the words of it. Something about walking the line. He hated old country but it seemed to be the only station he could get right now.
He was supposed to find Summers and tell him to keep a look out near the Crashdown Café but he hadn’t gotten around to it. He wondered about the pendent he was sent to find but was called back to the base before he got there. He didn’t ask questions anymore. He just did his job. Things would be easier that way. Pierce was so angry about the girl escaping. It was like his biggest failure was laughing in his face. Agent Burns felt little sympathy for him, however. Pierce didn’t know how to run the Unit if his life depended on it. And right now, it did.
Topolsky wasn’t too far from his mind either. She played them real good. She helped get Liz out and now she was on the run. She could tell them everything they needed to know to elude them. For all he knew, Topolsky could have been the one to say she spotted near the borders or it could have been the Shape Shifter. Still, Pierce was so self centered he only listened to himself and sent nearly all of the crew to the borders. It was idiotic, of course they say look to the borders. Agent Burns could laugh at how horrible this case was being handled.
He sighed as he took another sip of his coffee, he could taste it that well, but wasn’t a big deal to him. He was more concerned with getting his job done.
The parts with Serena and Cal and everyone is sort of a way to introduce them to story and give their side of the story. It'll be a while before they meet the rest of the group but when they do it's going to crazy and a little fun even. Hehehe.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“I say we fight back…”
“Fight back?” Ed scoffed at the notion Maria presented. “That’s your great plan?”
Michael defended Maria; “It’s better than just running away.”
“That is the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard!” Ed said honestly. Really, it was. Even he was too afraid to go after the FBI Special Unit. He smirked for a split second and then asked, “And how do you suppose we do that?” Ed circled Maria in a fit of anger; “Should we…use guns? Knives? Our powers?”
“Our powers can help us now,” Maria said.
Kyle yelled, “HELP US HOW?”
Everyone’s eyes where on Maria who sighed. “I know that it’s not the smartest thing we’ve ever done but think about, who is more afraid of who?”
“You’re not making sense Maria.” Kyle said.
“Kyle, Liz, think about it,” she looked at each of them, “We’ve been hunted. They took you,” she pointed to Liz, “and did unimaginable things. Yet, we’ve been hiding in plain sight for how long?”
Liz rubbed her eyes. “Maria, they weren’t hunting us ‘till about six months ago.” She knew Maria meant well, but after what she just went through she didn’t think she had it in her to do anything but run.
“Alex, Liz, you are really willing to never see home again?” Maria asked. Liz shook her head.
Walking to her, Maria put her hands on Liz‘s shoulders and said, “Then we don’t have a choice in this do we?”
Alex nodded at her, “I’m with Maria.”
Isabel and Michael stood up. “I’m with Maria,” said Isabel.
“Count me in, “Michael said as he took Maria’s hand. “I say we stand up for ourselves.”
Maria smiled up at him and mouthed a silent ‘Thank You’. She glanced at the adults, “Valenti, Topolsky?”
They both nodded in agreement with Maria.
Max looked down to the floor, and then squeezed his eyes shut. His life was pure hell the past 32 hours and nothing could ever convince to go through it again. But he knew if he didn’t do something Liz might have to leave him.
“Max?” Kyle folded his arms.
Max lifted his head, tears shimmering in his eyes. “I say we go with Maria.”
Liz sighed, not knowing if it was the right thing, but everyone seemed to agree with Maria. “Okay, what do you have in mind?”
________________________________________________________________________
Pierce lay in bed, recovering from the gun shot wound he received. Burns had come to inform him of the progress of the search.
“Sir, so far we’ve checked every border and no sight of them.”
Pierce clenched his jaw shut, and shut his eyes in disgust. “Why did this happen?”
Clearing his throat, Burn handed him a picture. It was a surveillance photo taken from the base. “This is everyone who was in the building helping her.”
“Topolsky?” He groaned, “I should have known.”
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“There were more. Several more helping her last night.” Burns said. His heavy breathing was easy to hear for Pierce. That was the first thing Pierce noticed about Burns was his breathing. It was gruff and threatening like Burns himself.
“Agent Burns, do you think they’re in New Mexico still?”
Burns nodded yes. “With the Sheriff helping them it could be a bit more difficult to find them but we will.”
“Have you checked their homes?”
“No sight of them.”
“Parents?”
“Apparently they have a cover story for every thing. The Parkers are out of town for a few days and the others believe they are camping.”
“Camping?” Pierce asked. “How do you find out these things?”
Burns clicked his tongue, “I just ask around. These aren’t the smartest parents I’ve ever heard of.”
________________________________________________________________________
Making sure no one was around. Valenti motioned for the group to exit the UFO center. They followed silently, all previously knowing where to go.
Max and Liz held hands as they made their way to the jeep, Liz on the drivers side. Alex and Michael followed, sitting the back.
Topolsky and Valenti took the SUV, leaving before anyone else.
Ed, Kyle, Maria and Isabel all got in the car Ed had stolen.
Without a word everyone went in different directions, all with one goal in mind.
________________________________________________________________________
Valenti drove out of town, his destination burning in his mind. The road seemed to get longer and longer as the time passed. Topolsky felt the pressure of the situation just as strong. She glanced over at him, “Do you think this has a chance?”
“No,” he answered plainly.
“I didn’t think so.”
Not looking over, he replied, “I hope it does.”
“Hope is all we have now.”
Jim glanced over at her. “That was the cheesiest thing I’ve heard all day.” The road ahead was ominous of things to come. Valenti saw it almost as metaphor for his life. It was going in direction he didn’t want to go. Tess would be hurt if he died. She would never know the truth. “Listen, I have a niece. Her name is Tess. She’s seventeen years old. Blonde, blue eyes. “
“I‘ve met her. I was the school counselor, remember?”
“She will need help if something happens to me. If something bad happens to me…let her know I loved like my own daughter okay?”
“We need to make sure none of that happens.”
________________________________________________________________________
Liz drove down the street to her house, getting ready to meet the rest of group outside of Roswell. She needed some things from her house first.
“Liz, I believe this’ll work…” Alex whispered from the back seat. He knew his sister was drained. Her eyes said it all. She wanted it to be over. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying his best to reassure her that he would fight for her as best he could. “It’s going to be okay.” He was sick of saying that almost.
“You know everyone says ‘it’s going to be okay’ but it’s not Alex. It never is. It wasn’t okay when Valenti started chasing after us. It wasn’t okay when Pierce started following us and is sure as hell wasn’t okay when the Special Unit captured me. I am sick and damn tired of being told everything is alright when it is anything but!” Liz yelled as they pulled into the drive way of their house. Tears where in her eyes, but failed to spill over.
“Liz I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just-”
“I’m sorry, Alex.” Liz said looking at her lap. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It‘s okay.” Alex said softly. He wasn’t mad at her. She was going through a tough time and he knew she wasn’t herself right now. He leaned closer to Liz and whispered softly, “Let go and get the stuff.”
They got and walked to the house, everyone keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Once they got in, Liz turned and said, “You guy look out for anything, Alex and I will go and get the stuff we need.”
Everyone agreed, taking their places. Max stood by the window in the living room, just across from the kitchen, Michael, looking out one of the side windows of the front door.
Meanwhile, Liz and Alex where searching for the healing stones and necklace.
“I can’t believe Pierce didn’t come get this stuff.” Liz commented. Causing Alex to turn around from the bed. “Why?” he asked.
Liz put in it her pocket, “When I was in the room, Pierce asked me where it was. I told him. I’m shocked he didn’t come get them.”
Alex reached under Liz’s bed and searched with hand for the box he was looking for. “Got it.” He said once found it. He pulled it out and opened the top to make sure the contents where still intact.
“They all there?” Liz asked.
“Yup,” he stood up. “Let’s get going.”
________________________________________________________________________
“You got the stones?” Maria asked Liz, “Okay, we’ll talk to you later. Meet at the old gas station out side Hondo.”
Ed sat next to in the passenger side, “This isn’t going to work.”
Maria hung up the phone, “Why, because this requires you do something to help us?”
“Hey, I’ve helped you.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, saving Liz after she was captured. Wait! That was your fault wasn’t it?” She retorted in a sarcastic tone.
“We would be in this position if it weren’t for the stupidity of your human friends.” Ed grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
Maria grew upset with Ed. He was always bringing their problem back to the humans when they had nothing to do with it. “How did they cause this?” She asked.
“Guys, this isn’t the time, really.” Kyle called from the back seat. “We have more important things to worry about.”
Isabel raised an eyebrow, “Mark this down, I think I agree with Harding here.”
With a mock sense of appreciation, Kyle sacristy grinned at Isabel. “Why thank you, Whitman.”
Snapping her fingers, Isabel winked at him. “Not a problem.”
“Alright, listen, once we are at Hondo, Ed here is going to shape shift back into an Agent. Kyle, like I said, will be mind warping them once we know we have their attention.” Maria said. She turned to Ed, “You said Hondo was where that Burns guy would be right?”
“Agent Burns, yes. As well as Summers who has been watching you probably.” He tried cracking his knuckles, “I would be careful to underestimate this ‘Burns guys’. He is not someone you want to piss off.”
Kyle tapped Ed on the shoulder, “I think that’s the point.”
________________________________________________________________________
Tess dialed her uncle’s number again. “Damn it! Answer!”
She slammed the phone down. She picked it up again and dialed Deputy Fisher and waited.
“Fisher.”
“Oh, thank the Lord. This is Tess.”
“Oh hey, how’s school going?”
“Great, I’ll be graduating in month. Um, listen I can’t a hold of my Uncle. Do you have any idea where he is?”
“Nope. I can try reaching him on the radio?”
“Could you do that please?”
“Yes. Hold on just a moment.”
Tess waited while Fisher tried to contact her uncle. Something in her gut told her it had to do with Liz.
“I’m sorry, I can’t get him.”
“Thanks.” She said before she hung up the phone.
She sighed and leaned her hand in hands. Something was going on and she didn’t want to loose her Uncle. He was her only family. She only two people in this world that she thought she could trust. Jim and her cousin Joshua. For a while Max was someone Tess hoped she would be able to place her trust in, but that ended with Liz Parker and the shooting. It was hard enough loosing Max to Liz but the way her uncle had been obsessed with the Parker case scared her. If Liz was dangerous as she was led to believe Uncle Jim might have more than he bargained for. She tapped her fingers on the counter as she tried thinking of anyway she could find him. Driving around town hadn’t helped. Calling everyone in Roswell hadn’t helped either.
Suddenly, there was knocking at the door. She ran to it, hoping it was her Uncle.
“Jim!” She yelled she opened the door, only to be disappointed at the sight of a man in suit stood there.
“Are you Tess Valenti?”
“Yes, what is going?”
“I need you to do everything I tell you okay?” Agent Summers said to her.
________________________________________________________________________
“Dang it!” Serena yelled. No matter how hard she tired she couldn’t get through to Kalsen. “Why does Mother Nature hate me?” she asked no one.
Without warning, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, causing her to jump.
“Holy Hell!” She yelled.
“Shhh!” her husband whispered. “I’m just listening to you talk to yourself again.” He smiled as he rested his chin on her shoulder, “I like it when you do that.”
“Josh, I love you dearly but now is not the time.”
He pulled up and took her hand in his, “If you need anything let me know okay?”
“I will. I just…want you to get hurt.” She looked back at him, “Josh if I lost you I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, at all.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “Hey, you saved me once. Maybe one day I can save you.” He cupped her face and brought it for a gentle kiss. After a few seconds their moment was lost by the sound of a phone ringing.
“Never fails.” Josh rolled his eyes. He walked to the phone, “its Sister Spacey.”
Serena set the communicator down. “I guess I could talk for minute, it’s not like Kalsen going to be popping up anytime soon.” She walked over and took the phone, “Hello?”
Josh stepped away as his wife talked on the phone. He walked near the table wear the communicator was located and looked at it. He didn’t dare touch. Last time did he dropped it and the thing started going off. He would have thought alien technology could cover things like that but he was wrong.
“Okay, the Young Women are meeting Tuesday at seven…”
Josh listened to her, when he heard a soft beeping. He looked around for where the noise was coming from. He could find anything by the time it stopped.
*beep*
There was that noise again. Serena didn’t pay attention to it at first. But Josh searched some more. Then a flashing light caught his eye. It was the communicator. He ran to it and motioned for Serena, careful not to say something the Sister Spacey could hear. “Hey,” he whispered, grabbing Serena’s attention.
She pulled the phone away from her and covered the mouthpiece, “What?” she whispered.
Josh pointed to the device, “It’s going!” he pointed to it.
She stared at it as the beeping got louder, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She turned back to the phone, “Can I call you later? Thanks bye.” She hung up the phone and ran over to it, “Let me see that.” She picked it up, “CAL!”
Cal ran in, “What’s going on?”
“It’s decided to work.”
“No way, let me see that.”
He picked it and closed his eyes, letting the flashes take over his mind. He opened his eyes, “That’s not Kalsen it located. It‘s just acting up again.” He said.
“Why would it do that?” Serena asked.
Cal shook his head, “I have no idea. This thing is old anyway. They have got better ones.”
Josh rubbed his forehead, “You talk about those things like it’s a cell phone or something.”
“Well, to us, it is in a way. But they are for more advanced than anything on this planet. We just need to get Michelle to give a new one.” Cal reasoned to Josh. He turned to Serena, “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back in a couple of days. I’ll see if Michelle is in good mood so she can give us one that works.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
Cal left the house and got his phone out; he dialed a number he had dialed so many times before. He waited, “It’s me. We’ve found Kalsen. No. I told Serena that it’s a busted communicator. Yeah, I don’t think she knows.” He listened to the voice on the other end. “No. I let you know as soon as I know. Bye.”
He got in is car and drove away, on his way to Michelle who was in Colorado.
________________________________________________________________________
Burns drove down the road; he was in his way to Hondo. The radio played some old Johnny Cash song. He listened to the words of it. Something about walking the line. He hated old country but it seemed to be the only station he could get right now.
He was supposed to find Summers and tell him to keep a look out near the Crashdown Café but he hadn’t gotten around to it. He wondered about the pendent he was sent to find but was called back to the base before he got there. He didn’t ask questions anymore. He just did his job. Things would be easier that way. Pierce was so angry about the girl escaping. It was like his biggest failure was laughing in his face. Agent Burns felt little sympathy for him, however. Pierce didn’t know how to run the Unit if his life depended on it. And right now, it did.
Topolsky wasn’t too far from his mind either. She played them real good. She helped get Liz out and now she was on the run. She could tell them everything they needed to know to elude them. For all he knew, Topolsky could have been the one to say she spotted near the borders or it could have been the Shape Shifter. Still, Pierce was so self centered he only listened to himself and sent nearly all of the crew to the borders. It was idiotic, of course they say look to the borders. Agent Burns could laugh at how horrible this case was being handled.
He sighed as he took another sip of his coffee, he could taste it that well, but wasn’t a big deal to him. He was more concerned with getting his job done.
Hey, sorry it’s been so long since I last updated but real life took over. Anyway, it’s going to be a while before I update again. Things are just too hectic for me right now. I really do appreciate all the support you all have given me. Thank you all for the feedback and here’s to hoping life slows down soon!