Timelord31 - Tess is ticked off but her cronies haven't yet realized that they can reverse the whole 'disabled powers' thing. Fortunately, Tess doesn't know how they did it. As for later on...well that remains to be seen.
rosbuffyangelfanatl - Ava and Kyle's relationship is certainly getting off to a slow start but they're getting there. We'll get to see more of their budding romance soon.
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Chapter 25: Closing Ranks
From the moment Tess ran out of the Deluca house, the group knew that they would have to come up with a good strategy for keeping everyone safe. No one could be left alone anymore and the parents were of particular concern. They didn’t have any powers to fight against Lonnie and Rath.
“We need a plan. We can’t just leave here like nothing happened. Tess is probably on her way to Hondo right now…She’ll lead Lonnie and Rath right to us.” Max said.
“I’m not too sure about that Max. She just lost her powers and that means they’ll have to change their plans now. I don’t think we’ll be seeing them tonight.” Jim pointed out.
Philip Evans chimed in. “That may be Jim, but I agree with Max. We need to come up with a plan because we know they’ll come to Roswell eventually. Probably sooner, rather than later.”
“Well we can’t all just stay here in Maria’s house forever, so I say we split up. We make sure every house is covered by someone with powers.” Michael said. Then his eyes lit up with curiosity and he turned to Ava. “Hey, I just thought of something…what are your powers anyway?”
Ava looked startled. “You don’t know? Obviously you know about the mindwarp, but don’t you know about the rest?”
Alex gulped loudly and asked, “The rest? As in more than one other power?” It had never occurred to them that Tess was stronger than she’d let on. Perhaps she hadn’t really known her full potential. The others hadn’t so maybe Tess didn’t either.
Ava blushed, a deep scarlet hue obscuring her fair skin. “I have a few powers…well that is, I think we all have a few. We probably have barely begun to tap into our powers, I suppose.” The anxious looks on the faces of those around her prodded her to elaborate.
“I won’t use the mindwarp unless it is absolutely necessary. I guess you could say it’s my last line of defense. It just doesn’t feel right to manipulate people that way.” She looked away from the others in shame. She had always hated that power. It enabled you to basically override a person’s free will and turn them into a puppet. She absolutely wouldn’t use that power unless there was no other option.
“Ava honey, we know that you wouldn’t hurt us. You’re not Tess…we know that.” Amy assured her. “Now why don’t you tell us about your other powers?”
Ava took a deep breath before starting. “OK…I can create fire too. Sort of like a hybrid flamethrower I guess. I’m not that good at it yet though.” Ava let out a nervous chuckle. “I can heal…just small stuff like cuts though. I think I can do this thing with light too…like block it or bend it somehow. I only did it once, when I was younger. This homeless guy was poking around our tunnel in New York and I don’t think he realized I was there. I didn’t want him to see me so I hid further down the tunnel. There was this weird moment where everything got kind of blurry and dark…then he walked right past me and didn’t even see me. It was like I created a giant shadow around myself or something. The thing is though, I don’t know if I did what I thought I did or if I just warped him and didn’t realize it.” Ava shrugged helplessly.
Maria suddenly realized her mouth was hanging wide open. “Um…OK, wow. So I think we’d be safe to say that Ava doesn’t need any protecting.” Her comment was met with nervous laughter.
“Alright…I guess we need to decide who is needed where for the time being. Liz and Alex, no offense but I really think we need someone who has had more experience with their powers to stay at each of your houses. We can’t take any chances right now.” Max paused in thought but before he had a chance to formulate a game plan, Alex cut in.
“I’m not offended Max. Actually, thank you for thinking that my family is important enough to warrant extra protection.” Alex flashed Max a warm grin before continuing. “On that note, I have a suggestion. We have three people here with major offensive powers…blasting, throwing fire, etcetera, and one person that can shield. We should probably pair up the most vulnerable with the people who have strongest powers.” At his idea, the rest of the group nodded in unison.
Jim added his two cents before Max could respond. “I agree with Alex, but I have one more suggestion to make. If we try to spread ourselves too thin, I think it’ll put us at a disadvantage.” He turned to Amy and asked, “Will you come stay with Kyle and I until this blows over? If we bring both of our households together, one of the kids will be free to help out somewhere else.” Jim explained.
“I think that’s a good idea Jim, but I think you guys should stay here. Tess has been staying at your place for months and I assume she has a key, right?” Off Jim’s nod, Amy continued. “So why don’t you guys set up camp in my spare bedroom instead then?”
“Alright then, we have Jim, Kyle, Amy and Maria staying here then. What about everyone else?” Max asked.
Jeff decided to add his two cents now. “Actually, here’s what I was thinking…Since Jim has a gun, he won’t need quite so much…extra firepower, so to speak. I think we should have Ava stay here at Amy’s, Max and Isabel can stay at home with their parents, Michael can stay with the Whitmans and then Maria can stay with us. Would that work for everyone?” He asked.
The others quietly nodded. Amy and Maria weren’t thrilled about being separated, but they knew that it was probably going to be a very temporary arrangement, so they agreed. Ava promised Maria that she would protect Amy with everything she had if necessary. Michael was not thrilled about staying at the Whitman house because he really didn’t know them very well but he did have to admit that it was a little better than the thought of being alone right now.
The group broke up for the night and Maria and Michael both gathered a few belongings to take over to their temporary homes. Jim and Kyle ran home just long enough to grab a few necessities and then they headed directly back to Amy’s house. Kyle was secretly looking forward to staying with Ava but again he wished the opportunity hadn’t come with so many strings attached. Her double had nearly killed him just hours earlier and would most likely show up with Lonnie and Rath within the next few days to finish the job. He didn’t want to get caught unaware because he was too busy thinking about spending time with Ava, but he was just too intrigued by her to put her out of his mind completely.
As the pod squad and crew were settling down for the night in their respective houses, Tess was pulling up to a seedy little motel in Hondo. She walked up to one of the filthy doors and started pounding frantically. When Lonnie cracked the door open, Tess caught a glimpse of Rath standing in the background with his hand up in a defensive stance. Lonnie rolled her eyes when she realized it was Tess and opened the door further to let the girl in.
“It’s late, yo. Why you here?” Lonnie asked.
“It didn’t work! They broke through the mindwarp. Somehow they broke through the damn warp and turned on me. They knocked me out and disabled my powers!”
“Whatcha mean ‘disabled’?” Rath growled. He didn’t like the thought that someone had found a way to turn off their powers. He hadn’t even realized that was possible.
“I mean I woke up on the floor with no powers! Do I have to spell it out for you?” Tess snarled. In her anxious state, her fear of Rath was forgotten.
“Chill out, both a’ ya!” Lonnie snapped. “Tell me everything…”
For nearly five minutes straight, Tess chattered on about the events that led up to her current powerless status. Lonnie and Rath were livid that she’d let the situation get so out of control.
“What was you thinkin?! Why’d you go back ov’a to dat chic’s pad anyway?” Rath yelled.
“I was thinking that it was weird how they all left Michael’s apartment separately but ended up together again at Maria’s. I was thinking that I’d better find out what was going on. I was thinking that I’m tired of doing all the work by myself while you two just sit around your motel with your feet up!” Tess shouted back at him.
Rath growled. “You betta’ check youself Queenie because you aint got no powers to defend youself now…”
Lonnie had, had enough of the childish bickering. “Both yous shut up! Gimme a minute to think…”
After a long silent moment, Lonnie’s eyes narrowed into evil little slits and she laid out her new plan. “Don’t worry bout a thing, yo. Rath and I got this one covered.” As she spoke, the other two slowly developed confident smirks. They liked her plan…they liked it a lot.
“As soon as they drop their guard, we’ll get rid of our dupes an’ those humans won’t be able to do a thing to stop us…” Lonnie finished.
