Roswell Fanatics

Author name: Chris Kenworthy
Title: Husk Funeral
Series: Kismet Unchained (sequel to Not Written Yet)
Coupling/Genre: Max/Liz, Kyle/Tess, Isabel/Alex. I'm issuing a candy angst warning for this fic... they'll get together at the end of the series, but in the meantime a lot of heartache and seeing other people.
Rating: ADULT
Disclaimer: I didn't create 'Roswell', I didn't make it a TV series, I didn't originate the plot of 'End of the world' or any others -- I'm just adapting them.
Summary: Liz tries to figure out how to deal with the challenges of the Copper Summit Harvest, and Michael finds out a little of Courtney's background

Author's note: Well, this is the (hopefully) anticipated sequel to my EOTW fic 'Not Written Yet'. (Go read up on it if you haven't already, might help make things clear.) And what would happen next after EOTW but the next episode in season 2... only I've given it my usual 'how the Roswell writers should have done things' treatment.


Saturday, October 28th, 2000. 8:18 pm.
A sidewalk, somewhere in Roswell.

"Okay, allow me to attempt a recap," Alex said softly to Liz Parker. "Max came back to you from fourteen years in the future or something, and said that you had to break up with present-day Max and get him to fall in love with Tess, or else the world will get invaded by bad guys and pretty much toasted when it gets to his time period??"

"Uhh, yeah," Liz said softly. She wasn't quite sure whether to be comforted or depressed about Alex's typically dry, dead-pan summation.

"And you weren't so sure about that, and the more you dragged your feet the more unstable Future Max seemed, so you pumped him for details about what's to come as much as you could and then ambushed him with one of those weird black five-sided alien gizmos, telling him that he had guilt issues you didn't have time to help him settle and wasn't thinking clearly, and then you killed him with a gun you stole from Jim Valenti's collection, and went off to party all night and next day with present-day Max, going with him to the Gomez concert in Santa Fe, and then back to the fortune teller, who told you that it's probably going to all work out okay??"

"Well, kinda." Liz sighed. "At least I have a chance. But it's going to be tricky, especially since I don't want to let Max or the others know about this stuff yet, because I'm afraid of how they'll react, but things are probably going to get incredibly sticky because I have to use this knowledge I have about the future to guide them without anyone getting so suspicious of how I seem to know everything before they do. So that's why I told you about it all, because I'm going to need somebody's help - someone that I can trust."

"And you're not that Maria's too stable lately, since she and Michael broke up over the Courtney situation." He took a deep breath. "And that's the that."

Liz turned to face him, stepping close. "You're all right with this, Alex?? Tell me if you're not, 'kay? I know that you were kind of trying to keep your distance from Isabel, let her make up her own mind without you crowding her, but we're probably both going to have to spend a lot of time with the pod squad now, including her."

"Easy for you to say," Alex muttered. "You and Max are back together, on cloud nine."

"Except that I don't dare let Tess clue into that quite yet," Liz sighed, starting to walk again. "It's not exactly an enviable position, let me tell you."

"Okay," Alex said, and thought for a moment. "Well, what's the next important thing that's going to hit??"

"Um, the evil skins have a dead man's switch set on Whittaker, or something like that." She sighed. "There's a letter from the 'Society of Friends' that I just put back into her office... if she doesn't check in by tomorrow at midnight, they're going to 'terminate her membership' - ie cover up her death. They have a spare husk; it's like a human spacesuit that these guys live inside of, that they were growing because her husk was about to die. They'll use that as a 'body' and have a funeral service in a few days in Copper Summit."

"But she was a New Mexico congresswoman," Alex pointed out. "She should have a state funeral here in Roswell, or somewhere in the second district. Which would mean that these skins have to give up control of their 'body' and risk somebody discovering that it's hollow, or whatever."

"I think that they find some way to keep control of it, and run the whole thing there in Arizona." Liz shrugged. "Not sure how."

"Well, Courtney will tell Michael about this stuff, right?" Alex said after a moment. "Once he confronts her, or she him. We should probably prod him into searching her apatment as soon as possible, so that he finds those photos."

"Yeah." Liz thought a second, and then asked a big question. "Do we want to do something with that deadman's letter? Before the deadline hits tomorrow night??"

"Hmm." Alex mulled that over. "I'm not sure I can see any reason why. Wittaker is dead, and her death *does* need to get covered up -- the Skins would do us a favor if they take care of that. And from what you've told me, with the funeral service taking place at the same time as the Harvest is just about to mature, there'll be all kinds of confusion in Copper Summit. Good opportunity for our guys to make a sneak attack, maybe." He sighed. "And we don't have Whittaker to produce anyway, so what could any of us say in response to that letter that would make them pay attention anyway??"

"Well..." Liz hesitated for a long time, debating, as she had already debated in her head dozens of times, whether to tell Alex this detail. In her hearts, somehow she really believed that there wouldn't be any harm in it. "The skins seem to believe that Isabel used to be a traitor, way back when, you know. That Vilandra sold out her brother and the rest of the Royal Four. And Whittaker apparently thought that she could use this to get Isabel to switch sides. Future Max told me that that was why she tried to draw Isabel to come to her, the night of her birthday party. That she could get Isabel to betray Max again, and give her the granilith."

"Which she didn't even find until Whittaker had died," Alex said, putting it together. "But Isabel could never..."

"No, of course not," Liz insisted. "Even Future Max stressed that point, that she had always been loyal as long as he'd known her, and she'd used the 'Vilandra' angle to sucker the leader of the bad guys in and play him. But it gave me an idea." She took a deep breath.

"What if she pretends to be switching sides right now, to infiltrate the skins in Copper Summit? She could call and say that Whittaker convinced her, but Max or someone killed her too soon, and she's been hiding her newly awakened true loyalties from everyone."

"Ummm..." Alex pondered that notion for a long time. "No, it's an idea with some merit to it, theoretically, but not really workable at this point. Remember that Isabel hasn't confessed this Vilandra angle to ANY of us yet. We'd have to tell her that we already know it, and I'm not sure that she's ready enough to face the idea to turn it against an entire town full of enemy aliens yet. Not to mention the fact that Max and Michael would never go for it. And, that even if those factors weren't an issue, having her go undercover alone in a situation like that would be incredibly dangerous... I think you'd better drop it."

"Okay." She sighed. "Well, I'll probably go over to chat with Max and Michael."

"Have fun," he said. "I don't think I'll join you -- having me around might just raise questions that we don't want them to think of, co-conspirator."

"Okay," she said, smiling slightly, and turning back around to head for Alex's place.

**********

8:54 pm
Michael's apartment.

He opened the door warily for the pair of them, noticing how Liz took Max's hand quietly for a second as she passed through, and then slipped them apart as if she was trying not to have the gesture be visible to Michael.

"So, you want to talk about Courtney??" Michael said softly, turning around to look now further into the apartment, keeping both of them in his sight. "What about her, particularly??"

"Umm, well..." Max looked a little uncomfortable. "Last I heard, you said that you were investigating her and we'd talk -- well, today. About anything you'd managed to find out."

"And Alex let it slip that, umm, that he knew you had met Courtney here, tonight," Liz added. "So I thought that maybe we'd better do this in person, and I hope you don't mind my tagging along... hey, has your window been busted like that for long??"

So, with an ungracious sigh, Michael told them the cliff notes version of his rendezvous with Courtney the night before -- how Alex had taken it upon himself to land quite a punch on Michael as soon as he realized that Michael was meeting wiith 'the other woman' the same night that he and Maria had broken up, (even though it had been Maria to break things off,) how Courtney had bent over and looked at his purpling face with a bit of an oddly detached concern, how Michael, still upset at everything Maria had said to him that morning, had been unable to resist the impulse to kiss Courtney again.

And Michael told them that he'd realized what she was when a thin layer of unearthly skin had come off in his hands. How she had laughed at him, but in anticipation of some engaging challenge maybe, and escaped from him by throwing herself through the window (displaying inhuman speed and an unfamiliar alien-power defence as she went.)

There was a bit of an awkward silence after Michael had finished his story. "Um, is that it??" Max asked uncertainly. "Nothing else has happened since then??"

"Well, I managed to reach Tess, fill her in on most of that," Michael explained. "Called you guys at the Evans homestead early this afternoon, but mommy said that Maxxie and Izzy were napping, so that was that. And, well, I've been trying my best to fix up the window, despite not really having the right tools."

"Nothing about Courtney directly?" Liz said. "You haven't tried to find her again since that, say by going to look at her apartment??"

Michael shrugged a little awkwardly. "I thought that his Majesty would want to know the scoop before allowing me to go and do any such thing, especially considering that it would entail a possible challenge to an alien agent who could probably overpower me, if she put her mind to it."

Liz looked over at Max, and he nodded slightly but didn't say anything, so Liz took a deep breath and pushed the issue further. "Okay, well Max knows now, and I have a proposal to make. I think that it's really important for you to find out more about Courtney now, hopefully to meet her again. Take some backup if you think you need to - uh, take Isabel or Tess along."

Michael blinked in surprise at Liz's forceful assertion, then shot a look at Max. Max, in turn, tried to catch Liz's eye, only to have her return that enigmatic nod that he had given her earlier. "Umm... yeah, I guess it makes sense to you guys if you're careful. M--maybe I should come along too, as far as that goes. To shield and heal, if the need arises."

Liz froze, not sure how to talk Max out of this, but the sinking feeling told her that it wasn't a good idea. Max's future self had said that Courtney had resented him, because as king he had lost everything, and had been much more comfortable when dealing with Michael only or with Michael and the girls.

Fortunately, Michael took the initiative. "No, that's okay. Why don't you go up to the rocks with Liz tonight, and show her the Pod chamber? Heck, maybe if the two of you start groping right next to the thing, you'll get a vision of what the darn thing means and what we can do with it, since nothing else we do seems to help. If that special 'soulmate connection' you two have could find an alien orb, out buried in the desert, maybe there isn't much it can't do."

Max smiled crookedly. "So, I guess I don't need to ask if you can tell that Liz and I are back together."

"Kind of obvious. I'm happy for you, though it seems like the universe's accounting of checks and balances are working entirely too well. The very same day that Maria cuts me loose, you two have your grand reconciliation. I guess we won't get back together until the two of you hit the skids or something." There was an ugly silence. "Umm, forget I said that, I didn't mean to imply that eventually something will split the two of you up, or that I'm waiting for it to happen or anything."

"Umm, I will try my very hardest to forget," Liz said. "And with that, I think that Max and I should probably hit the road again. You going to go to Courtney's tonight??"

"Yeah, just need to call and see who's available for backup duty and I'm gone," he assured her. "Give me a ring tomorrow morning or something like that, and we can exchange stories."

"All right," Max said, seeming a little bemused at everything that had gone on. "Take care, man."

"I fully intend to." He let them out.

On the way to the car, Max stopped and shot an odd look at Liz. "What was that about?? Suggesting that Max go and snoop around Courtney's apartment?"

"I dunno, it just seemed to make sense," Liz muttered. "I know that it's risky, but Michael's no fool and knows how to cover his own ass. Also, I'm not sure that Courtney really wants to hurt him. If she did, she probably would have by now, whether he knew that she was an alien or not."

"Hmmm." Max mulled that over and started slowly making his way to the jeep again. Liz followed.

"Think about it this way," she blurted out. "If some other crisis hit, say if we found out about some *other* alien agent that was nosing around, the first thing you'd tell Michael to do would be to track down Courtney and figure out what her story was, right??" There was a long silence, which Liz decided to break as if it had been a reluctant affirmative. "And, it's safer and better to do it NOW, before the next crisis hits. Same strategy, we're just being proactive about it instead of reactive. Well, or at the least, reactive about an earlier stimulus, which counts for something I think."

Max shook his head at her as he climbed up into the seat. "What makes you think I'd make that decision??"

"Ummm..." Liz shrugged awkwardly. "I dunno, it just struck me as what I'd expect. Why, do you disagree??"

"I... I honestly don't know," Max admitted. "I don't tend to spend a lot of time on hypotheticals like that... not when I'd rather just be enjoying the present." He stole a quick kiss before Liz buckled herself into the shotgun. "Okay, so, the rocks... you wanna go see?"

"Umm, sure Max." Liz didn't say that she was feeling very much of two minds about Michael's suggestion of 'groping right next to it.' On one hand, making out with Max was always great, and the sensation of touching a tiny part of his soul when their intimacy triggered a flash blew the strictly physical and hormonal pleasure away as if it were nothing.

But, when she got flashes from Max, he would normally get flashes of her too, of her past or her thoughts, and there were quite a few things that she was not at all prepared to have him see or know about... like the whole 'future him' thing. Not yet, while she still wasn't sure how he would react or how even small changes could affect the future that Liz was trying to build.

Maybe, if she kept a tiny part of the back of her mind focused on sealing off that stuff, or forced herself to think about other things, safer things, she could keep Max from seeing it? Well, maybe she would try. She might not need to after all... the idea of a heavy makeout session just to satisfy Michael's curiosity might put Max out of the mood.

She concentrated on enjoying the desert air as Max's jeep shot past the city limits sign.

**********

9:38 pm
Granilith sacristy

Max held a hand gallantly out to Liz as she finished scrambling through the tight little passageway, which had been altogether too full of little strands of fiber hanging down that looked like they had been part of the incubation process. At least there hadn't been any actual goo to stick her palms into or get on her nice jeans, and after Max helped her to her feet, she brushed the relatively few bits of fiber that had stuck to her shirt away, and looked around at the granilith chamber itself.

It was reasonably impressive. The big G itself, the inverted cone in the center of the room, dominated the eye as it stood there, imposing but almost snobbish, refusing to give away any of its secret to a casual inspection. Liz knew that she was personifying the thing much too intensely, but she could almost hear it speaking softly, mocking her. 'What do you mean, alien secret? I'm a mathematical abstraction, as any idiot could tell. Isn't that enough for you??'

Elsewhere, there were a few risers and blocks several feet large or more... it was hard to tell if they were functional, decorative, or neither -- or something else entirely, for that matter. There was nothing that looked like a control interface, but then, it wasn't exactly like the orbs had had a 'push here to start' button on them, or the healing stones had come with directions. This alien stuff just seemed enigmatic by nature, as if the prop designers knew it was expected of extraterrestrial artifacts to be strange to the point of absurdity.

Liz cut off that train of thought, realizing that it could lead to rampant paranoia. "Umm... this may sound like a stupid question, but have you tried to find a handprint interface anywhere here?? You know, doing the, umm..." She made a wide sweep through the air with her own outstretched right hand, trying to mimic the gesture that Max used to first initialize the door to the pod chamber, and that they had seen Tess use to find the hiding place of the destiny book in the public library.

"Umm... yeah actually, as many places as I could think of," Max said with a wide smile. "I kinda got the feeling that maybe there were some, but that it wouldn't be that easy to get the handprints to come out and play inside here. That I needed some key artifact to use with them, or to have a better idea of exactly where to look for them." He stepped closer to her, grinning slightly. "Well, we're all alone here, and as much as I hate having to perform on cue, I don't like to give up any excuse to kiss you."

She smiled shyly. "Well, not me either, on general principles. But it feels kinda weird, dontcha think??"

"Maybe you're just focusing on it too much," he said in a soft whisper. "Close your eyes, and I can make you forget about all of this, the granilith, the pod chamber, all of it."

"Okay, if you feel you must." Liz knew she was smiling widely as she closed her eyes, anticipatng the kiss. She could hear Max step close, smell the mix of his aftershave and the very faint masculine fragrance which she wasn't quite sure if it was natural or a cologne, but which always struck her as uniquely, even quintessentially Max. He had to be so close to her that she was surprised not to be able to feel him touching her.

Then she felt his hands, one pressing softly at the small of her back and the other near the back of her neck, its fingers softly stroking through her hair. And then his lips met hers with the effective impact of a semiton tractor trailer barreling down the interstate at seventy miles an hour. Her arms wrapped around his without any deliberate decision on her part, just the kind if instinctive reaction that happens when somebody is about to fall, and she sank deeper into this kiss as his strong arms held her steady and...

**FLASH!**

Liz *did* forget all about the granilith and the pod chamber for an instant, or at least she wasn't aware of being anywhere near there. She was walking into the cafe early in the morning, arm in arm with Max... kissing him before going on, feeling a trace of the heavy metallic orb hidden carefully in his pocket.

She remembered the moment while still experiencing it... it was the morning after her last big reconciliation with Max... when his kisses had given her strange flashes about the '47 crash and its aftermath, and following those kisses, the two of them had uncovered that orb, buried underneath a radio tower out in the desert. They had been teasing each other, and were seconds away from walking into an ambush made up of all four of their parents, who had not been at all pleased with the impulsive, reckless behaviour that the connection had brought out in them.

Fortunately, though, Liz wasn't forced to endure a replay of that scene, as the flash ended just in time, and she was back in Max's enfolding arms with her eyes closed. "What did you see?" he whispered.

Liz told him, suddenly frightened because she hadn't even thought to try protecting the future-Max material from him. But Max said that he had only seen their first kiss, after she and Alex had been let out of jail the night of the rave at the old soap factory, and that was certainly harmless enough, and romantic to boot.

"What do you think about trying for more?" he teased her, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered.

Liz froze, torn by indecision until her hormones made the decision for her. "I want to... but come on, not on whatever the heck this floor is. I do have standards, you know mister!" That last qualification had been the only delaying tactic that the more cautious part of her brain could come up with.

"Well, I have a blanket back in the jeep," Max replied, like the resourceful, prepared young man that he was. "Shouldn't take too long to run down and get it. Do you want to come with me, or stay here until I get back??"

Again, Liz was torn. At first, she thought that by no means she wanted to be left in this strange alien place without him. On the other hand, going through that tight crawlway with the stringy stuff hanging down again... she knew that she'd have to go through it once at least, to get out of the room, but making the passage an extra two times for a return trip didn't exactly appeal to her. And then there was the effort required for a quick trip down to the foot of the rocks and back up... and finally, Liz wanted to be able to use this time to prepare herself for the next round of flashes, putting up some kind of privacy shield about the parts of her mind she didn't want to let him into, and being around Max the whole time didn't sound like it would help with that. So... "Yeah, hurry back." She flashed him a deliberately sunny smile -- well, as bright a one as she could at any rate. "I'll be fine back here."

Max kissed her goodbye sweetly, and she smirked a little at the view of his tight end as he crawled out. And then, she could hear the door mechanism outside, sealing her in, and it was hard not to feel very desperately alone and lonely, more than she'd expected to. Liz found one of the odd blocks that seemed about the right size and height to hike herself onto and sit on, and focused on some breathing exercises that she made up on the spur of the moment.

Trying to lock particular thoughts away was seeming, now that she thought of it, like a contradiction, because there was no way of even knowing what she was locking away without thinking of it. It was almost exactly like the old chestnut about telling someone 'no matter what you do, don't think of a pink elephant.' Focusing on something else seemed like the better task, but it had to be something that Max wouldn't be upset or confused to realize that Liz was thinking of.

The flashes that they'd had earlier seemed to point a way. If she focused on happy memories of herself and her Max, of last year before destiny played a trump card, would that work?? Or would it be too easy of an associative jump to get from there to thinking of what Future Max had tried to take away from her, a leap that she could make without meaning to or realizing it??

It was about all that she could do. Liz resumed her breathing exercises and started thinking of her favorite moments of Max... which quickly got her nearly as excited as if he were actually here. Oh well... at least she had a plan now.

It was several minutes before she heard the door mechanism going again, and Liz was waiting for Max, on all fours herself, as he poked his head out of the tunnel - she brushed one strand of fiber away from his face and kissed him hard. It was nearly a minute before he was able to break away for long enough to get the blanket properly spread out on the cold, hard substance of the floor.

**********

11:21 pm
Valenti house.

"I'm really sorry."

Kyle only looked up from the book he'd been reading out of the corner of his eyes. Tess had poked her head into the living room from the kitchen side, wearing an expression so woebegone he half expected someone to rush into the room and adopt her... (except, of course, that for all intents and purposes somebody already had.)

He tried to make his voice as rough and unforgiving as he could. "Okay, let's hear the excuse."

"Does Michael Guerin count as an excuse?" She walked into the room, giving him cute puppy-dog eyes even harder if that was possible. "He literally dragged me away from my dinner plate at the diner to go and search the apartment of that psycho waitress girl who's been sniffing around him for the past few months, and lately, vice versa." She collapsed with a very believable groan into the desk chair. "And of course, I couldn't exactly tell him that I couldn't come because you were waiting in my old bedroom to screw my brains out... or at least I didn't think you'd like me telling him that. Michael would probably have been very interested to hear it."

Kyle was doing his best to reserve a decision. "So why did Guerin go stalker-boy?? I mean, I've seen that Courtney girl - she's not especially cute."

"It wasn't a hormone thing, supposedly," Tess replied, taking off her sweater matter-of-factly, and doing her best not to let on that she noticed Kyle's eyes straying to the low neckline of the tank top - or was it a camisole? - she was wearing underneath. "Apparently, well, she seems to be one of us. Well, not exactly one of us, but you know. An 'alien' -- one of the skins that Ed warned Max about just before he died."

She leaned forward, and a glint in her eye told Kyle that she knew exactly the sort of effect that move had on her cleavage. "And let me tell you, I used the term 'psycho' deliberately. She had this incredibly creepy shrine to Michael Guerin in one of her closets... An old t-shirt, some other stuff that she swiped from him, and all kinds of pictures that she snapped from across the street from his apartment. I think it's fair to say that 'stalker' is appropriate on THAT side of the coin, actually. We found her stalker hideout apartment, the place looked like a dump, but she wasn't there. He said he was going to go back later, and I told him to shanghai someone else to come along. So... uh, do you forgive me for standing you up unintentionally?? How long did you wait for me anyway??"

"Umm, I just got back about fifteen minutes ago," Kyle said. "And -- 'where there is no intention, there is no offense.' If you could have come, without blowing the secret, you would have. I know that. I'm disappointed, sure, but I don't hold it against you now. I'll just have to find some way to pay Guerin back, I guess."

Tess smiled. "Well, it's kinda too late to go back to the love nest or out parking... Where's your dad anyway??"

Kyle grinned. "He got called in because there was a body discovered somewhere, or something like that. Probably won't be back for hours... whatdya say we try it here??"

Tess stood up and, with some kind of odd shymmying motion, her tight pants slowly fell to the floor. "Try and stop me, lover."

************

Early hours of Sunday, October 29th, 2000. 2:17 am.
Poe street neighborhood, near Michael's apartment..

Isabel grumbled under her breath as Michael led her along. "Why did you make me park so far away??"

Michael shrugged slightly. "If she's there and waiting for me, I thought aproaching on foot would be lower profile than just driving up and getting out in front of the building -- either building."

Isabel sighed softly. "All right. Which one is hers?"

Michael pointed silently to a ratty looking apartment squat, maybe three stories high and seventy feet across, nearly opposite from where his own place was. Isabel tried to stay as quiet as she could when Michael led the way inside, (there was no lock on the front door of the complex, or call bells or anything like that,) and up the stairs, down the hallway to 214. A sweep of his hand in front of the doorknob opened up the lock and the door itself at the same time, and the plywood swung in far more silently than its hinges should have allowed for, without anyone touching it.

Isabel looked all about her with expressions of distaste as she followed Michael into the main room of the crappy little apartment. "I... I have to say it doesn't seem as if anybody's been here for a year or so."

Michael nodded, smiling. "Yeah, that would be the way she wants it to look, right??" Iz nodded a little doubtfully. "But over here by the window, I found little patches of skin that hadn't disintegrated yet, and a bit of plastic wrapping from a roll of camera film, and an empty bag of those red-hot chips she's always popping. Plus, the view from this window to my apartment is exactly the same in all of the pictures."

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Isabel groaned. "So what do we do if she shows up??"

"You go into warrior princess mode while I try to intimidate her??" Michael suggested. That got him a very nasty look indeed.

"Well, no-one's here right now," Izzy decided. "Michael, can I ask you a question?" Perhaps wisely, she didn't wait for any kind of reply before she continued. "While I was away, did Alex, like, talk to you or anything??"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure he was staying away from me on purpose," Michael said offhandedly. "You might want to ask Max though, I think I saw them together a couple times."

"Hmmm." Isabel considered that, looked for someplace to sit down, rejected all of the likely candidates for hygienic reasons, and shifted her weight awkwardly from foot to foot.

"He called me, tonight... just before you tried to reach me, actually. I went out and took a walk by myself after speaking with him for a little while. It was nice to catch up with him, but something seemed a little different with him. Like he was, I dunno... *reserved.* Which is something that he's just about never been, as long as I've known him."

"Maybe he's had enough of you jerking him around, this way and that, telling him you're not ready to be interested in anyone and then openly flirting with older men, right in front of him. Maybe, just maybe, Whitman's decided to suck it up and be a man." Isabel's mouth had dropped open at Michael's rant. "Who'd a thunk it," Michael finished, under his breath.

It took a moment or to for Isabel to collect her thoughts. "Is... is that what you really think I've been doing to him?"

Michael shrugged. "That's what it looked like from here." He sighed, shook his head slightly, and caught her eye with about as sympathetic an expression as Isabel could ever remember seeing from him. "Look, I know you didn't mean it. But... well, all of us, especially you, me, Max... maybe Tess, we've gotten used to living inside our own heads. There's so much that we're keeping inside, that we feel like we need to keep an eye on, that we don't spend as much time as other people looking around and trying to see the world from somebody else's perspective. And so, the way we treat the people we care about... it's easy to get blinded and not see how what we do might look to that other person. Or to someone else close by, watching." A long, low moan emerged from somewhere inside Michael. "Trust me, I've gotten a very serious reminder of that just recently."

Isabel thought about that for a second. "Hmmm." She didn't comment otherwise, and in the silence, suddenly it was impossible not to notice the relatively quiet and careful footsteps coming up the hall. Without a word spoken, Michael and Isabel turned to face the door, he with a hand held up at about shoulder level, Izzy with her right arm crossed over her body to the left side, ready to reel off a backhand gesture, (which was the way she felt she could get the best telekinetic oomph.)

The door swung open, and they could see the figure of Courtney Brooks, her hand still on the doorknob. She was wearing baggy jeans, old sneakers, and a long, heavy shirt, and her blond hair was pulled up into a fluffy ponytail. "Michael... Isabel. We have to talk."

************

Sunday, October 29th, 2000. 12:08 pm..
Old Towne cafe

The next day, Liz met Max for lunch at a restaurant that he had suggested they try. The place seemed to be full of families and older couples that had just gotten out of church, but that wasn't exactly a bad thing.

"I've been trying to put together everything that I got from you last night," Max whispered once they had made their orders. "The whole thing with the G blasting off and circling around the earth sounds really weird, but maybe it's actually supposed to be telling us something." Liz had to fight hard not to let frustration and embarassment show on her face.

That image that Max had been describing, as far as she could tell, was not an honest flash about how the granilith itself functioned, but a subconscious expression of what she knew about Future Max having used it to come back in time... with the imagery straight out of that incredibly dumb moment in the 'superman' movie. Circling backward around the earth to represent travelling back through the days and years. Well, at least Max had apparently not figured out that possible interpretation of it.

"Maybe we can try to 'consolidate our research' over at my place??" she whispered, trying to distract him... or maybe just tempt him into further kisses after lunch, although that might well get her into more trouble. After all, proximity to the granilith didn't neccessarily have anything to do with whether something incriminating would pop into Max's flashes. Her room, and Max's room, and the balcony, were all places that she also associated with his future self still.

"Well, I suppose maybe we could..." Max made a very strange sound, and collapsed forward into his buttered roll all of a sudden. Liz shoved her chair around the table and lifted up his head, gasping at the blood dribbling out from between his slack lips. She flung an arm around his body and felt more sticky wetness around the middle of his back, and torn fabric where his sweater had come asunder, and ragged skin...

"Hi, Parker." She looked up, horror stricken, and saw a tall man with a shock of white-blond hair staring down at both of them from behind Max. No-one else seemed to notice him. "Too bad that you can't heal *him.*"

What the hell?? Liz scrambled up, trying to think of something that she could do to help Max. Bandage the wound?? If he was spitting out blood, would that do any good or would it be just closing the vault after the bank robbers had fled, or something like that?? And mouth-to-mouth wasn't the right thing either, even if she could manage to seal her lips over Max's with all of that...

===

Liz shot up in bed, realizing that it had been a nightmare but not willing to let herself believe it for a long moment. Her clock said that it was still the middle of Saturday night, more or less, about twenty minutes to three in the morning. The parts from the dream that she had 'remembered' about making out with max in the granilith chamber had been real, but she was pretty sure that they hadn't even agreed to meet for lunch. He was supposed to call her early in the morning... though not this early. After the sun had been up for at least an hour.

Liz didn't really calm down until she had made her way out to the kitchen, drunk a glass and a half of cold water, and put some more water into the microwave to boil for herbal tea. The apparition had seemed so incredibly real, with Max dying in front of her, and the twin realizations that she could do nothing to help him, and that she had not, for all of her clever scheming, been able to prevent that disaster from happening.

"But it's a dream, it's not real," she insisted to herself. "There isn't really an alien killer just waiting to get a clear shot at him. There are people who want to hurt Max, but they're further away, and you can help him beat them... if you're smart and if you keep it together."

As she put the bag of rose petals and willow bark into the hot water, she wondered if all of that was true.

She didn't even wonder, as she started to drink, about Michael's mission to find Courtney. Of course, she had no way of knowing that she had found him, or that a tense encounter was still unfolding...

TO BE CONTINUED!

Husk funeral 2

Sunday, October 29th 2000. 2:42 am.
Courtney Brooks' secret hideout

Michael nodded solemn greetings to the skin girl, but didn't let down his guard... or the bolt of energy that he was ready to shoot at a moment's notice. "You want to talk, Courtney? Then talk."

"Not like this, thanks." She narrowed her eyes, and all of a sudden several bright sparks and a faint spluttering sound emerged from Michael's palm as the energy that he had been keeping ready there drained away. Realizing that something had gone wrong, Isabel whipped her right hand around, sending a massive 'push' of kinetic force towards the mysterious alien, but Courtney made a casual gesture with her left hand and damped the wave down partially, so that as it spread over her she was able to keep her feet. "Now, I came here to talk to you like civilized extra-terrestrials," Courtney continued in a slightly huffy voice. "If you don't trust me, I can leave. If you want to hear what I have to say, then don't leave your powers running hot. It's incredibly rude."

"Umm, okay," Michael replied, stepping back and sitting down on an abandoned crate. Courtney smiled slightly and took a chair - the one that Isabel had considered and soundly rejected. Isabel looked at both of them as if considering standing over both of them, and then in frustration scuffed a patch of floor clear with her powers as well as she could, and sat down, her knees bent pointing up in front of her.

"You'll excuse us for being extremely cautious," Michael said slowly, "but the only other aliens here on Earth that we know of are supposed to be enemies. One of them nearly killed Isabel and Tess... well, you remember our discussion about Vanessa Whittaker, don't you Courtney??" He smiled meanly. "I didn't actually get in touch with her stepson, but somehow I suspect that he's never heard of you. I did find out enough on the internet to know that two years ago, he was making the dean's list at Princeton... right about the time that you said he was screwing up his life with drugs."

Courtney smiled widely. "Actually, he damn well better remember me. I *did* spend a fair bit of time with him, trying to find out a few things about Vanessa's plans, and she wasn't pleased when she found me. All the stuff about drugs and jail, I admit I made up." She shot a calculating look over at Isabel.

"And you thought the only other aliens on Earth were Kivar's goons, after Vanessa blasted 'slimeballs'??" She giggled softly. "He didn't tell you there was another shapeshifter protector out there, or... well I guess he might not have known or cared about us."

"Kivar," Isabel said, seizing on the name. "Is he the leader of... of whoever it was overthrew the royalty? Of our enemies??"

"Very good, princess!!" Courtney replied. "Yes, Kivar screwed the royals over just about every way he could... inciting the people to riot where he could, spreading sedition and insubordination among the millitary, even bribing and subverting the king's intimates. He took power in the coup, and calls himself President, but there's precious few trappings of a republic to even pay lip service to. Not many people love Kivar, or even like him, but the cadre he installed is relatively loyal out of gratitude and crude self-interest, and the bastard is canny enough to have outrooted every plot to 'do unto him'."

"Okay, that's enough background detail on him," Michael said. "You said someone didn't know or care about 'us', meaning you and others like you. Just who is 'us'? And were you talking about... about Ed Harding??"

"Among other people," she said. "Ed Harding, Daniel Pierce the second... Ryan Westchester, to name only a few of his more famous aliases. No-one knows his true name, and I resent buying into a lie that he constructed, so 'old Slimeballs' seems to fit his most prominent characteristics."

"Probably good that Tess isn't here to hear you call him that," Isabel muttered.

"And 'us,' well, there's about four or five agents who infiltrated Kivar's mission to earth -- from my faction. Maybe others. Actually, I should say there were four or five when we landed, because I think some of them have been found out and killed. At least one is still alive."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Michael said. "Just what is your faction?? Do you support the old royal line?"

"Not as such." Courtney smiled teasingly. "To put the movement at it's bluntest, Michael, we support you - or at least we did. Whether we still do, depends on if you want to take back a choice you made in another life."

--------

Various locations on the telephone grid.
9:18 am

Sitting on the recroom couch, Max punched his speeddial number one and listened as the connection went through. In Liz's bedroom, the phone rang five times before it roused her sufficiently for an answer.

"Hello??"

"Oh, hey, it's me," Max replied. "Sorry, was this too early to call."

"Umm. Uh, not really," Liz mumbled. "Hi, Max. Sorry, I had a weird dream last night and had a hard time getting back to sleep."

"Aww, I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "Nothing really scary I hope."

"Ummm..." Liz flashed back to the image of Max bleeding in her arms, maybe dying, and resolved to not mention that, and tell a white lie if she had to. "No, not especially. So..."

"Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to make any plans for today," Max continued, a little uncertainly now.

"Hmmm." Liz weighed that. "Have you heard from Michael, by the way??"

"Um, no, actually not. Does that make a difference??"

Liz bit her tongue. Once Michael had talked to Courtney, she rather thought that everything would change, and it might be happening any time, or have happened already. But it was pretty clear that Max didn't want to hear that just at the moment. "No, I was just curious. Not sure if I'm interesting in anything fancy today... I could catch the bus out to your place or something."

"Why wait for the bus? I can run out and pick you up."

"It's no bother, really," she insisted. "Don't have to wait long if I time things right."

"Umm, okay I guess. Any idea when you'll be ready to come out??"

"Probably not for an hour, or a little more than." She yawned. "Yeah, can I go and start getting ready and give you a ring when I'm closer to finished my morning stuff??"

"Sure," he told her, and then heard a trademark double-beep. "Actually, that's Michael, so if you're curious you can stay on the line. It shouldn't take too long."

"Alright," Liz replied, cradling the phone between her head and shoulder, getting out of the bed, and starting to gather some clothes.

Max hit the switch button. "Hello??"

"Hey, Maxwell," Michael replied. "Any luck up at the pod chamber with Lizzie?"

"Um, I'm not really sure," Max replied uncertainly. "I saw something that might be relevant, but it's a little confusing because..."

"Okay, I've stopped caring for now," Michael interrupted him. "Big news on the Courtney front. With the full understanding that it's a total cliche, I think it's fair to say that we've made first contact."

"Ummm..." Max shook his head. "What the heck does that mean, in this situation??"

"It means, hang up the phone and get your ass downtown," Michael replied edgily. "Meet us at Whittaker's office. Oh, and give Isabel a ride too."

"Who's us? I need a little more info here," Max insisted. "Courtney? Did she actually tell you she's friendly??"

"Not to you she's not exactly, but she won't attack you first," Michael said. "She told Isabel and me a bit last night, and she said she'd answer a lot more questions today. She's not on our side, but she's definitely not on our enemies' side either. Call her a weird kind of wild card for now... the sort of third party that always makes politics interesting."

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can," Max assured him. "Is it okay if I invite Liz to come over and join us too? She had some really good ideas for questions to ask Courtney or someone else, once we found an alien that would give us a straight answer." In the back of Max's head, it faintly registered that Liz had almost expected this. He'd have to ask her about that, sometime later.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," Michael replied. "I'll call Tess. Do you want to drag the other human kiddies in too??"

Max considered that just a moment. "They're involved in this now... but I won't press the point with Maria, under the circumstances. Tell Tess to bring Kyle along if he wants to come, and I'll make sure that Alex knows."

"Whatever. Bye, Max." The line clicked off, and Max switched back to Liz.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Liz said, struggling back into the shirt that she had half taken off in preparation for a quick shower. "What's the word??"

"Big meeting confab," Max replied, as quickly as he could without sacrificing comprehension. "Michael, Courtney. Most of the rest of the gang. Whittaker's office. Get there as soon as you can??"

Liz smiled to herself. "Yes, indeed."

"I gotta go get ready myself. Love you, honey."

"Love you too."

************

9:44 am
New Mexico second district congressional office.

Michael was the first of them to arrive. He checked up and down the street casually to make sure that no-one was paying much attention to him, and waved his hand over the deadbolt lock. There was a tiny audible click and when he turned the doorknob, it swung the door open easily. Michael closed the door again, not locking it, once he was through, and found a place to sit down and wait.

It was only about two minutes before the door opened again, and when Michael looked up he saw Courtney standing in the entrance, giving him a reassuring smile. She seemed to be dressed and made up a little more like herself today... not in her waitress uniform of course, which is what he usually saw her in, but in a simple black long-sleeved shirt and calf-length denim skirt. Her hair was down and straight, as per usual.

"No-one else here yet, Mike??" she asked casually, taking a look at the room and hopping up to sit on a filing cabinet across from him.

"Uh, no," he agreed, trying not to show the nervousness he felt about that. Twice, now, Courtney had demonstrated that she could outdo him on alien powers, whether it was on account of natural talent or better training he couldn't tell. But she didn't seem to be at all threatening at the moment, so he did his best to relax. "Max, Isabel, and Liz should be here soon. I called Tess as well."

"Liz," Courtney repeated slowly. "She's not one of you, right?? Just a human girl. Did she find out the secret after that shooting incident in the cafe last year??" She shrugged indifferently at the stunned stare Michael was throwing at her. "Come on, I did due diligence as best I could, especially after Whittaker snagged Liz as her gofer. There wasn't much I could find out about the facts of the incident, but with the educated guess that the Antarian king would still have his healing powers, I was able to add a few things together and come up with about half a working theory."

"Alright, yeah," Michael sighed. "He saved her life... and all of us had an interesting year because of that."

"Hmm, he did??" Courtney repeated. "You're wondering what I meant last night, aren't you?" she guessed confidently after a moment. "About how I was on *your* side specifically, just you... or at least I might be."

Michael considered that a moment, and shrugged as casually as he could manage. "It's crossed my mind, I'll admit. Why me? As near as I can figure it, I wasn't of the royal family by birth like Max or Isabel, or even really royalty by marriage like Tess. I'm the last one anyone would be likely to pick as the leader."

"It wasn't because you were particularly close to the Royal line of power, I admit," she replied. "Way way way back, when trouble was just starting to brew at the Planetary Court, I ended up aligning with a group of moderate republicans who agreed that power an authority should pass from the crown to the people. On the other hand, none of us believed that Kivar was the right man to create the new Government. He was just interested in power for its own sake, using republican ideology as a weapon against the established status quo."

"So we bandied a number of names around, and your name... well, Roth, which was your name back then, came up and gradually emerged as the nearly unanimous consensus. You were an honorable and determined man... still are, as far as I can tell. Not unusually clever or diplomatic, perhaps, but smart enough to assemble the best advisors and subordinates available... and just about everyone but the most extreme hardliners in Kivar's and Xam's camps would have accepted you as a compromise. The whole stupid war could have been headed off, except that y... well, Roth refused to step up to the plate. He deliberately walked over to stand beside the King as a show of loyalty, humiliating us, and so all of our planning came to nothing, for years and decades at least. Kivar launched an all-out attack, bought out one of the princess' servants, and had the four of you killed. The royal supporters had your essence saved and shot over here in new bodies. One by one, the other nearby worlds got dragged into the war, and that's pretty much how things stand now, and everybody's sick of it."

Michael blinked in surprise and shook his head a little. "And so now you're calling me up again? To gently push Max aside, for the greater good??"

Courtney took a deep breath. "Yeah, I am. I think we have another chance. It won't be as easy this time, after Kivar has had so long to consolidate his supporters. On the other hand, I think that there are a lot of people who are just waiting for a chance to break away from him. If you declared for a confederated opposition, they'd see their chance."

"Well, I'll think about it," Michael said dubiously. There was an awkward pause.

"Okay, I have a question," Michael said a moment later. "What's the whole deal with being called 'skins' and the shedding about? I mean... um, well, don't worry if it's a freakishly personal thing that you can't explain or whatever, but--"

Courtney was looking at him with an odd expression on her face. "I'm just going to have to re-evaluate everything that I expected with you, aren't I?" Michael shrugged a little awkwardly. "It's okay. I guess there was really no-one who told you about this stuff, huh? Okay, let's see, where to start. Do you understand about yourself, how you guys were re-engineered as human/Antarian hybrids, so that you could grow up like normal humans, nearly, and blend in??"

"Yeah, yeah, got that part down pat, I think," Michael assured her.

"Okay, well, we couldn't go through that, partly because you have to die, the way you guys did, and nobody wanted that. Also because it was very expensive and took a lot of effort that I won't go into at the moment." She stretched her limbs for a moment before continuing the explanation.

"We've had pretty advanced genetic engineering in our part of the galaxy for centuries now, and the creation of lifeform technologies to protect us from hostile environments is a well established thing. They're called husks... well, that'll pretty much do as a rough translation."

"For this mission to earth, possibly a few others, Kivar had a special kind of husk created, designed to protect us from the kind of crap that human beings see fit to pour into their atmosphere. Also to provide us with a few things that we need to breathe that aren't available here - trace levels of noble gases, and to disguise us as humans. The husk is what you see when you look at me - well, the husk and clothes. The real me is hidden underneath that layer."

"As far as the 'shedding,'" Courtney continued with a sigh, "that's not a usual thing. My husk is dying... all of them are, as far as I can tell. This particular variant is good for about 50 earth years minus a few months, and this batch was grown in the year 1950, while we were enroute to planet Earth, following your ship there. Here, or whatever -- you know what I mean."

Michael thought about that, then shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "But if your husk is dying, then you won't be able to survive here on earth much longer... unless there's some kind of protected air supply you can hide out in." He considered a bit longer. "Guess that means that Kivar's people won't be a danger for long, either."

Courtney was shaking her head. "Not so easy, I'm afraid. The skins in Copper Summit, Arizona, have been preparing a new batch of husks. A perfect copy of each one, based on the original designs, except for anybody that they know has died in the meantime. All of them are heading back home about now, to get a new 'body' that will last them for another fifty years. They've even made one for me, though I'll have to submit to debriefing by their leader before I get anywhere near it, and he'll be trying to find out if I really am a double agent, I'm afraid. Whittaker filed a report incriminating me way back when I was trying to use her stepson to get close to her plans."

"Maybe you'd better start back at the beginning," Max said, as he opened the door further and came in, Isabel close behind him.

"Eavesdropping is incredibly rude, your majesty," Michael pointed out.

Max just shrugged. "I heard a few interesting things when I checked to see if anyone was already inside here. Didn't really want to cut anybody off for a moment there."

Michael sighed. "Max, you know Courtney of course?" Max nodded his head, and Courtney fought off a shrug that she was clearly dying to make, and instead made a tiny waving gesture that could be taken any of several ways.

Awkward silence. "Umm, I'd rather not start repeating stuff until everybody is here, okay Max??" Michael continued. Max looked at him, shrugged slightly, and wen to take a seat himself. "Courtney and I were just chatting idly to fill the time."

"Okay," Max sighed. "Shouldn't be too long now."

***********

10:08 am
Still in Whittaker's office.

Michael stood up. "Okay, I guess we'd better settle this one." He nodded calmly at Max, then turned to face Courtney, who was still lounging on top of the filing cabinet. Liz, Tess, and Alex had arrived by this point too, and Tess had carried the news that Kyle still didn't want to have anything more with 'this alien doo-doo' than he could help. Much of the previous two conversations with Courtney had already been rehashed for the benefit of those who hadn't been there.

"I am not, now or in the immediate future, declaring myself as an alternate candidate for leader of the homeworld," Michael declared in a low, but powerful tone. "At this point, none of us really understand enough to state what position we're taking in alien politics, as opposed to just doing what we need to do to stay alive. When we do make a decision, whether to announce our allegiance to the old royal order, or attempt to work for a coalition of moderate factions, we will make it as a group. Until then..." he looked around, and took a deep breath. "For now, Max is my pick as leader. He's got what it takes, demonstrated repeatedly."

"So, now, the question naturally arises, what's your decision??" He asked Courtney softly. "Are you with us, against us? Or, as a third choice, are you just going to get out of town and leave us all alone?"

She laughed softly. "Well, I kinda need someone to watch my back, and I've burned my bridges with Kivar and his lackeys already." She stood up and made a very vague saluting motion. "So, I'm joining the team, if you'll have me. I'll even follow his Royal Majesty's orders, if I have to." She chuckled dryly at that.

"Thanks," Max replied a little uncertainly. "Why don't you start by telling us a little about the key people in Kivar's organization, here on Earth."

"Well, I only really know about the Copper Summit mission, which I was a part of," Courtney replied, walking over and taking a seat on the sofa next to Tess and Alex. "There were other missions to Earth, using the skins, but I'm not sure where they landed or when. We were the first wave, probably the largest."

"Starting at the front, there's Greer. He's the leader of the Universal Friendship League, which is the name the Skins use for all of their relatively-official correspondence. They thought the name wouldn't raise many alarm bells. Greer's a capable administrator and a mean drill sergeant. His powers generally aren't anything too special... molecular probing, sustained energy projection... but he does have one trick up his sleeve that's pretty rare and annoying. He can create a mental distraction field... makes it hard to remember who or what is where, who your friends are, what you're trying to do. There are ways to fight off the effects of the field... I'll try to show you if we have time.

"The key individual," Courtney continued after a few seconds, "probably won't look too impressive. He's one of Kivar's closest henchman, and he isn't an Antarian like us, but a Breeolyn... from one of the four nearby inhabited worlds. That means that he's a little smaller than most humans or Antarians, and the only design for a Skin that they could get to fit him was for an eleven-year old boy." Somebody let a snicker escape. "It's not really that funny... Nicholas was mean long before he came to Earth, but being trapped in the body of a 'pre-pubescent' for so long has multiplied his bad temper by about eight or nine times. And... well, not sure about you, but *I* would not want him mad at me."

There was a pause as that hung in the air. "Powers??" Tess asked crisply.

"All of the basics, with a lot of energy to put behind any of them. Telekinetics, molecular manipulation, energy expulsion, mindwalking and mindwarping, shields. Also, there's something that he learned directly from Kivar... something that the old king -- your father, Max and Isabel -- declared as forbidden knowledge. I think that was when Kivar first started to plot against the throne.

"Nicholas can touch you, just about anybody I mean, and search through your memories. Ransack your brain, going wherever he pleases. None of the usual mental defenses seem to last for long against this technique. If and when he finds something that he's interested, he can tear it out of your thoughts, so completely that you can hardly remember it yourself, and he knows it in more detail than you were aware of consciously. If one of them does that to the same brain enough times, so they say, it can kill... and I can't think of any death more agonizing. They call it 'the mind rape.'"

Isabel shuddered violently. "Okay, we'll try to steer clear of Nicholas or divert him as best we can," Michael said as confidently as he could. "Who else??"

Courtney sighed loudly. "Umm... the Crawfords are probably still important... supposedly Nicholas' parents -- and Whittaker's." Isabel made a surprised sound. "Yep. Walt Crawford is the league Archivist. Not that much with his powers, but he has a memory like a steel trap. Has probably memorized everything about the Royal Four, just in case it'll help him recognize you guys if you come sniffing around." Courtney thought about that. "Not sure if even *he* could pick up the resemblence, but then I don't know as much about the way you guys used to be as he does."

"Ida Crawford may not look like much either, but don't be fooled. She's one of the best trackers on the mission, and has firepower to match. Nicholas often uses her as a hitwoman -- who would suspect a rather old, portly matron of being involved in wetworks, after all."

"Who else?? There may be personnel changes that I'm not up to speed on, since it's been a long time since I was actually around home base, or you know -- checking in like I was supposed to. Nicholas and Greer will probably have some gaptoothed goons around as enforcers... Willy, James -- maybe David and Cole, or one of them. Be careful; that's all you really need to know, and it's good advice to use with just about anyone in Copper Summit." Courtney let that line hang in their heads for a long moment, apparently figuring that it was as good a capper for her briefing as any.

"Hmmm." Max weighed the info for a moment. "Well, we probably want to limit our exposure to any of them. Right now, with you helping us, we know a fair bit about them and their setup, while we're still a mystery to them, and that's good for us. If any of us tried to go in for recon, we'd probably end up giving away more than we learned."

"On the other hand," Michael pointed out, "this Harvest is a tactical opportunity we're probably not going to get again. If we can manage to pull off a lightning raid while they're all busy with the memorial service... charging in, securing Courtney's husk, and, I dunno, torching the rest of them somehow, the advantage would be enormous. They'd all die when their skins start to fail them." Alex nodded, a fierce gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah, I thought about that," Courtney confirmed. "There's a few cons to the idea that you should hear about before you make a decision. First off, no way are they stupid enough to leave the husks unguarded this close to the harvest... they don't need everyone in town for the funeral after all. Maybe Nicholas himself will be leading the security detail. Secondly, they're not going to die as soon as you'd like -- unless you really want a hundred killer alien agents with nothing to lose to have enough time to put a counterattack plan together."

"And... I don't think they'll all die. Nicholas is paranoid as a lifestyle choice... he'll have another Husk maturing in a secure location, one that we'll never find in time. Maybe more than one. Maybe Greer and a few other key players too, though I'm not sure about. But he'll have a backup plan for himself, at least."

"I think you can do this. Maybe you can even do it intelligently, and live to see the sun come up when it's all over. But there are things you're going to need to learn, and maybe things you're going to have to let go of, before you do. Like the conviction, deep down, that you're only a bunch of regular high school kids who don't matter to the world -- any world. Nicholas and his people in Copper Summit are an army. You're going to have to become one too, albeit a smaller one, if you're ever going to beat them."

"Ummm..." Max sat down. "About that... the point about accepting the reality that we're not high school kids is well taken. It's a luxury that we like to indulge when we can, but I agree that this isn't one of those times." He sighed. "But the 'win at any cost' stuff... does it sound too naive if I say that I'd rather try to work out some compromise with the enemy than fight to destroy them??" He looked over at Courtney, addressing the question to her.

"Not... necessarily," she hedged. "It's a, well, a very 'noble' sentiment in both senses of the word, and not particularly foolish as long as you're realistic enough to realize that it might not be possible." She paused a moment. "And that even to test the waters of diplomacy might mean giving up a tactical advantage." There was a long pause. "This is the sort of hard decision that a good king has to make... about once a week, if not every day, Max."

"Well, what do you think the chances are of compromising with Nicholas and the rest of them, Courtney??" Liz put in. "You know them, certainly a lot better than any of us do, because that's zero aside from your secondhand descriptions."

She took a second to ponder. "Slim to none. Nicholas takes his orders from Kivar, and Kivar is a power-hungry SOB who knows that his best route to staying in control is to have all of you dispatched about as messily as possible. Plus, I think that Nicholas himself has a personal axe to grind against... against who you used to be: Max, Michael, Tess." She only spared Isabel the briefest fleeting glance. "Then again, I'm not exactly unbiased here... I'd love to see the whole lot of them blasted to kingdom come for personal reasons."

"Then, I want to at least look into the possibility of offering a truce," Max decided. "Without giving away any more about us than we can help, or showing a sign of weakness."

"I might be able to help there, on a technical end," Alex suggested. "Route a phone call through Finland or someplace like that, make it virtually impossible to trace. I might even be able to jerry-rig a voice concealment mouthpiece."

Max smiled tiredly. "Good, get on it."

"The rest of us should be training with Courtney, and Tess," Michael suggested. Well, maybe 'suggested' would be too tentative a term. "They know more than we do about using our powers to fight with, and that's something we may well need... just in case the bad guys don't offer a surrender right away."

Max groaned a little, but Liz grabbed his hand and squeezed reassuringly. "Yeah, that makes sense I guess."

Before Alex left to see if a particular small electronic supply store would be opening on Sunday, Liz met up with him just outside the office. "What do you think??" she asked him softly.

"Understand what you said about it being difficult to guide events without anyone realizing it," he whispered back. "Well, what FM said would seem to back Courtney up; peaceful coexistence is out. We'll make the minimum effort necessary, to put Max's conscience at ease, and be very careful about giving anything away."

She nodded slightly. "And everything depends on Tess and Courtney teaching our guys how to fight." She sighed. "A classic case of 'the blonde leading the blind' I suppose."

Alex groaned.

************

Meanwhile, Michael and Courtney had moved from the outer reception area into Whittaker's own office. "Okay, no time to start like the present," he suggested. "Teach me how to do that trick you used to short-circuit me last night, and then show me the counter-move for it."

She stood still in thought for a moment. "Okay, that's a little basic, but it makes sense as a place to start I suppose. Well, to start with, call up some power, and hold it ready for a blaster bolt or whatever you were trying to do then. Just so I can demonstrate something."

Michael shot her a look, then shrugged and brought his right hand up, focusing his powers and pretending he was about to destroy the lamp on Whittaker's desk, (which deserved it most out of everything that he could see,) but holding the bolt back at the last moment.

Courtney smiled. "Okay, yeah, that's right. You've got a lot of power held up in a small part of your body... it's just crammed in there. You should be able to feel it in your other hand, but you're not letting the energy flow though your body, because it would drain away like that. The vibes are radiating through the air. Can you tell what I mean? Can you *feel* it??"

"Ummm, yeah, actually," Michael agreed, nodding. "Makes the hairs on my skin stand on edge, a bit like static electricity."

"Yeah, that's it," Courtney confirmed. "Now let it drain away." Michael took a breath, and shuddered all over as the power flooded his system and slowly ebbed off, lost to nowhere in particular. As Michael shook the odd sensation off, Courtney smiled and deliberately took the exact same pose as Michael had been holding, her legs spread just a little further apart, one slightly in front of the other, her left hand held down near her waist and the other up in a vaguely comical attack posture. But Michael's breath caught as he began to sense Courtney building up a dangerous energy reserve in that hand.

"Okay, try the same thing now," she urged him. "There's no reason that you can't feel the leakage of my energy the same way you could your own... it's just passing through the air."

"Way ahead of you," he said. "I can totally feel it."

"Try getting closer for a moment," she suggested. "Explore the energy field... get to know it as well as you like. That'll make the next step easier." So, feeling a little foolish, Michael moved nearer as Courtney stood as still as a statue, moving his hands around her outstretched arm, feeling the differences in the way the trace of energy was leaking through the air, how it was slightly dimmer close to her forearm, where the power was bound to keep it draining back into her body.

"Okay, I think I've learned all I can for now," he said after nearly two minutes.

"Yeah." She smirked slightly. "Well, if you can leak your own energy, and you can sense mine... send a thread of your energy through the air, and try to interfere with mine."

Michael's jaw dropped. "Just like that??"

"It should be, unless you're not as far along in understanding as I thought you were," she joked. "You can send huge blasts of energy through the air, to move things or destroy them. Try sending just a little bit. Try doing to me the same thing I did to you before."

Michael thought about that, opened up his hand, palm up, and concentrated. After a long moment, he felt as if he could sense... not quite a thread, not that thin or insubstantial, but -- an invisible snake of energy?? Yeah, that would do as an analogy for the time being, he decided. Blind and deaf, the snake crawled through the air with his instructions as its only guide, and nudged at the skin of one of Courtney's fingers. There was a silent BUZZ of feedback that Michael felt all the way down to his toes, but Court didn't lose the power she had built up. So Michael nudged the snake around to her forearm, where she was keeping the energy bound up, and used a fierce lunge to compress the energy much more tightly.

Jackpot! Sparks of blue light exploded from Courtney's hand, and she mumbled under her breath, shaking her hand through the air.

"Not bad, big boy! You'll make it through alien powers kindergarten yet." She snickered a bit to herself as the look of triumph on Michael's face fell instantly. "Well, no, that was overstating it a bit... you're at least in grade one. Okay, now you know how I did it. Got any guesses of your own how to keep me from doing it again??"

Michael thought a long moment, and then smiled eagerly. "Bring it on."

"Okay, make your move," she told him. Michael lifted his right hand up one last time and built a power charge. Courtney nodded, and started to extend her own 'snake' -- much thinner and quicker than Michael's, but essentially serving the same purpose. Michael quickly crafted his defense.

Pong!! The head of the snake butted against an invisible wall, the defensive perimeter that Michael had created with a silent effort of will. Try as it might, it could not get through.

"Very good," Courtney agreed. "Then again, you could have just done this." She took the attack posture herself, but didn't build up any power. Michael frowned, not sure what to do, and just waited... and was caught by surprise as Courtney fired off an energy bolt and shattered a glass duck sitting on the bookcase behind him.

"Building up that much power in one part of your body is a technique of limited usefulness anway," she told him snidely. "Getting in touch with your body and mind, so that you can summon that energy at an instant's notion would be grade two."

"Noted," Michael replied with a sigh. "Can I take a snapple break first, Miss Brooks?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, might as well. Max and Isabel will probably need to play catch-up before they can join the class."

************

2:33 pm.
Whitmans' house.

"Okay," Alex said, showing Max and Courtney the surprising amount of electrical and electronic equipment rigged around the den. "The computer is all cued up to dial a bypass line that will take our signal through five different locations in north americal before patching it through to the number we found in the Arizona listings for the friendship league. Once the call is placed the two of you are going to have to stay perfectly quiet. I'll be using the triphasic voice modulator receiver to talk, and everything that's said on both lines will get played on the speakerphone of that unit over there." He chuckled. "They'll probably notice the slight trace of an echo, but that's not going to lead them anywhere particularly useful." He sighed. "Any last-second notes??"

Max thought a second, and then shook his head. "Take your time and speak confidently," Courtney suggested. "You have a tendency to blurt everything out in a big rush when you get excited... you were kinduv doing it just then." She smiled. "But if you let that get out of hand, it's not going to project the right impression."

"Confident and patient." Alex smiled. "Check." He took a deep breath, nerving himself, and hit the 'Enter' button on his PC. There was a remarkably long string of intermittent touch-tone sounds from the speakerphone and the smaller speaker of the modified receiver that Alex held, and then a brief pause broken only by almost silent clicks, and then finally two rings. "Hello?"

Alex brought the oddly shaped voice modulator near to his face. "This is the Universal Friendship league." It was a statement, but followed by "Correct??" His voice sounded extremely odd on the speakerphone... not just deeper and more resonant than usual, but at least one other thing that Max couldn't put his finger on immediately.

"Who is this??" The voice was a man's, not disguised but held in reserve, giving very little away.

Alex allowed himself to chuckle softly. "Fair enough. Would you be T Greer, the co-ordinator?"

The man on the other end choked, apparently not used to dealing with this kind of insolence. "May I ask what business you have with the league? We are a private organization..."

"I will tell you this once only," Alex cut him off, his tone intense and serious even before the transform. "The Royal Four have selected me to deliver this message. They know that you are plotting to destroy you. Will you lay down your arms and parley honestly to seek a lasting peace?? The alternative is to defend yourselves against their attack, because the once-king will not suffer himself to be hunted as a little rabbit." Courtney raised one eyebrow as the rolling, deadly tones of the threat echoed away.

"You, you..." There was a pause, and Max thought that he could hear a faint spluttering. "Tell the washed-up hasbeen that it matters not if he runs away from his fate or towards it. The royal four are outnumbered and friendless. We will not listen to their threats and cannot agree to a truce in any event. Our own lives would be forfeit."

"I really do not think that the usurper is the one you should be afraid of, Mister Greer," Alex commented softly. "But so be it. Your message will reach the appropriate parties."

"I, I...." Suddenly the line went dead, as if hung up in utter frustration." Alex set his own extension down, and the speaker cut off. "Well, whatcha think old has-been??"

Max shrugged uncomfortably. "You kinduv overdid it on the confrontational side, but it probably doesn't matter. Peace isn't possible." He took a deep breath. "You're right, Courtney. We have to strike first and strike decisively."

She nodded a little and the edged of her mouth turned up tightly. "All right, your majesty. Well, hopefully by the memorial service, you and your friends will be able to take care of yourselves."

TO BE CONTINUED???

Husk funeral 3

Still sunday, October 29th 2000. 3:11 pm.
Crashdown parking lot and Valenti house.

Tess looked around, leaned against the wall of the beauty parlour that formed the north border of the lot, and dialed on her cell phone. It rang once, and twice.

Sitting at his father's computer desk, Kyle pulled out his own cell, suddenly ringing, and answered it. "Hello??"

"Hey. Sorry it took so long to get back to you," Tess replied.

"What the heck is going on down there??" he complained.

"Extra-terrestrial shit," she whispered back. "Just like you said this morning. The less you know about the details, the better, probably."

"And what if I don't want to be kept in the dark?" Kyle blurted, to his own surprise. "It's dangerous??"

"Deeply dangerous, and none of your business," Tess snapped in reply.

"Yeah, well, I've had enough stuff that was none of my business forced on me to be able to butt in this time if I please, and I don't care if that makes sense or not!!"

"Umm... okay then, I suppose. Can I ask if this sudden surge of interest in inhuman politics has to do with our little arrangement?? Because I don't think that was specified as part of the deal, that you'd get all earthboy macho and put yourself in danger trying to protect me."

"Ummm... well, I know that it's not part of the deal, but it's not like everything that's going on between us is stipulated in the oral contract... is it?" Kyle asked, three notches less confrontationally. "I mean, since things started between us, I... it matters to me, what happens to you. That's allowed, isn't it??"

"Yeah, and I care about what happens to you too Kyle," she admitted. "But you can't protect me from this stuff. All that you can do is put yourself in danger. That, well, that's kinda why I want you well away."

"I'm not so sure that's true," Kyle replied after a pause. "I mean, sure, I might not have super-powers like you and all your privileged friends. But last year, Liz and the others, they were able to help out. I can do at least as much."

"Are you sure you're ready for that, Kyle??" Tess' voice was ringing, challenging him. "Maybe you should ask Liz what it was like when she got kidnapped last spring. What it felt like for her, when we were driving back, knowing that Max had been taken prisoner. Ask her about her experience as a getaway driver when they showed up to help us break him out of an air force medical base." She took a deep breath. "Once you've heard about all that, maybe you'll have a notion of what it means to get involved in this stuff, to try to protect me." And, that quickly, she cut the connection, leaving nothing but the dial tone humming, as Kyle blinked and tried to figure out how to absorb her words.

**********

4:38 pm
Forest ravine near town.

Alex followed carefully, making sure that Michael was in sight and he could tell in what direction the young man was going, while hanging back as far as possible otherwise. It seemed pretty clear that Max and Michael were just trying to make him feel better by making him Michael's 'rear guard', but Alex didn't really care. There wasn't too much chance that someone would come up behind along this exact direction, but he knew what to do in that case.

He moved forward a bit more, and paused, realizing that Michael wasn't moving much, but was apparently watching something further ahead, that Alex himself couldn't see. After a few minutes, Michael made a waving motiong, and repeated it several times until Alex suddenly realized that it was meant as a signal to him: Michael wanted, (at least, Alex thought he wanted) Alex himself to come forward and... and rendezvous with him for some kind of consultation??

He pressed on as quickly as he could while remaining relatively silent, and once he was near Michael came back a little to meet him. "Two of them up there. Defending their base camp. The really tough one is probably on the warpath against us, which means Max may have a problem."

Alex nodded slightly, and when Michael led the way, crept along behind until they were at a fairly good vantage point. In a clearing among the trees, a pole had been set up, not too tall, with a pink rag hanging from it. Around the clearing, Isabel and Liz were prowling around restlessly, clearly just waiting for the boys to attack their flag.

Alex hung back a little again, so that they could talk without as much risk of being overheard. "Any ideas??" he asked softly.

"Well, I have to admit, I was kinduv wondering how you felt about being a decoy," Michael admitted. "Make some noise in the trees nearby without showing yourself, try to get Isabel to chase after you. She won't hurt you, and if we can get her to leave Liz alone with the flag..."

Alex thought about that, and smiled. "I'll do my best, captain."

"Alright. Give me two and a half minutes to get ready before starting the diversion." He pointed one way and went the other, so Alex started off, quietly, in the pointed direction, checking his watch.

Two minutes later, he had found the perfect spot... a stretch of rough path that led away from the clearing without connecting to it directly. Whoever went after him would have to crash through some rough branches for a bit... or go around a long way. He waited the rest of the time, and then ran a little ways, doing a deliberate trip and falling as loudly as he could, (though not very painfully, actually... a little bit of rolling with the fall could help a lot with that.) For good measure, he swore under his breath in as deep a voice as he could, trying to sound like Max or Michael.

For one second, two seconds, he waited and listened. Then it became quite clear that TWO people were heading through the trees towards him... both Isabel and Liz?? (They should have known better than to commit both of themselves against a single bogey, but oh well.) On the other hand, as soon as either of them saw Alex, Isabel would see through the diversion and charge right back to the flag. He had to do anything possible to stop that from happening. Alex jumped back up to his feet as quickly as he could and ran down the path like the dogs of hell were the ones chasing him. (Instead of, a sarcastic part of his brain noted dryly, two of the most beautiful girls he'd ever had the good fortune to meet.)

The path was twisty with many tight bends, which helped, as he didn't need to be very far away from the girls to be completely out of their sight, and played it as close as he dared, realizing that the further they chased their mysterious intruder, the more likely the girls would be to worry about the flag that they had left undefended. If Alex stayed relatively close, it would squeeze the odds that they wouldn't give up and go back... or, that if they did, it would be Liz sent to return.

He hadn't expected Isabel to use her powers blindly to slow him down. First it was the tree branches along the path, moving as if they were being pushed by an invisible hand, so that he had to work extra hard to dodge them. (Around this time, he heard a set of footfalls going back down the path towards the flag, but since the trees kept moving, he assumed that it was Isabel who was still chasing him down.)

And then there was a sudden gust of warm air, that nearly sent him flying into an angry tree branch. (Was Courtney teaching them how to manipulate the weather, at least local winds?? That would be useful...) He avoided the tree. but stumbled over a rock and ended up backwards on all fours, crab-style. He had just managed to pull on a branch that wasn't trying to knock him over and get up when Isabel came into view and saw him.

"Damn, a diversion," she muttered. "Which means..." And without any other acknowledgement of his presence, she turned to run back down the path. Alex realized that he probably shouldn't have been expecting small talk in the middle of warplay, and rushed to chase her in turn. He had to try to distract her or slow her down from arriving back at the girls' flag if he could.

She realized that he was following him and spun around, pushing him back softly with a wave of force and waving her hands at him, but obviously she couldn't run away and threaten him that way at the same time... at least, not and make ground quickly. She could use her powers on him, but not to hurt him more than extremely slightly, and since this was on the girls' side of the border, she could tag him on the head or trunk with her hands and force him to let her get away. But if she tried that one, Alex could try to knock her down and dodge away. It was a murky stalemate of a situation.

Iz settled for hurrying down the path as quickly as she could while keeping an 'ear' out for him approaching behind her, and menacing him a little every time he got close. Suddenly a high war cry rang in the nearby woods, and Tess ran down an interesecting path, Max hot on her heels. Isabel smiled fiercely and rushed towards the crosspaths, letting Tess hurry past her and getting in position to tag Max out. "Look out!!" Alex called out, and Max ducked back, shooting a blast of green fire past Tess, letting it impact on a tree in front of her.

Tess yelped in surprise, dropping something blue (which she didn't notice, although Alex did, and he crept slowly closer,) and putting up her hands to keep the tree from falling over. She yelled 'FOUL!' in a clear, carrying voice, and hurried over to the tree. Alex couldn't tell the details, but she seemed to be using her molecular powers on the tree to cover up the scorch mark, and perhaps more importantly, to restore its structural strength.

Alex carefully pushed over a big round rock so that it sat on top of the boys' flag that Tess had dropped. As it happened, the ground in this area was a little muddy, though he couldn't tell what the source of the moisture had been, and the mud took the flag in eagerly.

Max noticed what Alex had done, and tried to dodge Isabel to get to the rock and help defend it, but couldn't because Isabel was still blocking him. However, now a new set of footsteps was coming up the same path that Alex and Isabel had originally come from... Michael? Liz??

Neither, it was Courtney, who as referree, had come to the action to figure out what Tess had yelled 'foul' over. They argued for a bit over whether Max had broke the rule about 'do nothing to attract attention' when he had blasted the tree, and it was a little while before Tess realized that her captured trophy had gone missing.

It was just at that moment that Max managed to dodge past Isabel and reach Alex's side. The two hybrid girls turned to look at them. "Okay, Whitman," Tess muttered darkly. "Where is it?" Her eyes fell on the rock, and there was a spark of suspicion. Whether she remembered Alex pushing it over, noticed that it hadn't been exactly there before, or just thought it might make a likely hiding place wasn't exactly clear, but she had locked on. (For all that Alex knew, she had probed beneath it with alien powers and could already 'see' it there.)

Max and Alex resisted the girls as cleverly as they could, but were overpowered two aliens to one, and caught in enemy territory as well... they knew that neither of them, especially Max, could afford to get tagged out at this point.

Isabel had just managed to pull the blue rag out of the mud and backed away a few steps, when there was rustling in the branches above, and a short but recognizable war cry. With a last ditch effort, Max sent a wave of force to knock Isabel off balance. She wasn't expecting it in that instant, and went sprawling awkwardly, dropping the flag again. At almost the same moment, Michael landed amidst them. Tess leapt to tag him out, but Michael was diving in the opposite direction... and he clapped the stolen pink girl's flag down on top of the fallen blue standard. Tess slapped him solidly on the back about a second later, but the game was essentially over by then, just as Liz ran up to meet them all, asking what was going on.

Tess got up and brushed herself off, as a lot of people who had participated in that final melee were doing. "Status of Max's foul?" she asked Courtney without too much hope.

"Ummm... it's a valid complaint, but a minor one and not worth overruling victory in combat for. Rules don't often mean that much compared to winning the war." She sighed. "I could set up a penalty round... Max competing to wipe his slate clean, and if you win, Tess, you cancel out half of the boys' victory."

Max shot a look over at Liz. "Maybe I'll just take a fixed penalty instead of going for half or everything right now." It seemed clear that he wasn't wild about the notion of going into a grudge match against his 'ex-wife' because of the relationship worms it might let out of the can.

"Tess?" Courtney asked, and Tess nodded ambivalently. "Michael, you're team captain for the boys. You signing off on the fixed penalty?"

Michael thought about it, and clearly decided not to overrule Max. "Yeah, I'm fine with it. We played hard, but I think the girls did well too, especially Tess. We had to bend the rules a bit to win, and I'll take the lumps for it on behalf of the guys."

"Okay then, so noted," Courtney replied. "You guys wanna take a quick break right here?"

There was a quick chorus of agreement, and they broke up into smaller groups. "Hey Michael," Tess asked, "How did you get up into that tree in the first place?"

Michael shrugged. "Pushed myself up, using the ground as a leverage point. How else??"

Isabel went over to Alex. "Well, um, congratulations," she said a little akwardly. "You did pretty well there."

"Yeah, I'm a top-notch decoy," he laughed back. "You did good too... that stuff with the branches and the wind was really effective."

"I'm sorry I had to..."

"Hey, no apologies necessary," Alex insisted. "This was a war game, and actually I'm glad that you weren't handling me with the kid gloves. In a twisted way, it shows respect." Except, a little voice said in the back of Alex's mind, she didn't know it was you when she knocked you down. Probably expected it to be Max or Michael. Alex shook his head and let the statement stand as it was, as a suggestion for Isabel to follow in the future if nothing else.

"I tried to call you or run into you after I got back from Rencona," Isabel told him. Alex nodded absently at that, and smiled as he looked at her. She looked as beatiful as ever, of course - wearing a sleeveless brown halter top, simple blue jeans, and leather boots; her golden hair pinned up in one of those kinda poofy tails behind her head. "In fact, it almost seemed as if you were ducking me."

"I guess I was, kinduv," Alex admitted, and Isabel blinked in surprise to hear him admit it so openly. "I know I have a voice message and a text message from you that I haven't replied to, and I specifically didn't go to the Crash yesterday because I thought it was somewhere that you might go looking for me."

"I did at that," Isabel admitted. "Quarter to six, just when you usually come in from band practice and grab a burger and Frappa fries for supper." She sighed a little regretfully. "So, well, the obvious question I suppose is *why* were you ducking me?"

Alex took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and then froze for a couple seconds. "Just to be clear, are you asking me the obvious question??"

She laughed a little. "Yeah, okay you joker, consider it asked, alright?"

"Well, to be honest I'm not quite sure," Alex admitted. "Things have been so weird between us for a while... ever since you skipped out on your birthday party, actually, though I've heard about the unexpected circumstances there. But after that, you were either avoiding me, or ignoring me, or snapping at me. The night before you left to go up north, you told me all that stuff about being just friends, which, I have to admit, was not what I wanted to hear."

"Okay... and then??" Izzy asked quietly.

"Well, when you were gone, after the first day or two of raging angst, it was like everything suddenly got simpler. No internal struggles about whether I should try to casually come by your locker, and how you would react if I did, because I knew that you wouldn't be there. No wondering about if you would say something to me in AP social studies, because you were absent all week. In a kinda strange way, that was a huge relief. And I guess I didn't want to give up that sense of peace, and figured that I didn't have to, just because you were in the city limits. I'm sorry if this sounds weird and, like, strange geek-logic. But..."

"No, actually, I kind of get it," Isabel replied. "I'm just not used to *you* behaving like that." She let the sentence hang in the air for a moment, wondering if Alex would pick up on the hidden meaning.

Of course, Alex was a pretty bright guy, and he understood right away. "You mean, you've done the same thing to me deliberately??" he asked slowly, watching her face for reactions. "Avoided me, even though on some level you'd rather have come around, just because it made things simple and straightforward?" Isabel nodded, very slightly. "Well, I guess I can understand that a little better now that I did a few days ago." He paused.

"But I'm not really sure," Alex finished softly, "that it really makes sense in the long run for us to keep doing this dance... one chasing and the other running away."

Isabel smiled and shook her head, sighing. "No, when you put it that way, actually, it sounds really stupid."

"Maybe just a little stupid," he amended. "Okay, so what's our next step??"

She smiled. "Well, it kind of sounds like we're both in the middle of some more alien madness, training for a commando raid on a town full of killer Skins. Not exactly the best circumstances for planning a new and bold step in our relationship." Isabel thought about that for a second. "Maybe we just spend what time together we can, without any avoidance tactics or labelling, and worry about figuring out where we are when the dust settles."

"Sure," Alex replied, and impulsively ducked forward and kissed her, quick and sweet.

Isabel blinked, shellshocked, when he left her lips alone after a few seconds. "Ummm, why did you...."

"Well, it was spending time together, and not labelling, and not an avoidance tactic," he quipped. "I'm glad you didn't avoid it either. But mostly, well, with you talking about battle and danger and all that, I realized that if, god forbid, something really bad happened to you in Copper Summit, I'd kick myself if I'd passed up the chance to kiss you right now. So I did." His face got a little more serious. "I hope you don't mind -- I know it was kind of sudden."

"Ummm, actually no, I didn't 'mind' it as such," Isabel stammered, "Not mind so much as matter, if you'll forgive the pun. Kissing you, or *being* kissed by you, always matters, and I'm not sure if that's something I'm ready for, Alex. But..."

"Hey, I think I get it," he replied, though he seemed a little disappointed. "Will try to keep a rein on..."

"Come and get it!!" a voice rang out from about fifteen yards away, interrupting what Alex had been trying to say. Courtney, Michael, and Tess had gone off to somebody's car and brought some food. "You'd better eat up, Isabel," Courtney continued, as the tall hybrid girl turned to face her with an annoyed look. "There'll be another training challenge after dinner."

**********

5:11 pm
DeLuca house.

Maria got up from the chair and paced back and forth a bit. No sign of Liz -- her mother said that she'd left early to meet Max and hadn't been seen since. (No need to wonder about how well Gomez had gone.) Her cell phone was outside of coverage. A similar story about Max, with respect to both parents and cell phone. Even Alex had apparently not been around all day. And even if there was the slightest chance that he would answer, Maria absolutely refused to call Michael... or Tess for that matter.

Had something terrible happened? It seemed unlikely. No, this was just blowback from the breakup... whatever was going on, Michael was in the thick of it, and that was why she hadn't been told. Michael was Max's best friend, and Max was, once again, Liz's soulmate. (Or maybe he'd been her soulmate all along and had only just now become her boyfriend again as well.) And apparently that meant more to Liz than the fact that she'd been friends with Maria... well, just about forever.

An unlikely notion hit her, and Maria went back to the chair and tapped out a different number. (Actually, she started to dial, and then realized that she didn't really know the number and had to go find the West Roswell High student directory before she could finish.)

"Yallo, Valenti house here."

Maria's face quirked in sudden surprise. "Umm, hello, uh, sheriff. I, umm... er, good evening." She hadn't realized that Mister Valenti might pick up the phone, and even after all he'd done to help the group she was still intimidated as hell of the county lawman.

"Oh, hello Maria," he said, still just about as friendly as pie. Somehow that made it worse. "Were you calling for Tess??"

"Umm... no, actually Kyle. Is he about??" Why did you say 'about' instead of 'around?' Maria berated herself. Are you *trying* to sound like an English countess??

"Think so, just a sec." Valenti obviously put down the phone, leaving Maria to wonder if she should have asked if Tess was there, if she could have done that without any actual risk of talking to the girl.

It was nearly a minute before there was a reply on the telephone. "Yeah??" Typical Kyle Valenti eloquence.

"Ummm... I was just wondering if you knew anything about what was going on with the gang," Maria blurted out. "You know, Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel... they, um, they all seem to be off doing something, and..."

"Probably the same craziness that Tess went in about," Kyle said shortly. "Michael called a meeting at Whitsername's office early this morning. Code name boogity-boogity. Whatever it is, Tess is in a huge snit about it."

"Did she mention anything else??" Maria said, hoping that she wasn't sounding obviously pitiful. "Are they still at the congressional office?"

"No, she said something about going off into the woods," Kyle replied vaguely. "No specifics. Anything else I can do you for??"

"Umm, no, I guess that's it Kyle. Thanks very much."

"Ehhh." And with that inexpressive grunt, he hung back up.

Okay, so they were all out in the woods, something to do with very important alien stuff, but she wasn't invited. No easy way to go out there anyway and see what was up, and Michael and Tess were right there in the thick of it. Maybe she should just jump into the Jetta and head the other way.

Yes, that idea suddenly sounded very compelling to her. Tess had probably been talking about Frazier woods or the ravine near the reservation, both on the west side of Roswell. If she just drove east until nightfall, well, that sounded like a promising start at least. What it might lead to if anything, she wasn't sure, but maybe she'd just get that far and see if something else happened next.

When she got to the front door, Maria saw someone heading slowly up the front path towards her house. At least, he HAD been heading up until he saw her coming out, at which point he'd frozen in indecision. It was Nicky... Nicky something, the lead guitarist in Alex's band, which Maria had sung with on several occasions since the Blind Date contest, though she wasn't an official member or anything. Nicky Swade, that was it, or at least it sounded right. She wasn't quite sure how the last part was spelled, but it didn't really matter.

Nicky was more than a little on the tall side, and a little on the cute side too, with short dark hair, rich dark eyes, and apparently dimples when he blushed, because he certainly looked more than a little nervous right now. Dressed casually as always, in a loose black baggy shirt with sleeves just past his elbows, and hanging down well past his hips, falling over khaki cargo shorts.

"Um, hey Nick. Were you coming to see me?" That question hung in the air, and Maria tried to say something to draw him out. "I wouldn't have thought you even knew where I lived." By reflex, Maria looked down to make sure she was ready for company... not too bad for someone who'd been sulking by herself all day. She had her nice light blue sweater on, and a semi-short white skirt. Her hair was loose, and kinduv felt like it was behaving herself, (though she wasn't quite sure how she made that determination.)

"West Rosw... Roswell high phone directory," Nicky blurted out. "Aaah, and a reverse lookup phone directory on the internet. I've been wandering around for... for about forty minutes trying to find the address, and struggling with myself for a few minutes more at that."

"Hmmm, quite a challenging undertaking then," Maria said, pulling the door shut behind her and leaning against the outer door frame. She waved the young man closer, and he took a few tentative steps up the path. "And, now, the eight-hundred dollar question as it were, why did you go to so much trouble to come??"

"Ummm, err, would you believe I was curious if you w-- wanted to go to a movie??" he stammered, voice cracking.

"I don't think there's any cinema in town that has shows on Sunday after 3 in the afternoon," Maria shot back. She felt a little bad about teasing the guy when he was so obviously out of his depth, but there was something a little naughty deep inside her that couldn't resist. (Was she punishing another guy for how Michael had hurt, or was the answer a little less sinister?)

"Umm, coffee then??" Maria couldn't say anything, although her raised eyebrow must have spoke volumes. "Elena Tyler told Marko that you told Stacy Weibler that things were totally over between you and Michael Guerin, Friday at school, and I figured that a forty-eight hour period of respect was all the time I could afford to waste or some other guy might beat me to the punch."

This elicited a dubious snort of laughter from Maria. "I'm not sure that the guys are exactly lining up around the corner to take their shot now that the stupendous news has broke that I'm back on the market, Nicky," she said slowly, shaking her head. "And as far as that goes, forty-eight hours might be nothing nearly like enough. Wouldn't that put me still bang in the middle of the rebound danger zone??"

"I, I'm willing to take my chances," Nicky replied, seeming more confident and composed now, subtly. "You may not be one of the most popular or well-known girls in town, okay, but come on... most teenage boys are idiots. Generally I'm one of them, but at least I can see that you're somebody absolutely amazing. You're beautiful, incredibly talented, spunky yet sensitive, and you have the biggest heart in all of New Mexico on your sleeve, cleverly hidden underneath a layer of tough cookie. As far as I could see, Guerin never came close to treating you right, and I mean to show you what the difference is. If, I mean, you have any sort of interest in finding out."

Maria blinked, shocked by the poetic hyperbole of Nicky's speech, (at least, she found it hard to believe that he actually believed it all.) Still the flattery was nice, and a good antidote to an overdose of Michael Thomas Guerin, taken aurally for over a year.

Suddenly Maria realized that she had come to a decision. "Feel like a road trip, Nicky??"

"Umm, a road what??" he blurted out, and Maria stifled most of a chuckle.

"Road trip," she repeated, enunciating clearly, and stepping forward to ruffle his hair just slightly. "As in car ride. Jump into a Jetta and head east on the interstate until the sun has set. Come on, we can grab that coffee you were talking about at a drive through."

"Umm, yeah, sounds pretty good to me," Nicky replied, still a little dazed. "Y-your car?"

"Actually, my mom's... that just makes it all the more fun," Maria replied.

**********

5:30 pm
Out in the woods.

"Umm, I dunno, what is there?"

Isabel ruffled through the basket. "Umm, bacon, yet more chicken, salami..."

"Bacon sounds good actually," Alex replied, and she tossed him the plastic-wrapped sandwich, which he caught happily, started to unwrap, and then put down to take a a drink from his oversized plastic glass of berry punch.

"You're lucky," Isabel teased him as she walked back over and picked up her bowl of salad. "I can't eat bacon, it's like it goes straight to my butt and never ever leaves."

"Well, now I guess I know why baby's got back," Alex joked straight back. "But if that's true, then I may have to regretfully stay away, because you've got *just* enough meat on your bones down there." He shot a satyrial glance out of the corner of his eyes, and she whacked him on the arm, (not without a certain amount of affection.)

The picnic dinner was quite good... Isabel, Max, and Liz had arranged it just before they came down into the ravine for Courtney's training exercise, and they didn't seem to have forgotten anything... well, nothing that Alex wanted, at least. Fruits and beverages and salads and deserts had been stowed away in old coolers, and pitas, mexican delicacies, and other delights had been arranged in the covered picnic baskets. Right now the seven of them were arranged in two loose groups... Alex and Isabel were sitting together, with Liz not far away. (Alex rather figured that Liz had not wanted to be too close to Max with Tess around, lest she be seen as challenging the other suitor for his affections.) At the other side of the clearing, Michael was close enough to talk to Courtney easily, with Max staking out a position on his other side, and Tess staying near without making it too obvious that she wanted to be around Max. She also seemed to be interested in the newcomer, uncertain what to make of the fact that Courtney was matter-of-factly usurping her position as the most unearthly and experienced alien around.

"So, just what did happen when I was out of town, Alex??" Isabel asked in between bites of her turkey salad, and Alex nearly spewed half-chewed bacon and bread out onto the dirt. (Fortunately, Isabel hadn't actually been looking at him when she asked the question.) "I mean, every time I ask Liz, she seems evasive about something. Did she share her secrets with you??"

This put Alex in a tight situation, obviously. Liz had told him some of the incredible things that had happened to her over the last week, with Max's future self coming back and visiting her, but she had sworn Alex to secrecy over that, not eager to tell Max, or any of the pod squad for that matter, what had happened, and he could understand why. On the other hand, Alex knew he wasn't a particularly convincing liar himself, and Isabel seemed to be getting increasingly perceptive about him lately.

So, he tried the best diversion he could think of. "Umm, I think she just doesn't want to talk much about the whole Michael/Maria thing. It was really hard on her, especially the way things turned out with Courtney." Actually, Alex wasn't sure if anyone had thought to tell Maria that Courtney was definitely, for-sure an alien agent, (with a peculiar political fixation on Michael's past self, yet,) but essentially it was true. "To be honest, I feel kinda guilty for ditching her today, since Michael didn't want her included in this stuff... not that she'd really have wanted to come, with him and C here."

"Hmm, I guess I hadn't really thought about it that way," Isabel admitted. "But, well... to be honest there are more important things going on here than Maria's hurt feelings."

"More important than Michael's feelings, too," Liz put in a little flatly. "Maria's a part of the group, and every time we've let the personal angst get in the way of the entire team working together it's bitten us in the ass. But he insisted on cutting her out."

"Well, I think you can cut him a little slack, Liz," Isabel countered. "It's been, what, two days??"

"Yeah, and looks like he's quickly moving on to the next thing," Liz muttered.

Alex quickly took the opportunity to go up and grab some more food. When Michael realized this, he called over to Liz and Isabel, (little realizing the theoretical possibility that they might actually get into a catfight over him if left to it,) and called them over. "No reason we have to be split into two seperate groups, is there?? Gather around, it'll be time for the sweet treats soon." And he took a bite of his fried chicken, (which Michael insisted on calling just 'bird' because he'd heard somewhere that that was how true fried chicken afficionados talked about it. Alex suspected that true fried chicken afficionados didn't get their 'bird' from the Deep Fry on Louisiana avenue, but he let that one slide.)

"Umm, okay. What now??" Max muttered after Isabel and Liz had 'gathered round,' (and Alex had sat down with some 'bird' of his own,) and there had been a long and awkward silence.

"Umm, well, if nobody minds me asking, what's... what's your planet really like, Courtney??" Tess asked. "Our old home planet, I mean. I have faint memories, but it's hard to tell if they capture the true essence, considering, well, considering how much has happened to this noggin in the meantime." She tapped the side of her head playfully.

Max looked at Liz and Alex, but neither of them raised an objection, and Courtney considered the question. "A little like Roswell, or at least my home is, a hot and dusty desert, with the only growing things near lonely rivers or cultivated through forced irrigation. I suppose Antar is as hard to describe in just one phrase as Earth would be... there are lots of lands, all different, and probably nobody has visited them all."

"Okay, might as well start with the vital statistics. Our sun is a little bit cooler and larger than Sol, which means that it has a strongly orange tint, and that the year is shorter. 343 of our days, but probably more like three-fifteen earth days, because our days don't last quite as long either. The planet is a little bigger and less dense than earth, which means gravity is about the same but we have more surface area. There's also proportionally less ocean, only around sixty-five percent, which might have something to do with why there's so much desert, but over all the planet that isn't desert, the weather can be quite unsettled and energetic. I've been to southern California and seen the pacific ocean, though, and it doesn't seem very different from ours to look at it."

"Four moons, none anywhere near the size of yours, and two of them are really only tiny little asteroids that got caught in the planet's neighborhood, kinda like Phobos and Deimos over at Mars. But our largest moon is a lot nearer in than yours, so it looks nearly as big in our sky, and it's almost matched with how quickly the planet rotates, That means, during the night, the moon might be full not long after sunset, and down to a crescent soon before the sun is about to come up again, but it won't have moved very much in the sky during all that time. It takes nearly seventeen of our days for the sun to rise up in the west, set in the east, and then go around to rise again."

"So that means, that you go, what, eight days without seeing the moon at all?" Isabel asked.

"Well, *that* moon, yeah," Courtney admited. "And eight or nine days of the moon being out all night, including about a night where it's caught in the middle of rising or setting for hours, and a night when it's high in the sky all night. I have to admit, I haven't got quite used to the way your moon keeps zipping around all the time," She laughed softly. "And there's the other moon, the next largest, which is a little further away and just big enough that you can make it out as a disc, instead of a bright little star."

"Umm, what are the cities like?" Michael asked quietly, and Alex didn't pay much attention as he went over to the cooler and grabbed an apple and a package of raspberry mousse for dessert.

Courtney talked about her memories of the alien planet for a bit longer, and then as more people started to grab treats, conversation turned to the next training game. Tess wanted to do some target practice, but Michael wasn't certain about leaving a lot of signs of damage here in the woods, and Max and Isabel didn't really want Liz and Alex to be left out just because they couldn't blast anything by pointing at it.

Eventually, a compromise was reached, a form of laser tag or something like that, with the aliens using their powers at a level only hard enough to sting, and Liz and Alex using water rifles that were found in the trunk of the car that Isabel had borrowed from her mother. The next question was what to do for teams. Sticking with guys versus girls was quickly discounted.

"Well, since Max and Michael won the last one, really, I officially declare them both captains, and decree that they should arm-wrestle to see who picks for teams first," Courtney impulsively announced. "I want to play this time too." The two old friends moved over to a high flat stump, feeling foolish, and neither of them tried too hard. Max ended up winning.

Before he could start to decide on his first pick though, there were footsteps coming through the woods towards them. Michael panicked for a moment, but the intruder, when he arrived, turned out to be none other than Kyle.

"Umm, I just kinda wanted to see what was going on," he muttered, when asked what he was doing. "I actually expected I'd have to drive around on those old dirt roads a while, but it wasn't long before I spotted cars that I recognized. Oooh -- bird!! You guys don't mind, right? Looks like you've eaten pretty well already, and I haven't had dinner tonight." Not waiting for an answer, he picked up the nearly-empty bucket, and then noticed the lemonade jug.

"There's a third water rifle," Alex pointed out. "Wanna play shooting tag, Kyle??"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Husk funeral 4

6:17 pm
Forest ravine again.

"So, any idea what Michael's going to do?" Liz asked quietly.

"He'll split his force up into two teams," Max decided. "That worked pretty well in the flag game, after all. Probably he'll go with Courtney for a bold frontal assault, while Kyle watches Tess' back

"Are you sure you should have chosen to go on the defense??" Isabel asked softly. "There's a lot of woods out here, and if we manage to all miss each other entirely, he wins pretty much by default."

"It's what I'm most comfortable with, all else being equal," Max said softly. "And I'm not sure that a lack of action is going to be the big problem, do you??"

"Leaving as much of our force back close to the target as possible makes sense, though," Alex put in. "The further out anybody patrols, it kinda seems that the less chance they'll actually intercept anyone and do any good."

Max looked at the three of them, his makeshift army. He had chosen basically on the basis of who he was most comfortable with, and hoped that he wouldn't regret it. Michael had more firepower on his side, it seemed.

"Yeah, good enough. But for all four of us to be really close to the target seems a little risky too. We could all get wiped out at once." He thought a moment. "How about Liz and I stick really close, and you guys range out about ninety yards away, in the direction that Michael will probably be coming from, around... there." He gestured off to the north, where the trees were sparse and the underbrush low. "That range, we should be able to hear each other in case something goes wrong."

"Okay." Alex swung his gun up to lean it on his shoulder and smiled at Isabel as they started walking off.

"And *nobody* starts making out," Max insisted, in a soft but intense voice that they'd be sure to hear.

"Aww, shucks," Liz cooed, and as he looked over, she made an exaggerated kissy face at him. Max laughed under his breath and shook his head at her.

"We should have plenty of time for that later."

"I know that," she said softly. "Understand how important this all is. Just trying to lighten the mood a little."

"Yeah, I know you do." Max said, and looked out at the woods around him, wondering when Michael's attack would come. "Come to think of it, you understood before I did how important it was."

"Umm... what do you mean??" She made a confused face.

"Well, you, er, you told Michael that he should keep tracking Courtney down as soon as you heard that she was an alien. This morning, when I asked if you wanted to do something, the first thing you asked was if I had heard from him... it was almost as if you guessed that his news would take over our whole day."

"Uh, well..." Liz struggled to think quickly. "I've been thinking about this stuff a lot lately, yeah, ever since I found that letter in the office that I told you about. Didn't really take much more than thinking a little about it to... to think of those things," she finished lamely.

"No, I suppose not." He smiled a little and took her chin in his fingers, lifting it slightly. "I don't mean to sound rude or offended that you're looking out for me; it just seems a little strange sometimes. We get back together, and all of a sudden you're more interested in my alien heritage and beating the bad guys than I am."

"Can I help it if I just want you to be around for a long, LONG time?" Liz teased with an open smile. Max laughed at that.

"I'd kiss you, but we'd probably get carried away and this really isn't the time," Max replied with a sigh.

"Yeah," Liz breathed, regretting the circumstances too. "We'd better get this game wrapped up early that we have time to go make out somewhere comfortable."

Max smiled, and suddenly there was a soft call from the trees. "Forward scouts to base camp. Forward scouts to base camp?" It was only on the second repetition that Liz recognized Alex's voice.

"Umm, base camp here," Max called back, trying not to be too loud. "Can you read me??"

"Loud and clear, yah," the reply came back. "Mind switching girls for a little bit, captain?"

"Umm... not as such, though I'm a little surprised to hear you requesting it, soldier," Max played along.

"I have my reasons. Okay, Liz??"

"Umm, sure I guess." She gave Max a lazy salute, hefted up the water rifle, and marched off in the direction Alex's voice had been coming from. Isabel came into sight after a little while, walking the other way, and shrugged once she was close enough to see Liz's questioning look. Soon they had passed each other, and Liz saw a shape through the trees. Readied her rifle just in case it was one of the enemy standing still, but of course he was clearly Alex. "So, what's the big deal??" Liz asked him, pacing along a path near where he was standing watch. She felt funny just standing still as a forward guard.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"No, you didn't," she admitted. "And anything that might have happened later was possibly something that should have been headed off anyway. Why did you pawn Izzy off on her brother? It looked like the two of you were getting along pretty well."

"Not too badly, I have to confess," he said, "but there was something that was bugging me, and I realized I should probably ask you about it. Kyle... and Tess. Something seemed oddly vibes between them when he showed up here. Especially right after Michael picked them both for his team. Know anything about it?"

"Umm..." Liz sighed. "Guess maybe I should have mentioned this to you earlier, but it slipped my mind with all the other details. Friday at lunchtime, I kind of saw them in the records room together. Making out, pretty hot and heavy."

"What!!" Liz made a small 'keep it down' gesture. "I'm sorry, Liz," he continued more softly, "I don't care if you were visited by a naked SUPERMODEL girl from the future, this Tess/Kyle thing was still worthy of mention."

"Nice to get a glimpse of where your priorities line up," she wise-cracked. "I already said that I should have told you, and I'm sorry, 'kay?? Can you let that part go now?"

"I suppose." He sighed. "So... doesn't this mean that you and Max can be more open in front of her now?"

"I don't think so, not yet," Liz sighed. "I can't tell how serious she is about him or how much it's affected the wild raging obsession that she probably still has with Max. After all, in FM's timeline, they probably hooked up the same way, since I don't think either of us did anything that would help to push them together. But when Tess found out about us in that history, she was immediate splitsville. Umm, actually, no..." she frowned in concentration. "I think not immediate, though he wasn't really clear about that part. It took a little time, but she left and that's the point. However much I don't like Tess, I really don't want her to go away, at least not until I know I have another plan that'll last through two thousand fifteen."

"And you don't want her to know what you know about she and Kyle for the same reason," Alex guessed. "Because it could be interpreted as relinquishing any claim on Max and letting you have him, so she'd probably overreact by dropping Kyle and crowding Max worse than ever."

"Something like that, yeah," Liz sighed. "I haven't worked it all out yet, but I want to give the whole situation as much time to stablizie without stirring it up as I can. If Tess has enough time with Kyle, without feeling threatened in any way, maybe she'll actually come to love him. When that happens, we might be able to get away with telling her that Max and I are back together. I dunno." She sighed.

"Well, how would you feel about me trying to get Kyle to confide in me about whatever's going on?" Alex asked. "I know that he doesn't necessarily know what's going on in Tess' head, but it's probably better information than we can get anywhere else."

"Umm, okay I guess," Liz said. "Except that if you tell me any of it, you'd kind of be breaking an implicit trust, wouldn't you?"

"I know where my priorities are," he said softly. "And if we manage it right, Kyle will never need to know that you know anything."

"Wait a second," Liz said. "Do you hear something?" She pointed her gun off into the trees.

They had just enough time to start shooting as Michael and Courtney came charging at them, blasting low-intensity power bolts.

----------

6:44 pm.
Out on the open road somewhere.

"Come on, the answer can't be THAT complicated," Nicky insisted. "It's a pretty simple question. 'How did you and Michael meet and get together.'"

"Nothing at all was ever simple when it came to Sp... um, to Guerin and me. Michael, whatever," Maria grumped, frustrated and a little shocked that she had nearly called him 'spaceboy' in front of Nicky. "But if you're sure you want to know anything about it, I can try and give you the Cliff notes." Because she sure as hell wasn't going to breathe the unabridged version... but she didn't say that out loud.

"Sure, okay." he said.

"Well, let's see... We first met through Liz Parker and Max Evans, when they became friends."

"Friends?" Nicky smiled at that.

"What??"

"Oh, just... I don't know what really happened between them, but everyone knows that Kyle Valenti thought Max was trying to steal Liz from him. Liz breaks up with Kyle, Max and Liz go out, Max and Liz avoid each other all late winter and early spring, Max and Liz are suddenly the happiest couple on earth, Max and Liz are nowhere near each other... and the most recent gossip has Max and Liz going out to a concert just a few days ago."

Maria smiled at that. "Yeah, well, all that's true up to a point. But to start with, they *were* friends, pretty much. Each of them liked the other, but they weren't ready to do anything about it, and not just because of Kyle Valenti. Any more heckles from the peanut gallery?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," he assured her. "Go on."

"Umm, let's see. Michael insulted me a few times, he tried to steal my car, ended up smooth-talking me into letting him take it, and take me, off to that little bit of Texas south of New Mexico on some half-baked journey of self-discovery." Maria put more volume into the 'sheesh' than strictly necessary.

"Totally ignores me when we get back, until I guess I pissed him off a little chattering away while we were waiting for Max and Liz to show up somewhere, and kissed me 'to calm me down.' And again with the avoidance after that. The first night of the heatwave, he showed up at the Crashdown when I was cleaning up... this was long before he worked there by the way, and before I knew it, we were making out on the counter. That's when it really started I guess... was months before he'd admit we were in a relationship, but that's just Michael for you." She sighed. "I think I have a notion of something that you might be thinking."

"And what would that be??" Nicky shot back, and drank a bit of his coffee.

"That all of this just proves the point you made back at my place, that Michael was never any good for me, or good enough for me at that. And if you're thinking that, I have to say I find it hard to disagree with you."

Nicky laughed. "i don't really need to rag on Michael at this point. He's a little unusual... but I have a feeling that you saw something pretty unlikely in him too. Frankly, I've gotten past the point of wanting to talk him at all now, whatcha think about that?"

"'Bout damn time!" Maria laughed. "Oooh, um, road sign, let's see. Tatum, New Mexico. Texas state line, ahead in 15 miles. Or... we could turn north or south on local route 18."

"I'm not sure it's such a good idea to cross a state line on our first date," Nicky replied with a laugh. "So, we could stop, turn around, go north, or go south. What's your pick?"

"Well, I don't want to turn around and head back right now," Maria decided. "And there's really nothing much to the north. We could stop in town, explore a little and then head back, in which case we'd be back in Roswell around, hmm..." she peered at the clock on the car radio and did a little mental math. "About Eight-thirty."

"Or...?" Nicky prompted.

"Well, south on local route 18 it's only a half an hour or so to Lovington, and then we can swing back around, west to Maljamar on the 238 and back home to Roswell from there, either along the more direct back roads or taking the corner at Artesia. It'd add at least an hour onto our total trip time, but probably more fun -- if you're up for it!"

Nicky laughed. "Yeah, I'm in for the loop."

"Do you need anything?? There's a truck stop in Tatum that isn't too bad."

"Nah, I'm good," he assured her. "How are we doing on gas? I can chip in for that if you want, by the way."

"Nah, you grabbed the coffees and the food. The tank is still pretty high, and I'll take care of re-filling it before my mom notices that it's down," she insisted.

----------

8:14 pm.
On the road back to town.

"I'm a little surprised that you asked to ride with me, Alex," Kyle mentioned.

"Well, it was a bit crowded in Tess' car on the way up here," Alex mentioned offhandedly. "And, I mean... it's not like there's bad blood between us or anything, right?? At least, there isn't from my side. We just don't know each other that well yet."

"I'm not sure I'd have put that last word in there," Kyle grumped. "But yeah, you seem like a cool guy from what I can tell." He sighed. "So, does this kind of thing happen a lot when... well, when those people are around?"

"Alien war games as such??" Alex smiled. "No, this is the first time, as far as I know. But since I've gotten to know Isabel and the others... let's just say that I've learned to expect the unexpected. Or at least I've learned that I shouldn't be too surprised when the unexpected pops up unexpectedly."

Kyle laughed at that. "Yeah, that sounds like a good strategy." He sighed. "Umm... what, what about Tess? I know that you haven't known her as long as the others, and there's this past lives thing with Max that Liz doesn't like, and maybe as Liz's friend you feel compelled to dislike Tess too..."

Alex tried to stop his smile from getting too big and obvious. "Not so much. The Tess/Max/Liz thing I try to leave between them... let Liz come to me when she's having issues with the situation, but I haven't really gotten involved, and I don't take it out on Tess. On the other hand -- well, she's kinda walled off, and I don't think she really likes me too much. Why do you ask?"

"Umm... you know, just looking to see if you could give me any advice how to live with her without an autopsy of some sort ensuing." Kyle sighed.

Alex recognized a cue. "An autopsy? Are you guys really fighting that badly?"

"Umm, not as such, actually not lately. Still... she's the strangest girl I've ever met I think."

"Hmm." Alex decided not to press it this time. "Well, she kinda had a supremely odd childhood, so not too surprising. Somehow, though, I don't think she's really too different from the rest of us. Give her a little respect and work on the lines of communication, and things may go just fine."

"Thanks, I think." Kyle yawned slightly. "So, what's the sitch with you and Elle Evans?"

"Hmm, oh Isabel?? Umm, we're -- err, I think we're in a no commitment zone until all this Copper Summit stuff gets worked out. But I kissed her this afternoon, and she certainly didn't kick my head off for it or anything. I call that a good sign." He paused a moment. "When we go off to Arizona for this thing, assuming we do... do you plan to come along, Kyle?"

"Well, I don't think I've heard what's involved," Kyle mentioned, "aside from Tess talking about big hairy danger. I think I'd like to help out if there's a place for me though."

"Very briefly, and sparing little of the strangeness, it's a town full of aliens who have probably been sent to Earth to hunt down our friends," Alex replied. "They live inside these organic spacesuits that make them look human, but the spacesuits are about to die, and they're growing a new batch that are almost ready to use. Michael and Max want to go there, steal the suit for Courtney, who's a double-agent, and kill off the rest. While they're putting on a fake funeral for Congresswoman Whittaker, who Isabel killed."

Kyle took a long time to mull that over. "Our congresswoman is dead? Um, wouldn't her disappearance or death have been on the news or something??"

"No body left," Alex rattled off. "Liz has been covering for her. But the bad guys are going to break the news, probably early tomorrow morning."

"Well, as long as I can help as a lookout or something, then I'm in," Kyle said. "Tell Isabel or Liz or whoever if it comes up, alright?"

"Sure," Alex said, and then decided to try a tangential tactic. "You seem very... um, keyed up about things in general, Kyle. Are you... well, tell me if this is out of bounds, but are you seeing someone?"

"Umm... yeah, actually. Rather not say anything more than that at the moment though," Kyle replied. "How did you tell, is it that obvious??"

"Just call it a lucky guess," Alex whispered mysteriously.


"Well, I guess it's one and one for me, after all that," Michael sighed as Tess turned onto the highway. "Didn't really expect Max and his norm patrol to have reflexes that much faster than our, when it counted.

The game of shooting tag had been exciting and bitterly fought, but Max's defenders, though hard pressed at times, had managed to drive back or nullify every attack that Michael's team had sent after them, and therefore had been declared winners after the time set for the wargame had elapsed. Tess and Courtney didn't seem too happy at Michael complaining about his 'one and one' running score... Tess was zero and two, having lost the flag game as well, and Courtney was zero and one, since she'd been refereeing earlier.

"The score doesn't matter until it matters," Courtney said resignedly, "and what really matters is that this time, we were going up against other members of our own team. If you guys learned anything that'll help in Copper Summit, then you're all winners, and I think you did." She sighed. "Even I was able to brush up on the basics a little, and to remind myself that I'm far from unbeatable."

"Mmmrph," Tess mumbled wordlessly, and Courtney shrugged over the seat at Michael.

"One thing I'll say," she told him in a lower voice, "you've got a pretty good sense of aim, Michael. That'll come in handy."

"Yeah. Playing games of life and death with the Special Unit does wonders for that faculty at last," he replied with a bitter laugh.

"The Special Unit? Those FBI guys who were working for Pierce??"

"Umm, yeah, kinda," Michael answered. "How much do you know about them, and from where? Because you were spying on Whittaker, when she was, umm, liasing with Pierce??"

"Yeah, pretty much," Courtney replied. "That was a big part of why she black widowed her way into Washington, I think, to make contact with the alien hunters and cultivate one of them. Both in order to get an idea if Copper Summit or any of the agents on her side was on their radar, and to get access to their data in the hopes of finding, well, you guys. The Royal Four, and their protector or protectors."

"Hmm." Michael thought about that. "I wonder why she never, well, made an obvious move against us until the Special Unit got nullified."

"Making a play too early was never her style," Courtney mentioned. "If you were on Pierce's radar for long, then she was probably watching you, since you happened to be right there in Roswell. But no... she'd never move if she could put it off. Which means she must have had a very good reason to kidnap Tess and play games with Isabel, that night she died."

"Hmmm." Michael thought about that, and wondered if there was something that Isabel wasn't telling them all about that night. "So, you done anything else interesting since you got to Earth??"


"Yeah, that was cool," Isabel agreed. "Liz, I can't believe that you managed to nail Kyle up in that tree!! He looked so surprised that he very nearly fell off. Probably a good thing that he didn't."

"Yeah, that wasn't bad," Liz agreed. "Of course, I was focusing on Kyle so much that I let Tess tag me out ten seconds later." She shot an affectionate look over at her man. "If Max hadn't been able to shield, we'd have lost everything right there."

"I think Courtney and Michael are regretting that they left all other non-offensive alien powers off the table," Max agreed. "But I couldn't have held them off with that trick long if it hadn't been for you guys... and for Alex too. Make sure to thank him for me, if I don't get a chance to, okay?"

"Sure, Max," Liz and Isabel blurted out in total unison, and they looked at each other and laughed.

Max was coming into town by now. "Umm, do you mind if I drop you off first, Isabel?" Max said. "Would like, umm... would like to be able to say goodnight to Liz PROPERLY, at the very least."

"Yeah, I don't think I mind," Isabel agreed. "Or, how about this, you can park at the crash, I'll go in and get a soda and nurse it for as long as I need to, and then we'll both go home when you're good and ready, hmm? Makes more sense than you zigzagging around town, going to our place, then back to the Crash, and then back home."

Max and Liz exchanged a look. "Works for me," Liz giggled, and Max nodded.

So, once Isabel had disappeared inside the dining room, Max asked the inevitable question. "So where do we do this?"

Liz considered. One or both of her parents would be home, on a Sunday evening, and might even poke their heads out onto the balcony if they were wondering what was keeping her so long. She didn't really feel like kissing him in the Jeep here in the parking lot. So she got out and took a few steps towards the Main street curb. "Come on!!"

He wasn't really too surprised to see her leading the way back into the Congressional office. "You know, we're really going to miss not having this place available, after the funeral and everything is settled," he mentioned. "Do you suppose they'll leave it available for whoever wins the by-election??"

"Probably not as such," Liz sighed, "more's the pity. Congressional offices are rented out in the name of individual people, not the government or the parties. The landlord may hold it available to see if the new Rep wants it, especially if he or she is from the same party, because they might pay a premium for the continuity. But the locks will get changed a few days after the funeral, I'm pretty sure."

"Too bad," Max admitted. "Well, we'll have to make the best of it." They were inside now, and Max was daringly unfolding the hide-a-couch tucked into a corner of Whittaker's personal office. "Maybe even her apartment too, at least to see what it's like."

Liz blushed for a second. She had already been inside Vanessa Whittaker's apartment. She had gone there, guessing that it was a logical place for Max's future self to live and sleep while he was visiting this year, and she had been right. The idea of being there with HER Max though, seemed profoundly disjointed somehow. Of kissing him in that same bed...

Max completely missed the true reason for her reaction. "Umm, it was just a stray thought," he said after a moment. "I realize that it's probably not the best thing to do on a couple of levels, but... umm, can we just forget I said it?"

"Probably not," Liz laughed. "but I don't think it matters. Come on, Isabel's waiting." She got down on the bed. "Why don't you give me a little lovin', honey, before we go off to our cold lonely beds."

Max grinned and sat down next to her. "You know, I'd have thought that a line like that would be way over the top. Somehow you can pull it off, Liz my darling." And he proceeded to kiss her quite intently and passionately, his hands wandering over her exposed skin, and making her tingle with passion wherever they went.

----------

8:38 pm.
Valenti house.

By the time Tess got back, after chauffeuring Michael and Courtney to their seperate pads, (and being forced to endure their pathetic attempts to flirt all the way home,) Kyle's car was already parked in the garage. As she got in, Jim was watching a football game in the living room, but Kyle, surprisingly, was not with him. "Hi. Any idea where Buddha boy is?" she asked.

"Umm, he said he had to study for a big trig test coming up this week," the Sheriff replied after a moment, "so I said he could use the desk in my room. I don't think he'd mind if you popped your head in to say hi though."

"Umm, well thanks." She didn't go there right away though... the practice sessions and war games out in the woods had been tiring and sweaty, and Tess first grabbed some clean clothes from the bottom drawer of Kyle's dresser, (she had refused to take over any more of it than that, keeping the rest of her clothes in a suitcase and neartly folded in a simple box,) and ducked into the bathroom to clean up. Rather than take the time for a shower, she'd used a bit of molecular manipulation to encourage the undesirable sunstances from her skin and hair, and quickly dressed again. Toss the dirties into the laundry hamper in her new bedroom, and then she knocked on the door of the master bedroom. "Hello?"

"Uhh, sure, come in," came a distracted voice.

Pausing a moment, she did so, pulling the door to behind her and leaning back against the doorframe. "Just wanted to tell you, you did pretty good out there. Too bad Max has the shield or we'd have completely kicked their asses."

Kyle put down a pencil, turned around, and for an instant smiled, his eyes widening. Tess wondered exactly what kind of a picture she presented... her hair as good as freshly washed, hanging down loose and just slightly curly. The clothes she'd grabbed were a white cut-off T-shirt and denim shorts... not extremely short, but a few inches shy of the knee and definitely on the tight side. Nothing else. Sexy clothes, not co-incidentally. After a moment, though, Kyle shook off his first hormonal reaction and nodded at her resignedly, his face showing a distinct lack of warmth.

"For the record..." She strode in and sat as decorously as she could on Jim's bed, wrapping her arms around her knees and thus pretty much covering up all the good bits behind less interesting parts of her body. "I was a little upset to see you out there today, and I shouldn't have been. I'm still not wild about the idea of you risking your neck, personally, but I don't have a say in it. That's your decision to make, for whatever reasons you please. And I'm sorry if I was rude to you on the phone earlier."

Kyle thought about that for a moment, and then his icy demeanour softened somewhat. "Do you mean that??" he said, and Tess took a moment, and then nodded. "Well, then, you should know that Alex told me about what you guys are planning on doing in Arizona, and asked if I wanted to come along. I told him that I'd be glad to, as long as there was some way that I could help. I think Liz will be coming too."

Tess paused at that news, trying to keep her reaction under control. "Well... as I said, that's your decision. And I can't deny that you'd probably be good company on the drive." He smiled slightly. "I guess what it comes down to is that I don't want to stay mad at you, or have you mad at me. I can think of better ways of spending that energy between us."

"Oh, really?" Kyle smirked a little. "As in, you're jonesing for a little more 'attending to'?" He laughed softly.

"Umm... that wasn't precisely what I mean, but I can't deny that it'd be nice." She sighed. "Too bad that your dad is around. We can't do anything here, and we can't sneak off to the love nest or go parking without getting him curious. Since I've been gone all afternoon, and you've been out for quite a few hours too I think."

"Well, we can't do EVERYTHING here," Kyle corrected. "But I think I have a few things to show you that we'll probably get away with, if you can just keep from making any noise. Up for it??" He stood up, made a quick pile of his schoolbooks like he often did when taking a break from studying, and grinned the invitation. Tess quickly lost the struggle against hormones and curiosity, teaming up together to defeat common sense.

"Just how far are you thinking of going?" she whispered almost silently before opening the door to cross back into the other bedroom.

Kyle didn't say anything at first, just reached one hand around her to the front of her shirt, cupping one of her proud orbs, and tweaking the nubbin in that way that always made her melt. Tess' knees buckled. "Just wait and see."

---------

Monday morning, 5:43 am
Parker apartment.

Liz found that from the first time she opened a bleary eye at her alarm clock and realized it was getting close to six in the morning, she couldn't stay in her comfy bed no matter how much a part of her wanted to. Quickly she washed herself up a little with a cloth and a sink full of warm water, grabbed a bowlful of crunchy granola oat cereal and milk, and settled down in front of the television in her pajamas, keeping the sound low to not disturb her parents, and flipping back and forth between all the local newscasts that she could find.

It was a few minutes to six when she first found it, on a cable news station that was based someplace in Arizona. The driver of car that had apparently left the highway and collided with a large boulder had been identified as one Vanessa Crawford Whittaker, Arizona native and sophomore congresswoman for the second district of New Mexico. Details were unclear at this point as to why Whittaker had been in this area, or why she had been driving alone, although the site of the accident was close to her home town of Copper Summit. Cable Pulse 28 promised to give Liz further details as they became availa--BEE-BEEP!! BEE-BEEP! BEE-BE...

Liz rushed back into her room to turn her alarm clock off before it woke her mother up.

For a little while, there was no more information. Liz caught a brief mention of the accident from Albuquerque, giving even less information than Arizona 28 had. Frustrated, Liz flipped back to Arizona 28 and stuck there for nearly 20 minutes, at which point they returned to the story, not with any new details, but a repetition of the report of the basic circumstances, along with some background information on Whittaker that must have been gathered hastily... Liz had done her own share of web research into that woman's past over the past week or two, and kept recognizing phrases that the anchor was reading. They also mentioned that Whittaker had been the only member of the judiciary congressional subcommittee on crime and Internal Security to vote against the disbanding of the discredited 'alien hunter' unit of the FBI, and that she had been accused of "witch hunting" herself after insisting that a Roswell teenager be arrested in connection with strange bones found out in the desert near town. Liz shook her head, hating that these details were being dragged out again, knowing that they could lead any number of people back to the Pod Squad, or at least give an idea of where to look to find out some interesting things.

It was quarter to seven before Liz found the incident recounted on a third TV channel, and she called Max up right away. "It's started," she told him as soon as he picked up the phone, without identifying herself or even letting Max say a word.

"Umm... huh? Liz, is that you? What's started??"

"The coverup," she explained tersely. "Whittaker was 'found' dead in her car not quite two hours ago. The friendship league has already announced their memorial service."

It took a few seconds, but when Max next spoke he sounded considerably more awake and coherent. "Pretty much what we expected, right? What time will the funeral be?"

"I haven't heard a reference to that yet," Liz explained. "Maybe I should run over to her office and see if there are any messages yet, or if someone will call before school starts." She frowned a little. "I don't even really like leaving the phone to ring all day while we're in classes. Maybe Courtney would be able to cover for me... if that wouldn't look too funny--"

"Liz, honey?" Max's voice cut her off gently in mid-ramble. "Maybe you should slow down for a second. How long have you been up and watching the news for anyway?"

"Umm, about an hour, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep," she said, at least half truthfully. "And as much as I hate to say it, any given minute may be critical here."

"Okay, if you want to go over to the office, go ahead," he said with a soft sigh. "Who am I to stop you? I can get over there too and give you a hand if you like."

"Umm, sure," Liz replied, smiling at the thought. "I kinda need to get dressed first, and you should probably shower and grab something to eat, yourself."

"Got it. Love you, sweetie." He made a soft affectionate noise, not quite a kissy or a hum, into the phone.

"Love you right back," she vowed, and rushed off to find clothes.

----------

8:28 am
Second New Mexico congressional office.

"Hey, what's the big?" Michael asked as he strode through the door.

"Whittaker's dead," Courtney shot back with a bit of a smile.

"Umm, that's very old news," he replied after a moment's thought.

"As in, the rest of the world now knows she's dead," Max filled in from behind a desk. "The alien coverup has begun, which means that we finally have some information to begin planning a strategy off of."

Michael smiled and took a seat. "Okay, so what are the facts then?"

"The Universal Friendship league has announced that it'll hold the memorial service at their headquarters building, three o'clock tomorrow afternoon," Courtney rhymed off. "Probably they're trying to get the issue settled and the honorable congresswoman buried - or 'cremated' more likely, as soon as possible before anything might complicate things."

"Courtney's volunteered to stand in at the office while we go to classes today," Max explained. "People have already started calling." He indicated the inner office, where Liz was just thanking yet another prominent constituent for their sympathies. "There's not much else to do today, aside from getting ready."

"You should catch some shuteye this afternoon, big boy, since you've got that nice big apartment with no parents to ask questions," Courtney put in. "Maybe even invite a few of the others to have a sleepover in your living room. It's a long drive to Copper Summit, and we'll all have to head out in the middle of the night to make it there two hours before the festivities start."

Michael sat still for a few seconds, thinking, and then nodded slightly. "Why two hours, particularly?"

"I kinda came up with it out of left field," Courtney admitted. "But I wanted to have plenty of time before the funeral started, for scouting out the premises, on-site tactical planning and such."

"Good enough," Michael agreed. "So when do we roll out??"

"One-thirty or two in the morning," Max filled in. "It's a ten-hour drive, not counting traffic or rest breaks."

Michael nodded. "Next question, how many cars and who goes with whom??"

Max thought about that one for a second, and shrugged. "Courtney, any thoughts?"

She was already weighing the question. "If we were going to be splitting up when we left Copper Summit, then obviously more cars, three or even four, would make sense, but we're not. We're planning to beeline it straight back to Roswell, planning that Nicholas will think it's a feint or a trap and not come
after us right away."

She sighed. "So I'd tend to say just two cars, though I'm not sure exactly why." She took a moment and then suggested a justification: "Fewer targets to defend, more firepower per target that we present. As far as seating assignments, not sure that I care very much." She definitely shot a meaningful look at Michael though, perhaps wondering if he'd ask to ride with her.

"Team assignments from yesterday evening?" Michael suggested. "Assuming that we have all the same people?"

Max thought about that for a second. He felt comfortable with all the people who'd been on his side in the shooting tag wargame... possibly too comfortable. It would be better, maybe, to stay in touch with the more extreme, less conservative members of the group. On the other hand, he didn't really want to be stuck on such a long drive with Tess, both ways. So... "No, how about the four of us," he waved to include Liz in that, as well as Michael and Courtney, "in the jeep, and Tess takes Isabel and any of the other guys who want to come. Sound alright?"

"Yeah, that works for me," Courtney affirmed, and Michael nodded his agreement.

"Well, we'd probably better be heading to classes," Michael said, getting up. "No practice this afternoon, Court?"

"Don't think so," she agreed. "You all did really well yesterday, and we can drill strategy on the road. Meet up here this afternoon, though?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Max agreed. "Liz?" She had gotten off the phone and was now standing in the doorway.

"There are a bunch of people really upset with the League co-opting the funeral to Arizona," she said with a worried look. "Saying that since her work was here, she should have had a funeral here in New Mexico, even a state affair. I wasn't sure whether to try to calm them down or not... if some of the weirdness about Copper Summit becomes public knowledge, that could be bad for us."

"On the other hand, a little public outrage surrounding the memorial service could make it easier for us to do what we're planning," Michael put in.

"I'm not sure I like the thought of goading helpless human protesters into annoying killer aliens," Max said. "Try not to rile them up while we're at school, Courtney."

She smiled enigmatically. "Aye-aye, your majesty."

Max tried to ignore the unsettled feeling in his stomach as the three of them headed out to the Jeep.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part Five

Monday morning, 9:50am
West Roswell High

"Maria!" Liz ran to catch up with her friend as Maria made her way out of English Lit. "I'm sorry for, well, for kind of blowing you off last night. There was, um, well, it was kind of..."

By this time Maria had led the way into an empty stairwell that led out to the hockey field. "I got the cliff notes from Valenti. Big danger, some new crisis, and Michael was in the middle of it, and he wanted to cut me off because he's still mad at me. Oh, and I saw the news reports about the Congresswoman - is that connected somehow?"

"Umm, yeah." Liz sighed. "Okay, let's see. Courtney is an alien, one of the ones who came in the same mission as Whittaker, bu she doesn't work for the same people. Not quite on Max and co's team, at least she wasn't to start with, but she's teamed up with them against the common enemy."

"Hmm." Maria walked out across the field, digesting this info, and Liz did her best to stay caught up. "So... was Michael really being straight with me? About Courtney, only investigating her on a professional level?"

Liz hated to say this, but she owed Maria the truth, or as close to it as she had available. "I'm not really sure. They've been acting pretty interested in each other while planning the big assault. My intuition, and that's all it is: there's more between them than alien tactical techniques."

Maria's face fell, but not quite as much as Liz had expected. "All right. On a more positive note, *I* actually met someone yesterday. Well, not actually met because I already kinda knew who he was, but was asked out by someone who I wouldn't have thought of as a... a potential whatever, you know?"

"You... you were?" Liz exclaimed. "Umm... do you like him? Who is he, would I know him?? How did all this..."

"He's the lead guitarist in Alex's band," Maria filled in. "Nicky Swaid. He was at the blind date concert, though you were kinda busy when you finally showed up there, and at Alex's birthday party last summ..."

"Nicky," Liz repeated, smiling with recognition. "Yeah, of course I remember him. Nice dimples, and lead guitar equals considerable mojo. I actually thought about seeing if he wanted my phone number, during that whole post-Message crazy period, but decided it wouldn't be a good idea. What do you think of him -- any sparks?"

"Well, a few," she said. "It was a little awkward, probably because I'm still recovering from the whole Michael thing. But we went for a long drive yesterday evening, and had a nice time. I really do like him, Liz."

Liz smiled. "A drive? Where'd you go??"

"Oh, around the Lovington loop, y'know. Going back via the local streets, instead of through Artesia."

Liz took a moment to recognize the reference. Maria had taken her on a kind of 'loop' that passed through the town of Lovington the summer before last, a few weeks before they learned Max's secret, but... "That's, what, a four and a half hour drive, round trip?!"

Maria grinned. "Yeah, a nice little road trip for a first date. And he kissed me when I dropped him off. Sweet, tender, and definite potential."

"Umm... who was that, if you don't mind me asking?" The girls whirled around. They'd been standing at the far end of the hockey field, talking underneath the trees, and apparently both of them had gotten so absorbed in the gossip as to not notice Alex approach. Liz kicked herself once, mentally. What if it hadn't been Alex, and what if the conversation had been a little more sensitive at this point? She had to be more aware of what was going on around her.

Maria hadn't answered Alex's query, so Liz shot her a sidelong look, and Maria shrugged and then nodded. "Your friend Nicky from the band has apparently made a move on our little sweetheart 'Ria."

"Oh... huh," Alex said, blinking. "And he has 'potential' huh?? Well, here's wishing the best for both of you. Now, do you want to come along with the gang on our latest caper?"

"Umm..." Maria seemed a little at loss for having been put on the spot. "Are you trying to do an end run around Michael, Alex??"

"Michael's not in charge, Max is," Alex insisted. "Michael even told Courtney so. And it wasn't fair of him to cut you out unilaterally like that. All for one, one for all, the whole deal."

"Well thanks, I appreciate the sentiment," Maria said. "On the other hand, I don't really want to come along just to prove a point, in fact I think I'd just as soon stay out of their way for as long as I can..."

"Okay, how about this," Liz put in. "I've been thinking that we really should have someone staying back here in Roswell anyway. To watch the news for any important developments, and serve as home base to relay messages in case we get split up and can't contact each other directly. Check on the messages at the office and so on. It shouldn't be too hard... are you in?"

"It sounds a bit like make-work," Maria admitted, "but yeah. You've got yerself a secretary."

"So, Nicky swooped in, huh?" Alex said, changing the subject back. "Wouldn't have expected such a daring move from him, I have to admit..."

----------

West Roswell High
11:06 am

Isabel grabbed Alex on his way out of third-period... literally, she took his arm and steered him in the opposite direction from the cafeteria and the social studies wing, which was the way most of the others leaving that class were headed. "Umm... hello, huh?" he mumbled, hitting himself mentally for ineloquence.

"Just come with me, Alex," she said softly and insistently, and shot a timid smile over in his direction. She guided him up the stairs to the hallway between the teacher's lounge and the upper-classes math room, drew him inside the seldom-used utility closet, closed the door, and kissed him quite emphatically.

"Okay, ummm..." Alex smiled in the darkness once they had finally let each other up for air. "Would it sound like a terribly stupid question if I asked whether there was a back story that I don't know?"

Isabel smiled a huge smile, one of her hands still on Alex's forearm, rubbing it through the red shirt he was wearing today. "Actually, to me it seems like a terribly perceptive question, because yeah, there pretty much is a back story, though not an extremely intricate one. Should I try to tell it?"

Alex smiled. "Yeah, why don't you?"

She let two of her fingers graze teasingly over his right jawline and the underside of his chin for a moment before dropping them back away and starting to speak. "Well, last night, after Max and Liz kind of d... no, I shouldn't say ditched, because they were nice about it, and I kind of volunteered to kill time at the Crash until they were ready. But they'd clearly gone off to make out before saying goodnight, and I was feeling a little jealous and realized that I wished you hadn't gone with Kyle, that you were around. So, I told myself to hold onto those feelings and act on them when I could meet up with you at school today. And I guess I just did. You're not..." she let a string of soft giggles escape. "You're not sorry that I acted, are you??"

Alex had to laugh at that too. "No, I'm not, though it does seem like I've seen this pattern play out before. And is it alright if I asked what happened to 'matter over mind'??"

Iz shrugged, a little awkward. "Well, I'm starting to think that it's a good thing if we matter to each other. Isn't it??"

Alex considered that for a moment. "It is, if we're ready to come to terms with actually having an emotionally mature relationship, but I thought that was completely off the table until after Arizona." Isabel's face dropped a little in disappointment, that was clearly obvious even in the dim light. "Of course, you're free to change your mind about that one if you want to." Alex chuckled softly. "Or, if we stay in the commitment-free zone, I feel it's a good time to tell you that I don't really have any kind of problem with making out in the Zone, if you don't."

Isabel laughed out loud. "Okay, now that you mention, try this one on for size." She stepped forward and kissed him again, softly on the lips, with one of her hands running fingers through the short hair where the back of Alex's head met the back of his neck, and her other hand bracing flat against his back. Once her hands were in position, Isabel's lips left Alex's, kissed their way across his chin, and down across his neck, searching out a particular sensitive spot. The top two buttons of his shirt were already undone, (the first out of habit, the second by Isabel when they had been kissing earlier,) so nothing obstructed her search, and when she hit the sweet spot, a deep, low, sustained moan of pleasure from deep in the young man's torso told her so. Grinning wickedly to herself, Isabel redoubled her attack on the sensitive point, licking Alex's skin right there, and then gently sucking on it. Alex had to try hard to control himself to the point where his exclamations of satisfaction and craving for more would not be loud enough to be heard outside the closet.

After many minutes that seemed to fly by terribly quickly, Alex dragged himself out of a hormonal stupor and pulled Isabel gently by her shoulders away from her delicious assault. (She nipped at the pulse point once as he was trying to 'persuade' her away, and Alex's knees buckled so hard he nearly went sprawling.) "This isn't quite fair," he said softly. "You like to be in the driver's seat, you like to be the giver because it's safer than opening yourself up to be vulnerable, it's less of a risk than being on the receiving end."

She winked teasingly at him. "So?"

"So I have something that I want to show you, if you're up for it, huh?" Isabel paused, and nodded once, willing to go ahead with this out of curiosity, and a sneaking suspicion that Alex might draw the session to a quick close if she didn't let him have his way on this. He smiled, brushed several locks of hair away from the left side of her face, and leaned over to softly kiss her earlobe. He didn't linger on it as she had, he kissed it gently and slowly, then nuzzled the earlobe with his nose, and teased it once again with his lips, barely brushing the sensitive skin, and then moved on. "Mind if I give you a hand with this?" he asked, holding the collar of her overblouse in her hands. It was a redundant fashion statement, at least, here inside the school building - she'd grabbed the shirt this morning because there had been a slightly cool wind outside and because it co-ordinated well with the rest of her outfit. She hadn't even been wearing it buttoned up since halfway through first period... the tank top that was underneath covered up all the essentials, and this was quite obvious on a first glance. So she nodded, and helped him slide the white cotton-linen fabrid down off of her arms and away, putting it carefully away on the one shelf that somehow managed to comepletely avoid being dusty or grimy.

Alex hadn't even taken his eyes off Isabel's face as far as she could tell, during the whole operation. (Or at least her head, if she'd been facing mostly away from him for a moment.) Now he smiled, and turned her attention to a small piece of the smooth skin that was now exposed, on her left shoulder, near the top of the shoulder ball joint, just a few inches from where her upper arm started. Again he kissed his chosen spot, and licked her skin ever so delicately, and blew on it slightly, and moved on. Isabel started to feel something strange and subtly arousing, but she couldn't put her finger on the exact nature of it.

He moved on in this way, singling out a bit of her left forearm, and the tip of her left middle finger, and bit by bit what was happening started to hit Isabel. Each of the spots that he had kissed seemed to be connected to the others, as if with a live electrical circuit running through her nerves and her veins. Enough energy was buzzing through her that Isabel was starting to feel light-headed, (especially since the ear 'site' was connected to her head,) and it was completely blowing her mind that Alex was making her feel like this even when he wasn't actually touching her.

How did he know to do this?? It was like nothing she'd ever read about in Cosmo or those slightly race teen romance books or... it was like nothing she'd ever heard of! Period!! Well, except...

Alex circled around her, looking for a new spot to bring into his circuit, his eyes calmly considering every inch of skin that was currently exposed, and not even glancing at the rest, (which was really some territory that was worth thinking about, she couldn't help but feel.) Isabel gasped loudly as his lips touched her skin again, on her back, just about an inch to the left of her right shoulder blade. Coming into circuit with her left shoulder, arm, and ear, the delightful energy was running through her upper chest, making her throat tighten slightly, and her breathing speed up. The only thing she had ever heard of that was anything like this were things that Liz and Max had said about when they finally got back together last spring, when he'd actually been able to make her skin physically glow. That kind of passionate cliche made literal had always been something Isabel had thought beyond her... Max had Liz, and she seemed more in tune with his alien nature than anyone else could be... maybe because he had saved her life.

Meanwhile, Alex was repeating the same trick, over and over again, behind her upper right arm, on the back of her right arm just next to the thin webbing of skin between her thumb and first finger, and then where her right jawline met her neck. That was when she decided it was too much for her, the energy was buzzing all about her arms and upper body, and she grabbed the sides of Alex's face and guided those lips into hers. That final contact was like a detonation of all of the body energy that Alex had set going within her body, an orgasmic explosion of pleasure and feeling, centering around her lips and face, instead of.. well, of where orgasms usually explode. The shock ripples of pleasure were still enough to make her collapse heavily, and she fell into Alex; they both sprawled onto the dirty floor of the closet with huge smiles on their faces.

"How in all the worlds did you know how to do that??" she asked him a moment later, once her mouth had recovered enough to form words.

"Umm... to be honest, I'm not sure," Alex said. "I'm not quite sure what it was like for you... couldn't really tell you, at the moment, what it was like for me. But I'm gathering you're satisfied with the results."

"Umm, I think so," Isabel told him. "But, are you saying that that was just something that popped into your head out of the clear blue? An intuition, not connected with a make-out technique you've ever heard about before??"

"I guess so," he admitted. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm not sure," Isabel told him. "Well, frankly, I think this is about as far as we can go and stay in the zone. You want to go grab something quick for lunch?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Alex smiled a little awkwardly. "May need to stop off at the little boy's room first."

"Oh, erm, alright." Isabel tried as hard as she could to NOT wonder what Alex might have to do in the bathroom, immediately after a scene like that. She didn't entirely succeed.

----------

Congressional office
3:34 pm

The key players were quick to arrive at Whittaker's office after school let out: Michael, Max, Liz, Isabel, Tess, and Kyle. Alex had told Isabel that he wanted to look up something in the town library, and Maria had plans to meet Nicky for a walk.

"I did do something that I hope you won't consider stupid," Courtney opened the conversation without preamble, as soon as she saw that Max was present. "A few of the people who called, who said they were going to be calling the League in Copper Summit and probably going to the memorial service there... I managed to mention that Whittaker had a younger brother. It seemed to me that if a bunch of outsiders passed on his condolences to him through the League, that they might decide Nicholas should be in evidence for the funeral ceremony itself, instead of guarding the husks. And that would be a good thing for us."

Max weighed that a moment. "Yeah, sounds pretty smart at that. Not a bad call, Courtney." He nodded, ever so politely at her.

"So, what's up for today, aside from getting our rest and all that?" Tess pushed. "A little more studying up on useful combat techniques with 'the power'??"

"Oh, my god!!" Courtney exclaimed suddenly. Just as quickly, everyone else was staring at her. "Sorry, just... just, the way you put that, it jogged a memory of something I really should have thought of yesterday. Can't believe I didn't even mention the foursquare formation."

Everyone reacted to those last words, well, except for Kyle, who only looked around blankly, wondering what everyone else was so excited about. "What... what do you mean by that?" Michael asked finally, slowly and carefully.

"It... it's an ancient Antarian battle maneuver, mostly defensive in nature," Courtney replied. "The 'square' part is kind of more figurative than literal - it generally works out more like a four diamond than anything else. One out front, one behind, a couple paces aware from each other. The other two in between, one to each side, close enough to touch. The four participants are each looking in a different direction, so the formation can't be attacked from the flank or rear as such, but that only scratches the surface of each function."

Courtney frowned to herself, gathering her thoughts, and strated again. "Okay, first you need four people to make up the formation... normally Antarians, though a few people from other species have learned to participate in one. Very strong mental powers, and a resonance between the energy balances of all four participants are required. The strength of all four is combined, and multiplied together, in a dramtic way that's not quite like anything else. Also, each member becomes linked to the others, so that they can see and hear everything that's happening. The foursquare can withstand incredible punishment without taking damage, if the resonance behind it is true... it can also be used to drive home an attack decisively in some circumstances."

"I've only taken part in a foursquare once, long ago, and it wasn't exactly a successful one. My training was more in the way of offensive tactics, and I never found three other people with whom I had that energy compatibility particularly well. But you... well, the Royal four, back home, were famous for it. It's why you as a group caught the attention of the public, even before the old king died and the unrest started. You did exhibitions of it while you were still in your teens!! I saw one, once, and it was phenomenal. You may not remember any of the how, which is a crying shame at this point, but your energy signatures should have retained that common frequency. It's part of why you were chosen for this thing."

Courtney's audience shared a crowd of meaningful glances. "Whatever you can remember, whatever you can tell us of the how, would be good," Tess said softly. "You're right... considering the odds we're up against at this point, this would be an advantage we can't ignore."

"Does Nicholas have anybody there in Copper Summit who's good at the foursquare?" Isabel asked.

"Umm.. er, one team that I know of, possibly a few others. He doesn't do it himself that I know of..."

"Nicholas doesn't play well with others?" Kyle interjected.

"Well, yeah, that too. But Nicholas isn't Antarian, and it doesn't fit in with how his people have developed their mental powers. He could probably participate if he wanted to, but not lead a foursquare, and he could never abide taking a supporting role. You know, come to think of it, I think Greer, Walt Crawford, and some of the other League officials have done a mean foursquare. Something to watch out for, if you see them."

"Okay," Max nodded. "We'll cover that as well as we can. Something else that kind of got forgotten in all the excitement is... we need to tell your father what we're planning, Kyle. He put himself out on a limb for us, and the least we owe him for that is keeping him up to speed on new developments... especially ones as dangerous as this."

"Umm, okay," Kyle said, nodding. "You want me along for that?"

"Yeah, if that's okay."

"So the sheriff is in on your secret club handshake??" Courtney said. "Yet another human... this doesn't concern them."

"If it hadn't been for Jim Valenti," Michael told her, "we'd probably all be dead or in FBI rat cages right now. The same pretty much goes for Liz, Maria, Alex... and even Kyle seems to be doing okay by me recently, surprising as that is. I don't think I want to hear you talking down about them again... not that I have the right to tell you what to do or say. But you wanted to join this team because you've burned your bridges with most of the aliens on this planet... might want to be careful what you say about the lowly little humans!"

Courtney blinked, and after a moment nodded penitently. "I... I'm sorry, you're probably right," she muttered. "Maybe that's something I started doing to cover up how alone I sometimes feel. But you're right, for all of our more developed technology and society, we haven't really been doing any better than Earth recently."

"Not sure that's quite what I mean," Michael replied. "But maybe it'll do." He sighed. "And yeah, Maxwell, I agree, Valenti should know. So, sounds like we've got more than enough to tackle and not that much time. Anything else??"

"I had one slightly wild notion," Liz put in. "Does anybody know what happened to that miniature surveillance camera we found last spring??"

"Umm, it's in my room, has been since Jim gave it back to us," Max said, surprised by the thought. "What are you... do you have some sort of plan for getting it into Copper Summit, so that we can maybe get an idea of the layout before we go in ourselves??"

"Umm, yeah," Liz agreed. "Probably by trying to pin it to the coat of someone attending the funeral, or something."

"Possible," Michael muttered. "We'll need to make sure that whoever won't notice it, and yet that it's unlikely to get accidentally covered up for long periods of time. And things could get a little uncomfortable for our patsy if the League happens to notice the transmission and track it to its source. We'll have to ask Alex about all that, since he's the only electronics whiz we've got."

"Let's work out the pluses and minuses carefully before going ahead," Max suggested. "Okay, anyone else who wants to be there when I talk to Jim, I think I'll go now and get it over with."

----------

Valenti house.
3:58 pm

"So," Jim said, looking at Max, Michael, Liz, and Tess as they sat crowded onto the couch. "You were going to leave in the dead of the night without telling anyone, drive clear across the state and halfway into Arizona, 'stake out' a town entirely peopled and run by killer aliens, many of whom are enemy agents returning home from missions around the world... wait until the coverup funeral for a congresswoman had begun, sneak in past their defenses, steal an... an unintelligent lifeform of some sort, destroy hundreds of others that represent the only hope for all of these Copper Summit people to stay alive on Earth, and run straight back here to Roswell."

"Umm, yeah," Max said slowly. "We explained how..."

Jim cut him off with the imperative gesture of one hand, considering things carefully for a long time... one minute, nearly two. Then, "try as I might, I can't find a huge flaw in the plan. It's risky, and inconvenient to explain why you all just took off... but when the situation is dire, you have to take chances. I understand that. The alternative is to let these guys consolidate their own forces and come after you, and I have to admit, I don't want to see that happen, for a bunch of reasons." He sighed, an odd half-smile on his face. "Sure you don't want me to come with you?"

Liz laughed. "Thanks for the offer, Mister Valenti, but I think you'd have an even harder time explaining a sudden disappearance than we would. Plus, the cars are going to be pretty full already, and you can probably help out better back here, trying to keep anyone from getting too worried about us, err, and -- um..." Her thought ran out of steam at that stage.

"It'll be tricky yes, but I'll cover for you as well as I can," he agreed. "Probably by joining the angry parent brigade and trying to steer its wrath from within, as it were. But do check in with me when you can, alright??"

"We will," Max agreed. "Or you should be able to reach Maria... she'll be staying here in town too, and I don't think she'd hide anything from you at this point. We'll be keeping her as up to speed on everything as we can."

"Alright," Valenti agreed. "Be careful -- take care of yourselves... and of *my son.* Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, ummm..." Both Max and Jim seemed uncertain how to bring the meeting to a close at this point. "Is there anything I can get you kids before you go?? You have to eat, keep your strength up before a commando raid I imagine."

----------

Back at the office
4:17

"Isn't there anything more useful that you can remember?" Isabel asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice, and pretty much succeeding. "You said you *did* it once. Even if that wasn't a success, you must know how to get started."

Courtney sighed and brushed the hair away from her face -- with that gesture it became clear that the tension was starting to get to her. "It was another world, practically another body, and many times longer ago than anything you remember... but yeah, I think I remember some of the foursquare basics. You can't even try making one until the others come back, though, so we'll stick with the sketchy theories." Courtney got up, paced through the office a bit, and then turned to look at Isabel again. "The first step, as I mentioned, is for all four participants to connect. From our review session yesterday, I know you guys have some experience with forging connections, but I kinda got the impression you were only at the skin-on-skin, eye contact level, right?"

"Umm..." Isabel wasn't sure what to make of the question. "Yeah, you touch the person and both of you look at each other. What's the alternative?"

"For most situations that'll do fine," Courtney assured her. "But... well, in a combat situation for example, it can be limiting. Even outside of combat, if you and Max, say, wanted to combine your powers together to lift a weight more than what either of you could manage alone, you couldn't afford to be staring into each others' eyes while you were connected. You'd have to be looking at the weight. In combat, that applies moreso. You often can't afford eye contact even to initiate the link, and after forging it you'd have to be able to maintain it without touch contact. Otherwise, in the foursquare say, you'd all just be holding hands and nobody would be able to use their hands to actually direct any of that available energy."

"Umm..." Isabel's eyes had gone wide, and she blinked several times. "Go back... go back to that weight lifting example. How does connecting help there? I mean, not that the situation's ever come up before, but if it did we could just use our powers seperately, on the same object. Like if we were lifting the object physically, together. He takes one side and I take the other - that sort of thing."

Alex spoke up at this point... he had just been sitting next to Isabel and not interfering so far. "Is it because of... well, the same sort of thing as this 'foursquare formation' on a smaller scale? Two people together are stronger than the sum of their powers seperately?"

Courtney smiled, looking at the 'human boy' with a smidge of respect. "That's part of it. Also, because mental power fields tend to be less focused than actual hands and arms, you'd probably get interference if you worked seperately towards the same goal... unless you each only pushed at the extreme outer edges of the weight, and that would introduce its own problems. If two connect first, they can create a single effort and not worry about interference... except possibly on the personal level." Courtney sighed. "There's so much to explain and so little time. Well, why don't you try forging a connection without eye contact, Isabel? If you have trouble with that one, we can try making it the usual way and then breaking eye contact without breaking the link, but I hope you'll be able to handle skipping a lesson here." Isabel seemed to be wordlessly confused about how to start. "Come on, do you want to practice on me or little Whitman??"

Iz considered them both. Courtney was more knowledgeable about this sort of thing, but some deep part of her still thought of the new girl as an outsider, and she didn't want to have to open up to her. Alex... well, this kind of intimacy with Alex had its own problems, but at least she knew that she could trust him with her life. As far as that went, she kind of had already.

"Okay, Alex..." Looking down so as not to make eye contact, she stretched out a hand, and after a second, Alex took it. There was no immediate reaction, but Isabel pushed, trying to force a rapport. Channeling all of her awareness and her mental consciousness down that hand.

"No, no, no, that's never going to work," Courtney explained. "You don't force it that hard to make an eye-contact link, now do you? So why do you think that pushing it will help for touch-only? It's kind of like running water through a narrow, flexible hose... pushing that hard is just going to crimp up the flow and stop it entirely. Try to relax... to relax as hard as you can, if that isn't entirely paradoxical."

Isabel smiled tiredly, let her muscles relax as much as they wanted to immediately, allowed her mind to wash clear of the surface concerns and questions. But it wasn't working, yet, there was no sensation of a contact with Alex more than the merely physical, and she knew that there was tension beyond the basics, bottled up inside her, and she didn't know how to let that drain away, how to do anything with it other than trying to force it away, which wasn't the point.

Then Alex rubbed his fingers softly against hers, and suddenly it happened. Not all of the stress affecting her mind, her power balance, her body vanished instantly, but a significant amount of it just dropped away, and she had contact. Nothing too deep, because she wasn't comfortable with any too great a rapport with Alex at the moment, but she was aware of his breathing with more than just his ears, how his chest felt from inside with the motion of his lungs, and his heart, the pulse in his throat and the way the couch felt underneath him.

"Good," Courtney whispered, apparently sharp enough to sense the connection almost as soon as it had happened. "Now... let go of his fingers, and try to keep that link... just have the connection go through the air between you, like the invisible forces we were working with yesterday."

Isabel slipped her hand out of his, and even though she'd been as gentle as she could there was a bit of a crashing feel to all of the sensations that she had been getting from Alex, and she thought she had lost contact, or was about to. But no, everything righted itself, and the sensations started coming through again, more faintly and fuzzily, but definitely still there.

"Okay, you're doing great girl," Courtney cheered. "One more thing to try and then you can take a break. Deepen the connection a little more and look out of Alex's eyes. He's not going to fight you for them, are you Alex? Just reach through the air with your mind and..."

She saw it. Isabel saw what Alex saw, almost as clearly as if it had been her own eyes. (A little better, maybe, even... there'd been a very slight fuzzyness to some things that she had never mentioned to anyone, not wanting to have to accept the notion of needing glasses or contacts.) He was looking over at Courtney, a little unfocused -- no, not unfocused as in she was funny, just kind of... a generalness about his gaze, not focusing on any part of the alien girl, but taking her in and her immediate surroundings as a whole. Isabel grinned to herself, and let the link lapse - after an instant of dizzyness, she was just herself.

"And that's it?" she immediately asked Courtney.

"That's... as much as I can remember," Court admitted with a sad look. "Once the four of you have all connected like that, there are specific power channels that have to be opened, but I really can't remember anything about them other than their existence."

"Maybe we can try to find some way to see a foursquare in action in Copper Summit, without getting our asses kicked," Alex suggested. "That might help... especially if you can teach some of the others how you sense what's going on when they're using their powers."

Courtney nodded. "Risky, but possible. If any of Nicholas' people put together a foursquare, I doubt that they're going to sit there and not try using its power to kick a little butt."

"Maybe we could go on the offensive first," Isabel suggested. "They'd be less likely to attack if they want to keep the protections as tight as possible, yes?? And then, before we get tired out, run away??"

"It could work," Courtney agreed. "Foursquare isn't moveable; that's one of its biggest liabilities..." She broke off as one of the office phones rang. "Yeah, I'd better get that."

Alex stood up as Courtney hurried away. "Want to go take a walk?" he asked Isabel softly.

----------

Streets of Roswell
4:56 pm.

"Umm, not quite sure how to say this," Nicky commented as he took a piece from the little basket of cut strawberries he'd bought for them several blocks back, "but you look as if something's bugging you this afternoon."

"Well, ehh, yeah," Maria agreed, absently helping herself to two wedgelike segments. "It, umm... well, a friend of mine has a problem -- nothing I can help with directly, but I'm worried about her. Didn't mean to bother you about it."

"It's okay," he assured her. "And you don't have to get into specifics if you don't want to, I was just making an observation and giving you a lead-in if you had anything you wanted to talk about." He shrugged. "No biggie."

"Thanks," Maria muttered. She had to admit that she liked being here in this moment with Nicky... he was easy to get along with in a way that Michael had rarely been, and just about as sweet as the strawberries themselves. "So, um... how did you get involved in music?"

"Umm, well, the usual," he replied after a moment. "Going into my last year of junior high, my big brother told me that I should learn to play the electric guitar because it would impress chicks." Maria sighed and rolled her eyes a little. "Yeah, I know, I know, and it didn't really work that way, but I decided I really liked playing anyway." He sighed with contentment. "How about you, when did you start singing??"

"Umm, well, to be honest, I started off as a little choir girl, if you can believe it," Maria shot back with a reminiscent smile. "That was back when my mom was still going to Saint John's rain or shine every sunday. And, well, I kind of got thrown out for helping Tommy Campbell rig up a string of LOUD firecrackers to the high A key on the parish organ. But I really liked singing, especially the harmony and counterpoint stuff, and so, well, songwriters camp, karaoke at the pizza pan, and you kinda know the rest."

"Cool." Nicky smiled at her, and they walked along for a little bit, just enjoying the afternoon.

"Oh, hey, Maria!" She turned around, and Nicky turned about to, and so they both saw Isabel waving, about fifteen feet behind them, and Alex walking beside her. "How's it going, guys."

"Not bad, hi Isabel, Alex."

"Hey man," Alex replied, giving some kind of odd saluting gesture to his bandmate that seemed to surprise both of them. "Umm, you know..."

"Isabel Evans, yeah, hi." Nicky waved, and Isabel waved back, about as awkwardly.

"No big rush," Isabel said softly as they approached, "but Courtney wanted to talk to you, Maria, she'll be at Liz's office all evening. About, erm, you covering while Liz is away??"

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Maria said, and managed to include in her terse nod a very slight shake of her head towards Nicky, which Isabel seemed to recognize as a request not to go into any more detail while the new guy was around.

"Well, umm, I guess congratulations are in order perhaps?" Alex said nervously. "I, uh, I didn't even know that you liked Maria like that."

Nicky shrugged. "Yeah, it was, umm, one of those things man. I might have said something if I knew how to bring it up, you know how that goes?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Alex agreed, a little too quickly.

"Umm, well, I guess I'll see you guys later?" Maria asked, after the moment of awkward silence had gotten long enough to effectively announce its arrival.

"Yeah, sure," Isabel said, and took Alex's arm, leading him across the street. Maria headed back the way they had come, with Nicky shrugging and following her.


TO BE CONTINUED...

Part Six


Monday afternoon, 5:44 pm
Michael's place.

"Hey?" Max knocked on Michael's open apartment door, and poked his head. Michael waved a hello from the living room armchair, where he was watching some kind of hockey wrapup.

"What up, fearless leader?"

"Umm, was just wondering if you were still planning on taking in those who wanted to get some sleep for an early start, no questions asked."

Michael weighed the question, made a slightly dramatic sigh. "Yeah, if anyone wants. Oh, the many prices I pay for being the only one in the gang to have a pad of my own. You going for big sleep yerself Maxwell?"

"Umm, yeah, I thought it made sense. Would probably be doing a lot of the driving, considering tha it's my car, and then I want to have a clear head for making tactical decisions. Also, need to keep the special powers in tip-top, in case things go wrong. All add up to some good reasons to get as much rest as I can."

Michael thought about that a second and nodded. "You wanna sack out right now?"

Max smiled and shook his head. "Need to call my dad, tell him I'm working at the library or something... and also, I don't feel real sleepy yet."

"Me neither," Michael admitted. "Though I know I should be getting my rest too."

"Well, why don't you move your bed in here?" Max suggested. "It could be like the sleepover party we never had when we were younger."

Michael thought about the suggestion, and shrugged. "Okay, after you've made the call why don't you get set up on the couch? And close the curtains tight, maybe we'll be able to psych ourselves into thinking it's night."

It didn't take long for the teenage boys to get everything arranged, the television turned off, and as Max stretched out on the couch, he was just trying to think of something to talk about when once again, a rapping sound rang out from the apartment door, which they'd still forgotten to close completely. "Knock knock, room for one more?" a familiar voice sing-songed.

"Tess?" Max said suspiciously as she poked her head in. "What are you doing here - you could go to sleep early just as easy at home: we already told Valenti what was going down."

"Umm, true enough," she admitted, stepping inside and closing the door behind her, a small bag hanging from one hand. "But there's a few things in favor of this arrangement anyway if you'll indulge me. First off, no matter how much rational sense it makes for me to go to sleep early, if I sack out at Valenti's, Jim's probably going to worry his head off. It'd be too blatant a reminder of what trouble we're heading into tomorrow. Also, if I'm here, then Kyle can take his room back for a night and not have to sleep on their couch, which means he'll sleep better and be more alert to watch out for us."

Michael considered those points. "Is that it??"

Tess made a small face. "Actually, no, though the third is more personal. I just wanted to be able to spend a little time with you guys before everything started to go down, no strings attached. If you'd rather be left alone, then fine, but I thought I'd ask at least."

Michael shot a look over at Max, and shrugged. Max thought to himself furiously. If this was another of Tess' little tricks to try to draw him into destiny, he had no patience for it, but on the other hand, she seemed sincere about just wanting a little company on the night before a scary mission. Max could relate to that.

"You've got your pick," he told Tess slowly, "between the loveseat, which will be kinduv a tight fit, or spreading out a foam mattress and a sleeping bag on the floor."

Tess smiled slightly. "The loveseat should be fine I hope... don't take up much room myself, and I'm good with sleeping curled up. Had worse on the road with Ed."

Michael laughed softly. "Got any good secrets for sleeping when you don't feel especially tired?"

Tess slipped past his bed and sat down on the loveseat that Michael had bought at Maria's insistence, (and partly with her money, since he said she'd be in it with him a lot -- his heart wrenched a little at that memory,) and smiled. "How about this?" She waved at the open space above Michael's coffee table, and a pattern of colored shapes, glowing softly with their own lights of different brightness, appeared there in mid-air. Max gasped softly. The colors were slowly rotating, and shifting patterns while they moved, like a kaleidescope image made into three dee. It did indeed seem very soothing and relaxive to watch.

"Wow," Michael breathed. "Is that a mindwarp? It seems so real... even the shadows and the patterns it makes on the ceiling."

"Yeah, it's real," Tess groused softly as she tried to settle in on the loveseat. "Real light and energy at least, nothing in it more solid than the air that was there a few moments ago. But it's not a trick that I'm pushing into your brains... I'm good with those, yeah, but they aren't the ONLY things I can do." She sounded very upset at the assumption.

"Sorry, sorry," Michael assured her. "You waved, something improbable appeared out of thin air, and that's the first place my brain went to. Didn't mean an insult by it."

Tess nodded, a little mollified. "Ed told me that it was a 'Torrie-teng' and that our people make them all the time as sleeping aids. Maybe I should ask Courtney if she's seen many of them."

"Perhaps," Max agreed. "Don't pester her too hard though, it's probably not anything important. Sure pretty to look at though, and I'm kinda fighting off the urge to, to yyyaaaaahhgh." He shook his head a little as the emergent yawn spread to the others. "Wonder if it'd work the same way on humans. They're not hard to make?"

"Naw, could teach you in a few minutes," Tess replied a little foggily. "Takes just about no energy to keep it running, too."

"Cool," Michael replied, and sighed deeply, stretching out on his stomach. "Gut check time," he continued softly, his eyes closed. "Are we ready for this thing?"

Tess didn't reply a moment, and Max drifted in thought. "We have to be," he answered slowly in the conviction that seemed to come so often in crises. "Can't afford to let them reap the Harvest. And even if these new tricks of Court's don't amount to much, well, we've accomplished a lot in the past with our specialties and desparation. The three of us, specifically -- I shield and heal, Michael, you handle force and energy, and Tess deceives and dupes them. We'll be okay."

There was a long silence. Max realized that he was keeping his eyes closed because he didn't want to watch the torry-tang any more and maybe fall asleep without hearing someone's reply.

After several seconds, Tess' voice could be heard in that small space. "I kind of hate that that's my power, a lot of the time. You guys didn't exactly trust me from the beginning, because I didn't grow up here in Roswell with you, and the fact that my best power deals in illusions and deception just makes it worse. Every time I make something unreal happen, I can feel you guys distance yourselves from me, as if you're afraid that I'd do it to you, like really mess you up. I couldn't, no matter what the stakes... I don't think I've mindwarped anyone for months except when there was no choice, when it was a question of enemy aliens or the government finding us. And even so, even so..." he voice was breaking into soft sobs, "you hold it against me."

Max opened his eyes, and was immediately hit by the sophoric effect of the apparition. Michael was motionless... Max couldn't tell if his best friend was asleep or not. Tess had her face buried in her hands.

Max reached out one hand to lay it on Tess' arm... and fell quite sound asleep in that position. After a few seconds, Tess damped down the colors, tucked Max's arm back to his side, and then stared into the dimmed lights until her own eyes closed and did not open again.

It took about fifteen minutes for the rest of the glowing lights in midair to fade away once they were all soundly to sleep.

----------

The tiny, artificial chime of Max's digital watch woke him at 10:30. He shut the alarm off quickly, looked at Michael's living room, at the other two sound asleep, and sat up. It only took a few moments to tidy the couch up slightly, get his shoes and jacket on, and then he was ready to go back home. For a few seconds Max wondered whether he should try to wake Tess up so that she could take the more comfortable couch, and then decided against it. She seemed pretty content where she was, and if she woke up on her own, a bit later, it'd be hard for her not to notice that he had left.

After spending a moment to scribble out a quick note with pencil and by the light of a softly glowing hand, he crept through the room and quickly worked the front door, then hurried to where he'd parked the Jeep. Hopefully his father wouldn't have many questions for him at all.

----------

Michael and Tess woke up when Michael's tv blipped back on to a late-night hockey game rerun, at twenty minutes after one in the morning. (He had just finished programming its alarm clock feature to do that a few minutes before Max had showed up.) They took turns in the bathroom, and Tess asked Michael where they should head next when he spotted the note Max had left.

"We should probably head straight out of town at one thirty, with as little unnecessary running around as possible," he read out loud off the note to Tess. "Michael, you ride with Tess, pick up Alex and Kyle. I'll get Isabel and go through downtown to pick up Liz and Courtney. We can meet up someplace, like at Highway Mill, just before the country line, and you can switch places with Isabel there. I'll turn my cell phone on once I'm ten miles past the city limits, and you can try calling me once you're that far. Max."

Tess spent a moment absorbing that. "The boy thinks ahead. That may work out in our favor."

"It kinduv has, on occasion," Michael agreed. "Okay, let's do this thing." He turned off the television, and quickly they hurried out the door and down to Tess' car.

----------

Evans house

Early Tuesday morning, 1:24 am.
Evans house.

Isabel knocked on Max's door, and then crept in to shake his shoulders slightly, just like she used to do when they were seven and she wanted his company for saturday cartoons before dawn. Max groaned a little, rolled slightly, and then his eyes blinked open wide. "It's time??"

"Yeah, maybe a little past," she whispered softly. "I thought you'd be up on your own by now."

"Well, I'm almost ready," he said, sitting up. Indeed, he had slept in street clothes, both at Michael's and here, and it was the work of a moment to freshen himself up right there on the bed. "Just let me grab a little stuff from the kitchen for snacks along the way."

"Sure," she said smiling, and followed him downstairs in the quiet of a house that had retired for the night. After Isabel had waited in the living room for about a minute, Max was back, carrying his keyring in one hand and a light grocery bag in the other. It was then that Max realized that Isabel was carrying a much bulkier overnight bag.

"Did you pack a change of clothes?" he asked with the trace of a smile as they headed out the door.

"Among a few other necessities," she shot back in a slightly lofty tone. "This is kinduv the first time we've had the ability to plan for an out-of-town mission, and I wasn't going to waste the chance to be prepared for once." She saw Max shake his head slightly. "A girl thing... I bet you that Liz'll have a bag when you pick her up too."

"Well, we'll see," Max replied as he put Bob into gear and took off the parking brake.

Liz had her usual school knapsack slung over her shoulder when Max pulled softly up to the curb outside the cafe... which he was tempted to call a split decision, at least until there was a chance to find out what she had packed. Isabel seemed to think otherwise. When Courtney ran across from the other side of the street, she was carrying nothing at all that he could see, and dressed in tight white pants, and a light blue v-neck crop top with long sleeves.

By some sort of communal awareness thing, none of them said anything until the city limits sign was several miles behind. Then Courtney commented absently, "This wasn't the seating arrangement we agreed on."

"Temporary, for the sake of making a quicker exit," Max explained. "Since Isabel and I were starting at the same place, also Michael and Tess, for him to be riding with us and Isabel with them would have involved two extra pick-ups. We're going to be switching soon... assuming that's okay with you, Iz."

"What? Oh, sure." Isabel didn't mind spending the trip with Tess, and Kyle would probably be good company, (as would Alex, most definitely.) She wouldn't have minded riding with Max and Liz either, or Michael... but you had to draw lines somewhere after all.

Liz didn't say anything, but she dropped her hand near enough to Max's thigh that he could feel its presence without touching, and shot him a sidelong look. Max suddenly wondered if she was thinking of the last time they had been out this way, only a few days ago... to see a fortune teller in Hondo, of all things. Just after they'd slept off some of the fatigue from being out all night, up to Santa Fe and back for the Gomez concert.

Liz was wearing much more casual clothes than Courtney, (pretty much an 'of course;') casual black jeans and a moderately thin navy sweater, short sleeved but close-necked. She looked absolutely as gorgeous as ever to Max, and for a second he felt a twinge of guilt for taking her into such a dangerous situation. But then, Liz had insisted, and mentally, she was possibly more ready for combat than Max himself. She seemed to have a slightly spooky sense of the strategic situation, and what parts people they hadn't even met would play, ever since they'd been back together.

After the odometer clicked over a certain number of times, Max reached for the console drawer and flicked his cell phone on, waiting for the call from Michael.

----------

Route 70
4:13 am.

Alex looked over at Isabel, who was in the other back seat of Tess' car. For more than ten minutes now, she had been sitting quite still, staring trancelike at a small photo from out of her overnight bag. Nervously, he reached over and prodded her, gently, on the upper arm.

For many seconds making up a long moment, there was no reaction, so that Alex was wondering if she could even feel his touch where she had gone. But then Isabel's upper body shuddered hard, and she looked around the car, confused. Soon she saw Alex watching her, and tucked the photo back away. "Umm, hey?" she muttered shyly.

"Sorry to disturb you," Alex replied in a low, tender whisper. "Were you dreamwalking??"

"Um, yeah."

"Whose dream?"

She hesitated a second. "My father's. I just wanted to see him and Mom one more time, just in case... well, you know. If something really goes wrong tomorrow. Max has made me promise not to dreamwalk Mom again, because she's mentioned that she thinks there's spooky about having me turn up in her dreams watching. She doesn't know the whole story, of course."

"Yeah, I figured not," Alex agreed.

"But Dad was dreaming of Mom, among other things, so I got to see her too. Mom when she was younger, around the time that they adopted us or even earlier." She sighed. "Umm, was there a particular reason you shook me out of it, or..."

"Oh, right," Alex smiled a bit. "Rest stop up ahead. You want anything?"

"Yeah, I could go for some snacks I guess. Anyone called Max's car."

"Umm, nope," Kyle put in from the shotgun seat. "You wanna make the call, go ahead."

As the highway lights sped past, Isabel picked up her cell phone and punched a speed-dial. "Hey, Liz??"

There was a soft laugh from the tiny speaker she was holding up against her ear. "Yeah, Iz?"

"Umm... there's a rest stop that Kyle knows a few miles out of town, and we were thinking of stopping there for a minute. Your group wanna stretch some legs as well??" Both of their cars were just leaving Alomogordo,

"Well, just a second -- I'll check." There was some hushed voices in the other car, and then Liz came on again. "No, we think we're okay for a little while longer, but you guys go ahead. We don't need to stick so close to each other the whole time, not when we can always stay in touch by phone."

"Ten-four, or something like that." Isabel laughed at herself. "'Til next time." She hung up her phone. "They're going to go on ahead."

"Alright," Alex said, and let out about one-third of a yawn. "Gotta admit, I really need to go and use the can."

"Well, I guess that's good timing then," Tess mumbled. "Anyone else wanna drive for a spell? My gas-pedal foot is getting a bit cramped."

"Umm... sure, I guess I can," Isabel said after a moment. "And Alex can come up front and keep me alert."

After about two minutes more, they turned into the rest stop - a fairly nice one, though it looked a little weird in the artificial light of a highway at the dead of night. There was a small restaurant with a drive-through window, a restroom building, a gas station/small convenience store, and a tiny open field nearby. After Tess parked the car, Alex hurried off to the washrooms, and Isabel wandered quickly off to see what was available in the minimart.

Kyle seemed to be waiting to see what Tess would do, and she waved him along and walked out towards the field. "Umm, I know that things have been kind of weird for us lately," she said after a momnet. "Haven't had much time to be alone together, what with all of this alien crap."

"Yeah, I know," Kyle agreed. "And in a way, it's going to be hard to get through whatever it is that's going to happen without letting the others know how badly I want to just wrestle you down to the ground and have my way with you." He laughed softly. "But I'm not sorry that I agreed to come just because of that."

"Okay," Tess said evenly. "Well, I'm not sure if we have time to have ALL of our way with each other... but we're pretty much alone now." She flashed Kyle a teasing grin and hurried into the field, out of the glare of the artificial lights.

Kyle hurried after Tess, caught her once she wasn't running away any more, and swept her up with a passionate kiss, running his hands over his back. "Well, how far do you want to take it?" he whispered. "If we go far enough for one or both of us to get our rocks off, as it were, then Alex or Isabel might notice that when we get back to the car. We don't have acres and acres of time, after all. And if we just mess around without closing the deal, they might notice THAT too, that you're flustered and a little sweaty and keep blushing too much."

"I... I don't care," she blurted out suddenly. "I realize that it might not be the smartest thing to do, but smarts are kinduv out the window in this moment. I just need SOMETHING from you, Kyle, something to keep me going. I don't think I care what -- I'm at your mercy, as long as you touch me."

Kyle grinned a little, and brought one of his hands around to the front of Tess' shirt, rubbing through the fabric and scratching around the edges of the undergarment that he could feel through the thin fabric. "How about that -- I know you like it like this."

"Oh, you know it," Tess moaned, "but no more of this frickin' PG-13 stuff." She stepped away from him, only a little bit, and quickly slipped the dark blue t-shirt over her head, and Kyle's breath caught to see the way her curly hair fell back down, this time to lightly brush against bare shoulders. One more quick gesture with her hand, and the cups of her skimpy black bra had fallen away, revealing hypnotic curves and a glimpse of nipple. Tess stepped back again, steadying herself against a solid square wooden post, and waved him in enthusiastically.

Kyle smiled at the thought and eagerly brought his mouth down to her waiting breast, nuzzling, kissing the pale and silky skin, licking it a little. She moaned, and they both knew that time was short, so Kyle moved on quickly, moving his lips to her right nipple and sucking, while letting his fingers attend to the other breast, tweaking her and rubbing the hard knob gently from either side. Tess' whine became higher pitched, filled with great need and balked fulfillment. A few seconds later Kyle pulled more of her perky boob into his mouth, running his teeth carefully and expertly against the skin of her aureola, miming as if to bite down on her nipple but only exerting a slight pressure.

The pleasure, mixed with a small bite of physical pain that only heightened the sensual intensity of the sensation, flooded through every nerve in Tess' body. She knew that they didn't have time for Kyle to go downtown, but she couldn't ride onward to Arizona with this matter unresolved. Concentrating mentally, she tried to psych herself and her body into a certain reaction and pulled herself slightly away from Kyle's head so that his talented lips would be once again on her nipples, hoping that he'd do the obvious thing then.

He did. Kyle moaned a little in frustration, (which itself sent a humming thrill of sensation through Tess' skin,) and sucked harder at the tender tip, moving back and forth slightly over her oh-so-sensitive flesh. At the same time, his hand on her other breast redoubled their efforts, tweaking and pinching that nipple hard, yet not without tenderness, and his other hand landed on her butt, poking deeply into the supple softness he found there.

And that was it. Between Kyle's lips, his two hands, Tess' own mental resolve, and the rapport that was there in the background every time Kyle was near, she was pushed over the edge into an orgasm, even with no direct stimulation to her female depths. Not an enormous, impressive climax, but a mild one seemed to be just as satisfying at the moment... she came with a soft cry, her body shaking all over, Pleasure coursed through her body, converging to her crotch and then spreading out again magnified many times, but the flow from her channel seemed just a gentle moistness -- probably the better, if she didn't want anybody else to notice it.

Kyle, though, had not missed the significance of her reaction, and he was looking up at her from where he crouched, a big smile on his face. "Nipple cum??" She shrugged, a little awkwardly, and nodded. "Wow, I thought that was something that only happened in porno stories."

"Guess again, though it wasn't as nice as the full-blown real deal," Tess sighed, starting to fumble with her lingerie clasp. "Well, you held up your end, and I don't think either of them are back at the car yet -- anything special I can..."

Kyle had straightened up, a stiff tenting bulge visible in his own jeans, and he put his hands on hers, drawing them away from her cleavage. Her bra still wasn't fastened. "None of that." He turned them both around so that it was now his back against the post, his hands moved down to unsnap his jeans, and he looked into Tess' eyes, searching for a reaction. She smiled slowly, nodding a little, and Kyle laughed softly as he slid the crotch zipper down all the way. Tess reached inside his shorts to carefully free a massive, pulsing cock.

"What do you want?" she asked coquettishly. "Would you like me to suck on it??"

"In a minute," he replied. "For now, umm... crouch down low." Tess squatted, a confused look on her face -- which cleared up when she realized that this was bringing Kyle's stalk to the same position as the parts of her body he'd been paying so much attention to with his fingers and lips. Kyle gently guided her with his hands on her shoulders, rubbing the tip of his maleness against each of her still-erect nipples, rubbing his dick up and down the channel between her breasts a few times. (Well, Tess was the one doing most of the up-and-down because of the mechanics of their position.) Kyle yowled softly and blabbered with incoherent happiness. "Oh- okay, Now please suck on it, baby??"

Tess grinned, got down onto her knees, and quickly wrapped her mouth around his stiff organ.

----------

"Where the heck did they go?" Isabel complained as Alex walked back to meet her at the SUV. Alex took a moment to survey the scene.

He had a strong suspicion about what was delaying the other two members of their party, if not exactly where they'd gone to mess around, and for a second he wondered about saying something about the truth to Isabel. Then he reluctantly quashed the notion -- there was no particular benefit in having her know, at the moment, and if she did, Isabel might mention something about it to Tess herself... something Alex knew Liz didn't want to have happen if it could possibly be avoided. "Umm, either they're off somewhere arguing or they went to grab some takeout."

"Hmm, well, they'd better come back soon," Isabel muttered.

Alex nodded. "Should we maybe go over and get some more gas in the tank?"

"Hardly worth it, I think she must have filled up this afternoon. More than three quarters in there."

"Well, then..." Alex stepped up to Isabel, smiling slightly. "Maybe we can occupy ourselves in... other ways." After a moment's pause, he bent to kiss her, and Isabel responded with an eagerness that surprised him. Soon she was leaning back against the side of the car, their bodies pressing into each other just a little bit. Alex felt the temptation to let his hands wander, but everything that she had told him yesterday, (or, if this counted as Tuesday, the day before yesterday,) about not getting into anything complicated before they'd come back from Arizona rang in his ears. Going beyond kissing seemed like it would bring complications.

But Isabel seemed to melt against him as their tongues met, and touched, and played out an intricate dance of their own...

"Hey, can we go now?" Alex turned, not embarrassed at all to see Tess and Kyle watching them. Tess had a familiar sour expression on her face, but somehow this time it seemed like a put-on, like a red herring to keep them from noticing other things. Like how her face was flushed almost red, and both of them walked a very little bit funny as they got into the back seats. Alex tried not to smile too knowingly as he took shotgun.

"Go to the drive-through window before getting back on the highway?" Kyle asked. Isabel shot him one slightly puzzled look in the rearview mirror, sighed, and headed over toward the fast-food place. Each of them ended up ordering enough munchies to last them clear through to Grant county.

----------

Interstate 10
5:52 am

Liz stared out the window, noticing as the morning twilight began, so slowly, to break. It was at this time of the morning, only a few days ago, that she had met a mysterious time traveller in the park for the last time...

"Hey, Liz." It was Courtney saying her name from the back seat. "Do you mind if we talk a little? I'm a little bit bored, and... well, I have to admit I'm still a little confused as to where you fit into all this."

"Ummm..." Liz thought a moment, and shrugged. "Ask what you will." It might help, either for Courtney to get a better sense of her own role in the 'club', or to understand where Courtney herself was coming from.

"Okay, well... you were shot, and Max healed you. What did he say? Were you a part of the group from then on, involved in, well, in whatever unearthly things you guy might have been doing back then?"

Liz smiled a little, looking over at Max as he drove. "Well, umm... he told me that he was 'not of this earth' the day afterward... partly because I managed to snitch some of his cells and look at them under a microscope. Didn't know what I would find, of course. And, because Jim Valenti was trying to figure out if there really were aliens loose in Roswell, I used that as leverage to get a little more info out of him later. I told Maria, and we helped to throw a little diversion around and confuse the situation, but it wasn't really like we were a part of the group then, no."

"It would have been... the Marathon incident. Umm, you don't mind if I tell her about that, Michael??" Liz could see Courtney looking over at the other side of the back seat, and Michael opened his eyes and looked back and forth between the two girls."

"Naw, go ahead. I'll jump in if you get slanderous," he replied lazily.

"Umm... well, Michael had got ahold of a clue - a key from Valenti's personal collection of UFO stuff, and a flash of a geodesic dome house, possibly the same as one in Texas where this Atherton guy lived. He ended up, umm, convincing Maria to go with him to Marathon, and Max and Isabel started to go after him because they thought he'd do something foolish and draw attention to all of them, and I talked them into taking me along because if they were worried about Michael, then I was worried about Maria. We ended up finding them in a motel room somewhere along the highway, and that's when Kyle barged in, wanting to know what the hell was going on. Kyle had his own suspicions about Max back then, and blamed Max for the fact that I'd dumped him, and just wanted anything that he could hold over any of us."

"I talked Kyle into going back to Roswell, but that's about when I demanded that they start telling Maria and I everything, because we were a part of things and we couldn't protect them if we didn't know what we were trying to protect them from. That's kind of when things started to be the five of us. Alex, Tess, and Kyle all came later. Um, does that answer your questions?"

"Umm, yeah, kinda," Courtney agreed with a smile, and looked back at Michael.

They were all silent for almost a minute, and then Liz's cell phone rang out. She almost hit the talking button and put it to her ear, but happened by sheer chance to catch the name showing on it's tiny screen -- and dropped the phone in surprise. Max hit the brakes slightly, shocked in his turn, and Liz bobbled, trying to catch the little gadget and bounced it onto the jeep's dash.

"It's one of my parents!" she told him, stunned and appalled. "At not quite six AM -- they must have found out that I wasn't at home in bed."

Max hesitated for only a second. "Don't answer it. They'll worry, yeah, but nothing we can tell them will make the situation any better." Liz managed to retrieve the phone and let it ring on, and on and on, until finally there was silence. "Call the other car, let them know that we're on silent running from now - no one leaves cell phones on except for designated check-in times. Next check-in at seven AM."

"Umm... what about if there's a crisis?" Courtney put in. "I don't know that it's likely, before we get to Arizona, or that there'd be much chance to make a call and get help, if there were one, but..."

"I can leave my pager on," Michael suggested. "Only Max, Isabel, and Maria have the number. Tess has one too, I think, and even if one of the parentals manges to track one of those numbers down, it wouldn't be as obvious that we're deliberately refusing to call back."

"Alright, that sounds good," Max agreed. "Get it done."

----------

7:49 am
outside Lordsburg, NM

Tess' SUV turned headed off the interstate, around a corner, and pulled into the restaurant parking lot. About three minutes later, the Jeep followed. All eight of them were soon out and walking around the parking lot, stretching away minor aches and cramps, and saying hello to the people who had ridden three hundred miles in the other vehicle.

"Okay, we're more than halfway there," Courtney recapped, as the group gathered into a circle. "Not far from here to the Arizona state line, and then it's only a little over a hundred more miles go to, but some of that is going to be away from the main roads and slower going. But we can take a break here for breakfast and still be in position well before one in the afternoon."

"I have to make a rendezvous in Safford," Liz put in. "To meet our mark and give her the camera to take into the memorial service." She showed it to Courtney and Max, neither of whom had seen the micro-surveillance device since she'd managed to redesign it to look like a kind of brooch.

"Isn't that a little obvious?" Michael put in.

"I don't think so," Isabel said. "I've seen jewelry that looked much odder. Of course, I *know* that what I'm looking at is a camera, but someone without previous suspicions should miss it."

"Plus, this seemed to be the best way to make sure that she keeps it open and visible," Liz suggested. "I've got a patter line set up about how the Society will consider it a mark of respect, especially Vanessa's family, just so that she'll make sure to let as many of them as possible see it."

"As long as none of THEM clue in," Max mumbled. "Well, I guess it's worth a try -- unless someone wants to make the argument that we'd be smarter 'banking' the camera for another time, rather than risk losing it now." He almost seemed to be hoping that someone would speak up. "Alright, Liz, do your best."

Isabel was a little worried about going into a public place, but none of them seemed to be that out of place in "The long open road," (which was the name of the establishment.) There was even another, smaller group of teenagers on the other side of the dining room -- a group of local high schoolers who liked going out to the roadside restaurant for a bite to eat before school, or maybe dropouts on a road trip... there was no immediate way to tell. The breakfast menu was extensive, and nobody was worried too much about spending the money, though when Kyle started to ruminate on getting a third tall stack of pancakes, Michael warned him that eating too much and getting indigestion was not really the best thing since they had a long way to drive yet and then evil aliens to deal with. Kyle satisfied himself by nibbling on some whole wheat toast.

As they were waiting for the cheque, Liz turned her phone on again and dialled a Roswell number. After three rings, it picked up. "Umm, hello?"

"Hey, Maria, it's Liz. Just checking in. How are things back there??"

"Umm, let's see... all of your parents are freaking, Valenti's doing his best to cover, and I've just arrived at Whittaker's office to check the answering machine," Maria replied. "How are you guys, where are you?"

"Umm... doing alright, sitting in a restaurant near Lordsburg," Liz replied. "Do you mind if I call back in fifteen minutes, after you check the phones??"

"Sure, no prob."

The meal was paid for and the group scattered, to washrooms, getting the Jeep topped up with gas, and various other details. There was a small internet center adjoining the gas station, (with considerable prices per minute to get online,) and Courtney spent a little while there. They were almost ready to leave again when Liz dialed Maria again -- no great news, although apparently the tide of dissatisfaction with Whittaker's Arizona-only funeral arrangements and the way the Copper Summit league had taken over the proceedings was continuing to come in. Liz told Max and the others about that.

"Well, we'll keep an eye out for any way it might affect our plans," Max said nervously. "Could break either way for us, I think, or it might not add up to anything at all."

And they gathered up into the cars again and hit the highway.


TO BE CONTINUED...

Part Seven

9:34 am, Tuesday, October 31st, 2000
A few miles past Luzena, AZ

"We want the turnoff for route 191 north, right??" Alex asked.

Tess thought a moment. "Yeah, those are the directions that Courtney gave us. We have to go north sooner or later, and that road is the quickest way according to the map.

Alex smiled at the confirmation and moved over into the rightmost lane of the interstate. There was a bit of silence throughout the car. Finally Isabel spoke up. "Tess, there's something that I've.... that I've actually been meaning to ask you, if you don't mind."

Tess looked up, slightly puzzled. "Umm... well, ask away then I guess, and if I mind answering, I'll tell you so."

Isabel giggled briefly, nervous. "Umm, well, it's about Nasedo... Ed, whatever you want to call him. Did he leave you before you came to Roswell? Because we kinduv had some sightings that we thought were... him, were the alien that River Dog had told us about. Back, let's see, back in February. And you didn't start at West Roswell high until late April."

Tess smiled wanly. "Yeah, actually he told me that he was going to Roswell then. To make sure that everything would be safe for me when it was time to come with him, he said, though I think I knew that there was more to it than that. Ed... he did do his best to take care of me, but he wasn't around all the time like a real Dad would be. He'd taught me how to take care of myself when I was... well, since I was really little. And he was ALWAYS playing two or three different games that he never told me much about, whether it had to do with the Special Unit and their government contacts, or looking for other alien activity here on Earth, or just setting up something to do with one of his cover identities. I knew a bit more about all of that than he thought I did, but I didn't care that much. Now I'm almost wishing that I'd snooped into his affairs a little more -- it might have helped us out now."

Isabel nodded slowly. "It sounds like a kind of sad way to grow up," Alex blurted out. Tess looked for his eyes in the rearview mirrior, but he was concentrating on the road, so she shrugged and didn't say anything.

-----------

10:11 am
North on US-191

Michael shot a glance over at Max. "The alleyway between the two big buildings??"

Max nodded. "Okay, we move as quickly as we can down the alleyway between the buildings. I'm carrying the husk, Michael is leading the way, and Liz is watching out behind us. That sound alright, Liz?"

"Yeah, I'm good for the rear guard," Liz agreed.

"Okay, umm..." Courtney considered this. "Michael, one to twenty-five." Michael took Max's watch, (which had a fancy chronometer that could actually be set up to measure milliseconds,) started it, waited a few breaths, and stopped it without looking at the reading. He looked at the last two digits on the display and frowned as he did a little mental arithmetic. "Twenty-three! Forty-eight on a one to twenty-five is twenty-three, right?"

"Yep. Alright. You're about two thirds of the way down the alley when hidden doors appear from both sides just ahead of you and a little boy and ten older men and women file out. The little boy doesn't say anything, but everyone else kind of gathers in a loose formation behind him and he chuckles nastily. Michael, you notice something odd, but can't say what."

"Liz, take cover," Max suggested.

"Is there any cover to be had??" she asked Courtney.

"Not really. The walls of both buildings are smooth, and you're at least twenty feet from the end of the alley that you entered from."

"No sign of any other hidden doors in the wall?"

"No, nothing that you can pick out at a moment's glance," Courtney said.

"Dammit. Okay," Liz decided, "I hang back, crouching low so as to present as little of a target as possible, and watch what happens. Oh, and if I can, I'll search the wall nearest me for any hidden triggers or switches."

"If you're both watching the action and searching the wall at the same time, you're not going to do a very good job of either one," Courtney warned.

"That's okay, I'm still going to try to split my attention," Liz decided. Courtney nodded.

"I'm going to try the mindwarp penetrator trick," Michael decided. "That might be the something odd. Roll again?"

"Yes, please, one to twenty-five again." Michael 'rolled' the stopwatch again. "Darnit, only a nine."

"Okay... you're pretty sure that it's a mindwarp, and that the little kid is really there. The adults behind him you're not so sure about... there's definitely some kind of mindwarp in that area."

"I shield," Max instantly put in.

"Alright. Blocking off the entire passage between yourself and the new arrivals?" Courtney clarified. Max nodded. "The shield is up. None of them do anything, just kind of stare at you threateningly and wait."

"Our turn again?" Michael clarified.

"Almost. Liz, you haven't found anything of interest on the wall yet. Okay Michael."

Michael turned to Max again. "I think I know what I'm doing. Drop the shield when I give you the signal, okay?" Max agreed. "Once the shield is down, I immediately fire a handprint of death strike at the little kid... focusing it on his legs... trying to cripple him, not kill him. Then we all run past him as fast as we can. The others aren't really there -- only mindwarps. Got it?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Liz muttered, but nobody commented on that.

"Okay, dropping the shield... now," Max told Courtney.

"The shield is down. Michael, roll to strike." He did and showed her the result. "The little kid's legs are blasted out from under him, he seems badly hurt and stunned. You start to run... and Max, the adults shoot you with a swarm of energy bolts..." Courtney rolled herself, a few times over. "The husk you're carrying is damaged somewhat. You're badly hurt and fall down."

"Hey!!" Michael complained. "They're not real."

"Sorry, they're quite real. One of them grabs you and... and pins you up against the wall."

"Dammit," Michael swore. "I try to use kinesis to throw him away from me."

"Roll for kinesis... okay, you throw that one across the alley into the other wall, mild injury from his collision with the bricks, but the other Skins have you surrounded now. One of them tries to copy the handprint of death strike... " Courtney rolled. "You're dead, Michael. Liz, one of them starts to run up to you. What do you do??"

"Umm... does it really matter?" she mumbled, horrified by how the mission had fallen apart so suddenly.

"Yeah, what the hell was that trick?" Michael mumbled sourly. "The mindwarp that wasn't??"

"It was a bit of a nasty surprise, I admit, but it's the sort of thing that the real Nicholas would pull on you if he gets a chance," Courtney insisted. "What he was actually doing was mindwarping a small rock on the ground in the midst of the other aliens. He suspected that you had some mindwarp detection ability and figured that you were, umm, naive enough to jump to the obvious conclusion."

"Okay, well, we're toast -- again," Max sighed. "And Courtney... well, we've been at this pretty much since we left Las Cruces, except for breakfast."

"You wanna quit and take a break?" Courtney asked.

"No... but how about a new scenario, and a new gamesmaster this time?? I kinduv understand why you're being so mean and picking on us this much... but maybe someone else could be just a little bit less strict and give the good guys a chance to win."

"Well, I'm not giving either of you guys the reins of power," Courtney muttered. "Liz can take a turn if she wants... I don't think she'll abuse the perogative."

"Ummm..." Liz blinked a little. "Sure, but not at the same time as I'm driving. How about I pull off to the side in a few miles, and Max, you can take the wheel. That'll let me put Michael and Courtney on the hot seat."

Max grinned a little. "Sure."

No-one said much as Liz continued driving, looking for a good place to pull off onto the shoulder of the road. Finally she stopped the Jeep, well away from traffic, and Max and Courtney opened their doors. Liz hesitated before getting out. "Umm, do you guys want me to GM from the shotgun seat, like you did Court?"

"Ummm... why not? You have a little bit of privacy up there," Courtney pointed out, "assuming that Max keeps his eyes on the road most of the time."

"I think I'd rather be in the back," she said. "Not sure why. It's not like you really need to make many notes for something like this."

"Umm, okay, then I guess I'll stay up here," Courtney said vaguely, swinging her door partly closed again. "Unless you'd like to come up, Michael."

"Err... no, I think that's good." Finally they had gotten themselves arranged, and Max pulled back into what traffic there was on the road.

"Okay, let's see... I'd rather move away from the specific copper summit scenarios that Court was doing," Liz started. "Do something a little further afield... you've drilled on Skins-town about as much as you can, and the tactical lessons come up about the same anywhere. So, err... you've discovered that a secret anti-Alien air force squad is holding an important item from the crash site in a secret bunker, and the mission is to retrieve it. Suspect that one or more aliens loyal to Kivar might have infiltrated the squad. All members of the gang are available for this scenario, including myself. Questions?"

"Umm... this item," Michael said almost immediately. "How big are we talking about?"

"Errr..." Liz concentrated on the question for a long moment. "About two feet three inches long, five inches wide, three inches high. Weighs about, erm, fifteen pounds."

"So it's pretty dense," Max commented. "Where's the bunker situated??"

"Somewhere up in the Rocky foothills of Wyoming, but you don't really know any more until you *get there.*" Liz stressed the last words significantly.

"Okay, gotit," Michael agreed. "Okay, well, let's get this show on the road. We can still ask more background questions later as they come up, right?" Liz nodded. "Okay, I'll take Tess as a secondary playing character."

"Cool. I'll take Isabel," Max said. "Umm, unless you wanted her, Courtney."

"Nah, that's alright I think," she decided. "I don't really know you guys as much as you know each other, so I think I'll go without any secondaries. Unless Liz'll let me pick one of my alien friends??"

"Umm... not this time I think Courtney. Maybe next go round."

"S'cool."

"Okay, Isabel and Tess have been claimed. Is this going to be an aliens-only sortie, or is anybody going to claim one of us humans?" Liz asked teasingly.

"Ummm... okay Liz, you're generally good in a crisis, I'll take you in," Michael said with a mischievous tone in his voice.

Max shot him a look in the rearview mirror, then shrugged. "All right. Alex would probably be good in a situation like this, especially his talent for electronics... as long as he doesn't do anything foolish. I'll grab him."

"Nobody for Maria, or Kyle??" Liz asked, and waited a second. "Alright then."

"Okay," Max started. "Well, we've got seven people, so we head up in... well, in two cars I guess. The Jeep and, umm..." It was obvious that he was unwilling to draft Tess' car, because that would make the mission start off a little bit too much like their real one.

"Hey, I've got wheels," Courtney put in. "Only a little two-door, but I can take a few people."

"Okay, umm..." Michael chuckled softly. "Liz and Tess can ride with you. That should be fun." He didn't see the somewhat nasty grin that appeared on Liz's face when he said that.

"Alright, you drive up and find the bunker. What next?" Liz asked.

"We park at a safe distance away and monitor," Michael said immediately. "Watch it for at LEAST several hours, trying to find out as much as we can without getting put in danger."

"Good," Liz told him with a smile. Nobody else volunteered something else or corrected, so after a moment she started to tell him about the guard schedules and what they could make out of the bunker grounds from outside surveillance.

They played that scenario for a little while, until there were signs on the road mentioning the proximity of Safford, and Liz reminded Max that she had an appointment to keep there. Once they entered the town, the four of them worked together to find the little coffee shop where Liz would meet one of Whittaker's biggest supporters on the Roswell town council, and give her the disguised micro-camera.

----------

10:51 am
West Roswell High.

Nicky was waiting for Maria when she came out of her (hated) statistics class, and she smiled when she saw him. "Hey, you look kinda stressed out," he commented, falling into step next to her.

"Yeah, I guess I am a little."

"Does it have anything to do with... well, it's been hard not to hear the whispers. Alex and all the rest of your friends have ditched today. Do you know what's up with them??"

"Ummm..." Maria sighed. "Yeah, but I can't exactly tell you about it. And... well, I'm probably going to have to skip a few classes later today too."

"Hmmm." Nicky considered that. "Maybe you'll need a diversion sneaking off campus?"

"Umm, I kinda doubt it. Had some practice. But you're welcome to prepare one just in case."

"Alright. But you'll be having lunch in the caf?"

Maria considered that. "Yeah, I think I can squeeze that in. Care to join me?"

"Certainly."

And they headed off to spanish class together.

----------

12:45 pm
Approaching Copper Summit

"Okay, Liz couldn't even work up the nerve to knock, so I reached out with my powers, slid the chain out of the door, and tried the doorknob," Isabel said, a smile on her face. She was definitely liking the idea of telling the others funny stories about the escapades that they hadn't been around for -- not even Alex. "It wasn't even locked. There was a bit of a flurry of motion before Liz could switch the lights on, and right down there, beside the bed, Maria was lying down on top of Michael, like full body contact. And Liz says Maria's name and she scrambles away and asks what we're doing there." Kyle chuckled softly.

"And Liz was clearly not sure what was going on there, and mumbled something about how we thought that she'd been in trouble but apparently we were wrong, and Maria just gets as embarrassed as anything and tries to get Michael to tell us that nothing, umm, nothing physical was going on between them. Then Michael... well, he's just such a smartass, he goes 'come on, honey, we don't have to lie to them.' Maria's mouth just dropped open and she started to girl-slap him, and I guess I took pity on her then, and kinda wanted to get in a dig at Michael, so I said that I believed her, because the day that Michael calls a girl honey, it was all over."

"Ahhh," Kyle said. "I guess it wasn't too long after that that I made my entrance?"

Isabel jumped slightly in surprise. "Umm... actually, yeah. Boy, I think I'd forgotten that you were following us that night."

Kyle shrugged slightly. "I wanted to know what was going on. Maybe I should have left my stupid nose out of it... or maybe not."

"I wonder what would've happened if I'd been in the same history class with you guys," Alex mused aloud. "If I'd have gotten mixed up in the whole Marathon marathon if I'd had to do an oral history on someone. Instead... you know, that week I think I was stuck trying to construct a scale model of the battle of Santa Fe with Dick Langdon." Isabel laughed softly at that. "Couldn't get our toy soldiers to stay standing up. Got a C plus."

"Okay, we're getting pretty close I think," Tess muttered. "Probably time to break phone silence and figure out where we're rendezvousing for the surveillance part of the mission."

No-one in the Jeep had their cell phones on, so Isabel called in a message to Michael's pager to get Max to call her. They were still about eight miles behind Tess' car, because of having to stop in Safford. But Courtney suggested a good place to turn off to a never-used driveable trail that would take them most of the way around town.

----------

1:02 pm
Not far from town

"Okay, I've been thinking about strategy and tactics a lot on the way up here," Courtney said. They were gathered into a rough cluster between the two cars, parked about 120 degrees away from the main road into Copper Summit. "First off... while I appreciate that all of you guys came this long way too and want a share in the action, well, it kind of makes sense for me to be going alone into the deepest danger. I have the most experience using powers in combat, and the least to lose from exposure. If any of your faces get recognized, say, from photos that Whittaker might have sent back to Nicholas before she was killed, it'll tell him a lot, with direct consequences to how soon and how big we can expect the counterattack to come to Roswell."

"Even if you aren't recognized as such, the fact that unfamiliar faces are involved in an attack will tell them a lot. They know me, though, and anybody who doesn't still think I'm a part of the team will be half expecting me to pull a crazy stunt like this. The rest of you can help in a lot of ways... but I don't want you going into the town unless there is literally no other way to salvage the objective."

Michael and Isabel looked to Max, who considered this for a long time. "You make a good point, Courtney." Another short pause. "Does anybody have a counterpoint??" Nobody spoke up. "Alright, then, you're on point and we're supporting you. I imagine that we can attempt to take out perimeter guards... monitor the situation and contact you with important updates, create diversions. Anything else??"

"Umm... nothing that I can think of right now." Courtney considered. "Umm, okay, errr... do we have anything that I can use to make into a map?"

"Here, try this." Kyle reached into the back seat of Tess' car and tossed over a facial tissue dispenser box. Courtney shot a look at Tess, who shrugged, and then yanked about half of the tissue out of the box. Concentrating, she morphed it until it took the form of a thick, large piece of stiff white cardboard paper, maybe three and a half feet wide, four feet and some odd inches high. With gestures, she sketched out roads, hills, and buildings. "The funeral will be held here, in the League headquarters building. Our targets are just across the road," and she tapped a nearby building. "The husk hydroponic life-support system is in the back of the stagecoach museum. It'll be well guarded, but hopefully during the memorial service itself, Nicholas won't be leading the guard."

Michael nodded. "And the mission is to retrieve your Husk safely and kill all the others, right?" Courtney nodded.

"Okay, questions," Alex put in. "If all of the husks are in this fancy growth support system, then will it... be okay getting taken out? I mean, will it survive?"

"We think so," Max said softly.

"I've talked this over with Liz, and with Tess," Courtney added. "Most of the fancy stuff in Copper Summit is practically overkill. At this point, the husks are only about a day or so away from being fully grown, and all that they need is to be kept warm, moist, and have access to certain essential nutrients via an aqueous solution. With that in mind, we've created our own support chamber in the trunk of Tess' car."

"And that leads to another question," Liz asked. "If the husks can survive on their own so well, then how do you kill them? If you can just break open one tank and pull out your own Husk, then can't the other Husks surivive even if you ruin the life support system??"

"That depends on how it gets ruined," Michael replied with a smile. He'd been working with Courtney on this part. "Because the life support system is overcomplicated, there are a few ways to tamper with it and kill all the Husks that are still rigged up to the system, at the same time, and quickly. Probably the easiest is the saline governor... dump way too much dissolved salt into the tanks. They can't handle that."

"Yeah," Courtney agreed. "I brought along some useful parts... hoping to be able to rig up a time-delay sabotage implement that I can attach to the saline governor before I start to escape from the museum with my new skin. This close to the harvest, all of us have a vague psychic link to the Husks. When they start to die, the Skins who are attending the memorial service will know it."

"Okay, I can help with your sabotage tool I think," Alex volunteered. "And Max."

"Yeah," Max replied. "Everyone else should get started on surveillance. We want to know as much as possible about the guard arrangements."

"I have some good binos and other surveillance gear too," Courtney mentioned. "Leave the mental surveillance techniques as a last resort. They might be detected themselves, by our enemies, and then they'd know that someone is out here watching them."

Max, Alex, and Courtney started to futz with electronic timers and miniature motors, and Liz took a pair of high-powered binoculars with a slightly heavy heart. These were dirty tools, she just knew it -- either stolen, or purchased with stolen money or something like that. But they were necessary tools as well. How much responsibility did Liz and her friends have for whatever Courtney might have done to get her hands on them, if they used the equipment??

She forced down the raging ethical questions and concentrated on looking for Skin guards as deeply inside the town as she could.

----------

2:35 pm

Max was just getting back from an observation tour around the perimeter of the town himself when Tess came up to him. "Page from Maria. Yellow alert."

"Oh, umm, okay." He fumbled out his cell phone and turned it on, wondering why Maria had chosen to page Tess. Then it occurred to him that she was probably still very mad at Michael, who had the only other pager.

For a second another possible storyline flashed through his mind, of Liz's parents or his parents or both cornering Maria, insisting that she give up her phone and the pager numbers in order to ambush him on the phone. But no... if that had happened, Maria would have had them call Michael's pager number instead, which would be unusual enough, under the circumstances, to serve as a warning flag. So he dialed quickly.

"Max? Thank god, I've been trying to reach you guys... what seems like forever. New development." There hadn't even been a full ring on Max's end of the line before she began talking.

"Umm... what's the word?" he asked, hurrying towards where Liz and Courtney were standing near the Jeep.

"There was a breaking special on the Arizona cable news station. A state judge in the county seat -- in Florence, Arizona, has issued a court order for the Copper Summit Universal Friendship League to surrender the last remains of Vanessa Whittaker, so that she can have a funeral service in New Mexico. Two court baliffs are on their way to Copper Summit, along with a TV news crew."

"Oh, boy." Max's mind was spinning. "You didn't have any advance hint of this from the office? Nobody mentioned going to an Arizona court?"

"Not to me, you might want to ask Slutney. Umm, whoops, sorry if that was out of line."

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "Well, unless there's anything else important, I'd better bring the rest of the guys up to speed on this and figure out how it affects our strategy, 'kay??"

"Not a problem," she shot back. "Best of luck and keep safe."

"Cya when we get back to town," Max replied, hung up, and quickly told everyone who was within earshot, (which was most of the gang, excepting Alex and Isabel,) of this news.

"I understand why you're worried, Max," Liz said. "It's a rotten position to put those poor people in, but somehow I doubt that the aliens of Copper Summit would kill or even badly hurt them under the circumstances... that would just make people more interested in investigating them, right when they can least afford scrutiny. And it's a heck of an effective diversion for Courtney to use."

"Also, we need to be triply careful, or more, that they don't realize that we're out here," Michael thought aloud. "Or the skins might get the idea to frame us for the death of the baliffs and the newspeople. Hit two birds with one stone, as it were."

"We're not going to give them the chance," Max replied. "Okay, I'm on board with synchronizing our own operations to take advantage of any distraction this court order might provide. There's -- umm, there's a portable TV in the Jeep, someone can watch that and see if anybody local is covering the progress of the baliffs towards town. If not, we can call Maria back, 'cause we need better timing information."

"I'm on tube duty," Kyle announced, jumping into the back seat of the Jeep and looking for the miniset.

"Alright." Tess turned to Courtney. "There's an awful lot of guards on duty outside of town. Looks like four concentric rings, of five, four, four, and three people respectively, going from outermost to innermost. First one rotates clockwise, the next one counterclockwise, the third are stationary sentries, and the last go clockwise again. All of them have some kind of communication gear, though we can't exactly make out the details. Do we need to eliminate any of them before you make your way in, or..."

"No, that's too risky," Courtney insisted. "Someone has got to be checking in on them, and if they don't report right, security further in will be ramped up even if they have to take people out of the memorial service. I should be able to sneak in alright, especially if you're on call to cloak me with an invisible mindwarp when there's no other choice."

"These guards won't have mindwarp perception??" Max asked.

"Some of them probably will, but it's not a perfect defense. They'll be spending a precious few moments trying to figure out if something is hiding from them. With that giving me the advantage of surprise, I'll be able to get through one way or another." Courtney's voice was grim. "It's on the way out that you'll need to clear a path for me I expect."

"We'll do our best," Michael told her.

"Oh, hi guys," Alex called from about fifteen feet away. "What's the latest??"

-----------

Alex knocked on the back seat door of the car, which Isabel had left slightly open. "Hey... how're you doing?"

She looked over and up at him. "Umm, not bad." A pause. "You can come inside if you like."

Alex considered a moment, then did, and Isabel shuffled aside to make room for him. "So... do you think you're ready for this??"

"I have to be."

"You know, that's something that people have been saying over and over again to do with this thing. It's like you're all, well, terrified to admit that there might be something you're not ready for. Umm, not to imply that I don't think you're ready, but..."

Isabel thought about that for a second. "Well, I can see how you might think that, but to me it's kind of something different. I mean, looking back at everything that we've accomplished because we literally had no other hope -- that's some pretty remarkable stuff. And, well, I can't believe that I'm actually quoting Yoda, but: 'Do or do not. There is no try.' It's kinda like that, in a weird way."

Alex put his arm around her. "Just do it."

Isabel giggled. "Yeah, that works too."

The training that Courtney had put Isabel through, back from their very first meeting as a group on Sunday afternoon, had been probably the most grueling out of all of the pod squad. She had been very excited to hear of Isabel's previous experience with dreamwalking and contacting the minds of others, and had drilled her in more advanced techniques quite strictly... possibly because Courtney had known deep down, even back then, what the plan would probably end up being.

As Courtney went into the town alone, Isabel would have to follow her with her thoughts. There would be no other effective way of maintaining contact with the Skin girl - even a cell phone would not provide enough information, and Court probably wouldn't be able to spare a hand to hold it. This was considerably more grueling than Isabel's only previous experience reaching the mind of someone who was fully awake at the time -- which had been agent Pierce. That time, she had only had to get in for a split second, really, and catch a few mental images. Now... well, she wouldn't need to be inside Courtney's mind the whole time, but she would have to keep an open 'line' of connection and use it at regular intervals.

"Can I have a kiss?" she blurted out suddenly. "For good luck?"

"Any time... if you think it's worth anything," he joked, and they turned to each other and shared a simple kiss on the lips.

"Yeah... worth a lot more than you think, maybe." she said contentedly, and sat back.

"Isabel?" The words were called out from a little ways away from the car. "Come on - I'm going in!!"

Alex and Isabel hurried out of the SUV. The cars had been moved further around the forgotten road around the town site, over three quarters of the way around from where they had first split off from the main road. This was where the track suddenly disappeared among rough rocks, completely impassable. Alex hoped that this didn't mean they had a good chance of being trapped in the cul-de-sac. Courtney's point had been that this was the last direction that anyone would expect someone to sneak into town from, or leave towards, even if they knew about the old road, and that that advantage should hopefully pay off. Liz had scouted a track out into the desert that both vehicles should be able to follow the beginning of, and looked like it would lead alright to a nearby gas-stop village, just in case.

"You're going now?" Tess asked Courtney. "The baliffs are still about ten minutes away."

"They're close enough," Courtney insisted. "But the best window for sneaking through between the guard rotations should be coming in about... forty seconds, and I intend to take it!!"

"Alright," Michael told her. "Good luck." And somewhat to the surprise of everyone there, (including the two of them,) he kissed her quickly.

"Umm... thanks babe." And she looked out around a rock, saw one Skin guard disappear in the distance, and started to run.


TO BE CONTINUED...

Part Eight

Outside Copper Summit, AZ.
3:04 pm

"Well, do you see him?"

Liz peered critically into the small digital screen. Out of all of them, she felt she had the best chance of reliably identifying Nicholas Crawford from the spycam - he had been described to her twice after all, by Max's future self nearly a week ago, and then by Courtney Brooks. "Just a sec... come on, lady, point it a little to the left... ahh, yeah, there he is! Short little guy, slightly spiky hair. It has to be him."

"The bad-assest alien of them all is Bart Simpson??" Alex mumbled under his breath wonderingly.

Michael fixed Alex with an intense glower, and then his mouth twitched slightly. "Well, it would explain that one Halloween episode where he turned Homer into a Jack-in-the-box just by looking at him, I guess." Alex choked off a laugh.

Max shook his head slightly at his guys' anics. "We have a presumed sighting of Nicholas, Izzy," he called over. "Pass it on when you can."

"Is he anywhere near an exit?" Isabel called back almost immediately. After a short pause she insisted, "That was Courtney's question."

Liz wondered to herself if Isabel was in contact with Courtney right at that moment, or if Court had passed on the question before she'd noticed the little skin boy, but it didn't really matter. "Umm, not incredibly close, but not that far away either. He'd probably be noticed if he made a quick exit, but I doubt any of the non-residents attending the funeral would be able to stop him... even if they tried, I mean."

Isabel nodded clearly in response, so Liz returned to watching the video, looking for other key figures that had been mentioned from the Copper Summit skins. "I think that's Greer leading the service... and the older man and woman next to Nicholas might well be Walt and Ida."

"Would make sense," Tess muttered softly.

"Good news if you're right about all of that," Michael decided. "That would mean that the only ones Courtney needs to worry about standing guard at the stagecoach museum are second-stringers."

Liz wasn't so sure. "Well, she did say that there were a bunch of goons who were nothing to sneeze at when it comes to combat powers... and I don't think I could recognize them anyway. Plus, if the alarm is raised -- League HQ is right across the street from the stagecoach museum. Nicholas and Ida could be there... more quickly than I'd like."

Max silently reached out and put a hand on his arm. "It's one thing to see possible problems before they happen, but don't let yourself get bent out of shape about them, love," he said quietly, but not quietly enough for the others to be unaware of his words. Liz looked up at Max, smiled at the reassurance she found in his steady gaze, and then became quite aware that someone else was staring at her very intently. Tess. If her pale blue eyes had had the intensity they seemed to posess, Liz would probably have had laser scorch marks on her face.

Fortunately, the awkward tableau was interrupted at that point. "News crew is passing the town limits," Kyle reported, walking towards the others with the portable television a dark, heavy bob in his left hand. "That should make things... diverting in Copper Summit."

Max considered that. "How's she doing, Isabel?" No need to specify what 'she' Max meant.

"Still waiting for the right moment to slip past the fourth guard perimeter... oh, she's on the move now."

"Okay," Max decided. "Kyle, let me see the broadcast. Liz, let me know if anything important comes up on the spy-cam."

"Of course, Max," she insisted. Tess stepped up behind Liz, looking over her shoulder at the digital display. Was that a deliberate (or unconscious) attempt to infringe on Liz's role, to challenge her since Max had shown Liz public affection? **Well, I'd rather have her here than trying to snuggle up to Max as he watches the mini TV I suppose,** Liz decided, and returned to what she had been doing.

----------

"We've got trouble!!"

The words came from Liz and Isabel at about the same time, but not exactly in synch. Isabel had started first by nearly a second, but also spoken more slowly, so that even though she sped up a little when she realized that Liz had come to the same conclusion, she finished the 'bel' in trouble a tiny fraction of an instant later.

Max's head shot up to look between them, concern instantly flooding over his face. "What is it??"

"I don't know," Liz blurted out, "but people are moving inside the League hall. I... I've lost sight of Nicholas, and Ida's heading for an exit."

"Damn," Michael muttered to himself. "Isabel, what does Court know??"

"Just that someone shouted out some kind of alarm." She closed her eyes and concentrated. "It came from the stagecoach museum after she snuck out. Possibly someone noticed that her husk is missing."

Max shook his head slightly. He hadn't realized that Courtney had even made her way into the stagecoach museum - the secret hiding place of the husk 'harvest' - never mind back out again. "Umm..."

"We've got to do something, Max," Liz blurted out, "though I admit I don't know what."

Max looked out at the rest of them, and it must have seemed obvious to everyone that, even though the situation called for quick decisiveness, his mind was blanking. Fighting the rising temptation to give into panic didn't help.

"Max, I have an idea," Michael said quickly, and all eyes turned to him. "Maybe not the best idea, but we don't seem to have time for that. Do you want to hear it?"

"Yeah, of course, give me what you've got," Max said hurriedly.

"Well, we've got two problems now. One is that they're going to be combing the town for Courtney, and probably find her before too long. The second is that they may start coming out, to see if anybody is out here in the desert. So we should split up. Umm..." Michael frowned, taking a moment to mentally divide the available personnel. "Max, you and Tess should stay here, because guarding our retreat, ie the vehicles, Tess' car especially, is our only hope. Liz, Kyle, and Alex can help you."

"Leaving you and Isabel to go into Copper Summit after Court?" Alex asked, none too impressed with that idea from the half-frown his mouth was bent into.

"Yeah, I know man, but... I'll do everything I can to get her back to you safely, even if it kills me," Michael replied low and intently.

"Third possible problem," Kyle put in. "If the alarm's been sounded -- what if they find the booby trap? I assume that Courtney's planted it already."

"Well, we'll see what we can do about that while we're there," Michael muttered. "At this point -- I don't think that pressing home the attack on the Harvest is worth sacrificing anybody. Our priority is to rescue Courtney and get out safely... that sound right to everybody??" There was some general nodding.

"How are you planning to get into town??" Tess put in. "You can't run there in time... that'll take too long if you expect to get to Courtney in time. Especially avoiding guards along the way. And you can't take the wheels for the obvious reasons..." All the ground between their base camp and town was rough and rocky - completely undrivable, even with the jeep's fourwheeler capacities. "You'll need something with some zip."

"Yeah, I'm on that," Michael insisted. "Max, I need to remodel the Jeep a bit. Will be able to put it back the way it was more or less when I'm done, 'kay??" Totally shocked now, Max could do nothing but nod silently. Michael turned to the car and raised up his hand. Objects started to fly away from it and land on the ground... first gear that had been packed inside, and then pieces of the vehicle -- even tires and doors and the like.

"What... what are you doing??" Isabel blurted out, once she got her mouth to quit hanging open.

"Take shotgun," Michael insisted. "Just giving it a bit more 'zip' for this situation, like Tess said." He got up into the driver's seat, turned the key in the ignition, and concentrated with the back of his mind. As Isabel was stepping into the passenger seat, it went from considerably lower than usual (because of the missing tires) to about the same height as ever or maybe even slightly higher above the ground. It was several seconds before Isabel realized this was because what was left of the Jeep was -- was floating in midair!!

Just about when she was absorbing this notion, they pulled forward, at least as quickly as the Jeep had ever accelerated, if not more so, though Isabel couldn't even imagine what was driving it without the wheels. "Remember Michael," Max called out, "the news crew is in town now too!! Don't let them get a good shot of you like this!!" His voice faded out behind them.

"Now, if there's anything that you can do to distract the guards, that'd be a big help," Michael muttered to Isabel softly.

"Umm, that's really Tess' specialty," she muttered, but at the same time she understood what Michael had been saying about how it was more important for Tess to be guarding the others -- including Alex.

"Yeah, but... can't your mindtalking bugaboo help too? If you can let Courtney know something important by slipping it into the back of her mind, can't you slip something disctracting or startling into their heads the same way? And if all else fails, fall back on the Isabel Evans shove." He laughed deeply for about a second and a half.

"Well, I guess we're gonna find out," Isabel said, realizing that they were coming up on one of the guards in the first perimeter. He wasn't facing them now, but they were getting closer and it would be mere seconds before he heard the roar of the hoverJeep's engine.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and tried to let the stress of the situation wash away, which was a little easier than she would have thought. Okay, now what?? It was true that what Tess did and what she had been learning to do was similar in general nature... using alien powers to interface with someone else's brain or nervous system and introduce new signals. However, Tess could work directly with the sensory channels -- sight, sound, maybe others. Isabel had never been able to create such an immediate and vivid reaction, and she didn't mean to start trying now.

From dreamwalking, what she had learned was contacting someone's subconscious mind... that incredibly complicated mass of grey matter at the top and back of the cerebrum, largely uncovered by the brain's self-analysis systems, largely because it WAS the analysis system, and if there was going to be anything else capable of analyzing it, people's heads would have to be at least three times as big, leaving aside the question of what would analyze THAT analysis level...

Not important. The point was, the subconscious was the source of daydreams and the little whispering voices in someone's head that they weren't expecting. If Isabel could plant the right material, so that it'll be triggered and experienced by this Skin's conscious memory at the right moment -- she had to try it. Mentally, she whispered, "What's the disturbance about? Are we under attack by someone else's army?? Am I really ready for whatever might be about to come at me?" And she also did her best to send in a visualization... basing it roughly on their own craft, but hundreds upon hundreds of hover battlecraft charging across the desert, a huge arsenal of weapons at the ready.

The guard turned around, saw them, and yelped, dashing off for cover. Isabel chuckled to herself a little nastily... things could have been difficult if he'd been a little shrewder and not fallen for the trick so easily, but this would do.

It had also taken more out of her than she expected. On the next ring of the perimeter defense, she just let Michael blast one of them out of the way, while she used a wave of invisible force to knock another Skin down and by the time he dragged himself back up again, they were long past.

----------

"Okay, so what about us??" Kyle put in.

"Umm..." Liz shot a look over at Max. "Well, we've got the rock here for cover." Tess' car and what was left of the Jeep were parked behind a large, jagged desert hill, at least twenty feet high above them and more than thirty feet broad. "Max and I will take one side of it, Tess, you take the other and, erm, pick one of the guys to help you lookout there."

Tess smiled faintly. "Okay, Valenti, you're with me. Once again."

Alex nodded, "I guess that leaves me as rear lookout, just in case they try something really sneaky like circling around and attacking us from the opposite direction to town."

"Uhh, yeah," Max agreed. "Don't do anything risky, man, okay?? If you see something, just shout loudly enough that we can hear and get yourself under any kind of cover you can." Alex nodded.

"Umm, Max," Kyle shifted his eyes back and forth slightly. "I took this from my dad's cabinet back home." From the waistband of his jeans, where it had been hidden by an oversized t-shirt, he brought out a large automatic pistol. "Just in case."

Max looked at the gun and shuddered slightly. "Put it away," he suggested. "Remember what Courtney said about these guys... gunshots hardly phaze them, unless you can manage to hit the seal from behind them."

"Still, it's got serious stopping momentum," Kyle protested. "Could buy Tess a moment in which to counterattack." But he tucked the gun back away despite his own objections.

Liz waited as Max peered very carefully around the edge of the concealing rocky hill, and then turned back. "What did you see?"

"It looks like several of the perimeter guards from this area are meeting up to form a search party. Probably they've been ordered to figure out if anybody else was waiting wherever the hoverJeep came from." He took a deep breath. "There was another group coming out from the town in this general direction... not clear if they're also going to come after us or just replace the others on guard duty."

"I think that they'd probably leave the same number of people on the established perimeters, or more," Alex suggested. "To make sure and catch the intruders on their way out, or yet more reinforcements trying to come in."

"Well, right now, our job is to take out this group before they get too close," Tess pointed out. "Max?"

Max thought about it. "Yeah. We'll wait until they're within seventy feet or so of the rock, though. I'll give you a count of three, Tess."

"Got it." They waited as the enemy aliens moved closer, cautiously but at a decent clip. "Three, two --" After one had gone by silently, on the count of zero he halfway dodged out from behind cover and aimed for the lead Skin. He had alredy prepared his weapon... a little cylinder floating in his cupped hand, crystalized air with its optical properties carefully modified. Now Max oriented that miniature tube, concentrated, and an intense beam of indigo laser light speared out towards his enemy, catching her in the midsection, which was bare because this particular skin was wearing a cut-off blouse that clashed incongrously with her hard-edged thirtysomething face.

Several things were happening at once. The rock near Max was shaking and making an ugly rumbling sound. A baseball-sized globe of intense yellow fire slammed into the ground amidst the skins, setting two of them ablaze. One skin in a fiftyish-man suit counterattacked the source of the fireball - which had to be Tess - throwing back a jagged fork of what looked like green electrical potential.

After maintaining the laser for about four seconds, (the target he had hit seeming fixed in place, unable to throw herself aside in an attempt to escape the terrible beam,) there was a slight rippling all across her body, and then she melted into a curtain of silver dust. Those same two skins were still trying to put out the flames licking at their clothes, but neither of them seemed to have been hurt badly yet.

A giant stone bigger than Max's head dropped from the shuddering crags above him, but he was able to dodge it easily, ducking back out of sight, and the shaking stopped quickly. Max took a moment to check and make sure that Liz was alright, and to call over a quick query to Tess about her own status. "Yeah, doing alright," she replied panting. "That lightning bolt was scary, but not aimed particularly well. You've got the edge on me though, fireball was kinduv a bust huh."

"Yeah," he agreed, trying to decide on his own offensive strategy. The laser beam had worked once -- did that mean it was a good tactic to repeat instantly, or switch to a new attack form in case someone had prepared a laser defense?

He dodged out again and fired the laser beam again... and yelped as it was reflected back nearly into his own shoulder. The skin guy he'd been aiming at had indeed developed a defense... in an instant he'd turned the air in front of him mirror-reflective. Max had been hoping that they wouldn't expect him to be that predictable, but maybe they had guessed at the practical reasons for repeating the same attack: that the energy to construct the laser tube in the first place had already been spent, and it had been proven effective, while another tactic might prove to not have the necessary teeth.

Another skin shot a nondescript energy burst at him, but Max didn't dash for cover, instead letting the laser tube vanish and concentrating on another attack that Courtney had mentioned to him. Attempting to focus on a handful of nitrogen molecules in the air near him, he went through the motions of pushing them. If the weight of the particles was low enough, he should be able to accelerate them close to lightspeed, with results...

The 'mirror' skin, who Max had been aiming at, practically exploded, his body erupting into small tongues of flame, expanding gas, and scattered pieces that faded into ash. Grinning despite the fact that the wind had been knocked out of him, Max turned to the energy bolt skin and blew him away similarly. He tried to blast the one who had thrown lightning at Tess, but the exertion was too much, and suddenly everything was fading to murky darkness before his eyes, and his knees buckled underneath the weight he was supporting, sending him sprawling onto his rear end.

Panic swam through Max's mind -- even though he wasn't presenting a huge target, (going down low was always a good way of avoiding enemy fire it seemed, and his body had done that for him,) there might still be danger, and he had no clear notion of the route to take. Was the shelter of the rocky hill to his left, or more in the direction his feet were pointing? It all depended on how much his body had twisted as it fell, and he had no way of telling that now, blinded by the backlash.

In only a moment, it seemed, smooth warm hands were touching his neck and the side of his head. "Max!! Max, can you hear me?"

It was Liz's voice. "Careful!" he blurted out automatically, and felt a knee or leg resting next to the side of his waist. "I'm a little dizzy and, err, and can't see very well just for the moment. Probably tried to shoot that particle blaster off too many times in a row. Liz, where's the hill?"

"Come on." She helped him up so smoothly and effectively Max hardly even realized what was happening until she was leading him off a little to the left of whichever way he had stood up facing. Max could feel soft and slightly tickling brown hair falling across his neck and collarbone, and was very aware of the quiet flowery-ness of Liz's perfume. By the time she sat him up against a rock face, his vision was noticeably starting to clear. "What did I miss?"

"I nearly nailed one of them with a plasma burst," Tess growled, "except his friend shielded at the last moment. There's only two left now, but they're digging in behind cover for the moment, like we did. Could get messy."

"They have to take the offensive sometime," Liz pointed out. "Like that shooting tag game. If they can't press home an attack in time, we win by default."

"Except that if they're in position right there, they might be able to ambush Michael, Isabel, and Courtney on their way back," Tess put in. "I don't like that. Maybe we can find some way of drawing them out?"

"Well, Evans has killed three of them so far," Kyle pointed out. "If he breaks cover, they may be compelled to take a chance on attacking him... and then he can throw up his own green deflector field and Tess gets a free shot."

"Who told you about my shield, Kyle?" Max grumbled sourly. "Anyway, there's one big problem with that plan, which is I don't think my shield stops everything. If they try a particle blast, say, I might get toasted." That was something that Courtney had mentioned about the particle blasts... they were almost impossible to block off. She hadn't mentioned the energy drain side effect, or maybe her power reserves were high enough to not feel it.

"Well, do you have any other ideas?" Tess asked.

"Hmmm." Max thought about that, and stood up. Already his muscles seemed strong again, (though his skin was a little sore from the tumble,) and the desert landscape around him was sharp and clear. Once more he crept around the rocky hill, scanned the terrain... and jumped back, mumbling a string of nonsense words that weren't quite profanities when a fierce stinging heat bit into his arm. Once he was safe under cover again, Max looked down at his arm... the sleeve of his shirt had been burnt in a fairly neat little circle, about as big around as his finger, and underneath the skin was red and blistered. Must have been a laser of some sort...

But Max had seen what he needed to see. "Okay, Tess, you ready to duck out and do some pickup shooting when I give you the word? I don't think they'll be paying you any attention."

"Umm, okay, but I don't see..." Tess' voice trailed off uncertainly.

Max was already concentrating on what he needed to do, focusing his energy... and almost immediately he felt the same strain as before. Impulsively he reached out to grab Liz's hand and felt a connection to her... and also felt very strongly that there was something deep in her mind that she was walling off, something she didn't wan to let him in to see. What was that about??

But right now was not the right time to worry about such a thing. Max sent a brief impression of what he had planned, and Liz threw her own effort into it, feeding him raw power and helping to shape the process as well as she could.

Between their free hands - Max's right and Liz's left, because their other hands were still clasped together - a floating ball of unearthly blue fire began to develop and grow. Not just simple flame, Max knew: this was a high-energy plasma. Once the ball was big enough and hot enough, Max mentally pictured what he had seen on the other side of the rock. The two remaining skin guards had found a kind of rough split or cut in the desert floor, maybe four and a half feet deep and a foot and a half wide, and were using this as a sort of battle trench. As powerful as this plasma ball was, they could probably build a defense to block it if tey had enough seconds to work, so...

Max guided Liz in sending the charge off on its way, deliberately lofting it too high, too far, and off to one side. That way, they won't be worried until, wait for it...

All of a sudden Max pulled the plasma back a little altering its course drastically. If he had worked out all the angles right, it would appear to come rocketing right out of the sun's glare - and here in Arizona, the sun's glare was something quite intense. There was a crash and some frightened screams, and Tess dashed out of cover, firing off a violet laser again and again. "Got 'em!!"

"Yeah!!" Alex called out from the rear guard position, and there was a little cheering. Max wanted to sweep Liz up into his arms and kiss her, but she had made him promise not to make any so blatant displays of affection while Tess was around. (Sigh.) Only Kyle didn't seem quite caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment.

"What's bugging you, Kyle?" Max asked.

"Um, I'm not quite sure," he admitted. "Just a vague sense that... that something is terribly wrong, that the greatest danger is yet to come..."

"For us?" Liz asked. "Well, if those guys weren't the real threat, then..." She scanned the landscape, and jumped slightly in shock when something seemingly appeared in front of her eyes.

It was a huge vehicle, like a car or a jeep, except it had to be wider than an Interstate lane. Had to be an Army Hummer, or something like that. With a sick feeling in her stomach, Liz mentally traced the sequence of events... while the guards were sent on foot over the most direct route, this monster had been driven out over a rough track leading from town ino the desert... a path too bumpy for the Jeep, that they hadn't noticed. With a mindwarp and the distraction of a firefight, they'd made it into close quarters unopposed.

Several figures were getting out of the hummer now... young men, one very lovely young woman. All carrying alien-looking devices that were probably weapons. And then there was an older, matronly woman who seemed incongrous holding her blast rifle or whatever, but Liz's blood ran cold. It could only be Ida Crawford -- the second most dangerous skin in Copper Summit.

And if Ida had known where to come and find them... then what on earth had Michael, Isabel, and Courtney gotten themselves into??!

----------

"Umm... in there."

Michael shot a quick look over at Isabel. "She's inside?" A quick nod, with long blonde hair falling to and fro. Michael shrugged. "Okay, well at least it's cover." He pulled the hoverjeep into the structure Courtney had indicated, a large suburban-style garage with its center space unoccupied by a vehicle, and the car door wide open. A few seconds was long enough to set what was left of the vehicle down, a sudden relief from the slight strain of channeling power to keep it airborne, and then Michael jumped out to hit the door control. One sharp word from Isabel stopped him from pressing it, at the last moment. "Why 'no'?" he replied, confused.

"Umm, because we're hiding in plain sight, captain," another voice came, from a sitting figure that Michael hadn't quite noticed yet. Courtney, of course. "If you close the door, it'll suddenly occur to people that this is someplace sensible to search. But with the door open, who would bother? Only an idiot would hide here without closing the door."

"Umm, I think I'd agree with that assessment," Michael shot back with a wry smile, coming over to crouch next to Court. She seemed to be unhurt, if possibly very tired, and had something very interesting resting next to her.

"Of course, the double fake-out might not work as well if it weren't for the low-level mental field the two of us are pumping out," Isabel admitted with a groan. "For all of their discipline and paramilitary organization, the Skins are basically a mob in this context... and mobs can be very easy to manipulate on a subconscious level, because every stimulus you put into an individual mind gets repeated and magnified by the interpersonal interactions of the mob. Unless someone penetrates what we're doing here, no-one will think of looking for us in here."

"Umm... yeah, I see," Michael repeated, still staring with a great and slightly strange fascination at what could only be Courtney's skin.

It looked like... well, more than anything it looked like a 'teenage girl' suit, like from one of those cartoon shows where a gigantic chicken unzips the chicken suit and becomes a person, and then the person unzips a person suit and becomes a bear or so on -- except that there was no visible zipper. The straight blonde hair and pale pinkish skin seemed entirely lifelike and healthy, (except that the skin was missing some expressive quality,) but the entire affair was obviously only a miniscule fraction of an inch thick at most.

The skin was dressed up in fairly typical Courtney clothes... black t shirt, pale blue denim skirt, sandals and a thin gold chain around its wrist. The husk had been placed fairly carefully beside her, but not laid out flat, so that it folded up in several layers... lower legs, upper legs, lower torso, upper torso, head, with the arms folded seperately at the sides. The 'head' was face down against the skin's upper chest, and Michael was just as glad of that now, suspecting that the sight would be far too creepy. Courtney had mentioned that she saw the world through her own eyes instead of artificial eyes that were a part of the skin... did that mean that the Husk just had eyeholes where hers popped out? What would the empty nose and mouth look like?

Something about seeing the husk that they had come for like this was fundamentally disquieting to Michael... he had been starting to come to terms with his attraction to Courtney, but what he saw of her, physically was almost entirely the husk, and it didn't look nearly so pretty like this. Then again, were humans or hybrids fundamentally any different except that their skins didn't come off to make the point so clearly? When he looked at Maria, he still only saw what was on the outside, her clothes, her skin, her hair, and none of these things were really attractive in and of themselves, divorced from the entire physical body.

You had to make decisions about people as a whole... and not just in terms of the physical, when it came to that. He had to weigh what he'd learned about the person inside Courtney's suit... especially in her case, since the skin deep impression was kind of a mask, not a real body that was grown from her own DNA and requiring upkeep and detailed grooming. (Or maybe it did that last... Michael wasn't sure.) Real skin grew and changed as its owner lived out his or her years, but Courtney's didn't -- it stayed almost exactly as it had been originally designed, just like the rest of the skins. That kind of made it hollow, and not just in a play-on-words sense. (But still pretty, a voice inside Michael's head kept insisting.)

"Okay, err, well, do we have to hide hear for any longer??" he muttered, putting aside that whole area of speculation as firmly as he could. "We're here now, Court, we've got... well, not quite wheels, but better than wheels, we've got hoverJeep! And so... you want to wait until the other Skins are toast, don't you??" He could tell that much, somehow, from Courtney's face.

"Pretty much. Think of it this way... the panic and confusion, the mob scene out there will get twenty times as bad when the Skins feel their husks start to die, and that is our best chance for getting out of here in one piece now. And if it looks like they discovered the sabotage doohickey and disarmed it, then I can try shooting a plasma fireball in through the doors as we zoom by. Probably the only chance we'll have in that eventuality, and it shouldn't increase the risk much."

Michael considered it, turned to Isabel, who shrugged a little nervously, and sighed. "Okay. How much longer do we have to wait??"

"Patience, captain."

"How about you don't call me that?"

Courtney just smiled slightly.

----------

Max stared in some kind of dull horror at the new Skin party for a moment. The first batch had seemingly taken all the effort hat he and Tess could summon up to defeat, and they were both exhausted... presumably the humans were feeling some fatigue too. And these new enemy aliens looked tougher and better prepared for the fight.

Which meant that it kinduv surprised him more than anyone when Kyle and Alex, (who were close to the Skins on either side, the way it worked out,) took only a few seconds before charging towards the enemy, screaming impressive battle cries as they went.

Time seemed to be moving more slowly as Max watched. The two skins that his friends were charging seemed even more surprised about it than he'd been. For the first few seconds, they didn't even react in their own defense, putting all of their attention on Max and Tess. They must figure humans can only be a distraction, Max realized vaguely. That Alex and Kyle are just supposed to divert their attention away so the two of us can blast through their defences. (If only we had had time to plan something like that.) But Max smkiled a little to himself... underestimating the humans might be a really big mistake for these Skins, one that just might shift the balance back to the Roswell gang.

Max thought of reaching out for Liz's hand again, to make a connection and have her power to draw on, but realized he wasn't sure at that point what to do with anybody's power, even his own, and he didn't want to do anything to make Liz a target until he'd figured that part out. Kyle had delivered an impressive punch to the face of one of the Skins, while Alex wasn't even bothering with violence per se and instead did his best to yank the alien weapon out of the hands of another Husk-man. Now, the skins were finally starting to realize that these little human boys did actually represent a threat, if not quite the same kind of danger they'd be anticipating. One other alien helped the two who had been accosted, leaving only Ida maintaining the staring contest, (though she was intimidating enough, Max figured, for three of them, and he wished that Michael and Isabel were there.) Alex was kicking his guy in the shins and circling away from the other alien now staring at him, while Kyle had apparently recognized the strategic value of the blaster guns and was trying to imobilize one of the arms of his chosen target. The two of them tripped against an unseen rock and tumbled, a tangle of hostility and grappled limbs, until they landed next to the fourth Skin, the pretty girl, who smiled in a definitely non-pretty way.

Alien number three had now brought his rifle down to his side and was pointing at Alex with his right palm -- the same 'blasting posture' that Max and his friends used. Alex was trying to keep alien number two, the one he was struggling with, between him and number three, but it was apparent that he couldn't keep that up for long. Something had to be done to help him out -- now.

But Max hesitated. The second he used his powers to intervene in this fight, he knew, Ida Crawford would make his move. Max couldn't shoot the guy who was trying to shoot Alex, and defend himself time. If he tried to attack Ida first, she would shield, and then wait for her moment to counterattack.

Something seemed to be happening, though. Aliens three and four were looking around, suddenly frightened of something, looking for cover. The ones that Alex and Kyle were fighting with seemed oddly distracted too. Ida was aware of this sudden diversion affecting her troops, but seemed puzzled by it. So was Max, for a moment.

And then he spotted Tess, and realized what had happened. She had been biding her time, and created a convincing illusion just when nobody would think to question it. And she hadn't tried to deceive Ida herself, (perhaps she had too strong a mental defense,) but counted on her being temporarily being nullified in confusion at her henchlings acting so strangely. For an instant, Max caught a bit of the mindwarp, or thought he did -- Michael up on top of the rocky hill, sitting in some giant alien weapon bigger that a battlement machine gun, firing on all of the Skins.

Max smiled to himself and capitalized on the confusion be reaching out with a bit of telepathy to finally wrench some alien guns away from their owners and give them to his friends. Alex quickly took a step and a half back, aimed, and pressed the switch that looked most like a trigger. With a belch of blue energy, that alien was no more, and Alex swung out and zapped number three out of existence as well. Kyle had to bash his skin in the head several times with the butt of the rifle before he could scramble free, and he hesitated before pulling the trigger. ZZAPPP!

Two left, and several seconds had elapsed by now since the guns had changed hands. Kyle turned to fire at the pretty-girl evil alien, but Max called out a 'NO!' just in time to stop him from firing. With a sour look, Kyle stepped backwards a few paces, still keeping his weapon pointed at the girl. Alex's was facing the vague direction of Ida... not aimed directly at her because that culd be considered a very threatening gesture, but not very far away from a lock either.

Max was weighing the factors involved... almost literally, not as in the usual metaphor of a careful and logical analysis... instead he felt as if he were himself a scale, drifting slowly to a conclusion simply from the pressures around him. Ida and her little friend would be desperate and take chances now, after seeing the other three destroyed so quickly. Max didn't particularly want to do anything that could precipitate a panicked counterattack, but they had to take action at some point, and do the right thing.

To begin with, Max shot a tender smile over to Liz and suggested that she should go over and stand with Tess. Liz was surprised at that for a few seconds, but went... by this point she knew that he wouldn't have made that call if he didn't have a pretty good reason. In this case, Max knew he was about to do something a little dangerous and didn't want Liz to take on any of the risk of it. She'd be about as safe as possible with Tess, no matter how many unresolved issues the two girls still had.

Tess was glaring fiercely at Ida now, her mindwarp power off for the moment, so Max spared only a second of attention on the older-seeming woman before turning to the young and pretty skin... her mid-auburn hair was flying back and forth dramatically in a sudden desert wind, but he didn't waste any attention on that. Carefully, every muscle in his body tensed for sudden movement, he shot off a fairly low-power energy bolt at the girl, just to see what her reaction would be.

Something a little like a column of silver appeared in place of the girl, or outside of her perhaps, completely blocking her off from view. The bolt ricocheted off the column surface and flew straight back towards Max, but he was able to send it down to impact harmlessly in the ground.

Suddenly something else streaked out towards the reflective column... a steady beam of blueish light. Kyle had somehow altered his gun to shoot a steady laser ray, and he was bouncing it off the edge of the column as he saw it, so that it wouldn't come anywhere near him when it reflected.

"How did you do that, Kyle??" Alex asked.

"Umm... there's a settings slider on the left side of the stock," Kyle said. "Second notch from the front... got a little symbol that looks kinda like the hellmouth head on 'Buffy'..."

"Ohh, yeah okay, got it." Alex smiled and fired out a beam of his own. Slowly the column contracted, so that the two guys had to adjust their aim to still hit it.

Suddenly Max had another bad feeling. "Cease fire!!" It was only just in time. As the two blue rays suddenly winked out, the column changed shape, suddenly sporting several concave arcs linked together. If the boys had kept firing, their beams would have been caught in one of those concavities and reflected back to them, even though they'd been firing off-center.

It was his turn to finish this, Max realized, and took a deep breath. He narrowed his focus for the particle blast to as few molecules as possible, hoping to accelerate them with enough force that nothing in that shield could block any of them. (And even if a few did get reflected back, hopefully they wouldn't be enough to seriously hurt Max.) He took a deep breath and let the blast go.

The reflective pillar winked out as suddenly as it appeared, the pretty girl slumping over a bit before her husk and body disintegrated.

And just in that moment Ida took action, shoving Max off balance and shooting a tight burst of energy at Liz, who dived out of the way. Ida seemed to be having trouble finding her, and Max realized that Tess had cloaked her rival in a mindwarp of nothingness, making her invisible, the same way as she had once done it for him, and the same way as Ida had done it for the Hummer and her team.

She had cloaked herself as well, Max guessed, but not well enough. Grinning sadistically, Ida oriented slowly on the spot where Tess stood, and shot off a ball of plasma, roaring with the energy it contained and glowing a sickly yellow-green color. Tess tried to avoid it, but she didn't have her full mobility while still trying to keep up the mindwarp. Max put up his shield just a fraction of a second too late, after the charge had already streaked through the space he was walling off, and it followed Tess, streaming into her upper torso and exploding, knocking her several yards away, setting her clothes ablaze, and badly burning about half of her flesh.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Husk Funeral
Part Nine

Despite the sudden horror of the attack on Tess, Max knew instantly what needed to be done. He hoped intently that she was alright, or at least, that the spunky blonde girl wasn't dead and wouldn't die before he could take care of Ida Crawford.

Liz was slouched down against the rocky ground, where she had flung herself to avoid Ida's first blast... she probably hadn't even seen Tess get hit. She was also on the same side of Max's shield as he was, only a few paces distant, and he rushed over, caught her hand in his, and let the connection re-form. Instantly Liz's energy was there, supporting and reinforcing his own, a warm and reassuring presence. Remembering the last time they had touched like this, not even fifteen minutes ago, Max remembered that Liz had been keeping some private part of her mind sealed off from the connection. Whatever that was, her mind was more open now.

And yet, Max couldn't stop to examine the question. Partly because of the danger of their situation, but also because he wanted to respect Liz's privacy as much as possible in situations like this. They both sometimes got 'flashes' from the other without meaning to either send or receive those memories, which could be awkward enough. Max had to be careful not to overstep his limits in this kind of a rapport, especially with an area that she had been keeping as a private sanctum, and probably had forgotten or been unable to protect this time. For all Max knew, she was already planning him a surprise Christmas present.

While Max was distracted for a few seconds by those private thoughts, something else had happened, he realized. Kyle was shooting an energy beam at... no, not at Ida, but past her, close enough to startle her or make contact with a proximity defense field, but angled off to the side so a reflection from a straight or convex shield wouldn't rebound back on Kyle.

"No, that's too risky!!" Max shouted, and dropped his own shield. Deflector fields didn't have to follow those simple shapes, as the Skin girl's convex cylinders had shown. Even that wouldn't hit Kyle on the rebound, the way his beam was angled down slightly, but if Ida could create an...

"AAHHYE!" Kyle howled and dropped his weapon, burned... Max couldn't tell exactly where, on his left lower abdomen or left hip maybe. Not as badly wounded as Tess was, but... Ida Crawford had done exactly what Max had worried about, or nearly -- she had created a floating spheroid concave deflector shield. Either not a perfect spherical segment or not oriented precisely, or the return beam would have gone back into the laser's muzzle. But this had been maybe more effective that that. At least it hadn't hit Kyle's face, or upper chest, or the family jewels.

As quickly as possible Max shot off a quick burst of kinetic force, one strong enough to floor Ida if it hit her. But, as he had suspected, Ida went on the defensive, cloaking herself in a tight cloud of rippling violet energy. Since she was smart enough to learn from the failures of her comrades, Max realized that this defense was probably tight and strong enough to bounce a particle blast back towards him, hard enough to kill.

He'd have to hope that quick, decisive assault could batter down her shield. Drawing on Liz's strength again, Max sent as much electrical energy at Ida as he could. His arcs of yellow-white lightning were pushed away by the violet shield, but Max thought he could feel the shield strength weakening. Again and again he blasted, feeling that the energy he and Liz had to spend on this also going down. If Ida could outlast both of them, then... he refused to let himself think about that.

All of a sudden something happened, and Max wasn't sure what immediately. A wave of sound and bright light from Ida's direction... had she found some way to launch an attack through her own shield?

No... or at least if so, it had backfired spectacularly. There had been some kind of explosion in the desert ground right behind where Ida had been standing... her shield was still there, but now the purplish energy was pulsing and thrumming erratically as it surrounded a body that was pretty much flat on the ground. Grinning fiercely, Max shot out with the lightning, and this time the shield shuddered and strained. Another shot blinked the force field out altogether.

For a second he and Liz stared down at the Skin woman... looking pretty much like anybody's grandmother who had lost her cane and taken an undignified tumble. Yet she was still dangerous... incredible powers building up again in her body for a counterattack. Max's own reserves were low -- he had no viable alternative but to 'finish her off.' (So much killing they'd had to do already today...)

He was in the middle of pondering how best to do the deed when someone else spared him the trouble. Roaring with pain and fury, Kyle Valenti dashed over towards where Ida lay, carrying the heavy blaster weapon backwards, and swung the heavy, blunt butt of the weapon down on the small of her back, which was conveniently targetable because of the way she had fallen. Ida just had time to shoot him a condescending look, like 'who do you think you are, to kill me so? If I die, I'm to be killed by one of my own kind.' And then her body exploded into messy, gritty little fragments.

"Th-thanks guys," Liz blurted out, her hand still in mine but the connection had been dropped, between Ma surprise at Kyle's actions and the fact that there was apparently no pressing need for it. It was about then that Max realized Alex must have used his blaster to create that explosion that knocked Ida off balance.

Kyle looked up from where he had squatted after clubbing the enemy warrior grandma. "Tess. Max, you have to help her -- the way you helped me."

Max took a deep breath, reminded of Tess' predicament again. Of course he had to try to heal her... he might be the only one who could save her... and after she had gotten hurt doing everything she could to protect her 'rival,' Liz. But Max was far from looking forward to the experience.

It wasn't that he really wanted something bad to happen to Tess, or even for her to disappear from his life without complications... not even after all the trouble she'd been. But healing required a very intimate connection... and the more badly hurt the subject was, or the more danger there was, the closer a contact would be required. And Max had spent several months now avoiding getting too close to Tess Harding, partly because Liz got twitchy about his relationship with her... destiny, past life, whatever one called it. She was worried, maybe, that he'd find something stronger than what he already felt for Liz.

Max didn't think that could ever happen. But it was just creepy to get to know Tess when she apparently hadn't let go of her fixation on him. Still, there wasn't any choice, and time could be slipping away while Max was sitting her soaking up the angst.

One detail was at least as important, thouh, if not more so. "All of you, grab those guns and resume cover behind the rock," he ordered, indicating the gun loose on the ground, and Liz hurried over to get it. Max risked a very careful look out towards town... yeah. "They've re-established the guard perimeters, thicker than before on this side of town. Not going after us, so I expect they're hoping to catch Michael, Izzie and Court on their way back out. You three have to do what you can to make sure that that doesn't happen. While Tess is down and I'm focusing on making sure that she stays alive, we won't have any true alien abilities on our side. Just those little toys."

"Don't worry about us, or about the invasion team," Alex told him. "We'll see them out safely - trust in that. Just concentrate on your own work, Healer."

"Um, right." Max turned to smile at Liz... and gasped as they connected again. He had *not* been trying to initiate that... had Liz done it herself, or was it just something that happened on its own, like the flashes.

It wasn't quite like any other Connection Max had experienced. The desert dayscape around them seemed to vanish, and he saw himself with Liz... in the Jeep, driving through the evening dusk. He recognized the scene... just minutes before they had arrived at the Gomez concert in Santa Fe.

"I can tell that you're nervous, Max," Liz said, her words only taking the briefest part of a heartbeat, he dimly realized. "Because healing me was what started the two of us on the journey towards being together... maybe you're scared that the same thing could happen again, no matter what you feeel right now."

"Oh, boy," Max breathed. He hadn't even thought of it in those terms consciously. Sure, he had been deeply in love with Liz before that day in the Crashdown... but she hadn't -- she'd been with Kyle. Still... "This is what I have to do now. If you and I have faith in each other and hold on, we'll be okay no matter what the world throws at us."

"Yeah, I really think we will," Liz agreed. And then she was climbing onto his lap, (which would have been scary if he'd actually been driving, as opposed to remembering driving,) and kissed him passionately. It was as beautiful and exquisite as any physical kiss between them had ever been, and it was also something more.

The connection dropped away, and Max realized that Liz had again added her energy reserves to his... not working together while the connection was active to accomplish a common goal, but draining most of her reserve fuel to partially replenish his. Max's own power had been tested to its limits again and again this afternoon, and he'd need more power, better 'Balance' to make sure that curing Tess would go alright. Liz had helped him on a few things, but her own human energy had been in better supply, and she wouldn't need that much to keep guard and fire a weapon. He smiled in silent acknowledgement for the real sacrifice she had made, and hurried over to where Tess lay.

She really was in bad shape - her simple clothes and hair charred, skin red, scarred and scabbed, pulling away from the flesh underneath it in places, and Max's stomach lurched in distaste. Tess' fingernails in particular caught his attention, showing green and blue in a way that he suspected was an inhuman reaction to the injuries she'd received. But he knelt down next to her and got straight to work... first cooling the burnt skin and the air around Tess as much as he could with a few moment's effort of power, and then stretching his hands out, less than an inch from her torso.

Courtney's connection techniques came in useful here too. Rather than having to look into Tess' eyes, (which seemed to be swollen shut,) or touch her skin, which could lead to further damage, Max only needed to concentrate and her body was linked to his. There was a lot to do... some subtle but severe heat damage to take care of inside Tess' internal organs and brains first, and then more intense reconstruction to begin on the surface flesh and skin. In the dilated, disconnected time of the healing, it seemed to take over an hour.

And, as he had expected, Max did get images and memories from Tess' mind... and they somehow hadn't quite been what he had expected. A brief impression of coming out of the pod, all alone... of letting someone into the pod chamber and leaving with him. And then, some somewhat clearer memories and scenes of growing up, in a couple of different cities... of Nasedo taking care of her, but also training her in taking care of herself in ways that would have been extremely unusual for a human kid so young. As soon as he thought she was ready, Nasedo was leaving her alone for hours and then days, telling her when he'd be back, where to go and what to say in case of an emergency, but never what he was doing.

It must have been so lonely and scary for Tess to grow up like that, Max realized as he was trying to restore some damaged stomach muscle tissue. She had been just like any other little girl, except not sure of where she came from... wanting reassurance and security and a place to belong as much as Max and Isabel had in their first few years with their parents. And Nasedo hadn't known how to give her any of that, or hadn't cared. He'd taken care of Tess' physical and practical needs, but her emotional wants had been a blank to him... because he didn't have that kind of emotional awareness?? Or because Nasedo had repressed all of his emotions other than hatred and anger, the ones that would help him carry on his war against the special unit?

As far as that went... why had Nasedo taken on the role of Tess' father himself? He could have placed her into social services in some far distant state and made sure that she'd be safe and well treated, Max guessed. That would have given him more time for his own missions. Except... had he thought that it was important for at least one of them to be trained in using their alien powers, perhaps? And chosen Tess because she'd emerged from the chamber last, because she hadn't gone off and found people but essentially waited for him to come and find her?

Max didn't find any more answers, and the work of healing got more difficult as his energy reserves drained again... but suddenly it was done, or nearly so. A few scars and rough patches remained, but Tess could probably deal with those herself once she had a moment to collect herself, and the rest of her skin was smooth and healthy once again. Max hadn't restored the burnt off hair... (that was dead matter, not subject to the healing talent per se,) but he'd taken a moment to cut it off by breaking the molecular bonds where a hair went from undamaged to charred, so that what hair she left was still pale gold, if much to short in places, uneven and ragged. Tess groaned and sat up, then blushed, realizing that her burnt clothes had fallen away with her movement, and Max was looking away to avoid getting too much of an eyeful.

"Oh, ummm..." Tess looked around, waved a hand towards the pile of stuff that Michael had taken out of the Jeep, and a blanket flew up into the air and towards her... the same blanket, actually, that Max and Liz had lain on and kissed, that incredible night out in the desert when they'd found the alien Orb. Tess kept the blanket covering her as she sat up, and it morphed and changed into a kind of tunic-dress. "Don't worry, I'll get you a new one. What's the situation??"

"Umm, well, last I knew, we weren't under attack, and Kyle, Alex, and Liz are getting ready to lay down covering fire as soon as we see the hoverJeep coming back out of town. There were some dull booming sounds, and a stray energy burst flew through the air above their heads. "Maybe they saw it."

"Yeah, we got action," Kyle called back towards them... he was the closest to where Max and Tess were. "Michael just started his run in the hoverJeep... looks like Courtney is giving him a defense field. We have something like nine enemies in the middle, arranged in two cordons."

"Alright, then it looks like I should join in," Tess said, standing up all the way and stepping towards Kyle. "Distract and deceive."

"Are you sure you're up for it so soon?" Max asked, smiling a little awkwardly at her. "That was a serious hit you took."

"I feel fine," she assured him. "You do good work, doc. Now I guess it's time for me to do some."

Max was exhausted enough that he lost track of time a little after that. The next thing he remembered clearly was Liz rushing back, tossing her gun into the back seat of Tess' car, and hugging him excitedly. As Max looked around he could see that the Jeep was back, and Michael was starting to get ready to put its wheels (and such) back on. It slowly penetrated that something was wrong with Isabel.

"She didn't get like that until we were nearly out of town," Courtney was saying, as Tess examined Max's sister. She seemed listless and unresponsive, and there was some kind of white cloudiness over the surface of her eyes, nearly hiding the brown irises and black pupils. "She was working really hard, distracting the Skins who were looking for us, and..."

"She's overspent her power," Liz said, her face paling again with shock. "Umm... did we bring any of the healing stones?"

"Dammit, I knew there was something we forgot," Tess muttered under her breath. Max noticed that Kyle was moving an awkward bundle from the Jeep into the trunk of Tess' car.

"Your skin?" Max asked Courtney, and she jumped a little in surprise at the change of subject, and nodded. "Did you ruin the rest of them??"

"Yeah, so we'd better get the hell out of here, by Valenti's route," she suggested. "I'm worried about Isabel too, but we're all going to be in trouble if we don't..." she cut off, surprised by something.

Without speaking, Alex had come over to where Isabel still sat in the back of the Jeep, leaned against her quiet body and put his arms around her. To Max's utter astonishment, there was a kind of shining golden radiance that surrounded both of them for maybe ten seconds, and Isabel stirred, shaking her head. When she looked up towards Alex and Max, her eyes were perfectly clear.

"What happened??" she asked, her voice sounding a little scratchy and rough.

"You pushed it a little too close," Max said. "Maybe we all did, this time, but we got the job done. Let's boot it."

----------

There was no sign of pursuit or counterattack by the time both cars managed to find their way back to the interstate, and they gathered round in the concrete field next to a small gas station just south of Lebanon Arizona, as Liz called in to tell Maria that everyone was all right, that the mission had been accomplished, and to ask about anything Maria might have to tell any of them.

Liz hung up. "Well??" Michael asked.

"Well, for starters, we missed some interesting TV while fighting for our lives," she replied. "When the county baliffs finally got to the funeral service... well, from what Maria said, it looks like Greer disintegrated Whittaker's husk right there. It looks more than a little suspicious, but most of the commentators are causing the 'supposed spontaneous self-destruction' of the congresswoman's last remains a hoax. Don't expect it'll cause you guys any particular trouble."

"What about... about our parents?" Isabel asked. "Speaking generally."

"She couldn't say much about that," Liz said. "I think none of them really wanted to give anything away to her, simply because they knew that she'd be giving us any pointers that she could about how to handle our return. You might try calling mister Valenti, since he talked about trying to become an inside man on our behalf... but anyway. Looks like your parents, Max, Isabel, might be disposed to reason a little, but they're still not happy with you just taking off and not telling them anything. It's a tricky situation."

"We were worried that if we said anything beforehand, they might try to stop us from going anywhere at all," Max pointed out, and Isabel nodded sadly.

"Well, we should start heading back home... it's a long drive," Alex pointed out.

"We've been at this for a long time," Kyle pointed out. "Stopping at a motel somewhere for some rest... not a full eight hours or anything, might not be the worst idea."

"We'll see," Max replied with a sigh. "By the way, Kyle, how's that laser burn?? I could look at it for you, if you..."

"No." The word was declarative enough to startle almost everybody. "Not meaning any offense, Max, but as long as it isn't a question of life or death, you know, just keep out. It hurts a little, but I'll get better in due time. Nothing to worry about."

Max took a moment, deciding whether to try another overture, then shrugged and let it go. "Same cars??" They had made an impromptu switch when hurrying away from Copper Summit... Isabel had been still a little dazed and sitting in the Jeep, and Courtney had kind of wanted to be near her hard-won trophy, her replacement skin sitting in the jerryrigged containment unit in Tess' trunk, so Courtney and Michael had gone with Kyle and Tess in the SUV, and Isabel and Alex had joined Max and Liz in the Jeep. Max was quite happy with it... it was the group he had decided was possibly 'too comfortable' for him heading out for this missing, but right now some comfort was what he really needed.

"Yeah, this seems to be working out alright," Michael put in. "Stop again in Lordsburg maybe?"

"Alright, unless we page you," Liz told him.

----------

They didn't end up stopping at a motel... pretty much everyone was tired enough to start falling asleep in the cars, (except for the people who were driving, and they coped by switching off.) Around eleven that evening, Alex was driving the Jeep, with Isabel keeping him company in the shotgun seat and Max and Liz snoozing away in the back seat. They were zooming through relatively familiar territory now -- Hondo.

"So, you didn't know that you could restore me like that?" Isabel asked for the second time. "You just, what, wanted to hold me??"

"I'm still not quite convinced that I *did* anything, no matter what the others think they saw," Alex replied with a smile. "Just glad you're okay."

Isabel nodded, accepting that, and there was a short moment of silence. "I think that once we get back to Roswell, you and I won't be able to stay in the 'commitment-free' zone any more," Iz blurted out after a second.

Alex opened his mouth to say something, but for an embarassingly long pause nothing came out, until he tried again. "So, any idea what'll happen then??"

"Not... not really. One of us has to make the first move I guess, coming out and saying what they want from the relationship. I'm willing to do that, I think... but it'll probably take me a few days to get my thoughts in order. If you beat me to it, I'll be very interested in hearing what you have to say."

Alex smiled a little, and drove on.

----------

Harding house.
Wednesday, November 1st 2000. 7:34 am.

Curled up amongst several covers, Tess reached out and stroked her fingers across Kyle's chest. "Ohhh... that was just the thing. You were... do you know how long I've been waiting for that?? To be able to take our time and really make it great?"

"Ummm..." Kyle hummed softly for a moment as he thought. "Since we left here on Saturday morning??"

Tess picked up a spare pillow and whumped him lightly on the back of the head, just for appearance's sake. "Not quite that long I guess, but nearly... and thank you so very much for Ed McMahon-ing me." Kyle looked up at her, an odd expression on his face, and then smiled a little without saying anything.

They lay like that for about a minute, and then Tess broke the silence again. "By the way, I've been thinking that maybe I should apologize again... about how I acted when all of this stuff with Courtney and Copper Summit first came up. I threw a hissy fit and now I wish that I hadn't. And... I'm really glad that you came, that you were there. You handled yourself well, pretty much, and..." She blushed, shaking her head slightly. "I'm glad that you were there looking out for me."

Kyle thought about that a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah... I think it's a good thing that I was, too."

She looked into his eyes for a few seconds. "How does your hip feel??"

"Umm... not too bad. The burning soreness has faded, which I think is a good sign, even though now my skin is itching REALLY bad and it's kinda starting to drive me nuts."

Tess pulled herself up, smiling a little. "Do you want me to see if I can do anything to help? I'm not a healer on the same scale as Max, but I have a little talent when it comes to skin... unless your manly pride won't allow any help..."

"Umm, what??" Kyle chuckled. "The macho line I gave Max yesterday in Arizona? Nah, I was just kinda covering -- didn't really want him to use his trick on me because it would've reminded me too much about, well, about nearly dying, you know. If you think you can help, go ahead."

So Tess took a closer look at the fading score mark on Kyle's hip, and passed her fingers a hair's width over the reddened skin, until the color faded and blended in with the rest of the healthy tan nearby. (It didn't escape her notice that Kyle had no tan lines in that area of his body, which brought up all kinds of questions about just what went on at football camp, which she pushed out of her mind as well as she could for the moment.) As gently as possible, she stroked the skin, looking up at Kyle for any sign of discomfort, but he smiled at her.

"Doesn't itch a bit," he said, and without warning shifted his weight forward, sweeping Tess' slight frame up in his arms and landing entwined with her on the other side of the bed. "Maybe you could, umm, could start looking out for me too. Like, next time, or whatever."

Tess thought about that, and smiled. "You can count on it." And then let out a small yawn. "Well, we'd probably better start getting dressed and ready for classes."

"What's the hurry... frankly I'm not sure I want to make homeroom." And Kyle bent down and sensually kissed Tess' earlobe, his lips stimulating the sensitive skin there in ways that Tess' couldn't think of any words to describe.

One thought did penetrate her brain as it was fogging up with passion, though. "It's really a long time till homeroom, Kyle. Do you think you can make us late with just one more go-round??" And she giggled teasingly.

"Oh, just watch me, babe." And his hands started to play over her naked body like it was a musical instrument.

-----------

Courtney's apartment
8:48 am.

"Yes, actually, thanks for asking," the blonde girl said, nodding at a young man sitting somewhat awkwardly on the only dining room chair. "There wasn't really any more efficient way to feed the premature Husk than through its interface to my own metabolism, so I changed into it practically as soon as you guys dropped me off last night." She let out a tired breath. "And ate about as much as I could right afterward -- anything I could find that was high in vitamins, protein, and fiber. This is the new me -- Courtney Brooks version two point oh." She spun around slightly. "Can you tell any difference, Michael??"

"Ummm..." He had to look at her carefully before answering. Courtney was wearing the same outfit that she had come to the big pow-wow in Whittaker's office in, Sunday morning -- black shirt, long jean skirt, but something did seem slightly different about her. A sweet kind of excitement in her face, something slightly more relaxed in the way that she moved... was that because of the new Husk?? Or maybe a change in Courtney's own mood because of the success of the mission, or a difference in Michael's perception because he'd gotten to know her a little better?

There was no way to be sure. "I'm not sure actually," he admitted, "but you look okay, certainly. How does it feel?"

Courtney made a little stretching motion. "Really, great, actually, it fits as well as my own real skin. The old one used to feel this way, until about eight years ago maybe."

Michael nodded. "That still seems weird to me... that when I was eight, or seven... as far back as I can remember, you've looked exactly like this. Just how long do Antarians live, anyway??"

"Umm... that's actually kind of a long story, and it depends on a lot of things," Courtney replied. "Not particularly unusual for some of our people to make it to, well, around one-fifty or even two hundred earth years. But while we're joined with these Husks, it affects our metabolism and cellular biology in a few ways that slow down the aging process... for as long as the Husks last, that is."

Michael nodded, accepting that. "Well, we stopped the Harvest and got you your new Skin, and that without letting Nicholas or anyone know for sure who, besides maybe you, was involved. There'll probably be a counterattack soon, and considering that a bunch of my friends got grounded for skipping school, then you, me, and Tess will probably have to pick up the slack as far as guard duty."

"Alright." Courtney nodded. "I'm used to watching for danger pretty much all the time... considering how much you guys just helped me out, I'd be happy to do that much on your behalf." Michael grinned. "There's something else I kinda wanted to tell you about, but it's weird and I'm not sure how to start."

Michael waited for a few seconds, but Courtney didn't continue. "Umm... about that kiss you gave me, just before heading into deep and freaky danger?"

"Well, connected to that, but not quite so specific." She sat down too, and Michael realized that Courtney's face was flushing pink in what seemed an extremely human reaction. "I... okay. I know that I flirted with you while I was still undercover... when neither of us really knew for sure who the other was."

"As if we really know that much about each other now," Michael said under his breath, but when Courtney looked up, it was clear from the look on his face that he'd meant the words lightly, at least in part.

"Point taken... but I was speaking in general terms. I know that you're the hybrid successor of Rath, and you know that I'm an Antarian secret agent with an unusual loyalty." She sighed. "But I never... I didn't expect to have personal feelings for Rath... for you - when I found you."

Michael smiled awkwardly and went off on a tangent, partly as a distraction and partly in the hopes of picking up background info that might be useful. "Personal feelings... do Antarians deal with them in the same way that humans do, more or less? I mean, the only full alien I've spent much time with before this was Nase -- 'Slimeballs.'" He laughed as he used Courtney's nickname for the tactless shapeshifter. "He didn't seem to be anything like human the way he handled relationships, even with Tess and with us."

"No, he wouldn't," Court agreed softly. "But he wasn't really our kind. We're not that different from humans really, Michael. From Kivar up on his ill-gotten throne to the poorest young woman begging in the streets... or fighting for those who still support the old Royals. We fall in love, and sometimes we have love fall apart when we take it for granted. We have sex appeal, we do stupid things when blinded by lust, we cherish our children and do what we can to protect them. We're probably a lot more like humans than most of us would want to admit, deep down."

Michael nodded, and paused just a moment before taking the plunge. "And you're attracted to me?" There was a long pause, and Courtney nodded. "You said you didn't expect to have feelings for the new Rath..." Michael murmured softly, wondering if he would like the answer he got to this next question. "What... what can you tell me about him? About his history, his family, all of that -- you must have known quite a lot about him before you decided that he was the right person to stop the civil war or whatever. We... well, we have a few notions about who Max and Isabel used to be, the prince turned king and the princess daughter -- but Tess and me are a little more uncertain. Depending on the social climate, just about anybody might get engaged to a princess I guess."

Courtney chuckled softly. "Well, Rath was... not from a noble family, but a 'respectable' family. His mother was a well-known scholar, an economic theorist... not a permanent court retainer, but someone that the old king... Zan's father, Zan being Max's name back then... someone that he would summon for a consultation every so often. That was kind of how Rath ended up as an occasional part of a social group set up for the children of the royal family to have peers and schoolmates without exposing them to very much danger -- along with the children of court retainers, higher-ranking members of the Royal Guard, high-born nobles from other parts of the planets, and a few others. He would have been about, erm, maybe twelve or thirteen in human terms when rumors started to spread about how amazing the foursquare that the four of them could generate was. I... I don't honestly know that much about his private life, but..."

"No, that's okay, it gives me a bit of what I want to know," Michael assured her. Hearing even rumors about how Rath and Vilandra had gotten engaged was not what he wanted to hear just at this moment.

"And I have to say," Courtney started on a new tack, "human faces still look kinda funny to me, even after all these years. Mine, yours, any of them. But I think I see past *your* skin now, to a steadfast heart and poetic soul. I... I want to explore this connection I have to you, if you feel anything at all going the other way. I..." She stifled a stray snicker. "Sorry, didn't mean to do that. I want you to teach me about love, human-style, if you're up to it."

Michael blinked. "I've only ever been in one romantic relationship, and getting it right 'human-style' was never really something I was good at," he admitted. "But yeah, I think I'm willing to give it a shot."

"Alright. Seal it with a kiss??"

"Umm... I think we'd probably better save that for another time, sorry," Michael told her gently. "We should probably start off with something slow and very traditional... movie and a bite to eat afterwards, maybe tonight. Kiss goodnight, possibly, if it goes well."

Courtney nodded, and Michael let the thought running around inside his head stay unspoken: 'What do I tell Maria about this?'

-----------

Max and Liz's bedrooms.
Wednesday evening, 9:38 pm.

"So, one day down, pretty much, and a week to go," Max said into the phone, smiling as he did. "It could have been worse."

"Yeah." The confrontation with her parents after they had gotten back home was kind of a hazy blur in Liz's mind, and she had really been worried that they'd ship her off to reform school or forbid her from having anything more to do with Max and 'his friends.' A week and a day's grounding seemed like pretty light punishment for what they'd been through, and it seemed a little odd that all four of them had gotten the same sentence - Liz, Max, Isabel and Alex. "I think they deliberately let us have a little time to get ready for the big dance next week."

"Right." There was a brief pause. "Will we... actually be able to go together?"

"Umm, let's wait a little while before worrying about that, 'kay Max?" Liz replied, hating how she had to keep putting him off like this. "See what things look like next week. I guess we'll both have enough to keep us busy until then."

"Alright," Max said. "I wanted to thank you, for everything you've done to help so far. I don't think we'd have managed this without you - any of it."

"Well, thanks I guess." Liz sighed a little. "I'm just glad that you and I are... well, even if we can't be a couple in public quite yet -- I love you so much, Max, and I'm glad that we've got as much as we've got so far."

"Me too," Max agreed. "I love you, I love you, I love you." Just as Liz was opening her mouth to ask, he added. "I even love saying it!" And that set her off giggling a little.

"Max, you're a total goofus, but somehow you make it seem sweet."

"Part of my charm," he muttered genially. "So, umm... are you in bed, Miss Parker??"

"Max!!" For a second, she was startled at the question. "I'm, well, I'm on my bed. As in sitting on the side of it. You??"

"Fully reclined position."

Liz considered it, and then lay back herself, on top of her covers, resting her head on the two stacked pillows and stretching out her full body, all the way to her feet, on the firm but giving mattress. "Okay, me too. Now what??"

"Umm... I'm not wearing much - just a t-shirt and casual shorts," Max said, his voice soft and flirtacious in her ear. Liz put a hand over her mouth in sudden humiliation. "What about you??"

"Come on, Max, we cannot do this."

"Are your parents really going to open the door and check on you?" he asked.

"Well, no, probably not, but still--"

"Listen, if you don't want to do this, that's fine," he told her. "Just don't answer the question: What are you wearing??"

Liz tried for a moment... she really tried, but couldn't fight long against a naughty impulse inside of her. "Okay, I'm still in the same stuff I was wearing to school, pretty much... jeans, a camisole top with the light blue sweater over it."

"Cool," Liz could hear Max let a quiet breath out. "Is your hair still up in that pony tail??"

"Nah, I let it down over an hour ago, when I switched from math homework to english lit," she told him. "Umm, so, what next??"

"Errr..." Max seemed to need a moment to figure out how to proceed. "I wish I was there with you. I'd lie down next to you on the bed and kiss you. Make it last as long as I can, and I can practically feel how soft and tender your tongue is, pressed gently against mine."

"Oooohh, Max," Liz giggled sexily. "I can perfectly imagine that kiss too. Mmmmmm... it feels *really* great." She sighed loudly, (though not loudly enough that anyone else would hear, if her parents had come back from the movie and were elsewhere in the apartment.) "Err, my turn now?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Okay, ummm..." Liz concentrated and tried to decide what her instinctive next move would be if Max was really there. "I'd stroke and caress your neck, and lightly brush my fingertips against your ears. How does that sound??"

"Oh, I like, I like a lot," Max told her. "My skin always seems to come alive when you touch me. Alright... I'd help you take off your sweater, and run my hand over the front of your camisole. Gently. Teasing." He chuckled to himself softly.

Without even thinking about it very clearly, Liz was pulling the sweater off and recreating the caress that Max had described with her free hand. "Ooooh... yes, that's *very* good. Umm, Max, how far do you want to go with this??"

"Well... further than this. You??"

"Umm..." She took a deep breath and what Future Max had said about them 'cementing' flashed through her head. This wasn't quite the same thing... but in some ways, it was a safe opportunity to test the waters, for the two of them to play around and enjoy themselves without getting swept away in their connection, with no risk of pregnancy or anything like that. "Okay, then no more taking it slow and teasing each other. I'd unzip your shorts and pull them down your legs, toss them aside. I'd rub the palms of my hands along your thighs, appreciating the sleek tone of your skin, and fondle that really tight and sweet rear end you keep hidden away."

For a second, all that Liz heard from Max's end of the line was heavy breathing, which brought a smile to her face. "Oooooh, that, yeah, that'd be nice. You wanna play it that way, huh??" Liz made a nonverbal affirmative sound. "Okay, then I'd pull your camisole up and over your head. Umm... wearing anything underneath??"

"Nope."

Max gasped. "Did you go to school like that??"

"Actually, no, but don't make me explain, it's not really interesting and would risk really hurting the moment. You and underpants, by the way??"

"Yeah, cotton briefs."

"Mmmm... I'd reach out and rub them. Somehow I suspect that you've got a pretty impressive bulge going by now."

"Ooooooh, but hey!! This is still my turn!"

"I didn't know -- and are you really complaining?"

He didn't answer that. "I'd reach down and lick one of your nipples, and then plant a trail of kisses all the way around it."

Liz couldn't mimic that, but the words fired up a passion within her from the sheer power of imagination, and she did what she could to simulate the experience by wetting two fingers in her mouth and caressing her own flesh with them. (The camisole had been taken off when Max said he would do so.) "Ummmmmmm... okay, yeah, that's REALLY great. Are you done your turn now??" There was a teasing lilt in her voice as she asked the question.

"Yes, my darling little vixen, please go ahead."

"I'd rip those cotton undies right off of your body and take a moment to get a really good look at your pecker. It... well, this is just my imagination, and don't bother trying to describe it please, but in my mind it looks REALLY good." Max laughed at that. "I... I'm not entirely sure what to do with it, but I'd reach out with my hands, try stroking and rubbing it, looking up at your face every so often to see what agrees with you, kay??"

"Yeah, that's nice baby, baby-doll, sweet darling," he moaned. "Try wrapping your hand around the head of it, like a cylinder, and rubbing that up and down."

"Okay, yeah, I give that a shot," Liz cooed to him. The construct of 'i would' and 'I'd' was becoming too awkward, and she was just as glad to let it fall away and speak was if all of this was stuff they really WERE doing. "Then I take my hand away," there was a plaintive sound of disappointment from Max, "and try teasing you by letting my hair fall down and brush back and forth across your lap, running it over your cock. What do you think about that??"

"I... yeah, I think that's pretty hot," he admitted. "Care to try brushing anything else up against it??"

"Ooooh, you bad boy, what could you ever be thinking of?" she taunted. "Well, umm, my girls are still right out here, completely bare-naked, their nips poking straight out and stiff because I'm just SOO excited. Do you want me to try brushing them against your hard, throbbing pole??"

"Please, ohmigawd, do you need to hear me beg for it??"

"Umm... not this time," she said giggling. "I bend down and tweak my boobs against your dick, and then, since I'm leaning down over you anyway, I try taking it into my mouth and, mmmmm... and sucking on it." She deliberately made as loud a slurping sound as she could. "Mmm, tasty."

"Liz... Liz I can't believe you just did that."

"Well, you'd better," she teased. "This is just play-acting after all -- I'm not really *there*. If you don't believe in it, then what's the point? I might just as well hang up right now."

"You know what I mean," he said. "To just... I nearly lost control."

"Well, then I'd better not do it again," she said. "Unless you'd want to return the favor and lick me out??"

"Umm..." Max took a long time to think about that. "Another time, maybe, but since we're doing it this way... I want to make love to you the traditional way." He waited a moment for her reaction, but all that came was a dreamy sigh, so he pushed the envelope. "I use my... you-know to cut apart your jeans and let the fabric fall away. You *do* have underwear on beneath those, right??"

"Umm, er..." Liz was busily trying to keep the phone to her ear while unbuckling and peeling off the tight blue fabric, since she didn't HAVE molecular manipulation powers and couldn't disrobe them that way, even if she wanted to. "Umm, yeah, I do. Silk t-backs, and DON'T do the same thing with them. Take them off the usual way."

"Alright, if you insist... I'll take the opportunity to let my fingertips stroke your legs as I go. Once you're naked I guide you into position, lying back on the bed, and I stroke your beautiful breasts and lick that sensitive spot just above your right hip, the one that makes your whole body quiver. I want to be sure that you're ready for this."

"Max, I'm ready, trust me I'm ready," Liz said, truthfully enough. "My channel is drenched and steaming, just waiting for you. Don't make me wait longer."

"Umm, okay, if you're sure." Max seemed suddenly very nervous, which struck Liz as oddly appropriate. He was a sensitive enough guy that he'd be a little reticent about their first time no matter what. "I... I stretch out my body above yours and, umm, move into position. And then, err, I push my pulsing tool into your hot crevice." A snicker escaped from Liz. "Umm, sorry about that, I wasn't sure what to..."

"No, no, it's okay," she assured him. "Don't lose the moment. I can feel your stiff dick thrusting into me, and it's triggering this flood of erotic heat that spreads throughout my body. I wrap my arms loosely around your back, pulling your chest gently down towards my breasts so that our skin is touching." Don't talk about it hurting, she tried to send telepathically. Don't talk about it hurting for me.

He didn't. "I start to thrust into your pussy, more and more insistently. I... ohhh, god that feels so good..."

"Yeah, keep at it, keep fucking me Max. I'm licking your neck and your throat..." Max was apparently so into it as to be nonverbal at this point, but Liz kept whispering sweet nothings into the phone, his muted grunts of passion enough to keep her climbing higher and higher. She didn't take many more seconds than him to get the mission accomplished either.

"Ummm..." he said after a long, slightly embarassing moment. "That was, well, that was incredible. Can't wait to, err, to see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she said, and giggled mischievously. "Maybe I'll have a surprise for you. Night?"

"Good night, and sweet dreams my love."

"After that session, not sure I'd bother. Any dreams would be an anticlimax." Liz switched off the phone and started to tidy up. There was an email waiting on her computer, and she leaned down awkwardly to read it off the screen.

"Liz: I've been thinking about it, and I think you need to tell Max about FM. Things may seem perfect now, but if you wait too long to come clean with the whole truth, he's going to be hurt. Find a way, and soon. --Alex."

Liz frowned slightly, deleted the message so there was no chance of someone else coming across it, and went over to the dresser to fetch her old flannel pajamas.

THE END.