Always With You 3:7A
Always With You Part Three by Watcher Tara
""
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Roswell.
Summary: Max and Kyle have to team up to save Liz from an unexpected threat. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang returns to Marathon, Texas looking for answers and finds more than they anticipated.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: PG
Chapter Seven
“You idiot! Do you have any idea how much trouble this school will be in if word of this gets out?!” Dean Whittier shouted at Thomas who was standing in front of his desk. “She a human!”
“She’s an alien, Dean. I’m telling you that I can prove it. Just give me a couple of days.”
“Well, I’ve seen the results of the tests you’ve done so far. If she’s an alien, she’s hiding it well. Her blood and DNA are as human as can be. Explain to me how that’s possible if she’s an alien. Explain it and maybe I won’t fire you right now.”
“I can’t, but I know that if you just give me more time… a few days at most, then I’ll be able to prove to you that I’m right.”
“I can’t believe that I let you talk me into this. Do you know how much money I’ve spent on this project of yours? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find depleted Uranium, let alone get a cage built of the stuff in just two days? A lot more than you make in a year, Harrison, that’s how much. Wait until the board of directors hears about this. I’ll be a laughingstock.” The man seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
“Dean Whittier, you’ll see. You’ll see that I was right, and everything will be fine. The last alien that my brother’s team in the FBI captured was almost completely human, too. It was his blood that gave him away.”
“But her blood is normal!” the older man yelled. “I don’t care about what the damn government did to whoever or what ever they had in custody. I’m, only interested in what you’re going to find out about the girl that you have in custody. Is that clear Harrison? I don’t want to hear about your damn brother, or the damn FBI until you have something new to tell me. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, then get the hell out of here! I have to write my resignation which is the least that the board with demand from me as soon as this gets out.”
Harrison headed for the door, his ears ringing, when the Dean stopped him. “Harrison, as soon as you find something, I want to know about it.”
“Yes sir.” Thomas walked back to his office to review the information that he had on the girl. They must be missing something. The result of the test just didn’t make any sense. He hoped that the EKG that was being performed now would show some kind of unusual brain activity. His brother assured him that it would, but then, he’d said the same thing about the blood test. As he walked, he decided to call his brother to try and get some answers.
Back in Texas, Isabel snatched up the Sword and dropped it into the sack she’d found it in. Maria and Michael were quickly packing the Healing Stones back into her bag. Alex tiptoed up the steps in an attempt to close off the passageway into the secret room. Whoever was in the house with them was rapidly approaching and they were running out of time.
Just before the panel locked shut, a voice rang out, “Michael. Isabel?”
Alex popped his head back up through the hole on the floor as the newcomer stepped into view. “Sheriff Valenti!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” He looked back down into the secret room, “Hey guys, it’s ok. It’s the sheriff.”
“Well great,” said Michael. “Just tell him that we’re all here.”
“Well, he obviously already knew.”
“Alright you two. Would you just calm down?” Isabel didn’t know why Alex and Michael had to bicker over every little thing.
“Is Maria with you?” Valenti asked.
“Yeah, Sheriff, I’m here,” she answered even as Alex nodded. The three teens followed Alex up the ladder.
Valenti was relieved that there was one crisis adverted. He gave the four AWOL kids his best Man of Authority glare until each had lowered his or her eyes. If they had more time, he would have delivered a stinging lecture to all of them about just taking off. Instead, he looked at Michael and asked, “Did you find what you came for?”
Michael didn’t answer, so Isabel answered for him. “Yeah, sheriff. We did.” She held the bag with the Sword a little tighter.
“Good, then maybe this is the last time I’ll have to follow you down here.” He knew they were running out of time and said, urgently, “Come one we’ve got to get out of here.”
They headed for the doorway as Michael asked, “What’s going on?”
As if in answer to his question, suddenly three dark colored cars pulled up in the front yard and several heavily armed men in suits piled out. They all stood frozen for an instant before Valenti said, “The FBI is on their way.” He glanced at the four frightened faces as they looked at the approaching agents. “Damn it!”
He looked around for an escape route. There was nothing. “Come on!” Michael said. He was running back toward the secret room, which had the bolthole that they’d used before.
“No, Michael,” Isabel said even as she followed him. “They know about the exit. They’ll be waiting for us at the manhole outside. We can’t go out that way.”
“Well, we can’t stay here.”
“Wait a sec. I think I have an idea. Sheriff where is your car?” Maria asked.
“Out back, next to your van.”
“Ok, Michael, can you, like, make an exit in the back wall for us to go out?”
“I think so. I’ve never tried anything like that before.” He was already moving to the back wall of the dome house.
“Wait, this’ll help.” Isabel pulled out the Sword. Everyone’s eyes went to the glowing weapon. Alex and Maria took an instinctive step back. She wound up pressing into Valenti who laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Michael looked at it for a second before taking it from her. He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to control whatever it was going to do to him, but with the agents fast approaching the door, he didn’t have time for doubts. Resolutely, he took up the Sword and slipped it over his large wrist. As it had with Isabel, it sized itself for a more comfortable fit.
He stoked up his powers, and they grew at incredible proportions. The room crackled with static electricity, so much that Isabel’s hair lifted and floated around her head. He was filling with incredible amounts of power. He took a calming breath, trying to remain in control. He looked toward the front door on the other side of the building.
“First thing’s first.” He held his arm out in that direction. Everyone heard the lock turn. Still he remained as he melted all of the hinges. Changing his energy from hot to cold, he cooled the metal just as the first agent reached the door. They were now locked inside of Atherton’s dome house. The FBI would have to find a new way in. They began banging on the door, trying to get it to budge.
“Now for the exit,” Michael said. Valenti had his keys out and ready. Alex had left his in the ignition of the van.
“I’ll follow you,” Valenti said to Alex who nodded. “Stop in Pecos. We’ll get gas and dinner.” Again, Alex agreed.
Michael stepped over to the wall. Concentrating heavily, trying to maintain the growing energy inside of him, he waved his arm up and down one section, and the structure groaned. He opened his eyes to see how he’d done. The wood in that section had disappeared. Sticking his head out the hole, he looked around. There was no one in view, so he waved everyone forward. Alex and Isabel went first. At the sound of the van’s door sliding open, shouts were heard from the front of the house.
“Go!” yelled Michael to Valenti and Maria.
Valenti sprinted for his cruiser just as the first agent rounded the side of the building. Michael used his powers to disarm the man, sending his weapon out across the desert, then pushed him hard enough to make him land several feet away.
Maria had stopped at Michael’s side. “What are you doing? Get in the van!” he shouted.
“Not without you!”
Michael was already moving. Together they climbed into the vehicle. Alex started the engine and stomped the pedal to the floor. As they drove past the front of the house, Michael used his powers to cause Atherton’s dome house to collapse in on itself. The FBI agents scrambled to avoid flying debris. In addition, to prevent them from following in their own cars, he drained the battery on one, popped two of the tires of another and locked all of the doors of the third, then melted the locks so they wouldn’t open. All in a matter of seconds. He was amazed at how effortless it was for him. He didn’t even need to be in touching distance with the objects. It was scary, too. It would be so easy for him to hurt someone without meaning to… He never wanted to go through again what he did after killing Agent Pierce. Removing the alien bracelet from his wrist, Michael was happy to return it to Isabel. He would definitely need to practice using it, he decided.
Right behind them, Valenti nearly hit a tree because he was watching the awesome sight of the walls of the dome house crashing down. He whistled softly. Michael was getting better with his powers, but the sheriff knew that the silver bracelet was responsible for what he’d witnessed today. He was already thinking about all of the questions he would ask the teens when they stopped for gas in Pecos. He understood now why they had risked everything to return to Atherton’s place to look for it. That led him to thinking about Atherton and how he had gotten his hands on it in the first place. There was obviously more to this story than he knew.
Maria watched Isabel putting away the Sword and noticed that it wasn’t the only thing in the fairly large sack. She asked, “Hey, what else is in there?”
“I don’t know, some little figures.” She reached in and took a couple out to show her.
“Hey, wow, it’s Nasedo’s chess set.” Maria exclaimed at the same time that Alex said, “It’s Nasedo’s chess set.”
Michael looked at both of them as Maria took the piece Isabel was holding. “How do you know?”
Maria was silent and Alex answered. “It was the weirdest thing. I was actually seeing all of Atherton’s memories. I saw him meet Nasedo at the reservation, and Riverdog was there, of course. Atherton was chasing rumors of an alien sighting. He’d heard about the test that the elders had put Nasedo through, and had actually gone there looking for Nasedo. When the thought he had enough information on him to write his book, he left the reservation.
“But,” Alex said, “before he left, he figured out where Nasedo had been living. He snuck into the cave and grabbed whatever he could find, including the chess set. You guys should have seen it. Riverdog had almost caught him, and they were jamming across the desert to the reservation where Atherton barely made it to his RV before he got a hold of him. He thought he was dead right there. You know what, though. I think he was moving way too fast to have been Riverdog. I’ll bet you that it was Nasedo who was chasing him that day.”
“You mean he shape-shifted into Riverdog?” Maria asked.
“Why not?” While the miles clicked by, he and Isabel told the others about everything they’d seen all the way up to Nasedo killing Atherton.
When it was over, Alex took his eyes off the road long enough to look at one of the pieces. “They sure are strange looking pieces, aren’t they? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chess set like this before.” He returned the piece to Isabel. “It’s too bad, though.”
“What?”
“Well, the set isn’t complete. It’s missing like three pieces.”
“Huh.” Michael had been looking at each piece as he listened to their story. He was fascinated by the detail on the little alien faces. They looked like they were created to be specific people.
Isabel said, “I wonder which ones.”
“The white king and queen, and one of the pawns.” Maria answered.
Michael stared at her. “How do you know?” he asked.
Maria filled them in on everything she’d seen while using the Healing Stone to heal Michael. She hadn’t been sure if what she’d seen had been real, if she had really connected with Riverdog across time through the stone or not. But after having heard Alex’s account of Atherton’s actions on the reservation which matched what she’d seen from Riverdog’s point of view, and having seen the rest of Nasedo’s chess set, she realized that she hadn’t been making it up. It had really happened.
Riverdog had warned them that the Stones could change someone who used them both mentally and physically, and he’d spoken of creating a connection between yourself and the Healing, but he hadn’t said anything about the stones absorbing a part of yourself. No, he’d never said anything about that. Maria was kind of freaked about the whole thing, but compared to what had happened to Alex with Atherton trying to posses him and all, she felt that maybe what had happened to her wasn’t such a big deal after all.
“So,” she finished her story with, “Riverdog has the last three pieces. It’s strange though, what Nasedo had told him about the white king and queen. About them being like the phoenix, rising from the ashes. What do you think he meant by that?”
Isabel answered, “I think that the white king is Max, and the queen would have been his mate. I mean think about it. They said that we were created using the essence of their dead leaders. So, in a way, they live in us.”
“Yeah, that could be it. I say we call Nasedo when we get home and ask him.” Michael was eager to find out.
Maria said, “I’ll bet that Riverdog would give us back the other pieces if we asked for them.”
“So,” Alex asked, “If Max and Liz are… Ok, not Liz,” he quickly corrected, “but you know what I meant. If Max and his mate are the white king and queen, then which ones are you and Isabel?”
Michael sorted through the rest of the pieces until he found the black king and queen. He looked at their faces, but didn’t feel any sort of recognition. Max and Liz had seen what the aliens that he and Isabel used to be actually looked like. Maybe they could tell which one was suppose to represent them in the set.
Maria reached cautiously into the bag and timidly touched the Sword. She was expecting an electric shock or something, because that is what happened anytime anyone other than Max or Liz touched the Shield that they’d found last week. She didn’t get zapped, so she took the Sword out of the bag and looked at it. She recognized the symbol on the top as the same one that was on the orb and Isabel’s pendant. The two symbols on the sides were different though.
“I wonder why they call this thing a sword?” she asked aloud. “I mean, it is obviously a bracelet. Whoever named it was, like, really confused.”
Alex turned around and saw the alien object in Maria’s hand. “Maria, put it down.”
“I’m just looking at it, it’s not like I’m going to hurt it.”
“I’m not kidding. That thing almost killed Atherton when he’d put it on. You can’t touch it.” Maria was quick to give it to Michael, who gave it to Isabel, who returned it to the bag. It was like watching a round of ‘Hot Potato’.
“What?” Isabel asked, not having seen that part of Atherton’s life story. “How?”
“It sucked out his energy.” Alex explained. “He didn’t even know something was wrong until it was almost too late. He barely got the bracelet off in time. That must be its defense mechanism or something: instead of expelling energy like the Shield, it absorbs energy until you’re on the brink of death.”