Bird in a Gilded Cage

by bec ([email protected])

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, well a 1997 Red Metro and a slightly broken 13 year old boy.

RATING: PG-13 (for right now)

SPOILERS: since the beginning

CATEGORY: Michael/Maria with a bit of everyone thrown in

SUMMARY: What would happen if the Government actually did get them, and what would the government want with them?

DISTRIBUTION: You can use it, its a freebie...lol

Maria tried to snuggle into the blankets to get warm, but no matter how she tried it just wouldn't work. Her hands were tangled up in the blankets, she couldn't move them. And the mattress felt cold, unbearable cold, like it was made out of plastic. She opened her eyes, the fogginess of sleep left everything fuzzy for a few moments. She knew immediately that this wasn't her room. As her eyes adjusted she tried to make out the unfamiliar sights before her. She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in her house. She closed her eyes and tried again. Nope, same room. Where was she? She tried to sit up, her shoulders pulling up off the table she was laying on, but they slammed back down again. She looked down at her wrist. Who had tied her up? Why was she tied up. All these things slammed into her brain all at once.

"Maria"

She heard the familiar voice calling to her, she turned her head to the left, towards the voice. She saw her bestfriend in a glass room. Why was Liz in a glass room? This has to be the worst dream she has ever had.

"Liz? What the hell is going on, where are we?" Maria ask her bestfriend. "This is the last time I let them talk me into eating Tabasco sauce, you hear me. Now I'm having really weird dreams."

"It's not a dream." Another voice said.

Maria turned her head and saw Max Evans in another glass room, next to Liz. There were more rooms, 3 on each side of her, all but one room held one of her friends. Michael Guerin, Isabelle Evans and Kyle Valenti were in the rooms on her right, Max and Liz were on the left. The remaining room on the left was empty, the glass panel that enclosed it stood ajar.

"What the hell is going on?" Maria screamed, yanking on the restraints as hard as she could. She closed her eyes, the last thing she remembered was talking in the Crashdown Café, a diner that was owned by Liz's parents, Liz and her worked there, the others spent a lot of time in the small diner. Roswell, New Mexico didn't have to many hang out joints. This was there hang out, they had all decided to call it a night. They had closed up the place and were just locking the doors when Kyle Valenti showed up. The memories started hitting Maria faster and harder. She remembered Kyle screaming at them, screaming that they were coming, that they had to run, had to hide.

She turned and looked at Kyle, "you warned us, you warned us that they were after Max and them."

"Yeah, Kyle came to help us." Max said.

"A little too late if you ask me." Michael said.

"Nobody ask." Kyle standing just inside the glass doors looked to the right, but he couldn't see Michael, the walls between the rooms where made out of some kind of white tile. "I came as soon as I found out what my dad and Topolsky were up to. Hell, I thought they were nuts, I didn't believe them, I thought they had gone crazy. They thought you were aliens for gods sake."

"We are aliens." Isabelle told him just to hear his reaction.

"Isabelle." Max pointed with one finger towards the ceiling. He thought the room was bugged, whoever was holding them probably was sitting somewhere listening to everything they said.

"Yeah right, and I'm the President." Kyle said.

"Well Mr. President, why do you think the FBI kidnapped six teenagers from a hick town like Roswell then? Answer me that one." Michael said harshly. "Why do you think we're all locked up in here?" He punched the glass in front of him, out of the six young people Kyle and Michael was not known for their control.

"Michael, calm down." Max said. "We're going to get out of here."

"Yeah, well tell me how your gonna fix this one Maximillan, huh, we can't even use our damn powers in this place." Michael stalked to the back of his cell and slumped against the wall.

Maria turned to Max, "Why can't you use your powers, I mean come on all you have to do is wave your magic little hands back and forth and get us out of here right…" no one answered her. She let her head fall back to the small pillow under. Closing her eyes she started chanting over and over again, "this is not happening, this is not happening."Michael shot up off the floor and threw himself against the glass. "Just shut up, ok, just shut the hell up."

"Why can't you use your powers," Liz asked. "Your not hurt are you Max?"

"No, I'm ok, is everybody else ok?" Max ask.

"I'm ok, just a little dizzy, and Michael's yelling so he must be ok." Isabelle said as she turned and sat down on the bed that was attached to the wall.

"What powers?" Kyle ask.

"We're gonna have to tell him Max." Isabelle said. She drew her feet onto the bed and dropped her head to her knees.

"Why not, when they do their little "alien autopsy" thing, everybody's gonna know" Michael said sarcastically.

"Ok, everybody just settle down, we have to think here, there's got to be a way out of this." Max tried to smile at Isabelle, but she wouldn't look up at him.

"Ok, somebody want to clue me in, I mean come on, my dad is nuts right, he's gone off the deep end this time. Everybody knows he's crazy, running around trying to find little green men under everybody's beds" Kyle said.

"But everybody knows there's no such things as aliens. Right? I mean come on this is the 20th century. Aliens don't exist."

"But my boy, aliens do exist, your friends here are the reason you're here. Just ask them."

Everyone turned to the man standing at the end of the room. He was wearing a white lab coat and held a metal clipboard in his hands. He looked exactly like those science guys in all the sci-fi movies. His grey hair was sticking out from his head and his glasses were sitting crooked on the bridge of his nose, he even held a pipe in his hand.

"Hello Max, I'm Dr. Hanson, I just wanted to let you know that you and your friends won't be hurt. You have my promise."

"Where are we and what are you going to do with us?" Max ask.

"We're here to finish something, something we started a long time ago." The Dr. explained. It made no sense to the six kids but he went on anyway. "I was very young when we started our work" he moved into the room, standing at the end of the gurney Maria was laying on. "1947, you all know what happened in 1947 don't you. Living in Roswell, New Mexico of course you do."

"Finish what?" Liz ask.

"We found you. We found you in the life pods aboard the ship. The adults were all dead. We kept you in a state of unconsciousness until 1967, studied you, found out as much as we could. Then we started the second phase of our work, we released you into the mainstream of society, we've watched, we've waited. Until it was time for us to continue with our experiment."

Kyle didn't understand any of this. "What the hell are you talking about? Found who?

"What experiments?" Liz ask.

"What are you planning on doing with us?" Max ask. "And whatever it is you don't need them, let Liz, Kyle and Maria go, you have us, you don't need them."

"Oh no, we can't leave them go, they are just as important in the next phase, we need them to continue our work." Dr. Hanson explained. "I told you, none of you will be hurt."

"He ask you a question, what are you planning on doing with us." Maria was getting scared, terrified in fact. She wanted to go home, she wanted to wake up in her bed and find out this was all a dream.

We're going to find out what makes them tick." All eyes turned toward the door again, standing there was Katherine Topolsky, the blonde woman stood and with a smile on her lips she said, "we're going to find out what makes them heal, and here's the part where you come in Ms. DeLuca, we're gonna breed them."

* * * * *

Part 2

"Your kidding, right?" Isabelle stood up and moved to the front of her enclosure. "Breed us, with them, this is so ridiculous."

Topolsky smiled at the blonde, "Nope, not kidding, we've got a lot of plans for you."

Dr. Hanson turned and clicked his tongue at the woman. "Now, now Ms. Topolsky, this is not your time yet. I have them for two weeks, then you get them, you and your associate. Until then please refrain from upsetting them."

"Upsetting us, you're going to breed us like animals and your afraid of upsetting us. This has got to be a dream, it has to be."

"Maria calm down, no one is going to breed anybody." Liz turned to the Dr. and spoke in a very calm and controlled voice "you can't do this, we're underage, if our parents find out you would be in way too much trouble."

"The little scientist speaks." Topolsky said. She turned and walked over to Liz, she faced the girl through the glass and laughed. "Do you know what your parents think happened to you Ms. Parker, do you know what they were told?"

"Wwwhat?" Liz ask.

"Right now your parents are all at the Roswell Mortuary trying to identify your burned beyond recognition bodies." She turned and spoke to all the kids. "Unfortunately as kids will do, you we're all in Max Evan's jeep last night, driving too fast down 285 South, he lost control, crashed, the jeep burst into flames and you were all killed. Instantly." She smiled. "Your purses and identification barely made it through, just enough to let them know that Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca, Kyle Valenti, Michael Guerin, Max and Isabelle Evans all died terribly, horrible deaths. Such a shame."

"My dad would never believe that, he knew what was happening, he knows I'm not dead." Kyle said.

She turned and stood infront of Kyle, "well yes, that is true, but lets just say that your father couldn't handle the pain, the grief of losing his only child. I'm so sorry Kyle, he had to be sedated, hospitalized. He might know the truth, but who is going to believe him? They'll just think he is a grief stricken father who couldn't handle the thought of your death. He's been blaming aliens for everything that's happened in Roswell for over 30 years now. You really think anyone is going to believe him?"

"Hanks really gonna be pissed off when that check stops coming." Michael said.

"You told my mom I'm dead? But she's all alone, she doesn't have anyone else. How could you do this." Maria couldn't stop the tears from coming to her eyes. Or the anger that rose. "You bitch!" Maria started thrashing around on the gurney. She tried to raise her arms, tried to break the restraints, she threw her legs into the air, kicking and screaming. "I'm gonna kill you, do you hear me, damn you, how could you do this."

Isabelle looked at Max, she mouthed the words "mom and dad."

Max's lips moved, he whispered "I know." He turned to the wall to his right, raised his hands to the cold tile and spoke. "Liz."

Liz couldn't hear him, she had sat down on the cot, she stared at the floor. What would her parents do, my god, things like this didn't happen in real life. This stuff only happened in the movies, not in Roswell, New Mexico.

"That is enough Ms. Topolsky," Dr. Hanson strode to the door and opened it. "As I said, you do not have control of these children yet, they are under my hands. I think its time for you to go. You've thoroughly upset them enough for today. Do you hear me, get out. Now."

"I'm going Dr. but just remember kiddies, in two weeks you belong to me." She turned to walk out the door. "Oh, and don't forget about Yeager, I can't wait for you to meet Yeager, that will be quite interesting."

Dr. Hanson shut the door behind her, turning to the kids again he spoke. "Don't let her frighten you, your too important to our government for her to hurt you."

"Too late Dr., she's already done that." Max said.

"Ah, well yes, I understand, it is one of the saddest parts of this job, but you'll see, as the weeks fly by, you'll see how important our work is."

He turned and walked to a intercom on the wall, pressing a button he laid his mouth practically on the speaker. "Could someone bring in the equipment, I'd like to get started right away."

"Get started on what?" Michael demanded. He wasn't handling this well, he wanted to hit someone at the moment, but you couldn't tell that from looking at him. He coolly and calmly leaned against the glass of his cubicle.

"I have a lot of medical test to get started on, we have to find out if everything is in its proper working order." He said as he picked up a pair of latex surgical gloves.

"What are you doing with those?" Maria ask. She didn't like the fact that she was the only one out of her cubicle, she was the only one wearing this ugly hospital gown. And she could tell she was naked underneath it.

Dr. Hanson spoke to all of them again. "If you could all look in the storage bins in your cubicles you'll find appropriate attire, if you could please remove your clothes and set them in the small box in the rear of the room please."

"Appropriate attire for what?" Max ask. They had all turned and opened a long thin closet in the corner of each room. Inside was a green hospital gown, the same gown that Maria was wearing.

"For my test of course." The door swung open again and 3 technicians came into the room, one was pushing a cart. On top of the cart was various metal contraptions.

Maria and Liz instantly recognized them as the stirrups and speculum that their gynecologist used during their yearly examinations. Maria started screaming again.

"No, no way, you can't do this, I'm underage, this is illegal." She started jerking her body all around, she didn't know what she would accomplish in all this, but there was no way they were doing that to her.

"Dr. Hanson, you can't do this, you can't force a women to go through this against her will." The others could hear the anger in Liz's voice.

"What, what are those things?" Isabelle ask.

"Maria, if you cannot control yourself I will have to administer a sedative. Do you hear me." Dr. Hanson tried to calm the young girl down.

Maria threw her body into the air, her hips reached as far off the gurney as they could. "Control myself! Your gonna violate my body and you tell me to control myself. Well fuck you Mister. Your not doing that to me." She was sobbing hysterically now.

Michael cried out "Liz what the hell are those things."

Liz couldn't answer, she couldn't believe this was happening.

"I'm going to administer a basic internal examination, I understood from you family medical records that you and Ms. Parker have undergone this procedure before. If you remain calm, it's a basic examination." Dr. Hanson couldn't understand why the young girl was acting like this, she apparently recognized the instruments. She had to know he wasn't going to hurt her. He was truly perplexed by her actions.

Part 3

Maria was pulling on the restraints so hard that her wrist had begun to bleed, the anger she had felt earlier was overshadowed by her fear now. "Please, don't do this, please."

"Dr. Hanson you can't do this, you can't." Liz pleaded with the man. She threw herself against the glass, but she never felt it. She was too worried about her friend at this point.

"Liz what does he mean, what kind of examination?" Isabelle screamed at the girl.

Maria was openly sobbing now, her thrashing had lessened as fear took over her body. "Lizzie, please don't let him do this…Lizzie"Liz felt so helpless, there was nothing she could do to help her friend. She lowered her forehead to the glass never taking her eyes from Maria's.

The Dr. turned to one of the technicians, "10cc's of Demerol please."

One of the technician turned and picked up a syringe and a small glass bottle. She stuck the needle into the bottle and up ended it, slowly pulling the plunger down. Removing the needle from the rubber cap she released a few drops of fluid into the air.

"10cc's doctor." She returned the bottle to the cart.

Dr. Hanson moved closer to Maria, he reached out and took her left arm, turning it to expose the inside of the elbow. He pushed down and tried to hold it still. "Please, Ms. DeLuca you must calm down. This hysteria is only going to cause you pain. I do not want to drug you, but you've given me no choice."

Maria's closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly closed. Preparing herself for the prick of the needle. The tip of the needle broke the skin. Her face twisting with the slight pain. The medicine rushed through her veins. She felt the warmth seeping through her, her body reacting to the medicine quickly. She suddenly felt tired, very tired. She turned her head again, searching for Liz. Eye contact was made, she saw the single tear slide down Liz's face. For a moment she didn't understand why Liz was crying. Everything was all messed up in her head, she couldn't think straight. Her words were low but clear.

"It's ok Lizzie, don't cry." Maria relaxed and let the medicine take over her body. "Don't cry."

"Maria…." Michael spoke her name softly, almost as if he didn't even realize he had said it. Maria slowly turned her head to look at the boy. She closed her eyes as her lips formed a small smile."Ms. DeLuca is fine, the Demerol is taking effect, she is perfectly fine." Dr. Hanson said.

Max couldn't hold his anger in any longer. "Fine!, your drugging her, and you call that fine. What kind of doctor are you? Who the hell do you think you are. You have us, let them go, I'll tell you everything you want to know, just let them go."

The doctor returned the empty syringe to the technician, "I'm going to have to change my gloves now, please remove these." One of the other techs removed his gloves and discarded them. She had a second pair ready to take their place.

Dr. Hanson faced Max and spoke slowly, trying to make the boy understand. "We need them Mr. Evans, without them we cannot finish our work. I know you don't understand what's going on right now, but one day you will, you all will. You'll see how important it is."

"Scaring a 17 year old girl is important, that's a load of crap and you know it." Max said. "Maria doesn't deserve any of this. Neither does Liz or Kyle." He dropped his head in his hands wondering how life had gone so crazy. He had always pictured this day differently in his head. It would just be him, Isabelle and Michael. He never pictured Liz and her friends alongside them. He tried one more time, he had to try, he wouldn't be Max if he didn't think that there was a way out of this. Maybe not for him or his family, but for the others, he had to try. "Use me, I give you permission to do anything you want to me, just let them go, please, they're human like you. How can you do this to your own kind."

"Mr. Evans I told you I understand, I completely understand, but we didn't choose them, you did. By associating with them, they were your choices, not ours." The doctor turned back towards Maria and walked to the end of the gurney. The technicians had placed the stirrups on the table, he stepped between them. Two of the technicians lifted Maria's legs and placed them in the stirrups. Maria moaned.

The five teenagers all started yelling at the same time. Kyle and Michael both beat on the glass shielding their cubicles. Liz and Isabelle joined in pummeling the glass.

"Stop this, I said stop it, NOW! I can't work with all this noise. Please will you all remain calm." Dr. Hanson tried to quiet them, but it wasn't working. He looked down and say Maria sobbing quietly. "Your upsetting Ms. DeLuca, please stop."

They couldn't hear him over the noise they were making. They all tried to stop what was happening, using the only weapon they had, their voices.

"That's it. Mr. Shearer please close down the cubicles, close them down now." The Dr. tried to make himself be heard over the din. Apparently someone was listening, suddenly all the cells went black. Completely dark, no noise could be heard from them either.

The Dr. turned back to his patient "ok, now we can begin. Ms. DeLuca now, if you remain as still as possible we can get this over and done with, I still have Ms. Parker and Ms. Evans to do before we are finished today.  Maria turned her head to the left, then the right. It's almost as if they are gone she thought. She had never felt so alone in her life.

Part 4

Max wondered what time it was, he had been pacing for hours. Hours of having to listen and watch as they examined each one of the girls. Liz hadn't handled it any better than Maria had, she had fought, kicking and screaming as they had lead her to that damn table. In the end they had used the drugs on her. As if that hadn't been hard enough having to sit and watch and listen to them do the same thing to Liz as they had done to Maria, then they had repeated it all with Isabelle. If they though they had had it tough with the two humans, they hadn't expected Izzie. She had gotten a few good punches in before they had called another person in and used that damn drug on her too.

He had had to sit and listen to each moan and cry every time they touched them. But no that wasn't enough, no he kept hearing that damn doctor.

He kept trying to reassure them that everything was alright.

"Try to relax now." It kept echoing in Max's head over and over again. How the hell does somebody relax when they were doing…that to them. Hell Max hadn't even understood what they were doing to them, not at first, then as he watched he had started to comprehend, it all fell into place. The experiments, the talk of breeding. They were checking the girls to see if they could get pregnant. Christ what the hell was going on. This was maddness. Every time he had pictured this scenario he had pictured the three of them being question and examined until they wanted to die, but not this, never could he have imagined this. Not Liz and her friends being tortured right along with them. He had tried to keep Liz out of this, tried to protect her. He had thought just being friends with her had taken any danger away from her. Not getting too close was the only way he had had to protect her. Hell, he had done one hell of a good job protecting her hadn't he. He sighed into the darkness.-*******-

Michael let the sigh escape his lips into the darkness. No one could hear him, when they had shut down the lights they had also lost the ability to hear each other. They could hear what was happening in that damn room, but not each other. He was scared, scared down to his soul, hell, he let out a chuckle, did he even have a soul? He wasn't human, he didn't even know anything about his own body. He closed his eyes and pictured Maria's face the last time he had seen it. She had looked so damn scared, so frightened. Remembering her face he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as possible, a single tear ran down his cheek. This was his damn fault, if he had never been born then Maria wouldn't have had to go through that today. None of them would. If he and Max and Isabelle had never been in Roswell Maria and her friends would be home, tucked into their safe rooms, fast asleep. They wouldn't have hurt them, hurt her. Michael had tried not to like her, hell she had driven him crazy on more than one occasion. But since the second grade when he had hit her with a water balloon in the middle of the playground she had been there, arguing with him, shouting at him, sometimes downright screaming her head off at him. And he had loved every minute of it. He had thought up ways to torment her, she had became a puzzle to him. He would sit and plan of ways to get her mad. He didn't understand it at first, couldn't fathom what made him do it. But then that day they took off together for Marathon it had suddenly come to him why he did it. He did it because it was the only way to get her attention, the only way to get her to notice him. He thought back to that night in the diner, that night that Max and Liz had gone to the reservation to find out about the necklace Izzie had found. He had said he kissed her because he wanted to calm her down. Hell he kissed her because he had wanted to. It was all he had been able to think about since that night in the hotel.  

This was all his damn fault. He dropped his head into his hands and sighed again.

-*******-

Isabelle sighed into the darkness, she couldn't believe this was happening, no matter how many times Michael had gone on and on about being captured she had never truly believed it would happen. Not like this. She reached up and wiped the tears from her face. The tears came only now that the entire place was dark, the room outside their enclosures was still lit up, but the cells themselves were all dark, it was if someone had taken black paint to them. No one could see in, so she had let the tears fall. Even now, after everything that had happened she wouldn't let them see her cry.

She just wanted to close her eyes and try and forget about what had happened. She had watched while they had examined Maria and Liz, she hadn't completely understood what they had done until it was her turn. She had heard about it, from the other girls at school, girls who had regular yearly exams, girls who had had it done so that they could get on birth control pills. But she had never really thought about it, she knew she couldn't take the chance of going to a human doctor, nor could she take the chance of having casual sex with the human boys at her school. What if she wasn't like them, what if she was built differently, or didn't have the "right equipment" as her friends would say. But then again, she had never met anyone that had made her want to get that close. Maybe she never would. She laughed, hell she'd never have the chance now. Not after this, she let the fear that had started to grow deep inside of her come seeping out. The fear that they were never going to get out of here alive. Never see their parents faces again.

She could understand what they had done to them, but why Liz, Maria and Kyle. Especially Kyle, he wasn't part of their group, he had never gotten close to them. Why him? His father had been on their side, had helped search out the three of them, why would they do this to Kyle. She had known Kyle from school, hell all the cheerleaders knew Kyle, he was the "star" quarterback, part of the popular crowd. Isabelle had seen him at a lot of the parties she had attended, but she had never really spoken to him. He had been with Liz since the beginning of summer and most of the other cheerleaders had given him up as a lost cause. Why did they grab him outside the Crashdown, why would they have included him?

She slowly got up from the floor where she had been sitting and stretched. She could feel the muscles ache, muscles that were stretched beyond their limits tonight. She walked over to the cot and stretched out on it. Tomorrow, she'd think about all this tomorrow. Max would come up with something, he always did. She rolled over and sighed as she closed her eyes and just let sleep take her over.

-******-

Liz's sigh echoed in the small room. She was sitting on the cot with her back against the wall. The tears she had shed earlier had dried up hours ago, she had none left. She was scared, more scared then she had ever been in her entire life. She wished she had her journal with her, at least it would give her something to do. Writing down her thoughts and feelings helped to calmed her nerves. Writing gave her an outlet for her emotions.

She still couldn't believe this was happening, this was all her fault. If she had not forced Max to tell her the truth then this would never have happened. For seventeen years they had lived normal lives, hidden from everyone. Well, until Liz had found out. She had ended up telling Maria and then it had become harder and harder to keep the secret. Kyle was always there, pressuring her to tell him what was going on. Sheriff Valenti, asking his endless questions about that day in the diner. She had thought she could help them, what she had really wanted was a chance to get close to Max. And then tonight, from the moment Kyle had shown up at the diner it had turned into a nightmare.

She had never really understood what Max and his friends had been running from, she hadn't really thought that the threat of capture was something they really had to worry about. No, selfishly she had been more concerned with Max's feelings towards her. She hadn't wanted to understand why he wouldn't get close to her. She had foolishly thought it was because he didn't feel the same way she did. She hadn't wanted to face the fact that they really did have to be careful, had to watch everything they did and said. She had never even tried to understand all of Michael's paranoid outburst. She had thought their only enemy had been Sheriff Valenti, and everyone knew he was nuts. In her own childish little world they had been worried about nothing.

Knowing that her parents thought she was dead caused a huge pain in her chest, she dragged air into her lungs, every time she thought about her parents she wanted to scream and rage. But at who, the people who had captured them, or herself? This was her fault, Maria, Kyle, it was all her fault. Max, Isabelle and Michael had been fine until she came into their lives. She let her body drop to the bed, her sigh echoed in the room again.

-******-

Kyle let the air out of his lungs in a deep sigh. He was sitting on the floor with his head resting against the glass partition, he hadn't moved since they had turned out the lights. He couldn't watch what they were doing to the girls, he could hear everything, but he didn't have to watch.

He didn't know what was happening here, he felt like he was in a dream, a bad dream that he couldn't wake up from. His father had been right, he wasn't crazy. Kyle let that thought settle into his brain. After years of being ashamed of him, years of asking God why his father couldn't be normal, years of watching people laugh at his dad. He had been right, all this time. Max and Isabelle Evans, and that jerk Michael Guerin were really aliens. And Liz had known about it, she had helped them. In the next breath another thought entered Kyle's head, but so did you when it came down to it Valenti, you helped them too. Why? Kyle had no answer for himself. Why would he help them. And look where the hell it had gotten him. Being held captive by a bunch of crazy people. And his father couldn't help him. Being the sheriff's son had helped keep him out of trouble, well not keep him from the trouble, just got him out of getting caught, people either thought that his father wouldn't do anything or if they did get caught his dad would pull his butt out of the fire. One too many times he used the excuse of his dad's job to let his so called friends drag him into doing something he shouldn't have. They all knew his dad would let them off. Fights, hurting people and not caring, juvenile things that he shouldn't have been involved with in the first place. But this was one time his dad wasn't there to pick up the pieces. Hell, his dad was in the same boat he was. And their was nothing they could do about it. Nothing. He felt something run down his face, when he reached up and brushed his face his hand came away wet. His father's voice entered his head <don't cry, be a man, you're a Valenti, don't let them see you cry, ever> Well dad your not here, so what the hell. He let his head fall back and released a huge sigh.

-******-

Maria chest hurt as the breath left her lungs in a sigh. She was curled up in a fetal position on the cot in her cell. Her throat hurt from crying and her head was pounding. The drug had worn off and it had left her disorientated. She wanted to go to sleep and wake up in her own bed. This had to be a dream, it had to be, this couldn't be happening. In all the time she had been crying to Liz that this was dangerous, she hadn't truly believed that anything would happen, not like this.

She pictured her mom's face in her mind. What was her mother thinking right now? Amy DeLuca had never been a strong woman. Maria had been more the parent than Amy. She had always taken care of her mother. She loved her mother more than life itself, but her mother was not the picture of "Carol Brady". She had a tendency to go off on one tangent or another. Racing off to this crystal prophet, or some guy who promised her he could make her happy. Flighty, that is what they called Amy DeLuca. But Maria had always been there to watch over her mom. Who was taking care of her tonight? Was she alone. Hopefully Liz's mom would be there for her, or Alex's. Alex's mom thought Amy needed a keeper, hopefully someone was with her.

She tried to turn over, a moan escaped her lips as the pain in her lower body made itself known. She knew the cramps would come, every time she had an internal she got cramps. She felt the heat rise to her face. They had hurt her, no matter how much that Doctor said he wouldn't, he did. Had her friends watched as they had hurt her? They had darkened the cells but when they had returned her to her cell she became aware of the fact that you couldn't see in, but you could see out. You could hear too, she remembered crying out when they had first touched her, had Michael heard her? Had they heard her, just as she had heard Liz and Isabelle's cries?

She remembered hearing Michael whisper her name, she remembered smiling at him. Oh my God, why, why was this happening. As she drifted off to sleep she released her breath in a soft sigh. Let it be a dream, please let it be a dream.

Part 5

Dr. Hanson came striding down the hall ready to begin another day of testing. As he turned the corner he almost collided with Ms. Topolsky.

"Good morning" he said as he stepped around her.

"Depends on whether or not you like my news." The woman smiled.

"What news?" The doctor ask.

"I had a long conversation with the powers that be last night. I informed them of your failure to control the situation yesterday. Let's just say they are not happy." She informed him.

"I was totally in control yesterday, I got the samples I needed, and we are well on our way?" He replied.

"Doctor, who do you think your kidding, you do not have the first ideal how to handle them. They controlled the entire situation, that cannot happen again, do you hear me. You better start thinking of them as more than children. If we hadn't taken the precautions we needed do you think they wouldn't have hurt us? Do you?" She turned and walked away. The doctor stood and watched her go.

She turned back and said "Don't you have somewhere to be doctor?"

"Yes, yes, quite right, I'm going now." He turned and continued walking  down the hall.

He entered a large control area filled with computers and monitors, things he knew nothing about, he could care less about their contraptions and precautions. He just wanted to get started on this project, he'd already waited over 50 years. He was not a young man anymore, time was catching up with him, he needed to work fast.

"Good morning Mr. Shearer, and how did our subjects spend their night?" He smiled at the young man sitting at the first console.

"It was relatively quiet in here Doc, it took awhile but they finally settled down and went to sleep." Mr. Shearer answered.

"Well then turn up the lights, lets get this day going, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it in." The doctor strode through the door, stepping into the cell area.

The lights came on suddenly, the inhabitants of the cells were unprepared for it, arms, hands, pillows and blankets were thrown over eyes as quickly as they could. A obscenity was overheard coming from one of the cells.

"Now, now Mr. Guerin is that anyway to start the day." Dr. Hanson said. "If you gentlemen would check the repository boxes there should be sample containers and everything else you will need for sample collection. I will need a sperm sample as quickly as possible. Then we can get on with the other test that I have scheduled today." The doctor walked by each cell, checking a list on his clipboard, when he was satisfied that he had seen all he needed to see he walked back towards the door. "You have thirty minutes, I will return to collect Mr. Evans to start the stress test."

As he closed the door Kyle asked "What did he just say?"

"Sperm samples Kyle, do you need pictures or will you be able to handle it yourself?" Maria ask flippantly. "What you think us girls are the only ones who are gonna be humiliated and degraded?"

"What's the matter big boy, afraid you won't be able to get it up?" Isabelle ask.

Liz couldn't believe what she was hearing, "How can you make jokes at a time like this, this isn't some school project, this is serious. I don't know about you but I'm scared to death. I'm can't stand here and act like this is a game."

"Well some of us relieve stress in various forms, humor is my way, if your way is standing there whining about it, go for it." Isabelle told her.

"Isabelle." Max scolded his sister. "We're all scared, lets not start attacking each other ok, we have to stick together in this. We're gonna get out of here, we just have to remain calm."

Michael opened the small square door and found a small plastic container and a white towel. "Yeah right, remain calm." He slammed the door shut and stalked back towards the front of the cell.

"I don't know about all of you, but the first chance I get I'm getting out of here," Michael said. "I'm not gonna sit around here acting like some trained monkey."

"And how exactly are we gonna do that, we don't even know where here is?" Maria ask him.

The door opened again and the same three technicians came through the door. They each were pushing a cart with a monitor and what looked like an older model computer on them. The carts were pushed up against the back wall, the technicians exited the room again. They hadn't said a word or looked at any of the young people in the room.

The lights suddenly went out again and Dr. Hanson's voice could be heard over a speaker system. "You now have twenty minutes gentleman, there are other ways to obtain a sample. I was hoping we could get this done without resorting to that."

-*****-

The lights came back on and the door opened again, Topolsky and another man came into the room, they had two male technicians following them.

"So Dr. Hanson tells me that you boys are not cooperating." She stopped in the middle of the room and looked from cell to cell. Her glance meeting the eyes of the teenagers. "I would like you to meet my associate, this is Yeager, but don't let the pretty face fool you. He's meaner than he looks."

The kids couldn't quite believe that. This man looked mean, meaner than anyone they had ever saw. He was at least 6' 9", completely bald on the top of his head, but he was too young for it to be a natural hair loss. His shoulders were massive, biceps rippling all over the place. He was at least 250 pounds, all of it muscle.

Maria thought he looked like one of those wrestler's her mother liked to watch on TV, especially like that guy that had just been elected governor of some state. He turned and was looking directly at her. She didn't want to believe what came out of his mouth.

"Let's use her, I like the little ones." He said. She was totally shocked when he winked at her.

"Use me for what?" she squeaked out.

"Mr. Shearer could you open Cell 1 please, Code 006-MD

A loud click was heard and Maria's door opened. As she started to back up into the room the two technicians grabbed her by her arms and practically carried her out of the cell.

She couldn't speak, she couldn't take her eyes off giant in front of her.

Yeager grabbed Maria by the back of her hair and proceeded to slowly circle the room. A loud shriek came out of the young girl.

"Listen up kiddies, I'm only gonna say this once." Yeager spoke to all of them. "The Doctor has ask nicely for his samples. He hasn't gotten them. This is your only warning, either you give him the samples or I make the little one scream, do you all understand me. He stopped when he got back to where he started. He swung Maria up in front of him, using one hand he jerked her chin up in the air. "She seems sorta fragile to me, I don't think it will take much, what do you think?"

"Let her go asshole" Michael yelled.

"Asshole" Yeager turned to Topolsky with a look of utter disbelief. "Did he just call me an asshole?"

She threw her head back with a smile, "yes I do believe he did."

Yeager dragged Maria over in front of Michael's cell. "Let me guess, you're not the smart one are you?"

"You don't have to hurt her." Max said calmly.

Yeager turned towards Max. "I take it you're the smart one, the brains behind this little group? You might want to tell the punk over there that I don't like to be called names."

"We got it, just please let her go," Max said. "We'll do what ever the doctor wants, you don't have to hurt anyone."

He pushed Maria towards the technicians, they caught her before she hit the floor. They returned her to her cell. Another loud click and the door was locked once more.

"Ok, see this is how it works, I ask, I receive, do we all understand the rules now." Yeager stated. Without waiting for a response he walked out the door.

"You got thirty minutes, if the samples aren't in the boxes, Yeager will be back. Do we really need him?" Topolsky said as she and the technicians left the room.

The cells went dark again.

Part 6

Two weeks later…

Max sat in his cell, he was turning the half used bottle of Tabasco sauce over and over in his hands. They had just finished breakfast and were waiting to see what was on the schedule for today. He didn't think there was anything left of them to test. They had been poked and prodded until they had wanted to scream. Every sample possible had been taken from them, fingernails, toenails, hair, skin, blood, every body fluid imaginable, sperm, eggs, urine and stool samples. Eyes, ears, nose and throat. They had tested their motor functions until their muscles had rebelled against them. They had scanned their brains until Max had thought his were leaking out of his ears. He couldn't imagine what could be left. They had been MRI'ed, CAT scanned, and X-rayed until they were practically glowing. After the demonstration with Maria they had done whatever had been ask of them. If they were ever going to get out of here they couldn't take the chance of any of them being hurt.

After the first terrifying forty-eight hours they had settled down into a pretty tight schedule. First breakfast, showers every other day, first the girls, then the guys. Clean gowns, then on to different test, then lunch, more test, dinner and then the nightly talk from the doctor. He came every night and informed them of what would happen the next day. Until yesterday, there had been no nightly scheduled talk. After dinner they hadn't seen anyone, about an hour later the lights had gone off. Max wondered what this meant.

"Max." He heard Liz call his name softly. He stood and returned the finished food tray back to the receptacle box. He moved to the corner of his cell, he leaned his head against the wall, he hadn't seen her in two days. Hadn't touch her in two weeks. He just wanted to touch her, take her in his arms and tell her it was going to be all right.

"I'm here Liz." Max said.

Liz looked around at the other cells, she couldn't see Maria or Max but everyone else seemed to be just sitting back and waiting, waiting for whatever they had planned for them today. "I just wanted to hear your voice. I'm going crazy without my journal. I don't have any idea what I would write but I miss it."

"Yeah, we're all going a little stir crazy. I'm surprised Michael hasn't freaked out." He said with a smile.

"Same with Maria, its been two weeks without her cyprus oil. I would have thought she'd have torn all her hair out by now." Liz added.

"Do you mind. We can hear everything you two are saying, remember these rooms are wired for sound, or did that slip your minds?" Maria ask from her cell. "And don't lump me in with Michael ok. I'm not an idiot like he is."

"You know I don't know what could be worse than being captured, wait I got it, being captured AND having to listen to your constant nagging, whining voice." Michael smiled at her. Maria stuck her tongue out at him.

"And away we go. Couldn't you two just knock the fighting off for today, just one day, I'm so sick of hearing you two constantly bickering at each other." Kyle shouted from his cot.

"Fighting, you think their fighting, no this isn't fighting, this is Michael and Maria at their romantic best. Most people flirt, not these two, they harp and pick at each other until they can jump each others bones." Isabelle said. "And when it finally does happens their both going to explode, all that's going to be left is a big pile of ashes."

"Romantic! You have got to be kidding, I don't think that jerk even knows how to be romantic." Maria said crossing her arms over her chest. "He does not have a romantic bone in his body."

"Romantic, with her, you have got to be kidding Izzy." Michael smirked.

"Well just who were you thinking about during your little session with that plastic cup Michael? Come on you can tell us." Isabelle laughed as she ask him.

"Can I say ewww to that picture Isabelle." Maria said.

"I was thinking about Kyle in those little white gym shorts of his." Michael said sarcastically. "He's kinda cute in those things, don't ya think?"

"Kiss my ass Guerin." Kyle retorted.

"You wish Valenti." Michael answered him Everyone burst out laughing. It felt good to laugh, they hadn't laughed in a long time.

The laughter stopped when the door opened and three technicians came in pushing three wheelchairs. They used the chairs to transport them, strapping them in so there was no way to escape as they moved them from the cells to the showers and back again.

"And another day begins at the Happy Acres Home for Wayward Aliens." Michael said.

Go to Part 7-12