BY KAL-EL

NOT EVEN DEATH...
ACT 3

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Everything up until the end of 'Chant Down Babylon'.

Cut to the UFO center. Brody is working on his laptop, while Max organizes one of the displays.

BRODY: You know, I�m really glad you�re you again Max.

Max looks at him curiously.

MAX: What do you mean?

BRODY: You know�getting arrested for armed robbery? Moving away from your parents. I was afraid I�d have to fire you. Again.

MAX: Technically we didn�t steal anything. It was�

BRODY: Just for a thrill, I know. Believe it or not, I did quite a few �thrilling� stuff myself in my day.

Max snickered.

MAX: You?

Brody smiled smugly.

BRODY: Surprised?

MAX: I never took you for a big risk taker before.

BRODY: I�m an entrepreneur, remember Evans? Risk is what we�re all about.

Max smiled, and went back to his work. After a moment, he was interrupted by a noise.

Liz Parker ran into the UFO center, straight into the display area.

LIZ: MAX! Max!

Brody sat up, surprised.

BRODY: Hey! We�re closed. Come back tomorrow, and we�ll be glad to�oh wait. You�re Max�s girlfriend, right?

Liz nods.

Max, seeing Liz, walks over to her.

MAX: Liz? What�s wrong?

LIZ: I have to talk to you, Max. In private. Brody sighs.

BRODY: Look, I got a lot of work to do, so�could you just discuss it here? I don�t mind.

Liz looks worried, but then she has an idea.

She smiles at Max, then talks in a low, seductive voice.

LIZ: I just wanted to talk about last night, you know? I mean, the THINGS you did to me�

An extremely nervous look comes over Brody�s features.

BRODY: Um�whew�I�on second thought, I should just�

Without another word, he practically ran upstairs.

Max laughs.

MAX: So�what about last night�?

His mood quickly changes when he sees the look of seriousness in Liz�s eyes.

MAX: Something�s wrong, isn�t it?

Liz nods.

Together the two of them walk into a store room.

MAX: This is the only place without security cameras. Brody just installed them last week. We should be able to talk freely here.

Liz took a deep breath, then she began her story.

LIZ: I just got back from Kyle�s, Max. His powers just emerged, and he wanted me to connect with him to see if he was all right. I saw the other presence again. I know who it is!

MAX: Is it K�Var?

Liz turned to face him, tears in her eyes. He shakes her head.

LIZ: It�s Alex.

Max�s eyes go wide in complete horror. He stumbles back, his mind reeling.

MAX: That�s�that�s impossible. Alex is�

LIZ: Dead? Max, he�s alive. He�s alive inside Kyle�s mind.

MAX: Alex wasn�t an alien. It�s a trick�someone trying to make you think it�s Alex�

LIZ: Max, I know what I felt. Alex was one of my best friends, and I felt him. No one, alien or human, no matter how smart they were could fake that.

Max began to pace back and forth, trying to come to terms with what he just heard.

MAX: How is this possible?

LIZ: Look, you died too right? Maybe this is sort of the same thing.

MAX: I �died� using my powers on Clayton. It�s not�

Suddenly, Max frozen as he came to a realization.

MAX: Wait! Alex didn�t die by any natural means. The car crash isn�t what killed him, and Tess didn�t outright slaughter him either. Her powers�her mind warp�killed him.

LIZ: And you died using your powers on Clayton, right? I see where this is going.

MAX: The same thing must have happened, only in reverse. Alex isn�t possessing Kyle, he�s just inhabiting his body. That�s why he didn�t say anything. He probably doesn�t have any control, just like I did at first when I was inside Clayton. But then shouldn�t he have been inside Tess, not Kyle?

LIZ: She mind warped Kyle after she killed Alex. Immediately after. Somehow, it must have transferred to him because it was so recent. It makes sense, when you consider that Tess� powers were mind-based. The whole thing must have slipped immediately by her.

Max slumped down on a box, taking it all in.

MAX: Please tell me Kyle doesn�t know yet.

LIZ: No. When you took control, it killed Clayton. That means that, if Alex takes control�

MAX: �it�ll kill Kyle. And if Kyle knew, he�d try to get rid of Alex, killing him again.

Liz and Max look at each other, not knowing what to do.

Cut to the DeLuca house. Amy hears a knock on the door and opens it. Standing outside are Jim and Kyle.

VALENTI: Hello, Amy.

She smiles back.

AMY: Jimmy�nice of you to drop by.

Kyle looks at his father and snickers.

KYLE: �Jimmy�?

Valenti just ignores him.

VALENTI: Could I talk to you for a minute?

AMY: Sure.

Kyle rolls his eyes.

KYLE: I�m gonna go talk to Maria.

With that, he heads towards Maria�s room.

Cut to a laboratory outside Roswell. The former Eagle Rock military base. At one time, it was here that the government examined, and sometimes killed, alien life forms.

It�s ironic that it now serves as the top secret research facility for the now-defunct MetaChem corporation.

NICHOLAS: Here we are, gentlemen. The nerve center. Sorry for being so melodramatic. Years being devoted to sci-fi movies does that to you.

Nicholas, along with several of the former board members of MetaChem, stand in a cluster surrounding a glass tube in the middle of the room. The tube is filled with a dark green liquid. Even so, there is a dark shadow inside. There�s something solid contained within.

NICHOLAS: Now, this here is the secret weapon of �Operation Evolution�.

STACY: I thought we needed the Parker girl for that?

NICHOLAS: Oh, we do. But just for a DNA blueprint. This here�we couldn�t possibly succeed without this.

Another one of them speaks up.

RON: What about the others? The aliens?

NICHOLAS: There are three of them. Max, Michael, and Isabel. Along with the humans.

RON: Wasn�t there a forth one? Harding?

Nicholas grinned at his comment.

NICHOLAS: Tess. She wasn�t one of them. She was a plant.

STACY: A plant?

NICHOLAS: Working for me. Her job was to bring them back to our home planet, where people were waiting to execute them. She failed, of course. She tried to get back herself, the idiot.

STACY: Tried? You mean�there�s a spaceship on earth?

NICHOLAS: It was called the granolith, powered by the bio-energies of the hybrids. What Tess Harding didn�t know, however, was that it needed all four of them to work properly. It exploded the second it exited earth�s atmosphere.

RON: So she�s dead?

Nicholas shook his head again.

NICHOLAS: I�m not like Max and the others. I have powers you don�t even have names for. I couldn�t save her body, but I could at least salvage her mind. She�s a nomadic intelligence.

RON: Meaning?

NICHOLAS: Tess possesses people, it�s the only thing she can do since she no longer has a physical body. When I found her again, she was a school teacher.

STACY: Well, where is she now?

Nicholas smiles evilly.

NICHOLAS: You wouldn�t believe me if I told you.

And, inside the tube, something moves.

It�s a human hand.

KYLE: Maria? You here?

Kyle enters Maria DeLuca�s room, looking for her.

He sits down on her bed, and notices a guitar lying there. He looks at it and grins.

KYLE: Ladies and gentlemen, may I present a unique man. His name is Jim Valenti, former sheriff of Roswell. Now, what makes him so unique is, believe it or not, aliens. He knows them�they got him fired from his job. His new job is actually going out and looking for aliens as a alien PI. Heck, his boy Kyle�s turning into one, and so will he eventually. But not today�today he�s part of �Jim Valenti and the Kit Shickers�.

Kyle picks up the guitar and strums the strings once.

His listens to the sound, and then tries it again.

KYLE: Hey�easy.

He strums a few strings, until a melody begins to form. Then he begins to play, almost as if he�s been doing it his entire life.

Even though, up until this moment, he had never even picked up a guitar before.

Then he starts to sing:

Suddenly, Kyle stops singing as he sees Maria standing in the doorway.

KYLE: Maria? Oh, I�m sorry. I didn�t see you there. I�ll�

He puts the guitar down.

MARIA: No, you�re really good. I didn�t know you could play.

Kyle smiles.

KYLE: Neither did I. That�that was Alex�s, right?

Maria nods.

MARIA: You can have it if you want.

Kyle looks at her, surprised.

KYLE: I thought you�uh, that is�

MARIA: I think he would have wanted you to have it.

Kyle smiles.

KYLE: Thanks.

Maria leaves, and Kyle looks at the guitar again. He smiles to himself.

But then something happens to him. He starts to convulse, falling to the floor. Not being able to control what�s happening to him, he tries to scream for help.

Nothing comes out of his mouth.

Suddenly, a flash of light envelopes his body, and then dies down.

From where we see, a hand rises up and grabs hold of the bed. An unseen figure rises to his feet and walks away.

KYLE: Ok, what the heck was that?

But something was wrong with Kyle�s voice. It sounded�different. Deeper.

He walked over to the mirror and received the shock of his life.

Staring back at him was Max Evans.

Cut to the kitchen. Maria cuts through, heading for the door.

MARIA: I�m heading for work, see you later mom.

She closes the door, not waiting for an answer.

Amy sighs, and turns towards the other person at the table�Jim Valenti.

AMY: So, let me see if I understand this: you want me to be your secretary?

VALENTI: Assistant.

AMY: Same difference.

Valenti laughs, looking at her.

VALENTI: So, are you in?

She looks at him for a moment.

AMY: I�ll think about it.

He stands up.

VALENTI: Well, I�m gonna go get Kyle and stop bothering you.

AMY: Actually, I like having you around.

Valenti smiles at her again, then heads towards Maria�s room.

Cut to inside Maria�s room. It�s dark, the lights are turned out.

Valenti walks in, looking for Kyle.

VALENTI: Kyle? Hey, son, I�ve got great news�

VOICE: And what do you want to tell me for? Suddenly family is very important to you or something?

Valenti turns around and sees his own father facing him.

VALENTI: Wha�?

He stumbles back, in shock.

VALENTI: Dad? How did you�?

VALENTI SR.: The voices�they�re in my head. Another voice�louder�louder�

Without warning, a bright light shimmered around the old man. When it fades, Kyle is standing in his place.

VALENTI: Kyle�Kyle? What happened just now?

KYLE: I didn�t want to, dad. I�m scared�I�what�s happening dad?

VALENTI: Your powers. Max heals, Isabel dream walks�everyone�s power must be different. You�re a shape shifter, that would explain�

KYLE: Just make it stop. Please�make it stop, sheriff.

Valenti�s eyes widen in surprise.

VALENTI: Sheriff? Kyle, I haven�t been sheriff since.. Just�just let me get Max on the phone and�

KYLE: NOOO!!!

Before Valenti can say another word, an invisible force erupts from Kyle, knocking him to the ground.

KYLE: Not Max. He�ll bring her and she�ll hurt me again. Don�t want to be hurt again like that�

Kyle runs past him, into the living room. Then he quickly heads out the back door.

Once he�s gone, Amy DeLuca runs in and helps Valenti to his feet.

AMY: Were you arguing about something? Why did Kyle run out like that?

Valenti doesn�t answer. He just looks at her.

VALENTI: Could you get me a phone, Amy? I need to make a call.