Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to the writers and
producers of Roswell
Spoilers: After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where Max is
successfully rescued,
and Michael was the one who broke up
with Maria.
***
The great enemy of the truth is very often
not the lie -- deliberate, contrived, and dishonest –
but the myth -- persistent, persuasive
and realistic
-
John F. Kennedy
***
“How are we going to find him?” Isabel asked as she stared
into the rows of buildings stretching up before them. Again they had tried to track Jesse’s tire marks with much
success until they reached the narrow closed street of an industrial
suburb. They found his car, which had
been forced into a ditch. There was a
trail of blood on the steering wheel.
“Dream walk again,” Tess urged. “You’ve got a good chance of finding him here, where his trail is
the warmest.”
Isabel looked back at the smear of blood on the steering
wheel. She didn’t know if she wanted to
do that. For all she knew, the
nothingness that she found would be explained only by his death. And that was something Isabel wasn’t ready
for. She swallowed. “I don’t think it will work,” she
gulped. “I mean it didn’t work at the
apartment building where Jesse had been.
So why would it work here?”
She peered uncertainly at Michael, Max and Tess who stood
scattered around the crash site. Isabel
hoped that they wouldn’t push her to find out something she didn’t want to
know. Max walked over with a white
handkerchief in hand. Isabel
frowned. “What is it?”
Max placed the handkerchief in her hand. It was stained with blood. Jesse’s blood, Isabel presumed. Taking a deep breath she let her finger
graze the crimson smear. Her powers
found a connection through the red smear on the thin piece of cloth and Isabel
was transported into a dark warehouse.
There was Jesse and he was slumped over, tied up in a chair.
“Jesse?” Isabel called.
Jesse’s head lifted, but he winced as if in pain. “Isabel?” he whispered. “Is that you?”
Isabel stepped over a black back and kneeled before her
husband. “Jesse. It’s me.
Where are you?” She looked
around, but Jesse couldn’t quite focus on any specific thing in the building.
Jesse looked down at her, there was dried blood caked on the
corner of his mouth. His face was a mix
of purple and green bruises. “Isabel,
get out of here! They’ll see you,” he
warned, looking around. “How did you
get in with all the guards?”
Isabel turned around and saw the guards standing beside the
door entrance. “I’m not really here
Jesse. I’m in your mind, it’s one of my
powers.”
Jesse frowned.
“But…”Suddenly Jesse’s head jerked up.
“You have to get out, someone’s coming.”
Isabel shook her head, Jesse, don’t push me out. She stood up and was about to get a closer
look at the short man, who was approaching her husband. Isabel forgot about the black bag that was
behind her and tripped, forcing the bag opened. A man’s arm fell out and as she
crouched down for a closer look, Isabel gasped and was then suddenly locked out
of Jesse’s conscious.
“Oh my God!” Isabel gasped as she fell back into Max’s arms.
“What is it?” Max asked anxiously.
“Cal Chasser, the guy whose wallet we found, he’s…” Isabel couldn’t bring herself to speak the
words. His face was horribly disfigured
and bloated, almost unrecognizable to her.
“Tell us,” Michael coaxed.
“What happened?”
Isabel looked up at Michael, covering her mouth. She felt like she was going to throw
up. “He’s dead.”
~~~
“How do you know?” Max asked.
“I saw him. He was in
a body bag. Jesse was sitting there and
there were these guys coming and I wanted a closer look at them, but I tripped
over this bag. When I leaned down to
look at his face it was the same exact man in the wallet, except his face
was…grey and bloated,” Isabel explained.
She put her hand over her mouth and held her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Max frowned, as worry creased his brow. He didn’t like the sound of this. But she was in Jesse’s mind, so he was
still, at least, alive for the moment.
“Isabel?” He walked over to his
sister who was sitting in the jeep, her head between her knees. “Did you get a look at where they were?”
Isabel shook her head disparagingly. “I couldn’t see any specific clues to where
he was,” she said breathily. “All I
know is that he’s in an abandoned warehouse.
But that’s all I could tell.”
Max put his arm around her as she began to sob. “I should have gotten a better look, but
Jesse pushed me out.”
Max swallowed as her big brown eyes looked desperately at
him. “It’ll be okay Isabel. I promise.”
He let out a loud sigh. Max
wasn’t sure how he would keep that promise, but somehow he would. Jesse wasn’t going to die because of them,
not if he had any say about it.
“What happened that made you leave?” Tess asked, as she
approached the jeep.
Isabel looked up.
“There was this short man coming to him.” She paused, as if back in a trance. Isabel let out a deep breath.
“They’ve beaten him Max. He had
dried blood on his face and there were bruises on his arms and face.”
Max knew that Isabel was frantic about what might happen to
Jesse. After Alex, she had been careful
not to let anyone in, and then Jesse came along. He knew what a risk she took letting him in, knowing exactly what
dangers they could possibly face.
Isabel had been able to take that chance and it worked out for
them. Though Max was not exactly happy
with the fact that Jesse was trying to put distance between his sister, and
both he and Michael; Max knew that he loved her.
“Well we’ve waited here long enough,” Tess sighed. “I think I’ve found a partial print of the
tire marks that haven’t been tread over or swept by the street cleaners.”
“So Michael, let’s do it again.” Max said as he turned to
Michael who was already concentrating on the tire marks that had almost been
hidden by a tall tuft of grass.
The familiar blue field appeared once more. “I got it,” Michael smirked.
Max stepped onto the deserted asphalt street and looked
around cautiously, making sure there were no witnesses. “It’s clear. You can see if there is any matching marks on the road.” He walked down a little ways, making sure
that there were no oncoming cars down the way to spot them. “I’ll keep watch. You try to track Jesse down.”
He was impressed how useful Michael’s new power was. They would have spent probably weeks trying
to track down even a small minute lead on Jesse if Tess hadn’t remembered that
Michael had this ability. How could he
deny how crucial Tess had been in all of their current successes? Max ran his fingers through his warm hair,
as he scoped out the terrain. They must
be close because the area seemed to be a perfect place to hold someone hostage.
Suddenly he heard a small commotion growing behind him. Max spun around and saw Isabel and Tess
waving him over. “What is it?” he
yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone.
“We’ve found some partial tracks that match!” Isabel
exclaimed happily. “Come here!”
As Max rushed over to the dim faded tracks that the blue
mold hovered over. He kneeled down and
pressed his fingers into the shallow tracks.
“They look like they turn right and lead into that alley way.”
Max looked up at Michael who seemed to agree. “Well no time is better than the present,
right?” Michael quipped grimly.
“Let’s go.”
~~~
Tess felt uneasy about going into the darkened
alleyway. She didn’t come all the way
to Earth to watch Max get hurt again, all because of a weak human. As they
quietly crept down the narrow corridor, Tess could feel the power stir from
within her. She had to be ready for
anything.
The building that made up one side of the corridor was made
out of an aluminum siding. As she ran
her hands along the smooth rise and fall of the indentations, Tess focused on
the clear sky at the end of the alley.
But before they reached the clearing, Tess felt her fingers accidentally
run against a thin sharp edge. It cut
the palm of her hand. “Ah!” she gasped,
pulling her hand from the side of the building.
“What happened?” Max whispered, turning back and gazing
anxiously.
Tess shook her head.
“No,” she said, dismissing Max’s concern. “I just accidentally cut myself on the jagged edge of this
corner.” She pointed to the piece of aluminum
jutting out of the building. Tess felt
foolish. How could she have let herself
be so careless?
Max motioned for Michael and Tess to head towards the
clearing. “Just wait for me there. If there are any windows, see if you can
scout out the building,” Max commanded Michael and Isabel.
Tess gazed up at Max who just then, bore a striking
resemblance to Zan. The authority and
weight he carried in his voice sent shivers down her spine. His warm fingers grasped her injured hand
and tilted it upwards, so that he could have a better look at it. His dark brown hair covered his brooding
eyes. “Max I’m all right. I promise,” Tess laughed nervously. “I just accidentally cut myself. I can just hold a tissue in my hand until it
stops bleeding.”
Max looked up at her, his eyes locked with hers. “It’s bleeding pretty bad,” he said, his
eyes never leaving hers. Tess felt the
flat of his hand slip over top of her bloody palm. Their eyes remained locked as the warmth of his hand and the
energy arising from within him seeped into her hand and coursed through her
arm.
When the warmth had ebbed and they were just left standing
there, his palm pressing against hers, Max seemed to realize where he was and
pulled away. “It should be fine now,”
he said uneasily.
Tess unconsciously let her thumb caress her now-healed hand,
and she smiled softly at Max. “Thanks,”
she whispered.
Max nodded and turned around to make his way down the
alleyway. Tess followed closely behind,
peering around Max, to see an empty clearing.
She frowned. Where could Michael
and Isabel be?
~~~
“You take the door at the end of the building, I’ll see if I
can’t find an opening through this window,” Michael instructed, as he pointed
Isabel to the grey steel door that was a couple of feet away from where they
were standing.
“But Michael, I think we should stick together,” Isabel
whispered anxiously. “I know that Max
told us to try to find some windows, but I don’t think he meant for us to go in
them!”
Michael frowned.
“Did you or did you not say that Jesse was in there?” he asked
irritably.
Isabel nodded.
“Yes,” she sighed. “But they’ve
got guards posted at every door.”
Isabel had tried to reach Jesse again and she had no trouble contacting
him. He was a little worse for wear, but
the men who threatened him weren’t about to get rid of him yet.
“Well we’ll just have to sneak our way in,” he stated,
hopping on a near by crate and peering into the dusty window. Michael wasn’t sure exactly what was going
to happen when they had made their way in, but with Isabel and his powers
combined, he was sure they could take them out. He turned around and looked down at Isabel who was nervously
looking around the pier that the building happened to run along. “Isabel, I can see him.” Michael pointed to the window.
“Really?” she exclaimed excitedly.
“I think I see a window opened on the other side of the
building,” Michael whispered, as he strained his eyes to see across the
building through the window. “I think
we could sneak in through there.”
“And then what?”
Michael crouched down on the crate and hopped off. “And then we get your husband out of
there.” As he made his way around the
corner of the building, Michael signaled Isabel to follow. Michael would pull this thing off, he had to,
or he’d end up watching Isabel go through losing Jesse, as well as having lost
Alex.
Along the way, Michael found a few small crates, which he
grabbed and handed to Isabel, as well as taking a few of his own. They would need them to reach the window he
had spotted. As they neared the corner
of the building, they passed a nearby door, Michael accidentally let one of the
crates slip from his grasp. Both Isabel
and Michael paused and waited for any signs that someone had heard the loud
clatter outside the building. Michael
heard from beyond the wall a few raised voices and footsteps heading toward the
door. He steadied himself, as his heart
was racing, for the confrontation that was about to occur. “Isabel, get behind me!” Michael ordered, as
the door began to open.
Suddenly a group of four men with semi-automatic guns in
their hands appeared and began scouting out the area. Michael waited until he saw the whites of their eyes before
preparing to let them feel the full extent of his powers. As he raised his hand to release the energy
he had drawn from within himself, Isabel stopped him. “What are you doing?” Michael cried as the men approached them
with guns. “They’re going to capture us
if I don’t do this.”
Isabel shook her head and raised her arm, pointing to the
disoriented looks on the men’s faces and how they looked right past them. And as Michael tried to figure out what was
happening, he saw two lone figures out of the corner of his eye, behind the four
men. Michael hadn’t seen them; he was
too focused on the four goons. It was
Tess and Max. They had found them and
he could just barely make out Tess as her hands covered her face. She was mind warping them.
Michael watched as the four goons approach them, kicking the
crates, which they had once held in their hands. Unexpectedly one of the men spun around and was a few inches away
from both he and Isabel. “Watch out,”
he whispered as he grabbed Isabel’s hand and pulled her against him. The lackey paused a moment, frowning as if
he had something, but couldn’t put his finger on it. Fortunately one of the other three men called him and he waved at
them in acknowledgement. The man leaned
forward, waving his hand in the air, almost brushing against Michael. As Michael pressed Isabel against the wall
of the building, knowing that if he touched them, it would wake all of them
from their reverie, he could feel Isabel’s heart pounding underneath his
chest. When they had finally passed,
Michael relaxed his body and wrapped his arms around Isabel. That had been a close one.
“What do you guys think you were doing?” Max cried out in an
angry whisper.
Michael rolled his eyes. He wasn’t in the mood for a lecture. “We don’t have time for this Maxwell,” Michael growled. “Jesse’s in there. And they’ve given us the best opportunity to sneak into the warehouse.” He gestured to the door the armed men had left opened.
Max glared at him, with a look that told Michael that they
weren’t finished with this conversation yet.
He cocked his eyebrows and nodded warily. Something to look forward to!
Michael and Isabel followed behind Max and Tess. It was as if they were in some spy movie or
something.
When they managed to crawl behind some large crates,
suddenly the four men who had been hunting them earlier returned. “What was out there?” a harsh voice
demanded.
One of the armed men shook his head. “It must have been a cat or something. We found some empty crates knocked down,” he
explained.
“Fine! Get back to
your posts then!”
Michael worked himself through the maze of crates, enough to
find a location where he couldn’t be spotted, but had Jesse in his sights. He heard someone crawl up behind him. As he turned around he saw Isabel trying to
squeeze in beside him. “Go back,” he
mouthed.
She shook her head stubbornly. “I need to see if he’s all right,” she hissed.
Michael turned his attention back to Jesse and the two men
standing over him. The tall one punched
him in the stomach, making Jesse grunt.
He felt Isabel lurch forward.
Michael turned around and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Come on,” he coaxed. “We can’t let them know we’re here yet.”
Isabel looked at him incredulously. “What?” she mouthed.
“We need to find out what they want with him,” he whispered
into her ear.
Isabel’s face contorted into one of disbelief and then of
resignation. “Fine,” she huffed. “But if they go anywhere near him with a
gun, that’s it! I don’t care what they
want from Jesse.”
Michael nodded. He
put his index finger up to his lips.
They were talking to Jesse.
~~~
“You know I’m sure Cal there,” Agent Watts pointed to the
body bag, “is rolling in his grave thinking about the opportunity you are
giving up by being so stubborn.
I’m sure he wouldn’t have passed it up.”
Jesse swallowed, and another disgusting taste of blood
trickled down his throat. It seemed
that he’d been swallowing his blood far too often in the past couple of
hours. And it wasn’t going to
stop. The brief glimpse of hope he had
when Isabel came to him in his mind seemed to fail when another hour passed and
there was no sign of the alien hybrids.
Please someone! That was
all the energy he had, just enough to think that two-word plea.
Some part of him resigned himself to the fact that he was
going to die. There was no way out of
this mess. How could they possibly find
him? He was in an abandoned warehouse
in the middle of nowhere. Jesse shook
his head and smirked. “Is that the only
threat you’ve got?”
All day they had been threatening to kill him as they did
with Cal. At this point, Jesse was
ready for it. It would have been better
than the beatings he’d been getting all day.
And he would be glad that he wouldn’t have to listen to either one of
their voices again.
“You know I don’t believe he’s going to talk,” Patch
sneered. “I think this is just a waste
of our time.”
Jesse saw Patch reach underneath his suit jacket and behind
his back. He swallowed. Jesse knew that this could be it; he closed
his eyes and waited for the press of cold steel to his head.
“No,” Agent Watts growled.
“If we can’t get any information on the aliens and what they are doing
here from him, we can certainly use him as bait.”
Jesse didn’t like the sounds of that, but it gave him
hope. At least he knew that he wouldn’t
be killed just yet. Just when Jesse was
about to relax, he felt Patch begin untying his feet and arms. “Wha-at?” he exclaimed. “What are you doing?”
Agent Watts grinned.
“We’re going to let your little alien friends know where you are and how
much we will hurt you if they don’t turn themselves in.”
Now it was Jesse’s turn to scoff. “You think that they’re just going to ‘turn’ themselves in? You’re majorly deluded, man!”
Agent Watts frowned and Jesse felt Patch’s grip on him
tighten. “You better hope they care
about you enough to rescue you, or someone’s not going to survive long enough
to see the sun set tonight.”
Unexpectedly, there was a loud clatter at the far end of the
building, near a large stack of crates.
Jesse squinted trying to make out shapes in the area the noise had come
from. “Go check it out!” Agent Watts
ordered, yelling at the armed guards.
Jesse wondered if Isabel had found someway to track him
down. It gave him a spark of hope in
the darkest hour he had ever experienced in his entire life. As he peered up at Patch and then briefly
glanced over at Watts, Jesse tried to figure out how he was going to get away
from them, before they shot him first.
How much could Isabel do? Max
was recovering from dying and he was sure Michael, Liz and Maria were in
school. Jesse closed his eyes. Even if Isabel had managed to bring that new
alien, Tess around, what could the two women do?
~~~
Tess cringed as she accidentally tripped over the small metal bracket that she did not see when following Max around to the other side of the boxes of crates. She let a short intake of air hiss through her clenched teeth. Max’s head snapped around and he froze. Tess heard a man shout orders at the armed guards who were posted at the exits. She had given them away.
Tess searched through the dim lighting for any sign of
Michael and Isabel, but they had disappeared.
She hoped that they had found a good spot to hide. Max tugged on her arm and pointed to a small
crevice the stacked crates had created over to their right. Tess nodded and headed toward the stack of
wooden boxes. As she tried to squeeze
in, the quickening pace of footsteps neared and just as Max was about to
squeeze in beside her, two armed men appeared and one pressed the muzzle of the
gun to the back of Max’s head. “Found
you!” one of the men leered. He grabbed
the back of Max’s shirt and pulled him into an upright position. “Get out here!”
The other armed guard stepped out in front of the man who held
Max at gunpoint. Tess couldn’t risk
mind warping them with the guards as tense and high strung as they were. They could pull the trigger before she could
draw them into the warp. “Okay,” she
irritably. “What’s the big deal
man?” Tess hoped that they didn’t know
who she was, and maybe she could worm her way out of this.
The dark haired man who had her at gunpoint growled and
tilted his head, signaling her to move out from behind the crates. Max stumbled forward as the redheaded guard
shoved him from behind. “Boss, look
what we found!”
As they cleared the maze of crates, Tess could see a bright
light hanging over top of Jesse and two other men. One was of a shorter stature than the other. But the short one seemed to be in
charge. “Bring them here,” he
growled. “I want to see them.”
Tess felt the guard’s rough hand grasp her upper arm and
drag her quickly into the brightly lit area.
As she squinted and raised her free arm to shade her from the dangling
light, Tess frowned. “Who are you?”
Tess demanded. She couldn’t believe she
allowed herself to get into such a position.
If she could just get free, and if Max was just a couple of feet out of
harm’s way, Tess would have no problem turning the guns that held her attention
into a puddle of liquid metal.
The shorter man smirked and approached her with a confident
swagger. His short almost stub-like
fingers grasped her chin. He was just a
couple of inches taller than she was.
“So you’re the new one? Or
should I say the old one?” he asked curiously.
Tess could feel his eyes drinking in every bit of her; it was like he
was undressing her with his eyes. It
made her want to cringe. She jerked her
back and wiped her chin with the palm of her hand, as if his mere touch had
left some sleazy mark on her.
“Don’t touch her again,” Max warned, as he lunged
forward. The short man seemed to pay no
attention to Max, pulling out a neatly pressed handkerchief out of his suit
jacket. Just as Max was about to
attempt to take hold of the kidnapper, one of the guards pulled him away. The rounded man then approached Max, a look
of contempt and disgust on his face.
“Oh, and what are you going to do about it?” he said mockingly.
Tess turned around and looked behind her, searching the
aisles of crates for any sign of Michael and Isabel. There was none. She
sighed and tried to form a plan before they could tie them up or take them to a
place where some experimentation of some kind could be performed. Come on Tess think!
~~~
“What are we going to do?” Isabel exclaimed in a
whisper. “They’ve got Max and Tess!”
Michael and Isabel were lucky enough to escape any further
investigation once the guards found Max and Tess lurking in the shadows. He rubbed his jaw and shook his head. Things weren’t going as planned, not that
they really formed any sort of plan to begin with. “We need to create a distraction,” Michael said slowly, as an
idea came to mind. “If we can just get
Jesse, Max and Tess out of the line of fire, it would be like picking cans off
a fence post with a bee bee gun.”
Isabel paused a moment and frowned. “Cans off a fence post?”
Michael rolled his eyes.
“What you’re going to nitpick about my metaphors right now?” he mumbled.
Isabel sighed.
“No. What do you want me to do?”
Michael peeked his head up above the crate, to familiarize
himself to the surroundings. It was
pretty much an empty warehouse except the crates they were hiding behind. “If you could tell Max, Tess and Jesse to
move to their right, while you create a distraction to the left, then I could
possibly get off a shot at the group of them,” he explained, all the while his
eyes were intent on the head honcho and the tall enforcer.
Isabel nodded. “What
do you want me to do for a distraction?”
Michael thought about it for a moment. “Is there anyway you could create some kind
of fireworks or…” Michael didn’t know
what Isabel could do. It wasn’t like
they had done this often and were being held at gunpoint.
“I don’t know Michael, all I’ve ever really had to do was
dream walk. That and there was that
pulse of energy when Whitaker was trying to kill us,” Isabel whispered
distractedly. Michael knew that they
didn’t have time, but he couldn’t think of a better plan. Suddenly Michael felt Isabel’s hand on his
arm. “I’ve got an idea.”
~~~
Isabel contacted the others and headed towards the opening on the other side of the crates. She could see the kidnappers beginning to move and knew that if they didn’t do it now, that Michael’s plan wouldn’t work. When she looked back to see if Michael was ready, Isabel could see that Michael was frowning and waving her to come back. Isabel shook her head and peered above the crate in front of her. The tall man who had been guarding Jesse the entire time suddenly had a gun to his neck and Tess and Max were beginning to be shuffled out.
This was as good a time as any!
Isabel steadied herself to run out into the open and
hopefully draw some of the men, namely the ones guarding Max and Tess after
her. She took one last glance at
Michael, who seemed unhappy with her and about to blow their cover, and
scrambled from behind the crate announcing her presence. Isabel drew whatever power she had within
her and put it in reserve, just in case they fired at her. She prayed that Jesse, Max and Tess would be
able to get out of harm’s way, long enough for Michael to put his plan into
action.
~~~
What the hell did she think she was doing? Michael watched as Isabel scrambled out to
the open area. She released a pulse of
energy at a single crate before her and listened to the splinters of wood hit
the cement floor. He peeked over the
crate once she was out of sight and watched as four armed guards surrounded
her. The apparent leader of the group
of men moved to the left and began barking orders at the guards. Michael silently crept out from behind the
crate and positioned himself close enough to blast the armed guards who had
their back to him.
The energy surged within him and he opened his eyes as the
force was released upon the unsuspecting goons. Michael had to be as careful as ever, not to let his powers get
out of control. Just a few feet from
the guards stood Isabel and she could easily get caught in the blast.
He listened to the men scream and gasp for breath, as they were knocked unconscious. Unfortunately Michael missed the man in charge. As he turned around to see if Jesse, Max and Tess were in the clear, a voice rang in his ears.
~~~
“Michael!” Isabel screamed as she stood
up. When Michael had released his
powers, Isabel turned her back and crouched down, covering her head. But when she got up to survey the damage,
Isabel saw Michael turn his back on the short plump man, who had somehow
escaped his blast. Before she knew it,
the man had pulled a gun from the waist and was aiming at Michael.
Without thinking, Isabel reached out her hand and released
another burst of energy that she had gathered within her at the man. There was a bright flash of light and then
all of the sudden darkness. This time
there were no flakes of dead human husks, but what lay before her was an
unconscious man. Isabel felt like she
was standing in a vacuum. No sound
could enter and she just stood there alone, with a human bodies scattered
before her. Then unexpectedly she was
jolted back to reality.
~~~
“You freaks stay back!” the tall man in a suit
yelled. His face was contorted in
fear. “I will kill him. I will.”
The kidnapper pressed his gun to Jesse’s throat firmly, almost crushing
his windpipe.
Jesse gasped.
“Ugh!” He knew that if the four
made any false moves, Patch wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. “Please,” Jesse pleaded, his eyes fixed on
Isabel. “Just stay back.”
Max pulled Tess to his side, and as he glanced behind him,
he could see Michael coming up beside him.
There had to be a way to get Jesse out of this dangerous situation. He debated the options.
Tess could possibly mind warp the goon, but it seemed too
risky. And Michael did not have a clear
shot at the hysterical man. Upping the
tension could worsen the situation or make him falter. Max didn’t quite know.
“Let him go,” Michael demanded forcefully. “You have to know we will take you down the
moment you pull that trigger.” He
wasn’t going to let this thing get out of hand. They had to take command of the situation. Besides, from his perspective, the man
wasn’t the brains behind the whole operation and would most likely give in.
“You stay away from me!” Patch warned.
Jesse looked up at his captor and closed his eyes. “Please Patch, it’s over!” The tall man looked down at him and his eyes
gleamed. “Oh, you think you got out of
this scott free don’t you?” he leered.
“Please, you heard the man,” Jesse gasped as he felt Patch
tighten his grip around his neck. He
pointed over to Michael, Max, Tess and Isabel, who had finally joined the other
hybrids. “He’ll kill you.” Patch’s eyes darted around the warehouse
looking for an escape.
“There’s nowhere to run,” Michael declared loudly. He looked over at Max who had been
unsettling in his calm demeanor.
Michael leaned over and whispered into his ear. “What are you doing?”
This seemed to wake him from his reverie. Max turned around and looked at him. “I’m trying to find a way out of this that
will let all of us get out of her alive,” he growled. “I know you think you know what you’re doing
Michael, but sometimes threatening a man with a gun isn’t the best course of
action.”
Michael rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his
chest. “Then what do you suggest we do oh
great leader?” Michael asked sarcastically.
“Can we not do this right now guys?” Isabel hissed as her
eyes were firmly fixed on Jesse and this man named Patch. Michael looked over his shoulder at Isabel
whose hands were trembling. He felt
like a jerk. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to
her. Isabel looked up and nodded. “Let’s just get him away from this guy,” she
said in a low voice.
“What are you guys whispering about?” Patch yelled
suspiciously.
Michael looked at Max nervously. After a moment, he shook his head. “Nothing.” Michael then turned to Tess. “Do you have any bright ideas?”
She hadn’t expected anyone to ask her for a plan. It was a first. But to her chagrin, Tess didn’t have a clue. Just when she was about to tell them she had
nothing, it was like some Higher Power from above tapped her on the shoulder
and said, ‘hello?’ Just at her feet
there was a large disgusting cockroach crawling at her feet. It gave her just the nudge she needed for a
plan to form. “Max,” she
whispered. “Just be ready to shield
Jesse, if anything happens.”
Max frowned. What
did she mean?
Isabel wasn’t sure what was going on. She was exhausted from the strain and stress
of the dream walking and energy blasts.
Her brow creased as she saw Tess going into one of her trances. While she attempted to figure out what Tess
was planning, a loud terrified shriek filled her ears.
“Get them off!
Get them OFF me!” Patch yelped.
Jesse was startled at Patch’s sudden irrational burst of
hysterics. He had let go of his grip
around his neck and began slapping at himself, his legs and all the way up to
his neck. It was as if there were
things crawling on him or as if he was on fire. Jesse was about get out of the way when a sudden green glow
engulfed him. He reached out his hand
and found a solid shell had formed around him.
Jesse spun around to see the shell was coming from Max. “What the hell is happening?”
Max shook his head.
He was sure that Jesse would have a fit, using his powers on him, but
there was no other way. The tall lackey
still had a gun in his hand, and though he was mostly concentrating on the
illusion Tess had put in his head, Max had to be sure a stray shot wouldn’t
accidentally catch him. “It’s just an
energy field to protect you.”
Jesse shook his head.
“Get it off me!” he yelled.
Isabel watched as Jesse began kicking at the fluorescent
green wall that separated him from any attempt on his life. “Jesse, just calm down,” she yelled. “You’ll be fine!”
Michael used this opportunity, while Patch was distracted to
come up from behind him and grab the gun away from the lunatic. The man didn’t even notice. He was too busy with whatever imaginary
plague Tess had unleashed upon him. “I
got it,” Michael shouted as he raised the gun in the air. Suddenly the hysterical man stopped
squirming and swatting at himself. He
seemed to regain his composure, though his posture was hunched over as if
something menacing stood before him.
Jesse was finally released from the foreign green force
field and stumbled happily into Isabel’s waiting arms. It felt like it had been years since he felt
her soft warm breath on his neck. He
could feel her wet tears cleansing the impure blood that masked his face. He was safe, and so was his wife. And no one would know why this happened, not
if he had anything to say about it.
“Don’t kill me!” Patch whimpered pathetically.
Michael frowned and rolled his eyes at him in disgust. The man wasn’t much of a threat without a
gun in his hand and a hostage under his control. As he turned around to walk back over to the two unusual couples
behind him, Michael was suddenly jerked back, his neck encased in a set of
powerful biceps. Patch had put him in a
headlock. The man towered over him,
almost a foot taller than him. Michael
dropped the gun and clawed at the man’s bulky forearm. He was amazingly strong.
“Michael!” Isabel yelled, pulling away from Jesse’s clinging
embrace. She rushed over and pulled at
the big brute’s muscular arms. He
tossed her onto the ground fairly easily.
Isabel watched as Michael’s face began to turn red and then a light
shade of purple. His mind was too
clouded from the lack of oxygen to even try to use his powers. She turned to Max and Tess who were watching
in shock. “Someone help him!” she
cried.
Once Max realized what was happening, he looked down at
Michael’s feet and dived for the gun he had dropped. As he aimed the gun at the stranger, Max looked grimly at the man
and said, “Let him go.”
Patch beady eyes peered from behind Michael’s head, holding
his hostage in place as a shield. “Or
what?”
“Or I will shoot you,” Max replied ominously. “If you don’t let him go, you’re not going
to get out of this alive.” He hoped his
well-placed threats would get through to the dense and fearful kidnapper.
“And why shouldn’t I believe that you’ll just shoot me where
I sand when I let him go?” Patch began
to back up; his eyes glanced over his shoulders intermittently, trying to make
his way to an exit.
Max followed suit, keeping the gun pointed at his head. “I just want to get out of here with my
friends. No one has to get hurt.”
Patch scoffed, gesturing with his free hand to the scattered
bodies of unconscious men. “Uh and
that’s very obvious!”
Michael could feel his arm lax a bit and the ability to breath
came a lot easier. “What are you
waiting for Max?” he shouted with whatever air he had left in his body. Again the muscles tightened around his neck,
making it uneasy to breathe.
Jesse wished Max would take the shot. He knew it would be risky, but as he looked
around at the bodies lying on the ground, Jesse knew it would be a matter of
time before they woke up. “Isabel,”
Jesse called to his wife who was kneeling on the ground, her eyes frozen on
Patch and Michael. “You and whatshername
should get out of here. Max and I will
handle this.”
Isabel turned around when she heard Jesse call her
name. “What?” She couldn’t believe Jesse was telling her to leave Michael in
like this. “I don’t think so.” As she pushed herself up from the ground and
slowly approached the man she heard Jesse call Patch, Isabel couldn’t help but
think about what had gotten them there in the first place. What did they want with Jesse? He didn’t know anything about them. The little he knew about the four being
aliens, was infinitesimal. “Please let
him go,” she begged, hoping to appeal to a more human side to the stranger.
He laughed. “You
really think that a pouty face and a few tears are going to make me let him
go?” There was a gleam in his eye that
Isabel hadn’t seen there a moment ago.
“What are you going to do?” Isabel demanded.
This unexpected maniacal laugh resounded through the
spacious building. “I’m going to do
what my Superiors couldn’t,” Patch said, leering at the unconscious
men. “I’m going back to the Bureau with
a full fledged alien!” Again he
laughed, tightening his grip on Michael’s neck and dragging him back towards
the exit more quickly.
“We’re not going to let you do that,” Tess spoke up. “It’d be better for you if you just voluntarily
let him go. If not, you’ll see what we really
can do.” She narrowed her eyes and
stepped up beside Max, who glanced briefly at her. Tess was tired of letting this irritating human control them.
As she closed her eyes, Tess began her mind warp. Flames began to form before her eyes and as
Tess reached out into Patch’s mind, the illusion of being set on fire was so
realistic that once again she had the grown man screaming out in terror. She held the illusion for as long as she
could while Michael escaped his grasp.
“Ughaah!” Michael gasped as he dropped to his knees trying
to make up for the lack of oxygen Patch had robbed his body of. He glanced behind him to see the agent
writhe in pain, though there was no seeming reason for it. Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw
Isabel crawl over to him. She put his
arm around her neck and helped him stumble to safety.
“You’re gonna be fine Michael,” Isabel whispered
reassuringly.
Michael closed his eyes and slowly inhaled the wonderful air
he had needed for the past several minutes.
He was surprised he didn’t pass out when Patch had him in a vice grip
like that. “What took you so long?”
Michael groaned, crouching down and resting for a moment.
Max shook his head in dismay at how close Patch had been to
the exit. His eyes were fixed on the
glow of the red ‘EXIT’ sign hanging over a door, only a couple of feet away
from Patch, who was still scrambling around.
If Tess hadn’t mind warped him again, Michael would have been halfway to
a lab by now. He closed his eyes and
lowered his arm. The heavy weight of
the metal weapon hung limply at his side.
He knew that there was no way he would have gotten off a shot. Max had been too worried about accidentally
hitting Michael.
“Hey? Are you all
right?” Jesse asked gruffly.
Max looked over his shoulder at his brother-in-law. “I’m fine.”
His eyes strayed over to Tess, who was still standing just a few feet
from him, with her eyes closed and focused on keeping up the illusion of the
mind warp. He walked up behind her and
leaned in, until his lips were only a few inches from her ear. “Tess, you can stop now.” He knew that if he shook her or startled
her, it might cause her to accidentally hurt the person she was mind warping.
Tess heard his voice calling to her. As she slowly opened her eyes, the
frightening images of flames disappeared before her and she was once again,
standing face to face with Max. It was
a welcome picture. “Is everyone safe?”
she asked tiredly. As much as she had
conditioned herself on Antar, Tess was still not used to the strain of using
her powers for such long periods of time.
Max nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leading
her back to the rest of the group. He
glanced briefly at Patch, who was now out of the mind warp. The tall stranger had sunk to his knees and
passed out.
“We should tie these guys up before they wake up,” Michael
declared, as he was now feeling stronger and surveying the warehouse.
“No!” Jesse exclaimed forcefully. “Let’s just get the hell out of here.” He gestured to the open door behind them. Jesse just wanted to get out of there. He had had enough of the FBI. After that horrible experience, Jesse would
take Isabel as far away from Roswell and the FBI as possible.
“I want to know exactly how they found you and why they hurt
you,” Isabel said angrily as she walked over to one of the unconscious men and
flipped him over on his back. “I
thought we put this behind us when I killed Whitaker. How could they know about us?
Everything pointing to us was destroyed, wasn’t it?”
Jesse swallowed hard.
“Please, can we just leave?” he pleaded, as his eyes darted around the
room at the men who could unravel the very thinly weaved connection remaining
between him and Isabel.
“Look, I can understand you’re tired and don’t want to be
near these guys,” Max said sympathetically.
“Why don’t you and Isabel head back to our parents’ house?”
Jesse looked hopefully at Isabel, who was frowning at
Max. “Yes, Isabel, could you take me
back to your parents’ house?”
“No!” she exclaimed.
“I want to know exactly what the hell they wanted!”
Jesse lowered his head and closed his eyes. There was no way for him to get out of this
unscathed. He had to tell them the
truth before Watts or Patch put a darker conspiratorial spin on it. “I’ll tell you,” he mumbled.
Isabel frowned.
“What Jesse?”
Jesse looked up at his wife. This woman had betrayed him and lied to him. When she pleaded with him to fight for their
marriage, Jesse had told her he had forgiven her and that they would move
on. He loved her enough to set aside
his feelings of hurt, anger and betrayal.
Now as she gazed at him, questioningly, it was his turn to pray that she
would forgive him for putting all of their lives in danger. He cleared his throat and kept his eyes
glued to the floor. Jesse couldn’t bear
to see her face when he told her what he was about to tell her.
“It’s because of me that they know about you.”