Spinning around, Alex thrust his fist--still holding his knit cap--into a straight-arm jab that only managed to miss its target thanks to some quick movement on the part of his opponent.
"Gaah!" came a startled shout. Behind Alex a flame shot up from the lighter Tess held, and Isabel shone the flashlight in their direction.
"Geez, Whitman, you don't have to take my head off," a raspy voice complained. "I'm unarmed."
"Jesus Christ, Kyle," Alex shot back, his heart thudding. "You didn't have to do that."
The jock smiled cockily. "Could've been worse, I guess. You could have used the sledgehammer."
Alex's eyes dropped to the implement. He'd forgotten he had it, to be honest. Not an easy feat considering its heft, but he'd been so startled.... Great. Some help he was going to be.
"What are you doing here, Kyle?" Tess hissed, taking a step forward. Alex was glad she'd asked the question.
Kyle put out an apologetic hand. "Look, I'll be out of here in a minute, and go play guard-dog by the cars. But Liz and I had an idea, and one of us needed to come tell you about it. I figured better me than her."
Max nodded, seemingly accepting this, but Alex noticed a flicker of something--anger? disappointment?--go across Tess's face. Or maybe it was just the movement of the flame from the lighter, casting shadows.
"What idea?" Isabel prompted.
"If this Bob guy is really another alien, maybe the other one, Nasedo, would know him. Know what he might be capable of. So we thought--well, okay, Liz thought--maybe you should call him first. See what he can tell you."
"I'm not sure he'd tell us anything," Max said. "Not if he knew we were helping Michael."
"So we don't tell him that part," Tess said recklessly. "He doesn't have to know."
"I'm afraid it's a little bit late for that," Isabel commented. The light from the flashlight swung across the group to focus on her face.
Wait a minute. Isabel was holding the flashlight....
"Shapeshifter!" Alex blurted.
From behind the light she held, Isabel said dryly, "I for one had already figured that out."
Alex watched in mixed fear and fascination as the other Isabel put out a hand, palm out, and began to shift, features melting away from the familiar Isabel to the less familiar but very recognizable Ed Harding. Oh. Nasedo.
"How did you get here?" Tess gasped.
Stepping through the group, Max placed himself firmly between the shapeshifter and his friends. "That's a very good question," he said. He didn't take his eyes from Nasedo, but spoke to Kyle. "Kyle, why don't you go back to the cars? Keep an eye out for Liz."
"Sure," said the jock, eyeing the shapeshifter warily.
"You can see to find your way out?"
"Yeah. I found some flares in my trunk." He hesitated, then said, "Be careful, Max." Then he turned, and a light flickered in front of him as he lit a flare and headed back down the corridor.
Alex turned back to the group. He tried to sneak the sledgehammer surreptitiously back into his right hand, then realized he could have juggled with it for all the attention anyone was paying. The three hybrids were facing off with Nasedo; Maria was clutching the shirt-wrapped bundle tightly to her, a determined look on her face.
"I for one would like an answer to Tess's question," Max said coolly. "Did you follow us here?"
"Hardly. I've been here for some time."
"Have you seen Michael? Is he all right?" Isabel burst out, her voice shaking with the effort to suppress her excitement. The shapeshifter ignored her questions.
"You two of all people shouldn't be here," he snapped at the Evans siblings. "Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"
Max didn't back down. "Michael's here, and we're not leaving without him."
"Do you have any idea who he's with? What he intends to do to you? An entire planet is at stake here, Max. Not just one person. Get out of here, all of you. Let Michael deal with it."
"Let Michael deal with it?" Isabel snapped incredulously. "Since when did you decide he was on our side?"
"He and I have reached an...understanding," Nasedo answered, his manner calm. "This is his fight; you must leave it to him."
When Maria spoke, it startled Alex to realize how quiet she'd been, ever since they'd gotten out of the Jeep. Her answer rang out, practically bouncing off the walls. "No."
Nasedo seemed taken aback, as if he'd forgotten there were humans present. He peered closely at her. "You're the one, aren't you? The one who freed him from his own mind?"
Caught under the shapeshifter's scrutiny, Maria probably felt like a rather unpleasant specimen in the hands of a bug collector. but if it bothered her, she didn't let it show. Alex was proud. "It was a joint effort," she said, staunchly jutting her chin out.
"And it was at your house Michael was taken," Nasedo stated.
Maria flushed, "Yeah, but--"
"How did you know that?" Max questioned sharply.
The shapeshifter shrugged. "I was there."
"And you didn't bother to help us?" Maria demanded.
"My priority was to protect the others."
Isabel's eyes narrowed. "And would that priority have anything to do with the reason I ended up unconscious in a car trunk?" she said icily.
"It kept you alive and out of his hands."
Breaking into the conversation to keep Isabel from losing her poise altogether, Alex spoke quietly to the shapeshifter, as calmly as if he were one of his band buddies rather than a dangerous alien. "You're not going to change their minds about rescuing Michael, you know. So you might want to give some thought to how you can help instead."
It was a very long moment; then Nasedo turned to Max. "As far as I can tell, there are no guards, but the being you choose to disregard--
"Bob," interrupted Isabel with a nod, putting aside her anger for the time being.
"He is ruthless, and won't stop at anything to kill you, Max. With Isabel here, he has two shots to accomplish it."
It was Tess's turn to interrupt. "So it's true? What I remember about twins?"
Eyeing her with doubt, Nasedo cautioned, "That depends on what you remember. In your previous lives, it was true--kill one and the pod-sib also perishes. There's a possibility that it would still work that way, even in your current hybrid state. We don't know. But that makes Isabel just as vulnerable as Max. Neither of you can go on with this."
The alien king bristled. "I already told you, we--"
"Hey!" shouted Maria, fed up with the delay. "Enough chitchat. Michael's this way; I'm going. Anyone coming along?"
Startled, Nasedo addressed her again. "How do you know where he is?"
"I just do," she said rather belligerently, then started down the dark corridor. Isabel took a few steps to catch up and then walked with her, the flashlight illuminating the way.
*****
It was with some astonishment that Michael watched the light show playing in front of him. Tiny specks of bluish light chased each other through the air, tumbling over each other in an ecstatic dance. He felt unaccustomed laughter well up inside him. He'd never felt this exuberant, this...this free.
He decided that a stream of light should sweep off to the left, and it did. Another thought, and the light arced towards the ceiling in a miniature fireworks display. He was doing it. He was controlling his power. And it was easy.
A pair of antennae made completely of blue light burst into existence over Bob's head, and the alien swatted at it, quite unamused.
"If you're finished playing games, perhaps we could get back to matters of more importance," he said dryly.
"What? Yeah," said Michael, and the blue light dissipated. The room, bathed only in the fluorescent light from the metal fixtures in the ceiling, looked absurdly dull in his eyes. But he had to get over the insane joy of the last few moments and concentrate on Bob. Pretend to be on his side. "Sorry," he managed to get out. "It's just...." A hint of truth rang through his words. "That was amazing."
The other alien didn't relent. "Yes. Well. There are other ways to focus your power, ways that you'll need to learn if we are to be successful. I believe we'll try an energy link next."
"Huh?" Michael asked, still too caught up in the high to care if he sounded like an idiot.
Bob explained, none too patiently, "I told you that you are an energy source. Did you think all that meant was the ability to put on a light show? You can do other things; one is to pass energy along to another person. That is what we'll work on next." He moved to stand in front of the spiky-headed teen. "I have some ability to shift my shape; however, it takes a great deal of energy. You will provide that energy by linking and feeding it to me."
"Like a generator, and the link is the extension cord?" Michael offered.
"A rather inane comparison, but essentially true."
"So plug on in," the teenager said, ignoring Bob's superior attitude as he stood to face the shapeshifter. He was too busy trying to strengthen the mental wall he'd built. It had kept Bob from reading him earlier; he just hoped it would work on this kind of link, too.
But Bob was shaking his head. "You must create the link. You control the passage of energy. I can't just take it away from you; if I could, you already would have been disposed of."
Michael rolled his eyes. The other alien sure wasn't giving him a lot of reasons to stay on his side. Bob really needed to work on his people skills.
Not that Michael was one to judge. What was that saying about glass houses? But he had the feeling that, in an asshole competition, Bob would win hands down. And there was always the whole planned murder thing to cinch the title....
Shaking his head, Michael took a deep breath, then reached out to grab Bob's wrist. He wasn't that good at linking, but he'd managed it before, with Maria. It wasn't totally new. Plus, he didn't really care if something went wrong and he hurt the other alien, so there wasn't much to lose.
It only took a second for the rough link to be established, and then Michael reached down inside, trying to figure out just how to pass along some of his energy. Well, visualization worked for him before, with the Bob-blocking mental wall; he'd try it again, no matter how lame and New Agey it seemed. Closing his eyes, he envisioned himself scooping up a handful of blue light and handing it to the other alien.
It seemed to work. More, he heard, although it wasn't spoken. The thought came through the link. Obeying, he passed more energy along before opening his eyes.
He immediately dropped the other alien's wrist in shock.
Bob looked like him. Spiky brown hair, wrinkled clothing, dangling handcuff, and all. Except not quite. Michael's eyes narrowed.
"What is it?" Bob asked, adding to Michael's sense of wrongness. He didn't sound right, either.
Michael's voice was blunt. "You look wrong."
"I am a perfect copy, I assure you," Bob insisted, sounding rather indignant at the questioning of his skills. "I am quite good at this."
"Good when somebody else gives you enough energy to do it," Michael muttered under his breath. His eyes studied the other alien. What was off? Even the damned brand was on the other alien's cheek--
And it was that which lit the proverbial lightbulb. "Copy," he echoed. "You're a copy. You look wrong because I'm used to a mirror image. You look backwards." Satisfied that he'd solved the question, Michael aborted his 'self'-study. "So do you only copy people, or can you make up your own form?" he asked, interested.
"I require a model of some sort," Bob lectured. "But it doesn't have to be in front of me. As long as I re-create an image in my mind, I can become that image."
"Yeah? Then how about doing someone else?" Michael suggested. "'Cause frankly, looking at you looking like me is kinda whacked."
Bob gave him a supercilious smile. "Fair enough. But you'll need to furnish me more energy."
"Whatever." But inside, Michael's mind was racing. What would happen if he fed more energy into the other alien, and didn't stop? Could he overload him? Would it knock Bob out, or would he go supernova? Maybe this was his chance to deal with Bob once and for all. But what if it killed him? Sure, he'd told Nasedo he'd do what he had to, but was he really ready to kill again? He'd killed Pierce to save Sheriff Valenti and probably the others, and he'd dealt with it. Barely, but he'd done it. So maybe this time the killing would be easier....
He realized Bob was waiting expectantly, and managed to put the decision off for a moment. "How about a break first? This energy thing isn't exactly easy."
"You're the one who was in a hurry for me to shift," the other alien answered with a shrug. "It doesn't matter to me. Your shape isn't any better than any other shape."
Maybe it seemed that way to the shapeshifter, but Michael only knew his current shape. And he was more or less content with it as it was. Well, all except for his brand new alien cheek tattoo; he'd get rid of that as soon as he could. He didn't need anything else to make people stare at him; he already felt like a big enough freak. Not that he really cared what anyone else thought. Right?
Lowering himself to the floor, he leaned back against the wall and let out a deep breath. "So what happens after?" he asked abruptly.
"After what?"
"After we kill the king. We pack up and go to Disneyland?"
Bob gave an arrogant sniff. "Hardly."
Michael leaned against the wall, looking as confident as he could, considering he was flying by the seat of his spacesuit here. "What, then? What do we do after I take care of your little disposal problem? We gonna fly back home and take over the world, or what?"
The other alien looked at him appraisingly. "You can't fly back home. You wouldn't be able to survive in our atmosphere. You're too human," he added with disdain.
This news hit Michael like Hank's fist. He couldn't go back there? The four of them were put in these stupid hybrid bodies so they could save their planet, and they couldn't even go there to do it? They were permanent exiles? He swallowed. Somehow through everything, he'd always believed that one day, he'd go back there, be where he really belonged. His home.
And now he didn't belong there, either. He didn't belong anywhere. Bile rose up in the back of his throat. "So why the hell am I helping you?" he demanded. "What am I gonna get out of it? A lifetime of paternal gratitude?" he added bitterly.
"That's unlikely," Bob responded. "Since your father is long since dead."
Gritting his teeth, Michael tried to keep hold of his downward spiraling emotions. He should have known his father was dead, should have somehow expected it once Nasedo had told him that Bob wasn't his father. Hell, he had no family in this life; why should he expect to still have one somewhere else? He'd already lost his only sister. Why not take his father too?
At least Bob obviously thought he still held sway over Michael, since he didn't bother to keep up the fatherly pretense any longer. "Yeah?" Michael queried, doing his best to sound unaffected, and only partially succeeding. "So who the hell are you?"
*****
Closing her eyes, Maria breathed in a lungful of dry, warm air. Although it felt good to be out of the cold, she didn't really appreciate the lack of humidity down here. Worse than summer in the desert, really. Someone needed to set up a super-powered humidifier, and fast, because she wasn't eager to find out what the overly-dry heat was doing to her skin.
They'd moved through a series of corridors, passing an occasional heavy-looking metal door, and they hadn't seen anyone else. Slowing down once they hit a patch where the fluorescent lights were burning, she'd led their small group unerringly through towards Michael.
And now here they were, outside a door that looked exactly like all the others they'd passed, except for the number stenciled on it in faded black paint: 147. Even though it looked nothing like the intricately carved wooden door in her dreams, she got the oddest feeling of familiarity. She'd stood outside a door looking for Michael before.
"Here," she whispered, testing it and finding it locked. "He's in here."
Stepping closer with a nod, Max moved in front of the others and placed his hand over the lock. Nasedo's voice cut clearly through the hush. "You cannot go in there, Max."
Several glaring faces turned in his direction. "Would you like to make any more noise?" Isabel hissed. "You know, just in case you haven't already alerted them to our presence."
The censure rolled off the shapeshifter's back. "The door is solid, as are the walls," he said, showing no concern whatsoever. "They can't hear us."
"Why doesn't that make me feel any better?" Alex whispered to himself. No one answered.
"What's the plan, Max?" Tess asked quietly.
Max and Isabel exchanged glances. "We go in fast and hit hard. We overpower Bob and contain him," Max instructed.
Alex snorted. "Good plan," he said dryly.
"Do you have a better one?" Isabel shot back. At his shrug, she nodded. "Well, then."
"Containing him won't be enough, not in the long run. You'll have to kill him," Nasedo cautioned. "He won't stop otherwise."
Max and the others grew quiet. "Look at it this way," the shapeshifter went on. "He is going to be attempting to kill you, the ruler of our planet. He's committing treason. Think of it as a preemptive strike."
"Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better," Max admitted. He squared his jaw. "But I'll do what I have to."
"No," Isabel insisted. "We'll do what we have to."
Max nodded, meeting her eyes with a solemn smile. "Isabel and I go in first," he continued, "then Tess. The three of us concentrate on Bob. Maria and Alex, we don't know what kind of shape Michael's in--you get him out. Take him back to the cars." He turned cool eyes towards Nasedo. "Help or not. I don't care what you do--just don't get in our way."
With that he turned back to the door, unlocked it, and led the way in.
Anxious to get to Michael, Maria growled in frustration when the doorway was blocked by the people in front of her. Why had they just stopped there? What happened to taking out Alien Bob? Impatiently she pushed past Tess and peered between the siblings.
Oh. They hadn't dealt with Alien Bob because he wasn't there. Just Michael.
Wait a minute--make that two Michaels. Who were staring at the intruders, looking just as surprised as everyone else.
Maria rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Oh, please." Pushing past Isabel and Max, she stalked further into the room, close enough now that the crystalline sphere in her hand wasn't even needed. She gestured towards the Michael who was sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front of him.
"That one. That's Michael," she said simply.
For a fraction of a second, no one moved.
Then, with speed that surprised her, Max pushed Maria out of the way and charged towards the impostor. Recognition dawned in those oh-so-familiar eyes.
"You!" Bob spat, sounding eerily like the real Michael. Maria watched in horror as the alien's hand shot out towards the approaching king, whose charge did not falter.
Nasedo was right behind Max, shoving him aside and out of Bob's reach. His own hand went up, ready to do battle.
And then a wall of light burst into being, separating the raging aliens. Maria turned her head to see Michael, the real Michael, on his feet, his own hand outstretched. His voice was hoarse, but steady.
"No," he said.
CHAPTER 32
Michael grimaced as voices rose up on either side of him, insisting. On the left, Bob was excitedly commanding him to kill Max; on the right Nasedo was shouting for Max to get out, Max was vehemently refusing, Tess was calling his name....
The voices swelled up until Michael could no longer make out any individual words, just sound and noise and pressure in his ears. Or maybe it was him, his concentration on separating the two groups fuzzing the words into mind-numbing cacophony. Whatever the cause, it pushed him to the breaking point.
"Shut up!" he roared. "Just shut the hell up!"
Silence. Wonderful silence.
He took a deep breath. "Okay." Here he was, caught between the two groups, just him and his wall of energy. Now what?
A very confident Bob broke the silence. "Good. Now's the time to end this, boy."
Michael stared blankly at him, then gave a decisive nod and stepped behind the energy wall he was projecting, moving to Bob's side. He heard a gasp from one of the girls--Tess, maybe?--shocked that he would side with the enemy. The smile on Bob's face grew cruel and not a little self-satisfied.
And it was wiped off his face when Michael dropped the energy field and, putting all his strength into it, swung at him. His fist connected solidly with the alien's chin. He could hear an audible click as Bob's teeth slammed together; then the alien was on the floor, out like a light. For a moment, Michael stared down at him, unnerved by the sight of what seemed to be his own body collapsed on the concrete. Hank had seen the same thing, plenty of times. Had it made him feel more powerful? It didn't make Michael feel anything except sore knuckles.
He shook his hand out, not that it lessened the sting, then put it up to recreate the energy field and section off his fallen nemesis. Deal with Bob first, then confront the others. One thing at a time. He could handle one thing at a time.
He used the toe of his boot to nudge the shapeshifter over, then pulled his arms together behind his back. It was awkward since Michael had to work one-handed; the other was busy keeping the barrier up. But he managed to snap the free handcuff over the unconscious alien's left wrist. Then he released a breath he hadn't known he was holding; letting the energy wall drop to free his powers, he unlocked the matching pair of cuffs that dangled from his own wrist. The catch opened with a soft click, and Michael fastened them on Bob for good measure.
Was that enough? Better to have a weapon of some sort, in case the double handcuffs couldn't hold him. Bob's clothes had shifted to match Michael's--had the contents of his pockets? Michael rolled the flaccid body back over and began to search it. With a sense of relief, he located something small and rectangular in Bob's right-hand jeans pocket and fished it out with a muttered "Yes!" as he recognized it. It was the electroshock device Bob had used on him a day--or was it days?--earlier. Gripping it tightly in his left hand, he rose and slowly turned to face the others.
He was vaguely aware that most of them were staring at him in shock. He wasn't surprised. He himself was barely used to the idea that he could use his powers without blowing something up. They'd never seen him able to control them. And here he'd unlocked the handcuffs as if it were the simplest thing in the world, not to mention the energy wall he'd thrown up between them. He hadn't even thought about it. He'd just reacted, and it was there.
But he couldn't let himself focus on that--or them--right now. His attention went to the biggest danger remaining: Nasedo.
A grim look on his normally mild-mannered Ed Harding face, the shapeshifter took a few sure steps towards him. Or, more likely, towards Bob.
"What do you think you're doing?" Michael asked, trying to remain calm.
"I'm going to assure the safety of the Royal Four by disposing of this threat," Nasedo answered.
So much for their truce. "No," Michael said steadily, "you're not." He moved to block the shapeshifter.
"I've thrown you across a room twice before," Nasedo pointed out. "Do you really think you can stop me?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Max take a step forward, probably preparing to step in and clean up another of 'Michael's messes'. But he didn't need to. This was his mess to clean up, not Max's. And he couldn't spare him any attention. He had to respond to Nasedo's challenge.
He managed an expression that wasn't exactly a smile. "Yeah. As a matter of fact I do. See this?" He held up Bob's shock device. "It knocked the hell outta me. Might be interesting to see what it would do to a full-blood alien. Plus there's the fact that I can probably throw enough energy at you for whatever you have passing for a nervous system to be whacked out for a week."
"Your powers. You've accessed them," Nasedo said with some concern.
"Yeah," Michael acknowledged, looking pointedly back at him. "Seems to me you could've told me about that, couldn't you? But maybe you were too busy hiding other things from me, like just who this guy really is," he challenged.
Nasedo actually looked a little embarrassed, but his voice was steady. "I couldn't take the chance that it would keep you from doing what must be done."
Michael's eyes burned into the shapeshifter's. "Well too bad, 'cause it has. I am not letting you kill him." The two stared at each other, each refusing to back down.
"What's going on, Michael?" Not surprisingly, the question came from Max.
For the first time, Michael tore his glance away from Nasedo. He opened his mouth to answer, but froze, not speaking. He couldn't let himself. He was supposed to stay away from Max, from all of them. Unless....
Turning back to Nasedo, he demanded, "What day is it?"
Nasedo must have been as disoriented by their captivity as Michael, because he didn't answer. "It's Saturday," Isabel chimed in impatiently. Michael didn't acknowledge her--he couldn't, not yet--but raised an eyebrow in Nasedo's direction. The shapeshifter nodded, relaxing his combative posture.
Michael closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Then the week is over."
"Week? What week?" Max asked. Again, neither of them answered him.
Nasedo nodded a second time. "Go ahead," he told Michael. "You've fulfilled your part of the bargain. Was it worth it?"
Michael honestly didn't know how to answer that. The answer to his question had been vitally important to him, so important he'd ignored everything else...but, even taking his friends' presence into consideration--god, he hoped they were still his friends--he'd done everything he could in his clumsy, damaging way to smash that friendship. Hopefully not beyond repair. Maria hadn't seemed to think so, but.... "Worth it?" he echoed. "I don't know."
The shapeshifter studied him and then smiled suddenly, a crooked, almost human smile. "You're a very poor negotiator, Michael."
"You're not that great yourself," Michael pointed out. "You got one week. You wanted six." And during the one week they'd settled on, Nasedo hadn't even turned Max against Michael the way he'd planned to. If anything, Michael had done that himself.
"Look, will one of you please explain what's going on?" Isabel demanded.
Michael slowly turned towards his best friend. He owed them all an explanation, but the place he had to start was with Max. Not only his best friend, almost his brother, but also his king and the whole reason Michael was here in the first place. For a moment he wasn't sure how to begin. There was a lot to say, more than he'd thought he'd ever want to say. But that would wait. Best keep things simple. "That's Bob," he said, gesturing to the body on the floor. "He's an alien. He wants me to kill you so somebody else gets control of our planet. And he," with a nod at Nasedo, "wants to kill him first, so you don't end up dead." There. That had summed it up rather neatly.
"And you don't want him to," Max said, his face grave.
"I can't let him," Michael responded, meeting his eyes for the first time in over a week. "If Bob dies, so does my mother."
"Your...your mother?" stammered Isabel, loud enough for Michael to hear.
"Yeah," he answered. "Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't originate in that pod. I have a mother, just like you do."
"Is she a hostage for Bob's safety?" asked a confused Alex.
Tess either knew or put the pieces together. "No," she said, her voice shaky, "She's Bob's sister." She turned to Nasedo. "Isn't she."
It wasn't really a question, but the shapeshifter nodded, a bit reluctantly.
"It's that twin thing you were talking about earlier?" Alex asked. "If he dies then she does too?"
Nasedo answered, "Yes." Michael could feel his jaw tighten. He wasn't going to let that happen, no matter what.
"And you hid it from Michael? What else are you hiding?" Max demanded.
"Sometimes people die," Nasedo told him, his voice unapologetic. "Sometimes they get killed. Sometimes it's necessary."
Michael cut through the discussion. "Killing my mother is not necessary!" he bit out.
"Then ultimately Max will die in her place," the shapeshifter said gravely. "Sometimes sacrifices must--"
Michael rounded on him. "I don't give a fuck about sacrifices. I've lost enough already. I'm not losing any more."
"And when Max dies instead, an entire planet will lose. How will you feel then?" Nasedo shot back.
"And how would I feel if I based my survival on someone else's death?" Max put in, his voice quiet but firm. "I can't. I couldn't live with that."
"And if it means getting Isabel killed, too?"
Raising her chin, Isabel stated defiantly, "Max will do what's right." Her tone didn't leave any leeway for discussion.
Her brother met her eyes. "Isabel, I--"
Enough. "Oh, cut the martyr crap, Maxwell," Michael said, his voice harsh. "You're not dying either. Nobody is."
Until Max smiled, Michael hadn't even realized he'd used the familiar nickname. He hoped it was enough to make his friend realize that this was the real him, not the asshole he'd pretended to be in the school parking lot.
"Isabel," Max suggested quietly, "why don't you and Alex go get Liz and Kyle? Tell them we're okay, so they can let Sheriff Valenti know. And they might want to come down here; I don't think we're going to solve this in a hurry." Well, he was right about that.
His sister looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Come on, Alex." He leaned a sledgehammer--where did he get a sledgehammer?--against a nearby wall; then, flashlight in hand, Isabel led the way out the door.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Michael opened his mouth to speak, but the words didn't want to come. Feeling particularly doltish, he moved to the wall near Bob's limp body and leaned against the concrete, arms folded across his chest.
Across the room, Max crossed to Maria and began to converse in low tones. Michael couldn't make out what they were saying, and he didn't try. He rubbed a hand over his face and took a deep breath. He was worn out.
He finally dragged his eyes upwards. Tess was talking to her former mentor, her blue eyes intent.
"There has to be something else we can do," she insisted. "We have to find a way to incapacitate Bob without killing him. What would they do at home?"
Nasedo looked at her, a frown on his face.
She pushed on. "They have to have some sort of prison or judicial system, right? I mean, if life were perfect there, we wouldn't be here now."
"They would restrain his powers," Nasedo told her.
"Well, let's do that then."
Michael summoned up the wherewithal to push himself away from the concrete wall. He didn't want to nudge Nasedo back into the killing mode, but he wasn't optimistic. "Suppose we block his powers. What's to stop him from getting at Max another way?"
"You mean like shooting him?" asked Tess, looking up at him.
Michael dismissed this with a shake of his head. "No, that's not gonna get it done. It'd kill Max, yeah, but that's not all he wants. He told me a whole bunch of stuff about some link Max has with the planet, and needing proof and stuff. I suggested Max's head in a box--"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Max had overheard and was unsuccessfully trying to hide a smile. He couldn't be that pissed off, then. Feeling suddenly more lighthearted, Michael went on, "--but nothing conventional is gonna work. Conventional by human standards, that is. I was thinking more along the lines of his getting help. He didn't have any luck with me, but who's to say there aren't plenty of other aliens out there who could do the same thing I can, and are a hell of a lot more willing?"
"What you do is unique," Nasedo told him. "He won't easily find someone to take your place. You've been groomed for it." The shapeshifter looked away. "It's a long story."
"Right," Michael said disparagingly. He had a feeling Nasedo had a hell of a lot of long stories that he wasn't sharing. But at this point, it hardly seemed important, not when compared with the situation at hand. "Let's save the stories for later, huh? The only thing to do is watch Bob until we come up with a better solution. So go ahead and head back to Roswell. I'll stay here and play jailer. I figure it's my turn," he added with a bitter laugh.
"For how long?" Maria's voice was sharp.
"For however long it takes."
Maria crossed to stand in front of him. "No," she protested, shaking her head. "No way. We did not come all this way to find you only to go back without you."
Michael looked down, drinking in the sight of her flushed face. He'd been very careful not to look at her prior to this point; the fact that she hadn't spoken to him had helped immensely. But now here she was in front of him, impossible to avoid any longer. He scowled.
"I seem to remember leaving a message telling you not to look for me," he said, hearing himself sound almost as angry as he felt. "You saw for yourself how dangerous Bob is. He could've killed you and your mother without blinking an eye. And after everything I went through to make sure that didn't happen, you come strolling in here like you don't have a care in the world--"
"Michael." Max. Well, the hell with that. Let Max try and warn him. Michael didn't care.
"And even worse than that, even though you know full well he wants Max dead, you brought him with you. Are you crazy or just stupid?" He stared at her, eyes burning, then deliberately turned away. "Max, go back to Roswell," he began, his anger replaced by weariness. "And take her with you."
Unfortunately, for once Maria wasn't about to let herself be brushed aside. Her fingers bit into his arm as she swung him back around.
"No! I'm not leaving you here. None of us are. When you're in trouble, there's no way we're not going to help, no matter how pissy you get about it!"
"Pissy?" Michael shouted. "You deliberately put yourself and my only friends in danger, when I expressly said not to, and you say I'm being pissy about it? Well, stop helping me, Maria! Stay the hell out of my life!"
Maria paled, but she didn't back down. "I will not. I don't abandon the people I love!"
"It's not abandoning if I tell you to go!" Michael shot back, doing his best to ignore her use of the word 'love'.
Maria's voice shook, and she made a visible effort to control it. "I tell you one thing, Michael. I am sick and tired of letting you shut me out all the time. Well, guess what, it's not an option any more. Run all you want--I'll find you. I did it once and I can do it again! If you--"
"How did you?" Nasedo asked suddenly, stopping her in mid-diatribe.
"What?" she snapped.
"How did you find him?" Nasedo asked. "You led them straight to him."
"It wasn't quite that easy," Isabel commented as she reentered the room, the three humans behind her. Through his anger, Michael noticed Liz and Kyle start when they saw the unconscious body in the corner. He didn't blame them. He thought it was pretty damn creepy, and he could only see one of him. Then Maria's voice caught their attention.
"I can tell when he's around, okay?" she said shortly. "When he's nearby, I feel it. So we used a bunch of his power cell crystal thingies--"
"What?" snarled Michael. For the first time, he noticed she was clutching a bundle to her chest. Was it his crystals? He'd hidden them in his apartment. She'd gone in there, and searched through his things, and taken them?
Maria ignored the interruption and explained, "--and I tracked him down with my Michael-radar."
Nasedo was staring at her oddly. "Are you usually..." He searched for a word. "Psychic?"
With a snort, she answered, "I wish. If I were, Mom would have made it big in the lottery by now." She took in the disconcerted expression on his face. "Why?"
"I've never heard of such a thing, other than on our planet. You're human. You shouldn't be able to sense him."
Michael contained his anger enough to question belligerently, "Why not? You told me our powers were human, just advanced." At Nasedo's blank look, Michael blustered on, reminding him, "When we got Max away from Pierce. When you were teaching me to change my fingerprints. Before you killed the FBI agent," he added pointedly.
"Oh. I did say that," the shapeshifter acknowledged. "I lied."
Why wasn't he surprised? Michael clenched his fists. He was getting more than a little tired of being lied to. "Wanna explain why?" he growled.
Nasedo's tone was offhand. "I wanted to mislead you. At that point I judged your powers were grossly underdeveloped, so you didn't pose any sort of threat to Max." Michael's jaw tightened. The shapeshifter continued, "I wanted to keep it that way. I didn't want your obvious consuming interest in all things 'alien' to lead you down the wrong path." He glanced back at Maria. "But that doesn't matter right now. I'm more interested in how she is able to sense you."
"We always used to say you were off in outer space half the time, Maria," Alex joked. "Maybe we weren't too far off."
"For the last time, I am not an alien!" Maria shot at him. "I have plenty of problems, but being E.T. isn't one of them." She muttered something under her breath, and Michael frowned. Had he really heard her say, 'Dating E.T. definitely is.'?
Nasedo slowly approached her. Sounding strangely benign, he asked, "May I read you?" Maria looked at him uneasily and he hastened to assure her. "I promise it won't harm you, but I need to find out why you are able to sense the second. It might be important."
Maria glanced around at the others, obviously uncertain, although Michael didn't miss that she skipped over him. He just hoped she remembered that the being in front of her had as good as kidnapped Liz. Far worse, he'd killed a number of people. His truce with Nasedo aside, he just didn't trust the shapeshifter. Not with Maria. She wouldn't be stupid enough to trust him, would she? With growing frustration, Michael watched her look right through him again and turn to Max for guidance.
"I don't know," Max told her.
"What's the problem?" asked Tess. "It's just a reading. It won't hurt her." She turned to Isabel. "You know it's harmless, you've done it. It's perfectly safe."
"Maybe it's safe. But is he?" Isabel answered, getting directly to the point. "Nasedo. You've never shown an interest in the welfare of humans before, have you? You've pretty much considered them expendable. So why should we trust our friend to your hands?"
He remained uncowed, accepting her harsh appraisal of his priorities. "Because you and your brother can protect her. You have worked in concert before, yes?"
Isabel nodded. Michael wondered what she meant. Had she and Max been hiding stuff from him again? Then he silently berated himself. Max had kept the link stable, back when she'd taken Maria into Michael's dreams. That was all she meant.
"One of you can monitor her, to see for yourself that she isn't being harmed. The other can stand ready to break the connection. You won't need to, but it's not inappropriate if it will make you feel more comfortable."
Maria hesitated for a moment, then assented. "Okay. I'm in."
"You're sure?" asked Max.
"I don't trust him, but I trust you two," she said positively. What the hell did she think she was doing?
"All right. Isabel, you link with Maria," Max suggested. "You've done it before, so it might be easier for you to get in."
Isabel smiled, then moved to Maria's side and clasped her shaking hand. "Just like before," she teased. "I see nothing above a PG rating." Maria grinned nervously back.
"Any other objections?" asked Nasedo, glancing at the rest of them. The three humans held their peace, although Alex pointedly grabbed the sledgehammer. Fuming, Michael alone didn't acquiesce.
"I don't think--"
His angry protest didn't get far. "No, sometimes you don't," Maria said vehemently, glaring at him. Then she composed her face and turned to Nasedo, her tone sweet. "Go right ahead." She closed her eyes and tensed.
Equally tense, Michael watched as Nasedo's fingertips grazed her cheek. Without warning, Maria smiled. "You don't feel all that different from anybody else," she said. "I don't know why I expected you to feel all slimy and tentacled; Michael doesn't. But for an extraterrestrial murderer you feel pretty human." Michael winced. Way to piss off the extraterrestrial murderer, Maria, he thought.
The fingers withdrew, and Maria opened her eyes. Nasedo was staring at her with a peculiar expression on his face.
"What?" she asked.
The shapeshifter glanced over at Michael; then he shook his head, just the slightest bit. Michael got the feeling there was something else he'd decided not to tell them. Great. "You can sense Michael," Nasedo explained, "because you're linked to him."
"What?"
"How?"
The babble of voices rose to surround them, but Maria cut through it without even having to raise her own voice. "What does that mean, exactly?"
"It's quite unusual. Something in you resonates with Michael's energy pattern."
"His what?"
"Every being has its own individual energy pattern, that others react to unconsciously. You might call it a vibe. Yours has been adapted to mesh with his."
She stared at him, looking almost as confused as Michael felt. "How did it happen?"
"He did it."
Michael could practically feel the weight of six pairs of eyes on him. He kept his fixed on the shapeshifter. "How?" he asked hoarsely, all anger forgotten.
"I'm not certain of the mechanics of the process," Nasedo admitted. "But I got a sense of when it happened." He said to Maria, "Your hair was green...does that ring a bell?"
"The Crash Festival!" Liz gasped. "Last year, when we were trying to throw Sheriff Valenti off Max's trail. Michael put the handprint on you, remember?"
"It was just paint!" Michael denied. "I didn't do anything to her!"
"Yes, you did," the shapeshifter confirmed. "You may not have done it on purpose; in fact, you may not even have known you did it. But you attuned her to you. And over time, with more contact, the link strengthened."
Feeling the blood drain from his face, Michael backed away from them. "Fix it."
"It's not something you fix, Michael."
Liz's brow was wrinkled. "What does it mean, though? Is it dangerous?"
"No. It won't hurt her. Think of it as a sixth sense, like sight or hearing."
"You mean she sees dead people?" quipped Alex.
Nasedo ignored him. Maybe he'd been too busy tracking down the three of them to spend much time at the movie theater, because even Michael had seen that one. Didn't matter; this wasn't the time for jokes anyway. Unperturbed, Nasedo continued, "It's harmless; it's just an added ability. It's not dissimilar to the link between pod-sibs or, for that matter, the pair-bond of marriage--"
"The what?"
Michael could hear the horror in his own voice. Nasedo smiled and assured him, "I said it's like those links, not that it was one. Don't worry, Michael. Unless the two of you have run off to Las Vegas without telling anyone, you haven't inadvertently participated in either planet's version of a marriage ritual."
Unbelievably, Maria chuckled. "Well, that's good. Because I never pictured my wedding including a fake hit-and-run or a groom decked out in the latest rubber-mask alien chic." How could she find any humor in this? In what he'd done to her?
"You're sure it's safe?" Liz persisted. Well, at least someone was taking this seriously.
"It won't hurt her, and it certainly won't hurt Michael. In fact, it may come in handy, just as it did in finding him today. But it is permanent; they will be linked until one of them dies," Nasedo answered.
"You see, Michael? You're not going to get away from me that easily," Maria began to tease. Michael just looked at her, and the smile faded from her face. She looked disappointed. She should look disappointed. Horrified. She should hate him.
"Uh...I hate to break in on this little lecture, and I'm definitely missing backstory here, but your friend over there is awake," Kyle said, pointing at the bound alien in the corner. Michael glanced over. Sure enough, his own brown eyes were open and staring at them with hostility.
Michael pulled himself together, prepared to defend Bob, and thereby his mother, if need be. But Nasedo didn't take any action towards the other alien. Instead, he smiled and spoke.
"I believe I just might have a way to deal with that."
TBC...
continue to chapters 33 and 34
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