Liz watched with an astonished gaze as Max fled the room. She hadn’t seen him move that fast in days and he’d used it to draw attention to himself as he ran back into a building they’d just escaped from. Anger flashed in Liz’s eyes in the split second it took to figure out what was going on. Max was going to try to martyr himself. And he would do it over her dead body.
She tried to scramble to her feet but she soon found Kyle’s body flying at her to pin her to the floor. Automatically, she fought him, using nails and knees to push him away, but Kyle hadn’t been on the wrestling team for nothing. He held her in place and covered her mouth with his hand when she started to yell.
Belatedly, Liz realized the sound of footsteps was growing louder. Kyle was peering between the drums that kept them hidden from sight and Liz only had a second to feel ashamed of her actions. If she’d followed Max like she’d meant to, she would have drawn attention to her friends. They could all have been captured again if it hadn’t been for Kyle. The men ran past them and Kyle rolled partially off her.
“Don’t do it, Liz.”
Anger replaced gratitude and Liz tried to roll away. Kyle’s legs were still holding her to the concrete floor and he still had an arm thrown over her waist. In another lifetime, it could have been a romantic embrace. In this one, he was the only thing standing between her and Max. “Kyle, if they catch him, they’ll kill him.”
“He knows that.”
“Well, he might be okay with it, but I’m not.” Liz pushed at Kyle’s chest and the force caught him off guard finally. It was enough for Liz to slip out from beneath him.
Kyle watched as she pushed to her knees and rubbed at the spot on his chest she had elbowed on her way off the ground. She was ready to rush into danger, towards death and he had to try one last time. He’d promised Max he would. “Liz, what are you going to do if you find him? I don’t know what he’s planning, but I think we should all get the hell away from this building.”
“I haven’t spent the last three days taking care of him just to let him die now, Kyle.” She hated the tremor in her voice as she met Kyle’s eyes. If she moved before Kyle was satisfied, he would only pin her to the ground again. And she would have to hurt him to get away. It wasn’t how she wanted it to play out and reasoning with him would take less time.
“It might not be your decision.”
Liz understood the unspoken words. It might already be too late to save Max. She’d understood it when he’d kissed her a minute ago, kissed her goodbye. The lingering taste of regret and death had been unmistakable as it hung in the air. Max didn’t expect to live and he didn’t want her to have to watch him die. It was just too bad for him that he didn’t get to make those decisions on his own. “Then there’s nothing I can do. But it won’t be like this, alone and captured. If he’s going to die, I’m going to be there to hold him.” She refused to let tears blur her vision, but they came anyway.
Kyle snagged at her wrist and when she looked at him, it was with impatience. “Liz, are you prepared to die in that building? For Max?”
Liz softened the stare, knowing Kyle loved her enough to ask. “Kyle…” she shook her head, out of time to explain it. “Yes.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. He released his grip on her finally and she knew he’d let go of more than her flesh and bone. “Take care of them.”
Kyle shook his head vehemently. “We’re waiting for both of you. If anyone can find a way, it’s you two. Straight out, behind the bushes. We’ll be the ones quaking in fear behind a bush.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and tried to offer her what strength he could muster. “This isn’t goodbye.”
Liz nodded, though she wasn’t so sure. Not wanting to waste any time, she sprung to her feet and followed the path Max and the Skins had taken minutes before.
Kyle sighed as he watched her go. Maria and Tess were by his side in an instant, darting glances over their shoulder as Liz disappeared from sight.
“What’s going on?”
Kyle looked up to see Isabel glaring at him. She too was darting glances at the hallway, but there was no mistaking the fire in her eyes now.
“Was that Max? And Liz? Where are they going?”
Kyle grabbed hold of her wrist, judging that she was most likely to run after them when he told them the new plan. “They’re going after Nicholas and nobody here is following them.”
Isabel narrowed her eyes at Kyle and tugged on her wrist. “What do you mean? Since when are you in charge? If Max really is going after Nicholas, he’ll need help.”
Frustrated and tired, Kyle could see the beginnings of rebellion in the group. “Forget it. Listen up all of you. It’s taken us this long to meet up and the exit is about two hundred yards away. Nobody is going back into the building now. Max has a plan and there isn’t going to be any more time to regroup later. We all leave now and trust Max and Liz to do it.”
Michael didn’t like it, and objected to Kyle taking charge of the group on principal alone, but he saw the logic behind it. Reluctantly, he nodded. “Kyle’s right.”
“Michael!”
“Isabel, shut up and listen. You’re wiped. Tess is still drugged and I don’t have too much left. If Max really does have a plan, we’re going to have to do our part in it. Even if it’s just getting the hell out of here.” Michael matched her glare for glare, used to her temper where Max was concerned. He understood that she wanted to be there for her brother. Hell, so did he. But there was a time and a place for it. And there were other people involved too. People that would end up dead if they didn’t get the hell out when they had the chance.
Alex moved behind Isabel and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned and met his eyes, an argument dying on her lips. There was anger in his eyes, anger towards Liz and her run into the building, and she realized that she wasn’t the only one there that was ready to turn and run after them. But she knew it was crazy and would get them all killed. Fear had her compromising and nodding, though the decision weighed heavy on her heart. “Okay.”
Kyle sighed in relief, thankful that she hadn’t asked how Max was doing. Kyle wouldn’t have been able to lie and tell her anything except that her brother looked like death in the truest sense of the word. He thought of the fierce look of determination in Liz’s eyes and it had resembled Max’s so closely, it had been astonishing. They could be so similar it was frightening. He could only hope that they’d both live long enough for him to be able to point it out to them.
“Let’s go then before anyone else shows up in this part of the building. I think I’ve had my limit of surprises for the day.”
*~*~
Max pushed further against the wall, deeper into the shadows and waited for the footsteps to pass. He had run from Liz and the others, pressing forward to find Nicholas. A thousand different scenarios had played themselves out in his head. Each one had ended in violence and death as Nicholas came back for them time and again. It was a never ending loop of pain and suffering that he could stop today. Nobody had to die, not his parents, not his friends, not Liz.
The box in his hands would make it all stop.
He didn’t need to know what the box actually was or was supposed to have done. It tickled his mind, a memory that wanted to surface but couldn’t. The shapes and symbols etched on the otherworldly device had been clear enough and a newly gained intuition told him things humans shouldn’t know. It seemed to him that the sicker he became, the more information seemed to sit on the surface of his memory just waiting to be unlocked. He had no idea where Antar was or even if it was still there, but he knew the names of the seven Generals that had served beneath Zan on the High Council. And he knew that with proper care, the small box in his hands could be rigged to explode.
Feeling some of his earlier strength wane, Max sagged against one of the large pieces of machinery that seemed to lie in every room. He laid the alien cube aside and forced air into and out of his lungs. The act of breathing had been becoming increasingly harder with each step and he knew his time was almost done. He’d been running on fear and a desire to save his family for too long. It would end in this room.
Voices in the hallway caught his attention and he pressed further into the shadows. It was amazing to Max how accustomed he’d become to not understanding those around him. It had been days since Max had heard the sounds of someone else’s voice and understood the words. A lifetime had passed since Max had used anything other than the endless depths of emotion in Liz’s eyes to navigate the world. If he hadn’t already known there was no way he was getting out of the building alive, it might have alarmed him. But there were more important things to worry about now, like whether or not Kyle had been able to pull Liz and Isabel from the warehouse. Everyone else would do what they had to, regardless of how little they liked it. But Liz and his sister were too headstrong, too stubborn to do what had to be done.
Just thinking about the possibility that they could still be in the building caused an insurmountable panic to grow in Max. Second guessing wouldn’t do any good now. He’d looped and backtracked a dozen times just to ensure that everyone had enough time to escape. He had to trust that Kyle had been able to keep his word.
The voices became louder, closer to the spot where Max hid. The tone was frantic and Max recognized it immediately. Nicholas. The grin took up more energy than he had to spare, but it was worth it. Nicholas had no doubt discovered that his prisoners had escaped. Wishing he could understand his enemy’s words in these last few minutes, Max reluctantly turned back to the alien box.
He could reprogram it. It was simple enough thanks to a new intuition he seemed to have discovered. A simple matter of reconnecting things that shouldn’t’ be reconnected and Max was suddenly no longer holding a translator, but a ticking time bomb. Harder than the act of fixing the box had been knowing that Max himself would be caught in the blast. He couldn’t help wondering if it would be painful. But in the end, he supposed it wouldn’t matter. No pain on this planet could possibly be worse than leaving Liz huddled behind those blue drums with Kyle Valenti.
Carefully, Max set the box down on the floor, out of all sight. He supposed it might still be visible if anyone took the time to look, but it would all be over in a matter of minutes not anyway.
Max stayed crouched low to the ground, trying to keep his breathing as slow and shallow as possible. A cough tickled the back of his throat but he was afraid to let it free. He needed to see this through and if he started, there was no guarantee it would stop. Not before it was too late.
Nicholas snarled at the two men who were no doubt trying to explain how they’d lost the prisoners. Max watched him dismiss them with clipped tones and a gesture of his hands. Half-heartedly, Max wished Nicholas would just leave, let him have his last few minutes to think about Liz.
And maybe Nicholas would have it Max’s legs hadn’t given out on him.
Max fell backwards to the floor with a loud clatter. Buckets turned over and skittered across the floor. Trying to push himself back up, Max found his hands shaking too hard to hold his body weight. In the silence of the room, over the sound of his own ragged breathing, Max heard the even keep of Nicholas’s footsteps approach.
It took the longest thirty seconds in his life, but finally Nicholas‘s flashlight found Max. His heart pounded in his throat as Nicholas took in Max’s disheveled appearance with boyish glee.
In a fraction of a second, Max’s fear turned into horror as Nicholas’s eyes shifted every so slightly to the side and caught sight of the cube. His eyes widened and flickered between Max and the box. Max wanted to run, wanted to leap to his feet and flee with the box. Above all else, Max knew he had to keep it away from Nicholas. Instinct kicked in fast and furious, but he no longer had the strength. Sagging limply against the wall, sweat dripping down the side of his face, Max could only watch Nicholas brush past him to pick it up.
Nicholas all but cradled the alien metal, running a hand across the smooth surface. He recognized it. Max saw the slow dawning deep in his eyes and suddenly it all made a sick sort of sense to Max.
Still caressing the sides, Nicholas paused only when he came to the broken side. Max met the quick, judging stare and hoped Nicholas couldn’t see that while it was obviously damaged, it had also been altered. But Nicholas’s smile grew, baring a line of perfect white teeth and he raised his eyebrows.
“Feeling alright, Max?”
Max closed his eyes, clamping them shut against the first words he’d understood in days. And a part of him just knew they hadn’t been spoken in English.
“It’s okay. You really don’t have to answer. I think your appearance speaks for itself.” He stayed where he was, turning the box delicately in his hands. “You don’t have to pretend you don’t understand me now. It’s just the two of us here and we both know what happened to you.” He grinned manically. “I wondered why you were so uncharacteristically quiet when I described in detail all the things I was going to do to your lovely Liz.”
“Go to hell.”
“See? That wasn’t so hard.” He returned his gaze back to the cube. “Do you have any idea how long we looked for this? Do you even know what it does? The importance of it?”
It was on the tip of Max’s tongue to ask, but he refused to offer Nicholas even that much power. “I think I have a pretty good idea what it does.” Each word was like fire, painful to release and each one felt like it was going to be his last.
Nicholas chuckled. “But you don’t. Not really. This was a prototype. We had no way of knowing how it would affect human physiology but we guessed as well as we could.”
“You…” Something clicked in the depths of his muddled brain. “This was meant for humans?”
“Of course. We had to test it on humans before we could test it on the Royal Four. Wouldn’t want to damage those precious hybrid brains of yours.”
“Why? What does it even do? How could this be useful?”
Nicholas caught the gesture and leaned closer to Max. “It was meant to alter the subject’s brain. Essentially, we could control emotional responses to stimuli. Imagine an army completely under control of its General. No hesitation, no questioning of commands. Invincibility in a box.”
“Invasion? That seems a bit clichéd, don’t you think?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Do you think I’m stuck on this godforsaken planet because I’m Khivar’s right hand man? I don’t need Antar. I have it all right here. The Granolith and the Royal Four and a box that is going to let me control anyone I want. The universe is mine if I decide I want it. Khivar will be begging me to join forces.”
Things were making sense to Max and he didn’t like any of it. “So the plan was to either take control of Earth or use us to regain control of Antar while you pulled all the strings?”
“You’ll find that I have multiple contingency plans. Its how I’m going to survive and you will not.”
Max put the pieces together. The Skins had created a weapon of sorts, a mind controlling device that changed the makeup of the brain to do Nicholas’s bidding. And it was based on Antarian technology. Which meant that Max’s brain had been becoming more alien. He could guess that what had happened to him had something to do with the preprogrammed changes in the box. What had the previous settings been? And who would they have been meant for that meant Max could only grasp Antarian?
“The Dupes.” He met Nicholas’s eyes. “You used this on them last.”
The grin widened, showing more teeth. “Of course we tried it out on a few of your counterparts. You’d be amazed the sort of things Lonnie was willing to do for me with proper motivation. Ah, the good old days. It’s how I finally figured out what was wrong with you. Did you know that after the last time she tried to defy me, she spent a week wandering around the streets of New York without even knowing who she was? I erased her mind completely. And when I gave it back to her, she figured out that it wasn’t smart to lie to me. And the last time I used it, I was giving her memories of her life on Antar.”
Max frowned, choosing not to think too deeply about what Nicholas was implying. “You tested it on Lonnie and Rath.” Not Zan, not Ava. Had that been why Zan was dead and Ava had chosen to run from Roswell alone? “But I thought-“
“That they were a product of their environment? They were what we made them into. I gave them the information they had about Antar. I allowed them to remember. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the artifacts that were sent down. Pity, really. We still didn’t know where you were and we lost this lovely piece of machinery shortly thereafter.”
“Why Lonnie?”
“Why not? She was easy to control. Half the time she didn’t even know I was using her. Rath was a bit smarter. And Zan…let’s just say he was a bit too inquisitive for his own good.”
It made Max angrier than he knew he was still capable of. Lonnie and Rath had been tampered with, pawns in a game they thought they’d understood, and it could have been them. Adoption by the Evans had saved them in more ways than he’d ever thought. “How many others?”
“Ah, the infamous righteous indignation rears its head. Really, Max, you don’t wear that hat every well. You never did. I might look like a child, but at least I know better.”
With only enough energy to watch Nicholas continue to study the box, Max submitted to the coughing spasms that had been threatening to seize his body. Not even the taste of blood in his mouth was more alarming than the information he’d been presented with.
Nicholas took a step closer to Max, greatly amused to have Max collapsed on the floor in front of him. “It wasn’t supposed to do this you know.” He gestured towards Max’s form. “It was never meant to kill the subject. There was a cut off switch to stop the changes in the brain before they affected the body. I guess that’s the part that was damaged…for what it’s worth.”
“You’ll never hurt anyone again.”
“Righteous indignation and vague threats? This is a special occasion. Imagine all the fun we could have had if we’d known this hours ago. My Antarian vocabulary is much larger than my English one. Did you know we have over three dozen words that describe a particular type of torture that was banned a few hundred years ago? Fascinating stuff, really.” Nicholas caught sight of a canvas bag on the floor and leaned over to pick it up. “Tell me, Max, what are you going to do to stop me? Because I have very definite plans now that I have this toy back.”
“How fast can you run?”
“What?” Nicholas scowled at the odd question, pausing when he saw the hint of a smile tugging Max’s lips upward.
“I was just wondering if you could run fast enough to escape from the building before it exploded. I know your husk can’t survive that. So, how fast can you run?”
Eyes narrowed, Nicholas shifted his gaze from Max back to the device in his hands. He examined it a bit more closely and Max made sure not to give anything away. He let Nicholas puzzle it out, decide if Max had indeed rigged the building in some way. And the hesitant half-step away from Max tasted like victory.
“You wouldn’t.” Glancing nervously around the room, Nicholas licked his lips, hands lightly fingering the cube still.
“Stick around and see. I have nothing to lose.”
Nicholas’s eyes refocused on Max. “You think you’ve won? I don’t need your anyway. Your sister.” He was already edging towards the door, cube clutched tightly in his arms, backing up with increasing pace. “I can still get to her. And the children we’ll have will be enough to ensure that your family never regains the throne.”
Catching movement from the corner of his eye, Nicholas turned his head in time to see Liz ease past him. She stood halfway between Max and Nicholas, her every muscle standing at attention and ready to move if Nicholas tried to grab her. Considering his options, Nicholas eyed them both, then the door.
“He’s crazy,” he informed Liz.
“What did you expect?” Another small side-step brought her closer to Max, but still too far away for her liking. She didn’t dare eye him openly, but kept her attention on Nicholas and the box. She wanted to wrestle him for it and damn the consequences. Max needed the device to live. But if she tried and failed, he was dead too. There was no winning.
Nicholas’s face hardened. “This isn’t over.” He turned and fled from the room, his footsteps echoing down the length of the hallway.
Liz faltered, uncertain which way to go. Nicholas had the only way of returning Max to normal. But Max was slumped against the wall, unmoving. The uncharacteristic stillness chilled her and had her moving toward him.
But the distance was too great.
With a great rush, the air was all but sucked from the room. Liz blinked against it, puzzled enough to pause for a half-second. Then she realized that the air itself was too still, too calm even for that building.
The glow of light started from somewhere down the hallway, bringing with it a shockwave she could feel reverberating through the concrete beneath her feet.
And she realized what Max’s plan had been.
Time seemed to come to a chilling halt as the light traveled down the corridor and Liz didn’t stop to think. She forced her legs to pump past the limits of endurance, pushing across the distance to throw herself at Max. The room was bathed in the beginning glows of the alien light and Liz could feel it pushing her the last of the distance across the room.
She hit the floor hard, falling to her knees with what would have been an audible crack if not for the tremors that were shaking the room. Liz huddled against Max’s chest, vaguely registering that he made no move to pull her tighter. The room was quaking, the foundation cracking and crumbling around them. Liz tried to shield Max’s body from the falling debris as best she could.
And with no further warning, the shockwave of pulsing energy caught up with them, filling the room with a blinding light. With her arms wrapped tightly around Max, Liz closed her eyes and wished she could shield Max from the danger.
*~*~
The force of the explosion was enough to knock Alex to the ground, pushing him roughly to his stomach. He felt his head hit something hard, so the following warmth that trickled down the side of his face wasn’t as much of a surprise as it should have been. Isabel had still been beside him, running with the others for the safety of Kyle’s car. Until the night had lit up in a fiery ball.
Pushing up on his hands, Alex shielded his face with his arm when flaming debris rained down around them.
Isabel scrambled to her hands and knees, watching the carnage with wide eyes. Shock had her frozen in the dirt and though she felt Alex’s hand on her arm tugging at her, nothing could keep her from staring at the burning remains of the building.
“We have to do something,” Maria insisted suddenly, breaking the silence.
When no one answered, Isabel looked around sharply. Michael was already standing up and Maria still sat on the ground at his feet. Kyle was helping Tess stand. They were all watching the fire, captivated and disbelieving. And with something like resignation on their faces. “There’s still a door.” She glanced back at it, expecting movement any second. Max and Liz would come rushing out, holding hands and breathless from the frantic run. Any second.
Kyle ran a hand through his hair and helped Tess steady on her feet. Michael was standing alone, staring at the flames with sightless eyes and Isabel looked as if she were on the brink of insanity. And the guilt that was bubbling up from deep inside of Kyle was overwhelming. He’d let Liz run into that. He’d had no idea Max was planning to blow up the entire building, but he still shouldn’t have let her anywhere near it. Whatever happened to her was his fault and his alone. Isabel was starting to shake, he could see it from the illumination of the fire. She was going to break soon.
“Isabel-“
“No!” Isabel pushed up to her feet, ignoring Kyle’s soft tone. “You wouldn’t let me go after him. You stopped me and look what happened! He needed me!” She turned back to the building, watching the doorway and listening to the sounds of the roof collapsing. “He still needs me.” Swallowing down fear, she turned and fled down the embankment.
“Shit.” Kyle saw it first and pushed away from the group, following after her. He slid down gravel, towards the heat. Around him, pebbles fell and he knew he wasn’t alone. Someone, most likely Alex or Michael was following.
Isabel was pacing a few yards from the door they’d used to escape through earlier. “They’re still in there.”
Kyle grabbed hold of her elbow and tried to tug her away. The flames were unbearably hot, burning his skin from even that distance. “Isabel, we have to get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Wait.” Tess appeared at Kyle’s elbow and nudged them both. “What is that?”
Michael braced automatically, angling his body in front of the others. Following Tess’s outstretched finger, he saw the odd shaped from inside the building. But even odder than the shape was the color, a dull shade of blue amidst the fiery reds and oranges.
Hope surged in Kyle’s chest for a quick second, and he wanted to believe what he was seeing. Through the flames and past the choking smoke, there was the unmistakable form of two figures huddled together. Beneath a swirling wall of blue.
“That’s them. They’re still alive.” The awe in Isabel’s voice was palpable.
Maria began looking around wildly for some way to help. They were still a good ways inside the building and the doorway was surrounded by flames. She turned to Michael. “Can you do anything?”
“I don’t-“ He looked at her helplessly, realizing that of them all, he was the only one with any physical powers. And they were all looking at him with hope in their eyes, believing in him. “I can try.”
The dull blue shield surrounding Max and Liz seemed to be getting darker and muddier by the minute. Michael knew he had to do something soon. Trying to summon the last of his weakening powers, Michael focused on creating a shield of his own. Max had tried to show him how and he’d been able to create one, but couldn’t keep the focus for long. It was risky at best to edge back into the building. He eyed the flames wearily, never having had much faith in his own abilities. But this wasn’t about him. It went beyond belief. This was his job. It was why he was here.
The world around him swirled, bathed in a light green and the look on Isabel’s face was enough to confirm that he’d created a shield. Not wasting any time, he rushed through the doorway and past the beams blocking his way. Debris fell around him, bouncing harmlessly off his shield, but he could feel it weakening with every piece.
Another few seconds and he could clearly make out Max and Liz, only it looked as though Liz was more dragging Max than supporting him. Liz’s eyes raised and met him with a mix of relief and fatigue. It was the same look he’d seen in Max’s eyes every time he’d drained himself beyond his abilities and it looked out of place on Liz’s face.
Blue met green and Michael found himself encased inside the same bubble as Max and Liz. His energy was draining and just the thought of turning and making the long trek back through the room was enough to tire him out.
“Help me, Michael.”
Michael caught his first clear glimpse of Liz and didn’t like what he saw. Soot covered her face and her left arm looked burned rather badly. Her eyes were bloodshot and only open through what he was certain to be sheer will. Automatically, he stepped up to Max’s other side and relieved some of the weight. Surprisingly, he felt Liz’s hand clamp down on his wrist and the shield around them sparkled a bright shade of aqua.
“Liz?”
“Later.”
He nodded, beginning to understand the fatigue in her eyes even if he didn’t know how it was possible. He really shouldn’t be surprised by anything concerning Liz anymore.
Much slower than he would have preferred, Michael helped Liz and Max pick their way across the room. A piece of the ceiling had fallen, causing them to circle the long way around it towards the door. The shield was the only thing keeping them from being burned alive, and Michael vowed to practice forming one on a daily basis when they got out of the damned building.
Liz was weakening beside him and he shouldered more of Max’s weight. By the time they cleared the doorway, he was supporting both her and Max. Luckily, the others had been waiting and helped pull them clear of the building.
Michael dropped the shield and collapsed on the ground. He immediately felt the heat again and it was the only thing keeping him from lying on the broken rocks and glass and sleeping. Kyle and Alex had stepped forward to pull Max and Liz away from the building and Michael could feel Maria’s hands tugging at him. He skittered backward as best he could without completely standing.
“Are they-“
“Alive. Both of them.” Maria wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight for a minute. She buried her head in his neck, breathing in his scent beneath the smell of soot and smoke. “They’re both out though. Probably will be for awhile.”
Michael nodded and let Maria cling for a minute longer. “My place. We can all rest there.” He watched the fire crackle, swallowing the building whole. They’d all almost died in there and it was still possible Max wouldn’t make it out alive. But there was a chance now. Nicholas was gone, charred black if there was any sort of justice in the world, and Michael had never felt as free. There would always be enemies, but for now they were as close to safe as it came. “We need to get out of here. People will be coming.”
Maria nodded, sniffling a bit as she loosened her grip. “You’re right.”
Michael stumbled to his feet with Maria’s help and when his knees threatened to give out, he offered her a tired grin. “Help me?”
With a soft smile, Maria slipped her arms around his waist and helped support him. “Anytime.”
