by Anne
Disclaimer: The characters of Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, Kevin Wilson, Ami Jackson, Jade Weston, General William Damon, Colonel Masters, Millie Damon and Caroline Damon belong to Roger Damon Price, Thames Television and Nickelodeon. So do any other names or events linked to the Tomorrow People TV series.
Max Evans, Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin, Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Jim Valenti and Milton belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and WB. All other concepts and events linked to Roswell also belong to them.
The characters of Joe Dawson and James Horton (who appear in name only) belong to Panzer/David, Rysher/Gaumont Television. So do the concepts of immortality, the Watchers and the Hunters.
The characters of Geoff Anderson, Gil Hawkins, Jim Beckett and Simon Trent belong to me and should not be used without permission.
Adam Newman put down the book he was reading as Jade materialised in front of him. As she appeared, he felt an echo of something run through him, reminiscent of a mild electric shock. She looked around her, as though in a daze, and then collapsed.
Adam shook her, calling her name as he did so, but got no response. He lifted her onto the mattress he used as a bed when he stayed at the ship, and tried to contact her telepathically.
No reply.
He could still sense her, but couldn't establish any communication at all. She was definitely unconscious. It was lucky, he reflected, that she had managed to teleport when she had. Obviously she had initiated the teleport only moments before whatever had caused this, had affected her.
[Jade!]
Adam frowned. That sounded like Megabyte. He hoped that the American hadn't run into the same thing as Jade had. Adam concentrated and reached out for his friend, hoping to get some answers. He stopped his telepathic search as he felt something similar to what he had picked up from Jade minutes before, but a lot stronger. Whatever it was, the sensation had come from Megabyte.
[Megabyte! Are you okay?] Adam was sure his friend was definitely in some sort of trouble. What had he and Jade walked into?
Two light signatures materialised in front of him. Ami Jackson and Kevin Wilson looked around, taking in the situation in a single glance.
"Adam, did you feel that?" Ami looked worried as she bent over Jade. "I thought I heard Megabyte call out, but I can't contact him."
"I felt something like some sort of electric shock," added Kevin. "Do you know what's wrong with Jade? She and Megabyte were…" His voice tailed off as he began to think the worse.
Adam nodded in reply to Ami's question. So she and Kevin had felt it as well. "She and Megabyte were what, Kevin?"
"They were going to Roswell today, to look at that UFO centre Jade's been talking about," the young British boy replied.
Adam came to a decision. "Ami, you and Kevin stay with Jade. I'm going to teleport to Roswell to see if I can find Megabyte. If he's been affected by the same thing as Jade, he's going to need some help."
Ami shook her head in protest, dark braids flying in all directions. "Adam, you don't know what's happened. How is walking into the same thing going to help Megabyte?"
"Well, I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'll call for help if I need it, promise. Besides you know me, I can always teleport out if I need to." Adam closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on the Roswell UFO centre, and Megabyte.
Kevin looked at the empty space where Adam had just been and turned to Ami. "Do you think one of us should go after him? I know he said that he can teleport if he needs to, but Megabyte wasn't able to, was he?"
Ami looked at the swirling water outside the observation window of the ship, trying not to sound as worried as she felt, as she replied to the younger boy. "There's no point in all of us running into danger, Kevin," she said, very aware of how much that sounded like something Adam himself would say. "We'll just have to hope that Adam and Megabyte are okay."
She knew that Adam saw himself as the leader of their group, but his tendency to put himself in danger to protect them, without a single thought for his own safety, was beginning to concern her. Someone was going to have to talk to him about sharing responsibility. After all he was only a few years older than herself and Megabyte. It was time he learnt that he didn't have to shoulder all that responsibility on his own. Maybe she could get General Damon to have a talk to him as well. After all he seemed to respect the older man's opinion, more than Megabyte himself did anyway. Mind you, Ami amended to herself, Megabyte's relationship with his father seemed to have improved quite a bit since the events at Cheyenne Mountain.
Adam materialised in what he presumed was the main part of the UFO centre. Looking around, he noticed behind him a display board about the 1947 crash. His eye caught the picture of a weather balloon. He remembered that that had been one of the more popular theories.
Adam closed his eyes and sent a telepathic probe out, hoping to get a sense of the whereabouts of his friend. He caught a sense of something, he wasn't sure what. It was similar to what he had felt from Jade earlier. It had to be Megabyte, but if it was, the other boy must be unconscious.
"Can I help you?"
Adam snapped open his eyes and looked at the man in front of him. Careless! He reprimanded himself. He had been concentrating so hard in finding Megabyte that he had failed to notice someone enter the room. The man repeated his question and Adam decided to play the innocent tourist.
"Sorry," he said. "I was just taking in the wonder of this place. It's really great, isn't it? Better go and join the rest of my group now, before they realise I've been left behind."
The dark haired man drew his weapon, his intention clear. "Hold it right there, kid, or should I call you Adam?"
Adam felt his body stiffen. How would this man know his name? Had Megabyte and Jade walked into something by accident, or had someone been expecting them? But how would anyone know they were coming to Roswell, when they hadn't decided to visit until that morning themselves.
"Don't even think of teleporting, if you want to see your friends again."
"Teleport? I don't know what you're talking about." Adam tried to sound as innocent as possible. "And what makes you think my name is Adam?" Whoever this guy was, it sounded as though he had Megabyte and… Friends? What was he talking about? Megabyte and Jade had been the only Tomorrow People in Roswell, at least that he was aware of.
"Your description and your accent for one. The fact that your friend was probably trying to contact you when I shot him, for another."
"Shot him?" Adam was so taken back by the man's last statement that he forgot about the innocent tourist routine he was supposed to be following. He realised too late that he had probably given himself away with his outburst.
His captor replied by motioning to Adam with his taser gun. "Yeah,don't worry. He's okay, for now. The boss insisted we bring you freaks in alive. Mind you he didn't say undamaged, if you get my drift. Don't try and contact any others of your kind, either. We've been told how to pick when you're using telepathy. If you want to see your friends I suggest you do exactly as I tell you."
Adam nodded to show that he understood. "Okay," he said. "I'll do what you say."
[Adam! Adam, can you hear me?]
As he heard Ami's voice in his mind, Adam automatically found himself starting to reply. He felt a gun in his ribs, and stopped.
"I thought I warned you about using telepathy. Whoever you are talking to, ignore them. Unless you'd like to invite them to join the party, that is."
Adam nodded, and raised his mental shields, blocking his thoughts so Ami wouldn't be able to contact him. He hoped that she had enough sense to realise that something was very wrong, and that she wouldn't try and teleport here. It looked as though Ami had been right, after all. Adam was beginning to realise that he hadn't been very clever walking straight into the lion's den, as it were.
"Beckett." Adam's captor sounded annoyed as he answered his cellphone. "Well, of course Evans would be starting to come round. You gave him some of the sedative like we were told to? Good, and Hawkins? Sedate the other one as well. I don't feel like taking any chances. By the way, it looks as though we're going to be having some more company on our trip. See you shortly."
"Evans?" asked Adam. This must be the person who had been captured along with Megabyte. "Whoever, he is, he's not one of us. Look you've got two of us, let him go."
"The Colonel warned me you might say something like that. Even though it's obvious now that you're the one the Colonel was after, he's still a loose end. Besides, having an hostage will help to keep you and your friend Damon under control."
"The Colonel?" Adam was beginning to get a really nasty feeling about all this. He hoped this colonel wasn't who he was starting to suspect it might be.
"You'll find out soon enough. Move!"
Maria looked at her watch again, "Why do you think they're taking so long?" she asked Liz. "Even if Megabyte and Jade waited for Max to close up, they should be here by now."
She opened the front door of the UFO centre, and gestured for her friend to follow her inside. " Michael and the others will be wondering where we are." Michael, Isabel and Alex had called in at the Crashdown just as the girls' shift had ended, and were going to join them for coffee. If you're going to party, do it properly, Maria had said as she extended the invitation to include them.
Liz opened her mouth in protest. "Maria, we shouldn't…" she started to say, but then changed her mind. Once Maria made her mind up, she was usually hard to discourage from her chosen course of action.
"Come on, Liz. It's time we reminded them how long we've been waiting out here."
Liz frowned. "It's not like Max to forget something like that," she observed. "If he says he's going to be somewhere at a certain time, he usually is. Megabyte and Jade would have told him we were meeting them after work for coffee. I'm sure they would."
Maria poked her head around the main display room and saw a tall dark haired boy standing next to one of the displays. He seemed to be miles away, totally lost in thought.
"Come on Liz," she repeated her earlier statement. "We'll go ask that good looking guy if he's seen them."
Liz smiled to herself. Trust Maria to come out with a statement like that. She was about to enter the room when a thought occurred to her. "What's he doing here after closing?" she asked. "Maria?"
Maria was feeling around in her pockets, first one then the other. "I can't find my keys," she complained. "Mom's car keys are on that ring. She'll kill me if I've lost them." She looked at the boy in the display room, and then back down the corridor towards the front door a few times before coming to a decision.
"Give me a minute while I just go check if I can find them. Keep a look out and don't let that guy out of your sight, okay?"
"Yeah sure, Maria. Don't take too long though." Liz glanced around nervously as she waited for Maria. Even if this guy could tell them where Max was, there was still something not right about the whole situation. She knew Max well enough by now to know he should be there, waiting by the door with their new friends.
After a few moments Liz walked out into the corridor, gesturing to Maria that she'd been long enough. She glanced at her watch, wondering again what had happened to Max and the others.
"Found them," exclaimed Maria triumphantly, waving her keys at Liz. "I must have dropped them just as we came in. Is that guy still there?"
Liz nodded. She headed back towards the display room and then stopped, gesturing Maria to be quiet. "Did you see that other guy just enter the room?" she hissed, pressing herself against the wall, hoping he hadn't noticed them. "Something strange is going on."
"Weird, weird or alien weird?" interrupted Maria, following Liz's lead and speaking softly.
Liz shrugged. "Weird enough to be worried about where Max is," she replied. "Maria! What are you doing?"
Maria pushed past Liz, edging into the room so that she could see what was going on. In the couple of minutes they had been in the corridor the two men in the display room had started talking. One of them had an accent, Australian by the sound of it.
"If Max is in trouble, don't you think we should try and find out what's going on?' she reasoned.
Liz peered over Maria's shoulder and stifled a scream. "Maria," she whispered. "He's got a gun!" She grabbed Maria's arm and bundled her behind one of the bigger displays as the shrill ring of a cell phone echoed through the room.
What was going on? She wondered. The middle-aged man had his gun pushed into the younger man's back and was talking into his phone. She strained to hear what he was saying, picking up the end of the conversation.
"…more company on our trip. See you shortly."
Liz noticed the expression on the dark-haired boy's face. He looked scared, though he was obviously trying very hard to hide it from his captor. As she listened to him speak, Liz felt an echo of that fear run through her own mind.
"Evans?" he asked. "Whoever he is, he's not one of us. Look you've got two of us, let him go."
Maria squeezed Liz's arm and she realised the other girl was as scared as she was. She turned to give her a shaky smile, and turned back to catch the tail end of the reply the man gave.
"…keep you and your friend Damon under control."
"The Colonel?" asked the young man.
"You'll find out soon enough." Came the reply. The man gestured with his gun. "Move!"
As the two men started towards the door, Liz saw the younger one look around and then hurriedly try to hide his action. He reminded Liz of an animal picking up a scent. It was almost as though he had sensed we were here she thought, dismissing the crazy idea quickly.
The older man paused in the doorway, checking to make sure the coast was clear. As he did so, the boy looked straight over at Liz and Maria and their eyes met. He did know we were here Liz thought. But how? His huge brown eyes reflected the fear she felt herself and he subtly shook his head, mouthing the word 'no' at the same time.
"You're not thinking of calling for help, I hope?" asked the other man, waving his gun as though to make his point clear. He had a suspicious look on his face, but luckily didn't seem to realise they had company.
Liz held her breath and hoped their luck would hold.
The Australian looked at the man and shook his head. "No," he said. "I think you've made it perfectly clear what you'll do if I did."
"Sensible boy. Come on, I think your friends are waiting for us. The Colonel is very anxious to see you again." He gestured towards the door, and they headed towards the exit of the UFO centre.
Liz and Maria exchanged worried glances as they saw the two men leave. "Liz, did you hear that? They've got Max, we'd better tell Michael and the others."
Liz's mind was racing. What had the young man meant by 'not one of us?' Surely he wasn't talking about aliens? What had happened to Megabyte and Jade? They must have been here when … Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of Max in the hands of this Colonel, whoever he was. If the Colonel and his men found out Max's secret, they could all be in great danger. Her train of thought came to a crashing halt as she realised that Maria was still talking.
"Who do you think that young guy was? What did he mean by 'you have two of us'? Liz, are you listening to me?" Maria ushered her out of the UFO centre, and they headed back to the Crashdown where they were meant to be meeting Michael, Isabel and Alex. Hopefully if they all put their heads together they would be able to work out what to do next.
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