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.
"Michael they've got Max!" Liz sounded distraught as she and Maria entered the Crashdown.
"Calm down Liz," Alex Whitman offered his friend a seat. "Who's got Max? What's happened?"
"Over at the UFO centre. There was a guy holding a gun on this other Australian guy…" As Maria paused for breath, Michael interrupted her.
"How do you know the guy was Australian?" he wanted to know. After all it was important to have all the facts wasn't it? He peered out of the window of the Crashdown as he waited for the answer, carefully pulling the blinds to one side. The UFO centre seemed quiet, especially considering what Liz and Maria were telling them.
"I saw Crocodile Dundee didn't I?" Maria sounded indignant as she replied. "Anyway the guy with the gun said that he had Max and that he'd hurt him if the Australian and his friend didn't… "
"What friend?" asked Isabel. "Why would this man take Max? Do you think he knows who he is?" She sat down on the empty chair next to Liz, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
Michael knew all too well what must be running through Isabel's mind. If whoever had Max found out who or what he was, he didn't want to think about what they might do to him. Better not to think the worst. "Sounds to me as though it might not be Max they were after," he commented. "Is it possible that they want this Australian and his friend whoever they are?"
"Damon," said Maria.
"What?" asked Michael.
"That's the name Beckett used for the friend. Beckett was the man with the gun," explained Maria. "I got the feeling that maybe he and the other bad guy were waiting for them to show at the UFO centre or something."
"And Max was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," reasoned Liz slowly. "After all the Australian said something about Max being 'not one of us.' It struck me as a weird thing to say at the time. I'm not sure what he meant by it exactly." She paused as another thought hit her. "Megabyte and Jade!"
"Who?" Michael wondered just how many strangers were wandering around Roswell today. The number of disappearances also seemed to be rising. Obviously Roswell wasn't as safe as Sheriff Valenti would like to make out it was.
"Maria and I met them at the Crashdown earlier. We were going to meet them at the UFO centre after Max finished. They must have been there when Max was taken. Do you think they might be in trouble too?" Liz was beginning to look upset again.
Michael rose to his feet. It was definitely time for someone to take charge of the situation. "I'm going to go have a look over there," he announced. "We're not going to find out what's happened to Max unless we do."
Isabel stood up and headed for the door. "I'm coming with you. Don't look at me that way Michael. Max is my brother. Besides I can look after myself. You're not the only one around here with powers remember."
Michael shrugged. There was no point even trying to argue with Isabel when she got that look in her eye. He hoped he wasn't going to regret his decision to let her come as he looked out the door and onto the street again. All quiet on the western front or at least in a small New Mexican town.
"Be careful," Maria told him. "We don't know if that guy is still lurking around out there. He looked dangerous you know."
"They'll be fine Maria." Alex tried to reassure her, as he turned and spoke to Michael. "I'll stay here with the girls. They still look pretty shaken up. Besides if Megabyte and Jade show up, there should be someone here in case."
"Yeah okay," Michael waited for Isabel to grab her jacket and then headed for the UFO centre. He stopped just outside the entrance and looked around carefully. It looked quiet enough. Even that idiot Milton didn't seen to be anywhere in sight. Still he didn't feel like taking any chances, at least not where he, Isabel and Max were concerned. He looked again at the small alien figures standing guard in front of the small ticket box. If only Milton knew who he really had working for him.
As he and Isabel walked along quietly towards the main display room, Michael mulled over the conversation in the Crashdown in his mind, trying to make sense of it all. He deliberately hadn't told the others that he suspected that the person that Beckett had referred to as Damon was probably the young man Liz and Maria knew as Megabyte. It was the only thing he could think of that made sense, but if so who was the Australian guy, and what had he meant by not one of us? At least it didn't sound as though Beckett knew who or what Max was, for now.
It appeared that Maria had been right and it was Megabyte and the Australian that Beckett and his companion had been after. He wondered what they could have done for someone to come after them like that. From what Maria and Liz had said, they had seemed quite normal. But then, he thought to himself, so did he, Isabel and Max.
Michael smiled to himself as he thought of Maria, and how concerned she had been about him coming here. She'd got a lot closer to him than anyone else ever had, though of course he'd never admit that to her.
"This must be where it happened," Isabel interrupted his musings. She looked around, a puzzled look on her face. "Can you feel all the energy in the air, Michael? I've never felt anything like it before, have you?"
Michael shook his head. He bent down and ran his hand over the floor, trying to get a sense of what had gone down in the room. The flash hit him very suddenly and clearly. The air itself seemed to crackle with strong psychic energy. He leant again one of the display boards, trying to steady himself and saw that Isabel was doing the same.
"Did you feel that?" he asked her. "I've had flashes before, but never one that clear. There's definitely something very strange going on here." As she nodded, he remembered what he had seen;
Max being hit by some kind of strange energy weapon, followed by a blond girl, about the same age, disappearing in a bright light. A redheaded young man, slightly older being held at gunpoint and then being shot by the same weapon that had downed Max. Michael then saw another, dark haired boy, maybe a fraction older than the redhead, appear out of thin air in the same sort of flash of light that the girl had vanished in earlier. The same man that had shot Max then appeared and pointed a gun at the Australian. At least Michael presumed this was the same young man whom Maria and Liz had described earlier. It certainly matched the description of what they had said they had witnessed anyway.
Michael put his arms around Isabel. He could feel her shaking. " Don't worry," he said. "We'll get Max back. We have to. Come on, let's head back to the Crashdown. It looks as though we've done all we can do here."
Well, he thought to himself, it looks as though we know what happened to Jade and Megabyte. He was concerned by what he had seen in the flash though, whoever had Max and the others seemed to be very dangerous, judging by the weaponry they were using. Also he'd never seen anyone disappear into thin air like that before. The thought crossed his mind that maybe he, Isabel and Max weren't alone. Were there other aliens on the planet beside themselves? Maybe if they tried to track down who exactly Megabyte, Jade and their Australian friend were, it might help them to find some answers. Time for Alex to do some more hacking on the net, he decided.
As they crossed the street on their way back to the Crashdown, Michael looked around again for a sign that anything was out of the ordinary. No, things looked quiet enough. It's amazing how deceiving looks can be, he thought.
He opened the door to the Crashdown and was surprised to see two teenagers sitting talking to Liz, Maria and Alex. The boy he hadn't seen before, but the girl he recognised straight away from the flash.
Michael decided to get straight to the point, as time wasn't exactly on their side. If whoever had Max found out he wasn't exactly human, it wouldn't exactly take them long to figure out there might be others like him. There was no way Michael would let anyone get hold of himself or Isabel, and do to them what were done to the original aliens in the 1947 crash. Nor would he stand by and watch the same thing happen to Max.
Kevin looked up as the door of the Crashdown opened. Two teenagers, a tall blonde girl and a brown haired boy about the same age, walked in.
The young man marched up to Jade and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Where's Max?" he demanded. "What have you done with him?" His eyes met Jade's and she pulled away. Kevin could sense the anger coming from him, in fact he seemed to be full of it. This was all Jade needed after what she'd been through.
Maria glared at him. "Michael! Try to come across with at least a bit of understanding. She's had an awful fright."
Jade and Kevin exchanged a very long look before Kevin answered. "Yes, we do know what's happened to Max, and no we don't know who has him. Nice to meet you too, Michael. I'm Kevin, by the way."
Kevin put his hand out to shake Michael's. Might as well be polite, he thought to himself, even if this guy doesn't seem to want to be. As they shook hands, he experienced the same strange flash that Jade had said she and Megabyte had picked up earlier from Max.
"He's like Max!" exclaimed Jade. She put her hand up to her mouth as Kevin looked at her warningly.
[Use telepathy, Jade. Remember Ami said not to tell them about the Tomorrow People unless we had to.]
"Telepathy? Tomorrow People?" asked Michael, suspiciously.
Kevin tried not very successfully to hide his surprise and then decided not to bother. "You heard what I said? Who are you people?" What had Adam and Megabyte got themselves into, he wondered. He thought about contacting Ami, who had gone to let General Damon know what had happened, but thought against it. Besides, he was a bit dubious about using telepathy until he and Jade worked out exactly how much of their conversation would be overheard.
Michael sounded angry. "I think it's you who owes us an explanation," he said. "Who's got Max, and what's going on here?"
Liz put her arms around Jade, who was looking very upset. "Don't mind Michael," she said. "He's just worried about Max. We all are."
Jade seemed to pull herself together as she glared angrily at Michael. "You're not the only one who's worried about someone, you know. Whoever has Max also has Megabyte, and probably Adam as well. I've already been shot at once today, and barely escaped myself. I'm really not in the mood for your macho crap." With that last statement, she sat down again and stared into her cup of hot chocolate.
Alex inserted himself between the two of them, quickly. "Truce, okay," he said. "Look, it sounds as though you guys have got as much at stake here as we have. I think we should trust each other. Michael?"
Michael nodded, although Kevin could still sense a great deal of suspicion coming from him. He'd be very surprised if they were told any more than Michael felt he had to. Whatever was bugging this guy, it had been doing so for quite some time. There was more than just the disappearance of his friend behind his strong emotions. Wonder what that weird stuff in that flash was? Kevin thought about strengthening his mental shields a bit more for a moment, to try and deaden some of the feelings he was picking up on, but decided against it.
"Jade?" Alex looked at the British girl.
She nodded, and turned to Kevin. "Do you think we can trust them?"
Kevin nodded. Even with what he had been receiving from Michael he still thought that trust was the best way to go in this situation. Besides, he had a suspicion that these people had just as much to hide as the Tomorrow People did. If he were right it would certainly explain all these vibes in the room.
"Do you think we should tell Ami first?" asked Jade.
"Who's this Ami?" asked Michael. The boy wasn't happy with the thought of someone else becoming involved; that much was obvious from the thoughts Kevin could hear running through his mind. "With Max gone I think it's up to me to take charge here and that includes working out what we should do next and who we should include in those plans."
Jade interjected before Michael could add anything else. She sounded annoyed, and Kevin didn't blame her. "If anyone should be making decisions here it should be Kevin, at least until Ami gets here."
"Like I’m going to take orders from some kid," Michael replied angrily. "No way."
Kevin sighed. The fact that he was a good inch or so taller than the other boy hadn't even come into the equation. "Hello, do I look like a kid?" he asked Michael. "I'm eighteen." He noticed the annoyed tone creeping into his own voice and smiled to himself. Good. Even though they needed to work together, Michael was fast starting to get up his nose. It was probably a good thing Megabyte wasn't here. He and Michael would be at each other's throats by now, of that Kevin was sure.
"You don't look it," Michael muttered. "Still doesn't mean you're going to take over."
Liz spoke before Kevin could think of a suitable reply, saving him the problem of how to avoid an argument with the younger boy. Couldn't the guy see they had enough problems without fighting amongst themselves?
"I've just remembered something I overheard at the UFO centre. The Australian guy, Adam, said something that I couldn't make sense of at the time. He said you've already got two of us." She turned to Jade and Kevin. "He was referring to himself and Megabyte, wasn't he? They're like you, whatever that means. The man who took him mentioned some Colonel, as well. Do you know anything about that?"
All of the colour drained from Kevin's face, as he put two and two together. It couldn't be, could it? If it was, then Adam, Megabyte and Max were in really big, big trouble.
"Kevin, what's wrong?"
"I think we should contact Ami. If this Colonel is who I think he is, none of us are safe."
Jade caught a trace of Kevin's thoughts as he spoke, and shuddered. [Ami?] she 'pathed, focusing her mind on the older girl.
[Yes, Jade, what is it?] Ami's telepathic voice sounded worried, very worried. [I'm just heading over to meet General Damon at the hospital. Millie's been involved in an accident.] Millie was Megabyte's younger sister. Kevin felt sorry for Ami, having to tell the General that not only was his daughter in hospital, but his son was missing as well. No wonder she sounded so worried.
Kevin interrupted the conversation. [Don't worry, Ami, we'll talk to you later, when we're a bit more sure about what's going on.] After listening to what she had told Jade, he'd decided that he and Jade could sort this problem out by themselves. No point in worrying her about their suspicions until they had proof.
[Are you sure, Kevin?]
[Sure, contact us later, when you've talked to Megabyte's dad, okay.]
[Okay. I'll get back to you when I've checked on things here in London.]
Michael and Isabel exchanged glances as Ami broke the link. Judging by Isabel's expression she too had picked up the telepathic conversation. There was something about those two, but Kevin wasn't sure what. If Michael and maybe Isabel were telepathic, why then couldn't he pick up on them using it themselves. Unless of course, their telepathy was only limited. Maybe they could pick up, but couldn't broadcast. It was the only thing that made sense.
Obviously Michael didn't trust them enough to let them know that Isabel and he were the same, whatever that was. Kevin decided to keep his suspicions to himself, for the moment. No need to get the other boy even more on edge than he already was.
Kevin cleared his throat. Explanation time, he thought, hoping the trust they were going to put in this group wasn't misplaced. Hopefully if the Roswell teens saw how much trust the Tomorrow People were placing in them, they might be persuaded to share their secrets too.
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