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/Davis, 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.
Jade stopped suddenly, causing Isabel to almost run into her.
"What's the matter, Jade?" Isabel could see the concern on the face of her companion. She hoped Alex and Ami weren't in trouble. As she waited for Jade's reply Isabel thought she heard someone coming. She hid behind a pile of empty crates in the middle of the room they were in, and gestured for Jade to be quiet. A couple of minutes later a young man with bleached blonde hair walked past, heading somewhere in a hurry. Isabel shivered. This place gave her the creeps. All the rooms seemed to be half dark, the small windows in each room not giving much natural light.
Jade seemed very jumpy. "I thought I heard Megabyte,' she explained. "Isabel, I'm scared. I keep feeling as though I want to run away and hide in a corner somewhere. Does that make sense?"
Isabel thought for a moment. "Do you mean like a panic attack or something? I knew a girl at school who used to get them. That's the way she described the feeling."
Jade nodded. "I don't feel…" She stopped mid sentence and then continued, twirling her long hair around her fingers nervously. "Maybe the feeling isn't mine. Maybe it's someone else's feelings I'm picking up on."
Isabel was curious. "Can you guys do that?"
"Yeah, sometimes we can pick up on what the other Tomorrow People are feeling." She frowned. "It can't be Megabtye or Adam though. That headband thing that Max told you about, it's supposed to stop them using their powers, isn't it?"
"That's what he said," confirmed Isabel. She could still remember how worried Max had seemed, even though he'd tried to hide it from her. The way she'd lost the connection so suddenly too…that was something she was trying very hard to put out of her mind. Unfortunately she didn't seem to be succeeding very well.
"Could you try and contact whoever you are getting these feelings from?" she asked Jade. "Maybe it is Megabyte. Didn't you say you'd heard him before? Maybe they've found some way to get those bands off."
"Okay." Jade closed her eyes, and Isabel could see her frown as she began to concentrate, reaching out telepathically for the source of the 'signal.'
"Who are you?" asked Alex. He rose to his feet, so that his back was to the computer, hiding the information flashing on the screen. Silly thing to ask a man holding a gun he realised, but he thought maybe it might buy them some time and distract the man so that Ami could teleport them out.
"Are you one of these Tomorrow People?" asked the man.
Ami and Alex looked at each other. "Yes, I am," Ami answered.
"Ami…" Alex shot her a warning look.
"Don't worry, Alex. I have the feeling he knows who we are anyway."
"I'm Gil Hawkins," the man introduced himself. "Yes I do know about your kind and don't worry, I am on your side." Hawkins lowered his gun. "I'm beginning to get the feeling that maybe we should start working together. After seeing what Masters has planned for your friends, I'm thinking that it's only a matter of time before he loses it completely and does something we all regret."
"Why should we trust you?" asked Alex. "You came in here with a gun remember?" He reached behind him and slid the burnt disc out of the computer and put it into his pocket. He saw Hawkins' eyes following his movements but the man didn't comment. Another reason not to trust the guy, Alex thought. Judging from his earlier remarks it sounded as though he had a good idea what they had just downloaded anyway.
"I work for an organisation that is worried about some of the company Masters is keeping," Hawkins started to explain. "I've been sent here to find out what he has planned and what exactly his relationship with Simon Trent is."
"What organisation?" asked Ami.
"I'm not at liberty to share that information."
"Yeah right." Alex didn't feel very terribly impressed by that comment. "What's your proof? I mean how do we know this isn't a trap or you're really working for someone like the FBI or something sinister we haven't even heard of."
"I'm hardly likely to be carrying ID if I'm working undercover am I?" As Hawkins reached over to see what Alex and Ami had been looking at on the computer, Alex noticed a strange blue trefoil shaped tattoo on the man's wrist.
Small beads of perspiration were forming on Masters' face as his eyes flickered between Megabyte's face and the gun in his hand. Masters was beginning to lose patience. What was it going to take to make the man understand? "I … can't …shoot… you." As Megabyte repeated the words again, he glanced at the small revolver in his hand, trying to ignore the disgust he was feeling towards the weapon.
[Megabyte?]
Jade? What was she doing here? There was no way he was going to let any of the other Tomorrow People get involved in this mess. Especially not Jade. Megabyte checked his mental shields again. Hell, they were slipping, he was losing control. He gritted his teeth and tried again to bring his emotions back under tight reign. If he wasn't careful he'd be acting as a beacon and drawing Jade, Ami and Kevin straight to them.
Masters snorted in disgust. "Maybe I should shoot them anyway?" He seemed to reconsider for a moment. "Obviously, you were wrong about these Tomorrow People, Damon. You referred to them as the future of mankind. What kind of future are they if they can't even defend their friends?"
"A better future than mankind all turning out like you," snapped Megabyte.
"I've just about had enough of your cheek, boy," Masters had completely lost the calm exterior he had been trying to project up to a few moments before. "I'm going to enjoy this next part of the experiment, in fact I'm now rather looking forward to it."
Masters spun around so that his gun was pointing squarely at Megabyte. "You say you can't kill to save your friends. What about to save yourself?"
"Masters, you can't be serious." Damon started to struggle against the man holding him.
"I'm perfectly serious. Oh and by the way, if Megabyte teleports, I won't hesitate to kill you and Adam. So you'd better pray your son does the right thing."
Megabyte felt sick. What sort of a choice was that? Being a Tomorrow Person, it wasn't a choice at all. "I'm sorry," he said shooting a look of apology at his father and Adam. He saw Max start forward, only to be stopped by a large man holding a taser weapon.
Megabyte watched Masters' finger squeeze on the trigger and waited for the bullet to strike him…
The sound of the gun going off was a flat crack, hardly more than a balloon popping. A second pop followed just an instant later. This noise came with a flash of light far brighter than the muzzle of a gun could produce.
Then Jade was standing in the room.
"Jade!" Megabyte heard a half-strangled cry and realised he'd made the sound himself. He felt himself fall backwards as Jade fell into his arms, propelled by the momentum of the bullet as it entered her body.
She gazed up at him and then down at the growing red stain on her chest. "I …found …you," she said as he struggled to rise to a kneeling position and cradled her head on his lap.
Masters stood there staring, almost in shock. He lowered the gun.
Max broke free of his captor and dived for the gun that Megabyte had dropped in the confusion. He pointed the weapon at Masters before Beckett or his men could stop him and fired, aiming for the gun in Masters' hand.
There was a clicking noise, but nothing happened.
He pulled the trigger again.
Still nothing.
Megabyte turned towards Masters. "The gun wasn't even loaded. You put us through all that and the gun wasn't even loaded?" He felt sick.
[Megabyte?] Jade 'pathed. He could feel her psychic presence slipping away from him even as she 'spoke.'
[Yeah, kid, I'm here.]
[Hold me, Megabyte. I'm scared. Why is the room going round? What's that red stuff all over me?] She looked down at herself, and then up again at her fellow Tomorrow Person, her eyes widening in fear as she realised the seriousness of what had happened.
[Hold on, Jade, hold on.] Megabyte reached out for her telepathically, trying to hold back the tears he could feel welling up within him. He thought back to all the years he had known her, all the years he'd ran away from the way he felt about her.
[I knew you… had …feelings… for… me] Jade closed her eyes and he felt her go limp in his arms.
Ami gasped. "No," she whispered, ignoring the glances Alex and Hawkins were giving her.
"What's the matter? What's wrong? I'm not going to hurt you, I've already told you that." Hawkins turned away from the computer, concern showing on his face. He must be only in his mid-twenties, Ami realised, seeing his features soften as he spoke.
"He's shot Jade. He's shot Jade." Ami kept repeating the phrase, trying to convince herself that what she was picking up wasn't true.
"Who?" asked Alex.
"Masters?" Hawkins spoke almost simultaneously.
[Jade?] Ami sent a telepathic call out to the younger girl.
[Ami?] Ami was shocked to feel the raw emotion in Megabyte's telepathic voice. [Jade's…Jade's been shot. Ami, she looks as though she's going to die.] To her surprise Ami could also feel guilt coming from her fellow Tomorrow Person.
[Megabyte, hang on. We'll be there as soon as we can, okay?]
Ami turned to Hawkins and Alex. "Jade's badly hurt and Megabyte needs our help."
Adam? What about Adam and Max? Ami realised that she hadn't asked Megabyte about them. Come to think of it, why could she hear Megabyte but not Adam? She wondered what had been happening to her friends….Still Jade was the one to concentrate on at the moment. Megabyte hadn't mentioned Adam so he must be okay, at least for now.
Alex rose to his feet, his face suddenly contorting with fear. "Isabel!" he exclaimed. "Isabel was with Jade…"
Adam watched Jade fall, a sick feeling welling up inside him. He pulled himself free of the man holding him, not caring about the consequences. As he knelt down on the floor beside his friends, Adam saw Damon staring at his son cradling Jade in his arms. The look on Damon's face as he turned towards Masters was one he'd never expected to see on the man. It was one of pure hatred. Adam could see the fine hold the man had been using to keep his emotions in check, snap.
Damon threw himself at Masters, pulling the gun the man was holding from his grasp as he did so. He stood over Masters, aiming the weapon directly at him.
Adam saw Beckett and the others bring their weapons to bear on Damon, but Masters gestured for him to put them down.
"I'm sorry," he started to say but Damon silenced him with a glare.
"You're sorry? You're even crazier than I thought if you expect me to believe that. Sorry for what exactly? Sorry for kidnapping my son and then trying to torture him by making him do something he's not capable of? Sorry for trying to run down my daughter and then sending your goons after her? Sorry for…shooting Jade?"
Damon raised the gun at Masters and pulled the trigger.
"No!" exclaimed Adam. "General Damon, you can't."
A shot rang out, reverberating across the room and Masters collapsed in a heap on the floor.
As Adam's mind tried to process what had just happened, Masters looked up at Damon, disbelief showing in his eyes. "You don't know what you've done," he told the other man. "I was their only hope. Who's going to save them now?" He gave Megabyte's father a look that could only be described as pity as his head rolled back and he lay still.
Adam looked down at Jade lying in Megabyte's arms and back again at Damon who was standing over the body, obviously in shock. A feeling of helplessness rose up within him as he realised he didn't know what to do. I'm supposed to take charge here, he told himself. Instead he felt himself freeze as he looked at the results of the horror that had enfolded in front of him only moments before. Some leader you are. You're supposed to know what to do and what to say. Instead you're just sitting here watching one of your friends die.
Adam turned towards the door, his thoughts interupted by the sound of footsteps. A man about the same age as Damon, rushed through the open door, followed by a teenage boy.
"Michael!" exclaimed Max.
Beckett raised his gun.
"Put down the gun," warned the older newcomer. "Try that again, and I'll shoot you next time. Sheriff Valenti, Roswell police dept. You're all under arrest." The Sheriff looked around the room, taking in the situation in a glance.
"Jade! Is Jade okay?" Valenti knelt down beside Adam and Megabyte, who was still trying to get some response out of the young girl.
Megabyte looked up, and Adam was shocked to see the tears rolling down his cheeks. "She's still alive," he said. "I can sense her, but only just. Adam, we've got to do something. Maybe if we combine our powers we could try and heal her."
Adam shook his head. "I haven't got those powers any more, Megabyte. Don't you think I wish I had?"
"I don't care. We've got to try." Megabyte looked around the room and saw Brooke-Smyth cowering in the corner. "Take off Adam's headband," he yelled. "Take it off, now." His blue eyes flashed dangerously as he spoke, and Adam knew he was close to losing control.
Brooke-Smythe moved across the room and picked up the small silver tool on the floor beside Masters' body. "I can't," whimpered the scientist. He pointed to the small device he had waved over Megabyte's headband earlier to remove it. "It was damaged when he fell. There's no way to remove your friends' silencer bands now, no way at all."
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