Hide and Seek
by Melissa45
Disclaimer: I can only wish that I owned "Highlander" and Methos
summary:
AU. The Gathering happens while Methos is still hiding in the Watchers as Adam Pierson.
When the Gathering started the Immortals with the largest Quickenings were affected first. Abnormally bloodthirsty, even the most pacifistic started headhunting. The Watchers caught on to what was happening when the saintly Darius left his church clutching a sword. Soon the Watchers couldn't keep up with the record number of heads that were being taken by Immortals who were rapidly criss-crossing the globe in search of their next Quickenings. Young and pre-Immortals were the first to die as level-headed sanity could not stand up to insane experience.
The oldest Immortal in the world was the only exception to this madness. It was possible to suppress the Quickening, difficult, but possible. The drawback was that the reduced access to the power of the Quickening meant a reduced rate of healing, and longer 'deaths'. With long practice, it was possible to suppress it to the point of appearing, in all respects, to be a pre-Immortal. Very useful, as long as hunters followed the unspoken Game rule of allowing pre-Immortals to live, and die, on their own.
As soon as Methos felt the influence of the Gathering he had fled from his Paris apartment to the nearby Watcher headquarters where as one of them he could be surrounded by mortals who had a vested interest in keeping insane Immortals out. He practically lived in the Library and only slept in quick cat naps. As young researcher Adam Pierson he continued his project of searching the archives for clues to the mythical Methos, telling other Watchers he wanted to find out if the 5000 year old was still alive before the end of the Game.
Off-duty field Watchers often 'hung out' at Headquarters, and with the Gathering in full swing most field Watchers were permanently off-duty. When Joe Dawson had arrived a lot of bets were lost when the news got around that Duncan Macleod lost his head after being shot in the back. Joe regretted the loss of a good Immortal but it wasn't as bad as when he heard the Immortal Cord, who had saved his life, died.
After finishing some paperwork Joe was called over by Don Salzer. "Joe, you remember my protege Adam, right? He's been holed up in the Library ever since this whole thing started two weeks ago and is looking rather stressed out. Let's go drag him out to your bar to get a beer."
They snuck up easily since the young man's nose was buried in a book. He jumped and spun around frantically when they clapped their hands simultaneously on his shoulders. His expression set Joe and Don laughing. "Hey, it's not funny!" They laughed harder and eventually Adam joined in. Don extended their invitation but instead of being eager to get a drink Adam just looked nervous and started stammering.
Suddenly an alarm started blaring. They could hear screams coming from outside the Library so they ducked behind a desk. Joe took out his gun and checked the ammo.
The Library doors burst open revealing the vicious Immortal Kallas, wielding a sub-machine gun in one hand and his large sword in the other and wildly yelling "I know you're in here! Now die without knowing what you are!" The spraying bullets tore through everything, maiming and killing several of the cowering researchers.
Don felt Adam suck in a breath beside him just before he keeled over, dead. Grieving, he almost didn't notice when Kallas stalked up to the prone figures and started beheading the dead Watchers shouting "There can be only One!" each time he brought his sword down. Smiling wolfishly Kallas came over to the last whole corpse and was about to behead Adam's body when Joe's pistol rang out and the Immortal staggered and dropped.
Silence reigned for a moment before screams and pained moans started up. Joe patted Don on the back who was rocking Adam's body in his arms and kept his gun trained on the fallen Immortal. "Someone needs to go get help. I'll make sure he doesn't wake up." A Watcher ran out of the Library to find help.
Soon the Council gathered in the Library around the temporarily dead Kallas. Debate raged over whether they should kill him or dump him far-away outside. Some cited non-interference and others wanted revenge for all their dead friends. The debate was rendered moot when Joe's brother-in-law James Horton picked up the dropped sword and swung it down, beheading Kallas.
Everyone backed away as the massive Quickening started. According to the Chronicles in the rare event an Immortal was beheaded with no others nearby the Quickening would rage against the nearby surroundings before dying down like a spent summer storm. But this time most of the blue lightning struck the only intact corpse nearby, that of Adam Pierson.
When that corpse suddenly gasped and whimpered all of the Watchers gasped as well. Adam curled up his sprawled limbs into a pained ball and moaned before lapsing into unconsciousness. Everyone stared dumbfounded at his once again immobile form and then sent bewildered glances at each other.
The problem with dying while suppressing your Quickening, was the disorientation after reviving. It was almost as bad as your first death, with the added pain of knowing what you were waking up to.
Heavy eyelids blinked slowly and the blurry forms resolved into a quiet room. Adam slowly realized he was laying on a soft couch. He looked up with wide eyes to see Don hovering worriedly over him.
Joe was still involved in the impromptu tribunal over the dead Immortal's body. Originally the 'discussion' was over the shooting and decapitation of Kallas, which was determined to be self-defense, but now the Watchers were arguing about the young man recovering in one of the rooms provided for night-owl researchers.
There was no precedent for what had just happened. Horton even suggested he had always been Immortal and used the Watchers to hunt and advocated eliminating the problem immediately. He was of course overruled because ever since the organization was started the Watchers had required periodic testing to prove none of their members had Immortal healing.
Could the Quickening have 'chosen' to strike him because his was the only dead body nearby that still had it's head, and even possibly changed him into an Immortal? That was unlikely, for the Watchers had observed in wars instances where lone Immortals had been killed, and their Quickenings were lost despite the presence of plenty of nearby bodies.
No, the most likely scenario, the Watchers eventually agreed, was that Adam had always been a pre-immortal judging by what Kallas said, unaware of what he was. They send for Don who brings in a nervous Adam who shuffles his feet and looks worriedly at the Council.
"Adam Pierson, we have found you not guilty of interference. It is certainly not your fault that you happened to be..."
For the second time that day the Library doors were abruptly flung open, this time by a Watcher. "All the field agents have finally reported in, and the subjects we lost track of were found in morgues. Kallas was the last Immortal seen alive!"
At that news, all action stopped and everyone twisted around to look at the quickly paling Adam. Don swallowed. "Then, that means…" Adam Pierson is the One, mentally continued the Watchers. Adam's eyes rolled up in his head and he sagged against his mentor who quickly looped his arm around the Winner of the Game, who was unconscious once again.
Methos settled into his first class plane seat with a sigh of relief. The Council was eventually convinced to let poor young Adam explore the world for a while. He had nothing to offer the Watchers except as another researcher, as no mystical knowledge or powers had manifested themselves. And he wanted, he explained, a chance to get used to it all. He didn't mind if they Watched him, because he understood that dedication. And he would come back now and then, to help with their record of the history of mankind.
He had said a tearful farewell to his friends, especially Joe and Don, and left for the airport with just a backpack for luggage. Secretly he was glad he didn't have to worry about sneaking a sword through customs. Methos was heading for Tibet to get away from all the awestruck Watchers. He was going to relax for a little while, maybe a year or two, without the worries of the Game, and decide just who Adam Pierson was going to be now that he was Immortal. This was not an ending but a beginning.
The End