Warnings: This chapter contains content that may be offensive such as torture and violence.
Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell or any other character, location, or whatever mentioned in the works of Melinda Metz or created by Jason Katims, FOX, WB, and UPN.


Author's Note:
There may be lines and scenes taken from "The White Room" (Season 1, Episode 20).


Chapter 2 – The Questions Darwin Would Ask:


Charles Robert Darwin
– was a famous English naturalist who presented extensive evidence after much experiments that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors with a process he called natural selection.



Max struggled against the binds. He wasn't able to get away. He was unable to fight his way out of the room.

Agent Pierce was bent down in front of Max, just watching him. His cold light-blue eyes unnerved him. That little smirk on his lips made Max furious. Pierce was studying him, trying to find a flaw, a weakness, and most of all, detect fear on Mr. Evans' face.

"Now, now, calm down, Mr. Evans. Don't want to ruin that perfect body with all this useless fighting now, would we?"

Max didn't respond. He just stared at him.

With a sigh, Pierce stood up straight and began to circle around a bound Max Evans in the middle of the cell. Like a predator, he stalked his prey, waiting for the right moment to go in for the kill. And now that he had him, he was going to slowly get the truth from him, even if it meant torturing him and others, even if it meant killing.

"What is your real name?" he asked.

Max glared at him. He almost wished one of his alien powers was shooting rays out of his eyes so he could vaporize this evil man. He struggled once again. The binds were bolted down. He wasn't going anywhere.

"What is your real name?" Pierce asked again, clearly growing inpatient since a man of his status never had to repeat things before.

Silence.

"I will get answers, Mr. Evans. You can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"So I take it you're the bad FBI agent, then? Where's the good agent?" Max asked.

Pierce laughed, amused by how brave the teen was. Then he jutted forward, his face only inches away from Max's. His breathe touched Max's cheeks. "There are no good FBI agents," he snarled. He then snapped his fingers and men in white suits came in.

Max struggled some more, but it was useless. His hands and feet were bound to the chair. His head was held back by a strap over his forehead. The technicians began to attach white circles hooked up to wires on his skin.

"Please," he pleaded, trying to elicit sympathy from them. "Please help me. You don't have to do this." He stared at the men but they didn't even look at him. They just did their jobs.

Pierce smiled. His eyes crinkled with humor. "No one can help you, but me, Max. Do you mind if I call you, Max?"

"What do you want from me?" Max asked.

"Just answers, simple answers, Max. But I see you're going to give me a difficult time, so I might as well entertain myself."

When the technicians left, Pierce held a small remote in his hand. His thumb hovered over two buttons that were colored red and green. Two simple colors, two simple buttons, that held such power in his hands. He stared down at Max and pressed the green button.

Not sure what to expect, Max let out a shrilling scream as his body was suddenly shocked with electricity. His body wanted to arch upwards, but the bindings held him down to the chair. It was worse than when he was hit by a taser back at the carnival. His whole body burned, his nerves shooting fire across his muscles.

Pierce pressed the red button, stopping the machine, and Max was left wheezing in pain. "That was just a preview if you don't answer my questions."

"When I get out of here, I'm going to—," Max growled.

"Going to what? You're never leaving this place," Pierce said confidently.

Fearfully, Max almost began to believe this too. No, he had to hold onto the belief that his friends, his family, would break him out. He had to believe to stay alive.

"What is your real name?" asked Pierce.

"Max Evans," he answered.

The green button was pressed.

Max gritted his teeth, clenched his eyes, and tried not to scream when his body was shocked. His body arched up, but the cuffs around his body held him down again. He did not want to give Pierce the satisfaction of hearing him cry out in pain.

Red. The electrical shocks instantly stopped, but the pain remained in his body.

"What is your real name?"

"MY NAME IS MAX EVANS!" Max screamed, not knowing what this agent wanted from him. Max Evans was his name. He knew and acknowledged of no other.

"Where are you from?"

Some alien planet in space, he thought.

"Earth."

Green.

Max tried to curl up as best as he could, fighting against the pain, fighting against all that held him down. His body burned and buzzed with such boiling warmth that he might as well had been set on fire.

Red.

"What is your planet's name?"

I don't know.

"Ear-Earth," he breathed out, trying to catch his breath.

Green.

He thrashed in his seat. A wet layer formed all over Max's body, dampening his thin clothes to his skin. His hair clung to his forehead and the sides of his face. He could feel the beads of sweat form on his temple.

Red.

"Were you in the 1947 crash?"

Yes.

"NO."

Green.

The hairs on his arms and legs rose. His fingers and toes curled. The veins on his arms and legs were bulging. His wrists and ankles were red from pulling against the metal binds.

Red.

"Are there more like you?"

Just four other ones that I know about.

"NO!"

Green.

Goosebumps were all over his skin. His fingernails had dug into his palm, tearing the skin. Blood seeped underneath his fingernails and slowly ran its way down his hands.

Red.

"What is your purpose on Earth?"

I don't know.

"Haven't decided yet. Haven't gone to college yet. Haven't done—"

Green.

Max's jaw clenched so bad that it felt like his teeth were ready to crack and fall out in pieces. He wanted to scream so badly. He wanted to open his mouth and yell. But screaming would not stop the pain. Screaming would only allow Agent Pierce to know he was hurting him.

Red.

"What powers do you have?"

I can heal, change molecular structure, and form connections with certain people.

"I don't have any!"

Green.

Max never felt such pain before in his life. The white circles on his skin felt as if they were cooking his skin. Just simple stickers with wires attached to them. They inflicted pain so easily. But he wouldn't show it. He refused to give in to this man.

Agent Pierce was impressed Max even lasted this long.

Red.

"How many people have you killed?"

Killed? I have never killed, never shed blood. I heal.

"None."

Green.

The questions went on and on. The shocks kept coming until Max couldn't help but scream with his entire body... arching, tightening, curling, burning.

Red.

Green.

Red.

Green.

Red.

Until he finally passed out in mid-scream.


To be continued.