Only The Strong Will Perivale

Chapter 3

Written by Riacola aka Kerri Powder

After a sleepless night, Liz waited outside the Crashdown for Max and his cheval to show up. Lately she had been receiving flashes in her dreams of friends and family, etcetera. She didn't know what to make of them, they weren't normal dreams. Her dreams were always taking place in the future, she wasn't always present in the dream, all she would do was watch from the side lines. There was a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach, that Michael and Max were wrong. She hadn't said anything last night, but Maria had never avoided her phone calls or given her the silent treatment. Maria was more boisterous when it came to Liz. She thought back to some of the fights Maria and herself had shared.

"God, you know, you're doing this for Alex, but you don't care whose life you screw up in the way," Maria shouted.

"That's not true," Liz frowned.

"Oh, it's not? How about Sean? Have you even thought about him for a second since he ruined his probation for you? God, I don't even know you anymore," Maria hollered walking away.

Max pulled up to the Crashdown while Liz was deep in thought. "Abought time," Liz smiled hopping into the passenger seat, she gave Max a peck on the lips. "Where's Michael?" She asked, assuming he would've tagged along.

"He was gone before I got up, he left a note saying he had some things he needed to take care of." Liz crossed her arms over her chest. 'Figures he wouldn't take this serious.'

Max pulled up into the DeLuca residence, and the first thing Liz noticed was the Jetta was missing.

"Where's Maria's car?" Liz asked confused.

"It's still at Isabell's." Liz looked at him urging him to continue.

"Isabell drove us home last night," Max stated.

She got out of the car and knocked on the front door. She waited patiently and knocked again, nothing. Liz turned around and headed for Maria's bedroom window, and peeked in. Max got out of the cheval and followed her.

"She never came home." Liz's voice cracked, realization dawned on her.

"What makes you say that?" Max turned his girlfriend to face him.

"I love Maria, but she's a slob, her bed is made. Marias never made the bed a day in her life." She gestured towards the window.

"Maybe her mom made it."

"Maybe…. maybe not." Liz was hesitant.

"You-hooo, Lizzie is that you, darling," Liz and Max turned their heads to see Maria's elderly neighbor waving them over.

"Good morning Mrs. Vargo." Liz greeted warmly, always showing the utter most respect for her elders.

"I told you a long time ago to call me Hellen. Silly girl," Hellen looked over at Max and smiled. "Now whose is this handsome young man?"

"Hello ma'am I'm max"

"Well the names Hellen Irena Vargo, but you can call me Hellen." She winked at max, and stepped a little closer to him.

"You looking for Maria hon?" she turned her attention back to Liz.

"As a matter of a fact yea or her mom, have you seen Amy by chance?"

"Nope and you won't find either of them here. She left about 4 days ago on this big convention out in California. It's a big deal, the young'in said if she can pull off this convention that it will double her annual income. As for Maria I haven't seen her since yesterday morning." Liz bit her lip. "Nothing's wrong, is there?"

"No, No! I was just hoping to run into her. She was staying with a friend last night and I thought she'd stop by here before school, I'll see her there I guess." Liz tried to cover up, all she needed on top of everything else was Maria's nosy neighbor alerting Amy.

"I see," Hellen brushed her white curls out of her eyes. "Maria's quite popular this morning, isn't she?"

"Pardon ma'am?" Max asked.

"What do you mean?" Liz further asked.

"Well that boyfriend of hers, let me tell you Amy is always bragging about that fella. She might not show it, but she is very proud of that young man." Max and Liz exchanged looks of disbelief, sure they both new Amy like Michael enough. He had been there for Amy and Maria during the passing of their friend Alex. "Good lord, all I hear is Michael fixed this, Michael did this, and Michael did that. She has a great deal of respect for him. Anyhow off subject, He was here earlier looking for her too." She concluded.

"Michael? Hellen nodded. Liz smiled and looked at max, 'he does care.'

"Well you two run along, and get to school. Yous need to get a proper education." She shooed them along slapping max lightly on the real and winked at him. "Ya'll come on back, and visit sometime soon."

"Will do, thanks…. Hellen." Liz waved goodbye. Max and Liz got back into the car.

"Ooow what was that for?" he asked, pretending her little punch hurt.

"What was that for? That was for not trusting me. Something is wrong, I can sense it." She looked out the window, she would never be able to live with herself, if something had happened to Maria and she had done nothing to help, knowing in her heart, her friend had needed her.

"You know what you can be thankful for?" Max smirked over at Liz, she just lifted an eyebrow. "Your name could be Hellen Irene Vargo, your initials could be HIV." He said, Liz stared laughing, 'Oh that poor women.'

Michael played with the silver rings on his fingers, leaning against his bike in the school parking lot. Ever since last night he'd feared for Maria's safety. His instinct told him to run, to find Maria, but he was always running off and thinking later, it was a process that normally landed him in a heap of trouble. "Come on Maxwell, were the hell are you." He climbed back on his bike.

"Don't do anything you're going to regret." Michael whipped his head around, to come face to face with Isabell.

"What, college too hard or can't you just get enough of this place." He smirked.

"Typical Michael, can't deal with your emotions so your advert back to the classic art of sarcasm." Isabell replied, Isabell could always read him. "We're all worried about her, and I promise you, we're going to get to the bottom of this." She grabbed his arm to get his attention. "together."

"How'd you know?"

"Liz just called," she held up her cell phone. "They're on their way here."

"She is not here," he avoided eye contact, Isabel nodded. Maria and Michael shared a profound bond, even when separated. The love they had for each other was overwhelming. Even after dumping her Spaceboy, Maria expressed to Michael she still wanted him in her life.

Isabell's phone rang "You guys almost here? Yeah he's here with me…. alight…alright we'll meet you there." She walked toward her own car. "Hop in Michael, we're headed back to your apartment, the king has spoken." She tried lightening the mood, but then remembered the events of last night and by the look on Michaels face knew it was still a sore subject.

"Oh yea, shall we wait or, all bow down now." Isabell stopped dead in her tracks. Her blood boiling inside of her. "This has nothing to do with him being king. We are following him cause he's trying to figure out what the hell happen to your 'on again off again girlfriend'…you know the girl you supposedly love. Which I would think would be your main concern. So if you'd be so kind as to putting your pity party on hold, could you haul your ass into that car." Isbell bellowed out, she took a deep breath calming herself.

"Yes, mein fuhrer," Michael muttered, cowering into her car, with his tail between his legs so to speak. "Damn she's scary, don't look into her eyes Guerin, you might just turn to stone." He thought to himself.

Isabel got into her car smiled Michaels way, while starting her car. "It's a 20 minuet drive to your place, or at least it's going to be." She looked Michael up and down while grinning, she was proud of herself, sometimes being thought of as a Nazi was empowering. "Get comfortable," Michael nodded. "Oh and Michael, Jessie told me about last night," Michael froze. "I'm going to let you off the hook for now, you're going through enough, however this conversation is far from over." She smiled, she knew Michael was afraid for Maria, but she refused to jump to conclusions at least until they had evidence there was a problem. They'd know soon enough, she pulling out of West Roswell High School and headed toward Michael's.

Maria winced as another current of electricity flowed through her body, she was in an electric shock therapy session. Crowley was using it as a shock collar, like she was some dog. Whenever she refused to answer or didn't give him the information he wanted, he activated the machine.

"What kind of powers do your friends have?" Maria bit her lip, and said nothing, she'd done good so far, hiding the pain and fear. She was trying to be a stonewall, after all she had the best teacher in that department. Her former boyfriend was the king on emotional shut down, and she was partially to blame for that. 'I'm soo sorry Michael,' she thought. 'What the hell is wrong with you DeLuca, he had given everything up for you, and how do I repay him… I leave him. Knowing he already had abandonment issues…. stupid, stupid… when he stayed here for you." She screamed at herself, her heart broke. She would never be able to make amends. She would never feel the safety that his arms around her provided, the warmth of his kisses and all for what, to pursue a career in singing ...damn it all to hell. To hell with singing, to hell with the FBI, to hell with it all, Michael was enough. How could I believe otherwise, Billy put these ideas into her head. 'he better hope our paths never cross again.' Crowley smiled, he could sense an inner battle within Maria, she was ready for the next step.

"Okay enough of this, sit her up," Crowley ordered the doctors in the room. He walked over to a white panel and shut off the lights, he fondled a remote in his hands. A projection appeared on the wall. "You know my brother found a very effective way of reaching Max was to remind him how human he really is. There's no doubt your completely human, this strategy may however have the effect we're looking for you to. Let's test it and see shall we." He clicked a button on the remote control. "You have feelings," Snip bits of Amy and Valenti showed up. They were sitting together on a love seat, smiling and laughing…Click went the remote again. "Emotions, "pictures of Jessie and Kyle appeared, playing pool completely focused on the game.

"Stop it!" Maria cried, she missed them all, it hadn't even been 24 hours yet…Click.

"Friendship," clips of Liz, Isabell and, Max appeared. They were playing Monopoly at the Evans. Maria could see Isabell was wining, probably cheating, she thought to herself. Crowley knelt in front of her and watched her, he desperately wanted to see her reaction to the next clip…. Click… "And love," Maria took a deep breath, Michael appeared on the screen, he was out of breath from lifting weights at his apartment. He took a towel and whipped his forehead free of sweat.

"ENOUGH!" Maria screamed, "there's that raw emotion we're looking for." Crowley turned Maria's chair towards him. "You don't want to cause him pain do you?"

"No, no, no more!" Maria shook her head franticly, the reality of her situation was beginning to set in, she was alone in this.

"I'm going to show you something, it's all virtual, but has enormous possibilities of becoming reality…watch" …Click… He grabbed Maria by the chin forcefully turning her face toward the screen. It displayed Maria's body, black and blue. She was on the floor of the white room, the cold hard floor. Blood splattered across the entire room, all of it hers. Michael came busting through door to find her body. "NO! NO! NO!" He screamed in agony, holding her against his chest, rocking back and forth, covering himself in her blood in the process. He smoothed her hair away from her face. Marias eyes were glazed over her chest no longer rising and falling. Michael screamed her name over and over again. As men in white coats came in to take him away.

"You bastard, ahhhhhh!" she screamed. Not know her own strength her adrenalin kicked in and broke free of her restraints, and landed a punch to the side of Crowley's face, taking him by surprise.

"How do you think this is going to end, little girl!" He grabbed her wrist nearly breaking them in the process, and restrained her once more. Maria couldn't speak she was at a loss for words.

"Look what they took away from you." He clicked the last slide…Click… It showed Alex playing his guitar, her, Liz and Alex hanging out, around 4th or 5th grade. Alex dead body as medical assistance arrived, the next set of images is what would haunt Maria for eternity. Maria couldn't stop the tears anymore; she was beyond hysterical. Alex dead body from the car crash. Blood covered the Oldsmobile of his as his lifeless body scattered across the front seat. "AAAAAAHHHHHH! I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF, AAAAHHHH" she screamed, jerking her body every which way.

"I'm going to leave you alone to reflect on," he waved his hand to the wall where images of her loved ones once were. "All of this, well talk later." He walked out of the room, he could hear her incoherent screams through the hallway. He rounded the corner into his office. Crowley closed the door.

"Sir?" Deansworth asked, "Is everything ok in there?" All Deansworth could hear were Maria's screams and constant cries.

"Believe it or not agent, this is exactly what we wanted to happen." He smiled a toothy grin.

"If you say so sir," Deansworth leaned against the desk.

Agent Crowley was working on the next step they would take. Maria had suffered hours of toucher at his hand. Her screams had died down, probably going hoarse after her constant cries.

"We're sure, she not alien sir? She's holding up better than expected." Deansworth commented.

"Relax agent, when I start to panic, you may start to worry. Until then, I don't want to hear another word of doubt escape your mouth. Do we understand each other? Besides we checked her blood already, a little abnormal, but nothing to concern yourself with."

"Yes sir, my apologies"

"if I wanted someone to break easily, we would have swiped the ex-sheriff's son or Mr. Ramirez. But opportunity struck with Ms. Deluca. Now let's get back to our patient, don't want her getting lonely do we?"

"No sir," she followed him like a good little solider.

Maria pulled on her restraints with all her might, she had been strapped to a gurney. "How long have I been here?" she asked herself, she kept staring at the door that her captors had exited through. She wanted to free herself, but more than anything she wanted Michael to blow that sucker off its hinges and rescue her.

"Maria, Maria, Maria, your self-control is refreshing, such loyalty. However, it's time to get serious." Crowley taunted. "Tell me about Max, Michael, and Isabell. I'm not asking anymore, I'm demanding." He stepped to the side of her gurney and took a handful of blonde hair pulling her up to his face, ignoring her cries of pain. "Things are only going to get worse miss. Deluca, make things easier on yourself, just talk!" He slammed her head back down.

"You're gonna be sorry, he's going to… "Maria couldn't catch her breath she was so scared.

"What was that? You were going to say, he's going to what kick, what my ass." Maria shook her head no, "Then, pray tell, what. "

"He'll kill you for what you've done." She screamed, it wasn't a threat. Even broken up Michael was very protective of her and if he found out what he'd done to her, there was no doubt in her mind, he'd kill this man.

"You mean Mr. Guerin? My dear, I don't think so. You see, if by chance he does come for you, my agents will capture him. If you thought what we've done to you was bad. Just wait till you see what we have instore for any of them." Maria shook with fear, not fear of her own life but Michaels. She had wanted him to save her, but she didn't want him to endure the pain she had. 'Please God keep Michael safe and far away from here.' Maria cried herself out, tears streaming down her face as the toucher continued, so much for being a stonewall, she thought to herself as she passed out.

Michael and Isabell were the last ones to arrive, Michael walked into his apartment and took a seat on his couch and glared. "What next?" he looked to Max. Everyone was there, Kyle, Valente, Max Liz, Isabell, and Jessie. Everyone had someone except him.

"We need to retrace out steps. To do so, we need you to fill in a few holes, that none of us seem to be able to fill in. That's where you come in Michael." Liz explained softly, sensing the distress Michael was feeling.

"Last night you and Maria left here, together right?" Liz asked Michael, he nodded. "Okay, you took the Jetta, correct?"

"Yea," he mumbled.

"Where did you go? When did you last see Maria?" Max inquired, standing alongside Liz.

"Alright, let me just say this first. I'm not proud of my actions, I was speeding to Isabel's and Maria and I got into a…. disagreement like always. This time I was way outta line. I wasn't myself, to make a long story

short, I pulled over by the…. And told her to get out. I then headed over to Isabel's and Jesse's apartment alone. That was the last time I saw her. If anything happens to her…. it's my fault, I don't know what I was thinking." Michael looked down at his hands not being able to face the looks he was receiving. Liz was speechless, her mouth hanging completely open.

"ARE YOU FREAKING SEARIOUS! let me get this straight you left the women you "SUPOSILY" love, deserted in the middle of the night all by herself...what the hell Michael!" Liz was practically screaming.

"Liz calm down," Max tried to quiet her but she pushed him aside.

"You've done some pretty stup…" Isabel stopped mid-sentence, when felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Jesse.

"Stop it, all of you. Now is not the time, to be pointing fingers." Jesse pointed out, he himself was not a fan of Michael, considering he had almost killed him less than 24 hours ago.

"Michael can you take us back to the place where you left Maria?" Max intervened. "Isabell, Jesse, I want the two of you to stay behind. Isabel, try dream-walking Maria, see if you can get into her head, find out where she is, see if she's okay."

"I can't." the blonde stated.

"Why not?" Asked Max, surprised by his sister's reply.

"Well it's not that I don't want to. I promised her a long time ago, I would never do that to her again, she freaked." Max place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You're going to have to break that promise Iz, were running out of alternatives. "Isabell just nodded.

"Michael do you have a picture of Maria that I can use?" Michael just looked at her like, duh. He pulled open a draw full of pictures of his little spit fire.

"Take your pick." He crossed his arms over his chest, he glanced around the room everyone was staring at him. "What?" he snarled.

"We just never took you for a sentimental type is all." Kyle injected into the unconformable silence.

"Shut it Budda boy, it's sweet Michael, these will be very helpful." Isabel smiled, it was this side of Michael that was rare and most heartwarming. He really was a caring individual; he just didn't like to let it show too often. She sorted through the pictures for a few minutes, she landed on one, 'Max must have taken this one.' Maria was curled up on the couch while Michael was overly engrossed into the TV, watching a hockey game most likely. "Perfect, this one will do nicely."

"Valenti, Kyle, why don't the two of you head off to Maria's house, if she ends up coming back she'll either go there or here. This way there is someone at each location." Max ordered.

"Plus, it won't draw attention to anyone if it's you at Maria's," Liz added, the ex-sheriff was a regular at the DeLuca household.

"We'll be in contact; Liz, Michael, lets head out." Max headed toward the door. Max was beginning to share his girlfriend's fears; he wasn't sure what they would find at this location, but he was afraid of what he didn't know. Truth be told, he was actually scared and the vibes that Michael was sending, he was too. With all the information they knew could only think of two possibilities on Marias whereabouts and both made his blood run cold. The FBI or their enemies, neither would be reassuring.

A\N: I want to thank everyone for their support, I hope your enjoying this story as much as I am writing it. I want to give a special shout out to my baby brother, who proofreads this story. Even though he has no idea who any of these characters are, and to one fellow Roswell candy writer, 9loveletters9, who has encouraged me to write and keep writing, Thank you.