Chapter 10

Micheal

I smile at the news feed over my coffee.

"Student taken into custody on suspicion of kidnapping fellow students. The unidentified male minor is being held over for psychological examination. The two students, originally thought to be runaways, were found at an Escondido home after an anonymous tip to the FBI. Neighbors say they heard the boy ranting about aliens as he was led from the home."

Max is a smart one. He let his contact at the FBI deal with the problem of Nicholas's "bait". One problem solved.

I feel for Max. Maddy's disappearance is weighing down on him along with being the weakest link, so to speak, now. With Max now fully human and waiting for whatever his new ability's will be. He has to stay on the sidelines more.

Max is not a sidelines type.

Not that I can blame Maddy for bailing. All that chaos following Kyle's death and the revelations about what she saw. Add to that, the appearance of her alien grandma and the fact that no one knows what she is capable of.

Suck-tastic.

Yep, I think I would want more than a mental moment to myself.

Truth be told, I am glad she is gone for now. I don't know how much more she could take without taking a ride on the crazy train. Liz is worried, but I would worry more for the idiot that messed with Maddy.

I'm having enough problems with my own kids. The twins are as mercurial as their mother with just a dash of my temper.

Hey big word, mercurial.

I chuckle to myself. Heck, I'll admit it, they just like messing with people.

Don't know where they got that from.

Still not sure what we're going to do about Langley. The press is going nuts over his disappearance. It's not everyday that a high-profile producer goes AWOL. The locals found a couple of dust piles, but they don't know what to make of it.

I'm going to take some time off so I can be at home now that Nicholas is in the wind again. It'll be nice to see Maria everyday again.

We all need to be close for Ava now. I think she has taken on too much caring for Kyrah, well at least Kyrah's vessel. The girl is able to communicate basic needs, but she gets frustrated. The other complication with her is she seems to be emotionally connected to Max and Isabel. Some personality trait leftover from her connection to Kyrah.

None of those things are close to giant purple alien gorilla in the room. Max wants to call a meeting to inform the government of Kivar's invasion. I agree with him in principle. I want to find an escape plan, just in case the fed's try to collar us again. Most of us are high profile now, plus the kids.

I want an out.

?

I left the name Madilyn behind with everything else six months ago.

I was bussing tables and running delivery's when I met Ronnie. Ronnie is short for Veronica. She had a pretty little daughter named Shelly. Ronnie waited tables here at Glen's Diner and did a few commercials. Like most, she came to Los Angeles to get famous. She did okay, but was realistic.

Ronnie took me under her wing and helped me out. She let me stay at her place. Just like most evenings I was taking a moment to catch my breath after the dinner rush. Ronnie had stopped by to pick up her paycheck and chat with me. Shelly had a chocolate shake. She asked if I could watch Shelly in the morning so she can go for a casting call. I said, "sure".

I waved at them as they left. The sun had been down for a while. I turned to walk into the back with a load of dishes and heard sirens. The sound wasn't unusual and didn't get my attention until I heard screeching tires and a bang. I run outside and see Ronnie's car upside down and an armored car is on the sidewalk .

Police cars scream from down the street as several men in body armor jump out of the armored truck. They are carrying heavy military rifles.

Several more police cars block the intersection beyond Ronnie's car.

The Men from the truck are boxed in.

The men in body armor open fire on the police. Several police fire back.

None of that matters. All I can hear is Shelly screaming in her car seat.

Ronnie's car is between the police in the intersection and the armored truck.

As the criminals try to move around the truck they fire at the cops in the intersection. They are hitting Ronnie's car. I can see tracers ricochet off the car.

At this point only about thirty seconds have passed.

I know if I don't do something Ronnie and her pretty little girl are dead.

I shield up, drawing as much power as I dare. I use the shield to mask my appearance. It looks like I'm behind frosted glass. I walk out into the street and move to put myself between the armor guys and Ronnie's car.

Someone shouts from the police line.

As I get in the line of fire the tracers bounce off my shielding. I look in the window and see Ronnie bleeding from gun shots.

Amazingly Shelly seemed to be okay .

I reach in to heal Ronnie. As I make contact with Ronnie Shelly screams and then goes quiet.

I heal Ronnie and move to see what happened to Shelly. Blood is running down her side and her arm that's hanging. I reach and touch her hand. She is fading fast from a bullet wound to her hip. I quickly heal her.

I am so angry now. How dare they hurt that little girl.

I step back and roll the car over.

Everyone stops shooting as they notice something is up.

I begin to glow brighter as my anger grows. I push the car across the street. Carefully I guide it into the alley by the restaurant.

Then I turn and realize a news drone is hovering over the scene. I reach and knock it down.

Now I point at the armored guys and yell for them to surrender. I allow some energy to leak off my finger tips. The effect is impressive as mini lightning crackles from my hand.

One of them raises his gun and fires full auto at me.

I walk into the street as the rounds stop in front of me and fall.

Then one of the others pulls a cylinder out of the truck. He puts it on his shoulder and fires it.

I reach and crush it mid-air. The pieces fall to the pavement. Then I reach out and swat the gunmen. They fly against the truck and the wall. I'm satisfied to hear some bones crack as they hit.

They are all down.

I hear someone yelling for a medic from near the police cars in the intersection.

I'm drawn to scene. As the power courses through me I begin to feel detached.

I approach and some of the officers point guns at me.

Someone barks an order to hold fire.

I walk over to the curb where three officers are layed out.

They are bleeding from various wounds..

I walk over and bend down, quickly scanning the three.

One is dead from a head wound.

The others are still alive, but not for long.

The detachment fades as I realize the cop is still holding the dead mans head.

I place my hand on the shoulder of the cop holding the bandage to the head wound and shake my head.

His shoulders sag as he lowers the head to the ground and drops the bandage.

I reach for the next to heal him. A smile crosses my face as I see his children in his mind.

I turn and look at the last one.

He is young and as I heal him I see his life.

He is like Jenn. He had a hard life but he still wants to make a difference.

When I finish he opens his eyes and looks up at me.

I hear him mutter,"pretty eyes".

I stand up and I hear someone say "Dios mio".

I can't help myself. " Not quite".

I walk away I hear someone say,"Wait... Thank you".

I walk over to Ronnie's car to check on her, but she's gone. I continue down the alley and realize I'm still glowing. I lower the wattage and go in the back door.

I hear Ronnie talking to the cooks Bill and Ruiz.

Ronnie is pacing and Shelly is curled up by the door."I don't know. When I woke up I saw that glowing thing swat those guys like fly's."

Ruiz says," I'm telling you it was an angel. It saved your life Mija, rolled your car over and pushed it into the alley away from the shooting."

Shelly spots me and yells "Kira"as she runs over and grabs me in a hug.

Bill calls back,"hey Kira where'd you go?"

Ronnie comes around the corner and stops dead. She points at me and her mouth moves but no sound comes out.

I look down at my arms, my skin is luminescent but not enough to really notice.

"What, Ronnie you alright."

She manages,"you, your eyes Kira".

I glance over at the mirror on the back door.

Wow, my eyes. Not going to be able to explain that away.

My eyes are gently glowing green. A not so subtle reminder of the danger I pose.

Oh well it was nice for a while.

"I guess its time to go", I say to no one in particular and I hug Shelly harder.

Maybe I'll try Seattle.

Zandra

I'm scanning the media server for something watch when the news feed alert comes on.

"Cool, armored truck robbery, chase in progress."

Things have been pretty boring. School is a special kind of hell. Everything was chaos after Maddy left, but things are calming down.

I bring up the live feed as the news anchor says, " heavily armed men have hijacked an armored truck carrying an unknown cargo. apparently the truck has crashed in Glendale. Were going to the drone live as it comes on scene."

I nearly fall out of my seat when the video comes up.

The drone hovers over a scene that looks straight out of a Sci-Fi movie.

A person is walking across the street towards a car that's on its roof. This person is glowing and blurry. The bullets are just bouncing off.

It's Madness, I know it's her.

She walks over and gets between the gunmen and the car. She is doing something to the driver.

"Healing I bet, driver must be shot up.

She is doing something in back seat now. She steps back and glows brighter.

Damn she flipped that car like it was nothing.

Now she has turned and looks at the drone, the feed go's out.

She took it out.

The news anchor is back on, but he's gawking at the monitor with everyone else.

Someone must have gotten his attention because he turns back to the camera.

He says,"I'm not sure what we have just witnessed but it seems we have a guardian angel out there."

The anchor reads something and looks up" Reports are coming in. The gunmen have been subdued and there are casualties."

I end the feed and sit back.

Madness what have you done.

Maybe I should have been better to her. I still can't bring myself to forgive her. She should have included me.

I know I couldn't have done anything.

According to her story, if she had brought my dad back it wouldn't have been the real him. He would have come out bad.

Jenn says she has some memories of the future Liz, but they are dream like..

Maddy left me behind again, when she disappeared. She supposed to be my best friend, my sister, and she bails. She could have at least tried to say goodbye.

Bitch!

Conflicting emotions boil up inside me.

I miss you.