Chapter 20 Bruise easily
Michael had been very confused when his son started to run like his life would depend on it and that Rath was following so quickly after the boy. But then he had heard the screams as well and he instantly realized what had Mike in such a hurry, he would recognize that voice everywhere, even in panic he knew the person giving out those cries. Tugging at his chains he was stunned about the urge to come to her rescue, even though she had hurt him badly with her betrayal and yet he didn´t even think twice about getting her out of the hands of the bastard. It was probably his still existing connection with Maria that was forcing the reaction out of him.
" Looks like you´ve got yourself a roommate", Rath walked swiftly towards his dupe with Mike hauling behind him. Smiling like he just told the funniest joke on the world, he used his powers to pin the boy at the wall besides his father and put the cuffs around his wrists.
Michael saw his son hanging lifeless at the chains with his head dropped on his torso. For a moment he was worried that Mike was dead, but thankfully he noticed the chest rising and falling, which made him realize that the guy was still breathing. " What have you done to him!".
Rath looked at his dupe with one eyebrow raised in annoyance, wondering why the guy was always so angry and yelling at everyone. It wasn´t like he had any reason to be in such a bad mood. Unlike his friends he was at least not getting tortured or in any danger of getting killed in the near future. " Nothing, I had to subdue him or else he could have really hurt himself".
" If you touch him again I will personally kick your ass", Michael seethed while he pulled so hard at his chains that the wall behind him started to crumble around the area. No one was hurting his son ever again, not as long as he still had a little life in his body and as long as he was able to do something against it.
Rath was surprised about the dropping temperature in the room and the dark atmosphere surrounding them. Glancing at his dupe, he was thrown for a moment when he saw the eyes from the other man change color and turn completely black until nothing white was visible anymore. But he was sure that it was all show, because the guy wasn´t ready to unleash the beast inside him yet. " Are you sure you can reach me?", turning around he stretched his bottom in the direction of his dupe. " Okay, try to kick my ass".
Michael glared at the bastard, not liking to get mocked from someone with the intelligence of a tea bag. Ripping at the cuffs around his wrist, he felt the material cutting into his flesh and the warm blood dripping down his skin. Smelling the scent of the red liquid he noticed something inside him snapping, breaking its way out of its prison. He could already taste the madness on his tongue and for once he wasn´t afraid of his powers and to unleash them, because no matter what happened he would make sure that his dupe wouldn't see the next day.
" I´m waiting here", Rath taunted amused, wriggling his backside in boldness and smiling giddily. Unfortunately for him the expression didn´t stay long on his face when he heard the breaking of something metallic behind him and seconds later he felt a chain going around his throat, tightly choking the air supply.
Michael grinned diabolical at the gurgling noises coming from his dupe and watching his eyes moving scared from side to side, seemingly searching for a way out of his predicament. Pulling the chains stronger together, he listened with satisfaction to the sound of the voice box breaking under the pressure of the grip and a while later the hissing from the punctured spot on the throat where air was escaping through a small opening.
Mike was slowly coming around to something that sounded like a teakettle and he was disoriented for a moment when he realized where he was. As soon as he saw his father killing Rath, the memory started to come back to him again and he knew what he had been doing before the lights had been shot out. Fighting with the cuffs around his wrist, he was impressed about the strength his Dad was showing and he wondered why Khivar had been able to kill the commander in the first place.
" What´s up Rath? You´re so quiet all of the sudden. Cat got your tongue?", Michael joked while he let the dead body drop on the ground, smiling at the funny line and bummed because nobody was there to hear it, at least until he noticed that his son was awake and staring at him in confusion.
Mike cringed back as soon as he got a glimpse of his father and realized that he wasn´t looking at the man that had produced him, he was looking at the man they had wrote stories about, a legend older than the written word and as dangerous as the commander himself. " Dad?".
Michael stepped closer to his son and he noted with astonishment the fear pouring out of the young boy. He was slightly irritated about that, but didn´t comment on it and just ignored the strange behavior, there wasn´t any time to have a heart to heart talk anyway. Waving his hand over the bonds, he turned around, already focusing his mind to search for the direction he had to take to find his brother. " Get out of here".
" I can´t, not after what Khivar has done to Mom", Mike still heard the screams and the sound was making him furious. Walking past his father, he marched in fast steps towards the room he was sure that his mother was in. Feeling around for the familiar tingling that was telling him that his family was near, he almost staggered at the force of pain and fear that was crashing against him.
Michael, who had instantly followed the boy, noticed the unsteady footing and gripped his son´s shoulders to keep him from crashing on the ground. As soon as he touched him he was assaulted from the same emotions of fear and pain, immediately realizing that they had to be from Maria. Turning his cold, black eyes to the door in front of them, he knew that she was in there and he pushed Mike behind him. " Stay there".
Before the poor slightly confused guy could protest about getting treated like a child, the door exploded into thousand splinters. Mike didn´t even have time to react and so he put his arms up to protect his face from getting hit from the flying objects. Seconds later he saw with astonishment that his father had pinned Khivar at the wall with his hand at the other man´s throat and a deadly growl sounding from inside him.
" You´re touching her again, I will pull your brain out of your nose!".
Mike was impressed about the strength and the determination his father was showing, glad that they were on the same side or else they would have a problem at the moment. But he didn´t dwell too much on the two fighting men, because his glance wandered to the sobbing person cowering at the corner of the room. " Mom!".
Maria looked up at son and she felt worse for him to see her like that. Standing up, at least as much as her hurting back was letting her, she moved in his direction, not wanting him to be anywhere near that monster. Wrapping her arms around herself to hide her torn clothes and the bleeding scratches, she limped forward. " Hey honey".
" I´m gonna kill you, you son of a bitch!", Mike screamed at Khivar at the sight of his mother. Her right eye was swollen shut, the left side of her face covered in blood from a bruise on her forehead, her lips were split, her shirt was damaged and bloody, but still on her body just like her pants and every visible part of her body was full of scratches or ugly red blotches that would turn into even uglier black and blue marks later.
Maria finally managed to make her way across the room and was now steering her son out of the nonexistent door in the den, where a few guards arrived, probably alarmed from the loud explosion. Some of the men saw her state and they pitied her, but most of the other men just gave her the look that she got what she deserved. And they were right; she had received what she dished out. Karma was a bitch, she should have known and every action had consequences. " You shouldn´t be here. Why aren´t you sleeping already anyway?".
Mike stared at her like he was in the wrong movie. Sleeping in this hellhole with Leatherface so close to them? That was like going to sleep knowing that Freddy Krueger was gonna kill you as soon as you started to dream. " How can I let my guard down when you´re in the hands of that man. Look at what happened".
" I´m fine or I will be as soon as the walls stop spinning around me", and she didn´t see her son in double. Her head wasn´t as robust as she had thought, especially when her skull made contact with a really hard stone wall, making her black out for a moment from the pain. That had been an experience she didn´t want to make ever again.
Mike instantly put his arms around her and ushered her towards his room, where he sat her on his bed to get a better look at her injuries. The head wound wasn´t as severe as he had feared, it had even stopped bleeding already and the scratches were a lot, but not too deep that they would leave any scars behind. Everything, except the eye, would heal pretty quickly, although he wouldn´t let her walk around looking like she got run over from a truck. " He didn´t….touch you or anything".
Maria glanced down at the shredded piece that had been her shirt and she realized that it looked like someone had tried to get her out of her clothes without waiting for her to do the job. Thankfully Khivar had given her enough powers to defend herself and her son was so protective of his mother that no one would dare lay a hand on her. " No. Do you think I would look like that if I would have let him have his way with me?".
" I was so scared when I heard you scream", Mike admitted and for the first time he appeared like the lost little boy that seemed to be hidden inside him for so long. His shoulders slumped while he sniffed and tried to repress the tears forcing their way out of his eyes, which he wasn´t able to do and so he started to cry.
Maria´s instantly pulled him down on her lap, wrapped her arms around him and rocked him like a baby, even though he was a lot heavier than that. She stroked his hair away from his face, trying desperately to calm her boy down. He had been through so much and she was only adding to his worries. She told all the time that she wanted to protect her son, but every time she turned around she made another mistake and Mike had to take the brunt of it. " I´m sorry for scaring you".
Mike should have really felt stupid for cuddling with his mother like that, especially at his age, but he savored the feeling of safety he always had received from being with her. It had been too damn long since he had been having the sense of warmth and love surrounding him. Snuggling deeper in her embrace, he remembered all the time she had held him when he had been a child and he woke up in the middle of the night, because he dreamed about bad things. " Just don´t do it again. I can´t bear to see you in pain, not again".
" I promise you that I will find a way out of this, for all of us", and she wouldn´t rest until she found Khivar´s weakness, something she could use against him without risking her family in the process. She wished she would have never got herself in this situation, even if that meant her best friend would be still in the hands of that sadistic bastard. She should have let the aliens handle everything and worse she should have listened to Michael.
Mike felt calmer and a little bit lighter, now that the tension was over and he was sure that Khivar hadn´t raped his mother. He would have probably never recovered if that would have happened once more and he wouldn´t have been able to help her again. " Just promise me that you´re careful, I don´t want anything else, just that you take good care of yourself".
Maria wondered how her son had gotten such a strong, wonderful person, even though he grew up with a soulless creature as his "father" and a weak, helpless human girl as a mother. She must have done something right in the future or Michael´s genes were better than he always thought. " I should be the one saying that to you and not the other way around".
" Oh don´t worry, you´ve done that a lot in the future", Mike pushed himself away from his mother, feeling a little stupid for having lost his composure now. He was a grown man and not a little boy, crying for his mommy. Getting back on his feet, he finally got ready to heal the injuries.
Maria saw his hand coming towards her and she knew what he was about to do. Cringing back from him, she was afraid about getting healed from him. The last time she had been having an orgasm and she didn´t want that happening again, especially with her son that would be icky. Before she however was able to protest, he was already in the middle of building a connection to her. She tried to resist at first, but was quickly swept away from the warmth spreading through her, taking away the pain along the way. For a moment she reveled in the sensation of joining her soul with her son´s, finding out things about him that he would probably never tell her, but it quickly changed when she felt him poking around in her mind, seeing things she didn´t want him to see.
Mike instantly noticed her struggling against his invasion and he doubled his effort to find out what she was trying to hide from him. Although he knew he should concentrate on healing, he couldn´t stop himself from rummaging around in her memories. Passing everything related to his father, the good and the bad times, he went straight to the last memory. Totally shocked, he discovered the reason for her betrayal, the one thing Khivar was holding over her head and he finally understood why she was playing his game. Stepping back from her, he stared at her with a panic stricken face. " He wouldn´t do that, would he?".
" I don´t know, but I don´t want to find that out as well", Maria stood up from the bed, thankfully pain free this time and put her hands on his shoulders. She didn´t just sell her friends, her second family for something trivial, she would have never done that for something small. But she had needed to choose between sacrificing three people or saving the planet and with that all the humans on it.
Mike shouldn´t have been surprised about the cruelty from Khivar, but that was nasty, even for someone like him. He was curious if Liz was even aware what was resting inside of her, ticking away and just waiting to get used. Shaking his head, he realized why the bastard was pitching his tent underground in a mine and not somewhere on the surface. He wanted to protect his own neck in case he had to activate his secret weapon. " Isn´t there anyway to disarm it?".
Maria would have loved to have an answer to that, but aside from finding the trigger she had no idea. Her best friend was a walking time bomb and the girl didn´t even know about it and she had absolutely no clue how she could get rid of the thing without risking everyone in the process. She could make everything worse if she would make a mistake and she couldn´t take the chance to speed up the end of the world. " I´m sure there is, but I don´t know how".
" So we´re at square one again", Mike felt so useless and impotent, hindered from his inexperience. There had to be some way they could damage that bugger without killing of anyone or getting them in danger. They just had to think really hard about a solution, some way out of this mess.
Maria sighed defeated, hoping for a damn miracle that would point them in the right direction. But every time she made an attempt to come up with a great plan, her mind pulled her into another direction. The attack on her had rattled her more than she had thought and she wasn´t so sure if she had done the right thing by fighting him. She had to do everything to keep him happy and too occupied that he could concentrate on something else, but the image to have him inside of her was sickening her. " We´ll come up with something, we just need more time".
Mike gave her an incredible glance, time was the only thing they didn´t have anymore. As soon as Khivar found out that Rath was dead, he would find a reason to punish one of the hybrids and he probably wouldn´t turn his focus on Max this time. Or worst case scenario, he would give the order to kill them and spare him the fun of seeing them beg for their lives like he intended. " That´s the only thing we don´t have. Dad killed Rath and….", a sudden thought occurred to him. " Oh damn I forgot about him. We have to get back to make sure he doesn´t do anything stupid".
" Stupid like getting myself in trouble?".
Maria turned to the sound of Michael´s voice and she was startled to see the unfamiliar gaze directed at her. His usual butterscotch, warm and vibrant eyes had changed into some black, cold and lifeless coals, looking exactly like Khivar´s. Even the stance and the expression were alike with that monster. " Oh shit!".
Mike heard the murmured cursing from his mother and he seconded that sentiment, seeing Khivar standing at his father´s back and smiling at them. They were really screwed if both men would work together, because their powers combined could really be the end of the world as they knew it. They could cause a nuclear explosion just with their energy. " you can say that again".
" Why are you mumbling? Is there something you want to share with us?", Michael smiled amused while he walked closer to his family, keeping his sight on his mate and watching her reaction to his transformation. She was not very happy about it apparently, stepping back from him and keeping a hand on their son. To protect him or to stop him from attacking, he wasn´t sure.
Mike immediately put himself in front of his mother, not trusting this stranger wearing his father´s face. It was like Rath all over again and the guy hadn´t been pleasant, even though he was just half as scary as this person now. " Don´t come near us!".
Michael was enjoying to see the dangerous glint in his son´s gaze, knowing that it wasn´t an empty warning, the boy would do everything to keep his mother out of harms way, even from him. But he didn´t like it to get threatened from anyone, not even his own family. No one was telling him what to do; it was the other way around. " Or what? You kill me? I want to see you try".
" Don´t tempt me, because I won´t hesitate to do it", Mike lifted his hand in defense, focusing his complete energy into one blast that he would shot as soon as it would look like his father or Khivar would attack them. His mother wouldn´t have to live with bowing to anyone ever again, not as long as he was able to avert it.
Michael exchanged an exhilarated glance with his brother before he mimicked the boy´s posture. If he wanted to fight him, he would love to see how far he would get with it. Nobody on this planet or anyone else in this universe could match his power or stop him. " You would really kill your father? Don´t I mean anything to you?".
Mike didn´t even need a second to answer that question, because he would kill his Dad in a heartbeat if that meant to protect his mother. He had lived all his life without a father figure in his life; he could live with it again. But his Mom was the only person he would give his life for. " I barely know you. You´re a stranger to me and I managed my life without a father in it".
" I´m impressed", Michael glanced past his son at Maria, who had been strangely quiet throughout the whole conversation. He saw the fear in her sparkling green eyes, but it wasn´t fear for herself, it was for Mike. She was just like the boy, so quick to sacrifice herself for his life. " We must have done something right".
Maria felt like crying when she realized that he had changed and she was angry at herself. She hadn´t been able to play the bitch to the fullest with him to make him hate her so much that he wouldn´t care what happened to her. She knew what he had been capable of doing in his past life and she hadn´t wanted him to turn into that beast again. Unfortunately she had screwed up, just like with everything else. " Yeah maybe".
Michael saw the sadness in her eyes and he moved closer to her, shoving his son out of his way while he blocked the boy´s power with his mind. He didn´t want to get blasted in his back. Cupping her face, he felt their connection flaring up at his touch and he was overwhelmed with the pain crashing like a wave over him. " I´m sorry. You´re never have to go through that again, I will make sure of that".
" Don´t touch her!", Mike seethed, wondering why his mother hadn´t kicked his father´s ass already. He didn´t want that man poisoning her with his dark energy and maybe turn her into someone else.
Michael ignored the slight nudges from his son, focusing all of his attention on the woman in front of him and the familiarity flowing between them. It was like they had existed in another time, always together and always doomed to die. Suddenly something shifted and a bright light illuminated the couple, who seemed to be trapped in some staring contest with each other.
Khivar grinned at the scene and enjoyed the moment he had been waiting for so long now, his brother back at his side with their mate in their midst. Together they would rule over this planet and watch the remaining royals dying slowly day by day. He would finally get his wish after all those years he had been anticipating since he had killed them in their last lives.
" What is going on?", Mike didn´t like the glow and the joy on Khivar´s face. Something was happening and he didn´t know what it was and how he could stop it. Strangely his mother didn´t seem to be in any pain nor did she make an impression like she felt uncomfortable. But why did he have the feeling to interfere in it then? Why couldn´t he squelch the need to rip her out of his father´s reach?
As sudden as the odd reaction had started it was over again. Michael was the first one to snap out of his trance and he instantly smiled down at Maria, the happiness in his expression was more stunning than the cold one he had been sporting earlier. Bending down he captured her lips in a soft, but yet passionate kiss before mating his forehead with hers. " Naharuele" ( antarian for love )
Maria´s matching joyful smile could have lit the whole planet; her eyes sparkled in delight while her cheeks had taken on a nice rosy color. It was very obvious that something had changed between them and she felt great with it. " Teherabi" ( antrian for forever )
" Can someone please tell me what the f+++k is going on here?", Mike had a feeling like he was in some twisted alternative universe, just that he was trapped there and didn´t know how he could get back home. Then he gasped when he saw both of his parents glancing at him with their black eyes and he realized that they had turned Darth Vader on him. " Oh god, it´s official. This planet is doomed".
TBC