Journal entry #14, July 13th, 2011

You know how they say that ignorance is bliss? They might be onto something. Ever since I learned the truth about Max Evans, my nights seem longer, and my sleep-time shorter.

Even getting to know his last name seems like a victory.

I don't kid myself. My life will be forever marked by a "before" and "after" Max. Maybe I'll never find the drug, or how to get him off it. Maybe I'll never see him again on his doorframe. But at least I know that somehow, I helped Max found the only other person out there who seems to care about him.

If only John hadn't disappeared along with Max.

Chapter Twenty-Six
Allies

"Liz, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Alex said in exasperation, his bright blue eyes pleading with her. "Why are we even here?!"

Here being the lab, and not running through airports to reach the other side of the world. Since Max had left, Alex had become her shadow. Her talkative shadow, that is. Good grief, and she thought Maria was bad when she was babbling!

"We are here because Max needs to see the rest of it," Liz said, referring to the USB that she was still taking everywhere except the shower.

"Liz, I know I've said this a thousand times—"

"—a million—"

"—but you're dealing with aliens!"

"Alex—"

"God! I shook John's hand! I've been talking to him for months! I'm—I'm—I'm hyperventilating…" he said, half panting, half horrified. "We're dealing with aliens!" he repeated, finally sitting down on the stool in front of her, his eyes a bit glazy. "We can't keep doing this…"

She loved Alex like a brother, but he could be so blind sometimes.

"Doing this? You mean, dealing with aliens? Alex, I'm dealing with a man who was cheated out of life! You saw the videos!" she said angrily, pointing out at his open laptop. "You saw what they did to him! What they are probably making him do right now! They don't even see him as a person…" she whispered, unconsciously hugging herself.

They had watched all twenty-seven videos. There was no way Alex would have stopped, and honestly, neither could she. She'd told herself that there might be something related to the drug she could use—and she'd been right—but deep down she'd also wanted to know the secrets Max would never tell her. Try to understand him better.

"What do you think they'll do to you if they find out how much you know?"

"Alex. I know you're worried. I know that what you're saying makes sense. But… you never saw him coming back so tired he could barely stand. He never asked for your help, he asked mine. I'm—I'm sorry, I just can't leave him."

"Great… That's just great. You know I won't leave this place until you hear reason and—"

"Max is not coming back," John's voice cut through Alex's pleads as sharp as a samurai sword. Liz felt her heart sink so fast, she didn't even have time to be relived John was back, standing on Max's doorframe.

"What do you mean he's not coming back?" she asked, her voice sounding high pitched.

"He… They caught him using a new power. One he'll spend months trying to master under the watchful eye of one Dr. Summers. He'll be lucky if he sees the light of day before six months go by. He won't risk coming back here after that."

In this mood, with that intensity in his eyes and the black cloud over his head, John was a dead ringer for Max.

"They—they wouldn't…" Alex started, standing between John and herself. "I mean, they won't hurt him, right?"

"Depends on your definition of hurt," John said, walking towards them. "I take it you saw the videos?"

Alex nodded slowly. Liz sat down, closing her eyes. "Max only got to watch three. He was sick after the last one. I mean, literally sick."

Something must have crossed John's face, because Alex quietly said, "the one where they took him out of the pod…?"

"Fun memories," John said, with no trace of joy. "You said the last time that the drug they used on me was different than the one they're using on Max. Have you narrowed it down?"

Liz stood up, standing beside Alex. "I'm on the final stretch. I don't know how long it would take me to have a counter-drug. It might be six months for all I know."

"No, that's good. What do you need to finish it?"

Liz's eyes went wide. "Honestly? I need Max. Here. As in days, not his twenty-minute visits, but we both know that's out of the question."

"How many days?"

His insistence was convincing enough. "Three, maybe four. He needs to run the trial, I need to see what happens. The problem is, he'll be at the base if something happens."

"Maybe, maybe not… Leave that problem to me, you work on the drug."

What kind of power was John going to use to achieve that? Time travel?

On video #5, the doctors had gone into detail about Max's telekinetic abilities at the tender age of nine. He had been meticulously recorded and every conceivable bio-data recorded. His limit back then had been sixty pounds, pretty much his own weight.

On video #9, the doctors were showing the scans of Max's brain activity, going into detail about what exercises Max had been going through when the images had been processed. It sounded a lot like Max had gone from his own weight to being able to lift an entire car. Two tons and some change, before he had passed out.

"John, what are you going to do?"

"Whatever it takes."

On video #8, an eighteen-year old Max aimed his gun at a target, and fired repeatedly. The recoiled on his wrist and arm was all the movement in his posture. All 8 rounds found their mark at 100%. And that had been only the beginning, while whoever was narrating it went on and on about how Max needed to master his skills in the event the use of his special abilities was compromised.

Max had been taught to kill before he was even legal to enter a bar. The logical part of her brain told her that it described every single enlisted man and woman between 18 and 21. Somehow, she couldn't even begin to imagine what it had done to Max. She just couldn't.

"We have to get him out," John said with a frustrated sigh. "But it wasn't easy on my time and I don't want to think how hard things are going to be now. Especially locked on that place, with everyone's eyes on him."

"Woa, woa, woa," Alex said, his shoulders squaring. "We cannot just go against the US government and tell them to hand their alien-human hybrid to us. Preferable in one piece." He winced as he said that.

"I think we'll be a bit more subtle about it, Whitman," John said with a pointed look. In all the commotion and between the anxiety and the waiting, Liz had forgotten that Alex actually knew John way better than she did.

"Subtle how? We'll sneak him out of the window?"

"No," John said thoughtfully, "We won't sneak him out at all…"

AN: Hey guys! Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying the story so far and are liking the daily updates, let me know!