Title: Time After Time
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Chapter Twenty-Six: Face to Face
Courtney watched silently from the window as General Rath and the Princess walked through the palace gardens, talking in low voices. She rested her hands on the edge of the window sill, tightening her fingers around the wood.
"You love him."
She turned, frowning at the woman standing there. "No, mother. I love what he could become. If he would only see..." She trailed off and shook her head. "The planet is falling into chaos. If he would just step up and take the reins of leadership from Zan..."
"King Zan," her mother interrupted, chiding warningly. It was not appropriate for her to use the king's name so informally.
"He doesn't love the princess," Courtney said, stepped away from the window. "Everyone in the court knows it. And she doesn't love him."
"It's a political match. The king can bring his strongest ally into his family and ensure that his line will be continued, if not through himself and the soon-to-be Queen, then through his sister and his best friend." Her mother slid gracefully into a chair, folding her hands in her lap. "This is how the world works, Courtney. Politics rules everything."
Courtney tugged at her hair, twisting it into an elegant knot. "Politics," she scoffed, "means little when the world is falling apart. It will not save us."
Her mother laughed. "My little spitfire," she murmured, "you have grown."
Courtney's expression softened as she answered, "Yes, mother. I have."
"What do you want, Nasedo?" Courtney asked, backing away cautiously, still holding her hands in front of her, ready to attack at the smallest sign of danger.
"Is that anyway to greet an old friend?" Nasedo asked, mocking.
"You are not a friend," Courtney hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Have it your way then," Nasedo agreed. "I'm only here to talk, though. You need not get so defensive." And without waiting for an invitation, he stepped further into the room and took a seat on the bed. "I see your mother has left for the day?"
"She is not my mother!" Courtney spat, and this time there was pure fury radiating from her tensed figure. "That... that murderer could never replace my mother."
"Ah... and you still have quite that famed temper, don't you my dear?" Nasedo said quietly. "It is good to see your fifty years on Earth have not made you too... human." He stared at her for a moment, a contemplative look in his eyes, then said, "I will help you with your problem if you help me with mine."
"What makes you think I have a problem?" Courtney demanded.
"I'm not a fool," Nasedo said, and his tone hardened slightly. "I can see what is right in front of me. The Harvest is happening, and you are having a temper tantrum in your own home while your... Mrs. Banks... is absent. Could it be that you are left behind?"
She wanted to hit him. She wanted to attack him with her powers and somehow get rid of that smug expression that told her he knew so much more than she did. Instead, she controlled her temper long enough to ask, "How do you know that?"
Again, that feral smile. "I know quite a bit more than you could ever imagine."
She wasn't sure why, but those words sent a chill down Courtney's spine. She looked away, dropping her hands to her side. For a moment, she debated trusting him, working with him. But something kept holding her back, tugging at the edges of her subconscious. A warning.
At last, she asked, "And the Royal Four? Do they know you are here? Have you told them everything you claim to know?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Nasedo answered dismissively, "and don't waste my time with questions you already know the answer to." He leaned back in his seat. "I assume you have been in touch with... what name as he chosen now? Trevor? That is why he was helpful to the others when they were at Copper Summit?"
"Yes," Courtney said, giving him a hard look. And suddenly, a piece clunked into place. "You were there."
"Like I told Michael," Nasedo said simply, "it is my job to make sure the four of them stay alive. And if they want to risk their lives by engaging in incredibly thoughtless and rather stupid plans, or by starting petty arguments with each other, I am going to be there to make sure they are still safe."
Courtney swallowed. "I heard the house collapsed. That's how they escaped, because the floor fell out... into the basement. Nicolas had to leave, and Walt was killed, and..." She stopped, then whispered, "Floors don't just collapse on their own. That was you. You did that."
"Don't act so shocked, Courtney," Nasedo said coolly. "Of course I did that. Who else?" He looked past her, eyes unfocused as he thought back to what had happened. "They did not see me in the crowd. I was lucky. But I think, perhaps, Trevor did see me."
Courtney crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall. "What do you want?" she asked. "What do you want from me?"
"Ah... I see you are finally being reasonable and stopping these ridiculous questions," Nasedo said with a smile. "Good. Shall we focus on the problem at hand?" Without waiting for a response, he rose to his feet and beckoned for her to follow him from the room. The two walked in silence to the kitchen, and Nasedo took a seat at the table. He gestured for Courtney to do the same.
"Well?" Courtney asked as she took the chair across from him.
"The Royal Four don't trust me. At least, they don't trust me as much as I wish they did."
Courtney's lips quirked upwards. "I guess they're smarter than I give them credit for."
"And the skins don't trust you as much as you wish they did," he continued. "So here's the question. How can we fix that?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"What do the skins want you to do?" Nasedo shot back.
"They want me to show up at the location of the Harvest with Maria DeLuca as bait for the others."
"Alright," Nasedo said slowly, thinking carefully. "I think I can manage that for you."
And before her very eyes, Nasedo shifted so he no longer looked like the nondescript businessman who had originally entered the house. Instead, Courtney found herself looking at an identical replica of Maria.
"Oh my God."
It was the only thing Maria could even think to say as she watched, from the anonymity of her car, as Courtney left her house accompanied by... Maria?
"It has to be Nasedo," Michael whispered.
"Unless there is another shape-shifter here," Maria argued reasonably.
Michael gave her a look, not thrilled with that idea, but nodded slowly. "It is possible," he agreed reluctantly.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Maria demanded. "Follow them."
Michael obeyed the request, but could not help the uneasy feeling that was currently lodging in the base of his stomach. He had no idea what was going on, and he was taking Maria right into that danger with him. But he knew her well enough to know she was going to investigate this no matter what, and he had no intention of letting her rush off into a possible trap by herself.
They drove in tense silence, both thinking over their own concerns.
"I cannot believe you dragged me into this," Isabel muttered under her breath to Alex as she followed Liz into the Crashdown.
"Lighten up," Alex said. "It will be fun."
Isabel raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "How? How could this possibly be fun?"
Liz paused and glanced back at Isabel. "You don't have to do this," she said softly, giving Isabel a knowing look. "Really. It's fine."
After Maria and Michael had stormed off to whatever it was they were going to do, Liz had been left alone in Michael's apartment with Max, and that had been unbearably awkward. Fortunately, Isabel and Alex had shown up soon after, saving her from having to talk to Max and endure his new personality. Alex had taken one look at her bewilderingly pained expression, and offered to hang out with her to help keep her mind of Max.
He'd offered Isabel's presence as well.
Isabel sighed as she stared at Liz. She could see in the other girl's dark eyes just how desperately she wanted to do anything that did not involve the drama of aliens. It was wearing on the human, and Isabel understood exactly what that constant up and down felt like.
"Of course not," she said with a forced smile. "I'd love to learn how to use a grill." To Alex, she whispered, "Although I'm betting I'm never going to need this skill in the future."
But Liz had brightened so much at Isabel's words that the hybrid found her own impatience waning.
"Do you think it is a good idea to teach us how to use the grill now?" Alex asked, making his way through the crowded tables. "After all, the diner is still open. Don't you need the grill for the actual cooks?"
"It's okay, there's always space on one side for us," Liz answered. "It's just going to be a little tight in the kitchen." She hurried ahead of them, mumbling something about needing to inform Jose, who Alex assumed was the cook currently working, that there would be others in the kitchen.
Alex caught Isabel by the arm a moment before she could pass him. She looked back, confused, and he said, "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you're willing to do this for Liz."
Isabel shrugged, a little embarrassed by his sentiment. "It's nothing, really."
It wasn't nothing, as Alex well knew, but he let the subject drop and headed towards the kitchen with Isabel. The two of them stepped into the room to find Liz holding two spare aprons. They were bright yellow, and decorated with little green aliens.
"You've got to be kidding me," Isabel said, staring at them.
"Sorry," Liz answered with a sheepish grin. "But all our other aprons are in the laundry. These are all we've got."
"Look on the bright side," Alex whispered to Isabel as he tied his own apron around his waist, "at least you don't have to wear the antenna headband."
"This is so demeaning," Isabel grumbled, but all she received from Alex was a soft chuckle. "Thanks for your support," she snapped at him, raising both eyebrows pointedly.
"I think you look adorable," Alex said, laughing outright.
"Adorable? What, am I some sort of puppy? Or two-year-old child?" Isabel demanded in mock anger. "I don't want to be adorable."
Liz raised her spatula at them and said warningly, "Am I going to need to separate the two of you."
"Oh, be careful," Alex deadpanned, "or she'll attack you with the rubber stick!"
"It's plastic," Liz answered, touching the edge of the spatula with one hand.
"Is rubber not a kind of plastic?" Alex asked, a little unsure. The make-up of chemical compounds had never been his strongpoint, something Liz knew perfectly well.
The brunette opened her mouth to reply, and Isabel quickly cut into the conversation before it could turn into a lecture of chemistry.
"Nobody cares, Alex."
Alex pouted. "I might care."
"Nobody cares what you care about," Isabel said matter-of-factly, and Liz grinned at the look of outrage on Alex's face.
"Come on, let's move over to the grill," Liz said, adopting an air of patience. "And I'll try my best to teach you the fundamentals of cooking."
"Don't you just put the hamburgers on and then flip them in the air?" Isabel asked, stepping to Liz's side and staring at the large grill in front of her. Heat was rising from it in small waves, distorting the air directly above the metal grate.
"It is a bit more complicated than that," Liz replied, "because you need to make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked on both sides, and evenly cooked in the middle. And you need to make sure you don't burn yourself in the process."
"Do we get to throw them in the air?" Isabel asked eagerly. "Like they do with pizza?"
"You can flip them," Liz replied, "but no throwing."
"Why not?" Isabel pressed.
Liz gave her a look. "Because they're not pizzas."
"She is impatient, no?" the cook standing next to them said, leaning over to Liz with a conspiratorial wink. "Very eager to cook. You gonna hire her?"
"I'm not working here!" Isabel objected immediately.
"No, Jose," Liz said, "we're not going to hire her. Her Dad is a very successful lawyer, so they don't need to work for spending money."
"Did you just call me spoiled?" Isabel demanded.
"No," Liz replied, holding her hands up in a sign of defensive surrender. "Of course not."
"Yes," Alex said at exactly the same time, "she did."
Isabel sent Alex a glare.
"Come on, let's do this," Liz said finally, struggling not to burst into laughter at Isabel's wounded expression. She handed Alex and Isabel each spatulas, instructed them to put on latex gloves, and said, "Okay, now you want to put the meat onto the grill all at once. Flat, so it doesn't fall through the metal grate. Here, let me demonstrate."
"Are you sure we can't throw them in the air?" Isabel asked.
"Positive."
"Hm... pity."
The next fifteen minutes was spent in enjoyable work. Isabel lost two hamburgers when, in an effort to flip them, she sent them flying through the air. Both times, they nearly hit someone, first Jose and then Mr. Parker, who had just stepped into the kitchen. He ducked as the hamburger went sailing past his head and slapped hard against the wall behind him. Giving the hamburger one long, rather confused look, Mr. Parker shook his head and turned and walked out of the kitchen, apparently deciding it was not safe for him there.
Alex and Liz collapsed in a heap of helpless laughter on the floor, and even Jose gave a soft chuckle.
Alex was more successful. Not caring about how high the hamburgers went when he flipped them, he stuck to easily tossing them onto their other sides. He lost one as it fell through the grate, but managed to keep all the others.
Liz, of course, did it perfectly, but as she pointed out when Isabel and Alex accused her of cheating, she had been doing this for a long time, and knew all the various techniques.
In the middle of this, Isabel's cell phone rang.
She dropped the spatula onto the counter and stripped off her gloves, then fished out the phone and glanced at the caller I.D. It was Michael. She flipped it open, and Alex and Liz both turned to listen to her part of the conversation.
"Hey... No, at the Crashdown... Yes. With Liz and Alex... What? Wait, how...? Okay... Have you spoken to Max?... I don't know, Michael. Are you sure... Yeah, okay. What about me?... Okay. I'll call her... Be careful... Don't engage... I'm serious, Michael. It's too risky... Yes, but... Fine. Okay... Yeah, sure. Call when you know more."
She shut the phone, a look of worry on her features. Alex and Liz both shot her questioning stares, but she slanted a pointed look at Jose and remained silent, unwilling to discuss alien business in front of a stranger.
"We'll be right back," Liz said to Jose, and lead the other two towards the stairs that circled upwards into the house above. Once they were out of earshot of everyone else, she whispered to Isabel, "What happened?"
"Michael and Maria saw Courtney leave her house with Maria," Isabel said.
"Huh?" Alex asked, blinking. "Say that again."
"They think it was Nasedo," Isabel explained.
Alex's jaw dropped. "Courtney knows Nasedo?"
"Maria told me she saw Courtney talking to a skin. Someone they knew from Copper Summit," Liz replied, lowering her voice even more. "That's why they went to investigate in the first place."
"Do Max and Tess know?" Alex asked.
"Max does. Michael is tailing Courtney right now, and when they get to wherever they plan on going, he's going to call Max. Max will join them." Isabel hesitated, not wanting to say anymore, but Liz and Alex were still waiting so she forced the words out. "They don't want me to come. Because... it is too... dangerous." She paused again, wondering if the danger was to her or to everyone else. Then she added, " Michael said I should call Tess and fill her in. And then hang out with her. Safety in numbers."
"They won't do anything stupid, right?" Liz asked, instantly concerned for all their safety.
"I don't know," Isabel admitted. "I think Max won't. I just hope he can convince Michael not to either."
Alex nodded, then said, "Why don't you call Tess now? We can all hang out at your house." He gave a wry grin and added, "With Liz and I there... safety in numbers, right?"
"Yeah," Isabel agreed slowly, and pulled out her phone once again, this time to talk to Tess.
Courtney glanced around the factory, then whispered to Nasedo, "Are you sure..."
"Yes," Nasedo interrupted, his word a sharp snap. "Nobody will be able to see through my shape-shifting. For all intents and purposes, I am Maria DeLuca." He sent her an annoyed glare, and added, "Just don't give it away by acting nervous."
She frowned at his cautionary tone, and replied, "I've been a spy for over fifty years, Nasedo. I know what I'm doing."
"Sure you do," he answered, his words clearly sarcastic, disbelieving.
They rounded a corner in the hallway, and Courtney paused, narrowing her eyes. "We're almost here. Get into character."
Nasedo nodded, then said, "I don't get it, Courtney. Why did we have to come all the way out here to talk about Michael? Couldn't we just talk at the Crashdown?"
Courtney did a double take, surprised out how much the person standing next to her sounded and looked and acted exactly like Maria. She smiled, feeling suddenly a bit better about the plan, and answered, "Hey, you're the one who wanted to talk about this. I told you I had to run some errands, and you're the one who insisted on coming along." She paused, then added just for good measure, "Besides, I don't even get why this is your concern. You're not even dating Michael."
Nasedo glowered and replied, "What errands could you possibly have to run in an abandoned building?" Gesturing around with one hand, the shape-shifter continued, "The place is creepy."
"Indeed it is, Mrs. DeLuca," a voice said, and Nicolas appeared, seeming to materialize out of the woodwork. Behind him, several other skins stepped into view, including Ida Crawford, Mrs. Banks, and Trevor.
Nasedo took a step backwards, eyes widening, and said, "You... you're with them? You lied to me?" Eyes filling with wrath, he turned on Courtney. "I was right about you! I knew there was something wrong, I knew you couldn't be trusted."
Courtney had to give the shape-shifter credit, he was a phenomenal actor.
Nicolas was smiling with ill-concealed triumphant glee. "You were right, Ms. DeLuca. So very, very right." He turned to Courtney then, and his expression darkened into one of suspicion and anger. "You're early."
Courtney smirked in reply. "Did you really think I wouldn't figure out that you planned the Harvest for earlier than you told me?" She paused, scrutinizing his pale, flaking skin. "Looks like I'm just in time for the ceremony. When do we start?" She nodded to Nasedo and added, "And what do you want me to do with her?"
Any answer Nicolas might have made was drowned-out by the sudden screeching of stone against metal, and the ground around them started to shake.
"Earthquake?" Trevor called out to Nicolas.
It wasn't, however, an earthquake, as they all discovered when the edge of the building seemed to collapse inwards, sending stone and metal cascading into the hallway. It was then that Courtney realized that this hallway was along the perimeter of the building, and the tremors had been caused by an avalanche of rocks that poured down from the desert highway and slammed into the outer walls.
Nicolas had managed to retain his footing, and was still standing upright, one hand reached out to steady himself against the wall. Several of the skins had fallen to their knees, and the air was filled with the chaos of surprised shouts.
Over the noise, Nicolas shouted, "Trevor, take three and investigate outside. The rest of you, back into the central room. "Let's get this over!"
Courtney grabbed Nasedo roughly by the arm and dragged him after Nicolas. The shape-shifter struggled to break free, still hissing threats and accusations at Courtney, most of which revolved around Michael. But in a momentary lull in the conversation, Nasedo caught Courtney's eye with a pointed gaze, and they both glanced behind them towards the nearly destroyed corridor.
"Ever heard of an avalanche happening in the desert?" Courtney said softly, switching her gaze to Nicolas.
He turned, eyes narrowed, but did not answer the question. There was no need to, they all knew exactly what this meant.
Finally, Nicolas said, "It was a trap. You have brought them right to us." He paused, giving the shape-shifter who still looked like Maria a thoughtful stare, then said, "They will die tonight. You've done well, Courtney."
The skin swallowed nervously and sent a silent prayer to whoever might be watching over them all. A prayer that she hadn't done as well as Nicolas believed, a prayer that Rath would not be killed.
A prayer that everything she had ever worked for was not about to be ruined.
"Don't think for a second that I still trust you," a voice muttered at her side, and Mrs. Banks was staring coolly at her as they rushed through the hall. "I promise you, daughter, I'll find out the truth."
"Hm... bad blood between the two of you?" Nasedo mocked.
"Shut it, human," Mrs. Banks spat back.
"Watch it," Courtney hissed. "You might not trust me, but Nicolas does. Do you really want to go against him?"
"Are you really threatening your dear mother?" Mrs. Banks asked, lips twisted into a callous smile. "Ah... but then, you never did care for her much, did you?"
"You are not my mother!" Courtney retorted, cheeks flushed red with rage. "Don't you dare presume to know anything about her."
"No!" Courtney spun around just as the blast exploded from the thin silver tip of the alien gun, and the air shook with heat. She held a hand over her face and stared in horror as her mother collapsed, blood spilling out over her back. The dead woman's eyes glazed over, her last expression one of pain, before her lifeless body had even hit the ground.
Courtney turned to the man standing before her. "How dare you...?" she spat, rushing towards him. She hit him with all the strength she could muster, and the soldier fell back, momentarily surprised by the blow. "Our orders were to kill all the rebels," the soldier said, regaining his footing and seizing Courtney by the arms. "Your mother was a rebel. She has sided with Khivar. His Majesty, King Zan of Antar said..." "You murdered her!" Courtney sobbed, tears of pain and rage filling her eyes. Her body was shaking, and she struggled against the soldier's grip, but he was stronger and she could not break free. Despite her weaker position, the words continued to spill out of her mouth, "She wasn't a threat to you. She wasn't a threat to anyone, and you just..." "She worked with Khivar, Courtney," a voice said, and Rath stepped into view. "She was a spy. She was planning on killing King Zan and Queen Ava. I have the proof, if you want to see it." "You lie!" Courtney spat. "Hardly," Rath answered. He walked over to the dead woman and pushed her hand aside, revealing a small metal sphere concealed beneath her fingers. "Do you know what this is?" Courtney took a halting step forward, then froze as recognition filled her features. "That... that is a..." "Yes," Rath said, picking up the smooth metal device and holding it cautiously in his palm. "It is a very dangerous weapon, Courtney. And look who she had planned to kill." Courtney took it, then bit back a cry of horror and disbelief. There, in the small writing that flowed over the orb, was a single name. Zan, King of Antar. She knew how the device worked. They were rare, almost impossible to find, but she knew. She wasn't sure how her mother had managed to retrieve a piece of Zan's DNA, but it couldn't be that difficult. A single hair would have sufficed. And once the DNA was loaded into the device... it would find Zan, and it would kill him, and everyone else in the vicinity. After it was activated, there was no way to stop it from achieving its goal. "She was about to activate it when I came," the soldier said, his tone apologetic. "I did not mean for you to witness her death, but I had to stop her. It was the only way. I... I am sorry, my Lady." Courtney looked at him, then at Rath, and finally at her mother's dead body. Her mind was muddled with a thousand different thoughts, and she wanted desperately to make the confusion and the ache stop. She moved, dropping to her knees by her mother, and buried her head in the folds of her dress, sobbing for what she had just lost, both by her mother's treachery and by the king's orders. She felt Rath place his hand on her back, a comforting gesture that soothed some of the ache. "I am sorry," Rath said gently, "this is not how I wanted you to find out."
"You still sided with Rath, though. Even after your mother died. How long did it take you to finally turn on them, Courtney? How long after your mother's death before you stopped embracing the lies of those who had killed her?" Mrs. Banks paused, eyes filled with an ugly light, and said, "Or did you ever stop?"
Courtney didn't answer. Instead, she tightened her grip on Nasedo's arm and pushed forward until she was directly behind Nicolas. There, at least, she knew she would be safe from Mrs. Banks taunts. The other woman might detest her, but nobody was stupid enough to express any doubts in Nicolas' opinions. Not within earshot of the skin leader, anyway. And not as long as his brother sat on the throne of Antar.
"Place seem familiar to you?" Michael muttered as Max joined him by the side of his car. Across the highway and down a dusty path was the entrance to the old abandoned building where Whitaker had kidnapped Tess.
"What now?" Maria asked after Max answered with a cool nod. She looked at the hybrid king, worried. "What do we do now?"
Max turned to Michael. "You're sure Courtney and the shape-shifter didn't see you?"
"Positive," Michael answered. "When they stopped, we drove past them, and then circled back through the old highway to the north. You can't see it from here. They should have no way of knowing we're here."
"If we could get in and destroy the husks," Max murmured, casting a calculating gaze towards the building.
"We don't even know if the husks are in there. Are you sure Courtney is a skin? Maybe..."
"There's a giant truck behind the building," Max pointed out dryly. "A U-Haul. Yes. I am sure the husks are here. I don't know if Courtney is a skin or if this is a trap for her by Nasedo. And I don't care, she's not important. We need to reach those husks." His bland dismissal was so out of character that Maria just stared at him in shock.
"How? They're going to have some kind of security," Michael replied logically, shaking his head. "Too risky. We'd be dead before we got anywhere near them."
"Maybe. Maybe not," Max answered. "What we need is a diversion."
"And how are we going to get that?" Maria asked.
Max smiled, eyes lighting up at her question. "I have an idea," he said quietly. He turned, pointing towards the curve of the road that passed next to the half-lit FREDS sign. "The path slopes up there. The road is at an angle."
"So?"
"A small, concentrated explosion would break loose the rocks that form the overhang near the ledge, and cause them to roll down the slope towards the building. It probably would do little more than knock down the exterior wall, but it would cause enough of a distraction for us to use to our advantage."
"Unless they're expecting us," Maria argued.
Max shook his head. "Even so. If they're expecting us to rush in, powers blazing, then an outside attack will come as a suprise. They'll send a few people to investigate..." A contemplative expression came over his features, and he hazarded a guess, "Probably three or four. If they're smart, which we have to assume they are, they'll also send people to secure the entrances. But as long as we are inside the building when that happens, it doesn't matter how many people come out here to investigate."
"How do we get inside?"
"We will have a few seconds from the collision of the avalanche until when the skins will have regained order long enough to send their scouts. All we need is..." He stopped again, giving the building a quick, assessing look. "All we need is to make it from the road to the back entrance." He pointed to the door that lead into what might have once been a parking lot before it became overgrown with desert weeds and scattered with rubble. "That is how we will get in."
"What if they have sensors of some sort?" Maria pressed. "Like... like in the movies, you know? Security systems with all those electronic beams that divide the hallway and sense for movement."
"They won't," Max answered assuredly, not even the slightest hesitation in his voice. "This is not the movies, Maria," he added in the condescending tone that had become typical of him during the past few days. Maria glared at him in response.
"Maxwell?" Michael asked finally, once a silence had fallen over the other two, "how do you know all this?"
Max stopped, surprised by the question. "I..." He faltered, unsure how to answer. How did he know all this? It had been so easy to plan strategies, and yet he knew that he had never been able to do it so deftly in the past. "I don't know," he admitted finally. "I just..." He gestured helplessly towards the road, the rocky overhand, the flashing FREDS sign, and muttered, "It makes sense. It is the best plan."
Michael and Maria exchanged glances, but said nothing.
"Maria, you will need to take your car and drive it further down the road. Then come back and get my car and do the same." Max tossed her the keys, and she caught them, before opening her mouth to protest her lack of involvement. But Max did not give her a chance to speak. Instead, he continued, "We may need to make a quick escape, and I need you to be able to drive in and get us." At the look of frustration on Maria's face, he added, "You are too much of a liability, without gifts to protect yourself. We..." he chanced a quick glance at Michael, "we would not want anything to... happen."
There was far too much truth to that statement for Maria to have much of an argument, but she was loathe to sit back and do nothing while Michael and Max walked directly into danger. Particularly since they did not know why Nasedo would be impersonating her, and if she was already in the middle of this, she was not going to just let someone else handle it.
But Michael placed a hand on her shoulder and murmured, "Please. I can't do this... I can't focus, if I have to worry about you."
"I can take care of myself," Maria snapped, although she knew that was a complete lie. She would never be able to survive an alien attack. But she also did not need to be treated like some fragile damsel in distress.
"I don't want anything to happen to you," Michael said, looking away quickly. "I couldn't... I wouldn't be okay with that."
It was an incredibly awkward way to express his feelings, but Maria understood.
"Okay," she whispered. "I'll stay."
"Come on," Max said brusquely, interrupting the moment.
Michael turned and looked back to his friend, still mulling over Max's strange behavior. This plan... it was strategy. It combined the best of politics, of understanding how other people worked and how they were most likely going to move their various assets, with the best of military preparation, of knowing who and where the greatest threat would be. It was the brilliant ability to create ideas in the spur of the moment, to salvage a bad situation and find the silver lining, the loop hole that could be the other side's greatest flaw.
It was also likely to get several skins injured. And, more importantly, the entire plan revolved around destroying the husks, and that would effectively wipeout their enemies. It would kill.
And that... that should have devastated Max. The hybrid king had fallen apart after he was forced to save them all by killing Pierce. Killing a sadistic, cruel, vicious man, one who had planned to dissect Tess and kill the others... Max hadn't ever really been able to forgive himself for that.
So why was he okay with this plan?
"His personality is changing," Maria said quietly. Max had started walking towards the abandoned building, and he was far enough ahead that he would not hear the conversation.
"Yes," Michael agreed heavily. "His thinking... his strategizing... it could be what is going to save us." His voice lowered as he muttered, "But if Max ever gets his other personality back, all these plans, everything he is going to end up doing..." He shook his head. "It will destroy him. Completely."
There was nothing Maria could say to that, so she remained silent, and Michael hurried forward to join Max. For all his worries about Max's personality, he could not deny that the plan worked perfectly, and as the rocks came tumbling down against the building, as they slid unnoticed into the back entrance and paused in the dusty hallway, he wondered once again who had done this to Max, and whether that person had been friend or foe.
"This way," Max whispered, beckoning, and the two of them crept forward. The hallway snaked around a corner, and they moved silently, swiftly, and with only one goal in mind.
Find the husks, and destroy them.
The silence was overwhelming, and Michael found he hardly dared to breath, or even think. He was reaching out with his mind and his senses, trying his best to pick up on any clues, earthly or otherwise, that might lead them in the right direction. He did not like the idea of Maria in the desert by herself, but neither did he want her here where she would likely get hurt. He just wanted this over with, so he could return safely with his not-quite-girlfriend and best friend to their dusty little desert town home.
Max might have found his inner king, but Michael was less and less wanting to be a general.
And then a door to their left and further along in the hallway swung abruptly open, and Max reacted so quickly that the skin who emerged was thrown against the far wall before he could even register the attack. There was only one, and Michael and Max therefore outnumbered him, giving Michael a greater sense of security.
And then the skin looked up, and those dark eyes pierced straight into his mind until he was seeing something else, from some other time and place.
"Rath, wait! I want to come with you," the little boy cried, stumbling over his own feet in his haste. "Please, wait!"
"You're too little, Trae," Rath answered, shaking his head and pushing the boy away from him. "I am not going to play with babies."
"I am not a baby!" Trae'yer replied, tears welling in his eyes.
"Rath, do not speak to your brother like that," their mother said as she passed by them, barely sparing her two sons even a glance. "You are his older brother, you must look out for him."
Michael stared at Trevor, eyes wide, jaw partially open, unable to comprehend what he had just seen in that flash. As Max lifted his hand to send a lethal bolt of energy at the fallen skin, all Michael could do was breathe the quiet words, "Oh my God."
Next Chapter: The Second Half of the Story
Due: Not really sure. Hopefully soon.