See disclaimer, etc, in Part One
The conversation in the room stops when they feel the buzz of two approaching immortals.
Frank knocks on the door and says, "Adam, there are two men who would like to talk to you."
"Well, if they want to talk to me, they had better come in here."
The two men go into the room, Elenore recognizes who they are. "Xavier, Phil, what are you doing here?"
"Looking for Adam Pierson."
"That would be me. Elenore, how do you know them?"
"Xavier was my student. He can be trusted."
"Okay. Now what do you two want?"
"We just met Cassandra, she wants us to find you and trick you into meeting her. She is insane, she took myself and my student by force. She also called you Methos. Is that true, are you the mythical Methos?"
"And why would it matter to you? If I were Methos, would you want my head?"
"No, oh gods no. If you are Methos, then you are the teacher of my teacher, if I killed you, that would make Elenore *very* mad."
"Yes it would."
"So, how old are you and your student?" Asks Methos.
"I am 3000, my student is 40."
"Meldrick, I think I know a way to find out what they are doing."
"And how would that be, Munch?"
"One of them left their coat out here. Lets take it to them." When Munch picks up the coat, he feels a long, solid object in the lining of the coat. When he pulls it out, he is stunned.
"Munch, why do you look so surprised?"
"Because I've seen someone wield one of these before."
"When?"
"New York, 1985. I was walking down the street and passed an alleyway. At the end of it, there were two men fighting. One man was literally seven feet tall and freaky as hell looking. He beheads a smaller looking black man, then he gets *shot* by one of those survivor freaks. He doesn't die like he should, he gets back up, and impales the survivor guy on his sword. Then there is this freaky electrical storm."
"Weird. I wonder if they are dangerous."
"I just remembered why the name Russell Nash sounds so familiar. In '85 he was a suspect in numerous beheadings. Lets go see what they are really about." Munch walks over and locks the front door, he and Meldrick go to the office, and open the door. "What the hell is this about?" Demands Munch.
"Trust me, you really don't want to know." Frank speaks up first.
"Oh yes I do want to know. I also want to know why in '85 I saw a man beheaded, his beheader shot to what should have been death, impale a guy on a sword and then be the center of a freakish electrical storm."
"What did the beheader look like?" Asks Connor.
"About seven feet tall and freakish looking."
"The Kurgen. A real bad dude, don't worry, he is dead."
"And how do you know, *Russell*?"
"I killed him."
"Do you realize that you have just confessed to murder in the presence of *cops*?"
"Yes I do."
"Stop, both of you. Munch has a right to know what he might be getting into." States Methos, much to the surprise of Mac and Amanda. "You seem to be the conspiracy type Munch."
"I am, why?"
"Did you ever hear about what happened in France in 1996?"
"Bordeaux? I have heard about it, some of the details did seem to point to a conspiracy."
"Would you like to know what really happened?"
"Hell yes."
"First, tell me what you saw and where you saw it?"
"Are you all government agents?" That statement causes the entire room except for Meldrick to burst out laughing. "What are you laughing about?"
"What we would all look like as government agents. Especially Adam." Remarks Amanda.
"Ok, fine. I saw a video tape with three men going in. One is positively identified as Melvin Koren, the other two were unidentified. After a lot of silence, there is the sound of metal on metal. Then, the tape crackles and dies."
"Where did you get this tape?" Asks a concerned Methos.
"A reliable source. Not at all government condoned."
"I will tell you and Meldrick what we are, only if you promise *NEVER* to tell another soul."
"Why?"
"Because the outcome would be disastrous to thousands of people."
"So what are you?"
"We are immortal."
"Frank, you don't buy this, do you? Are you immortal?"
"No, but they are telling the truth." He stops for a moment, thinking, 'Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.' "I saw Bayliss yesterday."
"Bayliss is DEAD. Got run over in front of here, remember?"
"Yes I do. Bayliss is immortal as well. Adam is his teacher."
"I still don't believe you all."
Methos speaks up. "I know that it is hard to understand, the combined age of everyone in this room except for the mortals is about 17000."
"What?" Meldrick breaks in, with a voice that is a combination of awe and shock.
"Until recently I thought that I was 5000, I just found out today that I am closer to 6000. Elenore is 5500, Amanda is 1200, Xavier is 3000, Connor is about 500, Duncan is about 400, and Phil is the baby at 40."
"Damn. Now what happened in Bordeaux?"
"Ever heard of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?"
"Yes, but no one believes that. It's just a myth."
"Just a myth like me. The Horsemen were actually immortals. Melvin Koren and those two unknown men were part of the Horsemen. Koren is better known as Kronos, the unknown men were name Caspian and Silas. They are all dead now."
"Who killed them?"
"Mac killed Kronos and Caspian. I killed Silas."
"There were four Horsemen, who was the fourth?"
"I was. I was Death. I am Methos, the myth."
A silence falls over the mortals, all of the immortals had been told about Adam's true identity and his role in the Horsemen. "Why didn't you die with the rest of them? And why the hell are you a myth?"
"I'll answer your second question first, I am a myth because I am considered to be the oldest living immortal. For your first question, that is because I engineered their deaths. See, Kronos wanted to ride again. So he gathered us all up, except instead of killing, etc, how we used to, he designed a biological weapon. A biological weapon that would have wiped out most of France."
"Shit. So why the hell are you all here?"
"Because my past is haunting me *again*. An immortal is after my head and she is telling every immortal she sees not only my alias, but also my real name. I can handle having her hate me, but telling every immortal she sees about who I really am, well, that's a great way to get me killed."
"Why?"
"Because of the quickening, the older you get and the more heads you take, the stronger it gets." Methos goes on to explain it all to Munch and Meldrick.
"So why is she after your head?" Asks a stunned Munch.
"Because when I was one of the Horsemen I imprisoned her and raped and tortured her. I was not a nice guy then. But it was a different time and place."
"I can see why she would want to kill you. When did this end?"
"Oh, about 2500 years ago. What time is it?"
"2 AM, wow, time flies when you are talking about the past."
"We have to meet them at 2:30 AM tomorrow, correct?" Asks Methos
"Yep. We should probably go now."
"Remember, Munch and Meldrick, tell no one of what you heard tonight."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Affirms Munch.
"Neither will I."
"I just had an idea, how about I try and catch this case tommorow."
"Why?" Asks Methos.
"Because, I have to be on duty at midnight tomorrow. If I can get your call, I'll make sure that the body gets moved too soon, etc." Lewis states.
"How can we trust you?"
"In 1996, my partner at the time was involved with a bad shoot. Well, the shit really hit the fan in '98. I didn't rat on him. I won't rat on you now."
"Ok, but we are not telling either of you the address. Munch meet us here at 1AM tomorrow."
The group goes their separate ways, except for Methos and Elenore.
(add more stuff in here)
The next night at the bar...
"Ready to go Adam?" Asks a concerned MacLeod sitting down at the table with Adam. He is not concerned with Methos having the skill to win the fight, he is more concerned with how the old man would take the quickening of Cassandra.
"Mac, I am going to warn you, I will fight fair as long as she does, but if she decides to fight dirty, well, I have no problem fighting dirty then. I also want to tell you that there is a very good chance that Death will come out tonight. I know that she is your friend and this can't be easy." Adam stops and takes a deep breath. "Adam Pierson won't be able to take Cassandra's head, Methos won't either, Death will be able to. Just thought I should warn you in case you want to leave now. I will understand."
Mac sits backs, thinking about what Methos just said. He didn't like the fact that Death would be making an appearance, but, Methos had warned her not to come after him again. "You are right Methos, I don't like what you are about to do. However, you have shown to me that you will try to play fair. Hell, you even gave her a chance to walk away, but she ignored that. As much as I hate Death, I will be there."
"Thanks Mac. Now, how about a beer before we go?"
Munch is surprised at this comment. "You want a beer before you go and fight for your life?"
"Sure, why not. Another side affect of what we are, accelerated sobriety. It can be good or bad, depending on the situation." Mac and Adam stiffen, then seeing who walks in, relax. "Hey, hey the gangs all here. Lets go."
Joe, Mac, Methos, Connor, Elenore, Xavier, Phil and Munch leave the bar, going to a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of town. The immortals stiffen before they enter the warehouse. Cassandra and her student Kristine are already there.
"Saying your goodbye's Cassandra?" Taunts Methos.
"Ah, Elenore, Xavier, I see that you have brought him to me. You shall be rewarded."
"No Cassandra, thats where you are wrong, we brought you to him." State Elenore.
"That cannot be right, I used the Voice on you!!"
"You are forgetting something, those only work on people who are less powerful than you. I have been around thousands of years longer than you. I am more powerful than you."
"Bitch."
"Cassandra, I have given you ever chance to escape death." Methos says those words with a cold glint in his eyes.
With a shudder, Cassandra recognizes those eyes as the eyes of Death. "What you did to me will never be forgiven. By me or Mac."
"Cassandra," he drawls slowly, coldly, "you are a fool. Remember when we last saw each other in Seacouver?"
"You had your *student* and Amanda stopping me and my student from taking your head. Did you kill him already?"
Methos draws his sword out, lowers the tip to the ground and takes off his coat. He then slowly walks towards her, as if hunting prey. "My student is quite alive right now. I gave you a chance Cassandra to walk away. To live your life, hate me all you want. But you would be alive. I guess that you are too stupid to recognize what a good deal that was."
By this point, Cassandra is trembling with rage and fear.
"No Methos, or should I say Death, you are the fool for letting me walk away."
By this point, they are just outside of striking distance of each other, Methos looks at her coldly before continuing. "Cassandra," he drawls, his voice even colder and filled with rage, his eyes are equally cold and filled with rage, "if we had just met somewhere accidentally, I would have let you live. Possibly even now, with you telling the whole world who I am. But not after I found out what you have been doing for the past few centuries."
"You don't know a thing Methos. I thought that you were at least marginally smarter than Kronos. I guess not, even he knew when to abandon a sinking ship."
Methos takes in a deep breath before continueing, "You have been hunting my students. Hunting me I can accept, but my hunting students I cannot accept. If this had happened maybe ten years ago, I wouldn't have given a damn. I guess that your precious Highlander has been rubbing off on me. I challenge you Cassandra."
"Fine bastard, I accept."
Munch looks on at the unfolding scene with a look of surprise on his face. Even last night when Methos told him that he was Death, he hadn't believed him. After all, how could such a innocent looking man be capable of such horrors? He now believed it, the man who was talking to Cassandra was Death.
"What's wrong Munch? Cat got your tongue?" Asks Frank, pleased that something has ruffled Munch's usually cool exterior.
"You know Frank, until today I never thought that I would meet someone that could match or beat you for intensity."
"You missed the night in Seacouver, he was just as intense. It was a different sort of intensity though. His intensity that night was out of concern for a friend, this is Death. He was perfectly okay to let her live that night, even with her telling every immortal who he was, that was OK with him. But it seems as if she has been hunting his students for the past few centuries, and he finds that offensive."
"Remind me never to piss him off."
Out of the corner of her eye Amanda sees Cassandra's student creeping up behind Methos, sword ready to kill Methos. "Kristine, I challenge you."
"Fine, it will be your grave."
Kristine is a very new student, she had been in training maybe a few months. In less than five minutes, the fight is over. Amanda's sword cutting cleanly through the tender flesh of Kristine's neck. The quickening was short, nothing more than a few lightening bolts.
By this time, Methos and Cassandra are fighting, when Amanda takes Kristine's head, she lunges at Methos, hoping that the quickening would distract him. Methos sees her error and takes the opportunity to disarm her. Her sword goes flying out of her hand, she drops to her knees, expecting to feel cold steel slicing through her neck. She did not expect to hear Methos' voice speaking so softly, only she could hear it.
"Cassandra, forgive me for what I was. I have changed, but you cannot see that. I have forgiven myself for who I was, I forgave you for always trying to kill me. You always said that I deserved the consequences of my actions. I accept that. But you want it both ways, me getting the consequences of my actions, but you never getting the consequences of your actions. This is the consequence." He raises the blade up.
Cassandra looks into his eyes and sees, regret? The one emotion she never expected to see in his eyes. "I accept the consequences." She holds her breath, expecting to feel the cold slice of steel through her neck. She looks up again to see his sword lowered by his side.
"Go Cassandra. Just don't ever cross my path again. Also in the future, if you want to challenge me, just say it to my face. Your head will also be a lot safer if you forget that you know my real name. I don't want to hear that you are spreading who I am around."
Cassandra was speachless, she had expected to die. Not be shown any bit of mercy from the evil bastard Methos. She hesitates before speaking, "Goodbye Methos." Goes and picks up her sword and leaves thinking that she needed to do a lot of reevaluation of her life.
Methos drops to the floor, exhausted. He had been ready to kill her, but something had stopped him. The knowledge that if he had killed Cassandra then, he would be not better than he was when he was with the Horsemen. He feels sickened with himself, he had let Death escape. Death's voice was whispering into his ear, telling him about all the power he could have if he let Death loose again. Methos scrambled up to his feet and ran for the door of the warehouse, barely making it outside before he lost the contents of his stomach. Duncan watches in awe as Methos lets Cassandra live, it was the last thing he would have expected to happen. That was until he saw Methos drop to the floor, sit there for a moment, then run out of the warehouse. MacLeod followed him, caught up to him in time to see him throwing up. "Methos, what the hell is wrong?"
"What I just did."
"Why? Cassandra all but challenged you, I was surprised when you let her go."
"Don't you know? I was DEATH in there. When I talked to Cassandra before the fight, I was Death. When I fought her I was Death. Something just clicked inside of me, I couldn't do it. If I had killed her, I would have been no better than I was then. The whole time Death was whispering in my ear, 'Let me win, and you can have the power of the Horsemen again.' It scared the shit out of me Mac."
"And you threw up because of that?"
"Yes, you don't understand how powerful I felt back then. I was like a God, all powerful. I don't ever want to feel like that again."
"We had better go, Amanda took Kristine's head. Kristine was about to take your head when you were fighting Cassandra. The cops will probably be here any minute."
Munch watched as Methos had his sword raised to take Cassandra's head, then Methos speaking softly to her. The sword dropping, and some more soft words. Cassandra getting her sword and leaving, Methos dropping to the ground with a haunted look on his face. His getting up and running outside where he can be heard retching the contents of his stomach up. MacLeod following him. Methos had to be one of the most complicated people that he had ever met. Of course being around 6000 years old might do that to a person.
Everyone else in the room was surprised when Methos didn't take Cassandra's head They all had expected Methos to win, not to spare Cassandra her life. MacLeod comes into the warehouse supporting Methos' body, "We need to get the hell out of here now. I hear sirens."
Connor picks up Kristine's sword, "At least she had a good blade." They all pile into their respective vehicles and decide to go to the Waterfront.
In the squadroom...
The phone rings on Meldrick's desk, he already is pretty sure what call it will be. 'Lets just hope it's Cassandra's body, not Adam's.' He thinks while picking up the phone. "Homicide, Lewis speaking."
"There is a decapitation on 5555 Gold Street." The dispacher tells him.
"Thanks." Meldrick writes down the particulars to the case before calling out, "Falsone, a call just came in."
"Why me?"
"Because everyone else is out. Now hurry your ass up."
"Fine. But you are the primary."
Meldrick wished that he had had the luck to get someone like Ballard, but luck was't on his side. Now if he could just resist the urge to kill the pipsqueak, all would be good. The ride to the crime scene was one spent in stony silence.
"The body is right through there Detective." A uniform points Meldrick in the direction of the warehouse.
There is minor damage to the warehouse from an unexplained electical storm. The body that is laying on the floor is female, sans head. Meldrick spots the head a few feet away.
"Jesus, who could do this to a person?" Asks Falsone.
"I don't know." He lied. He knew who did this, it was probably Adam or someone else that he met last night. I wonder if this is Cassandra. He makes a quick sketch of the body before asking, "So, who is she?"
"Her ID found in her purse says Kristine Martin, age 25 of Colombus Ohio." Another uniform informs him.
"Were there any witnesses?" Asks Meldrick.
"Nope."
"Okay, you got all you need doc?"
"Yep."
"Okay, take the body and head."
"Lewis, don't you need to find more about the scene?"
"I'll tell you what I see. I see a body without a head, no murder weapon, no witnesses, that is all I see."
"Fine." The body is taken away, Meldrick and Falsone go back to the station. They try to figure out what happened, but Meldrick is very careful in what he says. A statue could have told more information than Lewis did. At 8 AM, he gets up and gets ready to leave.
"You're just leaving??"
"Yeah, it's 8 AM. I'm tired, I just want to go back and sleep." 'And find out who took Kristine's head, and if Cassandra was still alive.' "Goodnight." With that, he walks out of the station.
At the Waterfront, the night before...
"Methos, are you OK?" Asks a concerned Elenore.
"I will be. I suppose you are all wondering why I didn't take her head. I don't want to go into all of the reasons, but one of them was Death. I was Death back there, I don't want that to happen again. I guess that that revulsed me. Now, I want to get drunk. Bring on the beer!"
Mac sighs and hangs his head, leave it to Methos to think of beer at this time. Well, maybe it isn't such a bad idea. "Could I get a whiskey?"
Everone orders drinks. Munch asks everyone, "So whos driving?" Everyone who had driven raised their hand.
"You do understand that a DUI is not a good thing, right?"
"We'll all be sober by then. Except for Phil, all of us have been driving since the first car was invented."
End Part Three
To be continued...