Part 3: The Plan
"What?" Maria asked frantically. "What's your idea and it had better be a good one that doesn't get my babies into a danger."
Max raised his hands in a calming gesture. "Don't worry Maria, they won't be in any danger at all. If fact they'll be safer than us."
"What do you mean safer than us?" Michael demanded. "There's no way I'm putting Maria in any danger."
"Don't tell me what to do Michael," Maria snapped. "These are my children we're dealing with, if I have to be in danger to help them, then I will be. What's your plan Max?"
"Well I was thinking that we could lead Mark away from the babies, to talk to him, then when the conversations over someone could follow him a see where he goes." Max explained.
"That won't work," Amy said. "Mark won't be wherever the babies are. He's too smart for that-"
"But not smart enough to realise messing with my children was a bad idea." Michael growled.
"Yes," Amy said distracted. "But he will contact whoever has the babies after he talks to us. Now Maria you if you can hear the numbers he dials can you get find out where the children are?"
"I can get the numbers, but someone's going to have to find out what the address for the number is." Maria said.
"No problem," Alex said. "I can do that. Just give me a computer and a few minutes and I'll have the address for you."
"Good," Max said. "Now all we have to do is find a way to contact Mark."
"I'll handle that as well," Maria said getting excited about the idea.
"How?" Liz asked. "I mean I really don't think that he'll be listed in the phone book."
"Mark can astral project." Maria explained, pacing around the room, like a caged leopard. "There's probably a spell in the book that will bring his astral form here. That's safer to do anyway, because in his astral form he has no powers. Then we can organize a meeting place where we can talk. Michael and I can go see him and then I'll follow him."
"Maria you can't." Amy said. "If you're going to follow him then you can't go with Michael, because as soon as he leaves from wherever you're going to meet him, you'll need follow."
"But how are you going to explain Maria not being there?" Liz asked confused. "Their Maria's children, it would seem strange if she wasn't there to get any information she could."
"Not if I tell Mark that Maria's gone into shock or something, that she wasn't physically capable of going." Michael said. "He wouldn't argue that. It would be normal if that happened to Maria. But I still don't like it, I don't want Maria going off by herself."
"We can find Sean and get him to go with her." Amy started to say.
"And how long will it take him to get here? I don't want to wait that long." Michael snapped.
"It would only take an hour or so." Amy explained. "Sean has the ability to travel on different planes, that enables him to be able to get to far away places very quickly."
"Cool," Alex said, everyone looked at him strangely. "What? I think it would be pretty cool to be able to do that."
"Okay, one more thing," Sheriff Valenti said taking charge. "What are all of your powers? If we know that then we can find a way to get the twins out easier. Now I know what powers the aliens have, but have you developed any more. And Maria, what exactly are you capable of?"
"Well I've been working on controlling my powers." Michael started. I can send bolts of energy at different amounts of power, meaning I can stun a person or kill them."
"I can put up shields to protect people." Max said.
"I've developed my Dream Walking." Isabelle explained. "If I want a certain piece of information, then I can find it."
"I can keep my mindwarps going for longer and make people feel something in the warp, like if they are touched, they would be able to feel it." Tess said.
"Very good," Jim nodded. "What about you Maria?"
"You really want me to say all of them?" Maria asked. "Well as some of you have already witnessed, I can control the weather, people minds, move objects. A lot of other little things, like get visions and stuff oh, and my biggest on is I can walk through solid objects."
"Really?" Amy asked. "I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I until I fell through the floor," Maria grumbled. Michael laughed and Maria punched him. "It's not funny, it really hurt hitting the floor like that. And you shouldn't really be laughing, when I landed on you, well on a certain part of your anatomy." Michael winced and stopped laughing.
"Well we can really use those to our advantage." The sheriff said. "If we can get Maria close enough to where the babies are them she can just walk through the wall and get the children out of there."
"It's not going to be that easy," Maria said. "I don't know if I can take anyone with me when I walk through a solid object. If I can't then my power will be pretty useless."
"No it won't," Michael said coming up to her and placing his arm around her shoulder, holding her tight. "We can practice you trying to take people through a wall and if that doesn't work, then you can get in there and open some doors for us. See, your power will still be very much needed."
"But won't Mark be expecting us to get in there somehow. He's going to have heaps of security around the place. It won't be easy getting in or out." Liz told them.
"I can mind warp them," Tess put in. "I've really come along with it, I can warp more people for a longer tome now. And remember when you said that people could tell it was a mind warp, I've worked on that and I think I've got it under control."
"That's great!" Maria said getting excited. "Then we should do this soon."
"Wait," Max said raising his hands. "There's still on thing I'm not clear on. How are you going to follow Mark if he's in his astral form?"
"While he's in his astral form, he'll be distracted, and I'll be able to trace where his body is. It's a lot easier then it sounds." Maria explained.
"Okay then," Michael said taking charge. "If there are no more questions then I suggest that we get this show on the road. I want my children back. Maria go find that spell, the rest of you, I don't know, make sure all of the kids are with someone at all times, and I mean a person with powers, we're taking no chances."
"Good," the sheriff nodded, "we can't let anything go wrong here people. The lives of two innocent children hang in the balance."
"You don't need to tell us that twice." Kyle said to his father. "We know dad, and we're going to get those kids back. So what's the final plan?"
"I'll call Mark's astral form, out to the desert, at the pod chamber I think." Maria stated looking towards Michael and he nodded, motioning for her to continue. "Michael and Max will meet him there and talk to him about the twins, then I'll trace to where his body is. When we know that, I'll go there and when he contacts the twins I'll bring the number back and Alex can trace the number. Then we'll all go there and while Tess mind warps the guards, we'll get to the twins-"
"It might be a bit more difficult than that sis." Sean interrupted her from the kitchen "Mark's getting a bit of help from the Other Side."
Maria and Amy paled while the others looked on in confusion. "What's the 'Other Side'?" Michael asked.
"The Underworld." Maria said softly. "Mark's getting help from demons."