"You guys, check out what I found," exclaimed Alex, "I think it's a back up generator. If we can figure out how to turn it on, then we should be able to get some light in this place. I don't know about you, but my batteries are barely keeping this flashlight lit!"
"Well, kick it or something," Tess suggested. The guys looked at her and shrugged. They were just as clueless when it came to fixing old rusty, generators too.
"Is there like a battery in it?" asked Maria, "either that or you guys can make it work."
"I recommend the 'making it work' part," voiced Alex. Being back in the dark wasn't his idea of fun.
*************************************************************
Max and Liz had groped their way through the darkness not knowing where they were headed. They traveled in silence.
"Max, Alex and Maria are dead," she blurted out not knowing what else to say.
He stopped and took hold of her shoulders, "It's not true, Liz. The guard was just playing a cruel joke on you. They are alive. You have to trust me on this. "
"But how do you..." her voice cracking.
"I overheard him saying so. Isabel is out there looking for Alex and Maria. As soon as we can, we're going to meet up with them."
"Do you think Michael and Tess know where we are?"
"I hope for our sake they do! It'd be a long way to walk."
Just then the emergency lights turned on. They heard voices and a smile broke across both their faces. They began progressing faster towards them. "I'll race you to them," said Liz as she broke out into giggles of relief and ran towards her friends. As the two rounded the corner, they found their friends- all of them well and alive.
"Oh my God, Liz you're okay!" exclaimed Maria. She threw herself around her friend almost cutting off her circulation.
"Well, it looks like we're all in one piece!" said Michael.
After everyone had calmed down, they followed Michael and Tess as they led them out of the compound. There was a large drop from the door to the floor of the compound. Apparently, it seemed that there used to be a ramp that connected the two but it had rotted through. As they walked out, Max helped Liz out the door but stopped when he felt her fingernails dig into his skin. "What's wrong?" he asked immediately feeling that something was wrong. All his friends had stopped dead in their tracks too. He looked at Liz. Her eyes were full of fear. She kept trying to something but no sound escaped her lips. Michael had a glare on his face and he was holding Maria behind him- positioning him between whoever was out there and Maria. Alex stood in front of Isabel and Tess pushing them back toward the door.
Max pulled Liz away from the door and stood next to Alex, Tess and Isabel. He looked out and saw the Skin staring straight at them with an army of guards holding machine guns aimed at them. They were about 100 yards away. After quickly assessing the situation, he decided that the only thing they could do at this point was to use their powers. Either that or risk being:
A) Torn apart by hundreds of bullets
B) Being killed by the Skin
C) Being captured by the FBI and playing the role of lab rats.
He whispered to the others his plan. He ordered Alex and Maria to go back in the building with Liz and stay put.
"I knew things couldn't be done so easily. Eventually, you all would have found a way out. Turns out that you escaped a little earlier than expected. I made a deal with a couple of doctors here. I'd turn you all over in return for a new husk, which had originally been destroyed a little while ago. Remember that? Well, I'm not going to die just because you weren't going to play nice with the doctors. As you can see, I have manpower to help convince all of you to return to your little cells and behave. I'd hate for anything to happen to you all."
"I can assure you that there's no way we are going to go back in there without a fight!" yelled Michael.
"There's no way out! Surrender now or prepare to be obliterated," warned the Skin.
"We aren't doing any of the sort," said Max.
"Really? Then as the saying goes- EAT THIS!" The Skin threw forth a powerful burst of energy, but they managed to get out of its way. Now Michael was by himself to the left of the door while Max, Tess, and Isabel were to the right.
Michael was unfazed by the blast and used his power against the Skin. Before it reached him, the Skin had already put up a force field protecting it. The guardsmen couldn't believe what was going on. They looked like they were about to bail. The Skin yelled at them, "Shoot them. SHOOT!"
Within seconds a barrage of bullets went off towards the four. Michael dived behind some metal cargo containers. Max put up his own force field while Isabel and Tess crowded near him for protection. "Tess, cover us!" yelled Max. Soon the four of them were cloaked by her power. Confused, the guards stopped shooting and stood there dumbfounded. How had they disappeared right in front of their eyes?
Seizing the opportunity, Michael came out from his hiding place and sent out a couple of energy bursts towards them- not close enough to hurt anyone but close enough to cause even more confusion and commotion.
"What the hell is going on?" asked one of them.
"Don't pay attention to that. This is just a fancy special effects trick that they're using!" yelled the Skin. By the time he finished yelling, the guards had all abandoned their posts and were running away. The Skin glared angrily at them an unleashed an energy ball that engulfed them all and left ashes instead of corpses. "It's so hard to find good help these days." He brought his attention back to the Royal Four and began walking towards them.
"What's he doing?" asked Tess.
"I don't know but I'm not looking forward to it," said Isabel.
As he neared them Max concentrated all his power on him. He was building it up, determined not to unleash it until the time was right. Seeing that Max was going to need some time before he would be ready and that Tess was preoccupied with cloaking everyone, the other two set out to distract the Skin.
Isabel held her hand out gathering the energy she would need to faze the Skin. Michael did the same. In a matter of seconds, they were ready and let it loose. When they dust cleared, they saw that nothing had happened. The powerful enemy was fast approaching and they couldn't even deter it. Was this the end?
Max stole a glance at Tess and saw her gritting her teeth as she struggled to keep them cloaked. He grabbed her hand in an effort to support her and himself that they could pull through this. He still needed to gather up more energy.
"Where are you? I know you're here somewhere..." said the Skin as it walked forward. It thrust its hands every which way hoping to grasp one of them. Luckily, Michael and Isabel had moved out of its way. All the Skin had to do was take six steps to the right and it would have had Max and Tess. To draw it away from them, Michael played and invisible game of Tag with it. He ran behind it, slapped its back, duck and ran off in the opposite direction. While doing this, Isabel would send out mini-bombs to perplex the Skin even more.
Max opened up his eyes, which were surging with energy. "I'm ready," he said in a tone that spooked the Skin. It looked up in bewilderment in the direction where Max had spoken. Then it hit him- he understood what he meant. At that moment Tess gave out. She had used up all of her energy and couldn't cloak her friends anymore.
"Noooooooooooo!!!!" shrieked the Skin as a ball of violent swirling colors Max had created spun towards it. When it made contact with him, a bright, white light filled the sky. The four shielded their eyes and turned their heads away from it. Then all was silent. As the light slowly faded and the clear, blue sky came to view Max let out a sigh of relief. Tess fell back against the wall, and slumped to the floor pleased that the Skin was now history. Max breathed heavily, he felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of him. He joined Tess on the floor.
She looked over at him. "You did it," she said.
"No, we did it," Max told her as he grabbed her hand and gave it a little squeeze. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Isabel and Michael helped the others out of the compound. Liz was the last out. Alex embraced Isabel, as did Michael and Maria. Liz looked around for Max and froze, her lips tightening, as she saw him sitting next to Tess smiling and holding her hand. She didn't think it was humanly possible but her heart was broken yet again into another thousand pieces. She held back her tears knowing that there was nothing she could do. No matter what her feelings for Max were, things could never be the same. This was the way it had to be...
The End
"Well, kick it or something," Tess suggested. The guys looked at her and shrugged. They were just as clueless when it came to fixing old rusty, generators too.
"Is there like a battery in it?" asked Maria, "either that or you guys can make it work."
"I recommend the 'making it work' part," voiced Alex. Being back in the dark wasn't his idea of fun.
*************************************************************
Max and Liz had groped their way through the darkness not knowing where they were headed. They traveled in silence.
"Max, Alex and Maria are dead," she blurted out not knowing what else to say.
He stopped and took hold of her shoulders, "It's not true, Liz. The guard was just playing a cruel joke on you. They are alive. You have to trust me on this. "
"But how do you..." her voice cracking.
"I overheard him saying so. Isabel is out there looking for Alex and Maria. As soon as we can, we're going to meet up with them."
"Do you think Michael and Tess know where we are?"
"I hope for our sake they do! It'd be a long way to walk."
Just then the emergency lights turned on. They heard voices and a smile broke across both their faces. They began progressing faster towards them. "I'll race you to them," said Liz as she broke out into giggles of relief and ran towards her friends. As the two rounded the corner, they found their friends- all of them well and alive.
"Oh my God, Liz you're okay!" exclaimed Maria. She threw herself around her friend almost cutting off her circulation.
"Well, it looks like we're all in one piece!" said Michael.
After everyone had calmed down, they followed Michael and Tess as they led them out of the compound. There was a large drop from the door to the floor of the compound. Apparently, it seemed that there used to be a ramp that connected the two but it had rotted through. As they walked out, Max helped Liz out the door but stopped when he felt her fingernails dig into his skin. "What's wrong?" he asked immediately feeling that something was wrong. All his friends had stopped dead in their tracks too. He looked at Liz. Her eyes were full of fear. She kept trying to something but no sound escaped her lips. Michael had a glare on his face and he was holding Maria behind him- positioning him between whoever was out there and Maria. Alex stood in front of Isabel and Tess pushing them back toward the door.
Max pulled Liz away from the door and stood next to Alex, Tess and Isabel. He looked out and saw the Skin staring straight at them with an army of guards holding machine guns aimed at them. They were about 100 yards away. After quickly assessing the situation, he decided that the only thing they could do at this point was to use their powers. Either that or risk being:
A) Torn apart by hundreds of bullets
B) Being killed by the Skin
C) Being captured by the FBI and playing the role of lab rats.
He whispered to the others his plan. He ordered Alex and Maria to go back in the building with Liz and stay put.
"I knew things couldn't be done so easily. Eventually, you all would have found a way out. Turns out that you escaped a little earlier than expected. I made a deal with a couple of doctors here. I'd turn you all over in return for a new husk, which had originally been destroyed a little while ago. Remember that? Well, I'm not going to die just because you weren't going to play nice with the doctors. As you can see, I have manpower to help convince all of you to return to your little cells and behave. I'd hate for anything to happen to you all."
"I can assure you that there's no way we are going to go back in there without a fight!" yelled Michael.
"There's no way out! Surrender now or prepare to be obliterated," warned the Skin.
"We aren't doing any of the sort," said Max.
"Really? Then as the saying goes- EAT THIS!" The Skin threw forth a powerful burst of energy, but they managed to get out of its way. Now Michael was by himself to the left of the door while Max, Tess, and Isabel were to the right.
Michael was unfazed by the blast and used his power against the Skin. Before it reached him, the Skin had already put up a force field protecting it. The guardsmen couldn't believe what was going on. They looked like they were about to bail. The Skin yelled at them, "Shoot them. SHOOT!"
Within seconds a barrage of bullets went off towards the four. Michael dived behind some metal cargo containers. Max put up his own force field while Isabel and Tess crowded near him for protection. "Tess, cover us!" yelled Max. Soon the four of them were cloaked by her power. Confused, the guards stopped shooting and stood there dumbfounded. How had they disappeared right in front of their eyes?
Seizing the opportunity, Michael came out from his hiding place and sent out a couple of energy bursts towards them- not close enough to hurt anyone but close enough to cause even more confusion and commotion.
"What the hell is going on?" asked one of them.
"Don't pay attention to that. This is just a fancy special effects trick that they're using!" yelled the Skin. By the time he finished yelling, the guards had all abandoned their posts and were running away. The Skin glared angrily at them an unleashed an energy ball that engulfed them all and left ashes instead of corpses. "It's so hard to find good help these days." He brought his attention back to the Royal Four and began walking towards them.
"What's he doing?" asked Tess.
"I don't know but I'm not looking forward to it," said Isabel.
As he neared them Max concentrated all his power on him. He was building it up, determined not to unleash it until the time was right. Seeing that Max was going to need some time before he would be ready and that Tess was preoccupied with cloaking everyone, the other two set out to distract the Skin.
Isabel held her hand out gathering the energy she would need to faze the Skin. Michael did the same. In a matter of seconds, they were ready and let it loose. When they dust cleared, they saw that nothing had happened. The powerful enemy was fast approaching and they couldn't even deter it. Was this the end?
Max stole a glance at Tess and saw her gritting her teeth as she struggled to keep them cloaked. He grabbed her hand in an effort to support her and himself that they could pull through this. He still needed to gather up more energy.
"Where are you? I know you're here somewhere..." said the Skin as it walked forward. It thrust its hands every which way hoping to grasp one of them. Luckily, Michael and Isabel had moved out of its way. All the Skin had to do was take six steps to the right and it would have had Max and Tess. To draw it away from them, Michael played and invisible game of Tag with it. He ran behind it, slapped its back, duck and ran off in the opposite direction. While doing this, Isabel would send out mini-bombs to perplex the Skin even more.
Max opened up his eyes, which were surging with energy. "I'm ready," he said in a tone that spooked the Skin. It looked up in bewilderment in the direction where Max had spoken. Then it hit him- he understood what he meant. At that moment Tess gave out. She had used up all of her energy and couldn't cloak her friends anymore.
"Noooooooooooo!!!!" shrieked the Skin as a ball of violent swirling colors Max had created spun towards it. When it made contact with him, a bright, white light filled the sky. The four shielded their eyes and turned their heads away from it. Then all was silent. As the light slowly faded and the clear, blue sky came to view Max let out a sigh of relief. Tess fell back against the wall, and slumped to the floor pleased that the Skin was now history. Max breathed heavily, he felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of him. He joined Tess on the floor.
She looked over at him. "You did it," she said.
"No, we did it," Max told her as he grabbed her hand and gave it a little squeeze. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Isabel and Michael helped the others out of the compound. Liz was the last out. Alex embraced Isabel, as did Michael and Maria. Liz looked around for Max and froze, her lips tightening, as she saw him sitting next to Tess smiling and holding her hand. She didn't think it was humanly possible but her heart was broken yet again into another thousand pieces. She held back her tears knowing that there was nothing she could do. No matter what her feelings for Max were, things could never be the same. This was the way it had to be...
The End