"Come again?" asked Michael as they all followed Alec over.
"Your sister?!" Maria cried.
"Liz?" asked Max. Liz took a deep breath, looking at her sister for support.
"Ok. Yeah. Max is my sister." Several pairs of eyebrows flew up, and Michael grinned at his friend. Maria slapped him on the back of the head.
"She's talking about that girl, space boy!" she snapped. Liz chuckled.
"yeah, um, her name is Max." then to her sister, "He's called Max too." She gestured to the first guy Max had seen following them through from the back. "Err, I'm just gonna call you Maxie, to avoid confusion. K baby sis?" Maxi smiled her consent to Liz.
"So now, YOUR SISTER?!" Maria repeated. Liz laughed again.
"Hey, calm down. Look, we're not technically sisters. But we grew up together, and it always seemed that way. Y'know? It's always felt like we were sisters. But I haven't seem Maxie since I was nine."
"But why didn't you say anything?" Maria seemed hurt, and slipped into the seat next to Liz. Liz swallowed,
"It's a very long story." She looked up at Maxie, as if to ask permission, even though she was the older sister.
"Why not?" shrugged Maxie, "Hell, the rest of America already knows." Liz looked both shocked and confused.
"What?! What do you mean?"
"Don't you guys watch TV?" asked Alec. Max answered.
"There barely is any. Roswell has been pretty much cut off since the pulse, and no-one can afford satellite TV." Liz had gone very pale, realising she'd missed something big.
"Maxie, what's happened?"
"A lot, sis. A hell of a lot. Manticore is gone, everyone's out, or rather everyone that made it. Rumours started to spread about us, as you can imagine. The government denied all knowledge until a piece of sh*t named Ames White decided to tell everyone about us. Oh, and of course he also told them that we're monstrous killers who need to be wiped out at any cost. The, mobs loved that." Maxie's voice became more and more bitter as she spoke.
"But Maxie…"
"No. Hold it right there Liz. What the hell are you guys talking about?!" Liz realised that her three friends were all looking completely lost. Another deep breath,
"Alright, I guess I should begin by telling you that I'm adopted." This in itself raised plenty of eyebrows, but she continued. "My parents found me when I was nine, a few months after I escaped form a place called Manticore. It was a secret government programme in which they used recombinant DNA to create genetically enhanced superior soldiers." She was interrupted by two people rushing up to the group.
"Oh my god! You heard about it too!?" shrieked Isabelle. "Me and Kyle were at the store, where they've managed to hook up a satellite dish! It's amazing! Apparently we aren't the only freaks in this screwed up world! Every channel is talking about all this sh*t going down in Seattle!" Maxie's eyes went wide,
"What kind of sh*t?"
"Who's this?" Isabelle asked, noticing Maxie and Alec for the first time.
"Never mind that, answer the question." Said Liz.
"Well there's all those genetically enhanced thingy's Liz was…"
"We know that!" said Maxie impatiently. "what's going on?"
"Well, there's all these protestors and cops trying to break into this area they've like, taken over." Maxie and Alec glanced at each other,
"Terminal city!" Maxie breathed, even as she was vaulting over the back of the seat in one movement. Alec followed her towards the door, and Liz leapt spectacularly over the table to join them.
"Maxie, wait!" Maxie turned to her sister's voice.
"Sis I can't. I have to go. Now."
"But Max, I don't understand what's happening! You have to explain! And you need to consider what you're doing, make a plan! It sounds to me like you'll get yourself killed if you just rush in there!"
"Yeah?" spat Maxie, "Well there are people in there that I care about! Some of them aren't even transgenic! They're just ordinary people and I have to help them!" Bewildered, the other Max approached them.
"Liz, what are you talking about? Can we help?" Maxie snorted.
"Maxie, just wait one minute, ok?" Liz turned to Max. "What I was saying was that I am one of those soldiers. The barcode, that just proves it. You couldn't get rid of it cos its written into my genetic code. I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you, even after everything you told me, but it was just too dangerous."
"Too dangerous?" Michael exclaimed. "Liz, we have the skins on our asses, and the government, and this was too dangerous?!"
"Michael! This goes so much deeper than you can possibly understand! This is deeper than government UFO operations! They've been hunting me half my life! None of you know the first thing about me cos I was so scared that if I was myself in any way then they would find me! You think what I've been through with you guys was scary? Well before I was nine I had seen things… even done things that would make you sick to even consider. This is way more dangerous." Her voice was shaking, and no one dared say a thing, except Alec,
"UFO'S?" Liz didn't look at him, but almost growled,
"Tell them Max. They're trustworthy." Max looked around at the otherwise empty café.
"Are you s…"
"Tell them!"
"Ok, then, we're…"
"Are you totally out of your mind, Maxwell?" Michael cried. "We don't even know them!"
"You know me!" Liz yelled. "and Max is my sister. I would trust her with my life, and if she says Alec is trustworthy, then he is." Michael was furious.
"Since when do you give orders, Parker?" he spat, making the huge mistake of grabbing her arm. She prised his hand away with a painful grip and threw him across the room.
"Since it came out that I can do stuff like that. Max, tell them or I will." Max, stunned at what his girlfriend had just done, didn't hesitate.
"We're the Roswell aliens." He said. Alec laughed, until Max raised a glowing hand. Maxie raised her eyebrows,
"Cool." She said. "So you got powers then?" she was ready to believe anything after what she'd seen over the past year. Now Isabelle came forward,
"Yes. I'm kinda confused about what exactly is going on, but I can tell you're alright, and I trust Liz like a sister, so yes, we have powers. Me, Max, and Michael." Maxie nodded.
"Great. Now I'm going."
"Wait." Max said. " We might be able to help." Maxie rolled her eyes.
"Unless being an alien gives you super strength, I don't see how." She snapped, losing her patience.
"How about this?" Max held out his hand, fingers out stretched, palm towards Michael, who was picking himself up from the floor. Michael went flying back against the far wall. Maria laughed, and Max and Alec both said,
"Cool."
"Also, Max has healing powers and this force field thingy, Isabelle is sorta telepathic, and there's a whole load of other stuff they can all do." Added Liz.
"No matter what, I want to help you, Liz." Said Max.
"Jondi." Muttered Maxie. Jondi smiled at her sister, then turned to her friends,
"That is actually my name, Jondi. I know this is kinda weird, but it's who I used to be, and I think I'm gonna have to be that person again now. So if you could call me that… it might help if I have to get into super girl mode." Isabelle shook her head,
"That's hat I still don't get. You've always been the sweet quiet little girly girl." Maxie held back her laugh at this description of her sister, one of the toughest of the X5 group. " I so can't see you as a super soldier." Jondi grinned wickedly at this.
"You will." She said.