[u]Part 43[/u]

"Something's happening!" Maria exclaimed as a flash of light illuminated the night sky around Stonehenge. She nudged Michael in the stomach. He grunted slightly, but followed her pointing finger.

The van in which they were all riding slid to a halt as the sheriff pulled in behind the car Alex had rented in order to kidnap Isabel, confirming their presence in the stone circle. Michael didn't need the proof though. He could [I]feel[/I] Isabel's proximity through the Four Square. There was no question that she and Alex were nearby.

And that flash indicated that quite possibly they were in danger. As far as any of them knew, Isabel's mindwarping stalker was still out there. Michael felt his heart begin to thud in his chest at the thought that something might have happened to their two friends.

He should have know though. He really should have known. They were [I]so[/I] close. Fifteen minutes left to open the portal and rescue their friends and it had looked like they were actually going to make it. He just really should have known that something was going to happen to screw it up.

Michael looked at Maria. "I want you and Jenny to stay here. The sheriff, Jemma and I will go check it out."

"No way! Michael, I refuse to just sit here!" He watched the outrage cross his girlfriend's face, was ready for it.

"There is absolutely no time for arguments Maria. You are staying here and that is final." He dropped his voice, moved his mouth close to her ear. "There's a gun in the glove compartment. You need to protect Jenny. Anyone trying to make Isabel and me fall in love again is not friendly to our daughter. We both know it. We cannot put her in danger."

Maria flinched away from him. "That was dirty pool Spaceboy."

He shrugged. "I'm a general. I call it tactics. Turn your phone on. I'll call you when it's secure." With that, he pulled open the van door and slipped out, wading into the tall grass on the side of the road and towards the fence.

"What did he say?" He could hear Jennetta's voice fading into the distance as he hurried his pace. Michael was only glad that his daughter had agreed on the way that they would play this entire operation his way, knew that she wouldn't follow until he was ready for her. He was pretty sure that she still felt guilty about her freak-out on him in the cafeteria earlier and this was her way of making up for it. He didn't care one way or the other. As long as she chose not to act like Maria, for once in her life, he would be happy.

"Slow down General." Jemma's urgent whisper drifted through the darkness. "We don't want to stumble into anyone we're not ready to face."

Michael stopped walking, turned to face her. "You think someone's going to try and stop us?" He narrowed his gaze.

"I will admit that you have made me nervous. All that talk of Jendar." She trailed off meaningfully. "While I still believe he is dead and also believe he would never hurt you or Mirana, I cannot be completely sure any longer."

Michael glanced over at the sheriff, rolling his eyes. "Great. Now she tells me."

"Just be careful," Jemma instructed.

"Whatever." He took the few steps left to the fence, raised his hand and cut a hole in the metal rings with his powers. It was only then that he heard the voices. He frowned, cocked his head to listen. "Do you hear that?" He whispered to the sheriff.

"Talking," Valenti acknowledged. "More than two people."

"Someone was waiting for them. Crap." Michael closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath. Nope. It couldn't be easy, could it?

He tapped his finger against the face of his watch, lit it up momentarily so that he could read it in the dark. "We have ten minutes." He looked at Jemma. "What do we do?"

"We go watch," Jemma murmured back. "I will go left, you two go right. When we see a chance, we take out whoever it is."

Michael pressed his lips together. "No killing," he insisted.

"I can't guarantee." Jemma began.

"[I]No[/I] killing," he snapped again.

Jemma sighed heavily. He couldn't see her expression in the dark, but he was so used to her reactions by now, he imagined her irritation clearly. "Fine."

Michael nodded, satisfied. He had taken two steps in the opposite direction, Valenti behind him, when he stumbled, tripping over something.

It was only when he fell to his knees atop whatever it was that he realized it was a body.

Oh hell.

For one horrible moment, before he managed to force his hand to light up, he imagined Alex's body beneath him. Because if those [I]were[/I] aliens with Isabel in the stone circle, what use did they have for her human boyfriend? In fact, it was entirely likely that the first step anyone trying to control Isabel's emotions would take would be to get rid of Alex.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the dull blue light from his palm lit up a face he didn't recognize. He ran his hand down the body, made out a security guard's uniform. "Oh dammit."

Michael felt the sheriff's hand come down on his shoulder. "It's not your fault Michael." Valenti's voice was soft, fatherly. Michael scowled, wondered how the man had known that he was going to feel instantly guilty about this.

Because he did. He felt terrible. His main goal, apart from getting their friends back, had been to make sure that no human died because of them. All he had wanted was to make sure that no one died.

Michael swallowed, hard. "I'm okay," he muttered. "But we know now that whoever's in that circle is not friendly."

"Who [I]is[/I] that?"

Michael was on his feet and facing the person responsible for the voice instantly. "[I]Maria[/I]!"

Maria met his eyes squarely. "Blame Jenny. She countermanded your orders."

He scowled at her. "You are impossible woman!" He managed to inject a satisfying amount of irritation into his voice, considering the low tone at which he was forced to speak.

"We all need to be here Michael. No more separations," Jennetta said calmly. She moved to kneel next to the body, her hand lit up as his was. She was shaking her light-brown head moments later. "I knew I recognized him."

"Who is it?" Michael demanded, perplexed.

"He called himself Tom," Jennetta replied grimly, climbing to her feet and wiping her hands, as though touching the body had made them dirty. She looked at the sheriff. "Do you recognize him Sheriff?" She lowered her hand again, holding it directly over the body's head.

The sheriff started to shake his head, then dawning recognition crossed his face. "That's the man who was standing in the road when I crashed the van a couple of days ago." He moved closer, bending at the waist to get a better look. "I'll never forget that face. He stared right through the windshield at me. Our eyes met when we hit him. But then he disappeared. I thought I imagined him."

Jennetta grabbed Michael by the hand, pulled him close. "Dad, look again. I'm betting that this is also Mr. Umbrella."

Michael stared hard at him, shrugged. "It could be. I can't say for sure."

"I bet Isabel can," Jenny replied, her anger clear. "Because I'm betting this face has been haunting her for the past two weeks." She looked around. "Where's Jemma? We need her to identify him."

"What? Why?" Michael demanded.

"I'd wager my throne that this is Jendar," Jennetta said. "He's the only one who had any vested interest in killing us all. If he was trying to get you and Isabel back together on Milena's orders, what easier way then by disposing of everyone standing between you in one fell swoop?"

Michael scratched his head. "I don't know. It seems like reaching that this guy has been waiting around for a hundred years to mess with Isabel's head."

"And this is also a really bad time to be discussing it," Maria added, glancing over her shoulder at the Ring, which was now bright with light again. It was only then that Michael realized that the floodlights that should have been lighting up the area had not been.

They were still too far away to hear anything clearly, but the voices in the circle were now louder, more confrontational. "Well, if this [I]is[/I] Jendar and he's the one whose been warping Izzy, who's over there?" Michael whispered.

"I'm ready to find out," Maria answered. She had moved close to him, reached out to take his hand.

Michael looked down at her. Their eyes met and held for a long moment. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He finally asked her.

"If you're thinking that we've probably already blown our cover and that you're tired of skulking around anyway, then yes," Maria replied, grinning at him.

"So we go in," Michael confirmed. "Screw being careful. If something's happening to Izzy and Alex, we belong with them. You and me I mean." He turned his head and looked at the sheriff meaningfully, then glanced at Jennetta.

The sheriff nodded quickly, instantly understanding. Jenny was staring at him, a slight frown on her face. "What."

It was all she had time to say because Michael had already closed his eyes. He reached out through his connection to Isabel, drew on her energy, on her gift to invade minds. He felt Izzy's essence brush his in a way he had never experienced, being as he had never so deliberately sought out their bond before. He could feel her mixed emotions, her fear, anger and pain. Whatever was happening in that circle, she was not hurt physically, but his almost-sister had definitely been through an emotional wringer.

He didn't have time to analyze though. He took what he needed and he got out.

And when he opened his eyes, his daughter was being held firmly against the sheriff's side, fast asleep. Valenti swept Jennetta up into his arms and turned, heading back to the van.

"Damn that's a handy power," Maria said, briefly admiring. "She is going to be so mad Michael."

"She's safer here," Michael replied. "She's already shown once tonight that she won't listen to me. She made her own bed. She can lie in it."

"She's still going to be mad," Maria sighed. "But you're right." She looked up at him. "I wasn't going to come you know. I would have stayed there. It was Jennetta who decided."

Michael kissed her quickly. "I know. If there's one thing I know, it's that you would never put her in danger."

"How did the sheriff know what you were going to do?" Maria asked as they started to walk towards the circle.

"The minute Jemma told us about all that transversal stuff, I was thinking about how to use it," Michael admitted. "Izzy's power to put people to sleep was the first one that came to me. Because I knew that Jenny couldn't come with us. Max was right in his note. She can't come to Illyria until it's safe. And since she's entirely unreasonable, I knew this was the only way. I talked to the sheriff before we left the safe house, asked him to take care of her if and when this became necessary."

"I'm surprised he agreed, what with Kyle."

"He knows that we have a better chance of getting Kyle back then he does. And he also knows that I won't let him down." Michael shrugged. "We understand each other. We're both fathers now. He looks out for my kid, I look out for his."

Maria stopped walking abruptly. As they were still holding hands, Michael's arm was almost pulled out of the socket before he noticed. "Why didn't you do it to me?" She asked, her voice small, uncertain.

Michael shook his head slightly. After all this time, she still didn't get it. Sometimes it amazed him. And, yet, he knew that there was only one way to answer her, only one way she would really buy.

"Because you're the one she gets her unreasonableness from and you scare me more. [I]She'll[/I] forgive me someday. You." he paused, smirked at her. "Well, I wasn't willing to take the chance."

Maria glared at him, but started walking again. "I don't know whether to be annoyed at that or not."

"Try [I]not[/I]," Michael suggested. "It would make my life easier."

"Well, since I got what I wanted, I guess you're forgiven."

"Shhh." He held a finger up to his lips. He frowned as they moved up behind one of the large periphery stones. "I still can't hear them," he muttered in frustration. He scowled further, straining his ears. He could make out Isabel's lilting voice and Alex's slightly lower tones, much to his relief. He had still been entertaining horrid visions of their human friend dead in the grass somewhere.

As he listened, Whitman's voice rose and Michael couldn't help but here what he yelled. "The Crash wasn't an accident at all, was it?"

Michael glanced down at Maria sharply. She looked just as shocked as he did. "[I]Who[/I] are they talking to?" She whispered.

"Screw this," Michael muttered. "Let's just go find out." Taking her firmly by the hand again, he pulled her out from behind the stone, in time to hear Alex yell again.

It seemed that they had arrived just in the nick of time. When Michael reflected on it later, he understood that it had all been part of some great design, that they had all ended up exactly where they needed to be in that moment.

But, in that instant, it all just seemed like dumb luck.

Because what Alex had yelled was, "Portal!"

Although he had hoped for one brief moment that Max had figured out the solstice switch on the other side, it took Michael very little time to recognize that this wasn't a return portal. It wasn't red, so Max and the others couldn't possibly be coming through it from Illyria.

And, yet, a portal stood open. It was also clear that Isabel had [I]not[/I] opened it, if the way she was standing with her mouth half-open in astonishment was any indication.

Which could only mean that this was something entirely new.

"Oh my God! Michael!" Maria's voice made him tear his gaze away from the hypnotic white column. "It's Nasedo!"

He turned his head sharply, stared through the beam at the two figures standing on the other side. He started in amazement when he realized that one of them was indeed Nasedo, in his Ed Harding form.

"What the." His voice trailed off when movement from the person standing next to Nasedo caught his attention. It was a woman and she made an abrupt grab for Isabel, taking her by the hand and hauling her towards the portal. Isabel shrieked, began to struggle.

"Isabel!" Alex's panic was clear as he latched onto his girlfriend's other hand and tried to pull her away. But whoever she was, the older woman was too strong.

Michael dropped Maria's hand, started to run. "Isabel!" He bellowed, unable to control himself.

It was a mistake. He distracted Isabel and Alex for only a split second, both moving their heads in the direction of his voice. It was only an instant, but it was enough.

The woman gave one mighty heave and pulled both Isabel and Alex through the portal after her.

And, yet, he didn't stop running. Michael knew that he didn't have time to think it through. There was no choice anyway. He could feel Maria was on his heels, knew that he didn't have to pause. She would be with him, just as she always was, always had been since those first shared moments in the Jetta on 285 South three years ago.

He was engulfed by the white light.

To be continued.