Between the Lines – Chapter 7
Disclaimer – Team Katims, Metz, and WB own Roswell and the Team Cameron, Eglee, and Fox own Dark Angel. Get it, got it, good.
Somewhere on a desert road
A dark colored Ducati roared down the stretch of highway, its red highlights glinting in the waning light. The rider seemed oblivious to the heat of the still blazing sun, face obscured under a black full coverage helmet that continued the red splashed motif. What you could see of his body, and the body was definitely male, was encased in a weathered brown leather jacket, biker gloves, jeans that seemed to have been poured on, and dusky work boots.
The Ducati was joined by another motorcycle, this one a Yamaha YZF-R1, a deep navy blue with black highlights. The Yamaha's rider was dressed in black Mesh-Tex leather pants and Mesh-Tex II riding jacket in royal blue, fingerless biking gloves, a pair of blue Vertebra 2 biker boots, and a helmet, which reflected the blue on black motif of his machine.
The pair of riders took a left hand turn and jetted past a sign reading 285 South. They were gone before the sign righted itself after the speed of their passage.
Liz scowled down at the paper in front of her, wishing it would spontaneously combust or encounter an unfortunate incident with napalm. Since when was it mandatory that students have to reveal all in some stupid questionnaire? It had to be the working of that new counselor Ms. Topolsky, and Liz felt all the hairs on her body stand at attention. That lady sent every alarm bell ringing in her mind and to her Manticore trained eye it was obvious she was a federal agent, though why one would be undercover at the school, Liz had a grim theory as to why. Besides, it wasn't as if she could answer all these stupid questions honestly, anyway.
She gave an annoyed sigh and glanced behind her, ignoring the prattling drone of the incompetent imbecile teaching the class, and looking longingly at the window and the glorious day outside, smiling slightly as she met Max's gaze and then returned to looking out the window. This was one of those times that she wished she hadn't let everyone believe that she was younger than what she was. A twenty-one year old super soldier did not belong in a classroom on a very beautiful and humidless sunny day.
The day seemed to beckon her; the desert was calling and she could feel its pull. She could go out and hike to one of the mesas, camp out for a while, do some rock-climbing, maybe practice some of the new holds and throws she discovered in an old Special Forces magazine, take in the fresh air and prepare mentally and physically for whatever Manticore might throw her way.
She also very much so, really, truly, wanted a drink. Beer, whisky, tequila, spirits, whatever! It had been approximately three months, five days, six hours, twelve minutes, and fifty-five seconds since she had one, the exact amount of time it had been since her last heat cycle. It wasn't like she was addicted to drinking. Please, her metabolism processed the alcohol almost before it even reached her stomach, and the healing factor ensured that any 'damage' rendered would not be a problem.
No, Liz just enjoyed the taste, the smell, and the texture of a strong drink flowing down her throat and filling her stomach. The tougher the kick, the hotter the burn, the more she liked it. There were many fond memories of drinking arrogant men under the table; she'd even took over as a temporary bartender at one of her more regular spots for heat some fifty miles away in the next town up 285 North.
She only indulged in this little past time when she snuck out of Roswell for the duration of her heats, often spending time afterward enjoying a shot or two, when she could drop the goodie-good Ordinary schoolgirl act and just be Vada, X5-732, with no pretenses. Such unhindered enjoyment was becoming more and more attractive as she waited irritably for that stupid bell to ring, signaling a release from the confines of school. She didn't know why she was so restless, it was as if Vada and the inner kitty wanted to come out, and wasn't making 'Liz's' life any concessions.
"Ms. Parker!"
The teacher's irate calling brought Liz back to the classroom, realizing that Mr. Shepard had been trying to get her attention for a bit, and he was not happy. She felt the eyes of the class upon her, his eyes, upon her. But she couldn't find it within her at that moment to care. She arched an eyebrow in response to the teacher's hands waving to get her attention.
"Glad you could join us again on planet Earth, Ms. Parker," Mr. Shepard sniped out; his sarcasm was heavy enough to garner laughs from the surrounding students.
Normally, Liz would have ignored this, apologizing and ducking her head meekly. But Liz didn't feel like being subservient; in fact, Vada, X5-732, was very adamantly against it and still very fresh in her mind and snapped back.
"The pleasure's all yours, Mr. Shepard. I'm not glad to be back in your class at all."
She accompanied this with an almost bored, indifferent look, the haughty gaze enhanced as she squared her shoulders, sitting up straighter, and raised her chin. Mr. Shepard wasn't the only one whose jaw was agape. Was this Liz Parker acting up?
"Who do you think you are?" Shepard finally managed to splutter.
If anything, Liz Parker's face suddenly slipped into a cold, sharp gaze and she grew suddenly still.
"Someone who has had enough of you and the meaningless crap that you call assignments."
Vada came to her feet in one incredibly graceful movement without altering her erect posture, tossed her crumpled homework assignment to the floor, and strode toward the door with measured steps that could only be described as a stalk.
There was absolute, stunned silence as the door shut on Vada's departure.
Maria DeLuca was staring dumbly at the door her best friend had just exited and knew she must have had the same mystified look on her face everyone else did.
'Who was that, and what happened to my best friend?' she thought in a daze, blinking, as if to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Nope, she wasn't. Oh, why did she have to leave her smelling oils at home today of all days? She could have used some good cedar or cypress oil right at that moment.
Her eyes desperately searched the room, as if it could provide clues to Liz's sudden mood, and they fell upon Max and Isabel Evans, and their creepy friend Michael. They suddenly grew wide as a thought hit her and she started to freak inwardly, wishing desperately for her lilac oil.
What if this strange behavior had something to do with the Otherworldly Trio?
'Darn those Czechoslovakians!'
Michael Guerrin had decided to come to school today and he was kind of glad he did. He had to say he was impressed with the Science and Academic Queen. In all the years he had slacked off, skipped, and otherwise annoyed the teachers, staff and faculty of the school system, he had never achieved having a teacher look as flabbergasted and disbelieving that Mr. Shepard did at that moment. And Liz Parker did all that, going from Ms. Goodie Two Shoes to Obstinate Rebel in less than thirty seconds.
Liz Parker. Academic superstar. Roswell High's pride and joy, darling of the faculty, staff, and science geeks (or geeks of any flavor) everywhere. Long time unrequited love of his best friend Max.
Now she had just pulled the biggest coup he'd ever seen, and he couldn't help the smirk and small glimmer of admiration he felt. Sure she was smart, but she had just proved to him and everyone here that she was just as sassy and smart-alecky as any regular kid.
'Neat,' he grinned, eyes unconsciously seeking her usual partner in whatever they did, drawn for some reason to the oddball blond who even now looked as if her world had turned upside down.
He felt a brief flash of sympathy. How would he react if Max or Isabel had pulled something like this without warning?
'I'd say it was about time,' he fought not to chuckle.
Even as he admired Maria DeLuca, he turned to check on his best friend and oftentimes leader Max Evans. What was his reaction to 'his' girl toy's unexpected performance?
He knew he and Isabel and their folks had had dinner with her and her folks last night, it was all Max could talk about when he had snuck over to Max's house.
Unbelievable. Completely unbelievable.
Max was just as thunderstruck as anyone else. He blocked out all the noise as the students suddenly burst into excited chattering speculation.
Liz, his Liz, had just royally brushed off and put in place a teacher, a teacher she had respected even if she hadn't particularly liked him. And the way she had looked at Mr. Shepard. Max shook as chills overtook him.
There had been a sudden glimmer of age, as if she were older, far more adult and experienced than any of them. But it was the look before that, the cool aloofness, that freezing arrogance and mask of total indifference and neutrality that stuck in his mind as if on pause.
She had been so…other, so distant. Completely unlike the Liz he'd been in love with for the past nine years. Or perhaps, this was the true Liz who only just now decided to make herself known and Max hadn't seen it? She was harder, stronger, more mature, unaffected.
'Like a soldier,' he thought faintly, refusing to meet his sister's inquiring gaze. He didn't want to see the 'I-told-you-so' in her eyes, or the smug satisfaction of having Liz proved infallible, especially after her not so charitable thoughts last night before dinner with the Parkers.
In avoiding Isabel's look he came eye to eye to Kyle Valenti, Liz's ex-boyfriend, and overprotective stalker extraordinaire. The glare he received gave his chills an encore performance even as a small part of his mind was protesting this wasn't his fault.
Isabel Evans hissed out an annoyed sigh as her brother refused to look at her. She rolled her eyes at this typical Max reaction to anything Negative Liz. She frowned as she saw Kyle Valenti glare at her brother, her own eyes narrowing and hardening in a protective glare toward her brother's now rival.
Who did Kyle Valenti think he was, glaring at Max like Liz's schizoid behavior was suddenly Max's fault?
'Liz is nothing but trouble for Max,' she seethed as sisterly instinct kicked in, reacting to the perceived threat on two fronts to her sibling.
It wasn't that she didn't like the girl, who couldn't? Liz just seemed to be wrong for Max, drawing trouble, and Max was in danger because he was too enamored with a pair of deep mocha eyes to see anything else.
Fortunately for them all, the bell rang just then to break Kyle's glaring contest, signaling the end of the school day. What a day it turned out to be.
Maria bolted out of her seat the moment the clarion bell struck, barely pausing to pick Liz's assignment off the floor. She was out the door and in the hallway, intent on a Seek and Destroy mission. Her target: Liz Parker.
And she wasn't going to accept any Escape and Evade from her either.
Liz held herself, arms wrapped about her chest and waist, slowly rocking back and forth. She was in the musty, upper grid work of the school ceiling, unperturbed by the small confines of the crawlspace. It was filled with pipes and ductwork for the air conditioning and heating, ventilation, and electrical casings. It felt like home.
The majority of the unit was up at the High Place, their special area on the roof, the one place they knew for certain that wasn't bugged with audio or visual spying devices. But Vada had decided to hang back. The day had been spent in a series grueling live fire exercises, and Vada was heartily sick of the outside for one day.
She was currently curled up on her bed, holding herself, watching as two of her 'siblings' stood guard in the event the Colonel, the guards, or one of the trainers came in for a surprise night inspection. Occasionally, the adults would do a sudden head count, but that's what the sentries were for. Tonight Cypress and Kavi were on sentry rotation, though Jace, Marko, and Nala had elected to turn in early for some much needed rest.
While Vada wasn't keen on going outside, she still had a yen for being someplace up high, and she huddled in on herself, unable to sleep but unwilling to join the others out.
Her bunk was nearest the window where the others had exited to climb the huge industrial sized pipe to the High Place, so her keen hearing picked up the vibration on the duct before Cy, her tenseness alerting Cy to check it out. She relaxed at the same time Cy gave the 'all clear', and didn't flinch when Kane popped through the window, closely followed by Seth, Lark, and Jaedyn.
'Kavi, Cy, you're being relieved,' Seth's voice carried the ring of command despite his voice lowered to that barely a whisper.
Lark and Jaedyn grinned as they replaced the youngest males to join the rest of the Unit. Vada cocked her head as she eyed Kane and her tic (third in command) but otherwise didn't say anything, despite the cat in her being intrigued with typical curiosity. An eyebrow soon rose as Seth gave an imperious hand wave for her to follow him.
Curiosity definitely getting the better of her, frowning slightly at her idiotically grinning 'brother' Kane, she followed the two boys to the combination of gear and utility locker toward the front of the squadbay. Were Seth's eyes twinkling with amusement? No, that couldn't be, he was the most serious of them all next to Zack, and Zack almost never smiled except at Maxie.
Kane opened the door and Vada was ushered inside, standing in the middle of the darkened gear locker, her night vision kicking in so she could almost see better than in the daylight. Unconsciously, she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, a subsonic sound wave going forth and bouncing off everything to return to her, a natural sonar, giving her a better idea of the inside of the room than just her regular night vision.
Vada had to wonder if perhaps she didn't receive a little whale or dolphin in her mix, maybe even some sort of bat. Talking to the others revealed that only Kane and Seth had this seemingly sonar capability, and they for the life of them couldn't think of what else they could be. It was interesting, each of the Unit had some basic similarities, like cat D.N.A., but then they differed in individual groups.
Max, Jondy, and Nala all had shark D.N.A. so they only needed to sleep like one night in four if at that, though tonight Nala didn't really need to. Seth, Kane, and her had some sort of sonar capabilities and extremely heightened hearing. Zack, Marko, and Ferro seemed to have the same heavy-duty physique and an extra burst of natural strength, as well as being the best at grasping tactics and strategy.
Zane, Ben, Jack, and Kyle all seemed to be the charmers of the group, with lots of personality and the ability to make others believe their far out fables. Those were only some of the individual trait groupings, there were more, but Seth had just stepped forward and gave the signal to…strip? What in the name of the Blue Lady?
Giving her brothers a dubious look, she nonetheless stripped, but only after pausing long enough to make sure they all were going to strip and this not be some prank. She was third born Eldest sister and was amazingly adept at hand to hand so Seth and Kane would be in for a whooping if they tried anything on her. Besides, it wouldn't take much convincing on her part to sic one of the dreaded Ben, Zane, Jack, and Kyle team of pranksters upon them.
Seth cupped his hands in front of him and boosted Kane upward, who promptly scooted aside one of the ceiling tiles and crawled through. Vada stared with jaw agape and gave Seth an incredulous look, he only held his hands out and she followed the unspoken order, placing her feet in his palms and reaching up. Kane caught her and pulled her in, and together they lifted Seth.
Using only hand signals, she followed her brothers, realizing now why they had stripped as she held back a sneeze at all the dust and fuzzies in the ductwork. They crawled through pipes and bundles of electrical, plumbing, fire suppressant pipes, and air conditioning/heating ducts. They were at it for a good five minutes before the 'corridor' they had been following emptied into a huge 'clearing', where all the master switches and outlets came. There were other 'corridors' that further into Manticore's building, but it seemed as if this was their destination.
It was dark here, darker than anywhere else, with no lights or anything to aide her feline vision for night vision. She had to solely rely on her hearing, smell, and 'sonar' to find her way about. The part of her that tied in largely to the sonar was suddenly at ease and Vada mused that perhaps a little bat must be in her and her two siblings D.N.A. and realized this was exactly what she needed, someplace high, but also dark, quiet and close together.
The trio gathered together, curling up, sharing body heat, and eventually, Vada was lulled into slumber. Her last conscious thought was Seth and Kane could stand watch for them to go back since it was their idea in the first place.
"Bat D.N.A.," Liz mused softly, keeping her voice and rocking to unnoticeable, years of experience having made it difficult even for a transgenic to detect. Seth and Kane had started a tradition that was as dear to them as going up to the High Place was for everyone else in their skewed up family.
Occasionally, when she was feeling as restless and dissatisfied as she had been, she found someplace dark and musty, preferably an air duct or something similar to what they had a Manticore, and she found her center. Vada supposed that was why she loved the desert, loved the caves so much.
She still thought splicing some whale or dolphin in her probably enhanced her echolocation in addition to the bat.
'Killer whale, orca, most likely,' she smirked. That would be neat to have some orca spliced into her. In her opinion the orca was one of the most awesome predators and creatures around.
"Maxie and Jondy can keep their shark, I'll take the killer whale and bat anytime," she smirked, withholding a chuckle. She had to be careful, ductwork carried echoes very clearly.
A sudden yawn caught her off guard, but she stifled it out of habit, and she could feel her head start to nod as her restless night last night caught up to her. There were tears in her eyes as she lowered herself to the bottom of the duct, her cheek resting against the air-conditioned cooled aluminum, and she wished heartily for Kane or Seth's reassuring heat beside her. But that was not to be. Seth wasn't here, she could only hope that he had escaped, the last she'd seen him was at the meeting place during the Escape, right before Zack split them all up.
And Kane…ah, Kane. The tears flowed freely but Liz made no sound, despite the ache in her chest and the hole in her heart. Kane, her most beloved of brothers, who knew her better than almost anyone, was gone. Kane, whom she had named, Kane who had been born to his surrogate the same time she had hers, who could always make her smile.
Dead, long before plans of escape had filtered through to the rest of the Unit. Dead, because some Manticore doctor had screwed up their brain connections, causing the precious super soldiers to experience life-threatening seizures. To be imperfect, flawed, blemished.
A sudden vibration at her side gave her a start before she realized it was her cell phone. Pulling out the Verizon Razor phone, she glared at the palm-sized object in her hand that was set on vibrate and rumbling in her hand, noted the caller i.d. The word Maria was flashing on the LCD screen, and Liz quickly hit the ignore button, watching as the background colors swirled and blinked at her. Thoughtfully, Liz turned the phone off and placed it back in her pocket, taking a glance at her wristwatch along the way.
Three o' clock. If she hurried and wasn't seen, she would be able to make it home, sneak into her bedroom, grab a quick shower, and get ready for work at three thirty.
But it was such a wonderful day…and the desert's call was stronger and pulled her with greater urgency.
Eh, I'll talk to Mom and Dad and Maria later. If I go home now, Maria will pounce on me as soon as I get there, and demand an explanation for my little defiance in Shepard's class. I wouldn't be too surprised if she's already talked to my parents. They'll be worried…
"But I need to get out of Roswell."
Her course of action determined, she rose to all fours and nimbly made her way through the ceiling, pausing when she reached the area she knew housed the band and music room. She cocked her head, clicking her tongue slightly through the crack in the ceiling tile, and listened to the echo. Someone was in the room, by the doorway, almost hidden behind some drums.
Frowning, she clicked again, harder this time and concentrating on that area, to get a good idea of whom was there. The mental image that came back was female, adult, and the facial structure seemed familiar…Ms. Topolsky? Vada gave an inaudible hiss, eyes darkening, lips pulling back instinctively in a slight snarl. Maybe she wouldn't get out of Roswell just yet. There was a mole at Roswell High who deserved Vada's attentions right now.
A/n: How did you like that one? I know that in the TV series Liz's phone is one of those large clunkers, but I figured since this is set in the Dark Angel timeframe that the phones would be a little smaller, cooler, and easier to carry around.
Please review! Jareth and I love to get reviews, it gets Jareth in the mood to write more! Jareth would like to see more than just the six reviews we have currently.
