Max detected at least one person emerging from the alley where Liz and Serena went to investigate the missing football players. He desperately wanted to see Liz walk around the corner. Her absence at the general store after the police's hard-to-miss arrival clued Max that she encountered a problem of some kind. He kept his guard up. Isabel, Michael and Ava caught up to him and stood just behind him now. Instead of Liz, Serena emerged by herself, rubbing the back of her neck. She jumped when she first spotted them but expressed relief when she recognized them.

"Serena," Max exclaimed. "Where's Liz?"

Serena shook her head. "They took her," she said.

"Who?" Max asked. "Who took her?"

Serena's reply sent a chill down Max's spine, "The Special Unit."

Max took a moment for those three words to sink in. He recently revisited his experiences in the White Room after Zan went digging for them and triggered a flash that he shared with his son. That seemed more like watching an old family video on TV rather than truly reliving the experience. At that time, Max focused much of his attention on taking control of the flashes he sent to Zan. Then Liz called needing his help, so he didn't take the time to soak in the emotions of his experience.

However, now those feelings came rushing. The fear from the uncertainty of what they would or could do to him hit first. Then, he remembered the pain from the torture. Max managed to endure a lot because he felt like as long as the Special Unit's attention remained focused on him, then Isabel and Michael were safer, along with their human friends. It broke Max when the Special Unit ultimately threatened to hurt Liz if he didn't cooperate. He didn't need that moment to reaffirm his love for Liz, but it did illustrate to Max that their human friends were just as much a part of all of this as the aliens.

Shortly after escaping the White Room, Max vowed that he would die before he let the Special Unit capture anyone else he cared about. Now that they scooped up Liz, Max felt like he broke that promise.

Max felt almost paralyzed by anger, worry, hopelessness and guilt. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Max," Isabel said warmly and quietly, "are you ok?"

His sister helped center Max's attention on the matter at hand and away from his overwhelming thoughts of negative energy. Isabel was the only other person besides Liz that could help Max in this way. He felt grateful she found his way to him for this adventure after so many years apart. Max took a deep breath.

"If the Special Unit has Liz, then we need to find a way to save her," Max announced.

"Do we have any idea where they took her," Michael asked, looking at Serena.

Serena shook her head no, still rubbing the back of her neck.

Ava stepped forward, "What about Zan? We need to get him back too."

Max paused a moment before reacting to that. He agreed, and Max didn't want to feel like he needed to pick between the safety of his wife and his son. He quickly concluded that the group shouldn't split up to mount simultaneous recues because the ability to attack as a complete Royal Four unit seemed like their biggest strength. Max tried to think about what Liz would do. This caused him to think through the facts logically so that he could find a way to prioritize a rescue. Once he took this mindset, the answer seemed obvious, even though he knew Ava wouldn't like it.

Max grimaced, bracing for a fiery response from Ava as he spoke, "We will get Zan back, too. But there's a difference. Zan chose to go with Nicholas and Kivar. Whatever they want from him—or with him—it's unlikely that his life is in immediate danger. But with Liz in the hands of the Special Unit, they're probably torturing her right now."

"We don't know that," Ava protested. "Zan's a victim of Nicholas and his tricks. He don't know what he's gettin' into. We gotta help 'im."

"Zan made his choice," Michael reasoned bluntly, "Liz didn't. We need to help Liz first."

"And you all feel this way?" a heartbroken Ava asked.

Ava made eye contact with Isabel, who started to say something and then just slightly nodded her head. Next, Ava looked over at Serena. Serena seemed like she didn't want to disappoint Ava, but Max sensed that Serena also favored going after Liz first.

Serena spoke with an uncharacteristically gentle carefulness, "It… makes sense tactically to…"

Ava didn't let her finish, "Yo, you think I give a damn about that! Screw all of ya. I'm going to help Zan right now, even if I gotta do it all by myself."

Ava turned to walk away and Max projected his energy shield a few feet ahead blocking her path. It didn't possess nearly as much power as when he steadily fueled the energy from his hand, but he aimed to make a statement, not truly contain Ava.

At the sight of the field, Ava turned back toward the group.

"No you won't," Max stated authoritatively, "and that's an order."

"An order?!" Ava retorted. "Ya think I'm takin' orders from you?"

"We have to stick together to survive everything that's going on," Max stated firmly. "I may not want to be king and you may not want to be queen, but that's what we have. If we don't want Kivar and the government to wipe out everything and everyone we love, then we can't just each go our own way. We can't keep pretending that the people we were back on Antar don't matter anymore. Like it or not we…"

FLASH

Max suddenly found himself lying in a large bed. Thinly veiled curtains covered a large window to his right, helping dim the sunlight of a slightly unfamiliar look and color. Max looked down at his hands and bare chest as he sat up against the headboard to check that he was still human. Even though he saw his hands, arms and torso as human, he somehow sensed that he was on Antar and reliving a memory from his former life.

Max retrieved only a small fraction of the many memories available in the recesses of his human brain from life on Antar. None of those memories were this vivid, but he did remember Isabel describing memories of her and Kivar's romance that looked and felt like this. However, they always thought Kivar exerted some kind of influence or used a power in some way to achieve that. Through a feeling he couldn't quite explain, Max knew that this experience originated solely from his own mind.

Max realized that he wasn't alone in bed. He didn't notice at first because it took him a few moments to get his bearings after a single blink transported him from the alley behind Northwest Texas Community College to becoming fully immersed in some sort of dream state memory from Antar. As he started to acclimate to his surroundings, he became aware of another body, fully obscured by the covers and huge fluffy pillows that lied between Max and the large window to his right.

By sitting up and moving his hands out from under the covers to examine them, Max jostled the bedding enough to attract the attention of the other person. She rolled over and slid across the silky sheets. He felt her brush up against him and peek her through the covers as she lifted herself up to his level. Even though their human bodies looked identical, Max recognized his bed partner as Tess and not Ava.

At first sight, he wanted to throw her off of him and leap out of bed, but that feeling passed after only a brief moment. Suddenly, it felt perfectly natural for him to be in bed with who he now saw as Ava, his former wife and queen. He felt her snuggle up against his body and he glanced down to see her smiling at him.

"Good morning," Queen Ava said.

She pushed herself up a little higher and started to kiss Max. Liz popped into his head for only a second but thoughts of Liz and feelings of betraying her quickly faded away. As he kissed Queen Ava passionately, he felt a love and warmth from her as if in the presence of his soulmate. She looked and sounded just like Tess, which made sense. Tess was the one with Max, Michael and Isabel in their set of pods. Max never felt this sense of true love with Tess, though.

As they broke off the kiss, Max understood that he couldn't control himself because he relived a memory. It felt like watching another consciousness inhabit and control his body. But Max figured that something triggered this memory for a reason that he needed to understand, so he let go of his own stream of thoughts intentionally and decided to bear witness to the memory being pushed upon him.

Queen Ava looked back toward the window and then back up at King Zan.

"The suns are barely up," Queen Ava pointed out, "I don't suppose I can persuade you to stay in bed a while longer."

She started kissing his neck seductively just below his right ear. Max experienced the feeling of strong arousal. It reminded him of the afterglow feelings he experienced following his one night with Tess. Something about physical lovemaking was more intense for his alien half.

King Zan smiled lovingly and moved his hand under Queen Ava's chin, gently guiding her head to look up and make eye contact with him.

"You know that if I could stay here with you all day, I would," King Zan shared.

Queen Ava slid away from him a few inches. "But… There's always a but…"

"I continue to get reports on murmurs of an uprising," King Zan explained. "I can't rest easily knowing that there are forces on this very planet that threaten our current Golden Age of peace and prosperity."

King Zan got out of bed and donned a robe that rested on the arm of a chair just a foot away from his side of the bed.

Queen Ava began to share her thoughts on the matter, "Threats from outside the palace don't offer a legitimate threat to your thrown…"

"Not this again," King Zan pouted with a sigh.

"I'm telling you, my intelligence continues to report that Vilandra is spending a suspiciously large amount of time with Kivar," Queen Ava tried to continue.

King Zan cut her off again. "Kivar?" he scoffed dismissively. "Kivar is a loyal general. Brutal when needed, but he's not nearly powerful or influential enough to take on the Royal Four."

"Maybe not on his own," Queen Ava agreed, "but if he uses his charms on Vilandra, she has the influence to help curry more military support for him and the access to the palace to catch us by surprise."

King Zan hopped back onto the bed and held Queen Ava's hand while flashing a cocky smile at her that he meant to come off as reassuring.

"Vilandra is my sister," King Zan stated confidently, "she would never betray me. She's been meeting with Kivar at my request to use him to help identify anyone plotting against me. And Kivar's charms? Vilandra has a good life with Rath, and she loves him."

"I don't know," Queen Ava insisted, "the last few times I've seen Rath and Vilandra together, I sense some kind of tension between them. Larek noticed it too the last time he visited."

"They probably just had a fight," King Zan reasoned casually.

Then King Zan wrestled Queen Ava onto her back playfully and held her wrists down as he bore over her.

"Aren't you glad we never fight like that?" King Zan asked teasingly.

Queen Ava giggled and used the light heartedness to wiggle free and push King Zan off of her.

"If you're going to go and start keeping the world safe, then go," Queen Ava said.

King Zan rolled up and out of the bed once again. He turned back toward his queen.

"Try to go back to sleep if you can," King Zan suggested tenderly, "there's no reason my burdens need to turn both of us into morning people."

"Zan," Queen Ava pleaded as he turned to head out of their bedroom, "just promise me you'll talk to Vilandra and at least consider assigning her to something that takes her away from Kivar—maybe a diplomatic mission to one of the other worlds."

King Zan sighed and then smiled. "I promise. You're right that she's probably learned all we need from Kivar for now. The four of us are scheduled to dine together tonight, so I will speak to her after… if I can pry her away from Rath that is."

Even though Max resigned himself to observing the strange first person memory experience, he suddenly became acutely aware of which morning he witnessed. It was the day of Kivar's coup. Vilandra worked for weeks to change up the palace guard assignments to place Kivar's loyalists in and around their home. Vilandra only went to the palace that night to personally grant Kivar access and lead him to Zan.

As King Zan and Queen Ava wrapped up their last full conversation before their deaths, Queen Ava offered one parting nugget to her husband.

"Just remember," Queen Ava said, "the Royal Four… We rose to power together. We stay in power together. And the only way we will lose power is if we fall apart."

Max's own thoughts kicked back on. He knew this line is why this particular memory resurfaced at this moment and that he could use it to get through to Ava.

WASH OUT

Another blink of his eyes and Max found himself in the alley once more. He knew that maybe a second passed since the flash triggered his memory, so he could pick up his train of thought and Ava would only perceive the slightest hesitation.

"…We rose to power together. We stayed in power together. And the only way we lost power is by falling apart," Max repeated almost the exact words she told him in their former life.

Ava's expression softened.

"You understand why we need to stick together, don't you?" Max asked.

Ava nodded solemnly.

"Believe me," Max continued, "nobody wishes more than me that we could forget about Antar and our lives there."

"Ya know back then you used to listen to me," Ava explained.

"I will listen now, too," Max insisted with a calm and measured confidence present in his tone.

Ava took a moment. She still looked somewhat angry, but Max sensed that he successfully got through to her.

"Fine," Ava said, as she walked over to rejoin the group.

Max turned his attention toward Serena.

"So you're sure you didn't see anything after they snatched, Liz?" Max asked her. "Any detail could be helpful, like a license plate or the direction their vehicle was heading."

Serena still grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck, "No, I…"

When Serena first broke the news, Max immediately got tunnel vision thinking about rescuing Liz as soon as possible. Convincing Ava to support that decision and reliving the memory from Antar helped snap him out of a focus so singular that he didn't pick up all the details around him, such as how much pain Serena experienced.

Max stepped forward, "Here, let me."

Max placed his hand on the back of Serena's neck and used his powers to heal her.

Serena exhaled in relief. "Thanks," she said, "that's two that I owe you! Like I said, I think I blacked out for a minute. By the time I came to, the Special Unit's black vans that took Liz were out of sight. I wish I could help more…"

As Serena trailed off, Max got the impression she fished for information outside her recent experience that could help. Serena didn't get the opportunity to collect her thoughts and continue as Ava quickly jumped in.

"See," Ava contested, "we got no idea where the G-men took Liz. We know Zan's probably being held on the ship."

Isabel jumped in, "That's the same ship where Liz saw all of us getting killed in her vision when we tried to attack it directly."

"But Liz was with us, then" Ava persisted in trying to convince Max and the group to go after Zan first, "maybe it'll go different now given what all's happened since she saw that."

Max felt a bit of frustration because it seemed like he argued in circles with Ava. Fortunately, Michael jumped in to defend his plan.

"The best way to know for sure is to get Liz back and see if she's still having that vision," Michael offered.

"I've learned some about the Special Unit during my investigations," Serena reminded them, "which has been easier since they're not hunting me. I believe they would take Liz somewhere nearby, probably here in town. They wouldn't want long travel to delay their plans for her. We just need a clue to start us on the right path."

"I think I can help with that," a familiar voice announced.

It came from behind Max, who turned to see Kyle Valenti, or what looked like Kyle, emerging from the intersection of the side alley and the back alley. He walked toward the group.

"Kyle," Isabel exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

It occurred to Max that they needed to exercise caution just in case Kivar or another shapeshifter entered the alley and not their friend Kyle. After being fooled by Kivar disguised as Michael and then Henry, the owner of the general store, Max didn't want to get fooled a third time.

Max exchanged a quick look with Michael who also appeared suspicious and cautious. He knew Serena and Ava weren't familiar with Kyle regardless.

"Hard to believe, right?" Kyle asked playfully. "Wait, Tess?"

"It's Ava," Ava corrected him.

Max decided to take action this time, he moved quickly toward Kyle. Max grabbed Kyle's t-shirt with his left hand and placed his right palm over Kyle's heart, all while guiding the unsuspecting Kyle back up against the nearby wall.

"Jeez, Evans, what the hell is this?!" Kyle asked.

"I'm sorry, but we can't take any chances. Tell us something only the real Kyle Valenti would know," Max demanded.

"The real Kyle Valenti?" Kyle questioned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do it," Michael commanded.

Michael took up a position just behind Max and a little off to his right where Michael could make eye contact with Kyle. Isabel took up a similar position to Max's left while Serena and Ava hung back a couple feet.

"Uh, well, I…" Kyle stumbled, as all of this appeared to catch him legitimately off guard. He looked in the direction of Isabel. "What about that time your senior year when Max here forbid you from going to college, so I fed you a whole bunch of ideas to use your powers to mess with him."

Max glanced back at Isabel, "That was him?"

"I wasn't very creative with that kind of stuff back then," Isabel mused.

Kyle continued, now speaking to Max, "Or the time I got you drunk and followed you all over Roswell while you were pining for Liz? Do you remember when you…"

Max released Kyle, and Kyle stumbled forward a step.

"It's him," Max declared.

Ava and Serena came in closer and the group formed a semi-circle around Kyle.

"Ok," Kyle said somewhat sarcastically to acknowledge they were satisfied, "now can you tell me what that was all about?"

"Sorry," Max replied, "but we had to be sure you weren't an alien shapeshifter."

"Ohh, like that Nog-ee-ah-go guy?" Kyle asked.

"Nasedo," Michael corrected.

"You heard about the UFO rumored to have crashed near here?" Isabel asked him.

Kyle nodded.

"It turns out it's Kivar and more of our enemies," Isabel explained. "Like Nasedo, they all have the ability to shapeshift into other people. Kivar impersonated Michael yesterday, so we had to take precautions."

"Oh, Kivar," Kyle acknowledged, quickly getting up to speed, "as in your former love…"

Isabel cut him off. "So what exactly brings you this way?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting to find the old gang back together again," Kyle replied. "I got to the scene near that general store and caught your group running into this alley. I came to see who was running or what they were hiding."

"So then what brought you to El Quartelejo?" Max asked.

"I'm actually tracking the Special Unit," Kyle revealed.

Michael jumped in first to express the confusion that Max, and surely Isabel too, also felt. "What? Why would you do that?"

Kyle's demeanor changed and he took a deep breath before answering. "Because… Max and Michael, you remember Carmen? She's now my wife, and those bastards took her. I've been chasing them all over the country."

"Oh, Kyle," Isabel said, "we're really sorry to hear that."

"Why would they take your wife?" Michael asked.

"Because you know how Liz eventually developed an ability because Max healed her? Well, as I'm sure you all remember, I came with you all because I thought my time to snap, crackle and pop would come too. But then it didn't seem like anything was developing. That's part of why I left the group. Well, two years ago, I noticed something changed in me."

"You have abilities now?" Max asked.

Kyle nodded. "I didn't want to believe it at first. But I'm like some kind of Martian bloodhound."

"What does that mean?" Serena asked.

"It…" Kyle hesitated as he made eye contact with her.

"I'm Serena, by the way," Serena stated quickly before Kyle could ask.

"She's ok. She's with us," Max affirmed.

"Nice to meet you," Kyle said with a wave at her. "My ability allows me to get a sense of someone's location as long as I have a personal object that belongs to them. I can effectively track them anywhere, especially when I'm close."

Kyle wore a silver chain around his neck that was tucked under his shirt. He pulled it out to reveal it contained a diamond wedding ring attached to the front.

"Carmen took off her ring while she was washing dishes when they broke into our house and abducted her," Kyle explained.

"Why would they do that?" Isabel asked.

"Because it turns out the Special Unit kept tabs on us the whole time," Kyle revealed. "Don't think they don't have people watching you out in New Hampshire, too."

"Oh, God," Isabel said under her breath, mostly to herself.

"Anyway," Kyle continued, "they got wind that something was going on with me and confronted me. When they learned of my ability they wanted me to help track Max and Liz. I refused. They took Carmen to strong arm my cooperation. Even if I wanted to give in to their demands, I don't have anything of yours to track you. But I'm able to track Carmen, and I will free her from them."

"And she's here too," Isabel asked, "in El Quartelejo?"

Kyle put his head down. "Not anymore. The sense is weak right now. I'd have to pick a direction and start driving to see if it gets stronger. If not, I have to backtrack to where I lost the trail and try heading in a new direction. I've found that sometimes it's faster to see if I can find her trail the old fashioned way."

"How long have you been doing this?" Isabel asked.

"Going on 18 months now," Kyle replied.

"And you're looking to take on the Special Unit all by yourself?" Max asked, somewhat hesitant to accept this because it seemed unrealistic.

"No," Kyle clarified, "I'm not completely crazy, Evans. Carmen's dad is a retired cop, so he and several of his old pals are committed to working with me until we get her back. When I recognized you all, I told them to go stay in the motel. I figured you wouldn't want anyone new to know your secret."

"Thank you," Max said.

"So as you walked up you said you could help us with something…" Serena prompted.

"Right," Kyle said, perhaps rubbed the wrong way a bit by Serena's patented gruff frankness, "I overheard you talking about the Special Unit nabbing Liz. I assume you have some kind of personal effect of hers."

Max nodded.

"Good," Kyle said, "I can use that to help find out where they're keeping her. We'll get Liz back, and I want the opportunity to press those Special Unit suits to help me find the right trail to get Carmen back, too."

"What are we waiting for?" Serena asked.

"It's a good question," Kyle added, "someone's going to tell those cops that you all ran this way. We should get out of here."

"We upgraded the van to a camper," Max explained. "It's parked across town. We can go there and get something of Liz's and let your powers go to work."

The group started to head out. Max hung back to make sure Ava, who remained quiet throughout the conversation with Kyle, didn't decide to slink away from the rest of the group and attempt to save Zan solo, but she stayed in lockstep with the others as they filed out.

Max still worried about the pain and torment that the Special Unit may inflict on Liz before they could get to her. He also enjoyed a sense of both relief and good fortune that Kyle, another friendly face, showed up with the ability to help mount a rescue.