Last I Checked, I Was Still On Top

Part One

Jim shuts off the video; they've watched it three times already. Amy puts her head between her knees. "I think I'm going to be sick." She takes a deep breath and holds it a second before slowly letting it out. Diane gently rubs small circle on her back. "They're just kids--our kids, and they are doing full on battle at Holiday Inns now? On the lamb from covert agencies, getting married, and now there are evil doppelgangers or illusionists or whatever the hell is going on!" Amy struggles to calm her self, she sits upright again. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to lose it. It's all just…" She trails off as she swallows the lump in her throat. "I feel like I woke up in the Sci-fi channel. It's just really too much." Diane puts her arm over Amy's shoulder gently hugging her.

"Jim, you brought Brenton to us, you know he wants us to help him capture Isabel and everyone else." Jesse looks Jim in the eye. "Do you trust him?" there is a slight edge to Jesse's voice. Jim looks around at his friends, these people he considers family. He knew there was only one answer to give, and that he had committed himself to this answer the moment he agreed to bring Brenton to the Crash Down.

"Yes." Jim scratches his chin and sighs. "I have my concerns about what this will mean for our kids, their future, and their safety. I know this is a huge risk. Almost too big, but it is all we have." He looks away his face unable to mask his pain, his eyes fill with tears. A long silent moment passes as each parent contemplates what this decision will mean. Charlie walks back into the room, as he surveys the others, as sparks of sadness are set off inside him, he clenches his fists at his side, and pushing his emotions aside he clears his throat.

"Now that you've seen the video, you have a sliver of understanding as to the danger your children are in." Charlie turns to Jesse. "From the reports I've read your wife had agreed to this deal prior to the attack. I know this is not easy, and it feels like it is an impossible decision, but Isabel had agreed to it because she recognized this is her chance for some semblance of a normal life." He looks back to the others. "The fact is this, the success of this plan does not rest in your participation of it. My organization will continue to track them until we succeed, but we do admit we will save time and possibly lives with your assistance. Now the choice is for each of you to make, but I need your answers now."

"What do you want to do to them?" Jeff takes a step forward, turning slightly to avoid his wife's eyes.

Charlie sighs and sits down, he knew they would ask, of course this question would be asked. He could give them answers for not a whole lot when it came down to it. He crosses his legs and leans back in his seat. "That information has not been cleared for your knowledge." He holds up a hand to stop the onslaught of protests. "Folks, this is not going to be a situation where everyone comes home and it all ends happily ever after. This is more "as good as it gets" than anything else. The moment their powers became known, 'normal' was no longer an option for them. I cannot tell you what will happen, where they will be held, or when you will be able to see them exactly. I can, however make you two promises. The first, is simple, we are offering them a life. They will have to live outside of society in a controlled environment, for as long as we see fit. But you will get to see them eventually, and have contact with them, which is more than you can say you have now. Correct?" He stands and turns to Jim. "The second," He turns back to the others. "They are being hunted, whatever it is hunting them will kill to get them. We want them safe, and you can make it so." He clasps his hands before him. "Now, what do you decide?"

"If you harm one hair on my daughter's head, nowhere in the entire world will be safe for you." Amy stands tall, her eyes fierce and her jaw clenched tight. "You give me your word that you make sure they are not harmed."

Charlie rubs his fingers together, the sparks of emotions and stress present. "I give you my word."

"We have no way of contacting them." Philip steps forward. "They didn't want us in anymore danger so we have no way of contact them. How are we supposed to get them to come home?"

"No one has any way what-so-ever of contacting them?" all the parents shake their head. Charlie locks eyes with Jesse. "The faster we locate them, the faster they are safe from those that seek them out to harm them." Jesse glares as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Philip slowly turns to face Jesse.

"You have a way of contacting them?" Philip asks, though his tone is even, the look in eyes cuts at Jesse. There was no way around this, he had betrayed them. Jesse nods.

PART TWO

Isabel sits across from Kyle, both have their eyes closed. Max, Maria, Michael, and Liz stand nearby watching them. Kyle starts to laugh, Isabel frowns. "Stop it Kyle!" Kyle tries to control him self, falls over to his side laughing.

"I'm sorry it feels so weird." He scratches his head, he pushes himself up again. Isabel glares at him. "I'm so sorry. It's like being tickled everything tingles." He wipes tears from his eyes. "I mean, just do it with your hand! Why get all Jedi mind trick with the whole thing?" He is grinning like a fool. Liz points to the back of Kyle's head. Michael cranes his neck for a better look, a large smile spreads over his face. Kyle turns to them. "What?" Isabel gasps.

"It worked!" Her eyes light up and she clasps her hands together.

"Dude you look like a skunk." Michael smirks.

Kyle gets up and looks in the mirror, he grins and turns back to Isabel. "Were you thinking skunk?" He laughs and gives her a high five; she laces her fingers through his and he pulls her up to him. They come face to face, his eyes lock with her briefly, the tingly effect from her experiment spreading through his body.

She shakes her head. "No I wanted to do pink highlights, but for a third try it's not so bad." She pulls Kyle to the window. The light hits the streak of white hair; she runs her fingers through it. "No roots showing, that's good." She leans closer for a better look. Kyle suddenly steps back; Isabel tilts her head as she looks at him quizzically.

"What?" she laughs.

"I don't know. What?" he puts his hands in his pockets and turns to the others. "You can fix this right?

Max frowns, worried about the results. They all had been working with varying degrees of success and some memorable failures in strengthening their powers. Three months after they left Roswell, the gang had stopped in Lake Ariel, PA. On their second night, while the others had been roasting marshmallows over a roaring campfire, Isabel and Kyle had retreated closer to the lake. Isabel would link with Kyle to help him learn to hone his powers. As it was explained to Max, once the link was established if they both relaxed enough the link was so intense it consumed their senses, it felt like an explosion of energy through ever inch of them. Isabel learned to control it first, and she was then able to actively control Kyle's memories, she could view his entire life's memories as though they were catalogued. The initial benefits of the link were one sided, Isabel was buzzing with power and Kyle was completely depleted. By the fifth attempt they had all worked out a way to keep the balance of energy but still allowing for the boost to powers. By the time trouble found them in Lake Ariel, Isabel has begun to show signs of a new power. She could move the life force from one living creature to another. A month after they had escaped Lake Ariel, Isabel realized she could heal by giving her energy away, but her powers would be tapped for days. This too was only a temporary limit she was moving past, if the occurrences at Twin Peaks were any indication. So far the added power boost had been the only benefit the others had got from these sessions. The range Liz could get with her power tripled, Michael could shift much faster and with less difficulty, the strength of his powers still seemed more tied to his emotions however. As for Max, he didn't feel stronger, he felt on edge afterward, like he had drank a three Red Bulls and a gallon of black coffee. If he had to admit it to himself, he was concerned that Isabel's power had advanced while his power had not. Now she could manipulate matter by a single thought. Sure it was a line of gray hair on Kyle, but it was still more than he could do. If he had to admit it, he really didn't like it at all.

"Our powers are supposed to evolve naturally. Maybe we should focus on strengthening what we have instead of finding our limits. This seems like you are forcing it. What I mean to say is that to get it before your ready, you can't guarantee you can control it. Which makes it dangerous to those around it. Isabel has developed two powers since she began this mediation experiment." Max looks at Kyle. "What about you?"

Kyle lost in thought and sensation of the experiment tapering off, gazes into the dark fire place.

"Kyle?" Max waves his hand in front of his face. Kyle snaps out of his thoughts, his face flushes.

"Huh?" Kyle glances over to Isabel quickly. "Maybe. I think I'm starting to develop, well maybe it's not exactly…" He looks over to Isabel for help.

"He can sometimes slip ideas into peoples minds' when they are sleep. It seems to work for very small amounts of time, and he can't do it again for about a week…right?" She looks back at Kyle.

"Yeah. But at first thought, it was like a month between them." Kyle leans on the arm of the sofa, he avoids looking at Max.

Max eyes him skeptically. "Are you saying you can implant thoughts? That you've already—" Max freezes before he can finish, his eyes get wide at the thought that occurs to him. "You've done it to one of us. That's how you can be sure it has worked. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" Max turns to Iz. "You of all people should remember how dangerous it is to mess with someone's mind."

"Max." Liz puts her hand in his put he pulls it away and points at Kyle. "Why did you not come to me about this?"

Isabel stands and moving between Kyle and Max, her eyes reflecting defiance. "I told him not to tell you, because at first we though that maybe everything was just a coincidence and— but when we realized it wasn't, well his power is still very weak Max. Secondly, I knew you would tell us to hold back, to maybe to even stop trying. We are running for our lives Max, any advantage we can get on the Dupes and Nicholas, everything that is coming after us, the better." She turns to leave, hesitates and looks back at her. Her voice is heavy with emotion. "You decided not to trust the council and we went along with you, as we always do. We don't have to agree with you about everything Max. We can have our own minds." she stops talking and takes a deep breath. This was beginning to get out of hand, and she wasn't looking for a fight. "If the person with the implanted thought is able to resist it for 2 hours after he wakes, the thought vanishes. It's only if…" Her eyes dart nervously to Michael, then back to Max.

"Only if what?" Max grits his jaw clenched.

"If the person wakes up, and the suggestion pops into their head and they internally commit to that idea. It apparently can consume them a bit. Might make them a bit crazy until they complete what they've mentally committed to do."

Everyone stares in shock at this revelation. Maria suddenly clasps her hands over her mouth. She turns to Michael. "Banana and peanut butter chip pancakes with pecan syrup and shredded cheddar cheese with two ketchup packets. You threw such a fit when Max didn't stop at the IHOP. He had to go back just to shut you up!" Her eyes light up and she shakes her head. "Kyle did that?" Iz nods, failing to hide the smile.

"Dude, you're dead." Michael stands and Kyle puts his hands up. "I'm not your monkey."

"It is not my fault you are the most susceptible to the power." Isabel pushes Michael back.

"Come on it was harmless." Maria pulls Michael over to her.

"I should have been told." Max crosses his arms.

"No, I should have been told." Michael scowls at Kyle.

"Max this benefits us." Liz turns him to face her. "They didn't do anything wrong." Max looks around the room, hoping to find an ally, finding none he turns and leaves the room. Liz sighs and follows him.

"He's not wrong Isabel." Michael crosses his arms.

"I know, but we're not wrong either." Isabel sighs and sits back down. "I know he's angry I made that deal in Twin Falls." Isabel swallows the lump in her throat. "But would any of you have done different?"

PART THREE

Lonnie leans against the windshield of the car, closing her eyes and soaking up the sun. Rath is on pay phone getting yelled at. "I understand what you have said, but little man, you need to shut up and hear the words coming out of my mouth. Max and the others are off the grid. We have can't find them."

"You have been given one task that you have failed at multiple times. I am astounded by your stupidity. How you have managed to survive as long as you have speaks more to human stupidity than—you are an epic failure Rath. Even your name is stupid." The line goes silent for a brief moment. When the voice returns there is an icy tone, tipped with cold danger. "Put Valandra on the phone now."

Rath drops the receiver and storms over to Lonnie. "The king midget wants you." He grits his teeth. "I swear when I see Nicholas again I am going to remind him who exactly he is dealing with." Rath drops his hand against the hood of the car, there is a sizzling sound and when he pulls his hand back the red paint has burnt away. Lonnie sits up and pulls him close to her.

"Let me handle him from now on. Like I said before, he has issues only a woman of my talents can manage." She grins and slides off the hood. She picks up the phone and holds it to her ear. Her voice is sweet and light. "Nicholas, I'm sorry for letting Rath make the call on that last one. Seriously we have tried every possible way of getting to them."

"I don't care how you are doing what was ordered of you. I care that you fail. I care that you don't seem to worry about the consequences of those failures. Kivar has plans Valandra, and you and your little assistant are dangerously close to disturbing those plans. The trail you two leave behind is laughable. I'm surprised the Council hasn't eliminated you both yet themselves." The venom in his voice sends a chill up her spine.

"I understand, Nicky, and I have a plan. It is guaranteed to bring unending pain to Max and his followers." She smiles a little more sure of herself.

"You don't even know where they are. I think it's time I get involved in this myself."