(The Awesome Background And Secret Chronicles Of Michael Guerin)
Author's Note: On the TV series, Roswell "Monsters" was episode 102 and "Leaving Normal" was episode 103. I reversed them here.
Episode 103
The Valenti Factor (Monsters)
When you go with your heart all kinds of things can happen. We agreed a long time ago to never let our hearts lead us and to never leave normal… or whatever normal was to us back then… but to live our lives in self-imposed emotional isolation. The problem with emotional isolation is it's only appropriate for, well… monsters… freaks of nature… genies in a bottle. To some people, that was what we were… monsters. At least, we were sure that's what people would see us as… if they knew the truth about us. So we had placed ourselves in this bottle that we looked out at the world from. But what we did not know at the time was that leaving the state that we called "normal," leaving the genie's bottle, would actually be our first step toward proving that we were not monsters at all but were actually very, very human, at least in an emotional sense.
Liz stole Max's heart long before he ever healed her that day in the CrashDown, but it was Maria who reached out to us… in her own way… for no reason other than friendship, and already knowing what we were. She had pretty much forced Liz to tell her what really happened after that day at the CrashDown, and then she had freaked out when Liz told her. But like most things Maria, it just took a little time for her to adjust.
And as unlikely as it seems, it was Isabel who reached back… Okay, if you don't count our lovesick resident "alien" Romeo over there.
Maria was having a bad day at the CrashDown and Agnes refused to work. For Agnes, showing up for work was work. The rest of the day she spent taking cigarette breaks. This particular day, though, Liz was at the hospital with her Grandma Claudia and Maria was taking care of the café by herself… I mean with Agnes… Okay, by herself. And when Agnes announced, between puffs from her cigarette, that the customers would get their food when they got their food, Maria kind of freaked. Then Isabel came along, and alien-human relations took a big leap.
Okay, Isabel, I am going to hate myself for this, but I need to ask you for a favor that will leave me forever indebted to you. I am so dead here. Will you help me wait tables
You're kidding, right
Please.
To put this as succinctly as possible, I'm not really a service oriented person.
Wait! Wait! Wait! Liz's grandmother is in the hospital, okay? And if she doesn't think that I can do this, it's just going to give her one more thing to worry about. Please! Look, it's not for me, it's for Liz.
Well, since you put it that way… No.
So that was that, right? Yeah, right! If you think that, you really don't know Maria! By the way, Isabel, you looked really cute in that little alien waitress costume. OW! Hey! Ouch! Well, it's true, you did! Anyway, after that, Isabel suggested to Max that he go to Liz… because of her Grandmother being in the hospital and all.
You're the one who's always telling me I have to stay away from her. What are you saying, Iz?
I'm just saying that, you know, if something like this happened to grandma or grandpa, I wouldn't want to be kept away from who I really needed.
And that was it. That was the real start of alien/human relations, dysfunctional as they were in the beginning… if you don't count our star-struck Romeo and Juliet.
The next day, Maria was driving down the road in her car, singing "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera --believe it or not-- when she noticed Isabel's car broken down on the side of the road. It was being towed… again… and as some perverted quirk of fate would have it, the tow truck had this fake spaceship on the back of it. That made Maria smile, and she pulled over and leaned out the window…
Going home, Isabel?
Isabel was not amused, and the look on her face let Maria know it.
Um, I mean… um… do you need a ride?
Isabel stared at Maria for a moment and then got into the car. Right away, she started to "fix" some little flaws in Maria's car… stuff like the air conditioning and the stereo… as a friend, you know.
Did I say Maria freaks out easily? Uh, USED TO freak out easily I mean? Well, she did. Then, out of the blue, Maria asked Isabel if her mom knew that she and Max were aliens. "Different," I think, was the word she used.
You mean horrible disgusting creatures from outer space who sneak into your room at night and perform excruciating experiments, Maria?
Maria turned and stared at Isabel for a moment, and when she looked back at the road, there was a car right in front of her. She slammed on the brakes but it was too late. Did I mention quirks of fate? Well, it was Sheriff Valenti's car that she rear ended, and he got out and sauntered back to where Maria was slouching down in her seat trying to cover her face with her hand…
Oh my God! Oh my God!
Valenti looked at Maria then at Isabel…
Ladies.
"You're not going to take me in again, are you, Sheriff?"
Valenti took a deep breath, and Amy must have still been fresh in his mind, because he rubbed his head without realizing he was doing it.
"I don't think that will be necessary. You do have a driver's license, don't you? Please say you do!"
"Oh, yes! That… That is a definite… uh… yes! Definitely!"
"Can I see it… please?"
Maria dug in her purse and produced her driver's license, registration, and insurance card. Sheriff Valenti looked at them and handed them back with a smile.
"It's only a minor ding. I'll just write it up when I get back to the office. I'll need you to drop by my office sometime, though… soon… and sign some insurance papers for me. The insurance should take care of it. Oh! And, uh… after school will be just fine."
"Yes, sir… Sheriff."
Valenti didn't push things then; but later, he showed up at the CrashDown and ordered a Coke then whispered to Maria that he was there to protect her.
We knew what he was fishing for… something so he could lock us up as monsters… little green aliens… or whatever. And frankly, we were worried that Maria wouldn't be able to take the heat. I mean, she did have a reputation, back then, for being, uh… um… uh… a nice girl whose naïve… innocence… might be taken advantage of… by a determined person like Valenti… to get information, you know? Everybody in town knew that Valenti's father had tried all his life to prove the existence of aliens, and we figured the apple didn't fall very far from the tree, you know what I mean?
Maria did go to see Valenti the next morning, and she stood her ground with him. She didn't rat us out, and I was proud of her. That afternoon, after school, we all got together, and Liz and Maria were playing around. Somehow, Maria saw this paper in the principal's office and found out that I had a birthday a few days before, and she and Liz found out that Hank didn't get me anything. Well, that was no big news flash; he never got me anything. He never even acknowledged my birthdays. Most of the time, I even forgot that I had a birthday. It wasn't really a "birthday" anyway, you know what I mean? More like a hatched day. Who cared. Not me. But social services put down the day I was found as my birthday, so that was it, officially. Like I said, Hank could have cared less. But Liz and Maria had a little cake and some candles on it in the back of the CrashDown when I got there. Then they insisted on giving me gifts. They hadn't had time to buy anything, so it was just in fun stuff, you know. Liz gave me a pair of CrashDown antennas to wear on my head. As if! And Maria gave me a CrashDown apron, the one she was wearing. I wanted to say, "No way," you know, but the truth is, all I could feel was a big lump in my throat. It wasn't really what they were giving me… that was all just in fun stuff, you know. It was just that they… well, they cared enough to… they thought about… Anyway…
I think I swallowed some salt water while I was swimming. Gets stuck in my throat sometimes, you know.
After I left the CrashDown, I stuffed the antennas into my pocket and looked at the apron. Maria had been wearing that apron. I don't know why, but I decided to stick it inside my shirt for safe keeping. Well, hey, it wouldn't fit in my pocket, and I wasn't going to wear it. And besides… it felt kind of… right… next to my heart. Nobody else ever cared before enough to give me anything.
I decided to go for a ride and clear my head… sort out my thoughts and all, so I rode down to the mall for a while then headed out toward the desert to watch the sunset and be alone. I had a hard time handling feelings back then. I wasn't… accustomed to it. With Hank, you couldn't have feelings. You had to bottle them up. If you didn't, you'd do something you regretted.
As I was driving into the desert on my motorbike I see this car off the side of the road, and I wondered about it. Someone might be broke down or somethin' out there. Of course, I couldn't rescue anyone on a bike. But I guessed if I had to I could go get help for them, you know? So I pulled my bike off the road and looked around. I hadn't seen anyone walking on the road. I didn't see anyone off the road either, so I was just about to go when suddenly I hear noises coming from the other side of a big sand dune about a hundred feet away, so I went to check it out. I parked my bike and climbed up the sand dune. It sounded like someone getting hit. I know the sound a fist hitting someone makes…
Anyway, when I got to the top of the dune, I saw this guy beating up on some girl. It looked like he was trying to get his way with her, you know, and she was resisting. He had ripped off most of her clothes and was punching her in the face. I let him have it with a blast that knocked him clean over the other side of the next dune. Then, realizing what I had done, I tried to cover my face so the girl couldn't identify me. I should have sensed danger, but I let my emotions cloud my senses. As I covered my face, I got tackled from behind… hard… and knocked over the dune. I didn't stay down, though. I rolled back on my feet, and the two guys that tackled me got a big surprise they never expected. They got thrown over the dune with their friend. When they got up, they all took off running and I heard their car leave in a hurry. Then I looked at the girl again. She was shaking and scared.
"Are you okay? Geez, I'm sorry. That was stupid. Of course you're not okay. Are you hurt? Bad I mean?"
The girl sniffed and tried to wipe the sand and dirt off her face. Then she realized that she was exposed and tried to cover herself up, but her clothes were ripped too badly. I took off my shirt and put it around her…
"Do you know those guys?"
"They're from a school in Tucson… Arizona. They're in Roswell for the game."
"The football game… at the high school?"
"Yeah."
"Jocks?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe. Or they may just be in town to see the game. They're from Tucson, though."
I thought about it for a moment then nodded. "I don't want to leave you here by yourself, and I don't have a cell phone on me."
"I had a cell phone. One of them took it away from me; he threw it over that way somewhere."
"I'll find it."
I hurried up to the top of the dune and looked around. I guess I was lucky, because I spotted a glint of light in the sand a distance away, and it was her cell phone. I hurried back to her with it.
"I want you to call the sheriff's office. I happen to know the number by heart. Don't ask. Tell him you're six miles east of the city limits on the side of the road. Tell him what happened. But you have to promise me you won't tell him anything about me. You can't give him any description of me… at least not the right one. My life… other lives… depend on it. Please."
She nodded, seeming to understand. I looked at her face, trying to gauge it… to get any feel at all for what she might do. Would she tell him? I couldn't be sure, but I had a gut feeling that she wouldn't. I know, a gut feeling is not much to go on, but it's all I had. I wouldn't tell Max or Isabel. I can't stand smug "I told you so" looks, and Isabel is a force to reckon with when she's furious.
I dialed the number and handed the phone to the girl, then someone picked up on the other end.
"Sheriff's office. Valenti speaking."
"Hello, Sheriff? My name is Corinne…"
I stayed with her until I saw a dust trail coming a few miles down the road. Then I used my powers to remove the tire tracks my bike had made and I nodded toward the oncoming car.
"He'll be here in a couple of minutes. I have to go."
"Thanks. I won't tell him about you, I promise."
I nodded, hoping that she meant it. Then I took off on my bike, erasing my tracks behind me as I went. On the road, I quickly changed the color of my bike with my powers and slipped my helmet on over my head. Moments later, I passed the sheriff heading toward where Corinne was waiting. I knew she would be okay… and several guys were about to get busted by the long arm of the law. Valenti could be a pain in the ass, but you had to give him his due… He took a big bite out of crime in Roswell. He kept things pretty calm, for the most part. I had no doubt that those three guys would be sitting in his jail cell very soon.
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Jim Valenti closed his book and helped Corinne into his patrol car.
"You can't describe the person who saved you… anything at all?"
"I'm sorry, Sheriff. I was blinded. Those guys rubbed my face in the dirt, and my eyes were blurry… all I could see was a shadowy figure. He saved my life, though, and chased them off. I know that. He's a hero."
"So it was a guy then… who saved you."
"Yes… I think… maybe… or it could have been a girl. It was one or the other."
Valenti sighed and put his car into gear then pulled onto the road and headed back toward town. An hour later, he pulled up at the station again, after dropping Corinne off at the hospital. Deputy Hansen was there to meet him as he pulled up.
"I heard, Sheriff. Is she okay?"
"She'll be okay. Just took some hard punches to the face… probably a broken nose. Looked like maybe a fractured cheekbone, too. And her eyes got dirt in them. Clothes were ripped off of her. Three guys… sewer slime… one was battering her and the other two were apparently watching. She had a man's shirt wrapped around her when I got there, but she couldn't remember where she got it. I'm heading over to the high school. They'll be able to give me a starting place where I might be able look for our three new jail residents."
"Is this the shirt, Sheriff," Hansen asked, reaching into the car and removing a man's shirt from the back seat.
"Yeah. When the medics took her out of the car they wrapped a light blanket around her and tossed the shirt back into my car. They thought it was one of mine. I looked at it though. It's a common shirt… nothing unusual. Thousands of them out there. Could belong to anyone."
Hansen handed the shirt back to Valenti, and Valenti looked it over again and sighed. Then he noticed a string hanging down, and he tugged on it gently.
"Well, hello! What have we here?"
Something peeled away from the inside of the shirt and fell into Valenti's hands.
"What is it, Sheriff?"
Jim smiled, holding up an apron and staring at the alien motif emblazoned on it…
"A clue, Hansen. I'd call it a clue. After I throw three pieces of sewer scum into my jail, I'm going to make a little courtesy call at the CrashDown. Somebody there is missing something. Hop in the car. I've got a sudden desire to go huntin'."
"Hunting?"
"For sewer rats."
Hansen nodded and climbed in on the passenger side of Valenti's car.
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The administrator at Roswell High laid a list of names down on the counter, and Jim looked it over carefully…
"Is this all the students from Tucson who are here for the game?"
"All the ones who came on the bus, Sheriff."
"Could they have come on their own… not on the bus?"
The administrator nodded. "Sure. If they did, there's still a possibility that we can find out who they are, though. There's a roster of students attending the game. The athletic department has it. Everyone has to get a ticket or a student ID pass to get into the game."
"You wouldn't have pictures of any of these students would you?"
"No, sorry. Oh! You know what, though! I've got a Tucson High yearbook. It has pictures of all the students, whether they came for the game or not."
"Beautiful! Can I borrow it? I promise I'll bring it back."
"Sure. Take your time, Sheriff."
Jim took the book and handed it to Hansen. "We're going over to the hospital… to see if our girl can ID her attackers."
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Corinne turned the pages, shaking her head slowly after each one… "No… No… that doesn't look like any of them. She turned the page again and her breath caught in her throat… "Oh!" She pointed a shaking finger at the picture of a burly-looking boy with a smug smile, as her eyes welled up with tears… "This one… and right below him… he's one of them, too. And the one beside him is the other one."
Jim nodded and looked at the names. "Same class all three. Seniors. Looks like they won't be graduating with their class. Too bad. Now I just have to find out where they're staying. You did fine, Corinne… real fine!"
Back in the car, Jim made a few quick calls and got the name and room number of the motel where the three were staying, then he shook his head sadly… "What makes three guys, seniors, with their whole lives ahead of them throw it all away and screw their lives up like this?"
Hansen shrugged. "Just because someone made it as far as they did doesn't mean they got there through charitable works. They sound like the type who would pull butterflies' wings off and torture puppies and kittens when they were young. They've just moved up to people now… people who can't defend themselves at least."
Jim looked over at Hansen and nodded. "Their type are always cowards when you get right down to it. They want to hurt others, not get hurt. They think the world owes them everything and that they should get whatever they want handed to them on a silver platter. Well, they've got a surprise coming."
Jim pulled his squad car into the motel's parking lot and looked for the room number. "There it is. Back me up, Hansen."
"You got it, Sheriff."
Jim walked up to the door and knocked on it. A moment later, it opened slightly, and someone looked out. Then it slammed back quickly, but Jim was quicker, kicking the door open before it could be relocked.
"SHERIFF'S OFFICE! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR! NOW!"
Jim had his service revolver drawn, and the guy in front of him dropped to the floor, his hands over his head.
"Down all the way… on the floor… spread eagle. Where are the other two?"
"I'm the only one here. There's nobody else. I haven't done anything. What do you want with me?"
"You're under arrest for kidnapping, attempted rape, assault and battery… Any of this jog your memory?"
At that moment, Hansen came in through the back entrance, his gun drawn and two wide-eyed young men walking in front of him, their hands over their heads.
"Caught these two trying to make a run for it, Sheriff."
"Good work, Hansen." Jim looked at the guy on the floor… "Are these the two who aren't staying here with you?"
"I want my lawyer."
"You'll get one. You two, get down on the floor, too. Spread eagle, beside your friend…
You have the right to…"
Jim rattled off their rights then handcuffed their hands behind their backs, as they grimaced…
"You're hurting me, Sheriff. That's too tight," the first one complained.
"Good," Jim muttered, putting a finger under the cuffs to test the tightness. "Any looser and you wouldn't be cuffed. Buck up and bear it. Life is going to get a lot harder for you three in the near future. You might as well get used to it."
Hansen smiled.
"I didn't touch her," one of the two guys Hansen had caught said. "I was just…"
Jim nodded. "Watching? Standing guard? It's called aiding and abetting… to kidnapping, attempted rape, and assault and battery."
"You're wasting your time with us," the first guy said bitterly. "The one you should be arresting is that monster that attacked us. He probably attacked the girl, too. You should be out there looking for him… protecting the citizens from things like that."
"Yeah, he's not human," the second guy agreed. "He was glowing all over, and he threw us over a hundred feet… without even touching us. No human can do that. That's who you should be tracking down, Sheriff… instead of bothering some nice guys just minding their own business. You should go find that monster."
Jim took a deep breath and seemed to think about what the two had just said for an unusual amount of time before answering seriously…
"There are different kinds of monsters in this world… There's your kind… the kind I'm sworn to defend our innocent citizens from… and there's… other kinds. I'm starting to have a lot of respect for one of those other kinds… an awful lot of respect. Help me get 'em into the car, Hansen. We'll drop 'em off in a cell then head over to the café… you know the one. Do you have any Tylenol on you?"
"No, sir. Why?"
"Because I'm going to be getting a headache."
End of Episode 103
tbc…