Always With You 3:2A
Always With You Part Three by Watcher Tara
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Roswell.
Summary: Max and Kyle have to team up to save Liz from an unexpected threat. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang returns to Marathon, Texas looking for answers and finds more than they anticipated.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: PG
Authors Note: You REALLY should read Always With You part one and two first, but if you haven't, here's what you've missed: Tess was evil and not the fourth alien, the gang killed her and Liz discovered she has powers, too. They find an alien weapon called the Shield and learn about the existence of the Sword, another weapon.
Chapter Two
The trip to Marathon was uneventful. It lasted not quite six hours. Michael, Maria, Isabel and Alex all arrived at Atherton’s house in one piece. Everyone but Alex agreed that it didn’t look any different from the last time that they’d been there. Of course Alex hadn’t been with them on the last trip. It had been before they’d let him in on the big secret that Liz’s new friends were aliens. When they’d been there last November, it was because Michael had been having visions about Atherton’s dome house ever since he’d broken into Valenti’s office and found a key.
It had taken him a while to figure out what the visions were trying to tell him, but once he’d discovered that it was this dome house he’d been seeing, nothing could keep him from coming here. When Max had refused to let him have the Jeep for the trip, insisting that it wasn’t a safe time to be going, Michael had been pissed. In retrospect, he had to agree that Max had been partially right. They’d been followed, and had almost been trapped inside the house by both Valenti and Topolsky.
Kidnapping Maria hadn’t been his best idea, either, he admitted. Having been denied use of the Jeep, he had coerced Maria into giving him a ride, intending to steal her car at the first opportunity. As a plan, it was very weak, but he hadn’t been thinking very clearly at the time. After all, Maria would have called the police as soon as he pulled away and he would have been stopped before he’d gotten far beyond the city limits. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. All he could focus on was the house in Marathon. The plan had backfired when she’d refused to get out and just let him have her car, so together they headed down 285 South toward the Texas border.
Using her cell phone, Maria had alerted Liz to the situation. Liz, Max and Isabel had all hopped into the Jeep and had followed them.
Getting out of the minivan, Maria could barely suppress a shudder. She reached for Michael’s hand, needing his presence to calm her. She’d forgotten how much malice vibrated from the structure. In a second she flashed back to last November. She had clung to Liz like ivy as they’d walked through the deserted house. Maria hadn’t said anything at the time, but she could feel a presence in the house, and it was extremely unhappy.
“Are you ok?” Michael looked down at her.
She swallowed and nodded. He said, “Ok, then let’s go.”
Alex and Isabel had gotten out of the van, and were approaching the front door. When the other two had caught up, Isabel reached out and turned the doorknob. The door swung open easily. Apparently, no one had bothered to lock it when they’d left. The four teens stepped inside the house.
Alex looked up at the skylight in the foyer. It was a pentagon: five triangles laid out side by side so that their bottom edges formed almost a circle. Since the entire structure was created out of triangles, he supposed it wasn’t an unusual choice for a house like this. The room they’d entered was empty except for an overturned bench.
Michael broke away from the group, and headed for the room that contained the hidden keyhole. Isabel followed, and Maria and Alex brought up the rear. Needing human contact in a way she couldn’t explain, she grabbed her friend’s arm. “This place gives me the creeps,” she said by way of explanation.
“I can see why.”
Maria saw where a few things had been moved or taken since she’d been there last. The FBI was probably responsible for the changes, she supposed.
Michael moved unerringly to the wall with the secret niche. The rock that had concealed the keyhole had never been replaced since he’d removed it last year. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key he’d brought along. Just as before, when he turned it, a trapdoor in the floor opened up.
Maria had to bite her tongue to keep from begging Michael to forget the whole thing. Then it was too late and he was going down the steps that led to the secret room. Her hair was standing on end, and she had goose bumps going up and down her spine. Every instinct she possessed was screaming at her to leave, to run away.
She took a couple of deep breaths while Isabel and Alex followed Michael into the secret room. “Just stop it, ok. Nothing is going to happen. You’re going to be just fine. Nothing’s wrong, so just calm down.” The pep talk made her feel a little better, and she headed down the stairs right behind her friends.
Michael was examining a wall. Last week he’d had another vision, this time when he’d touched a scroll that had come from his home planet. The vision had told him that there was a hidden panel somewhere on this wall. Inside the panel, he hoped to find the missing Sword.
He didn’t know what the Sword looked like, or what it could do, but he knew it’s purpose was to help to protect them from their enemies. If it was crafted like the Shield, it could probably be used only by himself and Isabel. Michael could feel his excitement growing.
Isabel and Alex were looking around the rest of the room. The FBI had picked it pretty clean. All of the photos that had been there earlier were gone, as were the papers and files. Now all that remained on the battered table was an old time typewriter.
Suddenly Maria screamed. She ran to where Michael was standing while the others demanded to know what was wrong with her. With shaking hands, she pointed toward the stairs they come down. A man stood there.
“I knew you’d come back. What took you so long?”
Taking up fighting positions, Alex and Michael both pulled Isabel and Maria behind them, and faced the stranger. “Who are you?” Alex asked.
Michael was thinking the man looked familiar. “You mean to tell me that you don’t know who I am? This is my house. You’re trespassing on private property, all of you.”
“Atherton.” Michael said under his breath.
“What?” Maria screeched from behind him.
“But Atherton’s dead, Michael.” This from Isabel.
“Am I? Who told you that?” Atherton took a step forward. The light filtering in from the room above shone through his transparent body.
Alex took a step backward, intent on shielding Isabel with his body. Liz had told him that there was a bolthole in the back of this room. A tunnel that led to an exit blocked only by a manhole cover. She’d told him that it was how they’d escaped discovery before. It looked like they just might need to use it again.
“What do you want?” Michael asked.
“Justice!” Atherton flung himself at Michael who was prepared to defend himself. As soon as they touched, Atherton disappeared. Michael lost his balance and had to catch himself before he fell to the floor.
“Oh my god! What was that?”
“Michael, are you ok?”
Michael stood there stunned. What had happened? One second the man had been heading right toward him, the next he’d been gone. He shivered at the cold breeze that blew across his face and rubbed a hand across his eyes. “Let’s find that thing and get out of here before he comes back.”