After a little bit of time, Brennan and Shalimar rejoined the others and they all squeezed into the computer lab. Liz although still some what weak insisted on joining them as Adam went over the plan to break into Genomex. To her it seemed like a long time since they had discussed taking out Genomex since they had been busy with the change in relationships since the Roswellians had reached Sanctuary.
Adam clicked the small hand held remote that controlled the large monitor behind him that displayed the layout of the interior of Genomex. He pointed to an area on the blueprint as he explained the plan. “Tomorrow is when we go. You’ll fly the Helix in stealth mode and land on the roof. Then make your way inside. The computer database contains every file of every mutant that Genomex has ever had contact with as well as all their research.”
“There will be two teams going in, one to go into the lab and the other to hold off security. The one who goes into the lab will first download the mutant database. Then destroy it. I’ll hack into their security system so no alarms will signal either groups arrival.”
“So the team on the outside will have to be the ones who have the defensive powers.” Jesse stated.
“Yes, I want Emma, Isabel, Shalimar, and Brennan to go to the lab while Max, Michael, and Jesse are on the outside.” Adam assigned.
“What about me? Where am I at?” Liz asked.
“You’ll be back here with me and the others.” Adam stated.
“No. I know you’re thinking that I’m too weak but I’m not. Let me go with Emma and Isabel and have Brennan with the others. I can help fry the computer after Emma’s done accessing the files. If I’m wrong and I’m still weak, I can do damage and Isabel can finish off.” Liz explained.
“Adam’s right,” Brennan spoke up. “You can stay here and help Adam with the security system.”
“I can’t just sit here when I have the abilities to help.” Liz said before looking pleadingly at Adam, “Come on Adam, please? I’ll rest up until it’s time to go and won’t use any of my powers until I have to when we get there.”
Brennan and Max both were about to speak up when Adam voiced his reply. “Fine but you will take it easy until it’s time to leave. It’ll be Emma, Liz, Isabel, and Shalimar going in, the guys will take the outside. Now it’s late and the day has been exciting to say the least. We all need to get some rest, we don’t have enough guest rooms for everyone.”
“How about Maria stays with Liz, Isabel and Jessie can take the last available room and the rest of the guys can sleep in the main room on the couches or the floor.” Emma suggested.
“Sounds like a good idea.” Adam stated.
“A very good one.” Brennan said thinking that although he knew Liz and Max were supposed to be just friends he was glad that there would be some distance between them that night, and of course his room was between her room and the stairway that led downstairs.
The group broke apart and everyone settled where they were supposed to be. He saw Liz smiling smugly at him and asked, “What are you so happy about?”
“Oh, nothing.” Liz said in a singsong voice. “So, big brother, anything new going on?”
“Okay, okay. I know what you’re getting at.”
“And?” Liz asked.
“And yes, you were right about how I felt about Shalimar.” Brennan confirmed.
“And she said?”
“Well I didn’t give her a chance to say much. At least not at first.” Brennan said smiling; “I just grabbed her and kissed her. She kissed me back and after told me that she was glad I listened to your advice.”
“See I told you.” Liz said teasingly.
“You, bed, now.” Brennan said trying to sound serious but Liz knew he wasn’t. He was just trying to distract her from the relationship talk. But he had another thing coming if he thought she’d drop it.
Liz smiled as she pulled Maria down to her room. She let Maria borrow some pajamas to sleep in before they settled on her bed. Maria was gaping around at her room as she said, “I can’t believe all those times you called me and said you were just getting to know Brennan that you were really here. This place is amazing.”
“Yeah, it is. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as safe as I do here. Of course it’s called Sanctuary for that reason.” Liz said.
“Do you love it so much that you don’t plan on coming back to Roswell?” Maria asked.
“I don’t know, I didn’t give it a lot of thought until the whole thing with you guys came up. I mean I told my parents that I would come back for graduation but I don’t know if it’ll be for a visit or to stay. I really like it here and I feel like I’m being helpful when the others go out to rescue mutants. I just don’t know.” Liz said.
“Well as much as I’d miss you, I want you to be happy. You haven’t had much of it the last few years and you of all of us, deserve it.” Maria stated. Her face turned even more serious as she added, “I’m sorry for not being there for you when you needed me. Can you forgive me?”
“Yeah, I forgive you.” Liz said smiling, “Let’s get some sleep.”
Part 18
The next morning everyone woke early to get ready, which was a feat with seven extra people. When it was time, Kyle, Maria, and Jessie said good bye and stayed with Adam while the others left in the helix. It was a quiet ride, everyone feeling tense. They followed the plan and landed on the roof undetected. Adam hacked into the Genomex computer so that he could know what was going on inside.
The group snuck through an emergency hatch that was on the roof and crept into the facility. It was from there that they split up, much to Brennan discontent. He didn’t like the idea of being separated from Liz and Shalimar. He wanted to be with them to protect them although he wouldn’t tell either of them that. He knew that they could take care of themselves but he still wanted to be there for them.
The guys headed to the main floor to create a distraction while the girls went in the direction of the lab. They ran into a few of the workers but Shalimar took them out. When they came to the lab it was Isabel’s turn to be useful. Using her powers, she placed her hand over the keypad that controlled the security system and lock on the computer lab. Within a minute the light flashed from red to green. They yanked the door open and slipped inside.
The room was of medium size with six terminals and the server lining one wall. The server was enclosed in glass cases that were locked. Emma immediately went to one of the computers and started accessing Genomex’s files. Shalimar sat down at another terminal and decided she was going to help too. “Which database are you retrieving?”
“Their research.” Emma answered.
“I’ll get the mutant registrations.” The blonde feral answered.
The two Mutant X members began working quickly when Jesse voice could be heard over their COM’s. “They know they have guests.”
“Do they know about us yet?” Shalimar asked.
“Not that I know of.” Jesse answered. “They seem to be concentrating on us.”
“There’s no one on the monitors,” Adam confirmed. “But keep an eye out. There’s a blind spot in the cameras and I can’t see all of the corridors leading to the lab.”
Isabel and Liz went to the server and started unlocking the cabinets so they could have access to destroy it. While they did, Emma and Shalimar slid in new disks when others became full and it wasn’t long before they were done. They ejected the disks and Emma said. “Fry it Liz.”
“Frying.” Liz said. She knew she was going to need more power than she usually did she moved her hands in the same manner she had seen Brennan do the first time he had shown her his powers. She let the streams idle for a moment to gain strength before she pulled the hands apart and fired off in different directions hitting the wide server.
Isabel watched on amazed at how much power Liz’s small body seemed to be able to release. Her streams looked to be very powerful as they fried the server. It seemed like she could power an entire city if she wanted to. That is if she was up to par, which she wasn’t. If she could do this now, it’d be scary to see her at full strength.
Shalimar could see the server sparking and smoking and put her hand on Liz’s shoulder to get her attention. “Liz, I think you got it, it’s dead now.”
Liz blushed in embarrassment that she had gotten so carried away, “Sorry.”
“Well let’s get out of here.” Emma said.
“Emma behind you.” Isabel yelled.
Emma spun around to see a GSA technician come through one of the side doors. The technician looked surprised to see them but before he could do anything he was hit with a stream. He flew backwards and fell to the floor unconscious. Emma looked over to see Liz just pulling her stream back into her body. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The four girls headed out with Shalimar in the lead, she tapped her COM ring and said, “Brennan? Jesse? We’re on our way back up top.”
“Good, this party is getting old quick.” Brennan responded, “We’ll meet you there.”
The girls left the lab and headed back for the roof but ran into more obstacles then they had coming down. Whether they were fought by hand or powers, they were dealt with and they continued up. The way that they had came was completely blocked so Adam talked them through another route up to the roof.
They piled out of the door right behind the guys battling a large group of agents. Jesse was the first one to see them; “It’s about time you got here.”
“Well you know us, we love to make men wait.” Shalimar joked despite the fact that she was fighting hand to hand with an agent. “Why don’t you get your butt in the helix and fire it up so we can get out of here.”
Jesse did just that, taking Isabel and Emma with him. Brennan watched them go before looking over the others. Max and Michael seemed to be able to hold their own with their powers, Max had a large shield up keeping quite a few agents at bay while Michael was flinging other ones back with his powers. He saw Shalimar take down one agent before turning to help Liz out who was actually fighting one hand to hand without her powers. He saw she looked weakened and decided it was time to get out of there. “Come on, our flight is ready.”
They all backed up carefully up and into the helix. Brennan was the last one up and watched the angry agents trying in vain to get to them as the ramp came up and Jesse launched them up into the air.
Part 19
The group landed in Sanctuary without a hitch and was created by Jessie, Maria, Kyle, and Adam. Emma and Shalimar handed over the discs to Adam. There were some minor bumps and scratches on some, which Max took care of quickly and they headed into the kitchen/dining room area.
The group ate as they gave their tales of what happened. The guys told them about their run in with the agents and the girls told them about what happened in the lab. Liz as well as Emma, Isabel, and Shalimar gave reassurances that the computer server and all the information contained within had been fried. When they were done Liz spoke to Adam for a moment before he and the mutants left. Liz then turned to address her friends. “Adam is going to do some checking but he thinks it should be safe for you guys to go to back to Roswell. Since Genomex lost their database that would have told them the locations of all the mutants they knew about which included you guys, they won’t come after you.”
“What about you?” Kyle asked although everyone had the same question on their minds. “You said us but nothing about whether you’ll be coming back with us.”
“It’s because I’m not.” Liz stated. She noticed that everyone except Maria seemed surprised by the news, she was sure that they all thought that she’d be going with them.
“Why?” Max asked surprised that she wasn’t coming back. After all she had said that she wanted to be friends, how were they going to do that with her not even being in the city?
“I still have a lot of stuff to work on, to sort out and find myself. And right now, this is the place I feel most comfortable doing it. I talked to Adam and he says I’m more than welcomed to stay.” Liz explained.
“Are you sure about this?” Max asked.
“I’m going to work on my Psionic powers, we all know I’m not great at them yet and also help wherever I can. There’s a lot I can do to help my brother and his friends with their purpose, and help others like me. The database needs to be compared to Adam’s and there is still the underground that they will be taking care of.” Liz explained.
Max couldn’t help but notice how much passion she spoke with. He hadn’t heard her speak like that in a long time. “This is really important to you isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” Liz said nodding. “I mean, if you found out there were more of all of you out there, wouldn’t you want to do what you can to help them?”
Indeed Isabel, Max, and Michael knew what she meant and nodded. Max looked at her and asked, “Do you plan to come back to Roswell?”
“At least for now, I plan to come for visits and our graduation that’s in less than two months. I’ve been doing classes through correspondence so I’ll be graduating with the rest of you.” Liz announced.
“You’ve been doing schoolwork and this mutant stuff?” Kyle asked surprised.
“Yep, my parents wouldn’t have let me come if I neglected school.” Liz explained. “Despite needing to come to learn how to control my powers because I inherited more than my brains from them.” She had told them about her parents’ own abilities the night before as they had talked more about the whole mutant situation.
Maria was the first to speak again as she said, “I miss having my best friend around but I don’t want you to pass out every time you touch someone either.”
The others agreed with Maria and Liz felt better about her decision.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Liz and Brennan were the ones to take the Roswellians back home to Roswell. They landed at the same spot by the old pod chamber so that they could drive back to Roswell. Brennan touched them down without a hitch and they clamored down the ramp. The gang thanked Brennan for what he had done before going to say goodbye to Liz. Max was last after Maria and every one gave them some privacy.
“At least this time I get to say goodbye.” Max said.
“I’ll be back Max, I’m not going forever.” Liz said.
“I know, it’s just I feel like I wasted so much of our time and I want to make everything up to you. That’s hard when you’re not here.” Max explained before looking into her eyes. “But I know you need the time. So just know that no matter how long it takes, I’ll be here waiting for you. Bye Liz.”
“Good-bye Max.” Liz said. She reached up, kissed him on the cheek before running back up the ramp into the helix.
Max and the others watched for a few minutes as the Helix lifted off before it disappeared into stealth mode and flew off.
Part 20
Epilogue
Liz did as she promised and returned to Roswell for the gang’s graduation. She didn’t make valedictorian, but she did graduate with honors. Everyone was there, Brennan, Adam, Shalimar, Emma, and Jesse. She wasn’t sure but they sounded like the loudest bunch in the whole crowd. Afterwards, the Parkers threw a big party for all of the kids and it went well into the night.
Then after a week, Liz again left Roswell with the Mutant X team. She went back to Sanctuary although her and Brennan did go back for more visits to see their father and her friends through out the summer. She worked hard with Emma on her Psionic powers so that she didn’t loose control and pass out from using them. And by the end of the summer, she could use them as easily as her Elemental ones.
Thanks to a few calls to old friends, Adam got Liz another interview with Harvard and she wowed them. She was accepted into the next semester, which started that fall. Liz had the chance to live her dreams and study at one of the best schools. So it was then that she left Sanctuary. But before she left, Adam gave her a ring to communicate with the others if she ever got into trouble or just wanted to chat.
Harvard agreed with Liz. She loved every minute of it and excelled in her studies. She kept in contact with her friends; her and Max were very close but kept things platonic throughout their college careers. After all they now had almost a whole country between them, it wasn’t the best way to start their relationship up again. Liz even seriously dated another mutant that was also attending Harvard. Justin was a molecular, and studying law. They met their sophomore year in one of their mandatory classes. They got to chatting then went for coffee. Liz had a feeling about him so she talked to Brennan, actually interrupting an intimate night with Shalimar, who looked him up in Adam’s database and there he was.
She waited until they would consider each other friends before she said anything to him. She was careful how she approached the whole talk, she knew that not all mutants were comfortable with what they were. But he surprised her by being totally okay and open with her about it. They spent the whole evening and night in Liz’s room talking. It was nice to have someone her own age to talk to. Not long after that they began to date. He even came to Roswell over summer break to visit. Max didn’t act too happy with it, it was hard to see her with someone she obviously cared about but put up with Justin to please Liz.
Then during their senior year, Justin received a letter stating that he had been accepted to law school at Oxford. Liz wasn’t happy about it in fact they argued about it a great deal but she knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. She even flew with him to England then Brennan picked her up in the helix and took her back to Sanctuary for part of the summer. He then went to Roswell, picked up Maria, and brought her back to be with Liz. The breakup was a amicable one and the two kept in touch and remained friends.
Her and Brennan’s relationship got stronger and stronger until you couldn’t tell that they hadn’t grown up together. They even bickered like siblings. As for Brennan’s relationship with Shalimar, it blossomed very quickly. It was like they were made for each other. They rarely fought except for times when they had to go on missions and one tried to protect the other. And after a year, they were sharing the same set of rooms at Sanctuary and were as good married. A point proven when Shalimar gave birth to a baby girl they named McKenzie. She like her aunt was a hybrid; she was both feral and elemental. Liz got to be there when she was delivered thanks to some fancy flying by Jesse.
Max and Liz did get back together. It ended up being five years after they made their pact to be just friends inside the medical lab at Sanctuary. They started slow the first month, going out to dinner or to a movie but things got heated after. By the end of the summer they couldn’t stand the thought of being separated while Liz continued her studies. So Max went to Massachusetts. He was bound and determined that Liz follow her dreams, and it had nothing with the open threat Brennan had given him.
The July after Liz got her PhD, her and Max got married, not in an Elvis Chapel like Future Max told her but in a small chapel in Roswell. Sparks flew that night and for once, it wasn’t from Liz’s powers.
No one ever came for Max, Isabel and Michael. This was a good thing since they didn’t want to leave. They were settled into their lives and lived as humans. Or like Brennan always said humans with benefits. The two groups made up one large family, one that consisted of humans, mutants, and aliens.
The End
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