Disclaimer: Dark Angel and Roswell don't belong to me. Don't sue.

A/N: Thanks to Itay and Roon for being my betas for this story.

Crossroads

By Lyra

Prologue

Desert, Pod Chamber, NM
May 21st, 2001, 6:30 AM

Max Evans, his sister Isabel, his 'brother' Michael Guerin and Tess Harding were standing inside the Granolith Chamber. Their eyes fixed in the inverted cone filling the centre of the room, some of its mystery revealed at last.

"This is a key," Max said holding a cylindrical white crystal in his hand. "When we insert it, the Granolith will transport us...home. It will take 48 hours for it to prepare itself. When it's ready, we have to be on board or we don't go. This key is coded for one mission, only one. When we use it, it's gone. It's our only way home." He made a pause and looked his siblings in the eyes. "Is everyone ready?" He asked them, feeling anything but ready himself. After so long looking for answers and wondering ... he couldn't believe he was about to 'turn on' an alien machine that would take them back to their planet.

Isabel shook her head. "This is happening too fast." Her voice trembled slightly and Max knew she was terrified.

He hugged her. "We have no choice, Iz."

Michael knew Tess had to leave because of the baby, but they couldn't forget about their friends. He voiced the thought he knew Max was trying to deny. "What about Leanna? She's still out there, Max, how can we leave? I mean, she's already tried to kill Alex, what's to stop her from killing Liz or Kyle or Valenti or Maria?" He almost chocked on the last name. The thought of something happening to Maria because of him had been one of his most pressing worries the last years.

Max's eyes hardened. "I'll take care of Leanna," he finally said.

Right then Tess doubled over, holding her stomach. "Max ..." she moaned, reminding him what he had to do ... and why.

Max looked at her worriedly and then walked to the base of the cone and slipped the key into its slot, starting the countdown being shown in a big panel on the wall. "Everyone say your goodbyes," he told them, but he was dreading his own goodbye like nothing ever before.

Seattle, Washington
May 21st, 2021, 6:30 AM

Alec looked around the room. The last few days TC had been full of activity. Everyone had come together to help in any way they could. HQ had been full to the brim on a daily basis. Max hadn't slept at all, always planning and worrying. He could see the strain she was under; her face was tense and serious all the time. She had taken upon herself the full responsibility for all of them. And it showed.

At least she had started to delegate soon enough. The same moment they'd all got down from the roof after raising their flag, she'd started asking people about their specialities and giving out duties.

Alec's eyes followed her around the room to the table he was sitting at. Gathered around were the representatives of the different groups and chores at TC: Max, the leader, with her loyal shadow a step behind her; Mole, in charge of weapons and representative of the 'freaks'; Dix, in charge of intelligence; Dan, an X6 in representation of his series; and Alec himself who, to his utmost surprise, had been chosen as the X5 representative.

Alec knew they were in dire need of money and supplies and he expected this meeting to be about that. But when Logan made room for himself at the table coming out from the shadows Alec knew there was something else going on. Logan hardly ever talked to them directly. He and Max had realized early on that as an ordinary he wasn't well-liked around here. But there he was, clearing his throat, getting ready to bore them to death ... uhmm ... lecture them ... whatever.

"I'll be quick," Logan started.

And then proved himself a liar by making a pause long enough for Alec to think 'that'll be the day,' and discreetly roll his eyes at Max which earned him a not so discreet glare from her.

"I know you guys have lots of needs right now and that those needs are the most pressing matter."

'Oh please, don't let him even talk about an EO mission or these people will kill him,' Alec thought, 'myself included.'

"So I've been looking around ... and I found this diamond exhibition that will take place in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in two days. I know it looks like too much trouble for a few diamonds, too far away and everything... but I have a buyer for some of the pieces of that exhibition that will pay 2 million dollars for them."

The jaws of almost everyone at the table dropped, but Logan wasn't finished yet.

"And he is so desperate to get them that his willing to pay a down-payment [I think there's something missing to indicate that the money you've paid before the job starts you can't get it back no matter what happens, something like lost deposit?] of a quarter of a million." He allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk in face of Alec's whistled appreciation.

"Who would be that desperate?" Mole asked disbelievingly.

"One Cal Langley. He's supposed to be an old man who's spent more than half his life after those rocks, but he can't afford to have anything traced back to him."

Max took charge of the rest of the meeting. With that kind of pay there was no doubt they were taking the job, but to sweeten the deal it turned out that Max had been about to pull that same job two years ago; it was an annual exhibition, so she already knew the basics of the security and the layout of the place.

They decided Alec would be the one to go and he'd take a team of two with him. The formal way of saying that his buddies, Biggs and Cece, would be going shopping with him. They were two of the only four members of his old unit to make it to TC for the moment, and Alec had kept them close most of the time. Pulling jobs with them was much more fun than it had been doing it with Max this last year.

They stole a fast car, for they had to be there in time to make some reconnaissance and pull the job fast. TC needed the money.

Roswell, NM
May 22nd, 2001, 11:25 PM

Alex lied on his bed, his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling. The lights off because they hurt his eyes. His lately-ever-present headache starting to get bad. He sighed for the umpteenth time. He couldn't believe they were leaving the planet. Isabel was leaving. They had wasted so much time.

His mind kept going back to that day trapped with Kyle in the Gandarium's nest. He'd meant what he said ...

"So this is how it ends..." Alex said.

"Somehow this is not how I pictured it," Kyle commented, bitterness lacing his words.

"It was hell of a ride though," Alex observed.

"I guess."

"I mean, think about it. We not only met aliens, but they killed us," Alex went on. Kyle turned his flashlight on him. "How many people can say that?"

"You're getting delirious, is that it?"

"Nah, take...take a step away from your life, Kyle. You know, I mean, you're part of this... this amazing thing. This... amazing knowledge that you have that 6 billion people on this planet don't. You really want to step out of this cave if it meant that you were gonna be another dumb jock?"

Kyle thought about it. "You know what? I wouldn't," he said finally.

Alex didn't regret his involvement with the aliens. They were worth dying for. They had been great friends. Alex had been there for them even before he knew their secret, just because Liz had asked him to and he trusted Liz with his life. Which until that day had been just a figure of speech, but from that moment had been the literal truth.

He'd given his blood to save Max, and he'd lied through his teeth to the Sheriff. Some teens started their illicit life with illegal drinking; Alex had started with obstruction of justice, lying to the authorities, impairing an investigation and, oh yeah, don't forget hacking into a federal computer. If you're gonna tread the criminal path do it with style. That seemed to be his motto.

But the rewards had been just as great as the dangers, which included a variety of things, from FBI persecution to alien enemies. He'd gotten to know a group of amazing people that cared about him just as much as he cared about them. And not just the aliens.

Kyle had turned out to be a great guy. Not even when he was dating Liz had he spent enough time with Kyle to get to know him. And anyway, knowing about the aliens had brought about a drastic change in Kyle. For the better, as far as Alex was concerned. It had given Kyle a depth he lacked before, too busy being your typical high school jock.

Alex was proud of considering Kyle a close friend now.

And the Sheriff. Who would have thought he'd ever consider the Sheriff his friend? But he did. Jim Valenti had become the parent they all needed in times of hardship but couldn't have because of their secret. And he cared a great deal about every single one of them.

Michael would deny to his dying day that he was anyone's close friend, but he was just the same. It turned out he had a huge heart, and he felt responsible for the protection of the whole group. And he had been a great influence on Maria. Maybe just as great as she had been on him. They had grown a lot this last year, together.

And what could he say about Isabel? He loved her. He had been hurt and in denial for a long while. It had taken forever to break through her Ice Princess persona to get to the real her. But he did. She loved him completely now, he knew it. And he'd finally accepted the depth of his own love for her. It hurt like hell to think he would never see her again.

Even Max could be considered a great friend, even though he'd behaved like a jerk these last few weeks. Alex knew something had happened between Max and Tess, and that it had made things between him and Liz even worse than they were. He didn't know the details, his relationship with Isabel and the rest of the aliens had been mostly superfitial at that point. But he knew Max had stopped pursuing Liz a while back and it looked like he finally had started to give into his destiny, letting Tess in more and more.

That was the worst part of their involvement with the aliens. All the heartbreak it had caused to Liz. But still, Max had been trying to keep them all safe throughout the whole journey. He'd gone to hell to save Liz, and he'd saved his own life.

Alex couldn't remember anything from a few days before his accident, but he'd gotten a really intense flash from Max when he'd connected with Alex a few days later to make sure everything was okay. They'd had to leave the hospital in such a hurry ...

"There's been an accident," Valenti said with an urgent voice.

"What happened?" Max asked, immediately taking charge of the situation.

"We need to go now, Max. There's no time. It's Alex."

The moment the words left Jim's mouth it was like a bomb had gone off in the Crashdown. Everyone took their things and started piling into the cars. Max went with Valenti, who would get him through to Alex. Sheriff Hanson had called Jim as soon as he checked the license number of the wrecked car and saw it belonged to one of the Valenti kid's friends. Jim hadn't wasted any time, going straight to the Crashdown to get Max, just in case.

Thank God he had. They had just declared him clinically dead when Jim managed to get Max in there and keep everyone busy outside. It was a huge risk, but they had all agreed the risk was worth it. Even if they had to spend the rest of their lives running.

Max went up to the surgical table. Alex was covered in blood, and so still... Max felt ill, but he couldn't afford to waste any more time. Alex had been clinically dead for too long already. He would had to kick-start his heart and repair any damage the brain had suffered. And then heal the rest of the wounds enough, so that he wouldn't die again before the doctors could step in and finish the job.

He put his hand on Alex's scalp, praying that his dark hair would be enough to cover the silver handprint that was bound to appear. Silently, he thanked Tess for helping him develop his powers so that he didn't need Alex to be conscious to start the connection. He knew Alex's energy by heart, the whole group's actually. Max only needed to find the residual energy flux that would cling to Alex's body for a while longer and infuse some of his own energy.

After a few precious seconds he found it. Max put all his focus and will-power into making this work, and he was greatly surprised when only a few instants later he felt Alex's energy start to gather round and the real connection flared to life.

Working against time, Max's hand glowed brightly and only a minute later the heart started to beat. Max concentrated on healing as much as he could without raising too many questions, apart from the obvious one about him being alive at all, of course. When he felt Alex's energy was strong enough to pull him through, Max connected the heart monitor, that started beeping loudly, and disappeared the same way he came in.

The moment he was out of sight the room filled with astounded doctors and their staff, all ready to work on their miracle case. The rest of that night, until they could take Alex home in the wee hours of the morning and against medical advise - expressed rather loud and energetically, was a blur to Max. He had spent large quantities of his own energy and he needed to rest badly.

Thankfully, a fake authorization courtesy of the aliens and presented by the former sheriff was enough to extract Alex from the hospital before anyone noticed the alien tattoo on his head.

Max's feelings had come through the connection loud and overwhelming. Max had been terrified for him, for all them.

Alex felt so grateful to know that they all were willing to live the rest of their lives on the run if that meant they could save him.

He couldn't remember how he'd gotten in the accident that had killed him. Max thought he must have hit his head pretty bad because there had been a lot of damage to his brain, and truth was Alex had suffered from an almost chronic headache since then.

Speaking of which, his head was killing him. Suddenly it felt like it was on overload. Alex reached for the pain killers on his bedside table and swallowed two pills. He lied back down and hugged the pillow to his chest. Eyes closed and face crumpled in a grimace, he waited for the pain to subside, his fingers drumming on the pillow. To his misery, the pain grew instead of receding.

And it had been his accident that had caused the rift that now divided them. Liz hadn't believed it was an accident. She was convinced it was something alien related. She said things didn't add up. When his parents went to see if the car was salvageable they had collected any personal items, which included a picture of Leanna with her head cut off. For the life of him, Alex couldn't remember doing that. And when he told the others, Liz was scared that it might have been a threat from 'someone' and insisted on talking to the guy that was delivering his food when Maria and her left him at home, in case he'd seen anything.

The kid had brought more questions than answers. He said his behaviour had been really weird and Liz had decided to investigate more. But she was the only one, none of the others wanted to listen to her. She started asking dangerous questions all around, making the aliens very nervous and angry. Liz tried to jog his memory with continuous questions, but Alex just couldn't remember. It pained him that he couldn't help his closest friend.

This feeling and the residual one over Max's flash kept dancing in his head, getting stronger and stronger, feeding his headache and making it even worse.

In just a few minutes his head felt like it was about to explode. Suddenly, something seemed to give away inside his head. A white light blinding in its intensity burst behind his closed eyelids and the elusive memories he'd been missing hit him like a ton of bricks, knocking the air out of him.

He sat up, gasping for air, his eyes watering from the pain. "Bitch!" he shouted and then run out of his room. He needed Liz and the others. They couldn't let the aliens leave with her. They had to know.

Las Cruces, NM
May 22nd, 2021, 11:25 PM

The three transgenics were seating in the car parked two streets away from their target. Alec turned to look at his companions and gave last time instructions.

"Remember, our first priority is to get this rock," Alec pointed to the third most important diamond in the brochure. "This one will be cashing in one million alone," Alec repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. Which was probably what it was if the way Biggs and Cece were rolling their eyes was any indication.

"You've spent too much time with Logan, you know, you're starting to sound like him. Have you forgotten we don't forget anything?" Biggs said, laughing with Cece at the horror reflected in Alec's face at being likened to Logan.

"Right. First, I'll get you for that comment when this is over. Second, our other priority is to not let any proof that X5s have been here."

"Relax, Alec. We know the score, everything will be ok?" Cece reassured him. "You worry too much. We know what we're doing."

With a small smile to Cece, Alec took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his mind emptying of anything that wasn't mission-related. Two deep breaths later he opened his eyes and saw the other two doing the same.

"Okay, let's do this," Alec said opening his door.

They all got out of the car. Wearing black from head to toe, including a wool hat in Cece's case, they moved soundlessly towards the shadows of the back alley, their eyes going from the building housing the exhibition to their surroundings and back to their objective. They stepped into the alley and melded into the darkness of the night, effectively disappearing in thin air.

Desert, Pod Chamber, NM
May 23rd, 2001, 6:50 AM

Max advanced on Tess, his eyes colder than she'd ever seen them before. "Did you try to kill Alex?" he spoke with a hushed, menacing voice.

"I didn't want to. I wish I hadn't, but I did," Tess answered almost pitifully.

The look on Max's face was a mixture of rage and bewilderment. "Why?" he asked simply, needing to understand this person who had fooled him completely, taken advantage of him, of his trust.

Tess looked at the clock in the wall. "Look Max, th-the clock's ticking, we don't really have time --"

"TELL ME WHY!" Max cut her off, disgusted by her attempts to play him still, with her frail voice and needy eyes.

She gave up pretending. "He would have told you what I did and I couldn't let that happen."

"So you just, you just killed him?" He felt ill. "Because he did die. I had to bring him back." Max shook his head, laughing bitterly. "To think that I thanked God for having you when I was there... resurrecting my friend... I thanked God you'd helped me with my powers so that I could actually do it. And you killed him."

"I didn't mean to. His brain was just too weakened by the mind-warp, and... Look, none of this matters now --"

"Life matters, Tess. My life, your life, his... " Max interrupted her again.

"What matters is getting home, but you could never understand that, could you?" Her hatred showed now, all pretences over. "I might have been able to teach you but that stupid bitch had you wrapped around her --"

"Don't you ever call her that!"

"See! Look how fast you run to her defense! Why couldn't you ever feel that about me? I'm your wife, Max! I'm carrying your child!" She demanded, stepping into his face to shout in his face.

"This was all some kind of plan to get pregnant and go home, wasn't it? Home to what, Tess? To Khivar? To our enemies?" It didn't make sense to him. What could she possibly get from --

"They're not my enemies, Max."

Understanding downed on him. "You made a deal with them, with Khivar."

"No. Nasedo made a deal, 40 years ago," she spat, head held high, proud of her guardian.

"To deliver the three of us?" Suddenly Max had a thought and, without giving her time to react, he put his hand on her womb and forced a connection.

Tess realised too late what he was doing and by the time she tried to start the mind-warp he was already taking his hand away. His mind too strong and his anger too intense to accept the lie.

"You lied," he said, and the acceptance of that truth gave him the strength to keep her at bay. "How did I ever fall in love with someone like you? How could I ever marry you?"

Her only chance gone now, she gave a step back to buy herself some standing ground and then faced him. "You were different -- you were a king! Now you're just a boy." Her voice turned mocking, but it was still loaded with anger and disdain.

Max raised his hand to her neck.

"You're gonna kill me, Max?" she taunted him. She knew him too well.

Max considered it for a moment. He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill in cold blood. "Go," he said, nodding his head towards the whirling cone and he saw relief cross her face. Tess put her hand on the cone and suddenly she was inside, looking down at him. Max looked up at her, his eyes hard, "I'm sure Khivar will welcome you with open arms now that you've failed him."

The last thing Max saw was the realisation and fear overtaking her features. Then the cone turned black.

Desert, Highway 42, NM
May 23rd, 2021, 6:50 AM

"That was way too easy," Biggs said laughing.

They were back on the road after pulling one of the easiest jobs any of them could remember. Of course, no security planners ever considered the possibility of having X5s as cat burglars, but the truth be told, they could still have probably made it if they hadn't been Manticore alumni.

"I wonder what made Max change her mind about this heist. She could have done it easily on her own," Cece said, her eyes glued to the beautiful diamonds in her hands, the rising sun making them shine from the inside.

"She said she saw something on the news that made her leave for Seattle immediately. And you know any of us could have done that alone. We're three for security purposes only," Alec said absently. He was replaying their every move while in the building in his mind.

Alec needed to be sure they hadn't made any mistake, that there wasn't any clue left behind. It would raise enough suspicions about the perpetrators without them leaving a signed card. Things were tense enough in Seattle without the military knowing for a fact that they could, and did, leave TC whenever they wanted with little trouble. There were, of course, other transgenics than the ones in TC, but as far as Alec was concerned, the less it was known about this job the better.

Of course, he needn't have to worry, he realised once he finished the mental replay of the night. The three of them had been on enough missions together to work as a perfect unit. They were good. More than good, they were the perfect team of thieves. Wouldn't Manticore be proud?

Alec's eyes went back to the rear-view mirror to check for any sign of a tail the way he'd been doing all night. And just as the previous times he found nothing. He turned his gaze back to the road in front of him. The highway made a turn to the right and before him, on the horizon, a weird rock formation caught his eye.

"Wow, check that rock, man," he told Biggs, sitting by his side.

Desert, Pod Chamber, NM
May 23rd, 2001, 6:53 AM

Max ran to get out of the cave. The chamber around him had started to disintegrate and he felt the ground beneath him shaking and vibrating. It was obvious there had been more to the Granolith than they ever realised. It felt like the rock around him was changing... becoming something else.

A particularly big rock fell in front of him bringing Max out of his musings. 'Run now, think later,' he thought, sprinting again. All of his senses now intent on getting him to safety.

The rest of the group was already running down the hill when he came out, except for Michael and Iz.

"Run!" he shouted at them. The rumbling had become a thundering roar. Too loud now to be just rocks sliding. He grabbed Isabel's hand and jerked, dragging her with him, Michael watching their backs.

They reached the others and had only time to get a short distance away before the rock behind them exploded and a small ship tore off from it, shooting into the sky as a firework.

Max raised his head on time to catch a small glimpse of it before it disappeared in the distance. A feeling of failure overtook him. He knew there was nothing more he could have done, but still...

Suddenly, he felt like his feet were glued to the ground and he lost his balance, the hard surface of the desert rushing up towards his face. It felt like the expansive wave from the explosion had caught him and sent him hurtling through the air, but at the same time he felt like everything was moving around him while he kept still. He almost expected to feel singed. Wasn't that what happened with explosions? But all he felt was weird energy travelling through his body, from head to toe, making him want to crawl out of his skin. He could see some of the others falling down too. What was going on?

Desert, Highway 42, NM
May 23rd, 2021, 6:53 AM

The strange rock formation was closer now and they realised that it had a part missing. Now that they were as close to it as the road allowed them they could see that the side they were now facing seemed to have been blown up. Alec opened his mouth to comment about it but before he could utter a word the whole world seemed to freeze before starting to hum.

Alec felt the vibration travelling though his body, from head to toe. It was like the bottom had suddenly fallen from underneath him and he was sinking, dragged by a giant hand around his ankles. His stomach lurched up in his throat, as if he had just missed a step... or more likely like he had reached the top of the highest rollercoaster ever and he had just toppled over in a free fall. His vision blurred, making him dizzy, and his ears rang loudly.

It seemed like it went on forever, and then it was over. As abruptly as it had begun.

Alec looked around, almost expecting to see they were some other place, but everything was the same.

Or almost everything.

Same place
May 23rd, 2019, 6:53 AM

The black motorcycle sped down the deserted highway. The rider wasn't wearing a helmet, sunglasses the only protection she wore and her curly hair flew wildly behind her.

The heist, the diamonds, the danger, Lydecker... Everything disappeared from her mind except one thing.

'That was Seth on TV. I know it was.' That was her last thought before her whole body hummed with a paralysing intensity and she lost control of the Ninja, crashing into the ground.

Max went down and slid on the asphalt with the inertia until a big rock on the side of the road stopped her. But the weird feeling inside her didn't stop with her and Max kept thinking that someone was trying to suck her somewhere... somehow...

Desert, NM
May 23rd, 2001, 6:54 AM

Alex stood with great difficulty, giving his hand to Isabel to help her up too. To his right, Michael was hugging Maria who had fallen to the ground and had scrapped her hands and knees. Michael was tenderly cleaning and healing the small cuts on her skin.

Liz had fallen too, but she was already on her feet, helping Kyle up.

"What the hell was that? Did you feel it too?" Max asked no one in particular. He was looking at the opening of the Pod Chamber. Or what once stood there. The take off had blown up the upper part of the formation, and rocks of all sizes had cascaded over the side of the hill towards them, blocking the entrance to the chamber in the process.

"I guess Tess gave us a goodbye gift," Maria spat, her voice dripping sarcasm and contempt.

Same place and time

The car had stopped when the freaky sensation had started and Alec looked at Biggs and Cece to see if they were fine.

"You felt that?" Cece was saying, but Alec's eye caught movement outside the car and turned to see what was there now that hadn't been there before. The black shape slid past the car and against a rock.

"Fuck!" he cried out and bolted out the door.

Biggs, that had been about to comment on the sudden appearance of a group of people in the hill down the weird rock, shut his mouth and went after him.

Cece was already out. One look at the Ninja lying on the ground and they all knew who was getting to her feet using the rock behind her as leverage. Though what exactly was she doing here, they had no idea.

Alec reached her first. "Max!" She was almost up now. "Max, are you ok?"

Max's head snapped up, her eyes quickly scanning her surroundings. She took in the three people approaching her, her Spidey-danger sense on alert. "Who are you people?" Then she frowned. "How do you know my name?" She shook her head to clear it and stretched all her muscles, ready to flee any second.

Alec was startled to hear this. "Max, are you ok?" he repeated. "It's me, Alec. Did you hit your head or something?"

"Yeah, Max, it's us," Biggs added when Max kept looking at them as if they were crazy. "Biggs," he said pointing at himself, and then at Cece, "Cece. Rings a bell?"

"What are you doing here, Max? I thought we were doing this job alone. You didn't say anything about another team," Cece said carefully.

"Yeah, and what's with the curls?" Alec asked bewildered.

Max seemed to grasp at the only thing that made sense to her. "What's wrong with my hair?" She glared at Alec. "And I don't know what you're talking about. I have no idea who any of you are." She took a step back, casually redistributing her weight so that she could launch herself in any direction.

Seeing this, Alec relaxed his own stance and held his hands up. The other two retreated a few steps. They all could see how tense Max was and they didn't want her to run off.

"Hey, take it easy. We don't want to hurt you. I know your name because you've told me. I know you. We've known each other for a year now. Did you hit your head, Max?" Alec insisted. "Do you have amnesia or something?" Alec tried to move closer to her, very slowly. But she mirrored his movement, so he stopped again.

Max frowned and she tried to remember her last few hours, then days, and then some of her oldest memories. Everything seemed fine. "No, I didn't hit my head. I don't have amnesia. I know my name. I know who and where I am. I just don't know who you are."

"Okay, how about when, then?" Alec was sure there was something wrong with her memory. And her hair.

"May 3rd, 2019, smartass. Happy now?" she said with her usual sassy attitude, hand on her hip and cocked head.

"I am so not happy," Alec said, to her obvious surprise. "It's May 3rd, all right, Max. But you're off two years. It's 2021."

Max looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head. When he returned her gaze seriously, she turned to Biggs and Cece who nodded at her.

"But that can't be!" she spluttered.

Biggs chose that moment to point the 'out of the blue' people to Alec who, not knowing what was going on, said, "Okay, we'll ask them." And started walking in their direction. His hearing intent on picking up their words from a safe distance, just in case.

Same place and time

Kyle watched Isabel clinging to Alex, and Maria trying to stay on her feet with the help of Michael's shoulder. He saw Liz observing the ruins of what had once been the Pod Chamber, as if trying to read the explanation to today's happenings in the rocks and Max making sure everyone was fine. Suddenly he felt out of place.

He turned his back on the group and his gaze rested upon a car and a bike stopped on the road right below them and four people that were walking towards them. "Hey, guys... Tell me I'm seeing things." Everyone looked at him and followed his eyes. "Because I'm damn sure there was no one there when Evans came out of the cave and that thing went off."

"Everyone, move!" Michael said, taking charge and he heard Kyle muttering something like 'Damn, they're really there', but before anyone could take a step both Max and Liz spoke.

"No!" they shouted at once.

"We can't just run, Michael," Max said.

"Why the hell not? 'Good' people don't appear from thin air," Michael insisted.

"You don't know that, Michael," Liz tried to reason with him. "They don't look like they're trying to sneak on us or attack us. Besides," she added before Michael could retaliate, "we can't leave, anyway. There's nowhere to go." She looked pointedly around. "You felt that thing too. You know something weird just happened, and it might have something to do with them. They weren't there before."

Michael looked like he wanted to argue some more but the strangers were already there, so he turned around and took position before the group, Max by his side. The rest were moving closer together.

"Hey," the guy on the front said. "Excuse me, fellas, we were wondering if you could tell us the date? Because our friend here," he went on pointing to a short brunette with long dark wavy hair, "hit her head when she fell off her bike and she doesn't believe us." He looked at them expectantly.

Michael looked at Max, not knowing what to think. Whatever he'd expected these people to say, 'Sorry, what's the date?' had not been it.

Max looked back at him, bewildered too. This was too weird even for them.

Just then Liz snorted softly behind them and pushed them aside, stepping in front of them. She smiled friendly at the guy and said, "It's May 3rd." But the guy kept looking at her, so she added, "2001."

Alec started at that. He looked back at Max, whose eyes were bulging incredulously, and then at Biggs and Cece, who looked as if someone had pulled the bottom from beneath them... or someone had just told them the year was 2001.

He closed his eyes and thought 'Oh, man.'

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