Meet
the Dupes…….
In
The three remaining figures, Rath, Lonnie, and Ava stole a
Trans Am. Their leader, Zan was no longer with them. They needed a
replacement.
“Trans Am, baby. Yeah!” Rath yelled as he stole the car
easily and gunned it up. “Can't wait to get out of the city! Red line says
120, but I betcha she goes 130.”
“We were family.” Ava told them from the backseat,
clearly upset with the loss of Zan. “The four of us.”
“Things change.” Lonnie said pulling down the visor
mirror to check her makeup.
“Yo, move outta the way!” Rath screamed out the window
while applying ample use of the horn and his accelerator. Lonnie’s boy toy
was too oblivious to anything except his driving, and Lonnie had no new orders
for him.
“He was your brother, Lonnie.”
“That's right. Zan's my brother. Rath's my lover. But who
are you?” Lonnie asked nastily looking at the other girl in the mirror.
“Why are you still livin' and breathin' and ridin' in this car? Oh, that's
right. You're here 'cause I love
you.” Lonnie made a face, her eyes emotionless and deadly. “Ain't that
sweet?”
Ava sat back afraid. Without Zan, she was alone and
defenseless. Rath was lethal, but it was Lonnie who was the real snake. Rath
followed her without a brain except the one he carried in his pants.
~~~
“A black hole … that's what's left after a star dies.
And that's exactly what happened last week, my friends,” The science teacher
informed the class as he passed out an information sheet. “The spectacular,
stellar, implosion of a red giant, unheard of in the history of astronomy …
the first time a post-main sequence star burning in its prime suddenly and
without warning violently exploded in a supernova of a hundred million degrees
and disappeared, a process that typically takes many thousands of years. What
could have accounted for this … remarkable loss?”
As the class ended, Liz rushed to catch up with Max in the
hallway. “Hey. Kinda weird about that star, huh? Kinda sad. It just doesn't
seem that something burning so bright could just … burn out.” she
commented, not really talking about the star.
Max picked up her analogy easily. “But it did.” He
walked off, leaving an unhappy Liz behind standing in the middle of the hall.
~~~
At the
“Max. You're here!” Brody turned all excited in his
seat. Since he thought Max was an alien abductee such as himself, he had
adopted Max as his personal confidant in everything alien. “I've been dying
to tell someone about this all day. Look! Activity … on the East coast,
somewhere near here.” Brody pointed out the place on a map on the screen.
“
“Uh-huh. See these blips? They appeared last week.”
Brody did some more work on his computer. “Someone or something is trying to
make contact. I'll run a few programs, try to see if any of the ratios match
anything from the records, see if we can't find …” Brody’s pager went
off before he could continue. “Time for dinner.”
Max shrugged. “I'm not hungry.”
Brody looked around the place distractedly. “Well, just
… whatever. Take a break.” Glancing at the clock, he all but kicked Max
out of the room. “Go!”
“I just got here.” Max said, reluctant to go from the
information on the screen.
“Go, go, go, go, go!”
Brody shut the door behind Max looking around the room. His face fused with
color as he noticed the disarray of the place. Quickly picking up the worst of
it, his startling blue eyes kept glancing at the clock.
~~~
Maria was leaning into the order window, talking to Michael
and occasionally frowning at her watch. She was late. Damn.
“And don't forget the pepperjack,” Maria reminded
Michael. “The guy is nuts about his pepperjack.”
“Yeah. All right.” Michael said distracted by Maria’s
order and the thirty other ones he had partially done.
“Oh, Max called. He said that he wants to have a meeting
with everybody Saturday night.”
“No. I can't make that.” Michael told her passing over
the sandwich for Maria to wrap.
“Really?” Maria lifted a brow.
“Yeah. I got big plans. I can't change 'em.”
Maria smiled big. “That is so sweet.”
“Sweet? It's the dirt bike finals.” Michael told her.
“Hello? I'm singing on Saturday at the new performance
space next to the museum!” How could he forget? He promised.
“No! That’s next Saturday.”
“Uh-huh. This Saturday. It has been this Saturday for the
past two months. I’ve talked about nothing else.”
“That’s not true. You talked about the concert in
“Enough! Fine, you don’t want to come. Don’t. I know
dirt bikes are much more interesting.” Maria took her order and left
mumbling under her breath.
“I heard you sing before,” Michael called to her.
Shaking his head, he scratched his brow. Dammit, he lost a Saturday somewhere.
Hitting his head … of course, Skins Saturday had him all out of sync.
~~~
Maria fumed her way over to the
“Hi.” Brody said knocking Maria out of her own
thoughts.
“Galaxy Sub. Hold the mayo.” Maria told the man as she
handed over his standard order sandwich.
“Thank you very much.” Brody smiled charmingly at
Maria, shifting on his feet as if he was trying to think of something to say,
a way to break the ice.
Maria was too busy being pissed at Michael to notice. Her
eyes lit on the sandwich bag. “Is there pepperjack in that sandwich?” She
asked suspiciously.
“Uh …” Brody was taken aback by her abrupt questions,
so he quickly checked the sandwich. “No. Doesn't appear to be.”
“I just …” Maria threw her hands up. Proof the boy
was not paying attention to her. None whatsoever. “I can't believe it! I
cannot believe it!”
“It's ok, really.” Brody reassured her, not pleased
that his sandwich was causing her discomfort.
“No. No, it's not
okay.” Maria said dramatically, letting her hurt feelings fuel her reaction.
She was on the verge of tears. “You ordered pepperjack. You have the right
to expect pepperjack.” Brody was stunned by the obvious tears in her eyes.
“This is … this is unacceptable is what it is!” Maria said angrily as
she wiped the tears away, angry with herself for caring.
“It is just cheese.” Brody felt helpless in front of
the beautiful girl and her tears.
“No, it's not just cheese.” The hell it wasn’t. It
… it meant something to her. Sure, so maybe she wasn’t some high end
talent, but her music meant something, and she wanted her best friend to be
there, giving her support. It wasn’t that easy to stand up there under the
lights, put yourself out in front of all those strangers, and feel … alone.
“But it's a very small thing.”
“Yes. It is a very small thing, and that's why a person
who can't even get the cheese right does not deserve to live!”
“Wow.” Brody was mesmerized by her passion, the
intensity of her fervor. “You take your job very seriously.”
Maria was slightly embarrassed about losing it front of a
customer, especially an important one like Brody Davis. It didn’t help that
the man was so attractive with a cleft in his chin and incredibly clear blue
eyes that seemed to smile. “You know what? Here. Take your money back. It's
on the house.”
“Well, then at least let me give you a tip.” Brody
handed the money to Maria. “Here.”
“That's unnecessary. But thank you.” Maria left unable
to take anymore. She was going on break. A long break. Damn, why didn’t she
smoke?
Maria left so quick and silently that when Brody turned
back around after putting his sandwich down, he hadn’t realized that she had
gone. “So, uh, what do you think of our new President?” Brody frowned at
the empty room, sighing at a lost opportunity.
~~~
Max was driving around in the jeep killing time on his
break when he spotted Isabel jogging along the road. He pulled in cutting her
off. Since the Skins, she had successfully all but avoided him.
“We need to talk.”
“One more mile.”
“What are you running from?” Max asked his sister.
“I'm just getting in shape.”
“Since when?” Max made a face. “Your only exercise
used to be the escalator at the mall.”
“Things change.” Isabel went to go around the jeep.
“Fine. I'll see you later … Vilandra.” Max said
purposely stressing the Vilandra part. “Are you … Vilandra?” Isabel
avoided his eyes. “Isabel, there's always been a special bond … ever since
we came out of the pods. We have to be able to be honest with each other.”
Isabel couldn’t talk about the past, about Vilandra. She
didn’t know, but everything she had learned and all she felt, it scared her
that she might be a monster inside … something she couldn’t live with.
“I'm sorry, Max.” She ran off, her feet hitting the pavement hard and fast
as she ran from demons chasing her from a previous life.
~~~
The car from
“So how come they weren't invited to the
Lonnie looked back at the other girl amazed by her
stupidity. “Because we're the only ones that know there's another set of us
out there. Besides, they're living out here in the middle of nowhere under a
rock.”
Rath sped by a police car, and swore when he saw the lights
in his rearview. Pulling over to the side, he was prepared to kill the officer
to prevent him from running the tags on the stolen car.
“Damn! 5-0.” Rath said to Lonnie, as he watched the
officer coming closer.
“Be cool.” Lonnie warned Rath.
“Don't worry.” The punk assured her, smiling. “He's
already toast.”
Sheriff Valenti walked up to the driver’s window as Rath
got ready to blast him. “License and registration.” Jim said glancing into
the car. “Michael?” Jim laughed hard seeing Michael Guerin all decked out
in piercings, tattoos and a Mohawk. “ Lord, have mercy! What's with the hair
and the outfits?”
“We were actually on our way to a party.” Lonnie said
leaning forward to look up at Jim. “It was kinda like a
“You look like you're from another planet. For once.”
Jim told Isabel, or who he thought was Isabel. Lonnie and Rath shared a look
when it became obvious that the Sheriff knew about their counterparts being
aliens. “So where'd you get this car?”
“We, uh, we borrowed it, Sheriff, um …,” She paused,
cracking her gum, as she read Jim’s name tag. “...Valentee.”
Jim couldn’t stop laughing. “Hey, listen, you wanna
slow it down a little bit? There's no need to attract any additional attention
to yourselves, especially with what we've been through lately.”
“Word!” Rath said smiling big as he put his hand down.
“No, you ain't lyin', sir.”
Jim glanced over at Lonnie. “Where's your brother?”
“We were actually on our way to get him, but we were
kinda nervous about goin' by the house, 'cause there was like a weird car
parked out front.”
“A weird car?” Jim was suddenly concerned.
Rath made a face at Lonnie and her lie. He joined in on the
fun. “You know … alien hunter.”
“Yeah. Felt like we were being watched by someone, so,
like maybe we could follow you back and you could check it out and make sure
it was safe.” Lonnie suggested.
“All right. I'll tell you what. You follow me. If the
coast is clear, I'll just wave ya on in.”
“Cool. Thanks, Sheriff. You da freakin' man!” Lonnie
told him enthusiastically in her
Jim looked at the freak show one more time, once again
laughing himself sick.
Lonnie looked at Rath smiling. “Cool, so the local yokels
have 5-0 in their pocket. Now that is handy.”
They followed Sheriff Valenti to the Evans home in nice
suburbia.
Rath made a face of horror. “It's a wonderful day in the
neighborhood.”
Lonnie was equally unimpressed. “Can you imagine actually
living here?”
“No!” Rath looked at the long unbroken sidewalks and
manicured lawns with lined up trashcans. “I'd kill myself.”
“Let's get in there and see what makes Mr. Max spin.”
Lonnie said getting out of the car. “Stay by the car and keep lookout.”
She told Ava as the other alien girl sat on the hood to keep watch. Rath and
Lonnie found what looked to be a boy’s room and climbed through the window.
“I told ya,” Lonnie said to Rath as she checked out
Max’s ultra neat middle class room matching his suburban lifestyle. “Total
cornball.”
Rath snickered as he went through Max’s closet. “Check
out this gear. Unbelievable. Where does he shop for stuff like this …
freakin'
“Yo. Out here, they think that's hip.”
“Mm-hmm!” Rath said holding a sweater up to his chest
making a face at Lonnie.
“Oh, my God!” Lonnie laughed in derision. “Check this
out. He works in the UFO museum.”
“No!” Rath was at her side snickering. Oh, a pure
cheesecake. They were going to roll him easily like a large dickweed.
“Yeah.”
Rath went to look in Max’s drawers finding a picture of
Liz with his socks. “Hoo! Look at this.” Rath flashed the pretty girl’s
picture at Lonnie.
“Ah. This must be his bitch. Where'd you find this?”
“In his sock drawer.” Yeah, that would be the first
place he’d pick to store this picture too.
Lonnie read in a sappy voice. “To Max. I'll always love
you. Liz.”
“Liz.” Rath said in a singsong voice, nodding as he
looked at the picture. He’d remember that.
“She ain't got nothin' goin' on.” Lonnie said.
“Yeah, well, I'd do her.”
Lonnie laughed sarcastically, knowing Rath. Yeah, well
he’d do about anything, so that was hardly a surprise. That was what made
the boy worth keeping … he was easy to lead around. “Fine. Do her, but
don't kill her. What we're doin' here is important. Don't screw it up.”
Rath laughed, not in the least upset that Lonnie was never
jealous of him doing other girls. Then again, he never cared if she wandered
either, just as long as she was around when he wanted to get off. Rath looked
at the picture again before putting it back. King’s bitch. She wasn’t his
usual type, nothing on Lonnie, but then again it was only about sex and
screwing with someone’s head, so what the hell did it matter?
There came a knock on the door, and Rath quickly dived to
the floor behind the bed. Lonnie was caught in the middle of the room as Mr.
Evans looked in searching for Max.
“Max?” Philip paused in the doorway in shock when he
saw his daughter and her attire. “Izzie?”
“Hey … Dad.” Lonnie said dropping into a chair.
“What happened to you? You look like some … rapper on
TV. Like that, uh, Queen Latisha.”
“Queen Latifah.”
Philip noticed the tattoo of the 4 Squares on Lonnie’s
arm. “Tell me that's not a tattoo.”
“Chill, Dad. It's henna. It'll wash off.” Lonnie saw
the look on the old man’s face. She had to laugh when Rath’s head popped
up to make a face at her. He gestured with his hand asking her if he should
waste the tight and whitey. “Okay. No, no … you know what? I'll tell you
the truth. I ain't really Isabel.”
“You're not?” Philip asked wondering where the hell he
put the number to the psychologist. He might need to increase both Isabel and
Max’s sessions.
“No. I'm … Juliet. See, school's doing this kinda rock
'n' roll version of Romeo and Juliet, and, well …”
“And my daughter's playing Juliet?” Philip said
extremely relieved and utterly proud of his girl. “That's great, honey! The
smell of the grease paint... The roar of the crowd... I took theater, too. I
was Puck my senior year.” He chuckled at the memory.
“Totally epic, Dad.”
“Ha! You certainly got that jive down.” Philip told her
admiring her effort at a
“Max? Yeah, he seems so, uh …” Lonnie struggled with
a word that would describe someone she never met.
“Tense. Now, I'm worried about him. Even the therapy's
not helping him … though obviously it's helping you.”
“Yeah, a shrink.” Lonnie swallowed her laughter about
her dupe and the Max dude. They were nutcases, easy to crack. This was going
to be too easy to mess with them. “But he’s … helping me … to find
myself.” Rath was leaning on the bed chuckling in his hand as he tried not
to make any noise. Epic.
“I was thinking … perhaps you and Max could have a
joint session to work out whatever's come between you.” Philip suggested
noticing the distance between the siblings over the past few weeks.
Lonnie’s eyes narrowed as the information came as a nice
bonus. So the King and his Princess sister were at odds. How utterly …
yesterday. So history had a way of repeating itself, over and over again. “I
didn't think you'd noticed.”
“The doors slamming, the silence at the dinner table? Oh
… I've never seen you fight like this.”
“Well, I'd really like to work it out.” Lonnie said
pleasantly, or as pleasantly as she imagined that a princess raised in this
pea-less environment could be.
“Promise me you'll consider it? The joint session?”
Lonnie nodded her agreement as her father looked over her attire and
couldn’t help laughing. “Heh.” He waved one last time on his way out as
Rath came out of his hiding place.
“Yeah, okay.” Lonnie said to Rath. “Heh. A shrink?
How whacked is that, yo?”
“So … Max is a headcase.” Rath smiled. Oh, he bet the
old King Dick … a veritable Humpty Dumpty was ready to crack with a little
push, like someone getting into his bitch’s drawers? “We can use that.
"Loooove, Liiiiiiz". Mmmm,” Rath made a face at Lonnie. Hell, even
if she resisted, it would put a nice wedge between the King and his
counterpart.
~~~
Michael looked around for Maria. Okay, so he screwed up the
dates. It was totally understandable with the Skins wrecking an entire weekend
of his life. He could always tape the bike finals and catch them later.
Michael stopped the new waitress who was replacing
Courtney. Her name escaped him. “Where’s Maria?”
“She left. She said something about having to see this
guy. Her boyfriend?” The waitress guessed.
Michael frowned. “Not likely.”
~~~
Maria went back to the
“What is this?”
Maria asked.
Brody frowned at the bill Maria had in her hand. “A
tip.”
“A hundred dollar tip?” Maria’s eyes narrowed
suspiciously. She was her mother’s daughter, hardly born yesterday.
“Why?”
“Honestly?” Brody asked seeing his opportunity. She was
talking to him. Giving him a chance for a conversation. Charming. He needed to
be charming. Amusing. Cute. Hell, maybe she would think he was handsome? Nope,
Brody remembered his hair. Maybe not. Cute. Sexy. Sexy would be good. His
accent, maybe it would be a bonus. “It's Ben Franklin. I can't stand lookin'
at the bloke. Now, you give me five Andrew Jacksons any day. Look. I mean,
there's a head of hair. It's nice and thick. It's got kinda an Elvis thing
going on. The sideburns …”
Maria shook her head at the man. “Clearly, you are a man
with too much money.” She looked at the hundred dollar bill uncertain if she
should be upset or flattered by the size of the tip. “Look, I don't know
what you're thinking, Mister, but Maria De Luca, right here …” Maria
gestured to herself, heartfelt and honest, “not for sale. I mean, sure
…” Maria looked at the money then shook her head. “No. No! Not even for
that much money.”
“Then how 'bout lunch?” Brody asked. Maria stopped in
her track, stilled like a deer in headlights.
“Did you just ask me out on a date?” Her heart stopped
in her chest, somewhere in her throat.
“No!” Brody quickly amended upon seeing her expression.
“No, absolutely not.”
“Oh …” Maria said the wind knocked out of her sails a
bit, as she was left slightly embarrassed and off kilter.
Brody quickly rushed in before she thought he was rejecting
her, or not in the least bit interested, which couldn’t be further from the
truth. “But maybe the next time you bring me a sandwich, you could bring one
for yourself and not charge me for it even though I have too much money, but
pay for it yourself because that would make it officially not a date. And then
stay and eat it with me. And keep me company while I'm dateless. What do you
think?”
“I, um …” Maria pushed her hair back off her face,
floundering a little. Oh damn. “I think you're a little strange.”
“Mm … sometimes, yeah.” Brody agreed thinking that
wasn’t so bad. At least she didn’t run screaming in fright. Maybe she
liked strange? Brody turned on the charm as his smile became brilliant, damn
near blinding Maria as she slowly backed away, not sure whether she should run
or curtsey. Oh god, he was cute. And sexy. Oh … damn.
~~~
Rath searched the halls of the high school for his prey. He
found her at a locker. Sidling up to her, he leaned on the locker next to
hers.
“Whassup? You look tight.”
“Excuse me? Did …” Liz looked around the locker at
the offensive person to find a strange version of Michael smirking at her.
“Oh, my God, Michael! What is with your hair?”
“I wouldn't mind kickin' it to ya.” Rath suggested
making what he considered a very charming and come-hither face, which was in
fact, a leer.
“Kickin' it.” Liz nodded a little amused, but mostly
confounded. “Yeah.”
“Whaddaya say you give me a little somethin' somethin',
huh?” Rath stuck out his tongue at her suggestively.
“Oh, my God!”
Liz slammed her locker door backing up from the deranged Michael. “Get away
from me! What is going on with you?”
“I just thought since Maxie wasn't around that we could,
uh …”
Not in her worst nightmare, and not with him looking like
… ew! “Just stop, ok?”
“Ai-ight. You got me. I just … I just wanted to see,
you know, if you'd go for it, and you …”
“No. It's not gonna happen … ever.”
“Of course not.” Liz shook her head and turned to
leave, but Rath grabbed her and kissed her on the lips, tongue included.
“Uhhh.” Liz pushed him off her visibly shaking in
repulsion. “Oh, my God! Eww!” She scurried off to class before the freak
show grabbed her again.
“Epic.” Rath said laughing. He wondered how long it
would take Brown Eyes to run to old Maxie with complaints about his dupe. Rath
had a bounce to his step on the way out of the school ignoring shocked looks
directed his way. Too bad the little piece of dry toast didn’t want to
party, she seemed like she could use some starch taken out of her undies.
~~~
Late Saturday at the
“So I think that the signals Brody tracked could be
connected to the dying star somehow, and …”
Michael frowned at Maria who wasn’t making eye contact
with him and sitting on the other side of the room, away from him. She had
effectively avoided him over the past few days, hadn’t come by, didn’t
leave her bedroom window unlocked, and skipped their joint shifts. He hadn’t
had breakfast with her in over two days. “You called us all together here
for this emergency meeting to talk about a star that croaked?”
“Yeah, some of us have more important things to do.”
Maria said not bothering to look at Michael. “Like watch dirt bikes go
around in a circle. A study in inertia.”
“I think it could mean something. It's … been haunting
me.”
Maria rubbed her forehead in irritation. “I cancelled my
performance, Max.” Once again, another alien crisis that had taken over her
life. Oh god, Max was being haunted. Damn if it wasn’t dirt bikes it was Max
thinking too much.
“I think we should be ready for the next challenge.”
Michael and Maria both groaned in unison. It sounded like
Indiana Jones’ father in the Last Crusade. ‘Brody isn’t up to the
challenge.’ Maria regretted thinking the name Brody as her face was lost
in thought, making Michael frown.
Ava, Rath, and Lonnie were listening in on the discussion
from behind a grating. They had spent the last few days watching their Dupes,
waiting for the King’s bitch to run home to Daddy in tears. It took a day
for them to realize that ‘I'll always love you. Liz,’ and Maxie were a
done deal. Guess love was a fleeting thing, here today, gone tomorrow. The
effort had been a waste.
“Yo. He's Zan, all right. Look at him.” Rath whispered
to the others.
“Zan with an even bigger stick up his ass,” Lonnie
agreed. “No wonder his bitch left him.”
“What a buncha scrubs.”
Rath’s eyes lit on Maria. Now that one he hadn’t seen. He had staked out
his Dupe while Lonnie and Ava took Max and Tess. He hadn’t noticed this nice
piece of sugar with legs so long they could wrap around a man twice. Rath
almost howled when she turned her tight body around and he got a look at the
face. Holy shit, maybe she was the King’s new thing! He could definitely
make the time for a little somethin’ there. This one didn’t look like she
bothered with panties, or better yet, something thongish. It was the lips.
Definitely the lips.
“I don't know why they told all those humans about their
secrets. It's like a freaking town meeting down there.” Lonnie observed, not
getting all the human involvement. All those years it had only been the four
of them, no humans … no one else.
Alex interrupted the Dupes as he walked into the
“Hey, sorry, guys. Sorry I'm late.” The Dupes turned to
look at him, and Alex broke out laughing when he saw them in their punked out
street clothes. “I don't remember it saying anything about costumes on the
invitation. Oh. But it's too late for Halloween, and it's too early for Mardi
Gras, so what's goin' on?” he shook his head still laughing. “Are we like
goin' on the
There was talking, and Alex glanced down through the
grating noticing the real Michael, Tess and Isabel standing next to Max, Maria
and Liz in the area below. He got it. Aliens. Not his aliens. Stammering a little, he backed up his hands going up.
“Scratch that question. Uh, who needs a holiday to dress
up, right? Anyway …” Alex hurried down the steps to join his friends
below, the real versions of his friends.
“Alex. You're late.” Max scolded, his thoughts
definitely more important than any other activity of the evening.
“Uh … um … uh.” Alex pointed to the stairs. Rath,
Lonnie, and Ava appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Hey,” Rath called down to the stiffs and the babe.
“Yo, up here!”
Maria’s mouth dropped open. “Now this is freaky.” Michael immediately moved over to stand next to
Maria literally putting her behind him.
“Who are you?” Max asked.
“We're you.” Lonnie said.
“I …” Isabel looked at herself, or the girl who
looked like her with bad hair, bad makeup, and a smug smile. “I don't
understand …”
“They're shapeshifters.” Michael said softly, his hand
coming up in a defensive posture.
“I know you must be buggin' out right now, 'cause I'd be
buggin', too.” Lonnie assured them as the group.
“How can this be?” Isabel asked Max in wonder.
Michael knew. It finally came to him. “Eight. Eight.
There were eight pods originally.”
Rath looked at his Dupe, impressed. They assumed the others
had no idea of their existence. “You know about that?”
“Yeah, I …” Michael quickly amended that to include
the others. “We just found out recently, so … I just … didn't know you'd
look like us.”
Max picked up the conversation. “All we knew was that
there were eight originally. We never knew what happened to the other four.”
“They went to
“
“The Big Apple. Center of the universe. Amazing pizza.”
Rath said, helping Max, thinking he didn’t understand the word,
“Um …” Liz turned red when Rath winked at her, she
cleared her throat. “But there's only three of you.”
“We had a fourth.” Lonnie told them. “We just lost
him.”
Ava couldn’t take her eyes off Max. “His name was …
Zan.”
Max felt uncomfortable from Tess’s dupe’s stare. “I'm
Max.”
Isabel noticed Ava’s interest as well. “How did you
lose your Max?”
“He died in a stupid accident. You know, all his powers,
all his abilities, and, you know, he died in a street accident. For nothin'.”
Rath held out his hand to Max who shook it. “Yo, I'm Rath.”
“Lonnie.” Lonnie said to her counterpart.
“Isabel.”
Tess and Ava looked at each other. “I'm Ava.”
“Tess.”
Max motioned to the quiet Michael who was still standing
partially in front of Maria. “This is Michael, and these are our friends:
Alex, Maria, and Liz.”
Liz looked at the punked out version of Michael. “Uh, we
met.” Maria looked at Liz sharply, then took another look at Rath.
“Sorry about that. I was, uh … I was just trying to get
the lay of the land.” He told Liz, not in the least bit sorry for his
behavior. He turned back to Max, to the King. He was the only one that really
concerned them. “Something's cookin' … something that's gonna affect all
of us. Could we talk in private?” Max nodded leading Rath away as Rath
quickly glanced at Lonnie gesturing to his Dupe, Michael. Lonnie had a way
with the Rath version of alien. Smirking, Rath went with Max.
~~~
“You look so much like him.”
“Zan?”
“Yeah.” Rath let that go. It wasn’t important.
“Anyways … we've been contacted. You know, it seems some of peeps from the
hood, they wanna hook up with us and have a sit-down.”
“The … the hood?” Max asked. What? Someplace in
“Our star system. Home. You … the ruling families of
the five planets … they wanna have this
“Me?”
“Yeah, with Zan dead, you're the only king we got.”
Max looked at the man not sure if he could take everything
he said with open trust. A
“We're the ones they found. They don't know that there
was two sets.”
“Were you close, you and Zan?” Max asked curiously,
wondering if the other version of him had a better friendship with his Michael
than he did.
“Oh, yeah, we were closer than brothers, man.” Rath
answered, seeing that it meant something to Max, so he gave the man what he
thought he wanted to hear. Maybe it would inspire trust. After watching the
others for a few days, it was apparent that Max and his Second weren’t too
close. There had appeared to an animosity between them. “I mean … you
know, all my life, I looked up to him and I wanted to be like him and … and
then just one day, just … bam!”
Max remembered a time when Michael had actually looked up
to him, respected him and believed in him. That was long ago, before he saved
Liz. Since that day, it had changed, and in a slow march, their friendship
disintegrated.
Rath continued to push Max into joining them in
“I don't even know what the war's about.”
“We know it's about us … the original Royal Four. Some
kind of revolution happened, and they were all killed and sent to earth to be
reborn. Ever since then, the hood's been a war zone. And now they want peace.
I know you're not Zan, and I know it's kinda screwed to lay all this stuff on
you, but this meant a lot to him. He's our peace. He's our chance to do
something with this life. This is it.”
“I'm not Zan.” Max reminded the skewed version of
Michael.
“Don't worry. I mean, I'll be right there with you.”
Rath assured Max, stepping up as Max’s lieutenant, his second. “But
without you … there is no
~~~
Lonnie easily culled Michael from the pack as the two human
girls went to a back room together. It was easy to get Michael to talk to her
since he had questions and this was another opportunity, one he hadn’t had
since Courtney died.
“So why are there two sets?”
“Well, they made one batch and didn't get it quite right,
so … they made another.” Lonnie said smiling sweetly at him.
“So you guys are, like, defective.”
Lonnie made a face. “Actually, you're the defectives. Too
human.” She noticed the way Michael’s eyes narrowed and his face closed
off allowing her nothing to read. He definitely wasn’t Rath. “No offense.
When they sent us down here, the war was still going on. We were possibly the
only chance for survival, so they sent both sets, you know, for insurance.”
“Right.” Michael didn’t believe a word this trashed
out version of Isabel was saying. More alien? That wasn’t much of an
endorsement. All the aliens they ran into were hardly truthful, and they
usually wanted something. The Granilith. Michael shook his head. Yeah,
defectives with the Granilith. Right. Michael glanced around for Maria,
swearing under his breath. He wasn’t happy that she was wandering around
without him, not with unknown aliens near. She had a way of getting into
trouble. Hell, not too long ago, she disappeared right before his eyes.
~~~
Isabel wasn’t sure about the other version of her. They
sat on the steps, and Isabel got up the nerve to ask her about her name. “So
… Lonnie. Is that short for Vilandra?”
“That's right. You know about Vilandra?” Interesting.
Lonnie’s interest was piqued.
“I've heard some things.”
“Whadda ya know?” Lonnie asked interested to see how
much Isabel would confess.
“What do you know?” Isabel answered the question with a
question not willing to tell anyone about the stories told her.
“She betrayed her family … brought down the whole house
of cards … got everyone killed. Sound familiar?” Lonnie asked taking a
stab in the dark that Isabel hadn’t shared her knowledge with anyone else.
“It's been hard keeping it to myself all these years. You have no idea.”
“Yes, I do.”
Bingo. Lonnie almost lost it and smiled. She had a
weakness, a place to strike. She needed to confirm it. “You haven't told
Max? But you seem so close.”
“I … I wanted to, but … but I didn't even want to
believe it myself, and … the thought of telling him …” Isabel couldn’t
finish. Max was her brother. She couldn’t lose him. She already lost Michael
to some alien destiny that made no sense. Max was all she really had left.
“It's okay. It's okay. It'll be our little secret.”
Lonnie told Isabel enjoying the role of co-conspirator.
Alex approached the two Isabel’s, one of his unspoken
fantasies sitting alive and large before him. “Ladies, uh … frosty
beverage?”
Lonnie looked the boy over and shook her head. “No three
ways tonight, Opie. Maybe later.” Alex turned red at the … um, not so
subtle version of Isabel and took himself off before he embarrassed himself.
Isabel smiled at seeing herself talking to Alex in such an unorthodox way.
~~~
Max discussed what's going on with Isabel, Michael, and
Tess.
“Well … here we are.” Max said.
“And there we are.” Isabel said looking over at the
Dupes.
“I thought I'd seen everything.” Michael said looking
at Rath. He didn’t trust the other version of himself no more than he
trusted Lonnie. The other one, Ava, she was quiet.
“They want me to go to
“What, just you?” Michael asked, not in the least bit
pleased with the division of their four. “We weren't invited?”
Max could see trouble coming so he headed it off
immediately. “I already told them no.”
~~~
“Think it's gonna take some work.” Rath told Lonnie as
they leaned back against the wall talking in low tones. “He's got that same
brick head as Zan.”
“We don't got a lotta time.” Lonnie reminded him,
slightly peeved with Rath’s ineffectiveness. She shoulda taken Max.
“Back off.” Rath warned her. “I'm on it.”
“Like you were on Zan?” She criticized. “Do not
screw this up, Rath. He goes to the
~~~
“Okay. So duplicate Michael kissed you, and you decided
not to tell me this very pertinent fact?”
Liz made a face knowing how bad it looked. “No, I wanted
to tell you, I just … I couldn't …” Liz couldn’t tell Maria, not after
her reaction to Michael kissing Courtney.
“But you thought … hey, it’s just Michael slipping me
the tongue. There's nothing unusual about that.”
“Maria, it's not Michael.”
“But you didn't know that then, Liz!” Maria was beside
herself. What the hell was wrong with her? None of her best friends would talk
to her! They all avoided telling her things or didn’t even bother. “How
could you not know that wasn’t Michael? I mean the boy takes forever with
his hair. Did you not see that punked out reject’s hair? Did you not see
anything about him highly suspicious? What couldn’t you see? After a
Shapeshifter masquerading as Max, taking you hostage … after Skins living in
husks …”
“Can't you get over it?” Liz sighed as Maria went on.
“This happened, when? Two days ago? You could’ve
prepared us … mentioned it. I mean when ever
did Michael Guerin give you any indication that he wanted to play tonsil
hockey with you, or that he had this secret desire to crush your smokes? Did
this not send off alarms? Or …”
“Maria. Maria! Please, I'm sorry.” Liz stopped her
friend’s angry rant. How clueless could her friend be? She couldn’t see
her reactions to Michael as not only possessive and jealous, but face the fact
that they were a couple whether they knew it or not. She didn’t have time to
educate Maria into the facts of life, especially not while Maria was totally
resistant to the thought. “Look, can I just … can I just talk to you for
one second?”
Maria nodded. Finally. It was about time someone wanted to
talk to her. She needed back on even ground, off the slippery slope she had
been traveling since Madam Vivian ruined her peace. Maria put on her “good
friend” face, ready to listen and be the firm comforting shoulder.
“Okay. This thing kind of happened with Kyle, but it
didn't really happen, and I can't tell Max what I didn't do. But I can't tell
you what I didn't do either, so don't ask me to explain it, ok?” Liz paused
taking a huge breath of much needed air. “But … the point is, I just feel
really stupid being here.”
“Do you realize that what you just said made absolutely
no sense?” Maria shook her head. Obviously all the time she spent away from
Liz lately, obsessing over her own pathetic life had made her out of practice
to Liz speak. “Oh again, once more, this time slower and maybe a foreign
language might help, just not the New Yawk version of English … I can barely
handle it from the scabs out there.”
They spent the rest of the night talking about what
couldn’t be talked about in so many metaphors that Maria lost track of the
time. It really didn’t matter. It still didn’t make sense, no matter how
many different ways Liz tried to tell her without telling her.
“Hey, how long have I been asleep?” Alex asked waking
up, looking around. He turned over and went back to sleep.
~~~
Michael looked over when Rath came to sit next to him.
Isabel was still talking to Max and Tess, and Lonnie and Ava seemed to be in
some discussion.
“Whassup? Are you like wiggin’”
“Right,” Michael took a deep breath, looking at
himself, but not himself. He could take a few tattoos himself, but not the
damn 4 Square symbol. If he never saw that one again, it would be too soon.
“What do you want?”
“Hey, don’t be that way, G.” Rath actually did have a
purpose. “So I wuz doing like this head count. I knows that the brown piece
is like Max’s thing. I already searched her out laying a big smack on
her.”
“Excuse me?”
“I stuck my tongue down her throat.” Rath shrugged.
“It wuz nothin’.”
“Nothing? You kissed Liz Parker with my face, and you
think that’s nothing?” Michael rubbed his eyebrow, mentally picturing the
whole fiasco. “At least tell me no one saw you.”
“Just the entire school, but who cares about those trolls
anyway?” Rath ignored Michael’s moan of disgust. “So anyways, I take it
you and your Lonnie aren’t …” Rath made a motion indicating
‘banging’ which made Michael make a face.
“No. What’s your point?”
“Well, the blonde babe with legs to here, eyes green, and
a mouth that definitely belongs around my …”
“Maria?” Michael’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Yo! Maria!” Rath practically sang the name, rolling it
around his tongue. Oh yeah. He could definitely roll around with more than the
name, especially if the bitch would come back out to play.
“Maria belongs to someone.” Michael told Rath, his eyes
cold and deadly.
“Ho Ho! So
that’s the way. No harm, G. No harm.” Rath couldn’t help but play around
a bit. “So maybe we can swap? I take it she’s yours. I can slut you Lonnie
for a bite of Maria pie.”
“I can rearrange your fucking face!”
Rath bristled, more than happy to mix it up with Michael,
but he saw Lonnie standing up across the room and remembered her instruction
not to mess up. He held up his hands instead. “Whoa there, G-man. Just
funnin’. I can read the paper. She’s off limits.”
“Way.”
“No problem.” Maria and Liz left the back room to get a
cold drink. Rath watched Maria, his eyes not leaving her ass. At least not
until the large frame of Michael suddenly obscured his view. Damn, too bad he
didn’t know about her sooner. He wouldn’t have minded pretending to be
Michael, especially if the other alien’s reaction was any indication, those
two were seriously hot and heavy.
“She’s yours.”
“She’s mine.” Michael said with a firm tone, a bit of
bite to his voice.
Rath sighed as Maria and Liz went back into the other room
giving the new aliens a wide berth. He hated greedy bastards. Glancing at
Michael, he frowned. He didn’t understand jealousy, but envy was something
he could comprehend.
~~~
Max glanced up the stairs at the sound of someone opening
the front door. He quickly glanced at his watch.
“It's
“In the morning?” Tess couldn’t believe it either.
“I-it's just my boss.” Max told the others. “Hide.”
Before any of them could move, Brody entered the
“Morning,” Max said coming out into plain view so Brody
could see him.
“Wha..? Is there a party going on? Funny I wasn't
invited, seeing how it's my building.” His eyes fell on Rath who was
standing next to Michael. “And who are you?”
“Uh, Brody, this is my, uh, twin brother Bob.”
“I didn't know you had a brother.”
“I live in
“Well, that explains the hair.” Brody said as he looked
at the others, especially his employee who was taking huge advantage of his
good nature. “Now who can explain what you're all doing here?”
Maria suddenly came out of the back room, crossing over to
Brody. “Hi,” she said to get his attention.
Brody’s body visibly started at the sight of Maria in his
place, his face immediately changing and lighting up in a smile. “Hi!”
“Um …” Maria quickly covered to get the others out of
trouble. “You know how you asked about lunch?”
“Uh-huh.” Brody said forgetting the others, his eyes
only for Maria.
“Well, how do you feel about having a little
breakfast?” Maria asked smiling offering him her arm.
Brody didn’t have to be asked twice. He took her arm leading her up the stairs. “Stay as long as you like.” Brody said over his shoulder not bothering to look back at the other teenagers. He leaned in and said