Payback (Mature*Zan) COMPLETE * 3/27

[magikhands]

Title: Payback
Author: magikhands
Rating: Mature
Category: AU w/ aliens ~ Zan POV
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Roswell
Summary: This is for DAS spring challenge. Hope I have all the requirements...
Zan is alive and he’s out for revenge on behalf of Max. The first chapter is right after Lonnie and Rath try to kill Zan. The second chapter starts one year after Max escapes Pierce, only Pierce isn’t dead.

AN: The chapters are fairly short...along with the fic, only 4 chapters



~Chapter 1~

Placing the receiver back on its cradle, I let out a sigh of relief. I knew I’d done all I could right now. Warning Max about my sister and Rath lifted a small burden off my chest. I knew after trying to kill me, they would go after my duplicate. The only other one that could give them what they wanted…a way back home. Ava wasn’t strong enough to protect Max or the others from Lonnie’s wrath. My sister had a devious mind and knew how to manipulate the people around her. And Rath was her little do-boy, eager for the power she would share with him, at least until she tired of him or got all that she wanted.

Yes, we’ve known about the other pod squad for some time now. We knew they lived in Roswell, not far from where our ship had crashed. What Rath and Lonnie couldn’t know was how well I already knew Max. My dupe and I share a strange connection. One I never wanted and no one could imagine having. It’s a one sided connection. I feel him but he didn’t have a clue about me.

For months I’ve been having dreams. Nightmares really. They are frightening, filling me with panic. I wake with sweat covering my body, my heart pounding, and a scream stuck in my throat. When they first started, they came nearly every night filling me with pain and fear. I didn’t know how to fight them, change them. It was a fight I faced every time I closed my eyes. But after a few weeks they began to taper off.

Even awake, I never forgot those dreams. When I think about the images that fill my head during my sleeping hours, I could practically feel the needles that entered his arms, could see the white blinding his site, and feel the fear that ripped through his mind and body. Through these dreams, I relived Max’s capture by the government and the ordeal they put him through. It was a deep buried fear the eight of us all shared, but Max, so far, has been the only one to actually experience it.

During my dreams, I also learned about the girl Max had in his life, along with the love for his sister and best friend. Those feelings were foreign to me. I cared for Ava, always had. She had been my bride, my love, in our past life, but I never loved her in this life like that. We were different people here, were raised in a different world. I was not a King, Ava not a Queen, or Lonnie and Rath royalty. We were sewer rats, living the best we could with what we had been left with.

I had tried to protect Ava as much as possible but now she was on her own and I could only hope she would be strong enough to stay safe. As for Lonnie and Rath…they were family and I couldn’t help but care about them, despite constantly looking over my shoulder for a knife to be slammed into my back. I knew about Lonnie’s greed, her desperate need to get back to Antar…and Kivar. But this time their betrayal was too much. Trying to kill me had just destroyed the little trust I had in her. If it weren’t for Ava’s quick mindwarp, and my shield I would be road kill.

Once they believe me dead, I knew Lonnie would go to Max and try to get what she wanted from him. And if she didn’t, she’d kill him like she tried with me. Max didn’t deserve it and I could only hope that he could protect Ava while they were in Roswell. Hopefully, he could talk her into staying with them like I’d suggested.

Stepping out into the cold rain, I drew my jacket closer to my body and boarded the waiting bus. Today was the start of a new life. A second chance.

TBC...

[magikhands]

~Chapter 2~

The dreams have started again. It had been at least two months since I last had one. Then this past week they came every time I closed my eyes. Only this time the dreams were different. These weren’t focused on Max. No, these focused on the man who had done those horrible things to Max. The FBI agent, Daniel Pierce. It was strange looking into the man’s blazing blue eyes so filled with fire and determination. I could feel the man’s coldness and disgust as he looked down at Max. My skin crawled as these horrible emotions assaulted me.

I lay awake staring at the dark ceiling. The clock beside me read 3:30 am. Letting out a loud sigh, I tried closing my eyes again but I knew sleep was a thing of the past. It was spring, closing in on summer, so the weather was warmer and the days were getting longer giving me even less time to sleep.

I had been gone from New York seven months now. I’d traveled up and down the east coast during that time looking for the right place to settle. I thought of going out west but I knew if I did, I would end up in Roswell and I didn’t want that. Not yet. No, I needed to be on my own for a while yet. Maybe one day I will join up with the others, maybe truly settle down and maybe one day be lucky enough to be surrounded by those that love me like my dupe. That was a lot of maybes. But something was keeping me here on this side of the states. And until I figured it out, the east coast is where I will stay.

My mind wandered through the changes since leaving New York. Trying to fit in a little more, I ditched the heavy street accent, let my hair grow out, and lost most of my piercings. I kept the tattoos as reminders of who I really was, so I’d not lose the real me in this world of humans.

Two months after I warned Max, his sister Isabel managed to dream walk me. This pissed me off. I had long ago learned to block Lonnie but it had been a long day of work and my guard was down. I was about to kick her out when the sight of Max and Ava holding a stuffed alien toy stopped me. Ava ran to me and gave me a strong hug. I didn’t remember her being so strong before.

Max approached and thanked me for the warning. He told me what had occurred once Lonnie and Rath got town. When Max refused to go to the Summit with them, Lonnie tried threatening him. When he had refused to back down, she tried using Isabel and Michael against him. Nothing worked so they kidnapped Liz with the help of Tess who wanted nothing more than to have Liz out of the picture.

After a showdown in the desert, at which time Liz started showing some abilities, Lonnie, Rath, and Tess died. It had been hard on the group, and they were still regrouping but things were settling down. Max had been hurt but not so much that he couldn’t heal himself after a couple of days of rest.

Ava happily told me about the Sheriff taking her in, essentially taking Tess’s place and how she and Kyle were getting ‘close’. I was happy for her. I always knew she was better than the rest of us, that she deserved more in life. She had a heart of gold and I often wondered if she truly belonged with us. They invited me to come to Roswell, Ava practically pleading with me to join her, but I knew it wasn’t time. There was something out there for me to do. After that, Isabel and Ava would check in on me every couple of months. Just enough to keep tabs but not too much that I felt crowded.

I waited anxiously until it was seven Roswell time before picking up the phone.

“Yo.” I said when the phone was answered.

“Zan?” a sleepy voice acknowledged. “Is something wrong?” The sleep was immediately gone and I could picture my dupe sitting up in bed alert.

“Naw, jus need some answers.”

“Ok. What do you need to know?”

The confusion in his voice sounded clear and I felt a little guilty for calling him so early on a Saturday. Of course he didn’t know that I could have called him at 1 am when I first woke, so this was my nicety to him.

“I need the story on Pierce.”

The line went silent and I knew that Max had tensed at the name that haunted him. Haunted us both.

“Why?” I heard the hesitation and uncertainty from Max.

“I know what he did to you. I’ve been sharing your dreams about him since. But…” I paused wondering if this was such a good idea. I had never told anyone about the dreams, suffering them by myself. “Well, they’ve started again but they are different. I don’t think I’m getting them from you.”

There was a pause before Max carefully answered. “No, I haven’t had a dream in…”

“Two months.”

“Yeah. But…”

“Where is he? What happened?” I questioned.

“After I escaped, we lured him to the UFO Center. We needed information from him about Nesado. After we got it, he managed get lose and tried to kill us. Michael blasted him. It didn’t kill him but last I heard he’s in a coma still. He never woke.”

“You never tried to…”

“Hell no!” Max growled. “Besides, that’s when Kyle got shot and I had to use my energy for him, not some psycho that tried to dissect me.”

“So where is he now?”

“Valenti helped us set up a car accident. He still keeps tabs on him for us. Last we heard Pierce was still in some hospital in DC. One that specializes in coma patients.”

“Thanks man.” I went to hang up when Max stopped me.

“Wait. What are you going to do?”

“Not sure but don’t worry. You’re safe. I’ll keep in touch.” I said before hanging up on the rest of Max’s questions. “This is my life, not a damn soap opera." I muttered looking at the phone. “You don’t get all the answers just ‘cuz you are the King.”

I waited a couple of minutes, deep in thought before picking up the phone again.

“Need you to do something for me.” I said when the phone was answered.

TBC...

[magikhands]

~Chapter 3~

I lifted my hands from the head and gasped for air. Sweat was pouring down my face from the energy I was putting forth. I knew there was going to be a lot of damage to repair, but didn’t realize it would be this much. Not only had Michael’s blast damaged this man’s lungs and heart, it had practically fried his nervous system. I was amazed that he was even alive.

I could see Pierce’s eyes fluttering, trying to open but I had placed tape on his lids to keep them closed. I wasn’t ready for my guest to gain consciousness. Wasn’t ready to greet him properly. First, he had to be healed.

I reached out and touched his temple. Pierce’s body spasmed as he fought to swallow despite the ventilator tube in his throat.

“Not yet.” I whispered putting Pierce back to sleep while my other hand lay over Pierce’s heart.

~*~

I watched from behind the two-way glass as Pierce slowly woke. At first the man’s eyes fluttered swiftly but once he got them opened he quickly closed them again to block out the bright light. I could see his Adam’s apple bob frantically up and down as he struggled to swallow. I had healed Pierce’s major injuries but left his sore swollen throat and his atrophied muscles. I wanted him to feel the helplessness that he’d applied to Max.

Pierce was sitting in a chair that reclined. His wrists were strapped to the arms and his ankles were restrained as well. He was dressed in a set of white scrubs. Pierce had the strength of a newborn puppy but if he was lucky, or maybe unlucky, he would actually be able to struggle against his restraints, much like Max had done.

“Hello Daniel.” My voice boomed over the speakers that were piped into the room. The sound made Pierce jump.

His mouth moved but I knew that only a whisper was coming out. His vocal cords had gone for a year without use. They were as weak as his arms and legs.

I said nothing more and watched the man struggle to speak louder while trying to open his eyes. When he finally managed to keep them open longer than a few seconds they grew large and his chest heaved with breath. Pierce was panicking but was too weak to do much else.

Watching enough, I walked into the room. I stood behind Pierce and looked around. I had done a marvelous job on the room. The walls and floor was made of white squares and the ceiling was filled with bright white lights. It was an exact replication of the white room Pierce had held Max in.

I walked around so that Pierce could see me. Fear glistened in his blue eyes and I silently enjoyed it. The fire that had blazed in them when he looked at Max a year ago was gone but it was only a matter of time before it reignited. Pierce was a stubborn man, one that had strongly believed in what he did.

“So tell me Daniel. How does it feel? To be weak and at another’s mercy? To feel fear so deep that it chills your blood?” I questioned the stunned man. I knew he was surprised to see me…or who he thought I was. I reached out and placed a hand over Pierce’s throat. Pierce flinched at me touch but was unable to do much else. “Try it now.” I said pulling my hand away. I had strengthened his vocal cords but left the soreness.

“Where am I?” He demanded.

There it was. Just a hint of fire but it quickly faded into fear.

“Someplace where no one can find you.” I leaned against the wall looking completely relaxed but inside I was as tight as bow. He showed no reaction when I used his own words.

“What did you do to me?”

There it was again. The fire slowly coming back with every word, with every look. This was what I wanted. To lure him out. To let him think that he might have a chance then break him down.

“I only healed you.” I answered casually.

Pierce looked down at his body and I could see him struggling to move his limbs. His big toe twitched as did his fingers but that was about all.

“Why can’t I move?” This time his fear dripped into his voice as he realized that no only was he restrained, but he couldn’t move even if he was released.

“Your muscles have slightly atrophied. It’s been some time since you were awake. A year to be precise.”

“A year?” His brows drew together as he tried hard to remember.

“Let me refresh your memory.” I pushed off the wall and approached Pierce. Bracing my arms on each side of him, I leaned forward until we were nose to nose. It disgusted me to be so close to this man, to know the vile black heart that he housed. “You tortured and drugged a seventeen year old boy a year ago. You made threats to kill those he cared about. You said you were risking your life to protect the planet. The same planet that this boy was born on. Then you tried to dissect that same innocent boy, threatening to take him apart piece by piece and making sure he would be conscious enough to feel every second of it.”

I paused a moment to let the memory refresh itself in Pierce’s mind. “You took that boy’s innocence. Showed him how cruel humanity, the same you said you were trying to protect, could be. Then once you stripped the innocence from him, he managed to escape only to lure you into a trap. A smart boy.”

The fire flared. “Not that smart.”

I smirked and pushed away. “I didn’t say perfect.” I took a step back. “He got what he needed from you but then you got free and all hell broke lose. You’ve been in a coma since then. You are only awake because I healed you.”

Pierce’s eyes narrowed on me. “Why?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Not too sure. Maybe to show you that the seventeen year old no longer exists. Maybe to make you feel what you made that boy feel.” I approached him again. “Or maybe to take you apart piece by piece like I said I would in the UFO Center.”

“You may be older Max, but you still don’t scare me.” Pierce said trying to sound dangerous. The tone didn’t scare me, only made my blood heat as I controlled my anger. I’ve lost count of how many times I had relived Max’s time with this man. But now it was my turn. Pierce was taking the bait I had set out. He believed I was Max and now I had him just where I wanted him to be.

“I’m older, wiser, and stronger than you could ever imagine.” I growled and watched as Pierce flinched.

“You are a tough man having me so helpless.” Pierce challenged.

“Like when you drugged me, restrained me, and threatened those that were close to me?”

Pierce laughed. He actually laughed. “You do what you have to do to. That’s how they train us to survive.”

I gave Pierce a masochistic smile. “You taught that seventeen year old boy the same thing.”

Pierce’s smile faded, the fear returning.

TBC...

[magikhands]

Thanks for all the fb guys. The challenge was for five chapters or less so I was a little restricted on length. The thought of continuing Zan's story after he reaches Roswell is intriguing...who knows what's to become of it *shrug* Guess we'll see where my muse leads me

~Chapter 4~

I rejuvenated Pierce’s arm and leg muscles then spent the next two days slowly torturing Pierce in much the same way he had Max. I poked needles in his arms, put him in ice water to see if he could breath under water, gave him drugs that made him feel sick, andgave him gruesome images to haunt him whether he was awake or sleep. I had lost count how many time I listened to Pierce scream in pain. How many times he cried and pleaded for death.

It had been so easy. I watched Pierce that first day, got the fire rushing back in the man’s eyes and his blood pumping in his body before slowly tearing him down. I wanted to make sure Pierce never closed his eyes without fear. I wanted him to realize that death was not an escape for him. That a person must pay for the deeds he did upon innocents. Upon those that were my blood. No, I wasn’t raised with Max but we are one in the same. His pain was mine. His tortured soul I felt.

I sat on the other side of the two-way mirror and watched Pierce sleep, or at least try to sleep as nightmares plagued him. I didn’t have Isabel’s powers to enter dreams but I had gotten into Pierce’s head while he was awake and planted some horrible images in his head with suggestions. With Pierce’s vulnerability, he was susceptible to anything I pushed at him.

Now I had to decide what to do with him. The dreams had stopped. I had done my duty, had taken my revenge. I had done it for a man I’d never met. Looking at Pierce I felt no remorse for what I’ve done. I felt at peace. Maybe I was more alien than Max knowing that he could never do what I’d just spent the last two days doing. Or maybe whoever engineered us made sure that one of us could follow through with threats to the true King. But why me?

I’ve come to realize, though I carry the seal, I’m not meant to lead. These last months on my own, I’ve looked inside myself and realized that I’m more of a protector. I was the only one encoded to connect to my clone. To take his pain as my own. To assure that he is safe. It is a role I feel I can live up to. It gives me a purpose in my life I’ve never had before.

I looked at Pierce again. He lay strapped to a table babbling. I can’t kill him. Death would be too easy for him, but I can’t just let him go free. I knew that Pierce, if he could ever get anyone to believe him, would hunt Max down and make sure he paid with his life. Pierce was a killer. He was scared of us and had little problem with killing what he thought was dangerous, or anyone who got in his way.

I sighed. I would once more have to get creative. Opening my cell phone, I hit a number on speed dial.

“It’s me. Time to dump him.”

~*~

I drove away without looking back. I wished I could have just killed him but I knew this would be for the best. Max and the others would be safe and no one would ever find out what really happened to Pierce. Yes, he spent a year in a coma, but thanks to Cal, my protector who couldn’t completely desert me, he had set up a perfect story.

Pierce woke when an experimental drug was given to him after the government took him from the hospital in DC. But then something bad happened. The drug had major side effects. Pierce escaped from the new hospital and would be found several days later wandering around a small Tennessee town wearing a bunny suit and carrying around a picnic basket. He would be going around asking people, “How many damn jellybeans are you going to eat?” That should get someone’s attention.

Pierce would forever babble incoherently since I screwed up his brain after healing all his injuries. We didn’t want it to appear as if Piece had been tortured or experimented on. Pierce will be committed to a mental hospital and even if he starts babbling about aliens and the like, no one would believe him since he couldn’t speak two sentences together on the same subject. The government would never admit that he was one of theirs and let him be to live out his life insane…or maybe they would find him a threat to national security and deal with him as they see fit. Either way, Max and his family was safe.

Turning on the interstate, all my possessions piled in the back of my truck, I headed west, to start a life that had been waiting on me. To finally be surrounded by those who could care about me, and maybe one day find someone who could love who I was like Max had. It was time to test those maybes that ran through my mind. It was time to finally go home…to Roswell.

THE END