Taking It Back (CC/M/L/ Teen) 5/13 ~ Part 23
Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 5:14 pm
Taking It Back
Part Twenty-Three
"Implant? Are you saying that my grandfather went through all that stuff for all those years because of an implant?!" As he was talking they noticed the papers in the files start to blow around. Liz turns to look at him and sees the familiar green electricity running through his hands and face.
“Kyle, look at me. Kyle!” As she was talking to him, he turns to look at her, anger showing in his eyes. She begins to feel herself being lifted by his energy. “Kyle! What are you doing?”
Suddenly he stops, he’s surrounded by Max’s force field-he can’t move. Max walks over to Liz, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She reaches out to grab Max’s arm. “It’s not his fault, you know he wouldn’t hurt me. I know what he’s going through. Max, you don’t have any control of yourself when you’re like this, the changes control you!”
Max walks over to Kyle, he’s still held by the force field. “If you ever do anything like that again…I won’t be responsible for what I do to you. Is that clear?’
As Kyle nods his head, Max releases him from the force field. While this has been going on, Amanda was whispering to Skylar, he nods to her. Standing up, she looks at Max and Kyle. “Okay boys, we’re going to forget about the files for now. I think it’s time for your first lesson.”
Turning to Kyle, she gives him a look. “Okay now, you want to play rough, let’s go!” She starts to approach him.
“Wh…what are you talking about? I can’t fight you!”
“Why, because I’m a girl…well, don’t let that worry you.” Stepping up to him, she shoves him hard on the shoulder, then she starts to walk in circles around him, wiggling her fingers egging him on. “Well, come on!” She pushes him again. “Okay, we’ll do it the hard way!” Next thing Kyle knew he was on his back after she knocked his legs out from under him. “Well?” Was all she asked as she stood over top of him.
“Well what?” He had her down in two seconds. Jumping up, he stood over top of her. Next thing he knew he was back on the ground. “I don’t think so.” Grabbing her foot, he flips her over. But she lands on her feet. “Did they tell you I was state champion two years in a row?” They were walking in circles looking at each other.
“Oh really, I was intergalactic champion three years in a row…have you ever taken on a Zendor nerfherder and live to tell about it?”
Kyle stops, “A what? A nerfherder…?” Then he was back on the ground. She was once again looking down at him, her red ponytail draped over her shoulder. “Gottcha!”
As they stood there watching them chase each other in circles, they didn’t know what to do. Skylar was turning red, Jim looks at him. “Are you okay? You look a little flushed.”
Skylar couldn’t take it any longer, he burst out laughing, he laughed until he thought he would cry. “Oh that did my old heart good. I have never seen anyone get to her like that…she’s going easy on him, you know. The only way to get through what is changing him, is to get the anger out, if you keep it in, it can cause dire circumstances.” He watched as they played the up and down game. Liz walked over to him. “Did you notice, the energy flow is almost gone. I wish I had known this. What I went through was terrible, but I tried to keep it hid from Max, I didn’t want to hurt him.
“So you hurt yourself instead. You must learn to share the pain you have, even if it does cause pain to the people you love, because after all, they suffer worse when they know they caused you to suffer to protect them. People are stronger than you give them credit for…pain can only make you stronger.” He pats her hand and grins at her.
“I know that now, thank you.” Suddenly they hear someone getting the air knocked out of them. Looking, they see both of them on the floor. Kyle stands up and offers Amanda his hand, she takes it. “Truce?”
“Are you caving?”
“No way, I just thought we could…hey all the green is gone! I think I’m cured.”
“You aren’t sick, you’re just changing.” She gives him a soft look. “You’ll get the hang of it soon. Now, for a test.” She walks over to a wall on the other side of the room, holding her hand on a poster; she gently pulls it down revealing another hidden space.
“How many hidden places does this room have? Maybe we should go around touching everything in sight, then maybe we’ll know what’s hid around here.” Michael was getting curious about what Amanda was getting.
She turns around holding a strange weapon, it looked like an X, but the ends were curved, in the center where the lines met was a knob, more like a hand hold, making it easy to use in battle. Before anyone knew what she was going to do, she threw it into the air. It came within inches of Michael, who reached up and caught it, like it was second nature to him. His face lights up as he looks at it. “I know this!” He starts to twist his wrist around, testing himself. “How do I know this?”
“It’s good to see that you retain some memories. This was yours in your other life. This was Rath’s weapon of choice for hands on battle. He was quite an expert with it.”
Michael continues to look at it. “It looks like it could do some major damage.”
Amanda looks at him. “It can and it did.” She reaches into the hiding place again, pulling out a dark blue velvet bag, she looks around. “Anyone recognize this?” She notices Isabel frowning, trying to draw on some long lost memory. Amanda pulls out a long blade, but it is in a leather holster.
“Oh my god, it’s Vilandra’s…I recognize it. It wasn’t just a regular knife…” Reaching over she takes it from Amanda. Taking it out of the holster she starts to study it. The handle looked like pearl with flowers engraved in it. Running her hand down the blade, she starts to remember. “It wasn’t the blade that did the damage, oh it did damage, but it’s what’s in the handle, isn’t it?”
Isabel stares wide eyed at Amanda, surprised that she is remembering all this.
“Very good. Do not touch the end of the blade…the poison is still in there and it has increased in strength over the years. At the end of the handle is a button that will inject the poison into whoever was stabbed. It is a very slow acting poison. It gives you a long time to suffer while you wait for the end.”
“But I thought Vilandra was sheltered, she wasn’t allowed much contact outside the castle.”
“It was for protection, plus Vilandra liked to sneak out at night. She used to strap it to her leg to appear unprotected. I can only recall her using it once. It was a man that was drunk, he made improper advances toward her and she didn’t like it…because she was royalty, she was allowed to do whatever she needed to protect herself without fear of punishment. The man lingered for almost four days…it was a terrible ending.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kyle watching her. He made her feel uncomfortable, she didn’t know why, but he did.
Kyle had wandered back over to the files, he was picking up some of the mess he had made. If they put in the implant, could it be taken out, and if it was taken out, would the person go back to being the person they were before? He sat down on the floor, thinking about his grandfather, he couldn’t remember a time when he was normal. Did he really lose it or was it caused by the implant.
“What are you in such deep thought about, son?” Jim looked at Kyle. “Your grandfather?”
“Dad, do you think they could fix him? You know take out that implant…would grandpa be better?” He had such hope in his eyes.
“I don’t know Kyle, it might be too late.”
“It’s never been done before, sorry I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just happened to be passing by. I don’t know if it would help, it might kill him, no one knows.”
“Could we try?”
“Kyle, I don’t know anything about the implants, they stopped using them many years ago.” Skylar felt for him, he loved his father and his grandfather, he wanted what was left of his family together. “Let me think about this, I won’t make any promises.” Jim looked at him. It couldn’t be possible, could it?
Max noticed that Liz had started to look tired. Pulling her to him, he runs his hand down her cheek. “Are you okay? Do you want to go home?”
“We need to make a stop, we have to tell your parents before they hear it from someone else.” She knew he wanted to tell them, but now they would be totally surprised. “Then when we go home…I’ll tell you later.” She looked at him and winked.
Leaning his forehead on hers, “I like your thinking Mrs. Evans.” Turning to face the others, he decides to put an end to tonight’s meeting. “I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time we called it a night. We’ll meet back here tomorrow at the same time, then we can hit the files again.” He takes Liz’s hand to leave, then stops. He walks over to Kyle and offers him his hand. “Kyle, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come down so hard on you…I know you’d never hurt Liz.”
“That’s okay Max, I’d have done the same thing. I did get a little crazy.” He takes Max’s hand accepting his apology. “We should have remembered what Liz went through…I think that part is over with, at least for now.”
Max walks Liz to the car, they would go and tell his parents now. “Will Isabel and Jesse be there? It might make things a little easier.” Max opens the door for her, helping her settle into the seat.
“No, I think they were headed out for late dinner. Don’t worry, they won’t be mad for too long.” He leans over and gives her a kiss. As they drive away they don’t notice the stranger hiding in the shadows. Once he made sure they were gone, he steps out on the sidewalk watching the car disappear around the corner.
“It looks like I might get that royal heir after all…”
To Be Continued…
Part Twenty-Three
"Implant? Are you saying that my grandfather went through all that stuff for all those years because of an implant?!" As he was talking they noticed the papers in the files start to blow around. Liz turns to look at him and sees the familiar green electricity running through his hands and face.
“Kyle, look at me. Kyle!” As she was talking to him, he turns to look at her, anger showing in his eyes. She begins to feel herself being lifted by his energy. “Kyle! What are you doing?”
Suddenly he stops, he’s surrounded by Max’s force field-he can’t move. Max walks over to Liz, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She reaches out to grab Max’s arm. “It’s not his fault, you know he wouldn’t hurt me. I know what he’s going through. Max, you don’t have any control of yourself when you’re like this, the changes control you!”
Max walks over to Kyle, he’s still held by the force field. “If you ever do anything like that again…I won’t be responsible for what I do to you. Is that clear?’
As Kyle nods his head, Max releases him from the force field. While this has been going on, Amanda was whispering to Skylar, he nods to her. Standing up, she looks at Max and Kyle. “Okay boys, we’re going to forget about the files for now. I think it’s time for your first lesson.”
Turning to Kyle, she gives him a look. “Okay now, you want to play rough, let’s go!” She starts to approach him.
“Wh…what are you talking about? I can’t fight you!”
“Why, because I’m a girl…well, don’t let that worry you.” Stepping up to him, she shoves him hard on the shoulder, then she starts to walk in circles around him, wiggling her fingers egging him on. “Well, come on!” She pushes him again. “Okay, we’ll do it the hard way!” Next thing Kyle knew he was on his back after she knocked his legs out from under him. “Well?” Was all she asked as she stood over top of him.
“Well what?” He had her down in two seconds. Jumping up, he stood over top of her. Next thing he knew he was back on the ground. “I don’t think so.” Grabbing her foot, he flips her over. But she lands on her feet. “Did they tell you I was state champion two years in a row?” They were walking in circles looking at each other.
“Oh really, I was intergalactic champion three years in a row…have you ever taken on a Zendor nerfherder and live to tell about it?”
Kyle stops, “A what? A nerfherder…?” Then he was back on the ground. She was once again looking down at him, her red ponytail draped over her shoulder. “Gottcha!”
As they stood there watching them chase each other in circles, they didn’t know what to do. Skylar was turning red, Jim looks at him. “Are you okay? You look a little flushed.”
Skylar couldn’t take it any longer, he burst out laughing, he laughed until he thought he would cry. “Oh that did my old heart good. I have never seen anyone get to her like that…she’s going easy on him, you know. The only way to get through what is changing him, is to get the anger out, if you keep it in, it can cause dire circumstances.” He watched as they played the up and down game. Liz walked over to him. “Did you notice, the energy flow is almost gone. I wish I had known this. What I went through was terrible, but I tried to keep it hid from Max, I didn’t want to hurt him.
“So you hurt yourself instead. You must learn to share the pain you have, even if it does cause pain to the people you love, because after all, they suffer worse when they know they caused you to suffer to protect them. People are stronger than you give them credit for…pain can only make you stronger.” He pats her hand and grins at her.
“I know that now, thank you.” Suddenly they hear someone getting the air knocked out of them. Looking, they see both of them on the floor. Kyle stands up and offers Amanda his hand, she takes it. “Truce?”
“Are you caving?”
“No way, I just thought we could…hey all the green is gone! I think I’m cured.”
“You aren’t sick, you’re just changing.” She gives him a soft look. “You’ll get the hang of it soon. Now, for a test.” She walks over to a wall on the other side of the room, holding her hand on a poster; she gently pulls it down revealing another hidden space.
“How many hidden places does this room have? Maybe we should go around touching everything in sight, then maybe we’ll know what’s hid around here.” Michael was getting curious about what Amanda was getting.
She turns around holding a strange weapon, it looked like an X, but the ends were curved, in the center where the lines met was a knob, more like a hand hold, making it easy to use in battle. Before anyone knew what she was going to do, she threw it into the air. It came within inches of Michael, who reached up and caught it, like it was second nature to him. His face lights up as he looks at it. “I know this!” He starts to twist his wrist around, testing himself. “How do I know this?”
“It’s good to see that you retain some memories. This was yours in your other life. This was Rath’s weapon of choice for hands on battle. He was quite an expert with it.”
Michael continues to look at it. “It looks like it could do some major damage.”
Amanda looks at him. “It can and it did.” She reaches into the hiding place again, pulling out a dark blue velvet bag, she looks around. “Anyone recognize this?” She notices Isabel frowning, trying to draw on some long lost memory. Amanda pulls out a long blade, but it is in a leather holster.
“Oh my god, it’s Vilandra’s…I recognize it. It wasn’t just a regular knife…” Reaching over she takes it from Amanda. Taking it out of the holster she starts to study it. The handle looked like pearl with flowers engraved in it. Running her hand down the blade, she starts to remember. “It wasn’t the blade that did the damage, oh it did damage, but it’s what’s in the handle, isn’t it?”
Isabel stares wide eyed at Amanda, surprised that she is remembering all this.
“Very good. Do not touch the end of the blade…the poison is still in there and it has increased in strength over the years. At the end of the handle is a button that will inject the poison into whoever was stabbed. It is a very slow acting poison. It gives you a long time to suffer while you wait for the end.”
“But I thought Vilandra was sheltered, she wasn’t allowed much contact outside the castle.”
“It was for protection, plus Vilandra liked to sneak out at night. She used to strap it to her leg to appear unprotected. I can only recall her using it once. It was a man that was drunk, he made improper advances toward her and she didn’t like it…because she was royalty, she was allowed to do whatever she needed to protect herself without fear of punishment. The man lingered for almost four days…it was a terrible ending.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kyle watching her. He made her feel uncomfortable, she didn’t know why, but he did.
Kyle had wandered back over to the files, he was picking up some of the mess he had made. If they put in the implant, could it be taken out, and if it was taken out, would the person go back to being the person they were before? He sat down on the floor, thinking about his grandfather, he couldn’t remember a time when he was normal. Did he really lose it or was it caused by the implant.
“What are you in such deep thought about, son?” Jim looked at Kyle. “Your grandfather?”
“Dad, do you think they could fix him? You know take out that implant…would grandpa be better?” He had such hope in his eyes.
“I don’t know Kyle, it might be too late.”
“It’s never been done before, sorry I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just happened to be passing by. I don’t know if it would help, it might kill him, no one knows.”
“Could we try?”
“Kyle, I don’t know anything about the implants, they stopped using them many years ago.” Skylar felt for him, he loved his father and his grandfather, he wanted what was left of his family together. “Let me think about this, I won’t make any promises.” Jim looked at him. It couldn’t be possible, could it?
Max noticed that Liz had started to look tired. Pulling her to him, he runs his hand down her cheek. “Are you okay? Do you want to go home?”
“We need to make a stop, we have to tell your parents before they hear it from someone else.” She knew he wanted to tell them, but now they would be totally surprised. “Then when we go home…I’ll tell you later.” She looked at him and winked.
Leaning his forehead on hers, “I like your thinking Mrs. Evans.” Turning to face the others, he decides to put an end to tonight’s meeting. “I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time we called it a night. We’ll meet back here tomorrow at the same time, then we can hit the files again.” He takes Liz’s hand to leave, then stops. He walks over to Kyle and offers him his hand. “Kyle, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come down so hard on you…I know you’d never hurt Liz.”
“That’s okay Max, I’d have done the same thing. I did get a little crazy.” He takes Max’s hand accepting his apology. “We should have remembered what Liz went through…I think that part is over with, at least for now.”
Max walks Liz to the car, they would go and tell his parents now. “Will Isabel and Jesse be there? It might make things a little easier.” Max opens the door for her, helping her settle into the seat.
“No, I think they were headed out for late dinner. Don’t worry, they won’t be mad for too long.” He leans over and gives her a kiss. As they drive away they don’t notice the stranger hiding in the shadows. Once he made sure they were gone, he steps out on the sidewalk watching the car disappear around the corner.
“It looks like I might get that royal heir after all…”
To Be Continued…