"Did you see that?" Willie asked, coming up from the other window.

Donovan 'shushed' the alien, who had a grin plastered all over his face.

"He's got that woman with him," he said as Julie came up to them.

"Who, Alex?"

"Yeah."

"Mike, we don't KNOW she was responsible for the raid."

"She was converted, Goddamnit!  I'm not saying she did it on purpose... you know how it is..."

"All too well," Julie said darkly.

They had no more opportunity to talk as the knock came on the door.  Donovan opened it a few inches to admit the pair.

"'Gooder'," Tyler nodded, as if nothing had ever been amiss.  "Julie..."  His eyes scanned the room quickly and efficiently, and he ushered Alex in.

Donovan exchanged glances with the others, wondering if he had been imagining things.  No one but Willie seemed to think there was anything unusual going on.  The alien shrugged slightly.

"Where've you been?" Julie was asking, "we've been worried sick."

"We went to ground for a while, that's all."  Tyler seemed surprised by all the fuss, and was eager to be rid of it.

"Well, I think we ought to get one thing straight, first," Donovan said, folding his arms.  Tyler saw the signs of trouble -- Gooder always folded his arms when he was going to get stubborn.  The rest of the group gathered behind Donovan.

"What's this about, Gooder?"

"It's about her."

Donovan pointed directly to Alex, who stood by Tyler's side.  She met Donovan's eye as he spoke and as usual was not the first to look away.

"What about it?"

"She's a risk, Ham, and you know it.  She can't stay here."

"Look."  Tyler turned to face the group as a whole, his speech terse and clipped.  "I want to get one thing straight right now:  this person stays.  Anybody who has a problem with that can come to me about it.  If she is threatened or harassed in any way, the person responsible will hurt, and that you can bank on.  Any trouble with that, Gooder?"

Donovan, who suddenly realized that his jaw had dropped several inches during this speech, shut it again.  Tyler noted with satisfaction that his arms had unfolded and were now on his hips.

"You'll vouch for her?"

"I think I just said that."

Tyler's gaze, expressionless in the extreme, invited the Resistance fighter to argue with him.  Donovan refolded his arms.

"Then how did the Visitors know where to find us?  Hey, I'm not saying she meant to or anything, but she could have..."

"I went over the old HQ before coming here.  The truck carrying that last load of arms we heisted was bugged.  Do I have to spell it out?"

There was a short pause while Donovan reassessed the situation.  He held up his hands.

"Okay, okay.  So long as everyone else agrees, she can stay."  No one made a sound.  "Looks as if it's settled."

"Thank you so much," Alex drawled.

Donovan did another double-take, and realized that there was something different about Alex, as well.  She was more... well, more confident, more self-assured than when he'd last seen her.  Something was definitely going on that he was not privy to, and Donovan hated that feeling.  He excused himself from the group on the pretext of 'other work'.

On his way out, he passed Chris Faber coming in.  The big man picked out his partner on the other side of the room and grinned widely.

"What took you so long?" he demanded, slapping Tyler heftily on the back.  Tyler's smile was a ghost of its former self, but Chris didn't seem to mind.  He punched Alex lightly in the arm by way of greeting, and the vet grinned.  It was almost a relief to find someone who wasn't hostile towards her.

"We got... held up," Tyler said, but despite the flatness of his tone, Chris grinned even wider.

"Yeah, I'll bet."

Tyler arched an eyebrow at Faber, who strove to look innocent.  Alex hadn't really gotten to know Faber in her time with the Resistance; she warmed to him instantly, observing the camaraderie that flowed between the two men.

The group was dispersing when Julie came up to them and took Alex aside.

"Alex, we need to do more research on your toxin."

The vet nodded.  "But where?  Have you got access to any lab equipment?  Computers?"

"I've been working on that.  I think I can get you into Science Frontiers."

"But you don't work there anymore."

"No, but I made a few friends there.  We'll give you a different name, set you up with ID, see what you come up with.  If the toxin really does work, we need to try and convert it to a gas and spread it through the motherships."

"What about the 5th Columnists?"

"They'll have to take shelter as best they can."

Alex thought about the idea for a moment, then nodded slowly.  "Okay, I'll do it.  But if I get caught, they'll get whatever information I have out of me.  I had no defence against it last time."

"I know what you mean," Julie agreed.  "It's a risk, no doubt about that.  It's up to you to decide."

"I said I'd do it."

"Will Ham mind?"

Alex smiled.  "Probably.  But it's my choice."

The two women smiled at each other in comprehension.
 
 

"It's too hushed," Chris was muttering to his partner.  "I don't like the feel of it."

"I know what you mean.  It was ill-conceived from the beginning."

"Then why are we going through with it?"

Tyler shook his head.  "Have you ever tried to stop Donovan and that lot when they think they're right?  Bazooka wouldn't do it."

They halted in the darkness, crowding up to where Mike and Julie were squatting beside a wire fence.

"What's the hold up?" Tyler asked.

"Shuttle's still there," Julie hissed.

"Can't those lizards keep to a timetable?"

"We'll wait a little longer," Donovan put in.

"The longer we wait, the more chance of discovery."

"Shh!"  The eight rebels crouched low as a squad of Visitors marched out of the Los Angeles Headquarters.

They watched the shuttle rise and disappear quickly into the night sky.

"Hurry," Julie whispered, "the next shuttle will be landing in 5 minutes."

Having cut the wire, the rebels scrambled through and proceeded directly for the headquarters.

"Damnit!" Alex muttered as her dark jacket caught on the wire.  She pushed through her container of the toxin, and twisted to unhook herself.  By the time she was free, the group was well under the cover of the bushes near the headquarters.  Cursing under her breath, she hoisted the container of toxin onto her back and was about to race after them when a movement on the periphery of her vision caught her eye.  She crouched down again, a hard, sick feeling in her stomach.  As she watched, at least 5 squads of Visitor troops filed out of the headquarters and moved quickly and silently to surround the area.

Alex thought rapidly:  if everyone was working to plan, they would be inside the building by now, setting the containers of toxin into the air conditioning system.  It would be when they came out that the Visitors would surprise them.  It seemed the only advantage Alex had was the place where they would emerge.  Quietly, she padded across the lawn, keeping to the bushes where she could.  At the same time, she checked her rifle, thankful for the silencers Ham had insisted on all weapons.

When she came to the point diametrically opposed to where the rebels planned to escape, she found a suitable tree, slung the rifle over her shoulder and scaled it quickly.  The red uniforms of the Visitors were, as usual, quite obvious even in the darkness.  Picking her time was the hardest part.  At three minutes to nine, she raised the rifle, targeted a uniform, and fired.  It dropped without a sound.  Deliberately,  she picked out another and dropped it as well.  Six more followed before anyone realized what was going on.  When she was sure she'd attracted enough attention, she disengaged a grenade from her pack, pulled the pin and tossed it with all her strength.  The resulting explosion was satisfactorily loud, and brought the rest of the Visitor troops running, as she'd expected.  She threw two more grenades before a stray laser blast hit the branches of the tree above her.  The light was blinding -- she hadn't realized how bright those bolts were.  Now she thought about it, the lethal Visitor weapon was just a means of generating very intense electromagnetic radiation, most of which was focused in the visible spectrum.  She shook her head to try and clear it of the blinding white light, and raised the rifle again, then frowned as her sights remained blank.  She drew the rifle back to examine it, and realized that she couldn't see that either.  Neither could she see the hand she held out in front of her, the branch smouldering above her, or anything else for that matter...
 
 

He did not know whether Alex had betrayed them, and he didn't really care.  Converted people were not responsible for their actions, as he knew only too well.  But, he seriously doubted if the failure of the attack was due to any betrayal.  Chris Faber was still marvelling that any of them escaped at all.

The man in question appeared at the top of the steps at that moment.  For a big man he moved with deceptive quiet, a fact Tyler had come to appreciate very early on in their relationship.

"Can I have a talk?"

"Not right now."

"It's important."

"No."

Faber came down and sat next to him anyway.  He steepled his big fingers in the same manner as his friend's, and sat silent for a while.

"Ham... you goin' back in?"

"It's not your fight."

Faber didn't like the lack of emotion in Tyler's voice.  His light touch on Tyler's back made the mercenary flinch, confirming Chris's suspicions.  In the last few days he'd seen a change in Tyler that most of the others couldn't see, and one he thought he'd NEVER see.  He didn't like to watch all that be destroyed in one go.

"Look.  We don't know what happened -- no one saw her.  But wait until morning and you'll NEVER know..."

Tyler's head jerked up sharply.  He'd been a fool to overlook the obvious.  The Headquarters would be in chaos at the moment, vulnerable to penetration.  In a few hours security would be so stiff a flea couldn't get in or out.  If Alex was being held in the embassy he would stand a chance of getting in and out only in the next few hours.

"You'll need this," Chris said, smiling broadly.  He handed over a Visitor uniform.  "It didn't fit me."

As dawn threatened to break over the Visitor Headquarters, Tyler melted in easily with the confusion.  He wore the visor of a security guard which his his face and the Lieutenant's stripe gave him some degree of authority.  The frustration and anger he was experiencing lent force to his orders, which were obeyed immediately.  He had searched the entire embassy, as well as demanding of several troopers if any prisoners had been taken, and drew a complete blank on both counts.  He even asked if the 'human collaborator' had been transported back to the mothership and still no one seemed to know anything about it.

Completely at a loss, Tyler made his way back outside and scanned the area.  Dawn only half an hour away at most.  The only other possibility was that she was somewhere in the grounds, or had escaped and was somewhere in the city -- either wounded or dead.  To Tyler's credit, it did not even occur to him that she was now vindicated of betraying the group.

He reached out and stopped a trooper who was on his way inside.

"Yes sir?"

"I've just come from the mothership -- what's going on over there?"

He pointed with his gun to the area where the grenades had detonated.

"That's where the resistance escaped.  Fifteen killed, sir."

"Prisoners?" he asked again.

"None, sir."

"How did an entire group escape without any prisoners taken and none of theirs killed?"

"Don't know sir.  Diana is very upset.  If you'll excuse me, I must make my report."

Tyler let him go.  If his sense of direction hadn't failed him completely, he could have sworn they cut through the wire on the opposite side of the building.  It didn't make...  Tyler's eyes widened as he thought along the lines of a person cut off from their group.  It was just the sort of thing he would have done.  Damnit, if the woman didn't learn too fast.

He set off for the area at a run, scattering Visitors left, right and centre.  At the scene of the diversion, Tyler made a thorough but covert search for the vet.  The bushes yielded nothing, and there were no buildings to hide in.  He was just beginning to think she may have escaped after all when a rustle from the tree above made him look up.  His heart leapt and started racing wildly, much to his irritation.  Glancing around, he swung himself into the branches of the huge tree and disappeared from view.

"Alex?"

The vet gasped and stretched out a hand.  "Ham!  Where are you?"

"I'm here, where --"  Tyler bit off the rest of his sentence as he drew level with her, taking in her sightless stare.  "I'm here," he repeated gently.  He was experiencing a sensation that left him dizzy and lightheaded.  It would have been quite exhilarating if the need for stability hadn't been quite so important.  He eased himself onto the large, flat branch and anchoring himself with one hand, wrapped the other around Alex's waist, drawing her to him.  Alex let go of the tree trunk she'd been clinging to for so long and let herself be held close.  She was crying, or at least, tears were falling but she uttered no sound.  Unconsciously, Tyler had begun stroking her hair.

"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered.  "I thought..."

Alex shhhhed him with a brush of fingers against his lips.  Hesitantly, her fingers traced the contours of his face, as if reassuring herself that he really was there.  Tyler remained absolutely still while her hands explored his features.  As they came to his eyes, she drew back, finding moisture there.

"Ham....."

"Shhh."  He put a hand over her mouth as more Visitors came and went below them.  "We've got to get out of here."

"Throw that man a fish," she murmured.  "The big question is -- how?"

He put her hand to his uniform and she nodded.

Tyler made her leave the arsenal of weapons and they climbed down the tree.  The mercenary dropped to the ground and turned to help Alex down.  With hardly a pause he picked out a likely looking alien and ordered him over.  The salute died mid-way as a laser appeared in Tyler's hand.  He hustled the Visitor behind the tree.

"I don't want to have to burn the uniform," he explained to the shocked man.  "Just take it off."

He did as he was told, and Tyler clubbed him on the back of his head for his troubles, passing the uniform to Alex.

"Here, put it on while I hide this lizard."

They 'borrowed' a Visitor truck, but were forced to stop at the closed gates.  The guard there saluted the Lieutenant's stripe as Tyler wound down the window.  He shone a flashlight into the cabin and immediately picked out Alex.

"What's with him?"

"My friend here is a little shell-shocked.  I'm taking him out for some ... entertainment.  Know what I mean?"

The guard looked from one to the other.  "Can I see your identification please, sir?"

The only means of identification Tyler needed appeared in his hand for the second time that night.  "I wouldn't like this to get on your record, er... corporal."

The unfortunate man backed up.  "I'll have to report this."

"You do that."  Carefully, Tyler withdrew the laser from the alien's stomach.  "Now open the gate."

The guard was not hero-material at heart, and didn't see any point in getting on the wrong side of a gung-ho Lieutenant.  He waved to the guard operating the gate mechanism.

"Are we safe?" Alex whispered as they started moving again.

"Yeah, I think so."  In the rear vision mirror, Tyler could see the Visitor shake his head and re-station himself at the gate.  "We're OK."

They drove in silence for a few seconds.  Alex slid across the seat to lean against Tyler's shoulder.  He moved his arm to accommodate her.

"I didn't think I'd get out of there," she said quietly.

"Why did you do it?"

"I didn't think, it just seemed like the thing to do.  Really dumb."

Tyler wasn't about to argue that point.  Neither did he point out that his one-man rescue squad was one of the dumbest strategic moves he'd ever made, never mind that it had paid off spectacularly.

"My sight's a small price to pay, I guess," she continued, but there was a tremor in her voice that Tyler didn't miss.

"It may not be permanent.  We'll work it out."

Alex smiled at the finality in his voice.  She got the impression that when Tyler made a commitment it was not lightly taken, and she also got the impression that he'd just made one.  Usually, such a thing would have scared her -- in fact, she was still trying to decide what her feeling were towards any degree of permanency.  What happened, she asked herself, to the 'I'll never get involved with another man so long as I live' promise she'd made herself?

Dawn was breaking over the city of Los Angeles.

"I've got a surprise for you," Tyler said, breaking into her thoughts.

"Tell me when I can open my eyes," she said dryly.

Tyler slowed down as he came to the resistance safe-house and pulled into the garage.

"It was Chris's idea, actually.  He said he'd fix it up while I was gone.  If he hasn't..."

"Please, I've had enough blood and violence for one day."

Tyler grinned as he lifted her down from the car.  They had hardly a chance to close the car door before Chris Faber burst into the garage, only just retaining his hold on 2 bundles of squirming fluff.

Both men looked on with amusement as Alex was assaulted by two Shepherd puppies, who seemed to home in unerringly on the vet.  Leaving Alex to get to know her new pets, Faber drew his partner aside.

"What's with Alex -- her eyes...?"

"Nothing I can't handle."  He glanced down at the woman on the ground and said more quietly, "It'll be all right."

Chris nodded.  "Thought you might like to tell Alex later -- the toxin worked, but Diana came up with some sort of inoculation against it.  Every lizard in LA has had their shots, according to a 5th Columnist."  He pulled a face.  "Wish we'd known that sooner."

Tyler seemed disinterested in the information, but nodded.  To him, the gas had obviously not worked -- the details were relatively unimportant.

"Listen, we're going to be hot for awhile, and not just with the lizards..."  Before he could get any further, Chris held up a hand.

"It's all set.  You get yourselves to the corner of Main and Third -- there's a beat-up looking station wagon waiting for you.  Supplies are in it."

The smaller man nodded, stuck for words he knew he didn't need with Chris.

"I'll let you know where we are."

"I hear Canada's nice this time of year."

"Yeah, I heard that."

Without another word, Tyler shepherded Alex and the dogs into the Visitor truck, and backed out of the garage.

The sun was just beginning to rise as Chris Faber watched the truck disappear down the street.

He grinned.  Whistling off-key, he turned and went inside.
 
 

Back to Out of the War Zone
Back to V: Fan Fiction Main Page
Back to V: The Series HOME