========================================================================= Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 00:47:59 -0800 Reply-To: Selma McCrory Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Selma McCrory Subject: With Human Blood, 5/6 X-To: tpfict@xmission.com Sorry about taking so long. Here is the next-to-last part. I will post the last part on Thursday, sooner if people demand it. All comments, complements, constructive criticism, and requests for back parts go to smccrory@calweb.com (back parts also availiable from the TPFICT web archive, see part 0 for address). Also, let me know if it comes out strange. ------------------- With Human Blood and Human Tears by Selma McCrory a Highlander/Tomorrow People (new series) crossover copyright 1996 part 5 Megabyte had come to the island to suntan and to try to forget what had bothering him. He couldn't believe that Adam had lost his powers. _Just when you thought everything was okay, the impossible happens._ He could barely remember what it was like when he couldn't teleport. He tried to reconcile that with Adam's current status, and got even more depressed at the notion. _What would it be like, to have your powers and then not have them? To suddenly not be able to hear the others? or not be able to teleport, but have to rely on planes and actually have to walk everyplace?_ He had no answer. He was momentarily startled by a loud splash coming from the ocean nearby. "Great," he murmured. *I think we have someone new!* he announced to the rest. *Who?* Lisa wanted to know. *I don't know. Lousy timing, though.* Lisa popped into existence beside him. "Adam's at Greer and Michael's, so we don't have to worry about him." "I guess I train this one too," Megabyte said. He watched as a form came out of the water. His eyes widened, and he looked in disbelief. Lisa beat him to speaking. "Adam?" Megabyte looked at his wet friend, trying to comprehend what his eyes saw. _But he can't teleport. He told us he couldn't!_ *This is impossible,* Lisa thought to him. *You're telling me,* he replied. Adam, who was rather wet after his unexpected salt water bath, looked at them, bewildered. *Adam?* Lisa repeated a second time. *Can you hear me? If you can, tell me.* "Of course I can hear you," Adam said. Megabyte looked in astonishment at his friend. "You're " "Huh?" "You've got your powers back, Adam," Lisa chipped in. Adam took a look around, as if realizing that they were at the beach, and then stared at the above ground portion of the spaceship. Then he shook himself. "I must have," he replied, apparently stunned. "What happened? Last I knew, you were at the Gardner-Lewis apartment," Lisa said. "I was. And then Greer came back from errands. And then, well, she attacked me." Megabyte looked at his friend skeptically. "Greer. She attacked you? Come on, Adam, she goes after other Immortals, she doesn't attack us!" "She just did. Put a gouge in her table, chased me around her flat with her sword. She had me cornered, and then I arrived here." "Are you you didn't imagine it?" Lisa was looking at Adam's arm. "That's quite a cut." Adam and Megabyte looked at the area she was indicating. Indeed, Adam was bleeding from a small wound, bigger than a cut, but not too serious looking. Then Lisa snapped out of the momentary trance she had been in. *Someone get me a blanket please!* she said. "Why?" Megabyte asked. "He might be suffering from shock, you idiot! He just got attacked, was injured and bleeding in salt water, and he's shivering." "This what you wanted?" Jade asked, holding a heavy blanket. She'd popped in when everyone else's attention was focussed on Adam. "Thanks, that's just what we needed," Lisa said. She wrapped the blanket around Adam. "So, what happened?" Jade asked. "Greer attacked me," Adam said, bewildered. "Could she be possessed?" Jade asked. "Come on, Jade, we took care of those things. They can't be back." "Are you sure?" Lisa asked. Jade looked miserable, but Megabyte was able to answer. "If they weren't, do you think that Adam would be acting the way he is?" "I don't know." Lisa said. She turned to Adam. "Did she say anything? Did she seem normal?" "She was ranting on about being tired of hearing me moan and feel sorry for myself." "Sounds pretty justified to me," Lisa said. "The rant, I mean. You have sounded pretty awful." "That's still not the was she normally operates," Megabyte said. "She wasn't herself. We owe it to her to find out what's going on," Adam said. * * * Michael came into the flat with an armful of groceries. He stopped, suddenly aware that something was not quite right. He looked at the overturned furniture, the damaged walls, and finally at his wife, who was in one corner of the room. "Greer?" he asked. Greer was sitting in a chair, looking at her unsheathed rapier, which had a bit of blood on it. She didn't look up at him as she replied, "Hi, Michael." "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. "I think I'll be fine," Greer said slowly, sounding confused and guilty. "Right now I'm feeling very fragile and very stupid. Very human. What's up with you?" "Well, I fixed the problem, and I got that information on that Pierson fellow right here. Address, phone, and such. Found out what he does, too." "Oh?" she perked up slightly. "You've heard of Methos, of course." Greer nodded thoughtfully. "Of course. Who hasn't heard of him?" "Well, this guy is the historian assigned to him. And he was somehow involved in the brouhaha in Paris several years back." Greer kept nodding to herself. Michael thought she looked like a kindergartner in a dream world. "Okay." "What happened here?" Michael asked, concerned. He leaned on the wall and folded his arms. "Um. I found out that Adam didn't lose his powers. But I'm worried about him, I think I wounded him," she said, indicating her blade. "Are you under the impression that you're making sense?" Greer shook her head, as if she was disappointed that he couldn't understand. "Never mind. Call the Damon household, see if anyone's heard anything about Adam. I'm going out for a walk." "Why don't you go over there?" Michael said. "Adam can tell you himself." "I don't think he'll want to talk to me after this mess. I'm not sure anyone will." "What?" "I just did something really terrible," Greer said, standing up. "I could have him. Look, I need some fresh air. I need to think, take care of some things." Without another word, Greer wiped the blood off the sword, sheathed it, and went out. Michael chased after her, but she ignored him. _This makes absolutely no sense. Nearly killed who? Adam?_ He went to call the Damon household to figure out what was going on. * * * Adam, Megabyte, and Lisa watched as Jade bandaged the wound, since Adam's healing talents didn't seem to apply to himself. They were sitting in Megabyte's room at the Damon household, wanting to talk before they confronted Greer. It was a good thing that Adam had a spare set of clothes in the spaceship, even though most of them were dirty. He'd also been fortunate not to really be in shock. "That should help," Jade said. "So, what do we do now?" Megabyte said. "We go back. We've known her for three years, there's got to be a reason that she did that," Adam said. "Of course she had one," Lisa said. "This is Greer we're talking about." Adam nodded. Now that he was over the shock of having a sword swung at him, he realized that she had helped. He had his powers back, the group was working together, Lisa and Megabyte were handling things quite well. "Marmaduke! Phone!" came a female voice from below. The redhead looked up, annoyed, and called back, "Just a moment." "Maybe it's Greer, apologizing," Jade said. "Might be," Megabyte said, and then walked out of the room. There was silence for a moment, and then Lisa spoke up. "It does sound like to me that she was provoking a reaction. I don't seriously believe she would hurt you." "Could be. Has it happened before?" "To Greer? I don't know. Immortals are about as predictable as most people." "As in, we'll never know." "Not as long as they're human." Megabyte came back in. "Well, that wasn't Greer. It was Michael." "What'd he say?" Adam wanted to know. "Well, he wanted to know how you were, and did we know why Greer kept calling herself stupid and then wandering off. And then he asked us to come over." "Sounds good to me," Adam said. * * * Michael dropped his coffee when the four teens materialized, and tried futilely to quickly clear up the stain. "Thanks for coming," he said. "We're as confused as you are," Adam said. "Yeah, well maybe if we put our wits together, we can figure out what's going on. Adam, if I knew why she wanted to check up on you, maybe things would make more sense." Adam nodded. Michael saw the bandage on his arm. "She hit you with her sword, didn't she?" Adam nodded again. "I'm not sure why," he said. "Adam got his abilities back," Lisa said. Michael nodded. "Now I understand." "I don't," Megabyte said. "It's simple. You've heard of various scenarios where a man walks into a drugstore or a bar, talks to the druggist or bartender, and the other person pulls out a gun, and the man thanks him?" "Because he's got the hiccups, and the other person is trying to scare him out of them," Jade said. "It's a common brainteaser." "Right," Michael replied. "And in this case, she was trying to scare me back to my senses," Adam said. "Or, at least your teleporting problem," Michael said. "But I'm sure she thinks she's goofed, and you'll hate her forever." "Why?" Adam asked. "Good question," Michael said. "Where did she go?" Lisa asked. "I haven't the slightest. Probably indulging that suicidal streak of hers." Adam nodded grimly. "We better find her, then." * * * She wondered how long it would take Michael to realize that she had snagged the paper with the phone number on the way out. _He worries far too much. Of course, I wouldn't call possibly challenging an Immortal thousands of years older than I am exactly sane. Maybe he has a reason to worry._ As she reached the gardens, she sensed another Immortal's presence. He came into view and she nodded. As she reached where he was, he said cordially, "Good Morning." "Good morning," she replied politely. No use in blowing her temper in vain, she thought. "You wanted to talk to me," he said. "We seem to have this little problem," Greer said, looking for a place to sit down and finding none. The other Immortal nodded, smiling apologetically. "I realize I must have scared you when I did the trade with your husband. I'm sorry, I knew about both of you, I've studied your record but somehow it slipped my mind that you were married." "You know, you have your nerve, being in the Watchers," Greer said angrily. Pierson smiled wider. "I do. But it a safe haven. No one thinks to look for an Immortal in the Watchers. What would you have done, had you not been discovered?" "I planning to leave the Watchers, anyway," Greer said, more than a slight bit irritated at this problem in her life. "But I can understand the temptation," she continued. _But not forgive it._ "It's not completely a temptation," Pierson said, calmly examining a leaf and then pausing thoughtfully. "I've been with the Watchers for over a decade now, and so I'll have to leave. But I like the Watchers. Some of them even know what I am." "I find that hard to believe. Do they know who you really are?" Greer challenged. _You sneaky old rat._ "You're Methos, aren't you?" Greer knew she was guessing at that point, but was somehow gratified and unsurprised when he nodded, a rueful look on his face. "It's not that hard to figure out, once you know. But the Watchers, although they know I exist, wouldn't dream that there's an Immortal in the Watchers, much less that it's me. And most of our kind don't think I exist." She nodded, feeling somewhat victorious. "I have the advantage at that point. Being familiar with the proof of your existence." "Yes- you have the training and the ability to tell. It makes you unique, you know," he replied. On his face he looked regretful. _Really. Yes, I know who you are, and I could hack your head off in an instant if you let me. I hope you're not going to want me to help you commit suicide._ He had his hand up against a tree and was leaning on it, looking like he was having a casual, earnest discussion. Of course, since they were on holy ground, he wasn't worried about her going after him at the moment. "I'm terribly sorry that you didn't choose to go into research instead of field. I could have found you sooner. I've been trying to keep an eye on you, tried to be there when you became one of us. I kept trying to get you into research so that I would be ready when it happened. You had such an interesting background." "Because I'm a Watcher?" she asked tensely. For a moment, she wondered if he really was on the level. _Not all Immortals are evil,_ she reminded herself. _He could really be a good guy. They do occasionally keep an eye out for those that have yet to be. Goodness, I could have had him for a teacher._ Pierson sighed, bringing her out of her musings and making her remember why she was there. "You're the only Immortal to come from the Watchers, to come into your Immortality during your time as a Watcher." "And how long have you known about me?" Greer asked, somewhat curious, but also enraged. _He knows so much about me, why doesn't he just demand a duel, take my head. That would preserve both his secrets._ "For about a decade, now. We never formally met, but I was in Houston on business and I went to a get-together that you were at. I knew what you were going to become right away. I've been keeping tabs on you ever since. I tried talking them to take you out of field, put you in as a historian. They refused. You had too good a record, it was felt. And, as I said, you didn't want to go." --------------- Selma McCrory "Maybe what this world needs smccrory@calweb.com are more Selmas." selmamc@aol.com -Darien Lambert, Time Trax