Falling Skies Invasion Alone

Attempted Interrogations

I got to the Overlord Roasting when they were already in full swing. I don't know what it was; I just wasn't in a vengeful mood. Ever since I got to Chinatown I just felt a little distanced from the fight. But maybe that was because in the protective bubble we were living in, there wasn't actually much to fight.

I swung myself up onto the stairs and watched them. Anne, Maggie, Anthony...they all had glares on their faces, focussing on the hooded Overlord. Ben hadn't acknowledged me coming in. But that was because it wasn't really him.

I could just see the light coming from the back of his neck telling me that his spikes were lit up. I didn't need them to tell me when he was connected. Just his stance, the look on his face, the change of his voice told me.

Anne was questioning on and on. Why was he there? What did he want? What was their deal? What had he done?

And he kept insisting that he was only helping Alexis, that he was only there to look after her but he wasn't making a very compelling argument. I watched as they kept going but my gaze always wandered to Ben. In between answers I noticed an increase in his breathing. It was almost panting. Slowly, I stood, keeping my eyes on him just before he spoke. There was another slight change in his voice. It was more strained. "Something's happening." I descended the stairs, landing on the hard concrete floor. They looked at me, it was the first time I had spoken there.

"What?" Maggie watched me approach Ben. His eyes were still another...still staring past me to Anne just as the Overlord wanted him too. "Something's wrong with Ben."

I stared at him, hearing Anne un-holster her gun. "What are you doing to him?!"

"The connection is difficult for him." Ben's lips moved as a drop of blood formed at his nose. The second I saw the blood, my stomach clenched in fear and concern and I could feel cold sweat break out in the small of my back. "I certainly don't want any harm to come to him."

I reached up and wiped away the blood, but it kept trickling, falling to his top lip. "Disconnect." I demanded. "Do it now." I stared over my shoulder, my eyes flickering between the Overlord and Anne.

"Let him go!" Anne yelled, a harsh glare focussed on the Overlord.

"NOW." I ground my teeth having turned back to Ben. His eyes were still glassy: he still wasn't there. But then the lights on his back were extinguished and he let out an anguished gasp, collapsing. I managed to hold my arms out for him to fall into but we still fell to the floor. Maggie reached for the two of us, telling Anne that he couldn't do it anymore.

I smoothed Ben's hair, feeling him shaking under my hands, still gasping for breath. "Shhh." I tried to steady him. "You're okay."

Through gasping breath, he managed a nod.

"Anne, he needs rest. Please." I turned my head to look desperately at Anne. It took her a few, wavering seconds, but she conceded. Anthony helped us hoist Ben up to his feet and we took him back to our room.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Anthony asked me as I pulled Ben's jacket from his arms, insisting that he lie down.

"I'll be fine." Ben sighed, but did what I asked, if only to keep me sane. Anthony looked at me for conformation.

I nodded, because it was the truth. "It's just draining. And to be honest, you've never really connected with the Overlords for long. You did it briefly when we were at the hospital last year, with Karen. But apart from that it's been skitters."

Maggie came in with a damp cloth for Ben so he could wash the blood away from his face.

"So connecting with the Overlords is tougher?" Anthony looked for clarification.

I shrugged. "That would be my guess. The stronger they are the tougher the connection and the more they can hurt Ben, or Denny or whoever is connected to them. We just have to be careful."

The two of them looked at Ben worriedly before he just rolled his eyes and flopped back on the bed, wiping his face.

"We'll be around." Maggie grasped my arm. "You yell, we'll find you."

I nodded. Of course. It was a given: it was us and Anne's group against the brainwashed mass of Lexi's followers.

They left the room, leaving Ben and I alone. We hadn't really been alone in a while. I had been treating injuries of all the people who had come with Anne. She couldn't focus on dealing with the wounded when her daughter was protecting an alien. And Ben had been out. Sometimes with Maggie doing some training or brainstorming, sometimes with Denny and sometimes just on his own.

And we weren't really sleeping, so even at night when we used to naturally come together, we wouldn't be. I would be in the labs or in the medical centre- normally working alongside Kadar or more often than not just by myself.

Looking at Ben as he lay on the bed, propping his head up on the pillows, trying to clean his face of his blood, I felt reassured of my feelings for him. I still loved him, I always would love him and I was sure that we were okay. A part of me felt a tiny bit guilty for not being with him for such a long time but it couldn't be helped. I was still trying to figure out what had happened to me. And he couldn't help me there.

"I'm okay, Cass." Ben croaked a little. His voice, back to normal despite his croakiness, snapped me into reality again. I smiled softly and knelt on the bed.

"You missed some bits." I reached for the washcloth and wiped it over the smeared blood on his face that he had missed; a spot just at the corner of his mouth, the side of his nose and a little on his cheek.

He closed his eyes as I cleaned his face, his chest rose and fell as his breathing slowed into a snooze. My chest tightened as I looked at him. Not for the first time, I wished that we were normal, that we were just college students living in a normal world. It was the thing I wished for and dreamed of the most, it always was.

I dropped the cloth on the table beside us and leant down, pressing my lips to his. In his half asleep state, I felt a small response, a weak kiss back. But he was almost asleep.

I slid down the bed to lie beside him, feeling the cold all of a sudden. I curled my fingers around his forearm and just lay with my eyes closed. I wasn't tired, I wasn't even sleepy, I just wanted closeness.

I would have loved to stay there for ages but I was roused when I heard raised voices. Anne and Lexi's voices.

I sat up, trying to listen- mainly to see if I was needed. And for a second I didn't think I was, they were just arguing. But then Lexi's voice got louder.

"I need him and you're keeping him from me!" she yelled. Her voice echoed, almost gruesomely. I jumped up and grabbed my jacket, pulling it on as I ran out the door and down the stairs. Across the courtyard, I could see the two of them. Anne's hands were wrapped around her own throat. She was coughing, doubled over, gasping for breath.

"Anne?" I yelled, running the last few steps. Lexi was staring at her mom, her hair blowing but there was no wind. She was using her powers. And she was using them to choke Anne. "Lexi, stop. Let her go." I grasped Anne's arm, letting her use me for support.

Lexi wasn't even looking at me, she wasn't registering me presence so I stepped forward, moving between her and Anne. "Lexi. Let her go, honey. You're hurting her. She's your mother." I put my hand out, trying to calm her. A little recognition flickered in her eyes. "You don't want to hurt her."

I saw the fear pass across her face, the vulnerability reminded me how young she really was. It only took one step backwards for her to show she didn't want to hurt Anne. And then she collapsed.

Anne inhaled a desperate gasp as I lunged for Alexis, seeing her fallen on the ground.

Something hit me then. I had a sudden realisation that almost knocked me out. You can save one. You can save the other. But you could never save them all.