"Well, this is where they are," Kyle said, trying to fill the dead air space.

"Yep..." Alex said, nodding his head.

They had driven by the other places the aliens had met in the past: the cave, the cliff. But they were nowhere, so Kyle and Alex had driven out to the compound.

"So, um, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kyle said, looking sideways at Alex.

"That this was a really stupid idea and we're probably getting ourselves into something that we don't want to be involved in?" Alex said, still staring straight ahead at the building.

"Yep, that was pretty much what I was thinking..." Kyle said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"So what do we do now?" Alex looked at Kyle. Kyle looked at him and then thought.

"Well, we could drive all the way home and pretend this never happened. We wouldn't have to get involved with the X-Files troop." Alex cocked his head and thought about the first option. "Or, we could go in there, check things out, see what's going on, and possibly save the day and show everyone that we're apart of this, too, and just as strong as they are," Kyle finished.

"Well, I don't know if I'm up for all that saving the day and proving our power crap, but we're already here so it would be a really big waste if we went home now," Alex said, looking back at Kyle.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me, let's go," Kyle said opening the door to the car. Together they walked up to the front door of the compound.

"So do we just walk in the front door?" Alex asked in an unsure voice.

"What the hell?" Kyle shrugged his shoulders and pulled the door open.

~~~~

Michael was slowing his pace as he walked down the hallway, and passing looks at Isabel and Tess, who knew exactly what to do.

Before the Agent could even think, Michael whipped around and grabbed his arm, forcing the gun to point upwards.

"Hey!" the man yelled in protest, struggling againt Michael's tight hold on his arms.

"Now!" Michael growled. Isabel and Tess threw their arms out and Michael jerked the gun out of his hand and kicked the Agent in the stomach, sending him almost to the ground.

Michael joined them in outstretching his arm and together, they killed him.

They stood in silence for a moment, looking at the lifeless heap that lay before them.

"Well, that was easy enough," Michael said sarcastically. He acted like he wasn't affected at all by their murder of the Agent, but Isabel and Tess both knew it bothered him immensely. Every since Michael had killed Peirce months ago, he had inwardly thought of himself as a killer, even if Peirce was a murderer himself.

Isabel herself was not exactly comfortable with the idea of killing people, but she had turned the options over in her head thousands of times, and it was the only choice they had in circumstances like these.

Isabel and Tess looked at Michael, who was still staring at the body.

"Michael," Isabel touched him arm softly. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at Isabel.

"What about Maria, Liz, and Valenti?" Isabel asked quietly.

"They'll be fine. We need to take care of this by ourselves first," Michael was secretly glad that they wouldn't be involved.

Michael looked at Isabel. She was waiting for what to do next, and so was Tess. He could worry about being a murderer later.

Michael reached over to the dead body and grabbed the key ring from his pocket.

"Well, let's go get Max," Michael turned around and began walking at a much quicker pace, with Isabel and Tess falling in step behind him.

~~~

Max was sitting in the white room, thinking about what was possibly happening to his friends. Everything in him told him to use his powers, but he knew his best bet was to just play along with the Agent until he found out what was happening to the others. It would be too much of a risk if he used them.

The room was silent. And then Max thought he heard a small banging noise. Before he could think any more about it, the door of the white room flew open. Michael was standing in the doorway.

"Michael!" Max jumped up from where he had been sitting in the corner of the room.

"I should have known you'd gotten yourself in here again," Michael said sarcastically. Max grinned at Michael's humor and caught sight of Isabel and Tess behind Michael.

"What happened?" Max turned serious.

"Well, the Agents knew we were coming," Max nodded in agreement with Michael, "and we killed one of them," Michael said the last part in a low voice.

"Which one?" Max asked anxiously.

"Phillipps."

"Okay, well where are the other? Maria and the Sherrif? And do you know where Liz is? Did you see the other agent??" Max was spouting off questions quicker than Michael could think to answer them.

"Slow down, Maxwell. The others, including Liz, are locked in a room down the hall.

Max looked at Michael expectantly. "You locked them in a room?"

"No, the Agent did. He was planning on taking us somewhere else," Michael motioned to the three of them.

"Is everyone okay?" Max asked Michael.

"Yeah, they're all fine," Michael avoided telling Max that Liz was knocked out cold. It would only worry him more.

"Did you see Agent Smith?" Max continued his interrogation.

"No, we didn't. Where is he?" Michael turned the questions on Max.

"I don't know. He locked me in here and he left," Max looked down and thought.

"Well then it looks like we have to go find him," Michael said, turning around and walking to the hallway.

"Right..." Max mumbled as he followed them out to the hall.

When Michael stepped out of the hallway, he looked both ways. The hallway was empty except for two small figures at the end of the hall. Max turned his eyes to where Michael was now looking and spotted the figures. They instinctively threw their arms out to kill the two shadowy figures approaching them.

"Wait! Hold your fire!" one of them threw his arms up in surrender.

"You moron, they aren't the cops," the other one said in a discusted voice.

"Alex??" Isabel recognized his voice instantly.

"Kyle..." Max mumbled, reluctantly lowering his arm. Michael rolled his arms and huffed in exaspertation.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Michael demanded from them when they were close.

"Well, we uh, um...." Alex was trying his hardest to think of some exuse.

"We came to help," Kyle said proudly.

Max's hard expression didn't change as he glared at Kyle. "We don't need your help. Go home," Max tried to keep himself from saying more.

"Okay!" Alex said smiling as he turned around to leave. Kyle grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Look, I know you want to take care of this yourself, and that's fine, whatever, but my Dad's here and so are my friends, so get over it," Kyle said, standing up to Max.

Max was getting more annoyed at the moment. After what had happened between Kyle and Liz, Max took Kyle's presense there as a direct insult to him.

"Kyle, we have this taken care of," Max swallowed and tried to control his anger. "Go home," he said commandingly.

"No," Kyle said as if he were talking to a deaf person.

"Max, it's fine, we might need them," Michael hated involving them as much as Max did, but he could tell that Max had enough anger for both of them, and it was getting them nowhere.

"Fine," Max said through grit teeth, still staring at Kyle, who was not the least bit threatened by him.

"So, where would he be?" Michael said, luring Max's attention away from Kyle.

Max finally looked away from Kyle and began thinking. "I don't know where Agent Smith is, but we need to get everyone out of here before anything else happens. When Smith finds out I'm gone and his partner is dead the first thing he'll do is go after them," Max said, forming a plan in his head.

"Okay, let's go get them," Michael said, turning back to face Max. The group began walking to the back, where Maria, Liz, and the Sherrif were locked up, with Kyle and Alex following them like two children following the grown ups.

They walked for several minutes in silence before Kyle's curiosity finally got the best of him.

"Okay, now what are we doing? What the hell is the plan here? And where is my Dad?" Kyle said loudly. No one said a word for several minutes and Kyle broke the silence again.

"Hello??? Did you even hear me? Earth to Max!!!"

Michael was just turning around to shut Kyle up, but Max had gotten to him first.

Max grabbed his shirt collar and looked Kyle in the eyes and he spoke through anger.

"Look, we're letting you stay with us, so shut up," Max growled. He let go of Kyle's shirt and turned around to keep walking.

"Who the hell do you think you are???" Kyle yelled, outraged. Max stopped walking, but didn't turn around.

"What the hell is your problem???" Kyle continued. Max turned around slowly and met Kyle's outraged eyes.

"You are my problem," Max said, fighting off the urge to kill Kyle in any way possible.

"Max, come on, we're wasting time!" Michael tried to distract Max from Kyle. Max looked at him and seemed to be calming down, and then Kyle spoke again.