Falling Skies 1. Meet N' Greet

_**HEY! This is my first fanfic about Falling Skies, and I hope you enjoy! Please don't be mad with any of the ways the character's act; I just call it like I see it. Have fun reading:**_

Boots in hand, I slipped out the back door. It closed with a squeak, and I froze. I could hear my dad, drunk as always, twist upstairs. As long as he didn't hear another sound, I was in the clear, at least for the night.

As soon as I hit the woods, I slipped on the hunting boots my uncle had made in prison for me, and ran. I sprinted through the trees, smelling the rich earth and the frosty February air. I jumped over a creek and rounded a corner to the ruins of a once beautiful manor house.

I kicked open the front door and lit the candles that lined the banister of the grand staircase. Once each was lit, the entrance was like a fairyland full of beauty. It was the only thing the brought happiness to my shattered heart.

I rolled my unfinished Harley out from a corner and opened the bag that never left my side. I lay out the parts I had managed to salvage from the junkyard I work at, and tried to fit them into the engine. I managed to find the right spark plug, but the other parts were complete crap.

The Harley was rolled back into its corner until tomorrow and I lay down in the middle of the room, staring at the ceiling. The candles lit up the old chandelier in the most intricate way, sending shadows across the fading mural painted above me.

I don't know how long I lay there, thinking about nothing in particular and doing nothing at all. Possibly hours, possibly seconds, but then my world was shattered. The door burst open and something inhuman grabbed me. It was green and scary.

I was carried, kicking and fighting, to a ship. I was the only human around, the rest were similar creatures to the one who was holding me. Then, I saw it, something similar to an evolved human, only 5 times scarier. My breath caught in my throat, and my body shut down in terror.

It was holding something, something long and thin. Pinpricks of pain jolted up my arm as the needle the alien was holding dug into it. I blacked out before anything else could happen.

_TIME JUMP – 9 MONTHS IN_

"You people need help?" I asked, staring down at the odd assortment of humans below me. I was sitting in the crow's nest of an old barn, looking down at about 150 people all with battle wounds. I pulled my sleeves down tighter and made sure my stomach wasn't showing.

"Who might you be?" An older guy with a ponytail yelled back up at me. Even at the distance, I could tell his nametag read 'Weaver'.

"A friend or an enemy," I replied. Being cryptic had always been one of my specialities.

"Just answer the damn question." Another boy piped up. He was dark haired, brown eyed, had a slight moustache and screamed player.

"Fine, I'm Firefly." I replied rolling my eyes and standing up. I spun, showing them that I had no weapons on me. I did have a gun just behind me, out of their line of sight, but they didn't need to know that.

"Your serious, your name really is Firefly?" A different boy asked. He was shorter than the first, with light hair and green eyes. He also had metallic things on the back of his neck, and if I concentrated I could hear him. He had, at one time or another, been under the control of the Chemlock.

"Yes, I'm serious." I spat back.

"What do you want with us, Firefly?" Weaver asked. I sat back down.

"You all look like you could use some help. I know where the supplies are in this town. I also know where it's safe to hide and where the Espheni will find you." I stared at each of them, memorizing faces.

"The Espheni?" Weaver asked. He clearly did not know the propor names for the races. I searched the Chemlocked boy's mind, who was named Ben, for their term.

"The people you call overlords." I clarified. Ben's expression widened, and he whispered something to the dark haired boy. I guessed they were brothers.

"Okay, and why do you want to help us?" Oh, Weaver had hit a sore spot. I needed to be vunerable to play myself into their group. I needed to get away from the aliens and their experiments.

"I've been alone for too long. All I ask is that you take me in. It looks like you're a military unit and I can fight. Please?" I asked, straining my voice. It was true even before the invasion. I had never had a family or friends, and now I needed them desperately.

"Okay, tell us what you know." Weaver was convinced. The rest of the crowd muttered in approval and I realized my first assumption hadn't been correct. There were about 100 people, not 150 in the room.

"Okay, 2 people can come up here, I'll give them the directions and then we can talk. I want 2 so that one can talk and the other can stand guard and make sure I don't step out of line, is that okay with you?" I negotiated. Weaver pondered the proposal.

"How about 3 people?" He eventually asked.

"Fine with me." I replied, straightening. 3 would mean, most likely, that Ben would be coming up to scour my locked mind for a way in. He was itching to find out who I was.

"Okay, Hal, Ben, on me!" Weaver yelled. The dark haired boy responded with Ben, so I guess his name is Hal. Good to get to know people.

They came up the stairs on the side. I kicked the M26 under the table before weaver saw it. I didn't want to appear hostile.

As soon as Weaver's eyes saw mine, his faced flashed with emotions. Yes, my eyes are a strange golden colour, no it wasn't the aliens. I was born with it.

"My eyes are naturally golden, just by the way." I smiled at Ben and Hal. I could already feel Ben's mind pressing against the wall I had up, trying to break it down.

"Okay, Firefly, what do you have for us?" Weaver motioned to the maps on the table and the symbols I had drawn.

"Okay, each map represents a time. I take inventory once a month. I took inventory last week, so this is the updated version." I pointed to the map on top. Weaver picked it up and studied it.

"Okay, so each symbol means something." He looked at me for an explination. I took an older map to show him.

"This one means food storage, this means weapons locker, this means safe house and the shaded areas mean overlord activity." I pointed out.

"Well, you certainly know this area well." Ben commented. His eyes were like slits, and his mind was still attacking my wall. I wonder how he would react if I took it down and showed him my true life.

"I lived around here. I never left the area since I love it so much." I responded. Ben still wasn't convinced.

"And now you want to leave, whatever changed your mind?" He was just begging to get punched. I stopped the anger from boiling under my skin.

"Some things are more important that your childhood home, Ben." I responded softly. The tension in the room was rising, and it needed to be dimmed. Fortunately, Weaver knew how to stop a pot from boiling over.

"Thank you for your help Firefly, but we really must be going." Weaver rolled up the map and started for the stairs. My hand shot out before he could get 2 feet away.

"What about our deal? You take me with you?" I asked menacingly. I didn't want to come off as hostile, but I needed to get away. This group was my best chance.

"Firefly, I want to take you in, I do, but I can't. You have no weapons, and besides what you say I doubt you can fight." Anger boiled up inside of me, and I didn't want to stop it this time.

"Oh ya?" I asked. I dropped and grabbed the M26 from under the table. In seconds, I had it pointed at Weaver's head. "Why don't you say that again?"

_**AHHHH! First Chapter is really short, sorry about that. I hope you like it. I based Firefly off of Pope, since I really like his character. Her story since the invasion will be revealed in time, but I will tell you that she hasn't been harnessed. I'd just like to ask how old you guys think she is, since I haven't decided yet. Please review, I loved criticism and until next time, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER**_

_**-Ella**_


	2. Supplies

_**Hey! New chapter! Sorry for taking so long and sorry for the short chapter, full story at the bottom… Hope you guys like it! Remember to review!**_

"What's going on?" I cried, bolting upright. I was sitting in a little bus that looked like a hospital on wheels. "Where am I?" I tried to swing my legs around, but they were bolted in. I couldn't leave.

My breathing quickened, images flashed before my eyes. Needles, cold iron, aliens, faces, pain… I forced the images away. No, I would not think like that. I wasn't back there. They hadn't found me, they couldn't have found me.

"Is dad going to be okay?" Someone asked from behind a curtain to my right. It sounded like a little boy.

"Yep, he just needs rest. All three of you, out!" A woman commanded. I heard the shuffling of feet and realized that the 3 on the other side of the curtain were Ben, Hal and another boy.

"Um, Dr. Glass?" Ben asked. The other two footsteps faded away, "Can I talk to her?" He meant to whisper it, but I could hear it as clear as day. I guess he meant me.

"Let me talk to her first, Ben. Okay?" Dr. Glass replied. She was ordering something in a cabinet. Even with the clink I would have been able to hear them.

"No, I really need to speak with her first." Ben sounded almost pleading. Why did he need to speak with me so badly?

"Ben, you know I don't like it." Dr. Glass sounded exasperated.

"I know, but this is important." Ben replied. Dr. Glass closed the file cabinet. She must have motioned for him to come in, because the curtain opened and I was greeted with a not-so-happy Benjamin Mason.

"Ben, how nice of you to visit." I smiled. I could tell he didn't buy it.

"Who are you?" He asked, pulling up a chair. I swallowed.

"My name is Firefly,"

"I know it's not your real name. You lied about everything. While you were asleep, I took a look through your mind. I couldn't get to any of the truth, but I sifted through a whole lot of lies. I need to know the truth; otherwise I have to tell Weaver that we can't trust you." Ben was blackmailing me?

"Look all you need to know is that I mean you no harm.

"That may be so, but what about your friends? Why did you black out after saving us? Why help us at all? What's with the scars on your arms and stomach?" His mind was swirling with even more questions, it made my head hurt.

"Look I'll tell you everything, but not now." I knew Dr. Glass was listening in on us, and I couldn't risk the 2nd Mass finding out, not until we were passed Hartford.

"No, now,"

The curtains moved. Dr. Glass was actually eavesdropping.

"Can't, we have a…" I mouthed eavesdropper and he immediately understood. He nodded.

"Okay, thanks anyway." Ben pushed past the curtain. He was gone.

I found out that Dr. Glass was a middle aged American/Chinese woman who had been a pediatrician before the invasion. She was extremely nice and kind, but her body language told me she was on edge. I wonder what was bothering her.

"Okay, that seems to be the last test. I'll just leave." Dr. Glass got up to go.

"Wait, can you unbolt my legs. It's starting to hurt."

"Oh, of course," Dr. Glass got the restraints off, "we only did that 'cause you were moving around. We didn't want you to get hurt."

"Can I leave this place then? Go outside?" I asked, swinging my legs and walking for the first time since I woke up.

"I don't see the problem. Go right ahead." Dr. Glass went through the curtain, and I looked around for my backpack. I slung it onto my shoulder. My weapons were still there, and they hadn't taken anything from it. I guess the 2nd Mass was trustworthy.

Stepping through the curtain, I stopped short. Lying in a cot in a surgical bay of sorts was a man with a slight beard and features that resembled Hal and Ben. This must be their father. He had a cloth wound tightly around his stomach, and there was something in his brain transmitting a message. It took me a second to connect the two.

I looked around and saw Dr. Glass organizing a cabinet. She didn't look like she wanted to be bothered, so I slipped out the doors. Looking back, it turned out that the medical bay was a converted school bus. Handy.

"You look lost, demon." That voice put my systems on edge. Fast as lightning, I punched John Pope across the face.

"Bastard." I muttered, flexing my fingers. His skull had gotten harder since last time we'd met up.

"Is that any way to treat the person who liberated you?" He smiled cockily, and I had the urge to punch him again.

"You didn't liberate me, you started a manhunt for me." I shot back. He laughed a little. I smelled alcohol.

"Do these people know your past?" He asked. I froze.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" I looked around for people. No one was in hearing range. Pope smiled and I led him away to the edge of the woods. We leaned on trees.

"So, do they? Do they know about the experiments or the aliens or the fact that you will probably lead them to destruction?" Pope was asking for it. I really needed to take out my anger. I lifted a rock 20 feet away and smashed it into a tree.

"Oh, you can do that now?" Pope didn't seem amused, "Does Weaver know about these powers? Does anyone know? Well, Ben does obviously because of the mind thing, or have you managed to keep him out?"

"I tried my best. I killed some skitters, same ending and he took advantage of my vulnerable mind. He didn't get anything though."

"Oh, so the fact that he's walking over here right now doesn't bother you." Pope raised an eyebrow. I had known he would come, he noticed the second I stepped out of the medical bus.

"No,"

"See you Demon, have fun explaining your situation to the razorback," Pope joked as he passed Ben. Ben's face darkened for a second, and I could tell he didn't like being called a razorback. It wasn't better than being called a demon.

"You ready to talk?" Ben demanded. I looked around.

"Can we go into the woods, somewhere they can't find me?" I asked desperately. Skitters were coming for me, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"So you can kidnap me, no way," Ben was agitated.

"Fine, so what do you want to talk about?" I grunted.

"Your mind powers, why Pope was talking to you, your abilities that match a harnessed kids and the fact that you speak using the aliens technical terms, like Espheni and Chemlock." Ben demanded. Before I could reply, shouts sounded along the camp.

They had found me.

_**Hey, so I just want to say, thanks you guys for reading this story. To anyone who read my first Firefly before I took it down, what do you think of the changes? Anything you guys think about this please tell me, I hate not having reviews. Sorry about not updating, but I have lots of things to do in school and on the weekends, and I have no time left. I'm currently working in SS class. I hope you guys like this chapter. Yes, Pope and Firefly know each other from a time ago, when he vanished after the auto incident and before he met up for the sanctuary. **_

_**LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!**_

_**- Ella**_


	3. Demons and Razorbacks

_The buzzing in my ears slowly faded. The failsafe was shorting out, like always. I knew I would wake up soon. I just needed to know if I would be safe._

_"Sweetie, you awake?" Someone was whispering. No, no it couldn't be. She had found me. I began thrashing around, my legs and arms bolted to something cold and metal. Not the table again._

_"Stella, you're going to be just fine. We just need to run one more test." Her eyes were cold. She was speaking for the Espheni, that much I could tell._

_"Go to hell," I spat back. She only smiled. With a flick of her wrist, a skitter sent a needle into my arm. Thousands of bees began stinging me all over, my bones were being crushed and reformed, the pain was endless. I screamed until I couldn't breathe. Her face didn't change throughout it._

_"That's what you get for leaving," Karen hissed, snapping my ankle._

A scream tore through me as I sat up. The fog cleared from my mind and I realized I wasn't with her. I wasn't being experimented on. There was no pain in my body, nothing. I was lying in a cot somewhere. No metal, no needles, no skitters. The bustling outside the area made me think of a city. There were obviously people here. Most likely the 2nd Mass.

"Firefly, what happened?" A Chinese woman came through the plastic sheet that covered one wall. As it fell back, I saw a man lying on a table. There was something transmitting from his brain.

"Who, who are you?" I felt my face. It was drenched with sweat, like the rest of my body.

"I'm Dr. Glass, the field medic for the 2nd Mass." She smiled.

"Is that where I am?" I dreaded the answer. If yes, I would have to face Weaver and Ben, if no, I was back in the torture chamber.

"Yes, of course. Where else would you be. Are you okay?" Dr. Glass felt my forehead. I pushed my legs off the cot.

"I think so," I shook of the nightmares. Her face was imprinted in my brain, yet every time I dreamed of her it took my breath away, and not in a good way.

"Well if you're fine, you can leave. We need the space for patients." Dr. Glass shooed me out. I passed the man in the bed and checked the transmission. It was going to red eye. Well, he was better than the overlord.

Stepping out, I saw an entire army. Not really, but people were everywhere, most holding guns. We were under a bridge, setting up camp next to a forest. Easy ways in, but also ways to escape. Risky, but effective.

I searched for him, but he wasn't here. Maybe I had been mistaken in the barn. Turning in a slow circle, I remembered what humanity was like. Then I remembered the dreams and the talk in the ship. The 2nd Mass was dangerous, they could fight beck effectively. Maybe, she had let me go. Maybe I'm a spy, maybe…

"So, Firefly, when did you get to Connecticut?" His high-pitched voice chopped my thoughts into little pieces. I turned and swung, clocking John Pope across the face. Shit, his skull had gotten harder since the last time we met.

"You know, your skull's gotten harder since last time," I commented, flexing my fingers. He rubbed his jaw.

"Is that any way to greet the man who freed you?" Pope's cheek was turning black.

"Get one thing into your head," I pulled his face down to mine, my eyes blazing with anger, "You didn't free me, you started a manhunt for me. Get that into your head." I pushed him away.

"I still got you out of that hellhole." Pope pointed out. I walked away. "Don't be like that, you were grateful before." He stopped me at the edge of the forest.

"That was before she sent more skitters after me. They don't stop Pope, and I've been running since Boston. I thought I had lost them, then the 2nd Mass showed up and they found me again." We leaned against a tree.

"And the," He pointed to the back of his neck, "things?"

"Failsafe still there, stuff happened and I can now move objects with my mind. No thanks to you." I looked out towards the forest, combing the area for any skitter patrols.

"I didn't know that she would send more after you. I thought I was doing you a favor." Pope's tone changed. He sounded more like a father than the warrior I had met all those months ago.

"I know you didn't, but that doesn't change the reality of this life. Sometimes I think I should go back, no one would miss me and no one would be put in harm's way by trying to protect me." I scratched into the dirt with my boot.

"Then all that I did for you would just come apart." Pope added. I guess he had a point.

"How did you end up with the 2nd Mass Pope?" I tried to change the subject.

"That is a story for another time. Razorback just showed up, and it looks like he's seen you." Pope pointed toward a somewhat angry Benjamin Mason. I turned back to him, but he was already walking away.

"Thanks for that," I called after Pope.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Ben shoved me against a tree.

"Great wake up greeting, hello to you too, Ben." I commented, straightening until we were at eye level.

"I'm not going to ask again. Who the hell are you?" Ben face was purple with rage. His thoughts weren't very pleasant either.

"Firefly," I replied bluntly. His face didn't get any better.

"No, really?" Ben got a little too close to my face, "Who are you really? How do you know Pope? Where did you lean to fight skitters like that?"

"Pope rescued me a long time ago, we spent time together and I got to know him pretty well. I learned to fight in the beginning, when I didn't have any weapon. I also happen to have 3 years of gymnastics and 5 years a karate on my side." I pushed him back, keeping eye contact. His emotions flickered with disbelief. He was satisfied, in the least.

"Ben, what are you doing with Firefly? You're on patrol in 10." Weaver rescued me from more questions.

"Sorry sir," Ben broke eye contact and turned away. I looked at weaver.

"Now, Firefly, let's see if we can't find you a place in this military. You do want to fight?" Weaver pulled me through the crowd.

"I wouldn't dream of anything else." I smiled. I may be on the run, but now I have a family, people who will fight alongside me. I was done with running.


End file.

Falling Skies, Adventure, Sci-Fi