A continuation of my AU where Michael is adopted by the Evan’s instead of Max.
Based on RNM 3x06. Max responds to Michael's Airstream being broken into and the Kyle and Maria mystery. Alex connects his work at Deep Sky with Max's theories and finds himself in a dangerous encounter. Liz's suspicions about Michael unravel at the hospital.
Differences from canon:
Since Alex is dating Max, he checks in with him when he stays late at Deep Sky.
Since Max is the cop, Michael calls him to "report" the break-in which happened at his Airstream (which as a reminder is parked at Bernhardt ranch). Max explains how he covered up Isobel helping Jones kill Jordan Bernhardt.
Max and Michael's lines are somewhat swapped from canon.
Michael not being pissed about his only possessions being trashed makes Liz suspicious. Her reminiscing about Henry IV reflects The Red Crayon 'verse's version of events (the Crashdown and a milkshake instead of prom night).
Max had actual police reports to help him figure out the radio towers went down (instead of Sanders' police scanner) and his conversation with Alex at the tower reflects their relationship status. They also had a call instead of only texts. Because of Max's insistence and sympathy, Alex opens up about why he wants to work alone for now. Max has police reports that show him the tower locations and stumbles onto the infrared explanation. Max already knows about Deep Sky, so he makes the connection to Alex.
The sheriff calls Max not Michael, obviously, and Max convinces her Michael is not suspicious. Max sends a group message to the group with what he finds, so Michael/Jones still gets the lead.
Note: When Jones is Michael, his scenes are mostly similar to canon, because HIS experience isn't different.
The difference is surrounding the fact that Michael is not a cop. Jones needs to be more sneaky at the hospital (rather than demanding records).
“I'm gonna need a little bit of your magic, mi bruja. What would you see that I'm not? I don't know how, but I'm gonna fix this, okay? 'Cause I got your back. I always do.”
screaming about rnm tonight and uh. i have two new favorite WTF moments from s3.
the first... michael gives alex the turquoise in 3x03 and tells him it reacts to their tech. afterwards, alex goes to deep sky and witnesses the turquoise react to the lockhart machine. except then alex disappears for two episodes while everyone else learns about kyle's radio and the alien glass with jim's message inside. and when alex re-appears in 3x06, this fact is never mentioned again until after maria does her walk through patricia's memory in 3x08 (and the show proceeds to act as if that is how they all learn the lockhart machine is alien-built).
and second... how did jones learn about the lockhart machine? alex didn't tell anyone about it until after maria's little walk through patricia's memories in 3x08. the only thing i can come up with is it's mentioned in tripp's journal, which jones finds in max's safe in 3x04.
so let's assume it's just a vague mention of nora building something while in caulfield. i mean, nora was pretty hush hush about things to tripp elsewhere (tripp only knew that she and louise were "building something in the desert"). jones figures out that patricia is maria's grandmother, and jumps into her mind looking for that memory.
except jones has a specific date. how? if tripp mentioned it in the journal, then alex, maria, and the pod squad would also already be aware of the lockhart machine's existence because they've all read the journal. and if the journal only mentioned nora building something - that doesn't explain how jones picked up on the specific date.
and if the lockhart machine was mentioned in tripp's journal then alex would have known even before he held the turquoise up to it in 3x03 that it was alien-built, and wouldn't have needed the magical alien rock to tell him this.
14 year old Michael to 14 year old Max (1x06): “Every time I get mad I throw furniture with my mind. I’m mad a lot. The lady that runs the group home got a priest to come over and ‘expel my demons’ last week. *rolls up sleeve to show cross burned into his forearm* Turns out getting an exorcism kinda hurts.”
Michael to Alex (1x10): “I was 11 when I got sent back to Roswell. Fundamentalist religious freaks. After that, I’d take an angry addict any day.”
Michael to Rosa (3x06): “First time I moved something with my mind, I turned a foul ball into a home run. It changed my world, but it took what felt like forever for me to be able to do it again.”
Michael to Dallas (3x10): “Y’know the first time my powers emerged, I was living with these religious nuts. The oldest had it out for me. One day I couldn’t take it anymore and I got so angry I somehow sent him through a window, with my mind. At first they thought I was possessed by a demon, but when burning me with a cross didn’t work, they thought I was the demon. I was nine.”
____________
Could the writers not communicate and agree on ANYTHING!? Did they not write important information down like when, where, and how the Pod Squad’s powers emerged and what happened to them after? Like, Michael’s story has changed four times (weirdly enough in episodes 6 and 10 of the seasons....will we get another version of his history in season 4 episode 6 and then again in episode 10???)
So, he told Alex he was living with the Fundamentalists when he was 11, but told Dallas he was 9, but also told Max that he was living in the group home while they’re 14 and that’s where he got the exorcism...but that the exorcism happened with the Fundamentalists when he was 9. He told Rosa the first time he used his powers it was to turn a foul ball into a home run, but told Dallas it was to send his bully through a window.
Okay, that’s something I am NOT going to miss about RNM. Their inability to keep their own continuity straight.
So. Here’s how I think it actually went.
Age 9: Michael turns a foul ball into a home run. He can’t make it happen again, eventually forgets about it, until.............
Age 11: Michael gets sent to the Fundamentalist religious nuts in Roswell. Gets bullied and finally fed up and so mad he sends his foster brother through a window with his mind. Gets sent back to the group home where they actually end up performing several exorcisms on him for the next several years (until he has enough and gets his truck and starts living in that instead of the group home).
Me and a small group of my close friends and family have participated in 80% of all alien-fucking that has taken place in the United States since 1947.