ARCHIVE: No

"So," Alec said cautiously as he slid into the booth opposite her. "You a free woman now? Or did you two love birds kiss and make up."

Gem and two other X5's had re-opened the coffee shop in the building just outside Terminal City's main gates to accomodate people who came to view (and hopefully buy) the paintings and sculptures created by some of the more artistically inclined mutants. Selling art and crafts was a legitimate way to raise much-needed cash for themselves, as well as a creative outlet for Joshua, Mole, Dix, Luke, and a number of other former soldiers who'd discovered they could wield a paintbrush as well as a gun. Those who didn't have an inner muse scavanged the city dumps and flea markets for antiques they could sell at a nice profit. All-in-all, the Terminal City Mall was turning out to be a nice way for the mutants to not only make money, but to gradually assimilate themselves into regular society.

Max took a sip of her coffee and made a face. "We've got to find a better source for the java here," she complained. "Good coffee means good customers." She eyed him across the table. "You're in charge of our supply line. Can't you find a decent bean vendor?"

"I'll work on it," Alec said. "Max, are you avoiding my question?"

"No," Max said seriously. She tried one more sip of the bitter brew and then shoved the styrofoam cup away, giving it up as a lost cause. Only then did she meet his intense hazel gaze. "Logan asked me to marry him."

Alec felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut, and his eyes flew to her ring finger. "You said no?" he surmised, not seeing a diamond, his heart rate returning to normal.

"I told him I'd think about it," Max replied, which was how she'd left things with Logan that morning.

"And what?"

"Nothing. Starcrossed lovers I guess is what you'd have to call Logan and me," she said huskily. "It's just so difficult sometimes, between us." She searched his eyes, almost as if looking for something. And then she smiled -- just a little bit. "But we'll work it out. People do that when they love each other like Logan and I do."

Alec wondered why his heart was pounding so hard again. "Live and learn, Max," he said, for lack of any better advice to give, and feeling the need to fill the empty silence between them. His eyes slid to a clock on the wall. "What time are we meetin' Lydecker?" he asked, changing the subject.

"One o'clock," Max said, her voice tightening. The name of Colonel Donald Lydecker, their former Manticore C.O., the monster of Manticore, still brought a thrill of fear to both of the transgenics. Afterall, he was the man who, more than any other, was responsible for both shaping and mangling their lives.

"Where's the meet?"

"Right here," Max said, indicating the coffee shop.

"And 'Deck agreed?" Alec said, eyebrows rising. "I'd have thought he'd demand neutral ground."

"I told him it was here or not at all," Max said. "I don't trust that son of a bitch any further than I can throw him, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let him get us out in the middle of nowhere where his pet X5's could make a run at us."

"His pet X5's couldn't get him away from the Breeding Cult," Alec pointed out.

"They didn't know where he was," Max replied. "But now that he's slipped through our grasp" -- she gave Alec a look that he ignored -- "and is in charge of his people again, we're going to have to watch our backs. He's obsessed with rebuilding his precious Manticore -- seeing to it that his so-called 'kids' do what they were supposedly bred and born to do."

"More'n a few of our X5's and 6's have taken him up on his offer the past few weeks," Alec pointed out. "They went of their own free will. A private army of Manticore soldiers is something pretty valuable in this world, Max. Don't underestimate the guy's power."

"I wonder why he still wants us? After we've told him 'no' so many times?"

"I don't know," Alec said. "But I have a feeling we're about to find out." His gaze shifted to the door where Colonel Donald Lydecker, dressed in military khakis and a flight jacket, stood surveying the makeshift cafeteria, his weathered features mirroring obvious distaste at what he saw. Still gaunt from his ordeal, he nonetheless looked razor sharp, as if his incarceration with the Breeding Cult had somehow hardened him even more.

"He's early," Max commented. "You ready for this?"

"I'm on board, Max."

Max took a deep breath. "All right then. Let's get this over with."

*****

"Interesting what you've done with the place, Max," Lydecker said as he pulled a chair up to the end of the table.

Alec, lounging back in the booth with his arm across the top of the seat, let his eyes flick to the entrance of the cafeteria . Lane, X5-600, was hanging by the door, Devon was in position by the back emergency exit, and he wouldn't be surprised if a detail of regular soldiers was lurking about in the market area outside as well. Lydecker had come prepared.

"It's home," Max shrugged. "And we're happy and free."

"So," Lydecker said, "you really sell enough artwork to sustain a colony of several hundred transgenics?"

"We take care of our own," Max said levelly. "Some have outside jobs, some work in here."

"Oh, of course," Lydecker said with mock seriousness. "Now I understand." He turned to Alec. "And your job would be? Don't tell me ... washing dishes perhaps? Or cleaning the toilets? Or maybe you're the cook. You were created to be perfect soldiers for God's sake! How can you waste your talents in a dump like this?"

"Actually, I'm in charge of trade and acquisitions," Alec replied calmly, refusing to let himself be baited by the older man. "You need it, I can get it -- for a percentage that is. Like Max said, we take care of our own in here. No one goes hungry. No one's homeless. And if we don't have enough money to buy what we need ..." A sly grin. "I have ways around that."

"You're a thief," Lydecker said bluntly.

Alec batted his eyes in mock surprise, doing his best to look hurt. "Why, Colonel, whatever makes you think moi," he put his hands on his chest, "one of Manticore's finest, would ever stoop so low." Again the sly smile. "Let's just say I'm in the business of procurement and leave it at that."

Max had listened to the exchange between the two men with some alarm. Now, she sat up straighter in the booth and said coldly, "Enough questions. What do you want with us? Why are you here? And don't give me any of that bullshit about offering us jobs suited to our talents. Our talents are utilized just fine already. Oh, and by the way, you still owe me that information about my mother."

Lydecker took a sip of the coffee he'd brought with him to the table, and made a face.

"I know," Alec said in a low voice. "I'm thinkin' I need to liberate a few bags of beans from Barneys."

Lydecker ignored him. Pushing the cup of awful coffee away, he sat up straighter in his chair, looked Max square in the eye, and said, "Manticore is operational again. Between the soldiers who remained loyal to me, and those I've brought back into the fold, it's a viable military unit once more. We're utilizing a breeding program until our scientists can get the gene splicing lab and surrogate program up and running. The Committee is still backing the project, although it's a more scaled-down version of what we had before. Still, it didn't take much to persuade them that the organic weapons program was well worth resurrecting. As for your mother's whereabouts ..." He smiled wickedly. "I think I'll keep those cards close to my vest for awhile longer."

"We had a deal," Max argued. "I saved your life back there and you know it."

"Let's just say the terms of our agreement have changed," the colonel replied evenly. "Now, you're going to have to offer a little bit more for that information." His eyes went to Alec.

Max saw, and clenched her jaw. "Organic weapons?" she said, making a face at the distasteful words, and letting the subject of her mother drop. "What you mean is that your science guys are playing Frankenstein again, creating lab rat soldiers to enslave."

"Gee, Max," Lydecker said with a smile. "Don't sugarcoat things so much."

"What do you want with Alec and me?" she repeated. "We don't want any part of your New Manticore."

"Max," Lydecker said, "all of the X5's ... the soldiers like you and Alec ... were created with extreme care and forethought. Each one of you, as an individual, contains traits and characteristics specifically blended into your DNA. Each one of you is unique -- or rather each set of twins is unique."

"So, I'm unique," Max said with a shrug. "Whoopee. And where have I heard that before?"

But Lydecker wasn't finished. "When the thirteen of you escaped in '09, Manticore lost some of its very best specimans. However, we still had most of the twins." He stared meaningfully again at Alec who returned the look icily. "Over the years, we lost a few. Jondy's twin, for example, had to be destroyed, as well as Zane's."

"They didn't have to be destroyed," Alec said quietly. "I was there. They could have healed."

"That's water under the bridge, son," Lydecker said. "Now, let me finish. I've also lost Jace and Sam's genetics and talent from the program. Ben ... well, you both know about Ben." He glanced at Alec yet again. "And unfortunately, Brin was killed when Manticore burned."

Max closed her eyes. Alec knew she'd always suspected that, but to have it confirmed must hurt.

"Zane and Syl are missing," Lydecker continued. I'm in negotiations with Jondy. But what I'm getting at is this -- the two of you have inborn genetic skills and physical characteristics that can't easily be re-established at Manticore. I've seen the futility of trying to force you back into service. However, I'm hoping we can reach some sort of deal regarding use of your abilities and genetic material."

Alec was chuckling. "He wants your eggs, Max. And my sperm."

"No deal!" Max said. "I'll never let you create more slaves using my body!" She glanced at Alec. "Or his either."

"Fine," Lydecker held up his hands. "I'm just making the offer. I assure you you'd be paid quite well." His cold eyes went to Alec again. "But if I can't talk you into being donors, then perhaps you'd be willing to do a little independent work for me. Like I said, the two of you possess genetically enhanced skills that are unique -- ones my other kids are lacking."

"No," Max said coldly, getting to her feet.

"A hundred thousand," Lydecker said. "For one mission. And I only need one of you for the wetwork."

Max hesitated for a fraction of a second, then sat down again. Alec had never gotten up.

"I have a job that needs doing right away," Lydecker said, his voice all business now. "I'd like Alec on it." He turned to the younger man. "You speak Arabic, don't you?"

Alec stared at him, dollar signs dancing in his head. Then he slowly nodded. "I speak Arabic."

"If you want your precious mission accomplished, you'd be better off talking to me," Max interrupted. "He can't be trusted."

Lydecker turned to her. "Do you speak Arabic, 452?"

"No," Max said rather primly. "But I'm a fast learner."

"We don't have time," Lydecker said. "494's more suited to this job than you, so back off."

"Alec already got a full time job," Max said icily. "He's needed here. He's not going."

"Hey," Alec said hotly. "Sitting right here, Max. And I think I can make my own decisions."

"We're out of here," Max said, standing again and this time grabbing Alec by the arm.

Alec glared at her. "I'm not done," he said.

"Yes, you are," Max said through clenched teeth. "And if you don't come with me right now I'm gonna beat your ass."

Alec wrenched his arm away, grabbed her wrist, and bent the joint, forcing her down on the table. "I said, I'm ... Not ... Done. I wanna hear the man out."

For a second he thought she was going to hit him. He actually saw the battle going on in her eyes. But then common sense won.

"Fine," she said. "Get yourself killed. See if I care." And with those loving words, she jerked her hand free and walked away.