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Alec spent the rest of the day trudging around Terminal City checking on supplies and personnel. What he found was sobering. They were low on everything, including moral. Some key people, mostly X5s, had taken off -- and that hurt. The X5s were the ones who could most easily adapt to life on the outside, travel around Seattle without attracting a gawking crowd or hecklers. After asking some questions, Alec deduced there were probably only about a dozen X5s left in TC, including himself, Max, and Zack.

And of course they'd lost Kade last night ...

By the time the 7 o'clock meeting rolled around Alec had a headache, and seeing Max waiting impatiently for him on the dais as he walked into the parking garage didn't improve his mood. She was still angry about what was on that tape -- the delivery of which in itself was worrisome. It meant Lydecker was dead certain 494 had hightailed it back to TC after escaping, and also that the colonel was trying to undermine his relationship with Max.

And the colonel's evil little plan had worked ... in a way. Max was disappointed in him. Alec felt as if he'd let her down, but for the life of him he didn't see how he could have played it any differently. She was just going to have to forgive him, the way she'd forgiven him so many things in the past -- the way he'd forgiven her for that night with Lydecker.

Sex, lies, and videotape -- the story of my life, Alec thought ironically as he took the steps two at a time to the higher level where Max was waiting.

She greeted him with a little smile. "Don't worry," she said softly when he reached her. "Believe it or not, I still love you."

Alec brightened perceptibly. "Does that mean we can get naked later?" he asked hopefully.

"Shut up," Max hissed.

Zack had just moved up to her other side, his brow furrowed more than usual. Alec maneuvered beside him and said in a low voice, "We need to present a united front tonight, bro, like it or not."

The other X5 nodded. "I agree," he said. "We have to stick together on this. But I still say we should be an army."

"And I still say we need a legitimate way to make money as well."

Zack grinned and shook his head. "I'm a soldier, not a business man."

"I'm both," Alec shot back. "The two aren't mutually exclusive, ya know."

"We'll see what Max says," Zack replied easily, noting that TC's matriarch was raising her hands for silence, preparing to speak.

The shuffling crowd of mutants grew quiet, the murmur of their voices dying down.

"People!" Max said in a loud clear voice. "We've come to another crossroads in our lives. For awhile, we were on the right track, making progress in being accepted by the rest of the world. But lately things have gone backwards. We're stealing again, making enemies, putting ourselves in danger. It's time to stop and go back to an honest way of making money, or else we're no better than an outlaw clan."

"We are an outlaw clan!" someone shouted from the back of the cavernous garage.

"No, we're not!" Max shouted right back. "We're free citizens of the United States of America -- an ethnic group that deserves the same rights as any other person living in this country."

"Ethnic group?" Alec said under his breath. "That's rich, Max." He glanced at Zack and saw, rather to his surprise, that the big X5 was nodding in agreement with him.

"We're not an ethnic group," Zack said. "We're a whole new species."

"And therein lies the problem," Alec returned. "Like I said, they're scared of us." He glanced up at his brother. "But that still doesn't mean we can't make a profit off of 'em."

"Most of you already know that Alec is back with us," Max continued. She reached out and took hold of his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Back with me."

The crowd suddenly cheered, and Alec ducked his head in embarrassment.

"You also know that Zack," Max turned and looked at the other X5, "has been instrumental in helping us survive as a people this past summer."

Another cheer.

"Now, with our elected leader, Alec, home again, and the man who filled his place while he was gone still here as well, I say we're stronger than ever. Working together, we're going to get TC back on track as a legitimate organization. With Alec's help the mall will soon be up and running again, bringing in money. And with Zack we know we have someone to keep our defenses strong. Together, these two X5s will insure our survival."

Another huge cheer.

Both men were embarrassed now. "Gee, I feel like one half of a team of mules," Alec said in an aside to Zack. "In harness with Max wieldin' the whip." He pictured that a moment, then added, "Crap, my mind just went to a scary place with that analogy."

"I know what you mean," the blonde X5 replied as he shuffled his feet uneasily. "All that black leather she wears is bad enough."

The two men grinned slyly at one another, an odd camaraderie in place for a moment between them.

"You must be jealous as hell of me," Alec said, smiling for the crowd's benefit but speaking to Zack.

"I'd like nothing more than to break your neck," Zack returned, forcing a smile of his own and adding a small wave.

"That emotional woody you're been sportin' for Max all these years must be gettin' painful, bro. Too bad the better man won the girl."

"You're not the better men."

"We'll see 'bout that--"

"Guys!" Max hissed at them. "Shut up and pay attention! And try to look united, okay."

"You want us to hold hands?" Alec drawled. "Or should I give soldier-boy here a big kiss?"

"Closing your mouth and standing shoulder-to-shoulder would be a nice start," Max said, smiling and waving herself.

With a shrug, Alec stepped forward along with Zack, their leather-clad shoulders touching as they presented a united front for Max's sake. He figured Max was going to go on preaching about solidarity for at least another five minutes. Might as well do as he was told.

However, before Max could say anything else, there was a commotion in the back of the onlookers.

"We've got trouble!" Mole's voice shouted. He bent down to listen more to what an X6 was telling him, then he straightened and looked straight at Max. "There's been another killing. An X4, one of the mechanics, was just found down in the motor pool. He's been torn to pieces."

*****

The latest victim had been a guy named Vic. Alec remembered the X4 had once helped him with a carburetor problem on his Duke. Just like Kade, the body had been slashed severely and essentially drained of blood.

It was time to get serious, and find out who, or what, was killing their people.

Mole distributed the guns and they decided to search in teams of two -- preferably a transhuman and a transgenic -- starting at the four sides of Terminal City and working inward. Max would be with Joshua (the dog man insisted he was still her official body guard), and Mole with Alec. Zack took the command post, coordinating the effort and linking via discreet microphones to teams in what were considered the most dangerous areas.

Just before they left the media center, Zack pulled Alec aside and pointed to a video screen that was running footage from earlier that day, when Alec and Joshua had been outside the Halliwell lab.

"Something's been bothering me," Zack said.

Alec watched himself on the monitor, a slight scowl marring his handsome features. "You mean besides me bein' with Max."

"Yeah. Besides that." The big X5 indicated the screen. "There. When you guys came out of the lab you suddenly turned around. What were you looking at?"

Alec shrugged. "Nothin'," he said honestly. "I just thought I saw something behind me, out of the corner of my eye, but I was wrong."

"Could it have been one of us blurring?" Zack asked.

Running fingers back through his dark blonde hair, Alec shook his head. "Don't think so. We're fast -- but not that fast. I was just spooked."

"Maybe," Zack said. "Or maybe not."

"What are you gettin' at?"

"When I was a prisoner at Manticore last year," Zack said, "I saw some stuff I can still hardly believe."

He had Alec's attention. "Like what?"

"One of the next generation X series, a kid that couldn't talk, but he could communicate with others like himself via some sort of telepathy."

"Not telepathy," Alec said in a low voice, looking around to see if Max was within earshot. "Sonar. Like bats."

"Bats?" Zack's eyebrows went up.

"They're X7s. They've got bat DNA that gives them the ability to talk to one another using high frequency sound waves. Manticore used 'em to guard the perimeter fence. Oh, and get this. They've got hive minds. What one knows, they all know."

Zack was staring at him. "Sounds like science fiction to me," he snorted.

"Yeah, science fiction like how you and me with our feline DNA can move faster than a speeding bullet, leap tall buildings in a single bound, see in the dark, and hear five times better than humans."

"But bats?"

"We hated them," Alec said. "The regular Xs back at Manticore, even the nomalies. Just ask Joshua sometime. He called them whacked, and he's right. I had six of the little buggers chasin' me just yesterday..." Alec's words trailed off as a sudden thought occurred to him.

Zack's mind was in the same place. "The first killing happened last night," he said. "Right after you got back here."

"And Lydecker knows I came home to roost," Alec said quietly. "He left that little present for Max this morning."

"If they sent X7s after you ..." Zack looked at him. "But why are they slaughtering people like this?"

"Maybe they're hungry," Alec said darkly. "Rumor always had it those kids didn't eat normal food. They drank blood."

"But they'd have to be operating under orders, wouldn't they?" Zack asked.

Alec shrugged. "Maybe Lydecker's lost control of 'em. You know the old saying. 'How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paris?'"

Zack cocked the Glock 10mm he was holding in one hand. "You're never gonna quit with the farm boy jokes, are you?" he said.

"No," Alec said truthfully, checking the cartridges in his own short stock shotgun. "You know, for awhile we had an X7 or two here in TC, but they split when the siege ended. Of course no one knew anything about them 'cause they never said a word. I'm bettin' now that they hightailed it back to Lydecker, maybe answerin' some kind of sonar signal to regroup. They'd know our whole layout here."

"And now we may be dealing with an entire pack of the little buggers?"

"Thanks to me," Alec replied darkly.

"How they got here doesn't matter any more. You had no control over what Lydecker set loose to hunt you down. Although," he added a bit snidely, "if it had been me, I would have laid low a day or two to see if I was bein' tailed. Now, we just need to eliminate them."

"Easier said than done, bro," Alec replied sharply, bristling slightly because he knew darn well Zack was right. He shouldn't have made a beeline for Max thereby putting everyone in danger. Instead, he should have waited to see if there was pursuit. And of course the news just got better ..." And did I mention that, in addition to the hive mind thing, they're faster and stronger than an X5?" he added, shuddering slightly at the memory of the hollow-eyed creature in the woods snatching at his pant leg, its cold fingers brushing his skin before he broke free. "Even though they're not old enough to shave yet."

"They could be hiding anywhere," Zack commented, eying the many deserted buildings that surrounded the media center. He turned to his fellow X5. "You and Mole be careful," he said. "Chances are, they're programmed to be on the lookout for you in particular. And I doubt Lydecker wants you back alive this time. In fact," Zack started to take off his set of headphones, "it would make a lot more sense for you to stay here and let me go with Mole."

"I thought you said I wasn't soldier enough to command an operation," Alec reminded the older X5.

Zack looked him up and down. "I'd trust you," he said.

"Why?"

"Because Max trusts you, and because you've got too much at stake right now to screw up." He offered the headphones to Alec.

"No," Alec said, holding up a hand and turning down the offer, but strangely gratified that Zack had offered him the post. "This probably is my mess, so I ought to be the one to clean it up."

"Suit yourself," Zack said. "I just hope that come morning I'm not going to be telling Max her boyfriend got himself killed -- again."