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The sewers, Alec thought resignedly. Of course they were in the sewers. Where else would one look for a pack of psychotic Manticore vampires?

Alec and Mole sloshed through one of the main tunnels that ran beneath Terminal City, keeping their movement as quiet as possible and their voices low, looking for signs of the intruders.

"Sometimes I have to wonder why I spend so much of my life wadin' around in stinkin' tunnels," Alec said ruefully as he lifted one very wet, booted foot out of the waste that swirled around his ankles. Even though it was only late summer, the foul water was frigid and he was shivering. Mole, however, didn't seem to be bothered, in spite of his desert-specific breeding.

"Aren't you cold?" Alec asked, pulling his leather jacket tighter around himself and shooting the transhuman a disgusted look. Although he had higher-than-human core body temperature, the X5 had always hated both the wet and the cold -- his feline DNA influencing him he supposed.

Mole grinned around the cigar in his mouth and held open one side of his Ranger jacket. Lining the inside of the garment were several charged chemical thermo packs that would retain their heat for hours.

Alec shook his head at his friend's ingenious idea. Why hadn't he thought of that? "Well, I'm not all toasty here, big guy," he said. "So let's move things along so I can go home and have a nice long hot bath, preferably with a certain lady friend scrubbin' my back."

Mole's grin widened, but before he could say anything crude Zack's voice crackled from the discreet mic attached to the collar of Alec's grey leather jacket. "Team six, report."

"Team six in position," Alec spoke into the transceiver, his tone changing from bantering to professional in an instant. "We're beginning our search of Tunnel Eight now. Give us half an hour."

"Roger," Zack replied. "Half an hour. Out."

"Okay," Alec said with a big sigh, and another envious glance at his much warmer friend, "Let's get this over with."

The tunnel they were in ran directly beneath the motor pool where the X4's body had been found. Blood stains around the manhole opening in the garage floor had made it clear where the assailants had probably both gained access and retreated. Other teams were searching the basements and sewer lines throughout TC, but this certainly was most likely ground zero.

Alec and Mole had flashlights, but neither really needed them -- their night vision more than sufficient in the gloomy, but not pitch dark, tunnels -- so they kept them off. As for weaponry, Mole had a full bore shotgun in his hand, and a Browning semi-automatic tucked in his belt. Alec was carrying a smaller gauge shotgun, and a Glock 9mm in the waistband of his jeans.

"So," Mole said, talking around his cigar stub, "you think we're dealing with X7s?"

"I'd bet on it," Alec replied, his cat eyes scanning the openings to several side tunnels up ahead. Too many places to hide down here, he thought. Too much chance of an ambush. He didn't like it.

"X7s are whacked," Mole said, echoing Joshua's sentiments about their weird second generation relatives.

"You ever hear rumors back at Manticore about them drinkin' human blood?" Alec asked.

"Yeah," Mole said quietly. "Only they weren't rumors. I once saw one of the little bloodsuckers chow down on a mule that broke ranks and made a run for it out in field training. You know, one of the little ditch diggers like Luke. The handlers sicked X7s on the poor kid, and when they caught him it wasn't a pretty sight. Talk about blood everywhere ... They said it was a lesson for us all to learn from -- what would happen if we tried to bolt."

Lydecker had six of them chasin' me the other day," Alec admitted. "Goes to reason he sent them to the big city to continue the pursuit." He looked at the lizard man. "But why kill Kade and Vic if they're after me?"

Mole shrugged. "The critters hafta eat, don't they?"

"It's me they want," Alec said, a wave of guilt passing over him even though he told himself this wasn't really his fault.

"And they're not gonna stop until they complete their mission," Mole replied, doing nothing to ease the X5's conscience. "It's how they're wired -- worse than you X5s -- never give up until the objective is achieved."

"Lydecker's bound to have given them orders to kill me," Alec said quietly. "It won't be a capture scenario."

"Meaning," Mole said, "you can't even give yourself up, 'least not to the X7s. They'll terminate on sight."

Alec had become a lot more altruistic over the past year, due in part to Max's influence, and also because, for the first time in his life, he had a family to protect. But he hadn't reached the point of sacrificing his life for the good of the masses yet. Glancing sideways at Mole, he said in a low voice, "Don't go gettin' ideas about feedin' me to the wolves to save your own skin."

"Wouldn't dream of it, sweet cheeks," the lizard man replied calmly.

Alec swallowed hard. Mole was difficult to read sometimes, not that he thought his friend would ever really betray him like that but--

Mole's arm suddenly shot out, blocking the X5's way and breaking his train of thought.

"What--?"

"Shhh," the lizard man hissed. Using Manticore hand signals, he told Alec to listen.

Cocking his head slightly, the young transgenic concentrated, and then he heard it too, the sound of something scrabbling on the cement up ahead and to the right. Moving forward swiftly, he and Mole peered cautiously down a smaller tunnel that was a bit darker than the one they were currently traversing.

Mole pointed, a question in his reptilian eyes.

In reply, Alec hefted his shotgun and nodded. Then together the two crept into the side passage.

They'd gone perhaps a hundred yards, seeing nothing, checking each shadowed alcove as they passed, the water beneath their feet deepening with every step until they were slogging through near knee deep filth. Alec's feet were totally numb with cold now, his teeth chattering, and he wasn't at all certain where they were with regards to TC overhead -- perhaps near the west perimeter? He was about ready to suggest they surface and get their bearings, maybe check back in with Zack, when his eyes caught a flash of movement to the right.

"Mole!" he got out. But the rest of his words were cut off when something heavy landed on his back.

"Damn it!" the lizard man roared. Alec caught a glimpse of his friend whirling and splashing with what appeared to be two X7s on top of him, just before he, himself, went down in the water, his head held beneath the surface by small, but frighteningly strong hands. Struggling, Alec nevertheless remained calm. He could hold his breath easily for several minutes of necessary. He wasn't going to drown. Being strangled, however, was another matter.

Grabbing hold of the choking hands around his neck, he peeled the fingers partway back and ducked beneath his attacker's arm to twist and come up on the other side. Now, he was facing his foe. Hauling the lighter weight X7 to its feet along with him, Alec assumed a fighting stance and let loose with a vicious kick that caught the creature in the groin. The bat kids might be mute, but they were hardly immune to pain. Its black eyes bulging, the X7 let go of him, doubled over, and clutched itself.

Alec had dropped his shotgun in the water, but the Glock was still tucked in his jeans. Drawing the gun, he leveled it at the boy and, without a qualm, pulled the trigger, blowing the kids brains all over the sewer wall. Then he whirled and looked for Mole. What he saw sent a chill through his body that had nothing to do with the icy water swirling around his knees and soaking his clothes. The big lizard man was down, either unconscious or dead, lying with his face in the water and two X7s perched on his back. Alec leveled the Glock and squeezed the trigger again, but the shot went wild as his feet were suddenly yanked out from under him.

Once again, Alec found himself flailing in the filthy water, the X7 this time latched to his throat, its teeth bared and flashing white in the dim light. Never let yourself be down for more than five seconds. That cardinal rule of martial arts fighting resounded in Alec's head as he once more grabbed cruel little fingers and pried them away from his neck. A blow of his hand to the X7s ear made the creature snort with pain. He followed up with an elbow at a pressure point in the kid's arm, and another shot at his obviously sensitive ear. That did it. The X7 reared back, letting him go as it clasped its head with both hands.

Alec was back on his feet instantly. He reached for his gun, and his gut clenched. It was gone. Shit!

"Mole!" he shouted. But his friend wasn't moving. The X7 Alec had just fought off was staring straight ahead, but not at him. Turning quickly, the X5 saw the one he'd been going to shoot, along with three more in the tunnel ahead, the five of them obviously communicating. His neck hurt. Reaching up, he touched the skin and his fingers came away red with his own blood.

As if connected to a puppet master's strings, the X7s suddenly looked at him and smiled in unison -- one of the creepiest sights Alec had ever seen in his life.

"Mole!" Alec screamed. He thought he saw the lizard man move an arm, but the X7s were slowly advancing, surrounding him. Without a gun, and five against one -- bad odds. It was sheer luck he wasn't dead already. Hating to abandon Mole, but also hoping he could at least get the X7s away from the injured transhuman, Alec did the only thing his Manticore training allowed -- he fell back. Or rather -- he ran.

Bowling the single X7 over who barred his way, Alec charged back up the tunnel toward the main passageway.

Faster, stronger, and with hive minds ... Alec knew he didn't have a chance unarmed and on his own, not unless he could reach the surface. But then suddenly he remembered the transceiver. "Zack!" he yelled into the mic. "I could use some help down here!"

Nothing. Not even static. He wondered if it had been broken when he fell, or else ruined by the water. Shit!

Sliding around a corner with a huge splash, Alec saw the tunnel was widening and he hoped that meant he was near the Oak Street exit he'd memorized on the map. But then he saw something up ahead -- and he knew he was dead.

An iron grid barred his way, blocking the tunnel from ceiling to floor. Ironically, it was a barrier he'd suggested Luke put in place last spring -- a way to keep ordinaries from sneaking through the sewers into TC. Apparently Zack had implemented the plan. So much for knowing the layout of his battleground, Alec chided himself. Maybe Zack was right. He really wasn't that good of a soldier.

However, the merits of his soldierhood were hardly going to matter in a few seconds. The four X7s were on top of him and his back was, quite literally, to the wall.

Alec, his body pressed against the iron bars, fought the urge to close his eyes as the still-smiling X7s slowly advanced on him. Fighting panic, the shivering, dripping wet X5 braced himself, determined to go down fighting.

The lead X7 launched itself through the air at him, and he coiled a fist to strike -- only to have the bat kid jerk simultaneous with the sound of a gun shot and fall dead into the water at his feet. Astonished, Alec looked up just in time to see the remaining four X7s melt into the darkness of another side tunnel as the sound of voices and the glow of lights approached.

*****

"To the rescue," Alec muttered under his breath as he spotted Zack, Max, and Joshua slogging through the sewer water toward him. Max looked pale as a ghost, Zack was scowling, and Joshua's eyes were pinched with worry.

"Someone could have updated me on the improved defenses," Alec said dryly as they neared, slapping a hand against the iron bars at his back. And then he remembered Mole.

"The other tunnel," he said, his voice clipped, pointing back the way they'd come. "Mole's down."

"He's being taken care of," Zack said, his tone reassuringly brusque.

"He's all right?" Alec asked, even as he put an arm around Max who seemed to be shaking as much as he was.

"Mole's tough," Joshua said, nodding his leonine head knowingly. "He's arguing with the medics."

Alec breathed a sigh of relief that his friend wasn't too seriously injured. Bad enough two other people had already died because he'd been stupid enough to lead a pack of X7s back to TC.

"At least we got two of them," Zack said, pointing his gun at the dead X7 lying partially submerged in the water.

Alec toed the creature with his boot.

"Are you all right?" Max said low in his ear.

"I'm fine," he said, distracted by another thought. "There's still four of 'em out there though," he said to Zack. "They're not gonna stop comin'. They don't scare off."

"Won't they report back to Lydecker first?" Zack asked.

Alec looked to Joshua who was shaking his shaggy head. "X7s only return to their handlers when the mission is accomplished," the dog man said.

"Joshua's right," Alec said quietly. "And they haven't accomplished their so-called mission yet, namely killin' me. They'll be back."

"Why didn't they just shoot you?" Max asked, nodding at the gun still holstered on the dead X7's waist.

"I was wonderin' that myself," Alec said truthfully.

"Because they're still hungry," Joshua said, sniffing the air and making a face. "They want live meat, not dead. And they enjoy killing with their hands."

"That's just plain stupid," Zack snorted. "Why would Manticore set a pack of assassins after 494 and not order them to make short work of their objective? Shooting would be the quickest way to eliminate the target. Why let them fool around with all this vampire shit?"

"Because they're hungry," Joshua repeated patiently.

"Meaning," Alec said, "Lydecker's not really in control of these critters. They've still got a mission objective, but they're bein' creative, not to mention messy. They want to kill, but they also want to feed. Left on on their own here in TC with no handlers to control 'em must be like lettin' kids loose in Disney Land. We're nothin' but Happy Meals to them. Plus," he added, remembering those eerie smiles, "I kinda got the impression they're havin' fun."

"This has to stop," Max said quietly.

"Agreed," Zack said with a pointed look at Alec.

"Agreed," Alec said. His eyes locked with the older X5's. "And I think I might have a plan."

Just then Zack's radio crackled, and Dix's voice came over the line. "We've got more trouble, guys," the monocled mutant said. They could hear someone crying in the background. "Gem's here. Those X7s you've been chasing swarmed out of the sewer right next to the coffee shop a few minutes ago. They took Eve, guys! They took the baby!"

Max grabbed the radio from Zack."What do you mean they took her?" she shouted.

"They snatched her from the front of the store," Dix said. "Just scooped the kid up in their arms and jumped back into the sewer."

"That's almost half a mile from here," Zack said darkly. "Damn, they travel fast. We chased them off, what, five minutes ago?"

"Faster and stronger," Alec said. "According to Lydecker at least. Maybe smarter too." Once more his eyes locked with Zack's, the thought of what those X7s had probably already done to the toddler making him feel sick on his stomach. He saw the other X5 was feeling the same way, and Max was starting to cry.

"We've got to move now," Zack said, his voice husky.

Alec swiped tears out of his own eyes and sniffed. "Alert the other teams and tell them what happened," he said hoarsely, moving back up the tunnel. "Give me an hour. I need to get somethin'."

Zack's hand on Alec's arm brought him up abruptly. "Where are you going?"

"Like I said, I've got a plan. But I need to get some supplies."

"What plan?"

"You'll see."

"This isn't a solo mission, soldier."

"Yes," Alec said coldly. "I think it is. It's me those things want."

Max was looking worriedly from one man to the other. Rounding on Alec she said, "What are you talking about? You're not going to sacrifice yourself. We'll track them down and kill them. Afterall, there are hundreds of us and only four of them."

"Don't worry," Alec said with a very forced smile. "I'm not exactly a selfless kind of guy. You ought to know that by now, Maxie. But, like it or not, I do need to be the bait. And I think I've got a sure fire way of takin' down those suckers without them hurtin' anyone else."

Max looked into his eyes for a long moment, as if searching for something. And then she nodded. "I trust you," she said. "But not alone." Her hand moved to Zack's arm. "Go with him," she said. "Make sure the big jerk doesn't screw things up and get himself killed." She looked back at Joshua. "In the meantime, we'll do what we can to find out where they went with Eve. Let us know by radio what you need us to do."

Zack nodded, acquiescing to Max's decision, and, for a change, it was Alec who's brows drew together in a scowl.

"Max, I really should do this alone. I don't need a--"

"Don't argue with me!" Max snapped. Her eyes began filling with tears again. "Just ... go. Do what you have to do, and come back to me."

Alec realized how hard it was for Max to let him do this -- what could, in spite of his denial, truly be a suicide mission. "Don't worry," he said, his voice low and rough as he took her in his arms. "I'll be fine."

And then he kissed her, and told himself it wasn't for the last time.