DISCLAIMER: All DARK ANGEL characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and DARK ANGEL itself belongs to FOX.

ARCHIVE: No

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

Two weeks later ...

He eased the door open quietly, his lock pick having proved its worth once again. Standing on the other side of the decrepit hotel room -- dressed in a blue hooded sweater and jeans with arms crossed over her chest -- she was shivering and looking out the window at the evening's cold rain, the sound of his entrance masked to her un-enhanced human ears by the pelting drops as they drummed on the tin roof overhead.

"Hey, Asha," he said softly.

She whirled at the sound of her name, and he flashed a fiendish smile.

"Alec!" she breathed, backing up two steps until she bumped into the window sill. Blonde brows drew down in consternation. "How did you find me?"

Glancing back over his shoulder to the green Duke parked on the asphalt just down the way, the X5 shrugged. "Does it matter?" he said easily. "Although, I've got to admit, you ran pretty far, led me a merry chase so to speak. Canada was never your favorite place to go, was it? Yet, here you are, way up in the frozen north, freezin' your pretty little ass off."

She dropped arms to her sides, standing easily, chin high ... defiant now that she was cornered. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with," she said coldly. "And if you're going to rape me first, get that over with too."

Alec made a small sound in the back of his throat and shook his head in amusement. "I wouldn't have to rape you little girl, and you know it," he said quietly, hazel-green eyes narrowing. "But unfortunately for you, let's just say I'm not in the mood to fuck with a traitor tonight."

"You're an arrogant ass," she spat. "You always were. So, just break my neck or strangle me or whatever method you X5 assassins use and get it the hell over with!"

"You knew I'd get away and track you down, didn't you?" Alec said almost gently, at the same time flexing his fingers at his sides and watching her closely.

Asha glanced toward the battered nightstand and its partially open drawer.

"Go ahead," Alec said. "Try for the gun." He smirked again. "I'll even give you a head start. Want me to turn around? If you're fast enough you could shoot me in the back. Isn't that your style?"

"You know," she said bitterly, her brown eyes watching him dully. "You talk way too much for a trained killer."

"A flaw that's been pointed out to me before," Alec agreed, nodding slightly. Then he shrugged. "But I'm afraid high verbal came with my DNA package."

"Did Max send you?" Asha asked.

"Nobody sent me."

"How did you escape from New Manticore?" she asked as she glanced once more toward the night stand. "Lydecker promised me you'd never get away."

Alec's smile was almost genuine this time. "The Colonel learned a little lesson from me I'm afraid," he said.

"What's that?"

The X5's voice dropped an octave to a low growl even as his eyes glowed green in the gloom. "Never create what you can't control."

Now it was her turn to smirk. "You always did like to quote bad TV shows," she said. "Got one of those that apply to me?"

Alec frowned slightly as he gave that some thought. Then he pinned her with his eyes once again. "Yeah," he said, his voice still dangerously low. "Never wound what you can't kill."

He almost let her get to the gun ... almost. And then X5-494 did what had to be done ... quickly, effeciently, silently ... what he knew Max and Logan would never have been able to ...

Afterwards he quietly closed the hotel door, mounted his bike, and continued on his way north in the cold freezing rain -- alone.

*****

"Do you think he'll be all right?" Max asked Logan as she snuggled against him in their bed. "Or that we'll ever see him again?"

Her lover looked out the window at the rain that was beginning to turn to snow. "Alec's a big boy, Max. He can take care of himself. And it really was best for all of us that he went away. Who knows? He might find someone for himself out there ... find happiness."

"Someone else his equal?" Max whispered in the dark, biting her lip as tears welled in her eyes at the thought of never seeing her Smart Alec again.

"At least," Logan said softly. "Or who knows? Maybe even someone better."