Artwork courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

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

ARCHIVE: No

This is a stand-alone story in my DARK ALEC series. These stories are my version of Season 4, and incorporate elements not only of the television show DARK ANGEL, but of the novels SKIN GAME and AFTER THE DARK, the book THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER, and information revealed in various cast/writer/producer interviews, chats, and commentaries. The core plot for this particular adventure was inspired by a 1999 LA FEMME NIKITA episode titled "Threshold of Pain" that I've adapted as a Max/Alec adventure for the DARK ANGEL universe. -- author's note

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

*****

"How much does it pay?" Alec asked.

"Fifty grand," Max said, apparently not in the least bit surprised that had been his first question. She's startin' to know me pretty well, Alec thought. But then again, engaging in rabid sex with someone on a frequent basis had a tendency to make that kind of intimacy inevitable, not to mention the small fact that, in spite of both of them denying it vehemently, they were in love with each other (and had been for weeks -- ever since Max had gotten over Logan).

But this was business ... not pleasure.

Booted feet propped up on his desk and a ledger book tallying the Terminal City Art Mall's daily receipts in his lap, the X5 entrepreneur regarded Max coolly. With a lock of dark blond hair hanging boyishly in those keen hazel-green eyes, and wearing his typical Levis, t-shirt/sweater, jeans jacket combo, the handsome young transgenic, as usual, looked very much at home not just in the business office, but in his own skin. Alec truly was in his element when it came to money and deal-making, so much so that it was sometimes easy to forget what he really was -- a highly trained, genetically engineered killing machine.

"I pick my own team?" Alec said.

"Within reason," Max agreed. "And with my approval."

"How soon do we have to go out?"

"Soon. There's a time table. Your target is fairly mobile, but we know where they'll be for the next three days."

"I need to finalize a deal with Rita for two more of Joshua's paintings," Alec said, thinking ahead to his schedule for the next week. "And Mole wants me to try and broker that big new sand thingamajig of his to a private buyer. Beats me what it is," he added, scratching his head in honest puzzlement, "but scale face seems to think it's worth big bucks."

"Finish up Joshua's deal," Max said curtly. "Rita knows you and she won't stall. Mole can wait. You'll only be out for a day ... two at the most."

"Where?" Alec asked.

"Lyon, France."

Alec bit down on his lower lip. He had only one more question. "You want me to do this, Max?" Eyebrows slightly raised, he waited for her answer.

"Not really," she said with a shake of her dark maned head. "But that doesn't matter. If we're going to make this deal with Lydecker work, we have to show him we're capable of the assignments and worth the money."

"Which means," Alec clarified, "Don't screw up."

"Exactly."

Alec sighed. "Show me the panel," he said, bringing his feet down to the floor with a thump, and holding out a hand for the PDA he knew would have the stored information.

Max reached back and locked the office door so they wouldn't be disturbed, then came around behind the desk where she put one hand on her lover's warm shoulder, and with the other thumbed on the display so they could both see the data.

Alec's eyes rapidly scanned the material, reading with transgenic speed. The geneticists hadn't given him a complete photographic memory, but he had a damn good eidetic one (not to mention a 193 I.Q.), plus an uncanny ability to learn procedures in a fraction of the time it would take a human. He finished before Max did, and rocked back in his swivel chair to look up at the freshly painted celery green ceiling as he pondered just how to approach this mission.

"Two marks," Max said. "Nicholas and Caroline Musachio, an incestuous brother/sister team with extremely odd habits." She was studying the photographs: Nicholas, a young man with punk-gelled blond hair, numerous piercings, and cold blue eyes; and Caroline, a woman in her early twenties with short brunette hair and the make-up, jewelry, and black clothing of a Goth queen.

"As in they greatly enjoy torturin' people," Alec quipped lightly. "Not your run-of-the-mill hobby." He looked Max straight in the eye. "They're brokerin' information to the South African Reds and the Chinese ... information about us ... Manticore ... the X5s ... actin' as a third party and makin' a fortune doin' it." He smiled wryly and shook his head in mock admiration. "Say what you want about that pair, Max, but you gotta give 'em high marks for their business sense. They saw a market opportunity, and they took it and ran."

"Foreign countries want our biosynthetic technology," Max said. "Our DNA. But we've always known that. What's surprising is that two 'ordinaries' have apparently been so successful at piercing Manticore's veil of secrecy."

"How embarrassing," Alec commented. "No wonder 'Deck wants their asses fried."

"They're a danger to us, Alec," Max said sharply. "This is serious. They're torturing and killing innocent people."

But he already knew that. "Just kidding, Max. But still--"

"Shut up," she snapped. "Can you do the job or not?"

"I can do it," Alec said, a bit miffed at her snippiness. You're gonna pay for that tonight, Maxie, he thought with a silent smile, knowing full well how Max's tough chick, sadomasochistic facade toward him vanished when they were naked in each other's arms. I'm gonna make you beg for it lover. I'm gonna make you beg for it hard! But then, of course, she knew how to make him beg for it too ...

"So, it's a go then?" Max said.

Alec got his train of thought back on track. "Yeah," he said with a nod. "Tell 'Deck to get things set up. I'll take two of the X6s with me and we'll have the job done by Thursday." He gave Max a sly wink. "That way I'll be back in plenty of time to touch base with Rita for Joshua's one-man show at the Seattle Arts Center this weekend. Then there's the city council meeting ... but that's not until Monday night. Wouldn't dare miss my chance to once again propose that Terminal City be put on the city's main power grid, futile as the request may be."

But she wasn't quite buying his levity. "Just, be careful with this one, Alec. I'll be coordinating things on site from Manticore's end, and you'll have back-up with regular soldiers, but remember that you'll be held accountable if the mission goes south."

"You worry too much," he said gently. Then he noted the time. "Wanna go get some dinner?" he asked, standing up and stretching to get the kinks out of his muscles. "Then you can help me pick out a couple of our most promising X6 assassins-to-be."

"Yes, I'll have dinner with you," Max said rather primly. "And yes, I'll help you pick out your team." Then she smiled coyly. "But just know, pretty boy, that you're gonna pay for my valuable insight and assistance later on tonight."

"Promises, promises," Alec smirked as, gentleman that he was, he let her precede him out the door.

*****

Bullet (X6-787) Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

X6-787 (aka "Bullet") and X6-803 (aka "Ralph") weren't ideal choices for the Lyon, France mission, but they were the best Alec could come up with on such short notice. All of the Terminal City X5s were either out on other missions, or else, like Gem who ran the TC Artworks Coffee Shop, not interested in serving New Manticore. As for the 20 odd X6s who lived in the compound, Mole and Alec had started a military training program for them several months ago, but they were hardly battle-tested soldiers. Still, they were better than nothing ... and far better than "ordinary."

Bullet and Ralph were actually fairly new arrivals to TC. Part of the group of youngsters who'd escaped Manticore's destruction a year and a half ago, Logan had helped them cross the Canadian border to safety in October, 2020. Max, at the time, had promised the kids she'd see them again -- and it had turned out to be true. Upon hearing about the transgenics' success story in Seattle, the two X6s -- who were obviously a couple -- had come seeking their family shortly after New Years 2022.

Their brethren had been more than glad to have them, and -- against Max's better judgment -- Lydecker had been more than glad to put them to work for New Manticore.

"Why Bullet and Ralph?" Max asked Alec as they were picking up their equipment the next day at the main Manticore base in North Dakota prior to departing for France on a government private jet.

Alec shrugged black clad shoulders as he checked the sites of the gun he'd chosen. "They're a little high," he complained to the arms master.

Ralph (X6-803) Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"Live with it," the churlish Manticore officer said.

"'Cause Bullet's all right," Alec said offhandedly. "I pretty much trust him. And Ralph will do anything her boyfriend says." He smirked. "But then you, of all people, know how that goes. Love is a many splendored thing, as they say."

The X5 didn't know it, but in his tight fitting black commando outfit he looked obscenely sexy -- at least to Max. In fact, she was having a hard time concentrating on the mission at the moment, memories of the night before with the alpha X5 still making certain parts of her body tingle. It amazed her sometimes how Alec could do that to her, not to mention how her obsession with Logan Cale had blinded her to her "brother's" many charms for over a year.

"Pretty much trust him?" Max said, ignoring the dig.

"Well, it's not like I can take Mole with me, is it?" Alec shot back. "The lizard guy might be the best wing man I've ever had, but he's also part of the mutant parade. Seattle accepts him, barely. But France? Whole other story, Max. This mission's supposed to be low profile, and we don't need tales about a monster sighting doggin' our heels."

"I'd still feel a lot more comfortable if you had Mole and Joshua with you instead of two green X6s," Max said.

"Can't be helped," Alec replied easily. He checked the clip on the Glock 65 he'd been complaining about. At least they had access to the best weaponry and technology, Max thought -- small consolation as that was. Then Alec got serious. "Look, Max. It's a simple job. You coordinate from the van and maintain back-up just in case. The three of us go into the building, take out the ordinary guards, dust Nicholas and Caroline, and come home. Piece of cake."

"I don't like it," Max said.

Alec shook his head. "It's not rocket science, Max. The kids can take care of the guards and I'll do the main job myself." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Remember White's camp? Bullet and Ralph killed a bunch of the bad guys that night to help me get you free. They can do it."

"But they're just kids!"

"They're soldiers, Max! Just like you and me."

"But the X6s aren't like us, Alec," Max protested. "They don't have our ... you know ..."

"Stubborn natures and cussed streaks of independence, as Lydecker likes to put it," Alec said with a happy grin, as if he was proud of those supposed shortcomings in his series (and he was). "Yeah, yeah, it was supposedly bred out of 'em. But they're still physically and mentally capable of the task. All they need is a good leader, and that's what I'm there for -- to play 'Daddy'."

"Just ... be careful," she said.

"Always," Alec replied as he pushed the clip home in his Glock with a decisive snap that Max had a feeling felt almost as satisfying to his soldier hands as her supple naked body had last night.

*****

X5-494 slept in the seat next to Max for most of the flight to France, taking advantage of the hours of quiet to charge his body for action while his partner (and, at the moment, superior officer) simply stared out the window.

Unlike her own night warfare genetically optimized body, Max knew his needed regular sleep to function properly. Although Alec was part cat, just like herself -- and had identical superior eyesight, senses, strength, agility, speed, immunities, and healing abilities -- the two of them nevertheless differed somewhat in their genetic "gifts" and had learned long ago to both take advantage of the fact as well as compensate.

Taking her eyes off of Alec -- and the way he looked rather like an adorable little boy when he slept -- Max checked out the other two members of their team.

Ralph -- her blonde pony-tail, athletic build, and perky attitude more reminiscent of a cheerleader than a soldier -- was also napping, her head nestled against Bullet's shoulder as the older boy kept watch in a seat across the aisle. X6-787 had matured quite a bit in the year and a half since Manticore went down, Max thought, including sprouting a scruffy crop of brown chin hair that he was trying to call a beard. But the kid was still very, very green and would need to be watched closely.

The "ordinary" Manticore soldiers were seated toward the front of the plane and the X5 couldn't see what they were doing. However, she supposed it didn't really matter so long as her people were in hand. With a sigh, Max settled back in the seat and tried to close her eyes, certain that -- rested or not -- when the small group of transgenics arrived in Lyon 12 hours later, all would be mission ready.

*****

Max was running the operation from her control station in the black nondescript van thatwas parked one block away from the target building, a run-down house on a back street of Lyon where Nicholas and Caroline Musachio were confirmed to be staying. The back-up team of six human commandos had taken up positions across the street making an air-tight perimeter that should prevent any of the quarry from escaping, just in case the transgenic team didn't make a clean sweep of the hit.

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec and his two X6 subordinates would soon be going directly into the house, taking down hostiles as they went -- Ralph entering through a second-floor window via the fire escape; Bullet through a first floor side door; and Alec using the main entrance.

Watching from an adjacent alley, Alec gave the signal and Ralph darted across the street to stealthily creep up the metal stairs attached to the outside of the building. Glancing over at Bullet, the X5 saw that the kid was also poised to go on command. However, Ralph was halfway to the second floor window, and Alec was about to signal the go-ahead to 787, when suddenly a piece of the handrail on the fire escape came loose and fell with an obscenely loud clatter down the iron steps to the ground below.

"Shit!" Alec spat, knowing what was going to happen and bringing his gun to bear. So much for transgenic stealth, he thought sarcastically. This was gonna look like hell in the mission report.

Ralph, her blonde pony-tail bobbing in the last rays of the evening sun, looked down in horror -- a fatal mistake. She didn't see the snout of the gun poke out of the second floor window.

But Alec did. He squeezed off two shots, both of which went high, nicking the top of the window frame.

And then the enemy opened fire.

Ralph screamed as the first bullet tore into her body and she fell backwards down the stairs, her foot catching in the railing the only thing preventing her from hitting the concrete below.

"Ralph!" Bullet shouted from behind Alec, and before the X5 could catch hold of him X6-787 was running across the street to rescue the girl he loved.

"Soldier!" Alec roared, talking into the transceiver positioned behind his ear that kept him in touch with not just his team, but with Max in the van as well.

"Alec," Max said calmly in his ear. "What's happening? I hear gunfire."

"We've been made," Alec said grimly.

"Should we abort?" she asked.

"No. I'm goin' in."

The gunman in the upstairs window was shooting at Bullet now, but missed his mark when the X6 blurred. The boy reached his girlfriend and was bent over her body trying to help her when suddenly a second man emerged from the house's side door.

"Behind you!" Alec screamed at the kid, at the same time taking aim. But a barrage of bullets in his direction from the upstairs window pushed the X5 back into the alley. When he looked again, it was just in time to see the enemy soldier hitting the still-unawares Bullet on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol knocking the boy out.

Alec knew he couldn't wait any longer.

"Abort!" Max was hollering in his ear. "Alec, abort!"

But X5-494 had no intention of abandoning his team. Blurring out from his cover into the middle of the street, oblivious to his own safety, Alec took careful aim on the man who was bent over Bullet and Ralph. However, the roar of a car engine stayed his shot. Head whipping around, Alec's eyes widened with horror at the sight of a large black car bearing down on him, only yards away. With superhuman strength, the X5 leaped into the air, but he wasn't quite quick enough. The car smashed into 494, his body hitting the windshield, shattering the glass, then rolling off the hood to land heavily on the pavement.

Unconscious, Alec never felt the brutal hands that dragged him into the vehicle before it sped away.

*****

In the van, her features drawn in a haggard frown, Max listened to Lydecker on the com line.

"What are our orders, mam?" the ordinary soldier, leader of the back-up squad, asked her.

"Protocol dictates we write the team off as a loss and return home," Max said quietly. "A clean-up crew will be dispatched later to either liberate or destroy any X series soldiers who may have been captured." Not only Alec, but also Bullet and Ralph had been snatched by Nicholas and Caroline's men -- although whether her fellow transgenics were prisoners or just bodies she had no idea.

"So, we're going to retreat?" the soldier asked, seeking clarification.

"No," Max said, taking a deep shaky breath. "We're going to rescue our people."

"But protocol--" the soldier argued.

"Fuck protocol!" Max swore, her fierce eyes brooking no arguments. "We're completing this mission!" But silently, to herself, the real reason screamed in her mind -- I can't just abandon the man I love!

"Yes, mam."

*****

Nicholas Musachio

Nicholas Musachio grinned with evil glee as he contemplated his two X6 captives where they hung shackled against the cement wall. "Where shall I begin," he said, opening the Haliburton case that contained a wide assortment of medical instruments, knives, and tools -- a torturer's kit.

Bullet's eyes widened with fear at the sight, but true to his training he remained stoically silent -- until Ralph, who was chained to his left, began to softly cry. Her young body pierced by two bullets, the girl was in great pain, but she got no sympathy from her captor.

Nicholas noticed the X6's furtive glance at his team mate. "What?" the man said. "You're worried about her?" He chose a small knife and held the blade up to gleam in the faint light of the basement room. "Does she mean something to you, perhaps?" he asked. Standing up, he moved to in front of Ralph, and with utter coldness shoved the knife into the X6's left breast.

She screamed.

So did Bullet. "Stop!" he cried. "Please, don't hurt her!"

Nicholas smiled broadly again. "So," he said, his European accented voice dripping with pleasure. "She's your lover."

"No!" Bullet shouted. "No, she's not!"

Nicholas stabbed Ralph again, and the young girl moaned with pain as blood further stained the front of her dark commando uniform. Then he reached up and ripped open her shirt, exposing the hideous wounds he'd just inflicted.

"Where are Manticore's main headquarters?" he asked, speaking to Bullet since Ralph was now only semi-conscious. "What are their defenses? How many X series soldiers are on the premises? What is the status of their breeding program?"

It was all information the terrorist could broker to foreign nations competing for supersoldier technology. Between that and the DNA of his captives he and his sister would soon be very rich people.

Bullet clamped his teeth tightly together and shook his head no.

And Nicholas stabbed Ralph a third time. Already weakened by her bullet wounds, the girl moaned and sagged in her shackles.

"Please!" Bullet begged. "Please don't hurt her any more!"

"Then answer my questions," Nicholas said simply.

"I can't!" Bullet wailed. "They'll kill me if I do!"

"And I'll kill her if you don't," the terrorist said. "And not in a very pleasant way." He put the knife blade to Ralph's forehead. "She has such a pretty face," Nicholas said, his voice disconcertingly pleasant, as if he was discussing the weather. "I wonder if her transgenic healing abilities can grow her a new one after I peel it off." He pressed down on the blade.

Ralph's screams were inhuman in their intensity, like the cries of an animal in agony -- which, in a way, is what she was. Slowly, inch-by-inch horrible inch, Nicholas began to tear flesh from bone as Ralph's cries turned into gurgles of unimaginable pain.

"All right!" Bullet shouted. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you anything you want to know! The base is in North Dakota, just outside a town called Devil's Lake near the James River. There are about two dozen X5s who live on the base all the time, and maybe a dozen X6s. The rest are in Terminal City in Seattle. X7s patrol the perimeter of the Dakota base, and there's a TAC II level alarm system plus a 12-foot high chain link fence and regular soldiers and guard dogs. The breeding program is progressing slowly, but they've had half a dozen successes -- new generation X5s and X6s both. The babies -- the ones who've been removed from the natural mothers -- are kept in Building D within the compound, right next to the new genetics laboratory facilities."

"Excellent," Nicholas said, wiping the bloody knife blade on his pant leg. He smiled at Bullet. "Just ... excellent." Then he turned his eyes to a metal door that led to an adjacent basement room. "And if my 'butchery' has yielded such useful results, I can only wonder how my sister's much more artistic approach is working on your commanding officer."

*****

Caroline Musachio

When Alec opened his eyes, he knew right away that he had at least three broken ribs, a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and -- judging by the pain when he tried to breathe -- probably a punctured lung. He also had a suspicion from the the way he was splayed spread eagle on a table with wrists and ankles restrained in metal cuffs that he was not only in enemy hands, but in one hell of a lot of trouble.

And, of course, his com link was gone ...

"I'd heard the X5s were created beautiful," Caroline said from where she stood looking down at him from the end of the table, "but I had no idea one of their soldiers could be so sexy. You and I are going to have a great deal of fun together, X5-494 ... or can I call you Alec?"

From somewhere nearby, in an adjoining room perhaps, the X5 heard screams of pure agony. Ralph? Bullet? But he knew he couldn't help them -- at least not until he helped himself.

"You can call me anything you want, sweetheart," Alec said, forcing his voice to remain nonchalant ... calm. "But if you'd like us to get better acquainted, couldn't we skip the sadomasochistic routine?" He tugged on the wrist restraint with his right hand, testing it ... finding it immovable. "Bondage isn't exactly my thing," he added with a wink. "But that doesn't mean I can't show a girl a good time."

With a leap that would almost have done an X5 justice Caroline was suddenly up on the table, on top of him, her thighs squeezing his hips tightly as she straddled his groin, grinding suggestively down on Alec's privates, hurting him through the tight black leather of his commando uniform. The X5 swallowed hard, but managed to keep his face impassive. "Hello," he said softly, looking without fear into that pair of psychotic blue eyes hovering above him.

"Hello," Caroline purred.

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

And then Alec saw what she had in her hands. He barely had time to brace himself before she touched the tips of the battery cables to the sides of his neck, delivering an electric jolt to his body the equivalent of the worst shock prod punishment he'd ever endured.

Alec couldn't help it. He screamed.

And then Caroline's fingers were fisted viciously in his hair. Her pale white face and ruby red lips less than two inches from his, maniacal eyes held the X5 mesmerized like a snake. "We're going to have a wonderful time together, Alec," she said, enunciating his name as if it tasted good. Let me tell you how it's going to go. First, I'm going to strip you naked so I can fondle every inch of that oh-so-fine genetically engineered manhood of yours."

She yanked on his hair, and Alec involuntarily grunted with pain, at the same time trying to slide away from her in spite of the shackles.

"And then ... then you're going to become my lover. Pain can be very arousing, Alec. Did you know that? Who knows? You might even find that you have an affinity for the Tantric side of sex."

She hit him with a jolt of electricity again, and Alec's body arched on the table as he choked on his own cry.

"And when we're finally through," Caroline hissed, grabbing his hair again as she regarded him almost curiously, "when that gorgeous body of yours has satisfied my every sexual whim ... when I've ridden you until you're nothing but a sweating, quivering pile of male flesh ... when I've made you pop like the cork in a bottle of warm champaign ... then, lover boy, you're going to tell me all about Manticore and your brothers and sisters. I'll ask the questions, and you, you sexy, sexy animal, will joyfully leap to answer every one of them. Guaranteed."

Caroline kissed him then, brutally pressing her mouth against his and thrusting her tongue between his teeth -- and when Alec viciously bit her lip, all the bitch did was lick the blood away, laugh with insane delight, and reach for the buttons of his fly.

*****

"We have a satellite location on the vehicle," Dix's voice came through the com link to Max. "It's not far, less than six kilometers from your location." Dix and Luke, whom Max trusted more than Lydecker's techies, were using Manticore's bird in the sky to help out with the mission.

"We're moving," Max said sharply. Nodding over her shoulder at the contingency of ordinary soldiers seated in the back of the van, she added, "we'll have our people retrieved within the hour. Guaranteed."

Hold on, Alec. Just hold on.

*****

Unfortunately (in Caroline's opinion, not Alec's) her brother's methods bore fruition before hers. She'd just started to skim down her captive's trousers when Nicholas entered the room, all smiles. "I've got what we need," he said.

"But I still want to play with him," his sister said, pouting.

"Later," Nicholas said. "Right now we need to secure these three for sale and begin contacting our buyers."

With a shrug of her petite shoulders, the brunette dominatrix looked regretfully down at her X5 captive. "Tomorrow, pet," she promised, patting him almost tenderly on the cheek. "Tomorrow we'll pick up where we left off." Then she jumped down off the table, pulled a hypo from her pocket, and jabbed it into Alec's thigh.

*****

"You did a nice job on the girl," Caroline commented, indicating the bloody (but still breathing) mess hanging against the wall. The X6, Bullet, was staring at them, his eyes vacant.

"They're lovers," Nicholas said. "It made the task easy." He nodded toward the other room. "Any luck at all with the pretty boy?"

"Not yet," Caroline said with another little pout. "His pain threshold is pretty high and he's had good training. It would have taken awhile. But then I never really got to the meat of the matter either. A shame really. He seems to have such potential."

Her brother grinned at her. "Don't worry, luv," he said. "I promise you'll have another go at the X5 stud before we ship him off to the Chinese or the Koreans. Or maybe even the--"

The sound of close gunfire cut off Nicholas' words. Brother and sister looked at one another, then moved. They knew who'd come calling ... and they also knew they'd just lost at least part of their fortune. Turning to Bullet, Nicholas said, "Hope you've had a nice time. Oh, and--" He whirled and slashed Ralph's throat with his knife, "--sorry about your girl."

"Noooo!" the X6 shrieked as the two terrorists fled out a back entrance.

*****

Max charged into the basement with three armed soldiers at her back. The first thing she saw was Bullet hanging in chains against the wall, his face bruised and bloody, seemingly semi-conscious. The second thing she saw was Ralph ... or rather what was left of Ralph.

Nausea rose in her throat at the sight of the young girl's horribly abused body and her ruined face. The hideous slash across the X6's throat and the huge amount of blood on the floor told how she'd really died -- but what Ralph had endured before her demise must have been the worst nightmare from hell. No human ... transgenic ... should have to suffer like that.

And then Max looked around the rest of the room, realized Alec wasn't here, and her heart began to pound. What have the bastards done with him? If they did this to Ralph, then maybe they-- She cut off the thought abruptly. She couldn't even go there, to the thought that Alec might also have been butchered.

"Mam," the soldier at her elbow said. "Do you want us to search the premises?" The other two men were freeing Bullet from his chains.

And then she spotted the wooden door that must lead to another basement room. "Yes," she said, but at the same time she was across the floor and opening the panel.

When Max saw him lying on that table, shackled, spreadeagle, helpless with his beautiful eyes closed, she thought she was going to die too. They've killed him. He's dead. Alec's dead.

Sagging against the wall, she choked on a sob. But then, soldier that she was, Max forced herself to cross the room and, with a trembling hand, reached out to touch the base of her lover's throat, checking for the pulse she knew she wouldn't find. He was lying too still ... too quiet ...

But then, miracle of miracles, she felt it -- the faint but steady beat of Alec's heart.

He'd been deeply drugged ... but X5-494 was alive.

*****

Unfortunately, Max's kiss wasn't quite as magical as those in the fairy tales she'd read as a child in her foster home. Her Prince Charming didn't awaken when she pressed her lips to his. However, six hours later, and with the help of two injections of Narcan and a relatively massive dose of coffee during the plane flight back home, Alec was groggily able to give his account of capture and captivity to his commanding officer. Other than the injuries he'd sustained when hit by the car, and a wicked hangover, the X5 was relatively all right, as was the X6, Bullet -- physically speaking at least.

The boy couldn't stop crying. Sobbing in a back corner of the transport plane, he would only shake his head when Max and Alec tried to get him to talk about what had happened in that basement room.

Although Alec hadn't seen what his team mates had gone through, he had heard the screams and, through a drugged haze, seen Ralph's mutilated corpse as the Manticore soldiers zipped it into a body bag for the return trip. The sight had shocked him more than he thought possible, battle hardened soldier that he considered himself to be. But then Ralph had not only been a kid ... she'd been a girl.

"He's going to have to get himself under control or Lydecker's gonna have a field day with him," Max said grimly as she handed Alec a cup of hot chocolate (he'd had enough coffee and could do with the Tryptophan in the milk -- his hands were shaking). She then sat down beside her partner.

Sitting in the back of the plane, wrapped in a warm blanket, breathing with difficulty, and shivering every now and then with exhaustion and the shock of his injuries, Alec looked sadly over at Bullet and shook his head. "Can't say I'd be in any better condition if it had happened to me," he said honestly. He shut his eyes a moment then, and tried to banish the horrible picture that rose in his mind of Max being all cut up like Ralph. Which is when he remembered something.

"Let me talk to him," he said to Max. "Alone."

"I was going to ask you to anyway," Max said, getting up and heading for the front section of the aircraft where the ordinary soldiers were organizing their debriefing notes.

Alec waited until he could hear her talking to the other men, and then he turned to the grieving X6. "Kid," he said. "I know it's hard. Hell, it's damn near impossible. But you've gotta get hold of yourself. If you show up at base this way, Lydecker's gonna think you're defective -- and you know what that means."

Bullet nodded, his red-rimmed eyes wide. "I'll be put down ... canceled ... because this happened on an official mission."

"That's right," Alec said bluntly. "They'll either put a bullet between your eyes or a needleful of poison in your neck. Either way, you're dead. Now, get your act together and tell me what happened back there."

"You know what happened!" Bullet cried out.

Max turned around and looked at them, but Alec's nod reassured her and she went back to talking to the men.

"I know what happened to Ralph," Alec said. "What I don't know is what you told those two monsters."

"What do you mean?" Bullet said, looking away quickly.

"Miss Tantric Sex pulled her claws outta me 'cause her brother said he'd gotten what they needed from you. I kinda figure that means information. What exactly did you tell them?"

"Nothing!" the X6 said way too quickly.

Alec's hazel-green eyes took aim on the boy. "I'm an expert liar," he said, his voice low and subtly dangerous. "You're not. Don't even try to pull this shit with me. What ... did ... you ... tell ... them."

The boy was starting to cry again and Alec was tempted to slap him -- but he didn't. Instead he took hold of the kid's shoulders, ignoring the pain in his own side, and gave him a very hard shake. "Lives depend on it, 787. Your brothers' and sisters' lives. My life. Max's life."

"I gave away the main base," Bullet cried, choking on the words so hard he could barely get them out. "Personnel, defenses, everything." He began to sob, burying his face in his hands. Alec rested a hand on the kid's back, but didn't move to comfort him any more than that. Teenager or not, X6-787 was a Manticore soldier, and a soldier didn't break under torture -- no matter what. Honestly, in Alec's opinion, the boy probably deserved to die.

But he also knew that Max would differ on that opinion, and hers was the one that really mattered to him.

"All right," Alec said. "Here's what we're gonna do. When we debrief with Lydecker, keep it short and sweet. We were captured. We were tortured, We were rescued. We gave away nothing. Understand?"

"But the lives?" Bullet rasped, not understanding. "Our people?"

"Leave that to me," Alec said. "I'll take care of it. We've already lost your girl. There's no need for you to throw your life away too.

"But Alec--"

"Say it," Alec ordered the boy. "We were captured. We were tortured. We were rescued. We gave away nothing."

"We were captured. We were tortured. We were rescued. We gave away nothing," Bullet mimicked the litany of the X5's words.

We were captured. We were tortured. We were rescued. We gave away nothing.

*****

Logan Cale aka "Eyes Only"

"Logan," Alec said. "I need a really big favor."

Eyes Only turned around slowly in his desk chair, then stood, the whir of his exoskeleton loud in the confines of his new High Rise District apartment. (He'd moved out of his Terminal City digs shortly after the break-up with Max.)

"And why, exactly, would I want to grant you of all people any favors?" Eyes Only said, his voice carefully controlled.

Logan looked exactly like Alec remembered him right down to the spikey blond-brown hair and the vaguely fanatical blue eyes. Life with Asha and her S1W missions must be treating the man well.

"I didn't take her away from you," Alec said. " It was you who drove her away."

"She would have come back to me if it weren't for you," Logan said, not trying to conceal the bitterness in his voice.

"She caught you in bed, naked, with Asha for God's sake!" Alec hollered. "I was there! Remember? I saw the look on Max's face when we opened the door of your apartment that day and there the two of you were in all your glory. In fact, I was the one who kept her from killin' both of you on the spot! You're the one who cheated! Not Max!"

"Guess that'll teach you people to knock," Logan said, the words dark with sarcasm. "And now she hates me," he added. "And loves you."

"Those two things have nothin' to do with each other!" Alec yelled. He shifted his stance in the doorway, the leather of his jacket creaking as he jammed fists into the pockets of his jeans. "She fell in love with me later," he said in a more normal tone of voice. "It just ... happened."

"When she was in heat!"

"Yeah," Alec admitted unashamedly. "When she was in heat. And when she found out that what she really needed in her life was an X5 male, not an ordinary one." The X5 realized how petty that sounded and quickly added, "Not that you weren't good for her. I loved an ordinary too. It's just that ... it's like you once said. She needed someone like her ... like us ... and so did I. End of story."

"And now the two of you are going to live happily ever after?" Logan said. He chuckled. "Yeah, sure. Havin' beautiful little X5 babies for Manticore no doubt."

Alec turned to leave. "I knew this was probably a mistake," he muttered.

"Wait!" Logan said. "You said you needed my help."

"As if you'll give it to me?" Alec said, but he paused in the doorway.

"What do you want?"

"A lead on a couple of terrorists," Alec said. "A lead so I can find 'em quick."

"Will it help Max?" Logan asked quietly.

"Yes," Alec lied.

Logan Cale turned back to his keyboard and brought up a search program. "I'm a better man for her than you, 494," he said. "And I'm going to prove it, beginning now. I don't hold a grudge. Tell me what you need to know. But just remember. This is for Max. Not you."

Like hell you don't hold a grudge, Alec thought. But then he nodded, and gave Logan the information he had on Nicholas and Caroline Musachio.

The X5 was guessing the brother/sister team would be a few days brokering their Manticore information to would-be buyers -- enough time for himself and Bullet to do what they had to do, if only they could find them.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

The following evening X5-494 and X6-787 entered a chic, retro Florence nightclub, Alec (who spoke fluent Italian) getting them into the neon version of Hell without a cover fee by flattering the hostess at the door.

He'd paid for the commercial airline tickets with his own money and told Max he was spending two days driving his motorcycle up the coast to check out a small art gallery to the north of Seattle. The hardest part had been discouraging her from wanting to come along for the trip -- she thought it would be romantic, which it would have been if it was true. But he convinced her that she should stay back at TC just in case Lydecker located their two terrorist friends again and needed to pull off a quick mission.

As far as the debriefing had gone, Alec's keen intuition told him Lydecker smelled a rat, but the colonel couldn't pin anything down since he and Bullet backed up each other's stories. Also, it had been documented in the armory before the mission left that he'd complained about the gun sights on his Glock being too high -- a legitimate excuse for missing his first shots. A lot of things had gone wrong on that mission, and it would look bad on their records. However, for now, much to the transgenics' relief, it was being left alone.

"Don't pick a scab," Alec had told Max when she'd tried to get more details out of Bullet herself. Thankfully, for once, she'd listened to him.

"There's Caroline," Alec said quietly. The baggy coat and dark glasses he was wearing weren't much of a disguise, but the light in the club was low and hopefully she wouldn't recognize him too quickly. The fiendish lady in question was dancing by herself in a circle of men near the bar. Wearing a tight fitting red dress and decked out in satanic jewelry, she looked like a demon goddess.

"And there's Nicholas," Bullet growled, nodding at her brother who, dressed as garishly as his sister, was sitting at a table downing Vodka. "Rumor is they're not just brother and sister, but lovers," the X6 added. He glanced up at the older soldier. "Do you think it's true?"

"I wouldn't doubt it a bit," Alec said honestly, easily picturing the vampirish Caroline humping her butcher of a brother. He shuddered slightly at the memory of that woman's cold hands exploring his body, and suddenly wished very much that Max was with him to soothe away the nightmare. But that would have to wait for later. Now ... tonight ... he had a job to finish.

"You know what to do?" he asked Bullet.

The boy nodded.

"Then go," Alec said. But suddenly he grabbed the kid's shoulder. "And this time," he said in a low voice that held just the hint of a threat, "don't screw up."

Bullet swallowed hard, nodded again, and Alec shoved him into the crowd.

*****

The bathroom in the club was unisex -- controversial, but not unexpected in a modern establishment like this one. Alec merely found it ... convenient. Shortly after he began watching Caroline from a seat at the bar where he was nursing a Scotch, the X5 saw her break from her group and head for the john. Tossing several lira on the counter to pay for his drink, Alec got up and quietly followed his mark.

Luck was with him. The restroom was empty when he entered except for Caroline who was in one of the stalls. Keeping his head down, Alec walked over to the sink and began to wash his hands. A toilet flushed, she came out, and then she saw him in the shadows -- a very handsome hunk of a young man -- just the treat she'd apparently been waiting for.

"I don't know about you, lover," she said in that husky voice Alec remembered so well, "but I'd like to get out of this place. Wanna join me for a little something interesting that involves getting naked?"

Alec turned around, still keeping his head down. "Maybe," he said in a voice equally seductive to hers. "Maybe not."

Her hand shot out, grasping the stall support and blocking his way, the flesh of her arm just inches from his face, so close he was tempted to bite her.

"'Of course if you asked ..." Alec said huskily, the words trailing off. He took off the dark glasses, raised his eyes, and moved as if to kiss her. "Maybe I'd be willing to joyfully leap like the sexy animal ... I ... am."

He was right in her face when he shot her twice in the chest. Her mouth opening in a silent scream of shock, Caroline recognized her executioner (Alec saw it in her eyes) just before death tore her black soul from the plain of the living and her body crumpled to the tiled bathroom floor.

A second later there were more gunshots from out in the nightclub. When Alec pushed open the restroom door he was just in time to see Bullet making a spectacular transgenic leap across the dance floor in pursuit of Nicholas who was using a screaming woman as a living shield against the attack. Alec raised his gun, but couldn't get a clear shot from his angle. And then their quarry was gone, bolting out the door and into the night. By the time the X5 and X6 made the street, there was no sign of the terrorist.

Their mission had failed -- again.

*****

"Now, you have to tell Lydecker," Alec informed a chagrined Bullet as they walked down the Manticore hallway. They'd flown into Bismarck, North Dakota in relatively silence, wordlessly agreeing to go straight to Manticore headquarters and come clean. After all, the integrity of the base depended on them now.

"But he'll have me killed," Bullet squeaked.

Alec sympathized with the kid. He really did. But he honestly didn't see any other way out of this mess. Bad enough he was probably going to be severely reprimanded himself, if not physically punished. But X5s were extremely valuable, far moreso than their X6 descendants. Better him than me, a little voice in Alec's head chided -- a little voice that made the X5 feel ashamed. But the instinct for self preservation was extremely strong in his series -- one of the "flaws" that had supposedly been bred out of the X6s.

"Maybe not," Alec lied. "Maybe they'll just send you to psy-ops for a little fine-tuning in the art of resistin' torture."

"Ya think?" Bullet asked hopefully.

Alec forced a smile and looked at the door to Lydecker's office up ahead. The colonel had arrived this morning from Seattle to meet them. God only knew what he'd told Max -- another problem Alec had weighing on his mind. He was gonna have some explaining to do when he got back to Terminal City ...

"I'm sorry, kid," Alec said as Bullet squared his shoulders and put a hand on the door knob. "Good luck." Then the X5 patted the X6 on the back, and headed for the waiting area across the hall.

*****

Lydecker's office had a hallway window. Sometimes the shades were pulled for privacy, but this time they stayed open. Chewing on his thumb, Alec watched from a discreet distance while Bullet talked to the colonel. The conversation was fairly short, the kid obviously getting straight to the point, but then the situation was a bit urgent. Manticore needed to prepare itself for attack on several levels.

Bullet hung his head, but then he raised his chin, and both he and Lydecker stared out the window straight at Alec.

X5-494 literally felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end at the intensity of the colonel's laser-like gaze. Something was wrong ... terribly wrong. Alec watched while the man spoke into an intercom on his desk, and then suddenly a contingency of four ordinary soldiers came pouring down the hall.

"Don't tell me," Alec said cheerfully, holding up both hands in surrender as they surrounded him in the lounge with guns drawn. "'Deck wants to talk to me?"

"X5-494," the sergeant barked. "You're under arrest for treason and giving away classified information to the enemy. Please come with us."

Alec's mouth dropped open. Never, in his wildest imaginings, had he expected Bullet to pull a stunt like this. The kid wasn't that good of a liar, was he?

"Come with us, sir," the soldier repeated, reaching out to take hold of Alec's arm.

"I know the way," Alec snapped, jerking out of reach and turning to walk down the hallway toward the detention wing. No use making a fuss here. There were way too many guns around. Wait, he told himself. Be patient. Don't do something stupid and get your ass killed.

But still, as he was shoved into the barren cell and the steel door closed behind him, Alec found that he was afraid -- not of death -- but that Max just might think he was guilty.

*****

"They both claim the other one broke and gave up the information," Lydecker said, throwing his hands in the air.

"You say Alec passed the lie detector test," Max tried desperately. "With flying colors."

"494's a consumate liar," Lydecker said. "He was created to be deceptive ... part of his recon and undercover genetic package. And besides, 787 also passed our interrogation tests -- with flying colors."

"Donald," Max said, leaning over his desk and holding her superior with earnest eyes, one of the few occasions in her life when she'd used her "surrogate" father's first name -- you don't really think that Alec, a top-of-the-line X5, cracked under torture do you?"

"494's greatest weakness is his sympathy, especially when it comes to women," Lydecker said. "Maybe he couldn't stand seeing the girl brutalized like that."

"Alec wasn't even in the same room," Max said.

"He could have heard her screams," Lydecker volleyed right back at her.

"So, what are you going to do?" Max asked sarcastically. "Kill them both?"

"Probably," the colonel said, and she could see in his eyes that he was completely capable of it. "This isn't some simple rule that was broken, Max. This is treason. You know perfectly well that it's absolutely one hundred percent fatal for one of my kids to break under torture. It's why you were all schooled at such a young age to resist interrogation."

"And Alec had almost twenty years of your so-called schooling!" Max cried. "You know what kind of soldier he is. You know he wouldn't break and give up his brothers and sisters."

"I know he betrayed his brothers and sisters for a woman once before, or at least betrayed his command by going against a direct order," Lydecker said, his quiet voice a counterpoint to her shrieking.

"You're talking about Rachel," Max said, getting herself under control. "That was different. He loved her. Believe me when I say he wasn't that close to Ralph."

"But 494 knew that 787 loved the girl," Lydecker said. "He had to have had sympathy for the kid's situation."

"Donald, it's obvious it was Bullet who broke. He was in the room the whole time Nicholas was butchering his girlfriend, and now he's lying to protect his own ass. I sympathize with the kid, I really do. But I sure as hell am not going to sacrifice Alec for him." Her voice dropped lower. "Alec's worth ten of Bullet's kind, and you know it."

"I'm sorry, Max," Lydecker said. "But without some kind of proof, we can't take a chance. I'm afraid they both die."

"Let me talk to Bullet," Max said desperately. "Surely he can't want to take Alec down with him. Alec's been nothing but a friend to that kid ... even going so far as to try and make things right by attempting to stop the information about Manticore from being passed on. If Alec's plan had worked, we wouldn't even be here right now."

"494 could have just been trying to save his own butt," Lydecker said, his blue eyes passionless. Then he sighed. "But you can talk to the kid. And then I think you'd better talk to your lover boy because it's probably going to be for the last time."

*****

"Bullet, you've got to tell the truth," Max said to the scared X6 as he cowered against the wall of his featureless white cell. "You can't let Alec die with you. You owe him too much for that ... you owe me too much."

"He did it," Bullet whispered, sticking to his story. "Alec's the one who broke. I know you'll never believe me 'cause you sleep with the guy. But he told, Max. Alec's the one who told."

Max left the cell in disgust, before she caved in to the urge to execute the little brat herself. A very good man was going to die because of that snot-nosed, lying X6 ... her man ... and the thought made her white hot with rage.

There has to be a way ... a way to prove Alec's innocent.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"Max!" Alec said, jumping up from where he'd been sitting against the far side of his cell, arms wrapped around his legs and his head resting on his knees. "Max, I swear, I didn't do it!"

"Shut up!" she said, knowing full well they were being watched by Lydecker on the cell's monitoring camera. "Just shut the fuck up!"

"Max," Alec pleaded, his hazel-green eyes wide and sincere, I ... didn't ... do it. I didn't betray Manticore. I didn't cave in to torture. That kid's lyin' through his teeth."

"I know, you big jerk," Max said, her voice suddenly gentle as she crossed the cell and wrapped her arms around him. "You were tortured by White last year and never gave me up," she said. "I know how well you can hold out ... how brave you are in spite of being a big sissy sometimes. And I know you'd never, ever blab to a bitch and bastard like those two ordinaries."

Alec returned her embrace wholeheartedly, burying his face in her hair with a little sob. Then he swallowed hard. "Max," he whispered. "I'm scared."

"I know," she said soothingly, reaching up to stroke his hair, her hand coming to rest on his barcode the way it often did when they were making love, the fact that Alec was so unusually vulnerable right now endearing him to her more than ever. "I know you're scared." Then, so quietly a hidden mic wouldn't be able to pick up her words, she said, "I've got a plan. And it doesn't suck. I'm going to bring Nicholas in as a prisoner. Just tell me what you want him to say."

"All you have to do is get the truth out of the bastard," Alec replied equally quietly in her ear. "Max, I swear, I didn't do it."

"I know you didn't," Max repeated. But then she added something that surprised herself and Alec as well, "but even if you did, I don't care."

Then she pulled back and gave him a gentle, promising kiss, tasting her flawed hero's lips for what she silently vowed wouldn't be the last time.

*****

The plan was simple. Capture Nicholas Musachio alive and get the truth out of him -- or so Max told Lydecker. The original mission parameters called for the terrorist's death, but the colonel finally agreed to Max's method. As she said, why sacrifice an X5 unless he had to? They were a rare, valuable commodity in the world and it would be a shame to have 494 and all his genetic potential go to waste.

Deciding she didn't give a damn what Europeans thought about transgenics, Max sent Mole and Joshua in to do the job -- capturing their prey at his haunt in a Luxembourg brothel. The plan went down just fine, with the small exception that Max had a hard time convincing Mole to leave the establishment once he'd gotten an eyeful of the girls.

Now, Max faced Nicholas Musachio in Manticore's interrogation room. Strapped to a chair, completely helpless and at her mercy, the blond butcher still smiled up at her.

"Do your worst," he said. "I don't care. In fact, you might say that pain is my passion."

"I can make things easy for you," Max tried, knowing brutal methods wouldn't work.

"In return for what?" he asked suspiciously.

"You captured an X5 and an X6 last week. One of them gave you information about Manticore. I need to know which one it was."

Nicholas eyed Max very carefully, his insulting gaze sweeping her from head to toe. "By your age, you're an X5," he said. "You're very beautiful. I'm going to hazard a guess that you have a vested interest in the matter you're asking me about, or why else would you be here right now instead of the torture mavens?"

Max swallowed hard. This guy was sharp. "I'm practicing my technique," she said. "Just tell me if it was the X5 or the X6 who broke and we can all be friends." She leaned closer to the man. "You know, Manticore can always use a good pain technician. You like doing this kind of shit?" She looked around the sterile room, then shrugged. "I could make it happen for you. A permanent job, dental benefits, 401K plan, the whole package. But I need to know the truth about what happened in that basement."

"That handsome stud," Nicholas said with a lascivious smile. "The X5 boy my sister took such a liking to. He's your lover, isn't he?"

Max thought she covered it up well -- but he saw it in her eyes anyway and knew he had the upper hand.

"I hate to have to tell you," Nicholas said with mock sadness, "but it was your sweetheart that sang ... gave away all of Manticore's precious secrets."

Max's heart sank in her chest. Lydecker was listening of course, and this wasn't doing Alec any good. "You're lying," she said. "An X5 wouldn't break. It was the X6, wasn't it?"

"Sorry," Nicholas said.

She grabbed a handful of his hair and snapped his head back (much as his sister had done to Alec), then brought her face close to his and hissed, "Tell ... the ... fucking ... truth!"

"It was the X5!" the terrorist insisted. "I swear on my sister's grave it was the X5! He couldn't stand the girl's screams."

The door opened and Lydecker's form filled the frame. "We're done here, 452," his gruff voice said.

Max took a shaky breath, trying to calm her nerves, then with last a pleading look at the colonel, she brushed past him and left the room.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Half an hour later Max stood in the hallway outside the interrogation room once again, and watched as they brought Nicholas past her on his way to psy-ops where he was to be evaluated for his potential use by Manticore. At the same time, the detention cell on the opposite side of the area opened and Alec, escorted by four armed guards and a fifth soldier dressed all in black and wearing a holstered 9 mm pistol, was also ushered through.

"He's chosen a bullet," Lydecker said to Max, who knew what would happen next. It was Alec's turn to be strapped in that chair in the white room. The executioner's pistol would be aimed at his head, the trigger pulled, and X5-494 would cease to exist. The blood wouldn't take long to clean up off of that shiny linoleum floor.

"This is it, Max." the colonel said. "The end of the road for him."

Alec was looking around, probably thinking about making a break for it. Max caught his eye and shook her head no. "It won't do any good," she said softly. "You know it won't."

The X5 drew himself up, chin held high. If he was going to die, it would be with dignity, and Max felt her heart swell with pride at how far X5-494 had come in the three years she'd known him. Once again, she wondered why the hell it had taken her so long to see what a wonderful guy the big jerk really was. And now ... now it was too late.

"I love you," she said, the first (and last) time he would ever hear those words from her.

"I love you, too," Alec replied quietly.

Max looked at Lydecker.

"Go ahead and kiss him," the colonel said. "I'm not completely without a heart, Max."

And then Alec took her in his arms and kissed her like there would be tomorrow ... because there really wouldn't be one, at least not for him.

When they finally broke apart, Max turned away ... and never looked back as they led him into the execution chamber. She heard the door slam closed ... knew the gunman was inside with him ...

There was the muffled sound of a single shot.

Alec was gone -- and Max began to silently cry at last.

Which is when Nicholas Musachio, who'd been watching the whole emotional scene with obvious glee, turned to her with an expression of mock sadness on his face. "Gee, you know what, lady? Guess it's a little late, but I think I made a mistake. You see, it was the X6 who caved in and told me all that info. Your dead X5 lover stayed silent as could be, a real hero he was, lots of stamina too. Not many can withstand my sister's methods. Too bad you just killed such a good guy."

"Why should we believe you now?" Lydecker said. "You could just be saying that to taunt 452."

"Wanna hear how it happened?" Nicholas said happily. "I can give you details about how that bitch X6 was in so much pain she couldn't even scream as I peeled her face off. Of course the kid ... he screamed enough about it for both of them. They were lovers, too, you see. And he just couldn't stand seeing his lady in such agony." The terrorist looked at Max. "Your boy ... he wasn't even in the room at the time. He was off playin' with my sister next door."

"Are you satisfied now?" Max asked bitterly, speaking to Lydecker. "You killed him for nothing!"

But the colonel, for some insane reason, was smiling. "It worked," he said. "Now we know."

"Yeah, but it's too late for Alec!" Max screamed, the thought that her newfound love ... that he ... had died for nothing something she knew she'd never get over.

The sound of the execution chamber door opening made Max turn. Then both she and Nicholas gaped, because standing nonchalantly in the opening, dusting his hands off and looking around as if he owned the place, stood Alec -- very much alive.

Max whirled on Lydecker. "You knew?" she breathed. "You knew all along and staged Alec's death to make the bastard talk?"

"I'm not quite the demon the two of you seem to think I am, Max," Lydecker said levelly. "Like you said, I wasn't about to sacrifice on of my kids for nothing. But I couldn't tell either of you about my plan because the emotions had to be real." Then he motioned to the guards. "Take him away," he said, referring to Nicholas, pointing to the chamber.

"Hey, Max," Alec said plaintively as the terrorist was hauled off to his well deserved ending. "Can we go home now? I've had enough of bein' at death's door for today, and I do mean that literally."

"I'll bet you have," Max agreed as she threw herself at her lover and he caught her up fiercely in his warm strong arms.

*****

There was one last thing Alec had to do before returning to Seattle with Max.

Stepping into the execution chamber, he motioned for the black garbed guard to wait outside. Then he stood looking down with deep pity in his eyes at X6-787, the boy who'd come within a hair's breadth of getting him killed.

"You did it 'cause you were scared, right kid?" Alec said.

Bullet nodded. Strapped to the chair, he was simply waiting for it to be over, and a strange calm had come over the teenager. He looked up at the X5. "I'm sorry, Alec. I didn't plan for it to happen, but I didn't wanna die."

"I know the feeling," Alec said, meaning it wholeheartedly as he remembered when he, himself, had also betrayed his own kind in order to save himself from imminent death. "You know," he said, "I'd get you out of this if I could. But if we don't follow Manticore's rules, things will go badly for all the rest of us -- 'least that's what Max thinks, and I hafta agree."

Bullet nodded. "I understand," he whispered. "I'll take one for the team."

Alec winced at the familiar words, remembering when, and under what circumstances, he'd heard them before.

"X6s aren't as strong as X5s," Alec said, stating a simple fact. "No one really blames you for giving up the information."

"Alec," Bullet asked, "if it had been you and Max instead of me and Ralph ... would you have talked? If they'd been hurting Max like that, would you have broken?"

The X5 thought a very long moment before answering with complete honesty, "No. I wouldn't have." He shrugged. "I couldn't have. But then I was trained all my life to resist interrogation."

"So was I," Bullet said.

"Not like I was," Alec said quietly, remembering some of the horrors he'd endured as a child and teenager. Manticore had been especially leery of the X5Rs -- the twins and the ones from Max's original platoon who hadn't escaped in '09 -- and they'd made the children suffer for their fears.

Artwork courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

The executioner came back into the room, his 9 mm in hand. It was time.

Alec looked Bullet directly in the eyes and softly said, "See ya around, kid."

"See ya, Alec," the boy replied.

X5-494 stepped into the corridor and the door clanged shut behind him. The sound of the gunshot that came seconds later was muted, but clear.

It was over.

And Max was waiting for him at the end of the hall.

THE END