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. I've also made this one a bit of a cross-over, but I'll leave it a surprise as to what other world I've borrowed a character or two from. -- author's note

The woman was beautiful. With shoulder length light brown hair worn loose around a high-cheekboned face, warm caramel eyes, and the tall willowy figure of a model, at age 43 she was even more stunning than she'd been in her youth -- before she'd become a senior director of the CIA.

Colonel Donald Lydecker, dressed in a business suit and tie (a departure from his usual military attire) regarded the lady from his seat in her bright and tastefully decorated Los Angeles office, his weathered face pulled into a careful mask of feigned disinterest.

"I understand you have something for me," she said in a well modulated voice that was tinged with a faintly preppy accent. Leaning forward, she placed both elbows on her cherry wood desk, dark eyes gazing intently into his. "Something rather unique."

Lydecker couldn't suppress the small crooked smile. This was the part of first contact briefings he liked best, initiating the ignorant about the product he peddled. "I can offer you the use of an incredibly advanced bio-weapons system," he said, his gravelly voice sounding oddly out of place in the well appointed room. "Something no other country in the world has been able to develop."

"We already have bio weapons," the woman said tiredly, obviously expecting something more exciting and now disappointed. She waved one well-manicured hand in the air. "More than enough as a matter of fact. Afterall, you can only kill everyone in the world a single time. Beyond that it gets ridiculously redundant."

"I'm not talking about a pathogen," Lydecker said. "I'm talking about something far more versatile -- a complete, independently operating weapons Unit."

She shook her head, not understanding.

Colonel Donald Lydecker

Now it was Lydecker's turn to lean forward in his chair, his cold greedy eyes glittering with anticipation. "Have you ever heard of an organization called Manticore?"

"Manticore," the woman repeated. "A black ops section of The Committee that was responsible over the past three decades for attempting to create a human supersoldier. Two years ago the entire program was deemed a failure and all traces of Manticore and its flawed creations were destroyed." Her beautiful lips turned up in a smile. "Now I remember where I've seen your name Mr. Lydecker," that disciplined voice purred. "You were one of the top brass at Manticore back in its heyday." The smile turned into a small frown. "But weren't you reported missing in action last year, presumably killed?"

"Let's just say reports of my demise were premature," the colonel replied. "And as for Manticore ..." His voice dropped to a more conspiratorial tone, as if he knew darn well the conversation was being recorded. "Not all of my kids were destroyed."

"Your kids?"

Lydecker's eyes twinkled. "That's what I consider them," he said honestly. "I helped choose their sires and damns ... was present at their test tube conceptions ... supervised their DNA enhancements ... monitored their births to surrogates. I was the guiding force in their infancy ... their childhood and teen years ... the man who molded them into what they were designed on the drawing board to be -- soldiers."

"I'm not interested in trafficking in freaks," the woman said, the words succinct. "I see where this is going, Mr. Lydecker. "I watch the news. I know about that settlement in Seattle, where remnants of Manticore have banded together into some kind of mutant colony. I have no use for deformed quasi-human creatures even if they are considered supersoldiers."

"Ah," Lydecker reprimanded her. "But you're forgetting about the X series."

"Please," she snapped. "Even though passably human looking, they're still part animal, flawed, and of absolutely no use to me." She stood up behind her desk and offered him her hand. "It was nice meeting you, Colonel."

Lydecker remained seated, ignoring both her outstretched hand and her glare. "Before I'm dismissed," he said, "I'd like you to meet someone." He glanced back at the closed door behind him. "There's a young man who came with me. He's waiting in the lobby. If you'll have him sent up, I think you'll find it very worth your while."

"One of your so-called kids?" the woman asked, plucked eyebrow arching.

"One of my kids," Lydecker confirmed with a nod.

She was about ready to ask him to leave again.

"Don't judge my product until you've at least taken it on a test run," the colonel said quickly. "The CIA needs all the help it can get right now. I know about the plague situation you're facing, and that none of your people can even get close to Colonel Escobar's stronghold in the Ozark Mountains, let alone infiltrate it and neutralize the toxin. Former top secret underground military bases can be extremely tricky to access. Let me help you. The monetary price of my kids' services is high, but well worth it."

"You seem to be unusually well informed about classified agendas," the woman said levelly as she turned to a computer monitor on her desk. She tapped a few keys, and was looking at the security camera view of her building's lobby. "I don't see any supersoldiers," she said snidely. "Guess your freak got bored and left."

"I don't think so," Lydecker said quietly.

She sighed heavily. "Look, Colonel Lydecker, there's no one sitting in the lobby right now except a couple of middle-aged equipment salesmen I've dealt with before, and a boy who apparently meant to go into that modeling agency next door -- the one that front's a male prostitution ring."

Lydecker coughed into his fist, but didn't quite hide the derisive snort of laughter. "I'll be sure to inform 494 how highly you regard his looks," he said. "If you're lucky, he'll be flattered. If you're not ..." He shrugged. "Let's just say I wouldn't want to be the one to piss off an X5 alpha."

"An X5?" the woman said the words carefully. She looked again at the monitor. "You're telling me that boy ... that teenager ... is an X series supersoldier?" Now it was her turn to laugh sarcastically. "You'll have to do better than that, Colonel. How could someone so ... so ..."

"Pretty," Lydecker supplied the word for her.

The woman scowled. "Pretty if you wish," she said. "How could someone so young and naive possibly be of use to The Agency? We have our own stable of valentine ops if we need them, thank you -- and I'm sure they're far better trained and physically tougher than your 'creation.'"

"Have my creation sent up," Lydecker said evenly, "and you'll see."

*****

Photo courtesy of Ackles Online

The moment he stepped through her door (or rather sauntered), The CIA director knew she'd been wrong. This was no naive young boy ... no teenager.

Dressed casually in a charcoal striped cotton shirt left open at the collar and grey khakis, the dark blond young man -- hands in pockets and acting as if he owned the place -- moved with the grace of a natural athlete. As he alertly took in her comfortably furnished office, the woman got the distinct impression that she was in the presence of self confidence (not to mention intelligence) as much genetic as learned.

Quickly setting his sites on her, the soldier gave a wickedly flirtatious smile and slight nod of his head, showing -- in spite of the colonel's presence -- he knew exactly who the boss was in the room.

"Four Nine Four!" Lydecker barked. "I'd like you to meet the director of the bio-hazard arm of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ma'am ... this is X5-Unit 494."

She didn't offer a handshake, and neither did the soldier. Instead, they locked eyes. His were breathtaking -- a stunning moss green flecked with gold, wide set, large, sparkling with high I.Q., ego, and humor. Beautiful. If the eyes were the windows of the soul, she thought to herself, then this handsome young man was indeed quite the package.

"Get out," she said quietly.

494 arched an eyebrow. Lydecker blinked.

"Yes, ma'am," the soldier said with a nonchalant "I don't give a damn" shrug of those broad shoulders as he turned to leave.

"Not you!" the woman snapped. She pointed at the colonel. "You! I want to talk to your man alone."

"He's not a man," Lydecker said, the words slightly clipped. "He's an X5-Unit, and I'm not about to leave you alone with him unsupervised. That could be dangerous."

Her eyes raked 494 from head to foot. "He certainly looks like a man to me," she said, not trying to conceal the appreciation in her voice. Afterall, beauty was beauty, and there was nothing wrong with acknowledging that she reasoned.

"Well, he's not," Lydecker said levelly. "And you're making a mistake if you forget that. He's a highly trained, genetically engineered killing machine."

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

The X5 looked at his handler, that eyebrow arched again and full lips pursed rather cheekily in a tsk-tsk expression. He'd obviously heard that line before. "'Deck," 494 said, speaking quite freely, and in a tone far too casual for a soldier to be using with a supposedly superior officer. "You're gonna blow the deal. Do like the lady says and let me handle it. I told you that peddlin' me like a piece of meat was the wrong approach here."

The woman expected Lydecker to reprimand his soldier. Instead, the colonel held 494's eyes with his own a moment, then looked away. "Very well," he said, obviously not liking it. "It's your deal after all. I'm just the middle man."

"Exactly," 494 said with a genuine smile this time. "Now scoot. Oh, and remind Max about that good Chinese place we're supposed to go to tonight." He glanced over his shoulder in her direction. "It's my first time in Los Angeles," he explained, "and my partner offered to show me a good time."

Lydecker, with a strange look of helplessness on his face, waved his hand in defeat and left the room. As soon as the walnut door closed behind him, the CIA director turned her attention back to her potential employee. "Max?" she said. "Is he an X5 as well?"

"It's a she," 494 said easily. "And the answer is yes."

"A she? You mean a female of your ..." She'd been about to say "species," but changed her mind. "Of your kind?"

Four Nine Four caught the hesitation, but didn't seem to take offense. Instead, that handsome face lit up with a very attractive smile again -- the kind of smile almost any woman would find irresistible. Somehow the young soldier exuded not only the suave charm of a potential lover, but also the adorable vulnerability of a little boy -- a lethal combination. She wondered if the charisma was deliberately bred into him, or acquired ...

"Why don't you have a seat, 494," she said.

"Thank you. And it's 'Alec,'" he added as he dropped into a chair.

"Excuse me?"

"My name's Alec. Lydecker's just bein' old fashioned, insisting on usin' our designation numbers instead of the names we've chosen for ourselves. Even after all this time, he still can't quite think of his kids as people. If he had his way we'd all still be in cages at Manticore, watched like animals in a zoo, and used like canon fodder."

The words were flippant, but the look in those hazel-green eyes wasn't pleasant.

"Why do you and Max associate with him then?" she asked.

"Because he gets us the jobs," Alec replied honestly. "There's lots of money to be made in the mercenary biz, but we need military contacts in order to broker our services. Lydecker offered." He shrugged. "Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't as they say."

"He's the Devil to you?"

"Can't think of any other way to describe him," Alec said. "Considerin' how he tortured and killed us as children, then kept us as slaves, makin' us murder people and tellin' us it was for the good of our so-called country. We were, quote, valuable military assets, unquote." The X5 looked away a moment, out the window. They were high up -- on the 17th story in fact -- and the sunset outside was breathtaking. "So valuable he'd rather see us dead than free," he added in a softer, yet still painfully cynical, tone of voice.

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"But still you work with him," the woman said, not questioning his explanation, but rather understanding since she'd once been in a very similar situation herself as a young, naive recruit for The Agency. Her choice had, at the time, been to either cooperate or see her loved ones die. It sounded as if Alec and his fellow X5s had been there as well -- that is until Manticore went down, the supersoldier program was exposed to the world, and through the efforts of one brave young woman the transgenics gained citizenship status and civil rights.

One brave young woman ...

"Max is your leader, isn't she?" the woman said. "The one who was on the news so much last year when the transgenics fortified themselves in Seattle?"

Alec winked at her, the grin sly this time. "Got it in one, Ma'am," he said.

"And she's your partner?"

"We usually do missions together," he said, neatly evading the real question.

She sensed there was more to the relationship between Alec and his partner, but realized she shouldn't be pushing into the personal realm. Instead, she glanced at her computer screen where she'd pulled up a fact sheet on the transgenics, and the X5 series in particular. As she scanned the data, her eyebrows rose in astonishment. "I always thought these were exaggerated rumors," she said, more to herself than to the seated young man. She looked up at him. "Is it true?" she asked. "What the scientists claim about you ... what your abilities are?"

"They're true," Alec said without even asking what she was referring to. He waited, watching her closely as she continued to read.

"You're really not human," she murmured.

For the first time Alec looked a bit chagrined. "I'm mostly human," he said defensively.

Her keen dark eyes shot him a look. "It says here that a chimpanzee's DNA is closer to human than yours is."

"Lady," the X5 said rather impudently (he'd obviously been insulted about his dubious heritage before), "What does it matter? I'm here to do a military job for you, not sire your kids."

"You're a mutant. A freak."

"We prefer genetically empowered," the X5 said coldly, standing. "Guess I'm wastin' my time here after all."

"No!" she said quickly. "Wait. I'm sorry if I insulted you. It's just that ... you're so ... different ... amazing even."

He didn't sit down, but he wasn't moving toward the door either.

"Please," she cajoled. "Stay. I want to know about you and Max, what you can offer in the way of services to my organization. The job I have in mind has been deemed impossible by my chief strategist, however, so you're going to have to convince me of your worth."

Alec hesitated a fraction more, than sat down again. There was a deal to be made here, his intuition was obviously telling him -- a really big deal.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"They want us to what?" Max yelped.

Seated across from Alec at the Blue Crane Restaurant in uptown L.A. -- one of her favorite old haunts, not to mention a place that served fabulous egg rolls -- Max set down her chopsticks and stared at her partner in astonishment.

"This Colonel Pedro Escobar has managed to slip an army in under the U.S. government's nose and taken up residence in an underground military installation known as 'Olympus,'" Alec said, repeating what he'd been given by the CIA lady. Deftly manipulating his own chopsticks -- even though he'd only used them a couple of times before in his life -- he scooped up a piece of shrimp and popped it in his mouth. Chewing, he then held up one finger to Max, indicating she should let him swallow first before arguing. "Never talk with your mouth full," he said innocently a moment later when she frowned at his delay.

"Showin' off our manners, are we?" Max snapped waspishly. "Who gave you that advice? Your Manticore etiquette trainer?"

"No," Alec deadpanned. "A hooker."

Max tried really hard to look stern and offended at that off-color remark. However, as usual, the guy's humor had just breached her prickly defenses. She couldn't quite hide her smile.

"You're bad, Alec. Really bad."

"And you love it," Alec said with a smirk. He set down the chopsticks and stretched his arms, easing the stiffness in his back, then -- leaving the rest of his shrimp-cashew to cool on the plate -- continued where he'd left off. "It's a nuclear-proof, lock-down facility located under a mountain in the Ozarks. One of those big deals they built in the late twentieth century where the top brass, their aides, and their families could hide out in case a hydrogen bomb melted Washington."

The X5 picked up the utensils again, took another enthused bite of his meal, then pointed a chopstick at her. "It's doable, Max -- if we can get our asses inside. That's gonna be the hardest part. This Escobar's a poster child for terrorism. He's got a following of over three thousand people livin' in that installation with him and they're strict as hell about who they let in."

"I gather you've already got a plan," Max said tiredly, still not eating. Alec's "plans" were notorious for two things -- their egocentricness and their penchant for going awry, and she wasn't looking forward to hearing this one. In fact, her stomach was churning.

"You're gonna love it," Alec said enthusiastically. He reached for an egg roll. "It's so simple it makes me wanna cry."

"Simple?"

"We defect," Alec said.

"Defect?"

"We simply offer our services, and ourselves to Escobar. He'll jump at the chance, Max -- two X5s. You know how badly the foreign nationals wanna get their hands on Manticore technology. We'll be handing him everything he could want on a platter."

Max blinked. But she had to admit Alec's plan had merit, at least so far as gaining them access. It was true Escobar would most likely whisk them into the complex without question once he knew they were precious X5s.

"And when we're inside?" she said. "And probably spread eagle and naked on a vivisection table?"

"We don't let it go in that direction," Alec said. "We stay in control. I mean, if we offer to completely cooperate, why would they try 'n force us to do anything?"

Max scowled. Sometimes Alec's self confidence got in the way of him seeing clearly. "Alec, they'll throw us in a cell then send in the butchers. It's our DNA they want, not our cooperation. What? You think they'll be lookin' to hire us to do a job?"

"They won't hurt a breeding pair, Max," Alec argued.

"You don't know that?" she shot right back. "Alec, they could take my eggs, your sperm, and have no more need to keep us breathing at all. And it's gonna be kinda hard to find and neutralize a pathogenic bio weapon if we're being dissected."

Alec's mind was working furiously. Max could tell.

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"All right," he conceded, "but I still think it could work. So, we're just extra careful about how we handle ourselves so Escobar doesn't tear us apart. You know ... stay in charge of the deal."

Max still didn't like it. "What's the pay on this job?" she asked.

"Half a million -- if we succeed."

"And if we fail?"

One corner of Alec's mouth turned up in a wry grin. "Then we'll probably be dead and it won't matter, at least not to us. This is an all or nothin' mission, Max. The stakes are high, but in my opinion worth it." He leaned forward over the table, capturing her eyes with his in that incredibly persuasive way he had. "You in?"

"You're going to do this alone even if I refuse, aren't you, ass hole?" Max said softly, taking hold of his hands and giving them a squeeze.

"Yeah, Max. I am. But two of would have a helluva lot better chance at pullin' it off."

He was waiting ... holding his breath.

Max shook her head, surrendering. "Someone back at Manticore must've added a dash of motivational speaker to your cocktail."

"So you'll do it?"

"I'm in," Max said. Then she held up one finger in warning. "But only because I know how badly you'll mess this up if you do it on your own. Hell, if you're in charge, that plague will most likely get out and end up wiping out the human race or something."

"Gee, it's so nice you have such faith in me," Alec said dryly.

"What I have is love for you, pretty boy," Max chided him softly. "I don't want to lose you, and apparently this is the only way protect that gorgeous ass of yours."

"Really?" Alec returned. "And here I thought it was more a case of 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'."

"I'll beat you any day of the week, lover," Max said, smiling in spite of herself. Alec always made her feel better ... one of his many "knacks."

"You on board with this then?" Alec said, triumph gleaming in his hazel-green eyes.

"I'm on board," Max conceded with a resigned shake of her head.

*****

"Refresh me on why you need X5s to go into the base anyway," Alec said to their CIA liaison -- the same woman who'd interviewed him the week before. He and Max were ensconced in the back section of a private Agency jet on their way to Arkansas. Dressed in loose fitting Levis, black t-shirt, and a dark hooded pullover sweatshirt, the male X5 sat slouched with booted feet propped on the empty seat in front of him and munching on a bag of salted peanuts. "Couldn't you just have used a couple of your own undercover ops?" he added, taking a sip of cola. He'd just gotten off the cell phone in the airport parking lot with Lydecker who, as usual, was trying to micro-manage the deal. However, the colonel did have a few valid questions that needed to be asked.

"We've already tried that," the woman said grimly. Wearing a tan belted flight suit -- and with her medium length brown hair pulled back in a pony tail and no make-up -- she looked far younger than her 40 odd years. "Two days after we thought they'd successfully infiltrated," she continued, "our Denver office received a delivery -- their bodies in a box." She looked Alec square in the eye. "Our people had been tortured to death -- slowly. One of them was a very good friend. After that ..." She shrugged. "It was deemed too dangerous of an assignment for anyone else to take on."

"Until now," Max said, speaking for the first time as she tugged down the front of the tight-fitting black leather jacket that matched her form fitting jeans. "What's changed?"

"There's a level two potential for Escobar to broker a biological weapon on the world market," the woman said. "We think it's one he discovered already on the base -- a Zyscinor mutation, it originally had no antidote or vaccine and was deemed unusable. However, Escobar's making noise in the terrorist communities that his scientists are close to finding a cure. And if that happens ..."

"The bug becomes a valuable commodity," Alec finished for her.

The woman nodded. "Now, there's an imperative for getting that virus out of his hands." She regarded the two transgenics. "I had no idea you were what Colonel Lydecker was offering," she admitted. "Of course, I'd unofficially followed your situation in the media for over a year ... the plight of your people. However, the thought of using supersoldiers for this mission seemed like something out of science fiction. I never would have considered the colonel's offer if you hadn't been so persuasive." She smiled at Alec. "Now, I'm beginning to think a supersoldier, or two, might be just what's needed."

"Well," Alec said with a little smirk. "You know what they say about us. Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single b--" Max's elbow in his ribs made him grunt.

"Shut up," she said. Then, to the woman, "Just ignore him. He's high verbal."

"Hey!" Alec protested.

"You promised us a full briefing," Max continued with a glare at her partner. "I'm still waiting. What's the real plan here?"

"We go in as a trio," the woman said.

"Wait, wait, wait," Alec interrupted, patting the air with his hands. "We? You're goin' along? I thought we would just ... you know ... turn ourselves over."

"You're not going in alone," the woman said matter-of-factly. "You're not familiar enough with the situation for that, plus there's too much of a chance that Escobar would simply imprison you rendering you impotent. You need someone who can pose as a CIA defector with knowledge of X5s. No one at The Agency knows more about your kind than I do."

Max gave the lady the once-over, her dark brown eyes skeptical. "Are you even field rated?" the X5 asked.

"Fifth level clearance," the woman replied. "Don't worry. I've seen my share of action and can handle myself in a pinch."

"Well, where we're goin' could be more than 'a pinch,'" Alec pointed out. He, too, was looking at their boss through narrowed eyes.

Syd

"You need a handler to sell the deal," the woman insisted. "My alias is Sydney Rollins. My file will indicate I'm a CIA operative who posed as a former Manticore researcher so I could worm my way into the good graces of the Terminal City transgenics, offering you my medical expertise regarding your eccentric genetic make-up but really keeping tabs on you for The Agency. Then ..." She shrugged. "I decided to make some money off of it. I kidnapped two transgenics, and am now offering them for sale to Escobar."

"If the man wanted transgenics, he could have just come out to Seattle and grabbed his own," Alec pointed out.

"Too much trouble," Syd said. "Escobar's a man of expediency though. He won't turn his back on an opportunity like this when it lands in his lap."

Alec glanced down at the file he was holding, and the information about Pedro Escobar, former big time Colombian drug king pin and current dictator of Olympus and all its resources. The guy looked like a weasel if ever there was one, the X5 thought, studying the man's picture. Bald, swarthy, and covered from head to toe in elaborate tattoos, those sharp beady eyes seemed to be assessing him as prey even though it was just a photograph.

"Syd, huh?" Alec drawled, raising his eyes to their newest "handler." "Why aren't I surprised. Afterall, women with guys' names seem to be the theme of my life."

Max poked him in the ribs again.

"Ow!" Alec protested this time. "Max, I was just sayin'--"

"Excuse him," Max said primly. "He can't help it. High verbal, remember?" She held up a dossier. "Says so right here in his Manticore file -- something I wish I'd gotten a gander at a long time ago since it explains an awful lot about why he's always yakking and screwing up."

"Lemme see that!" Alec groused, grabbing the document away from Max -- one Syd had provided. Skimming the material at transgenic reading speed, he arched a dark blond eyebrow. "Wow," he said. "I had no idea I was so highly rated in martial arts."

"Or that you were damn near euthanized not once, but twice," Max chimed in.

Alec scowled, but continued perusing the material. Then he looked up at Syd. "You've read this?"

"I have to be completely familiar with both of your backgrounds if I'm going to sell the deal," she said. "Colonel Lydecker kindly provided the information."

"Fair enough," Alec conceded. "But I reserve the right to submit corrections to this report. I may have had a few disciplinary infractions against me, but I swear, that mess hall fight was not my doing. And Biggs and I did not report for duty drunk one morning. I was just havin' a reaction to an antihistamine the medics had given me the night before. As for the contraband and fraternizing with off base personnel ..." He shrugged. "Hey, even a soldier's gotta make a living."

Syd just smiled, and turned to Max. "Your Manticore file isn't nearly so complete," she said. "But then that's to be expected since you ran away from the facility at age nine, and even when recaptured were only in their custody a few months."

"Somethin' you wanna know 'bout me?" Max asked, her voice cautiously cold.

"Actually, it's something I need to know about both of you," the agent said. She took a deep breath. "The reports indicate the two of you were assigned to be breeding partners back at Old Manticore. How did that work out for you?"

Max's expression was quizzical. Alec just smirked. Then the two transgenics looked at each other.

"It was just a summer fling," Alec said easily, the smile now for Max, in silent agreement with his mate that their personal life was none of this lady's business.

"It didn't work out," Max added with a flip motion of her hand. "He wasn't my type."

"Good," Syd said briskly, closing the folder. "I don't like to work with people who are romantically involved. Things get too messy."

"We're just Unit mates, me and Maxie," Alec lied. "But we make a good team." His eyes shifted to their boss ... grew serious. "Don't worry. We'll get your bio warfare agent, and take down this Nescobar as well."

"Escobar," Max hissed.

"Whatever."

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec's eyes grew wide at the site of the hypodermic needle.

"What's that?" he asked calmly, but with a certain edge in his voice.

Syd looked away -- too quickly -- unwilling to meet those sharp hazel-green eyes. Then she cleared her throat. "It's part of the plan specifics," she said.

"Specifics?" Alec said.

"What specifics?" Max echoed him. "We haven't discussed any plan 'specifics,' have we?" She turned to her partner.

"No," Alec said quietly. "We haven't. And considerin' we're gonna land in twenty minutes I was beginnin' to wonder 'bout that."

"It's really very simple," Syd said, nervously fingering the disposable syringe as she spoke. "First, I get the two of you inside the compound; second, I find out the location of the bio-agent and free you from wherever Escobar incarcerates you; third, you use your transgenic skills to breach a theft-proof vault and switch a fake virus for the real one; fourth, I leave; and fifth, when Escobar sells you, it will be to my people posing as buyers and then we'll all be out of there."

She held up the hypo. "This is the key to part one of the plan."

"You're going to drug us?" Max guessed.

"No way," Alec said, his body tensing.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Syd explained. "I mean, do you really think Escobar would believe it if we all simply walked in together? I'm supposed to have kidnapped you guys from Terminal City. That means you'll have to be drugged into unconsciousness."

"Tell him we agreed to cooperate for a cut of the profits," Alec tried.

"Agreed to let yourselves be vivisected?" Syd said, her warm brown eyes reflecting the absurdity of that notion. "Escobar's smart. He'd never buy it. You guys have to be my prisoners, and the only way a sweet young thing like me could handle you is if you're out cold, and I don't mean faking it. His scientists would detect an act."

Alec looked at Max who was scowling, not liking this turn of events at all.

"Don't worry," Syd said. "It's just a simple barbiturate compound. According to your medical records your revved up bodies should synthesize it out of your systems within two hours."

"And in the meantime, we're completely helpless," Alec said. He winked at the agent. "I don't think so, lady. Pretty as you are, and much as I'd like to show you just what a transgenic is really capable of ... Bottom line -- I don't trust you."

Syd regarded him coolly for a moment, then deliberately shifted her attention to Max. "If Escobar develops an antidote then sells that bio agent to a country willing to use it, millions could die ... possibly the entire human population."

"Where have I heard that before," Alec muttered, crossing his arms.

"We couldn't stop the comet, Alec," Max said, her dark brows drawn down as she thought furiously. "But maybe we can stop this."

"You sayin' it's our duty?" Alec asked sarcastically. "Uh-uh, Max. No deal. I'm not goin' in there helpless."

Sensing rightly which of the transgenics was an idealist and which a mercenary, Syd turned back to Alec. "I'll double your fee. One million dollars, but we do this my way."

Alec opened his mouth to turn down the offer, but for some reason the words stuck in his throat. Instead, he shifted his gaze to Max who was regarding him warily.

"You on board with this, Alec?" Max said, repeating the very question he'd asked her a few days before, the tables turned this time. "'Cause if not, I don't blame you if you wanna bail. I imagine Syd and I can manage alone if we have to."

"You're really gonna do this, even without me?" Alec argued, still fighting her.

"Yes."

He narrowed his eyes, thinking rapidly, greed battling common sense. "A whole million?" he asked Syd, clarifying the deal.

"That's right," the agent said.

"All right," Alec sighed. "I'm in." He told himself it was the money that was persuading him to ignore not only his better judgment, but every self preservation instinct he had -- human and feline. However, he also knew that the real reason was there was no way in hell he'd let Max walk into a deal like this alone -- the same way she hadn't been going to let him go solo either.

"Then give me your arm," Syd said, reaching out and taking hold of Alec's wrist.

With one last what-have-you-gotten-me-into-now? look at Max, Alec sighed in exasperation and reluctantly shoved up the sleeve of his black sweatshirt. Fine blond hair -- visible in the overhead light of the plane's cabin -- lightly covered his firm-boned, leanly-muscled, genetically engineered forearm. Syd ran a finger down his skin, searching for a vein.

Alec flinched, not at the needle, but at the contact.

"You don't like to be touched?" Syd said, looking up and searching his face.

"Not really," Alec replied coolly.

"You wouldn't either if you'd been put through what we were as children," Max said quietly. Unobtrusively, she reached out and took hold of Alec's other hand, giving his fingers a reassuring squeeze. "It's all right," she said soothingly. "Let her do it."

Alec kept his eyes locked with Max's as the needle went in.

As she administered the sedative, Syd watched the two transgenics closely -- the way they were interacting -- and had to wonder. Just what else are they lying about besides the status of their relationship?

*****

Pedro Escobar

Pedro Escobar, the man himself, met his guests at the entrance to Olympus, that vast underground military complex that had once been a nuclear-safe seat of power for the U.S. government, but was now a nest for one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world.

Her heart pounding, but not a trace of emotion showing on her beautiful pale face, Syd sauntered up to the swarthy tattooed man with hands hooked in her belt and a look of impudence in her eyes.

"You have what you promised?" Escobar said, eying the van she'd arrived in.

"Two bar-coded super-kitties, drugged and trussed for your pleasure."

Escobar motioned for his men to open the van doors, then he stepped up and looked inside to see a male and a female, age early twenties, lying bound in chains and unconscious on the floor.

A wicked smile crept across the dark complected face. "If they're what you say they are, Miss Rollins," he said, "I'll be able to breed my own army."

"I thought you wanted them for re-sale," Syd said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"That was the initial plan," Escobar said. "But plans change. Besides," he added, looking more closely at Max as she lay sleeping. "This tom and bitch are too beautiful to simply sell -- at least not before I experience the pleasure of their ownership personally."

Syd tried to tell herself the man didn't mean what she thought he meant -- but the look in his glittering black eyes was unmistakable as he shifted his gaze to Alec, and the agent realized she might need to protect her transgenic charges in more ways than one.

"Do what you want with them," Syd shrugged. "I don't give a damn. To me they're just money. And it was two million -- each -- wasn't it?"

"As agreed," Escobar said, still smiling. "And you'll be paid as soon as my doctors conduct their tests and verify that these are, indeed, X5s from Manticore."

"Oh, they're X5s, all right," Syd said. "Trapped them myself at Terminal City. Check their bar codes if you want. In fact, they're two of the best specimens left alive, 452 and 494. You can find their files in the New Manticore database and do a DNA match -- that is if you're capable of hacking into it."

"That's already been done," Escobar said, waving a hand as if the task of cracking into a super secret organization's computer banks was an everyday chore for him.

He motioned for his men to collect his purchase. Then, as Max and Alec were manhandled onto gurneys, he turned to Syd and offered her his arm. "And while the tests are being conducted, you'll be my guest. I think you'll find that, in spite of the military atmosphere around here, there are also amenities fit for royalty. Although of course," he added, "you'll need to leave your arsenal behind." He looked meaningfully at the Glock pistol holstered on Syd's belt.

Smiling, she handed the gun to one of Escobar's men, then accepted his arm, following as the two drugged and helpless X5s were wheeled into the impregnable mountain fortress.

*****

"Alec!"

Alec rolled his head to one side, away from the voice and the annoyingly bright light trying to penetrate his closed eyelids.

"Alec!"

This time his name was accompanied by a pair of hands roughly shaking him.

"Alec, wake up!"

"Lemme sleep," he slurred, shrugging off Max's attempts to rouse him.

"She gave you a bigger dose than me," Max muttered. Then suddenly the other X5's administrations weren't quite so tender. "Wake up smart ass!" she shouted, slapping him on the cheek.

As his head snapped sideways, Alec forced his eyes open, blinked, than reached out and latched onto his mate's wrist, bringing her second swing to an abrupt halt.

"I'm awake ... now," he said. Then he swallowed and winced. His mouth tasted like an army had camped in it overnight, and his throat was sore.

"Alec," Max said for the fourth time, seemingly intent on wearing out the name she'd given him. "You need to focus. Come on. Reboot that transgenic brain of yours. I need you."

"Okay, rebooting ... painfully," Alec groused as his thoughts backtracked. He was remembering, slowly -- Syd on the plane, being drugged ... He looked up and around. They were in a cell of course. He was lying on his back on a metal bench and Max was seated on the floor next to him. Surprisingly -- and truth be told to his extreme relief -- he was still wearing his clothes. It had been his experience in the past that transgenic prisoners were usually stripped naked by their captors -- an attempt to create a psychological vulnerability that, of course, didn't work with soldiers who'd been gang showering since they could toddle.

"Did they do anything to us while we were out?" he asked.

Max looked sharply up, and Alec's eyes followed hers to the camera in the corner of the room outside their cell. Apparently they weren't alone -- which meant they had to keep up the act.

"I don't think so," Max replied. "That bitch betrayed us -- said she was giving us medicine to treat our seizures and now suddenly we wake up ... here."

"Where's here?" Alec asked -- a logical question from a prisoner.

Max shrugged. "Beats me. No one's bothered giving me the grand tour. Where's a good concierge when you need one anyway?"

"Reds?" Alec said, venturing what would be a logical guess. "Koreans maybe?"

"Lots of people want our DNA, Alec," Max said snidely. She shrugged leather clad shoulders elaborately in apparent resignation. "We'll just have to wait and see if we can beat the best asking price and buy our way out of this mess." She eyed the camera. "Hopefully," she added in a louder voice, "someone will be coming to enlighten us soon. How do you feel?"

"Like my DNA is unwinding as we speak," Alec said a tad bit sharply, raising himself up on one elbow. The groan the movement elicited was genuine, not part of his act. "That was one hell of a knockout. My head is killin' me." Max shot him a look and he added quietly, "I'll be fine. You?"

"Apparently didn't get the megadose you did," Max said. "But my head feels like it's about to fall off too."

Alec moved over, making room for Max on the bench Then, leaning into each other for comfort and warmth (it was nearly freezing in the cell), the two X5s set in to wait for their CIA handler to make the next move.

*****

It's about fuckin' time, Alec's eyes flashed at Syd when she finally came through the door with Escobar in tow several hours later.

However, he kept silent, merely glaring at the woman like a true prisoner would.

Max, her head tilted at a haughty angle, regarded the CIA operative balefully and sniffed her disdain for the whole situation.

"Mature, healthy, X5-Units," Escobar said admiringly, crossing bare tattooed arms in front of his equally inked chest. Not a very tall man, the bald, mustached terrorist was showing off his lean muscles to the best advantage, wearing only a loose canvas vest with no shirt underneath, and a low-slung pair of urban-camoflauge khakis. Accessories included combat boots and a brace of pistols weighing down his thin hips.

"They're worth millions," Syd said, hiking herself casually up on the senior guard's desk and crossing one leg over the other while she, too, admired the specimens. Pushing a lock of brown hair away from her face, she took a cigarette out of a pocket and lit it. "Have you got the test results back yet?" she asked.

Escobar grinned toothily. "My scientists say they're the real thing. The DNA checked out." He was eying Alec especially closely. "That one," he said, pointing a finger at the male X5. "Must have been hell to catch."

Syd shrugged. I just separated 'em from the herd, told 'em the shot was a new long-term drug for their seizures, then kept 'em drugged for the trip. Not so difficult. Transies are smart, but they're hardly infallible."

Escobar stepped forward.

"Don't get too close to the bars," Syd warned. "You and your people aren't trained to handle X5s." A little smile. "They're not human, you know. That one--" She indicated Alec with her chin. "--could tear your head off with one hand if he wanted to."

"Do you want to kill me, kitty-cat?" Escobar said softly, stopping just out of arm's reach of the bars.

Alec, still slouched nonchalantly on the bench with Max leaning into him, blinked once and regarded his captor with baleful hazel-green eyes, but said nothing, refusing to play the game

The terrorist glanced briefly at Max, then his glittering dark eyes centered on Alec again. "I'm betting you've been fucking this bitch, eh amigo? I mean, a gorgeous tom like you and a pretty pussy like her ..." He turned around and looked at Syd. "A breeding pair?"

Syd shrugged again. "Wouldn't know about that. Why? Does it matter? You want 'em to have kittens or something?" She grinned lasciviously. "Or maybe you just wanna watch 'em while they do it."

"Not really," Escobar said. "Although, I bet that would be a show. It's just that if he cares about her, and vice-a-versa, it might make them easier to handle. As for the actual breeding ..." He turned his attention back to Alec. "We have ways of doing that, with or without their cooperation."

But then he shook his head. "I've read all the reports on the X5s, both the public ones, and the classified data we downloaded from New Manticore's mainframe. It's still hard to believe that such pretty looking young things are actually deadly bio-warfare weapons. I bet their owners had a shit-fit when they realized their precious creations weren't quite as obedient as they were supposed to be."

The man shrugged elaborately, an almost comical expression on his cruel face. "I mean, what are you gonna do when you create the perfect weapon but the thing has a pesky personality?" To Alec, "Your carcass was owned flesh, bone, and brain cell by your masters at Manticore, boy. But somewhere along the way you got the notion that beautiful expensive package you're wearing ought to belong to you. You began fantasizing that you owned those extra strong muscle fibers and the over-sized heart that pumps all those pleuropotents and stem cells through your veins ... that you had some say in your existence."

Escobar smiled again, baring teeth. "But now, you see, you and the bitch belong to me ... just like you used to belong to Lydecker. You'll never be free again. Every cell ... every DNA strand ... your pretty ass ... All mine. And, unless the two of you want to watch the other suffer unspeakable pain and torment ... mutilation even ... you'll jump to the moon to obey my orders and give me your every cooperation."

Alec, who was actually getting quite bored, yawned, then shook his head in amusement, and for the first time smiled himself -- a brief twitch of his full lips as he met Escobar's glittering eyes, as unimpressed as he'd ever been in his life. Afterall, the best scientists in the world had spent years trying to destroy his sense of self ... brainwash out of him all independent-thinking and desires. Manticore had failed. A pro at enduring torture, X5-494 had survived their worst intact. This idiot couldn't touch him, or Max either for that matter.

Escobar stared at the male X5-Unit who was so brazenly defying him with silence. "That one," he said quietly to Syd, "has power in his eyes. He's going to be trouble. He's been rogue too long."

"It's not the kid's temperament you're paying for," Syd said nastily. "It's his spunk and DNA. Do we have a deal or not? The asking price is two million -- each."

"And if I simply decide to kill you and keep them anyway, Miss Rollins?" Escobar said easily.

Syd took a puff on her cigarette and blew smoke at the low ceiling. "Then you lose an excellent source of future Manticore bio-technology. There's more where these came from -- all kinds of specialized transhuman Units, not to mention the later models ... X6s who had the seizure disorder and the attitude bred out of 'em ... X7s that have hive minds ... X8s that are part bird and were created for work in outer space ... The possibilities are endless, and they'll all go away if you kill me."

"Point taken," the tattooed terrorist said smoothly. "We have a deal then." He offered Syd his hand to shake.

"So, you're keeping them yourself?" she said, accepting the hand.

"Yes."

"Even though you could broker them for twice what you're paying?"

"I have my own plans for these beauties, Miss Rollins."

"An army of supersoldiers?" Syd guessed.

He didn't answer her.

"Not that it matters to me," she concluded, hopping off the desk. "I'll be taking my money then."

"Tomorrow morning," Escobar said. "I don't keep that kind of cash lying around, since you refused an electronic transfer."

"Tomorrow's fine," Syd said carefully, with a quick look at her two transgenic charges.

Which meant, Alec knew, that the job would be going down tonight. Personally, he couldn't wait. He'd had enough of being locked in a cage already in his short lifetime.

"Which leaves us the evening for social amenities and pleasant conversation," Escobar said, suddenly the charming host again as he offered Syd his arm. "I have an excellent chef on the premises. I think you'll find his roast pheasant a culinary delight."

Syd conjured an interested look on her face and accepted the arm. "Bye, kitties," she said over her shoulder as they left the room. "It's been nice knowin' you. Oh, and don't forget to use the litter box."

Alec glanced at a clock on the wall of the outside office and noted the time (they'd confiscated his watch) -- 8:32 p.m. Syd's use of the words "litter box" -- a prearranged signal -- had just told him that the job would be going down around midnight. When he and Max were alone again, he said softly (so any hidden mics or the guard taking up his assigned position behind the desk wouldn't pick up his words) "We're killin' that ass hole before we blow this pop stand, aren't we?"

"Absolutely," Max said equally softly as she snuggled in the male X5's arms.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec was actually having fun, locking eyes with Escobar's foot soldier who'd been assigned guard duty that evening -- his gaze never wavering from the South American lad's nervous face for the past half hour in a perverted game of "Quaker's Meeting." In Alec's experience, staring down an X5 was a feat accomplished only by the likes of Colonel Lydecker and a few of his officers with the balls and the authority to inflict extreme pain on defiant transgenics. The desk jockey outside the cell had neither very big testicles nor power other than the gun he was carrying, and it was humorous watching the boy slowly melt down under the pressure of an X5 leaning on him.

It was five minutes before midnight when the outer door opened and Syd waltzed through. Dressed in a slinky dark blue cat suit with her hair swept up in a gold butterfly clip that showed off her slender neck to great advantage, she looked like she'd just gone AWOL from a fancy party.

The guard looked up, but the question on his tongue froze as the small dart embedded itself in his right shoulder. He reached for the alarm button, however Syd's well-placed jump kick knocked him backwards over the chair and he was out like a light on the floor.

"The camera," Alec hissed, nodding in the direction of the video monitor in the corner.

"Bypassed by my people for the next half hour," Syd assured him. "I got them access to Escobar's system and they looped the cycle."

With Max on her feet at his side, Alec waited impatiently while the CIA agent unlocked the cell door.

"Come on," she said, gesturing toward the outside corridor. "The vault's two stories down, on the bottom level of the complex. "I can get you inside, but it's going to be up to you guys to figure out how to breach the final failsafes and make the switch."

The plan was for them to substitute a vial of harmless viral material for the real virus. Hopefully, Escobar wouldn't discover the actual theft for quite awhile, and Syd would have slipped out long before then leaving their host to think it had been a failed attempt by the trio -- that she'd been forced to leave the transgenics behind when the plan had gone awry.

There weren't many guards in the complex at this late hour, and the two they encountered were quickly taken out by Alec and Max. Not bothering with niceties, Max broke her opponent's neck, while Alec settled for a knock-out punch to the jaw. "

What?" Max asked testily when Alec gave her a look for her ruthlessness. "Quick and easy. Collateral damage. It's a mission, remember? You pick now to get a conscience?"

"Lacking killer instinct," Alec shot back. "Remember my Manticore psych report."

"Yeah, you're a real teddy bear of an assassin," Max quipped.

Syd was looking puzzled at the exchange. "I thought he was put together to be a natural killer," she whispered to Max.

"With a little too much empathy in my cocktail," Alec said in his own defense. "I don't like killin' people in cold blood. Manticore kept tryin' to fix that little glitch in my system, but--" He shrugged. "What are ya gonna do?"

"Shut up," Max snapped. "We're here."

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Both transgenics had studied a detailed plan of the Olympus complex, and could have found their way around blindfolded if necessary. Two final guards stood in their way -- taken care of in less than five seconds by the X5s (non-lethally this time) -- and then Syd was at the access panel with a code breaker in hand. Listening to her ear mic, she nodded at silent instructions, and began cycling the decryption device while Alec and Max kept watch.

Thirty seconds later a series of lights turned green and there was the sound of a mechanism unlocking. Inside was another room, this one with a retina scan.

"Got a way around that mother?" Alec asked as the main door closed behind them, nervously still watching their backs. "As well as those heat detectors the schematics say are inside. Unless, of course, that's a cold suit in Max's size you're wearin'."

"My people have altered the detection levels on the monitors," Syd said easily. "Basal body temperatures won't set them off. What we have to worry about is the pressure sensitive floor and the final locking mechanism."

Max looked at Alec, an "uh-oh" in her eyes. "You gonna tell her, or am I?" she said.

"Tell me what?" Syd said, taking something out of her pocket -- a contact lens case.

"You didn't know?" Alec said. "That us transgenics have a higher metabolism than you humans?"

Syd stopped what she was doing and turned wide brown eyes up to the X5. "How high?"

"Three degrees." Alec held his arms out wide and beamed a big smile at her, secretly rather proud of the fact. "A hundred one point eight-- that is when I'm not excited or somethin'."

"Lord," Syd breathed, a flicker of panic crossing her pretty features. "How could we have missed that?"

"And here I thought you knew everything there was about my kind," Max said snidely.

Syd keyed the transceiver behind her ear. "Marshall, I need you to readjust the tolerance levels on the heat sensors. Make them at least three degrees higher." She listened a moment, then turned to Alec. "He says he can jack them up to a hundred and two. That's cutting it awfully close, so ... just don't get ...excited ... or something."

Alec raised an eyebrow.

Syd turned back to the retina scan. Putting a contact lens in her eye, she looked into the monitor and let out a sigh of relief when the next set of doors clicked open.

"When did you get Escobar's scan?" Max asked.

"When we were dancing this evening," Syd replied. She pointed to a lapel pin on her outfit. "Micro camera, and I had the contact manufacturing device concealed in the heel of my shoe."

"How James Bond of you," Alec drawled. "Nice to know the CIA takes their gadgetry seriously." His eyes flickered over her figure. "Got any other goodies concealed we should know about?"

"Hopefully none we'll need," Syd replied, ignoring Alec's slightly flirtatious attitude. She was, after all, 20 years older than this young stud -- not that the X5 wasn't attractive, but business was business, and he wasn't even human (hard as she found that to believe most of the time), not to mention probably already taken.

Max noticed Alec's admiration of their boss, and poked him in the ribs. "Eyes front, soldier," she hissed.

Alec caught himself and the corner of his lips quirked up in an apologetic little smile. "Sorry," he said to both ladies. "Bein' a one woman man isn't exactly my nature." And before Max could round on him he held up his hands defensively. "Bred into me, Max. Bred into me."

"Bred into you, hell," Max said under her breath. "More like you're just a typical male."

"Children," Syd said, her voice cold. She clapped her hands together. "No squabbling. Max, quit being jealous. Alec, get over yourself." She looked to the now open vault door. "Your turn. We've got--" She checked her watch. "-- fourteen minutes left."

*****

The virus was in a container ensconced and spotlighted on top of an eight-foot-tall dais in the middle of a cavernous room. The walls were pitch black, the surrounding floor panels (which began approximately eight feet in front of them) blinding white -- the combination of sharply contrasting non-colors giving Alec a headache as he assessed the situation. "Schematics say it's pressure sensitive," the X5 said, repeating out loud what they already knew.

"Marshall couldn't access this part of the security system," Syd said, her voice worried. "If there's weight on any of the floor panels for more than point three seconds, not only does the alarm go off, but the building locks down."

Alec's vision zoomed in on the container, studying the situation. Max, her dark eyebrows slightly furrowed, was also pondering the problem.

"All right," Alec said a few seconds later, his voice almost ridiculously confident and nonchalant as he rubbed hands together in anticipation. He hadn't seen any alarm trips on the dais itself which had given him an idea. "Let's get this over with." He backed up to the vault door and took up a runner's stance.

"Wait, wait," Max said, alarmed. She grabbed his arm. "I'm fast enough. Are you sure you are?"

"To blur?" Alec said.

"Yeah."

Alec shrugged. "Probably," he said. "But that wasn't what I had in mind."

Max didn't understand. Neither did Syd, who was watching her two charges closely.

"Then what are you--?"

"Watch and learn, Maxie," Alec smirked. And then, feline muscles coiling, he took off from the door like a transhuman rocket.

Max thought Alec was going to simply blur over the panels, taking his chances that he would be fast enough to not trigger the weight sensitive alarm. But instead, when he reached the edge of the white panels he broad jumped far, long (a good 25 feet), and right on target.

Syd gasped, first with horror -- then with relief -- when she saw the male X5 land lightly and safely on top of the dais like the cat he part was, crouching low and keeping his balance easily.

His smirk even bigger, Alec then held out his arms to Max. "Come on, sweetheart," he said, his voice echoing slightly across the empty room. "Piece of cake."

"Here," Syd said, pressing a test tube containing the fake virus into Max's hand. "For the switch."

Max, looking slightly annoyed, but not to be outdone by her precocious mate, pocketed the vial, then backed up, ran, and followed Alec's leap.

She almost made it, her feet touching the edge of the dais. But then, arms flailing, she started to fall backwards. However, a pair of strong hands were suddenly around her waist and then she was safe beside her partner.

"Thanks," Max muttered.

"You're welcome," Alec said lightly. "Now, let's finish the job so we can all go home."

It took two -- in synchronicity -- to work the combination locks located on either side of the container, the only way to free the vial without setting off an alarm.

"Race ya," Alec said as he looked down at the mechanism.

"Slow and steady, Alec," Max reprimanded him. "And don't mess it up."

"Hey," he said defensively. "Just 'cause you've got a longer cat burglar background than me doesn't mean I can't crack a safe."

"Just remember the first tumbler is only the set point," Max reminded him. "The second is the real deal."

"Noted," Alec said, his voice more serious now. "Ready?"

"Set," Max said.

"Go."

Together, in near perfect coordination, the two transgenics worked the lock mechanisms as they crouched on the dais, their sensitive hearing picking up the sound of the tumblers falling into place as they dialed through the combinations. Five ... six ... seven digits ... and Alec knew he was done. Anxiously looking over at Max, he saw her reach the last number as well, and -- the locking clamps on the vial fell open.

"Bingo," Alec said, reaching for the container.

"Wait," Max said nervously. "We have to be really, really careful. If any of this virus get out ...

"I know, I know. End of the world. I'm good Max." Alec held out a hand. "Steady as a rock."

"Together then," Max said.

Working like the team they were, the X5s slowly pulled apart the halves of the container, revealing a glass test tube filled with liquid inside. Max took out the identical vial from the pocket of her vest.

"How'd they know what to dummy up?" Alec asked.

"They've got someone who used to be inside probably," Max replied. "Someone who knew what the virus container looked like."

"Make the switch then," Alec said, for the first time beginning to feel nervous. Time was racing. Soon that looped tape in the cell would end, or else someone might discover the unconscious guards even though they'd concealed them in a storage room and janitorial closet.

As deft as Indiana Jones, Max plucked the real virus out of the container and set the fake in place.

Which is when the room plunged into pick blackness and an ear-piercing klaxon alarm went off.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"Shit!" Alec shouted, looking desperately around, his night-vision struggling in the sudden transition to nearly complete darkness. Even cats needed some small amount of light in order to be able to see.

"Syd!" Max shouted.

"Come on!" their handler yelled. "We've got to get out of here!"

Not worried about pressure panels now since they were already so thoroughly screwed, Max and Alec leaped down from the tall dais and sprinted across the room where they could vaguely make out the still open vault door. Pushing Syd ahead of them into the outer room, they all heard the sound of running feet approaching.

"I can't see," Syd said, her voice edged with panic as she fumbled for a flashlight.

"We can," Alec assured her, breathing hard. "But a weapon would help."

Sydney pulled a Taser wand out of a hidden inner pocket of the cat suit, at the same time thumbing on a small pencil flash.

"Good girl," Alec said with a big smile -- a smile that froze on his face as he saw the wand swinging toward him.

"What the--!"

The last thing he heard was Max screaming "You bitch!" as pain lanced through every nerve fiber in his enhanced X5 body and his brain synapses shut down.

*****

Alec knew he was in really big trouble the second he opened his eyes. In a room that stank of mildew, and with a background noise of dripping water, he was hanging by his arms from a hook in the ceiling. Going by the cramps in his shoulders, he figured he'd been strung up like this for at least an hour -- time enough for the manacles encircling his wrists to dig painfully into his skin. Turning his head with difficulty, he wasn't surprised to see Max similarly displayed next to him -- awake, but looking quite a bit worse for wear. What he was surprised to see was Syd standing next to Escobar, the two humans regarding the X5s with subtle smiles on their faces.

"Bitch," Alec said softly, echoing Max's earlier sentiment. "Fucking bitch."

"You wish, pretty boy," Syd said easily. "And don't deny that you'd like to get that genetically enhanced tool of yours up my skirt. I may be old enough to be your mom, but I know when a guy's flirting with me." She regarded him a moment with amusement. "What? You thought if you made nice ... seduced the double agent ... you'd have everything under control?"

Alec looked sideways at Max and managed a shrug in spite of the shackles. "Hey, it was worth a try," he said to his mate. "You didn't trust her either. And besides ..." He glanced down at himself ... at his beautiful body. "What can I say? Look at me. I can't just shut this down."

"Maybe you should've tried your 'unique creature' line on her," Max said sarcastically. "Then we both could have watched her 'melt' instead of havin' her hit us with that Taser."

"Bottom line, Alec -- I don't sleep with little boys," Syd said easily, linking her arm through Escobar's. "I prefer men. Human men."

The terrorist, who had yet to say a word, beamed down at his new girlfriend. "It's a good thing you decided to check up on my newest acquisitions," the man said. "If you hadn't been right behind them, they might have done some major damage -- beyond killing my jail guard and several others that is. However did we miss that lethal dart gun he had concealed?" He regarded her easily. "So, you say you believe now they allowed themselves to be captured on purpose, so they could break into my vault and steal the virus?"

"The transgenics want to use it to wipe out the human race," Syd said. "They're smart ... really smart ... which is also how they hacked into your computer systems and bypassed the alarms." She favored Alec and Max with a sly smile. "They fooled both of us, Pedro."

Alec's head was reeling, and from more than the after-effects of the shock. Narrowing his eyes, he looked closely at Syd, trying to sense ... something. What game are you playing, lady?

However, before his aching brain could come up with a plausible answer, Escobar motioned to one of his guards who'd been standing by holding a hose. The water that hit Alec was icy cold, making him gasp. After several seconds of dousing, the stream was turned off.

The X5 soldier knew exactly what was going to happen next. "Aw, for the love of--"

"Shut up," Max hissed.

"You don't want damaged goods, do you?" Alec tried.

Escobar smiled rather paternally at him. "What I want is an obedient pair of kitties. The two of you have to be disciplined."

"And I'm so glad to do the honors," Syd said. She held up the Taser wand. "These animals betrayed me as much as they betrayed you." Dialing the prod down to an intensity that would invoke pain but not cause unconsciousness, she walked up to Alec.

"No!" Max shouted. "Don't. Alec's not kidding. You know about our weakness ... the seizures. Another jolt of electricity this soon after being taken down earlier could kill him!"

Syd turned a cocky grin on the female X5. "I thought so," she said softly.

"Thought what?" Max said.

"That he's more to you than just a partner, flirtatious nature aside."

Max, not having meant to give that away, visibly paled, and Alec closed his eyes. I'm cooked, literally, he thought to himself, bracing himself for the agony.

Coming closer to him, Syd leaned in and, in a very quiet voice, said, "Yes or no? -- You can go ten days without food or water?"

Alec's eyes opened to slits, and he shook his head "no" almost imperceptibly. "Different model," he said with equal softness. "I'm not enhanced that way. Try six, bitch."

"Six days? Max too?" Syd said, sotto voce.

Alec, brow furrowed now in puzzlement, wondering why the hell he was having this conversation -- nodded.

"That's too bad," the lady replied, for some reason sounding rather sad at the news.

Then his turn-coat handler touched his side with the crackling blue-arcing tip of the wand -- and he screamed.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Max thought that part of it was an act -- Alec's full-throated cries of agony -- or at least she hoped it was. Manticore had taught them that, if tortured, go ahead and let the enemy think they were hurting you really badly ... scream ... plead ... offer to tell them anything ... make them think you'd been broken. That way -- wrongly figuring they'd won -- they'd get careless.

The X5 writhed in his shackles as Syd applied the current to Alec's heaving chest, the taut muscles of his stomach and abdomen plainly visible through the wet t-shirt, the tendons of his arms and throat cording. Max wanted to cover her ears, but of course she couldn't. The sound of a man screaming had always bothered her tremendously. But the fact that it was Alec -- the guy she was in love with -- made it a thousand times worse.

Max also knew she was probably next. However, much to her surprise, when Syd had finished with Alec ... when he was hanging limp and incoherent in his chains ... the rogue CIA agent stepped back with a smug satisfied smile on her pretty face.

"That should teach them a lesson," she said, pocketing the Taser wand.

"What about the female?" Escobar asked, frowning.

"She saw what the male went through," Syd replied. "494's the strongest. He's the one who had to be broken. Besides, 452 was right about one thing. We don't really want to damage them. She, especially, might be vulnerable to the current, and she's already had one dose today." The CIA agent looked at the terrorist. "I mean, what if the bitch is pregnant? It's a possibility you know."

Escobar nodded. "You're right. We can't risk it, at least not until they've both had thorough physical examinations." He raked Alec's limp body with his gaze. "For now, I think they've been subdued."

*****

Alec waited until he was fairly certain he and Max were alone before cautiously opening his eyes, lifting his head, and flexing tingling fingers in the cuffs, trying to get some circulation back.

"You all right?" Max hissed at him.

The X5 shook his head and peered over at her through long strands of dark blond hair that had fallen into his eyes. "Just give me a minute to recover," he mumbled, feeling decidedly sick on his stomach, not to mention as if the top of his head was about to explode.

"That's what you always say," Max quipped, both the double-entendre and her sarcasm good-natured, the sympathy evident in her eyes and tone of voice. After all, he'd endured a lot on this mission and enough was enough. The guy's seemingly irrepressible humor -- not to mention his oh-so-fine genetically engineered body -- had to have limits.

Limits that apparently hadn't been reached yet.

Alec favored her with a wry look. "You complainin'?"

"Not at all," she said, the smile genuine this time. "I'm just glad you're all right." She looked up at the ceiling where the chains were looped over hooks. "Can you get out of this? I think my shoulder's dislocated."

"You always expect more from me, don't you?" Alec said, tsk-tsking Max's question. "Oh well. I'll give it a try."

"You always say that, too," Max muttered.

Alec smirked, even as he wrapped still numb fingers around the chains and did a pull-up, bringing his bare feet up (they'd taken his shoes) and wrapping ankles around the hook above his head. Once he had the pressure off his arms, it was easy to unloop the chain. Completing the back flip, he landed gracefully on his feet in a cat stance. However, before he could lift Max off of her own hook, there was a sound at the wooden door that led into the chamber.

Shit. He'd forgotten about video cameras.

However, the first guard who came charging through made a mistake. He got too close. Blurring, Alec wrenched the gun out of the man's hand, shot him in the head, then hugged the sagging body, using it as a shield as he pumped more rounds into the rest of the soldiers as they rushed in.

Like shooting fish in a barrel, Alec took the enemy down one-by-one -- and for a few seconds thought he actually might survive. But then he heard something. Whipping his head around, hazel-green eyes widened with horror as he saw Escobar himself pointing a Glock pistol directly at Max's temple.

With chagrin, Alec realized his fatal error. There was a second door to the chamber, back in the far left corner, that the terrorist had sneaked through. Lydecker would have my head for a goof like this, the X5 thought as most of his soldier-mind raced to calculate a way out of the mess.

"Put down the weapon and surrender, or she dies," the terrorist said calmly.

Alec looked desperately at his partner.

Max shook her head no. Save yourself, he saw in her eyes.

I don't want to live without you, his own wry resigned look told her.

"Ass hole," Max said ever-so-softly as Alec dropped the soldier's body, put the gun down on the floor, and raised hands in surrender.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

X5-494 was actually rather surprised that Escobar didn't simply string him up again and finish off the electrocution. However, apparently the terrorist was tired of playing with his new toys -- either that or he didn't want to risk another escape scenario. Both of the transgenics were escorted under heavily armed guard back to their original cell.

"Don't worry," Escobar said, standing a safe distance from the bars. "You will pay for that heroic little stunt of yours." His eyes lasciviously raked Alec's body from head to toe. "And your girlfriend is going to get to watch. You see, usually I like fucking women. However, what's that expression? All cats are grey in the dark? And you really are tight-ass pretty." He looked back over one shoulder. "But first, I have some business to take care of. So, as they say in your country ... later."

"Max," Alec said when their captor had left. "I think we're really, really in trouble."

"Word," Max agreed, pacing the length of the cell -- beyond caring about the listening guard, hidden microphones, and cameras. "That bitch hung us out to dry. But I don't understand her game. I mean, does Syd want the virus, or did she intend all along to just sell us to the highest bidder, take the money, and run? Why the elaborate charade of stealing the germ?"

Alec, seated indian-style on the bench, shook his head, as much in the dark as she was. "Too bad I didn't have more time to work on the lady," he said ruefully. "I really think I might've been able to charm my way into her confidence."

"Give it up, Alec," Max snorted. "Like she said, she's old enough to be your mother, not to mention those genetically enhanced good looks of yours don't turn as many feminine heads as you so egotistically think they do. Not every woman you meet wants to jump your bones, Alec -- myself the perfect example. It only took me what? A year to think of you as anything more than the biggest jerk in the world?"

"Can I help it if you were blinded to my oh-so-gorgeous self by temporary insanity that made you think the sun rose and set according to Logan Cale?" Alec shot back.

Max rolled her eyes. "Oh please ..." But then she looked slyly at him. "Nice try back there though," she admitted. "You almost made it. I thought that second door was locked from the inside or I would have said something."

"Try being the operative word," Alec said ruefully. "What was it they used to drill into us as kids back at Manticore? 'Don't try. Do.' I seem to remember that 'try' got me thrown in solitary a time or two. And why the hell was Syd askin' me how long we could go without food and water? How's the shoulder, by the way?" he added in the same breath, switching subjects in mid thought.

"Popped back in by itself," Max said, rubbing the joint. "I'm resilient that way."

Alec looked up at her, then reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her pacing. "You're resilient in a lot of ways, Max," he said. "Moreso 'n me. In fact, you're amazing, and I don't deserve you." He was about to pull her close for a kiss, but was distracted by a sound from the outer cell area.

Syd, her arms full of small boxes, walked in and stood by the desk, looking in at them with an air of disdain. "They haven't been fed," she said to the guard. "Pedro doesn't want their condition to deteriorate before his lab boys have a chance to take them apart." She looked down at what she was carrying. "He says they'll do fine on field rations but their metabolism's high so I brought several servings for each of them."

The soldier, a middle-aged Spanish man with a pockmarked face, merely looked bored. "Go ahead and feed the animals then," he said in a thickly accented voice.

Moving a lot closer to the bars than her own advice had warranted, Syd looked in on the pair of X5s who were regarding her coolly.

"Come to gloat?" Max said. "I mean, you pulled off a bio-weapon hat trick. Two top-of-the-line Manticore hotties and and a test tube full of nasty bugs, although why you're helping that piece of shit Escobar I don't understand." She cocked her head. "What's in it for you?"

"You mean besides millions of dollars?" Syd said haughtily. A little smile. "And my freedom?"

Alec shook his head sadly. "Lady, you have no idea what you're gettin' into by doin' this. Lydecker's not one to let go of his kids easily. He'll come after us, and either get us back for Manticore, or else see to it that there's nothin' left of our genetically enhanced bodies but a pile of ashes. That son-of-a-bitch's worst nightmare is havin' one of his precious Units fall into enemy hands. Don't think that Manticore's primary directive's changed just because the administration has."

"You never quit, do you, Alec?" Syd said gently. She tossed the boxes of rations through the bars -- eight meals of highly preserved protein and carbohydrates meant for field combat use. "Enjoy your snack," she said. "But don't be greedy and eat it all at once. You never know how long it'll be before Pedro feels like feeding you again."

Alec looked at her, his head cocked to one side and brows slightly knit, but he didn't ask.

However, Max had one last thing to say. "You're gonna pay for this betrayal, Syd. One way or another, you're gonna pay."

"Promises, promises," Syd said with a little laugh as she turned on her heel and left the containment area.

*****

It was just before dawn (at least according to the clock on the wall) when the telephone ringing on the guard's desk jolted Alec awake. Max and her Sleepless in Seattle genetics (as Alec teasingly called it) -- who'd been sitting on the floor beside the bench where her partner was stretched out -- grabbed his hand, signaling silence.

"I'll be right there," the guard said, his voice oddly strained. "Just make certain the lower five tiers are locked down tight so it can't spread." And without so much as a backward glance at the prisoners, the obviously worried soldier bolted from the room.

Several hours passed. Surprisingly, no new guard came to take the old one's place. Left to their own devices, Max and Alec thoroughly checked out the cell and all possibilities of escape. However, the cage was well built, the bars thick steel, the walls solid.

Hungry, Alec broke open one of the field meals Syd had brought and began munching on a soy bar. "Tastes like crap," he said cheerfully. "Want some?" With a dazzling smile, he generously offered Max a bite.

Max shook her head.

"Seriously, Max, you need to eat ... keep up your strength 'cause you never know when--"

"Shut up."

"Seven hours, eleven minutes," Alec said.

"What?"

"That's how long it's been since you told me to shut up about somethin'. Almost a record. Does this tell you how bored I am?"

"Shut up," she repeated, ignoring his inane chatter. Max then held up her hand. "Listen," she said in a hushed voice. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Alec asked. But then he, too, concentrated, listening for what his partner was hearing. And then there it was -- something that sounded like low moans way off in the distance ... crying even ... punctuated by an occasional wail of anguish or pain.

"It's coming through the air vent," Max said, looking up at the small grate that let air circulate in their cell.

Alec's eyes flew to the clock. "Max," he said, "we haven't seen hide nor hair of a guard in hours. That ain't normal."

Which is when Max turned to him, her beautiful face deathly white. "Oh my God," she whispered. "You don't suppose--"

Alec was right there with her. "--that they're sick?" he said in an equally hushed voice. "That the virus got out?"

"If it did," Max said, "the compound bio-hazard sensors would detect the foreign substance and automatically shut down the exits -- the doors sealing for a pre-set number of hours ... days ... weeks ..." Her voice trailed off.

"So no one could get out and spread the nasty stuff," Alec added. Hazel-green eyes big and wide with worry turned up toward the ventilation grate. "Max, that virus is airborne."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Max snapped. "Stop breathing?"

Alec was staring at the blank wall, concentrating, eyes slightly out of focus, calling up in his mind the pages of briefing he and Max had gone over on the plane, trying to picture what he'd read about the Zyscinor variant Escobar had.

"It's real similar to the virus Manticore put in me when they wanted to kill Logan," Max said. Dr. Shankarr once told me that bad boy was a Zyscinor strain, and that I carried antibodies for it -- antibodies Manticore bred into me ... supposedly into all of us."

"So, we're probably immune?" Alec asked hopefully.

Max shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not." She looked at the grate. "But I have a feeling we're gonna find out soon just how revved up our immune systems really are."

"Nausea," Alec said uneasily, his eidetic memory suddenly pulling up the information that he'd read. "Vomiting ... stomach cramps ... internal bleeding ... high fever ... skin lesions ..." He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, telling himself he didn't really feel sick on his stomach. "At the end the organs start to liquefy, the cells bursting. You go blind ... your brain melts ... It ain't pretty, Max."

"Neither is starving to death," Max said. "Even if we survive the virus, we're trapped in here, Alec ... maybe for weeks or even months."

Alec glanced down at the half-eaten soy bar he was still holding in one hand, and suddenly the light dawned. "She knew," he said. "Syd knew this was gonna happen -- that the complex was gonna be shut down and we'd be trapped for a long period of time, provided we survived the disease of course. That's why she asked me how long we could go without food or water." He held up the protein bar. "And that's why she tossed the rations in here." He looked over at the stainless steel sink mounted on the wall next to the chemical toilet. "At least we have water."

"So long as the pumps keep working," Max said darkly. Then she held out her hand for the food he'd offered her earlier. "I think I better eat one of those, too," she said.

"You think she's out there dying?" Alec asked as Max accepted a packet of the rations.

"If she knew the virus was going to be released, she might have had an escape plan," Max said. "If not, she's as good as dead and it doesn't really matter."

"I think she'd have gotten us out if she could have," Alec said. "I know the original plan was for Escobar to sell us back to our own people. But that plan went south when old Pedro decided to keep the transies for himself."

"She must have had a plan B," Max said as she chewed on the dry soy meal.

"Max," Alec said quietly. "I think this is plan B. Although turnin' us in and pretendin' to be a double agent was probably spur of the moment strategy." He smiled a little bit. "Lydecker would appreciate what Syd did, ruthless bastard that he is. Use your own people to cover your ass for the greater good of the mission -- typical Manticore thinking."

Suddenly, Alec realized that the sounds coming through the grate were growing louder ... more tortured ... and that Max, although valiantly trying to hold it in, was silently crying.

"Come here," he said quietly, holding out his arms.

With a nod, Max crawled into her lover's embrace, Alec's gentle living breath in her hair and the warmth of his body stilling her shudders. Then, huddled together, hands covering their ears, they began their helpless, hopeless vigil, trying not to hear as the Olympus complex moaned and screamed and died around them ... waiting to see if death would claim them as well.

*****

Colonel Donald Lydecker

"Is there a chance they're immune to the virus?" Sydney Bristow asked.

Looking a bit more haggard than the last time she'd seen him, Colonel Donald Lydecker raised tired eyes, regarding her balefully from across his desk at the Seattle office of New Manticore. Located in a building on the outskirts of Terminal City, this was where he conducted business with his former "kids" -- recruiting soldiers of various breeds for independent missions.

"Is there any chance at all?" she pressed when he didn't answer. "Could they be alive?"

Lydecker looked down at a report in front of him -- information FAXed from the main New Manticore base in North Dakota regarding the genetic immunological status of X5-494 and X5-452. "According to my science people," he said, "yes, there's a chance the two Units could be immune to Zyscinor #15 strain. They were made genetically resistant to over a dozen bio-warfare bugs, including Zyscinor #3, 8, and 9. However, we can't be certain the immunity carries over into the higher versions."

"But it could," Syd pressed. "Max and Alec might be all right."

"The CIA triggered the lockdown of Olympus and the release of the virus nine days ago, right?" Lydecker said. "When your initial attempt to acquire the bug failed?"

"There was an independent security component in their system that we missed," Syd said, making certain the colonel understood the blame was on her people, not his. "All I could do was bluff. I pretended to 'capture' the transgenics who I said must have been contracted to steal the virus and had fooled me into getting them into Olympus. I knew what was going to happen next. And I also knew I couldn't get them out." Sincere brown eyes locked onto Lydecker's. "I got food to them, and they've had water so long as the pump system kept working. Shutdown is for ten days, ending tomorrow. If they've been smart, and careful, with their capacity for long-term deprivation they could have stretched the food. I would have come to you sooner, but my agency wouldn't let me until now. They didn't want Manticore knowing what had really happened. I could lose my security clearance over talking to you as it is."

Lydecker said nothing.

"Couldn't they be alive?" Syd demanded, her voice rising an octave. "Tell me they could have survived."

"It really doesn't matter if my kids have survived the virus and deprivation or not," the colonel finally said. He held out a memo for her. "This came in from The Committee this morning. The site has been ordered cauterized."

"They're going to burn them to death?" Syd said in a hushed tone as she read the directive. She raised her eyes to his. "Even though there are people -- all right, maybe not technically 'people' but transgenics -- in there who are probably alive and not infected, the military is going to torch the entire compound? Sir, there are over three thousand humans in there besides your two X5s. Alec and Max might not be the only survivors. Surely they'll send a decontamination team in to check before--"

"--flooding the tunnels with flammable gas then tossing in a match," Lydecker completed the scenario for her.

"You have some authority," Syd pleaded, placing both hands palms down firmly on his desk. "Use your resources, your clout ... pull in favors. You say your kids mean everything to you, so prove it."

Lydecker gave her a cynical weary smile. "You already have an inkling why I value Alec and Max so highly," he said. "But why are you so intent on saving them?"

The question brought Syd up short. She thought a moment, then said, "because they're good soldiers ... agents ... They've already had a helluva tough life, and they deserve to be treated better than this. Also, they're incredibly unique. The world will most likely never see X5s again."

"I don't know about that," Lydecker said quietly. "There's a breeding program you know."

"And Alec and Max are a breeding pair, right?" Syd said, pouncing on his words. "They must be incredibly valuable to your entire New Manticore program, not to mention important to Terminal City." She glanced out the window and across the street to the ominous high gates of TC. "You watched, didn't you?" she said. "Watched while Max and Alec became the leaders of their people, and while they slowly but surely fell in love with one another ... overcoming seemingly impossible odds ... fighting ... surviving ... It's like ... like a fairy tale. You can't want it to have a tragic ending. Those two deserve to live happily ever after. Max and Alec are the future of New Manticore and the future of Terminal City ... maybe even the future of mankind for all we know. You've got to save them, or at least try."

Lydecker was looking out the window as well, at the hustle and bustle that comprised the early morning atmosphere of Alec and Max's odd little world, seemingly unmoved by the agent's impassioned plea.

"Without their leaders, things won't go well for the others, will they?" Syd said. "You'll have a much harder time getting recruits for your missions, not to mention missing the expertise of your two top operatives. And the potential for X5 babies--"

"Stop," Lydecker said, holding up a hand. "Miss Bristow, you're preaching to the choir here. I want Max and Alec back safe and sound as much as you seem to."

"Then use your authority to make it happen!" she shouted.

Lydecker looked up at her, and this time the smile was more gentle. "I already have," he said. "A decontamination team is en route to Olympus as we speak. When the doors unlock tomorrow morning they'll do a sweep, checking for survivors, before the cauterization takes place. As you said, I can't afford to lose two of my best Units, although I assure you that you don't ever want to know exactly what 'favors' I had to call in to make this happen."

The relief that flooded Sydney Bristow was so great she collapsed into a chair.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Nine days into their living hell, the screams finally began to diminish -- everyone now infected ... everyone now almost dead. Not so, the stench of rotting flesh that had been wafting through their single air grate growing more pungent by the hour.

"It's ending," Max said wearily, reaching up to touch Alec's beard stubbled face from where she sat leaning against him on the bench. She envied him, really. Alec had slept through a great deal of the time while her own night-enhanced body wouldn't allow her the luxury of that kind of escape.

"I wonder how long before the doors open?" Alec said, his voice husky with dryness. Four days earlier the water had gone off (along with the main lights), the pumps and electrical grids apparently needing regular maintenance in order to keep operating -- maintenance that, of course, wasn't there any more.

"Another week maybe?" Max guessed She didn't have to say what they were both thinking. They might have some food left, but without water they couldn't make it that long. Three days ... four ... but not seven. And even if the main doors opened sooner, chances were the entire compound would be flushed with fire as soon as that happened, the CDC taking no chances that the virus could escape or be carried out by a survivor.

"We have a little," Alec said, indicating the empty food packets they'd used as water pouches 'just in case.' "If we ration--"

A sound at the door made them both jump, and suddenly Pedro Escobar was standing there -- or rather what was left of him -- all too visible in the red glow of the emergency lighting. His tattooed body covered with oozing open sores, his eyeballs liquefied, and blood dripping from his fingertips, the terrorist leader looked like something out of a Freddy Krueger horror movie.

"I thought I'd find the two of you still alive," the Colombian rasped. "I should have guessed your animal blood would be immune." He staggered forward toward the cell ... clutched at the bars. "Where's the key?" he muttered. "I'll have it you know ... every drop. Your filthy blood will save me."

Technically, Alec thought, the guy was right. Antibodies in Max's blood had once saved Logan from a modified strain of the Zyscinor virus, which meant it might work here as well. However, Escobar was, quite literally, a putrefying walking corpse -- way too far gone to be helped by anything now.

"The key's in the desk," Alec said calmly. "Let us out and we'll help you."

Escobar, hands held in front of himself, blindly fumbled his way to the desk and began searching drawers. "It's not here!" he screamed, sweeping everything off of the desktop in his rage.

"Look again!" Alec shouted ... desperate ... knowing this was their one chance to get out of the cell.

But instead, Escobar lurched to the bars and reached a bloody hand out to grab Max by the hair.

"Let go you piece of shit!" Max screamed at the unexpected assault, twisting in his grip.

"Let her go!" Alec roared.

But Escobar, even dying, wasn't a fool. He had a knife at Max's throat. "Now," he hissed, "I'll drink from the magic fountain ... drink so I can live!" He pressed on the blade ... began to draw it across skin even as Max coiled to strike a killing blow.

But it was Alec's powerful forearm that snaked out to embrace Escobar in a deadly embrace. Flexing muscles, the X5 tightened the sleeper hold. "One, two, three, four ..." Alec counted. The terrorist's blind eyes bulged and he gaped, struggling for air. "Five, six, seven..."

Alec waited another two seconds after feeling the man's body go limp, then he let go and Escobar slumped to the floor.

"Did you kill him?" Max breathed, touching the bloody scratch on her own throat."

"I hope not," Alec said sincerely. "We still need him to find that key."

However, when he checked for a pulse in the infected man's neck -- he found none.

"Shit!" Alec spat. Whirling, he lashed out in a vicious sidekick, hitting the cell door with his bare foot as if he could break through the steel. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" he screamed, beating on the bars now with his hands until blood began to run from his knuckles, his finely honed Manticore cool at last reaching the breaking point.

"Alec, stop!" Max implored, grabbing hold of his shoulders and dragging him back. "Don't! Don't hurt yourself! It's not gonna do any good."

And Alec did stop, closing his eyes, his shoulders shaking as the tears came. "I can't save you, Max," he sobbed, leaning now against the bars of their prison, head hanging, defeated. "I want to so bad ... but I can't save you. I'm supposed to be the hero, but I'm bein' half-assed about it. I didn't mean to kill him ..."

"Shhh," Max said, hugging him tightly from behind and resting her head against his heaving back. "You are a hero, Alec. A flawed one ... an ass hole of one ... but still a hero. We're in an impossible situation. You can't blame yourself. Maybe it's just our time to die."

Which is when Alec noticed the gun holstered on Pedro Escobar's waist.

*****

"The doors will open in half an hour," Syd said, adjusting her decontamination suit although still holding the rubber helmet in her hand. "The Army's giving the two of us one hour to sweep the complex, and then whether we're out or not, they're flooding it with gas and dropping the match."

"You say Max and Alec should be on the fifty level down, in the brig?" Lydecker said, tugging on his own neon yellow suit.

"Last time I saw them, yeah," Syd said. "Of course it would be nice if they managed to get out of the cell and were waiting at the front door, but we can't count on it."

"The portable airlock is almost ready," Lydecker said, indicating the activity at the entrance. "Let's get ready."

*****

Breathing hard, his hands shaking, Alec checked the clip on the Glock. Four rounds. Enough. They only needed two.

It was their only way out now, other than to die in agony of thirst or be burned to death.

Max was watching him closely, and he knew she was thinking about Ben, how his twin brother had begged her to kill him rather than let Manticore get hold of him again.

Alec also knew she saw in his eyes that he wasn't capable of this. In spite of his training as a soldier, as a so-called killing machine, he could never end the life of the woman he loved, and probably not his own either. It just wasn't in him. Lacking killer instinct ...

But it was in her. She'd done it before.

"Give me the gun," Max said, holding out her hand.

"Max," Alec said, half choking on her name. "No. I can--"

"No, you can't," she said. "Give me the gun."

"You hate guns," he whispered. "You could never--" She took it from him anyway, and he didn't try to stop her.

Raising the black barrel, she pointed the Glock at his chest, at his heart, fingers tightening on the trigger as tears streamed down her face.

Alec just watched her, holding his breath. She hesitated. "It's the only way, Maxie," he said softly. Let me ... His hand closed around hers.

"No," she said. "Just-- Don't look at me when I-- Close your eyes."

"I want you to be the last thing I see," he whispered.

That did it. "Alec!" she sobbed, dropping the gun to the cell floor and hugging him fiercely. "I can't! I can't do it again!"

Knowing it was up to X5-494 now, Alec reached for the weapon.

*****

Syd and Lydecker stood fully suited and ready to go inside the airlock as the time clicked down.

"Almost there!" one of the medical workers shouted through the airtight material of the tent.

There was a sudden grinding noise, and a monitor light that had been glowing red on the main Olympus door suddenly flickered green.

"Go!"

With a nod to his companion, Lydecker pressed a code into the now active keypad, the panel slid open, and he and the CIA agent stepped through into--

Hell.

Everywhere they looked lay corpses -- many literally piled against the door itself so they fell into the airlock when it opened. If they hadn't been using respirators, Lydecker knew the air, putrid with rot, would have been unbreathable. He thought about Max and Alec then ...

"There aren't going to be any human survivors," Syd said into her microphone as she surveyed the carnage. She pointed to a stairwell. "Main power's off line and so are the elevators. We'll have to walk down."

They'd reached the fourth sublevel when suddenly there was the sound of a single gunshot followed several seconds later by another one.

Syd looked at Lydecker, her eyes round and wide behind the plastic mask of her suit -- and then they were hurrying down the stairs as fast as they could, the tanks of oxygen on their backs clanking against the stone walls as they rounded corners.

The prison level ... and the door was open.

Stepping through first, Syd frantically searched the room ... the cell ...

"What took ya so long?" Alec drawled. Seated on the floor of the cage, his back against the wall with one leg drawn up to his chest and a Glock pistol dangling from his hand, the dark blond-bearded X5 looked like shit but was obviously very much alive.

Not so for Pedro Escobar whose disease-ravaged body lay just outside the bars with two bullet holes in his head.

"We heard you coming," Max said, looking up at them but not moving from where she was seated at Alec's side. "So did he." She indicated Escobar.

"Bastard was supposed to be dead," Alec groused. "I swear, he had no pulse. But then he grabbed Max's wrist." The X5 shuddered. "Truly creepy stuff, like a zombie or somethin'." He held up the gun. "Bet he doesn't come back to life any more, though."

"You heard us?" Syd clarified.

"We knew the lock-down was lifted," Alec said. "We heard the clamps releasing up above. Then we heard you guys on the stairs and knew our asses were rescued." Alec favored the colonel with a wry smile. "Good to see ya, Donald. This assignment has been so much fun. Thanks for rescuin' your two-million dollar agents." He cocked an eyebrow at Syd and snarked, "It was two million, each, wasn't it? That you were gonna pocket?"

"That was part of my cover," the CIA agent said. "I'm sorry I couldn't let you know about the contingency plan."

"You mean the one where you lock our asses inside a charnel house?" Max snapped.

"Hey," Syd said, defending her actions, "at least I convinced your colonel to come with me to get you out before the whole place goes up in flames."

"Come on," Lydecker said, unlocking the cell door with the key Escobar hadn't been able to find, but that had been in the top desk drawer the whole time. "The two of you will have to stay in isolation for at least five days, to make sure you don't exhibit symptoms of the virus, but I think we can safely say your X5 immune system has done its work."

Climbing stiffly to his feet and barely suppressing a groan, Alec held out a hand to his partner. "Come on, Maxie, let's blaze."

"Got that right," Max said, not so much as looking down at Escobar as she stepped over his body and headed for the cell block door.

*****

"So," Colonel Lydecker said, seated this time in his North Dakota office. "What did you think ... working with my kids?"

Two weeks had passed since the events at Olympus ... events the rest of the world would never know about now that the entire complex had been cleansed by fire. Max and Alec were once again ensconced in their Terminal City home, busy with their daily duties. Except for some minor dehydration, both transgenics had been given a clean bill of health after a five-day quarantine at the CDC, then been welcomed back with literal open arms by Joshua and their other Seattle clan brethren.

"They're brash, conceited, reckless, and don't follow orders very well is what I think," Syd said.

"And?" Lydecker prompted.

"They're also the most amazing people I've ever worked with," the CIA agent continued, her voice softening. "If I thought I had even the slightest chance of them agreeing, I'd add Alec or Max -- preferably both -- to my highest level team in an instant."

"People," Lydecker said. "You called them 'people.'"

"Why?" Syd asked. "Does it bother you? The fact that Manticore created not just the ultimate soldier in Alec and Max, but the ultimate person as well? Those two are wonderful, caring, brave, creative beings with probably better souls than you and I will ever have."

"Not really, Miss Bristow," Lydecker said, shaking his head at her naivete, but not in the mood to argue the DNA facts with her or point out that, no matter what they looked like on the outside, they weren't human -- something those who met his kids just couldn't seem to comprehend the way he did. "Not really."

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"Secret agendas aside, she saved our butts you know," Alec said. "The lady didn't hafta bother talkin' the military and CDC into lettin' us out before barbecuin' the place. She could have just kept her mouth shut and we'd have fried for convenience sake."

Sitting side-by-side on top of the Space Needle, he and Max were watching the sun set; the view breathtaking; the feeling -- free. He looked over at his companion, waiting for her to respond.

"I like her, too, Alec," Max said, seeing through his preamble to what he was really getting at. "But we need to be careful here. Syd might not mean to, but she's lookin' to use us as much as Lydecker is. We're a valuable commodity."

"Yeah," the X5 said with a yawn as he stretched aching shoulder muscles. "I know. It's a gift. Everyone wants me for somethin'." He cocked an eyebrow at Max and his voice dropped to a sexy suggestive tone. "Including you."

"Including me," Max agreed with a smile as she inched closer to her mate and let his lips claim hers.

THE END