*****

Alec & Max Photo courtesy of Jessica Alba Online

"Maybe I should leave," Alec offered. "Not for good," he quickly added. "Just until the heat's off. You know, hide out up north for awhile."

"No way," Max scolded as she snuggled deeper into the warmth of his arms. Sliding a bare leg along his beneath the blankets, she luxuriated in the feel of her mate's muscular nakedness pressed against hers, his body hair soft and wiry in all the right places to arouse.

He began to kiss her neck, his lips moving gently down the curve of her throat to her breasts.

"We stay together, no matter what," Max murmured into locks of dark blond hair as she pressed her cheek against his head, cradling him.

"No matter what," Alec agreed as his teeth found and began to tease a taut nipple.

Max felt as if there was a furnace fired up between her legs. Suddenly impatient, she drew back and pushed the other X5 over onto his back and down into the pillows, holding Alec's shoulders while she straddled lean hips, her smooth legs rubbing against his hairy ones. The blankets slid away, but neither transgenic noticed even though the bedroom was quite cold.

"I need to fuck you," Max said huskily, her brown eyes boring into his golden green ones, seeking permission. "I need to fuck you now!"

Alec knew full well what she was saying ... what she meant ... why she was asking.

"Do it," he said, his voice deep and low even as his strong hands gripped her waist, pushing her down on himself as he rose to meet her.

With a little nod, she closed her eyes ... found him ...

And as his heat and hardness slid into her body ... as the friction of copulation began ... Max threw back her head and let X5-494 be her stud.

*****

Alec & Max Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Colonel Donald Lydecker ordered their presence -- and Max and Alec answered the summons.

They owed the man, big time, and both transgenics knew it. The least they could now do was hear him out, whatever he had to say.

Alec was about to make a flippant remark about "secret missions" as he entered the CO's Seattle office, but one look at Lydecker's face and the glib words died on his tongue.

Something was wrong ... really, really wrong.

The colonel seemed to have aged 10 years in the past two weeks. Unshaven, his face deeply lined, his hair grayer, the man obviously hadn't slept in days.

"What's up?" Max asked, dropping into one of the hard backed seats facing the colonel's desk.

Alec took up a stance behind her, hands resting on the back of the chair; his eyes, too, on their erstwhile commander.

"If the transgenics don't obey McKinley's sterilization bill when it takes effect the first of next month," Lydecker said bluntly, "the military's been given the authority to force compliance using whatever means necessary."

"So, they've finally got their excuse," Max said calmly. "To wipe us out."

"They finally have their excuse," Lydecker agreed.

"What about your soldiers back at New Manticore?" Alec asked. "Any of them gone under the knife yet?"

Colonel Donald Lydecker Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Eyes Only

"A few," the colonel said. "But I swear it was voluntarily," he quickly added, holding up a hand as Max glared. "I didn't issue the orders."

"But you didn't countermand them either," Max pointed out.

"It was a few of the X6s," the colonel said. "No X5s. I wouldn't have let that happen. Most of my best kids are here now, in Terminal City."

"Livin' the dream," Alec said with a sarcastic smile.

"But not for long," Max said, her voice deadly quiet. "The Army's gonna march in here with big guns blazing and kill us all, just like they really wanted to do last year." Her eyes went to Alec. "But we're ready, aren't we? We've got ammo stockpiled ... guns ... supplies ..."

"We can hold out for quite awhile," Alec said calmly. But his eyes were on the colonel. "Maybe six months ... if they don't use poison gas or a suitcase nuke on us."

"The military is authorized to use 'any means necessary' to eliminate the threat to the human breeding pool," Lydecker said grimly. "Take that how you want, but I wouldn't count anything out."

Max's shoulders sagged. "What are we supposed to do then?" she said angrily. "Line up like good little children for the procedure?" Her hand moved to her own flat belly. Lydecker didn't seem to notice -- but Alec did -- and it gave him the incentive he needed.

"We can't stay here," the X5 said, putting into words what he'd been thinking almost since Day 1 of the original Terminal City siege. "We need someplace permanent to settle where we're not smack dab in the middle of a bunch of ordinaries scared shitless of us."

"No!" Max exclaimed. "We belong here! The Art Market's a huge success. We're making money hand over fist. Our people are happy ... productive--"

"--in eminent danger of castration," Alec quipped. "Personally, I'm kinda fond of my family jewels, even if they were grown in a test tube."

"Not castration," Lydecker corrected him. "Vasectomies for the males and tubal ligation for the females."

"Whatever," the X5 groused. "It still means a scalpel whackin' away at my privates and that ain't gonna happen." He glanced at Max. "And no way in hell is anyone gonna take away her ability to have a baby ... our ability."

"Agreed," Lydecker said. "I'm on your side, remember?"

"So," Max said, swallowing hard. "You got a better suggestion, 'Deck?"

"You mean better than re-enacting The Alamo or Custer's Last Stand?"

"We're listening," Alec said, his voice deepening in that way it sometimes did.

"What I'm going to suggest sounds crazy," Lydecker said. "Radical ... ludicrous ... insane. But I want the two of you to hear me out because I really and truly think this could work. It could save all of you, not just for now, but for generations to come."

"What?" Alec laughed. "You got a spaceship we can board and go to another planet on? Or maybe you've bought us a tropical island somewhere? I could go for that ... sand ... surf ... sun, and one of those little drinks with an umbrella."

"Shut up," Max chided him softly. But her eyes were riveted on the colonel.

Alec crossed arms in front of his chest and, eyebrows raised skeptically, waited.

Lydecker took a deep breath, and looked his two kids square in the eye. "I think all of you should move back to the Manticore base in Gillette, Wyoming. I think all of you should go home."

*****

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean, & Jensen Ackles Museum

Max's mouth gaped.

Alec looked at him askance. (This had to be some kind of joke.) "What have you been smokin' old man?"

"You're kidding, right?" Max said, finding her tongue. "There's no way we'd ever go back to that ... that ..."

"Hell," Alec supplied for her.

"Hell is right," Max said. "We were tortured there as children."

"And some of us as adults," Alec added.

"Water under the bridge," Lydecker said succinctly, making a cutting motion in the air with his hand. "Three months after the '09 escape the Gillette base was closed, but re-opened five years later as a training facility for the mature X5s and to house new R and D facilities -- the gene bank. However, when our little commando team destroyed the embryo facilities three years ago, the place was once again mothballed ... decommissioned ... and the X5s through X8s moved to Seattle, consolidating operations at a single secret location."

The man's voice grew more strident as he leaned forward, blue eyes intense, elbows on the desk as he preached his idea. "Max, there's a thousand acres of untouched wilderness surrounding that facility -- miles of deep forest and nearly impregnable terrain. In other words, you'd have your privacy. The buildings inside the compound are still completely intact ... all of the systems powered down but functional. You know the Army. They always want back-up plans for their back-up plans, and Gillette -- although no longer needed as an active base -- could be brought back to life with the flip of a switch.

"That place should have been nuked," Max spat.

But Alec's head was cocked to one side. He was curious ... and he was also listening. "Supplies would be a big problem," the X5 said. "We've got almost four hundred people now, since you dropped your good little soldier boys from New Manticore on us. How the hell would we feed everyone? You expect us to live off the land?"

"Alec!" Max said sharply. "We don't need to talk about it because it's not gonna happen."

However, the colonel had an ace in the hole. "I said the Gillette base was mothballed, not abandoned," Lydecker replied, his smile cagey. "In fact, the military has actually used the buildings there to stockpile emergency supplies, extra equipment, and--" He paused (for dramatic effect Alec supposed). "--weapons."

"Weapons?" Max and Alec both said at the same time.

"A fairly vast arsenal from the records I've seen," the colonel said. "Guns, lasers, ammo, even a couple of tanks and a helicopter or two." That crafty smile broadened. "And when I dug deeper, I found out something that surprised even me."

Max and Alec waited expectantly.

"The Army's stored several small nuclear devices in the mountain caverns behind the base. If the transgenics take back Gillette, they instantly become a nuclear power."

"Boys and their toys," Max said scathingly. "It's still a really bad idea. No one here wants to ever see that place again."

"Now, now, don't be too hasty, Max," her mate said.

"Why? You itchin' to get your finger on a really big trigger all of a sudden?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," Alec said. "But gettin' our hands on some serious firepower could make our negotiating position a whole lot stronger. I have a feeling that if the Freaks were sittin' tight on a nuke, there wouldn't be talk about forcin' us to do anything any more."

"There's food stockpiled there," Lydecker said. "Enough to last for years. And the security is topnotch, once you get control."

"Current status?" Alec asked, slipping into soldier mode as a mission plan formed in his mind.

"Remote surveillance only," Lydecker said. "Video cameras and motion detectors plus one of the military birds babysitting."

"The spy satellite," Alec said nodding. "But if we had the codes to access the place, we could theoretically move in and make ourselves comfy before the big brass even notices we're there."

"It wouldn't be quite that simple," the colonel said. "However, theoretically, yes ... the transgenics could take over relatively easily, especially with the inside intel I can provide."

Max was shaking her head at the two men, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Not gonna happen, guys," she said. "No way am I going to ask our people to go back to the prison they escaped from."

"We didn't escape, Max," Alec pointed out. "Present company excepted. The military decommissioned us, just like they have that base. The way I see things, maybe that land and those weapons and supplies are rightfully ours."

"That's a reach," she said snidely. "Admit it, Alec. You just wanna go fight someone."

"Maybe I do!" Alec said loudly, planting fists on his hips. "Maybe I'm tired of livin' like a rat in a hole here in Seattle just waitin' for the trap to snap down on my neck. Maybe I want some room to breathe ... to move. And I'm bettin' a whole lot of other folk in TC feel the same way."

He turned hard eyes on the colonel. "I don't trust this piece of shit any more than you do, Max. But he saved my life not too long ago, and for that I owe him at least a little consideration. I think 'Deck's plan has merit. I mean, did you really think we could live forever in a toxic waste dump? Raise families here? Did you really think the ordinaries would leave us alone forever?"

"Terminal City's our home!" Max exclaimed. "We've made it ours!"

"It's a place where they've got us boxed in Max! The government doesn't have the balls to kill us -- at least not yet -- so they've got us caged instead! McKinley is laughin' because he knows we can't go anywhere or do any real damage, in spite of our threats. He'd just love for us transies to go on a rampage in the city, givin' him the excuse he needs to drop the nerve gas or have the tanks roll through."

"They respect us!" Max tried. "The people of Seattle are learning who we really are. They're not nearly so afraid of us as they were--"

"Which is why there are still people carryin' 'Kill the Freaks' signs marchin' at our main gate right this minute!" Alec yelled, pointing to the street.

"That's a lunatic fringe," Max argued. "The protesters aren't nearly so many now, and Clemente says--"

"Clemente wants us gone, Max! Admit it. All of Seattle would breathe a lot easier if the mutants disappeared, and I'm thinkin' ordinary folk aren't real picky as to what makes that happen, be it genocide or us just beatin' feet to a new home."

"You're not thinking this through, Alec!" Max exclaimed. "If the military gets us back on a base they'll really have us prisoners!"

"Not if we're in control!" Alec hollered.

Lydecker was smiling, his keen eyes moving from one transgenic to the other as the two X5s battled it out.

Alec caught a glimpse of the man's expression and realized he was putting on too much of a show. Taking a deep breath, he held out both hands to Max. "Hey," he said in a much softer tone of voice. "I don't wanna fight about this. But I do think we owe it to our guys to take this idea to a public meeting -- see what everyone else thinks about it."

"No," Max said, shaking her head. "No way. You'll just lean on Mole and Joshua and the others until they do it your way ... persuade them. You're good at that. I know how you operate."

"Promise," Alec said, raising his right hand in the air. "Scout's honor. No tryin' to talk anyone into anything. We'll just get the hard facts from Lydecker and present the idea."

"You sound like a politician," Max sneered. "And I don't trust you."

That hurt, and Alec's brows drew down in a scowl. "Hey, I don't deserve that."

Max swallowed hard, her brown eyes searching his hazel-green ones. "No," she said softly. "You don't. I'm sorry. I know you only want what's best for all of us. But speaking of which--" She turned to Lydecker. "What's in it for you, colonel? If the transgenics did re-take Gillette, what do you get out of it? Or are you doing this out of the goodness of your shrivelled little heart?"

"Sarcasm becomes you, Max," Lydecker said with another small smile. He folded arms in front of his chest and regarded his two "kids" fondly. "What I get out of this is a future," he said. "My current job as New Manticore's CEO is short term at best. I'm only interested in working with the X5s and X6s, and my superiors know it. However, they're putting all the R and D money into the X9s -- a soulless bunch of automatons."

"Manticore's perfect soldier," Alec said quietly. "At last."

"Perfect soldier my ass," Lydecker spat. "The X9s, while physically near perfect, are too simplified to be viable on the battlefield -- a fact my peers don't seem to recognize. Then there's Stendahl's Division ..." His voice trailed off.

Alec knew far too much about the cyborg program. Visions of what they'd done to Lane now haunted his dreams, as did fears that such a horror could still happen to him.

"So," Max said, bringing the conversation back on track. "You lookin' to set up your own private little army of X5s and X6s?"

"Something like that," Lydecker agreed.

"In other words, you expect to be in charge if we move to Gillette?" Alec said.

"Not in charge," the colonel quickly replied. "But I do expect to be your middle man when you accept mercenary work, and that includes a relatively large cut of the profits." He grinned. "I've got to start thinking of my retirement years, you know."

Alec looked to Max. It could be a worse scenario.

"All right," she said, her voice clipped. "We take the idea to our people. We let them decide. Agreed?" She was speaking to Lydecker, but the question was really for the other X5.

"Agreed," Alec said. Unobtrusively, he clasped her hand. Whatever happened next, they were in this together.

*****

Alec & Max Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

However, before letting Mole, Dix, Joshua, and the others in on this wild plan, there were a couple of details that needed to be worked out first.

"You know, Max," Alec said as they left Lydecker's office. "This ain't gonna fly unless we've got a reasonable expectation of success."

"What do you mean?"

He jerked his head in the direction of Gem's Diner. "Coffee?"

"Might as well," Max said wearily, running fingers back through her long hair and looking up at the overcast Seattle sky.

The wind was chill, Alec noticed. It felt like a cold drizzle was coming, or maybe even snow. He thought about Wyoming then ... how frigid the nights there had been ... the loneliness and fear... He shivered.

"You all right?" Max said, looking at him closely.

"I'm fine. Just need some coffee to warm me up." If he'd been in a better frame of mind, the X5 would have added a suggestive comment about Max "warming him up" also -- but he wasn't feeling very playful right now.

"If Gillette is under satellite surveillance that's our first problem," Alec said a few minutes later after Gem had poured them both cups of hot steaming brew and he and Max were alone again in one of the diner's back booths. "NORAD keeps a worldwide watch, twenty-four seven, on pictures streaming in from those birds. The computers are programmed to flag any suspicious activity. Three hundred plus mutants converging on their Gillette base would do more than raise eyebrows. It'd bring out the whole damn U.S. arsenal."

"We've got a few buses," Max said. "Four I think. Some vans and SUVs ... enough to move--" Her brow wrinkled. "How many do we have now in TC anyway? Three hundred eighty or so?"

Alec shrugged. "Some have left, some have come home to roost, then there are 'Deck's boys and girls. I haven't done a head count lately."

"Anyway," Max continued. "We both agree that's a lot of bodies to sneak in."

"We'd go at night," Alec said. "Running dark and silent. The satellites won't spot us then." He thought a moment, picturing the layout of the land around Gillette in his mind as he remembered. "But too much traffic on County Road Fourteen would be noticed. We'd have to roll right through town and I'm sure the military has informants there."

"So how do we do it in then?" Max said. She took a sip of her coffee, as did Alec. "Our people are going to want to know we have a viable plan, and if we can't even get them in the front gate ..." She shrugged elaborately, giving up.

But Alec wasn't ready to throw in the towel. His quick mind was working ... thinking outside the box ...

"What if we don't sneak, Max? What if we just go in like we're supposed to be there."

"Yeah, right," she said snidely. "And our business at a super secret military base would be?"

"Not at the base," Alec said, his lips quirking up in a smart-aleck smile. "We don't go to Gillette. We drive our buses and vans to Yellowstone. We'd be just a couple more bunches of tourists, so long as no one looked too close. Our vehicles wouldn't raise an eyebrow at NORAD parked in one of the back lots -- you know, where the campers squat? Then we go the rest of the way on foot... under cover of darkness."

"How far is it?" Max said, skeptical.

"Only a hundred fifty miles or so. Piece of cake for transgenics. If we really push, we could make it in two nights. By the time dawn of the second day came 'round we'd be all nice 'n cozy inside the compound."

Max was nodding. "It could work," she said quietly, the look on her face telling Alec she was examining all the angles and not finding his plan lacking.

"Lydecker said he had the entry codes," Alec added. "Theoretically, we could waltz right up to the main gate and key ourselves in. Of course a bunch of alarms would go off at NORAD the second we did, but they couldn't do anything about it -- 'least not for awhile."

"They'd have some form of remote control," Max reasoned.

"We take down the satellite uplinks first thing," Alec said. "Make 'em blind and deaf before they know what's hit 'em."

Max was ignoring her coffee now. But she was also nodding again. "All right. We call a full meeting for tonight at seven and we present this to our people."

"I think we should clue Mole, Joshua, Dix, and Luke in on it beforehand," Alec said. "Give 'em a heads up."

"Agreed."

Alec drained the last of the coffee from his cup and stood up. "Well all right then," he said, holding his hand out to Max. "Let's get this Great Escape movin'."

*****

Mole & Joshua Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Eyes Only

Mole was surprisingly enthusiastic about "going back to his roots" as he put it -- even if Wyoming was "cold as a witch's tit" and not good for his complexion.

Dix and Luke, however, were more wary. They had a million questions about access codes, power, and supply lines, but in the end agreed to hear Max out.

Joshua ... The Big Fella would follow Max wherever she went, even to the ends of the Earth or back to Manticore. No problem there.

By the time the two X5 leaders of Terminal City stood on a raised platform in the underground garage, and faced their fellow transgenics, Alec was feeling a whole lot better about things. Maybe this wasn't such a crazy idea after all.

Max's initial announcement about the possible plan was met at first with dead silence, followed by the ineveitable arguments.

"Why should we trust Lydecker?" was volleyed at them first thing.

"'Cause there's a lot of money in it for the man," Alec tossed back. "He wants X5s and 6s to work for him as mercs. It's in his best interest to keep us set up and in good shape. Hell, it's what we've been doin' for him the past year anyway, only now the military won't be in the mix."

"We can't trust him!" an X3 shouted -- a female with quite a bit of her feline DNA showing. Cat eyes and sharp-fanged teeth flashed in the gloom of the garage. "He'll betray us like always!"

"That's a risk," Max agreed, standing next to Alec with hands on hips. "But we've taken risks before and made it through."

"Why can't we just stay here?" another X5 asked -- Cade, a pretty-featured girl who sometimes helped man the control monitors and who also worked part time in Gem's Diner. "We're making good money at the Art Mall."

"You plannin' on lettin' McKinley take away your ability to ever have a baby?" Max shot back. "Because if we stay here we're penned. We've got no place to run. Our backs are to the wall and sooner or later we're going to be forced into either complying with that sterilization law or fighting."

Gem, holding her little girl, Eve, in her arms, had been listening closely. "I say we go," she said. "I don't want my daughter growing up in a place where she has no freedom. She'll always be one of the 'freaks' here in Seattle. I want her to be free, for real. And if that means us going back to Wyoming, where we came from, and making a new life for ourselves then I'm all for it."

"They tortured us in that place!" a DAC screamed from the back of the garage. "I don't wanna ever see that frickin' hell hole again!"

"We take what they used against us and turn it into our own weapon!" Alec returned, picking up that thread of an idea. "There are millions of dollars worth of equipment in that base, and by rights it should be ours! We're owed! I say we take it ... take what belongs to us!"

"What about food?" another voice queried. "And power?"

"Enough supplies to last years already there," Mole answered that one. "And the power's geothermal. They've tapped into the same underground steam vents that create the geysers over at Yellowstone. If we need other fuel, we'll get it somehow."

"Medicine?" the same voice asked.

"We've made do here, we'll make do there," Alec answered with a quick look at Luke -- the compound's main medic -- who nodded in agreement.

It was a very long night with dozens of questions fielded by the core group of transgenics who essentially were TC's leaders. In the end, almost all of the residents had been persuaded, and the few who didn't want to go had been assured no one would force them to leave TC, and that they'd always be welcome to join the rest in the future.

Dawn was breaking when the gathering finally broke up.

"When do we do this?" Max asked as she and Alec made their way back to their place where he hoped to catch a couple hours sleep before meeting again with Lydecker.

"The sooner the better," he said, chewing on a fingernail as he waited for Max to unlock the door. "As soon as we get the access codes."

*****

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Easier said than done.

"There's a problem," Lydecker said a few hours later when Alec met the man in his office to deliver the good news -- that the transgenics were willing to relocate.

"There always is," Alec said, his voice oddly flat. "What now?"

"I thought I had the access codes," the older man said. "But when I did my weekly verification check I found out they've recently been changed, as have a lot of my other security clearances."

"Stendahl?"

"Most likely. He's trying to get my commission revoked and has stirred up enough trouble so I'm under scrutiny as a security risk."

"We can get over the fences without the codes," Alec pointed out.

"But you can't gain true control of the installation without them," Lydecker said. "The Committee will shut that place down tight via remote command if they think it's being invaded ... maybe even trigger a self destruct. In spite of their 'erase all evidence Manticore ever existed' policy of a few years ago, there were a lot of secrets kept intact in Gillette. The genetics lab, of course, was destroyed by Max, but that was just the tip of the iceberg."

"How can we get the codes?" Alec asked, getting straight to the crux of the matter.

"Hack them."

"Dix?"

Lydecker shook his head. "The nomalie is pretty good, but not good enough." He raised his eyes to the X5 and smiled grimly. "In fact, there's only one man I know who's got the expertise to get what we need."

A chill ran down Alec's spine. "No," he said, shaking his head. "There's gotta be someone else."

"Cale's the best," the colonel said quietly. "We need him for this. You need him."

"There's no way in hell that guy's gonna help us! He hates our guts, not to mention personally wanting me dead for stealin' the love of his life."

"You know how to handle a situation like this, 494," Lydecker said calmly. "You know how to get people to do what you want them to do. Think, soldier!"

Alec did think -- furiously. And then he realized what Lydecker was saying. "Make the man an offer he can't refuse?"

Lydecker's smile was almost proud as his kid "got it in one." "Find out something Cale wants badly," he clarified, "and figure out a way to get it for him in return for the codes. Can you do that? Can Max?"

"Max isn't goin' near Cale," Alec snapped. "And she's not to know about this conversation. I'll ... handle it."

Lydecker nodded. "See that you do. When you have the codes, let me know. But be quick about it. McKinley's already ordering troops set aside to be sent into Terminal City as soon as the sterilization implementation deadline arrives."

"Next Tuesday," Alec said, the date red letter in his mind. "Which gives me less than a week."

"Move out then, soldier."

"I'm on it."

*****

Alec & Asha Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"Alec," Asha smiled his name, the S1W member's luminous eyes widening with delight as the handsome X5 dropped onto the bar stool next to her.

It was a week night, and Crash was half empty. 494 hadn't been at all sure he'd find Ms. Barlow here this evening, but figured it was worth a shot.

"I'm glad you're all right," she said, rushing the words before he had time to say anything. "Max came to me when you were missing, and I've been worried."

"Hey," Alec said with his trademark smirk as he picked up the Scotch the bartender had just brought him. "You know me. I'm always all right."

"No new bullet holes in that fine transgenic body of yours?" she half laughed.

"Not lately," Alec said, speaking the truth.

"You here for a reason tonight?" she cautiously asked. "Or just slumming?"

"Maybe I wanted to make sure you were all right," Alec said gently, deliberately not wanting to sound too businesslike. He didn't like to think about how he was using Asha for his own personal gain -- but in reality, he was well aware that's what he was doing. He knew the girl had a "little thing" for him ... always had. The noble side of him hated to take advantage of her crush, but the more practical side ... the soldier side ... couldn't get around the fact that this was what his Manticore handlers would call "beneficial access" to information.

"Alec--" Asha began. "Look, I know you and Max are--"

"Are you still in tight with Logan Cale?" Alec said, stepping on her words and getting straight to the point. Necessities aside, there was no need to lead her on more than he already had.

"You need to know something about Logan?" Asha replied astutely, her face falling as she looked down at the bar, suddenly vastly interested in the scattered peanut shells littering its surface.

Alec took another sip of his Scotch. "Can I buy you a drink?" he offered quietly.

"Why?" she said. "Am I gonna need it?"

"I don't know," the X5 said honestly. He eyed the glass of beer already in front of her. "You want a tequila?"

Asha nodded, and Alec signaled the bartender. He waited until the drink arrived and the S1W member had taken a sip. "About Logan," he tried again. "You still there?"

"I think he still trusts me, if that's what you mean," Asha said carefully.

Alec nodded slowly. "I need Logan to do something for me," he said. "Not personally," he quickly added. "For the transgenics."

Asha laughed, a bitter sound. "Yeah, right. As if the man's going to be doing you guys any favors. He trusts me, Alec. But he's not insane. He considers you the enemy."

The X5 leaned forward a little bit, hazel-green eyes intense. "Is there anything Logan wants real bad, but is havin' trouble gettin'?"

Asha raised a knowing eyebrow.

"Besides Max," Alec said quickly. "Computer equipment maybe? A program I could steal for him? That kind of thing?"

His companion's demeanor turned thoughtful. "There is something," she finally said after taking another sip of tequila. "His exo isn't working."

"Really?"

"The servo-controller went out again, and he can't very well requisition a new one from the Pentagon."

"Again?" Alec said.

"Last time it happened, he conned Max into stealing a replacement unit from a nuclear facility," Asha explained. "It's the same controller the disposal units use on their robotic arms. They cost around ten grand, but he can't find one for sale anywhere." She smiled sadly. "He's going nuts, being trapped in that wheelchair again. Maybe if you showed up on his doorstep with the part in hand he'd be willing to deal."

Alec was nodding slowly. "Thanks, Asha," he said, standing up and tossing a few bills down on the bar to pay for her drink as well as his.

"Alec," the blonde woman said, reaching out and taking hold of his hand.

The X5 looked down at her.

"Alec ... I just want you to know that, if you ever need a place to go ... someone to help you out or just listen, I'm there for you."

"You're a good friend, Asha," the X5 said, his voice carefully modulated. Gently, he pulled his hand out of hers, the game over -- for tonight at least. "Max and me ... we appreciate it."

He saw the hurt flicker in her eyes at the mention of Max's name, but he'd done that deliberately, to remind Asha that he was taken. However, there was one more thing he felt compelled to say -- a bit of brotherly advice.

"You know, you need to get away from Logan. The guy's trouble. He's still in love with Max. You deserve someone of your own, Asha. Why waste your time on a relationship that's goin' nowhere?"

He wasn't speaking just about Logan, either.

"Hey," Asha said with artificial lightness. "A girl can dream, can't she?"

The way she was looking at him made Alec uncomfortable. "Thanks again," he said. "I'll tell Max you were a big help."

"You do that," the young woman said softly as the guy she'd lost her shot with long ago turned and walked away.

*****

Mole Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Eyes Only

The migrating transgenics were taking very little with them -- just the essentials, money of course ... clothes ... personal hygiene items ... what they could carry. The compound was also careful to keep their preparations low key, so as to not attract the attention of the military. Only the naive would think that the government didn't have Terminal City under close surveillance.

Four buses, eight vans, and half a dozen cars would soon be transporting the residents to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. They'd leave separately, of course ... or in small groups. Mole figured they had at least a 48-hour window of opportunity to reach the park and then travel on foot to the base.

Within a day of Max's speech, the plan was in place and their belongings packed. However, one little detail remained to be taken care of -- the codes -- and the lizard man wasn't keen on Pretty Boy's solution to that problem. However, he figured he was "in for a penny, in for a pound" as the ordinary saying went. So what the hell.

Alec, his dark blond hair plastered to his head by a cold March drizzle, wiped rain from his face with a sleeve then used Manticore hand signals to motion his friend into position on the other side of the Orcas Nuclear Facility back door. Max had stolen one of those servo-motor thingies from here before, the X5 reasoned. Why not do it again? (Or so he'd persuasively argued when recruiting the transhuman's help for the job.) Then they'd have the perfect bargaining chip to get Mr. "Eyes Only" to do their bidding.

Alec at Orcas Nuclear Facility Artwork courtesy of Valjean, & Jensen Ackles Museum

Apparently the robotic devices were hard as the dickens to get hold of Mole found out -- had to be imported from Singapore or some such nonsense with a wait time of at least three months, not to mention an astronomical cost. Alec was right. If Logan was doing serious down time in the wheelchair, he'd probably be quite amenable to making a deal.

It was way past midnight, and there should be a minimal guard shift on duty. Alec used the universal card key Dix had given him to access the door panel, then he and Mole slipped inside. The lizard man knew they'd be seen on the video cameras, of course. But with luck they'd be in and out of here in less than five minutes -- no time for re-enforcements or the cops to arrive.

If this had been Max's break-in, Mole reasoned, there would have been covert casing, maybe disguises, and tons of subterfuge. 452 was a great cat burglar, but she had a weakness for drama, and liked to plan her heists in what Alec described as unnecessary elaborateness. 494's way was a lot more direct. And besides, the lizard man thought. What Max didn't know couldn't hurt her. All Alec had told their lady leader was that he was going to talk to Logan about hacking the Gillette codes -- carefully omitting the kind of leverage he was intending to use.

Although, the lizard man was still scratching his head as to the real deal why Alec hadn't simply pulled this job with Max. But for some reason the X5 had been awfully protective of 452 as of late. Mole had a few thoughts about that ... but he didn't know anything for sure and wasn't going to start spreading rumors. So, for now, he kept his lizard lips shut and obeyed his team leader.

Walking straight down the corridor, the two transgenics quickly came to the core room. Alec was sliding the pass key in the slot at the door when a lab-coated technician rounded the corner and halted at the sight of intruders.

"Hey!" the guy hollered. "What do you think you're doing?"

"This," Alec said with a wicked grin as he popped the kid square in the face with his fist, dropping him to the floor.

Mole looked nervously up and down the corridor. "Hurry it up," he groused. "I need a smoke."

Servo-controller Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"You really ought to look into those nicotine patch thingies, bro," his companion replied amiably as the door in front of him clicked open. "You know ... to get ya through the day."

"Fuck you," Mole muttered.

"Right back at ya," Alec replied, still in a good humor as the tech manning the robotic arm station turned around just in time to get hit in the jaw with a right cross.

"Any sign of guards yet?" Alec hissed as he moved to the controls and took a small tool kit out of an inner pocket of his black leather jacket.

The lizard man, pistol in hand, shook his head. However, a second later an alarm began to sound and a red light above the door they'd just come through started flashing.

"Hurry," Mole said, his voice tight.

"Hurrying," Alec agreed lightly as he removed the four screws on top of the panel, slid out the drawer, and exposed the servo-controller.

"Got it," Alec said easily a moment later as he plucked the prize out of a nest of wires and slid it into a pocket.

"Then let's blaze," Mole said, motioning to the door with his head. "'Cause we've got company comin', Princess."

"Halt!" came the command when the two transgenics stepped into the hallway. "Halt, or we'll fire!"

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec obviously had been counting on that -- protocol. Ordinary soldiers and guards were trained to always give a warning before shooting (something to do with legal liability). A really stupid idea, in Mole's opinion, and positively daffy when it came to military strategy. Why give the enemy a head's up?

Instead of halting, Mole and Alec did just the opposite. Together as a team, they blurred straight at the oncoming men, hitting hard and fast, knocking them over like bowling pins -- and then they were through the crowd and flying toward the same door they'd used for entry.

However, when Alec came up against the panel it was locked. They could both could hear the staccato beat of approaching feet even as he slid the card key -- and encountered the first "glitch" in their so-far perfect plan.

Nothing happened.

"You know, if you don't get that thing open, we're dead," Mole said nonchalantly as he took up a stance and aimed his gun down the hallway. The feet were coming closer.

"Stall 'em," Alec snapped, running the card key through again and once more getting no response. "Shit," he said under his breath. "The alarm must've triggered a lock down." "Dix!" he spoke into the mini-transceiver he was wearing. "We're trapped! You got an override code?"

"Working on it," Mole heard the mashed-potatoe-headed mutant's voice faintly chime in his own transceiver.

Just for good measure, the lizard man let off two quick shots, the retorts deafening in the metal-walled space around them.

Alec flinched. "Dix!" he called out to his TC liaison, his voice as tense as the situation. "Sometime this year would be nice!"

"They're gonna kill us on the spot ya know," Mole commented mildly -- his own way of handling the tension. "Do you think I could light up a cigar one last time before I die? Pretty please?"

"No!" Alec yelled, getting flustered. "Just ... hold 'em off." The X5 pulled out his own gun, the Glock 65 he always liked to carry.

"Alec? Try the card again," Dix's voice crackled in both their ears.

The X5 swiped the key through the slot -- and the light above the door turned green.

"Dix, my man!" Alec crowed. "I owe you a case of Scotch!"

"Promises, promises," Mole heard the other transgenic reply over the link. "I'll settle for you never telling Max how I helped you almost get your ass shot off tonight."

"Deal," Alec said with a grin as the two burglars sprinted for the 8-foot perimeter fence which they both cleared in a single strong leap. And then they were racing through a field toward Alec's motorcycle which was hidden in the woods across the road, the alarm klaxons fading behind them in the now pouring cold rain.

Mission accomplished, Mole thought as he ran -- thanks to a combination of brawn, brains, and beauty (not necessarily in that order). Although, the lizard man reminded himself as he swung a leg up behind his partner onto the back of the bike and clasped arms around the X5's waist, in reality this was just the beginning of a much bigger assignment.

*****

Logan Cale (a.k.a. "Eyes Only") Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"Still don't know how to knock, do you?" Logan Cale said. Except for the chiding words, and straightening slightly in his wheelchair, Max's former lover exhibited very little reaction to his unexpected visitor.

"I like to maintain the element of surprise," Alec said easily.

The X5 stepped forward out of the shadows wreathing the back of the penthouse's living room, air from the open window behind him creating a slight breeze. As always, Logan's apartment smelled strongly of cooking, electronics, and Old Spice, the pungent scents bringing back memories.

"How did you get past my security?" Logan asked mildly, at last turning around to face his guest. "I've got video cameras on the outside of all the windows ... the skylight ... the hallway and elevator ..."

Alec shrugged -- his answer a mute cocky smile -- not inclined to tell Logan how Mole had helped him loop the feed to the window security camera.

"Don't flatter yourself, Alec," Logan said. "I have more enemies than just you."

"I'm not your enemy."

"You threatened to kill me not so long ago."

"Only if you tried to hurt Max again," the X5 shot back. "Logan, we were once almost friends. We worked together, even trusted each other to a point. And we both still have something huge in common. We both love Max. In my book, that makes us allies -- still."

"In your book?" the older man snickered. "Well, in my book it makes us rivals." He rolled the wheelchair around further, the look in his blue eyes behind the spectacles deadly. "You stole her from me. She's the only woman I've ever really loved, and you stole her from me!"

"Bullshit!" Alec spat, the blackness of his bodysuit separating from the darkness like a shadow peeling away as he stepped closer. The X5's hands were balled into fists, but his eyes never left Logan. In spite of his words, he didn't trust the son-of-a-bitch, nor was he in the mood to get shot tonight. "Max left you long before she and I got together, Logan. You wanted her to be 'normal,' and she couldn't be. She wasn't happy pretending. Max needed to be free. Ya know, in spite of everything though, it took a helluva lot to make her stop lovin' the man she admired so much."

"Not much," Logan said tightly. "Just you."

Hazel-green eyes flashed in the dimness -- catlike, and Alec wondered briefly if the man had just deliberately quoted from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Logan Cale saw saw those eyes, and his jaw tightened. "Why are you here?" he said huskily, wiping a sleeve across his mouth then reaching for the half-full glass of whiskey sitting on the edge of his desk.

Alec nodded to the computer screens that were displaying various types of data. "I need a hack job done."

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Logan looked up at him -- astonished -- and then laughed. "And why, on earth, would I do anything for you?" Cale eyed the telephone. "You know, you're a wanted man, Alec. One call from me and the police will surround the building."

The X5 shrugged. "Go ahead," he said, calling the other man's bluff. "Draw all the attention you want to yourself ... or should I say to Eyes Only."

"I'm not going to help you."

"I can pay."

"I don't need your money."

"Not with money," Alec said quickly. "With this." He reached into an inner pocket and pulled out the servo-controller. "Heard through the grapevine you might be in need of one of these gizmos. Or are you sittin' pretty in that chair just for the relaxation?"

Logan's fate twisted with hate, the expression reminiscent to Alec of another man who also had very good reason to want him dead -- Robert Berrisford.

However, the cyberjournalist's words were tempered. "Where did you get that?"

"My source doesn't matter," Alec said. "All that's important is that I know it would take you weeks to acquire a servo like this. Unless, of course, you've got higher contacts than I think, and can requisition one from the Pentagon. Or maybe you wanna be indebted to your old pal McKinley?"

"McKinley's not my pal," Logan said. "He's a business colleague. We have a common cause to promote."

"Elimination of the transgenics," Alec said, nodding. "Elimination of me."

Now it was Logan who smirked. "What do you want me to do?" he said.

"Hack into the military codes for the shut-down at the Gillette, Wyoming Manticore base."

Eyebrows rose. "Is that all? Maybe you'd like me to fly you to the moon while I'm at it."

"It's doable," Alec said. "Dix would try, but we don't have powerful enough equipment to crack the decryption sequencing." The X5 dug into a side pocket and brought out a slip of paper. "We already have the back door way into the server," he said. "Here." He held out the URLs and passwords Lydecker had given him. "We just need you to download the final data and decrypt it for us."

"Why do you want the Gillette information?"

"My business."

"No, now it's my business."

"Let's just say there's something on that base we need."

"We, as in the transgenics."

"Yes." Alec settled back into a slightly more relaxed stance, flexing his knees, but still poised and ready. He hadn't seen Bling's car parked out back, and therefore he assumed Logan was alone. But he'd learned long ago to be ready for anything from Eyes Only, especially when he was inside the man's own lair.

Logan looked down at the information he'd just been given. "I'll have it for you in the morning," he said. He glanced up again. "Then the servo's mine, right?"

"It's yours," Alec affirmed, tucking the device safely away in his jumpsuit once more. "I'll be back at dawn." The X5 then turned to go, heading once more into the shadows, but at the last moment he paused and looked back. "Oh, and Logan ... Don't even think about double crossin' me 'cause I won't be alone." Alec smiled slyly then, gave a hand signal, and Mole stepped forward from where he'd been keeping watch over his friend from the darkness of the bedroom. "Just like I didn't come alone this time."

Logan gulped, eyes widening slightly. Then he simply nodded.

"See," Alec remarked lightly a minute later as he and the lizard man were rappelling down the back side of Logan Cale's apartment building. "Piece of cake. The man just needs the proper incentive."

"Hey, Princess," Mole said dryly as they jumped the last 10 feet to the pavement and walked to Alec's motorcycle. "You do know, don'tcha that that ordinary wants t'cut out your heart and eat it, then mount your cock and balls as trophies over that fine lookin' fake fireplace of his. Max was right when she ordered me to come with you tonight."

"I get that vibe from the guy, yeah," Alec admitted as he revved his bike's engine and kicked it into gear.

"Just makin' sure you were clear on that point," his friend said, casually lighting up a cigar as they pulled away.

*****

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec retrieved the codes from Logan -- without incident -- the next morning.

They were really going.

The vehicles would leave at dawn. Traveling in small convoys -- the transgenics would rendezvous at Yellowstone National Park in about 16 hours. There, they'd carefully stay apart from the other tourists, resting and keeping a low profile in some of the back parking lots until nightfall. When it grew dark they'd abandon the cars, then head out on foot for the Gillette base, taking with them only what they could carry, hiding in the woods during the following day, and completing the journey the second night. Theoretically, this should keep them from being flagged on one of the military surveillance satellites.

The 150 mile trek over mountainous terrain would be nearly impossible for an ordinary, but a piece of cake for the supersoldiers -- or at least Max and Alec hoped that would be the case.

"Max," Alec said gently the night before the exodus. "We've gotta keep this secret. No one can know we're leaving. If McKinley even suspects we're gonna bolt he'll have this place surrounded by the Army within the hour." Clad only in boxers, he patted the mattress beside him. "Come to bed. We're gonna have a long three days ahead of us and this might be our only chance to sleep." He thought a second and added with a sexy smile, "or do anything else."

"Logan might rat us out," Max said worriedly. She was standing by the window, looking out at the cold March rain.

"Not a problem. He knows he's a dead man if he does. Why would the guy wanna double cross a whole tribe of assassins?"

"Alec, I have to let her know. She's like a sister to me."

Alec knew full well who Max was talking about -- the abrupt change of subject not throwing him off stride -- but he shook his head no.

"She'll be incredibly hurt if I just disappear without an explanation!"

"Max, no."

"It's not like it'll be a big secret for long," his mate argued. "As soon as we take over the base our gorgeous mug shots will be on every television set in the world."

"So," Alec shrugged. "O.C. will know where we are in a few days then."

"We owe her, Alec. She's risked her life for us more than once. We owe her the decency of letting her know that we're going to be all right, and that I haven't deserted her forever."

Alec sighed heavily then, his hazel-green eyes wry but resigned. "All right," he said, swinging long bare legs out of bed and reaching for his jeans. If you wanna spend your last night in Seattle talkin' to O.C. instead of doin' the deed with me who am I to argue?"

Max swatted him on the side of the head with her hand.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Men," she muttered. "That's all you can think about. Sex."

"You complainin'?"

Max watched him as he zipped the fly on his denims, the dim light of the room casting artistic shadows on the rippling muscles of that genetically perfect abdomen. "We'll have plenty of time for that later," she said softly. "A lifetime in fact." She saw him reach for his shoes. "You don't need to go with me."

"I want to," Alec said. "I owe her too. Besides, I don't want you out there by yourself tonight. We're too close to bein' free, Max. It'd be just our luck for somethin' to happen at the last minute, like Familiars flyin' outta the woodwork or Stendahl makin' another run at me. Better if we stick together."

"Gettin' superstitious in your old age, Alec?"

"Cautious." He looked up at her and sniffed. "Besides, unless you girls yack all night I'll still have time to catch a few hours sleep."

"Let's go then," Max said, leaving him to follow her out of the room.

*****

Max & Original Cindy Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Eyes Only

"You really love him, don't you?" Original Cindy said as she sat beside Max on the couch in their old apartment, nodding in the direction of Alec who was rummaging around in the kitchen, making coffee for the three of them.

"Yeah," Max said. "I really do."

"As much as you loved Logan?"

Max didn't answer right away, and Alec was suddenly quiet as well. Technically, he wasn't in on this conversation, but he couldn't help hearing what was being said, and Max knew it.

"It's ... different," Max finally replied. "Very different from what it was with Logan. But just as deep and I think a lot more resilient ... stronger."

"First loves are unique," O.C. said, nodding her head wisely. "It's the only time in our lives we give our bitchin' selves completely to another person. After that, we're scared, Boo. It's harder to let go. We don't lose ourselves in someone else like we did the first time 'round 'cause we know how vulnerable that makes us." She glanced up at the other X5 in the kitchen. "You and Alec ... you both been there before, girl. You both know the score. So, this turn of the merry-go-round the two of you are ready, and won't make the same major goofs. In my book, that's a good thing."

"We're leaving, O.C.," Max suddenly said. "We're leaving Seattle."

"You and your boy toy?"

"All of us. All of the transgenics."

Cindy arched a plucked dark eyebrow at that. "Where?" she said. "You all bought yourselves a tropical island somewhere? 'Cause if you have, girl, you dang well better invite Original Cindy to come with you."

Max smiled at that. So did Alec as he poured bottled water into the coffee pot.

"Nothing quite so glamorous I'm afraid," her X5 sister said. "We're going back to Wyoming, to take over the Gillette Base. The place is well supplied and we won't be cornered when McKinley tries to put his sterilization program into action."

"The government's lettin' you guys move into a military base?"

"Not exactly," Alec answered from behind the counter. Then he smirked. "But we figure it's squatter's rights."

"Boo," O.C. said, her eyes serious. "The big boys ain't gonna just let you special people take over one of their playgrounds."

"We have a plan," Max said, her eyes going to Alec. "And inside help."

"Don't tell me you're trustin' that bastard Lydecker!" O.C. exclaimed.

Again, Max looked to the other X5.

"The colonel has a stake in this, too," Alec said. "It's in his best interest to help us."

"Since when do you trust the Devil himself?" Cindy scolded. "Sugar," she said, the words directed at Alec, "that old piece of gristle might have saved your pretty ass a time or two, but that don't make up for all the other times he tried to kill the both of you."

"'Deck's mellowing in his old age," Alec said. "He wants to retire, and we're his pension plan."

"He'll sell you out in a New York minute, hot boy, and you know it!"

"We're watching our backs," Max said quietly, taking hold of Cindy's hand. "We're being careful. Besides, we can't just sit here in Seattle, waiting for McKinley to attack us in Terminal City."

"No," O.C. admitted. "I suppose you can't."

"You can't tell anyone about this," Max said firmly. "Not until we're safely settled into the base when the news will undoubtedly be all over the place anyway."

"Girl, these lips are sealed," O.C. said, making a zipping motion across her mouth with her fingers.

"Hey," Max said, tears suddenly pricking her eyes. "Once we're moved in and everything's safe you can come visit me. Okay? And Alec and me ... we'll be back to Seattle sometime." She turned to look him. "Right?"

"Sure we will," he said amiably, in a way that promised nothing.

"Oh well," Cindy said with a big sigh. "You know what they say ... home is where the heart is, so I guess your home is gonna be in Wyoming now." She was looking at Alec as she spoke that last, and added, "Now you take good care of my girl, pretty boy. 'Cause if you don't, I'm gonna come out to those mountains and kick your transgenic ass."

Max, too, had her eyes on the other X5. "Yeah," she replied as Alec brought the cups of coffee into the room. "Home is where the heart is."

And then she finally smiled.

*****

Alec & Joshua Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

The logistics of leaving Terminal City forever were frighteningly simple.

Other than weapons, a change of clothes, and food for the journey, there really wasn't anything worth taking along with them, so there was plenty of room in the vehicles.

The first bus left at 4 a.m., well before dawn, quietly rolling out the main gate and heading for the highway. Checkpoints would theoretically be a problem, but all of the TC residents had valid sector passes thanks to Alec lobbying the Seattle City Council to treat his people as equal citizens. The guards raised eyebrows at the large number of "freaks" in the rusty bus -- as well as at Luke who was sitting behind the wheel -- but in the end had to wave them through, accepting the mutant's explanation that his "family" was going on a little field trip to the country.

The other three buses followed within the hour, each hitting a different check point on their way out of Seattle, even though it was a roundabout route to take. By the time the police compared notes later in the day -- and figured out that an awful lot of transgenics had just left their fair city -- they'd be well on their way to Wyoming.

The half dozen vans didn't even raise an eyebrow at the stops, and by the time the sun was completely up Terminal City was pretty much a ghost town except for Mole and Joshua (who'd be traveling together in a car), and Max and Alec who (in spite of the cold weather) would be riding their motorcycles.

Together, the four friends stood on the street outside TC's main gate looking at the Artworks Mall for the last time, Max and Alec holding hands, their breaths steaming in the chill morning air as they contemplated what, in some ways, was their greatest achievement -- an enterprise they now had to abandon.

Alec had been so busy checking inventory and helping pack the buses he hadn't really had time to think about anything else. But now, as he regarded his first successful business venture for the last time, he was feeling surprisingly nostalgic. "We made a lotta money with that place," he commented.

Joshua sniffed loudly and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Joshua's paintings rocked," the dog man said.

"That they did," Alec agreed wholeheartedly, thinking of the thousands of dollars the transhuman's creations had brought in for TC. Reaching out with his free hand, he put a sympathetic arm around his friend's shoulders. "Cheer up, Josh. You'll be back in the art business before ya know it, crankin' out Joshuas with a whole new panorama for inspiration. Think of it as having finished your 'cityscape' period and moving on to mountain and woodland themes."

"Paints are in the car," Joshua said, nodding at the battered blue Volkswagen Beetle that would take him and Mole to their new home. "Canvases too. In my backpack."

"Gem hated to leave the diner," Max commented, her own eyes a bit misty as she regarded the business that, for awhile, had brought the transgenics legitimacy and pseudo-acceptance in Seattle.

"She's gonna be in charge of the kitchens in Gillette," Alec said. "I already talked to her 'bout that."

"Chief cook and bottle washer?" Max said dryly.

"At first," Alec admitted. "We'll be more of a commune than a democracy out there, Max, and you know it. It's not like we'll be having paying customers coming over from the National Park. Although--" He eyed Joshua. "Eventually that might fly -- sellin' artwork over at Yellowstone ... maybe even openin' the base to tourists and--"

"Shut up," Max said.

"But, Max. It would be great supplemental income outside the mercenary gigs."

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Say goodbye, Alec," she commanded. "To your one and only legitimate business venture." She looked up at him. "At least it proved we're capable of being more than soldiers and assassins."

"Did you lock the doors?" he asked quietly. "To the building? Not that the police won't be bustin' 'em down tomorrow or the next day lookin' for their missing mutants."

"Yeah," she said. "I'm gonna mail the keys to Clemente, whatever good that will do. Maybe he'll find a use for the place."

"Well all right then," Alec said with false cheerfulness as he gave Max and Josh reassuring pats on the back then walked to his bike and swung a leg over the seat. He took a pair of sunglasses out of his jacket pocket, put them on, and zipped his jacket higher around his throat. It was going to be a sunny -- but chilly -- day.

Time to blaze.

Mole and Joshua climbed into the Volkswagen, and a few seconds later the car pulled away, the dog man watching out the window as he left his home behind, blue eyes filling with tears.

Max then mounted her own bike, revved the engine, and slowly followed Alec as he led them out of the past and into the very uncertain future.

*****

Alec & Max Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

The various groups of transgenics ran silent for the journey, assuming the government had their cell phone frequencies tapped. At Alec's insistence, a dozen of the X5s had been entrusted with the codes to the Gillette facility. Spread out among the traveling vehicles, their knowledge and presence insured that even if some didn't make it the others could still gain access to the base.

The rendezvous point at Yellowstone was one of the old back lot campgrounds where the higher end tourists rarely ventured -- an area that had become somewhat of a Jamestown for mountain people with no where else to go ... a place where no one would scrutinize too closely or ask questions. The trip had been a marathon for Max and Alec. They'd, quite literally, only stopped for gas, driving straight through the night and most of the next day. By late afternoon, when they cruised their bikes down the dirt road on the southeast side of the park to the meeting place, both X5s were ready to drop from exhaustion, supersoldier physiology or not.

And it hadn't helped that the weather had grown steadily colder as they'd traveled east, the temperature now in the twenties.

"I'd give a lot for a hot meal and a warm bed 'bout now," Alec said, his voice husky with weariness as he stiffly dismounted from his bike and chafed gloved hands together for warmth. However, he was relieved to see the four buses parked in the lot, plus what appeared to be all of the vans. And just about the time he was starting to worry about Mole and Joshua, the blue Volkswagen Beetle bounced down the pot-hole-filled lane, chugging to a halt beside an SUV full of X3s and X4s.

Max was looking around too, shielding her eyes with a hand from the low afternoon sun. "Anybody missing?" she asked him.

Alec spotted Jim -- one of Lydecker's boys who'd been hiding out in Terminal City -- and signaled him over. Not the most independent-minded of Units, the blond-haired, blue-eyed X5-532 nevertheless knew how to obey orders, making up for in meticulousness and detail what he lacked in inovativeness. Like his big brother 494, he'd been physically designed for stealth and light combat. However, the younger transgenic hadn't received Alec's "charismatic" DNA, and was actually rather shy.

"Everything quiet?" Alec asked the soldier.

"No sign of enemy activity, sir," Jim replied stiffly. "X5-472 ... Devon ... has been organizing the groups in preparation for moving out."

Alec raised an eyebrow at the "sir," but didn't complain. He'd quit trying long ago to get these career soldiers to loosen up. If they chose to view him as one of the transgenic's leaders now, so be it. As for Devon -- who he could see on the other side of the lot talking to a group of X6s -- he supposed Lydecker's boy was doing what he considered necessary, taking charge -- in this case probably a good thing. The fact that 494 still didn't trust the guy who'd tried to take Max away from him was a moot point right now. Battle conditions weren't the time for personal grudges, or distrust of one's Unit mates either.

"Alec!" Gem called out, walking up with Eve in her arms. "I'm going to break out the supplies. Everyone's hungry."

"All right," Alec agreed. "But no fires. We don't need some ass-hat park ranger down here with his citation book."

Jim had turned around to leave, but Alec grabbed the guy's jacket sleeve, pulling him up. "You," he said. "Check all the groups and tell people to not get too comfy. We've still got a hundred fifty miles to go on foot, and we're leavin' at dusk.

Dix Artwork courtesy of Valjean, Eyes Only, & Jensen Ackles Museum

Then he spotted Joshua walking around the edge of the dirt parking lot. "Josh!" he shouted, waving the dog man closer. "And you, especially, stay close. We don't need any Sasquatch sightings reported."

"But Alec," his friend said plaintively. "There's a candy machine."

"Where?"

Joshua pointed to a dilapidated restroom facility on the west edge of the lot that had several big shiny new vending machines chained in a neat row under its eaves.

"You got any money?" he asked the dog man. But before Joshua could answer, they both saw Dalton and another X6 walk up to the first two vending machines, swing fists, and smash out the front glass.

"Hey!" Joshua roared at the kids. "That's stealing!"

Max, however, was already on it. Moving in a near-blur, she had both X6s by the scruffs of their necks before they even knew she was close by. "And vandalism!" she yelled. "Put it back!"

The two boys dropped the candy bars and sodas they'd grabbed as a small crowd of curious onlookers -- some of them ordinaries -- grew around them.

"Great," Alec muttered. "Just great. Now watch the rangers show up."

He hated to do this, but he didn't think they had a choice now. "Gem!" he called out to the female X5 as she was unpacking a box from one of the buses. "Stow the food. We're movin' out."

"So soon," Max said, coming up beside him and dusting off her gloved hands. The two naughty X6s had been sent to sit in one of the vans under the watchful eye of another X5. "Everyone's tired, Alec ... and hungry." She looked behind her toward their motorcycles. "And ... what about our bikes?

He looked down at her, concern filling his eyes. He'd forgotten ...

"We need to move now, Max," he said. "As for the bikes ..." He shrugged. "We could try leavin' 'em in the woods, camouflaged. Maybe eventually, after we're settled in at the base, we could sneak back and pick 'em up. Glancing around, he spotted the goateed Hampton -- a second generation X5 like himself -- checking out a shotgun.

Yellowstone prohibited firearms, too.

Max was still hesitating.

"We really do need to get outta here," Alec repeated, impatiently running fingers back through uncombed dark blond hair. "You all right?"

"I'll be fine," Max insisted. "I'm not that tired." (Although the dark circles under her eyes belied that.) "And I'll get Luke to help me hide the bikes." She turned to the troops. "All right people!" she called out. "We're moving out again. Each of you has a copy of the map. If you get separated from the group, rendezvous at the marked azimuth point."

Alec stepped over beside Mole, who'd been listening while puffing contentedly on his cigar.

"Only you can prevent forest fires," the X5 said with a small grin.

"Fuck forest fires," the lizard man groused. "My ass is sore from sittin' in that damn bucket seat for the past thousand miles, and now I've gotta take the mother of all hikes."

"Just a couple days, bro," Alec assured him. "Call it a nature walk. Think of it as educational." The X5 reached down and massaged his inner thigh. At least you weren't sittin' in the saddle. I'm chafed."

Mole grinned toothily. "I think that's Max's department, ain't it? Takin' care of a little boo-boo like that for ya?"

Alec smirked and looked around for his mate who he saw had snagged Luke and was heading for where the Ninja and his KTM Duke were parked, determined to take care of her "baby."

"You wanna soda?" Mole asked, offering the X5 a can of Bolt.

Alec accepted -- along with a Hershey bar. A situational ethics kind of guy, he figured, like the lizard man, that the pop and candy from the broken machines might as well not go to waste.

Fifteen minutes later they were ready to leave, and in groups of three to six the transgenics began nonchalantly walking out of the parking lot, disappearing into the woods, carrying what few possessions they still had. (Joshua's backpack was quite literally bristling with canvases and paints). There was a danger, going while the sun was still up -- a satellite could spot them -- but the park rangers might have been called, and they'd need two full nights to make the base anyway. With luck, they wouldn't be noticed, and NORAD wouldn't figure out what was happening until they'd reached their destination. Then hopefully -- once firmly ensconced in the stronghold of Manticore's Gillette compound -- it would be too late for the military to do anything but scold.

*****

Wyoming Wilderness

They made over 80 miles the first night, traveling at a brisk jog, stopping only briefly every few hours to drink water and fuel their bodies up on food. When the morning sun lightened the sky, however, all -- even the X5s like Devon who were specifically created for long term physical missions -- were ready to drop from exhaustion.

Stopping for the day in a secluded mountain valley with a crystal clear lake and breathtaking view, the migrating transgenics gratefully bedded down.

Alec, as jaded as he was, offered to take a first guard shift, but Mole's heavy hand on his shoulder brought him to a halt. "Rest," his friend ordered. "You weren't designed for this, and look like shit." Lizard eyes noted the X5's slightly trembling hand. "And take your tryptophan," he added.

Knowing the transhuman was right, Alec gave his buddy a little smile and took a bottle of pills out of a pocket. Downing six tablets with a drink from his canteen, he then looked around for Max and saw she'd already curled up on a blanket under a nearby tree.

"Wake me for the second shift," the X5 quietly said, dropping to the ground beside their lady leader and stretching out aching legs."

The lizard man nodded -- and awakened the couple 12 hours later when the sun was setting again.

*****

Alec & Max Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

This could be a double cross.

That thought had been nibbling for hours at Alec's mind as he trekked through the Wyoming woods toward his old Manticore home that second night.

If Lydecker was lying about wanting out of the military ... If instead he was really after a promotion or accolades from The Committee ... If he was working with Stendahl ... or Cale ...

A lot of "ifs."

"A penny for your thoughts," Max said as she walked beside him. All around them in the woods were transgenics, moving like a an army of ghosts across the terrain. Most were making the journey easily, even the pregnant females and youngest X6s. In fact, Eve and the other babies were the only ones being carried -- strapped in "snug sacks" against their mother's bodies for warmth. They traveled without flashlight or lanterns, their animal-eyes serving them in good stead -- a blessing since it made their passing a lot harder for anyone to spot.

"Oh, just wonderin' what the hell we're gonna do if this all turns out to be a trap set by Stendahl," Alec said lightly.

"You're kidding, right?" Max said, grabbing hold of his upper arm and pulling him to a halt. "Alec, what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothin'," the X5 replied truthfully. "It's just the soldier in me doesn't like this set up. What if we get there and the codes don't work, or if they do work but once inside we find out that instead of a well supplied base it's nothin' but a bunch of empty buildings surrounded by concertina wire? We'd be trapped like rats, Max. For all we know the Army's waitin' in these woods to swoop in and shut the door on the cage -- and a perfect cage it is."

They were being left behind, and he started walking again.

"In Seattle," he continued, "the military had to be careful. Any full scale attack would have involved civilian casualties and all kinds of bad press. Out here though--" He looked up at the freezing star lit sky. "Who's to see or hear if a bunch of transgenics get massacred? A few strafing runs with napalm and it'd be all over but the shoutin', Max. We'd be toast -- literally."

"We could still go back," Max said quietly.

"I know."

Once more she pulled him to a stop -- and then to Alec's surprise, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him hard on the lips. "I don't want to die, Alec," she murmured against his mouth. "And I don't want you to die either. Or our people. If you really think Lydecker is pulling a fast one, then say so now, and we go back. I trust you in this. I trust your judgment."

"Max," Alec said, his voice tinged with honest despair. "I. Don't. Fucking. Know." He held out his hands, the look on his face one of confusion. "Maybe ... maybe we've just got to take this chance ... see it through. Maybe there is such a thing as Fate."

"Fuck fate," Max spat, her arms going around his neck. "I just don't want anyone putting bullet holes in you."

"Or in you," Alec said softly into her hair as he returned the embrace.

"Will you two get a room," a gnarly voice came from the darkness.

"We're just havin' a little discussion, Mole," Alec said, his lips twitching in a smile as he realized what this must look like to the transhuman.

"Max and Alec gettin' busy?" Joshua asked as he, too, came out of the shadows.

"I wish," Alec whispered in Max's ear.

But suddenly a shrill whistle sounded from up ahead, and all four transgenics looked up.

"The scouts have spotted the base," Max said, clutching Alec's jacket in a strong hand. She looked up into his eyes. "We're home."

*****

Alec at Gilette Base Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

They had to move fast and decisively. The second they keyed open the front door of the facility lights would flash red on NORAD's security console. They'd have maybe an hour then -- two at the most -- before a reconnaissance flight would be dispatched. Dawn was fast approaching, and with it their cover of darkness would be gone.

"You know, by noon we're gonna be on every news station in the world," Alec said out loud as his keen eyes studied the layout of the road down below. He, and two other X5s -- Jim and Hampton -- plus Mole, had taken point and were now lying on their bellies in the cold slushy mud and half-melted snow looking for the best way to approach the Gillette base.

"Publicity hound," Mole groused from Alec's side. "What? You worried the camera might add a few pounds to that perfect physique of yours?"

The X5 grinned. "It's not the cameras I'm worried about," he said honestly. "It's the guns."

"So, what's your plan?" the lizard man asked, chewing thoughtfully on the cold stub of his cigar. This was one time Alec hadn't had to order him to extinguish the stogie.

"I'm thinkin' we don't do a direct approach," Alec said thoughtfully. He was eying the 12-foot high concertina-wire-topped perimeter fence that created a hundred yard space between the first gate and the second that led into the base proper: a number of scattered labs and warehouses, plus the main attraction, the four-story, two-wing concrete building they all remembered oh-so-well from their soldier days -- the place where their creators had tortured their creations.

Rotating strobes -- set for automatic surveillance -- lit the facade of that chamber-of-horrors, just like old times. "We jump the first fence," he said, "and use the codes to get through the second. With luck, only the outer gate is remotely monitored on a direct link. It could buy us a few hours more ... before the Army realizes we're inside the compound."

"Why not just jump both fences?" Mole asked. "By-pass the gates altogether?"

Jim and Hampton edged closer, listening, but acquiescing to their squad leader. Mole was Alec's friend, which gave him leeway to question the plan.

"Because Lydecker says the inner one is directly hooked up to the defense system inside the compound," Alec said. "If we don't key that one in, we're toast. The whole place might even blow."

"Those are motion detectors, you know," Mole said, pointing a scaled finger at a sensor mounted on the inner fence.

"Can't be," Alec argued. "Every deer around here would be settin' 'em off if they were. I think they're just remote cameras, probably looped for daily checks on surveillance."

"Whatever you say," Mole shrugged.

"Let's move then," Alec said, starting to stand up. "We jump the fence and then I key us through the second entrance." He glanced at Hampton. "You got the codes too ... just in case?"

The other X5 nodded. But Mole's hand on his wrist brought Alec up short. What?

"That fence is electric, right?" Mole said.

Alec nodded. "A couple hundred thousand volts."

The lizard man took a deep breath. "I can't make that jump. No way. Wasn't designed for it. Eight-feet is pretty much my limit ... maybe nine if I'm goosed. But that bad boy's gotta be at least twelve."

"You stay here then," Alec said quickly. "Cover our backs just in case. You can come in with the others when we open the outer gate once we've established command inside."

"I should'a told you earlier," Mole confessed. "I thought this might be your plan but--"

"Just get my back, Mole," Alec said softly, his hand resting for a moment on the lizard man's shoulder.

"Got it," Mole said with a nod.

*****

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec secured the Glock pistol in the waistband of his jeans, took a deep breath, and sprinted toward the fence, legs pumping, breathing easily, arms pistoning at his side. Beside him, in his peripheral vision, he could see Jim and Hampton pacing him.

They reached their take-off point together, and sprang into the air, putting everything they had into the leap. Ten feet was doable for an adult male X5, but the concertina wire (as noted by Mole) made it more like 12 -- the edge of their ability.

Alec felt the toe of his boot brush the wicked points of the razor wire as he reached the peak of his leap -- and then he was over and the ground was rushing up to meet him. Landing in a graceful cat crouch, he heard his two men alight to either side.

They were in. Almost.

Using Manticore hand signals even though there wasn't anyone around to hear, he motioned for Jim and Hampton to flank him, weapons ready as they slowly walked toward the inner gate. He could see the entry panel lights glowing in the darkness, his night enhanced vision allowing him to already read the words printed above it, even from this distance.

"Restricted Military Area. Positively No Admittance. Trespassers will be Terminated on Sight."

There was another sign just like it on the road leading here.

In spite of the near-freezing weather, a bead of sweat trickled down Alec's brow and he reached up to loosen the collar of his jacket. The air might be cold, but adrenalin was pumping through his veins big time, and his metabolism was kicked into high gear.

He was hot--

--and he was also scared. Something didn't feel right. But so far, everything looked quiet ... no sirens ... no flashing lights--

The sound of the deadly laser beam reminded Alec of a pop can being opened -- sort of a "zip" followed by a "fizz."

The sound of 532's scream was something a lot more primitive.

Lydecker's X5 staggered back, clutching his chest, having time before death to stare down in horror at a small hole drilled neatly through his heart -- time to understand that his life was over. And then he simply crumpled -- eyes still open -- dead before he even hit the ground.

Instinctively, Alec threw himself to the snow-covered grass and rolled, gun in hand, at the same time trying to see where the enemy fire had come from. Then he heard it -- the whine of a servo -- and looked up to see a laser gun tracking him.

Not motion detectors, 494 realized. Heat sensors -- activated only when something came within its range. Now, they were locked onto his transgenic body heat.

A pencil thin beam of red light flickered over Alec's skull, for a second blinding him. Blurring, he barely avoided the deadly beam as it blew a small hole in the dirt instead of in his brain.

"Alec!" Mole shouted from the other side of the fence.

"We're pinned!" Alec yelled back, rolling out of the way of a second shot. To his right he saw that Hampton had already been hit in the arm and was scrambling the same way he was. There were at least two of the laser guns tracking them ... maybe more. It was like shooting fish in a barrel ...

Flinging himself over onto his back, Alec brought his Glock to bear on the turret closest to him and let loose with a round of bullets. He was rewarded by a flash of light followed by a puff of smoke and seeing the sensor "eye" go dead. One down ... one to go.

But the other laser had increased its tempo. Bombarded with rapid bursts of the deadly red beams, Alec could only scurry backwards, desperately trying to get out of the way. A pencil thin ray grazed his side and he yelped with pain. A few yards away he could hear Hampton breathing hard, the other X5 also attempting to escape. They were being backed into the electrified outer fence. If they touched it, they'd be fried, and there wasn't time or room to attempt a leap out of the trap they'd fallen into.

Alec let off another volley of bullets at the laser, but without having time to aim it didn't do much good. And then his gun clicked on empty -- and he knew he was probably dead.

"Mole!" he screamed his friend's name.

The sound of the sawed-off shotgun blast was deafening. Shattered into a million pieces, the laser turret blew apart, throwing shards of metal and plastic like shrapnel down on its intended prey.

Alec ducked, covering his head with his hands and curling up into a ball on the cold grass as he was peppered with those sharp missiles. And then suddenly, everything was very, very quiet.

"You okay?" Mole called out. "Guys? You okay?"

"I'm alive," Hampton answered, picking himself up off the ground and cradling his injured arm.

"So am I," Alec said a bit more weakly. "I think ..." Dizzy with adrenalin overload and feeling decidedly sick on his stomach, the X5 staggered to his feet, clutching his side. Eyes wide and wary, he then scanned the top of the inner fence and spotted several more of the lasers mounted further down. However, the two that had targeted them were completely destroyed. For now, they were safe.

For now ...

*****

Max Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Max heard the sound of gunfire down below from where she sat crouched on the edge of the woods with the rest of her people, and her heart turned over in her chest.

"Alec?" she softly said.

There were red flashes ... a man's scream ...

"Something's wrong," Joshua spoke beside her, his big arm coming around her shoulders. "Should we go help?"

"I don't think we can," Max said, her heart racing now as she fought the urge to run to her mate's rescue, and wishing mightily for a pair of infrared binoculars. Whatever trouble Alec and his men were in, they'd have to handle on their own. No way could she risk the main group.

"Max?" Joshua said.

"We wait," the X5 replied, forcing her voice to be firm. "And if they didn't make it -- we find out what went wrong and try again."

*****

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

They'd been running silent -- no transmissions -- on the off chance there was surveillance monitoring for radio activity. But Alec knew Max would be out of her mind with worry after that little light show, so he keyed on the transceiver behind his ear.

"Max," he said. "I'm all right -- barely. So's Mole and Hampton. But we lost Jim."

"Alec ..."

For a second that's all there was -- his name a relieved whisper in his ear. And then 452 the soldier took over. "Report!" she snapped. "What the fuck happened down there?"

"A heat guided laser security system. We probably triggered it because we by-passed the main gate. My bad."

"We'll dish out the blame later, soldier," his commander replied. "What about getting into the compound?"

"Barring further fireworks, we should have access in a minute. I'm gonna use the codes now."

Alec then cut the link and cautiously approached the lighted control pad, Hampton guarding his back and Mole pacing the outside of the fence.

The code was a series of numbers and letters with timed pauses in between the sequences. He'd memorized them ... all of them ... as had a number of the other transgenics.

Taking a deep breath, Alec pressed the right keys, then stood back and waited.

Lydecker had sworn there shouldn't be a retina-scan required, even though the key pad was equipped with that security feature. As he watched, three lights turned green above gate, but the fourth still glowed red.

"What are we missing?" Hampton asked beside him.

Alec's eyes flew to the screen -- and widened.

"It wants a DNA match," he said. "Shit."

"DNA match to whom?" the other X5 asked.

Alec shrugged. "Lydecker maybe or--" He had a sudden crazy thought. Acting on what could almost be called a premonition, 494 reached out to touch a finger to the DNA sampler. But Hampton gripped his wrist.

"What are you doing, Alec? Tryin' to blow us all up? That place is probably wired, you know. The wrong code and we're as dead as Jim back there."

"This base was built to cage X5s, right?" Alec said.

"Right."

"Not keep 'em out. If an X5 was returning from a mission, wouldn't they have wanted him to be able to get back inside?"

Hampton saw the logic in Alec's argument, and let go of his brother's hand. "Worth a shot," he muttered. "But I hope you don't mind if I stand back -- way back."

"Retreat to the perimeter," Alec said quietly.

The transgenic waited until his man was as far out of range as possible, then he pressed his thumb firmly to the sensor. For a second nothing happened as the computer analyzed the sample of his human/feline hybrid skin cells.

And then the final light turned green, and the main gate swung open, welcoming X5-494 back home.

*****

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Alec, are you clear? came Max's voice in his ear.

"So far, so good," 494 replied, his eyes searching everywhere as he kept the Glock ready. With Hampton beside him, he slowly made his way across the front parade ground of the Gillette base, the memories already beginning to flood his mind.

He'd grown up here ... trained here ... been punished here ...

"Storage facility," he said to Hampton, signaling his companion to explore the mess hall and warehouse where hopefully supplies were still kept. "I'm gonna check the armory."

Those were the two main objectives of his mission. If the base had food and weapons, they were set. If not ... the transgenics were in trouble. Hopefully, Lydecker's intel was legit (and hopefully he wasn't lying through his teeth).

Alec keyed in the code to the armory (one of the two dozen he'd memorized) and cautiously stepped through the door into a hallway lit only by red emergency lights. The place smelled musty ... unused ... abandoned. He knew he needed to be quick, assess the situation, report back to Max, and then -- if they were really going to stay -- destroy the uplink dishes to the Manticore surveillance satellites. That last action would most definitely alert NORAD to the intruders, but it would also leave the military relatively blind regarding the invader's movements within the compound.

Alec took a deep breath, and side-stepped around the operations desk to a door he knew led into the armory itself. There was another lock, of course, but he knew that code too. Entering the dimly lit room, the pupils of his eyes irised open -- and the X5 saw a dream-come-true.

Aisle after aisle of ordinance and weapons filled the large warehouse. Everything from sidearms to machine guns and bazookas were stored here, oiled and ready to use. There were even a couple of small tanks in a bay off to the right, and several full sized rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns ready to be rolled out of the facility on tracks.

And, unless he was badly mistaken, Alec thought, those were stinger missiles and SCUDS in the dim north end of the place. 'Deck might well have been right that there were nukes on the premises as well.

However, nuclear capability or not, the transgenics had just struck gold.

"Alec," Mole's voice chirped. "What have you got?"

"A toy store, Mole," the X5 said, grinning ruthlessly as he caressed the sleek surface of a laser-sighted machine gun with trembling fingers. "And you know how boys like me love to play with toys."

"We're in business then?"

"Mole, we're rollin' in it, and I don't mean shit. There's enough firepower in here to blow McKinley's Familiar ass to the moon if we want. No one will--"

Alec halted in mid word. He'd just heard something. Keying off the mic so he could listen, he slowly turned his head, using all of his transgenic senses.

X7 Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

There it was again. A sound. Rats maybe? Birds? The warehouse was huge, and in fact was now beginning to give him the creeps. He should find the main power switch and turn on the--

Which is when Alec saw it -- and quite literally froze.

Then, slowly, he reached up and touched the mic behind his ear. "Hampton," he said quietly.

"Roger," came the other X5's voice. "Alec, there's enough food to feed an army -- literally. We can hold out for years with--"

"Shut up. We're not alone in here."

"What are you talkin' about?" came the other man's curious voice.

"I'm talkin' about the X7 in my sites in the munitions building. And where there's one--"

"There's a dozen," Mole chimed in. "Alec, get out of there. Slow and easy. Those X7s are faster and stronger than X5s. You don't wanna tangle with even one."

There was a scurrying sound from above. Alec's eyes rose to see several shadows flickering on a catwalk, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Mole ... Hampton," he breathed into the transceiver. "I think I'm in trouble." Still moving very slowly -- as if a snake was about to strike -- he raised the Glock. But he didn't have a clear view of a target, just ghosts in the gloom.

"Alec," Max's voice sounded. "Get out of there!"

"Tryin'," 494 replied calmly as he backed toward the door he'd come in through. However, suddenly the air was split by an ultrasonic squeal that made the X5 cringe and cover his ears. Eyes unfocused, his head in agony, he never even saw the X7 as it jumped onto his back from above.

*****

Gillette Corridor Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"Alec!" Max shouted into the mic. "Mole, where is he?"

She hated this about Alec -- that element of egomania in his personality that made him so prone to acting completely on his own.

"I don't know!" the lizard man yelled back. "Hampton?"

"He's in munitions, and he's in trouble!" the other X5 radioed back. "I'm on my way there now."

"No!" Max ordered. "If it's a trap they'll get you too. Mole, you have the main gate code?"

"Yeah," the lizard man said. "But, Max, it'll light up NORAD's surveillance board like a Christmas tree."

"They'll know we're here as soon as they do a routine security check anyway," Max returned. "Opening the inner gate will have registered by now. Just, get the front door open. We're on our way."

Mole and Hampton met Max, Joshua, Dix, Luke, and a dozen other warriors as they came through the base's gate.

"Take down those dishes," Max commanded, pointing to the satellite uplinks. Luke and several X3s complied, swarming up the side of the four-story building like the animals they part were to disconnect the damning surveillance devices.

Max then turned her attention to the armory and Alec's plight. "Were there any shots fired?" she asked as she edged along the side of the building, Mole and Joshua at her heels.

"No," Mole said grimly.

"He could be fine and just cornered," Max said hopefully.

"And he's not transmitting because?"

Max had no answer for that. Alec had been ominously quiet for the past five minutes, and she had a horrible feeling she was way too late to help him. X7s were soulless, bloodthirsty creatures who's main purpose in life was guarding Manticore installations and controlling the earlier X series -- especially the X5s. Unlike their feline-enhanced predecessors, they had bat in their cocktail and communicated via ultrasonic sound. They also had hive minds. The last time Max had encountered an X7 had been almost three years ago. The kid -- her own clone so far as outward appearances -- had been about 12. Now, they'd be much more formidable teenagers. If Alec had been swarmed ...

The armory door stood ajar, and Mole entered first, shotgun in hand with Max and Joshua close on his heels. Further back a squad of X5s and X6s awaited their command.

"If you see X7s," Hampton ordered. "Kill them."

Cade, a pretty X5 with big brown eyes, pouty lips, and a sprinkling of freckles across a pert nose who used to work in TC's control center, nodded. Like all her X5 brothers and sisters -- like Alec -- she positively abhorred the X7s.

"We should have foreseen this," Max said out loud. "We should have guessed there might be a guard Unit left behind on the base."

"Lydecker didn't say nothin' about X7s," Mole groused, for once not talking around a cigar stub.

"The colonel might not have known," Max said.

Mole snorted softly. "Like hell he didn't know."

"We'll assign blame later," Max replied, biting her lip as she saw the open door of the inner weapon's room ahead. And then she saw something else -- blood on the floor.

But it was quiet inside, no sound of a fight or struggle, and there hadn't been so much as a single shot ...

"Alec!" she called out sharply.

Alec Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Right here," a clear deep familiar voice said from behind them.

All three transgenics whirled--

--to see X5-494 leaning nonchalantly against the frame of the doorway they'd just come through.

Max immediately stepped into the warehouse, and almost tripped over the body of an X7. From the odd angle of the thing's head, its neck had been broken -- expertly. The blood she'd seen on the floor was running from its nose and mouth.

Mole, his lizard eyes trying to look every direction at once and gun at ready, side-stepped across the hall. "What the fuck happened?" he said gruffly.

"There are more of 'em," Alec said, straightening up. "I couldn't get a clear shot." He thumbed behind himself. "Found the back door, though. Then did what the manual says -- waited for back-up."

"Can't handle a couple of teenage kids?" Mole chided.

"Hey," Alec shot back. "You wanna take on a whole pack of X7s, be my guest, but I don't consider myself that expendable. Those bat things are nasty." He held up his forearm, to show a large bruise spreading down the bone. "Took everything I have to down that piece of shit in there, and if his hive-mates had swarmed me it would'a been all over, gun or not."

"Why didn't they just shoot you?" Max asked.

Alec gave her a withering look. "In a warehouse full of ordinance? Yeah, right, Max. I'm sure they'd want live rounds ricochetin' off the walls."

"But they're armed?"

"Probably," Alec said almost cheerfully. Then, to Mole, "Hey, are we in? Front gate open?"

"Hampton and Cade are headin' up the mutant parade," Mole said. "Dix and Luke are shuttin' down the satellite links." He grinned a lizard grin. "Permanently."

"So somebody, somewhere, probably now knows the kids have come home again," Alec said wryly as he moved to stand beside Max.

"Somebody ... somewhere," Max agreed, not able to suppress the sudden shudder that shook her slender shoulders even as Alec's warm strong arm enveloped her in a reassuring hug.

*****

North American Aerospace Defense Command (N.O.R.A.D.)

"Sir," the young blond-haired lieutenant said to his superior officer. "Sir, I think you'd better look at this."

"What is it, soldier?" the captain in charge of the night shift at the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.

Several LEDs were flashing red on the main board. "It's the Gillette, Wyoming base, sir," the kid said, pointing to the winking lights.

The burly captain leaned forward over his officer's shoulder, shaggy eyebrows drawing down and thick lips pulling into a grimace. "What the hell ..." His voice trailed off. "Call up the video camera surveillance," he barked.

The lieutenant flipped a switch, and a grainy infrared camera image appeared on the monitor. "This was taken an hour ago," the young officer said. "The cameras were triggered by the heat sensors."

Three figures could be seen stealthily making their way across the grass, inside the perimeter fencing.

"The main gate was never opened," the boy said, "when this footage was taken, that is." He nodded to the lighted panel. "It's open now, though."

"How the hell did they get inside the perimeter then?" the captain asked, puzzled. He glanced at a dial. "The fence is still charged ... over a hundred thousand volts. Nothing human could have gotten over it. What'd they do? Tunnel in?"

"Here's the other camera," the lieutenant said, flipping a switch. "It was triggered by the first warm body it detected. Maybe we'll see--" He stopped in mid sentence as both he and his captain watched what appeared to be a man leap the 12-foot chain link fence in a single inhuman bound and land in a graceful crouch inside the base. Seconds later, a second "man" followed, entering in the same preternatural manner.

"My God," the captain said softly, his fingers fumbling for a nearby phone.

"Sir?" the lieutenant said. "Who ... what are those guys?"

"Monsters," the captain said in a clipped voice as he punched in a number. "Transgenics." The phone was ringing. "Get me Senator McKinley," he said into the receiver. "I know what time of night it is, but this is an emergency!"

There was a long pause, then--

"Sir, this is Captain Reed at NORAD. We've got a code red at the Gillette, Wyoming Manticore base. Three transgenics, perhaps more, have invaded the base."

He turned to the younger officer. "What other details can you give me, soldier?"

The boy scanned the panel where more and more red lights were winking on. "The automatic weapons systems were activated," he said, calling up data with flying fingers. Maybe I can--"

Then -- quite suddenly -- the entire board went dark.

Gulping, he said quietly, "most of the key buildings appear to have been accessed, sir -- with legitimate codes. However, they just destroyed the uplink. Our surveillance system for the Gillette base is now dead." He turned to look up at his superior officer. "We're deaf, dumb, and blind, sir. There's no way of knowing what they're doing now."

Captain Reed relayed that information to the Senator. "I understand, sir," he finally said. "Your orders will be followed."

He hung up and dialed again.

"Get me the airfield in Denver," he said, his voice clipped. "I need a squadron of fighters scrambled and every TAC team they've got put on standby. We've got a code red in Wyoming."

*****

Fighter Squadron

"They'll be coming soon now," Max said, snuggling down in the warmth of her lover's arms.

Alec shifted his weight in the bunk, holding her more closely to his bare chest but carefully keeping her weight off his bandaged laser burn. Exhausted almost beyond their endurance, most of the transgenics were taking advantage of what should be a few hour's lull before the storm, resting up for the fight ahead.

The remaining -- the most hardy -- were searching every inch of the base for the X7s.

The barracks were just as the X5s remembered them, 30 bunks per room partitioned by privacy barriers to prevent the Units from "talking" with each other via hand signals at night. (Such communications were banned after the '09 escape and subsequent crackdown).

There had even been clean linen and blankets in the storage cupboards. All that remained to be done was making up the beds.

Now the barracks -- all five of them -- were filled to overflowing with collapsing transgenics.

Alec had gravitated toward his old quarters, leading Max there by the hand. He needed to sleep -- badly. And whether she wanted to admit it or not, so did she.

"You wanna have sex," he now asked her softly. "You know ... to help ya relax?"

Max turned over and stared at him in disbelief.

"What?" Alec asked innocently.

She shook her head. "Sometimes it's amazing, the things you choose to say out loud to me."

"I was just askin'," he whined.