Artwork courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

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

ARCHIVE: No

This is a stand-alone story in my DARK ALEC series. These stories are my version of Season 4, and incorporate elements not only of the television show DARK ANGEL, but of the novels SKIN GAME and AFTER THE DARK, the book THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER, and information revealed in various cast/writer/producer interviews, chats, and commentaries. This particular plot was inspired by the SMALLVILLE episode "Crisis." -- author's note

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Maybe it's Ben," Alec offered as he watched the tape for the third time.

Max, her hand resting protectively on his forearm, stood beside him, studying the video intently. She'd come flying over to the gymnasium a few minutes ago, interrupting a martial arts class Alec had been helping Hampton with, and giving the X6s an eyeful when she'd unabashedly planted a big kiss on his mouth, at the same time breathing, "You're okay." Then she'd closed her eyes and uttered a little "thank you" in what sounded suspiciously like a prayer.

Now, he and the rest of Max's inner circle stood viewing what was certainly a very curious scene.

"Ben didn't die that way," Max said.

"Maybe the shot wasn't fatal," Alec countered as he massaged the palm of his nearly-healed right hand.

Mole made a little noise in the back of his throat. "A hit dead center in the back like that would put anyone down for good, Princess. Even an X5. That bullet went straight through. My bet is there's an exit hole the size of my fist in our mystery man's chest, and what's left of his heart is splattered all over the asphalt."

Max paled at the words, and Alec shot the lizard man a stern look. "Mole!" he snapped. "That's enough!" He looked down at Max whom he'd taken into his arms.

"Sorry," the transhuman muttered, truly chagrined. "Sorry, Max."

"It's all right," Max replied, taking a deep shaky breath. "It's just these damn hormones of mine right now. Lydecker says X5 babies grow faster than ordinaries, and the morning sickness is hitting me hard and early."

"What we're watching would make any of us sick, Max," Dix said sympathetically. The nomalie stepped closer to the screen, his one good eye narrowing behind the monocle. "Mole's right," he said. "Whoever that is, he's dead ... or as good as. His heart's draining. You can tell by how fast the blood's flowing."

"Guys!" Alec said sharply, feeling a bit queasy himself.

Dix ignored him. Instead, he turned to his partner, Luke. "We need to clean this tape up ... get rid of the noise and look for details." Then, to the X5s, "Alec, I know there are twins and clones and all from Manticore, but whoever that is, he's got your fashion sense. Don't you have a pair of Nikes just like those he's wearing?"

They all could see the trademark slash on the side of the runner's dark colored tennis shoes.

"Lots of people wear Nikes, Dix," Alec said quietly.

"And the jacket?"

Alec shrugged self consciously in the grey leather jacket he was wearing -- identical to the one sported by his doppelganger on the screen.

"Look," Dix pointed to the freeze-framed picture. "Look at the shoulder of that coat. You can see where it's mended, just like yours."

Max reached up and touched the repaired left sleeve of the jacket where a bullet had gone through the leather (and Alec) during the Jam Pony siege. Most of the blood stains had come out, but there was still a dark mark on the material as well as visible stitching.

"This is ridiculous," Alec said. "I've never been there ..." He nodded at the picture. "Or done that. I've never been shot in the back either."

"Who's the shooter?" Mole asked.

"I'll try to clean up the picture so we can see," Dix said. "Give me a few hours and we'll know more."

"It could still be Ben," Alec insisted.

"I don't think so," Max replied, shaking her head. Then she looked up at Alec. "The two of you move the same ... I'll admit that. But the look in those eyes ..." She once more studied the screen.

"You mean the terror?" Alec said with a self deprecating little smile. "Ben wouldn't be afraid, but I would?"

"I didn't say that. But Ben was so far gone it was as if he wasn't really afraid of death any more, and it showed on his face."

"Maybe this was before my brother went nuts," Alec tried.

"Alec," Max said softly, tightening her hold on his arm. "That's you. We've just got to find out who sent the tape, and when and where this happened. Also, why you don't remember ... why you're not--"

"--dead," Alec finished for her.

*****

Dix Photo courtesy ofStill Frame

Dix worked all day and into the night trying to clean up the videotape so more details could be ascertained. Max watched over his shoulder the entire time, taking a break only when Joshua insisted it wasn't good for the baby for her to be on her feet so much, and that she also had to eat.

Lydecker silently viewed the footage straight through twice, his face totally devoid of expression. Then, he turned to Max and commented dryly, "494 never received a wound like that. Not when he was at Manticore. Whoever concocted this is playing a joke on you -- a cruel one."

"The tape's not doctored," Dix returned, not looking up from the viewer he had his single good eye glued to. "In fact ..." He turned around and faced his boss-lady and the Colonel, "it's time stamped -- way down in the corner where it doesn't show in a regular feed."

Max noticed the tech mutant's face was looking more ashen than usual. "What's wrong?" she asked. "What did you find? When was this?"

"Not 'was', Max ... 'will be.'"

She shook her head, not understanding.

"The tape's dated day after tomorrow, Max. April 6, 2023."

"That's crazy!" Max said, while Lydecker merely shook his head in amusement.

"Like I told you," the Colonel said. "It's some kind of joke."

Dix shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I found. But I still don't think the tape's been doctored."

"Wait a minute," Max said. "You're saying you actually believe we're seeing an event that hasn't happened yet?"

"Kind of hard to wrap your mind around, isn't it?" Dix said with a little grin. "But Einstein thought it was possible ... Stephen Hawking too -- time distortion -- seeing or even traveling into the future and the past if the physical conditions of the universe are aligned correctly." Off the X5's skeptical look, he added, "I do read a lot, you know. Hawking's notes on quantum rules -- while not light bedtime fare -- are fascinating."

Max shook her head, feeling as if she'd just fallen into an episode of The Twilight Zone. "I'm gonna need more proof than just a date on the tape," she said. "And so's Alec. He'll laugh himself silly when he hears your theory."

"Crazy, isn't it?" Dix agreed. "Just like that cat DNA in you and Alec is crazy. I mean, human/animal hybrid supersoldiers? Come on."

"Point taken," Lydecker said from where he'd been listening to the exchange. He nodded at the monitor. "I'll agree that the clothes and haircut are identical to 494's current physical appearance. But look at his face. Our mystery man's got a cut on his chin."

Dix zeroed the picture in on the panicked young man's face. "'Deck's right," he said. "There. See? ... The gash on his chin? It doesn't look real fresh, though. No blood, and the bruising around it's almost faded away. Maybe a day or two old."

"Where is 494 anyway?" the Colonel asked.

"In the gym with Hampton, Mole, and some of the X6s," Max said. "They're re-establishing the martial arts training, giving a refresher course so the kids can continue their belt levels."

"He's not worried about this?"

She shrugged. "You know Alec. What he can't understand he tends to just ignore. If he can't get a firm grasp on a problem, he avoids it."

"Well, if this really is a slice of Alec's future," Dix warned, "he may not be able to avoid it no matter how hard he tries."

"What do you mean?" Max shot back. "Even if this is real, we're now warned and the idiot can stay out of rainy alleys."

"Can he?" Dix said, his monocled eye taking on a philosophical gleam. "Is the future fluid? Or is it fixed?"

Max opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again. Because, if what Dix was saying was true, then in two days Alec was going to be dead and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do about it.

"We need more proof," Lydecker supplied. He nodded at the screen. "494 made a cell phone call. Who knows? If the video came through from the future, then perhaps the audio did too. Who would he have called?"

"Me," Max said. "He'd have called me first." She scooped her cell phone out of her jacket pocket, then she looked up at the others, her eyes wide. "There's one voice mail message ... unread. You don't suppose ...? No, that's not possible."

"Listen to it," Dix said. "But let me copy it off while you do just in case."

Max swallowed hard, nodded, and -- when Dix was ready -- pressed "play."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec, with a big satisfied grin on his face, saw his opening and bounced into a spinning crescent kick, catching Mole in the head with his foot and knocking the lizard man on his ass. The padded helmet protected his friend, but the blow was still hard enough to make the transhuman's ears ring.

The watching X6s shouted and applauded their approval.

"Two points!" Alec crowed, looking to Hampton -- the center judge on the mat -- to make certain he was being awarded his due. The other X5 held up two fingers along with the white flag -- Alec's color -- indicating the points were good.

"Shit," Mole muttered, climbing unsteadily to his feet as Alec danced back in a sparring stance. "You're gonna pay for that, Princess!"

"Promises, promises!" Alec taunted, the self-satisfied smirk on his lips mirrored in impish hazel-green eyes.

The two opponents faced off again, and when the judge yelled "Go!" began warily circling one another.

Alec, knowing he was within one point of a win, blurred forward, throwing punches as fast as he could, his biceps corded into knots beneath the thin material of his sweat soaked black t-shirt.

Mole, however, blocked every one, backing up slowly, but staying within the ring's boundaries, waiting for his own opportunity.

And then it came. Alec -- slightly winded -- took a step back while he regained his breath. The transhuman, sensing his chance, whirled into a "tarantula" hook kick aimed at the side of the X5's helmeted head.

Alec's cat reflexes kicked in. Ducking sideways, he raised an arm to deflect the blow. However, Mole compensated, and that swinging heel caught his opponent on the chin, splitting skin.

It was a nasty hit -- but legal.

"Ow!" Alec howled, backing out of the ring while he shook his head and crimson drops flew everywhere.

"Points?" Hampton called, looking to the two corner judges. Then he held up the red flag and two fingers -- five to four, match over with Mole the victor.

Mole wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "You all right, bro?" he asked, his concern genuine.

Alec touched his chin and looked ruefully at crimson-stained fingers. Hampton came over, glanced at the minor wound, and shrugged. "He'll live. But Luke ought to bandage that cut."

The X6s were obviously worried as well, some of them visibly pale at the site of the X5's blood.

"Hey," Alec said lightly. "It's martial arts, kids. As in warfare. Sometimes we get hurt. Can't be helped. Happens to the best of us. Right, Mole?"

To show the younger Units there were no hard feelings, Alec then offered Mole his hand, which the lizard man warmly shook. "Same time tomorrow, kiddies," the transhuman said. Then, to Alec, "Come on, bro. Let's find our medic, and get that pretty hide of yours patched up."

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

"Any progress?" Alec asked.

Max turned around to see her lover's handsome form filling the doorframe -- and then she saw the wound on his face. Her heart speeded up. "What happened to you?" she snapped.

"This?" the X5 replied nonchalantly, touching the butterfly bandage on his slightly stubbled chin. He shrugged. "It's nothin'. Just caught Mole's foot in my face while we were givin' a sparrin' demonstration for the kids. My bad."

"Figures you'd get careless," she said bitchily. Then, "Dix cleaned up the video some more." She hit "play" on the machine and Alec watched what appeared to be his own death again.

"You know, Max," he said, "I've never been partial to reruns. Can't we just forget about it? It's startin' to give me the creeps."

"It should," she said tightly. "Look closely ... at your face on the screen."

Alec narrowed his eyes ... and then they widened. "You're shittin' me. Wow. Talk about a coincidence ..." He touched the bandage on his chin again.

"Coincidence?" Joshua said from behind him. "Or Destiny?"

Alec turned around to look up at the dog man. "We make our own Destiny," he said levelly. "Now don't go gettin' all philosophical on me here, Josh. That tape is fake. Has to be. Or else, like I said, it's of Ben on one of his own misadventures."

"There's more," Max said quietly. "Listen." She turned on the speakers.

Max! This can't be happening, but it is! He's runnin' me to ground! You've gotta help me, Max! I can't stop this! Oh shit ...!

There was the sound of the downpour ... and splashing ...

And then suddenly -- nothing.

"Where did that come from?" Alec asked into the room's rather dramatic silence.

"A voice message on my cell," Max replied. "Dix is fine-tooth-combing it for clues." She looked toward Lydecker who was busy at one of the terminals. "'Deck's checking out the current locations of our enemies, trying to spot who might be on the move against you right now."

"Stendahl's mobilizing," the Colonel spoke up at her words. He turned around to regard Alec balefully. "He filed orders with the Pentagon yesterday that puts his people out on a mission, but I don't have a location yet."

"It could be another clone," Alec tried.

"Yeah," Max replied sarcastically. "With a cut on his chin who has my cell phone number and calls me by my first name. Right, Alec."

Dix looked back over his shoulder at them. "There's a cold front moving in," he said. "Rain is due through here tomorrow night."

"Who the hell would have access to the future?" Alec said a little bit too loudly. "Max, this is a trick ... or a sick joke ... And even if someone did have this kind of technology, why send it to us?"

"It's a warning," Joshua said from the back of the room where he'd been quietly standing and watching ... listening.

Alec and Max both looked at him. "A warning?" Alec said. "Or a threat?"

"Someone is trying to protect Alec," the dog man declared. "Someone very wise and powerful has seen the future, and wants Alec to live."

"That's science fiction," the X5 sneered. "You've been readin' too many of those Jules Verne books from Father's library."

"Father ..." Max said softly. Then she looked to Lydecker. "You don't suppose it could be--"

"The guy's a ghost, Max!" Alec said hotly. "As in dead."

"We don't know that!" she said. "Sandeman could just be in hiding. We know he had an incredible mind ... that he could perform miracles with science. And the Breeding Cult had access to all sorts of mystical rituals and talismans."

"You talkin' magic here, Max?" Alec scoffed.

Lydecker had raised an eyebrow as well, and Luke over in the corner was grinning with amusement. Dix, however, was nodding.

"There's precedent," the monocled mutant said. "In human mythology there are many examples of prescience being used to save lives -- oracles who saw the future, and used that knowledge to sway world events."

"Prescience as in a videotape of a scene from the future?" Alec said, holding hands out to his sides in exasperation. "You guys are nuts! This is all a trick. The cut on my chin's a coincidence, and as for the incoming rain, someone just had access to a long range forecast. They're tryin' to spook us -- successfully I might add -- but in reality none of this is gonna happen!" He pointed to the monitor screen and the freeze-framed image of a dead man. "That's some actor dolled up in a high quality mask to look like me. The bullet was a blank, and the blood's fake. The time stamp on the tape could be faked too." He turned to Dix. "Right?"

"It could," Dix said cautiously. "But I don't think--"

Max sighed deeply, then straightened weary shoulders as she rubbed her slightly aching lower back. "Whether it's fake or real," she said, "we need to take this as a warning at best, and a threat at worst. Either way, Alec -- you stay on base for the next 48 hours. If you're here, there's no way you can be--" She gestured to the apparent corpse lying in a dark alley. "--there. Agreed?"

"I'll buy that," X5-494 said.

"We'll keep Alec safe," Joshua added, putting a big hand on his friend's t-shirt clad shoulder. "Father doesn't want you to die."

"Just ... stay close," Max said softly, walking over to take hold of her mate's hand. "Close to me ... and to your family."

"As if I'd ever stray now," Alec's deep voice rumbled in her ear. And then he kissed her lightly on the lips. "I'm always all right, Max. Stop worryin'. It's not good for the baby."

But Max couldn't help noticing that, even as he said the words, Alec's eyes were still focused on the monitor and its gruesome scene.

*****

Ben Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"Do you know the answer, bro? Who's joshin' with my mind?"

The liquid filled tank glowed faintly blue in the otherwise dark laboratory, the only sound the hiss of the aerator and other small pumps as they circulated oxygen and fluids into X5-493's preserved corpse.

"Or is it really you in that alley, gettin' shot?" 494 continued as if carrying on a normal conversation. "Was that some mistake of yours that an enemy of mine is now tryin' to use against me? Or is it me ... in the future? Is it my death -- or what should have been yours?"

Alec studied that slightly anguished face ... his face. Every once in awhile the eyes beneath closed lids would move, as if the subject was dreaming. But Lydecker had assured him that Ben was, indeed, dead -- that the movements were merely twitches caused by deliberately applied electrical impulses that helped keep tissue from decaying.

Every time he came down here 494 had to fight the urge to smash open that tank, rip the wires from that poor tortured body, and cradle his brother in his arms. He'd never known Ben ... never even met him outside a petrie dish in a lab ... but this was his blood relative, the closest person on earth to himself, and somehow he felt like he ought to be protecting his sibling from this ... this ...

Alec turned and looked up and around the antiseptic-scented room. This chamber of horrors, his mind whispered.

Ben had led an incredibly tortured life, and -- unlike his twin -- had never had a chance to come out the other side into a better world. Now, it seemed he was doomed to lead an equally tortured death.

If there were ghosts haunting this Manticore base -- as some of the current residents were beginning to whisper -- then certainly the core of the disturbance must be centered right here.

Max kept promising that Ben would be properly buried, out in the graveyard that already had dozens of bar-coded headstones. But so far, there just hadn't been time. They'd been too busy organizing the base and overcoming crisis after crisis, not to mention the missions Lydecker kept sending him on. Now, it had been almost a month, and Ben was still floating here naked ... violated ... without dignity ... not alive, but not quite dead either.

Alec knew he had to set the soul of his brother free. But for some reason he was finding it incredibly difficult to pull the plug on that respirator ... unhook the I.V.'s ...

Why? he asked himself. Because burying Ben in the ground is like burying myself?

"That's crazy," Alec said out loud. "And I'm not crazy. At least not like you were, bro."

But I am your brother, and it's up to me to see that you're allowed to rest.

Alec swallowed hard, then moved forward to place his open palm on the side of the glass tank, just opposite Ben's hand. When those cold dead fingers on the other side twitched, he wasn't really surprised.

"What would you think of me if you were alive?" Alec whispered. "What would you think of me and Max? Would you be glad for us? Or jealous? Did you love her, too? Or do you hold a grudge against her for not bein' able to save you? Would you hate me because I'm the twin who survived and won the girl?"

Hard questions ... and ones Alec knew he'd never have answers too -- at least not in this world or lifetime.

Closing his eyes, 494 forced himself to remove his hand from the glass tank ... to take a step backwards ... away from the pull exerted on him by his twin. If it wasn't completely insane, he'd swear that his brother wanted something from him, and he wasn't at all certain it was to be buried. Ben's spirit was, indeed, restless. Alec could feel that in the deepest corners of his own soul ... where he and his sibling were perhaps still connected.

Those pallid fingers twitched again.

"Alec?"

The X5 nearly jumped out of his skin. His senses overwhelmed by psychic emotion, he'd tuned out the rest of the world and hadn't heard her approach.

"Max, what are you doing here?" he said quickly without turning around, not wanting her to know she'd scared him.

"Right back at you," she replied. "Alec, what's going on?"

With difficulty, the X5 stepped away from the tank toward the door. Taking hold of Max's arm, he then steered her out into the underground hallway, relieved in a way that she'd broken the spell he'd been falling under. "Just payin' my respects," he said, trying to sound light.

"We'll bury him soon. I promise," she said. "I don't care what Lydecker wants."

"Soon," Alec agreed as they walked up the sloping tunnel toward the surface. "Why'd you come after me?"

"Dix found something on that cell phone message," she said. "Joshua told me you might be down here." She stopped then, and looked up into his eyes. "It's not good, Alec. We're dealing with something almost beyond comprehension."

"Like ghosts?" he asked, a trace of a smirk on his lips as he glanced back toward the lab.

"Worse," she said grimly.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"I screened out the noise from the rain," Dix said, twiddling dials on the audio processor he'd rigged up. Four separate bands showed on a screen, and as he spoke one of the lines zeroed out at the bottom removing the sound of the downpour. What was left was panting, splashing feet, and ...

Max! This can't be happening, but it is! He's runnin' me to ground! You've gotta help me, Max! I can't stop this! Oh shit ...!

"Now, let's remove Alec's voice," Dix said.

"We don't know that's me," Alec insisted.

"Whoever," the one-eyed mutant replied cheerfully. He adjusted the dial, and the voice went away leaving only sloshing footsteps and--

You're coming home now, little brother!

Max whirled on Alec. "Who is that?"

The X5's jaw had tightened. Only one person he knew of had ever called him "little brother." "Lane," he said. "That sounds like Lane."

"Then it is Stendahl," Lydecker said. He'd been watching and listening in silence up until now, content to let his kids work out their problem until they needed his expertise. "He sent X5-600 after Alec -- like he promised to do. Apparently, though, he's not too concerned about the physical condition of his acquisition."

"All he needs are the body parts," Max said, clenching her jaw. "He could kill Alec, put the body on ice, ship him to his headquarters, then cut up the remains at his leisure and use them to build one of his cyborgs."

"Why not just dart me, or use a TASER, and take me alive?" Alec wondered. "Surely, I'm worth more to the man that way."

"Because he's failed so many times in the past to capture you," Lydecker replied succinctly. "It's what I'd do, if I were Davis -- go for the sure kill and worry about resuscitation later rather than risk another complete miss."

"So, Lane shoots me in the back," Alec said. "But this hasn't happened yet, so I can avoid it, right?"

"Theoretically ... maybe," Dix agreed. "Or, maybe not."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"We're dealing with the future here, Alec," Dix said. "Like I told you, some scientists believe time is fluid, other theories have it as fixed."

"Bullshit," Alec spat. "I still say it's all an elaborate act meant to spook us." He looked around the suddenly silent control room. "And it's also still working -- admirably."

"You know," Max said. "There's another line of sound in that audio." She pointed to the gauge. "Can you bring it up, Dix?"

"I can try," he said. He adjusted the levels, and slowly the voice of an announcer came up:

And in a miraculous last second play, the Cheyenne Cougars defeat the Denver Mustangs by one point when Danny Faye comes off the bench in spite of his injury! And now, a word from our sponsor.

A jingle for Coca-Cola began playing and Dix turned down the volume.

"Anyone around here follow basketball?" Max asked, looking at Joshua who shook his shaggy head no.

"I do," Luke spoke up, raising his hand. "But the Cougars haven't played the Mustangs yet this year, and Faye's been sidelined all season with an ankle injury. It's unlikely he'd ever be taken off the bench."

"When was this game, then?" Alec asked as he chewed on a fingernail.

"Those two teams are due to play tomorrow night," the small mutant said quietly.

For a long moment, there was once again only silence in the control room as everyone processed this information. Then Lydecker cleared his throat.

"For now, we have to presume that -- bizarre as it seems -- these events are real, and that what we're seeing is the future." He held up his hands in defense before the words came out of Alec's mouth. "I know, it sounds crazy! But think about it, 494. You're part black leopard, a human/feline hybrid, a genuine god damn supersoldier. Up until the past couple of years most of the world would have called you science fiction too."

Alec had to concede that point. "Okay, Mr. Wizard," he replied. "If I'm seein' my future ... my own death ... then can you tell me why I've been singled out for this special privilege?"

"Like we surmised earlier," the Colonel said quietly. "It could very well be a warning from a friend."

"From Father," Joshua chimed in.

"You mean Sandeman has seen the future, and knows that Alec died this way?" Max said. "Somehow, that affected a lot of other things and now he wants to prevent it from happening?"

"Didn't they make a movie about this kind of shit?" Mole said dryly. "Starring that big muscle-bound ordinary dude Arnold somebody-or-other who went on to quite a successful political career."

"The Terminator," Luke supplied. "Good flick, Alec. You'd like it. There's this robot from the future who comes back to kill the mother of the baby who grows up to save the world. But first the father of the baby is sent back in time by the baby to become the baby's father."

Alec rolled his eyes, his head hurting too much to even try and comprehend what the little mutant had just said.

"What we need to do then," Max added, "is keep Alec here ... safe ... until the danger time has passed." She walked across the control room and took Alec's hand in hers. "Come on, future boy. You're holin' up with me for the duration."

"Can we stop by the mess hall first?" Alec pleaded. He looked down at her slightly swollen belly. "You're eatin' for two, remember?"

"All right," Max agreed. "But then we're hittin' the barracks and you're not leaving until day after tomorrow."

"That's gonna be boring."

"Don't worry," Max replied, an impish gleam in her eyes. "I think I can keep you entertained."

An eyebrow rose as Alec realized what she was implying. Then he grinned. "Lead on," he said, with a smug look around the room at the others.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

First they got food (to fortify themselves, Alec joked), and then they made love.

Alec was already getting skittish about her pregnancy, and Max decided now was as good a time as any to assure her mate that -- just because she was carrying his child in her womb -- their erotic romps together didn't need to be any less stimulating.

On all fours, with him hard and hot behind her ... in her ... Max closed her eyes and let her breeding partner thoroughly enjoy himself. The makeshift curtain covering the door of their cubicle was hardly an adequate privacy barrier, but the barracks were empty this early in the evening. Besides, Max reasoned as she moaned softly and Alec grunted with pleasure at each stroke -- who the hell cared if they were overheard? It's not as if the whole compound didn't know she and 494 were lovers. Let the other females go ahead and be jealous, her mind smugly crooned ... jealous that the best X5 male on base belonged exclusively to her.

*****

Afterwards, as she lay naked in Alec's arms while the sky outside grew dark, Max rubbed her leg up and down his, relishing in the friction of his warm skin as much as she'd relished the friction of his cock a few minutes before.

"You want more?" he asked, his voice deep and smooth as he smiled down at her in that impish, self-satisfied way he had.

"Always," Max murmured against the hard muscles of his biceps. "I could drown in you, you know. Lose myself ..."

"The feeling's mutual," Alec said softly. And then he was kissing her, the way only Alec could, his lips and teeth and tongue possessing her mouth and making Max's spine tingle all the way to her groin.

"How did I ever live without you?" she whispered against the beard stubble of his cheek as the fingers of one hand tangled themselves in his hair, and her other slid beneath the blanket to fondle his new arousal. "How was I so blind back then?"

"You were in love with another man," Alec said simply, trailing little kisses down her neck as he breathed the words. "Not with me." He paused, and green-gold eyes sought hers in the near-dark. "But that was then, and this is now. Things have a way of workin' out like they're supposed to in the end, you know."

"I guess they do," Max agreed, as she rolled over onto her back, cupped his ass, and pulled him into her once more.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

It took a few seconds for Alec to realize that something had awakened him. Lying warm, snug, and sexually satiated with Max cradled in his arms, he'd been deeply asleep, but -- like all X5s -- he had an inner sense that never truly slept.

Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was past midnight. Others were sleeping around them, their snores and slumbering noises assuring him there wasn't any kind of base-wide alert going on. But the hair on the back of his neck was prickling, and he knew damn well that he'd heard something.

Sliding out from beneath the blankets ... careful to not awaken Max ... he pulled on jeans and black t-shirt, and picked up his jacket and shoes. Then he slipped out of their cubicle, moving cat quiet to the door of the barracks.

Once outside in the chill night air, he stopped to hop into the Nikes, then straightened and looked around the compound. The sentries were on duty on all four towers -- he could see their reassuring silhouettes -- and there still weren't any intruder alarms flashing.

But something had awakened him ... And then he heard it in the wind. 494! The voice faint but definitely calling his designation ... his name.

Alec looked at the door behind him. He ought to go back inside. So long as he stayed with Max he was safe -- there'd be no insane running down a rainy alley and ending up with a bullet in his back. He glanced up to the star-studded sky above. Not a cloud in sight. Besides, he reasoned. Whatever happened wouldn't occur until tomorrow night.

He was walking by the north perimeter fence, headed toward the quarters in the rear of the mess hall where Joshua and Mole might still be awake, when he heard something again -- a snapping in the underbrush on the other side of the chain link.

494!

Turning his head sharply, X5 pupils irised open as he scanned the underbrush. Was that a muffled cry?

Go back for help, you idiot! his mind screamed. But first, he just wanted to find out who (or what) it was.

Looking up and down the perimeter, he didn't see anyone else. It would only take a minute or two to check this out, then go back for help if there was trouble. Raising his head, he gauged the height of the fence, backed up, and with a short running start leaped high into the near-freezing night air, clearing the concertina wire by inches in a superhuman bound that only adult male X5s could achieve.

Landing in a cat-crouch on the other side, Alec took in the landscape while his sensitive hearing listened for a repeat of what he'd heard. And then there it was -- a sob?

Creeping through the low growing underbrush, he came to the tree line, but paused before going into the deeper darkness. Scent didn't carry well in the frost laden air, which eliminated one of his senses, and the gloom was so intense even his enhanced vision was rendered relatively useless.

Suddenly, there was a short sharp cry of pain. A child? Certainly someone helpless? Could it be Asha?

Without any further hesitation, Alec plunged into the woods, headed straight for the sound. A few steps further and he emerged into a small clearing to see--

"Dalton!" he exclaimed. The kid was sitting at the base of a large pine tree, hands chained behind his back, and a gag in his mouth. The boy's wide terrified eyes told the whole story, even as the young X6 shook his head violently from side to side in a no.

It was a trap.

Whirling around, Alec got just a glimpse of a metal-plated horror of what used to be a face. Then there was the soft spit of a dart gun.

Looking down, he stared at the feather-tipped needle sticking out of his shoulder. He managed one step ... two ... and then suddenly he was on his knees, his head swimming. All around him, as if materializing out of thin air, black clad soldiers emerged from the woods.

And the last thing X5-494 heard before falling face forward and paralyzed into the pine needles was a creepy, smugly satisfied voice crooning, "At last, 494, you're mine."

*****

Max woke up -- alone.

"Alec?" She looked around the dark cubicle, then quickly threw on clothes and ran to the barracks door. Elsewhere in the open, high-ceiling space transgenics were snoring ... sound asleep ... but there was no sign of her X5.

"What's up, Max?" Dix asked when she barged into the control building a couple of minutes later. Pulling a late-nighter while analyzing the tape, the mashed-potatoe-headed mutant looked as exhausted as she felt.

"Have you seen Alec?"

"No. But you're not the only one lookin' for a lost one tonight."

"What do you mean?"

"Gem was here awhile ago. She can't find Dalton."

"Dalton's always in trouble," Max countered. "He probably sneaked off base to go drinking in Gillette."

"The kid's been acting better lately -- at least according to Gem," Dix countered. "She's worried about him. He was supposed to meet her at eight and never showed up."

"Any disturbance on the perimeter?" Max asked.

"All's quiet," Dix replied, looking across the room to Luke who nodded in agreement.

"I'm gonna check with Mole ... see if he's seen Alec," she announced. "If you hear anything, give me a shout on my cell."

"Will do, Max."

*****

JoshuaPhoto courtesy of Still Frame

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec regained consciousness to terrible harsh noise and a pounding headache. Instinctively lying still, he could tell he was on the metal floor of a moving vehicle -- and his senses told him he wasn't alone.

"Welcome back, 494," an unctuous voice said close to his ear.

Blinking open his eyes, he turned over to stare up into the pale face and crew-cutted visage of Major Davis Stendahl, director of New Manticore's cyborg program and the man who coveted his ass plus a whole lot more.

"Lydecker's not going to swoop in and save you this time," the Major said with a little smile, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners. "You're headed straight to my main base, and by this time tomorrow ... let's just say there won't be anything left of you worth rescuing -- nor will you care. A transorbital lobotomy can be a wonderful thing, 494, if you just quit fighting it. No worries ... no emotions ... no thoughts ... Just following orders. You'll be a perfect soldier -- like X5-600 -- with all the most up-to-date robotic and bio-synthetic enhancements replacing those inefficient limbs and organs you have now."

Stendahl nodded at the cyborg sitting like an automaton behind Alec in the back of the van. Then the Major's lips twitched. "I do hope, however, that you enjoyed your last time with 452. That's one pleasure you'll never experience again. All of my male 'kids' are castrated -- part of my agreement with Senator McKinley -- their testosterone levels maintained via synthetic hormones which are much easier to regulate than the natural stuff anyway. It will be done during your initial surgery later tonight."

Alec said absolutely nothing ... thought absolutely nothing ... his only defense against total panic to force himself into a place of quiet calm. Glancing down at his wrists, he was surprised to see that only a plastic tie held them together. No chains? And why hadn't they kept him sedated?

The van made a right turn, rolled over bumpy ground, then speeded up again. Alec asked his first question. "Where am I?"

Stendahl glanced up at the high window in the van's rear door where the sharp sunlight told Alec it had to be at least late afternoon, if not early evening. (Which meant he'd been out for almost a day.)

"We're headed to an airfield outside of Gillette," the Major said. "A helicopter is scheduled to arrive shortly."

That did surprise Alec. Stendahl had held him for so long this close to the base?

His captor took a hypo kit out of his pocket and began preparing an injection. "Now that we've had our little talk, I'm putting you back to sleep, and when you wake up again it will all be over."

So that was it, Alec thought. The old "have to gloat" syndrome -- the downfall of many a villain. Stendahl had let his captive awaken so he could rub his nose in his fate one last time. As for the lack of chains ... why bother when one's prisoner is pumped full of thorazine.

"Tell me one thing first," Alec said quickly, stalling for time although he didn't know what good that would do. "Why me? There are lots of X5s on base ... in Canada ... Why do you keep comin' after me?"

Stendahl held up the hypodermic needle, smiling again as a tiny squirt of yellow liquid sprang from its tip. "You can thank your former CO for that, 494," he said.

"Lydecker? Why do you have such a hard-on about him?"

"Donald has taken much from me over the years," the Major said quietly, his lips tightening. "Now, I've got official permission to take something from him instead -- one of his precious X5s ... one of his best." He glanced at Alec, an eyebrow raised. "I'd take 452 as well -- gladly -- but my program isn't using females at the moment. They're too weak for the procedures."

"I'm a free citizen," Alec tried ... anything to keep the guy talking. "This is kidnapping ... slavery."

"Yes," Stendahl said calmly. "It is." He leaned forward with the needle. "Now, hold still. This doesn't have to hurt ... at least not yet."

Alec's eyes widened, and -- in an action rooted in pure desperation -- he moved. Lashing out with a foot, he knocked the needle from Stendahl's hands. The second kick caught the Major in the face, breaking his nose. While his adversary pressed hands to gushing blood, the young transgenic then rolled over on his stomach, got his feet beneath himself, and lurched upright in the van, only to find himself standing face-to-face with an inhuman metal mask.

"Lane," Alec said, his eyes locked onto those glowing red orbs as he searched for some remnants of humanity in the cyborg. "Please."

He'd trained with X5-600 for 7 years. They'd been Unit mates ... combat partners ... comrades. Always a bully, Lane had made the slighter built 494's life hell at times, but still ... they'd come from the same place ... suffered the same horrors of Manticore ... survived together.

That had to count for something.

For just a second, the altered X5 paused, his violated skull tilting slightly sideways as if pondering a dilemma, those red eyes dimming as circuits hummed.

Swaying slightly, Alec looked toward the front of the van where some of Stendahl's ordinary soldiers sat on the other side of the bullet proof partition. None had noticed the altercation in back yet. However, the Major was getting to his feet ... reaching for an alarm button.

His own "systems" in automatic combat-mode, Alec whirled, kicked Stendahl in the head, and planted a side-kick square in the middle of Lane's torso sending the cyborg crashing backwards over a bench. Then he leaped over the downed soldier and hit the back door of the van with his shoulder.

The lock gave easily -- and Alec suddenly found himself in mid-air. The vehicle was going less than 40 mph, but the impact as he hit the pavement and rolled still knocked the wind out of the X5. For a second, he sprawled, unable to move. But the van was breaking to a halt less than a quarter mile up ahead, and he knew that if he didn't get his feet under himself his escape would be over before it even started.

Staggering upright, Alec saw Lane leap out of the back of the van, and the gun in his hands was neither tranquilizer nor TASER, but rather a large gauge automatic rifle -- Manticore issue.

"Kill the boy!" Stendahl's voice cut through the crisp evening air.

Alec didn't wait to hear more. Sighting on the tree line in the distance, he blurred, zigzagging even as Lane's rifle roared and a bullet whizzed past his ear.

Afraid to look back, the terrified young transgenic could still hear feet pounding as the cyborg lit out in pursuit. However, Lane's robotic limbs -- while super strong -- weren't designed for the animal speed of Alec's legs. X5 heart pumping with fierce efficiency, his breathing deep and easy, 494 raced for the trees.

Once in the pine woods, Alec didn't stop, but fled on, leaping over rocks and logs, his sneakered feet sinking deep into the mulch of pine needles that covered the forest floor as he sought refuge in the growing gloom of twilight. Thanking God and Lydecker for his cat-sharp nightsight, he had no trouble seeing as he slid down an embankment, then began climbing a steep slope that led to older growth forest. He'd covered perhaps a mile when he finally slowed. Bringing his wrists to his mouth, sharp white teeth quickly gnawed through the plastic tie that was binding his hands. Dropping the bands to the ground, Alec then crouched low and listened, needing to know how close pursuit was.

In the distance ... maybe a quarter mile away ... he could hear footsteps -- even ... steady ... advancing at a tireless ruthless pace.

Lane.

And for the first time it occurred to Alec that his old Manticore sibling was perfectly capable of running him to ground, even if it took days. An unaltered X5 could go for several hours pretty much all out, but his body's high metabolism eventually demanded rest and sustenance. Lane, however, with his robotic alterations and artificial limbs and organs, had been created to never need rest at all, and he could operate almost infinitely without food or water. True, in a state of deprivation, Alec knew his own body could survive equally long, but not while under heavy duress.

Turning slowly in a circle, he took his bearings from the stars, visible between scuttling clouds. The base was approximately 30 miles east from Gillette as the crow flies, and Stendahl had been headed for an airfield on the north side of town. Thirty miles on foot was nothing to an X5 under normal conditions. But Alec knew that between himself and the safety of his family lay a vicious obstacle course of steep ravines, cliffs, heavy woods, and at least one river that he'd have to cross (the bridge being 20 miles in the opposite direction).

At least he wasn't injured ... and the side effects of the drug were rapidly wearing off.

The sound of approaching feet, however, was drawing closer -- and Alec made up his mind. Reaching the base was a longshot. Far better to head for Gillette where he could get to a phone and call for help.

Taking aim once again with the stars, Alec straightened his shoulders, took a deep breath, and set out to the south at a steady, ground-covering lope.

*****

Colonel Donald Lydecker Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"The cell that call came from traces back to a Nadia Smirnem," Dix said late the next afternoon, having finally managed to access the AT&T information. Studying the data on his computer screen. He glanced up at Max. "She lives just outside of Gillette, 411 County Road Three."

Max grabbed up her leather jacket from off the table where she'd thrown it.

"Where are you going?"

It was Lydecker who'd asked.

"Where do you think? Sometime in the next few hours Alec ends up with that lady's cell phone, and I'm going to be there when that happens."

The Colonel's hand on her upper arm brought her to a stop. "Max, you're grasping at straws. If Stendahl's got Alec, he's nowhere near here by now. It's been nearly a day."

"It's all I have to go on," she said quietly. "If there's any chance at all--"

"I'll come, too," Joshua said.

"No, Big Fella," Max said. "Not this time. This Nadia-lady is going to think I'm crazy as things are. With you by my side -- good intentions or not -- she would just be more scared."

"People afraid of things they don't understand," Joshua said, shaking his head sadly and repeating what had almost become his mantra.

"Then I'll come," Lydecker said.

"As if you wouldn't scare the shit out of the lady as well," Mole snarked.

Max shot him a look, and the lizard man shut up.

"Let's go, then," she said. "We'll take my bike."

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nadia Smirnem said from behind the latched screen door of her ranch-style home as she wiped flour-covered hands on an apron. A short, middle-aged housewife with blonde-streaked brown hair, near-sighted grey eyes, and a body that had been attractive 30 pounds and 15 years ago, she looked Max and Lydecker up and down with suspicion.

"I'm just asking you if you have your cell phone right now," Max said, trying to be patient, although every instinct she had was screaming that she had to hurry. "386-4400," she said. "That's your number, right?"

"What if it is?" Nadia asked.

"Someone calling from that number left me a message," Max explained, "and I'm trying to find out where they are. Are you absolutely certain you have your phone?"

The woman looked away, uncomfortable.

"You don't, do you?" Lydecker said sharply, speaking for the first time. "You don't have your phone."

"My husband, Evan, has it," she finally said. She nodded toward the mountains. "He took it with him yesterday when he went hunting. I'm expecting him back any time now."

Max turned around and stared up at the deeply shadowed mountains looming above the town. "Any idea where your husband went to hunt?" she asked desperately.

Nadia shrugged. "No telling. My Evan ... he likes to wander."

"Could you call him ... on the cell?" Max pleaded.

"Tried to a little bit ago," the lady confessed. "He's got no signal right now ... either that or he let the battery die."

Max's shoulders slumped.

"It's a dead end, 452," Lydecker said. "Let's go."

*****

Alec ducked under the trees, barely making it out of sight as the black chopper flew by low overhead -- Stendahl's pick-up ride, headed for the field. The X5 knew that as soon as it landed, the Major would commandeer the helicopter to start searching for him.

It was just like Manticore all over again. Only always before, he'd been one of the hunters ... not the hunted.

He felt relatively good -- all things considered -- the effects of the sedative only causing a mild headache now ... or at least he hoped the slight pounding behind his eyes was due to the thorazine and wasn't a precursor of something else.

His tryptophan was in his other jacket, back at base ...

There was a sound in the woods behind him, and he looked sharply back. Maybe it was just a deer, or a squirrel.

Or maybe it was Lane.

Gillette was only about 5 miles away, but that was over relatively open ground. The chopper would be rendered useless after dark. However, Alec knew that Lane's infrared vision meant he had to keep to the woods ... under cover ... and that would add miles to the journey.

He wasn't wearing his watch, but the X5's inborn time sense told him it was close to 7 p.m. -- the hour of his "death" closing in. Once again, Alec thought about simply heading for the base. Would that be the right choice? Would it keep him out of that alley? But it would be so much easier to go into town and call for help rather than risk being caught in open terrain.

The underbrush crackled behind him again, and he thought he caught the faint sound of a servo-motor's whir.

That clinched it. As stealthy as his feline ancestors, Alec moved out, creeping along the tree line even as the helicopter disturbed the tops of the pines when it made another sweep overhead.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

9:22 p.m.

Alec crouched at the base of a large pine, his head lowered between his legs as he took deep breaths, trying to ease the pounding of the migraine. He felt dizzy ... sick ... and even the faint light of the half-moon hurt his light-sensitive eyes. But he knew he couldn't stop. Lane wasn't far behind him, using his bionic enhancements to track his prey, while Stendahl's ordinary soldiers were slowly circling the area, trying to close the net.

In another half hour, Alec knew he'd be trapped if he didn't get into town. Forcing his head up, he looked down the steep embankment to the flatland stretched out below and the lights of Gillette twinkling beyond. A mile ... mile and a half at most ...

If he was in top condition, he could make the run in less than five minutes ... but the stupid headache was sapping his stamina and interfering with his other senses. There was also the danger that exertion might bring on a seizure. His hands were already trembling ...

Back at Manticore, his meds had been long acting -- but that was a thing of the past. Tryptophan, while usually an adequate substitute, had to be taken in regular doses or else it wore off -- like now.

He had to move.

Getting his legs beneath himself, Alec stood and cautiously stepped out from beneath the tree canopy onto moonlit rocky ground. Wind ruffled his hair and, even though the stars were shining overhead, there were scudding clouds and the smell of rain in the air. With one last fearful glance behind him, he moved to the edge of the embankment and slowly started making his way down. Almost immediately, however, the rubber soles of his shoes slipped, and the X5 found himself sliding way too rapidly down the slope in a noisy cascade of skin-scraping scree to land with a loud splash in the small river at the bottom.

If Lane didn't know my location before, he sure as hell knows it now, Alec thought with disgust at his own carelessness.

Standing up, he shivered in the cold, then brushed rock debris from his stinging palms, and waded further into the icy waist-deep water. The river -- more of a large stream actually -- wasn't very wide, and Alec stopped briefly halfway across to scoop liquid into his cupped hands, drinking thirstily and wishing he had something to eat.

The shot that whizzed by his ear -- meant to be a clean kill or a clean miss -- was off by half an inch.

Ducking, the X5 leaped forward through the water, all but taking flight as he blurred. Headache and hunger forgotten, Alec hit the other bank at a dead run, jumped out of the river in a spectacular eight-foot bound, and took off for those distant lights just as fast as his legs could pump.

This was it -- the home stretch. There were no more decisions to make any more.

Behind him, Alec thought he could hear pursuit, but he knew better than to look back. It would slow him down. Regular X5 soldiers could run at speeds up to 50 mph over short distances, and lope at 30 mph over a longer haul. Lane had seemed encumbered by his robotics -- the artificial limbs more durable than flesh and bone, but heavy and lacking agility. Hopefully -- if it came to a horse race -- he really could outrun the cyborg.

Up ahead, Alec could see the lights of several vehicles making their way along the main road -- probably Stendahl's people alerted by Lane and moving into position to head him off. Even though there was a lot of open ground around him, Alec felt the trap closing.

And then suddenly -- he saw it -- a battered, rusty red pick-up truck parked ahead of him along a dirt track that was little more than a deer trail, the driver in the midst of changing a flat tire.

The crippled vehicle wouldn't do him any good, Alec thought as his telescopic vision zeroed in. But the rifle hanging in the gun rack certainly would.

The X5 soldier didn't take time to say "please." Blurring into the clearing, Alec decked the guy with a single blow to the jaw before the poor fellow could even register his presence. Then he yanked open the truck door and went for the gun, only to pause at the site of the cell phone lying on the seat.

Looking fearfully behind him, Alec spotted a flash of a silver visage in the underbrush and knew Lane was almost on him. No time to make a call now ... or to look for ammo. Praying the rifle was already loaded, Alec yanked the gun free from its rack, pocketed the cell, and took off at a run again.

As he fled into the scrub, it began to rain.

*****

Max's cell phone rang.

Max! God, I was afraid the battery was dead. Listen!

"Alec?" She stared up at Lydecker where he was standing beside her Ninja. Instead of going back to base, they'd decided to look around town and were currently parked behind the tavern. "Alec, where are you?"

Just north of Gillette, in the scrub, runnin' for my life from cyborg boy. I'm almost to the--

The line abruptly went dead.

"Alec!" Max called frantically into the receiver, staring at her cell as if it was possessed by a demon. She looked to Lydecker again. "He said the battery was low. But he's north of town, on the run, with one of Stendahl's machines after him."

"Go," the Colonel said, nodding at the bike. He then took out his own cell phone. "I'll have back-up here in fifteen minutes."

Max nodded. Then -- ignoring the rain that was beginning to come down in sheets, as well as the nausea rising in her throat -- she vaulted onto her bike and took off for the north edge of town.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec glared at the phone, then stuffed it into his pocket. Behind him he heard a sound, and without bothering to look back he took off at a run yet again, headed for the shelter of some buildings on the edge of town.

Ducking between two warehouses, he emerged into an alley -- and suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He knew this place ... had seen it before.

This was the location of the video footage. Glancing up, Alec saw a surveillance camera mounted high on a light pole ...

Somewhere nearby he could faintly hear a television or radio. The Cougars are up by five with less than a minute left to play! the announcer crowed.

The game was almost over, Alec thought -- and, if things continued to play out like on that tape, so was he.

High metal walls rose on two sides around him, their shadows deeper than the night. The pavement beneath his feet glistened yellowish in the faint street light, the rain puddling in potholes and pounding on the tin roofs above his head.

Swiping dripping strands of hair out of his eyes, Alec checked the rifle, and his heart sank. Both barrels were empty. With a curse -- Shit! -- he threw the useless gun away.

Then, in the distance, he heard a wonderful familiar sound -- a motorcycle engine. Taking out the cell phone, the X5 prayed the battery had recovered enough juice for one last desperate call.

"Max!" he called into the receiver, uncertain if she'd even picked up. "This can't be happening, but it is! He's runnin' me to ground! You've gotta help me, Max! I can't stop this! Oh shit ...!

And in a miraculous last second play, the Cheyenne Cougars defeat the Denver Mustangs by one point when Danny Faye comes off the bench in spite of his injury! And now, a word from our sponsor.

Alec! Where are you ? Damn it! Tell me where you are?

But Alec never had a chance to answer. The line went dead again. And then, out of the corner of his eye, the exhausted X5 saw movement -- Lane leaping onto the roof of a single-story shed attached to one of the warehouses. Silently, the cyborg took aim with his gun.

Soaked to the skin, head throbbing with pain, and caught out in the open with no cover in sight, Alec knew he was a sitting duck.

*****

Max gunned the engine, racing through the back streets of Gillette, her eyes frantically searching through the downpour for the buildings on the video. She knew she had to be close.

She also knew that Alec had only seconds left to live.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec stumbled, caught his balance, and splashed forward through nearly ankle-deep water, trying to make the end of the alley. Any second now he knew he'd hear a gunshot ... feel the impact of a bullet ... Any second now and he'd be dead or worse -- wounded and captured.

He threw down the useless cell phone and -- dredging up the last of his strength -- blurred one last time.

"You're coming home now, little brother!," Lane screamed.

Suddenly, a bright light pierced the gloom, sending a sharp lance of pain through Alec's eyes as the sound of a motorcycle engine blasted full force on his ears.

The Ninja nearly sliding out from under her on the slick pavement, Max careened around the corner of the alley just as the rifle roared.

"Alec!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she saw him go down, falling face first onto the asphalt, the impact of his body sending a cascade of water into the air exactly as it had in the foretelling video.

"Alec," Max sobbed, bringing the bike to a halt.

But then, miraculously, that wet dark blond head rose up as the X5 got his hands beneath himself. Scrambling to his feet, Alec looked fearfully back at Lane who was taking aim for a second shot.

"Get on!" Max shouted, gunning the motorcycle engine.

Her lover didn't need to be told twice. In an athletic leap, Alec was on the seat behind her with his arms encircling her waist, and Max shot the cycle out of the alley just as fast as she could feed it gas.

We've done it! she thought with relief so great she was giddy. The future can be changed!

Which is when Lane's rifle sounded once again -- and with a grunt of pain Alec slumped against her back.

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

*****

"There they are!" Mole said, pointing through the dark rain-streaked van windshield to the motorcycle speeding down the road toward them.

"Max has Alec!" Joshua added triumphantly. "Max saved Alec!"

"Not yet she hasn't!" Mole exclaimed as they both saw X5-600 step into the middle of the road behind the fleeing couple with gun raised. "Shit, we're too far!" the transhuman yelled, even as he stepped down on the gas.

They didn't hear the shot--

--but they saw the black Ninja suddenly swerve, wobble as Max tried to keep control, then skid through mud and gravel into the ditch.

--and they also saw Colonel Donald Lydecker step into the middle of the road, take careful aim with his automatic, and pump six rounds into the biological/mechanical abomination that used to be one of his precious kids.

As Mole pulled the van over to the side of the road, Lane collapsed twitching to the ground, the red glow of those artificial eyes fading to black while they piled out and raced on foot to their fallen comrades.

*****

"Keep him sedated."

"But sir," Luke argued. "He's coming around ... triggering the respirator on his own. Shouldn't we--"

"I said keep him under!" Lydecker snapped. His greying blond hair disheveled, clothes rumpled, and that rugged face sagging with worry, the Colonel jammed fists into the pockets of his flight jacket and stood staring down at the unconscious X5 lying in the hospital bed.

The bullet had caught X5-494 in the back of the lower right shoulder, tearing through his body at supersonic speed, nicking the large artery that fed his heart and collapsing his lung.

Seconds had counted. If they'd been even a mile further from base the young transgenic would have bled to death, Joshua's hands tight over the gaping holes doing nothing to stem the bleeding. However, Luke's field medic expertise, 11 units of donated X5 blood, and the advanced hospital equipment the base provided -- plus Alec's own incredible stamina -- had kept the boy from the darkness.

Now, the Unit was beginning to come out of shock, stirring on the bed and fighting the respirator that had kept breath in his body overnight.

"How deep?" Luke said tightly, the disapproval over Lydecker's order evident in his glittering black eyes.

"What?"

"How deep do you want him under? Do you want him to be able to breathe on his own?"

"Get him off the respirator," the Colonel said a bit more gently. Stepping forward, he lightly ran fingers through the X5's dirty sweat matted hair, then touched a fingertip to the boy's stubbled cheek. "But keep him unconscious until--" The words caught in his throat. "--until we know about her. It's the first thing he'll want to know, and there's no use putting him through the worry."

"And if Max dies?" Mole said from the doorway where he'd been listening with extreme disapproval. The lizard man started to take a puff on his cigar, then remembered the oxygen in the room and instead dropped the glowing stub on the floor of the hallway and ground it out with his boot.

"He'll try to destroy himself," Lydecker replied levelly. "And we'll stop him. And he'll eventually get over it and move on." He looked toward the transhuman. "But we don't have to deal with that quite yet. For now, I just want this Unit to rest, recover, and not be burdened with the fear."

"Alec will heal," Luke said to Mole. "His pleuropotents are already repairing the damage to the artery and his lung's fully inflated again. Good thing we had a decent blood supply though. His heart rate plunged to fewer than fifteen beats a minute before we got him stabilized. He was starting to seize, too, until I got some tryptophan under his tongue. Alec's always so careless about his meds. Max never forgets to take hers ..." The little mutant's voice trailed off.

"And speaking of Max?" Mole said, his lizard eyes shifting from Alec's bare bandaged chest to the other side of the critical care room where Joshua was keeping a silent vigil beside another still figure lying under a sheet.

"I've put in a call to that Dr. Carr in Seattle," Lydecker said. "She needs more help than we can give her, and I don't know who else to trust. "Carr says he can be in Cheyenne in four hours if he catches the first flight out. We'll have people at the airport to meet him." His lips tightened. "She should be in a hospital."

"But no hospital would treat a transgenic," Mole said bitterly.

"Or know how to, for that matter," the Colonel added. "But then Manticore has always taken care of its own ... All we can do now is keep her alive until help gets here."

*****

Dr. Sam Carr Photo courtesy of Still Frame

Sam Carr stared in horror at the X-ray plastered against the lighted wall. "My God," he said softly. "That bullet's lodged right behind her heart." He turned to Lydecker. "What happened?"

"One of Stendahl's cyborgs shot Alec in the back while he and Max were making their getaway," the Colonel replied heavily, tired of going over those nightmare moments yet again. "The bullet went straight through him and into her. It's a wonder either of them survived."

"And Alec?" Carr asked, looking at the male lying in the other bed.

"We nearly lost him," the Colonel replied. "The bleeding was horrendous what with both an entry and an exit wound. That slug tore a fair-sized hole when it left his chest. However, no vital organs were destroyed, and we had more than enough X5s on base lining up to donate blood." He nodded slightly. "I'm having 494 deliberately kept under for now ... until we know about Max."

Carr understood, and his eyes clouded with sympathy. The incredible love story that had started out with Max and Logan only to evolve into Max and Alec was legend in Seattle. However, like so many tales of that nature, this one looked like it wasn't going to have a happy ending.

And speaking of not happy endings ... "The baby?" Carr asked. "Is it still viable?"

"She hasn't miscarried," Luke said, shrugging. "Other than that, we don't know."

"I brought a fetal monitoring kit with me, just in case," Carr said, indicating the equipment bags on the floor behind him. "We'll soon know the condition of the fetus -- if there still is one that is."

"There's one more thing you should know," Lydecker said. "That bullet looks like it's a dum-dum, meaning it has an explosive tip that hasn't gone off yet. If you're going to operate, there will be risk -- to you and whoever's assisting as well as to her."

"Understood," the doctor said, knowing that no matter what the danger -- and even though he wasn't a cardio surgeon -- he was going to do his best to help this girl.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Hey, Princess."

Alec stirred, raised a hand to his aching head, and wondered if the gravelly voice was just part of the wild dreams he'd been chasing through for what seemed like days.

"Princess!" the voice said more forcefully. Cool, rough-skinned fingers touched the side of his face. "Alec. Come on. It's time to wake up."

He didn't want to wake up ... was afraid to actually. Something had happened to him -- again. And then Alec really began to remember ...

The dark. The rain. Lane. Max on a motorcycle. A shot and pain lancing through his chest ...

He had a vague recollection of a flannel shirt that smelled like dog wrapped around his shivering body and lying on the floorboards of a vehicle ... of someone's arms around him ...

Then -- nothing except crazy dreams -- until now.

Oh shit! Stendahl!

Alec's hand latched onto a scaly wrist in a grip tight enough to break bone as, through slitted bleary eyes, he made out the lizard face hovering worriedly above him.

"Ow!" Mole exclaimed.

"Sorry," Alec rasped, letting go as his senses regained reality.

He was remembering fast ... too fast. "Max?" he said, turning his head and tugging on the I.V. lines that were running into both of his arms. He didn't see her, and looked up at Mole. "Where is she?" And then he closed his eyes, waiting to hear the worst as he recalled how he wasn't the only one who'd cried out when that bullet hit.

"She's alive," Mole said, that gruff voice more gentle than Alec had ever heard it before. "And your baby's alive too."

Alec wasn't one to pray, but the Thank you, God he silently voiced at that moment was sincere.

"You're okay, too," Mole continued. "Ran through more'n a dozen units of X5 high octane, but those good genetics of yours finally came through.

"How long?" Alec wondered.

"You've been out two and a half days," Mole said. "Max is still sedated, but Doc Carr says she's starting to come around, too."

Alec nodded. "So, Max is fine?"

"She'll heal," Mole said simply. "Thanks to--" The transhuman suddenly stopped.

"Thanks to what?" Alec asked.

"Thanks to your brother, Ben," Lydecker said from the doorway, as always not mincing words. "The bullet went through you, hit Max, and lodged behind her heart. When Dr. Carr removed it, her aorta tore. We didn't have the equipment to repair it. Our only option was an arterial transplant. Usually they take a segment from an artery in the leg, but the baby's vitals were fluctuating and we didn't want to subject Max to more surgery." The Colonel stepped forward and looked Alec straight in the eye. "Max's best option was Ben. We took a piece of his aorta and grafted it into her, repairing the damage." The blue eyes twinkled then. "I told you, 494, that there was a reason your brother's body had been preserved -- that it might come in handy some day."

Alec had no idea where the tears in his eyes were coming from. Blinking them away, he sniffed and swallowed the hot liquid in his throat. "You say the baby's okay?"

"Junior's doing fine," Lydecker said with a little smile. "In fact, tests indicate you're going to have a healthy X5-specific son."

"It's a boy?"

"According to the sonogram," Lydecker replied. "And the amnio we did confirmed it."

"What about Lane?"

"Dead."

"Stendahl?"

"About to be dead." Lydecker smiled wickedly. "I'm going to pay my old comrade a little visit sometime real soon."

"Hey," Alec said weakly, his eyes growing heavy as the pain medication Lydecker had just opened up on his I.V. hit his bloodstream. "I beat it ... I changed the future."

"I know," the Colonel said with a quick look in Mole's direction. "And that's what's really got me worried."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec, dressed in green surgical scrubs and with his right arm in a sling, sat in a chair beside Max's hospital bed, his bare feet nonchalantly propped up on the mattress. Showered, shaved, dosed with tryptophan, and sedative-free, he felt better than he had in days. So much better in fact, that he was hungrily eying Max's tray of food. "You gonna eat that?" he asked, pointing to her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Knock yourself out," Max said with a little smile. Supported by pillows, she'd been watching the TV news with him on the set Dix had rigged up in the infirmary room.

Alec reached for the sandwich, then stopped himself. "No," he said. "You take it. You're eatin' for two, remember? I can get whatever I want in the mess hall."

"I'm not hungry," she said quietly, her hands resting lightly on her slightly swollen abdomen.

"Hey," Alec admonished her gently, putting his own big hand on top of hers. "Doc Carr says the baby's fine, and so are you. We're all fine, Max."

"For now," she said softly. Brown eyes latched onto his. "But someone sent us that tape, Alec. Someone has the power to see the future ... our future."

"Someone who wants to help us," the X5 pointed out, looking out the glass window that partitioned the hospital room from the hallway. Then he turned his attention back to her. "Max, we proved that the future isn't fixed. It's fluid. We saw what was going to happen, and we changed the outcome."

"The outcome in this time line at least," Max said. "Some theories say there are infinite possibilities out there, hence infinite time lines. In some parallel universe you're dead right now, Alec."

"And in some parallel Universe I was never born," the pragmatic X5 pointed out. "Max, we can't worry about might-have-beens. We can only influence the here and now. And frankly, I'm a lot more concerned about who sent that tape rather than how we pulled off what would make a great scifi move-of-the-week."

"Joshua still thinks it was Sandeman." Max said. "Father."

"Hey," Alec said, holding up his good hand. "If the old guy's on our side, who am I to argue?"

"But to have the power to see the future ..." Max shook her head, her dark hair cascading forward over the hospital gown and covering slender shoulders.

"You think it's a supernatural Breeding Cult thing?" Alec asked, the question having been in the back of his mind for some time.

"I don't know," Max replied. "Even though it's twisted up in crazy rituals, McKinley and his people base their cult on science -- archaic science, granted -- but still science. The breeding methods ... predictions about the comet ... the snake blood ... It's all as factual as as Manticore is."

"And seein' into the future and makin' a home movie of it couldn't be science, too?" Alec offered. "I mean, come on, Max. Speakin' as a part-cat, part-man creation who am I to argue what's science and what's science fiction?"

"There nothing supernatural about you, lover," Max said quietly. "Or about me or any of the others here. But that tape ..."

"You know about Ben, don't you?" Alec said, swerving the subject. "That he's really dead now."

"Dix says they buried him in the cemetery with the others," Max replied quietly. A sympathetic hand took hold of Alec's. "I know--"

Alec shrugged. "My brother's better off where he is," he said, wanting to relieve Max of any guilt or anxiety, "whether in the realm of the natural or the supernatural. I'm just glad he saved his little sister's life, and I think he's glad too."

"You're talking about him in the present tense," she pointed out with a little smile. "Don't tell me X5-494 has found religion."

"May-be," Alec said with a teasing smile of his own. "After awhile, all those miracles do seem to add up to something. It could be God's watchin' over us." He blinked slowly. "Or the Devil."

"Or maybe," Max added quietly. "It really is Sandeman."

The End