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. -- author's note

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

May brought spring to Wyoming at last ... warm weather, sunshine, birds singing "and all that other kind of nature shit" as Mole so indelicately liked to put it.

Gem was even planting a garden ...

The transgenics had been almost three months now in their new home, and things were falling into place nicely. The mountain contained a wealth of technology that they were still only beginning to explore, as well as vast stores of weapons, ammunition, and preserved food. Designed to withstand a nuclear blast, the Gillette Base could become nearly impregnable once they mastered its secrets.

Beyond the technology aspect, things were a bit less stellar, but still workable. For the moment, the transgenics were buying fresh food supplies from ranchers and farmers around Gillette, the color of their money overcoming the ordinaries' deep suspicions about their freak neighbors -- money Alec, Max, Hampton, Devon, and some of the other X5s and X6s obtained in legal (and occasionally illegal) ways.

Alec's natural affinity as a wheeler-dealer had him negotiating with buyers and sellers in both Cheyenne and Denver where some of the extra ordinance, as well as Joshua's paintings, brought in much needed cash. And when they ran short -- there were always "bad guys" to steal from.

However, as the transgenics began to find their niches in life and their feelings of satisfaction, family, and community blossomed, Max -- oddly -- was growing restless.

Which is why the "Welcome to Seattle" sign had just flashed past their van window.

"Ah, the nostalgia," Alec yawned, flexing cramped shoulder muscles as he stiffened his arms behind the steering wheel. He raised an eyebrow at the grey drizzling sky overhead. "Nothin' like a little Seattle rain to bring back fond memories, right, Max? You know, all those soaking wet Jam Pony messenger runs we made?"

"Just shut-up and drive," she said quietly, her eyes riveted on the Space Needle in the distance.

"Gee, Max, you're only four months along. Don't tell me you're gonna be bitchy like this for another five. Hey, I bought three boxes of Little Debbie cupcakes for you at that last gas station like you asked. What more do you want from me?"

She wriggled in her seat, uncomfortable and apparently not in the mood for joking. "What did Lydecker say to you anyway?" she asked. "--when you told him where we were going?"

"He scowled," Alec said, his own voice now a bit clipped.

"You didn't have to come with me," she snapped. "I told you I wanted to do this by myself."

They'd made most of the 17-hour journey in silence -- Alec acquiescing to Max's obviously nasty mood -- but he'd had enough.

"And you also wanted to make the trip on your bike," the X5 said tightly, his voice still controlled but dropping in that way it did when he was getting truly pissed. "As if I'd let you do that in your condition. I thought you wanted to have this baby."

"This doesn't concern you," Max said, her tone becoming even more surly. "This is my business, not yours."

"My son isn't my business? Or the woman I love?"

She rounded on him. "Back off, Alec. I mean it. Just ... leave me alone. Drop me at Jam Pony then go ... go do whatever you want for a few days." She looked away out the window. "I need some time alone."

"Alone, as in away from me?" Alec said quietly, a lump forming in his throat. He'd been telling himself Max was just hormonal lately ... that it was the reason for her restlessness and griping. But she'd just hurt him -- deliberately -- and he couldn't for the life of him understand why.

"Don't smother me," she warned, not looking at him.

He touched her hand with his, and she pulled her fingers away.

"Max, what did I do?"

"Nothing."

"Then what didn't I do?"

"Alec," she said, looking at him at last, "I don't belong to you. Just because I'm carrying a baby in me that you helped make doesn't mean I'm your property. I never pegged you for the possessive type, but lately ... Alec, I feel like you've got your foot on my throat and I can't breathe."

Alec blinked. That had come out of nowhere. And then he swallowed hard. He knew he had careful.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly ... words it seemed he said to Max more than any others. "I didn't know me worryin' about you had you cornered. I can't help it if it feels good to protect you. Maybe it's part of that whole cat DNA-mating-thing. But, hey, I can get over it. It's just stupid genetics ... and love. Go visit O.C., and I promise you won't even know I'm around. I'll hook up with Sketchy and some of the other guys ... maybe look around town and see if I can make some contacts where we could sell those cases of out-dated shells. That arms dealer I know in Little Koreatown is supposedly still in business so he might be worth a visit, too."

He waited, hoping his little speech had been enough to appease her.

"I lived on my own for a very long time, Alec," Max said more gently.

He touched her hand again -- needing the reassurance -- and this time she didn't pull away, but tightened fingers around his and gave a little squeeze.

"Being cooped up with so many people for so long, first in Terminal City, and now in Gillette ... I just need to get out awhile on my own because in a couple more months I won't be able to." She glanced down at her belly, "And then the baby -- our baby -- will be here and God knows when I'll have a chance to ... to ... be myself again."

Alec knew Max was trying to apologize, and even more importantly explain. He did understand. He, himself, wasn't bothered by the confines of the new base. In fact, he felt more comfortable there than he had since Manticore had gone down. But then he'd spent almost his whole life as part of a Unit ... kept carefully on a shelf by his handlers except when they took him "out" for missions. He was used to the close-wall-environment ... thrived in it even ...

But for Max it was different.

"Then you don't want rid of me for good?" he said with a winning little smile that made his handsome face even more attractive than usual. Hazel-green eyes sparkled as he met his mate's solemn dark gaze. "'Cause if you do, I think Veronica over at The Blowfish Tavern might have me back." He thought a second. "... or was it Vicki?"

Max smiled too, and shook her head in amusement. "You always do that to me," she said.

"What?"

"Make me laugh when I'm feeling down."

"It's a gift," Alec said offhandedly as his eyes went to the sign on the freeway that indicated their exit was approaching. Then he, too, glanced up at the Space Needle piercing the near horizon. "Look," he said. "Just let me come into Jam Pony with you so everyone will know you're not in town alone. Then I'll disappear for the duration. We've got our cell phones if you need me. Okay?"

"It's just for two or three days, Alec," Max said. "No longer. Really. By then I'll probably be sick of the city and pumped to go back to Gillette and the guys. It's just ... I miss O.C. and some of the stuff around here. Do you understand?"

"Hey," Alec said. "I miss old friends too. Like I said, I'll amuse myself just fine." Then, before she could say it. "--and not with Veronica or Vicki or any other blonde, brunette, or redhead. Promise. I also promise to not get myself arrested. I'll lay low. Besides, those old b and e charges are probably buried by now. The cops won't be actively lookin' for me."

Up ahead was a familiar street. Alec turned, then made another right into a litter-strewn alley peppered with "No Parking/Delivery Zone" signs. The Jam Pony logo stared down at them from a bullet-dented sliding metal door. "Back to the scene of the crime," he said with a sigh, putting the battered rusty van into "park" and turning off the ignition beside one of the "Tow Away Zone" warnings.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Shift time was just starting, and messengers were running here, there, and everywhere, clocking in and picking up their morning assignments. For a few moments, Alec and Max stood unnoticed by the back door. With hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, Alec watched his former co-workers scurrying about with an odd sense of deja vu. Then he spotted O.C. over by the orange lockers. The sassy, beautiful dark-skinned lesbian was applying a last touch of lipstick before donning her messenger bag, seemingly pleased with the image she saw staring back at her from the hand-held mirror.

Max saw her too -- and smiled.

Unbidden, Alec waited while his lady casually walked across the cement floor to her friend.

"What's shakin?" Max said.

O.C. looked up, and her brown eyes widened. Then she dropped the lipstick and flung herself into Max's arms. "Boo, what the devil are you doin' in town?" she exclaimed. "I thought you were out in them Wyoming mountains playin' nature girl!"

"I was," Max laughed, returning the hug for a long moment before stepping back for a better look at her friend. Then she shrugged. "But you know what they say ... You can take the girl outta the city, but you can't take the city outta the girl."

"Yeah, Max has always been the nostalgic type," Alec quipped, sauntering into the conversation.

"Damn, boy!" O.C. said, eying him critically up and down. "You sure do look fine. Pretty as ever! All that fresh air must agree with you."

"Lookin' good yourself, O.C.," Alec returned with a grin. He glanced toward the office cage where Normal was handing out assignments. "Everything the same as usual around here?"

"Same ol', same ol'," Cindy said. "Normal's a slave driver and Sketchy's a moron. What more do you need to know?" But then she turned critical eyes on Max. "Say, girl," she added. "Your man looks bright-eyed and bushy tailed, but you look like somethin' the cat dragged in." She glanced at Alec, one eyebrow raised. "You been keepin' my Boo up all night, every night with your Y chromosome sexual cravings?"

Alec opened his mouth, unsure how to respond to that, but Max beat him to the punch.

"Nothing so romantic, I'm afraid," she said with a little laugh and a look in the other X5's direction. "I'm pregnant."

"You're what! You're foolin'!" O.C. studied Alec again -- and frowned. "Did he knock you up, sugar? You want Original Cindy to smack his careless ass one for you?"

"It wasn't carelessness," Max laughed. "It was deliberate. I want this baby, O.C." She looked at the father of her child again. "We both do. Alec brought me back to Seattle because I wanted to visit before I got big as a horse."

"Yeah, since she's already eating like one," Alec added. "On the trip here? Five boxes of Twinkies." He held his hands out in front of himself, indicating an expanding waistline. "She's gonna be a blimp."

"Shut up!" Max snapped, punctuating the words with a hard slap on his shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Some things never change," O.C. said, shaking her head. And speaking of which ..."

"Do my eyes deceive me?" a voice crowed from behind Alec. "Is it you? Is it really you?"

"It's really ... both of us," Alec replied as Reagan Ronald greeted his former Golden Boy with a hard slap on the back. Then Normal's bespectacled eyes went to Max. "Have you been taking good care of my rock star, Missy Miss?"

"Your rock star's ass is fine," O.C. replied. "Can't you see that, fool? And our Max is pregnant."

Normal's owl-eyes widened, then he smirked at Alec. "I suppose news of this nature is to be expected, with a man of your raw, fertile animal magnetism. Planted our seed have we?"

Alec cleared his throat. "That's one way to put it I suppose."

"I always knew you could conquer this little hell cat," Normal continued, still speaking to Alec. "She just needed taming. Barefoot and pregnant, that's my motto ... that's how to keep the little woman."

"Uh, Normal," Alec said, watching with some alarm as Max's eyes narrowed. "You do realize the 'little woman' is standing right here."

Normal turned his enthused gaze on Max. But before he could put his foot in his mouth any further, Sketchy came through the door. Spotting the foursome by the lockers, his mobile face broke into a huge beaming smile.

"Dudes!" he crowed, holding both arms wide. "Man, how long has it been? I miss you guys so much, not to mention writin' about you for the paper." Unabashed, he gave Max a big hug, then held out a hand which Alec solemnly shook.

"Good to see ya, Sketch," the X5 said, meaning it. "How's the newspaper business?"

"Slow," Sketchy said. "Since all of you Manticorians left town. Now all I've got to write about are UFO sightings and Bigfoot." His eyes widened. "Hey, how about an exclusive story? I'll call it, 'Return of the X Men'."

"Uh, maybe later," Alec said, watching Max out of the corner of his eyes. "We're kind of beat from the trip, and Max and O.C. wanna catch up." Sketchy's face fell, and Alec quickly added, "But I wouldn't say 'no' to some breakfast at Big Mike's and a drink at Crash later." He slapped Sketchy on the back. "How about it, buddy? That way we can leave the girls to their own thing and us guys can have a little fun."

"And when you get back, dinner's on me," Normal chimed in.

Max, Alec, O.C., and Sketchy all stared at the man. Never, in all their time at Jam Pony, had any of them ever heard Normal offer to buy anyone, anything.

"Uh, sure," Alec said, feeling a need to break the awkward silence.

"Then it's a date," Normal declared, adjusting his headset as he turned back toward the cage. And, over his shoulder, "Seven o'clock sharp. Meet me here."

"Am I invited too?" Sketchy called out.

"No, potato-head!" his boss snapped. "You're not! Just God's gift to messengers and his conquered woman."

"Conquered woman!" Max exclaimed, having heard that even though she'd been deeply conversing with O.C. "I'll conquer you, you ... you ..."

"Max," Alec said, grabbing her around the waist as she started after the oblivious Jam Pony manager. "Let it go. I'll straighten him out tonight at dinner."

"You really goin'?" Max asked, looking up at him.

Alec shrugged. "Hey, a free meal's a free meal, right? Besides, it'll keep me out of trouble. You comin'?"

"Me and O.C. are makin' a few plans," Max said, glancing back at her waiting friend. "She's gonna take the day off. There's shopping I want to do and ... stuff."

"Well, you go do your 'stuff,'" Alec said. "I'm gonna grab doughnuts with Sketchy, then nose around the docks to see what's been goin' down lately. I'll meet you back at O.C.'s tonight, after Normal's dinner."

"Sounds like a plan," Max said. "Just stay out of trouble."

"Right back at ya," Alec returned. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the lips, completely oblivious to the envious stares of the others around them.

*****

Photo courtesy of Valjean Still Frame

"So," O.C. said. "Things are cool between you and hot boy?"

Max's cheeks dimpled in a little smile. Sitting on the couch in her old apartment with O.C. felt kind of weird -- but nice. The two girls had come here straight from Jam Pony -- in spite of Normal's glares and half-hearted threats of termination if Cindy took more than just the one day off.

"Alec's--" Max hesitated, unsure exactly how to describe her relationship with the handsome egotistical X5 she'd once pretended to loathe. "Alec's growing up," she finally said. "Oh, he's still self-centered, and thinks the sun rises and sets on his own little universe ... and he still talks too much and argues constantly and does really dumb things, but--"

"You love him," O.C. interrupted, her own smile flashing white in the gloom of the rain dark apartment. A clap of thunder punctuated the words.

"I fell in love with him, yeah," Max admitted, shaking her head at the incongruity of her own emotions. "Alec's all of those things I used to complain about, and worse. Sometimes he drives me nuts. But ... underneath all the cockiness and snarkiness he's so vulnerable, O.C. He's got this big heart. He pretends not to care, and then he goes out and risks his life because he does care so much. If you can get past the attitude, he's also really intelligent. He's got good ideas, and he's one of the very few people I've ever met in my life who's not afraid to tell me when I'm wrong. He'll get in my face and put me right back down when I get too high-and-mighty. I don't intimidate him one bit. Much as I hate to admit it, he's my equal in every way -- and he damn well knows it -- but somehow he never takes advantage of that." She looked away out the window at the rain. "He's also extremely brave. He pretends to be self-centered and selfish, but when the battle begins ... he's somehow always there leading, yet not in an I'm-holier-than-thou way. Know what I mean? Alec's savvy smart, not a martyr-type."

"A martyr-type like Logan was? O.C. said.

Max raised an eyebrow. "We don't talk much about Logan any more," she said. "It's kind of Alec's weak spot ... that I was so much in love with another man."

"Hey, hot boy had a love before you, too," O.C. pointed out.

"We don't talk about Rachel either," Max said quietly. "What's past is past -- for both of us."

"You never talk to Logan any more?"

"God, no!" Max exclaimed. "Besides, Logan's different now too. He's changed as much for the worse as Alec's changed for the better. He had a fling with Asha, but he's apparently still got a stalkerish thing going on about me. Before we all moved to Gillette, he was making regular threats against Alec, and he tried more than once to blackmail me into coming back to him."

"Logan loved you an awful lot," O.C. pointed out. "Can you blame the man for being bitter? He won the love of his life -- and then lost her again."

"Logan and me just weren't right for one another," Max defended. "It wasn't his fault ... or mine or Alec's."

"You know," the dark skinned girl said, "there's still a warrant out for Pretty Boy's arrest here in Seattle. He'd better steer clear of your Detective Clemente friend, not to mention the sector police."

"Alec can take care of himself," Max said with conviction. "He'll be careful, especially with the baby on the way and everything."

"Four months," O.C. said. "So you're due in--"

"The first part of November, more or less," Max said. "It's a boy."

"So, Alec's gonna have himself a son. Hot dang. I bet that's gonna be one beautiful child."

"All of the tests Dr. Carr has done indicate he's at least healthy," Max said. "X5 specific ... stable genetics. Alec's a good sire. We're compatible."

"In a lot of ways," O.C. added. "You want some coffee? Or guess I should make that tea, right? What with junior on board and all."

Max opened her mouth to accept the offer, but the sound of loud footsteps in the hallway outside made her turn toward the door. "Are you expecting--?"

The panel smashed inwards, splintering on the hinges as black uniformed SWAT officers swarmed into the small apartment with guns drawn. "Everyone down on the floor!" the leader screamed, pointing the long barrel of a machine gun directly at Max. "Now!"

"Do it, O.C.!" Max shouted to her friend who was standing behind the kitchen counter. "Do whatever they say!"

Briefly, Max looked toward that rainy window. But it was a four story drop to the ground. She just might survive the jump ... but the baby wouldn't.

One of the men grabbed her arm and snapped a handcuff around her wrist.

"Max Guevera," the lead officer read from a document he was holding. "You're under arrest for failure to comply with Genetics Code 101-2, Article 3 -- the mandatory sterilization of all transgenics. By authority of Senator James McKinley, I'm taking you into custody. You'll be arraigned at the courthouse then transferred to a medical facility where your compliance with said law will be enforced."

"You can't do that!" O.C. shouted, struggling ineffectively in the arms of another SWAT officer. "She's pregnant, you fool! What you gonna do? Kill her baby?"

"Shut up, O.C.!" Max snapped, not wanting her friend to get herself killed. "I'll be all right."

Once again, Max thought about trying to break for freedom. Maybe ... just maybe she could take out two or three of these men and make it to the door. But O.C. would be left behind ... vulnerable. No. Better to wait for another opportunity.

They apparently weren't going to take Original Cindy with them. Although being held immobile, the SWAT team wasn't cuffing her. "Tell him," Max said quickly, turning in the doorway as she was being hustled through to the hall and knowing Cindy would understand she meant Alec. "But don't let him do anything stupid!"

"Max!" O.C. yelled, her eyes and voice anguished as she struggled against the man holding her arms.

"He'll know what to do!" the X5 shouted over her shoulder at the girl, sure of her words. "Just find him fast, and tell him!"

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

"So," Sketchy said, "how goes the mutant crusade?"

Seated in a corner booth where he could watch the door, Alec took a sip of coffee, then helped himself to a doughnut from the half dozen on the plate (Sketchy's treat). Fresh baked goods were rare in Gillette, and he savored the sticky sweetness a moment before answering.

"Good," he said honestly, licking powdered sugar off his lips. "We're all pulling together, and with Lydecker's help we're gettin' the base under control."

"Aren't you guys afraid the government's gonna send in the troops and take it all away from you?"

Alec took another bite of doughnut, and grinned slyly while he chewed. Then he leaned forward, a playful twinkle sparkling in his eyes. "The thing is, Sketch," he said in a conspiratorial tone of voice. "They can't. It would cost the Army a fortune to rout us out now, not to mention the cost in lives. Plus, it would be a public relations nightmare. We were considered squatters in Seattle. But in Gillette--" His smile broadened. "We're practically a super power, what with all the weaponry we've got control of."

"They could nuke you," the bike messenger said bluntly, even as he quietly pulled paper and pen from his pocket and and began taking notes.

"And make Yellowstone National Park glow?" Alec smirked. "I think not, my friend. "Like I said, the status quo's a comfortable stand-off position with the enemy, and for now everything seems to be pretty stable."

"Unless one of you guys are caught off the base," Sketchy said. "Like now. McKinley is still after your balls, and I do mean that literally, Alec."

The X5 shrugged. "Hey, someone's been tryin' to kill me since the day I was born. What's one more? Besides," he added. "Unless a snitch turns me in, who'll know I'm outside?" And with those cock-sure words, he reached for a second doughnut -- only to halt his hand in mid-air when he saw O.C. barge through the diner's front door.

Alec knew the second he looked into Original Cindy's eyes that something terrible had happened, and was already on his feet when she reached their table.

"McKinley's got her," O.C. said breathlessly. "They broke right into my apartment and took her."

Alec's eyes turned to Sketchy who held up his hands in denial. "I swear on my mother's grave, Alec, I did not tell anyone you and Max were in town."

"Not even your editor? Maybe hinted to him you were gonna have a new freak story?"

Sketchy's face paled.

"What'd you do, fool?" O.C. shouted at the lanky bike messenger. She grabbed the front of Sketchy's shirt and gave him a shake. "Who'd you tell about Max and Alec?"

"All ... all I said," he stammered, "was to save some space in this week's edition for a new transgenic story." Mournful eyes went to Alec. "I swear, man. I never mentioned you and Max by name."

"Crap," Alec snarled, turning away from the two and looking out the window to the busy street. "You wouldn't have needed to name names, Sketch. The link to us is already there. Everyone at that paper knows your connection to the transgenics is Max and me. Wanna bet your editor's in McKinley's back pocket? All he had to do was pick up the phone after talkin' to you and his goons were on their way to Jam Pony, then to O.C.'s." He glanced at the door. "And they'll be comin' for me next, just as soon as they figure out where I am."

"Alec," Sketchy whispered, truly horrified at what he'd done. "I'm sorry. I never meant to--"

"I know you didn't," Alec said evenly, forcing himself to not lash out at the idiot. Then he turned to O.C. "Any idea where they took her?"

"They've been sendin' rounded-up transgenics down to the main police station for processing, then shippin' 'em off to this private church hospital on the outskirts of town -- Seattle Mercy."

"I made a delivery there once," Alec said. "I know where that is." He checked the time on his watch. "How long ago did they take her?

"Half an hour."

The X5 came to a decision. "I'm gonna try'n get hold of Clemente. Even if he can't help Max directly, he can give me information about what's goin' on. If they're movin' her to the hospital, I might be able to get to her then."

"Clemente will just arrest your ass," O.C. pointed out. "You're still a wanted man, remember? Not to mention an 'unaltered' transgenic."

"I'll just hafta take my chances and-- Oh shit!"

Two police cruisers had just pulled up in front of the diner.

"Out the back!" O.C. said, giving Alec a shove. When he hesitated she added, "We don't want another hostage situation, Alec! Get out while you can! I'll stall 'em."

"And I'll--" The other two stared at the blabber-mouth messenger. "--I'll go somewhere and keep my mouth shut," Sketchy said in a very small voice.

Alec nodded. "You do that, buddy."

"Now get outta here!" O.C. said, giving Alec another shove as the policemen shouldered their way through the diner's front door.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Max sat silently on the edge of the hospital gurney in the stark white-walled room, her cuffed hands resting in her lap and her head still spinning from the effects of the strong sedative she'd been dosed with. She was also cold. While unconscious they'd taken her clothes, replacing them with nothing but a thin sleeveless hospital gown for modesty. On the other side of a glass partition several men were staring at her, probably wishing she hadn't even been given the gown, Max thought as their prurient eyes raked her body.

Feeling like a trapped animal, she wished she had someplace to hide ... someplace dark ... And she was afraid to even think about what might have happened to Alec ...

There was a stir amongst the onlookers, and a new form filled the window -- Senator James McKinley. Unbidden, Max's back straightened and she met the portly Familiar's cruel gaze with hard eyes of her own. He nodded at one of the guards who unlocked the cell door. Then, with two muscular aides flanking him, he entered.

"Where's 494?" the Senator asked curtly, getting straight to the point.

Max just smiled. They don't have him!

"We know he came to Seattle with you. The Sector Police and two military squads are combing the city. He'll be apprehended soon. If you tell us where he is, things will go easier for him."

"Easier how?" Max had to ask.

"Easier in that I won't give the order to kill him on sight."

She smiled again, and shook her head, amazed at the guy's arrogance. "You'll never catch him," she said quietly.

"Yes," McKinley said. "We will. Because there's no way in hell he's going to just abandon you. Sooner or later, he'll try to rescue you, and then we'll have you both."

Max's smile lost a little of its boldness -- because the Senator was right. Still, she bluffed it out. "He'll kill you," she said. "If you touch me, he'll kill you."

McKinley's eyebrows rose in amusement. "You're not in any position to be making threats 452. You see, in a couple of days -- as soon as the paperwork goes through -- you're going to undergo a little operation. And afterwards you're going to be locked up for the rest of your life."

"You can't do anything to me," she said. "I'm pregnant. You can't kill my child."

"Yes," McKinley said. "We can. According to the doctors who examined you while you were sedated, you're less than six months along. Aborting a transgenic fetus is perfectly legal at this stage of your pregnancy."

Max's gut clenched and an icy chill shot down her spine. It took all of her willpower to not launch herself across the room and tear the fat bastard's throat out. How dare he threaten my child?

But she knew that fighting now would get her nowhere ... that she might be injured, or worse, the baby might be injured. McKinley would just love it if she miscarried ...

"I want a lawyer," Max said quietly. "I have rights. I'm a citizen of the United States."

"You have no rights with regards to the transgenic sterilization law," McKinley said. "However ..." He turned around and looked toward the glass partition where a new face had appeared. "You do have the right to an advocate ... someone to act as a liaison between yourself and the legal system. You see, there are people besides myself who have a vested personal interest in the elimination of transgenics from the Earth ... people who want to see this accomplished in a humane and legal way." He smiled. "People who've had personal experience with your kind and know the danger you represent to the human race."

"You mean people with a grudge?" Max said. "An ax to grind against me and mine? Maybe an old Manticore tech who feels guilty about creating me?"

"Something like that," the Senator said, stepping aside so Max could get a good look at her "advocate."

She stared -- not believing her eyes. "You've got to be kidding," she said softly. "What does he have to do with the transgenics?"
However, Max knew full well what he had to do with her people. And he certainly did have an "ax to grind."

"Max Guevera," Senator McKinley said with a little bow as his men opened the room door. "I'd like you to meet Robert Berrisford, retired CEO of Mercidyne Pharmaceuticals, one of Manticore's primary subcontractors, and the person responsible for a great deal of the gene-splicing technology that went into making you."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Do you have her?" Alec breathed into the phone. "Max Guevera? 452? Is she in your custody?"

"Who is this?" Detective Ramone Clemente's voice said in Alec's ear.

"Someone who's willing to kill to get her back," Alec said honestly. Cautiously, he peeked around the corner of the brick building, checking the street from his alley concealment. "It's Alec," he decided to confess, hoping he could still trust the fair-minded detective.

"She was processed through here earlier this afternoon," Clemente said. "But they wouldn't let me see her. Then she was shipped off to Seattle Mercy."

"And you didn't try to help her?"

"Alec ... Senator McKinley's on the warpath with regards to X5-452. He had a huge contingency of very high-powered lawyers and so-called government consultants surrounding her from the moment she was brought in."

"Did they hurt her?" the X5 asked, his voice tightening.

"They sedated her," Clemente said. "She was out cold when they loaded her in the transport van. But I don't think she was hurt during the capture. No one called for medical help." There was silence on the line for a few seconds. Then, "She's scheduled for arraignment tomorrow morning at the county court house."

"Any suggestions?" Alec asked, the question tinged with irony.

"Not really," Clemente sighed into his ear. "They want you, too, son. It's a perfect trap. They know you'll be coming for her, and they'll be waiting. In a way, they already have your ass in a cage as well. I hate to say it, but your best option is to run and not look back ... give up on her."

"Thanks for the advice," Alec said softly, thumbing his cell off.

He was going to need help on this, and with his back-up crew several thousand miles away there weren't many options. Pocketing the phone, he turned and slipped through the door into Jam Pony.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Eyes Only

"I know you," Max said quietly, her fingers gripping the edge of the gurney tightly ... pressing into the linen. "And I also know the last thing in the world you want to do is help an X5."

"I'd forgotten how pretty you are," the middle-aged man in the impeccable business suit said politely. He adjusted his tie -- a subtle silk number with dignified red pin stripes. "They made all of you pretty ... the males as well as the females ... It was part of the package." He glanced away. "He was pretty too ... handsome ... It's why Rachel became infatuated with him."

"He's still handsome," Max said, knowing full well whom the man was referring to ... what this was really all about. "And smart, and loving, and good ..." She smiled to herself, "and at times a jerk and a jack ass."

"Where is he?" Berrisford asked, his suddenly voice no longer amiable.

"Why? Do you want to take another shot at him?" She bit her lip, hesitating. Then-- "Believe it or not, Alec's already been punished plenty for what happened to your daughter. And I'm not talking just about what Manticore did to him when he sabotaged the mission because he wanted to save her. He's going to hurt forever -- just like you do."

"Why would a genetically designed killer ever hurt about anything?" Berrisford said bitterly, his eyes crinkling with disgust. "My real regret, you know, isn't that I couldn't go through with putting that animal down -- but that I played such a huge part in his creation in the first place." He closed his eyes. "I had no idea Manticore's technology had gotten far enough to have created him. I knew they were experimenting with children -- which is why I was going to inform my friends in the government. What they were doing was both unethical and barbaric. But to have grown a fully integrated X-series soldier in the lab and put him to practical use ... it was beyond my wildest imaginings at the time." Those eyes looked her over bitterly. "He was what? All of eighteen years old when he was deployed to my house?"

"Nineteen," Max corrected the man gently, sensing and empathizing with his grief, but at the same time wanting to make him see the truth about Alec -- that the X5 wasn't just a cold blooded killing machine, but a living, breathing person just like Rachel had been with feelings and anguish of his own. "And Alec had known nothing in life except what Manticore had brainwashed him into believing. He was nothing but a slave obeying his masters ... as much a victim as you and your daughter."

"He's not a victim!" Berrisford exclaimed. "He's a killer!"

"Not anymore! And really not even back then. Afterall, Alec couldn't go through with his mission. He tried to save Rachel -- which also would have saved you. He did his best, even though he knew Manticore would destroy him for it. He went against everything he'd ever been taught ... betrayed his own people for her. Do you realize the enormity of what that teenage boy did?"

Berrisford gave a little chuckle. "Oh, I realize the enormity of what that assassin did," he said. "He killed my little girl."

"Alec didn't press that button!" Max said hotly. "One of his Manticore handlers suspected he might waver from his duty and followed him that morning. It was that handler who detonated the bomb in the car, not Alec."

"He planted the bomb!"

Max looked away at the wall, unable to deny that. "I never said he wasn't an accessory to the crime," she said more quietly. "Just that he tried to stop it. They tortured him you know. They dragged him back to Manticore, beat him, strapped him on a gurney, and put him through agony so great you can't even imagine it. And then they beat him again and threw him into solitary confinement for weeks. Afterwards ..." She swallowed hard. "They tried to reprogram him ... make him forget that he'd loved Rachel and betrayed his own ... But it didn't work. Alec always remembered your daughter, and what he'd done to her. Oh, he tried to forget ... put it behind him so he could survive. But in the end, he faced up to it. He came back--"

"Because I lured him back," Berrisford snarled. "I wanted that son of a bitch in the sites of my gun." He shook his head and looked at her hard. "You're the one who saved him that night, aren't you? I didn't get a good look at who knocked me out -- but it was you."

"Yes," Max said. "I'm the one who saved Alec that night ... kept you from putting a bullet in his heart."

"I've gone over that moment a thousand times in my mind," Berrisford said softly. "Wondering if I'd really have been able to pull that trigger ... telling myself he's a thing, not a man, and that I'd be doing the world a favor ridding it of such evil."

"Alec's not evil!"

"He shouldn't exist," Berrisford said with disgust. "And it's partially my fault that he does. That's why I volunteered for this program ... to aid in ridding the world of of the atrocities I helped create." His eyes went to Max's slightly bulging abdomen. "I followed him in the newspapers, you know," he said. "After the Jam Pony siege and when you people holed up in Terminal City. When he was chosen to be your representative on Seattle's City Council I nearly took my gun out again. The thought of the thing that killed my Rachel being given such honor ... legitimacy ..."

Max had no response to that, and he regarded her steadily a moment. "Why does he call himself 'Alec'?" Berrisford suddenly asked. "He went by 'Simon' when he was involved with Rachel. 'Simon Lehane.' And his designation's X5-494."

"Simon Lehane was his alias for the mission," Max said. She smiled slightly. "I named him 'Alec' when we first met while I was being held at Manticore in the fall of '20. They assigned him to be my breeding partner. It's short for 'Smart Alec'."

"Breeding partner?" Berrisford said, his lip twisting with disgust. "Am I to gather that 494's the sire of the child you're carrying? He was your right-hand-man in Terminal City, and more than one photo had the two of you side-by-side. Did you keep your 'breeding partner'?"

"I kept him," Max said quietly. "In fact, I fell in love with him." She raised her eyes to the glass window. "He'll be coming for me soon, and you know what that means."

The older man nodded. "Killing. It's his nature."

"Not really," Max corrected him. "If killing had been Alec's 'nature,' do you think you'd be standing here alive today? But he'll do what he has to do to protect his family -- something I think you can understand all too well."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"I need your help."

Reagan Ronald looked up, startled, his eyes owlish behind the lenses of his spectacles. "Jumpin' jimminy, I didn't hear you come in!" he exclaimed.

"I know," Alec said.

The Jam Pony manager shuffled the day's paperwork into a neat stack on the side of his desk, then turned to his former messenger. "And what's your drama today, young man? Beside probably being hungry for that dinner I promised you?"

Alec shrugged, a smile tugging the corner of his lips in spite of his dire situation. "The usual. The police are after my ass. Oh, and they've already got Max so I need to rescue her -- damsel in distress and all that stuff."

"What'd you do this time?"

"I exist," the X5 said bluntly.

"Point taken," Normal said, the sarcasm leaving his voice as he rocked back in his desk chair. "But speaking specifically, did you kill someone?""

"You mean recently?"

Normal sighed heavily. "Why are the police chasing you, Alec? And why was Max already arrested?"

"The transgenic sterilization law," Alec said heavily. "Sketchy accidentally tipped his editor we were in town and word got to McKinley. He sent a goon squad to O.C.'s where they grabbed Max. I was luckier -- saw 'em comin' and got away. But now I've got to get Max out of Seattle Mercy before they kill our baby."

The manager's long face sobered. "You really do have big problems, Golden Boy."

"Tell me about it," Alec agreed, raking fingers back through his dark blond hair. Then he straightened shoulders in his black leather jacket. "I need a place to lay low tonight ... rest up and make plans. Clemente says she's scheduled for a hearing tomorrow morning at the court house. I'll get her free then."

"How are you going to do that without getting yourself killed?"

"Like I said. I need to make a plan. But don't worry. I'm a real innovative guy."

Reagan Ronald made his decision. Standing up, he reached for his jacket that was hanging on the back of the chair. "You can come home with me tonight," he said. "I doubt anyone will look for you there. We'll get some food ... you can sleep ..."

"Do you have any weapons?" Alec asked, at the same time eying the desk drawer where Normal had always kept a pistol.

The manager smiled cagily, took out the gun -- from the looks of it the same one he'd always had -- and handed it butt first to Alec.

The X5 hefted the old pistol.

"It's loaded," Normal said. "Be careful."

"Always," Alec replied softly as he clicked open the barrel of the weapon he'd wielded during the Jam Pony siege and spun the chamber, checking the rounds.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"They're going to kill my baby," Max said.

Robert Berrisford looked up at the words. The two had been sitting together in silence for quite awhile -- Max on the gurney and himself sitting on a stool he'd requested be brought in. His job as liaison for the transgenic prisoner meant he would be staying with her until her arraignment in the morning -- or at least that was how he'd interpreted his duties.

"It's probably for the better in the long run," Berrisford said, remembering "facts" he'd come across in the innumerable articles he'd read about transgenics since he'd discovered that "Simon Lehane" -- the thing that had killed his daughter -- was really X5-494. "Your baby would probably be born deformed anyway. The X-specific DNA most likely wouldn't manifest correctly in a fetus."

"That's not what the amniocentesis shows," Max said quietly. "My baby's fine ... a healthy X5 boy. We've had other successful births as well ... my people ... several X5s and even a couple of X6s. If both parents are of the same series, the genetics carry through."

"Even so," her liaison argued, "it's not healthy for the human race to have animal DNA introduced into the gene pool. You and your--" He hesitated, searching for an appropriate word since he couldn't bring himself to say "lover." "--your breeding partner are part feline, correct? Tampering of that kind goes against both God and nature. If even a fraction of your cat physiology was introduced into the general human population the ramifications could be catastrophic -- perhaps not right away, but in generations to come. There could be all kinds of breakdowns in the homo sapien musculature, neurological, and immunological systems." He sighed heavily, and ran a finger around the tight collar of his shirt. "I know, because it was partly my own company's technologies that allowed you to be created in the first place."

"Alec and I are both part black leopard," Max said conversationally, keeping the enemy talking. "The feline DNA gives us our speed, strength, and heightened senses. The lab boys did other tampering to create our intelligence, dense bone structures, healing abilities, and advanced immune systems. And our telescopic eyesight is a whole other dealio patterned after birds of prey. I agree that transgenics shouldn't cross breed with humans. But you have no right to deny us the right to procreate with our own kind."

"He's just like you then?" Berrisford asked softly, always coming back to X5-494.

"Just like," Max said. "Technically, Alec's my brother ... family. Although, being male, he's physically stronger than me and has more endurance. But then I'm more agile and flexible. Also -- although we never got around to comparing I.Q.'s -- I'm betting I outdo him a point or two there as well." She smiled smugly at that, and once again the former Mercidyne CEO marveled at her beauty.

Clearing his throat, he looked away from her barely clad form. "Manticore tried to reign in the X5s," he said -- "after the '09 escape. I found out about their change in procedures when the existence of your kind was exposed and all of the facts began going public. According to what I read, the X5 series soldiers were deemed too smart and independent for their own good. Intense brainwashing, however, supposedly put them back in their place. The twins of the escapees, in particular, were considered at risk for aberrant behavior and were most intensively reprogrammed."

"I was one of the escapees," Max said. "Did you know that? And Alec was one of the twins left behind to suffer for my actions. Yes, Manticore tried to crush his sense-of-self ... bending his mind to the breaking point in an attempt to turn him into an automaton." She smiled. "But they failed -- with Alec at least. It's why he was able to fight back and resist when ordered to kill you and your daughter." She leaned forward slightly. "It's why he chose to sacrifice himself for Rachel." She straightened, wrapping arms around herself, and Berrisford saw the goose bumps on her bare skin. "Then Manticore tried to break him yet again ... as punishment. But Alec survived that time, too. He's very, very strong. The goodness in him runs deep."

"Goodness!" Berrisford exclaimed. "You mean evilness! He's an assassin, for God's sakes! How many has he killed? 494's a machine created and trained to take away life!"

"No!" Max shouted right back. "He's a boy who was held in slavery by people who tried to beat the humanity out of him. He's a boy who was horribly abused ... brainwashed ... tortured ... forced to kill or be killed himself. Manticore succeeded in creating near-perfect assassins with some of the X5s. I'll grant you that. But with Alec it was different ..."

"How different?" Berrisford sneered, his brow beginning to sweat. "Because he's handsome and charming in a way that somehow makes the death he delivers more palatable? Because the 'package' the evilness is wrapped in is so pretty? Because you enjoy him in your bed?"

"No," Max said. "Alec's different because -- in spite of everything Manticore did to him -- your daughter was able to save his soul. Falling in love with Rachel revived emotions in X5-494 that Manticore had done their best to destroy. It was his handlers' worst fear -- that their X5-Unit would succumb to human feelings ... that his conscience would emerge and he'd realize that killing wasn't his vocation. Rachel. Saved. Alec. She saved him for me ... and for his people."

"He doesn't have a soul," Berrisford said levelly. "He can't have a soul ..." But his words lacked conviction because he realized the girl sitting in front of him might possibly be right.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Normal unlocked the door to his apartment, stepped over the threshold, and flipped on the lights.

"Wow, Normal," Alec said, his eyes involuntarily widening as he took in the lime green and orange color scheme with its cowboy motif. "This is ... really nice digs."

He glanced around cautiously. "Where's the little woman?"

"Casey went to visit her mother," Normal said dryly. "Permanently."

Ouch, Alec thought, not wanting to touch that domestic mess with a ten foot pole. So much for marital bliss.

"Home sweet home." Normal went on enthusiastically, holding his arms wide. "Mi casa es su casa. The 'welcome' mat is out."

"Even for transgenics?" Alec had to ask.

"Why not?" Normal said. "They're not so bad, are they?"

"Normal," Alec replied seriously. "The police are after me. Which means I'm a danger to you. You don't hafta put me up for the night. I can find someplace else to crash."

"Nonsense, my boy," the Jam Pony manager said sternly as he bustled into the small kitchen and began rummaging around for something. "You need to rest up and have a good meal before running off to rescue your damsel in distress. What's that military saying? An army marches on its stomach?"

Alec flinched at that, an echo of an old Manticore memory surfacing ... Lydecker sarcastically saying those same words to his Unit many, many years ago.

His host gestured toward a lemon yellow couch with a mustang-imprinted red throw draped over its back. "Make yourself comfortable," he said, "and I'll get us something to eat."

Comforting himself with the thought that he'd soon be helping Max, Alec forced himself to do just that. He picked up the television remote from the laminate coffee table, then dropped onto the springy seat cushions. The first station he thumbed on was an all news channel, and he wasn't surprised that Max's capture was one of the revolving headline stories.

In a daring morning raid, the wasp-thin blonde news lady was saying, transgenic leader Max Guevera was captured in a condemned downtown Seattle apartment building. Police say an anonymous tip led them to the fugitive's location. Her presence in the area came as a surprise to authorities. It had been assumed for quite some time that Ms. Guevera was in seclusion with the rest of her kind on the Gillette, Wyoming military base that the Manticore survivors took over three months ago. Ms. Guevera is wanted for being the ringleader of the revolt against Senator James McKinley's transgenic sterilization mandate. Her arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow morning at the county courthouse. Her trial will follow immediately, and -- if convicted on terrorist charges -- she'll be facing a lifetime prison sentence, as well as forced sterilization. Next up -- the weather!

"Normal," Alec said, muting the sound on the TV. "Do you have a computer?"

"Of course I have a computer," his former boss said. There was the sound of hissing steam coming from the kitchen, as well as the smell of frying eggs and bacon.

Alec looked back over his shoulder. "I need to try and pull up the blueprints of Seattle Mercy and City Hall."

Normal dished eggs and bacon onto a plate and carried it into the living room. "You're going to try and get her out -- by yourself?" he asked, setting the dish down on the coffee table in front of Alec.

"Easier to get to her tonight or in the morning rather than trying to stage a prison break later," the X5 said, picking up a fork. "Plus, if I don't hurry, it's gonna to be too late for my son. If I don't get her away from McKinley in the next twenty-four hours they're gonna kill our baby."

The other man sobered. "You mean they'd really do that to her?"

"She's under six months along," Alec said tiredly. "That law is written pretty clear. The baby's to be aborted and she gets a hysterectomy, just as soon as a judge says 'guilty' and the paperwork is signed."

"Computer's in the bedroom," Normal said.

Alec smiled faintly again. "You mean you're actually offering to help a couple of freaks? And after all that work you put into your anti-transgenic campaign?"

His former boss looked down at the floor. "Look ... Alec ...," he said. "Back then I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn't have all the facts. When I found out my personal hero was a mutant--"

"--genetically empowered," Alec corrected automatically.

"Genetically empowered," Normal acquiesced with a nod. "When I found out about you it hurt like hades. Can you blame for for feeling betrayed? Someone I admired ... worshipped ... was in reality something I loathed."

"You worshipped me?" Alec said, taking another bite of the eggs and chewing slowly. He pointed the fork at Normal. "Heroes are a myth, Normal. They don't exist. Yeah, I'm a transgenic with super-human strength, but I'm also just a guy. I put my pants on one leg at a time every morning just like you do. I hurt. I bleed. And I can die."

"I know," Normal said in a very small voice. He folded his hands over the apron he was wearing and studied his shoes. "I'm sorry, Alec. I made my peace with Max awhile ago, but I've never really had a chance to let you know that. Can you ever forgive me?"

The Jam Pony manager's humbleness was making Alec uncomfortable -- almost as much as when he was groveling at the feet of his supposed "hero."

"Look," Alec said gently. "Let bygones be bygones. You helped me and mine in the end, and I think that's all that matters. Plus, you're helpin' me and Max now ... riskin' your life for us even."

"Risking my life?" Normal said, the thought obviously not having occurred to him.

Alec shrugged. "Hey, for all I know McKinley's goons could come busin' in here at any minute. Afterall, they found Max at O.C.'s didn't they?"

Normal moved to a window and looked nervously down at the street.

"Don't worry," Alec reassured the other man. "Just let me find those building plans and then I'll be out of your life for good. But I do appreciate you lettin' me crash here for a bit ... and the food."

Normal walked over and tentatively put a hand on Alec's shoulder. Trying to act manly, he pressed down, and the X5 winced. About to say something, the manager's brow furrowed instead. "You're hurt?"

"Ah, it's an old wound," Alec said, shrugging off the concern. "Took a bullet in the back a few weeks ago. I'm almost healed."

"But it will slow you down."

"Not much. It's no big deal. Hey," Alec added with a smirk. "You know me. I'm always all right."

"Are you sure you can get Max out on your own?" Normal said, his eyes now pinched with worry.

"What choice do I have?"

"I ... I could help you ... if you need it."

Alec shook his head, somewhat amazed that the super cautious manager had made that offer. "If you were caught breakin' Max out with me, you'd go to prison for years," he said. "I won't put my friends in danger that way. Besides, you've already helped enough."

"But if you're caught--"

"I won't be," Alec said. "At least not alive."

Normal swallowed hard and looked out the window at the beginning rain. "That's what I'm afraid of."

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

"You look good, all things considered."

Max jumped awake. She'd dozed off lying on the thinly padded hospital gurney, giving in to her body's demands for rest because she knew that was what was best for the baby.

"Logan," she said the familiar name softly, at the same time sitting up cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to rescue you," Eyes Only said, his blue eyes twinkling behind the lenses of his glasses. He nodded to the guard to close the door.

"I'm going to make this short and sweet, Max," he continued when she said nothing. "Agree to marry me ... love me again like you loved me before ... and the two of us will walk out of here together, free."

"You really have that kind of political pull?" Max wondered, tugging the hospital gown more closely around herself, very much aware of the way his eyes were roaming her near-nakedness.

"I've become an important man to Senator McKinley lately as Eyes Only's liason," Logan said. He perched a hip on the stool. "I requested only one thing in return for Eyes Only's cooperation with their transgenic sterilization campaign. You. X5-452. Intact.

She stared at him, finding it incredibly hard to reconcile this selfish obsessed monster with the gentle caring man she'd once loved. "No," she said, shaking her head. "I'll never belong to you again, Logan. I'm with another man now. I'm having Alec's child. I love him, not you."

It occurred to Max that she could lie ... get Logan to take her out of this place then knock him out and run. For a moment, she wondered if she was playing this game all wrong. But the thought of denouncing Alec and prostituting herself to another man -- even verbally -- was something she just couldn't bring herself to do.

Or could she?

"Do you really still love me, though?" she asked, keeping the conversation going. "Because if you do, you don't want to see me hurt. You'll help me first, then try to win me back later -- the honest way."

"You'd give me that chance?" Logan asked, his voice taking on a little boy's whine. "You'd really give me an opportunity to take you away from him?"

"Yes," Max lied, knowing this could be her only chance to escape a horrible fate, not to mention perhaps saving Alec as well.

She straightened on the gurney, her lack of clothing forgotten as she peered intently into those slightly fanatical eyes.

"Rescue me, Logan ... and you'll have my gratitude."

"And your love?"

"Maybe," she said, ignoring the bitter taste in her mouth.

Logan smiled a genuine smile. "Wonderful," he breathed. "As soon as the procedure is over we'll go home together."

"What procedure?" Max asked warily. "What are you talking about? You said you wanted me intact."

"I do, and you will be," Logan said easily. "But first, we have to get rid of 494's bastard. An abortion at this stage won't be too painful, Max. In a few hours it will all be over. If you really want a baby, we'll make one together -- you and me."

Max clutched her stomach protectively. "If you touch my child I'll kill you," she said, her voice low and trembling with rage. "I swear, Logan, if you hurt Alec's son I'll tear out your throat with my teeth."

Eyes Only took a step back at the words, the look on his face now crestfallen. "The fetus is going to die anyway, Max," he said, ever the practical man. "This way, at least you'll be saved from sterilization, not to mention be free."

"Get out!" she hissed. "Before I kill you where you stand!"

Shaking his head sadly, her former boyfriend looked at her for a very long moment, as if he were seeing her for the last time. "Don't say you didn't have a chance, Max," he chided as the guard let him out of the cell. "And someday, when you look back on this, ask yourself if 494 was really worth it."

She waited until he was gone before curling into a fetal position on the gurney, clutching knees to chest, and letting the sobs rack her thin body.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

The following morning, Max fidgeted in the hard-backed chair of the courtroom, doing her best to ignore the hostile stares, the chill air on her bare arms, and the throbbing pain at the site of an injection she'd been given in her thigh just before they took her from the hospital -- a sedative of some kind they'd said.

It had been bad enough outside on the steps where anti-transgenic protesters had been lined up and waiting for her arrival, shouting taunts and accusations at the person they saw symbolizing a new threat from the mutants -- contamination of the human gene pool -- a fear whipped to a frenzy by McKinley's carefully placed agitators. She could still hear their vicious chants, the sound of their voices penetrating the panes of the large round stained-glass window with its depiction of "Lady Justice" wielding her scales that dominated the east wall of the room.

Truth be told, 452 was amazed at how quickly her people had lost their status as benign residents of Seattle. Not that long ago some of those faces in the crowd might well have been browsing through the Art Mall or having a cup of coffee in Gem's diner. She wondered if any of them had a "Joshua" hanging on the wall of their home. However, when the transgenics had taken over a military base, apparently the perception of the public had changed.

Now, she and her kind were a menace once again ... something to be destroyed.

Weary of the whole mess her life had become, the X5 rested hands in her lap, painfully aware of the fact she was handcuffed to her so-called "advocate," Robert Berrisford, for security purposes, and wishing she'd at least been given a robe to cover the flimsy hospital gown.

"Don't worry," Berrisford said, adjusting the necktie of his blue business suit ensemble. "I'll see that you're given a chance to state your side of the case."

"What good's that gonna do?" Max said tiredly. "I'm already guilty, and my fate's been decreed. My baby dies, they take away my ability to ever have another, and I'll probably go to prison too. This ..." She nodded toward the elderly judge who had entered the chambers, "is just a formality."

Her advocate began to say something, then closed his mouth and pressed lips tightly together instead. As for Max ... she couldn't care less what Berrisford had or didn't have on his mind. All that mattered was Alec. He was her only hope. Her keen hearing had picked up whispers from the court officers that X5-494 hadn't been apprehended yet.

They all stood for the judge, then sat down again while the case was called to order. There weren't many people in the courtroom for the closed proceedings, Max noted. Just herself, Berrisford, McKinley of course, the court officers, and half a dozen well-armed guards.

Once again, she looked up at the stained glass window and wondered if the artist had deliberately put that snide smile on Lady Justice's lips.

--just in time to see the image shatter inwards.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec knew the only advantage he had was the element of surprise. Crashing through the window, the X5 leaped the 20 feet to the floor, landed in a feline crouch, then exploded into action as shards of brightly colored glass fell like crystal rain around him. Blurring almost too fast for the human eye to follow, he dropped two of the astonished guards in less than a second with precisely placed spin kicks, then whirled like a Dervish to take out a third with a right cross, and a fourth with a left hook.

A fifth guard had gotten his gun out of its holster, but a flying jump side kick by the transgenic tornado sent the uniformed man backwards into a book case and down for the count. Landing lightly, Alec's head jerked around just in time to see the sixth guard leveling a pistol on him from across the room.

Damn. I almost made it, he thought, realizing he wasn't going to beat that bullet -- that he was too far away -- that it was over even if he drew the gun at his waist.

But it wasn't -- over that is.

Standing quickly and dragging her advocate with her, 452 leaped the bannister and -- while still in mid-air -- lashed out with a round kick that caught the guard who was about to kill her mate square in the stomach. Doubling over, his face purple, the man dropped the gun from numb fingers and slumped to the floor.

For several seconds there wasn't any sound at all in the courtroom except breathing. The judge was on his feet behind his bench, his mouth open in astonishment to demand "order" even as he realized there wasn't anyone left to call on for assistance. McKinley, also on his feet, was staring daggers at the young male X5, while the court reporter and two of the judge's assistants -- all middle-aged women -- cowered behind their desks.

"You're both going to be killed!" Berrisford exclaimed into the silence. "You'll never get away with this!"

Alec coiled his body, whirled, and let loose with a step reverse side kick aimed high at the man's head, seeing only one more obstacle between himself and the woman he loved.

"Alec! No!" Max screamed.

In a controlled way that no human could ever accomplish, the X5 halted the skull-crushing kick in mid-air, the sole of his boot stopping a fraction of an inch from the wide-eyed advocate's nose -- which is when recognition dawned.

Dropping foot to the floor, Alec straightened, staring with disbelief at the man who's daughter he'd killed. Then his eyes traveled downwards, to where Berrisford's wrist was chained to Max's.

"He's assigned to me," Max said. "My ..." her lips twisted in an ironic smile, "advocate."

Alec's eyes narrowed, his mind trying to take in this unexpected twist of events. The handcuffs had a combination lock -- no key. Berrisford, for his part, was watching the X5 as if he were a poisonous snake about to strike.

"We need to get out of here," Alec said, forcing himself to ignore his emotions and stating the obvious as one of the downed guards began to stir. Taking Normal's pistol from the waistband of his jeans, he searched the room for the most plausible exit. "Since we can't get rid of him, we'll use him as a hostage," he decided -- nodding at Berrisford as a strategy formed in his mind.

"You'll never get out of this building alive!" McKinley said, his voice quivering with rage. "You'll be slaughtered like the animals you are!"

"Yeah, yeah," Alec groused. "Tell me something new." Then, in the cold soldier-mode of X5-494, the transgenic raised the pistol and aimed at the Senator's head.

"Alec!" Max said, her fingers grabbing hold of his right wrist. "Don't! If you kill him it will be like starting a fire. They'll come after all of us." She looked around the room at the downed guards. "So far, no one's dead. We need to keep it that way."

"If I kill him," Alec replied, his voice level but with an edge, "a whole lot of our problems will be over."

"You'll only replace them with new ones," Berrisford said quickly. Then, his dark eyes boring into Alec's brilliant hazel-green ones, he added very calmly, "Don't do it, son. You're in enough trouble already. Why make things worse?"

"You can't just kill a man in cold blood, Alec," Max tried.

"Why not?" Alec said. "I'm an assassin afterall. It's what I was designed to do -- murder people." The X5's lips twitched slightly. "Right, Robert?"

"Not this time," Max breathed, pushing down hard on Alec's arm and forcing him to lower the weapon. She nodded toward a partially concealed side door to the room that almost looked like part of the wall. "I'm betting that's a back way out," she said. "In case of emergencies. We've got our hostage." She tugged on the handcuffs and Berrisford. "We need to go."

Alec was listening to her, but he was also slowly advancing on McKinley who was staring arrogantly down his nose, apparently totally unafraid. Typical Breeding Cult behavior, Alec thought. They think they're so much better than my kind ...

"Max says I shouldn't kill you," he said softly. "I think that's a big mistake. But ..." He shrugged. "She's the boss." And with those words the X5 lashed out with the butt of the pistol, cracking the Senator hard across the face, breaking his nose as well as cheek bones and teeth.

"That's for what you did to my people," Alec hissed. A second blow opened up a large gash on the man's forehead as his broken glasses clattered to the floor along with large droplets of blood. "And that's for what you tried to do to me." The X5's arm came back one more time. "And that's for what you were going to do to Max and my son!" The third vicious strike took out the rest of the cult member's teeth and ruptured his lip. Blood spurted as McKinley clutched at his ruined face. Familiars might not feel pain, but physical damage could still harm them. It would be a long time -- if ever -- before the good Senator would be talking into a television camera or putting himself in the public spotlight.

"Feel better now?" Mask asked quietly, her hand on Alec's arm again.

"A little," the X5 admitted.

"Then let's blaze."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Normal's eyes widened as the two X5s and their hostage piled into the bright orange Volkswagen Beetle that he'd kept running in the alley behind the courthouse.

"Hey Normal," Max greeted the man with a brief smile as they sped away. Then -- to Alec -- "Is this the best you could do?" referring to the ostentatiously-colored car.

"Hey, I had to improvise," Alec groused. "And how about thankin' Ronald here for his help?"

"Where to?" the Jam Pony manager asked.

Alec looked out the back window at the courthouse which was fast fading in the distance. People were running up the front steps and his keen ears picked up the faint sound of an internal alarm. Within minutes there would be an all points bulletin out on the escaped prisoner and her rescuer. This wasn't a game. The orders would be to shoot to kill, and he didn't want Normal caught in the crossfire.

"Pull over," Alec ordered. "Just around the corner."

"Where are you going?" Normal asked worriedly, even as he obeyed his Golden Boy's command.

Alec's eyes held Max's. "The sewers," he said.

She nodded her agreement.

"The sewers?" Berrisford said, speaking for the first time.

"Shut up," Alec snapped. "You're just along for the ride. If you keep quiet, and are a good boy, you could still get out of this alive. If you aren't, then I cut off your hand and I'm rid of you."

The older man swallowed hard once, his Adams apple bobbing behind the knot of his blue tie, and nodded in understanding.

There was a manhole at the entrance to an alley up ahead. "Good luck," Normal said as the odd trio disembarked. "If you need more help, you have my number."

"Thanks, Normal," Alec said, even as he was scanning the area to make sure they weren't being observed. "As far as I'm concerned, this makes us square." He turned to his former boss, and flashed a ghost of a cocky smile accompanied by a quick wink.

Normal managed a small smile too, even though the eyes behind his glasses were crinkled with worry. "Take care of your family, champ," he said. "And keep in touch." Then -- knowing he couldn't help his boy any more -- he put the Volkswagen in gear and drove off.

Max was already lifting the lid of the manhole, then she and Berrisford carefully descended with Alec following.

The smelly water was knee deep and freezing cold. Max, clad in almost nothing, rubbed her arms with her hands, the goose bumps visible even in the dim light of the tunnel.

"Here," Alec said, slipping off his leather jacket and putting it over her shoulders.

"What are you going to do now?" Berrisford asked. "This has gone beyond just a couple of fugitive transgenics running from the law. It's kidnapping, not to mention assault on a U.S. Senator. Every policeman in town will be looking for you. Your names and faces will be on every television newscast. McKinley may even have the National Guard called out to help with the search."

"We lay low until dark," Alec said. "Then we 'jack some transportation and get the hell outta Dodge."

"They'll have all the roads blocked," Berrisford pointed out, his voice remarkably calm considering his circumstances. "They know you'll be trying to get back to your people."

"Shut up," Alec snapped, his eyes glowing faintly green in the gloom.

But Robert Berrisford hadn't become CEO of a major company by being easily cowed. He gestured to Max. "She needs rest. This isn't good for her."

"I said shut up!" Alec repeated more loudly. The X5 looked down at the handcuffs. They didn't have the combination to the lock, nor did they have anything to break them open. Max touched his elbow, and he captured worried brown eyes with his own, sending silent reassurance.

"We could try to make Father's house," she said. "Original Cindy or Sketchy could help us then. You have a cell phone don't you?"

Alec looked up at the mildew stained ceiling of the sewer tunnel, picturing the layout of the roads overhead. "Joshua's is almost four miles away," he said, wishing now he'd had Normal take them a bit closer to the dogman's old residence. But that bright orange Beetle had been too easy to spot ... And my cell's likely tapped by now. Let's move," he said, nodding down the dark passageway. "I'll go topside after a few blocks and see if I can steal us a ride. If the roads are blocked, we go to Joshua's ... if not, we head for Wyoming."

"And what are you going to do with me?" Berrisford asked tightly as the trio began sloshing through the water down the sloping tunnel, Alec with one arm around Max.

"What do you think I'm gonna do?" Alec said, wickedly parodying the very phrase this man had once spit in his face.

"Kill me," the man said -- a statement, not a question.

"Alec, no," Max said quietly. "In a way, Mr. Bigwig here has tried to help me, even though he has every reason to hate transgenics."

"No," Alec corrected her. "He has every reason to hate me." The X5 closed his eyes a moment, the pain of Rachel's death suddenly stabbing at his heart. "Look," he said to Berrisford in a low voice. "I really did love your daughter. I know you don't believe me, or want to hear this, but I did what I could at the time to try and save both of you. I failed. She died. You want me dead -- with reason. End of story. But all of that's past, and has nothin' to do with what's happenin' right now."

They came to an intersection of the tunnels. Alec paused, thought a moment, then took the right passage. The pipe-lined walls were growing more narrow, but the putrid water was only ankle-deep now. Max, however, was beginning to shiver more violently, and Alec's grip on her tightened.

"Berrisford rubbed fingers over his chin. "She cracked a tooth that night you know ... when she saved you. And you go by 'Alec' now ... I keep wanting to call you Simon."

"You're lucky I didn't break your neck," Max said through chattering teeth.

"I told you to not interfere," Alec admonished his mate. "I told you back then to stay out of my business."

"Since when did I ever listen to you, you idiot?" she reminded him. "I wasn't just gonna sit back and let you do something stupid. Although," she eyed Berrisford, "I really went to the mansion that night to keep 494 from becoming a murderer. Savin' your ass was the bonus round you might say."

"Were the two of you lovers then?" Berrisford asked.

Alec looked hard at the other man, surprised by the question -- and also rather surprised at himself for answering. "No," he said simply. "That happened later."

"Back then Alec was just a friend," Max explained. "A brother. There was someone else in my life, but that ended," she looked up at the other X5, "and Alec and me found out we belonged together."

"Did you violate my daughter?" a father's voice asked.

Alec briefly closed his eyes. His head was starting to hurt.

"It's something I've always wondered about," Berrisford continued. "If you and Rachel had ... been together that way."

"She wanted to," Alec said honestly, briefly flashing back in his mind to the feel of a young girl's excited exploring hands and the extreme willpower it had taken to resist what nature had been demanding. "But I couldn't do that to her, no matter what Manticore ordered."

"They ordered you to seduce her?" Berrisford said.

"In a manner of speaking," the X5 replied, not caring to elaborate. "But like I said -- I couldn't do that to her. My kind doesn't belong with humans." He looked at Max. "We're a danger to them. I knew that even back then ... tried to be careful ... and look what happened anyway." He smiled ironically at the former CEO. "If it's any consolation, they hurt me real bad for failing that mission. I paid. Not enough ... but I did pay."

Max squeezed his hand. "Alec ..."

Something in her voice made the X5's gut clench. "What is it, Max?"

"I'm cramping."

Brows drawing down, Alec looked fearfully at Berrisford, who returned his gaze steadily.

"They gave me a shot this morning," Max said, her face tightening as another cramp shot through her abdomen. "I thought it was a sedative, but--"

"Damn," Berrisford said softly under his breath.

Alec pounced on the word. "What do you know about this?" he shouted, grabbing the man by the shoulder. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything," Berrisford swore. He moistened his lips with his tongue. "But they might have."

Alec shook his head, not understanding.

"McKinley's fanatical about your kind not breeding ... reproducing," Berrisford said.

"Familiars are afraid transgenics will be an ally to the surviving humans if their plague really does wipe out most of mankind," Max said as she slid down the wet wall to sit on a ledge. Her hospital smock was soaking -- her nakedness showing through the thin material -- and even Alec's jacket couldn't stop her shivers.

Alec tried to think this through.

"Oxytocin," Berrisford said. "They might have given her oxytocin."

"What's that?" Max said as her lips tightened with pain.

"A drug that induces labor."

Alec closed his eyes. "Son of a bitch," he said softly. "And I had a chance to kill the bastard."

"If you'd killed McKinley, son, it would have meant certain genocide for your people," Berrisford said.

Alec took out his cell phone and thumbed it on.

"What are you doing?" Max asked.

"Calling Dr. Carr." He heard a dial tone -- the signal spotty because of their underground location -- then a high pitched carrier wave.

"Damn it!" Alec cursed, slapping the phone off. "It's tapped!" He looked at the other man. "You got a cell on you?"

"They took it when I entered the courthouse," he said. "Security protocol."

"You could go topside and find a pay phone," Max suggested, the look in her eyes cutting Alec to the quick because he saw how afraid she was.

"And leave you with him?"

"I can take care of myself."

"No way," Alec said. "I'm not leavin' you alone in your condition with someone who wants me dead."

"Son," Max's advocate said, "if I'd wanted you dead, I could have hired a hit man a long time ago. You weren't exactly low profile in that Seattle City Council seat of yours."

"No."

"I won't hurt her."

Max took a deep shuddering breath and clutched her stomach again. "Alec, please. Go. I can take care of myself. But I need Dr. Carr."

"There is one solution to the problem," 494 said quietly, his eyes taking on a veiled hooded quality.

"If you kill me, it will be almost as bad is if you'd murdered the Senator," Berrisford said levelly. Then he smiled gently. "Besides ... I don't think you really want to do that ... kill someone in cold blood."

"Why not?" Alec said, his voice clipped. "Afterall, it's what you and your kind created me for -- to be the perfect assassin."

"Perfect assassin?" Berrisford said. "Or perfect person?" Big difference there, Simon -- and only you know which it is ... what you are."

Alec knew he might be able to crack the combination on the handcuffs -- his hearing perhaps sharp enough to hear the tumblers -- although the dripping water around them would make it difficult. But if he freed Berrisford, what then? Take the guy with him? Let him go to alert the police? At least with him bound to Max they had a hostage if they needed one.

The other alternative -- killing the man -- turned his stomach even more than his intended victim knew. Afterall, he'd already murdered the daughter ... By all rights this guy should still want him dead, but for some reason he didn't seem to.

"Can you handle him for half an hour?" Alec asked Max.

"Easy," she said with assurance. "Go."

"Oxytocin takes hours to work on transgenics," Berrisford added. "She'll be all right for that long at least."

Alec glanced up ahead where he could see light coming through a manhole. "I'll go find a phone, make the call, and be back as quick as I can," he said. Then, to Berrisford -- "If anything happens to her while I'm gone ... anything at all ... I will kill you."

"Understood," the older man said. "We'll be here when you get back."

With a knot of fear tight in his stomach, Alec nodded, then kissed Max lightly on the lips. "I love you," he whispered before turning and heading for the ladder leading to the manhole above.

*****

Keeping his head low and shoulders slumped so as not to be noticed, the X5 made his way through a light drizzle to a graffiti-covered phone booth two blocks away -- only to find the receiver had been ripped from its cord.

Shit, he thought, banging a fist in frustration against the scratched plexiglass.

Raising his eyes, Alec looked toward the horizon and the office towers of Seattle's high rise district where Dr. Samuel Carr kept an office -- and began to run.

*****

Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"Oxytocin!" Alec shouted as he pushed passed Sam Carr's receptionist and barged into the doctor's inner office where a patient -- an elderly lady suffering from gout -- was being examined.

Struck speechless by the intrusion, the doctor gaped at the panting X5, his mouth opening and closing twice before he managed a rather high-pitched, "What the hell's going on? Alec! What are you doing here?"

"Tryin' to save my kid! They gave Max a shot of a drug called oxytocin. She's cramping. Can you save the baby?"

"Who gave her a shot?" the doctor asked, not understanding any of this madness. Then he suddenly remembered his patient. "Mrs. Michaels," he said, with effort controlling his voice. "I appear to have an emergency. Talk to Marie out front and we'll reschedule you for this afternoon or tomorrow."

"But--" the matron started to argue, her white eyebrows arching primly. "I had an appointment and--"

"I'm afraid this can't wait," Carr said, at the same time taking hold of the elderly woman's elbow and steering her out through the same door Alec had just come flying through. He shut the panel firmly behind her and turned to the X5, a worried frown on his usually placid face. "How long ago was Max given the drug, and what dosage?" he asked, his tone turning professional.

"I don't know how much," Alec said. "But it was about two hours ago." The young transgenic looked straight into the doctor's eyes in a way that made the other man feel oddly like prey. "Can you save the baby? Is there anything at all you can do?"

Carr swallowed hard. "I can try," he said tightly. "Her X5 metabolism will probably try to stave off the drug. Where is she?"

Alec gestured helplessly toward the street six stories down below. "She's in the sewer. McKinley and his army are lookin' for us. They snatched Max when she was visitin' O.C. and I just got her out of the courthouse."

"Was she bleeding yet when you left her?"

"No," Alec said, shaking his head. "But that was half an hour ago."

Dr. Carr grabbed his medical bag and car keys. "Take me to her," he said sharply. "Every minute counts!"

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"My daughter, Rachel, would have been about your age now," Robert Berrisford said as he sat on a large pipe with Max leaning and shivering against him. "If he hadn't killed her."

The X5 raised her head and stared at the man she was handcuffed to -- but there weas no animosity in the words.

"Do you really think that Rachel's death somehow saved your assassin boyfriend?" he asked. "Do your kind even have souls?"

"I can't say for certain about souls," Max replied after the wave of pain she'd been riding passed. "That goes for transgenic, human, or any other kind of animal. I've known ordinaries who committed atrocities so horrible they couldn't possibly possess a soul ... and I've known transgenics, like Alec, who have big brave hearts that I don't think could exist without one."

She clutched the pipe as another cramp began. Unbidden, Berrisford pulled her shivering body against his. Max wanted to move away ... reject the act of apparent kindness ... but she was so cold ...

"Do you think he loves you as much as he professes to have loved Rachel," he asked softly.

Max looked up at him, brown eyes wide with more than the pain. "I think Alec's feelings for me are a different kind of love than what he had for Rachel," she said after a moment's thought. "I know that my first love -- with an ordinary as well -- felt totally different from how it is now ... with him. Logan--" She searched for the words. "With Logan I was always so afraid of something happening to ruin our relationship. I was constantly looking for something to go wrong, and waiting for him to reject me. At times, the feelings we had for each other were the most intense I've ever experienced in my life. But the rest of it was mostly anxiety ... pain even. In a way, when Logan and I broke up, I felt like a bird that had just been set free from a cage."

"And with Simon?"

She stared at him.

"I'm sorry. I mean with Alec. How is it different with him? Your second time around, so to speak?

Max smiled a little bit, which helped her through the next cramp ... picturing Alec as he'd looked the night of the City Council election, so handsome, happy, and self confident (not to mention egotistical and smug at his landslide win). Thinking back now, she realized it had been then that she'd truly fallen the rest of the way "out of" love with Logan, and totally "into" love with X5-494, even though it would be weeks longer before she admitted as much to herself, let alone him.

Her X5 brother had just looked so good that night ... heroic, intelligent, charismatic ... And she'd seen a hint in those hazel-green eyes how he felt about her as well ...

"With Alec it's comfortable," she finally said. "Warm ... secure ... a relationship safe enough so that we can fight like wildcats with each other and know that later we'll be making love." She shook her head sadly. "With Logan, I never had that stability ... the leeway to be angry at him -- or him with me -- and not have it damage the real relationship. Logan and I ... we hurt each other, and in the end, we couldn't fix it. She smiled again. "Alec and me ... our wounds heal."

Berrisford nodded slowly. "I wish Rachel had lived," he finally said. "I wish she'd lived and been able to know the truth about the creature that accepted her love while at the same time betraying her so completely."

"Alec didn't know," Max tried, one hand going to her abdomen as another cramp began to build. Clenching her teeth, she hissed slightly as it peaked and passed. "He was very young," she continued after a moment, "and totally inexperienced about emotions -- love and, truth be told, most other kinds as well. Manticore raised him practically in isolation. From the age of ten, he wasn't allowed to have friends, or even associate much with his own kind, let alone humans. Everything he knew he learned from handlers and trainers ... videotapes and movies ... books and classes. He'd never had a chance to really live until he met your daughter on that long term mission. And then--" Max sighed heavily. "He didn't know how to handle those sudden intense feelings. So -- in typical Alec-fashion -- he pretty much self destructed."

"You said Manticore almost killed him?" Berrisford said. "Because he tried to warn Rachel about the bomb in my car?"

Max's face darkened as she remembered the one and only time Alec had talked about those awful days ... weeks ... They'd been sitting together on top of the Space Needle, and he'd said he wanted her to know.

He'd also then asked her to never question him again about his punishment for having fallen in love with Rachel Berrisford.

"Manticore decided Alec ... 494 ... was broken ... defective ... because he'd allowed his emotions to take precedence over his mission and orders. They saw that as a fatal flaw. His handler for the mission -- Peter Sandoval -- ordered him put down, his body to then be used for organ harvest ... parts ..." She looked up at Berrisford, a little smile on her lips. "But Donald Lydecker -- our Devil of a surrogate father you might say -- couldn't stand seeing one of his most promising kids destroyed. He countermanded the order, and instead of getting a needle full of poison or a bullet in the head Alec was sent to psy-ops for reprogramming."

"Reprogramming?" Berrisford said, shifting his weight where he was seated on the pipe, the chain of the handcuffs jangling faintly as he folded hands in his lap. "You used that term before. What does it mean?"

Her advocate had to be cold, too, Max thought. Berrisford's clothes were as soaked as hers, and the tunnel had an icy breeze blowing down it. Wrapping arms around herself more tightly, she huddled in Alec's jacket, taking comfort in the smell of him that lingered in the leather and lining. He'll be back soon. He'll save our son.

"You said reprogramming?" her unwilling companion prompted again.

"They had ways," she said softly. "X5s were very valuable, so they avoided methods that would cause permanent physical damage. But we also heal very fast -- not even scarring most of the time -- so they had leeway." She looked off into the distance. "First, 494 was physically beaten -- by Sandoval ... Lydecker ... his fellow X5s ... There was blood ... and a few broken bones ... crushed fingers ..." She swallowed, not liking the picture being painted in her mind as she described Alec's torture. But this man needed to know that his daughter's killer hadn't gotten off Scott free. "Then," she continued, "they sent him to psy-ops."

"Psy-ops?"

"Psychological operations -- where the scientists messed with our brains." She closed her eyes, all too easily seeing everything in her memory because she'd lived through the torment as well. "They strap you to a chair. You're surrounded by guards with machine guns so you know that if you try to escape you'll be killed instantly, which -- after awhile -- you actually begin to seriously consider as a way out of the agony. Then they use this laser device on you. I don't know exactly what it does, but this red beam of light is aimed directly into the pupil of your eye. I suppose it goes back to the nerve centers of the retina -- a way to inflict pain without doing physical damage. You want to look away ... turn your head ... but you're clamped in place and if you retain the ability to blink your eyelids are forcibly held open." She shuddered. "It hurts so bad you want to die. They let you scream. No one cares about that, although sometimes an X5 will have seizures -- we're prone to them you know -- in which case they force this thing between your teeth so you don't swallow your tongue and suffocate. Like I said, X5s were very valuable to Manticore. They didn't want to actually kill us -- just make us obey."

"And they did this to Simon?" Berrisford said with no emotion whatsoever showing in his voice.

"Yes. And when they were done with him ... when he was unconscious from the pain ... they injected him with drugs to wake him up only to do it all over again and again and again. Alec says he doesn't know how long this went on ... He honestly doesn't remember. All he can recall is the agony, and finally waking up one day in an isolation cell covered with blood and bruises and with the worst headache of his life. They left him there for weeks -- all alone with only battered partial memories of what he'd done to the girl he'd loved -- memories he finally forced back into a dark corner of his mind where they could be contained."

She studied her hands, feeling another cramp building. "If Alec hadn't been able to do that at the time -- make himself forget -- he'd have gone insane like his brother. I'm sure of that now." She smiled again, even as her eyes began filling with tears because her baby was dying. "He remembered though -- after we delivered the package to your mansion that day. And then you began tormenting him with the phone calls and the music, and he had to reopen all the old wounds in order to make himself whole again."

She regarded the man steadily. "In a way, you did Alec a favor," she concluded softly. "If he'd kept that part of his life ... the guilt ... submerged in his subconscious, eventually it would have destroyed him. As it is -- he's come to terms with what he did to Rachel ... and moved on." She looked down at herself, the tears flowing freely now because she wanted Alec's son so very badly.

"I'm sorry," Berrisford said rather stiffly. "For what McKinley has done to you." He shook his head sadly. "But I'll never be able to forgive Simon ... 494 ... for his sins. But I see now that he is what he is -- a killer -- not by choice, but because he was made that way. And, by proxy, I'm as much to blame for my daughter's death as he is. It was my company that discovered the gene-splicing technology to create the X5s, so therefore I had a hand in her assassination. If I'd never taken Mercidyne in the direction it went, 494 wouldn't exist, and most likely Rachel would still be alive."

"Alec doesn't want your forgiveness," Max said quietly. "It's not in his nature to ask that kind of thing from others."

"And I'll never offer it to him," Berrisford said. "Until the day I die I'll hold him as the one directly responsible for a beautiful teenage girl's destruction." He held Max's eyes with his. "But perhaps ... perhaps now I don't hate him quite so much as before, and for that I thank you."

Max nodded, knowing she had to be content with that. She was about to say so, when suddenly a sound from down the tunnel made her turn her head.

"Max!" a familiar voice echoed as the manhole cover slid aside. "Max! Where are you? I brought the doc!"

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"She needs to be in a hospital," Sam Carr said, shaking his head seriously as he took Max's pulse. The doctor looked with disgust around the filthy sewer and the brown water they were all standing in. "Or at least in a bed somewhere. She has to get off her feet."

"No problem," Alec said tightly, scooping Max up in his arms and leaving Berrisford to trail behind on the chain that tied him to his client.

The doctor eyed the handcuffs dubiously, but wisely said nothing other than, "My car's parked a block away. Do you have a safe place where we can go? I'd offer my own house, but I've got a wife ... children ..."

Alec held up his hand. "We know," the transgenic said quietly. "We don't wanna endanger your family. You're doin' enough as it is." He looked at Max. "Joshua's will work."

Half an hour later they pulled up in front of Father's House. There had been a frightening moment or two at the sector checkpoint, but Sam's physician's I.D. and his statement that he was taking an emergency patient to the hospital got them through with a minimum of questions.

Once inside the dilapidated old house, Alec carried Max to the couch in the living room. There was a bedroom down the hallway, but the X5 knew from past experience that the rodent-chewed mattress in there wasn't exactly comfortable. The cleaner couch with its woolen blankets was a far better choice.

With Berrisford seated on the floor beside her, Carr examined Max more thoroughly. Alec went to the kitchen and looked for tools, but couldn't find anything that would get the handcuffs off. Going back into the living room, he found Max holding out her free hand to him.

"Come here," she said, a note of desperation in her voice. "Sam says he can give me an injection that might stop the labor and keep the baby from aborting ... but it's a longshot." She took a deep shuddering breath. "I need you to hold me, Alec."

"Anything you want, Max," he said, dropping to his knees and taking her into his arms while the doctor gave her the shot.

Berrisford, for his part, was watching silently. But then suddenly he asked, "If she loses the baby, are you going to kill me?"

Alec's hazel-green eyes flashed. "I should," he said in a deep dangerous voice. "You're with McKinley, so that makes you partly responsible for this." But then the X5 held his chin a fraction higher. "But I won't, because I owe you one. As soon as I can get the cuffs off and Max can travel you're free to go."

"The cramping is getting better," Max said, her face exhausted but also relaxing with relief.

"And no bleeding," Sam Carr said as he listened to Max's heart with his stethoscope. "Although you'll need to be put on a fetal monitor to be certain the baby is still viable."

Alec eyed the stethoscope. "Can I see that, doc?"

Carr handed over the instrument. Alec looped it around his neck, then picked up Max's steel encircled wrist. The combination on the cuff was only three digits, but the tumblers were so small even his superior hearing would be taxed to hear them. However, with the scope--

He put the ear pieces in place, then held up one hand for silence. His brow knit with concentration, the X5 then very slowly began dialing through the numbers on the first wheel -- and smile slightly when he heard it "click." The other two fell into place just as easily, the stethoscope magnifying their sound quite nicely.

His smile turned to a triumphant self-satisfied grin as he pulled the cuff apart and freed his mate. "Can you take us to the edge of the city?" he asked Dr. Carr. "We'll leave Max's so-called advocate off where he has a nice long walk back to town."

"What about your own transportation?" Carr asked.

Alec shrugged. "I'll 'jack something. Don't worry about us."

The doctor handed Alec a vial of clear liquid and four hypodermic syringes. "If she starts cramping again, give her ten cc's of this once every hour. But if four doses don't stop it, there's nothing anyone can do. It will mean the fetus is dead and she's aborting." He glanced out the paint-smeared window at the gathering twilight. "I really do wish I could take her to a hospital where we could monitor the baby."

"That's not gonna happen," Max said. "I'd just be turned back over to McKinley's people." She took hold of Alec's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Besides, I have a feeling either the baby's fine, or it isn't. If I miscarry then it wasn't meant to be."

"Wait," Berrisford suddenly said, speaking for the first time in several minutes. "She shouldn't be traveling in her condition. She needs a real bed where she can rest for a day or so, as well as food and more medical care."

"What's it to you?" Alec said flatly as he helped the doctor gather up his bag.

"Take her to my house," the older man said. "She'll be safe there, and I can get a fetal monitor so the baby can be checked."

Alec smirked. "Yeah, right. Take her right into the lion's den." He pinned Berrisford with his eyes. "You're in bed with McKinley. No. We head for home."

"Alec," Max said softly, giving his hand another squeeze. "Wait. If it will give our baby a better chance ... I don't think he'll betray us."

"Max, the guy wants me dead! Why should he help us? He's lying. He'll get us to that mansion of his then call the cops!"

"I won't turn you in," Berrisford said. "I promise. And as for wanting you dead ... like I told Max, for a long time I simply wanted to put a bullet in your head. But I'm looking at the bigger picture now. I don't think you're done with your mission in this world yet, 494" He smiled grimly. "And who am I to tamper with what Fate may have in store for you. For all I know, you could end up dying in a way even more satisfying than the hundreds of deaths I've already imagined for you."

Alec raised an eyebrow at the ominous (in fact downright disturbing) words that sounded more like a threat than an invitation for sanctuary. "No."

"Yes!" Max countermanded. "Alec, we can trust him! At least for now! Please! If not for me, then for our child! We're being offered a safe refuge and we'd be fools to turn it down!"

"Sam?" Alec said, not looking at the doctor, but wanting his opinion.

Sam Carr shrugged. "She shouldn't be traveling, Alec. I know that much. And I don't think it's very safe for the two of you to stay here. I've already seen three police cruisers go by outside. If they start a door-to-door search it's all over."

"She'll have every comfort," Berrisford promised. "Food, warmth, medicine ... I'll even give you a car when you're ready to leave so you can travel back to Wyoming without worrying about it being a stolen vehicle."

Alec opened his mouth to say yes, the offer too tempting. But a little voice inside his mind was screaming at him, calling him a fool -- and he'd learned the hard way to never go against his gut.

"No!" he said more harshly than before. "Max, I'm sorry. But we do this my way. We'll head to the outskirts, 'jack a car, and make a beeline for Wyoming."

"If I lose my baby because of your pigheadedness, I'll never forgive you," she said in a low menacing voice.

"Alec," Sam Carr began. "I really think--"

"Shut up," 494 snapped. Just give me the medicine and your car keys. It's not that long of a walk back to your office."

Knowing better than the argue with an angry X5, the doctor sighed heavily and obliged.

Alec pocketed the syringes and vials, then held out his hand to Max while eying Berrisford. "I'm leavin' you here after all -- with the doc. But if you try to run or warn anyone about us you know what I'll do to you."

"I'll cooperate."

"Let's move out then. It's gettin' dark. With luck we'll be two states away by morning."

"No, Alec."

Alec stared at her -- and saw in Max's eyes that she was going to do it -- take Berrisford up on his offer. And he also saw that whether he agreed or not didn't really matter any more to her. Such was the domineering nature of their volatile relationship. Usually they were a team, he and Max ... allies to the death.

But sometimes ... like in the beginning ... like now--

--they were enemies.

Alec almost turned and walked away.

Almost. But he didn't. He loved her just too damn much.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

The mansion was pretty much exactly as Alec remembered it from the last time he'd been here -- the night Berrisford would have killed him if Max hadn't intervened. The decor hadn't changed ... even Bruno was the same -- the body guard staring in open-mouthed astonishment when the hated Simon Lehane emerged from Dr. Carr's blue Plymouth van, walking side-by-side with his boss.

Alec returned the glare with an impish little smile, unable to resist taunting the burly brute who'd once tried to take him down with a Taser, and who'd later ended up in need of some serious dental work after attempting to tackle an X5 on the warpath.

"Send the rest of the staff home early tonight, Bruno," Roger Berrisford ordered. "Except ask Maria to stay in the kitchen. We're going to need some food."

"Yes, sir," Bruno acquiesced like the good man servant he was.

"Don't worry," Berrisford reassured. "I'm in no danger. Mr. Lehane and his lady friend are my guests tonight. And this is Dr. Samuel Carr who will be attending to them."

"Yes, sir," the bodyguard mumbled for the second time, before gracing Alec with one last vicious stare and heading for the kitchen.

Max stumbled at the bottom of the staircase, and Alec caught her in his arms.

"Take her to the guest bedroom in the east wing," Berrisford said. "Second door down the right hallway." Then he turned to Dr. Carr. "Tell me what equipment you need to monitor the baby and I'll have Bruno go get it. My contacts in the medical community are many. I shouldn't have any trouble tracking down what you want."

Alec carried Max in his arms up the sweeping staircase ... past the study where he'd been handcuffed to a chair and nearly executed ... past the door of Rachel's bedroom ... past the memories ...

Settling Max on the satin comforter, he sat down beside her, the bed springs creaking faintly. "You know," he said in a low voice. "It's killing me being here."

"I know how hard this is for you," she said. "But it was the right thing to do for the baby. I need to rest Alec, not take a thousand mile car trip."

Alec's heard the footstep behind him. "Why are you doing this?" he asked without turning around. "Why don't you just call the police, or your buddy McKinley?"

"Because, believe it or not, Simon," Berrisford said, "I've never been an eye-for-an-eye kind of man. Once, I thought killing you would somehow make losing Rachel more bearable. But now I see that it would be an empty, useless gesture of no benefit to me. And besides, like I told you, I have a feeling God is going to see that you get your just rewards in the end anyway.

Alec slowly turned around and looked at the man who had every reason in the world to hate him.

Berrisford gestured to Max. "As for her, and your child ... as far as I'm concerned they're innocent. I have no desire to kill them to gain revenge on you. Rachel would be appalled at the very thought." He turned to Dr. Carr who was standing beside him. "See to her," he said. "Take care of her and the baby."

The fetal monitoring equipment arrived within an hour, and both Alec and Max relaxed for the first time in what seemed like days when they saw the baby's steady healthy heartbeat pacing on the screen.

Dr. Carr smiled. "He's fine," he said. "The cramping has stopped. There's no bleeding. You're not dilating. The counter agent was apparently administered in time."

Max closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow, content to listen to that tiny, rapid pitter-pattering heartbeat coming from the speaker.

"So, she can travel?" Alec asked in a hushed tone as he and the doctor stepped to the doorway.

"In the morning," Dr. Carr admonished. "Don't rush this, Alec. The stakes are too high. If the baby's still doing well tomorrow, I'll probably give my cautious approval. In the meantime ..." He looked toward Max. "Try to get her to eat something. Then sleep will be the best thing."

The doctor studied the dirty disheveled X5. "And you look like hell as well. Get some food and rest, Alec. You're her protector and you need to stay in good shape."

Knowing that what the man said was true, Alec nodded his agreement.

"Go down to the kitchen and get a meal," Berrisford said. "Help yourself to anything you want. Tell Maria I said it was all right."

Leaving Max in Dr. Carr's capable hands, Alec made his way back down the big staircase to the back of the mansion where he knew the kitchen was located. He'd occasionally come in here with Rachel to sneak a snack after her lesson. It's where he'd learned to like peanut butter and jelly ... and chocolate chip cookiees ... The sight of the big oak table brought him to a halt in the doorway. She always sat in the chair on the right, so she could see her garden out the window.

Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

Alec shook his head, the brief flash of memory odd and disturbing. It didn't take much for him to picture Rachel right there, in that light blue dress she looked so beautiful in, her raven hair sparkling in the sunlight ...

And then -- before he could stop it -- he saw the car exploding ... felt the laser beam penetrating his eye ... felt the fists pounding his body ... saw her grave ...

Choking back a sob, the young X5 turned and leaned heavily on the doorframe, closing his eyes against visions that refused to go away.

He never saw Bruno ... or the knife ...

Only the animal in him saved X5-494's life. The instinct of his feline ancestor sensed the danger a fraction of a second before the blade slit his throat.

Twisting around at the last possible second, Alec caught Bruno's wrist as the knife descended, stopping the tip of steel just as it penetrated the soft vulnerable skin above his throbbing jugular. Blood sprayed as the vein opened, spattering the hate twisted face looming above him even as Alec threw the bodyguard across the room.

Bracing himself against the front of the stove, Bruno tightened his grip on the knife, and with a roar of rage charged again. The X5, however, was ready this time. Stepping to one side, Alec twisted his body into a spin, jumped lightly into the air, and landed a foot in his attacker's midriff, sending Bruno flying backwards across the room, crashing through the window, and into Rachel's garden where he lay stunned on the flagstone.

The sound of a woman's scream made Alec whirl to see Maria the cook standing in the hallway door, her hands covering her mouth, horrified by the spectacle in her kitchen.

"What's going on here?!" Berrisford roared as he came rushing down the hall, only to halt in the doorway when he saw Alec.

Blood was pumping rapidly from the wound in the transgenic's neck, running in rivulets over 494's leather jacket and soaking the black t-shirt underneath. Putting his hand against the deep cut, the X5 looked up at his host, a ghost of an ironic smile on his lips. "Apparently no one told the hired help that bygones were gonna be bygones," Alec said huskily just before his eyes rolled back in his head and he slid down the wall to fall unconscious at Robert Berrisford's feet.

*****

Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"Get out," Berrisford said in a low voice to Maria.

The cook didn't need to be told twice. She turned and fled.

The former CEO then raised his eyes to the broken window where Bruno lay unconscious -- or dead -- on the ground.

There would be no witnesses.

The knife was where the bodyguard had dropped it. Picking up the blade, the bitter grief stricken father looked down at the creature that had murdered his daughter, realizing he'd just been given another chance to perhaps balance the scales.

Simon Lehane had no right to still be walking among the living. Hero of his "people" or not, the young transgenic male deserved to die.

Blood was already pumping rapidly from the X5's wound. Berrisford knew that all he had to do was deepen the cut a little bit ... severe the jugular vein completely ... and that would be the end of it. Even Dr. Carr wouldn't be able to save the creature then. The boy would bleed out on the cold white tiles of the kitchen floor, fittingly slaughtered like the animal he was.

Gripping the handle of the knife tightly in a trembling hand, the human knelt beside the unconscious transgenic, touched the sharp blade to the wet redness, and closed his eyes. All he had to do was press down ... slice ... and Rachel would be avenged at last.

"You never learn, do you?" a voice said from behind him. Jerking his head around, Berrisford was just in time to catch a glimpse of Max's fist before it struck him square in the jaw.

"We protect our own," 452 added quietly as she looked down at the CEO where he lay sprawled on the floor beside her bleeding lover.

*****