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

Alec wasn't really all that surprised to see her, when she drove her motorcycle right up to the main gate bold as you please. Watching the new arrival on the control room security cameras, he held out a hand, forestalling the X4 guard contingency ready to meet -- and if necessary contain -- what might be a threat.

"Let her in," 494 said.

"But Max--" Dix protested.

"--is takin' a nap. 'Sides, you know she'd never turn away her sister."

"She betrayed Max before," the monocled mutant reminded his X5 leader. "Damn near got her killed, as I recall."

"Sam was just protectin' her family," Alec said quietly, still watching the dark haired young woman who was now standing with fists on hips and glaring defiantly up at the security camera, demanding entry. "Any one of us would do the same."

"Mole's goin' down with the welcome wagon," Luke said, clicking off the intercom.

"So am I," Alec replied, grabbing his grey leather jacket from off the back of a chair and sprinting for the door.

"This should be interesting," Dix said to no one in particular as he continued to watch the monitor.

*****

"Where's big sis?" X5-453 asked Alec as he walked up to the still closed chain link gate.

"Busy."

"So, you're her flunky?"

Alec smirked. "Among other things. What are you doin' here, Sam? Come to seek out your Manticore roots?"

X5-453 looked much the same as he remembered from back in Seattle -- which meant she was the mirror image of Max. In fact, if it hadn't been for Sam's slightly shorter curly hair as opposed to Max's long straight locks (and 452 being 6 months pregnant) the resemblance would have been downright creepy.

"Come to look for my family," she said. "Besides, I was bored."

Alec raised an eyebrow at that. "I thought you already had a family -- a husband and kid."

Sam's face fell into a carefully arranged mask. "Steve isn't in the picture any more," she said evenly. "He took Johnny with him. You gonna let me in? Or do I hafta jump the fence and beat your sorry ass?"

Alec glanced at Mole. The lizard man switched his cigar from the right corner of his mouth to the left, hefted the AK47 he was carrying more firmly on its shoulder strap, and shrugged. "Your call," he growled. "But personally, I think we've already got enough bitches in here to worry about."

Smiling at the remark, Alec stepped forward to open the eight-foot tall gates. "Welcome mat is always out for a fellow Manticore alum," he said easily, sketching a little bow as she walked past. "No ass beatings necessary."

"I wanna see Max," Sam repeated.

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

She was traveling light, Alec noted -- her only luggage a backpack slung over one shoulder. She also looked pretty thin to him, like she hadn't eaten well in awhile. But then that might be because he was used to seeing Max everyday bouncing around the compound with her pregnancy pounds.

"In due time," Alec replied. "She's restin' right now. Meanwhile, why don't you fill me in on your story."

"What story? And what business is it of yours?"

"The story about why you suddenly decided to rejoin your brethren here in our little hold-out fort that's pretty much surrounded by government firepower. How'd you get past the perimeter lines anyway? McKinley's got us buttoned up tight beyond Gillette. Usually the only way in and out is by air."

Sam looked at him knowingly. "Please, as if I couldn't sneak past a bunch of ordinaries."

Alec conceded that. He'd done it himself on more than one occasion -- breached McKinley's line without anyone noticing.

"As for why I'm here," she continued, "it's not as if I have any place else to go."

"There's always Canada," Alec said. "You were there once. Why'd you come back?"

Sam looked away, toward the interior buildings of the base. It occurred to Alec that she had memories of this place just like he did -- and they probably weren't pleasant. "After Steve left, there didn't seem much point in staying in Canada," she said. "I'm not the type to settle down by myself." She shrugged. "When I heard about your little stand-off here in Gillette, I was curious, and decided to come see for myself what my sister and her faithful followers were up to."

Bluntly, Alec said, "Bein' here could get you killed ... or worse. You know about the sterilization mandate?"

Sam nodded. "I'm willing to take my chances. Like I said, I'm tired of the frozen north."

There was something else going on here. Alec could sense it. But for now he nodded. "We can always use another X5," he said. "God knows there are few enough of us left."

Sam was looking around the base curiously. "You've got a garden," she commented, nodding at Gem's vegetable patch located just outside the main fence.

"Produce is hard to come by when you're under siege," Alec said dryly. "We're learnin' to live with what resources we have."

"You got fresh meat?" she asked, looking around some more. "I don't see any cattle."

"Venison," Alec replied. "We've shot three deer this week alone. The meat's good and it keeps 'em outta the garden. And we sometimes buy beef from the local farmers. Some of the X3s and 4s like to fish in the river, too. Don't worry. You won't go hungry here. If worse comes to worse there's enough Army rations to last a generation down in the mountain."

"Where can I put my stuff?" she asked. "And why hasn't the military stomped you guys out by now?"

Alec walked with her toward the regular barracks. "The military's scared of us," he said, telling the truth. "There are nukes in that mountain, and they know we know how to use 'em if we want. We've got a lot of other firepower too, and like I said, rations to last a lifetime. The government can't afford to fight us right now ... not in an all-out battle. So ..." Alec made a wry face. "They leave us alone as long as we stay on base grounds. It's only when we hafta to go outside, to one of the city's, that we're in real danger."

"Livin' the dream," Sam smirked as she put her backpack down on the bed in one of the few remaining empty cubicles. Then she turned to her brother. "Now, tell me what's goin' on with Max. I thought she was supposed to be in charge here."

But before Alec could skirt the question, he saw Sam's face pale as if she'd just seen a ghost. "What the hell's that bastard doing here?" she snarled.

Alec turned around and saw that Donald Lydecker had just entered the barracks. "That bastard knows the base," he said stating the simple truth, "and he offered to help."

"And you trust him?"

"Never. But he has his uses."

The Colonel was staring at them. Alec didn't blame the man. Finding the situation interesting, the X5 stepped back slightly and watched. 453 had been under Lydecker's command for almost 10 years here, punished along with the rest of the twins for their brothers' and sisters' transgressions. He knew damn well what Sam had been through ... that she wouldn't likely be overjoyed to see her old tormentor. The rest of them here at the Gillette Base had pretty much come to terms with the Devil living amongst them -- even Mole who, for reasons he'd never explained, had held the biggest grudge of all. But Sam's reaction couldn't be predicted.

"Slug him if you want," Alec said softly. "But don't kill him. Like I said, he has value to us."

Sam turned to him. "You work with Lydecker? He commands you?"

"Hardly," Alec sniffed disdainfully. "More like we tolerate his existence 'cause he knows the base so well. In return for his cooperation, we occasionally do an outside mission for him." Alec smiled slightly. "Whatever else you wanna say about ole' 'Deck, he is fond of his kids and knows how to use 'em to the best advantage."

"That he does," Sam agreed in a way that made Alec look at her sharply.

"453!" Lydecker barked, speaking first as he strode up to the two X5s, his momentary shock at seeing Max's double quickly concealed. "I thought you were safely in Canada."

"Times change," Sam said levelly. "And shit happens. I'm here to see my sister."

"She doesn't know," Alec said to the man.

"Know what?" Sam said. "I knew it. I knew you were hidin' something from me!"

"You want to tell her?" the Colonel asked.

"Tell me what?"

But before Alec could break the news about Max's "condition," he was beaten to the punch.

"Tell you that you're gonna be an aunt," Max said, emerging from the barracks cubicle where she'd been resting. Six months along now -- her pregnancy obvious to anyone who looked at her -- she approached her younger sister, the look on her face cautious but not off-putting.

Sam's mouth dropped open. "Logan," she breathed. "That ordinary mouth breather knocked you up."

Max scowled even as Alec looked at her askance. Are you gonna clear this up, or am I? his eyes asked his mate. Then he cleared his throat. "Not bein' one to kiss and tell, but--"

"Logan's not the father," Max said bluntly.

Sam winked at Alec, then turned back to Max. "I should have guessed," she said. "Even back in Seattle that night -- when you were supposedly with Logan -- I could tell you had your fingerprints all over this brother's heart. There was something about the way the two of you were working together ... and the way he jumped to your defense ...

"I didn't jump," Alec said, slightly miffed at being pictured as lovesick over Max back when he hadn't been. "I simply cleared up your misconception. And as for workin' together, me and Max were always a pretty good team, even when she was in love with another guy. But, like you said -- shit happens. Times change." He put an arm around Max. "People change."

"They sure do," Sam agreed, shaking her head in amazement at Max's condition. Then she looked her sister straight in the eye. "So. Do you two lovebirds have work for me to do here, or not?"

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

"No!" Max said adamantly, emphasizing her opinion by pounding a fist on the conference table. "No. No. No!"

"Now wait a minute," Alec said, patting the air with his hands in a calming gesture. "If 'Deck needs information from a safe that also just happens to contain over a million dollars in bearer bonds, who are we to turn down the mission? In case you hadn't noticed, Max, we're kind of weapons rich, cash poor here at the moment."

Lydecker, sitting quietly across the table from Max, waited, not interfering, letting the X5s hash out the problem.

"Don't worry, sis," Sam said with a self-confident smile. "I'll take good care of your man."

Max shot 453 a look. "You're a solo operative," she said, a definite edge to her tone now. "You're used to working alone, not with a partner. Me and Alec--" She glanced at 494 who returned her gaze innocently. "--we have a special way of doing things."

"I bet you do," Sam snickered. "And just let me guess who's usually on top."

"Hey!" Alec said, sensing -- rightly -- that he'd just been insulted.

"I'm talking about how we work together!" Max snapped. "Alec, tell her."

"Tell her what?" Alec said. "Max, you and me work well together. We always have -- 'least so long as I don't mind takin' your orders since you always wanna be the one in charge, which has nothin' whatsoever to do with sexual positions I might add." (That last said with a smug look at Sam.) "But it's not like I haven't gone on plenty of missions with other people before. I don't mind dancin' with little sis at all."

"You don't?" Max said, her indignation deflating a little, almost as if she were disappointed Alec wasn't joining her in objecting. "But what if--?"

"What if what, Max?" Alec said. He nodded at Sam. "What if she betrays me? What if she screws up and gets me killed? What if she's really workin' for McKinley?"

Sam grinned at him.

"Hey," he said levelly. "It's a possibility."

"When did you become so suspicious-minded, Dodger?" 453 asked, invoking Alec's old Manticore nickname.

"Since my command betrayed me," he shot back. "And it's 'Alec'. Dodger got left behind along with the rest of that nightmare part of my life."

"Fair enough," Sam conceded. Then she turned haughty eyes on her sister. "I promise," she said. "I'll won't let him do anything stupid, or get himself killed. There, does that satisfy you? I mean, he's my brother, too, you know." She gave another little grin. "And I always did have a weak spot for my more handsome siblings."

"What do you think?" Max said, turning to Lydecker who'd been listening to the whole conversation in suspicious silence.

"I think we need to make use of what resources we have," the Colonel said without hesitation. "And if we've been handed another X5, then we'd be fools to not utilize her. Besides," nodded at Max's bulging belly, "we're a hand short, so to speak. Just because you're out of the fight for the duration, Max, doesn't mean 494 has to be sidelined too. And this mission is time sensitive. The information will only be in the vault at the New York Library for another week, then my sources tell me it will be moved again."

"Fuck the information," Sam said bluntly. "I'm only interested in the million dollars. With that kind of money I could run fast and far ... lose myself in the world and live the happily-ever-after that was yanked out from under me awhile back."

"Whoa!" Alec said, holding up one hand. "That money's for all of us, sister."

"But I'll get a decent cut, right?" she said, taking a cigarette out of the pocket of her denim jacket and lighting up.

Max waved the smoke away, nose crinkling, but before she could object, Sam remembered -- the baby -- and snuffed the cigarette out. "Sorry," she muttered. "Habit."

"A bad one," Alec commented. "In case you hadn't noticed, sis, you smell like an ash tray, and I imagine you taste like one too."

Max's lips twitched up at the remark and Sam actually slightly blushed. "Not that you'd ever find out how I taste," she said in a low voice.

"Not that I'd ever want to," Alec said coolly.

"Children!" Lydecker said loudly. "Can we get back on topic? The mission is fairly simple. 494 and 453 drive to New York city, break into the main vault, retrieve the data--"

Alec interjected, "--and the bearer bonds."

"--and the bearer bonds," Lydecker said through gritted teeth, "then you come home."

"What is this information anyway?" Sam asked.

"Good question," Alec agreed. "And one I've been askin' for what? Almost a year now? Ever since old 'Deck here began sendin' me on mysterious personal missions."

"The information is classified," Lydecker said stiffly. "It's on a need to know basis, and right now I'm the only one who needs to know."

"I think all this sneakin' around he's been havin' us do for him has somethin' to do with who murdered his wife," Alec said, tossing out a theory he'd been considering just for the hell of seeing how 'Deck reacted.

The man's response astounded him. Visibly paling, the Colonel slowly rose to his feet, blue eyes narrowing as he seemed to be trying to keep himself under control. "Speculation is a waste of time, soldier," he said, his voice colder than frost. "And if this was still the old Manticore, mister, you'd be spending a week in a hot box in the yard for insubordination."

"Not like he hasn't before," Sam said under her breath. "Dodger was always gettin' his ass busted for something. You'd think he'd learn to--"

"It's Alec," Alec said softly, speaking to Sam but holding Lydecker's eyes with his own, not backing down. "And I'll speculate all I want to, especially when my life's on the line. It's a free country. You don't control what I say or think any more, Colonel. In fact, you're actually on this base at my discretion. Right, Max?"

"What he said," 452 agreed with her mate, backing him up. "And Alec's not the only one who's wondered if all this sneakin' around has to do with you finding out who killed your wife." Then, more gently than 494 had spoken, she added, "Come clean with us, Colonel. It would help not only with the logistics, but with the whole trust situation. If you want us to help bring down the bastard who killed the woman you loved, just say so." She looked meaningfully at Alec. "It's not like we don't know what those kinds of family feelings are all about."

The Colonel's face was turning red now as he obviously tried to control his temper, apparently realizing that going ballistic when surrounded by three genetically engineered killing machines wasn't a wise thing to do.

"It's none of your god-damned business," he reiterated. "If you don't want to accept this mission, then just say so, but don't you dare question the orders of a superior officer."

Alec raised an eyebrow at the "superior officer," but didn't jump the Colonel's ass for his arrogance. Ever since his youth at Manticore, 494 had been good at reading people -- it was a gift -- and he honestly didn't sense malicious intent on Lydecker's part -- just great sorrow and an emotional raw spot in the guy's soul that was painful to feel. "Clarification isn't necessary," the X5 said. "I think the facts in evidence are enough information for now."

"Like hell clarification isn't necessary!" Max and Sam said in unison.

"I'll go on the damn mission," Alec replied, ignoring the women's outburst. "Alone if I have to."

"Alec--"

"Shut up, Max." He almost never said that to her, and the impact of it hit home. 452 closed her mouth and sat back down in her chair.

Alec, being Alec, immediately looked over at her and winked, his silent way of apologizing.

With a huff, Max crossed her arms and pointedly looked away.

Alec shrugged. Oh well ...

"This is a two man job," Lydecker said.

Quickly, Alec said, "I'll take Hampton if I have to."

"No," Sam said. "I'll go."

"Even without all the facts?" Alec challenged her.

She shrugged. "Hell," she said. "You never were the kind for a suicide mission -- not like Lane -- so I figure if you keep you ass safe, mine'll be safe too."

"Good bet," Alec agreed. He glanced around the table at Lydecker and Max. "So, we leave in the morning?"

"New York here we come," Sam said.

"Max?" Alec prompted, hoping she'd throw him a bone here.

"It's your business, Alec," she said. "Do what you want to."

"Max ..." he pleaded. "Come on, don't be--"

But she turned her head away.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec knew that Max viewed her fellow Manticore escapees as siblings -- brothers and sisters. For that reason, she'd never been sexually attracted to Zack or Ben or Seth or Krit. For a long time, this familial feeling had also been extended to him -- the notion that because he was her brother's brother sex between them should somehow be taboo.

Eventually, nature had prevailed, and Max had taken him into her bed, the idea that this was somehow incestuous quietly fading into the background for both of them.

Alec took his eyes off the road long enough to glance over at Sam -- a girl he'd spent 7 years training with ... someone he ought to view as a "sib" the way Max viewed her own former Unit mates ... but who in actuality was almost a total stranger to him. (Manticore had implemented strict no-fraternization rules after the '09 escape.) No, Alec realized. Max's hang-ups didn't apply to him with regards to Sam. She was an acquaintance ... and a beautiful woman ... someone he'd once known, but certainly not off-limits.

Incest wasn't the reason he had absolutely no sexual interest in the X5 seated next to him -- but the fact that she was Max's biological sister put a damper on his libido in a way little else could. Alec knew that never in a million years would he betray Max like that. It would be beyond despicable ... an act so incredibly low he'd despise himself forever ... an act so treacherous the mere thought of its possibility lurking in the horniest corners of his mind terrified him.

No. Sam ... X5-453 ... was off limits to him in ways no other woman on Earth ever could be. And if she doesn't get her damn hand off my knee I'm gonna let her know it in a pretty crude way.

"Down girl," Alec softly said as he took the New York exit. They'd been driving practically non-stop for two days, taking turns at the wheel. Sam's overtures had at first been coyly verbal (which he'd deflected), innuendoes buried in half-jokes. But for the past few hours she'd been coming on to him in more physical ways.

She replied by moving her hand higher on his thigh until her thumb brushed his crotch.

Alec smiled and shook his head. "Been awhile, has it sweetheart?"

"You can say that again," Sam breathed. "Come on, Alec. You were always one of the most heterosexual boys in the band back at Manticore, not to mention one of the most well hung. We used to shower together, remember? It's not like I haven't seen it before. Give a girl a break, will ya? Max won't ever know. I promise. Just pull over at the next rest stop."

Her words were emphasized by a blatant caress that, in spite of himself, made Alec tingle through the thin material of his jeans.

"Would you have cheated on Steve," Alec asked bluntly. "Back before he left you I mean?"

The hand withdrew. Thank God ...

"Point taken," Sam said as she stared straight ahead out the window at the cracked pavement of the road. "You really love her. She's not just a fling or a convenience."

"Exactly," Alec said, relieved Sam understood (and also relieved that the tightness was lessening in his groin).

The girl glanced over at him, a sad smile now on her face. "Heaven help you, 494. Because love's a bitch and it hurts like hell, especially when you lose."

"I won't lose Max."

"Yes you will," Sam said quietly. "And she'll lose you. One of you will die, if nothing else. That's just the way love is for our kind. We weren't meant to lead happily-ever-after lives."

"You sound like Max," Alec said, shaking his head at the gloomy prediction which he, personally, didn't believe in. Although more cynic than optimist, he still had to hope he and his loved ones could someday find a place in the world ... could lead relatively normal lives ... raise a family ...

"The baby," Sam said suddenly. "Aren't you guys worried it'll be deformed or something?"

"X5s breed true with one another," Alec said as he steered the SUV onto the bridge leading to Manhattan. "We've had half a dozen babies born the past two years to X5 parents and they're all just fine. Same goes for X6s so far as we know, although the one X5/X6 crossbreed kid that was born had problems. It didn't live long."

"Lucky us," Sam said quietly. She looked up at him. "And X5/human crosses?"

"Total disasters, most of the time," her companion said truthfully. "Mentally retarded, physically deformed ... and that's if they even live. I only know of one exception -- Tinga's son. Max said he was all right, but Lydecker says he was also an anomaly."

"Tinga?"

"X5-656. Jewel's twin. She's dead now. Renfro killed her."

"And the child?"

"Taken away by his father to keep him out of Lydecker's hands."

"Good for daddy," Sam said.

"Yeah, good for daddy," Alec repeated, glancing at his own eyes in the rearview mirror and realizing that title would soon apply to him.

"There it is," Sam said, pointing to the large square building with its wide steps and pillars rising out of the debris-strewn streets of what had once been the thriving metropolis of Manhattan.

The Pulse had hit hardest on the East coast, devastating not only technology, but the human population as well. Martial law had salvaged some semblance of civilization in the west, but here in the New England states it was a far wilder territory run -- not by the government or the military -- but by splintered groups of rogue police squads and criminal gangs.

Alec parked the SUV by a rusted "no parking" sign he knew no one bothered enforcing any more.

Sam's hand on his stopped him as he started to get out of the car. "You sure you don't wanna fuck me? Not even just once?" She nodded toward a nearby alley, a hopeful look in her eyes as she licked full red lips enticingly.

"Give it up, Sam," Alec said, shaking his head and reclaiming his hand.

"That's what I'm trying to do," she replied, taking out a cigarette as she stepped from the vehicle. Alec hadn't let her smoke inside the car the entire way here, and her hand was shaking slightly as she went for the sorely missed nicotine fix. "What ever happened to the fuck-authority kid I used to know? The one who didn't get deployed 'cause 'Deck thought he needed more disciplinary training?"

"He fell in love," Alec said simply -- the truth.

There really wasn't much Sam could say to that, so she shut up.

Alec nodded at the broad sweeping stone steps leading up to the entrance of the The New York Public Library. "Why the hell is 'Deck's information in a vault in the library anyway?" he wondered.

Sam shrugged. "Beats me. Why not a bank or a locker at the train station?"

"Shouldn't be too hard to crack," Alec said, eying the four-story high building, his mind already formulating a plan for getting in after closing time.

Together, they walked through the front doors and across the wide mezzanine of the library, hoping to merely look like patrons in search of books while all the time checking for internal security. "The plans Dix pulled up showed just standard motion detector alarms," Alec remarked as he leaned a shoulder against one of the dozens of card catalog file cabinets. "And from the looks of this dump I doubt they've been maintained."

A small-statured, fussy-looking bespectacled man in his early 30's with slicked down brown hair hair emerged from behind the main desk. To Alec, the salvaged business suit and bow tie he was wearing looked like something out of one of the old sit-com re-runs from the 80's that he, Max, and Joshua used to watch in the evening back at Father's house.

"Act natural," Alec said, turning around, only to find Sam's arms around him and her lips pressing against his. Sputtering, he jumped backwards, nearly knocking over a display case featuring copies of newspapers with headlines dating to the day of The Pulse. "What the hell was that for?" he exclaimed.

"I was just acting natural," Sam said innocently.

"Well stop--"

"Ahem." The little man cleared his throat. Then-- "I've been waiting for the two of you. I thought you'd never get here. How long does it take two X5s to drive from Seattle anyway?"

Alec's mouth dropped open, his mind shifting gears. Closing it, he swallowed hard and asked Sam, "Did I miss the part where 'Deck said we were gonna have a contact?"

"If you did, then I did, too," Sam replied, looking equally surprised as she nervously tapped a cigarette out of its pack.

"Young lady," the librarian tisked, his thin dark eyebrows nearly meeting as he scowled, giving him an oddly comical yet imposing demeanor. "Smoking is absolutely forbidden in the library. I'm Henry by the way," he added, extending a hand to Alec. "Henry Bruster. Donald told me to be expecting you."

"Nice to meet you, uh, Henry," Alec said, returning the handshake cautiously. "So ... You have something for us I gather?"

"I have something for both you, and Donald," Henry said, beaming them a slightly bucktoothed smile. A full head shorter than Alec, he had to crane his neck to look up into the X5's eyes. "Which I'll gladly give you as soon as your mission is carried out."

"Mission?" both Alec and Sam said at the same time. Sam shook her head. "What mission?"

"Don't worry," Henry said with a sly wink. "I've got all the details in my office upstairs. If you'll follow me ..." He sketched a little bow toward the sweeping staircase leading up to the library's higher levels. "I'm sorry, but the elevators haven't worked since The Pulse," he lamented as they climbed. "No money for repairs. We're lucky to still have the library itself intact, what with the gang control going on. It's fortuitous that the high end leaders are fairly well educated, and they see the need to protect our society's literary and historical background." He looked over at Alec. "The museum downtown is under their protection, too."

"How very ... progressive ... of them," Alec replied, at a loss for a more appropriate response and trying to picture bangers browsing among the stacks for Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or Milton's "Paradise Lost." Most gang leaders he'd come across would have had Henry Bruster served up on a spit for dinner rather than protect him.

They followed their host to the top floor where a red leather-covered door with brass handles loomed at the end of an extremely long hallway. Opening the panel carefully with a key from the many attached to a ring on his belt, the little librarian led them into a high-ceilinged room decorated with rich wood paneling and lush antique furniture. Heavy red velvet drapes with golden braid pulls covered the windows, shutting out all sunlight, making it impossible to tell night from day. A large grandfather clock ticking in the east corner chose that moment to ring the hour, chiming twice followed by a melodious little tune that Alec knew he should recognize but couldn't quite place.

Henry scurried behind a large cherry desk, shoved aside several of the myriad stacks of books and documents, and finally came up with a file folder. Beaming, he handed it to Alec with a flourish. "Here's your target," he said happily.

"Target?" Alec repeated the word, dark blond eyebrows drawing down as he opened the file. On top of a several documents was an 8x10 glossy photo of a very handsome black-haired caucasion man sporting a mustache and goatee ... Italian ancestry from the looks of him.

"Ronald Enselmo," Henry said. "He's your assignment. All you have to do is kill him, and the million dollars in bearer bonds, plus Donald's information, is yours."

*****

Henry Bruster

"Did I mention that 'Deck has a bad habit of leavin' out significant little details sometimes?" Alec sighed to Sam who was looking over his shoulder at the photograph.

"Who is he?" 453 asked, speaking to Henry.

"Doesn't matter," Alec interrupted, closing the folder and tossing it back down on the desk. He grabbed Sam's hand. "We're outta here. This isn't what I signed up for."

She jerked away from him. "Speak for yourself, brother. For a million bucks I'm willing to hear more."

Alec was sorely tempted to walk out the door, but he didn't. It was obvious Sam was staying, and he couldn't just leave her here by herself.

"It's an assassination," Henry said evenly. "Enselmo is a very dangerous man who must be eliminated."

"Says who?" Alec snorted. "What'd this guy do? Shake you down for your lunch money when you were in grade school? Bully you on the playground? Steal your girl?"

"It's not personal," the librarian said. "Enselmo must die for the good of mankind."

"Whoo, boy," Alec said, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. "Just what I need. Another fanatic in my life." Once again he grabbed hold of Sam, by the arm this time. "The guy's a loon," he declared. "We're outta here."

"Wait!" Sam ordered, holding up one hand in a gesture that was so Max-like it gave Alec pause. "There's more to this story, and we at least need to hear him out. Why's Enselmo so dangerous?"

"Because of this," Henry said, pulling out another photograph -- color this time.

Seething, but resigned, Alec glanced down at the picture, and his eyes widened. Suddenly, things were starting to make a lot more sense. "That's Senator McKinley," he said, indicating the man on Enselmo's right. The two were apparently on some kind of fishing trip, dressed casually and grasping rods and reels in their hands while posing on a dock by a mountain lake. McKinley was holding up a fish he'd just caught, the photo taken to commemorate the moment.

"McKinley?" Sam said, narrowing her eyes as she, too, studied the photo. "You mean Senator Sterilization?"

"Exactly," Alec said. "So, this Enselmo's buddy-buddy with James, which probably means he's a Breeding Cult member, right?"

"Correct," Henry said. "Ronald Enselmo is the Breeding Cult's east coast liaison, their highest ranking official this side of the Mississippi. His headquarters are here in New York. He masquerades as a corporate CEO of a pharmaceuticals company -- Trakdine Labs -- but in reality he's at the hub of the Cult's attempt to overthrow mankind."

His voice tinged with ice, Alec said, "Been there, done that. Two years ago Christmas ... back in Washington state. Me and mine took out a big part of the Cult's west coast contingent and put a crimp in their world domination plans."

"We know," Henry said. "That's why we summoned you through Lydecker."

"We?" Sam said.

"Myself and the rest of the Coalition to Save Humanity."

Alec suddenly felt like he needed to sit down. Raising his hand to his forehead, he closed his eyes. "Don't tell me?" he sighed heavily. "You're part of a secret organization designed to insure the purity of the human race, and that would exclude all things Familiar, up to and including transgenics?"

"You're partially correct," the librarian admitted. "You've met Rene Sandeman I understand?"

Alec opened his eyes, and pinned the little man with a hard look. "I have," he drawled.

"And lived to tell of it?"

"Actually, not -- but that's kind of complicated."

"The point is," Henry pressed, seeming to sense -- rightly -- it was the male X5 he needed most to convince, "Sandeman created the transgenics to protect humans from being wiped out by his own people -- the Breeding Cult ... a genetically superior species of homo sapien that could eventually destroy the more naturally evolved humans even without the help of the virus that's currently making its way around the world. Your kind, 494, were designed to be our army. And right now, the Coalition is calling you up as its soldier to perform a mission."

He held Alec's gaze, and the young transgenic had to give the little guy points for having balls. It wasn't easy facing down an agitated X5. "There's only one person in this world who's orders I'll follow," 494 said evenly. "And it ain't you or your so-called 'coalition'." He glanced at Sam. "Or Lydecker either, for that matter."

"It's in your own best interest for Enselmo to die," Henry quickly said, realizing he was losing the battle. "If the million dollars and Lydecker's request won't sway you to help, then perhaps the fact that taking out Enselmo greatly weakens McKinley will."

"Weaken how?" Sam asked. "If this Enselmo goes down, another Familiar will just step into his shoes. That's how the Cult works, right?" She looked at Alec. "There are millions of 'em."

"Yes, there are millions of Breeding Cult followers," Henry conceded. Reaching up, the little librarian loosened the knot of his bow tie slightly, working a finger beneath his collar. He was perspiring, even though the room seemed quite cool to Alec. But then pissing off a pair of assassins would probably do that to 'most anyone, the X5 figured.

"It's like Medusa," Alec said. "Cut off one head and three more spring up. It's a battle humans can't win in the end."

"That's not for you to say," Henry declared hotly, for the first time showing a spark of temper. Pushing glasses up on his nose, he pointed at Enselmo's picture. "Take down this man ... kill him ... and it will severely cripple the Breeding Cult on a worldwide level. He may not look it, but this inhuman creature is over one hundred years old. He's one of the most influential members of the Cult. There are lots of Familiar soldiers out there, but actually very few leaders. That's the way to defeat them. Destroy the brains behind the army ... the officers ... and you're halfway to victory. You, of all people -- with your soldier upbringing -- should recognize the strategy, 494."

The librarian lowered his voice. "Donald said he was sending me his best people ... X5Rs ... transgenics created and trained from birth to be killers." Beady little brown eyes scathingly raked Alec from head to toe. "You don't really look like an assassin, or a soldier either for that matter."

"It's all in the wardrobe. "Alec quipped. "Just put me in black leather and comb the hair outta my eyes, and you've got yourself a real bad boy."

"But you seem like--"

"It's part of the camouflage," Alec said, serious now. "Part of why we're so dangerous. We don't look like the killers we're supposed to be. We can blend in ... people like us ... trust us ..." He glanced over at Sam. "I'm gonna make a phone call."

"Can't decide for yourself?" 453 needled. "Gotta check in with the misses?"

Alec ignored her.

"You won't get a cell phone signal here," Henry said. "No service. But there are pay phones in the mezzanine."

Alec had been reaching for his cell phone, but instead fished for quarters in the pocket of his jeans. What Bruster was asking him to do was pretty big shit, and he knew damn well that he and Sam were being manipulated here by Lydecker, as well as forces he didn't know or understand. However, where the Breeding Cult was concerned, he had no problem taking out any and all of the bastards. Hell, he'd probably have assassinated this Enselmo guy even without the million dollar incentive and 'Deck's pushing. But still-- This was something Max needed to know about. As her second-in-command of that he was certain.

The call went through on the third try, and Max -- by luck or chance considering the time zone difference -- was in the control center. "Hey, Max," Alec said, the sound of her voice making his heart pound in a surprisingly pleasant way. "I love you. I miss you. And now that that's outta the way -- I need some advice ..."

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

I love you. I miss you. And now that that's outta the way -- I need some advice ...

"What did you do now?" Max sighed into the phone, even as relief swept over her at hearing his voice.

Nothing! I'm fine. So's Sam. It's just that 'Deck's mission -- as usual -- is a little bit more complicated than he let on.

"Complicated how?"

It's not a safe-cracking job. It's an assassination. 'Deck's got this little librarian friend who wants us to whack some Breeding Cult bigwig, supposedly for the good of ordinary mankind and all that crap that we've had shoved down our throats for the past couple of years. You know, that bull about us transgenics being created as an army to save humanity, blah, blah, blah.

"Lydecker's friend wants you and Sam to kill a Familiar leader?" Max said, needing to be perfectly clear on this.

Isn't that what I just said, Max?

"Settle down, Alec. And don't use that tone of voice with me. Just ... just tell this guy you're not an assassin and come home."

But I am an assassin, Max -- technically speaking.

"Not any more, Alec. Neither is Sam. We don't have to kill for them. No one can order us to."

It's a million bucks, Max, plus Lydecker's precious secret information, not to mention gettin' rid of one of McKinley's best pals.

"You sayin' you wanna kill this guy, Alec?"

Not want to, Max. But maybe I should -- for our sakes as well as "ordinary mankind." It sure would be nice to put a dent in the Senator's sterilization campaign, not to mention take some of the wind out of his sails.

"If we wanted to go that route, Alec, I'd target McKinley himself. We haven't made that decision here yet. I don't like Lydecker co-opting my man for a mission he knew damn well I wouldn't approve of. He tricked you and Sam into going to New York. He used false pretenses. Assassination's not the mission, Alec. Pack it up and come home."

Yes, ma'am. As my queen commands I'm on the way. In the meantime, stay safe, Max.

"Same here, Alec. I love you."

Love you, too.

The receiver clicked in her ear, the line going dead. For a few seconds, Max stared at the phone, picturing Alec and wondering if she'd been imagining the relief in his voice when she'd nixed the assassination.

"Was that 494?" Lydecker said from the door of the control room.

"Yes."

"I gather he's discovered the additional parameters of the mission?"

"Discovered and rejected," Max said coldly. Pulling out a chair from the conference table, she sat heavily, grateful to get the weight off her swollen feet. "What the hell did you think you were doing, 'Deck? Alec's never been a true-blue killer. You know that. Why send him?"

"494 is what he is," the Colonel said coolly. "Yes, he never liked killing the way some of the X5Rs did. It just wasn't in him -- a flaw that I've told you before would probably have eventually spelled his doom at Manticore. Sooner or later he'd have botched another mission -- refused a kill again -- and he'd have been declared irreversibly defective and put down."

"Which is one of the reasons I finally fell in love with the big idiot," Max snapped. "But we digress. Alec's not an assassin for hire. He doesn't kill on your command any more."

"Are you afraid he's not capable of doing it?" Lydecker challenged. "Does it scare you that he's not man enough to kill in order to protect his own people?"

Max looked at the Colonel as if he'd gone insane. "Where did that come from?"

Lydecker simply stood staring down at her. Then-- "Do you have any idea who Ronald Enselmo is?"

"Santa's little helper?" Max quipped.

"Hardly. He's James McKinley's equivalent on the east coast ... one of the Breeding Cult's masters. Enselmo has orchestrated the affairs of the Familiars for over a century, just like McKinley. Together, in concert, those two men are the backbone of your worst enemy."

"So?" Max shrugged. "If we needed to take out anyone, it'd be McKinley, not some dude three thousand miles away."

"We can eliminate McKinley at any time!" Lydecker said hotly. "But a chance at Enselmo is far more rare."

"And this librarian friend of yours just happens to be sitting on information about your wife's murder you're drooling to get hold of," Max pointed out. "Not to mention a million dollars in bearer bonds to whet Alec's appetite, greedy boy that he is."

"Henry Bruster has been gathering information for me for years," Lydecker said in a low voice. "He was an invaluable resource for Manticore ... a champion of our X5 series. I always thought it was because he knew X5s were the soldier of the future. Now, I realize it was because he knew all along about Sandeman and the Breeding Cult ... their world domination plan. That's why he helped us ... to protect humanity from annihilation. But whatever his reasons in the past, he's still a superb gatherer of information, and what he has regarding my wife's death is priceless to me."

"Alec's not going to kill for you. I won't let him."

"No, but he'll kill for you," the Colonel said quietly. "And to protect his child."

Max looked at the man sharply, sensing something. "What are you talking about?"

"There's a reason I sent 453 on this mission with your mate. It's because she's carrying a genetic flaw on her DNA strand -- the one that causes progeria."

"I know," Max said. "My X7 'sister' back at Manticore was dying from it. Renfro couldn't understand why I didn't have the genetic breakdown as well. Now -- I figure it has something to do with the funky stuff Sandeman did to me to make me a carrier for the pathogen cure ... my 'perfect' DNA."

"Quite likely," Lydecker said. "But the question is, if Sam's genetics are possibly flawed with the progeria defect, and your X7 sister certainly was flawed ... what about the child you're carrying?"

"What about him?" Max said. "He's got my perfect DNA, or so Sandeman figured. He's safe ... probably ..."

"Is he? Are you? Do you know for a fact that you won't start to rapidly age in a year ... two years ... three? That the same thing won't happen to your son?"

"Nothing's for certain in life," Max replied, even as a premonitory shiver trickled down her spine. The Colonel's questions were ones she'd occasionally asked herself, usually in the dead of night when she lay in Alec's arms while he slept and she couldn't.

"Henry has the DNA cure sequence for X5 progeria," Lydecker said bluntly. "The one Manticore used to save Brin, but that was supposedly lost when the facility burned and the data base fell into enemy hands." He leaned down toward her, his blue eyes as intense and cold as Max had ever seen them. "You scratch my back, and I scratch yours, sweetheart. Order your lover to assassinate Enselmo like Henry wants, and you'll be able to save Sam, your son, probably even yourself someday, not to mention any other X5s who come down with the symptoms."

"Alec could take the information from Bruster anyway," Max said in a lower voice. "I could order him to simply steal it."

"He'll never find it," the Colonel said. "Henry's too good at hiding information ... encrypting it ... But all 494 has to do is pull the trigger, and everything is ours ... my information, the million dollars, and a cure for the diseased DNA your line carries."

Lydecker held out his cell phone. "Signals won't usually work in New York," he said. "But mine bounces off one of the military birds. You can reach him."

Max looked at the phone for a long moment, then took it with trembling fingers. Once again, the Devil had her in his clutches, and -- hate him as she might -- she couldn't see any way out of this except to obey. With Lydecker watching he her like a hawk, she punched in the numbers. "Alec ... It's me. There's been a change of plans. Listen, and I'll explain."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"This guy has a wife and a kid," Alec said in a monotone as he read through Ronald Enselmo's file. Slouched in one of the overstuffed wing back chairs in Bruster's office, he'd propped his boots on a coffee table while Sam peered over his shoulder at the data. "Boy's thirteen ..." He glanced up at the librarian. "The wife's real pretty too. Is she a Familiar? Or is she an ordinary like White's wife was with no idea the rest of her family belongs to a snake worshiping, murderous cult?"

"Sally is an innocent," Henry said, licking dry lips and not quite able to meet Alec's accusing gaze. "But the child isn't. Samuel has already been initiated and passed the immunization. He'll be a warrior against us when he's grown."

"He's still just a kid," Alec snapped. "I don't kill kids."

"No one is asking you to," Henry replied evenly. "Enselmo is the only target. Hopefully you'll be able to avoid collateral damage."

A sudden vision of Rachel and an exploding car flashed through Alec's mind.

"What's wrong?" Sam said, noticing her partner flinch.

"Nothin'," Alec growled. "Except my whole sucky life." He glanced back at her. "I don't wanna do this."

"Neither do I," she admitted in a voice that sounded so much like Max it sent shivers down Alec's spine. "But if what Lydecker says is true, then my life, Max's, and probably your son's all depend on it." She looked down at the floor. "I found a couple of grey hairs last week," she said ... and a couple more the week before ... I told myself it didn't mean anything but--" She caught the other X5's eye and shrugged.

"I still say we can shake the information out of this little dweeb," Alec said, nodding at Bruster.

"Hey!" the librarian sputtered. "Standing right here, people! And yes, I suppose you could torture me and I'd end up giving you the documents -- but would that be any better than carrying out an assassination? Would it make you feel any more human 494? Breaking the bones or beating to a pulp someone like me?"

Alec regarded the frail bookish man in the large-lensed glasses and sighed heavily. "No," he admitted. "It would not. But--" He looked at Sam. "I just hate bein' manipulated."

"We've been manipulated all of our lives, Dodger," she said quietly. "Why is this any different?"

"Yeah, but back at Manticore we didn't know it," Alec pointed out. "Ignorance is bliss as they say. And it's Alec."

"Sorry," Sam smiled. "Old habits die hard. When I look at you ... talk to you ... I still see that same cocky teenage boy who used to give me a wolf whistle every time I stripped in the shower."

Alec's face reddened a little bit at that memory -- and Henry's eyes widened.

"Shower?" the little librarian rasped.

"Manticore wasn't big on privacy," Sam said easily. Her eyes roved down Alec's body as he sat in the chair. "Don't worry, Alec. Remember, I know you don't have anything to be ashamed of."

"I know that too," he said, straightening and clearing his throat. "As does Max. Now, can we shut down the foreplay and get back to business?"

"Why are the good ones always taken?" 453 lamented with a sly grin and a wink. But she got the point, and held out a hand for the file. "Let me see that."

"Nothin' very useful," Alec said as he gave her the folder. "Enselmo goes to his job like clockwork every morning, stays late, and returns home just before midnight -- weekends too. I gather he's not much of a family man."

Sam nodded, and glanced out the window. "It'll be getting dark soon," she said. "We could make the hit tonight -- when he's alone at Trakdine."

"We'll need weapons," Alec said. "And a blueprint of the building and its alarm systems."

Henry walked to a ceiling-high bookcase, pulled out a volume of "Moby Dick," then stood back as the panel swung outwards revealing an entire wall of the most sophisticated weaponry Alec had seen since Manticore.

"Wow," the X5 said, blinking at the sight. "Mole would be in Heaven." He stepped forward and reached for a laser scoped automatic rifle.

Sam's hand on his wrist stopped him. "I had a better field proficiency at marksmanship than you," she said.

"But I had an additional three years of training," Alec pointed out. "My aim got better."

"You don't want to do this," Sam said quietly. "You're not really a killer, Dodger. You never were. But I don't mind."

"Yeah, you do," Alec said, pulling out of her grasp and taking the gun anyway. "And I'm team leader on this mission, so it's my responsibility."

"You don't need the emotional baggage," Sam argued.

"And you do?"

She took a deep breath and tried a different track. "I've got no one and nothing to lose -- not any more. You do."

Alec looked at her sharply, then glanced over at the librarian. Funny, but it was easy to forget the little guy was in the room. However, that was probably one of the reasons Henry Bruster was so valuable to Lydecker and the others fighting the Breeding Cult. There had been soldiers bred at Manticore to be like him -- essentially invisible due to their "normalcy" so they could slip in and out of crowds ... eavesdrop on conversations with no one ever noticing they'd been overheard. Which suddenly made him wonder if--

"He left me."

Alec did a doubletake, his thoughts ricocheting back to Sam. "What?"

"Steve," Sam said. "He left me."

"I know."

"He wanted an ordinary wife, not a freak. Plus ... I was a danger to him ... to Johnny ..."

Alec didn't like it that Bruster was listening closely, but he also felt that this was a rare opportunity with the usually close-mouthed Sam. "Johnny wasn't really your kid, was he?"

She shook her head, her dark curls dancing. "No. Johnny was Steve's son with his first wife. She was killed in a car accident a year before I was deployed on my deep cover long term mission."

"I remember that," Alec said. "It was in '17. You got scooped out for special ops, Jace and me were kept at Manticore for further quote-unquote 'disciplinary training,' and the rest of our squad was deployed to Quantico."

Sam smiled a little bit. "You always were a troublemaker," she said. "I'm not surprised you weren't deployed."

"Well, I was," Alec snapped. "Surprised that is ... Anyway, we were talkin' about you. You got sent on this long term mission ... ordered to marry a guy so you could spy on his corporation, right?"

"That's basically it," Sam said. "Steve was a top scientist at one of the big genetics labs in San Francisco. Manticore wanted to keep a close eye on his research, and knew he'd be vulnerable after his wife died ... raising a little boy alone like that. So, they sent me in."

"But you fell in love," Alec said. "Which messed everything up."

"You sound almost like you've been there too," Sam said.

Alec felt Henry's eyes on him, and suddenly wondered just how much the little librarian knew about him. "Let's just say I found out first hand that transgenics don't play well with ordinaries."

"Who was she?" Sam asked.

"A girl on my first long term solo mission," Alec replied levelly. "It ended badly. I fucked up. She died, and I got my ass reamed by Manticore ... in fact, I was nearly put down. As it was, I got the full works, and it wasn't pretty."

"Reindoctrination," Sam breathed.

"And worse."

Sympathy flashed in brown eyes, but was quickly replaced by cynicism. "And now you've found another true love ... someone who's giving you a son of your own."

"A true love of my own kind," Alec emphasized. "You and Steve would never have worked out in the long run, Sam. You're better off movin' on ... bein' with your own tribe."

"Don't you think I know that," she said bitterly. Then she tossed her head. "Although, at the rate I'm going, it looks like I won't have to worry about my ass bein' lonely for very long." She turned to Bruster. "This progeria," she said. "How long do I have?"

"When did you first noticed the symptoms?" the librarian asked. "The greying in your hair?"

"Three weeks ago," Sam said.

"The progression will accelerate," Henry replied. "My best guess is ... you've got three more weeks, maybe a month at most."

"Don't worry," Alec said quickly. "We've got the cure, just as soon as this guy," he tapped a forefinger on Enselmo's photograph, "goes down. Right, Henry?"

"Right," the librarian agreed cautiously, apparently not liking the slightly feral look in the X5's hazel-green eyes. "But remember what I said," he added quickly. "If you fail your mission, it won't do you any good to torture me. I'll die before I give you what you want."

"Because you were designed that way?" Alec shot back at him.

"Exactly," Bruster said with a wicked little grin of his own.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"Don't I remind you of Max at all?" Sam asked as they readied their gear for their foray to Trakdine Labs. Bruster had taken them to one of the fourth floor rooms of the library that was normally just used for storage. However, in a back corner there were two cots, as well as an oddly esoteric assortment of espionage and mission equipment that left Alec wondering once more just who the hell the little librarian really was."

At the moment, he was kneeling on the floor sorting through various communications and alarm-jamming devices, reflecting on how Dix would be having a field day with this stuff. "Not at all," he said without looking up. "You don't smell right." He sniffed loudly, emphasizing that point. "So, don't get any ideas about tryin' to crawl in my cot and convince me otherwise." He smirked up at her, hazel-green eyes twinkling impishly. "The six-months-pregnant thing would be a dead giveaway anyway. I'd notice the missing baggage ... even with the lights out."

"So, I guess what they say about all cats bein' grey in the dark doesn't hold true with you -- and whatdaya mean I don't smell right?"

Alec blew air out through his mouth in exasperation. "Sam, just leave me alone. You're no more like Max to me than I'm like Ben to her."

"Can't blame a girl for tryin'."

"You'll find someone else someday," he said, recognizing the loneliness behind the flirting. "In the meantime, cheer up." His smile turned genuine, softening the cruelty of his next words. "'Sides, we can always be friends."

"Just like back at Manticore," Sam said, not trying to conceal the irony in her voice. "Dodger, you and me weren't friends then, and we'll never be friends now. We're just not wired that way."

"Me and Max were friends first," Alec pointed out.

"Something the two of you can never be again," Sam countered.

"How so?" Alec asked, stopping his examination of what he thought was an elaborate alarm by-pass package -- either that or a jammer -- and regarding his fellow X5 with raised eyebrows.

"Once you've been lovers with someone," Sam said quietly, "no matter how good the friendship was before ... if that love dies ... or if one of you loves more than the other and things get out of balance ..." She stopped.

"Is that what really happened with you and Steve?" Alec asked, then instantly mentally kicked himself because he knew damn well he shouldn't be pursuing this.

"Truth is, Steve just got scared when he found out what I was, and I can't really blame the guy. But I've always thought that if our love was strong enough we could have gotten through it somehow. As things are -- I think he hates me now. We lost the friendship too."

"I thought you weren't 'wired' for friendship."

Sam shot him a look, caught up in her own tangle of words.

"For what it's worth," Alec said, rocking back on his heels, "I think you're right. Max and me ... we could never go back to just bein' friends after what we've had. If we broke up, it'd be completely over. And I also hear you about one person sometimes lovin' more than the other and the relationship goin' to hell because of it. Basically, that's what happened with her and Logan. Max loved the guy an awful lot ... loves him still if I'm gonna be perfectly honest about it ... but he got obsessive, and she wasn't gonna let herself be caged."

"I wondered what happened with Logan."

Alec shrugged. "He drove Max away. Me and her didn't hook up until quite awhile later, although to this day Cale blames me for their break up and wants me dead in the worst way. It's why Eyes Only is backin' McKinley now. The transgenics lost a powerful ally when Logan switched teams."

Sam shrugged too. "Enemies are what makes life interesting."

Alec smirked. "You got that on a bumper sticker?"

"No, but I could get it printed up."

"What's your take on Bruster?" he asked, switching the subject.

"You really wanna know?" Sam said. "'Cause you're gonna think I'm crazy."

"You think he's Manticore."

She stared at him.

Alec tapped his temple with a forefinger.

"Oh," Sam smiled. "That's right. I'd forgotten you were designed to be a 'people person' as well as a charismatic snake in the grass. You got a good read on him, empath boy?"

"I don't know about the empath part," Alec said. "But paranormal abilities aside, Henry Bruster knows too much to be just one of Lydecker's flunkies. My guess is he's been at the center of things ever since Manticore went down -- maybe even an X3 or X4 with some special mental abilities via psy-ops who's had enough cosmetic surgery to fit into mainstream humanity without drawin' attention to himself."

"Excellent deduction, 494," the subject in question said from the doorway of the storage room. "I always did espouse that you X5s had better powers of deduction than your handlers gave you credit for."

Alec didn't even turn around. He had, after all, heard the librarian's approach, and had actually deliberately said what he'd said, wanting to draw the little guy out into the open.

"You X4?" Sam asked.

"Espouse?" Alec said sarcastically, wondering why librarians had to always use such elaborate, non mainstream vocabulary.

"The word means to follow a theory," Henry replied. "And actually ... it's X3. As 494 deduced, a little plastic surgery and orthodontic work took care of the tail remnant, excess ear cartilage, sharp incisors, and other vestigial feline physical characteristics." He came on into the room, adjusting his tie as he walked. "The eyes were more difficult to correct," he added. "The laser work to re-shape the vertical iris ruined my vision, hence the glasses."

"You went to a lot of trouble to try and change what you are on the outside," Sam commented.

"As did both of you," Henry pointed out. "Only with you two it was trying to change what Manticore had made you on the inside. After all, your Frankenstein stitches are invisible ... your feline DNA manifestations on the cellular level for the most part. But you're both still part cat, no matter how much you try to pretend to be human -- just like me."

"We don't deny that," Alec said, scooting around so he was seated Indian-style on the floor facing Bruster. He glanced up at Sam who was standing to one side of him with arms crossed over her chest. "We don't argue our heritage. Not any more. And it's not like we don't have physical problems of our own."

"Lack of serotonin," Henry said with a brief smile. "For all the god-like tampering of Manticore's scientists, it's funny how one tiny slip-up when you were being built in the lab manifested in such a debilitating way. So much of the rest of the X5 make-up was near perfection ..."

"Until they decided me and mine were too frisky," Alec pointed out. "Which is a whole other story. And then there's the reason we're really here -- the progeria. Why not help a brother out and just give us the treatment?"

Henry regarded Alec sadly. "Sorry, brother. But I'm afraid I'm serving a higher master. Unlike you out there on your little military base in Wyoming, I'm thinking about the fate of the entire world. It's what gives me my purpose in life, you might say. I've got two X5s by the proverbial 'tail' right now -- or in your case, 494, by the balls -- and I'm going to make good use of you. You'll kill Enselmo for me ... for mankind ... and then you'll get your precious cure, not to mention your bearer bonds and Lydecker's information."

"Fair enough," Sam said before Alec could start arguing again. "Don't mind him," she said, indicating her partner. "He's high verbal -- says so in his file. He was sort of born to yap, if you know what I mean."

"Hey!" Alec protested, shooting her a dirty look, at the same time thinking how much like her sister Sam was sounding.

"We'll do your job," she said. "And then everyone can go home happy, right, Dodger."

"It's Alec."

"Whatever."

*****

Photo courtesy of Still Frame

"How come we didn't do what our sibs did?" Sam asked. She and Alec were sitting together in the grass in the shadows with their backs against a retaining wall waiting for the sun to go down. Their mark always worked late -- way past the other employees -- and catching him relatively alone would make their job a whole lot easier. But that also meant several hours of down time with nothing to do but watch the Trakdine building and chew on each other's nerves. (Although Sam would rather have been "chewing" on something else with regards to 494 ...)

"Do what?" Alec asked, not understanding.

"Run away from Manticore. I mean, we're the same as them -- genetically -- we should have had the same good idea."

Alec stretched and yawned, shifting positions because his ass was getting numb. "Personally," he said as he bit a fingernail, "I wasn't all that unhappy at Manticore. So, why would I wanna run away? I mean, we had a roof over our heads, plenty to eat, and they were constantly strokin' our egos ... remindin' us we were our country's best and brightest destined to be the finest soldiers in the world."

"But didn't it bother you when kids started disappearing?" Sam asked. "And the experiments they did on us?"

Alec's face darkened as a long buried memory surfaced of his hand being deliberately held over a Bunsen burner by guards until the skin turned to a raw red mess. Even though he'd been given a spinal block to numb the pain, he could still smell the stench of cooking flesh ... his flesh ... They'd told him it was for scientific research into his X5 healing abilities ...

"You remember the tank?" Sam pressed. "X5-231 who drowned? You were there that day. And when we started having seizures, remember how they took Jimmy away and we never saw him again? They cut up his brain, Alec. You know they did. And then there were the people they made us kill just to be sure we could do it--"

"Stop!" Alec said harshly. "I remember. Okay. And now I wanna forget. But the truth is, I never even thought about runnin' away, and if that makes me somehow a coward, or a complacent bad guy, then so be it!"

"Not even after we were put through reindoctrination?" Sam said. "After the '09 escape? They sent us to Hell, Alec."

"I know." He looked at her sharply. "And you still blame Max for that, don't you?"

"You don't?"

"No. I admire her for havin' the guts and innovation to get away from Manticore. Truth be told, I'm jealous she had all those years here on the outside to live her life free -- somethin' I'm just now experiencing. More power to her and her sibs for bein' the men and women you and me weren't ... for havin' the balls we didn't."

"You sound ridiculous when you're making a speech," Sam snarked. "My God, big sis has you so wound around her little finger it's not even funny."

"Max doesn't own me. No one does -- not any more."

"Like Hell she doesn't have her brand on you! If my bitch sister was any more territorial about you she'd pee on your leg."

"Hey!"

"Shut up!" Sam snapped in a very Max-like manner, her hand shooting out and clamping down on his wrist. "The main guards are leaving and the night shift's coming on."

Alec's pupil's irised wide, his night vision in full mode as he stopped arguing and took in what his partner had already noticed. The Trakdine guard contingent was switching for the night. Now was their best chance to sneak into the building.

Henry Bruster's voice whispered in his ear -- the miniature microphone on Alec's mastoid bone activating. "Status, 494."

It occurred to the X5 that the little librarian was sounding more and more like a product of Manticore. "About to enter the building," Alec replied. "Let's hope those floor plans and alarm layouts of yours are up-to-date."

"They are," Bruster said with an assurance Alec for some reason didn't doubt. "Proceed."

Sam's warmth pressed against his shoulder as she edged up beside him. "Turn off the mic," she mouthed.

Alec pressed the tiny device twice, deactivating the transceiver. "What?"

"When we get in there -- leave the actual hit to me."

Alec scowled. "Why?"

"Because you've obviously got issues about killing. You always did. In case no one ever told you, 494, you've got a really expressive face. Every time they made you break someone's neck or put a bullet in their head the rest of us could see the pain in your eyes. Some of us ... we taught ourselves how to deaden those feelings ... but I'm thinkin' you never quite mastered that trick."

Alec rocked back on his heels and gaped at the other X5. "You sayin' I can't do my job? Sister, just how many real kills have you ever made -- out on that fancy deep cover spy-girl gig of yours?"

Sam glanced away. "None," she finally said. "But that doesn't mean I can't pull a trigger."

"Well, back at Manticore, I had four successful solo missions. Seems to me that puts me in the driver's seat on this one."

She looked at him skeptically. "Four?"

"Clean kills," Alec said, his voice clipped. Then his eyes hardened. "Any questions?"

Sam stayed silent.

"Good," he said, his tone now deep and hard. "Then I'm assuming you're readin' this expressive face of mine and know that if you get in my way, Enselmo won't be the only one I kill tonight. I need your back-up. I admit that. But once the target's in my sights -- I work alone."

Sam blinked at that, the remark hitting home. Then she grinned. "You always were a wolf in sheep's clothing, Dodger. Underneath that pretty boy persona of yours is a violent soul as dark as any of ours."

"And don't forget it," Alec said clicking his ear piece back on and moving out.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

Scaling the four-story brick wall was easy as pie for a genetically engineered human/cat hybrid. Alec and Sam had no problem accessing the lab via a roof vent after de-activating the upper level sensor systems at a source box near the back entrance -- Alec taking out the single human guard with a sleeper hold while Sam handled the electronics.

Enselmo's office was on the second floor, and the two assassins quickly made their way down the staircase to his level, their black cat burglar outfits turning them into mere shadows as they crept safely past two guard patrols.

Pausing in an alcove outside the CEO's door, Alec checked the Glock automatic in his belt. He didn't intend to mess around on this one. He'd had far too much experience with the strength of Breeding Cult Purebreds, and the last thing he wanted was to throw down with another Ames White-type who was his physical equal in every way, plus not encumbered by the ability to feel pain. One shot to the head -- a quick clean kill -- was the only way to handle this.

"You ready?" he breathed.

Sam didn't answer, and he turned his head.

His companion was leaning against the wall, one black-gloved hand bracing herself on the painted surface as perspiration beaded on her brow.

"You all right?" Alec asked. "When I said I could handle this, I didn't mean without your help at all."

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. Sam, if you're off your game, tell me now."

"I said I'm fine! It's just hot in here."

Actually it wasn't -- hot that is -- and a shiver shot down Alec's spine. One of the symptoms of progeria in his kind was a rapidly rising core body temperature, the X5 metabolism kicking into high gear and literally burning up the victim's cellular structure. Sam had been showing symptoms for several weeks now. What if her DNA had chosen this moment to begin to really self destruct?

"We can still abort," he said.

"If we do, then I die," she said, her brown eyes looking up at him in desperation.

She was right.

"Alec ... just do it. I've got your back."

The gun in her hand -- a semi-automatic pistol -- was shaking visibly. Looking up and down the hallway, Alec saw the coast was clear for the moment, no guards in sight.

Nodding, he reached out and slowly turned the door knob.

Ronald Enselmo, standing behind his large spacious-topped desk, greeted his obviously expected visitor with a broad smile.

--and Alec instantly knew it was all a trap.

Raising the Glock anyway, he tried to sense the men he knew must be concealed elsewhere in the room, and was more than mildly surprised when a barrage of gunfire didn't take him down. Looking along the barrel with that handsome Familiar face in the center of his sights, Alec had the oddest feeling of deja vu, flashing back to his old Manticore missions and the numbness that he'd taught himself to invoke so he could pull the trigger.

This man had never done anything personally against him or his people so far as he knew -- but his mere existence was a threat to both transgenic and human kind. Killing him in cold blood was no different than the Familiars killing his Manticore kin merely because of their DNA.

Still ... he had his orders ... And they needed Bruster's reward.

Swallowing hard, Alec shut down his conscience, squeezed the trigger -- and found himself suddenly flying backwards through the air even as the shot went wild.

Ronald Enselmo

Hitting the wall hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs, the X5 heard deep mean laughter just before he became airborne again, this time being hurled to the right by that invisible hand, and ending up splayed on top of a large conference table.

Enselmo was still standing behind his desk, regarding him quizzically with something akin to pity in his dark eyes. "I knew they'd send an X5 assassin some day," he said mildly. The smile broadened. "As you can see, I've been waiting for you."

The feel of fingers tightening around his throat was real, even though the hand was invisible. Alec gasped, and reached for his neck, trying to tear away what wasn't tangible. He couldn't breathe ... Max had told him about the weird powers she'd once seen exhibited by a Familiar child ... telekinesis ... He, himself, knew that such things existed ... had witnessed them while suffering his stint in Manticore's psy-ops lab ... But the powers of this guy were almost godlike. I wonder how old Henry managed to miss this little detail?

His gun was still in his hand, and Alec tried to raise it only to have the pistol ripped from his grip and go flying across the room like it had a life of its own ...

"494?" Bruster's voice chirped in his ear piece. "494! Report!"

Alec couldn't take a breath, let alone form words. His vision was starting to dim ... Beginning to panic, he struggled against what felt like a great weight holding him pinned to the table top, the genetically-enhanced muscles of his arms and legs failing him even as he called upon the strength that had always served him so well in the past.

"Animal!" Enselmo spat, stepping at last from behind the desk but never taking his eyes off his helpless victim. "How could Rene have ever thought a thing like you would pose any more than a mere annoyance to our far greater kind?"

Alec actually had a smart remark to answer that with -- not that he could get the words out of his mouth. The pressure on his throat was increasing. He could hear blood pounding in his ears, his heart pumping so hard it felt like it was about to explode. And then, just as the room was spinning away into blackness -- the sound of a gun shot broke the insidious spell.

Gasping, holding his throat, Alec struggled up on one elbow as he lay on the table to stare at Sam standing in the doorway.

"Had a feeling you needed a hand," she said in a shaky voice that didn't sound like the 453 he knew at all. The neat bloody hole in Enselmo's forehead was a little off center -- not a perfect kill -- but the bullet had done its job. And then she dropped her automatic on the floor and collapsed beside the dead Familiar.

Mission accomplished.

"Sam!" Alec shouted, sliding off the table and staggering to her side. Taking hold of her arms, he tried to drag her to her feet. "Come on. We've gotta get outta here."

"494!" Bruster was shrieking in Alec's ear. "I order you to report!"

"Oh, shut up!" Alec yelled, angrily thumbing off the mic. He shook his head, the headache pounding in his temples rivaling any seizure-inspired migraine he'd ever had. He was just about to scoop his partner up in his arms when a sound on the other side of the room made him look up to see a young boy standing in the doorway of what appeared to be the office's executive bathroom -- Enselmo's son.

Alec's heart pinched as he saw the kid staring down at his father's body. "Hey--" he started to say, holding out a hand in a gesture to assure the child he wasn't going to hurt him. But then he saw the look in those wild fanatical black eyes.

Samuel Photo courtesy of Eyes Only

"Ahhh!" Alec screamed as unseen forces picked him up and hurled him through the office door, the wood splintering and piercing his back. The balcony brought his airborne journey to an abrupt halt, ribs cracking as the metal bars impacted his side. Out of the corner of his eye he saw guards running down the hallway toward him, but they were of little concern compared to the demonic boy standing in the shattered door frame. Paralyzed, Alec could do absolutely nothing ... couldn't move. And then -- with a flick of his hand -- Enselmo's son picked the X5 up bodily and threw him over the railing.

The two-story fall would have killed a human, or at least broken an ordinary's back -- but of course X5-494 wasn't human. Released from the paralysis, Alec instinctively flipped in mid-air, and with astounding grace landed safely on all fours like a big cat. His head jerked up then, his vision telescoping in on the child's face as he peered down at his victim -- just in time to see Sam looming behind the boy.

Enselmo's son might have his father's telekinetic abilities, but he didn't have a fully-grown transgenic's strength and reflexes -- not yet. When 453 pushed Samuel over the railing, he plummeted to the hard floor below like a rock, his shriek of terror as he helplessly flayed ending abruptly when he struck the cold tiles beside Alec with a sickening crunch.

Climbing to his feet, breathing heavily, Alec stared at Enselmo's dead son for a long moment -- then very deliberately shut down his emotions the way Manticore had taught him and turned away.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

If there had been any additional Purebreds in the building, Alec doubted he and Sam would have made it out alive. As things were, the two transgenics, even with one of them in the throes of a full-blown physical meltdown and the other battered and bruised, were able to handle the handful of humans who tried to stop them as they made their getaway.

Now, back at the New York City Library in Bruster's office, Alec felt oddly surreal -- as if the events that had just transpired were all part of a nightmare. But Sam shaking like a leaf and with her hair rapidly turning white was no dream ... nor were the splinters in his bare back that the librarian was painfully picking out one-by-one.

"We have to get her help," Alec said, nodding at Sam who was lying on the leather couch with an ice pack on her forehead.

"Here's all the help she'll need," Henry said, picking up a thick envelope from off his desk and handing it to Alec.

The X5 glanced up at the librarian who was still holding tweezers in one hand. "The progeria treatment?"

"And the bearer bonds, plus Lydecker's information," Bruster said. "As promised."

"Even though the mission didn't go exactly as planned?" Alec had to say as he wriggled carefully back into his t-shirt.

"I didn't know the boy had powers," Bruster said. "I swear I didn't."

"Or you would have included him on the kill list, too?"

"Most likely," Henry admitted.

"You had to know I never would have gone after a child."

"You're right."

"So, you had every reason to not tell me ... to let me get ambushed and have to make that decision on the spot."

"X5s have a tendency to drift toward paranoia," Henry said levelly. "Don't imagine conspiracies where there aren't any, 494. This was merely an oversight."

"An oversight that almost got us killed."

"Which is why the X5s were given such high independent thinking abilities in the first place," Bruster returned. "You handled the situation as needed, and got out alive. It's something no other X series soldier, higher or lower, could have accomplished ... and why the Committee were fools to move away from the X5 design in an attempt to make a more 'obedient' soldier."

"Are you tryin' to flatter me?" Alec quipped.

"I know you hated the boy dying," Henry said simply.

Alec shrugged, and looked over at Sam. "Had to be done," he said quietly, for Sam's sake as well as his own ... remembering that she'd lost a son, albeit not a biological one. "It was the kid's life or mine." He turned to the librarian. "I suppose you're gonna make a full report to Lydecker?"

"You're worried about 452 finding out the particulars?" the X3 said.

"Somethin' like that. Max has a soft spot for youngsters. She might not understand."

"Better Enselmo's spawn than you," Sam said from the couch, looking out from beneath half-open eyelids, her face rapidly becoming that of an 80-year-old's.

"We need to get you to the lab guys," Alec said, with a quick look at Henry.

"Donald knows someone," the librarian said. "She'll be staying here, with me, while you return to Gillette."

"Return to Gillette with a copy of the progeria treatment in hand," the X5 clarified.

"Of course," Henry said with a mysterious little smile. "Although, I don't think any of the transgenic technicians are well-versed enough in genetics to implement the cure. Still, so long as you have Lydecker's help--"

"Understood," Alec said, interrupting. "We're on a short leash with regards to this progeria thing ... dependent upon the 'kindness of strangers'."

"Sam will be fine," Henry assured. "Probably. And so will 452 and your son if their DNA begins to break down in this manner as it undoubtedly will at some point in their lives."

"Sam," Alec said, crouching down beside his sister and taking her hand in his. "When you're well ... you come home. Okay? The welcome mat's always gonna be out. You saved my life back there -- twice -- and I always pay my debts. If you need anything in the meantime, just get word to me."

"What?" Sam croaked, her voice cracking with age. "Selfish big brother's finally concerned about someone other than himself? Who the hell taught you how to do that? Max?"

Alec smiled. "Actually, it was an ordinary ... a girl named Rachel."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "But that's another story, isn't it, Dodger?"

Alec nodded.

"And now, you've got a family to get back to."

Alec saw the sadness in her eyes, and wished he could tell her that someday she and her own family ... she and Steve and Johnny would reconcile. But he knew that wasn't true. Just like he'd been forced to move on from Rachel, Sam would have to do the same. "So do you," he said instead, "a twin sister and a soon-to-be-born nephew. I'll see you in a few weeks," he promised, standing. "By then, you could very well be an aunt."

Sam's eyes brightened at that thought.

"Tell Donald he now owes me one," Henry said as Alec tucked the envelope under his arm and headed for the door.

"Gladly," the X5 replied as he turned the knob and left behind his ailing sister and the mysterious little X3.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & Jensen Ackles Museum

"You just left here there!" Max exclaimed.

Alec slouched wearily in the seat-sprung, stuffing-tufted easy chair that graced one corner of the control center -- a leftover retrieved from what had once been the officer's lounge.

Luke was fussing over him like a mother hen, having just finished examining the healing wounds on his back and declaring two of them infected. Alec winced as the needleful of antibiotic went into his biceps.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing the spot. "I hope that wasn't penicillin. I'm allergic to penicillin."

"I know," the albino nomalie said, nodding wisely. "Don't worry. You're so injury-prone I memorized your medical file a long time ago."

"About my sister?" Max prompted. With hands planted firmly on her broadening hips and her belly protruding like a melon beneath her black maternity top she looked imposing, vulnerable, and slightly ridiculous all at the same time.

"Sam's got a good chance," Alec said, glancing over at Lydecker who was listening. "I mean ... they cured Brin didn't they?"

"The technology's there," the Colonel agreed. "The scientist I put Henry in touch with will take good care of her. He knows damn well how much my kids mean to me. Now--" He turned to Alec. "Tell me about the mission."

"Accomplished," Alec said simply. "Ronald Enselmo's dead as a doornail and old Henry's happy as a clam."

"Who pulled the trigger?"

Max looked at Alec sharply, wanting the answer as much as Lydecker.

"Sam did."

--and he saw Max relax.

"I was about to, but it turned out this Enselmo guy was a telekinetic. I ran into some trouble, and Sam got to take the shot."

"A telekinetic?" Max said. "Like that boy who pinned me to a wall at Brookridge Academy, the Familiar school where I rescued Ray White?"

"Like," Alec agreed sourly, at the same time wondering if perhaps it really could have been the same kid that Max had encountered -- Enselmo's son sent west for his initiation and training ... He winced as Luke probed his ribs. "They're not broken," he groused to the little transhuman. "If they were broken I'd know it after a two-day cross-country drive."

"So ... little sis saved your butt," Max deduced. "Remind me to thank her."

"I already did," Alec said honestly.

"Oh, really. How?"

He suddenly realized how that had sounded -- and decided to take full advantage of it. "What's the matter, Maxie? Jealous?"

"Do I have reason to be?"

"Would you have slept with Ben?" he shot at her, deciding bluntness was the best way out of this.

"Of course not?"

"Then I think that answers your question."

Max held his eyes for a long moment with her own, then nodded. "I believe you."

"So do I," Luke said wistfully, the little mutant's taste for soap opera scenarios in overdrive.

"Shut up," Dix told his counterpart from where he'd been listening on the other side of the control room. "And let the two lovebirds alone."

But Alec was looking closely at Max.

"What?" she snapped.

"Is that a grey hair?" he asked, reaching up and plucking out a strand.

"Ouch!" Max yelped. Then her face paled slightly. "Stop joking around."

"I'm not joking," Alec said, his voice suddenly not so light any more. "Look." He held the white hair out for her to see."

Lydecker had moved beside them.

"Oh, God," Max breathed.

"The baby would never survive the progeria treatment," the Colonel said quietly, putting into words what both of the X5s didn't want to hear. He regarded Max closely.

"Sam had been showing mild symptoms for weeks," Alec said. "Before it suddenly got real bad. Even if-- There's probably time ... isn't there?" He didn't really know who he was asking, but a little voice was whispering in his head "an eye for an eye" as he suddenly pictured Ronald Enselmo's child lying dead on that tile floor.

"It's just a grey hair," Max said, trying to smile. "You guys are over reacting. It probably isn't anything. Besides, I've got magic DNA, remember? Courtesy of old Rene. I'm Lady Jesus ... invulnerable ..."

"Unless your pregnancy is making you susceptible," Lydecker said -- which was exactly what Alec was thinking. "When's the baby due?"

"November," Alec said. "If she goes full term."

"The fetus can survive outside the womb at seven months," Luke remarked. "With the right kind of neonatal equipment."

"Which we don't have," Alec snapped.

"Guys!" Max shouted. "Stop it! I'm fine! The baby's fine! It was just a single grey hair."

Alec nodded, conceding the point for now, but as he put his arm around his lady love and hugged her tightly, he knew in his heart that things weren't fine at all ... that the gods were going to punish him for what had happened to that little boy.

The End