Artwork courtesy of JensenAckles.Org

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

ARCHIVE: No

This is a stand-alone story in my DARK ALEC series. These stories are my version of Season 4, and incorporate elements not only of the television show DARK ANGEL, but of the novels SKIN GAME and AFTER THE DARK, the book THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER, and information revealed in various cast/writer/producer interviews, chats, and commentaries. This episode also contains a tribute to an old favorite of mine, and I thank Chris Carter and his X FILES for letting me borrow Mulder and Scully. -- author's note

Supersoldiers ...

Even after all these years, the word still brought shivers to his spine and cold dread to his heart.

Indestructible ... alien ... evil ...

At least the ones he'd tangled with in the past had been of that ilk. However, he also knew that not all breeds of supersoldiers were the same. The United States government had sanctioned a number of different genetic military programs around the turn of the century in an attempt to prepare itself for what it thought would be an alien invasion (an invasion that had never come).

One of those diabolical experiments had produced the near immortal soldiers he and his partner had encountered ... soldiers imbued with superhuman strength and powers created using alien DNA and technology.

Another had produced something a bit different -- soldiers with abilities acquired by weaving the DNA of Earthly animals into their own -- a project known as "Manticore."

Supposedly there had been several generations of these human/animal hybrids created both before and after The Pulse of '09, with many of these Frankenstein children born suffering from horrific birth defects and monstrous appearances. However, rumor had it there had been partial successes as well, with the "X5s" (the fifth generation) and beyond coming close to being the supersoldiers the military had originally set out to manufacture. Stamped with genetic bar code tattoos on the backs of their necks so their keepers could keep track of them as they came off the invitro/surrogate assembly line, for awhile it appeared the Manticore Project would be a success. Nevertheless, in the long run, there had still been too many flaws in the creative process ... in its final product ... for the program to merit the expense of its worth. There had been incidents ... cases of insanity, as well as rumored flawed brain chemistry in even the best of the specimens ... escapes ... atrocities ...

In the end, Project Manticore -- like so many other botched endeavors where Man unsuccessfully attempts to manipulate Nature -- was deemed a failure. Three years ago, in 2020, supposedly all traces of the program's existence -- including its human/animal hybrid "children" -- were wiped from the face of the Earth in a cleansing action that some would consider genocide.

However, thanks to the bold (some would say heroic) actions of a few -- and much to the U.S. government's dismay -- a significant number of these supersoldiers had escaped their base's destruction and their own executions. After spending the better part of a year in hiding while being hunted down like animals, these remaining Manticore children had then ultimately banded together under the leadership of one of their own, and emerged from the shadows to create their own conclave, a place aptly named "Terminal City." Located in a cordoned off section of Seattle, Washington, the turf they staked out was a biohazard area that ordinary humans shunned, while offering shelter to these misplaced soldiers whose immune systems allowed them to survive there amidst the contaminants.

A couple of years ago, he remembered, there had been quite a stir when the transgenic threat became public and an open revolt occurred in Seattle with the mutants barricading themselves inside the walls of their no-man's land. The stand-off between the genetically engineered supersoldiers and the military had gone on for weeks with the local authorities physically (as well as financially) reluctant to start an all-out war that would have led to massive casualties on both sides. Eventually -- in a compromise to avoid bad publicity (as well as most likely the bankruptcy of Seattle) -- the U.S. government had recognized the Manticore children as full citizens, and a time of tolerance for their continued existence had begun.

"So," Dana Scully said dryly as she read the file her partner had given her, "these particular supersoldiers then retired their weapons and opened an art gallery?" Seated on the brown leather couch that anchored one wall of Fox Mulder's austerely furnished Washington D.C. office, she raised a well-plucked skeptical eyebrow.

"For a short time, yes," Mulder said, watching her keenly over the lenses of his bifocals. At age 62, the former FBI agent had retained an air of youthful exuberance that belied the grey threading his brown hair and the faint lines surrounding wry green eyes. Now a private investigator of the paranormal, he and Dana Scully -- his life partner and mother of his child, William -- still made as good a professional team as they'd been when partnered back in their days at the Bureau. Or at least Mulder liked to think so ...

"A short time?" Dana inquired, tucking a strand of titian hair behind one ear and adjusting her own spectacles as she continued to read. The years had been kind to Mulder's counterpart, the beauty of her youth still very much in evidence. "What are they up to now, then? And more importantly, why are we interested?"

Mulder grinned slyly. "What they've been up to is taking over a secret military base in Wyoming and making it home sweet home. As for the reason we're interested in the transgenics?" The grin broadened as he leaned back casually in his swivel desk chair, arms behind his head and looking very much like the enthused Fox Mulder of old. "The reason we're interested, Scully, is because one of them wants to hire us."

"A supersoldier wants to hire us?" Dana said, wanting to be certain she'd heard correctly. "Mulder, what earthly reason would a human/animal hybrid supersoldier have to hire a private investigator?"

"I'm not sure," Mulder admitted. "But I've got to admit I'm intrigued by the possibilities, not to mention the fact I've always wanted to meet one of the mythical Manticore children. They're the stuff modern legends are made of, Scully -- part man, part dog, cat, monkey, or whatever, and created to be the world's most elite assassins."

"Why didn't you just fly out to Seattle and look them up?" Dana remarked succinctly, as usual not buying into Mulder's childish enthusiasm ... at least not yet.

"They're not in Seattle any more. They're in Wyoming, remember? And, from what I hear, they're extremely clannish ... very protective of their privacy and of their own kind. Now that they're not in the art gallery business any more, they're next to impossible to approach, especially with the military once more keeping such a close eye on them. Senator James McKinley from the Washington State district pushed through a mandatory sterilization bill regarding the Manticore survivors. Did you know that, Scully? They've been deemed a threat to the human gene pool. If one of them so much as ventures off the Gillette, Wyoming base, they're instantly a target for arrest and surgery."

"But I gather one of them is taking that risk and coming here?" Dana said. "To see you?"

"That's what the voice mail message said," Mulder replied, glancing up at the clock on the wall. "She's due at ten."

"She?"

"The voice on the phone was female," Mulder said, shrugging. "I assume it's--"

A knock on the office door made both agents turn.

"Show time," Mulder said blithely, sitting upright in his chair and planting both feet firmly on the floor. "Get ready for a real treat, Scully," he said, shuffling the files on his desk aside. "Few people have seen what you're about to see -- a real live genetically engineered human/animal hybrid. Just ... don't stare if she's a bit ... you know ..."

"I can't wait," Dana said levelly, her eyes now on the door as well.

"Remember. Don't stare," Mulder cautioned for the second time. Then, more loudly, "Come in. Door's open."

*****

Photo courtesy of Stillframe

Mulder stared -- not at the deformities he'd prepared himself for, but at the female transgenic's incredible beauty.

Of course she noticed, and the dark haired young woman's lush red lips curved in a slight smile even as Mulder awkwardly rose to his feet, hand extended.

"Welcome," Fox said. "Miss ...?"

"You can call me 'Max'," the lovely creature said. "Or 452 if it makes you more comfortable." Dressed in tight black jeans and a midriff baring black t-shirt complete with leather jacket and boots, she settled her curvaceous self in one of the office's slightly threadbare chairs. "Thank you for seeing me," she added, the gratitude in her large brown eyes seemingly genuine. A jet black eyebrow arched. "What? I'm not what you were expecting?"

"Not exactly," Mulder said, settling back behind his desk as Dana remained on the couch.

"No fangs, tail, or whiskers?" she added, her smile not quite so friendly this time.

"Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect," Mulder said honestly. "But don't worry. You might say I'm used to working with unusual clients. How can we help you, Max? I'm assuming it's pretty important for you to have risked traveling all the way to Washington D.C. what with the military's outstanding orders to capture your people on sight."

"It's extremely important," Max said, her brown eyes now revealing a tiredness that Mulder could tell reached all the way down to her soul. She sat forward in the chair, clasping hands together. "My son's been kidnapped," she said bluntly. "And my people are all out of ideas as to how to find him. I'd read about your office here in Washington ... how you and your partner," her eyes went to Scully then zeroed in on Mulder again, "are experts when it comes to shedding light into some of the government's darker corners."

"You think the U.S. government is responsible for your son's disappearance?" Scully said, speaking for the first time as she peered at Max over the rims of her glasses.

"Either ours or someone else's," Max said. "My people have a lot of enemies, Mr. Mulder -- worldwide. It sometimes seems like half the planet wants to to own, control, breed, or destroy us."

"This is my partner, Dana Scully," Mulder made the introduction belatedly. "How long ago was your son taken?"

"A month ago," Max said. "The day after he was born."

Scully winced, probably remembering the ordeal she, herself, had gone through with their own son, William, not long after his birth Mulder thought. It was a mother's worst nightmare ... something happening to her newborn child.

The agent cleared his throat. "I've got to ask," he said, "was your son .... did he have any, uh, exceptional qualities? I need to know because I'd heard that many of the transgenic children -- especially those born to mixed human/X5 parentage -- had problems. You are an X5, aren't you? Or perhaps an X6?"

"X5," Max said quietly. "And if you mean was he deformed or retarded, the answer is no. My son was a genetically perfect X5, just like both of his parents."

"His father's X5, too?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" Max snapped. "Yes, my mate's an X5 also, which insures that our children are genetically sound."

"Or at least as sound as any of you transgenics can be," Scully said softly.

Max turned to regard the red-haired woman.

"It's a documented fact," Scully continued, "that all of Manticore's progeny have genetic problems. In your case -- as an X5 -- I believe the main ones are a serotonin deficiency that causes frequent seizure episodes and a tendency toward progeria."

"Someone's been doing her homework," Max said, the wicked little smile reappearing. "You're saying you disapprove of my having a baby that could have inherited genetic problems?"

"Not at all," Dana said softly, her blue eyes sympathetic. "I'm just saying that I'm aware of the complexity of your situation, and that of your child's."

"The seizures don't usually appear until age five or six," Max said with a shrug. "As for the progeria ..." She tilted her chin a fraction. "Been there, done that. We've got a treatment. So, let us worry about our health problems if you don't mind. All you two need to worry about is finding my son." She took a fat envelope out of an inner pocket of her black leather jacket. "I can pay." She tossed the money onto the desk. "And there's more where that came from if you're successful."

Mulder didn't even look down at the offering, instead holding her eyes with his own. There was something about this young woman he liked, in spite of her tough chick, chip on the shoulder attitude. "You took a big chance, making this trip," he said softly. "Do you have some place to stay?"

"Does this mean you'll take my case?" Max asked.

"Yes," Mulder said.

"We'll discuss it," Scully said at the same time.

The two partners looked at each other. Mulder cleared his throat. "Do you have a safe place to stay?" he repeated.

"I haven't looked into that yet," Max said.

"We have a spare room in our apartment," Mulder said, at least according Scully a questioning look this time.

"You're welcome to be our guest," Dana completed the invitation, granting her approval as well as a little smile.

"Provided, of course, you don't mind my asking a few questions about Manticore," Mulder added, seeing this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to add to his collection of eclectic knowledge regarding the myths and legends about the transgenics.

"You can ask whatever you want," Max said. "Just don't expect me to answer everything."

"Fair enough," Mulder said. "Have you had dinner? We could go get a bite to eat and you can begin to fill me in on what you already know about your son's disappearance."

Max rose as he did, moved to the door, and suddenly opened it. "You heard?" she said, speaking to someone outside in the hallway.

"I heard," a man's rich easy-going voice replied.

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

Mulder's eyes widened as a GQ handsome young male dressed in black t-shirt, blue jeans, motorcycle boots, and a grey leather jacket nonchalantly sauntered into the office. Six feet tall with dark blond hair, and keen, fuck authority hazel-green eyes, Max's companion -- obviously another supersoldier -- was built like an athlete and moved with an animal grace and sureness that mere humans like himself could only envy.

"Is the invite for two?" the new arrival asked, one eyebrow quirking as lips almost as full as Max's drew into a sly grin.

"I don't know," Max said with a shrug. Turning to her hosts she said, "Mulder ... Scully ... meet Alec -- X5-494 -- my partner, second-in-command, and father of my baby. And oh--" she added, "he doesn't have fangs or a tail either, just an inflated ego and a devious personality."

"Hey!" Alec protested, shooting Max a look. "I don't deserve that!"

"Plus I'm betting the strength of three men, super healing abilities, and a genius I.Q.," Mulder murmured.

Alec shrugged, conceding the agent's point. "What can I say?" he joked, holding hands wide. "Manticore set out to build the perfect soldier, and here I am, baby."

"Shut up," Max said. Then, to Mulder, "See what I mean? You've got to pardon his bullshit. Sometimes Alec's kind of full of himself."

"It's genetic," 494 chimed in with a sly wink. "Looks, brains, and attitude."

"Alec!"

"Come on, Max. Lighten up, will you. These seem like perfectly nice people. I'm sure they can take a joke."

"This is serious business, Alec," Max scolded him. "Or have you forgotten why we're here?"

"I haven't forgotten," he said coolly, his sharp intelligent eyes leveling on Scully in a chillingly assessing way. "Do you really think these two can help us find our son?"

"They're our best shot," Max replied wearily. She turned to Mulder. "Like he asked, does the invitation to stay at your place extend to two?"

"Sure," Mulder said, still a bit shell-shocked at being confronted with not one, but two extremely beautiful supersoldiers. "We'll get some food, discuss your case, then you're both welcome to crash at our place."

"I should have brought Mole," Alec commented as he held the door open for the two ladies.

"Who's Mole?" Mulder asked as he shrugged into his trench coat.

"You don't wanna know," Max said too quickly, taking hold of her partner's hand and dragging him toward the hallway in a familiar, intimate way that told Mulder -- more than anything else had up until this point -- that the two of them were not just military companions and parents of a baby, but were also comfortably in love.

"A transhuman," Alec replied easily, ignoring his mate. "A lizard man, to be exact."

"Lizard man?" Scully said as they walked toward the elevators.

"We also have a dog man," Alec added with a smirk, being surprisingly loquacious Mulder thought. After all, one would expect an assassin to be more ... secretive. But this supersoldier apparently had a talkative streak. "Then there are the nomalies," the X5 continued, spinning words that sounded too fantastic to be true, and seemingly enjoying every minute of it. "Now those are some really bad boys, let me tell you. They--"

"Alec!" Max scolded as the elevator arrived to take the four of them down to street level. "Shut up!"

"I was just sayin'--"

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

"Bottom line is," Alec said, his hazel-green eyes serious now as he regarded Mulder over the restaurant table, "can you help us find our kid? Do you have the connections it will take to look into what Uncle Sam is doin' with what we're guessing is a brand new supersoldier factory?"

"You're certain the government took your child?" Mulder asked, taking a sip of red wine from the glass at his elbow.

Regina's Italian Eatery was a place Mulder often took Scully for dinner. Located on an out-of-the-way back street of D.C., their privacy inside its Old World ambiance and decor was relatively insured. More than one case of theirs had been hashed over and accepted (or rejected) right at this very table while polite -- but circumspect -- waiters served excellent vintages and mouthwatering expertly spiced food.

"Not certain," Alec replied, tasting his Scotch, and -- after making a bit of a face -- pausing to hold the glass up to the light to check the liquid's clarity. "Let's just say we've got a real strong hunch."

"And this Logan Cale in Seattle ..." Mulder said. "You've already investigated him. On the surface it would seem he would be the most likely suspect since he's working for James McKinley."

"Logan's beef with Max and me is personal," Alec said, glancing briefly at his mate who was slowly sipping her own wine. "He and I have already had a little talk, and Cale claims it wasn't McKinley. I know a lot about lying, and I don't think he was."

"And Davis Stendahl?" Scully broke in. "Mulder and I already have files on his operation. He's trying to build his own breed of supersoldiers using a combination of biological and mechanical to create cyborgs."

"Stendahl wants grown men," Alec said quietly. "Like me. Body parts for his factory. A baby wouldn't do him much good -- at least not for years. Besides, I've got reliable inside info on Stendahl's operation that puts him in the clear on this one."

"Could Stendahl have taken your child for simple revenge, and not for more practical reasons?" Mulder asked. "You've apparently thwarted him several time in the past, right? That's got to have angered the man."

"My source says no," Alec repeated, leaning back in his chair as he raked fingers through his dark blond hair in frustration.

"Which is why we came to you," Max chimed in. "We've run out of places to look."

"You're assuming whoever has your son took him because of what he is," Scully said. "A purebred X5. What if that's not the case? What if it's a more simple motive than that?"

"There's been no ransom demand," Alec said tiredly as the waiter brought his plate of chicken marsala. "And it's been weeks. Whoever has him means to keep him."

"And they took him right out from under your noses on your supposedly impregnable military base?" Mulder said, deliberately using a chiding tone.

Alec looked away out the front window of the small Italian restaurant, not answering at first. Then finally, "We haven't been able to figure that part out yet. Security cameras should have picked up something -- but they didn't. If it was an outside job, an alarm should have been tripped -- but it wasn't."

"Inside job?" Mulder asked, stating the obvious.

"No one was missing," Max replied quietly. "It was the first thing we checked. "But there was a helicopter that landed a couple of miles away behind the military line, then left the area within the time frame of the events."

"It flew off to the west," Alec added.

"Which makes you think it was an outside job for certain?" Mulder said.

"Seems obvious," the X5 replied with a slight shrug.

"Which is where you're making your first mistake," Mulder said, shaking his head. "Never make assumptions, and never assume the obvious is what it seems." He glanced at Scully, who was watching her partner with interest. "You searched the base?"

"Of course," Max said, her dark brows drawing down in a scowl.

"How thoroughly?"

The two transgenics looked at one another.

"How thoroughly did you search the base right after the baby went missing?" Mulder repeated.

"It was a quick search," Alec said tightly. "That helicopter was obviously--"

"There's that word again," Mulder said with a sly grin. "Obviously."

"You think our baby was hidden all along at the Gillette base?" Max wondered. "Which means it still could have been an inside job?"

Mulder was nodding. "Opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, doesn't it?"

Again, the two transgenics looked at one another, Alec with an eyebrow cocked. "The man has a point," the X5 said.

"But who on our base would ever do that to us?" Max argued. "Everyone's loyal. Hell, everyone's transgenic!"

"Not everyone," Alec said quietly, his eyes darkening and going to Mulder's.

"No," Max said, denying whatever he was implying. "He wouldn't do that to us. Alec! He's saved your life how many times? Remember how he went up against Stendahl? You'd be in pieces now if it weren't for 'Deck."

"'Deck?" Mulder questioned, twirling a forkful of linguine then popping the delicious bite into his mouth.

"Colonel Donald Lydecker," Max said quietly. "Our former Manticore CO who came over to our side when The Committee ordered the transgenics destroyed."

"Turns out old 'Deck had a paternal streak," Alec added. "He couldn't stand seein' his life's work ... his 'kids' as he calls us ... wiped out."

"He's been living with us on the Gillette base," Max said. "Helping us out and using his inside contacts to keep us one step ahead of our enemies."

"And this Colonel Lydecker is absolutely above suspicion in the kidnapping?" Mulder said. "He's never betray you that way?"

Both of the young transgenics remained ominously quiet. Then--

"I'll go back to the base and get it out of him," Alec said in a tone of voice that sent chills down Mulder's spine.

However, Max's hand on Alec's arm stayed him as he started to stand up. "'Deck won't crack," she said. "I've seen him under torture, and there's nothing you could do to make him talk if he doesn't want to. Even the Breeding Cult couldn't break him, remember? And old Ames was an expert at interrogation."

"Breeding Cult?" Scully said, her own food now growing cold on her plate as she listened with rapt attention.

"Yet another bunch of supersoldiers, so to speak," Max replied. "Humans bred for thousands of years to be resistant to an alien virus that was supposed to kill off all of mankind last Christmas."

"Another virus?" Mulder said, both eyebrows going up this time.

"The Snake Cult was supposed to take over the world after their bug did its thing," Alec said rather offhandedly. "Max and me and the rest of our kind were created by a renegade from their band to help ordinary humans survive." He nodded at Max. "Her blood is what the vaccine's based on -- not that many people are gettin' their shots nowadays, thanks to the CDC draggin' their feet. You know that supposed flu that's killin' thousands of people around the world?"

"It's not the flu?" Mulder guessed, telling himself his throat really didn't suddenly feel scratchy.

Alec smirked. "Bingo. But that's a whole other story and has nothin' to do with my kid. The cult's Armageddon didn't come fast enough to do them any good and now we figure they're just layin' low, waitin' another generation or so to see who's left after this bug gets done sweepin' the world, and in the meantime tryin' to kills or castrate transgenics whenever they can. McKinley's one of 'em, by the way. But who knows what'll happen in the future? And frankly -- at this frickin' point -- I don't care. All I want is my son back." He leaned forward, elbows on the table and no-nonsense in his eyes. "What do you know about new supersoldier programs?" he said. "Ones that would want an X5 baby? Threat to the human gene pool aside, we're hot shit with our multi-million dollar hybrid DNA. We're guessin' it's either a foreign bunch or a new group inside the U.S. military."

"There are open requests out from several foreign governments for transgenic specimens," Mulder said evenly. "But so far as I can determine, none of those orders have been filled within the past month. Apparently your people are being pretty careful about not getting themselves caught."

"We make a habit of careful," Max said.

"I don't blame you," Scully said softly, her blue eyes sympathetic. "It must be difficult living like you do -- hated on the one hand and considered a commodity to be bought and sold like slaves on the other."

"Tell me about it," Max muttered.

"Supersoldiers?" Alec prodded.

Mulder took a deep breath. "There's a New Manticore being built."

Alec rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "We already knew that," he said sarcastically. "In fact, Max and me are supposed to be part of it already. Tell us something we don't know."

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

"No," Mulder said, patting the air with his hands, then pausing while a waiter cleared away their dirty dishes. When they were alone again, he leaned forward over the table and said in a low voice, "I'm not talking about the government's attempt to use the current Manticore survivors as a viable military force. I'm talking about a whole new breeding program that's picking up where the old one left off. Rumor has it, they've got the genetic data base from Old Manticore, and they're rebuilding the surrogate program. However, it will be years before they can produce more hybrid babies. In the meantime, it would make sense that they're dipping into the already existing well, so to speak."

"Kidnapping our children?" Max said, her fine brow drawing down in a frown. "While they redevelop the technology to make their own soldiers again?"

"But the Manticore program was supposedly destroyed," Alec argued. "We were considered expendable."

"The old program was only destroyed because the shadow Committee that ran it feared exposure of some of its other covert projects," Mulder said. "The soldiers it produced were never considered worthless ... just liabilities." He eyed Alec. "In fact, you're still considered liabilities, especially now that you're running free in the world and have taken over a military base."

"But if they could start fresh," Alec said, understanding, "with our babies and then new children born from embryos implanted in surrogates, it would be a whole new supersoldier program. Only this time, they'd keep stricter control on the product ... not let its soldiers have minds of their own so they could one day get the upper hand like we did." He glanced at his mate appreciatively. "Like Max did."

Mulder was nodding. "My source tells me that the Committee's main beef with the old Manticore program was how you guys wouldn't obey orders ... how you were too independent, and sometimes went rogue. The escape in '09 was just the tip of the iceberg."

"Hey, what can I say?" Alec said with a smirk. "Never create what you can't control."

"The Committee does, however, consider the X5s ... you guys ... to be the epitome of its physical goals for human/animal hybrid soldiers," Mulder continued, "your little serotonin deficiency problem and occasional lapses into progeria and other genetic-based illnesses aside. X5 is where it's at -- and I'm thinking the offspring of two of Manticore's finest original specimens would be priceless to their program."

"Lydecker has to know about the Committee's new breeding program," Max said darkly.

"Exactly," Mulder said.

"He never said a word," Alec added, shaking his head sadly. "I owe that guy my life a few times over, but--"

"He also tortured you and was responsible for Rachel's death, Alec," Max said softly. "You forgave him a lot more quickly than I did. And now--"

"All right. All right. I'll concede the point," Alec said with a huge sigh. Maybe we shouldn't have been so trusting."

Scully, who'd remained oddly silent during this last part of the conversation, reached out and touched the back of Max's hand. "They won't hurt your baby," she said gently. "He's extremely valuable to them. We've just got to figure out where he is and get him back." She glanced at Mulder. "Our son, William ... we lost him when he was an infant. There were forces that wanted to kill him for what he is. It took us years to find him ..." Her voice trailed off, and Max looked at her sympathetically.

"Years?" the X5 said, her eyes filling with tears.

"It won't take years," Alec said tightly. "In fact, now that we know 'Deck's probably behind everything, it won't take long at all." He stood, pushing the chair back. "Mr. Mulder, you don't happen to have an address on this New Manticore outfit, do you?"

Mulder eyed the young transgenic warily, for the first time beginning to wonder just what he might have unleashed. Although they seemed like nice innocent kids, his two guests were still supersoldiers with all the psychological and physical abilities the name implied. In other words, they were extremely dangerous if triggered.

"Actually," he said carefully. "They're located right here in Washington D.C., in a warehouse on the Potomac near Border Street. At least that's where their labs are reputed to be."

The X5 looked at his mate. She nodded. "That's it then," Alec said, his voice deep and full of determination.

"The two of you can't tackle something like this alone," Scully argued, realizing what their guests were about to foolishly do. "It would be suicide."

"Two ordinaries couldn't," Alec said with a wolfish grin. "But we're anything but ordinary. Remember?"

"Wait!" Mulder implored. "At least let me get the building plans if I can, so you won't be going in blind."

But Alec and Max were already at the restaurant door.

"They're gonna get killed," Mulder said to his partner.

"I know," Scully replied with a sad shake of her head. "But I don't blame them for acting this way. Those monsters have their baby. In fact, I'd probably do the same thing."

"So would I," Mulder said softly.

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

*****

This was the place. Even out in the parking lot, the building literally smelled of "Manticore" to Alec, the odd combination of sterile and medicinal mixed with sweat and rotting flesh familiar to the X5's sensitive nose. He'd grown up with these smells ... spent almost his whole life immersed in them in fact ...

Max recognized it too. He could see the nightmare memories reflected in the depths of her too wide brown eyes as she looked to him for comfort.

"We'll find him," Alec said softly, just before they began scaling the wall of the warehouse to the rooftop vents that would be their way inside.

Eight minutes later, they thought they were in. Seven guards dead or down ... no other obstacles in sight ... key card in hand (appropriated from a sergeant before Alec broke his neck) ... the lab doors beckoned with their son perhaps just on the other side.

494 never saw the automated defense system as it activated overhead. The jolt of electricity hitting his body was meant to be lethal. There was pain -- extreme but brief -- and then there was nothing more except two transgenic parents lying lifeless on the cold white linoleum floor.

*****

Feeling like he'd been run over by a truck, Alec groaned softly and opened his eyes to see--

--bars. He was in a cage. Again.

Shit.

Propping himself up slowly on one elbow, he squinted in the glare of harsh light, looked for Max, and wasn't surprised to see her similarly incarcerated in a cell across from his. Further examination of the area revealed what had to be a one-way window on the east wall where, undoubtedly, they were being observed. Other than that, the white-walled room was empty except for a door at the far end.

It won't be long now, Alec thought as he watched Max begin to stir. Brown eyes opened, stared confusedly at the floor for a moment, then frantically looked around, only to relax slightly when her gaze collided with his.

Photo courtesy of JRAUnlimited.com

Alec's lips twitched in a small smile. "And this is another fine mess you've gotten me into, sweetheart," he drawled.

Climbing to her feet with difficulty, Max clung to the bars, swaying, looking as if she were about to pass out again.

"Easy," Alec admonished her as he, too, got slowly to his feet. "We took quite a hit. Give it a minute."

Breathing hard, her head down, Max nodded. "Where are we?" she asked.

Alec shrugged, his eyes on the window. "One guess."

"At least now maybe we'll find our son," Max said grimly, also looking toward the observation glass, her dark eyes daring their enemies to show themselves.

*****

"Please," Donald Lydecker begged his superior, his hands out in supplication -- a rare degrading moment for the proud man. "They haven't seen anything. Let me talk to them. I'll convince them to go back to the base and you won't have to worry about them any more."

"It's too late, 'Deck," the Committee officer replied. The stoutly built, middle-aged black man sporting a bristly mustache and dark-framed glasses had the demeanor of someone not used to being questioned. "These two Units should have been destroyed when Old Manticore was cauterized. We were lax about pursuing them after the NSA failed to put them down during those first few months because you assured us you had them, as well as the other transgenics, contained in Gillette ... that they were content to remain on the base and wouldn't be causing trouble. Well, apparently you were wrong."

"They weren't causing any trouble until you ordered me to steal their child!" Lydecker said, keeping himself under control only with difficulty. "I brought you the infant because I believe the X series program should continue, and you assured me that this was the only way. I betrayed two of my kids for you ... lied to them, deceived them, and took away their baby." The Colonel pointed to the one-way window. "Those kids mean something to me! Hell, they mean a lot to me! I won't let you destroy them for no good reason!"

"The security of this program is reason enough for their euthanasia," the Committee man snapped, his cool attitude fraying at last under the other man's emotional onslaught. "Those are X5s out there, 'Deck. You know, as well as I do, how extremely dangerous they are when they've got a target. Well -- New Manticore is now their target, and I won't allow two out-of-control supersoldiers to jeopardize this project."

"You could always just give them back their child," Lydecker said bluntly. "Then leave them alone. They'll go away then. I promise."

"No," the Man said brutally. "Their fates are sealed. The female, 452, because of the priceless genetic factor in her blood that carries the cure for the comet pathogen, will be kept alive -- after a fashion -- in case she's needed by the CDC in the future."

"After a fashion?" Lydecker said. "You're talking cryogenic suspension?"

"Exactly. She'll be preserved -- possibly for generations -- as a medical resource, frozen solid in a tank of liquid hydrogen."

"And Alec?" the Colonel said. "494?"

The Man adjusted the tight collar of his dress shirt and made a dismissive gesture. "We have no use for a rogue male X5. True, he's 452's genetic mate, and they produced a child carrying the same anti-viral factors in his blood as the mother. But 494's far too dangerous to try and keep in a cage, and our cryonic abilities are limited. His genetic material will be harvested and stored, and his body turned over to our lab boys for experimentation."

"Experimentation?" Lydecker snarled. "Don't you mean vivisection?"

"Consider it an example," the Man shrugged. "When other transgenics hear about 494's gruesome fate, they'll think twice about ever asking questions regarding New Manticore in the future. Oh, and don't worry -- we're not like Stendahl's cyborg operation. I assure you that, when we're finished with 494, he'll be very, very dead. If you want -- knowing how much your kids mean to you -- I'll even let you bury what's left of him. Or," he added with a cruel smile, "would you rather keep a souvenir? A lock of hair perhaps? A testicle?"

The Colonel gritted his teeth in abhorrent frustration. However, he also found himself hanging his head in defeat. Max and Alec's fates were sealed, and all he could now was damn himself a thousand times over for ever believing The Committee's promises to him regarding their New Manticore.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

When Colonel Donald Lydecker walked through the door and into the cage containment area, Alec's reaction was savagely primal -- one of the few times in his life that his feline genetics overwhelmed his human ones. With a snarl, 494 hit the cage bars with every ounce of strength he had, reaching for the creature who'd betrayed him and his family, teeth bared, eyes glowing with hatred, and fingers clawing at air.

Max, on the other side of the room in her own cage, assumed a poised sparring stance, looking as if she, too, was about to ram the steel bars of her prison in a futile attempt to reach the man who'd kidnapped her child.

Lydecker winced, recoiling from the inhuman savagery that was 494, and at the same time looking with deep pity and apology in Max's direction.

"I'm sorry," he said simply. "I'm so very, very sorry."

"Where is he?" Alec growled, his voice as low and hard as the look in his eyes. "Where's our son?"

"Safe," Lydecker assured the X5 soldier. "He'll be well cared for all his life."

"As part of your New Manticore?" Max hissed, her wild hair and near insane eyes giving her the appearance of a banshee as she stood coiled in the cage.

"Yes," Lydecker replied. "I'd give him back to you if it were up to me, but it's too late for that now ... too late for both of you."

"Meaning they're going to kill us," Alec said with an ugly chuckle.

"Only you," Lydecker said. "Max, they're going to cryogenically preserve." His eyes now brimming with tears, he added, "Say goodbye to one another now. In a few minutes they'll come for you and then you'll never see each other again."

"Wait!" Max cried out, her eyes pleading now. "Let me see my baby first! Surely they aren't that cruel? Surely they'll let a mother see her child one last time?"

Lydecker regarded her for a very long moment, at the same time acutely aware of 494's laser gaze riveted on his back. "I'll see what I can do," he finally said.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & StillFrame

"Max," Alec said softly, holding a hand out through the bars toward her even though they couldn't touch.

She extended her fingers as well, an invisible unbreakable bond of family and love between them. "I can't lose you, too," she said, her voice trembling. "I can't bear to think of what they'll do to you."

"Don't worry about me," Alec chided her gently, although the thought of what he would probably soon be facing made his stomach clench. He smirked. "Guess this means Mole's gonna be big man in charge back at the base, what with both of us gone."

"He'll love it," Max agreed, like Alec trying to think of anything except her own lack of a future.

"Max, I need you to know something," Alec said. "I need you to know how much you mean to me ... how much you've changed my--"

The door opened and a female with long, scraggly, dirty blonde hair entered, cradling a baby in her arms. Behind her, his face etched with sorrow and the darkness that had crept into the cracks of his soul, was Lydecker.

It took Alec a second to recognize the woman -- and when he did, he found himself struck speechless.

"Asha?" Max breathed.

Tortured, yet oddly innocent brown eyes stared with terror at the X5s in the cages, and Asha Barlow clutched the infant more tightly to her chest.

"It's all right," Lydecker said gently, following her through the door. "No one's going to take your son away. Max just wants to see him for a moment."

"Her son!" Max screamed, clutching the bars with all of her strength, as if she might somehow be able to break them. "That's my son! Damn it, that's my baby!"

"What the fuck's goin' on, 'Deck?" Alec yelled, his own rage so great he was finding it difficult to breathe.

The baby stirred, and began to cry.

"Asha's been taking care of him," Lydecker said simply, still keeping his voice low as Asha shushed and rocked the infant. "I told you he was in good hands."

"She's insane!" Alec said, gripping the bars too. "You call that havin' the kid in good hands?"

"Isn't our son beautiful, Alec?" the young woman whispered softly, now looking at the male X5.

Tears welled in Alec's eyes as he realized the full horror of the tableau playing out in front of him. Lydecker had not only kidnapped his and Max's child, he'd played into Asha's delusion and was now using the poor mad girl as a pawn in his own devious selfish game. At that moment, all sympathy 494 had toward Colonel Donald Lydecker ... all sense of gratitude for recent favors ... vanished, replaced by the familiar cold hatred of his childhood and teenage years.

Glancing over at Max, he saw the same emotions playing in her eyes. Only with Max, her change of feelings weren't such a stretch. 452 never had completely trusted Lydecker ... never bought into his "change of heart" the way he, himself, had. Max had always remained suspicious ... guarded ... and rightly so.

Better the Devil you know, than the Devil you don't ...

"Let me hold him," Max said suddenly, her voice cracking with emotion as she thrust arms through the bars, hands outstretched. "Please?"

For a moment, Lydecker looked as if he might cave in to the request, but then his eyes met Alec's, and he saw the darkness of his own death there.

"I'm sorry," he said tightly, placing a hand on Asha's shoulder, steering her toward the door as the girl possessively clutched what wasn't hers.

"No!" Max screamed. "Please! Don't take him away from me!"

"Damn it, Lydecker!" Alec roared, hitting the bars with his shoulder in a totally futile gesture.

Hunched as if suddenly stricken with pain, the Colonel didn't look back, instead hurrying Asha and their son out of the cell block. Then the door closed behind them with a heartbreaking finality -- and Max and Alec were left together ... alone.

*****

"They're in trouble," Mulder said, hanging up the phone.

Scully looked up from where she was standing beside him.

The former FBI agent opened a drawer in his desk and began shuffling through papers. "My contact says New Manticore just took two prisoners ... their 'own' as they put it, which means transgenics. One's schedule for cryogenic preservation -- probably Max what with her special blood."

"And the other?" Dana asked softly.

Mulder's eyes rose to meet hers. "Termination. They don't want to mess around with trying to keep an adult X5 tom prisoner, and they apparently don't consider Alec a valuable enough commodity to be worth freezing for posterity. He's of more use to them in pieces. They'll cut out what parts of him they want, and cremate the rest."

"How much time do we have?" Scully asked. "And more importantly, what can we do to help them?"

"We can't do much of anything," Mulder said as a little smile deepened the age lines around his eyes. "After all, we're just a couple of geriatric private investigators. However ..." He grabbed his car keys. "I know who can help them. Come on, Scully. I just hope there's enough time."

"Where are we going?" she asked, snatching her black wool coat from off the rack by the door.

"Wyoming," Mulder said. "We've got a plane to catch."

*****

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

He'd been shot before ... stabbed ... tortured ... sacrificed ... Hell, he'd even died before. In a way -- for Alec -- all of this was just one more expected twist in the shitty (not to mention painful) mess that was his life.

Why can't they just put a bullet in my head and be done with it? he wondered tiredly as half a dozen guards armed with machine guns marched him down a sterile white hallway. Why can't they just end it neat and quick, then throw me in a hole and cover my body up?

Unfortunately, such an easy way out wasn't going to be an option for X5-494, Alec realized as a pair of double doors automatically slid open in front of him revealing an elaborate operating theater.

In spite of his jaded resolve ... in spite of his weariness with life and his determination to accept whatever fate was about to befall him .. the young transgenic swallowed hard at the site of the torturer's chair, a contraption that anchored the center of the room like a hideous medical altar. Bathed in halogen light from above, its curved nature appeared designed to hold its victim's body parts at the most advantageous angle for the butchers who'd be carving away at flesh and bone. Suspended above -- like a macabre mobile -- was a veritable orgy of operating instruments ... bone saws ... scalpels ... probes ... a vivisectionist's toy box ...

A thin bald man in a white lab coat with wintry eyes, a scar on his right cheek, and lips so thin they were nearly nonexistent emerged from the shadows. He glanced down at a chart he was carrying, then those frigid eyes raked the X5's body from head to toe in an inhumanly cruel calculating manner. "Take off your clothes," he said, the command mild but the authority behind it unmistakable.

An assistant -- a younger man with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes as fanatical as his master's -- stepped up behind Alec. He, too, was looking the X5 over as if he were a piece of meat. However, unlike the clinically interested older doctor, his gaze was far more lascivious.

Alec shuddered -- and knew what he had to do. After all, there were only six of them ... and if he failed, then with luck one bullet would take care of all his problems.

But the doctor's wicked gaze caught his, and for just a moment Alec found himself transfixed ... mesmerized by the horror he saw mirrored there.

And a moment was all it took.

The sharp stab of the hypo-dart in his neck came out of nowhere. He never saw the shooter.

"There, there," the doctor said gently when Alec's knees gave way and he sank to the floor as his captors closed around him. "This doesn't have to be difficult. The less you struggle, the faster it will all be over." He looked to the men who now held their helpless, half-conscious victim upright. "Prepare him," he said. "I'll be back in awhile to perform the procedures."

Alec couldn't make his limbs move. But worse was the fact that he was still aware of what was going on around him, even though he couldn't fight back or even respond. His jacket and t-shirt were yanked off exposing his bare chest ... his shoes removed ... his jeans left on but unfastened, and he was carried bodily to that frightening chair, its surface icy cold against his back, cupping him like a hand as they lay him down in its oddly sensuous curves.

"We're going to have fun, you and I," the assistant said, stepping into the light and looking down at his victim. "I did an X6 once, but never an X5. You're more mature than the other boy was ... stronger ... You'll last longer than he did.

Some semblance of strength was beginning to return to Alec, the sedative apparently short acting. There was a tingling along his arms and legs. They hadn't restrained him yet. If he could only buy himself a little time, he might at least be able to die fighting.

"But first," his tormentor chuckled. "We need to make certain you're properly mounted. A gloved hand grabbed Alec's right wrist, twisting his arm sideways. Then -- before he could comprehend what was happening -- there was a whirring sound and a stabbing pain that nearly drove away his remaining consciousness shot through his hand and arm.

The X5 cried out. He couldn't help it, and would have writhed if the paralysis hadn't still been clutching his body. Eyes watering with tears of agony, Alec managed to turn his head enough to see what had just been done to him, his gaze widening with utter horror as he saw the thin steel shaft that had drilled through the skin of his forearm just above the wrist, passed between the two bones, and was now protruding out the other side of his arm to lock into the chair -- as effective a shackle as could be diabolically contrived.

They're crucifying me!

An odd little corner of 494's thoughts wondered why there there was so very little blood ...

The assistant's fingers grabbed hold of his left hand. With a primal growl, Alec tried as hard as he could to pull away. But it was no use. The drilling sound, piercing pain again ... someone was screaming. Is that me? Alec thought, his mind detaching.

It was.

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

Max had heard Alec scream before, and -- with the intimacy of a lover -- she recognized his agonized cry when it echoed down the stark hallways.

They're killing him ... divvying up his body parts. Even if I do reawaken in a hundred years, Alec will be dead ... my baby will be gone ... everything and everyone I know will be nothing but the past ...

"Please!" she pleaded with the guards holding her chained wrists. "Please don't kill him! Please, let him be with me!" A sudden vision of Alec seared her soul ... faint freckles spattering a perfect nose and the high cheekbones of his handsome face ... that lazy sensuous smile and low sexy voice she'd never hear again ... hazel-green eyes laughing or scolding or judging ... silken dark golden hair tangled in her fingers as they made love ... the hardness of his body and the feel of his strong hands caressing her curves ... his breath mingling with hers as they joined ...

It was more than Max could bear -- to be losing both her mate and her son.

"Please!"

They ignored her -- totally. Alec's fate was sealed, as was her own. All Max could hope for was that the X5's death wouldn't be too prolonged, and that her lover would find peace on the other side of reality when he joined his brother, Ben.

Alec screamed again, and she cringed, her eyes filling with tears because she couldn't help him. If only they hadn't barged in here by themselves ... If only they'd waited ... planned ... brought help ...

If only ...

A door opened to the right up ahead, and Max caught an acrid whiff of antiseptic. Stepping over the threshold, she shivered, the air cold due to the fat silver cylinders of liquid nitrogen crouched in the corner. Vats of solution bubbled, some empty ... some containing human (or semi-human) parts. One container was larger than the others, shaped like a modular coffin ... big enough for an entire body.

Suddenly, Max realized the enormity of what was about to happen to her ... endless blackness without the release of death, a fate far worse than Alec's.

"No," she whimpered, drawing back. "Just kill me and let me be with him."

The bite of a hypodermic needle in her neck made her gasp, and a feeling of raw numbness began to creep into her limbs.

"Prepare her for preservation," a disembodied voice said from somewhere. "And ready several of the smaller vats. The male's organs will be arriving soon."

As she drifted into blackness, Max heard Alec still screaming ...

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

He felt like he was going to vomit, the taste of his own blood metallic as it trickled down his throat, teeth having gone through lip during his throes of agony. Although his head was held in a vise-like clamp to keep him still, when he rolled his eyes Alec could see the steel shaft impaling his right wrist, the shiny silver metal piercing the skin on one side, and exiting through a weeping bloody hole on the other to clamp into the arm of the fiendish chair. It was a grotesque way to hold him captive ... cruel beyond belief. His left wrist -- although he couldn't quite see it -- had been treated the same, tiny drops of crimson slowly dripping like gory rain to puddle on the floor as his arms throbbed.

The assistant signaled and two guards approached ... took hold of his bare right ankle. The whir of a drill sounded. They were going to impale his legs as well, and then -- when he was totally helpless -- they'd do far more ... "Fuck you!" Alec screamed, writhing and trying to kick. One of the guards grabbed the waistband of his jeans and tugged them down, exposing his buttocks, while the assistant approached with a winsome grin and a hypodermic needle.

Alec didn't think his heart could pound any harder -- but it did. This was truly the end, for himself ... for Max ... for his family ...

The end? Not quite.

The sound of the explosion as it ripped through the warehouse was deafening, drowning out the whirring drill and the assistant's startled shriek. Smoke filled the air, and pieces of ceiling fell from above as -- prisoner forgotten -- the guards bolted toward the door. For a long second, Alec's tormentor stood his ground, looking into his victim's face, the hypo needle still raised. But then suddenly the lights flickered -- and went out.

The pupils of Alec's eyes irised open at the same instant the rods through his wrists clicked, unlocked from the chair, and retracted. Released, he cried out as his blood began to flow in earnest, but the pain was well worth his freedom. Cat eyes in full night mode, the X5 vaulted off the chair, stumbled, then found his balance. The assistant was moving around in the dark, hands outstretched, essentially blind. X5-494 wasn't the killer Manticore had meant him to be, but he had absolutely no qualms about reaching through the blackness and snapping the monster's spindly little neck.

The dead assistant slumped to the floor at his feet, but 494 didn't so much as look down. Instead, his eyes were on the door that the fleeing guards had so conveniently left unlocked. Bare chest heaving and fingers dripping blood, he quickly assessed his situation. Then his lips drew up in a slow wicked grin. This base was under attack, and he didn't need three guesses to figure out by whom.

"Give 'em Hell, Mole," he breathed. "Kill 'em all." And then he was out in the hallway. Grabbing a fleeing technician by the collar, he threw the enemy against a wall and snarled. "Where's Max? X5-452? Where is she?"

"East wing!" the boy wailed, his blue eyes wide with terror as he saw nothing but his own death on the face of the supersoldier.

Alec was tempted to kill this one too. In full battle mode (not to mention in pain), his DNA was humming ... pushing him to lash out and destroy. But this was just a kid ...

Punching the youngster once in the face, the X5 dropped the slack body on the floor, and headed at a barefoot run for the other side of the building.

*****

Max heard thunder as she was carried. Is it storming? Trying to keep her eyes open was too hard, and she felt like she was floating. "Give her the other injection," one voice said. "It's too soon!" a second one protested. "It'll kill her!"

"Give it to her!"

Someone had hold of her arm, and she felt the stick of a needle, but at the same moment there was a splintering crash that part of her brain told her she should have found alarming. Then warm air rushed over her shivering nude body.

"Put her down!" a voice cracking with rage roared.

Arms tightened ... the embrace of the enemy. Max wanted to move ... to fight ... but her muscles were limp from the sedative. Alec! she tried to call out his name.

"Stop!" she heard someone threaten. "Stop or I'll kill her!"

Cold metal pressed against Max's temple -- the barrel of a gun.

These ordinaries had no idea what they were dealing with ...

She felt rather than saw 494 blur ... heard the choked cry of the man using her as a living shield ... heard facial bones break and neck snapping as Alec's fist rammed through his skull ... And then she was falling, only to be caught before she hit the floor, safe in her lover's trembling arms at last as Alec buried his face in her hair and tried not to sob.

*****

"She's drugged, and he's bleeding to death," Dana Scully said, the medical professional taking precedence over the investigator as she knelt beside the two downed X5s.

"Shit," the lizard-looking man muttered behind her. Dropping to his knees, the one called "Mole" -- the one she and Mulder had gone to for help at the Gillette Base -- reached out and gently touched Max's limp hand. Then he turned those impossible reptilian eyes on his other friend.

"I'm fine," Alec declared, struggling to sit up even as Joshua the dog man -- with that canine face he couldn't very well be considered anything else, Scully thought -- held him down.

"Stay still," Scully warned as she examined his bleeding wrists. She then glanced up at her patient. "This is impossible," she said. "These wounds are extremely deep, yet they're already beginning to clot. You should be unconscious from blood loss by now."

"Enhanced coagulation," Alec muttered through clenched teeth. "Ow! That hurts!"

"Sorry," Scully said, easing up on the pressure she'd been exerting on the hole in his right wrist. "I was just checking to make certain there wasn't any foreign material in the wound."

But Alec's attention was already back on Max who's blanket-wrapped body was being cradled in Fox Mulder's arms. "How is she?" he asked anxiously. "They injected her with something."

"Her pulse is slow but steady," Scully said. "However, until we get her to a hospital and do a full work-up, I have no idea what her condition really is."

"No tests!" Alec said automatically, the party line of the transgenics. And then suddenly he looked toward the door where the gunfire had died down to a sporadic shot or two now and then. "The baby," he said, his voice filling with panic as he remembered the other part of the equation. "Where's our son?"

Mole's eyes shifted to Mulder.

"Your people are searching the building," the ex-FBI agent said.

Alec was already on his feet.

"You shouldn't move!" Scully scolded. "You could start bleeding again!"

The X5 ignored her. Yanking Mole's Army jacket off the lizard-man's back, he shrugged into it, the garment offering at least a little bit of warmth in the chilly air. "Take care of her," he said to Scully, indicating Max. "I'll be back soon." Then he gestured to the lizard man. "You with me?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Mole replied, hefting his own rifle, then tossing Alec the automatic pistol he'd had tucked at his waist.

The X5 caught the weapon deftly, checked the clip, nodded his appreciation, then once more looked toward his mate. "When she wakes up, tell her I went to get our kid," he said softly. "Tell her everything will be all right."

"Alec--!" Scully protested one last time, but the X5 had already ducked out the door.

"I'll go with them," Mulder said, following the duo.

"Be careful!" Dana called. "You're not a kid any more, Mulder! Or genetically enhanced either!"

"Who says I'm not?" her partner chided as he hurried after the two transgenics.

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

Drifting down the hallway like shadows, Alec and Mole carefully made their way toward the center of the complex -- a place where gunfire was still occasionally erupting.

"You really all right?" Mole asked out the side of his mouth.

"I'm always all right," Alec shot back.

"Just don't go faintin' on me, Princess," the lizard man warned. But before Alec could give a snarky reply, they turned at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"What are you doin' here?" Alec said tersely as Fox Mulder came up behind them. "I could have shot you."

"But you didn't," Mulder pointed out. "I thought the two of you could use a hand."

"Go back," Mole grated. "You'll just be in the way."

"Look," Mulder argued. "The only reason he's alive," he pointed to Alec, "is because Scully and I brought the Cavalry. Now, I'm going to see this through with you."

"Fine," Alec sighed. "Let the ordinary get himself killed if he wants. Just don't slow me down."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Mulder grinned while drawing a Glock pistol out of his shoulder holster.

"Nice piece," Alec commented, at the same time scanning the hallway ahead.

"Thanks," Mulder said. "It was a gift from my superior when I retired from the Bureau."

But the X5 wasn't listening. "Stay low, and stay close -- both of you," Alec ordered.

"Why?" Mole said. "You hear something? I don't hear anything."

"A baby," Alec said softly. "I hear a baby crying up ahead."

Mulder shook his head. "I don't hear anything either."

Mole gripped the ordinary's shoulder hard. "Believe him," the lizard man said. "Princess here's got the ears of a Peruvian Fruit Bat."

"Literally?" Mulder gulped.

Alec shot the investigator a disdainful look. "Cat senses," he said quietly. "Now both of you shut up."

"He can see in the dark, too," Mole continued, bragging a bit on his brother. "Just like me."

"I think it's show time, kiddies," Alec said with a grim smile, ignoring the banter behind him as he moved forward toward a closed door up ahead. "Lydecker's here, too."

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

Clad only in low riding jeans and an unzipped Army jacket ... barefoot with stubble shadowing cheeks and chin ... his dark blond hair tousled and hazel-green eyes blazing ... the X5 warrior stood tall and strong, filling the doorway, displaying a demeanor that Colonel Donald Lydecker had bred and trained into the boy himself -- that of a soulless assassin.

This time there would be no mercy.

The Colonel looked back over his shoulder at Asha as she cowered in a corner of the nursery. Cradling 494's son possessively in her arms, covering his nose and mouth with her hand to keep him quiet, her brown eyes were filled with the liquid of insanity.

"You're my nephew," Lydecker said to Alec, his voice low and hoarse with desperation. "I love you like a son, and Max like a daughter."

"You have a funny way of showin' it," 494 said, swiping the back of a bloody hand across his lips.

"I've saved your life more than once, for God's sakes!" the Colonel tried. "Risked my own over and over to help you kids!"

The X5's eyes were on the baby squirming in Asha's arms.

"Are you going to kill her, too?" Lydecker asked, nodding at Asha. "She's innocent, you know. I drugged her ... encouraged her delusions ... drove her insane so she could be a useful tool."

A shadow rose behind Alec. "Mole," the X5 said, "get my son and take him to Max."

"What are you gonna do?" the lizard man asked as Mulder peered between the two transgenics at the tragic tableau in the room.

"What I should have done a long time ago," Alec replied quietly. "Get the baby!"

"No!" Asha shrieked as Mole approached her, shielding the infant with her own body. "Don't take my baby! Donald, help me!"

Lydecker closed his eyes, but didn't move.

Stepping forward, Mulder grabbed hold of Asha's shoulders, holding her while Mole pulled the child out of her arms.

"No!" she wailed, struggling against the agent, her drug-weakened body no match for his strength. "Please don't take him!"

Free to cry now, the baby X5 bawled at the top of his lungs. Setting Asha down, Mulder stepped back.

"Take him," Mole said, shoving the squirming bundle into the investigator's arms. "Take him to Max."

"What are you two going to do?" Mulder asked suspiciously, eying Alec's soldier stance and the gun he held so steadily in his right hand.

"You don't want to know," Mole said in a low voice. "Just go."

"You aren't going to murder these people, are you?" Mulder argued. "Battle is one thing, but this ... this isn't right. There are laws against kidnapping. The Colonel will go on trial, and her ..." He glanced at Asha who'd curled into a fetal position and was sobbing in the corner. "She needs professional help."

"You don't want to be a witness?" Alec said, his voice cold and level. "Then get out of here."

"Do what he says," Lydecker whispered. "Leave me. I deserve what I'm going to get."

"They'll arrest Alec for murder!" Mulder protested.

The transgenic shook his head. "As if haven't already killed plenty of other people today?" he said wryly. "What's one more? Hell, I've been 'wanted' by ordinaries for years. We all have."

"But he's your uncle," Mulder tried. "Imprison him. Punish him. But don't have his death on your head, Alec. What would Max say?"

Alec thought about that a moment. Would Max want Lydecker dead?

"She doesn't like you to kill," the investigator pressed. "Right? At least ask her before you pull the trigger. Make sure she agrees. And at the bare minimum he deserves some kind of trial. You're not a murderer, Alec."

"Actually, I am," Alec said, again with the ironic bitter smile. But then he sighed heavily and lowered his gun. "Mole ... tie the bastard up. We'll take him back with us, and decide what to do later."

"What about her?" Mole said, indicating the near-catatonic Asha Barlow.

"Leave her," Alec said quietly, tucking the pistol into the waistband of his jeans and looking to Mulder. "She'll get better care here than what we can give her."

Mulder nodded, and handed the X5 his son.

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

"We've never executed anyone before," Max said quietly. She looked up at Alec. "For that matter, we've never even put anyone on trial."

"Would you rather turn 'Deck over to the humans' court?" Alec asked tiredly as he stretched his length out on their bed. "At least Asha's in good hands with Scully. She said she'd take care of her, and I believe her."

Except for his bandaged wrists, the X5 looked little the worse for wear after his ordeal. As for Max, she was also fairly well recovered, the lingering effects of the cryogenic drugs rapidly being cleansed from her body by her revved up immune system.

In his corner bassinet, their son gave a tiny squawk, and Max rose to get him. Cradling the baby sadly against her dried-up breast, she reached for the bottle of formula.

Watching his mate through slightly narrowed eyes, Alec smiled at the sight. At last things were almost as they should be. "Would you rather I'd just gone ahead and killed him?" he had to ask.

Max thought about that a long moment. Then -- still looking down at their child and gently rubbing a finger over the genetically applied bar code that the baby was now unfairly burdened with -- she replied softly. "No. In a way, it would have been easier ... not having to deal with Lydecker any more. But it wouldn't have been the right thing for you to do, Alec. You're not a cold blooded killer."

"He deserves to die, Max."

"I know. I agree. But ... you shouldn't be the executioner. I won't risk you like that ... risk opening up all the horrible wounds in your soul that Manticore inflicted, and that have taken this long to heal."

"What?" Alec said with a nasty little smile. "You're afraid if I fall off the wagon I'll revert to bein' an assassin ... a killer ...?"

"Light fights darkness in all of us transgenics, Alec," Max replied soberly. "Moreso in you even."

Alec stretched like a cat, muscles rippling in bare arms and chest, the light blanket on their bed covering him from the waist down, but not disguising what was on his mind as the sheets tented slightly above his groin. "'Cause of Ben?" he ventured.

"Yes," Max admitted, putting their child in the bassinet, setting the empty bottle aside, and coming back to their bed to crawl into her lover's arms. "And because you've already got so much goodness in your heart that Manticore tried its damnedest to destroy."

He began to kiss her.

"But you're worth fighting for," Max murmured against his lips. "And that's why I won't let you be the one to kill Lydecker when he's found guilty."

"You know," Alec said softly in her ear, changing the subject. "We really do need to give our kid a name."

"I think he already has one, doesn't he?" Max replied quietly, pulling back to look deeply into the other X5's sparkling golden green eyes.

Alec grinned.

"All right," she said. "Out with it. You already said you wouldn't let me name him, and I know you've got something in mind."

"I just didn't want to end up with a kid called 'Fix It' or 'Bugler' or 'Whistler' or some other such descriptive thing," he said in his own defense.

"What is it, Alec? What's our son's name?"

He took a deep breath. "Chance."

"Chance?" Max said, blinking in confusion. "Why Chance?"

"'Cause it fits," Alec said simply. "With regards to both of us ... with regards to our lives. You took a big chance back in '09 when you escaped with your brothers and sisters, Max. But if you hadn't ... I seriously doubt we'd be here right now, or that he'd ever have been born. And I took a big chance, too, when I hooked up with you in Seattle after Manticore went down instead of strikin' out on my own like I probably should have. You took a chance with Logan, too -- choosin' me over him in the end. And we all took a chance takin' a stand in Terminal City, then comin' out to Gillette."

"Everyone's life is full of chances, Alec," Max pointed out.

"I know," he said a bit defensively. "But it just seems that ours has been that way to the extreme."

She smiled, giving him that, and looked over at the bassinet where the baby was sleeping quietly. "Chance," she said softly. "I think I like it."

"Good," Alec replied with an impish grin as her hand roamed lower on his body. "'Cause my second choice was Dick."

The End