Playing With Fire

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX.

ARCHIVE: No

Playing With Fire
By Valjean

This is a stand-alone story following the events of Max Allan Collins' DARK ANGEL novel SKIN GAME, , and incorporating information revealed in D.A. Stern's THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER -- author's note

*************************************

"How many, Alec? How many of our X5's are seriously considering Lydecker's offer of amnesty?"

Max, Logan, and Alec were seated around the dining room table in Logan's small, but efficient apartment, a place where they could talk without anyone else in Terminal City listening in, however unintentionally.

Alec, looking the epitome of relaxed (in stark contrast to the very worried "Queen of Terminal City," as the media called Max) tipped his chair back slightly, his booted feet resting on one corner of the nearby microwave stand, and linked hands nonchalantly behind his head. "A few are thinkin' about it," he drawled easily, carefully keeping his own thoughts about the situation to himself.

Max's expression fell. "I was hoping they'd all spit in Lydecker's face and tell him he was crazy for asking," she said with a huge sigh.

Logan, seated opposite, was sympathetic to her plight as usual, but really, what could he do? Other than clearing his throat and running fingers through already messy hair, he had little to offer.

"Max," Alec said, "you've gotta remember that these guys lived their entire lives at Manticore. They're used to bein' told what to do and when to do it. There's a certain comfort in that. Lydecker's promising they'll be part of a squad again, a platoon, and that they'll be put to good use." He thought a moment, a far off look in his eyes that bothered Max a little bit. "It's important, you know -- havin' a purpose in life."

"Their purpose is to help build our colony," Max said. "To improve Terminal City."

"Yeah, yeah," Alec said. "But you gotta admit it would be a lot more exciting to be deployed to exotic locals where you'd meet all these interesting people--"

"--and kill them," Logan said with a smile, finishing what had long been the CIA's unofficial slogan.

Alec raised an eyebrow then shrugged. "Hey, it's what we were bred, born, and trained for."

"I knew I shouldn't have let that bastard inside," Max muttered, standing up and beginning to pace. "But he's an important contact for us. 'Deck has pull with certain government officials who could help the situation a lot here in TC." She looked at Logan, seeking his approval. "Did I do the right thing?" Logan opened his mouth to answer, but before he could she turned back to Alec, "What's Lydecker offering, specifically?"

"You mean besides a six figure salary?" Alec deadpanned, chewing absently on a fingernail.

Max's shoulders slumped.

"Full health plan and pension, dental even, an unlimited line of government credit for use on missions, free housing and meals, a choice of assignments ..." He scratched his head and looked away out the window.

Max sensed something she didn't like at all. "Oh no. Don't tell me ... Don't tell me you're considering Lydecker's offer yourself."

Alec's eyes slid to hers, the look in their hazel-green depths inscrutable. "Okay, I won't tell you."

"Alec!" Max hadn't meant his name to come out as a wail, but it had. And the feeling of betrayal in her gut was making her sweat. She'd thought they were past this point in their relationship. She'd thought she could trust him ... count on him. Alec, damn it, we're a team!

"A leopard can't change it's spots, Alec," Logan said, his voice dead serious. "Lydecker may claim to be a new man, to have compassion now for his so-called 'kids', to be putting your welfare ahead of his own private agenda, but you know you can't trust him." The older man leaned forward in his chair, his blue eyes earnest behind the lenses of his glasses. "Alec, Lydecker's never in a million years going to let X5's who've been on the outside for this long just waltz right back into the program without intensive psychological reconditioning. And you, of all people, know what that reconditioning will entail."

Alec was just looking at him, listening, and Max, for the life of her, couldn't read her fellow X5's emotions. Alec yapping and running off at the mouth she could handle. But Alec quiet, pensive, cut off from the world, was something else all together. In 494's case, silence equaled trouble.

Max resisted the urge to smack her comrade, if for no other reason than to see a reaction on that too-calm handsome face of his.

"Alec," Logan pressed. "You'd be in extra danger. You're one of the X5R's, one of the reconditioned Units who were classified as Manticore's elite after the '09 escape."

"I know I was supposedly 'reconditioned,'" Alec said levelly. "And I know Lydecker would consider me special. So, what else is new? As far as I'm concerned that just means I'm in a good bargaining position to jack up the numbers on the salary." He smiled faintly. "Hey, what can I say? I'm a real desirable item right now. In demand. Why not make the most of it?"

"Idiot!" Max screamed, bringing her hand down on the table hard enough to rattle the floor beneath their feet. Logan jumped. Alec didn't. "As soon as Lydecker gets his hands on you he'll tear your brain apart, and when he puts it back together 'Alec' will be gone ... dead! You spent almost all of your life in that fiend's clutches. Your ass was his for years. He knows every button to push on X5-494, every weakness, every place it hurts. He'll torture you, Alec ... torture you until you can't do anything except believe the lies he'll fill your head with. And then he'll wind you up like a mechanical toy soldier and send you out to kill people. Is that what you want Alec? To be an assassin again? To have no will of your own?"

"Fiend's clutches?" Alec said, an eyebrow raised and obviously trying not to laugh. "A bit melodramatic aren't we, Max? You really think I'd crack like that?" A dark smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "You really think I'd be turned to 'evil' ways again so easily? Come on Maxie, have a little faith in your own rehabilitation methods. I'm an enlightened, informed soul now, thanks to you and your good-guy influence."

"I think you believe you wouldn't be manipulated," Logan said, his tone conveying the honesty of his words. "I think you believe you'd be able to maintain your sense of self, your integrity, your soul, no matter what Lydecker did. But you could be wrong. And that's a chance I wouldn't take if I were you."

"So, you don't think I'm strong enough to stay my own man?"

Max didn't like the way Alec said that to Logan, almost as if he was throwing down some kind of challenge.

"Alec," Logan said, his voice subtly different than it had been before, more hardened. "Why weren't you deployed in '17 to Quantico with the rest of your platoon?"

That surprised Alec. His hazel-green eyes widened perceptibly. "What kind of files you been keepin', Logan?" he asked quietly.

"Necessary ones," Eyes Only said evenly. "Care to answer the question? Let me get you started. I believe it had to do with a disciplinary problem or two. Am I warm?"

"As toast," Alec deadpanned. "Yeah, I was a bit of a bad boy in my formative years. But I eventually qualified for my solo missions anyway."

There was still a hint of pride in Alec's voice when he stated this fact, just as there had been so long ago in that Manticore cell, back when Max had first encountered the enigma that was X5-494. An X5 had to be truly superior to qualify for unsupervised outside assignments. Only the smartest and most physically adept were even considered for the program, and many who attempted failed. But then Alec was Ben's twin -- and Ben, Max knew, along with the rest of her own platoon, had been considered the best of the best.

Max shook her head, pulling her mind back on track.

"And in '18 you finally got your first long term assignment," Logan pressed dryly. "Berrisford. And we all know how well that went."

Alec winced, his suave demeanor breaking at last at the memory of his dead love, Rachel.

"You failed," continued Logan. "You failed and were reindoctrinated for the second time in your life. Between that and your stint in psy-ops in '20 it's a wonder Manticore didn't put you down and harvest your organs. In fact, I'm wondering what would have happened if Max, Zack, and the others hadn't destroyed the gene bank when they did and forced Renfro to use you for breeding stock -- put you out to stud as it were." Logan couldn't help glancing at Max.

"I would have been deployed again ... eventually," Alec said defensively, bristling visibly at the "breeding stock" comment. "And Renfro trusted me to handle Max."

Max snorted derisively, and Alec shot a wicked look in her direction.

"Well, she did!"

"Hey!" Logan said, holding up his hand before the two X5's went to war. "All I'm saying is that you might be vulnerable to Lydecker's methods."

"I agree," Max said firmly. "Alec, if you go with 'Deck, he'll have you killing people again within six months." She moved to stand in front of him, her brown eyes looking soulfully down into his hazel ones. "Please, Alec. Don't do this. Don't let them take you away and turn you into a monster." She took a deep shaky breath. "And besides, hotshot, health plans and six figure salaries aside, you know how much I need you here in Terminal City."

There. Max had said all she could to persuade the pig-headed idiot. Now, it was up to Alec. And ... her hands were shaking.

Alec brought the legs of the chair down onto the floor with an audible thump, stretched, straightened his back, and said, "Lydecker offered me a full captain's rank, my own squad, a quarter million a year, and all the benefit package trimmings. No reindoctrination, no torture, nothin' but a thorough medical exam and a promise to end my seizures once and for all."

Max closed her eyes. She'd just lost him. "I can't pay you to stay," she said in a subdued voice. "If it's money you want I suppose I could let you pull a few heists for your own benefit so long as they don't attract attention from the media or police ..."

"I don't want money, Max."

She raised one dark eyebrow. "Since when?"

Alec backpedaled. "Well, it's not that I don't want money. It's just that this isn't about the money." He glanced up at the ceiling. "And there's a sentence I never though I'd hear myself say."

"What's it about then?" Max had to ask. Logan inched forward on his chair, the look on his face both rapt and worried.

"It's about belonging to something, Max," Alec said. "Having a purpose in life. And it's about family -- bein' with people who care about you ... who need you."

"You have that here, Alec," Max said, tears welling in her eyes. "That and more. We care about you, probably more than you'll ever know. Hell, I'll admit it -- I care."

"Which is why I told Lydecker where he could stick his quarter million dollars and dental plan," Alec said softly. "And that if he ever approached me again with one of his tacky deals I'd slit his throat like he so well deserves."

Max closed her eyes again, this time with relief. And when she opened them the cocky smirk on Alec's face told the real story. He'd been yanking her chain the whole time.

"Moron!" Max yelled, smacking him with the flat of her hand up alongside the head.

"Oww!" Alec yelped, ducking and rubbing his ear. "What'd you do that for?"

"Because you're playing games with me!"

"But it's so fun," Alec chuckled wickedly. "You should have seen the look on your face, Max, when you thought I was really gonna take the bastard's offer. 'He'll have you killing people again within six months,' he mimicked."

"Idiot," Max said as she cuffed Alec again, lightly this time, only to have him catch her hand in a very strong grip. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she said softly, holding his eyes with hers, for a second forgetting that Logan was in the room.

"No promises, Max," Alec said, his voice low as he dropped his feet to the floor, and stood to leave. Straightening his jacket, the transgenic glanced at Logan who had a vaguely disapproving look on his face, although what he was disapproving of Max couldn't be sure -- Alec's actions or hers.

"But playtime's over for now," Alec said with one last impish smile before he stretched stiff shoulders and headed for the apartment's basement door that led to the tunnel and back to TC. "Later, guys."

"Jerk," Max said softly as she stared at the door after it had closed, deciding another "idiot" would be too redundant. Logan cleared his throat and she turned the glare meant for Alec on him. "And don't tell me I have issues," she said hotly. "Don't even start with me about Alec."

Logan held up his hands defensively. "Wouldn't dream of it," Eyes Only said carefully. "The last thing I want to do is end up between you and Alec."

"See that you don't then," Max snapped, and stormed after X5-494 into the unlit tunnel. In spite of all his flippant words, she had a gut feeling this thing with Lydecker wasn't over yet so far as Alec was concerned -- and that, simply put, scared the hell out of her. White's bullets she might be able to protect Alec from, but if her friend was playing with the fire of Manticore--

Max swallowed the thought as the darkness of the tunnel swallowed her.

*****

Alec wasn't playing with "the fire of Manticore," or with Lydecker either for that matter. He really had told the man to take a flying fuck when he'd been offered a job. And that, as far as 494 was concerned, was that.

He made the drop at Joshua's house as planned late in the evening, just as dark crept in, leaving a note in the middle drawer of the desk for O.C. telling what medical supplies TC needed, and pulling the blinds of the front window up so she'd know tomorrow there was a message. The trip back to Terminal City on his recently acquired new motorcycle (one of three bikes he and Max kept on the first floor of the building Logan owned that accessed the second tunnel) was uneventful. He was going to be a good boy tonight, he told himself. No side trips to get pizza or beer, not even hitting a Quickie Mart for a candy bar (even though his mouth was watering at the mere thought of chocolate). Tonight of all nights he didn't want Max wondering where he was, not after the stunt he'd pulled this afternoon. Alec smiled to himself at the memory of the look on her face though. Damn, I'm good.

Twenty-five minutes and three successful (fake) sector pass checks later Alec breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled the bike into the alley behind Logan's warehouse. He'd turned off the engine, getting ready to walk it up a short flight of steps onto the first floor, when he felt something ... a presence -- his transgenic senses alerting him that he wasn't alone.

Alec's thoughts flew to the various possibilities and coalesced on Ames White. It would be just like the Familiar leader to sneak and creep, following him, trying to find out how to get into TC undetected. Well, not this time ...

He slowly turned around, scanning the darkness with his cat-eyes. Max wouldn't let him carry a gun on the outside. She thought it would just get him in more trouble if he got stopped by the sector police. (It's hard to bluff one's way out of a concealed weapons charge.) But right now, Alec wished fervently for the cool handle of a Glock in his palm.

"Stand down, 494!" an old, familiar voice called out (but not that kind of "familiar"). Donald Lydecker stepped out of the deepest shadow of all.

"What do you want?" Alec said loudly, uncomfortably aware there were more men in the corners of the alley.

"I was hoping you'd reconsidered my offer," Lydecker said in an excruciatingly friendly tone of voice. He was holding both hands out, showing he was unarmed, but Alec knew that didn't mean a thing. There could be half a dozen guns pointed at him right now for all he knew.

"Not interested," Alec said. "My answer's final. Beat it."

"Just give me a chance, 494," Lydecker said, cajoling. "We could do wonderful things together."

"Are you offerin' me a job or askin' me out on a date?" Alec quipped, letting go of the bike and easing himself backwards toward the door of the warehouse.

"Neither," Lydecker said seriously. "I'm offering you a life."

His grey-blonde hair looking white in the shadows, his face etched in deep lines, the Manticore CO was still standing alone in the alley about twenty feet in front of Alec, putting on his best "I'm harmless" act.

Alec knew Donald Lydecker was anything but harmless. And he also knew that, if what he suspected was true, then he was royally fucked. There was a reason the colonel had intercepted him here in this empty alley. It wasn't as if he couldn't have met him over coffee inside TC tomorrow morning.

"Back off, Lydecker!" Alec ordered. "Just leave me alone!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, son," Lydecker said, his voice so soft that only a transgenic could have picked up the words.

The hair on the back of Alec's neck stood on end, and his attention flew to the inky doorway in the building behind Lydecker. He could tell now that there were two men standing just inside the opening. He could smell them, hear their breathing. Two men? No. Two X5's. Damn it, 'Deck had brought serious re-enforcements. This wasn't a conversation. It was a kidnapping.

Alec whirled and ran for the entrance of Logan's warehouse, his feet flying. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a blur of motion, but before he could react, a pair of steel strong hands had him by the shoulders, and a heavy booted foot snaked out to kick him behind the knee.

"Don't damage him!" Lydecker shouted even as Alec yelled in pain and went down with the weight of the other X5 on top of him.

"Stop struggling, Dodger," a smooth voice he remembered all too well said low in his ear as he struggled in a hammerlock. "I don't want to have to hurt you, brother. You know you can't get away from me. You never could. I beat you every time when we were training together, remember?"

A second set of hands grabbed hold of his legs and Alec kicked viciously, but X5-600 ... Lane ... Zack's twin ... his one-time squad mate, barked, "No. Leave him to me."

Devon, X5-472, backed off, obeying his squad leader's command.

Alec lay panting on the broken sidewalk, his shoulder close to dislocation as Lane pressed down. "I'm not goin' back!" Alec snarled. "I'll die first!" Out of the corner of his eye Alec saw Lydecker approaching with a hypodermic needle in his hand. Shit! Max will never even know what happened to me.

He knew that once that needle plunged into his neck, it would be all over. He'd wake up days later and thousands of miles from here in a cell. And then it would start again -- the living hell of Manticore -- reindoctrination, torture, brainwashing, killing ...

Alec closed his eyes. He hadn't been kidding when he said he'd rather die. There was an M-9 pistol in Lane's belt.

Lydecker knelt beside him, the shining needle oozing drops of what would be a powerful sedative poised inches from his carotid artery. "I'm sorry, Dodger," Lydecker whispered close to his ear. "I'd hoped to do this the easy way, have you come home willingly. But I need my kids now more than ever. We've got a huge fight ahead, and your place is with your brother and sister X5's, not with Max and her Freak Nation. I'd bring Max home as well, but the government has other plans for her."

Alec narrowed his eyes, feeling nothing but hate for this man, but at the same time a small part of his mind wondered what the colonel meant by that. Lydecker noticed and smiled. "Count your blessings, son," he added. "At least you're not likely to end up with pieces of your brain floating in formaldehyde at the CDC." He nodded to Lane. "Hold him still. I want him in Wyoming and well away from her by tomorrow night. Once he's across a couple of state lines, Max won't be able to follow, no matter how much she wants her precious breeding partner back."

The needle plunged down -- and Alec moved. Fast ... blurringly fast.

It had been four years since he and Lane and Devon had parted company, the other two X5s assigned to Quantico and himself sent back to the platoon with Max's "sister" Jace for "further disciplinary training." In that time, his squad mates had become accomplished assassins, carrying out numerous deep cover missions all around the globe, continuing their assignments even after Manticore burned down under the direction of one erstwhile (and for a time supposedly deceased) Donald Lydecker.

What Lane said was true. Designed with optimized muscle mass, he'd always been able to kick the lighter built 494's ass in training. Too much of a loner to desire leadership himself, Alec had never questioned Lane's appointment as squad commander ... never questioned that his "brother" was bigger, stronger, and more of a killer.

But "Dodger" had been an 18-year-old kid brainwashed into following orders with near blind obedience. "Alec" was a 22-year-old man very much in charge of his own mind, and with a body that had matured into a lean, hard fighting machine. Sparring with his squad mates back at Manticore four years ago had been one thing. Fighting for his own life now was another.

Alec relaxed for half a second, took a deep breath, then exploded beneath Lane using every ounce of power he could muster. He mouthed a silent scream at the sickening "pop" as his shoulder dislocated, but at the same time turned in a blurring whirl to land a powerful kick of his own square in the middle of Lane's chest.

X5-600 flew across the alley like a puppet with its strings yanked backwards. Lashing out with his good arm, Alec sent the hypodermic spinning out of Lydecker's hand. Arching his back, he leaped to his feet. As expected, Lane was back on top of him in an instant, but instead of swinging at the bigger X5, Alec's fingers grasped the M-9. Devon, who'd been caught off guard, was too late to intervene.

Two more seconds and the four men stood breathing hard, a few yards apart, Alec leveling the gun on his former CO.

"That weapon's keyed to Lane's DNA, son," Lydecker said gently.

"There's a bullet in the chamber!" Alec shouted, hoping desperately that was true, although he could think of only one thing to do with a single bullet. He wouldn't be able to chamber any more due to the DNA lock, which left him few options.

But Lydecker knew his X5 children too well. Quickly, he stepped back, putting Devon and Lane between himself and X5-494, eliminating the ability for Alec to take him hostage.

Alec stared at his former comrades, knowing how he could so easily have ended up like them. But for the luck of the draw (and a propensity for getting caught off base without permission and possessing contraband) he, too, would be a soulless killer now.

But he wasn't a soulless killer, thanks to Max ... and Joshua ... and even Logan. And he'd be damned if he'd let himself be hauled away to a New Manticore to have his assassin's switch flipped back on.

"I'm not goin' back," he whispered as tears formed in his eyes.

"Don't!" Lydecker screamed.

But he was too late. Flipping the M-9 over in his hand, Alec put the barrel of the gun in his mouth, squeezed his beautiful green eyes closed, and pulled the trigger.

*****

Max was at the end of the second tunnel when she heard the sound of a single gunshot. Flying through the door with Joshua on her heels, she emerged on the street to see Alec lying sprawled on the pavement and a very grim looking Donald Lydecker kneeling beside him.

"What have you done to him?" Max cried out. And then she saw the other two men.

"Zack?" she mouthed the name, her brown eyes wide and incredulous. "Krit? What are you doing here?" She turned to Lydecker. "What the hell's going on?"

Lydecker was holstering a Glock 65 in his belt, and "Zack" was holding an M-9. The colonel nodded at Alec who was trying to sit up in spite of the bullet wound in his leg. "You can have him," Lydecker said, his voice tinged with weariness and a hint of disgust. "He's ruined anyway -- no good to me. I'd hoped he could be salvaged but ..." He glared at Max. "Love always was Dodger's downfall. He's contaminated with it ... with emotion."

"But ... but ..." Max looked from Alec to the other two X5s, not understanding at all.

Lydecker took pity on her. "Meet Lane, X5-600, and Devon, X5-472. I'm sure you remember their twin brothers."

"Twins," Max said the word as if it tasted funny. "You're like Alec."

"Yes," Lydecker said. These two were in Dodger's platoon."

"Dodger?" Max said, lost again.

Alec, who'd regained his senses in spite of the pain in his shoulder and leg, said through gritted teeth, "A name I used to use -- in another life."

Joshua, who'd been hanging back until now, came forward to crouch protectively beside Alec. "Alec safe now," he rumbled in a low voice.

Alec looked to Lydecker who nodded. "Alec's safe," the colonel said. "Like I said, I've no use for a broken soldier."

"Bring him," Max said sharply. Joshua effortlessly pulled Alec to his feet and helped the young transgenic stand, supporting him. "We're going home," she said gently to Alec. Then, to Lydecker, "Don't come back here again. My men aren't interested in any more of your offers. If I see you near TC in the future, I'll kill you."

Lydecker nodded, acquiescing, then motioned to his own X5's who followed their leader down the alley without question. Presumably they had a vehicle parked around the corner. Max couldn't help it. Her eyes tracked Lane and Devon. Even after seeing her own twin, Sam, and Alec's twin, Ben, she found their resemblance to her "brothers" eerie and disturbing.

"I can walk," Alec protested feebly as Joshua half-carried him through the tunnel. But the big dogman merely increased his grip on his much more lightweight friend. "Alec bleeding," he scolded. "Alec hurt."

"Yes, he's hurt," Max said as she walked beside them, glancing down at Alec's wound and the trail of blood he was leaving in the tunnel. "Why did Lydecker shoot you in the leg anyway?"

"To keep me from shootin' myself in the head," Alec replied honestly. "Or else to keep me from runnin' away."

Max's look was incredulous. "You were going to commit suicide rather than go back with him?"

Alec glanced away. "Unfortunately -- or maybe fortunately, depends on how you look at it -- there wasn't a bullet chambered like I thought, and the M-9 was DNA coded to Lane so I couldn't access the rounds."

Max shuddered, suddenly realizing she'd come even closer to losing Alec tonight than she'd thought. But the fact 494 would have died rather than return to Manticore also told her volumes.

"Hey," she said gently, laying her hand on Alec's as they came to a stop at the door leading into the basement of Logan's building. "I'll never doubt you again you know."

"And I'll never doubt you again," Alec replied, Joshua at last letting him stand on his own, realizing it would be too ignominious for Alec to let himself be practically carried into Logan's kitchen. "You followed me tonight because you were worried, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"That Lydecker would make another run at me?"

"Yes."

"You knew all along? That I might be in danger?"

Max just nodded this time.

"Thank you," Alec whispered. And then, before she knew what was happening, he leaned down and his lips lightly brushed hers before turning away and hobbling up the stairs. That was all there was to it, a second of intimate contact between them that would probably never happen again.

But it had happened.

THE END

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