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This is a stand-alone story, a scene following the events of Max Allan Collins' DARK ANGEL novel SKIN GAME. -- author's note

"Alec calls them 'Snits,'" Joshua said.

"Snits?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Sixes Not In Training," the dog man explained. "S.N.I.T.s." They're the ones causing the trouble."

Max sighed heavily, although she couldn't quite suppress a smile and a shake of her head at Alec's humorous acronym for the bothersome X6's who'd apparently been sneaking out of Terminal City and pulling robberies. A lot of the younger X series had gladly joined the training program she and Alec had come up with, a way to give the immature soldiers a sense of the familiar and some structure in their chaotic lives, not to mention practical fighting experience. But a few of the older X6's had scoffed at the idea of daily martial arts and weapons drills, and declared they could get along just fine on their own without X5's bossing them around.

"Hey, it's a free country," had been Alec's response to the renegades at the time. Throwing his hands in the air, he'd added, "Just don't go hidin' behind Mommy and Daddy when the Army finally storms TC and you guys can't remember your fist from your foot when the fightin' starts."

The first clue that the S.N.I.T.s were going to be a problem had come a couple of weeks earlier. The news media ran a story about a convenience store robbery by a gang of teenage boys. Nothing had been said about transgenics at the time, but when two nights later another store was hit, then a third store on the weekend, all the same M.O., Max began to worry. The so-called "gang" was awfully successful, and there were reports of some of them seeming to have "superhuman" strength."

Four more robberies occurred the following week -- and then things turned ugly. Last night a shop in Korea Town was the target. But this time people died. The owner and a clerk were killed, plus two others badly injured. Worst of all, one of the injured claimed to have spotted a barcode on the back of her assailant's neck, revealed when the ski mask the robber was wearing slipped up.

The call from Detective Ramon Clemente wasn't unexpected.

"I'll look into it," Max said tersely into the phone.

"The evidence is pretty damning, Max," Clemente said. "It's murder now."

"I told you I'd look into it!"

"See that you do!" the policeman replied sharply before cutting the connection.

Now, Max stood with Joshua looking out at her people in the media center as they monitored the television and video screens. "Get Alec," she finally said tiredly, the thought of calling on anyone else for help not even occurring to her. "I've got a bad feeling about this whole situation. We need to put a stop to it now."

*****

Alec leaned on the balcony railing of TC's makeshift headquarters, his hazel-green eyes slightly narrowed as he watched the taped news account of last night's robbery in Korea Town. A medicinal shop had been hit, one owned by a middle-aged oriental woman named Wung-Fu -- a place he and Max both knew well. (It was where they sometimes bought Tryptophan.) The entire robbery had been caught on surveillance video, although the images were of minimal use since all four of the thieves were wearing masks. However, the way an assailant broke the owner's neck with one hand made it pretty clear they were either transgenic or Familiars. A clerk, a teenage girl, died later in the hospital from internal injuries suffered when she was thrown thirty feet across the store into a glass freezer case. A third victim, a young male cashier, had a broken back and would probably never walk again. The fourth, a female customer who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, got away with cuts and bruises -- and a glimpse of a barcode on the back of one of the robbers' necks.

"That's Dylan," Alec said, his voice grim but certain as he watched a replay of the owner's murder, pointing to the kid with his hand around Madam Wung-Fu's throat. He glanced at Max. "X6-395. He was under my command for awhile back at Manticore."

"How do you know?" Max asked. "You can't see his face."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "I can tell by the way he moves."

"Recognize any of the others?" she asked, not doubting Alec's observation.

"The one on the right, the one pitchin' cigarette cartons into the duffel bag, might be X6-489, goes by the name of 'Mixer."

"Mixer?"

They say he's got a fondness for rum and cokes -- mixed drinks -- get it?" Alec glanced at her, a little smile on his lips. "Not everyone has your talent for pickin' names, Max."

"I sure as hell wouldn't have picked 'Mixer,' Max had to agree. "And he's too young to be drinking alcohol anyway."

"So, we'll hook him up with AA when we get our hands on him," Alec shot back. "But first, we need to find the whole lot of 'em. They're makin' all of us look bad."

Max was really worried now. "You mean you think they've left Terminal City?"

"I haven't seen any of Dylan's gang around for at least three days."

"You've been keeping tabs on them?" Max said, impressed in spite of herself by his vigilance.

"They were a potential security risk," Alec said levelly. He smiled again. "And I'm supposedly in charge of security, right? Me and Mole?"

"Does Mole know about them?"

"He knows," Alec said.

"And ...?"

"He told me to clean up my own mess. That he'd do the same if any transhumans or nomalies step out of line, but that the X series were my problem."

"He's right that the X6's probably wouldn't listen to one of the downstairs people," Max replied, although she didn't like to think there was still a segregation issue going on in TC.

"No," Alec said. "But they'll listen to you and me." His eyes met hers over the map table she'd been leaning on. "You up for a little outside trip?"

"You know where they are?"

"I've got my suspicions."

"Lead the way," Max said, gesturing toward the media center's main door. "I'm right behind you."

*****

"Alec, this is a whorehouse!"

"The owner prefers the place be referred to as a 'brothel,'" Alec said. "Sounds classier and means they can charge higher prices."

"Why the hell did you bring me to a ... brothel?"

"Because this is where our bad little S.N.I.T.s are probably hidin'," Alec replied calmly as he checked out the alley behind "Betty's Big Bang Tavern."

"And you know this how?"

"Word of mouth," he tried.

"Alec!"

"Hey," he said defensively. "I know people! All right? Some of the arms dealers like to meet here. Betty pays the cops big time to leave the place alone and security's topnotch."

"Betty?" Max said, one dark eyebrow raised. "You're on a first name basis with the owner of a brothel?"

"Jealous, Max?" Alec said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. But at her scowl he quickly added, "Everyone calls her Betty. I've only met her once. Nice lady, if you like older women, well stacked."

Max's scowl deepened. "Met her? Or slept with her?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Alec snapped. "But I just talked to the woman, makin' sure she didn't mind me doin' a little business at her bar. It's not like I hafta pay for it you know."

"You mean sex?"

"No, I mean piano lessons," Alec said snidely. "Of course I mean sex. But why are you so riled up? It's just a fancy whorehouse. And I heard a rumor our kids are rentin' a back room to use as a base of operations. Guess they like the the room service."

"They're just children, Alec!"

"They're teenagers, Max. Weren't you ever a horny teenager?"

"No," Max lied primly.

Alec grinned, then ducked, barely avoiding the slap she'd aimed at his head. "Come on," he cajoled, indicating the back entrance. "Barney will let me in, no questions."

"What about me?" Max huffed, looking dubiously at the red painted door.

"I'll tell him you wanna apply for a job."

"What?"

"Why else would a woman be going into a place like this through the back entrance in the middle of the day?"

Max's shoulders sagged. "Just get us in, Super Stud," she hissed.

Alec knocked, and, when the door opened a few seconds later, met the burly bouncer with a disarming smile. "Hey, Barney, my man!" he said. "How's business?"

"Goin' good," the huge tattooed behemoth replied.

A full head taller than Alec, and with enough body hair to be mistaken for a gorilla, the bouncer was giving Max a very insulting once-over with his squinty little eyes. Alec noticed the saliva on the corner of that slash of a mouth and suppressed a shudder -- not that he was worried about Max. She could take this monkey down with one hand tied behind her back if need be. But, for some reason, he just didn't like other men looking at her that way, especially not when she was with him.

"Whatcha got for me?" Barney asked, the words lascivious.

"This is Maxine," Alec said, putting a hand possessively on Max's ass which she instantly slapped away. Alec jammed his fist into his jacket pocket and cleared his throat. "Is Betty in? My lady's lookin' for work."

"I try out all the new ones first," Barney said. "You know that, Alec. Sort of an audition."

"Yeah," Alec said, his mind working fast, looking for a way around this minor obstacle. "But ya see, I've already tested the goods and can vouch for her talent." The remark was accompanied by a knowing smirk and a wink.

Max wasn't amused. Forgetting Barney, she spun on her companion, her dark eyes blazing. "What?" she yelled. "You've what?" There was only so much of Alec she could take, and she'd just reached her limit.

Alec reached out, grabbed Max's hand, and squeezed hard -- a warning. She closed her mouth.

"So, you gonna let us in?" he asked, holding Max's fingers in a vise-like grip.

Barney was giving still drooling over Max, looking like he wanted her to drop to her knees and give him a blow job right there in the alley -- but he also saw the hard possessive gleam in Alec's eyes. There was something about the slighter built young man that made the bouncer think twice before pushing this too far. "I'll get Betty," he growled. "Come in and wait at the bar if you want."

*****

Betty, a fiftyish woman with shoulder-length bleached blonde hair, too much blue eye shadow, lashes that looked like they came from a costume shop, and size DDD breasts that she wasn't shy about revealing, hitched herself up on the bar stool beside Alec. The flouncy pink and yellow chiffon dress she was wearing was either a designer outfit that had cost a fortune, or something from Goodwill. Alec couldn't tell.

"Come to work for me at last, sweet cheeks?" she asked him, her pearly white-capped teeth flashing in the dim light. "You know I have clients who'd pay a small fortune for a go at that gorgeous ass of yours. You could clear two, three thousand a night easy."

Alec cleared he throat and tried not to look at Max, who he just knew was smirking. "Thanks for the offer, Betty, but I've already got a full time job."

"So, you've brought a friend who's looking for a sponsor?" she inquired, moving right along and turning her attention to Max. Her critical eyes raked Max's exotic featured face, ample bosom, small waist, and leather-encased perfect legs. "She's a bit on the skinny side, looks like she could use a good meal or two, and that stringy hair will need a lot of work, but yeah, I'll put her in my stable, as a favor mind you -- but not at top dollar. The anorexic look isn't much in demand any more."

"Hey!" Max shouted, offended in more ways than one. Now, it was Alec's turn to smirk.

"Actually, Betty," Alec said, trying to de-fuse the volatile situation, "Max and I are really here tryin' to find some of our, uh, relatives. We just used the whole lookin' for work thing to get past Barney. Half a dozen teenage boys? Rowdy bunch? Heard they might be stayin' in that big back room you've got, the one you sometimes rent out."

Betty's pale blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You say they're kin of yours, these boys?" she said. "Not that I'm sayin' they're here."

"Cousins," Max said quickly. She glanced at Alec, not knowing how much to reveal.

"You know what they are, Betty," Alec said quietly, cutting straight to the chase, his green-gold eyes intense. "You know they're killin' people. They'll only bring trouble to your door. Let us take care of this quietly. We'll get 'em outta your hair for good, put 'em back where they belong, stop the murders."

Betty nodded, her blue eyes speculative ... agreeing.

Alec smiled to himself, sensing he'd just won. Behind him Max started to say something, but his fingers clamped down hard on her wrist again.

"Your kids are in the back," Betty said quietly, sliding her ample buttocks off the stool. She turned to look at him. "Be careful, sweet cheeks. Their money's been good so far, but after last night I was gonna have Barney chuck 'em out anyway. Stealin's one thing. Murderin' a woman and a little shop girl in cold blood is another."

Alec didn't tell Betty that if she and Barney had tried to evict their naughty tenants, they'd both have probably ended up in body bags as well. Instead, he nodded and said, "We'll take care of it."

The woman smiled. "Do that and you've got a permanent fifty percent discount on any of my girls you want."

"Thanks," Alec said, not turning down the gift even though Max was stepping on his foot.

"Alec!" Max whispered loudly in his ear as they made their way cautiously down the hallway that led to the back room. "Hookers? You really come here and ... and ... do it with hookers?"

"Well, where else am I gonna gets some?" Alec said easily, deliberately not confirming her suspicions, but not denying them either. "The ladies in Terminal City, at least the ones of my species, are all bent outta shape after Renfro's breeding program, and I'm not gonna risk puttin' an innocent ordinary in the line of fire -- unlike someone who's name I won't mention."

"Stop it," Max said coldly. "You know it's different with me and Logan."

"Different how, Max?" Alec asked, his voice hushed as they approached the door to the back room. There were loud voices coming from the other side, and a TV was blaring. The S.N.I.T.s weren't expecting trouble ... weren't listening. Sloppy. Amateur. Stupid. They'd learned better than that back at Manticore.

"Just ... different," Max said lamely, throwing him an evil look. "You really do sleep with prostitutes? You pay to have sex?" She shuddered slightly at the thought, a look of disgust on her face.

Alec still didn't answer (it wasn't any of her business). Instead, he motioned Max behind him as he stepped up to knock on the door.

"They might have guns," Max said.

"They won't shoot me," Alec replied evenly. "Birth rank still counts for something. They won't shoot an X5." He said the words with confidence, but his stomach still tightened as he rapped knuckles on the door and immediately moved sideways, out of the line of potential gunfire.

He'd expected a "Who is it?" But instead the panel flew open almost instantly and he was facing the X6 known as Dylan, a 16-year-old bare-chested, barefoot kid with red-dyed, freeze-gelled hair, a nose ring, and bloodshot brown eyes.

"What the hell do you want?" Dylan snarled, revealing he also had a tongue stud.

Alec's eyes quickly took in the room. The other five X6's were also there, three of them totally naked as they lay on piles of blankets enjoying the services of Betty's girls. Mixer and another one had apparently finished fucking but hadn't bothered putting their pants back on,. Nude from the waist down, they were scarfing pizza in front of a television set -- a truly disgusting sight in Alec's opinion. The fact there were guests at the door did nothing to break up the orgy.

"All of you are coming back to Terminal City with me right now, Dylan," Alec said, his voice reasonable but with an edge. "And that's where you're gonna stay. No more robberies. No more murders. No more trouble of any kind."

Dylan grinned, revealing dirty teeth that looked like they hadn't been brushed since Manticore burned down.

"Says who?"

"Says me," Max said, moving up to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Alec.

Dylan looked from Max to Alec, his amusement growing. "I see you brought your cunt with you." He glanced back at his fellow X6's. Two were riding their women, and one of them was receiving a blow job, his eyes closed in ecstasy as the petite brunette hooker did her work between his legs. "I haven't had a fuck myself yet tonight," Dylan added. "Nice of you to bring me something so tasty." He reached out and grabbed hold of Max's arm.

The boy was high on something, Alec thought. He had to be -- to act like this. Either that, or the kid had a death wish. Max, of course, could take out Dylan without breaking a sweat, but for some reason he still felt compelled to intervene.

Before Max could react, Alec's hand lashed out in a sharp-edged blow that broke both Dylan's hold on Max and the X6's wrist. The boy shrieked in agony and backed off, his eyes glowing with rage. "What the fuck did you do that for?" he screamed.

"Guess I'm just a chivalrous kind of guy," Alec replied evenly, his voice now as cold as any would ever hear it.

"She's just a whore of an X5 bitch!" Dylan yelled. "Everyone knows that! Hell, when she's in heat she'll sleep with anything that's got a dick! But then you know that, don't you, 494! You've had your prick inside her hole plenty of times -- 'least that's what everyone back at TC says."

They'd finally gotten the attention of the others in the room. All eyes were on the two X5's at the door.

"You know," Dylan went on, "I was plannin' on havin' a taste of her pussy myself eventually anyway. She's not bad lookin' for one of the older series ... one of the flawed ones." He backed up several steps and glanced over at his fellow gang members. "So nice of you to bring her to us, 494. Now, you get the fuck out of here and leave the bitch with us."

Alec shook his head, amazed at the arrogance mood-altering substances could induce in X6's, Manticore immunity or not.

"How do you want to handle this, Max?" Alec quietly asked his companion.

"Well, unless you want me to be the party here, it looks like you and I are gonna have to spoil their fun, pretty boy," she said, not at all phased by the verbal abuse. "Oh, and thanks for the rescue, but it wasn't necessary."

"You're welcome," Alec said without looking at her. "I know it wasn't." He glanced at her almost shyly. But it felt good.

He studied the situation in the room, the positions of the X6's, where the women were, assessing possible plans of action. "You take the three in their birthday suits to the left," he said low under his breath. "I'll get Mr. Big Mouth here, and the ones with the munchies."

"Let's kick some ass," Max agreed, a hungry look in her eyes that Alec hadn't seen in a long time, a look he knew was mirrored in his own.

The X6's were house cats; the X5's were panthers. It was as simple as that -- something Dylan should have remembered. Stronger, faster, smarter, and created to command their next generation brethren, X5's were chock full of those pesky little personality quirks that Manticore had striven to breed out of the X6's -- independence, stubbornness, extreme aggression, and an inborn urge to kill. Ticking off an X5 was nothing short of suicide -- as the S.N.I.T.s were about to find out.

Whenever Alec fought ordinaries, like in his cage fights or on the street, he usually pulled his punches -- in spite of his breeding, not relishing the idea of killing a human with his bare hands. But the X6's were far tougher than mere humans, and it truly felt good to be able to let loose, fight the way he was designed to fight, not holding back at all. Not since his bout with Ames White at County General had he been able to unleash everything he had.

He felt the kick one of the pizza munching X6's landed on his midsection as he charged, but his blur was faster than the kid's, and a second later he had Mixer around the throat. One punch to the face, and the boy went limp. Dropping the brat, Alec whirled to meet the charge of his second opponent, this time using a whirling crescent kick to the head to down the teenager.

This is too easy! Panting lightly, his eyes glowing, Alec glanced at their prone bodies, noting they were still breathing -- a fact that would undoubtedly please Max. And then he turned his attention to Dylan who was still standing by the door -- and the semi-automatic pistol the kid was pointing at his chest.

Alec knew he had to be careful here. Inferior genetics or not, Dylan was still a product of Manticore and he had no doubt whatsoever the kid was going to pull that trigger. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Max had felled two of her adversaries, but the third was on top of her with his hand pushed down the front of her shirt, copping a feel of all things. Max's face was livid, her rage awesome to behold. For a brief second, Alec actually felt sorry for the horny teenager. But then there was an audible crunch as Max crushed the naked kid's testicles, and he winced in sympathy at the agonized scream.

Leaping to her feet, Max's eyes raked the scene, noted the other two unconscious X6's, and stopped on Dylan who was still holding Alec at gunpoint.

"Goodbye, motherfucker," Dylan said, his lip curling as his finger tightened on the trigger.

Alec was coiled to blur and and take the gun. But suddenly there was the sound of a siren right outside the room's window, accompanied by flashing red and blue lights. "You are surrounded!" a police bull horn blared. "Drop your weapons and come out with your hands up!"

The Sector Cops had finally tracked down their murderers -- not completely a bad thing Alec supposed, except that he and Max were going to be caught right in the middle of the bust.

But first things first -- Max took advantage of Dylan's brief moment of distraction to blur across the room and wrench the gun from his hand. Alec was beside her in an instant -- and it was his fist that sent the teenage killer into oblivion.

"What do you want to do now?" Alec asked Max, looking from the cowering hookers and unconscious kids to the back door that led into the police-filled alley. "Surrender to your cop friend Clemente and try to explain? Or do we 'fall back' as Mole would say?"

"Out the front?" Max suggested, her eyes mirroring uncharacteristic indecision.

Alec's reply was to grab her hand and pull her into the hallway. However, they quickly skidded to a stop at the sound of more police entering the main entrance of Betty's Big Bang Tavern.

"Alec?" Max looked up at him.

There were rooms on either side of them, closed doors that led to the private cubicles used by Betty's clientele. "Here," Alec said, dragging Max with him as he threw open one of the doors only to be met with a shriek from a nude red-headed hooker and an evil stare from the obese client with a gigantic hairy butt who was mounting her.

"Sorry," Alec gulped, closing the door again quickly and truly wishing he hadn't just seen that. He tried the next one and found what he was looking for -- an empty room ... an empty bed. Spinning Max in his arms, he began tugging on her shirt.

"What the hell are you doing?" Max shouted, hauling back an arm to slug him.

There was a crash from down the hall, the sound of a door splintering, and police voices shouting, "Everyone down on the floor!"

"Max," Alec said, his deep green eyes earnest. "We don't have any time. We can't get out of here, and we can't hide. They're gonna grab us up too. Our barcodes? Remember?"

Max looked at the bed. She understood what Alec wanted to do.

"How will it look for the Transgenic Cause when their leader makes the evening news, arrested for murder?" Alec said. "Bad enough they're gonna nab our six little bar-coded brats. They're gonna paint you and me with the same brush, Max. Accuse us of those robberies and killings too. Hell, they'll probably say we were the masterminds. Our credibility with Clemente, the Army, and everyone else will be shot to hell."

Heavy footsteps were thudding in the hall. Max looked desperately from the bed to Alec.

"Don't be a prude, Max," Alec practically pleaded. He tossed his leather jacked over a chair, grabbed his black t-shirt in both hands, and peeled the garment off revealing a trim waist, smooth muscular chest, and adrenalin-hardened nipples. Then, without looking at her, he kicked his shoes away and began unbuttoning the fly of his jeans.

"Everything?" Max said in a surprisingly small voice.

"Everything," Alec said, jaw clenched. "And, I never thought I'd be sayin' this to you under these circumstances, but hurry."

With angry fire smoldering in her eyes, Max turned away from Alec and stripped to her panties.

"Those too," Alec said without looking, but apparently knowing what she was leaving on. "This has got to seem real."

Gritting her teeth, Max complied, the silken undergarment joining the pile of clothes on the floor. Then she slid beneath the covers, squeezed her eyes closed, and tried to stop trembling as Alec's naked warmth enveloped her.

They were "barely" in time. Alec had just settled himself between Max's legs, taken her in his arms, and initiated a deep kiss, when the cubicle door burst open and five heavily armed Sector Cops stood staring down at them. Instinctively, Max grabbed the back of Alec's neck, covering his barcode with her hand. Pretending to be drunk, Alec looked over his shoulder and angrily slurred, "Hey! Can't a guy have a private fuck around here? What do you dickheads want?"

"Looks to me like you're the dickhead," one of the cops sniggered. But he was eying Max's caramel breasts, completely revealed in all their glory when Alec had turned around. The sheet had also slipped, displaying the male X5's tightly muscled ass and most of his privates. Max took a deep shuddering breath and tried to smile seductively. She was mortified -- but she still was careful to keep her hand in place on Alec's neck, making it look like a lover's caress.

"Hey," one of the cops, a big burly fellow with a red mustache, asked. "How much was she?"

Alec glanced down at his unwilling partner, his eyes secretly smiling in spite of their dire predicament. "A hundred bucks," he drawled. Then he shrugged. "She's new. Lacks a little in experience, but makes up for it with her mouth. She's got a wicked suck."

"I'm gonna go reserve her with Betty for tonight," the cop said with a grin, giving Max (and truth be told Alec's ass) another once over before motioning for his men to check the other rooms.

"Just wait your turn," Alec reminded, before leaning down and capturing Max's mouth in another extremely possessive kiss. She made a little sound of protest, but his hand found hers beneath the pillow and he squeezed her fingers, begging for her cooperation. She relaxed beneath him, and Alec deepened the kiss, at the same time thrusting his hips, wanting to make it look like authentic copulation for their audience.

He didn't open his eyes until he heard the door click closed. And when he did, he quickly shut them again. Max was beyond pissed. The next thing he knew, her hands were hitting his chest and he was sailing backwards off the bed.

"Hey!" he yelled as he hit the wall. "You could have just asked me to get off!"

"That's what I was afraid you were going to do!" Max shouted. She hopped off the bed, her nakedness completely forgotten in the heat of anger. Her close-fisted blow caught Alec in the cheek, and he fell to the floor, his ego and face both badly bruised. "That's for touching me like that! How could you be ... how could you get ..." She stopped, unable to say the words.

"How could I get aroused at a time like this?" Alec supplied for her.

"Yeah!"

"Max," he said softly. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Max glanced down at her nude body and blushed. Then she spun and began gathering up her clothes. "If you ever tell anyone about this, I swear I'll kill you," she said coldly as she pulled on her panties.

"My lips are sealed," Alec muttered as he reached for his jeans, at the same time ruefully touching a hand to his battered face. "I'm sorry you find bein' with me so horrible. But it was the only way I could think of to keep us from bein' arrested."

Max grew still, holding her tank top in one hand, her breasts still bare. Then she turned around and unashamedly faced him.

Alec's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't been joking about what the sight of her body did to him -- and damn it, Max knew it. He held his Levi's in front of himself so she wouldn't see.

"I don't think you're horrible," she said softly. "And I know you didn't do this just to cop a feel. You did what you had to do to save our lives."

Somewhat mollified, Alec took a deep breath and nodded.

For the first time Max smiled. "And, by the way, you're a helluva good kisser. But that compliment will never leave this room."

"Wouldn't expect it too," Alec said, his voice for some reason husky ... deep. He cleared his throat. "You're in love with Logan. I know that Max. And I respect it. I'd never really--"

Max stepped forward and placed two fingers against his lips, shushing him. For a few brief seconds their eyes locked. And then Max turned away and pulled on her tank top. Alec finished dressing as well. Out in the hall they could hear the cops making their arrests, reading the S.N.I.T.s their rights.

"What about them?" Alec asked, referring to the incorrigible X6's. "We really just gonna let 'em be arrested?"

"I don't see we have any other choice," Max said tiredly.

"You gonna break 'em out later?"

"They're killers, Alec. What would we do with them back in Terminal City? Lock them up ourselves?"

"They're as good as dead in jail."

"I know," Max said, her voice strangely cold. "But I can't risk the rest of us. They had a choice, and they made it." She looked up at him. "And it's not as if we didn't try."

Alec nodded. Actually, he agreed with her decision. Only he didn't have nearly the moral dilemma about it as Max did. He knew how hard it was for her to abandon the kids. But, just like that time she'd been willing to turn him over to Ames White when she was convinced he'd murdered someone in cold blood, she had the courage now to do what had to be done in spite of her personal feelings. That took guts -- maybe more guts than he had.

He admired her for that. But the compliments would have to wait for later.

"Come on," he said, urging Max down the hall away from the cops and their prisoners. "Let's go home."

However, Max was still looking longingly toward the teenagers. They were coming around now, howling in protest as handcuffs were snapped on, unable to make a break for it in the face of so many guns. An X5 like herself or Alec might have gotten out of the situation -- but not an X6.

"Max," Alec said, his voice more urgent. "We need to get out of here before one of those stupid kids decides to rat us out."

Max knew he was right. But it was still with a heavy sigh that she finally let him lead her away.

THE END