Poison

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

ARCHIVE: No

Poison
By Valjean

This is a true standalone story. It does NOT exist in "The Best Laid Plans" universe. It's another scenario where Alec might have been accused of betraying his friends for a woman. Warning. This one is real nasty. Don't read if you're easily upset. (extreme angst) -- author's note

************************************* Alec couldn't wait to see Max. His life had been hard these past weeks, keeping secrets from her, suffering her suspicious looks and criticizing remarks. She thought he was sleeping with that slut and talking out of turn to the other side. But the computer disc he'd left in her room last night would make everything all right again. She'd realize that it had all been an act on his part so he could get information from McKinley's people -- information that would save a lot of mutant lives.

But even more important was the note he'd included with the disc, words apologizing to her for the deception. She'd had a right to be angry with him, he'd written. But now he hoped she'd give him a chance to make everything up to her. It was the closest thing to a declaration of love he'd ever made to a woman.

God, Alec thought. I miss her so much. He wanted her to be proud of him, to approve of him, to let him be by her side again. But most of all -- and he could admit it to himself now -- he wanted Max to love him.

He spotted her across the room, standing on the raised area of the command center with Logan. She saw him and smiled, the look in her eyes telling him everything he needed to know, and a huge weight lifted from Alec's heart. She'd read his message. Everything was going to be all right. She moved toward the stairs. She was coming to meet him. But Logan called out and she stopped to speak with him.

There was a sound behind him. Alec turned and glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, Mole," he said.

"Hey, Alec," the big lizard man replied as he came alongside his friend.

Alec caught Max's eye again. She was looking directly at him. And then, with a swiftness he never thought possible, his life was over.

The knife blow was delivered with the surgical precision of an assassin, Mole wrapping his huge arm around Alec from behind and plunging the hunting blade into his solar plexus. Deliberately angled upwards, cold steel shoved through heart, lungs, and spinal column. Held helpless in that crushing grip, Alec struggled, tearing at the knife with his hands. With a ruthless grin Mole twisted the weapon until those struggles stopped. The crunch of severed muscle and bone when the blade withdrew was sickening.

"And that's the way to take care of an X5 traitor," Mole said quietly as he stepped back and released his victim. "A quick, clean kill."

Alec remained on his feet for a moment, swaying, unable to comprehend what had happened. Blood. A lot of blood. Shouldn't there be pain? Why isn't there any pain? Max? He sank to his knees. Max caught him before he hit the floor.

The last living sensations Alec ever had were Max's arms around him, her voice crying his name, and her beautiful face looking down at him before everything that was his world vanished forever in a blinding flash of white light.

*****
The day before

"Max, the evidence is undeniable." Logan said. "Alec's been selling us out to McKinley. That girl's been his go-between. He's endangered us all. He's a traitor."

Max couldn't swallow the lump that rose in her throat as she looked at the surveillance photos Dix had taken the night before -- Alec and that slut meeting with McKinley's assistant, Alec taking an envelope of money, Alec kissing the whore on the mouth.

"You're their leader, Max," Logan pressed. "You have to do something about this."

"I'll take care of it," Mole said quietly from the other side of the room.

Max looked at the transhuman for a long moment. "What will you do?"

"We have our own way of getting rid of problems like Alec in here," Mole said.

"Just ... don't hurt him," Max said. "Make him go away. Tell him he's not welcome here any more. But ... don't hurt him. I'd tell him myself but ... I can't even look at him right now."

"Oh I won't hurt him," Mole said. "Don't worry about that."

And then later that night, when Max went back to her room, she found an envelope. Inside was a disc containing information proving Senator McKinley was a member of White's Breeding Cult, pictures and tapes of him meeting with White, and a list of all the other cult members in Washington.

Max's breath was literally taken away. This information would insure the survival of her people -- of them all.

There was a note:

Max,

I know you think I'm a traitor and a jerk. I don't blame you. I mean, hell, how can I expect you to think any different about me when I keep messing up your life. But this time is different. This time I had a reason for acting like a jack ass all these weeks. I knew Rena was working for McKinley, and I knew I could get information from her if I played it right. Well, I did. I did play it right, and that disc you're holding right now is everything we need to keep us safe for a very long time.

Please forgive me Max. Rena meant nothing to me. You ... well I think you know how I feel about you. We need to talk. There are some things I need to say to you now that this undercover crap is finished. I know you're not happy with Logan. That's the only reason I'm writing this part of the note. I want you to be happy, Max. Give me a chance. -- Alec

She lay awake in her bed all night thinking-- weighing one man against the other. And by morning Max knew who belonged at her side. She'd tell Alec as soon as she saw him, and then she'd let everyone in Terminal City know what a hero he really was.

*****
Back to the present

"No!" Max screamed when she saw the knife plunge into his heart. "Alec!"

He stood for a moment, trembling, clutching the bloody hole in his chest with both hands, those beautiful hazel green eyes wide with utter disbelief. He looked down at all the blood, then raised his head seeking her one last time. Max. He tried to say her name but couldn't.

He fell to his knees just as she reached him.

"He's innocent!" Max screamed, holding Alec in her arms as he went completely down. She looked up at Mole. "Why?" she wailed. "I told you not to hurt him!"

"I didn't hurt him," Mole said, wiping Alec's blood from his blade on his shirt. "I killed him."

Max sat on the floor with Alec's head in her lap as his life slipped away. He was trying to breathe, but his lungs were filling with blood. His heart was trying to beat but was too torn. And his spinal column was severed.

Max knew there was nothing she could do but hold him. He was beyond Manticore's help ... beyond all help.

"Alec," she said, tears falling from her eyes onto his face as she cradled him. She spoke quickly, knowing she had only seconds, needing him to hear her words. "Alec, I know what you did. I know you didn't betray us. I know you love me."

His eyes were still open, but he was looking beyond her now, as if seeing something in the distance.

"Alec, I love you."

His weight grew heavier, and she saw the light leaving those eyes, the dark pupils expanding to cover the beautiful green color forever. And then suddenly -- he was gone.

"Alec!" Max sobbed, kissing his lips then burying her face against his bloody leather jacket. "Alec!"

Don’t you see, 452? You’re poison. You destroy everyone that you love.

*****
Maybe?

Max awoke with a start, shaking, his name a scream in her throat.

"Max?" Alec said sleepily, his strong arm encircling her, the feel of his naked skin warm against her breasts. "What's wrong? Bad dream?"

"Alec?" Max said in a small voice. Then a little louder, "Alec?"

"What is it, Max? I'm right here."

"You're all right," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and holding on for dear life. "Oh God, it was just a dream. A horrible dream."

Then she buried herself against his body, her head against his chest, the comforting sound of his big heart safely beating finally lulling her back to sleep.

THE END

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