DISCLAIMER: All DARK ANGEL characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and DARK ANGEL itself belongs to FOX.
ARCHIVE: No
The following short story is based on characters
created for the television series DARK ANGEL,
and is set in the time frame following the Max Allan Collins novel AFTER THE DARK. I was also inspired by Infie's fanfiction stories "Being 494" and "Being 493." -- author's note
Teeth
By Valjean
*************************************
"Max, what is it?"
She turned to him as he dropped gracefully beside her, sitting Indian-style, his long limbs folding with the ease and strength of the natural athlete he was, his balance impeccable (as well it should be considering where they were -- on top of the Space Needle).
He was so beautiful ... so much hers ... and she loved him so very much ... But--
"Max?" Alec prompted again. "What's wrong? You look like someone died." He shifted his gaze from her face to the twinkling lights of Seattle far below. "But if you don't wanna talk ... I understand." He smiled then in his best boyish manner, those hazel-green eyes sparkling with good humor even in the darkness. "Just consider the offer open," he added, "as a certain really hot chick once said to me."
Oh, God, what if it was true? What would she do?
"Alec," she began carefully. "I need to ask you something."
He leaned back on his elbows, the smile replaced by a quizzical look, eyebrows arching. "Max," he said, falling into the quick patter that was so him. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it. You can't prove it. Nobody saw me, and the sheep are lying." He waited then, expecting her to laugh.
She didn't -- laugh that is.
"Hey," he said, sobering as he sat up and put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to the comforting heat of his body. She loved the way that felt ... even moreso at night when they were naked together under the covers ... warm ... safe ... not alone because they had each other ...
"Alec," she said quickly. "How did you lose that tooth? The one replaced with an implant?"
Her lover did a doubletake. "What?" he said, shaking his head slightly in disbelief at the question. "Why the hell do you wanna know that, Max?"
"Because ... because I want to know," she said, realizing how lame that sounded. "When Dr. Shankar took that x-ray this afternoon--"
"You mean the one where she was checkin' to see if I had a concussion from that fall?" he interrupted. "That totally unnecessary x-ray I might add since I told you and everyone else I was fine."
"Alec, you fell three stories off a roof top and landed on a car."
"And walked away from it," the X5 pointed out smugly. "Embarrassed as hell for losin' the fight with those bangers -- although let me point out it was twelve to one -- and admittedly I'm a little sore." He flexed a shoulder and winced. "But basically I was all right. It was just you and Mole fussin' that made me give in and go to the E.R."
"Staggered away is more like it according to Mole," she scolded. "Next time don't pick a fight with the neighbors."
"They were stealing from us and needed to be taught a lesson," Alec insisted. "But you asked about my tooth? What about it?"
"Yeah," Max said carefully, watching him closely. "How'd you lose it?"
The X5 shrugged. "This isn't something I brag about. I'd like to tell you I got it knocked out in combat or some such heroic manly thing, but truth is, I got whacked in the mouth by a teeter-totter back when Manticore still let us kids have recess. You know, playtime between training sessions? It was a permanent tooth, and they couldn't even save the root so the dentist put in the implant -- wantin' me to be 'perfect' and all. It was a pain in the butt -- or rather jaw -- to go through, but I've never had any trouble with it since." Head tilting slightly to one side, he regarded her carefully. "Satisfied?"
"Yeah," Max said, not sounding satisfied at all. "It's just that--"
"What?"
"I know this sounds crazy, but ... Ben had a missing tooth, too."
It took a moment for her implication to sink in, but when it did, Alec's eyes widened with astonishment. "Max," he said in a low voice, shaking his head at the same time with disbelief. "Tell me you don't think what I think you're thinkin'."
"That you're really Ben?" she said, putting into words the hideous worry that had been gnawing at her all day, ever since seeing that x-ray. She raised her chin a fraction. "Put my mind at ease, Alec. Prove to me you're not him ... not Ben."
Alec blinked, then shook his head hard. "How?" he exclaimed. "No, you prove that I am a dead guy. There. The ball's in your court now." Then he got real. "Come on, Max. I'm me ... your old bud Alec ... the guy you sleep with every night. If I were Ben-boy don't you think you'd have noticed before now? And what about my bar code? Last time I checked, it said 494."
"Bar codes can be genetically altered, Alec. Manticore could do that."
"Then there's the small point that you killed Ben yourself," he added. "Shouldn't that be proof enough?"
"I thought Zack was dead, too," she said. "If Manticore brought him back, they could have fixed a broken neck easy."
Alec took a deep breath, as if realizing this was going to be a very long night. "All right," he said. "What can I say to convince you I'm not really a wolf in sheep's clothing? Or make that a psycho killer."
"I don't know," she said. "It's just that now I've got this suspicion and I can't shake it."
"We could go look up Lydecker," Alec said. "Ask him about me and Ben ... make certain there really were two of us. 'Bout time we checked up on the bastard anyway."
"That wouldn't bother you?" Max said. "To ask Lydecker? Although getting the truth out of the Colonel has never been easy."
"No. Why should it?" He leaned in and nuzzled the top of her head with his nose, his voice dropping an octave. "I've got nothin' to hide, Max -- well, at least not in that respect."
"But you once told me you don't remember much about your childhood."
"Thanks to you and your runaway brothers and sisters," he said. "Reindoctrination's tough on a ten-year-old, Max. But if I was Ben, and had been raised with you ... I'd remember that."
"Not if Manticore didn't want you to remember," Max insisted. "Alec, what if Ben didn't die in the woods that April. What if Manticore took him back, fixed him up, but ... I don't know ... somehow erased his personality and ... and ..."
"Created X5-494 instead?" Alec said, his voice chiding now. "Pretty good job of retrofitting for only a six-month stint in psy-ops, wouldn't you say?"
"But you admit you were in psy-ops that summer," she said.
"Yeah, for observation, not re-building, Max. I'm not Ben. Ben's dead. He was my twin brother, but he's dead."
"No one ever saw the two of you together," she pointed out.
"No one ever saw you and Sam together either," he shot right back at her. "Or Zack and Lane, or Krit and Devon ... Should I go on? You know the twins exist, Max. Why can't you believe I'm Ben's? All this just because of a missing tooth?"
"Can you name anyone in Terminal City who went on missions with you at Manticore?" she asked, sounding more and more like an inquisitor. "Did anyone there work with 494 before April, 2020?"
"Cece knew me," Alec said, beginning to grow indignant. "And Biggs."
"Both dead!" Max said, drawing away from him.
"Sam," Alec snapped. "She and I were Unit mates for seven years, even if we weren't bosom buddies."
"I'd ask her," Max said stiffly. "But she's a little bit out of the country at the moment. So's Jace."
Alec sighed heavily and looked toward the heavens. "So, you really think 494 didn't exist until after Ben died--"
"--supposedly died," Max interrupted.
"Max," he said patiently, speaking as if to a little child. "I was born X5-494. I've always been X5-494 ... well, 494R if you believe those memos Logan got a hold of. But still 494, not 493. You say Ben lost a tooth too. I don't know how, but mine was knocked out by a teeter-totter. End of story."
"Maybe that's what Manticore programmed you to believe," Max said.
Alec threw hands up in the air. "Okay. So if I really am 493, what of it?"
"Then you'd be a psychotic serial killer."
"Not anymore!" the X5 practically shouted. "If I'm reprogrammed, I'm really someone else. Someone, I might add, who you made love with last night! Max, this is ridiculous! I'm not the crazy one. You are!"
"You could have a dual personality, Alec," she said. "You wouldn't even remember being Ben, but you could still have been him ... be him I mean ... are him ... It's awfully coincidental that after Ben supposedly died and his body was taken back to Manticore you were suddenly in psy-ops for so-called observation. The timing's too perfect."
"So you think Ben was working for Manticore all along?" Alec said. "You think it was Ben who fell in love with Rachel Berrisford?"
"Yes."
"Then why do I remember Rachel so well, huh, Max?"
He had her there. She looked at him blankly. "In a dual personality, one mind doesn't remember what the other does, does it?" he prodded.
"The dominate personality might remember," Max tried.
"But I don't remember anything at all about Ben ... his childhood ... the escape ... what must have been his recapture. However, I do remember all about Rachel. 494 was in love with that girl, Max. Not 493. Now, how does that fit into your bizarre theory?"
"Maybe you escaped after the Berrisford incident," Max said in a low voice. "Maybe that's when you killed all those people. Then -- after Manticore got you again that April -- they made you into Alec, but for some reason you still remember Rachel."
Alec clenched his jaw and looked to the Heavens for help, finding it difficult to argue with such circular logic. "Like flippin' a switch? he finally said. "Max, I'm not a machine. But I'm damned no matter what, right? I could have been either 493 or 494 at any given point of my life and you'll make up things to force your theory to work. There aren't enough facts out there to prove either way." He took hold of her shoulders and stared deeply into her eyes. "I'm Alec, Max. X5-494. That's who I've always been and who I always will be. Ben ... X5-493 is dead and buried back at Manticore. There were twins, Max. You know there were. I'm just one of 'em."
However, Max was thinking about something else. Pulling back from Alec's grip, she swallowed hard. "And that's how we'll prove things one way or the other. What you said."
"What I said?"
"If Ben's really dead, he should be buried at the Manticore Gillette, Wyoming base."
"Maybe," Alec conceded, his eyes narrowing. "So, you want to go to Wyoming and dig up my brother's body?"
"Yeah," Max said. "I do." She looked at him. "I have to know, Alec. I have to know who you really are and that I can trust you."
Alec was truly flummoxed. "Why now?" he asked. "What brought this all on? And don't tell me it was teeth."
She looked away, out at the lights of Seattle so far below. "Maybe I can tell you later," she said. "But not right now. Just ... come with me to Wyoming, Alec. Help me be certain you are who we think you are."
"And if I'm not?" the X5 asked softly. "What then? You'll kill me -- again?"
Max shivered in the night breeze, wrapping arms around herself for warmth. Alec moved to hold her once more, but she slid away and he stopped -- hurt. "If I have to," she finally said.
*****
Everyone in Terminal City figured their two X5 leaders were nuts, and secretly Alec thought they were probably right. They were deep in negotiations with the city over electricity rights, City Council had an important meeting coming up this week, and the Art Mall books were being audited of all things. This wasn't a good time for either of them to be out of town. However, Max wouldn't be dissuaded from her little pilgrimage.
"You know, they could have cremated him," Alec said as they walked between the rows of headstone markers in Manticore's transgenic cemetery two days later, looking for his brother's resting place. "Or kept him in cryo storage."
"Or not," Max said loudly as she suddenly knelt on the ground and began brushing dirt off one of the markers.
Alec walked up beside her and looked down. "X5-493" was all the stone said, along with the dates 5/7/99 - 4/24/20. Ben had died just shy of his 21st birthday.
Max picked up one of the shovels they'd brought along, and Alec followed her lead. They both began to dig, and less than 20 minutes later had unearthed a coffin. Dropping beside it, she put her hands on the catches. Then she looked up at him, as if seeking permission.
"What if it's empty?" Alec had to ask, unsure himself what that would mean.
"Then it's empty," Max said. "And we're back to square one with regards to your true identity."
"My true identity's X5-494," Alec said for the umpteenth time. "I'm the guy you say's the best lover you ever had. Remember? Not that you've given me the opportunity to show off my prowess the last few days."
She actually smiled at that. "I'll say this," she murmured. "If Alec doesn't really exist, then my brother Ben is one great actor."
"It's not an act, Max," Alec said, dead serious now. "It never was. "I'm me, and Ben's dead." He nodded at the coffin. "Open it and see."
Biting her lower lip, Max eased open the catches and lifted the lid. The smell of formaldehyde that struck her sensitive nose was almost overwhelming, forcing her to move back, but both she and Alec could clearly see that there was, indeed, a body in the coffin.
Alec took a deep breath and -- for the first time in quite awhile -- relaxed. Maybe now all of Max's fears would be put to rest.
The face of the corpse was desiccated, but still recognizable. A ruined, rotted version of his own with high cheekbones painfully prominent above leather-dry withered cheeks, and perfect white teeth protruding from between once-full, sensuous lips now thin and drawn back in a permanent rictus grin. The eyeballs were missing -- those beautiful hazel-green orbs undoubtedly having been taken for transplant purposes, the lids thankfully closed but sunken. A hideous scar bissected the body from stem to stern and beyond. The harvest had been thorough ...
"Ben," Max said, her eyes filling with tears as she took in the naked corpse lying so undignified and exposed before them.
"We shouldn't have disturbed him," Alec said softly. Then, in an even lower voice, he added, "Sorry, bro."
Max looked back over her shoulder at the living breathing X5-494, an apology deep in her eyes. "I'm sorry, too," she said, getting to her feet and throwing herself into Alec's arms. "I'm so, so sorry."
"Shhh," he soothed, stroking her long dark hair with his hand as she sobbed into his shoulder. "It's all right, Max. Manticore's made us all paranoid. You had to find out for sure."
She sniffed loudly and looked up into his eyes. "But you never had a doubt, did you?" she said.
The corner of Alec's mouth quirked up in a smile. "No," he said. "Manticore put me through hell a lot of times, but I always remembered everything ... even the stuff they didn't want me to remember. Plus, I'd known about my twin brother ever since I was ten ... when you guys escaped." He looked down into the coffin. "Let him rest again," he said. "In peace this time."
Max glanced up at Alec's face, then raised her gaze to the overcast sky. "Do you think Ben knows?" she said. "About you and me?"
Alec looked up, too, but shook his head. "Anything's possible, Max," he said. "Hell, our mere existence proves that. We're a goddamned fucking miracle that was never supposed to have been born. Yet, here we are."
"Do you think he'd approve?"
"Do we care?"
"I care," she said. "I like to think that Ben would be happy knowing he was going to be an uncle."
Alec's heart skipped a beat, then he shook his head, thinking he'd heard wrong. "What did you just say?"
"I said that I like to think Ben would be happy knowing he was going to be an uncle," Max repeated. "That I was going to have his brother's baby."
"So that's what this is all about," Alec breathed, his eyes widening with astonishment. "That's why you were suddenly so scared about the possibility I might not be who you thought I was. You're pregnant. The baby's mine, and--"
"That x-ray really freaked me out, Alec," Max said, burying herself in his arms again. "It's something I've thought about before -- that the insanity could be genetic -- and I had to know for certain who my child's father is." She looked up at him and smiled faintly. "And here comes the sixty-four thousand dollar question."
"You mean a question even more important that am I who I am?" he quipped.
She nodded. "Now that you know, Alec, will you stick by me? Or are you gonna run?"
"You have to ask?" his voice rumbled deep and rich in her ear as he squeezed her so hard she felt breathless. "What kind of a jerk do you think I am? Of course I'll stick by you, Max. I love you."
Content at last, Max picked up the shovel. When her back was turned, Alec ran a hand through his hair, feeling both relieved and -- for some reason -- proud. However, his eyes were drawn to the grave one last time as his tongue touched the implant in his mouth that had started this whole thing -- replacement for the tooth he'd offered as a sacrifice to the Blue Lady all those years ago.
Max would never know how close she'd been to finding out the real truth -- that 494 had been secretly "born" in a Manticore psy-ops reindoctrination chamber psychologically replacing the fatally flawed/not-quite-fatally wounded 493 in April, 2020, or that a cloned experimental body had then been buried by Renfro to complete the cover-up so the Committee wouldn't suspect such a screwed up X5 had been allowed to continue living.
Feeling guilty because she could never know -- but not too guilty -- Alec's eyes slid to his sister. Ben -- when he'd existed -- would have stuck by you, too, he thought, paying brief homage to the man he'd once been, but who was no more.
She didn't notice his odd expression. "When we get home I'm going to make love to you," Max said, her demeanor relaxed and happy for the first time in days.
"Sounds good to me," Alec said with a secret little smile as he picked up the other shovel and once more began burying his past.
THE END
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