Disclaimer: None of this is mine, except for the randomness of the ideas. The characters belong to someone else. Who? I dunno. Don't care either. Just not me. And the song is "Ever the Same" by Rob Thomas, which is, just for the record, also not mine. Honestly I don't know why we have to have disclaimers all the time. It's a FAN fiction site. Usually owners/writers, write elsewhere. Like for TV.
A/N: This is AU. In my world Alec and Max met in Manticore and became friends, often bickering, angry friends, but friends nonetheless. He had nothing to do with Max getting the virus, but it exists because let's face it, it allows me to have Max-with-someone-else angst without actually having to have her and Logan… well you know. Ugh.
Okay, so this is going to be snapshots into my brain, er, the life of Max and Alec in season 2. They're set to song lyrics (yet again). Some bits might not make sense just yet, but will be explained as more chapters get written. And as for those waiting for the last chapter of "Good Girl" well… wait. Sorry but I'm having difficulties.
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We were drawn from the weeds
We were brave like soldiers
Falling down under the pale moonlight
"Oh my god!" She screamed as the explosion rang through the air. She shot foreword to… do something, anything, but a hand gripped her arm firmly. The sound was followed more. Loud and abrasive, the sounds echoed through the military complex. "I told him not to send the broadcast!" she shrieked. It was frustrating not to be able to stop the explosions.
"Nothing we can do Max." Alec let go of her. There truly was nothing they could do even if he wanted to, and he did. It may have been just a prison to her, but it was his home. Manticore was the only home he had ever known. And it was burning down around him.
"Alec, why is no one leaving? No one is in the halls at all?"
"FUCK! They've locked the barracks! They're trying to burn us all alive!" He had known that the people who ran Manticore were sick. Sick, twisted, demented perverts the lot of them, but burning their playthings alive? That brought the insanity to a whole other level. And creating human-animal hybrid child soldiers was a level that was already pretty high up there.
Alec took off down the hall, "Max, we have to unlock the barracks; we have to explain what's going on!" He headed further into the maze of corridors, Max right behind them. At this moment they were lucky that Alec knew the layout of the building, even the TAC personnel and the medical staff's private rooms, like the back of his hand. God, he was just lucky he was allowed the privilege of wandering the halls at night or else HE would've been in the barracks screaming to be let out. Being a Commanding Officer had its perks.
"Where's the Command room Alec? We don't have much time!" Just as she said that he disappeared into a room just ahead and to the left.
"You unlock the barracks, I've gotta leave a message, tell them what's going on." His fingers were madly grasping at every button, lever and key, trying to discern which ones where necessary to the task at hand.
"Give them a contact number so we can get in touch if we need to." Alec paused his search and looked at her oddly. She seemed sad, thoughtful. "You don't know how difficult it is to be suddenly on your own in a world you don't understand. They'll need that connection. At least the hope of a connection."
"Attention all transgenics, this is X5-494. Manticore has locked the barracks, and set fire to the facility. I repeat: they are trying to kill us. X5-452 and I are attempting to unlock the doors. They WILL shoot at us when we escape the building." Max looked at him, worried. This was going to be so bad. She could kill Logan right about now. "X5's take out the towers, X6's the TAC officers holding ground in the exercise yard. Anyone over X6, exit the building and wait for the all-clear. Then it's escape and evade. This is not a drill. Command has betrayed us."
With that the doors swung open and the hallways filled with gasping transgenics. Coughing and sputtering sounds reached the pair in the control room.
"Alec, the contact number!" Max grabbed his arm, desperate that he should understand how important this was, not just to her but to all of them. It was a lonely world without your own kind. And it would be easy to lose all connection to reality. It had happened before.
"The only message you should heed is from 452 or myself. Manticore signals will try and gather us. But they tried to kill us tonight and I know some of us won't make it, so the only safe communication is from X5-452 or myself! Understand soldiers?" The blessing of being so highly trained was that Max and Alec could hear the loud, certain call of "Yes sir" echoing throughout the hallways. The last thing to be done was destroy the system so that no one else could send a message. The guards that had heard it would most likely be dead and no transgenic would give up their kind. The speakers sparked as a fist shot through them. The rest of the controls got the same treatment. Sparks were flying everywhere. Max grabbed Alec's hand; she looked up at him and their eyes met.
"Come on soldier boy, we've gotta go now."
As soon as they entered the hallway, they came face to face with the crushing reality of the situation. Transgenics were shuffling towards the exits. Max had never realized exactly how many of them Sandeman had created. Smoke was everywhere and transgenics were only prevented from panicking and trampling each other by strict discipline and extensive training. Still, looking into the eyes of a little girl who could be no more than four, Max saw the terror she knew would be reflected in her own eyes.
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The night had started out with such hope. She had escaped! Alec, her erstwhile breeding partner had come up with an excuse not to visit her tonight so he wouldn't be re-indoctrinated after her escape. She had run to Logan. Logan had kissed her. She had only kissed Logan a few times before and she had to admit, it had retained the awkward feel of a first kiss. Grasping and unsure, it was not quite what she'd been hoping for. And then the spots. The dizziness. Logan had dropped to the floor. It had all happened in under a minute.
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Alec shoved his way to the front of the throng. It was his place. It was his responsibility. He needed to be in the thick of the fight. Some of his unit were there, 511 and 271 had taken out the East Tower. 549, 325 and 670 were in the process of eliminating the resistance from the West Tower. Alec surmised that right now it was the x6's who needed help. There were bodies everywhere, mostly those of the TAC officers. But one head of curly red hair, covered in blood caught Alec's eye. X6-073 hadn't made it. He dove into the fight, brutal and furious.
Max entered the exercise yard. It was chaos; a surprisingly well organized chaos. Alec was right in the center of it all. Watching them made Max realize just how rusty she was. She had improved in the months at Manticore. Ass-kicking she could do, training, sparring, a few maneuvers were not a problem but this… this was war. At that moment out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a guard with a knife, desperation in his eyes, he sought to take out the one thing he thought he could: the little girl next to Max. Before she knew it, the guard's lifeless eyes were staring back at her from the cold ground. Max shuddered at what she'd done. She had spent so long trying to get rid of that part of herself, trying to outrun the nightmares that to kill again was almost disturbing. But she looked down at the child and she knew it was right. She couldn't do much to help the situation, everyone was running into the forest freely now. But Max could protect this one child. And she would be damned if anything happened to her. Max picked her up, held her close against her body and ran.
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The fight was over. Alec had climbed to the top of the hill overlooking Manticore, hell on earth, the only home he'd ever known. He had watched them finish killing Manticore personnel. He watched them band together for support. And then he watched them run away. Swift blurs through the forest. Some saluted as they passed him, no doubt confused as to why he just stood and watched the building burn. Finally everyone was gone. Except Max. She saw him and turned to stand beside him. His eyebrow arched at the bundle she held on her hip, a small bald child with eyes wide in wonder. Or maybe it was horror. She'd seen her entire life destroyed tonight too. Max glared at him. Who was he to question what she did? His lips twitched as he suppressed a smile. Luckily the sight in front of him made it easy.
They stood on the hill, looking down at the destruction. It was a nice night, cool, crisp but not cold. The leaves were beginning to turn colours and the moon was bright. It illuminated the exercise yard beautifully. It was still, quiet .Their fellow transgenics had disabled or killed all those guarding the perimeter and were now mostly gone. There was blood on the ground. Some of them had died. It was by no means a victory.
"Alec I'm sorry. He didn't know. He couldn't have known when he pressed the button that they'd do this." Her words were hollow and she knew it. Whether Logan had known or not, their people had still been shot at. Their people were still dying. It was the same with the escape; they hadn't known the trouble they would cause for the others but the damage was done. Max didn't know how to console him. She looked down at their entwined hands and shut her mouth. Nothing she could say would make it better; he just had to know that she was there. She was hurting too but somehow it would be okay again.
Alec didn't want those words, that consolation. Her hand felt nice in his. It was comforting and undemanding in its own way. He didn't want trite words or false sentiments. She didn't know how he felt, couldn't possibly know. And it didn't matter anyway. That Logan hadn't intended it meant nothing to him. How any of them, including Log-boy, felt was beside the point. Manticore was burning. In his mind's eye he could still see transgenics running, fading away into the trees and he wondered if that would be the last time he'd see them. He understood now how Max had needed her Ordinaries. They were all she had for so long. They would all have to find new lives. They were all alone now.
"Come on Maxie, loverboy needs his medicine." There was nothing left here but a husk of a home that would always haunt him. It was time to go.
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To Be Continued…
Thanks to everyone who reviews in advance! And just so you know my plan may change at any time. Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated.