Alec leaned his chair back and propped his feet up on the table; partly because it was comfortable and partly because it got on Max's nerves. Max sent him the glare he was waiting for, but she didn't say anything. She was on one of her 'we need to stick together' spiels.

They had only been in Terminal City for a few hours, but already there were more issues than they had solutions for. Max was in charge, but there was no way to get food to all the transgenics there. He knew the wide variety that Manticore had cooked up, and he knew each of them needed different things to survive. That, with the city after them, and their own people not wanting to stay, Alec was really not looking forward to this new setup.

His shoulder was throbbing from where he'd been shot and his ribs were protesting his every movement, but now wasn't the time to complain.

Alec closed his eyes and Max's voice was strangely comforting. He started a list of the things they would need and a list of people that he could trust. He knew it was going to come down to him to get all of their supplies and set up their defenses. Max would be the leader and she would deal with all the politics, but she was going to need him for everything else.

Alec cocked his head to the side at a faint noise. He couldn't quite place it, until he heard it again.

He quickly got to his feet drawing the attention of everyone in the room, "We need to go…"

"What? Why?!" Max demanded.

Alec held up one finger and closed his eyes again. Now that the room was quiet the others could hear it too. It was the sound of many people moving quickly and quietly and moving steadily closer.

"Dammit…" Alec muttered as he went to the closest window with Max close behind him.

"This isn't going to work and you know it," Alec said so only Max could hear.

Max gave him a sad look of defeat, but he knew she still wanted to keep everyone together. "Alec…"

"Max, by the looks of it, they're here to take us in dead or alive, we don't have a choice."

Max shot him one more pleading look and then turned to the others and ordered, "Alright everyone, go to ground! Use the sewers and try to stick with small groups!"

Everyone instantly started to move, but there was no panic, they were trained too well for that.

Alec pulled Max to the side, "You have to take Josh with you and I'll tell you one more time, since you don't seem to get it, it's too dangerous for Logan to be with you."

Max roughly pushed him away and he couldn't keep the flash of pain from his face.

"Alec, I'm sorry," Max said quickly, but he just waved her off. "Wait, you're coming too!"

"I will," Alec reassured.

"I- y-you have to come," Max stuttered in distress.

"Max please, listen to me, if we're ever going to have a chance, we need you as the leader so that means you need to get out."

Alec was shocked to see that Max's eyes were filling with tears that she angrily brushed away.

"Fine, but we need you more. You're the one with the connections and the people skills. I need you to come with me," Max said desperately.

Alec looked down, he was surprised that he was actually going to miss Max and her crazy plans, but this was necessary. "Max, you go and I'll catch up," Alec said finally.

Max grabbed his arm and ignored his hiss of pain as she started dragging him to the tunnel everyone was going down. Alec dug his heels in and caught Josh's eye from across the room.

Josh pulled Max away from him, but she managed to break loose and face him again. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Someone's gotta distract them while you all get away," Alec said with a sad smile.

"I'm coming with you."

"No. You're going end of story."

"Alec-"

"Trust me, I'll be fine and I'll catch up with you."

Max looked like she was about to hit him and he quickly closed his eyes. He wasn't expecting her soft lips to meet his and for her strong arms to wrap around his neck. He carefully held her against him and deepened the kiss in goodbye.

Alec gently broke off the kiss, "Bye Max."

"Promise you'll catch up!" Max called as Joshua led her away.

"I promise," Alec quietly replied, but he knew she heard him.