Necessary Evils
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A/N: Short version: fair warning, this is an open-ended short.
A/N: I watched Dark Angel and immediately wanted to write a SPN crossover, as one does. When I got stuck on it, I started trying to write similar ideas separately in the hopes of inspiration, and it worked. It also, however, left me with seven different story beginnings. I like the following intro, but ultimately it doesn't dovetail well with anything else I'm working on and doesn't have a unique enough angle to merit a separate long fic of its own. I do like it enough to not want to leave it permanently in the working folder, though, and as such I apologize for stretching my 'no unfinished projects' rule just a bit.
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Even though she and probably Alec, too, had their faces exposed after the fiasco at Jam Pony, the two of them were still one of the better teams at theft the transgenics had. Max had spent most of her extra years on the outside as at least a part-time cat burglar, and Alec had either done a lot of theft for Manticore on missions or simply had natural talent in that direction. Max didn't really care enough to ask either way. The point was, they were both really good at it and worked surprisingly well as a team, despite how much they bickered when they weren't right in the middle of a job – and sometimes even when they were. They weren't the only pair making runs out into the city, since the blockade set up at the perimeter of Terminal City was not nearly so impermeable as the police and citizens of Seattle wanted to believe. However, they were the most experienced, and that meant they regularly took the trickiest jobs.
Max doesn't know where they slipped up, but it's pretty clear from the current situation they had somehow given themselves away in the string of higher profile robberies the two of them have been pulling in order to get money to trade with their contacts for the basic necessities. It's obvious because the two of them have not only been caught red-handed in a private collector's home, but instead of being surrounded by blaring alarms or private security, they're ringed by Familiars. She's sure of that mostly because of the way the ones they tried to take out before they got circled gave them a few bruises for their troubles and didn't go down under transgenic-strength hits, since so far, Ames White hasn't come strolling in to taunt them yet.
As the Familiars aren't making a move beyond threateningly keeping them surrounded with nowhere to go, she's pretty sure that's coming any moment now. She assumes the click of shoes on the polished wood floor of the hall leading into the large study they're in is confirmation of her assumption, so she doesn't really listen close enough to realize the sound is all wrong until the person who walks into the room isn't White at all. Her bare forearm and the brand there, spotted with Max's enhanced vision, attest that it is still someone from his cult of crazy, though. She's not sure if it's better or worse to be confronted with an unknown Familiar instead. At least with White, he wants Max alive to find his son.
"Such a shame all that government money went into creating a bunch of freaks who will fall for a trap this obvious," is the woman's opening gambit as she walks into the room. She's dressed in a snappy black business suit with killer heels and relentlessly quaffed dark blonde hair. Two of the henchmen surrounding them move deferentially aside just enough to make room for her. Without even exchanging a look, she can feel Alec bracing himself behind her, both of them ready to make a move when and if they can. Sure, things look kind of hopeless at the moment, but if she knows one thing about the snake cult crazies, it's that they all seem to share an overconfidence in their own superiority.
Except the knowledge Max has of their general habits and aims don't help in this situation at all, because when the woman comes around to the point she can actually see both Max and Alec through the mooks, there's just a second where her expression flashes from disdain to fear. As quick as Max registers it, the expression shifts again to anger, and she hisses, "Winchester!" Her flashes of mood are weird enough, but seconds later she flings out an arm in a gesture, and Alec goes flying to the shock of both transgenics. He ends up pinned against the wall behind the group, struggling against some invisible force holding him there. Max is stunned. She knew the cult had been breeding telekinetics, but the fact she hadn't seen any before now outside of their indoctrination compound had made her assume they didn't have any adults with those abilities yet. This is so bad.
Alec is gasping for air, presumably being choked by the same force holding him up and Max is both worried and confused about why she's the one being ignored, Chosen One runes and all. Despite how White had previously reacted to Max, the woman has all but turned her back on Max to snarl nonsense at Alec, "Where's your brother, Dean? Who told you to get involved with these transgenic freaks?"
Max should be trying to make some kind of escape plan while the main attention is all on the apparently crazy cultist, but she's too bewildered as to what is going on to think of it. Alec is given enough air to reply in denial, "Hey, I don't know what your problem is, but my name isn't Dean, I don't even know any Deans and -"
The Familiar makes a gesture and must clamp down harder, because Alec stops talking and desperately starts scrabbling with his hands at his own throat, eyes wild and bulging.
"Stop it!" Max exclaims, when at least a couple minutes pass and she doesn't let up at all. Transgenics can hold their breath for a good long while, but not quite as long without advance preparation and certainly not in the midst of a struggle. She isn't sure if Alec is already running out of air or exaggerating for effect, but either way it looks like he's really in trouble and it's hard to watch. Yeah he's a giant pain in the ass most of the time, but she's gotten used to having him around.
The words are enough to temporarily draw the woman's attention, and she pivots to face Max. While she's been visibly angry at Alec, for some reason she seems to find Max amusing, because her voice is almost teasing when she speaks. "So the freak talks, does she? How about you tell me why the Winchesters are here?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Max starts, trying to stall for time to make a plan. The woman smirks and gestures viciously behind her and Alec makes another pained sound. Fed up, Max snaps out in anger, "That's Alec. X5-494. At least White is competent enough to know who he's threatening."
The woman's head swings away from Max to regard Alec and comes back before her eyes go calculating. Max meets them, noting the sound of Alec trying to get his breath back in the background but keeping the relief from showing on her face. "Pretty boy here is one of you mutants?"
When Max doesn't answer immediately she starts to raise her hand back in his direction and Max quickly answers, "Yes! We don't know any Winchesters, you crazy bitch!"
Then the strangest thing happens. The woman's eyes flash black. Not just the pupils, or the irises, but the whole surface of the visible eyeball turns opaque and black as an oil slick. Max blinks in confusion and in the hopes her vision will clear and things will stop making so little sense. At her reaction, the woman's mouth curves up into a vindictive little half-smirk.
"Well, well. This is just - delicious." She waves a hand and Alec drops suddenly from the wall. Max sees just enough in her peripheral vision to be sure he's okay as Alec comes slowly back up to his full height, eyeing the woman warily. "Do whatever you want with the girl, but wrap up the Winchester clone to go. The big boss will have plans for that."
Her piece said, she doesn't turn and walk away, but instead throws her head back and lets out a huge cloud of black smoke that's a color as inky as her eyes had turned. While Max is completely astonished, she is aware enough to realize this is not in any way a surprise to the Familiars around them - although Alec's sudden attack on the two standing nearest him is. She springs into action only a couple seconds later, but it doesn't escape her notice the woman is now sitting, dazed, in the middle of the fighting going on around her. Max can see nothing at all of the confident and controlling personality that had been speaking to them only moments before. It's another piece of a very strange puzzle this heist has turned into, and she files it away in the back of her mind as she ducks another punch and turns all of her attention to the fight between them and escape.
Frankly, the two of them are grossly outnumbered and the Familiars are just as strong and almost as trained as they are. If it had been a matter of Max and Alec fighting their way out, there'd have been no chance. The thing is, though, enough of the transgenic's supply missions have gone wrong that there's always a backup and extraction team now. In this case, since the degree of wrongness had involved a small army of Familiars, the backup waited for backup before moving in, but a secondary team bursts their way in just after she sees Alec go down. With that timely entrance, the tide of the fight turns in the transgenics' favor.
In the rusty old van someone commandeered, as it's careening towards the warehouse they have staked out for handy sewer access and useful space for vehicles, Max sits next to Alec. "What was that about," she asks, not really expecting he knows but needing to talk to someone else who saw the whole bizarre thing. Of course, then again with Alec, you never can be completely sure when something goes wrong it isn't some scheme of his backfiring.
He gives her a confused look that can't be anything but genuine. "I have no idea. I've never heard of Dean Winchester or anyone else with that last name. And what was up with the weird smoke special effect there at the end? That was not normal, even for those freaks. Chick was kind of hot, though."
She smacks him upside the back of his head, but it's almost a reflex action by now. "Did you notice she seemed like a completely different person after that?"
"Uh, no, I was a little too busy trying not to get pummeled by Familiars," he replies sarcastically.
Max rolls her eyes, and wonders not for the first time how Alec made it through ten extra years at Manticore when he pays so little attention.
Her first stop back at headquarters is the computer link connected to Logan's new scavenged setup at Sandeman's house. While there are several transgenics who are experts at computers in their own right, Logan does have a far more extensive and wider reaching network of contacts when it comes to trying to find information. With the current state of records in the post-Pulse world, that's generally more useful to them than just hacking and research skills alone.
Logan picks up the video chat on the other end almost as soon as she's finished keying it up. "Hey."
"Hey, you. I kinda need your help with something. Alec and I had a run in with some Familiars tonight," she can see Logan's eyes roving her form for injuries, but ignores it to continue on, "but White wasn't the one barking orders."
Logan's blue eyes blink behind his glasses. "That's new," he drawls, inflection utterly dry.
"Strange right? But there's more. The one running the show kept talking about somebody named Winchester, Dean Winchester. Can you see if you can find anything about who that is or why the Familiars would bring him up? Especially in connection to Alec?"
Logan's expression, as it always does lately, twists unpleasantly for just a moment at the mention of Alec. She'd thought it had been a good idea at the time to let Logan believe his crazy idea she'd left him for the other transgenic was true. Unfortunately it hadn't done her any favors with either man and had strained the formerly polite if not exactly friendly relationship between them. Which hadn't seemed like a big deal until she realized just how often she ended up having to work with both on something and was left suffering through some serious awkward.
"Why Alec?"
"She was major focused on him. I think she may have even thought he was this Dean guy right at first and then she called him 'the Winchester clone'." Logan goes to say something, but she's pretty sure she knows what's about to come out of his mouth and preempts it, "I already asked, he doesn't know anyone with and hasn't ever used that name before."
"So he says," Logan mutters, but she catches it and sighs in exasperation.
"Even Alec wouldn't lie about something to do with White and his crazy snake cult buddies."
Logan's eyes narrow a bit, but that's all the acknowledgment she gets to what she's said. "I'll look into it."
"Thanks, Logan."
When she's done signing off, Mole is already waiting to complain to her about the botched mission and the various supplies they won't be buying with the artifact they didn't manage to steal. Just another day in Terminal City.
It's seven days before she hears anything back from Logan, and she's just on the verge of checking in with him again when he calls her. She doesn't mean to be impatient, but she kind of is impatient. Not even to mention that now she wants something, it takes him about four days longer than he ever usually seems to go without making an excuse to chat.
She's working through a supply list in what passes for her office when Dix knocks on the open door frame. "Logan's calling," he says.
Max gets up and heads into the main control room of transgenic central, which is busy as always, with a variety of activity going on across various parts of the room. Dix and Luke are messing with the computers linked into the security camera system they set up while Mole grumbles behind them. She doesn't listen in, but she's pretty sure he's making the same complaints about the gaps in their coverage of the perimeter that she's already heard several times. Alec, Dalton, and a couple other X5s are gathered around a set of blueprints spread on a table, presumably planning one of their next runs. Gem and Joshua are off in a quiet corner with the baby, both of them often found here rather than the more isolated apartments where they live.
She pays none of them any particular attention, her mind already too preoccupied with questioning why it's taken Logan so long to call her back. Max skips their usual greeting in favor of a too-businesslike, "So?" Realizing she's being rude and not actually wanting to take it out on him (much) she adds, "What's the what?"
Logan only looks taken aback for a moment. "Well, the good news is I found some pre-Pulse archived news that mentions Dean Winchester."
"So what's the bad news?"
"Well, what I did find is a little ... weird." As he talks, she can feel someone coming up behind her but she doesn't bother to look. From the particular weight and cadence of the footfalls and the lack of respect for her privacy she's sure it must be Alec, and Logan's quickly erased micro expression of dislike only confirms that.
"Weirder than Manticore and people coughing up huge columns of black smoke?"
Logan shrugs, conceding the point. "I've got police records on Dean Winchester in Saint Louis for a string of gruesome home invasion murders, another report from a bank robbery that involved no actual robbery but another set of corpses in Milwaukee for both Dean and his brother Sam Winchester. There's a whole file of lesser charges apparently gathered up by an FBI Agent Henriksen. The highlights include fraud, theft, assault, and grave desecration."
"I'm not seeing the weird here, Logan," Max interrupts. "Not that grave desecration and murders aren't unpleasant, but -"
"I'm getting there. The weird part is Dean is listed as dead after the incident in Saint Louis. Not just reported dead, either, but there was a clearly identified body that was autopsied and buried. Except the murders happened before the bank robbery, and one of the witnesses from the bank swears the Winchesters saved her from her own evil twin. They found a corpse on the scene that looks just like her, but there aren't any records of her ever having a twin. The last report I have is of both brothers reported killed in an explosion at a police station in Monument, Colorado."
"Okay, that's a little spooky, but it still doesn't explain why some crazy cult chick brought them up or thought they were alive."
Logan nods. "Well, it's clear Dean, at least, had some previous experience faking his own death. On why she got confused about Alec, I have a pretty good idea. Some time before supposedly blowing up, the Winchesters were arrested for a museum robbery in Little Rock. The mugshots are on file, and while Sam doesn't look like anyone we know," Logan pauses and reaches down to the desk.
He holds up a printed copy mugshot of a guy with short spiky hair making a ridiculous pout at the camera. It takes a second for it to really register with Max, but her realization is clicked into place from Alec cursing softly behind her. The face might be just a touch older and broader, but the features and the expression she's seen before. Could see right now again, if she just turned around.
Alec speaks up for the first time since butting in on the conversation. It's surprising he's held out this long, but perhaps he rightfully suspected she'd have sent him off if he made more of a nuisance of himself. "He can't be Manticore. They didn't manage anything that looked completely human until the X5s, and we never heard of any breakouts except Max's unit."
Logan puts the strange picture down, agreeing. "I figured that. They were booked in, so fingerprints, mugshots, and a list of identifying marks are all in the files. Apparently the guy has some impressive scars and a weird occult symbol tattooed over his heart, but no barcode."
Max's interest sharpens. "What kind of occult symbol? Do we think he's part of the Familiars?"
"I don't think so," Logan sounds hesitant and she waits for him to continue. "There's no picture, but it's described as a pentagram with a flaming circle surrounding it. I looked it up. Max, everything I can find says it's a superstitious symbol for warding off demonic possession."
"Demonic possession?" Max and Alec echo each other in incredulity.
Logan grimaces apologetically, and then chuckles in dry humor. "I told you, weird."
"Not kidding about that one, buddy," Alec says. "So you got any thoughts on how to track down this latest double of me?"
The cyber journalist shakes his head in the negative. "Even before the Pulse, these guys were on the FBI most wanted list for a long time and kept vanishing off the radar. Now? I don't even know where to begin, even assuming they definitely didn't die in that explosion. I put some feelers out to my contacts, but honestly, I doubt I'll get anything useful back. I'm sorry I couldn't find anything more pertinent."
"Thanks for trying," Max concedes. It was too much to hope for that the names the woman had given them would reveal everything they needed to know about this strange new development in the cult. That hadn't stopped Max from wishing for a break, though. As belligerent, powerful, and strange as she had been, Max was also sure their latest enemy had been upset at the idea these Winchesters might have gotten involved with the transgenics. The Familiars she had met barely ever seemed concerned about anyone thwarting their plans, so if there was someone out there who made the cultists unsettled at just the suggestion of their involvement, Max wanted to meet them. Maybe needed to meet them.
She just had to hope it was still possible and figure out how. Right along with keeping Terminal City supplied, getting the transgenics accepted by the ordinaries, and oh, figuring out her runes and what the cult's big plans she was meant to be thwarting were in the first place. Max couldn't help but think once again that her life sucked.