A/N: Don't own DA. This is a response to cheeza's NWP challenge. I hope I did it justice!

Time period: First season, after "Pollo Loco"

"Rachel! Come out here please!" An older man's voice rang out though the house. Max didn't respond, already forgotten the new name she was to have donned. A second later, the request registered in her brain as she finished hanging up another black shirt and placing it in the now fully loaded closet. Oh, right. Jeez, I still can't remember I'm supposed to be this 'Rachel' girl.

Max's borrowed heels clicked against the fancy marble of the corridor. As she entered the entrance hall, she froze. A gorgeous man was standing with Mr. Berrisford. He was wearing a dressy suit, but that didn't change the familiarity of his handsome features. Max took in his blonde hair, strong jaw and physique. Oh my God. What the hell is Ben doing here? No wait. That can be him he's… Max still didn't want to admit the fact of Ben's death. It made it too… final. Plus, with another glance into the hazel eyes of this…guy, she saw them sparkle with amusement and, was that desire?

"Rachel, this is your new piano teacher, Simon Lehane."

Don't even go there, Alec. No. Don't think of your missions like that. Yeah, this is just another mission. But why does she look so familiar?

X5-494 gave his new mission one of his infamous grins. Oddly, she didn't melt like so many other girls had. She just continued staring at him, thousands of emotions flitting across her lovely features. This made him curious. The only thing he got was a soft smile in return.

"Hi. I'm Simon. Oh, right, he already…nevermind." Alec said. Why was he stammering around this girl? He was the charmer! He was trained to get the girl! Well, he better not get this one. He would have to part with her beautiful face soon anyway. He already knew this was going to be his hardest mission yet.

Max was busy trying to figure out the details of the situation in front of her. This has to be the X5 that was sent to kill Mr. Berrisford. It's the only explanation. I mean, he was Ben's twin, for crying out loud! But it was obvious that this one wasn't like Ben. She knew that after the grin he had given her. Yet this one didn't seem the type to stutter and he was gorgeous like so many others of her series, but he gave out a certain level of confidence that she had never seen before. Maybe she was just going crazy, but she knew that this would be a harder Eyes-Only mission. The life threats were coming even before she could really ask Berrisford anything. There was only one thing to do: distract this "Simon." Oh, the many ways to complete that task…

Half an hour later, 494 was out of the house and back at the apartment designated by Manticore. He had to do three things: think things over, sleep, and learn how to teach piano. This would be almost impossible for any normal person to do over night. Thank god there was absolutely nothing normal about him.

Okay, I have a week to get rid of Berrisford—and his gorgeous- no, no, and his family. Yes, Berrisford and his close family. I'll have to… 494 was interrupted by a phone call. He picked it up and answered "Hello?" in a casual voice.

"494. Glad you're home. We have some business to talk to you about." An unfamiliar voice flowed from the other line. Who was calling? Manticore was the only place that knew his designation…right? He had to be cautious. But before he could say anything, the voice bellowed again, "You are assigned another mission. It is to find…"

"Who is this? Manticore never assigns two missions at once. So how do you know me? Why do you know me? What's going on?" His mouth spoke without his mind catching up.

"You're very sharp, 494, just as I had hoped. Anyway, we're not Manticore, but we used to belong there. I used to belong there. But this is not the time for all that. This phone call could be tracked, so I'll have to go now. Be here at the same time tomorrow." 494 heard the line go dead. A shutter went up his spine as he thought again about the strange call. The dial tone resumed, cueing him to put down the phone. He'd have to skip the thinking part of the schedule and just sleep.

"Umm…Rachel? Phone for you." Berrisford called down the hall of the generous home. Max had told him to call her Rachel so the both of them could get into the habit. Great, it's probably Logan. Why didn't he just dial the beeper? Either way, I really don't want to talk to him right now. I better get up, though; I don't want Berrisford to die of boredom before that X5 comes back. Not that I'm looking forward to that...

Max trudged through the quaint (and very expensive) hallway to reach the phone. "Coming!" she called to her 'father.' Grabbing the phone from the new family member with a slight amount of force, Max was more than a little mad at Logan for calling her again. In the beginning, Max had fallen for the cyber-super hero, always trying to fight evil from the comfort of his own home. Lately, though, he had just gotten damn annoying. It all started when he didn't understand why she was upset about Ben…

"I…I…I killed him. He's…gone." Max stuttered in-between loud, wet sobs. It took all her strength to admit it, but Ben was gone. Ben would never come back. And it was all Max's fault.

"Yeah, good job Max. I'm glad no one else will get killed. Oh! By the way, I got another lead on the…Max, are you okay? You look kind of sad!" Logan said cheerfully, but with a slight concern for the hysterical X5 crumpled up on the couch.

Max just blinked at him, speechless at his naivety, before blowing up. "KIND OF SAD? Just a LITTLE? Oh, Logan, you catch on so quickly! I mean, I just killed my brother, for god sakes, and I'm overjoyed! I'm CRYING! Ya know, Logan, you CAN care about things other than hardware. Most people can do it! So for once in your life, cut this 'Superman' crap and open you eyes. That's what they're there for." Max blurred out of the room, leaving only a little puddle of tears and an astonished man sitting at a computer.

"Yeah?" Max said, just waiting for Logan to start droning on about her mission and leads to this and that.

"452? Nice to hear your voice. I have a mission for you to…" the voice came over the line cool and calm. Max was furious.

"Logan, I am doing my best to protect this friend of yours who's already receiving death threats and you want me to go on another mission? No! Not this time! And I have a name for god sakes!" Max yelled into the poor piece of technology with fury and had to hold the phone away from her mouth. She counted to ten before coolly saying, "So, what's up?"

"452, I'm sorry to catch you at a bad time… Who's this Logan? Is he another '09 escapee?" The disoriented voice asked serenely as not to sound like this 'Logan' and upset her again.

"Okay, since when have Manticore people been so courteous? Certainly an improvement though. And no, Logan is…" What was Logan to her? Not a boyfriend. Friend certainly wasn't 100 correct, but it would do. "…A friend. Why? And who is this? Can't be Deck. So, which of his creeps are you?"

"I'm not a Manticore 'creep', or at least, not anymore. Oh, incase someone is tracking this line I better go. I'll call you tomorrow, 452. Same time, same place." The mystery man said before hanging up.

Great. My life just gets more and more complicated.

A/N: Tell me if there's anything you guys think should be changed. There's a song Max writes, if that's too tacky, say so. Things like that. Thanks!