DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know, I know. I swore up and down that I wasn't going to start working on anything new until I'd finished my first two stories but this idea grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. :) Let's hope that it doesn't suck and is worth the wait its causing for my other two stories.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: This story is AU, based on me wondering what would have happened if it had been Ben that had won the fight in the woods during Pollo Loco. The story mentions events that are told during the show in flashbacks. Since there is no definitive time line just consider it artistic license if it doesn't jive with how you've pictured things happening.
.¸¸.·´¨»«´¨·. ¸¸.
From almost the exact moment they'd escaped, Ben had been praying to the Blue Lady to be reunited with Max. Manticore hadn't taught them about emotions, in fact they often tried to stomp them out of them, emotions and cold blooded killers didn't exactly go hand in hand after all. But Ben had always had a special connection with Max.
He'd sacrificed sleep more times than he could count to keep her company when her shark DNA would keep her awake. When he first created a shadow puppet, by accident, Maxie was the first person he'd shared it with and it was always her requests for a story that he gave in too.
When they were still at Manticore, he'd considered protecting Maxie his personal mission. One he'd shared with Zack. He and big brother had been placed in command of their unit because of their abilities but it was their connection to their baby sister that gave them a common ground and made them a team.
He could still remember standing over Jack's bed with Max and Zack, as the smaller boy shook with seizures, talking about what was going to happen to him. He'd seen the fear in his normally fearless sister's eyes and it had made something inside him go cold. She'd crept into his bed the night before and he'd held her while she convulsed. His concerns were driven out of head as they heard the door to their barracks start to open though, the three of them dashed for their beds and pretended with all their might to be asleep. Creeping out of his bed to see what the janitor had given Jack after that scare had been hard but discovering the Blue Lady was worth it, the idea that she was watching over them warmed him, easing his concern for Maxie.
Jack was fine for awhile after that but all too soon came the day when he'd collapsed during morning inspection. They'd dragged him away and he'd never come back. Every story Ben had ever made up about the nomlies had suddenly become all too real and if that was real then he had to believe that the Blue Lady was real too. He'd climbed to the High Place and had screamed into the night, needing answers. Instead he'd been caught and punished. Their altar had been destroyed and the lock down on the barracks had been tightened. Manticore didn't believe man made super soldiers and religion should mix. After all faith is a powerful emotion and they'd already chosen their stance on emotions.
The day that Lydecker had sent them to track and capture the convict had been the most exciting day he'd ever experienced. Running through the woods, his brothers and sisters at his side, he'd felt free. And when they'd found the tattoo and had named the man a nomlie, he'd seen it as their chance to show the strength of their faith. There had been something primal about the way they'd torn into him, all teeth and claws and vicious snarls. That was the day he'd discovered what he was meant to be.
The world had dropped out from under him when Maxie, his Maxie, had collapsed to the floor with the same shakes that had made them take Jack away. He'd stood frozen while Zack and then Eva had protected her. He'd never forgiven himself for allowing others to complete his personal mission while he stood idly by. Shock kept him reeling, guilt and disappointment in himself kept him from protesting when Zack had paired him with Brin instead of Max that night.
Four years after then escape Zack had found him living in Miami and all those emotions came flooding back when his big brother told him that Maxie and Jondy had been chased onto a pond that night and Maxie had fallen through the ice. The news that Jondy had left their baby sister there to die...it was like something inside of him snapped.
Zack had left, moving on once he'd discovered that Ben was safe and flying under the radar. A week later Ben had killed for the first time since the nomlie in the woods. If the Blue Lady didn't think his faith was strong enough to make his Maxie worthy of her protection then he would have to show her just how much he believed so that she'd protect his other brothers and sisters. He made four offerings before Lydecker had caught wind of what he was doing and had moved it on him. He'd taken off for New York then Chicago, moving every time the Colonel got too close.
He'd ended up in Seattle. At the time he'd thought it was pure chance that had lead him there but then he'd entered the church, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, to make his latest offering. He'd felt someone move up behind him, a subtle change in the air. No ordinary human could have gotten that close without him noticing which meant one of two things, an automaton from Manticore had been sent to capture him or one of his siblings had found him. Turning quickly, he'd suspected it was her from the second he'd seen her, never mind that she was supposed to be dead. He'd known without a shadow of a doubt it was her as soon as she'd said his name. The Blue Lady must have been very pleased with him if she'd brought his Maxie back to him. The disappointment he'd felt when she'd asked why he was doing it, making his offerings, had cut like a knife. Had she forgotten everything? Had she lost her faith in the Lady?
He'd run then, escaping and evading until he'd had time to regroup and think things through. All it had taken was the sound of his name on her sweet lips and one little question to make him doubt everything. The uncertainty had sent him into a tailspin and he'd started to regret the things he'd done. A trip to the confessional and a talk with Father Destry had him back on track though. This was a test of his faith. He'd taken the priest then, started preparing him for the hunt and when the other man had fallen asleep, he'd gone to the High Place to think.
He should have known that she'd find him but it was still a surprise to find himself tackled to the floor and handcuffed to a pipe.
He tried to explain things to her, if anyone could understand it would her. Her lack of faith, her insistence that the Blue Lady was made up, hurt him, made him angry, but hearing that she thought he was a nomlie had almost destroyed him. What was it about Maxie that brought out so many emotions in him?
She'd convinced him to take her to Father Destry. He probably would have let him go for her but she'd pushed him to the floor, again, and he'd seen it, the words he'd spray painted on the walls to remind him of what he was. MISSION. DUTY. DISCIPLINE. He remembered the last time he'd failed in his mission, he'd been left alone in the world with too many questions and not enough answers. It had been a cold and scary place.
He'd shoved Maxie into Destry's make shift cell and went after the priest. He knew Max would get free, the cell could never contain one of their kind. He'd hunt Destry, he decided, and kill him. It would show Max he was right, that they had a purpose, that the Lady had a plan for them.
He had Destry on the ground when she'd appeared just as he'd known she would. His disappointment in the man had been great but there was only time for a second of regret before Maxie kicked him away from the priest and allowed the man to escape. They clashed then and she matched him blow for blow, kick for kick. It had been too long since he'd found one of his own kind, he realized, as she punched him in the face, the first blow either of them had managed to land.
He was stronger than her, physically, and just as fast, but he found himself holding back, unwilling to hurt her. Well, not too much, he decided, as he backhanded her. They continued to fight, a flurry of kicks and blows of which only a handful connected. Then he kicked her, much harder than he'd intended, and she flew backwards. It happened fast but to his eyes she moved in slow motion. He watched helplessly as her head snapped back and slammed into the tree trunk with a sickening thud, her body a fraction of a second behind. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she slid down to the ground. He watched, heart in his throat, until he spotted the rise and fall of her chest and the flutter of a steady pulse under the skin of her throat.
After a few seconds of indecision, he took off after the priest. He knew Maxie would be alright and he had a mission to complete.
He was closing in on the priest when he heard it. Helicopters were approaching. Fast. Everything inside of him was screaming at him to run. Lydecker was closing in on him and he knew what his fate would be if they captured him. They'd feed him to the nomlies. Just as the panic was about to take over he remembered Maxie.
His sister was lying back there, unconscious and helpless, because of him. His decision was made. He turned and ran back the way he'd come. If he couldn't get her out of there, he'd do what it took to save them both from a fate worse than death, he wouldn't leave her to face it alone.
He reached her just as Lydecker's men surrounded them. Grabbing his spare gun out of its ankle holster, he leveled it on Max, ready to pull the trigger and save her from their own personal demon. He'd save her then he'd save himself.
Two loud bangs echoed through the woods and Ben's world went black.