Since I hated the last episode of Dark Angel, and some parts of Love among the Runes, I decided to re-write the bits that bothered me, and pick up the story from there. The thing with the infra-red camera's never happened, simply because it is just way too far fetched for them to only discover those now, and not months or years ago. Plus, it's impractical if Max, Alec and co. want to keep living their lives… Obviously now Biggs never dies either, because they never figure out what he is. Also, I changed Alec's history quite a bit. He's my favourite character on the show. (The Looks, The Talk, The Walk!) I felt they never quite did him justice on the show and I might be slightly overcompensating for that here…
I'd really, really appreciate feedback! This is my first fic and I'd love to know what you guys think.
This first chapter is just a teaser.
Chapter one.
Alec an Max were facing each other. Strangely it looked nothing like a man and a woman facing one another. Anyone in the room could see that this was a clash of the Titans.
"Max, I will tell you one more time. Logan leaves, immediately" Alec's voice was low, like a growl. It held a threat that was loud and clear, but just so she didn't understand him he added. "Now he leaves on his own or you go with him, but he will never be welcome in Terminal City again."
Never once did Alec actually look at Logan, who was, quite frank, more than wiling to leave immediately. Instead the X-5 looked at the woman he loved and prayed to god she would forgive him for what he was doing.
"He'll be killed if he goes out there alone!" Max was furious and she didn't hide it. Who the hell did Alec think he was!? Kicking her out of her own city! She mentally berated herself for this thought: His city. Terminal City was his now. Absolutely and completely.
"I don't care." Max heard Alec say and she met his eyes again." He betrayed us. I think under the circumstances we're being mild."
"Alec…" A hint of desperation now shone through.
"If you care so much about whether he lives or dies, Max, I suggest you do go with him, and I suggest you leave now."
She stared at him dumbfounded. Was he kicking her out too?
"No. Logan isn't going anywhere." Max defied Alec, and instantly saw that this was a mistake. It'd been a while since she'd last seen him, but 494 was back and he was angry.
"Mole, Cece, Boy…" The X-5 known as 494 called out. "Escort mister Cale out of the city. 452 can join him if she wishes. He can leave through the tunnel at the west entry. I do not want him to be seen by outsiders. Make sure he safely arrives at his house." He then turned to Max. "452. If you leave now I will personally kill you if you ever return here."
Please forgive me Max.
He looked at Mole, who hadn't moved yet and ordered a final: "Go."
Without question the four of them forcefully shoved Logan towards the door.
No one left in the room uttered a sound.
494 didn't show a hint of emotion, but Alec's heart broke when he saw Max follow Logan and reach for his gloveless hand.
4 months before…
It was a usual Friday night at crash. Most of the Seattle residents were free for the weekend, and were living it up in the pub. The music was loud, almost to the point of being annoying. The beer was good, but it clearly wasn't pre-Pulse. The men and woman were scouting for someone to have a good time with and in the midst of all that Original Cindy was trying (and failing) to cheer up a broody Max Guevera. They were seated at a table on a podium, a little higher up, overlooking most of the pub. Max had already finished two beers, and had started on the third while OC had barely touched her second one.
"Boo, what's on your mind?"
Max sighed and OC knew her friend was in one of her "the world is against me" moods. She decided to be straightforward with Max. "Boo, You made a choice, you wanna let Logan go, you let him go."
"It's just too dangerous to be around him… He might die because of me."
"That man's always busy savin' the world. He might die cos a that." Cindy wasn't in a mood to dance around what she wanted to say. "Without you he woulda found a way to get in danger too."
Max knew Cindy was right. Logan had been neck-deep in trouble long before meeting her. Heck, Eyes Only was one of the most wanted men in the city, cops were always trying to hack into his system, figuring out new ways to track him down. Likewise he was always finding new ways to piss off the authorities. Max hadn't known this about him when she'd first met him. She'd thought he was just like any other rich guy. His knowledge of Manticore and who she was had quickly informed her Logan wasn't much like anybody else she'd ever met. It had still, however, been the certain degree of normalcy that had attracted her to him at first. Logan was human. No cat, shark, dog or lizard DNA anywhere in sight. He'd had one mom, and one dad. No tubes or designers or scientists had been involved in his birth. Nothing about him had been designed by anyone and in spite of that he was still an impressive personality. Max loved how smart he was, the knowledge that he simply shook out of his sleeve at every turn. She loved the fact that he fought for the less fortunate of this earth. She really loved that willingness to always fight the good fight. She truly did love Logan. But lately something had changed. Max had been getting more and more involved in working with (What she still stubbornly refused to call) 'Her Kind'. She'd met many other X series and even Nomolies and somehow, somewhere a realisation was growing:
Max was nothing like Logan. She was an all together different breed.
She remembered Alec's bitter words: "We don't belong with them".
More and more Max started to believe that maybe he was right. Maybe there were too many differences between Humans and Transgenics for a real relationship to work. But still… part of her desperately longed for the white-picket fence and two point three kids. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that with another transgenic she'd never have that life.
"Boo?" Original Cindy's lightly irritated voice snapped her out of her musing.
"I just wish Alec didn't have to go and tell Logan." She said, just as the X5 himself strolled in with his usual swagger.
In spite of her transgenic senses she didn't notice. Not even when almost all the women Alec passed by unconsciously turned their bodies towards him.
Alec by now was so used to the reaction (almost all) women had on him he didn't notice either. He did notice Max. As usual, without even trying he smelled her before he'd even opened the entrance door. He would know she was near from anywhere within a quarter of a mile radius. Unlike usual he didn't think about it much. He was still pre-occupied with the worlds Logan had said.
* Just treat her right. *
Those words had made him think.
Think about Max, and the way that he had treated her in the past, the way he would in the future.
In honesty there was no way he was going to turn his back on Max, not ever, no way. She was everything he had.
Alec hated the way Max thought of all the other Transgenics as 'Family' but it really was the closest description of what she meant to him.
From the very first moment he met her she'd been a mystery to him. One he really wanted to figure out...
At first, back at Manticore, she'd represented everything he was taught to fear: The Outside World and disobedience being the scariest things about her...
Sure, he'd never really followed all the rules Manticore had for their soldiers but he'd kept his head down, and had done what he was told. Had killed people whenever ordered to. The way he'd looked at it: These people were dead either way, it was probably best to be killed by someone who knew what he was doing. Alec, at the time still 494, always killed with mercy. He did it quick and painless, trying not to hurt his victims. There was no philosophy behind that, no deeper meaning, it was just easier because it was quicker, more clean. And it helped not to have to watch them suffer
Obviously 494's moral code had been, well, lacking when he'd met Max. She had slowly but surely taught him how to be human, how to think human.
Max hadn't just named him. She'd turned him into the man he was today. She and dog-boy, they had been the key ingredients to his transformation from X5-494 to Alec McDowell.
And even though sometimes being Alec was hard on him, he would forever remain thankful to Max.
Forever thankful, and forever loyal.
That is why he hadn't corrected Logan in his assumption that Alec was exactly 'the kind of guy to steel another man's girl'.
If Max thought life would be easier away from Logan, and if she needed an excuse to stay gone, who was he to judge?
He'd decided to screw his integrity and play along.
Anything for Maxie….
He approached the table where Max and Original Cindy were seated and (courtesy of transgenic hearing) caught a bit of what they were saying.
"It had to come out sooner or later." He heard OC tell Max, who answered with a resigned "Yeah, I guess so…"
He walked up to them with a casual trod, but his eyes showed a hint of anxiety. He paused when OC got up and told him: "Don't make her feel any worse than she already does."
He hid is amusement at the hidden treat in these worlds, as if Cindy could actually hurt him. In truth, though, he'd probably let her hit him over the head as easily as he let Max. He had a soft spot for this not-so-ordinary human. He sat down in Original Cindy's seat as she walked off.
He waited for Max to acknowledge his presence.
"So you're gonna tell me what happened?" She asked him, stress obvious in her voice.
"I didn't say anything." He shot the words at her, trying to show how angry he still was (or wanted to be) at her.
"Thanks…" She said softly. "Why'd you change your mind?"
"Cos you're right, I mean you had to say something. Only you didn't push him away. I'm not sure what could… He let go, cos he wanted you to be happy."
Max looked heartbroken, but somehow less so than he had expected.
"Now don't start crying on me" he said half serious, half joke. "Cos he said I had to take care of you."
They fell silent for a moment, both lost in thought. Alec's mind was wandering back to Manticore, to when he first entered Max's cell.
"But Maxie, I gotta ask you, please don't pull a stunt like this again. I felt like I'd actually stolen you from him… He and I aren't exactly friends but he's a good guy, and I felt guilty…"
"Thank you, Alec." Max looked directly at him and neither of them spoke while they were trying to figure each other out.
They sat there for at least a minute, just staring at each other.
Max was trying to see Ben in his face, and couldn't find a trace of her brother. Sure, they looked the same. But the calm, cocky and sarcastic look in Alec's eyes was nothing like the pain and anguish she'd seen in Ben's. Max realised that it had been a very long time since she had last thought of Alec as anything other than "Alec, her friend and partner in crime".
Alec saw Max was looking for something in his eyes. He calmly stared back at her, wondering what it was she tried to see. He in his turn looked for the sadness he had come to expect in her chocolate brown Bambi eyes. There was a hint of melancholy there. She was sad for losing Logan, but it wasn't quite as bad as he expected.
"Anything for a friend." Alec finally answered after a long minute. He shrugged and smirked at her. "So you're expecting me to keep up the charade then?" He asked her.
"If you don't mind… it's just easier for me this way…" Max rarely showed weakness, so he just nodded in acceptance and decided to move on: "I don't know about you, Maxie, but I could do with a drink right around now." He casually reached out for her almost empty cup and his hand froze mid air.
Alec tried to sound casual, tried to make a joke, but his heart rate went up and there was a sense of distress in his voice when he asked her: "What's that? Your barcode's not enough, you're getting tattoos now?"
He grabbed her hand and pulled her wrist closer to his eyes, very aware of the panicked look in Max's when she saw the tattoo's.
"Oh, my god." Max exclaimed, informing Alec that she, as he expected, had no idea what they where or how they got on her skin.
"What the hell are they?!" He asked her anyway.
"I don't know." Max said panicked, looking to him for an explanation.
"Hate to bring his name up, really, but do you think Logan might know what they are? Alec asked.
"I don't wanna see him." Max said, not leaving any room for negotiation.
Alec presented Max with an easy solution in a second: "So we go to TC and show him through a webcam."
