Author's Note: Okay, so this is my first (and probably only) DA fic. I don't own anything; I'm just having some fun. Let me know if it's horrible so I can be sure not to add anything to it. And thanks for reading, whether or not you review.
"It'll just be a simple pick-up," Alex growled in Max's direction as they watched the familiars nearing them. "I'm pretty sure those were your exact words."
"So I was wrong. It's not like it happens very often," she snapped back, her muscles tensing for the fight she knew was coming.
It was true; a few short hours ago, Max had dragged Alec out of Crash so he would cover her back on this operation. She hadn't told him what they were getting. She had only said it was a favor for Logan. Truthfully, this was as much of a lie as anything else. Max was well aware that they were picking up the cure for the virus, and yet she had made it sound like something more pressing. She now held the vial in her hand, determined not to let it go. She had waited far too long, put forth far too much effort, to lose it now.
Alec had been upset when he'd finally figured out what they were risking their lives for, but he hadn't had the explosive reaction that Max had been preparing for. He actually took it in stride, and eventually even shrugged it off. He risked his life for lesser things all the time, he'd said.
Max had just taken a strangely fond look at her companion when the attack came. Max and Alec knew they couldn't win against twelve familiars at once. They had to bide their time until they could find a suitable retreat. But after a few minutes of constant punching, kicking, and flipping, it was apparent that an opening was not going to present itself. The transgenics were starting to tire, and the familiars still couldn't feel any of the pain that had been inflicted on them. Alec hissed at Max that she should run, but hoped deep in his heart she wouldn't leave him there.
Instead of ditching him or even turning to run, she went down hard when she failed to block a high kick that hit her in the side of the head. It was only a second, but it was more than enough to give the other familiars the opening they needed. She got back to her feet after a spinning kick that would have impressed anyone at Manticore, and then she knew she was still in trouble.
In an ultimate act of trust, Max tossed the vial containing her precious cure into the air toward Alec as she went down. Alec did not want to lose the vial. He saw it coming down past where he was and turned back to run for it. He tripped over two people and his concentration on the piece of plastic cost him a bruising blow to one of his kidneys, but he shrugged it off. It would have to wait until later.
He jumped up when he saw the cure almost sailing over the fence, and his fingers closed around it just in time. Before he could sigh in relief, though, something heavy – another familiar, or perhaps the same one that had punched him on his way over – slammed into him hard. His body hit the top of the fence with enough velocity to go over, the wires slicing painfully through shirt and skin. Then, Alec was quickly reminded that there was a long drop on the other side of the fence – the edge of the roof.
And he dropped.
He reached blindly for something to grab onto to slow his fall, but his refusal to let go of the vial cost him a good hold. His fingers got twisted in the links of the chain fence and snapped. Recoiling from the shock of that, he tried to twist and succeeded only in jamming his knee into the wall.
This whole drop lasted less than five seconds, but to Alec (and Max, for that matter, who had seen him go over), it was an eternity. He had tucked the vial close to himself and moved so his body would protect the precious liquid when he hit the ground. There was an exploding agony in his body for a brief moment at the initial impact but then there was blissful darkness, which carried his pain away.
Max's heart dropped through her stomach when she saw her partner in crime go over the fence. Her fear somehow turned into adrenalin, as she now felt only an unignorable need to see if he was still alive. This drive made her temporarily stronger than the four familiars that she was fighting. The battle, which had previously been going on for a while, was over in seconds. She rushed to the door and headed for the stairs, knowing her best chance of saving Alec's life was to actually be there at his side. She had never even paused to look down at him.
Four flights of stairs in 58 seconds was fast even for a transgenic (although it was true that Alec had made the descent far quicker than she did). Max might have been impressed with herself if she had taken the time to think about it. All she knew was that he had dropped more than 58 seconds ago and that was far too long for him to be out of her sight after that. She burst out of the building and easily spotted the dark form lying on the ground.
He was obviously unconscious. Blood matted the side of his body where the fence had viciously shredded his skin on his way over, and he clearly had some broken bones, possibly even some internal bleeding, but what mattered was that he was alive. Max's hands roamed over his body as she checked him out, stopping when she got to his right hand, which was tightly clenched. Gently, she pried his fingers open and found the perfectly preserved vial. She had completely forgotten about it.
She tucked the cure into her pocket and then ever so softly tapped Alec's cheek, not completely positive that he wasn't hurt there, too. His head rolled in the direction of her tap, and she found more blood on the side of his face. Great -- he probably had a concussion, too. She managed to roll her eyes, ignoring the wetness that was suddenly there.
"Can't you do anything halfway, Pretty Boy?" she asked with as much sarcasm as she could muster in the situation.
Max knew she could carry him for a while, but also knew he shouldn't be moved as carelessly as he would have to be for her to carry him. Her ears then picked up two noises -- one coming from the building itself, where the enemies she had dangerously left alone were coming after them again; and the other coming from the darkness to her other side. It was Mole's voice, and she had never been so glad to hear it.
"Alec?" he called out fearlessly. "Max?"
"Here!" she answered without hesitation, and Mole and Joshua materialized in her sight far sooner than they would have in an ordinary's limited vision. "Help him," she half-ordered, half-begged. Joshua knelt down and very gently scooped the injured transgenic into his arms, all three of them cringing at the pain-induced moan that was wrenched from Alec unconsciously when he was moved.
"Medium fella hurt bad?" Joshua said, more to himself than anyone else. But Max needed to answer, anyway.
"Yeah," she said unnecessarily. "Bad."
"He'll be fine," Mole ground out in a rough tone, and both of his companions recognised it for what it really was -- sincere concern for a friend. That wasn't something the lizard man displayed very often.
"Of course he will," Joshua asserted as he walked toward the van Mole had stolen in order to get the two transgenics. The others weren't sure if he actually believed that or if he was trying to convince himself. Either way, Mole shrugged and climbed into the driver's seat. Joshua and his precious burden got into the back. Max was torn between riding shotgun or staying with Alec, in spite of the fact that there was nothing she could do to help. And she knew they had to hurry because she heard the door of the building slam open.
"Stay with him," Mole snapped from the front. "But at least get inside."
She permitted herself a smile and obeyed, shutting the door just as the van lurched forward. She knelt next to the dog man, huddled over one of their closest friends. Relief washed over her as she realised they were safe . . . until her eyes fell on Alec's face and she saw blood dripping slowly from the corner of his mouth. She knew he hadn't been punched there and it wasn't bleeding when he first woke up. That meant the blood was coming from somewhere else.
He was bleeding internally.
