Title: Who Wants To Be A Rich Dude: X Series Style

Rating: G. I mean K+. God, this new system confuse the heck outta me.
Show: DA
Pairing: M/A
Genre: Humour / Fluff

Type: WIP

Summary: For some extra cash, Alec does what should have been a piece of cake for a transgenic with their genetically enhanced super brain. He joins a game show.

A/N 1: I need to get this out of my system first before I attempt to finish my other WIPs. But, I don't expect this to be long. Maybe 2 to 3 chapters, top. This is suppose to be a standalone, but halfway through, I kinda get stuck so I was thinking, what the heck, I'll post this part first. Let's see how people react to this :)

A/N 2: Thank you soo much to Alexis, the greatest beta ever! And Jewel for the moral support heheh

Who Wants To Be A Rich Dude: X Series Style - Chapter 1

Money makes the world go round.

Alec McDowell can't agree enough on this point. If someone suddenly stopped him in the street and asked, "What smell would you like to wake up to?" one of his answers would be money. Like totally.

However, he can't say he's materialistic per se. In fact, if another someone plunked him down in front of a shrink who tediously picked over his brain like a stubborn bulldog, he'd probably blurt out he'd rather wake up next to a warm, smiling… someone.

But, the possibility of that someone ending up in his bed, let alone warm and smiling is next to zero. Nilch. Nada. So that means he's back to his second love of his life.

Alec loved the coarse texture as he ran his fingers across the bills, the muted inky smell that cannot be reproduced anywhere. He was not ashamed to admit it. He loved his green. Ever wonder why his bike is green? Max put down his choice of color as childish with a quick roll of her dark eyes. He'd retorted that her choice was as drab as her personality. She had given him one of her infamous glare and a quick smack behind his head but nothing could sway him. He loved his green and that's all there is to it.

He jumped down from his Bandit and headed towards the only building in the area. His walk could only be described as a strut; and after he pushed the door apart, a faint jingle echoed around the silent office.

A young girl with bleached blond hair was at the receptionist table and she lifted her head as he approached, her long dangling earrings sparkling.

'Hi, how are you doing?' Alec gave her one of his megawatt smiles as he leaned against the shiny counter.

The smile she gave back in return was decidedly more than professional. 'Hey, what can I do for you?'

'You guys called me for this new thing? I'm Alec McDowell.'

'One second,' she studied her list and smiled. 'Yup, there you are. Jon will see you in a minute.'

'Sure, I can wait for a minute,' he winked and the girl giggled.

Before he could say anything else, a tall stocky guy in wire rimmed glasses approached; his shaved head was almost hidden by a trucker's hat. 'What's up, dude? I'm Jon.'

'How's it going, man? Alec.' He grinned in return.

'Yeah, we're waiting for you. I see you're all alone? Where's your partner?'

'Partner? What partner?' Alec frowned.

'Didn't we tell you, it's a two man deal? You need another guy.'

'No, I think you forgot to mention that little part.'

'No way.' It was Jon's turn to frown. He slipped his hat off, rubbing his shiny head in preoccupation. 'I mean, it's a two man team so you need to find another guy, man. Pronto.'

'Who can I get on such short notice?' he asked, alarm at the sudden idea. Where can I grab another guy? Normal? No way. Sketchy?? 'Does it have to be a guy? What about a girl?' he asked somewhat desperately. Normal was cool on several levels (and he used the word cool loosely) but more than his life was at stake here. And Sketchy? Moving on.

'Sure, man. Two dudes, two chicks, a dude and a chick. We have no problem,' Jon just shrugged his shoulders.

'Awesome,' he smiled and flipped his cell open. 'Max, you gotta bail me out of this.'

--

Max stepped into Logan's penthouse and the tantalizing smell assaulted her senses immediately. A good thing I skipped breakfast today, she smiled to herself. She was so hungry she could finished the whole thing in minutes.

'Hey,' she smiled and walked towards the man.

Logan's hand stopped in midair and he smiled in return. 'Hey, yourself.'

'What are you making? Smells delicious.'

'Family recipe,' he smiled, 'I had to beg Grandma Cale for this recipe for a week, vowing never to reveal it to anyone before she even agreed to teach me.'

'Sounds like my kind of dish.' She grabbed an apple and propped her hips against the table, watching him stir the sauce.

'Take a seat, Max. Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes.'

'I can't wait.'

She sighed in appreciation as he placed a plate in front of her. She was just about to take a bite when suddenly her cell phone rang. Max smiled apologetically at Logan. 'This better be good,' she hissed.

'Max, you gotta bail me out of this.'

'What? Alec, is that you?'

'Yeah.'

'What have you done this time?' she asked, scowling at the untouched food in front of her.

'Can we go through the you're-such-a-screw-up lecture later?'

Was that real desperation she heard in his voice? Her conscience pricked uncomfortably and she stood. 'Where are you?'

On the other end, Alec blew a relief sigh and told her the address. 'Quick Max, I don't have much time.'

The second Alec hung up, she ran towards the door. 'Sorry Logan. I have to take a rain check on lunch.'

The frown lines on his brow deepened. 'Was that Alec? What did he do now?'

'I don't know but I have to help him out. Sorry.'

He squashed the urge to give one of his you're-absolutely-right-he's-a-moron reply when he realized she's already gone. Logan turned towards his grandma's secret dish and started eating. Hmm… if he did say so himself, even better than what grandma makes.

--

Throughout the ten minute journey, Max was torn in between being pissed and scared. It was so Alec of him to get into trouble (again!) and then expect her to come to his rescue. She was almost there when she realized something. Was it okay to barge in there without backup? Why didn't he tell me, she fumed. Maybe White had him at gunpoint and forced him to call her? Maybe he did tell her, maybe he was talking in a code or something?

Oh man, this was driving her nuts. By the time she arrived at the destination, she was a mess. She saw his ride parked at the front but the sight of the green motorbike did nothing to reassure her jumping nerves. Cautiously, she made her way inside, her senses fully extended. Once inside the building, she plastered herself against the wall as huge eyes surveyed her surroundings. The area looked to be empty but you never know. White could charge in, tossing a snake or something her way.

'Max!' Alec shouted and Max readied her muscles for battle. 'You're here!'

She blinked as he strolled towards her, smiling. 'What the hell is going on? Where's White?'

'What? What are you talking about?'

'You called me because he got to you, right?' she asked, her eyes still wide.

'No, it's something worse,' he said gravely and Max could feel her heart picking up speed.

'What?'

'I joined this thing and they told me I need a partner.'

'What?' she blinked.

'I thought it's a solo thing and 20 minutes before we're on air, they say it's a two men deal or I'm out of the show.'

''What the hell are you talking about, Alec?' Max asked slowly.

'I entered a game show, Max. Ever heard of one of those? You answer a bunch of questions and they give you money if you answer correctly. Easy money,' he grinned.

Max hold up a hand, much like a police holding traffic. 'You pull me out of lunch at Logan's because you entered a freakin' game show? I thought White was torturing you, you moron!'

'Aww… thanks for the thought but we'll be on air in 5.'

'No way, get someone else,' her eyes narrowed in anger. 'And did you even spend a minute to think of the consequences? You're going on air, you dickhead. Where millions of people are watching. White could be watching,' she hissed, her eyes wide as she tried to force some sense into his thick skull.

'Nah, I doubt it Maxie. He'll have his own snake-loving-cult channel. I don't think 'Who wants to be a rich dude?' is his kind of thing.'

'Who wants what?'

'Who wants to be a rich dude. That's the title. It's a remake of a pre-pulse show. How hard can the questions be, right? I mean, we're both X5's with genetically engineered brains,' he rolled his eyes good naturedly. 'Have you seen the pre-pulse reruns? Most of the questions they gave you were what Manticore was pushing down our brains when we were five.'

'I need to sit down,' Max mumbled and flopped down in the nearest chair.

'Come on Maxie, it'll be fun. And you'll get half the prize.'

'How can you even be sure we'll win?'

He just raised a brow.

Right, the X5 factor.

'Where else can you get fifty grand for free? Fifty thousand, Max. That's your part.'

Max stared silently at him, trying to digest everything he threw at her. But before she could say anything, a man walked towards them and handed Alec a few sheets of paper. 'Is this your partner Alec? We need her to sign the contract and then we'll start shooting.'

'Thanks man,' Alec grinned.

'I'm gonna kill you after this,' she scowled as she wrote in her details.

'Before or after you get your fifty grand cheque?'

--

'Okay everyone. I'm Jon, your producer today.' Jon held up his hand and the noise dropped a couple of notches. 'We're going on air in one minute. The host, Annie, will start and I want you all to be quiet unless she's talking to you. Understood?'

Pretty much everyone nodded tensely except for one brunette who glared at her partner, who rolled his eyes back at her.

Jon put on a headphone before making a series of gestures at the host, a matronly looking lady in pale blue suit.

'Welcome, I'm Annie, your host for today,' she smiled cheerily. 'This is a brand new show to test our youngsters today on their knowledge in domestic life. We're going to assess just how much our participants know about cooking, housekeeping, gardening, sewing and cleaning. The whole nine yards.'

With the mere mention of domestic, Max felt her blood drained eerily downwards. She turned to Alec and saw that he was as pale and shaky as she felt. 'Housekeeping?' she mouthed tensely at him but he just shook his head.

'Relax,' he mouthed back without much confidence.

'Only one team will be selected to answer ten questions based on all the topics I have mentioned and with correct answers, they will move nearer to our one hundred thousand prize jackpot. Before we start, let's get to know our contestants, shall we?' She moved to the first couple. 'Who do we have here?'

'Hello,' two gangly teenage boys said in unison. 'I'm Jeff, he's Andy and we're from Sector 8. And we're the Shear Gods!'

'Very imaginative. I gather gardening is your specialty?' The two boys nodded excitedly and she smiled before moving on to the next group.

Again, Max turned to Alec, even paler. 'We need a group name? What's our name?'

'Umm wait,' Alec mumbled back.

'You have five seconds, genius,' she hissed under her breath as the host moved closer.

'And what about this nice couple over here?'

'We are team...' She could almost hear the gear grind and scream in his mind as he fumbled for a name. 'Monty Cora!'

Whaaat?? She turned to him, eyes wide as she demanded for an explanation telepathically.

Get in line babe, she could read that plainly in his eyes.

'Monty Cora?' the host frowned.

'Yeah, because... well, Monty is my favourite movie and... umm coral is her favourite rock. So we just combined 'em together,' Alec smiled in relief.

'But your team name is Monty Cora, not Monty Coral.'

'It's the funniest thing ever,' he grinned and Max felt the urge to run and hide. 'When she's younger, Max used to have this umm... doll which she named Coral, but she had trouble saying it so she it's Cora to her. So, for Max here, Coral is Cora.'

'That's so sweet,' Annie smiled Max squashed the need to smack him on the head in front of live tv. You're such an idiot, her eyes projected to him.

I didn't hear you pitching ideas, he shrugged back his reply.

'And now, here's your first question. Whoever is the fastest in answering this will move on to the next stage and will be given the chance to win one hundred thousand dollars. Are you all ready?'

Max could sense how everyone held their breath collectively.

'The question is… what is the name of this plant which is widely used in Asian cooking. It has long green stalk with white bulbous end which smells tangy and citrusy.'

Max heard the question rolled over her head as if it was spoken in a foreign language and thought to herself, 'We're done. And I get to kill Alec sooner than expected. Yippee!'

She saw a blurry of movement next to her before the buzzer sounded.

'Yes, team Monty Cora?'

What? She frowned and turned to Alec.

'Lemon grass!'

'Fiery Soldanella! That is correct!' Annie beamed and nodded, 'Come on over!'

Seeing her dumbstruck look, he grinned and whispered to her ear, 'Poison and Herbs 101.'

Max didn't know whether to hug him or smack him but her smile was decidedly full of relief as she followed him to the raised platform in the centre of the stage and sat in front of the host who was still smiling into the camera. 'We'll get to know our first contestants, right after this commercial.'

'Aand cut!'

The makeup girl rushed forward and started retouching the host's makeup as the director went through something with the elderly lady.

Alec turned when he felt Max tugging at his sleeve hastily. 'What's wrong?'

'Everything!' she glared. 'We got past the preliminary round because you didn't sleep in class at Manticore.'

'So?'

'Soo… I'm gonna kick your ass after this for dragging me through your half-cocked plan,' she fumed.

'Chill, Maxie,' he grinned and she jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow just for the heck of it.

'Ouch,' he moaned as he turned his pained face towards her but she just wrapped her arms around her chest and stared forward stubbornly. Alec saw her lips moved silently around the word which suspiciously sound like moron.

'Bitch.'

Her head whipped towards him and he smirked. 'Concentrate, Maxie. You're gonna make us lose all those pretty dollars when I work soo hard to get us here.'

'Whatever,' she growled and before he could respond, Jon had rushed back behind the camera. 'We're on air in five, four…'

'Welcome back,' Annie smiled. 'Before we start with the questions, let's get to know our lucky contestants for this episode.' She beamed in delight at Max, 'Tell us a bit about yourself, dear.'

Startled, she blinked once before something snapped in her head. That and the quick poke courtesy of Alec. 'Hey, I'm Max.'

'What a pretty name. What do you do, Max?'

'I'm a bike messenger.'

'What do you like to do in your free time?'

'Free time?' Her brow rose unconsciously. Apart from dancing out of White's clutches, trying to get other transgenics off the radar and other trivial stuff, did she even have free time?

'She looves knitting,' Alec interrupted. 'She just made this huge thing and I had no choice but to drape it over my sofa.'

'Really?' Annie said excitedly, 'I do knit myself. You should see the sweaters I made for my granddaughters.'

'Stop it Alec,' she smiled but her eyes promised a thousand painful deaths, all before tonight's dinnertime. 'Knitting is so boring compared to what you have. Why don't you tell Annie about your stuffed toy rabbit collection?' Max turned to Annie and said seriously. 'He has this room filled with stuffed toy rabbits; he even sleeps with a couple.'

Alec's smile was strained and it was his turn to glare at her under hooded eyes. 'Yeah, that's the last thing my mom gave me before a drunk driver hit her and left her to die on the side of the road.'

'Aww.' Annie wiped her glassy eyes. 'I'm so sorry for you...'

'Alec,' he answered somberly. 'Every time I looked at my bunnies, it's like my mom is looking back at me.'

'How long have you been dating?'

'D…date?' Max spluttered but Alec intercepted her smoothly.

'You can say that we hit it off when we're still in school, ever since we were partnered in umm… biology class.'

'School sweethearts!' Annie smiled widely, 'How sweet.'

Under the table, Max's small foot lashed out and he tried to hide his painful reaction under a shaky smile. But before she could make up any more embarrassing tidbits about him, Annie's smile turned professional as she turned to the camera.

'And now, for the first question.' She studied the cards in front of her. 'Today must be your lucky day, Max. Your first question is about knitting.'

'I… see.'

Alec turned and grabbed her freezing hand in his. 'Oh honey, that's awesome.'

Under the cover of his larger hand, her fingers moved quickly as she gripped and twisted his thumb. His eyes almost popped out from his socket in pain as he quickly withdrew his injured hand, chuckling weakly. 'Go for it, bunny cake!'

'There are three basic types of knitting needle and one of these types is straight, double-pointed knitting needles also called DPNs. What is the typical length of DPNs?'

Max stared blankly at Annie, a fake smile plastered over her face. 'Umm..,' she blinked. She seemed to remember vaguely Kendra chattering about making a scarf or something for her then squeeze. She was saying she needed... '7 inches?'

'No surprises there, correct!'

However, Max was indeed surprised as hell that she had the correct answer and laughed as she turned to Alec, her current annoyance with him forgotten for the time being.

'That's two hundred and fifty dollars for team Monty Cora. They will double their winnings to five hundred dollars if they answer the next question correctly. If either of them give the wrong answer, they'll loose all their money. They can stop at any given time and can go home with their current winnings. Let's hear the second question, shall we?'

The audience clapped and Annie turned to her cards again.

'All production methods for sparkling wines have one thing in common: they have the purpose of introducing enough carbon dioxide in the wine to make it sparkling, i.e., "bubbly". What are the three main methods of sparkling wine production?'

Alec could feel Max's gaze on him as she started to hyperventilate. 'The first method and the cheapest one is the simple injection of carbon dioxide, a process mostly used in soft drink. The second is the Metodo Italiano - Charmat process, where wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in bulk tanks, before it is bottled under pressure. This method is mostly used for Prosecco and Asti, which produces smaller, longer-lasting bubbles. The third and the last method is the traditional method or méthode champenoise. The bubbles for more complex wines are produced by secondary fermentation in the bottle and as the name suggests, this is used for the production of champagne and other quality sparkling wines, but needless to say it is way more expensive than the Charmat process.' He answered and just grinned at her wide eyed look of amazement as Annie nodded.

'Fiery Soldanella! That is absolutely correct. This is getting excited isn't it? Five hundred dollars for team Monty Cora.' The audience clapped noisily and they both grinned at each other. 'And now the one thousand dollar question. Five-spice powder is a combination of five ground spices. When used sparingly, it has a wonderful flavour but can be dominant if too much is added. What are the five ground spices?'

Alec nibbled on the pad of his thumb as he thought it over. 'I know clove and cinnamon should be in there.'

'Yeah,' Max nodded, 'I think Logan did mention something about those spices.'

'Does Loggie-boy want to start fusion food now?'

'He should know these things,' Max retorted. 'When did you last cook something?'

'Oh, who is Logan?' Annie suddenly asked, interested.

'Max's old uncle. He has this thing with cooking pasta.'

'He's not that old.' Max aimed another kick at his shin but he quickly moved his feet out of danger's reach. 'And he does not have a thing with pasta.'

'Suure. What was he making for lunch today, huh Maxie?'

Max ignored Alec's jibe and continued, a frown on her face. 'There's also fen... umm fennel? And some seed thingy.' Her forehead furrowed deeply as she went through Logan's complicated conversation which she had discarded at the time as boring and time consuming.

'Star anise seed,' Alec suggested helpfully.

'Yeah, that star thingy seed and umm... there's also this pepper that's like really foreign.'

'Szechuan pepper. What?' he asked at her dumbfounded expression. 'I do open a book once in a while.'

'That's the correct answer,' Annie nodded and the audience clapped in excitement. 'Clove, cinnamon, fennel, star anise seed, and Szechuan pepper. Let's take a quick break before Max and Alec try to answer the twenty five hundred dollar question.'

Two makeup girls surged forward when the director yelled cut; one went to work on retouching Annie's makeup while the other dabbed Max's sweaty brow. She waved the girl off irritably and the makeup girl drifted off to Alec.

'Stop fooling around while we're on air or you're dead.'

'Ooh Max. That must be like the thirty first death threat you've made to me today. I'm shaking in my boots now.'

Before she could retort something scathing and nasty to him, someone pushed bottled water into their hands as the director shouted, 'Great work so far. We'll going back on air in twenty seconds.'

She ignored his reply as she quickly took a gulp from her bottle before someone grabbed it back and melted into the crowd.

'Aand five, four, three…'

'Welcome back to the newest game show on your tv and we're still with our contestants Max and Alec from team Monty Cora. They have both won a thousand dollars and they're still in the running to win a hundred thousand dollars. How do you feel now?'

'Awesome, bring it on lady.' Alec smiled.

'In that case, here is the question that's worth twenty five hundred dollars.'

The background music dropped to a mysterious whisper before it surged upwards and Max almost jumped from her chair. 'What is the easiest thing you can use to clean brass or copper?'

'Ooh, I know this,' Alec suddenly said.

'Are you sure? Just how much brass do you have at your place?' a skeptical Max narrowed her eyes.

'Shut up. I saw how Martha cleaned her brass pot once and she…'

'Martha who?' Max asked quizzically.

'You watched Martha Stewart re-runs, Alec? I never thought a young man like you like you would watch something like that.'

'No, not me,' he laughed, 'I have this friend who loves it when she cooks and does all those Martha things she did on tv so he constantly hoards the television.'

'What friend?' Max frowned suspiciously at him.

'Josh, who else.' Alec rolled his eyes in response at her. 'He wants to learn how to cook something other than mac and cheese. He adores the ground she walks on. If she's still around, I bet he'd be one of those fangirls you hear about, except that he's a boy so technically he'll be the fanboy… but never mind, and she uses lemon juice to make her brass and copper pots shiny like new.'

'Fiery Soldanella! That is correct!' Annie beamed and the room exploded in applause.

'See Maxie, watching tv is good for you.'

'Yeah whatever,' she muttered as his smirk grew wider.

'Max and Alec, are you both ready to hear the five thousand dollar question?'

'Hit me already!' Alec pumped his hand in excitement and Max hid her need to gag.

'I like your attitude, Alec.'

'You must be the only one,' Max muttered darkly.

He heard that and retaliated by saying in a serious voice, 'Nah, it was Max who got the lil Miss Ray-of-Sunshine title when we're in school. She even got a letter from the mayor for that,'

'That is incredible, Max,' Annie clapped her hands and the audience followed her cue and joined in.

Max's smile was watery but she refused to even look at Alec. 'And you were voted the most likely to turn into a psychotic killer but let's not go there.'

Alec chuckled, his eyes darting to her in annoyance as he rambled on. 'You should see me on stage. I made a huge impression as a tortured serial killer but our friends are known for their weird sense of humor, so…' he shrugged sheepishly.

'You seem to lead a very interesting life together.'

'Yeah, well…' Alec grinned modestly. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Max open her mouth to toss more ammo his way no doubt so he quickly intercepted. 'We're so excited to hear the next question!'

'Enthusiasm! That's what we want in this show,' she smiled and shuffled her cards. 'All righty. Are you ready for the five thousand dollar question?'

'Hell yeah!' Alec saw the horror in Annie's eyes and delight in Max's at his blunder and he quickly added demurely. 'I mean, yes ma'am.'

Beside him, Max snorted and mouthed mockingly at him, 'Yes ma'am.'

He pretended that he didn't see that.

To be continued..