Title: Pain

Fandom: Dark Angel

AN: This fic isn't in my Something Beautiful 'Verse. I was watching Designate This the other day and this scenario played out in my head. I couldn't get rid of the impulse so I had to write it. Things go a little differently upon Max and Alec's first meeting. I hope you enjoy.

Max's face tightened and her body tensed almost imperceptibly as she heard loud noises coming from outside her cell door. She moved quickly, hiding the evidence of her attempted escape, pulling her bunk down and making herself seem as comfortable as one could on such a hard surface. She sat up as the door opened, revealing someone that looked suspiciously like her brother Ben. 'But it couldn't be Ben, right?', she thought herself. She'd killed him, snapped his neck because he'd asked her too, so it couldn't possibly be him, could it?

She stood, eying him with a fierce intensity, she couldn't keep herself from questioning, her voice soft, "Ben?"

Her brother's face twisted up into an expression of utter bewilderment, "What?"

Her eyes were downcast as she answered him, her voice distant, tinged with a hint of disappointment, "You look like someone I used to know."

He averted his eyes, but not before she could see that they weren't her brother's. Despite being exactly the same in size, shape, and color they were completely different. They didn't hold the same frenzied madness and desperation that Ben's had, they were guarded, but there was this spark in them. He looked alive, alive in a way she hadn't seen anybody else here look. In a way she hadn't believed she'd ever see inside this concrete prison; he was more than just a soldier.

A small smirk graced his lips as he offered casually, walking around her, "My designation's 494."

"His was 493… you must be twinned.", she said, speaking more to herself than to him, though she still watched for his response.

He turned to her, speaking, his tone harsh, laced with sarcasm, "493, your fellow traitor, went psycho."

He rolled his eyes.

She bristled, her jaw set as she asked, her tone on the verge of belligerence, "What do you know about it?"

"I know that because of him I had to spend six months in Psy Ops. They wanted to make sure it wasn't genetic. Looks like ten years in the world finally got to him.", he replied sardonically, disdain dripping from his words; he smirked at her.

"It was this place that got to him.", she responded with conviction.

"Whatever.", he supplied offhandedly, a distinct edge to his voice.

She huffed; this guy was seriously pissing her off. "No, not whatever. You don't know anything about it, you have no idea what he's been through, what we've all been through.", she spoke harshly, her tone now belligerent, her cheeks flushing as anger coursed through her veins. It was clear that the 'we've all' meant her whole unit.

His whole body tensed, his jaw clenching, his vibrant green eyes flashing at her dangerously. She watched as his whole body shook with the effort to control himself; she hadn't been expecting this, she'd been expecting another caustic remark.

It didn't take him long to reign in his emotions; he took a calming breath before laughing bitterly, as if what she'd just said had to be some kind of sick joke. He peered at her intently, his jade eyes boring into her dark brown ones as he spoke, voice incredulous, "What he's been through, what you and your selfish unit mates have been through?! You, you're the one who doesn't know anything, you and you're unit mates are the ones who bolted, and left the rest of us here to suffer the consequences. You think life was rough when we were ten, huh?"

"It sucked pretty hard.", she stated, eyeing him warily as she waited for his response.

When he finally spoke his voice was hard, cracking slightly, raking over her like shards of broken glass, "Well trust me the night you left things got a whole lot worse. Lydecker and the TAC Officers came and got me, took me out of the barracks, and brought me to this room, there were others in there, all of us, your twins. They told us that because we have the same basic psychological makeup as the twelve of you we were the greatest flight risks. They screamed at us for hours, telling us that we were expendable, that we had to prove we weren't traitors like the twelve of you. Then they dragged us down into the basement, put us in solitary. We were in there for at least a week, with no food and no water, it was dank and cold. There was no sound at all, just complete and total silence. Even though all of our cells were in the same hallway we didn't speak to each other in fear of getting in trouble. I was so scared, I couldn't understand why I was being punished, I'd always followed my orders, had never been in any trouble. When they finally took us out of solitary, the doctors and scientists got to use us as test subjects. They tested all these chemical and viral agents on me, they shot me once to see how I healed, burnt me, broke my bones, beat me, and then there was all the surgeries, some done while I was awake. I was in Psy Ops and re-indoctrination for two fuckin' years after the escape, two years of practically non-stop pain and torture, two years without seeing my unit, two years without seeing the sun."

After a pause, he ran a frustrated hand through his dark blonde hair, and spoke, his voice still cracking, "That wasn't all of it, there was a lot more, and that was just the first trip, and there are plenty of other things that happened to me, some worse, but I'm not getting into that. So, you tell me if it's Manticore that made him crazy, how come I'm not? Tell me how everything that I just told you is nothing; that I've been through nothing compared to all of you."

She looked at him in shock, her face pale as she took in everything he'd just said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have attacked you like that you're entitled to your feelings. Ben and I used to be really close, and I'm kind of defensive, I say most things without thinking.", she spoke softly, trying to make amends.

"I can understand that, I'm pretty impulsive myself.", he offered, excepting her apology, hazel-green eyes shining with a hint of mirth, that smirk of his, both infuriating and gorgeous, once again gracing his lips. 'Gorgeous? Get your head out of the gutter Max, he looks like your dead brother, and you love Logan remember.', she berated herself internally.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that and more. It was definitely not nothing, you must be pretty strong to not have gone crazy.", she said, looking at him with admiration, before moving to sit on her bunk.

He sat down as well, trying to make himself comfortable on the concrete floor, leaning back against the far wall. He pulled his legs to his chest, and responded to her statement with a sweet smile and a shy, "Thanks."

It was not something she'd been expecting, for 494 seemed to be a real smart ass. She couldn't help thinking he looked adorable like that though; his hair sticking up every which way because of the force with which he'd ruffled it earlier, the sweet smile, and the shyness in his voice. He looked like a little boy whose dad had just told him he was a natural at sports. She supposes maybe that's how he feels, it's not like he gets praised by the guards or anything.

There was an awkward silence and to both the X5s' surprise Max was the one who broke it. Her dark brown eyes fastened on him, eying him with curiosity, as she inquired, "I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but what're you doing in my cell anyway?"

He chuckled, "You're not gonna like it."

She rolled her eyes, "Just tell me, I won't hold it against you."

"Yeah, right.", was his sardonic reply. "Alright, you really wanna know?"

"Yeah.", she responded, before mumbling something under her breath about all men being dense, her rich brown locks swishing around as she shook her head in exasperation.

He stared at her, his expression indifferent as he spoke dryly, "We've been paired off, I'm your breeding partner."

"My what?", she asked, her voice incredulous.

"I told you that you weren't gonna like it.", he responded knowingly.

After a brief pause, he spoke in an indifferent tone of voice, "We're supposed to copulate every night until you get pregnant."

"That's sick!", she said, her tone conveying her disgust, her eyebrows furrowed.

"If you and your friends hadn't blown up the DNA database they'd still be whipping up embryos puttin' 'em into surrogates.", he said, his voice soft, not accusatory in the slightest.

"Look, I'm not forcing you to do anything, I'm not that kinda guy. If I'm gonna have sex with someone its gotta be 100 percent consensual, so we'll just lie. No need to freak out on me.", he spoke honestly; still smirking.

She looked at him in bewilderment.

He seemed to understand. "I took Common Verbal Usage when I got cleared for my solo missions."

"Oh, you mean assassinations.", she stated, the slightest hint of an accusation in her voice.

"It was my job. If you're gonna bust my chops about it, go ahead.", he replied, but the sheepish shrugging of his shoulders, and the bowing of his head belied his cool tone of voice. He cared what she thought of him, she could tell.

They both turned as a guard approached the door. Max stood up, speaking caustically, "He's reading love poetry. You know, to get me in the mood."

The guard ignored her, focusing solely on 494, "You got something for me?"

494 slowly got up, making his way over to the door, passing the guard something that she couldn't see through the bars. She watched curiously as the guard handed 494 some money, and he passed the guard some cigars back. "Do me a favor… give these to Vic. Tell him he can pay me later."

"No problem.", the guard said, before walking away.

"Thanks.", 494 called after him.

494 turned back to Max, putting his money into a thickly stuffed wallet. At her curious look, he explained, "He's got a thing for those vitamins they make us pop every morning. Yeah… I got a few things working."

She grinned, questioning, her tone playful, "What would Renfro think?"

"That I've been a bad boy.", he answered her, signature smirk plastered across his face.

She was still smiling as she asked, "You don't care?"

"All I really care about is keepin' my ass out of Psy Ops, and keepin' me and anyone I care about off her radar. 'Cause Renfro, she's a sadistic bitch, much worse than Lydecker ever was. On occasion I even miss the bastard.", he said, a wry smile making its way onto his face.

"I never thought I'd say this, but so do I.", she spoke in agreement, a similar grin gracing her soft features. She moved to sit back on her bunk, leaving room, and gesturing for him to sit next to her. He did so rather tentatively, eying her as if to make sure this wasn't some kind of trick. When there was no sign of her playing some sort of game with him, he relaxed, smiling at her widely. "So, what's it like on the outside?", he questioned, his tone inquisitive.

She grinned.

TBC…

AN: If you like this I'll write more, if you don't I won't. Please read and review, it's very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Alaina