Author's Note Changed the rating to M over all, just in case. And, since my last AN didn't seem to stick on EFG, none of these are connected to any other one. Thank you, everyone, for the reviews, I may do a follow-up part to G as a thank you...
Specific ratings: H-K, I-K+, J-K+, K-K+ (K is kinda a Max POV to the one-shot Rainbow)
Hero
People were stupid. This fact was confirmed as the large group of vigilantes left the room to go home. It was six o'clock and their dinners were going to get cold. Alec rolled his eyes and waited until the last man, or woman, his ears weren't that good, left the abandoned office building before standing slightly and throwing himself down as hard as he could.
The chair broke, as he knew it would, and he pulled his limbs free from the ropes that had kept him tied down. Tortured for information. Hah. He'd had worse during a training exercise when he was six, and he hadn't talked then. In fact, he could remember 600's backhand with fondness after being around Max for a year. Chick hit harder than a Mack truck, friend or no.
They'd planned, in their infinite wisdom, to let him stew there for a while before coming back to check on him, thinking that a few days without food or water or the ability to move would loosen his tongue. Geniuses, really. With all the outrageous stories going around about transgenics, they didn't believe he could spend a week without nourishment.
Well, time to go. Alec brushed himself off, couldn't they have chosen someplace less dusty for their torture chamber, and headed out the door, trying to picture which one had stolen his leather jacket and hoping Dix could drum up an address based on Joshua's composite sketch.
A noise down the hallway had the X5 pausing before he turned the corner. Apparently not all of the goon squad had left. He listened hard as the approaching footsteps petered away until there was silence. Was there another corridor off that one? Was the concerned citizen lost? He waited, breath held for five minutes, before venturing around the corner, and smack into a roundhouse kick.
"Ow." He blinked away stars and held his nose, afraid it might start bleeding.
"Alec?!"
He blinked at the high-pitched cry and squinted at the culprit. "Max?"
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking around.
"Been better." Seriously, Mack truck carrying a load of cement blocks.
"I'm here to rescue you," she announced.
"Bang up job." He pulled his hand away and scrunched his nose. Nope, not broken, just a little sore. A nice addition to all his other injuries.
"Where are they?" she inquired, in a fighting stance as she peered up and down the hallway.
"My friendly neighborhood abductors?"
"Yeah."
He shrugged, "Gone."
"Gone?" she repeated, "Where to?"
"Beats me, I'm just happy they stopped threatening my genitalia."
She shot him one of her patented death glares. "Ew." She relaxed and started walking back the way she came. Alec followed, as he was so wont to do. Her ass was just so hypnotizing. "What'd they want anyway?"
"The exact date we were planning on taking over the world."
"Seriously?"
"I told them they had the wrong house and to try the cult next door."
"Funny."
He smirked, "I thought so."
The stairway was bare except for the abandoned cobwebs and the not so abandoned spider webs with their humongous occupants eyeing the two X5 hungrily. For real, and arachnids had way too many eyes for that to be a good thing. And that one, Alec stared at the brightly colored spider that had dropped down to eyelevel, that one was probably poisonous.
"Alec!" The eight-legged insect scurried back up its thread and Alec blinked down at Max, who was standing in her patented impatient stance a whole level down. "What are you doing?"
"Staring contest?" he offered, making his way to her side. She gave him OC's patented 'ya fool' glare and continued downward. Alec followed again, wondering if she swayed her hips like that on purpose. Knowing Max, however, it was probably done unconsciously to taunt him. Look, but don't touch. Touching meant a beat down and beat downs were bad.
Rain. Rain and darkness was what awaited them as they exited the building, looking around cautiously for signs of his attackers. Well, Max looked for attackers, Alec looked for his bike.
"Son of a bitch."
"What?"
"They stole my bike."
"You'll get a new bike."
"I don't want a new bike, Max, I want my bike." His bike was neon green and easy to pick out when he'd forgotten where he parked. Higher intelligence or not, there were just some facts his brain could not retain; one being that Max hated being called Maxie, two being that rules weren't meant to be broken, and three being where he parked his ride.
Although, there weren't that many lime green Bandits in the city. He could probably find his easy peasy japanesy and then get the guy who stole it to tell him who took his jacket. He wouldn't even hurt him that bad, just a few well-placed hints of potential damage and he was sure the ordinary would sing like a bird-
"Get over it." Max was pulling her sleek little Ninja out of hiding and Alec glared at it hatefully. Max's bike meant he was riding bitch and he was so not a bitch. "Get on pretty boy."
Sigh. He trudged over to sit on the passenger seat, the squelching of wetness on his crotch so not pleasant, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Well, at least one good thing came out of this predicament; she couldn't slap him from this angle.
"Alec! Watch your hands!" She was shouting over the wind.
"Can't hear you!" he shouted back, tightening his hold.
Ow. She actually just head butted him. The nerve. Hadn't he had a rough enough day already? He'd been smacked around, threatened, left to perish, and then beaten up by his so called rescuer. Didn't he deserve a little fun? The least Max could do was let him feel her up, honestly…
The bike came to a halt outside his apartment building and he jumped off before she could turn on him, scurrying into the warmth of the foyer and trying to bring feeling back into his cheeks. Motorcycles and November in Seattle did not work, especially when one had had one's jacket stolen. A presence at his elbow had him spinning to look at his sometimes partner-in-crime. "Thanks," he said, surprised Max was following him this time. Hmm, maybe she really did have a thing for his ass.
"How'd they catch you?" she asked, walking beside him down his hallway.
"Thought I was too pretty for my own good."
"Alec, be serious."
He paused at his door, shooting her a reproachful glance as he unlocked it. "I'm hurt that you don't believe me, Maxie."
"It's Max."
"But I'm telling the truth," his voice took on a sardonic edge. He'd been flirting with the wrong girl and the boyfriend had taken offense. Really, it was pure chance that the guy's accusations on Alec's genetic perfection had been true. The rest of the bar had taken up arms against him and that was that. It was just lucky he didn't frequent that Sector of the city and could persuade, i.e. bat his lashes at, Normal never to send him there on a run.
He looked at her in confusion when, after he turned on the lights, she hissed. "Are you okay?" he asked, not liking the expression on her face.
"Am I okay? Look at you!" He froze as she cupped his face, tilting it toward the light. Touching…Max was touching him. Voluntarily. Were pigs flying? Had hell frozen over? "Did they hit you with a two by four?"
Ah, he supposed the setting sun and full-on night, not to mention the recessed lighting in the hall, hadn't given her a good view of his face. "Bar stool actually," he corrected, "Probably some other stuff, but I was unconscious for a while." She let him go and started rummaging around his freezer. He hoped she wouldn't ask what the large wad of cash was doing next to the pig's feet and ice cream.
"You're lucky I came looking for you," she informed him as she bundled ice cubes into a mostly clean dish towel. "Sit."
"I was lucky they were just lunatics and not murderers. And that people are stupid. You," he pointed out as she came closer, "had absolutely nothing to do with it. I already had myself out of the situation before you showed up with your half-assed heroics."
Max was gaping at him, one hand on a jutted hip, the other holding up an ice filled towel. It wasn't that an attractive of a pose. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." He sat on top of the table and smirked at her, ignoring the hurt it caused. "Your rescue attempt, it was half-assed. And you kicked me, probably exacerbating my concussion."
"Whatever."
"Good comeback."
"If you had just stayed put, I wouldn't have kicked you." She was right in front of him now. "And you don't have a concussion." She put the make-shift ice pack on his eye, none too gently he had to say. Max had no bedside manner; she'd make a terrible nurse.
"Ow." He glared out of his free eye. "So sorry, I don't do the damsel-in-distress thing well. Next time I'll wait patiently for my knight in black leather to arrive so I can swoon into your arms and you can carry me bridal-style back to your faithful steed. Sound fair?"
"Shut up."
She was so hard to please; one day she wanted him to take care of things on his own and not to talk to her and the next day she was all 'you need back up, why didn't you call me?' It was enough to drive any red-blooded American transgenic male up a wall. But she still wasn't leaving him on his own, and she still hadn't given him a real, patented Alec's a screw-up speech. He was totally gonna push his luck.
"Max."
Her eyes were wary as she watched him put his ice pack down. "What?"
Alec smiled, trying his best to look shy, and batted his lashes at her. "You're my hero." She rolled her eyes. "Can I have my obligatory kiss now?"
"What?" Well, that was a little high-pitched.
"That's how it works, Maxie," he explained patiently, standing up, "Aren't you all into the Disney endings?" He was kissing her before she could sputter a reply, and in his modest opinion, it was definitely a fairy-tale ending kind of kiss. And she was kissing him back. Getting abducted was so completely worth this moment.
He broke off the kiss and took a quick second to memorize her flushed skin, swollen lips, and closed eyes, it would be a picture his highly intelligent brain would need to remember once she got those eyes open. "The concussion made me do it!" he cried, already across the room before her dreamy expression turned to homicidal rage.
Because, really, truly, whether he loved her or not; the girl hit like a Mack truck carrying a load of cement blocks and driven by a giant.
Imposter
"Good work, 453."
Sam watched impassively as her twin was loaded, bound and unconscious, into the back of the black SUV. "My family," she demanded.
Ames White smiled and she didn't like it, "All in good time, 453. I just have one more thing I need you to do."
"That wasn't the deal," she spat at him, furious.
"I'm changing the deal. I want 494 as well, he's been a pain in my ass and I want to make sure he's gone once and for all." His cold blue eyes stared at her challengingly. "Think you can handle that 453?"
She needed a cigarette. "Yeah, I can handle it."
"Good. Call me when you have him." White started toward his car and Sam decided she'd rip him apart once her husband and son were safe.
Her bike felt natural beneath her and she sped back into the heart of Seattle until she was back outside 339 Waverly and giving the run down building a once-over. Apparently 452 was a squatter. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she headed through the entrance and took the elevator to 452's floor. The doors opened to reveal a black woman dressed to kill. She stared at Sam blankly.
"Thought you was leavin' town?" A well-manicured hand held the door from closing and her body blocked Sam's escape.
"Nah." She wet her lips, "Got some family stuff to take care of." She wasn't sure how well 452 knew this woman, but Sam's family was of utmost importance.
"Boo, OC thought you was straight trippin'!" she exclaimed, before throwing her arms around Sam and hugging tightly. Sam hugged back briefly, always uncomfortable with strangers and physical contact. This must be the Nubian princess 452 roomed with; the file had stated her name was Original Cindy. 452 lived an odd life. "Now, what say the two of us fine sisters take your boy up on his offer to buy drinks?"
"I don't know," Sam said, trying to get out of it. Hanging out with 452's boyfriend and pretending to get drunk wasn't going to help her find 494.
"Don't even, Max. You gonna make up for scarin' me so bad by comin' to Crash for a drink. After that, we can hang out and chill. Pamper ourselves a little, it'll be fun."
So Sam found herself surrounded by 452's co-workers, a bunch of unwashed, uncouth twenty-somethings, trying to act like she was having a good time.
"Where's Alec?" OC muttered, bringing a pitcher back to the high table she and Sam were sitting at. "Just like a man, never keepin' his promises. That's why OC likes the fairer of the species. Besides being so much prettier, they always keep their word." She made a noise of satisfaction and sent a flirtatious smile to a redhead playing darts. "So," she continued, staring Sam dead in the eye, "You hear Normal and Sketchy's latest theory about you being a transgenic?"
"What?"
"Seems that little stunt yesterday has got them wired. You keepin' your barcode lasered, right?"
Sam's hand moved involuntarily to the back of her neck. Didn't 452 know how to keep a secret? "It's taken care of."
"Good. Well, here comes the devil." Sam followed OC's gaze to the stairs. She'd seen the guy early, outside Jam Pony, and acknowledged he was good-looking, but there was something about the way he moved in the crowd here that had her hand going to her inner jacket pocket. Her wedding ring rested at the bottom of it, a comforting weight. "Alec, honey!" OC called, and his face swung around, his eyes meeting hers and she found herself nervous at the anger in them.
He nodded at her companion, "OC," and then looked straight at her, "I thought we were meeting a Joshua's." He made it a statement, not a question.
Sam shrugged, giving him an apologetic smile, "Sorry, must've slipped my mind, sweetie."
"What? Max are you-"
"Alec," Cindy interrupted, and Sam realized they were both looking at her like she was crazy. What had she done wrong? Maybe they didn't use pet names? "How about you go get yourself a drink and join us in a bit?"
"Yeah, sure." He back-tracked, giving Sam one last confused look.
"Boo? Far as I can see, Logan's not here, so what's with the snuggly bear attitude with hot boy?"
"What?"
"Thought Alec wasn't supposed to know you'd made him your pretend boyfriend unless it was absolutely necessary?"
"Um…" Sam had definitely made a mistake.
"Max." Alec was back, putting a glass of scotch on the table, and staring at Sam intently, "Can I have a word?"
"I don't-"
"Now."
Both women bristled at his tone, but Alec had her arm in a vise-like grip and was pulling her away from OC. "Let go," she ordered, trying to rip her arm from his grasp. It didn't work, and she'd even put some super strength into it.
"Where's Max?" he growled in her ear, shoving her out onto the wet sidewalk.
"I'm Max."
"Yeah, right, and I'm the President of the United States." They stared at each other and Sam realized he was X5, the way he held himself, the empty expression on his face…all Manticore.
"How'd you know?"
"You smell like cigarettes and guns, two things Max would never touch. So, who are you and where is Max?"
"Designation's 453 and I turned her over to a man named Ames White."
"You what?" The mask was gone, replaced by open-mouthed astonishment. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"Hey, I had to spend six months in Psy Ops because of her and her little traitor unit."
"So did I, you don't see me turning in every 5, 6, and 8, I see, do you?"
Sam studied him, surprised at his indignation on 452's behalf. "White has my family." His anger was fading. "He won't give them back until I bring in 494 as well."
He was smirking now, "Good luck, but I don't really see myself coming quietly, considering White wants my head on a plate."
So he was 494, she should've known. "I want my husband and my son back, 494."
"Name's Alec, and I want Max back, so, I'm thinking we should work together."
"Why don't you hate her?" Sam asked. She thought about all those months in Psy Ops, the memories still fresh. "She ruined my life, and he ruined yours."
Alec shrugged, "Sometimes I do. She can be a real bitch sometimes, but being out here, I'm free. And she did that. Heck, if she hadn't burned down Manticore, would you even be with your husband?" Sam looked away because she knew the answer. Her mission had been coming to a close and one day Johnny would come home from school to find his mom missing and Steve would never know what happened to his loving wife. "I'll take that as a no."
"So what's the plan, brainiac?"
"We find a suitable place for a handover; you tie me up and tell White you have me. We kick his freaky, snake-loving, cult ass and offer an exchange. Max and your family for his life." 494 was grinning again.
"And what makes you think I won't just hand you over for real? Why risk my family's lives on the chance that White gets away?"
"You hand me over and they're as good as dead." His face was so serious, not even his eyes were laughing now. "White hates us. The minute he has me to add to his set, you'll get a bullet in your brain and your family, the husband and son you love so much, will meet with an unfortunate accident on their way to freedom. He's done it before, and his word is meaningless."
"Fine." She could see White doing it, not caring of the innocent lives he was ending. He was just that cold of a bastard. "We'll do it your way."
"Great!" He set off walking and Sam followed, unsettled by his sudden changes in mood. "You ever been to Terminal City? We'll get ourselves some back up."
The snow was making her chilly and Sam glanced at 494, sitting on the cold ground, humming to himself. She puffed away at her smoke, waiting impatiently for White to arrive, and scanned their surroundings. She couldn't see the transhumans, but she knew they were there, lying in wait like the predators they had been trained to be.
"So he's human, huh?"
She'd discovered 494 like to talk. About what, it didn't matter, he'd started several one-sided conversations to while away the time, but now it seemed he was ready to address her. "Yeah, he was my assignment."
He nodded, and a note of bitterness crept into his tone. "It doesn't work, you know. We don't belong with them."
"Speaking from experience?" she asked, feeling on guard.
"Yeah, well…" His laugh was self-deprecating. "Do you think he'll look at you the same once you tell him what you are?"
"Do you think she'll ever look at you?" Sam shot back viciously and watched half with satisfaction and half with guilt when the mask slammed back in place. She'd known it by the edge in his voice, by the fact that he was still by her side, still fighting for her. If he didn't hate her, he loved her.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Even his voice was vacant of emotions. "Right, sorry, my mistake." She tossed the cigarette butt on the ground and rubbed it out. "She will, though." His head came up and he looked at her cautiously. "At Crash, you got my blood boiling and I'm a happily married woman." She smiled, "Besides, that Logan guy seemed like a jerk."
He smiled back, eyes thoughtful, "He definitely can be." And then the conversation was over.
Two hours later Sam was watching Alec hover around her clone as Max yelled at him for doing so, but she wasn't pulling away when he started suturing her cuts, and her eyes when she looked at him were affectionate and Sam knew it was just a matter of time before Max would be looking for real and Alec would no longer be a pretend boyfriend.
Half an hour after that, she was seated in an SUV that Alec had stolen, Steve in the driver's seat and Johnny sleeping on the back seat, on her way to Canada. Sam glanced at the rearview mirror as they sped away from Terminal City and then at her husband, who wasn't quite meeting her eyes. She sighed and twisted her wedding band around her finger. Even if Alec didn't, Sam still hated 452.
Jealous
X5-493 was prepared for a fight when the men in black showed up. What he was not prepared for was the announcement that all Manticore operations were being shut down and dismantled. That transgenics no longer needed to fear persecution, no longer had to hide. That thanks to Congress, they could get jobs without being discriminated against, marry ordinary humans, have children, and live peacefully. It was their right as U.S. citizens.
The small Alaskan base that he trained in was where they sent the rejects that had some hope of recovery. 493 knew precisely why he was here, a hormone imbalance had triggered a psychosis and he had murdered several people in cold blood. They'd fixed him and started standard re-indoctrination procedures as soon as the nanocytes had repaired his spinal cord from where it had been snapped.
He had been out in the real world before and from the little he could recall there was no order to it, no purpose. So while others of his series migrated from their facility across the Canadian border, some heading to the states, 493 stayed where he was. The town near the base was small and friendly, but he kept himself separate from the masses, unwilling to become confused again.
It was a normal day of anonymity for him, skirting people on the sidewalk, ignoring greetings, when everything changed. He had been hunched over to conserve body heat and concentrating on avoiding ice patches when he looked up and saw her.
The cameras caught her from a distance, but he knew her. He paused in his trek home to stare at the TV screens in the window. He stayed gazing at the window for far longer than the news segment ran. Max, his enhanced brain supplied. Max who was his sister, mother, killer, savior…Max who was simply his.
Washington. Seattle. That was where she was. 493-Ben, he reminded himself, the name there like he had never forgotten it, packed his sparse belongings and left the room he rented before the sun had set on that previously ordinary day.
The little ship he was on started sinking off the coast. Ben wasted no time in procuring a life-boat and heading toward shore. He docked in a Seattle port by luck and headed through the rest of the city on foot, sneaking past Sector checkpoints with ease.
The news being broadcast was that the ship he was on had been hit by anti-transgenic terrorists. The captain had been known to be sympathetic to the transgenic cause and had ferried many across the ocean to Canada. The news reporter said there had been no casualties, but several injuries, and one missing passenger. Ben gave a little sneer at the remembrance of the crew, praying to their God, to Christ, to Mary the mother, as they loaded into the remaining life-boats. False worship, but it had served them well, he supposed. His thoughts turned from religious idols to his true Lady and he set back out to find her.
Terminal City was open, a concession to their freedoms, but there were still guards posted inside the gates. Ben strode forward, wondering how to identify himself, but the X6 waved him through with a smile and a compliment on his haircut. He shrugged it off and continued, hiding in alleys when he might have met up with another transgenic. The sun was just beginning to go down when he found his way through the maze of a city within a city and to their HQ.
He slipped in unnoticed by the occupants of the building, crowded as they were around a computer screen. Nomalies. Ben reared further back in shock at the grotesque faces and his heart started racing, but none of the X5s that had just entered the room seemed to care about the creatures. His eyes scanned the room for another exit, his now blocked, and they caught on her.
She was wearing blue, something he recognized as ironic, and she looked beautiful. His Max. Ben reminded himself to breathe, and felt a smile creep across his face. She was here, and now he was with her, and nothing could go wrong again. Max would keep him grounded.
"Well, don't you clean up pretty?" The statement was drawled in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar to Ben and he turned his head slightly to see the man who had just entered the derelict building that was the transgenic base of operations. He felt his eyes widen and his blood start to pump at the sight of his own face.
The man who wore his face continued forward, never taking his eyes off of Ben's Max, and 493 wanted to snap him in half. "Prettier than you, smart aleck," Max replied instantly, sounding amused. Ben felt his heart racing. She had to know it wasn't him.
False Ben was smiling charmingly, and he wrapped his arms around Max, fingers getting lost in folds of blue-green fabric as he pulled her down for a kiss. Pure, unadulterated rage filtered through Ben and the sight of his copy touching what was meant to be his.
"Max and Alec late."
"Josh's right," the man, Alec, said, sounding regretful.
"He usually is," Max responded, running her hands down the imposter's lapels, "C'mon McDowell, this Councilman's Ball was your idea. It's rude to show up late to your own party."
Ben couldn't take the sight of them anymore. He stepped out of the shadow and called her. "Max?"
Everyone looked at him, but he only had eyes for her. Her face drained of color. "Ben?" she whispered, shocked.
He smiled, "Hi."
She was out of not-Ben's arms and into Ben's almost immediately, and Ben relished the feel of her against him, pressing a kiss to her hair and squeezing her tight. She pulled back slightly, eyes hopeful and astounded, "How…"
A shrug rolled across his shoulders, "Manticore," and he pulled her close once again.
"I'm sorry," she murmured in his ear.
"Don't be. You saved me, Max," he whispered back.
A throat cleared and Ben looked up into his own eyes, dark and suspicious. "Max we have to go."
Ben's grip tightened and he met the clone's glare. "Don't leave me, Maxie."
She kept a hold of Ben's hand as she turned to Alec. "You can't expect me to leave now," she exclaimed, "I have to get him settled in."
"I need a date."
"Get Krys, you know she's been dying for a chance to hang on you arm."
"Max-"
"Alec, please, he's my brother."
"Fine. You call Krys, I'd like to have a chat with Brother Ben."
She smiled and squeezed Ben's hand. "I'll be right back." Her look at Alec was freezing, "Be nice."
"Always," he called after her, before looking back at Ben. Ben met his eyes and followed when he gestured outside. "So, Ben-"
"What's your designation?"
"494."
Ben smirked, "A cheap knock-off then." Alec's eyes darkened a little bit more. "Don't touch my sister."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Ben moved closer to his twin, forcing the other man to step back a little. "Keep your hands off of her. She's mine to take care of."
494's entire expression lightened, and he laughed. "You're jealous."
"Of you? Please."
"Don't worry Benny-boy, I won't be taking her sisterly affections away from you. I don't really think of her as a sibling anyway, 'specially not when she's in my bed." Ben saw red, and had 494 pinned against the structure's wall in less than a second. "Temper, temper."
"Don't talk about her like that."
"She's my mate," Alec told him, "I can touch her any time I want and I will be the one taking care of her." He shoved Ben back and smoothed down his tuxedo. "And another thing, brother of mine, I find out anyone's missing any teeth…I will end you."
"What makes you think you can?" Ben demanded, he had always been a brilliant hunter.
494's smile was practically angelic. "I'm better."
"Everything okay out here?" Max had come through the doors, still breathtakingly beautiful in her excitement.
"Peachy," they chorused and threw the other a hateful glare.
She blinked. "That's just weird." She grabbed onto Alec's hand. "Krys will be here in five. I'm going to get Ben into an apartment, but I'll wait up, so don't be too late." She leaned up for a deep kiss that had Ben clenching his hands. 494 smiled at him over the top of Max's head as she gave him one last embrace.
Kiss
Alec trusted her. Max knew this because he was bent over her bed with his bare ass in the air, trusting her not to laugh at him. So she simply smiled instead of chuckling and made sure the light was at a good angle for her to dig the bullet out. "How'd this happen, Alec?"
"Don't want to talk about it Maxie-yahhh, God, could your hands be any colder?"
She bit her lip. "Don't be such a baby."
"I'm just saying…you could be a little gentler, and warmer. You should see Dr. Carr about your blood circulation, maybe get some tips on proper bedside manners-"
"Hey," she interrupted, "If you wanted gentle you should've gone to Logan."
"Tch, like I want Logan to see me bare-assed."
She wished she could see his face. "But it's okay for me to be traumatized by the sight?"
"Oh, c'mon Maxie, you know you've been dying to see my ass in all its glory." She could hear the amusement in his voice and gave him a good swat. "Hey! Ow! I've been shot here!"
"Stay still," she scolded, focusing on the task at hand.
"It's not like I knew you'd be home," he rambled on.
"So you hobbled across town, shot and bleeding out, on the off chance that just maybe I'd be here to set you right?" she asked.
"Maybe I was hoping OC was home."
"Maybe you're lying."
His head craned sideways so she could see him grinning, "Like a Persian rug, sweetheart. Ow! Maxie, c'mon, stop hitting me!"
Alec had a good heart. Max knew this because when Sketchy was in the hole two hundred, Alec threw the game to let his friend win.
"That was nice of you," she told him, her smile sincere.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, smiling pleasantly back.
"No?" Max reached into his pocket and pulled out the queen of hearts. "This would have given you a royal flush, right?"
Alec rolled his hazel eyes at her and snatched the card back. "Whatever. I'll just win it all back, and his next paycheck, at Crash tomorrow."
Max's smile stayed on her face at the sound of his defensiveness. "It's okay to be the good guy once in awhile, Alec."
"And here I thought I was always the bad guy." Max lost her smile and suddenly felt the need to apologize, but couldn't seem to make her mouth form the words. "Forget it, Maxie." The resentment in his tone gone like it had never been. "C'mon, I'll let you buy me a drink."
"Just the way I wanted to spend my evening, how'd you know?" She put up a token of resistance as he tugged her out of Jam Pony's back room and toward a seedy bar and a night of beer, scotch, and watching him flirt.
Alec was attractive. Max knew this in an abstract kind of way because he was Manticore and, as Cindy said, Manticore knew how to make them pretty, but she hadn't really recognized that he was attractive to her until Lil' Suki pointed it out.
"He's just so edible."
"Uh-huh."
"You didn't even look."
Max looked up from the notes Logan had given her about some guy named Smith and his drug company. She spared a glance toward the bar where Alec was flirting with a blonde and a brunette and then back at Suki. "He two-timed you," she reminded the other girl.
Suki shrugged, "It's not like we said we were exclusive, and Normal gave me my job back." She let loose a sigh, twirling a blue streak in her hair, "Sex with Alec McDowell is like a religious experience, Max."
"Ew."
Suki shot her a glare, "Sorry, forgot who I was talking to."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you wouldn't know a good lay if it walked in shirtless and propositioned you." Suki flipped her hair off her shoulder and stalked off in Alec's direction.
Max stared after her open-mouthed and felt a sear of anger as the girl plastered herself to Alec's side, giggling and whispering in his ear. And Alec was grinning back, his hands resting on Suki's hips and Max hmphed. His head swung around immediately and Max started as he looked right at her. He turned back to Suki and Max was surprised to see him disengage himself from his clinging ex and start toward her.
"I thought I heard someone grunt," he stated, joining her without invitation, "What's this?" He pulled a piece of the report away from her.
"Eyes Only stuff," Max replied, snatching it back, "Why don't you back to Lil' Suki and finish eating her face off."
"Such hostility, is someone jealous?"
"Please," she sneered at him and was uncomfortable to see him continuing to smirk at her. His eyes were laughing. "What?" she demanded.
"Nothing."
He continued to stare at her, smirking, Max licked in her lips in annoyance and wondered how many freckles he had on his face. Shocked at the direction her thoughts were taking her she stood abruptly. "I have to go."
Alec was a freeing influence. Max knew this because he was right beside her as they raced their motorcycles down the streets of Seattle, never letting the other one gain the lead, until they came to a screeching halt outside of Fogle Towers, almost running Logan over.
And while Logan was lecturing them on safety and Max was trying to keep a silly adrenaline driven smile off her face, Alec was grinning from ear to ear, and mouthing 'Rematch' to her behind her not-boyfriend's back.
Alec was her friend. Max knew this because when she was restless and prowling at three in the morning, she could break into his apartment, drag him out of bed, steal one of his T-shirts, settle him onto his couch, crawl into his lap, and listen to the sound of his deep, even breathing as he slept. Because he let her curl up on top of him, one ear pressed to his chest to hear his steady heartbeat and her eyes glued to some late-night reruns, until she fell asleep herself.
The pan clattered to the floor and Max bit back a swear word, but the noise was enough. "Whazzit?" Alec's head popped over the top of the sofa to peer blearily at her and Max ducked her head to prevent him from seeing her smile at the sight of his hair, sticking up in every direction from a night on the couch.
"Breakfast," she told him, scraping the salvageable from the pan and giving the mess on the floor an irritated glare.
"Breakfast?" he perked up.
"Oatmeal."
He made a face. "Yum."
Alec could never be her brother. Max knew this because her heart had never beaten so fast when Zack's arms had been around her.
"Ready?" He dropped her before she could reply and Max glowered at him, trying not to notice that the arms that had just been holding her were corded with lean muscles. His grip at her wrists was firm and strong and Max knew he wouldn't let go until she gave the signal.
She judged the distance over the pressure-sensitized floor to the alarm she needed to disable before they could pull off this heist. Max started swinging, trying to gain momentum, and gave Alec's hands a squeeze, taking the inopportune moment to take note of how warm and smooth his skin was, and then she was flying through the air.
It took fifteen seconds to disable the alarm and then he was dropping from the ceiling to the floor, gloves now in place, grinning at her the way he always did when they were doing illegal things to bad people. She smiled back, because she had a hard time not smiling with him nowadays. "Easy as sin."
Alec was very touchable. Max knew she liked touching him because she didn't protest anymore when he touched her. She found herself leaning into his body when he stood at her back, and resting her head on his arm when he stretched it onto the back of her seat, and her punches had turned into soft swats that ended in more of a caress than a true hit.
Max sighed and tugged on a lock of his growing hair. It was silky and curly and she wanted to mess it up. "What was that for?" he asked, pulling away from her side to find a mirror to fix the damage she'd rendered. Max just shrugged, knowing she'd do it again and not wanting to admit she couldn't help it.
Alec was irreplaceable. Max knew this when she pushed herself out from under Joshua's body and screamed for him and he didn't answer. When she looked around the collapsing building and saw a pair of legs sticking out from a pile of rubble. Legs covered in torn green cargos with impractical orange zippers. Max knew it when her heart stopped beating.
"Alec?" And that thin, quavering voice couldn't be hers. "Alec!" And that cry, just as lost, also wasn't hers. She blurred over to the mound of cement ceiling and started tossing away pieces. The voice that wasn't hers kept saying his name over an over.
Finally, she could see his face, cut up and bruised, and she grabbed his shoulder and shook him. The wetness beneath her fingers had her pulling them away to stare in horror at the viscous fluid that coated them. Blood. Alec's blood. "Alec?" she whispered. She bent down, ear hovering over his mouth, until her wish was granted. He was breathing. She kissed him, just a quick brush of lips, out of pure joy, before she even realized she'd thought of it.
He groaned, and she remembered to breathe. His eyes opened, glazed over with pain, but she was simply happy to see the inhuman hazel of them. "Max?" his voice was as weak as the not-her voice.
"I'm here."
"You're alive?" He was trying to focus on her face. She nodded, and a tear slipped down her cheek. "White's dead."
Now that she knew he was safe, she allowed the flood to come. Max buried her head against his chest, aware of how little time they had to leave, and felt comforted by his hand in her hair. "So's Joshua," she sobbed, muffled against his dirty shirt.
Alec loved her. Max knew because he told her so. Because he stood in the middle of a church sanctuary, green eyes blazing, and told her flat-out that he loved her while she stood before a priest saying her vows to another man.
She was aware, peripherally, that Logan was sputtering incoherencies and that the priest was confused, and that the entire assembly of witnesses were whispering behind their hands, but she was focused on Alec, feeling unusually calm.
His gaze finally broke away from hers and he glanced around the church, a blush of embarrassment on his freckled cheeks, and started backing down the aisle. "That's it. Sorry, just thought you should know," he babbled, "Sorry again." He waved at the priest to restart the ceremony. "Carry on, pretend I wasn't here." And he turned and started walking faster.
Max loved Alec back. She knew this because she called, "Wait!" and passed a speechless Logan her bouquet with an apologetic smile. Alec had stopped, and was now staring at her, mouth open, as she walked down the aisle toward him. She slid her hand into his and tugged him to keep on walking. "I'll come with you."
