Dogs of War
Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA.
Ok, I lied. Not about my boss/Renfro or the OT, but I managed to get this into shape for today. So, let's see if we can't go find Alec...
Chapter Seven
Within half an hour they were outside the city loaded into a pair of large nondescript vans that they kept in a garage at the edge of town just for situations like this. Max was riding shotgun while Slick drove. The rest of Alec's team who'd refused to be left behind was in the back. The second van was full of a special tactical team they'd put together that was basically a SWAT team's ugly cousin who didn't have to play by all those pesky rules.
Once they left the city, the already quiet crew fell completely silent. No one knew what they were walking into, but at the very least they were all returning to the scene of the crime. The base held nothing but painful memories.
They made the turn off the main highway and headed into the woods that surrounded Manticore on all sides. The track didn't look well travelled and for that she was grateful. At least they hadn't set up large-scale operations again.
About half a mile from the base, they pulled the vans off the track and stashed them in the trees where they wouldn't be visible. Slick appeared at her door and helped her out of the van, noticeably displeased that she was with them. She had the feeling he was just as worried that Alec would kill him for bringing her along as he was about her inability to move quickly.
Max ignored him. She got her bearings and headed into the trees on shaky legs. With each step, a fresh burst of pain ripped through her chest. She knew she shouldn't be moving at all, let alone trying to move stealthily over rough terrain, but she had no other options. Alec was here and she had to find him.
The others fanned out around her, intent on protecting her as much as anything else. The strike team was in the lead and Alec's team was bringing up the rear. Slick, however, stayed right beside her. He'd apparently put himself on personal bodyguard duty and he was watching her like a hawk, no doubt afraid she was going to fall over at any moment. Which she might, judging by how weak she was feeling.
She was so absorbed in staying upright and keeping one foot moving in front of the other that it took an extra second for her to realize that the people in front of her had stopped. At a silent gesture, the teams split, seeking cover behind trees. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of someone crashing through the undergrowth heading in their direction.
The two transgenics in the lead wasted no time on subtlety. They allowed whoever it was to pass them and then stepped out from behind cover, weapons raised. The rest of the group followed suit, effectively surrounding the newcomer. Slick, however, kept a firm hand on her arm and refused to let her move from cover until they were told it was safe. Max made a mental note to kick his ass for it once she knew it wouldn't knock her unconscious to try.
Finally, she heard a short chirp and Slick released her. She stepped out and walked toward the circle of people. For just a second, she dared to hope it was Alec, but she quickly saw that it wasn't.
"Mink?" she said quietly. The others stepped to one side to allow her through.
The transgenic definitely looked worse for wear. His dark hair was mussed and his clothes were torn from his frantic flight out of Terminal City and then through the miles of woods. He was breathing heavily, and looked lost and confused.
"Max, I'm sorry. I… I don't know what happened… I…"
"It's okay, Mink," she said evenly. At least he wasn't trying to kill her or any of the others.
He glanced up at her, then away, and shook his head. "This is wrong… It's all wrong… I… I was just… and then…"
"Mink, we'll figure this out," one of the others said. "We know someone did this to you. We'll fix it, ok?"
The man nodded, unable to look at any of them. "I tried to talk to Alec, but…"
"He's here?" Max asked, a little too loudly. Mink pointed behind him, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Max turned toward the others. "Two of you, take Mink back to the vehicles. Mink, we need to cuff you until we know you're not going to have another… episode, all right?" She waited for Mink to nod his agreement. He held his hands out in front of himself, his wrists clasped together and simply waited. He almost looked relieved that he was going to be restrained.
Max didn't have time to contemplate how wrong it was to be locking up their own people. She knew for certain now that Alec was here. "The rest of you with me."
The others formed a phalanx around her as they moved toward the base, and Slick once again took his post beside her. Max tripped over a root and he grabbed her hand to keep her upright. She couldn't hold in a gasp as agony tore through her chest. Wordlessly, the others stopped for several seconds while she regrouped and then at her signal, once again moved forward. Out of necessity, Max kept Slick's hand in hers as they continued, although it pained her to accept the help. She was willing to humble herself, however, to get to Alec. She was fading and needed to get to him before that happened.
The group slowed as they approached the base. The fences were in tatters where dozens of transgenics had made their way through on that night. Max scanned the buildings, but she saw no signs that there had been any rebuilding. It was still the same burnt-out hull that they'd escaped from. There was no sign of any repairs or even of any recent activity. It was exactly the way they'd left it; an old, ruined, abandoned military base.
They hurried toward the buildings, eager to find cover once they left the trees. They moved toward the end of the building and then around the corner where they would be able to see almost all of the central buildings and the center courtyard.
The man in the lead peeked around the corner and went very still. He signaled for two of his men to approach. He gave them silent orders and they slipped around the corner and disappeared. The team leader signaled again and once again sent a pair of transgenics off, this time in a different direction. He did it a third and fourth time, leaving Max with just him and Slick.
She leaned against the wall, trying not to scream while the teams cleared the rest of the complex. She didn't have time for this, although she knew she would have to make time. Finally, after what felt like forever, the teams started returning, each giving the all clear sign.
When the last one was back, the team leader visibly relaxed and then turned to her. "There's no one else here. He's all yours."
"What?"
He tossed a glance over his shoulder. "Alec's just around this corner. He didn't react to any of the teams. We're going with you, but just… be careful."
The words mocked her. The men in her life were always telling her to be careful. This wasn't a mission though. She wasn't trying to find the cure, or take down some bad guys, or find supplies, or face the press, or the politicians. Max had to go get the man she loved.
Max stepped away from the wall and took as deep a breath as her chest would allow in an attempt to settle herself. She walked around the corner and stopped dead in her tracks.
Alec was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the central parade ground. His elbows rested on his knees and his head was down, held in his hands. His hair was mussed, like it always became when he was worried and ran his hands through it too often, and his clothes were tattered and torn like Mink's were from the fight to get out of Seattle and running through the woods. Any bruises, however, had already had a couple of days to heal.
Max approached him warily, but he didn't seem to be aware that she was even there. The others ranged themselves around the parade ground, close enough to help, but clearly trying to give them at least the illusion of privacy. She saw the remains of Alec's cell phone on the ground in front of him, smashed into bits, and she used a foot to brush them out of the way.
"Alec?" He didn't respond, didn't move a muscle. "Alec?" she said a little louder and he flinched just slightly. "Alec, look at me."
After several long seconds, he shifted his hands that were supporting his head. He moved like his muscles were locked up, and she wondered just how long he'd been sitting in the same position. He raised his head, the movement painfully slow, until finally she could see his face.
His features were haggard and he blinked as if the light hurt his eyes. "Max?" he whispered in disbelief.
Max felt her chest tighten, but it wasn't from anything physical. Alec wasn't just in trouble. Alec was broken. He was shattered.
"Max?" he asked again, choking out the simple name. Fat tears rolled down his face, but his eyes remained unmoving, just staring at her as if he couldn't believe she was real.
"It's me." She very carefully sat down on the ground facing him, her knees brushing his. She wasn't able to hide a grimace as she leaned forward and Alec's face seemed to crumble.
"Max," he breathed out, beyond defeated. "It can't be…"
"I'm all right," she said quietly, but firmly. "You hear me? I'm all right."
He shook his head and looked down. "I thought you were dead." His voice cracked on the last word. "I thought I killed you."
"You didn't," she assured him. "I'm fine. We just need to get you back to TC so we can figure out what's going on." Alec looked up slightly, his eyes on her chest. She knew the last time he'd seen her he'd been gazing at her down the sight of a gun. She'd been bleeding, staring in wonder at her own chest much like he was now. "You staring at my boobs again? I thought I warned you to knock that off. In public, at least."
Alec completely ignored her attempt to lighten the mood. He held out a shaking hand toward her, as if still doubting that she was real. Knowing what he needed, she lifted her shirt, ignoring their audience. She took his hand and set it against her chest, over the bandages that were still in place. The pressure hurt, but she tried not to let it show.
"See?" she said gently. "Not our best date, but we both survived." She put her hand over his. "I know, ok? I know it wasn't you."
Alec ripped his hand away abruptly. "I shot you, Max. I shot you. How can you…" He trailed off, lost as to how to end the sentence.
"You remember the first time we were here together?" she asked, changing tack.
"What?"
"Here." She gestured to the parade ground around her. "Remember? It was right after we met. We were all here to report about how our little breeding session went."
Alec's brow creased in confusion, but a tiny, very tiny, hint of his normal smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. "You kicked me into your cell door."
"And you repaid me by telling Renfro that we had sex. Twice."
"Yeah," he said, with a very light huff of a laugh. He still looked wrong, like he was trying to rebuild his mask, but was having trouble managing it.
"I should have known something was up between us when I didn't kill you for that. You got under my skin from the first second we met, Alec." She put all the sincerity she could muster in her voice. "You think I'm gonna let a little thing like this come between us? Especially when there was nothing you could do to stop it?"
"Max," he said, his half-constructed mask crumbling again. He pushed himself back from her. "It's not safe. I'm not safe."
"We'll figure this out, Alec," she said with more certainty than she felt.
"I already did, Max," Alec replied dejectedly. "There's only one thing all of us had in common. Me, Whip, Mink, Fig… We were all screw-ups."
"What?" Max asked, confused.
"We all had a mission that we failed to complete, that we chose not to complete. We all spent an extensive amount of time after that in psy-ops. I think… I think they gave us a code word, brainwashed us, so that when we heard it, we would do exactly what we were told, probably kill somebody, since that's what we were trained to do after all, and then get our asses back to Manticore. I remember… on the phone…" His face scrunched up in thought. "They said something, but I can't remember the word." He shook his head in frustration. "Probably part of the programming. I heard it, and I had to do what they told me. It was like a switch had flipped. I sh- I shot you, and I had to get back to the base. That was all I cared about. In the bad old days, if I'd screwed up again, they'd have given me the trigger word, I'd have finished the mission like they wanted and brought myself right back to them in a hurry so they could put me down or send me back into re-indoctrination." He closed his eyes, his jaw clenched. "When I snapped out of it, I was standing at attention right here on the parade ground, practically waiting for psy-ops to haul me away."
Instead, Max realized, he'd been absolutely alone when he'd fulfilled the preprogrammed response. Two days ago, he'd simply sunk to the ground and hadn't moved again, certain that he'd killed her.
"So…" Max closed her eyes, trying to think through the new information. "So, somebody has managed to get hold of those trigger words implanted in the transgenics who were considered their high-risk children."
"Max, they could do this again," Alec said, fear plain on his face. "One word and I'll shoot you again. I'll kill anybody they tell me to. I'll do anything they tell me."
"So we can't let you near a phone," Max said lightly, despite how grave the situation was. "Looks like you already took care of yours."
Alec shook his head. "No, Max. I can't… I don't want to hurt you again." His voice broke and he stopped. "I'm… so... but, you're all right, Maxie. I thought… I was sure…"
"Shhh…" She leaned forward and put her hands over his. "It's ok, Alec. It's all right."
"No," he said sadly, "it isn't. I'm a danger to you."
Max cringed at the words. We don't belong with them. We're a danger to them. He'd encouraged her to leave Logan behind, and now he was going to do the same for himself.
"I'm a danger to everyone in TC," he continued. "Just leave, Max." His voice became hushed, barely audible. "Leave me here. Please."
Max looked past him and nodded to Slick. On cat feet, the transgenic padded forward, and before Alec even knew what was happening, he hit him with a Taser that had enough volts to bring down a moose. Alec slumped forward into Max's lap. She brushed her hand through his dirty, matted hair.
"It's ok, Alec," she whispered to the unconscious man. "I promise it'll be ok. But you have to come home."
Someone had radioed for the vehicles to be brought up. The team converged around her and she allowed them to pick Alec up and carry him to the vans. She stayed close to him, refusing to leave his side as they set him in the van and bound him hand and foot. She knew it was a safety precaution, but she hated it all the same.
Max's beeper went off. She checked the display and pulled out her cell phone. Every cell phone in TC had been ordered turned off until the situation was resolved. They'd been forced to resort to the beepers and then calling in. It was annoying, but it was better than having more people get calls and subsequently go homicidal. She quickly dialed the number for Command. "Max."
"We think we know where the call came from," Mole said without preamble. "You're not gonna like it."
"Great," she said with a sigh. She got into the back of the van and sat beside Alec, close enough that she could continue brushing a hand through his hair. It was probably more for her benefit than his. "Just great."
Off to work. More soon...
