Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners (Dark Angel, Fox, etc.) The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Thanks to Kita and Jenna, as always their help was highly appreciated.
I'm really sorry about the delay of this update, moving and starting on a new job proved to be quite distracting, hopefully this won't repeat and updates will be back to their weekly status.
Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think about it.


Chapter 07
The Man You Never Met

He had been glaring at the door for the last ten minutes, arriving early to an appointment was not always the best thing. Ordinarily he would have picked the lock and let himself into Logan's apartment, usually he would have stridden in as if he owned the place… any other day but today.

Today he would rather be standing at the gates of hell and waiting happily for endless damnation than standing here.

Alec knew that frowning at the piece of wood wasn't helping or taking him anywhere; after all, what's the point of giving the evil eye to an inanimate object if you don't even get the pleasure of seeing it shrink in fear. It was silly, and he knew it, but it didn't stop him from giving a last scowl at the door as he crossed the threshold and walked inside Eyes Only's domain.

The sooner he got over the whole thing, the better he would be feeling.

As he strode casually into the foyer, he was able to see Logan and Max as they shared breakfast in the kitchen; the domestic scene he witnessed struck him as something oddly familiar…as though it was something he had seen before.

The smell of fresh coffee filled his nostrils as he served himself a cup; he gave a pointed look at the coffee maker. He could have sworn the pot was full ten minutes ago and the only thing he had done in that time was a quickly visit to the bakery across the street.

"I think a whole family of elves is living in our kitchen." He commented out loud as he was looking for the sugar in one of the cupboards.

The answer from the other person in the room is muffled and he only made out a strangled "Uh?"

As he took a piece of a bagel he continued, "Or maybe we had coffee addicted ghosts, I heard those can be a plague."

He heard a laugh at his back and his lips curved into a smile as he felt a pair of arms sneaking 

around his waist. His coffee cup had been abandoned on the counter as his hand touched hers. The sound of a soft laugh is heard as he realized that she had successfully taken his cup of coffee.

"Maybe what I have is a coffee addicted girlfriend," he mocked her, as he started once again a search for another cup.

Alec blinked away the images; the whole thing had thrown him off. Was that part of a memory of his personal life or something else… something he did for a mission?

Nonetheless, he appeared to be awfully comfortable, like if being there acting like that was part of his normal life. He hadn't seen the girl's face, though it wasn't needed. There was something familiar about her. A thing he couldn't place yet.

Logan and Max raised their heads that the same time and looked at him. Alec watched the pair as his mind left behind the strange memory, now was the time to face the music. His lips curved on a grin, an expression that by now could be considered his trade mark, as he sat on a chair at the opposite side of the couple.

"Logan my man, breakfast included missions? You're spoiling me." Alec mocked them as he took a pastry from the tray.

"Alec…" Max gave him a look that spoke loud and clear a silent message 'quit the childish act or you'll see'.

Raising a hand in the air, Alec replied still in a playful tone. "If you wanted it so badly, I could have bought some muffins."

Logan looked at the X5's unconcerned attitude and resisted the impulse on calling both of them. Max's reactions only served a purpose and that was to incite Alec in getting her more riled up. Deciding to cut the banter between them he nodded at him. "Alec."

"Logan."

Alec waited silently for what he supposed was going to be the lecture of all the times, only wondering who might deliver it, will it be Logan making special attention on the value of human lives or it might be Max remarking once again the reckless and careless of his actions.

Actually, Max had yet to say anything since her brief warning… and that was possibly even stranger than her behavior from last night.

She had been eyeing him thoughtfully and he was starting to feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. Max had never looked at him, she glared at him on daily basis, scowled at him at least twice a day, glanced in his direction in order to avoid direct contact whenever it was possible unless she was aiming for a punch, but she had never really looked at him. Right now the feeling of her eyes 

studying him was disturbing.

He had been perfectly comfortable with being ignored, summoning only the desire attention he wanted and for a specific amount of time.

Alec never intended to become best friends with the fiery brunette, although at some point he'd hoped to get on better terms with her. Maybe it had been the guilt he felt about the cure she lost on his account or maybe it had been the need to know that there was someone else like him, someone who could understand.

Whatever it had been, he had comprehended months ago that Max was simply not ready to get along with someone like him.

Most likely it was the fact that he reminded her of the dead 'brother'. Accurately it had been his brother not hers, and she should be thankful for that. Despite the kick-ass-girl façade, he wasn't sure if Max would have been able to survive months of re-indoctrination if he had been 493's twin.

Perhaps it was the fact that he never acted like he cared about anything or anyone besides himself, but if that was the reason then Max was a hypocrite. OC had slipped some time ago that he reminded her of Max before she met Logan, always pretending to not really care, always keeping people at an arms distance. From all the ordinaries he had come in contact with, Cindy was probably the most open minded of all them. There was no ounce of reprobation or prejudice in her eyes, she had accepted Max without a question, and to some degree she had accepted him. It was amazing how insightful could Original Cindy be, even when she didn't mean it.

No, he never dreamed about the possibility of being friends with Max.

The look on her eyes as the scientist walked out of the door was clear enough for him. And the look on her eyes as she watched Zack when the blonde X5 was chocking him was only a reassurance. Max could considered him as a fellow X5 on the best days, but both of them knew that he would never be contemplated as family.

He didn't get the whole story about Zack's departure. Though, it had surprised him how fast the former CO had left. Alec had expected that Max would keep the big brother closer; after all she had lectured him about family and his ignorance on the subject. On the other hand, he had been right. Brother Zack was interested in little Maxie and it wasn't the family kind of affection.

He could easily spend his morning analyzing his past interactions with Max and Logan, but he wasn't looking for that. They had been sitting in silence for ten minutes and he was getting bored. The lack of reactions from both defenders of the justice was bewildering.

Alec cleared his throat, but the pair remained soundless. Apparently today he will be the one doing all the talking.

Where did the playful mood he attempted to create gone? He could no longer trust on baiting Max 

as a way to divert attention if Logan was in the vicinity. The hacker was depriving him of his favorite hobby, where was the fairness on that. The sooner the better he reminded himself as he took the first step on Useless Explanations 101.

"Max probably told you the main events of last night. Though, she didn't know that I met Evgraf Sokolov a year ago during a mission in Georgia. Before you start asking let me make it clear, when you showed us the picture I thought I'd seen him somewhere but I couldn't figure out the place. I assumed that maybe it had been at the news. In the party, he recognized me and I stayed with him all the time. Oh, by the way, your Intel was not accurate, the rumors about white slavery and illegal guns was part of a plot of some agents from the DSCA…"

"Why did you have to kill them?" Max asked with a deep and hoarse voice.

Alec sighed, what had he been thinking when he questioned Max's silence. Silence is always better.

"They were going to kill both of us, and probably frame me for it. It was a decision I don't regret Max, it was saving the ambassador's life or doing nothing and allowed them to kill us. So you see, I thought that considering that the man was innocent, there was no reason to let them kill him."

Max hated guns ever since Eva's death. She loathed the damage a single bullet could cause, and was repulsed by the sole idea of shooting someone. "Couldn't it be avoided?"

Has he not responded a very similar question just seconds ago? Alec wondered what exactly could be categorized as a good reason to shoot a person in Max's book; apparently saving your life wasn't good enough these days, neither was saving an innocent person.

Should he tell her exactly what had happened? …

'Let me see, there were four guns pointing at me and a sixty year-old man. If my memory served me right I only shot the gun four times. I stabbed one of them in the jugular with a pen, then I shot the other straight in the heart, the other went down with a clean shot through the head and one shot to each knee of the one that survived. I didn't kill them all Max. One was left alive, aren't you proud of me?'

In fact, he could imagine that happening, in a galaxy far away from here.

"Sure, it could have been avoided Max but you do realize that in the process of avoiding shooting the bad guys the ambassador or I would have ended up seriously injured right?. And if it would have been me, there were good chances that I might have ended up in a hospital, where they probably would have run those lovely tests they're so fond of. Could you imagine the exposure?"

She eyed him warily, before replying "We're X5's Alec. Four against one is not supposed to be that complicated."

"It's not if you're on your own. I was with a man that is over sixty whose reflexes are not the same, who moves slower. Would you have preferred that I risked his life in order to keep alive the bad guys, Max?"

She was not going to let him turn the tables on her, she might have been dazzled last night but it wasn't going to be a repeated performance. "You could have asked for my…"

"Help? Is that what you are suggesting that I've done? That's your master plan? Exactly how did you expect that I asked for your help, should I have telepathically contacted you? Better yet, ask them to hold the fire for a minute to call my backup team? Just tell me how and I'll write it down and use it next time." He snickered at her.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then, what did you mean Max?" There was a defy tone in his voice.

"You left with him alone."

"Max, Sokolov didn't know about you but he trusted me. Besides, that was the plan if my memory is still working, right? The plan super hero boy proposed."

"What I'm saying is that there's always a way." She replied stubbornly.

"You're wrong Max. Sometimes the question only accepts two kinds of answers, yes or no. Sometimes if someone lives the other person dies. It's called life and there's nothing you can do to change it. Will you feel better if I tell you that I'm feeling sorry for having killed them? ...Well I can't do it."

His voice had held a steeled note, and the harshness of his words made her flinch, but his final assumption of not regretting it took her by surprise. "What?"

"They were corrupt agents from the DSCA who were about to shoot me Max, I'm not sorry it was them and not me." He really didn't want to have this conversation, it was exhausting and useless. Alec knew that his voice sounded strangled in a weak attempt to try and make her understand his point of view.

Logan looked at the pair; his eyes squinted behind the glasses as he fought the desire to sigh. The tension inside the room increased with every passing second as neither of the X5's broke their stare contest.

"Is the ambassador ok?" he finally asked.

"Yes, he's safe." Alec answered briefly.

"Why did you leave the Embassy with him only to come back later?"

"I needed to keep him safe and at the moment I have no knowledge if there were more men of the DSCA in the building. I came back later, after dropping Sokolov at the hospital, even if there were more men I could have managed on my own or with Max's help."

Max witnessed the conversation without interfering this time, Alec's words still ringed on her head. She spared him a look when she heard his declaration of accepting her help. Now more than ever she doubted he will ever ask anything from her. Not even when he was about to die with a bomb attached at his neck he did asked her.

He could have, but he didn't.

She took that decision for both of them.

"The NSA arrived shortly after you two left." Logan looked at him gauging for his reaction, the calmness of his voice surprised him.

"Well, at least that was expected." Alec started to count the seconds in his head before the weight of his answer made impact on any of them.

"Why would you say that?"

And finally it had been Logan who asked the question. Alec raised an eyebrow as he looked at Logan and Max. His lips pursed on a mock of hurt and he sighed before starting…

"Georgia's geographical position is appealing to us, yeah the pulse hit the economy of the country and a large amount of people ended up on the streets but the pulse effect is not going to last forever. The NSA had the control when it comes to Georgia's affairs, while being a strategic place; the country had some pesky neighbors who had internal issues that resulted in a proliferation of different factions. That's what has been worrying the NSA from the very beginning."

"And you decided to omit this piece of information for a particular reason?" Logan looked at him expectantly.

He wanted so badly to roll his eyes at that. He loathed having to give explanations especially under these circumstances.

"I forget about it. Apparently repeated trips to Re-indoctrination do that to your brain."

Max looked closely at him, as if trying to see beyond the body sitting in front of her.

"How have you been feeling lately Alec?"

'Déjà vu' will be the correct term to describe this exact moment. Had she not learn the lesson from the other night? Evidently no, or she had a serious case of denial. Things didn't end up in good terms last time she decided to act concerned about him.

"What do you mean?"

Max passed it as if it had been a slip of tongue. "Nothing, forget I asked."

"Consider it done. Is there something else you needed to know?"

Alec was ready to call it quits, things had taken a weird turn and prolonging the painful conversation between them would do well to no one.

Logan nodded at him and added…"Not now, but I may have some questions later."

"Give me a call. Max I'll see you at work." Just like the last time, Alec didn't wait for a reply; he stood up and walked to the door. Not caring enough to look back.


Across the street a young man sat cross legged in front of the window of the 10th floor. His eyes were closed as he started rubbing his temple in a slow motion. He had barely paid attention to the conversation going on at the opposite building; he had answered his cell phone almost at the same time as Alec started to talk and missed the whole thing.

The person on the other side of the line was CeCe, who had been at the meeting with the Committee along with Biggs, Finn and her twin brother Kevin. The conversation had lasted less than three minutes; he had been lost in space the remaining twenty after knowing that she would be arriving at Seattle instead of Biggs two days later.

CeCe mentioned something about Finn's last minute decision and Neil got the suspicious feeling that Biggs ended up on the end of Finn's rage.

Both men had a different approach when it comes to plans and actions, and since Finn took the place of Alec as the CO of the Elite, the man had grown up on different levels, he was still reckless but he learned to be patient. Finn was a great commander but had zero tolerance when it comes to disobeying his orders, even more if the impact of the act had relevance in others.

That could have probably been what motivated the change in plans. In other words he had to thank Biggs for his current headache.

CeCe was supposed to arrive with Finn, a week later.
He had planned to be out of Seattle by that time.
How come time got so screw up when it comes to him?

Neil hadn't seen her in at least four months, and he would have been a happier man if more time could pass before meeting with her again. CeCe had always been too many things for him, things he was sure he wasn't ready to face.

Maybe it was in their genetic code to be dense when it comes to relationships. The lives of the members of the Elite were demanding, their time was scarce and their explanations about their whereabouts brief to the extreme. A combination like that was not appealing for many people and it didn't matter how nice they look, a person wanted to see the other one when they got from work and that was something none of them could promise.

To begin with the whole thing was Finn's fault.
Stupid Commander.
Stupid mission.
And stupid of him for falling for CeCe during the stupid mission.
It was plain luck that she was completely clueless about it.

Neil opened his eyes and watched to the front. Alec had left and only Max and Logan could be seen. He better focused on something else besides his future problems related with the female species.


Logan crossed his arms against his chest, as he commented "Well, he explained."

"He did." Max replied absently.

"I don't think he's changed Max."

"He wasn't happy with all the questions."

Logan raised an eyebrow at her tone, wasn't that actually expected from someone like him?

She run away from Manticore when she was barely a kid, Alec had spent his whole life inside those walls. Max hated the sole idea of killing a person. On the other hand, Alec has a tendency to regard humans' lives on terms of the greater good; if the collateral damage was worth it then he will gladly exchange one life for another. It was the way he had been trained to react; Max would have been the same if she had spent the same amount of time inside of Manticore. If a reaction had been engrained into your brain as the normal behavior why would you even consider the idea of explaining yourself?

"I don't think he likes explaining himself to others." Logan replied absently, wondering how Max would have turned up if she never escaped at the age of nine.

"Yeah, it may be that. Did you find something on the files?"

He nodded at her as both of them walked out of the kitchen and inside his office. His fingers flew over the keyboards as the files covered the screen.

"There were a couple of interesting things. For a start, he wasn't lying about the time he spent at Re-indoctrination. His record showed a large amount of time spent inside the medical ward. There's something weird about it. At least three of his longer stays seemed to be scheduled; the doctors assigned were the same during the three occasions. The first time was around 18 months ago, he spent close to four months there, exactly six months later it was a week, and another week after the next semester, the notes included implied that the next appointment should be by the end of January, after another six months period. Besides those, he also spent more time in the medical ward, although in this case it looked more like random situations rather than something planned, my best guess is disciplinary issues."

"If we would be talking about months, how much time did he spend in Re-indoctrination?"

"The files only covered the last four years of Manticore, and his medical reports considered only the last two years, so it'll be around seven months."

Max winced at the number. That was too much even for Manticore standards.

Logan's voice brought her back to the reality, "There's nothing much besides medical records, reports and data about missions where Alec participated are missing or only partial. They were hiding something, the rest of the X5's files were complete. Do you think Lydecker might not have the authorization to the complete files?"

"Maybe, Deck was not on best terms with Manticore's management at the time. Did you find something else?

"Max, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. Maybe you can talk with him."

"To ask him what? Hey Alec did they torture you enough that now you are starting to feel an insane need to pull people's teeth?" Her chocolate brown eyes glimmered with anger, not exactly at him but at the situation. Max knew Logan didn't deserve that, but she couldn't stop on time.

"What are you expecting me to find Max? A psychological evaluation stating that he might end up like his twin just for you to have a chance and save this brother?"

Her eyes widened and a hurt look crossed her face.

"I have to go." She muttered and started walking to the door.

Logan bit his lip; he crossed the line. He hadn't meant it like that.

"Max, wait. I'm sorry, I didn't imply that…"

She nodded at him, and picked the black leather jacket leaving without a reply.

Logan watched her from the window; the day had gone down to the drain in a matter of seconds and it wasn't even 10 am.


Neil groaned loudly. Why do people always assume the worst?

Was it too difficult to pin Alec's change of behavior on something less dramatic than presuming the guy had mental issues?

He needed to be impartial; claiming the other side was over dramatic was not the way to affront this situation. What did he know about 493 other than the fact he was Alec's twin and older brother who had a psychopath episode?

Close to nothing if he was going to be honest.

X5 – 493 had been one of the escapees, a niner like Manticore fondly called them as a remembrance of the 09' escape. Twelve kids run away during that winter, 452 or Max was the only one he had came in contact with.

What could have possible happened to 493 inside the real world to push him into insanity? What was the trigger?

The fact that 493 had schizophrenia was not new to any of them. On 2006 the medical staffs who run all the test and analysis for selecting the subjects for Prometheus Project diagnosed 493 with positive signs of schizophrenia; the medical results were presented to both projects, the reasons why Manticore's Director at the time didn't take any action was another proof of the inefficiency reigning on the project's management.

The fact that 493 was an X5 made his condition even more dangerous to the people that surrounded him. Schizophrenia patients were not prone to violence usually preferring to be left alone, but X5's were trained to be violent under specific circumstances. And that small detail made 493 a time bomb waiting to explode, which eventually happened, sadly the X5 left a trail of at least six dead bodies on his path to self-destruction.

Logan and Max theory about Alec suffering of the same mental issue wouldn't be ridiculous now for them if it hadn't been exhaustively tested and discarded from more than a dozen of the most prestigious doctors, after all the identical twin of a person with schizophrenia had a 40 to 65 percent chance of developing the same disorder, lucky for them Alec belonged to the 35 percent that got away with a clean health bill.

Still the issue was too delicate to leave it without interference. Alec probably had a full lot of memories implanted on his brain during the mind re-conditioning process and there was no way to tell how Alec will react if someone confronted him about his twin.

Another thing was bothering him, both Logan and Max mentioned Lydecker as an ally. Exactly how did Colonel Donald Lydecker, Eyes Only and 452 ended up together? They might need to do some research on the subject and get their hands on Logan's files.

Neil was quite aware that he was missing something. His hands run over his light brown hair messing it around. It was frustrating not having all the facts. "Ipsa scientia potestas est", knowledge itself is power and right now he was feeling powerless.

He sighed; he was going to need additional information about the memories implanted on his former CO. A call has taken priority.


Flying was not exactly one of her favorite activities, and when possible she avoided any kind of interactions between herself and the iron flying structures.

But, and when it comes to life there's always a 'but' more times than a 'perhaps'. There were times like these when driving or taking a boat was not a possibility. When the distances were too large and the time needed too much, on those occasions she will bend and concede, taking a plane was not going to kill her, bother her yes, but she always survived.

She closed her eyes and the scene replayed in her head once again.

"You are not my mother May, stay out of it." Sapphire blue eyes shined in rage as Nicole eyed the redhead girl in front of her.

"Of course I'm not your mother Nicole, don't be ridiculous. It doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm talking about." Red head curls moved up and down as May paced in front of the brunette.

"I don't want to hear it, so save it." Nicole let out a frustrated sigh as she continued packing the suitcase on the bed.

May sighed and took of a black small dress from the closet.

"We don't do this kind of things, these…whatever you think it is, it won't last."

Nicole took the dress and throws it into the closet exasperated. "You don't know what you're talking about."

The fabric fell onto the floor inside the dresser and moved the hangers with the impact; a black male shirt was hanging in Nicole's closet. May took the shirt and raised it as a proof. "Don't I?"

May wasn't sure why from all the times she decided to pick up a fight with Nicole that day; it had been the stupidest fight from all history and it was the last time she saw her.

As the oldest female of the Elite, May get used to act as CeCe and Nicole big sister, which was the main reason she got worried when Seth slipped that Nicole was seen someone and it apparently was serious.

CeCe had gotten her heart broken six months ago by a guy who wanted more than what she could give him, he wanted the truth. If May could spare her little sister that experience she will try, although when it came to matters of the heart apparently all of them were clueless, but at the time she had wanted to believe that she could be the voice of reason. She had been wrong.

May's burgundy hair shined under the sun rays filtering through the round window. The sunny day contrasted with her mood, she hated flying but at least this was a good reason. Alec. He was alive and only that notion was enough to get her on a plane. Alec.

Alec will find Nicole.




In the secluded house in the outskirts of the city two men sit in front of a set of screens watching the surveillance videos of an event. Looking closely at the video footage it shows the reception of the charity event held at Georgia's Embassy.

Two man wearing dark suits entered the room, the younger of them got a look at the screen, his face contorted in an annoyed look.

"Freeze it." The footage pauses on a shot of Alec's face as Evgraf Sokolov took him into the studio.

"What is it Agent White?"

Thomas Hathaway look curiously at the frozen shot on the screen, he blinked surprised when he recognized the man. It had been years, at least five since he saw that guy. He smiled self assured, it seemed like the rumors were nothing more than that. He had thought that Jason was dead or at least missing.

"Sir, that's 494, an X5 that's supposed to be dead." Ames White was ready to kill someone, that man should have been already dead. Someone was going to lose his job after this.

The Deputy Director only snorted in response before replying.

"Agent White, take him out of your list of subjects to detain or eliminated immediately."

"But Sir, he's one of the X5 from Manticore."

"Agent White, mark my words that man is not 494, that guy belongs to a crowd way more important than Manticore, and trust me you don't want to make them angry by targeting a member of the family. Forget you ever saw him man and erase all the files we have on him."

Hathaway learned years ago that messing up with the people from Prometheus was equal to ask for death sentence. Even after the tragic events of 2018, they still had a firm grip on the higher circles. Prometheus might have started as a project but usually had been considered as an agency, and that had been the reason why he briefly met the man he had come to known as Jason.

Evgraf Sokolov had been talking about someone else the night at the hospital. Now, an excellent question was how a Prometheus child materialized at the right place and time after being astray for almost two years.

Thomas wondered if Tyler was still around the town and if he would be able to get something from the MI-5 agent who apparently was well aware of the other man's exploits.

White looked unconvinced but refrained to argue with his Director. That was a piece of information that he didn't know about 494. Suddenly the reckless X5 became an interesting subject of investigation.


The voice of Rosemary Clooney drifted on the room as the lyrics of 'I'll Take Manhattan' took him for a trip in the past, to the good times when Endzela was still with him and they danced only illuminated by the light of the fireplace.

A chuckle resounded on the room and Evgraf Sokolov looked on the direction of the sound, his lips curved into a smile.

"I supposed you will eventually come back."

The man standing on the doorstep of the studio came into the light; Alec smiled at affection on the older man voice. "Well, I did promise to visit, didn't I?"

"You did Nikolai, you did. Scotch?" Asked Sokolov as he left the sofa and walked slowly to the bar.

Alec nodded as he picked up the ivory piece representing the king; it was time to finish the game.

To be continued…