Take Me Down With You Chapter 10: The Angels at the Door, a Doctor Who + Dark Angel Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, Supernatural or Dr. Who nor do I make any money from this. It's all for fun!

Take Me Down With You

Chapter 10 – The Angels at the Door

"You love me, huh? How pathetic. I should kill Sketchy just for that lame attempt." Alec paced furiously. He could feel the pull of pleasure the Angels experienced from that thought.

"Can I vote for not being killed?" Sketchy asked, his voice shaky.

Both Alec and Max glared at him to shut up. Alec almost headed toward Sketchy but Max stepped in front of him, drawing his attention back to her. "Please…" she begged him softly.

His eyes narrowed as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her forcefully to the lounge area of the bar. "Hold him," he ordered the Angels.

Before Max could glance at Sketchy to freeze the Angel in place, the Angel that held him had wrapped an arm around Sketchy's neck.

Alec swung the scythe over his shoulder where it seemed to stay in place. Max's eyes widened as she saw up close the row of stone scales that stretched from his neck down to his hip. They looked as if they were made of granite.

He looked down and saw what she was looking at. "That's new," he said and turned to look at himself in the mirrored backsplash of the bar. He touched it and Max saw him shiver. "Don't you like it, Maxie? Go ahead, touch it."

She tried to hide the revulsion as he grabbed her hand and placed it against the stone scales on his ribs. It felt cold compared to the heat of the rest of his skin.

"You certainly don't act like you love me. Love is for better or for worse, isn't it? I'm so much better now. I wonder if eventually my entire body will be like this. I'd be unable to be hurt. And I'll always be hard for you. Isn't that what you want, Max? You like Logan's hard cock? You haven't felt anything like you'd feel with me when I'm complete."

She needed to buy time, but she wasn't sure how to do that. Alec sounded so angry, but cold at the same time. She didn't think he would hesitate to kill Sketchy.

"You don't need to be crude, Alec. I liked you the way you were just fine. I may not…have always expressed it well, but I care for you." She winced at the hesitant tone in her voice. She knew she had to convince Alec she loved him and that Logan did as well, but how could she? She wasn't convinced herself. She'd never seriously considered Alec romantically, even if he was attractive. She'd loved Logan for so long and worked so hard to make that work, that she'd never even thought of anyone else.

And admitting to desiring, let alone loving, Alec was even more difficult knowing that Manticore had designed them to be mates. It made Max want to resist it that much more. After escaping a life of following orders, she loathed being told what to do. She'd tried to talk herself into it on her brief journey to the bar by focusing on all the good things about Alec, but there wasn't enough time. Could she do this? Was it right to do this if she didn't feel that way?

All she had concluded by the time she reached Crash, was that she had to save Alec. She wanted him in her life and would miss him if he wasn't there. More than that, she'd have to find love along the way.

"You didn't express it at all!" Alec shouted. "You've always treated me more like the annoying kid brother you never wanted." He began pacing again. "I've tried to fit in. I've tried to…assimilate. To be someone you wanted to be with. To be more like…him."

Max was about to interrupt when he pulled her close to him, his arm wrapped around her waist tightly. "But now I've realized I can't be him. I can be so much more. This power flows through me. I was strong before it, but now I can dominate everything. Nothing can hurt me. Not even you." He smiled down at her, cruel and expectant.

"Is that what you really want? You want to be in control?" She asked gently, knowing he was pushing her to fight back so he could demonstrate his powers. She knew she couldn't let him do that. The more he used those powers, the harder it would be to save him. She looked up at him softly and allowed him to hold her in place.

'Yes,' Crowley whispered in Alec's ear. 'Take her. Make her yours.'

Inside, Alec was fighting himself. He could feel an arousal starting to pulse through his body as images passed by of Max struggling against him. He saw himself force Max to accept him into her body. He was both disgusted and aroused at the look on her face as she submitted to him in tears.

'You want her, take her,' Crowley said, an urgent heat in his voice compelling Alec to want to comply.

The statues all turned towards him, both physically and mentally – urging him to use his power. 'Make her a part of us,' they urged. 'Kill the boy and take her.' Alec's physical desire was almost overwhelming him.

Max began to run her hands gently along Alec's side and reached up to stroke his hair. Alec's eyes were wavering between pitch black and the hazel she knew so well. His face softened just a touch and she could feel his muscles ease.

"I'm not stopping you, Alec. Let me show you," she reached up to touch his face gently and kissed him softly. He felt different than Logan – and it wasn't just the lack of facial hair. Both men had softer lips than most men could boast, but Alec was far more hesitant than Logan. He was surprisingly gentle.

Suddenly she was falling into a black void. She heard a multitude of whispers calling for Alec to feed them. She heard Crowley yelling for Alec. 'You can't hide forever, boy.'

There was a pinpoint of light and Max followed it. The voices got softer, but she clearly heard a slightly feminine voice she didn't recognize. 'He's fading. Find him. Don't let him take you down,' she said. 'Bring him back. He'll listen to you.'

Slowly a familiar landscape appeared: Manticore – broken after the explosion. Statues were frozen in the yard. She looked up and had a thought about checking the roof. After all, isn't that where Ben would have hidden?

Her heart ached at the thought of her fallen brother. Ben, who looked so much like Alec, had almost broken Max. But Alec wasn't Ben, Max thought in an epiphany of understanding. It's why she'd always held Alec at arm's length. It wasn't Alec's fault he reminded her of Ben. In fact, Alec had to pay a much higher price as a result of Ben's actions. Max only had to see her failure with Ben in Alec, but it had been enough to push him away. She realized how unfair that had been to Alec and began to wonder how their relationship would have been different if she had realized that they were two very different people.

While Ben hid in the high places, Max thought carefully about Alec. That is not where he'd hide. Alec always hid in the open and always made sure there were multiple avenues of escape.

She prowled the grounds longer than expected before she found what looked to be a solid wall, but one that had a large gash across the center. It seemed like a good place. It wasn't closed off and odds were there was a vast landscape of woods behind that wall that Alec could hide himself in – just like at the real Manticore.

'Alec?' she whispered as she pushed against the wall gently. She was surprised as her hand slid through it. She looked behind her and saw all of the Angels were now looking at her. She eased her way backwards and slid through the wall. It felt as if it were made of a thick gelatinous substance, but once out on the other side, she felt lighter. She turned to see Alec curled up in the corner against the wall, facing the woods that were exactly where she suspected they would be. A place he could run to if he needed. She knew she had to be cautious as she reached out to him.

'No, don't…I don't want to go. Don't…don't let me disappear,' he said in a broken voice.

'Alec?' she crouched down beside him.

He looked up, terrified. When she reached out to touch him, her hand went through him as well. She looked at her hand in shock, reminded of the woman's warning about Alec fading.

'You can't be here,' he whispered. 'They want to hurt you. They want to hurt Logan.'

'Alec, we're here for you,' Max reassured him.

There was a sudden loud pounding at the walls.

'They're here,' Alec whispered.

Max had never heard Alec actually sound frightened before. 'They won't get you,' Max said, determinedly.

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"Where have you been?" Crowley asked.

"Upstairs," Logan answered curtly. He walked over and handed Joshua a cell phone. "Keep this line open," he instructed. He then handed Joshua a note.

"Very funny," Crowley replied.

"Wasn't meant to be. How's Amy?" Logan asked Rory. "Is she in contact with them?"

Crowley looked at Logan curiously. "You know this nutjob?"

Logan gave a curt glance at Crowley before looking back at Rory.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Crowley muttered.

"Yeah, she is…and with Alec as well, it seems," Rory answered. It was obvious he knew Logan, and by extension, Alec.

Logan's eyebrows raised and he looked at the Doctor who nodded.

"Okay – maybe that will help," Logan said.

"I am assuming you have a plan," the Doctor said.

"A part of one at least."

Amy suddenly shouted, "He's fading. Find him. Don't let him take you down," she said. "Bring him back. He'll listen to you." She started pounding the wall.

Logan quickly outlined his thoughts.

When he finished, Crowley looked almost impressed. "What am I missing? How did boxer boy figure this out?" Crowley sounded confused. "Where did that Angel take you?"

"Actually the question should be, "When did that Angel take me?" Logan replied, cryptically, before leaving the room.

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The pounding on the wall was getting louder and Alec was cringing, fading away even further before Max's eyes.

'Alec, I'm not good at this – but you have to stay with me. You need to give me time to tell you how important you are to me.'

Alec looked up, doubt filled his eyes. 'You have Logan. Logan has you. I have no one,' he said shaking his head.

'That's not true.' Max realized the air was getting stagnant and looked over to see a dark mist oozing through the crack in the wall. Its tendrils were reaching out to Alec. Max leapt between them and felt herself sink into Alec – as if he were made of the same gelatinous ooze as the wall.

Suddenly her and Alec's thoughts were connected. She could feel his emotions as well as hear his thoughts. He was scared, angry, jealous, and hurt. He wanted to be good, but she could see how Crowley had infected him. She had to help him. As she was seeing his thoughts, she could see the darkness beginning to filter in. What she saw were memories of them colored in the most negative ways. It infuriated her to see memories that had been special to her being warped by some false interpretation. She watched as Alec spied on Logan and Max make love. She should have been infuriated, but feeling Alec's sense of loss and longing as he had watched them had made her realize how much Alec needed to belong to something and he had chosen Max and Logan to want to belong to. Max found that she was beginning to want him to belong to them as well.

More memories surfaced and she found herself faced with memories that were magnified negatively tenfold, pushing Alec to his limit. The memories were warped and darkened. Something was contaminating them. She was desperate to make sure he knew those memories weren't accurate.

She realized that if she could see his thoughts, maybe he could see hers. She concentrated on each memory and re-pictured it how she remembered it.

How, even though she'd been upset Alec had taken advantage of his enhanced skills to win money in the boxing ring, she had still enjoyed his form even if Alec had thought Max found him obnoxious.

How impressed she'd been at Alec taking on an enhanced Zach and living to tell the tale. He had thought she'd gloated over needing to rescue him, but Max made sure he could feel her admiration.

Or how touched she had been about Rachel Berrisford and how heartbroken she had been for him. Alec had felt that Max had thought he'd deserved being taken down a peg so she showed him she had been impressed he'd been able to overcome his Manticore 'training' and find any kind of love. It was the closest he'd ever come to it and she wanted him to draw on those feelings to help him find his way to Logan and Max.

He seemed to respond to her mental pushes, but she knew it wasn't enough. It wasn't love she was showing him. She had to find more.

After more searching, she found the well of guilt Alec had felt after ensuring Logan had been infected. It wasn't guilt that he had done it, but the guilt of how Logan seemed to accept him after he had done such a thing. Like somehow Logan hadn't truly understood what Alec had been capable of so he knew there was no way Logan could ever care for him.

She tried to dig into those thoughts more and found other memories of Logan that Max never knew about.

How Logan had given Max up to Alec and just asked Alec to take care of her. Alec had wanted to scream at him that he didn't want to break them apart, he just wanted to be a part of them. He couldn't understand how Logan would be willing to give her up if he loved her. He could never understand Logan's penchant for being willing to sacrifice himself; first for making wrongs right, then for Transgenics he had never met and lastly for Max. Logan had seemed honestly to just want Max's happiness, whether Logan was providing it or not. It had perplexed Alec. He had thought love meant never letting go.

Another memory surfaced of Logan and Alec walking through the tunnels discussing Max, but all Alec wanted was for Logan to just turn and look at him and really see Alec as something more than just Max's annoying nuisance he had to put up with.

Max discovered how in awe Alec really was that an Ordinary with Logan's disabilities had still managed to fight by their side.

And she saw that first memory when Alec had truly realized he was attracted to Logan and how beautiful Logan looked through Alec's eyes as he had regaled them with tales of his childhood.

'Logan,' Alec half whispered. He was wishing Logan would just find him. Max could feel his longing. She could see all the times Logan had called to check on him. Alec just wanted that again – he wanted to feel like he'd been missed. He began stretching out his arm as if reaching for something. His head tilted as if he could hear something Max couldn't.

Max turned to look and didn't see anything Alec could be reaching towards, but she could see the mist beginning to sink into Alec from the other side of him. Max could hear its whispers getting louder, along with the continuing cacophony of the Angels breaking down the walls. She was desperate to reach him.

'Alec? Alec. I'm here.' Max heard something from behind her. She turned again to see what Alec saw. She had heard it too. She had heard Logan's voice responding. 'We're both here.' Max could feel Alec relax at knowing that Logan had found him. She saw a very faint outline of what she thought was Logan coming towards them.

'Let us help you,' Logan said. 'Come to me. Let us show you how much we care.'

An image of a bar Max was familiar with flashed through her head. She didn't know if it was from Logan or from Alec, but she felt tenuously connected to both of them.

The black mist wrapped around Alec's arms and Max could feel its coldness.

Alec shook his head in denial and whispered, 'That's great, you pity me, you care about me – but you don't actually love me. I'm not a good man. I'm not enough.' She could feel he wanted their reassurance he was more to them than that. That he was enough.

'Yes you are,' both Max and Logan said together. Max stretched out her hand towards Logan and he reached for her as they both reached for Alec.

Alec shook his head in denial again, but, almost as if without deciding, he raised both arms to them.

The black mist darkened and grew thicker behind Alec.

Without warning, Alec's eyes grew black and his mouth opened. 'GET OUT!' It was 'Crowley's' voice screaming at them.

Max and Logan were shoved out of Alec's head.

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When she opened her eyes, she was on her knees on the floor, grimacing. It had been painful being thrust out of Alec's head.

Alec's face was closed off. His eyes were black again and the muscles in his jaw were set.

"Stop playing with me, Max," Alec said. "You'll never love me like Logan. But I'm sure I can make you come like he does and then we'll see who you want to stay with."

"I don't love Logan because of how he makes love to me." Max was angry now. Alec was in there, but she felt so frustrated. She knew Alec wasn't capable himself of doing these terrible things, but there was an underlying sense of pain that the Demon fed into. "I love him because of the man that he is. The sex is better because I love him. I can love you, too. You're a good man, Alec. You can be as good as Logan…" she said as she attempted to pry the scythe off of his back. She felt like it necessary to get the scythe away from Alec.

It was the wrong thing to say and do. Alec pushed her away and backhanded her. "I'm better than Logan…better than him. You should love me. He should love me." It was obvious Alec's rage was about to consume him. "He should worship the very ground I walk on."

"Worship isn't love, Alec," Max tried to explain. After being inside his head, she realized Alec didn't really understand love. He was confusing it with desire and obsession, but she had sensed a real kernel of love at the core of his emotions for Max and Logan, but he didn't understand it. She could sense the lengths he was willing to go for them. She had to get him to focus on that and strip away the messed up ideas that surrounded it. Logan and Max would have to show him what love was.

"And you know all about love, do you, Maxie? You're as fucked up as I am!" Alec snapped.

"I am and I didn't understand it. Not at first. It took a long time, but I finally figured it out and in some ways I have you to thank for that. Without the virus, I would have never understood what I was willing to give up to keep someone else safe. I would have never known what Logan would have done to keep me happy. He showed me love meant you wanted the best for the other person, regardless of what you actually want. That making them happy is what makes you happy."

"So glad I could be of service," Alec said bitterly. "I'm sure you and Logan will be so happy together. Oh wait – no you won't, because you'll be too busy serving as my slaves. If you don't love me, then you can service me."

"I do love you," Logan's voice said on the monitor that had suddenly come to life. "If you don't believe she loves you, believe that I do." The familiar green eyes filled the screen. Alec spun and stared at it.

'It's a trick,' Crowley's voice inside Alec said. 'If he loves you, why isn't he here in person?'