The Blackest White

By Inzane

Disclaimer: I lay no claim to Dark Angel or its characters. I do this only for fun.

Summary: The best way to destroy an enemy is to strike at his heart. Sequel to "The Friggin' Cure."

A/N: So, the good news is, I haven't dropped off of the face of the planet (though, sometimes it feels like I did). Real life issues aside, this chapter was very difficult for some reason. Every word put up a fight. It was the worst kind of writer's block, because instead of being unable to write, it seemed like all I could write was crap. When you're writing crap, it's hard to motivate yourself to keep at it. I persevered, but when I finally finished the chapter, some of the reactions seemed out of character, so I had to go back in and edit the hell out of it. I hope what's left doesn't suck. (If it does, please tell me so I can fix it.)

Warning: Language

Previously…

"Ames White and his Familiars have killed our people. They've still got one of our own. Hell, they'll wipe us all out with if we give them have a chance, and we know for a fact that they're already trying. It's time we stop playing around and finish this. I say we go in there and take those mothers out.…"

"They want a war? We'll give 'em one."

Chapter 10: The Edge of Armageddon

There was nothing but silence for the space of several heartbeats. Then, as if someone flipped a switch, the room erupted in overlapping voices, a hodgepodge of rapid-fire questions and suggestions. It bordered on chaos.

That wouldn't do.

Vash stuck two fingers in her mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle. That shut them up real quick. Heads turned in her direction, a hint of shock on each face. The doctor narrowed her eyes at them.

"This is a hospital, not a meeting hall," she said pointedly, with a nod toward the door.

"Right," Mole said. He was still in command mode, even though, technically, he should've deferred to Max or Alec. Both of them had been out of commission for a while, though, so taking charge had become something of a habit. "We take this over to Command. We need to get more people involved, come up with a battle plan. Get this ball rolling."

They moved en masse over to Command. They didn't waste time, moving with grim purpose. The decision had been made, and there was no turning back. It was time to plan a war.

Max and Alec lagged behind. The tension between them was electric, crackling in the silence like a live wire. They both felt it. They stood there, staring at each other, not knowing what to say or even if there was anything left to say. Finally, Max couldn't take it anymore; she turned without a word to head to Command. Alec followed without comment.

She thought that he was going to let it drop. She should've known better.

Nervous energy radiated off of him, generating a field that threatened to suck her in. He wanted to say something, seemed about ready to explode if he didn't say something, but he held it in. She supposed it should bother her that he was holding back, but all she could feel was relief. She didn't want to deal with it—with anything. She was numb, and she wanted to stay numb until this whole thing was over and done. But Alec, the former king of emotional lockdown himself, wasn't down with her plan.

When they were a block away from Medical, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into an alley.

"How could you do that to me?" he hissed angrily, backing her against the wall. "How could you let me think they killed the baby?"

"I never said that."

"Semantics, Max. You knew what I would think, and you purposely let me go on thinking it." How could she do that to him? Didn't she know how that would make him feel? Didn't she know him at all? "There could still be a chance. A chance, Max, and you don't tell me? How could you not tell me that?"

He'd never felt so hurt in his life. Not when Max was ready to leave him in jail because she thought he was a killer. Not when she had taken Logan's hand at TC's flag raising. Not when he'd thought Max had run off to Logan's place before he'd gone to look for the cure. Even getting shot by tranquilizer darts on her orders paled in comparison.

This wasn't like forgetting to mention that you'd snuck out of TC the night before, or that you conned $800 bucks out of a couple of idiots at the pool tables, or that you almost got arrested on the way back and had to sweet-talk the semi-hot sector cop into letting you off with a warning. This was life and death.

Their child's life. Their child's death.

Max yanked her arm out of his grasp, feeling defensive and a bit angry herself. "It's complicated."

"Complicated, my ass. You didn't tell me because you thought I'd go off half-cocked…"

"You did go off half-cocked!"

Damn her. It was hard to be morally righteous when she had a point. He turned his back on her, staring at his reflection in a shard of a broken alley window, barely more than a shadow in the darkness. "I had a right to know, Max."

"Had a right to know what? The truth? That the child you didn't even know you had was being dissected and slapped under a microscope? Because that's the truth, Alec. You can deny it all you want, but you don't know that bitch doctor like I do."

She saw his reflection crumple in anguish, and it made her wish she hadn't said it, but he had to face facts. She couldn't bear to see him get his hopes up just to have them crushed. She moved beside him. "You see that?" she asked, reaching out to brush her fingertips over the reflection of his cheek. "I've seen that look staring back at me every time I look in the mirror. Excuse me if I didn't want you to have to share it."

Alec felt his anger slipping, but he refused to let it go. If he let it go, he would sink down into grief, and he couldn't allow that. He hadn't given up on Max, and he wouldn't give up on their baby, no matter what Max believed. Not until he knew for sure.

The anger boiled up inside of him until it exploded. He smashed his fist into the remains of the window, sending glass tinkling to the ground like falling snow. Head bowed, he crushed the shards under his boot, as if he could crush the pain with it.

"I'm sick and tired of you protecting me," he said evenly, trying to find the calm, the disconnect, that had always been so easy for him. Not so easy anymore.

"Sorry. Next time I'll be sure not to give a damn," Max said. He didn't see it her way, and he wasn't going to see it her way, so there was no point in talking about it. She turned to walk away.

Alec laughed bitterly. "Why do you always have to be a bitch?"

She stopped and spun on him, her voice echoing through the alley. "Because it's all I've got right now!"

"No!" Alec shouted, closing the distance between them in a flash. He grabbed her and gave her a shake, forgetting her injuries in the heat of the moment. "You've got me, if you'd stop being so scared to let yourself lean on me once in a while. But that's the problem, isn't it? You just can't bring yourself to trust me, can you?"

"Alec…," Max began, but she didn't know what to say. It had suddenly become about more than the baby. More than the truths she hadn't told. He'd exposed the root of everything that had ever been wrong between them, the one he'd been digging up for months only to have her bury it again and again.

Trust.

Alec felt the pair of rings against his chest, colder and heavier than ever. They had come to a fork in the road. He'd chosen his path, but he couldn't move forward because she was standing still. She'd been willing to come this far with him, but no farther. He couldn't spend the rest of his life waiting around for her to make up her mind.

He let her go and backed away, his heart pounding in his chest. One wrong word might push her away for good. It scared the hell out of him, but he couldn't keep living in limbo.

"Sooner or later, Maxie," he said quietly, his words somehow more powerful for their softness, "you're going to have to make a choice."

She blinked, and he was gone, blurring away toward the Command building.

Away from her.

She stood there, alone in the dark, shocked and angry and hurt that he'd drawn a line in the sand. He had to pull this now? After everything she'd been through? She was trying to deal the best way she knew how. All she wanted from him was a little time and space. Why didn't he get that?

But he did get it, and that was the problem. Alec understood her better than anyone—even better than Original Cindy, who'd known her a lot longer. Like it or not, Alec got her… all of her, the good and the bad. No matter how much she tried to hide it, he knew how fragile and vulnerable she felt after what had been done to her. Just like he knew she would rather crash and burn standing on her own two feet than admit that she couldn't handle this on her own.

A small part of her hated him for that.

As the cold wind cooled her blood and cleared the fog of anger clouding her head, guilt began to creep in. She hadn't been the only one hurt by what had happened. It had been Alec's child, too.

She had wanted to deal with it in her own way and on her own terms, but by doing so she'd forced Alec to deal with it on his own. Max knew from past experience (mainly, the whole Rachel Berrisford thing) that Alec wasn't very good at dealing with heavy emotional stuff on his own. Alec dealing on his own equaled a reckless and self-destructive Alec—then and now. If she hadn't given orders to stop him from leaving Terminal City…

She would have lost him. The Familiars would've killed him, and it would've been her fault, because she hadn't been there for him when he needed her. Alec had needed to lean on her as much as he'd needed her to lean on him, and she'd left him twisting in the wind.

"Damn it," she sighed.

She took off running, wondering how the hell she was ever going to fix things between them when she couldn't even fix herself.

Max walked into a meeting that was already in full swing. She wouldn't have been so late if she hadn't had to stop to catch her breath. She'd almost passed out after her body had given up on her a few steps away from the Command building. She'd covered well enough to get in the door without everyone fussing over her, but she'd had to find an empty room and sit for a while to learn how to breathe normally again. She probably still looked like shit, but she didn't want Alec to think that she didn't want to be involved. Even if she didn't think there was a snowball's chance that the baby was still alive, no way was she going to miss out on kicking Familiar ass.

The room was packed. Someone must've sent a runner to round up the VIPs, because the entire council plus quite a few others were packed in like sardines. A map was laid out on the conference table, everyone leaning around it with looks of heavy concentration on their faces. War was serious business. Three quarters of the people standing around the table had personal experience with that fact. Life and death experience.

Everyone looked up when she came in—everyone except Alec. A slight hitch in his voice was the only sign that he noticed her arrival. He kept talking, pointing out positions on the map and deliberately refusing to look at her, though Max could tell that it took him some effort.

She must've looked worse than she thought, because she found quite a few people staring at her, like she was a human train wreck or something. Joshua's brow furrowed with concern, and he was about to take a step toward her when she waved him off with a short shake of her head. She didn't want to make more of a scene than she already had.

She ignored the others' looks and moved to the table, purposely taking a spot directly across from Alec. Even if she didn't know what to do about the mess between them, she wanted him to know that she was making an effort. That she wasn't going to give up. They'd work it out… somehow.

It wasn't long until everyone's focus returned to the map. Max closed her eyes and breathed a silent sigh of relief. She leaned against the table, thankful that everyone would be too distracted to notice that it was probably the only thing keeping her vertical at the moment.

Joshua took over, reporting on the patrol patterns he and Alec had noted on their mission to rescue Max. While he was talking, Alec risked a glance in Max's direction, but found himself locking on. He felt a pang in his chest when he saw that Max didn't so much lean as sag against the table. God, she looked awful—all pale and clammy and way worse than she had an hour ago.

Had he done that?

Max opened her eyes and caught him staring at her. She immediately forced herself to straighten, and he could almost hear her voice in his head, though she didn't say a word. See? I'm good. Nothing to worry about here.

Alec chewed on his bottom lip. This was his fault. He shouldn't have pushed. He shouldn't have called her out like that. Why couldn't he have just waited until they were clear of this mess instead of piling their relationship issues on top of everything else? He was a stupid, selfish idiot, and if she told him told him to drop dead, it would be no more than he deserved.

Are you okay? Alec mouthed silently. He knew Max wouldn't want him to advertise the fact that she wasn't 100% (even though everyone probably already knew it). He'd already done enough damage for one day.

Max being Max and the Queen of Grudges, Alec figured she would either ignore him or give him a cold stare. So when, after a beat, she simply nodded, it came as a complete shock. His brain was so busy trying to figure out whether he should take it at face value or prepare for a subsequent ass kicking that he didn't realize Joshua had stopped talking. Max rolled her eyes at him and mouthed, Pay attention, stupid.

A second later, Alec let out a grunt as a green, scaly elbow jabbed him hard in the ribs. "Hey," Mole growled. "You planning to join the conversation?"

"Oh, uh…" Alec stammered. "Right." He forced himself to look back down at the map and focus on the problem at hand. Planning an all-out assault on a secret organization that was trying to wipe you and yours off the face of the planet took priority over relationship issues.

For now, anyway.

"So…" Alec said. He cleared his throat and straightened, slipping back into combat leader mode. "The National Weather Service is forecasting another storm. It'll make travel dicey, but we can use the storm to our advantage. We need all the extra coverage we can get."

"Assuming the forecast is right, for once," Dix muttered.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Alec countered. "Everyone agrees on a three-pronged attack. Teams will be codenamed Larry, Curly, and Moe." Wil snickered at Alec's choice of codenames, but the SIC silenced him with a glance. "Larry will hit the front, Curly and Moe will assault from the rear coming in on separate vectors. Larry's mission is information retrieval—find anything and everything on that killer drug. Computer files, samples, you name it. Curly will handle demolition. When this is over, there won't be a piece of that place bigger than a matchstick."

"And Moe?" Mole asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.

Alec's face became stone. "Moe's retribution."

"Who's leading the teams?" Gem asked, eyes focused on the map. She'd had to take in a lot over the last half hour. She had to force herself to push past the emotions she felt, as a mother, for what Max and Alec had lost.

"Dix will lead Larry, Mole will take Curly, and I'll take Moe. Team leaders will hand-pick their unit—volunteers only. This isn't Manticore. Make sure everyone is aware the casualty risk is high."

"What about Shemp?" Max asked. Thanks to Alec's love of the Stooges, she'd gained a reluctant fondness for the screwball comedians. It was something they had shared together, and they both could use a reminder of that right now.

Some of the tension around Alec's eyes eased. "Shemp's the cavalry. We call it in only if absolutely necessary."

"Only if we're FUBAR," Joshua translated. Aside from the Terminal City siege, he'd never been in a true battle—never headed into a fight knowing that someone he knew wasn't going to come back. He'd spent his time at Manticore locked up in a basement and had been spared the harsh realities of combat. It wasn't that he hadn't seen friends die—he had. Death was no stranger. But he'd never seen someone go out and walk into its teeth. It was a new experience for him.

Alec smiled crookedly at Josh's comment, but it was a nervous smile. "We won't let that happen, Big Fella."

Max was about to ask who was leading Shemp—she didn't realize the others had already covered the issue of the backup team—when Zev cut her off.

"Hold up. I didn't hear my name mentioned anywhere in there."

"Yeah," Wil said, straightening, eyes widening as he realized it. "Neither did I."

Alec straightened and squared his shoulders, preparing for a fight. "That's because the two of you are staying here."

"Now wait just a damn minute…" Wil said hotly, while Zev simultaneously said, "No fucking way."

"Someone's got to run Terminal City while we're gone. You guys are the best candidates for the job."

"What about Mole?" Wil shot back. "He's 3IC. He should be left in charge."

"Mole's better with explosives than anyone in this place, and you both know it. We need him on mission. That leaves you, Wil."

"That doesn't explain why I have to stay," Zev complained.

Alec was about to answer, but Max beat him to it. She was still CO of Terminal City; it was time she started acting like it. "Because, Zev, your face is as well known outside these walls as mine. The uniforms don't see you on the border, they'll know for sure something's up."

The redhead frowned. "I don't think one day would make a difference."

"I don't care what you think. You and Wil are staying. And so you two will shut the hell up and accept it so we can move on, I'm making it an order. Clear?" Max said sharply, feeling more like herself than she had in days.

"Crystal," Zev said icily. Wil just nodded, grumpily silent.

"And she's back," Mole commented, chewing happily on his cigar. He'd never admit it, but he'd missed bitchy, badass Max. He'd felt a little lost without her.

They hashed and re-hashed the plan, going over every possible angle and then a few more that weren't so possible. All that was left to do now was execute.

"All right, people," Alec interrupted before Max and Mole started butting heads. He had enough experience to feel it coming. "You know your assignments. Recruit your teams, get some sleep. We'll meet back here at 2100 for a final run through. Move out."

People scattered in every direction, hustling to get done what needed to be done. Max didn't move, because she was afraid her body would decide to up and quit and she'd end up in a heap on the floor. She felt shaky, like she had back in the early days when they were stuck in TC with not enough to eat and way too much to do. She wished she'd made herself eat more than the small amount she'd managed earlier, even though she hadn't been that hungry. She had to get out of this funk she was in and take care of herself if she wanted to take care of business with the Familiars.

When Max glanced back over toward Alec, she saw that he had pulled Joshua aside and was whispering something to him, but thanks to all the commotion, she couldn't hear what it was. Then they both looked in her direction with worried looks on their faces, so she could pretty much figure out the topic of conversation.

Dammit. Alec was coming her way. She didn't want to fight, and, more importantly, she didn't think she was up for another fight, but she was afraid she wasn't going to have a choice in the matter. She knew what he was thinking, and she wasn't going to let him keep her from going on this mission. No way, no how.

He stopped a few feet in front of her, as if he was wary of getting too close. His eyes darted over her, and she couldn't help but feel like he was judging her. If she were any other transgenic, about to go into battle against a well-armed and well-trained enemy, she would've considered Alec's once-over completely justified; if she wasn't up to par, she would be a danger to herself and to others. But this was Alec. She couldn't stand being treated like anyone else…not by him.

"Max…"

"I'm fine," she said sharply, cutting him off before he said something she didn't want to hear.

"You're tired," he said gently, ignoring her defensiveness. He needed to get his point across without getting her riled up—not exactly a simple task. "You need rest."

"I need rest? Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately?" She knew how she sounded, but she didn't care. She wouldn't put it past him to sedate her like he had Dalton so that he could keep her out of the line of fire, and she knew that she would never forgive him if he did.

"I wasn't the one who was tortured and starved for days on end."

"Exactly. I deserve a little payback."

Alec shook his head. "You've never been about revenge, Max."

"People change," she said coldly.

"Really. Then I guess you'll have no problem using this." Alec pulled his 9mm from the small of his back and set it on the table next to them. He slowly slid it toward her.

Max stiffened as she stared down at the gun—the cold, hard metal that she'd run from her whole life. Could she take it? Take a life? The truth was, she hadn't thought that far ahead. Her hatred had become a living thing inside of her, replacing the child she had lost, quietly but persistently clamoring for vengeance. She had never really visualized the form that vengeance would take… or how close it would bring her to everything she'd grown up to hate.

Alec let go of the breath he had been holding as he saw the turmoil in Max's eyes. He wasn't sure what he would've done if she had taken the gun. He took it back and slid it into his waistband, watching Max's eyes follow the gun until it disappeared from view. It was a dirty trick, but necessary, though she probably wouldn't agree.

The look in her eyes when she finally looked up at him said that she definitely did not agree.

"I'm sorry. I know how you feel about guns, but…" He sighed. "This is how it has to be, Max. We're not going to tie them to a pole and wait for the cops to scoop them up this time. We're ending this. To do that, we're going to have to become the weapons we were made to be."

Alec turned and sat down on the edge of the table, feeling the weight of his own words. He'd been so ready to rush headlong at White, even he hadn't realized all that was at stake. "You need to understand where this is headed. I've been down this road before... too many times," he added, closing his eyes momentarily as faces floated up from his memory, all long gone because of him. "Trust me. You don't want to go there if you don't have to."

Max sat down on the table beside him. She gave him a soft shoulder bump. "I'm a part of this, Alec. You can't shelter me from it."

He laughed, short and sharp. "This from the girl who wouldn't let me leave Terminal City for six months."

Her lips quirked. "I didn't say I wasn't a hypocrite."

Alec's expression sobered. "This isn't going to be easy, Max."

Max straightened, ignoring the way it pulled at the still-healing scars. "I'm ready."

"No you're not," he challenged. Now that he'd calmed down, he was actually happy to be arguing with Max. Anything was better than the emotional zombie she'd been since she'd been back. He reached up to tug at a lock of her hair. "An Ordinary could kick your ass right now." She was about to protest again, but he silenced her by placing a finger lightly over her lips. The fact that she didn't sink her teeth into it proved to him how off kilter she still was.

"You're no good to us if you can't stand on your own two feet, Maxie," he said. "All I'm saying is that you should get some food into you and get some sleep if you're planning to slog through the woods in the middle of a snowstorm. Okay?"

Max drew back her head and looked into those hazel-green eyes of his, trying to figure out if he was telling her the truth or just what she wanted to hear. "You're not going to try to stop me?" she asked, suspicious.

Alec's smile faltered a little, and Max could see the worry creep back into his eyes. "No, I won't stop you," he said. After a moment, the smile was back, apologetic this time. "But I can't promise that in a weak moment I won't still try to talk you out of it."

"Fair enough."

"Good." Alec nodded, glad that they'd at least settled something between them. "Now go home and eat something before you fall over. Josh'll keep you company until you fall asleep."

Max was about to say that she didn't need any help, but Joshua came over to stand beside Alec, looking so eager that she couldn't say no… which was exactly what Alec had planned—the sneak.

"Nice play," she said appreciatively.

"I thought so."

Neither of them knew what to say next, and the silence dragged out until it became awkward, especially since Josh was patiently standing there, waiting to escort her back to the apartment. Max looked down at her feet as she thought of the fight they'd had in the alley.

"Look. About earlier…" she began, not really sure what she was going to say, but hoping that her normally talkative boyfriend would help her out.

"Yeah?" was his one-word answer. Some help he was.

Max sighed and made herself look up at him, even though her cheeks flushed. "I … I never meant to… I mean… It's not that I don't trust you, but… talking about this is…" Max said, false starting several times. She heaved a frustrated sigh and pushed her hair away from her face. "Dammit, I'm screwing this up."

"Yo, Alec!" a loud voice bellowed from the doorway, interrupting her—Mole. He popped his scaly head back into the room. "We need to get cracking ASAP, or we will be FUBAR."

Alec closed his eyes and ground his teeth. Damn Mole and his bad timing.

"Come on, man! Let's go!"

"Hang on a minute!" Alec yelled over his shoulder, then turned back to Max. "Max…" he said anxiously, afraid that they might lose this chance if he left.

Max sighed, feeling a little bit guilty that she was grateful Mole had gotten her off the hook. She reached out and squeezed Alec's hand. "You should go. We'll talk later."

"But…"

"Go. You've got important stuff to do, and, to be perfectly honest, it'll give me more time to figure out what I want to say. Besides, I've got important stuff to do, too… like taking a nice long nap after I eat a triple-decker sandwich."

Alec smiled, glad that she wasn't going to fight him on this. "Wanna trade?"

Max shook her head. "Not on your life. Now go," she said, giving him a gentle shove. "Joshua and I have a date."

She held her arm out to her big friend, who took it graciously and, with a nod to Alec, began to lead her from the room.

"Any day now, McDowell!" Mole yelled from the hallway.

"I'm coming, you scaly sonofabitch!" Alec growled back, feeling better than he had in days. Sure, he was tired, and he was hungry—a triple-decker sandwich sounded pretty good right about now—but things were finally looking up. They were going to take some action against the Familiars, and Max was at least trying to talk to him.

Life wasn't good, but it didn't suck as much as it had an hour ago. Considering what had happened over the past couple of days, he'd take what he could get.

"Something's going on."

"Obviously," Dalton said, agreeing with Oscar's simple but accurate assessment of the situation. "But what?" he added.

The two of them were standing off to the side in Command, out of the main path of traffic. And there was a hell of a lot of traffic. People were coming and going with a look of purpose on their faces that neither of them had seen since the siege. The funny thing was, no one was saying much. They caught a snippet of conversation here and there, but not enough to figure out what was going on.

Kazi entered through the door on the other side of the room, her eyes immediately scanning for them. Dalton waved her over, and she closed the distance quickly, dodging through the crowd to reach them.

"You find out anything?" Dalton asked her.

The girl shook her head. "No one's talking. Every time I got close to someone who looked like they might know something, they clammed up. Whatever it is, seems like they're pretty much keeping Sixes and up out of the loop."

Oscar's brow furrowed; he looked worried. "Do you think they're expecting an attack?"

Dalton shook his head. "Can't be. They wouldn't keep us out if it was that. They'd need everyone to help defend TC."

"Well, what then?" Kazi asked.

Just then, Alec and Mole surged into the room; people got out of their way. As the Second and Third in Command were passing, the X6s overheard Alec mutter a one-word command: "Weapons."

"On it," Mole replied and split off in a different direction, toward the Armory. He was almost out the door when he yelled, "Kazi! With me!"

Kazi shared a wide-eyed look with the boys before she took off running after Mole. This was their chance to figure out what was going on.

Oscar watched Dalton watch Alec as the X5 passed. His friend remained stubbornly silent, eyes boring holes into Alec's back. "Why don't you just ask him what's going on?" Oscar asked.

Dalton looked away, irritated that he'd been caught. "Because I'm still pissed at him," he insisted stubbornly. He'd almost been ready to forgive Alec. He'd wanted to forgive Alec. All it would've taken was one little act of faith—something to prove that Alec trusted him, believed in him.

Obviously, that wasn't the case.

Oscar frowned at him. "You know you're being stupid, right?"

"Shut up, Oscar."

Dr. Gaines barged into Ames White's office without bothering to knock. "Where are my specimens?" she demanded, bristling.

She was tired of the excuses and the delays. Men like Ames didn't understand the delicacies of her work. He thought she could just put everything on hold…never mind cell degradation and the hundred other factors that came into play.

"Liz," White said casually, never taking his eyes from his computer screen, his fingers still flying over the keyboard. "Nice to see you."

"Don't play games with me, Ames. You promised me you'd provide new transgenic specimens for my experiments. Without new material, I'm at a standstill, and you know it. The Conclave…"

"I'm working on it," White said, his words slicing through her rant.

The doctor's eyes narrowed. "I'll only wait for so long."

Ames looked up, raising an eyebrow at the threat. "You'll wait as long as I'll tell you, Doctor," he said dispassionately. "Don't forget who's in charge around here."

Dr. Gaines turned on her heel and walked stiffly out of the room, seething. She burst through the door to her lab, still mentally cursing the man in her head. Her eyes fell on the glowing chamber that still rest, undisturbed, on the counter.

Ames had refused to let her use 452's fetus in her experiments. He seemed to think that they could still use the creature as some sort of bargaining chip. You didn't bargain with a bunch of dangerous animals; you exterminated them. Which was exactly what she was trying to do, if he would only let her use the genetic material right under her fingertips. But he wouldn't, because Ames White was the one in charge around here.

"We'll see about that," she muttered to the empty room. Then she picked up the phone.

Dalton and Oscar sat on the edge of the catwalk, feet dangling off the side as they watched the commotion below, identical scowls on their faces. The X6s strained their ears, trying to differentiate the many voices that made up the din. They still didn't know the exact details of what was going on, but whatever it was, it was a major deal.

Dalton's eyes tracked Alec around the room; if there was a heart to this storm, the SIC was it. Alec was the answer. The key. Dalton was sure of it.

The blonde X6 straightened, eyes widening as it hit him. Why hadn't he thought of it before? It was obvious. "He's going after White."

"Come on, that can't be it," Oscar said dismissively. "He already tried that, and it failed. Max ordered it herself—standing orders for Border Patrol to stop him at all costs. Old news, Dalton."

Dalton turned and grabbed Oscar by the arm, squeezing too tight in his intensity and causing the other boy to wince. "No," Dalton said, shaking his head. "I mean they're all going after White. An all out assault. Us against them."

Oscar's eyes widened. "No way."

"I'm telling you, Oscar, it's war."

The pair of them looked back down at the buzzing hive below. Each face had a look of intensity that neither of them had seen since their Manticore days.

"Shit," Oscar whispered, blood draining from his face.

"Come on," Dalton whispered harshly, scrambling to his feet and dragging Oscar with him. "We've got to talk to Kazi."

Max cursed softly as her cell phone beeped at her for the third time.

"Little Fella?" Joshua asked, worried, as he poked his head in the bedroom door. Once he saw that Max was sitting on the bed and not collapsed on the floor or something equally dire, he relaxed a little. The frown on her face was still cause for concern, though. "Thought you were going to sleep?" he asked, moving further into the room.

Max looked up, a little shocked that she found herself blinking rapidly to chase away the tears. "Stupid phone," she said with a sniff. "Can't seem to get a signal."

Joshua sat down next to her on the bed. "Jammers are on. Dix is keeping them running until after the mission."

Max forced a laugh. "Right. I should've thought of that." She reached up to brush away a tear. "I don't know why I'm so upset. Just one more thing to add to the list of what's wrong with Max, huh?"

"Having emotions isn't wrong. We're going to war. Should worry if you weren't upset."

"Funny. You would've thought Manticore would've tried harder get rid of that design flaw." Max frowned at the phone in her hand. She knew now it wouldn't work no matter what she did, but she had a hard time putting it down.

"Max was going to call Original Cindy," Joshua offered.

"Yeah," Max sighed. "With everything that's going on, I wanted to… I don't know, say goodbye, I guess. You know… just in case."

Joshua turned Max to face him, resting his large hands on her shoulders. "No in case. Little Fella will make it back."

"You can't know that."

"Can too. Joshua will make sure of it."

"Josh, you can't watch over me during the…" Max stopped as it dawned on her. "Wait. Alec assigned you to be my personal body guard, didn't he?"

Joshua shrugged his answer. "Alec loves you very much."

"I know."

Normally, she would've been pissed off by such high-handedness from Alec, but all she felt was a sense of relief. Alec knew she wouldn't be 100% at Go Time, and he knew he couldn't stop her, so he was taking care of her as best he could.

She gave Joshua a crooked half-smile. "I guess it's time I got a taste of my own medicine, huh?"

Joshua nodded solemnly. "That's what Alec said."

Max laughed, but it died quickly. The reality of what they were about to do was too life-and-death for levity. "I'm really worried about him, Josh. This thing with me and with…" She swallowed hard. "…with the baby. It's really messed him up. If he spots White… I'm afraid of what he might do."

Joshua turned his face away from Max. He didn't want her to see how angry the thought of what had been done to her made him.

"Don't worry, Little Fella." He took Max's cell from her hands and gently set it on the table. He motioned her under the covers, and tucked her in once she complied. Every move was slow and deliberate, to soothe himself as much as Max. He planted a soft kiss on her hair, then turned to switch off the small lamp on the bedside table.

He couldn't condemn Alec for what he might do. He was afraid of what he might do himself if he spotted White. He looked down at Max, so small and fragile under the blankets. "Alec can take care of himself."

Max's eyes began to droop. As he moved toward the door, he heard Max's sleepy slur, "Not gon' stop me from wantin' to take care of 'im…"

Joshua paused and turned back toward Max. "Guess we will have to keep an eye on him, too."

"Mmmm…" Max murmured and rolled onto her side, satisfied as she drifted off into sleep.

Joshua slipped out of the room and closed the door, leaving it cracked slightly so he could better detect minute changes in Max's breathing. He still worried about her health. She really was in no shape to go on this mission, but Joshua understood why she had to go.

He sank down onto the couch, leaning forward until his head was in his hands. In a couple of hours, Max, Alec… so many of his friends would be at risk. How could he possibly protect them all?

"I'm not supposed to say anything."

Dalton and Oscar walked on either side of Kazi as she made her way back to the barracks, effectively corralling her between them. "Come on, Kazi," Dalton pressured. "Spill." She'd been locked in the armory with Mole for over an hour; she had to know something.

Kazi shook her head and kept walking. "Mole'll tear me a new one if I tell you."

"He doesn't have to know you told us," Oscar offered. "We can tell him Dalton was eavesdropping from the air ducts."

"Hey!" Dalton protested.

"What?" Oscar said with wide-eyed innocence. "He'd buy it."

Kazi slowed, her resolve wavering. "You're probably right about that."

Dalton threw up his hands. "Fine. Sell me out. I don't give a damn if it gets you to tell us what's going on."

Kazi looked around nervously. There were too many people around. "I'll tell you, but not here."

Wil and Zev were in the gym. They'd been there for over an hour, sparring. They probably should've been in Command, but honestly, there was nothing left for them to do. They'd already come up with contingency plans everything they might run into while the others were away on mission, up to and including natural disaster and alien invasion. The only thing they could've done was sit around and watch everyone else prepare to risk their lives, which really didn't sit well with either of them, especially Zev. She'd dragged Wil off to the gym to burn off some steam.

"This sucks," Zev said, then launched another spin kick at Wil's head.

If Wil had been a bit more smart-assed like Alec or a bit more laconic like Mole, he would've had some sort of snappy comeback. Wil being Wil, though, he just said, "I know," just like he had the other ten times she'd said it, and blocked her kick.

"Not only do they make us stay, but they're completely ignoring Max Law number... number…"

"Thirteen."

"Whatever!" Zev snapped. She blocked Wil's counter-move, then backed away to formulate a new plan of attack. "We've been in this from the beginning. We've got a right to be there!"

Wil circled, watching for her next move. "Preaching to the choir, Zev."

Zev made a frustrated noise and stalked away from him, grabbing a towel to wipe away the sweat. She whipped it angrily to the ground. "How can you be so laid back about this?"

Figuring they were taking a break, Wil bent down and grabbed a bottle of water, twisting off the cap and taking a large gulp. He held up another and brandished at Zev before tossing it to her. "I could get all worked up about it, but it wouldn't make a difference, would it? I'd still be stuck here, same as you."

"That's not the point. Aren't you angry?"

Wil shrugged. "I've never been able to stay mad for very long."

Zev narrowed her eyes at him. Wil was so different from most other transgenic guys. "That's very sensible."

"Thank you," he said, smiling at her.

Zev pursed her lips at him. "And annoying."

The smile died. "Okay, I take that back."

He'd let her get to him, like he always did, so he didn't see it coming. She launched herself at him, and he wasn't ready. She got in a few blows and then took him down with a sweeping leg kick. He tried to roll away, but she jumped on his back and grabbed his arm, yanking it up and pinning him to the mat.

Breathing hard while straddling him, Zev felt her temperature rise… and it wasn't from sparring. "I like you, Wil."

"Coulda fooled me," Wil grunted into the mat.

She leaned down until her breasts brushed against his back and her lips were over his ear. She felt his breath catch, and she smiled. "When this is all over," she murmured into his ear, "give me a couple of hours and I'll prove it." She nipped his ear with her teeth, then rolled off him and to her feet. "I'm hitting the showers," she called over her shoulder, as if she hadn't just made a completely obvious pass at him.

Wil rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. His put his hand over heart and felt it pounding hard against his ribs.

That woman was going to be the death of him.

They sat in a circle on the floor of Dalton's room, behind the closed door. He was the only X6 with a room of his own—one of the perks of being Alec's assistant. Dalton had hoped he would be using that perk to get up close and personal (or more specifically, horizontal) with Kazi. Funny how things worked out.

Kazi confirmed what Dalton and Oscar had surmised from hanging out in Command—it was war. The transgenics were mounting the largest mass assault since their Manticore days. There were at least fifty on the assault team, which equaled a small army of ordinaries. They weren't kidding around.

"It wasn't just the standard assault rifles and handguns," Kazi said, keeping her voice down even though Dalton had music blasting to drown out their conversation. "We're talking big guns and explosives. I don't think they're just planning to attack them. I think they're planning to wipe them out."

"Told you," Dalton said, giving Oscar's shoulder a punch.

The other boy rubbed his shoulder and frowned. "You act like this is a good thing."

"How can it not be?" Dalton retorted. "We're finally standing up to the Familiars."

"About time, too," Kazi added, nodding.

Oscar looked from one to the other. How could they be so excited? Didn't they remember how it had been? He sure remembered, no matter how hard he tried to forget.

"There's something else," Kazi said, and the hesitation in her voice caught both boys attention. She looked down, suddenly uncomfortable. She wasn't sure she should tell them this part—especially Dalton—but if he found out she'd held back on him, he'd be mad at her. She didn't want him to be mad at her again. She cleared her throat and continued.

"I was in the armory, helping pack up stuff for the mission. Mole had gone to talk to Alec about something. I was in the back, looking for another case of smoke grenades, when Gem and Luke came in. They didn't know I was there. I … heard them talking." Kazi hesitated, sending a nervous glance at Dalton.

"What?" he said.

"You're not going to like it."

"Will you just tell me already?!"

"It's about what happened to Max." She swallowed hard. "When the Familiars had her."

She was sure that Dalton had heard her, but you wouldn't have known it to look at him. He sat unmoving, staring off into space, barely even breathing. Maybe he was in shock.

"Dalton?" she said softly, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

She jumped when he suddenly surged to his feet, eyes flashing with anger and purpose.

"I'm going with them."

"Are you crazy?!" Oscar exclaimed. "No way Alec will ever agree to that."

"I'm not planning on giving him much choice."

Kazi got to her feet to stand beside Dalton. "If you're going, then I'm going, too."

Oscar looked up at the two of them. They were going to do it. They were actually going to do it. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling that familiar pressure that he hadn't felt in a long time—not since he'd been a number. "This is insane."

He didn't want to go. He was happy being just a kid—genetically enhanced kid, but still, just a kid. He didn't want to be a soldier again, but what choice did he have? He couldn't sit at home and twiddle his thumbs while his best friend was out there risking his life. If someone happened, he'd never forgive himself.

Oscar got to his feet, reluctantly resigned. "Count me in." When Dalton raised his eyebrows in surprise, Oscar shrugged. "Someone has to keep you two out of trouble."

Max shuffled out of the bedroom with a stretch and a yawn, feeling a lot better than she had earlier. Alec had been right; she'd needed the rest… and the triple-decker sandwich. Still a little fuzzy from the long nap, she shambled toward the living room, eyes drifting over to the couch where Joshua had been planning to sack out while she slept.

It was empty.

"I sent him home," a familiar voice said softly from the shadows. Max turned to find Alec standing there in the dark, dimly silhouetted as he stood with his back against the window. He stared down at the glass tumbler in his hand. He lifted it to take a drink; Max could smell the scent of Alec's favorite scotch waft through the room.

There was no need to scold; he couldn't get drunk if he tried. It was more of a comfort thing with Alec. The near-empty bottle on the windowsill told her he'd sought a lot of comfort while she'd slept. He set the glass down on the ledge, and she thought she detected a slight tremor in his hand. He took a shaky breath.

"I would ask you to stay, but I know you're not going to."

He was scared. He'd already come so close to losing her. He couldn't go through that again. He wanted to tuck her away where nothing could ever hurt her, but he knew he couldn't, and it was driving him crazy.

Was this the way Max had felt after he'd been shot?

Max closed the distance between them. She put her hand over his heart, its pounding betraying the inner turmoil beneath his outer calm. "I have to go, Alec" she said, almost apologetically.

Alec's lips attempted a smile but couldn't quite pull it off, instead twisting in a sickened parody of one. He put his hand over hers, holding her to him. "I wish you wouldn't," he asked, knowing it wouldn't do any good.

He'd gone over the reasons she should stay a hundred times in his head, waiting for her to wake up from her nap. It was too soon. Her wounds were still too fresh, and not just the physical. She knew it as much as he did. Most of all, he didn't want her to go back there. He would rather burn the whole building down then ever have her step foot in that place again.

Max reached up with her other hand and placed it on his cheek. She was momentarily distracted by the feel of the scruff beneath her hand, so unlike him. This whole thing had taken both of them so far from who they'd been. She leaned her forehead against his and whispered, "I need to do this. You know I do."

He closed his eyes and nodded, afraid to trust his voice. He'd known she wouldn't stay; she wouldn't be Max if she did. But he'd had to try.

He felt the touch of soft lips on his, and then he couldn't have spoken even if he'd wanted. His throat constricted as those lips traced a path along his jaw toward and her arms wrapped around him.

"I know things are screwed up between us right now," she murmured into his hair, pulling him tighter, "and I know a lot of that has to do with me, but… I want you to know I'm trying. It may not seem like it, 'cause this is really hard for me, dealing with everything that happened. But I am trying. So if I keep trying to push you away, don't let me, okay?

"'Kay," he replied, the word muffled against her neck. It would've been so easy to forget to world and lose himself in her.

Max pulled back from him, and it took some effort, because he didn't want to let her go. She was okay with that. "I know I can count on you."

Alec's smile was muted; the coming events weighed too heavily on him. "Do me a favor?" he asked.

"Anything."

"Hang on to me for a while." He sounded so vulnerable that it made her heart ache.

Max stepped in closer and lowered her head to his chest, leaning into him. "I can do that."

It was time. The entire task force was gathered in front of the South tunnel entrance, ready to go to war. Ready to lay down their lives, if necessary, as so many of them had done in the past for a country that didn't want them. This time was different, and Max wanted to make sure each and every one of them understood that. They weren't being forced to go. Manticore was dead, and it was going to stay dead. If that meant that they ended up with only a handful of people to wage this war, then so be it.

Max moved to the front of the crowd. Alec stuck close by her, presenting a united front to the troops. A pair of lovers transformed into a pair of leaders. They had known from the beginning that it would be tough to be both; neither of them had realized how tough until the events of the past week.

"All right, people," Max raised her voice over the crowd. "Before we get down to business, I've got a few things to say."

Everyone immediately fell silent, many automatically snapping to attention. They understood the gravity of the situation.

"You all know why we're here. You all know what the Familiars did. To me. To Brand and Nila. Kai and Jin. Kel. Annie," she added, her eyes drifting to Joshua. "So many others we don't even know about." She didn't mention the baby. Only a select few knew about that, and she was planning to keep it that way.

She shook her head. "This isn't only about what they've done; it's about what they plan to do. The Familiars are developing a drug that could kill us all. If they succeed, we will all die. Slowly. Painfully." Max paused to let what she'd said sink in. "We will not let that happen."

Alec stepped forward. "You all get how important this mission is. We're facing superior numbers on enemy turf. I know a lot of you have been in this type of situation before, but you've never faced this type of enemy before. Familiars are not as fast as we are, but they're a lot stronger than an ordinary, and they don't feel pain. We can't afford to underestimate them."

"We're fighting for our future, people," Max added, "but we will not, under any circumstances, repeat our past. Manticore is dead, and it stays dead. No one's ordering you to risk your life. You want out, you're out—no questions. Anyone tries to hold it against you, I will personally kick their ass."

Max looked through the crowd. No one looked away. No one moved.

Joshua looked around, confirming everyone's reaction. He stepped forward and spoke for the group. "We're in this, Max. To the end."

Max nodded her thanks. She wished she didn't have to risk them like this—any of them, Alec included. But if they didn't do this, chances were that they wouldn't have a future.

"Enough with the warm fuzzies, already," Mole called out, his voice resounding in the silence. "Let's get moving, people."

The attack force moved down the tunnel toward the garage, toting weapons cases and their personal gear. Dix had sent on of his teams to arrange a convenient power outage, so they wouldn't have to worry about any sensors the military had in place. By the time the uniforms got together a patrol to check the tunnels, they'd be long gone.

Alec was moving down the tunnel at a steady clip, going over the plan in his head one more time. They couldn't afford to screw this up.

He was distracted by someone coming up in his peripheral vision—someone way shorter than he should have been. Alec glanced to the side.

Dalton. Oscar and Kazi were right behind him.

The X5 shot a disapproving look at Dalton, who he correctly assumed was the ringleader. "Where do you guys think you're going?"

"With you," Dalton said simply, as if he was stating fact.

Alec shook his head and kept walking. "Like Hell."

The X5 pulled ahead, and Dalton had to jog to keep up. Oscar and Kazi lagged behind, sensing that this fight was between Alec and Dalton.

"I won't get left behind again," the blonde X6 called out to Alec's back as they entered the Garage. Heads turned. Then Dalton was skidding to a halt as Alec suddenly stopped and turned on him, jabbing a finger into his chest.

"You stay if I say you stay."

The X6's eyes hardened. "Unless you've got a tranq up your sleeve, Sir, I don't think you can stop me."

Alec grimaced. That one hurt—especially the Sir part—but he couldn't let himself care. The reasons he'd left Dalton behind in the first place hadn't changed; if anything, the risk was greater. "This isn't a game, Dalton."

"You think I don't know that? I grew up Manticore, same as you."

Oscar and Kazi came up to stand behind Dalton. They were just kids. How could they expect him to put them in the line of fire?

"You're not going," he said firmly, taking Dalton's pack and dropping it at the boy's feet.

Mole walked by with a large case balanced on his shoulder. "We could use another group to provide long range support," he said in passing.

"Shut it, Mole. You're not helping."

"Just sayin'," Mole called out over his back as he moved down the tunnel.

Dalton straightened to his full-yet-not-fully-grown height and gave Alec a pointed glare. "You owe me."

The kid was right. Alec did owe Dalton—his life, and Max's. He would never have been able to rescue Max without Dalton's help, and he would've certainly been a stain on the floor of Advanced Biomedics if not for the X6's persistent friendship.

Which was exactly why he couldn't let him go.

Alec spotted Max, who was managing the transport assignments. He sent her a pleading look, silently begging her to veto the whole thing and put an end to it once in for all. He didn't need one more person to worry about on this trip.

Max, apparently, did not get the message. "Mole's right. We could use all the help we can get," she said, affectively undermining his whole argument.

Alec pinned Max with a look that said How could you not back me?, but all she did was shrug. Fuming, he spun back toward the kids.

Dalton's eyes were bright and he was smiling broadly, but he quickly schooled his face to neutral when Alec turned back. Kazi was even less successful at containing her excitement. Oscar, on the other hand, looked a little green.

"You do not," Alec commanded sternly, leveling a finger at them, "under any circumstances, engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary. You three will stay on the perimeter and out of sight, or, so help me, I'll make you all pay. You copy?"

"Yes, sir!" the three of them said in unison, snapping to attention. Then their eyes were widening as they looked around them, taking in the organized chaos of a large military operation.

"Awesome," Dalton said in awe. It had been a long time since he'd seen that much hardware all in one place.

Kazi rubbed her hands together, looking like a kid at Christmas. "Feels like forever since I've had a chance to blow something up."

Oscar rolled his eyes and grabbed a handful of Dalton's and Kazi's jackets and dragged them past Alec, carefully avoiding eye contact. "Just get in the van before he changes his mind."

Max looked over at Alec, who was pensively pacing back and forth as the rest of the cargo was loaded. She walked over to him, touching his arm. He still had that accusing look in his eye, and she didn't begrudge him it.

"They would've followed us anyway," she explained. His only response was an irritated frown. He knew she was right.

"Come on," she said, patting him on the arm. "Time to go."

Snow fell in soft flakes, light but steady. Alec stood with his back pressed against a tree; if you didn't know he was there, you would've thought he was a part of the landscape. He spotted the others around him, but only because he knew they were there. The odds of a Familiar spotting them in the snow were slim to none, which was exactly how he wanted it.

Max stood next to him, cautiously peering out from behind her own tree. Far below, the Familiar compound glowed like a Christmas tree in the dark, lighting up the night. Once they were within range, they'd have to hit hard and fast—the storm wasn't strong enough to hide them in all that glare.

Down there, somewhere, his child waited. Alive. He was sure of it.

The other two teams were stationed at different points in the woods, waiting for the predetermined time of attack. Glancing down at his watch, Alec pulled out his radio and hit the button.

"Status," he said quietly. They'd already scouted ahead and verified that the Familiars weren't running patrols in this mess, but you couldn't be too cautious. One by one, the teams reported in.

Larry's a go.

Curly's a go.

"Moe's a go," Alec confirmed, glancing around at his own team members. "Move out in five."

Affirmative, Mole's voice replied. Satisfied, Alec was about to return his radio to his belt when it sounded again. You want us to save him for you? Mole asked. No one had any doubt to whom he was referring. They may have been there to take down the Familiar base, but in reality it all came down to one man.

Alec thought about it for a moment. He had imagined killing Ames White in a thousand different ways since the moment he'd known the Familiar had taken Max, but not one of them would erase what the man had done.

"No," Alec said finally into radio. "I want him dead. I don't care how." He turned to Max. "You okay with that?" he asked. If anyone should have a say in the matter, it should be Max.

Max hesitated, thinking of everything that White had done, and everything he might still do if they let him walk. "Yeah," she replied. "I'm good."

"You get that, Mole?" Alec called into the radio.

White's head on a platter. Copy that.

Alec glanced down at his watch, watching the minutes tick off. Then he blinked as he noticed the day. It was Thursday. Only Thursday. Had it really only been a day since he'd crept out of their bedroom to kill White? It was hard to believe.

Wait a minute. It was Thursday.

Without warning and in front of their entire attack unit, Alec grabbed Max's hand and pulled her to him, wrapping an arm tight around her waist. He planted an exaggerated kiss on her lips, pulled back and said, "I love you."

Max pushed against him, eyes flicking to the others. So much for setting an example for the troops. "I know, you idiot, but now's not the time."

"Sorry," Alec said, though the smile on his face said it was a lie. "Just keeping a promise."

He let her go, a bit reluctantly. If things went badly, there was a good chance that the kiss they had just shared might be their last.

Alec turned and faced the Familiar compound, banishing the thought. He cleared his mind of everything but their mission. "You ready, Maxie?"

Max rolled her shoulders and put her game face on. Hell, yeah, she was ready.

"Let's go kick some ass."

A/N: I'm hoping that I'm back on a roll here, but a few reviews might help me along. (hint, hint)