Seeing Double

Chapter Twelve

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The pieces of paper quivered in Bobby's grip as he walked into the kitchen. Dean put down the coffee pot with a dull thunk, reading all sorts of things into the older man's frown and finding none of them good.

"What's up?"

Bobby slapped one sheet down onto the table top, a few breadcrumbs bouncing with the force of the blow.

"You boys know how to get yourselves right in the middle of anythin' crappy. Ain't monsters enough for ya?" He pointed at the paper with a gnarled finger. "Looks like you an' Alec got identical fingerprints."

Dean's eyebrows shot up. "You lifted our fingerprints! That's sneaky even for you, old man!"

"Don't worry y'head about it." Bobby jabbed at the paper. "This ain't possible 'less he's some kinda alternative shapeshifter that don't react to silver. Or... if his story ain't a steamin' pile of bullcrap... then I guess that could make him your clone, seein' as you're older."

Dean looked distinctly uncomfortable. Bobby spread the other pieces of paper on the table; they were copies of clippings from newspapers and research documents. He held up his hand as Dean opened his mouth to speak.

"Ain't so crazy as it sounds... Look here, this article is about Dolly, a cloned sheep all the way back in 1996... And here's information on Polly an' Molly, transgenic sheep. And they ain't the only cases. These kinda things don't happen overnight and y'can guarantee only some of what's goin' on ever gets released to the public domain. Let's just suppose for a minute that ten, mebbe even fifteen years afore Dolly, someone started mixin' up humans in a petri dish?"

Dean swallowed. "I hear you Bobby. But nothin' else fits. Alec says it should be 2020 now… and nothin' he remembers from 2006 is here in 2006."

He kneaded his forehead with long fingers, dragged them back through his hair. There was real regret in his tone. "I like the kid, y'know? But…" His voice tailed off.

Bobby sent a sharp glance in his direction. "Y' think he might be nuts?"

"No! Well… hell, I dunno. We see crazy every day, maybe this is just, y'know, a different kind of crazy?"

"And he don't seem a little different t'ya? 'Cause from what Sam was sayin', Alec moves kinda fast for a reg'lar human being?"

Dean's expression betrayed his conflicting emotions. Looking purely at Alec's story, it seemed certain that he was crazy. But there were the other things to take into consideration. Alec's impossible speed for one thing, something he'd witnessed first-hand in the cemetery and again when they'd been fighting by the Impala. Then there was the incredible strength; neither he nor Sam were weaklings but it had taken all their power to keep Alec in the bathtub. He'd felt it again when they'd been fighting and just for a moment Alec stopped playing and unleashed his full strength, pinning Dean to the floor… but then Alec had capitulated and lay back to take his punishment for not making the killing blow. Even now that angered Dean. That flinch, the way Alec had closed his eyes. Someone had hurt him really bad in the past; even worse than that, they'd trained him to think it was okay to be hurt. If Alec was crazy, maybe he had his reasons.

Bobby stacked the papers, scowling and chewing at a corner of his moustache.

"I got somethin' in an old file," he muttered suddenly. "Never thought I'd need it… I'm gonna have to go dig it out."

Dean stared at him. "You don't think this is all for real?"

"I didn't, not 'til them fingerprint results came in. Now I'm wonderin' about somethin' happened a long time ago. Somethin' your Daddy wrote down and asked me to keep."

Now that wasn't right, Bobby thought. The boys, especially Dean, were all torn up about John dying, but that blanch when he mentioned their father, the guilt that flooded Dean's face, there was something going on there that was more than just grief. He made a mental note to grill Sam about it once this new crazy was under control.

He cleared his throat. "Tell ya what. You get ahold of Sam and Alec and I'll go get my file. Might as well do this all together."

Dean looked at him out of a face that was suddenly too tight. "Yeah, okay."

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Max slouched against the frame of the glass partition, crossing her arms. She tilted her head to lean on the wood as she watched Logan tapping at his keyboard, the light of the monitors reflecting off the lens of his glasses and highlighting his profile.

"I ran a search of all the police bulletins for the last five days. If Alec was picked up by the law there'd be something on file."

"Anything turn up?"

Logan approached her slowly, his forehead creased in thought. She backed away slightly, ever mindful of the deadly virus planted in her by Manticore.

"No. Nothing. No arrests in that area, no trouble."

"What about the hospitals?"

"Nothing that sounded like Alec."

Logan pulled off his glasses, polishing them with the corner of his shirt.

She snorted. "Half of me thinks he just took off."

"Doesn't seem logical. Why would he leave the Jam Pony things in an alley?"

"I guess not." Max frowned, more worried than she was letting on. "You'll let me know if you hear anythin', right?"

Logan replaced his glasses and stared at her.

"You're thinking White has him again?"

"No…" She shrugged. "Maybe."

"I'll ask around and I'll call Matt Sung... maybe he can dig up somethin' I can't. We're gonna find him, Max, if he wants to be found."

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The sound of Sam's boots thundering across the upper floor echoed down into the kitchen.

"You alright there, Sammy?" Dean stuck his head up the staircase.

"He's gone!" Sam appeared at the top of the stairs. "His clothes are missing; looks like he went out the back upstairs window."

"You're freakin' kiddin' me!"

Dean rushed out of the door and to the back of the house. There was no sign of Alec, although the boot-shaped imprints directly beneath the upstairs window made it fairly obvious he'd jumped out.

"Well, that's normal." Dean looked uneasily up at the height of the window before heading back to the front of the house. To his relief the Impala was still parked in the yard. Bobby appeared in the front door.

"Bobby," he hollered. "You got any cars missing?" He figured Alec had a head start of about twenty minutes; he needed to get on the road as soon as possible if he was going to catch up with him. For a brief moment it occurred to Dean that he could just cut Alec loose and it would be one less thing to deal with, but the thought was squashed almost as soon as it formed.

A quick check of the yard revealed that an old blue Dodge had disappeared.

"Idjit ain't gonna get far. That one's got herself a cracked sump; he's gonna seize the engine."

Dean was already in the Impala. "Stay here, Sammy. When I catch up, I'll call and you can come out with Bobby's tow truck."

Sam was puzzled. "How do you know where he's gone?"

"Well hell Sammy, he's meant to be my goddamn clone." Dean put his foot on the gas and peeled out of the yard, leaving Sam with a confused expression on his face.

"Clone?" he said, turning to Bobby.

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Original Cindy nodded her thanks to the barman as she slid the jug of beer off the bar. She carried it over to the table and put it between herself and Max.

"No luck, boo?"

Max shook her head, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"No. Logan's got nothin'."

"My girl is gettin' all mopey." OC sloshed beer into Max's glass. The sympathy shining in her big brown eyes betrayed her own concern for the absent, smart-mouthed X5. "It ain't like you to be so shook up over Alec. You really think somethin' bad happened to your boy, huh?"

For once Max didn't bother to correct her about Alec being 'her boy'. Alec was a transgenic too; he was family. She took a swig of her beer and slid off the stool.

"I'm gonna head out, see if there's any word on the streets." She declined to mention which streets she intended to visit.

"Sure sugar. You be careful y'hear?" Original Cindy twirled her glass around in its little puddle of beer, frowning, as the sound of Max's departing motorcycle echoed through the open door.

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Somewhere between Sioux Falls and Mitchell the Dodge began to overheat. Alec swore, slamming his hand against the wheel and snarling to himself that it was typical he hadn't been trained in vehicle maintenance by Manticore, apart from the general 'fill it with gas and keep the fluids topped up' kind of maintenance. His specialism had been a little more deadly.

He pushed on very slowly to the next rest stop, only just making it as far as the parking area. As he rolled down the access road there was a terminal banging noise from the engine. An acrid smell of burning and a trickle of dark smoke filtered through the dashboard.

Alec braked the car to a halt, ending up parked untidily across several parking spaces. At least the rest stop was quiet, with just a couple of RVs and one or two cars at the far side. He raised the hood, releasing a small cloud of smoke and a strong smell of burnt oil.

He was still staring at the engine, wondering what to do next, when the growl of the Impala broke into his thoughts. There was a shriek of tires as Dean slammed on the brakes, fishtailing briefly before aiming down the access road. He pulled up in front of Alec and stepped out of the car. He looked really pissed.

Alec shifted his shoulders slightly, curling his hands loosely, ready, as a frisson of nerves swept over his skin.

"What the hell, dude!" Dean sounded pissed too. "Why'd you run off like that?" He marched right up to Alec, stopping within arm's length, looking for all the world as though he wanted to throw him bodily into the Impala. "What are you doin' here?"

Alec swallowed. "I was about to ask you the same thing." He kept his voice calm; he really didn't want to fight with Dean. He blinked, looking contrite. "'M sorry, about taking the car. I think maybe I broke it?"

It suddenly occurred to him that Dean was angry about the car. He figured that Dean probably wouldn't have followed him if he hadn't been stupid enough to steal a vehicle. For some reason that thought hurt. So he smirked, playing it cool, tipping his chin slightly in the direction of the Dodge.

"Guess that's why you came after me, huh? I shoulda known better than to steal from your pal. I'd offer to pay him back but…" He shrugged, smirked again, slapping his jacket pocket. "Guess I lost my wallet. Probably fell out in some time warp, happens to me all the time y'know."

Dean glowered at him. He pulled out his cell and snapped a few directions into it before ramming it back into his pocket.

"I didn't drive out here to get the goddamn car! Where the hell did you think you were goin'?"

So why had Dean come rushing after him then, if it wasn't for the car? Alec scowled right back. He wasn't some useless Ordinary or a kid that needed to be protected. He hadn't needed protection when he was a kid.

"Sometimes a guy just has more fun on his own. What part of me being a genetically empowered super soldier don't you get? I can look after myself!"

An SUV drove past slowly, eyes goggling out of the windows at the minor drama of the broken-down vehicle and angry looking men.

Dean didn't break eye contact. "You were just gonna ditch us then, huh?" He stepped closer, right in Alec's face, close enough that Alec could see the muscle ticking in his jaw. It was unnerving staring into a mirror image of his own eyes.

Alec opened his mouth to do one of the things he did best, mouth off, but in doing so inadvertently inhaled a lungful of Dean's scent. Something instinct bred into his DNA identified the other man as kin. The balloon of his anger and sarcasm deflated immediately.

Dean rushed on, furious. "Sure you can look after yourself! That's why you're sat at the side of the freakin' road with a busted vehicle and no goddamn money!"

He wound his fingers into the front of Alec's jacket, giving him a little shake. "Bobby's found something, you asshat! You need to hear him out. Then if you want to leave, you do that… with a decent car and some dollars in your pocket!"

He let go of Alec's jacket and stared at him, the anger bleeding away and being replaced by hurt. "Dude, you said we were your unit. My Dad…" He swallowed, looking a little sick and continued in a harsh tone. "He said in the Marines that's kinda like family!"

So that was why he was so angry. Alec bit his lip, trying to find the words to explain.

"I dunno what's going on… I don't want to put you in danger. The people who are after me, they're bad news. When the Manticore facility was found out, they locked everyone in and tried to barbecue 'em, even the little kids!" He dragged in a shaky breath. "You don't need to get mixed up in this crap. I'm not important; I'm expendable."

Dean gestured at his own face, jabbed a finger at Alec. "You may have noticed we look kinda similar? This doesn't affect just you dude. And we're always in danger." He took a deep breath, looking even more aggravated. "What d'you mean you're expendable!"

Alec watched him, eyes wide.

"You can't just go runnin' off kiddo, you need some back up. You're gonna get yourself killed…" Something raw flashed across Dean's face. He continued in a furious growl. "I'm not lettin' anybody else die on my watch!"

Startled at the unexpected vehemence of the last comment, Alec took a half step backwards, thrusting a hand behind himself for balance as the back of his knees collided with the front of the Dodge. His hand made contact with the smoking hot engine with an audible hiss; he shot upright, pulling it free as pain exploded in his palm and lanced up the nerves of his arm.

Sonofabitch!"

Dean grabbed him by the wrist, his fingers cool against the heat flooding up from Alec's palm. He towed Alec to the Impala's trunk and pulled out a bottle of water; pouring the cold liquid over the burn.

"Bang up job of lookin' after yourself there."

"It's okay." Alec was embarrassed. "It'll heal in a few hours." He smiled cautiously, hoping they were done with fighting. "Superior genes."

Dean huffed. "Of course they're superior; Bobby figures you're my clone." He raised an eyebrow. "Coupla hours, huh? Awesome."

The trunk slammed shut with a decisive bang. Dean's eyes were glinting, crinkling up at the corners. "You jumped out the upstairs window?"

Alec grinned. "Yeah, cat DNA."

"Awesome."

Alec leaned against the Impala, flexing his palm. It was throbbing but the blistered skin would soon subside, it was only a minor injury but like all burns it was surprisingly painful at first. X5s were equipped to deal with pain and Alec clamped down on it fast, rubbing lightly at the tingling feeling in the skin of his arm.

"Alec? You okay?" Dean was watching him with concern.

"I'm fine." Alec shoved his hand into his pocket, squinting against the overly bright winter sunlight. "Hungry I guess?"

"We'll wait and help Sam hook up the Dodge, then get on back to Bobby's. He makes the best chilli this side of Mexico."

Alec hoped he was going to be offered some chilli; Bobby hadn't seem to like him even before he stole one of his cars. Although to be truthful, he wasn't really hungry. What he needed was a big carton of milk. He considered asking Dean to buy him some, but dismissed the thought. Maybe Bobby would have some spare.

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More soon…

Thank you all so much for reading.

Thanks especially to the reviewers… you keep me typing!

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