Author's Note: Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken so long to update, I've been out of town for a few days. This chapter was really hard to write and well, you'll see why. But there's a warning: I used the F word in this chapter a few times. Please don't be offended, you know I do this stuff sparingly. But I hope you enjoy. There are so many things I want to address in my story and I'm determined to do so, so I wonder to myself it this story will be epic, you know, like 40 chapters or something. Haha, I never intended it to be that long, but if it is, all the better. Okay, please review and as always, I hope you enjoy!

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"Man, I need to get laid," Biggs said restlessly as he watched a group of giggling girls on the sidewalk. They eyed Biggs and Alec flirtingly before passing by.

Alec laughed. "I didn't think you would have problems with that," he replied. They were riding their bikes back from their delivery, while Kris was doing her runs with O.C. that morning.

"I don't, but it's just getting old. I sleep with a chic, I don't call back, she calls me four days later to find out if I was ever going to call her back, I give her some bullshit response about not wanting to get tied down, and I move on to the next one, only to repeat the entire process over again. Maybe laid isn't the right term, I dunno what it's called, but I just, I'm getting tired of doing the same shit," Biggs explained, troubled.

"Stop viewing girls as potential fuck buddies," Alec said straightforwardly.

"Language, Alec, language," Biggs said, shocked that Alec would say something like that to him.

"Seriously, Biggs, just stop. When you do that, you'll see other aspects of girls besides their rack and ass. Something inside them. And maybe that would excite you," Alec explained, slightly annoyed.

"That takes a lot of time," Biggs complained.

"It's worth it," Alec assured him.

"How long did it take you and Kris to get together?"

"Ten months, seventeen days," Alec replied nostalgically.

"Shit...I've never even known a girl that long. I hafta admit though that Kris is one cool chic," Biggs said to Alec admirably. Biggs had gotten to know Kris for the past month, and though it was weird seeing Alec so devoted to someone, he could see why.

"We started as friends. She was the only person to ever call me on the games I played and still accept me as who I was. She went through a lot of crap and I looked out for her. She looked out for me in return, though I was too stupid to realize it back then. Taught me a lot about sacrifices and trust and love," Alec said.

"So, you don't ever think about going back to the way you were before?" Biggs asked him.

"I'll admit, I liked the freedom. I didn't give a shit about anything but myself, and then she came along and totally changed all that. I was reckless and I liked it that way. I saw those girls who walked by us just like you did, and yeah, I wanted them for a second, but I got over it cuz I know I have the best there is. Being in a relationship is about knowing what else is out there and choosing what you have above the rest because that is what makes you happy, truly happy."

"You should be a motivational speaker," Biggs teased.

"Man, shut up," Alec said dismissively.

The two friends laughed all the way back to Jam Pony. When they arrived, they saw Kris talking with an unfamiliar girl.

"Hey," Alec greeted, kissing Kris on the cheek.

"Hi," she replied happily. "Guys, this is Niki, she's from Florida and just started working here today. Niki, this is my boyfriend Alec, and our friend Biggs," Kris said, introducing everyone.

"It's really nice to meet you all," Niki said politely. She looked about eighteen years old with long brown hair and brown eyes. Biggs caught himself staring at her chest area, but immediately stopped, trying to practice what Alec had been talking about earlier. She must have been Mexican, no, make that Cuban, well, Biggs wasn't quite sure. Her ethnicity would be a good conversation point though. He peaked at her neck, no barcode, thank goodness.

"I was going to show her how it works around here," Kris said.

"I can do it," Biggs said, a little too eagerly. Alec looked at him curiously then smiled. Niki looked at Biggs strangely as well. "I mean, if that's cool with you," Biggs added, talking to Niki.

She smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that," she replied.

Alec and Kris watched Biggs escort Niki out of Jam Pony before turning to each other.

"What's gotten into him?" Kris asked.

"He's trying to get to know girls," Alec answered.

"As in having an intelligent conversation with one?" Kris asked, surprised. Biggs just wasn't the type, she thought.

"Yeah, pretty impressive, huh?" Alec said.

"You're rubbing off on him," Kris commented, impressed.

"Well, I mean, do you blame him? I'm a very positive role model," Alec replied cockily. Kris laughed heartily causing Alec to feign hurt. "What? I'm not?"

"No, no, honey, of course you are..." Kris replied, appeasing him, though still laughing.

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"So she just graduated from high school a few months ago and moved out here because she got sick of Florida. She came from Miami and she's half Cuban, half White. She really likes playing basketball and she reads a lot. She's even read The Art of War, and you know how we had to read that back at Manticore, well, I remembered that book and so we talked about that like crazy. It was wild, Alec, her eyes lit up when she was talking about it and I could only stare at her face at times cuz she was so into it, and I was totally transfixed by what she was saying. It was such a weird feeling," Biggs said, amazed, that night at The Crash while he and Alec were having a drink.

Alec couldn't help but smile for his friend. "That's great, man, I'm really happy for you," he replied. "Are you going to hang out with her again?"

"Yeah, totally, we're going to do our runs together tomorrow and the next day and..."

"Biggs, in two days it's Saturday," Alec pointed out.

"Right, well, just, for a long time," Biggs replied.

"You boys gonna join us at the table or what?" Cece asked, coming over to the bar stools Alec and Biggs were sitting on. She ordered a pitcher of beer and refocused her attention on Biggs and Alec, more so on Alec.

"We'll be right there," Alec answered. He really had to be careful around Cece, she was a loose canon in the respect that he wasn't sure how she would act in his presence.

Cece nodded and walked towards the table where Logan, Max, Sketchy, Kris and Niki were.

Alec smirked, "Looks like you'll be seeing her sooner than you thought," he commented.

"What?" Biggs turned around to see Niki there, his eyes immediately lighting up. "This is Fate, baby, I'm telling you..." he trailed off to himself mostly.

"Use the line on her not me," Alec teased. "No, take that back, screw the line, it's totally lame."

Biggs laughed and nodded as the two friends walked over to the group.

"Hey everyone. Niki, very glad you could join us," Alec said charmingly as he sat next to Kris. She leaned against him and he kissed the top of her head.

"Thanks for having me," Niki replied. "Hi, Biggs," she added rather coyly.

"Hey," Biggs said, smiling. "So, uh, do you wanna dance?"

Niki blushed slightly before replying, "Sure." She got up and Biggs held her hand as they made their way to the dance floor.

"Huh, looks like Biggs is after his latest conquest," Max commented disapprovingly.

"Nope, he's actually trying to be friends with her," Alec corrected.

"Well, who would have thought?" Logan said, smiling.

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The sun was particularly bright that next Tuesday, but Kris didn't mind at all; it reminded her of Los Angeles. As she rode down a street on her way back from a delivery, she saw merchandise being sold with Joshua's picture on them, an unfriendly reminder of the threats they all still faced.

Hysteria, protests, and the like occurred daily, but now it had become the norm. That Senator McKinley gave weekly press conferences, but only added to the xenophobia rather than alleviated it. Kris was actually wondering if that was his intention. The transgenetics that Max, Alec, Biggs, and Cece didn't know about in time to rescue were taken away to some containment facility, never heard of again. The government still didn't have a way of tracking down the people of the X-series, and Kris was eternally grateful for that.

Just then a familiar face caught her attention peripherally. She braked and turned to it. Biggs' face was on a television screen in an open-air market, the words "Dangerous Transgenetic Fugitive" labeling him. Kris froze for a second, a million things racing through her mind, completely overwhelming her. With her heart pounding hard against her ribcage, she biked as fast as she could to the nearest phone booth to call Biggs' cell and warn him before something happened.

So much for not having a way to track the X5's...

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"What the hell..." was all Alec could get out before Max joined him in front of the television in Terminal City. They were just dropping off some food and water in between deliveries when Alec started watching the news.

"Shit," Max cursed. The anchorwoman was saying how the man pictured, who just so happened to be Biggs, was considered an armed and dangerous transgenetic fugitive. "How could they know?" she asked desperately.

Alec dialed Biggs' number.

"What?" Biggs asked impatiently. It sounded like he was out of breath.

"Biggs! Where are you, man? You need to get back to T.C. a.s.a.p., you're in trouble," Alec said, relieved to hear his friend's voice.

"No shit, Alec! I've been running from these police guys for the past couple of minutes. I'm near your place. Niki is with me and she's freaked, I hafta get her somewhere safe. We were doing our runs when we got cornered. She knows though Alec, she knows I'm a transgenetic and she doesn't care!"

In any other situation Alec would have been happy to hear the news, but Biggs' life was at stake. "Look man, that's great, both of you get your asses to T.C. right now!"

"Alright, man, I hear..."

Just then there was a sickening THUG sound, a female's scream, and the phone went dead.

"Shit! He's in trouble, Niki's with him," Alec said worriedly.

"Let's get them back here," Max replied assertively, walking with Alec to their motorcycles.

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No answer, no answer, why isn't he picking up?? Damn it! Kris thought frantically. She slammed the phone down hard and grabbed more change out of her pocket. She dialed his number.

"Hello?

"Alec! Biggs! He's on the TV, it's crazy, something about him being wanted. I called him, but he's not picking up," Kris said anxiously.

"Yeah, we know, Max and I are getting to him right now," Alec yelled over the engine of his motorcycle.

"What can I do?"

"Go to Jam Pony, pull out our files. All the employee files are in Normal's office and I need you to get all the X5s' files out and destroy them; police are gonna start investigating and I don't want any traces of us there," Alec said.

"Alright, it's done," Kris said.

"Thanks."

"Look, just be careful, alright? We have no clue how they found out about Biggs," Kris said, her tone of voice softening.

Alec hesitated. She was worried, though she tried to hide it in her voice. "Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry. See you in a bit. Your place....I love you."

"I love you, too," Kris replied. She hung up the phone and exhaled heavily. The thought that that would be the last time she would ever hear Alec's voice passed through her mind, but she quickly ignored that ominous feeling. They would all be alright, they had to be.

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Twilight began to set in over Seattle as Alec and Max rode to where they hoped Biggs would be, safe. In any other situation, Alec might have taken the time to think about the beauty of the blends of pinks, purples and oranges in the sky. He might have even wondered about God and all those celestial thoughts people come up with as they stare at a sky and realize how small they are in relation to the universe.

But not now. Reality controlled his every action, every thought, every prayer.

They pulled up to the front of Alec's place, deciding to do a sweep of the area around it to look for Biggs and Niki. They had walked around half an hour, going further and further from Alec's apartment. It had been an hour since Alec had talked to Biggs, an hour too long. Max heard some commotion coming from a few blocks away and they followed the noise.

"Hey, what's going on?" Max asked a man who was staring at something. The balding, obese man was dressed in a tattered plaid flannel shirt and stained jeans.

"A bunch of neighborhood guys got a hold of one of them mutant freaks that was on the news," the guy explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Alec asked, worried now.

"What do you think?" the man retorted, pointing proudly to what he had been staring at earlier.

Down the street there was a man who had been hanged upside-down from a streetlight, blood occasionally dripping from his body and collecting in a pool on the street.

It was Biggs.

Both Max and Alec were in too much shock to speak.

"This should send the message to those fuckin' bastards to stay the hell away from our town," the man added, smiling.

"You fucking bastard. I'm gonna..." Alec said, a deathly gleam in his eyes. He lunged forward at the man, but Max stepped in front of him.

"...gonna see if I can find me some more of them," she completed his sentence, pulling him away from the scene.

"Get the hell off me, Max!" Alec yelled, breaking her grip on him violently and walking determinedly towards the man again.

"Damn it, Alec, think! I know you're pissed, I'm pissed to, but we don't know how they got Biggs, we don't know what happened to Niki, and we don't want to end up like him!" she said, trying to reason with him.

"You think I'm scared of some shitty cowards who caught Biggs with a cheap shot and strung him up there like that? Like some dead duck? Damn it, Max! I'm gonna fucking kill the shitheads who did this!" Alec roared, advancing onto the man for a third time. It was beyond reasoning time, it was time for revenge.

"Alec!" she called to him. He ignored her. She raced up to him, pulled him around to face her, and punched him squarely in the face.

"What the fuck?"

"Listen to me! You can't get Biggs back. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but killing those guys who did it is only gonna cause more problems. We're better than that," Max said passionately.

Alec shook his head adamantly. "Maybe you wanna take the moral high ground, but I don't. I'm not gonna let them get away with this! How can you stand there and let them get away with this? He was...he was...he was a person, damn it! And they treat him like a monster, they think he's a..."

Alec's throat was acting all funny. It constricted until he couldn't get any words out; his thoughts were there, but his voice wouldn't cooperate. This stinging sensation started to build up in the back of his throat and traveled up to his nose and even his eyes. His vision became blurry and his face became wet. This had only happened a few times before in his life, and each time he was punished by Manitcore for his weakness. His nose was runny and he snorted to clear his air passage as he blinked away the salty water in his eyes.

Max looked at her friend who was a complete mess. What could she say to comfort him? She was devastated herself, but she couldn't even imagine what Alec was feeling. She had known Biggs for only a month instead of the years upon years of history Alec had with him. And to see him like that...hanging...a victim of ignorance, brutality, and malice...it was excruciating.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder and drawing him near for a warm hug. Alec held her tight and began trembling uncontrollably with anger and sadness against her.

"Can we cut him down at least? Please Max, let's cut him down," Alec whispered desperately to his friend.

She shook her head. "We'll get exposed," she said.

"I don't care," he stated recklessly.

"What about Kris?" Max countered. "Won't she care if she sees your body hanging like that on TV?"

The thought of Kris momentarily soothed Alec, though the pain and grief and anger at Biggs' murder was still raw in his heart. Images of Kris seeing his body like Biggs' on TV flashed through his mind, tearing at his insides even more. So this is what it really meant by your actions affecting the ones you love. He was pulled between revenge and responsibility, and he hated it.

"I'll kill White," he promised himself and Max.

Max sighed, knowing that Alec wasn't going to do anything rash that night, but she knew that rage within him would only grow with time. It would have to eventually explode out of him or else eat him up inside.

"I look forward to that day," Max replied. She looked around, purposely avoiding the area where people clustered around Biggs' body. "We need to find Niki, I didn't see her anywhere."

"Right," Alec said distantly, not really wanting to do much else, ever.

"I'll go ask those assholes if they know anything," Max offered.

"Yeah, sure." Alec stayed right there, staring at the asphalt and swallowing hard occasionally. Max could only imagine what he was thinking.

Max looked at him hesitantly before approaching the grotesque man again. "Was anyone with that freak?" she asked through gritted teeth. She hated pretending like this.

"Yeah, some chic. Real hot," the guy replied absently.

"Where'd she go?" Max asked.

"I heard that she was screaming a lot cuz of all the blood. And then some of the other guys snatched her up, calling her names and whatever for being all hoochie coochie with this mutant. She's the only thing worse than the dangling freak," he replied disdainfully.

It took all of Max's self-control to not rip this guy's liver out. "So, where is she now?" she asked impatiently.

"Some guys took her to that back alley," he answered, pointing to the right.

"And?" Max asked impatiently.

"What? Do I hafta spell it out for you?" the guy snapped back, annoyed that this girl was asking so many dumb questions. The only reason why he was even answering her was because she had a pretty face.

Max flashed a glance at the man angrily before running over to the alley he pointed at. Though it was already dark, Max used her cat-like night vision to make out a shuddering shape against the side of the alley. Her heart tightened with anguish.

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Author's Note: Just when I started to like Biggs, I kill him off. I hate White. Anyway, what did you think? I'm already writing the next chapter, which is going to be SO hard to write, but hopefully worth the effort. Please tell me what you thought. Thanks!