Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, but I wish I did! Just playing with them for a while.

Summary: Set during season two. A mysterious message from a supposedly dead Lydecker ends up being a trap that Max waltzes straight into. Will Alec be able to save 452, or will his attempt only end up risking his life as well? Hurt/Empathic!Alec.

A/N: This story is dedicated to scifigeek22.

Max dissipated before Alec's eyes and he sank heavily to his knees, feeling more alone than ever. On the plus side, there was no one there to berate him for his weakness when he hung his head and let his tears fall unchecked.

DA-DA-DA

Max followed Logan's voice and the next thing she knew, she was blinking up at him, cradled protectively in his arms. Logan smiled down at her, a relieved huff of laughter bursting from his lips.

"…Logan?" she asked in a barely audible voice.

"Max. Thank God."

She glanced around the truck, finding Joshua with a big toothy grin staring at her from the other side of the vehicle, and Lydecker behind the wheel, occasionally glancing up at her through the rearview mirror.

"She awake?" he asked, the question directed toward Logan.

"Yeah," Max responded for him in a stronger voice, slightly annoyed. "She's awake. What the hell happened? Where's White?" As she became more coherent, the pain in her head made itself evident, throbbing to the beat of her heart. Reaching up with a grimace, she found dried blood and a sizeable lump near her hairline.

Logan took her prodding hand into his own to keep it from the raw wound. "Easy, Max. You took quite a hit. Probably have a concussion…"

"I'm fine." To prove her point, she pulled her hand out of Logan's lax grasp and sat up, trying her best to hide the wince as she fought through the dizzy spells to get vertical again. "Just answer my questions."

Logan sighed, then did his best to catch her up, explaining Lydecker's plan of attack that nearly got her killed. While he seemed thoroughly pissed about it, Max just shrugged it off as par for the course when engaging in battle.

Though her head was killing her, she was otherwise unharmed and grateful as hell to be away from White.

"Ames and his men were injured in the crash but they were still alive when we left," Logan finished.

"That'll buy us some time, but not much. We need to get back to Manticore and get Alec out."

"Max, we can't," Logan protested. "You and Lydecker are both injured. We need to find a safe place to regroup and figure out the best way to…"

"He doesn't have that long, Logan. Trust me. We have to go after him. Now."

DA-DA-DA

It took a while for Alec to get himself back under control. But when he finally did, a deep anxiety settled into his chest and he pushed himself to his feet. He paced the wide expanse of the blindingly white room trying to ease the discomfort that was making it difficult to breathe.

He wouldn't have believed it before, but now he was starting to think that maybe knowing what was happening was the lesser of two evils because not knowing left him with endless possibilities, each more horrifying than the next.

Alec crossed the room once more and settled his back against the sparse wall before sliding down it to sit on the floor. He rested his elbows on his knees and ran his fingers through his hair with a drawn out sigh of resignation.

Maybe he didn't want to know after all. As empty as it was, he liked it here in this room. There was no pain or fear, and it was quiet and peaceful. He just wanted to stay. Maybe if he stayed here, he'd be able to keep Max safe when she came for him.

He knew she would. She promised. She would be risking her life once again to save his worthless ass, and the least he could do was prevent himself from pouncing on her the moment she arrived.

Alec let his head thunk backwards against the wall and blinked up at the equally white ceiling. One thing was for sure. He'd never take his sight for granted again, if and when he ever got it back.

Maybe if he just stayed here for the next forty-eight hours or so…

Pain suddenly seared through his chest and his vision darkened. He lurched forward, clutching a hand over his heart and gasping. It was pounding wildly beneath his fingers and his head began to swim.

"What the…?" he panted. Another pang was harsh enough that he tried to jolt away from the agony, twisting and writhing as he hit the cold floor hard with his back. His vision was tunneling in and out, flip-flopping between the white room and his darkened cell.

He was being pulled back to consciousness against his will. No no no no no…!

Alec reached out for something, anything, to grasp that could keep him grounded in this place but there was nothing. He was pretty sure his heart was about to explode, and suddenly, he realized he could no longer move. His arms, legs, and waist were being held down.

A sharp, invisible slap to the face brought him crashing back to reality with a painful thud. He grimaced, opening his eyes to find that the white room was gone and there were dark and blurry figures all around him, trapping him in place.

He jerked and hissed through his teeth as a large syringe was yanked out of his chest. At first, he didn't understand what was happening. Then he started to connect the dots. Adrenaline… They had injected it straight into his heart to wake him up. Bastards.

It felt like liquid fire coursing through his system, but it was nothing compared to the abrupt return of all the other aches and pains he had been blissfully unaware of not five seconds ago. The agony was overwhelming.

Alec's jaw fell open, unable to keep in the scream that was tearing its way up his throat, but a heavy hand quickly clamped down over his mouth to muffle the sound. His eyes widened in panic, then a smaller hand grasped his good shoulder.

"Take it easy, kid," the person straddling his stomach instructed, syringe still in their other hand. "I know it hurts, but you need to keep quiet."

Alec's panicked eyes flickered over to the sharp instrument because it was close enough that he could just about keep it in focus. Anything beyond that was still extremely blurred. But that voice… He recognized it, and to his utmost relief, it wasn't Renfro's. Doc…?

Before he could react, a much larger face leaned over him from above his head. Judging by the skin color, it was also the person whose hand was over his mouth and most likely keeping at least one of his wrists pinned to the ground.

"You look like shit, Princess."

Alec tilted his head back as far as he could (considering the position he was in) and there was no mistaking the green scales or smell of cigars on the transhuman's breath.

"Mfph?"

"Of course it's me," Mole responded, correctly interpreting Alec's muffled question. "Who else would risk their tail for a pretty boy like you? Well, I mean… Besides these guys, obviously."

Alec glanced to his left and caught the vague outline of a bald and slightly deformed transhuman wearing a monocle; a guy by the name of Dix. He could only guess that Luke was the one currently clutching his ankles, knowing the two tech-savvy soldiers to be inseparable.

His eyes dropped back down to the blurry man sitting on top of him and his brows drew together in a clear sign of confusion. Unless Alec was very much mistaken, the doc actually blushed as if just realizing where he was.

"Right… Sorry about that. I'm gonna get off you now, but first, promise me you won't try to get up just yet. I swear I'll explain everything." As soon as Alec gave a minute nod, Bradbury shifted to the side and carefully eased off of the transgenic's body.

Alec waited a moment, then glared back up at Mole, silently demanding that he get his hands off of him. The transhuman shrugged. "Fine, but you so much as squeak, Princess, and we're all dead, got it?"

"Mph," Alec mumbled, then with a roll of his eyes, he nodded instead.

Finally, the hands released him and he was so grateful for the freedom, he actually felt lightheaded again. "Can someone please tell me… what the hell is goin' on?" he rasped, his throat completely dry.

Bradbury took the initiative in filling the transgenic in. "From what we could piece together, you checked out to escape from Renfro's… ministrations, only you went so deep, your heart actually stopped."

Alec's eyes widened again and he brought a hand to his chest, trying to sit up at the same time, but pain immediately shot through his torso at the movement and he grunted, squeezing his eyes shut to stop the room from spinning. Mole latched onto his shoulders and forced him back down to the floor.

"I told you not to get up," Bradbury chided. "Renfro called me in to revive you and I began CPR. Your ribs are pretty bruised, but I don't think any were broken in the attempt. They're going to be sore for a while though."

"Feels like I got… kicked by a mule," Alec gasped.

"Well I had to make it look believable, didn't I?" the man responded and Alec could hear the smirk in his voice, even if he couldn't see it. "I told her you were gone and that she should've heeded my warning that you weren't strong enough yet for this experiment. She took off in a huff and told the transhumans to move your body to the dissecting lab for samples."

"When I heard what was going on, I volunteered for the job," Mole piped in. "Call it morbid curiosity, but I had to see it to believe it. You were dead, brother. I was about to kick your ass for givin' up, but then the doc here said he could bring you back, it worked, and now we're gonna get your ass outta here before the bitch comes lookin' for spare parts."

Alec paled. Dissecting lab? Samples? Spare parts? He abruptly turned green at the thought and bile burned its way up the back of his throat. Fully aware that sitting up was a bad idea, he rolled to the side and Mole quickly braced him as he began puking his guts out.

There was no denying he felt like total crap. The doc's cold palm pressed against Alec's sweaty forehead and the transgenic found himself leaning into the comfort and support. Bradbury's other hand rested against the back of his neck, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Sorry, son. The mixing of these meds can wreak havoc on the body. It'll pass though."

By the time he got the dry heaves under control, Alec was spent and shaking again, just riding the waves of pain he could no longer ignore. Mole eased him into a more comfortable position with an arm across his upper chest and the other around his waist so he wasn't putting pressure on Alec's bruised ribs.

The transgenic noticed then that someone had pulled his jeans back up to his hips. At this point, he didn't even care who it was. With unsteady hands, he reached down and fastened them, wishing there was a more permanent clasp aside from a simple button and zipper. Super glue maybe…

Judging by the pain and pressure he was still enduring, Renfro hadn't gotten what she wanted from him. Nevertheless, when he glanced back up at Mole, his friend quickly looked away. Everyone in this room now saw him as a victim instead of an assassin.

For a brief moment, Alec actually caught himself thinking eyesight was overrated after all. He dropped his own gaze, suddenly wishing he were alone. Mole ruffled his hair, trying to keep Alec's dark thoughts at bay.

"Come on, Princess. Dix looped the footage of this room on Renfro's cameras, but it won't take them long to figure out that somethin's up. We gotta go."

As Mole and Bradbury started to ease Alec off the floor, another burst of fire coursed through his system and chased the remaining cobwebs from his head. Renfro failed. The drugs are still in my body. Max…

"No!" He pulled his arms out of their grips, falling back to the floor again with a painful grunt, then scrambled away from the door until his bare back came up against the cold metal bars on the opposite side of his cell.

"No?" Mole asked quizzically, stunned by the panic written all over his friend's face. "What the hell do you mean, no?"

"It hurts, Mole. I can't control it. Please. You can't take me outta this cell."

Mole's features hardened. "The hell I can't." He strode over to Alec, closing his heart off to the sight of his friend wrapping his arms around the cell's bars, clinging to them as if his life depended on it.

Crouching down, Mole began trying to unweave Alec's arms and pull him free but the kid just tightened his grip that much more. If the transhuman pulled any harder, he would really hurt Alec and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

"Damn it, Pretty Boy. Let go or we're taking these bars with us."

"Get away from me," Alec practically growled, lashing out with a foot that Mole easily deflected. "I'm better off locked up."

"Alright, that's it," Mole stated, clearly fed up. "Doc, either you knock the kid out or I will. We don't have time to screw around here."

Alec's eyes widened in betrayal as Bradbury reluctantly pulled another, much smaller, syringe out of his lab coat. Clearly, he had anticipated this reaction from the transgenic. "I was really hoping it didn't come to this, Alec." He took a step towards the cowering man.

"Stay back," Alec warned him, looking very much like a feral animal being cornered. "Don't make me hurt you."

Mole snorted derisively. "As if, Princess. Now be a good boy for the doc and hold still."

As soon as Bradbury was within reaching distant, Alec surged to his feet- unleashing all the rage and pent up fear he'd been harboring- and he grabbed the doctor by the throat, his other hand encircling Bradbury's wrist to keep the needle at bay.

Unfortunately, that meant both of his hands were preoccupied and he wasn't able to prevent Mole's arm from snaking around his own throat, attempting to choke him out. Alec bucked against the hold and was forced to release the doctor's jugular in favor of trying to pull Mole's bicep away from his own trachea.

As soon as he let go of the man in front of him, Mole twisted Alec's free arm (not to mention his bad arm) behind his back to keep him from moving around too much. Having effectively subdued Alec, he ignored his friend's gasp of pain and nodded to the doc.

Bradbury switched the needle over to his free hand and jabbed it into Alec's good arm. The lack of oxygen was already taking the fight out of the kid and his muscles quickly began to give out. The hurt expression in his eyes nearly broke the doctor's resolve.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the beaten and broken boy in front of him. "But it's for your own good." Then Alec was surrounded by darkness once more.

TBC

Don't worry, reviewers! Renfro isn't done with our boy just yet, but I had to get him back to Max for some comforting. Plenty more hurt!Alec still to come though. Oh! And Happy New Year everyone!