What if it had've been Sam and Dean that found Max, not Hannah? How much would that one little difference have to Max's life? Warnings listed inside. Slightly AU 'The Pulse'
Yay! We've met Alec! About time too, don't you think? Now, to find out how Manticore managed to get Max. Max is about to turn 18. Team Free Will will find Max soon, after some stuff happens. Alec might even join Team Free Will too. And it is definitely going to be awesome.
Warnings: Trigger warnings: PTSD, flash backs, abuse, violence, torture. Swearing, loss.
One Little Difference
Chapter 38:
In hindsight, running off to help Zack rescue one of their unit from Manticore without asking Dean or Sam…or even Gabriel for help probably wasn't a good idea. Max was definitely kicking herself now.
Turns out, it was a false lead. A signal had gone out, much like Ben's had years ago, and Zack had come to Max for help. Of course, Max agreed immediately. It had been extremely early when Zack had called her, so the other occupants of the Bunker were still asleep. Max had assumed it would only take one night, but the whole thing had been a trap.
When Max and Zack had been taken back to Manticore, Zack had set off a bomb that the soldiers didn't know he had planted. But one of them had a twitchy trigger finger, shooting Max in the heart.
Max didn't know what had happened to Zack from that moment on, but as soon as Max had recovered, not realising the bullet tore through her heart, Max was thrown into re-programming. It hadn't been easy. Dr Renfro was, in Max's opinion, a complete bitch. Max pretended that the re-programming worked, answering to 542 when spoken to, but Renfro knew it was an act.
Renfro thought showing Max Zack's cut up body would break her, but it only served to strengthen Max's resolve. It was too late to save Zack, especially when he was all cut to bits, Max had to get out of there. Max was poked and prodded, for months. Renfro was trying to discover what she had been doing for the last six years and who had been protecting her. Max wouldn't answer. Renfro even put her in front of the transgenics that could make you tell the truth, but even that didn't work, Max's mental capabilities being far too strong for them.
Max would never betray her family or her unit. Max knew that Renfro was becoming inpatient with her, which made Max smile. Emotional people made mistakes. Lesson number one in the Manticore soldier handbook. Don't allow yourself to become compromised and you will never lose a battle. Clearly the doctor hadn't had the same training Max had.
In the old disused tunnels under the main buildings, Max found some old electronics. One that Max would be able to get a signal out of. The only way Max would be able to shut down Manticore would be to expose them to the world. Manticore was supposed to be a secret, even from the government. If Max could somehow get the media to believe what was happening, Manticore would be brought down in one night. But the question was, what would all the transgenics do once they were no longer being controlled by Manticore? Max sighed. There was only so much she could do. For the first time in the months Max had been trapped at Manticore, she prayed to Gabriel.
"Where the hell could she be?" Dean yelled, panic seeping into his voice. "She didn't run away, all her shit is still here. I know she's alive. I can feel that much."
Castiel paced in front of Dean for a moment before pausing and resting two fingers on Dean's temple, closing his eyes in concentration.
"What are you doing Cas?" Dean asked after a moment.
Castiel let out a small noise of frustration. "You said you could feel her. I'm assuming that that is a psychic link, so I am trying to trace it back, but the signal seems to stop right over the border in Wyoming. It is possible she is there, but I cannot get an exact location." Castiel replied, removing his fingers from Dean's head and moved away from the hunter.
"Wyoming?" Dean said to himself. His eyes widened. "Manticore is in Wyoming. Could Manticore have taken her? Maybe when she was on her morning run?"
"It is possible. We have to find her. We have no idea what Manticore might do to Max." Castiel said.
A loud bang indicated Sam's return to the Bunker. He walked down the stairs and stopped in front of his brother and the angel.
"Anything?" Dean asked, foolishly hopeful.
Sam shook his head. "Not even a tire tread. However they took her, they were able to do it without leaving a trace." Sam replied.
Dean moved away from them, letting out a loud breath of frustration, punching the wall in anger.
Castiel made a tutting noise of disapproval, taking Dean's hand in his and healing it instantly. "We will find her Dean. You just need to calm down." Castiel said, resting a hand on where his handprint used to be on Dean's upper arm.
Months went by and still the boys had had no luck in finding Max. Dean had found Max's phone and had left a message for Charlie, explaining everything to her. Dean himself had actually lost Charlie's phone number, which he had kicked himself for. Charlie had responded that she would keep on the lookout and do her best to help find Max. That was three weeks ago.
Dean was going crazy, not knowing if his daughter was okay. He knew she was alive, and that was all that was helping Dean keep what was left of his sanity.
Sam forced Dean to take cases, trying to keep him focused on something else, because they weren't turning up any new leads. What made matters worse was that Castiel had been M.I.A for about three weeks as well.
Kevin had deciphered more of the demon tablet and had been able to 'hack' into one of the demon magic phone calls. He had discovered that Crowley was looking for the angel tablet, believing that he could use it to kill all the angels. Kevin also discovered that Crowley had an angel in his custody that he was torturing for information. Apparently, the demon had been able to break into the angel's "basic programing", making Samandriel tell him everything.
Castiel had shown up not long after this discovery, but Dean noticed something off about him, but he didn't comment, at least, not while Sam, Linda or Kevin were around.
Dean was on his knees and Castiel was standing above him. They were in the crypt and Castiel had his angel blade raised.
"Please Cas. I know you in there. Please," Dean begged. He grabbed Castiel's wrist. "Please Cas, we need you. I need you. Cas I…I love you."
Dean saw something shift in Castiel's expression. The angel blade dropped from Castiel's hand, the blade clattering loudly on the ground, and he stared at Dean in horror. Castiel moved towards Dean timidly as Dean tried to shift away from him. Castiel rested his fingers on Dean's face and healed him.
"I'm so sorry Dean," Castiel said brokenly. "I didn't…I couldn't control myself."
Dean moved slowly to his feet and pulled the angel into his arms. "What broke their hold on you?" Dean asked.
Castiel pulled away slightly and looked into Dean's eyes. "Did you mean it?" Castiel asked, his voice strangely vulnerable, not answering Dean's question.
Dean froze for a second before comprehension crossed his face. He pulled the angel back into his arms. "Of course I did Cas! Of course I did. I do."
"I love you too, Dean." Castiel replied, hugging Dean back. Dean let out a steadying breath.
"Well, that's good to know. Please don't smite me for this." Dean said, he moved in a pressed his lips softly to Castiel's lips. It wasn't like the kisses they had shared before, but then again, they never had quite the meaning this one did. Dean had never told Castiel verbally that he loved him. Castiel kissed back, melting into Dean's arms, feeling content for a moment.
Suddenly, Castiel froze. "We need to get out of here." Castiel said, pulling away from Dean, but still keeping his arm around his waist. Castiel held onto both Dean and the angel tablet tightly and flew them out of the crypt.
"Gabriel!" Castiel shouted as soon as he and Dean landed in the Bunker. "I need to speak with you, urgently."
There was a flutter of wings and Gabriel appeared in front of them, a lollypop sticking out of his mouth. "What's up little bro?" Gabriel asked, grinning at Castiel.
Castiel handed the tablet to Gabriel. "You have some angels fighting against you. Naomi and her followers. She tried to force me to kill Dean. And she's after this tablet." Castiel said.
A few emotions crossed Gabriel's face until his expression finally settled on annoyance. "I guess that means I've got some feathers to pluck. Don't worry. You're protected here. Only you and I are the only angels that can get into this place." Gabriel grinned, clicking his fingers and disappearing.
Sam suddenly appeared in front of them, looking confused. "Um…what just happened?"
The trouble with trying to find a signal to a news outlet was that most of the time, it didn't work. Max was getting close to giving up when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder from behind.
Max spun around to see Alec standing behind her, a superior smirk on his face.
Max growled in annoyance. "What do you want?" Max snapped, looking back down at the electronics in her hand, not even caring that Alec had found he way down here.
"Well, I'm bored, so I thought pretending to screw you would probably make me feel better." Alec replied, raising an eyebrow. "And what do you want?"
"Oh, there's a lot of things that I want. Getting home to my family would be brilliant, but I think I want to burn this place down to the ground first." Max replied, not looking up from what she was doing.
"Huh, sounds like fun." Alec replied, not sounding sincere at all. "So, what's it like living on the outside with the civilians?"
Max snorted. "What? Thinking about giving it a try?" Max asked, still trying to work with the bits of wire.
"Well, at least it would be better than being stuck here. My whole unit is out on missions and I am grounded." Alec replied.
This information made Max look up. "Why? Did you kill the wrong guy or something?" Max asked, watching Alec's face carefully, as if searching for something. Alec wondered if she found anything to her liking.
"Or something." Alec replied. That's what really bugged Alec about psych-ops. Why they kept asking him what he saw, not what he did. It's as if they knew something about Rachel that he didn't. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to get a signal out. To a news broadcaster or to anyone who can help me. I've got some contacts on the outside that might be able to break me out of here." Max replied, her attention returning to the wires.
"You know people who could break you out of a highly guarded, top secret military base?" Alec asked sceptically.
Max looked up at him and grinned. "Damn right." Max replied. "I have been sending a message out to such a friend for the past day, but something here seems to have stopped it from working, so I am resorting to plan b."
Alec chuckled. "Those are some powerful friends." Alec said. "You wouldn't mind taking me with you?"
Max raised an eyebrow at him. "You? You want to leave Manticore? What about that whole 'decent living' pitch you gave me the other night?" Max asked him.
Alec shrugged. "I was just trying to get a read on you. Doesn't mean I actually like it here." Alec replied. "And as I said. I'm bored."
Max chuckled softly. "Good point." Max said.
Alec sighed. "So what have you being doing out there that has made you such powerful friends?" Alec asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Max replied.
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Try me." Alec challenged.
"You're going to think I'm crazy." Max responded.
Alec gestured for her to continue. Max sighed as she put her tools down and stood up. She lifted her shirt up slightly, making Alec raise an eyebrow. Max pointed at a scar. Alec was surprised to see so many. They weren't ugly scars exactly, more a sign of a warrior rather than someone who had hurt themselves.
"I got this from an angel who liked to play dirty. Angel blades hurt like a bitch." Max said, dropping her shirt back down. She then moved the collar of her shirt a little to the right. "This is from a vampire that enjoyed hickies just a little too much."
Alec's eyes widened when he say the strange looking scar that look more like an animal bite. Max turned around and lifted her shirt all the way up to where her bra did up, revealing four claw large claw marks. "Now, these are from a werewolf that wouldn't take no for an answer." Max said, bending slightly so Alec could get a good look before dropping the shirt back down.
Alec stared at her. "You're not fucking with me, are you?" Alec asked, his face slightly pale.
Max laughed. "I shit you not. This stuff actually happened. Fuck, I helped stop the Apocalypse! Angels' man! They like to mess stuff up. Lucifer was not a nice dude." Max said, turning around back to face Alec.
"So the supernatural is real?" Alec asked.
Max nodded. "Yep, and I've been hunting the bad stuff for about 6 year. Saving people. Hunting things. The family business and all that." Max replied, her voice turning sorrowful. "God I miss my family."
Alec raised an eyebrow. "You've got a family?" Alec asked, surprised.
Max nodded. "Yep, a mum, a dad, an uncle, a sister. I had a grandfather, but he died. A brother…" Max said, her voice trailing off.
"Ben?" Alec asked, tilting his head slightly.
Max swallowed. "Yep," Max replied, turning away from him and picking up the wires.
"How did he die?" Alec asked, moving slightly closer to Max.
Max didn't really want to answer, but there was something about him, whether it was his scent, or because he looked like Dean and Ben or because he sounded like them, that made Max want to tell him everything. It made he want to trust him even though Max knew she couldn't.
"His neck got snapped." Max replied, looking down at her hands.
Alec nodded, but didn't pry anymore. He sucked in a deep breath. "So, have you found anyway out of this place?" Alec asked.
Max nodded. "Yeah, there is a window, but it is barred and there are god knows how many X8's out there guarding the place." Max replied. "We could only escape if there was some sort of distraction which called the X8's away or if we had help. Hence the signal I am trying to send out."
Alec nodded his understanding.
"Uh, guys. I'm picking up a signal coming from inside Wyoming. It's Max's signal." Charlie said, indicating for Sam, Dean and Kevin to come over to her. "She's put another signal into the main one. Hold on, I'll try and translate it."
Charlie was silent for a few more moments, pressing buttons and turning nobs on the big console. "Okay, here we go. This is Max. I am trapped at Manticore. Tried praying for Gabriel. I don't think he can hear me. There is some sort of spell on this place. Find where I ran onto the road all those years ago. Where you and Sam found me. 6 kilometres to the west is the Manticore base. Send Gabriel. We need to expose Manticore once and for all. All major news outlets. Let's burn this fucker to the ground. If Gabriel could get me and Alec out of here that would be great."
Dean chuckled with relief, running his hands through his hair. "Well, that sounds like her. I'll pray to Gabriel and we'll get them out of there." Dean said, clapping his hands together.
Woohoo! Team Free Will (plus Gabriel) to the rescue! I didn't want Alec to be as much of a dick here as he is in the beginning of his season in Dark Angel. I mean, he'll still be a dick, but he's not working secretly for Manticore. Zack is sadly dead (or is he), but that is the price you must pay if you want Kevin alive :) Next chapter, Manticore is going to burn, but not quite the way you think it will ;)
I hope you enjoyed! Please review! :D