Disclaimer: See prequel. Jo, Tristan does NOT look like Chad Murray, his name was selected because it is some sort of counterpart to another character that we will introduce.. Later.
Alec normally didn't go to places like this. Well, that was a lie. But Sketchy had come across some passes to go across the country- New York City. And of course, Normal was the one who paid for them.
Of course, he couldn't get his mind off of Max and what she could now be doing in Seattle. Why he had even done it, he didn't know. Now, he just wanted to get his mind off of things and go to a pretty classy place- For a strip joint.
Classy was pushing it, he supposed. They had their rules, as all strip joints do, and they certainly didn't offer great deals like Twofers, but such is life. Striding in true to his character, he sat down in one of the leather chairs and soaked in the atmosphere.
The pole dancer was quite talented and took care of her assets quite literally. Keeping in mind where she was, she was pretty well-dressed, being, everything was covered. She wore some sparkly red corset with a matching, thin lace panty covered in a sheer black sarong. With the dim lights, he could barely make out a face, but that never seemed to be a problem with him.
Though when she looked up seductively, ending her routine, he saw the eyes of Max.
The woman stepped off-stage, being followed by an amateur, compared to her at least. Alec was by her side in a second.
"I knew you worked once a week, Max, but in New York? Are you that desperate to make sure Normal doesn't see you, because he's here somewhere." Alec muttered in her ear over the noise.
"Watch it, buddy." She snapped, looking into his eyes.
"Vada?" (A/N: Pronounced Beta, as in My Girl) Alec was surprised, and his grip on her forearm loosened.
"Alec?" Her eyes widened.
"What the hell are you doing her, Vada?" He growled, all of a sudden extremely protective. "You're seventeen!"
"I needed the money, Alec. I needed the money. Plain and simple. And by the way, they don't know that!" She snapped. "We better go to the lounge. We're not allowed to talk to the customers."
"If you needed the money, why didn't you just come to Seattle? I told you that I had a place." Alec shouted over the noise, following her into a small room. She closed the door and Alec stopped shouting.
"It's soundproof." He muttered as she turned on the lights. There was a nice golden glow to the room and she nodded.
"Yeah. A couple of the girls want to make extra money and need a soundproof place to do so." Vada shrugged.
Alec raised his eyebrows.
"I don't fall into that category, Alec." She told him. "I only do the X series. It's safer."
"If only your sister would agree." He muttered, dropping onto the couch. "Squishy."
"Apparently, that's how old men like it, according to Jaime." Vada said with a shrug. "Sister eh? She still is raising hell?"
"In my heart, in my mind and in Seattle." Alec murmured.
"God, who would have thought you'd go head over heels? Especially after Rachel." Vada clamped her hand over her mouth.
"It's okay. I have to get over it anyway, don't I?" Alec didn't meet her worried gaze. "What the hell are you doing here? NYPD don't pay enough?"
"Not enough for a two-story penthouse." Vada replied. "I split it with an X6 friend of mine."
"Always had to live in the lap of luxury, didn't you, Vada?" Alec whispered.
Vada handed him a drink. "They're after me."
"What?" Alec looked at her in surprise. One of the nurses, a My Girl fanatic, had begun calling her Vada, and both the X6 and Alec had picked up the nickname. However, in the field, they called her the Virus. Nobody wanted to pick up the Virus if they could help it, because whoever she decided to take down, she would. And whoever she decided to love would be in just as much danger as her enemies. At least, as long as they weren't transgenics.
"White thinks he needs me. They must have heard everyone call me the Virus." Vada shrugged. "I think there's something more."
"Come to Seattle, Vada. It's safer."
"And closer to Manticore."
"Vada."
"Alec."
Alec shook his head. Vada was headstrong, beautiful and deadly. Almost exactly like her sister.
"You need protection, Vada. You are the Virus." Alec stood up and walked over to one of the only people that he had emotions about.
"I know you raised me, Alec, but you were just supposed to be a surrogate father of some sort. A trainer. You are not genetically my brother or my father or anything." She spat.
"But the person who does share your genetics could protect you." Alec didn't dance around the subject.
"Okay, okay, I'll go work at Mack's." She said finally.
"I'll be back."
"Of course you will." Vada muttered, rolling her eyes. "Let me finish my shift and I'll quit."
"Keep the underwear, though." Alec's playful and arrogant demeanor had returned.
"Sure." Vada smiled.
"Where were you this weekend?" Max asked sarcastically, letting Alec slam his locker closed. "Missed you at Twofers."
Alec shot her a look.
"Checking up on a lady-friend of mine in New York when I was with Normal and Sketchy." Alec muttered.
"A lady-friend, eh?" Sketchy raised his eyebrows, having joined this conversation.
"You dog. She's my—Cousin. Seventeen years old." Alec lied.
"Cousin, eh? Dear friend, how did this little detail escape me?" She drawled. Alec felt a tingle go up his spine.
"Later, Max." He said firmly, and for once, she didn't argue.
"You two! Package, sector eight!" Normal shouted. "Thanks for the weekend, Alec!"
The last time Max and Alec had to deliver a package together had been three years before when Alec had to think about his past.
"Well? Who is this lady-friend?" Max asked, raising her eyebrows.
"An X6 I trained back at good old Manticore. Escaped before you came, though. They called her the Virus, but I call her Vada." Alec sort of smiled wistfully.
"Did you do her, or something?" Max spat, his happiness usually having to do with things like that.
"No! Vada is like a little sister. Except she actually shares genetics with an X5. Her nurse always called her the Beta-test-version." Alec was back from his stroll down memory lane. "Great girl."
"What were you training her to do?" Max had never seen Alec so happy for such a decent reason.
"Be a home wrecker. Both on the field and off. That's why they call her the Virus." Alec rang the doorbell.
"So she grew up at Manticore?" Max asked.
"Sort of. Escaped about a year before the blast. I was heartbroken." The gates opened.
"I'll bet." Max scoffed.
"I was. I had been separated from Rachel for a year, and my only reason for staying at Manticore left." Alec shrugged.
"And you stayed because?" Max arched an eyebrow in his direction.
Alec laughed bitterly and shook his head. "You weren't there, Max. You wouldn't understand."
Max didn't say anything.
"You ran into your surrogate?" Tristan asked, cleaning out a glass. "That must have been uncomfortable."
"Don't call him my surrogate. He's had a name for three years." Vada replied. "And it wasn't, really. He seemed cool about it. He tried to get me to Seattle again, though."
"You've had a name for four, and you still use 734 as some sort of code. I don't know, Vada. Something's up."
"Shut up, Triscuit." She muttered. "I'm getting a job at Mack's, okay?"
"Whatever, Vada." Tristan muttered.
"So, was Vada generally liked?" Max asked on their way back. The two X5s had been silent for twenty minutes.
"No, actually. Everyone hated her because she could destroy them all in the bat of an eyelash." Alec sort of shrugged. "I was really the only one who liked her. She was sweet and headstrong."
He would have added, "Like you." But he didn't want to get his ass kicked.
"I thought it was hard at Manticore just being there. But to have everyone hate you? That must suck. I had Zack and Ben--." Max didn't finish.
"I know. I had no one. So when they thrust Vada towards me and said, 'Train her.' I was a bit surprised. Incredibly gifted girl. They had her dancing and entered her into this mission, kind of like the one I did for Rachel. Except they didn't tell me. A little after she came back, she ran." Alec just pedaled a little harder.
"Why don't you think they let you know she was on a mission?" Max asked, dipping her head to try to meet his gaze.
"So I wouldn't tell her she'd destroy herself." Alec muttered.