"Alec?"
"Yes, Max?"
"Why don't you say something?"
"What is there to say?"
"I, uh, I really don't know."
Alec pulled his seat back up. Matt was sleeping in the backseat, and Max--- Well, they had planned on taking turns for night watch, but they both couldn't sleep.
"All I know is that I'm glad we know who her parents are. I didn't want to search the country for them." Alec looked out the window, not willing to meet Max's eyes.
"You would have done that?" Max stared at him with her wide, curious and somewhat sad eyes. "You would have done that for her?"
Alec shot Max a dirty look. "I would have done anything for her."
Max swallowed the lump in her throat. "What does that make us, then?"
Alec's eyes, full of anger and hurt, appraised Max's entire body. "That makes us the unwilling donors to a freak experiment by Manticore. We can explain the whole thing to.." He gulped. "Logan, OC and Joshua, but for everyone else, she's your sister."
"Oh." Max shifted face the window.
Alec groaned, intertwining his fingers and making them into some sort of headrest. "God, Max. Just because Manticore decides to play God and make us parents of this kid you don't know doesn't mean we have to have any relationship. Vada knows damn well that everyone in the X6 project is an unwilling partner in this messed-up DNA unit."
Max's attitude came back for the first time. She glared at Alec. "Lord, Alec. I was just trying to make the process as normal as usual."
Alec looked like he was going to say something, but decided against it. "Hey, you!"
Matt sat up groggily.
"Grab a Coke and we're on our way."
"You know, you're not as bad as you think you are." Vada muttered as the remaining X7s strapped her down to a chair.
White just glared at her and went about his business. He brushed past her, looking for something, and when he couldn't find it, was equally frustrated.
"I know you take those pills."
White froze, as did the X7s who were her guards.
Vada could hear some of the thoughts going through their computerized minds.
"Weakness. Leader has a weakness."
"Weaknesses in a team need to be gotten rid of."
"A weakness needs to be killed off."
"Terminate the weakness."
Vada grinned at him. "In a way, I'm the perfect soldier. I have a few strands of X7 DNA. I know what's going through your head. You know that you're about to be killed. I just have to say the word. Or rather, think it."
White's eyes widened with fear and that's how Ames White would die- Showing the ounce of vulnerability that lived inside of him.
Go.
Vada shut her eyes and let the dirty business happen. She winced when she heard a crunch.
When she opened her eyes, there were three X7s staring at her.
"Who is our leader now?"
She blinked. "I am."
Alec stopped a block away from the abandoned Manticore facility.
"Are you all prepared for this?" He asked a few minutes before as he parked their car under the trees.
Max and Matt nodded numbly, but it was a shared emotion and a somewhat obvious fact. All three of them weren't prepared to go back. Not even for her.
"Oh, shit." Tristan muttered.
"What?" His twin whispered.
"It's them. They'll think I've chickened out." Tristan hissed in response.
Christian looked at him skeptically. There were more reasons behind Tristan's fear, and it was all cowardice.
"You bastard." Christian whispered in revelation, his eyes narrowing as the tiny strand of X7 DNA that was in him figured out Tristan's logic.
"You've seen the girl, you've had sex with her!" Tristan was pleading now.
"No, I haven't. Because I know not to take advantage of them like that, and I was on the inside!" Christian groaned in frustration.
Max's head snapped around to see what was going on. She narrowed her eyes and spotted a white van in the distance.
"We're being watched." Max announced. Alec just glared at her, but he nodded at Matt in a very.. Commanding Officer sort of way.
"You two stick together. We'll meet up later."
Max rolled her eyes but started walking anyway.
"Well, well, well. Look what bastard wanted to come out and play with Vada today." Alec drawled as he glared at the two blondes.
"It's him." The other of them said. They weren't identical but they definitely had the same father.
"Kid, you looking for Vada?" Alec asked, raising his eyebrows.
He nodded.
"Go join the brunette woman and guy. Tell them Alec sent you." Alec watched as the blonde took a hasty exit. "And about you."
Tristan stood up, hoping his confidence would return.
"You stay away from my daughter after we get her out of here."
Alec met up with the rest of them, a sheepish Tristan trailing him.
"Okay, Max, you.."
"Christian."
"Max, Christian, we're going to get some of the equipment back in the van, you two are the base and we're going in."
Half an hour later, Tristan, Max, Alec, Matt and Christian were testing out their equipment.
"Almost pre-Pulse, this crap." Alec muttered. "Fall out."
Max watched with fascination as the two X6s obeyed. It was extraordinary.
"It's about time you three showed up. Thought I'd have to be at this old base with these chicas for years."
Vada's drawl made Alec turn around and run. He hugged her and spun her around, they started to laugh and he hugged her once more, smoothing her hair and kissing the top of her head. They danced around, like they hadn't seen each other in years, and he was crooning 'Ten Minutes Ago'.
Matt cocked his head to one side, crossing his arms. "He's making up for lost time."
"Yeah." Tristan muttered.
Matt shot Tristan a look. "He deserves that much. She deserves it."
"Yeah."