Title: The Professional

Disclaimer: I own pretty much nothing. Dark Angel and its characters fit into the 'Nothing' category.

Setting: A totally AU version to Max, Alec and Ben. Pollo Loco

Summary: AU. You've got problems when the girl you love thinks you're her brother.

Chapter 2: Stormy Thoughts

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Lightning. An electric streak cutting into the sky. 494 stared. The green eyes of the young boy looked back at him. They were his eyes, nose and mouth...and yet they weren't. They didn't belong to him, but to 493.

The rogue.

The traitor.

Ben.

His brother.

His blood.

494 shook his head at his sudden surge of sentimentality. Softness wasn't something he allowed himself - ever. But he couldn't shake away the feeling that the boy who's picture he studied; the boy who was the replica of himself at the age of ten; was a person that 494 should have known. Somebody that 494 should have trusted. Somebody that 494 should have loved. 494 had heard that the eyes were the windows to the soul. 493's green eyes spoke of fear, oppression and oddly... trust. Faith.

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Ben's eyes gleamed with anticipation as he stalked his prey in the darkness of the night.

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The moon's pale glow together with the flashes of lightning through the tiny cell window gave the photo a silvery and blue tinge. 494 wondered what his brother was doing at that very moment. He was probably enjoying the luxaries of freedom, while 494 was confined to his cell. 493 had probably forgotten everything to do with Manticore.

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Ben snapped his victim's neck.

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494 suppressed an envious sigh. While he was stuck at Manticore, his brother was off having a normal life.

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Ben pulled out the man's teeth.

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494 fingered his barcode. Had 493 had his barcode removed? A way to forget who...what he really was?

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Ben fingered the barcode that he'd tatooed onto the dead man's neck earlier. His own signature. Telling the world who he was. A soldier. A hunter. A killer.

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494 reflected on his mission: To atone for his dismal failure in his last assignment. To capture the eleven remainding escapees of '09. To bring his twin back to Manticore.

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Ben vowed to the Blue Lady as he displayed the body on a rock, that he'd never go back to Manticore alive.

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It began to rain. Heavy, angry droplets assaulted the ground. Two sets of identical green eyes looked up at the weeping sky.

494 put aside his twin's file.

Ben walked away from his grisly conquest.

Overhead, the moon shone through the raging storm, offering comfort to the brothers who had never met; and to the girl who looked out her window at the pouring Seattle rain.

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A/N: WHEW! I've been struggling with this story. I could barely make a single sentence. But tonight, this whole (not-so-long) chapter just came out. I'ts definitely a lot different to my other stuff. I usually write happy, fluffy plot-less, angst-free fics, but this... So, this chapter is definitely experimental ground for me. This chapter was much darker than anything I've ever done before, and I hope that I did justice to the incredible character of Ben. It was more of an Alec viewpoint than Ben's, but I tried to intertwine their stories. I promised that this would be a romance, and it is. I hope. I'm still trying to work out the kinks in the storyline, but I think that I might have a solution. It won't be fluffy, but it'll be romantic. If it's one thing that's REALLY annoying me, it's having to call Alec '494' all the time!