What the !*$% is going on?
By Sinful Starlet
Disclaimer: once more for the record - not mine, never will be, yadda yadda yadda!
Rating: who knows?! R - probably!
Summary: My version of how Dawg Day Afternoon should really have gone for all you Max/Alec shippers out there! Oh yeah - and just for originality - Max goes into heat!
Author's note: All the tunnel action from DDA - if you know what I mean! Just added my little M/A spin to the whole thing! *SS*
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PART #5
Thankfully all the action was happening only a few blocks from the house so Max left her bike there and walked the few blocks to the media circus that had quickly descended as the police tried to formulate their plan of action. Max sneaked up to the perimeter, always keeping out of view of the police and hover drones working the area, but managed to get close enough to hear what the scene commander's plan was. She figured that she was going to have to get down to the sewers herself and bring Joshua and Annie back. She just had to find a way in.
She moved round to the side, walking through the crowds, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Logan's car pull up, but she didn't stop. She couldn't risk starting something with him right now. Joshua and Annie were all that mattered now. Max forced herself to put all of her attention into getting the two of them out and safely home, hoping that would take her mind off her heat cravings. She just hoped that it would work.
She knocked out a single guard, left by himself, and made her way down to the sewers, working her way silently along the tunnels to the place she figured Joshua and Annie entered the tunnels. She took note of the junction names as she made her way around the network, but after about a half hour she still hadn't seen any sign of them. And the police were closing in. She froze against the wall at one junction. There were cops coming from the left and right, and if she didn't move in the next five seconds they were going to see her.
She swung herself up and hopefully out of reach, holding on to some overhead piping and just praying the cops didn't look up. The two teams met up at the junction, directly beneath her while they discussed what to do next. They were just about to move out again and then her pager went off. For a second they couldn't tell where the sound was coming from, then one of them looked up. They didn't have much of a shot though. Max jumped down, catching them all by surprise and knocking all four of them unconscious in less than ten seconds.
She dusted her hands in self-satisfaction. That was just a little too easy though. She looked down at the heap of bodies surrounding her, getting a better look at them, and one or two were actually quite cute, but her stupid messed up heat cycle was ignoring them completely for some reason and kept telling her to go find Alec. She mentally slapped herself before she unclipped her pager, checking the number. She frowned, she had been expecting it to be Logan, but it wasn't...the number was Alec's. Max tensed up again, before she forced herself to relax.
He was probably just checking that she had seen the news report. Unfortunately 'probably' didn't work this time. She practically leapt a mile high when she felt a tap on her left shoulder. She whirled round, ready to knock whoever it was into oblivion...very quickly. She only just managed to pull up in time when she saw who it was. "Alec!", she gasped, her breath coming quick and ragged, "What the hell are you doing?" He frowned then at the fairly pointless question. "What do you think?", he asked, a little annoyed, "I felt like I needed a little sewer time?! I came to make sure Josh and Annie are okay!"
Max nodded, accepting that, but unable to calm herself down. He was wearing his best stealthy-type outfit - all black combat wear. Sometimes she wondered if he'd ever get Manticore out of his system. Not that it mattered at that moment, however the fact that she could hardly bear to tear her eyes away from the figure-hugging combo was a little more of an issue. Thankfully the half-lighting of the sewer tunnels meant that he couldn't see her blushing, but he could see that something was up at least.
"You okay?", he asked after a moment, "You look like you're coming down with something". Max moaned, but managed to make it quiet enough so he wouldn't hear.
"I'm fine", she replied, perhaps a little too quickly, "I'm just worried about the two of them". She clipped her pager back onto her coat and turned back to him, "Come on", she said, "we better get moving before any more police show up - we can't let them find him". "Don't panic Max", Alec said, as they moved out, him resting one hand on her shoulder as a vague attempt to comfort her, "he's smart - they'll be okay".
Max sighed, forcing herself to concentrate on something other than his hand - which was easier said than done. They remained in silence for a few more minutes, then Max came up with a new plan. She had to get herself mad. That was about the only thing she could think of right now to stop herself from jumping him right there in the sewers! She had to get pissed off at him. "You only just get here?", she asked eventually. "Uh yeah", he replied, not entirely sure what she was getting at. "You mean he was gone all night and you only just now figured that there was something wrong?!", Max snapped back, willing him to fight her.
"I told you you have to watch him more carefully than that - now look what's happened!", she said, bitingly. "Hey!", he said, starting to retaliate, 'thank God!' Max thought, this was just the distraction she needed. "In case you hadn't noticed I'm not his babysitter!", Alec said, sounding a little harsher than he had wanted to, but he couldn't figure out why she was so mad at him. "You can't keep treating him like a child!", he went on, "And you can't expect me to be there to look out for him 24/7!"
He quickened his pace then, stepping round to face her, dodging any attempt of hers to get past him. "Come on Max", he said, tone softening a little, "I know you're worried about them - I am too, but what's this really about?" She looked up then and really wished she hadn't. His eyes were locked with hers as he gazed at her with concern. The way his eyes just seemed to burn right into her, she felt like she was naked in front of him, and that so was not helping her self-control right now. "I...", she started, extremely tempted now to just give into the whole stupid thing and jump the boy right then and there.
That was clearly not someone else's plan though as her pager went off, followed only a couple of seconds later by Alec's cell phone. She checked the number - Logan of course - before she looked back up. She saw that he was still staring fixedly at her, but he tore his gaze away then to answer his phone. "Yeah?", he asked, turning away from her as he tried to concentrate on the call. "It's Logan", came the response on the other end, "where are you?"
"Three guesses!", the younger man joked sarcastically. "Sewers?", Logan asked, just to check, which was confirmed by Alec. Logan hesitated then, but he knew he had to ask. "Max is there with you?" "Yeah", Alec confirmed, knowing what he was about to do was probably a fundamentally stupid idea, but going for it anyway, "guess she can't seem to stay away from me for long!" Max was really lucky it was so dark down there then - hearing Alec saying those words was about the worst thing that could happen at that moment.
She couldn't quite suppress the moan in her throat that time, and Alec did hear, but he had better sense than to say something then, plus he still wasn't entirely sure what it meant. Logan clearly wasn't pleased either by him saying that as the line went very quiet at his end for a few seconds before he finally spoke again. "Can you put her on the phone Alec?" "Uh sure", Alec replied, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He was caught right in the middle of some bizarre drama between Max and Logan, he knew that, but he had absolutely no idea why.
He handed Max the phone, which she took very reluctantly, but she knew Logan was probably about the best bet they had for finding Joshua and Annie before the cops. Plus it gave her the opportunity to focus on a guy other than Alec right now, which she really needed to do! She kept telling herself she loved Logan - she knew they couldn't be together but that shouldn't make a difference right? You can't just tell yourself to stop loving somebody - or start for that matter. So why was Alec the only one her demented heat-addled brain was interested in all of a sudden?
She managed to get her mind back on to the conversation as Logan explained the whole plan for the second time. She agreed with his idea and clicked the cell phone off, setting it to vibrate before she tossed it back to Alec. "So there's a plan now?", Alec asked. "Yeah we look for Joshua and Annie now!", Max said, stalking straight past him and yelling at him as loud as she dared for him to hurry up when he didn't follow her.
PART #6
They had been searching the tunnels together for about another half hour with no luck so far. Although Alec didn't know if 'together' was really the right word. No matter how fast he walked, she always increased her own speed so she stayed at least five paces ahead of him the whole time. He didn't know what he'd done to make her so mad with him, but he was smart enough to know that now was not the time to bring it up. How wrong he was... Max was stalking ahead of him in a vain attempt to keep her heat cravings under control but it was taking every ounce of strength she had in her.
She knew his scent now, and even with the sewer stench it was still coming in loud and clear to her with her genetically-engineered heightened senses. She heard a noise behind her then and spun round. A little too quickly. Her foot slipped on some anonymous grime that was coating the tunnel floor and she fell forward, head first. There were very few people who would have been able to react fast enough to catch her before she hit the floor. Unfortunately (for Max at least) one of them was in the tunnel with her at that moment.
She swore as her face collided with his chest, his strong arms grabbing hers and helping her back to her feet. He didn't let go once she was standing up again and bent down slightly so he could look her in the eye. He understood that something must have freaked her out so he spoke very quietly. "Max are you alright?" But she wasn't. She was dangerously close to losing control altogether, feeling his hands holding her arms, her chest pressed against his, his face only inches from hers. She tried to pull away, but he held her in place - damn it, the boy was really strong!
"I'm fine", she hissed, "but there's something coming up behind you that'll be round this corner in about ten seconds and will see us if you don't move!" He understood then, releasing her arms and flattening himself against the tunnel wall as she was doing. He heard it too now. There was the definite sound of footsteps coming up from behind then. By the sound of it, it was only two guys, but they had no way of knowing who they were.
The figure rounded the corner, as Max had guessed, about ten seconds later, and gently called out, "Little fella? That you?" "Joshua thank God!", Max breathed, wrapping her arms round him in a massive hug which galled Alec a little. Why could she never look that pleased to see him? Annie rounded the corner then, once Joshua called that it was safe. Joshua introduced her to both Max and Alec then, though Annie already knew Alec, and she said as much. There was a little awkward silence then, but they didn't have time to dwell on that then.
Alec practically leapt a foot in the air then as his cell phone went off, vibrating in his jacket pocket. He swore as he realised what it was, shooting an angry look at Max, who pretended not to notice, too caught in Joshua and Annie's story. It was Logan on the phone of course. Alec confirmed that they had found Josh and Annie now, "We're at junction J-42 and an exit would be real helpful right about now!", he joked. "You're in luck", Logan said as he scanned the computer screen.
"I'm watching the cops on their computer - they're tracing their guys with GPS. Most of them are at the other end of the network, they must have gone right past you. There's one group ahead of you, but they aren't moving". "I think they're probably the ones Max found!", Alec replied, allowing himself a smile at that thought. "Right", Logan said, understanding what he meant, "well they shouldn't cause you a problem then. You want to take a right at the next intersection, and carry on for about fifty yards then you should see a ladder on your left".
"Got it", Alec said, about to hang up. "Alec", Logan cut in, "you've gotta figure they've got guys blocking the exits". "Not gonna be a problem", Alec said, confidently, "just meet us there in five minutes". He clicked off the cell phone then before Logan could say anything else and then quickly explained the plan to the others. He got them moving then, his sensitive hearing was picking up more footsteps and he knew they had to get out of there quickly.
He guided them down the tunnel towards the ladder and had a brief argument with Max about who should go up first. She insisted on going first herself, but he wasn't sure that was a great idea. She really did look like she was coming down with something by then, a layer of perspiration on her skin making it glow slightly in the half-light, despite the cool temperature of the tunnel. Joshua eventually cut in, and suggested that Alec go first while Max guarded the others against any sector cops who might be following them.
She had to agree to that but was not pleased. She watched Alec ascend the ladder, cursing herself for checking out his ass again! Well it really wasn't her fault if he kept shoving it in her direction, right? Yeah, it didn't convince her either! There was a sound then from the surface as Alec broke ground and found some company, but she knew that he could handle himself. He yelled down at them then to get out too and Max gestured for first, Joshua and then Annie to go up the ladder with her following behind.
She got up the surface to find that Alec had moved the fight away from the manhole enough for them to get out, but was still battling two of the three cops that had been guarding that exit. She made sure Joshua and Annie were okay before she turned her attention back to Alec. Cop #2 just fell to the floor as he delivered one last punch, leaving only one guy left. Max couldn't help it - watching him fight was seriously turning her on. The fluidity of his motion, the way the exertion showed off the power of his lean frame...'okay so maybe Manticore weren't all bad', she thought!
The last cop hit the floor way too quickly for Max's liking, and then she saw Logan's car pull up. She knew he had been coming but this was just way too awkward for her right now! Unluckily for her, someone at least had noticed the state she was in, but they knew better than to say anything. They got into the car, Joshua, Annie and Max taking the back seat with Alec taking the front next to Logan.
Unfortunately, Joshua and Annie climbed in first, leaving her to sit behind Alec. Logan shot a look at her in the rear view mirror as they drove off. 'Oh great', she thought, that was all she needed, Logan doing his best puppy-dog expression just to make her feel even more guilty than she already did. Max just sat back, opening the window next to her as wide as she could and wished the journey away as quickly as possible.
AN. And you thought things were complicated for Max before?! Please continue to r&r by the way - any feedback is welcomed! Oh yeah, and I know I said this was going to be a short story, but at the moment it's looking like at least six chapters! Shouldn't be much longer than that though! *SS*
