Disclaimer - If they follow me home, can I keep them? er.. Just one, then?
A/N: This scene would only let me write it from 494's POV. So Scarlet gets her wish. =)Learning of Alec - Chapter 8.
- infieRECAP
(Sunday)"Jesus." Kyle nudged 494 gently with his toe. "He saved my life, Max. He was fighting us to get away, he shoulda been trying to kill me, and he still saved my life. Why would he do that?"
"Because you're part of the family, Kyle. And Alec doesn't kill family." Max's eyes were alight as Yule and Spot groaned, starting to come around. "Alec's still in there. Now we just have to convince him to come out and play."
494 awoke in a cage.
He recognized it immediately.
He hated it immediately, with a bone deep revulsion. Hated it passionately.
{Someone is going to fucking die for this.}
He lay perfectly still, not twitching, not opening his eyes, barely breathing. His nostrils flared ever so slightly as he tasted the all too familiar scent of metal alloy all around him. He concentrated grimly, and felt the soft weight of his clothes still on his body. {Better than Uzbekistan,} he thought calmly, {though worse would have been a trick.} There was softness under his cheek, a pillow, he surmised. He shifted his chin minutely, and didn't feel the ridge of leather that would have indicated the presence of his jacket. {No coat.} he assessed impassively. {No weapons.} His feet felt light. {No boots.} He carefully flexed each muscle separately, testing for battle damage. His pecs and abs protested fiercely, the pain a product of the muscle spasms brought on by the taser bolts. His mind supplied the details of his capture and he was hard-pressed to keep his focus steady as the fury of betrayal roiled through him. But his training prevailed, and he fought himself back into control.
{Fuck, I hate being locked up.}
Claustrophobia welled up, seeking the forefront of his mind. He fought it back with practiced ease; it wouldn't do to be a cat burglar or assassin afraid of small spaces. {This isn't a small space.} A tiny part of him insisted. {It's a fucking cage.} He stomped on the voice.
"Alec." A soft voice rolled over his ears like a caress, sending a familiar thrill through him that he suppressed ruthlessly. "I know you're awake." Max. Her voice came closer, until he could smell her only a few feet away. "What's up, Alec? Cat got your tongue?" Amusement turned her voice into a purr.
The burst of rage caught him by surprise. He rolled to his feet and threw himself at her position, coming up hard against the steel bars demarking the edge of his captivity, and ringing his cheekbone painfully off the metal. He reached through the bars, arm straining, but Max danced backwards, just out of his reach. He pulled his arm back into the cage, breathing heavily, glaring at his captor. His unsuccessful lunge had obtained his secondary objective, though. He now knew those bars were solid, more than he could handle without some alone time to work on them. He made a plan to check each one individually at the first opportunity. He felt a small trickle of blood slide down the plane of his cheek, and raised his hand and wiped his face with the corner of his torn shirt. Max smiled at him mockingly, but he could see the fine lines of strain around her mouth and knew she wasn't as unaffected as she looked. He had smelled the quick scent of startled fear burst from her, and knew, too, that she hadn't expected him to get so close to catching her.
{Underestimating me again, Max? How unproffessional of you. But predictable.}
He changed tactics abruptly, spreading his hands in a half shrug and smiling at her earnestly, trying to look as harmless as possible. He slouched slightly to make himself look shorter, less of a threat.
"Come on, Max", he said, radiating sincerity. "Let me out. I'm sure we can work something out."
Max's face twisted with something that looked suspiciously like pain, then settled back into her own version of showing nothing. She took one step closer to the cage. "That would be, well, No."
494 snarled and lunged at her again, snagging her edge of her sleeve this time. He managed to pull her off balance before she twisted away.
"Tut, tut, Alec." Max recovered, a small smile on her face as she turned away to lock the heavy door to the room. "Temper, temper."
494 remained silent, controlling himself, thrusting his anger away as unproductive, smoothing his face into the expressionless mask he had learned to wear before he learned to speak. He took the opportunity to survey his surroundings.
Terminal City, he deduced, based on the general state of grimy disrepair the walls displayed. The room itself was approximately 8 metres by 8 meters, with a single metal door, and bare of any furniture. A thin blanket lay mussed on the floor a metre from the door of his cage, and he realized that Max must have stayed with him, to be aware of when he woke. The cage occupied the centre of the room, equidistant from all four sides. The steel bars making up the walls of his cage climbed all the way to the ceiling and gleamed with newness in the half-light of the room, which was produced by a single dim bulb high above their heads. {Custom made, recent.} he catalogued darkly.
{Fuck, I hate being locked up.}
His gaze returned to Max.
Max turned back to him, lithe body still clothed in the same snug black jeans and tight black tank top as she'd worn the previous day. {When she betrayed me.} His nostrils flared with the resurgence of anger, and he had to extert conscious effort to not rush the walls of the cage again.
Max examined him closely, approval on her face for some obscure reason. She circled the cage slowly, chewing her lip. He was pleased to see this sign of nervousness. "Why, Alec, you don't seem at all happy to see me."
494 checked out the inside of his cage, letting her see him do it this time. Just surveying the bars made his stomach clench, and he moved restlessly, pacing out the interior in long, feline steps, mirroring Max's movements on the other side. He watched her with absolute, unnerving focus.
"Max." his voice sounded a little rusty, but it brought her eyes up to meet his. The dust rising from his pants as he paced was making his nose itch. "What the fuck is going on?"
Max spread her hands, a faint smile on her lips. "Such language, Alec."
"Max." he heard anger threading warmly through his voice and paused to take a breath. She arched an eyebrow at him, grinning cockily, seemingly even more pleased than before. "Max, this is not funny." At that, she laughed out loud.
Fury bubbled up to the surface, and he realized that he was showing it again. He punched one of the bars twice in quick succession, making it ring with a mellow gong, and breaking the skin on the knuckles of his right hand. Max jumped at his sudden movement, too fast to see. Blood welled to the surface of his skin and he licked it off, soothing the wound with his tongue. "Max, it's time to let me out of here." His voice shook with the effort of keeping his temper.
{Fuck, I hate being locked up!}
Max looked at him levelly, and this time he made no attempt to conceal that he was walking the fine edge of control. She nodded, beautiful dark eyes examining him carefully, for what, he couldn't say. Apparently satisfied, she nodded again, decisively this time. "Maybe so." She walked closer to the door, then paused and motioned him to the other side of the cage. "Back away, Alec. I don't want any 'accidents'."
His hands clenched involuntarily, but he backed up until he felt the smooth metal of the bars against his back. Max stepped up to the door, key already in hand. She paused again, assessing him carefully, then blurred the key into the lock and cranked open the door, leaping back to the edge of the room in one smooth motion. Her eyes never left his.
494 hadn't moved. He smirked involuntarily, her obvious caution tweaking his inappropriate sense of humour. He leaned back against the bars of the cage, kicked one foot over the other, crossed his arms over his chest, and relaxed. He looked like he was waiting for the bus. For the first time since he had woken, Max looked annoyed. In fact, Max looked as though she was ready to spit nails. 494 almost laughed.
{God, she is beautiful when she's mad. Christ knows I get to see it enough.}"What's wrong, Alec? Afraid to come out on your own?" Max's voice was taunting, only the barest hint of strain coming through. "Afraid I'm gonna kick your ass?" She stalked towards the door of the cage. "Or, maybe it's just more comfortable for you to be in there all alone. Maybe you don't want out of your little cage at all."
494 glared at her for a long moment, evaluating the likelihood that she would dare come close enough to lock him up again.
{This is Max.} his inner voice pointed out. {Of course she would.}
494 straightened and walked out of the cage.