Disclaimer: Nope, last time I looked in a mirror I wasn't James Cameron or anyone else lucky enough to own Dark Angel.

Summary: Sequel to "Then it comes to be." The cult loonies are gone but the transgenics have other problems to deal with, not to mention a whole civilization to build. M/A

Rating: R because of occasional violence and sex.

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Alec drained the last of the scotch and let the glass fall on the floor next to the empty bottle. He lay on his back and stared at the water-marks on the ceiling above his bed and tried not to think of anything at all. It would take more than a single bottle to get an X-5 drunk, but it was enough to make him numb, make him not care. Which is why he drank it, night after night.

He was alone. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't alone, even in the middle of a crowded room. Tonight he didn't want to feel the weight of that loneliness. Tonight he wanted to be numb.

In all his years at Manticore he'd never thought of his unit as his brothers and sisters the way Max did. And he knew they hadn't felt that way about him. They respected him, even needed him, but they didn't think of him as family. Which was the way Manticore had wanted it to be. Emotional attachments made you weak and vulnerable. And he'd learned that lesson best of all. Only once before had he dared to let down his guard enough to feel anything beyond duty and discipline. And Rachel had died because of it. She'd paid the price for his weakness.

He remembered every minute he spent with her. If he closed his eyes he could see her face. Her teasing smiles as she played the Peanuts theme during their first piano lesson. Her shy, innocent desire as they swam in her father's pool in their underwear. The look of pain and betrayal in her eyes as he told her he'd been sent to kill her. But worst of all was the blank, empty shell that lay in that hospital bed waiting to die. Waiting for him to come so she could finally end her dying.

Watching that car explode, knowing it was his fault that she was hurt, that he'd failed her, had broken him. And then Max crashed into his life and wrapped her fingers around his shattered heart and refused to let it go. She'd forced him to feel again. Made him whole. He was terrified by how much he loved her. Because he knew that one second was all it took to snatch it all away. She was his greatest weakness. If anything happened to her, he wouldn't survive it. The loneliness would smother him.

He forced the thought away, forced himself to become empty and still. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to feel.

Hours later he heard the soft sound of the door opening. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He heard her tiptoe across the room and quickly strip out of her clothes. He felt the bed shift as she slid under the covers and lay down next to him. She laid her head on his chest above his heart and let out a small sigh of contentment as she snuggled against him. "You're my family too, Alec" she murmured softly. He brought his arms tight around her and held her close, and breathed in the scent of her. He smiled in the dark, and drifted into sleep.

----*----

Syl prodded at Krit's sleeping form. "Wake up," she said impatiently.

"Mmff. Can't this wait until morning?" he said and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow.

"It IS morning. Well, close enough." She was too excited to sleep any longer. Their baby sister was alive and she was building them a home, someplace where they could all be together. She wanted to do something to help. She yanked the pillow out from under Krit's head.

He blinked sleepily at her. "Fine. I'm up. What's so urgent?"

"Did you see the list of supplies they need? It practically covers the entire wall. And it's gonna take a lot of money to get a hold some of that stuff."

"Un hun."

"So how about we go raise some cash."

"What've you got in mind?"

Syl shoved a newspaper under his nose. She'd bought it at the marketplace the day before. It was folded back to expose a story about a rare emerald and diamond necklace that had recently been acquired by Melvin Smythe, one of the richest men in Seattle.

"You up for it?"

Krit grinned. It had been a while since they pulled a heist, and he missed the adrenaline rush. "Oh yeah," he said. "Should we tell Zane and Jon?"

"Nah. It's not exactly a four-man job. Let them find their own mark."

----*----

Later that night, Syl and Krit lay prone along separate branches of a massive tree just outside the Smythe estate. They'd been watching the place from different vantage points for hours. From what they could see the security system wasn't going to pose much of a problem for them. There were several cameras monitoring the grounds but they were constantly in motion, sweeping back and forth across the lawn. The time lapse between passes wasn't long enough to allow an ordinary human to race across the open lawn, but it was enough for a transgenic. There was a pair of guards roaming the grounds with dogs, but it took them nearly 30 minutes to complete a full circuit. Plenty of time to get in and out.

Krit pointed to the second story. The wife had left the French doors on the balcony ajar when she'd gone to bed. Not the ideal entrance considering the balcony led into the master bedroom, but it was faster and simpler than prying open a window and bypassing the security wires. Syl nodded. All the lights in the house had been out for over an hour, except for the guardroom where a single guard kept an eye on the feed from the security cameras. Everyone else should be sound asleep by now.

They dropped from the tree straight to the ground and moved into position next to the wall. They waited until the cameras had moved just beyond their location and then they vaulted over the wall and raced across the lawn. They both leaped and grabbed the stone uprights that were part of the balcony railing. They flipped themselves up and over and landed silently on the balcony. Krit moved to the half-open doorway and listened intently. There were two people inside the room but they were both sleeping soundly.

The two transgenics slipped into the room and tiptoed past the bed. Krit turned the knob and eased the bedroom door open. Fortunately the hallway outside the bedroom was dark so there was no sudden gleam of light to disturb the sleepers. They crept downstairs and headed for the office. A massive wooden desk dominated the floor space. The walls were panelled in oak. With their enhanced vision they could make out the hairline cracks that indicated the presence of a concealed compartment. Syl tapped softly against the panelling and quickly located the spring mechanism that opened the secret door. The panel swung open, revealing a small chamber behind the wall. Most of the space was taken up by a large safe.

Krit grinned and crouched down beside the handle. He laid his ear against the steel door and swiftly turned the dial, listening for the tell-tale click that signalled the tumblers had fallen into place. Within seconds he had the safe open. Syl slipped the necklace out of its velvet box and tucked it inside her vest. They left the rest of the items alone, hoping Smythe would think the necklace had either been misplaced or stolen by an insider.

They hurried upstairs and snuck back into the bedroom. Smythe had rolled over in his sleep and was now snoring gently. The wife hadn't moved at all. They slipped out the balcony doors and waited for the cameras to move on, and then dropped to the ground and raced across the lawn. They were up and over the wall in a matter of seconds. They melted into the shadows and went in search of a fence.

----*----

Krit grinned at Syl as they climbed out of the sewers into TC the next morning. "Well, that was fun. Almost too easy. We'll have to find something more challenging next time." Krit looked down at his clothes. He was filthy from lying on that tree branch most of the night. "Man, I need a shower."

"I'll be there in a minute," Syl said. "I just wanna drop this off first." She hurried into HQ and tossed the bag of money on the table in front of Alec.

Alec looked at the bag with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Syl hadn't had it with her when she'd arrived the day before, which meant that she'd gone out on her own last night without clearing it with him first. Which meant he'd have to give her hell or have the others complaining about special treatment for Max's siblings. "What's this?" he asked, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.

"A donation," she said with a grin.

Alec opened the bag and groaned mentally. It was stuffed full of money. Not that they couldn't use it or anything, but if every X went and pulled a job whenever they felt like it there'd be a crime wave and that would give the police the perfect excuse to recall the army. So no one was allowed to go off on their own. Everyone had to obey the same set of rules, no exceptions. He looked up with a grim expression on his face. "Where did you get this?" he asked quietly, his voice hard as steel.

She shrugged, surprised by his coldness. She'd expected a little more gratitude for their efforts. "Stole a necklace off some rich guy with more money than taste and fenced it. No biggie."

His jaw clenched. "I don't recall giving you permission to go on a heist, and particularly not at the Smythe estate." The room went silent as everyone strained to hear. This was the first major test of Alec's command. He had to force the 09 rogues to accept his orders or his authority would be compromised. They were soldiers above all, and no military could function effectively with double standard.

Alec's harsh tone of voice reminded Syl of how Zack had spoken whenever one of them had disobeyed an order back at Manticore. Confused and unsure of how to respond, she retreated into anger. "Excuse me? Since when do we need your permission to do anything?"

"Since you decided to join us. No one leaves TC without checking with me or Max first."

"We were just trying to help raise some cash," Syl said indignantly.

"I realize that. But no one acts on their own initiative. You have a plan, you clear it with me first. Understood?"

"I don't take orders. Not anymore." She was furious. They were just trying to help and he was acting like she'd broken one of the ten commandments.

"You take orders from me or you leave. Freak Nation is more important than any one of us. I will not allow your need for independence to jeopardize what we're trying to build here. Is that understood?" he snapped.

Syl glanced over at Max, but her baby sister just looked at her with a blank face and said nothing. "Fine, whatever," Syl said as she turned to walk out of the room.

"Typical 09 rogue. Always thinking of themselves first," Conner muttered just loud enough for Syl to hear as she hurried by. She glanced over at him and he glared back at her, a mix of dislike and disgust on his face. Startled and confused by his animosity, she hurried out the door.

"I'm sorry Max," Alec said softly so that only she could hear, "but they have to get in the game."

"I know. Let me talk to them," she said. She waited until everything had returned more or less to normal and then quietly slipped from the room.

----*----

Syl paced back and forth, her hands clenching and unclenching. She'd given Krit, Zane and Jondy an incoherent account of her run-in with Alec and now she was trying to calm down enough to give them the full story. She never thought to see that cold, commanding look on Ben's sweet face. She was rattled by it. The rational part of her brain could understand why Alec was pissed by their little heist but she'd been on her own for so long now, answerable to no one, that it was hard to bend and take orders again.

"Hey," Max said softly from the doorway.

Syl whirled around. "What the hell was that all about Max?"

Max gave her an apologetic look. "Syl, Alec had to do that. He has to be in control. No exceptions."

"We were trying to help!"

"We were planning on hitting that house tomorrow. That guy owns quite a few rare paintings, and we had a dealer all lined up. Only now he'll be on his guard so we can't go in. We have to find another job to pull."

"Oh." That was all Syl could say once she realized that their attempt to help had cost TC more money than they'd brought in. "I'm sorry. We didn't know."

"Which is why you need to talk to Alec first, before you do anything."

"So why didn't he just tell me what we did wrong, instead of yelling at me like that?"

"Did Zack ever explain his orders? No, he just expected us to do as he said." Max paused and took a deep breath. "Look, we got used to thinking for ourselves over the last 10 years. But do you remember how hard it was to adjust to the outside world?" She gestured out the window at Terminal City. "They've been out for less than a year. And they didn't ask for this. They're not ready to be on their own. They need a CO and that's Alec. And if this is gonna work, he needs all of us to do as we're told." She looked around at her brothers and sisters, a pleading look on her face. "It's not like it was at Manticore. It really isn't. The few rules we have are just there to keep everything running smoothly. Please, just try, ok?"

Syl sighed and nodded. Max looked over at Zane, Krit, and Jondy and was relieved to see them nod too. They wanted to be part of this new transgenic society, they just had to learn to adjust.

"Thanks," Max said. She hesitated, unsure what more she should say. But the part of her that was still a little girl who needed her big brothers and sisters' approval spoke out. "Alec deserves all the credit for this. He's the one that pulled everything together around here. Made it work. Freak Nation would fall apart without him."

"Yeah but, there wouldn't be a Freak Nation if it weren't for you" Jondy argued, always quick to defend her baby sister.

"You know me. I'm always jumping headfirst into things. But Alec, it's like he was built for this. Course, given the givens he probably was. Anyway, he really is a good person," she finished lamely.

She turned to go, but the sound of Syl voice stopped her. "Max, do they hate us for escaping?"

Max slowly turned to face Syl. Her eyes were dark and unreadable. She thought of what had been done to their twins because of them. She remembered the way Sam and Jace had reacted when they first saw her. Guilt pricked at her, like a splinter in her heart. By escaping in 09 she'd made Manticore an even worse hell for those left behind, and by burning the place down she'd forced them all out into the world. A world that didn't want them, and that they weren't ready to face. They had every right to be angry with her and her siblings. She sighed, and tried to put it into words. "Manticore cracked down pretty hard after we got out. Wanted to make sure it didn't happen again. They were trained to think of the twelve of us as the enemy. It's hard for them to trust us. But they'll come around. They will. It just takes time."

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A/N: Because you asked for it (that and the fact that it's so much fun to write!), there'll be more M/A action coming up soon. I just gotta move the plot line forward a bit before I can indulge, so stay tuned! In the meantime, you can get your fix by checking out the scene I added to chapter 3.  ; )