This is A/U. Not for M/L fans, or M/Z fans. In fact, let me tell you that I don't plan on having ANY Zack or Logan action here. Got it? Good. And, of course, it'll be M/A.

Disclaimer: I have no clue who, at the moment, owns Dark Angel. But it's not me, so... don't sue.

Alec stood over his suitcase, waiting for Krit and Zane to return. His mind flashed through his talk with 453, wonderingly. She needed him—she shouldn't. For the same reasons he shouldn't need Max, she shouldn't need him.

It was hypocritical, he knew. But it was an entirely different issue with her. He needed to get close to Max for a mission. Well, he didn't necessarily need to get close to her specifically, but that wasn't the point. And she'd said it was like Rachel. It wasn't, really. Rachel was originally to help the mission, and his coordinators had told him to get close to her. But Max… Max was part of the main reason for this mission. Actually, she was the main part of the mission. And not just his coordinators, or the council, but the director herself had told him to back off.

He would have to stay away from her. For her own good. For his own good. For the mission's good. Maybe without her emotions to block her, she could figure something out—wait! What was he thinking? Did he really want to sabotage the mission? His status? His life? He had no doubt that Manticore would eventually reign. They were backed and supported by governments in America, Asia, Africa, Europe—everyone wanted a piece of the trillion-dollar pie. Individual progress reports were priceless, never mind the few governments with enough money to buy a DNA coding—or an X. Even the older Xs, the anomalies in the basement, were worth a small country if only for the autopsy.

They couldn't escape—She wanted these seven so badly, for some reason no one could figure out. There were rumors that there was a one of the seven who was the One, whatever that meant. The perfect One—but what were they? When the escape had occurred, the old director had been booted down to a coordinator, and then he'd mysteriously died. Then they had found Her, and what She wanted most was to find the One. She'd thought it might have been the leader, 'Zack', but it wasn't. Then She'd decided it must have been one of the ones who'd escaped.

Instead of researching the X6s, like She was supposed to, She'd gone and spent half the money on research of these. The council hadn't liked that, but She had such control she got away with it. That was the reason that none of the X6s made it past infancy. But She was happy—She'd found the rouges, and then…

Well, he'd ended up here.

*

***

******

***

*

Krit and Zane walked back across the hall, shaking their heads. "Those girls..."

"They are not of sound mind."

"Psycho."

"Insane."

"Balmy."

"Loony toons."

"They've got bats in their belfry."

"Rats in their attics."

"Squirrels in their attics."

"Not a full deck of cards."

"A few bricks short of a load."

"Three sides short of a square."

Alec glanced up curiously as the two wandered in. "What? They're a line?"

Zane shrugged. "It made sense before I said it."

Krit bounded into the room. "ALEC!"

He looked up, startled. "Hi!"

Krit waved hyperactively. "Hi! Guess what!"

Zane watched Krit's hand go pack and forth at a speed so fast it blurred. "Dude," he said disapprovingly. "That's just weird."

Krit stopped and smirked. "Shut up, Mr. Alanis Moressette."

Alec snorted. "Isn't that the pre-pulse chick who used to write music for angst-filled teenage girls?"

Zane smacked the back of Krit's head while flicking Alec off. "It's good music, and you are a complete and total idiot for going through my closet!"

Alec looked at them, baffled. "But… your room doesn't have a closet."

Zane smirked. "No, it's--" At Krit's malicious and homicidal look, he shrugged. "Elsewhere."

Alec shook his head. "You guys… anyway, what?"

They both stopped glaring to pause for a short second, then resumed their strange perkiness. A flickering thought went across Alec's mind—Goldfish have an attention span of 3 seconds—but he was quickly ushered back to earth. "Max isn't doing anything tonight!"

Alec's heart stopped. "Okay… that's nice."

"And we all have plans, so…"

"You know," Alec said, "That's nice of you guys and all, but I don't really want to hang out with her tonight. I was thinking about going with you, instead."

The two exchanged looks. Krit spoke first. "Don't you like Max?" he asked in a deadly voice.

"Yeah, I mean," Zane continued, "you two do hang out together. A lot."

"Besides, you could go look for tickets."

Alec looked back and forth at their protective faces. "Dudes, you gotta understand. I like her and all, but don't be such party poopers! I mean, what are you doing, anyway?"

"We're going to pick up girls," Zane said in a voice that meant it wasn't up for discussion.

He shrugged. "I can… help?"

Krit glared. "Implying we need help?"

Alec sighed and threw up his hands. "You can't be serious. Come on."

Zane laughed. "Fine.  Just... don't hurt her, okay?"

Alec forced a smile. "I'd never."