Title: Hold On

Author: silverdragon17

Rating: PG13 or maybe R13? I dunno.

Pairings: Max/Alec

Disclaimer: I am still relishing the unfortune of bad luck due to the breaking of a mirror which earns me seven years of bad luck. So unluckily, I own nothing.

Spoilers: Season Two of Dark Angel. Right after the last episode: 'Freak Nation'.

Summary: Its New Years Eve in Terminal City, and everyone is enjoying it. But the next few days erased all of that, when transgenics starts getting killed.

A/N: A big shout out to everyone who reviewed! Here's another chapter! :-)

Chapter Three

Max trudged sullenly into Command Center where Alec was waiting for her. "Hey. Where're the new arrivals?" she asked, looking around the center which was bare of any new faces.

"They're none other than your little X6 friends. Ralph, guy who got shot, girl with red hair, little guy, and uh the other one." Alec answered with a casual shrug.

"You're pathetic," Max said rolling her eyes, though a smile tugged at her lips. "Where are they?"

"I told them to take a break," he replied. "Didn't assign them their duties yet. Thought I'd leave that up to you, since you're so good at it and all." He said, sarcasm evident in his tone.

Biggs laughed as he joined their little party. "He's still pissed that you assigned him with that sewer thing he did with Mole."

"That damned transhuman pushed me into the sewer. Said he thought I was an intruder." Alec said sourly. "Yeah right. He only did that to tick me off."

Max burst out laughing. "Are you sure he *pushed* you into the sewer? You didn't fall off did you?"

"Yeah, he fell off." A gruff voice answered behind her. Max turned around to see Mole smoking away at his cigar as usual.

"You know, you transhumans really annoy the hell out of me." Alec said and before Mole could make any comment, Alec had snatched the cigar from his mouth and had crushed it on the floor with his boot-clad foot. "How many times have I told you to lose the cigar Mole?"

"And as I said many times before, I'd rather kill myself." Mole growled but the light-heartedness was not lost on the transgenics.

"And what a favor that would do us all!" Alec drawled loudly.

"Shut up."

Mole then went off to Dix who was hooking his computer up with the TV set. It was good to know that even Mole could loosen up a bit at times. Unlike Logan who rarely did.Max shook his face away from her mind's eye and concentrated to what Biggs was saying. But then she wished she hadn't.

".I'm telling you dude, this girl is a total knockout," Biggs told them.

"Biggs my man, what would Cece say?" Alec asked slinging an arm around his best friend's shoulder. Max had to smile at the image. The X5s in Terminal City had gotten pretty tight for the past couple of weeks. And it was a pleasant picture to look at. After all, none of them had experienced having friends before in their past years.

Biggs paled at the mention of her name. Max wondered why he was so scared of Cece. But then she got his point. The girl herself was heading over to them, a scowl on her face. "Speak of the devil," Biggs muttered under his breath. "I am so dead."

"What'd you do now?" Max asked accusingly, amused at the sight Biggs was making. A disgrace for a soldier, but then, they weren't really in Manticore anymore.

"I used her bike last night," Biggs said sheepishly. "I crashed it."

"Don't worry my friend," Alec said patting him on the shoulder. "I'll be sure to attend your funeral. But for now, I think you'd better go see what the lady wants, cause she looks like she's gonna burn this whole place down."

"You can take her Biggs, be strong! Be a man!" Max said encouragingly.

"Thank you for that great advice my great fearless leader!" Biggs said and before Max could snap back at him, he had already disappeared to Cece's side. Oh well, Cece'll get him for that one.

Max tore her gaze away from the couple to Alec who did the same thing. "So what were you and Logan talking about?" he asked sincerely. Weird. Alec was never sincere. Okay. So he was sincere with the whole Ben situation, but then, who wouldn't? Goes to show you just how unused she was to how close she and Alec had gotten. But then, unused never meant that she didn't like it.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Max mumbled lowering her gaze to the floor.

"Okay, but if you need to talk to somebody hot and intelligent, I'm here for you." Alec said in a serious tone, though the laughter was evident in his eyes.

Max grinned. "Whatever you say soldier," she shook her head still grinning before heading off to Dix who was beckoning for her to come over.

"Hey Dix, what's up?" She greeted him.

Dix didn't reply but pointed at the computer screen.

"X5-331. She got shot while trying to clear TC's fence," Dix said in a grave tone. "Probably desperate. Even X6s know that its not safe to just full-clear out the gates in the middle of the day. Especially with the Sector Police flocking around the area."

Max couldn't tear her eyes off the screen. "I can't believe it," she whispered.

Alec soon appeared beside her. "What's going-?" he stopped in mid-sentence the second he caught glimpse of the dead transgenic in the center of a pool of dark red blood. The cops were circling her, as if afraid they might catch something from her. "Think there are more?" Alec asked.

"Its possible," Dix said, his eyes too on the screen.

"Alec, get Cece, and Biggs." Max ordered. "We'll be leaving in 2100 hours."

Alec nodded and left for the other two X5s. "Dix, get Mole to assemble a back-up team." Max said, the transhuman managed a small 'yes' before engaging once again in his computer work.

"I'll try tracking them down," Dix said, his fingers rapidly moving up and down the keys. "They would most likely be taking cover."

Max nodded her thanks before looking back at the screen. A small sigh escaped her lips. It seemed like wherever she went, trouble seemed to follow like a shadow. Not to mention death.

'This is all my fault' she said to herself, her chest constricting once again as her gaze landed on the lifeless figure on the computer screen. And with one last glance, she left for the Space Needle.