18
Ralph was on perimeter duty at the back entrance of Terminal City, it was the exit that the police weren't really aware of. It was surrounded by woods and the nature reserve of Seattle which was great for those carnivores among them.
She loved this side of the compound, it was peaceful and she could stand and think and let her mind wander.
Anyway that was why she was standing on the hill closest to the fence enjoying her solitude and studiously avoiding Zero who had been watching her with an eagle eye these past few days. She had grown increasingly uncomfortable with his perusals and dressing downs.
"Be more careful Ralph, you're not invincible Ralph, you really shouldn't bother Commander Alec so much Ralph." She mocked as she pulled her gun holster further on her shoulders and searched the sky line for any incoming helicopters or airborne attacks. That was one thing that the authorities hadn't tried yet which was ridiculous if you asked her.
She may just be a young soldier but it seemed to her that an aerial attack would have been the safest way to minimalise civilian casualties and to make maximum damage of the fortified city. She shrugged- at least with that level of incompetence they didn't get to wipe them out, which was fine with her.
She heard Zero move behind her and rolled her eyes.
"What?"
Zero sighed "Why are you mad at me Ralph?"
"Quit telling me what to do Zero you are not my C.O any more."
"Alec is then?" he said in a sarcastic voice.
"Oh would you get off that already. You are such a pain in the ass!" she growled at him.
He glowered back at her "Am not."
"Why don't you just leave me alone? Don't bother me and I won't bother you." She turned her back to him and scanned the perimeter.
He sighed again at the stubbornness of her.
"Ralph?"
"Shut up."
"Ralph." He knew the best way to get her to talk to him again.
"Ralllllppphhhh?" he whined and he could see the corners of her mouth twitch as she tried not to laugh.
"C'mon Ralphie don't be mad at me."
"Don't call me Ralphie."
He smiled broadly- he knew he could get her to talk to him again.
"Listen Ralph I'm sorry-"
"Shut up."
"Hey!" he said indignantly he was trying to apologise here.
"No do you hear that?" she frowned and moved closer to the gate.
Zero listened hard and he too could hear a rustling in the forest just at the edge of the fence.
"Let's investigate." He shouldered his gun and crept down to the clearing closest to them. He signalled for the two back up that were waiting on the hill and told them that they were investigating a noise.
They slunk quietly through the brush and peered around to see what had made the noise.
It seemed like Ralph's heavy intake of breath was the only noise in the whole forest as she moved around the other side of the clearing and saw the figure on the floor.
Zero motioned for her to move forward with caution and she edged towards the prone body.
She prodded it with the barrel of her gun and stepped back in case it moved. Nothing.
She knelt down and rolled the figure over.
"No!" her ragged breath caught the still air. "Oh god oh god."
Zero watched from the tree in concern.
"Ralph what is it?"
Eyes wide she looked up at him
"It's Max!"
~~
Alec headed the meeting and was explaining to his chosen team the ins and outs of the base that they were about the launch a reconnaissance for. The plans that they had…liberated…from the last place had proved infinitely useful for this mission. It had blueprints, access points and tunnels all neatly outlined for them.
Alec pointed to the vantage point.
"We come in here, across this access tunnel, two teams take out the sentries on this level and we can make our way undeterred to the cameras."
He showed them the range of the cameras
"Standard military issue range about two meters in each direction and just grainy enough to suit our purposes, we don't want them to recognise us and launch an attack on TC."
There were murmurs as everyone agreed.
"Ok so then blue team headed by Mole we need-" he frowned as he heard noise coming from outside. Shouts and yells. They knew to keep quiet while command was having a meeting.
He turned back to the table and looked back down at the map.
"Ok so this is where we need to be."
The door to command burst open and he briefly saw a blur as someone raced in.
"Ralph aren't you on perimeter guard, you know better than to burst in on,"
"Alec!" she grabbed his sleeve and tugged.
Her breathing was ragged like she had run all the way through TC and he saw blood on her coat.
"What, what?" he responded to the urgency in her voice getting worried.
"Max." he stared into her frightened eyes for a heartbeat and all colour drained from his face.
"Where?"
"Med bay."
The words weren't even out of her mouth as he began to run faster than the blood that currently racing around his body at the speed of light.
His feet pounded a rhythm down the corridor and he burst into the med bay like a whirlwind.
The sight of all that luscious dark hair tangled over the pillow, her face whiter than the sheets and bruised almost beyond recognition almost made his heart stop and if he hadn't seen the rise and fall of her chest he would have thought that she was dead and he knew that he would have followed her.
As it was only adrenalin and sheer fear that made him walk into that room.
At his peripheral attention he knew that doctors were working on her, beeps of machines and the call and bustle of a major operating theatre surrounded him but he felt deaf and all he could see narrowed down to that bed and the form that lay so silent and so still there.
The whole world became Max and he walked shakily to the bed and slowly crumbled to his knees.
She was so small, so damn fragile and yet she was so hurt. There wasn't an inch on her that wasn't covered with blood and he felt something break inside him. Even her tiny hands were caked in blood. Her lifeless cold hands that were once so animated.
He reached up with hands that shook and stroked the soft skin like he had done so many lifetimes ago with Rachel as he had watched her die.
"Max." no one could believe that the raw sound had come from him as he lay his forehead on hand and his shoulders started to shake with the force of tears long denied and now anxious to burst out and unable to be suppressed.
~~
Joshua wasn't as simple as people had often thought the first time that they met him. He was actually one of the most astute and empathetic people around, but he was innocent and people often mistook that for idiocy. Truth was he had seen the way the Alec felt for Max along time ago and had realised that Max had started to have similar feelings for him too. He had kept quiet because he was never sure if he was supposed to say anything. He knew that he didn't know everything about the way things were supposed to be done by upstairs people and the last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt Max. But he had thought it was ridiculous that when two people were meant for each other that they weren't together. Then Original Cindy had mentioned that she hadn't even seen it and it had made Joshua wonder if upstairs people were all blind.
Still no one who could see the way Alec was now could mistake what he felt for her.
Only Joshua had dared to put his arms around the weeping transgenic and pull him into a hug. And even Joshua hadn't managed to get Alec to stray more than two feet away from Max these past weeks.
Eventually he had been persuaded to move a chair so that the doctors could do their work.
She was in such a mess. Two bullet wounds and multiple lacerations, blood loss so severe they had to transfuse from several transgenics before they could even begin to operate. Luckily there had been no shortage of volunteers. Even little Ralph, who had taken one look at Max's blood soaked body and thrown up in the nearest waste basket, had offered to be a donor.
Of course Alec had been first and they had had to literally drag him away so he didn't drain himself trying to save her.
They had worked on her body for two days, two whole days. Pulling out the slugs that had never been taken out and patching up the wounds cauterising them and sewing up the various slashes made by sharp metal objects.
The sheer amount of torture that her slight figure had undergone had made the transgenics wince and seeing her designation burned into her forearm made more than one burst into tears and these were hardcore soldiers.
With Alec almost in a trance watching her body no one had sanctioned who came in and out of the room and so the children who shouldn't have had to see their leader in that state weren't watched and they had come in to see Max. Bullet had cried all the time they had drawn his blood which he had demanded be used and Bugler had sobbed so hard he had passed out making Fixit carry him away.
But Alec stayed. He stayed through two cardiac arrests, his hands gripping Joshua's so hard that he had broken the canine mans hands. He stayed when the doctors changed shifts so they could operate when their eyes began to flutter and their hands started to shake. He stayed all day and all night almost never glancing away from her.
Original Cindy had managed to force some food into him but only by threatening him with an intravenous drip should he decline any more.
Still she hadn't moved and he was getting more and more worried.
They'd set her broken bones and finally washed away the layers of congealed blood revealing more slashes and bruises.
The whole of Terminal City was kept informed of the condition of their two leaders and everyone held their breath for them both because they knew that if Max died there would be no way to stop Alec from following after.
After a week her bruises had almost disappeared thanks to Manticore's expert genetics. But the gaunt look hadn't left her face and her beautiful eyes still hadn't opened.
Alec had clenched his fists and looked down, it was the first sign of movement that he had made in weeks and Joshua had jumped at the action.
"Alec?"
"Hey Josh." Alec hadn't even been able to manage a weak smile "How long have you been there?"
"Always here. Watch over little fella."
"She appreciates it." Alec nodded and stretched.
Joshua threw his arms around Alec's neck in relief and for the first time in months Alec laughed.
~~
During his "down time" Alec had realised that just sitting here doing nothing, wasn't going to bring her back to him.
He had done some thinking and realised that Max's coma was just like any ordinaries and what he needed to do was to talk her back to life- after all talking was his strong suit and he was certain he could annoy Max to life.
So everyday since the day he had woken up and talked to Josh he had sat and talked to Max, talked until he was hoarse and he croaked. He bought in the guys and they all laughed and told her jokes, Mole smoked around her and O.C offered to put the smack down on Alec's ass if she would only wake up. At night Joshua read to her while Alec caught some sleep from the chair in the corner. He even started to make trips away from her bedside to take care of TC business again. Mole had been doing his best but some things needed Alec's expert touch.
Two weeks passed and not even a flicker but Alec never gave up hope.
He looked up. Joshua had spent all night talking to Max about his new lady friend. She was one of the downstairs people, a canine lady called Missy. Joshua was falling for the adorable girl who was as sweet as he was innocent.
Alec smiled at the thought of Missy and Joshua, they could be crowned Terminal City's most lovable couple.
He stretched his muscles since they had been cramped from his sitting up all night in the chair. Gem had offered to give a bed in the ward but he had declined opting to be closer to Max.
"Hey Big fella."
"Medium fella!" Joshua gave a huge toothy grin.
"How is she?"
"Rain right." It took a few seconds for Alec to transcribe that Max was as right as rain.
"Great, look man can you watch sleeping beauty for a minute I have to check something out with Mole?"
"Joshua watch Max." he stroked her hair and smiled.
"My man." Alec walked over and placed a kiss on Max's forehead "Back in five."
In truth it was more like fifteen when he was finally done talking to Mole about the need for supplies. In essence it boiled down to Trytophan and cigars. Oh and a few medical supplies and food. Not much but enough. The very fact that Mole prized his cigars higher than food still had the ability to make Alec smile.
He walked into the med bay room and froze. Max's bed was empty.
He heard a noise behind him that he hadn't noticed and spun around in fighting stance, his knees bent and arms in standard position to attack.
What he saw made his breath catch. He was looking down the barrel of a gun.
"Max?"
tbc- ain't I a bitch?
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ok the general consensus was that I am evil. I accept that! LOL. Thanks you guys and glad to see that interest isn't waning for this story!
Tabitha5- Sorry about the wair!
Grumpy2348- I think Max has always had a little 452 in her head screaming at her.
Jemma452- Thanks darling, glad you like.
Martha- please get up! No kissing the ground really! LOL. Thank you hope this is okay.
Raven- Evil? Yup.
Lyndsay- Hehe. I know I should have updated sooner but what can I say- I was sidetracked!
Freja- Suspense is good- whets the appetite right?
2x4- Exactly how evil?
Tiggi- evil falls short? Should I be insulted? LOL. More cliffhangers?
Willow982002- Say more- go on. J
Acb- thanks pet. I agree with what you said. Max probably did kill Ben but it was 452 that helped her cope with it. She was so much different in s2, almost Alec- like. She was so much more cheerful in Season 1 but I hated the whole Logan thing in S2, maybe because while she was different he was the same? I don't know it just didn't make sense to me. As for the cliff-hanger—sorry had to be done evil grin
Wendy- see more update. Glad that its kept your interest.
Kathryn Buffy Gellar- Yeah I have been told that once or twice! J Thank you fro the kudos, I'll try not to leave so long between updates in the future.
Ting- ROTFLMAO, Okay so we've established my evilness. Glad you liked that part.
Given Alias- at last someone likes my evilness! I think Max needs to go a little psycho to stay alive.
SGOU- 452 is very beneficial for Max and I agree I think when people write with designations, especially for Alec they see that as a bad thing. I think it can be useful not to be clouded by emotion.
Ganko- Okay! Don't smash the computer, or you won't get to read more!
Bittersweet bitch- Here ya go, no need to beg! although it is good for my ego.
Messymissy- Glad you like Ralph and Zero, me writing about them has made my sister take up writing Dark Angel fic which I'm not sure about- her stories are really good and I don't want to be upstaged pouts Why did I leave it like this? Oh I don't know, because I can?.evil grin. Questions answered soon!
Cloudburst- I think I enjoy being evil- its fun! Yeah holding breath is bad but damn I'm glad that it had such a reaction! Alec was being adorable wasn't he? Love him like that! Next chap soon promise!