Dark Angel Revised
Summary: Max comes to Seattle in search of her brother Seth. Alec has also just arrived in Seattle on the Berrisford mission. They cross paths and stuff happens. M/A
Disclaimer: I don't own or have anything to do with the creation of the show or its characters.
Spoilers: Anything is subject to altering from both seasons as well as Max Collins' book Before the Dawn
Chapter 8: The Learning
The fuel truck came the next day and the two X5s left Mount Shasta that night. They traveled deeper into California; no particular destination in mind. Actually Max had no destination in mind, Alec, on the other hand, had a specific place he wanted to visit. She was surprised by his request, but shrugged and promised they'd stop at one when they got into a big city.
A few hours later they arrived in Sacramento, former capital of the western state. After checking into a hotel and much whining on Max's part for spending money on a hotel room, (she usually wouldn't consider staying in one. Why waste the money when she could camp outside or find an abandoned refuge? But Alec was used to hearing about the great places some of his unit members stayed while on missions to consider passing up the opportunity) they searched the city and before long they were standing in front of a library.
They came in separately and kept their heads down as they walked past the armed guards that were common atmosphere for libraries ever since the pulse. Not surprisingly, Alec headed straight for the fiction section. Max left him in sci-fi/fantasy while she went across the room to the magazine rack.
Pausing in her perusal of Motorcycle Monthly, Max looked up and watched as Alec migrated towards the children's section. Curious as to what had him so enraptured she followed until she was standing beside him. He had been drawn by the voice of a librarian reading a children's story to a group of young bright-eyed, bright clothes wearing faces. The kids were smiling. Some were raising their hands excitedly to answer the librarian's questions. It was a foreign sight for both Max and Alec to see. Kids giggling and happy while learning was such a switch from the dull eyed, perfectly straight backed children watching slides flash repeatedly way they had learned.
They stayed mesmerized until the librarian closed the book and told them what story they were going to be reading next week. As the kids separated to go and greet their parents, Max and Alec turned to each other and shared a look of understanding.
They both stayed in the children's section for another hour despite the looks people were giving them. Apparently it was strange for two people in their late teens laughing and oohing and ahhing over books like Dr. Seuss and Dora the Explorer.
Alec eventually graduated to the young adults section after Max had returned to the magazine rack. While there, he came across a book about famous and infamous duos in American History. He already knew about Lewis and Clark so he skipped over that. Laurel and Hardy held his attention for a good ten seconds, but he never got to read about the other thirty-six duos in the book after he happened upon Bonnie and Clyde. The couple captivated him. So much so that he also read all the reference material as well as old newspaper clips. He was further ecstatic to discover video footage from different movies made about the couple. It was in the video viewing area that Max finally caught up with him.
"Figures this is where you'd disappear to." She said.
"Uh huh." He replied, his eyes never leaving the small prompter in front of him.
"Okay, well I'm headed back to the hotel for some chow. You coming?" He didn't answer. "You do know there's an even larger TV in our room. It's even equipped with more interesting channels than that thing."
"You know, they had the right idea, but they went about it the wrong way." He said suddenly. "Too much violence and killing. They should have kept a lower profile."
"Huh?" Max asked having absolutely no idea what Alec was referring to. She than looked over at his table filled with books of all shapes and sizes. Also on the table was the case for the disk Alec was currently watching. Every item had the words Bonnie and Clyde in the titles.
"Who the hell were Bonnie and Clyde?" Max asked.
Alec exhaled slowly as he leaned back in his chair. He then turned to her with an expression that illustrated how offended he was that she'd asked such a question. But then his eyes lit up and he quickly shut off the monitor before facing her again. Throughout their trip, Max had been schooling him on popular culture and the ways of the world. Finally there was something that he could teach her about.
"They were this awesome couple that went on a major crime spree. They even broke people out of prison. And they started when they were just nineteen and twenty. Not bad for a couple of norms." Alec finished nodding his head in admiration. "Unfortunately it all ended less than five years later."
"What happened?" She asked.
"Cops finally caught up to them and killed them."
"Bummer. So you want to eat or what?"
"Max, we could totally do this?"
"Do what?"
"Think about it, two genetically engineered partners in crime. No way we'd get caught let alone stopped."
Her expression was skeptical, but in truth she missed the action Moody's assignments provided.
"What kind of crime are you talking about?" She asked.
"The kind that gets us rich."
"Yeah but Alec, this Bonnie and Clyde only
had to worry about cops chasing their asses, we'll have that plus Manticore
looking for us. Sides, a crime spree
isn't the best way to keep a low profile."
"Look, as long as Manticore still exists we're gonna be on the run for the rest of our lives. Who says we can't do it with some style? Think of it, if we always had tons of cash on us escape and evade would be a lot simpler. We'd always be able to buy a ticket out of town rather than hoofing it somewhere or risk hiding in storage. And when we did get miles away, we—"
"We could buy a house somewhere secluded. A place with a giant bath tub and hot running water." She interrupted.
"Think bigger, Max. We could buy several homes—all over the country—if we ever had to run, we could flee to one of our houses…they'd be like safe houses."
"Tricked out safe houses…swimming pools."
"Plasma screen TV's."
"A different colored Ninja in the different garages."
"Alongside the porches."
"Tryptophan lab in the basement?"
"Of course."
Both their eyes were sparkling and their grins were wide. They closely resembled the kids they had spied earlier being read to by the librarian. Alec sprang from his chair to stand in front of her.
"What else do we have to do? We're totally free. What do you say we put our Manticore given skills to good use?"
"I'm game."
"So partners." Alec held out his hand and Max promptly mirrored him.
"Partners." She reiterated before they shook.
***