Disclaimer: Don't own any Winchesters or X5s

Alone or Clone?

Chapter 7: The Hunter's Call

"Check it out, Doner has a grenade launcher," Alec whispered, fingers itching to grab the weapon out of the open trunk. He always wanted to fire one of those bad boys. His training had been interrupted before he'd had the chance to train with one. Thanks to his brother's actions he'd missed out on a lot of opportunities and training. The boys had been loading up their gear when Alec found the hidden compartment hiding the hunter's weapon stash.

Ben cuffed him on the back of the head, "Don't touch Dad's stuff."

"Why not?"

"Don't swipe things that don't belong to you," Ben warned. They weren't in the bad place but he didn't want to push their luck. Living with Dad was different, safer, than Manticore but they'd never tried to steal weapons from the man that had saved them.

"Manticore taught us to take advantage of any situation, no matter who stands in our way. We were made superior, it shouldn't matter what weak human we had to take out or weapon we had to steal to complete the mission."

"I don't do that kind of stuff anymore," Ben crossed his arms, "I save humans now."

"What's the matter, Benji?" Alec grinned, "Go soft on the outside?"

"Don't make me kick your ass," Ben threatened.

"This big brother act is getting old," Alec fell into a well-trained fighting stance, "I'm going to smack your bitch head."

They traded punches blow for blow. Kicking and rolling in the dust like two tomcats going at it. Neither boy wanted to lose. It had been coming since they had first met. Alec had been physically weak, struggling to regain strength, but his mouth had been going full force. He needled the whole household, purposely trying to get a reaction. The other three had tried to ignore the hurt, scared little boy's posion, as it dripped from his mouth. But it was becoming difficult, especially for Ben who seemed to get the brunt of his brother's behavior. Bobby had sent them out to research a hunt when the boys' shouting contest had almost come to blows yesterday.

Dean had argued, not wanting to take the boys away from the safety of the junkyard. Bobby had bluntly stated that nobody would be safe if they all continued to be cooped up together until fratricide happened. The boys had heard the older hunter reassure him it was a milk run and Dean had finally agreed. They had packed up into the sleek black muscle car and driven away without a word. They had arrived at a small run-down rented house to use as a base of operation while Dean researched what he needed to for Bobby.

They both hissed, pushing away from their opponent as the water hit them in an icy wave. They stood on opposite sides of the Impala, crouched in a defensive pose facing the new threat. It was an angry middle-aged woman.

"Great look what you did," Alec gripped, brushing off mud and straightening his soaked clothes with a scowl.

Ben straightened up as well, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. He studied the woman that wielded a hose in front of her like a weapon. His mind calculated how many ways he could kill her with it. If he wanted to, that is.

"You boys ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Fighting like that, in public no less. I thought you were going to kill each other," The woman ranted, looking around for an adult.

Ben noticed the open trunk, exposing their hardware, and softly asked his brother, who was closer, to take care of it while he focused on the target, "I need you to…"

Alec gave a two-fingered mock salute, "On it," He blurred closer and dropped the secret compartment, hiding the weapons from sight. He was back before the nosy neighbor's human mind could register he even moved. Secrecy was a lesson they had learned early in life. They had learned it well.

Dean Winchester had also lived a life of secrecy. Forever apart from normal people, there were few people that really got to know the real him. The life of a hunter was lonely and dangerous. He had promised himself he would not raise his children in the hunter life, not that he ever anticipated having children by being very careful in all his extracurricular activities, let alone living long enough to raise them if by some twist of fate he did have them. He lived a dangerous life and didn't want to drag anyone else into it. In some ways, he was glad his brother opted out of the hunter life, even though it felt like losing a limb when he had left. He vowed never to become his father.

"Where's your mommy?"

"She's not in the picture," Dean answered gruffly, putting himself in between the twins and the stranger. He took in their roughed-up shape and figured they finally had it out with one another. Maybe now that they fought they could have a little peace.

Apparently," The lady crossed her arms, looking down her nose at the little family, "Mister do you have any idea what your sons were doing before I stopped them?"

"My boys are both children. They're brothers, they fight sometimes. That doesn't explain why a full-grown ass woman attacked two little boys in their own yard. So you better back off bitch before I call the cops."

The woman looked like she wanted to argue but instead left the yard in a huff.

"Time to hit the road, boys," Dean shook his head at their state, "Go inside and get changed."

Both boys raced inside, elbowing and pushing to be the first one. The edge of anger and antagonism had smoothed down into a more friendly rivalry. They were out just as quickly fighting over the front seat. They may not have been raised together until now but there was no doubt they were brothers.

"Nice car," Alec smirked, climbing into shotgun, "What are you compensating for?"

"The Impala is badass," Dean started the car up, letting the engine roar to prove his point. He pulled the cassette tape out of the little hands and grabbed a different one before pushing it into the player.

Alec crossed his arms across his chest as the music began to play, "Not very practical."

"Or tactical," Ben offered curled up in the back seat, agreeing with his new brother.

"Who asked you two? You probably think Army Jeeps are cool."

"I like motorcycles," They answered together.

"Can't hide a grenade launcher on a bike," Dean grinned as he pulled the Impala out onto the street, music blaring. If he ran over the neighbor's lawn a little on the way, nobody could say it wasn't an accident.

Ben felt his skin blister and his blood boil in his veins. He tried to escape the unbearable heat but was unable to move. The scream of agony was stuck in his throat, silent and unvoiced except in his head it echoed for only him to hear. Nobody would come to save him even if he could make a sound. He would burn alive from the flames quickly eating away along the white ceiling. The smoke began to choke out the air in his lungs.

"493!" A familiar young voice called out to him in a panic.

Ben jolted up in bed and into wakefulness. He looked around expecting to see guards and doctors surrounding him to take him away, never to be seen again. "I'm a good soldier," He gasped out like a mantra.

"Benji, we're free now. No more bad place," A voice broke through his panic.

Ben looked around finding a cramped but homey bedroom instead of sterile labs and barracks. It was his room at Bobby's. He fell back into his old but comfortable bed with a gasp. He looked up at the dark ceiling. There was no fire. There was no burning body. Just old glow stars, stuck up there years ago, but still little glows of light in the darkness.

"Hey, you want to know what I'm gonna do now that we're free?"

"No," Ben threw an arm over his eyes trying to ease out of his panic and purge the lingering fear and disturbing images from his mind. He would ponder the nightmare and maybe research its possible meaning in some of the hundreds of books in the safety of the presence of the sun and adults in the morning. He was an X5 he shouldn't let dreams affect him so severely but he couldn't help it. It had felt so real. He had been alone and helpless. He didn't want to be alone ever again.

Alec's forced smile fell from his face, "Fine. Rude but fine." Alec turned away from his brother that clearly didn't want him. That was the last time he tried to help. Good thing Alec didn't need anyone. As soon as he could he would leave this dump and really start to live. He'd have the money and freedom to do what he wanted. Nobody would ever tell him what to do again. He didn't need anyone else, all they did was hurt you in the end.

Ben jerked his head to look at his brother's back at the undertone of hurt he detected in his voice. He hadn't meant to hurt his brother's feelings. All he was doing was trying to help. Ben just couldn't deal with the chatter when he was already overwhelmed. He sat up to better see the tense back in the darkness. Putting a hint of apology in his own voice he extended an olive branch in the form of a question, "What are you going to do?"

Alec thought about ignoring the question by pretending to be asleep. Ben would know but he didn't really care. He felt eyes on his back. It made him feel itchy and upset at the scrutiny. He eventually turned back around to face the older boy as the awkward silence prolonged. "Whatever I want."

Ben just nodded with a small sad smile.

"What about you?" Alec sat up too.

"Hunt things and save people like Dad."

"Why?" Alec asked, "Tell me humans are worth all that trouble."

"Maybe not," Ben shrugged, "But at least it's my choice."

"Maybe you're just trading one army for another," Alec whispered, scared that saying it aloud would make it so. He had been waiting for the other shoe to drop since a man with his face had saved him from the anomalies.

"No, Dad loves us. He and Uncle Bobby said we're family."

"What do we know about families," Alec snorted, "We don't know anything about life outside of Manticore. The humans you want to save would kill you with the monsters you save them from if they knew what you were."

"I know," Ben confessed, "Maybe we never should have left. Everything made sense there."

"No!" Alec hissed, "You know what they do there."

"I'm a genetic mistake, a nomile."

"Shut up!"

"I'm the monster in the basement."

"Then we're monsters together." Alec grabbed his arm and gave his twin a weak smile, "What better to hunt monsters than us."

Ben cocked his head to the side, thinking, "I can live with that."