Repercussions - Chapter Two
------------------------------------
Repercussion 1. a result or consequence, esp. one that is somewhat removed from the action or event which precipitated it: the repercussions of the war are still keenly felt. 2. recoil after impact; rebound
--------------------------------------

December 15, 2021

Max awoke feeling as though she'd been put through a wringer backwards. She rolled over in her bed and tried to block out the light that shone in through tattered curtains. Perhaps she could just sleep the day away.

But the previous night's events ran like a movie through her head, refusing to grant her rest. In retrospect, she had to admit she'd been looking forward to seeing Alec. Since Logan arrived with the cure for all evils, Alec had blocked her out. Sure, they worked together still, but he refused to look her in the eye and barely spoke to her unless it was deemed necessary. Even his usual taunts had ceased.

Max touched her fingers to her lips as she remembered the feelings Alec had provoked within her from his kiss. She had enjoyed it, and truth be told, for a few seconds there she had even felt complete. But Alec was right, she apparently enjoyed wallowing in misery, for not only had she pushed him away but she'd laid a fist into his face - all because she couldn't control her own feelings. She couldn't accept her feelings.

She recalled the sincerity in his voice when he had asked her to give him a chance, and the betrayal in his eyes after she'd punched him by way of reply.

Recoiling from the memory, Max took a deep breath and scrunched her eyes tightly closed. When she opened them again, her sight rested upon the Christmas tree they'd been decorating together until the moment Logan arrived.

Alec had swept her up in his excitement of Christmas - his first Christmas. And for the first time in her life, Max had allowed herself to grow excited about the occasion. Of course, none of them really cared for what the holiday was for, bible study certainly wasn't on the top of anyone's list, but they understood the need to find something in this world to celebrate.

Some of the younger transgenics had even indulged in art classes run by Joshua. Without a huge supply of paint in Terminal City, he'd progressed from paintings to junk sculptures, and headquarters had rapidly begun to fill with his various creations. Alec had thought it a good idea for Joshua to channel his energy into decorations for Christmas, and many had discovered within them, a small spirit for celebration.

The long hours spent together in Terminal City had shown Max a side to Alec she'd never bothered to notice before. Of course, she was still an obnoxious bitch to him half the time, and he remained irritating and at times childlike, but that was the foundations on which their friendship had been built - it was a part of them.

Gradually Max had begun to notice the quirky things Alec did to brighten the passing days of their confinement. Like how he'd searched throughout Terminal City for a suitable Christmas tree for her apartment.

--- flashback ---
"For those days when you wake up feeling like a bitch, this might soften the blow you deal me when I arrive on the scene."

Alec chuckled to himself as he considered his statement. "Therefore, I suggest it be the first thing you look at when you wake up - every morning."

With her mouth set firmly in the mould of her trademark scowl, Max had shoved him away, but as she glanced at the so called 'Christmas Tree' he held outstretched towards her, her eyes held laughter. Just as he had intended.
--- end flashback ---

The result of his scavenger hunt was a large dry branch, and a box of decorations created by Joshua and the students of his art class. The gifts were perfect. Unusual, definitely against the norm, and beautiful because of that fact. Such a tree would be far more suitable to them than any conventional pine

And then Logan had arrived. Stealing the festivity and happiness from the room like a Grinch. Causing Alec to leave. Turning her whole life inside out. Logan's cure for the virus was not a cure for their unhappiness. She realised that now.

Max's feelings for Alec were mixed up and confused, but she would find a way to bring him back to her, she just had to sort herself out. Closing her eyes, she drifted into daydream as to just how this could be accomplished…

A sudden snort beside Max's ear tore blissful escapism from her grasp and her eyes snapped open in shock. With a great deal of apprehension, she turned slowly over in the bed as she simultaneously wriggled closer to the edge.

The body beside her was covered over by a blanket, only a tuft of mousy brown hair peeking out from the top. Her stomach sank as she recognised that particular tuft, but she had to be sure. Leaning cautiously forward so as not to wake the person, she pulled back the sheet.

Her doe eyes ever-widening in shock, Max lurched out of bed and half crawled to the door. God. How much did she have to drink last night?

As made her way crab-like out of the room, she detected a quiet knock at the front door. Squinting, she glanced out the window. It looked to be 7am. What right did anyone have to be awake at this time?

That thought brought with it a wave of sadness.

Usually by this hour of the morning, Alec would have arrived. He was more of an early bird than she could ever be, in fact she figured he was so just to get her riled up. Right now he'd be perched on her bed, chattering away - mainly to himself, while she would mutter and complain at him to shut up from beneath the blankets. By 7.30 he'd be standing by the kitchen bench, still babbling, while she'd be clumping around the derelict apartment, muttering and complaining while hunting futilely for her boots..

--- flashback ---
"I'm sure I put them right here damn it!"

Laughing, Alec waited until she was just about ready to combust with rage, "Hey Max, did you try checking under the table?"

"Yes! Of course I looked there you idi-"

And turning in the direction of his pointing finger, she spied the elusive footwear - beneath the table.

"Always in the most obvious place Max."

Flying at him, boots in hand, she tried to strike the smirk right off his face. "You planted them there didn't you!"

Eyes widening with mock hurt, he placed a hand across his chest. "What on earth would make you think I'd do a thing like that, Max?"

With a devilish grin, he dodged out of range from his fiery little nemesis.
--- end flashback ---

Max felt dejected at the memory. Alec enjoyed provoking her as much as she enjoyed insulting him, and his early morning visits had become something she had looked forward. Bummer she hadn't realised so much so until now.

But it wasn't Alec at the door. He would have been here by now. And he would never bother to knock. Given the givens, it was probably just as well. But she had the sinking feeling that after last night, it'd be a while before he came by her place again - if ever.

The knock repeated, bringing Max out of her thoughts. She hesitated before the door. Did she want to face people right now? Couldn't she just pretend she wasn't home?

"You know Max, if you don't open the door, I'm just gonna kick it down."

Max sighed and tugged the door open. Good old OC.

"Hey boo." Cindy stepped forward and hugged her friend. "Just comin' to check my girl's alright."

A sudden high pitched bray broke their embrace, the sound faded into a warble with all the grace of a dying mule.

OC looked with horror towards the bedroom door. "Please don't tell me that's your boy making that racket! I always pictured him to sleep like an angel - not no sufferin' animal."

"It's... Logan."

"Well. To each their own I suppose." Cindy shrugged and walked over to close the bedroom door, unable to resist glancing through the doorway and adding, "I've seen far worse sights than this - in road accidents - but I still think you'd have been better off taking home Mole last night."

Once Max would have been insulted by such a remark. But then again, once Cindy would never dare to say such a thing. But Max had to admit that the sight of Logan lying face up on the bed with drool collecting on the pillow beside him, could not appeal to even the lobotomised. My, times have changed.

"We didn't… at least I don't think we…" Max's voice drifted off as she tried to remember what had happened after they'd arrived here - everything about the previous night had just kinda blurred together after she'd watched the redhead race out the door after Alec.

'Well boo, did you wake up in those clothes, or did you put them on from beside the bed?"

Max looked down at yesterday's clothes with relief. "I woke up in them."

"Well there you go. Nothin' to worry about." OC smiled in equal relief as Max walked across the room, before muttering beneath her breath, "Your breeding line remains untainted."

"I heard that!"

She looked towards the bathroom where Max had begun to run the shower and grinned. "And don't you forget what you heard."


"Morning sleepyhead."

The soft feminine voice accompanied by a persistent drip of water upon his head, brought Alec into reality and he opened his eyes to see Match standing over him, dressed in one of his shirts, hair still wet from the shower.

"Hope you don't mind?" She gestured to the clothing she wore and the towel in her hand.

As she stepped back, he sat up from his uncomfortable position on the couch and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Of course not."

She smiled, and moved to stand behind him, her hands coming to rest upon his shoulders as she began to massage away the tension.

He flinched beneath her hands, it had been so long since anyone had touched him - except for Max, but punches didn't count. She hesitated, waiting for a sign to stop or continue.

"Sorry, I'm not used to…" Alec's voice drifted off as he realised just how long it had been since anyone had touched him in such a way.

"I understand." Match did. They'd both grown up in Manticore after all.

"But that doesn't mean I want you to stop."

Once again she put her hands to his shoulders and began to knead at the tightly coiled muscles beneath his skin, slowly but surely working out the kinks.

"I'm sorry for blowing things with you and Max last night."

Match felt him tense up beneath her palms again and instantly regretted her words.

"It's okay. There's never been anything between us anyway."

Neither of the X5's believed the last statement. It was obvious to Match that something had slowly but surely begun to develop between Alec and Max until the ordinary arrived back on the scene bearing his ill-timed gift.

"What's up with Clark Kent anyway? What does she see in the guy? Hell, she's X5, isn't she?"

"I don't think even Max knows what she wants." Alec laughed at the soap opera drama that was Max's life. "He's changed, she's changed - oh, smash the violin already."

"Hey, the girl's gotta wake up eventually. And when she does, she'll wonder what she ever did without you."

Alec reached up and took Match's hands in his own, halting her administrations as he leant his head back against the couch to look up at her. "You know what Match? I may not be there for her if that day ever comes."

He stood from the couch and ran his hands through his hair, "Anyway, we've gotta get outta here. I have to pick up some supplies.." He glanced down at his watch. "In half an hour."

He stopped them at the doorway and turned to Match, his eyes open and unguarded. "Thanks. I'm glad you stayed last night."

Match grinned and linked her arm through his. "That's okay. I'm glad I got to sleep in the bed!"

Alec looked down at Match's arm looped through his own, uncertainty marring his features. Then it passed and he smiled. It was good to have a friend.


Max stood behind Dix in their recently re-vamped headquarters and watched as he brought up a satellite image of Sector 3 and printed out the map.

"This is how the area looked ten minutes ago. There's no activity."

"That seems odd at this hour don't you -"

The sound of laughter cut into Max's thought's and she turned to see Alec stroll into headquarters with the flavour of last night hanging off his arm. She stood slack-jawed, taking in their carefree expressions and the fact that the redhead was wearing Alec's clothes.

A slight cough from behind did nothing to bring Max out of her horror, and it was only when Alec looked across the room and met her eyes did she suddenly turn away, face flaming as she realised she'd been gaping.

From the corner of her eye she noticed Alec take a half step towards her before stopping himself, and turning once again to the girl. She looked up and felt her heart drop. Alec's eyes had grown so cold. And it was all her fault.

"Max!"

Max groaned inwardly. Now was not the time to be dealing with this. Slowly she turned towards the source of the sound, her eyes wild with panic as she realised all too late, what was going to be said next.

"Why didn't you wake me before you left?"

In the wake of this bomb, the room grew uncannily quiet. Max stood like a mute, all thought having fled to the same place she wished her body would go - beneath a rock.

"I missed not waking up with you beside me this morning!"

"Oh my god…" She breathed the words so softly, yet everyone in the room heard her. All eyes that had turned to stare at her, now turned respectfully away. All except one pair.

Like a person in shock, Max looked over at Alec, feeling as if the whole world were moving by her in slow motion.

His hard icy stare tore through her, piercing her soul with the same force with which she had laid his heart bare and skewered it.

There would be no redemption for her in this lifetime.


December 16, 2021

Alec hauled the ninth bag of rubbish into the trailer. Who would believe people could have so much junk? Looking up at the abandoned three story building, he mentally calculated how much longer this would take. An hour, maybe more. He was dying for a beer.

"Watch out below!"

A soggy rotting mattress came hurtling out of the top floor window and slammed into the trailer. As a result, two of the rubbish bags catapulted out and hit the pavement like a mini bomb, causing all manner of garbage to scatter around it.

"Thanks!" Alec walked over to the remains of one bag and gave it a kick, sending trash flying. "Cause I didn't have anything better to do you know!"

A head popped out from the window and a bright voice cried, "Sorry!" before disappearing like a jack in the box once again.

"That's okay sweetie, I know you weren't aiming for my head!"

Within the second floor of the building, Max felt the rage within her bubble like lava through her veins. Some jovial god had decided it would be a real laugh if she was stuck in clean up duty with Alec and his new-found love today. She stared up at the ceiling, imploring, "Why?"

It really wasn't funny.

Initially, Max could deal with the banter between the two, believing Alec was doing it to make her jealous. And she didn't complain, didn't tell them to shut up and get a room. Merely accepted this as her penance. She'd even tried to be friendly towards the girl.

"So what's your name?"

'Match."

"Interesting." Sounded a lot like 'Max' with a slur, Max noted jealously. "So how did you come about that one?"

The girl exchanged a knowing look with Alec and smiled wickedly, causing Max's heart to churn even more.

"Because I really ignite in the sack."

As the memory of today's introductions pummelled her head like a hurricane against a small wooden hut, Max began to randomly haul junk out of the window. A computer desk here, a pile of rotting curtains there, some assorted knick knacks…

Completely oblivious to the fact these items were falling on Alec like acme bombs in a roadrunner cartoon, little puffs of smoke and all…

Somewhere in her mind, Max heard a voice shouting at her to stop, but she paid no attention. If Match could do clean up the easy way, so could she.

"Would you stop it!"

Finally, a pair of hands grasped her firmly about the wrists and a pair of angry hazel eyes bored holes into her, snapping Max back into awareness.

Alec glared down at her, ignoring the smouldering fury in her face and the way such a sight wrenched at him inside, and focused instead on his anger. "What the hell is your game Max!"

The eyes that stared up at Alec tore him apart. Knowing all-too-well the jealousy behind her actions, he wanted to release her arms and hold her to him, but he couldn't. She had Logan to do that now.

But he knew she felt something, he saw that last night. He felt her passion in the way they'd kissed, saw it in the way she retaliated against him - against herself. She let her shield slip just long enough for him to see she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

He'd thought that if he just gave her a bit of space, she'd realise what everyone else already knew: Logan was wrong. Not only for her, but for any human, sub-human, super-human or entirely non-human species.

"Why didn't you wake me before you left?"

Now all Alec could hear in his mind was Logan's words inside his head, taunting him.

"I missed not waking up with you beside me this morning!"

He wanted her to tell him it wasn't what he thought, that somehow Logan's words hadn't meant what he thought they did. He wanted to shake her, and make these reassurances fall out of her mouth like change from a vending machine. He wanted to kiss her again, to make her believe…

"Hey, let her go okay?"

Cool hands pried at his fingers, still tightly gripping onto Max's arms. He had lost himself in bitter thought - and left marks upon her skin.

Match released Alec's grip from Max at last and placed a hand upon Alec's arm. Noting the looks they exchanged, Max backed away. They seemed so content in each other's company. Already, Match seemed to know Alec so well.

She felt jealousy brew within her - equal to hate, and stronger than any emotion she'd ever felt. Unable to control these new feelings nor understand them, and not at all willing to try, she turned and strode from the building, not trusting herself to remain in their company a moment longer and wishing only for something she could punch. Repeatedly.

To be continued...