A/N: thanks to those of you that have taken the time to review. I appreciate the feedback, and I'm excited that you like my story!!
Chapter 4
The bar Alec had taken Max to was near his apartment and she wondered how she had never noticed it before. It had more atmosphere than Crash did. It was a little darker, it had a small dance floor in the back room and a little stage where a drumset and a microphone stand stood. There was a large mural of the pre-pulse Seattle skyline on the wall behind the bar. In the back near the pooltables was another large mural.It was beautiful. It was the perfect place to unwind after a long day of delivering packages and being hunted down by a homicidal snake-worshipping cult.
"Alec, this place is great."
"It's not bad, but this is nothing, Thursday nights are the best. That's when they have local bands in here to play."
"Really? Interesting. What kind of music?"
"All kinds."
Have you ever played here?"
"I'm not a band Max, I'm a guy. And it's not like they keep a piano under the bar.Besides, that doesn't exactly go along with the whole keeping a low profile thing."
"What are you talking about Alec? Nobody would be able to tell you learned it in one day. Playing the piano is something even ordinaries can do. That is totally not the same thing as cage fighting under the pseudonym 'Monty Cora'."
"Still, it's not my thing." He turned back toward the bar and took a long drink.
"Alec, I've heard you play. You're great and you seem to like it-"
He interrupted her, "MAX!" ha snapped a little too loudly making her jump slightly. He immediately felt bad and lowered his voice to a more conversational tone. "I'm sorry. It's just that it's private to me." He paused. "Can we please talk about something else?"
"Yeah." She said quietly. They were silent for several moments, but it was a comfortable silence. It was not the first time that they had accidentally stumbled into uncomfortable territory due to one of them having lost someone they loved.
Alec finally broke the silence, "Can I run an idea by you?"
She perked up, glad that she hadn't ruined their night. "Sure. What?"
"What would you say if I suggested that we start looking for an alternative to T.C.?"
Max choked on her beer. "What!?" she was expecting something like 'should I get a bigger TV' or 'should I join a bowling league' and instead he's been sitting there pondering alternative housing for the entire Manticorian population.
"Well, after today, it's obvious that White is getting closer and his men are getting bolder. Today he managed to get to one of my best contacts. If he can get that kind of information, he may have more. I got captured by Familiars today. Maybe we'd be better able to protect ourselves if we were in greater control of our surroundings. Maybe living in the city with a giant sign that says "the freaks all live right here" isn't the best idea."
She thought about it for a minute.
While he was waiting for her to answer he took a minute to really look at her. 'God she's really beautiful' he thought to himself. He liked the way she wrinkled her
eyebrows together when she was really thinking hard about something. He found himself torn between smoothing out that spot with his fingers, or saying something
funny to make her laugh. Damn! I really am pathetic he realized what he was doing. Fortunately she was answering him.
"Alec, I like where I live…"she started.
"I know Max, so do I, but we're unprotected. White knows that many of us are living in TC, the cops know that many of us are living in TC. And even those of us
that don't live there spend an awful lot of time there." He was prepared with more, but she stopped him by placing her hand on his arm and leaning in closer to him.
"I know. I was just about to agree with you if you would ever let me finish."
"Oh. Good. Any ideas on a good location?"
"We'll bring it up to the others. Maybe someone else already had this thought and has a suggestion. We can stop by there in the morning on the way to work."
"What, you're not having breakfast with Biggs again?" Alec said with a small tinge of bitterness.
"What?" Max asked him confused.
"Nothing. Come on let's play some pool." He grabbed their drinks and headed for the back room.
Two hours later they were ready to call it a night.
"I can't believe you let that guy beat you" Max exclaimed as they walked out of the bar.
"I beat the guy once, then you beat him four times in a row. He thought we were hustlers. I have a 12-hour-old bullet wound in my leg, I was not in the mood to
fight the guy and have to pull my punches so he wouldn't get suspicious."
"Whatever you need to tell yourself, smart-ass"
"You mean Smart-Alec," he corrected.
"No I don't 'Dick'"
They were headed towards Alec's apartment. It was late, he was tired and she was feeling restless. It had kind of become a habit lately that on the nights she
couldn't sleep, she would go to Alec's to watch TV. She and Cindy didn't have one, and besides Alec slept better with her there. When he was alone he was
wide awake everytime he heard a creaking floorboard through the paper-thin walls. With Max there he could sleep soundly knowing that she was keeping watch.
She wasn't as into TV as Alec was,but there were a few shows that were interesting to her (she had just discovered Dawson's Creek reruns) and besides, it killed
time and gave her something to do.
The city was getting more and more dangerous for a transgenic, especially at night. It just wasn't safe for her to be running around the city on her Ninja when she
couldn't sleep. They were two blocks from Alec's having a friendly argument about whether Dawson or Pacey should end up with Joey when Alec stopped
suddenly, dropped into a crouch and reached out to stop Max. His left hand reached out and touched her leg. She too reacted instantly, mirrored his stance and
immediately began scanning the area for any possible threat.
Completing her scan and coming up with nothing, she looked questioningly at Alec. He signaled for her to follow him and they silently climbed up the fire-escape of
the nearest building. Carefully and gracefully they jumped rooftop to rooftop until they were across the street and two buildings down from Alec's building. They
peered over the ledge to the scene below. Down the block on the right there were two cars Alec didn't recognize. They weren't the usual Black SUV's or
HumVee's but definitely government vehicles. They could tell because nobodyin this neighborhood would be stupid enough to park a car that new and that shiny
on this street. Why not leave the car running with a sign on it that said "free. Take me please."
There was also a man walking slowly with a little dog on a leash. Max zoomed in with her enhanced vision and looked more closely at the man. His jeans were
ironed and had a crease down the front leg. Were these guys idiots? Who puts on clean jeans in the middle of the night to take their dog out to pee? Apparently
Familiars did not selective breed for 'attention to details'.
On the roof of each building adjacent to Alec's were two men with walkie talkies. They were being silent, but their antennas were sticking up and were visible.
Alec took a deep breath and gave Max a serious frown. Her eyes were wide as they took it all in. Neither of them said a word, but they both knew what the other
was thinking. Alec's apartment had been compromised. They could never go back there. And his only possessions now were what he had on him. If he weren't
already having such a bad day he would be more pissed about losing everything. He had kind of gotten used to having stuff that was his. He had clothes he liked, a
coffee mug he didn't let anyone else drink out of not even Max, not to mention the mother of all TV's he had scored from Brain's collection. But the truth was, he
was just happy to be alive. That was twice today he had come close to being snagged by White.
Max still didn't know what had tipped Alec off, but whatever it was had saved them both from walking into an ambush. They backed away like the cats they almost
were and headed for the sewers.
"Did you ever have one of those days where you wish you had just stayed in bed and skipped it?" Alec broke the silence, the Dawson v. Pacey debate long since
forgotten.
"Did you stop and think that if you had stayed in bed that you would've been there when the bad guys showed up?"
"Good point." They were well into the sewers and completely surrounded by the most horrible smell ever. Alec pulled his t-shirt up and covered his nose. "I just
meant that this had not been my day. My contact turned on me, I got captured by familiars, I got shot in the leg again, and now my apartment has been taken over
by the same bad guys that had ruined my day HOURS AGO! And if that's not enough, the icing on the cake is that NOW I am on a trip thru the sewers to you and
Cindy's place to crash on your lumpy couch. All in all-" He stopped when she reached her hand out and grabbed the front of his shirt, fisting it in her hand. He
looked at her and saw that Max had turned as white as a ghost.
"Max, what is it.?"
"Cindy.."she whispered and took off.
Realizing her fear at the exact same minute, Alec took off with her blurring towards Max's apartment. He stopped her when they reached the street level.
"Max wait!" he grabbed her arm. She struggled, blinded by fear for her friend. Unable to get through to her Alec tackled her and pinned her to the ground. "Max!"
"Let me go! I have to get to her!" she was making no progress getting him to release her. He held her as still as he could pinning her with all of his strength.
"Max think! They don't want her. They want us. If they have her, she's alive because they will use her to get to us. And if they are waiting for you before they
spring the trap then she's likely to get caught in the crossfire." Max heard him and let his words wink in. She stopped fighting him and he got off of her, pulling her
up with him.
They climbed to the top of the nearest building and jumped rooftop to rooftop until they could see her street. Again, were two out-of-place cars that were obviously
government-issue, and a suspicious stranger lingering on the street. Max's heart was racing. She was cursing herself for being weak and sentimental and not leaving
with Zack when he told her to. If anything happened to Cindy because of her--
Alec interrupted her train of thought. "Let me call her." He said as he reached for his phone.
"No! let me!" she reached for his phone, but he held it out of her reach.
"Max! If you call her it will look suspicious. Why would you call your own place? If I call, I'm just a guy looking to score."
Max relented again. She HATED it when Alec was in control and she wasn't. She had survived on her own for 10 years by following her quick impulses. Now that
she was looking out for others as well as just herself she had a hard time breaking that habit and weighing her options. That was another reason she had stayed
away from guns. She was more 'shoot first ask questions later' and that really got you nowhere when you needed information from the guy you just shot.
The phone rang twice before Cindy picked up. "Hell-o"
"Original Cindy" Alec said in the sexiest most seductive voice Max had ever heard. She did a double-take the second he opened his mouth. "I'm in the mood to be
corrupted by some of that Original Sin you do so well. Why don't you come over and give Uncle Alec some suga." Although the line was lame, Max felt herself
start to get a little warm. Damn that boy had sex appeal. It didn't matter what he said, it was the way he said it. He could make cleaning the oven sound sexy.
Original Cindy recognized Alec's voice immediately, and given the fact that he was very aware that she was not into that no matter how fine the boy was, she
realized something must be wrong. She played along. "I ain't comin' all the way ova there at this hour. But I am hungry. Why don't you buy a sista' some dinna'
and then she'll see if you are worthy of any of Original Cindy's time."
"Anything for you baby. The usual place?" he asked knowing that Cindy would head to Joshua's—well, Logan's now. "And bring some stuff, I'm gonna want a
couple of days worth of Original lovin'" He hoped that it would lessen the blow of her leaving behind everything if she could at least get a bag of her own stuff out
with her.
"See you in ten hotboy."
"Make it fifteen, I don't want to rush you."
"Fine. Later." She hung up.
"She's fine, and she understood." Alec said to Max as they headed towards Logan's.
Alec called Biggs next to get his ass over to Logan's along with a few others, and then he called Dix to tell him that Max and Alec's apartments had been
compromised and to organize a group of X's to check on all of the X's living outside of TC.
The X's all seemed to stick close to what was left of their units from back at Manitcore, so it usually didn't take more than one phone call to organize anything.
Alec's original unit was pretty much intact, but Biggs and Axel were the two he was closest to. He hadn't gone on too many missions with the larger unit.
He was usually sent in on a Solo-Op or as part of a small strike team. Alec, Biggs and Axel had worked well together and had a comfortable rhythm between them.
But beyond that, Alec kept mostly to himself. He had spent more time than anybody in Psy-Ops and Reindoc, and he never got back into step with the whole
unit. People tended to be wary of the Twins of the Niners as if they were just traitors waiting to happen. Everyone suffered in the aftermath of the escape. Everyone
had been afraid to go through that again. Now that they were all free it didn't really matter, but Alec mostly just stuck close to Max. He felt closer to her. Not only was she ostracized too, but she had known his brother. Alec had always wondered what it would have been like to have a brother. And sometimes, if he was lucky, Max would tell a story about Ben as a kid. He lived for those moments. He could stop and pretend he remembered his brother. When you have no family, you hold onto even the smallest scraps of memories, even if those memories aren't yours.
By the time he got off the phone he and Max had made it to Logan's but hadn't called ahead to warn him they were coming.
For the first time in all of the time that she had known him, Max knocked on the door. Alec looked at her questioningly.
"Hey, you say him and what's-her-name all over each other at crash, do you really want to walk in on anything they do behind closed doors?" she asked.
Alec smirked, "Pasta and conspiracy theories, yeah I'm sure that's hot."
Max was unable to respond because before she could even come up with a response the door opened to a confused Logan looking at his watch.
"Hey guys. Uhh, what's going on?" he looked confused.
Alec pushed his way inside. They had no time for politeness.
Max spoke while Alec headed into the basement to the small arsenal he had stored there 'just in case'.
"White found my place and Alec's place tonight. We just called Cindy to tell her to get out, and she's on her way here. We don't know if he's going to follow her
or what, so we gotta be prepared for anything." Alec walked back into the room and handed both Max and Logan each a gun. Max didn't even hesitate and
Logan's mouth dropped open. "I thought you 'didn't do guns'." He asked.
"Cindy's my family. And this is my fault. If I have to have this gun surgically attached to my hand in order to save her, I will."
Alec rolled his eyes. Just because someone didn't like something didn't mean that they didn't realize that there was a time and place for everything, and when
tangling with psycho-cult members, guns were kind of a good idea.
They heard a noise coming from the back and Max and Alec blurred around and leveled their guns at the sound. Logan was a little slower, but followed suit. Biggs,
Axel, Tron, Cece and Hugh entered the room. All five of them dropped to the floor as one. "What the Fuck!" Biggs called out from the floor.
"Sorry man" Alec apologized (did you really think it would be Max) and all three guns were lowered.
The five additional transgenics each had a bag with them. "We brought our stuff. Looks like fabulous TC is going to be home sweet home from now on." Cece said
as she dropped her bag in a corner and took point on the side window.
"Don't get married to the idea." Alec said, "But that is a topic for later. Everyone pick a position. Don't engage until Cindy's safety can be guaranteed."
They silently spread out. Max took the roof, Alec took the neighbors roof. Logan, Cece and Axel each took a corner of the house and Biggs, Tron and Hugh
followed Alec outside. Hugh smiled a rogue-ish grin and said "Just like when we were kids. Alec leads and we follow."
Fifteen minutes later Cindy was walking down the street a block away. She looked around casually and darted into the bushes of one of the houses. She crept into the backyard and made her way through several backyards until she was near Joshua's. As she got closer she felt a light touch on her arm. She looked up into Hugh's big blue eyes and he motioned for her to stay quiet and follow him. They entered Logan's house from the back and he hurried her into the basement.
Alec relayed the signal to Max that Cindy was inside and safe. She visibly relaxed but they couldn't abandon their positions yet. They needed to know that she hadn't been followed. They needed to know that she was going to be left alone. It was half an hour before anything happened.
Two of White's NSA lackeys were skulking around the neighborhood obviously trying to pick up Cindy's trail where they lost it. They didn't seem to be familiars,
and they didn't seem to be having any luck. The transgenics remained hidden and let the agents satisfy themselves that the girl had disappeared. Another half an hour later the agents were long gone and they all regrouped back at Logan's.
Max headed straight into the basement and hugged Cindy, tears streaming down her face.
"Relax girl! I'm fine." OC hugged Max tight.
"I'm so sorry Cindy. I should've moved out ages ago. I didn't mean to get you in the middle of this." Cindy pulled back to look Max in the eyes.
"Now stop right there. I didn't want you goin' anywhere. It's all good."
"Cindy! You just lost your apartment and everything you own. You can't go back there. It isn't safe."
"But I didn't lose you Max. Clothes can be replaced, you, my sistah, cannot." The two girls hugged again.
An hour later Logan, Cindy and the seven transgenics were sitting in the living room eating pancakes.
"So, what's the plan?" Logan asked as he put another large plate of pancakes on the table.
"Well, the immediate plan is for all of the X's living around Seattle to move into Terminal City with the others until we can find a better, more secure location."Alec
said.
Logan blanched, "Another location? I thought T.C. was safe for you because you were immune to the bio-toxins?"
"It is not tactically sound for us to stay in TC now that everyone knows that's where we are. One or two nicely placed bombs and the 'transgenic threat' is all
over." Max interjected.
"Where are you going to go?" Logan asked reminding himself that Max's safety and happiness needed to come before him own selfish need to have her close.
"We haven't decided yet." Alec said.
"I'll look into some places if you want. Just tell me what you are looking for and I'll get back to you." Logan offered.
"That's not a bad idea. I'll have Dix send you some parameters later today." Alec said as he helped himself to another pancake.
"What about Original Cindy?" Biggs spoke up "She can't come to TC with us and she can't go home."
"She can stay here." Logan offered "I have plenty of room."
"Thanks Logan, but I got me a fine sister with a sweet apartment that would love to have Original Cindy play house with her."
"The offer's still open if you change your mind."
"Thanks Logan."
"We had better head into TC. This is going to be a long day." Biggs changed the subject.
"Ah." Alec sighed "The story of my life."
"Suck it up soldier." Max joked as she started to clear away the plates. "Everybody ready?"
"Wait Max." Cindy grabbed the bag she brought from their apartment and handed it to Max. "I got some of your stuff before I left our apartment."
"My stuff? What about your stuff?" Max asked as she opened the bag to find it filled with her belongings.
"Don't sweat me boo, me and my new girl are the same size anyway. No big dealio." Cindy smiled.
"Alright, let's go." Alec interrupted.
Max hugged Cindy and they said their goodbyes as the other transgenics grabbed their stuff and headed out. Even Alec had a bag in his hand. He had forgotten that he had some things in the spare bedroom from when he had laid low at Joshua's after being mistaken for Ben.
Alec was the last one out and he stopped to talk privately to Cindy. He slipped a couple of hundred dollars into her hand and squeezed it shut. "That was a good thing you did Cindy. Bringing Max's stuff instead of yours."
"Yeah, well, I like to go shopping more than her anyway." She smiled.
"We're lucky to have a friend like you." He reached down and hugged her to him.
"Just keep my girl safe."
Alec looked her square in the eye and said, "I'd die before I let him have her, Cindy" and then he winked at her and walked out the door after the others before she
could respond.