Chapter 9

Alec was a tempest of emotions.

Standing in front of him was the bane of his existence.

He was literally shaking hands with the man who had single handedly delivered him into Psy-Ops more than any other transgenic in history (besides Brin.) He was also the man responsible for most of the tension between him and Max. And he was probably the reason that he didn't have the balls to make a move on Max even though she was really done with Logan. (But he really wasn't ready to explore that emotion).

But, the other side of the coin, Ben was his brother. His Brother.

When you have spent your whole life with no real family, that's not something to be taken lightly.

Ben watched the emotions passing through his brother's eyes.

He had a pretty good idea what Alec was thinking. Brin had told him about their joint experience in Psy-Ops and what they had done to Alec because of him. Not that Ben didn't get a grand tour of that particular brand of torture himself, but that was because of his own actions, not someone else's. He wasn't sure how well Alec would take coming face to face with him.

He took an involuntary step backwards.

Biggs broke the silence. He put a hand on Alec's shoulder but kept his eyes on Ben. "Hey man, you don't have to go tonight."

Axel found his voice again and spoke too. "Yeah. I mean, you'll miss the celebratory trip to the strip club, but you've seen a naked girl before, right?" he grinned and clapped him on the back.

Leave it to a transgenic to make an inappropriate joke to take the emotion out of an emotional moment.

Alec returned Axel's smile and then looked back at Ben. He wasn't ready to deal with this yet. "No. I'm going."

"Then we head out in ten." Biggs said as he motioned for Axel to follow him leaving Ben and Alec alone for a minute.

Ben cleared his throat. "I'm sure there is a lot you want to say, or bones you want to break, but I'm here because of Brin."
Alec pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't handle her on my own. She's…" he paused looking for the right word. "…damaged. One day she's fine and then the next she's talking to people who aren't there. I found a whole notebook filled with 'Mission. Duty. Dis-"

"Don't finish that!" Alec interrupted.

"I know what crazy is Alec. I've been there. And Brin has that look in her eyes."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. But I sure as hell don't know what to do. And I know you care about her just as much as I do-"

"More." Alec interrupted harshly.

"Then help me."

Alec looked at the helpless look on his brother's face and his heart melted. Manticore had robbed them of so much, he wasn't going to lose any more.

He nodded. "Ok."

Ben smiled.

"What about Max?"

Ben's smile slipped. "Max?"

"Yeah, Max. What do you plan to say to Max?"

"Max is here?"

"Of course Max is here."

"Oh God!"

Alec put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Whoa! I'm not a priest. Don't kill me."

Ben gave him a dirty look.

"What? Too soon for brotherly bonding? No jokes yet? Fine." He turned serious again. "What are you going to do about Max?"

"I thought Max was dead. I thought she was killed when Manticore went down."

"What the hell is it with you two? She thinks you are dead, you think she's dead…"

"She thinks I'm dead?"

"Well, she did kill you herself. It kind of follows that after you kill someone, they are dead."

"You're a fan of the sarcasm aren't you?"

"Keeps me sane." Alec joked.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Did it occur to Max that she died and Manticore brought her back to life? Did it occur to her that Zack blew his brains out and Manticore brought him back to life? Was it too much of a stretch that they could bring me back?"

"Actually, no. But I guess we kind of figured that if they did, somebody would've known about it."

"Well, I got an extended stay in Psy-Ops."

"Funny, so did I." Alec said with a tinge of bitterness.

"Hey Alec! Five minutes man!" Axel interrupted from the doorway.

"Shit." Alec said. "Look, I have to go. It's a two-day mission. I'd take you with me, but I don't want to leave Brin alone with Max that long if she's that unstable. I also don't want to leave you here for Max to just run into. She's going to need to be prepped first. She's beaten herself up pretty badly about killing you."

"Those are kind of the only two available options, huh?"

Alec's eyes brightened as a light-bulb went off in his head. "Actually, no. Come with me."

"Hey Luke!" Alec called as Ben followed him further into HQ.

"Hey Alec!" He looked up. "And guy who looks exactly like Alec." He looked back and forth between the two men.

Alec rolled his eyes. This would take some getting used to. "Yeah, look, I need a favor. Well, two favors, but whose counting?"

"Anything." Luke beamed at the thought of being someone Alec came to when he needed a favor (or two).

"I need you to arrange transport for my cough uh, this guy, cough and a friend, over to Logan's. Can you handle it?"

"Sure. Is Logan expecting them?"

" He will be. And, I need a secure cell phone for, uh, this guy." Alec indicated he was talking about Ben.

"My name's Ben by the way. I used to go by 'this guy', but it got too confusing." Ben introduced himself to Luke and shook his hand.

Alec chuckled in spite of himself.

"Thanks Luke." Alec said. He turned to Ben "Go get Brin and get back here in ten. Luke will take care of everything." Luke sat straighter in his chair. He felt important here.

"Sure." Ben turned to walk away and stopped. "Hey Alec, who's Logan?"

Alec laughed. "Don't worry, he's gonna love you! Oh! And Ben! Sneak and creep, huh? Don't run into Max."

"No problem, little brother." Ben flashed Alec a familiar—no, bad choice of words—a grin that he had seen in the mirror many times (that's better).

Alec returned the grin and flipped open his cell dialing Logan as he headed down to meet Axel and Biggs.

"Logan, buddy! Need a favor"

Don't you always?

"Seems that way these days, but you know 'quid pro quo'. How many favors did I do for Eyes Only back in the day?"

Yeah, yeah. You know I'll do it, what do you need?"

"I need you to house a couple of friends of mine. For a couple of days."

What kind of friends?

"A crazy person and a dead person."

What?

"Just kidding, just kidding. Two X-5's. Two days."

Fine.

"And Dix is sending a care package. He rigged up something technical looking for you."

Great.

"They'll be there within the hour. Have fun. Oh! And keep them away from my piano.."

I'll try.

"Thanks Logan. I appreciate this."

No problem.

Alec, Biggs and Axel casually walked through the crowd on their way to the storage unit. Even thought they could easily jump the fence, they cut a hole in it to prevent being identified as transgenics. They found the unit the X-6's had stored the motorcycles they 'borrowed' for this mission without incident. Biggs unlocked the lock and lifted the door.

"I call the red one." Alec said knowing that Axel would be pissed. He had a sudden realization that he had been wrong before. He hadn't been without a family. He'd had two brothers all along. Biggs and Axel might not be genetically related to him, but they were his brothers.

"Bastard." Axel said as he turned toward the blue one.

"I call the blue one." Biggs said winking at Alec.

"Oh come on!" Axel complained knowing full well that they were being difficult on purpose.

Alec and Biggs laughed and pushed the bikes out of the unit. Biggs locked the door behind them and they headed out.

Alec mounted his 'borrowed' motorcycle, and followed Biggs and Axel through the first check point.

It was a nine-hour ride to their destination.

Alec knew he should be tired, but the events of the past few hours had given him so much to think about, he wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway.

He was suddenly glad that they took motorcycles. He was not in the mood to talk about it. Yet.

Biggs watched Alec in his rearview mirror. He wanted to say something, but what do you say in this situation? He knew that Alec knew he would be there if he needed him.

Axel caught Biggs eye and signed for him to lead the way. He nodded.

Let Alec zone out and think. Biggs would lead them, this time.

Axel fell in behind Alec, and the three men sped off toward a possible future for their people.

Max woke to the sound of fighting. She jumped to her feet and looked around trying to get her bearings. She remembered that she was on the roof. She walked to the edge and looked down to the sounds that had awoken her.

There were two X-6's fighting in an alley below her. She knew this 'game'. It started off with one fighter. Every 15 seconds or so a new fighter would enter into the fight replacing his opponent. Through the course of the exercise, that one fighter ended up fighting everybody. This was one of Manticore' favorite training exercises. The replacement fighters were supposed to be watching the main fighter and looking for a weakness to attack when they stepped in. The main fighter was challenged by fighting off everyone no matter what style they attacked him in. It was effective, until the fighter got too tired, or too hurt and then the replacements were supposed to beat the shit out of him. She knew these kids would stop before it got to that, but it still made her shiver. She'd always hated this 'game'.

She turned to head down the stairs noticing that she was bleeding again. She lifted her shirt. She hadn't pulled out any stitches, but she was bleeding lightly anyway. Typical.

She was halfway to her apartment when she changed directions.

She decided she'd head over to see Joshua instead of going home.

As she rounded the corner, she ran smack into a hard muscled chest, throwing her off balance and landing her on her ass.

"Dammit!" she yelled as she felt two stitches pop with the impact of her fall.

"Oh shit! Sorry!" Ben extended a hand to help her up as she looked up to see who her 'attacker' was.

"Jesus Alec! Watch where you're going!" she said as she allowed him to pull her to her feet.

He looked down into the woman's eyes for the first time and realized who he had just assaulted. Max! "Max?" he whispered.

"You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He laughed nervously not knowing what to say. "Uh. I'm just late."

She looked at her watch."Wow! Really late. Better get going." She smiled at him, "Hey, be careful." She said imitating Logan trying to joke with him.

He didn't take the bait.

"You're bleeding." He said taking note of the blood accumulating on her shirt.

"Yeah, well your stitches would hold if you would stop knocking me on my ass."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry. She'll be alright." She said hugging him.

"Who?" he asked too shocked by the action to remember to hug her back.

"Brin. Hey, are you wearing cologne or something?"

"No." he said pulling away.

"You smell different."

"Whatever. I gotta go." He turned and headed off as quickly as he could.

"See ya." She said as he disappeared around a corner She watched him go with a confused expression on her face.

Ben stopped when he was around the corner resting his head against the wall. He tried to compose himself. He really hadn't been prepared to run into Max. And it hurt that she hadn't even been able to recognize him. He was her brother for Christ's sake! And she looked at him and saw Alec. He punched the wall in front of him leaving a big hole. dammit!.

Alec, Alec. It was always Alec.

In Reindoctrination he had been forced to watch hours worth of images of Alec. Alec training. Alec on missions. Alec being a hero. Alec being a champion. Alec being perfect. He had tried so hard to be like Alec. But he never could. He never would. And his own sister couldn't even see him. All she could see was Alec.

Ben cursed himself for not being Alec. He couldn't even follow Alec's orders. Alec told him not to run into Max and what did he do? He not only ran into Max, He ran into Max. Idiot!

He pulled himself together and headed off towards Brin's room.

There would be time for his inferiority complex later.

An hour later, a van deposited Ben and Brin in front of an old house.

"Are you sure this is it? This is our 'safe house'? It looks condemned."

"Don't worry. I've been inside. It's perfectly safe." Hugh smiled at his former CO's twin.

"If you say so."

He waved at their escort and headed up the steps guiding Brin with a hand at the small of her back.

They knocked on the door.

A moment passed without an answer, and they knocked again.

They heard a strange whirring sound accompanying footsteps and a man opened the door looking confused.

"What are you doing?" the man asked.

"Huh?" Ben asked.

"Why didn't you just come in?"

"I thought it would be rude."

"Riii-ght." The man looked at him strangely and moved out of the way gesturing for them to enter.

Brin and Ben took in their surroundings as they followed their host into the living room.

"Nice computer." Brin commented.

"Thanks. I'm Logan by the way." He introduced himself to Brin.

"Brin." She said shaking his outstretched hand and smiling brightly. he's cute

"Brin?" he asked. "As in Max's Brin?" Logan returned her smile.

"You know Max?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah. We used to be involved." He said awkwardly. Brin's smile faded.

"Really?" Ben asked sounding surprised.

"Don't be a dick." Logan said raising his eyebrow as he looked pointedly at him.

"What? I'm just saying you don't look like her type." Ben answered innocently.

"Right. And you do." Logan shot back.

"What? That's sick." Ben cringed.

"What the fuck are you even doing here?" Logan blurted out momentarily losing his temper in the face of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. "I thought you said you needed me put up two of your friends." He asked after regaining control of his emotions.

"Me? I didn't ask you for shit." Ben responded confused by the older man's attitude.

"What?" Logan asked.

And then it all clicked into place for Ben. Alec. He had forgotten that this man knew Alec, not him.

Of course. "Maybe we should start all over. I'm Ben. It's nice to meet you." He said extending a hand to the older man.

"Ben?"

"That's what I said."

"Right, Alec. Very funny. Ben's dead."

"Ben's dead?" Brin asked in a panicked voice.

Ben instantly reached for her and put his arms around her. "No, Brin. I'm right here. Listen to my heart beating." He gave the older man a pointed look as he calmed his sister.

"You're serious?" Logan asked genuinely surprised.

"Dead serious." Ben smirked.

"Sorry man." Logan apologized reaching out to shake Ben's hand. "Alec didn't warn me. He's kind of got a sick sense of humor."

Brin relaxed and pulled way from Ben.

Ben shook the older man's hand. "I'm beginning to see that. No worries, though."

As they released hands, Logan's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the floor. He broke out in a sweat and developed welts on his skin almost instantaneously.

Brin screamed.

Ben didn't know what to do.

He dropped down to the floor beside Logan. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"The virus."

"What virus?"

"Alec.." he choked out.

"I'm NOT Alec!" Ben yelled.

"Call...Alec." Logan managed before he lost consciousness.

"Oh." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his new cell phone.

He speed dialed Alec.

Alec felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He saw the number and flashed his lights indicating to Biggs and Axel that they should pull over.

He flipped open the phone as he slowed to a stop.

"Having fun?" he asked his brother, smirking as he imagined the exchange that had taken place between Ben and Logan.

No! Ben yelled sounding like Alec did when he was trying not to panic about something. He could also hear Brin screaming in the background.

"What's going on." Alec asked in his CO voice.

I think I killed him.

"WHAT!"

Well, I shook his hand..

Alec interrupted, "and what? You didn't like his grip, so you killed him?"

Biggs and Axel looked up hearing that part of the conversation.

No! He just fell on the floor all sweaty and sick. He said something about a virus, told me to call you, and then passed out. What do I do?

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" Alec fumed. Could he not go one day without giving Max a new reason to hate him?

"Are you touching him? Stop touching him!" Alec ordered. "And what the hell is wrong with Brin."

Ben stood up and put an arm around Brin drawing her head to his chest so she could hear his heartbeat. It usually seemed to calm her.

She's ok. Now what? What's wrong with him?

"Manticore created a virus specifically targeted to his DNA. Max is a carrier and apparently, so are you."

Oh. Shit.

"Yeah."