A/N: hugs Infie for the extremely quick beta job. You are the very best!
A/N2: Thank you for reading and especially for your reviews. Yes, it was Highlander what I meant :).
The Modern Lazarus
"So let me see if I got it all," Alec was resting his chin in his hand, elbows propped on the table. "His name is Adam, he was one of the doctors at Manticore, and he suddenly showed up out of the blue to see what you knew about the breeding cult and to know if you were keeping tabs on them, oh and also, by the way, were you still in contact with the transgenics?" His eyes were pretty intent behind his carefree expression. "How very nice of him."
"Well, I don't like this one damn bit." Max said in her less than ceremonious way. "The dude is up to something. I say Alec and I go pay him a little visit, find out exactly what that is."
"Smooth, Max, real smooth." Logan said.
"Well, the guy knows about us, he knows about the cult and he knows you are Eyes Only. I don't think we'd exactly be giving anything away." She deadpanned.
"True." Logan conceded, "but we still don't know which side he's on."
"Hence the whole point of going there to get the info out of him."
"I think I'm with Logan on this one…" Alec said pensively. Then he smirked at Max's stare. "Yeah, yeah, I know how odd that sounds. But think about it, the guy comes out of the blue stirring up old stories about transgenics. He knows Logan is in contact with at least one transgenic." He looked at her pointedly. "Maybe he's expecting us to show up at his door, you know?"
Max huffed but gave in. One of the reasons she and Alec worked so well together was that they always, always saw things from different perspectives. "Okay, fine. But what do we do, then? Just sit around here waiting for him to make the next move?" Alec gave her his best 'get real!' face and then looked at Logan. "So, old buddy, you into some hacking tonight?"
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Alec looked at the beautiful woman crouching beside him. This was fun. Sure there was some guy that was probably a threat to them and blah, blah, blah. So what else was new? But he had gotten to act like his former burglary/covert-ops self four times so far this week… and with Max's company. It had really been a long while since they'd last done something like this.
He smiled, remembering the days at Terminal City. Man, those were some tense times. He and Max had had to do a lot of these types of operations, though usually for less glamorous ends, like putting food on the table. Those had been some rough months for them. But eventually, they'd found a way out. They'd lost some friends, but after a while the US government realized that unless they nuked the place, there was no way they were ever going to be able to get the transgenics.
And actually, White had gone a long way in helping them if not win the people's trust, at least diminish their hate a little bit. The man had been so obsessed about them and his son that he'd gone after them relentlessly, ruthlessly… and carelessly. In his mania he'd slowly but surely slipped, giving up more and more about his true nature. The transgenics had capitalized on this, helping him along the way. They'd made sure his craziness and obsession were seen by more and more people, they'd gotten him to blurt some of the cult's plan out, and they'd exploited the public's new panic, fuelling it, and later, capturing a large part of the cult in-flagrante. It had been all carefully staged, and the transgenics had not walked out unscathed, but the general public had mellowed some watching these freaks no one cared for giving their lives to save them.
Of course, it hadn't been an easy decision to make. Going to a war where they knew they were going to lose soldiers. But in the end, that was their purpose in life. At least it was for most of them. Max had felt squeamish about using their comrades' deaths but it was what they would have wanted. For their deaths to have a meaning. Not that Alec didn't feel a pang whenever he thought of some of the fallen, when he remembered Luke's innocent smile, or Lane's beautiful blue eyes, always full of life until that fateful night. But he pushed it aside, remembering that because of them, he and the rest of them were able to have a semblance of a life now. And he would never, ever forget the look in White's cold eyes as he watched the rest of his cult buddies die one by one and then his own life seeping away, the blood pouring out of the gunshot wounds in his chest. But most of all, he remembered his face when he realized not only that their master plans for controlling the world were history, but also that his death would serve to aid the transgenics in winning the public's good graces.
After that night, the transhumans had slowly begun leaving TC, going to different places around the world; places where there was still some isolation to be found. Mountains, deserts, forests… People left them alone for the most part. As long as they didn't see the freaks, they could go back to their little lives and pretend they didn't exist. The Xs had slowly integrated themselves into human life, mostly abroad, where not as many people had heard of them or cared. Of course, every now and then, there was an attack on transgenics, some vigilante group or other. But they knew how to take care of themselves. What had happened to Biggs was not going to happen to any more of them. And if they somehow managed to get a hold of or even kill a transgenic, these bastards were sure to disappear or die in really horrible, painful ways. Ways that always managed to look like unfortunate accidents.
Attacks on transgenics were very rare these days.
It was after White died that he and Max had gotten really close. They had worked together a lot during the whole TC situation, but after things settled, what with him staying around Seattle, they'd become friends.
The first months after Manticore had been burnt down, Alec had fantasized about finding a cure to Max's virus, and that then she'd be forever grateful to him. But nothing like that had happened. They'd found the cure for the virus, but it had not been Alec; it had been some of the more 'scientific' transgenics. So it was not gratitude that made them friends. It wasn't anything that happened suddenly, or that they'd analyzed, it just happened. It was as if they'd always been friends.
So right now, he was just happy to be spending time with his pal Max. It was true she was busier with the kids lately, so it was a rare time when they got to hang out so much. He laughed at himself and his definition of 'hanging out'.
"So what do you think this guy's up to?" Max asked suddenly, her brow furrowed, a pout on her lips.
"Beats me." He answered honestly. "But we're gonna find out."
"Damn right, we are." She said seriously, "I've worked my butt off and we've all sacrificed a lot to have the lives we do now. I ain't gonna have some Manticore punk destroying it all just for kicks."
He smiled at her expression but shook his head. "Okay, I think we pretty much established he's not home, right?" She nodded. They'd been staking out the house ever since Logan managed to hack the address out of some database or another a couple of days ago. "Then I think it's time for a little B&E, don't you think?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "You wanna do the honors?" She asked rhetorically, he was already wearing his black gloves and the ski mask was on the top of his head, ready to be pulled down.
He grinned. "Ladies first. I'm told there's this thing called chivalry." He winked.
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"So?" Logan asked them as they entered the house. He looked up from the floor where he was sitting, helping Zack and Sean work on a puzzle.
"Mom!"
"Uncle Alec!"
Both transgenics scooped up the little bundles running towards them, kissed them and then swapped them to do the same with the other.
"You staying for dinner, Alec?" Sean asked eagerly.
Alec looked at Logan and said: "Only if I'm invited."
Logan glared at him. They both knew he would stay even without the invitation. "Care to join us, Alec?" He said it anyway, for the children's benefit.
"It would be my pleasure."
"Yay!!!" The kids shouted simultaneously.
Max laughed and put Zack back down, telling him to go play a little more while Alec, daddy and she talked. The little rascal pouted but when he saw her resolution, shrugged and took Sean's hand to lead him back to the puzzle, shaking his head disapprovingly at the grown ups.
Logan smiled at the kid's antics but then turned to the transgenics again, "Anyway, you guys never answered my question… so?"
"So, I think the UCLA will win this year's championship. I think that guy Stevens is gonna take them to the playoffs and…" He smirked at Logan's glare. "Oh, you meant tonight! Forgive me, I should have deciphered your very specific question."
"We went in tonight." Max decided to ignore Alec. "There was nothing there."
"Nothing?" Logan frowned.
"Nothing." Alec sobered up. "Literally. The guy has absolutely no personal objects. The only things there are some books. Classics, mostly. So we know the guy likes classic lit. There was a nice stereo system, but nothing out of the ordinary. Regular clothes. The place is impeccably clean, but has a sort of… austere feel to it. No personality." He tossed a sideway glance at Max, who was staring at him. "What?"
"I thought you were too busy checking the stereo's value to get much of a look around." She jested, but added, "I've never heard you talk about getting a 'feel' of any of the places we've scouted before." She said honestly, a little surprised.
"Well, we were scouting for things before, not for people." He smiled sheepishly at her. "Training. They trained us for that sort of thing."
She nodded. She made no mention of assassinations, as she would have before, when they'd first met. She had come to accept him for who he was. Sure, he was a trained killer, but so was she. And he could be ruthless and calculating if he wanted to be. But he was Alec. And she loved him just the way he was.
And she understood completely what he meant, she might not have had as much training to pick these things up as he did, but she understood what he was talking about.
"So nothing, huh?"
He nodded. "The guy did not leave a trace of who he is in that house. Now, that does tell me something. It tells me he knows how to play the game. He knows how to not give anything away, yet make it a livable place. What I still don't know is whether he is always like that, or if it was just for our benefit because he knew we'd be coming for him."
Logan just shook his head. He had reached the same conclusion. But it was always unnerving to hear things like that from Alec. Even with a few more years, he still looked like the same carefree, selfish young man he'd met long ago. Logan knew intellectually that he was a soldier but he was usually so easygoing, so … Alec, he sometimes forgot.
The same thing happened to him with Max. He loved every bit of her. But watching her be a loving wife, a wonderful mother, a playful friend on a daily basis, it was always startling to watch her draw that Manticore blanket around herself and become that distant, cold soldier.
"So I guess we are back to square one. We need to know what he wants with us." He said out loud.
Max nodded. "Only difference is, we now know he's a player. Which we suspected from the beginning anyway."
Alec smiled. "So you're thinking it's time for the confrontation you wanted in the first place?"
"Well, why not?"
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Of course, there were a number of reasons why not. Then again, there was no convincing Max once she set her mind on something. So they'd reached a compromise. Alec watched Max and Logan walk towards the man sitting on the bench, overlooking the waterfront. They had agreed that since Max was pretty much a 'public' figure, and since anyone with a good memory or a desire to look up old newspapers would know Logan had married 'one of them', there was really no harm in the guy seeing her.
Alec, on the other hand, had always stayed in the shadows. Max had always teased him about it, wondering how it was possible for someone of his good looks to go unnoticed. Yet it was true. It was also part of his training. He winced just remembering the times when he had been stupid enough to go cage fighting. He guessed it had been his way of rebelling, of embracing the fact that he was free from Manticore. Stupid. But he'd learnt his lesson. He always kept himself away from the spotlight now. And even though he had been at the same places Max had, people would only vaguely recall that yeah… there had been a young man, good looking, but.. I can't quite remember him… If they remembered him at all. Which was just fine with him.
The place chosen for the meet was good from a security point of view. It was far away from any buildings. Which was why he was crouching on this terrace, using a pair of binoculars, and even with his enhanced sight and the mechanical help he could only see them as far away.
He could hear them, though.
"Dr. Oldman." Logan said, no inflection in his tone as he approached the sitting figure.
"Cale." The man said, turning around. And then, with a certain degree of amusement in his tone. "I see you brought the cavalry."
"Why don't we cut the crap and you tell us what the hell you want." Alec chuckled, listening to Max. Always so diplomatic.
"Care to take a seat?" The man asked politely, completely unruffled by Max's outburst. He watched her shake her head, stubbornly refusing. Atta girl, Alec thought. Make him turn around to look at you. He'd only been able to catch a glimpse of the man's features, just a part of his profile. The man, however, only shrugged and turned back to face the water. Alec sighed.
Logan had no choice but to move around the bench to face Adam. Max stayed stubbornly at the side of the seat.
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The man's eyes sparkled with amusement at the woman's pouty face. She was really not happy to be here. He could completely understand. There was nothing like the bliss of anonymity and it was really uncomfortable to let go of it. Unless one wanted to, of course, or it was necessary… or one was terribly bored. She still looked gorgeous, pout and all. The sight of her made the whole Manticore project worthwhile. How could something be bad if it created such beauty?
"Okay, we are here. What do you want?" She said testily.
He put his hands on the pockets of his coat, squinted his eyes, looked out at the ocean and sighed. "I want to tell you a little story."
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Columbia – 2000 AD
It was a rainy night at the Campus of the University of Columbia. The big fat drops were splashing loudly on the skull of the dark haired man squinting his eyes below a streetlamp. He turned the lapels of his raincoat up and run his hands up his arms, as if to keep the cold at bay.
A dark blue car pulled over in front of him and the back door opened.
"It's about bloody time." He mumbled as he got in and closed the door behind him.
"Patience, my friend, patience. It is a great virtue."
"It is indeed. Just better exercised when one is not freezing to death in the rain."
The white haired man in the army gear grinned. "Come on, my boy, let's get the show on the road."
Twelve hours later – Gilette, Wyoming
It was a well-lit chamber. Two rows of computers covered the walls on the sides, their monitors showing diverse images, from uncommon DNA sequences to 3D blueprints. The far wall had a big diagram hanging from it. People were bustling in and out of the room, charts in their hands, looking busy.
They all stopped and shook Adam's hand at a single gesture from Sandeman, to greet the new arrival.
"And this is Donald Lydecker. He'll be in charge of the X5s' military training." Dr Sandeman finished the introductions. "The project has already started, as you know, but now we are getting to the interesting part."
Adam looked duly impressed. The authorities of Columbia University had described him as 'a very gifted young man', but to these people he was a newbie, so he played the part. He'd written a number of papers on recombined genetics, ones that had impressed some of the faculty although most didn't understand. But here, everyone did.
Of course, being here had been his objective all along, so maybe he had written them so they would. He mentally rolled his eyes at himself, who cared?
He looked at the military uniforms and shook his head internally. Them he could have done without. He'd never cared much for the 'boys in green'. But this was where things were happening, so this was where he had to be.
"So it is real, after all." Adam mused.
"Oh, yes, my boy, it is." Sandeman replied with a smile.
"Well, I can't say that it isn't a bit scary, but darn, it's exciting!" He looked at the genetic map of the X5s displayed on a big screen before him and continued as if to himself, "Perfect. The living proof of what man and science can accomplish." He shook his head in awe.
Dr. Sandeman smiled and extended his hand, signaling to a door on his right. "Care to join me? I'll show you to your quarters, and then you can get to work."
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Adam blinked and focused on the water before him, shaking the images of the past from his eyes.
"But the reason I was so interested in him in the first place, the reason I finally gave up and joined this military venture was not a fascination for the project itself, although that might have been enough. No, it was the fact that I needed to know why he was in it. You see? I knew what he was. A Familiar. They were all about the breeding. And yet he was dabbling into genetics? Something was up. And I needed to know what." He stopped to smile at them, they were so .. young, so eager. "Why, you are asking yourselves? Well, I don't know. Maybe I was young and idealistic? Perhaps I just wanted to save my own neck. Does it really matter?" He sighed when they failed to follow his reasoning.
"I spent years in the research department. I had figured out what it was he wanted to achieve with the transgenics. But it wasn't until years later that I was able to see how he'd done it. And I must say it was bloody brilliant. When I saw what he'd done, it was just so simple, so obvious. What I still could not see was the why. How did it fit into their plans? Then I realized… it didn't. This was his plan. Not the Familiars'; his. He disappeared around that time. And I stayed there. I was just fascinated by you kids. I had kind of... taken a liking to you all."
"Nice to know we were able to entertain you." The girl said bitterly. "Just not enough to help us, huh?"
He scrunched his nose. "I know, I know, you weren't having a great time. But what was I to do? You were just kids. I couldn't very well send you all out there on the world, could I? I knew how people would react. And you had no way of fending for yourselves." He raised a hand at her blazing look. "Fine, fine, you and the rest of your unit did, but I had no way of knowing that at the time, had I? For all I knew, you were all dead." He made a dismissive gesture with his hands. "Anyway, I would have been in a lot of trouble had I tried to sneak any of you off the base. Things got pretty rough after you kids escaped. The rest of the X5s… they didn't have such a good time." He watched her eyes turn darker, shadows coming into them. He was sorry for having to use guilt against her, but it had served the purpose of deflecting her accusations from him, had it not? "I tried to ease things as much as I could from the inside. And I took the opportunity when I knew about Eyes Only. There was nothing I could do overtly, but I knew he'd be able to take more direct actions."
Cale looked at him hard. "How did you know that?"
"Well, you are the kind of guy who would have to do something about it. No matter how stupid it was. You would just try to help." He smiled vaguely. "I've known some people like that. No matter the odds, no matter if there's nothing at stake for them, they just have to go and do the right thing."
"Well, what's wrong with that?" The other man said defensively.
"Nothing," he smirked and held his hands up. "I love good guys."
"Anyway, that's all ancient history, we are out, the Familiars are toast. So why are you telling us all this?"
"Well, that's just it. They aren't. Toast was it you said? I am afraid they are very much not."
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A/N3: oh! I had forgotten to thank Dani for the M/A relationship here. It was a long time ago, on a chat conversation, that we expressed our desire to have a nice M/A banter but without the romantic complications. Of course, I wasn't planning a crossover, or even a story, but this stuck with me, so.. Thanks, Dani!