A/N: I am SO sorry, I realize most of you probably do not even recall what this is about.. er.. just remember it's a Highlander crossover.. just pretend it.. came back from among the dead... ;)

A/N2: hugs Infie for checking this out for me and always helping me improve

A/N3: Thank you for reading and especially for your reviews.

The Modern Lazarus

"Did you buy any of that?" Max asked as soon as they were back together.

"Some of it." Alec shrugged. "He still left a lot out."

"Did you get a good look at him?" Logan asked, going for more practical matters.

Alec shook his head in the negative. "He only turned briefly, and when he left the lapel of his coat was turned up and he was looking down. There is something familiar about the way he moves, though. I've definitely seen him before. I just can't quite place where. But I guess Manticore, huh?"

Max sighed. "All right, so he says he got into the Manticore project because he hoped to fix things in this world, that he knew it was a military joint, which he didn't much care for, but that it was the place to be." She frowned and looked at the men, "You buy that 'didn't care much for it' shit?"

"I don't know. I think he probably just said that because he knows how you guys must feel about military environments." Logan pointed out.

"That's probably the reason he said it, I agree, but I think it's true. He's not a soldier." He raised his hand looking at them, "I just don't feel he'd like the restrictions."

"Well… most scientists don't." Logan nodded.

"And I do believe he went into the project for reasons that had nothing to do with building weapons, but everything to do with science, and making us." Alec continued. "I just don't know why."

"Well, I am still a bit foggy about what exactly he was trying to tell us. Why come forward now? If he knew about the Familiars, if he knew Sandeman was one of them, why tell us now?" Max was frowning again.

"And how did he know, for that matter?" Alec continued for her. "Not like Familiars were known for their love of the spotlight. How could he have found out?" He asked pointedly, raising his eyebrow at her. They were both thinking the same thing…. Which was echoed aloud by a little voice on the corner.

"He was one of them, duh!" Sean said, not lifting his head from the miniature electric tower he was building.

"I'm sorry, Sean, what did you just say?" Logan asked, missing the glance exchanged by the two transgenics.

"Well, if it's a secret society no one knows about, he musta been one of 'em to know, right?" Sean raised his big eyes to his dad.

"I think the kid's got a point." Logan muttered.

"Well, that gives us one more headache." Alec muttered.

"Huh?"

Max nodded at Alec, "If a five year old could figure it out, that means he wanted us to know."

"Or he was misleading us." Alec finished the thought.

"Whichever one, we're still were we started: in fucking trouble."

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"Where have you been, gorgeous?" The purr came from the couch in his living room.

He smirked and shook his head, tossing the keys on a table across the room. "Missed me?"

A head of gloriously thick, wavy light brown hair rose from behind the green sofa and smiled sexily at him. "Terribly."

"I don't recall giving you the keys to my apartment." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Probably because you didn't." She tossed back, no trace of regret in her voice.

He laughed, "I would try changing the locks, but that wouldn't do any good, would it?" Her grin widened as she shook her head. "Yeah, I thought so..." he concluded, losing the jacket on the way to the bar.

His apartment was a blend of tastes and times, pretty much like his personality. It was austere, with a few touches of luxury, like the 52 inch plasma screen TV, or the state of the art stereo system. The couch his visitor was occupying, on the other hand, was old. Really old. As in worn out, with some stains that just wouldn't come off; some artistically ripped seams, and he liked it that way. It gave his apartment a kind of homey feel.

That last thought made him frown, thinking about their new scientist 'friend'. He had a funny feeling about the guy. He was sure he'd seen him before, but something was wrong, something was nagging at him and he couldn't quite figure it out.

Janice tilted her head to the side and the bouncing of her hair brought him back to the present. He looked at her pouty face and smile. She was good for him; she would keep him entertained the whole night. It was just what he needed.

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Janice was propped on an elbow, looking down at Alec's sleeping form. Her eyes roamed up and down his gloriously naked body, reveling in its every exquisite detail. He was so handsome, all of him.

Her gaze lingered on his legs. She'd never been one to check out a guy's legs much, but damn if he didn't have the most perfectly muscular ones. Not to say anything about his delicious buns.

She looked back up at his face, touching the hair on his forehead with the tip of her fingers. He was a gorgeous devil. But that was not it.

She was an X5. She was familiar with perfect bodies. She'd grown up around them. Alec was different. He was a constant challenge. He never stayed the same. He was so intense, so passionate, so detached; so open and so private; so mature and so childish.

She was madly in love with him.

She wasn't sure if he knew or not. He was pretty intuitive, but she was trained at concealing her emotions too. She wasn't planning on telling him, either. He didn't want any complications in his life. She wouldn't give him any. She'd just seize any moment she could get with him.

Which didn't seem like it would last much longer. She sighed as his cell phone began to vibrate. She glanced at the display on the bedside table. 'MAX' it read. She resisted the urge to groan. That would definitely not do. If there was one thing she learned was that she should never, ever, try to get between Alec and Max. Alec did not have many friends. Max was one of them.

She hadn't been around at the time, but she'd heard about the one they called Biggs. He'd been Alec's friend. And there had been a redhead, too... Lane? Lynn? They'd both been killed. Alec was over it, he wasn't still grieving or anything. But he didn't let anyone get that close to him anymore. Only Max and Joshua had penetrated that barrier. Well… and the kids.

With a final hungry look, she nudged him on the shoulder.

"Alec. Alec, your phone is ringing." She whispered softly.

She watched his beautiful hazel eyes focus on her first, a lazy smile touch his lips. He extended his arm back to reach for the cell, all the while looking at her, making her skin burn. Then he glanced at the display, pushed a button and started talking; all thoughts of her forgotten.

She rolled to the side and then got off the bed.

She knew she was as well as dismissed.

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"So anything new?" Alec asked as he got to the house, his hair still wet from his shower. He'd showered and changed as soon as he got the call from Max. Janice had already left by the time he'd finished talking. One of the things he really liked about her, she knew when not to be on his hair. She understood him. She was just like him.

"Logan's been investigating, but so far, he's got nothing more on this guy's past than his Columbia records." She shook some computer printouts in her hands. "Born in 1989 in Wales, went to school there, graduated from high school in the top ten percent of his class. Got a scholarship to a local university where he majored in biology. Then applied and got a scholarship at Columbia. His parents died in a car accident when he was twelve. No other relatives. There's nothing on him after Columbia, which pans out with him being at Manticore." She recited the whole thing, sounding faintly bored.

"So, nothing new." Alec surmised.

"Not a thing." She nodded. "We are trying to look up other people he might have gone to school with, trying to find a Familiar connection. Problem is, there aren't that many records of his time in Wales."

Alec nodded. "Hey! Maybe we should make a little trip across the pond, you know? Just for investigative purposes." When Max shook her head at him, he shrugged. "Fine, you don't have to come, I can go on my own." He moved to the side to avoid her fist.

"Come on, Alec, get serious."

"Alright, alright." He sighed dramatically. "Where's Logan?"

"He went to see a friend of his with the list of people from Columbia."

"Okay." He dropped onto a nearby couch, resting his head on the back of it, closing his eyes. "So Logan's taking care of our mystery guy. Let's focus on what he said."

"About the Familiars still being around?" she asked.

Alec nodded his agreement. "The only way he'd know they are still around, would be for him to be in contact with them… or," he watched Max's eyes turn darker as she reached the same conclusion.

"...for him to still be a part of the cult." They finished in unison.

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It was a barely lit room, a basement of some sort. A flight of stairs that went up to a closed trap door adorned the far corner. Candles were spread across the walls every metre. A man in his early forties stood in the center of the room, wearing a brown robe; a group of twenty or so figures also dressed in robes were circling him, slowly moving around the room, chanting. A thick snake was curled at the man's feet, its hissing only heard when the chanting fell low.

The man started speaking in a guttural language. The others stopped chanting and hummed their agreement.

The man raised a knife and stabbed the snake at his feet. He twisted his hand and lifted the reptile, still writhing around the blade. The snake's blood flooded down the man's muscled arm as he turned around for everyone to see.

The robed figures bowed their heads as the man faced them, to show their reverence.

The dark haired man with hazel eyes lowered his painted face too. He took the opportunity to scrunch his nose. What was it with all these rituals of sacrifice? In all his life, he'd studied hundreds of cults and religions, and they never failed to involve some kind of bloody sacrifice. There had been a time when he would have enjoyed it. But now he took them as what they were. Plainly disgusting acts. Yet they evidently served their purpose in fulfilling some sort of need human nature had for them.

When the man in the middle of the room finished his slow spin, he lowered his arm and sat down on the floor, head bowed. The rest of them chanted their way up the stairs and disappeared into the confines of the big dark castle-like house.

The hazel-eyed man left last of all, glancing back at the man in the centre of the room, who looked up at him and nodded. He nodded back and continued up the stairs, smirking with amusement.

Five thousand years, give or take, and life never ceased to amuse him.

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"So, nothing?" Logan frowned, readjusting his glasses.

"Zero, zilch, nada," answered the Hispanic man looking up at him from behind a screen. "I got all the Columbia records, but not even a picture of him. You sure this guy isn't a government agent?"

"Right now, buddy, I am not sure of anything." Logan grimaced, "But I don't think so. He was at some point though, so the government may have made some of this stuff up…" His eyes sparkled, "Why didn't I think of this before? Let's look at this from another angle. Let's say he IS a government type, where would he have gone for a 'record'?"

Arturo smiled as he caught Logan's drift.

"Oh, yes, 'mano, I think we're on to somethin'" Arturo said, starting to dial a number.

Logan was already focused on the laptop before him.

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"Got it!" Logan announced happily as he entered the house.

"What's that?" Alec lazily tore his gaze from the TV screen while his fingers continued moving on the joystick, much to the kids' amusement. He did not even falter and passed to the next level of the game.

"Wow! That is so cool, uncle Alec!" Zack exclaimed.

"How did you do that?" Sean said simultaneously.

Alec just smirked and lowered his voice, so Logan wouldn't hear, "One day, I'm gonna tell you guys all about a mission I had at this video game company; you boys'll love it." He winked, "But, shh," he added, with a conspiratorial look, "It's top secret." The boys nodded eagerly and started putting the joysticks and game console away, making Logan look at them and then at Alec suspiciously. The X5 just smiled.

"Hey, baby, what have you got?" Max inquired from the doorway to the back yard, cleaning her hands with a ragged cloth. She'd been working with her new bike, which was a hobby of hers.

"I finally got a lead on our mystery guy." Logan sat before the coffee table and put the folder he was carrying on it. "We were trying to find more about his past, and couldn't come up with anything. Then it struck me, I remembered Alec's words about this guy being a player, put it all together, and realized that if he was working for Manticore, maybe his so-called past was a government invention, especially considering how 'clean' it was." He watched the nodding expressions of the two transgenics. "And if it wasn't…"

"Then he'd used one hell of a source to get a past good enough to fool Manticore." Max finished for him.

"Not too many of those." Alec continued, thoughtful. There weren't that many people who were that good a forging a 'past'. If the government had done it, Logan's friend would know how to get the info. If they hadn't, well, there were only a handful of specialists good enough to create a record that would fool the government as Max had pointed out. Yes, it was a good lead. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

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