Title: Just the Truth
Author: Athena
Rating: PG-13
Show: Dark Angel
Genre: Drama/Action/Romance
Pairing: M/A
Summary: Max, Alec & Logan realize some things about each other. And someone reacts very, very bad.
Author's Comments: It's my first fic, so don't be so bad...
I want to thank Izabelevans for all her help… without you, I'd never finish this chapter…
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, well, maybe some characters I made up, but nothing more… J
CHAPTER 5: DECISIONSLogan was staring the screen with a huge smile in his face. Max and Alec were fighting. Like always. He didn't know the reason, but he didn't care. This image was enough to make him happy. Things were coming back to normal; Max was coming back to him.
And with this thought in mind, he broke the link with TC system and made his way to his room. He really deserved to sleep.
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TC. 7:00am.
Alec was on his bed, fully dressed and completely awake. He came back to his room for some sleep, but he just couldn't. His fight with Max didn't let him. why we have to fight like that? He loved to be around her, but sometimes she was so frustrating. He knew it was a low blow mentioning the "Marian situation", but he didn't think about it at the moment. Besides, she started a voice in his mind said.. It doesn't matter, I shouldn't have said it He better than anyone knew that she wasn't guilty. In fact, his testimony was the only thing that saved her from expulsion or something worse. And now she must be thinking that he thought otherwise. And it wasn't fair. He would never be against her. Never.
Flashback
He had just seen the fight scene in one of the surveillance monitors and he was in shock. Why the hell Max is fighting with these girls? I need to stop her Everyone was running to the place they were fighting. He ran too, as faster as he could, trying to find them first.
And then he found them, like he was guided by instinct, Max against 4 X5 females, receiving the punches and kicks from the other girls, trying to kick them back, but her reflexes weren't good. She was almost unconscious. He could swear it was the pride the only thing that let her continuing fighting. "Stop!" he yelled with a command voice. All the girls, including Max, suddenly stopped. He and Max locked gazes for a moment, and then she fainted. He asked one of the girls, the new one, about the reason of the fight. She told him about their talking. "I think she must hear us" she said, "and she must be mad about Marian's plans. It's the only explanation".
Interesting, he thought. He must set things straight with Marian. But not today. He took Max to his apartment, and took care of her wounds. He couldn't take her to the Infirmary; after all, one of the girls she was fighting was the one who runs the Infirmary. She had a lot of bruises, a concussion in the head, some broken ribs and a dislocated arm, but nothing her body couldn't heal with some rest. She woke up some hours later looking totally confused. He smiled. It was funny to think that Max fought those girls for him. "So, Maxie, now your job is to defend my virtue, uh?" He said laughing.
"what?" she looked more confused than before. Then, she seemed to recall what happened. "Ah… the fight. Do you know about…?" "Marian's plans? Yeah. The new girl told me all about it." His smile broad wider. She suddenly blushed. She looked so cute, so innocent, so vulnerable. It was a little bit funny to see her like that. It made him feel like he wanted to protect her… to take care of her… Stop! He heard something in his mind screaming. He suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. He had to do something to stop thinking like that. Maybe it wasn't a good idea keep her in his room. "Well… Max… I'll take you to your room… I mean… if you're feeling ok now" , he said a little doubtful.
"Actually, if you don't mind, I'll prefer to stay here". An uncomfortable silence fall between them. Alec was the first to speak. "Do you want to watch TV? I think there are some old sci-fi movies tonight. Some kind of trilogy, in fact. I heard it were classics." She just nodded. The first movie was really good. Spacecraft battles mixed with classic fairy tale things: the selfless and idealistic hero, the princess, the cynical adventurer, the funny servants, the wise man, the really evil villain and the magic around all this. They relaxed a lot watching it. They started to talk about how it must be to like in a world where the spaceships were a daily thing, about how similar the aliens looked to the Nomalies… "Sandeman must have found inspiration in this movie… Look, the doggy man that pilot that ship looks a lot like Joshua, well, with more hair and less clothes!" Alec had said and received a hit from a smiling Max… She must thought just the same, but she would never admit it to him, so the next best thing was hitting him… They continued watching the second movie… They were shocked when they discovered, along with the hero, that the villain was his father… "Scary! It was like you suddenly find out that Renfro was your real mother" Alec joked and Max couldn't help but laughed…
Max fall sleep like in the middle of the third movie. Alec was thrilled, because he had never seen her sleeping.. Alec put an arm around her and continued watching the TV. He couldn't sleep, not with Max in his arms, looking so innocent and vulnerable. But the moment didn't last… like half an hour later, he heard some hard knocks on his door. Max woke up, and he went to see what was happening. It was Mole and some X's, They know I must be sleeping, and how bad I react if someone wake me up, so it must be something important he thought.
"Have you seen Max, princess?" Mole said trying to sound casual, but Alec can see through it. It wasn't a courtesy question. "Yeah, Mole, she has been here with me all night. What's going on?" "Are you sure?" Mole said trying not to sound suspicious. "See it for yourself. Hey, Max, here's Mole looking for you"
Max stood up and walk to the door, not without effort. Her body hadn't finished its healing.
"What's up, Mole? Something's wrong?"
"So, Alec are you completely, entirely sure that she has been here all the night with you? Isn't any chance she leaves without you know it?" Mole said completely ignoring Max, like she wasn't there with them in the room. Alec started to lose his temper. What the hell is going on?
"Yes, I'm completely, entirely she was here all the time with me. I've been awake all the time. Are you gonna tell us what the hell is happening or are you just continuing with this stupid questions?" Alec said with irritation.
"Dammit" Mole swear under his breath. "There it goes our only suspect"
"Suspect of what?" Max spoke, sounding worried.
"A murder. We found one of the girls she just fight this afternoon. DEAD." Mole said in a chilling tone, without giving Max a look. Suddenly Alec understand why Mole was ignoring Max. It seemed like he just couldn't see her in the face. So, Mole truly believed she was responsible. Alec also know what Mole think about a transgenic killing another transgenic. This wasn't good for Max.
"Well, look for another suspect, because she didn't do it" he said firmly, almost commanding, before Max could say anything. "I can swear for my life that she didn't do it. I believe in her, and I want you to do the same, Mole. You have my word. If you want to prove what I'm saying, go ahead. But I must tell you something. You'll find nothing, because she's innocent"
End of Flashback
And Mole really tried Alec thought but like I said, he found nothing
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TC. 7:30am.
Max was in her office. Well, in fact, she never left it in the last 24 hours. She tried to sleep a little, but she couldn't. After her argument with Alec, few hours ago, she hadn't the enough strength to even walk to her apartment. His words still echoed in her mind… "you sound so mature… Do you have a more valid reason than that one?" I don't know. Why my life has to be so messy? Why I am so confused?
And in less than an hour, she must have to decide her vote. Kary's fate gonna depend of it. Well, if the decision would be only in Max's hands, Kary can count with her expulsion of TC, or that was what Max thought before her fight with Alec. But Kary was lucky, 'cause that wasn't the way TC works now. Max was their leader for world's eyes, but the power wasn't only in her hands anymore, if she even had it before.
They had formed a committee who represent all the people who lived in TC. Alec was the X5's and X6's representative, a red haired X4 named Zully represents the below X's, and Mole and Dix for the transhumans. And obviously, Max has a vote too, as their leader. All of them voted together, especially when an important thing needs an agreement that concern everybody. Like now.
The night the mob attacked, after they neutralized the threat, and they investigate what happened, they found out that the mob had entered TC through the spot Kary was assigned to. Max was mad, to say the least. Especially after all that 'bitchy queen doesn't deserve Alec' speech. At the moment, she wanted to expulse her from TC, but the other members of their committee didn't allow her. They told her they weren't at Manticore anymore.
So everybody (except Max, of course) agreed to give her a chance: Kary could stay at TC, under their vigilant sight. But she had to be punished, of course. She'd had to do surveillance at the sewers practically 24/7. At first they had established her punishment time as a week, but Max convinced them to extent it to 2 weeks. After that time, they'll decide if Kary deserve to stay in TC after all, if they can trust her one more time.
if they can trust her one more time, like they trust on me again She remembered when everybody believed that she have slaughter one of her kind, the very same night she had fought with Logan. No one seemed to believed in her innocence, except for Alec.
Flashback
Everything had been calmed at TC for the last days, Max thought. Too calm for her taste. No Familiar attacks, no police raids. She must be enjoying the peace, but she wasn't. She could see something bad coming, but she didn't know what would be.
She had just broken up with Logan because his stupid proposal, How could he ask her to marry him if he knew all the stuff that tear them apart? She wanted to put that on the back of her mind and forget about it, but she couldn't help feeling miserable. Looking for comfort, she went to the tallest building at TC. She might have been there like 5 minutes when she saw an unmistakable male figure walking out TC headquarters, headed to the uninhabited part of TC. She was curious, to say the least. What does Alec have to do in the west side of TC? There's nothing there. She followed him from a prudent distance, so he couldn't noticed she was there.
Then, he suddenly stopped. He was there, standing in the middle of an abandoned alley. He looked liked he was waiting for someone. But who? And then she saw her. A blond girl. For a moment she mistaken her with Asha, but then she realized she was wrong. She had seen her working with Dix, so she must be a Tech, but as hard as she tried to remember her name, she couldn't.
Suddenly her heart stopped when she saw Alec kissing the blond girl and taking her inside the abandoned building at the end of the alley. Then anger took its place in her mind. Why didn't he tell her about this girl? Why did he keep it as a secret? Back to her place, she spent all night thinking about the scene she had just seen.
The morning after, she was determined to find out about this girl. She could ask Alec directly, but he would suspect about her sudden interest. She was thinking this when she suddenly heard a strange noise, like a group of girls chatting. Max couldn't see anyone around, so they must be some feet afar, but thanks to her enhanced hearing, she might hear them talking causally about their love conquests. She probably wouldn't pay attention to their conversation and continued her way if certain name wasn't mentioned. Alec.
"I have to tell you, last night, he was great!" the girl said, so Max supposed it was the same girl she saw last night with him. "Did you talk afterwards, Marian?" a giggling girl asked the first girl. "No, he had to leave almost immediately to TC HQ, but I'm sure he loves me and we'll always be together" "how can you be so sure? There are a lot of women around him looking for his love too" another voice asked. This time Max recognized the voice. It was Sasha, the X5 in charge of TC Infirmary. "Well, my heat starts next week, and I'm planning to share it with him. You know better than anyone what happens if an X5 male shares with you the heat". Max stopped breathing. The bond would last forever Max said for herself.
Another girl spoke. A voice Max had never heard. It must be one of the new arrivals. "I don't think Alec would agree with that. I don't think he has commitment plans with you". This new voice has some bitterness and some kind of underneath aggression almost undetectable. Anybody seemed to feel it besides Max.
Sasha spoke again. "Yeah, I think that too. Have you asked him about it? Because it's an important decision to make, it'll change your life forever. You must know that's a 99 that you get pregnant." Her face suddenly darkened "Sean and me decided the whole thing together. We were seeing each since we were at Manticore and we was sure about it"
"No, I haven't, but I know he's gonna like it even if he doesn't want it now". Max was livid. So this slut is planning to set him a trap. Disgusting. Her train of thought stopped when another girl talked "What are you gonna do with Max? She won't allow it" Marian laughed aloud, "How can she stop me?"
Max was raged. This slut is going to see what I can do She came out of the place she was hiding and run into them. "So, wastin' your time with gossip? Don't you have anything better to do than talk about men?"
All happen too quickly. Max started to fight with the other girls, but they were more. Max was used to fight outnumbered, but not against her own kind. And these were 4 fully trained X5's soldiers. They could easily have killed her if Alec and others didn't intervened.
She was unconscious when Alec took her to his apartment. He was taking care of her wounds when she regained consciousness. All her body hurts. She must have broken almost all the bones of her body, because it hurt like hell. For a moment she didn't remember what had happened, but when she did, she was ashamed to see Alec after all she did. He was going to be mad like hell with her. She hadn't right to spy him or those girls for that matter.
But when she finally opened her eyes and she saw him, he was smiling at her. He had that expression, the one he had when he thought something was funny. "so Maxie now your job is to defend my virtue, uh?" He said laughing. They spent a lot of time talking, while they were watching in the TV some old sci-fi movies. She fall sleep in the coach, something rare, because she never sleep. But some hard knocks on his door get her up. Alec was by her side, fully awake. It was Mole and some X's. They were looking for her. They suspected HER for some murder. Marian's murder.
End of Flashback
Alec convinced the others that she wasn't guilty, even when some of them didn't trust her at the time. If Alec truly believed in Kary's innocence, she must believe too.
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All of them had already arrived when Max appeared at the TC headquarters. Alec looked at her with a quizzical stare, like if he didn't know what to expect from her. She was glad he didn't look angry anymore, but with him she never knew. He was very talented when he was trying to hide his true feelings. But she wanted to believe that things were ok now between them. Maybe she didn't want to admit it to him, but she hated to be in bad terms with him. He was her best friend, her support, and her second in command. OC was her friend too, undoubtedly, but she wasn't able to understand her like Alec did, to understand what she had been through, the dark moments in her life….
Max, you need to focus! She sighed and took her seat.
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The meeting was running with a relative peace. One by one exposed their points of view, proposing things and giving comments.
The X5's wanted to give Kary another chance, said Alec. She had proved before, at Manticore, she was a valuable and trustworthy element, was what Zully said. Dix commented that they would be assigned her to another task, maybe with him at techs. Even Mole spoke on her favor.
Everyone told something except Max. She was totally quiet. She hadn't said anything since she arrived and Alec was totally disturbed by her attitude. What does she waiting for strike? Or does she really change her mind? Nah… Surely she's waiting for the end to make one of her speeches about loyalty and trust. But he was wrong.
"I was thinking about all this mess and I agree with you. She deserves a chance. Everybody can make mistakes." She gave a knowing glare to Alec. "But I don't want her in surveillance anymore. Alec, ask Sasha the possibility to train her for field med. I don't know if Kary had the training at Manticore, but she's an X5 so I suppose it wouldn't be a problem." Alec was puzzled. What the hell's happening? He can't believe what he was hearing. Few hours ago she was screaming about treason and subversion. And now she was accepting their decision without arguing. He must be dreaming.
"Are you sure? I mean, about the infirmary thing?" Alec saw her suspiciously. "Yeah. Anyone has a problem with that?" She hadn't the intention to sound defensive, but sometimes Alec exasperated her. I'm doing what he wants… why does he always have to fight my decisions?
A/N: what do you think? Review, please! J