Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters obviously do not belong to me. I am writing this purely for non-profit entertainment. Yada, yada! No infringement intended, so don't sue me!

A/N: Thank you mel11, Toniboo, kungfuchick, Hellraiser32, calistra, Lotamoxie, Alana84, AngelKougaeri, darkangelgirl, eva, Angel Of Darkness231, angelofdarkness78, NoAngell, GueatTypePerson, lex2u and Sarah for your reviews! I can't answer your individual reviews here now, but… IMPORTANT: I have posted responses to all your reviews on www. geocities. com/elle6778/ReviewsRetrieved. htm (just copy, paste and remove the spaces) so you'll still get answers to the questions you asked. I really hope that ffnet remove this rule because it is getting to be really annoying:growls:

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Retrieved Chapter 21 – The Beginning of Something Beautiful

(by elle6778)

Alec, Max, Jace, Matt, X5-204, X4-43, Max and Sandy were in the middle of their morning drills when a guard came to inform them that Lydecker wanted to see them in his office.

As they headed towards Lydecker's office, Max found herself walking beside Jace. She wanted to speak to Jace but she did not know how Jace would react. She decided to try anyway.

"So, how are things with Z-…X5-599?" Max asked tentatively.

Jace shot an uncomfortable glance at her, "As well as expected," she replied, a bit bitterly. Then she sighed, weariness marring her face, "Actually, it's not going too well," she admitted.

Max felt sorry for her. She knew how stubborn Zack could be. "I guess that's expected. He hasn't changed much since the escape. He still behaves like a CO, whether in Manticore or not,"

"He's not getting along with anyone. And it makes things really awkward in our unit. I mean, I saw you when you were captured and reassigned," Jace noted Max's look of surprised and continued, "Yes, I know I didn't approach you to talk, but seeing that we are in a different unit and all, it's a bit difficult. Anyway, my point is, you seem to fit back in just fine,"

"He was out there longer than me. Maybe he'll come around," she said, trying to make Jace feel better.

Jace snorted as she gave Max a disbelieving look, "As if you believe that. You know as well as I do that he would not buckle under pressure. It would not be so bad if he does not insist on challenging me all the time. He's such a stickler for rules. I mean, considering that he masterminded something like the escape, you would think that he would be a bit less uptight, right. Instead, he's worse than all of us," She paused to take a breath, then said in a very soft voice only Max can hear, "I think he hated me for staying behind. He thinks I am weak and spineless, and that's why he shows me no respect,"

"Oh come on, you don't believe that. Look at you; you are the CO of your unit," Max said with a reassuring smile.

Jace shook her head slowly, "Yeah, but for how long?" she said softly.

Max did not know how to reply to that, so she kept quiet. She made a mental note to speak to Zack if she saw him. If he consented to speak to her. It was not fair for him to make Jace feel this way.

A few minutes later, they arrived at Lydecker's office. When they entered his office, they found him sitting behind his desk, obviously waiting for them.

"I've called all of you here to brief you on a new mission. X5-452 and X5-312 are here to provide additional information on the mission as they were involved earlier in this," he started without preamble.

Max and Sandy looked at each other. Lydecker must be talking about the mission where they were sent to retrieve a disk. That was the only mission they carried out together.

Catching the looks on Max's face, Lydecker raised his brows and asked, "Yes, 452?"

"Sir, is this to do with the Fogle Towers mission we went on awhile ago?" Max asked for confirmation, wondering what had gone wrong since then. All she and Sandy did was to go in and retrieve a disk. Simple in and out mission without complications.

Lydecker nodded, "Yes, but this new mission will not be a simple retrieval mission," He looked around to make sure the rest of the transgenics were paying attention before he continued, "452 and 312 had successfully retrieved a disk which contains damaging information on Manticore. As you know, Manticore is a secret organisation and its identity should not be made public otherwise there would be serious consequences. However, we realised recently that the disk was just a copy. That means that someone out there has the original one. The objective of this mission, apart from finding the original disk, is to trace the source of this disk to prevent exposure of Manticore,"

When Lydecker paused, Matt spoke. "Sir, this sounds as if it could be quite a long mission,"

"Yes, you would probably have to carry out some infiltration as well," Lydecker pushed a couple of folders across the desk, "All the information we have so far is in here,"

Matt took the one of the folders and Alec took another while Lydecker just stood there.

Slightly confused at the lack of instruction, Alec asked, "Sir, I presume not all of us will be going. So which unit will be responsible for this mission?"

Lydecker gave them a small smile, "I have read the list you handed to me. I got the impression that you would like to be more independent, so I am giving you a chance here to do so. I gave you the reason behind the mission already, so all you have to do now is to plan the mission. You may assign whoever you wish to carry this from any of the X4s and X5s," He turned to Max, "The X6s too, if you find it necessary, but I do not recommend it. They are still relatively inexperience with these sorts of missions,"

The transgenics looked at him in surprise. They did not really expect Manticore to pay much attention to that list. They wondered if things are finally changing for the better.

Matt knew that Lydecker had just said it was up to them to decide but he asked anyway, "Couldn't 452 and 312 go again? They are more familiar with the place,"

Lydecker shook his head, "I would refrain from sending them. Just in case they were caught on the surveillance or something, it's probably better for someone else to go. So? Anymore questions? No? Then we meet here again tomorrow at the same time so you could tell me the mission plan,"

The transgenics nodded and started moving towards the door.

Max's exit was interrupted when Lydecker said, "452, not you,"

When the last of the transgenics had left the room, Max gave Lydecker a questioning look, "Sir?"

"How's the X6s doing under the new programme?" Lydecker asked, studying the girl who had just turned sixteen a few months ago.

"They are performing well, as expected, Sir. I have assigned some of them to go along on some X5 missions," Max replied.

"Good…good…And the two X6s I asked for?"

"They are learning to behave like ordinary children, Sir. They are eager to learn, so it's going well,"

"Will they be ready in a couple of weeks? We need to move them out soon,"

Max nodded, "Yes, they are almost ready now anyway. And Sir? I have a suggestion,"

Lydecker gestured for her to continue.

"I know I have said that they are ready for it, but I feel that it may be a good idea to have a back up considering that this is another long term mission," she suggested, rather tentatively.

Curious as to what Max had come up with this time, Lydecker asked, "What do you have in mind?"

"Someone from the basement," Max stated slowly, trying to gauge Lydecker's reaction to her words.

Lydecker's lips twisted, "I don't think the giant X3s are going to blend in very well," he said in amusement. He had a feeling he did not want to know how Max knew all these transgenics who were locked up in the basement. As far as he knew, she had not been sent there as a punishment for quite some time now.

"Not the X3s, sir. Someone else who is particularly good at stealth," Max said, hiding a smile.

Lydecker raised one eyebrow, "Really? And who is it?"

She had promised them that she would try to get them out of the basement and she intended to keep her words. The X3s, which includes Hulk and Truck were now part of an active unit all by themselves. But there were still others down there. Max took a deep breath and said, "His name is Kelpy…"

Max grumbled under her breath as she walked into the mess hall. Dinner started thirty minutes ago.

Trailing behind her was two X6s who were with her for the past couple of hours. The two of them were the ones she picked for the new long term assignment which Lydecker had questioned her about a couple of days ago. They were meant to be bodyguards for a certain important person and had to be trained to fit in with the 'ordinaries'. Max had picked these two out of the whole bunch of X6s because they seemed to be more relaxed than the rest, but still as sharp. She had spent the last one week of her recreational time to make sure they talk and behave like normal eleven year olds.

Yesterday, much to the children's fascination, she had introduced Kelpy and Cammy to them. Lydecker had agreed to let Kelpy and Cammy in on the assignment provided they were trained first. Thinking that Lydecker wanted her to spend more of her time training the others, Max was about to slump in dejection at the thought of more workwhen he finally suggested someone else.

Alec.

Max tried not to groan as she realised that this would mean she and Alec would be spending a bit more time together for the next couple of weeks. No doubt this latest development would send Unit 4 and Unit 6 into a fresh fit of gossip. They were teasing her mercilessly ever since that morning in the dorms after Sandy's heat incident. And worse still, she could do nothing about it. Threats of physical violence did not seem to faze any of them. Feeling vindictive, Max hoped that Alec was having just as tough a time as her with his unit.

Max sighed as she scanned the thinning crowd in the mess hall, hoping that there's some food left for her. There were not that many X5s left in the mess hall. She saw Alec, Jondy, a couple of others from unit 6 and unit 3, Zack included. Even the guards had left them to their own devices. She forced her eyes not to linger on Alec, who she noticed, was chatting to Jondy. She noted that Jondy seemed happy enough being back in Manticore, considering how she sat there laughing with Alec. Max narrowed her eyes as Jondy raised her hand to brush something off Alec's cheek. Is Jondy interested in Alec? Max wondered, trying not to feel jealous. She shook herself inwardly. Nah, Jondy just flirts with everyone, so it does not mean anything, the saner part of her insisted.

Tearing her eyes away from the couple, she caught sight of a lone Gab, who was waving her over. She headed in his direction while the X6s went over to their own table.

"Hey," Gab greeted as she sat down.

Max grunted a reply, too tired and hungry to form a coherent answer. Not to mention confused about her reaction to Alec and Jondy. She told herself not to dwell on Alec and Jondy's 'relationship'. So what if there was something going on? It was not any of her business anyway.

"What's with the long face, Max?" Gab asked as he noticed her disgruntled look. He pushed a tray towards her; it was filled with odd bits of food, courtesy of unit 4.

"Sick and tired of missing dinner and of training the kids," Max replied, gratefully pulling the tray towards her. She noticed that it contained some potatoes, a small piece of chicken, some vegetables and an orange. It wasn't much, but it would keep her going for a while.

Gab nodded as expected, knowing inside that for all Max's complaints, she actually enjoyed working with the kids. "Well, it's been just a month. You'll get used to all that responsibility," he advised.

"Don't need all that extra work," Max replied in between shoving her food in her mouth hungrily.

"Say, talk about responsibility, you missed something earlier," Gab told her with a grin.

Max looked up, "What?"

"Yours truly is now Second In Command for Unit 4," Gab said, puffing up proudly.

Max pretended to choke on her food. Coughing, she exclaimed, "What! You?" She was really happy for him, but she could not help herself teasing him.

Gab gave her an offended look, "What's wrong with me?" He got up and turned to leave, letting Max see his hurt expression before facing away from her.

Max laid a hand on Gab's back, stilling him. Sobering instantly, she said, "Hey, I am just kidding," She did not mean to hurt Gab's feelings. She thought he would react in his usual manner, teasing her back or something.

Max eyed him, worried as his shoulders shook a bit. He wasn't about to cry, was he? "Gab? You okay?" she asked gently.

His shoulders shook harder, and then he burst out in laughter. He turned back, taking in Max's surprised look.

Max narrowed her eyes and proceeded to smack him on the shoulders, "You idiot! You really got me worried there for a moment,"

Gab held his hands out, trying to fend off Max's blows as he tried not to choke on his laughter.

"Hey, is this a private party or can we join in?" a voice said.

It was Jondy, looking at Max and Gab with an expression of unholy glee. With her looking at them like that, Max's bad feelings about her and Alec evaporated. Jondy is just being Jondy, she thought.

Max paused her assault on Gab, who was now on his hands and knees on the floor. She grinned back, "Feel free to join in," she said mischievously, holding a wide-eyes Gab down.

"NO!" Gab yelled, trying to get away as he registered the evil gleam in Jondy's eyes. Just Max was enough. Adding Jondy into the equation was a bit more than he could handle. He continued to struggle as Jondy advanced, "Help!" he yelled breathlessly as Jondy started to tickle him.

A pair of boots came into his view. Gab let his watering eyes travel up the body to the face, "Alec! Get these two crazy females away from me!"

Alec shook his head, grinning, "Tsk…tsk…You've got every man's best dream; two chicks at once. And you can't handle it," He stood there watching Gab writhe pitifully under Max's and Jondy's assault.

"Shit! Man, I am going to kill you if you don't do something!" Gab threatened Alec from his vulnerable position, apparently not understanding that he was in no position to make any threats. He tried to grab hold of Jondy's arms, but with no luck. They were too strong.

"Okay…okay…I'll try," Alec relented, still grinning as he reached for Max.

Spotting Alec's move, Max stilled and gave him a warning look, "Don't you dare, Alec. Or suffer the same fate,"

Alec smirked, "You think you could hold me down as easily? I think not," he said, not realising how much that sounded like a challenge to Max.

Max got up slowly, leaving Jondy to deal with Gab alone. Slowly, she took a step towards Alec, "Shall we see?" she said, just before she pounced suddenly on him.

Not expecting Max to jump on him, Alec fell backwards and landed on his back. Shit, he thought, trying to roll away to find himself pinned under Max. Max was grinning down at him, seated comfortably on his stomach. His eyes widened in panic as her hands reached down to his ribs.

He clamped his mouth shut to suppress his laugher as her fingers started tickling him. He tried to grab her hands but she was too fast. She continued tickling him, a gleeful look on her face.

Then he decided to fight fire with fire.

Max yelped as she felt his fingers at her sides tickling her. He caught her by surprise; she did not expect him to retaliate. She should have known, she thought, giggling hysterically as his fingers moved.

"Stop!" she gasped, wriggling helplessly. She tried to get up but he had his legs wrapped around her thighs, holding her down. Max tried not to notice how intimate their position was.

She shut her eyes to try to stop her tears of laugher from seeping through. After one particularly vigorous tickle, Max slumped forwards, still writhing helplessly. Her eyes opened to find herself a fraction of an inch from Alec's, who was looking at her intently.

She could not tear her eyes away; it was as if they were drawn to Alec's by some sort of magnet stronger than her will. Her eyes were still locked onto Alec's when she pressed her lips onto his. Almost involuntarily, she moved her lips, deepening the kiss, her eyes fluttering shut.

Alec could not believe what was happening. One minute he was tickling her, trying his best to ignore his response to her movements over his hips. Another minute she was lying over him and kissing him.

Max was kissing him voluntarily, he gasped against her mouth in shock.

He closed his eyes, getting lost in the feelings she evoked. Desire, joy, deliriousness, all his feelings were meshed up he did not know quite how to describe it. The fact that she initiated the kiss made it even more intense for him.

His arms curled around her back, pressing her closer to him as he delved deeper. She moaned against his mouth, sending tingles up and down his spine.

"Hey, you two! Get a room, will you!" A sudden loud voice jolted him rudely, followed by laughter.

Still sprawled on the floor, Alec looked up to find Gab and Jondy standing over them, grinning cheekily. Some other X5s and X6s were standing nearby too, laughing as they wolf-whistled. Alec sent them a glare.

Alec felt an unreasonable desire to get up and punch them all senseless for daring to interrupt him and Max.

He glanced at Max, noting that she was averting her flushed face from his as she scrambled off him.

Scrambling to her feet, Max gave the giggling transgenics around her a death glareand snapped, "What are you all looking at!"

Apparently her glare was more effective than Alec's as the transgenics turned away and resumed whatever they were doing prior to spotting Max and Alec. Or it could be that the effectiveness of Alec's glare was reduced by the fact that he was still lying on the floor when he glared at them. Even Gab and Jondy stopped their sniggering and went off, leaving them two some modicum of privacy.

She groaned in embarrassment when she realised what she did. She could not believe she just kissed Alec. And in public as well. She knew that she only have herself to blame because she initiated the kiss. Nevermind that he did not stop her. She realised that from now on, it would be near impossible for her to look at Alec in the eye without this incident popping into her head; at least for a while. She wondered how she was going to get herself out of this mess now.

He, on the other hand, did not appear too fazed at what just happened. Instead, he was eyeing her with an odd expression on his face, Max noted uncomfortably and then quickly shifted her gaze away from him.

Clearing her throat, she said, still not looking at him, "Well, can you manage to get up by yourself or are you actually waiting for a hand?"

Alec's lips twisted in a small smile, "I can manage, I think. Just needed a couple to catch my breath," He paused, and then continued seriously, "Great kiss, though,"

Embarrassed, her gaze remained averted from him, but her lips twitched although she did not respond to his words.

Trying to break the silence, Alec continued in a thoughtful tone while biting back a smile, "You realise that this could be the beginning of something beautiful for us?"

Max finally looked at him, blinking incredulously at his words. "What! Don't you even start!"

Pushing himself off the floor to stand facing Max, Alec grinned, "Calm down, okay. Don't give them more things to talk about," he said, pointing to Gab and Jondy.

The two transgenics were standing quite far away but Max could see them sneaking glances at herself and Alec. Max clenched her jaw as she vowed to kill them during their training session tonight.

"I guess we better go now," she said, suddenly finding her boots quite fascinating.

Alec nodded, "See you around," he said almost gently.

Max waited for him to leave before she looked up again and started to make her way to the door.

After a couple of minutes she realised that there was someone behind her while she was walking down the hallway heading towards her dorms. Exasperated, she started to turn around when she said, "Alec, I don't think…" She halted as she realised that it wasn't Alec behind her.

It was Zack.

"Hi, Max," her ex-CO greeted her with an unreadable expression.

"Zack," Max returned softly. Then she gave him a wary look, wondering what he wanted. This was the first time he made an attempt to speak to her after being assigned to Jace's unit.

"What did you think you were doing back there?" Zack questioned.

"Huh? What do you mean?" she frowned in confusion.

"Don't be dense. The whole mess hall saw it," he exclaimed, sounding irritated.

Max finally realised what he was talking about. A feeling of annoyance grew in her as she wondered what business was it of his. She replied evenly, "So? What's with it?"

"That's a very unprofessional and unnecessary public display," he stated, his voice indicating his growing irritation.

Max could not believe what she was hearing. Not only Zack had done this to Jace, now he wanted to do it to her? Incensed, she snapped, "It's nothing to do with you, Zack,"

His eyes hardened, "Not if you do this in the private, not in public. But since I am subjected to watching it, I have to say that I feel that I have to say something,"

"No, Zack. I don't have to listen to you. Neither does Jace. You are not our CO anymore," Max bit out, recalling her conversation with Jace and how upset Jace was.

Rearing back at her words, Zack growled, "You forgot everything that we went through? You forgot what I had to do to get us all out of here seven years ago? And worse still, now you seem to be happy enough to remain. What happened to you, Max?" He gave her an accusing look.

"Nothing happened! I got used to it in here alright! I am much happier here than when I was out there, scared and hungry all the time," Max defended. She did not particularly want to argue about this with Zack but she had no choice.

"So you think that leaving in the first place was a mistake?" he challenged, his eyes flashing.

Max crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him calmly, "I am not going to answer that. It's all in the past and I prefer not to think about it,"

"Of all our siblings, I thought you would understand, Max. But I see now that you don't," he said, glaring at her; his expression a mix of anger and hurt.

Max's eyes widened as Zack moved closer to her. He looked angry enough to hit her.

t.b.c. (Yes! Cliffies are back! I have been sufferingfrom withdrawal for the last few chapters! LOL)

A/N: I will be sitting here, waiting impatiently for you to tell me what you think of this chapter :Grins: So please review! I am practically on my knees here…

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