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: No individual review responses are allowed anymore :(. I'll try to PM all of you who had reviewed, but for those who did it anonymously, I apologise in advance for not being able to respond because I have no way of contacting you. Anyway, a great big thank you to kungfuchick, kim, w1cked angel, calistra, burningnostalgia, darkangelgirl262, 88hainesde, latinapotterfan, lakergirl08, Nina430, Roxyroo, angelofdarkness, SequioaUnderwood, Alana84, Lotamoxie, ceel, eva and L80bug for reviewing!
Also, heed this note: It might get a bit uncomfortable towards the end... Hence the change in rating. I've added this note after getting a flame from someone. There's a reason why things are happening the way it's happening, but feel free to comment. I shall sit here, dreading those flames, but there's nothing much I could do since I've decided to go that way...
(This chapter is rated M)
Retrieved - Chapter 35 - Misunderstanding
(by elle6778)
Unperturbed at Alec's threat, the transgenic just growled back, "What the hell are you talking about, Alec? You're interrupting us. Get out before I make you regret it." He moved himself between the girl and Alec, protecting her nude body from Alec's gaze. His barcode was revealed as he moved.
Alec's jaw dropped. Hell, the guy was not Matt. It was his unit member, X5-480, or now better known as Mick. Mick had been the one who had gone with him to retrieve Max years ago, and now he was getting it on with her?
"Mick? What the hell are you doing?" he asked incredulously. Mick knew how he felt about Max. Everyone knew how he felt about Max.
Alec narrowed his eyes and was about to make his way to the pair before the sound a familiar voice stopped him. The voice was not speaking to him, but to Mick. "Let's take this elsewhere, soldier boy," she purred as she rubbed against Mick seductively.
The blinding rage which had filled Alec was suddenly replaced with a cold sinking feeling. Why was Max ignoring him? Was it because of how he had treated her the last time she had been in his cell? Was she so angry that she had to do this to get back at him? And why was she talking in such a weird accent?
Turning his attention to her, Alec asked flatly, "So you're going with him?"
She smiled in his direction just for a second before latching herself back onto Mick with apparent disregard for her nudity. "You're cute, but I think Mick's enough for me for the moment."
Zack and Alec both sucked in a sharp breath, hardly believing what they were seeing and hearing. It could be her heat speaking, but both of them knew that the pheromone level they had detected in the room was a little low for it to be a full blown heat, otherwise Zack and Alec would have been affected as well. Perhaps the two of them had actually had sex, which would explain the drop in level.
Alec felt sick.
"You heard her," Mick said pointedly.
Alec swallowed hard as he willed himself not to go over and yank Mick off Max forcefully. He could not understand how they could do this to him, whatever the motivation might have been. He had not slept around with anyone. Hell, he had not even slept with her! But she appeared to be more than willing to do it with Mick. Alec wondered how long it had been going on. The numbness in him increased as their betrayal sank in.
Zack could feel the almost palpable coldness which emanated from Alec. He did not blame the other transgenic. Even though Zack was not an item with Max, he felt disgusted with her behaviour. Much as he disliked the thought of Max being with Alec, the sight of Max being with another transgenic for some reason did not sit right with him. She should have known better than to sleep around, and to treat Alec that way.
Knowing that they were not wanted there, Zack said quietly, "Let's go."
Unable to speak, Alec nodded and followed Zack out.
Once the door swung shut behind them, Alec sped up and walked in the direction of the main entrance. He needed to get out of the place. The guards at the front entrance took one look at Alec's murderous expression and hesitated just for a second before they let him out into the training grounds.
"Alec, wait," Zack yelled out.
Pausing mid-stride, Alec turned around to face Zack. "If you don't mind, I need to be alone now."
Zack stood his ground. "You know it's probably just heat. This is Max we're talking about."
"Then why didn't she come to me if it was heat? Why Mick? My cell is right beside hers, damn it!" Alec snarled loudly. Then taking a breath to calm himself, he said in an even tone, "Look, Zack. Just leave me alone for a while, alright?"
"Fine," Zack finally said, turning away and walking back to the building.
Leaving Alec alone with his thoughts.
Logan took off his spectacles and rubbed his sore eyes. He had spent practically the whole day in front of his computer trying to track the locations of the transgenics.
He had started from the place where White had found Sandeman and worked his way out from there. There were too many vehicles in the area and he was struggling to make sense of their routes.
But Logan knew that all he had to do was to persevere. He was sure that he would find Manticore's location sooner or later. It was important for him to get this right.
There were children to be saved.
Max had been lying on her bunk, preparing for another sleepless night when the guards came to call her. Lydecker had called a meeting for all the COs in the facility.
Her heart jumped in anticipation. She had not seen Alec since he had rejected her last night and now she would be seeing him in the meeting. Max hated to admit that part of her had hoped that Alec would come see her, but he had not, and her pride did not allow her to approach him again. Her disappointment was sharp, reinforcing her decision earlier today to call it quits with him. She did not think that she could deal with being with someone who did not trust her enough to share with her when it came to things which mattered.
As she walked out of her cell, her breath caught and then her heart sank.
Alec was passing right in front of her, his face set in a frozen Manticore mask. He did not even bother to look at her, let alone talk to her, she noticed much to her consternation.
Although she knew that he would probably just brush her off, she could not keep herself from addressing him. "Hey, Alec. How is it going?"
Alec froze on the spot before turning around slowly to face her, his expression still blank. "What do you think?"
Mystified at his reaction, she said, "How should I know?"
He just stared wordlessly at her with an unreadable expression.
"What's gotten into you, Alec?" she asked, irritated that he was behaving so cold towards her. All she had done last night was to offer to listen to him. She was the one who was supposed to be pissed off here, not him.
Alec let out a back of laughter. "Funny choice of words, Max," he said flatly.
Her annoyance flaring, she snapped, "Oh, whatever. I shouldn't have bothered."
Without another look at him, she strode off in the direction of the briefing room to meet Lydecker. If Alec wanted it that way, who was she to say anything? Calling it quits with him had been a difficult decision for her to make, but the way he was behaving, she did not think that she should care anymore.
When she stepped into the room, she noticed that all the familiar faces were already present. Mole from the Desert Division, Mia from Psy-Ops, Pops from Arctic, Brain from Battle Processors and Gils from Underwater Ops were there. Dana, Jace and Scrib, the COs of Unit 1, Unit 3 and Unit 5 were absent, so she guessed that they were probably on a mission.
As she sat down, she noted from the corner of her eyes that Alec had placed himself at the other end of the table. Some of the transgenics saw this and looked between them questioningly, obviously wondering what had happened to the normally inseparable pair. She swallowed hard, forcing her face into some resemblance of nonchalance. There was no point broadcasting her disappointment for everyone to see.
A new transgenic then walked in, followed by Lydecker. Max's eyes widened as she noted his resemblance to Krit as she stood up with the rest of the transgenic to salute. Did they manage to recapture Krit as well?
Putting down a stack of files on the table, Lydecker spoke, "Sit down."
Lydecker had apparently noticed her reaction to Krit-look-alike. "I believe that some introduction might be in order," he said. Gesturing to the new transgenic, Lydecker continued, "This is X5-472. For those of you who were out in the field in the past few weeks, you may not be aware that we have recalled our Canadian unit. Their facility has been shut down recently and it was decided that we should share the same base as there are only fifteen X5s in Canada. X5-472 is their CO and will be joining us in our discussions."
"Some of you already know this, but for the benefit of the rest I'm going to explain our mission. Listen carefully because this may be the most important mission you'll ever undertake," Lydecker said, and then proceeded to tell them about Manticore's background and the purpose of the creation of the transgenics.
As Max listened, she realised that what Lydecker was saying actually made a lot of sense. About Manticore's takeover by the committee, its sudden change shortly after she had been recaptured and White's strength and his preoccupation with Sandeman.
"…This brings me to our task. Sandeman had been captured by the familiars, and we need to get him back. They also have one of our transgenics with them. The familiars are difficult to defeat, so we would have to send out a large number of transgenics. Brain, our Battle Processor Unit had successfully extrapolated the information we have from the vehicle movements and from a cellphone number to come up with two possible locations for their base."
"For obvious reasons, only the X-series will be deployed, and this includes the X3s and a number of X6s who have been showing exceptional skills. Although we are recalling Unit 1, Unit 3 and Unit 5 back to the facility, we cannot afford to wait until they return before we set out. We simply do not have the time. So the two core units who will go are Unit 4 and Unit 6, led by X5-494 and X5-481. Ten X6s would be selected by X5-452 and split equally between the two units. Three X3s will go with each unit, also arranged by X5-452. This should bring the number of each unit up to about 20. The Canadian unit, led by X5-472, will be providing back-up. Any questions?"
Matt said, "20 transgenics for each team seem to be overkill, sir."
Lydecker shook his head, "If you ask X5-452 and X5-494, they will tell you otherwise. Do not underestimate the familiars. They are at least as strong as you all."
"What about us?" Mia asked, gesturing to Mole, Gills and Pops at the same time.
"You'll be remaining at here to facilitate with tactics on the comms together with Brain," Lydecker explained.
They spent another hour discussing the logistics and tactics of the mission before Lydecker dismissed them, reminding them that deployment would be at 0600 hours the next morning.
Max was about to leave when Lydecker called her and Matt back.
"Sir?" she questioned.
Lydecker studied them for a moment before he said simply, "X5-599 will go with your unit."
Frowning, Matt asked, "599 had just been brought back. Isn't he a flight risk?"
Turning to Max, Lydecker said, "He had been persuaded to remain from what I understood, not forcefully retrieved. Is that correct, 452?"
Max nodded. "Yes, Sir."
Lydecker looked satisfied at her answer. To Matt, he said, "I believe that that answers your question, 481. You can go now."
As the door shut behind Matt, Max gave Lydecker a questioning look.
Getting straight to the point, Lydecker asked, "What's going on between you and Alec?"
Max tensed at the unexpected question. "Nothing, sir."
"I'm not blind, Max. There's obviously something wrong. You're sitting at opposite ends of the table for the first time in years. Whatever it is, until you fix it, don't let it affect the mission, understood?"
"Yes, sir. We've got it in hand," Max assured him.
"Good," he said, not looking convinced at all. "You can go now."
It was 2330 hours when Max finally left the X6s and X3s to make her way back to her cell.
Max ground her teeth together as she thought of her conversation back in the briefing room. Even Lydecker could see that something was wrong between her and Alec. She did not blame Lydecker for being concerned. The last thing anyone wanted was for the transgenics to be in conflict during a mission, personal or otherwise, especially during something as important as this one.
As she passed Alec's cell, she paused, deliberating with herself whether or not to go in to see him. Whether Alec realised it or not, they needed closure. If they were to break up, they might as well do it openly instead of inching around each other for an unknown amount of time.
Her mind made up, she backtracked to his cell and pushed the door open.
"We need to talk," she uttered calmly as he looked up from the rucksack he had been packing his equipment into.
"I can't believe you got the guts to come in here after what you've done," he said, his calm tone in contrast with the harshness of his words.
Max's defences slammed down at his accusation. He was blaming her for this now? Her hackles rising, she snapped, "What did I do? You pushed me away so many times that I'm beginning to lose track of it. You wanted space and I gave you space. What else do you want?"
"Nothing, Max. Nothing at all," he said expressionlessly. "You're free to do whatever you want. Don't let me stand it your way."
"So I guess this is it, then," she said, her heart feeling as heavy as a lump of rock.
Alec's lips twisted in a self-mocking smile. "Yeah," he said softly and then stood up to walk right up to her, pushing his cell door closed.
Max stared at him wordlessly as he raised a hand to push a loose strand of hair behind her ears. "Just for old time's sake," he said before capturing her lips in his roughly, seemingly venting his anger in their kiss.
Max responded, the bittersweet kiss increasing the ache in her heart.
Feeling as if she was drugged, she participated eagerly even though Alec made it more than clear that he was still angry with her. It was as if he was trying to punish her for something. She did not know how it happened, but next thing she knew, she was on her back, lying naked on his bunk. His eyes bore into hers with feral hunger as he lowered himself.
A moment of clarity suddenly came to her when she realised what they were about to do. "Alec…Stop!" she gasped, not wanting their first time to be overcast with a feeling of anger and accusation. And definitely not as they were about to call it quits. It was not right.
Alec did not seem to have heard, he just continued.
Panic began to assail her and she tried to push him away to no avail. "Please, Alec. Stop!" she repeated, but it came too late. The pain she felt told her that much.
Alec froze.
Lifting his head, he looked into her eyes and saw the tears gathering in them. His own eyes were filled with confusion. Hoarsely, he whispered, "I'm sorry." But his hormones refused to let him stop.
When he finally collapsed on top of her, she pushed hard at him, rolling him off her. Wordlessly, she stood up and dressed quickly, averting her eyes from his body. She winced as she saw the spots of blood on his sheets.
"Max! Listen to me. I didn't mean for it to go that far," Alec said with remorse in his eyes.
Glaring at him accusingly, she said, "I asked you to stop, Alec."
"I'm just angry. I thought you have actually done it with Mick," he explained, his tone belying his desperation for her to believe him.
Max's jaw dropped. Giving him an incredulous look, she said, "Mick? What the hell are you talking about? The last time I spoke to Mick was… I don't know… weeks ago! How could you even think I would do something like that with him?"
"I saw you with him, Max. Remember yesterday in the gym?" Alec accused.
"I was not in the gym yesterday! What is this? You're punishing me because for some weird reason, you thought I had sex with Mick?" she yelled at him, her eyes flashing. What was Alec doing accusing her of something like this?
He did not bother to defend himself. "I saw you naked with Mick on top, Max. Don't bother denying it!" he yelled back.
Compressing her lips into a thin smile, she snapped, "There's one easy way to find out what's going on. Get your clothes on." Why did he not trust her enough to believe her words? Max was determined to prove that he was wrong, even if it meant talking to a third party about it. She never liked to expose her personal issues to the world, but seeing that practically the whole facility knew that there was something wrong, she did not see the point in keeping it quiet anymore.
Alec pulled on his clothes, his eyes flicking her questioning looks.
"We're going to go see Mick," she said, stalking out of the door without waiting for him.
Mick's cell was only four doors down from Alec's so it did not take her long to get there. When she pushed the door open, Mick raised his startled eyes at her.
"Sam? What are you doing here?" he asked just as Alec came into view. Narrowing his eyes at Alec, Mick said, "Man, you're not here to give me a hard time about Sam again, are you?"
Max stood rooted to the spot, staring at Mick, perplexed. In a guarded tone, she said, "My name's Max, not Sam. There's a slight difference there."
Understanding dawned in Mick's eyes. "Oh, it's you. Aren't you on a mission or something? I thought you're Sam," he said, sounding a little disappointed.
"Who's Sam?" Alec asked, baffled.
"X5-453, one of the Canadian chicks. The one in heat yesterday," Mick said with satisfied grin. And then his grin died as he finally understood why they were there. Holding up his hand in an apologetic pose, he said, "Damn! I was so caught up in it that it didn't occur to me what it looked like to you when you saw me and Sam like that. Sorry, man."
Alec stood as still as a statue as he processed the information. Sam, not Max. Mick had been having sex with Sam, not Max. Alec groaned as soon as he realised what a stupid mistake he had made.
"I have a clone? And you had sex with her?" Max asked, her eyes wide in disbelief. Her face twisting, she exclaimed, "Ugh, that's sick!"
"Hey, hold off the insults on my girl," Mick shot back, offended.
Turning to Alec, Max asked, "Happy to believe me now that someone else has confirmed the story?"
"I'm sorry, Max," Alec said, looking sheepish.
"Oh, whatever," she said, swivelling around to make her way back to her room. She could not believe how little he trusted her. And it wasn't as if they did not know that the clones, or twins, existed. Alec should have checked before accusing her of something like that.
Alec rushed after her, leaving Mick to stare at them in bemusement.
"Wait, Max. I told you I'm sorry. I really didn't think. When I saw them together, I thought it was you and…"
Max interrupted him. "And what? What you did just now was just to punish me, huh? I've even accused you of that and you didn't even bother to deny it. That's what you wanted to do, right? Punish me?" she accused, her tone full of hurt and disappointment.
Stepping through the doorway to her cell, she composed herself and said coldly, "Well, we have a heavy day tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep."
Alec stepped back as she slammed the door in his face. Knowing that he deserved her wrath, he sighed in resignation. He had been an idiot about the whole thing and he knew it now.
Just as he was about to enter his cell, a head poked out of a cell few doors down.
"Hey Alec, you okay?" Matt asked with a grin. He, as well as the rest of the block, had overheard Max and Alec's heated argument.
""Peachy," Alec replied blandly.
"You know, Alec, for someone who's supposed to be smart, you can be pretty dense sometimes," another exclamation came from a head out of another cell. This time it was Sandy.
A series of sniggers came from the rest of the cells.
Alec groaned, not up to handling the teasing at that moment. "Shut up and go to sleep," he ordered tightly, shutting the door to his cell with a bang.
t.b.c
A/N: Alec can't seem to get it right with Max, can he! Anyway, not long more until the end of this fic, so please review and let me know if there's anything in particular you want me to clear up. Thanks!