Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Hope you enjoy this one.

Fire and Blood

By: human28

Chapter Fifteen

Later that night, a shadow lurked inside Max's apartment. And just outside her apartment door, Max herself prepared to enter, unaware of whatever waited within.

Original Cindy had invited her to go to Crash that night, but she had declined, knowing full well that she and Alec had some business to attend to at Buffy's place. They needed to get the weird tattoos translated. Pronto. Who knows what message was being sent to her by Sandeman? The one who created them all.

Speaking of Alec…I wonder where he is. She thought to herself. He had left work earlier that day saying he needed to take care of a few things, and that he'd meet her later that night. Max shrugged and pulled open the door to their apartment and wasn't at all that surprised to find the all the lights turned off. OC had already went to Crash, and it wasn't like Alec had arrived yet. She switched them on, even though she really didn't need the light to see. Night vision and all that.

Guess it made her feel a tad bit more human.

She shut the door quietly behind her and made her way into the living room.

And then she screamed.

In the middle of the apartment was a gorgeous black motorcycle. A Ninja if she wasn't mistaken. And on top of that, was a gorgeous X5 straddling the bike.

"Surprise Maxie."

"Oh my god, Alec. Is that for me?" She clapped a hand over her mouth. Sometimes, Alec really surprised her. He nodded and hopped off of it and motioned for her to come closer. She did so without further hesitation and climbed onto the motorcycle. "This. Is. Amazing." She turned to look at Alec. He was grinning. "You are so sweet, you know that?"

"Yeah well. I figured you weren't the flowers kind of girl." She laughed and pulled him in for a quick kiss before ordering him to climb up behind her. He did as told and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So how the hell are we gonna make it down the stairs?" she asked.

"I don't know. Jump it?"

"We'll try." Max smirked.

Minutes later, they were out on the open road, with Max going as fast as she dared herself to. She criss-crossed around speeding cars, enjoying the adrenaline that coursed through her. It was bracing to know that one wrong move could lead them to their very deaths. Goes to show how much X5s love taking risks. Makes them feel alive.

They arrived at the Slayer's apartment too soon for Max's liking and Alec couldn't help but be amused at her immediate attachment to her new 'baby' as she called it. Made him almost jealous. Almost. Besides, his words of: 'no one can ride you like I can' made Max remember that her one and only baby would have to be Alec.

"Hey, I just remembered something." He told her as they waited patiently for the elevator to reach the seventh floor.

"What?"

"Do you think this weird message has something to do with what Renfro kept telling you before Manticore blew up?"

Max froze in her place as the flashback hit her once again. "That I'm the 'one' they've been looking for? I don't know. Possibly. She did mention Sandeman's name."

The elevator dinged and they made a beeline for Buffy's pad. She greeted them at the door and invited them in. It was nice place. Large enough for all of them. Almost like a real house. Dawn and Xander were seated at a comfy looking couch in the living room. They were watching some old black and white flicks. Spike was out on the balcony, smoking a cigarette and looking down at the people below them. Willow was in the kitchen making popcorn and Giles was presumably in his office. Which left…

"Where's Faith?" Max asked, noticing her absence.

"Oh, she's in the training room." Buffy replied.

"You have a training room?" Alec asked, impressed.

"Slayers remember?" Buffy gestured to a close door next to the kitchen. "Can't slack off where we're concerned. You guys wanna check it out?"

"Okay."

She pulled open the door and led them inside. Alec whistled at the amount of weapons displayed on the shelves. They were old-fashioned ones, akin to the ones they had brought with them the night of Dawn's rescue. Swords, axes, daggers, crossbows, arrows, and even shields. "Where do you get all of this stuff?"

"Long story. Long career." Buffy rolled her eyes.

The whole left wall of the training room was covered with mirrors. And the right side of the room was lined with a couple of punching bags. One of which was being furiously beaten by Faith. "Hey guys." She called out cheerfully to them. She gave it one last punch before joining them. "What's up?"

"We need some of Giles' help for some um, translations." Max said.

"G-man knows everything." Faith shrugged. "So, maybe you guys would like to spar sometime."

"Spar?" Alec echoed. "You want to spar with us? That would be suicide"

"Wow, you're a humble one aren't you?" Faith asked sarcastically. "And don't you dare underestimate me and B. You might just end up getting your ass kicked."

"We're genetically enhanced killing machines. Nothing could top that." Alec said smugly.

"Yeah right. Bet ya fifty bucks your gonna lose to me." Faith replied, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Mind you. Faith always wins bets." Buffy said shaking her head. "Don't know how she does it."

"I can see that." Max said recalling the night before.

"Well she's going to lose this one." Alec smirked.

Max rolled her eyes. "Maybe next time, pretty boy. We didn't come here to make bets. Or did you forget?"

"Just playing Maxie." Alec sighed before allowing himself to be dragged out of the room towards Giles office.

…

"Interesting," Giles murmured, more to himself than to them. They were in Giles' office. A brightly-lit room filled with numerous bookshelves that contained hundreds of dust-covered books. His desk sat just in front of a large window, and it was currently cluttered with pens and pieces of paper. A computer sat in the middle of the untidiness, the light from the monitor reflecting off the Watcher's eyeglasses.

Alec had taken pictures of the peculiar marks on Max's back and they were now currently being assessed by the former Sunnydale High librarian. The two transgenics were seated opposite each other on two chairs in front of the desk, while Buffy listened in curiously from her spot on the couch.

"Can you understand it?" Max asked leaning over to take a look at the glossy photos.

Giles frowned. "Not quite. By they are rather familiar. I'm quite sure that I have come across them some time during my past researches. I have several books that contains Ancient Minoan language – it wouldn't take too along to translate. Possibly a few days. Or perhaps a week."

"That's okay," Max shrugged. "It's not like its been giving me any trouble."

"They just started appearing, huh?" Buffy asked.

Max nodded.

"You didn't happen to drink something, eat something, come in contact with anyone…?" Giles asked, making his way towards the many bookshelves that lined his wall.

"No one but Alec." She said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. Alec grinned and winked at Giles.

"Oh erm, I don't think that could be the reason." Giles said frowning at the male X5. He pulled out several dusty old books from their places on the shelf and dropped them on his desk with a loud thud. Dust began to fly everywhere.

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Have you ever heard of the word 'cleaning', Giles?"

"As you very well know, Buffy. I don't have time for 'cleaning'." He glared at her.

"I was just kidding," Buffy rolled her eyes.

Giles ignored her. "Max, do you mind if I take a picture of your barcode?"

The two transgenics exchanged a look. It was obvious they were talking to each other, you could see from the way their lips moved. Unfortunately for Giles, he didn't have enhanced hearing. He glanced at Buffy to see if she heard anything. There was a curious look on her face, and she looked rather bewildered. It seemed that she barely heard anything either. Giles had to remind himself that these two were designed to be practically perfect.

"No problem. I'm sure we can trust you." Max said with a shrug, lifting up her long dark hair. The barcode stood out startlingly against her skin. It was even darker than the bizarre imprints on her back. Giles suppressed a shiver. How can they be so cruel? To mark these people as if they were mere objects? He shook his head and snapped the picture.

Thinking about this, he could only recall the time when Buffy was forced to face danger by the Watcher's Council, when she was stripped of all her powers. A mere mortal girl versus a dangerous monster?

Giles had to accept the fact that some people were born evil.

…

When they arrived back at the apartment, they were astonished to find Original Cindy sitting in the living room, an angry expression on her face. She had apparently been waiting for them.

"OC? Are you okay?" Max asked tentatively.

Alec stared at her. "What's going on? You look like you're about to explode."

"Nice observation, pretty boy." OC snapped. "You had a visitor earlier."

Max paled. "A visitor? Who?" All sorts of thoughts started appearing in her head. She knew that she might just be simply jumping to conclusions, but when you're a genetically-engineered supersoldier that had been born and bred in a place called Manticore, you had to be very, very cautious.

"Someone who nearly gave me a heart attack." The African-American woman said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Someone who looked exactly like you."

Max relaxed. "Oh, you mean my twin sister – Sam."

"That's right. Sam. Or should I call her 453?"

And again, she turned white. Even Alec started to look worried. "She told you?"

"She thought I knew. So she started rambling on and on about how she found this safe haven for transgenics – some place where Manticore wouldn't be able to find you. She told me to tell you when you people arrived."

"Oh my god. OC, I'm sorry -- "

"I can't believe you would lie to me!" She exclaimed. "Making up all those stories about how you grew up in a farm…that's just sick. Why couldn't you just tell me the truth?"

"Because we barely you knew you when we moved in with you OC," Alec answered. "You have to understand. We couldn't trust just anyone. That would be suicide. One small leak…and we'd be dead. The government is hunting us down. There's a reason for us to be very careful when it comes things like trust."

OC softened. "I guess I was just shocked."

"No worries, OC." Max smiled softly. "We got your back."

"And I got yours." She smiled back.

"So what'd Sam say?"

"Exactly what I just told you. Some safe haven of sorts." OC shrugged. "She gave me her cell number. All you guys have to do is contact her."

"Safe haven, huh?" OC gave her the number. Max stared at the digits on the paper before grabbing Alec's cell and dialing the number. It rang three times before Sam picked up.

Hey, who's this?>

"Hey Sam, it's Max."

Good to hear from you. Listen, there's this place called Terminal City. You guys should check it out. I mean, its like transgenic central. Xs and nomalies swarming all over the place.>

"How'd you find it?"

Now that's the funny part. Some X5 thought I was you. He told me all about it. His designation was 548. You know him? >

Alec broke into a grin. "548. I know him alright. We were partners on the Volkovitch job in Kezmekistan." He smirked. "The off-hours were definitely the highlight of that mission."

Max swatted at him, a disgusted look on her face. "I don't even want to know."

What was that?

"Oh nothing, so can you give us the address?"

Sam quickly gave them the address before saying goodbye. The two transgenics then decided to check it out the next morning. It had been a long day, and they needed to catch up on some rest – and possibly more than that.

…

To be continued…

…

A/N: Please review. )