Freedom on the inside

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own anything to do with Dark Angel. They apparently belong to some guy who is most definitely in need of a brain check. What was he thinking when he decided to axe the show? Oh well, I guess when I'm rich enough I'll just have to buy the rights to the programme and then we'll finally get a third season. I wouldn't count on it though.

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: M/A (eventually!)

Summary: What if Max never escaped Manticore in 'Designate This' and didn't get the chance to infect Logan? Logan and everyone else in Seattle thinks she's dead and Renfro's still alive?

Author's Note: I know there's been a lot of 'what if she never escaped stories?' but this is my shot at what could have happened. Please read and review!

Chapter Four

Alter Ego

Alec stood under the dim light of the room and looked at Max with an unreadable expression, "What are you doing here?"

"I, um, was just going to my cell," Max tried explaining, "I didn't mean to intrude."

Alec's expression softened as he smiled half heartedly before looking down at the floor and running a hand through his hair, "You weren't intruding, I wasn't really doing anything."

Max nodded, not wanting to question him when he obviously didn't want to talk.

Sighing, Alec turned to look back up at her, "Neither of us should be here anyway, I think it's past our bedtime."

"I think you're right," Max said as she edged towards the door, "Sir."

Alec's small smile broke into a grin, "Now I'm worried."

"No need to be," Max said before finally turning around and leaving.

"651, what were you thinking?" Alec yelled at the smaller blond haired soldier. Max and the rest of the unit stood to attention at the voice at their livid commanding officer. Max, as of yet, had never taken Alec serious as a soldier, let alone a commanding officer, but the poor boy quivering before him just went to prove her wrong.

"Answer me this 651, if the enemy had been standing there right in front of you, what would have happened?"

The transgenic didn't answer.

"What would have happened?" Alec bellowed.

"I would've been killed, sir."

"And?"

"And so would've the rest of my team."

Max wanted to give the poor boy a hug and punch Alec's lights out. He made a mistake, everyone makes mistakes. They may be super soldiers but they weren't perfect.

"He's sorry," Max blurted out before Alec could launch another verbal attack.

Alec glared at Max. He had intended to say something along the lines of, "who asked you to speak 452?" but decided against it. He was tired of yelling.

Turning back to 651, he looked at him sternly, "Work on it." Walking backwards and throwing a collective glance at the rest of the unit, he dismissed them and made his way back to the Manticore base, leaving behind a very disheartened group of soldiers.

Max watched his back disappear whilst simultaneously dropping to the dry ground with a thud.

"Thank you"

Max turned to look in the direction of the quiet voice and smiled at her fellow unit member, "Just make sure you don't try that again."

X6-651 nodded.

Max turned away from the X6 to look back in the direction of the Manticore base. Alec may be their commanding officer, but somewhere underneath that tyrannical exterior, there had to be a heart. Just possibly, she had caught a glimpse of it last night and if that was true, what the hell had happened to him?

651 hadn't caused any real trouble, they were just practising and he had made an honest mistake. She was also pretty sure that Alec wasn't perfect either, so really, he had no right to go off like that.
Alec's eyes shot to his cell door as the metal locks unlocked and it flew open. Not even a second later, a very angry looking Max stormed in, "Where do you get off yelling like that at us?"

Alec remained lying down on his bunk with his arms tucked behind his head, "Unless you've forgotten 452, I'm your commanding officer."

"And I'm Max!" Max growled.

Alec scoffed as he got up from the bed and sat on it's edge, "Look, I don't care whether you like it or not, but you take your orders from me."

"What is wrong with you?" Max yelled.

"What the hell do you mean by what's wrong with me? I'm doing my job, that's all!"

"A real job doesn't involve being cold hearted and cruel."

"Unless you've also forgotten, you're a soldier, soldiers are cold hearted and cruel!" Alec's set jaw and piercing green eyes looked alight. Whatever it was that was making him act this way had nothing to do with the whole 'this is my job' routine. It was something else and Max couldn't tell what.

"Well if that's what you want to believe, go right ahead. Just coz Manticore said we had to be ruthless, cold blooded killers, doesn't mean we are." Matching Alec's glare, Max left his cell much the same way as she had entered.
"Wow, you're actually eating!"

Max looked up to meet 269's gaze. "Well I figured it couldn't be as bad as sitting in my cell, waiting for my head to explode with frustration."

Ginger took the seat next to her.

"You're still angry at Alec for this morning."

"He's just so . . ." Max started, clenching her fists.

"Arrogant"

"It's not even that," Max said, "It's just he's so hard to follow."

"Meaning?"

"Sometimes he's all light hearted and sarky and then, in like less than ten seconds, he becomes this . . . this monster!"

"It's called a commanding officer," Ginger laughed.

Max sighed, "Well he's one hell of a CO. Possibly the worst I've had in all my Manticorian life."

"Well, he's definitely not the best anymore."

"What d'you mean?" Max asked losing interest in her fork and food.

"Didn't you know? X5-494 was Manticore's finest until about a year ago. I mean he's still one of the best but after messing up his first long term away mission, he hasn't been quite the same."

"What happened?"

"That's just it, none of us know. The information concerning that particular mission has long been completely out of bounds. Anyway," Ginger started to change the topic, "I thought you hated this food." Reaching over to Max's plate, she grabbed some of her pasta.

"It's not so bad after all," Max shrugged.

A/N 2- Thank you to my reviewers, I hoped you liked this chapter. It was just to deepen Alec's character from Max's perspective. Sorry for the long wait in updating! But please continue to review!

SmilinStar xxx