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 Nine

Greater Enemies

Max stood beside Ginger in a line of transgenics; the barks of the Manticore officer in front of her flying over the top of her head. It was something to do with combat training again, and so she figured she didn't really need to listen. Besides, her mind was already pre-occupied.

The transgenics split, and thankfully she had been paired off with Ginger.

"I am so not in the mood for this," Ginger moaned at a level only audible to Max.

"Neither am I," Max admitted.

"Let's fake it then."

Max gave her a sideways glance, "Are you serious? They'll catch us, I'm sure they can tell the difference."

"Yeah, so we take a few tumbles. Come on, it's easy. I've done it before with 701."

"701?" Max nearly yelled, the guy had given her a good ass kicking on her first week back at Manticore; he was a giant.

"Yeah well BFG does get tired now and again."

Max smiled at his predictable name; it most definitely suited him.

"Ok, ok, so long as this doesn't get me a trip down to psy-ops."

"It won't, promise."

That was enough for Max – Ginger always kept her promises.

Both transgenics stood either side of a mat. All the male transgenics turned their heads to watch; this was one fight they weren't going to miss. Two equally stunning and equally fiery female transgenics beating the crap out of each other; it was practically every guy's dream.

On the blow of the whistle, the two X5s started circling each other and Max was the first to make a move. She landed a punch just to the left of her opponent's right shoulder. The strike left Ginger stumbling backwards.

To the audience, each punch, kick and fall, looked utterly real, but if you looked closer, you could see each attack was precise; precisely a fraction of a millimetre away from contact.

Unbeknownst to Max, Alec was there in the crowds watching. When they had come out, he had been nowhere to be seen, so Max had assumed he was slacking off, but like she always was when it came to Alec; she was wrong. He had first watched the match with indifference, his pride not letting him forgive Max just yet, but it later turned to suspicion and then plain amusement. He was surprising himself with how much he had learnt about Max in just a couple of weeks of knowing her; she was faking it, they both were.

He continued to watch as Max staged a fatal fall. Alec smirked, so it looked like the proud Max was going to give Ginger the credit for this fight. How honourable.

There was a huge round of applause as Ginger, the winner, helped pull Max up from the floor. Ginger was blushing a healthy red to match her hair, whilst Max, also strangely, was smiling.

Alec crept up behind the two females, remaining completely unnoticed. Lowering his voice, he whispered between the both of them, "Nice fight, must have caused an awful lot of damage."

Max nearly jumped out of her skin, but Ginger on the other hand, was finding the fact she had been caught red handed by her CO hilarious.

"Why thank you sir," she smiled with sarcasm.

Max said nothing, she still felt unworthy of Alec's friendly regard. Her unease heightened up another notch, when a large Manticore officer came marching towards the three. 'Oh this was it, they were busted. So tragically busted.'

"452, 494, you are to report to Director Renfro's office now."

Animosity put aside, both looked at each other with a mixture of alarm, panic and curiosity, but despite their misgivings they followed silently behind him.

"Ah, 452 and 494, take a seat," Renfro gestured to the two seats in front of her desk.

The two transgenics sat down without question.

"About a week ago, I took you both off the breeding programme, your new assignment was still in the developmental progress and I recently gained confirmation on it. However, there have been some last minute changes."

Max and Alec continued to give her their full attention.

"I'm sure 452, you will recognise this man," Renfro put her hand out to the side as if to introduce the man currently walking through the door.

"Hello Max."

Max's head was spinning, 'what the hell was he doing here?' "Lydecker?"

"That's me."

Taking the seat next to Renfro, he sat down looking between the two X5s, "We need you to track down a possible associate."

"Since when were you two best friends and even working together?" Max couldn't help herself, she knew very well that Renfro saw through her obedient soldier routine, why should she keep up the act any longer?

Renfro smiled a knowing smile, "Since we all now face a common enemy. Lydecker, can you please do the honours in explaining these new developments?"

Lydecker nodded and began his explanation using the photographs as his tool. Both Max and Alec sat listening carefully to his every word, although each word was taken in with extreme caution; Max still didn't know what to believe. And this; was as far fetched as any concept went.

Max stared at the two humans who had succeeded in making her life a living hell ever since she first came into the regimented world of Manticore. She knew very well that that was the main reason she was having such difficulty in believing a word being said.

"How do I know you're telling the truth and that this isn't just some way for you to get your hands on Eyes-Only?"

Lydecker sighed, "Max, I can't make you believe everything that I've said about the breeding cult or the Familiars, but we wouldn't be here practically begging for your co-operation if we didn't think this was important. We need your help, we need Eyes-Only onside. If he does expose Manticore, then we are just leaving the door open for these Familiars to wipe out the entire transgenic and human race. Max we need your help."

Max could feel all their eyes on her, including Alec's. The last thing she wanted was to drag Logan into this probable danger, but if what they were saying was true, then she had a greater enemy in these cult loonies then she did in Lydecker and Renfro. It seemed she didn't have a choice in whether to get Logan involved or not, either way he was already involved:

"Okay, so what do we do?"

A/N 2 – I apologise profusely for taking soooo long in getting this chapter up, I have been really busy, but now I have it up and I hope you enjoyed it. For those who were asking after her, Ginger was back in this chap and so I hope you liked their little fake fight. Now, I really really need your help! I haven't actually seen season one, except for about five odd episodes, and I haven't actually seen (believe it or not) the last episodes of season two. I haven't seen anything passed Fuhgeddaboutit, I'm still waiting to buy them! And so, I'm kinda getting the feeling this whole Renfro working with Lydecker thing might not work. Can someone please tell me if Renfro is anything apart from human and if anything was revealed about her in the last episodes, eg connections to sandman, familiars or anything. Thanx.

Thank you to all reviewers:

Lakergirl – Yes there will be white and there will be logan – that's when the real fun begins! Sorry for late update, thank you for reviewing!

Chainedreamer – well logan will be making an appearance, so I'll leave it up to you to guess what that'll lead to between Max and Alec!

Chaosti – I'm glad you're enjoying it, Max and Alec escaping is a possibility – I don't actually know where this is heading but I guess you'll just have to wait and see! Thanks for reviewing.

JeNsEnS wifey ChAdZ lover – lol, I won't make you beg! See I updated, hope u like.

Melanie – Renfro scares me too but it's great fun writing her! Thanks for reviewing, hope u liked this chap!

Roonblah – Funny you should say that, I was toying with the idea of making the captive Logan, but then I thought nah! Let's try a story with all the baddies in it!

Nelita – I'm sorry for the cliffhangers, I'll try to not do it anymore! Thanks for the review!

Senorita-DLH – thanks for reviewing, can't wait to read yours, get it up soon!

Black Rose9 – lol – glad you like the return of the deckster!

Loralee – I'll tell you what, I'll try and feature each of your requests in future chapters, you might have to remind me though, I have a very bad memory!

Flash – yeah I know Alec's not normally a wuss but I really wanted the Rachel topic to come out in the open, I thought that was a good way of doing it. About him knowing about Rachel – well since this story's AU, I guess I made it so that he doesn't need to be reminded. I think Rachel was always at the back of his mind but having Max yell at him like that brought the memories to the surface. Hope that helps and thanks very much for reviewing!

Aotearoa Hiphop Grl – I know I have to keep apologising for taking so long to update but please bear with me! Thank you so much for reviewing and hope you liked this chap!