Disclaimer: I am not making any profit out of this and am using it purely for amusement. The scenes are taken completely out of an episode of Dark Angel (which belongs to Fox, Cameron and Eglee), and most of the dialogue as well.

A/N: Here's the next installment of HG. I loved the Annie-Josh-Alec moment and hope I did it justice. I also added a small scene between Max and Alec before her little chat with Joshua. It's like a mini (really mini) missing scene. Hahaha.

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CHAPTER 15

Loud rap music was blaring loudly into the whole room. Alec was slouched inelegantly on one of the recliner seats in Joshua's digs, his green eyes glued to the TV screen and the kaleidoscope of flashing colors from the music video. He nodded his head along to the beat, using his pork rind snack as an imaginary drumstick. The bright colors, the gaudy costumes, the incoherent words were irrationally entertaining to the captivated transgenic. Ahh…the vast wasteland where his mind could remain pleasantly blank but vastly amused. After all those years of sparseness, discipline and structure, watching something as extravagantly useless as an over-budget music videos was sheer entertainment.

"Alec, your boob tube is too loud," complained Joshua, who was huddled on the other side of the room trying to read.

"It's the only way to enjoy it," replied Alec, his eyes never leaving the brightly colored screen. "Come over and have a look."

Joshua frowned briefly, but tossed his book down, rolled off his place in the library and crawled over to watch the boob tube over Alec's shoulder. It was loud. It was a little scary. But…strangely entertaining. He could feel himself be pulled into the vast wasteland, unable to take his eyes off the screen. So many colors and movements all at once. It reminded him of, "Tricks and treats," he said out loud, cocking his head to the side.

Alec nodded slightly. "Welcome to the world of attention deficit," he smiled appreciatively at the I'm a Freak music video.

Suddenly, the video was cut off by a KIPH Special News Bulletin. A middle-aged newscaster appeared, his face grim. "A hoverdrone recorded this shocking footage. Authorities are refusing to comment on the nature of the assailant."

Alec's smile died away as he watched in horror. A transgenic, without a doubt, was throwing Sector Police into the air. "…but as you can see for yourself, the attacker has what can only be described as superhuman strength…" continued the reporter.

Green eyes glued to the screen for entirely different reasons as before, Alec assessed the situation. "This is bad," he mumbled, knowing that was an understatement.

"…something that was described to us by witnesses as a mutant…"

"This is so, so very bad," whispered Alec. Joshua could only look on, his blue eyes shifting from his X5 friend, who was looking very un-Alec-like with concern, and the horrible scene on the boob tube.

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Max watched the small screen in Jam Pony, transfixed with horror, as she saw the same footage that Alec was watching. She let her eyes wander over the stunned expressions of her co-workers, hoping that her face merely reflected the same. She couldn't afford to go ballistic at the moment.

But she very nearly did when the reporter mentioned Manticore.

"…authorities have denied all knowledge of Manticore, but…"

Sketchy threw a look of disbelief at Max and Original Cindy as the camera panned back towards the transgenic again. "That's the thing I saw in the sewers last week,"

Max stood rigidly beside Normal, who was equally riveted by the scene in front of them. "Whoa, Nellie! Look at that sucker," he whispered. Max could practically feel the horror and disgust radiating off her boss. In fact, it was pretty much coming off of everyone in the break-room staring at the screen.

She looked at O.C., seeing the alarm in her best friend's eyes. This is bad. This is so, so very bad.

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Logan turned on the TV and was about to walk away to make a cup of coffee when he heard the newscaster's distressed voice.

"…one of the officers was seriously injured before other opened fire…some eyewitnesses claim that it took police six shots…"

Logan spun around and watched in growing dismay at the implications of what this news report meant for all the transgenics. Especially for, "Max," he whispered, his mind immediately trying to figure out how she would be affected by the events that had transpired. Pulling the phone off the cradle, he dialed her pager number. He had to talk to her, in case she needed him.

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Alec shrugged quickly into his leather jacket. He was going to see Max, make sure she was okay. Well, make sure she wasn't freaking out and doing something heroically drastic, actually. Knowing her, she would either be blazing mad, or irrationally emotional about the scene. Who could blame her? He was actually scared, too. And if he was scared, who knew what Max was feeling? She was as unpredictable as a firecracker. He wanted to be around to take care of her and douse the fire. Strange, how she was the first thing he thought of.

"Lay low, Alec," whispered Joshua, his tone concerned.

"'Lay low'? Is that all you have to say to me, Josh?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically abrupt towards his friend. Okay, he was more than a little concerned. More than a little alarmed.

Suddenly, there was a knocking on the door.

Both Alec and Joshua froze for a second, their eyes flying towards the door.

"Joshua? It's me, Annie!" came the voice from the door.

Joshua was immediately on his feet, rushing to the door. Alec grabbed his friend fiercely, holding the dog-man back. "Send her away." He whispered urgently. Joshua tried to pull away, but Alec held on fast, his fingers digging into his friend's arm. He hadn't wanted this conversation to happen too soon, but now there was no choice.

"You can't be with her now. All right? You see that? You see what's going on?" he asked, pointing furiously at the TV screen, where the video of the transgenic throwing off the police was being replayed over and over.

But Joshua wasn't listening to him, he could see it in Joshua's carefully blank expression. But he could read the denial in the dog-man's eyes. Joshua tried to pull away from him, "But, Alec, she's—" he tried to reason.

Alec gripped his friend harder, pulling him closer so that he could look him in the eye. "Send her away, Josh," he said, enunciating each word carefully. "Let her go before she falls in love with you. Before she wants you to meet her family. Before you get yourself killed. Before you get HER killed." He finished, his voice low, menacing, but somehow laced with pain.

It was the pain that finally caught Joshua's attention. Alec was looking at him with green eyes filled with anger and pain, asking him to try to understand. Joshua suddenly understood that Alec could only talk about this…and feel like this from experience.

"Send her away." Alec said, one more time, seeing Joshua's stricken look of understanding. Alec felt like the villain in one of those movies he was always watching. He was breaking his friend's heart—but he was only doing it to protect him. Right?

He watched with a tightening heart as Joshua walked towards the door, his footsteps heavy.

Alec saw Annie for the first time as Joshua opened the door. He saw the sheer innocence and loveliness of the blind girl, and he knew that he had done the right thing.

"Billie and I were gonna go walk to the store. Thought maybe you'd like to come." She said, her voice light and open as her invitation.

"Uh…" Joshua shuffled his feet and played with the hem of his shirt. How was he going to do this? "Annie…"

Perceptive as ever, Annie tilted her head to the side, correctly interpreting the low pitch of Joshua's voice. "What's wrong?"

"The news…" said Joshua, still searching for a way to end things without hurting her.

"What news?" she asked, concerned. What hurt Joshua the most was that she was concerned for him, not for herself. Joshua understood Alec's point. She was a good person. She had to stay safe—and safe meant away from him. He had to be away from her life. "News from back home. I have to go." He said abruptly.

He saw her fight to keep the pain and hurt from her face. But even her sightless eyes were still windows to her soul. He could see her hurt. "When?" she asked.

"Today."

Joshua couldn't look at her anymore. He stared off into a distant spot somewhere over her head. He heard her sniffle and he felt a painful stab in his heart knowing he had caused it. "I'll miss you." She whispered brokenly, still trying to smile valiantly. It was no wonder he had fallen in love with her.

"I'll miss you, too." He said, knowing that it was the most honest thing he could say to her at the moment. The only honest thing he could say to her. "Good-bye, Annie,"

She turned away to leave, and he stepped back, ready to close the door. But she turned back, quickly. "Joshua!" she called out. "Can you do something for me?"

He stayed silent, but didn't close the door, knowing that she knew he was still standing there. He didn't know what to say, didn't know what else he could do for her.

"I just…I wanna remember you," she said. Then she raised her hand, blindly stretching out towards him, her palm facing him, her fingers reaching for him.

He understood. And he almost died knowing that she would never really know him. He turned to look over his shoulder, seeing that Alec was still there. He gave his friend a beseeching look.

Alec saw Annie's outstretched hand, Joshua's pleading look, and he knew that he couldn't say no. He swallowed briefly but gave a small nod to Joshua. It was the least he could do for his friend.

He tread quietly over to where Joshua was, careful not to alert the blind girl that there were two of them standing by the door.

He stood in front of Annie, uncomfortable and…strangely afraid. What would a blind girl see in him? Her fingers tentatively touched his leather clad chest and climbed up to his cheek. He held still, almost not breathing. Her fingers trailed up to his ear, wandering over to his brow, touching his nose, his lips.

He felt himself tremble slightly. She was touching him with such…love.

He knew he wasn't supposed to feel like this. As her fingers splayed lovingly over his features, he couldn't help but feel jealous. No one had ever touched him with love before. He had been with several women, but they had always touched him with lust and passion. Rachel had touched Simon Lehane in love. But no one, had ever touched him.

And even now, this love was for Joshua.

He couldn't even look his friend in the eye now, because he was stealing something infinitely precious from his Joshua. But he couldn't feel guilty about it either, because he still reveled in Annie's soft caresses.

Joshua watched silently, tears welling in his blue eyes as Alec accepted Annie's love. If only… But it wasn't meant to be. It could never be, he understood now. He didn't even have the courage to let her know who he really was. He was bound by his fate, to forever sit in the sidelines as others found love and companionship.

As others could be touched the way Annie was touching Alec.

He was jealous, but he couldn't be angry. It was for the best. He understood now. But it still hurt.

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"You can see it right there…" said a newscaster, as the camera zoomed in towards the prone figure of the dead transgenic. The captivated audience in Jam Pony hadn't moved since the news broke out on the screen. "…the barcode. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the tattoos were used to keep track of the soldiers that were involved in the program."

Max was fighting to contain herself. It would serve no purpose if she suddenly reacted too strongly to the news. But she felt like a coiled spring, the tension tightly contained, but barely.

Suddenly, her pager went off again, startling her. It was hooked to her sleeve and she glanced impatiently at it. Logan had been paging her incessantly all morning. She knew that he was only trying to show her his support, but she really couldn't face him at the moment. In all honesty, she didn't need him at the moment.

But, couldn't he at least get the message and stop after the fifth attempt and she still hadn't called him back?

But the number flashing on it wasn't Logan's, however, but Alec's. Alarm bells went off in her head. She had hoped that both Alec and Joshua weren't yet aware of what was happening, but she should have known it was too much to hope that Alec hadn't scored a TV yet.

She glanced at O.C., and mouthed Alec before leaving to get to the payphone.

Alec was pacing like a caged tiger inside the house. He answered his phone on the first ring. "Hi. Thanks for hitting me back," he said, knowing without a doubt that it was Max on the other end.

"I take it you've seen the news," she said. Her voice was uncharacteristically soft and concerned. She sounded young and scared, and Alec knew that she was taking this hard. But Max wasn't the one who needed the most comforting at the moment. His eyes wandered over to Joshua's hunched figure.

"Yeah, but that's not why I'm calling," he sighed. "I need you to get over here."

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Max arrived at Sandeman's house in record time. She was greeted at the door by Alec, who was looking slightly disturbed. Their eyes locked, a moment of understanding passing between them, an unspoken sharing of concern and disbelief at the events of the morning.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to push past him to see Joshua.

He grabbed her arm. "Wait." He said. "Let me fill you in."

He told her about Annie and about her visit this morning. He told her about what he said to Joshua. She glared at him angrily when she heard about his "we don't belong with them" speech, but held her silence. He was right. Had been right all along. But still, he could have been a little nicer about it.

"…and now this." he said, raking a hand through his hair, his other hand gesturing helplessly towards the library where Joshua apparently was. Max's indignation at him dissolved as she realized that he really was concerned about their friend. "I'm no good at this, Max. I don't know what to say to the big guy." He admitted.

She took his hand and squeezed it briefly. He had no idea how good he was at being a friend. She remembered how he had listened without judgment to her story. It was going to be a while before Alec would consider himself a good friend to anyone, just like she did. So, she turned and went into the library to see Joshua.

They sat in silence for a while, and at last, Max took Joshua's large hand in hers. "I know you're sad, but you did the right thing." She whispered, her voice full of conviction.

"Remember we talked about how we're not like other people and we need to stick together? Right now that's more important than ever." She continued, reaching out to stroke his long hair. Joshua was fidgeting with a necklace and sniffling like a child. He raised sad blue eyes at Max.

"Annie's not like other people," he said. "She's different…"

Max tensed slightly, knowing that she had to squash what little hope Joshua was feeing. "But she's not like us, either," she cut him off, her voice more curt than she had intended. "When you care about someone you have to do what's best for them even if it hurts."

Joshua looked slightly taken aback by her tone and vehemence. Max was instantly contrite; she was taking out her frustration about Logan on Joshua, and it wasn't fair. Her expression gentled, and she saw that Joshua calmed down as well. They shared small sad smiles.

Finally, Joshua sighed and gripped his necklace harder. "Love sucks."

He released the pendant and it fell against his black sweater. Max glanced briefly at it and froze. It was a pendant engraved with two snakes intertwined with each other. Like the staff of Caduceus.

"Joshua, where did you get this?" she asked urgently.

"Father gave it to me," he replied.

Max took off her bike gloves, her mind reeling with the revelation. She took the pendant and laid it on her palm, next to her fading scar. They were identical.