A/N: So, just so I'm upfront about it, I don't really like Logan. That may become increasingly apparent throughout this. I'm definitely more in the Max/Alec camp, but since I don't feel like I write Max all that well, this is Alec/OC. Fair warning for any of you Logan-lovers out there.
Chapter 5: Fun
I check our new quarters first and then the buildings in the vicinity. Kira is nowhere to be found. Finally, I decide to head to HQ to see if anyone there may have seen her.
Upon entering, I immediately spot Kira talking to 452/Max. I tilt my head, tuning my hearing into their conversation. Unfortunately, due to the distance and the other noises around the room, all I can confidently make out are the words '494,' 'trouble,' and 'problem.' Just from that much I know this is not going to be a pleasant discussion.
Slowly, nonchalantly, I approach. Kira and Max both look up and stop talking.
"Oh, no. Go ahead. Continue bashing Alec. By all means." I say, doing a piss-poor job of veiling my disapproval and anger.
"We weren't..." Max begins.
"Right." I interrupt sarcastically.
"Look, Jess. Max has been with him for a while now. He hasn't turned into some kind of saint on the outside. He's unreliable, a womanizer, lazy, and self-centered. He once agreed to kill and skin three transgenics of their barcodes in exchange for his own life. Is that the kind of person you want to get involved with?"
I glare at Kira silently. I feel more than see Max shift uncomfortably.
"You make it sound so much worse when you say it like that." she says quietly, "He's done some good things, too. They're just hard to remember because he screws up so much and he's so annoying. And that particular incident wasn't too long after he got out of Manticore and he didn't complete the deal. He's changed since then."
She sounds reluctant to admit that, confirming my suspicion that Alec is a better person than they are giving him credit for.
"I know you don't like him, Kira." I say, forcing myself to keep a cool head, "But you are being irrationally judgmental."
Kira stares at me incredulously. She obviously can't believe I just criticized her in such a Manticore fashion. Especially since I'm usually the irrational one of the two of us.
"Besides that, you can't understand what's between us. He means something to me. Something I can't explain. Even if I wanted to forget him like you keep telling me to, I wouldn't be able to. You're just going to have to learn to accept that." I conclude.
I turn to leave, but Kira stops me before I can reach the door.
"I just don't want him to hurt you again." she quietly admits.
"I can take care of myself." I assure her, my anger instantly evaporating at her words. She really is a good friend doing her best to look out for me. I just wish she would trust my judgement about this.
Kira doesn't reply so I continue out the door.
I keep myself busy for the rest of the day by helping out around Terminal City. I don't openly avoid Kira, but I don't seek her out either. It's not that I'm angry with her anymore, it's just that I don't want to hear anymore of her opinion of 494 until I have my own figured out.
"So what if he has his faults?" I ask myself out loud.
His faults only help to erase the perfect 494 of Manticore, to make him more Alec. And Alec is someone that I feel inexplicably drawn to, that I'm dying to get to know better.
"And so what if he's made some mistakes?"
I've made plenty of my own, after all, both in and out of Manticore.
"Besides, what do they know anyway?"
I throw a final piece of trash in the bag I'm carrying with perhaps more force than is necessary and straighten to survey the room. Satisfied that I've done a satisfactory job in cleaning up this space for whatever purpose it might be needed, I turn to leave.
"What does who know about what?"
494 sneaking up on me is really becoming a problem.
"Are you stalking me?" I ask as I push past him out the door and head towards the dumpster.
"Of course not. I'm not that desperate." he replies easily, "I asked Max and she said you were over here."
"What do you want?" I ask, finding myself annoyed that he's interrupted my musings before I've reached a conclusion.
"Nothing. I'm just bored out of my skull. Wondered if maybe you wanted to go do something."
Curious despite myself, I ask, "Like?"
I flip open the dumpster lid and toss the trash bag inside. 494 leans his back against the dumpster and looks at me with a decidedly mischievous smile.
"Oh, I don't know. We've got a bar. We could go play pool, trade Manticore war stories. Or we could go harass Max, one of my personal favorite pastimes, although that's kind of an extreme sport. Or, if you want, we could sneak out and take a spin."
It's obvious from the way he says it that he prefers the last item on that list.
"A spin?" I ask, wondering what happened to laying low and keeping out of trouble.
His smile grows wider, lighting up his face, and suddenly the danger outside the fence is the farthest thing from my mind.
"I've got a dirt bike and I know where you can find a motorcycle to...uh...borrow." he pulls a keychain out of his pocket with one key dangling from it.
"Without the owner's knowledge, I assume."
"That would probably be best." he nods.
"It's Max's, isn't it?" I guess.
"Ding ding. We have a winner." he quips, eyes sparkling with humor once again.
"She'll be mad, won't she?" I ask, still not sure whether ticking off my new CO is the best thing for me to do on my second day in town.
"Only if she finds out. Come on. Let's go." 494 grabs my arm and tugs me after him, not bothering to wait for me to agree to the plan.
I let myself be pulled along, feeling amused by his exuberance. 494 leads me all the way back to HQ before he releases my arm. He signals to me to be quiet and to follow him, shifting immediately into stealth mode. I stalk after him as he circles the building, cautiously scanning for any guards on the lookout. We're careful to dodge all the patrols, which Alec seems to know like the back of his hand anyway, and finally we reach an empty warehouse that seems to serve as the garage for the transgenics' vehicles. 494 points me towards a beautiful black motorcycle and I immediately understand why Max would be protective of the machine. It's an amazing bike and now that I've seen it, the desire to ride it is fairly overwhelming. I feel myself start to grin as I creep up to the motorcycle. 494 takes hold of the handlebars on a green Bandit to my left and leads the way back towards the fence, again dodging any patrols. He leads me to a part of Terminal City that seems fairly unoccupied, then signs for me to wait a moment. He momentarily disappears around the side of a building and when he returns, he's carrying a large, wooden board in his arms. Using some of the debris nearby, he swiftly constructs a ramp that will give us enough height to clear the perimeter fence, provided we hit it at a high enough speed. I feel myself grinning again, excited by the prospect.
"We've got maybe two minutes before the noise attracts some attention." 494 says, tossing me the key to the bike, "After you."
"What a gentleman." I reply, mounting Max's bike and firing it up.
I turn the bike around and ride far enough back to give me a chance to accelerate before I hit the ramp. Revving the engine once just for fun, I take off, careful of my alignment since the ramp isn't very wide. Once I'm confident of my approach, I turn my head and wink at 494 before hitting the ramp and sailing over the fence. I land neatly on the street on the other side and swerve to a stop.
I look up to see if 494 is coming and I'm surprised to see that he's already in the air, sailing over the fence and landing nearer to me than is comfortable. But unlike me, he doesn't stop, but continues to zoom down the street.
"Hurry up, Jess. We don't got all night." he calls back.
I quickly turn and speed after him. I'm not really familiar with the city yet, so I stay on his right flank, letting him lead. We travel fast, not stopping for anything: a quick swerve to avoid a car traveling too slowly, accelerate to blow through an intersection before other traffic can reach it, a fast turn to avoid a busy street. It's all fast and exhilarating and I find it's exactly what I need to lighten my mood. I find myself smiling almost uncontrollably and I even laugh out loud when 494 attempts to show off and almost runs smack into the side of a truck.
After what seems like no time at all, 494 pulls over and stops. I follow suit, disappointed because I know that he's going to tell me it's time to head back.
"Having fun?" he asks, noticing the continued presence of a smile on my face.
I nod and he smiles back at me.
"Good. Unfortunately, we've run out of sector. Gotta turn back or risk a run-in with the cops."
My smile begins to fade even though I already knew the fun couldn't last.
"Hey, don't be upset. I'm sure we can find something else to do to keep us entertained when we get back." he raises his eyebrows at me suggestively, but his face is teasing.
Rather than respond to his teasing comment, I make a quick decision.
"Race you." I challenge and immediately take off.
"Cheater!" 494 yells after me, quick to follow.
We race all the way back to the spot in the fence where we exited. I'm careful to backtrack our trail precisely, but still manage to keep slightly ahead of 494. It's probably just because I have a better bike than he does as well as a small headstart, but I'm not about to diminish my victory by admitting that out loud
"Beat you." I declare with a smirk when we pull up outside the fence.
"You cheated." he accuses again.
"Whatever you have to tell yourself." I tease.
"I let you win." he continues.
"Sure." I agree sarcastically.
494 smiles at me and it's clear from his face that he's actually enjoying himself as much as I am. In fact, he actually looks pleased with how much I'm enjoying my little triumph.
"So how do we get the bikes back over?" I ask.
"Same way we got them on this side. See, I'm prepared." 494 quickly constructs another ramp from materials scattered around this side of the perimeter.
I let him go first this time, then follow after. We shut off the bikes as soon as we're back over the fence, knowing that once again we don't have long before someone comes to investigate the sounds of our reentry. I swiftly disassemble and scatter the ramp materials on the Terminal City side while 494 sneaks back through the fence and does the same on the other side. He returns and we manage to sneak our bikes back out of the area just before a pair of transgenics arrive. Following 494's direction, we evade them and return the bikes back to the storage garage. I'm frankly surprised we haven't been caught, a fact which seems to make 494 extremely smug and cocky.
"Have to have a talk with Maxie about her crack security team." he says happily as we walk casually away from the scene of the crime.
"So what now?" I ask, still too high on the adrenaline from our ride to even think about going back to my quarters yet.
"Let's go to the bar. That way when Max asks what we did tonight, we'll have an alibi with witnesses." he says, "I'll play you a game of pool."
"And you'll buy me a beer." I add.
"I will, will I? And why's that?" he asks, amused.
"Because I beat you in that race. You owe me." I answer simply, as if it's obvious.
"How do I get involved with these chicks? So pushy. So demanding. 'Buy me a beer, Alec.' 'Get me some gas, Alec.'" he shakes his head.
"Oh, knock it off." I say, slugging him playfully in the shoulder.
"And abusive, too." he adds, rubbing his arm as if I've hurt him.
I roll my eyes. I can see how this 494, Alec's attitude might grate on Max's nerves. He's teasing, playful, almost carefree in a world that is anything but. I, however, find it refreshing. Being with him is fun and interesting and I find myself relaxing for the first time in a long time.
I quickly clear my head of those thoughts. I've already wasted my day on confusing thoughts. Tonight I just want to enjoy myself. I'll think about all that other stuff later.
Terminal City's bar is, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the center of the city and is fairly packed with both X-series and transhumans when we arrive. Everyone seems to know Alec. I'm not used to feeling like the center of attention and I feel awkward as I trail after him while he warmly greets and jokes with the masses. Years of covert ops training followed by a year of high-stakes escape-and-evade have not prepared me for this. Everything in me is telling me to slink back into the shadows.
494, either sensing my discomfort or perhaps tipped off by my silence, turns towards me. Perhaps some anxiety is showing on my face, because he frowns and moves quickly to my side, sliding an arm around my shoulders and drawing me away from the crowded entry and over to a quieter spot at the bar. Embarrassed, I hope he won't say anything about my bout of social anxiety and thankfully, he doesn't. Instead, he knocks his fist against the bar to get the bartender's attention.
"Hey, Sparks! Pitcher over here." he calls to the male transgenic pouring drinks.
I think at first that the dark complexioned man is an X-series of some kind, but when he places a pitcher and two glasses in front of us, I get a glimpse of his startling eyes. They are a bright, fiery red that explain his name. I wonder what their function is, but feel it's probably not polite to ask. Besides, given that I have yet to hear him speak a word, he doesn't really strike me as the chatty type.
"Thanks, man." 494 says and the other man simply nods in acknowledgement before he moves away. 494 pours a glass and slides it over to me, "Alright, cheater. Here's your beer."
Ignoring the dig, I accept the beer and take a drink. The beer itself is nothing special, but for some reason, as I take a swig, it feels significant. I beat 494 and here is the proof. Back at Manticore, this would have been just a fantasy, never reality. Yet here I am. That thought somehow makes this mediocre beer taste better than anything I've ever had before and despite the fact that the likelihood of me consuming enough alcohol to actually get drunk with my X5 metabolism is almost non-existent, I find myself starting to relax as the liquid slides down my throat and settles in my stomach.
"Not bad." is all I say out loud.
494 nods as he pours for himself, "Yeah, the beer's nothing special. You want a real drink, try the crap Mole cooked up. It's like drinking turpentine steeped in jet fuel. It's quite a trip."
"Sounds it." I agree, hoping he'll keep talking.
I'm enjoying listening to him talk about his life here. Not only do I feel like I'm gathering intel on the new surroundings that Kira and I have found ourselves in, but I feel like I'm getting to know this side of him, the Alec side, better, too.
"Oh yeah." he nods, "Max actually tried to outlaw it, but that really just drove up the demand. Pretty sure it's how Mole's funding his cigar habit these days. Bastard refuses to share the recipe."
I find myself actually chuckling at his words, my anxiety from before falling away. I smile a little and decide to try and recapture some of that relaxed enjoyment from earlier.
"Well, maybe when I kick your ass at pool, you can buy me a glass." I tell him, raising both eyebrows challengingly.
He grins widely, lifting his glass to me, "You're on, sweetheart."
I lift my own glass to clink against his, sealing the bet. We both take another drink before he lifts the pitcher to top off both our glasses, then leads the way over towards the pool tables. I trail eagerly behind him.
The two pool tables in the bar are both in use when we arrive, but 494's popularity leads to him quickly getting access to one of them. I sip at my beer and watch him rack up the balls for a new game. I wonder if I should tell him that hustling people at pool is one of the ways I've managed to keep some money in my pocket over the last few months on the run, but watching the way he moves around the table I decide not to. He seems pretty comfortable with a pool cue, himself.
"You wanna break?" he asks.
"Sure." I shrug, figuring it's his own funeral if he wants to give up that advantage.
Setting my beer aside, I lift my cue and pick up some chalk off the side of the table. I chalk up the tip before leaning over to line up my shot for the break. With a smooth, hard strike against the white cue ball, I bust the group open and send the 10-ball sailing into the far corner pocket.
"Looks like I'm stripes." I say, straightening and scanning the table.
"Nice break." 494 comments.
My gaze slides over to him, "What? You think I was going to break dry?"
He shakes his head, "Of course not. Call shot game?"
I shrug again, figuring the cat is now out of the bag about my pool experience between my familiarity with the terminology and my power break, "Sure."
It doesn't take me long to run the table since I'm not trying to hide my skill. Even with all the cover provided by his remaining solids, I sink the game ball with little difficulty. Straightening, a brief flash of worry courses through me that I've ruined the fun by dominating the game like this, but when I look over at him, he's smiling at me.
"Not bad." he says when he catches my gaze, "But now you're really in for a challenge. You sure you want that drink?"
"Not weaseling out of our bet, are you?" I tease.
His eyes widen as if to say he's shocked that I would suggest such a thing. Then he chuckles and leans his cue against the table.
"Rack 'em up while I get your drink." he instructs as he heads back to the bar, "And don't say I didn't warn you."
I roll my eyes as I start racking the balls up again, sure he's just being dramatic. I take my time placing the balls in the triangle, thinking about how strange it is that I'm here playing pool with the man I once considered the bane of my existence. Maybe I really do need to cut Kira some slack. It is hard to believe how much he's changed. Or maybe it's me that's so different now. Maybe it's both of us. Regardless, I've already decided that I'm not going to spend my night lost in my thoughts.
"Here it is." 494 announces, dangling a tumbler in front of my face full of some sort of dark sludge, "Mole's patented Mother's Milk."
I look from the liquid that bears more resemblance to a slightly less viscous type of tar than any kind of milk to 494's face skeptically, "Mother's Milk?"
494 shrugs and offers me a lop-sided grin, "He thinks it's funny. You know, 'cause none of us had a mother."
"Hilarious." I say dryly, taking the glass.
I wrinkle my nose a little. I don't even need to bring it close to my face to smell it. I'm pretty sure you could peel the paint off a car just by setting this glass next to it. Maybe it won't taste as bad as it smells.
"Cheers." I say, lifting my glass in 494's direction.
He just crosses his arms and watches me expectantly. I take a healthy pull from my glass and nearly spit it all back out. My eyes go wide as I swallow what is surely pure poison. It burns like napalm in my throat and I cough.
"Jesus Christ!" I swear between coughs.
"Yeah, that's pretty much everyone's first reaction." 494 nods.
When I finally recover from the coughing fit, I lift the glass up to inspect it again, "What the hell is this stuff?"
"Like I said, no clue." 494 says, "But it's the only thing I've ever seen have an effect on a transgenic metabolism."
"What effect?" I demand, "Death?"
He chuckles and takes the glass from my hand, downing half the remainder in one swallow. I stare at him, shocked. He grimaces a little and coughs once, but otherwise doesn't seem about to keel over.
"It's an acquired taste." he says, his voice slightly strained. He clears his throat before he continues, "But, you know, if you don't want your winnings, that's perfectly fine…"
I slam the rest of the drink back then slap the empty glass down on the pool table. I manage to only cough a little this time before I recover my voice enough to challenge him.
"Double or nothing."