Disclaimer: Don't own Dark Angel, would it have been cancelled ever if I did? Although, if you think about it, if it hadn't been cancelled, then we wouldn't have all those Jessica Alba movies, and Jensen would never have been on those other shows, and he might not be on Supernatural now shudders

A/N: So, here's the next chapter. Hopefully you like it, and if you notice, I didn't re-write the rest of Freak Nation, I just moved on. So this is the very end of Freak Nation, when they raise the flag, but of course, it's a bit different. Hope you like it.

Chapter 6: Raising the Flag

As the sun rose, transgenics all over TC were gathered to watch the small group on top of their highest building. As they watched, a pole was raised into the air, and on top was their new flag. It was at that moment that transhumans and X's all felt united for the first time.

Max watched Joshua and Mole raise their new flag. Next to her, Alec stood quietly, reflecting. She smiled at him. Who knows how things could've gone at Jam Pony if he hadn't been there to calm Mole down, to calm me down. On impulse, she reached out and took his hand in hers. He looked down at their hands, then up at her face and he smiled at her. She knew that eventually they would have to discuss what had happened, everything that had happened, but for now, she just wanted it to stay like this for now. She tried not to think of the revelation she'd made in Jam Pony. I love him, when did that happen? The thought scared her, and she didn't know what to do with it. So she did what she did best in this type of situation; she squashed them down, to be dealt with later. Although knowing Alec, that later will end up being sooner then I want. She couldn't help smiling again at that thought. They stood like that for a few minutes before he said softly 'We've got work to do.' She nodded to him, and slowly everyone started to make their way to headquarters.

Once everyone was there, and literally everyone, Max called them all to order. 'Last night, we all made the choice to stay and fight. Well, now it's time to start making that a reality. We know that there are groups here in TC, but what we need to do is bring them together, so we're gonna need a chain of command, one that everyone is happy with. But each group will need to self-elect a representative for the council. That can be done later. Right now, we need a leader.' Before she could continue, she was interrupted by Alec, who earned a glare but continued anyway.

'Max is right; we need a Commanding Officer, a Second in Command and a Director. These three people need to include all transgenic types, and yes that does include transhumans as well as X series. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Max should be CO, and Mole should be our transhuman representative. But it's you who need to decide. Now some of you are probably going to protest, because to you Max is still an '09er' to you, but we've all seen what she's done for TC these last few months and she cares more then anyone I've ever met. And if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't even be here. We'll nominate in half an hour, then we vote.' And he turned away, indicating for Max to follow him to her office.

'Alec…' Max began once they were inside her office, but he cut her off again.

'Not now Max. This next hour will change everything in TC and it's gonna be critical in the future of this place. Lots of people here were trained to hate you – you abandoned us, abandoned Manticore. But, as I said, lots of them have seen you in action around here and they know how dedicated you are, and…' This time it was Max who interrupted him.

'Alec, what makes you think I'll be CO? You're right; a lot of them don't trust me. They don't know me. You, on the other hand, they all love. So many of them know you, or know of you. You should be CO.' she said the last bit softly. He looked up at her, startled by her announcement.

'No, been there, done that, as you would say. I don't want that kind of power, ever again. You'll be CO.' he said it as a statement, leaving no option for discussion. Max was stunned at the way he said it with such finality that she was speechless for a few seconds. Alec was a CO back at Manticore? How come no one ever told me? How come he never told me?

'Only if you'll be my SIC.' He looked at her and was treated to her most stubborn look – the one she reserved for him alone. She looked beautiful, hands on hips, chin stuck out slightly, eyes just daring him to disagree with her. He had never been one to refuse a dare, so he said 'We'll see.' And he was pleased to note that she huffed, just a little.

'It's up to them to decide. Now, we got other things to do before then. First, we'll need to get Sketchy, Cindy and Logan out in the next few days.' And they spent the next half hour planning. They had lost track of time, and had forgotten the meeting until Mole knocked on the door and came in.

'Everyone's waiting for you' he said quickly before retreating back through the door. Max and Alec walked out to find everyone was, indeed, waiting for them, and Gem was standing apart from everyone. Everyone looked at Max and Alec, then back to Gem.

'Since you were otherwise occupied, we took the liberty of voting without you. Mole's our new director. We voted Max CO, on one condition – Alec is SIC. I'll be honest, a lot of people wanted Alec to be CO, but those who knew him, namely Biggs, said that he wouldn't take the role. But if he wants Max to be CO, then he has to be SIC, cause the public has spoken. This, of course, also means that Max has to be CO, which makes this whole big loop thingy, so anyway… Make us proud, guys. Oh, and all the groups have elected their representatives. Some groups merged, cause some were really small, so we have 14 representatives in total. three transhumans, eleven X series. Six X5s, three X6s and two X7s. But at the rate that this place is growing by, we'll probably end up with more. And of course, there's also you two and Mole.'

'Ok, first meeting in one hour. That gives everyone the chance to primary list of needs from their groups.' Then she turned to Alec and added 'and us the chance to set up. Come on. Mole, you too.' And the three of them walked to Max's office to prepare for their first day as an officially untied City.

In another building, on the other side of TC, Joshua entered Gem's apartment in search of Original Cindy. 'Hi Gem, is Cindy here?'

'In the bedroom.' He headed towards it, but just as he went to open it Gem said in her best motherly voice 'Knock first.'

'Sorry.' He knocked, and a minute later he heard Cindy's voice telling him to come in. Before she could even greet him, he started talking. 'Cindy, I'm worried about Alec and Max.'

'Why boo? I know they fight a lot, but they'll be fine leaders. In the past two days, I haven't seen them fight once, and some of that was before this whole thing even started. That's gotta be some sort of record for them.' Yeah, and hopefully they can keep it up long enough to figure out that they are totally hot for each other. Things will be much easier around here once those get together, cause as much as Original Cindy loves watching those two dance around each other, my boo needs to get laid! But I'm not gonna be the one to tell her that.

'No, not as leaders. As Alec and Max.' Joshua wasn't sure how to voice his concerns; he didn't know how to say it right. He didn't understand why that had been acting so… 'Why are Alec and Max so stupid?' he finally asked, and Cindy looked at him, very confused by his question. Stupid? Who's he calling stupid?

'Stupid? I know Alec does some dumb things, but I wouldn't go as far as to call him stupid. And Max…''

'No. Alec loves Max. Max loves Alec.' He stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which, actually, it was to most anyone who spent a day with the two of them. Or even a couple of hours. And when he said this, Cindy understood his question.

'Oh, ya mean that. Yeah, boo, I know. But sometimes you just gotta give these things time. But you be sure to keep an eye on them, and keep me informed, cause I ain't gonna be here.' She sounded sad as she said this last bit, and Joshua pulled her into a hug. He knew it would probably be a while before he saw her again, and he would miss her. She looked up at him then, and smiled slyly. 'Then again, boo, my girl and her boy are both very stubborn. And if things don't work out soon, we may need to… nudge them along a little.'

'Forget it Max. There's no way. We're not doing it. I know you think it's your fault, or whatever, but right now we've got more important things to figure out. Like how to feed everyone.' Alec stood across from Max in her office, as she stood behind her desk, and he emphasised the last bit to get his point across.

'I know, Alec. But Logan needs to set up Eyes Only again, and we could use his support at the moment. A lot of people listen to him, they trust him. And besides, it is my fault that his place got shot up, I mean, if he hadn't been doing all that stuff about White, they would've just left him alone.' Alec could've gagged at that moment, he hated it when she talked about Logan and his Eyes Only deal. As far as he was concerned, the guy had a serious hero complex, and he needed to get over it.

'No. He might be a good backer for us, but this is our fight, Max, and we need to fight it ourselves. Our main focus right now needs to be TC and the people in it. Logan's gonna need to find some other cat burglar for a while. Tell him his current one is otherwise detained, or I'll do it for you.' Max glared at him. He stared right back, refusing to back down on this. He hadn't been in a good mood, and hearing that Max was planning to do a job for Logan had only made it worse. He might even have come in here to deliberately pick a fight with her. Who knew? Who cared? Right now, he sure as hell didn't.

'Am I gonna have to kick your ass to remind you who's CO here?' she asked. He smiled, but not his usual smile. It was different, one she hadn't seen before. It was cold and slightly wicked, and honestly, it scared her just a little, but she wasn't going to let her know it.

'Bring it on.' He said simply, a glint of challenge in his eyes. And that was all it took. She practically flew over the desk at him. She threw a punch at him, which he avoided. He grabbed her arm, twisted up behind her and threw her forward onto her desk. She flipped over and kicked out at him, sending him flying across the room into the opposite wall. They both jumped up at the same time, going into their fight stances as they watched each other.

They raced forward at the same time, and for a few minuted they were a blur of arms and legs as they punched, kicked and blocked. That is, until Max realised that she was losing. He was stronger, faster… better, she realised. He let me win all those other times. Why? This thought distracted her long enough for him to get a punch in that sent her flying. He was on top of her, pinning her down before she could even catch her breath. She looked up, and as she looked into his eyes, saw that they had returned to normal and she realised that he had needed to blow off some steam, and she decided that it was definitely better that he had done it with her. But she also realised that everything he had said about Logan, and TC had been true, and so she nodded her head in defeat. He stood up and held out his hand to help her up. She eyed it warily and then took it. When she was standing, she studied him.

'All those times, you let me win?' she asked, looking at his face. But his trusty Manticore mask was firmly back in place. 'Why?' she asked. He shrugged his shoulders, but when she continued to stare at him, he sighed and answered her.

'I never felt like winning before, and you were always so intent on kicking my ass, so…' She could only look at him, incredulity cover her face.

'What…?' was all she could manage to get out; she was so shocked by his statement.

'Well, Alec is it now? Well, you always did have a knack for shocking people into silence.' At the voice, both Max and Alec stiffened and looked toward the doorway.

A/N: so, did you like it? Please, review! please! and if there's anything I can do better, let me know. Does it make sense? oh, and sorry for the cliff hanger! I couldn't help myself! Please review!!!!! Thanks. Oh, and just FYI, Logan did not save Alec from that stupid familiar, but I don't think I mentioned it in this chapter.