There are a slew of reasonable explanations for the prolonged hiatus with this story (I won't bore you with detail - merely apologize profusely for my absence). I am now in Mexico and involved in very satisyfing albeit gruelling volunteer work and therefore have only begun to crank out the updates as of now. But WE'RE BACK, BABY! Show me some love, peeps.

-- Tyler

"Hey!"

Sure enough, Cindy and Alec hadn't gotten more then halfway to the Ford when they were approached by a pair of Sector cops, totting guns and aggressive expressions.

"Thank God!" Cindy suddenly burst out, face flooding with desperate relief as she threw her arms around the Sector cop closing in on Alec, "Oh baby, I was so worried!" She drew back and slapped him full across the face, "What, no phone call? Just slipped your mind to call an' tell the tell mother of your child that you ain't dead?"

The cop appeared frozen in shock. Alec exchanged bewildered eyebrow raises with the man's partner while Cindy continued her tirade.

"As if it ain't enough that yo' lawyer's houndin' me for statement twenty-four seven, now you gotta go and tear me up by scroungin' around with this low-life here!" She shoved the second police officer in the chest, prompting the man to adopt an expression of utter shock that matched his partner's perfectly.

"Don't just stand there, fool! Say somethin' for yourself!" Cindy began to yell, and Alec took the opportunity to take hold of her shoulders and pull her back from the second slap she'd been about to launch.

"Okay, I think someone forgot to take their meds today, huh?" Alec held a struggling Cindy tight while she screamed out a vicious string of graphic threats and the Sector cops remained stunned beyond words, "Sorry, officers. I'm with Western State Hospital – this here's a patient of mine. We're just on our way back from a…" Alec let out a muffled curse as Cindy jabbed her elbow into his stomach while continuing to writhe, "…field trip."

"We'll let you get on with it." The Sector cop who had been slapped was regaining composure and waved Alec through the barriers being set up.

"Right, let's go!" Alec had Cindy practically off her feet now and hauled her quickly to the waiting Ford while she kicked at the air in a dramatic display of mental illness.

"I still love you, baby!" She screamed at the red-faced Sector cop before Alec shoved her head down and into the car with a loud order for her to 'can it'.

"What the hell was that?" Sketchy, sporting a pair of ridiculously oversized shades and a beanie with synthetic, egg yolk-colored hair, seemed to be nervous enough for all of them as Alec slid into the back seat alongside Cindy.

"Just shut up and drive, fool!" OC snapped, and Sketchy need no further prompting, throttling the gear stick and pulling out onto the open road.

"Terminal City?"

"Head for the highway – we gotta make a pit stop."

"Yeah, the mental health ward!" Alec quipped, but it was no joke and Cindy was fully aware of the X5s chronic disapproval, "What the hell was that's about right…"

"Would you quit getting' all riled up-?" Cindy crooned calmly as Sketchy took a hairpin curve at 60 mph and his passengers swerved accordingly, "In case you missed the memo, Whitey Boy's no-pain-no-gainers just got busted!"

"You went public with the kidnap story, didn't you?" It was more of a statement then a question, and Alec's less-then-pleased glance in Cindy's direction had her rolling her eyes.

"What're you, H.J Scharff? Yes we went 'public' an' high time too, or they woulda been packin' your scrawny ass into six different body bags!"

"You think this is funny?" Alec raised his eyebrows and leant closer to OC (who made a point of nonchalantly avoiding eye-contact as she stared at the windshield), "Because lemme tell you who's gonna have to clean this whole mess up – me. And it's not 'funny'!"

"You feelin' alright?" Cindy cast her normally happy-go-lucky associate a bewildered glance.

"No!" He responded tartly, "If you really wanna ask, I'm not alright…"

"You shot?" Cindy queried in a low voice that was suddenly afraid, and the car swerved briefly at the words.

"Shot, Alec's shot?" Sketchy called in terror from the driver's seat.

"Cram it, Sketchy!" The rebuke came from both Alec and OC simultaneously, followed up by a sharp "Eyes on the road, pal!" from the former.

"I'm fine, just…" Alec closed his eyes and exhaled a calming breath while Cindy eyed him dubiously, "don't ever do that again."

"What, deck Queen Clownface?" Cindy smirked despite herself, "That was good fun, sugar."

"Yeah well good fun doesn't always have to be a prelude to goodbye." Alec narrowed his eyes at the road ahead, "Sketch, what you doing, man? Take a right – we gotta hit TC before the retrib gang comes knocking."

"Look this whole situation is really unnerving here, okay, so would you just let me concentrate?" Sketchy's quivering voice drifted back, and Alec bit back an endearing grin.

"Want me to take the wheel?"

"No I got it." Sketchy insisted with a furtive glance in the rearview mirror, "I just wanna make sure we're not being tailed, man! This whole Conclave thing is still sort of messing with my mojo."

"Yeah it's kinda their thing." Alec muttered, his grin still in place and anchoring Sketchy to a seabed of relative calm as he leant forward and rest an elbow on each of the front seat rims, "Okay, so where is it you think we're going?"

"You're cute – you ain't that cute." Cindy smacked the back of his head before continuing, "We just gotta swing by Logan's – man's got some major find he wants to ask us about."

Alec twisted to cast her disbelieving eyebrow-raise, "Are you shitting me? You can't go to Logan's; you'll bring every cop in the state crashing on your heels…"

"Only with you in tow." OC seemed to have thought the situation through rather thoroughly, "S'why Sketchy here's gonna pull a right and swing by Sector Seven. You can find your own way from there, m'I right?"

Alec bit back a particularly vicious retort in favor of a mocking sniff and a smile aimed at his boots, "Yeah, okay you know what? Pull over the car."

"Say what?" Cindy demanded.

"Pull it over, Sketch, now."

"I'm moving!" Sketchy snapped into gear and pulled onto a shoulder in compliance with the sudden insistence in his ex-colleague's voice.

"Get out." Alec matter-of-factly slipped through his side door and stalked around the car as Sketchy mutely obeyed and Cindy flashed both men death glares, "I'm driving."

The belligerent drone of megaphones blaring out demands had long since faded into Max's subconscious as the security teams ensnaring TC continued to insist on masquerading diplomacy.

While arming nukes on the sly. It would be amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. Max rolled her eyes as she strode into the room where Molko was laboring over the snapshots of her runes, noting the way he jumped in surly discomfort as she did so.

"Time's up. What you got for me?"

"A whole lot of nonsense." Molko responded with a rigid glare as he reached up to hand her a sheet of worn, line paper packed full of illegible handwriting.

"Wow." Max raised her eyebrows with a less-then-impressed smile as she took in the scribbles, "Is that Polynesian?"

"No it's Geniusese." The young linguist groused as he shoved away from the table and pushed himself into a stand, "Fortunately I copied out a dummed-down version, so you should be able to figure this one out." He tapped two fingers on a second sheet of paper and slid it towards Max with a dramatic raise of his eyebrows.

She squinted at him, "Thanks."

"I'm fluent in Idiot." He countered with a dismissing wave of his hand that matched the sarcasm in the X5's tone, "So can I leave now? Cuz…the toxin levels in this place are…"

"Relax, we're heading out." Max folded both sheets of paper and tucked them away in the pocket of her jacket as she spoke, "Turns out the Conclave miss their favorite little snitch." She flashed him an acid smile, "They want you back."

To the nerdacious scientist's credit, Molko didn't flinch or tremble – merely nodded, "So that's it then. I help you and in exchange you hand me over to the people I spent years running from."

"Hold up. I thought you and the Conclave were BFFs." Max raised an eyebrow scrutinously as Molko scoffed sardonically.

"Yeah well you thought wrong, sweetcakes."

"How else do you explain the exemplary watchdog service?"

"You tell me! You're the ones who rang the bell by charging in on me without even the slightest regard for discretion!" He huffed, then rolled his eyes at Max's scowl, "Oh come on, don't even try playing the offended card – the whole world knows your faces now, you and 494…"

"His name is Alec." Max snapped the words with a defensiveness she would have found alarming had she not chalked it up to her X5 colleagues current state of captivity.

"Whatever. Point is you're big names in the big game, sister," Molko raised his eyebrows petulantly, "and like it or not, you're gonna have to suck it up. Just like I have to suck up the fact the Conclave's got a ream of nasty deaths to pick from when it comes to their agenda for my near future."

Max flinched at the words, her face stiffening with sudden conflict at the truth to the man's sentiment. If she handed Molko over to the Conclave, they would likely have him meticulously skinned and boiled then fed to one of their psychotic reptile friends as chow…

But if she didn't hand him over…it would be Alec in the hole.

Max almost lurched at the dreadful fear that pierced her heart like a knife at the thought. She was beginning to have serious doubts about her capability to make a professional decision in this case…

And she had no idea why.

"Get up." Max ordered quietly, and Molko complied with the resignation of a saint to the stake.

"Fine – but just have them put on my tombstone 'He hath done what he could' or some such sentiment…" Molko winced as Max shoved him towards the exit.

"Just get a move on, Oscar Wilde."

The warehouse was humid with stale, lukewarm air being pumped into its tin enclosure, with lime-green lightbulbs flickering dismally in neon streaks down the arching roof.

Max's eyes were scanning the rafters for possible calamity. She couldn't detect any life forms besides the three Conclave members standing austerely before her – still, that didn't mean they weren't looking to spring a mean one on her.

The head Priestess, clad in a pinstripe business suit and sporting a relatively normal skin tone (which almost rendered her unrecognizable), nodded politely at Max as the X5 halted her confident stalk to cross her arms a few feet off.

"452. I see you've already chosen to violate our predefined terms."

Max's bland, almost bored expression spoke volumes regarding her interest level in the woman's reprimand, "Relax, you'll get your pound of flesh – soon as I see for myself Alec's alive and not sporting one of your pretzel worm designs in his skin."

The priestess' eyes flickered to one of her two male escorts for a fraction of a second before she focused on Max once more, "You're in no position to making demands. Give us what we came for and we'll return the favor – no holds barred."

"See that's gonna be a little difficult for me," Max began to pace slightly to her left while wearing a sardonic squint, "taking into account the fact that my guy already bounced on your asses and your guy?" Max paused and raised a satisfied eyebrow, "Well let's just say he isn't all that keen on being one of your guys after all."

The priestess took a menacing step forward though her neutral expression remained pasted with the super glue of her precaution, "I would strongly recommend you hand Reese Molko over to our custody before things take a turn for the worse."

Max's eyebrows arched briefly and she shrugged, "Your call." Without waiting for a response, she slugged the priestess in the nose, knocking her to the ground and launching a roundhouse kick into the first Conclave male who was already springing to attack.

"Hate to be a party pooper, boys," Max cooed as both men circled her with fierce eagerness in their eyes, leaping in unison only to have their attack thwarted as she somersaulted backwards and landed in a crouch behind a heavy table which was subsequently thrown at the still mid-air opponents, catching them in the chest and pinning them under its weight.

"But I'm already out after curfew." Max didn't waste time gloating as she blurred to the exit door behind her and wedged it shut after she had breezed through it.

Max had barely shoved the heavy wooden bolt into place when she felt her shoulders being grabbed. Whirling around and preparing to attack, she relaxed instantly at the sight of Alec.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The question was belted out in unison by both X5s, as was its subsequent response.

"Saving your ass, that's what."

"What?" Max had the good grace to smother her complete incredulity in a blanket of practicality as she ran with Alec to where his bike was parked alongside her own.

"Where's Lab Geek?" Alec demanded, his eyes glued over his shoulder at the rattling of the exit door as they both straddled their motorbikes.

"Halfway to Canada by now. Come on, we gotta hit the road!" Max revved her Ninja to life and pulled out a heartbeat before Alec as they put the warehouse (and its enraged hostages) in their rearview mirrors.

"I'm just sayin', we gotta accept the fact that Max and Alec might be sittin' this one out."

Tank sighed heavily through his nostrils as he cast a clenched-jaw glare out the window at the helicopters circling TC before aiming a second scowl at Mole's rifle-loading.

"Either way, initiating conflict isn't gonna give us any kind of edge!"

"Sure as heck it'll wipe out their first line o' defense and give us better freaking odds." Mole's ruthless determination to be the first one to strike was becoming increasingly difficult to rein in. Tanker and Mia had even allied in a combined effort to quell the nomalie's dogged warmongering – with little success.

Stalling was not Tanker's specialty. But the X5 did have other weapons up his sleeve.

"Okay, you know what, man?" Tank blew out a breath of resignation as Mole gazed stonily up from his gun loading, "You're right."

Mole nodded curtly, "Glad to hear it."

"Mmm hmm?" Tanker smiled cheerily…

…Shortly before slamming the butt of the rifle he had been totting into Mole's face with sufficient force to render the nomalie unconscious.

Tanker tossed the rifle onto the table and turned as Mia hovered in the doorway.

"You're gonna wanna see this." She paused and winced at the sight of Mole's deadweight frame sprawled at Tanker's feet, "What happened?"

"Oh come on, sweetheart, you of all people know about narcolepsy." Tanker quipped grouchily with a wink as he strode hurriedly past the woman and into the makeshift headquarters of TC.

"What happened now?" He froze at the news bulletin flashing across the grainy screen of Luke's laptop, "Turn it up."

"…news of a shocking cover-up by the US government in an attempt to vilify the newly-emerged transgenic species. CNN has first-hand accounts from the victims of the Jam Pony hostage situation which occurred a little over a month ago and which, according to their interview, has been highly misconstrued."

Dix let out a faint whistle as Sketchy and OC appeared on the screen, speaking at a news conference which could only have taken place within the past hour or so and had all the makings of such.

"There are a lot of government conspiracies that go on around us every single day." Sketchy looked flushed but bright-eyed, evidently glowing with the chance to finally voice his viewpoint on events such as September 11th, the bombing of the Pentagon, and the death of Elvis Presley, "I know this because I myself have been a victim of their desire to mask the truth – but the truth is out there, people! And right now, it's about to blown into oblivion by the taskforce stakin' out Terminal City, which was quarantined so they could level it!"

"Kid's got a brass set." Dix murmured in approval as the full account of what really went down at Jam Pony proceeded to come forth.

Tanker was the only viewer looking grimmer then ever as the news feed rolled on, "Max and Alec are gonna be pissed."

Mia frowned reprovingly, "How come? Sketch and Cindy just saved our butts!"

"Yeah by sticking their own in the firing range." Tanker raised his eyebrows with a brief, sarcastic smile at his compadre, "And trust me when I say I know first-hand that they are gonna be pissed."

"They're pulling back!" Kid's voice, high with the ecstasy of his message, pinged jubilantly through the room, "The troops, the troops are pulling back!"

"Not already, they're not." Tank sidestepped Mia and brushed a hand over Kid's hair subconsciously as he jogged to the wall and kicked off a side beam to leap the meters , "It's gotta be something else."

Sure enough, the helicopters had backed off and were hovering a good few meters off, as though awaiting pending orders. The ground troops were static, buzzing with apparent confusion as their radios crackled and the long-coated leaders exchanged muffled words.

Tanker glanced at the X6 closest to him and waved at the young man's gun, "I want everyone on standby until they make a move."

"Yes, sir." The youth flicked the safety on his weapon and turned swiftly on his heel to pass the order on, leaving Tanker rolling his eyes and muttering about Mini-Manticores and motherfucking karma.

Ames White snorted in fuming disbelief at the newscast blaring from the TV set in his office and turned to his closest minion, "Tell those troops to open fire on Terminal City. NOW!"

The butch, Arian meathead pulled out his radio only to be struck from behind with the metal lock from the door to White's office, crumpling to heap at Max's feet as she stepped over him without missing a beat.

"I don't think that's gonna happen."

"When will you transgenic filth get it through your skulls?" White didn't appear daunted by the sudden interrupted – only repulsed by Max's presence as they began to circle each other ever so slowly, "You lost. It's over. Accept your fate and deal with the fact that you were never meant to have existed in the first place."

Max kicked the fallen Familiar's radio aside as muted voices crackled over the line, her fists balled loosely by her chest and her eyes trained sharply on Ames White, "Kinda prefer bein' alive, if that's alright by you."

"It's not." White's face was frozen with icy hatred, fingers splayed ever so slightly as his hands drew up in preparation for attack.

"Yeah well tough fucking break." Alec's tone rang with pragmatic mockery as his gun butt slammed into the back of the Familiar's skull and knocked him to the ground.

Max cast a final expression of disdain at the unconscious man before snatching up the radio and handing it to Alec, who accepted it and held it to his lips.

"All units, stand down, I repeat, stand down. You are to clear the area immediately."

"Copy that, sir. All units standing down." The response was a slightly bewildered confirmation of orders hissing through the static of the line. Alec shrugged at Max with all the swagger of victory – a front which quickly slipped as he witnessed the eyes with which she was staring down at White.

"Max, let it go."

Her cheeks twitched with the tension in her jaw, eyes tight and stony as she remained motionless.

"Every time I do, someone close to me gets hurt."

Alec swallowed at the bitter truth voiced by his normally merciful friend and switched his grip on the gun in his hand, extending the weapon's handle towards Max.

"Alright then," His green eyes, ringing with a silent meaning, met Max's chocolate orbs, "Don't let it go."

She held his gaze steadily, face set like a flint and a coldness in her eyes that Max rarely wore on her sleeve so freely as she did just then.

White stirred and moaned at their feet. Radio traffic punctured the pregnant silence.

Max's eyes fell, hiding from Alec's earnest gaze under the lock of brown hair that she untucked from her ear as she turned her head away.

"We should leave before Olaf over there comes to. I've kicked enough Conclave ass for one day."

Alec's lips pursed as he tucked the gun into his jacket and clapped a hand on Max's slim shoulder.

"It's its own reward, Maxie. He'll never stop running now the cards are on the table."

"Then he'll finally know how it feels." Max stated quietly, and to Alec's surprise she didn't shrug his hand off her arm – and to Max's surprise, Alec didn't clear his throat awkwardly when she reached up and squeezed the ungloved tips of his fingers with her own ever so briefly.

"We should go."

Three words spoken in unison procured the absent discomfort which had been dormant up until that point. Alec's hand dropped along with Max's as they turned and stalked purposefully away from the man whose hatred for their race would now be the sole fuel of his suddenly bleaker future.