Today 'They' Won the Battle

Chapter 16

By Rhasa

Rating: PG 13

Disclaimer: Not my property. No money being made. No infringement intended.

Agony. That was the only word to describe it. Utter and complete agony. Alec had never felt so much pain.

The cold concrete on which he was lying sent a deep chill right through his body. It had been warm for a while a few hours ago – the heat from his own blood that was steadily seeping out of him from the various stab wounds he had suffered had offered some relief from the cold. But now, his blood had coagulated and dried. No doubt he was still bleeding internally. He knew that cold was a main symptom of shock, and as another shiver wracked his body he admitted to himself that it was only a matter of time before he bled to death.

Alec coughed. The sharp pain that shot through his side was almost enough to make him black out again. He fought the spots before his eyes and the nausea in his belly. He had to stay awake. If he slept it would be over for him. God he was cold.

Mole hates the cold, he thought. Then he wondered if his friend had managed to get away from his captors. Despite their efforts, White's goons had taken both he and Mole by surprise down at the waterfront. The 'agreement' - if you could call it that - was that Alec would trade himself for Joshua. White had no use for the dogman, had told Alec as much when, they had met at opposite sides of the pier. Alec was no fool. He knew it was probably a trap. He had set Mole up in a hidden location on the pier. Alec's capture would allow Mole to follow them back to their base, then return to Terminal City round up the troops and deploy a full assault on their enemy. It would also allow Alec to get closer to his son, and by some miracle, maybe even result in Joshua's release.

"It's suicide, you know that right?" Mole had asked him. "There's a million to one chance you and/or Joshua will make it out of there alive."

"Don't ever tell me the odds," Alec had joked.

"I'm serious. You're as good as signing your death warrant if you hand yourself over to White."

Alec had looked straight at his friend. "I can't see another way," He said, seriously, honestly. "We don't know where White's base is. We don't know where they're keeping Jed or Joshua, and we don't know how long it will be before ol' Ames gets impatient with us and begins another assault on TC in order to get information on his son. We're running out of time. This is the quickest way to get to them. I'm countin' on you buddy."

Mole didn't say anything for a moment. "Max would kick your butt if she knew what you're doing," he finally replied.

"Well lucky for me, she's not up to any butt kicking at the moment," Alec replied sadly, while staring off into the distance. Alec didn't want to think about Max right now. He couldn't think about her right now, not if he was determined to go through with this. The image of her lying broken and bleeding in the infirmary flashed across his mind. He should be there, by her side. He hadn't wanted to leave her at all. But he needed to find Jed, and Joshua and White so he could kill the bastard that did that to her. He had waited – perhaps too long, he had feared. And then he couldn't stay any longer. Not after they had received word from White. Not after Logan had arrived. Not after Logan had kissed her and declared that he was still in love with her……

"Hey, " Mole nudged him. "If you're going to do this, you need to keep your head in the game. You can't be worrying about, Max."

"Easier said than done," Alec told him.

"She'll be okay. She's tough. The toughest. The fact that she was still holding on when she left…… She'll get through this."

"With Logan at her side, no doubt," Alec whispered to himself.

"Come on. It's almost time. We better get into position," Mole directed. He walked a couple of steps towards the pier, then turned to the X5. "I'll be seeing ya' buddy. Sometime soon."

Alec merely nodded before making moves to head off in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Alec called out to Mole as he turned and walked a few feet towards the position they had chosen he hide in to keep watch on the trade. "Mole, if I don't make it back….. Tell, Max….. tell her, for me that …..I love her. Always have. Always will."

Mole pierced him with a gaze, then dropped his eyes to look at his feet before looking up again. "What am I? A friggin' Hallmark card? Tell her yourself," he replied with joking gruffness in his voice, before he saluted his friend and turned to take up his position.

Alec wasn't surprised when the trade had turned into a trap. What did surprise him was they were onto Mole's presence from the beginning. Completely out numbered, Alec had managed to draw the majority of the warriors away from his Lizard friend and yelled at him to 'run'. Alec didn't get an opportunity to see whether Mole had made it out of there before he was rendered unconscious by the stun of six or so tasers. Damn he hated those things. They stung like the dickens, not to mention made your insides feel like they'd just spent ten minutes in a microwave oven.

God, Alec hoped he had gotten away. He hoped he had managed to make it back to Terminal City…… to Max.

"Max, I'm sorry," he whispered.

Was she still alive?

Yes. Somehow, he knew she was. She was alive and no doubt mad as hell with him for getting himself in this situation. Mad and probably helpless -- as helpless as he now felt in helping his son and Joshua…..

Another cough took hold of Alec. This one much more powerful then the last. The metallic taste of blood overwhelmed him, and he spent minutes retching on the cold floor of his cell and then trying to catch his breath.

A cry could be heard off in the distance. Alec tried desperately to sit up and listen. His heart rate increased and he panted for breath. It was Jed's cry of that he was certain. He collapsed back don onto the concrete floor, tears spilling from his eyes over his cheeks and splashing against the gray concrete beneath.

At least Jed – his son- was still alive.

Alec had only caught a glimpse of Jed when White had threatened to kill him during his last interrogation. He knew White had been using Jed to taunt him, but that didn't make it any easier to hear the screams that were coming from his child – screams that were more to do with fear than harm. Alec had tried to rally any strength that he still possessed when White had Jed, but all he could manage was to raise his head a little. White made it clear in no uncertain terms that he would not hesitate to kill the child but had stopped short of doing the deed. There was still some use for Jed, and as long as there was, Alec prayed it would be enough to keep him relatively safe.

Alec knew he couldn't say the same for himself though. White had no doubt determined by now that he had no knowledge of where Ray was. It was only a matter of time before they came for him again. In the relatively short time he had been here, Alec had determined a pattern. A nice little interrogation session where he would be rendered unconscious, a few hours of rest and relaxation, enough to regain a small amount of strength and consciousness and then another round of beatings, slashings and all out nastiness.

As if on cue, Alec heard footsteps outside in the corridor.

This was it, he thought to himself. Wondering for a moment if it would be easier somehow, less painful maybe, if he just gave in to it, he felt his body relax. His doubt was only temporary though, as he heard the key in the lock he tensed his body, assessed his reflexes, which were all but shot, and fought earnestly to get himself into any kind of a position from which eh could deliver a blow or a kick or even a bite to his attackers. Damn them all to hell if he wasn't going to go down fighting.

And just as he resigned himself to the fact that these were probably his last moments on this blessed earth, he recognised the face of the person coming through the door.

"Mary?" he croaked in surprise.

To be continued…….

Author's Note:

I didn't realsie just how rusty I was… am. I'm glad that some of you are still reading. The way I see it, while we can't earn money from writing fanfic, being reviewed is all the payment I need. If you've read it, please let me know. It makes it all worth while to know that you're not writing for nothing.

Okay, so Alec should not have been as 'lucid' as he was in this chapter given the horrendous torture he endured at the hands of White – but I needed his thoughts on a few things, so let's just say that after his incredibly near death beatings, his enhanced healing powers allowed him to recover enough to think straight – at least somewhat. He still couldn't move very much, though. I've always thought it takes far more to break the mind of an X5 than to break the body after everything that was said about Psy Ops.

Yes it's Mary, Jed's mother. The plot thickens. But I'm impressed that some of you already guessed. First rule of writing and/or movie making: never introduce a 'secondary' (as opposed to a peripheral or extra) character and have them say more than half a page of dialogue if they are not important to the plot (or in some rare circumstances integral to exploring the characterisation of the main protagonists. Got that? Same goes for dreams… hint hint). It's a given.

Also, apologies for this chapter 'jumping' around a bit. I think there was almost a year that passed between writing this chapter and the last, so things probably aren't as smooth as they should be. Oh and before you ask, Alec doesn't know about Joshua's fate yet.

Please please review, it would make both my day and me post the next chapter faster. next time

Sarah