Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters do not belong to me, but the plot is mine. This fan-fiction had been written purely for entertainment purposes. No infringement was intended and no profit had been made out of this.

A/N: Thanks for your reviews! Yep, Seth's going to be a bit of a problem in this chapter, and you'll see why.Oh, by the way, just to clarify things a little, cossomeone asked- Max knew she was being followed, and tried to lose the tail by slipping in and out all over the place, not realising that Alec's a good tracker. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Irresistible Rivals - Chapter 8

(by elle6778)

He returned in the late hours of the morning with his backpack full of the equipments 511 had dropped off in his car boot a couple of hours ago. If Max had intended to meet up Ivanov, and he was sure that she would not let the chance slip by, she needed to get out of her place sometime soon. That would give him the opportunity to get closer to her real identity and maybe even find out who she was working for.

Alec leaned against the fence, keeping his head low, as he continued to watch the apartment block across the road. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was already 1120 hours.

As if on cue, Max walked out a minute later, dressed casually in black jeans and a red long sleeved top, its cropped hem displacing to expose her smooth abdomen as she moved. Shutting the door behind her, she slung her small carry bag over her shoulders. Alec was positive that no one but a transgenic like him could have seen that she had subtly scoped out the area before she started to make her way down the street.

Alec toyed with the idea of following her. Letting her have the first stab at accessing Ivanov's home did not sit well with him. What if she found something important before him? It was more than obvious that she would not share the information with him.

But if he could still make it to Ivanov's place before she got there if he completed his survey of her home fast enough. His eyes followed her until she walked out of his sight. Then he instantly blurred to the building.

The lock on the entrance was laughably easy to pick. Alec smirked, thinking that someone like her would have at least stayed in a place with better security. He gained access in seconds.

Closing the door quietly behind him, he dashed up the stairs to the second floor. There were two doors in the hallway. From what he had gathered last night, her place should be the one on his left. Pulling out the lock-picking kit from his pocket, he started to work on the lock.

Ten minutes later, his brows knitted in concentration, he was still no closer to breaking the lock.

"Damn it," he hissed under his breath.

Dropping the kit on the floor, he rummaged through the bag, hoping that 511 had remembered to pack the scanner he had asked for. When he found what he needed, Alec held a black box about the size of a cell phone up against the lock.

The device beeped.

Alec grimaced when he read the description on the display panel. It appeared that in addition to the usual key, there was also an electronic locking mechanism hidden somewhere. So this was why she did not bother to secure the front entrance.

All he had to do now was to find the panel. Just what he needed.

Alec looked around, his sharp eyes scanning over every small object in the hallway until his eyes landed on a painting at one end of the hallway. He walked towards it, holding the scanner up. About six inches away from the painting, it started beeping.

Jackpot, he thought smugly, looking down at the display. Access keypad, he noted.

He shifted the painting to the side, exposing a rectangular panel with a series of digits in rows. Dipping his hands into his rucksack, he pulled out the universal decoder he had used in Davies' place. Pressing a small button to activate the scanning beam, he pointed it at the panel. A short while later, the device beeped and the door to Max's apartment swung open.

"Finally," he muttered darkly as he made his way to the door.

He was about to step in through the doorway when he suddenly halted in his tracks. Frowning suspiciously, he swept his eyes quickly over the room in front of him. Knowing Max, she would have probably booby-trapped the entire place before she left. Alec resisted the urge to groan. He glanced at his watch, noting that he would not have much time to conduct a thorough search if he aimed to be at Ivanov's in time to see what Max was up to. Perhaps this was not such a good idea. After all, his mission was to do with Ivanov, not Max.

She's related to the mission, a small voice in his head told him needlessly.

Knowing that he did not have the time to deliberate, Alec made up his mind. Reaching into his rucksack, he pulled out a pair of goggles. He held it to his eyes and looked at the interior of the apartment through the lenses.

Nothing out of the ordinary, he decided, tucking the goggles back into the rucksack. But he could not brush away that slight twinge of unease in the pit of his stomach.

Here goes nothing, he thought as he took the first step and then paused, looking around warily. Still nothing.

Exhaling a breath of relief, he straightened and walked in quickly, shutting the door behind him.

The room he entered was the living room. The place was neat and tidy, almost clinical. Alec frowned. Somehow, he had the impression that the place would be less sterile. And then he shrugged. What did he know about her anyway?

He began to walk slowly around the living room, pointing the scanner in front of him. Nothing out of the ordinary turned up on the display. Pulling open the drawers under the television cabinet, he rummaged through a sparse collection of magazines, but found nothing important.

He looked around, spotting the kitchen to one corner and two more doors, guessing that one of the doors led to the bedroom. Knowing that he did not have much time, he decided that he should search the bedroom first.

When he stepped into the room, the first thing he noticed was the familiar scent of citrus and flowers, bringing back memories of the first time they had met. Thinking back, Alec wanted to smack himself for not suspecting a thing that night. He had even thought that she was attractive. Well, now that he knew what she was really like, he would rather swim with sharks.

The scanner remained silent as he swept it around the room. Opening her cupboard, he patted down her clothes, trying to not notice the stack of lacy lingerie at the bottom. It was just for her cover, he told himself. She probably wore men's boxers normally, considering the way she behaved, he thought, letting the image entertain him.

He yanked open a drawer. And then stilled when he saw what was lying inside.

Gingerly, he picked up a pressure syringe and studied it with narrowed eyes. This type of syringes was not easily attainable and was normally used for commercial purposes only. Why did she have one in her drawer? Looking back into the drawer, he spotted a small bottle, half full of pills.

He stared at them thoughtfully. Was she a junkie? Much as he liked to think that drugs were the reason for her maddening character, he was not sure it was true. The girl was too sharp.

Dropping the bottle, he looked closely at the syringe, turning it around.

A stamped serial number caught his eyes.

Smirking, he pulled out his cell phone and dialled a number.

511's voice reached Alec. "Yeah?" 511 greeted.

"What's the weather like over there?" he asked.

"Bright and sunny," 511 replied with a chuckle.

Alec grinned. It was a code they had come up with to tell each other if Manticore was listening in. And right now, he and 511 was all alone. Manticore still did not know about Max and her involvement in this mission and Alec was determined to keep it that way until he was sure that he would not get himself or 511 into trouble.

"I've got something here which might be useful. But keep it just between us."

"Okay, shoot."

Alec read out the serial numbers on the syringe. "Can you run this through the system and see what comes up?"

"Gotcha. I'll call you back when I get something."

As he hung up, Alec caught sight of the time. He was late. Oh, hell. He would just have to continue his search some other day, he thought, dashing out of the apartment.

Seth was already there, watching her approach when she walked up to the staff entrance.

"Hey," Max greeted a little uncomfortably, her eyes not meeting his.

He gave her a smile and then bent down to brush his lips against her cheeks. Max suddenly had this urge to pull away.

He straightened and held her at arm's length. "You okay?" he asked, his eyes running over her face.

She nodded. "Yeah. Why shouldn't I be?" she replied, keeping her tone light.

For a moment, he just stared at her with an unreadable expression. And then he sighed and said, "Look, I'm sorry for that day, okay?"

"It's no big deal, Seth," she said quickly, not wanting to get into another discussion on that particular topic. "You're taking Zane's place today, right? So, Zack and I kind of thought of a plan."

The expression on his face told her that he knew that she was trying to change the topic and was not too pleased about it. But thankfully, he went along with her. "Zack briefed me this morning, and I got the stuff you wanted."

"Good. Ivanov's coming to pick me up in-" she paused, looking at her watch. "Fifteen minutes. If you just tail us on your bike, then make the call to Ivanov when I send the signal, then that should be it. I can handle the rest on my own. You got the bugs?"

Seth nodded and pulled out a small box from his pocket. Taking her smaller hand in his, he poured its contents onto her palm. "The larger ones are EM dischargers. These are targeted to security systems only. Nothing would be affected except things like surveillance cameras and alarms. The smaller ones are audio bugs, designed to work even when the EMs are active."

Max looked down at the small silver pellets. She did not recognise some of them. "Are these the new EMs? They've been tested?" she asked jokingly.

Seth frowned. "Of course they were tested. Unitech wouldn't make the same mistake again."

Max wanted to roll her eyes. It was a joke, for crying out loud. Of course she knew it had been tested. Unitech always made sure that their products functioned as it should nowadays.

Handing the bugs back to Seth, she said, "Okay. I'll get it from you before I go back in for the second phase. You need to go. Ivanov will be arriving any second now."

He grabbed her arm before she could move. "Max? Take care, okay."

She nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm a big girl."

Just as he disappeared out of sight, a black Mercedes pulled up in front of her. The tinted glass slid down slowly, revealing a smiling Ivanov.

"Ready?" he asked silkily.

She wanted to roll her eyes. Instead, she put on a giddy smile and gushed, "Of course. I'm all excited."

Parking his car at the foot of the hill, Alec dashed the last mile up towards Ivanov's mansion. Just before the entrance gate came into view, he moved to the opposite side of the road, taking cover behind some trees.

He looked at his watch, silently berating himself as he did so. Too late. He guessed that she had been in for at least half an hour by now. Well, there was nothing much he could do now but wait and see if an opportunity to enter came up. It was a perfect time for him to break in while she was in there, seeing that Ivanov's attention would be completely focussed on her.

Leaning back against a tree, he made himself comfortable for the inevitable wait.

To his surprise, it was not long before the gate clanked open. Alec sat up, his muscles tensed in readiness.

He watched as Max walked out alongside Ivanov's black car. Ivanov leaned out to say something to her. And then they parted ways. She stood there watching until the car was no longer in sight.

Alec was about to come out of hiding when the deep rumbling sound of a bike reached his ears. He watched curiously as it pulled up beside Max. A tall man with short, cropped hair got off. Focussing on the man's face, Alec realised that this was a different man from the one he had seen in Davies' party. He frowned. Somehow, this one looked vaguely familiar to him, but Alec could not place where he had seen the guy.

Max did not look pleased to see him. He could not hear what was being said, but from her expression, she appeared to be telling him off. Alec almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost. No one deserved to be on the receiving end of that evil tongue.

Stealthily, he moved in the shadows of the trees towards them. He might be able to catch something useful. Carefully inching his way forwards, he moved until he make out some of their words.

All was progressing well until a twig snapped beneath his boots.

Alec froze.

So did Max and her partner.

"Did you hear that?" her partner asked, looking around warily.

"Yeah."

Alec held his breath.

They fanned out and scanned the area, miraculously missing the spot where he was hiding. When Max turned back to her partner, Alec released the breath he was holding. He leaned forwards, this time hearing them clearly.

"I told you to wait for my signal, Seth," Max said angrily, her hands landing on her hips. "What's so difficult about that?"

Her partner replied levelly, "I told you, Max. You've been compromised." Alec raised his eyebrows. So, Max was her real name after all.

She gave him an incredulous look. "And what you did just now did not compromise the mission?"

"Well, Ivanov's got to come out sooner or later, right? It was just a little sooner."

She threw her hands in the air, looking so exasperated that Alec had to bite his lips to contain his laughter. "I didn't have enough time to scope out the place. How am I supposed to go back in now? I don't know half of the security layout," she seethed.

"I'll go with you," the guy said decisively.

Even at that distance, Alec could see her bristle at her partner's words. "I don't need you to babysit me, Seth. I can handle this," she said tersely.

"I didn't say you can't…"

"Right." She rolled her eyes.

"Look, Max. It'll make things a little easier," Seth said firmly. His patronising tone made Alec frown. This definitely did not sound like the usual mission partnerships, he thought.

Max retorted, "I've done this MANY times without a partner, and I'm definitely not about to start now. Even Zane stays back when he's supposed to be a backup."

The fact that this conversation had nothing to do with his mission seemed to have escaped him as Alec continued to listen intently.

"That's different. Listen, Max. I don't want to argue with you."

"Oh? Guess what? I'm not done yet!"

"Max…"

"I've had enough of you thinking that I need to be looked after and all. It was just that one time, Seth. I made a mistake that one time, just when you were there to see it. Before that, you didn't have a problem with my work. I'm the same person, Seth, before and after we hooked up…"

Alec raised his brows. So that was what it was all about. Bad move, Max, going out with someone you work with, he told her silently. He glanced at Seth, suddenly feeling inexplicably cold towards the other guy. Alec only had a few short interactions with her, but he could tell that she was good at what she was doing. Otherwise he would not even be here. He would have completed his mission long time ago without her as a rival.

"I've been doing fine without you holding my hand. You seem to have forgotten that," she finished quietly.

Her partner just stared at her. And then, finding his voice, he said flatly, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Max."

"But you're not sorry for what you said, right?" she remarked wearily. "That's it. I'm done with you." Holding out her hands, she demanded, "Give me the stuff."

"Max, come on…" Seth started.

She repeated in an uncompromising tone, "Hand it over, Seth. This is not your mission. This is my mission, my call."

Alec watched as Seth stiffened. The guy was obviously not used to being ordered about, Alec thought. Just as it looked as if Max might inflict some grievous bodily harm on the guy who Alec suspected was now her ex-boyfriend, Seth exhaled a weary sigh and tossed something to her.

She caught it easily, tucking it into her pocket. Without another word, she spun around and walked away from him. Seth stared at her retreating back for a few moments before he climbed back onto his bike and roared off.

Once they were out of sight, Alec stood up, stretching his muscles. Interesting, he thought as he dashed across the road in Max's direction. Maybe she would get careless this time. After all, females were supposed to be affected by these sorts of things.

Stealthily, he continued to follow her tracks.

t.b.c.

A/N: Promise you that the next chapter will be allMA to make up for the lack of it in this chapter and the last. Review?