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:Hugs: Thanks for the encouraging reviews, guys!

Irresistible Rivals - Chapter 12

(by elle6778)

Max sat behind Seth, lost in her own thoughts as he drove them to the apartment.

Seth said that he had shot Alec with a tranquilizer, so she guessed that Alec would be alright after a couple of hours or so, depending on his metabolism.

But what confused her most was her own reaction to the entire episode. She had been thinking about her reaction. If she had to put a name to the feeling, she would say that it was concern.

She was concerned about Alec.

She shook her head roughly in an attempt to shake some sense into her self. You're growing soft, Max. Snap out of it, she scolded herself sternly. How could she possibly be concerned for someone who was effectively her mission rival? She should be wishing him gone. It must be due to all the blood lost from that bullet wound in her shoulders. She was not thinking straight. Those thoughts would go away soon enough once she was healed.

Anyway, a guy on a mission like that should know what he was getting himself into. A tranq-gun was nothing compared to some of the other stuff which could happen in these missions. It should not be a big deal to him. Right?

Max frowned as she remembered the way he had fought with Seth. She wondered if Seth had noticed Alec's abilities. Something told her that that little fact would not have escaped Seth. Especially considering Seth's skills in hand-to-hand combat. But knowing Seth, it was probably something he would not want to discuss with anyone, let alone her.

She rolled her eyes. Males.

If Alec was really a transgenic, then they were up against Manticore on this. She was not sure if that was a good idea, she thought, repressing a shiver which had nothing to do with the temperature. The possibility of exposure was too high for them to take the risk. But would Unitech be prepared to lose the weapon they wanted to Manticore in order to protect their operatives?

It was something that she would need to discuss with Eva. That was easier said than done. It was unlikely that Eva would return from her visit to Tinga so soon. So, that meant that she would either have to go to Zack, or aim for someone higher in the chain of command.

Maybe Sandeman would see it her way. After all, he had always looked after their interest. But since he had gone underground, it would not be exactly simple to meet him. Unless she could get hold of Lydecker first.

"We're here," Seth announced as the bike rolled to a stop.

Max looked up in surprise. Lost in her musings, she had not noticed that they had arrived. Swinging her legs off the bike, she said, "I'll grab my stuff and be out in a minute." With that, she walked to the door and opened it.

Much to her surprise, Seth got off the bike and followed her. "Wait. I'm coming with you."

She scowled at him. "Seth, I assure you I'm quite capable of packing my own stuff and getting out in one piece."

Seth shrugged but the tight lines around his mouth gave away his tenseness. "I don't have anything else to do here anyway."

Clamping her lips shut, she decided not to say anything. Silently, she climbed the steps and headed for her apartment. Then she went through the motions of opening the door.

In the short time she had stayed there, she had thankfully not accumulated much, she thought as she began to open the drawers. The contents of the drawers found themselves in a large rucksack as Max began to toss things in. When she reached the drawer containing the syringe, she heard a sharp intake of breath from Seth's direction.

Surprised at his reaction, Max twisted around to give him a questioning look. "What?"

He shook his head and went to peer out of the window. "Nothing," he muttered.

Shrugging, Max went back to her packing. There was not much point in pushing Seth when he was being reticent. If he felt strongly about something, he would normally let her hear it anyway.

Unless he was mad at her about earlier.

As she closed her rucksack, she wondered if she should broach the subject of their relationship. She felt guilty about the way she had treated him earlier, much as she felt that she had not been wrong in the things she had said.

They walked down the stairs in silence. Max noticed that the throbbing in her shoulders was getting worse, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. Someone back at headquarters would be able to fix it.

As they neared his bike, Max slid a look at him out of the corner of her eyes, noting the tense line of his jaw. Something was bothering him, and it showed.

Taking a calming breath, she began, "Seth?"

Swinging his leg over the bike, he replied absently, "Yeah?"

"About the thing earlier…" she said as she got on behind him.

He looked back over his shoulders as he started the bike. "The fight with that guy?"

The fight? Was that what he was thinking about all this time? She narrowed her eyes. "No. But now that you've mentioned it, did the whole thing seem a little off to you?"

He looked away from her, as he pulled away into the road. "How?" he asked over the wind.

She frowned in annoyance. "Oh, come on, Seth! You mean you didn't find it strange that you couldn't take him down?" she shouted back.

"I held back."

Rolling her eyes, she muttered, "Right."

It looked like Seth would not be saying anything soon. It would be easier if she could actually see his face instead of facing his back, then she might be able to read something from it. Perhaps she should corner him once they got back.

Then maybe the conversation would get somewhere.

…………………………………….

Alec groaned as he turned over onto his back.

He blinked, trying to clear the bleariness from his eyes and the fuzziness from his head. It did not take him long to recall why he was lying on the grass feeling like his head was stuffed full of cotton. He could still clearly remember the feel of the tranquiliser dart as it impacted against his back.

He sat up abruptly, and then staggered unsteadily to his feet.

The sun was beginning to set. Silence surrounded him. Max and Seth had obviously decided not to hang around.

His jaw tightened. He was going to kill that man the next time he saw him, transgenic or not. In fact, it would be better if Seth was a transgenic. Sooner or later Seth would have to report back to base. At the very least, he would need to get his barcode touched up again. Then they would get a chance to have it out for real.

If he was a transgenic.

Alec frowned deeply as he made his way to the wall. Springing over it easily, he landed on his feet and began to head away from the mansion.

If Seth was a transgenic, then there should be some record of him back in the base. It should not be too hard to find him. Manticore held record of each of them, everything from their training schedules to their DNA make-up.

Alec wondered why he had not seen him before. Granted, he did not know every X5 by sight, but someone like Seth would be hard to miss. The guy had a thing about him that just commands attention. His fighting skills were not something to dismiss either. It was one of the things which galled Alec the most, the fact that he had not been able to take the guy down.

Alec prided himself on being one of the best Manticore had created. His track record was exemplary, except for one tiny hitch in a recent mission. He grimaced. And ever since that tiny hitch, Renfro had been watching him like an hawk, waiting for him to trip up so that so that she could satisfy her sadistic need to see another transgenic punished.

The bitch.

…………………….

Their first stop was headquarters.

By then, Max was feeling a little light-headed. No doubt from the blood lost, she thought wearily as they stepped into the building. As the designated field meds, Eva and Tinga normally dealt with these sorts of injuries but in their absence, she hoped that Jack might be able to patch her wound up.

There were only three people in the control room, Max noticed as she and Seth walked in.

Looking up from the folder he was perusing, Zack greeted them with a smile which rapidly dissolved when he saw Max's the blood seeping through the oversized jumper she had on. He shot to his feet and went to her.

"What happened to you?" he asked anxiously. "Max, you were shot!"

Max gave him a weak smile. "It's not a big deal, Zack. Just a small wound."

Abandoning his post at the controls, Jack wore a worried frown as he said, "I'll get the medikit."

Max nodded as Jack rushed out. Mack, one of the few Ordinaries in their midst, rolled a chair towards her. "I think you'd better sit. You look a bit pale."

She sat down with a sigh. "Any news from Eva?" she asked. "And Tinga?"

Mack shook his head. "No. But Eva said she'll call if anything happens."

"Don't worry about Eva. She's got Zane with her," Zack said reassuringly before turning his attention to Seth. "You shouldn't have left her to come back earlier," he said tightly. "You were supposed to be her back-up."

Unperturbed by his tone, Seth gave Zack a stony look. "This is not your concern, Zack."

"I asked him to leave," Max supplied quickly, her eyes flitting between Zack and Seth warily. Zack looked as if he was ready to rip Seth apart. Trying to placate him, she said, "It's okay, Zack. It's not his fault. There were just too many of them."

Zack shook his head. "He came back here when he was supposed to be watching your back. That's what back-up is for, Max." Zack turned, throwing a glare at Seth. "You should have stayed, irregardless of what other problems you might be having at that time."

Seth's jaw tightened. "I didn't have a problem, Zack. I received a call from Jack warning me about the break-in at her apartment, and then I tried to pull her out. But she refused and went back in there anyway."

"You should have been there. You should have stayed."

"I came back to check out the surveillance feed, alright! And went back to Max right after that."

"Obviously it was too late," Zack stated flatly.

"I had to gas the entire place to find her, so don't make it sound like I left her there alone."

Max's ears pricked up. So that was how he brought all the guards down. The gas would not affect her because they had been built to resist those sorts of things.

Then her eyes widened in realisation. That basically confirmed that Alec was a transgenic too, seeing that he had been very much alert when he had attacked her. Unless the gas did not get to the duct. But there were too many clues that point to Alec as a transgenic. Clues that she could not ignore.

"You gassed them?" Zack exclaimed incredulously, interrupting her thoughts. "What happened to being discreet?"

Max sighed. Zack was obviously looking for any reason to tear Seth apart. She never quite understood what the problem between the two of them was. Sometimes, she suspected that it might be because of what happened between her and Seth. Zack had never really forgiven Seth for 'taking advantage' of the situation.

"Look, just forget it, alright? I'll be fine once Jack patch me up," Max insisted earnestly, wishing that they would stop.

His eyes not leaving Seth, Zack remarked icily, "That's not the real issue. We need to know that we can count on each other, that's all."

Holding himself defensively, Seth gritted out tightly, "What are you really saying, Zack? That you can't count on me?"

Zack gestured towards her. "Take a good look at Max and think carefully about what you could have done to prevent it," he suggested pointedly.

Seth took a step forward towards Zack, his eyes flashing with suppressed anger. "I don't like what you're implying here, Zack. You know I care for her. So why don't you tell me what your real problem is?"

"That's enough!" Max snapped in annoyance. Her head was beginning to pound, and their argument was not making it any better.

Just then, Jack walked back in with the medikit. His steps faltered as he took in what appeared to be a face-off between Zack and Seth. It was nothing new, but all of them still felt uncomfortable when it happened.

Obviously trying to diffuse the situation, he called out, "Zack, I need a hand here."

As Jack knelt down beside her, Max looked up to see Seth storming out of the room. Sighing wearily, she said, "That wasn't necessary, Zack. It's not going to help anything."

Scowling, Zack came to her. "He needs to remember that we're a team here," he commented irritably. "Haven't you notice that he's like a stranger around here?"

Handing Zack the medikit, Jack said quietly, "He's just away on a lot of missions."

"The rest of us do as well. But recently, in the last year, he seemed to have changed a lot," Max remarked, and then added softly, "And it seemed to have gotten worse ever since we got together."

"That was something that shouldn't have happened, Max," Zack said with a disapproving frown.

"Well, it seemed to be the right thing at that time," Max snapped defensively.

"Look, Seth probably has a good reason for his behaviour. We just don't know," Jack contributed calmly as he helped Max remove the jumper. He took the surgical tweezers Zack had just sterilised. Looking into her eyes with regret, Jack warned, "This is gonna hurt, Max."

She nodded curtly and held on to the hand Zack offered.

As Jack prodded the bullet hole, she gritted her teeth. When the surgical tweezers entered her flesh, she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. A groan escaped her lips as she tightened her grip around Zack's hand.

Then she felt the pressure ease. She opened her eyes to see Jack dropping a small bullet into a tray.

"All done," Jack declared softly, patting her on the back. "We just need to do a bit of a transfusion, and then you'll be as good as new."

She let out the breath she was holding, glad that it was over.

"Come on, I'll help you to the spare room," Zack offered. "It's probably not a good idea for you to head home now."

Jack added, "You can go straight to sleep after I do the transfusion."

"Don't think I need the transfusion, Jack."

"You've lost a lot of blood. We need to do it," Jack said firmly, but gently.

Too tired to protest, Max finally nodded and allowed herself to be led to the spare room.

………………………………………….

Alec slammed his hands onto the table in frustration. The impact made the screen in front of him flicker briefly.

Beside him, 511 grinned. They had been in the computer lab for the last four hours. Lights-out had been called hours ago and rest of the transgenics had retired to their cells. There were only two of them left in there, and that was because he had managed to bribe the guards to let them remain.

Alec realised that he did not have much time. Renfro had gone away for some Manticore-related business. Probably to sell their services to the highest bidder again, he thought with a grimace. Not knowing when she would be back was making him nervous.

All he knew was that he had to get out as soon as he found out if Seth was really a transgenic. If he was one, then maybe a deal could be worked up between them, much as he disliked the guy. Hell, he was not even sure why he disliked the guy. Well, maybe because of the tranquilizer.

"I told you it wasn't going to be that easy," 511's voice broke into his thoughts.

Alec frowned irritably. "I don't understand why they needed to keep all those information hidden. Those files don't contain anything that we don't know anyway."

"They do, 494," 511 pointed out smugly. "You might know stuff about yourself, but not on the rest of us, see?"

"How different can it be?" Alec muttered, punching yet another password into the keyboard in front of him. The words 'ACCESS DENIED' flashed back mockingly at him for what seemed like the thousandth time, making him frown even deeper.

"Why are you so desperate to get into that database anyway?" 511 asked curiously. And then a knowing grin graced his expression. "Oh, are you searching for a certain female?"

Alec glared at him before replying, "No. My target's male."

511 raised a surprised eyebrow. "Didn't know you swing that way."

Alec groaned. Gesturing to the screen in front of 511, he said, "Just keep on trying, okay. Leave the lame jokes for later. This is serious."

511 tapped in a few more passwords in rapid succession. Then, in a casual tone, he remarked, "You haven't told me what this is all about. And to be honest, I'm feeling a little left out here. Forgotten that I'm supposed to be on this mission as well? You know, just because I'm staying back at base as backup, that doesn't mean I should be left out of the loop."

Suddenly feeling guilty about everything that he had kept from his partner, Alec said apologetically, "No, I haven't forgotten." He sighed in frustration as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Right. Basically, nothing is going the way it's supposed to and I need to fix it before Renfro finds out. The less you know about it, the better. Or else Renfro will throw two of us instead of one into Psy-Ops."

511 shrugged carelessly. "Part of the game, isn't it. We all know it. We all expect it." Then he frowned. "What do you mean nothing is going the way it's supposed to? What happened?"

"Interference. That's what," Alec muttered darkly as he continued to key in random series of words and numbers.

"From the Unitech chick?" 511 exclaimed incredulously. Then he shook his head slowly. "How ever well-trained she is, I don't believe that she could cause you that much trouble."

"No, it's not just her," Alec said worriedly. He was not sure if it was a good idea to let 511 know. If anything went wrong again he did not want 511 to take the flak for it, considering that by remaining behind, he was right under Renfro's nose.

But 511 was right. They all knew the game, and knew the risks associated with it.

Taking a deep breath, Alec said, "There was someone else with her. Her partner."

511 frowned, his fingers stilling on the keyboard. "The one I was fighting with the last time?"

Alec shook his head. "No. This is a different one."

"Must be another Unitech personnel."

"Yeah. There was something suspicious about him. We fought, and as usual, I held back a little since he's an Ordinary. The strange thing is, I had this feeling that he was holding back as well."

511's eyes rounded. "Not possible."

Alec shrugged. "Not possible for an Ordinary. But I don't think he's one. I suspect that he might be another X5."

511's jaw dropped. "What was he doing there? It's our mission, not his." Falling silent, his brow furrowed in thought and he tapped his fingers against the desk. After a while, he smacked his hand flat down. "Maybe he's undercover at Unitech."

"That's what I thought as well. And that's why we're here."

"Why would Manticore send two teams out on the same mission?"

"I don't think he had the same brief. He's probably after something else. Maybe sent to spy on Unitech or something."

511 looked thoughtful. "Renfro never told us where she got her info from. You think he's been feeding Unitech's info back to Manticore?"

"That would explain why we keep turning up at the same places," Alec said thoughtfully, tapping a few more passwords that came to mind.

Then the computer beeped and the screen flashed 'ACCESS GRANTED'.

Alec sat back, his lips parted. The password was so ridiculously simple.

511 rushed to him and leaned over his shoulders. "You got in!" he exclaimed excitedly. "What was it?"

"Universal soldiers," Alec told him, hardly believing it himself. He actually managed to get into Manticore's prototype database.

Then he grinned. He cracked his knuckles before rubbing his hands together, exchanging a gleeful look with 511. This was it. He hit another key, bringing up the list of designations, and then he set the filters to search for males X5s.

When he clicked 'SCROLL', the images of each male X5 began to flash on the screen.

"Come on, come on," he muttered under his breath.

"We're not even sure he's one of us, man," 511 said beside him.

"If he's not, then Manticore got some competition on their hands," Alec said grimly, his eyes not leaving the screen.

"Hmm, in that case, do you think they'd recruit us?" 511 asked jokingly.

Alec snorted. "If it means working with that nightmare of a female, I think I'd pass."

511 laughed out loud. "You've got real issues with that girl. I can tell."

Alec scowled. "I'll let you handle her next time. We'll see what you have to say after that." Then an image caught his eyes. He instantly hit a button, freezing the screen.

The image of a male X5 with cropped brown hair and green eyes stared back at him, his expression carefully blank like the rest of the transgenics.

"494?"

Letting out his breath slowly, Alec declared with absolute certainty, "That's him."

…………………………..

t.b.c.

A/N: I hope you've enjoyed that. No MA, I know, but the story needs to move on. Please review and let me know what you think!