Deadly Fix

Summary: Max, Alec, the cure, a hostage situation…

Thank you so, so much for the kind reviews. Please forgive the lack of Alec in this chapter. He's a bit busy being unconscious and all.

Chapter Six

Mole met her outside Alec's building in a minute flat. He wasn't alone though. He had about twenty people with him, all grim faced and silent. The group came to an abrupt halt seeing Alec's lifeless body in her arms and then looked to her for orders. There was no shouting or questioning. They were soldiers and Man Down meant you closed your mouth and you kept an eye out for what had caused it.

"We need to get him to Third and Oak. Logan will drive us from there." She turned to Mole. "I'm gonna need a clear route. Quickest you can manage."

Mole just nodded, turned around and started shouting orders. People scattered in various directions to get whatever they needed.

"What's wrong with him?" one of the remaining X-series asked, little more than a child.

"I think the virus," Max said. She was once again sitting on the ground, now with Alec's head in her lap. He was pale to the point of being nearly translucent. He was burning up too, but not sweating which was even more worrisome. It meant his internal cooling system had already shut down. He didn't have long and she suddenly wanted to shake him again, furious that he had let it go so long just so that she could have her cure. She'd gotten by this long without touching Logan. She could have gone on as long as necessary if the cure required this.

"You mean like what you did to the Ordinary?" the same child asked and one of the older Xs cuffed him on the back of the head.

Max wanted to yell or hit something, but she just nodded. Manticore had managed to do it again with a little help from her. Only this time, her virus could kill both of the men she loved.

Mole took a cell phone out of his pocket and answered it. Max paid no attention to what he was saying until he squatted in front of her. "Time to go," he said gruffly. "I've got a group of X6s clearing a path through the sewers all the way there. You'll have a clear corridor to run."

"Thanks," Max said, rising and pulling Alec up with her. There was no response whatsoever as she pulled one of his arms across her shoulders. It was going to be awkward, but she would get him there.

Mole just shook his head. He grabbed Alec and hefted him over his shoulder. When Max stared at him in surprise, he said, "Are you gonna lead the way or do I have to do that too?"

Max shook herself out of her stupor and began jogging, heading for the closest sewer entrance. Glancing behind her she saw Mole keeping pace, Alec still slung over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Apparently Mole had a soft spot in his scaly armor for his SIC. Alec somehow managed to be both an effective leader and yet still a friend. She only managed half of that. These days Alec called her prickly. The rest of them still called her a bitch. She could only hope that Alec would live long enough to call her either one of them again.

Max sat in the chair facing the doctor's desk, bouncing her leg nervously and biting her nails. They'd taken Alec away from her almost as soon as she walked in the doors and told her to wait. So she was waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Logan said, keeping his voice calm and soothing. The effect, however, was only to irritate her further. She wasn't really sure who she was angriest with: Alec for not telling her, herself for not noticing anything about what was going on, or Logan for seeming to think she was overreacting.

"This is my fault, Logan. I did this," she snapped. "I asked him to do this and look what happened."

"We asked him," Logan replied evenly, "and Alec agreed. This is not your fault."

"He knew he was sick," she said furiously. "He was sick last night and he brushed it off. Told me he was just tired. He let himself get this bad so that I could have the cure. He did it for me."

Logan was wearing an expression that said he didn't quite believe it. He doubted that Alec was capable of anything so unselfish. He didn't voice the opinion though, and it was a good thing or Max might have smacked that incredulous look off his face. He hadn't seen everything Alec had done since the siege had begun. She had. Not as much as she should have, but she was trying to make that right now.

The office door flew open and Dr. Miller entered. He wasn't looking quite as composed or as cheerful as the other times she'd seen him and she immediately stood. "How is he?"

"We're still trying to bring his temperature down," the man answered gravely.

"How did this happen?" Max demanded. "I thought you said the virus wouldn't hurt either one of us!"

"It shouldn't have," the doctor replied, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "That virus might have done some damage to an ordinary person, but it shouldn't have even fazed a transgenic."

"What does that mean?" Max asked.

"Has he been severely injured recently?"

"He was shot during the Jam Pony incident."

"Did the wound heal well?"

"I assume so," Max said, feeling guilty that she'd never bothered to check. "He seemed fine in only a few days. He wasn't showing a limited range of motion."

The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "Anything else?"

"He… he hasn't been sleeping," Max answered and she could feel Logan's eyes on her wanting to know how she knew that.

"Enough to impair him?" the doctor asked worriedly. "Most of you have shorter sleep cycles."

"It was bad enough at one point his vision was blurring. One of the others drugged him to get him to rest. Apparently it's been an ongoing problem."

"Any reason you know of for the insomnia?"

Me. "Too much to do and not enough time to do it."

The doctor nodded again. "I imagine your immune systems are all working overtime because of the contaminants in Terminal City. Persistent fatigue would have further taxed his body and given the virus a better chance of overrunning him." He ran a hand through his hair again, adding the information to what he was already working with.

"Can I see him?" Max asked. She needed to see him.

"Give us some time." The doctor shook his head. "We're running some tests now, then we'll know more."

"What about Max?" Logan asked.

"What about me?" Max asked impatiently. She wasn't the one dying right now because of this scheme.

"She's fine. Clear," Dr. Miller said offhandedly, his mind elsewhere. "The new virus did the trick."

Max just stood there in stunned silence. They'd taken some blood not long after she'd arrived, but she'd assumed it was to check against Alec's virus. Max felt Logan walk up behind her, wrap his arms around her and place a kiss on the top of her head.

"Thank you, Doctor Miller," Logan said almost reverently.

For her part, Max didn't know what to say. It seemed wrong thanking him when Alec was somewhere else in the building alone and so ill as a result of what they'd done.

"We'll leave you to work. You'll call us if anything changes with Alec?" Logan asked.

"Certainly," the doctor nodded.

Max twisted out of Logan's arms and turned to face him. "I can't just leave him," she said incredulously.

"There's nothing you can do here, Max. Alec's in good hands and Dr. Miller will do everything he can. He'll call when he knows more," Logan said reasonably.

And Max realized that was the difference. That was the difference between Logan and Alec. Logan was Eyes Only. He saw. He noticed. He reported. He set plans and other people in motion and waited for a call or a report. Alec was motion. He was action. Alec couldn't wait for a call. He took care of it himself. Eyes Only reported injustice toward the transgenics. Alec went and beat the crap out of the men who'd killed Biggs. Eyes Only talked about the conditions the transgenics were living in because of the lockdown on Terminal City. Alec led the supply runs to keep them all from starving. Maybe that wasn't really fair, but at the moment she was so angry she couldn't see straight and it felt true.

Logan had said he'd given her up, he'd said she was free, and then kept showing up with latex gloves so he could touch her, keep drawing her back in. Alec had never had her in the first place, never expected to and had given her up, sacrificed himself so that he could free her from the virus. He'd freed her so she could leave him without ever knowing he loved her in the first place.

Logan was willing to leave Alec here and wait for a call. He had the cure. He had what he wanted. Mission accomplished. Alec had given himself, thinking that if he succeeded Max would walk away from him. Accomplishing his mission meant losing her and he'd done it anyway to see her happy.

Logan loved her. Alec loved her passionately.

"Go home, Logan," she said, coming to a sudden decision. "I won't leave him."

"Max," Logan said, sounding wounded. He reached out for her and she took a step back. Partly because she'd been doing it for so long it was instinctive and partly because she couldn't bear it right now. Alec was alone, sick, maybe dying. She didn't deserve to be cured. Or comforted.

"Go home," she said again and Logan recognized it for what it was. A dismissal. "I'll call you."

Logan looked like he'd been sucker punched. "You do love him."

"Yeah." It was so easy to admit it now. Alec had made it unbelievably obvious to her. Zack had given himself for her and now Alec. Max knew what love was. Her love for Zack was different, but it was love all the same. She couldn't thank him for what he'd done, though she remembered it with every beat of her heart. Alec, however, was still alive. She had to make sure that he knew how she felt.

She and Logan both turned at the sound of Dr. Miller's pager. The man pulled it from his belt and looked at the screen. "He's crashing," he said, already starting to run.

"Go home," Max said one more time and then sprinted after the doctor, leaving Logan behind.

More soon… I'm typing… Honest…