Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any characters featured in either of the seasons.

Orphan Past

The next day, Alec and Max never saw each other, not even at lunch. It seemed fate was playing a horrible game of cat and mouse to tease them, while they both had millions of questions for each other. They were Manticore, and the only ones that they knew personally.

That was how school was for the next few days until Friday rolled around. Alec wanted to see her so he waited after school by his motorcycle. He sat atop his bike and watched as every single female left the school building. Luckily Max exited pretty fast and when he yelled her name she skidded to halt and looked for the source. When she spotted him she stayed still for a few moments before she walked over to him, "I have questions for you."

"Right back at you," he replied handing her his passenger helmet. She looked at it as if it was a foreign object before she took it and attached it to her head. Skidding out of the parking lot, Alec headed to his apartment with Max wondering what the hell she was doing getting on a motorcycle with a strange guy. 'A strange guy who happens to know more about you then any of your friends combined. He's Manticore.' She thought to her self as she held onto his waist as he weaved in, out, and around cars and objects before he arrived at a 4 story building that old looking. "Come-on," he instructed cocking his head to the tall narrow green door in the corner of the building. Following him inside, they walked past a rout iron gated lift and went straight up 3 flights of stairs and walked to end of the narrow hall where the door read 494 in tarnished brass numbers.

Alec's apartment was small, but enough for one person and had yet to truly leave the 60-70's. The walls were various shades of green wallpaper and most of the furniture was built into the wall. Shelves, tables, even a bench and table in the kitchen were built from the wall. "Cozy," she commented walking into the living room. The apartment itself looked as if it was a big circle.

"It's better than my previous accommodations," he said flippantly, dumping his helmet on the built in counter that separated the kitchen from the living room he turned around and looked at Max. "Drink?"

"Nah."

"Questions?"

"How did you get out?"

"Straight to the point, I like that in a girl. I was released when I turned 18. I had a good record so I wasn't a threat. You?"

"I escaped."

"Ah, you were one of them. By the way thanks, we were in the fields for weeks. Especially. Especially the twins."

"What?"

"You didn't know? Manticore had a special place for multiples. No one was at Manticore unless they had a twin or more. The siblings of the escapees got to live in the fields for a while. It was to make sure we didn't think the same way." This was news to Max.

"What was your designated number?"

"Ah the precious numbers, not names, we had. I was 494." That was eerie, his address numbers flashed in her mind. "Creepy I know, yours?"

"452."

"State your designation!" The Handler shouted in the shaking child's face.

"115 s-s-sir," the child shook, and it wasn't from the freezing weather that they were enduring.

"Did you just stutter!" No question. The Handler looked straight into the frightened child and saw the fear. Quickly, the handler raised his hand and backhanded the child to the ground. Blood spurted from the child's nose and mouth as they fell back onto the ground. "You aren't allowed to stutter, maggot!"

"You all have been designated an number, remember this number as all times, or you will be punished." His voice held no room for questions. "Forget your names that you once had, they are inadequate and pointless, you don't deserve a name, only a number of the masses. Is that clear?" Every adolescent in the room responded 'yes sir' in unison. He smiled, maliciously, at this.

"I want 494, 600, 543, 747, 942, 184, 330, 849, 203, 490, and 543! NOW!" Each child with one of those numbers scurried to the front of the mess hall and stood straight in front of the row of handlers. "As all of you have most likely learned, 12 wards escaped last night, they are their siblings! Because of their sibling's faults, they will be punished, as will all of you! You 12 to the fields! The rest, finish eating a report to the lines!" With that a handler grabbed a child and dragged them out of the room. No one else moved until they were once again alone with the mess hall attendants.

"Alec?" Max's voice broke through his thoughts and he suddenly was back in his apartment with a fellow Manticora-ian sitting across from him. "Who got the feds in on Manticore?" Alec looked away.

"I don't know, I just found out through the media."

"What happened after we left?"

"Things got harder and stricter, the handlers became more paranoid and brutal. In the last years I was there Lydecker got replaced by Madam X, as we all called her."

"Renfro?"

"That'd be her. She was just as sick and twisted as Lydecker, sometimes worse." Alec watched as this information processed through Max's mind. "Why did you call me 'Ben' that day?"

"Ben was one of my room mates at Manticore. He was one of the escapees with me." Max wrapped her arms around self and walked over to the big window that was in the living room. "I'm guessing he was your twin brother, that's why I called you 'Ben' that day."

"So where is he?" Max had dreaded this question being asked.

"He's died a year ago." By reading Max's body language, Alec could tell she didn't want to talk about his twin, and he would respect that until a later date. "So how long you been out?"

"A month before the feds started investigating, I was released because of my age. I had a good record so I was deemed trustworthy enough to be released and not leak out the precious secrets that were hidden within those walls." This time Max read Alec's body language and saw that there was more to the story. "I was lucky." Alec pushed off the counter he was leaning against and stood up straighter. They were at a stand still.