Rating: R
Show: Dark Angel
Genre: Drama/Action/Angst
Type: WIP/Series
Summary: When something causes Max's chimeric nature to spin out of control can Alec help her to find herself again?
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Damn.
Spoilers: At least through 'Exposure'. You may want to read "Metamorphosis I: Regression" in order to get into this…and if you've already read it, feel free to re-read & re-review. Heh.
Chapter 1: Days to Remember
"Could not."
"Could so."
"So could not."
"So could so."
"Alec!"
"What?"
A few feet away from where Max and Alec faced off, Sketchy leaned over and whispered to Original Cindy, "Dude, they're like cats and dogs."
"Hmph," Cindy responded. "More like spoiled lil' stray kittens." They watched as the battle continued. A resounding thwack echoed among Jam Pony's lockers as a slender, yet powerful hand met with the back of a head.
"Ow, Max! You know, violence isn't always the answer."
"Alec, you are really deluding yourself if you honestly think that you could beat me in pool."
The assassin turned bike messenger stopped rubbing the back of his head and leaned against his locker, giving her his most confident smirk. "Now, now, Maxie," he said. "How do you expect us to believe you when none of us has ever even seen you play."
Cindy spoke up, "Baby Boo does have a point, girl." Max whipped her head around, a look of total shock on her face.
"Hey," Sketchy interjected before Max could respond to her turncoat roommate. "How come you're suddenly calling Alec 'Baby Boo' but I've never had a 'boo' name?" He plopped down on the bench between their lockers and looked up at Cindy with a bewildered pout. The Queen of All Things Sassy shrugged one eloquent shoulder.
"'Cause Alec is adorable, while you're just sketchy."
His shoulders slumped. "Dude, that was harsh."
Alec slapped his friend on the back. "Don't worry Sketch. I'll make sure that you get the majority of the beer Max will be buying after she loses horribly tonight." Sketchy brightened immediately.
Max put one hand on her hip and looked Alec up and down. "A. You could never beat me at anything. B. Who said I was even gonna play?" Her tone and stance were all attitude and defiance.
Alec grinned and exchanged a conspiratorial look with Sketchy. "What do you think Sketch? Maybe Maxie's chicken?" Sketchy snickered, but quickly sobered when it was his turn to face Max's glare.
OC cleared her throat. "Boo, you're not really gonna take that, right? 'Cause I think female pride demands that you put up or shut up right about now." She glanced at Alec, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Despite herself, Cindy felt her own full lips tugging into a smile. She couldn't help it, his grin was just infectious.
Max stared at her three friends beaming at her. She was outnumbered. Alec not only had Sketchy on his side – complete with goofy expression – but he'd also managed to win over Max's most trusted ally. She bit the inside of her lip as she tried to maintain her scowl instead of smiling back at them.
Finally she threw up her hands and shouted, "Fine! I'll play you!" After all, she was a soldier; she knew all about tactical retreats. She wasn't surrendering in the face of her friends' laughter. Oh no, this was not surrender! This was part of her strategy. She had Alec exactly where she wanted him. She would return to fight another day – or tonight – and would annihilate the enemy. Better yet, she would embarrass the utter crap out of him.
Max stepped forward to stand toe to toe with Alec and stared up into his sparkling hazel eyes. She narrowed her eyes and poked him in the chest with one perfect finger. "Your ass is mine." At her words, Alec's grin became a lascivious smirk and he waggled his eyebrows at her. She felt her cheeks grow warm and realized just how little space there was between her body and Alec's. Stepping back, she did the most predictable, most natural thing. She gathered the butterflies fluttering around her stomach into her fist and let rip with a punch to Alec's shoulder.
"Ugh!"
"Ow, Max!"
"Pig!"
"Oink."
Before the next phase of their never-ending skirmish could continue, a new party marched onto the battlefield equipped with black-framed glasses, a dispatch headset, several packages, and a sour expression. Normal dropped the packages on the bench in front of Sketchy and scowled at the bike messengers.
"Do the words 'gainful employment' mean anything to you people?"
Max flipped her hair over her shoulder and muttered, "I'm not sure how 'gainful' this rat trap is."
"Oh yeah, Missy Miss?" Normal pushed his glasses up on his nose. "How about the words 'unemployment line'?"
Alec saw a look come over Max's face that only meant trouble. He mentally shrugged. They say the enemy of your enemy is your friend. He looked over Normal's shoulder with wide eyes, pointed, and gave a shout.
"Holy smokes, Normal! Is that George W?"
"What?! Where?!" Normal whipped around and searched the open space behind him as if Alec had announced the second coming. Only more of the disheveled slackers he referred to as employees met his eager gaze. His disappointment was palpable as he turned back to Alec and friends.
"Oh, sorry, boss." Alec gave him a cheerful smile. "Must've been a trick of the light."
"That's okay, my boy." Normal straightened his collar as Max tried to hide her laughter with a cough. "Your enthusiasm toward one of this country's greatest leaders is admirable indeed." He stared hard at the most troublesome lot of the bunch. "And it's something that the rest of your miscreant co-workers could learn from."
"Ah, well, you know." Alec shrugged while three pairs of eyes rolled simultaneously. Normal put his arm around Alec's shoulders. Startled, Alec shied away and glanced sideways at their borderline-fascist boss. Normal gave his broad shoulder a firm squeeze.
"Alec, you are truly a unique creature unlike any other."
Alec's face went pale and then turned an unhealthy shade of green. The voices of OC, Sketchy, and Max blended together as they all screamed out, "Hot run!" Cindy and Sketchy matched Max's transgenic speed as all three scrambled to grab their packages and bags and flee the scene as quickly as possible.
Max tossed Alec a package, which he caught with one hand. He twisted out of Normal's grip and raced after the others with a shout of, "Bip!"
As Alec's feet hit the asphalt outside where they parked their bikes, he spared a glance over his shoulder to make sure that Normal hadn't decided to follow them. To his relief, he saw no signs of the man. He slowed down, putting his hands in his jacket pockets, and strolled over to where the others were already mounting their bikes.
"Damn," Sketchy was complaining, "I picked up a run to Sector 12." He readjusted his messenger bag and shook greasy bangs out of his eyes. He grimaced when Alec arrived by his side. "Dude, that was close."
Alec shuddered, glancing over his shoulder once again. "You're telling me." He turned back around and nodded to Max. "Thanks."
"No problem." She smiled sweetly at him "You owe me." Alec frowned, imagining the ridiculous Eyes Only mission she was sure to make him go on.
"For real, Baby Boo," Cindy cut in, "this obsession Normal has with you is really gettin' outta hand."
He winked at her as he got on his own bike. "Can I help it if I'm devilishly handsome and full of charm?"
"Devilish is right!"
Sketchy grinned. "And I don't know about charm, but you're definitely full of shit."
Alec put a hand to his heart and adopted a wounded expression. "Sketch, we're dudes! We're supposed to have each other's back."
"Sorry my man, but it's my sacred duty as a journalist to ferret out the truth and expose it to the world in all its glorious ugliness."
Cindy turned Alec's signature smirk back on him. "Don't worry, Baby Boo. You can't win 'em all." She gestured at Sketchy. "C'mon boy, I got Sector 12 too." Waving at Max and Alec she said, "We'll see y'all at lunch. Sketchy's buying."
"Hey, why am I buying?"
"Because Original Cindy said so, fool." With that, she rode off with Sketchy trailing behind. Max turned her bike in the direction she needed to head for her first run, but Alec stopped her.
"Max, hold on a sec." He reached into his bag and pulled out a plain cardboard box. "I almost forgot about this." He tossed it her way.
She caught it effortlessly and shook it next to her ear.. "What is it?"
Alec sighed. "Just open it, Maxie." She did, turning the box upside down and emptying the contents into the palm of her hand. It was a small mobile phone, matte black like the clothes she wore. She flipped the cover open. It was the newest, top-of-the-line model. After her Ninja, it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.
Of course, to cover her unexpected pleasure at the gift, she asked, "Did you steal it?"
Alec shot back, "Does it matter?" Max didn't answer and after a few moments Alec continued, "Anyway, it's charged and ready to go."
She pulled her gaze away from her new toy and set her big brown eyes to studying the man before her. He sat astride his bike with a casual and cocky confidence that was echoed in the way he wore his plain leather jacket and blue jeans like second skin. A lopsided smile completed his usual careless and carefree expression. To everyone who glanced at him, his appearance was that of a happy-go-lucky ladies' man with all the time in the world and the ability to make the most of it.
Max knew better. The little boy that Alec had become after last week's run-in with White had shown her that a better reflection of who Alec was could be found in his eyes. She looked into those hazel depths now, and he met her gaze steadily. She saw a glimmer of nervousness and doubt, and a spark of apprehension that made her have to swallow and belied his confident pose. In that moment she realized that she held a shard of this man's heart in her hands, just as she'd known sitting in the rain atop the Space Needle that the little boy inside him held a piece of hers.
Yet, Max didn't always trust her outer or inner senses, enhanced though they were. Too many times life had not gone her way. Too many times those things she'd thought so simple and so harmless turned out to be complex, ticking time bombs planted with utmost precision throughout the world she'd created for herself.
So she asked, "Why?"
Alec frowned and looked away, seeming to search the space around her for the answer. He shrugged and scratched at the back of his head before meeting her eyes again. "I don't remember much from last week, but I do know that you managed to save my unconscious ass from White's evil clutches." He gave a small chuckle and shrugged again. "Think of it as my 'thank you'." He wheeled his bike around and started pedaling away, calling over his shoulder, "The number's inside the box. Catch ya later."
"Later."
As Alec rounded the corner of the building a breeze came from behind, ruffling his light brown hair against his barcode and carrying to his enhanced hearing Max's whispered "Thanks." He sped off toward his first run with a true smile on his lips.
Seattle's sectors whistled past as Max traveled that morning's runs in something of a daze. Her thoughts were circling the same themes that had been occupying her mind for the past week, among them: Alec. She couldn't decide if it was a good or a bad thing that he remembered so little from his hours spent as a man trapped inside the mind of a seven year old. While he didn't remember how he got to the Space Needle that night or their trip to the hospital, he did remember running through the woods with her and teaching Joshua to play the piano. She also figured that he remembered destroying Logan's exoskeleton, although he hadn't mentioned it, because within a day he'd managed to score a new one from one of his obscure contacts. He'd left it as Logan's penthouse with a note that simply said "It works."
Max was pretty sure that Alec did not remember the rest of what happened at Logan's, including his fight with Logan and the hurtful words that Max had said to him. Which inevitably brought her to the memory of her own minor breakdown. As hard as she tried to ignore and forget it, it kept stabbing at her with its clarity. She wasn't quite certain what had triggered that particular maelstrom of reaction from her. Maybe spending all that time with junior Alec had caused her to shed some of her heavy emotional armor? Whatever the reason, the fact that she could lose control of herself so quickly and so easily had her scared out of her mind.
As a result, Max had spent most of the week avoiding Logan, the only person who'd witnessed her weakness. It had been easier than she'd thought it would be. He'd immersed himself in some Eyes Only project and didn't really seem to notice her absence. Max had been so relieved that she'd been left to herself that she didn't wonder at her not-boyfriend not missing her.
On the other hand, Max had been seeing much more of Alec in the last week. It seemed as though whenever she left the house, whether to work or play, she ended up near Alec. She wouldn't admit it to herself, but some part of her felt the need to keep checking to make sure he was still around. She'd gone back to arguing with him – his smart-ass remarks pretty much demanded it – but her bitching was more in the way of playful swatting than the vindictive stings of the past. Their customary banter was so natural that it helped keep her mind off of herself. As for Alec, he seemed to adjust to the kinder tone of their association just as smoothly as he'd adapted to the seedy underbelly of life outside Manticore's gates. He was letting her set the tone of their growing friendship, and that was fine with her.
The wind blew Max's long brown hair away from her face as she headed back towards Jam Pony for lunch. She entered the bike lot and noticed that the others' bikes were already there. She parked and checked the time on her new mobile. A small smile lit her face as she pressed the illuminating button on the side. The blue glow told her that she was late, as usual. She shrugged and walked into the building.
Max found her friends gathered around one of the tables on the platform off to the side of the main room. She plopped down in the only empty chair left and surveyed the feast laid upon the table. She raised an eyebrow at the lanky man sitting across from her.
"Corn nuts and beer? This is what you call lunch, Sketch?"
"Works for me," he answered with a smile.
"Besides, you forgot about the pork rinds, Maxie." Alec held up a large bag of the imitation snack food. "They're key." He popped a handful in his mouth and began chomping happily. Max shuddered at the sight and turned to look at her roommate sitting next to her.
Cindy raised her hands in surrender. "My bad. Original Cindy knows better than to depend on a man to do anything right – especially eating."
Alec erupted into a fit of coughing and sputtering as he tried to laugh around a mouthful of pork rinds. After he finally regained his composure, he reached under his chair and pulled out a paper bag. Max made a grab for it before it even touched the table.
She took one look inside and exclaimed, "Hoagies!" She piled the sandwiches onto the table and swiftly grabbed one for herself.
"Whoa Maxie, take it easy there. What would Miss Manners say?"
Max glanced up at Alec with her eyebrows furrowed and her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk's. "Who?"
The shrill ring of Alec's phone saved him from providing an explanation. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled it out. "Yeah," he spoke his customary greeting and then waited for his caller to speak. "Sure I do…You know me…I'll be there." He snapped the phone shut and picked out a sandwich for himself.
Sketchy took a swig of his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Dude, what was that about?"
Alec shook his head. "Nothing, man. Just a little business."
Looking Sketchy up and down, Cindy demanded. "Why you all up in the boy's Kool-Aid and don't even know the flava?"
When Sketchy blew off Cindy's question, Alec turned to Max with a frown and silently mouthed, "Kool-Aid?" Max wore an equally perplexed expression when she shrugged and shook her head to indicate that she had no idea.
The rest of the meal passed normally enough. Sketchy cracked lame jokes, Cindy talked about her latest Barbie-like honey, Alec attempted to get under Max's skin with smart ass comments, and Max punched Alec in the arm no less than seven times. They finally disbanded when they noticed Normal making faces and shaking his watch-covered wrist at them. Alec and Max walked down through Jam Pony side by side and headed toward Normal's desk.
"Hey Maxie, I need a favor."
Max smirked at the tall transgenic next to her. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Ha. Funny." He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Could you meet me at the docks at five? I need an extra body to help carry the load I'm scoring off one of my contacts."
She raised her hand to halt any further explanations. "I am so not gonna to be a part of one of your scams."
Alec's eyebrows shot up. "It's not a scam. It's totally legit…well, maybe not totally."
"So you're saying it's semi-legit?"
"You know, legality is such a subjective art." He was gesturing with his hands as he spoke.
"Alec."
"Listen, the important thing is that it's for a great cause."
"What cause?"
"If I told you now that'd take all the fun out of it."
She shot him an incredulous look. "Do I look like I was born yesterday?"
He sighed. "Just trust me. It'll be worth it, I promise." When she still didn't look convinced he held up two fingers. "Scout's Honor."
"We were never scouts."
"You're right." He smiled mockingly. "'Manticorean Killing-Machine's Honor' has a much better ring to it." Max rolled her eyes. Alec continued, "Just be there, okay Maxie?"
She gave in. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Fine. Whatever."
He smirked at her triumphantly before asking, "You think when I grow up I'll be as enthusiastic and adventurous as you?"
"You're pushing it, Alec," she growled.
"Always." The grin he gave her was cheeky. He turned and headed out the door with just one package under his arm.
"Psst. Hey Missy Miss." It was Normal calling to her from behind his counter, she knew without even looking. She rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip, ready for whatever nagging remark he was about to dish out. She turned to face him.
"Wh—"
"Bip!" The word was shouted before Max could even finish her question – amplified one hundred times over by the bright yellow bullhorn that Normal held to his lips. The entire building started in surprise, and even Max jumped back a bit. He took advantage of her momentary pause to shove three packages into her arms. Then he waved a dismissive hand at her. "Now. Away. Or do I need to use Martha again?" He stood there caressing his new toy, one itchy finger on the trigger.
Max quickly spun on her heel and walked away. She went up the ramp shaking her head and muttering to herself.
"The man named his megaphone. That's just sick."
TBC