Damn the consequences

MAX: After all these years of waiting and wondering I guess I expected – I don't know...That finding Zack would change everything. My life would finally make sense. Pretty stupid of me, huh? I just wanted somebody that was like me. Someone I can connect with. 411 on the DL

"Dude, you wanna watch those hands of yours!" the guy sitting next to him at the bar said, glowering at him all the while.

"What is it to you, man? She's not here with YOU, is she?" Adam retorted, not even looking at the guy but rather resuming staring into Lena's beautiful eyes, while caressing her back with his hands. She had the most beautiful chocolate eyes he had ever seen… and he loved those tiny moments when her lashes briefly shadowed them in a downward movement and then came up again only to reveal a new shine in those beautiful eyes.

"No, but not with you either! Lena, get away from him already, will ya?"

"Frank," the girl began, looking annoyed, disentangling herself from Adam, "A: this is none of your business, and B: it is OVER between the two of us and you know that. I can do with my life whatever I want, okay? Including choosing my own company. So BACK OFF."

"Well, I would, hon, if you wouldn'da chosen a fuckin' farm hand over me, that is… I mean, come on, you just trying to get back at me for something here, are ya? Look at him!"

Adam tried to ignore the man, he really did, but it got harder by the second. He was so – ordinary. And this man had been lucky enough to be loved by this stunning girl once? Hard to believe.

He waved at the bartender, shoved some money into his already outstretched hand, for their drinks. The man nodded quickly at Adam, seemingly approving of his decision to leave.

"I think I better go now," he then announced, getting up from his stool and looking into Lena's gorgeous eyes. "Care to join me?" he asked, only briefly wondering where that had come from. Usually, he was not too good with sounding casual, or acting accordingly for that matter. In Lena's company, though, all that had come naturally.

She smiled at him and he couldn't help having this feeling again that she resembled someone he had known in the past. He sighed. Stupid amnesia. He had never managed to recover his memory after his accident. Unfortunately Buddy had not been a help, either, he had simply said that Adam just popped up on the farm one day asking for a job. "Never mentioned a word about your past, son. I figured it mightn't have been the nicest, so me and Mary, we never pressed you…"

Well, Adam would probably never know, but if it had been an unpleasant past, as Buddy had assumed, he should be glad. But he sure wouldn't have wanted to forget whoever Lena reminded him of, would he? He felt too much at home with her, too calm, too…

He couldn't contemplate the thought any farther because right then Frank got up, too, and grabbed Adam's arm hard, pushing Lena against the bar in the process. She hadn't even had a chance to answer his question, yet. He couldn't just ignore the man now, as he had planned to do.

"You heard her, Frank, back off. I do not want to hurt you," Adam hissed, fully aware that if he let this get out of hand, he might do things he would later regret.

He didn't know where his extraordinary strength originated from, had never really given it a thought as long as it just came in handy with his job. But then one day he and Buddy had been on their way to Dr. Carr back in Seattle because Buddy had insisted on bringing Adam there after he had nearly severed his arm while repairing the farm's only combine. In fact his boss – and friend – had not wanted him to see any other doctor but her about it, and Adam had been in too much pain to be very puzzled. But when they arrived at the hospital and some rude looking tech-freaks came up to them out of nowhere babbling something about "our G.I. Joe" and the price they had paid for him, even starting to grab at him, pushing Buddy around, something had just switched on in his head.

Later he couldn't quite remember what had happened, how he had managed to knock all of them out, regardless of his injured arm.

"Adrenaline, son," Buddy had stated. But Adam had known better than to believe such a tepid explanation and to this day was always very careful not to underestimate his strength, especially when it came to interacting with other people. He didn't want to hurt anyone accidentally…

But now he was seriously in danger of losing his patience as he saw Frank grin at him.

"Oh yeah?" Frank was just saying, his grin even widening now. He let go of Adam's arm eventually. "Afraid of a little hand-to-hand, farm boy? Of getting your good looks all reassembled?" he continued mockingly, raising a fist in Adam's direction.

"Frank!" Lena gasped and Adam could see her shrink further into the counter, clearly afraid.

"Guys!" the bartender shouted, "Do I have to call the cops?" But it was useless, Frank was by far too revved up already. There was no chance anyone could still talk some sense into him now. The talking part was over, or so it seemed to Adam. Even when he made one last effort to deescalate the situation by remaining impassive except for some slow backward walking, he knew it was no good.

No sooner had he resigned to give in to Frank's urge to fight it out, did he see the guy's fist come right up into his face, breaking the delicate skin of his lip. He wouldn't tolerate another swing; and he wouldn't use his own fists to stop the man. Instead, he took him by surprise and grabbed his throat in a choke-hold without missing another beat.

"Oh god…" Lena whispered, then called to him. "Adam. Adam! Please… you're choking him, you're…"

He turned his head to look at Lena, saw her staring at him wide-eyed, terrified. Something sounded off about this; and suddenly images flashed up in his mind, confusing him in their intensity.

"Adam?" he was wondering aloud at the sound of the name. He continued looking into her chocolate eyes all the while as if he might find an explanation there.

"Zack!" the girl yelled while the guy he held by his throat struggled against him, grabbing at his arm frantically. The sheen of metal covered this arm…

"Zack. It's me. It's Max" the girl said pleadingly.

He needed to process this piece of information, all the while focusing his gaze on her. He never so much as spared a second glance at the guy choking on the other end of his arm, for something about the girl kept him staring at her, transfixed. Those eyes…

"Who are you?" he demanded to know.

"Zack, it's me. Zack? Max."

Rather unexpectedly the name triggered a series of flashbacks culminating in him recognizing that name, the girl; remembering Manticore.

"You're an X5," he stated, wanting some proof, "Show me your barcode."

"Max, show it to him already," the other guy choked out, still struggling, but getting weaker.

And then she turned, exposing her bare neck to him, and he knew. She was 452, she was Max. And he dropped the other one, following her hesitantly, still too confused to process all those new memories, too confused even to quite place that other familiar voice he had heard that day…

"I'm fine," that voice was saying somewhere behind him when they were already nearly out of earshot. But he had to focus on the newly regained memories of Max, else he was afraid of losing them again, of drifting even deeper into confusion.

"Please…. Adam, he's not worth it…"

Slowly, the goings-on in the bar registered with him again. There were people backing slightly away from him, except for an old friend of Buddy's who was approaching him carefully, arms outstretched.

"Hey kid, don't make yourself miserable over Frank here…" he said, eyeing him warily but also quite sympathetically, "The guy's not worth it, you hear me? Adam."

And suddenly it clicked. Lena, the beautiful chocolate-colored eyes, an X5, his unit, Max. His unit…

"The name's Zack," he stated as a matter of fact, eventually dropping the pathetic ordinary, who slumped down on the floor, gasping for air.

Max was in his unit.

And Ben.

His brother Ben, whom he hadn't been able to locate in a long time, and who had turned out to be a serial killer, murdering innocent people. Hadn't they told him he was dead?

Everything was just a lie. He wasn't Adam, he had not worked on a farm the past three years… Ben was still alive, still at large.

Because he had failed to stop him then.

Zack wouldn't let that happen a second time. He had to go back to Seattle, to Max, hoping to find Ben still there, too.

And to stop him.