Road To Discovery (DA)
7 Feb 2010 20:23![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skylar0graceTitle: Road To Discovery
Author: SkylarGrace.
Status: Multi-Chaptered.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Sometimes the thing you’re looking for is right in front of your face.
Spoilers: Set after Freak Nation so all of them
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and all related elements belong to Cameron Eglee Productions and FOX. No infringement intended.
Notes: Okay, so this is the first DA fic I worked on and is old in terms of my writing style. One day I'll get around to redoing it but until then, you can all check out what I was originally doing :)
Over the next few weeks Sam kept an eye on Max and TC. She started out by helping Joshua look after the young children and Joshua was more than happy to have her help. Sam knew she didn’t really get on well with people but kids she understood. Children didn’t care whether they saw who you were or not and transgenic children were no different.
Joshua had nothing but praise for his ‘little fella’ and it seemed that everyone that Sam spoke to said the same thing. She was tough but fair with the population and if anyone got the wrath of Max, it was usually Alec. She learnt that almost daily they had one big spat and at least weekly it got so heated that she would put him down on his ass.
Only once that TC knew about did Alec retaliate and even Mole had said that it was the most violent argument he had seen between them and the first time he had seen Max fearful of her 2IC. It had been a particularly bad day and Alec had returned from a mission with a wounded man. Max had laid into him harder than usual and it had led to a huge argument with Max forced to submit by a very angry Alec.
Sam eventually found a routine. She helped Joshua out during the day; and at lunch and in the late afternoons she helped out around Command, occasionally with Max but more often with Alec crunching the numbers. Sam had excelled in Tactical at Manticore and often helped Max and Alec plan the jobs.
Two months after arriving in TC, Sam found Max on top of the tallest building in TC. She had noticed Max disappearing, especially when she needed a cool off. She finally asked Alec, and though reluctant, he told her that Max needed to be in a high place sometimes, though he wouldn’t specify. She found Max sitting on the roof, looking out over TC.
“What do you need Sam?” Max asked without turning around.
“How did you know it was me?” Sam asked sitting beside Max and looking out over the city.
Max shrugged. “You didn’t smell like Alec so that left you. No one else would follow me up here.”
“You know Alec’s scent?” Sam raised her eyebrows and Max continued to look out over TC.
“What do you need?” she asked again.
Sam frowned. “I don’t need anything. Thought you might like company.”
Both women sat in silence. Max looked out over the city and watched the inhabitants below. It wasn’t the Space Needle but while she was trapped here, it was the best place she could find. Max closed her eyes and sighed.
“You are doing a good job here,” Sam offered in peace. “The city is going well despite being under siege. It was entirely probable that they would be fighting amongst themselves but you have set up schooling and jobs for everyone; they have jobs to keep them occupied and a sound governing body. You’ve done well.”
“I didn’t do it on my own. Everyone helped.”
“I’m sorry for reacting badly when I first got here. I was a bit of a bitch, though I understand we have that in common.”
“We didn’t know,” Max said quietly and Sam’s smile fell; she knew what Max was talking about. Before she could respond, Max continued. “We would have come back sooner had we known. I know Alec well enough to know that he only brushed the surface. My reindocrination wasn’t fun and I guess it wasn’t any better for you.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me. If you are going to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for Alec. I am surprised he still functions after what they put him through and I can’t believe that he even cares about others. You see, for some reason, Lydecker went easier on me. I still had to go through Psy-Op’s and what not but I felt like he was stopping me from becoming a shell. The others didn’t get that. I don’t know why.”
“It’s because of his wife. She was apparently the inspiration in creating us. Some of her DNA. It seems that we have her eyes.” Max rolled her own.
“Eww, creepy!”
“Tell me about it!” Max looked back over the city. There was a small silence before Max stood on her feet.
“I need to head back and go over some papers the Mayor sent over.”
Sam nodded and stood. “Yeah, we have that food run next fortnight and I should go over the plans with Alec again. He said he had new information on the shifts changes.”
Together they walked back to Command before separating to opposite sides of the room. Sam got Alec out of his office and they sat at the conference table going over blueprints.
~
“Max!” Bugler yelled running through Command. Max’s door opened and her head popped out. She saw Alec and Sam sitting at the table alert. Alec shrugged and Max turned her attention to Bugler who reached her door.
“What’s up buddy?” Max asked rubbing his head. Bugler smiled.
“Some people just arrived and asked to see you.”
Max stiffened and she saw Alec slowly reach for a shotgun from the chair beside him. He gave Max a small nod. Max started walking toward the gate but only managed a few steps before a group of people rounded the corner led by Dalton. Max stilled before running excitedly to them. Alec saw Zack at the front of the group and lowered his gun, turning his attention back to the blueprints.
“Zack!” Max said, hugging him.
“Hey Max,” he said softly, “I picked up a few strays on my way here.”
Max looked behind him and surveyed the group. Krit and Syl stood beside Jace who was holding a baby in her arms. Jondy came up and hugged Max.
“Hey baby sister. You’ve definitely grown up.” She pulled herself back to look at Max. “You’re still beautiful,” she said smiling. Suddenly she was pushed to the side by a tall handsome brunette man.
“Hey baby girl! Don’t you have a hug for me?” he asked pouting.
A huge smile lit up Max’s face. “Zane!” Max him in for a hug. “How have you been?”
“Well, I found one of ours after you took down Manticore.” He gestured beside him to Brin.
“Oh Brin! I’m so sorry for the way we ended things.”
Brin cut her off with the wave of her hand. “I would have done the same thing,” she said into Max’s ear. Max was then bombarded by both Krit and Syl who threw their arms around Max together.
“We thought you were dead,” Syl exclaimed sadly into Max’s ear.
“Yeah, we saw you on the news and couldn’t believe our eyes. It wasn’t til Zack called us in that we found out what happened,” Krit said releasing Max from his hug.
Max nodded as tears filled her eyes. Jace gave her a small smile and Max walked over and hugged her. Max pulled back the blue blanket to see the sleeping form of a baby in Jace’s arms.
“Your nephew. I called him Max, just like I promised.”
“Ben?” Max heard Syl whisper from behind her.
Max turned around in time to see Alec and Sam lift their heads up from the blueprints. Krit gasped upon seeing Sam and Max saw the whole group turn to look at her. Max smiled.
“Everybody, that is Alec, he’s my 2IC, designation 494. And that’s Sam, designation 453.” Both Sam and Alec nodded in their direction as the group walked towards them. They both stood up. “Guys, this is Jace, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane, Brin and Zack.”
“Yeah, we’ve met before,” Alec said, reaching forward to shake Zack’s hand and unconsciously rub his neck with the other.
Zack laughed. “Yeah, sorry bout that,” he said, pointing to Alec’s neck.
Alec smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Hey, it was Maxie who dragged me into that trouble.”
Max smacked the back of his head, ignoring his ‘Ow!’
“Like you don’t get into enough trouble as it is. I’m always saving your ass!” The others in the room grinned at them, while Syl mouthed ‘Maxie?’ to Krit. Krit shrugged knowing full well that Ben had been the only one to call her that.
“Always with the ass Maxie!” he said smirking at her.
“Max,” Dix shouted from across the room, “Logan’s called, said he needs to speak to you.”
The others watched as the smiles dropped from both Max and Alec’s faces. Sam smirked as everyone followed Max and Alec over to the monitors. Max sat down on the computer chair and her face filled the camera’s view.
“Hey Logan. What’s up?” The others in the room watched Logan’s face brighten when Max sat down. A few had confused looks on their faces. They did however notice Krit scowl and Alec roll his eyes.
“Hey Max,” Logan said softly. “How are you?”
Max shifted slightly in her seat. “I’m fine Logan. What have you got?” Max asked a little quickly.
Logan paused looking slightly confused before continuing. “I looked into those files you sent last week. Nothing really new there. Can’t find White anywhere, though I suspect if I did, it would just be another trap. I did however manage to track down a Japanese linguist who studies Minoan. As I said, the whole language hasn’t been deciphered yet but I sent him a file with the characters in it. He could translate most of it. I haven’t got it all yet but I have what he has sent over. It says,” Logan paused while he looked down at his notes, “something along the lines of ‘the blood of the chosen one is the only thing that can stop the coming. She will fight and save mankind, taking down the enemy’.”
Logan looked up smiling at Max and she paused, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t say anything, Max opened her mouth to speak, only to be beaten to it by Alec.
“That’s all you have?” Alec exclaimed incredulously, rolling his eyes, before Max held a hand over his mouth to silence him. Everybody saw Logan’s features darken.
“Was that Alec?” Max rolled her eyes and removed her hand allowing Alec to speak.
“Logie, how’re you doing? Long time, no see!” he said with a huge grin on his face that implied anything but mirth. Logan looked around the screen but couldn’t see anything but Max.
“Quite,” he replied shortly, frown obvious on his face.
“Thanks for the update Logan.” Max gave him a small smile and she reached over to turn off the camera but was stopped by Logan’s voice.
“Will I see you for dinner tonight?” he asked. Max stopped with a guilty look on her face.
“Sorry Logan, I forgot. Zack rounded up the others and they just arrived. I think I’ll spend the night with them.” Max had an apologetic look on her face; Logan had a look of fear on his.
“Zack’s there? Is that wise?”
Max turned around to Zack who was standing behind her to the right. He nodded curtly. Max turned back to Logan with a big smile on her face.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
Logan still looked panicked. “Are you sure?”
The smile quickly fell from Max’s face and a look of hurt briefly flashed across her face before her Manticore mask fell into place.
“I’m sure Logan,” Max replied a little coldly.
Alec got up quietly, and obviously angry, from his seat next to Max and walked out of Command shaking his head. Krit heard him mutter something about Logan never trusting Max but Alec was aware of a transgenics hearing capabilities and purposely kept his voice low. Max gave a furtive glance to the now empty seat beside her before her attention was focused on Logan.
“I’m actually really busy and I still have to catch up with everyone. Let me know if you come up with any more information or you get a hit on White’s location.”
Logan audibly sighed, knowing something had gone wrong in his conversation. It seemed to be happening more often since she had been stuck in TC. Even though Max had come clean with him and told him of the farce that was her relationship with Alec, Logan still had trouble not seeing Alec as a threat.
“Sure. I’ll keep you posted. Bye.”
Logan’s ‘bye’ was cut off as Max turned off the camera. She paused for a second before turning around to her siblings smiling. She was met with a frown from both Zack and Krit, a sad look from Syl and puzzled looks from the rest.
“So, you’re still with Logan I take it?” Zack asked stiffly.
“Uh, yep,” Max said cheerily, which every single person in the room could tell was fake. She looked at the group, trying to avoid their eyes. “So, are you guys hungry? I haven’t had dinner yet. Do you wanna get something to eat?”
“Sure we will,” Syl replied with a comforting smile that Max tried to ignore. Max walked past them and led the way to the cafeteria.
“Does anyone know where Alec went?” Krit asked. He looked to Sam but Max spoke first.
“Gym,” she replied in a tone which left no room for further discussion.
Krit looked back over to Sam who bunched her fists up in a fighting pose. Krit nodded. As Jace walked forward and began talking to Max about TC, Krit asked Sam to show him the gym with hand signals. This action did not go unnoticed by Syl who shook her head whilst Sam nodded. Asking Syl to cover for him, Krit and Sam fell back and quietly snuck off in the direction of the gym. When they were out of earshot, Krit turned to Sam.
“So, are they?” Krit asked Sam. Sam rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Oh yeah. Neither will admit it though. I tried to talk to Alec about it when I first got here and he was just confused. Like the thought had never occurred to him.”
“What’s up with Logan?” Krit asked.
“Manticore fitted Max with a retrovirus specifically targeted to his DNA. If she touches him he dies. Definitely put a dampener on their relationship. A little while ago, Logan followed Max and saw Alec leaving her apartment. He jumped to the wrong conclusion so Max tried to keep him away by letting him believe she was with Alec. To his credit, he didn’t say anything to Logan but I hear he was pretty cheesed off to begin with. Even though Max told him it was a lie after the siege began, Logan still nearly has a coronary whenever Alec is around her.”
“Well, when I last met him I have to admit I was not impressed. I never thought he was good enough for Max but you can’t choose who your sister dates,” Krit said a little heatedly. They rounded a building and saw the gym in front of them. Sam and Krit looked in the door and saw Alec sparring with another X5.
“Wow, poor Richie,” Sam said, as Richie received two very powerful blows to the ribs that he was not fast enough to block. Alec had sweat running down his bare chest and looked furious.
“I think I might go take over for him,” Krit said sympathetically. Sam nodded.
“Richie!” Krit called out. “Mind if I take over?”
Richie looked over a Krit with a relieved look on his face. He backed up slowly from Alec who stayed in a defensive position. Krit took off his jacket and faced off against Alec. Krit received blow after blow, most of which he managed to deflect, avoiding serious damage, and even a few that connected with Alec. Alec seemed to put more effort into preventing fatal blows than anything else and both men were exhausted by the end, Krit a little more so. He was sporting red marks which he was certain would bruise though he remained glad that Alec had shown restraint despite his obvious anger. Krit had noticed that Sam had left long ago and it was just he and Alec in the gym. Alec walked over to the bench and picked up his shirt using a towel to mop up the sweat on his body.
“So, what had you so mad?” Krit asked Alec as he glanced sidelong at him. Alec paused before putting his shirt over his head.
“Nothing. Just needed a bit of exercise.” Krit looked over at him and saw his Manticore mask firmly in place.
“Oh, sorry. You were just laying into Richie and I had a feeling you were reluctantly holding back with me. Thought there must have been something behind it.” Alec looked over at him, his trademark smirk firmly in place.
“Sorry man. Maybe you just need a bit of practice.” he replied good-naturedly as he slapped Krit on the back.
Krit scoffed. “Sure. Okay. Well, Max took everyone for lunch. I don’t know about you but I am now starving. You wanna go down and get something to eat?”
Alec waved his hand. “No thanks. I’ve got some plans to go over for a job next fortnight. I’ll see you later though. Nice to meet you.”
Alec smiled at Krit and walked out of the gym. Krit smiled to himself and shook his head before leaving to find his family.
Author: SkylarGrace.
Status: Multi-Chaptered.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Sometimes the thing you’re looking for is right in front of your face.
Spoilers: Set after Freak Nation so all of them
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and all related elements belong to Cameron Eglee Productions and FOX. No infringement intended.
Notes: Okay, so this is the first DA fic I worked on and is old in terms of my writing style. One day I'll get around to redoing it but until then, you can all check out what I was originally doing :)
Chapter Two
Over the next few weeks Sam kept an eye on Max and TC. She started out by helping Joshua look after the young children and Joshua was more than happy to have her help. Sam knew she didn’t really get on well with people but kids she understood. Children didn’t care whether they saw who you were or not and transgenic children were no different.
Joshua had nothing but praise for his ‘little fella’ and it seemed that everyone that Sam spoke to said the same thing. She was tough but fair with the population and if anyone got the wrath of Max, it was usually Alec. She learnt that almost daily they had one big spat and at least weekly it got so heated that she would put him down on his ass.
Only once that TC knew about did Alec retaliate and even Mole had said that it was the most violent argument he had seen between them and the first time he had seen Max fearful of her 2IC. It had been a particularly bad day and Alec had returned from a mission with a wounded man. Max had laid into him harder than usual and it had led to a huge argument with Max forced to submit by a very angry Alec.
Sam eventually found a routine. She helped Joshua out during the day; and at lunch and in the late afternoons she helped out around Command, occasionally with Max but more often with Alec crunching the numbers. Sam had excelled in Tactical at Manticore and often helped Max and Alec plan the jobs.
Two months after arriving in TC, Sam found Max on top of the tallest building in TC. She had noticed Max disappearing, especially when she needed a cool off. She finally asked Alec, and though reluctant, he told her that Max needed to be in a high place sometimes, though he wouldn’t specify. She found Max sitting on the roof, looking out over TC.
“What do you need Sam?” Max asked without turning around.
“How did you know it was me?” Sam asked sitting beside Max and looking out over the city.
Max shrugged. “You didn’t smell like Alec so that left you. No one else would follow me up here.”
“You know Alec’s scent?” Sam raised her eyebrows and Max continued to look out over TC.
“What do you need?” she asked again.
Sam frowned. “I don’t need anything. Thought you might like company.”
Both women sat in silence. Max looked out over the city and watched the inhabitants below. It wasn’t the Space Needle but while she was trapped here, it was the best place she could find. Max closed her eyes and sighed.
“You are doing a good job here,” Sam offered in peace. “The city is going well despite being under siege. It was entirely probable that they would be fighting amongst themselves but you have set up schooling and jobs for everyone; they have jobs to keep them occupied and a sound governing body. You’ve done well.”
“I didn’t do it on my own. Everyone helped.”
“I’m sorry for reacting badly when I first got here. I was a bit of a bitch, though I understand we have that in common.”
“We didn’t know,” Max said quietly and Sam’s smile fell; she knew what Max was talking about. Before she could respond, Max continued. “We would have come back sooner had we known. I know Alec well enough to know that he only brushed the surface. My reindocrination wasn’t fun and I guess it wasn’t any better for you.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me. If you are going to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for Alec. I am surprised he still functions after what they put him through and I can’t believe that he even cares about others. You see, for some reason, Lydecker went easier on me. I still had to go through Psy-Op’s and what not but I felt like he was stopping me from becoming a shell. The others didn’t get that. I don’t know why.”
“It’s because of his wife. She was apparently the inspiration in creating us. Some of her DNA. It seems that we have her eyes.” Max rolled her own.
“Eww, creepy!”
“Tell me about it!” Max looked back over the city. There was a small silence before Max stood on her feet.
“I need to head back and go over some papers the Mayor sent over.”
Sam nodded and stood. “Yeah, we have that food run next fortnight and I should go over the plans with Alec again. He said he had new information on the shifts changes.”
Together they walked back to Command before separating to opposite sides of the room. Sam got Alec out of his office and they sat at the conference table going over blueprints.
~
“Max!” Bugler yelled running through Command. Max’s door opened and her head popped out. She saw Alec and Sam sitting at the table alert. Alec shrugged and Max turned her attention to Bugler who reached her door.
“What’s up buddy?” Max asked rubbing his head. Bugler smiled.
“Some people just arrived and asked to see you.”
Max stiffened and she saw Alec slowly reach for a shotgun from the chair beside him. He gave Max a small nod. Max started walking toward the gate but only managed a few steps before a group of people rounded the corner led by Dalton. Max stilled before running excitedly to them. Alec saw Zack at the front of the group and lowered his gun, turning his attention back to the blueprints.
“Zack!” Max said, hugging him.
“Hey Max,” he said softly, “I picked up a few strays on my way here.”
Max looked behind him and surveyed the group. Krit and Syl stood beside Jace who was holding a baby in her arms. Jondy came up and hugged Max.
“Hey baby sister. You’ve definitely grown up.” She pulled herself back to look at Max. “You’re still beautiful,” she said smiling. Suddenly she was pushed to the side by a tall handsome brunette man.
“Hey baby girl! Don’t you have a hug for me?” he asked pouting.
A huge smile lit up Max’s face. “Zane!” Max him in for a hug. “How have you been?”
“Well, I found one of ours after you took down Manticore.” He gestured beside him to Brin.
“Oh Brin! I’m so sorry for the way we ended things.”
Brin cut her off with the wave of her hand. “I would have done the same thing,” she said into Max’s ear. Max was then bombarded by both Krit and Syl who threw their arms around Max together.
“We thought you were dead,” Syl exclaimed sadly into Max’s ear.
“Yeah, we saw you on the news and couldn’t believe our eyes. It wasn’t til Zack called us in that we found out what happened,” Krit said releasing Max from his hug.
Max nodded as tears filled her eyes. Jace gave her a small smile and Max walked over and hugged her. Max pulled back the blue blanket to see the sleeping form of a baby in Jace’s arms.
“Your nephew. I called him Max, just like I promised.”
“Ben?” Max heard Syl whisper from behind her.
Max turned around in time to see Alec and Sam lift their heads up from the blueprints. Krit gasped upon seeing Sam and Max saw the whole group turn to look at her. Max smiled.
“Everybody, that is Alec, he’s my 2IC, designation 494. And that’s Sam, designation 453.” Both Sam and Alec nodded in their direction as the group walked towards them. They both stood up. “Guys, this is Jace, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane, Brin and Zack.”
“Yeah, we’ve met before,” Alec said, reaching forward to shake Zack’s hand and unconsciously rub his neck with the other.
Zack laughed. “Yeah, sorry bout that,” he said, pointing to Alec’s neck.
Alec smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Hey, it was Maxie who dragged me into that trouble.”
Max smacked the back of his head, ignoring his ‘Ow!’
“Like you don’t get into enough trouble as it is. I’m always saving your ass!” The others in the room grinned at them, while Syl mouthed ‘Maxie?’ to Krit. Krit shrugged knowing full well that Ben had been the only one to call her that.
“Always with the ass Maxie!” he said smirking at her.
“Max,” Dix shouted from across the room, “Logan’s called, said he needs to speak to you.”
The others watched as the smiles dropped from both Max and Alec’s faces. Sam smirked as everyone followed Max and Alec over to the monitors. Max sat down on the computer chair and her face filled the camera’s view.
“Hey Logan. What’s up?” The others in the room watched Logan’s face brighten when Max sat down. A few had confused looks on their faces. They did however notice Krit scowl and Alec roll his eyes.
“Hey Max,” Logan said softly. “How are you?”
Max shifted slightly in her seat. “I’m fine Logan. What have you got?” Max asked a little quickly.
Logan paused looking slightly confused before continuing. “I looked into those files you sent last week. Nothing really new there. Can’t find White anywhere, though I suspect if I did, it would just be another trap. I did however manage to track down a Japanese linguist who studies Minoan. As I said, the whole language hasn’t been deciphered yet but I sent him a file with the characters in it. He could translate most of it. I haven’t got it all yet but I have what he has sent over. It says,” Logan paused while he looked down at his notes, “something along the lines of ‘the blood of the chosen one is the only thing that can stop the coming. She will fight and save mankind, taking down the enemy’.”
Logan looked up smiling at Max and she paused, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t say anything, Max opened her mouth to speak, only to be beaten to it by Alec.
“That’s all you have?” Alec exclaimed incredulously, rolling his eyes, before Max held a hand over his mouth to silence him. Everybody saw Logan’s features darken.
“Was that Alec?” Max rolled her eyes and removed her hand allowing Alec to speak.
“Logie, how’re you doing? Long time, no see!” he said with a huge grin on his face that implied anything but mirth. Logan looked around the screen but couldn’t see anything but Max.
“Quite,” he replied shortly, frown obvious on his face.
“Thanks for the update Logan.” Max gave him a small smile and she reached over to turn off the camera but was stopped by Logan’s voice.
“Will I see you for dinner tonight?” he asked. Max stopped with a guilty look on her face.
“Sorry Logan, I forgot. Zack rounded up the others and they just arrived. I think I’ll spend the night with them.” Max had an apologetic look on her face; Logan had a look of fear on his.
“Zack’s there? Is that wise?”
Max turned around to Zack who was standing behind her to the right. He nodded curtly. Max turned back to Logan with a big smile on her face.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
Logan still looked panicked. “Are you sure?”
The smile quickly fell from Max’s face and a look of hurt briefly flashed across her face before her Manticore mask fell into place.
“I’m sure Logan,” Max replied a little coldly.
Alec got up quietly, and obviously angry, from his seat next to Max and walked out of Command shaking his head. Krit heard him mutter something about Logan never trusting Max but Alec was aware of a transgenics hearing capabilities and purposely kept his voice low. Max gave a furtive glance to the now empty seat beside her before her attention was focused on Logan.
“I’m actually really busy and I still have to catch up with everyone. Let me know if you come up with any more information or you get a hit on White’s location.”
Logan audibly sighed, knowing something had gone wrong in his conversation. It seemed to be happening more often since she had been stuck in TC. Even though Max had come clean with him and told him of the farce that was her relationship with Alec, Logan still had trouble not seeing Alec as a threat.
“Sure. I’ll keep you posted. Bye.”
Logan’s ‘bye’ was cut off as Max turned off the camera. She paused for a second before turning around to her siblings smiling. She was met with a frown from both Zack and Krit, a sad look from Syl and puzzled looks from the rest.
“So, you’re still with Logan I take it?” Zack asked stiffly.
“Uh, yep,” Max said cheerily, which every single person in the room could tell was fake. She looked at the group, trying to avoid their eyes. “So, are you guys hungry? I haven’t had dinner yet. Do you wanna get something to eat?”
“Sure we will,” Syl replied with a comforting smile that Max tried to ignore. Max walked past them and led the way to the cafeteria.
“Does anyone know where Alec went?” Krit asked. He looked to Sam but Max spoke first.
“Gym,” she replied in a tone which left no room for further discussion.
Krit looked back over to Sam who bunched her fists up in a fighting pose. Krit nodded. As Jace walked forward and began talking to Max about TC, Krit asked Sam to show him the gym with hand signals. This action did not go unnoticed by Syl who shook her head whilst Sam nodded. Asking Syl to cover for him, Krit and Sam fell back and quietly snuck off in the direction of the gym. When they were out of earshot, Krit turned to Sam.
“So, are they?” Krit asked Sam. Sam rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Oh yeah. Neither will admit it though. I tried to talk to Alec about it when I first got here and he was just confused. Like the thought had never occurred to him.”
“What’s up with Logan?” Krit asked.
“Manticore fitted Max with a retrovirus specifically targeted to his DNA. If she touches him he dies. Definitely put a dampener on their relationship. A little while ago, Logan followed Max and saw Alec leaving her apartment. He jumped to the wrong conclusion so Max tried to keep him away by letting him believe she was with Alec. To his credit, he didn’t say anything to Logan but I hear he was pretty cheesed off to begin with. Even though Max told him it was a lie after the siege began, Logan still nearly has a coronary whenever Alec is around her.”
“Well, when I last met him I have to admit I was not impressed. I never thought he was good enough for Max but you can’t choose who your sister dates,” Krit said a little heatedly. They rounded a building and saw the gym in front of them. Sam and Krit looked in the door and saw Alec sparring with another X5.
“Wow, poor Richie,” Sam said, as Richie received two very powerful blows to the ribs that he was not fast enough to block. Alec had sweat running down his bare chest and looked furious.
“I think I might go take over for him,” Krit said sympathetically. Sam nodded.
“Richie!” Krit called out. “Mind if I take over?”
Richie looked over a Krit with a relieved look on his face. He backed up slowly from Alec who stayed in a defensive position. Krit took off his jacket and faced off against Alec. Krit received blow after blow, most of which he managed to deflect, avoiding serious damage, and even a few that connected with Alec. Alec seemed to put more effort into preventing fatal blows than anything else and both men were exhausted by the end, Krit a little more so. He was sporting red marks which he was certain would bruise though he remained glad that Alec had shown restraint despite his obvious anger. Krit had noticed that Sam had left long ago and it was just he and Alec in the gym. Alec walked over to the bench and picked up his shirt using a towel to mop up the sweat on his body.
“So, what had you so mad?” Krit asked Alec as he glanced sidelong at him. Alec paused before putting his shirt over his head.
“Nothing. Just needed a bit of exercise.” Krit looked over at him and saw his Manticore mask firmly in place.
“Oh, sorry. You were just laying into Richie and I had a feeling you were reluctantly holding back with me. Thought there must have been something behind it.” Alec looked over at him, his trademark smirk firmly in place.
“Sorry man. Maybe you just need a bit of practice.” he replied good-naturedly as he slapped Krit on the back.
Krit scoffed. “Sure. Okay. Well, Max took everyone for lunch. I don’t know about you but I am now starving. You wanna go down and get something to eat?”
Alec waved his hand. “No thanks. I’ve got some plans to go over for a job next fortnight. I’ll see you later though. Nice to meet you.”
Alec smiled at Krit and walked out of the gym. Krit smiled to himself and shook his head before leaving to find his family.
