Breeding Partners, or Not!

Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters do not belong to me. This fan-fiction had been written purely for entertainment purposes. No infringement had been intended and no profit had been made out of this.

A/N: Loved your reviews as usual! Thank you so much. Hope you enjoy the following chapter.

Breeding Partners…or not - Chapter 10

(By elle6778)


Alec sat up abruptly when the minute he caught the sound of the approaching guard’s footsteps.

He was already waiting by the door when it opened.

“It’s time to go, but I see that you’re ready,” the guard said with an amused expression.

Alec did not bother replying. All he could think of was Max.

They had been all training together when he saw her hit the tree. For a moment, he had thought that his heart had stopped. It never occurred to him until then how often his thoughts had been focussed on her. He knew that was not just the copulation. It was something different. Something more. It was a weird feeling. Like he wanted to keep her away from all possibilities of harm.

The soldier in him told him that he was being irrational. Caring for another made one vulnerable. And vulnerability was something which was frowned upon in their circles. Soldiers could not afford to be vulnerable. Assassins, even less.

But that did not stop him from feeling what he was feeling. He suspected that a great deal of what he felt stemmed from the three days and nights of her heat. During that period, he felt that they had grown somewhat closer. It must have been some sort of bond brought on by her heat. Maybe he should talk to her about it.

Maybe she felt the same way.

Alec sighed. He hoped that she was alright. The fact that he was being called to her cell was encouraging. Manticore would not risk damaging her more than necessary, so she must be healthy enough to continue with their breeding programme.

Anticipation rose in him when her cell came into view. When the guard opened the cell door, Alec checked his stride, forcing himself not to rush.

The second he set foot in her cell, he knew something was wrong.

The door clanked shut behind him but he barely noticed it.

The glance she gave him was frosty, but it contradicted the expression in her eyes. Those brown orbs were burning hot with anger. And something else which looked like betrayal.

His defences went up immediately. Call it instinct, but at that moment, he felt as if his life might be in danger. But why? Why was she looking at him like that?

“Max?” he ventured tentatively.

To his complete bewilderment, she responded with a sneer so unlike the Max of the last few weeks. And then a thought suddenly came to his mind;

Maybe she remembers…

His breath caught in his throat and a chill settled over him.

Her next words confirmed it. “How very nice of you to remind me of my own name,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The inevitable has happened. He exhaled his breath with a loud sigh. Rubbing the back of his neck with his palm, he said quietly, “So you know.”

“You knew all this time. You knew how I felt about it, and you didn’t even think to tell me?” she yelled, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

Alec just stared at her silently. His thoughts just before he entered her cell suddenly became a bit of a joke. Him caring for her was one thing. Her returning his sentiments? Not likely. She would rather see him dead and fed to the anomalies down in the basement. She despised him. That thought made his heart clench uncomfortably. She would laugh her head off if he confessed how he felt to her now. That was for sure.

It was not hard for him to slip into his usual expressionless mask. “It was our mission, Max. That’s what we were supposed to do,” he said, the calmness in his voice surprising even himself.

Her fists were clenched tightly by her side. “Over my dead body!” she snarled viciously.

His eyes flashed before he could stop it. “It was practically that, wasn’t it? That was not you, that was 452. And admit it, you were happy enough to take part when you’re not so clouded with all your judgements,” he pointed out.

“You think I don’t know that? You think that I’ll be your breeding partner willingly if I wasn’t brainwashed?” she challenged. “You KNOW I won’t do it, but you still went ahead,” she accused hotly.

He stiffened visibly, his mask slipping by the second. “I’m not going to apologise for doing what I was ordered to do,” he said in a chilly tone. “I never forced you. And if I remember correctly, you initiated some of our encounters yourself.”

“Shut up!” she yelled, obviously not in the frame of mind to hear the plain, unvarnished truth.

He hated to argue with her like this. Tossing insults and accusations at each other would achieve nothing. Alec sighed heavily. “Look, Max. Can’t we just forget all this? Things have been going well up to now.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “You’ve got to be kidding me. As much as it may pain you to hear this, you’re not that hot that I’ll forget everything I believe in. I wouldn’t have done what we did if not for Manticore’s manipulation. And I can’t believe you’re asking me to forget it!” she spat.

Alec narrowed his eyes. “You’re really blinded by the world outside, aren’t you? Have you forgotten that you’re different? That you’re not one of them? That you should be living under different rules?” he challenged, growing impatient at her stubbornness.

She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. “What rules? That I’m just a prototype to be tested and used as required by Manticore? That’s what you mean?” she snarled into his face.

Alec grabbed her arms roughly, pushing her hard against the wall. He noticed when she winced at the contact, but at that moment, he needed to get her attention. “We’re born to do this. We are trained to do this. If you and your rugrat siblings had not escaped, you’ll be exactly the same as the rest of us. The last few weeks proved it. And admit it, you were not exactly unhappy.” He paused, taking in a calming breath before he went on with a softer tone, “You’re one of us, Max.”

For a moment, they just stood there with him holding her against the wall, staring into each other’s eyes. Maybe he finally got through to her. Alec swallowed as he continued to look at her. He wanted to kiss her, but he doubted that she would welcome it.

Then her eyes hardened, and Alec’s heart sank in response.

With a hard shove, she pushed him off her and took a few steps back. Backing away from him, like she could not bear their close proximity, Alec thought with a grimace.

Her sneer returned. “Don’t you dare touch me again. Let us get this clear now. There will be no more of Manticore’s mission happening in here. I’m not going to just let you do it this time, you hear me?”

A prick of anger nudged him. She was brushing the entire thing aside, like she just wanted to dismiss it as some stupid mistake. Well, he has got some news for her. “Listen, whether you like it or not, this mission has to be completed, otherwise Manticore will just find another way. Who knows, maybe send you to psy-ops again and again until they get what they want.”

She lifted her chin stubbornly. “Let them try.”

“Max, I’m asking you, please just make this easier on yourself,” he coaxed. “After this, they’ll leave you alone.”

“I…” she started to say, and then stopped.

He watched her squeeze her eyes shut as she took a deep breath. When she exhaled, it was shaky. Right in front of his eyes, she appeared to sag.

Then, to his horror, her eyes began to glisten. Oh, hell, please don’t cry, he pleaded silently. He could deal with the tough-ass Max, even the clawing and fighting Max. But not one with tears in her eyes. Not one who looked so hurt, so vulnerable.

She turned away from him. Her voice was unsteady when she spoke. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? One day you wake up and you feel like a completely different person, like you don’t even know your own mind.”

“Max…”

“I only remember the stuff they fed me. Like the missions and the training that belonged to someone else. Hell, it’s not even a real memory, just stuff they picked up from reports,” she said with a broken, humourless laugh. “I did wonder why everything seemed so emotionless, so cold. I thought it was just a side effect of some memory loss.” She snorted. “Yeah, some memory loss. It was a complete wipe-out!” she finished angrily. Her hand went up to brush away the dampness from her eyes.

Alec felt his heart constrict. “I’m sorry, Max,” he said softly. He really meant it. She did not deserve to go through all this pain.

She sniffed. “Yeah, much good that’ll do now. It hurt, Alec, especially when I realised that you knew all along.” Turning back to face him, she demanded almost desperately, “Why? Why did you keep it from me?”

It was his turn to look away. How was he supposed to explain it? To explain why he was afraid to tell her the truth?

“I don’t know, Max,” he finally hedged.

She shook her head violently. “Don’t give me that! I need to know, Alec! In the last week or so, you were different from before. We became friends, at the very least. I trusted you, even without really knowing you. So don’t tell me you don’t know.”

Alec exhaled a ragged breath and turned to her. What was he supposed to say now? Perhaps it would be better if he came clean. What has he got to lose anyway? Steeling himself, he started to speak. “When I came back from my mission, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. That the violent chick who was supposed to be my breeding partner suddenly became this obedient soldier. And I was stumped.”

Max smiled a little at that.

He quirked his lips. “Well, for a moment, I thought it was one of your tricks again.”

Max rolled her eyes.

He scowled at her. “Hey, you’ve done that before, alright. But eventually I figured out what happened because you don’t even recognise your own name. 511 told me what he knew the next morning, confirming what I thought.”

“You could have told me then,” she said accusingly.

Alec shook his head. “At that time, I was thinking why make things difficult. It took forever, but we finally…” he faltered, suddenly feeling unsure how to continue.

“Copulated,” she supplied stonily.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. This was getting harder to explain. “Yeah. I have to admit that I kind of missed the old Max, but in time, I thought what we had going on was pretty good. So, it didn’t make sense for me to upset the balance.”

“That’s why you kept quiet? To maintain the balance?” she asked incredulously.

He nodded. “Look, can you really blame me? If I recall correctly, I had multiple injuries from you before that. You were not exactly easy to get along with, you know?”

“You asked for it.”

“I was just following orders, like you did not so long ago,” he pointed out gently.

Max sighed. A resigned sound. “Alright. Maybe it’s not all your fault,” she finally admitted.

“See, that wasn’t too hard, was it?” he teased, relieved that everything was now out in the open. But he would not kid himself. Max might not be tearing him apart with her bare hands right now but there was no way things would go back to the way they had been before.

Max glared at him.

“So what do we do now?” he asked, watching her carefully.

She walked to the door and listened for something, probably for the guards. Satisfied with whatever she heard, or not heard, she came back to him. “I’m getting out of this place.”

He froze. Out? As in leave Manticore?

“I mean it, Alec. I can’t stand it anymore. I want out,” she declared, gesturing towards the window for emphasis.

His throat unlocked. “I see,” he said tightly. “And how do you propose to do that?” he asked.

Her eyes became shuttered. “I’ll find a way,” she said.

Alec knew what she meant. Contrary to what she had just said, she did not trust him. He guessed he should not be too surprised. After all, to her, he was loyal to Manticore. He was the epitome of what she did not want to become.

But it still hurt to be excluded. Had she even spared a thought for him in her escape plans? Yeah, probably. Like avoid Alec and escape while he’s distracted. Something like that.

“This is not a good idea, Max.”

“Did I ask you?” she snapped defensively.

Her attitude was really getting to him. “Fine. I’ll just sit here while you plot your own death,” he said, sitting down on her bunk.

She frowned at him but did not say anything. A few seconds later, she lowered herself down on the other end of the bunk.

It was clear that they had nothing left to say to each other. Well, nothing he wanted her to know, anyway. He wished he could tell her what he felt, but now that she was back to being the old Max, he was not going to risk it.

Alec resigned himself to wait in silence for the guard to let him out.

……………………………

Day 31


Max stood at attention, suppressing the urge to fidget. Alec was right beside her, and somehow, that provided some measure of comfort to her. They were in Renfro’s office, waiting for the blonde-haired woman to look up from the file in front of her. One of the guards had passed on the message for them to meet her while they were at dinner in the mess hall.

When Max finally thought that she could not stand there another second longer, Renfro finally spoke.

“Well, I have good news for you,” she said.

Max felt her heart sink to her stomach. She had just submitted her sample this morning. Please don’t let it be what I think it is, she pleaded silently.
“X5-494 and X5-452. Congratulations, you’ve succeeded in your mission,” Renfro announced, looking very pleased with herself.

To Max, the moment felt surreal. She swallowed hard, trying to prevent the dinner she had so recently consumed from escaping her. It was too soon for morning sickness, she thought numbly. At the back of her mind, she knew that she was supposed to say something. Renfro was looking at them expectantly. But say what?

Beside her, Alec said levelly, “Thank you, ma’am.”

Renfro raised her eyebrows when Max continued to be silent. “452? Is there a problem?”

“No, ma’am. I’m just surprised, that’s all. I’m glad we achieved our objective so soon,” Max said, hoping that she would not choke on her own words. It almost killed her to say what she had just said, but she could not afford to give Renfro any reason to be suspicious. Not considering how close she was to the opportunity of freedom.

Renfro seemed to be satisfied with her answer. Much to Max’s relief, Renfro turned her attention to Alec. “494, you’ll be deployed tomorrow morning on a new mission.” She handed a file to Alec, “Familiarise yourself with the details tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, taking the file from Renfro.

“452, the drill sergeants will be informed of your condition. Training will continue as usual but be careful not to overstrain. You need to report every morning to the infirmary for your pregnancy supplements and for monitoring. The medics are expecting you. You’re to report to the infirmary after this de-briefing.”

“Yea, ma’am,” Max answered, keeping her voice detached.

“You can go now.”

An awkward silence descended when the door shut behind them.

Still reeling from the shock, Max could not find anything to say. She had known that there was a possibility that she might be pregnant, given that they had had sex during her heat, but to hear it announced right in front of her by Renfro was another thing.

The urgency of her escape was now increased. She needed to do it soon, before her pregnancy symptoms began. It was not the ideal situation, but she has no choice now.

“Max?”

She turned to look at him. His expression was blank at first glance, but she knew him well enough to read the telltale sign of wariness in his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine. I get told that I’m pregnant by a stone-cold bitch everyday of the year,” she said sarcastically. “Needless to say, I’m thrilled.”

Alec raised his eyebrows. “Well, at least you got what you want. No more copulation.”

“Yeah, there’s that, I guess,” Max muttered.

That also meant that she would not be seeing him anytime soon. Especially now that he was being deployed out on missions again. Somehow, it did not feel that good. She guessed that in all this time, she has developed some kind of affinity for him.

But her freedom was more important, an insistent little voice at the back of her head told her.

Max sighed and then looked up to find Alec giving her an odd look.

“What?” she asked curiously.

He rubbed the back of his head, and then smiled somewhat sheepishly. “I feel really weird, knowing that a part of me is growing in there,” he said, brushing his fingertips against her stomach.

Max stared at him, unsure what to say. She could have sworn that he looked almost wistful, like he was actually looking forward to the kid. Maybe he was becoming human after all. “Yeah, it’s kind of freaky, isn’t it?” she said softly.

Alec nodded, and then stared straight ahead. “Manticore will make him or her a good soldier,” he said.

Max stiffened. The thought almost made her sick, giving birth to a child into a world like Manticore. “Not if I can help it,” she muttered under her breath.

He immediately halted in his tracks and turned to her. “Don’t do anything stupid, Max.”

She bristled with indignation. “Whatever it is, it’s none of your business.”

“Now it is,” he retorted hotly.

Raising her eyebrows, she exclaimed, “Oh? Now why exactly did you say that?”

He pointed at her midsection. “That’s my kid too.”

“You should have thought about it before letting Manticore do this. The kid will be tested and tortured and hell knows what else,” Max declared, annoyed at the entire situation. Suddenly Alec was interested in her and his kid’s welfare?

Frowning deeply, he said, “They won’t do that.” But Max could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

She groaned. The guy was so loyal to Manticore that he just refused to see what was right in front of his eyes, even though something inside him knew it. “Where have you been the last twenty years, huh? Remember the tank? Punishment? Live target practice? And where were you when we were briefed on the mission? We’re just donors, Alec. Don’t you get it? And Manticore won’t give a toss about the kid,” she said, her voice growing louder in her agitation.

“Shh, keep it down,” Alec hissed, looking around them to check if they were overheard. Satisfied that it was still secure to talk, he turned to her with a sigh. “I know all that, Max. You don’t need to tell me.”

“I can’t just let Manticore have the kid,” Max said softly.

“Max…” he started.

Max interjected before he could continue. “I’ve got to go. The medics are waiting.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but changed his mind. Nodding, he said, “I’ll talk to you when I get back from my mission.”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at him incredulously. “Right. You think Manticore allow special visit privileges to breeding partners?”

“Hey, I’m a man of many talents. I’ll find a way,” he replied with a confident smirk.

“Yeah, whatever,” she brushed it aside carelessly as she walked away from him. But inside, she knew that she was not displeased to hear that she would see him again.

Too bad he was on Manticore’s side.

Or else, maybe…

Stop it, Max! You know what you have to do, a voice inside her admonished sternly.

She stiffened her resolve. Tonight, she would go back to continue what she had started last night after Alec had left.

It should not take much longer for her to remove enough of the blocks to slip through, bringing her one step closer to freedom.

....