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.


Breeding Partners…or not - Chapter 11

(By elle6778)

Day 35

Max.

He had just returned from his mission, but that was all Alec could think of ever since the day they had found out that she was pregnant. That day, he had told her that he would find a way to see her, and he had no intention of breaking his word.

Curling his fingers around the metal strip in his hand, he tagged behind the guard to his cell. When the guard opened the door to let him in, Alec held on to the door, right where the lock was located.

The guard frowned. “You need something, 494?”

“Um… Actually, no,” he said, releasing his grip on the door and walked in towards his bunk.

The guard gave him a suspicious look, but then slammed the door shut.

When the guard’s footsteps faded, Alec immediately went back to the door, hoping that the thin metal strip that he had just stuck on the locking mechanism remained intact. It should have prevented the lock from clicking into place.

He fingered the universal key in his pocket. It was what he needed for Max’s cell door. It had been easy to get it, seeing that his mission had required the use of the key. He was simply borrowing it from Manticore. They have so many of those keys that they would not even know that one was missing.

Now all he had to do was to wait for the next guard rotation to get out. The need to see her was almost overwhelming. It bothered him that he did not know if she was alright with what was happening to her.

It still baffled him that she so adamantly wanted to leave. There was no doubt in his mind that the qualities of Manticore’s facilities far exceeded those which anyone could find on the outside. Their child would be fine here. But that was not his only concern. Max was in no shape to attempt an escape in her condition. It was too dangerous. Too many things could go wrong.

Now, all he had to do was to try to make Max understand that.

His opportunity came after an hour. The guards’ voices told him that they were moving away from his section. Alec went to his bunk and arranged his pillows under the blanket to make it look like he was sleeping. Then he went to the door.

Once he was sure that the coast was clear, he gave the door a small tug, smirking smugly when it swung open easily. It took him no time at all to blur to Max’s section. Thankfully, she was located just nearby.

When he got to her door, he quickly inserted the universal key into the lock and pressed a button to activate it. It whirred for a second and then the door opened.

He stepped in.

To be confronted with an empty cell.

What? Where is she? He wondered as he looked around, closing the door behind him after sticking on another metal strip on the lock. His frown deepened when he spotted the pillows stuffed under her blanket, arranged very much in the same way as his.

A small scraping sound under her bunk caught his attention. He stilled, suspecting that it was Max.

Her bunk lifted to expose Max to his view, crawling out of a hole in the blockwork wall. His eyes narrowed as he realised what she was doing. She must have made the hole to escape.

With their baby.

“I thought we have a date,” he said loudly, watching her freeze mid-crawl.

She lifted her eyes to him. All he got from her was silence as she pulled the rest of her body out of the hole. Then she stood up and brushed the dust from her clothes.

“Sorry, I forgot,” she replied, her posture defensive.

“I know what you’re doing, Max,” he said grimly. “And we never quite finished our last conversation.”

Max sighed heavily. “Look, Alec. What’s the point? We’re never going to see eye to eye on this.”

“It’s a suicide mission. Especially with our kid inside you,” he pointed out angrily. Can’t the girl see sense?

“What do you expect me to do, huh? Give birth to the kid and escape alone after that? Leave my kid to Manticore as a goodbye present?” she asked incredulously.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. “No, I don’t want you to escape at all.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at him. “Sorry, but Manticore’s not my kind of place. And it’s definitely not the place for children.”

“We grew up here, Max. We didn’t turn out too bad,” he said defensively.

She eyed him disbelievingly. “Listen to yourself, Alec. Remember all the punishments? The tank? The box? The tests?”

Alec looked at her, silent as he digested what she had just said. She has a point, but they survived, didn’t they? And what did he know about what it was like outside anyway. He had only been out whenever he was on a mission, and from what he could see, the place was not exactly that great either.

He sighed wearily, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck. “Max, don’t do this.”

“What? Don’t escape? Stay in here to play happy family with you and Renfro? I told you over and over again, this is not me. I don’t want to be here. I want to be out there, back to my life.” She waved around her. “I don’t want this, Alec. It’s not what I signed up for when we escaped in ’09.”

He stiffened. Was that all she could think about? What about the time they spent together? Did that not count? “What you want is not always what you need, Max. That short time when you forgot about your life out there, you were happy. And now you’re back to being the bitch,” he said angrily.

She lifted her chin stubbornly. “Yeah, so what? That’s who I am.”

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain calm. “That’s not who you are. You’re a transgenic, not like all those Ordinaries out there. You’ve got to stop kidding yourself.”

Tilting her head to one side, she said, “Well, here’s news for you. I like being out there. I hate it in here. And I’m leaving no matter what you say.”

He shook his head vehemently. “You’re not going to make it. Those X7s are better than you think.”

“One of them shot me, Alec. I think I know what they’re like,” she said bitterly.

He laid a hand on her shoulders. He was close to begging but he did not care. The girl was going to get herself killed this time if she insisted on being stubborn. “Don’t do it, Max.”

“Alec,” she said, and then hesitated for a while. Taking a deep breath, she then continued, “You can come with me.”

He stared at her in shock. The thought of escape had never occurred to him. For some reason, however appealing it sounded to go with her, he knew that he could not do it. Especially once he weighed the consequences. “I can’t, Max.”

Her lips tightened, obviously unhappy at his answer. “You can’t, or you won’t?”

He needed to make her understand what she was asking. “If I escape, then what? Wait to be hunted down for the rest of my life? Looking over my shoulders every two minutes? It’ll be like sending myself out for a life-long Escape and Evade session. That’s not exactly being free.”

“We managed for ten years,” Max pointed out.

He shook his head firmly. “I’m not going anywhere, Max. And neither are you.”

“I want out. And I’m going,” she insisted stubbornly.

He gripped her shoulders tightly, wanting to force her to see sense. “I heard you. But I can’t let you do it. It’s not safe for you and our kid.”

She shook his hand off. “Stay out of my way, Alec,” she warned, backing away.

He reached for her again, but before he could made contact, a loud explosion rocked the building. The walls shook alarmingly and the vibrations made them stagger precariously. His reflexes kicking in, Alec grabbed Max and held her against the wall until the tremors subsided.

“What the hell?” he exclaimed when the air around them started to smell like smoke.

Max’s eyes were large. She looked just as puzzled as he was.

He released her and rushed towards the door. Thankfully, the strip he had stuck at the door lock still held, keeping it open. Alec pushed it open fully and stepped out. Greyish white smoke was beginning to fill the corridor, but the doors to the other cells remained closed.

Shouts for help filtered through the smoke to his ears. Loud bangs indicated that the transgenics were trying to get out however they could. The strange thing was; none of the guards were anywhere to be seen.

Alec frowned. The explosion was too loud for the guards to miss. But why did they not unlock the doors?

Then he remembered his key. That would do the trick.

He would need help, he thought with a grimace. Turning around, he began to re-enter Max’s cell.

And then halted in his tracks when he realised that the cell was empty.

He glanced back and forth between the hole in the wall and the corridor. Indecision marred his features. On one hand, he wanted, no, needed to make sure that Max was safe. On the other hand, there was who knows how many hundreds of his fellow transgenics trapped in their cells, calling out for help. And Max probably have an exit route planned already.

He had no choice, Alec thought as he rushed out into the corridor towards the rest of the cells.

………………….


She slipped through the opening in the wall and dropped to her feet in the services corridor. Following the now familiar route, she ran as fast as she could towards the access hatch.

“Joshua!” she called out when she slipped through the hatch. Her eyes scanned the dimly lit area for the canine transgenic. Another explosion shook the building, making her stagger unsteadily.

Placing her hand against the wall to keep her balance, she called out again. “Joshua!”

She heard his footsteps before the tall transgenic came into view. “Max!” he stammered, his eyes a little wild with fear. “Loud noises. Smoke everywhere. Others trapped.”

Max sucked in her breath as the meaning of his words registered. What was Manticore trying to do? Burn them down?

She grabbed Joshua’s arm. “Come on, we’ve got to let them out,” she said as she ran along the corridor to where she suspected the control room might be located.

A moment later, she found what she was looking for and yanked the door open. The room was empty, confirming her suspicions that Manticore was indeed tying to kill them all. Frowning in concentration, she scanned the monitors. Each screen was showing different sections of the facility. The smoke made it difficult for her to make out what was going on where.

She leaned closer to peer at the screens.

And paused when she saw Alec in one of the screens. He was opening the doors to the cells, letting some of the younger X-series out. She suddenly wished that she was with him at that moment. Their interrupted conversation was left in such an awkward point, and by no means concluded, but what else could she do? He was trying to stop her from leaving.

What hurt the most was that he had refused to escape with her. She did not understand the guy. He seemed to care about her, so it did not make sense that he did not want to come with her. That would solve the problem, wouldn’t it?

Not a good time to think about him now, she chided herself. She needed to focus on opening the doors now. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, entering the commands to unlock all the cells including the ones in the basement.

A sound behind her made her snap around abruptly just in time to see a guard flattened against the wall. Joshua was growling into his face menacingly. As for the guard, he looked as if he was about to die of sheer terror.

A quick glance at the screens told her that all the doors were unlocked. “Joshua, let him go. We’ve got to move now!” she yelled as she ran to the big transgenic.

Joshua released the guard, who slumped into a relieved heap onto the floor, and ran beside Max towards the back room where he had shown her the location of a window. “Can you break the bars?” she asked hurriedly.

“Joshua try.”

“Thanks, big fella.”

“You’re welcome, little fella.”

The transhumans began to pour out of the cells, looking completely bewildered by the commotion. As Joshua went to work on the bars securing the window, Max guided the transhumans to the back room.

When the barrier broke away from the window, they shattered the glass and climbed out, one after another.

Max went through the window last when she was sure that no one in the basement was left behind.

The second she landed on her feet, she was greeted with utter chaos all around her. Transgenics and transhumans, confused and panicked, were running in all directions. It seemed to her that the X7s have not realised that Manticore was trying to kill them all. They were pointing their guns and shooting wherever they could, but there were too many other transgenics around for them to catch everyone. A number of older transgenics, X5s, Max noted, were trying to take down the X7s.

Max zigzagged around the X7s, which was not too hard considering that they have many more other transgenics around to keep them occupied.

It all happened very suddenly. One moment the path in front of her was clear and she was dashing across it towards the edge of the woods, and then, out of nowhere, two X7s appeared to block her way.

“Out of my way, kids,” she snarled a warning.

They stared at her with their eerily blank eyes. And then one of them signalled, ‘Retreat and head back.’

Max rolled her eyes. She forgot that they could not answer her. They probably could not understand her as well. She signalled back, ‘Manticore’s trying to kill us. Let us go.’

One of them frowned and they exchanged a look. Max had no doubt that they were communicating something to each other.

Then they raised their guns.

Oh shit!

She ducked just in time to miss the first bullet, and then immediately rushed forward. In a flash, she knocked the gun out of their hands and tackled one of them to the ground.

Max placed her hand on his neck and squeezed, wanting to knock him out. Before she could finish what she had started, his partner came behind her, throwing her off with a well-placed kick to her side. She fell a small distance away, landing beside the X7’s gun.

Picking it up, she jumped to her feet, wincing as she did so and turned back to face the two X7s. One of them was going for the other gun.

She did not have time to deliberate. This was no ordinary moment and it was definitely not the time to be picky about the choice of weapons. The last time she had hesitated, she got shot in the heart.

Offering up a silent apology to Eva, she raised the gun and fired two rounds. The first X7 jerked and fell down when the bullet hit his kneecap. The other one was pushed backwards by the impact of the bullet against his shoulders.

That should show them down, she thought with a grimace as she ran past them towards the trees. She hated what she had done, even when those X7s were such pains in the ass, but what else could she do? It was either them or her. Disgusted, she tossed the gun to one side and jogged through the woods. A twinge of pain in her stomach alerted her that she might have suffered some damage from the fight, but she told herself to ignore it. It should go away in a while.

The sounds of shouting and shooting began to recede as she travelled further away from the facility. She ran through the closely-knit trees in the woods, desperate to find a way out. The whole place seemed just like a maze of trees and nothing else. But if she remembered correctly, that this was the approximate direction that would bring her to the highway.

She pressed a hand against her stomach as she continued to run. The pain was just a dull ache, but she knew that it could be a problem if she was not careful. And she did not want it to be a problem. She wanted her baby to be born healthy into the world. Free.

It seemed to have taken her forever, but she finally burst out of the woods, ending up at the side of an asphalt-covered road. She recognised it. It was the road which led straight to the centre of Seattle.

Home.

A stab of pain exploded in her midsection, making her gasp. Max forced herself to walk up the road. Knowing that for the moment she could not do anything about it, she tried her best to ignore the pain.

She lifted her hand when a car approached, but it did not stop. It took her another three tries before someone pulled up beside her.

An old man leaned over and opened his passenger window, sticking his head out. “You need a ride, girl?”

She nodded. “I just need to get into town. Near the Space Needle will do.”

“Hop in.”

She opened the door and sank onto the seat, wincing as she did so.

The old man gave her a concerned look. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

The trip took less than an hour, but Max was glad that she did not have to walk it. She was not sure if she would have made it if the old man had not stopped. The throbbing pain was now more like a piercing pain, not longer dull but burning hot. She tried to shut her eyes in an attempt to relieve it, but it did not work.

The next thing she knew, they were driving past an area she recognised. It was just a block from Logan’s place.

“Just here will do,” she said.

The old man peered at her closely. “You don’t look too well. You ought to see a doctor.”

She smiled weakly and got out of the car. “I’m going to get some help now. Thank you.”

He nodded at her and with a small wave, drove off.

It took her another five minutes to drag herself to Logan’s place. The doorman, recognising her, let her in without too much fuss, much to her relief. All her energy had been spent on getting to the building and she was growing weaker by the second.

When she finally got to his apartment, she slumped against the doorway, too weak to even try to open the door. The pain in her midsection was now piercing hot, telling her that she was in real trouble this time. Hoping that she was not too late to save her baby, she raised her shaky arms and managed to thump the door twice.

“Logan…” she mumbled as her arm went slack, sliding down the door.

The door opened suddenly. Losing its support, she fell heavily onto the floor next to a pair of feet.

“Max?” she heard Logan call out. His voice was full of confusion and surprise.

“Logan, it hurts,” she said, her voice faint.

Then it all went black.

………………………………

She woke up to find herself in Logan’s bed. There were all sorts of medical equipments beside her, and a tube was running from a drip down to her hand.

Original Cindy and Logan were both talking softly by the door, she noticed woozily. They did not know that she was awake yet.

“Guys,” her voice came out as a croak.

Original Cindy immediately turned and rushed to her side, Logan following at a slower pace behind her.

“Boo, you alright?” Original Cindy asked, sitting at the edge of the bed, wearing a concerned expression.

Max managed a weak smile. “Okay, I guess. It’s good to see you. I missed you.”

“Me too, boo. But rest now, we can talk later,” her friend advised.

Max nodded. Her eyes swept past Original Cindy towards Logan. Why was he standing so far away? She frowned. Why did he look so unsure, so distant?

Then she gasped and her hand flew to her midsection, all thoughts of Logan evaporated. “My baby?”

Original Cindy exchanged a glance with a tense-looking Logan.

Stroking her hand slowly, her friend told her gently, “Girl, the baby didn’t make it. Dr Carr tried, but it was too late.”

Max felt a hot tear slip out of the corner of her eyes. No! It was all her fault. She should have been more careful. Damn it, she wanted her baby to be free. Now look what she had done. “All my fault,” she whispered to herself.

Original Cindy bent down and gathered her in a comforting hug. “Shh, you’re gonna be alright, boo. You’re gonna be alright,” she said softly against Max’s hair.

Was she? Was she going to be alright?

………………………..

Day 157

Max had just stepped out of Jampony with her packages when she spotted Original Cindy approaching the building with her bike beside her.

“Hi! Good run?” Max asked with a smile.

Original Cindy rolled her eyes. “Ain’t no such thing as a good run,” she declared with disgust. “Normal’s using us as slave labour, I tell ya.”

Max laughed.

“Hey, boo, there’s this new place near the market. Just opened last week or something. Original Cindy’s been wanting to check it out. You game?” her friend asked.

“New hunting ground, huh?” Max teased. “Crash’s not enough?”

Original Cindy waved her hand in the air. “Never too much of a good thing.”

Max grinned. Then with a shrug, she said, “Why not? It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

“That’s my girl,” Original Cindy exclaimed approvingly.

Just then Sketchy came up to them, looking extremely frazzled. “Guys, you’ve got to help me.”

Original Cindy held up her hands. “Whatever it is, Original Cindy’s staying out of it.”

Sketchy groaned. He turned a pleading glance at Max. “Max?” he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “I need this package delivered, but I can’t do it.”

“Hand’s off, Sketch,” Max ordered, then turned around to slap him upside the head. “And what’s with the overly familiar arm thing, huh?”

Sketchy wore a wounded look. “Come on, Max. We’re buddies and all, right?”

Max rolled her eyes. Sketchy always seemed to need help one way or another. “And why can’t you deliver it yourself?”

“The steelheads kinda got it in for me,” he admitted reluctantly.

“You fool. When are you going to learn to stay outta trouble?” Original Cindy said, shaking her head.

He continued to plead with Max. “Please, Max. Just this once,” Sketchy begged.

Not able to stand his whining any longer, Max finally said, “Alright! I’ll do it. Give me the package.”

Sketchy handed her the package. “Thanks, Max! I owe you one,” he said gratefully.

Original Cindy gaze followed his back as he sped off on his bike. “He owes you more than that.”

Max grinned. “It’s not that big a dealio anyway. I can handle some steelheads. Easy.”

Original Cindy gave her a concerned look. “You’ve got to take care, Max.”

Max sighed. They had been through this before. Ever since she returned, her friend has been continuously worried about her health. Complained that she was too pale, too skinny, and the list went on and on. The last thing Max wanted was to be reminded of why she was in that state. Because that would remind her of what day was today.

Today was the four-month anniversary of her escape.

Four month since her miscarriage.

Even now, the thought of it still bothered her. Every time it came up in her mind, she remembered Alec and the way they had parted. It was so sudden, the explosion in Manticore. So unexpected. And it all went so wrong so fast.

Shortly after she had regained her health, Logan had explained that he ran an Eyes-Only broadcast on that day, exposing Manticore and its location. That led Max to the conclusion that Manticore had decided to cauterise the whole facility just to keep their dirty little secret safe.

At first, she wanted to blame Logan. Hell, she had been ready to blame anyone for the loss of her child for weeks after the devastating news. But the truth was too obvious for anyone to miss. Even if there had been no cauterisation, she would still have tried to escape. And the outcome would most likely be the same. It was no one’s fault except hers alone.

And now, thing between her and Logan was strained. He had tried to recapture what they had before, but she knew that it was no longer there. It was not as if she felt nothing for him. She was fond of him, but that was all. It was obviously not enough to sustain a ‘relationship’. She had told him a condensed version of what happened in Manticore, and she suspected that since then, Logan harboured some resentment towards Alec. Probably blaming Alec for the breakdown in what he perceived was their relationship.

She did not have the heart to tell him that it was not just Alec. It was her and Logan himself. Since Manticore, a lot of things had changed. In particular, the way she saw herself. She could now admit that she was different, and no matter how much she tried, she could not be just an ordinary human. She definitely could not be the ‘normal’ girlfriend Logan was asking her to be.

Max sighed. She hated thinking about the whole thing.

She also hated not knowing if Alec and the rest of them were alright. And as much as she loathed admitting to herself, she actually missed him. He popped into her mind on and off, always reminding her of every little thing she missed about him; the nonsense they had talked about, their banters, their fights and the sex.

She had wanted to leave so desperately at that time. Not that she regretted being free now, but she could feel something lacking. Like a huge empty void. She was just going through the motions, living day to day, seemingly without any aim or purpose. And always remembering how things had been with him back in Manticore.

His words came back to haunt her, almost as if he was taunting her.

What you want is not always what you need, Max.

He might be right, she admitted to herself sadly.

But she had made her own decision.

And this was what she had chosen to have.

…………………..


Things had been hectic ever since the Seattle Manticore facility had turned into just a pile of charred rubble.

Alec remembered the day clearly. Utter chaos had surrounded them while he attempted to release as many transgenics as he could by using the universal key he had. He had not been able to open all the doors, but later, some of them had told him that the cell doors opened by themselves. Alec suspected that someone must have gotten to the control room in the basement.

Most of them made it out, but some had not been fast enough to out-run the X7s. The regular X-series had been unable to communicate with the X7s, hence unable to let them know that they were under attack.

Alec had since realised that they had been betrayed by their own Command. Why? He still did not know the reason, but honestly, now he just did not care. So long as he and the rest of the transgenics remained off Manticore’s radar, it was fine by him. There was no way he felt any obligation or loyalty to Manticore after that stunt they pulled.

In the last four months, he had been preoccupied in organising the rest of the transgenics, particularly the younger ones. Someone had been trying to annihilate them by broadcasting a Manticore rendezvous signal in the sky. He had realised almost too late what was actually happening. Several units had been gunned down, the last one right in front of his eyes before he finally decided to take action.

Together with a team of X5s that he had managed to gather, he had tracked down the source of the broadcast and launched an attack. After sending his own signal for the rest of the transgenics to find him, he had destroyed the equipment. Needless to say, the personnel who were operating the broadcast did not survive the attack.

That had been when the rest of the transgenics turned up in packs. They needed structure and guidance and they looked to him for it. For some reason, he had fallen into the role of their leader. He did not ask for it. It just happened.

With that kind of responsibility, he simply could not just leave to track Max down.

Seattle was not small. So it had not been easy to find her, but he finally did.

Alec stood at the corner of a derelict building, just hidden in the shadows of an alleyway, as he watched her.

She was waiting for another girl to catch up with her. Her friend, he supposed, feeling a little curious about her life out here.

Max looked at ease, surrounded by the people she obviously trusted. The girl with some amazingly puffy afro hair said something to her, and Max laughed in response. This was the first time Alec has heard her laughter ringing out so free and unchecked.

Then a scrawny guy with messy overgrown hair stepped up to them and said something. He followed his words by flinging an arm around Max. They seemed to be close.

Alec’s eyes narrowed as a surge of jealousy rose in him.

Then Max pushed the guy away playfully and slapped him upside the back of his head, her behaviour telling Alec that there was nothing between them other than friendship. Although Alec knew that he should not care, he could not help but feel relieved. He must remember that she was not tied to him in any way.

His eyes travelled to her stomach.

Four months have passed since they left Manticore. With her accelerated gestation, courtesy of Manticore’s genetic manipulation, she should be quite rounded by now. But dressed in her tight black tank top and low-cut hipsters, it was more than apparent that she was no longer pregnant.

He had hoped that 511 might have been mistaken. 511, who now called himself Biggs, had told him that Max had been injured and that she had been pressing her hand against her midsection when she ran away from the burning site.

A feeling of bitter regret washed over him. Maybe if he had been with her, she would not have gotten hurt, or miscarried. His heart felt heavy for their unborn child.

Alec knew inside that he was not satisfied to just stand there to watch her. He missed her and he wanted to walk up to her. Maybe just to catch up on stuff. On what he was doing, and what she was doing. Just talk, like any normal people.

But she was happy now, much happier than he had ever seen her. She was exactly where she wanted to be. Free and unrestrained. Outside with her friends.

His presence was not part of the equation.

His presence would only shake things up, mess things up for her.

With a last, wistful glance at her, he turned and made himself walk away.

……………………

THE END

………………………….