Moment of Madness By Pari106 pari106@hotmail.com http://www.oocities.org/pari106/damain.html Disclaimer:   FOX, Cameron, and Eglee own Dark Angel.  Rating:  NC-17, for “adult situations.” Summary: AU: Max is not in love with Logan). Struggling to maintain her sanity at Manticore, Max finds comfort in a moment of madness with a familiar stranger. “I’m your breeding partner.” It wasn’t much in the way of come-on lines… But he hadn’t spent all those years in training learning to sweet talk rogue X5s. “My what?” Max asked, not believing she heard right.  She eyed this familiar stranger warily, no doubt still perturbed by his resemblance to her late brother. *Their* late brother.  Though 494 hardly felt any lost love for the man who had cost him 6 months in psych. testing. 494 stripped out of his standard issue gray t-shirt and tossed it on a nearby bunk.  Max was suddenly met with the sight of her brother Ben’s body in a way she had never seen it before: half-naked. And gorgeous, she had to admit.  Perfect musculature.  Jeez, the guy could have been chiseled out of stone… Max’s eyes flew back to the stranger…to 494’s…face, irritation replacing the reluctant appraisal that had lit her eyes briefly.  This fucker was Manticore.  She didn’t care if he was gorgeous; hell, they all were.  It was just part of the programming.  It didn’t mean she had to go oogling the guy.  All she wanted from anyone in here was just a way to get out there into the real world again. 494 politely resisted the urge to smirk.  He’d seen 452’s eyes widen just a bit, for just a moment, with interest…and maybe even a little fear?  She was good enough to cover her reaction quickly, but not quick enough so that he didn’t notice. Good.  It would help facilitate matters if his partner were willing.  He had to admit that he himself was no longer dreading this particular “mission”.  When he’d learned he’d been assigned to 452…the rogue, who had spent nearly her entire life out there amongst the filthy masses…he’d shuddered at the prospect.  Who knew what the hell he might catch from sleeping with someone like that?  He’d just as soon never meet the woman, much less have to initiate intercourse with her. This had been his reaction, of course, *before* having ever actually seen her. She was beautiful.  Not that that term carried any relevance for 494.  But he had taken Com and Verbal Usage; he knew what “beautiful” was.  And 452 was beautiful.  No, maybe that was an understatement.  Surprisingly, 494 found himself actually looking forward to carrying out tonight’s orders.  He’d never been in a position to use sexual intercourse as anything more than a tool.  But the prospect of using it now, not only for procreation, but for pleasure… Maybe this wasn’t a bum assignment after all. He smiled. “We’re supposed to copulate…every night…until you get pregnant,” he explained simply. Why the hell was she still wearing those clothes? Max blinked. What the hell… “That’s sick!” she protested, clearly outraged. 494 blinked, too.  What was she talking about?  Why…  Oh, hell, who knew?  She’d spent 11 years out in the populace.  No telling what kind of weird ideas she’d picked up out there. He sighed. “It’s your own fault,” he told her, guessing her displeasure lay in the nature of this pairing being outside of her choice.  During his solo missions, 494 had learned that civilians have an oddly over-developed sense of popular sovereignty.  Can’t stand to be told what to do.  “If you and your friends hadn’t blown up the DNA database, they’d still be whipping up embryos and putting them into surrogates.” But why the hell were they discussing this now?  They had a…mission…to see through.  And there was no time like the present. 494 started unfastening his pants. “Take off your clothes,” he told 452. Poor, oblivious soul. He really shouldn’t have looked down at that moment. He thought they’d start things off the conventional way, with a little foreplay.  This was just an assignment, after all, but once he’d accepted the idea that copulation with 452 might not be a bad thing, 494 had decided there was no reason they *had* to leave it here.  They might as well enjoy themselves, as well. He figured their first contact should be an embrace.  He didn’t have much experience with “hugs”, but he could learn if it would help… But, alas, this was not to be. The first contact that came between 494 and 452…was the heel of her boot contacting his abdominal muscles. One swift kick, and Max had sent 494 smashing back against the door. 494 looked up and blinked, shocked.  He was rarely surprised by anything, but this action truly shocked him.  Was this rogue really nuts? “What the hell was that?” he asked incredulously. She’d kicked him! Max snorted, finding the exaggerated look of disbelief that crossed 494’s handsome face comical, to say the least.  Bastard should have seen it coming.  For all the skills he might possess in the profession of killing people, 494’s bedside manner, as it were, certainly wouldn’t win him any medals. “That was the only contact you and I are going to have,” Max quipped, putting a little attitude into her stance. 494 shook his head, walking back over to her. “Look, we have orders…” “Screw your orders.” 494 cocked an eyebrow. “That’s kind of the idea.” Why that… Max glared at him.  “You son of a …” She struck out, but 494 intercepted quicker.  He caught her wrist just before her palm could have connected with his face.  He frowned.  But then a light came into his baby blue eyes, as if he’d just thought of something.  He slowly smiled. “Oh, I get it.  You like it rough.  I heard some of the weirdos on the outside get their kicks out of…” This time, he didn’t intercept fast enough.  “Ow!” Max’s feet swung out again, this time sweeping underneath 494 and taking him off his feet.  She probably wouldn’t have messed with downing him, and would have gone straight with her knee for the organ, apparently, with which 494 did his thinking… But he’d irritated her so badly. She’d acted before she considered it. Nor had she taken the time to consider what would happen when 494 hit the ground, seeing as he still had a vice-like grip on her wrist. Not that she had to consider long.  Because then 494 fell, and he took Max with him. They rolled, and he landed on top of her. “Will you stop kicking me already!” he yelled.  This woman was crazy! “Let me go!” Max demanded, sneering up at him.  She writhed in his grasp, but was surprisingly unable to break free from the strong hands that held her pinned beneath 494.  She knew this was partly because of the decade of training he had over her, and also because of the toll the last month of reindoctrination had taken on her.  It was also partly because of the adrenaline, no doubt, she’d sent pumping through his system by provoking battle. “We’ve got orders!  What the hell’s your problem?” Max stilled, looking up at the man above her. Then something occurred to her. He really didn’t know.  He really didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he’d just told her.  Was he really so…  The answer came to Max in a moment.  Yes.  Yes, he was so deluded that he really didn’t know any better.  He’d lived his entire life in Manticore.  How was he to know that not everyone viewed sex as nothing more than a simple, biological act?  How was he to know it was more than just a tool or a weapon?  He hadn’t been trying to mock her, or torment her.  As far as he was concerned, he was just carrying out orders; she was the one being offensive. Max shook her head. “My problem?”  This realization didn’t make her any less irritated at the man.  It didn’t make her any more comfortable in his presence.  But it softened her tone just slightly.  Besides, she wasn’t interested in continuing their argument here on the floor.  Irritating though he might be…Manticore though he might be…it has already been established that 494 was one fine looking member of the male species.  Max had never looked at Ben that way before, but she’d known he’d had a really attractive face, a sexy smile.  This man wore the same face.  Did he ever smile?  This close up, the blue in 494’s eyes was electric; particularly now that he was angry.  It had been a long time since Max had been with a man, and the feel of 494’s body on top of hers, the scent of him filling her nostrils…it was intoxicating.  After a month of hell here in Manticore, with nothing to take her mind off the sorry state of her ongoing demise, it would be all too easy for Max to lose herself in the feel of 494, in the scent of him.  To forget her own weakness in his strength. But doing that would truly be weak… Max snapped herself back out of her thoughts. ‘Focus, Max!’ “What’s your problem?” she continued finally.  “Suggesting we…that we…” 494 stared down at her, waiting.  Finally, he raised that blonde brow again, amused. “Copulate?” he offered. Max frowned.  “Have sex,” she corrected.  Copulate sounded so… Manticore.  So technical and cold. “We don’t even know each other,” she said lamely, then frowned. There was a dozen different reasons why she didn’t want to “copulate” with this person; the least of which being because she “didn’t know” him.  So why did she mention that? 494 laughed, annoying Max further than she had already annoyed herself. “Would it help if I promised we can “get to know each other” later?  We’ll have plenty of time together.” 494 moved slightly on top of her, and Max… Max’s eyes widened, and darkened simultaneously.  An irrepressible spark of sexual recognition shot through her; a reluctant lance of heated desire.  He was hard.  Either big soldier had an uncanny command of getting “little soldier” to…stand at attention…or all this argument had turned 494 on.  Whatever.  The fact remained that he was hard.  When he moved, Max felt his erection pressed against her thigh. Against the inside of her thigh, as 494 was lying partly between her legs.  Max became utterly still.  Her whole, treacherous body reacted with pleasure to the contact, and she could actually feel herself getting wet.  He was gorgeous, he was hard, he was *there*…and nothing about this soldier was “little”… Max did the first thing instinct told her to do in such a situation. She panicked. Which, of course, for her, meant she lashed out. She managed to pull one hand free, and gripped 494’s neck. “Would it help if I promised you there won’t *be* a later unless you get the hell off of me?” she came back at him, trying to sound more steady than she actually felt. But this guy was smooth, she’d hand him that.  He didn’t pull his punches with her the way her brothers always had.  Of course, what was going on between them now was hardly something that would have happened between herself and one of her brothers… With one fluid motion, 494 had knocked Max’s grip free, had pulled her wrists up over her head, and had secured them there with one fist.  Then he brought his other hand up to Max’s own neck, trailing his fingertips over the smooth skin there, before gripping her chin roughly. “Why don’t we skip the promises, and just get this shit over with, huh?” he told her.  His voice held laughter, but his eyes betrayed the desire that had begun to burn in him, as well. That desire scared and enticed Max. She pulled her lips back in a sneer, intending to hurl another curse at him.  “Go to…” But the words never left her lips.  Because then 494’s mouth was coming down on hers. It was illogical, how effective that kiss was.  It was only the touch of mouth against mouth, lips against lips, but 494 could swear the negligible contact went straight through his body, touching upon every nerve ending in its path.  It was electrifying.  Suddenly, he wasn’t just ready to get this mission underway, he was craving it.  He’d never felt that before, and it was heady.  Such a loss of control…and from such minimal contact…set warning bells off in 494’s brain, but he’d never been one to heed warnings.  He was more apt to go where an instinct took him.  And right now, he felt like this kiss was taking him some place he desperately wanted to be… Max didn’t know what it was…the tension, the thrill of being with someone she didn’t know, couldn’t trust…perhaps the month of built-up loneliness and pain and fear…but whatever it was that had her melting into 494’s kiss, it was irresistible.  His hand still held hers captive, his body still pinned hers to the floor, but she forgot all this.  She didn’t care where their hands were, as long as 494’s lips remained on hers…she didn’t care who was on top of who, just so long as their bodies were touching. The kiss grew more demanding.  In the back of 494’s brain, he realized he should probably feel pleased, proud, that 452 was capitulating.  He was pleased.  But mostly he was just aroused.  In all honesty, for a moment he forgot why they were kissing like this; he knew only that they were kissing, and that it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of his life.  Passion without role-playing, desire without deceit…it was totally new to him, and totally liberating.  When he felt 452 responding to his kiss, he felt a growl rise from deep within him, a primitive reaction he usually suppressed in the throes of passion.  Right now, he suppressed nothing.  “Open your mouth,” he found himself ordering against her lips.  His fist flexed around her wrists, and he debated a moment, whether he should just let her go so that he could use his hands for other purposes.  Fuck, but he wanted to touch her… But 452 hesitated, and he was afraid she had decided to fight him again. After a moment, however, the hesitation passed.  452 did as he’d told her, and opened her mouth. 494 groaned.  And the second his tongue invaded Max’s mouth, and he tasted her fully, he was lost.  If, a moment ago, he’d forgotten why they were here…right now he was hard-pressed to remember his own designation. Beneath him, Max moaned.  As in combat, 494 didn’t pull his punches when he made love, even just to her mouth.  His kisses were hot, hard, and his tongue battled with hers, making her feel dizzy with wanting more; wanting everything.  She wanted his lips on her skin, that tongue on her body.  She wanted to touch him.  Jesus, she wanted to touch him so badly…  She forgot everything else.  All the reasons they shouldn’t do this.  Who they were and where they were and why.  All that mattered was the irresistible passion she felt flooding her senses, clouding her reason.  All that existed was the pleasure of his touch, so desperately welcome in this world she had been sucked into, this world of loneliness and pain and sorrow… It was insane.  It was insane, but it was spectacular.  494 felt a rush of adrenaline he hadn’t thought he could feel outside of battle.  But even then…this wasn’t exactly like the rush he felt then.  It was different.  But just as good.  Oh, yes, just as fucking good.  Better even. 494’s lips continued to war with Max’s, but then that wasn’t nearly enough.  494 let go of her hands, and in one swift motion, before he could even think about what he was doing, the hand that had gripped Max’s chin came down to the neck of her t-shirt, and he found himself ripping the garment off of her body. Beneath him, Max gasped at the sudden, surprise action, but her eyes gleamed with excitement.  The same raw, animal instinct that had gripped 494 in that moment was taking over her, as well, and she welcomed this rough, wild foreplay. Forgetting that she’d ever meant to push him off of her, Max’s found her hands circling 494’s neck, her fingers twining in the blonde hair at the top of his head.  She was pleased he didn’t keep his cut as short as some of the other soldiers.  It was nice to have something to hold onto.  In his arms, she felt like she was drowning… In another moment, 494 had removed Max’s bra, as well.  His hands didn’t shake as he did this, but he was disturbed by how close they were to doing just that.  Feeling 452’s arms come around him, an open invitation, filled him with a clawing urgency.  He rained kisses down upon the side of her face, the corner of her mouth, the smooth skin on her neck, as he made short work of another article of Max’s clothing. Despite that urgency, when Max’s breasts were finally bared to him, 494 grew very still. He gazed down at her.  Despite himself, he was in awe.  She was so perfect… Max stilled, as well, when her bra finally came off.  She looked up at 494, watching him watching her.  The look on his face left her breathless.  She didn’t know whether she should feel like she was being cherished…or on the verge of being consumed. Then 494 reached out and touched her. One palm closed around her right breast, the fingertips brushing the erect nipple.  The other went around her left.  And Max’s head fell back, her eyes closed on the pleasure of the touch.  A soft moan escaped her lips, and her hands fisted in 494's hair… 494 smiled down at her.  She was so responsive.  It was surprising.  Not because he wasn’t used to his lovers responding well to his administrations, but because he’d never seen her responding to him before.  Also, he felt surprisingly pleased to have elicited a response from her particularly.  As if pleasing her meant more than any of his past sexual encounters.  Perhaps because this was the first time he’d ever had sex with someone up straight, no false pretenses between them. Perhaps because of something else?  Besides, Max wasn’t the only one responding to the feel of 494’s hands on her breasts.  He was enjoying the act quite a bit himself. 494 continued to touch Max, delighting in the feel of her soft skin, the hardened nipples.  When he couldn’t resist any longer, he leaned down and took one peak into his mouth, as well, eliciting a whole new round of moans from his lover. “…yes…” Max’s breathy plea shot new sparks straight through him. 494 drove her to the heights of distraction with his mouth and his tongue.  When he’d come to her cell tonight, he’d intended only to carry out his orders; to copulate and be done with it.  Now he found himself, not only craving pleasure from his partner, but desperate to give it, as well.  He tried everything he could to drive Max further and further into ecstasy. However, there was only so much he could do with his mouth and hands and her breasts, alone, without losing his sanity.  He needed more.  He didn’t know how much longer… 494 reached clumsily for the clasp on 452’s pants, accidentally tearing the zipper in his haste.  Giving up, he went to work on his own clothing, only to rip those, as well.  He silently cursed. The director was really going to wonder about them when he put in his request for new issues in the morning. By now, Max took her cue form 494, and began slipping out of her own clothing, as well.  494 found himself captivated by the sight of her flesh, being revealed to him little by little.  Max kicked her boots and socks off, and 494 reached down to remove his, as well.  By the time he was kneeling on top of her again, Max had totally divested herself of the rest of her clothing. 494 stared down at her…smooth, tan skin…long, soft hair the same dark color as the curls at the juncture of her thighs… “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he breathed.  He wasn’t even sure he’d said the words aloud until he felt Max’s lips against his throat. “You, too,” she whispered back.  The feel of her lips on his skin had his eyes closing.  494’s hand fisted in Max’s hair, holding her mouth to him as she continued to kiss his neck and chest. Then, slowly, her hands began to move his pants off his hips. When they were down nearly to his knees, Max opened her eyes and looked down at him, having to swallow thickly when she saw his perfect body.  A thin trail of hair, only a shade darker than the golden blonde on top of his head, led down from 494’s navel to the protrusion of his sex.  Everything about him was hard and firm; his thighs, his buttocks…the thick shaft she took in her hand now, causing him to growl once again. Without warning, 494 leaned down and sank his teeth into Max’s shoulder.  It was the type of passionate, animalistic response he would never have given before, but that seemed so right here and now with her.  Max cried out in pleasure and pain at the contact, and squeezed him tightly in her hand before letting go and wrapping her arms around his waist.  She needed him in her.  She needed to feel his body inside of her; to revel in his perfection and his strength.  She needed him so badly at the moment she was ready to sob for him. “I want you now,” she growled in his ear, causing him to moan in response. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” he whispered back, nibbling on her ear. 494 nudged her legs further apart, and Max cooperated, bringing her legs up to wrap around his waist, and moving her arms up around his neck.  He positioned himself there above her, at the entrance to her body.  God, he was so close… He was so close.  494 steeled himself, gathering all his resolve.  She had him so fucking charged…but there was no way he was going to let himself climax the moment he slipped inside of her.  He wanted to draw their lovemaking out; to prolong the pleasure, for both of them, till the last possible minute.  He readied himself to press into her…when suddenly she stiffened. “Wait!” With some effort, 494 found himself pausing.  He looked up at 452 questioningly.  What was wrong? “What?” Max looked at him a moment.  It looked, for a moment, as thought she felt uncomfortable with what she was about to say.  But then she just went ahead and said it. “What do I call you?” 494 blinked.  “Call me?” Max sighed.  This was embarrassing.  “You know…a name,” she told him weakly. A name?  They were both so close to climaxing, together, without ever even having consummated that they were shaking...and she wanted to talk about names? “I told you, my designation is 494.” He prepared to thrust into her… But Max was holding back, he could feel it.  “But it doesn’t suit you,” she insisted. “Does it matter?” he finally asked.  Didn’t she realize she was killing him? “It matters to me,” she shot back, that firm, decisive tone snapping back into her voice.  Uh-oh. 494 was just about to try and say something to appease her, when suddenly she spoke again. “Alec,” she said. Alec?  He looked at her quizzically. “Your name,” she explained, “is now Alec.” “Alec?” he asked. She shrugged, a mischievous glimmer beginning to sneak back into her eyes.  That glimmer could not be a good thing. “I can live with that,” he told her, for the sake of civility. “Good,” she said, smiling.  “Because my second choice…” “Can wait,” he interrupted roughly.  That smile… Had he thought she was beautiful?  That smile was indescribable. With one strong, fluid motion, 494…Alec…finally thrust into her.  He slipped into Max’s body fully, joining them completely. They both cried out with the pleasure of the contact. “Alec!” Alec hadn’t understood why having a name to scream in the throes of ecstasy had meant so much to Max…nor did he understand why it felt so good to hear the arbitrary designation on her lips now.  He only knew that the sound of his “name”, spoken in that hot, needy tone, did things to his heart and the blood pumping through it that he couldn’t truly explain. Suddenly, the idea of owning a name didn’t seem so absurd. Alec drew back and thrust into Max once again, this time returning the favor she had just bestowed on him. “Max…” The name felt foreign on his tongue, but nice.  She was right.  It did “suit” her better than 452… Max’s eyes widened as she looked up at her partner, not having expected him to return the simple courtesy of speaking her name as they made love.  She couldn’t express how much it meant to her to have someone speak her name again.  Not 452, but Max.  Not her designation, but her name.  Especially now, having given herself to him so intimately.  Despite herself, she felt tears form in her eyes… “Alec…” “Alec!” Max’s climax hit her just like that, tightening her body beneath his so quickly she nearly bucked him off of her.  But Alec held tightly to her, and his thrusts were steady and strong now.  He began moving into her faster, deeper, holding her and planting kisses wherever he could reach as Max climaxed in his arms, again and again… They were both moaning, breathing heavily.  Alec became wild.  He became possessed by a need and a force he’d never felt so intensely before.  For a moment, it frightened him.  At that moment, he realized he’d lost all control.  All control whatsoever.  And he was terrified he would hurt her.  He’d always had to restrain himself so much whenever he’d had intercourse with a human.  A loss of control could be deadly for someone with the strength of an X soldier.  But this was no human beneath him.  Alec was reminded of this when Max began to drift back to Earth, ready for more.  Her hands suddenly gripped his buttocks, not pushing him away, afraid of suffering any more, but pulling him to her, as if she couldn’t get enough… “Oh, Max…” Alec buried his face in the curve of Max’s shoulder, striving for completion.  She held him, and they cried out in passion, together. “Alec…Alec…” “Max!” Finally, Alec reached his climax, as well, as Max reached hers a second time.  They quaked in each other’s arms, clinging to one another amidst the madness of their overwhelming passion.  Max lay there, spent and satiated, feeling the satisfying fullness of Alec inside of her, pumping into her with his seed… It was insanity.  A quick, mad-hot tumble on a stone floor was hardly much in the way of romance.  But Max hadn’t spent the last month looking for wine and candlelight.  And lust-at-first-sight was hardly the proper basis for a true relationship.  But Max dreamt of escape, and Alec had just realized that sex could mean more than just biology or duty.  Neither were in a position to think analytically of what they had just done or what would happen next.  And, besides, neither of them had yet regained enough sanity to think.  All they wanted was to remain in the moment a moment more, holding one another, listening to the sound of one another’s breathing, and reveling in each other’s warmth and nearness. They dozed off in one another’s arms, resting for a while before waking to ignite once again.  Drawing the madness out for as long as they could manage.