Prophecy -- Chapter 1

Disclaimer:  The TV shows Dark Angel and Supernatural, all of the characters that appeared on them, and everything else that has to do with the shows belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Dylan/X6-175, etc.).

One year later...

Alec gave the piles of papers on his desk a dirty look.  How could I have possibly forgotten about one of the joys of being one of the top dogs in an operation?  Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork!  Somebody, please give me a gun and tell me to shoot something before I go crazy.  His office door practically flew open and a pissed off Max stormed in.  Alec mentally sighed in relief.  Perfect timing, Max.  She’ll blame me for whatever just went down, but it’ll still be a distraction from this shit.  “What’s going on?  Is something wrong?  Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

“No, you didn’t do it,” Max said.  She sat down in a chair and shook her head.  “I ended it with Logan.”

“Oh?” Alec looked confused.

“I ended it,” Max repeated.  “Did it go through your head the first time?”

“It did,” Alec said.  “Calm down, Max.  I was just surprised.  You guys only hooked back up a few months ago.”

Max snorted.  “Apparently, I wasn’t the only woman that Logan was hooking up with.”

“You’re kidding,” Alec said incredulously.  “Mr. Morality was cheating on you?”

“With Asha,” Max added.

“Oh, it gets better and better,” Alec remarked.  “Thank goodness that I didn’t hook up with her that one time.  Did you leave Logan in one piece or multiple pieces?  Are we going to have to send out a clean-up crew to Josh’s place or not?”

“Very funny,” Max said.  “Nobody was…physically…hurt.  It might be awhile before at least Logan gets over the verbal smackdown that I gave him and Freedom Fighter Barbie.  Asha seems to have marginally more brain power than Logan.  She was the one who finally suggested to Logan that they get out of there before I decided to take full advantage of the cure and slap Logan around.”

“Wise move,” Alec commented.  He frowned.  “Are you going to be okay, Max?”

Max sighed, almost deflating in front of Alec’s eyes.  “Maybe.  I think so.  Hell, I don’t have a clue.  You would have thought that after our own people whipping up a cure, with finally getting together after so long, after all those stupid obstacles that we had to maneuver around since we’d met for the first time that we’d be together forever or at least a few years, not a few months.  I thought that nothing would stop us.”

“Then why aren’t you freaking out?”

“Well, I’d consciously thought that nothing would stop us,” Max conceded.  “Maybe somewhere I’d realized that it wasn’t meant to be.  Either that or I’m in some whacked state of shock right now.  It sucks no matter how you slice it.”

“I bet,” Alec said.  “You wanna grab some food from the cafeteria?”

“What about your paperwork or do I even have to ask?” Max asked, smirking.

“That’s what I love about you, Maxie,” Alec said as they left his office.  “You know me so well.”  Max punched him on the shoulder and despite the pain, he laughed.  “Oh come on, Max.  I didn’t say anything bad that time.”

“But how many times have I told you not to call me Maxie?” Max said sweetly.

“Hmm, let me try to think…”  Alec paused as if deep in thought before both he and Max started to laugh.

Max wiped tears away from her eyes.  “Thanks, Alec.  I really needed that.”

“Anytime, anyplace,” Alec assured her.  “You are my friend, Max.”

“Ditto,” Max said.  “Not that you lack in that department.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Alec sighed.

It was Max’s turn to frown.  “You still miss Biggs, don’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Alec confirmed.  He looked down for a few moments.  “Damn.  It’s been almost three-and-a-half months since he was killed and it’s still getting me every now and then.”

“He was your best friend,” Max said softly.  “Practically your brother.  I’m not surprised that you’re still hurting.  I would be more worried if it didn’t hurt at all.”

“Yeah, he was one of them,” Alec agreed.  He blinked for a few times.  “I guess I do have a lot of friends here, but none that I could laugh with like I did with Biggs or like I do with you.”  He shrugged uncomfortably.

“One of them?”

“Are you sure that you’ve got shark DNA and not pit bull?  You’re not letting go,” Alec remarked.  “But yeah, one of them.  Kid whose unit was in the block next to Biggs’ and mine, though we knew and were friends with him years before, back before you and your sibs made your mark on Manticore.”

“What was he like?  Do you know where he is?” Max asked.

“His designation was – is X6-175” Alec said.  “He’s one of the oldest X6s.  I wish I knew where he was right now or if he’s even alive.  Biggs had told me that he’d seen 175 the night of the fire when they were leading 175’s unit and Biggs’ and mine out of there, but they’d gotten separated at some point when they were outside of the building.  Biggs hadn’t seen or heard anything from 175 since then.”  He sighed.  “175 is a great kid.  Definitely sweet, but even more stubborn than I am at times.  I don’t know how he manages to pull both off at the same time.  He’s very logical, too.  He’s been my friend since the moment we first spoke to each other.  I think Biggs and I were eight and he was four at the time.  We’d literally run into 175 in a hallway when we were heading over to the indoor firing range.”  He smiled and laughed a little.  “Man, that was a long time ago.  But you’d like him.  You’d have to meet 175 first, but you would get along with him.”  Alec looked down and briefly closed his eyes.  “Damn, he probably doesn’t know that Biggs died.”

Max put a comforting hand on Alec’s shoulder.  “We’ll deal with that when you see 175 again.  He’s bound to show up sooner or later.  Word’s spread about us transgenics shacking up here in Terminal City since the Jam Pony incident three months ago and sooner or later, that word will get to 175.”

“You’re right,” Alec admitted.  His stomach growled and he rolled his eyes while Max laughed.  “Either my stomach’s also agreeing with you or I really need to get some food.”

“And far be it for me to keep you from anything edible,” Max deadpanned.  Her own stomach growled and she sighed.

Alec smirked.  “Pot calling the kettle black much, Maxie?”

“You suck,” Max commented as they continued towards the cafeteria.

“Proud of it,” Alec said.

TBC