I checked our new quarters first and then the buildings in the vicinity. Kira was in none of them. Finally, I gave up and went to HQ to see if anyone had seen her.

Upon entering, I immediately spotted Kira talking to 452/Max. I increased my hearing in an attempt to discover what they were talking about, but all I could make out was the words 494, trouble, and problem. Just from that much I knew this was not going to be pleasant.

Slowly, nonchalantly, I approached. Kira and Max both looked up and stopped talking.

“Oh, no. Go ahead. Continue bashing Alec. By all means.” I said, doing a poor job of veiling my disapproval and anger.

“We weren’t...” Max began.

“Right.” I interrupted sarcastically.

“Look, Jess. Max has been with him for awhile now. He hasn’t turned into some kind of saint on the outside. He’s unreliable, a womanizer, lazy, and self-centered. He once agreed to kill and skin three transgenics of their barcodes in exchange for his life. Is that the kind of person you want to get involved with?”

I glared at Kira silently. I felt more than saw Max shift uncomfortably.

“You make it sound so much worse when you say it like that.” she said quietly, “He’s done good things, too. They’re just hard to remember because he screws up so much and he’s so annoying. And that particular incident wasn’t too long after he got out of Manticore and he didn‘t complete the deal. He’s changed since then.”

She sounded reluctant to admit that, confirming my suspicion that Alec was a better person than they were giving him credit for.

“I know you don’t like him, Kira.” I said, forcing myself to keep a cool head, “But you are being irrationally judgmental.”

Kira stared at me incredulously. She obviously couldn’t believe I had criticized her in such a Manticore fashion.

“Besides that, you can’t understand what’s between us. He means something to me. Something I can’t explain. Even if I wanted to forget him like you keep telling me to, I wouldn’t be able to.” I concluded.

I turned to leave.

“I just don’t want him to hurt you again.” Kira stopped me with her quiet admission.

“I can take care of myself.” I assured her, my anger instantly dissipating.

Kira didn’t reply so I continued out the door.

I busied myself the rest of that day helping out around Terminal City. I didn’t openly avoid Kira, but I didn’t seek her out either. It wasn’t that I was angry with her anymore, it was that I didn’t want her opinion of 494 until I had my own figured out.

“So what if he has his faults?” I asked out loud.

His faults only helped to erase the perfect 494 of Manticore.

“And so what if he’s made some mistakes?”

I’d made plenty of my own, after all.

“Besides, what do they know anyway?”

I threw a final piece of trash in the bag I was carrying and straightened to survey the room. Satisfied, I turned to leave.

“What does who know about what?”

494 sneaking up on me was really getting tiresome.

“Are you stalking me?” I asked as I pushed past him out the door and headed towards the dumpster.

“Of course not. I’m not that desperate.” he replied easily, “I asked Max and she said you were over here.”

“What do you want?”

“Nothing. I’m just bored. Wondered if maybe you wanted to go do something.”

“Like?”

I flipped open the dumpster lid and tossed the trash bag inside. 494 leaned his back against the dumpster and looked at me with a smile.

“Oh, I don’t know. We’ve got a bar. We could go play pool, trade Manticore stories. Or we could go harass Max, one of my personal favorite pastimes. Or, if you want, we could sneak out and take a spin.”

It was obvious from the way he said it that he preferred the last.

“A spin?” I asked.

His smile got wider.

“I’ve got a dirt bike. And I know where you can find a motorcycle to...uh...borrow.” he pulled a key chain out of his pocket with one key dangling on it.

“Without the owner’s knowledge, I assume.”

“That would probably be best.”

“Its Max’s, isn’t it?”

“Ding ding. We have a winner.” he quipped.

“She’ll be mad, won’t she?”

“Only if she finds out. Come on. Let’s go.” 494 grabbed my arm and began tugging me after him.

I let myself be pulled, feeling slightly amused. 494 led me all the way back to HQ before he released my arm. He signaled to me to be quiet and to follow him. I stalked after him as he circled the building, cautious for any guards on the lookout. We were very careful to dodge all the patrols and finally made it to the location of all the transgenics’ vehicles. 494 pointed out a beautiful black motorcycle to me and I immediately understood why Max would be so protective of the machine. It was an amazing bike and now that I had seen it, the desire to ride it was irresistible. I felt myself begin to grin as I creeped up to the motorcycle. 494 took hold of the handlebars on a green bike to my left and led the way towards the fence. He chose to exit towards the rear of Terminal City in an area where not many transgenics were yet being housed. He signed to me to wait a second while he disappeared around a building. He reappeared a moment later carrying a large board. He then proceeded to set up a ramp that would give us enough height to clear the fence if we hit it at a high enough speed. I felt myself grin again.

“After you.” 494 whispered, tossing me the key to the bike.

“My pleasure.” I replied, mounting Max’s bike and starting it.

I turned the bike around and rode far enough back to give me a chance to accelerate before I hit the ramp. Revving the engine once, I took off, careful of my alignment since the ramp wasn’t very wide. Once I was confident of my approach, I turned my head and winked at 494 before hitting the ramp and sailing over the fence. I landed neatly on the street on the other side and swerved to a stop.

I looked up to see if 494 was coming and was surprised to see that he was already in the air, sailing over the fence and landing nearer to me than was comfortable. But unlike me, he did not stop, but continued to zoom down the street.

“Hurry up, Jess. We don’t got all night.” he called back.

I quickly turned and sped after him. I wasn’t too familiar with the city yet, so I stayed on his right flank, letting him lead. We traveled fast, not stopping for anything. A quick swerve to avoid a car, accelerate to blow through an intersection before the other traffic could reach it, a fast turn to avoid a busy street. It was all fast and exhilarating. It was just what I needed to lighten my mood. I smiled and even laughed when 494 attempted to show off and almost ran into a truck.

After what seemed like no time at all, 494 pulled over and stopped. I followed suit, disappointed because I knew he was going to tell me it was time to head back.

“Having fun?” he asked, noticing the continued presence of a smile on my face.

I nodded. He smiled back at me.

“Good. Unfortunately, we’ve run out of sector. Gotta turn back or risk a run in with the cops.”

My smile began to fade.

“Hey, don’t be upset. We can find some other stuff to do to keep us entertained when we get back.” he raised his eyebrows at me suggestively, but his face was teasing.

I made a quick decision.

“Race you.” I said and immediately took off.

“Cheater!” 494 yelled at me, quick to follow.

We raced all the way back to the spot in the fence where we had exited. I was careful to backtrack our trail precisely, but still managed to keep slightly ahead of 494. Most likely because I had a better bike than he did.

“Beat you.” I smirked.

“You cheated.” he replied.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself.”

“I let you win.”

“Sure.”

494 smiled at me. He looked amused at my pleasure over having beaten him.

“So how do we get the bikes back over?” I asked finally.

“Same way we got them on this side. See, I’m prepared.” 494 quickly produced another ramp.

I let him go first this time, then followed. We shut off the bikes as soon as we were back over the fence. I disassembled and scattered the ramp on the Terminal City side while 494 jumped back over the fence and did the same to the other. He returned and we began to sneak the bikes back to their places. Amazingly, we weren’t caught, a fact which seemed to make 494 extremely smug and cocky.

“Have to have a talk with Maxie about her crack security.” he said happily as we walked away.

“So what now?” I asked.

“Let’s go to the bar. That way when Max asks what we did tonight, we’ll have an alibi.” he said, “I’ll play you a game of pool.”

“And you’ll buy me a beer.”

“I will, will I? And why’s that?”

“Because I beat you in that race. You owe me.” I said simply.

“How do I get involved with these chicks? So pushy. So demanding. ‘Buy me a beer, Alec.’ ‘Get me some gas, Alec.’” he shook his head.

“Oh, knock it off.” I said, slugging him playfully in the shoulder.

“And abusive, too.” he added, rubbing his arm as if I’d hurt him.

I rolled my eyes. I could see how 494’s attitude could grate on Max’s nerves. I, however, found him amusing. And fun. And interesting.

I quickly cleared my head of those thoughts. Tonight was not a night for confusing thoughts like the previous one. Tonight was a night for me to enjoy myself. I’d think about all that other stuff later.