And So It Begins
by Jonty
Chapter 18
Alec leant against the wall and stared at Max. She hadn’t moved in about 2 hours, seemingly fascinated by the Logan image on the screen and what he was doing with his computer. Alec hadn’t moved, either, just stayed where he was and watched her, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind.
When he heard Biggs enter the room, he turned his head slightly, and nodded to him, following him back out the room.
“Neither of you are dead.” Biggs stated the obvious.
“Kinda strange, huh?” Alec grinned. “What’s up?”
“Mole wants his office back, and I wanted to know what was going on.”
“Not too sure.” Alec shrugged, a confused expression on his face. “She was pissed off, then she wasn’t. Then, she was pissed again, but I don’t think at me. Then, she kissed me, and then was pissed again.” He sighed. “I have a headache.” He concluded.
Biggs’ brain had stopped working at the mention of the word ‘kiss’. When he saw Alec had stopped talking, he frantically tried to get his brain moving again, to figure out the last few things Alec had said. He failed. The idea of Max kissing Alec was just too much. “Oh.” He concluded. “That’s good.”
“Yeah.” Alec sounded as lost as Biggs.
“Alec.”
Max stood in the doorway, her arms crossed.
Biggs saw Alec flinch slightly, then paste a smile on his face as he turned around. “Max”
“I need your help.” She headed for the exit.
Alec shrugged, and followed her. “What do you need?” he asked when they got outside.
Max nodded towards an alley. “Logan’s fixated on something in Afghanistan. Something that happened there. What has he found?”
Alec shook his head.
“Come on, Alec, think!” Max sounded frustrated. “He’s obviously going after you. What could he have?”
“I don’t know, Max!” Alec yelled back at her. “Do you think we had a guided tour of the places we were sent into? They dropped us, we killed people, they got us out.”
He slumped back against a wall, staring off into the distance.
Max watched him for a second. She had never seen him lose his temper, react to her like that. He had always just laughed everything off. “Alec?” she asked, stepping closer to him.
After a few seconds, his eyes focussed on hers. “What are you doing, Max?” he asked her, quietly. “I don’t understand.”
“What?” She asked, confused.
“Just tell me what you want, and you can have it.” Alec sounded defeated. “But, I can’t take this, Max. Whose side are you on?”
“Yours” she answered immediately, her hand touching his arm lightly.
He laughed. “You understand, Max, that I’m on the opposite side to Logan in this.”
“I know.” Her hand moved to his shoulder.
“So, if you’re on my side, you have to go against Logan.” He spoke slowly, trying to figure out how she could not grasp this simple fact.
“I understand the concept of ‘sides’, Alec.” Her hand went to his cheek, gently exerting pressure, keeping his head facing her. “I was in Manticore long enough to get that.”
“You’re going against Logan?” he had to know.
“I’m with you.” She moved closer to him, kissing him lightly. Alec’s hand moved around her waist, keeping her against him. He tasted her gently, still not completely convinced.
Max was grateful for his arm. The pressure of his tongue against hers, his mouth covering her own, was making it difficult for her to think straight. She leant against him, not sure that her legs were going to support her for much longer if he kept kissing her like that. It was as if something clicked inside her, as if there was a voice in her head telling her that this was right, this was exactly as it was meant to be. But, despite the voice, she could feel that Alec was holding back. His one arm was holding her loosely. If she wanted to step back, she would have no problem doing so. His other arm was somewhere by his side.
She ran her hand down his arm, needing to feel his other arm around her, needing him to hold her tighter. Her hand reached his wrist, and she felt his head jerk slightly, as if he had just realised what she was doing. His hand also moved quickly.
Max pulled back and stared at him. Her gaze moved to his hand. It was now loose by his side, but not loose enough to disguise the fact that a few seconds ago it had been tightly clenched in a fist.
She looked back up at him. “Alec? what’s wrong?”
His eyes locked against hers for a short time. “I don’t remember Afghanistan.”
He was lying. Well, maybe he was telling the truth about not remembering a particular mission, but that was not what was bothering him. Max let it go. “Is it possible that he’s working on something else?”
Alec laughed shortly. “Not a chance. He’s coming after me, and you know it. I just don’t know what he has. We’ll have to hack his computer to find out.”
“You can do that?” Max looked surprised. “I thought Logan was some kind of genius at that sort of thing.”
Alec laughed again. “Come on, Max. There’s nothing that Logan can do that I can’t do a hundred times better.”
There was no humour in his voice, no hint of sarcasm, or exaggeration. He was merely stating a fact. He was better than Logan.
Max thought back to all the times she thought Alec was a screw-up, and laughed. She had always pestered him about fitting in better, not sticking out. He had fitted in better than she could imagine.
“What?” he asked, shaking his head slightly.
“A hundred times, huh?” she smiled at him.
“At least.” Alec took a chance. He kissed her, turning them so her back was pressed against the wall. He moved his body up against hers, moulding it against her, feeling her body relax even as she moved her hands around his back to pull him closer against her.
He smiled as he heard her groan, and slowly deepened the kiss.
Finally, he pulled back slightly, far enough back to be able to see her face, but still close enough that if he moved slightly forward his lips would be on hers again.
“Yeah” she whispered.
He grinned, and kissed her lightly again, before moving back reluctantly.
“We need to know what he has planned.” Alec ran his hand through his hair. “Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to hack into his network.”
His eyes hardened, became focussed. He turned and headed back inside. Max watched him go, seeing for the first time the man that everyone else saw. The leader, the one they all followed, even now Manticore was gone. She followed him inside.
“Hey, Alec, do we need to call body removal or maintenance?” a guy that Max didn’t know called out jokingly.
“I want you and your team ready for a briefing in two hours. 6 bikes, ready to go, concealable weaponry and two hidden cams.”
“Yes, Sir.” The man’s tone changed to one that the Manticore guards would be proud of. His body stiffened, and he turned quickly to carry out his assignment.
Alec strode into his office, and turned on his computer.
It actually took 6 minutes to hack into Logan’s computer. Alec nodded to himself, but otherwise showed no sign of emotion. He didn’t turn around, so he missed Max’s look of admiration.
“Got it.” Alec allowed himself a grin of satisfaction as he leant back in his chair. Logan’s annoying streaming video cut across the screen.
Max moved closer, resting her hand on the back of Alec’s chair as she leant in to see the screen. Logan hadn’t added his voice over yet, but there was video available.
Alec watched himself on screen. A younger version of himself, by several years. He was dressed in normal clothes, jeans and a dark sweater. He moved through an unidentifiable building. There were two others with him, both similarly dressed. 494 kicked a door in, and entered a small room. There were three people there, a woman and two small children about 8 or 9 years of age. 494 raised his weapon and fired, taking out the woman. He spun and fired at the boy, killing him instantly. One of the others moved forward and grabbed the other child, a young girl.
The video cut off.