Archive of Our Own ^omega

Chapter Text

Timeline: (DA) Post Freak Nation. (SPN) Just after It’s the great pumpkin, Sam Winchester.

A/N: Just for the sake of this story, let’s assume the town that escapes Uriel’s clutches was in Seattle.

Beta: The super awesome Alexis beta-ed this piece, but then my OCD-ness reared its head and demand that I rewrite some of the scenes. Those scenes didn’t get to see Alexis’s magic wand yet, so all mistakes are mine.

Chapter 1: The Past and the Present

‘This is stupid.’

She heard the rebellious mutter as clear as the snap of twigs under his boots. After weeks of silence, his first sentence slices through the thick atmosphere like a knife. Her lips thinned; did he think it was her fault? Traipsing through thick bushes, getting scratched by sharp thorns plus sweating so hard a pig might mistake them for a friend? It was bad enough that she was having second thoughts about this whole thing, she didn’t need another voice outside of her head singing the same tune, thank you very much.

‘I know it was hard of you to think of the survival of mankind and not about you for once, but believe me this is not stupid.’ It came out harsher than she intended but she clamped her mouth shut and squared her shoulders as his eyes started to glint. She had been itching for a fight for weeks. Bring it on.

‘Says who?’ The glare was apparent in his eyes, the brown dissolving in the flame of his temper, leaving brilliant green behind. Much like a glinting emerald on fire. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to sink their teeth into something.

Max sighed as her shoulders hunched, weeks worth of stress started to make their presence known and he moved from his defensive stance to slap the side of his neck, breaking the illusion of anger for a second.

‘Dammit! I’m getting bitten by mutant mosquitoes left and right. You know what, this is beyond stupid.’

Drama queen, she rolled her eyes at him as he scratched the itchy area. Knowing that she couldn’t face the anger in his eyes anymore, she turned to continue trudging through the wilderness.

‘Are you even sure she’s here?’ his voice wafted through the heat towards her. She bit her lips when her sleeve snagged a thorn, the sharp end breaking skin, leaving a long gash of red line in its wake. ‘Do they even exist at this time and age? Can you tell me we’re not meeting a lunatic who escaped from an asylum?’

‘Logan says she’s legit,’ she answered for the thousandth time, pushing at the low hanging branch that was in her way, jaw set in a hard line.

‘You know, that’s your problem. What Logan says goes, even if it doesn’t make a lick of sense.’

‘He knows this stuff.’ She crushed the urge to stamp her foot at him. How many times had they had this discussion already?

‘Because he’s the great Eyes Only? Get real, Max. If someone else asked, no told you to consult a witch, a freakin’ witch Max,’ his eyes widened for emphasis, forcing her to see the absurdity of the situation, ‘for something that’ll give us leverage in our war against the Familiars, would you even give it a second thought?’

‘She’s a soothsayer.’

‘Whatever.’ He waved it aside with a growl.

‘He wants us to win this, you know. The war.’ Her voice was soft, as soft as the light in her chocolate eyes. It was the nearest she could find to convey to him that there’s a possibility she thought he may be a tad on the right lane. Yeah, so she kinda sucks at this apologizing thing. Plus, she missed this. They’re actually facing each other and words are coming out from their mouths. For some weird reason, not having him around; talking, laughing, breathing near her was like a stab in her side, a hot and messy pain.

‘In a fight that has nothing to do with him?’

‘The Cult wants to wipe out the world population so hell yeah, I think it has something to do with him.’ Her tone climbed as her brow disappeared into her dark hair. She craved this too, getting work-up over something. He’s the only one who apparently could rile her up like this.

‘That’s what you’re telling yourself. Do you notice something, Max? You justify everything he does.’

Max was quiet as she held his gaze, tumultuous brown on blazing green. She almost forgot how unapologetic he was with pushing his points right in her face.

A few feet away, a bird dipped low and the sound broke their concentration. Without giving him the satisfaction of a reply, she turned and pushed at the undergrowth angrily. Of all the topics in the world.. why are they fighting over Logan again? If anyone in dire need to bitch, it should be her, not him.

He followed her, channeling his fury at the stubborn branches that wouldn’t part. Max turned on her heels and glared, her temper spiking at the sight of his sour face. ‘If you think this is so stupid, why are you even here? I never asked you to.’ She wasn’t even aware he knew about this tip. Max was certain she was alone in the room when she had that video call with Logan, added the fact that Alec was doing the avoidance waltz at the time.

‘And leave you alone to face the Wicked Witch of the East by yourself? You have got to be kidding me.’ He snapped the stubborn branch in two and tossed the jagged pieces behind him. Alec knew it was dense of him to point an accusing finger towards the all-mighty Logan. He knew she would jump to his rescue in milliseconds but dammit, she had hurt him. It’s like she had a gun on him and pulled the trigger herself.  

He was still angry, she could see that, and she also knew that he was not angry at her. Not entirely. For some reason it calmed her somewhat.

‘Soothsayer,’ she corrected and for the first time in weeks, almost laughed as he crunched his face in distaste.

‘Whatever.’ That soft hint of a smile, the slight lift of her soft lips doused the fire that had been raging for weeks. ‘You know,’ he added, falling in step beside her, ‘If he, and by that I mean Logan, suddenly proclaimed that a Japanese hacker living in seclusion in a Caribbean Island was able to help us to wipe those freaky snake lovers with his state of the art programming, I’d be inclined to believe him more. But a witch? Living in a freakin’ cave? Who people last saw before the Pulse? Is she even alive? Seriously Max, it sounds like a load of crap to me.’

‘We’re here to check on a possible lead. We don’t have to believe her.’ She sneaked a glance his way as he slapped his arm.

‘If we can find her first. Ugh, I hate bugs. Why didn’t the Cult plan to wipe you out of existence?’

‘Shut up, Alec. We should be close.’

‘Right, we might trip her alarm or something.’

Her eyes narrowed in response but he just shrugged it aside. They both know her death ray had no effect whatsoever on him but some habits are harder to break than others. Both of them crouched and he wiped his sweaty forehead, unsettled by the heat and their unspoken temporary truce.

‘You couldn’t plan on consulting the witch on a cooler day, huh?’ She turned to him again and he sighed. He could read if you open your mouth again, I’ll knock you out on your ass clearly in her eyes.  Some things are back to usual anyway.

Alec pushed the branches aside carefully. Who knows, maybe the witch had magical hearing and could hear them coming. He opened his mouth to warn Max about the witch’s possible magical skill, sarcastically of course, when he saw her expression. Oh right. Maxie was in one of her moods now.

They both cased the surroundings silently, squinting a little in the heat. He tugged on the collar of his jacket, wishing he had ditched this heavy piece of clothing when they were back at the car. But he pushed all discomfort aside and focused on the matter at hand.

Around fifty feet ahead, he spotted a small opening to a cave. That should be it. He rose and Max followed in his wake. ‘Let’s go meet Logan’s bitch… uh, I mean witch.’

She rammed her elbow in the general area of his ribs but he danced out of the way with a smirk, the previously taut atmosphere between them returning slowly to normal. What’s normal for the two of them anyway. The second they stepped foot inside the cave, their senses were hit by the strongest smell imaginable. Max took a step back, shoving back the instinct to gag and forced herself to breathe through her mouth, her hand digging into Alec’s arm. Even then, the stench was unbearable. She turned to him and saw that he wasn’t happy about the whole situation, much like her, but he nodded his head towards the inky darkness and she followed him in.

Their eyes glowed as they shuffled inwards. ‘You owe me big time for this Logan,’ she muttered, not noticing how her fingers tightened around Alec’s arm. This type of smell won’t simply leave with a shower. Or two. And she loved that jacket. The boots were next to impossible to replace. Did he think it was easy finding good usable clothes during a siege?

‘I have been waiting for you. The savior and her worthy warrior.’

The sound hovered out of nowhere and they both stopped dead in their tracks, eyes wide as they tried to put the body with the voice they had heard. Something shuffled into their vision and Alec pushed her aside, unseen behind his back.

Max growled and muttered, ‘I can take care of myself, you idiot,’ knowing full well that he could hear her before pushing past him and marching towards the hazy figure. Alec could be such pain sometimes. Sheesh. What does he think she is? One of the X8 who still need their babysitters?

‘Max…’

She waved him aside. ‘Someone told us to talk to you, so come out and we can have a chat.’

‘Be polite. She could curse you or something.’ His reply was akin to amusement but she could still feel the tension underlining his words.

‘I thought you didn’t believe in this sort of stuff?’

‘I don’t. But it doesn’t hurt to be cautious… and polite. More flies with honey, Max.’

The figure materialized out of the cloaking darkness and they both smothered a gasp. The witch turned out to be a man. A very very old man. Freakishly old, old man.

His skin was literally hanging in folds from his bones, the texture dry and papery. In near darkness, they could see that he was deathly pale. Thick deep lines had dug into his skin, a cobweb of dark shadows lining his face. His skinny fingers trembled as he pointed them to a stub of candle and they both winced as one when the burst of flickering light chased some of the darkness away.

In the wavering light they could see that he was hunched, almost to the waist, one fragile hand clutching at a knotted piece of wood. Max assumed it was a walking stick of some sort. His hair was stringy gray, falling into his light eyes and whispering over his dirty robes. Torn ragged cloth draped him, the dirty hem seeping dirt into his pores as he took a couple of teetering steps towards them.

She turned to Alec and frowned when she realized that he was staring at the old man. She followed his gaze’s direction and saw that he was looking fixedly into the old man’s eyes. There was something about those eyes. They were as old as the rest of him but they were clear and sharp. The gray light in them made her feel uneasy. It was like he was carrying the weight of the world and teetering on the edge of sanity because of it.

‘What you’re seeking is not in this time,’ he croaked out.

‘What?’ they both answered.

Max frowned, why did these people never learn to speak simple English?

‘Your enemy is strong and you won’t win this war. Even if you had the gods and angels on your side.’

‘Is he even lucid?’ he whispered in her ears and she swatted his hand away.

‘What do you mean what we’re looking for isn’t here? I don’t even know why I’m here.’

‘We’re here because you haven’t learn how to say no to Logster boy.’ Her teeth gritted in response when she heard the barely audible whisper from her side.

The old man turned his light eyes on her. ‘Your heart is good but you let your hard head overrule all your decisions. Do not let the flower of your soul, it’s fragile petals, crumble into nothingness, because it will. Your eyes are beautiful but you never use it to see anything worthwhile. Open your eyes and everything will be clear.’

Max almost jumped when Alec laid his hand on her arm, muttering, ‘I don’t like this, he’s rambling. Maybe we should go.’

The old man continued speaking as if Alec never said a word. ‘Your enemy is slithering closer, nearer than you think.’

‘He is making sense. See,.. slithers, snake, cult,’ she whispered back and ignored his grunt of disbelief. ‘What else can you tell us, old man?’

‘Your destiny is forged by blood. Yours and his,’ his thin finger pointed to her before moving to Alec. Both of them frowned, turning to each other in surprise. Entwined destiny? ‘You’ve had blood on your hand before, both of you.’

‘Look mister. We’re not here for our fortune cookie slips. What can you tell us about the war?’

Her hold on his arm tightened, as if in a warning and Alec closed his mouth with a frown. ‘Shut up Alec, let me do the talking.’

The old hermit shook his head sadly. The younglings talk too much, they have to learn how to listen sometimes. He cocked his head in the girl’s direction, noticing the lines in her brow, the fire in her dark eyes. She was the one and he needed her to understand.

‘You push people away; for good reasons, during bad judgment. Even the heavens can’t bestow you with an army if you keep tossing them off.’

‘You’re right. He is making sense.’ His jaw clenched in pain a second later. ‘Keep your hands to yourself!’

‘The wind of change is coming. Listen well and you will be rewarded,’ he turned to the boy this time, holding the hazel gaze securely. The old man knew the boy was the voice of reason for the savior.  Her leash to wisdom in a way. And without him by her side, she will not fulfill her destiny. She didn’t have the strength to do this alone.

‘Is that a line from somewhere? I could’ve sworn I heard that in a song.’

‘Focus, Alec,’ Max hissed.

‘I am focusing,’ he returned the glare. ‘But none of this is making sense. Grampa, we’re here for the war, not other type of mumbo jumbo.’

‘You are not listening,’ the old man shook his head sadly. ‘The cloud of fate will wipe your army out of its way, straight into the hell’s angry mouth in a single move. But you can stop that from happening.’

‘That’s reassuring. What do we have to do?’

‘You need to find the Wrath of Ares.’

‘The wrath of what? Where in the world can we find that thing?’

‘Ares is the Greek’s God of War, Max.’ Alec was staring at the old man with a speculative frown.

‘Alas,’ the old man sighed and the candle flame danced morosely, ‘the cruel current has wiped it from existence.’

‘Then what are we suppose to do? Hunt for something that doesn’t even exist anymore?’

‘Brothers.. find the brothers. He’ll understand.’ The bony finger pointed to the centre of Alec’s chest.

‘What the hell? I’ll understand what?’ 

‘Give me your hand,’ the old man rasped.

‘No!’

‘Give him that limb if you still want it attached to you.’

‘He’s crazy, obviously. Logan’s crazy for suggesting this. You’re crazy for agreeing and I’m crazy for tagging along.’

‘Craziness is indeed contagious.’ The old man held out his hand to them.

They turned to each other, frowning, uncertainty in their eyes. ‘What are you gonna do? Hold hands and cry together because the wrath thing is gone?’

With speed that belies his age, the old man leaned forward and latched onto their hands. ‘I can see you have a little traveling in the future. You have to hurry, both of you have an Apocalypse to stop.’

Max gasped when his cold fingers tightened over hers. Beside her, Alec tried to tug his hand away without much success. He might look fragile and old, but man does the wizened man have a grip! Both of them stiffened, eyes wide in the wavering darkness when piercing fire started spreading from his skin to theirs, streaking to their entire body.

Her breath was trapped in her chest with no way out when her throat closed around a moan, the pain shooting past insane pitch. She was cut off from reality by the sharp veil of pain and then there was no more. The only thing that prevented her from panicking was the thought that she was not alone. He was right beside her. Max sighed and sailed along the stream of darkness.

Max opened her eyes to total darkness. She could smell the crushed grass and the feel of pebbles digging into her back. What the hell happened? She couldn’t breath, something was pressing against her rib cage and she struggled under the dead weight, trying to throw it off her.

A moan filtered through the haze of panic and she stiffened. ‘Alec?’

He moaned again, his face pressing into the curve of her neck, his warm breath washing over her cold skin. She could feel one of his hands brushing against the side of her ribs and she doubled her effort. With his hands on her, unnamed and unidentified feelings had started to make their presence known and that tiny sputter of pleasure threw her off her track. And when Max didn’t like something, she didn’t sit around to find out why. 

‘Get off, Alec!’ She gritted her teeth, trying hard to roll him of her but even when he was out, he was not cooperating. ‘You’re dead,’ she grunted, arms straining against his weight, ‘after I can use,’ her jaw hardened, ‘my freakin’ hands again!’

He rolled off her with a huff and she sat, panting.

‘Miss, is everything okay? Do you need help?’

Max looked up, squinting as her night vision kicked in. Beside her, Alec stirred before struggling to his feet.

‘God, I feel like I’ve puked my guts out. What the hell happened?’

‘Keep it down. We’ve got company.’ Her eyes narrowed as she strained to see the two guys running towards them, before zooming in on their features. Alec was patting his jacket for his Glock and she could see that their new friends had guns as well.

‘Miss, are you okay?’ His loud shout pierced through the darkness and she froze. She could place that voice in her sleep and he was supposed to stand next to her. Max’s head snapped to his side, as if to reassure herself that he was still where he suppose to be. His eyes seemed brighter than usual in the darkness when her eyes sought his. She turned back to the two figures rushing towards them and again, her hand froze in midair.

Who is that? Another clone? Did they just landed smack down in Transgenic Central?

And how on earth it was night all of the sudden? What the hell just happened?

Chapter 2: Friend or Foe?

‘Look at what you’ve done.’

Max held her breath, her body stiffened when he took one step closer before slipping his hand in hers, holding it tight. Her head lifted towards his at the smile in his words. He was happy. It was apparent from the curve of his lips, the way he was holding himself, that light in his blue eyes.

Max however, was beyond terrified.

Her hand in his latex grasp was sweating, her heart tripping over their haste to leave her chest. What had she done?

She smiled weakly in the general area of his face, trying not to scream out her frustration. Did she make the right choice in asking everyone to stay? Her fear escalated, terror gripping her numb body to see so many eyes on her. Waiting for something.

Her eyes skittered over the expectations in their eyes, searching for someone. Needing desperately on his reassurance. But he wasn’t there.

Surrounded by people left and right, Max felt the cold claw of loneliness sank in.

‘Hurry up, I’m hungry.’

‘Dude, the diner isn’t going anywhere.’ Sam tossed a rolled up shirt at his brother and continued to shrug into another shirt. He grabbed the discarded towel and dried his hair, running the soft towel over his wet face and his cool neck.

‘You’re worse than a girl. Hurry up, Samantha.’

‘What’s wrong with you?’ Sam frowned when he walked past his scowling brother. ‘I told you we’ll go after my shower.’

‘I’ve been waiting for hours, Sam. Hours! How long do you need to splash water on yourself and change your shirt?’

‘Okay... okay. Let’s go.’

‘I’m hungry. You know I’m not good with waiting when I’m hungry.’ The sulkiness crept into every syllable and Sam tried very hard not to laugh. It would just make everything worse, that he knew from prior experience.

‘Apparently.’ Sam rolled his eyes as Dean slid behind the wheel. The next few minutes stretched quietly as the Impala rumbled smoothly. Sam turned to his brother, knowing this was a good time as any. There was no way he could avoid this. He can’t jump out of a moving car right?

‘Dean, we need to talk.’

‘What?’ The hazel eyes were trained on the road and a muscle started twitching along his jaw. ‘You know I don’t talk before mealtime, Sammy. So just sit tight on your ass and wait.’

Sam saw the sudden pain that flickered in his brother’s eyes and he knew he had to push this. Dean needed to talk. ‘That’s what you always say, Dean. I know you. You’re not going to shut me out this time.’

‘Or what?’ Dean spat out the words from behind clenched lips. He never wanted to think about hell again, why couldn’t Sam understand that? ‘We gonna have an Oprah moment now or are you gonna do something to me?’

Sam let out a pent up breath and forged ahead. He had been thinking about this a lot after that night. ‘Uriel said something.’

‘He did?’

‘Yes Dean, he did.’

Despite everything, Dean’s lips quirked at the annoyance in Sam’s voice.

‘Are you sure you don’t remember anything from hell?’

Dean’s face closed immediately and a shutter slammed over his eyes. ‘No.’

‘Come on man. You can’t bottle everything up like that. Talk to me. You did that when Dad died and look how it chewed you up from the inside out.’

Dean kept his eyes on the road, the occasional roadside lights illuminating his harsh profile. ‘Drop the subject, Sam.’

Sam’s jaw hardened and Dean would’ve bet his car that Sam wouldn’t listen. Too damn stubborn for his own good. ‘I said...’

The rest of his words were swallowed by a great burst of light. They both shielded their eyes from the fiery blast before Dean’s foot slammed hard on the brake pedal and the car swerved crazily from the momentum. They both jumped out and started running towards the source of that explosion. Dean drew his gun from his jacket as Sam flicked his torchlight, his gun in the other hand.

‘Take that side, Sam!’ Dean yelled out and his brother complied, flicking his light, frowning in the dark before sucking in his breath when his sharp eyes caught something. Someone seemed to be pinned down and struggling to get away.

‘Dean, over here.’ He saw the small figure pushing off the guy and even from the distance, he could say it was a girl. ‘Miss, is everything okay? Do you need help?’ he shouted, his brother close behind.

Sam’s hand tightened around his gun when the guy beside her struggled to his feet and his blood ran cold when the guy drew something from the inside of his jacket.

‘Miss, are you okay?’ Dean called out when she didn’t answer. Their fingers tightened around their guns when the girl turned to her assailant.

‘Do you have another twin, Alec?’ Max asked.

‘What? Why do you bring that up at a time like this?’

She cocked her head towards the two guys running towards them and the frown was still there when he zoomed in on them. The man in the lead was in his mid twenties, tall and lanky with firm muscles underneath the shirt. The one slightly behind was...

Alec sucked in a breath like he was sucker punched and Max whispered again, ‘Do you have another twin?’

‘I didn’t even know about 493 until a few years ago. How the hell should I know if there’s a 495? Or a 492?’

‘Good question,’ she muttered before calling out. ‘Hey fellas! We know who you are. There’s no need for firearms among our own kind.’

‘What the hell, Max?’ Alec swore a list of unintelligible words when he saw that the two guns had taken aim at his head.

Dean muttered to Sam, ‘Our own kind?’

‘Dean,’ Sam’s voice had turned hard and the sound of the gun’s safety being release bounced erratically in the quiet area. ‘Shapeshifter.’ The shot rang loud, a sudden burst of sound that shattered the silence like an angry bull.

Then everything happened as in a blur, a stretched out dream. Dean’s eyes widened when his gaze locked on the pair. His own fingers tightened on the trigger and he winced when the Shapeshifter suddenly appeared in front of him. He just barely blocked the rapid movements and groaned when his jaw exploded in a burst of pain. ‘Son of a bitch!’ he growled, struggling to his feet, the pain swelling when he realized his gun was knocked out of his hand.

Alec reacted instinctively when he saw the bullet speeding towards them. He tackled Max to the ground and blurred to his clone, ignoring the sharp pain in his arm. Something screamed inside him when his clone’s reactions weren’t up to the regular X5 standard. Alec stood over the fallen man, his gun trained on the clone’s head.

‘Who are you?’ Alec saw the glint of silver and blurred, grabbing the knife from the clone’s hand. A second later, he was straddling the man, the knife pressed into his throat. ‘Who.. are.. you..?’

Something crawled up Dean’s spine at the almost military tone in the Shapeshifter’s voice. ‘Shouldn’t I be asking you the same thing?’

The Shapeshifter was quiet for a second, the eerily identical eyes boring into his. Then he flipped Dean around and pulled down the collar of his jacket. Dean struggled but the Shapeshifter held him in place easily enough. What the hell? A second later the Shapeshifter turned his head and called out, ‘Everything okay, Max?’

‘Apart from my bruise when you fell on top of me and then tossed me to the ground, yeah I’m peachy,’ the girl replied, annoyance lacing her every word.

Dean saw the slight lift of the Shapeshifter’s lips. ‘At least you didn’t get shot. It’s just a scratch, stop worrying,’ he added when the girl opened her mouth to say something. From his vantage point, Dean took a strangled breath when the Shapeshifter’s lips thinned in concentration. ‘What’s your designation? 495?’

‘What? What designation?’ Dean’s spirit sank when he saw the girl dragging Sam towards them. Can’t you even kick a girl’s ass, Sam? Jeez.

‘Yours isn’t talking?’ Max asked before nodding towards her so called prisoner, ‘Neither is mine. Alec, now what?’

‘You’re asking for my opinion? Wow Maxie, I’m flattered. I knew I was your Second for something.’

‘Shut up,’ she scowled and pushed the tall guy forward. ‘We could tie them up.’

‘With what? Leaves?’

‘Then what do you suggest we do?’ her scowl deepened.

‘We could break their legs,’ and at her reaction he added, ‘I’m kidding.’

Dean was getting bored with the whole thing. If the Shapeshifter and his girlfriend wanted to kill them, they would’ve done so ages ago. ‘Max, right? You do know you’re with a Shapeshifter?’

‘Shape-what?’

‘Great,’ Alec threw his hand up. ‘First it was a witch who turned out to be a crazy old guy and now Shapeshifters? What’s wrong with all of you today? And I’m not a Shapeshifter, whatever that is.’

Alec stomped to Max and dragged her a few feet away. ‘I don’t think he’s 495, he’s too old for an X5. Maybe X3 or even X4. But the thing is, he’s way too sloppy for an X series. I have my doubts that he’s even a transgenic. I checked for his barcode. He didn’t have one but that doesn’t mean anything.’

‘I can see that,’ she nodded her head. ‘Let’s say he’s not a transgenic, then what explains the freakishly similar look you two share? Coincidence?’

‘I don’t believe in coincidence.’ His eyes hardened. ‘Let’s go talk to them.’

Sam rubbed his arm, wincing at the tender skin when his brother spoke. ‘Dude, I know she’s a girl and you’re the perfect gentleman and everything, but can you keep the chivalry act in check and kick a chick’s ass for once?’

‘You have no idea what you’re talking about, I couldn’t even land a hand on her. I’ve never seen anyone that can move so fast, guy or girl.’

‘Now that you mention it... What the hell is going on? Who are they?’ Dean frowned as he fixed his gaze on the duo. His eyes sharpened when they turned and walked towards them. ‘They’re coming.’

The brothers stood stiffly, muscles tensed in preparation of another fight.

‘Don’t bother to fight us,’ Alec grunted. ‘You won’t win.’ The disgruntled effect was totally spoiled when he sputtered and wiped his wet face indignantly, ‘What the hell was that?’ Beside him Max glared as she tried to dry her soaked arm.

Dean and Sam stared at each other, shrugging as they tossed aside the empty bottles. ‘We had to make sure.’

‘Of what?’ Max’s hand was on her hip, eyes narrowed, lips thinned. ‘Does it look like we need a bath?’

‘We can rule out that you’re a demon. That’s good news. Now we can get past your attempt to kill us.’

‘You shot us first,’ Alec pointed an accusing finger.

‘We thought you were a Shapeshifter. Sorry about that.’

‘And by soaking us, you made your point?’

‘That’s holy water,’ Sam pointed out.

‘Riiight,’ Max nodded skeptically.

‘And who are you?’ Alec asked, fixing his eyes on Dean.

‘Dean. That’s my brother Sam. And you?’

‘I’m Max,’ she pushed past him, ‘and that’s Alec. We’re still in Sector Four, right?’

‘Sector Four?’ Sam turned to his brother but Dean just shrugged.

‘But we’re still in Seattle?’

The slow drawl didn’t hide its cutting edge. ‘That would be correct.’ Dean rolled his eyes at the younger image of him. It still felt weird looking at the guy, knowing he wasn’t a Shapeshifter. ‘Come on, you’re bleeding all over. Let’s get you patched up first.’

Alec flicked a gaze at his arm. ‘It’s just a scratch.’

‘Yeah, he’s a moving target practice, that’s a known fact but why are you suddenly being nice when you were about to kill us earlier?’

‘That bullet is pure silver and since he’s still breathing, he’s not a demon.’

‘What’s up with the demon thing? Do we look even remotely demonic to you?’

The brothers ignored her question and nodded towards the darkness. ‘Let’s go. Our car is over there.’

Alec turned to Max, who just shrugged. ‘We can overpower them if they start getting weird or stuff. Maybe they’ll drop us off somewhere closer to TC.’

‘Yeah, I’m not in the mood to walk.’ He sighed and a few seconds later, they followed in the brothers’ footsteps.

‘Look at what you’ve done.’

Alec grimaced, the satisfied smile in Logan’s voice moved like a grater over his wound. Yeah Max, what have you gotten us into this time? We were trained to move in enemy territory dammit, not hang around like sitting ducks. His Manticore-trained side almost blurted that out but something was holding him back. Maybe it was the smile she gave Logan, who knows?

His hand moved to his shoulder, his breathing shallow and fast. He could feel the other transgenics’ restlessness, the aggression they hid behind Manticore masks as they waited for their orders. Alec took a step forward, wanting to know what their fearless leader had in mind. He froze in mid-step, a muscle twitched along his jaw when Logan’s hand snaked towards Max, holding her hand tightly in his gloved fingers. Blood roared to his head and he clutched his shoulder. When Logan’s hand closed around hers, something in him snapped.

The sharp pain from his shoulder merged with the one from his heart, turning a white flash of fury and he had to walk away. Alec pushed past the wall of transgenic bodies and disappeared.   

Dean flicked the light on before tossing his jacket on a chair. Sam disappeared into the bathroom before materializing a second later with the first aid kit.

Max took the box from him and turned to Alec. ‘Come on, let’s see the wound.’ She pulled on his collar and he winced.

‘Careful, that hurts!’

Max rolled her eyes at him as he peeled the shirt off, flinching. ‘Don’t be such a baby.’ She turned her gaze away from his gleaming torso and tried to concentrate on his arm. ‘Not bad, just a flesh wound. But I still need to stitch it up.’

She turned to Sam and he nodded towards the box. ‘Everything is in there.’ He was moving his shoulder slowly, his muscles screaming at the movement.

‘You guys get hurt much?’ she cocked her head at the fully stocked box before adding, ‘And sorry about that, I thought you were one of us so I didn’t hold back.’

Dean sat straighter in his chair. ‘One of you? What does that mean?’

Alec and Max looked at each other before he replied in an off hand manner. ‘It’s nothing, an inside joke.’ He still thought the entire situation was fishy and Intel wasn’t something he wanted to share freely. Not yet.

Dean scrutinized the thin smile and hard eyes silently and opted to let it slide. For now.

Max turned her attention to the wound and started to close the jagged flesh.

Dean continued to study the two from his place, noticing the small tremors of pain the Shape... no, Alec... was trying to hide as well as the way the girl was slapping Alec around with her words and her hands like she was angry with him, but the way she was hovering over him told Dean otherwise. She was muttering angry retorts as she stitched him up but Dean saw the worry flickering behind the sharp words.

‘Slowly,’ he hissed when she pulled the thread too tautly against his flesh.

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled before she snapped her head to him, ‘and sit still. I can’t do this when you’re jumping all over the place.’

‘I can do that if you want,’ Sam interrupted as he passed Alec a bottle.

‘No!’

Sam shrugged at the twin glowers and retreated. Alec took a swig from the bottle and shuddered. Max really ought to practice her bedside manner. She was worse than Mole.

Sam took the chair next to his brother and studied the bickering couple. ‘They’ve been at it the whole time?’

‘The whole time,’ Dean nodded.

‘It’s weird. They sound more like a married couple than we do.’

‘I heard that!’ Both transgenics turned their faces towards the brothers, scowling mightily.

‘But married people can get a divorce. I’m stuck with you like a Siamese twin.’

‘Conjoined twin. How many times have I told you, Dean. It’s conjoined twin.’

Married? Who wanted to tie themselves to that bed hopping jack rabbit? She pulled the last stitch a little harder than necessary and he yelped. ‘Freakin baby,’ she muttered.

‘Sadistic bitch.’

‘Enough!’ Dean jumped up. ‘You guys have some explaining to do. For one, who are you? And don’t bother lying, we’d see right through you.’

‘Before we do that, tell us something. How did you get us here without passing a single sector guard?’

‘And I didn’t spot even one hoverdrone,’ Alec added. ‘Where exactly are we?’

‘Sector guard?’ Sam didn’t have to turn to know his brother’s expression. ‘Is that a new word for the guys in blue? The police?’

Alec suddenly stiffened, his eyes locked on something laying on the countertop. He stood so suddenly that Dean and Sam turned rigid in defense but Alec grabbed the magazine and pushed it in Max’s face.

‘What?’ she frowned and her mouth fell open at the picture on the cover. ‘You’re asking me to read porn? Hell, no,’ she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

‘No, look here,’ Alec flapped the magazine at her.

‘No!’ she scrambled from her seat but Alec latched onto her arm and pushed her back.

‘The date, Max. Look at the damn date.’ His finger stabbed the corner of the magazine for emphasis.

Max saw the shock in his eyes and that drove her to lower her eyes to the glossy cover.

‘Hey... hey. I’m not done with that yet,’ Dean called out but they both ignored him.

Max stared at the numbers before she lifted her eyes to his. The stunned surprise was mirrored in both sets of eyes. January 2009. ‘Is this a misprint?’ she suddenly turned to Dean and Sam. It had to be. She was what, 9 in 2009? And her unit only managed to break out of Manticore at the end of the cold freezing winter of 09. 

‘What?’ Dean stepped closer and peered at the magazine. ‘Of course not. What’s wrong?’ 

‘Why are we hovering over Dean’s porn?’ Sam called out as he stepped closer and tried to see what the fuss was about.

Alec left the magazine in Max’s hand and started pacing. ‘This is not happening. It’s not even possible.’

Max was still staring at the four numbers on the page. ‘Two thousand... nine?’ She sucked in a surprised gasp when Alec grabbed her hand and pulled her to the room’s secluded corner. Dean turned to Sam and frowned as they huddled, pale and shaken.

‘It had to be the old man. He did something to us.’

‘What do you remember?’

Alec was quiet for a few seconds as he mulled it over. ‘The cave.’

Max nodded, ‘Yeah, we were talking to him. He was rambling about hell, retribution, all the kooky stuff.’

‘Wait, at some point he said brothers. And that I’d understand.’ Both of their eyes widened and they turned to Alec’s mirror image.

‘You’d understand,’ Max murmured as her eyes swept across the identical eyes, so similar she would bet the brown swirls were in the exact same spot as Alec’s. Dean even had the exact same shade of green eyes that Alec had. He was wearing the same expression Alec had when he was pissed off and she could tell the anger came from lack of knowledge at what was going on.

He could be Alec’s twin, much more than Ben. The same face (obviously), the cockiness that bordered on arrogance, and the smile that could please as well as irritate the hell out of you. But beyond that, she could not find any more similarities. Dean was years older than Alec and there was something else about Dean, maybe that light in his eyes that told her he’d seen too much to remain young and innocent. Alec’s eyes had a similar glint, she’d seen it in those moments when his walls came down for a friction of a second - it was like they’d been to hell and back but were too ashamed to admit they were still alive - but Alec hid it better than Dean could ever have.

Dean’s hair was much darker than Alec’s, cut short like what she could say was Alec’s Manticore days. And there were fine lines etched around Dean’s eyes which had yet to appear around Alec’s. Dean wasn’t as lean as Alec. Her Alec was all frame and wiry muscles, nothing more and nothing less. Dean’s body filled out the green shirt he was wearing and she could see how the muscles rippled as he held himself back and Max turned to Alec. Lean or not, Alec could take Dean in seconds.

‘So what happened to us?’ Alec whispered and Max turned her attention back to him.

‘I think we need their help.’

‘How do we explain this? We’ve traveled back in time because a crazy old man said we could use your help. With what, we haven’t the faintest idea. I find it hard to swallow and the words are coming from my mouth. So how in the world do we make them believe us?’

‘I don’t know,’ Max snuck a glance at the brothers, her sharp ears picking up their muffled conversation. ‘Maybe we don’t have to tell them that, just that we need their help.’

‘Yeah, they already think we’re a couple of lunatics and they don’t know about the time traveling part yet,’ he nodded curtly as the two brothers picked up their head and locked eyes with them.

Sam put a restraining hand on his brother’s arm. ‘Chill, dude.’

‘They’re up to something. I don’t like it when people whisper furiously in front of me.’

‘We’ll make them talk.’

‘People who freak out over porn and then go over to a corner to huddle are bad news.’

Sam rolled his eyes, ‘You’re just pissed off they didn’t treat your Asian Busty Beauties with the required drool.’

‘That, yeah, but there’s something else that’s off with those two.’

‘The fact that one of them could pass as your brother more than me?’ Sam shrugged when Dean narrowed his eyes. ‘Or the fact they looked like they’d seen a ghost when all they did was glance at your porn?’

‘Wait.’ Something flickered in Dean’s mind. ‘They started freaking out when they saw the date, right?’

‘I think so, yeah.’

‘I know what’s going on,’ Dean remarked, his lips were set in a thin line. He could remember that second of pure fear as he was frozen beside his future dad and holding a paper that should have been almost thirty years old. After that startling realization, his fury dissipated and he could see the situation clearly. Now he started to see the young man in a different light. His breath stuck painfully in his chest cavity as he stared unblinkingly at the young man... was it even possible?

‘You’ve traveled through time.’ He stated matter-of-factly and the fury was replaced with a grin when they, the guy with his face and the striking brunette, stared with slackened jaws.

‘What... how did you...?’ the girl stuttered. Max, he recalled.

‘The past or the future?’ his brows rose when they turned to each other.

‘The future,’ the girl, Max spoke.

Dean could sense her hesitation like it was a tangible thing. ‘So what are you doing here?’ He almost growled when they turned to each other again. ‘You must be here for a reason? Did the angels sent you back?’

‘Angels,’ Max huffed. The bubble of her shock had started to crack. ‘There’s no such thing as angels.’

‘A month ago I would’ve agreed with you sweetheart, but then we’d both be mistaken.’

‘Don’t call me that,’ she was scowling and Alec decided to butt in.

‘How do you know about time traveling? No, what I meant was, how can you be so calm when I find it very hard to believe?’

‘I’ve got some experience in this matter,’ Dean finished his bottle and turned to his waiting audience. ‘Castiel sent me back to show me something. A warning of some sort.’ His eyes shot towards his brother. Sam stared right back and Dean turned to the two pale strangers. ‘Why are you here? What are you suppose to do?’

‘Who’s Castiel?’ Max interrupted.

‘The angel. His name is Castiel,’ Dean sighed. ‘So what’s the deal with you guys?’

‘I think we need your help.’

‘Spill, sweetheart. I’m all ears.’

‘Don’t call her that.’ The glower was etched into every line of his features.

‘Shut up, Alec,’ she popped him on the back of his head and he turned his glower on her. ‘We need their help. Be nice.’

Alec grumbled under his breath and retreat a step back but he still kept his sharp gaze on the other man. Max sighed as she flicked a gaze at the smoldering Alec. What had gotten into him? It was more than weird having the two of them around, so similar and yet so different. Alec had never looked at her like Dean did, with open admiration and the thinly veiled lust brimming beneath it all.

Alec always treated her like she was one of the guys as he trailed behind her, poking his head in her affairs and everything. That was before he went invisible and avoided her like the plague after the flag raising. But this scowling version of Alec was a new experience for her.

‘We’re supposed to find the Wrath of Ares, whatever that is.’

‘The Wrath of Ares,’ Sam said under his breath. ‘What does it do? Is it an amulet?’

‘We have no idea.’ Max shrugged her shoulders at him. ‘But an amulet sounds loads better than what I had in mind.’ 

Alec was leaning against the far wall, hands over his chest and didn’t offer to add anything.

‘I’ll see what I can dig up.’ Sam stood and pulled his laptop to the table.

Max snuck a glance at the fridge before turning to the boys. ‘Now that’s straightened out, do you guys have anything to eat? I’m a little hungry.’

‘Speaking of eating, we’re supposed to grab something at the diner before you guys kinda blasted in to this timeline. But no worries, I’ll go and get us some take out. Sammy, you and Max stay here and continue with the research. I’ll take sulking boy with me.’

‘What?’

Dean thought the twin shock on Sam and Max’s face was hilarious. He grabbed his jacket and his key before turning to his scowling younger self. ‘Let’s go.’ Without waiting to see if the boy followed, Dean made his way to his waiting Impala.

Alec stood still for a second or so before he shrugged and took his discarded jacket. Without another word, he followed Dean.

Max turned to Sam. ‘Do you think they’ll be okay?’

‘They’ll be fine. Dean won’t do anything to your friend, don’t worry.’

‘I was thinking of the other way around.’ Max parted the curtain and watched Dean’s taillights disappear into the darkness. Alec was acting weird all of a sudden and that wasn’t a good thing.

Sam laughed and turned his attention back to his computer. ‘Nah, Dean can take care of himself.’

‘He’s never met Alec before.’

‘They’ll be fine,’ Sam snorted. ‘Come here and tell me what you know about the Wrath of Ares.’

The ride was exceptionally quiet as the car streaked to its destination. Dean snuck a quick glance at his passenger, drinking in the identical features. His eyes, his nose, his mouth. All of his features on someone else’s face. It was like looking in the mirror and seeing a younger version of you.

‘I don’t know if I’m not supposed to ask, with the whole time space continuum rule, but who’s your mom?’ Dean suddenly asked. She must be one hell of a girl, the future mother of his child, but he couldn’t spot any of her features on the boy and Dean was getting curious. Was she someone he already knew or hasn’t he met her yet?

‘I asked that myself, sometimes,’ Alec snarked, not moving from staring into the darkness. He was still wary of this clone who clearly was not X5. But seeing as they were in the past, he could be an earlier model that didn’t turn out so well. But what irked him the most was not the fact that his face was on another guy, it was seeing the guy flirting with Max, and it was like watching himself flirt with her and god knows how hard he tried not to go there. What with their frenemy status on good days and something that bordered on bipolar on pretty much every other day.

Beside him, Dean gasped. ‘She died? In a fire when you were still a baby?’ What the hell? He thought they had wasted that yellow eyed son of a bitch.

This time Alec turned to Dean, the scowl gradually replaced by a frown. ‘Why do you care?’

‘Okay, fine.’ Dean turned his attention back to driving. ‘You ain’t sharing, fine. I won’t dig.’ A full minute lapsed before Dean turned back. ‘But I’m a good dad, right? I mean, I should be. Look at me, I’m cool. I can be a cool dad.’

‘How the hell should I know?’ Alec forced himself not to explode. Was the guy crazy or what? He knew transgenics and their obvious and flippant disregard of personal privacy only too well but this is getting ridiculous. Hello, random choice for a topic? Yeah, he was a certified reject.

‘You didn’t live with me? What happened? Did I die too?’ His foot slammed on the brakes and the car lurched to a sudden stop. Alec’s rapid reaction avoided his head from smashing into the dashboard. ‘Is that why you’re so angry? I died and your mom died and we left you alone? What about Sam, he’s your uncle. He should’ve taken care of you.’ His face fell in horror and fear. ‘Oh god, did he die as well?’

‘You’re crazy. Insane.’ Alec’s face froze and he saw the pain and the shock in Dean’s eyes and something sank painfully in. ‘You think I’m your... son?’ The last word was pushed out forcefully, a foreign addition to his vocabulary. He squashed the sudden burst of life fiercely. He was made in a lab, genetically engineered to be a super soldier. He didn’t have a mother or a father and he didn’t have a family. Not in the biological sense.

Dean shrugged, a little wary. ‘Well... you’re from the future with a very strong, uh... family resemblance. That should be a possibility.’

Alec was quiet as he stared at the hope in the other man’s eyes. His eyes. ‘No, there’s no possibility. I’m not your... son.’ He finished his sentence in a hurry, hating the taste of that last word on his tongue. He was made, he didn’t have parents. He didn’t have anyone except himself.

Dean saw the wall came up, built brick by brick and the frown dug deeper into his forehead. The boy was hiding something and he’ll find out what it is eventually. No one can hide anything from Dean Winchester. He pursed his lips when he thought of something else. ‘Look Alec. I think I owe you an apology.’

‘What? What for?’

‘If you thought I was hitting on your girl earlier, you’re wrong. I wasn’t.’

‘She’s not my girlfriend,’ Alec grumbled but stopped himself from adding, we’re not like that. He had heard that phrase like a million times and he didn’t want to start using it now.

‘Well, by how you two were reacting earlier on, she could be your freakin wife.’

‘She’s not, so stop jumping to conclusions.’

‘Sure, whatever.’ Dean smirked and continued driving. ‘How do you feel about pies?’

‘I don’t know. They’re okay, I guess.’

‘Okay? They’re more than okay. Pie should have its own food group, they’re that awesome. I need to take you out for pie soon or maybe we can snag some at the diner.’

Alec just shrugged but a ghost of a smile was hovering over his lips. Suddenly being stuck in the past didn’t sound so bad.

‘Where is he?’ Max marched into the room in a wave of frigid air. She was in a foul mood and the other trannies turned to their tasks at hand or pretend they had one.

‘Who?’ Mole was the only one who dared to ask. He was the picture of innocence as he lifted his head from the gun he was cleaning.

‘Alec, dammit. Where the hell is he?’

‘Oh, Princess.’ He gave his cigar stub a good chew, looking as if he was mulling the question over in his head.

‘Yeah, him.’ The last word escaped from tightly clenched lips. ‘I haven’t seen him in days.’ Eighteen days to be precise but who’s counting?

‘You just missed him, Max.’ Dix eagerly interrupted, ‘He was here five minutes ago. He must still be around.’

A vein throbbed dangerously near her temple; it had started to sound like a broken record. You must’ve missed him, he was just here. She had lost count of how many times she had heard it in the last eighteen days. 

‘Someone haul that ass of his to me when he gets here.’ She took the collective shrug as a yes and left.

Chapter 3: Half Truth and Partial Lies

Max slammed the door of her makeshift office, grunting as the thick wood creaked in disagreement. Her breath flitted across thin lips when she made her way to her desk.

Nothing was working as it should. Not with the Police Comissioner, not with the screaming masses, and definitely not with the Familiars. Everything was unraveling faster than she could stop it.. and dammit, she felt so alone. Just making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be and not killing who they’re not supposed to was hard enough. The worst part was, sometimes she got the feeling that she was on her own, like she was sitting alone in a sinking ship with thousands of hands pulling her down, no one to help her, no one to watch her back.

Max knew it wasn’t the case. She had OC, Josh, Logan, Mole, the whole of Freak Nation behind her but she felt so damn alone. She grabbed something from her desk and watched in satisfaction as it smashed against the wall.

Alec.

When she needed him the most, he went MIA on her. Now she felt stupid that she even bothered defending him to Logan. No Logan, he’s not the irresponsible jerk that you think he is, the guy has some redeeming qualities, those were the words she had tossed into Logan’s face, his features frozen in shock as she brushed past him. Barely a month after that, Alec turned around and did this to her. What was going on with him? With them? If she didn’t miss him by mere seconds, he was off on supply runs, trannie pick-ups, making sure they didn’t starve, and a million other things she herself wasn’t aware had to be done.

In a way, he didn’t completely desert her. He was helping... from far, far away. He must’ve been the busiest man ever in Terminal City but when she asked (growled, frowned or snarked, depending on her mood and the person she was asking) the others, they had seen him, talked to him, shared a joke or two, been in his company in the last few days. It was three weeks since the flag-raising. Twenty one days of Alec-less days. And she didn’t know what to make of it.

That jerk of... Damn, was he avoiding her? What the hell was going on?

The moon was full tonight, something he only realized earlier. The window was open and behind the fluttering curtains he caught glimpses of the bright ball hovering near the horizon. Alec leaned back against the couch, sighing when the harsh fabric enveloped his back, the darkness a comfortable cloak surrounding him. His hand wrapped around the tense cords of his neck, his legs stretched out in front of him, his eyes fixed on the silhouette on the bed. The red blinking digits flashed 3:27 the last time he glanced that way. What was he doing up at 3 in the morning? Even Max-I’m-so-cool-I-don’t-need-sleep was out, additional shark DNA and all. He studied her still form, half hidden under the thick blanket and soft pillows.

After they got back from the diner, the older brother suddenly appeared and tossed a key at Max. ‘Last room, guys. You have to share.’ From what Alec could see, Dean didn’t look entirely unhappy at forcing the two of them into the same room. That glint in his eyes was more mischievous than apologetic. Maybe he’ll regret his decision in the morning when one of them leaves the room in a body bag.

However, a second later, from the room next to the brothers he could hear an excited shriek, an uncharacteristic reaction from Max. After weeks of squatting at Terminal City, he could understand her joy at a clean bed. From the doorway, he caught a flicker of her moving inside the room, squealing at the working hot shower. The smile on her face, that light in her eyes was like a physical blow and without another word to the brothers, he made his way into the darkness.

‘Where are you going, kid?’ Dean laid a hand on Alec’s shoulder and the latter stiffened. Someone asking on his whereabouts was a new experience.

‘A walk. I’ll be back in a bit.’

The brothers turned to each other, frowning, debating internally whether to let him go or not. A second later Sam shrugged and Dean decided to let the boy go, eyes narrowed at the younger man’s retreating back.

Alec took his time, walking slowly in the dark, a bit awed by the dense trees around him. So this is how it was before the Pulse? There was something different in the air, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. After hours of pointless foraging in the dark, he headed back to the motel. His step was light when he made his way into the room. Alec knew he was going to get his ass chewed for disappearing but he couldn’t care less right now.

He didn’t blink as his eyes, a muted shade of green in the dark, continued to peruse her sleeping form. In sleep, the perpetual frown that permanently lined her brow was gone, her features soft and peaceful. Alec hunched forward, his elbows on his thighs, fingers in his hair when she shifted in her sleep, one hand thrown out towards him. He almost smiled as he scrutinized the sprayed fingers and the regular rising and falling of her chest under the blanket. Half of her face was hidden under long black hair, the silky strands like mini prison bars, hiding her from him. What should I do with you, Maxie?

He was still trying to wrap his head around their little problem back home, forcing himself to come to terms with everything when this happened. This... the time travelling thing. Maybe Einstein did know what he was talking about. Although, time travelling seemed to be a common thing in this part of the world. What, you’re from the future? I’ve done some time travelling myself, so it’s nothing new. No biggie. But yeah, welcome to the club.

And now they’re in the past. In the presence of a demon hunting duo, one of them with serious paternal issues. Alec knew if looked at from the guy’s perspective, it might be a logical conclusion to come to. But he had serious doubts that the ghost seeker brothers had any ties to Manticore. If he really was from Manticore, then he wouldn’t go around asking if Alec was his son, right? Did we share the same test tube? Now, that would be a more appropriate question. His train of thoughts were derailed when Max stirred. His muscles hardened and without thinking, he got up and padded noiselessly towards the door.

Max clawed at the blanket, blinking in the dark as she tried to find what had woken her up. Something caught her attention, a sliver of shadow and she turned her head to the source, a yawn threatening to push her back to Z-land. But the sight of his back heading towards the door, walking out on her, leaving her, wiped any thought or desire to sleep right out. Tossing the blanket aside, she scrambled over the pillows, bounded from the bed, and launched herself at him. ‘Where are you going?’

‘What? God, you scared me, Max.’ He eyed the door longingly. ‘I need some air.’

‘There’s no air in this room, is that what you’re saying?’ Her voice was still husky from sleep but her eyes were wide awake. 

‘Go back to sleep Max. I just need to clear my head a little bit.’

‘You’re avoiding me, like you did in TC? Why Alec?’

‘I am not avoiding you.’ The smile that stretched over his lips was as fake as the flowers in the vase. ‘I’m just going out for some air.’

‘That’s some serious BS. You didn’t say a word to me when you got back from the diner and now you’re off to God-knows-where. What the hell is going on, Alec?’

‘Nothing.’ He wiped his face tiredly. ‘Stop acting like you care.’ He side-stepped and grabbed the doorknob.

Max’s hand snaked through and banged the door close before she wedged herself between him and the door. ‘This is not an act, you moron. We need to talk.’

‘Could’ve fooled me,’ he smirked but a tiny hint of pain shocked her with its intensity. He pushed past her and was gone. Max was still staring at the door long after that. 

His eyes flicked from the monitor to the open book, squinting in the low light. His index finger traveled down the page slowly, lips moving as he skimmed through its contents. Sam had thought researching this Wrath of Ares should be a breeze. There shouldn’t be a problem with a shortage of leads since Ares was a very well known ancient deity. Everyone who watched Hercules and Xena knew who Ares was, right?

Wrong. That fact itself proved to be the Achilles heel of the assumption.

His eyes strayed towards the bed, where Dean was splayed, pretty much dead to the world. If his brother knew he put not one, but four ancient Greek dudes in his sentence (and it actually made sense to the common folks), Dean’s finger would most certainly find its way to him with that customary roll of his eyes. You walking encyclopedia of weirdness, you.

But that aside, yeah. Now instead of nothing, he had mountains of stuff to wade through from online games, p2p software and even rock bands before he could get to the real stuff. And after a long night, he was still tossing off trash left and right. Around 3 am, he deserted the computer and turned to books but just after dawn, he decided there wasn’t much to find there either. The problem was, he didn’t know if he was looking for an amulet, a hex bag, a weapon, whatever. He had less to work with before, but this was the first time he had so many leads that ended up as nothing. He pushed through, forced himself to find something, anything, but around 1500 A.D. and he still hadn’t found anything solid, he pushed everything aside and stretched, working out the kinks from his neck and shoulders.

After hours of peering into the computer and hunched over dusty volumes, lying down and closing his eyes seemed like an awesome idea indeed. Yeah sleep, Sam stretched again and yawned, blinking slowly in the lightening shadows. He turned towards the empty bed and something stopped him as he frowned at his brother. Speaking of sleeping, Dean had been sleeping a lot nowadays. His brother was not the type to catch a nap during the day but he’s been sleeping whenever he could these days. It was like he didn’t sleep the last few months and now he was sleeping whenever he could.

Damn you Dean, now who is the stubborn one? It wasn’t like he’s purposely prying. He of all people knew there’s some stuff you have to keep hidden and some you can’t even breathe a word of to anyone. Never mind, Sam stumbled towards his bed, he was too tired to rationalize anything right now.

Sam staggered to his bed and kicked his shoes off. He was out even before his head hit the pillow.

Three weeks into the siege, he decided to let everything slide and pretend that the roof incident never happened. So what if Max decided to continue her destructive Romeo and Juliet relationship with Logan? Her call, not his. It’s not like he had any say in her life and he had no desire to partake in her Logan-is-God’s-Right-Hand-Man debate. He wanted her back in his life and if she was the proud President of Logan’s fangirl club, he just needed to find a way to deal and live with it.

Alec knew avoiding her was not the best decision he had ever made but he needed the distance to study the problem objectively and right now his problem was her. Taking her out of the equation seemed logical at the time but now... he needed her back, as a friend or her punching bag or whatever status she deemed preferable. With that thought he made his way to HQ; part impatient, part scared.

‘Heya Alec!’ Fox hailed him from afar. His shock of unruly straw-coloured hair fell into strikingly blue wide-set eyes. ‘Thanks for helping me find a place to stay, man. I owe you for that.’

‘I’ll look around, something should come up soon.’ Housing was starting to become a problem as Alec found out. Trying to get everyone under a roof, preferably one without a hole in it, was not easy.

‘Uh... you might wanna know this. She’s here.’ Fox’s eyes darted towards the closed door. News travelled fast, even among the genetically engineered. Word on the street was blazing with why their two leaders were not seeing eye to eye. Literally.

‘Yeah, General Ice Stick’s been foaming at the mouth, itching to sink her teeth into your ass.’ There was no love lost between the huge lizard-man and their esteemed leader. Mole hefted one of the shotguns towards a table and prepared to clean the piece.

‘Thanks guys.’ Alec continued towards her office. Behind him, the other transgenics froze in shock.

The lizard-man stopped chewing his cigar stub, his eyes darting from the office to the man walking towards it. Beside him, Fox dragged a stool over and sat dejectedly. ‘Man, I forgot to tell him the Ordinary was in there with her.’

‘Good job three-oh-one. Just to let you know, I’m blaming you if they kill each other.’ Mole pulled the gun closer to him. If the future war erupted and claimed casualties, he’d be ready. It’d be stupid of him not to go armed at this point. If worse came to worst, he didn’t want to go down without a fight.

‘It’s Fox,’ the blond man corrected half-heartedly, his eyes fixed on Alec’s back. ‘Do you think any of them will come out alive?’

Alec gripped the doorknob and was about to announce his arrival (one less thing for Max to tear into him later on) when wisps of conversation wafted to his side.

‘...the reason I’m in this, Max. I love you. Please say you’ll marry me.’

At that moment, his heart sounded very loud in his head. He was backing away when he heard the two words.

‘Logan, yes...’

He didn’t need to hear the rest. Without delay, he turned to the waiting faces and forced himself to walk towards them, a fake grin hiding the turmoil underneath. ‘Guess what Fox? I found you a place.’ His hand delved into his jacket before he tossed a key at the stricken transgenic.

‘But this is...’

‘It’s empty now. Enjoy the place.’

‘Sam. Wake up, dude.’

Sam peeled open his eyelids and stared balefully at the alarm clock, noting with indifference that it wasn’t even 8 yet. ‘5 minutes. I just got in bed,’ he muttered and turned to the other side.

‘No can do, man. We got tons to do today. Rise and shine, Sammy.’

Sam forced himself to turn to his unnaturally perky brother. ‘We got no leads, Dean. I stayed up all night for nothing. So let me sleep, okay?’

‘That’s why we have to be more proactive.’ Sam could’ve sworn Dean pumped his hand in excitement but he blamed lack of sleep for his bleary eyes. Now he can’t be sure of anything anymore. ‘We need to talk to Bobby, see what his take is on this.’

‘Take down that perkiness a notch, will you?’ Sam growled as he tore himself from the warm bed and stumbled towards the bathroom. ‘At least until I get my coffee.’

Dean laughed as he sat on the vacant bed, sighing appreciatively at nothing in particular. He had woken up in high spirits, pumped up and ready to go. Maybe the new arrivals had something to do with it but he had never looked forward to a job as much as this. He leaned forward, his fingers stretched to grab his cell by the bedside table before punching in Bobby’s number. He swiped the bottled water from the same table and emptied half of it as he waited for his call to go through. ‘Hey Bobby. How’s it going, man? Where are you right now?’

‘Cashmere, Washington. I’m on a job here.’

‘What else would take you out of that auto shop you call home?’ Dean sniggered as he tossed the bottle on Sam’s bed.

‘A lil too early for sarcasm, don’t you think?’

Dean laughed at the dry tone. ‘What do you know about the Wrath of Ares? Ring any bells?’

‘Wrath of Ares?’ his voice turned sceptical. ‘No, never heard of it. What is it?’

‘That’s what we’re trying to find out. Can you ask around? Dig into that massive collection of yours?’

‘Sure, where are you right now?’

‘Just outside of Seattle.’

‘Why don’t you come down here? Three heads are better than one, if you ask me.’

‘Yeah, sure. We’ll be there. I’ll get the troupe ready.’

‘Troupe? What, you and Sam had your own groupie now?’

‘Uh... something like that. There’s a couple of people I want you to meet.’

‘Who?’ The sharp slice of suspicion stabbed through the line and Dean cringed.

‘You’ll see.’

‘This is not another stripper who thought she was being haunted by her pimp when all she had was a termite problem?’

‘No! And she was right to be scared. Termites are crazy bugs.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Bobby huffed. ‘You can never say no to girls in skimpy clothes.’

‘Bobby, these people really need our help.’

‘Fine, come down here and I’ll see what I can do.’

Dean slipped his cell back into his jacket, turning to the bathroom and sighed when he saw it was still closed. It’ll be at least another ten minutes before Sam will stagger out, functioning and less cranky, Dean estimated in his head. Not wanting to wait, he went outside and immediately saw that Alec was heading towards him, head down as he walked slowly across the ground.

‘Alec, hey!’

Alec’s head snapped to him and Dean made his way to the waiting man. The first thing he saw was the dark bags underneath Alec’s eyes and his tousled hair. He looked like hell.

‘Didn’t you get any sleep last night?’ Dean frowned, looking over the crumpled clothes.

‘No, not really.’

‘Don’t worry, man. We’ll find what you need and we’ll get you back.’ Dean was quick to put to rest what he assumed was the source of the younger man’s worries. ‘I just talked to Bobby, he’s one of the best hunters around so you’re in good hands.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ Alec nodded tiredly, his eyes sneaking towards his room.

‘The thing is, he’s in the middle of a job so we have to head down to Cashmere and then we’ll get down to business.’

‘Whatever you say.’

After hours of biting her nails, Max left her couch and started pacing. This was the first time she ever saw Alec so angry. He was usually so... laid back, everything slid off him. Sarcasm, anger, everything. He took pretty much everything she dished out with a smirk or a quick roll of his eyes. Not this time. She didn’t know what exactly set him off and since he wasn’t communicating, she didn’t know what else to do.

Alec was not talking to her, Max sulked, unconsciously crumpling the motel’s stationery. She couldn’t shut him up before but now she can’t even get him to say a word to her. After he left last night, she spent the trickling hours setting the carpet on fire with her pacing or chewing the cuticles off her fingers.

In just a year Alec had become an integral part of her life, whether she wanted it or not. He had smirked, clawed, and laughed his way into her life and now that he was not around... her nails dug into her palm. Can’t live with him, can’t live without him. No, she just needed to find out what was going on, what the hell was bothering him. Yes, first thing first.

Max snuffed the idea that he might be miffed at her and turned to the shower. If she didn’t get to use the hot shower, she’d be sinking her claws into him, just wait and see. ‘Men.’ Max huffed as she climbed into the waiting shower. Even with the pull of hot water, she was out, dressed and ready within ten minutes. It would be totally Alec of him to sneak in while she was in the shower. From what she had seen in the last few weeks, she wouldn’t put it past him.

But he hadn’t come back.

The room was as quiet as before and Max dropped onto the couch, somewhat deflated. Okay, so she couldn’t handle a pissed off Alec well. His fault really. He had made her accustomed to his easy going and laid back persona, she was out of her element here.

‘Yeah, sure.’

Her ears perked up. It was Alec.

‘The thing is, he’s in the middle of a job so we have to head down to Cashmere and then we’ll get down to business.’

His voice turned a notch deeper, without the tense strand weaving through each word but she discarded the thought in favour of a more dominant one. Alec was here. He was right outside.

‘Whatever you say.’

Her hand grabbed the doorknob and she pushed the door roughly. ‘Alec!’

Two heads snapped up and two identical pairs of eyes were fixed on her. ‘Oh.’ She was frozen, hand still on the door. Her dark eyes flicked from Alec to Dean. ‘Uh... you’re together.’

Damn it, she thought he was alone. She did not want to do this in front of his clone or twin or whatever.

‘Hey yourself. Ready to go?’ Dean asked, looking from her to Alec.

‘Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute.’ She aimed a scowl in Alec’s direction and disappeared into the room.

‘She’s not a morning person, huh?’ Dean asked with a raised brow.

‘You are not leaving.’

‘I have to Big Fella.’ He kept tossing his shirts into a small pile on the bed. ‘We need someone to make sure the trannies out there are doing okay. Plus, Fox is moving in today. I promised him that.’

‘Fox can come and stay with me. That’s not the issue here. Alec, you’re running away,’ Joshua shook his head sadly. It saddened him greatly to see his family reduced to these jagged individual pieces. ‘Both of you need to sit down and talk this bitch through.’

The burst of laughter that escaped him had nothing to do with humour. ‘We don’t do talks here, Josh. She screams, I yell, and it gets worse. At least she’s happy now. That’s something huh?’

‘Lil Fella is not happy.’ It came out closer to a growl but Alec just shrugged it aside and zipped his bag.

‘She should be, she’s getting married.’

The door closed on Joshua’s wide-stricken eyes.

The Impala’s engine rumbled to a stop when Dean turned the ignition off. His eyes glanced to his backseat passengers, both of them had been stonily silent throughout the entire journey. He studied them in his mirror, noticing how they both angled away from each other, especially Alec, who by the looks of it, was scrutinizing every single detail of the roadside and ignoring the scowling female occupant next to him.

When he pushed his door open, Max turned her frown to him. ‘Where are you going?’

‘Relax, Max. We’re at a gas station.’ He nodded at the almost deserted place. ‘So I’m going to get us some gas. If you’d rather push the car...?’

‘Go.’ Her scowl deepened as she turned to the silent man next to her.

Sam blinked when Dean’s door closed and he slowly pulled himself from the Impala’s window. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, feeling the hard knot in his neck, something he knew came from sleeping slumped against the window. He blinked again, taking in his surroundings and he stretched his long legs a bit, a second away from deep sleep but something caught his eyes. The sulking statues in the backseat. Something in their eyes pushed him to wakefulness and he sighed before he straightened his limbs.

‘Ookay, I’m gonna get some snacks. You guys want anything?’ He waited for a few seconds but there was no response from the backseat. Sam ran his hand through his hair, staring wishfully at his seat before he climbed out of the car and walked towards his brother.

The remaining duo was silent for a couple of minutes. Frigid silence was draped over the backseat as time crawled slowly by. Alec was still intent on counting the number of ants that were passing in front of them and then Max had enough of that.

‘Stop sulking like a girl and tell me why you’re not talking to me.’

‘Then what’s the point of me not talking to you?’

‘Damn it,’ she gritted her teeth. ‘What is wrong with you?’

‘Me? If something’s not right, it has to be me right? Every freaking time. Newsflash, princess. Maybe it’s you this time.’ He jerked the door open and exited.

Max reeled back her jaw and followed his angry form. ‘Okay, fine. Tell me what I did so I can apologize for it.’

‘You use me, Max. When it’s convenient for you to have me around, you let me hang around you like a besotted puppy. If you’re not in the mood to play, you kick me aside.’

Her mouth hung open again. What? She didn’t do that! The instant refusal nearly broke through when he turned and continued with his rant.

‘You wanted to punish your ex so you shoved me in the middle. Then when he’s all touch feely, you forgot about your fake boyfriend. I’m sure you didn’t even realize I wasn’t around, huh Max? For you, Alec is disposable. Use him and toss him when you’re done, right Max?’

‘That’s not true,’ she took a step back, her eyes were turning black in denial.

‘Don’t lie to me. You know it’s true,’ his shoulders hunched and he physically slumped forward.

But before she could lay a hand on him, he straightened and turned away from her. ‘I wouldn’t do that to you.’ She whispered but he didn’t hear her.

‘You know why I was so angry when you told Logan about us? When you said you were with me just to push him away? Remember that day, Max?’ He had started pacing, short angry steps in front of her.

‘Is this because of that?’ she frowned, ‘But you know why I had to do that. I had to...’

‘Stop, Max.’

The fire in his eyes stopped the words in her throat.

‘When you pushed me in Logan’s face I knew I meant nothing to you...’

‘That’s not...’ she blinked when suddenly he was right in front of her.

‘As a human being,’ his breath washed over her, ‘as a friend.’

She took a step back, a bit terrified of that unknown glint in his eyes and sucked in a gasp when her heel brushed against the wall. Before she could turned, he pushed past her personal zone, trapping her between his hands. ‘Or as a man.’

‘Alec, I...’

‘Which is a shame because since the first time I saw you, back in your cell at Manticore, I wanted to do this.’

The last thing she saw before his lips pushed against hers was the pain in his eyes and that was one of the reasons she didn’t automatically pushed him away. A heartbeat later she realized that it was Alec, Alec kissing her, touching her with his lips and his hands. Something fluttered along her spine, a warm drizzle of something and she realized that her hand had gripped his shirt and she was leaning into the kiss, instead of pushing him away like she was supposed to do.

Her breath hissed across thin air when he pulled himself away from her. Max forced her fingers to disentangle themselves from his jacket, unnerved by what had happened.

What had happened, by the way?

Alec had kissed her and she kissed him back? And what did he say just before he kissed her?

‘No, you’re lying.’ The whisper bounded over his back and he turned to her.

‘Yeah, I’m always the liar, aren’t I?’

‘No... you and me. We... we don’t do this. You can’t have feelings for me. You can’t!’

He grabbed the hand that was twisted around her jacket and forced the stiff fingers around his neck. Under her cold fingertips, she could feel the steady throb of his heartbeat. He moved closer to her and Max sucked in a gasp as she felt the soft swoosh of his breath. ‘I’m telling the truth,’ he said. Max stared unblinkingly into the twin green pools of his eyes. The steady beat of his heart and his fixed gaze told her that yes, he was telling her the truth. His impromptu lie detector worked.

‘Alec! Max! Guys?’ The shout broke the silence and the thread that bound them for the moment snapped. Alec turned to the sound of Dean’s voice and Max took the opportunity.

‘Here! We’re right here,’ she croaked, undecided on whether she was relieved or depressed that Dean was just around the corner.

Alec took a step back and the spell broke. Max leaned against the wall, her knees didn’t feel like they were capable of holding her up anymore. She stared at Alec’s back as he made his way to Dean, walking away from her. And she forced the sob that threatened to surface far, far away.

‘You are the reason I’m in this, Max. I love you. Please say you’ll marry me.’

Max nearly took a step back in horror. Marriage? To Logan? Now? She swallowed the bitter taste of fear and plunge dahead. ‘Logan, yes is not the word you’re going to hear today. I can’t marry you, not now. There’s too much happening right now. Too much, too soon.’ She did take a couple of steps back at that point. ‘How can I marry you when I can’t even touch you? Did you think of that?’

‘I want you to know how I feel, Max.’

The eyes behind the glasses pierced hers with their intensity and Max turned away, pushing papers into a haphazard pile. Much like what she was feeling right now.

‘I know marriage right now is not the best idea but after we find the cure and we win the War, I want you to give my proposal a serious thought.’

‘Yeah sure.’ She muttered, pushing the door open. God, she need some air right now. Even in her state of panicking, the first thing she saw was that everyone had their eyes on her. They were all staring, wide eyed and pale. ‘No one had anything else to do?’ They scattered and Max scowled at no one in particular. ‘Someone get me Alec dammit. I need to go over the details for tonight’s run.’

‘We’ve got the supply, Max. Alec decided to hit the place at dawn today. I thought you knew.’ Fox volunteered. Maybe he thought his boyband charm would make him immune to her death rays and razor-sharp tongue. ‘I’ve sent the stuff over to Med Bay. They’re checking it over right now.’

She gritted her teeth in fury. The Invisible Alec had done it again. ‘Fine, I’ll go and take a look.’  

Chapter 4: Cryptic Secret and Veiled Mystery

Max walked back to her office slowly. Her feet trudged across the familiar route, her body on autopilot, her mind a thousand miles away. She had raced to the Med Bay earlier, hoping she’ll catch him loitering around but no, he was nowhere near the area.

The guys in the Med Bay were puzzled and she could understand their feelings. Their leader had never made a point of dropping by during inventory and now that she was there, she couldn’t possibly leave without checking things first. Even during the debriefing, she could feel how her eyes wandered restlessly around. Looking, searching, wondering. After the longest hour of her life, she trudged back towards Command, her mind drifting off to their situation, rations, and Alec.

‘Hey Max!’ The urgency in the voice jerked her back to reality. Her head snapped towards the voice and she saw Dix waving at her across the room. ‘You have a video call. It’s Logan.’

‘Logan?’ she frowned. ‘But I just talked to him. He’s still around, right?’

‘He left about an hour ago. He said he had something for you. It’s urgent.’

‘Fine,’ she grabbed the earpiece and found herself face to face with Logan again. ‘Hey, what’s up?’

‘I didn’t get to say goodbye.’ Even with the connection and the gritty screen, she could see the soulful glint in Logan’s eyes.

‘So you called me for that?’ Max could feel the other trannies tense up and one by one they left the Command Center.

‘No, of course not. I mean...’ Logan took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry if I sprang it on you like that but...’

‘Logan, stop. I can’t deal with this right now. Do you have anything else you want to share?’ Max knew she was dishing out a serving of her temper left and right but for once, she didn’t care. Not even when Logan didn’t even bother to hide the hurt in his eyes.

Logan paused for a second before he sighed and shuffled his papers. ‘I may have found something. I was going through...’

‘Details,’ she interrupted.

‘Well, there’s a soothsayer that predicted the coming War almost twenty years ago. You might want to talk to her.’

‘You want me to talk to a soothsayer? Soothsayer, Logan?’

‘What do we have to loose?’ Logan leaned back in his chair, his fingers stapled in front of him.

‘What do you mean she predicted the coming War?’ Her voice was testy, her back as stiff as the table she was leaning against.

He straightened, his head down as he sorted through his papers. ‘I found this old manuscript supposedly written by this soothsayer. Listen to this.

When the dark mist descends upon the mortals

Earth divided in two, torn and bloody

When the snake faces the lion

Fangs on talons, blood will be spilled

And mortality will be wiped off

There’s more but that’s the only part that I can translate right now.’

‘Fine,’ she nodded tiredly. ‘I’ll check it out. And can you pass everything you have to Dix? I want my people to take a look at it.’

His eyes were troubled when he nodded hesitantly. ‘Be careful, Max.’

She didn’t say anything as she turned and walked out of Command.

The phrase “green-eyed monster” gives the impression that jealousy is green. But for him, green was the colour of peace. Of lush green meadows and fluttering treetops. Of fragile buds and intricate moss. Green is the colour of life.

If jealousy can be described by any colour, it should not be green. It is red.

The fire that crept by the minute, the flame that licked over him by day and simmered by night. It sizzled underneath his skin as he kept himself in the dark, watching from far. The red blade that sliced into him whenever he saw Logan and her together. He kept it in check, most of the time. Because one thing Manticore had succeeded in doing was turning him into a repressed freak. He was still able to be himself around her without raising suspicion, but then the rooftop catastrophe happened.

It felt like the switch that kept the bubbling red fury at bay fizzled at the sight of the latex PDA. And it turned him into an adolescent with his first crush. He’d lashed out in anger at her, with jagged silence as he avoided her with military precision that would’ve impressed his drill sergeant, and then stalking, pushing, shoving her into a corner, with his hands and his lips. His blood roared from his chest to his head as he gripped her, pulling her closer to him when his lips finally touched hers.

Was he punishing her when his hand circled her waist and held on fast? Or was he punishing himself when instead of pushing him away in disgust and rage, her fingers held on and she was kissing him back? The punisher had the tables turned on him.

Despite that, and even when his lips were still tingling with the taste of her, he surprised himself. He should have backed away, retreated, made fun of the situation, of her, so that she lashed back, the kiss forgotten in the face of anger. But no, he didn’t. At the sight of her dazed eyes, the brown pools of confusion, he didn’t know how to slip into his blank Manticore mask.

Truth trickled out of his lips in the face of her daze. He forced himself to walk away, knowing she was staring. Maybe unconsciously reprimanding her by leaving? Because for the first time, he knew what it meant to have his world toppled from its axis and he wanted her to have a slice of that too.

Alec was laughing.

It was as if he was already a part of the family, smiling, cracking jokes. He already had the look for it. Max’s brow knitted together in a furrow of resentment, the frown deepening when his gaze slid from her narrowed ones. So, he was back to doing the avoidance tango huh?

Less than an hour ago he was looking more tortured and ruffled than she had ever seen him and now he was laughing. Really laughing. She couldn’t even spot a hint of torment in those gold-green eyes of his. And that pissed her off.

Shouldn’t he pine or grovel or cry or just look plain miserable? She didn’t know what was normal in this sort of situation but he shouldn’t be happy...right? His lean body was sprawled over his side of the backseat, shoulders loose, eyes bright and shining, laughing about something or other with the brothers.

‘You guys must’ve seen a lot of stuff, being on the road and all.’ His tone was light, as if the question was thrown in without a thought. And that made her scowl deepen. If she knew Alec, he never did anything without thought. He was working something here.

‘Like you wouldn’t believe.’ There was a hint of tiredness in Sam’s voice.

‘Really? So what are ghosts really like? Pale girls with long matted black hair?’

Max’s eyes turned to Dean when he scoffed and a smirk tugged across his lips as he glanced at them through the rearview mirror. As Dean rambled on about the grossly misleading assumption of mainstream ghosts, she nonchalantly let her eyes slide to Alec, noting the cold gap that he purposely put between them.

She almost jumped when Alec suddenly interrupted. ‘That’s it? I’ve seen worse.’ He laughed, the bright flash in his eyes mocking her for some reason, digging deep into her.

One minute he was holding her like it was his last day to live and the next minute she was invisible.

‘Isn’t that so, Max?’

His voice snapped her from her thoughts and instinctively she turned to him but his eyes were on Sam, chuckling at something the younger brother had said. At that moment she realized that Alec hadn’t said anything, Dean had.

Ugh, awkward. Her stupid brain and its obsessive clinging to the sound of Alec’s voice.

‘Umm... what?’ What were they talking about again?

Then, of all people in the world, he scooped in to her rescue.

‘Come on Sam, tell me you’ve seen creepier stuff than that?’ The offhand question was tossed Sam’s way and she noticed the straightening of the younger Winchester’s shoulders. He was the logical one, she could tell. The thinker of the two. Something in his voice told her he was someone she could depend on at a time of crisis, the soothing tone of his voice maybe but there’s that stubborn tilt of his head that put her on edge. That and the subtle wave of something that shimmered just under his skin. Sam Winchester was no ordinary ghost hunter, the thought darted through her head.

The guy in mind pursed his lips and his eyes turned distant as he thought it over. ‘You forget to add the clown, dude.’

‘Clowns are not freaky, Sammy.’ Dean rolled his eyes. The Impala’s engine purred as it overtook a dawdling Sedan.

‘Did you conveniently forget about the killing part?’ Even half hidden behind his long hair, his eyes flashed brightly at his brother.  

‘Chill, man,’ Alec interrupted from the backseat and a few seconds passed before Sam’s tense shoulders dropped a notch. ‘Killer clowns huh? Sounds freaky but seriously, that’s the best you all got? On our normal day, we have to play hide and seek with a thousand year old breeding cult bent on world domination, wiping out all the human race, and wants us dead personally.’

Dean and Sam turned to look at each other, their brows crinkling in disbelief. ‘Breeding cult? What did they do? Keep on breeding?’ Dean sniggered and Sam rolled his eyes at his brother’s predictable reaction.

‘I apologize for my brother’s one-track mind. Sometimes it pains me to take him out of the house.’

Dean chuckled, the sarcastic bite that Sam dished out rolled off him like melted butter. ‘What did you guys do to get your ass chased? Stole their date to the annual cult prom or something?’

‘Nah. They just don’t like it that they’re not that uh... special anymore.’

In any other situation (and timeline) she would have chewed someone’s head off to be so blatantly ignored like this. The three guys had their little bromance thing going and pretty much forgotten that yeah, she was still in the car. But at a time when she was still frantically putting her mind together after Alec scrambled it into a thousand pieces with just one kiss, she welcomed the solitude. She would have kicked his ass for it, just that there wasn’t enough room for ass kicking in the car. So that had to wait and also because she needed the time to sift through the remains of her ruined thoughts. In a way, she was relieved for the timeout before someone probed it out of her. Sam maybe, he looked capable of probing. And yeah, Dean. Dean with his Alec-eyes and his Alec-voice.

But damn, what was she doing, thinking about Alec again? So, he said he wanted to kiss her. There’s... nothing peculiar about that. The guy was practically a tom cat. So he was lusting after her, that in itself couldn’t... shouldn’t mean anything, right? It’s not like he had feelings for her or something like that... right?

Max swiped the hint of disappointment away and forced the anger to grow. Yeah, anger was an emotion that was easier for her to handle. She blinked when the car stopped and everyone stepped out.

‘Where are we?’ she was frowning as she pushed the door, climbing out of the car with impatience. The watery winter sun felt good on her skin but she didn’t let that distract her.

‘Welcome to Cashmere! Bobby should be here, let me call him first.’ Dean flipped his cell open and Sam was already heading towards the reception area. A few seconds later, Dean took a few steps away, talking quietly into his phone.

Max’s eyes narrowed when she realized that she was left alone with Alec and that he didn’t seem all that happy about it.

‘Alec,’ she forced any doubt out of her voice. ‘We need to talk.’

‘I think we talked enough.’

She didn’t notice the tightening around his shoulders as she had kept her eyes locked with his, too preoccupied with the blank hazel gaze.

It irritated him that she’s suddenly so pushy. That was his role, prying something out of an unsuspecting Max. He knew what she wanted though, for him to say nothing had happened earlier. One thing he knew about her, was Max and change do not mix. It was sadly predictable of Maxie. But he wouldn’t deny it had ever happened. Getting it out of his chest, telling it to her face felt... good.

There was that possibility that she’ll shove his ass back to the future for it and he could see how she was bidding her time, getting more and more steamed while they were still in the car. Her muscles were all tense, one hand gripping her hip, jaw clenched as she held his gaze. Yup, the perfect image of Max in denial.

‘I’ve said everything that I need to. There’s nothing else to say, Max.’

A gust of air hissed past her thin lips at the dry, almost blunt tone. Her eyes sharpened instantaneously when he walked past her and without thinking her hand lashed out and she seized his arm, stopping him in mid-step. ‘Alec...’

‘Bobby said it’ll take him a couple of hours to...’ Dean stared at them silently, his words trailing into nothingness, eyes narrowed at the way her hand was clutching Alec’s arm before he spoke. ‘Is everything okay?’

Max turned to Dean but she kept her hold on Alec’s arm. ‘Can you give us...’

‘Everything’s cool,’ Alec interrupted and Max tightened her hold on him. Hell no. But Alec had gotten good at ignoring her by now. ‘And look, there’s Sam.’

The other two turned as one and he yanked his arm free before taking a couple of steps away. Max’s hair slapped the side of her face as she turned to him, her scowl in place to find that he had gotten loose. Damn, did they put eel in his cocktail or what?

‘I have our rooms. Is Bobby here yet?’ The younger brother spoke, the last question undoubtedly for his brother. Before Dean could answer, Sam stopped walking, his head to one side as he surveyed the three individuals in front of him, picking up some invisible tension thrumming in the air. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing man,’ Alec shrugged. ‘Hey, can I bunk in with you guys today? Let’s give the girl some privacy.’

Sam’s eyes, a darker shade of hazel than his brother’s, narrowed as they flicked between Alec, Max, and Dean, his brow crinkling in suspicion. Before he could say a word, a small hurricane the size of Max blasted in front of him.

‘I don’t think so. Give me the key.’

It wasn’t the glower that propelled Sam to toss one of the keys into her hand or the fire lapping over her dark eyes. He’d seen way too much in his life to just blindly follow an order thrown at him but there was something about this small girl that didn’t allow him much room for protest. He stared openly, a bit sorry for Alec when she grabbed his sleeve and bodily dragged him to their designated room.

‘Hey, come on! There’s no need for violence.’

‘Shut up and keep those feet moving.’

‘What’s that about?’ Sam turned to his brother.

Dean had gotten over his shock apparently and Sam could see the hint of a smirk hovering over his brother’s lips. ‘Who knows? Foreplay?’

‘Dude, you gotta lay off the porn.’

Dean just laughed as he started walking. ‘Whatever, man. But those two kids are a freakin’ daytime soap on legs.’

‘Yeah. What did Bobby say?’

‘He needs a couple of hours to finish what he’s doing and then he’ll meet us here.’

A young woman was walking slowly, head bent as she rummaged inside her handbag. Her lips muttering something as her fingers went through the objects, looking for something in particular. Her black wavy hair fell down below her shoulders and into her eyes, a glinting gray in the late evening sun, as she continued to sift through the contents of her purse. A few seconds later she extracted a shrieking phone and flipped it open. ‘Yeah,’ she said breathlessly.

‘Just reminding you, girl. You’re expected back at eight. Sharp.’

‘I know,’ the girl rolled her eyes. ‘It’s only a few minutes past four. Relax Elsa.’

‘If they know you’re out for a fortune cookie, they’d skin you alive, girl.’

‘What I do on my own time is my business. They can’t do anything about it.’ She placed the cell in between her shoulders and her ear before shoving everything back into her bag. She’ll have to sort everything out later. ‘God, Elsa. I need some me-time after all those things we did there.’

‘I know. I’m just checking up on you Kris,’ Elsa sighed at the other end of the line. ‘Please, get your ass back here before eight, okay? I’m nervous and that is not good. Just remember, twenty hundred, on the dot.’

‘Affirmative,’ she laughed before she tossed the phone back into her bag. Kris took a minute as if to reassure herself that she was on the right track before she took the right turn. People passed her left and right, chattering and laughing as they walked slowly to their destination. She took another right turn and her face blanked in surprise before irritation flooded in. The red square sign read CLOSED and Kris huffed. Great, the fortune teller was closed.

She blew a day off for nothing. Mumbling under her breath, Kris spun and was about to walk away when someone grabbed hold of her elbow.

‘Excuse me, miss.’

She took a step back, startled by the unseen move. ‘What...?’ Then she saw on old man with stringy white hair and piercing eyes. She couldn’t take her eyes off the dazzling metallic glint there. ‘Can I help you?’

‘No, let me help you,’ he smiled at her. ‘Are you here for a reading?’

The tension bled out of her instantly and she laughed. ‘Yeah but it’s closed today. The store I mean.’

‘I can help you with that. Why don’t we find a place to sit?’

Ten minutes later, he was holding her palm. ‘I prefer this instead of cards. Do you have any problem with that?’

‘Fine... it’s fine,’ Kris waved his worry away. ‘What do I have in store for me this week? Anything good?’

‘What you’re doing right now... it can, no, it will change the future. In more ways than one.’

‘Really?’

‘You will save the present and the future, and for some, the past.’

‘Wait! I will do what?’  

He trailed a finger down a faint line on her palm. ‘It’s all written here. The future is in your hands.’

‘Wow, I usually just hear about money or guys,’ she laughed uncomfortably, now frowning into her own palm. ‘This is deep.’

‘You’ll meet one... guy today. The sire of the future Warrior. You need to steer him towards his legacy.’

For some reason, the spark in his eyes bothered her. ‘Yeah?’

‘In helping him, he’ll show you the path to fulfill your destiny.’

‘You’re very good at this Jedi mind-game, mister. I have goose bumps all over.’ She held out her arm for him to see.

He stared at her solemnly. ‘Good luck, Krista Bancroft.’

‘Hey... hey... HEY!’ he tried to slap her hand away but she just grabbed him a little harder, tightening her hold on him.

‘You’re not slipping away this time,’ she glared, hauling him behind, ‘Alec.’

‘What do you think you’re... ow.’ He rubbed his arms before climbing to his feet. ‘I’m gonna forget that you just shoved me into a table and walk out of here.’

‘Really?’ A scowling Max stood in front of the door, both hands on her hips, legs apart. ‘You kissed me and then you’re off on your merry way? You want me to forget it ever happened? I don’t think so.’

‘That’s not what...’

‘No, you listen to me!’ Max’s anger was apparent, the steam of her fury was rising off her small frame slowly. ‘I’m done with you walking out on me.’

Alec took a couple of steps towards her, his hand out, his eyes locked on hers as he crossed the room. ‘Dammit Max, for once can you listen...’ All he could see was her eyes, sparkling with something that looked like fury. That was why he didn’t see it coming. Her fist, her small really fast fist that knocked the air out of his lungs. Then it was the painful gasp that wrestled its way out of his heaving ribs.

‘You don’t kiss me and then walk out on me.’

‘That’s not,’ he regained his footing and shoved her out of the room before she could land another punch on him, ‘what happened.’

He blurred into the deserted parking lot, away from potential weapons she could grab and use on him. But when he turned, she was right on his tail. He blocked her kick with his arm and winced, the stitches she put in earlier ripped by the impact. He crouched and tried to swipe her legs but she jumped and flipped over his head. Before she landed, she twisted in midair and kicked him, right above the shoulder blade and as he stumbled forward, she landed on the ground, her breath hitched, her dark eyes locked on his figure.

He took a moment before he launched himself at her. Max’s teeth gritted, fist in front of her, ready for his move. A few feet away, he blurred and suddenly he was behind her, his arms locked around her hands. She growled, knowing he had her immobilized.

‘That’s not what happened,’ his breath brushed a few tendrils of hair from her face. ‘I would never kiss you and then... walk away.’

‘And yet here we are. I had to practically kick your ass to the ground before I can talk to you.’ She hissed.

‘You’re doing it again. Twisting everything I say.’ He shook her a little and she struggled in retaliation. But his hold on her was tight and there was no room to wriggle out. That left one way then.

She lifted one foot high and kicked him, right on the kneecap. He yelled out as he lost his balance and toppled backwards. Max took the opportunity to twist around and out of his grasp. As he fell backwards, she flipped and straddled his chest.

There was a small smile flickering over her lips as she leaned down. ‘Let’s see you wriggle your way out of this.’

‘It is so easy to hate you sometimes,’ he snarled, his knee still throbbing from the impact.

Max smoothed her features forcibly, wiping off the bitterness at his sharp words. ‘Whatever. It’s not like your opinion matters to me,’ she tossed out in retaliation.

Something flashed in his eyes, a hot streak of something before it dulled into nothingness. Max clamped on the burst of distress guiltily.

‘What’s going on here? What the hell just happened?’

Dean’s voice sliced through the shimmering veil that surrounded the two of them and they both turned to his voice. Her knees were gripping the sides of his chest, her hands still on his shoulders but her eyes were fixed on the brothers. Suddenly it was like they were tossed on the opposite sides of a fight, hostile opponents eyeing each other’s flaws.

The four of them were still, shocked into silence. Their chests were heaving, eyes wide, muscles ready for confrontation.

Dean was heading towards their room, Sam walking beside him when a loud crash grabbed his attention. Out of habit, they both turned and raced towards the sound but something stopped them dead on their tracks. Just in front of them, a blur of colours streaked past.

‘What…?’ Dean’s surprise huffed out of thin lips. Sam’s hand was an inch over the gun he stashed in his jacket when the blurs merged into the figures of Max and Alec. Dean saw Sam’s movement from the corner of his eyes, his disbelief was apparent when his hand stilled over his coat but Dean’s own eyes were fixed on the two forms across the parking lot.

Their image was solid for a heartbeat before it stretched into blurry streaks of nothingness. Dean felt his eyes rooted in place, eyes narrowed as his brain tried to comprehend what he was seeing. He saw the swift swoosh of Max’s leg, barely heard the dull thud as it hit Alec’s arm before both of them shimmered out of his view.

Then Alec was crouching, his moving feet too fast for Dean to catch but he saw Max jump and flip over his head. Dean knew he was good, he had been in too many fistfights to count, he could say he was very good at it, but these two strangers from the future... he didn’t know what to think.

Both of them moved with an almost inhuman grace. Their movement was a fluid stretch of muscles as they flowed from one move to the other. He could feel the awe rising from him as they continued to avoid and thrust, as their figures blurring before they snapped into the two fighting combatants.

Sam had never seen anything like it. His hand twitched over his jacket, once before they stilled as his eyes tried their hardest to keep track of the blurry shape of limbs and bodies. They were not human, obviously, but still, he was hesitant to do anything about it.

As they kicked, swiped, and jumped, the mere seconds that he was able to see them, he noticed the smoothness of their movements before they blinked out of focus again.

‘What’s going on here?’ Dean called out and Sam realized he had been holding his breath while watching them blur in and out of his vision. Both of them turned rigid, as stiff as mannequins. No, not quite because he could see how their muscles twitched and trembled with the effort of stopping in mid-swing. ‘What the hell just happened?’

‘How did you do that?’ Sam pushed forward, noticing that Max’s fingers clenched tightly over Alec’s jacket for a second before she rose to her feet.

‘Do what? Fight? You don’t have to be a genius to kick some ass.’

Alec jumped to his feet and straightened his disheveled clothing with a scowl but Max was ignoring him now.

‘No, when you’re fighting, there were times when I can’t even see you.’ Sam shook the cobwebs of confusion away, his fingers now clasped over the butt of his gun.

‘Hey man, chill. Let go of the gun.’

‘Or what?’ Dean asked, one brow raised. He stood watching them, both hands by his side, his face wiped clean of any emotion.

‘Or this.’ Alec blurred to Sam, grabbed the gun, emptied the shells and tossed the gun back to Sam. His bullets were just hitting the ground when Alec was already back by Max’s side.

Sam blinked, then his eyes widened when he realized what had just happened. ‘How did you do that?’

‘Look, we’re not here to kill you. And I appreciate it if you could return the favour.’ Max took a wary step forward. ‘And why did you look like you’ve never seen anyone blur before? Which facility were you from?’

‘I got the impression that both of you owe us one big detailed explanation cuz I have no freakin’ idea what you’re talking about.’ Dean nodded towards their room. ‘Let’s start from the beginning. The very beginning.’

His bag was slung carelessly across one shoulder as he walked quickly towards the front gate. He had dropped in at Command earlier and pulled Mole to one side. After hearing what Alec had said, the Lizard Man’s face had clouded over. ‘You’re ditching us, pretty boy.’

‘No Mole. I’m going out to get you more people to play with. Or boss around... whatever you want. I’ll send all of them your way, don’t worry.’ The smile felt fake and he knew he’s not fooling anyone, let alone Mole.

‘What did that Ordinary do to you? Exo-skeleton or not, I’ll march right now and kick his sorry behind.’

Alec laughed at the fury on his friend’s face. ‘I don’t need you to slay me any dragons, pumpkin. I can fight my own battles. And no ass kicking, Max will kill you first.’

‘What the Ice General thinks doesn’t bother me.’

‘It should. She’s your Commanding Officer.’

‘Enough with the preaching,’ Mole gritted his cigar between tense jaw. ‘Tell me something, princess. You had enough of the love triangle and decide to bail? I thought you were a fighter, not a quitter.’

‘That’s not it, Mole.’

‘But for some reason, you feel like leaving.’

‘Something like that. Can you tell Joshua I said goodbye? I can’t find him anywhere.’

‘Alec...’

But he turned and forced himself to walk away. He was checking his bike over when he heard someone shout his name. ‘Alec! Wait up, man.’ Fox rushed towards him, his hair flapping over his clear blue eyes. ‘You’re gonna go with Max, right? I don’t like it that he sends her off without backup.’

‘I’m... what? Who’s going without backup?’

‘Max.’ There’s a hint of red rising high over his cheeks like he had blurred all the way from Command. ‘Logan called earlier. Told her he has a lead and wants her to check it out.’

‘Nothing new there,’ he just shrugged, turning back to his bike. ‘When Logan said fetch, Max just wagged her little tail.’

‘No, listen. He wants her to find a soothsayer so I did a background search. The last time this soothsayer’s name popped up was before the Pulse, and it’s attached to a mental asylum. I don’t know what kind of Intel Logan has but something doesn’t feel right. Whether she wants to be or not, she’s our CO and I can’t let her charge headfirst into anything without backup.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I don’t know what’s going on with the two of you but you need to know this.’ And do something about it, Alec could read that plainly in Fox’s eyes. Under the laidback surfer’s mask, he could see the trained soldier resurfacing.

Alec was silent for a full minute, a myriad of expressions chasing itself across his face. Fox’s distress struck something within him.  ‘Damn it. Do you have her location?’

Fox thrust a crumpled piece of paper into Alec’s hand. ‘This is what he gave her. Get her back, Alec.’

Chapter 5: Obscure Salvation and Coming War

Kris made her way out of a diner, frowning as she noticed the darkening sky. She glanced at her wrist, noting that she still had time for a leisurely stroll, a long walk that’ll give her the chance to clear her head. Yes, a long walk, that was definitely what she needed, even if it looked like it was about to pour soon. After meeting the old fortuneteller, she was restless. She didn’t know what to think about everything that she had been told. Saving the world? She’s no superhero and she didn’t know if she was ready for the responsibility. And for the first time she knew what Elsa meant when she tried to talk her out of her routine weekly dose of fortune telling.

Elsa, Kris sighed remorsefully, if she shared this with Elsa, she was sure her friend would scoff it off. Unlike her, her friend had science flowing in her veins. She on the other hand, wasn’t so uptight about her beliefs. Kris liked to think that she had the best of both worlds, but as of right now, she didn’t know what to make of the other one.

‘Hey,’ someone tapped her shoulder and she turned, a second passed by before she realized that she had a glinting knife pointed in her face.

‘Wha...’

‘Give us everything you have.’ Even in the dim lighting, the man’s shaved head glinted and the flash ignited her terror.

‘I don’t have anything,’ she replied, her face turning white. Her gray eyes were frozen against the cold eyes of her assailant, her fingers gripping the strap of her handbag as she took one terrified step back.

He grabbed her bag and she shrieked when another man appeared, her fear escalated when she could feel the sharp tip of his knife on her back.

‘Thanks for this, Miss.’ The man with the shaved head leered and she cowered backwards.

‘Don’t hurt me. Take it and just go.’

‘Hey, give the girl her stuff back.’

Kris didn’t dare to turn but from the corner of her eyes, she could see a young man standing at the end of the alley. A black leather jacket draped his tall wiry frame. He was squinting, one hand shading his eyes from the late afternoon sun.

‘This is not your business. Scat, boy.’

He ignored the dismissal and moved closer towards them. ‘I can’t walk away and pretend you’re not harassing this lady.’

‘Get lost, freak.’ One of them flashed his knife but when he didn’t move, the robber rushed in, knife in front of him. The man spun to avoid the knife, his elbow lashing out towards the robber’s face. He yelled, holding his nose, blood spurting from between his fingers. His knife cluttered on the sidewalk, forgotten in the face of the fiery pain. His bald partner ran towards them, his own blade in hand.

The young man ducked but he was grabbed from behind and they rolled on the ground. He grunted as he disentangled himself and after a punch and a kick, the two robbers scattered. ‘You okay?’ He bent to retrieve her bag and held it out to her.

‘Yeah, thanks.’

Suddenly he flinched, clutching the side of his abs. ‘Oh man, I hate it when that happens.’

‘Are you okay?’ She rummaged through her bag, drew out her handkerchief and handed it to him.

He pressed it to his side for a while and she moved closer. ‘Let me see.’ She peered closely as she dabbed at the cut. ‘It’s a very shallow cut, just a scratch. He must’ve nicked you in the tussle. Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll sport any permanent damage.’

‘Good to hear,’ he laughed.

She fumbled through her bag again before she drew out a band-aid. ‘A good thing I listened to my mom, huh?’ She lifted the side of his shirt before smoothing the plaster over his cut. ‘Never go out without adequate first aid kit.’

‘Thanks and you know what they say... moms are always right.’

‘I’m Kris,’ she held out her hand and his hazel eyes were amused as she gripped his hand.

But before he could say anything, a small bundle of coat and a messy mop of hair rushed in. ‘Hey Dean, you okay? What’s going on?’

They turned as a boy ran towards them. ‘My little brother, Sam.’ Dean rolled his eyes, the universal gesture of an annoyed older sibling.

‘Hey, I’m fourteen, not four,’ the younger brother, Sam, scowled. ‘There’s no need to be so condescending. I heard shouting, what happened?’

‘Nothing I couldn’t handle. Do you need us to drop you somewhere, Kris?’

‘No, no. I’m good.’ Kris shook her head. ‘My car is just over there.’

‘Okay then. Be careful,’ he nodded at her and Sam waved. ‘Let’s go, squirt.’

After they disappeared, Kris stared at the bloody handkerchief, still clutched tightly in her hand. She shuddered before she crammed it into her bag and rushed towards her car.

The door closed with a loud click and Max winced at the resounding sound. She didn’t have to turn to know that both brothers didn’t look too pleased. Like that was her fault. In front of her, Alec walked soundlessly ahead, showing no sign that she just totally kicked his ass earlier.

‘Take a seat, I know this’ll take a while.’ Dean’s dry voice bounded over their backs and they turned to face him.

‘Look, we’re not sent from the future to kill you. I must’ve said that like a million times by now. Will you just chill and let it go already?’

‘Yeah, then it’ll be totally T-1000 of you.’

‘What?’ Max’s perplexed face met the brothers’ blank ones. ‘Is that a model of an oven or something? What does that have to do with anything?’

‘Terminator, it’s a movie. Didn’t they have reruns of that movie? Sequels, prequels, remake of the movie or whatever?’ the younger brother suddenly perked up. ‘Or a tv series. I heard they’re doing a series.’

‘Sorry,’ Alec shrugged, ‘We were too busy fighting for our lives to go catch a movie.’

‘Okay,’ Sam took a deep breath, they had been distracted long enough. ‘Max... Alec... What...uh, who are you?’ Sam decided to butt in and get the party started. His brother was leaning against the door broodingly, as if baring anyone from leaving before he was satisfied with everything. Sam knew that hooded gaze well and for once he was glad it wasn’t aimed at him.

Max and Alec were silent for a few seconds before Max asked. ‘You’re not Manticore?’ The way she said it made it sound more like a statement than a question.

‘And what is Manticore?’ Sam replied, his hip against the counter, hands crossed over his chest. Across the room, his brother was in the same pose. ‘Let’s start with that first.’

Max turned to Alec and from his face she could see he was struggling with himself on whether to share knowledge or not with the opposing party. ‘We have to. We need their help, remember?’

He nodded tautly but he didn’t look like he was happy with it, ‘Okay.’

‘We were bio-engineered in a secret government lab, created by Manticore to be the perfect soldier.’

‘Huh,’ Dean’s lips twitched. ‘I didn’t see that one coming, not in a million years.’

‘It’s real, believe it. There’s a mini us running drills somewhere even as we stand here arguing about it.’ Alec’s sardonic voice silenced the two brothers for a few seconds before Sam spoke up. Max nodded to herself. Yup, he was the thinker of the two.

‘There’s a secret facility somewhere that created super soldiers? Like Superman, super soldiers?’

‘Now that you put it like that, it kinda sounds crazy but yeah, there is.’

‘Oh-kay. So that means you’re not human.’ Sam’s eyes turned to slits.

‘We’re human...with a lil tweaking.’ Alec rebuffed Sam’s accusation with a tilt of his head.

‘He prefers genetically empowered though,’ Max chirped.

‘And what makes you think we’re one of your Manticore alumni?’

‘They cloned us, so most of us have twins. And when we saw Dean, we just assumed you were one of us,’ she shrugged.

‘Dude, this is weird.’ Sam turned to Dean but his brother didn’t say a word, his eyes were fixed on the super-soldiers from the future. He felt Sam’s gaze on him and when he turned away, Sam could see a flicker of something sputter out in his brother’s eyes. ‘And what did Manticore have to do with the Wrath of Ares?’

‘Nothing, not that we know of. Manticore has been gone for over a year now, we torched it to the ground ourselves. After that, we found out that Manticore was founded by a former member of the cult. It’s a long complicated story,’ Max shrugged again. ‘They want to wipe us and everyone else off the face of the earth and apparently the only thing that can stop them is this Wrath of Ares thing, whatever that is.’

‘And you can’t get that from your own time?’

‘Who knows? The old guy did say the cruel current has wiped it from existence.’

‘The cruel current has wiped it from existence? Wait, do you think the Pulse had anything to do with that?’ Alec suddenly interrupted.

‘It’s possible. He did send us before the Pulse happens.’ Max said slowly as she started to see everything in a new angle.

‘And I thought he was just some crazy old guy.’

Dean opened his mouth to say something when his phone rang. He frowned at the caller ID before he took the call. ‘Bobby? What’s up, man?’

‘Where are you?’

‘Cashmere. We just got here.’

‘Good. Can you swing by right now? I need a couple of extra hands.’

Dean’s frown deepened at Bobby’s harassed tone. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I will be.’

‘We’re on our way.’ He turned to three expectant faces. ‘Let’s go, we need to move. Bobby needs us.’

The sun was a shining ball of light in the clear sky but as they got out of the car, Max drew her jacket closer around her. It was a little hard getting used to the fact that it was summer one day and suddenly you’re tossed into late winter the next. She scanned her surroundings silently, noticing the lack of people. She could see a number of cars, quite a few actually, parked haphazardly around the warehouse but beyond that, the place was deserted.

‘Where’s your friend? I don’t see anybody around.’

‘He must be around back. You guys stay here first, I’ll go find him.’ Dean’s hand made distracted circles in the air before he turned and Sam followed him without a word. ‘What do I tell Bobby?’ he muttered vaguely and gulped when he saw the older man’s car.

‘The truth dude, what else?’

Bobby’s head was deep inside his trunk, it was obvious that he was looking for something. He heard their footsteps and straightened. ‘Good, you’re here. We’re dealing with...’

‘Wait, man,’ Dean inhaled deeply. ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘Later, we...’

‘No, listen. Whatever happens next, just remember this. He’s no shifter and they’re not demonic in any way.’

‘Is he making sense to you?’ Bobby turned to Sam but the latter just shrugged.

‘If I had no idea what he meant, then no.’

‘Just keep that in mind, Bobby,’ Dean was frowning. ‘Not a shifter and nothing supernatural about them, okay?’ Then he turned and yelled. ‘Hey guys, over here!’

Bobby’s eyes widened when he saw Alec walking towards them. Instinctively, his fingers moved towards his gun but Dean gripped the older man’s hand. ‘They’re cool, Bobby. We went through the silver gun and holy water routine already. They passed.’

‘But...’

‘They’re from the future.’

‘Future? You mean he’s your...’

‘Yup, they’re both from the future,’ Dean interrupted hurriedly, flicking a wary look at the newcomers. ‘Hey, you’re here! Max, Alec, meet Bobby. Bobby... Max and Alec.’

Bobby offered a hand but his eyes were on Alec. ‘You hunters?’ His eyes ran a quick glance over the girl but they flitted back to the eerily familiar young man.

‘Nope, sorry. But we’re good at beating up people and ass kicking.’

‘Hm...’ Bobby stared for a few seconds more before he turned back to his trunk and tossed each of them a weapon. ‘I called you because I can’t do this alone. There’s too many of them.’

‘What are we up against?’

‘The flesh eaters.’

‘Zombies?’

‘They’re not dead, yet. Arophis is an ancient spirit and those he possessed will be consumed with deep hunger and end up tearing out chunks of flesh to ease the pain of the hunger. Other people’s flesh or their own...they’re not picky.’

‘Rougarous? I thought we’d taken care of that.’

‘This is different. They have no problem stripping their own flesh off if they run out of victims. And it doesn’t have to run in the family.’

‘The night of the living dead. This sounds like it comes straight out of a horror flick.’ Alec remarked, studying the machete he was holding.

‘Where do you think Hollywood got the idea for a zombie movie? From their imagination?’ Bobby huffed. ‘They wouldn’t know creativity if it was dancing with a pineapple head in front of them. They took a real situation and turned it into a movie.’

‘Interesting.’ Alec shrugged when he felt their eyes on him. ‘Sorry, do continue.’

‘The spirit can only be contained in the skull of his first kill and some stupid high school kids busted the skull out of a museum and released the spirit.’

‘Kids,’ Dean snorted. ‘So what do we do?’

‘This spirit can possess multiple bodies at the same time. From what I can gather, anyone who touches the skull will be infected.’

‘By infected, you mean what?’

‘They’ll eventually turn into a flesh eater. The first few hours after the initial touch, there are no visible physical changes. But they’ll experience paranoia, pure rage and all the other messed up emotions, and anything and everything will set them off. There’s a huge Arophis inspired bar brawl happening even as we speak.’

‘They’ll get crazy and start beating each other up?’

‘Yeah. I can’t get into an Arophis fueled fight and expect to do the cleansing ceremony undisturbed.’

‘So how do we fix this?’

‘There’s a spell to trap the spirit back into the skull but it’s time consuming. We need time to prepare the skull and avoid getting bashed up in the process.’

‘So we’ll keep them out of your hair and you do whatever you need to do. And why did you give me this again?’ Alec heaved his machete up.

‘If it gets out of hand, you have something to defend yourself with,’ Bobby looked as if the people from the future had lost their senses.

‘But we just need to knock them out?’ Max turned to the hunters. ‘There’s no need to shed any blood?’

‘Yeah, if they didn’t shed any of yours first. After we trap the Arophis, they’ll go back to normal.’

‘Then we won’t be needing this,’ Alec threw his weapon down and Max’s long knife cluttered to the ground as well.

‘If you’re sure,’ Dean stared at them with a frown. ‘Sam, you stick with Bobby. I’ll give these two a hand.’

‘Nope, there’s no need. Alec and I will take care of the screaming masses. You go and do whatever you have to do.’

‘Awesome, let’s do this.’

He was always the SIC. It seemed like X5-301 had been born into the role, even back when such roles hadn’t been delegated yet. He was the one everyone came to; the younger ones for comfort and the older ones for advice. When his unit was shuffled and ranks handed out, being Second was practically tailor-made for him.

His CO in his first unit was a typical soldier, with his snap fire decisions and even quicker temper. He was a fifty year old General trapped in a ten year old transgenic body, which was what 301 had always thought. His easy personality was the perfect compliment to his CO’s more explosive traits. Diplomacy was something he practiced from a very young age. But that was already ancient history and he never brooded on past tidings.

‘Hey, Blondie!’

Fox sighed and turned to face the owner of the voice. He’ll need every ounce of diplomacy while dealing with him. ‘What?’

‘Did you get him?’

‘Yeah Mole. I did.’

‘So he’s on it?’

Fox studied the lines of Mole’s face, carefully smoothed out of any expression. Years of watching people and he knew there was a lot the Lizard Man had kept to himself. His worry for others for starters. ‘Definitely. He does care for her, you know.’ He chose his words deliberately, watching Mole’s expression closely.

Mole huffed, his cigar dangling precariously from his lips. ‘You X-Series give in too much into your human emotions. We wouldn’t lose our CO and our Second if they kept the angst fest to a minimum.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘I don’t like how things are turning out.’

‘You think you’re the only one?’

‘What are you gonna do about it?’ Mole countered and the harsh lines of his profile hardened.

‘I should have gone with them.’

‘It’s not too late, Blondie. They need you to not kill each other and we need you to get their ass here in one piece. Think you can handle that?’

‘Is that a challenge?’

‘Take it any way you want to. I just want them back...alive.’

‘You got it, Mole.’

It was utter chaos when they entered the warehouse. People were screaming and snarling as they jumped on each other, fists and legs flying all over the place. Suddenly, the noise level in the warehouse dropped for a second before it hitched right back up. The kids just realized they had company.

‘Here goes,’ one of the hunters muttered but Max and Alec were already ahead, leaving a trail of groaning and unconscious bodies in their path.

‘What are you waiting for? Go!’ Max yelled out and they scrambled to the end of the warehouse.

They both ducked and punched their way towards the skull with Max and Alec clearing a way for the hunters to move. Amidst the confusion, the three of them crouched around the skull. It was left unattended in a corner of the warehouse. Bobby was already pulling a worn book out of his jacket before he thrust a piece of paper to Sam. ‘Draw this.’

Sam quickly went to work, frowning as he scrutinized the complicated diagram before he copied it on the floor. Dean reached out for the skull but his hand stilled in surprise when Bobby spoke suddenly.

‘Careful!’ he snapped, ‘Don’t touch it with your hand, that’s how the infection starts. Didn’t you hear anything I told you earlier?’

‘Relax,’ his hand slipped into a bag by his side and he snapped on a pair of gloves. ‘I come prepared. Aren’t we working on a time frame?’

‘They have less than an hour before the second phase starts.’

‘Second phase?’

‘They start changing physically.’

‘Ew,’ Dean shuddered, ‘Draw faster, Sammy.’

‘I’m doing it.’ Sam didn’t even lift his head. ‘Stop breathing down my neck.’

‘So what now?’ Max plopped beside them. On the floor, Alec punched the last snarling boy in the face and walked towards them. The boy twitched for a few seconds before he was still.

For some reason, Dean was annoyed that they didn’t even seem out of breath. It was like punching the lights out of fifty plus enraged and possessed high school kids was a breeze. Bobby blinked at the suddenly quiet warehouse. ‘That was fast. Very fast.’

‘That’s us. Fast workers,’ Max shrugged as Alec crouched beside her. They both peered over Sam’s shoulder. ‘I thought this was a major catastrophe but there’s still time for doodling?’

‘We need to complete the diagram before we can start the spell.’

‘Why don’t we just find a doctor?’ Max frowned. ‘Or a technician...or a scientist to figure this out?’

‘This is a supernatural problem and can only be solved by supernatural means.’

‘I mean, does it even work? You know...drawing and chanting.’ Her frown deepened.

‘Of course it’ll work. We’re the best there is.’

‘Yeah, but you know...It’s...’ Max flailed around, trying to put her confusion into words.

‘What she’s trying to ask is how a piece of chalk and a Latin song can do anything for those people sprawled over there?’

‘You need an open mind for this.’

‘Oh, we have a pretty open mind. Remember the bio-engineered, genetically spliced part?’

‘Genetically what?’ Bobby interrupted.

‘Long story, we’ll fill you in later.’

‘I’m done,’ Sam announced, rubbing his stiff neck.

Dean gingerly placed the skull in the middle of the diagram and Bobby started on the spell. Max shrugged her shoulders at Alec and they hung back, watching the ceremony silently. As Bobby spoke, the two transgenics realized that there was a subtle change in the air. Like someone had draped a cloth over them, cutting off the light around them.

Then, from the fallen kids, they saw a sliver of shadow floating over the bodies before it surged upwards and merged into a black cloud. Bobby’s voice grew louder as Dean and Sam joined in.

Max felt her breath stuck around a large knot in her throat as the dense cloud hovered before it raced towards the skull. Alec could hear a high pitch shriek when the cloud passed over his head. Without thinking, he pushed Max to the ground, covering her with his body. The shriek continued as the skull seemed to suck in the black matter. When the cloud was gone, the skull seemed to glow for a second, illuminating their pale faces with its ghastly light. Then everything turned dark.

‘That was...exciting,’ Alec said, cringing when Max suddenly punched him in the arm.

‘God, what’s with you and pushing me to the ground? Jeez, Alec.’

Dean noticed Bobby’s look. ‘Everything, later.’

‘How did that happens?’

‘What?’

‘The cloud thing! The skull...and then the cloud! The cloud and skull...together.’

Alec thought the way Max was sputtering out her thoughts was a little...endearing. She usually always had the answers so it was nice to see her lost for words for once.

‘How did you blur in and out of my vision?’ Sam countered.

‘There’s a perfectly logical and scientific explanation for that. Gene splicing is one of them. But this?’ Max replied irritably.

‘Can we argue later? We still have to deal with the skull.’ Dean elbowed his brother in the ribs. Sam was clenching his jaw and looking like he was about to burst. ‘Let it go, dude.’

‘Okay, fine. What do we do now?’ Sam blew out an irritated gust of air and purposely turned away from the frowning girl.

‘We send it back to the museum. After this, they’ll tighten the security for sure so we don’t have anything to worry about. I guess they snuck it out on a dare. Kids,’ Bobby shook his head, his bearded face grim with anger.

‘They store a potentially dangerous supernatural object at a museum?’ Alec asked as Bobby put the skull into a glass box.

‘Arophis can only be trapped within this skull.’

‘His first victim,’ Sam nodded.

‘Yeah and this one has been around for thousands of years. The hunter who trapped this one knew that the way to keep it out of the public’s hands is to hide it in plain view. He got a scientist to vouch that this is a prehistoric skull or something and the museum immediately put it under lock and alarm.’

‘Clever,’ Max agreed but then she gestured at the still unconscious kids. ‘But what about them, what are we gonna do with them?’

‘They’ll come around.’

‘No noticeable side effects?’

‘They’ll get a major hangover but they’ve partied hard before so there’s nothing out of the ordinary,’ Bobby kicked an empty bottle to one side. ‘Come on, let’s get going.’

Max reached over to grab an unopened can of beer and Alec’s eyes narrowed as he spotted something that he could’ve swore wasn’t there ten minutes ago. He grabbed her hand and Max almost jumped.

‘What?’

He didn’t say a word as his left hand pushed the collar of her jacket apart. Her hand would’ve done some serious damage to his body parts but he grabbed her knuckles and held on fast. His finger moved lightly over the area just below her collar bone. The light touch ignited something within her and she could feel her blood racing under her heated skin.

‘Alec...’

‘Is this a new one?’

She realized he had been talking to her. ‘Huh?’

‘This rune,’ he ran his finger over her skin again and she swallowed. Hard. ‘I’ve never seen this one before.’

He pushed a spoon towards the general area of her chest and she forced herself to tear her eyes from him. With the help of the shiny surface she could spot a hint of black ink, peeping just under his finger and when he lifted his hand, the warmth dissipated with it. The disappointment was a rush of hot spiky sensation that clawed painfully over her. She shuddered but didn’t have time to wallow in it when Bobby’s voice yanked her back to reality.

‘Interesting. I didn’t know Minoan was the language of choice for tattoos in the future.’

Her present discomfort disappeared like a wisp of air when she turned to the older man. His cap concealed half of his face, his eyes on the dark mark on her skin.

‘Don’t tell me you have Minoan for Dummies stashed on you somewhere?’

‘Can I see it?’ he sidetracked her question as he looked up at her.

After a beat, she complied, shrugging out of her jacket. Bobby peered closely, a frown digging deep into his forehead. ‘Why did you choose this particular character?’ he took a step back, his puckered brow still firmly in place. ‘Any reasons for that?’

Max’s eyes skittered to Alec, the tightening around her lips obvious. She found what she needed in him because she turned back to Bobby. ‘I didn’t choose anything. It kinda comes out by itself.’

‘Come again?’ Dean stood beside Bobby. He still can’t see why they’re frowning at a chick’s tattoo but the older man’s anxiety was starting to rub off to him.

‘Nothing weird about that,’ she glowered, their expression is putting her on edge. ‘Stop looking like I’ve grown an extra head or something. So I have messages coded into my DNA, hitched into some invisible timer. So what?

‘Oh yeah. If you tossed aside that and the masochistic leather, she’s pretty normal.’ Alec interrupted as he snapped the ring off another can. He yelped when she slapped the back of his hand, took his can and tossed her unopened can at him.

‘So you had nothing to do with this?’

‘Apart from them appearing on my skin, no.’ She ignored his freezing glare and took a sip from the can.

‘Them? There’s more?’ Bobby barked suddenly, looking like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

‘They kinda come and go. I think the last one should still be there.’ She pulled back her hair, exposing the back of her neck.

‘That doesn’t look Minoan.’ Sam was the first one to spoke and the other hunters hummed in agreement, their eyes still glued on her back as they tried to make sense of the straight black lines.

‘What?’ Max craned her neck for better access but Alec took a step closer and laughed. ‘That’s her barcode. Oh man, you guys crack me up. You should be looking at that.’ He pushed the strap of her tank top a bit and they could see her rune perfectly.

With so many male eyes fixed on her, it was starting to get uncomfortable but that couldn’t top the slow stir deep in her gut when she felt his hands moving over her skin.

Bobby studied the mark silently and with each passing second, the level of restlessness grew until the Winchesters couldn’t take it anymore.

‘What’s so interesting about that? Come on, we still need...’

‘I’m not certain but I think this means dying... uh dead innocents... no, maybe not dead. Murdered? Tossed from one world to the other. Dead to uh…living,’ his eyes narrowed in concentration. ‘For vengeance... revenge... against their will.’

‘Forced to rise?’ Sam spoke so softly, no one would’ve heard him if they didn’t stood so closely. ‘The Raising of the Witnesses?’

‘Maybe.’ Bobby lifted his cap before he ran his fingers trough his hair. ‘That’s the impression that I have.’

‘That is...’

‘Isn’t that one of the seals? That Lilith broke?’ Dean uttered at the same time.

‘That’s what I thought too but I still need to double check with my books first. My Minoan is a bit rusty after all these years.’ Bobby straightened but his gaze was calculating, thoughtful. ‘The other one says something about murdered children. Innocent lives wiped out in a day by a single hand, 66 lives to be exact.’

‘Is that a seal?’ Dean snapped, shock lining his face.

‘I have to check first.’

‘I didn’t hear anything about 66 kids being murdered,’ Sam said softly. ‘Does it mean it didn’t happen yet?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Alec broke his silence finally, stepping forward as if shielding her from the hunters’ line of sight. He didn’t like that the three of them had a similar glint in their eyes. Revelation, for lack of a word to describe it. With a layer of salvation. ‘What seal? Who is Lilith?’

But the three men didn’t seem to hear him. ‘Is that possible? Could someone have foretold which seal she’s breaking?’

‘I don’t know but we need her back at my place. Let’s go.’

‘No.’ Alec’s voice was a mixture of steel and determination. ‘She’s not going anywhere until one of you tells me what the hell is going on!’

‘Hey, stop treating me like a kid,’ Max pushed hard against his stiff shoulder and Alec turned his scowl on her. ‘I can still talk for myself.’

‘Oh yeah? Like how you let Logan talk you into pretty much everything?’ His fear for her was shoved aside when anger leaked out and bubbled to the surface. ‘It’s Logan’s fault, and yours, that we’re stranded here.’

He knew it wasn’t entirely true and he didn’t actually believe it but he was feeling vindictive. Accusing her and her so-called boyfriend eased the pain somewhat. It was childish but it was all about petty revenge right now.

He hadn’t pointed an accusing finger but the iciness in his tone was like a slap in her face. ‘So everything is my fault now.’ Her whole figure was twisted in anger. And guilt. ‘Is it my fault that I want our people to have a life? For us to walk down the street without looking over our shoulders?’ Past feelings rushed in and for a few seconds they forgot that they were not alone.

‘Hey guys, calm down. You’re not gonna start beating him up again, right?’ Dean interrupted, warily taking a step towards them but both of them ignored him.

Alec took a strangled breath, his features stiff, the gold flecks in his eyes darkening with an unknown emotion. He blinked and took another deep breath. Why was it so hard for him to keep his composure whenever he was around her? The smallest things get blown out of proportion, a simple misunderstanding blazed into a full confrontation. His apology was frozen on the tip of his tongue when she opened her mouth.

‘I wish I’d let that bomb blow your head off,’ she snapped but when she realized what she had said, it was too late to take it back. She bit her lips, hard, as if to stop anything else from passing through them but the damage had already been done. A second earlier Alec was on fire, literally hopping in fury but now he was still. His face was suddenly so blank, so stiff, she was tempted to shake him into action, just to see that he hadn’t turned into a mannequin. If she wasn’t too afraid to lay a finger on him.

‘Yeah, I wish that too sometimes.’ His voice was soft but Max cringed at the empty gaze. ‘One more thing, you made the right choice in marrying Logan. You two are made for each other.’

Max felt something in her die and shrivel up at the flat tone of his voice. ‘Is that what you think? That I should marry Logan?’

‘What I think doesn’t matter to you. It never does.’ He said dismissively as he walked away.

Max tried very hard to breath through the spiky knot in her chest, her glassy eyes glued to his retreating back. A small part of her wanted to pull him back and demanded an explanation, after gruffly apologizing or something. But a bigger part of her was too stubborn to do anything. After the door swung close, Max blinked, belatedly realizing that she had three sets of benevolent eyes on her. She mumbled something and took the opposite way of where he had marched off. Her surprise had flaked off a little and the anger and fear had started to throb, burning her with its intensity. She pushed the door and continued walking, didn’t care that she didn’t know where to go.

The three men turned to look at each other, somewhat taken aback at the fiery outburst.

‘That’s not good,’ Dean suddenly said, his eyes on the doorway the two people from the future had burst through.

‘So you noticed,’ Bobby huffed. ‘We need her, here. Not traipsing all over with a broken heart.’

‘Yeah…yeah. The future of mankind depends on one hot tempered brunette, I get that. I’ll make sure she’s not off drowning her sorrow somewhere. Sam, you go and find Alec.’

‘I’ll go and make sure the skull is no longer a problem, in case any of you have forgotten about that.’

‘Good call,’ the boys nodded. ‘We’ll regroup at the motel.’

Max plunked down by the road, too angry and too tired to go further. She could see the Winchesters’ car in the distance and for a second, she was tempted to take it and just leave.

You made the right choice in marrying Logan. You two are made for each other.

Her hand wrapped itself around her knees, her hair blowing softly around her face. So he thought she should marry Logan, huh? Ands what did he mean she and Logan deserved each other? Suddenly she lifted her chin from her knee. How did he know about Logan’s proposal? She didn’t breathe a word about that to anyone and since it didn’t come from her... Her lips thinned as a thought crossed her mind.

Did Alec say something to Logan, and that made her not-like-that boyfriend suddenly pop the question? That was it. That must be it. Oh wait till she gets her hands on Alec. He’ll regret the day he talked to Logan behind her back.

Max pushed the hair from her eyes, the brown orbs distant as she stared unseeingly ahead. She hated this, hated being at odds with Alec. Yeah, so he screwed up constantly and she rolled her eyes at that but Alec…he was dependable. And because of him, she had learned to depend on someone other than herself for once in nearly ten years.

‘Hey there.’

She turned to that familiar voice and for one long second her heart stopped beating before it jump started in disappointment. Alec was not the one standing in front of her.

Dean had stopped hesitantly, staring at her with wariness in his eyes. She tore her eyes from his, not able to spend another second looking into those similar eyes. ‘Hey.’

‘You okay?’

‘Fine. I’m about to burst into a song any second now because I’m so freakin’ happy,’ she drawled, tossing a pebble towards the deserted road in front of her.

He plopped beside her and heaved a heavy sigh. ‘What’s going on with you two?’

‘Nothing,’ she shrugged, feigning disinterest. ‘That’s our default setting. We claw each other’s eyes out on a daily basis.’ She threw another rock, with a bit more force this time.

‘It’s hard keeping secrets from those we love. I get that.’

‘Oh no, you don’t get anything.’

‘Just because you’re from the future, it doesn’t mean you know everything,’ he pushed her with his shoulder and a hint of a smile flitted across her lips.

Whoever he is, he does sound a bit like Alec. Sometimes.

‘Don’t worry, it’ll turn out okay.’

‘You think?’ Her voice was soft, her eyes were wide with hope.

‘Yeah,’ he smiled.

‘Sometimes it’s just too much, you know? I don’t know if I can take it sometimes.’

‘Here,’ he patted his shoulder invitingly. ‘I was told that I’m reliable like that. You can borrow this nice looking shoulder to lean on, free of charge.’

‘Nah, no thanks.’ She pushed the shoulder he was offering but he just laughed.

‘No, I’m serious,’ his arm went around her small form and he physically dragged her closer to him. ‘Come here. You need to unwind a little.’

‘No, I don’t!’ Max slapped at his finger but there was no response from him.

‘Yes, you do. You need to stop kicking Alec’s ass and ask him to do something nice with you,’ he winked suggestively.

‘We are not talking about him,’ her voice was rock hard but her body started to soften against his. From the side, he looked and sounded just like A.. uh, he who she was not talking about and bit by bit, her resistance crumbled. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend nothing had happened and it was him sitting beside her.

‘I’m sorry, Alec,’ she muttered as she laid her head on Dean’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry for everything.’

Her voice was no more than a soft sigh and the words fluttered away on the easy breeze.

He was frozen, standing still in the silhouette of swaying trees, the gold-green eyes were fixed on one spot and he couldn’t seem to identify the feeling that was coursing through him when he saw her with him. No, not him. Dean.

Dean was the one with Max, getting more than cozy from the looks of it. His hands clenched into fists as he forced himself to breath through the hot knot lodged in his throat. As she moved closer to Dean, Alec forced himself to turn and walk away.

‘You’re early,’ Elsa remarked as she held a test tube under the fluorescent light, peering into its murky depths.

‘When I left you this afternoon, you were playing with those tubes and look at you now.’

‘They want the DNA sequence by morning.’ Her brown eyes behind her glasses narrowed in concentration.

‘All of them?’

‘Yup,’ Elsa nodded, ‘and this is the last one.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me? I could have come back earlier.’

‘It’s your day off,’ she waved Kris’s worry aside, ‘and I have everything under control, so there was no need to haul yourself back. How was your day?’

Kris tossed her bag on a table and dropped into the nearest chair. ‘Not bad, apart from the part where I nearly got mugged.’

‘What?!’ she turned so fast Kris almost cringed when the end of Elsa’s light hair slapped the side of her face. Her eyes were wide and they grew wider when the momentum pulled the test tube out of her grasp. She watched hopelessly, her mouth opened in a silent shout as it hit the floor and with a resounding crack, it smashed into pieces.

‘Oh,’ she gasped, unable to move, her empty hand still frozen in midair.

Kris took a hesitant step towards the messy crime scene but Elsa had snapped out of her shock.

‘Oh god... oh god... Man, I...I’m dead!’ she suddenly wailed, staring at the mess with huge eyes. ‘That...that... Oh Kris, they’re gonna kill me! And then they’re gonna fire me!’

‘No,’ she grabbed her friend’s flailing arm. ‘Calm down.’

‘How can I?’ she moaned and dropped into the nearest chair, deflated like a burst balloon. ‘That was a sample of a scientifically enhanced DNA, ready for splicing. I can’t just swap that with just anything.’

‘Take a deep breath, Elsa. You know there’s a possibility that a new sample will withstand the splicing.’

‘Minimum but yeah,’ Elsa nodded but her eyes were still hesitant. ‘I mean not all the samples will turn out successful but where do I get a new sample? We’re in a high security military camp for god sake! And I can’t use our DNA, they have our profile in their database!’ she stood so suddenly that Kris took a step back. ‘Kris, what do I do?’

‘You always think too much. And stop freaking out.’ She drew out her hand from her bag slowly, frowning at the bloody splotches as she contemplated something.

‘Whose blood is that? Is that yours? But our DNA is on the database and…’

‘No, it’s not mine.’

‘Oh god, Kris. Are you doing what I’m thinking you’re doing?’ Elsa gulped. ‘But… but they’re gonna use the DNA for...’

‘So?’

‘I don’t like this. You know what they’re working on, right?’

‘Yeah and that’s why we need all the good samples we can get. Don’t worry, no one will ever find out about this. I’m not gonna talk... will you?’

‘No.’ Elsa shook her head quickly.

‘You’re not talking, I’m not talking. Who’s gonna find out about this?’

Elsa still looked unconvinced but after a long pause she let out a sigh. ‘I don’t see any other way. Okay, maybe we’ll live to see another day.’

‘That’s my girl.’ She snipped a piece of the bloody handkerchief into another vial and then filled the tube with a clear liquid. It instantly turned red when the blood dissolved into the mixture. ‘Don’t ask me where I got this blood sample and we’ll pretend that this never happened.’

Elsa looks on worriedly but she nodded. ‘Okay, now that it never happened, put that vial down carefully and tell me about your mugging. Every single thing. We’ll do the DNA sequence after this.’

Kris pushed some of the papers aside. The word Confidential: Top Secret peeked out from under a disheveled stack of files. Elsa pushed the pile, making more room for her and one of the files dropped to the floor. The two girls ignored the sound as they were already in deep discussion. The file flipped open and the title was clear.

Manticore Project - Series 5.

To be continued..