Chapter Text
The command centre was strangely quiet as he walked in, heads turning as the crowd parted to let him pass. Alec wondered what made Dix call him from the outer edges of Terminal City, and wasn't too sure of the atmosphere around him. The silence was tense, had an almost awed quality to it, but not the sombre and angry undertones he was used to sensing every time news of another transgenic death hit the news. Something else had happened
“What's going on?” he called out, making his way to the centre of the room, where predictably Max and Logan were holding court. He nodded to Mole and a few of the other unit leaders as he passed through the crowd. He'd made it a point to get to know each person in Terminal City, learning their names and abilities, among other things. That's how he knew that Clive, a digger in Unit 7, had an unhealthy addiction to celery, and that Martine, an X-6 in Unit 3, had a huge case of hero worship for Dalton, the X-6 from the Jam Pony screw-up. He went to meet each new baby once it was born, and every new transgenic that slipped into Terminal City. He also knew the names of each transgenic who had slipped out of Terminal City, giving them a nod of permission when they sought out his approval to find a new home.
“The kiddies are in a tizzy over some box one of the newbies brought with them,” said Max, not bothering to look up at Alec. She looked slightly put out by the entire thing, like she usually did when she didn't understand something, and Alec noticed several dark glares being sent in her direction.
Max was all about the transgenic freedom, taking command of Terminal City like a five-star general, but she had apparently missed the course on interacting with the troops. She talked a good game, and could pull out a rescue in a pinch, but the finer points of leadership in war were something she lacked. And they were definitely at war despite what little Maxie liked to think – often supported by Logan’s emphatic speeches of peace and non-violence on his frequent visits - the tanks, troops and hard artillery surrounding them spoke to that.
“Huh?” Alec had long ago given up trying to figure out what Max's problem was when she was in a snit, so instead looked to the upper level and an annoyed Mole.
“This here's Ryder,” answered Mole, slapping a cat-like transgenic on the back, “Just got in today, and brought us a little present.”
“Welcome,” said Alec, nodding in greeting and making sure to make eye contact with the newest transgenic. He knew Mole would keep Ryder close by until Alec had a chance to talk to him. He heard more than saw Max role her eyes, the reaction of those around them speaking to him louder than words.
Alec had tried his best to steer her in the right direction, but Max seemed to have an entitlement complex where transgenics were concerned. Due to some funky genetic make up, a few vague visions of a guy with a cane, and the on-again off-again rune tattoos, she seemed to think she was the best person to lead the transgenics to safety and freedom.
Privately, Alec was of the opinion that too many years on the outside, and too much Logan-shaped influence, had made Max forget what it was to be transgenic. Or she'd never really known in the first place. He hadn't lied to her all those months ago when he'd said that it had gotten a whole lot worse after the escape. The training and brainwashing had intensified, as had the punishments. Units had pulled together even tighter, protecting each other to the point of death sometimes. When the females started going into heat, the situation had only gotten worse. That seemed to be the kick start their instincts needed, and suddenly they were a pack. Unit structures were changing by the day, and there were more than a few unexplained deaths that were ruled 'training accidents' by the guards and instructors.
Every single transgenic in Terminal City had fought for their rank and position, and in walked Max with her ten years on the outside, and stepped into the position of leader. At first it had been a weird combination of awe and fear – everyone was completely blown away by this '09-er who had survived on the outside for so long. There was also a healthy amount of fear at the start, because Manticore's brainwashing had done its job exceptionally well. But that had worn off fairly quickly, and Max was losing favour among Terminal City residents. They were starting to realize what Alec had known and dealt with since the beginning. Max was ten years out of training and had forgotten what it was like to be part of a unit again; forgotten what it was like to be fresh from the Manticore brainwasher and thrown into the outside world without a life vest.
“So, what did you bring us?” Alec asked the newest resident of Terminal City. He clapped his hands together and kept his face smiling wide and open, but making sure Ryder knew who was in charge. It was something he'd learned early on at Manticore, the art of claiming dominance without throwing a punch. By the way the cat eyes lowered, the message had gotten across.
“Some weird box from Manticore,” said Max dismissively. Alec watched Mole's teeth clamp down harder on his cigar, heard the sub-vocal growling from around the room, and knew he was going to be doing some damage control when this was done.
Alec had been spending more and more time recently putting out fires that she started while trying to 'teach' the others how to behave in the outside world. It was unfair to expect anyone to understand the rules of a society, if they'd never been explained before.
Alec was starting to think that they needed to create their own set of rules for their own society. Basing their lives on a culture that would gladly see them dead was not winning Max any popularity contests.
Mole's gaze shifted to some place behind Alec's right shoulder. Not really knowing what to expect, he turned and stared at the innocuous black box sitting on the table in front of Max and Logan, in the middle of the crowded HQ. Alec started as he realized what the object was. The thing was smaller than one of Logan's laptops, dull gun-metal black, but a hundred times more deadly than anything that size had a right to be.
Walking towards it slowly, Alec wondered why anyone would bring one of those from the ruins of Manticore; especially one that appeared fully active.
“What is that doing here?” Alec called to the room at large, his voice hard and cold.
“Look closer,” was all Mole would say, a gruffness in his voice Alec hadn't ever heard before.
Stepping next to the table, Alec caught his breath at the insignia carved into the top of the box.
“You found this at Manticore? Where?” Alec called over his shoulder, eyes never leaving the scratchy five-point star carved into the metal. He understood the reverence and awe from the other transgenics now, and even shared it.
“In what use to be the northeast guard hut,” called out the quiet voice of Ryder.
“What is it?” demanded Max, breaking the silent hold over the room.
Alec just stared at it for a minute, debating how – or even whether – to answer.
“It's a dispatch pouch,” he said after a time. “Manticore used these in the field when orders changed or new intel was found, and wanted a secure way to transport them to the front lines. A DNA lock keys it to a single recipient.”
“So why is everyone treating it like it's going to explode?” she asked, and Alec managed to pull his eyes away from the achingly familiar symbol on the top to look at her.
“Because once it’s opened the same DNA sequence needs to be input within thirty seconds of the end of the message, or the entire thing will blow up and take half of Terminal City with it.”
He was gratified to see her eyes widen at that.
“Then get it out of here, Alec,” said Logan, speaking for the first time. Alec would have been just as happy if the Robo-Wonder had remained silent the entire time – or better yet, not been here in the first place – but he'd been invading Terminal City since the beginning and like a cockroach and now there was no getting rid of him
Alec never could get a handle on Max and Logan's relationship – or lack thereof. Since Manticore had burned, they'd been on and off for close to a year. Alec found he'd been more than a little angry at being used as the fall guy, but found he was even more angry when Max had immediately fallen back into Logan's latex covered arms after the hostage thing at Jam Pony. She'd used him and it was an understatement to say he wasn’t happy about it. He was sick of the soppy looks and the soft words and the secret meetings between the two, and Alec had decided that he was through covering for Max's non-existent love life. He'd been royally pissed in only the way a fake boyfriend could be when his fake girlfriend started cheating on him with her 'not like that' ex-not-boyfriend.
Alec looked at Logan and wondered how much of a fuss Max would put up if he kicked her robo-boyfriend out of TC permanently. He instinctively knew he would have no end of helpers for the job, but that it would mean a shift of power in TC he wasn't sure he was ready to commit to.
At this point in time, Alec didn't even bother sending dirty looks and glares in Logan's direction, knowing that his fellow transgenics had his back on that score. Instead, he turned back to the dull-metal box with the five-pointed star.
“No one could open it,” said a quiet voice from the other side of the table, and Alec turned to see Gem holding her six month old daughter, Ali.
“Who tried?” he asked.
“A few of us, while we were waiting for you to get here,” she said with a smile. Since that first day, he'd never had to worry about Gem's loyalty or trust. She'd been in his unit back in Manticore since the beginning. Gem was there to guard him at night when he came back from PsyOps the first time, and watched with jaw clenched as they came for him a second time when they found psycho-crazy Ben. She'd already been assigned a breeding partner when he got out of PsyOps the last time, and had trusted in her training when Manticore started to burn.
She was the second of his unit that he'd found since being freed from Manticore, and was determined not to lose her or Ali the way he'd lost Biggs.
“If this is a bomb, we need to get it out of Terminal City,” announced Max, in that grandiose 'I'm in charge' tone she was so fond of using. It had lost its effectiveness after the first six weeks.
A chorus of objections suddenly rose up from the surrounding transgenics, getting louder and angrier by the second.
“That's enough!” Alec called out, keeping his voice level but stern. He hadn't raised his voice, but the tone had carried the order to all corners of the room.
“Alec? What's going on?” Max's voice was quiet and questioning, and Alec looked up to see she was taken aback by the overwhelming response her suggestion had evoked. She was suddenly realizing that there was something going on she wasn't privy too, and Alec figured it’d be about forty seconds before she got angry and started to become violent.
“That's right, you wouldn't know. You weren't there,” he said purposefully. He was being deliberately cruel, but couldn't seem to stop himself. Turning back to the box, he pulled it closer to him, fingers tracing the lines of the star from the top point, following the pattern of connecting the dots like they had all learned years ago. “Protect. Love. Honour. Loyalty. Trust,” he named each line as he drew them, hearing the quiet reverberation of voices as they echoed him.
“Alec?” asked Max again, quiet and curious. Alec guessed that she'd just figured out that something bigger than her was going on, and she was the only one left in the dark.
“At Manticore we had a – friend. A protector of sorts,” Alec explained, eyes never leaving the box, fingers trailing over the edges and lines. “One of the guards they brought in after the Pulse.”
“It was a scary time,” put in Gem, moving to stand next to him, Ali tied to her chest. “We didn't know what had happened, but the brass was suddenly changing and panicking; guards were leaving and coming. Then came the hormones, and the pheromones and instincts kicked in, sending us into a frenzy we couldn't understand and were too scared to mention to anyone outside other transgenics.”
“Then one day this guy came – just a regular guard,” continued Alec.
“He was our protector, our teacher and our mentor,” said Gem. Alec felt her hand at the small of his back and was grateful for her quiet strength, more than he would admit.
“He taught us how to fight dirty, how to survive, and how to live,” said Alec. “He gave us rules to live by that made sense of our instincts and drives. Protect, love and honour your family, whoever they may be. Be loyal and trustworthy to those who you care for.”
“A Manticore guard?” asked Max, incredulous and disbelieving. “The way you talk about him I thought he was Sandman or something.”
“And what did Sandman ever do for us? Huh, Max?” Alec demanded, feeling the anger he'd been holding back for months rise with each heartbeat. “Did Sandman ever lie for us? Protect us from punishments? Keep our secrets? Did Sandman ever do anything for us, other than create us for the sole purpose of killing? Did he ever teach us that there was a world outside the walls of Manticore? Or that the only people we could count on were our own?”
Alec locked eyes with her as he spoke, using instincts long held in check to capture her attention. “Did Sandman ever teach us how to live?”
“And not just the X-series, either,” called down Mole from above, his voice as hard as Alec's.
Turning back to the box, Alec again traced the symbol that would forever be associated with their protector. “This is his mark,” he explained to Max. “Five lines connecting five points. Protect. Love. Honour. Loyalty. Trust. That's what he taught us, Max.”
“So he left this for you?” asked Logan, speaking for the first time in a while. Looking up, Alec saw curiosity and a tinge of respect, and had to look away.
“494 was his favourite,” said Mole, and Alec smiled at the murmur of acknowledgement from around him. Alec couldn't classify how he felt about that. The guard had been closer to Alec than any of the other transgenics, but Alec had always gotten the feeling that the other man had been holding back from Alec and the others, not letting himself get too attached or involved with any one individually, even Alec.
“Open it,” prodded Gem.
Finding the slight impressions on either side of the rectangular box, Alec pressed inwards and felt the sting of collection needles as his DNA was extracted for comparison. Pulling back, he waited with patience barely checked, for the box to either open or not open.
“What was his name?” Logan asked, and before Alec could respond the box beeped. A hissing noise followed as the top popped open a crack. Pulling the lid fully open, Alec noted that it was a standard set, with video screen on the top and a keypad and disk access on the bottom. The lights on the keypad were blinking, and Alec stared at it blankly for a moment as he tried to figure out what code would have been used.
Alec looked up a Logan, meeting his eyes and smiling sadly. “Winchester. His name was Sam Winchester.”
Then he punched in the date that Sam had always considered important – 05232008 – and waited to hear what his friend/mentor had left him.