Keeper of Souls (Part II)
Title: Keeper of Souls
Author: hunters_retreat
Artists: davincis_girl & crazycanary
Fandom: Dark Angel/Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Pairing(s): Alec/Derek
Summary: Everyone learned to keep secrets and Alec was better at it than most. He needed to be after all, he had more to hide. When a raid goes wrong though and he's forced to work with a human named Derek Reese, he begins to trust. Derek seems on the up and up and so they make their way through the resistance, fighting for humanity and trying to keep each other alive. But what happens when Derek finds out that Alec isn't part of humanity, but a Transgenic from Cyberdyne’s Manticore facility? What will happen when humanity's last hope for survival rests on a man that isn't human at all?
The work camp was worse than Alec had thought it would be. It was one thing to be kept in the Cyberdyne facility where their health and wellbeing had been carefully monitored, but to be left in the general populace with everyone else was completely different. He’d had an idea of what it would be like and it was true enough, but even with his experience in the world, there was nothing like the smell and oppression that was living in the main cells.
He ran a hand over the new tattoo on his right forearm, suppressing the desire to rip the skin off. He’d heal quickly enough without it and the tattoo would be gone for good but he couldn’t do that. They’d know something was wrong and he needed to stay as innocuous as possible to get out of there. He only a couple more weeks before the barcode on the back of his neck would show clear enough for them to see. As much as he hated the new barcode on his forearm, hated the way the ink marked him a prisoner, it was nothing to how he felt about the tattoo on his neck. The one that branded him enslaved for life.
He was let out of his new little cell, something he shared with five other men they’d thrown in at random the night before; Alec shuffling out with them. The mess hall was well ordered because no one was stupid enough to start trouble under the watchful eyes of the terminators. The work gangs would make themselves known later, when they were out in the yard, harassing people and trying to get more rations than was their share, bullying others into giving things they had to right to ask for. Alec didn’t understand any of it because they were all there to die. It didn’t matter, but to some people it did. In some ways, he was glad he’d grown up as a soldier because his view of the world wasn’t tainted by the things the humans believed they couldn’t live without.
He stopped thinking like that, because it made him think of Devlin and how he’d been sold out by the one man he’d completely trusted. That Devlin had been playing him since that first meeting was obvious now. He’d just been waiting to find a time to pull it off. Now he was dead and Alec was in a work camp, with no idea how to get out. He had to though, he couldn’t be another experiment. His thoughts turned to Max and Zach and their escape when they were still just kids. He didn’t know where the others were, if they’d managed to stay alive of it they’d died fighting, but he had no intention of dying inside a Cyberdyne facility. He hadn’t changed that much from the boy he’d once been. He’d get free again somehow, just like he had back in the beginning.
He got his food and took a seat, quiet and easy, not letting anything else bother him. He still saw things, saw the way some people handed over their food when they all knew there wasn’t enough to give away, saw the way other things were passed as well and the furtive glances where men and women hoped someone else would step in on their behalf.
Alec almost wished someone would, but it would never be him. He wouldn’t bring down the wrath of the terminators on himself. He wouldn’t put himself in a position where they had any reason to examine him further. He’d rather die than be a part of their experiments. It was the same sentence after all, only at their hands, in their experiments he’d die a slow and very painful death to help them kill off the rest of humanity.
The rest of the day passed in vague muted horror, Alec never allowing himself to think or feel as he worked the lines. He didn’t have the heavy labor today and he was grateful for that. Instead he was shifting through the metal brought in, sorting and feeding it back into the right lines for melting and reprocessing.
It was hard to keep the mind numb for that long a time, hard to keep from thinking about what they were doing there, about how long they’d be there before they ended up in the other work camps, or an extermination camp. When he lost the ability to stay numb, he focused on details of the camp, always careful to keep away from the awareness of the men and women around him. He noted troop movements and the number of guards in the different areas. He noticed the HKs in the upper courtyards and the terminators at the gate walls. He noticed everything that had to do with their security and nothing of the people surrounding him.
By night fall he was more than ready for his bunk. He shuffled towards a cell, ready to fall face first into the mattress when he was grabbed by someone and pulled into a different cell. He wanted to fight off the hands because there was no good in being pulled away like that, but he waited, deciding it was better to fight in the confines of the cell than draw attention to himself.
When he was in the cell and face to face with the person who had pulled him aside though, he smiled. “Derek?”
“Yeah man,” the other soldier said, a small smile gracing his lips as well. “Saw you as I was grabbing food. You were already surrounded though and I figured it would be better to make this a more private reunion.”
“I figured they’d sent you off for extermination.”
“I’m hard to kill.” Derek grinned. “Far as I can tell, they kept most of us from the fight. A few working on the lines, most of them in labor. Rumor is they were looking for someone specific in that fight and they haven’t found ‘em. They’re keeping us all alive until they do.”
He cringed mentally at the news. Devlin must have sold him out right away then, but without the other man there to pinpoint him they were just waiting for him to show himself. “Lucky for us.”
“Your guy survive?”
Alec shook his head because he knew what Derek was asking. “He didn’t survive me entering the fight.”
Derek nodded and he could see the other man taking that in, the news that Alec had gunned down a grey before he’d stepping into the battle. “Mine either. “
Alec nodded then because he knew that he and Derek were of the same mind. “So, how long do you plan to enjoy the hospitality here?”
Derek tilted his head to one side and looked at Alec for a minute before saying, “I plan on getting out of here long before the hospitality wears out.”
“Then we have a lot to talk about.”
They didn’t go to sleep until late that night, whispering through the darkness about numbers and metal and gates and plans that would take more time to develop, but that were started nonetheless.
The cells were freezing at night, the desert around them keeping the heat unbearable during the day and leaving them huddled for warmth as soon as the sun set. Alec could handle the change in temperature better than ordinaries, but that didn’t mean he liked it any more than they did. He bitched about it every night in fact and the others had learned to tune him out as they slid into the cell together. Derek found a few men from his unit in the same area so they were all bunking together now. It made it easier to talk of getting out, but Derek and Alec still kept the plans to themselves, never quite trusting anyone else with the plan.
Alec settled into his bunk for the night, pulling the too thin blanket close and wishing he had more. He felt a weight settling on his mattress and felt the press of a body behind him and he already knew who it was.
“Can’t stand more of your bitching tonight,” Derek said as he settled his blanket over the two of them. Alec turned in the small cot, sitting up on one elbow and Derek was flat on his back looking up at him. They weren’t the only ones that were huddled together so the others didn’t think twice about it and it gave them the time to talk in private without worrying about what anyone else might overhear.
Alec leaned in until Derek’s lips were almost brushing his ear. He could hear well enough without the gesture, but Derek didn’t know it. Plus Derek was warm and there was just something nice about being up against someone else, about being able to relax a little and let someone close.
“I was on rounds today and found out the room above us is a store room. Nothing in there but rotting clothes and blankets. Apparently used to be the linen storage when this place was a real prison.”
Alec suppressed the shiver that wanted to run through his body as Derek’s lips brushed the shell of his ear. He wasn’t human but it didn’t mean he didn’t have similar needs. Being so close to Derek the last few nights as they tried to make concrete plans for their escape was doing things to his libido that he didn’t have time for just yet.
Alec nodded. “Makes it a straight shot,” he said, moving so that his lips were almost pressed against Derek’s neck just behind his ear. “If we can get up there we can get into the duct system and up the walls.”
“Then we just need a way to get over the walls.”
“Time it with the HK-transports? They leave at fairly regular intervals.”
“Think you can time it that well?”
Alec drew back and looked down at Derek. “Yeah.”
“You sure you’re that good?”
There was something else in Derek’s eyes then and Alec recognized it immediately. He smiled widely. “You have no idea how good I can be.”
Derek smiled back at him. “Guess we’ll find out.”
Alec turned over then, feeling Derek pull his body back towards him, spooning up behind him. He was still smiling and couldn’t help but think that if they ever got out of there alive, Derek might be fun to have around.
They could hear the noise from where they were and Alec cringed at that. There hadn’t been a choice though. They needed a diversion to keep the terminators in the main area instead of turning their attention to the outer areas. It hadn’t been hard to start a fight between the two largest work gangs in the common area and they’d slipped away before it became the all out brawl it currently was. Alec was just worried about getting them all away in case it turned into something more. Like a massacre. He wasn’t sure how the others would react to that and Alec knew this was the last chance for him. His bar code was burning under his skin and it wouldn’t be long before it would show.
The access tunnels had been added at some point after the initial construction of the building and Alec thought they were a place for snipers and prison guards, but there was no way of knowing for certain. It was enough that they were there, a straight shot up to the roof if they were able to climb up the access rungs quick enough. One of the men below him lost his grip and started to fall backwards but the others pushed him back in place.
He made it to the top and waited for the others to stop moving. Other than Derek, Alec didn’t know the other men, hadn’t bothered to even learn their names. He looked at Derek who was right behind him and worried about him as he waited. Keeper of the souls. He didn’t want to know what Derek though of the massacre they were leaving behind. Alec pushed the thought away as Derek moved up against him, pressing as close as he could get as they started to work the cover off the top of the access tunnel.
As soon as it was off, Alec was out and running. They didn’t have weapons but the machines would know that immediately. It was one of the only good things about fighting the machines. They were programmed for specific parameters. HK’s didn’t fight inside the compound. They’d call for one of the cyborgs to come round them up. Alec just had to make sure they got the thing reprogrammed before that happened.
The others didn’t waste any time, hauling up what supplies they’d managed to secure up onto the roof. Alec made it to the HK, keeping a few steps ahead of Derek and never more. If it was getting too risky he’d speed things up, but the plan was sound and he should be able to get this done without any interruptions.
Alec dropped to his knees in front of the panel he needed and Derek was beside him, dropping tools to the ground beside him and pressing his fingers into the panel’s edge to rip it open. Alec worked on reprogramming the HK’s outbound destination and its mission while Derek was working to control its guns.
The other men followed behind them, working to get the doors open on the HK transport. They were made to keep people in, not out, but it wasn’t as easy as turning a knob.
He heard them get inside, the muffled voices and frantic steps of men trying to get in place when they knew they were superfluous and weren’t needed anymore. Alec wasn’t cold enough to leave them behind but he could understand why the men were worried.
“Got it,” Derek said beside him. The guns were on manual. The HK couldn’t trigger them on its own so unless Derek got out and programmed a target, the weapons were useless.
“Come on, Alec.”
Derek’s voice was low in his ear, the other man standing watch over him. There was no sign of the machines yet, but it wouldn’t be long, even with a riot going on in the main cell block. He worked a little faster than normal to get the last of it done. “Time to fly,” Alec said as they ran to the door where the others were waiting. They barely had it closed when the transport lifted off the roof.
Alec was thrown across the pen area and Derek grabbed his arm, steadying him as they both fell into the wall together.
“Get down!” Derek yelled, already pulling Alec down with him at the sound of weapons fire.
He felt the transport shift violently and knew it’d been hit. It righted itself though and Alec looked up at Derek.
“Don’t know if it will get us where we’re going or not.”
Alec nodded. “So long as it gets us a little further, we should be okay.”
Derek nodded but they were both tense. The others stayed huddled to one side of the transport, waiting for the next move. They were only in the air another 20 minutes before Derek spoke up. “We’re too low.”
“Yeah.” Alec smirked. “I noticed. Looks like we’ll be getting off a little early.”
“Perfect. I always like my escapes to come with lots of blood loss.”
Alec smiled as they moved to the front, looking through the gates to see where they were going.
“We aren’t too far off the mark,” Derek said, loud enough for the others to hear as well. They all moved forward then.
“If we can get up into the hills we can lose anything that might try coming after us. We can head east. I know some people in that area,” one of the other men said. Alec didn’t say anything. He had no intentions to stay with them.
The transport dipped lower again, knocking them all from their feet. It dipped low enough to hit the ground and the whole thing shuddered with the impact. The transport went careening across the dirt, flipping end on end. Alec tumbled across the floor until it was no longer the bottom and kept wheeling with it. He felt his leg impact hard against the bars and barely managed to muffle a cry before they were all thrown forward, into the ceiling of the transport.
Everything was quiet for a second before he heard the other men moving. They were all beat up but none of them seemed to have more than a limp or superficial scratches.
“Let’s move it!”
Alec followed behind the others, waiting as four of them pushed against the damaged door until it finally broke free. They each grabbed what they could of the supplies and moved away from the transport towards the hills that had been mentioned before.
“Alec, you’re hurt,” Derek came up beside him, obviously ready to stop and take care of the wound but Alec couldn’t let him. He could limp as far as he needed today but if he let the other man see it he’d know how fast Alec healed when he went to check it later.
“I’m fine,” Alec said, wrapping an arm over his shoulder. “Just give me a little support and we’ll be good. Think I twisted it. You can have a look when we stop tonight.”
Derek frowned but nodded as he shouldered Alec’s supplies and wrapped his arm around Alec’s waist to help him. The other men were ahead of them already, but Alec didn’t care and Derek didn’t seem to either.
“They’re planning something,” Derek leaned closer to whisper as they walked.
Alec hadn’t noticed, but then he’d been letting Derek take care of the other men without paying much attention to it. He cringed at the lack of awareness, knowing he should never be so far out of the loop that he wasn’t aware, but he’d come to trust Derek that much. He wasn’t sure if he should run from that or embrace it. Devlin should have taught him better than that, but he still couldn’t help but think that the next few hours would settle that for him.
“Any idea what?”
Derek shrugged. “They were too worried about getting left behind. Guilty of thinking about it themselves if you ask me, leaving us stranded somewhere, without rations maybe.”
Alec nodded. “I’m up for a fight if I need to be, Derek.”
Derek sighed. “Aren’t we always?”
They travelled for a few hours and even Alec’s sensitive hearing didn’t detect anyone coming. They made good time and Alec’s leg began to heal well enough to stop leaning on Derek so much. He didn’t stop completely since they were able to keep up as they were and it was a good excuse to talk softly to the other man without the others noticing.
It wasn’t until late afternoon that he started to sense trouble; Derek’s back was up, too. The other guys rounded a large outcropping and Derek looked at him. Alec nodded, pulling away because he could hear them scuffling to get into position. He didn’t know how Derek knew, but the other man seemed to read people pretty well. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was just how obvious a place like that could hide the attack, but whatever it was, Derek was damn good.
Derek took the corner first and he was immediately attacked by one of the men. Alec was about to help him when another came jumping at him, taking them both to the ground. He hit his knee hard as he went down, but he rolled with it, limping again as he tried to gain his feet. He spared a glance around because there were two other men but Alec could see one man on the floor already, and two of the attackers were circling Derek.
Alec drew his full attention back to his own fight then and the guy began to slowly circle him. Alec smiled because he could tell the guy didn’t have much training, just a lot of muscle and no idea how to use it. He took a swing at Alec and he dodged easily, coming up with a shot to the kidneys and landing a few more to end it quickly.
He looked over at Derek in time to see one man going down and Derek’s fist ramming into the other’s jaw. The guy stumbled and Derek didn’t give him time to think, didn’t give him time to recover, but kept going, another blow to the cheek and then one on the nose and the guy was down. Clean and efficient, someone who’d learned to fight the hard way, who’d learned to fight to survive.
“Somehow I don’t think it was a fair fight.”
Derek turned to look at Alec and smiled. “Next time you can take down three and I’ll just handle one. Wouldn’t want you to twist your knee anymore after all.”
Alec laughed because his knee was fine, except for being a little sore from the tumble. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He looked back at the other men. “What do you think we should do with them?”
“Leave them. They’re scared and were just afraid we’d take them out when we had the chance.”
“Just like that? No punishment?”
Derek grabbed one of their bags of supplies and pulled it over his shoulder. “There. They’ll just be a little hungrier when they get where they’re going.”
“So, guess that means it’s just you and me.”
Derek nodded. “Wasn’t that the plan?”
They hadn’t talked about it, but he figured it had probably been in his mind all along if Derek had been willing to leave the others. “Let’s get going. We can still put some space between us and them before night fall.”
“Your knee gonna hold up?”
“Yeah. It’s good now. A little sore, but I can handle it.”
“You’re just trying to set yourself up for a rub down later, aren’t you?”
Alec took one of the bags of supplies from Derek and slung it over his shoulder before he started to walk in the other direction the men had been leading them. “Maybe. Would you say no?”
Derek let him get a few steps ahead of him and when Alec turned to look, Derek was watching him with a crooked smile. He looked Alec over before finally making eye contact. There was something mischievous in his eyes and Alec returned the grin. “No, I think you’ll get your rub down tonight, Alec.”
They travelled further into the night than either man liked, but there was no place for cover and both wanted a fire. When they finally stopped it was a long abandoned truck stop at the side of ruined road. There was wood enough for a small fire and the roof was still intact even if the windows had long been lost. They set a small fire in the center of the floor where others had done so before. Nothing remained of use, but that in itself was a comfort. No one would be coming to reclaim anything of theirs.
Alec sat down against the wall, watching Derek as he looked out into the darkness around them again. He didn’t say anything but pulled open his supply pack and took out enough food for the both of them along with their water. Alec couldn’t help but smile slightly at the other man’s protective nature; walking a small perimeter to be sure they were safe. When he sat down, Alec just smiled and handed Derek his share of their rations.
It wasn’t much, but they ate in companionable silence. There was nothing close, no people, no metal, just the two of them. Alec could almost wish it were true. The fire started to die down and Alec threw a bit more wood on it to keep it going. He watched Derek pull the blankets from all three supply bags and he was more than happy to see him piling them all up together.
He took a seat next to the other soldier and Derek nodded and he looked over at his leg. “You gonna let me take a look at that now?”
“Time for my rub down?”
“Not unless you let me see your leg. For real, Alec.”
Alec sighed. “Yeah, alright, but I told you I just twisted it or something. It’s fine now.”
Derek got up from his seat and settled between Alec’s legs, the bad knee stretched out straight and the other bent. Derek ignored the position and let his hands roam over Alec’s leg, looking for signs of blood on his pants. When he didn’t find any, he began working his fingers into tired muscle. Alec didn’t try to stop the moan that worked its way out as Derek dug into too tight flesh.
“Hurts?”
Alec let his head fall back against the wall and shook it slightly. “No, feels good actually. The muscle is tightening up.”
“Damn, and here I thought all that talk of a rub down was just a line.”
Alec laughed as Derek’s hands continued to work on the flesh around his knee, warming and soothing the ache. He wanted to make some flippant comeback but nothing came to him. He was having a hard time focusing on anything other than Derek’s hands.
His hands moved higher than necessary and when Alec opened his eyes and looked, there was open heat on Derek’s face. He didn’t think about it, just wrapped one hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in, pressing their lips together in a hungry kiss.
Derek pressed forward, adding his own desperation to it and then there was nothing but the pull of clothes over head and Derek pushing him back onto the coarse blankets, naked and wanting.
There was nothing soft or tender between them, no lingering moment or gentling of their bodies. He felt the burn as Derek pushed into his body and he took a deep breath, using his hands to pull Derek even closer. He wanted the burn, wanted to feel alive and free and everything there was to feel under the other soldier at that moment.
Derek’s lips crushed into his again, needy kisses that gave way to stinging bites and bruises sucked into his skin. Alec’s hands dug into Derek’s back and arms, marking him as well with fingerprints and a trail of scratches that spoke his need better than any words.
When Derek wrapped his hand around Alec’s cock, it was quickly over, callused fingers stroking him with confidence, and it’d been too long since he’d taken a lover. His body clenched around Derek as he came over his fingers and then Derek’s eyes were closing, his body pushing forward for a few brutal thrusts before he spilled inside Alec.
Alec watched as Derek pulled away then, watched him distance himself physically so he could do so otherwise and he was glad for it. As much as he’d already come to trust Derek, as much as he liked his company, he had to remember what happened when he trusted too much. Devlin hadn’t been the first to betray his trust and if he wasn’t careful he wouldn’t be the last. As much as he wanted to trust Derek, to tell him the truth of who he was, he didn’t think he’d ever be ready to tell that much again.
Derek started pulling his clothes back on and Alec did the same. Practicality demanded it, even if it would have been nice to be able to linger there naked. He would have liked to have watched Derek looking at him, remembering what they’d done and where the marks on his body have come from. Apart from their escape though bruises pressed into his skin disappeared too quickly and Alec hadn’t survived so long by allowing his fantasies to overcome his judgment.
When he settled back into the blankets again Derek added more wood to their fire, though Alec thought it was more to give himself time than anything else. When he seemed happy with the fire, he sighed loudly before coming around to the other side with Alec. Derek settled behind him in the blankets and Alec felt him hesitate only a second before he dropped his arm around Alec’s waist, pulling him as close as he had those nights in the cell.
It was different now, the quiet that lay between them, but he felt it when Derek’s body relaxed against his, when his mind finally accepted what they’d done, and Derek’s lips pressed into the space Alec’s barcode would normally show.
Alec closed his eyes and sighed softly. Sated and warm, he let himself fall into the blackness of sleep, waiting for whatever the next day would throw at them.
It didn’t take long to find themselves back among people. It became more dangerous as they did and Alec had to suppress more than one thought about taking Derek up into the hills and hiding out forever. As much as Alec and Derek got along though, Derek would never abandon his people. Alec was well enough aware of his own needs that he kept close to Derek and let the others bounce off his periphery.
The people they found were a part of John Connor’s resistance and Derek Reese was known by name if not by face so people looked up to him, trusted his word. When he offered to take them deeper into resistance territory, they all agreed.
They travelled to three different gutter communities on their way and each time Alec felt time ticking in the back of his head. He’d found a small laser with the first community and had been able to keep his tattoo hidden but it hadn’t been one of the larger machines and he knew it had only given him a few more days.
He understood the security issues though and as they moved deeper and deeper into the resistance ranks, their numbers began to dwindle, people finding a community they felt they could be safe in. It was only a handful that made it to the large compound that Derek had been aiming for all along.
It took two days for Alec and Derek to debrief and be given a free pass in the compound and four days for Alec to find another laser and get the time to use it without interruptions. He breathed a little easier then, found himself relaxing more into Derek’s touch when he didn’t have the fear of exposure hanging over his head.
Alec could feel the growing restlessness in his partner though, could tell that Derek was anxious to get back into the fight. He’d come looking for John Connor and the man wasn’t there. Alec was still amused that Derek actually knew the man, that he was planning on introducing Alec to the man behind the radio transmissions he’d once studied but he kept that to himself. Besides not being able to find John, something about the compound made Derek’s hackles rise and the last thing he wanted to be was an outlet for Derek’s anger. He could handle his restless energy, enjoyed taking his partner’s aggression and finding small hidden corners to work it off with him, but anger was another creature entirely.
When news of the Great John Connor reached them, it came with two soldiers looking for Derek. John had apparently learned of Derek’s return as soon as he arrived and while Alec was interested in meeting the human’s messiah, he knew it wasn’t the time and place. He’d trailed behind Derek, staying in the circle of men and women that always wanted to get a look at the man, watched with a twinge of jealousy as John’s face broke into a rare smile as Derek’s arms embraced him with a hard thump to the back.
Derek was pulled away by John, but he stopped to look back at Alec, making John track his eyes as well. Alec just nodded his greeting from across the way before John pulled Derek back with him through the walkways.
Alec disappeared into the men and women, doing what he could to kill the time, talking to this person or that, helping arrange barters for what people needed and figuring out how to get it. When it got late enough, he found the bunk that he and Derek had called home for the past few weeks. He would have slipped in some time with the laser earlier but he’d found someone working with it as he’d gone in. He was pushing it and he knew it, but the last couple weeks had been busy and normally the laser was only available at night. Not only was it almost impossible to sneak out of Derek’s arms at night, Alec found himself not wanting to.
He wasn’t sure if it was self-sabotage, self-destruction, or simple stupidity, but he didn’t want to leave his lover’s arms unless he had to. He could almost feel the ink on the back of his neck though, itching to break through his skin. Tonight he had to go.
He was meditating on his bunk, legs pulled up under him, working forms in his head when he felt the air around him shift. He never knew how Derek had managed to move as quietly as he did but he smiled as he looked up at the other man. Derek’s face was grim though.
“We have a mission.”
Alec nodded, not bothering to question Derek about how he knew Alec would go with him. As much as Alec still felt this was a human fight, he’d never walk away from Derek willingly, not unless something drastic happened.
“When do we leave?”
“Now.”
The gun was pointed at Alec before he could get out of the way and for once he knew he didn’t have the choice of using his speed against the other man.
“What the fuck? Nothing human can take that kind of hit!”
Derek was looking at Alec like he’d sprung two heads. No, worse, like he’d ripped his outer skin and found metal beneath it. “Derek… it isn’t what you think. You know me.”
“I thought I did.”
“I’m not metal damn it!”
The other man’s voice went soft as he glared at him. “Then tell me how the hell you’re not in pieces right now, Alec.”
Alec knew he was in deep shit then. When Derek Reese was screaming you were fine. When he got that quiet voice, it meant he was about to do something that would hurt himself, something that would be for his brother’s good, or for John Connor’s good, or for the resistance’s good, but that would send him personally reeling. Like killing his lover.
He closed his eyes. “Can I turn around?”
“What?”
“I need to show you something to explain it.”
“Yeah, okay.”
He turned slowly, knowing that the wrong move would put a bullet in his brain. He’d never been more terrified in his life than he was then. He trusted Derek but since their first night together he’d never thought twice about showing his barcode. Derek would know what it meant, both the ink on his skin and the fact that he’d been distant since they’d started this mission for John. He’d understand why Alec hadn’t let Derek close enough to his neck to find the damn thing. He took a deep breath as he pulled the collar of his shirt down at the neck, offering Derek a good look at his barcode.
“No. That wasn’t there before.”
“There’s a way to remove it, temporarily. I told you I needed to get to the base. They have a laser I’ve been using to get rid of it.”
“No, they’re all extinct. Skynet killed all the transgenics that ran loose.”
“Mostly. We’re endangered to say the least, but then so is the rest of humanity.”
“The metal cleared out all the transgenics, used them to figure out how to grow all that pretty flesh they use to cover themselves up with.”
“Some of us managed to hide.”“No, that can’t be… you can’t be…”
“No one else knows. I haven’t told anyone.”
“Why not?”
“I’d have told you before anyone else and… I’ve made mistakes before.”
He could hear the conviction in Derek’s words, knew that he’d worked it all out in his head. “Your guy, your scout, he knew?”
Alec wasn’t sure he could handle turning around to see the look on Derek’s face. They’d all been kept alive in the work camp while they tried to ferret out which one of them was the transgenic. They’d been kept alive because of him, but they’d never have been in danger if Devlin hadn’t sold them all out first.
“He told them about me, set up the attack, but I didn’t give him the chance to point me out to them.” They’d all been captured because Alec hadn’t been strong enough to walk away when someone had kept his secret. Now Alec had a bar code put on his arm by the machines and a lover that couldn’t trust him, that he couldn’t trust completely either.
“Pity.”
He didn’t know what Derek meant by that. Pity that he hadn’t gotten Alec killed? Or was that sarcasm over Devlin’s death? He wasn’t sure but there was something in Derek’s voice made him ache. It didn’t matter that he was terrified of what was in the other man’s eyes, he had to see it. He turned to face him and he could see the faith in Derek’s eyes. None of the rest of it mattered because Derek believed him, and when he took a step forward Derek’s gun hand was moving towards him, wrapping around the back of his head, the metal of his gun pulling Alec into him. Their teeth clashed and blood and bruises formed and swelled between them but neither cared. They were still alive. The whole fucking human race was about to be extinct, but they were still there. The barcode at the back of his neck was just another barcode and who the hell didn’t have enough ink anymore to last a life time?
“We have to get out of here,” Alec said as they finally parted.
“Yeah, we have a rendezvous to keep.”
“Derek, the others…”
Derek looked Alec in the eye, staring for something Alec wasn’t sure he had to give, but everything he was he put there for him to see. “I won’t tell the others, Alec, but John Connor isn’t just anyone.”
Alec closed his eyes and nodded because it was better than he could have hoped but exactly what he figured Derek would give him.
“You’ll let me explain?”
“Yeah,” Derek said as he checked his weapon before looking out the hole in the wall to make sure they were still in the clear.
“But it won’t be what you think, Alec. John makes plans for a lot of things. Finding you might make a difference.”
He didn’t understand the cryptic words, but he knew Derek was offering comfort and he took it for what it was. He found his own rifle among the debris of their fight with the terminator and then he followed Derek out, unsure of his future, but hoping his trust this time was well founded.
The raid turned out to have the information John had been looking for and Derek was running the men into the ground to get it back to him in time. Alec saw Derek look at him from time to time and he knew what was in the other man’s head. Alec could get it to John faster, only there was no way to get it to him without telling the other man about him, no way that John would accept the information without questions that would make Alec suspect as soon as he arrived, giving him little chance to actually meet John Connor and explain who he was. They were making good time though and Alec had already decided if it looked like they were in trouble, he’d make the offer. He owed Derek that much and this was important. If Derek’s few words meant anything, and they always did, then the information was something that just might end the war.
It took them three days of hard travel to get to the bunker and only ten minutes before Derek and Alec were taken away from the other men and into the main section of the facility. It wasn’t much, just a series of tunnels and subways that had been tunneled even further to connect to natural caves around them, but it’s been outfitted for human life and it gave them something to fight for, something to call home.
Alec let Derek lead the way, staying a step behind him and just to the side, ready to draw his weapon should anything decide to give them a try. He was more agitated as they were taken deeper in and it wasn’t until Derek looked back, a smirk on his lips, that he realized Derek was amused by it. He took a deep breath to calm the nervous energy and focused it into the details as he’d been trained.
When they were finally let into the room Alec stopped, watching as Derek moved forward, clasping John Connor on the back and whispering something in his ear that Alec didn’t allow himself to listen to. Self-preservation demanded he listen in, but he had to trust Derek, have to give the man the chance to prove himself or he was never going to trust him.
Derek handed John the information they’d been sent for and John took a seat at the desk behind them, plugging it into his computer to see what it was. Derek nodded for Alec to join them and then he was looking over the other man’s shoulder at the computer screen.
“Manticore,” he breathed the word out without meaning to.
Derek pulled away to look at him and John Connor turned his eyes to him as well.
“You know about Manticore?”
Alec nodded, not trusting his voice to Connor’s searching eyes. There were a lot of stories about the leader of the resistance and now that Alec was face to face with him, he believed most of them.
“What do you know about the X series Transgenics?”
He looked at Derek and his partner gave him a slight nod. He took a deep breath. “Nothing more than most I suppose, unless you’re talking about the X-5 series. Then I suppose you could say I’m an expert.”
“You know the differences in the series?”
“Yeah. The first three weren’t well conceived. They mostly resulted in nomlies, sorry, anomalies. The X-4 series was an experiment in psychic warfare and while the attempts produced different levels of success they were unreliable. The X-5 series was the most successful of the program. They were engineered super soldiers, the elite of Manticore’s transgenic army, its officers if you would. They were transferred to Cyberdyne’s Manticore facility and were killed in a massive attack early on in the war.”
John nodded. “It was believed they were left locked in their rooms while fire swept through and killed them all.”
Alec nodded, not trusting his voice on this either. He’d never let himself dwell too much on the transgenics that they’d left behind, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the loss of so many of his own kind. There were other rumors too, a massacre inside the walls, the transgenics trying to fight their way out. He’d always like the fire one himself, knowing it was the far more likely. He could almost imagine the heat of it, sitting in his cell with the door locked, waiting for orders that would never come, meditating as the pain flicked into his awareness and he was forced to try to escape. In his mind’s eye, he always found a way. In his mind, he knew if he’d still been there, he’d have died with the rest of his kind.
John looked at Derek and then back to Alec. “Derek said there was something you might be able to help me with, some news about an active X-5.”
He thought about demanding to know what John wanted with one but took a deep breath, searching out Derek’s eyes as he did so. He took strength from the conviction in Derek’s eyes, and then looked at John Connor, snapping into a perfect salute. “X5-494 at your service sir.”
“What?” John Connor was out of his seat but Alec kept his gaze steady, waiting for the other man to prove his instincts wrong. He wanted to run, wanted to get the hell out of there and never look back, but he wasn’t ready to give up on Derek just yet and if John Connor was the man he believed he was, then he would use Alec to his benefit, not kill him or experiment on him.
“Show him, Alec.”
He turned slowly, telegraphing his moves. It was always the trickiest time, when people first learned. They suddenly got jumpy when he moved at normal speed, fearing what he would do next. When he was facing the wall, he brought his hands up slowly and tugged at the collar of his shirt and jacket, exposing his barcode.
“Serial number 331845739494. Manticore X5 series. Special training in undercover ops, infiltration, and espionage. Designation X-5494.”
“John Connor, meet Alec.” Derek said, coming up beside him and turning him to face the other man.
John’s eyes were wide and Alec wasn’t sure what to make of his reaction. It was obvious he’d been looking for an X-5 the same as the machines, but for what purpose?
John held out his hand then, a smile growing on his face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alec.”
Alec shook his hand, confusion painting his face even as he returned the gesture. “It’s an honor.” John released his hand and took a step back, leaning against his desk. Alec didn’t move but took comfort from Derek standing beside him. “If you don’t mind my asking, what do you need me for? Not that I’m not grateful for the chance to serve and yadda yadda yadda,” Alec said with a roll of his eyes, “but you seem to have something planned and I’ve spent most of my life running from what other people have planned for me. At this point, I can only hope what you have in mind is better than what the machines had planned for me.”
John frowned, but then no one liked to be compared to metal. That sometimes humans were worse than the machines didn’t matter. John looked over at Derek. “And this is the man-“
“Yeah, it is.” Derek said, a small smile gracing his lips.
John shook his head as he looked back at Alec. “In time Alec. First, tell me how it is you weren’t in that fire that destroyed the other Transgenics.”
“Four days before Judgment Day I escaped the Manticore facility with eleven others. We separated and I haven’t seen them since.”
“How long were you at that location?”
“Four years.”
John sighed, looking at Derek. “He knows the location, but he was just a kid, Derek.”
He didn’t know what they were talking about but he knew the falseness of the words. “I don’t know what you’re looking for, but if it’s questions about the facility I can answer them. I don’t know what sort of games you were playing at that age, but when I was transferred to the Manticore Cyberdyne building I was a soldier, not a child.”
John looked at him, eyes older than his years, and he wondered if the rumors really were true, that he’d trained all his life for Judgment Day, even before it had happened, his mother teaching him and preparing him until he was the man that stood before him.
“That’s what they say, that the training is immediate, but it’s one thing to see it and one thing to hear it,” John answered. He looked over at Derek then, shaking his head. “I don’t know about this, Derek.”
Derek’s jaw clenched and Alec tensed. John seemed to notice because his eyes darted between them before Derek raised his head slightly. “I do, John. Isn’t that enough anymore?”
There was more to the situation than Alec knew and he didn’t dare comment now.
Derek took a step forward and Alec moved closer to his back, keeping guard just in case. “How much more of my blood do I need to spill?”
John stilled at the words and Alec’s hands clenched white with a need to defend Derek. “Alright. It’s your call, Derek. If you think we can trust him, then do it.”
“At sundown, we’ll head out,” Derek didn’t wait for John to respond, but pulled Alec out of the room with him.
They walked through the hallways and Derek took him steadily down the intersecting tunnels. When he stopped it was at a cavern dug into the side, a piece of fabric hammered into the arch to act as a door. Derek twitched the covering aside and pushed Alec in. “Not many people know about the place we’re going tonight, Alec. Don’t mention it to anyone. This is the greatest secret John has been hiding and only a handful of people know about it.”
“He doesn’t trust me.”
Derek smiled. “He doesn’t trust much of anyone these days.”
“Except you?”
“Sometimes, even that’s a stretch,” he said with a sigh, sitting on the edge of a cot. Alec sat beside him because he didn’t know what else to do. “You’ll understand when we get there tomorrow, Alec. Trust me on this.”
He put his hand on Derek’s knee and squeezed softly. There were no words to convey how much trust he’d given Derek in coming with him, in exposing himself to John Connor and Derek knew it. He just squeezed and Derek took a deep breath, the two of them allowing that small comfort to calm them.
On To Part Three