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?
He knew a military base when he saw one. The emptiness made his skin crawl and he wanted to back the hell out of the all too familiar layout but he pressed forward anyway, allowing Derek to walk him into another series of tests that went against his survival instinct. Corridor after corridor of empty hallways, abandoned common areas and barracks, and nothing but the sound of their footsteps filled the air. John Connor led them down to a long stairway and they followed, silently. Derek continued to look back at him from time to time, but there was something almost hopeful in his eyes and Alec didn’t know how to respond to it.
Instead, he just nodded, thrusting down the need to run. It wasn’t until John opened the doorway at the bottom of the staircase that he began to hear anything. John and Derek walked beside him, Derek staring consciously ahead while John began to give Alec surreptitious glances as they went.
They’d left the stronghold of the resistance the night before, travelling east for four hours before making a more southerly route. It was just the three of them and that spoke more of Connor’s trust in Derek than he knew the other man was capable of acknowledging after their confrontation the day before. The base was dead though, nothing stirring on the top side as they’d passed through its high walls. He’d had to push down his reservations to move on but neither man had seemed to notice.
He heard another noise and stopped, bringing his gun out, to defend himself.
“Alec,” Derek shook his head but Alec wasn’t able to relax at just his word.
“There are more than just a few people here,” Alec said softly.
John nodded. “Yes there are, and they’re waiting for you.”
He looked at Derek then lowered his gun. In for a penny and all that. If Derek and John were selling him out to something then it was already too late. “We shouldn’t keep them waiting then,” he said, stepping back in between the two men.
He could see John look past him to Derek and then John nodded, looking forward as he began to talk. “We got word that there was a device, somewhere in the Cyberdyne system that could destroy Skynet. It took a lot of work to find out what it was, if it was real of just some fabrication of the greys to bring us to them, but we found out it was real. The information you brought in last night was the location.”
“Manticore.”
John nodded. “The upper levels of that facility were torn apart but the lower levels weren’t. It was back in the beginning when all they were doing were smash and grabs. If they’d known then we could have stopped everything, but they didn’t. When Skynet took the facility back no one thought anything of it. Now, we know why.”
“And you have a living survivor who was inside it,” Alec said, connecting the dots to his own importance.
“More than that.” He pushed through a large set of doors and they were in a large training room. Alec stopped in his tracks because he knew what he was seeing even if he didn’t understand it. John and Derek stopped with him, the leader continued in his ear. “Everyone thought they were destroyed but we found them, unable to do anything more than train and await orders. After Judgment Day it seems like they got rid of anyone that had learned how to think independently, or they just learned how to make them like this.”
“X-6 series,” he said, unsure if his voice was as calm as he’d have liked it to be. “They were younger, just coming into the training grounds when we left. They were like us, only made to be dependent on the X-5s. They were the soldiers to the X-5 officers.”
“That’s what we thought,” Derek answered. “That’s the thing. We have an army of trained soldiers and they’ll keep in line just fine and stay on top of their regiment, but they do not take orders from anyone else. They will not be deployed.”
Alec shook his head. “Without an X-5.”
“That’s our thoughts.”
He took a deep breath and looked at the men and women training around him. He estimated close to a hundred soldiers. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Alec let out a sharp whistle and the main arena came to a dead halt. “Form up!”
He didn’t know if they recognized one of their own by some genetic marker Manticore had given them or if it was just the manner in which he held himself, upright and strong in his conviction that he’d been trained, raised, born to do this, but they were in formation faster than any human army ever could be.
He looked over at John and Derek and could see that even that was beyond their expectations. He came up to the first soldier and stopped. “Designation?”
“John, sir.”
“Designation soldier,” he barked it loud and clear, knowing that the others would take it to heart. They were a unit, bred to be a unit and they would all feel the shame and the triumphs as one.
“X6-372.”
“What is your mission?”
“We await your orders sir.”
“At ease.” The whole room moved as one and he nodded at the military efficiency they’d managed to keep. “I am here to oversee the next portion of your training. We are in the last stage of a military operation that will require each and every one of you at your top efficiency. I will be reviewing your performance with your lieutenants and you will receive merits and demerits based on those reports. When the time is right, we will join the battle and you will become the most heralded soldiers in history.”
They were too well trained to make a noise at that admission, but he could see it in their eyes, see the feeling of purpose that they had long been void of. He felt it himself.
“Lieutenants will see me with reviews at 08:00 tomorrow. Until then, company dismissed.”
He didn’t look back to see what they did or said and he was grateful that both John and Derek were acting as if they’d expected this all along.
It wasn’t until they were in the military conference room that John took a heavy seat and smiled over at Derek. “We hoped, we just didn’t know.”
Alec looked at them darkly and shook his head. “Now you do. And now you want to throw these children at Skynet.”
“You said they weren’t children, Alec. They’re soldiers and if we can do this, if we can get this one building, we can win this war.”
Alec nodded, but he knew this was exactly what they were all there for. He knew that if he’d been called into battle by his superiors at that age, he’d have been proud to do what they wanted. If Manticore had been true to its original training instead of handing them over to the machines to torture, he would still be that man.
He nodded at John and Derek. “Alright. I’m your man. But I won’t let them be metal fodder. I won’t be left out of the planning to send them against an enemy they can’t hope to defeat.”
John nodded. “You’re the expert, Alec. You lead the way.”
Derek was smiling at him like there was no tomorrow, and Alec couldn’t help but return it.
He wasn’t sure what the future held, but there would be a future, he was sure of that for the first time in years. He had an army at his back and he had Derek at his side, strong and warm and willing to fight.
The future was a blur, something intangible and cold, but for the first time since he’d walked through Cyberdyne’s Manticore facility, he felt hope that what was to come might some day lead them all to freedom.
It took five days to access the condition of the troops, to watch them train and talk to the lieutenants about the mindset of the transgenics. Everything seemed to be going well and Alec was impressed with the way John Connor’s people had found a way to keep the soldiers training even as they waited for an X-5 to show up with their orders.
There were still weak spots that could be exploited, holes in their training because no one understood how far to push the X series soldiers. That was about espionage and better stamina and resistance though and Alec knew exactly what he was throwing his people into. Those things would have to wait. They’d take care of the living once it was all over.
Derek pushed into the room and Alec looked back at the latest batch of reports. He’d given them an all out push the day before, literally working them until each and every one dropped in exhaustion. He knew how far to push, he knew exactly what to expect of them now. Not only that, but he’d gotten them to recognize the human soldiers and their rank so they knew who to take their orders from as well. That seemed to be harder and he wasn’t sure it would work long term, but so long as the resistance officers just backed up his orders it would hold.
“Are they ready?”
There was no preamble and as much as Alec would have liked to think after being in close quarters with each other that Derek had missed his company, it was always business first. They were soldiers and it had to be so he didn’t begrudge Derek that. He did hope for something more later though.
“Yeah. If I had another year I could make them into perfect soldiers, but we don’t have a year and nothing I can teach them will make much of a difference going up against the machines.”
“John is getting everything in place.”
“I need to let them know what they’re fighting against. Give me a week to brief them, to show them how to kill a terminator.”
“You can do that?”
Alec nodded as he stood up from behind the desk and walked to the front of it, leaning back. “Their heads will snap off like anything else will.” He didn’t say how dangerous it was, or how foolish it was to try to take one out if there were others around to pick you off for trying. He didn’t have to mention the way metal fingers tore into flesh and broke bones.
“You’ve got three days. John is ready to move now. He thinks Skynet is planning something and he wants it done now.”
Alec nodded. It was enough. Another week of playing babysitter to a bunch of X-6s would probably have driven him crazy anyway. “You heading back to John now? Or did you need to inspect the troops for him?”
Derek took a step closer until he was standing in the vee of Alec’s legs. “Trying to get rid of me Alec?”
“No sir, why would I do that, sir?” He snapped the words out like a good little soldier, but there was a smirk on his face that had Derek smiling in return.
“I’ve got your six, Alec. Three days and we have a shot at taking out the machines for good. Gonna be right there at your side until this is done.”
Alec didn’t say anything, but as Derek leaned closer, he let one hand slide up to the back of the other man’s neck and closed the distance. There was nothing soft or tentative about the kiss, as Derek pressed his body into Alec, trapping him against the desk. Alec moaned into his mouth, wanting, needing to take this comfort, to find strength in his partner. Derek’s hands pulled at Alec’s shirt and their lips parted only long enough for his shirt to be yanked over his head.
“Alec…” his name was barely a whisper as Derek’s hands travelled over his chest before reaching for his belt. Alec crushed their lips together once more as he heard his zipper being lowered. Then his pants were pushed down and Alec was being spun around, Derek pressing against his back.
Derek’s lips traced a path across his shoulders while his hands were busy taking care of his own pants. Alec closed his eyes as he felt Derek push forward then, felt the heat of his skin against him.
Derek pressed against his opening and Alec was pushing back, wanting him with something that bordered on obsession.
“You can take it, can’t you?” Derek whispered into his ear.
“Yeah, do it.”
Derek’s hands gripped his hips and then he was pushing into Alec’s body. He bit back the pain and dropped his head forward, pressing his hands onto the desk to give him better leverage. Derek stopped moving, let his head rest against Alec’s shoulder for a minute then let his lips caress the back of his neck, his tongue lightly playing against the barcode that Alec no longer had to hide.
He moaned at the touch and then Derek was pulling back and slamming into him. He lost thought of everything else then, focused on the way Derek felt inside him, around him, weighing him down and grounding him.
Callused fingers wrapped around his cock and he pushed up into them, needing release. It didn’t take long and as he shot white across Derek’s hand, he felt his lover’s hips stutter to a halt, following him over that edge.
They cleaned up quickly but as Alec pulled his shirt back on, Derek stepped up behind him, pressing his lips to his barcode once more. Alec shivered slightly at the touch and turned to find Derek smiling at him.
“You just came for the entertainment, admit it,” Alec said, trying to deflect the moment.
Derek pulled him closer, not letting him back away. “Maybe. Maybe I don’t mind having someone warm and strong to keep me company at night.”
“So I’m your personal heating blanket?”
“Something like that.”
There was a knock at the door then and Alec pulled away to let the lieutenants in. They had work to do after all.
He still wasn’t sure how they’d managed to get the gate down so fast, but that wasn’t Alec’s concern. John had promised Derek the gates would fall and they had. It was their turn now.
There was no dramatic yelling of orders or chaotic sprints through the opening, his people were too well trained for that. A single nod to the lieutenant sent a wave of hand signals down the line and the opening volley was begun, the X-6s moving at their top speed to gain the gates and make sure they stayed open.
Derek wasn’t with John. As much as the other man had wanted to be at Alec’s side, he wasn’t transgenic and he couldn’t keep up with their speeds. So Alec rushed with the last of his men to get inside the walls of the place he might once have called home.
He could hear the fighting inside the complex but the main courtyard was cleared already. He’d kept the best of the X-6s with him and they began moving lower into the complex. Gun fire rang out around them and they ignored the threat of the machines while they worked down to the lowest level where the technological equipment was made and stored.
He moved the men along as quick as he could, knowing that every minute they took was more of their men dying. The level wasn’t secured separately from the rest of the facility so the worst of their obstacles were past. Alec left a contingency at the top of the stairs then took the rest down the last leg of their journey.
It was an old server, something that Skynet wouldn’t see as a threat, anymore than humans had seen it as a threat back in the day. It was controllable though, reprogrammable and that was all they needed, a little technology that could help turn back the tide of their war.
“378! It’s your turn,” Alec shouted to the young man that was at the top of his unit, tech savvy in ways that Alec himself wasn’t.
He nodded in passing as he dropped to the floor, his fingers ripping open the panel as another X squatted beside him, pulling out the necessary transfer data.
The X stared up at Alec for a split second and that was all it took for Alec to dive. A blast took the woman through the chest and 378 was scrambling to grab the data before it could be lost.
Alec was rolling as he found cover, watching as three other X-6s went down before realizing the terminator was coming up on them. It was the problem with training with no field experience. They could learn what to do, but there was always the shock to take into account, something they couldn’t know or deal with until they’d been put to the test. Those that survived passed.
“Get that data moving!” Alec screamed at the others.
He brought his weapon to bear on the terminator as its attention was drawn away from 384. He felt the others moving around him, saw when 384 got back up and was able to try again and smiled at the metal as he opened fire.
The guns had little effect on the machine but Alec was already aware of that. He was just glad it was pure metal and not one of the ones that looked human. It wasn’t that they looked human that was the problem. All that flesh and blood made it harder to rip the neural synaptic relays from the main CPU.
He was about to call for a cease fire on the metal when one of the small HK units came flying through the doorway.
“Perfect,” Alec muttered as he opened up on the new attacker. They were easier to take down, but lethal all the same. He looked back at the lieutenant who had followed him down and yelled, “Take care of that thing. I’ll handle the T.”
The other X acknowledged the order then pulled his men back. The HK followed their movement while the terminator focused on the group of Xs around 384. It was raising its weapon to fire again when Alec broke into a run and launched himself at its outstretched weapon. The gun went flying but as Alec struggled to pull back, the cyborg caught a hold of his arm, its grip crushing. He screamed through the pain but fired with his other hand, trying to hit something in the arm that would release him.
The grip eased slightly as Alec pulled free, feeling skin rip as he did so. He backed out of the terminator’s immediate grasp and then backpedaled away from the others. It was easier to do this from behind, to sneak up on them but he didn’t have that option. His arm hurt like hell and he knew he was loosing blood too fast. He needed to end it quick or the thing was going to end him.
“Almost there!” He heard 384 yell from the other side of the machine.
The metal stopped to look back at the others, processing the data their yell had generated and Alec took advantage of the momentary distraction. He hurled himself at the machine as fast as he could, his hand gripping the machine under the jaw and at the back of the metal skull. He wasn’t in a position to pull it off, but he had the right angle so he pushed with all his strength. He could feel the joints bending, the spray of liquid as the coolant and oils that worked within the machine began to seep out of their too stretched tubing. He was too close for the terminator to do much, its eyes no longer functioning in a way that would let it see clearly enough for a death blow so its fingers wrapped into the flesh of his hip, ripping and tearing in an effort to stop him.
He was screaming from the pain but then with one last pop the head disconnected from the synapses and the metal was dead. Alec pushed it away with one last scream as the hands let go of him.
He fell to his knees and managed to push himself back against the wall as he heard the sound of the others, still fighting the HK. “Status, 384?” He demanded.
“Now, sir!”
Alec heard the hum of the server as it uploaded the new information, data transferring into the other units. It only took a moment for the crash of the HK and then Alec heard the sound of men and women yelling their triumph around him.
He took a deep breath, wondered if Derek was still alive up there somewhere, and let the wash of pain flood him for a moment. He knew there were hands on him, his unit probably trying to stop the bleeding, but he was too tired to listen to anything they tried to say.
“Alec!”
The voice brought him out of his stupor and then he knew where he was, lying on a bunk in a room just like he’d once lived. “No, got out,” he said, trying to remember how got back there when he’d planned so hard to escape.
“Relax, Alec. We’re gonna take care of you, then we’ll be taking the first ride out of here.”
“Derek?”
The other man smiled at him, something warm and confident, something content almost. “Yeah. It worked. John’s still trying to contact the other resistance cells to see how far spread the transmission went out, but so far it seems to be everything within a 100 mile radius. Now, we just need to get this program out to the others and make sure we take everything down before it can reboot and infect the others again.”
“It really worked?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Just waiting for the medics to patch you up first. Unless you’re got plans tonight you need to get back for?”
Alec shook his head because while Derek was teasing and light hearted, the memory of the facility, the thought of what they’d endured, how many of his kind had died inside, it was too much. “I lived here, Derek. I can’t… I need to get out.”
Derek looked at him for a minute then nodded. “Alright. Yeah, I’ll take care of it. Sleep for a while Alec. Your men did good. They’re still out here, guarding you. You’ll be safe until I get back.”
He closed his eyes then, trusting Derek to see to it.
Two days later Alec walked around the walls of the base they were now referring to as Transgenic Central. A handful had come out of the woodworks after word got around that an army of X-6s were responsible for the take over of the former Cyberdyne Manticore buildings. Alec didn’t trust them all yet, but they were already beginning the training and profiling that would show how far they’d come from their days in Manticore.
“You did good.”
Alec didn’t turn around as he looked out, watching the sun as it began to sink further in the sky. He felt someone crowding behind him and closed his eyes at the press of lips against his barcode.
“Heard you didn’t do so bad yourself,” he replied. As much as he wanted to throttle the man for it, Derek had a newly acquired bullet hole in one leg where he’d pushed John Connor out of the way of a terminator’s path. The stories around the base said he’d managed to pull his guns out and hit a flying HK as he fell. The metal had crashed into its own kind, killing itself and the terminator before they could get to John and the men.
“A lot of men lost,” Derek said with a shrug.
“A lot of men saved if this works,” Alec looked over his shoulder. “You included.”
“Feels like I’m getting too old for this anymore.” He patted his leg above the dressing and sighed. “One of these days I’m not gonna make it.”
“Guess we should just retire then.”
“Retire?” Derek asked with a laugh.
“Well, I have heard that they need some men at TC, good men who can train soldiers.”
“Thought they already had someone for that.”
Alec smiled as Derek pulled back, then turned, resting his back on the wall that Alec was looking out over. “Yeah, but he’s only one transgenic. He could use a good man at his side, someone he can trust.”
“John seems to agree with you.”
“Yeah?”
Derek nodded. “Told me if I wanted it, I could stay here.”
“So you’re going to stay here, train soldiers, and get bored out of your mind?”
Derek laughed as he reached out, pulling Alec close. “I don’t see myself being bored with you around.”
“You don’t think you’ll miss all the action?”
“With you around Alec, I don’t think I’ll miss that much action at all.”
Alec smiled as Derek’s lips pressed into his, wondering how he’d managed to get Derek to stay by his side through it all. He never expected it. Then again, he’d never expected to see the end of the war, a general of his own army of transgenics, listening to John Connor make another broadcast to the human race, telling them they were gonna make it.
Derek’s fingers brushed the back of Alec’s neck, his skin sensitive under the barcode and he pulled his partner closer. His partner, his lover, the man who’d kept this word, who’d asked Alec to go back into his own personal hell and gone with him to make sure his steps didn’t falter.
Derek pulled back, enough to rest his forehead against Alec’s, his breath warm and soft against his lips. “You think it’s really over?” He asked.
Alec didn’t want to moment to end and he let his lips trace along Derek’s cheek. “Keeper of souls,” he said softly.
Derek pulled back, eyes questioning.
Alec smiled. “Some men are destined to lead while other men are destined to follow. Those that know how to fight, will. We’ll fight to the last man until the machines are gone.” he looked out into the sky, trying to capture his thoughts in a way that would make sense. “Some men though, are made to remember so we don’t forget everything we had to sacrifice to get there. You’re a keeper of souls, Derek. We’ll make sure this is over, because you help us remember what we’re fighting for.”
Derek shook his head, a small smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. “I’m just a man Alec. Only thing I’m trying to keep hold of these days is you.”
Alec pulled him in, pressed their lips together in a hungry kiss. “You keep my soul. You keep me on the right path and where I go, my army goes.”
Derek‘s chest pushed Alec back into the wall and there was so much more than just heat and desire in his eyes. It was everything Alec wanted and everything he’d never thought he’d find.
“I’ll keep you.”
“Keep me,” He repeated, needing to say the words one last time. “Keep me Derek, and we’ll find a way to save the whole damned world.”