Chapter 1: Pleading the Plan
"Come on Ben, please? It won't be that much trouble. Just a little art on your part and some creativity on mine." Alec had been trying to convince his twin brother to go along with his latest scheme for over an hour now.
"The creativity on your part is what I'm worried about," Ben grumbled. He knew he couldn't count on his fingers the number of times Alec had gotten 'creative' and gotten him in trouble. Hell, there probably weren't enough fingers in all of Manticore. Besides, this time it wouldn't be Lydecker, Renfro, or even the TAC officers that they had to worry about; it was Max. And that was much more frightening than anything Manticore could throw at them. Especially the way she was now.
"Ben, have a little faith in your brother, would ya?" Alec smirked. "The plan is flawless. And you don't even have to worry about solitary." Ben shot him a look as he tried to get comfortable on his bunk. Solitary confinement had been a reoccurring pattern in both their 18 years at Manticore. Given, it was mostly Alec that spent time there. Alec ignored the unamused look on his brother's face and continued.
"All you have to do is change our barcodes a little and be me for a few hours."
"Gee, I don't know if I can possibly be you for that long. All that sarcasm looks really draining." Ben rolled his eyes.
"Ben, stop being an ass," Alec retorted.
"How'm I supposed to do that if I'm posing as you?" Ben quipped, smiling sweetly.
"Be-en! Please. I just need a few minutes alone with Maxie. She won't look at me and you won't even try to talk to her. Indulge me here."
"Alec, honestly. Act like you're 18 instead of 8. Max will come out of this funk she's in eventually. It will be back to a rousing game of punch-the-Alec in no time." Ben wasn't just attempting to convince Alec of this fact; he needed to convince himself.
Max had been acting strange ever since she'd returned from her sudden dissapearance. They'd all found out later that she'd been in the infirmary for three days, presumably for isolation during her heat, but afterwards, it had been straight to solitary. She hadn't spoken a word about it to anyone since she'd been back on active duty. No one was talking since no one knew exactly what had happened. Everyone knew better than to ask her what was wrong. That was dangerous. But Ben had been tempted a time or two to brave it anyway. He really hated seeing Maxie like that, so cold and distant. A shadow of her normally vibrant self.
"What makes you think she'd talk to me about whatever it is?"
"You're her brother. You two have been close since you were born. Of course she'd talk to you," Alec explained, rolling his eyes.
"Did you ever stop to think that she simply went into heat and did somethin' to get herself thrown in isolation?"
"Something...like what?" Alec asked, racking his brain.
Ben simply raised an eyebrow.
"Oh no! Don't even think that! Maxie may have gone into heat, but she wouldn't...she couldn't...Oh man." Alec tried to shake the thought of Max attacking TAC officers in her heat-induced fervor.
"Alec, when are you going to admit that you're crazy about Max?"
"What? I'm not! I'm just...worried about her," Alec sputtered. 'Yeah right. That's almost the truth,' he thought to himself.
"Alec, you just had a shit fit over the idea of Max bangin' the staff. You're so obviously jealous." Ben was amused at Alec's denial. Everyone in their unit knew Max and Alec were crazy for each other...except for them.
"I just didn't want Max to do something she'll regret. That's ALL." Alec splayed himself out on the bunk in the cell the twins shared, putting his hands behind his head.
A tap on the metal door sounded and then the boom of their TAC leader followed. "Lights out," he barked in a voice that commanded obedience.
The two men shut off their lights and waited for the echo of footsteps to fade away before continuing their conversation.
"Ben, seriously. I'm worried about Maxie. I know I ask you for a lot, but please do this for me. I need to know if Max is alright and you have the same schedule as she does this week. Please Ben?"
Dammit, why does Alec have to pull this sincerity shit? Ben thought as he sighed and threw his hands up in exasperated aquiescence. "Fine. Where's the stuff?"
Alec jumped up off the bunk and pulled out a brick from the wall. Reaching inside the hole, he pulled out a small round case, a spray bottle, and a permanent marker. "Right here, my brother. We'll do it a half hour before wake-up.
"Why not just do it now?" Ben wanted to get this over with.
"Because it'll smear, stupid. The sealant's not that good. Go to bed," Alec replied as if Ben should know this already.
"Fine." Ben settled back in his bed and closed his eyes. Within moments he was sound asleep. Alec, however, was far from it, too racked with worry to sleep. Max had never gone more than a few days without talking to him, even if it was only to insult him. It had been two weeks since she'd gotten out of solitary and she hadn't so much as glanced in his direction. He knew; he'd been watching. The one time he'd managed to catch her eye, the pain and conflict he'd seen there had cut right through to his soul, if there was such a thing. He needed to know what had happened, what they'd done to her.
Alec laid there, never moving, only thinking, until it was time to wake up Ben.
"Ben," Alec said, shaking his twin's shoulders. "Ben, get up."
Ben mumbled serveral nonsense syllables and rolled over. Alec pulled him upright.
"Ben, get your lazy ass out of bed."
When Ben had finally forced the sleep from his eyes, he went about getting dressed. Alec pulled the tools out from their hiding spot and they went to work.
"Where'd you get the make-up from?" Ben asked while applying the flesh-coloured powder to Alec's barcode.
Alec smirked shamelessly. "Renfro's office."
"I'm pretending that I never heard that." Ben took the permanent marker and carefully doctored Alec's barcode to read '493' instead of '494'. He sprayed the sealant over his work to keep it from smearing. Once it had dried, he traded places with Alec on the bunk and they repeated the process.
Once everything had been finished, they switched bunks and waited for the bugle to signal it was time to wake up. It wasn't long until the bugle sounded and they headed out the door and in opposite directions. Alec sent up a silent prayer to Ben's Blue Lady as he rounded the corner out of the barracks and saw Max heading to drills. Please, let this work.
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