Alec

Alec's History

X5-494, or "Alec" is an X5 created by the covert government program known as Manticore as an identical twin of X5-493, or "Ben" and trained to be an assassin and a soldier. He was one of the 10 beta soldiers manufactured to use flirting as their weapon. He escaped from Manticore in the year 2020 when the facility was destroyed in an attempt to cover up the program's existence.

Not long before "The Pulse" (an electro-magnetic pulse bomb set off over the United States), Max/X5-452 and a number of her unit escaped from Manticore in 2009. X5-494 was not one of the 2009 escapees as he was not in their unit, although his identical twin brother Ben/X5-493 was. Manticore tightened its grip on the remaining X5s, with the twins of the escapees being subjected to the harshest discipline for fear of them following in their brothers' and sisters' footsteps.

494 was given the name "Alec" by Max when she first met him while imprisoned at Manticore. He was supposed to be her "designated breeding partner", but when Max refused his ordered advances, 494 backed off, albeit with a very snarky attitude. After that, Max dubbed him "Alec" �?? as in "smart aleck" �?? due to his egotistical cockiness. 494 liked the name "Alec" and kept it.

Alec did not achieve his freedom until more than 10 years later after his twin, Ben, when Max instigated the destruction of Manticore and freed the transgenics. Alec was already outside of the compound when Manticore was brought down, assigned to corral Max back to Manticore and to facilitate the capture and/or death of Eyes Only. Observing the facility in flames and human soldiers attempting to kill his fellow transgenics as they were escaping, he made a hasty retreat.

Once free, he engaged in various methods, generally illegal, to gain quick cash; one of the first was cage fighting. He wasn't planning on doing this long, but ceases altogether (excepting mental coercion) after he gets caught, is blackmailed into killing other transgenics, and then is nearly killed himself, by Ames White, the deadly agent assigned to hunt down and destroy all escaped transgenics. Alec then emulated Max by getting a job at her work, Jam Pony, (a bike messenger service) in order to secure a Sector Pass and scout potential places to steal from. He also ran various scams and had shady business dealings around the city. However, he did limit himself to products that won't get his clients killed, limiting his customer base.

Wired for survival, he's initially looking out only for himself, but, through Max's influence and his own repressed conscience, he changes enough that he willingly and often risks himself for friends and transgenics in distress. He and Max work together to build up the new community for Manticore escapees dubbed Terminal City (a.k.a. Transgenic City, or more commonly: T.C.), a place where they could live and defend themselves from the hostile "ordinaries" (normal humans), as well as the government, and makes a stand with Max and the other transgenics.