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1
Caged
The scariest moment of their escape, scarier than going over the wall, or faking their own deaths, is sitting in a cell watching Alex Mahone glare at them. He's a predator, a cat watching the caged mice, waiting for a chance to slip his paw between the bars and snag. Michael looks away, but the skin on the back of his neck prickles with the knowledge of Mahone's heavy gaze.
A few days ago it was Alex in the cage, snarling like a polecat, looking so wild that for a moment Michael had been afraid that he would shoot, and damn the consequences. He doesn't look much better here, hands trembling slightly. Michael wonders if he's taken his pills lately.
He shifts it around in his head, mulling over it. Their formidable enemy has a weakness, and he should be able to exploit that. A structural flaw leads to collapse, and Alex is definitely flawed. Left alone he'll self-destruct eventually, but Michael doesn't need him to do it later, after he's killed them and gone back to his ruined life. He needs the advantage now, and if he has to push Alex over the edge to do it he will.
2
Soma
Michael always wears a long-sleeved shirt, even in the heat of midday, when half the men of Soma strip down to their underwear and press close to the cool stone walls. It makes him stand out, but, of course, the tattoos would make him stand out even more.
Alex resents the shirt. He understands its necessity: Michael has larger problems to deal with, but he still resents it. He wants to see the tattoos, to run his hands over them. He itches with the urge to touch.
It's worse here in Soma, with nothing else to focus on and the lack of medication making him fall apart at the seams. Michael's tattoos had tempted him from the beginning, but the tactile desire was always tempered with the knowledge that by the time he actually got to touch them the skin they decorated would be stone cold.
Here, if he wished, he could reach out and trace every line and swirl on hot, living flesh.
Except..........Michael is his way out of here, and he might not appreciate the distraction.
3
Conversation
Somewhere along the way Alex has become indispensible, and that is completely unacceptable.
Michael doesn't give his loyalty easily--he's only truly given it a few times in his life--but when he does it's immediate, and complete.
Oh, he cares about everyone, in a vague sort of way. He has an instinctual knowledge of the value of human life, and an abhorrance of violence that's bone deep, which is fortunate, because without it he'd be a highly efficient sociopath. But people are mostly tools to him. He evaluates them for their usefulness,uses them, and then discards them. Once in a while a tool is worth keeping around because it may be useful in the future, but it's still just a tool.
Alex has proved to be a very useful tool, but sometime in the last few months he's bridged the gap between tool and cherished family, and Michael hasn't even been aware of it until now, hearing the fear in Alex' voice over the phone and realizing that he might lose him.
4
Afterwards
When Alex comes back to the warehouse after making his phone call to Wyatt, Michael meets him at the door. "We have to talk," he says, and his voice is relaxed, but his eyes are intense.
Alex hadn't realized why Michael Scofield frustrates him until this moment.
He'd been hunting for so long, even after he really should have stopped, but his prey had never played to be caught, never played at all, really. Never looked him in the eyes as he was doing now, never given him that full and undivided attention that Alex savored. It could mean, 'I win,' or 'you lose,' but it always meant, 'I'm paying attention to you.'
And in the past Michael hadn't been paying attention, because he had a narrow focus, and there was always something or someone more important than Alex to focus on.
Except, apparently now there isn't, and Alex has Michael's complete attention. He wonders what he'll do with it.