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*The Longest Day*
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Spoilers: This is the fourth story in my series – if you haven't read any of my work before, you'd be best off going back to read and understand. The first story was Shattered Trusts and Whispered Confessions. The second is Remembering to Forget and the third, which I only just finished, is Events That Lead To Greatness. This series is set after Hello Goodbye but does reveal spoilers from the rest of the season, as I incorporate it into the story.
Disclaimer: Ideas are mine based on the brilliant work of the Dark Angel team – so don't sue me! I wish I owned Alec, but I don't. So I have to settle for writing fiction about him.
Authors Note: Just a general shout out thanks to all the great readers who have been reviewing my work and totally keeping me motivated. If it weren't for you guys I wouldn't be writing this stuff. I am trying out a new style of writing in this one; let me know what you guys think.
When it says someone's name over the top, it means that the chapter is in their point of view. It wont be like that for the entire story, just when necessary for what I am doing. Have fun and remember to review!
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CHAPTER ONE: Screwed
MAX
Seattle; The Space Needle; January 1st 2023
0630 hours and counting...
I like to think of myself as aging with the turnover of each New Year. At Manticore, we never had birthdays - that would actually suggest we mattered as something other than soldiers. And so, on this first day of the New Year, here I am again, looking out over my home, the only place I have ever been able to call that. And thinking to myself, you made it – you've been alive for twenty-something years.
I wish I knew how long really. My barcode doesn't tell me how old I am, just that I was youngest in my unit. But when I look in the mirror, I can't tell how old I am supposed to be, just that I feel at least double what I am. Guess that's what I get for living such a hectic life. But if I had to guess, I'd say 21 or 22. That's a lot longer than I would've ever expected.
I stood up lifting my head back to expose my throat to the cold air. Seattle really bit ass, the weather completely sucked. But this view made up for that. As the rain came down, I lifted my champagne bottle, toasting myself on having made it through another year – who would've thought after everything that had happened during the last?
But I was still here, my city, the place that was so easy to be lost in – I had been here years now and finally I had stopped running, stopped being afraid.
Screw exposure.
Screw the world.
Alec's words.
I missed him. God I missed him, I'd spent two months travelling around the country trying to find him, but he had 10 years of Manticore training on me – if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. Eventually I accepted that he didn't want me around. And I couldn't blame him.
I didn't understand how Alec had even survived the fight against White; he had been dead when I had held him. But who knew what tricks he had been taught as a soldier, maybe he had been designed so that you couldn't feel a pulse. Who knew? All I knew was that I missed him and I had lost him out of my own stupidity.
I took another gulp of the bubbly drink, smiling sadly at the rising sun, ignoring the rain splashing down my face. I guess I better go check in on Joshua, one of the only faces I welcomed to see these days.
At least I still have my bike.
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They designed her to be the perfect soldier--a human weapon. Then she escaped. In a future not far from now, in a broken world, she is haunted by her past. She cannot run; she must fight to discover her destiny.
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Seattle; Terminal City; January 1st 2023
0800 hours and counting...
It was always amazing at how soothing a ride on my baby could be, feeling that much power being controlled by you, directed by you. I stopped as I reached Terminal City, taking off my glasses to survey the scene before me. What was it with ordinaries and flaming crosses anyway? But there it was. And rednecks throwing glass bottles and the like into my city, into my home. And then there was some wet round the ears reporter thinking she was giving all the facts when really, she was just as bad as the ordinaries behind her,
"Terminal City is a twenty-block no-man's land here in the heart of Seattle. Closed twelve years ago after a massive toxic spill, it is without power or water, and it is a felony to go beyond this security fence right behind me. Terminal City is far from empty; it is home to rats, stray cats, a few homeless humans, and according to reports, an ever-increasing number of transgenics, some of them far from human. Local citizens have begun setting up flaming X's, like this one, outside the fence as a warning to the transgenics inside."
I watched closer as
three guys screamed at the TC fence, unable to see any actual transgenics,
"Get out of here,
you freaks!"
"Go back where
you came from!"
"Hey! Freakazoids!"
Shaking my head, I revved the engine of my Ninja, causing the three males to turn and look at me. I could see them smile at one another, as though they were impressing the hot biker chick. Whatever. I shouted at them as I started my bike again,
"Two million years of human evolution and this is what we get. You morons."
Like I said before, screw exposure.
I popped a wheelie rammed straight through the flaming X, sending chunks of burning wood everywhere. That'll teach em. I dropped the front wheel down and looked over at the slack-jawed yokels, before using a makeshift ramp over a car, to jump the fence and land in TC. That's what I call making an entry.
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"Hey Big Fella."
Joshua barely looked up as I entered the room, his eyes concentrating on his paint easel. But he gave me a goofy dog smile as I greeted him and I smiled back, peering curiously at his latest project.
"Whatcha doin?"
"Painting."
"So I see. Isn't that?"
"Alec."
Right. The poor guy had more hope that Alec was coming home than I had in the beginning when he had first left.
"Josh... I know you miss him. I do too. But he wouldn't want you wasting your time painting pictures of him. He'd want you out and about in TC, spending time with you're friends."
"It's a present for Alec, so he comes home and sees we miss him."
"Joshua, Alec isn't coming home – he left. Remember?"
I winced mentally as Joshua growled a low rumble in the back of his throat. I knew that everyone here blamed me for Alec leaving. No one had said so, not even Mole – but still, I knew they all thought I had driven him away. Which I had. Big Fella turned away as I spoke; I knew that he was trying not to show his annoyance. Fair go, I'd be angry with me too.
"Anything you guys need to be done around here?"
I turned away and directed the comment at Luke, the only one who had been supportive to me during this whole thing, he had been great – which was surprising because he had grown really close to Alec in the last months before that day at the waterworks plant. In reality, it was easier for everyone to pretend that Alec was dead, instead of the truth that he had abandoned them – but it was reassuring that he had left an extensive list of stuff to do before he left. Luke had also told me the other day that money was being wired into their bank account that Alec had set up, from an unknown source. They all secretly hoped it was Alec, a way he had decided to stay a part of their family. I hope they were right, because it meant he was okay, alive and earning money – though knowing Alec, probably stealing money.
"There's nothing really needing to be done around here Max."
I smiled at Luke, knowing he was trying to make me feel like I belonged.
"Okay. Thanks anyway, call me if you guys need anything. I guess I'll just go home and relax."
"You do that, we'll buzz you if need be."
"Okay, bye."
Joshua grinned at me as I left and I breathed a sigh of relief, he never could stay angry with me. In the future, I just had to learn when to keep my mouth shut.
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Seattle; Jampony; January 1st 2023
0900 hours and counting...
Funny how things work out.
It's my birthday and the first time I think I've ever arrived at work on time. And on a day that I wasn't rostered. I can just see the shock all over Normal's face as I walk in.
"Well look who it is, missy miss actually here before lunchtime."
"Can it Normal. You got packages for me?"
"You're not on today."
"Then you should be grateful I'm willing to work for you on a public holiday – that's double pay. And you say no, I think you're gonna have some angry customers seeing as none of the others are here yet."
He rolled his eyes at me, but gave me a pile of packages none the less. I held my breath, waiting for it; I knew it was coming,
"What are you waiting for? I don't pay you to stand around gawking at me. Bip!"
Smirking at him, I pulled on my hat, gathered the packages with one hand and left the place, the only place I had to go on my birthday.
There's a way to celebrate, delivering packages to other people.
At least it gave me something to do.
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