Hidden Danger Crouching Cat.

By Shannon Hearn

The characters of Dark Angel are owned by Twentieth Century Fox Television and Cameron Eglee productions. All other characters are of my creation.

Chapter 1: Job Search

The weather in Post Pulse Seattle was still rainy as usual as the weather of January of twenty-twenty-one rolled around. The year had been full of surprises since Manticore had gone up in smoke. The people of Seattle were afraid of the Mutant menace that was walking the streets, some human and some not-so human. The fear was wild on the street and many of the Transgenics were feeling the heat from the fear, and misunderstandings that were coming about the discovery of enhanced human in their midst's.

For X5-424 and the survivors of that "attack" on Manticore, it had been a rough few months for him and the three other Transgenics that had escaped with him after command was compromised by a "terrorist threat". X5-424 had to deal with the circumstances of what had happened, knowing that the last official order from command that was not compromised was the order to disregard any future message and go to ground. When that signal had come through X5-424 had to cope with the fact that there was not going to be any support or help coming for him and the other survivors that he had located and rendezvous with in the woods just outside of the grounds of Manticore. The feeling of connection that he had with the three others that he had met up with had made him a default leader, but for the most part he was used to working alone when on assignment. Having others near him who did not know how he operated made him feel like if he failed everything would be lost. Somehow, fate had given X5-424 hope in the form of a fellow Transgenic, who was very empathic to how he actually felt about situations and that was X5-796.

In the night of the fire, X5-424 was surprised when he located a fellow X5 in the woods. X5-424 had appeared in front of X5-796 like a shadow and since then the name sort of stuck.

Shadow had spent the time with 796 trying to locate other Transgenics and only were able to locate two other that night a half scared out of her wits X6 and a very mature genus level X8 in the woods. The effect of meeting these two in the same place but holding onto each other trying to make sense of what was happening to them. That was about five months ago.

The effects of the events had started to set fully in about now. Shadow had gotten a job working at a hotel doing the night audit, for the six-foot five Transgenic, the hotels wardrobe dress code of dress shirt and dark pants was simple enough to fulfill. Since his filed assignments that he had performed he had on one mission created an account so that he could finance himself with the funds that he had needed while deep cover doing a track and recover mission. It took him about a week to withdraw that funds out of the account without being tracked by officials due to the account being part of a hidden laundering account for the people that he was order to track located and terminate with extreme prejudice.

With the twenty thousand dollars in cash, that Shadow had gotten his hands on he was able to create some identities for himself and the other Transgenics that were with him since the night of the fire. The names that he and the other had created were for him himself Shane Shadows, for X5-796, a woman of Polynesian ethnicity she had chosen the name of Aspen Anderson Kilowa. The younger Transgenics such as X6-209 and X8-219 had chosen the names of Melfina Nichle and Jim MacGuyver. The unit functioned as a loose connection of people trying to keep going day in and day out as they started to run a search pattern for other of their kind.

The night was quietly passing along for this small hodgepodge unit as each of them was started to settle in for. Aspen had the newspaper in front of her as she searched through the want ads for a job and then she something caught hold of her attention.

Job wanted; looking for hard working people, like to work outside, have street smarts about them and capable of handling themselves around people and must be courteous to others. Please apply at Jam Pony Delivery service in sector five.

"Hey Shadow, I think I found a job that might be able for us to find the others." Aspen said as she glanced up from the paper spread out on the floor and got up from her stomach. The old gray Mantacorian uniform t-shirt that Aspen was wearing barely covered up the panties that she had on as she got up off the floor with he almost unnaturally long and elegantly sculpted muscled body. Shadow looked over in the direction as her feline Polynesian face and slicked back long black hair hid the barcode on the back of her neck, came over to sit down on the couch that he was sitting on reading a previously read book that he had found at the street market.

"Yeah what is it Aspen?" Shadow said looking into her violet eyes that could suck the life out of a person but could see things beyond normal reality. Shadow had come to trust her sixth sense as the Normals had called it as Aspen could sense danger and things that were off. Somehow, Aspen had used that sense to locate Melfina and Jim out of pure instinct. Shadow had come to trust those instincts of hers and when she showed him the article that she had circled, he took notice.

"I think if I take this job I feel that I might be able to find other like us more quickly running a search pattern throughout the city." Aspen said to Shadow.

"I agree with you there Aspen," Shadow said as he took a look at the article more, "I think that you might want to take along Mel with you when you apply for the job, it might increase that odds of us succeeding"

"What about Jim, given his age I don't think he will be able to have a job, or at least one that is legal." Aspen voiced with concern.

"Well putting Jim into school would keep him out of trouble and it might put us at risk if he isn't careful with his capabilities and that dang barcode of his might get us exposed. So, I'll handle getting the cash for him to have his barcode removed and you handle in searching for the others like us. Deal Aspen."

"Deal Shadow" Aspen said to him as Shadow walked over to the calendar that he had made of his schedule of what he needed to do in the next few days, with the data coded with the training that they all had received at Manticore.

****

Chapter 2: The interview

Post New Years day jobs at Jam Pony were ones that everyone dreaded even for Max Guvierra. Even X5's had crappy days and walking over to Normal and complaining with him about the packages that they all had to deliver was getting a bit tedious even for her but everyone respected her and Original Cindy. Though Max could not stand the fact that Alec was getting on her nerves again, with another scheme up his sleeve between selling Joshua's artwork to the Iconographic gallery downtown and his occasional black-market deals. He was someone that although he was a jerk at times he was a closest thing to family she had right now and the two girls walking through the front door stated that Normal was expanding again with his operations again attempting to stabilize his market that he had and trying to keep the syndicate off his dang ass.

"Listen up people this is a job, which means you wok and you get paid, now get off of your lazy butts and get to work" Normal bellowed as his constantly attached phone piece that he received orders though was ready to pick up another call. About that time two girls waked into through the door one of the girls looked Asian and the other looked like someone of Middle Eastern or Native American decent, maybe even Polynesian. However, given the way that Normal was looking at her, the poor guy was probably drooling from the mouth and another part of his anatomy.

"Hi, me an my friend here are looking for a job and heard that you were hiring, so could you give us an interview?" The Polynesian girl asked, with a grin on her face and the combed backed hair of hers, which was drooping over her shoulders like a tropical waterfall. Normal would have given her his kidney, his liver, and probably even his heart and brain if she asked for them given the way that he acted.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you want?" Normal said acting as if some love goddess wearing bluish gray sweats that were pulled up to the mid level of the calf's of her leg and a close fit lime green cut off sweater which revealed a bear well muscled catlike midriff. The way that she had walked in the room and talked, she could have asked him to pose with her for a swimsuit calendar and he was to be the water boy at the shoot. Max looked at the situation and realized that Normal needed to be slapped back to reality quick before this poor fool started to drool on the floor in front of this girl already. So Max did the only thing to solve the situation, she walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, then when that didn't work, she slapped him upside the head, with just enough force to bruise his ego not his gray matter in the process.

"Normal, you're drooling on the floor in front of future employees." Max said as she kicked some sense into his head as the girl slash love goddess blinked a few times. "If you are going to hire the girl do so already." Max turned towards the girls that were standing in front of her and felt that there was something off about these two but she could not put her finger on it as of yet. "Listen the pay is five fifty an hour plus tips that you make from deliveries." Max said as Normal recovered his senses, but for the most part, Max was giving the interview to the ladies.

"So it is basically a search, locate and drop job each day." The Goddess said as her young twitchy Asian friend stared at her from the remark made. The young Asian girl who was wearing gray and blue urban combat fatigues pants and a bright orange red t-shirt that hung around her frame as if it was a second skin or was tacked on with glue at key places on her skin. The look on the younger girl's face was as if she was about to bolt out of the door. As if some secret that she had been concealing had been discovered about her and her friend and they were going to be shot on site.

"I'll out in a request for your sector passes by the end of the day." Normal said as the feeling came back into his mind as the girls walked over with Max, "I'll just need your names so that the passes are in your names." With an urge of knowing that the two girls got jobs right off the bat they gave Normal their names, Melfina Nichle and Aspen Anderson Kilowa and filled out the base paperwork for the forms that Normal would need to get the Sector passes assigned to the through the Jam Pony corporate account.

"Max why don't you and Alec take these two on a tour of what they need to do for the job?" Normal said as the realization that his life had been put into a level of strangeness that he had not considered. Dang the Girl had a body that would not quit, and he would have given her a job even if she had not asked for one. Now if Aspen were in a wet t-shirt contest he would die a very happy man.

***

Chapter 3: Bikes, Joyrides, and Steelheads.

After Max and Alec had gotten bikes for both Aspen and Melfina to use, Aspen and Melfina took a quick glance at the map of the city of where the sectors were and using the unconventional logic of their Manticore training to commit the map to memory. Aspen and Melfina split up with Alec and Max getting Aspen and Original Cindy getting the younger Melfina and with their respective packages. As the two groups left the shop, their day would get very interesting in the next few hours,

***

Melfina's bike ride with Original Cindy was turning out to be very educational. However, the way that Cindy was looking at her was scaring her it was if Cindy knew that, she was a Transgenic.

"Hey girl, you look as if I was going to eat you." Original Cindy said as she looked around to see how uncomfortable she was making Melfina. Maybe she should lay off at looking at her, the raw intensity that she was giving off was scaring the girl, and Cindy had the feeling that this Girl should have gone with Max since she had the feeling those two could understand one another in the tough life, don't trust anyone vibe they gave off when in public.

"No, its not that I think that you're going to eat me, but I feel that I should have trained under someone else." Melfina said trying to shift away from her.

"Listen Girl, I'm just a lesbian, not a Transgenic, so you don't have to worry about me taking your head off like it was a soccer ball at the world Soccer playoffs. Plus you're too young and too fidgety to be my type." Original Cindy said as the young girl seemed to back down, and relax a little, "so here is the deal, I'll trade with Max at lunch so that you feel safer, at least she is a heterosexual who chases after men every few months as if they are going out of style." The girl seemed for some reason to be at ease from the last statement that she made. "And Max will probably give you an idea about how to look for the job, instead of having your shyness so apparent with the clothes that you have thrown on." Cindy said as she looked at Melfina and the recent events of that morning were coming into a clearer idea of the situations with these girls the she noticed something on the back of Mel's neck. It was a barcode, all she needed was to ask Max what the hand sign was for friend meant and how to approach this girl without her killing herself in the process. .

In the back of Melfina's mind, she wondered how Aspen was doing with her two cohorts. And wither or not they knew what they were and wither or not she should bolt away from this woman who was eyeing her like she was a piece of meat.

****

Across town in sector seven, Max was busy keeping Alec's quick fast hormone crazed mind and hands off of this tall Polynesian Amazon warrior girl. Max had the feeling that this girl was something more than what she appeared to be, Max had kept her eyes open on the Woman in front of her watching to see if she did anything that was out of the ordinary, (especially anything that was Transgenic in nature).

With the first delivery, Alec was trying to do his usually showing off in front of this girl, but Max though slamming Alec's head through a brick wall was out of the question. Therefore, for the next delivery Max took the lead with the girl showing her the ropes of how to do a delivery right.

"Here is the tip Aspen, you have to be polite to the person that you are delivering to." Max said as she walked up the steps of the suburbia house to drop off the eleven by nine flat rectangular package that she had underneath her arm. Aspen was watching every move that she made as if it was gong to be on some exam later. "Now Aspen you have to act relaxed and at ease towards the person that you meet at the door, and remember that courtesy is key for this job, not sex appeal." Max said, as she looked at Aspen in her clothes, boy did this girl need a lesson in fashion bad. This girl looked like her old roommate Kendra in her attempt to dress up and instead looked like a badly dressed, drowned cat version of Alyssa Milano without her hairdryer, al la Amazon warrior. "Aspen, after this run we are definitely doing some shopping for you, because your wardrobe is definitely clashing." Max said to Aspen as she stopped at the door to the hour and rang the doorbell.

The door was answered by a middle age blond woman wearing a tucked in t-shirt and sweat pants, whose clothes looked like there were brand new. "Hello?" the woman said as she looked at the two women at her front door.

"Jam Pony, Ma'am, We have a package for a Sara Douglas". The woman blinked at the two women for a moment until it registered with her.

The woman asked "Do you have any identification with you to confirm who you are?" Quickly Max pulled out her badge to show that she was affiliated with Jam Pony. Aspen watched the situation develop. Then the woman looked at Aspen with a questioning look and Aspen replied, "I'm the trainee, just along to see how things are run." She aid as the woman looked towards Max again

""Here's the clipboard ma'am and sign on the line for your package." Max said as she held out the clipboard to the woman who looked down at the package that she was holding. Then she reached out and pulled out her pocket of her pants two-dollar coins and handed them to Max as the woman signed the paper on the clipboard then handed it back to Max.

"Thank you, ma'am and have a nice day." Max said as he took hold of the Clipboard and turned away form the door as it closed behind her. Then looking at Aspen she said, "It goes as simple as that." As Aspen and Max walked down to where Alec was at, it was obvious that all Alec wanted was to see Aspen without her sweater on and probably her bra as well.

"So, is it usually like this when a delivery is made?" Aspen stated as she started to look at Alec and Max More closely, trying to place where she had seen them at before.

"It usually is, but there are a few cases where you should not do a job alone, especially when you're in sector three, that area tends to be gang turf." Max said as she remembered the time that she and Sketchy went down there and had to deliver a cut off finger to the leader of a rival gang, and Sketchy was worried that he would wind up in a body bag in the process. On another occasion Max had gone alone to the sector to deliver a package and wound up meeting the photographic Street Sweeper as he confronted her with pictures of her using her X5 powers to save a drunken Sketchy from a gang of thugs who were about to beat the crap out of both of them. Still she had the feeling that after hearing about the Manticore Exodus, that Sweeper would be coming back into Seattle, after she put him on a bus and told him to visit his mother. However, the nostalgia of the past was leading her away from her training this girl. "For the most part your runs will be done by yourself, but you will have to carry either a beeper or a cell phone with you while you are on duty."

"What if I don't own one?" Aspen spoke towards Max, with some worry.

"Well Probably during our lunch break, well swing by one of the electronic stores and well get you one, but Normal will have to have the number to contact you with when we get back. Now how about getting some lunch before we head back to the barn and pick up another load."

"Thanks Max," Aspen said as she turned towards Alec, with the drool coming out of his mouth, picturing her naked with beer and pizza in her perfect arms. "Alec are you coming with us to lunch?" She said as she realized that she was putting excessively much transgenic pheromones into the air and turning any male around her into hormonal overloaded puddle in the process.

"Sure, whatever you want.... Are we having beer and pizza?". Were the only words that made sense out of Alec's mouth as he followed behind the two girls, no pun intended.

****

Half an hour later, Max, Aspen and Alec showed up at a pizza place in sector five called "The Pizza Shack" a restaurant that happened to be a old cyber cafe prior to the pulse, but when the owner realized that he could make more money selling pizza and selling hard to find coffee. He just added the word "pizza" to the sign and kept business afloat until the kids and the bike messengers in the area found him and the place rather grew after that. For Max in her black long sleeve t-shirt and her gray work pants and blue book bag, she blended into the crowd as Max searched the crowd for OC and Melfina knowing it was a place where Max and a good portion of the Jam Pony staff met for lunch off and on. Unfortunately, Max noticed something wrong hen she saw OC and Melfina having a run in with a familiar foe. Spike of the Steelheads, whose nails coming out of his bald black head and the spiked blades extruding out of his sides of his hands and arms made his heavily muscular body sculpted from constant use of Andiphonine more menacing than he actually was. Moreover, judging from the looks that he was giving Melfina, he had noticed something on the back of her neck. Quickly using her telescopic sight, Max caught sight of the lower section of a Manticore barcode. British Eddie was on the prowl for Transgenics who could possible tell him where her brother Zack was, or Eddie was just on the prowl for amped up human, universally compatible organs. Either way, she was not letting this seven-foot tall gallute harm another of her people again, after what happened with her brother.

Max made her way over to where Melfina was standing in line to order her food with OC, And looked over towards where Spike was standing, Giving a look of really pissed off that this guy would soon notice. Max made the Manticore silent command gestures for "attack hostile has been located"; "terminate" and then she pointed right in his direction making him the target to take out.

The look on Spike's face became very apparent when he saw; OC, Alec and another well-built girl look in his direction recognize the signals that the Latin Transgenic girl had given them. He soon realized that he was outnumbered and that whatever the sign Max had given to them, it was obvious that if he didn't leave now he would probably be ripped apart by at least five or more Mantacorians.

Realizing that after going head to head with a Cybernetically enhanced Mantacorian, who slammed him Twitch, and their boss Eddie to separate coffins and locked the lids on them for grabbing that same Latino transgenic girl. He considered the fact that he didn't leave now; the cops would probably only find bits his skeleton and the several broken metal blades on his arms several months from now in some field. So, he split as fast as he could. He didn't even hear the guy behind the counter call his number for the pizza he ordered.

Max looked at Melfina and saw that the girl was staring right at her realizing that she was a fellow transgenic. The poor girl looked like she had just been stripped necked in front of a crowd of people in a very public place. The word that Melfina was attempting to say was something along the lines of "Ma'am, yes Ma'am." But, the shock she was in the words came out her mouth as "Mahhmmmmmm, gesssssssss, mmmmmmmm..." a good part of her articulation was obliterated out of existence.

Realizing that this girl had thought that Max had actually given a kill order, Max gave the all clear, and stand down commands gestures so that this poor girl would not go out and kill that Steelhead in front of this crowd of people. Max walked over with pizza sandwich that she had just picked up from the counter and sat down at the table where all five were now at.

Melfina was scared, this was another transgenic and she probably was doing the same idea that Aspen had. But an order to attack, some guy with bio-punk implants in his body. What was going on here? Mel was about to burst out of her skin when Max spoke to her.

"Hey there... are you alright?" Max said as she tapped the girl on the shoulder. The look of fear was still present on Melfina's face and conflicting ideas were showing in her eyes. All Melfina could say in any clear form was her designation.

"X6-209." And that sounded like she was stuttering it out. Aspen who had not seen the entire Steelhead fiasco that Mel had been witness to, gave Melfina a look of, "what are you doing?"

"Mel, girl are you all right, you look like you just ate the preferable canary, with Tabasco sauce on it." OC said as the expression of contemplation came to Melfina's mind.

"Aspen... Max is one of us." Melfina said looking towards Max in fear and respect.

"Mel, you can chill, I won't hurt you," Max said as she turned her attention towards Aspen and a near drooling Alec. "Aspen, I suggest that you lay off the X5 pheromones and return Alec to his annoying self in the next few minutes or I will fetch my pet lesbian after you." Max said turning towards Original Cindy.

"Cindy remember that offer that you want me to do to you but I won't. Well I think that Aspen here might be up to it in the next few minutes if she doesn't release her control over Alec's Y chromosome in the next thirty seconds." Max said as something in OC's eyes lit up like the forth of July fireworks during the 1985 Statue of Liberty rededication in New York City. Original Cindy's fantasy of having sex with a Female X5 transgenic was leading her to almost drooling at the taste of Chimera Cunt on her lips. With that thought in her mind, Cindy placed her dark coca colored hand on Aspen's leg and did a soft firm squeeze. The bug eyed stare from Aspen was clear that she understood that she and Mel had been both made, and that their fate was in Max's hands.

"Aspen I want you to take your hands and pull the back of Alec's shirt down and take a good look at who the heck that you are leading by his Y chromosomes." Max said to Aspen as she reached over to the back of Alec's shirt and pulled it down until she saw something that she thought she never see so soon under the plan she had... An X5 barcode. Aspen stared there for a second, letting what was happening sink in.

"Aspen, everyone here at this table with the exception of Cindy here has the same birthmark in the same place." Max said, as both Melfina and Aspen blinked for several moments at her. "The only reason that OC knows what we are is that I had to use my powers to save her life once, and before that we were close friends." What Max didn't say was that she revealed what she was to Cindy only after inserting a Deposable Red implant into the back of her neck, fighting at least four no-pain, no-gain cyber freaks, and having a near fatal seizure in the process. That and while back at Logan's place Logan had given Cindy a cup of coffee correcto, a.k.a European coffee with a shot of Jack Daniels bourbon put into it. After an hour of Cindy just staring at her as she explained what she was, Cindy came to understand what Max was and who she was better because of it.

Melfina and Aspen were giving Max the same fearful look of what she was. Mel if you pull back the hair on the back of my neck you will see the same markings but that I am an X5. Max pulled the back of her hair back from her neck and felt Melfina's fingers touch and feel the details of her Barcode. The realization that Max was a true transgenic down to the correct coding of her barcode made Melfina and Aspen calm down.

"Now Aspen, will you take your mind control ability off of Alec, it has been good having him not yap constantly, but it is now getting creepy. Once, you do, I'll call Cindy off." Max said as Alec, slowly regained some of his higher logic functions.

"Uh, Max why are we in a restaurant, with the two new girls. Aren't we supposed to be working?" Alec said with a blank look on his face looking around. Then seeing Cindy's hand on Aspen's leg Alec freaked industrially. "Noooooo. The perfect babe, the Goddess of Beach Beauty is a lesbian..."

"Cindy you can take your hand off of Aspen's leg." Max said to Alec, "Sorry Alec, but I had to seek Cindy on Aspen so she could unwrap her control over you." Max said.

"What... " Alec said.

"Alec, you were entranced by a fellow Chimera, and you were about to drool your very brains out of your skull."

"Now girls what is your story?" Max said to Aspen and Melfina.

***

TBC

The Origins of Melfina and Shadow