Angel of Darkness
By Astro Purple
AstroPurpl@aol.com
PG for language, violence, and some sexual references, but mostly language.
Timeline: After Jace met Max but before season two with a few minor changes. Okay, okay, rather big changes. I loved Ben, Brin, and Tinga a lot and can't bear the thought of not writing about them. So Brin was rescued safely from Manticore for a third time and is back to normal. Tinga managed to get to Canada, and Max got to Charlie and Case before Lydecker and they're with her. Plus Max managed to drag Ben out of the woods and get him some help. There was a chemical imbalance with his brain that medication corrected.
Summary: An X5 who didn't escape and is now sent to hunt down those who did.
Author's Note: When Jace was introduced, I was intrigued at the prospect of X5s coming up against their own kind. I was a bit disappointed in how the writers got Jace to change sides so quickly.
Disclaimer: Dark Angel characters belong to the wonderful people who bring Dark Angel to us.
* * *
A feeling of satisfaction filled her as she watched her victim fall. She stood over him watching his labored breathing as wide eyes stared up at her. She knelt down, running her fingers through his messed up hair, smoothing it back from his forehead.
"How---" He started to say wide-eyed.
She cut him off. "You're no match for me, X5-205." She whispers softly, gazing at him with a faraway look in her eyes. "Tell the others that I am coming for them. They can run, but they can't hide. Not from me." Swiftly she stood up and disappeared into the night.
Still dazed, Zane shoves himself up staring at the spot where she'd disappeared. "Shit." He mutters wiping blood from his face. Weakly, he begins to make his way back towards his cabin.
* * *
The sun was just rising as Max stepped back into her apartment pushing her Ninja. Instantly she knew something wasn't right as she froze, searching the room with her eyes. Original Cindy couldn't be back yet, Max had seen her leave Crash the night before with a leggy blonde.
"It's just us." A low gruff voice said coming from her bedroom.
"Zack!" She exclaimed surprised. "What's going on?" She demanded, her voice getting all business-like the minute she caught sight of Brin and Jondy and a couple other faces peering from behind him.
Zane meekly steps out of the doorway nursing an arm in a sling and a heck of a black eye. "Hey Max."
Max frowns. "Zane! What in hell happened to you?" She glanced at Jondy and then Zack for an explanation.
"Our security problem." Zack said. "Someone beat him up pretty badly, a girl." He added for emphasis.
"It's not like she was a regular girl." Zane protested in his defense. "She knew about us, she knew I was X5-205." And it wouldn't surprise me if she was another X5 also. He thought the last bit to himself, going over the details of the fight. She'd surprised him. He hadn't expected anyone else to be in the woods, it wasn't like he was near civilization, and especially near midnight. He wasn't even sure why he had ventured out into the night, for all he knew, they wouldn't be in this predicament if he hadn't left his cabin. She might never have found him and beaten him so bad. But then her words came back to him.
Tell the others that I'm coming for them. They can run, but they can't hide. Not from me.
Shit. They were in trouble. She'd somehow managed to find him, even out in the middle of nowhere.
"Zane... earth to Zane."
He shook himself out of his thoughts, realizing Max was standing in front of him. "Yeah?" He asked warily, hoping she wasn't going to chastise him also for being beaten by a girl. He caught Krit giving him a snide look and he couldn't help but hope he'd get to meet their female hunter also.
Max sighed catching him give Krit a 'drop dead' glare. "Zane, this girl, what did she look like? Did she have any marks on her that could help us figure out who she is?"
Zane sighed, the others had already given him the third degree inquisition. He hadn't been able to supply them anything helpful. "She was a girl, dark hair, dark eyes, a bit shorter than me so I'd say about five six, killer body and moves, tight black leather showcasing all those luxurious curves, if she had a barcode it was well hidden, and did I mention she was extremely hot?"
Max smacked him with the palm of her hand. "And I'll bet if she'd got you in bed and then were to ask you if you would happily die miserably for her, you'd say yes."
Zane shrugged. "She didn't ask me, so how should I know?"
Jondy rolled her eyes. "We questioned him before, he couldn't tell us anything helpful. Some X5 he turned out to be." She muttered. "I think he's the only one without a photographic memory."
Zane glared at her. "She moved fast. You try remember details while trying to keep yourself alive at the same time. She fought---" He broke off remember something.
Each of the X5s waited with controlled patience as he seemed to recall something.
"It was weird." Zane said thinking out loud. "In the beginning, some of the moves she pulled, it was almost as if she knew what was on my mind. But she couldn't have been telepathic. I used everything I remembered from Manticore. Trying to take her down without hurting her. But she countered each of my moves, even stopping me before I had made a move. Once in a while she'd sort of smile at me, it was like she was taunting me. She kept pushing me to use my strength and my speed more and more, I was tired, and then she took me down. If she hadn't known what I was before that, she did then."
Syl pulled out a gun and cocked it. "Zane said she could have killed him, and the only reason she didn't was to have him tell us that we can run, but we can't hide from her. I say we just root out this bitch and kill her before she gets to any of us."
Zack agreed, looking around for opposition. And of course, this opposition came from Max, the one person who disliked following orders from others.
"We can't just kill her, we don't even know who she is. If she's Manticore than she deserves a chance to break away. Like Jace, we can't leave her to spend the rest of her days in that hellhole." Max looked from face to face, hoping someone would help her plead her case. "We don't have a right just going around and killing people who threaten us."
Brin sighed. "Max is right." She said watching Zack's facial expression closely. "You guys gave me a chance."
Ben crossed his arms. "It was different with you, Brin. We knew you, and somewhere inside yourself you wanted to remember and get out of Manticore. And with Jace, deep down she envied us that we had the strength to break away. Plus she was pregnant."
"Zack..." Max turned to Zack, their big brother, their Commanding Officer.
Zack kept his face perfectly emotionless as he considered what had been said. Finally he turned in answer to Max. "Then what do you propose we do?"
Max broke into a smile, sighing with relief. "Well first, we get out of this place in case she followed Zane. We'll meet," She scribbled an address down on a sheet of paper. "at this place." She held it up for everyone to see, catching a scowl on Zack's face. "He'll help us find out who she is." She folded up the paper and lit it, watching it burn. "In half an hour."
Each of the X5s nodded, in the next ten minutes, they left in small groups, until finally only Max and Zack was left.
The silence between them was almost endless until Max broke it. "Thanks Zack." She said. Zack only grunted in response. Max sighed, wondering when the two of them could ever have a real conversation. "I guess we should get going." She said trying to keep her emotions out of her facial expression and tone of voice.
* * *
Seattle. Everything always led back to Seattle. They had told her not to be surprised if she found herself in Seattle, and yet she couldn't help but be surprised. They were the best out of the X5 series, they had been trained to avoid capture, and it included keeping on the move. And yet one of them chose to continue staying in Seattle, long after she'd been compromised. She couldn't suppress the flash of disgust, which crossed her mind. Designate X5-452, Max.
She backed away from the edge of the desolate Space Needle, the High Place of the city. More than ten years later, she still couldn't shake those stories they came up with. The Blue Lady, the High Place, the Nomalies. She told herself over and over again that she didn't believe in it, but at night when sleep wouldn't claim her, she found herself climbing out of her barrack, out the window, and up to the roof. There, their little shrine still stood. No one had ever found it. The picture of the Blue Lady, or what's left of it was still present, along with a used up candle stub and a pile of old teeth. Their teeth.
X5-387 began the long descent back towards the ground. She had to focus on her mission at hand and remember that they were the enemies, the traitors. They had left her and all the rest of the X5 series at Manticore to suffer their punishment. She'd been placed in isolation containment for over a week, endured grueling questions as to whether or not this had been planned ahead of time, and by whom. She hadn't known anything. Their CO had only informed those he was close to. The eleven who escaped with him. Harsh hatred flashed through her, clouding up her emotions. She hated them. She hated all of them, but mostly Zack, X5-599 she hated to a degree that couldn't be described. They were suppose to be family, but he had split them up. In total, there were twenty four of them. Twenty four X5s. She'd lost Eva and Jack to Manticore. And then finally she'd lost twelve more of her siblings to the world outside. Just when things were beginning to look good, Jace was gone. If any of the traitors was going to die, it would be Zack, Zack for splitting them up, for breaking their family apart, and for turning them against each other.
You wish you were one of the twelve, don't you? A tiny voice inside her head asked that as she began walking away from the Space Needle, anywhere but where she had been. Manticore wasn't a place to live and grow up. You knew that deep down. Don't deny it. And she didn't. She didn't deny it. She'd never in her life denied that Manticore was hell.
A payphone was up ahead, and it was time to check-in. She dialed the number and then waited.
"Yes?" A voice on the other end demanded attention.
"Seattle. Eleven of them are here, just as you said they'd be. The twelfth is in Canada but on her way." She answered.
"Good. Now find them, and kill them. We don't need mistakes like them walking around in this world."
Shocked, she could only numbly reply. "Yes sir."
* * *
"Here we go." Logan said as a file popped up on his screen. Eleven X5s gathered around him and his computer as a picture appeared. "X5-387 was dispatched less than a week ago to pursue you all. It doesn't state anything else." He turned around to face them in his chair. "I'm assuming you all know her."
Silently they retreated back into the living room. Each in their own thoughts.
"Yeah." Max finally answered. "X5-387, Fala."
* * *
What does everyone think? I've been away from the fanfic realm for quite a while so I'm not even sure if I'm a decent writer anymore. Comments, flames, suggestions, etc. appreciated.
By Astro Purple
AstroPurpl@aol.com
PG for language, violence, and some sexual references, but mostly language.
Timeline: After Jace met Max but before season two with a few minor changes. Okay, okay, rather big changes. I loved Ben, Brin, and Tinga a lot and can't bear the thought of not writing about them. So Brin was rescued safely from Manticore for a third time and is back to normal. Tinga managed to get to Canada, and Max got to Charlie and Case before Lydecker and they're with her. Plus Max managed to drag Ben out of the woods and get him some help. There was a chemical imbalance with his brain that medication corrected.
Summary: An X5 who didn't escape and is now sent to hunt down those who did.
Author's Note: When Jace was introduced, I was intrigued at the prospect of X5s coming up against their own kind. I was a bit disappointed in how the writers got Jace to change sides so quickly.
Disclaimer: Dark Angel characters belong to the wonderful people who bring Dark Angel to us.
* * *
A feeling of satisfaction filled her as she watched her victim fall. She stood over him watching his labored breathing as wide eyes stared up at her. She knelt down, running her fingers through his messed up hair, smoothing it back from his forehead.
"How---" He started to say wide-eyed.
She cut him off. "You're no match for me, X5-205." She whispers softly, gazing at him with a faraway look in her eyes. "Tell the others that I am coming for them. They can run, but they can't hide. Not from me." Swiftly she stood up and disappeared into the night.
Still dazed, Zane shoves himself up staring at the spot where she'd disappeared. "Shit." He mutters wiping blood from his face. Weakly, he begins to make his way back towards his cabin.
* * *
The sun was just rising as Max stepped back into her apartment pushing her Ninja. Instantly she knew something wasn't right as she froze, searching the room with her eyes. Original Cindy couldn't be back yet, Max had seen her leave Crash the night before with a leggy blonde.
"It's just us." A low gruff voice said coming from her bedroom.
"Zack!" She exclaimed surprised. "What's going on?" She demanded, her voice getting all business-like the minute she caught sight of Brin and Jondy and a couple other faces peering from behind him.
Zane meekly steps out of the doorway nursing an arm in a sling and a heck of a black eye. "Hey Max."
Max frowns. "Zane! What in hell happened to you?" She glanced at Jondy and then Zack for an explanation.
"Our security problem." Zack said. "Someone beat him up pretty badly, a girl." He added for emphasis.
"It's not like she was a regular girl." Zane protested in his defense. "She knew about us, she knew I was X5-205." And it wouldn't surprise me if she was another X5 also. He thought the last bit to himself, going over the details of the fight. She'd surprised him. He hadn't expected anyone else to be in the woods, it wasn't like he was near civilization, and especially near midnight. He wasn't even sure why he had ventured out into the night, for all he knew, they wouldn't be in this predicament if he hadn't left his cabin. She might never have found him and beaten him so bad. But then her words came back to him.
Tell the others that I'm coming for them. They can run, but they can't hide. Not from me.
Shit. They were in trouble. She'd somehow managed to find him, even out in the middle of nowhere.
"Zane... earth to Zane."
He shook himself out of his thoughts, realizing Max was standing in front of him. "Yeah?" He asked warily, hoping she wasn't going to chastise him also for being beaten by a girl. He caught Krit giving him a snide look and he couldn't help but hope he'd get to meet their female hunter also.
Max sighed catching him give Krit a 'drop dead' glare. "Zane, this girl, what did she look like? Did she have any marks on her that could help us figure out who she is?"
Zane sighed, the others had already given him the third degree inquisition. He hadn't been able to supply them anything helpful. "She was a girl, dark hair, dark eyes, a bit shorter than me so I'd say about five six, killer body and moves, tight black leather showcasing all those luxurious curves, if she had a barcode it was well hidden, and did I mention she was extremely hot?"
Max smacked him with the palm of her hand. "And I'll bet if she'd got you in bed and then were to ask you if you would happily die miserably for her, you'd say yes."
Zane shrugged. "She didn't ask me, so how should I know?"
Jondy rolled her eyes. "We questioned him before, he couldn't tell us anything helpful. Some X5 he turned out to be." She muttered. "I think he's the only one without a photographic memory."
Zane glared at her. "She moved fast. You try remember details while trying to keep yourself alive at the same time. She fought---" He broke off remember something.
Each of the X5s waited with controlled patience as he seemed to recall something.
"It was weird." Zane said thinking out loud. "In the beginning, some of the moves she pulled, it was almost as if she knew what was on my mind. But she couldn't have been telepathic. I used everything I remembered from Manticore. Trying to take her down without hurting her. But she countered each of my moves, even stopping me before I had made a move. Once in a while she'd sort of smile at me, it was like she was taunting me. She kept pushing me to use my strength and my speed more and more, I was tired, and then she took me down. If she hadn't known what I was before that, she did then."
Syl pulled out a gun and cocked it. "Zane said she could have killed him, and the only reason she didn't was to have him tell us that we can run, but we can't hide from her. I say we just root out this bitch and kill her before she gets to any of us."
Zack agreed, looking around for opposition. And of course, this opposition came from Max, the one person who disliked following orders from others.
"We can't just kill her, we don't even know who she is. If she's Manticore than she deserves a chance to break away. Like Jace, we can't leave her to spend the rest of her days in that hellhole." Max looked from face to face, hoping someone would help her plead her case. "We don't have a right just going around and killing people who threaten us."
Brin sighed. "Max is right." She said watching Zack's facial expression closely. "You guys gave me a chance."
Ben crossed his arms. "It was different with you, Brin. We knew you, and somewhere inside yourself you wanted to remember and get out of Manticore. And with Jace, deep down she envied us that we had the strength to break away. Plus she was pregnant."
"Zack..." Max turned to Zack, their big brother, their Commanding Officer.
Zack kept his face perfectly emotionless as he considered what had been said. Finally he turned in answer to Max. "Then what do you propose we do?"
Max broke into a smile, sighing with relief. "Well first, we get out of this place in case she followed Zane. We'll meet," She scribbled an address down on a sheet of paper. "at this place." She held it up for everyone to see, catching a scowl on Zack's face. "He'll help us find out who she is." She folded up the paper and lit it, watching it burn. "In half an hour."
Each of the X5s nodded, in the next ten minutes, they left in small groups, until finally only Max and Zack was left.
The silence between them was almost endless until Max broke it. "Thanks Zack." She said. Zack only grunted in response. Max sighed, wondering when the two of them could ever have a real conversation. "I guess we should get going." She said trying to keep her emotions out of her facial expression and tone of voice.
* * *
Seattle. Everything always led back to Seattle. They had told her not to be surprised if she found herself in Seattle, and yet she couldn't help but be surprised. They were the best out of the X5 series, they had been trained to avoid capture, and it included keeping on the move. And yet one of them chose to continue staying in Seattle, long after she'd been compromised. She couldn't suppress the flash of disgust, which crossed her mind. Designate X5-452, Max.
She backed away from the edge of the desolate Space Needle, the High Place of the city. More than ten years later, she still couldn't shake those stories they came up with. The Blue Lady, the High Place, the Nomalies. She told herself over and over again that she didn't believe in it, but at night when sleep wouldn't claim her, she found herself climbing out of her barrack, out the window, and up to the roof. There, their little shrine still stood. No one had ever found it. The picture of the Blue Lady, or what's left of it was still present, along with a used up candle stub and a pile of old teeth. Their teeth.
X5-387 began the long descent back towards the ground. She had to focus on her mission at hand and remember that they were the enemies, the traitors. They had left her and all the rest of the X5 series at Manticore to suffer their punishment. She'd been placed in isolation containment for over a week, endured grueling questions as to whether or not this had been planned ahead of time, and by whom. She hadn't known anything. Their CO had only informed those he was close to. The eleven who escaped with him. Harsh hatred flashed through her, clouding up her emotions. She hated them. She hated all of them, but mostly Zack, X5-599 she hated to a degree that couldn't be described. They were suppose to be family, but he had split them up. In total, there were twenty four of them. Twenty four X5s. She'd lost Eva and Jack to Manticore. And then finally she'd lost twelve more of her siblings to the world outside. Just when things were beginning to look good, Jace was gone. If any of the traitors was going to die, it would be Zack, Zack for splitting them up, for breaking their family apart, and for turning them against each other.
You wish you were one of the twelve, don't you? A tiny voice inside her head asked that as she began walking away from the Space Needle, anywhere but where she had been. Manticore wasn't a place to live and grow up. You knew that deep down. Don't deny it. And she didn't. She didn't deny it. She'd never in her life denied that Manticore was hell.
A payphone was up ahead, and it was time to check-in. She dialed the number and then waited.
"Yes?" A voice on the other end demanded attention.
"Seattle. Eleven of them are here, just as you said they'd be. The twelfth is in Canada but on her way." She answered.
"Good. Now find them, and kill them. We don't need mistakes like them walking around in this world."
Shocked, she could only numbly reply. "Yes sir."
* * *
"Here we go." Logan said as a file popped up on his screen. Eleven X5s gathered around him and his computer as a picture appeared. "X5-387 was dispatched less than a week ago to pursue you all. It doesn't state anything else." He turned around to face them in his chair. "I'm assuming you all know her."
Silently they retreated back into the living room. Each in their own thoughts.
"Yeah." Max finally answered. "X5-387, Fala."
* * *
What does everyone think? I've been away from the fanfic realm for quite a while so I'm not even sure if I'm a decent writer anymore. Comments, flames, suggestions, etc. appreciated.
