Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel.
Story: Max and the gang are going on vacation! Or so they think...
A/N: Hi, everyone! This fic has been sitting on my computer collecting dust for a while. That's not to say it's finished yet, but I got sick of waiting around to post it. So here it is! I hope you all enjoy it!
Stranded!
The big man standing by the fireplace appeared to be made entirely of money, from his rich, maroon silk robe right down to his rich, well-bred voice and rich Cuban cigar. He laughed softly at the expression on his colleague's face.
"Why so stunned, Vic? What did you expect, that the guy's informants lurk about the city slums 24/7, looking for a 'freak of the week' to squeal on? No, we don't look too fondly on moles in this business, Vic. We can't afford to. And, consequently, they can't afford to stab us in the back, 'cuz they know we'll return the gesture quite literally."
Victor stared in disbelief. "So you're saying, not only is the guy rich, but he's going on some dream vacation in a week?" The man nodded smoothly. "How did you find this out?"
The man smiled. "Well, Vic, Mr. Eyes Only has his informants, and I have mine," he answered cryptically.
Victor decided to drop it. Pushing this guy's buttons was a bad idea if you enjoyed breathing. And there was no question that Victor most certainly did enjoy breathing. He had a lot to live for; he had a great deal of influence in the city of Seattle's shady underground, as well as in its government, despite his having to defer to the big man in front of him now.
"Well, Rich, you're saying you want me to take him out?"
Richard's lip curled contemptuously at Victor's stating of the obvious. "Did I say that? I was simply relaying information pertaining to the whereabouts of an Eyes Only informant that has been causing both you and I many headaches of late by digging up classified dirt on us for Eyes Only to broadcast to the world." He shot Victor a meaningful look.
Victor bowed his head awkwardly in acquiescence. "Of course, Rich. I'll take care of it."
"See that you do, Vic."
"Alec! Hurry up, will ya?" Max yelled over her shoulder. She headed for the plane's entrance at a brisk pace with her luggage crammed in and under both arms. They were running a bit late, but Logan was piloting the plane. Max felt fairly certain he wouldn't take off without her, but counting on the same courtesy for Alec was questionable at best. After all, he was only coming because he wouldn't quit whining about never having seen Hawaii before.
"Don't worry about me, Maxie," Alec said with a grin aimed at her back. "I'm not missin' this for anything!"
Max rolled her eyes and boarded the plane.
Logan stood in the aisle looking anxiously at the doorway. "Is he coming or not?" Max pursed her lips and nodded.
Logan checked his watch in annoyed panic. They were behind schedule. They had to get there in time to set up before the plan could be set into action, or else they were risking some major exposure. Logan's tip-off had warned that the place was swarming with Hatch's men, and they would need to procede with the utmost caution.
It was incredibly bothersome that no one else on the trip seemed to take it seriously. Well, Zack did, but then again, Zack took everything seriously.
It certainly didn't help that Max had insisted on letting her best friend and roommate to come along for the ride. Logan grimaced at their conversation from earlier, when he had told Max about the plan.
"Ohmigosh! Hawaii? Seriously? You have a mission that's gonna let a girl get some rest and relaxation on the beach? Sun, sand, flowers and tropical breezes - the works?" she asked excitedly.
Logan smiled. "Yeah, the works. We can even go shopping at this great outdoor mall down there, Ala Moana. After the mission's taken care of, that is."
Max squealed in delight, apparently not hearing the last part of what Logan said. "Ohmigosh! I have to tell OC! She'll be thrilled!"
Logan frowned in sudden alarm. "Wait a minute, Max. What do you mean, she'll be thrilled? She can't come on an Eyes Only mission! It's too dangerous! It's just gonna be you and me."
Max pouted angrily. "As much as I'd love a romantic week with you in an island paradise, you cannot expect me to be as cruel as to leave my best girl out of the one chance she'll ever have to go to the best place on what's left of this earth," she said with a frown.
Logan sighed in exasperation. "Max, it's not about the location, or a romantic week, although that sounds like a wonderful idea...," he trailed off thoughtfully.
"Logan!" Max said sharply. "We can't even touch without you ending up dead. Did you forget? A week by ourselves in some romantic place sounds way less safe to me than letting Cindy come along for the ride. Besides, the mission part won't take the whole time, right?" she asked hopefully.
Logan sighed again. She was right. They couldn't really trust themselves around each other, especially not in a place as famous for honeymooners in pre-Pulse times as Hawaii.
Max took his silence for agreement. "OK, I'll go tell Cindy, and then we can rustle up some more help."
"Wh- help? Who exactly are you gonna call for this, Max? Not more vacationers, Max. One, I can deal with, but I can't guarantee to protect a whole group of 'em!"
Max gave him a level look. "Chill, OK? I'm calling some reinforcements. I'm gonna see if I can't contact Zack."
Logan kept a neutral face. He didn't much like Zack, and Zack certainly made no secret of not liking Logan. The X5 had something akin to an obsession with Max, in Logan's opinion, and Zack thought Logan was a danger to his 'sister,' whom he definitely didn't treat like a sister. Zack's 'thing' for Max was glaringly obvious to everyone, except to Max herself. Logan suspected denial, but would never say that to Max. She'd be furious with him.
"Alright. You can tell Cindy, and I'm sure Zack's help would be useful, against such a large crime lord's empire," Logan said resignedly.
Max flashed a bright smile. "Thanks, Logan. I'd hug you, but, uh... I kinda like you alive."
Max had indeed told Cindy, who in turn had to contain her excitement enough to tell Normal that she and Max would be missing an entire week of work at Jam Pony. An outraged Normal had demanded an explanation, and since nothing along the lines of their typical excuses would work in that situation (like a week-long funeral or traffic jam, or a pre-planned, week-long illness), Cindy had to go with the truth. She told him they were going on a vacation, and he wouldn't drop the issue until she grudgingly gave him the details.
A jealous Normal, who obviously never got to go on fun vactations and thus had never been to Hawaii, complained about Max and OC to all of the employees for a solid week until the girls had every Jam Pony messenger bugging them to let them come along. The worst was Sketchy.
"C'mon, Cindy! It's Hawaii! And, did I mention, you are my best friend in the whole world? Max! I, uh, I love ya, Max! ...You know you wanna take me with you, right? Hawaii just wouldn't be the same without the Sketch-meister, eh?"
"Oh yeah, you got that right, foo'," Cindy interjected sarcastically. "It would be... too peaceful and relaxin' witout you."
Sketchy frowned in confusion.
Then, when Max was having trouble locating Zack, Alec became a royal, whiny pain in the ass.
"Maxie! What's this I hear about you going to Hawaii?"
"Well, it's like this. I'm going to spend a week in Hawaii," she explained condescendingly, as if to a two-year-old.
"And where exactly does Brother Zack fit into all that?" he asked suspiciously.
Max glared at him. "I need him there... to help."
Alec arched one brow in curiosity. "Help? Really. What services can Zack provide that I can't? Huh? ...Unless it really is incest you're after; I can't help you there, Maxie. But I gotta say, that's kinda kinky. I didn't realize you were the type to roll that way..."
Max hit him upside the head. "It's to help out Logan, you ass!"
Alec's eyes widened in shock. "Woah! I really didn't realize that Logan was the type to roll that way! Damn. Such a waste, y'know? If I had a chick as hot as you all googly-eyed over me, I think that would be enough to keep me on the straight side of the road, if ya know what I mean," he said, giving Max an appreciative once-over and earning yet another swat to the head.
"Ow!" he rubbed his head briefly. "But seriously, Max," he took up without missing a beat. Max groaned. "How come you didn't invite me? I mean, I've never been to Hawaii, and I would love to see it! What's the point in letting a guy out into the world and not even letting him enjoy a vacation in the most gorgeous place on earth, complete with beaches full of scantily-clad ladies touching up their tans?"
Max shot him a glaring, disgusted look. "The fact that you have to ask after saying something like that is proof enough that I made the right choice in NOT inviting you," she said coldly.
Alec's face went from smart-alec teasing to serious. "Aw, c'mon, Maxie! It's Hawaii!"
Max put her hands on her hips. "I just love how everyone says that and thinks it's gonna change my mind! 'It's Hawaii!'" she said mockingly. "DUH! Of course it's Hawaii! And yes, I'm sure it's gorgeous, but that doesn't mean we can take along everyone in Seattle who's never been there. Ever heard of the Pulse? Yeah, NO ONE has been to Hawaii; nobody's got the cash to leave work for a week and go on a vacation, unless you're that Hatch scumbag, apparently."
"Or you and Cindy, apparently."
"Shut up! It's for Logan, OK?"
"Oh, so it's worth the time off from wage-earning 'cuz you'll get a reimbursement from your boyfriend, right?"
"He's not - "
"Right, he's not your boyfriend. You're not even like that. Got it."
Max's glare was laced with venom. "Anyways, I only stopped by to ask if you knew a way I could get in touch with Zack," she asked, pouncing on a way to change the subject.
Alec looked thoughtful. "Hm. Maybe..."
Max sighed with exasperation. "But...," she started for him expectantly.
"...but it's gonna cost ya."
"Lemme guess. You'll only tell me if I let you come with us to Hawaii," Max said with a glare.
Alec's face brightened up like a little boy on Christmas morning. "Well, I was actually gonna say somewhere around 500 large, but since you offered, that's way better!"
Max clutched her face in her hands to keep them from strangling the life out of Alec.
They had luckily been able to reach Zack through some contacts Alec had, but that meant that Alec had to tag along for sure, much to Max's dismay.
When Max had come back to Logan a week later with the dramatically enlarged guest list, Logan had flipped.
"What?!? What do you mean, Sketchy's coming? And Normal? What the hell, Max, you don't even like Normal!"
"He, uh, kinda threatened to fire us both for real this time if we didn't agree to let him come with us...," Max trailed off apologetically. "Trust me, Logan, I want nothing more than to board that plane with all of our extra baggage and start chuckin' it all out the window myself! Unfortunately, I really need that job. Without my Sector Pass... I don't know what I'd do. Life would be pretty rough on a poor helpless cat burglar."
Logan squeezed his eyes shut tight and massaged his throbbing temples with two fingers. "So we're taking Zack, Cindy, Sketchy, and Normal?"
"And Alec."
Logan looked up. "What!?"
Max shrugged.
Logan liked the idea of Alec being so close to Max on this 'dream vacation' even less than the idea of Zack in the same situation. Logan simply did not like the screw-up, named 'Alec' for his smart-alec attitude. He always managed to make a mess of things, and that is exactly what Logan feared would happen, even without help from Alec, on this risky mission. Logan decided he needed some damage control of his own...
"I have to make a phone call real quick," he said and left to call Asha and invite her along with all of her experience in the S1W she had to offer for this case.
So Max stood in the doorway to the plane, and looked around to see all of her companions, invited and forcibly accepted alike, smiling at her in eager anticipation of leaving for the beautiful island of O'ahu, HI.
Finally in charge again, Victor entered the dimly-lit, plush room. Personal laptop computers circled the inside, each with a chair and set of advanced controls by them for their several users. In the very center of the room stood one incredibly large computer terminal that glowed with multiple screenshots of radar and program codes running in realtime, as well as the progress of the server trying to download documents, multiple computer connections, and other such media.
Men sat at nearly every terminal, typing away and staring intently at their screens. They were all part of Victor's personal army of informants, black market accountants and dealers, and general information-gatherers. Victor smiled broadly as he thought of all the men he had the power to step on and still have benefit him. He had everyone in the city under his thumb. Well, everyone except Richard...
He cleared his throat loudly in greeting, and immediately, hundreds of chairs scraped the tile floor as men turned around to see their boss.
"Gentleman," Victor began with a falsely ingratiating smile, "we have some business to take care of today."
"Oh! I've found them, sir!"
"Good work, Otto. Keep on their tails," Ames White said in a cold voice. "That filthy transgenic scum can't hide forever."
Otto's face was an interesting mixture of pride and fear. "Very good, sir," he said awkwardly.
White turned to face his companions on the private jet. "So. The plan goes as follows. We've intercepted 452 and her little friends, and now we're gonna keep a close eye on them, follow 'em to the landing site, and take them out when their collective guard is down." His face stretched into a malicious smirk that never reached his icy eyes. "They're on vacation," he said in a simpering voice, showing his contempt for such a frivolous way to spend time.
Renfro smiled tightly at her new boss. She didn't like the plan very much; it was all too easy. Something was bound to go wrong, but there was no way she was going to try and explain that to a man as unfeeling as Ames White. He would just scorn her for her pessimism, and then she could very well end up like Otto, a totally submissive lackey. Or worse, she could end up like the other occupant of the private jet they rode in.
White turned his gaze onto Lydecker. "Why the long face, Deck?" he asked, pinning Lydecker's downturned head with an intense stare. "Here I thought you'd be looking forward to seeing your pretty little pet project again. Don't tell me you've had a change of heart?" White managed to feign a somewhat concerned look.
Lydecker raised his head, barely, and met White's cold gray eyes with dark ones of his own. He stared at White with a resigned sort of hatred as a response and then let his gaze fall to the floor again.
"Hm. I was so happy when we first fished you out of that river, too. But it seems you may as well be dead, for all the responsiveness I get out of you. Or don't, I should say. No worries, Deck. I'm sure your tongue will loosen up when we reach our destination," White commented in a lazy, uncaring voice. Lydecker didn't even show a sign that he had heard the man at all.
Renfro cleared her throat softly to break the tension. "Well, Ames, what do we do now? We don't even know where they're going, let alone how long the flight will last."
White gave her a cursory glance. "Well, Director, we prop up our feet and listen to some relaxing music to fly by," he said with frigid sarcasm as he took out a pair of silver ear buds, kicked back in the seat he occupied, and closed his eyes as the music flowed through the tiny headphones.
The lackeys at the computer radar screens looked up at their boss expectantly.
"Sir, there are two planes reported in range, one closely tailing the other. What should we do now?"
"Well, the poor bastard has to be in one of 'em, right? Take 'em both out."
The young man gasped. "But, sir...!"
"But nothin', Swanson! Any collateral damage is worth it, to get that damned pet of Eyes Only out of my hair for good."
The man at the controls hesitated for a second before Victor spat at him, "Do it!"
He pushed the angry red button that read, "Launch" and sent two missiles at the private jets in the sky.
The group of men safely tucked away in their expansive computer terminal watched on the main central screen as the long, thin shafts of metal steered with deadly precision toward their targets.
A/N: OK, so... what do you think so far? Good? Bad? In between? ...Stop writing? (That's just a joke... please don't say that last one! My fragile writer's ego can't take it...) Whatever you think about it, please take the time to review and let me know! Thanks so much for reading this!
-christique