Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or Phantom Stallion. I am not getting any money from this so please don't sue.
Note: This starts at the biginning of the Dark Angel episode "Borrowed Time."
Also Sam is not Max's clone.
Crash
Samantha Forster walked into Crash automatically scanning the place for exits and escape routes while moving down the stairs, her breath caught and her eyes zoomed in on the guy in the back of the room, next to a pool table, X5-494 aka Alec. Sam focused on Alec and headed toward him.
"Thanks for playing. It's always a pleasure," Alec said chuckling and taking the money from the guy that just lost the pool game to Alec.
"Who's next? Anybody? Sketchy, what do you say, buddy?" Alec asked a guy with shaggy blond hair and a little goatee.
Sketchy started shaking his head, "No, man, I already owe you two paychecks."
"I'll let you break."
"No. Nope."
"I'll play left-handed. You can blindfold me."
Chuckling Sketchy replied, "No, man."
"No? Okay," said Alec looking over and pointing at the girl next to Sketchy who Sam recognized as X5-452 aka Max.
"Nobody likes a show-off, Alec," said Max.
"Max, come on. Fifty bucks, and you get to humble your old buddy Alec," replied Alec holding up the money then sticking it in his pocket, "What do you say?"
"Yeah right," retorted Max.
"I'll play ya," said Sam.
Alec, Max, Sketchy, and a few other people looked at Sam. Alec's eyes lit up and he smirked taking in Sam's long auburn hair pulled up into a pony-tail, her black tank top with a black leather jacket, and low slung dark blue jeans.
Sam shrugged, "I could use the money," said Sam with a smirk of her own.
"Well lets see whatcha got, Cowgirl," Alec replied with a teasing voice.
Sam walked over picked up a cue stick laying on the table and stepped back while Alec got the game set up.
Once the game was set, "Well ladies first," said Alec while gesturing to the pool table.
Sam smirked and mimicked Alec's gesture, "By all means."
"I'm suddenly having a hard time remembering why I missed you," said Alec rolling his eyes and taking a shot.
"Aw, you missed me?" asked Sam.
"Well, more than Renfro at least," replied Alec while moving to take another shot and getting smacked in the back of the head by Sam.
"Ow," said Alec.
As the game went on with Sam and Alec choosing the hardest shots, missing intentionally sometimes, and throwing out teasing insults, Max, Original Cindy, and Logan saw the barcode on the back of Sam's neck. Confirming that Sam was a transgenic. Sam put the cue stick down after the game ended and then put her hand on her hip and the other she held out to Alec palm up, "Pay up, Pretty boy," said Sam with a gloating smile.
Alec handed over the fifty bucks, "Come on, I want you to meet some people," said Alec.
Alec walked over to Sketchy, Max, and an African-American girl with short curly brown hair that was standing next to Max.
"This is Original Cindy, Max, Sketchy, and Logan," Alec said pointing at the new guy that joined them, he had sandy blond hair and glasses, "Guys this is Sam."
"Hey," said Sam.
Once greetings had been exchanged they all moved to a bigger table.
"So were you two ever…?" Sketchy trailed off in a whisper to Alec while they were walking to their table.
"Nah, we're just friends," answered Alec.
"Well, it's about time somebody kicked Alec's ass," commented Original Cindy as they all found a seat.
Sam raised an eyebrow at Alec, "'Humility' still haven't grasped the concept have ya?" asked Sam.
Max snorted, "No, 'humility' isn't even in Alec's vocabulary."
"Ha, you two are ones to talk," replied Alec.
Sam gave a careless shrug while Max opened her mouth to deliver a biting retort but before she could get a sound out Sam interrupted, "Ok, who's interested in a pitcher of beer? I'm buying, well technically Alec's buying." Sam held up the money she got from Alec in the pool game and walked to the bar with their chorus of yes's following.
Few minutes later Sam came back with a pitcher of beer. "So how long you've been in Seattle, Sam?" asked Alec.
"Almost a month," replied Sam while taking a drink of her beer.
"How are you liking Seattle so far?" asked Logan.
There was something about Logan that seemed familiar. Sam just couldn't put her finger on what it was. "It's wet," answered Sam in a 'duh' tone of voice. "But from what I've seen it's got enough excitement to keep me entertained."
"Well if you ever get bored I'd be happy to keep you entertained," said Sketchy with a goofy smile and a leer.
"I think we have different idea's about entertainment but I'll keep the offer in mind," replied Sam with a slight chuckle.
"'Scuse the poor boy, I'd say he's just drunk but he's always like this," said OC.
"I've spent enough time around Pretty boy I'm used to it," replied Sam inclining her head toward Alec.
"Guess you know Alec pretty well huh?" asked Max ignoring Alecs insulted "Hey."
"You don't have to know Alec that well to know he's a player, hell sometime's all he has to do is look at you and you can tell," said Sam in a slightly cold voice and the look she was giving Max was tinged with the same coldness. Max, OC, Sketchy, and Logan shot Sam confused looks. Alec knew what Sam's problem with Max was and a part of him understood and even agreed with Sam. But now was not the time nor place to get into that issue. "Hey, I'm subtler than that," Alec said in a offended tone.
"Keep telling yourself that," said Sam sweetly and finishing off her glass of beer, "So Alec, what kind of trouble have you been up to?"
"Me? Trouble? Are you sure your not thinking of someone else, yourself perhaps?"
Sam put a hand to her chest and said haughtily, "I'm a good girl."
Alec burst out laughing, "Yeah, sure you are."
Sam rolled her eyes, "Should know better than to ask you for the 411." Sam looked at the others, "What kind of mischief has Pretty boy been up to?"
"Bout a week ago he was two-timing on a girl," OC said with a reproachful look at Alec.
"We never said we were going to be exclusive," defended Alec.
Ignoring Alec, Max said, "And both of the girls were his co-workers." Giving Alec the same look Original Cindy was.
Wincing Sam asked, "Why do I get the feeling that didn't end well?"
"It didn't. They both quit and we had to work double-shifts," answered Max while glaring at Alec.
"Okay, putting aside the immaturity of quitting a job, especially in this economy, all because of a guy you barely know, it's their loss hopefully my gain," Sam turned to Alec, "By any chance your boss is still hiring?" Max and Original Cindy were shocked by Sams lack of disgust over Alec's actions.
"You've been in Seattle a month and you still don't have a job?" asked Alec
"Getting a job hasn't been high on my to do list, it is on my list just not that high," defended Sam.
"So how have you been making it without any cash?" Sketchy asked with a slight slur to his voice.
"I hacked into some rich dudes bank account and been stealing his money," Sam deadpanned. Alec sent Sam a knowing smirk while the others chuckled. Original Cindy reached over and popped Sketchy on the back of the head, "Fool didn't anyone evah' tell you not to ask a sistah about her business?"
Max grabbed the empty pitcher of beer, "Next rounds on me."
"'Scuse me," Sam said following after Max to the bar.
While the bartender walked off to refill the pitcher, Sam sidled up beside Max. "Hopefully I can get this out without choking but I wanted to say," Sam took a deep breath, "Thank you."
Truthfully Sam would much rather take a bullet than be thanking Max. Max blinked shocked and confused, the coldness she got from Sam earlier was gone and replaced with gratitude albeit reluctant gratitude. "For what?" asked Max.
"For your timing on taking down Manticore. Gotta say your timing couldn't of been better," Sam had lowered her voice so only people with enhanced hearing could hear.
"That was Eyes Only doing," covered Max. The name Eyes Only triggered a memory of a cable hack. 'That's why Logan seemed so familiar' Sam thought, 'He's Eyes Only'
Sam didn't let her realization of who Eyes Only was show on her face she just smiled and said, "Of course it was."
"Here you go," said the bartender sitting down the pitcher of beer. Max paid the man while picking up the beer and moving to walk away when Sam's voice stopped her, "Mind if I ask you something?"
When Max turned back around Sam continued in a lowered voice, "Why did you attack Manticore? I mean you were free what was the point of taking such a big risk? Manticore told us why you did it but it's Manticore you kind of got to take what they say with a grain of salt." Although this time Sam was having a hard time not believing Manticore.
"We might have been free but we were still being hunted. We were tired of running, of constantly looking over our shoulders waiting for them to find us and capture or kill us," Max found herself suddenly having to fight the urge to shrink back at the rage in Sam's eyes.
"Manticore was right. That sucks. That really sucks," the words were muttered with barely suppressed anger while Sam walked away back to their table. Sam moved with a predatory grace and people moved out of her way subconsciously sensing a predator. "This has been a blast y'all but I've gotta jet," Sam said tightly when she got back to the others.
"I'll tag along," said Alec while nodding goodbye to the group and following Sam out of Crash.
Sam walked over to a red motorcycle but instead of getting on it she started pacing and an animalistic growl rumbled in her chest. "We were tired," Sam mimicked Max's voice exactly. She didn't bother to explain what she was talking about she knew Alec had been eavesdropping on her and Max's conversation. "Yeah, well, I was tired of being Manticores lapdog but you didn't see me run and say to hell with the people who would pay the consequences."
"You knew there probably wasn't a good reason for why they attacked. Why'd ya even ask?" asked Alec.
"Keyword 'probably.' I had to know for sure," answered Sam.
Alec snorted, "You just wanted Manticore to be wrong."
Sam stopped pacing and turned to Alec with a smirk on her face, "Always. How'd ya wind up working with Max?"
"Convenience. Jam Pony is a messenger service and -"
"Sector Passes," interrupted Sam, "Yeah, I've seen the messengers riding around on bikes, getting through checkpoints with them it's the reason why I'd been thinking about checking there for a job," said Sam. She then waved her hand as if shooing away a fly, "Anyways, enough with the boring chitchat lets go see what kind of trouble we can get into." Sam's voice was light and she had a mischievous smile on her face but Alec could still see the anger in her eyes. "Boring chitchat? I'm still expecting you to decide to go back and pummel Max," Alec said while getting behind Sam on the motorcycle.
"Don't tempt me," was Sam's response.