Disclaimer: Still don't own neither Dark Angel or Phantom Stallion. Please don't sue.
A/N: Manticore was destroyed in July and this story is set some time at the beginning of November. Also Sam looks like Eliza Dushku except instead of brunette hair she has auburn.
It was a nice two story house and he could hear two females arguing inside. He snuck across the backyard and entered the unlocked door. "Why can't I go out with him?" complained a girl no older than thirteen. "We've already had this conversation before. He's too old for you," the girls mother replied. Before the mother finished talking he snapped the girls neck and before her body hit the ground he snapped the mothers neck too. It was quick and painless. He had no desire to prolong their deaths, they were not the ones he wanted to make suffer, they were just a means to an end.
Sam strode into Jam Pony and over to the dispatch station. "Hi, I was wondering if you have any job openings?" Sam asked the man behind the counter.
"I think you have the wrong place, this ain't a stable," replied Normal looking pointedly at Sam's cowgirl hat.
"Oh damn, must've gotten confused by the name Jam Pony," Sam said rolling her eyes, "Look sir, I need the job and I promise I'm a hard worker."
"I thought you were hacking into some rich dude's bank account," Alec teased. He seemed, to Normal at least, to have appeared out of nowhere.
"Yeah, but that only works for so long then the guy starts to notice his money's disappearing, he starts making phone calls, authority figures get involved, and it all becomes one big headache," Sam pouted.
"I feel for you," said Alec unsympathetically.
"Golden boy, you know this young lady?" Normal asked effectively bringing their attention back to him.
"Yeah, Sam's an old friend," answered Alec.
Reading the look on Normal's face Sam jumped in before Normal got the wrong idea, "Not that kind of friend. Despite Alec's best attempts to get me into bed I need more than some slick lines and a pretty face."
"And that would be…" Alec trailed off clearly hoping she would give him the answer on how to get her into his bed.
"Now where would be the challenge if I just gave you the answer?" Sam replied smiling when Alec's face dropped in disappointment. Sam turned back to Normal, "In case your worried about any office romance between him'n me, don't. Hell would freeze over before Alec figured out how to get into my pants."
Normal stared at her for a few seconds, thinking, then grabbed a piece of paper from underneath the counter and handed it to Sam. "Fill this out. Alec will get you a bike and show you the ropes. Now bip, bip, bip," Normal ordered.
Sam smiled brilliantly, "Thank you, sir."
"Come on let's get you a locker," said Alec tilting his head toward a set of lockers. After they found her a locker Sam was sitting on a bench filling out the paper Normal had given her while Alec was digging around in his locker. Despite what they were doing they were still able to monitor where everyone was in the room, all the conversations going on, and people coming and going from the building. So they were aware of Max and Original Cindy entering the building.
"You ask me, 20 large is still a small price to pay for you and Logan to get together," Original Cindy said walking down the ramp with Max beside her.
"I just wanna know I'm not gonna kill the guy, if say, I touch his hand by accident," replied Max.
"Or if, say, you spend a long weekend making hot monkey love to the man. By accident," teased OC. While Max smiled at her friend, Sam couldn't stop the soft snort of disbelief at the possibility of what Original Cindy was teasing about, actually happening. From what she got from Max and Logan was respect, admiration, and love but there was different kinds of love and Logan was the only one that she detected the scent of arousal from. Original Cindy and Max were now standing by the lockers just a few feet from Sam and Alec. "Does he know about the man with the cure?" OC asked all the teasing gone from her voice.
"I'm gonna try to get my hands on the cash first. I don't wanna have to owe him again if the guy falls through," answered Max.
"Where you gonna get the money?"
"I'm gonna sell my soul."
"Well, there's the devil," said Original Cindy nodding her head toward Alec. When Sam stood it drew Original Cindy and Max's attention. "Hey Sam, Normal hired you I see," commented OC.
"Yep, he just couldn't resist my charm," replied Sam.
"Charm? You have charm?" asked Alec in a bewildered tone. Sam glared at him. "Oh, I see it now!" exclaimed Alec in a slightly panicked voice.
He turned back to rummaging in his locker and Sam turned back to Max and Original Cindy with a smirk, "I'm just hoping that I won't get fired like my last job." Sam gave Max a direct look when she said fired.
"Sam," said Alec.
Sam turned back to Alec and read the look on his face. "No fighting with co-workers, gotcha." Sam looked at Max, "Sorry, old habits." Not sounding the least bit sorry Sam smiled and walked over to the dispatch station to hand over her application.
"What's your girlfriends problem with me?" asked Max.
"Maybe it's your perky attitude. It can be very annoying," replied Alec. Glaring at Alec, which as usual, had no effect whatsoever on him. And as usual annoyed Max even more.
"Don't you think you have more important things to be discussing then new girl's attitude?" asked Original Cindy giving Max a pointed look.
While OC walked away, Max went and stood next to Alec's locker, "What are you doing tonight?"
"And why do you ask?" asked Alec while putting on his watch.
"Got word from this fence I know. There's a collector willing to pay top dollar for Star Wars Episode 7. After the pulse, they shut down production. Apparently, this is the only footage that exists," explained Max rolling her eyes at the last part.
"Is that the one where Captain Kirk dies?" Alec wondered.
"I guess," replied Max clueless, "Anyway, the reel's locked up in a vault at the Fox building in Belltown."
"Max, are you asking me to steal something with you?" asked Alec scanning the place to make sure no ordinary's was listening in on them.
"It's a two man job," said Max looking away from Alec. She hated having to ask for help but she especially hated asking him. Max knew Alec was going to tease her for asking him to help her steal something after all the hell she gave him for stealing.
Part of Alec wondered how anyone could call him arrogant after meeting Max and another part of him couldn't help but admire her nerve. "I'm shocked. I-I-I don't do that kind of stuff anymore, Max. I mean, you yourself showed me the error of my ways."
"Did I mention your take was 20 grand?"
Alec swallowed, "What time do I pick you up."
Meanwhile Sam was handing in her application and getting packages and a bag to carry them in, when she noticed Sketchy approaching her, "Uh, it's Sam right?"
"Right, and your Sketchy."
"Yeah," Sketchy seemed surprised and happy that she remembered him.
"So, what's it like working here?" asked Sam walking over to the bike rack and searching for a bike for herself.
"It's the kind of job you'd take if your desperate."
Sam ran her eyes down his body, "Doesn't seem so bad from where I'm standing."
Sketchy was dumbstruck. While trying to remember how to talk an unexpected voice behind him caused him to jump and Sam to chuckle. "Did you find yourself a bike?"
Turning he found Alec standing behind him holding a arm full of packages.
"Yep, no thanks to you," answered Sam grabbing a bike. "It was nice talking to you Sketch but I should get to work."
"It was nice, uh, talking to you too," said Sketchy.
While he walked away, Sam turned to Alec, "It's not nice to sneak up on people."
"And it's not nice to mess with people's heads."
"It was just innocent flirting. Besides it probably helped the guy's ego."
"How come you never help my ego," pouted Alec.
"Because you do a good enough job all on your own." Alec started stuffing packages into his bag. "Ready to go?" asked Sam after Alec got the last package shoved into his bag.
"I'm always ready," replied Alec with a smirk.
"Proof your ego doesn't need any help," said Sam rolling her eyes. "By the way, you do know that there's a lot of copies of Star Wars episode 7, right?" Alec shot her a surprised look. "What your prob'ly going after is the original and there's people willing to pay a lot more than 40 grand for it." Sam walked away leaving Alec thinking about what she said. After a few seconds Alec shook his head and followed Sam.
"Honey, I'm home," said Sam walking into Terminal City's bustling head quarters.
"Hey Sam," said Luke a transhuman with slight rodent features. Sam smiled at him before asking, "What do you got for me?"
"I was able to make those bugs you asked for," Luke replied walking over to a table with a laptop and some files on it.
"And I was able to plant them and gather the info you asked for," said an X-5 named Serena. She joined Sam and Luke at the table, following shortly after Serena was another transhuman named Dix.
"Okay, Dix what were you able to dig up on our "Clark Kent"?" asked Sam.
"Um, who?" asked Dix.
"Its… you know what? Never mind. What do you have on Logan Cale?" Sam made a mental note to get the transhuman some Superman comics.
"He was born November 11, 1988, only child, both parents deceased, no criminal record, the guys clean," said Dix picking up the file on Logan and handing it to Sam.
Sam flicked through it memorizing, and processing the information. "What about Eyes Only?" asked Sam.
"He's a do-gooder, helping the downtrodden, exposing corrupt sector cops and politicians. " answered Serena. "But then things get surreal."
"Surreal' is the story of my life," said Sam looking pointedly at her surroundings.
"It's about to get a lot more surreal," said Serena.
"A woman named Wendy White went to Eyes Only to help her find her kidnapped son, Ray. One of the things Eyes Only found out was that Wendy's husband, Ames, is in charge of hunting down transgenics," explained Dix.
"Did you-," Sam started.
"Yeah, we've got a team gathering info on Ames White," said Serena knowing what Sam was going to ask. "But that's not the weird part."
"This is from the Whites' security system," said Dix moving the laptop so Sam could see the screen.
"The kidnappers made sure not to get caught directly on cam but what they didn't count on was this crappy garden globe," continued Serena zooming in on the globe and fixing the distortion. Sam watched as two men in dark clothes approached the house and after one of the men threw the other onto the balcony, the one on the ground, in a move no ordinary human could make, jumped onto the balcony.
"Chimeras," stated Sam.
"It's not transgenics," said Serena.
"What?"
"This is where it gets weird. An S.U.V. was pulled from the river, the plates registered to Lydecker, a body was never found but police say no one could've survived the crash." At this both Serena and Sam rolled their eyes. None of them was going to assume Lydecker was dead until they saw a body. "Here's a copy of the police report Logan had." While Sam looked through the report Serena continued, "Logan recorded a message off of Lydecker's voice mail it's from some archaeologist Lydecker'd been talking to. The message was about some kind of genetic breeding going on over generations. Women were selected and forced to have children. They would kill the first two newborns and keep the third."
"Was Ray, Wendy and Ames's first child?" asked Sam with a bad feeling in her gut telling her she already knew the answer.
"No, they had two miscarriages before Ray," answered Serena.
"Ma'am?" said a small voice behind Sam.
"What's up, Mac?" Sam asked the X-8.
"The report on the murder from last night," said Mac handing the file to Sam.
"Thanks," before she could say anything else there was a growling noise from the boy's stomach. "Go get yourself something to eat," Sam said chuckling.
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am," Mac said before blurring out of the building.
"It's Sam," Sam called after him.
"How is it a kid that small can eat so much and still be hungry?" asked Serena.
"One of life's great mystery's," replied Sam looking at the file Mac had given her.
"Same as the last ones," said Serena reading over Sam's shoulder.
"We've got to get a handle on this," said Sam.
"Why? Whoever's doing the killing's are killing our enemies," defended a lizard looking transhuman named Mole.
"The agents are our enemies not their families," countered Sam.
"If their families knew about us, they would want us dead just as much as the ones hunting us."
Sam grabbed a picture out of the file and showed it to Mole, "Did she deserve to die? A thirteen year old human girl? I didn't know you scared so easily."
Mole snarled at Sam and Serena stepped between them, "Ok, you two that's enough."
Sam knowing Serena was right unclenched her jaw long enough to say, "I've got an appointment with Logan."
Before she could make it out of the building Mole stopped her, "Explain to me again why you plan on working for the ape who almost got us all barbecued alive?"
Still keyed up after their argument, Sam's lips started to pull back into a snarl when she stopped herself and instead smiled cheerfully, "You know, that reminds me, I need to get a recorder. So when you feel the need to ask me that again, you can just listen to my answer on the recorder."
"Now where's the fun in that?"
"It might not be any fun but at least it'll save you from having that shotgun shoved up your ass," Sam smiled sweetly and walked out of the building.
The penthouse apartment was quiet except for the tap, tap, tap of Logan typing away on his computer when suddenly a voice startled him, "Logan Cale aka Eyes Only." Logan turned to find Sam lounging in a chair smirking at him. "I never figured Eyes Only to be stupid enough to use his own eyes and voice when doing cable hacks."
"Well, I haven't gotten caught yet," defended Logan once his heart rate calmed.
"Maybe because everyone assumed the same thing I did," Sam shrugged, "Or maybe I'm giving ordinary's too much credit." Logan glared at Sam as she stood up and started looking through his stuff. Transgenic's weren't known for respecting personal property, "So, where do I sign up to join the Eyes Only team of helping the downtrodden?"
Logan couldn't keep his mouth from dropping open, "Word of advice, don't insult someone and then ask them for a job."
"Sorry, raised to be a killer, haven't quite gotten the whole "normal etiquette" thing down yet." Sam finally stopped digging through his stuff and looked at him with a curious expression, "When you say job does that mean I'm going to get paid?"
"No. Besides as you pointed out you've been raised to be a killer not exactly the skill set I need."
"Oh, I have plenty of skills," said Sam seductively.
Logan ignored the comment and asked, "Why do you want to, as you put it, join team Eyes Only?"
"I'm soft-hearted and want to make up for all the horrible things I've done," Sam said with a overdone expression of guilt. Logan rolled his eyes and went back to typing at his computer. "Or maybe I don't give a damn about anyone, I'm just bored and looking for an adrenaline rush." Logan turned back to Sam and saw a wistful smile on her face, "One thing you gotta miss about Manticore, you were never bored."
"Yes, being tortured, experimented on, and being ordered to kill people is a great way to relieve boredom."
Sam's eyes narrowed, "You're a very negative person, aren't you? Always lookin' at the bad things never the good."
"How could anything about Manticore be good?"
Sam seemed to think about it for a second, "The girl you have the hots for, Max, wouldn't exist if Manticore didn't design her. I would think her birth would be considered a good thing, by you. Also they taught me to control the instinct to attack someone who's annoying me, granted they did that to get me to stop killing them but still a good thing," Sam gave two thumbs up. "Look, why does it matter if I'm helping you out of the goodness of my heart or because I'm trying to find something to entertain myself. The point is I'm offering to help you help people but if you don't want my help I can always go find some other entertainment," Sam started to walk out of the room.
"Wait," called Logan. Sam stopped with a slightly smug smile.
Please review and tell me if you like the story or not. I don't mind criticism
