Do Over
A Dark Angel/Supernatural Crossover
Part Two of Six - X8 493
X8-493 is an experiment. More so than the others, he was created with the original X5 formula to determine if his now deceased predecessors instability was genetic. To determine what caused the madness. X5-494 did not exhibit the same irregularities. They want to know where they came from.
X8-493 does not tell his unit about the dreams when they start only a few weeks before X5-452 is brought in. All of Manticore knows that several of the 09'ers have been brought back. He's glad X5's and X8's never have the same training time. 452 scares him, though he'll never admit it, because when he thinks of her his neck twinges painfully. He's seen her in the fragments of the dreams. She hurts him. She says mean things and confuses him so he can't think, can't fight, straight.
And sometimes he dreams of other things. He dreams of being a good solider. Of fighting. Of killing.
Of family.
493 doesn't tell his unit though he thinks these dreams may be why his X5 counterpart went crazy. He starts to watch his unit mates hungrily and whenever the instructors yell at them he wants to jump forward and yell back. He always cared about them before, a little too much Renfro once said, so he doesn't act on the instincts. He doesn't call them brother or sister. He doesn't tell them that angels are watching over them.
He isn't X5-493. He doesn't have to make those mistakes.
But then Manticore burns, and he knows, knows, knows it was 452 that did it, and nothing matters anymore. He isn't sure if anyone actually gave the order. He remembers the door opening and everyone running from the inferno.
Escape and Evade.
Someone gave the order, surely. He ran erratically, heart pounding, and he remembered his dreams. He knows how the cover his tracks. He knows how to be suspicious. X8-493 doesn't trust the blinking light in the sky. The older dreams don't trust it, and when he hears a ramshackle unit get gunned down he slinks away and disappears. X8-493 is a survivor. He may be defective, but he'll accept that. He can be happy with that because when his dreams take flesh in the world he's too tired to care. The man is older, grayer, and more tired than he remembers.
"How's Dean sound?"
Dean. Dean was a solider, he thinks, a good son. He fought anomolies. He took care of his family. Honorably. X8-493 can be Dean.
