Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel. I only own new characters: Brock, Tad, Lihn... and Alec... wait, no, that was just a good dream...
Story: Original Cindy has some important news she needs to get off her chest.
A/N: Wow, that was awful! I finally got over my latest case of writer's block, and I think my friendly reviewers wishing me luck helped, lol. Thanks, guys! OK, so here's the next chapter. It was getting too long, so I split it into two. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks to anyone who reads and especially reviews! I'm serious when I say I love to see what you guys think. Really!
It was early morning, the sun just peeking above gray clouds of dawn, getting ready to rise and start the new day. All was quiet around the gate guarding the entrance to Terminal City. Nothing stirred, and the only noise was that of a passing bird squawking in the sky.
The transgenic guards that were posted there that morning swung their eyes towards the shadow moving in the distance. Their enhanced eyesight told them someone was approaching their city. An ordinary? Or a new transgenic? No way to know for sure, so they waited, hands hovering over their guns.
Cindy reached the gate and held up her hands to show them that she wasn't armed. The cold-eyed transgenics simply waited for her to speak.
"I need to see Alec. He around?"
The tall, burly X-4 and the wrinkled, black-eyed nomalie exchanged a brief glance before the X-4 spoke. "What is your name and what is the nature of your business?"
"Jus' tell Alec McDowell that Original Cindy is here to see him. Trust me, he'll know what you're talkin' 'bout."
"Why do you need to talk to Alec? He's a very busy man. He doesn't have a whole lot of time to just talk," the other transgenic said.
"It's urgent, aiight?" Cindy said impatiently.
The X-4 frowned, but held a radio communicator up to his mouth and said into it, "HQ, this is Brock. We have a visitor who requests a meeting with the CO. Says it's urgent."
The radio crackled as a voice on the other side was transmitted. "Name?"
Brock glanced over at Cindy again. "Original Cindy," he said, a bit awkwardly.
"We'll report back."
"Roger."
The nomalie turned to Cindy. "We're gonna need to frisk you. Standard procedure, you see. No one gets inside packing anything."
Cindy pursed her lips and nodded, holding her arms stretched out to either side. The nomalie moved short, pudgy fingers along her clothes. When the lightly webbed hands came up empty, the nomalie nodded at Cindy briskly.
"Brock, this is HQ. You're signal is green."
"Roger that," the big man said gruffly. He faced Cindy and nodded toward the empty street ahead. "Green means 'go'," he said to her. "Unfortunately, Tad and I have to stay here to guard the gate, so we won't be able to accompany you. It's a short walk, though. Go straight up this street and take the first left. It's the big brown abandoned factory building on the right. Has a short-railed balcony on the outside and a fire-escape ladder on the roof. Thick windows to deter thugs." He gave her a brief stern look, as if Cindy might try to throw bricks through those windows to get Alec's attention. "You can't miss it.
"But I should warn you. The city's not as safe as it used to be." Brock's hard face took on a grimace. "With Max gone, different factions have been popping up everywhere, and it really seems like we may have a civil war on our hands soon. I never thought I'd see the day when transgenic fought transgenic, but the streets of Terminal City seem to run with blood now. Be careful. I wouldn't put it past some of the more fanatical types to involve ordinaries."
Cindy was shocked. How could it have gotten so bad? What was Alec doing with the place? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...
The nomalie, undoubtedly the said Tad, nodded to Cindy and compressed his mouth in an attempt at a smile. "If you run into any trouble, just give us a holler. We'll hear you," he added, gesturing to his own pointed ears. "Otherwise, dispatch should have sent out Special Op.'s patrols by now, so help will be around."
Cindy said a quick 'thanks' and set off for the HQ building hurriedly. She and Alec had a lot to talk about.
The main street of TC was incredibly long, and Cindy kept a sharp lookout for an intersection where she could turn left. So far, all she had seen were side-streets and narrow alleys that she didn't dare enter. 'Short walk' my ass!
The old, dilapidated buildings that made up the whole of Terminal City were rammed together cheek-by-jowl, and in the dim light of a rising sun partially blocked by thick smog, everything seemed dark and dull. The whole place had an air of danger to it. It was like walking in a slummy neighborhood at night with no protection, while every surrounding edifice threatened to collapse at any given moment. Oh yeah, and don't forget about the biochemical toxins saturatin' the air. The environment Cindy had put herself into was very disconcerting, to say the least. She picked up her pace.
After she had been walking for about ten minutes, Cindy became aware that she wasn't alone. The light sounds of feet scuffing the pavement made her glance around to see if her company was that of friend or foe. Her searching eyes finally spotted movement in the shadows to her right. Realizing he'd been seen, the figure emerged slowly.
Hard black eyes stared at Cindy from a face just like Tad's, only this one wasn't wearing a Special Operative's uniform. He had no badge, and his eyes held no pity. He sneered at his cornered prey.
"What's a little ordinary like you doing here? Hopin' to score some fame by sneakin' in and killin' yourself a few beastly transgenics?" came a cold, mocking voice from that sneer (which, Cindy noticed, was lined with a row of small but very sharp-looking teeth).
Cindy thought furiously. What the hell'm I s'pose ta do now?
"No, I'm here on peaceful business. I gotta find a friend of mine, so if you'll excuse me," she said, making a move to leave.
The ugly transgenic sidestepped, effectively blocking her from proceeding down the narrow road. "Sorry, tootse. Your kind are friends to no one here," he said menacingly. He slipped a slim pocket knife out from a cavity in his dirty coat and flipped out a slightly chipped blade. Chipped, but still razor-sharp, to be sure.
Cindy eyed the blade and swallowed convulsively, Brock's grim words of warning ringing loud in her mind. "Look, I don't want no trouble. I'm here to help transgenics, not bust 'em up."
The nomalie laughed mirthlessly, a hollow chilling sound. "You wanna help? I'll tell ya how you can help. Do Terminal City a favor and die quickly so we'll have one less ordinary to worry about!"
With that, the nomalie sprang at her, brandishing his chipped blade aimed straight at her throat. Cindy's shock lasted only a moment before she kicked him hard in the stomach. Fear and adrenaline powered her kick so that it was enough to knock the wind out of him. He grunted and doubled over, but he recovered quickly and lunged at her again with burning anger in his eyes.
Cindy yelped in pain as the nomalie's sharp teeth sunk into her forearm. She swung her other arm at the top of his head, elbow-down, landing him a hard blow. He released her arm and straigtened, snarling. His open mouth glittered faintly red, and Cindy had to fight the urge to vomit at seeing her blood displayed on the transhuman's vicious teeth.
The predator prepared for another strike, once more aiming at her neck with his blade. Cindy felt like her heart was about to burst from pumping so furiously. Her breaths were short and hard as panic seized her. She was most certainly not genetically enhanced, and there was no way she could fend off this killer with one arm wounded so badly. So that was it. She was dead.
Alec had been out all morning on patrol. It wasn't his favorite job in the world because it was so dull this time of day, but it beat doing paperwork. And, in his humble opinion, it beat the hell out of sitting on his ass all day, not doing anything while Max's dream of Terminal City was shattered into a thousand shards. He'd be damned if he just sat back to watch that happen. It wouldn't happen, not if he had any say in the matter.
So he made sure he did have a say by getting in on the action whenever he could. He was well aware that a good general stayed out of the fighting to guide and direct. Manticore had educated the older X-series extensively on the history of war, and that concept was prevalent in all cases, but since when was he listening to Manticore? Screw Manticore, screw history, and screw directing. Max never sat back at a safe distance and directed her underlings. Hell, she always threw the first punch!
So today would start with patrolling the streets and would progress with more planning of heists to get much-needed money. Then would come planning renovation projects to keep the citizens of Terminal City busy moving in a positive direction, then he would have to get back to Detective Clemente and check up on negotiations, and then...
Lost in his thoughts, Alec wandered the streets until the unmistakable sounds of fighting reached his enhanced ears. He cocked his head to listen for a second. It seemed this morning's patrol wouldn't be totally dull.
A woman's frightened yelp caused Alec to snap out of it, and he blurred towards the scream.
Alec's eyes widened in alarm and shock at the scene before him. Original Cindy, of all people, was standing, tensed and clutching a bleeding arm, appearing as if she was facing death itself. It seemed that a deadly blow was indeed very close to coming, looking at her assailant and his predatory stance, and the malevolent glow in his hard black eyes.
Without thought, Alec went into soldier mode. He blurred up to the snarling nomalie and whipped out his gun, butting it right against the wrinkled head.
Luckily, the thing stopped in its tracks. He was rooted to the ground, but he still didn't release the knife carefully aimed at the throat of one of Alec's only friends.
"Drop your weapon," Alec ordered in a frozen voice.
The nomalie's eyes darted fearfully over his shoulder. He slowly lowered himself to the ground and gingerly set down the knife. As he started to rise, his legs rapidly slid out in a wide arc, causing Alec to fall to the ground gracelessly. Transhuman spun to face transgenic, and he lunged to attack Terminal City's stand-in leader.
Alec managed to hang onto his gun with one hand and catch himself with the other just before his butt would have slammed painfully into the pavement. He pushed up off the ground with his free hand and sprang into the air, straightening and aiming a kick at the freak's groin, but the freak dodged it and made contact with Alec.
Alec cursed loudly as his fist was stung by sharp teeth, and he shook his hand out as if trying to dislodge the pain. The nomalie came at him again, but this time, Alec's gun was held up in his face, daring him to try anything else. The nomalie froze once again.
"I didn't realize that you actually wanted to taste my fist, but I'm a pretty nice guy and a fair leader. I try to give the people what they want," said an unsmiling Alec to an equally unsmiling nomalie.
The hard black eyes widened at Alec's final statement, but Alec's swift right hook to the nomalie's face was too quick for him to do anything to stop it. The nomalie flew back about a foot through the air before crumpling bonelessly to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Alec stepped over the out-of-commission crook and approached the shaken-up Original Cindy, who had been silently watching the physical exchange with fear and awe.
"Baby Boo, you ain't got no idea how happy I am ta see ya!" she cried as she gave him a quick squeeze around the middle.
Alec tensed at the affectionate gesture. He wasn't used to hugs, and one that came from Cindy - Original Cindy! - was so startling that he had no time to react before she let go. But that meant it was real. She really was there, and he wasn't just imagining it.
He had often daydreamed about his life before the rise of the Freak Nation, as the media scathingly referred to it. He had wished so desperately to see a friendly face from Jam Pony. He would usually fantasize about hanging out at Crash with Sketchy and OC. God, sometimes even with Normal! But in every fantasy, Max was there, so he knew they weren't real.
But OC in the flesh was there, right in front of him. A pause from the doom and gloom of running a dying city. A friendly face that held no death threats against him or unreal expectations. A mutual friend of Max! It was all he could do not to break down and blubber like a six-year-old girl.
Alec felt a sort of barrier break down inside of him. For the first time in months (about three, to be exact), he felt like smiling. Maybe even laughing, or making smart-ass comments! It was a dizzying feeling.
"You're really lucky I was passin' through," he told her with a small smile.
"Psh, Original Cindy coulda takin' that bitch down. She was jus' restin', is all," Cindy said somewhat defensively.
Alec chuckled. "Uh huh. Of course. You were only waiting for the right moment to strike. Like when the knife was a millimeter away from your throat. That woulda worked out well. Sorry to have interrupted!"
Cindy frowned at him. "Once a smart-ass, always a smart-ass, I guess." She paused and ran over his whole body with her eyes, assessing his physical condition, and stopped at his face. Their eyes locked and she said sincerely, "But in all seriousness... Thanks, Alec. Original Cindy was about a second away from bein' a human shish-kabob."
"Hey, what're genetically empowered friends for, right?"
Cindy smiled at him and started to put her hands on her hips, but then the smile turned into a wince and she clutched her still-bleeding forearm.
Alec silently cursed himself for being an emotional moron while his friend was injured. "Hey, that doesn't look so good. We'd better get you to med. base, pronto." He grabbed her good arm and led her away quickly.
"As long as that bitch didn't have rabies, Original Cindy is good. Jus' a cut, really."
"Well then, I guess we need to test for rabies, don't we?"
"S'all good, Baby Boo. Original Cindy don't need - "
"Don't take over the tough chick act for Max while she's gone, alright? I'm not gonna take 'no' for an answer, 'cuz I'm a stubborn asshole, or so I've been told. You're going to get medical treatment. Now."
A shocked silence fell momentarily. "Sir, yes sir," OC mumbled sarcastically. "So the fearless leader ever take himself to med. base?"
Alec glanced over his shoulder at her in confusion. "Well, yeah, whenever I get injured in a street fight. Happens more than I'd like to admit, actually. Why do you ask?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like death warmed over."
Alec glared straight ahead, causing a passing group of transgenics to scuttle to the other edge of the street nervously. "Is there a right way to take that, Cin?"
"What Original Cindy means is, you look all haggard 'n' shit. Look, you didn't shave, you got bags under your eyes, which are all red, by the way; your hair's messed up, your clothes look three days worn in. Don't you ever sleep? An' you're all hollowed out! Do you ever eat?"
"Four." Now it was Cindy's turn to look confused. "They're four days worn in, not three. But good guess. I get sleep, and food."
"Yeah, but how much?"
"Enough," Alec said shortly. The rest of the trip was silent.
A pretty, Asian-looking X-6 named Lihn was the head doctor of the med. base. She was young, but very talented, and good talents in the field of medicine were invaluable in TC at it's present state. Lihn smiled and greeted Alec before personally seeing to the treatment of OC's arm.
"All done! As good as new. But I wouldn't lift anything heavy for at least another two hours while the medicine takes its effects. Otherwise you'll drag the healing process and cause a lot more pain in your arm," Lihn told Cindy, whose arm rested in a cloth sling.
"Aiight, suga," Cindy said, smiling.
"Thanks, Lihn. Appreciate it," Alec said genially. Then he turned to Cindy. "Now let's go somewhere we can talk."
A/N: OK, like I said above, this segment of the story continues in the next chapter. Reviews are always welcome! Happy reading!