It's All Just SSDD Search and Destroy, a dark angel fanfic

Chapter 21:

A/N: I know, I know, I'm awful. No excuses aside from life.

Disclaimer: I only own the ones you never saw on TV.

Max was the last to leave, peeling out of the hole the guards made in the fence on her Ninja and vanishing into the streets beyond leaving only the resonating growl of the engine in her wake. Alec had gone out the same way a few minutes earlier on his Bandit. The others, a host of six all told, had entered various sewer points in teams of two before that. The Ordinary, Logan, trudged slowly back through the snow toward headquarters, to wait. Ordinaries. Pathetic that they would lower themselves to accept someone of his…limitations. But that was Max's problem in a nutshell, believing they could live equally with the Ordinaries. Only transgenics weren't equal, they were better.

But as much as the figure crouched in the darkness of the alley would have liked to place a bullet squarely in the middle of the computer hacker's head, that wasn't the present mission. So the transgenic watched him go, before trotting silently out of the darkness toward the target, small black duffel slung across a shoulder. It didn't take long to reach the four story brick building, windows caked solid with years of grime, if not smashed out completely. This particular edifice was mostly abandoned, save a few of the more reclusive transhumans. Though it did neighbor a few other occupied buildings, its structure deemed too unstable to be habitable. Well, time enough to help that along.

Once certain no one was on the streets, or watching from any adjacent windows, the lone transgenic trotted across the last open space between themselves and the building, taking the stairs three at a time and slipping inside the front door in a scant moment. It smelled dank and musty inside, with only a single flickering bulb illuminating the flat foyer. A faint glow came from the top of the stairs. Enhanced senses told the transgenic that others were there, maybe a handful of transhumans. Keeping sharp eyes peeled for any sign of life or movement, the transgenic headed for the door leading down into the basement. A few of the stairs squeaked, eliciting a wince and a pause, but no one came to investigate. A large, beady eyed rat scampered away on an overhead beam.

The basement flood was caked in a thick layer of dust and mold, and soft impressions of boot prints followed along behind each step. Three thick steel support beams ran through the center of the basement. Upon reaching the farthest beam from the stairs the figure crouched, lifting the duffel over their head and setting it on the ground beside. The C4 plastic explosive looked completely innocuous inside the duffel, like off white modeling clay. It felt cool to the touch, malleable, and the transgenic began stretching it around the base of the first support.

Next came the detonators, slender rods of metal attached to digital timers, slid carefully, skillfully, into the heart of the plastique. The transgenic set each of the clocks in turn, the digital readouts giving off a soft, iridescent green glow as the numbers began ticking down. A grim, hateful smile spread over the traitors face. It was only a matter of time now. The traitor shouldered the now empty duffel and left the way they had come in, making sure to leave the basement door exactly as it had been found. The transgenic hit the street in an easy walk, pulling a cell phone from a back pocket. Redial. The line rang twice before he picked up, gruff, dark voice barking, "And?"

"It's done."

"Good." Special Agent Ames White smiled for the first time in days. "When?"

"Soon. Won't be long before Terminal City starts to go up in smoke. You just remember our deal."

"I remember. You get this done, and you'll get what you want."

"Perfect," the traitor purred right before signing off the call. Everything was going exactly as planned.

Bart sighed, pushing away from her desk and rubbing her palms over her eyes. She cracked each of her knuckles, grinding away on her lower lip. She wanted to be out there, with Max and Alec and the others. She wasn't good at this, waiting. Medic or not she was still transgenic, still a predator, not meant for a sedentary existence. The makeshift hospice slept peacefully, quietly. Every single patient she had at the moment appeared stable, so aside from the occasional perusal of each room, she had little to do but wait to hear from one of the others.

I'm a friggin field medic, Bart thought irritably. Field. As in out, waiting for mission completion. Primary directive, triage, a patch and pass job, not a damned hospital administrator! Her hand tightened around her pen, the cap digging mercilessly into her newly bandaged hand. She hissed. Aggravated, she threw the offending pen at her desk, scattering the tall, teetering stack of paperwork that had gathered in the past two weeks over the floor. "Fuck." Organizational filing skills had obviously not been inserted into her genetic cocktail.

Bart slid off her chair and stooped, gathering up her papers. Paper clipped together, a sheaf of some eight or ten pages caught her eye, and her hand hovered for a moment over them. Logan's medical care history, copies of his blood work both pre and post Joshua transfusion. Another quandary, seemingly without an answer, something else to muddle through till frustration forced her to cast it aside. She'd thought about it on and off since learning of the Manticore constructed retrovirus.

Bart sat back into her chair, Logan's paperwork still in hand, leaving the rest of the pile untouched. Rolling back to her desk, Bart grabbed a blank sheet of paper and began scribbling away. This was a means of keeping herself occupied at least. Soon the sheet was filled, marred by her own scribbled handwriting of half formed thoughts. Logan. Virus. Transfusion. Max and Alec. Antibodies? The last was underlined, accented by a triple set of question marks. Alec, Max, Alec and the virus, Max and the virus. Her brain kept coming back to that lingering thought. Both had managed to transfer the virus to Logan, but Alec's state of infection had been only temporary. The thought kept rolling over and over in her head. Alec. Suddenly her eyes came alight, like the veritable light bulb had gone off in her head. Bart dug her cell phone from out of her pocket and dialed Alec's number. She had to talk to him first, it was only fair.

Alec stood, grim faced and silent, in front of the tall brick building. He had to talk to her. It was only fair. His phone buzzed in his coat pocket. He gave the screen a cursory glance, Bart. He placed the phone back in his pocket without answering. Whatever the medic wanted, it was going to have to wait.

Alec had only returned to TC a few minutes earlier, after Max had called off their four hour long search for Pez. She had disappeared, in complete, total, transgenic fashion. There was no sign of her, no trace. So the call had come, "Back to base." Short, to the point. Only Poe and Cade had refused the command in order to continue searching. Pez was her sister, and Poe could not so easily abandon her efforts. It wasn't something Max was about to argue, after all, she could understand the compulsion better than most, but she still had to think of TC as a whole, and for that, she called the others back.

So Alec had returned with the rest, doing his best to shut aside his guilt. He felt responsible for Pez in a small way, but he knew enough to know that any transgenic wanting to disappear was going to stay gone. They'd keep their virtual ears and eyes open, but it was all they could do. He'd stowed his Bandit and found himself here, staring blindly up at her building. He had to talk to her. They couldn't keep doing this, this cat and mouse game of avoidance. Their mutual history had irrevocably linked them, and she needed to deal with it, whether she liked it or not. Mustering his resolve, Alec walked purposefully up the front steps of the building and went inside.

Max used the toe of one boot to remove the other, kicking both into a corner of her apartment. Then she shrugged out of her leather jacket, sitting heavily down on her one requisitioned piece of furniture, a ratty green lounge chair. She sneezed when the puff of dust reached her nose. Max leaned back into the weathered cushions, running both hands up over her face and through her hair. God, but could this day get any worse?

Max hadn't been planning to stay long in her apartment, but now that she was there, it seemed like such a shame to leave. She didn't want to go back to headquarters, didn't want to think about how she was going to inform Clemente that a potentially dangerous, and not terribly stable X5 was on the loose, didn't want to hear the growing laundry list of problems in the city, didn't want to proffer up possibilities as to who might be their saboteur, didn't want to lead, didn't want to think. All she wanted to do was sit, right in her chair. Sleep. Maybe draw a hot bath or share a beer with OC and Sketchy at Crash. And she didn't want to think about how much it had sucked searching the city on her own, without the comforting, high pitched whine of the Bandit's motor at her side. For the first time in a long time, possibly for the first time since Alec had escaped, she'd felt utterly on her own. It was a feeling she'd used to relish. So what had happened?

You pushed him away, like you do everyone. Beer with OC and Sketchy? Right, you haven't even talked to them since they left. Alone is better right? Alone is easier? Max shook her head. She'd had her reasons, sound, valid reasons. To keep them safe, keep them protected, to give Alec his family. Right? But God, the way he'd looked at her, the way he'd sounded. She hadn't meant for it to be like that. So how did you mean it?

The phone was in her hand before she even realized it, dialing the all too familiar number. The knock on her door stopped her short, throat tightening reflexively. Max shut the cell phone and moved to the door with sweeping strides.

Pez crouched at the edge of the four story building, forearms resting atop her thighs. A slight breeze blew purple and black hair in front of amber eyes, but she didn't bother pushing it away. She didn't even blink. She just stared, and thought. Checkpoint for this sector sat four stories and a scant one hundred yards below her perch. A slow, persistent trickle of human traffic made its way through the high gates. Police members in black riot gear checked everyone through, scanning ID's and authorizations.

A hover drone hummed overhead the checkpoint, sliding quietly from one side to the other, mechanical eye roving the crowd below. It was probably equipped with heat sensing technology by now, probably they all were. It would be so easy, to just… step off the edge and let come what may. They'd shoot her. They'd shoot her and people would scream and it would just be over. She'd be over. It would be so easy.

But Pez didn't move, riveted to her spot as a gargoyle on a high-rise. She wished they'd never come here. They could have stayed in LA, far away from all the damage their kind created. Pex had been happy there, drinking, and living, happy to push away every single moment of Manticore. There, she outran the memories. There, she could pretend like it had never happened, like it was some long running bad dream.

Seattle, TC, it wasn't like that. All the transgenics living together again, for Pez, it was like choosing to be back at Manticore, and the second she'd set foot inside TC's walls, the memories had started playing catch up. But reality had come too swift, Alec's blood leeching through her fingers triggering a tidal wave pain both past and present. She couldn't deal, couldn't handle it and now she was really alone. She peered over the ledge again. So easy for it to just be over.

She ignored the soft footfalls behind her. "Pez…?" Tears sprang to her eyes. Poe, ever the rock.

Pez ducked her chin and sniffed. "What?" she called after a long pause.

"Time to go home," Poe said quietly. "Gonna take you back."

"No," she shook her head. She choked on sobbing words. "Can't… it's too," Pez waved her hand around her temple, "much. Too much pain, to…too much death. Can't… decide between then and now." Pez hunched her shoulders, gripping her head in both hands. "It's not real. This can't be all life is. I'm still there aren't I? Still a rat in a maze?" Poe slipped up behind her sister, lowering herself to her knees and slipping her arms over Pez's shoulders, resting her forehead in Pez's back. Cade stood well back, leaving the two purple haired girls alone, keen eyes alert.

"I'm so sorry," Poe whispered. Pez reached up and grasped Poe's forearms tightly. She felt her sister's warmth and it was the most comforting, real thing she'd felt it weeks. Solid, free from pain. The whirring in her mind slowed a little. Pez almost felt safe. "It's not a nightmare. We're here, but freedom ain't free."

"No shit," came Pez's indignant snort of a reply. At that Poe had to laugh, just a little. She unfolded herself from behind her sister and took a seat beside her, legs dangling over the building's roof.

Poe reached over and smoothed the hair from Pez's face. "What did they do to you?"

Pez sat stone still for a long time. Poe had to know. Someone had to know, besides Alec, because he only half remembered anyway. Time to let the demons out. Then she blinked, slowly, and said, "I was defective."

"Pez…"

"Could you just… shut up for a minute, maybe? Just shut up, because you don't know, and I've never told you, so just shut up and stop saying you understand and I'm wrong, because you don't and I'm not." Pez rocked off her heels and settled heavily on her backside. Poe's eyebrow arced, but she kept quiet.

"Fifteen when they separated us. We were fifteen when you went back, because you were fine. I had the seizures, not you. I was the less 722. I was just pieces of a not quite perfect whole, and pieces are what they made me." Pez held up her palm still staring blankly ahead, voice a monotone. "Every bone in my right hand they broke, one by one. Took a bullet in my left knee, so the docs could see the "efficaciousness" of their techniques to put it back together."

Poe's chest tightened and she choked back a sob. Behind them, Cade's jaw was slack, face twisted in disbelieving horror. Manticore had experimented on them all, but this…

Then, for the first time, Pez looked at her sister. "I only have one kidney. Those scars on my back when we found each other after the escape? Skin grafts for an X6 that got burned on a training op gone bad. And… worse." Twin sets of amber eyes brimmed with tears.

"Then they'd just throw me back in the basement, where I could hear the screams of the others. And they didn't care, because they wanted to see how long it would take me to break."

Poe cried freely now, tears cascading down her cheeks. Pez shook her head. "But I didn't break, because I had you. Then we came here, and you didn't need me, and you fit, and I didn't."

"Pez, of course I need you."

"No!" Pez cried. "You don't. All that shit in Manticore and I got through it, but this," she threw out her arm to wave over the city, "is just as much pain and blood. I can't handle it again. You know what it is to die? Over and over again only to be brought back, just to see if they could?" she snarled. "Till all you want to do is just stay there in the endless black?" She looked over the edge once more.

"Don't you dare," Poe seethed, grasping Pez's chin in her hands, wrenching her around to face her. "This is real, and I know it's hard, but it's nothing if we stick together. Because this is real too," Poe grabbed her sister's hand and set it on her belly, eyes pleading for understanding, "and I don't want to do it without you."

Pez's gaze lingered on Poe's belly before snapping up to meet her eyes. "You're…?" Poe nodded. A thin, bitter smile passed over Pez's lips. "Bits of me, pieces they took away and never gave back."

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Bast sniffed. Outside her door, Alec stood, waiting for an invitation inside, or a fist to the face, either or. There hadn't been many times in his life he'd felt truly awkward, but this had to rate in the top five. He didn't offer any kind of answer, just stood, waiting. Bast stared at him for a long time, eyes close to frozen, before turning and retreating back into the interior of her apartment. Alec suppressed a sigh and followed, it was the best he was likely to get.

Across the room Kai crawled gleefully over a mound of old cushions, giggling as her hands plummeted into crevices between them. The little girl sat with a gurgle as Bast passed her, holding up her arms, but the female X5 ignored her, walked to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle. Alec paused a few feet away from Kai, unsure of what to do. "Is that…safe?" he asked, all too aware that a pair of jade eyes watched him intently.

Bast glanced back at their daughter of her shoulder. "Safe enough," she shrugged. Unscrewing the bottle top with one hand, she took a long swig. "Kid's pretty tough."

"Yeah," Alec said slowly, disbelieving, "sure."

"Why are you here Alec?"

"Seriously?" he questioned, looking at the blonde transgenic sideways. "You found me Bast. You dropped in on my life, told me I have a kid. What did you expect?"

Bast's face pinched in anger, resentment. "To be honest with you, not one damn thing." Setting the bottle aside, Bast went over and plucked Kai off the pillows. "But I learned a long damn time ago not to rely on 494. You're standing there, acting like this bitch of a situation ain't fair to you!" She was bouncing the baby lightly on her hip, but as she paced back and forth in front of him, Alec could sense her aggression mounting.

"You know, some days, I can barely look at her. How fair is that? I look at her and I see you and I'm sick! She shouldn't have been yours and you know it!" Her voice began to rise, and the chubby smile on Kai's face disappeared.

Alec held out his hands, a small well of fear rising in his gut. "Give her to me Bast." But the blonde X5 merely whirled away, clutching the toddler closer. "It wasn't my fault. We had an assignment, we did what we had to do."

Rage practically seethed from the female transgenic. "Not your fault?" she echoed. "My door opened and I saw you standing there and I though it was some fucked up version of a joke." Kai started to cry. Alec edged closer to them.

"Wasn't your fault then, wasn't your fault before that either was it? Just doin the job, complete the mission, come home. Only you came home, and he didn't. And then you got a fucking promotion! How fair is that!" Pale features had turned blotchy and red. Kai screeched.

Alec had had enough. He darted forward, plucking the wailing child out of her mother's arms, cradling her gently and keeping one wary eye on Bast. The female X5 barely seemed to notice. "You don't know anything about it," he responded quietly.

"Do you even remember?" she asked bitterly. "Cuz I hope you do. I hope you think about it. I hope you dream about it, over and over in your head till you want to scream about it!" Bast kept talking. "Because I do, every time I look at my own kid, I have to remember that day." Alec shut his eyes, wishing for all the world he could block the voice out of his head.

…"Forget it, we're getting out!"

"I can't make it…tell her…go."

"…if I come back without you?"

"…what they'll do to them…"

The explosion was huge, like some sort of massive volcanic eruption, shaking the very ground.

The X-5 righted himself and turned back toward the complex. Everywhere the fire blazed, flames arcing and twisting up into the night sky. It had already engulfed the nearest trees and licked at those beyond. He could feel the heat on his face. He holstered his weapon, there would be no one coming after him now. His right hand delved into his pocket, fingertips brushing his prize. Mission complete. But at what cost? They were coming in now, waiting for extraction, waiting for some new command, and one waiting for answers. He didn't look, because he wasn't ready to….

Alec shuddered. "Course I remember." He couldn't blame Bast, not really, but nor could he understand blaming this tiny little girl in his arms. She smiled at him, and her eyes lit up.

"Good," she seethed. "Now wha…" Bast never finished the thought.

Alec felt it first, rumbling up beneath his feet, like some mythical beast roaring to life. Then came the sound of breaking glass. Then the world exploded in a tidal wave of light.

Chapter 21

Well, hopefully after my ever so long hiatus this was a worthy chapter. Reviews bring many smiles. Thanks for reading, you guys are the best.