Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show Dark Angel, owned and created by James Cameron. I do, however, own any and all original characters appearing here. If you wish to use them, please ask me first.
Time Period: Before Cold Comfort, slight AU
Summary: It's a family reunion—X5 style.
A/N: My friend Collin sent me all these quotes from the game Halo, and I thought they were pretty cool so I used them here. Regarding my other stories, I'm stumped on what I'm going to do with Happily Never After (yet a fateful email from Hearns may have awakened my stupid muse) but I do have an idea for a sequel to that involving my the Familiars. In fact, I've already written the first chapter. Binge is coming along nicely, but I just love this new story so much I've decided to continue it immediately.
A/N 2: HOLY SHIT! I'm on 9 peoples favorites list! *mouth drops to the floor in utter and complete disbelief* OMG! How did that happen?! Did I mention how much I love you guys? Well, I love you guys! I feel so special! *cries with hysterical happiness*
A/N 3: Ha, this is getting annoying, ain't it? I'm sorry U_U, but I just wanted to mention I changed the title. This fic is going to be (almost) Maxless, because everyone else needs to have the spotlight once in awhile, right?
332340090210
by
Brin
These are the tygers of wrath. –Halo
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Chapter 2: Condemned
Jondy waited at the door of her building, leaning against the wall with her legs crossed at booted ankles. It was strangely quiet for a San Francisco morning, but she didn't take much notice. Puffs of steam billowed from her mouth. They rose high into the air, swirling and churning, then suddenly dissipated. The X5 was not lost on the potential analogy of this. Just three days ago, Zack had told her that Zane was doing fine; being successful. But, all of a sudden, he was gone. The feeling was a bit… surreal. Like this wasn't really happening. But happening it was, and the X5 steeled herself to deal with it.
She turned her eyes upward as the sound of a rumbling motor approached. A tiny red hard-top convertible turned down her street, blaring rock music as loud as it could possibly go.
The car parked behind a pile of rusted, twisted metal, and the doors opened. Two people wearing sunglasses stepped out. One of them was a dark-complexioned man with curly black hair and chiseled features. The other, a tall woman with silky blonde hair hanging down to her shoulders. When they spotted Jondy standing next to the door almost simultaneously removed their sunglasses and smiled.
"Jondy!" exclaimed Syl, running forward and embracing her sister.
"Hey, Syl," the younger X5 replied, grinning from ear to ear.
Krit stepped up, soft brown eyes glinting in the morning light. "Can I butt in?" He grinned as Syl stepped back and hugged Jondy tightly. "I can't believe how tall you are, little sister!" he teased, patting her on the head.
"Not so short yourself," she said with a laugh. "Go on upstairs. Zack is waiting. Second floor, apartment 210."
The two X5s nodded and disappeared inside the building, leaving Jondy alone once again. She wasn't alone for long, however, because soon two more cars turned down the street. One was a sleek silver Benz with doors that opened up instead of out. The other was a large maroon Suburban with Winnie the Pooh stickers on the windows. Slowly, the two vehicles found a secluded spot to park in. The first driver to get out was the Suburban's driver, an exotic beauty of a woman with long hair tied back in a French braid.
"Tinga," called Jondy. "Tinga, over here!"
The woman turned around and smiled when she saw Jondy. "Hey!" she trotted over and hugged the other X5. "Where's everyone else?"
"Up in the apartment. Who's in the Benz?" asked Jondy, suspicious that the driver hadn't gotten out yet.
"I think it's Brin." Tinga shrugged. "But there's someone else in there. I couldn't see who. It's a guy."
Jondy nodded as her big sister headed upstairs, her blue eyes fixed on the still car across the street. She waited a few moments and was about to approach the car when the door opened and two combat boots dropped out, followed by short legs, a slim body, and a round Korean face. Nope, there was no mistaking. That was Brin.
"Hey, slowpoke!" shouted Jondy, running over. "What were you doing in there?"
Brin turned around and broke into a grin. "Putting my shoes on," she joked, then looked over her shoulder at the car.
Jondy abruptly froze in her tracks as the passenger-side door opened and a tall man stepped out. He stood facing the other way for a few seconds, then turned around and pinned Jondy with a blank look. "Hey, Jon," he said, green eyes boring into her.
"Ben," she returned cautiously. "I thought you were taking a bus."
"Yeah, but who wants to ride in a stuffy, barely-working old shithole when you can ride in Brin's baby?" replied Ben, patting the silver car like a pet.
"Don't touch it!" shouted Brin, glaring at him. "Fingerprints!"
Ben disregarded her and started walking towards the building. "Alright, so where's the party?"
"We're still waiting for Max." Jondy shifted her weight nervously. "Why don't you guys go on up?"
"Sounds like a good idea. Come on, Ben," said Brin with a carefree smile. She either didn't notice Jondy's obvious discomfort, or didn't bother to acknowledge it.
"Apartment 210," said Jondy as they passed by her, arms interlinked like best friends. Jondy felt a icy shiver go down her spine as Ben turned his head to look at her with empty green eyes. She quickly glanced away, and he looked back at Brin as she started to say something.
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Half an hour later, Max still hadn't shown up. She was late, and Jondy was getting extremely agitated. It wasn't like Max to be late, and this wasn't just showing up for a rendezvous during a practice mission. This was important. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, eyes fixed on the road. Ten years, and she was late. All of them together for the first time as adults, and she was late. It wasn't right.
After waiting twenty more minutes or so, the X5 gave up and headed upstairs. When she opened the door to her apartment, there was the sharp clicks of guns being cocked and everything froze. Jondy smirked at her siblings, all of whom had handguns trained on her forehead. She could feel the harsh red light warming the spot between her eyes and crossed her arms. "You can stop now," she said indignantly.
"Bang," joked Syl before putting her gun down. "Max arrived yet?"
"Nope," replied Jondy, shutting the door. She took off her jacket and unceremoniously tossed it on the floor. "So what have we got so far?"
Brin opened her mouth to reply, but Jondy's telephone began to ring as soon before she could get a word out. The X5s looked at the phone like it was going to jump out and bite their faces off, then Zack slowly went over and picked it up. "You've reached the number you've dialed," he said sternly.
"Zack, it's me," said the voice on the other end.
"Max," he returned. "Where are you?"
"I should've called you earlier, Zack. I can't make it," she said calmly.
"What do you mean? Max, this isn't something to mess around with. Why can't you come?" asked Zack, looking over his shoulder at his siblings and frowning. They frowned back.
"Look, I promised a friend I'd do a favor, okay? I'm sorry I can't make it," said Max distractedly.
"Fine, Max. Don't come. Be Logan's little slave. We don't need you," said the male X5 coldly, then hung up before she could reply. He turned and looked at Jondy. "Change your phone number."
"Sure thing," said Jondy quietly, her heart breaking into little pieces. "Why isn't she coming?"
"Because of a norm, Logan. He's got her on a leash. I hate him," growled Zack. "He's going to get her killed some day."
The other X5s nodded solemnly.
"Well, there's still seven of us," said Tinga, trying to lighten the mood. "We'll be able to manage without her."
Syl put her hand on Jondy's shoulder. "Maybe another time," she whispered, leaning her forehead against her younger sister's.
"Yeah," replied Jondy sadly. She felt so betrayed. A norm was more important to Max than her family? Why? Didn't Max understand that this was life or death? Didn't she care? "So… you were gonna tell me if we had anything to work with yet," she stated quietly.
Brin scratched the back of her neck and shrugged. "We know the 'virus' is genetic, because our barcode is genetic and so far nobody's been able to change it."
"And you missed my story," said Ben in a sultry voice.
"What story?" asked Jondy cautiously.
"Not the kind of story you're thinking of," replied the handsome X5. "I was telling everyone that I once overheard Lydecker giving a class to some of the guards assigned to us. One of the guards asked what would happen if we escaped, and good ol' 'Deck said something along the lines of, 'They wouldn't last more than fifteen years outside these walls. We've made sure of that'."
Jondy processed this information. "So it's all been planned."
"We think it's a safety precaution they took… just in case we escaped," declared Krit. "What we don't know, is how it works. Since Zane is the first to be taken, we know it's random."
"What was Zane's barcode?" asked Jondy, grabbing pencil and paper from her kitchen counter.
"332680074205," answered Zack, watching curiously as Jondy wrote the numbers down and stared at them for a few seconds.
"40," she announced. "Add up your barcodes, everyone."
The X5s did as they were told, and Jondy wrote down their sums on the paper.
Brin – 40
Zack – 53
Syl – 31
Tinga – 44
Ben – 59
Krit – 39
Jondy – 27
Max – 44
Jondy groaned, finding no pattern in the numbers.
"Wait… the first three numbers in Zane's code are 332," said Brin, the wheels turning in her head. "So who has 332 as the first three numbers?"
"Max, Krit, and Jondy," said Zack. "What does that matter?"
"Lydecker explained some of this to me once," announced the tiny X5. "The first three numbers stands for what batch. Zack is 330, the oldest, and Max is the youngest. Jack and Eva were the only biological twins of the group, so their barcodes are virtually the same. 331-065-661-417 and 331-065-661-766."
"This has to do with what?" asked Syl, her face tight with confusion.
"Well, that was just some information we might need later," admitted Brin with a shrug. "But moving on, Lydecker also said that whatever happens to one X in a batch, happens to all the rest of them not too long after, and in descending order. So, theoretically, the second oldest in the 332 batch is next." She bit her lip.
"Zane is the oldest in the 332 batch," stated Jondy quietly.
"Who's second oldest?" Syl looked between Jondy and Krit worriedly.
"Jondy," whispered Krit.