Author's Note:

The subject of this story, Herbal Gummies, is a recurring theme that developed on the message board at www.delphi.com/darkangelfans/start . Herbal Gummies are a gummie candy with mildly intoxicating/euphoric effects, normally safe, non-addictive, and legal.

MIND CANDY

Point of view: LOGAN ********************************************

I got a tip. A large shipment of Herbal Gummies had been contaminated with a strong, and sometimes lethal, hallucinogenic agent. Called MantiCorny, it convinces the user that they are a genetically enhanced super human.

This is dangerous, very dangerous. Especially to those real X-5 escapees, whose futures depend on secrecy. Tactical exposure in the extreme.

There have been numerous reports of wild melees in the streets, people beating at each other with pipes and chains but swearing that they were laser cannons and tasers. Screaming "Lydecker" and "Brinn" and other names that should be mentioned as little as possible. The cops, not to mention the media, haven't figured out a link yet. But it's only a matter of time.

MantiCorny is not only addictive, but once it takes hold on the system, the effects are incurable. The only hope is to eliminate it at the source, and to mercifully eradicate those already contaminated with the drug.

I've had some luck tracking down a real Manticore. I'm not ready to let Max know about it yet, I don't want to get her hopes up. Plus the situation, as it stands now, is too risky. I'm going to have to think about this for a while.

Point of view: TINGA ********************************************

I exit the plane into chaos. People are running amok in the streets. Normal people, so the danger is somewhat limited. Still, I might trip and break a nail or something. And I wouldn't enjoy that very much.

Someone takes a mad, lunging dash at me, screaming about Lydecker. Lydecker. There's a name I haven't heard in a while. I grab the person in mid-run by the throat, haul him kicking and screaming into an alley, and slam him up against a wall.

"What do you know about Lydecker?" I ask in a low growl. The poor helpless sap makes an ineffective swipe at me. I land a good one upside the head, being careful of my nails. I get a babbling story out of the guy, nothing that makes any sense. I smack him around a bit more. "Listen. You have never heard that name. You have never heard of genetically engineered killing machines. You are a normal person living a normal life. And if you don't go back to that life..."

I snap his collarbone. Painful, somewhat limiting, but overall, not a horrible injury.

Not to hear him scream. He's carrying on as if his life was ending.

"Oh shut up," I warn him. He instantly complies. "THAT'S what you'll face if you keep up this farce. Now git."

He scampers off, whimpering.

I dust off my hands, looking around. Maybe I don't want to stick in Seattle long. Maybe I should hit the road now. I start moving resolutely towards the Northern highway out of here when an Aztek, so dirty its blue coloring is nearly indistinct, pulls up....

Point of view: BLING ********************************************


Logan sent me to find this girl Tinga. She's one of Max's sisters.

OH GEEZE!!!! I hit a kid who just jumped in front of my car!!!! Oh GOD! Oh God!!! He just stepped right out in front of me. I was only going about 5 to 10 miles per hour...

Ohkay! Calm down...

I get out to see if he's alright.

"Hey are You okay?!?!?"

His leg is broken... Tears are streaming down his face.

"I'm Dave Omega!!!" He screams at me!!!

He start throwing a tantrum and screaming "Earthquake! Earthquake!"

Another victim of the Gummies. His leg is just taking more trauma!!!

"Kid, calm down...."

He swings at me...."Omega Virus! Kill you all!!!"

I hate doing this to a delusional kid... but it's for is own good.

I punch him dead in the face. He's out like a cheap light bulb.

I'm trying to pull him off the side when a olive skinned woman with a good manicure grabs him by the scruff of the neck and to tosses him between 11 year olds going "My T-shirt says girls kick a$s." "No My T-shirt says girls kick a$s."

They all fall on the ground.

The girl looks and me and says, "Tall black Mr. Clean, Dirty Blue Aztec, you must be Bling."

I smile. We should get going.

Point of view: TINGA ********************************************

I'd been surprised to get the phone call on the plane. I didn't know you could dial into those phones from the ground, let alone find a passenger with any accuracy. The craziness around me had convinced me to bail on this city and leave that mystery for Robert Stack, but this guy looks sane. And I AM curious.

The three kids are fully into a slap fight now, hands hitting hands, arms flailing uselessly. I sigh and extend a hand. "Shall we leave this insanity?" I ask.

He smiles. It's a great smile. And gallantly takes my hand, leads me into the Aztec. Inside, I notice that there are extra controls on the steering column. Interesting. This car is designed for a paraplegic to drive. This "Logan Cale" who called me has even more interesting things up his sleeve.

We make it back to the apartment without incident. Apartment, smartment. Penthouse is more like it. It is most definitely to my taste. Anything money is to my taste, for the most part. I look around appreciably. The computer setup alone is first rate.

Bling is watching me, amusement dancing lightly behind his eyes. Amusement and a shrewd calculating look. He's got more to him than he appears. I make a note to try to remember not to write him off.

Logan appears, wheeling in. He seems to be looking for any sign of surprise at the wheelchair. I hope I've gone up a notch in his estimation when I patently don't react. Besides, I'm too busy looking at //him//. VERY pretty. I look back to Bling, and a slow smile starts to spread across my face. Well, at the least, this is easy on the eyes.

"Hi, Tinga," Logan says. "I'm Logan."

Point of view: LOGAN ********************************************

Tinga didn't react to the chair. Not that she surprised me, she was probably trained to keep her reactions to herself. Firm handshake, also not a surprise, although the nails were.

She doesn't look like Max. I don't know why I expected her to, but in a way I did. Bling seems to like her, from the way he's looking at her. Or at least he's figured out something more about her than he's letting on. Hopefully he'll let me in on it later.

"I trust your flight was OK?" I ask.

"Fine. The phone call was a surprise, but other than that, fine. I'm not sure about this city, though."

"Well, we'll work on that later. For now, why don't you get settled for the moment? You can decide later if you want to stay here, or elsewhere."

I show her to a guestroom and leave her, returning to the living room and Bling. Bling fills me in a bit on the insanity outside. Seems like he even had to take out some kid. Not only are the kids going crazy, they know way too much about Manticore. Things they shouldn't know. So whomever is contaminating the gummies has assistance, feeding information to at least a percentage of the users. This is turning into a bigger situation than we could have imagined.

I'm not sure what to do about Max. Tinga's an unknown quantity, and I don't want Max meeting her until she's up on the situation. At the same time, the city is going wild and Max would be safest here.

I've been unable to reach Max, anyway. Kendra had some guy over for the weekend, and Max took off on an extended ride on the Ninja. Hate the way she messes with the Sector police when she does that.

One way or another, I have to talk to her. Bling goes to make sure the bugs planted in Tinga's room are working, and I page Max one more time.

Point of view: MAX ********************************************

I'm enjoying terrorizing the sector police on my Ninja when my pager beeps, and of course it's Logan. I look for a payphone, which are incredibly hard to find in this city. Finding one, I dial his number and call.

"You really know how to ruin a girl's fun. The sector nazis were just learning how to play along," I say as soon as he answers.

"Max, I need to talk to you," he says, his voice all serious. There's something in his voice, like he's got something to tell me, but doesn't know how to say it. Well, if its about the Herbal Gummies, I've already heard about that. It's hard to ignore screaming people in the streets when you're a bike messenger.

"Oh, is this about the decoder ring?" I tease, "Cause I could really use one."

"No, but it is important. Can you get over here?"

"Sure, no big dealio." I hang up and swing my bike around in the direction of Logan's, wondering what he's up to.

Point of view: TINGA ********************************************

The offer of a place to stay is nice, and unexpected. I walk into the guest room and look around.

The bugs are pretty easy to spot. Audio only though, no video. Nice that he's cautious and not a perv.

I hope.

Oh well, I'm sure I can work around it. Or through it, if the case may be. And I think of two towns back, and the way I had to exit my stay there.

I undo my travel backpack and start pulling out a few things. As long as I'm here as guest, I might as well make myself at home. This room even has its own private bath. Now I know I'm in heaven.

I wash off the dirt from the plane and the fight, luxuriating in the hot shower. I love hot showers, the hotter the better. The shampoos and other essentials are top notch. Getting out, I choose a slightly snazzier outfit to put on, reapply the makeup and survey the results. Devastating. Although I do believe that the nail on my index finger is chipping. And I just got this paint job.

My mood slightly marred, I decided I've given the boys enough space, and reenter the room.

Logan is in an intense discussion with a dark haired girl. From the way he's looking at her, despite the businesslike tone, I might as well write off trying to play him. The girl has her hooks in him, big time. Oh well. There's still the other handsome guy. I paste an innocuous smile on my face and move languidly into the room.

"Hope I'm not interrupting," I purr.

They look over. I see the girl's face for the first time, and something about it bugs me. It's like I should know her. She stands in a blur and I tense. This girl is a Threat with a capital T, one like I've not seen in a long time.

We face each other, staring long and hard into each other's eyes.

Point of view: LOGAN ********************************************

I have only enough time to brief Max on the Herbal Gummy situation before Tinga walks back into the room. Damn. I was hoping for another few minutes.

Max jumps up and the two face off, bristling like two cats. Instant animosity. Max has been known to have a chip on her shoulder, but not like this.

"Max, this is--"

"Terry," Tinga cuts me off.

That throws me. No way I'm not telling Max who this is. But if she wants to play it that way, fine. I'll update Max later.

"Terry. Right. She might have some information on the Manticorny contamination."

Max isn't buying it. She knows something is up, but she doesn't know what. She looks like she could happily claw the makeup from Tinga's face, and take the skin with it. Tinga looks like she'd love to return the favor.

Bling steps forward, but just then Max's pager beeps.

Point of view: NORMAL ********************************************

Hi, Max this is Normal. Do you happen to remember me? Oh! you do. Then may I ask why you aren't at work? Wait. Don't bother. You'll just have an excuse or something. I'm giving you a half an hour to get your caboose back here.

Hold On.

You! Are you here to work or eat? Then take this! go! Are we made of money? Who's turn is it to shut off the TV?

Max?, Max?...get back here now! Bye.

Point of view: MAX ********************************************

I'm eyeing this Terry girl Logan's got at his place when Normal pages me. He's in one of his ironic moods. Before I can explain, he gives me half an hour to get back to work.

What I wouldn't give to not have to work for that man. But then again, I can't start living off of Logan's charity. I'm an independent girl.

"I gotta bounce. Try and behave yourself," I say to Logan, but I'm looking at Terry. What is that chick's dealio? She seems familiar in some way, but I'm not so sure that that is a good thing.

Sending her an ice glare, I shoulder my pack and head for the door.

"Bye Max," Logan calls after me. Terry smirks.

Outside, I jump on my bike and head for Jam Pony.

Point of view: NORMAL ********************************************

"Some people work in offices, some people have employees that listen to them and I get none of the above. This heat is killing me..." I thought wiping the dirty counter.

"Sketchy! get up there and see what you can do about the air-conditioning. I don't care if it's safe for you. You work here right?" wondering if he did or was just here to watch TV.

"Always someone with some lip around here. Oh! look the princess of lips herself. You took your sweet time getting here Max! Your five seconds late!" yelling at her as she walked casually down the ramp with her bike.

"If you keep looking at me like that you better be thinking marriage." I glared at her as another idiot was kicking the soda machine again.

"I'm gonna dock your paycheck for each scratch!" I screamed at the rider who seemed bent on turning the machine inside out for his soda.

"Yeah!? what is it? ...you got the wrong package. Do you know who delivered your package?...This is Jam Pony! not Lickety's delivery service! I told the caller as I turned back towards Max.

"Max! I want you to take this package to North Beach . On 85th and 28th Ave and please no touring of the Golden Gardens. I know it's summer and all you weed sniffers need your high but please do it on your own time." I told her.

Point of view: LOGAN ********************************************

Max took off without a backward glance. Well, a backward glance at Tinga, and an unpleasant one at that. But not a look at me. Somehow I'm going to have to get hold of her before she and...Terry meet up again.

Speaking of which, "Terry?" I ask Tinga.

"Just maintaining my privacy here," she replies. You know my name, no one else needs to. Except you, big guy."

Is she flirting with Bling, of all people? And I forgot that she doesn't know who Max is, either. Somehow I'd thought that they'd recognize each other. But they didn't, and maybe that's better. If I can get hold of Max, I'll tell her about Tinga. And tell her to keep her own identity to herself.

Tinga walks over to the TV and flips it on. The evening news is covering the latest riot. Kids, and adults too now, playing some bizarre form of cops and robbers. Trying to jump over walls, flip opponents over their heads, outrun vehicles and bullets. Bullets? Damn, the cops are involved now. Through the screaming I can hear faint cries of Lydecker, Brinn, and other names that I don't recognize.

Let's hope the cops don't recognize any of them. This hasn't been linked to Manticore yet, and if it is we're all in trouble.

Tinga makes herself comfortable, still keeping one eye on Bling.

Point of view: JONDIE ********************************************

"Same to you buddy" I yell as some guy comments on my inability to get out of his way. I feel a fire in my belly....sometimes I swear they put Irish genes in me....just to see how much anger could enhance my performance.
It's cold here....but then I am in the North, it's always cold. I've grown accustomed to trudging through the streets lined with snow, however, today I wasn't in the mood to lose feeling from my toes to my hips. I sighed...Work had been a killer today, when I say work I mean the second of my two jobs...I'm a manicurist by day, and a waitress by night. Honestly I despise both occupations...let's just say I'm still finding my niche. I must admit, there have been times I wanted to throw away my apron and nail file and become the latest Mrs. Sanitation. I could see myself now, perched upon the trash truck, smiling and waving at wide eyed people while my "coachmen" emptied trashcans below my feet. Such glamour, such fame...I chuckle to myself at the thought.
It is then that I stop my wandering mind to cross the street and enter my humble abode. Carefully I enter the room and smile at the familiar smells...my perfume, my dinner, and yes...rising just above it all is the scent of my significant other. I smile at the little furball on the couch...he jumps up and scurries to my feet...who needs a man when you've got a dog. I sigh in relief and flop myself onto the couch with my trusty can of Sprite...heaven knows how the Coca Cola company managed to stay in business. It is then that my nightly TV show is interrupted by a newsflash from those darn hoverdrones. I curse silently at the thought of missing the scene where she, our ever popular heroine, kisses her love goodbye, as she is about to cross the border to Canada and never return.
As I lower the can from my lips my eyes widen at the scene. Hundreds of people, swarming around....fighting each other. But that isn't really what scares me, no the part that really gets me are the names erupting from their mouths..."Max...Lydecker...Jondie"...Oh no.

Point of view: MAX ********************************************

I take the package from Normal, choosing to ignore the weed smoking comment. I hope he appreciates that.

Biking through the mob of MantiCorny addicts, I severely reassess my vow not to harm the innocent. Not that these people aren't asking for it.

The thing is, I'm scared. I won't admit it to Logan, but I am. These people know enough to know the names of all involved in Manticore, but not enough to keep their mouths shut.

"Hey! Watch it!" I yell as a guy not much older than myself almost knocks me off my bike with the skateboard he's wielding, "A girl's tryin to make a living here!"

All these hyped-up peeps can't help it, they've been drugged unwittingly. They don't know it's my life that they're screaming about in the streets.

I reach my destination and knock on the door. A girl about my age answers.

"Yes?" she asks.

"Jam Pony bike messenger. Package for a Jana Peters," I say.

Point of view: BLING ********************************************

Logan filled me in on the details of Tinga... er Terry?

I never really thought about how different all the Manticore would be. I always thought Max was little insecure and covering a sweet side... like that cat the rubs up against your leg, then runs away when you go to pet it.

Terry... She more like that cat that hides behind the couch and claws your legs as you walk by.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about being eyed like a can of Tuna.

I catch a weird look from Logan.

I have to smile... He's never seen a women interested in me. I guess I have kept things pretty business only, or should I make that Eyes Only, since I took over as his 'left hand' man. I think I have to start getting my boy to do some physical therapy IN THE PARK! Get out into that world we're trying to save.

As for the kitty stretched out on the couch... let's show the Logan how it's done.

"Nice outfit. Can I get you anything? From the kitchen."

Smile big now.

**************************************************************************

Author's Note:

This story started as an RPG (role playing game) played between a number of fan fiction writers at a Dark Angel message board, www.delphi.com/darkangelfans/start . As the story developed, additional characters and players were added. When we realized that we had non-players reading it as well, we decided to clean it up and present it as a fan fiction.

Each character is written by a different writer, in a first-person point of view. The character's name is listed before each section. Information on all of the writers can be found on my author's page.

This game/story is still in progress, so please read and review. Let us know where you want it to go. And we are always looking for new writers to play along, so please visit us at www.delphi.com/darkangelfans/start and read the rules and casting notices in the RPG folder.