Chapter 6
The fight for Max, Zack and Brin
Max sat alone in the infirmary, cursing the way Manticore made her. It had only been a month since she was caught, and she was ready to be re-indoctrinated. She looked around the room, and remembered that she had been in this room before, sitting there with her sisters, waiting to hear about some tests, waiting to find out if their little sister Kiri would live. She was only seven years old at the time, but she remembered it clearly
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All the girls had been told to go wait in that room to find out if something was wrong with Kiri. Lyedecker was trying to make the girls he felt were in jeopardy spend time with the ones he trusted. He trusted Max, Eva, Brin and Jondy. It was Tinga, Kiri, Trigs and Syl he worried about. When the eight of them were together, her felt safe.
Kiri had been shot. She attacked a tactical officer, and was seemingly unprovoked. Max worried about her baby sister. She seemed a little wild, a little abnormal. She worried she would be taken and given to the Nomolies. Max loved Kiri, she loved all her sisters, but she was afraid of Kiri when she did stuff like this.
Lyedecker entered after about ten minutes of the girls standing there waiting. He snapped his fingers and they all jumped to attention, all but Trigs, who casually took her position.
"X5 437 will be fine. Does anyone know why she did this?" he asked coldly.
"Sir no sir," they barked.
"I think you may, and you don't want to get her in trouble, don't you X5-631."
"No sir!" barked Trigs, stepping forward.
"I know you know. He let the dog attack your partner. You've been influencing her."
"I did not tell her to attack the officer."
"DO not lie to me."
"I did not tell her to attack the officer. I said that it was not right, that he should not have done that since we were on task with out mission. X5 437 seemingly acted under my orders."
"Then you take the blame."
"Yes sir."
"Tonight, you will be punished, in front of X5 437 so that she may learn the same lesson as you."
"Yes sir!"
"Go and see her," said Lyedecker, "And X5 452."
"Yes sir?" said Max.
"Tell X5 437 of her sisters sacrifice."
"Yes sir," said Max, and the girls tromped into the room that Kiri was in. Kiri was hooked up to an IV, and was pale, but other than that she looked okay.
"Kiri," said Trigs, rushing to her sister.
"I heard. Trigs, you know he said I was dumb."
"He'll believe me. He trusts us over those officers."
"Trigs, he's gonna hurt you."
"No, he's not Kiri. He can't hurt me. I'm strong. I'm gonna get out of here someday, and I'll show him I am better than him."
"I've never been here," said Jondy, looking around.
"They've tied me up in here a few times," said Trigs, looking around. The girls watched as their sister, the adventurous Trigs, the one who always was the first in, and the last out, of any situation, opened her mouth, and began to say words, but altered the tone with every word.
"We can't afford to be innocent, Stand up and face the enemy, it's a do or die situation, we will be invincible."
"Trigs?" asked Eva, "What's that you're doing?"
"I'm singing. When I was in here before, the Janitor came in. You know the one who gave us the blue lady. He was listening to a radio, but the words on it came out in different pitches. It was wonderful. He told me it's called Music. He said it's a shame we don't have music."
"Music?" Said Jondy; "It sounds good."
"Beautiful. The word is beautiful," Trigs repeated.
"Beautiful?" said Max.
"Beautiful," said Trigs, "It's a new word."
"Where do you get all these words?" asked Eva.
"My friend."
"Who?" asked Tinga.
"I can't say."
"Trigs?"
"She told me if I told, she'll have to go away."
"Trigsie?" asked Tinga, using the name that Trigs only let Ben call her.
"No. One day, when we're in the good place, I'll tell you about it."
"Trigs, I think we should go," said Max, "Lyedecker said that we should head back after."
"Ben's going to want to go to the high place," said Kiri, "Talk to the blue lady for me?"
"I can do better," said Trigs.
"How?" asked Brin, in awe of her older sister.
"Well baby sisters," said Trigs, a glint of mischief because of them that she was the youngest, next to Brin, Max, Jondy and Krit, "I think the blue lady would like something Angelic!"
"Angelic?" asked Eva, "Trigs, your words get weirder and weirder."
"Angelic, a synonym for Beautiful. Having to do with Angels."
"What's an Angel?" asked Max.
"She's making it up," said Eva.
"No I'm not!" insisted Trigs; "Did you ever wonder what happens to people when they die?"
"They go away," said Eva.
"Where do they go?"
"To the graveyard."
"That's where their bodies go. Where does their mind go? When Zane shot Peeps, where did Peeps go? Where did her mind go? Where did her personality go?"
"I don't know," said Eva, looking bewildered at her sister.
"The good place!" said Tinga in a voice of reverence.
"Yes! Exactly! The good place, and in the good place, we're not soldiers, we're angels. Angels are like back up soldiers. They watch over you, but you can't see them. Their bodies are done, but their mind, their brain, their spirit, their soul, it goes to the good place as an angel. If something seems angelic, it's beautiful and wonderful."
"So what are you going to give the blue lady?" asked Jondy.
"A song. A piece of music I made up. It will make her happy, and she'll protect us."
"Really?" asked Kiri.
"She'll always protect us, as long as we thank her. I'm not great at talking to her, so I'll sing."
"You're so weird Trigs," said Eva as the girls left. That night, Trigs sang to the Blue Lady, and Kiri got better. From then on, Trigs sang when they went to the high place. Max always loved Trigs voice, and she had cried when they took her away.
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It was Renfro's voice that sadly brought Max back to reality. Renfro was ordering people around like a crazy woman, the tone of her voice was the same as it had been when Max tried to slit her wrists. Something was wrong. Someone was doing something bad. Max hoped and prayed it was Logan, but she knew Logan didn't stand a chance.
Renfro threw open the door to Max's cell, and slammed it back shut. It muted the sounds of screams slightly, but the sound of a neck cracking had become familiar to Max, and she recognized it instantly. Someone was in there for her.
"Which of them has red hair!" shouted a frantic soldier before the sound of a cracking neck silenced him.
"You think you're siblings are going to get you out?" asked Renfro, "No way."
"They'll get me, and kill you," she said, "For letting Zack die."
"No, they won't," she said, slamming a needle into Max's Leg.
"What are you doing?"
"If I can't have you, no one will," she said, then ducked out of the cell, "Get X5 599 and give him the drugs too!"
"X5 599?" said Max.
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"What the hell is going on?" asked Logan into the Mike as Jondy, Krit, Syl, Zane and Kiri entered the compound.
"Someone's causing a ruckus!" said Igen, sitting next to Carn.
"She's doing her job," Carn whispered to Igen.
"Syl, Brin's catching up to you!" Logan shouted.
"Escape and Evade, ESCAPE AND EVADE!" said Syl, bounding out of the way of her sister, who missed her completely.
"Max is in room 452… What the hell? That's two! Zane, Jondy, head due south. In room 599, Zack."
"Zack?" said Igen, peering into the screen.
"Are you sure?" asked Jondy.
"Yes!" said Logan.
"Where's Brin gone?" asked Lyedecker, trying frantically to figure it out.
"I've got something over the radio," said Carn, "The channel Brin is using. A girl is singing, on the roof?"
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Brin climbed up the drainpipe alone. She left her officers, because she had bigger fish to catch. She knew that someone was on the roof. Likely an X5. Maybe Kiri, or Jondy! If she caught them, Renfro would be proud of her, and then maybe she would tell Brin what a good job she's done, instead of mourning the loss of 'her' X5.
Brin walked out onto the roof, cautious of what was going on around her. Someone was on the roof. She was standing where the altar to the Blue Lady used to stand, looking sad. Her hair, long and red dangled in curls, begging to be cut back. Brin knew that she was better then the escapees, that she could take her.
"Brin," the girl said, "I knew you'd come. I knew you'd want to find me."
"I want to bring you home little sister."
"You can't. You know they'd throw me back with the Nomolies."
"No. They don't do that."
"They did it to me Brin, and I think she'll do it to you."
"No way Jondy."
"Jondy?" the girl said, amusement thick in her voice, "You think I'm Jondy now do you? I am not Jondy Brin. Jondy was always weaker than we were. We were faster, and stronger, but she chose me Brin. I was the study, and you've never forgiven me for it."
"No. You can't be. You're dead. Zack said you're dead. Corgen said you're dead."
"Zack and Corgen don't know Brin. I said I'd give you the chance to fight X5 631 one more time, for freedom, and now I offer it."
"You want to fight me?"
"No, but I know you won't let me go until I do."
"Then fight!" she shouted, kicking Trigs hard in the stomach. Trigs flew back, and landed on the corner of the building. Shaking her long curls, she straightened up, and made her small pale hands into Fists. Stepping back, she assumed the fighting stance Lyedecker had taught her so long ago.
"Brin, I don't want to hurt you!"
"You won't," Trigs answered, punching and kicking Brin as hard as she could, trying to force her sister into a wall, knowing Brin would be weak against a wall. Trigs knew her sister's weaknesses.
"Just come home."
"To be made into a drone?"
"To be made a soldier."
"No Brin. I will not!"
"Please!" said Brin, as Trigs placed one POWERFUL kick to her face, rendering her unconscious. Trigs moved up next to her sister, and knelt down in front of her.
"You have Brin's body, but we'll get her soul back."
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Syl and Krit stood in the woods outside Manticore waiting for the mysterious girl that had caused all the ruckus. They had a feeling that she was an unfriendly, so they waited. They had got Max, and Zack, but they were both sick and weak. Lyedecker said they were in trouble, that they were very sick. Syl didn't want to be there. Carn, the X2 was trying to figure out what had happened, but the disease baffled even him, an X2 trained to be a medic.
The footsteps through the woods made Krit and Syl jump, but it was the voice that let them rest. The calming, familiar voice. The voice that sang to the Blue lady every night for years. The voice that sang the same familiar song. With all of their training, all they had been through, the voice of their young, wise beyond her year's sister was what calmed them.
"A touch of reality. A heart full of Mystery. Time stand sin my way, but I won't let it conquer me," she sang, "I wish you'd try a little harder to see things in my life. Maybe then you'd see things clearer."
"You don't get the message. Should I spell it out for you? Show me you're there you me you care," whispered Syl.
"You don't get the message. Should I spell it out for you? Show me you're there you me you care," Trigs said quietly, dragging the limp body that was Brin along behind her. Her red hair was let loose, and flowed down her back, mixing with the blood from her shoulder, where she had obviously been shot again.
"Who's there?" asked Krit, taking his gun out and holding it out.
"Did you retrieve X5 599?" Trigs asked, looking straight into Krit's eyes. Her face was bloody, but she was unmistakably Trigsie.
"Trigsie…" said Syl, rushing to her sister, but Trigs stood firm and didn't even bat an eye.
"Did you retrieve X5 599?"
"Yes," said Krit, "And Max."
"X5 452. Good. Were either of them sick?"
"Yes. They're both weak."
"Renfro's poisoned them. They need blood. X5 blood. Tell Lyedecker it's the same poison she tested on X5 631."
"Trigs, what's wrong?" asked Syl.
"Take Brin with you. I just knocked her out. I have to go back."
"Trigs!" said Syl, "Why?"
"Do you remember my special friend when I was a child? The one who taught me all the stuff I understood, but you didn't. I need to go see them again."
"Are you coming to see us?"
"No. I can't. Not yet."
"Trigsie, we're your family."
"I am on the run. More than you. I am being tracked as we speak by someone who doesn't care about you, or Kiri, or any of the other X5. She wants me, and only me. If I came with you, I would be weak. I need to go see my friend. Now."
"Okay," said Krit, "Can we tell them you're alive?"
"Tell Lyedecker if Max and Zack take a turn for the worst. Renz and Carn know."
"Okay," said Krit, "As long as I get a hug. I've missed you Big sister."
"Me too little sister," said Syl. Trigs paused for a moment, then hugged Syl, then Krit.
"Now go! Take Brin. Lyedecker should be able to reprogram her."
"Fine," said Krit, taking Brin over his shoulder and dragging Syl. He took one last look at his sister, tall, thin, with long red curls. He noticed a resemblance to Eponine, the girl from the bar, but Eponine had had shorter hair, and had brown eyes. Still, the resemblance was striking. He looked back, but Trigs had gone.
"Why did you let her go?" said Syl.
"I remember her as different than us. Her family was Tinga and Ben. When she's ready, she'll come back."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I remember her well."
"Lets get Brin home."
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Trigs entered the Manticore compound a second time as quietly as the first. She slid down the halls silently, and entered the old office she used to play in as a child. She was three when she was singled out. One of the doctors thought she was special and thought she showed more promise than any of them, even X5 599.
At first her friend only talked to her, let her speak what she thought, when she thought it. Then she gave her pills, like the ones she got at meals, only these made her stronger, and smarter. Trigs found out when she was twelve that these drugs made her mind stronger and were what allowed her to resist the conditioning. It was her special friend that made her a Nomolie, and a freak.
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"So did you finish the work I gave you?" asked Trigs' friend.
"Yes Penny," Trigs said, her voice soft.
"Great," she said, "So how was your mission. Did you do well."
"Yes Ma'am. I did."
"That's great."
"And last night, we stayed up late and…" Trigs said, then stopped realizing her mistake.
"You did."
"Yes."
"I won't tell Lyedecker if you tell me what happened."
"We decided that we don't like being called X5 whatever number it is."
"What?" said Penny, "Why?"
"Because we're people," she said, drawing a picture of a truck on a piece of paper.
"So what do you want to be called?"
"We have names now Penny. We're not just the X5's. We're people, with names."
"What's X5 599's name?"
"He's Zack. X5 452 is Max. X5 743, her name is Brin. X5 656 is Tinga. X5 493 is Igen. X5 604 is Eva. X5 598 is Eva. X5 464 is Jack. X5 493 is Ben. X5 437 is Kiri."
"What about you?"
"I'm Trigs."
"Trigs?"
"Zack said I have the fastest shot out of all of us. I have a good Trigger, so I call myself Trigs."
"Interesting."
"Penny?"
"Yes Trigs."
"Can I ask you about X5 456."
"Of course."
"We called her Peeps. She died, because of that crow. Where is she now?"
"She's in the graveyard Trigs."
"No. That's her body. Where's her mind?"
"Her mind?"
"The part of her that makes her, her. The part of her that makes her different."
"Why?"
"Because I want to know. You said as long as I don't tell Lyedecker about this, I may ask you anything," Trigs said, looking up at Penny with big violet eyes, "Where did her mind go."
"Trigs, I don't know if I should be telling you this. I could be punished."
"Please Penny. I need to know."
"Trigs, this is not right. You shouldn't be asking these questions. It doesn't concern you."
"But it does Penny. I miss my sister. Peeps and I were sisters. She and I used to go up to the high place and hear Ben preach."
"Peeps is gone to heaven. It's a wonderful place, full of nothing but good."
"The good place. But her body doesn't go, so how does her mind?"
"Everyone who is different from other people has something called a soul. A soul is why everyone is different. It's what makes us people."
"Do the Nomolies have souls?"
"Yes."
"Okay," Trigs said, "Can we listen to some music now?"
"Okay," Penny said, and she wrote down quickly everything Trigs asked. She knew one day; she would be able to be the boss, if she could turn a four-year-old into a philosopher.
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Alone in the dark room, Trigs tried to find the files on Max, to figure out what Renfro had done to her. She rifled through the files, and came across something she never expected to see. It was Penny's journal. The little black book Penny had always written in when she had been talking. Trigs took the book, and continued. She found the files, and found that Zack and Max had been given a small disease. They would be weakened for up to three months. It meant that Trigs would need to guard Max and Zack while the recovered.
Renfro walked into the office as Trigs got to the window.
"I knew you'd come back," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"I can't believe you're here. You are not worthy of this place."
"I go here because I am the best, X5 631."
"You were nothing when I was here."
"You just don't remember me. Read that journal. I knew you'd find it."
"This belongs to Penny, a doctor who saved my life."
"And made you into the Nomolie you are."
"How do you know?"
"I was once a go getting doctor. I know what Penny did to you. She regrets it.
"Why?"
"Because Penny started at this place as a birthmother. She gave birth to two of the X5's. A little girl and a little boy. Both showed promise. One was X5 599. He turned out to be a wonderful leader."
"The other turned out to be Nomolie. She was a disappointment. Penny hates her now. She's willing to forgive X5 631 if she comes back and forgets about being Trigs."
"She wouldn't want me back."
"You're right. She wants you dead. You were the one who started the rebellion. At four years old, you wanted to know about philosophy and art and beauty, things X5's weren't supposed to be told about."
"I was a person. I wanted to know about what normal people thought about."
"You were the first to realize you were more than a soldier."
"All the drugs Penny gave me did that."
"You were a Nomolie."
"You don't understand. She gave me life. She made me what I am today. I'm not like the other X5's. I don't hate Manticore. Manticore gave me so much. It gave me life. It gave me the skills I need to survive."
"Then come home."
"It didn't give me a home."
"It could, if you were reprogrammed."
"You know you can't reprogram me," Trigs said, sitting on the edge of the desk, looking almost comfortable around the woman who murdered Tinga. On Renfro's desk, beneath all the clutter, was a small framed Portrait of a young soldier wearing fatigues, holding a backpack, looking up at the camera.
"Sadly, I do know," said Renfro, "But you don't have to be reprogrammed. You could just come work here. I could give you assignments undercover."
"And then you would sick the X7's on me."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
"Why'd you take Brin."
"She doesn't belong here. I know what you're doing to her."
"Do you Trigsie?"
"Don't call me that. It's Trigs."
"Really. I figured you would have picked a new name by now."
"I've used many. Eponine, Anna, Kerry. I switch whenever I need to."
"And how often have you needed too?"
"In nine years, you have never found the city I've been in till I'm long gone."
"This is the closest we've been in years."
"Except when I got Kiri."
"And stabbed me."
"You were a threat. You threatened me. I may reprogram myself, but I remember the important stuff."
"I guess Lyedecker trained you well."
"He did."
"That's why I never found you until now."
"You know I have a weakness. Everyone does."
"You're fellow X5's."
"My family."
"If you love them so much, why have you left them behind."
"Can't have you tracking them through me, now can I?"
"Guess not."
"I don't want to have to kill you Trigs."
"No ones making you kill me. I'm on file as dead."
"I won't have to if you leave the other X5's alone."
"They're my family."
"Trigs."
"Listen, I am not the little angel you once knew. I'm different. I'm an adult now. I'm not the same child you had thrown to the Nomolies."
"Please, I don't want to hurt you."
"I damn well want to hurt you."
"I know you do."
"You know I found Ben about six months ago."
"X5 493 eh?"
"No! His name was Ben. He died, and it was your fault. You knew he was not right."
"I put your number in the paper to ask you to help us get him."
"You could have done more."
"No. I tried."
"Fine. But with Tinga. You killed Tinga."
"I thought it would draw you out."
"So you kill my sister? Geez, you don't know me, do you. You want me, and you get Max and Zack."
"You're here, aren't you?"
"Not for long. I should just kill you know and get out of here."
"Will you?"
"I won't kill you. I can't. You know it."
"You were a perfect specimen."
"I'm gone now. Maybe when I come back for Corgen, we can have another little heart to heart."
"Trigs, we need you."
"And I need you like I need a seizure."
"Please."
"Don't think you can talk to me like you did when I was a child. Things are different now. I'm grown up, and I have a life."
"With that X2, Carn, I think his name is?"
"Carn, and Renz."
"You have a relationship with Carn."
"He helps me when I'm in heat."
"You ever think about other men?"
"Why are you asking me these things?"
"Why are you listening to me?"
"Because it's what I used to do."
"Because unlike every other Manticore drone, you were always my favourite X5."
"I have to go."
"I'll get you someday."
"And then I'll slit my throat."
"Don't Trigs."
"Give me a head start. Give me a chance to get away."
"You have six months. Then I bring on the X7's."
"You don't like them."
"How do you know?"
"Cause you wouldn't send them against me, cause I'd kill them."
"Good luck Trigs."
"No need for Luck, Penny."
OHHHHHH!! Big revalation!!! Thanks to the peeps who've reviewed so far. This may be the last Chapter. I'm going to start a second story, focusing on Max, Zack, Zane and Jondy in Seattle. Trigs will be in it! (YEA!)
I don't own Dark Angel, nor anything affiliated. I owe X5 631 and Igen and Carn and Renz and Kiri.