Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or it's characters.
Copyright: I own Viper so ask if you wish to use him.
Author's note: I have missed a lot of the episodes so don't get too mad if some of this doesn't fit please. Also I have used name director for the woman who was in the season finale episode. This takes place a while after that episode so please be kind and Review since it will help with the story.
A Unexpected friend
Max awoke in her bed in the hellhole that had become her life. She was still a prisoner and she knew that they wouldn't ever be lax again and that her chance of escape was feeble indeed. She really wanted to get away for she needed to let Logan know that she was fine and not dead like she knew that he thought. Of course she should be dead she knew that but her friend and older brother Zack had given his life for hers and she would always remember that and always cherish her memories of him.
Max got up out of bed and put on her cloths and sat back down on the bed. She knew that the man who she had started to refer to as Clod would be showing up shortly. She had started to call him that because he moved like a Clod. He was slow and yet deliberate in his movements though she knew that she could beat him in a fight with ease. He was just too slow and clumsy. Being clumsy was the reason that he was so slow and deliberate in his movements.
Sure enough after about five minutes he showed up and was carrying her breakfast with him like he did every day. They never let her out of her cell to eat with the others, the X-7's as the kids were referred to that were clones of the original X-5's. Max thought it ironic that she had escaped and when she had come back to destroy the place it was her younger self that had shot her and allowed her to be captured.
Clod put down her food on the dresser that was in her room as they called it. She still saw it as a prison since the window had bars on it so that she couldn't crawl out. She went to that window now and pulled the curtains back. She had been told that she had been given the best room that the place had to offer but she didn't believe it. The room had more of a made up feel to it and she didn't like that at all.
Max looked out the window and saw that the sun had just crested the walls of the place and had painted everything with its yellow light. Max liked sundown better than sunup because sundown meant that she could go places and be herself. Night was her time and that was when she felt more comfortable at least when she was doing her thieving. She loved her day job and the friends that went along with it.
She wondered about that as she closed the curtains and went over to her dresser and sat down to eat. She hoped that she still had her day job if she ever got out of this damn place. She also hoped that her friends didn't give up on her and decide that she had moved or something. Those were her thoughts while she ate her breakfast and waited for the men to come and take her to her practice.
She finished her breakfast and about five minutes after that the men came that had their guns for protection though they wouldn't protect them if she really had wanted to hurt them. Max was led out of her room like every day with the men following her with their guns pointed at her back. She had to smile because she could get away from these men but the compound had the X-7's and she didn't know if she could get away from them.
Max was led down to the enclosed yard where the X-7's were being trained. She had taken to training with them because the director woman had insisted. She had said that Max had become lax and that training with the others would help her get back to being where she was supposed to be.
Max wondered about that. She wondered if it was to be back in shape and her knowledge up to date on the new guns or if it was to train her to be obedient. She was guessing the latter. Of course no matter what they did to her she wouldn't ever forget who she was and that there was a life outside of this place. She would return to that life she vowed it to herself.
As the men led her to the yard she saw a man down there that she had never seen down there before. She wondered who he was and so asked over her shoulder, "Who is the guy down in the yard."
"Which one," the man on her left said in a clipped tone of voice. She knew that he was a soldier and wasn't supposed to be talking to her but she didn't really care. He didn't have to talk if he didn't want to. As she looked closer though she noticed that there was another man off to the side away from everyone and in the shadows. She wondered who he was as well.
"Who is the guy talking to the director," Max said referring to the woman who had taken over the place. She didn't care what her name was and was determined not to use it unless she absolutely had to. Max decided that the woman would be known as the director and that was what a lot of the other people called the woman.
"That man is a buyer for one of the X-7's I believe of course the fool doesn't realize that he will never leave this place alive. The director won't sell until they are done training them. So she can't let the man leave with his life," the man who had answered her before said a bit more warmly this time. Max wondered if she tried her feminine wiles on him if she could make him help her escape but then she dismissed the thought. She knew that no matter what she was basically stuck here because of the X-7's.
"Who is the other man in the shadows," she asked hoping to keep him talking. By now they were in the yard and the man in the shadows had turned his head to look at them but his face was shrouded in shadow. She couldn't see his face and it was making her wonder about him.
"That man is known simply as Viper. No one knows his real name and no one really cares," the man said as they stopped. She knew then that the men were just supposed to watch her and make sure she didn't try to escape like that was going to happen with a yard full of X-7's.
Viper she mused to herself. She knew that she was allowed to do whatever she wanted to here in the yard which included talking to whomever happened to be in the yard at the time. She decided to walk over to Viper and see if he would talk to him or if he was trained like the X-7's to not talk to her. She knew that it was going to be a long captivity unless she found a way to make a friend or two.
As she neared him he stepped out of the shadows toward her and she couldn't believe what she was looking at. The man was large and extremely well muscled. He stood six feet and three inches tall. He had to weigh around two hundred and twenty pounds which made him lean and not overly muscled to cut down on his speed. His hair was long and white hanging down to just past his shoulders. His hair was loose which made her wonder about him. If the hair got in his eyes then he could be killed with ease. His eyes were a startling shade of purple a color that she thought humans couldn't get. His eyes were what drew the eye to his face which was quite handsome she decided. The man stepped in front of her and smiled.
"You must be one the famous X-5's that I have heard so much about," the man said and Max shifted her feet a bit uncomfortable.
"Please don't call me that. Call me by my name if you want to address me," Max said rather firmly.
The man bowed to her and said, "I am sorry my lady I was wrong. You must be Max am I right?"
She had never seen a man bow to her before but she didn't think that anyone remembered how to be chivalrous. She was a bit taken aback by what he said. How could he know her name unless he was told but she didn't really care how he knew what she cared about was that he was sorry and she could tell that he was. He was sincere when he had said that. She wondered if she could make him a friend or not and she wondered if he was member of one of the teams or what he was.
"How did you know my name," Max asked when she had just told herself that she wouldn't ask that.
"I make it a point of mine to know everything that goes on in this place. I also know how you were captured and who it was that shot you and where. I know that Zack gave you his heart which was a noble thing. I also know that you wish that you weren't here and that you want a friend," the man said to her in a voice low enough that only they could hear over the clamor of practice with guns.
She couldn't believe that he knew all that or if he was just guessing about some of it. She had told no one that she had wanted a friend and yet he knew it. She looked at him and said with a smile, "So are you an X-7 or what."
He flinched as if she had just hit him. She wondered what that was for but didn't say a word about it. He said in a cool voice, "I am not an X-7 or even an X-5. I am my own weapon. I was called Viper the day that you and the rest of them ran away. I was no older than any of you and yet they told me to hunt all of you down and find you. I did I found you Max and I found Zack and yet I didn't report either of you. I had seen how happy you were just being free and so I felt that I couldn't take that happiness from you. I returned here without any of you and I was punished. I was beat unconscious many times and I was stripped of everything that made me human. I had no contact with other people for more than two years. I was stripped of my name and given the name of Viper."
Max was sorry that she had said that and so she said hoping to make it right, "I am sorry Viper. I wish that I knew your name so that I could call you by it. I would like to get to know you if you would allow it. I am so alone here and I am starting to not like it."
He smiled at her and said, "The loneliness will never go away. The only time that it might is if you find yourself a man who fills a void within you. I will never find a woman who will do that I am sure of that. But I will tell you what I would be happy to be your friend and if they punish me for it then I know that I am doing something right."
Max smiled at him and shook his hand as he left. As he was heading across the yard he was attacked by a group of three X-7's. She didn't recognize them which meant that they were new and not clones of her class.
"What's going on," Max demanded of the men who were watching her.
"He is being attacked," said one of them.
"I can see that but why you moron," she said hoping that Viper wasn't as dense as these two were.
"Because the X-7's were told that the day that they bested him in combat then they were ready to leave the compound. It seems that at least once a week he has to fight off a group of them," said one of her guardians. She hated the two men because they didn't really explain anything and so she just decided to watch and see if she could learn anything.
Viper just stood there and waited for them. He had known that they were there and had known that they were going to attack him for the simple fact that they were tired of this place as well as Max was. The first boy came running in rather fast and threw a punch for Viper's stomach which he took. The kid was tough but Viper was tougher and it didn't even make him flinch. Viper reached down fast and grabbed the kid and hit him in the head knocking him out with one punch. While Viper had been dealing with that kid one had snuck up behind him and kicked him in the back of the knee. Viper fell to his knees and as the kid did a roundhouse kick for his head he ducked under it and did a sweep kick of his own which brought the kid tumbling to the ground. As he was laying on the ground Viper stood up slowly and that gave the kid plenty of time to get to his feet. The kid backed off though and didn't attack again. Next came a girl and she punched for Viper who just stood there and took punch after punch. Max was wondering about it and then it hit her. He wouldn't ever hit a woman she knew that he would rather die than hit a woman or girl. It was part of that being chivilrous thing that he was. She shook her head and knew that that was going to be his death one day.
After a time the girl got tired of hitting him and backed off. Viper reached down and picked up the first kid that he had knocked unconscious and walked over to the director woman. He dropped him at her feet and hissed, "You need to teach them better if you ever want them to best me. The rules still stand though no guns."
Viper walked off then not looking back. He didn't care about anyone behind him and yet he was starting to wonder if he didn't want to leave this place. He wondered that if he was given the chance if he wouldn't leave as well. He honestly didn't know because being here in the compound was the only life that he had ever known.
Max had been stunned with the ease with which he had beaten the kids. The fight had been so fast that it had almost taken no time at all. The punches and the kicks had flown so fast that it was hard to track them with the eye. She knew though that Viper was an amazing fighter at that moment and she knew that she needed to get him on her side. She needed to get him to help her get out of this damn place.
There was one thing that was bothering her though and so she walked up to the blonde haired director woman and said, "Why didn't they use guns if they wanted to beat him?"
"So you decided to talk to me finally huh. Well it is only right after I had your life saved. We could have let you die but we didn't," the woman said off handedly while she gazed down at the unconscious boy.
"That didn't answer my question," Max persisted in that way that she had.
"Oh they could have used their guns but they want to be sold and if they had used their guns that would have broken the rules. You see if they want to be sold then they have to best him in hand to hand combat which will prove just how dangerous they are. Anyone can kill a person with a gun but to kill with your bare hands is a true skill. I honestly don't know if anyone can beat Viper anymore with Zack dead," she said as she shook her head and walked away from Max.
Max decided that she should do some exercises and so she worked out for most of the day with the X-7's. She noted that they were faster and stronger than she was but that she had the combat experience where they lacked that. It would be what saved her life one day if she ever had to fight them.
After that she was lead back to her room and another night of being alone. It was that night that she cooked up a plan that she hoped would work. She thought that if she told them that she was in heat then they would send her some man with his gun which she could easily overcome and take his weapons. After that because they would think that she was still in her room with the man she would sneak out and try to find that Viper and talk him into helping her out.
As she woke up in the morning she waited for the man who brought her breakfast. She smiled wickedly as he opened the door and she slid up close to him and rubbed herself up against him. "I need you now. I need a man now," she purred.
The man looked uncomfortable and he tried to move away but she just sidled up a little closer. "What is your problem," he asked nervous as his eyes darted this way and that and his heart beat faster and faster which Max could feel.
"I need you to make love to me now. I am in heat you fool didn't they tell you about me and a side effect of some of what they did to me," she purred again to him as she batted her eyelashes at him.
He backed out of the room and ran down the hall after locking the door. He burst into the room where his commanding officer was playing poker with some other officers. His commanding officer stood up from the table and yelled at him, "What the hell is wrong with you private!"
"It is the girl that we captured. She says that she needs a man sir and that she is in heat sir," the private said as he saluted and stood at attention.
"Well I should tell the director then," the commanding officer said as he took his leave of the poker table but not before taking his winnings and grabbing his cigar.
Ralin walked into the director's office after being announced and explained the situation to her. She sat there looking at him and smiled savagely. "Well if she truly is in heat then we have to send her a man or it will drive her crazy. I have studied that part of the female files," she said.
"Yes ma'am but who should we send to her. I really don't want to send any of my men and I think that it should be someone that she can't easily handle in case she wants to try to escape," Ralin said in a respectful tone of voice for he was talking to someone who outranked him.
"Yes you are right and I had been thinking about who to send to her when this happened. I was thinking about sending her one of the X-7 boys but they are still too young and she would want someone who will satisfy her I believe. That and I want to see if she can breed. If she can then that would be amazing," she said musingly.
"Who do you have in mind," Ralin asked.
"I was thinking that the only person that she couldn't overcome is Viper. He would be perfect because she couldn't control him or any such thing. He would do what he was told and that would be the end of it where most human men will allow themselves to be persuaded to help her because she had giver herself to them. Men are fools and women know that and it is what Max is counting on," she said as she smiled. "Send her Viper and we shall see if he even knows what to do with a woman."