Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or it's characters.
Copyright: I own Viper so please ask me if you wish to use him.
Escapes Thoughts
Max was led from her room at gunpoint and since she really didn't feel like getting herself killed at the moment especially since Zack had died for her she went quietly which she could tell surprised the men. They led her down halls and through doors that she hadn't even known existed.
Max was led through one room that had weapons strung all over the walls and some out of date weapons were in a corner such as a sword and a bow with a quiver of arrows that looked as if they were made of aluminum. She noted all this and filed it under her memory for later use. She felt that if she did get a chance to escape she would need weapons and this seemed to be one of the places where she could get what she needed.
Another room held tubes and there were men and women in the room wearing lab coats of pure white which Max thought ironic since the people were anything but innocent. They had tampered with mother nature and had created things that the world had no need of. It also seemed as if they were trying to improve upon the X-7's for later use in a war or some such.
Max wished that she could just get rid of the entire place but she knew that was impossible and so she would content herself with what she and her friends had accomplished the night that she had been shot and captured. They had saved many a person from what had been done to them and that was something that she was proud of.
She didn't hate herself like she figured many normal people would think that she should. She was who she was and there was nothing that could change that. She was a person though a person with a few extreme abilities that allowed her to fight better and other such things. Of course those abilities of hers had been used for the sole purpose of getting money from people.
Her mind was pulled back to the present and where she was when she heard a grunt of pain. She noticed that she was in a new room now. The room had red walls that were undecorated. There were machines placed throughout the room that were hooked up to a couple machines in the middle of the room. Strapped to one of the machines was one of the X-7 boys. He was in tremendous pain but he never cried out all he did was grunt. His grunting was the only sign that the pain even affected him.
Standing in the room was the Director with a smile on her face. She looked over to Max and said pleasantly, "It is such a pleasure to see you again Max. I take it that the man I sent was to your satisfaction in the bed?"
Max was taken aback. She hadn't even thought that the Director would be the one that the man would have run to in order to send her a man for her little ruse. The Director had outsmarted Max it seemed but Max felt that it would be best to play her part through and Max felt that she was a decent actress. "Oh he was very satisfactory I must say. He could go nonstop for quite a while. He pleased me very well," Max said with slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
The Director just looked at Max and said, "I am glad but that is not why you are here. Oh no you are here for another reason. If you are to be a part of the team then we need to see how much pain you can take. We need to see just how much torture you can take before you give in to anything that a enemy who captures you wants."
"Oh come now I don't think that is right. I mean I am not much of a team player and all. I think it would be best if I just went back to my room," Max said a bit nervous but she didn't let it show.
"Release the boy," the Director said as she gestured to two men who stepped forward and unstrapped the boy from the table that he was laying on. "Now put her on that table and Max," she said as she looked at Max, "Don't try anything unless you want to end up like Zack."
Max let herself be led to the table and she allowed herself to be strapped down and they then took off her shirt so that she was wearing nothing but her undershirt. They didn't want the pull over shirt on her since in would dampen the effect of the machine. "Now start it up," the director said and a man sitting at a machine reached over and turned a button on.
The machine hummed to life and Max felt electricity surge through her body and then she felt water being thrown on her which made it worse. She tried no tot scream and she succeeded for a short time but then the pain got to her and she couldn't help herself. If felt as if her skin was on fire and she couldn't take it anymore.
The men tried other tortures on her and she was fast starting to lose her mind she felt. All there was that she felt and thought was pain. And that was only in half a hour. She knew that they wouldn't be through with her for quite a while and she was scared for the first time a quite a while.
* * * * *
Viper was sitting in his room with the guard outside when he heard a knock at his door. He had no idea who it would be but the smell was that of Max. He wondered about that since it was obvious that they didn't want him around her anymore. Viper went to his door and opened it expecting to find a dead guard with Max standing outside his door. He was a bit surprised at what was standing at his door though.
Standing outside his door was a girl who was no older than twelve with short hair and a face that would one day grow to look like Max's. The younger version of Max just stood in the doorway waiting like a good soldier to be given permission to enter. She followed orders better than any of the other students even though the Max he knew didn't.
Viper noticed that the guard that he figured would be dead was in fact only knocked out. He shook his head with a slight smile on his face and said, "You might as well come in since you shall be punished for being here anyway."
She walked into the room and he noted how fluid her movements were. They were the movements of a warrior who was always waiting for trouble. The girl walked over and stood next to the bed and said, "Thank you for letting me enter. May I have a seat?"
"By all means," Viper said as he gestured for her to sit down. He was taken by surprise because he had never heard any of the X-7's talk. Now there was one in his room that was talking just like any other person would be. She was breaking orders and he knew that she would be in trouble if anyone found out.
The young Max sat down and looked at Viper. She was impressed by him more so than she was with the X-7 leader Zack. Zack was good but the young Max liked Viper because he didn't follow orders without question. Zack followed without question and the young Max hated following orders since sometimes it was best not to in order to save themselves.
The young Max wasn't sure what her name was though. The only one who had been given a name was their leader Zack so that they knew who was in charge. It was a way to keep them in line without having them have an identity. The girl wished that she knew what her name was.
That wasn't the reason that she was there though. She was there because her older self was in trouble. She had seen Max taken down to the torture room where they tested the limits of them. They tested the limits of their pain tolerance and the girl hated it when they did it to her. She could only imagine what it must be like for Max since she wasn't a X-7.
"What is the problem," Viper asked as he sat down next to her.
The girl looked up at him and Viper could have sworn that he saw sadness in her eyes as she looked at him. "It is that Max is in trouble Viper," she said.
"What do you mean she is in trouble," Viper asked.
"I saw her taken to the torture room where they will test her pain tolerance," the girl said.
Viper looked at her and slowly stood up. "The director is starting to test me to the point of breaking. Thank you Ariel," Viper said as he headed for the door.
"Ariel," the girl asked as he neared the door.
Viper stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder at her. "Yes Ariel that is your name. I broke into the files one time long ago and memorized everyone's name and certain other details. I thank you for the information and as such I will give you your name back since they took it from you," Viper said and then he stalked out of the room.
He was surprised to see that one of the X-7's had compassion. He wasn't surprised to see that it was Ariel though. She was just like Max everything about her except her name. He decided that they could make the X-7's better but they couldn't take away the basic human instincts of them. Especially when it came to Max she was one who had always wanted something different and he started to think that he might just help Ariel out of the place when he helped Max escape.
He smiled to himself because he knew that he had decided that he was going to get Max out of there because she didn't belong there. She belonged where she was with that man Logan and with her friends. Viper was going to make sure that Max got out of the place without being hurt more than she already has been.
He headed downstairs where he knew that the torture room was. He had been there before and after they had found out that he didn't scream in pain it had taken all of the fun out of it for them and they had never taken him back. That had been when he was twelve. He knew his way there yet though and he headed straight there.
As he turned a corner he heard a scream and knew that they had started in on Max. The scream sent shivers up his spine because it was a scream of pure and utter pain with nothing else. He knew that they must have been doing something to her that not even she could endure and he knew that if she was screaming then it would be life threatening to her.
He picked up his pace as her screams echoed down the halls and followed him everywhere as if mocking him saying that there was no way that he could help her because he was too slow and too weak. He ran harder and harder and rounded a corner and collided with two men who were wearing the uniforms of the Director's personal guards. They fell back and he just kept on running as they shouted at him to stop.
Viper couldn't stop though Max's screams wouldn't stop and they were in his head now urging him on and telling him to not stop for anything. On he ran and he knew that he was drawing close since the screams were so loud now that they set his sensitive ears to ringing.
Viper burst into a room that he remembered from when he had been taken to the torture room. It had guns and other weapons lining the walls though none of them would actually work since he had tried that day and found out the hard way that they were all nothing but replicas of the actual guns. He had grabbed one and turned on the men escorting him who had laughed at him as he had pulled the trigger and nothing had happened. The men had come forward then and hit him in the head with the butts of their guns.
Viper saw the door that he needed and ran to it and turned the latch. It was locked but the door was only steel and he could break it off it's hinges in he hit it hard enough with his body. He stepped back across the room. Another scream cut through the air and nearly sent Viper to his knees it held such anguish and terror. He hoped that he didn't shatter his shoulder when he hit the door and instead the door gave under his impact. Viper cracked his knuckles then and his eyes hardened as he charged forward.
* * * * *
Max screamed again and this time she was scared. She thought that they were going to kill her and even though she would never admit it death scared her just like it did most people. Her body was on fire from being electrified again and again. They had done that for more than ten minutes and then they had moved her to the machine that she was on currently.
It was a table where she was strapped down but there was a laser above her. It was used to cut her in strips but never too deep. They didn't want her to scar or anything so bad but the pain that the laser inflicted was more than anything she had ever felt. It was made for nothing but pain she could tell since it burned the flesh as it cut. They couldn't leave the burns alone though and had to put salt on them and her cuts. She was near unconsciousness now.
Her eyes were drooping but she fought to stay awake. She wouldn't give the Director anything to be happy about. Her throat was raw from screaming and yet still she was screaming. Her body was so sore she didn't know if it would ever heal or if she would just die from the pain. That was when she heard a loud SMASH!!
* * * * *
The Director was enjoying herself immensely. Whenever she was in a bad mood she always came here and it cheered her up to see others in pain. Many felt that she was sadistic but that wasn't it. First of all it was good for them all to learn pain tolerance and secondly it was nice to hear a scream since it meant that they were alive.
She watched as Max neared unconsciousness and noticed that she fought to stay awake. She had to commend Max since not many could have taken what she had taken because the machines were set to near death level for the X-7 kids. Max should have been dead by now but she fought tooth and nail and it was nice to see that she was worth saving that day. Of course it was a waste of Zack when he killed himself but that couldn't be helped and so she made due with what she had.
Just as she was about to give the signal to increase the laser another degree the door burst open flying off it's hinges and taking one of the guards who had been standing in front of it out. The door hit him and his head caved in from the metal and without turning around the Director knew who it was.
* * * * *
"YOU WILL STOP THIS NOW DIRECTOR," Viper yelled as he stepped into the room and over the corpse of the man who had been unlucky enough to be in front of the door when he had knocked it down. Viper looked around and saw that the guards were so nervous that some of them had wet themselves. The Director was looking at him calmly and Max was strapped to a table.
"Why should we do that," The Director asked calmly as she gazed at Viper with a hint of contempt in her eyes. "You are to follow orders and I order you out of this room. Leave now!"
"No," Viper said simply as he walked over to the table where Max was and started to undo the shackles that held her in place. He started at her feet and was having a hard time with the metal.
"I gave you an order and you are refusing it do you know what that means. It means that I can have you killed for disobediance," the Director nearly yelled at him as she stepped forward.
"What did you think that you were doing to Max Director. The machines are set on death level for anyone in this building but me. You see youa re a fool and nearly killed Max here. If you wanted her alive then you would have been sorely disappointed if this had continued another three minutes. She would have been dead in that time from the shock to her body," Viper said hoping to reason with the Director.
She stepped in close and slapped him in the face and yelled, "Leave her there for she isn't done. We need more readings."
"If you need more then use me huh," Viper hissed as he reached down and yanked the metal clamps from table and Max was free that quick. The Director stepped back because he had never used that tone of voice with her and she knew that he was dangerous at that moment because he was very angry.
"I am taking her with me and I will tend to her wounds. If you need to find her then she will be in my room now if you have nothing else for me I will be leaving with my charge," Viper said as he gingerly picked Max up in his arms. He set her head against his chest so that it didn't flop around and cause her more damage. She was bleeding bad and he knew that he had to stop the bleeding which he would do when he made it back to his room.
He headed out the door and Max snuggled in closer to his chest though she was unconscious and couldn't have known what she was doing. It made Viper nervous but he didn't stop to ponder over it. He had a life to save and he would do it even if it meant that he had to give his life up.
The Director watched him go and hated him all the more. Damn him! Why did he always have to ruin everything for her. She was having so much fun and then he had to show up and then he took the girl! He just took her! How dare he when she was a prisoner. Well she would get even with him oh yes she would. She had been meaning to teach him his place for quite a while now and she finally had a reason to now. She smiled as Viper carried the little tramp out of the room.