James Cameron and Charles Eglee own Dark Angel. My use is in no way meant to challenge their copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned (or any other) copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons (either real or fictional) is unintended.

Epilogue

Another night, another drug deal, Honor thought as she looked down into the alley below her. From what she had heard, this was a small-time operation run by two college chemistry students. I don't know why they couldn't just go to the financial aid office like everyone else.

There were four men below – the two students and two buyers. Honor knew that none of them had the slightest idea that their transaction was about to be rudely interrupted. She jumped down and went to work quickly, knocking both buyers and one of the students unconscious before centering her attention on the fourth man. "Hello, Frankie," she growled. "I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me where your lab is," Honor threatened. "If you don't give me what I want, I'm going to hurt you."

"It's in a garage across town," the boy confessed immediately. Max smelled the sickly sweet stench of urine, and realized that her prey had wet his pants. I can't believe I actually thought I had to kill these guys in order to inspire fear, she thought with amusement. "The address is at 411 Allen St."

"Thank you," Honor replied. "Your cooperation will be noted." She pinched a nerve at the base of the boy's skull and a moment later he collapsed to the ground, temporarily unconscious. Then she went to work duct-taping the hands behind the backs of each of her four victims, and then taped their ankles together. With a flick of her wrist she then produced a cell-phone, and she immediately dialed the number of the nearest stationhouse.

"Seattle police," a man at the other end of the line said in a bored voice.

"Hello, this is Honor," she replied quickly, hoping that tracing the number was truly as difficult as Logan had assured her it was. "I want to speak to the duty officer."

"Come again?" the man replied.

"I have a special delivery for the Seattle Police Department," Honor replied. "In the alley on the north side of Market, between ninth and tenth," she said. "You'll also want to investigate a garage located at 411 Allen St. You got all that?"

"Uh, yeah," the man replied at the other end of the line. Without saying another word, Max ended the call and scaled the wall of an adjacent building, then moved a safe distance away to make certain that the police arrived to collect the package she had prepared. It took them only four minutes to arrive. In today's times, I think that's probably a record, she thought wryly. With business done, Max decided to go back to one of her favorite old places in order to enjoy her city.

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Once atop the Space Needle, Max could hardly ignore the sensation she was feeling. For the past year, every time she had looked down at Seattle she had seen only the worst of it, thinking of the city as a crime-ridden cesspool that would likely never achieve the heights it had once known, before the Pulse, when law and order meant more than some of the best re-runs on syndicated television. Now, however, Max could see a glimmer of something, a reflection of the same sense of hope that she kept deep within herself. In only a short time she had gone from package courier, to criminal vigilante, to honorable, crime-fighting crusader. If a product of Manticore engineering could undergo such a complete metamorphosis, then it was also possible for Seattle to eventually get its act together. Honor would help, and Max couldn't imagine anything getting in her way.

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In her secure penthouse apartment across town, Himiko Minamoto also looked down on Seattle, though she saw a very different scene. In her eyes, the city was completely ripe and hers for the taking. She had taken a great chance in maneuvering Justice to eliminate Ricardo Rico. The attack had given her the opportunity to descend on both of her enemies at once, while they were occupied with each other, and had allowed her to successfully eliminate both her competition and her opposition in one fell swoop. All that remained to stop The Spider was one more Manticore fallout, a young woman that called herself Honor. I'll get to her eventually, Himiko decided, though she was in no rush. It would take at least a year to fully consolidate her power to the degree she wanted. Then, if this vigilante still lives, I'll show her that there's no place for Honor on the streets.

Fin

Author's Final Note: Well, that's it for this little trilogy. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any comments or criticisms, please feel free to post them here or contact me.