Chapter 13: Too Late and Too Bad
by: Mochaije
Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine.
Summary: Non-transgens have been turned into Post-Its! Run for your lives!
Rating: PG 13
The sun hit her face and it dawned on her that she was alone. Fully clothed and alone. She remembered last night clearly; she had told him that she wanted to take the whole relationship thing slower, and she and Scott had ended up talking about the years they'd missed together and falling asleep. That was nice. Except for the fact that she was now sharing a bed with a Post-It note with the name "Scott" on it.
"Oh my God," she breathed, picking up paper. "Scott, what have they done to you?" She stared blankly at the paper and it would not respond. Shoving him into her pocket, Max ran into the main room, grabbed her coat, and thundered down the stairs, passing a a Post-It note by the laundry room. Gingerly, she picked it up and held it in her hand and read the name. "Anaïs. Pretty." She pulled Scott out of her pocket and stuck him to Anaïs, then carefully placed the two in her coat pocket, then continued to the parking lot.
Max's POV
I snap awake and look at the pillow beside me. A Post-It.
Max,
Went to get bus tickets. Decided to go as a civilian. I'll call you when I get the tickets. Dunno what to put at the end of this.
Like,
Scott.
I smile at the "Like". Not sure about "love", but definitely not a cold "sincerely". Dressing quickly and going into the living room, the answering machine answering machine beeping at me, the PLAY button bends to my mental wishes with a faint beep, then Scott's voice. "Hey, Max. Getting a bus to Gilette at noon. Number six-three-five. I've got word on a hostage though, gonna go check that out before we go. See ya." The realization hit me that the late bus time gave me a few hours to go over to Logan's and hack into Manticore, get Scott, Ben, and Ima's files. Have to know who they are.
My beautiful black beauty awaits me just outside Scott's building. Huh, I thought it was at Logan. It revvs when I flick my wrists, burns rubber when I gun it out of the lot and down the street to Logan's. I lose myself in the bike's loud hum, in the squealing tires when I turn the corner. Foggle Towers looms ahead and I bump up my speed.
"Chill, Ima." I burst through the front door, replacing the pick in my pocket. "Logan around?" I get a firm headshake from her before she runs back into the kitchen. The computer practically screamed my name, Manticore's files wanting me to hack them. I stalk off to the computer room and sit down at the computer, logging in.
Welcome to the Eyes Only Informant Net.
Broadcast (b)
Eyes Only Files (e)
Manticore SeattleNet (s)
Eyes Only Informants (i)
Regular Computer (c)
Log Off (l)
HackerNet (h)
Choose One:
I look at the Manticore SeattleNet option, alarmed. What the hell is that? I select it, and a nice-looking screen is shown, with the Manticore symbol on top, and the pictures of escaped X5s below it, a list of names to the left and updates to the right. I study the photos--myself, Zack, Jace, Brin, Tinga, possibly Jondy, and Scott. The last four sport small checkmarks in the corners of their photos, and the others said "WANTED".
My eyes dart to the name list, going down until I hit one i recognize. The last year and a half of my life flashes before my eyes. Breaking into this penthouse while Logan broadcasted his Eyes Only stuff. Me in this very apartment when my seizures were horrible after Cindy flushed my Trytopan. The car and the cabin. Waking up here after being a Red. Taking Logan out on my bike, kissing him ten feet away from where I now sit, going up on the needle with him, sleeping with him, dying in his arms. Seeing him and Asha together... Before that, I trusted him. Maybe even loved him, even after he lied to me about her. The non-existant friendship we had when we broke up. Everything I ever felt about him turned into fear, distrust, and pure hate as I read the line on the screen.
Logan Cale: Voluntary Operative
I click on his name another nice-looking screen shows up, with a short description about how he is Eyes Only and is telling on me and my siblings to buy himself birthdays. I almost burst into tears. I trusted him--he made sure Manticore knew where we were. A few names are on the side: mine, Ima's, Ben's, Asha's, Scott's, Zack's, Jondy's, Jace's, Tinga's. It also says he's been an operative since September, 2020.
A month before he met me...
The door opens then, I hear it but I can barely see it through the glass panes that Logan's set up through his apartment. It's a stranger, I don't recognize the gait--no, it's Logan. I shut down his operative page and turned off the monitor, whirling in my seat to face him.
"Whatcha doin'?" He asks in a normal tone, not his usual soft-spoken one. I pop the desk drawer open telekinetically and grab the gun, standing up slowly, keeping it trained on Logan. He backs off, hands up defensively. "What the hell?"
"Been squealin' on us, huh? Since September or so, it seems," I tell him sternly, advancing on him a little bit. I can't believe I'm even doing this--threatening to shoot Logan. Manticore's gonna have my ass on a plate for this.
"Don't know what you're talking about, Max," Logan says, still slowly backing away. "Squealing to who?"
"To Manticore," I practically spit. We're almost at the window. If I shot him now, he'd freefall from twenty-six stories up. The phone cuts through the tension and I run over and grab it. "Hello?"
"Logan's in a sewer tied to a chair. He says.. He says that you guy found Lydecker here once." It's Scott.
"Yeah, guess what, Logan's been telling Manticore where we've been--"
"Just get--"
"Yeah, I'll be there in a--" A knife plunges into my back and a firm hand grabs my arm, and I drop the phone, trying to get out of his hold. He's too strong... Muttering something... And I can hear Scott's voice on the phone a few feet from me, yelling my name as I struggle for air and the world fades to black, and a loud crashing noise interrupts...
Logan's POV
I watch Scott yell Max's name into the phone, knowing what he's going through, wishing she'd hold on. I guess that's the mistake I made--falling in love with her, worrying when I gave Manticore her location so they could get her. Giving Manticore her location. I wriggle in my bonds and realize that Scott doesn't know that I've been snitching on him to save my own ass.
"Scott, are you gonna let me go, right?" He stops yelling and ends the conversation, give me a look.
"Yeah right, you dumb fuck. Snitch much?" Crap, he knows... "This wouldn't be happening if you had just kept your trap shut."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I tell him evenly.
"What I'm talking about," he paces nervously, "is that some man is probably fucking choking Max in your apartment and faking being you because you gave Manticore her location and yours. She could be dead right now. Don't you get it? I.. I won't let that happen. And I'll make sure the person responsible dies a much more painful death than she's going to." He stops pacing, looking me right in the eye. "I care about her. And don't you say you do, because if you did, you wouldn't have arranged her death."
"You think I had a choice? It was either that or die!" The volume of my voice competes with his. "Now let me go, and we'll sort this all out."
"No, I will. Who did they send after her?" Scott's impatient as hell now, I'd better just tell him...
"I think... There was a breeding program going on since about 10,000 B.C. This guy is invincible and whole lot stronger than you."
"I'm telekinetic, remember? I can just make his heart stop beating. Can't live for long without that." He races off back down the sewer then, leaving me tied to chair.
Ima's POV
I hoist Max up a bit from her sprawled position on the floor, large butcher knife stuck in her back. I'm no doctor, but I know that it's better to leave that in there until a professional can deal with it. Placing her on the floor softly amid the glass, I run to the phone, trying to go over the events of the last ten minutes calmly in my head. Logan got home, went into the computer room with Max, a small shriek, and then a crash, then Max on the floor in a pool of blood. I never, ever thought he'd do that.
I pound the 9 button, and then the 1 button twice, carefully explaining what happened. When the operator asks for a physician, I remember something abotu a Doc Carr and tell her to get him and no one but him. She says okay in a cheerful tone and then tells me that the ambulance and police are on the way, and to not disturb Max's body, just make sure she keeps breathing. I hang up and go back over to her.
She looks small, and innocent on the floor, knife still lodged. I squat down beside her head, pressing my fingers to her neck, smiling when my fingertips feel her strong heartbeat. I hold my hand an inch or so from her mouth and feel her unstable breathing, then back away when I realize what's going to happen no. She's probably going to die, or end up in Manticore's hands. I rush to the broken window and look around for Logan. No where to be seen. No splat or anything. That perturbs me a bit and I go back to Max, holding my fingers to her neck, whispering for her to please, please hold on...
The door bursts open and I quickly take the gun out of my jacket, inching over to the glass pane near Logan's computer, carefully turn my head so I can see the figure just beyond it. Scott manages a weak smile, relieved that someone's here, and then runs over to Max.
"Did you call the paramedics?" He asks worriedly, checking her pulse. I replace my gun and sigh a yes. "What... What happened?"
"Logan came home and... And he stabbed her in the back and then jumped out the window, I--"
"Logan's tied to a chair in a sewer, Ima," he says, giving me a frantic glance.
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN PREVIEW: KARMA
"No, I want him to through at least half the pain my siblings did." His voice sounds worse, like he's feeling sick to his stomach about this. "If it wasn't for him, Tinga would be alive, Max would be okay, Brin would be too... Do it before I change my mind." I hang up and pull a Swiss Army Knife from my pocket and walk over to Logan. He looks worriedly at it as I put a hand on his forehead and flick the knife open.
"W-w-what the hell are you doing?" He struggles in his bonds but I hold him fast.
"Proving that Karma's a bitch. Whatever you do hits you back three fold, in case you didn't know. Close your eyes." I bite my lip, wanting to put more malice behind those words than I did. A single tear runs down my cheek...
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AUTHOR NOTE
I wrote this almost ten times, trying to get it right. Originally Scott betrayed them but that looked a little obvious, so I decided to do this instead. How do you guys like the twist?
