Chapter 6: Sadie
by: Mochaije
Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or its characters. Other than that, the story and characters are mine. No spoilers included because my story took such a left turn from the show's real theme.
Summary: Virus bitch goin' down! After "Medium is the Message".
Rating: PG 13
A/N: Chill guys, it's gonna be M/L soon enough... This chapter is in the third person, by the way. Asha isn't going to die (she gets a little storyline in a bit though) and none of this is based on anything except up to and including Medium is the Message and my imagination. :)
Hailey walked home the next morning after an uncomfortable night on Joshua's couch. It was before daybreak when she got home, so she quietly went into her room, slipped on a pair of pyjama pants, mussed her hair a little bit so it looked like bedhead, and crawled under the covers of her too-big double-sized bed. No one had noticed she was even gone, she guessed; she'd told Logan at about nine that she was going to bed, and he went down soon after--odd, he was the stay-up-and-mess-around-with-the-computer type. So she made her move at about ten, and nobody had a clue.
Except Joshua. Talkative Joshua. She got out of bed, realized she was still wearing the leather jacket from her closet and took it off, then went into the foyer. It felt wierd being here, this wasn't her home. Hailey pained momentarily for her parents, but shook it off. Crying wasn't going to bring them back. They were dead because they hadn't killed her, because someone like her sent someone else out on a suicide mission in bad weather to destroy them.
Hailey's body guided itself around the kitchen, turning on the kettle and grabbing the hot chocolate mix. She needed caffeine, but she hated coffee. "I'm one of them," she said out loud, her voice more reassuring than her thoughts. "I'm a normal."
But, she wasn't a normal. Until about half an hour ago, she'd been wearing Max's jacket and talking to Joshua, and that just added to the fact that normality wasn't her birthright. It was safer around them, they didn't know her secret so it didn't affect the way they thought about her. Being around Max was less awkward than being around Logan and that friend of his... Asha? Yeah, that's what she was called. Which was odd, because Max didn't much like her.
Hailey's lack of sleep hit her like an anvil and she grabbed the jar of instant coffee and poured some into her mug, tapping her fingers on the counter impatiently. Damn, she hated it here. Nice pad and all, but these people were still strangers to her. Mentally, she went through a list of good friends that had moved off the Florida panhandle.
Eric... New York, second grade. Daphne moved to Canada just before the Pulse. And her best friend, Mercedes--Sadie for short--had moved all the way across the country to Seattle last year... Hailey sprung from her spot at the kettle to Logan's small bookcase, tearing it apart, looking for a recent phone book. Biology, Guinness... Ugh, that was getting her no where fast. Finally, a phone book unearthed itself. Bummer, it only covers Sectors five through eight... Fuck,. Sadie's parents hadn't been well off before the Pulse, and their financial status hit rock bottom shortly after.
Sadie had always been a little odd. For some reason, her hockey career was so demanding that she had to practise every day, after school, for two hours. And when Hailey questioned her lack of equipment at the house, she'd just get a random, hurried response that her gorgeous equipment didn't belong in a dump like her small bungalo in Kissimee. Or that she was having it dry-cleaned.
On one of her usual weekend stay-overs, Hailey found something almost... Disturbing. Her friend had always been extremely touchy when the subject of her basement came up, and she had to know why. So, while they were there alone many Saturdays ago, she ventured downstairs. Fighting equipment everywhere. Something resembling a broom stick, the kind of thing you saw the kid in the "be everything you can be" commercials using. Not to mention the fact that her basement was almost three stories high, with a few raised platforms here and there. A sword, guns. Various other items most people didn't keep in their basement. And a huge image on the far wall, a lion with a scorpion tail.
She knew now what that was, but she hadn't known then. Sadie had found the basement door swung wide open, her friend, complete her jaw hitting the floor, gazing at the arena she'd found. Naturally, Hailey was booted out of her house for good, and she told her mother about the whole thing. She'd listened apphrehensively, as if she had something to tell her daughter and couldn't quite get it off her tongue.
Sadie wasn't at school that Monday, or the day after. A quick phone call to her house confirmed that the line had been disconnected, and a visit showed a boarded-up, looted bungalow with no signs of life. For a few days after it was investigated by Kissimee police, but the investigation was soon shut down and the entire place was knocked down. And all Hailey knew was that her friend had moved to Seattle, and that it was all her fault... Judging from the letter she'd gotten, anyway.
At last, she hit paydirt. The only McPhee family in all of Sectors five through eight. She tore out the page, ran to her room to dress quickly and brush her hair, and then ran back out, quickly writing a note saying that she'd gone to visit a friend that moved to Seattle, then left. She had a foot in the elevator when she realized that she'd left her caffeinated concoction on the counter, so she went back, dumped it, and made another elevator run.
"Hailey, where are you going?" Her face burned when Max poked her head around the elevator door. So much for an easy escape to find a friend how might have real answers for her on what she was. A Manticore symbol on the wall and fighting equipment? She was either something like Max or something like Hailey.
"I'm going to Sadie's," I explained, trying to push past her. "She moved to Seattle last year." I handed her the torn phone book sheet. "She's under McPhee."
"Fine," she said after a moment. "I'll give you a ride."
-----
Hailey almost felt nauseous after the motorcycle ride. Max lived life on the edge, especially when it came to riding. Wheelies, almost hitting your knees on the pavement when she turned... It was betetr than any rollercoaster ride. She straightened her hair out a bit and looked at the mansion that loomed over her. What did Sadie's folks do, win the lottery? Politely, she rang the doorbell and waited.
The door swung wide, revealing a pretty woman who was probably a little older than Logan. A hyper sixteen-year-old girl poked out from behind her, a frown replacing her frequent smile.
"Hailey," Sadie breathed. Her mother sighed and walked further into the house, the kitchen presumably. "Come back to ruin my life again?"
"N-no," she stuttered. "I wanted to ask you something... What are you?" The expression on Sadie's face went from pissed off to worried, and she almost slammed the door in her old friend's face, but Hailey forced it open. "I'm like you, I think," Hailey grunted through the strain. They both let go and Sadie invited Hailey in.
"When you found my basement... My life was over. All it does is rain here." She sighed, leading Hailey to the kitchen, where an elaborate brunch was set up. She turned to her mother. "Remember Hailey? I think she has something to share with the group."
Hailey did a quick scan of who was there. A blonde woman and a man in a casual suit with a bull-dog-like face who frowned at her when she entered. Sadie's father, and her step-mother--her mom had been tragically killed just after Sadie was born. "Um, hi, I'm Hailey." The person siting next to her stood up to introduce himself.
"White, Ames White." He had a hard, creepy "I know where you live" type of voice. But he smiled and that took the edge off, so Hailey shook his hand.
"You're one of them."
"One of what? What am I?"
"One of White's ilk. Which doesn't make any sense because Logan isn't."
"It makes sense. When the third child of one of them is female, they find a male for her to mate with... I'm guessing she didn't know."
"But I'm her firstborn... She was eighteen, after all. And who is White?"
"Which makes me wonder if that accident your folks were in was an accident. White tried to kill his wife when she wouldn't let his son go... Maybe they do the same thing when you don't kill your first two bambinos."
The memory of her conversation with Max and Logan sent her reeling, and she had to grab a nearby shelf to keep herself upright. White was the big bad. "I just remembered, I've got a dentist appointment."
"That can wait," Sadie insisted. "I invited you in for brunch and you're staying."
