Disclaimer: Dark Angel and it's characters do not belong to me. I do not use them for personal financial gain, only for my own and others' online entertainment. Please do not reproduce this work in anyway without my permission, since the new characters and plot are mine. If you would like this story for an archive or other online source, please email me for permission prior to posting.

Cruel Twists of Fate
2020


Feeling like a failure, Lori re-entered her spacious Seattle condo. She had gone to the hospital to find the Tryptophan and had only retreived a beeper. She threw her coat and briefcase onto the living room sofa, sighing with agitation.

"Lori! Hey! Is that you?" She heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, then RX peeked around the corner. "Hey! How'd it go?"

Lori frowned at him. "Not good. Somebody 'misplaced' the Tryptophan."

RX nodded knowingly. "Uh huh, I'll believe that one when there's peace in the middle east. So, the trip to the hospital was a bust?"

"Not entirely. The nurse did give me this." She tossed RX the beeper. "Looks like Max is pretty popular. She's gotten quite a few messages in the past twenty-four hours. Can you do anything with that?"

"Hmmm...." RX turned it over in his hands thoughtfully. "Are you kidding me?! I was arrested at eleven for hacking into government computers. 'Can you do anything with that?' I'm hurt, Lori. Really, I am. I can *do* just about anything you want with this. I could teach it to say Hamlet's sililoquy backwards in Yiddish if you wanted me to."

Lori couldn't help but smile at the teen. "Well, then, I want to know who's been beeping her. Somebody seems to be pretty preoccupied with contacting Max. I'd like to know who it is."

"No problem." He smiled confidently. "Give me an hour and half." He turned back towards the stairwell and paused. "Oh yeah, almost forgot." RX spun towards Lori. With a broad grin on his boyish face, he crossed the living room, took her hand, and deposited three pills in it. "I thought you might want these."

Lori's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you...Where did these..."

RX grinned maliciously. "They were in her pocket. My guess....she wanted a few of her pills nearby if she needed them. I don't think The Man thought to look in her pockets...or he didn't have a chance. Either way, their yours now. Go do that voodoo which you do so well. And, don't ever say I never do anything for you."

"RX, I could kiss you." Lori laughed, holding the pills in her hand as if they were precious gems.

The teenager shook his head. "If you really want to thank me, get that fox downstairs to kiss me. Oof!" He was assualted with a sofa cushion thrown at his head. "I'll settle for a hug." He yelled back as he dashed down the stairs to avoid being stoned by pillows.

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He was gone. Completely erased from the folds of his brain were the memories, the feelings. He was what he had been designed for, a soldier. Their program had worked, he was now fully operational. His first test was simple, kill the person who had once meant the world to him. His allegiance must be tested. He would not fail.


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Lori wandered back to her bedroom to begin a mad hunt for the impossible. She would be lucky if she still had it. She'd be even luckier if it still worked. She pulled box after box out of her closet, dumping the contents onto her bed and groaning with dismay when they provided nothing but keepsakes and crap.

A gasp of shock issued from her throat as a pale blue pill bottle tumbled onto the bedspread. With a shaking hand, she picked it up. She should have thrown this away years ago. It was too painful to think about.

Lori's blood ran cold. She couldn't help but wonder if RX's paranoia was spreading, but she still had to know. She shook three of the pills into her hand and put them in a container with the Tryptophan. She'd soon find out whether her depression had been spurred on by fate or by man.

"Lori?" RX knocked on her bedroom door. "I have those results you wanted. Sorry it took me so long."

Lori looked up. Had it been over an hour already? "That's all right. I'll be there in a minute." She shoved the junk back into boxes and hurried out to meet her ward. "What do you have for me, little buddy?"

RX flinched. "Well, little darlin', it appears the person who's been a-tryin' to contact this here school marm is one Mr. Logan Cale." He informed using his best John Wayne.

Lori would have played along, but the name caught her off guard. "Logan Cale?" She asked with slight disbelief.

"Yep. Why? You know him or something?"

"Sort of. I guess the world is smaller than I thought." She laughed. "Can you call him for me please?"

RX frowned. "We're bringing him in on this, too? I thought it was just us. We don't really need some spoiled rich kid."

"RX, Max is his friend. He's obviously been worried about her. If something like that had happened to me wouldn't you want to know about it?"

"I guess." He agreed grudgingly. "So, what do I tell him?"

Lori frowned. "Tell him if wants to find out where his friend is, he should be at the abandoned Space Needle at 8 am tomorrow...alone. If anyone else is there, he doesn't learn a thing about Max."

"Sure thing, 'Mam." He saluted. "Why tomorrow?"

"I want to have something more to tell him. Right now, I don't know a damn thing."

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Logan's nerves were frayed to the breaking point. There was no sign of Max anywhere! No hospital records, police files, nothing. He'd called his Eyes Only contacts. Even they were at a loss.

If Max was in a hospital with doctors there would be no telling what might happen. Any one of them could spill information to Manticore. And, they couldn't possibly know about the Tryptophan.

The phone rang. Logan jumped than reached for it. Maybe it would be Max. "Hello."

"This Logan Cale?"

"Who wants to know?" He asked in a guarded tone.

The person on the other end of the phone snorted. "Well, Max for one."

Logan stiffened. "What do you know about Max?"

"Oh, lots of things. I knew she was a friend of yours didn't I? You've sure been beepin' her a lot lately."

Logan's brow furrowed. "How old are you?"

A pause. "Age is not important. I'll tell you what is...That friend of yours is real sick. I think havin' a friend around might help. Who knows! If you want information about her you should be at the Space Needle at 8 tomorrow morning. Come alone or not at all. There's nothing more to say." The phone line clicked.

Logan was perplexed. He might have considered the call a prank, but there were too many factors. They knew his name, Max's name, more than they should. Who had Max? Manticore? Would they call him? Would they try to lure him out? Maybe, Zack? No, definitely not him. Zack wouldn't voluntarily bring Logan in on anything.

Although he wasn't happy about the prospect, if Logan wanted to find out who Max's supposed benefactor was, he was going to have to meet them on their terms.


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Lori opened one of the capsules and put the powder down a tiny tube. Luck had been on her side today, the key the chemistry professor had given her years ago still worked. They hadn't changed the locks since she'd been there as a student.

She watched with interest as the Mass Spectrometer did its job. After a few moments, the paper at the end revealed what she had expected. Tryptophan, and something else. She worked for hours, bending over tests and printouts. Finally, after what seemed like a decade of work, she identified the substance.

It was with a heavy heart that she placed the contents of the pills from her closet into the Mass Spectrometer. Did she really want to know what was in them? As the machine whirred to life, she realized that she *had* to know. She couldn't live another day without that one tragedy from her past revealed to her. Tapping her foot expectantly, she waited. The paper shot out of the end and proved to her what she had feared. The sorrow was overwhelming. "The bastard! How could he?" She sobbed.


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Lori stepped out into the darkness of the night. It reminded her of once long ago. A chill ran down her spine, causing the small hairs on her arms to stand at attention. She took a few steps and bristled. She could feel the eyes upon her. Somewhere in the darkness a man was waiting.

She was gripped by a feeling of deja vu so intense it required inhuman courage not to turn tail and run back in the building. She rumagged in her purse for a moment, pulling out a small syringe in a plastic case. *He'd* insisted that she carry it for protection the day he'd left. This would be the first time she'd ever used it.

The same sound. A muffled footstep behind her. She took a deep breath and awaited the coming scrimmage. The arm wrapped around her neck, squeezing with a vicelike intensity. She kept the syringe in front of her where he could not see the object. Then, as quickly as she could, she slammed the syringe into the man's arm.

He dropped to the pavement, his face burried in the tar.

"Teach you to try and mug me! It's called Paralzyne. Well, this is more like a generic, I created it in my lab at home. You see, the motor neurons in the muscles of your body are now incapable of communication. The axon bulbs and receptors have been blocked by a rather interesting chemical compound. So, you can't move." She smiled, kicking his leg angrily. "Of course, you can feel just fine, the sensory neurons are intact." She bent down, placing her hands upon his arm. "I don't want you to suffocate now do I? Of course not. I want you to wake up and tell all your little friends about the chick with the magic serum. Next time, I'll OD you on it." Then, she spotted the barcode...230045483316. She stood up quickly, backing away from the body.

Lori stared in confusion. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, her breathing was now a more than conscious effort, and each heartbeat felt like her last. "No." She whispered silently. "No, it can't..." Lori could see the familiar number clearly. She knew what it meant. With intense fear, she bent down to flip the body over. A moan issued from her throat.

His eyes stared into hers, the brown orbs void of emotion.

She met his gaze. "My God!" Her mind spun. 'It worked, didn't it? I can't believe it. Can I make you remember, or are the memories gone? There's no way of knowing is there? How?' She brought her hand up to touch the collar of her lab coat. Burrowing her fingers beneath the linen, she could still feel the scar on her neck. She sighed. "It would have been better if you'd been dead." She whispered as she walked away.

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He'd caught a glimpse of the scar beneath the collar of her coat. Somewhere deep within his mind, the memory stirred.

It was a dark night, outside this very building. He'd been waiting. For what? Oh, yes, the girl. She was rich, he could surmise that much from her wardrobe. It would be easy to mug her. He might be able to live off the contents of her purse for months.

The door had opened, and she stepped out into the awaiting night. Before he could doubt himself, he attacked her. His arm wrapped around her neck and squeezed as he pulled the switchknife from his pocket. He'd managed to slice her neck several inches before she wiggled in his arms. She'd turned herself enough for her eyes to meet his. He'd dropped the knife, loosened his grip on the girl.

What was that? She'd looked at him so strangly. It hadn't been fear or anger which he had seen in her gaze. It was something else. Pity, forgiveness. He placed her gently on the ground below. He would have been punished for behavior like this in battle, but he couldn't kill her, not now. She didn't deserve it. He brushed her hair from her face and knelt down until his mouth was near her ear. "I'm sorry." He whispered, and disappeared into the night.

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"I'm sorry." He whispered through his haze.

Lydecker gritted his teeth angrily. "Why is he apologizing?! What is he apologizing for?" He turned to one of the men beside him. "I thought you said the program worked! He isn't supposed to remember anything!"

"He didn't, Sir. The medication and the treatments are too strong. I don't know what that was about..."

"I don't want to hear 'I don't know's! Take him back and make sure this doesn't happen again!"

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