Chapter 9

Authors Note: All right! Chapter 10! YAY! I am…however…having a minor problem…people are reading this and not reviewing………..I haven't gotten a single review since chap 3…and it hurts my feelings…I don't want to be one of those stupid people who says they ain't gonna publish chapters until they get a certain number of reviews, but I think that getting reviews motivates me to write more. So please, review for god sakes! It makes me feel special.

I don't own dark angel, just the few demented characters that popped out of my weird little mind.

Cree sat beside the simple slab that acted as a bed for Finn. It had been two days since Cree had gone ballistic and stabbed his brother. Two days since the truth came out that, in fact, Adam was NOT dead. And if she was, it was not because of Cree.

The knife that Cree had stabbed Finn with was sitting by the bedside, fresh blood gleaming on it's hilt. Cree, still feeling numb, had found the only thing he could do was feel pain. The physical pain made the mental stuff go away. The scars on his arms from the other times he cut himself were slowly being replaced by fresh, deeper cuts.

The fact that Adam was alive should have comforted Cree, but it didn't. Instead, the guilt of killing 583 was worse. Adam…He could convince himself that Adam was reckless and was in a better place. 583 never knew freedom, never knew the love and joy Adam did. She died too young.

Far worse were the doubts of Adam's feelings. She had told him she loved him, but he began to wonder. Why give the stuff to Finn instead of him. Why did she help Dragon in the sewers and still not show herself to him. Why did Frankie and Trigs seem to know something he didn't.

He thought back to the days they were together. He screwed up so much, and yet she still was there for him. On a good day, Cree was somber, moody, and threatening. On a bad day he was violent. Adam was a strong girl, but sometimes even she couldn't stop him. Bruises were explained away by claiming violent X7's to the others, and falls to the supervisors. No one knew how bad he was until the very end.

Except for Finn.

*+*+*

"Damn it Adam," said Cree, "That is not part of the plan."

"I know," said Adam, "But if I can get the code without having to blow up the building we can save lives and keep our cover."

"Our mission is to get the information and blow the place."

"That was what we were ordered, yes," said Adam, "But the colonel said that if we could do this without leaving a trace…"

"And becoming friends with the boss isn't leaving a trace."

"I still say we blow up the place, but we do it with a few people inside. We can make them think it was us."

"Right!" said Cree, "But that leaves a MAJOR flaw. How are you gonna get close enough to the boss to get those codes for the info."

"I…" said Adam, "Cree…"

"What?" said Cree, "How?"

"I…I almost had them today," said Adam, "I was so close."

"How?" asked Cree.

"I had a drink with Craig. He said…that he saw my talent with people and wanted me up with him…He wanted me for the VP."

"He offered you a promotion?"

"Yeah."

"Wow," said Cree, "Great. How'd you pull that off?"

"I did what I had to," said Adam, watching as the door to the apartment opened and in walked Finn.

"Hey," said Cree, smiling, "Guess what?"

"Adam," said Finn, his face grave, "Is it true?"

"What?" said Cree.

"Tell me you didn't."

"She didn't what?" said Cree, looking at Adam. The look of shame on her face was tainted with a look of guilt.

"She…"

"I did what I had to," said Adam, "I was ordered to try reconnaissance before you brought out the ammo. I was trying to gain his trust."

"You….You slept with him?"

"Yeah," said Adam, "He's in love with me."

"He can't be," said Cree.

"Leave him alone," said Adam, her tone full of anger.

"I will do what I want," said Cree, grabbing his coat, "And he has compromised you Adam. He fooled you. He's not in love with you, he knows about you. Why else would he say he loves you? I'm the only one who could love you."

"Leave him ALONE!" said Adam, "You're compromising us."

"This is for the mission."

` "Is it Cree, or is it that maybe that you're scared. Maybe you're scared to lose me. Maybe you do…"

"Love you? Nah. I like you, and you love me, but HE, that JERK doesn't love you."

"He does," said Adam, "I can see it in his mind."

"No," said Cree, grabbing Adam by the arm and pulling her close, "He doesn't. He's trying to convince you that you're more than just a soldier. But you are a soldier Adam."

"You're hurting me Cree."

"Tell me you'll stay here."

"Cree…please."

"NOW 584," said Cree.

"Stop it Cree, said Finn, pulling his hand free of Adam's arm.

"Don't get into this soldier," said Cree.

"She did what she had to," said Finn, "She didn't do anything wrong. Trust her Cree."

"Fine," he said, leaning down and picking up a trembling Adam, "You ever go near him again I'll make you sorry."

"I did what I was supposed to…"

THAWP

The sound of Cree's hand connecting with the side of Adam's head was deafening. Finn watching in horror as his sister cringed away, her head trickling a little blood from the impact of Cree's ring.

"Fuck off Cree!" shouted Finn, pushing Cree out the door, struggling against the larger man. Cree left the apartment, but not before Finn lifted his keys out of his pocket so he couldn't get back in. Once he was out, Finn ran back to his sister, hoping she was okay.

"Finn," said Adam, "Cree's going to be mad."

"Cree can fuck himself," said Finn, "Cree should not ever hit you."

"He loves me."

"He does not. Nobody would love someone and do that to him."

"Cree does. And he'll realize it some day."

"Like hell he will," said Finn, gathering up his shaking sister and taking her into his room. He realized that being alone in a room where Cree could have abused her was not a good idea. He sat her down on his bed and smoothed the blond hair that hung all over her face back.

"He will…"

"He doesn't love you, but I do."

"You?? I thought you were…"

"Gay? Yeah, but I still love you, just not like that. Adam you're one hell of a friend. One day you'll realize it."

"I didn't mean to sleep with him…It…It was an accident."

"Accident?"

"Heat," she said, her blue eyes staring into his, having the look of Innocence, but also the passion.

"Damn," said Finn, "You…okay now?"

"No," she said, "And I am not feeling so good."

"Adam…You know what can happen is you don't go through with it."

"It's just a rumor."

"That X5 got really sick."

"No," said Adam, gripping the blankets.

"If you and him….well…you know…Why aren't you better."

"Some guys," said Adam, "Don't know how to…please….a woman."

"Shit…" said Finn, "we could get you someone off the street. Damn Adam, you are good looking…"

"Shut up," she said, grabbing Finn and kissing him. Finn, realizing his sister was out of her mind, reached his hand around and caressed the back of her neck. He knew the next morning that Cree would be mad, and Adam would be ashamed, but he didn't care. He loved his sister, and letting her do what she wanted would keep her safe.

*+*+*

Cree had been mad, but Adam wasn't ashamed. She told Cree that it was her choice. That moment, when he saw her standing up for herself, he fell for her. He fell for the little girl with long blond hair and clear blue eyes.

It wasn't a fairytale for Adam. One day Cree didn't just stop hitting her, but he tried. Sometimes he even cried. He knew he shouldn't, but the feeling of power was intoxicating.

"Ugh," moaned Finn. Cree looked to him, hoping he would open his eyes, but he just groaned and rolled his head. Cree reached over and squeezed Finn's hand before getting up.

He had killed two people within a month. One he thought was his lover, the other was his brother. Trigs couldn't understand, Dragon would just sit there, Adam was nowhere to be found, and Frankie would probably suggest he kill something.

He got up and went to find Max.

*+*+*

"So you're saying there's a connection between me, Adam and the breeding cult," said Max to Trigs.

"Yeah," she said, "You explained to me what happened during the hostage situation."

"About me knowing they were coming?"

"Think back to when Adam was a child. Didn't she zone out for a minute then tell us to get the hell out of places that weren't safe."

"Yeah," said Max, "She saved my ass on more than a few occasions."

"Not just you," said Trigs, "All of us. She's gifted, and so are you. You KNEW they were coming just like Adam KNOWS that there are bad guys out to get her and her powers."

"It's all so weird."

"Not so," said Trigs, "I'm a doctor, I know a Transhuman when I see one."

"I'm not a Transhuman," said Max.

"Wanna Bet?" said Trigs, leaning forward and poking Max in the shoulder hard.

"No," said Max, "No…"

"Wanna know HOW I know?" she said smiling her little evil smile.

"Sure," said Max.

"You don't sleep," said Trigs, "They never found a way to make Transgenics able to go without sleep. Fish DNA only works in Transhumans."

"So Jondy is one too?"

"Yeah," said Trigs, "Adam don't sleep either."

"She did."

"Never," said Trigs, "Not once. She meditated. She relaxed. Sometimes she even dreamed, but sleep? Not my dear Adam."

"You guys all seem so close," said Max, "You talk about each other so much."

"You gotta understand Max," said Trigs, who suddenly stopped and sighed, "I shouldn't be saying this. I ain't the one."

"Please," said Max, "You're not what?"

"The one whose good with explained all the stuff they did to us. We had nothing. Half our family was gone, run away. And we suffered. We all have scars, and we all have issues. You gotta understand that. We went through a hell you'll never understand."

"I was separated from my family."

"Some guard took Dragon away from the rest of us one night. Told him to bend over and slapped him when he cried out. Then guard raped him."

"Damn."

"The things they did to Adam to test out her powers were bad too. They used X7's. The told her they were going to do something horrible to one of them. If she was able to tell them in detail what they were going to do, the kid lived. If not, Adam had to watch as they did the things to them."

"Shit."

"Frankie was used as testing ground for some of the new torture Techniques, as was Cree. Those two came out unable to speak and constantly shaking."

"I didn't…"

"Finn was made executioner. He killed innocent people. Children who couldn't make the grade were slaughtered. Finn did them all in with a single bullet to the back of the skull."

"Trigs…"

"And me. They put me back in solitary confinement for almost a year. I didn't speak to anyone for six months after. It took Frankie and Cree holding me down while Adam used her weird little mind to reach out to me to bring me back Max."

"Trigs," said Max.

"Maxie!" said a voice. Out of the back of the room stormed Cree, his dark glasses glinting in the artificial light, "Max we need to talk."

"Cree?' said Trigs, "How's Finn."

"Out cold," said Cree, "How 'bout it Max. Can we talk."

"Talk away," said Trigs.

"Trigs…" growled Cree, "I don't need you right now."

"Backing off," she said, "You seen my babe?"

"Your child."

"No," said Trigs, "I was never much of a mother. I think one of the transhumans has taken him in. I need to talk to Frank."

"I saw her outside Finn's room," said Cree, and with that Trigs left.

"So what's up?" said Max, "Why have you only now started talking to me."

"I need you're help," he said, "And as much as I would like to forget you exist, you're the only one who can understand my pain."

"Wait a minute," said Max, "You want me to disappear, and yet help you?"

"Max.." he said, "Unlike most of the X5's, I don't hate you. I just…It's painful to think of the person I became after you guys ran. I changed for the worst."

"Cree," said Max.

"No, stop, I gotta whole speech I wanted to say."

"Sorry."

"S'Okay. So I changed for the worst, and now I got a chance to make things right, to fight the good fight and help my fellow Trannies. I owe it to the one I love."

"Adam…"

"She's up to something, and I can't be with her. I had her, and never knew how much she meant to me."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You wanna know about her face."

"The one time I saw her, she had a scar on her face."

"A vertical line down her face, almost cutting her eye?"

"Yeah…Did you?"

"I did. She made me mad and I went after her with a very large knife. That was when they found that I had a little problem."

"Problem?"

"Can we go somewhere a little more private Max?"

"Yeah," she said, getting up and following Finn out of the room carefully, recalling what Gem had told her.

"Watch out for him Max," she had said, "Cree is bad news. I saw what he did to 584. Nearly killed her, she lost so much blood. They said the problem was medical, but I think they were just trying to make us think that so they could use him on a suicide mission."

"Here," he said, sitting down in an abandoned corner of the large building the common room was in where a small dinner of fresh vegetables and some canned meat.

"You made dinner."

"I made food," said Cree, "I figured you should get something for listening to my hair brained rants and schemes. You always liked this kind of meat. It's that steak stuff they shoved down our throats back at good ol'Manticore. You loved the stuff."

"I don't remember this."

"I do," said Cree, sitting down on the floor and picking up his plate, "We were out in the field training. This was what we had to eat. You wouldn't touch it, so Tinga had to beg you to eat, that was, until Frankie got sick of it…"

"And shoved it down my throat," said Max, "I do remember. I liked it. It was different. I tried to find it on the outside."

"It's tough item to come across," said Cree, "I found two cases of the stuff. I learned to love it."

"Nice," said Max, picking up her plate of food.

"So what do you want to hear first, WHY I tried to kill my darling Adam, or what I'm gunna do to help her."

"Help her?" said Max, "But you tried…"

"I was not…in my right mind. You know the saying 'There is no such thing as a normal X5'?"

"No."

"Well you should. We're all a little different. I happened to end up with the problem. Member when we were young and I'd go all mental."

"Adam would hide under her bed."

"It got worse as I got older. Turned out something in my brain wasn't right and I was all violent because of it."

"Did they fix it?"

"Not before the little knife incident with Adam."

"And now?"

"I can flood my system so full of hormones that I could shoot myself in the balls and not feel it, but I can control it now."

"So the others know?"

"No…I was in the recovery room when we ran. They didn't know. They don't know. They think I'm the same insane guy who cut Adam. She knows though, Adam always knows these things. She can see into your soul."

"Soul?" said Max.

"Yeah," said Cree, "We're human, we have souls too. Some of us have tarnished souls, but they are there."

"Cree…" said Max.

"What?" he said, "What the fuck did I saw wrong now. You look like I fucking just told you I raped that cripple boyfriend of yours."

"Sorry…" said Max, "Anyone ever tell you that you seem a little split."

"All the fucking time," said Cree, downing a glass of water.

"Just checking."