Chapter 37: Hostile Takeover
Author's note: Thanks everyone for your positive support! I have decided that I will do the web site, it's kind of cheesy right now but it will improve with time. The site is: www.angelfire.com/clone/synthera/darkangel.html
Okay now on with the show!
~!~!~!
Max and Vin came out of the bathroom looking much happier and very satisfied. Lexa suspected it had to do with the noises and cries of "Oh Vin!" coming from the bathroom. She and Alec shared a secret smile, both of them remembering their first days.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Max asked.
"Food. I'm starving." Lexa said.
"I could definitely get down with that." Max declared.
"Then it's settled. Where to?" Lexa replied.
"How about Lucky's?"
"What kind of food?" Lexa asked warily.
"Mostly Chinese."
"Sounds good."
"Uh, ladies?" Alec said sarcastically waving his hands in the air. "What about us? Maybe we don't want to eat."
"And maybe you want to sleep by yourselves tonight huh?" Lexa asked sweetly.
"I'm really hungry." Vin said quickly. He elbowed Alec in the side.
"Me too." Alec agreed.
"Thought so." Lexa said. She turned to Max. "We'll meet you there. I rode with Alec here."
"Okay, Alec knows the way." She asked Vin "Can I ride with you?"
"Sure." He said shrugging.
The group walked downstairs together. As the girls climbed on behind them, Alec and Vin shared a smirk.
"Ah, the life." Alec said right before Lexa pinched him.
~!~!~!
At Lucky's.
Lexa had to shake her head. It had taken over twenty minutes to make their order due to the fact their waiter was extremely hard of hearing. Alec's hand slid to her lap taking one of her hands and intertwining their fingers. They were sitting in a both that had bright orange "leather" seats.
She looked at Max who was sitting in front of her and thought about how much she had changed over the last few days. Gone was the tragic expression that clouded her face most of the time, it had been replaced with a genuine smile. She seemed to be more at home with herself also. Lexa suspected that it had to do in large part with the fact she wasn't trying to play "human" all the time.
So many things have changed lately. She had her family back and they were happy together. Maybe they weren't safe but at least they had each other. If what she suspected was true their family might be expanding soon.
"What are you thinking about?" Alec asked quietly in her ear.
"You, us." She said just as quietly as he had.
"What about us?" He whispered again.
"Hey no secrets at the table." Vin scolded.
"Sorry." Came Lexa's reply. The smile that graced her face though showed she was anything but sorry.
"What were you talking about?" Vin asked.
Alec turned to her very interested. His eyebrows were raised as he tried to read her face and discern what she was thinking.
"Just about how happy I am to have all of us together." Lexa said
"I'm glad too." Alec said hugging her.
"Hey I just thought of something. You are my sister and he's my brother and you are sleeping together. How weird is that?" Lexa asked.
Max turned to Vin and kissed him. "Not at all."
~!~!~!
Outside.
"Base, team alpha over." A figure in black said into a walkie-talkie.
"Alpha go ahead." Came the reply.
"Targets acquired. Requesting permission to engage."
"Permission granted." The disembodied voice said.
"Roger." The figure in black said ending the transmission. He turned to his two partners and nodded.
"We take them fast with as little damage as possible." They walked into the restaurant. ~!~!~!
Their food had finally arrived and Lexa dug in eating her chicken with vegetables quickly. She looked to Alec and saw he had a frown on his face and was looking at the door just behind Vin's left shoulder. She followed his gaze and saw what was making him so upset. The blood drained from her face and she said. "Oh shit."
Vin looked up at her. "What?" He asked.
"Three soldiers in black." Alec answered for her.
"Soldiers?" Max said making it a question.
"Another team like us." Lexa whispered. The team hadn't seen them yet and was searching the small restaurant for them.
"There is no one like us Lexa." Vin said. He sighed and stood. "Let's get this over with." The team had found them and was walking towards them. There were two men and one female.
She was tall and lithe, dark red hair flowing to just below her shoulders. Big green eyes dominated her face. The shorter of the two men was also slender almost feminine until you looked at his arms. They seemed out of proportion to the rest of his body. The taller of the men wasn't much taller, two inches or so, but he was built like a brick wall. His skin was the same golden color as Max but his eyes were what really stood out. His eyes were a silver that looked like melted nickel and were as cold as ice.
"Let's get this over with shall we?" Alec said cockily. He stood in front of Lexa, trying to shield her from view. She took a step to the side to stand next to him. He threw an irritated look her way. She shook her head as if to say now is not the time.
The strange woman said "Nice to see you in such a hurry to come home."
"Home? If you think that's a home you sure have a few things to learn." Lexa said shaking her head. "But then again I bet you your one of the slower teams right?"
The woman's face distorted with fury as she leapt at Lexa. Lexa took a step back, then using her opponents momentum she grabbed her outstretched arm and flung her into the wall. She slid down it, a dazed expression on her face. Lexa looked up for a second to see Vin and Max engaging the "Brick House" and Alec was taking on the smaller man. As she looked at him, his eyes locked with hers and she saw the concern he felt for her. Alec was still looking at her so he didn't see the knife that his opponent had pulled from his boot. "Alec!" Lexa screamed in warning.
He turned in time to see the knife but unfortunately didn't turn fast enough to avoid the blow all together. He spun away and grunted when he felt the knife's edge graze his shoulder, then he felt the warm, sticky blood flow. He looked to see a diagonal cut from his shoulder to almost his elbow. He covered it with his hand for a moment. "And to think this was my favorite shirt." He said wryly.
Lexa felt something slam into her from behind and knew that the woman had gained her bearings. She ended up on the floor on her hands and knees. She could sense her opponent coming at her from behind and rolled just in time. She quickly stood and viciously kicked the woman in the head knocking her out.
Lexa looked up to see how her friends were doing and was amazed at what she saw. Max and Alec had switched and he and Vin were taking on the large guy. "Brick House" had an expanding baton in his left hand and was swinging it towards them. Vin caught the transgenic's arm close to his side with his right arm and delivered a sharp jab to his face with his left fist. A split second after he pulled back, Alec's foot collided with the man's jaw.
"Brick House" staggered back a step and Lexa was amazed that he was still conscious. The smaller transgenic, whose barcode Lexa could now see threw Max through the window of the restaurant before Lexa could stop him. Max rolled on the ground lying very still. 223, the smaller transgenic looked at Lexa and smiled. He pulled a handgun from his belt and shot her with it before she could move or call out.
The last thing she saw was Alec turning towards her, trying to reach her.
~!~!
Alec turned to check on Lexa, he had seen Max go out the window from the corner of his eye and was worried about her. He turned and saw the transgenic shoot her with a tranquilizer and Lexa go down. He tried to reach her but the smaller man stood in his way.
Alec's eyes narrowed and he could feel the emotions slipping from his mind. He was becoming someone who scared him very much at times. He was becoming 494 again. The assassin, the soldier, her mate.
The two men squared off and circled each other. Alec feinted a right jab and his opponent moved to block it. Alec quickly followed with a left hook, getting around 223's defenses. He kicked out and caught 223's knee and an angle and the man went down.
"Brick House" and Vin had been struggling but getting nowhere. He called out to his teammate "Come on! Grab the girl and fall back!"
Alec stood in front of Lexa and said "You will have to get by me to take her."
"Easy enough." Alec heard the feminine voice behind him say. It was then he realized they had made a grave mistake, that they lost track of an enemy. He heard the "thunk" of the tranquilizer gun before he felt the dark. He slid down the tunnel of unconsciousness.
~!~!~!
He awoke Lexa and Vin's apartment. He sat up and a cloth slid from his head.
"What happened?" He asked groggily. Then he gasped. "Lexa!"
"Shh. Relax. You had enough drugs in you to put a horse to sleep." Max's voice said.
He grabbed her arms. "Where. Is. Lexa?" He asked forcefully looking into her eyes.
Max looked down. "They took her."
Alec stood up and swayed a little. "We have to go after her. Now." He said
"We can't not yet. You aren't a hundred percent and they are going to be ready for us."
"Where is Vin?" He asked her.
"I'm right here." Vin's voice came from behind him. Alec turned to face him.
"We have to get her. You know what happened last time. I don't think she could handle it again." He said urgently.
"I know. But you have to get better and get it together. We are going to have to be on top of our game and have serious firepower to get her out." He said firmly.
"Will C-4 do?" Alec asked.
"C-4?" Max said confused.
"I have a lot of it from a job I pulled a while back. I can get whatever we need." Alec said in a rush. "We know where she is. They won't kill her. We have to get there soon, before they start running tests on her."
"How do you know they won't kill her?" Max asked him.
"They were only using tranquilizer darts not bullets." He reminded her. "Obviously we aren't expendable."
"But" Max started again but Vin raised his hand.
"Stop. I agree with Alec." He turned to the other man. "You get what you can. Anything you think we need." Then he turned to Max. "We will go in the same way. You and I will go do some recon while Alec does what he has to do."
Max nodded and didn't say anymore. She didn't tell them she thought it was a suicide mission and ill planned. She did it because she knew they would go anyway and they would need some one to help them keep their heads level when it came to crunch time.
Vin turned back to Alec and said "Don't worry. We will bring her home." It was Alec's turn to nod. He left to go find his contacts without so much as another word.
Okay boys and girls.. I think I am going to wrap it up in another chapter. I was thinking about doing a sequel set later in the time line. Maybe during Freak Nation? Let me know what you think.
Author's note: Thanks everyone for your positive support! I have decided that I will do the web site, it's kind of cheesy right now but it will improve with time. The site is: www.angelfire.com/clone/synthera/darkangel.html
Okay now on with the show!
~!~!~!
Max and Vin came out of the bathroom looking much happier and very satisfied. Lexa suspected it had to do with the noises and cries of "Oh Vin!" coming from the bathroom. She and Alec shared a secret smile, both of them remembering their first days.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Max asked.
"Food. I'm starving." Lexa said.
"I could definitely get down with that." Max declared.
"Then it's settled. Where to?" Lexa replied.
"How about Lucky's?"
"What kind of food?" Lexa asked warily.
"Mostly Chinese."
"Sounds good."
"Uh, ladies?" Alec said sarcastically waving his hands in the air. "What about us? Maybe we don't want to eat."
"And maybe you want to sleep by yourselves tonight huh?" Lexa asked sweetly.
"I'm really hungry." Vin said quickly. He elbowed Alec in the side.
"Me too." Alec agreed.
"Thought so." Lexa said. She turned to Max. "We'll meet you there. I rode with Alec here."
"Okay, Alec knows the way." She asked Vin "Can I ride with you?"
"Sure." He said shrugging.
The group walked downstairs together. As the girls climbed on behind them, Alec and Vin shared a smirk.
"Ah, the life." Alec said right before Lexa pinched him.
~!~!~!
At Lucky's.
Lexa had to shake her head. It had taken over twenty minutes to make their order due to the fact their waiter was extremely hard of hearing. Alec's hand slid to her lap taking one of her hands and intertwining their fingers. They were sitting in a both that had bright orange "leather" seats.
She looked at Max who was sitting in front of her and thought about how much she had changed over the last few days. Gone was the tragic expression that clouded her face most of the time, it had been replaced with a genuine smile. She seemed to be more at home with herself also. Lexa suspected that it had to do in large part with the fact she wasn't trying to play "human" all the time.
So many things have changed lately. She had her family back and they were happy together. Maybe they weren't safe but at least they had each other. If what she suspected was true their family might be expanding soon.
"What are you thinking about?" Alec asked quietly in her ear.
"You, us." She said just as quietly as he had.
"What about us?" He whispered again.
"Hey no secrets at the table." Vin scolded.
"Sorry." Came Lexa's reply. The smile that graced her face though showed she was anything but sorry.
"What were you talking about?" Vin asked.
Alec turned to her very interested. His eyebrows were raised as he tried to read her face and discern what she was thinking.
"Just about how happy I am to have all of us together." Lexa said
"I'm glad too." Alec said hugging her.
"Hey I just thought of something. You are my sister and he's my brother and you are sleeping together. How weird is that?" Lexa asked.
Max turned to Vin and kissed him. "Not at all."
~!~!~!
Outside.
"Base, team alpha over." A figure in black said into a walkie-talkie.
"Alpha go ahead." Came the reply.
"Targets acquired. Requesting permission to engage."
"Permission granted." The disembodied voice said.
"Roger." The figure in black said ending the transmission. He turned to his two partners and nodded.
"We take them fast with as little damage as possible." They walked into the restaurant. ~!~!~!
Their food had finally arrived and Lexa dug in eating her chicken with vegetables quickly. She looked to Alec and saw he had a frown on his face and was looking at the door just behind Vin's left shoulder. She followed his gaze and saw what was making him so upset. The blood drained from her face and she said. "Oh shit."
Vin looked up at her. "What?" He asked.
"Three soldiers in black." Alec answered for her.
"Soldiers?" Max said making it a question.
"Another team like us." Lexa whispered. The team hadn't seen them yet and was searching the small restaurant for them.
"There is no one like us Lexa." Vin said. He sighed and stood. "Let's get this over with." The team had found them and was walking towards them. There were two men and one female.
She was tall and lithe, dark red hair flowing to just below her shoulders. Big green eyes dominated her face. The shorter of the two men was also slender almost feminine until you looked at his arms. They seemed out of proportion to the rest of his body. The taller of the men wasn't much taller, two inches or so, but he was built like a brick wall. His skin was the same golden color as Max but his eyes were what really stood out. His eyes were a silver that looked like melted nickel and were as cold as ice.
"Let's get this over with shall we?" Alec said cockily. He stood in front of Lexa, trying to shield her from view. She took a step to the side to stand next to him. He threw an irritated look her way. She shook her head as if to say now is not the time.
The strange woman said "Nice to see you in such a hurry to come home."
"Home? If you think that's a home you sure have a few things to learn." Lexa said shaking her head. "But then again I bet you your one of the slower teams right?"
The woman's face distorted with fury as she leapt at Lexa. Lexa took a step back, then using her opponents momentum she grabbed her outstretched arm and flung her into the wall. She slid down it, a dazed expression on her face. Lexa looked up for a second to see Vin and Max engaging the "Brick House" and Alec was taking on the smaller man. As she looked at him, his eyes locked with hers and she saw the concern he felt for her. Alec was still looking at her so he didn't see the knife that his opponent had pulled from his boot. "Alec!" Lexa screamed in warning.
He turned in time to see the knife but unfortunately didn't turn fast enough to avoid the blow all together. He spun away and grunted when he felt the knife's edge graze his shoulder, then he felt the warm, sticky blood flow. He looked to see a diagonal cut from his shoulder to almost his elbow. He covered it with his hand for a moment. "And to think this was my favorite shirt." He said wryly.
Lexa felt something slam into her from behind and knew that the woman had gained her bearings. She ended up on the floor on her hands and knees. She could sense her opponent coming at her from behind and rolled just in time. She quickly stood and viciously kicked the woman in the head knocking her out.
Lexa looked up to see how her friends were doing and was amazed at what she saw. Max and Alec had switched and he and Vin were taking on the large guy. "Brick House" had an expanding baton in his left hand and was swinging it towards them. Vin caught the transgenic's arm close to his side with his right arm and delivered a sharp jab to his face with his left fist. A split second after he pulled back, Alec's foot collided with the man's jaw.
"Brick House" staggered back a step and Lexa was amazed that he was still conscious. The smaller transgenic, whose barcode Lexa could now see threw Max through the window of the restaurant before Lexa could stop him. Max rolled on the ground lying very still. 223, the smaller transgenic looked at Lexa and smiled. He pulled a handgun from his belt and shot her with it before she could move or call out.
The last thing she saw was Alec turning towards her, trying to reach her.
~!~!
Alec turned to check on Lexa, he had seen Max go out the window from the corner of his eye and was worried about her. He turned and saw the transgenic shoot her with a tranquilizer and Lexa go down. He tried to reach her but the smaller man stood in his way.
Alec's eyes narrowed and he could feel the emotions slipping from his mind. He was becoming someone who scared him very much at times. He was becoming 494 again. The assassin, the soldier, her mate.
The two men squared off and circled each other. Alec feinted a right jab and his opponent moved to block it. Alec quickly followed with a left hook, getting around 223's defenses. He kicked out and caught 223's knee and an angle and the man went down.
"Brick House" and Vin had been struggling but getting nowhere. He called out to his teammate "Come on! Grab the girl and fall back!"
Alec stood in front of Lexa and said "You will have to get by me to take her."
"Easy enough." Alec heard the feminine voice behind him say. It was then he realized they had made a grave mistake, that they lost track of an enemy. He heard the "thunk" of the tranquilizer gun before he felt the dark. He slid down the tunnel of unconsciousness.
~!~!~!
He awoke Lexa and Vin's apartment. He sat up and a cloth slid from his head.
"What happened?" He asked groggily. Then he gasped. "Lexa!"
"Shh. Relax. You had enough drugs in you to put a horse to sleep." Max's voice said.
He grabbed her arms. "Where. Is. Lexa?" He asked forcefully looking into her eyes.
Max looked down. "They took her."
Alec stood up and swayed a little. "We have to go after her. Now." He said
"We can't not yet. You aren't a hundred percent and they are going to be ready for us."
"Where is Vin?" He asked her.
"I'm right here." Vin's voice came from behind him. Alec turned to face him.
"We have to get her. You know what happened last time. I don't think she could handle it again." He said urgently.
"I know. But you have to get better and get it together. We are going to have to be on top of our game and have serious firepower to get her out." He said firmly.
"Will C-4 do?" Alec asked.
"C-4?" Max said confused.
"I have a lot of it from a job I pulled a while back. I can get whatever we need." Alec said in a rush. "We know where she is. They won't kill her. We have to get there soon, before they start running tests on her."
"How do you know they won't kill her?" Max asked him.
"They were only using tranquilizer darts not bullets." He reminded her. "Obviously we aren't expendable."
"But" Max started again but Vin raised his hand.
"Stop. I agree with Alec." He turned to the other man. "You get what you can. Anything you think we need." Then he turned to Max. "We will go in the same way. You and I will go do some recon while Alec does what he has to do."
Max nodded and didn't say anymore. She didn't tell them she thought it was a suicide mission and ill planned. She did it because she knew they would go anyway and they would need some one to help them keep their heads level when it came to crunch time.
Vin turned back to Alec and said "Don't worry. We will bring her home." It was Alec's turn to nod. He left to go find his contacts without so much as another word.
Okay boys and girls.. I think I am going to wrap it up in another chapter. I was thinking about doing a sequel set later in the time line. Maybe during Freak Nation? Let me know what you think.