Disclaimer: I don't any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show, Dark Angel, which are owned by James Cameron. I do, however, own the original characters featured in this story. If you wish to use them, please ask me.
Summary: It's party time in Seattle as the transgenic teenagers decide to throw a party – a big party.
A/N: This chapter will have little to no canon X5 involvement. Since this story is nearing its end (*sob*) I felt that I needed to develop Eddie and Pick a little more before continuing. Oh yeah, when Eddie and Pick enter the antique shop… yes, I stole that scene from Birds of Prey. U_U
Happily Never After
By
Brin"Wit is educated insolence." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
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Skipping school was not an uncommon occurrence in transgenic teenagers. The most responsible of them missed at least three days a month, skipping just because they knew everything that was being taught. The least responsible barely attended three days in an entire month. After all, they reasoned, no Ordinary in his right mind would hire a transgenic when other Ordinaries were up for the job as well – or hire a transgenic at all.
Today was a special day for Transgen teens – the anniversary of the day the first X6s opened the first transgenic bar in Seattle. Of course, at the time, no one but the transgenics had known that it was run by transgenics. A party was being held in an underground bar in honor of the occasion, and it was considered 'top secret.'
Eddie, her arm securely locked with Pick's, looked around as they entered Ditty's House of Antique's warily. A young man was standing at the top of a ladder placing a rusty old pot on a shelf with his back to them. Before they could say anything, he turned his head and sniffed the air.
"You so did not hear us," protested Eddie.
"Of course not. I smell Pre-Pulse cologne – Dolce and Gabbana, I believe – mixed with catnip and fabric softer… and a hint of Seattle grime." The young man turned around and winked at them. "My nose always knows."
"Jason, you idiot," said Pick, shaking his head.
The blonde X6 jumped from the ladder and kissed Eddie's hand. "Hello, my kitten. I assume you've come to join the party?"
Eddie smacked him on the shoulder. "Stop it with the polite act, you ass. Why else would we be here?"
Jason winked, then walked over to one of the bookshelves. "Lord of the Flies, Hamlet, The Cay, ah, here it is – His Dark Materials by Robert Pullman. Damn good books."
"Jason, that's enough," snapped Eddie, hitting him again. "Come on!"
"Okay, you asked for it…" He pulled out a book and the shelf lifted off the ground with a groan and the whirring of engines to reveal a set of winding stairs.
"Oh this is just too medieval," grumbled the cat anomaly as they walked down the dusty steps. It wound around twice before they reached a wide, brightly-lit archway.
"Well look who finally decided to show up!" shouted a voice.
Pick and Eddie broke into wide smiles as they stepped into the room. There were five pool tables scattered about, a sitting area in the middle of the room, an arcade, a bar, and a section cut off from the rest of the room by a soundproof wall designated for watching movies. Milling about were forty to fifty transgenic teenagers – nomlies and X-series alike.
"Awww, yeah! It's NitPick and Freddie!" called a voice from the sitting area.
"Shut up, Dodd," replied Pick, walking over and hugging the blonde-haired, blue-eyed X6.
"Long-ass time, NitPick," said Dodd with a wink. "Where you been? I mean, we all know you got famous and shit with the whole 'leading New Hope to victory, narrowly avoiding the jaws of doom' shit, but shit… you could've sent your regards to an old friend." He tapped his prosthetic legs pointedly.
Pick sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, frowning. He and Dodd had been on an away mission together to Italy when they were sixteen. After accomplishing the base of the mission – killing a prime minister of some South American country in his vacation home – they had been caught in the crossfire of another mission to terminate a rebellious anarchy group. The X5 on the mission was killed after terminating her target and they were ordered to retrieve her body. On the way out of the building the body was getting kept in, they were spotted and a grenade was thrown to stop them – incinerating the body and destroying Dodd's lower body. Pick, on the other hand, got out uninjured by pure luck. "Hey, I'm sorry guys. I really am!"
"He's just been movin on to bigger and better things like helping integrate us poor, helpless transgenics into American society – the equivalent to trying to mix peanut butter and milk, by the way," joked a blonde cat anomaly, her Arctic-ops boyfriend sitting a few feet away.
Eddie's eyes widened in surprise and she playfully pounced on top of the other cat anomaly – her sister Riley. Riley had left Terminal City shortly after the beginning of the siege to be a spy in Seattle's underground crime world, and they hadn't been in touch since besides the occasional 'Hey, I'm alive,' postcard. Of course, Eddie never worried about her sister, and it was the same vice-versa. Transgenics, especially anomalies, learned early in life not to worry about each other – it solved nothing. If you were going to worry, do something about it or don't worry.
"You imp! Stop choking me!" wailed Riley as Eddie hugged her tightly.
Pick laughed and, seeing as his girlfriend and the other anomalies had to catch up, walked over to the bar with his friends.
"So you hear about that norm?" asked Dodd as he took a seat on a stool, sipping his beer.
"What?" Pick tore his attention away from Eddie to look at his good friend.
"There's this norm – really hot chick I hear – who says she'll take on any tranny and beat 'em, but only three per night. Loser coughs up 1 grand," explained the blonde X6 with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Whaddya think?"
"Does she wrestle?"
"Nah, some boxer chick."
Pick grabbed a beer from the bar and took a long swig, his face blank as he thought about it. "I'm thinking… this girl has got some guts. How'd you hear about it?"
"The owner of her training gym was passing out goddamn flyers!" replied Dodd seriously. "I'm not going to miss this. I hear there'll be big bucks involved on gambling."
Pick grinned knowingly. "Alright. Let's check it out, but lemme tell Eddie where I'm going first."
Dodd shook his head as the oldest X6 walked away. "Whipped," he muttered under his breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So what've you been up to, besides kicking asses all around the black market of course," said Eddie, flipping her tail lazily as she sat on the couch opposite her sister.
Riley shrugged and swished her own tail. She was the only anomaly besides Eddie to have a tail, and hers was brilliantly colored orange, white, and black like a calico cat's. Eddie's, on the other hand, was brown with black stripes. "Well, you'd be surprised how easily criminals accept trannies. I got to stay with this drug lord in his mansion as sort of a security guard. He knew I'd be able to flush out any undercover cops or agents and things like that, and in exchange he gave me shelter, food, and kept the general authorities away."
Eddie nodded thoughtfully and replied, "Wow. So you flush out any cops?"
"Three of 'em, but I let one of those CIA bozos stay since he promised me he'd wait and bust the drug lord after I left."
"So the drug lord got busted, you got free housing, and the CIA bozo got a big fat promotion, eh?" said the younger anomaly with a laugh. "You've been busy."
"Yeah well I wasn't the one all over national television signing a historic treaty," pointed out Riley, grinning mischievously. "And what is up with you and the X6? I mean, when I left you two were still bumbling, clumsy puppy-lovers."
Eddie smiled to herself, her tail growing still. "I'm not quite sure yet…"
Riley rolled her eyes at the love struck schoolgirl look that appeared on her sister's face. "Oh puh-lease. You and that X6 act too… civilized."
"Just because we have some Pre-Pulse class…" She ducked Riley's hand, laughing.
"Well, speak of the Devil," mumbled Riley, flashing a brilliant smile as Pick and Dodd approached them. "'Sup boys?"
"A group of us are going down to the seaside to watch this norm take on trannies for 1-g a fight," said Dodd in a matter-of-factly tone. "You wanna come?"
Eddie and Riley exchanged looks, then nodded vigorously and grabbed their jackets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shit," whispered Eddie through gritted teeth as they turned down a familiar street with a familiar gym on it – Lopez's Boxing Gym. She should've seen this coming, and now she was stuck.
"Aww, this is gonna be so awesome," exclaimed Dodd as Pick parked the truck they had borrowed from another X6. "Money, money, money."
Pick laughed as he removed the keys and turned to look at Eddie and Riley, who were in the backseat. "Ready, ladies?"
"Hell yeah!" replied Riley, practically bolting out the door.
Eddie followed at a much slower pace as they walked towards the building. They paid the five-dollar entrance fee, then Dodd and Riley broke off to dive straight into the bet pools while Pick and Eddie staked out some seats. The place was full of transgenics and a few small groups of Ordinaries, but the atmosphere was tolerant.
When Riley and Dodd finally came over to sit down, a skinny man stepped into the boxing ring in the middle of the room holding a microphone. He was about to speak into it when a loud, high-pitched sound tore through the speakers. Everyone covered their ears, momentarily stunned, and the thin man shrugged apologetically before saying in a Super Bowl announcer voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Lopez's boxing gym! Tonight we have our number one contender, Diana Guzman, versus any three of our transgenics guests in the audience tonight! Can I have a first volunteer?"
Hands waved in the air wildly and the announcer looked around. He pointed at a male X6 and beckoned him over. The X6 clapped his hands triumphantly, getting pats on the back from his buddies, and approached the ring. He was roughly six-foot-two, about 180 pounds, and, as are all Manticorians, buff.
"What's your name, sonny?" asked the announcer.
"My name is Ray Cortez, Sir. X6-900 at your service."
"Alright, Ray. Do you know how to box?"
"Yes, Sir. Nothing below the belt, return to the opposite corner of the ring when an opponent is down, all that good stuff. Now bring her out." He vaguely waved his hands towards the back room, where two restive brown eyes peeked out from behind a door.
"Diana, please approach the ring," called the announcer with a cheesy smile.
The door to the back room opened and a buzz went through the audience. Diana looked like a fool. She was half a foot shorter than her adversary, at least sixty pounds lighter, and, of course, female. As she went towards the ring, jaw set with determination and body tense with anticipation, she locked eyes with Eddie. They stared at each other for half a second, then both looked away.
Eddie shivered. She had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't get out of this situation without another black eye.
"Alright, let's keep this a clean fight. You both know the rules," said the referee as he stepped into the ring.
Diana rolled her shoulders a few times, briefly glancing over at her trainer, Hector, who nodded at her. She turned to watch as her opponent was fitted with a pair of gloves. After a few minutes of preparation, he was ready. They approached each other in the center of the ring. The ref stood in between them, then, when the bell 'dinged,' he said, "Box!" and stepped out of the way.
At first, the male X6 decided he wanted to milk the crowd, that this fight was nothing more than a joke. He grinned and winked at Diana, staying far enough away so that she couldn't hit him. His friends hooted and guffawed at the edge of the ring. The other transgenics in the room were also laughing at this Ordinary's plight.
Nobody but Eddie knew what this girl could do.
"Fight me!" yelled Diana through her mouthpiece. "Come on, bitch, let's go!"
This caught the X6's attention, and he turned to her with a smug grin. "What, you resorting to name calling? That's not very ladylike of you."
"Guess I never learned to be a lady," she replied, then her hand shot out so quickly that it looked like a blur, striking him in the cheek.
An uproar went through the audience as the X6 stumbled back, cheek reddening and head spinning. He steadied himself against the ropes, then turned back around and narrowed his eyes at Diana. "That was a mistake," he declared bitterly.
"Oh, silly me," she spat. "Come on, pretty boy. Let's go."
He went up and, now on full alert, got serious about the fight. What he didn't expect, however, was the flurry of gloves that met him if he got close enough for them to reach. He had never been specially trained for boxing, and it soon became apparent that her footwork was ten times better than his. She practically danced circles around him as they fought.
"Come on, where's all that energy?" mocked Diana before hitting him square in the nose. "Oops, did I hurt you?"
The X6's head snapped back and he felt blood leak down onto his dry lips. "You broke my nose," he declared, growing angry.
"Don't talk." She bashed him in the stomach then hooked his left cheek. "It leaves you open."
All this time, her footwork had been causing her to push him backwards. He soon found himself cornered – with no where to go but through Diana. She took advantage of this, using her quick hands to repeatedly hit him in the face so that he began to grow disoriented.
White flashed across the X6's vision every time she hit him, followed by blinding pain from his face. This went on for roughly three minutes before he finally decided to just wing it. He swung blindly with both hands, catching the Ordinary in the lip and stomach. This caused her to stagger backwards a bit, and he blurred forward, using his momentum to give her a full-blown uppercut to the chin. She flew backwards into the ropes, blood leaking from her busted lip.
"Ha! How do you like that?" he taunted, walking over to stand above her. "You idiot girl. You can't beat a transgenic."
"Oh yeah?" she replied, spitting blood on his white sneakers. "How about this?" She jumped to her feet and hit him hard in the chin, causing his head to snap backwards again. She then punched him in the stomach. This caused the reverse reaction as his body began to spas, throwing his head forward. Using his own forward momentum to increase the force of her blow, Diana's glove connected with his face, right between the eyes were his brain was most vulnerable.
The room was silent as the X6 crumpled to the ground. The referee, who had been standing a ways off, came over and began counting.
"One, two, three, four—"
A strangled gasp came from the male X6 as he desperately tried to struggle to his feet, but it was no use. His vision was spinning, his body aching.
"Five, six, seven, eight—"
Diana's eyes were emotionless as she watched her opponent crawl on the floor, his face bloody and bruised.
"Nine, ten! The match goes to Diana Guzman!"
Silence. Utter silence. No one moved. The only thing that could be heard was Diana's labored breathing, and all eyes were upon her. She wiped the blood and sweat from her face with a towel, then spat more blood into a bucket by the ring. If she noticed the murderous stares she was getting, she paid them no attention as she talked quietly with her trainer.
"What the hell?!" whispered Dodd. "I bet a hundred dollars on that X6! This… this is impossible! She must be a Familiar!"
Riley and Pick began to agree with him and they went into a whole conversation about suing the gym, but then Eddie spoke up.
"She's not a Familiar," she said quietly.
"How do you know?" asked Dodd. "They look just like humans, just like us."
"Max told me about this. Familiars have a scar on their upper arms to signify that they are 'one of them.' Diana doesn't have one," said the young cat anomaly with a shrug. She glanced over at Diana, then said, "She goes to my school."
"Wait… isn't she the one who gave you that black eye?" asked Pick, tensing.
Eddie sighed. "If you mean the one who kicked my ass, yes. She is like a national featherweight champion, or so Alec told me."
"Well then how did she beat that guy? He was not a featherweight," argued Riley.
"Beats me," replied Eddie, hiding her smile at the looks on their faces.
This time, Diana's opponent was even bigger – one of the biggest X6s, in fact. He was a seven-foot, two hundred thirty-pound piece of muscle.
Not one person in the house wasn't impressed when Diana took him down in under three minutes.
She had done quick work of him by taking advantage of the fact that she was so much smaller and nimbler than he. One minute of fancy footwork dizzied him, a minute of facial-battering disoriented him, and the last minute she targeted his ribcage, preventing him from breathing properly. One mean right hook and three jabs later, he was down.
"What the hell was that?!" cried Dodd, who had bet two hundred dollars on the X6 this time. "Come on, she's cheating!"
Her trainer, Hector, heard this and walked over. He was a proud-looking man in his mid-fifties with graying hair and a beard. "Cheat?"
"Yes, cheat!" spat Dodd with a glare.
"My friend, Diana doesn't cheat. You all outweigh her 10 to 1 in speed and strength, but there's something she has that you don't," said Hector solemnly.
"What's that?"
"Something to fight for," he replied. "You don't have loneliness, misery, or grief. At least you don't have it when you fight. Diana has those, and she channels them into her fighting. Maybe we 'norms' aren't as weak as you thought." And he walked away to argue with some more transgenics.
Dodd sat back, mollified. X6s weren't as strong or as quick on their feet as X5s. They weren't as smart as the X8s. They didn't have any specialties like the 'nomlies. In fact, they were the equivalent of X3s when it came to stats. Maybe these defeats weren't so unfathomable… "Eddie," he began, "you should fight her."
Eddie's eyes widened. "What?!"
"Come on. You know you can take her on. You're a 'nomlie. She obviously knows how to handle X6s."
"But she kicked my ass before."
"Well now you're ready for whatever she's got up her sleeve. The girl's beat. Look at her."
Eddie reluctantly turned her eyes to the ring where Diana was leaning against one of the corner posts talking to another one of the gym's boxers. She was breathing heavily, limbs sagging, sweat covering her from head to toe. Though she had easily won the second match, her opponents had gotten some pretty good punches in. Her left eye was swelling up considerably, her bottom and top lips were busted, her chin was bruised, her nose bleeding – the list went on and on.
"I didn't think it was normal for a boxer to have three matches in one night," commented Pick nonchalantly. "If you ask me, this girl set herself up for failure."
"I don't think she expects to fail," replied Riley bitterly. "But if she did get her ass kicked around that ring, I bet she'd enjoy the pain."
"Got that right. The only reason she's winning is because of underestimation and lack of practice," reasoned Dodd in a very soldier-like tone. "We haven't been in intense training in what? A year and a half! That's not fair, if you ask me. I bet you she's been training nonstop for a coupla years! All we have to do is not underestimate her. We've underestimated the norms before and look what they did: they chased us into a corner, ready to kill. If we can get, say, a woman in there—"
"Because women aren't prideful and overly confident like men are," interrupted Riley, "she could win!"
They all looked at Eddie.
"No! No!" she protested, throwing her arms up into the air. "I will not fight Diana!"
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"I can't believe I'm fighting Diana," grumbled Eddie as they fitted her with a pair of gloves and an amateur-boxer helmet. She had been picked because a) Hector wouldn't allow Diana to fight any more transgenics unless they were a featherweight b) everyone wanted to know if an anomaly could handle itself better than an X6 and c) Dodd wanted his money back.
They faced each other in the middle of the ring. Diana was also wearing an amateur helmet, which she hadn't worn in the previous fights.
"Didn't know you'd be here," said Diana almost nervously. "You with them?" She nodded her heads toward where Riley and the others were sitting.
"Yeah. The brown-haired guy is my boyfriend."
Diana looked over and whistled approvingly. "Nice."
The referee then interrupted the conversation. He looked between them a few times before stepping back and saying, "Box."
DING.
Eddie clumsily tried to deliver a right hook to Diana's cheek, but the Ordinary ducked and punched her in the stomach. The anomaly was ready for this. She had seen Diana bash the first X6 in the face as he jerked forward, so instead of jerking forward she ducked down. Diana's fist harmlessly flew over her head. Before Diana could recover, Eddie hit her in the stomach hard.
"Uuuuggh," moaned Diana as a drop of blood appeared on her lips. She coughed once, then wiped it away and regained her composure.
"Everybody knows a half-blind boxer can't compete."
Eddie's eyes lit up as she remembered Alec's words. He had said that Diana was blind in her… left eye? Yes, it was her left. That meant she would have a wicked blind spot on that side unless she turned her head to see the move… and suddenly the anomaly knew how to win. She stepped right three times, causing Diana to shuffle after her, then faked with her left hand. The result was just how she predicted it – Diana turned her head to look at the anomaly's left side so she could see where the attack was coming from… and was totally unprepared as Eddie's right hand caught her between the eyes with a bone-crunching right hook.
The crowd cheered as Diana went down for the first time that night, sprawled on the ground at Eddie's feet.
"Are you okay?!" cried Eddie, growing nervous at the sight of blood leaking from her opponent's temple. "I-I-I…"
"Don't you be sorry," interrupted Diana, sitting up and ignoring the referee as he counted out the seconds. "Don't ever be sorry. I guess I can't beat you. You know my Achilles heel."
Eddie felt a little sheepish as Diana sat there on the ground until the referee finished counting out the seconds.
"The match goes to Eddie!" he announced, grabbing her wrist and holding it in the air. "You win one thousand dollars, courtesy of the gym. Thank you for coming out."
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After the matches, people were feeling significantly better since she hadn't defeated all three transgenics. Dodd had dragged Pick away with him to head out to party with 'the guys,' as he had called them, and Eddie wasn't one to object since Pick hadn't been out with 'the guys' for over a year. She excused herself from Riley, who wasn't about to protest since she needed to go spend some time with her boyfriend and took the truck.
Eddie waited until the crowds had left, which didn't take very long, then went back into the gym. The porter was too busy counting the mounds and mounds of cash to notice her so she headed towards the back. Dirty cups and beer cans littered the floor and caused a horrible stench, but she only kicked them out of the way. Halfway to the backroom she was sidetracked by voices in the owner's office. She made a beeline for that and stood outside the door.
"…we made about $2,000 dollars tonight in admission fees, and since our workers we were the only ones to bet on Diana, we made well over $10,000 from those transgenics. You were fantastic, Diana!" exclaimed an old, gentle voice.
"Yeah, but I got caught by that last one," she replied, though she sounded pleased with herself.
"That was to be expected. You were tired, she wasn't! It's all about strategy – we hold off on bets the third match and lose little while they walk away happy to at least have made some money. Besides, how many girls today can honestly say they've beat up two transgenics and walked away from it alive?" continued the old man. "Now you go home and rest. You deserve a long vacation."
"Paid?"
"Of course."
"Thanks, Ira. I owe you one."
"Oh, wait, wait, Diana. Here is your $2,000 prize money."
"But Ira…"
"No, no! You take it. It's long overdue. Now get outta here! Scram!"
Diana's laugh drifted from the room as she left the office, clutching the wad of bills happily. She took two steps before she noticed Eddie standing there. "Hey," she said, shoving the money into her pocket.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to mug you," replied the cat anomaly smugly. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "So I hear you guys are into the betting game?"
"Of course. How else do you think we keep open?" The older girl walked past the 'nomlie, heading towards the front door. "It's hard to keep an honest business these days."
Eddie followed her. "I'm sorry for hitting you."
Diana stopped walking and turned around. "I told you not to be sorry. Boxing is violent, don't ever be sorry for hitting someone."
"Yeah, but I'm talking about before… in the schoolyard."
"Oh, well then in that case apology accepted." She continued towards the door, only to have Eddie grab her shoulder before she could exit. "What do you want?!"
"The teenage transgenic population is meeting in Last Hope—"
"Last Hope?"
"New Hope, Terminal City, whatever you want to call it," explained Eddie.
"Okay."
"So anyway, we're meeting in Terminal City since they cleared all the buildings away and we're having this big concert. You wanna come?"
"Are you asking me on a date?"
Eddie glared at her. "That's not funny."
Diana stared back, totally blank except for the slight twitch of the corner of her lips, and replied, "Yes it is."
"Wait… was that a joke? You made a joke?!" Eddie made a feigned shock face. "Call the press! You made a joke!"
"Ha, ha. Touché," replied Diana, finally breaking into a wide smile.
"You're smiling now?! This is big news, get Sketchy down here!"
Diana playfully pushed the anomaly and walked out the door. Like a toddler following her idolized big sister, Eddie romped after her.
"So are you coming to the concert?"
"If I showed up at a tranny concert they'd maul me, and you know it," replied Diana, her smile fading.
"Well we can cover up the back of your neck. No one would know," reasoned the anomaly with a hopeful grin. "Please? I'm gonna be stuck there with a bunch of guys because my sister is staying home with her boyfriend."
"You're a crazy one," said the Ordinary skeptically. "But alright, I promise I'll go if you promise I won't get trampled, mauled, or mugged."
"Is this the face of someone who would let that happen?"
"I'm not going to address that."
Eddie laughed. "That's two jokes! Two of 'em! In—" She checked her watch "—five minutes! You should be proud."
Diana shook her head and let her façade break once again as her shoulders shook with laughter. "Yeah, yeah. Keep this up and I'll have to pop you one."
"I'll pop you right back."
"True."
Eddie held out her hand. "Shall we?"
"Are you sure this isn't a date?"
"Ha! Three!"
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Red floodlights dimly lit the bulldozed section of Terminal City, covered by a wriggling mass of transgenic teenagers. A large stage had been set up at the front of the mob-like mass and on this stage was the same band that had performed for Max and Co. at Max's birthday party. The music, blaring from speakers as high as a house, vibrated the ground and shook the foundations of the city. This giant party that was held every year from then on was known as Pre-Pulsion and was in large part dedicated to remembering the times before the Pulse – even though no transgenic could remember the outside world that far back.
"Hey jaded
In all it's misery
It will always be what I love and hated
And maybe take a ride to the other side
We're thinkin' of
We'll slip into the velvet glove
And be jaded!"
It wasn't so much the fact that they were being disruptive and destructive; it wasn't so much the fact that they were breaking the law and no one could stop them that made the teens happy. It wasn't that they were doing something they knew they shouldn't be doing; it was the fact that they had the freedom to do it. Manticore had been their oppressor since the moment they were born – and now it was gone.
"My my baby blue
Yeah I'm thinkin about you
My my baby blue
Yeah I'm so jaded
And baby I'm afraid of you
Your thinking's so complicated
I've had it all up to here
But it's so overrated
Love and hated
Wouldn't trade it
Love me jaded!"
Among the older X5s, especially the ones who hadn't escaped in '09, were skeptical about Manticore's disappearance. The presence of the Centurions had been proof enough for them – Manticore still existed. They believed it was only a matter of time before it came back to haunt them, but the teens of the transgenic population thought differently. Their beliefs were that this was now, and that was to come – they would cross the bridge when they came to it. For the time being, they would make the most of their freedom. It was the only thing they really had.
"Hey jaded
There ain't no baby please
When I'm shootin the breeze with her
When everything you see is a blur
And ecstasy's what you prefer
My my baby blue
Yeah I'm talkin' about you
My my baby blue
Yeah I've been thinkin' about you
My my baby blue
Yeah you're so jaded
Baby, Jaded, Baby
You're so jaded
'Cause I'm the one that jaded you!"
During the brief moments that the band shifted to play their next song, the teenagers milled about with each other – their unbreakable bonds showing through. Being soldiers together and going through what they had gone through together brought them – all of them – together in a way that others would never understand in a million years. They had seen comrades die, had been forced to kill, had suffered through training akin to that of a full-grown soldier's since they were children. Now was their time to shine.
"Once upon a midnight dearie
I woke with something in my head
I couldn't escape the memory
Of a phone call and of what you said
Like a game show contestant with a parting gift
I could not believe my eyes
When I saw through the voice of a trusted friend
Who needs to humor me and tell me lies
Yeah humor me and tell me lies
And I'll lie too and say I don't mind
And as we seek so shall we find
And when you're feeling open I'll still be here
But not without a certain degree of fear
Of what will be with you and me
I still can see things hopefully."
Where Ordinary teenagers divided themselves, transgenic ones melted the barriers because ever since they had been born they had been taught one thing, both directly and indirectly from their training: "United we stand, divided we fall." The situation at Terminal City had helped as well. They had been reliant on each other for everything during that time. Cooperating with each other was the key element to their success over their enemies.
"But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down
And shake me and my confidence
About a great many things
But I've been there I can see it cower
Like a nervous magician waiting in the wings
Of a bad play where the heroes are right
And nobody thinks or expects too much
And Hollywood's calling for the movie rights
Singing hey babe let's keep in touch
Hey baby let's keep in touch
But I want more than a touch I want you to reach me
And show me all the things no one else can see
So what you feel becomes mine as well
And soon if we're lucky we'd be unable to tell
What's yours and mine the fishing's fine
And it doesn't have to rhyme so don't you feed me a line."
Eddie smiled into Pick's shoulder as they danced. Max was going to give her hell for staying out this late. It had to be at least midnight. Alec would probably stand to the side nodding in agreement with his fiery fiancée. She turned her eyes up to see Diana had also snagged a dancing partner. The anomaly recognized him as one of the younger clones from Max's unit. She couldn't quite recall the name of the X5 who had been in Max's unit, though she did know that his named had rhymed with Zack…
"But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down
Tra la la la la bomba dear this is the pilot speaking
And I've got some news for you
It seems my ship still stands no matter what you drop
And there ain't a whole lot that you can do
Oh sure the banner may be torn and the wind's gotten colder
Perhaps I've grown a little cynical
But I know no matter what the waitress brings
I shall drink in and always be full
My cup shall always be full."
"Think we should leave?" Pick yelled into her ear.
"No, it's fine!"
"I think I'm going deaf!"
"Yeah, isn't it great?" She laughed and kissed him on the cheek.
"Oh I like coffee
And I like tea
I'd like to be able to enter a final plea
I still got this dream that you just can't shake
I love you to the point you can no longer take
Well all right okay
So be that way
I hope and pray
That there's something left to say
But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down
But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down."
"Hey Eddie," interrupted Diana's rough voice.
"Yeah?" replied the anomaly, looking over her boyfriend's shoulder at the Ordinary.
"I'm heading out. See you later," said the Ordinary, patting Eddie on the shoulder.
Eddie smiled to herself as she moved away, sifting through the crowd like water through a sieve. She looked up at Pick and kissed him. "I think you were right; we should leave right about now."
Pick nodded and tossed her over his shoulder like a rag doll, carrying her from the concert like she was incapable of walking. Music followed them the entire way.
"I'm packed and I'm holding
I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden
She lives for me, says she lives for me
Ovation, her own motivation
She comes round and she goes down on me
And I make her smile, like a drug for you
Do ever what you wanna do, coming over you
Keep on smiling, what we go through
One stop to the rhythm that divides you
And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse
Chop another line like a coda with a curse
Come on like a freak show takes the stage
We give them the games we play, she said...
I want something else, to get me through this
Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby
I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye
The sky was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there, someplace back there
Smiling in the pictures you would take
Doing crystal myth, will lift you up until you break
It won't stop, I won't come down
I keep stock with the tick-tock rhythm, I bump for the drop
And then I bumped up, I took the hit that I was given
Then I bumped again, then I bumped again
I said...
How do I get back there, to the place where I fell asleep inside you
How do I get myself back to the place where you said...
I want something else, to get me through this
Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby
I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye
I believe in the sand beneath my toes
The beach gives a feeling, an earthy feeling
I believe in the faith that grows
And the four right chords can make me cry
When I'm with you I feel like I could die
And that would be all right, all right
And when the plane came in, she said she was crashing
The velvet it rips in the city, we tripped on the urge to feel alive
Now I'm struggling to survive, those days you were wearing that velvet dress
You're the priestess, I must confess
Those little red panties they pass the test
Slide up around the belly, face down on the mattress
One
And you hold me, and we're broken
Still it's all that I wanna do, just a little now
Feel myself, head made of the ground
I'm scared, I'm not coming down
No, no
And I won't run for my life
She's got her jaws now, locked down in a smile
But nothing is all right, all right
And I want something else, to get me through this life
Baby, I want something else
Not listening when you say...
Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye
Good-bye
The sky was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there
Someplace back there, in the place we used to start
I want something else…"
TBC…
Wow, I really need to work on my fight scene skills (or lack thereof). Hope you liked this chapter; hope I didn't add too much cheese… *grumbles to self in dissatisfaction*