Disclaimer: Nope, last time I looked in a mirror I wasn't James Cameron or anyone else lucky enough to own Dark Angel.
Summary: Sequel to "Then it comes to be." The cult loonies are gone but the transgenics have other problems to deal with, not to mention a whole civilization to build. M/A
Rating: R because of occasional violence and sex.
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It was the end of a long day and Original Cindy was looking forward to going home and having a long bath. The only good part about not rooming with Max anymore was that now she didn't have to compete for the hot water. Considering Max's feline DNA, it was amazing how much that girl liked to soak in a tub.
"And where do you think you're going?" Normal shouted at her as she headed past his counter for the door. "Hot run."
"Un un. No way. It's almost 4:00 and I've been peddling my ass off all day. Find some other poor fool to do it."
"It's for my golden boy. I know you're in touch with them." He held out a fat envelope.
"You serious?" Original Cindy gave him a suspicious look and then grabbed the envelope and opened it. It was stuffed full with sector passes. OC's eyes went wide and she looked up in surprise at him. "Normal, I never thought these words would come outta my mouth, but you're aiight. Now gimme your phone. I gotta make a call."
She called Alec's cell phone and waited impatiently for him to answer. Yeah, what is it, he said.
Hey, handsome. How're things?
Nobody's been shot at in a couple of days, so we're good.
How's my boo?
Still playing politician. Not exactly the best career move for her.
No doubt. Listen, I got a package here with your name on it. It's from Normal.
From Normal? It's a bomb, isn't it.
Nah. It's a good thing. You got someone I can hand this off to?
Yeah, me.
You sure that's a good idea?
Now when did I ever let that stop me? Tell Normal I'll swing by Jam Pony after dark.
----*----
Logan was busy updating his files when his cell phone rang. In the last two days he'd buried himself in his work. He'd put off working on so many stories of corruption and greed in order to help fight for the transgenics. Now it was time to get Eyes Only back to his roots. He fumbled around for his phone, finally locating it in the middle of a precariously balanced stack of files. "Yeah," he muttered as he tried to keep the stack from slipping to the floor.
Hey Logan, it's Syl.
Syl? Where are you? Are you in Seattle?
Yeah. We thought we'd check out things in Terminal City. Can you get us in?
I can't help you. But I can give you the number of the guy who can. Just give me a minute to give him a heads up. He rattled off Dix's number at Terminal City HQ.
Got it. Thanks.
Logan hung up and called Terminal City. Uh, hey Dix, it's Logan. I was just contacted by a couple of X-5s. I gave them your number, but I just wanted to vouch for them.
Uh, yeah. Sure thing. Thanks.
A minute later Dix's phone rang again. Terminal City.
Got room at the inn for four more?
You got it. What's your location?
An abandoned building just west of the market.
We'll send someone to rendezvous. Hold on a sec.
Dix walked over to Alec's office and knocked on the door. "Yeah" came the muffled reply. Dix poked his head inside the door. "Hey Alec, we got four incoming Xs looking for a tour guide. Can you pick em up when you're out tonight or should I send someone else?"
Alec looked up briefly from his notes. "I'll do it. Get the details. Tell them I'll be there at 10:00."
Dix nodded and closed the door. Ok, it's all set. Your contact's name is Alec. He'll be there at 10:00. Until then, lay low.
Got it. Syl hung up and turned to the others. "We're on for tonight."
----*----
Alec lingered in the shadows and waited for the sector cop to pass by on his rounds. But instead of moving on the cop stopped and glanced furtively up and down his side of the fence. Seeing no one around, he fumbled in his pockets for a cigarette. *Good enough* Alec thought. He waited until the cop's head was bent over the flame and then he was up and over the fence. He was halfway down the block before the cop had finished his first drag.
Alec jacked a bike and headed for Chinatown to meet his contact. He left the bike in an alley behind a dumpster and lost himself in the crowds. He wandered up and down the stalls, scanning the site thoroughly for signs that anything was out of the ordinary. It wasn't. Precisely at 9:00 he sauntered up to the food stall. "I called in a special order earlier."
The owner nodded solemnly and reached under the counter for several rectangular packages wrapped in brown paper. Alec handed over a wad of money and dropped the packages into his bag. He slipped back into the crowd, and disappeared.
He retrieved the bike and headed across town for Jam Pony. Again he watched from the shadows before approaching. The street was deserted. The only light in the building came from Normal's office. Alec slipped across the street and jimmied the lock open on the back door. Soundlessly he snuck up to Normal's office and leaned on the counter. "Hey," he said.
Normal jumped at the sound of his voice. "Jesus Murphy" he said in shock. He blinked rapidly several times and then smiled. "Hey, there's my golden boy. It's good to see you. You alright?"
"I'm always alright, Normal" Alec said with a grin.
"You getting enough to eat?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, well, good. That's important. Gotta keep your strength up."
"Listen, sorry about trashing your place," Alec said and pointed in the general direction of the office upstairs.
Normal waved off his apology. "Don't worry about it. I don't own the building."
Alec chuckled. "Alright then."
Normal looked away and fiddled with his pen. "Um, how's the little one doing?"
"She's good, really good. Gem told me to say hi."
"So what'd she call her?"
"Hope."
Normal smiled. "She is that." He reached for the envelope. "Here. These may help keep her safe."
Alec looked inside at the sector passes and then glanced up at Normal in surprise. Normal shrugged, embarrassed. "You're a decent guy, Normal. Thanks."
"Nah. Just being a good samaritan. Now go on, get out of here. I got things to do."
Alec walked towards the door and then paused and looked back. "I'll bring Gem and Hope by some time. When things settle down."
----*----
Alec headed over to the market. He found the building with no trouble. A couple of squatters huddled around a fire in a barrel at the mouth of the alley, but they were so drunk they didn't notice him pass by. He slipped in through an open window and crouched on the floor, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light. He could make out four figures in the far corner. "Hey, someone order a pizza?" he said. He stood and moved forward a couple of paces.
"Ben?!" Jondy cried out incredulous and rushed across the rooms towards Alec.
Alec backed up rapidly and flung his arms out in front of him, palms forward, to stop her from throwing herself at him. "Whoa! No, no, no, no. I'm not Ben. I'm his twin. I'm Alec."
The four X-5s stared at him in disbelief.
Alec ran his hands through his hair. "Yeah, I know. I'm a dead ringer for psycho boy. But I'm not Ben. My designation is 494. Um, if you know Ben, you must be Max's siblings."
Jondy nodded, dazed. "I'm Jondy. That's Syl, Krit, and Zane," she said, pointing over her shoulder at the others.
"Right. Well, Max will be glad to see you."
"Wait a minute. Max is alive?" Syl asked anxiously. "The last we heard she'd been shot in the heart."
"It's a long story, but yeah, she's ok. She's the one that burned Manticore to the ground and let all the freaks out into the world." Abruptly he turned and moved towards the door. "We can play 20 questions later. C'mon." He led the way out the building, the others following closely behind.
They headed in the general direction of Terminal City, sticking to deserted streets to attract as little attention as possible. Ideally the public would never need to know that the transgenics could get in and out of TC whenever they wanted.
Alec could feel their eyes on him as they walked, particularly Jondy's. It made him nervous. It was like they didn't really see him, just a ghost. He didn't want to think that that was what Max saw too when she looked at him. And sometimes it made his skin crawl, knowing that he walked around the world wearing the face of a psychotic killer. Mostly he just refused to think about it, but it was hard to do that right now given the way they were staring at him. He stopped moving and spun on his heel to face them. "I'd show you my barcode only I had it removed a while back."
Jondy shifted her weight, feeling awkward and nervous. "I'm sorry. I get that you're not Ben. It's just, I never saw him again after the escape. I never got to see what he looked like."
Alec sighed and ran his hands through his hair. *It's not her fault,* he reminded himself. *You're the one that looks like her dead brother. Of course she's gonna stare at you.*
"So how do we get in and out of Terminal City?" Zane asked to break the tension.
"Mostly we jump the fence," Alec said, grateful for the distraction. "Depends on how big a crowd we got on our doorstep."
"I thought the sector cops were watching the perimeter."
"Supposed to be. But the cops aren't always that vigilant. When they are, we use the sewers. When the place went toxic the city shut down all access, including the sewers. As far as the cops know, they're still bricked up."
"Let me guess, you built fake walls."
"Yep."
"So what's in the bag?" Krit asked, curious.
"C-4. One of the transhumans is a wizard at making booby traps. He's gonna rig the tunnels. If anyone tries to sneak in our back door it'll collapse in front of them and block all access."
----*----
"Hey boss," Dix said as the five of them walked into HQ a short while later. "I see you found our new recruits."
*Boss?* Jondy wondered, looking over at Alec. *Is Ben's twin in charge here?*
"They're 09 rogues," Conner said in disbelief.
Alec gave Conner a warning look. "They're Max's siblings, so be nice." He glanced around the room, a mischievous smirk on his face. "Let's have a little fun, shall we?"
"Max will kick your ass," Dix warned.
"She's always kicking my ass over something. Might as well give her a reason, instead of letting her come up with her own. So play along." Alec turned to face her office door and raised his voice, his tone urgent. "Max! Get your ass out here, now! We got a situation."
She came running out of her office, fear and worry clearly showing on her face. "What? What is it?" She stopped dead when she caught sight of her four siblings. Her eyes went wide and her mouth gaped open. Alec stifled a chuckle at the look on her face. Max raced across the room and threw herself into her siblings' arms. They formed a giant huddle, each of them hanging on to everyone else. Finally Max pulled back so she could look them all in the eyes. "I can't believe you're really here," she said, laughing and crying at the same time. "It's so good to see you."
"Maxie, what happened? Deck told us you'd been killed. And what about Zack?" Syl asked.
Max looked away. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later. I promise." She didn't want to spoil the happy mood by telling them about Zack's sacrifice. She moved away from the group and walked over to Alec, a sweet smile on her face. "Thanks," she said and then punched him hard on the shoulder.
"Ow!" he complained, rubbing his shoulder. "What the hell did you do, line your gloves with lead?"
"You are such a pain in the ass! You could've just told me instead of freaking me out like that."
"What, and miss the look on your face?" She raised her arm to smack him again but he danced back a couple of steps out of her reach. He caught the quizzical looks on her siblings' faces. "I'm Max's personal punching bag," he explained with a grin. "She just can't keep her hands off me."
Max rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." But then she smiled at him, too happy even to pretend to be mad for long.
Alec smiled at the happy expression on her face. *She looks so happy. Like she's whole again, or something.* He wondered what it felt like to have a family, to have brothers and sisters to be that close with. He shoved the thought away. "Have fun catching up," he said softly and turned to go.
"Alec, wait," Max closed the distance between them and caught hold of his arm to stop him from leaving. "Stay with us."
He shook his head and gently pushed her hand away. "No. They're not my family, Max." He reached out and touched her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed out of HQ, alone.
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A/N: So? How's it going so far? Reviews please!