James Cameron and Charles Eglee own Dark Angel. My use is in no way meant to challenge their copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned (or any other) copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons, either real or fictional, is unintended (and would really be sorta whacked, given some of the events and persons depicted herein).
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Author's First Note: This story is the third in a trilogy, completing what was started in my earlier stories, Unnatural Selection and Seasons Change. It would certainly help you understand what's going on here if you read those other two first.
Author's Second Note: Back to heavier, plot-driven story. Feel free to write long, in-depth analyses of virtually any/all elements of the story in a review. As you're about to see, I can use all the help I can get. :) This is going to be a bit dark and serious (I'm aiming for a mood something along the lines of AJBAC), not light and fluffy like many DA fics. I'm keeping the rating to PG-13 for content, but think of it as a Tim Burton PG-13, not a McG or Rob Cohen PG-13. If you like light, shippery fluff (as we probably all do from time to time), let me warn you again that this may not be your cup of tea.
Also, please don't ask what the pairing in this story is going to be. I don't write stories with a pairing in mind, because each character is free to go his/her own way. I'll write what feels right to me as the author. If you like that, fine. If not, then don't read it. Just don't flame me with comments like, 'You asshole, Max should be with Logan so make it right,' or, 'I won't read this anymore if it doesn't become M/A.' One or more of the pairings you want may develop. They also may not. I can honestly say that at this point, I myself have absolutely no idea how relationships will end up. I can also say I really don't give a rat's ass. For this particular story, it's the journey, and not the destination, that I truly find interesting. (And no, it isn't hypocritical for me to say that when I've already written the Epilogue.)
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Dreams Torn Asunder
by
Nevermore
I – Bathed in Fire
"How's it goin'?" Max asked Alec as he walked into her makeshift office.
"McElroy is pretty much done looking over the info," he told her. "He figures it'll take at least a week to put the information together enough to present it to the public."
"So he is going public immediately?"
"He doesn't like it, but he'll do it," Alec told her. "He'd rather go through the normal channels, you know? I guess that would mean presenting it to one of the intelligence agencies or maybe a Senate committee. Like you told him, though, if the wrong people get wind of what he has before he can get word out, he'll probably get himself killed before he can do anything. He's gotta put it all out there with one big bang."
"It might all be too late," Max muttered in response. She saw the questioning look on Alec's face, and she took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she had to say. "Since McElroy had the government provide us with a couple of phone lines for communication, I've been getting some extremely disturbing reports."
"Such as?"
"You know the stand-off in the Middle East?"
"Of course," Alec answered glibly. "Seems every news website is carrying info on it. The UAR and the Israelis are at each other's throats again. Nothing new there."
"Well, what initial reports are saying is definitely something new," Max said with a visible shudder. She hadn't believed it at first, but now there was no denying it. The first confirmations of events were starting to come in.
"What?" Alec's expression told Max everything – he already knew. He'd seen her shudder, and he knew that meant the worst. He was just stuck in that most uncomfortable of emotional locations – the moments between knowing and comprehending. The sensation was so intense, so unforgettable, that it usually became indelibly etched in the minds of the people that had experienced it. The question, 'Where were you when Kennedy was shot?' had held a significance for an entire American generation, because everyone had felt in that moment what Alec was experiencing now. He knew the unthinkable had just occurred, but his brain was having trouble processing the information, coming up with some way of reacting. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he shuddered, too.
"They did it, didn't they?" he asked. Max could only nod. "Which side?" Max only shook her head as she walked away. "Both of them?!" he asked incredulously. "They both deployed their weapons?"
"No one knows who did it first," Max finally said. "There were simply reports that people were starting to drop dead along the Jordan River. On both sides of the river. Nobody waited to see if it was an accident, if there had simply been a failure in containment somewhere. Both sides jumped to the conclusion that they'd been attacked, and they let loose with everything they had."
"I don't believe it," Alec muttered. "After everything we went through, after the friends we lost out there at Megiddo, it doesn't matter in the end. Everybody's gonna die anyway."
"I know," Max replied.
"Do you?" Alec asked skeptically. "I don't mean both armies are gonna die, Max. I mean everyone. Genetically engineered bio-weapons have been released not far from the Well of the Seas. The location was perfect for the Familiars; it'll be perfect for the Israelis and the Arabs, too. They just killed us all."
"Maybe," Max replied. "We might survive. Maybe humanity'll survive, too. There have been plagues before, Alec. Someone always survives. Even the Black Death, as bad as it was, only wiped out a quarter to a third of the European population."
"But the Black Plague wasn't designed with the specific purpose of killing everyone," Alec pointed out.
"How do we know that for sure?" Max asked. "For all we know, that was the Familiars' first attempt at The Coming, and it failed."
"I never thought of that," Alec admitted.
"Well I have," Max retorted. "I've thought of everything, Alec. And I can't believe that these bio-weapons, as bad as they are, will kill everyone."
"They won't," a new voice said, drawing both Alec's and Max's attention. Joshua was standing in the doorway, his form partly obscured by shadows.
"What do you mean?" Max asked. Unlike Alec, Joshua was a mystery to her. He'd been raised away from much social interaction, and his canine DNA seemed to have a far more profound effect on his behavior than any of the species' DNA in any of the X5's. The result was man whose expressions and reactions were all but unintelligible to the average human. Only the most obvious feelings were readable, and even then Max felt that some of her perceptions were only the benefit of a year's worth of friendship.
"They nuked it all," Joshua told them both, causing Max's stomach to bottom out more than it had when she'd heard about the bio-weapons.
"What do you mean?" she asked, barely noticing that her voice was little more than a whisper. "Nuked what? Who's 'they'?"
"Dunno," Joshua replied with a shrug, his inappropriate nonchalance convincing Max that he really didn't understand what was going on. But then again, how could he? she asked herself. That'd be like expecting someone from the turn of the millennium to understand what nukes can do. They just didn't have the perspective. Most of the people alive during Hiroshima and Nagasaki were already dead. And besides, those were just two lousy little A-bombs. They were nothing like the one that caused the Pulse, or the stuff that was lobbed from one side to the other in the War of '13.
"This is important, Joshua," Max said, her voice regaining some of its usual power. "How much do we know?"
"Only what's on the news," Joshua told them. Max immediately walked away, heading directly toward the computer that Dix had set up, Alec one short step behind.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Looks like nuclear war," Dix answered with the indifference of a transgenic that didn't seem at all concerned that on the other side of the world ordinaries were killing each other by the millions. Max could almost swear that Dix was enjoying the spectacle.
"Who started it?" Max asked breathlessly.
"Both sides have already denied it," Dix told her, "which is amazing, because the bombs were dropped less than an hour ago."
"How many?" Alec asked. "What kind of fallout are we looking at?"
"Well, at least one," Mole answered, joining the conversation. "The news about this just came out, guys," he told the two of them. "None of us really know any more than the two of you do."
"And what exactly do we know so far?" Max asked, wanting to make certain that she had the full story so far. Lots of people are gonna wig out over this, she knew. There's no telling how that might affect the way they also see us. Are they gonna instinctively want to oppose anything with military connections, or will they want as much security as they can get? I have to find out now.
"You know about the germ warfare they had going on, right?" Mole asked. Max nodded. "Well, this all started up almost right away. If it's any consolation, I wouldn't bet on the bio-weapons being much more of a threat."
"Huh?" Max asked, though she noticed a knowing nod coming from Alec. She hated it when he figured out something before her. Then it hit her.
"The heat from the blast," Mole told her.
"It'll vaporize anything down there," Max said, letting her fellow transgenics know she'd already figured it all out, too. "Sure, hundreds of thousands of people are dead, but so are the billions of bacteria and viruses that could have infected the entire species."
"Which makes one wonder why the Israelis and Arabs would deploy weapons of mass destruction that they then wiped out with something bigger and badder," Alec pointed out.
"Unless it wasn't either of them that did it," Max concluded. "After all, they did both deny involvement in the nuclear deployment."
"Yeah, I guess infecting your enemies with smallpox is okay, but they'll draw the line at using nukes," Alec said sarcastically. "Look, Max, we're gonna have to wait a bit before we can come to any good conclusions. Anything else right now is just conjecture."
"I know," Max responded. "But right now I have to get on the phone. I have to call McElroy… maybe he knows more than we do. At the very least, this could all have an effect on what happens to us.
"To us?" Joshua asked, once again coming in late on the conversation.
"Yep," Alec nodded. 'Max is afraid of how people will react. When things blow up, most people tend to get scared. And the last thing we need right now is something else for the ordinaries to be scared of."
To be continued………………………………
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Author's Endnote: Nope, I never know when to shut up. So now that the story is underway, let me know what you think. I totally listen to people's comments/criticisms/suggestions, so maybe something you do or don't like will be addressed.