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 Note: Just a quick word on the story's genre. It was listed as Drama/Action/Adventure. As I originally outlined the story, that seemed like the best classification. As I write more (and thus flesh out the fic's framework), however, I'm beginning to find that Drama/Angst is probably the better description of genre. (This is especially obvious in the chapters immediately preceding and following this one, as well as some later stuff that's written but that has not yet been given a Chapter # on account of I don't know yet where it fits in.) For anyone that's been reading this with the expectation of some of the heavy Action/Adventure that I've put into some of my earlier work, I can only apologize for changing the emphasis somewhat. Rest assured, though, that were I able to select a tertiary genre, Action/Adventure would be it, since it's still present (though recent changes have moved a great deal of the action 'off-screen'). I hope that explains everything well enough to make some semblance of sense.
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VII – A Fly in the Ointment"Are you sure you're okay?" Alec asked for the umpteenth time.
"Yes," Max growled. "Ask me again and I'll kick your ass." She scanned the papers in front of her, satisfied that she and her lieutenant had covered everything they needed to as far as day to day operations in Terminal City were concerned. Now it was time to address some of the major issues, to look at the big picture.
"'Cause you know, Max, you really don't seem okay," Alec commented. "Is there anything I can do?"
Max simply glared at him in response, trying to launch mental daggers into his skull in an effort to make him shut up. She wanted to scream, and cry, and puke, all at the same time. With Syl? she asked herself. How could Logan do that to me? How could Syl do that to me? God damn the both of them.
"I'll come back later," Alec offered, his eyes gazing longingly at the door. And escape. (Probably to a whiskey bottle and a woman willing to play strip poker with him, Max decided.) She wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily.
"We still have work to do," she reminded him.
"Just strategy stuff that can wait 'til later," Alec responded with a sigh. He knows he's not getting out of here yet, but he's still gonna try, Max thought angrily. He's probably got a hot date or something. Screw that. I don't see why he should get to have any fun while I'm so damned miserable.
"This is not a time for your 'why do today what you can put off 'til tomorrow' crap," Max spat. "Let's go – it's strategy time."
"Fine," Alec grumbled. "Seems that McElroy has things well in hand for the time being. From what you said, he has a fairly reasonable plan. It'll just take some time. As for --"
"No," Max interrupted. "Forget all that stuff that needs time. We have to talk about Zack and Kilroy."
"Huh?"
"Both of them will get in the way of any kind of peaceful resolution with the ordinaries," Max said. "Normal people might be fine with Zack and Kilroy waging their own private wars as long as there're Familiars to kill, but they won't be too forgiving once it comes time to coexist. We have to remember the big picture. The Familiars give us a way to side-step the issue of the ordinaries, they don't actually offer us a solution. Eventually we'll have to get over six billion people to accept us. They won't care what we did for them in the past, Alec. We'll have to prove to them that we have value in the present, or at least that the potential future benefits of accepting us far outweigh the dangers."
"And just how do we do that?" Alec asked skeptically, as if Max had just suggested they spend the evening curing cancer and coming up with a clean, cheap, renewable source of energy.
"One of two ways," Max answered. "We can either demonstrate the ability to help the ordinaries reap incalculable benefits, or we can work hard to appear as harmless as possible. We're soldiers, Alec – no one's gonna forget that any time soon. So we have to make certain in our capacity as soldiers that we follow the ordinaries' rules. That means any fighting we do must be sanctioned by their government. No private armies and no personal wars, covert or otherwise."
"Okay, I see where you're going with this," Alec said with a nod. "But knowing what we want to do is not the same thing as having any idea of how to do it."
"I know," Max admitted, happily wrapping her mind around the present conundrum. The more you concentrate on this, the less you'll think about Logan. Another wave of frustration and nausea washed over her as she remembered what had happened at Logan's penthouse. Damnit, Max. Stop thinking about it.
"One other point," Alec offered with obvious hesitance. "Do we really want to stop Zack and Kilroy? I mean, you know, right now?"
"Huh?"
"Both of them have value," Alec pointed out. "Why not use them as long as we can? After all, isn't it better to use up their resources rather than endanger our own people?"
"They're all our people," Max argued. "They're transgenics, too."
"And they had the option of joining up with you," Alec countered. "Come on, Max, it isn't like they don't know where we are. They could have come into Terminal City at any time. Instead, they chose to stay out there and fight. I don't know if we have the right to judge their decision, and I don't think we're under any obligation to shut them down."
"Wrong," Max said angrily. "Their actions are endangering the rest of us. The transgenics in Terminal City have embraced pacifism and coexistence. I won't let these people get killed just because a few of us couldn't see the big picture."
"And what if you're wrong?" Alec asked. "What if Zack and Kilroy are doing it right?"
"I'm not wrong," Max said with far more certainty than she felt. "And if you think I am, then maybe it's time for you to leave, too. I'm sure Zack would gladly accept your help."
"What?!" said incredulously. "Okay, enough bullshit, Max. I know something's bothering you. Something else happened while you were meeting with McElroy. What was it?"
"It wasn't McElroy," Max responded, suddenly burying her face in her hands as she wondered why she felt the need to talk about Logan. Especially with Alec, she marveled. "I made a quick stop before I came back."
"To Logan's?" Alec guessed. Max nodded. "So you two had another fight?"
"No," Max answered. "Not really. Maybe sort of. Things were fine at first. He kissed me… or I kissed him. I'm not really sure. Anyway, we kissed, and things were going great."
"And that's why you're all upset? Have you two found another excuse to dance around each other for another year?"
"It was all an act," Max whimpered, surprised at the beaten tone in her own voice as it escaped her lips. "He's sleeping with Syl."
"He told you that?" Alec said with obvious surprise.
"No," Max continued, "but I could smell her all over him. And I'm not talking about casual contact, Alec. I mean… you know what I mean."
"Yeah," Alec mumbled. "Did he deny it?"
"I just ran out as soon as I smelled her," Max explained. "I thought I was gonna break down, and I took off. I didn't want…"
"You didn't want him to see you cry," Alec guessed. He stood up, crossed to Max, and squatted down, putting his arms around her in as comforting a hug as he could muster. "It's okay, Max."
"No, it isn't," Max blubbered, no longer caring that tears were streaming down her face and sobs were causing her to shake like an epileptic playing video games. "I… I can't even think about it. I think I love him, Alec, and I don't know what to do."
"You think you love him?" Alec asked with amusement. "Of course you love him, Max. You expect me to believe you didn't know before now?"
"Shut up," she responded, her reproach sounding comical through her tears.
"Fine," Alec grumbled, holding Max a little more tightly. "But if you want I should break his legs or somethin', you'll let me know, right?"
"Sure," Max replied, smiling despite herself. She looked up at Alec, and was amused by the fact that he clearly had no idea whether his mirth was welcome or not. "Thanks," she whispered.
"There was nothing to it," Alec said with a proud humility that made him sound as if he'd just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," Max assured him. "I feel much better now, actually. Maybe there's something to all that touchy-feely hippie crap about just letting yourself cry when you need to."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Alec assured her.
"I know you won't," Max responded with a faux wicked smile, "Because you know what would happen to you if you did."
"Well, not for certain, "Alec commented, "but I can imagine. And it's very, very scary." Again Max was forced to smile.
"Seriously, we have to get back to work," she said.
"Well, my opinion hasn't changed," Alec replied grimly. "I think we should keep Zack and Kilroy in play."
"Zack's flipped out," Max retorted. "He's been hitting the Familiars left and right, almost happy that they've used ordinaries as human shields. He doesn't care, Alec – he blows up the innocent people, too."
"It's a strategically sound decision," Alec countered. "You should know that."
"I know it's tactically sound, but it's morally reprehensible," Max argued. She heard a soft, disappointed sigh escape Alec's lips when she started talking about morality again, but she ignored him and continued. "Joe Public on the streets doesn't give a rat's ass whether Zack's decisions are strategically sound. He's not willing to debate the inevitability of collateral damage. All he's gonna care about down the road is that a group of transgenics took the law into their own hands and started waging war with no regard for who got in their way. The ordinaries are already afraid of us, Alec. Why in the world should we do anything that could justify their fears?"
"I see what you're saying," Alec answered. "I really do, Max. But in the end it's all for the better. If Zack eases up, or if we take him out of play, our enemies might get enough breathing room to launch some new doomsday scenario. Then we'd be guilty of not using every resource at our advantage to prevent billions of deaths. We could end up doing more damage through inaction."
"Better a mistake than a regret," Max muttered to herself, though she knew that Alec's genetically enhanced sense of hearing had likely allowed him to make out all of her words. "No, I've given that philosophy a little too much weight lately," she finally said. "We can't take any chances with Zack. I think we have to shut him down."
"And Kilroy?" Alec asked. "What about him?"
"We're not even sure it's really a 'him,' " Max pointed out. "For all we know, Kilroy is a woman. All we know for sure is Kilroy is commanding Deck's old troops, and that he or she has gone out of his way to remain anonymous as he tears up safehouse after safehouse. I don't know about you, but I can't trust anyone that's gone to such great lengths to keep his identity a secret."
"Neither can I," Alec admitted, "but he's getting results. Kilroy's people have protected transgenics from violence, and they've uncovered some intel on the Familiars. From what we know, they also haven't been anywhere near as violent as Zack's people; at least they seem to try to avoid unnecessary injuries. Why not at least leave Kilroy alone? We might as well anyway, you know, since we have no idea who he is."
"I bet Zack knows," Max guessed. Yeah, the two of them have such similar agendas that it's almost inevitable that they've shared information. We can take down Zack and use him to get to Kilroy.
"Maybe," Alec admitted. "But that still leaves the problem of taking down Zack; and like I said, I think that's a bad idea."
"I heard you the first couple of times," Max hissed. "I see what you're saying, but it's unacceptable. Zack's gotta go. Kilroy, too. That's my decision."
"Of course."
"I hope I can trust you to take care of this," Max said, suppressing the urge to apologize to her lieutenant for phrasing her comment in a way she knew he'd likely find offensive. He's a soldier, she told herself. He's required to follow his orders, whether he likes them or not.
To be continued………………………………