Genetically Empowered Chapter 3: Ep 2 'Somethings Cookin', a dark angel fanfic

TITLE: Genetically Empowered (My Finale & Season 3)

EPISODE: 2 "SOMETHING'S COOKIN" 8/23/02

WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)

EMAIL: hferguso@niu.edu

WEBSITE: http://eric_greta.tripod.com (Jensen)

RATING: PG-13 (For now, will post alternate chapters if ratings change)

SUMMARY: How 'Freak Nation' and S3 should have been. M/A

SPOILERS: Everything!

DISCLAIMER: All Dark Angel characters belong to James Cameron, FOX, etc. etc. etc.

FEEDBACK: PLEASE!!! I CRAVE IT!!! It makes me want to write more.

DEDICATION: To all the Nuns at the Church of Alec, and the Blue Lady! And a special thank you to those who read, and corrected my spelling, grammar, tenses, etc. You know who you are, you wonderful nuns you. ;)

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A shorthaired woman walked back and forth with a blanketed bundle in her arms. Her eyes were droopy, and tired. Her mouth yawning, as she tried soothing words to the infant that was crying. "Shhh, shh… It's okay," Gem said rubbing the little girls back.

Headquarters was basically empty, only her and Dix were there now. She looked over at Dix on the computer, who was still doing research on Max's runes as well as keeping his eyes on the video feeds. "Dix… I'm sorry about this. She just can't sleep. I don't know where else to take her. I don't want to wake everyone up."

Dix turned with a smile, "Don't worry about it. Her crying isn't as loud as some of the arguing that goes on in here."

She laughed at that, and knew that he was right. Her head turned as the door opened, and Joshua came in. "Oh thank god… Joshua… Please. Can you get her to calm down? She loves you," Gem said almost pushing the baby into his arms.

Joshua cradled the little girl in his arms, and rocked her slightly. "Hey Littlest Fella, what are you crying for?" The baby looked up at him with big eyes, and smiled. Her hand coming up to try and grab at his nose, as he smiled at her. Gem sat down on the couch, her eyes already starting to close as the screaming had stopped. Joshua's finger came up, and he circled it towards the baby, making a little buzzing sound, lightly tapping the baby on the nose. The baby giggled with delight.

Gem leaned her arm against the side of the couch, "You have such a way with her," she said through a yawn.

He smiled and looked back down at the baby, seeing her eyes starting to blink slowly, a small yawn coming from the infant's mouth. His large hand smoothed some hair away from her face, her eyes closing, as he continued to lightly rock her back and forth. Within moments the baby was sound asleep, he looked up to tell Gem, but found her out cold. He walked over to the couch, and grabbed the one blanket setting on the back with his one free arm, and pulled it over the X5. He sat down in the chair next to Gem, and looked over at Dix.

The other transgenic smiled back at him, "We should just let her sleep till morning meeting." Joshua smiled at him and nodded.

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Max turned over onto her side in the dark apartment, her arms moved up and pulled her pillow down more. She looked over at the clock and sighed. *Less than an hour,* she thought and tried to decide if it was even worth trying to go back to sleep.

She sighed again and rolled back over, turning away from the red glowing digits. *At least I got a few hours before they called me.* She remembered that Dix had called and told her that the team had come back, with everything. She had been relieved, like she always was, when things had turned out well, but she wasn't happy to have been woken up. Woken up from some dream that she was having.

*And it was a good dream,* she sighed again, closing her eyes, wishing she could go back to sleep, and it pick back up again. The only problem was, she didn't really know what it was about. She couldn't remember it exactly, it was all hazy. But whatever it was, was a pleasant dream. *At least more pleasant than the current state of my life.* She thought again and pulled the sheet up over her head, and planted her face in the pillow.

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The door slowly opened, and a hand reached out to the wall, flicking on the switch. He really didn't need to, he could see just fine, but it was out of habit. The habit of living around humans. Alec shut the door behind him with a loud yawn. The small studio like apartment, that he now called home, was just like so many others in TC. Old, dark, dusty, and … well… bad. But right then he didn't care, he was exhausted. He had just gotten back from the raid on the weapons warehouse. And after three separate raids in the last two days, he really missed his bed.

He pulled off his black t-shirt and threw it on the beat up old couch. He kicked off his shoes, as he looked at the clock and cursed. His shoulders slumping as he walked back over and flicked off the light. He unzipped his black cargo pants, pulling them off, he fell towards his bed, clad only in his boxers.

His face hit the pillow, his arms going around it, and he groaned. He'd be lucky to get an hour of sleep, "Max and her fuck'in meetings!" he groaned again, closing his eyes. His mind already drifting off.

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They designed her to be the perfect soldier--a human weapon. Then she escaped. In a future not far from now, in a broken world, she is haunted by her past. She cannot run; she must fight to discover her destiny. --- DARK ANGEL

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Max leaned back against the wall, rocking her head back and forth, trying to get the slight crick out of her neck. Her hand came up to it, and started to rub the muscle as she continued to listen to Mel.

"So all the supplies have been set up, distributed, or stored. The lab is up and running. And thanks to Luke and Dix we have the computer equipment we need as well. I've started putting in the medical records of the people we have in Terminal City. While we don't have to worry about allergies or anything like that... We still need to get a list of past injuries. And it would be a good idea to know what is exactly in their DNA cocktail. It can help with treatment."

Max nodded, "Good, tell me when you guys get it done. Also, work with Vin." She said looking at the other X5, "When you get reports of new people coming in, tell them to head over to the Medical building and have them give their info."

"Will do," he replied.

"Good," Max said turning towards Joshua. "How's the food storage?"

He sighed, "It's not working very well. Some are getting more than they should, others not enough. Some of it is going to waste."

She rubbed her hand over her face, and looked around the room. "Any suggestions?" She noticed Alec sitting in the chair, his feet up on the metal rail, his head leaning against his fist, eyes closed. She walked over, and kicked his legs off the banister. He jerked up quickly, his eyes opening, staring at her. "What the hell was that for?"

"Wake up, and pay attention!" she yelled at him.

He gave a long yawn, "Hey! I had maybe an hour of sleep, after the raid last night. And unlike someone else…" he said glaring at her, "I do need to sleep."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't give me that. Manticore trained us to be able to go without sleep for days on end."

He looked over at the others, and Mel rolled her eyes, Vin tried not to smile. "And where did you get that idea?"

Max sighed, "Please. They taught us that before I left, so don't give me…"

He stopped her with a hand raised, interrupting her, "Did you ever think that things might have changed since you left?"

"Oh please…"

"Do you remember a little thing called… seizures?" Her eyes widened slightly. "Do you remember the problems that some of X's had with them?" She blinked rapidly, taking in what he was saying, and he continued. "They found the little problem they had created, and learned that making people, even genetically enhanced people, go without sleep for too long, backfires."

"You've had them?" she asked quietly.

"No," he told her, "I was lucky. They fixed the problems in the X series before I had one. Just like they fixed yours when they got you back."

Her eyes widened, "How did you know they fixed mine?"

Alec stopped, and straightened his shoulders. He couldn't exactly tell her that he basically knew everything about her, at least physically. What she was and wasn't capable of. What every test Manticore had done to her had showed. Then he smiled slightly, "Max… I was your… breeding partner." He said with a wink, and small giggles came from behind her. "I did get to look at your medical reports."

She nodded. That did make sense to her, but she was a little angry that he hadn't told her before now that he knew. But then again, when do you exactly tell a person you know that about them? Then she shook her head at him, "Okay. I'll give you all that. But still… don't try and tell me that you need sleep, from only missing a few hours from just last night. You are such a big baby."

He put his feet back up on the railing, "Fine. Fine…" he yawned again, "I was just bored."

"Hey!" Mel yelled over at him, and his face got a large smile on it.

Max smiled slightly and laughed. She had to admit she liked having the other woman there. Not only to help her pick on Alec, but seeing that he loved to piss the other one off as well. But, it was still slightly different with him and Mel, and she wasn't sure exactly why. She reached out and swatted at his outstretched legs. "Well, we have moved on from that topic anyway."

"Oh really? To what?" he asked, trying to hide his face in his arm, wanting to go back to sleep.

"Food." His head shot up, and she just about lost it. "Oh, THAT gets your attention."

He patted his growling stomach, "Well, now that you mention it, I am starving. Really, Max, these meetings are just too early. If you are going to make them this early, you should at least bring donuts."

"Oh, and coffee," Vin chimed in.

"Or how about those nice croissants?" Mel said leaning back against the wall, her fingers moving in a moon shape.

"X5's and their appetites," Mole said taking another puff of his cigar, "No wonder we are having food problems."

"Okay, then what do you suggest we do?" Max asked the man.

"Get a couple of cooks and a mess hall."

She rolled her eyes, "Why don't we just recreate Manticore right here? I mean… we are already training people again to fight. We are scheduling our own raids of buildings. We're putting everyone into units… Why don't we just get one of the X8's to play the bugle in the morning at the crack of dawn, so we can do drills?"

Alec yawned, "Why do we need an X8, when we got your frick'n meetings every morning?"

She gave him an evil look, "Fine! We'll move the meetings back one hour. Is that okay with you princess?"

He glared at her on her final word, and then smiled, "I suppose so."

She looked back over at Mole, "No. We aren't doing a mess hall. People can cook for themselves." Alec shook his head, and she saw it. "What? What problem do you have now?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." He said, looking at everyone.

"If you have something to say Alec, then say it."

He scratched the back of his head, and looked at the others for help. "Max… that's the problem. They can't cook for themselves."

"Like it's that hard. Whatever. They are just too lazy…"

"Max…" he said interrupting her. "None of us were exactly trained on cooking. Or nutrition, or anything like that. I'm sure a lot of them don't know how to make toast or boil water. Besides… if everyone has to make their own meals, that means everyone is going to have to have their own kitchen, and electricity to run it. Which most of the buildings don't have."

She sighed and leaned on the metal railing. Why did he have to be right? She turned around towards Joshua, "Would having a mess hall help things?"

He nodded, "We would get a better understanding of what supplies we need. How fast we will go through them, so as not to waste food. And it would allow us to keep better track of who got what."

"Okay. I'm going to leave this up to you Big Fella to organize. Get whomever you need to work it out, and keep me informed." He nodded back at her, and she turned back to Mole and Alec. "So, how is the planning going on our newest raid?"

Mole talked around his cigar, "Waiting on recon. We should know within a few hours. Then, we'll start figuring things out. It might not even be worth it."

She nodded, and turned back to the group. "Anything else?"

"Nope," Dix replied, "Same on all fronts from me, nothing new. Still researching, and the news is the same."

"Same here," Luke said.

"Okay then, dismissed," Max said. Everyone started to walk down the stairs, except for Alec who was still sitting on the couch.

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"Yes, Sam, I heard you." Logan said sitting in front of his computer, inside his run down apartment in Terminal City, his cell phone to his ear.

{{Logan, you can't stay there. The blood supply you got from Joshua isn't going to last much longer. It's just not safe anymore, if it ever was,}} Dr. Carr told him from the other side of the phone.

"I'm NOT leaving Sam. I can't," he said running a hand though his thinning hair. "If I leave, Max will be all alone."

"Yes she is!" he growled into the phone, he didn't want to hear anything else. He sighed, taking a breath. "What if I get another transfusion?"

{{I don't know. I wouldn't recommend it. If you keep getting them, the next time you actually NEED one, it might not work.}}

"Or maybe, if I do get one. And I keep getting one, maybe I'll just get immune to it myself."

{{I highly doubt that. More than likely, you will just need to keep getting a bigger and bigger dose, as your body becomes more accustomed to it.}}

Logan didn't want to hear that. "Okay, fine. Moving on. Have you heard anything on the virus? A possible cure?"

{{I've been looking, trying to find something. But the stuff Manticore cooked up… normal people just haven't seen anything like it. The technology is above most of the people I know.}}

"Okay, Sam. Thanks for everything."

With that, they ended their conversation, and Logan turned back to his computer. Many web browsers open to message boards, e-mails, and underground web pages. He pulled up another window, opening up the medical files from Terminal City, a smile coming to his face. "I will find a cure. And I will stay here and protect Max. Protect her from the others and herself. We WILL be together. We belong together. I just have to prove it to her." Logan stood up, his legs shaking, and he had to grab onto the desk not to fall.

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"Didn't you hear me?" she asked him.

"Yeah, what? Do I have to leave?" Alec asked her from the couch.

"No," she said sitting down next to him, "But I thought you would crawl back into bed."

He laughed, "No, I need to wait for the recon team to get back, and go over that stuff with Mole." Alec looked over at her. She looked tired, and her hand was back on her neck again. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that."

"Just a crick in my neck. I think I slept weird last night."

"Oh, you actually got to sleep… and you're yelling at me," he said as he sat up, and batted her hands away.

"A couple hours… hey… what are you doing?" she asked as his hands came to the back of her neck.

"Geez… just relax girl." His fingers lightly dug into her muscles at the base of her neck. "I try and do something nice… and I get yelled at." His hands worked on the muscles, down her shoulders, and then back up.

She felt her neck starting to relax, her head swaying slightly. "Sorry," she said softly, but she couldn't see the smile that came over his face.

He watched his hands move over the skin of her neck, and felt himself move in towards her. He stopped himself short, realizing he had almost moved to smell her hair. He shook his head to clear it… "So…" he started, trying to think of something to talk about, to get his mind off what he was doing, and the small sounds that came from her. "You aren't really worried that Terminal City is turning into Manticore are you?"

She brushed Alec off of her and turned around at his question, "Of course I am… this place is turning into a military state."

He shook his head, "No it's not Max. Far, far from it."

"But everything…"

"Trust me, it's NOTHING like Manticore." She swallowed seeing the look in his eye, and realized that he knew the difference probably a lot better than she did. "Besides, I think a lot of them are more comfortable with the rules and things. They have freedom, but still structure. A lot of them need that."

She nodded and had to agree, a lot of the transgenics did need that structure. If they didn't have it, they felt out of control. Her mind flashed back to Ben for an instant. Remembering how much he had needed that structure, how things would have possibly been different for him if he had gotten it.

He saw the far off look in her eyes, and he immediately knew what she was thinking about. "Ben…" She nodded softly, her eyes already starting to water. He didn't say anything, just put out an arm, and she moved closer, leaning against him. His other arm came around her, as her face leaned against his chest. His hand moved up and down her back, trying to comfort her. He knew it stilled bothered her, and that it would for a long time. "Max… just think… you are now giving that structure and freedom to all the others. So what happened to him won't happen to them."

She smiled against his chest slightly, her arm around him. Even though they argued like crazy, they were still friends. And since that night she had told him about Ben, they allowed each other, at certain times, to be there for each other like this. And what he had just said, got to her. Got into her brain, and did make her feel better. She looked up at him, "Thanks," she said softly, their faces now only inches apart, their eyes staring into each other's.

He swallowed looking down into her dark eyes, "No problem." Their eyes locked, his hand moving through her hair absently. In the background, down on the lower level, Mel hit Vin in the stomach with her elbow lightly, pointing upwards. Both smiling slightly, then both turning towards the door opening.

She looked up into his hazel eyes, eyes that seemed to understand her. Her fingertips rested on his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath, "Alec…"

His eyes never moved from hers, and his breath slightly caught, "Yes?"

"Logan! Hey Buddy. How's it going?!?" Vin's voice echoed though the room from below. The two immediately pulled apart, and Max stood quickly, moving towards the stairs. Alec sighed, and looked down, seeing Vin. The other man smiled up at him, and Alec mouthed a thank you to him. Vin just gave a small nod, and Mel tried to hide her smile behind him.

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Joshua looked into the little makeshift crib and smiled at the sleeping baby, "Ruby, is sleeping so well now."

Gem laughed with a slight yawn, "Yeah, she sleeps fine during the DAY. And with people moving around her, and for you." She said with a small wink. "I think she hates it being quiet."

He nodded, as he sat down next to her. "How many people qualify?"

She looked at the clipboard she was holding. It held information they had gotten from Vin about the other transgenics. "There are a couple that could be good, and quite a few that if taught how, could easily work." He nodded, and she went on, "Only problem is, a lot of them, especially the X's don't want to mess with food."

He looked over her shoulder again, at the small list of names she had narrowed it down too, and pointed at it. "Have we talked to them yet?"

"Nope, they are supposed to be coming in, as soon as they get notified." He nodded and stood up, and started moving some more things around. They took the building right next to the food storage building, and diagonal from headquarters for the new mess hall. Luke and some of his men were busy already putting in the stoves, refrigerators, and other kitchen items they could find in their run down city, into the room. While others were out looking for chairs, tables, plates, and other necessary items.

A few minutes later, Joshua was helping Dalton bring in a large table, and heard Gem talking. "Hi Sonya, I'm glad you could come in. Now, how exactly do you have cooking experience?" Her voice could be heard in the background.

They sat down the table, and then went back out, to get another one. They came back in a few moments later, and moved a few feet away from the other one.

"I helped out in the kitchen every so often, and was one of the people who brought food down to the non-human transgenics."

The two guys sat down the table, and Joshua turned to the two women talking. The one that Gem called Sonya, was standing with her back to him. She was quite tall, with shoulder length white hair. "Also, I've been cooking for myself and some others since the escape. I mean… it's not hard to read a recipe book."

Gem laughed, and looked over the woman's shoulder, and motioned for Joshua. He walked over, "Well, I think we found at least one cook. Joshua this is Sonya, Sonya… Joshua."

The woman turned towards him, and he smiled at her. Her black nose, and bright blue eyes looking back at him. She brought up her hand and he shook it. "Nice to meet you," he said and looked back at Gem, who had a smile on her face.

"I'll keep interviewing people, and get some other helpers as well. How about you show her around, so she can try and get things started?"

Joshua nodded, and motioned towards the kitchen, Sonya following him. They walked through the area that was slowly becoming the kitchen. "So… what DNA did they put into your cocktail?" he asked her, his eyes watching her smile back at him.

"Siberian Husky," she said, and looked at the appliances in the room. "One of the first line, they tried for artic climates. But after they perfected the more human looking ones, I didn't get to go on any more missions. That's why I learned how to cook." They continued moving through the building, and then headed over to food storage.

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Max walked down the stairs and over to Logan, Vin and Mel. She looked back over her shoulder at Alec still sitting on the couch, and straightened her shoulders. Then turned back to the others, stopping next to Vin. "Hey? What's going on?" She asked Logan.

He smiled at her, his eyes going over her. "Hey Max. How are you?"

She gave him a strange look, "Fine, whatcha need?"

"Actually, I was coming here to see Mel."

They all gave him a strange look, and Max could see Alec walking down the steps out of the corner of her eye. "Why?" Mel asked.

The older man turned towards her, "Well, I know you are putting medical files into the computer. And I was wondering if you might need some help. I have time on my hands."

Alec stepped up next to Mel, in between her and Logan, right across from Max. "Getting stir crazy?" he asked him.

Logan gave a small smile at him, "Yeah," he said but laughed to himself.

Max looked at Mel, "Mind if he helps?"

The blonde tried not to sigh. She really didn't want to put up with him. But it did mean that someone besides her would be putting in the information, it gave her more free time, and it would get Logan out of Max and Alec's hair. "Nope, not at all. It would be nice." She looked at him, "But, the medical building is pretty damn quiet. I warn you. Luckily it's not used that often, and not needed."

Vin smiled, "Yeah, let's hope it stays that way."

"That's not a problem," Logan replied.

Max smiled, *Good, gives him something to do.* "Okay, Mel, why don't you show Logan the ropes, and get him to work."

Mel gave her a slightly evil look, and sighed. Alec just about laughed at her, as she walked towards the door. "Oh al'right, come on." She said motioning at the other man.

"See you later guys," Logan said, following her out, a large smile on his face.

Once the door shut, Alec turned back to them, "You know. I almost feel sorry for the poor guy. He's got really nothing to do."

Max sighed, and agreed feeling slightly guilty. "Well, at least he helps out where he can."

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"And here's the food reserves," Joshua said motioning to the shelves and some freezer units they had built.

Sonya went over, looking through what was there, and she turned back, "This is it?"

"For now. We just need lists of what is needed. Then Alec and Mole can plan on getting us what is needed."

She nodded, and shook her head at the food that was in there, "Well, it's obvious that men have been getting the supplies."

There were piles of snack food. No vegetables in site. She moved over to the freezer units, and just about laughed at the contents. "I'll have a few lists prepared by tonight."

Joshua smiled and nodded at her, "Well, I better get back to Gem and the others," he said and then tilted his head to the side as she stuck out her hand.

She smiled, taking his hand, and shaking it. "It was nice to meet you Joshua." She then went back to looking at the supplies, making mental notes of stuff that she would need.

Joshua watched her move back over, and down the aisles of foodstuffs. "Nice to meet you too, Sonya," he said quietly as he walked back to the mess hall.

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Mel looked over his shoulder, "Okay, you got it?"

"Yep, no problem. I know all the info you want…" he motioned to the stack of papers that was next to the computer. "I'll just start entering it into the computer."

She smiled, "Alright, thanks." She then looked around, "Umm, are you sure you'll be okay here alone? I mean…"

"No, I'm good. I did Eyes Only alone for a long time, I'll be fine."

"Okay, well…" she pointed to a radio in the corner, "You can turn that on, if it gets too quiet in here for you. I know I usually have it blaring, unless there're patients."

"I'll remember that."

She nodded, and moved towards the door, "Okay, I'm heading back to headquarters if you need me." He nodded again and she left.

He turned back to the computer, and entered in another paper full of data, then looked back at the door. He got up, and locked it. He then pulled up some more data on the computer, wrote down a number, and then walked towards the back of the room, to the refrigerator units. He looked at the numbers that were written on the doors, and opened the second one. Inside had bags, and bags of dark red liquid. He thumbed through the bags, each with a number on them. Finding the same number he wrote down, he took out the bag and shut the door.

Logan walked over to some other drawers, and took out some tubing and a needle. He sat down quickly on one of the stools as his legs began to wobble once again. "Not much longer, not much longer." He said, as he hooked up the tubing, and started the IV on himself. The red liquid starting to run down the tubing and into his arm. The blood hitting his system, a smile coming across his face.

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Scenes from an All New DA on 8/30/02:

*ON THE NEXT DARK ANGEL*

Otto walked inside, "We have some more intelligence reports on her location."

ANOTHER?

Dix nodded, "Well these," he pointed to the other picture of Max's runes, "talk about someone else."

BUT ARE THEY….

Vin looked at Mel for a minute, "You know, I never found out why Renfro kept Alec back at Manticore, instead of him leading us on that mission."

FRIEND?

White smiled as he hung up his cell phone, and turned to Otto. "Well that's taken care of."

OR FOE?

"Get out!" Alec yelled at Mel, and then closed his eyes, angry with himself.