TITLE: Genetically Empowered (My Finale & Season 3)

EPISODE: 3 "GOOD OR BAD" 8/30/02

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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Alec walked into Headquarters and nodded to a few other transgenics as he made is way over to the computers. Max was leaning over Dix's shoulder, and Luke was standing beside her. He moved to Dix's free side, and looked at the screen. A couple of windows were open. Two had images of some of the newer runes on Max's skin, another one had an Internet browser window, and the last one looked like a picture of some old document.

Dix looked up at Alec, once he noticed he was standing there, "Oh, hey Alec."

Alec patted Dix on the shoulder, "Hey buddy." He looked over at Max then back to the screen, "So what did I miss?"

Max sighed next to him, "Seems like he got past that road block we were having with the symbols."

"Yeah," Dix said pointing at the screen, and the picture of the document. "I found this last night, it contains some of the symbols I didn't know before."

That got his attention, "So you mean… you actually have it totally decoded now?" Alec asked, his curiosity peaked, even though it made part of him worry.

"No, not totally. It will still take awhile for the rest, and for the newer ones we got. But, I have found out one thing." Dix pointed to one of the pictures of Max. "Remember the ones I decoded before?"

"Yeah," Max sighed, "some catastrophic event, and me being the messenger, blah, blah, blah…"

Alec almost laughed at her. She was trying to make a joke out of it, but he knew that deep down inside it scared the hell out of her.

Dix nodded, "Exactly. Well these," he pointed to the other picture, "talk about someone else."

Both Max and Alec's head turned to him, and in unison they spoke, "What?"

"I haven't figured out who or what yet, but it's someone else."

Max looked shocked, "But… You mean… You mean Sandeman created someone else to help in this… whatever the hell it is?"

Alec looked at her, he couldn't tell if she was relieved, or miffed by the news. *That's Max… always wants to be the one. The one taking the spotlight.* He smiled, "What is it Maxie? Don't like the fact that you aren't the only special one?" She glared at him, and smacked his shoulder. He did is normal hurt look and rubbed his shoulder, even though he had barely felt it.

"Funny!" she yelled back at him, "I just don't want to have to go and find this person, and who's to say they are even alive."

Dix looked up to Max then towards Alec, "Well, I haven't figured out who they are yet. I don't even know if the person is a..." he put his hands up in the air, doing quote marks, "good or bad person yet. For all I know, it might tell of someone that is trying to stop you."

"Like White," Alec said.

Max nodded, but then shook her head, "But I doubt Sandeman would've known that his own son would be after me, when he made me." Dix and Alec nodded. She had a good point. "Maybe it was someone else that Sandeman created, someone to… well let's hope, help me."

Alec nodded again, "Or maybe it's a warning."

"Warning?" Luke asked, as Max crossed her arms not liking that idea.

"Maybe Sandeman knew that someone was creating someone else, someone to foil his plans," Alec said as he looked back at the screen.

"Who would make this person?" Max asked him, her curiosity peaking as well.

Alec shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows. The Familiars. Another scientist at Manticore. Anyone."

She rubbed her shoulders. She really didn't like the sound of that. "Well, let's just hope that it is a…" she mimicked Dix's quote marks, "good person."

"I don't know Maxie. Doesn't seem like those symbols have said anything 'good' so far, who's to say they are going to start now." He rubbed Dix's shoulders, "Let's just try and figure this out as soon as we… well… you can."

"I'll try," the man said turning back to the computer.

Max and Alec turned away and started to walk up the stairs, it was almost time to begin the morning meeting. He followed her up the stairs, and took a seat on the couch, and she sat down in a huff next to him, "What?" he asked her, turning towards her.

"Did you have to make it sound so depressing?"

"Hey, I just don't want to find out later that we should have been worrying the whole time."

She ran her fingers through her hair, and then leaned her head against her fist, resting her elbow on the armrest. "But… if there is someone who is trying to stop me, and it's not White… then who could it be?" She asked looking over at him.

He swallowed looking at her, his eyes closing for a second, a memory rushing into his head.

******

 "Do you understand your mission 494?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is your mission?"

"Watch 452. Keep her out of trouble."

"And?"

"Report to you her whereabouts at all times."

"And?"

494 gave the person a strange look, "You have not given me any other orders."

The person smiled and nodded, "That's correct. For now those are your orders, until we decide otherwise. Dismissed"

******

"Alec… Alec…" Max called, her hand waving in front of his face. He shook his head slightly, coming back to the present. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

He shook his head again, trying to get the memory to go away. The idea that maybe the other person was him, was plaguing his thoughts. That the runes were talking about him. "I'm fine…" he said, his voice uneasy, strained. "Just thinking…" then he remembered her question, "And, no I'm not sure who it could mean." He lied, swallowing hard. His one hand absently rubbing the spot behind his ear, which always annoyed him. *Now… if it is me… am I good or bad?*

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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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White paced back and forth in his office as he talked on his cell phone. "Yes sir. We are working on that sir." He nodded again, even though the person on the other side of the phone couldn't see him. "I know sir. Okay sir. I'll get right on that sir." He said, and then hung up the phone, throwing it on his desk.

"Idiots," he sighed as there was a knock on his door, "Come in!" he yelled.

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

White rolled his eyes, "Uhh, let me guess. They say she is in Terminal City?"

The other man smiled and nodded, "I know, nothing new. It seems like the transgenics are protecting her, and not letting her leave."

White nodded, "They must've decoded those symbols."

Otto gave him a strange look, "Symbols sir?"

White realized he might have said too much, and shook his head, "Nothing, nothing." He walked over and sat down behind his desk, and decided to slightly change the topic. "We need to be able to go into Terminal City, and take them out."

"There's no way we can do that sir. The government and the news media… while they dislike the transgenics, they don't want a blood bath. They just want to lock them up."

White put his hands together, and flung his feet up on the desk, "Then we need to think of something to change their mind."

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Max watched Dix, Luke, and Joshua walk down the stairs. The meeting officially over, she looked to the other four still sitting around, waiting for her. "Okay, as we said in the meeting… we need money. Raids aren't going to work for certain things we need."

"And there is no way that we can just go out and get regular jobs," Vin said as he leaned back against the railing.

"Yeah. Normal has been good at getting us those sector passes. But there is no way in hell he could have any of us as messengers," Alec said, and Max nodded. "Besides, that job wouldn't pay nearly enough for everything that is needed."

Mel nodded, "Exactly. Some of the medical equipment would take months of deliveries, and we can't just steel it."

Mole agreed, "I guess we are just going to have to revert to some of our training."

Alec smiled, "They did train us for stealing, shouldn't they expect it?"

Even Max smiled at that, she had missed her heists. She rubbed her hands together, "I'm thinking some bad guys need to part with some of their… belongings."

Alec rolled his eyes at her, "Bad guys Max?" He waved his hand around, trying to indicate everything, "The outside world is basically all out to get us. I think just about anyone out there, who has money, could be considered a bad guy."

The others all nodded their heads in agreement, and Max sighed, knowing that she was out numbered. "Okay, but we only take what we need. And we at least try and take it from the 'real' bad guys." Alec just smiled and tried not to laugh next to her, and was rewarded with a swat to the arm from her. She looked around at the others, "So, does anyone know of anything good we can get our hands on and pawn quickly?"

"Now that you mention it," Mole said pulling out a newspaper from behind him.

Max raised an eyebrow at him, "Have you already been looking?"

Mole looked at Alec, then back to Max. Max turned to Alec, and titled her head at him, waiting for an answer. Alec slumped his shoulders, then looked up at the ceiling, "Why me?" He heard a small giggle from Mel and gave her an evil glare. "Mole and I talked about raising some money for supplies earlier. We talked about the possibility of it. But we were waiting for it to be addressed before we actually did anything."

She nodded, and turned back to Mole. "What did you guys find?"

"Three things," he said taking the cigar out of his mouth. "One, there is a Rembrandt exhibit at the museum…"

Alec smiled, "And I just happen to know someone that loves his own personal Rembrandt collection." He saw the look on her face, and rolled his eyes. "And after this whole transgenic mess, I'll go and steal it back from him, and return it to the museum, okay?" A smile came across her face, and he shook his head again with a sigh.

Mole continued, "Two, that multi-millionaire Williams, Walton, whatever his name is, moved into town. Reports saw that he put a lot of stuff into one of the safe deposit boxes at the Bank and Trust." He looked over at Alec with a smile, "And we just happen to know the number of the box."

Vin grinned, "I'm assuming we are sure it's some nice stuff," the others nodded. "And since he just deposited it…"

Mel nodded, "He won't be checking on it anytime soon."

"Exactly," Mole said, "And lastly, a pre-pulse television pilot was recently acquired by someone named… Merdock?"

Max almost chocked and looked at Alec, and he covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. "You have to be kidding me!" He shook his head no, and she sighed and looked back over at Mole. "What's so special about it?"

"It's the first show that Garland and Ferguson ever wrote and produced," the reptilian replied.

"Didn't they make a lot of shows and movies back before the pulse?" Vin asked.

"Yeah, and one of the companies that actually survived it," Mel responded. "Actually, I still remember the first movie I saw by them…"

Max waved her hands, "You can tell us later." Mel slumped her shoulders, and gave a pouty look, and Vin patted her shoulder. Max rolled her eyes. "Okay, let's see. Vin, Mel… you take the bank. Alec you get the painting, and I'll get the pilot."

Alec sighed next to her, "Oh no." She turned towards him, a slight look of shock on her face. "Did you forget? It was a two person job last time, do you really think that changes?"

She groaned, "Then who's going to get the painting?"

"I know quite a few X6's that are dying for something to do. Besides, that job is… pathetically easy. You know how light the security is on that museum."

Yes she did know, "Okay… but just remind them of the pressure sensitive floor." He smiled at the memory, and nodded. She turned back to the others. "Okay then, Mel you're with me. Alec and Vin can take the bank."

The others gave her a strange look, "Why are you changing it?" Alec asked her, "I could just go with you to get the pilot. I mean… it would be better, we both know the layout."

She sighed, "Because I don't want to be stuck in a closet with you, listening to your yapping, once again!"

The others snickered around them, "Hey… you asked me to help on that one." He said sitting up a little straighter, "Now as your strategic planner…" he said with a wink, "Since we both know the plans, we should be the ones that do that heist."

Max let out a large sigh, "Fine." She looked around at the others, "Everyone get what you need, we leave tonight." They nodded and the other three walked down the stairs. She turned back to Alec, "So are you going to organize some X6's for the painting?"

He nodded, "Yep, I know just the two who'll get it done." Alec stood up, stretching, and turned back to her frowning face. "Awww come on Maxie… admit it. You are excited about this little heist."

She gave him an evil look, "The heist yes… you and that closet… no," she said standing and moved towards the stairs, he just followed with a grin on his face.

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"Will you hurry up?"

"I could go faster if you would shut up," he said as he cut the red wire, and then twisted the copper of that with the copper wire of the yellow wire. He then slowly opened the window, and looked back over his shoulder at the blond, he waved his hand to her bowing slightly, "After you Madame."

Mel gave him a smile and slipped in through the window. Vin followed her in, and then slowly made their way through the office of the bank, creeping around the desks to the sidewall. Mel took out the small spray can from her bag, and reached up, spraying the paint over the one camera in the room. Vin moved to the desk underneath the ventilation duct, and jumped up. Mel moved up next to him, gave him a look, and he sighed. He put his hands together, and she stepped into them as he hoisted her up. He grunted slightly, "Have you put on weight since our last mission?"

Her other foot kicked his shoulder slightly, "Oops, sorry," she said flatly as she unscrewed the cover of the ventilation shaft. She then pulled it off, and put the cover up into the duct. Her hands then reached up, and she pulled herself inside.

"Hey, help me up," Vin said calling to her.

She started to crawl in the vent, "Just jump up."

He sighed, and jumped, his hands reaching the edge and he pulled himself in. "Just how many missions have we done together?" He asked as he crawled behind her, watching her ass move back and forth as she moved in front of him.

"Just us? None."

"I know that… I mean… as a group."

Mel thought about it for a second, stopping, and then looked back at him, "At least five, maybe six." He nodded at her, and she turned back around, moving again.

Vin thought about it, "Yeah, now… that New Zealand mission was fun."

"Fun?" Mel asked.

He slowly moved his head back and forth, "Well, nothing went wrong. It was easy in, easy out, and we had some off hours."

"You men and your 'off hours'."

He laughed at that, and then turned serious. "You have to admit, that was a lot better than our last mission."

She nodded, even though he couldn't see her, "Yeah, that mission was a total cluster fuck. We got back, what… two days before Manticore got torched? Heck, I think most of the team was still in the medical ward." They got to the vent right in front of the safe, Mel brought out her magnetic automatic screwdriver. She started working on the cover.

"Our whole unit… well... except for Alec."

She took out the screws, and they both removed the cover. She moved her upper half into the room, and reached out, spraying another camera with black paint. Then she dropped down to the floor, Vin following her. "Yeah, and that's the reason everything got messed up." She walked towards the safe, getting more stuff out of her bag, as Vin pried open the face of the keypad. "I mean, nothing against 538. He was great if things went according to plan…"

"But royally fucked up when it didn't," Vin responded and she nodded. He looked at her for a minute, "You know, I never found out why Renfro kept Alec back at Manticore, instead of him leading us on that mission."

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"Will you knock it off?" She screamed in a whisper at him.

"What?" Alec asked from behind her.

"Watch your hands!"

"I'm not doing anything! I can't help it if they have more stuff in this closet than last time, meaning less room." He said, trying to move his hands to make a point, but they just hit her ass again.

She growled slightly, and turned facing him, "This is exactly why I didn't want you to come with me."

"Just relax," he rolled his eyes at her.

"Relax?" She could feel her temper rising, "I'm stuck in this damn closet with you again, and as usual the guards are late in making their rounds."

"Geez Maxie, if you keep this up, I may begin to think that you don't really like me," he grinned at her.

She wanted to reach up and smack him, "I should have had Mel come with me. Then you could be talking to Vin, and NOT me. And there would be more room in here! But…. NOOOOOO. You just have to tag along, like you always do. Making a royal pain in the ass out of yourself. Making comments, and everything." She started to ramble on and on.

Alec heard the guards coming, "Max…" But she wasn't listening. She just kept going on about how he shouldn't be there. How she could have done it herself. How someone else could have went with her. "Max…" He said again, trying to get her attention. She still wouldn't listen. He was starting to worry, because they were getting closer. And even though she was talking in a whisper, if they passed by, they would hear her. He tried again, "Max…" But again she just kept going, cutting him off. He heard the footsteps getting closer, and he did the only thing he knew of to shut a woman up. His mouth quickly caught hers, his body pushing her up against the wall, thus freeing his hands to move to her face.

Her body stilled instantly as his lips came crashing down onto hers, shock going through her, her body stiffening. Then the feeling washed over her, his fingers on her cheek, and she was drowning in him. Her hands were pressed up against his hard chest, as his lips moved against hers, her head starting to spin.

His mouth tasted hers. His fingers felt her soft skin of her cheek as they moved back into her hair. He was losing himself in the kiss, in her, and then another part of his mind heard the footsteps walk by, and he remembered why he had done what he did. His mind realizing instantly what a bad idea it was, and he pulled back.

She felt him tense and pull away, she looked up at him with big eyes, as reality floated back to her senses. She was about ready to ask him why he did that, when he put a finger over her lips, and mouthed to her, 'Guards.' She looked through the slits in the door, and watched the guards move down the hall. Once they were gone, she looked back at him, "What the hell did you do that for?"

Alec knew he was in trouble, big, big trouble. "Well… you wouldn't shut up."

She blinked at him, "You kissed me to shut me up?!?" She was pissed, very pissed. But was it because of him kissing her, or the reason he did so? Max tried to shake the thought from her head, and focus on her anger.

"Well you weren't listening to me…"

She cut him off, "That still doesn't give you the right to do that!"

He closed his eyes for a second, "Whatever, let's just get the pilot and get out of here."

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Vin and Mel were loading up the gems, gold, and silver out of the box and into their bags. "You don't think that Renfro just kept Alec there to be Max's breeding partner do you?" Vin asked.

Mel took another handful, "Who knows what went on in Renfro's head. I never liked her much. But it is a possibility." She zipped up her bag. "But why put her with him?"

Vin laughed, "Maybe they thought he would be the only one able to handle her."

She shook her head, as he put the box back, shutting the small door. Both hoisting their bags back onto their backs, and walking out of the vault, avoiding the laser sensors. She snickered at his comment, "Yeah, the girls were NOT happy to know that an '09 had gotten him."

Vin rolled his eyes, as she leaped up into the vent as he closed the vault. He then jumped up, pulling himself back inside as well. "Oh come on, just cause the guy was the best at everything that Manticore held records for, doesn't mean he was the best at THAT too." He heard her laughing up ahead of him, and he shook his head following her.

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Max was putting the reel into her bag, as Alec was shutting the safe door. She hoisted it back up on her back, and he followed her to the door, she stopped quickly, and he ran into her. "Hey, watch it." She yelled back at him, the first one to saying anything since they had left the closet.

"Why'd you stop?"

She listened through the door, "I thought I heard something."

He listened, and heard nothing. "No one's out there, let's go before the guards get back. So we can get out of here and not have to wait in the closet again."

Max nodded, and opened the door. They quickly made their way down the hall, past the closet and rounded the corner. She was just about to turn the next one, when a hand pulled her back by her backpack. She was going to turn around to ask what he was doing and found herself being pulled into another room.

"What are you doing?" She asked him. His thumb pointed at the door, and then she heard the sound of footsteps again.  The guards were coming back. She rolled her eyes and looked up at him, his face only a few inches from hers. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at him, look at those lips, those lips that had kissed her. *To shut me up,* she thought again, and she could feel her blood starting to boil once again. She heard the guards walk past, and she turned back to him, "You couldn't have found a bigger room to hide in?"

He sighed, "Excuse me! Next time I'll look for a room with a view."

She pushed him away and quickly walked out of the room, not wanting to be near him, not wanting to lean back up and wrap her arms around…. *Stop!*

She barged her way ahead of him, and he followed her. "I'm sorry, okay? Geez, Max… I didn't know what else to do." He apologized, he didn't know what else to do. But did she really have to be THAT mad at him for it? Heck, he was mad enough at himself for doing it, for letting himself do it. "I mean… was it THAT horrible?"

Max spun around to look at him, "YES!" she hissed at him. *Horrible, because I don't want to think of you like…* She saw him blink in shock at her words and quickly, before she could even realize it was out of her mouth, she spoke once more, "And don't you EVER do it again."

The conviction in her words pierced right though him, the anger evident in her voice, and he nodded, his jaw tense, his eyes going cold. "Fine." He said as they both made it out the window.

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

"What is sir?"

"Just a little something that should get the government and the news media to see our side of things." White stood up and looked at the clock, "It's late Otto. I'm going home. Hopefully tomorrow will have better news."

Otto nodded and watched him walk out the door, "Good night sir," he said as the door closed. He then took his phone out of his coat as he looked at the door. He dialed a number and waited, hearing the other person on the line he spoke, "It's me."

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Max stormed into headquarters setting the film reel down on the table in a huff. Mole and Joshua looked up from the corner with a strange look, and then looked over as Alec came walking in storming past her and towards the back and his office. "What happened?" Vin asked Alec.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" he yelled as he walked into the other room, and slammed the door behind him.

Mel and Vin exchanged looks, and the blond looked at the other woman, "Max?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened!" she yelled, and then walked quickly into her office.

"Like hell," Mole responded and everyone else nodded in agreement.

Mel got up and walked back to Alec's door. She knocked lightly, "What?" came the angry voice from behind it. She slowly opened the door and moved inside. What she found made her eyes widen in shock. The chair was turned over, the stuff on his desk was now on the floor, and she swore she could see a dent in the wall.

"Alec… what happened?" She asked softly.

His shoulders tensed, as he felt the anger run through him. He wasn't sure if he was angrier with HER, or himself. *Why the hell did I have to do that?* His jaw tensed, "Mel… don't start… this isn't the time."

"Alec…"

"Get out!" he yelled at her, and then closed his eyes, angry with himself. He put up his hands, taking a breath, and then more quietly, "Please… not now."

She nodded at him, knowing that she wasn't going to get anything out of him when he was like that. She backed out of the door, and shut it behind her. Then she quickly walked over to the other door, but this time she didn't knock as she barged her way inside.

Max spun around to look at her, "What the hell?"

Mel walked right up to her, not answering her, "What did you do to him?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Why the hell is he in his office, tearing everything apart? What the hell did you accuse him of now? What did you do?"

Max's eyes widened, "What did I do? ME? I did NOTHING! It was HIM!"

Mel blinked slightly, taking a step back, "What did he do?"

"He kissed me!" she yelled back at her. Mel was slightly shocked, but before she could say anything, Max went on. "He kissed me to shut me up! He heard the guards coming, and instead of telling me that. Instead of putting a hand over my mouth, instead of anything else. He KISSED me!"

Mel knew exactly why Max was pissed, even though the other girl probably didn't want to admit it to herself. She was mad because he had kissed her for a reason other than just wanting to kiss her. But… "Then why is he so angry?" She asked, and then turned around and walked out of the room, shutting the door.

Max slammed her hands down on the table in frustration, shaking her head, she didn't have the foggiest clue.

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Next Week…. RERUN… ;) re-read GE or one of my others ;) LOL

All NEW EPISODE on 9/13/02:

*ON THE NEXT DARK ANGEL*

"Sandeman, he created us." Joshua motioned around the room, then looked back at Sonya, "All of us."

THINGS ARE STARTING TO COME TOGETHER

"My editor. He's got a new news story for me." Sketchy took a drink of his beer.

PEOPLE ARE TAKING SIDES

"They are as human as either one of us, maybe more so than some of us." Normal said looking at the Reverend.

BUT WHAT SIDE?

{{We will be in touch.}} The phone went dead  Alec's eyes closed, his hand gripped the phone tightly.