TITLE: Genetically Empowered (My Finale & Season 3)
EPISODE: 6 "SOMETHING FAMILIAR" 9/27/02
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. ;)
NOTE: Since ff.net is getting rid of NC-17 fic (which a lot of my stories are, and *hint* this season will have two ratings at somepoint), you can go and find everything at NWP. http://nunswithpens.hyperboards.com/
_________________________________

"Logan?" Dix asked again into the speaker. He looked up from his computer towards Mole. "He's not answering."

"What has the human done now?" Mole asked chomping on his cigar. "Keep an eye on those vehicles." He looked to the others in the room, "Josh, go round up some X's, we might need them." Joshua nodded and ran out of headquarters, while Dix could be heard in the background still trying to get in contact with Logan.
_________________________________

Mel's hands were grasping the cord from the joystick that was wrapped around her throat that the teenage girl was trying to choke her with. She stepped down backwards on the girl's foot, as she moved backwards flinging her over her shoulder. The girl fell forward, bringing the blond with her, rolling to the floor.

Vin's back hit the table and broke under his weight, as a dark haired boy came over kicking him in the ribs. He rolled out of it and back to his feet, his leg coming out, and kicking the boy in the chest, shoving him into the wall. The teen pushed himself away, lunging back for him. Vin's fist came out, with an upper cut to the kids jaw, the boy didn't even flinch, as his own connected with Vin's nose, blood spraying the floor.

Alec kicked backwards knocking the blond boy back, as his hand grabbed the back of the brunette girls shirt, throwing her over the couch. He spun around to the boy, his hand blocked the fist going towards his face, as his other arm wrapped around the kids neck, getting him in a hold. They both fell towards the floor as the girl jumped on his back, her fists pounding into him.

Max staggered backwards hitting the floor as the boy's foot connected with her face. She swung her leg out, taking him down and leaping back to her feet, as his arm came up and grabbed her, pulling her down. The two rolling around, her fists connecting with his face. Shock coming across her features as the boy didn't even register the hit. But it didn't last long, as his leg came up between them, kicking her off.

Mel felt like the room was spinning, as the lack of oxygen was starting to get to her. Her fingers of one hand still tried to stop the girl from choking her with the cord, as the younger woman dragged her around. They were both knocked to the ground when Vin was thrown into them. The cord loosened, and Mel yanked it away from the girl, punching her in the face, "Bitch!" she yelled out with a gasp of air. Vin jumped to his feet, Mel right behind him. They stood back to back as their attackers started to circle.

"Do they seem… a little off?" Vin asked over his shoulder, his hands going out in front of him, waiting for them to move.

"A little?" she asked back, her leg moving quickly as the boy lunged in for her, kicking him in the ribs.

Vin's hands reached the girls shoulders just as she moved, and he flipped her over the both of them, hitting the teenage boy in the process.

Alec landed on the guy, his knee coming up, and hit the kid in the groin. When the kid didn't even make a sound, he angled him more in the headlock he still had him in. His other arm moved to shove the girl off his back. His fingers swiped over the barcode. His eyes widened as he realized it was a fresh tattoo. The girl punched him in the back of the head, and he growled, his elbow slamming back into her ribs hard, send her flying backwards. Jumping to his feet with the teen still struggling against him.

He moved in a circular motion, quickly flinging the boy at girl, now not caring whether he was gentle or not. As they moved to their feet, he sprinted over towards Max, kicking her attacker in the back shoving him into the wall. Max quickly jumped to her feet, and they took their stance together as the three loomed towards them. "There not X6's."

Max looked over her shoulder at him, "What?"

"They aren't transgenics," he said. "They have NEW barcode tattoos."

Her eyes widened with realization, "Familiars…. White."

He didn't have time to nod as the three lunged, and the two transgenics blocked and kicked in unison, fending them off. As they threw them back to the wall again, Alec groaned. "That's it!" he yelled, taking the gun out from his jacket and pointing it towards the teens.

"Alec!" Max yelled at him. "Their just kids."

"No Max… their not just kids." He turned towards them, "Don't even think about it." The two of them paused in front of him for an instant. He saw Vin and Mel pull their guns as well on the other two. His eyes caught the one behind him. He blurred around Max, grabbing the kid in a new chokehold, and pointing the gun towards him. "Okay, everyone, don't move. Let's get this all sorted out."

The kids stilled seeing their leader in Alec's grasp, a gun pointed to his head, and the other guns pointed at their comrades. "Did White send you?" Max asked turning to the lead teen.

The boy just gave her a smug look, "I wouldn't know what you're talking about."

Her face gave him an icy stare, "He sent you to make us look bad." The boys grin was all she needed, and she could feel her temper rising. But she quickly turned, caught off guard by someone running into the room in a commotion. Distracting the others, the two teens jumped Alec trying to pull the gun away from him. One of the kids knocked the gun from Vin's hand, and the other sent Mel flying into the wall.

"Max!" Logan screamed rushing in, and seeing the teens beating up on the others. He brought out his gun, moving it around, trying to figure out what to do.

Max stared at him in shock, "Logan! What the hell?" But she didn't wait for an answer, as she turned and kicked at one of the three attacking Alec. He and the boy struggled over the gun. Two gunshots were heard outside, as the female punched Max in the face, forcing her backwards. The teens quickly got up and ran out of the building, leaving the four transgenics on the floor, with Logan standing in the middle of the room, his gun drawn, not knowing what to do.

Alec leaned on his elbow, looking up from the floor. His hand moving to his mouth, wiping the blood from his cut lip, and looking at his fingers. "Great timing Cale. Perfect as always."

Max just groaned next to him, rubbing her eye, seeing stars.
_________________________________

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
_________________________________

White walked out of his office, patting the blond teen on the back. "You did well."

The boy straightened his shoulders, the other four teens walking in front of him, "We should have been able to do more."

"It was enough," White told him with a smile, but also knowing how persistent 452 and 494 were. "Now get to the doctors, and get those damn tattoo's removed."

The boy nodded, and followed the other four out of the building. White turned around in the hallway and walked back in the other direction. Otto sat up at his desk as White walked into the room. "Everything ready?"

Otto got to his feet, and nodded. "Yes sir, the military has all the supplies, and are stationed around Terminal City. They are ready to move in at the designated time."

"Good, good." White crossed his arms. "Just think Otto, this time tomorrow, this could all be over."
_________________________________

"OUCH!" Vin yelled, and cringed.

"Oh, you baby," Mel said as she moved the wet rag over the cut on his forehead, cleaning up the blood.

He looked up at her with his dark eyes as he sat on one of the medical beds, "The cut stings, and my head hurts."

"Well, I don't know why your head hurts."

His eyes widened, "Excuse me?"

She smiled, "That would mean there was something in there to hurt." She said and lightly knocked him on the head with her knuckles. He gave her an evil look and she just laughed, as she sat the towel down, and started to put a bandage on him.

He winced slightly as she leaned over him, his fingers reaching up to brush against her neck, a purple ring was starting to form around it. "You okay?"

She smiled back down at him. "I'm tough," she said moving his hand away from her neck. His hand grabbed onto hers as she taped the last of the bandage on his forehead.

Logan paced back and forth on the other side of the room, "You weren't answering my calls." He said over and over again.

Max rolled her eyes, and then wished she didn't and groaned again, a blinding flash of pain seemed to explode behind her eyeball. Her hand instantly going to the side of her face. She tightened her other hand on the edge of the medical bed she was sitting on. "Well, excuse me. It's not like I had the opportunity to drop what I was doing and tell you what was going on."

Logan stopped and turned towards her, "I was worried. No one was answering me!"

Alec walked back over, with an ice bag in his hand, and turned to the older man, "You were supposed to wait in the van."

Logan shook his head, "Like I'm going to wait in the van while you get Max killed."

Max thought she could see the hair on the back of Alec's neck stand on end, as his shoulders straightened up, and she reached out for his arm, holding him back. He clenched his teeth, "ME!" he yelled. "I'm going to get her killed?" He closed his eyes, trying to rein in his anger, "If it wasn't YOUR need to play the GOD DAMN HERO, everything would have been fine!"

"I was trying to help!" Logan shot back.

"HELP?" Alec laughed, "They got away because of you!"

"Max…" Logan looked at her, trying to get help from her.

She looked back at him, and shook her head looking down. She couldn't help him this time, and no matter how much she hated to admit it, Alec was right. "Logan, you went along as our look out. The military was in the area, and you left your post."

"I left to..."

She waved her hand at him, "You left, and they came. Taking those kids with them. They got away. White got his way."

Logan sighed, "Well, at least it's over with. White knows you know now. So they will have to stop."

Max looked up at him. Did he really think that made it all better? Did he really not understand? She ran her fingers over her temple and tensed again at the pain. She opened her eyes and saw him ready to speak again, and interrupted, "Don't. Just don't."

"Max…" he started again.

"I don't want to hear it. Not now. I'm tired, I'm sore, and I'm not in the mood." She looked around, and saw Mel help Vin down off the other table. "Just go help Dix at headquarters." She knew he was about to object, and she put up her hand, "Or you can go back to Joshua's house."

Logan saw the look in her eye, and he turned to see the anger still there in Alec's. He took a breath and decided it was better to talk to Max later, when she was alone, and not with the other transgenic. "Fine, I'll talk to you later." He said and quickly moved out of the building.

Alec watched the door slam behind the other guy, and he turned around with a sigh. He looked at Max and she just held up her had at him too, "Don't even say it."

"Say what?" he asked.

"I don't need an 'I told you so,' or anything like that."

"I wasn't going to," he said seriously and moved over to her. His hand came up gently to the back of her head and tilted it back slowly. His other hand came up with the ice pack, and he winced at the deep purple color forming around her eye. He gently placed the ice pack up to her face, holding it there.

She tensed slightly as the cold hit her skin, and then slowly relaxed as it started to numb the pain. She looked up at him with the other eye, "Thanks."

He gave a soft smile, his hand absently moving in her hair. "No problem."

Max started up into his hazel eyes, felt his fingers lightly move over the side of her face. She saw the concern written in them, the gentleness there. Her eyes moved lower to his lips, and she winced seeing the small cut. Her fingers moved up to his face, and lightly moved over his lip.

His eyes widened a little at her touch, his eyes moving quickly to hers, as her dark eyes looked back at him.

She swallowed, not able to move, her mouth speaking quietly, "Does it hurt?"

"I'll be fine," his words rumbled against her fingertips. She nodded slowly, as his hand softly rearranged the melting ice pack to her eye. "You know he just did it because he was worried about you and didn't think." The words were out of his mouth before he even realized he said them. And he was as surprised as she was that he had said it. Because he had no clue why he was sticking up for the guy.

Her hand pulled back and she looked up at him with her one eye, "What?" She was shocked. "You actually think it was okay? What he did? I mean… for a minute there… I thought you might hit him for what he did?"

"Hit him? You think I would actually hit Logan?" He was in disbelief at that. Did she really think that bad of him?

She saw the look, she heard his voice, and shook her head. Wishing again that she hadn't done so. Her whole face tensed, her hand going to hold onto the ice bag, going over his.

He leaned back over her, his other hand going to the side of her face, "Max? Are you okay?"

She kept her eyes closed tight, "Yeah… but man can they pack a punch." He released his worried breath at her words. She opened them again, and sighed. "I KNOW you wouldn't hit him." Her hands squeezed his fingers over the ice pack, "But the thought did go through my head." She smiled, "And I wouldn't have blamed you if you did. I felt like doing it." They smiled at each other. "But I can't believe you just defended him."

His thumb moved over the side of her face, his eyes looking into hers. "I guess I just understand his side a little bit."

She felt the soft caress against her face, and willed herself not to move into it. Her eyes searching his for what he was saying. "What do you mean?"

"Sometimes when you love someone that much, you just don't think things through." Her eyes widened slightly and she swallowed again.

They both jumped when the door opened quickly. "Alec?"

They turned towards Luke, "Yeah," Alec answered.

Luke waved Alec's cell phone in his hand. "It's been ringing for awhile. I answered it for you. I hope you don't mind…"

Alec shook his head no, and moved away from Max, as she took the ice pack from him, keeping it on her face. "No, that's fine. Who is it?"

Luke shook his head, "They wouldn't say. Only that it was urgent to speak with you."

"Thanks buddy," he said taking the phone, and patting him on the back.

"No problem," the transgenic said with a smile and left through the door.

Alec put the phone up to his ear, "Hello?"

{{494.}}

He straightened at the sound of the voice, and then cranked his neck side to side. "Hold on." He then turned towards Max, and tried to give her a smile, "One of my contacts." She nodded slowly, and smiled back. "I'll take this outside. Are you okay?"

She gave him another smile, "I'm fine. Go talk to them. The list of supplies we need is on my desk."

He nodded, knowing that he wasn't going to need them for this phone call. "I'll see you later." He said and walked out of the medical building. He turned a couple of corners and found a secluded spot, and put the phone back up to his ear. "Sorry sir."

{{Are you alone?}}

"Yes sir."

{{Good. We have some information for you.}}

He gave a strange look to no one, "For me sir?"

{{Yes. The military will be moving into Terminal City tomorrow at 0400 hours.}}

Alec's eyes widened, "What? How do you know?"

{{How we know is none of your business 494. Your only objective is to keep an eye on 452, and make sure she is safe. At all costs.}}

"Understood."

{{We will be in contact if anything changes.}}

"Yes sir." With that the phone went dead, and Alec took it away and stared at it for a few seconds. He closed his eyes, and ran his fingers along the back of this head, by his ear. He had no idea how they got the new number to his new cell phone, but it didn't surprise him. These were people that could do just about anything they wanted, hadn't they proved that already? He ran his fingers through his hair.

"They're coming in," he said out loud, and then took a deep breath, walking back to find Max and the others.
_________________________________

Max put her face in her hands, "This isn't happening." She then looked up at everyone that was gathered on the second floor in headquarters. She turned to Alec, "How did you find out?"

Alec swallowed, "I have my sources."

"Are you sure? I mean… that's a big step by the military."

He nodded at her, "I'm sure."

Mel shook her head, "White, and those damn kids."

"Yeah," Vin said, "He's probably got the government running scared from their little joy rides."

"Maybe we should try and talk to the government. Tell them we know what they are up to, and try and negotiate," Logan said from the side.

All the transgenics looked towards the human, and Alec rolled his eyes, "Yeah, great. Tell them so they come in earlier, or try something else."

"If we negotiate…." Logan started.

"They aren't going to negotiate," Max said. "This is White. He's probably got them wrapped around his little finger right now. We have nothing to use on our side. Nothing to negotiate with."

Alec looked at her for a second and a smile started to form on his face, "That's right. We don't." She gave him a weird look at his smile, as he went on, "Yet."

She smiled, knowing by the look on his face that he was coming up with a plan, and by the twinkle in his eye, it was going to be good. "Do tell."

Logan crossed his arms as they looked at each other, his whole body tensing, his fists clenching.
_________________________________

Dalton and Joshua were on the rooftop wiring up one of the video cameras to the flagpole, angling it down onto the streets of Terminal City below.

Luke looked up at the TV screens, "A little more to the left." The view on one of the screens moved to show the street at a slightly different angle. "Good team one." He turned to another TV, "Okay, team two… five degrees to the right."

Dix typed away at the computer, bringing up the map of TC. Other windows were open, displaying troop numbers along with weapons lists. He talked into the phone, "Okay, the ones at the north entrance have, fifty men." A small beep could be heard from the computer next to him, indicating that an email had just arrived.

Alec nodded on his cell phone, as he motioned for the next group of X6's to carry the crate towards the south exit, the next group to the west. "What about the ones at the south?"

Mel pointed towards the supply cabinet, "Open all the doors, get things out and ready." She told the other transgenics in the medical building. She walked over to the freezer units, taking out packs of blood, and moving them to the regular cooling units. She pointed an X7 to the back room, "Extra towels and bandages are back there, bring them out."

Logan sat on the bed in his small room, and reached under it. He pulled out a small cooler, and opened the lid. He took out the small plastic bag, filled with a dark liquid, his fingers touching the tubing running from it. "I have to protect you Max." He started the needle into his arm, letting the blood start to flow into his veins once again. "Maybe what you see in him, will be in me too," he said looking down at the numbers on the bag. The numbers 494 seemed to glare back at him. Anger swept through him, as did the surge of energy from the blood.

"Jeb, Rog, Tella, Wink, and Lace get your weapons and head to the east exit," Vin yelled in the parking garage. The transgenics moved over towards Mole, picking up the guns and hurrying away. "Sam, Chet, Pax, Lori…."

Gem handed a small brown bag to the X6, then another one to an X7. She turned back to Sonya behind the counter, "We're going to need more ration bags." The other girl just nodded, picking up another box and sliding it over the counter. Gem picked it up, and started to hand out more bags as the armed transgenics came through the mess hall.

Luke smiled at the other TV, "Okay that's good team eight. You are now needed over at the west exit." He turned towards Dix, "Everything hooked up?"

Dix nodded back at the other transgenics, as his fingers went over the keyboard. "Everything is set, all ready to record." He pointed to the machines in the corner, "Hard version," and then to the computer, "and backup." He noticed the small icon blinking on the other computer, and clicked on it. The email opened, and a small smile formed, "Interesting. I've been waiting for this."

Max walked back into headquarters after setting up one of the video cameras across the city. "How are the barricades coming?"

Joshua looked up from the radios he was monitoring, "The west side is all done, so is the south. They're still working on the other two."

She nodded and moved over to Luke, "Video?"

"All ready and integrated into the computer." He smiled, "We'll know if they sneeze."

She grinned, and turned around to the open door. Alec strolled in, "All the teams are stationed and ready."

Mole walked in behind him, "Everyone is armed and ready to go."

She nodded and walked back over to Alec, and took a deep breath. "We still have time to try and make a run for it."

He looked around the room at the non-human transgenics, and then back to her, "Where are they going to go Maxie?"

She looked at the others too, her face softening, looking at Joshua. She hated this, hated having to fight. Knowing that some of her fellow transgenics were not going to be around after tomorrow, but he was right… again. "Do you think we can win?"

Alec sighed, "I sure hope so." He saw the look on her face, the worry in her eyes. His arm came out slowly, and pulled her towards him. Part of him surprised that she didn't stop him, but instead rested her head against his chest, and leaned into the hug.

She knew she shouldn't be there. She shouldn't be standing there in his arms in the middle of headquarters. But right then she didn't care. She was worried, terrified even of the events that were going to happen the next day. She looked up at him, "Thanks."

He gave her a quizzically smile, "For what?"

She laughed slightly. "Somehow finding out that they were going to come in."

His heart constricted at her words, and his stomach churned, "No big deal."

She shook her head and pulled away slightly, "It is a big deal." She couldn't believe he wasn't going to take credit for it… actually, she did believe it. He kept surprising her, and then surprising herself when she realized that she shouldn't be shocked at all. "Alec… If you didn't find out… do you know how much worse this could be?"

He closed his eyes, and pulled her back for a tight hug, he didn't want to think about it. The action surprised her a little, but she just went on, "And then… Then you planned this whole thing. Got everyone together. Organized it. Done in no time at all."

Alec shook his head, "All in the training Max. Nothing special."

Max was about to respond to that, when Dix turned around, "Max?"

They turned towards him and she answered, "Yeah?" They both walked over to him, and stopped behind him, looking over his shoulder at the computer.

"I know this isn't a great time. But I just got a response back to a question I sent out." He pulled up the e-mail message. It showed a picture of some of the runes, with words next to them. "It's some of the missing translation."

"What does it say? Does it say who this other person is?"

"Well the good news is that it isn't a warning." Max visibly seemed to relax at that, and Dix went on. "They call the person, the 'protector'."

"Protector?" Alec asked.

Dix nodded, "Seems this person is supposed to keep the 'messenger' safe until they're needed." He looked up at Max, "I guess someone is supposed to be looking out for you, keeping you alive."

Her eyes widened and she took a step back as the words sunk into her brain. *Someone to look over me.* She swallowed and looked over at Alec.

He saw her look and he stood up straight. A sense of relief washed through him, as his hope of what he was doing, was actually for the good. "Max…"

"I know who it is." She said staring at him, her hand moving over her heart, as she pulled the rug out from under him. "Zack."
_________________________________
DARK ANGEL SEASON THREE: NEW DAY!!!! SAME TIME, SAME CHANNEL!!!! NOW ON MONDAY!!!!!
Scenes from an All New DA on 10/07/02: (Yes that means no DA this coming Friday ;-) )

***Basically these next two episodes would be equal to November Sweeps Episodes***
*ON THE NEXT DARK ANGEL NOW ON MONDAYS*
Small explosives went off from the ground and the walls around the entrances.
EVERYTHING IS STARTING TO HEAT UP
Two transgenics went down next to Joshua as her fired over the barricade.
AND IT ALL LEADS TO
Max whirled back around at Luke and his words, "We've got movement on grid eight."
ONE BIG
Vin's gun connected with the guy's face, his leg going backwards hitting the other soldier in the chest.
CLIMAX
Mel's eyes widened at seeing Alec's bare chest covered in blood, caring an equally bloody Max in his arms.