TITLE: Genetically Empowered (My Finale & Season 3)

EPISODE: 19 "CURING EVILS" 2/3/03

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. ;)

GO TO: NWP: http://nunswithpens.hyperboards.com/

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"These idiots."

{{Seattle's hospitals are now asking the state for additional help with the huge influx of flu patients,}} came the reporter's voice from the small television.

White shook his head with a large smile. "Yep, that's it. Don't have room for them in the city. Let's ship them out of the city. Great way to spread the illness."

His phone rang beside him. He picked it up quickly, "White."

He sat up at his desk, his dangerous grin becoming wider at the words from the other person on the line. "Yes, I've seen the reports."

White looked back over at the television, and then turned it off, focusing his attention back on his phone. "Yes Sir, that is one thing you can always count on. The stupidity of humanity."

He nodded a few more times, and then sat back in his chair quickly, "Really?" he asked partially in shock. "I guess our carrier was able to infect a few others before he flew home to Seattle."

His smile grew again, "Flu cases springing up in Chicago, Huston, DC, and Miami."

White mumbled a few times in agreement. "Fe'nos tol," he replied and hung up his phone.

He laughed sat back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk, "They'll never know what hit them."

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"Max… Are you sure about this?"

She looked back at Dr. Carr and nodded her head. She had made up her mind. "Yeah."

"Because once I…"

She cut him off, "I know. I understand."

"Okay then." He took out his pen and started to write on his clipboard. "Well…"

But he didn't get to finish as the door burst open in a blur, and words were being bombarded at them before they even had a chance to turn their head on the intruder.

"I can't believe that you hate me that much to do something like this."

Max's dark eyes went wide as they turned towards a pair of hazel ones. She swallowed hard at the pure pain and anguish that were reflected in them.

Alec's hand went to reach out for her, but dropped before touching her, thinking it was better not too. His eyes closed and his head lowered. "Max… I know… I know I don't deserve anything from you. But… Please… please don't do this."

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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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"She is NOT going to like this."

Vin looked down at Mel with his arm around her, then turned back to look at the computer screen, "No she won't. But this has to be done. And soon."

Dix dialed the phone and waited for it to answer. "Yeah. Sketchy, it's Dix. How is everything?" The transgenic's face seemed to pale even more and his eyes turned to Vin. Telling the other man without a word how bad things were getting.

"Tell him," Vin said nodding towards the other.

Dix nodded, "Listen Sketchy. You three have to go find Max."

He listened to the other man on the line, "Actually… Alec is on his way there, if not already."

Mel could hear the zillion questions being thrown back over the line, and smiled slightly as she leaned into the man next to her. "There's no time for this," she reminded Dix.

The transgenic nodded in agreement, "Sketchy, Sketchy. This is important. Go find Max. Alec will probably be there. The cure for this… it's Max's blood."

A clear 'What?' could be heard and Dix jumped back slightly from the phone his sensitive ears ringing.

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An uncomfortable silence filled the room, until she almost jumped at his words again.

"Please Max."

Her heart almost broke at the sound of the cracking in his voice as he said it.

"Alec…" Sam started, "We were just about…"

Max cut him off quickly, "Sam."

The doctor looked over at her. "Would you mind… Uhhh… giving us some time?"

Her voice was steady. Too steady and calm. Alec slowly tilted his head up to look at her, and saw her completely unreadable face as she talked to Carr. He swallowed hard. He knew this Max. She had made her decision, and when she was like that, it was very, very difficult if not impossible to talk her out of it.

"Sure," Sam replied. "I'll go help out with the other patients. Have the nurse page me, if you need me."

Max nodded and he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Alec watched him go, and once the door was shut he turned back to her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Her eyes widened, and anger started to bubble in her veins once again, "Tell you? Excuse me?"

He cringed. He had known right when the words had come out of his mouth that it had been the wrong way to start. The last thing he wanted to do was accuse her or blame her for something. That was the wrong way to deal with this… very delicate situation.

"Well… I didn't know we told each other things. I mean exactly when did you tell me you were leaving? Or where you were going? Or why you left? Or when you would be back?" He started to talk, and she put up her hand, "Oh no. Don't even try and tell me this is something different. While it might be about different things. It is still in the same range of importance."

She took a step towards him, and poked her finger hard into his chest, but he didn't move back. "And since you left… Well, I kinda figured you wouldn't really care what the hell I did. Besides…" She looked up at him, wanting to see his reaction to her next words, "I didn't think you would care. I mean… honestly, I thought you would prefer that I did."

Alec's heart crumbled even more if it was possible, and he felt like he was going to be sick to his stomach. That she actually believed that, thought that about him, hurt more than he was even willing to admit to himself. His eyes turned back to hers, "I know I hurt you… and you have no idea how much that hurts…"

"Hurt me?" She shoved him a few feet back with her hands to his chest. Max shook her head and turned away from him walking to the other side of the room, "That's what you think you did? That's all you did?"

"No…" He sighed and moved up behind her. "I knew when I left that I would lose the best thing in my life."

She turned around quickly to rebut his statement but stopped short at his unmasked face. *Oh God… He's telling the truth.* But she mentally shook her head, *Yeah… and you thought that how many times and look what happened.* She was about to reply when he went on.

He wasn't sure why she hadn't responded to his statement but he wasn't going to wait and find out. "But I had no idea that by also doing that, it would make me lose two things. One that I didn't even know I had."

She looked up at him. "If you had known, would it have made a difference? Would you have stayed?" His whole body sagged in front of her, and another stab of pain went to her heart.

He closed his eyes and answered truthfully, "No." In all honesty, it would have made him more willing to do it. Because that little part of him that had told him to tell her the truth. That they could go and find out who the person was together, even if she still hated him for not telling her. That she was capable of handling herself. But a… *Baby,* his mind echoed and his eyes tightened. That was a whole different story.

*No…* the word echoed in her head, and it felt like the last bit of her world crashed around her. That last shred of hope seemed to break. Before she let the tears fall, she let the anger return full force, "Then why the hell are you back, and why the hell do you care what I do?"

His eyes shot open. "Because Max. I HAD to leave. I didn't HAVE a CHOICE," he finally yelled at her.

"You ALWAYS have a choice," she yelled back at him.

Alec cringed, "It was the best choice in a no win situation."

She shook her head, "And why is that?"

"Because it was the one that would keep you safe."

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "Safe? Safe from what?"

He didn't want to do this, he didn't. But he knew it was time. Knew it was time for her to know. She had a right to know. "From my mission."

Max ran her hand over her forehead. Now she was thoroughly confused, "Mission? What mission? What the hell are you talking about?" She watched him run his hands through his hair. Watched him try and tell her. She could see the conflicting emotions running through him. "Damn it Alec! Just tell me!"

At her prompting he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind in this all too familiar confrontation, "You were my Job."

His eyes watched hers widen, a whirl of different emotions going through them. He started to speak again, to try and quickly explain what he meant when the door swung open.

The pair of transgenics quickly turned towards the three people that almost fell into the room. Both rushed over to them. Quickly holding on to each of them.

Max grabbed Cindy, holding her up from falling to the floor, "What's wrong?"

Alec looked at the three quickly as he held up Normal, his other hand on Scketchy's shoulder keeping him steady. "Oh no. It's too soon," was all he could say.

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"Yes Sir."

He leaned his head back against the concrete of the building and shut his eyes as he listened to the person on the phone.

"Yes, I've heard the reports."

Otto sighed again. "No, I don't know where she is. He'll just have to come through for us like he has been."

He shook his head, "Yeah. The Conclave his very happy with themselves."

"And what do you know about the Conclave?"

Otto's eyes snapped open. His whole body jerked away from the wall, and turned towards the voice. His hand dropped the phone when he saw White standing there.

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Max looked towards Alec, "Too soon? What do you know about the flu?"

He swallowed, "It's not the flu."

Sketchy nodded, "Dix said to find you Max. That you could cure…" he started coughing.

Max turned to her friend, "Cure what?"

Alec sighed, "The Coming."

Sketchy pointed at Alec and nodded as he continued to cough. Indicating his agreement.

Her dark eyes got huge, "WHAT?"

"He said that it was starting, but it wasn't supposed to be THIS soon."

Max looked back at Alec, "How the heck do you know this? What is going on?"

"We don't have time for this right now. We have to find a doctor." Alec looked at his three friends, "And soon."

"What is a Doctor going to do for them?"

He looked back at her questioning face, "It's more like what are YOU going to do for them Max." She looked at him strangely. "The Cure for the Coming is your blood Max." He saw the realization hit her. Saw the small trembling in her hands. He wanted to reach out for her, but he couldn't.

She was in slight shock. How did he know this? Was it true? What was going on? Her blood? Those and a million other questions were swimming through her brain. But as Cindy started to sag against her, she cut them off, "Let's find Sam."

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He wasn't sure how to respond to the question. What exactly do you tell someone when they discover that you have been working for them under false pretenses?

"Who are you working for?" White asked him too calmly.

Otto straightened himself under the other man's gaze. "The good guys."

White smirked, "That's just a matter of perspective." He started to circle Otto.

He shook his head, "The good guys wouldn't try and wipe out six billion people."

"I think someone knows a little too much about what is going on." With that White brought up his fist to strike the man in side of the head.

Otto's hand instantly reacted, catching White's fist in mid-air and pushed him backwards.

White's back hit the concrete wall hard, and his gaze narrowed on the dark haired man. "Traitor," he spit out.

Otto moved into a stance as White pushed himself away from the wall. The two men started to circle each other. "Call me whatever you want. At least I'm on the right side."

White laughed, "Yeah, sure. Don't tell me that you also sympathize with the transgenic filth like you do with the regulars." He swung out with his legs.

Otto avoided the attack, blocking him, and swung his own fists which connected with White's side briefly before he could move out of range. "Well that transgenic filth has out-smarted you for how long?"

Rage swept through White and he swung out again, this time connecting with Otto's jaw. But the man didn't flinch as he kicked back, taking White legs out from underneath him. White leapt back to his feet, "I'm sure with your help."

"I've done what I can. But five thousand years of selective breeding can't even help you from your own stupidity." White sprung at him again with his whole body, knocking them both to the ground, fists flying.

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A small, dark drop of liquid quickly spread over the contents of the dish. A mixture of dark, squiggly shapes immediately converged upon some irregular circle shapes. The images were then reflected onto a monitor as a small group of people stood around it.

"It's amazing."

Sam nodded in agreement with Dr. Shankar, and then looked at Max. "It's killing the virus."

She ran her hands through her dark hair, slightly relieved. "Is it permanent?" She asked, not wanting to get her hopes up.

The woman doctor nodded, "Yeah."

Carr started to fill some tubes with the crimson liquid, and then moved over to Normal who was laying in one of the exam beds.

He was barely conscious, his forehead wet from sweat, even though he was shaking. He winced slightly as he felt the needle go into his arm. When the vial was empty, Sam then moved over to Cindy, and started hers.

"So, I'm going to have to give my blood to everyone who is sick?" Max asked, panic creeping into her voice. She wanted to help everyone, but she also knew she didn't have that much blood to go around.

Dr. Shankar shook her head, "No. Maybe just a pint or two. We can quickly synthesize it to use. At least for the cases at the hospital."

Sam came back over after having injected Sketchy. "But we aren't equipped to do it for anywhere else."

Shankar shook her head, "And it looks like the rest of the country may be infected too."

Max shook her head and took a few steps back until she hit something. Her body tensed and she turned to find Alec standing there. "You knew. You knew about all this."

He sighed and slowly nodded in agreement.

"Tell me. Tell me RIGHT NOW."

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An uppercut to the blonde's jaw sent him flying backwards. He sprung to his feet with a growl, as did the other guy.

"Don't let your transgenic enemies hear that sound. They might think you're one of them."

White lunged out again, kicking Otto in the stomach, throwing the man into a pile of crates in the alleyway. He just sprung back out of the broken wood.

"Where is he?" White asked as they danced around each other, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Who?"

"You know damn well who. The person who made those freaks."

Otto smiled, "Oh… you mean… your father."

White started to lunge again but fell to the pavement quickly, unconscious.

Otto looked at the man on the ground then back up with a smile. "Thank God. I thought that little dance could have went on forever." He walked over to his phone and picked it up off the ground. Hearing the tone, he turned it off and put it in his coat.

"What should we do with him?"

Otto turned to Steve. No matter what he wanted to do to the man, or thought would be best. He knew his boss would not like it. "We tie him up. Then we get out of here."

The operative nodded, set down the slightly broken two-by-four against the wall, and hoisted the unconscious agent over his shoulder.

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Alec looked around the room. Saw all the eyes staring at him. He reached out, taking her by the wrist and pulled her towards the door, "We'll be back."

He pulled her out into the crowded hallway, and down a few doors. Finding a cluttered, empty office he pushed her into it and shut the door behind him. He could see the anger and rage in her eyes, and he held up his hands. "Did you really want me to explain everything in front of everyone?"

Max sighed and shook her head, "No."

He leaned against the edge of a desk, his shoulders slumping as he ran a hand through his hair. He had no idea where to start.

She glared at the top of his head, "I want answers Alec. And I want them now."

"I suppose the short version isn't going to cut it either."

"Nope."

"Alright." He looked up at her, locking his eyes with hers. "First of all. No matter if you like it or not. I am your 'Protector' Max. My DNA was coded to be."

Her eyes grew. She swallowed and felt herself lean against the other desk in the room.

"It was purely a fluke that two of us were created." He didn't wait for her to register that one. He didn't want to bring up the topic again. Besides there wasn't time to deal with that. "Even though Renfro had no idea at the time that you were the 'Messenger,' she had her suspicions. And she already knew what I was."

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair again, "Probably the only reason I wasn't disposed off after Berris…" He stopped and closed his eyes tightly.

"Renfro?" Max asked, her brain turning, remembering the woman telling her to find Sandman. Alec nodded. "So she paired us off to have you watch me."

Alec nodded again, "But at that point I had no idea. I was just following what I thought was Manticore's orders."

"Then when did I become your mission? Renfro's dead."

He looked down at the floor. "I went after that lab guy who took the explosive out of my neck."

Max starred at him in shock, but didn't say anything as he continued.

"Well instead of capturing him and having him make the cure for the virus. I got caught instead." He sighed. "When I came too, they had implanted me with a homing transmitter with a nice little kick and gave me a new mission."

Max closed her eyes as she listened to him. She didn't need him to explain what the little kick was. "How was I your mission?"

"Well at the time, it didn't seem so bad. They just wanted me to watch you. Keep you out of trouble. Keep you safe." He laughed slightly shaking his head. "If I would have known how difficult a task it was I might have rather choosen the pain from the implant."

She tried hard not to let the small smile creep onto her face. The last thing she wanted was to make this easier on him. But then she looked back at him and she noticed he still wasn't looking at her. Until his head started to slowly tilt up to look at her.

"Max… yes you were my mission… my Job." She saw the wince on his face at the words, "But after a little while…" His eyes pleaded with her, "You have to believe me. I wasn't there because of that anymore. I would have done it anyway." He laughed without any humor, "You see, I have this horrible tendency to fall in love with my job."

Then she understood… partially. So many things were now clicking into place.

"And that was my job, just protect you. Then everything changed. Jam Pony. You. Me. Us." He closed his eyes again, "Then they called, and changed my mission."

She knew exactly what call it was. That phone call that Joshua had brought him the day before he left.

"They wanted me to bring you to them, and they wouldn't tell me why."

"Who is they?" she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.

Alec looked back up at her, "See… that's the problem. I didn't know." Her eyes widened. "At that time, I had no idea. And there was no way in hell I was going to hand you over."

Max saw the look in his eyes and she took a deep breath, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You'd hate me."

"And what do you think I would do if you left?"

He nodded, "But at least you wouldn't go after me. You wouldn't look for them and get yourself hurt."

She closed her eyes, her fingertips running over her face. "And why do you think you have to look out for…" she stopped at her words, "Right… that DNA shit." She shook her head. A million thoughts were going through her head, a ton of different emotions.

He had lied to her. Kept things from her. Left her. *But he did it to protect you. But only because he had too. At first. But what about later?* Her mind argued back and forth and she shook her head trying to clear it. She couldn't deal with all of that now. She moved her hand back and forth, "Okay. Fine. That still doesn't explain how you know all this, and why you are back."

Alec's fingertips moved over the spot of skin behind his ear, "It took a little while to find someone to remove the homing device without inactivating it so they wouldn't find out." She nodded indicating for him to continue. "Then I went to look for them. And I found them. Or, actually, they were waiting for me."

"What?"

"He knew I would come. He knew all along." He laughed slightly. It was like he didn't even have a choice in the matter.

"He?"

Alec's eyes caught hold of hers once more, "Sandman."

Max's mouth opened in shock.

He took a deep breath, "And that's who I need to get you too, and soon."

Max sat back harder on the desk. Her head moved back and forth. All of it was just too much to hear. Alec moved over in front of her, taking her hands in his, making her eyes look back towards him.

"I know I'm asking for a lot, but this is important." He swallowed hard once again. "Max. If you ever loved me. If you ever trusted me. Please… trust me now."

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Scenes from an All New DA on 2/10/02:

*NEXT WEEK ON AN ALL NEW DARK ANGEL*

THE LAST THREE EPISODES ARE ALL LEADING TO A BIG ENDING…

White's teeth gritted together as he moved. "No more playing around."

THE ONLY QUESTION IS…

Max's whole body jumped and the car swayed slightly as a large explosion could be heard…

WHO OR WHAT WILL BE ENDING?

White looked at each one fiercely, "And take them out. No questions asked. Collateral damage is not an issue."