TITLE: Genetically Empowered (My Finale & Season 3)
EPISODE: 20 "SEEKING HOPE" 2/10/03
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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A slow trickle of liquid could be felt sliding down the back of his head. His hand moved to the feeling, but stopped instantly by the restraints holding him. His eyes slowly opened and found his wrists handcuffed around a very large steel pipe going from the cement floor up into the rafters.
White's jaw tensed and he yelled in frustration. The sound of running footsteps echoed through the large room, as soldiers rushed inside.
"Sir?"
White looked at his men, "What the hell are you standing there for? Get these damn things off me!" He yelled, pulling at the handcuffs around the pipe in a rage.
One of the men rushed out of the room, while another went over to him looking at the metal cuffs. The soldier who had left ran back in and clipped the handcuffs apart. White quickly stood and stalked to the door.
"Sir, we can get the key…"
But he didn't listen to the rest of the soldier's words as he walked out of the room and to his office. His teeth gritted together as he moved. "No more playing around."
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"Trust me."
She closed her eyes, letting his words run through her brain, feel his hands holding on to hers. Opening her eyes, she stared back into his. The hazel spheres shining up at her, begging her to understand, to believe in him just one more time.
His reasons for leaving replayed in her head. The hurt when he left without a word replayed in her heart. The feeling of them together replayed in her soul. And she knew her answer, knew it with her whole being. "I do trust you Alec."
She watched his eyes close, and the tension in his body dissolve. He leaned forward slowly, his lips moving to her knuckles, kissing them softly. His voice was so quiet, her sensitive ears had to strain to hear his words, "Thank you."
Max pulled her hands away from him, "Don't thank me." He quickly looked up at her. "Don't you dare think that just because I'm agreeing to go with you that I forgive you."
He nodded, "I know."
She looked down at the floor. Silence stretched through the room for a moment. Her eyes slowly moved back up to his, "Well, then what are we waiting for?"
"Right," he said quickly standing to his feet and followed her to the door and out into the hall. Both finding the other doctors and quickly checking on their friends before they left the hospital.
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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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"Oh that's good to hear."
Vin nodded in agreement at the blond next to him, as they listened to Dix talking on the phone. "It looks like Alec came through." They smiled at each other as Cindy continued to update the transgenic on the results of the blood on her, Normal, and Sketchy.
The door opened, and everyone turned to see Max walking in followed by…
"Alec!" Mel broke away from the crowd running over to him and throwing herself at him. Her arms hugging him tight.
He staggered backwards at the force of it for a second, but before he could hug her back she pulled away and her fist connected with his gut hard. He fell backwards hard, landing on his ass from the unexpected attack. Her form loomed over him, her fists coming towards him. "How dare you!" She screamed at him.
His hands came up to deflect her, as she continued to scream and try to hit him. "Do you know how worried we were?" She yelled again, her fists moving forward.
Max and Vin rushed behind her, each pulling and arm backwards. Pulling her away from Alec still on the floor trying to defend himself.
"What the hell are you doing?" Max yelled at her with shock on her face.
Mel shook her head and looked at the other woman. "You actually have a problem with me beating him up?" she asked shocked, remembering how angry Max had been with him.
"Yeah," she replied taking her hands from the other woman, who seemed a little calmer. "You're gonna have to wait in line. I get first dibs."
Vin pulled away and extended his hand out to his friend still sitting on the floor watching the two women in a slight daze. Alec took it and was quickly back on his feet. "Thanks," he told him quietly and Vin just nodded.
Alec put out his hands. "Listen. I know I have a lot of explaining to do. I know I'm on everyone's shit list." He closed his eyes and took a breath. "But all of that is going to have to wait right now."
Max nodded in agreement, "Yeah. We have bigger fish to fry." She ran her hand over her forehead as she looked at the others. "You two are going to have to be in charge along with Mole while we're gone."
Joshua moved over to the group, "Where are you going?"
She turned towards him. "Alec needs to take me to see Sandman."
Joshua's eyes grew big, "I'm going with you."
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He drummed his fingers on his desk as he looked at the papers in his hand. He fumed, grinding his teeth.
{{It seems like the local doctors have found a way to treat the illness.}}
White's head spun towards the television, "What?"
{{Some patients have already been treated with an experimental serum…}}
White's hands turned into fists, and one hit his desk with a loud bang. He already knew the answer, "452…." He stood quickly, "And I'm sure 494 wasn't far behind."
He took out his cell phone and quickly dialed. Upon hearing the receiver pick up, he spoke, "We end this now. We end HER."
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"No!"
"But Little Fella…" Joshua's eyes grew bigger looking at her, "Father…"
"No Josh, it's too dangerous."
"But…"
"No," Max said again holding up her hands not wanting to hear it.
Joshua growled slightly, "Yes…"
Max was about to disagree again when Alec raised his hands and interjected. "Okay. Fine. You're going Josh. Go and get your stuff together, and be back here in five minutes." Joshua nodded at him and hurried out of the room.
Max looked at him in shock, "You did NOT just…"
He cut her off again. "Listen. We don't have time to argue about this. Besides… Joshua remembers Sandman. He'll know for sure if it really is him."
She tilted her head to the side looking at him, "You're still worried about it. Still worried about…"
Alec looked back at her, "This is something I can't... We can't be wrong about. There is too much at stake."
Max nodded in agreement. He had a good point. "Fine. But that doesn't mean I like it."
"Never said that I liked any of this fuckin' mess."
She nodded again, "Okay, give me a few minutes to round up my stuff. I'll be right back." With that she turned and quickly headed out of headquarters.
Alec listened to the door slam behind him and sat down heavily in the closest chair. "So… you gonna tell us what the hell is going on?" came Mel's voice.
He rested his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands, "Where do I even begin?"
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"Where are you going?"
"To see Father."
Sonya moved out of the kitchen in the cafeteria and towards Joshua. She looked at the pack on his back, then back into his eyes, "For how long?"
He shook his head, "I don't know."
She nodded and wrapped her arms around him, putting her face into his chest. His arms moved around her, hugging her close. She then pulled away slightly to look up at him, and he rested his forehead against hers. Her hand came up to the side of his face, "Be careful."
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"Damn."
"You can say that again," Mel replied to Vin's statement as Alec's words were starting to sink into her brain.
Vin looked over at the other man from his seat on the couch. "Talk about a no win situation."
Alec laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Yeah, tell me about it."
Mel looked back at Alec, "Well, at least you talked her out of having…" she stopped seeing the look on his face. "Oh no… you did stop her right?"
He swallowed, "Yeah… sort of."
"Sort of?" Vin asked.
Alec turned to the other man. "Her and Dr. Carr were in the room getting ready for it when I got there."
Mel closed her eyes shaking her head. She still couldn't understand it.
"I tried to talk to her, talk her out of it. But… well… we got side tracked."
Vin nodded in understanding, "The illness." Alec nodded. "So Max stopped to help her friends."
Alec nodded again, his hand coming to his forehead. She had stopped to save them. And now she was stopping to save 'humanity.' The thought felt like a huge weight on his shoulders, and for some reason he couldn't fully lift his head anymore.
"Well," Vin started running his hand though his dark hair, "After this is all taken care of. You can make sure she doesn't."
Alec looked up at his friend, "Oh really? What am I supposed to do? Force her to have my baby? Force her to have something she so obviously doesn't want?"
"Alec… you know that's not why she was doing it," Mel started.
"Oh really?" he asked turning to her. "No. She just hates me so much that she is willing to do that." He closed his eyes again with a sigh. The pain in his heart too much to even continue with his thoughts. "I have no idea what she is going to do after all this, and I have no power to stop her."
"If she does it, doesn't she know how much that would kill you?" Mel asked.
He shook his head, then looked back at her, "Do YOU really blame her for feeling like that?"
"It's no excuse…" Vin started but stopped and they all turned at hearing footsteps at the top of the stairs.
"We ready to go?" Max asked quietly holding a black backpack.
Alec quickly stood to his feet, and turned to see Joshua walk into headquarters, "Yeah. Let's get going." He took the pack from her, flung it over his shoulder and quickly descended the stairs.
Max looked at the other two for a minute, turned her eyes down to the floor in thought and then turned following him down to the main level.
"Be careful!" Mel yelled out from the second story.
"We will," Alec returned and looked up at Vin, "And you'll take care of everything?"
Vin nodded, "Always."
Alec nodded knowingly, opened the door, and followed Max and Joshua outside.
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A group of men stood around another holding a large map. Military vehicles surrounded them. The loud sound of a helicopter making the man in the middle yell so the other could hear him.
"They will be heading out of the city, if they aren't already. We will have the sector points guarded. Find them."
All of White's men nodded around him, and he looked at each one fiercely, "And take them out. No questions asked. Collateral damage is not an issue."
The men nodded again, and then ran off to their vehicles.
White smiled, "No more running and hiding 452. No more."
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Alec drove the black sports car out of their secret exit of Terminal City, but his foot hit the breaks immediately upon turning the corner.
A navy blue car was parked across the road in their path. He turned to look at Max beside him, then his eyes went to the rearview mirror, glancing past Joshua in the backseat to look for a way back inside. His eyes moved back out to the front again a split second later analyzing the situation.
She caught the glimpse of the two men in the car, and saw them getting out quickly. "They're White's guys," she said recognizing them.
Alec threw the car into reverse, as the two men started waving their hands frantically at them. His ears picking up their words just as he gunned the car to go backwards, his foot hit the break again.
Everyone lurched forward. Max's eyes went wide looking at him. "What are you doing?" Then she heard what they were yelling.
"White knows! He's after you!"
Alec and Max looked at each other for a second. "You don't think?" she asked him.
He raised his shoulders, "It's possible. I wouldn't put anything past anybody anymore." He slowly lowered the window as his other hand moved to grip the gun at his side.
Otto and the operative rushed over to the car. The dark haired man stopped as he got to the side of the door, raising his hand for the other to stop a few feet away. He looked into the car seeing Max, and then turned his attention back to the man behind the wheel. "You have to get her to Sandman now."
Alec looked at him, "Who the hell are you? And how do you know that?"
"We work for Sandman," he motioned to himself and the other guy.
"No, you work for White. How the hell can we trust you?" Max asked.
"Who do you think kept Sandman informed of what White was up too?" he said pointing to himself. "And who do you think kept Terminal City up to date on things too?" he said motioning to Steve.
Alec's eyes narrowed on him, still not trusting him. "Fine. What do you have for us?"
"White knows about us. He knows everything about Max. He's coming after you. He's got people at all the check points."
Alec's fist hit the steering wheel, "Just fuckin' great!"
"We can get you past the check points. And we can get you to Sandman. But we have to hurry," Otto told them.
He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. He looked at the other man, trying to gauge in a short amount of time if he was telling the truth. He turned to Max, looked at her for a second, and she nodded at him in silent agreement. "Okay. We'll follow you. But anything…"
Otto nodded, he didn't need to go on. "I understand and I wouldn't expect anything less from you 494."
Alec's eyes widened at realizing that Otto knew exactly who and 'what' he was, as well as Max. "Then what are we waiting around here for?" He asked.
Otto nodded, and him and Steve ran quickly back to their car.
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He sat in his car, listening to the radio reports come in. One of the radio's at a sector chimed in. {{Clear the agent's car and the next for exit.}}
White sat up, looking at the map. His hand went to the radio, "Base, what agents do we have leaving the city?"
{{Agent Brookfield at five, and Agent Hunter at eight,}} came the reply.
White's hands flexed, as he radioed to the sector checkpoint.
{{Yes, sir?}}
"Who did you just clear to go through?"
There was a pause on the other end and White rolled his eyes as he waited. {{Uhh… An Agent Peters.}}
"Peters?" White questioned, and ran his hand through his hair, his fist hitting the steering wheel. "What did the cars look like?" he asked the guard as he quickly started the car, and was soon driving to that sector. *Peters is still in the hospital…* White's evil grin grew wider.
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The black car followed the navy one down the two-lane road lined with large trees. She gazed out the passenger window watching the foliage zip by deep in thought. No one had really spoken since they had gotten through the checkpoint a little over a half hour ago. She turned to look in the back. Joshua was asleep and curled up in the backseat. His head laying on his pack.
Max turned to quickly take in Alec next to her. His focus was on the road, and she could see the tension all through his body. She caught the look in his eyes even as they looked forward and she closed hers, turning back to the window. She opened them once again, staring at the passing trees.
She could see the torture written in them when she had looked at him just then. Just like she could hear it in his voice and his words as she had walked up the steps in headquarters earlier. She had heard every word. She closed her eyes again and leaned her head against the glass.
He saw her out of the corner of his eye as he drove, and his hands flexed on the steering wheel. Even though the news was playing on the radio, the silence between them was driving him just as crazy as the thoughts and emotions that were threatening to over whelm him. There was so much he wanted to say, to tell her. But he wasn't sure how. And it wasn't like it was the best time to do it. Or was it?
How the heck was he supposed to convince her that he loved her? That he wanted her, wanted the baby. He mentally sighed. *Baby.* He quickly glanced over at her, his eyes running over her, down to her stomach, and then went back to the road. Another stab of pain shot through him as his brain replayed the image of her setting on the exam table. Then her words broke him from his thoughts.
"I wasn't going to do it."
He turned to her. "What?" he asked confused.
She slowly looked over at him. "When you came in…" she stopped and took a breath, "I was telling Sam to cancel it."
His eyes widened at her words, and he felt like he was able to breathe again. "But… Then …" he couldn't talk.
"He was telling me how hard it would be to reschedule if I changed my mind again," she explained.
He took a deep breath, "What made you change your mind?" he asked quietly.
Max looked up at him and saw the relief washing over him. *He really does want the baby.* She looked out the side window for a moment and then turned back to him again. "While I was waiting for Sam, I had time to think." He nodded and waited for her to continue. "I realized that while I was extremely…" She stopped and gave him and hard look, "and still am, extremely hurt, angry and pissed off."
He swallowed and nodded again, waiting for her to continue. His heart hoping and praying for some type of 'but.'
She looked down at her hands and quietly spoke, "That I… still love you."
Her words floored him. He hadn't expected that much. "Max… you have no idea how much I love…"
She quickly cut him off with a hand, "Do you hear that?"
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The sound of helicopters could be heard and then they flew into view just as a mass of cars traveled down the road just behind them.
The navy car slowed down and moved over into the on coming lane, moving next to the sports car, the passenger window of the one lowering as the drivers side of the other did.
Otto yelled over the wind of the speeding cars. "Take 452 to Sandman. You know the way." It wasn't a question, he already knew the answer, but Alec nodded from the other car anyways.
"Get out of here, don't turn back. We'll take care of this," the dark haired driver yelled.
Alec gave a half salute and the black car sped up even faster as the window went back up, leaving the navy car behind.
Otto turned the car to the side, blocking the roadway. The operative quickly got out of the car, as Otto popped the trunk. "I won't let you win White. I won't let you win."
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Max could feel the car accelerate to a breakneck speed, and watched the needle on the speedometer move past the numbers on the gage. She looked over at Alec and watched his eyes moving on the road, quickly taking in everything as fast as his transgenic reflexes could.
Her whole body jumped and the car swayed slightly as a large explosion could be heard behind them.
Alec looked briefly out the rearview mirror catching the fireball in the sky falling down to earth. He caught the look on Max's face as she had turned around to see it too.
She turned back in her seat stunned, as the radio kept playing. The news breaking in with a report, {{Another dozen cases of the illness have been confirmed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.}}
Alec looked over at her, "It will be okay." *It has to be,* he thought.
Max nodded back at him. "Yeah," she said reaching out for his hand, intertwining their fingers together as the car raced down the darkened road.
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Scenes from an All New DA on 2/17/02:
*NEXT WEEK ON AN ALL NEW DARK ANGEL*
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
"Yes, the disease… which we haven't really figured out what has caused it or where it came from… is deadly if not treated," Carr told the reporters.
AND…
Max nodded and looked back over at Alec, "You still aren't completely trusting him or his operation."
LOYALTIES ARE STILL IN DOUBT
"Oh my God…" Max's voice rang out almost in a whisper as her eyes traveled over the face of the man sitting in the chair.