TITLE: Genetically Empowered (My Finale & Season 3)
EPISODE: 21 "ANSWERS?" 2/17/03
WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)
EMAIL: hferguso@niu.edu
WEBSITE: (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:
NOTE: ******* -- indicates what is being said OVER the images below it. And *FLASH* means a bright flash of white light (Like in "The Berrisford Agenda") You'll understand. ;) I hope. LOL
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The small room was loud with voices. People talking loudly and interrupting conversations left and right, trying to get any little information that they could. But everyone turned at once when the door opened and a man in a white lab coat walked in and up to the podium.
"Hello. The hospital said it was time for a press conference. I'm Dr. Sam Carr…"
But he didn't get much more out as all the reporters started to bombard him with questions.
"Do we know what this illness is?"
"How contagious is it?"
"Is it the same thing the rest of the nation is experiencing?"
"Do we have a cure?"
"Is it deadly?"
Sam sighed to himself, running his hand over his bare temple and head. His hands came up, and tried to settle everyone. Tried to talk over the crowd, "Please… please… everyone…"
_________________________________
A black sports car drove down the dirt road and then slowed. It quickly eased off to the side and into the trees.
"What are you doing?"
"Just taking precautions," he answered her quiet inquiry.
Max nodded and looked back over at Alec, "You still aren't completely trusting him or his operation."
He sighed, "Their still familiars Max. He may have created us. He may have made you special…"
She cut him off, "Us special."
He shook his head unable to stop the little curl of his lips into a smile as he stopped the car and looked down at her hand still gripping onto his. He knew they would have a ton to work out between them when all this was done. *If it gets done,* he mentally sighed.
Alec squeezed her hand in his, looked back at Joshua still asleep, and then back to her, "All of us special." She nodded and he went on. "But he's still not one of us. And…" he sighed again.
"And what?" she asked wanting to know what had him so worried.
Now that the car was parked he brought his other hand slowly over to her. So slow, it was almost like he was afraid to touch her. She watched his hand wavier slightly. His eyes moved from hers to her stomach and then back up to hers again.
She swallowed and slowly nodded her okay. With a small exhale of his breath, his hand settled on her stomach, and it was if he could find his words again. "Now… there's so much more. A bigger reason to protect you." His hazel pools stared into hers. "More than mission, more than… love."
Her fingers squeezed his hand. Trying to give him reassurance that it would be okay, like he had on the whole trip down. Her mind was battling with herself though. She could feel her heart just completely giving in to him. But that little bit of her nagging mind was still angry and hurt as hell, and didn't want to give up on that.
She pushed it away, and took a deep breath. *Now is not the time to worry about this.*
He saw her shoulders straighten, her cleansing breath, and his eyes fell. His hands started to slowly move away from her. His heart aching, knowing that she had just probably regained her senses and was mad at him again. *And she has every right to…*
Her hands stopped his own, and hazel flew back to dark eyes. "We can talk later," she said, but her words were soft. He searched her face, for any type of sign. She pressed his hand against her stomach, and then intertwined her fingers in that hand as well, giving it a little squeeze. "Later," she said again.
He nodded in agreement. Realizing that this was the best he was going to get now, and also that it was a lot more than he had ever even dreamed possible a few hours ago.
She looked into the backset, "Hey… Joshua." The guy stirred slightly, and she smiled.
"Hey! Josh! Wake up buddy!" Alec yelled and Joshua sat up quickly, banging his head on the roof of the car.
Alec and Max winced as they saw it, their hands breaking apart.
Joshua's hand flew to his head rubbing it. "I'm up. I'm up." His eyes looked around and out the windows. "We at fathers?"
"Just a short walk big guy. Just a small walk in the woods," Alec replied as they started to get out of the car.
_________________________________
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
_________________________________
The trio walked towards the gates of the large building. She looked up at Alec to her side, and then to Joshua right behind her, then back. "We just going to the front door?"
Alec nodded, "Yeah. Better this way. They are expecting us. Actually…" he stopped and gave her his usual smile, for which she was grateful. "Going through the front may actually be unexpected from us."
He gave her another small smile and wink, and the curve of her lips trying not to laugh was worth all the effort. They stopped at the gate and his hand went out to touch the buzzer, and then it was instantly shaking.
Alec shook his head, trying to clear it of the unpleasant memories that came from that simple act. He jumped slightly when Max's small hand lightly gripped his arm. Her voice silently traveling to his ears. "It won't end the same way."
He turned back to her, "This time I'll make sure it won't."
She not only heard but also felt the conviction in his words and nodded silently, then looked back at the gates as they opened quickly. "Here we go," she said as the three of them walked up to the main door of the house.
The door opened before they got there, and they were escorted down the hall. Alec remembered it all too well, having moved through the same area not that long before. They turned the corner and he was confronted with the same door. He took a deep breath as the man who answered the door opened it for them, expecting them to walk through.
Max could feel him tense as he moved in front of her. Watched him give Joshua a look. Then felt Joshua even closer behind her. She swallowed slightly, and followed him into the room.
Her eyes scanned it quickly. The high ceilings, the dark wood, the bookcases, the big oak desk, and the leather chair that was turning around slowly. Then she saw the man in the chair and gasped, stopping instantly in her tracks.
Joshua ran into the back of her, bumping her slightly but she didn't even notice or hear his soft apology.
"Oh my God…" her voice rang out almost in a whisper as her eyes traveled over the face of the man sitting in the chair. Her whole body stilling.
Alec stopped and looked back at her, slowly he reached for her hand and started to pull her with him. Her eyes jumped to his. They were so wide and in shock.
"Uncanny resemblance," came the voice of the man. "To my son." He slowly stood up. "I'm assuming that's what the reaction is for." He moved out from behind the desk and towards them.
*Uncanny?* she thought. *Dead ringer just about thirty years older,* she thought with a shudder.
Alec took a side step to be more in front of Max, as Joshua moved closer too him looking at the man, "Father…"
The man's eyes immediately jumped to the tall man, his eyes widening. "Joshua?"
Joshua immediately moved to him, and the old man's arms came around him.
Alec's body instinctively moved behind Max, his one arm wrapping around her. She jumped slightly at the sudden movement, but then relaxed as she also felt his body do as they watched the two in front of them. Then she felt his breath on her neck as he spoke.
"I hate to break up this little family reunion, but…"
The man broke away from Joshua with what almost seemed like tears in his eyes. "Yes. Yes. I agree. We have much to do. The news is getting worse."
Max took a step forward, "Oh no. I want some answers. I want them now." Determination set in her voice. "Who are you exactly?"
He took a step forward and extended his hand, "Dr. Nicolas Sandeman."
Max looked at the extended hand but didn't take it. The man pulled it back and looked towards Alec then back to Max. "We really don't have time for chit chat. I will answer what I can as we go," he said as he started to walk to the doors.
The three turned in their places to watch him, the feet still firmly planted on the thick carpeting. He opened the door and looked back at them. "We need to get samples of 452's blood so our labs can…"
Alec cut him off, "Max's." Sandeman looked confused for a second and he repeated it. "Max is her name." A small smile came over her face.
The man nodded, "Right. Right." He looked to her. "Max… we need to get your blood so our labs can synthesize it can send it out to the infected areas." He swallowed, "Time is of the essence."
Alec looked down at her, and she stared back at him. She knew he was letting her make the decision. "Alright. Let's stop this bitch." He grinned at her, and the three of them walked out the door.
_________________________________
The man in the white coat was sitting at a table along with three other people next to him.
"Yes, the disease… which we haven't really figured out what has caused it or where it came from… is deadly if not treated."
The murmurs in the audience grew in decibel level quickly.
Before another question could be shot out, Carr quickly spoke up again. "However we have a treatment. We have the cure for it. At least for our patents here in the hospital." He hated to throw that in, but he had to be truthful.
"Just this hospital? But the whole nation…" one of the reporters broke in.
Carr nodded, his hand coming up trying to get everyone to settle down. "We sent a couple samples to the labs in the area. They are trying to make some, but it may take awhile."
"Awhile? Do these people have that long?" someone shouted out from the back. "Why isn't the government doing something? Why…"
The woman next to Carr yelled out, "Hey. Sit your scrawny ass down and let the man talk!"
"And who are you?" one of the reporters answered back.
"I had this Virus. I was one of the first they tested the cure on," Original Cindy shot back. "Now let the good doctor speak." Normal and Sketchy smiled and shook their heads slightly.
_________________________________
"Things are going to get tense in the city and nation if they don't have enough to go around for everyone who is sick."
Vin nodded in agreement, his arms pulling the blonde in his arms back against his chest more as they watched the news conference on the television. "Definitely." He looked over his shoulder to the first floor, "Hey Mole!"
The lizard man looked up from the couch, took the cigar out of his mouth, "What?"
"Call back everyone. Get them all back to TC. I don't like them out there right now."
Mole nodded and headed over to Dix and Luke, then went out the door of headquarters.
Mel looked up into his dark eyes, "Why?"
Vin turned back to the television. "While Carr isn't saying that the cure came from a transgenic, or Max. It could be leaked by someone…"
"Like White."
He nodded, "Maybe."
She thought about it for a minute, and pulled his arms around her tighter. "And you're worried if people find out that transgenic blood is the cure…"
Vin swallowed and nodded again, "I'm afraid of what people might do to get their hands on some."
_________________________________
A woman in a white nurses uniform came into the white, sterile examining room with a large tray covered with tubes, bags, and needles.
*FLASH*
Max sat on the exam table. Felt the reassuring grip on her shoulder from Alec behind her, and she rolled up her sleeve.
*FLASH*
The needle pierced the her caramel colored skin. The dark liquid from inside her vein traveled up into the needle. Then flowed through the short winding tube into the bag below.
*FLASH*
The nurse's hand placed a cotton ball over the needle, and then pulled the object from the other woman's arm. Max's hand moved over it, holding it there and bending her arm back up.
*FLASH*
The nurse walked out of the room with the two, dark bags of thick liquid and down the long white windowed hall.
*FLASH*
The lab technician took the bags and walked quickly to one of the large machines in the room. He hooked the bag up inside and shut the door.
*FLASH*
A mixture of dark, squiggly shapes converged upon an irregular circle shape under the microscope.
*FLASH*
Lab technicians ran around the laboratory. Moving things from one machine into others. Others were hovering over their microscopes.
*FLASH*
Orange, squiggly shapes moved towards the irregular circle. Many squiggles surrounded it, and then it imploded.
*FLASH*
Slightly orange liquid flowed from the machine and split into multiple tubes. The liquid flowing down into larger plastic bags.
_________________________________
The trio walked back into the large office to find Sandeman sitting in one of the chairs at the side of the room. A large couch with a coffee table next to him. His hand moved towards it, and the three walked over and sat down.
Max tried not to smile as the two men sat on either side of her. Her independent side wanted to scream, but the more logical side told her they weren't thinking like that. They cared about her and were just trying to protect her.
She sighed lightly at the thought as she looked over at Alec again. And she was glad that she had that logical side, and that she had rediscovered it once again, like she had before. She didn't even want to think about some of the decisions she had almost made with the her irrational part of her brain.
She shook her head at herself for getting side tracked and turned back to the man sitting in the large chair. "Okay. We did what you wanted. Now you do what we want. Answers. I want answers."
Sandeman nodded, "Yes. I suppose you do deserve answers. I know you do." He stopped and brought his hands together, looking at them for a second, "Where to begin?" he wondered.
Alec looked at him, "Why not start at the beginning." He was becoming impatient as well. Even though he had learned a lot from the man before he went to go get Max, he still didn't know everything, and he hadn't had time to tell Max or Joshua all of it either.
"Right," he said nodding. "Okay. The Breading Cult was established through thousands of years of…"
******* "selective breading. The first two children were always still births, but the third…" *******
A baby's scream pierced the dark cave lit only by candlelight. A woman in furs with white and black paint on her face held up the blood covered infant over her head.
The mother could be heard screaming for her baby, then the sound of a loud crack as her neck was broken.
******* "Through time it was discovered that some of the third children born actually acquired immunity to the 'holy' snake blood." *******
A young boy in lightly tanned hides, painted in bright reds and oranges held onto his arm where two circled puncture wounds marred his skin. A light sheen of sweat played across his face, but he stood to his feet triumphantly.
******* "As time passed and technology became greater we were able to stop the still births from happening to some of the children." *******
A woman lying on a hospital bed screamed as she bore down hard and gripped the hand of the man beside her hard. The sound of a baby's scream came seconds later. The man, a much younger version of the one telling the story smiled back at his wife in relief.
******* "Like CJ," Max's voice rang out.
Sandeman sighed, "Yes… like CJ. However, the cult was against anyone who wanted to keep the first two children alive. Because they were weak. They never developed the immunity and would always die when given the snake blood." *******
The younger Sandeman cried, tears running down his cheeks as he held onto the young boy's body in his arms. There were two small holes in the boy's arm that was flung out lifelessly to the side.
******* "I made the mistake with the cult once. I would not make it again."
"So you helped in creating Manticore," Alec stated, but still looking for confirmation.
"Yes. But I started my research before then." *******
A slightly older Sandeman looked into a microscope in a big lab filled with tons of equipment. The room held computers, vials, and small counter top refrigerators...
*FLASH*
Alec opened the door to the cooling unit in the old, dirty laboratory and jumped back slightly as the snake inside hissed at him.
*FLASH*
******* "I joined Manticore because they had the technology and funding that I needed. There were many in the cult that were unhappy with the way things were being run. We had fallen in love with our spouses, with our children. We found it wrong what they were doing. And what they were planning for the rest of the human population as well." *******
A person pulled out a large snake from a huge vat containing hundreds more. They walked over to a table. Then coaxing the snake it struck out and bit through some fabric covering a glass jar. White liquid dripped from the animal's teeth into the jar.
******* "The cults goal was to one day wipe out the weak and take over the world with who they considered the superior human race. Them. I worked and worked under Manticore's watchful eye to find a cure, a vaccine for the snake blood. And I found it. And as I created the DNA for the transgenics. I was able to encode the immunity into each of the DNA strands. But while that would keep all of you safe. It would not help humanity." *******
Sandeman worked in another lab. Big white, government looking walls surrounded big expensive equipment. A large lion-looking symbol was the only thing to adorn the walls, except for the large mirror to one side.
******* "I needed someone to actually produce the cells to kill the virus, and not someone just automatically resistant to it. After a long time I finally found the right code. The right DNA code that did what I needed. But I knew I was being watched." *******
The man looked up from his work to the mirror, and could almost see the three people who were watching him from the other side before they moved on.
******* "So I made you. Made both of you. I knew that I was not going to be able to stay at Manticore. I knew I was in danger. I needed someone else on the inside to protect the cure. Someone they wouldn't detect." *******
The nurse wrapped the infant in a blanket, as the woman on the table screamed behind her. The baby stared up with a smile into the nurse's eyes as she turned back to the table and watched the doctor hold up another baby.
******* "I couldn't have been happier of that 'accident' of natural twins. After that Manticore almost always insisted on insuring the idea of twins with cloning. However the cloning process at that time was never exact. Unlike now. And the clones usually carried more of the 'junk' DNA. So when I created you Max, I had to make a clone of you as well. Which really would be a decoy. *******
*FLASH*
White circled 453 in the chair she sat in. Her hair flowed in soft waves. Her legs crossed under her long flowing skirt.
*FLASH*
Sam sat on the couch in headquarters with a blonde man next to her, and her arms hugging onto a young boy.
*FLASH*
******* "What about those symbols?" she asked.
"Ah, yes… the Runes. It was my last insurance policy. If anything happened to me, then our side would still be able to know who you were. And it would tell everything you needed to know without me. And they would only show up at a certain time and with certain conditions. With certain people around you. Again to keep you hidden. Safe." *******
*FLASH*
White looked up into the dark as falling stars streaked the sky from the meteor shower.
*FLASH*
Alec's hand reached over the table at Crash to hold onto Max's wrist as row after row of dark symbols appeared on her flesh.
*FLASH*
******* "I had to leave Manticore, but others were put in my place. Keeping an eye on you all. The 'escape' made things difficult." *******
Young bare feet ran through the snow. The group ran towards the fence, sirens blaring and lights swirling in the background as they jumped onto it.
******* "We were looking for the two of you for a long time."
"Two of us?" she asked then stopped, "Ben…"
"Ben? Ah…Yes, 493. We knew 494 was still at Manticore. And I was relieved to know that at least he had escaped with you. Until I found out from an inside source that you all had split up. We searched and searched. Both with our own resources and with Manticore's."
"Renfro," Alec hissed slightly. *******
The blonde woman sat at her desk listening to the lab technician across from her talk about the report on 452. She took out the gun from her desk as she looked at the report and shot him.
******* "Yes. She was placed to keep an eye on you. And to find you. We had almost given up, until they found you.
"Captured me."
"That was Manticore. Not us. We still had to remain hidden and work in their confines. But then you made the task even more difficult," he laughed slightly. *******
Max stood on the hill next to the forest and looked down at the complex. The orange and yellow light of the fire burned out the windows, as loud explosions could be heard from inside. A large smile formed on her face, then she turned running through the woods.
******* "Thankfully not too long afterwards we found 494. And we knew where you were Max." *******
Otto watched 494 exit the large warehouse with the knife that White had given him. He walked out of earshot and dialed a number, putting the phone up to his ear.
*FLASH*
The lab tech sat in the old, grungy hotel room looking over his lab notes and jumped slightly as the phone rang.
*FLASH*
The lab tech held up the small device in a large pair of tweezers as the thing exploded. Alec's hand went to the back of his neck as her jumped at the noise.
*FLASH*
The man was about to get into the van as Alec grabbed him, turning him around.
*FLASH*
Alec's eyes opened slowly as he found himself strapped to a chair in a bright white room, a large mirror on the wall across from him.
*FLASH*
"We thought it was better to keep you hidden in the world than to bring you in and risk things," he explained as he sat in the chair next to them.
Max shook her head in disbelief. It was all so much to comprehend. She looked at the two men, and they looked like she did. Both trying to take in the older man's words. Once she decided that she could actually speak, she asked, "So… what now?"
"Now you die." All four heads spun quickly to the intruder. "Hello father," White said as he looked at Sandeman.
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Scenes from the Last DA on 2/24/02:
*NEXT WEEK ON THE SERIES FINAL OF DARK ANGEL*
IT ALL COMES…
Joshua growled at White, his eyes filling with rage.
TO AN END
White kicked up hard throwing Alec off him, and then jumped up.
ONE WAY…
Max quickly jumped to he feet and started to move towards Alec.
OR ANOTHER
"Enough!" White yelled as he pulled his gun quickly from his coat, the metal barrel just coming into view as he fired it.