Title: Concrete Angel
Author: natalie180
Rating: PG (may change – we'll see…)
Show: Dark Angel
Pairing: M/A
Type: wip
Summary: When a new girl comes on the scene, who is she and how will she change Alec and
Max's lives?
Thanks again to my beta SpoiledLilAmy - you're my best fan J
Author's Note: When I wrote this my muse just happened to be with me. Usually I take a while to write though so don't get you're hopes up about super speedy updating.
Chapter Three
Marina put a pint of chocolate swirl ice-cream and a spoon on the coffee table and plopped herself down on Alec's couch. Alec had work to do at Headquarters that afternoon, so Marina had the place to herself. Dix had managed to find her Manticore file in only three days, but it had taken Marina three more to get up the nerve to open it. She had just been eyeing the file one more time, contemplating whether it was worth revisiting her past in order to find some sort of completion, and maybe even a better understanding of herself. Underneath the sometimes abrasive, and always sarcastic exterior, a little girl was still present within Marina, and that child felt very vulnerable when she stared down at the dossier sitting in her lap. With a reluctant sigh, Marina closed her eyes and opened the package to a page somewhere near the middle of the file labeled 'X6 – 972'.
'Mission 2019 – DC1
First Attempt At Deep Cover Assignment
Objective: (i) Join G. Puccelino's social circle;
(ii) Retrieve specified computer data;
(iii) Eliminate target.'
Those last two words were the hardest for Marina to read, but she continued to read down the page, which listed the mission's particulars and her performance. As she flipped through the following pages, Marina found more of the same: more missions, more performance evaluations, more assassinations. Assassinate. It was what she was trained to do. It was her job. And by looking at the pages Marina held between two slightly shaky hands, she had been very good at her job.
Marina noticed that the first page of the dossier was blank, except for her designation and one lone word typed in bold. 'Elite'. "Elite what?" she wanted to yell to no one in particular. Throughout her days at Manticore, Marina had been told on numerous occasions that she was better than the rest of the X6 soldiers. They never told her why or how she was better, they just left it at a simple "better". "Typical," she thought.
When Marina was thirteen years old, she had overheard a discussion between two high ranking scientists regarding a soldier dubbed 'Perfection'. Intrigued, Marina stayed to listen. As it turned out, she, X6 – 972, one of the youngest X6s, with the smart mouth and high voltage attitude, was 'Perfection'. Not only was she supposedly perfect, but now Marina was also 'Elite'. As she sat there, alone on a sunken-in couch with her life story in her hands, Marina had only one thought:
"What the Hell kind of messed up game is my life?"
******
After revisiting the greater part of her Manticore years, Marina was becoming stir crazy. Deciding that she could deal the rest of her past another time, she closed up the dossier and put it back onto the coffee table next to the half-eaten, half-melted ice cream. Marina had taken up running to ease the jitters years ago while she was still at Manticore, but her love of running never left her after the place burnt down. Again and again, she would feel the intense urge to simply run away, to nowhere in particular, with no plan and no destination. To Marina, running was the epitome of freedom.
On her way out of the building, Marina entered Headquarters and stopped to tie the laces on her athletic shoes. She looked up and quickly spotted Max and Alec, both stooped seriously over a table, going over piles of papers. Marina smiled as she moved over to the two plotting soldiers. It was so obvious that those two were meant to be together. Everyone could so obviously see it in the way they treated each other: the playful banter, the way Max hit Alec when her actions were completely unprovoked just so that she could touch him. Those two were the only ones who didn't see it. Marina and the her other unit-mates even had a bet running as to when Max and Alec would finally get together. Marina had placed quite a bit of money on the month of May and, since it was still only October, she was counting on the couple's constant denial of their true feelings to get them through the winter months.
"Hey Alec," Marina said when she got close enough.
"Oh, hey Ina," Alec said, turning around to face Marina. Over the past days, Marina and Alec had actually become quite close. Marina had volunteered to find her own apartment in Terminal City, but Alec always replied that he didn't mind her being around. Truth be told, they both quite enjoyed each other's easy company. "How was the reading?" Alec continued, knowing very well how Marina had spent the past hour.
"One thing's for sure: it's a page turner," Marina said with an intentionally and obviously fake smile plastered on her face.
Throughout the duration of this short exchange, Max just stood there, looking at Marina, taking in the way Alec talked to her. He was calm and concerned, and seemed very comfortable around the other girl; it was nearly as though the two were in on some kind of secret. Max couldn't believe that she actually felt a twinge of intimidation when up against this new girl. 'Up against her for what?' she asked herself, knowing full well the answer.
"Hi. Name's Max," she abruptly turned to Marina. Her tone was curt and verging on being outright rude.
"Hey. I'm Marina," she replied. "It's nice to finally meet our infamous leader," Marina continued with a genuinely happy smile and a small chuckle.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Max countered defensively.
"Nothing, nothing. I was… just kidding," Marina said, a little thrown off. Apparently, some people failed to appreciate her sarcasm. Trying to avoid a situation which was sure to escalate from bad to worse, Marina decided she should remove herself from the scene.
"I should let you guys get back to your work, but I'll see you 'round," she said. "Nice meeting you Max. Later Alec," she continued as she turned away and walked out the front door and into the brisk morning air.
Alec looked at Max, who was staring down Marina's retreating form with a death glare. He didn't want to figure out what was up with Max's behaviour, so he chalked it up as one of those unexplainable mysteries of transgenic life.
"So, Alec… " Max began. "You into younger girls now? What was she… like twelve years old."
"Sure Max," he just laughed, slightly amused by her silly accusation.
"No, I'm serious. Just make sure she's legal 'fore you go and do something she could sue you for. I don't feel like breaking you out of jail again."
"Max, come on!" Alec said, having lost his patience and humour. "One: she's sixteen, and do you really think I'd do that? And two: she has a boyfriend, and one thing you've gotta give me is the fact that I don't steal other guys' girls. We'll finish this work later," he said, and walked away. He knew that their relationship had always been a beat-up-on-Alec kind of thing for Max, but he was tired of her low blows.
Max turned her expressionless face back to her papers with a sigh. She didn't know why she said those sort of things to Alec, why she let stupid things slip out of her mouth before she could control them. There was just something about Marina that bothered her. Maybe it was the kind of comfortable relationship the girl had with Alec after having only known him for a week. Maybe it was the fact that they lived in the same apartment. Maybe it was the fact that Marina vaguely resembled Max since they shared many physical traits. "What does Marina mean to Alec? Is she like a replacement for me… the next best thing?" Max wondered. She didn't know what it was exactly that made her react so immaturely and irrationally to Marina. Whatever it was, Max silently cursed herself for reacting the way she had. She figured that with this last outburst she had probably thrown the her and Alec's relationship, which was already balancing on the rocks, straight out into the ocean's destructive current. She sure had a way of screwing up the best things in her life.
******
Please review - I absolutely crave reviews since they keep me writing J