The Only Way Out: Does It Really Matter?
Keela13
Part One
Chapter 3
Summary: The transgenics have to find ways to stay alive, and keep themselves occupied while
the siege creeps slowly along. Lot's of new and old faces are showing up to help with the latter.
Disclaimer: I don't presume to own Dark Angel, I could never have the genius to come up with it,
or the stupidity to cancel it. I DO own my original characters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignoring the curses and moans floating through the door, Max turned to Blake, and smiled
sweetly and calmly at her. "How may I help you?" she asked pleasantly.
"Is it really you, Max?" Blake whispered, as if seeing her sister was a dream, and if she spoke too
loudly, she might wake herself up.
Max's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Do I know you?" she asked suspiciously. She immediately
felt guilty at the broken expression that clouded the woman's beautiful features. Max wracked
her brain to figure out who she was, knowing that the only way to fix the girl would be to
remember on her own. The woman opened her mouth to speak, but Max shushed her. "Wait a
minute." Max studied her carefully, and her eyes widened with surprise and joy. "Blake?!?"
The redhead nodded vigorously and the two women met in a long, joy-filled hug. "I missed you,
baby sister," Blake said.
"I missed you too," Max choked out.
Sensing that they needed this moment, Joshua crept silently out of the room, leaving the two of
them alone. They pulled apart after several minutes. Blake reached up and pinched herself on
the arm. "Ow," she said calmly. "Well, I'm not dreaming." She chuckled softly and looked up,
meeting her sister's eyes, which were spilling over with tears. Blake reached up and gently
wiped them away. She kissed Max on the forehead, and pulled her tightly into another hug.
********
"Owwwww . . ." Alec moaned from where he lay on the floor with Ashton and March, in a tangle
of limbs. He looked into the neck of shirt, checking to see if his wound had opened up again. It
hadn't, but it still hurt like hell. "Bitch!" he yelled, hoping Max heard it.
Ashton squirmed her way out from the pile and held out a hand to help him up. "You alright
Alec?"
"I'm always alright," Alec growled, glaring at the door to Max's office. Ashton pulled him to his
feet by his good arm as March rose on his own. Alec sighed. Max *really* grated on his nerves
at times. "So what have you two been doing with yourselves?" Alec asked his two old friends.
Or as close as people can get without being known as friends or allowed to feel.
"Just living the best we can," March replied. "A few petty thieveries here and there, visiting
tattoo parlors," he put his tattoo-ridden arm out in front of himself to illustrate, "clubbing,
winning cash in drinking contests, beating some poor schmuck at pool on several occasions,
having sex, you know. The new usual."
"Sex, huh? Who with?" Alec pried, grinning mischievously. His grin slid away when he noticed
that Joshua had just emerged from Max's office. To hear him having a conversation about sex.
The last thing he needed to do was add words to Joshua's vocabulary, words which could be
blurted out at any awkward point in time. "Uh . . ."
"S'okay, I-I was just leaving," Joshua said, before walking away, true to his word.
"That was uncomfortable," March commented.
"Just a tad," Alec agreed. "Back on the topic: sex. With anyone important?"
March shrugged. "Nah, just Ash."
Ashton smacked him in the head. "You jerk! Why don't you just go to the fence and scream it so
all the ordinaries in Seattle hear it?!?" Alec chuckled. "What's so funny?!?" Ashton yelled at him.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Alec claimed, raising his hands in the air innocently. "I just think you
missed the joke behind the statement, that's all." He grinned. "At least I hope you did."
Ashton glared fire at him. If looks could kill, or maim, or any of the above, Alec would most
definitely not be in good shape. He couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips. Ashton raised
her fists and her left eyebrow, challenging him to continue. Alec sobered immediately. "So, uh,
moving on . . ." He hesitated, looking like the proverbial deer caught in headlights.
"And what have you been up to?" March interjected, saving Alec from a potentially life
threatening situation.
"The same as you guys, minus the tattoos. One's enough for me," Alec said, gesturing to the
back of his neck. "So, thievery, huh?" The mischievous glint returned to Alec's eyes. "Speaking
of, the reason I ran out after you guys-"
"You mean you didn't just wanna see us?" March asked.
"Oh, that hurts," Ashton pouted.
"Oh, come on, look at your hair! How was I supposed to know it was you guys? And Blake
wasn't exactly familiar, though I definitely wouldn't mind getting to know her . . . heh, Max
would kill me then . . ." Alec trailed off, a dreamy look in his eyes and a small smile on his face,
imagining 'getting to know' Blake.
"Alec!" Ashton snapped her fingers in his face. Alec snapped back to reality. "You were
saying?"
"Oh yeah, we need a few extra hands on the cash heists for the TC fund."
"Consider it done," March told him.
********
A pair of masculine hands lifted a tiny black leather . . . something or other from a closet and held
it up for inspection. Black eyes studied it carefully as he flipped the complicated tangle of leather
straps, trying in vain to figure out what the hell it was. "Hey, Val!"
Silence ensued as the hot pink wool clad blonde continued to rummage through a dresser looking
for an appropriate change of clothing. "Val," the male spoke again. She ignored him, lifting a
wad of cash out of a drawer.
Her eyes widened. "Dac, look at this!"
He turned to look at her findings, bringing the leather thing with him. He nodded in
understanding. "That would explain whatever the hell this is." He held it up for her to see.
"We've hit hooker territory." Val tossed the cash onto the bed that sat in the center of the small
apartment, and took the leather from him, twisting it around until she found what she was looking
for. She whistled in appreciation. The thing still looked to Dac like nothing but twisted leather.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"It's a top," Val informed him matter-of-factly.
Dac's eyebrows shot up. "How could that be called a top? It looks like it should cover just about
. . ." he held up his thumb and index finger, about an inch apart, "this much."
Ignoring his skepticism, Val instructed him to find a skirt. Rather than let him do so, however,
she pushed past him and began to rummage through the closet herself. After throwing several
similar 'garments' onto the bed, she produced a tubular piece of black leather. She pushed past
him again and walked into the small bathroom, carrying the leather with her.
"You're kidding!" Dac exclaimed. He sighed and began to search through the dresser some
more, knowing that he would find no suitable male attire in the closet. He came up with several
more wads of cash and a few things he would rather not think about. After several minutes, Val
emerged wearing more than Dac had thought she had gone in with. The leather straps tied up on
the back of her neck, crossed over her chest with enough material to cover herself in an almost
decent manner, and criss-crossed and wrapped around her abdomen in several thin straps. Her
skirt showed off a lot of leg, and just barely fell under the category of enough to keep her
covered. Her creamy white skin was a stark contrast to the black leather.
There was going to be a massive bump on Dac's jaw the next morning, because he could almost
swear it just hit the floor. "Wassa matter?" Val asked playfully. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Uh . . . uh . . . Good god, woman! You can't wear *that* in public!" Dac scolded. He nearly
dove into the closet. After a minute of rummaging and disgusted curses, and Val hiding a smile
and a laugh behind her hand, Dac found something slightly more suitable. Pants. Full, complete,
pants. Black leather, like everything else in that devil closet, but still pants. He shoved them into
Val's face. "Try these. And," he produced a leather tube top that tied up in the back, "this."
Val shrugged, took the garments and returned to the bathroom. "Not bad."
She emerged momentarily, much more descent than before. She studied her new outfit in the
mirror above the dresser. "It's not quite enough," she observed.
Dac more than fully agreed. "Absolutely. Maybe you'll find something in the next apartment to
replace it."
"That's not what I mean. It's missing something."
"Like 90 percent of the material!"
"Accessories, Dac. Accessories."
Dac sighed loudly. "Whatever. Let's look for something that's not in any way feminine or
purple." He collected up all the cash they had found and strolled into the next apartment.
Seconds later, he ran out, a terrified look on his face. "You're not going in there," he informed
Val. "Even you'd be scared for life." He re-entered the first apartment, grabbed her by the upper
arm, and dragged her out the door. He rolled his eyes as she pulled away, ran back to the room,
and scooped all she could get her hands on from the closet and off the bed. She ran back out to
him with an armful of leather, and turned so her arm resumed its position in his hand. Dac sighed,
but let her be and continued to drag her down the hall and up the stairs to the next floor.
After poking his head into several rooms, Dac pulled Val into one that was decidedly male.
"Jackpot!" Dac immediately strode over to the closet. "Let's have a look . . ." Dac flipped
through the clothing that the previous occupant had left. Business suits. Lots of business suits.
Charcoal, black, navy. Nothing interesting. And . . . "Omigod!" Dac busted up laughing.
"What?" Val asked. "What is it?"
Dac stripped off his purple plaid, buttonless button down shirt, and hung it up in the closet.
"Here ya go, buddy. This is more your style than mine," Dac whispered almost reverently to the
guy who had owned the suit collection.
"Huh?" Val was, needless to say, confused. Who would actually want a purple plaid, button
down shirt? Buttonless or otherwise?
Dac laughed again. Before Val could beat the joke out of him, Dac lifted something from a hook
in the side of the closet. "Val, this guy actually owned a purple plaid tie!"
"What?!? Lemme see!" Val dropped her load of leather onto the bed and reached for the tie. She
snatched it from his grip. "Dear sweet Jesus, and it's worn out! He even *wore* it!" She studied
it. "Hmm . . ."
"What, 'hmm'?" Dac asked warily, turning towards her, his firm, muscular chest in full view of
her suddenly hungry eyes. "Val, what are you-" He suddenly found his throat had gone dry, when
her attention returned to the tie, and she raised it to her neck. Terror overcame him, pooling in
his black eyes. "No. Tell me you're not-"
"Hey, this is kinda cool!"
Several transgenic heads turned, as a loud, unmasculine scream of protest exploded through the
walls of the building. "Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!"
********
"And so Ash says, 'I may be a porcupine, but no one has as much prick as you!' and she takes
the needle, and pokes him in the ass!" Blake and Max laughed like hyenas, albeit good looking
and sounding hyenas, as Blake recounted another tale from her 'stay' with Ashton and March.
Max chuckled, wiping tears from her eyes. "Sounds like the three of you had a hell of a time."
Blake shrugged. "They were funny, I'll give them that, but they couldn't compare to the
company of you guys." She smiled softly. "So what's up with that Alec guy? I know he was
from the other unit, but he looks kinda familiar."
"He's Ben's twin," Max whispered, her smile draining from her face.
"Oh."
"So, uh, have you heard from any of the others lately?" Max asked hopefully, changing the subject
before it got to more painful territory.
"Not a peep," Blake sighed. "I miss them. I missed you."
"Oh, Sis, you have no idea . . ."
"I probably do."
"Probably." Max smiled. "So what do you say we go out and celebrate?"
"What exactly do you have in mind?" Blake asked, a mischievous grin forming on her features.
"Well . . ."
********
Slender fingers flew nimbly, fiddling with wires all over the place in the steel power box. "Just
about . . . ah, there we go," Ashton said as the lights and alarm systems in the building above her
all flashed off a few times before turning off completely. She and Alec had snuck their way into
the basement of William Inderling, where they had to shut off the power in order to get to the
alleged thief's vault. Inderling reportedly arranged for items to be 'retrieved,' and then locked
them in his vault under high security until the heat was off said item. Alec's reasoning had been:
who better to steal from than a thief? No one outside of his posse or Terminal City would know
the difference anyway, and it wasn't like Inderling could report the items being stolen.
Of course, being a thief himself, you'd think he'd know how to protect 'his' property from
thieves. It was obvious he never did the dirty work himself in the fact that his security was
surprisingly lax. Still, when sneaking in, Alec and Ashton had used the utmost care to go
unnoticed.
After cutting off the power, by rearranging wires all over the place, enough to confuse even the
most advanced of technical whizzes, they hid in the shadows and snuck back upstairs. Perhaps
someone would notice that *someone* had tampered with the system and it wasn't just confusing,
but at least it would buy the two of them some time to achieve their objective. Relieving the vault
of its contents.
"So, how did you and Max meet?" Ashton asked conversationally as the two of them crept
upstairs. She and Alec paused momentarily to tuck themselves into a closet as three men ran
down the hallway where they had stood moments before.
"I'm guessing the same way you and March got together. Just kept coming back for more, didn't
you?" Alec grinned as Ashton smacked him upside the head.
"It's not my fault *he* couldn't get enough," she replied. Peeking her head out the door, she
signaled to him that they were in the clear and they emerged and resumed their journey to the
vault.
"Who could blame him?" Alec commented. Ashton smacked him again. "Almost there," Alec
said. They approached a turn-off in the hallway, which would lead them to the room the vault
was situated in. Faint conversation could be heard around the corner, and Alec crept along the
wall ahead of Ashton, stopping just at the edge.
". . . yeah, sometimes I just wanna hit that guy," one man huffed.
"Might knock some sense into hi-" The second man was cut off by the back of Alec's fist, which
slammed into his face as he rounded the corner.
"What the hell?!" the first guy exclaimed as his pal hit the floor without a sound. Ashton blurred
around the corner and took him out before he could even blink again.
Grinning widely, the two of them crept to the unguarded doorway at the end of the hall. Alec
picked the lock, and within seconds, they were in. Ashton rushed over to the vault embedded into
the wall as Alec stood guard at the door, even though it was closed. You could never be
prepared enough. Ashton put her ear to the dial and began to turn it, and in less than ten seconds,
she had it open. She entered quickly, sizing up the various pieces of artwork and jewelry it
contained. Choosing quickly the various objects that could fit into her duffel bag, Ashton made
quick work, leaving only what she couldn't easily carry on her person. "Toss me your bag!" she
whispered, knowing Alec would hear her. She caught it as it flew at her and filled it up as well,
shoving several small items into her pockets, even. Ashton exited the vault and closed it quickly
and quietly, carrying both bags with her.
Without warning, the secondary alarm system went off, powered by a back up source. Red lights
flashed in the hallway, and loud klaxons sounded, amid distant, pounding footsteps, heading in
Alec and Ashton's direction. Alec held his pistol at the ready, just inside the doorway. Ashton
lay their bags on the floor and leapt high into the air, lacing her fingers through a vent in the
ceiling and letting her sudden weight pull it out. It came out cleanly, only dust and not plaster
floating down through the air to rest in Ashton's robustly spiked hair. She easily heaved the black
bags into the vent and leapt up again, pulling herself neatly in. "Come on!" she hissed at Alec,
who was already on his way.
He handed her the grate from the floor and she pulled it in sideways as she moved out of his way.
With one fluid motion, to more than rival Ashton's own, Alec sprung upward, grabbing the side
edges of the vent and swinging his legs up, sliding them in and using his momentum to guide the
rest of his body through the opening. Silently, and with speed faster than light, Ashton replaced
the grate, closing up the vent just as guards charged into the door.
The two of them scrambled along the vent, pushing their duffels ahead of them. Realizing where
they must've gone, the men below them began to fire up into the vents, in an attempt to stop them
in their tracks. Scurrying along behind Ashton almost as fast as they could move with the bags,
Alec felt something burn along the side of his shoe, just before they got out of firing range.
"Damn!" he hissed, more out of anger and annoyance than pain, though it did hurt. Of course HE
had gotten hit. It was ALWAYS him. And in the foot this time, of all places. Not only would
this injury slow him down at least a little, but it would definitely leave a blood trail.
"Are you alright?" Ashton asked him.
"I'm fine, just grazed my foot." Alec's tone was underlined with anger.
"You don't sound fine," Ashton joked, now that she knew he was, in fact, alright, despite any
small pain he was feeling.
"Why do *I* always have to get shot? Did the guy who invented guns really, REALLY hate
me?" Alec sighed in frustration.
"Only if he knew you."
"Funny."
"I thought so."
"You can expect a severe beating when we get out of here," Alec promised.
"Sure, sure," Ashton mocked. She slowed to a stop and looked through the grate she had just
arrived at. Upon determining that no one was directly below them, she laced the fingers of
one hand through the grate and pushed it out with ease that would have shocked an ordinary. She
lay it against the side of the vent and out of her way, then stuck her head out into the room below.
Holding onto the edge, she flipped herself out.
Alec handed her down the duffel bags and joined her. They had entered the master bedroom.
Inderling, of course, was not present, which was already presumable since the alarms were still
going. Ashton moved to open the bedroom window so they could climb out. Alec gestured for
her to stop and limped over. He looked out. Second story. One of them would simply jump out,
catch the bags the other tossed to them, and then the second of them would jump out and that
was it. So, just for a little payback for being shot, Alec stepped back slightly and put his black-
gloved fist right through the glass, and cleared it out. "Ladies first," he said, grinning and
stepping aside for Ashton to exit.
She grinned back at him, and opened the broken window. She figured vandalism would be much
better vengeance if it was completely unnecessary for their escape. Ashton then moved back, ran,
and dove straight out the window, tucking and rolling on the ground to wind up back on her feet.
She turned and caught the duffels as they flew at her. She moved them and herself to the side and
Alec dove out after her. As he came to his feet, he stumbled slightly on his wounded foot.
Knowing that helping him would hurt his male pride, Ashton tossed him his duffel and they took
off into the night, moving slightly slower than they had coming in.
********
"Hmm, let's see . . ." Max scratched her chin thoughtfully. "I was thinking we could pull some
prank on Alec, but now that you mention it, I think Mole would look good pink!" She and Blake
burst out laughing, picturing it. Mole would be *so* much scarier as a big *pink* lizard. "But
I'm gonna have to take that one off the list. Mole has a horrible enough temper as it is, without
us putting dye in his shower. Plus, other people use that water. You never know who could get
to it first."
"Yeah, that's true," Blake agreed. "But pink!" She giggled. She sighed. "Well, maybe we could
paint Ash's face while she sleeps. We'll give her a black spot around her eye, and a black nose . .
. She could really pull off the bulldog look."
"You think?" Max asked, intrigued.
"Oh, I do."
"Yeah, or we could-"
"Hey Max!" Dix called out from the computer, on the other side of the room. "Logan's on the
vid phone!"
"I'll be there in a sec!" Max called back. "I guess we'll have to handle this later, sis," she said
regretfully.
"Don't worry," Blake grinned. "I'll take care of it. Keep an eye out." She winked
mischievously.
"Aiight!" Max headed over to the computer.
Blake stood where Max had left her and stared off into space, rubbing her hands together and
cooking up her scheme. -This is gonna be good- she thought.
********
"I mean, it's not like I go around with some damn 'shoot me' sign on my back!" Alec complained.
Ashton rolled her eyes and sighed as he began another tirade on the way into headquarters.
Would the guy ever shut up? It was only a graze! It'd probably be healed over by the next day!
"Is there something wrong with helping out? Is that what they're trying to tell me? Just sit back
while everyone starves and everything will somehow, miraculously right itself without my
interference? All I ever do on these missions and what not is try to help and I always get freakin'
shot! What do they want from me???"
"What does who want from you, Alec?" Ashton muttered tiredly and unsympathetically.
"They, Them, The Powers That Be, crazed teenaged girls who watch my life like a frickin' TV
show, I don't know! Whoever it is that gets their kicks out of watching me bleed! It doesn't
matter. The point is, I'm sick of it! My shoulder finally heals, despite Max's abuse, enough for
me to finally get back into the acrobatics and the heists and fights, and then I get shot again!"
While limping down the street and carrying his duffel in one hand, Alec waved his free arm around
frantically to emphasize each point. He reminded Ashton slightly of a one-winged chicken,
stumbling around like it had it's head cut off and with one leg shorter than the other. She
couldn't stop herself from laughing aloud at this analogy.
Alec whipped his head in her direction to glare at her just as they turned towards the door to the
building which housed Terminal City's command center. The sudden jerking motion of his head
reminded Ashton of a rooster, and she prepared herself to her a scruffy 'buckaw' burst from his
throat. The poor girl had to put her bag down in order to keep her balance as the laughter tore
through her petite frame. "What the hell is so fu-mmph!" Alec cut himself off as he smacked into
the closed door.
The closed door which chose that moment to fly open. Alec stumbled in, dropping his duffel, and
would have fallen flat on his face, if not for the reason for the door's sudden opening. Blake
plowed into him, toppling him over and going down with him in a tangle of limbs. "No no no!"
Blake yelled, frantically scrambling to untangle herself.
Mole, very angry and very pink, charged through the doorway after her and tripped on the two of
them, falling and landing on top of the pile. A muffled grunt escaped Alec's lips at the added
weight. He would have began to yell until his throat was raw, but was interrupted by a large hand
covered in pink paint that dropped onto his face.
"Uh oh," Ashton gasped from the sidelines, preparing herself to witness all hell as it broke loose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know, I know. This is very much like what happened at the end of last chapter. But isn't it fun?
Don't worry, this should be the last oomph ending for a chapter. This fic is meant to become
much more serious, and hopefully it will do so. Humor is good. But for the purpose of this fic,
humor cannot be the entire theme. If that's what you want, I suggest reading my other fic 'Help
the sorry person who reads this.' and the break stuff chapters of 'Break Stuff.'
Thanks for your time and patience with the slow updates.
Kel
Keela13
Part One
Chapter 3
Summary: The transgenics have to find ways to stay alive, and keep themselves occupied while
the siege creeps slowly along. Lot's of new and old faces are showing up to help with the latter.
Disclaimer: I don't presume to own Dark Angel, I could never have the genius to come up with it,
or the stupidity to cancel it. I DO own my original characters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignoring the curses and moans floating through the door, Max turned to Blake, and smiled
sweetly and calmly at her. "How may I help you?" she asked pleasantly.
"Is it really you, Max?" Blake whispered, as if seeing her sister was a dream, and if she spoke too
loudly, she might wake herself up.
Max's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Do I know you?" she asked suspiciously. She immediately
felt guilty at the broken expression that clouded the woman's beautiful features. Max wracked
her brain to figure out who she was, knowing that the only way to fix the girl would be to
remember on her own. The woman opened her mouth to speak, but Max shushed her. "Wait a
minute." Max studied her carefully, and her eyes widened with surprise and joy. "Blake?!?"
The redhead nodded vigorously and the two women met in a long, joy-filled hug. "I missed you,
baby sister," Blake said.
"I missed you too," Max choked out.
Sensing that they needed this moment, Joshua crept silently out of the room, leaving the two of
them alone. They pulled apart after several minutes. Blake reached up and pinched herself on
the arm. "Ow," she said calmly. "Well, I'm not dreaming." She chuckled softly and looked up,
meeting her sister's eyes, which were spilling over with tears. Blake reached up and gently
wiped them away. She kissed Max on the forehead, and pulled her tightly into another hug.
********
"Owwwww . . ." Alec moaned from where he lay on the floor with Ashton and March, in a tangle
of limbs. He looked into the neck of shirt, checking to see if his wound had opened up again. It
hadn't, but it still hurt like hell. "Bitch!" he yelled, hoping Max heard it.
Ashton squirmed her way out from the pile and held out a hand to help him up. "You alright
Alec?"
"I'm always alright," Alec growled, glaring at the door to Max's office. Ashton pulled him to his
feet by his good arm as March rose on his own. Alec sighed. Max *really* grated on his nerves
at times. "So what have you two been doing with yourselves?" Alec asked his two old friends.
Or as close as people can get without being known as friends or allowed to feel.
"Just living the best we can," March replied. "A few petty thieveries here and there, visiting
tattoo parlors," he put his tattoo-ridden arm out in front of himself to illustrate, "clubbing,
winning cash in drinking contests, beating some poor schmuck at pool on several occasions,
having sex, you know. The new usual."
"Sex, huh? Who with?" Alec pried, grinning mischievously. His grin slid away when he noticed
that Joshua had just emerged from Max's office. To hear him having a conversation about sex.
The last thing he needed to do was add words to Joshua's vocabulary, words which could be
blurted out at any awkward point in time. "Uh . . ."
"S'okay, I-I was just leaving," Joshua said, before walking away, true to his word.
"That was uncomfortable," March commented.
"Just a tad," Alec agreed. "Back on the topic: sex. With anyone important?"
March shrugged. "Nah, just Ash."
Ashton smacked him in the head. "You jerk! Why don't you just go to the fence and scream it so
all the ordinaries in Seattle hear it?!?" Alec chuckled. "What's so funny?!?" Ashton yelled at him.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Alec claimed, raising his hands in the air innocently. "I just think you
missed the joke behind the statement, that's all." He grinned. "At least I hope you did."
Ashton glared fire at him. If looks could kill, or maim, or any of the above, Alec would most
definitely not be in good shape. He couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips. Ashton raised
her fists and her left eyebrow, challenging him to continue. Alec sobered immediately. "So, uh,
moving on . . ." He hesitated, looking like the proverbial deer caught in headlights.
"And what have you been up to?" March interjected, saving Alec from a potentially life
threatening situation.
"The same as you guys, minus the tattoos. One's enough for me," Alec said, gesturing to the
back of his neck. "So, thievery, huh?" The mischievous glint returned to Alec's eyes. "Speaking
of, the reason I ran out after you guys-"
"You mean you didn't just wanna see us?" March asked.
"Oh, that hurts," Ashton pouted.
"Oh, come on, look at your hair! How was I supposed to know it was you guys? And Blake
wasn't exactly familiar, though I definitely wouldn't mind getting to know her . . . heh, Max
would kill me then . . ." Alec trailed off, a dreamy look in his eyes and a small smile on his face,
imagining 'getting to know' Blake.
"Alec!" Ashton snapped her fingers in his face. Alec snapped back to reality. "You were
saying?"
"Oh yeah, we need a few extra hands on the cash heists for the TC fund."
"Consider it done," March told him.
********
A pair of masculine hands lifted a tiny black leather . . . something or other from a closet and held
it up for inspection. Black eyes studied it carefully as he flipped the complicated tangle of leather
straps, trying in vain to figure out what the hell it was. "Hey, Val!"
Silence ensued as the hot pink wool clad blonde continued to rummage through a dresser looking
for an appropriate change of clothing. "Val," the male spoke again. She ignored him, lifting a
wad of cash out of a drawer.
Her eyes widened. "Dac, look at this!"
He turned to look at her findings, bringing the leather thing with him. He nodded in
understanding. "That would explain whatever the hell this is." He held it up for her to see.
"We've hit hooker territory." Val tossed the cash onto the bed that sat in the center of the small
apartment, and took the leather from him, twisting it around until she found what she was looking
for. She whistled in appreciation. The thing still looked to Dac like nothing but twisted leather.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"It's a top," Val informed him matter-of-factly.
Dac's eyebrows shot up. "How could that be called a top? It looks like it should cover just about
. . ." he held up his thumb and index finger, about an inch apart, "this much."
Ignoring his skepticism, Val instructed him to find a skirt. Rather than let him do so, however,
she pushed past him and began to rummage through the closet herself. After throwing several
similar 'garments' onto the bed, she produced a tubular piece of black leather. She pushed past
him again and walked into the small bathroom, carrying the leather with her.
"You're kidding!" Dac exclaimed. He sighed and began to search through the dresser some
more, knowing that he would find no suitable male attire in the closet. He came up with several
more wads of cash and a few things he would rather not think about. After several minutes, Val
emerged wearing more than Dac had thought she had gone in with. The leather straps tied up on
the back of her neck, crossed over her chest with enough material to cover herself in an almost
decent manner, and criss-crossed and wrapped around her abdomen in several thin straps. Her
skirt showed off a lot of leg, and just barely fell under the category of enough to keep her
covered. Her creamy white skin was a stark contrast to the black leather.
There was going to be a massive bump on Dac's jaw the next morning, because he could almost
swear it just hit the floor. "Wassa matter?" Val asked playfully. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Uh . . . uh . . . Good god, woman! You can't wear *that* in public!" Dac scolded. He nearly
dove into the closet. After a minute of rummaging and disgusted curses, and Val hiding a smile
and a laugh behind her hand, Dac found something slightly more suitable. Pants. Full, complete,
pants. Black leather, like everything else in that devil closet, but still pants. He shoved them into
Val's face. "Try these. And," he produced a leather tube top that tied up in the back, "this."
Val shrugged, took the garments and returned to the bathroom. "Not bad."
She emerged momentarily, much more descent than before. She studied her new outfit in the
mirror above the dresser. "It's not quite enough," she observed.
Dac more than fully agreed. "Absolutely. Maybe you'll find something in the next apartment to
replace it."
"That's not what I mean. It's missing something."
"Like 90 percent of the material!"
"Accessories, Dac. Accessories."
Dac sighed loudly. "Whatever. Let's look for something that's not in any way feminine or
purple." He collected up all the cash they had found and strolled into the next apartment.
Seconds later, he ran out, a terrified look on his face. "You're not going in there," he informed
Val. "Even you'd be scared for life." He re-entered the first apartment, grabbed her by the upper
arm, and dragged her out the door. He rolled his eyes as she pulled away, ran back to the room,
and scooped all she could get her hands on from the closet and off the bed. She ran back out to
him with an armful of leather, and turned so her arm resumed its position in his hand. Dac sighed,
but let her be and continued to drag her down the hall and up the stairs to the next floor.
After poking his head into several rooms, Dac pulled Val into one that was decidedly male.
"Jackpot!" Dac immediately strode over to the closet. "Let's have a look . . ." Dac flipped
through the clothing that the previous occupant had left. Business suits. Lots of business suits.
Charcoal, black, navy. Nothing interesting. And . . . "Omigod!" Dac busted up laughing.
"What?" Val asked. "What is it?"
Dac stripped off his purple plaid, buttonless button down shirt, and hung it up in the closet.
"Here ya go, buddy. This is more your style than mine," Dac whispered almost reverently to the
guy who had owned the suit collection.
"Huh?" Val was, needless to say, confused. Who would actually want a purple plaid, button
down shirt? Buttonless or otherwise?
Dac laughed again. Before Val could beat the joke out of him, Dac lifted something from a hook
in the side of the closet. "Val, this guy actually owned a purple plaid tie!"
"What?!? Lemme see!" Val dropped her load of leather onto the bed and reached for the tie. She
snatched it from his grip. "Dear sweet Jesus, and it's worn out! He even *wore* it!" She studied
it. "Hmm . . ."
"What, 'hmm'?" Dac asked warily, turning towards her, his firm, muscular chest in full view of
her suddenly hungry eyes. "Val, what are you-" He suddenly found his throat had gone dry, when
her attention returned to the tie, and she raised it to her neck. Terror overcame him, pooling in
his black eyes. "No. Tell me you're not-"
"Hey, this is kinda cool!"
Several transgenic heads turned, as a loud, unmasculine scream of protest exploded through the
walls of the building. "Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!"
********
"And so Ash says, 'I may be a porcupine, but no one has as much prick as you!' and she takes
the needle, and pokes him in the ass!" Blake and Max laughed like hyenas, albeit good looking
and sounding hyenas, as Blake recounted another tale from her 'stay' with Ashton and March.
Max chuckled, wiping tears from her eyes. "Sounds like the three of you had a hell of a time."
Blake shrugged. "They were funny, I'll give them that, but they couldn't compare to the
company of you guys." She smiled softly. "So what's up with that Alec guy? I know he was
from the other unit, but he looks kinda familiar."
"He's Ben's twin," Max whispered, her smile draining from her face.
"Oh."
"So, uh, have you heard from any of the others lately?" Max asked hopefully, changing the subject
before it got to more painful territory.
"Not a peep," Blake sighed. "I miss them. I missed you."
"Oh, Sis, you have no idea . . ."
"I probably do."
"Probably." Max smiled. "So what do you say we go out and celebrate?"
"What exactly do you have in mind?" Blake asked, a mischievous grin forming on her features.
"Well . . ."
********
Slender fingers flew nimbly, fiddling with wires all over the place in the steel power box. "Just
about . . . ah, there we go," Ashton said as the lights and alarm systems in the building above her
all flashed off a few times before turning off completely. She and Alec had snuck their way into
the basement of William Inderling, where they had to shut off the power in order to get to the
alleged thief's vault. Inderling reportedly arranged for items to be 'retrieved,' and then locked
them in his vault under high security until the heat was off said item. Alec's reasoning had been:
who better to steal from than a thief? No one outside of his posse or Terminal City would know
the difference anyway, and it wasn't like Inderling could report the items being stolen.
Of course, being a thief himself, you'd think he'd know how to protect 'his' property from
thieves. It was obvious he never did the dirty work himself in the fact that his security was
surprisingly lax. Still, when sneaking in, Alec and Ashton had used the utmost care to go
unnoticed.
After cutting off the power, by rearranging wires all over the place, enough to confuse even the
most advanced of technical whizzes, they hid in the shadows and snuck back upstairs. Perhaps
someone would notice that *someone* had tampered with the system and it wasn't just confusing,
but at least it would buy the two of them some time to achieve their objective. Relieving the vault
of its contents.
"So, how did you and Max meet?" Ashton asked conversationally as the two of them crept
upstairs. She and Alec paused momentarily to tuck themselves into a closet as three men ran
down the hallway where they had stood moments before.
"I'm guessing the same way you and March got together. Just kept coming back for more, didn't
you?" Alec grinned as Ashton smacked him upside the head.
"It's not my fault *he* couldn't get enough," she replied. Peeking her head out the door, she
signaled to him that they were in the clear and they emerged and resumed their journey to the
vault.
"Who could blame him?" Alec commented. Ashton smacked him again. "Almost there," Alec
said. They approached a turn-off in the hallway, which would lead them to the room the vault
was situated in. Faint conversation could be heard around the corner, and Alec crept along the
wall ahead of Ashton, stopping just at the edge.
". . . yeah, sometimes I just wanna hit that guy," one man huffed.
"Might knock some sense into hi-" The second man was cut off by the back of Alec's fist, which
slammed into his face as he rounded the corner.
"What the hell?!" the first guy exclaimed as his pal hit the floor without a sound. Ashton blurred
around the corner and took him out before he could even blink again.
Grinning widely, the two of them crept to the unguarded doorway at the end of the hall. Alec
picked the lock, and within seconds, they were in. Ashton rushed over to the vault embedded into
the wall as Alec stood guard at the door, even though it was closed. You could never be
prepared enough. Ashton put her ear to the dial and began to turn it, and in less than ten seconds,
she had it open. She entered quickly, sizing up the various pieces of artwork and jewelry it
contained. Choosing quickly the various objects that could fit into her duffel bag, Ashton made
quick work, leaving only what she couldn't easily carry on her person. "Toss me your bag!" she
whispered, knowing Alec would hear her. She caught it as it flew at her and filled it up as well,
shoving several small items into her pockets, even. Ashton exited the vault and closed it quickly
and quietly, carrying both bags with her.
Without warning, the secondary alarm system went off, powered by a back up source. Red lights
flashed in the hallway, and loud klaxons sounded, amid distant, pounding footsteps, heading in
Alec and Ashton's direction. Alec held his pistol at the ready, just inside the doorway. Ashton
lay their bags on the floor and leapt high into the air, lacing her fingers through a vent in the
ceiling and letting her sudden weight pull it out. It came out cleanly, only dust and not plaster
floating down through the air to rest in Ashton's robustly spiked hair. She easily heaved the black
bags into the vent and leapt up again, pulling herself neatly in. "Come on!" she hissed at Alec,
who was already on his way.
He handed her the grate from the floor and she pulled it in sideways as she moved out of his way.
With one fluid motion, to more than rival Ashton's own, Alec sprung upward, grabbing the side
edges of the vent and swinging his legs up, sliding them in and using his momentum to guide the
rest of his body through the opening. Silently, and with speed faster than light, Ashton replaced
the grate, closing up the vent just as guards charged into the door.
The two of them scrambled along the vent, pushing their duffels ahead of them. Realizing where
they must've gone, the men below them began to fire up into the vents, in an attempt to stop them
in their tracks. Scurrying along behind Ashton almost as fast as they could move with the bags,
Alec felt something burn along the side of his shoe, just before they got out of firing range.
"Damn!" he hissed, more out of anger and annoyance than pain, though it did hurt. Of course HE
had gotten hit. It was ALWAYS him. And in the foot this time, of all places. Not only would
this injury slow him down at least a little, but it would definitely leave a blood trail.
"Are you alright?" Ashton asked him.
"I'm fine, just grazed my foot." Alec's tone was underlined with anger.
"You don't sound fine," Ashton joked, now that she knew he was, in fact, alright, despite any
small pain he was feeling.
"Why do *I* always have to get shot? Did the guy who invented guns really, REALLY hate
me?" Alec sighed in frustration.
"Only if he knew you."
"Funny."
"I thought so."
"You can expect a severe beating when we get out of here," Alec promised.
"Sure, sure," Ashton mocked. She slowed to a stop and looked through the grate she had just
arrived at. Upon determining that no one was directly below them, she laced the fingers of
one hand through the grate and pushed it out with ease that would have shocked an ordinary. She
lay it against the side of the vent and out of her way, then stuck her head out into the room below.
Holding onto the edge, she flipped herself out.
Alec handed her down the duffel bags and joined her. They had entered the master bedroom.
Inderling, of course, was not present, which was already presumable since the alarms were still
going. Ashton moved to open the bedroom window so they could climb out. Alec gestured for
her to stop and limped over. He looked out. Second story. One of them would simply jump out,
catch the bags the other tossed to them, and then the second of them would jump out and that
was it. So, just for a little payback for being shot, Alec stepped back slightly and put his black-
gloved fist right through the glass, and cleared it out. "Ladies first," he said, grinning and
stepping aside for Ashton to exit.
She grinned back at him, and opened the broken window. She figured vandalism would be much
better vengeance if it was completely unnecessary for their escape. Ashton then moved back, ran,
and dove straight out the window, tucking and rolling on the ground to wind up back on her feet.
She turned and caught the duffels as they flew at her. She moved them and herself to the side and
Alec dove out after her. As he came to his feet, he stumbled slightly on his wounded foot.
Knowing that helping him would hurt his male pride, Ashton tossed him his duffel and they took
off into the night, moving slightly slower than they had coming in.
********
"Hmm, let's see . . ." Max scratched her chin thoughtfully. "I was thinking we could pull some
prank on Alec, but now that you mention it, I think Mole would look good pink!" She and Blake
burst out laughing, picturing it. Mole would be *so* much scarier as a big *pink* lizard. "But
I'm gonna have to take that one off the list. Mole has a horrible enough temper as it is, without
us putting dye in his shower. Plus, other people use that water. You never know who could get
to it first."
"Yeah, that's true," Blake agreed. "But pink!" She giggled. She sighed. "Well, maybe we could
paint Ash's face while she sleeps. We'll give her a black spot around her eye, and a black nose . .
. She could really pull off the bulldog look."
"You think?" Max asked, intrigued.
"Oh, I do."
"Yeah, or we could-"
"Hey Max!" Dix called out from the computer, on the other side of the room. "Logan's on the
vid phone!"
"I'll be there in a sec!" Max called back. "I guess we'll have to handle this later, sis," she said
regretfully.
"Don't worry," Blake grinned. "I'll take care of it. Keep an eye out." She winked
mischievously.
"Aiight!" Max headed over to the computer.
Blake stood where Max had left her and stared off into space, rubbing her hands together and
cooking up her scheme. -This is gonna be good- she thought.
********
"I mean, it's not like I go around with some damn 'shoot me' sign on my back!" Alec complained.
Ashton rolled her eyes and sighed as he began another tirade on the way into headquarters.
Would the guy ever shut up? It was only a graze! It'd probably be healed over by the next day!
"Is there something wrong with helping out? Is that what they're trying to tell me? Just sit back
while everyone starves and everything will somehow, miraculously right itself without my
interference? All I ever do on these missions and what not is try to help and I always get freakin'
shot! What do they want from me???"
"What does who want from you, Alec?" Ashton muttered tiredly and unsympathetically.
"They, Them, The Powers That Be, crazed teenaged girls who watch my life like a frickin' TV
show, I don't know! Whoever it is that gets their kicks out of watching me bleed! It doesn't
matter. The point is, I'm sick of it! My shoulder finally heals, despite Max's abuse, enough for
me to finally get back into the acrobatics and the heists and fights, and then I get shot again!"
While limping down the street and carrying his duffel in one hand, Alec waved his free arm around
frantically to emphasize each point. He reminded Ashton slightly of a one-winged chicken,
stumbling around like it had it's head cut off and with one leg shorter than the other. She
couldn't stop herself from laughing aloud at this analogy.
Alec whipped his head in her direction to glare at her just as they turned towards the door to the
building which housed Terminal City's command center. The sudden jerking motion of his head
reminded Ashton of a rooster, and she prepared herself to her a scruffy 'buckaw' burst from his
throat. The poor girl had to put her bag down in order to keep her balance as the laughter tore
through her petite frame. "What the hell is so fu-mmph!" Alec cut himself off as he smacked into
the closed door.
The closed door which chose that moment to fly open. Alec stumbled in, dropping his duffel, and
would have fallen flat on his face, if not for the reason for the door's sudden opening. Blake
plowed into him, toppling him over and going down with him in a tangle of limbs. "No no no!"
Blake yelled, frantically scrambling to untangle herself.
Mole, very angry and very pink, charged through the doorway after her and tripped on the two of
them, falling and landing on top of the pile. A muffled grunt escaped Alec's lips at the added
weight. He would have began to yell until his throat was raw, but was interrupted by a large hand
covered in pink paint that dropped onto his face.
"Uh oh," Ashton gasped from the sidelines, preparing herself to witness all hell as it broke loose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know, I know. This is very much like what happened at the end of last chapter. But isn't it fun?
Don't worry, this should be the last oomph ending for a chapter. This fic is meant to become
much more serious, and hopefully it will do so. Humor is good. But for the purpose of this fic,
humor cannot be the entire theme. If that's what you want, I suggest reading my other fic 'Help
the sorry person who reads this.' and the break stuff chapters of 'Break Stuff.'
Thanks for your time and patience with the slow updates.
Kel
