The Only Way Out: Does It Really Matter?

Keela13

Part One
Chapter 4

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.

AN: Asterisks (*) surrounding an entire sentence or more symbolizes a flashback.

RagingConfusion: Don't worry, you shouldn't remember Blake. I made her up.

Thanx for the reviews, all!

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"Hey," Max said with a small smile as she approached the video screen, seeing Logan's entire face
light up as she approached the camera.

"Hey," Logan replied. "How's it going?"

"Oh, not bad. We've gotten our hands on some cash, with more on the way. . . . And I found my
sister." The nonchalant way in which Max said that caused Logan to take a moment to really hear
what she'd said. Classic double take. Max watched as he jerked ramrod straight in his chair and
his eyes threatened to pop out of his head.

"Really?!?"

"I tell you I've found my sister after more than ten years, and all you can say is 'really'?" Max
teased.

"Uh . . . wow. . . . Really?" Logan repeated.

Max chuckled softly. "Really really, Donkey."

Logan looked confused. His brow crinkled softly and his mouth formed a loose 'O'. Max had no
chance of removing the smile from her face. He just looked so damn cute!

Having recovered slightly from the shock, Logan managed to form words other than 'really.'
"W-which one?"

"Blake," Max responded immediately.

"And?"

Max's brow furrowed. "And what?" Did he not realize that that was the point? That the
excitement was in having found her sister? What more did she need to say?

"Tell me about her!" Logan prompted, excited and happy for her.

"Oh!" Max grinned and shook the doubts away. Where to start? When they had been children,
Blake had had a fiery personality. She had an awesome temper, and once the guards turned their
backs, someone always had to hold her back from attacking them. When Krit had snuck up on
her on a training mission in the woods, she had punched him in the face, broken his arm, and then
didn't speak to him for a week. But on the other hand, Blake had been really sweet. She always
looked out for her younger brothers and sisters (except when they pissed her off), and she was a
great comfort in their times of need. Now she was still sweet, and funny despite all she had gone
through, a tad more mischievous than Max would've though she'd have been. But the temper
seemed to have disappeared. "She's beautiful," was all Max found herself saying. And she was.

Logan accepted this, understanding that Max was just a little overwhelmed at the moment.

Max and Logan just sat there for a few minutes, each staring at their respective screens, at each
other.

Their comfortable silence was broken, suddenly and loudly, as a clatter and a splash sounded from
the mouth of a short hallway which led from the outside door into Headquarters. A surprised and
shocked noise escaped Mole's throat, and everyone turned to look at what had caused the
commotion. The entire room went silent, as everyone took in the sight of Mole, covered from
head to toe in pink paint.

Mole was still quite capable of a frighteningly menacing glare, despite the pink. He turned said
glare on full blast as he surveyed the room, looking for the culprit. His search didn't last long, as
a fit of giggles erupted from underneath HQ's large meeting table.

Blake lay underneath the table, curled up in a fetal position, body wracked with laughter. She
stopped suddenly, having noticed the silent atmosphere, thick with tension. She looked slowly up
at Mole. Steam poured from the desert transgenic's ears. "Oh shit," Blake gasped, and then took
off from under the table like a rocket. Mole plowed through the crowd like a bulldozer on turbo,
and chased after her.

"Shit shit shit shitshitshit!" Blake screeched as she ran.

Mole was predatorily silent, aside from the squish and squeak of his shoes as he left pink
footprints in his wake. The two of them circled the room three times before Blake managed to
turn into the exit, barely keeping from smacking into the wall. Blake reached the door, paused
long enough to pull it open, and charged outside.

The occupants of HQ remained frozen in place, unable to force any sound from their lips.
Everyone in the room collectively winced twice at the sound of two dull, yet very loud thuds.


Then Max snapped out of it, and took off for the exit to see if her sister was still alive, leaving
Logan to stare in confusion at his screen, wondering what the hell had happened.

********

Alec was strangely still, Ashton noted. Blake lay squashed between him and Mole, and was
squirming like a worm trying to get out, while Mole tried to get his bearings, and made several
attempts to rise, which were unsuccessful due to the squirming mass underneath him. And
amidst, or rather below all this, Alec did not move. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, his jaw
was clenched, and his muscles were stiff.

Ashton recognized the angry position, and was loathe to go anywhere near the fuming X5, but she
snapped back to reality and moved to help Mole off the pile. She sidestepped the bag she had lain
on the ground in front of herself, and took a moment to decide how to move Mole without
getting covered in pink paint. She opted for a boot to the ribs, albeit a gentle boot to the ribs, and
she rolled him over carefully.

Mole thudded onto his back on the broken pavement, and rose with much more grace than he had
previously shown, leaving a pink silhouette of himself of the pavement.

Max skidded into view just inside the doorway. Her momentum nearly caused her to take Mole's
place in the pile, but she awkwardly jumped over it instead, stubbed her toe on a pothole on the
other side, and barely kept her face from being plastered to the ground.

As she turned around, Blake finally found a way to get off of Alec. She stood back in the
doorway. Mole re-activated his glare in her direction, and she grinned sheepishly, holding her
hands in the air in surrender.

Alec still hadn't moved. Ashton chewed her lip nervously. This was not good. Not good at all.
He finally opened his eyes, and stared with an almost indifferent look at the nearest suspect, who
just happened to be the guilty party. Blake.

Who, unfortunately, took this moment to notice the pink hand print that adorned his face. It
wasn't even smudged, just one perfect hand print. Blake burst into giggles.

REALLY not good at all. Ashton drew her finger frantically across her throat, mentally begging
Blake to shut up. The poor girl didn't see her, and was therefore unaware of what was to come.

With an unexpected movement which caused Ashton to jump, she was so tense, Alec flipped to
his feet. On the landing, he stumbled on his wounded foot. "What the hell was that?" he gritted
out in calm tone of voice. Ashton found herself with that classic feeling of preferring if he were to
yell. She had found on several occasions while growing up with Alec, that quiet Alec equals very
bad. Like how everyone suddenly goes silent when the bomb hits the floor. They know there is
no way to escape in time, and are frozen still, as if any movement will set it off. Then they all go
kaboom anyway.

Alec swivelled his head slowly in Mole's direction. He was the one who was completely pink, so
Ashton deduced that he had not started it, but rather had been a victim. Alec, apparently, reached
the same conclusion. He looked over his shoulder at Max, who still did not appear to know what
was going on. Alec returned his attention to Blake. Warning bells clanged and clattered in
Ashton's head, causing quite a racket between her ears.

Blake's laughter died down slowly. "Umm . . . heh . . . nothing?" Blake looked Alec in the face
and burst into a fresh set of giggles.

"Nothing," Alec echoed. "Nothing?!? And you think this is funny? What the hell were you two
thinking, running around like crazed bulls in a friggin' WAR ZONE!" Mole and Max stared at
Alec, slack-jawed. "There's a group of people outside that fence who'd jump at the chance to
KILL US, and you're giving them more reason to think we're ANIMALS! You could've hurt
someone! And then the ordinaries would drop a damn BOMB on us ALL!" Blake's laughter was
long gone, and she had joined the glare-wearin' club. Her face was turning almost as red as her
hair. "You see these bags? They contain a valuable source of CASH which we need to LIVE,
and you damn near CRUSHED THEM! DOES THAT SEEM LIKE NOTHING TO YOU?!?!?"

"Well, gee, now that you mention it, no," Blake shot at him sarcastically.

"Do you think this is a GAME?" Alec roared. "WE'RE UNDER SIEGE! WE NEED TO BE
ON OUR GUARD, NOT-"

*Wham!*

Alec stumbled backward from the force of the hit. Blake advanced on him. "Of course this is not
a game," she snarled. "I'm not an idiot, and I'm not a child! And you have no damn right to talk
to me like-"

Alec lunged for her, and Ashton sprang into action, running at him from the side and knocking
him off his feet before he could inflict any damage. She landed on top of him, and sat up,
straddling him. On his back, Alec wriggled for a moment, trying to free his arms, which Ashton
had pinned beneath her legs. "Get off," Alec growled.

Ashton knew that she could not simply let him up, or he would attack her friend, maybe even her.
She couldn't just sit on him and let him fume, because he'd throw her off eventually. She
couldn't talk him out of his state of anger. So she did the only thing she could do, the thing that
most people would consider completely insane, but was in fact the only option. Ashton slapped
him hard enough to snap his head to the side, even while it was resting against the pavement. She
had to admit, it felt kind of good. The crazy way he was acting had scared the shit out of her.

Alec's head snapped back in her direction. He studied her face with an unreadable expression.
Ashton's brow was drawn together, and she was breathing hard. Her eyes were clouded with
anger and confusion and fear, and they shone wetly. *I was sent here to kill your father. It was
my job. . . . You were my job.* Alec reached up a hand to touch the side of Ashton's face, but
before he touched her he drew back as if he'd been burned. "I'm okay now," he murmured.

Ashton nodded slowly and got off of him, offering her hand to help him up.

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I've noticed that I write long-ass chapters for this story, and in interest of quicker updates and
easier reading, I am going to write future chapters much shorter. (I had more words in the first
three chapters than some people had in eight! And their chapters were regular length!)