Breakdown by Star24
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters are property of Twentieth Century Fox and James Cameron and Charles Eglee. This original story is property and copyright 2003 Star24.
Fogle Towers 9:00 AM
Bling pushed open the door to Logan's apartment, and quickly headed into the computer room which had now become Command Central. The petite blonde who was seated in front of Logan's computer turned at his entrance.
"I got here as fast as I could. What's going down? Where's the man? When did you get into town?" Bling shot questions at her in rapid sequence. "Last time I heard, you were in San Francisco."
Syl answered the most essential question, ignoring the rest. "Max has him."
Bling looked at her in puzzlement, "And that's a bad thing because…?"
"It's a bad thing because Max doesn't really remember being Max. Manticore managed to re-indoctrinate her and she was sent out on a mission to assassinate Eyes Only. She tried to hack into the Informant Net last night but Logan and I stopped her."
"So if you stopped her, what went sideways?"
Syl had risen and was restlessly pacing the room. She grimaced at his question. "I thought she was secured and left her alone for the night. My mistake. When I got up this morning she was gone and Logan was gone with her. I don't believe he went willingly."
Bling's face was grim. "Maybe we need to wipe the Informant Net. Logan wouldn't want anything to happen to any of his people in case…" He left the last part unspoken.
"I don't think we have to do that just yet. I've locked down the system with some additional precautions of my own, over and above Logan's, and I've also set it to sound an alarm if anyone attempts access. If Max tries to force Logan into the Informant Net it might give us a lead as to where she's taken him."
"You don't think she took him straight back to Manticore? I still think we should secure the net and get out of here."
"I've been monitoring the Manticore transmissions all morning – Logan somehow got their comm frequencies – and there's been nothing so far about her returning to base. I think we're okay for now. It doesn't appear that she ever reported this location in to them, so I don't think they're going to come down on us anytime soon."
Bling still looked unsure, but after a moment he nodded. "What do you want me to do?"
"I need you to monitor the system in case my alarm goes off. I also need you to try to think about what safe houses Logan has set up that Max might know about. We need to locate the two of them and we need to do it fast."
"I'll get right on it. Logan changed most of the safe house locations after the Manticore raid, when things started to heat up, but there might still be one or two that Max would be familiar with." Bling was already seated in front of the computers, starting to type in commands and open up files.
"I've gotta make a phone call. There's someone I need to talk to." Syl grabbed her cell phone and left Bling working on the computer pulling up addresses and skimming through files.
Manticore
The frightened looking medical tech stood at attention in front of Renfro's desk. Renfro had just finished reading through a file he had delivered to her.
"Why wasn't I informed of this problem sooner?" Renfro's voice cut like a whip as her eyes blazed fury at the tech.
"Psyops was told the mission duration was to be no more than 5 days, Ma'am. That being the case, there would have been no problem." The tech looked like he would like nothing more than to drop down into a hole in the floor.
"Don't you think that I should have been informed that the conditioning was not fully in place, and that there might be complications if X5- 452 didn't receive more drug therapy within five days?" Icicles seemed to drip from the words, as Renfro's voice grew even colder than before.
The tech opened his mouth to respond, but was forestalled by another voice speaking from the doorway of Renfro's office. "Psyops has never released an operative prior to complete certification before. And we've never used such a strong dosage in order to achieve short term results. Your orders were to get X5-452 ready for a mission that was to last a maximum of 4 -5 days and to do it immediately. The only way to do that was to use the psycho-active drugs as the primary control. The underlying permanent conditioning was only 50-60% complete. Our report clearly stated that. Now, I suggest you let this young man leave and get back to his work."
The new voice spoke with strong authority, and Renfro turned to meet the eyes of the gray haired man who stood in her doorway. The technician hurried away, wiping his brow as he did so.
"The possible failure of this mission rests on your shoulders, Elizabeth. My people are not going to take the fall for you. What were you thinking of? I was in Washington for a meeting, so you thought you'd run roughshod over my staff? Hungry for some glory? Elizabeth Renfro, the one who took out Eyes Only, the thorn in our side?" The newcomer was clearly angry, even though his voice was soft.
"He's more than a thorn, John, and you know it." Renfro didn't give an inch.
"He's a nothing. He doesn't have an inkling of what Manticore is really all about, and the damage he could have done was minimal. Let him make his little broadcasts and we can shut down a base or two. Make him and the public think we've gone away. Instead, you send one of the X5 units out after him, and risk blowing cover for the entire project. He's going to be more determined than ever to go after us if this mission fails, and we'll have lost a valuable X5 unit in the bargain. You'd better hope that X5-452's conditioning holds and the mission is successful. If things go sideways, it won't be my people going down."
"Are you so sure the conditioning won't hold up? What exactly will happen when the drugs wear off?" Renfro questioned him.
"The X5 unit will go through severe withdrawal, including hallucinations and possible psychoses. If it makes it through that with its sanity intact, there's a 50-50 chance of the conditioning holding. If however, someone with knowledge of the conditioning techniques we use works on the unit, that probability drops down to less than 10%."
"There's no one on the outside with any knowledge of our techniques, much less anyone with detailed knowledge of the X5 series." Renfro's tone was dismissive.
"Are you forgetting about someone intimately involved with the X5 program who helped to pioneer those techniques? Someone who, by the way, you also failed to contain?"
Renfro looked at him her icy composure finally shaken. "Lydecker…" she whispered.
End of Chapter One