Cargo
By
Kel
Chapter 4: Human, Beast, or Idiot?
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. However, I do own any original characters that may appear in this
fic.
Betaing by the wondrous Mel!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 2
"What's wrong with them?" Pete asked, his curious eyes fastened on the two transgenics. The
two of them stood in chains on either side of the cargo hold, staring at each other with obvious
hatred in their eyes. Neither spoke, and neither moved.
"Well, I figure this one over here is mad at that one for betraying him and leading us to them,"
David reasoned, pointing at each of them in turn. "They were probably close or something."
David liked to make up stories, to speculate on reasons why the world turned 'round and why
people acted the way they did. "See, I figure they trained together, went on a lot of missions,
trusted each other and such. Then one day, this guy," he pointed to White, "got tired of it all, and
the two of 'em got into this big fight. Then-"
"But they're not human, Dave. They're beasts," Pete protested. "You make 'em sound like they
have feelings and stuff."
David shrugged. He looked back out across the room to the two transgenics. He and Pete were
on guard, watching the trannies and making sure they didn't try to escape. "Maybe you're right,
but what's the fun of a story about beasts? It's easier to pretend they have emotions."
"But if you're pretending they have emotions, then why don't you care that we've locked them
up?" Pete lowered his voice to a whisper. They'd get into a whole lot of trouble if Martin Kean
overheard them talking this way, like what they were doing was wrong.
Dave kept his voice low as well. "I'm just pretending, remember?"
Dave jumped when one of the transgenics snapped his head towards them. "Because you're too
dumb to know the truth," he said, then went back to glaring at White.
"And you're not just wrong about that," White pitched in. "I was never friends with that filth."
His voice was thick with disgust.
"Don't worry, Ames. You never will be, either. I have standards, you know."
"You'd much rather wallow in the muck of your own kind, wouldn't you?"
"See?" Pete grinned. "I told you White was an X4 or something. Pay up!" He held out his hand
to relieve Dave of his cash. He payed no attention to the groan coming from White.
"So what's the deal with these guys?" Alec asked, lowering his voice so the men across the room
would no longer be able to eavesdrop.
"Huh?" White said, too annoyed to come up with a more verbal response, or to attempt to ignore
the transgenic chatterbox.
"Well, before they tranqued us, I heard them saying things like, 'he's one of them?' 'what the
hell' and 'that lying son of a bitch,' so I'm guessing you know them." Alec clarified.
White huffed angrily. "Idiots mis-"
"Mistook you for one of us?" Alec knew there was nothing that would bug White more than to
be believed to be a transgenic. So as much as it disgusted Alec himself, he mentioned it.
White was silent, fuming with anger.
Alec took this as an agreement. "Seems that way," he concluded.
"Shut up, filth," White grumbled.
Alec rolled his eyes. "*Ooh*," he said, wincing in mock pain. "*Ouch*." He adopted a game
show host like voice. "What'll he come up with next?" He switched to a high pitched, mousy,
feminine voice, "'Shut up!' 'This is all your fault!' 'I'm so gonna kick your ass!'" He returned to
his normal tones. "Seriously, you've been chasing after Max for too long."
"Should've blown your head off when I had the chance," White groaned.
Alec donned a wide, bright grin. "Yup! And now you're stuck with me!"
"Ugh," White shuddered.
"Well," Alec moved on, cheerily ignoring White's disgust (or taking pleasure from it), "since we
*do* seem to be stuck in this together-"
"They must've thrown some hallucinogens in with your tranquilizers," White cut him off,
gesturing to the two men, who seemed to be straining to hear what they were talking about. But
were unsuccessful and wouldn't move any closer. "There is no 'we,' there is no 'together.'
You're trapped, and I happen to be trapped too. End of story."
"Hmph," Alec scoffed. If White chose to take his words that way. . . . Alec never would have
allowed the thought of *togetherness* into his mind. "Well then, *you* and *I* need to
co-operate to get out of here. Where we both *happen* to be."
White looked Alec over. Co-operate with that filth? "Yeah. Right."
Alec rolled his eyes again. "Well, if you'd prefer to stay here by yourself while I get the hell out
of here, then be my guest." Alec paused for a moment, waiting for White's reaction. There was
none. "God you're stubborn!" Alec stopped again, waiting once more but still White remained
silent. Alec rolled his eyes and pressed on. "So what's the deal with these guys?"
"You two wanna talk a little louder?" Pete called out to them. Dave smacked him upside the
head. It was obvious which of the two was the bigger idiot.
"No," Alec responded simply.
"Oh . . . well . . . thanks anyway."
"Shut up!" all three other men ordered the idiot.
"Who the hell put him on guard duty?" Alec asked David.
"Not me," Dave muttered.
"Remotely sane, are ya?" Alec guessed.
"Uh huh."
"I beg to differ," White muttered. Turning his head away, so as not to have to set eyes on the
'lower beings.'
Alec rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day. "Don't be such a crabby-face, Amy Green!"
David put a hand over his mouth to unsuccessfully hold back his laughter. Pete didn't have to.
He didn't get it. "What's so funny? Who's Amy Green?" David, still laughing, reached out one
hand and smacked him in the back of the head.
********
Max met them just outside the door to headquarters. "Any luck?" she asked in place of a
'welcome back' for the team that had gone out searching for Alec.
"No. No, not at all," Biggs responded, frustration dominating his entire person. He leaned
against the brick wall, and ran a hand through his black hair.
"Shit," Max hissed. Two days. Alec had been gone for two days, and not a single person in
Terminal City knew how to find him. For two days they had searched for some sign, any sign,
and there were none. Max liked to be in control, to know what was going on, and it was
frustrating, to say the least to have one of her closest friends in terrible danger and to not be able
to do a thing about it.
Her and Biggs exchanged stares of mental exhaustion and worry. Max jumped as Biggs lashed
out suddenly and punched the wall next to him. If she felt worried about Alec, then Biggs, who
had known him for his whole life, must've felt ten times worse. He rested his forehead on the
cool bricks.
"Hey," Max comforted, reaching out her hand and placing it reassuringly on his shoulder. "We'll
find him, okay?"
Biggs chuckled bitterly. "Not even ten minutes," he muttered. "I was in trouble for not even ten
minutes, and he found me and got me out. White's had him for *two days* and I don't even have
a fucking clue where he is!" Biggs fought to keep his voice down. If the younger transgenics
heard him speaking with such self doubt and frustration, they would become even more worried,
and would have more difficulty concentrating on keeping the ordinaries off their backs. It was
bad enough having Alec missing as it was, without killing any hope of finding him. "Dammit,"
Biggs muttered. "We don't even know if he's still *alive*."
"He's alive," Max said, no hint of doubt in her voice. He had to be alive. "Come on, you need to
get some rest." And he did. Biggs looked beyond bone weary. Max lead him to her office, and
he sank down onto her couch.
He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.
"We'll find him," Max assured him again. "Now, go to sleep, I'll let you know if there's any
news."
Biggs lay down, and Max gently pulled a light blanket over him. It took him awhile, but he
eventually fell into a troubled sleep.
********
"How's he doing?" Joshua asked Max as she emerged from her office, shutting the door quietly
behind her.
"Worried as hell, just like the rest of us," she informed him.
"He didn't find anything?"
Max shook her head.
"Little Fella worried as hell too," Joshua observed.
"Yeah," Max sighed. "I keep telling Biggs we'll find him, but I . . ." She trailed off.
"We will find him," Joshua told her. She may be the one telling others that, but she obviously
needed that assurance herself. As long as they kept telling each other they'd find Alec, Joshua
was confident they would. "It's not that easy to get rid of Medium Fella," Joshua reminded Max.
She couldn't help but smile. It was true, as much as she may have wanted to at times, she just
couldn't seem to get rid of Alec. She may not have been before, but she was glad for that now.
And she wasn't the only one. Just about everybody in Terminal City was scared of losing Alec.
Once upon a time, Max would have told them they were all nuts and would have been content to
just let him rot, wherever he was. Hell, if it weren't for Original Cindy, Max would have left him
in jail to do just that when he had been arrested. Max tried to tell herself that she eventually
would have gone in for him anyway. That she would've gotten an inkling of common sense, or
even trusted him, but she honestly doubted she would have. But the point was, that even thinking
of that made her feel guilty all over again. She did trust him, now that she had stopped and
realized how different he truly was from Ben.
Ben was her brother, and she had loved him. He had always comforted her, been there for her
until the escape. She had trusted him with her life and never doubted that he was deserving of
that trust. But something had changed in Ben, and he had stopped being the lovable, comforting,
older brother. He had stopped being someone she could trust.
Alec, on the other hand, had hardly even tried to be that trustworthy person. He knew that she
wouldn't trust him, and accepted it, played along even. He didn't try to earn her love. He
accepted her way of thinking towards him, accepted her decisions, and thus earned her trust,
when she wasn't even paying attention. His cocky attitude was like a warning, like *he* didn't
even think he could be depended on. He broadcast that loud and clear. But he *was* there for
her. He did comfort her, and help her out, and watch her back. But he left it entirely up to Max
to notice.
Max's thoughts were interrupted as she saw a familiar figure approach, from her office.
"What are you doing up?" Max demanded.
"Couldn't sleep," Biggs muttered, rubbing his tired eyes.
Max sighed. "If you don't get some rest, you're gonna wind up staggering around in a daze like
after you got hit with that tranq last week."
Biggs's eyes snapped towards her. "Tranqs . . ."
Max stared defiantly into his eyes. "Yeah, tranqs. Living dead guy. Biggs, we need you alert if-"
Biggs turned and moved away from her, practically running towards Dix. "Hey! Where the hell
do you think you're going?" Max called after him as she followed.
"Dix, where's that dart we brought in two days ago?" Biggs demanded.
"Uh, it's right-" Dix picked up the dart from the desk beside himself and Biggs snatched it from
his hand. "Here," Dix finished.
"What?" Max asked, wondering what the hell was up with him.
Biggs smelled the dart, turned it over and over in his hands, studying it closely. "Different drug . .
." he muttered, "but this is the same kind of dart those guys hit me with last week. Fuck, why
didn't I notice?" He slammed the dart back down onto the desk in an effort to resist throwing it
against the wall and smashing it to pieces.
Max stood staring at the dart in shock and relief as Biggs rounded up a team. He was heading out
again. They finally had a clue, no matter how small. Finally. Max felt a smile surging up from
within herself. It was held down only by the self torturing scowl on Biggs face, and the ever-
present fact that they hadn't found Alec *yet*.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reviews would be appreciated.... compliments, criticism, helpful tips..... or if you didn't like it,
then other assistance in making it better...... all in the name of happiness and improvement!
By
Kel
Chapter 4: Human, Beast, or Idiot?
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. However, I do own any original characters that may appear in this
fic.
Betaing by the wondrous Mel!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 2
"What's wrong with them?" Pete asked, his curious eyes fastened on the two transgenics. The
two of them stood in chains on either side of the cargo hold, staring at each other with obvious
hatred in their eyes. Neither spoke, and neither moved.
"Well, I figure this one over here is mad at that one for betraying him and leading us to them,"
David reasoned, pointing at each of them in turn. "They were probably close or something."
David liked to make up stories, to speculate on reasons why the world turned 'round and why
people acted the way they did. "See, I figure they trained together, went on a lot of missions,
trusted each other and such. Then one day, this guy," he pointed to White, "got tired of it all, and
the two of 'em got into this big fight. Then-"
"But they're not human, Dave. They're beasts," Pete protested. "You make 'em sound like they
have feelings and stuff."
David shrugged. He looked back out across the room to the two transgenics. He and Pete were
on guard, watching the trannies and making sure they didn't try to escape. "Maybe you're right,
but what's the fun of a story about beasts? It's easier to pretend they have emotions."
"But if you're pretending they have emotions, then why don't you care that we've locked them
up?" Pete lowered his voice to a whisper. They'd get into a whole lot of trouble if Martin Kean
overheard them talking this way, like what they were doing was wrong.
Dave kept his voice low as well. "I'm just pretending, remember?"
Dave jumped when one of the transgenics snapped his head towards them. "Because you're too
dumb to know the truth," he said, then went back to glaring at White.
"And you're not just wrong about that," White pitched in. "I was never friends with that filth."
His voice was thick with disgust.
"Don't worry, Ames. You never will be, either. I have standards, you know."
"You'd much rather wallow in the muck of your own kind, wouldn't you?"
"See?" Pete grinned. "I told you White was an X4 or something. Pay up!" He held out his hand
to relieve Dave of his cash. He payed no attention to the groan coming from White.
"So what's the deal with these guys?" Alec asked, lowering his voice so the men across the room
would no longer be able to eavesdrop.
"Huh?" White said, too annoyed to come up with a more verbal response, or to attempt to ignore
the transgenic chatterbox.
"Well, before they tranqued us, I heard them saying things like, 'he's one of them?' 'what the
hell' and 'that lying son of a bitch,' so I'm guessing you know them." Alec clarified.
White huffed angrily. "Idiots mis-"
"Mistook you for one of us?" Alec knew there was nothing that would bug White more than to
be believed to be a transgenic. So as much as it disgusted Alec himself, he mentioned it.
White was silent, fuming with anger.
Alec took this as an agreement. "Seems that way," he concluded.
"Shut up, filth," White grumbled.
Alec rolled his eyes. "*Ooh*," he said, wincing in mock pain. "*Ouch*." He adopted a game
show host like voice. "What'll he come up with next?" He switched to a high pitched, mousy,
feminine voice, "'Shut up!' 'This is all your fault!' 'I'm so gonna kick your ass!'" He returned to
his normal tones. "Seriously, you've been chasing after Max for too long."
"Should've blown your head off when I had the chance," White groaned.
Alec donned a wide, bright grin. "Yup! And now you're stuck with me!"
"Ugh," White shuddered.
"Well," Alec moved on, cheerily ignoring White's disgust (or taking pleasure from it), "since we
*do* seem to be stuck in this together-"
"They must've thrown some hallucinogens in with your tranquilizers," White cut him off,
gesturing to the two men, who seemed to be straining to hear what they were talking about. But
were unsuccessful and wouldn't move any closer. "There is no 'we,' there is no 'together.'
You're trapped, and I happen to be trapped too. End of story."
"Hmph," Alec scoffed. If White chose to take his words that way. . . . Alec never would have
allowed the thought of *togetherness* into his mind. "Well then, *you* and *I* need to
co-operate to get out of here. Where we both *happen* to be."
White looked Alec over. Co-operate with that filth? "Yeah. Right."
Alec rolled his eyes again. "Well, if you'd prefer to stay here by yourself while I get the hell out
of here, then be my guest." Alec paused for a moment, waiting for White's reaction. There was
none. "God you're stubborn!" Alec stopped again, waiting once more but still White remained
silent. Alec rolled his eyes and pressed on. "So what's the deal with these guys?"
"You two wanna talk a little louder?" Pete called out to them. Dave smacked him upside the
head. It was obvious which of the two was the bigger idiot.
"No," Alec responded simply.
"Oh . . . well . . . thanks anyway."
"Shut up!" all three other men ordered the idiot.
"Who the hell put him on guard duty?" Alec asked David.
"Not me," Dave muttered.
"Remotely sane, are ya?" Alec guessed.
"Uh huh."
"I beg to differ," White muttered. Turning his head away, so as not to have to set eyes on the
'lower beings.'
Alec rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day. "Don't be such a crabby-face, Amy Green!"
David put a hand over his mouth to unsuccessfully hold back his laughter. Pete didn't have to.
He didn't get it. "What's so funny? Who's Amy Green?" David, still laughing, reached out one
hand and smacked him in the back of the head.
********
Max met them just outside the door to headquarters. "Any luck?" she asked in place of a
'welcome back' for the team that had gone out searching for Alec.
"No. No, not at all," Biggs responded, frustration dominating his entire person. He leaned
against the brick wall, and ran a hand through his black hair.
"Shit," Max hissed. Two days. Alec had been gone for two days, and not a single person in
Terminal City knew how to find him. For two days they had searched for some sign, any sign,
and there were none. Max liked to be in control, to know what was going on, and it was
frustrating, to say the least to have one of her closest friends in terrible danger and to not be able
to do a thing about it.
Her and Biggs exchanged stares of mental exhaustion and worry. Max jumped as Biggs lashed
out suddenly and punched the wall next to him. If she felt worried about Alec, then Biggs, who
had known him for his whole life, must've felt ten times worse. He rested his forehead on the
cool bricks.
"Hey," Max comforted, reaching out her hand and placing it reassuringly on his shoulder. "We'll
find him, okay?"
Biggs chuckled bitterly. "Not even ten minutes," he muttered. "I was in trouble for not even ten
minutes, and he found me and got me out. White's had him for *two days* and I don't even have
a fucking clue where he is!" Biggs fought to keep his voice down. If the younger transgenics
heard him speaking with such self doubt and frustration, they would become even more worried,
and would have more difficulty concentrating on keeping the ordinaries off their backs. It was
bad enough having Alec missing as it was, without killing any hope of finding him. "Dammit,"
Biggs muttered. "We don't even know if he's still *alive*."
"He's alive," Max said, no hint of doubt in her voice. He had to be alive. "Come on, you need to
get some rest." And he did. Biggs looked beyond bone weary. Max lead him to her office, and
he sank down onto her couch.
He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.
"We'll find him," Max assured him again. "Now, go to sleep, I'll let you know if there's any
news."
Biggs lay down, and Max gently pulled a light blanket over him. It took him awhile, but he
eventually fell into a troubled sleep.
********
"How's he doing?" Joshua asked Max as she emerged from her office, shutting the door quietly
behind her.
"Worried as hell, just like the rest of us," she informed him.
"He didn't find anything?"
Max shook her head.
"Little Fella worried as hell too," Joshua observed.
"Yeah," Max sighed. "I keep telling Biggs we'll find him, but I . . ." She trailed off.
"We will find him," Joshua told her. She may be the one telling others that, but she obviously
needed that assurance herself. As long as they kept telling each other they'd find Alec, Joshua
was confident they would. "It's not that easy to get rid of Medium Fella," Joshua reminded Max.
She couldn't help but smile. It was true, as much as she may have wanted to at times, she just
couldn't seem to get rid of Alec. She may not have been before, but she was glad for that now.
And she wasn't the only one. Just about everybody in Terminal City was scared of losing Alec.
Once upon a time, Max would have told them they were all nuts and would have been content to
just let him rot, wherever he was. Hell, if it weren't for Original Cindy, Max would have left him
in jail to do just that when he had been arrested. Max tried to tell herself that she eventually
would have gone in for him anyway. That she would've gotten an inkling of common sense, or
even trusted him, but she honestly doubted she would have. But the point was, that even thinking
of that made her feel guilty all over again. She did trust him, now that she had stopped and
realized how different he truly was from Ben.
Ben was her brother, and she had loved him. He had always comforted her, been there for her
until the escape. She had trusted him with her life and never doubted that he was deserving of
that trust. But something had changed in Ben, and he had stopped being the lovable, comforting,
older brother. He had stopped being someone she could trust.
Alec, on the other hand, had hardly even tried to be that trustworthy person. He knew that she
wouldn't trust him, and accepted it, played along even. He didn't try to earn her love. He
accepted her way of thinking towards him, accepted her decisions, and thus earned her trust,
when she wasn't even paying attention. His cocky attitude was like a warning, like *he* didn't
even think he could be depended on. He broadcast that loud and clear. But he *was* there for
her. He did comfort her, and help her out, and watch her back. But he left it entirely up to Max
to notice.
Max's thoughts were interrupted as she saw a familiar figure approach, from her office.
"What are you doing up?" Max demanded.
"Couldn't sleep," Biggs muttered, rubbing his tired eyes.
Max sighed. "If you don't get some rest, you're gonna wind up staggering around in a daze like
after you got hit with that tranq last week."
Biggs's eyes snapped towards her. "Tranqs . . ."
Max stared defiantly into his eyes. "Yeah, tranqs. Living dead guy. Biggs, we need you alert if-"
Biggs turned and moved away from her, practically running towards Dix. "Hey! Where the hell
do you think you're going?" Max called after him as she followed.
"Dix, where's that dart we brought in two days ago?" Biggs demanded.
"Uh, it's right-" Dix picked up the dart from the desk beside himself and Biggs snatched it from
his hand. "Here," Dix finished.
"What?" Max asked, wondering what the hell was up with him.
Biggs smelled the dart, turned it over and over in his hands, studying it closely. "Different drug . .
." he muttered, "but this is the same kind of dart those guys hit me with last week. Fuck, why
didn't I notice?" He slammed the dart back down onto the desk in an effort to resist throwing it
against the wall and smashing it to pieces.
Max stood staring at the dart in shock and relief as Biggs rounded up a team. He was heading out
again. They finally had a clue, no matter how small. Finally. Max felt a smile surging up from
within herself. It was held down only by the self torturing scowl on Biggs face, and the ever-
present fact that they hadn't found Alec *yet*.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reviews would be appreciated.... compliments, criticism, helpful tips..... or if you didn't like it,
then other assistance in making it better...... all in the name of happiness and improvement!