Hidden Danger Crouching Cat.
By Shannon Hearn
The characters of Dark Angel are owned by Twentieth Century Fox Television and Cameron Eglee productions. All other characters are of my creation.
Chapter 5: X-series reunion, Eyes Only, and Lady Chimera
For Logan Cale the work that he was doing at his computer terminal was life or death. Well at least his life as Eyes Only.
"Damned it, you little piece of shit.... Don't eat the file," he was begging the system, "don't eat the file...." Then there was a very audible beep from the computer as the web page that he was reading on the recent police activity in sector three on a serial criminal that was hitting police cruisers and painting a pig snout on the hoods of the vehicles and was not seen even after a hover drone recorded the incident. Then the screen went straight to blue and the file was lost.
"Shhiiiiiittttttttt." Logan screamed at the top of his lungs as the file was lost and his connection to the Internet was lost. "Well, the mighty Eyes Only is like any other person. He has to deal with a lousy Internet connection, when the traffic is high. Oh Well, time to go to plan "B", Well Matt...." Logan said to himself. "... It might take a while, but I'll help you nail the guy that tagged your cruiser. It is the least of the things I can do for you, after all you have done for Eyes Only." Logan was working on getting the hover drone video log on the incident and he contacted one of his friends as he went over to pick up the phone and dialed speed number five.
"Asha... This is Logan, I need a favor from you, you know that friend of yours on the police force that has been feeding you intel on corrupt cops, well I need you to get some hover drone footage on who is tagging the police cars around the twelfth precinct." There was a pause for a moment as Asha debated what to say to Logan. Then she continued' and Logan answered. "OK Asha, I'll see what Eyes Only can do for you in trying to figure out who killed your father. OK talk with you soon." Logan said as he hung up the phone, wondering how Asha had become the Supreme Commandant of S1W at such a young age. But this tagger's technique was such that many in the Police Department thought that the perp was a transgenic with some sort of stealth capability, and Logan was thinking that it could be a transgenic with a more advanced stealth capability like the one Brainic had used before his death. Logan and Asha had felt for the "Big Guy" due to the extra large X-series girth made him very noticeable in a crowd, if anyone would notice the guy or remember if he was in the crowd. Brainic's capability to be a raw data crunchier/ Transgenic General made him an individual that Logan thought, might if he had survived he would have become a powerful ally in his war on corruption.
After Brainic's death and the Gill Girl incident, Asha had become tolerable of Transgenic-kind. The fact that Asha stopped seeing Max as a sort of creature but as an individual after Max put her life on the line to save all of S1W. Though there was still tension between the two, the "Furry little friends" jokes had come to an end, though the "touch Logan and die" situation had still to resolve itself, as Joshua had put it, "The virus bitch had to go down."
The battle to fix a broken world would continue, but for now Logan had to fix lunch. He had to figure out if the new crisis that was arising was either some transgenic causing trouble or someone with a grudge against the cops.
"Just give me a super villain, or a major bad guy to deal with God for the coming days and I'll just be fine." Logan said as he entered the kitchen and opened the fridge and pulled out some carrots.
***
As Max and Melfina were riding their bikes back to Jam Pony, there was noticeable police disturbance and there was at least eight cops trying to deal with a group of street kids, and one of them had grabbed a cop by the shirt and had tossed him through a window with one arm. It would have been noticeable like any other scene from Cops but the window was at least 40 feet away, instead of 5 feet. Then Max recognized something that she thought she would not have noticed except that he had a very gothic look to him. Then unexpectedly came this off red 1978 Shark with gold Gaelic symbols on the side, which spun around and the guy leaped into the car as it sped off nearly colliding with two squad cars in the process.
Max sighed, as she used her sight to zoom in on the license plate, The T-Bloods were back to their usual chaotic mischief. It looked like she had to knock some sense into those kids again. Weeks earlier Max had a run-in with a group of street kids who had been given the powers of a Transgenic when an amped-up custom model of her kind with custom modified blood. Marrow the Transgenic Vampire had used his blood to gene-splice these poor kids into creatures to do his bidding. But when Max had found out that this asshole was brainwashing these kids to be his own personal Manticore shock troops, she took it upon herself to set these kids right. Ironically it was one of Marrow's own followers named Rain who had discovered the truth about what Marrow was and decided to stop him by not enduring the splicing procedure again. Rain had decided to take her stand and not take her medicine and had exposed Marrow for the fraud he was and Max Impelling the jerk did not help his ego. Since then Max was worried that these kids would expose her kind, but for the most part, Rain and her cohorts had kept low, till now.
Melfina just stared at the scene unfolding before her.
"Max... Those were Transgenics. Why are they doing what they did so publicly?" Melfina said as she looked at a very fuming Max.
"Mel, remember how pissed I was when I found out that Aspen was causing trouble when she seduced Alec with her hormones, well it is time that I whooped someone's ass into shape." Max said as she glanced over to a nearby payphone and walked over to it.
"Max, what are you doing?" Melfina said as Max dumped in her seventy-five cents and dialed a number from memory. There was a pause as Max waited for someone to pick up at the other end then she spoke.
"Hey, Logan. It's Max. Listen, I had a run in with a few of my kind and Rain and her pals are up to their mischief again. So, I need you to contact Dr. Shookar and bring Joshua with you to the church that the T-Bloods have been using." There was a pause as someone on the other end of the phone replied.
"Does Alec, know what is going on. I thought that after that Incident with Marrow, Rain and her pals would have laid low." The voice said on the other end.
"I know, Logan. I have had one of those days, and trust me; next to a nuclear explosion going off in the next five minutes in my sneakers, things will be tame. Listen I am bringing some friends with me."
"What type of friends, Max?" Logan said.
"Like me, as in the tattoo department, Logan." Max said to an aghast Logan Cale. "So, could you take care of what I said, Okay." Max said as she hung up the payphone, and turned to get on her bike.
"Max, where are you going?" Melfina said as she realized that Max was a leader of a larger unit that she and Aspen had anticipated to find. "Max, listen, tell me what the heck is going on? I'm scared of what just transpired, but does it have to pertain to this Marrow, guy that your friend Logan was talking about?" Mel said as she rushed at full speed to get in front of Max on her bike.
"Yes Mel, it does." Max said, as she looked Mel straight in the eyes. "Lets just say, you, me and the rest of our brothers and sisters from Manticore are not the only amped up beings running around Seattle."
"What????" Mel yelped, and went bug-eyed before Max.
"I'll fill you in on the way to Rain and her friends hideout. Before the Cops get there." Max put as she and Mel peddled their bikes to the abandoned church that the T-Bloods used as their layer.
***
As Alec, Aspen, and OC, were riding their bikes back to Jam Pony. There was tension between them. As Alec's pride and his ego took a beating, having to be protected by Nubian Queen Amazon from a Polynesian Enchantress Siren capable to lure males to their doom just by her look and smell. Alec's record of accomplishment with other Female Transgenics was turning out miserably. Being kicked in the nuts by his breeding partner, going after a sea nymph who happened to be married, and now with the enchantress that was becoming a pain in Max's but. Well this day was driving him nuts. Just give him an ordinary human girl that he could do a one-night stand with and bring her to full-blown sexual excess. Well, this was not a day Alec would have liked to have had continue. Given the way that it was going for him it would start to turn eulogy. He needed a distraction and OC was giving Aspen the hungry look of, I want to have hot-crazy monkey love with that girl in a shower. After what Aspen had done, having OC around being a bodyguard for him and his manhood was very humiliating. Then Alec's Cell phone buzzed, and Cindy and Aspen looked at him as he unclipped it from his side-strapped backpack that he wore and opened up.
"This is Alec." Alec said with less exuberance than he usually said. Then he heard Logan's voice on the other end.
"Alec, its Logan, Max need your help, it looks like the T-Bloods are up to trouble." Logan put to a stunned Alec.
"What the Heck are you talking about, Logan?" Alec said into his phone with annoyance.
"A few weeks ago. Max helped a few street kids who had been fallen upon by a vampire like transgenic, well to make a long story short, she slapped some sense into them and impelled the guy after attempting to turn these kids into his own personal cannon fodder. Alec, I need you to head by your place and get your car. Max will need some backup on this. I'm on my way to get Joshua at his place. So listen, when you get to your place, I'll call again with the address." Logan said as he ended his call leaving Alec.
"Alec, what's up h' boy. You look like, someone had dropped an anvil on your ass and wants to take it back again and drop it your head." Original Cindy said as she glanced at Alec with the "Uh hummm" look that she was famous for when she was about to yell someone's name at her beckon and call.
"It's Max, she has had a run in with some Transgenics who are causing some problems." Alec said as things started to set in for him.
"Is Mel alright???" Aspen said out of worry. The Big Sister instincts had taken over for her concern for Melfina.
"Logan wants me go to my place and contact him on his cell, of where to get the address of where Max is at." Alec said as he looked around at the street sign that was before him. Quickly calculating the quickest route to his place and took off.
"Hey Alec. If you are going to see Max, I am coming along as well. Mel is my baby sister and if anything happens to her, I'll feel responsible for bringing her along to work today." Aspen said quickly rushing after Alec of her bike leaving Original Cindy behind.
"Yah, know, Go'd old Boo's life gets more interesting everyday, and Original Cindy thinks that I better go over to Josh's place and intercept old Money Bags to get to the bottom of this mess."
***
As Max and Melfina rode their bikes through the streets of Seattle until they got to the old church that housed the T-bloods gang. The old church had been abandoned for years even before the Pulse had hit. The place looked like it had been through a lot of roughness as the old stained glass windows which still showed Jesus and his thirteen apostles at the last supper showed the dirt and grim on them from the years of lack of cleaning.
Max got off her bike wearing her white jump pants and her black close curve revealing t-shirt made it seem that she was just a person checking out the place. Max had worked her way through the front door and into the lobby of the church where it looked like it had seen some decent renovations. Melfina walked up right behind Max and looked around the church as they entered the main chapel, which looked like it had been turned into a large living area with couches, tables, chairs, and cabinets. The place looked like one huge interconnected dormitory lobby, all that was missing was a large circle porker table and a pool table in the place.
"Max, how many of these T-Bloods live here?" Melfina said breaking into a defensive stance.
"Oh, about fifteen to twenty-five." Max said as she glanced around and looked upward to the upper pews where the T-Bloods slept.
"And they are all amped up like us, with all of our capabilities." Melfina said going into full tactical alert.
"Max," A voice rang out from above. Max and Mel looked up to see a young woman with red hair looking down at them. "What are you doing here?" The worried look on the girl's face started to grow. "Oh, my God. Marrow is back, isn't he?" There was a pause as the pain on her face started to grow.
"No Rain, I came down here to talk about what happened to your guys car. I saw it after I saw a few of you guys throw around a few police officers in front of a convenience store." Max said trying to calm the girl down.
"What???" Rain said as she looked at Max with curiosity. "What do you mean, which car are you talking about?"
"Rain, could you get down here, it is a little hard to talk to you like this." Max said looking at Rain.
"I'll be down in just a sec." Rain said as she disappeared for a second as she looped around to the stairs so that she could get down to the first floor of the chapel.
"Max" Melfina said looking towards Max with growing worry on her face. "How much do you know about Rain here, I mean is she one of these T-bloods?"
"Yes Mel, Rain is a T-blood. To make a long story short, Marrow, one of Manticore's custom projects, decided when he was out in the world he decided to pick up the human myth of Vampires, and the sub-culture that surrounds this ideology. Once Marrow took this mythology, he started to use his biological capabilities as a walking blood bank to start Gene-splicing Street kids like Rain and her friends into creatures that possess all the capabilities of a Transgenic.
"I only had a run in with them when Rain and a few of her pals decided to go on a crime spree, and decided to rob a club that Me and Original Cindy were going to for a girls night out and party like it was 2099. " Max paused as she remembered the events of that night with all its wigginess. "Well as OC was about to talk with her friend what was going to let us in, Rain and her pales crashed out the front door with the loot they had stolen from the ticket booth and the bar. As they slammed their way pass the bouncers that they threw around like rag dolls, Cindy caught a glimpse at their barcodes. Feeling responsibility for letting everyone out of the Manticore Zoo, I thought it was a group of X5s or X6s that decided to go out on a mischievous crime spree and I took it upon myself to knock some sense into their heads to tell them to go to ground and stay hidden." At that time Rain had come down the stairs and entered the room wearing her black leather jacket that had metal studs covering the back shoulder blades, a off pink waitress uniform with a white trim around it, put with a pair of white tennis shoes she looked very eclectic, just like Aspen and her had dressed earlier that morning.
"Max ran into Lida, a friend of mine and someone who thought that she could leave the gang." Rain stopped and paused for a moment as tears started to come to her eyes. "Lida got it through her head ht Marrow had us addicted to something which gave us our enhanced capabilities.
"Me and a few of the others went looking for her and we got her back, thinking that she would die without Marrow's help. As we are sneaking Lida out of the hospital, we have a run in with Max. I thought I was a bad ass, she tossed me around like I was nothing and took me down in all but ten seconds." Rain looked at Melfina, and was wondering why Max had brought this girl with her then she continued her story. "When I was being held by Max and her friend Logan, they told me about what she was and why she was looking into the T-bloods. Lets just say this simply, she did not like the idea of Marrow using us as his own personal troops against humanity." Rain had started to cry right there, "Marrow killed Lida, as if she was a broken toy and I was to be next, till I got through the seizures that I was having and confronted Marrow in front of the others with the truth. As Marrow was about kill me, Max had used her powers to intercept him and impale him through a candle stand, but before we realized what was going on, Marrow had disappeared."
"Rain, I didn't know, Max that is why you were so pissed at me and Aspen when we waltzed into your life, you have taken responsibility for letting us out into the world and any damage that we do, you feel that you have to fix it." Melfina said looking at Rain with sympathy instead of the raw terror, she had of Normals a few minutes ago, now she knew that she was not the only being that had been mucked up by Manticore.
"Max, with your friend here, I know that you have normal human friends but how does she know so much about Manticore." Rain said looking at Melfina as she worked her way over to once of the couches.
"Rain, Melfina is one on my people, I think that she has been scared of normal humans since the fire at Manticore so, you're sort of an enigma for her." Max said. "The main reason that I am here is that Me and Mel over there saw your guys Gold Shark with some enhanced capability and I was thinking were you guys up o anything today pertaining to petty theft or smash and grab."
"No Max, me and the rest of the T-Bloods have been laying low, to protect ourselves and your people. Though about the topic about the Shark is that last I heard, "Brams and Lucy last had it out, but when they went out for grocers, they found it was stolen. So whoever has it is probably the ones you are looking for." Rain said as Max looked her up and down at the uniform she was wearing. "You seen that a good chunk of us had gotten jobs, and laid low like you asked."
"Why have you guys stayed here?" Max said looking at the gothic girl.
"Max, the main reason that me and the others have not left the church and have stuck together is that If Marrow comes back, we all feel that there is safety in numbers." Rain said as she moved around to where Melfina was sitting on the couch. "Max, could you tell me about Mel, I mean, I heard that she was one of your people from all the way upstairs."
"Well, Rain, I am still finding out details about her." At that moment, Logan and Joshua walked into the chapel. Joshua was wearing his motocross helmet to conceal his bestial features. The way that Mel had just shut down as she did earlier when she had learned that Max was the one of the twelve and set them free during the fire. Now Mel had started to lock up again to the point where she introverted her existence into herself.
"Little Fella, Logan said to come with him, and that you needed help." Joshua said as he walked forward with Logan into the T-bloods living area. Then Joshua noticed something as he sniffed the air around him. "X6 with eel and X5 with lizard. Little Fella, I smell other X's."
"Joshua, what are you talking about?" Max said looking towards Joshua with curiosity on her face.
"Uh, Max, your friend Josh is acting like he can tell what you are." Rain said, "I mean I didn't know that you had lizard in you?"
"Rain, I have Cat in my cocktail," Max said to rain and looking at Mel as concern started to fall into her face. Then max looked at Joshua, "Hey Joshua could you come over here, and take off your helmet."
"Max, what do you want? I might need your help here in a second. Remember the night of the fire, did you help any X series Transgenics.
"Yes, I did Little Fella." Joshua walked over to the couch that Melfina was and took his helmet off. About that time, another T-blood walked into the chapel and saw Joshua from behind.
"Hey Rain, what is going on," the suddenly the T-Blood looked right into Josh's face. The new guy and Rain just stood there, not moving. They stared at Josh and his canine features before them. Then very gently, Joshua sat down by Melfina and gently stroked her face with his large muscular hands, wiping away the tears from her face. Then something happened, Mel and Joshua linked in their minds and they entered the Gray room together.
***
The sound of heartbeats pulsed with a constant rhythm and the soft silk drapery and gentle smells of sweet flowers, milk and baked doughnuts and cookies filled the air. Melfina found herself dressed in a white gown like shirt that had flowing white sleeves and curve conforming main shirt section that as body hugging tight. She had on Blue leggings and soft violet blue deck shoes. She glanced around, and there was this large imposing muscular man with long dark blond hair. His clothes were simple blue jeans, an overly large green long sleeve t-shirt that had paint spatters on it all along the lower sections of it. He wore an urban gray combat fatigues jacket that bore that Manticore, Lion logo on it.
"Where am I?" Melfina said, trying to make sense of the situation she was in. Then she saw the man's face start to change from Human to that of a Dog-Man. However, the eyes remained the same.
"You are in the safe place." He said to her as he slowly walked over to Melfina and touched her on the face.
""Who are you?" Melfina said to the Dog-man.
"I am Joshua, Father made me first." Images flashed through Melfina's mind of illusions and of physical pain as a child. Melfina remembered being strapped into a chair and being forced to learn something under torture.
"I'm Melfina, hey there are images flashing before me, is it the same thing for you Joshua?"
"Yes they are, and I see them too." At that moment, Melfina witnessed beast creatures ranging from rats boys, panther women, a howling Dog-boy calling out for his father, ape creatures, lizard men and women. The mix of individuals and nightmares and beasts drew up to the moment of the night of the Manticore fire.
"Melfina, I am here to help you. Not everyone is bad. There are good people out there."
"Your a Nomailie... you live in the basement." Melfina said backing away from Joshua.
"Yes, I used to live in the basement, now I live in the world." Joshua said looking at her with a look of caring in his gentle eyes.
"Why did you save me the night of the fire?" Mel said as she started to cry, then the images of her two dead friends appeared before her and Joshua. They walked towards her, and knelt down on the floor, and they sketched a symbol into the ground. That of an upside-down Hyppciticus symbol.
"You were in need." Joshua said to her.
"Because you were needed." said the ghosts of the late X6s. " You are needed to stop those who use this symbol for evil. All of those who have died, Normals, Transgenics and another group you will learn about in the year to come."
"Why me?" Melfina screamed pleading for answers. "Why me? Why should I have lived when so many had died? Why you two have to die?"
"We do not know..." They said. "Only the Blue Lady knows and you need to live your life to tell all that know of you and of our kind. We have lived, and will live on for those who remember us."
"I am alone."
"You are not. Open your eyes. You will never be alone. You have friends that you can lean on when you are in need, and will be with you in your heart always." They all said to Melfina then Mel was hurtled back to reality.
***
As Rain just stood there viewing the scene unfold before her, all that she thought was: "was this a normal day for Max?" Mutant Vampires and now Werewolves, what was this girl up to when she wasn't out slapping sense into others of her kind?
"Mel, are you alright?" Max said to Melfina as she started to blink normally again.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Melfina said as she looked at Joshua with wonder and fear.
"The night of the fire Joshua, when you found me. You knew that I was afraid of you, but why did you leave me to find Max?" Melfina said starting to view Joshua not as the monstrous beast that she was taught to fear as a child if she was bad. Now she viewed Joshua as a person that saved her life as being the same as her, just a bit larger and different in his characteristics as she was in her capabilities from the other X6s.
"You were closer to the exit than she was, I had to get everyone out, and the fire was everywhere." Joshua said explaining his actions. "When I got a whiff that Little Fella had gotten out, I left then."
"Joshua," Rain said curiously moving to the two of them, "why just the hell just happened between the two of you just now?"
"The white room." Melfina said.
"The White room, the White Room. What the hell is the White Room" Rain said flinging her arms around like crazy, then putting both of her hands on her temples of her head.
"The only place that we actually felt safe while we lived at Manticore. Think of it as the Transgenic equivalent of a Vulcan mind meld." Max said to Rain.
"Uh, Max does that mean the time that I was in the hospital near death, you did that with me." Logan said to Max as the shock started to come into play.
"Hey Max, Logan are you guys in here?" From the most annoying sound of Alec's voice.
"Mel, Max are you in here?" Said a concerned Aspen who as she saw Joshua's face, blurred at full speed towards Melfina between the furniture of the lower level of the living area of the church and landed her hands around Joshua's throat.
"Get away from her or I swear I will hand your head to back to you on a sliver platter." Aspen said in a crouching position on the couch.
"Aspen let go of him. He's a friend, he's the one that saved me the night of the fire." Melfina said getting between Aspen and Joshua as she pried off Aspen's hands off Joshua's neck. "Aspen, Max knows him and Rain and the rest of the others she bumped into. Aspen, we hit the preferable "Mother load"."
Aspen looked over at Rain, Max, Joshua, Alec, and the guy just standing there. "Vampires, Werewolves, Mutants, heck all we're missing is a cyborg here."
"Logan, Cyborg." Joshua said looking at the guy.
"So, um what about telling us where to find Bram's and Lucy."
"Well, they just got jobs at some bar called, Crash." Rain said.
"Well, It looks like that Mel and Aspen are about to meet the crash point from work." Max said as she looked at a feline-est Aspen moving away from Joshua as she fell off the couch and onto the floor.
***
Aspen and Melfina entered the apartment that they shared and saw Shadow and Jim cooking in the kitchen and waltzed over to meet with them.
"Hey Shadow, Jim. We hit the jackpot and found some Transgenics." Aspen said bouncing over towards the counter getting a whiff of the chili that was being cooked up.
" That was fast. Well, what did you girls find today?" Shadow said looking at the two girls with growing interest.
"Well, we were not the only ones running a search pattern for others of our kind." Melfina butted in. "Aspen kind of pheromone one of them by accident when we were out on a run. Till Max found out, she's the other one we found and she suck her pet lesbian after us, and then we learned about another group that Max and Alec have been keeping their eyes on. I mean the entire day has been exciting."
"Yeah, so about how many are these two in charge of?" Shadow said dipping his spoon into the chili to have a taste.
"About twenty-five to thirty Transgenics ranging from a Nomilie to some human modifies called T-bloods." Aspen said as Shadow coughed hard with the spoon just leaving his mouth.
"What is it Shadow, surprised at the number that we found in one day?" Aspen said leaning over to gently tap Shadow on the shoulder.
"No, its not that, all I just need to add some water to the Chili sauce." He said trying to hide the fact that the cough concealed his shock at the number of Transgenics that Aspen and Melfina had found.
"Well, tell me about them." Shadow said moving away from the stovetop and towards the sink to get a cup of water to add to the chili he was making to dilute the mixture down some.
"Well, I was thinking that I introduce you to them to night, we are meeting Max and Alec at a bar that the employees from work hang out at tonight." Aspen said looking towards Shadow with a growing sense that he was weary about this meeting.
"Melfina, I need you to go with Jim tonight and keep an eye on things here, if either me or Aspen do not check in a few hours, I want you to evacuate from this premises and go to ground, understood." Shadow said looking into Melfina's young face.
"Jim, I need you and Mel to get your supplies ready, just in case Aspen and I don't come back, alright."
"Will, do Shadow." Jim said taking over the stirring of the Chili.
"It looks like I'll be going out tonight." Shadow said as he looked in the cabinet drawer by the sink and pulled out a handgun that he had salvaged from the night of the fire.
***
The bar Crash was one of those eclectic places that had sprung up in the city of Seattle and other cities across the nation. The feel of beer, music and pool tables all connected to draw in a mixed assortment of people into it. The current clientele of the bar consisted of bike messengers, rebels, criminals, undercover cops, steelheads, Eyes Only informants, and transgenic mutants. The current effect of the people in the bar tonight was to mainly relax from a tense day at work. For Shane Shadow, it was a situation ripe for ambush.
Shadow who was wearing a pair of blue jeans, old white sneakers, a dark blue long sleeve thick t-shirt that said X-Men: Mutant Academy with a circled X on it and his old white Manticore combat fatigue jacket, Shadow just looked like a regular guy in the place. Aspen who had changed into some comfortable clothes went from the sweats that she had worn earlier that day to a pair of tight black pants and a green artic polar under shirt with a pair of combat boots on.
The effect of the two of them entering the room was subtle and understandable. They just were two people entering a bar so that they could relax, but in this case, they were there to meet with Max and Alec.
"So tell me what are Max and Alec like? Are they standard field operations specialists, they freelance, or are they black-ops?" Shadow said to Aspen as they moved toward the bar.
"Well from what I learned today is that they are a mixture of all the above." Aspen said as she searched the crowd for Max and Alec then she located Alec by the bar stools talking to some Blond with short hair that almost looked like an X-series in facial features, but the body type was all wrong wearing a purple long-sleeve t-shirt. "Hey, that's Alec over there by the bar talking with that blond in the purple shirt." Aspen pointed out to Shadow.
"Well, I'll be, dammed to the bottom level of Taderis." Shadow said aloud. "X five, Four-Nine-Four, that black-market miscreant made it out of Manticore in one piece." Aspen looked at Alec then at Shadow by the pattern on his face of raw contempt.
"You know him," Aspen said point over to Alec.
"Yeah, I pulled a few missions with him over the years. The last one that I did was after he got of a year in Psych eval."
"Whoa, Alec was in Psych eval for a year. What the heck did he do to get into Psych eval for a year?" Aspen said as her eyes started to get large with worry
"Botched a mission, that nearly got him killed and another year was spent in psych ops after it was learned that his twin was mentally unstable and had killed several people."
"Shit..." Aspen said, "So Alec is Freelance."
"With his operations background the guy is slick as snot. Given his mental problems, he is good at creating false data and identities for shadow accounts." Shadow said looking over with his old combat buddy. "I wonder what this Max is like, after Meeting with Alec. Do you see her anywhere?"
"Yeah, she is by the pool tables with the blond guy with the glasses and the black girl with the "A" tower of brown curly hair in the backroom area." Aspen said pointing out with her thumb towards the mirror behind the bar.
"Well it looks like it is time that I meet with Max and learn about what she is up to." Shadow said as he walked over to Alec with Aspen hanging on his arm. As Aspen walked over to see Alec talking with this girl that he was with.
"So Asha, you know that I have this thing with talking with people and getting what I want." Alec said. "If you need anything from me or my contacts I will put you in touch with them."
"Yeah, Alec, some of your best work that he has done can be seen with how he helped me." Shadow said to Alec and the blond he was with. "So how have things been since we last met, about six to seven months ago."
"Aspen, you didn't tell me that you knew..."
"Shadow, Shane Shadow's, I'm an old friend of Alec's back during his old Infantry Black-market days."
"Alec, you mean that He is like you from your old "Army" days." Asha said with worry getting behind him with a defensive stance.
"Yes me and Aspen used to be in the same military "unit" back in the day, and Boy did Alec used to run some scams that were phenomenal especially with getting me those medical journals that I like to read so much." Shadow said to Alec looking him in his eyes. "Why don't we meet with Max and her Pal Logan, and let get a start of what is going on."
"Logan and Max. What is going on here Alec?" Asha said as the facts started to spin into a wild wackiness that was limed in it perceptions, but broad as hell in its repercussions.
"We've meet Joshua, and thinks for helping Melfina out with her problem." Aspen said to Alec with pride. "I thought about introducing Shadow to Max and Logan and see about combining our skills together." Shadow said moving over towards Alec and tapping him on the shoulder and led him to the backroom where Max and Logan were.
***
Standing at the pool table allowed for Max, Logan and Original Cindy to have a casual conversation that was not work related. Sketchy who with his three day-old growth of beard, ragged clothing of sweat pants and t-shirt blended him into the world that he lived. Right now, Sketchy was bringing in at least two pitchers of beer into the back room and from the circumstances that were occurring on the pool table; Logan was beating the crap out of Alec with his skills as a Pool Shark.
As Aspen and Shadow entered the backroom, the battle on the Pool table was becoming pure mortal combat. Alec, Asha, Shadow and Aspen who had entered the room, were watching the game with growing interest.
"Now, I put the ten ball in the center pocket and the sixth ball in the corner." Logan said spinning his pool cue around like a martial artist Bo in a Hong Kong action film.
"Well Mister Money bags has gone Jet Li with his stick." Original Cindy said towards Logan's Pool game with Max. Then she noticed Aspen walking towards them with a guy on her arm, the standard normal white guy with brown almost black hair. Given the way that Alec and Asha were walking towards them it looked like Alec had seen a ghost. For anyone else it would not have been anything to notice. In Alec's case, it often led to trouble. The last time that Alec had a run in with his past it lead to him nearly being killed by a one Mr. Bradsford over the incident with the putting his daughter into a near fatal coma which she later died from. Bradsford had been so pissed when he found Alec alive in the local area that he sent several goons after him to capture and or kill Alec for the hell that Alec had put him through years earlier. Alec only got out if by the skin of his preferable teeth when Max came to rescue him, ala Xena. Given the current situation Max's new co workers looked to have more than the usual Manticore connection, which could turn bad at anytime with the baggage that most Transgenics brought to the table with them.
"So Aspen why don't you introduce me to your co-workers." Shadow said gesturing towards Max and Logan with a gentle roll of his hand.
"Well, Alec I see that from the look on your face that you know Shadow from somewhere, and I have the feeling that you were in the same unit together." Logan said to Alec as he started to piece some of the stuff together, first with the Jacket that Shadow was wearing. "So what have you been doing since the night of the fire?"
The look of shock that was on Asha's face illustrated the concept that she was starting to worry more, "You mean that Shadow is..." Asha added with emphasis by pointing with her right hand towards the back of her neck signifying the barcodes that Max, Alec and the other Transgenics possessed.
"Yes, Asha he is like me and Alec." Max said to Asha.
"Okay, so that we have all the formalities out of the way, I think that we better get down to business. Max I know that you have been running an underground for our people, I want in and the data files about who you have had run-ins with since the fire." Shadow said to Max was a growing determination.
"Why do you want to look for the others, I mean I thought that you guys were supposed to lay low?" Asha said moving forward to Logan with Alec close behind her. Asha might have started to tolerate mutants but right now, she was scared of the fact that she did not know this one and what drove him. With her encounter with Gill-guy and Gill-girl, at least those two were in love with one another. For a guy who could breath underwater that would storm the preferable fortress to save his mermaid beauty from a mutant hunting bad guy and his resident bad guys. Some how Asha had the feeling that Shadow fell into the same mold of saving a damsel in distress from the evil king or dragon from some medieval castle. At that moment, Sketchy added to the conversation. "What the heck are you guys talking about? You guys sound like you belong to SW1." Questioning what Alec had done since the night of the "Fire," and his Gang-banging Manticore days.
"Uh, Sketchy, " Alec butted in, "Me and Shadow used to be Gang-members in our old days. You know grand-theft auto, robbery and the occasional contract hit."
"I hope that you were just making up the last part." Sketchy said looking at Alec, differently. "So Shadow and you used to part of gang; so what were you guys known for, I mean the scams that you guys pulled must be legendary."
"Hey Sketchy, some things are the best left alone." Original Cindy said stepping up to him and stopping him from further questioning.
"So Shadow, you and Aspen are friends and Mel and Jim are your siblings." Max said to the two. Asha had since gently moved away from Alec and had started to feel more comfortable around the two new Transgenics, but since Sketchy was there, Logan and the others could not openly talk about what they needed to talk about. So to solve the problem, Original Cindy decided to take Sketchy by the hand and lead him to bi-sexual girl that she knew that might be interested in Sketchmister, well for at least thirty minutes.
"Okay, since Sketchy is out of the way now," Logan said as he stood the pool cue on the floor and leaned on it like some Shaolin master. "We can get down to business Shadow, I believe that you need to feel us in about what your motives are about running your search pattern for other Transgenics."
"Okay, Logan, the main reason that Me, Aspen, Mel and Jim want to do this search is that we want to find out what happened to our units. The total number of survivors that got out from the fire? What types and series that are out-there, and their capabilities so that we can track down those responsible for the fire. You know the rest. I know that command was attacked by an outside organization, now that organization is not S1W, due to the Intel that Manticore had gathered on them prior to the fire. They do not possess the capabilities, nor do they have the experience possible for them to infiltrate such a facility."
"Whoa, You mean that you know that S1W is not responsible. For the fire." Asha said looking Shadow right in the face. She was amazed that this guy actually knew the truth about the night of the Fire outside Logan, Max and Alec. "Do you have any evidence that would clear their names for the arson charges, books, files, papers, documents, video logs?"
"No, but Melfina had run-in with one of those infiltrating scumbags the night of the fire. However, as you know, Josh slammed that asshole's head into the wall, killing his ass. So the only piece of evidence that clears their name is gone and the only way to trace those bastards just went up in smoke." Shadow said, to his audience.
"I heard a rumor while I was still in Manticore, that Colonel Lydecker was attempting to expose someone who was running illegal operations and killing Transgenics for spare parts. Now the information that I heard was that he had made contact with Eyes Only, now if I could find Eyes, I might be able to figure out what he was looking for and who the hell was killing our people." Shadow said, looking towards Max wondering what was going on with her and this Logan person.
"Hey Shadow," Max said. "What's your designation number?"
Shadow stood there for a second, then he replied to her, "X5-424, why do you ask?"
"I have some stuff that I might look into." Logan said, "I have a source that might be able to get in contact with someone that knows Eyes Only.
"Good. But if I get backstabbed, I know who did it and I will make your life hell." Shadow said walking towards the bar again.
"You know Shadow, seems like a type of person that does not trust so easily. Remind you of anyone Max." Logan said looking at Max remembering the time that she broke into his apartment.
***
Melfina was sitting and working at her computer. The day had been unique and difficult. Many of her fears had been laid to rest by Joshua and his gentleness that he possessed. The way that Rain had behaved is what scared her the most. Though Rain was not a born Transgenic X-series, she had possession of their capabilities and from the feeling that she gave off. Rain was as much as an outcast as she was. Rain with all her quirkiness made Melfina seem as if given all the weirdness of the world, she had adapted well, given the fact that she had been turned into a mutant by Vampire Transgenic and had been saved by a member of the X-series. Rain's life was turning around for her and Melfina had felt that this girl along with Max might be her key to understand that she might be accepted into the larger scheme of things.
Jim, who had become her annoying little brother, had forced her to deal with the fact that given her teenage hormones, she was going to be an adult soon. Well if she survived long enough to go through her first heat without the world finding out what she was and killing her for it. Nevertheless, Mel had felt that she needed to create a persona for herself so she entered a chat room and made the digital avatar of Lady Chimera. Mel had the feeling that Jim would be able to guide her in the creation of her avatar, something that would fit her but not reveal that she was a mutant.
"Jim," Melfina said to the young X8, "I am creating a digital avatar for myself to put on the net. What do you feel that I should go as?"
Jim, whose X8 training was incomplete from the time of the Fire, had considerable computer skills and combat training, but Girls, and their little nuances were mystery to him. "I don't know, go as a normal girl, just stick with what you feel is right and go with it for all I care. You are you, just go with the flow. Use an image from the "White Room", I don't know just be creative." He said.
Jim looked at Melfina as she worked at her computer and he remembered his training of escape and evade throughout the Washington state woodlands. The times that he had spent out in the woods allowed him to develop his own technique about how to hideout in plain sight. For Melfina, Jim thought it would take her a while given the fact that she was an X-series custom to develop her skills to where they were with him. Melfina had experience with technology and computers, but Jim was a master at engineering. He could whip up a homemade motorcycle out of the spare parts from a bike shop. Tires, a chainsaw motor, some pipe (either metal or fiberglass), superglue, duct tape, screws, bolts, and some fabric for the chair and in about four hours, instant transportation. Mel who could jack into anything with a microchip in it, mainly focused her skills upon the artistry of mathematics and the power she could get from it.
Since the night of the fire, Melfina had started to lean upon Aspen and her experience in field ops to keep her alive. However, Aspen was a member of the Gia's, another one of the religions that had sprung up at Manticore. The Gia's believed in the ideas of the spirit world drawing most of their beliefs off of Native American, Aboriginal, Polynesian, Wicca, and Voodoo religions. The Gia's believed in the idea that their "soul" consisted of various components that were both animal and human. By listening to these spirits, they were able to harness their "sixth sense" and use it to lead them to victory during their missions. These beliefs gave many of the followers the sense the capabilities to move between the world of Man and of Spirit. Jim had learned a little about the Gia's beliefs and the mysticism that they held dear. Aspen every time that she went out surfing on her board to clear her head. She made a prayer to the spirits to guide and watch over those around them. The Gia's believed that when the sprit o a person needed to be found, they could be sought out if a member asked the spirits to locate the person and guide them.
The times that Jim had witnessed Aspen harness her powers to their fullest was the night of the fire. She had been able to avoid the ambush set up by the infiltrators only after thirty plus spirits of dead Transgenics ranging from Nomilies to X-12s had come towards her to tell her that they were killed by people posing as Manticore personnel. The sprits had often been with Aspen since her childhood and the manner, which she came into contact with this imagery, was when she had an encounter with a Wiccian who had protected her from the disorientation caused by an earthquake in the local area. She and several other Transgenics had become sensitive to the shifts in the magnetic field of the area. The Wiccian priestess had been able to teach then to harness the spirits to protect them and shielded them from the unknown. Much of the magic that the Transgenics such as Aspen had learned was to listen to the spirit world and use it to guide them. during the missions that Aspen and others like her were on, they had the highest success rate than any unit ever created at Manticore. Though they did not have the highest scores at target shooting, Escape and Evade, combat training, or field medial skills, Lydecker considered them a force to be reckoned with as they used their powers to achieve the highest success rate for missions completed successively. They were Manticore's equivalent of the World War Two Pacific Black Sheep squadron that was the terror of the Pacific.
Many of the Gia's had learned Navajo, and several other languages and combined them together, so for the code geeks in command, it drove them bonkers trying to figure out what those kids were saying. Jim who had heard Aspen speak some of the phrases during her prayers to the sprits had startled him to the point that he was afraid that Aspen would harness the spirits the resurrect the dead and send them after him when he slept. Only after Aspen had said that the sprits only communicate with the dead, not bring them back, was a short comfort for the young Transgenic. Magic, Sprits, talking with the dead. Give him a motor or a circuit board and he could understand that.
"Hey Jim, I was thinking, using what you said about the "White Room" to create my avatar." Melfina said, then on the television there was a break in the transmission as an Eyes Only broadcast came on.
"Do not adjust you sets, This cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds, it cannot be stopped, it cannot be traced, and it is the only free voice left in this city. For months, the members of the Transgenic community have been searching for answers about who had set the fire at Manticore. This message is aimed at X5-424 and members of his unit: I have found information that confirms your theory about renegade covert operations that you and others of your kind performed for your superiors in order for them to make a profit off of your actions. You are not alone, One of my operatives will contact you with information about how far it went and the operations that were performed for personal gain. This has been Eyes Only. Peace." The digitally modified eyes of the announcer went off of the air. Melfina turned and looked at the avatar she had created. It was time that Eyes Only learned that you do not interrupt someone while they are watching TV, but Eyes needed to know that he was about to meet Manticore's most advance computer hacker ever to be cooked up in a test tube. Melfina, X6-209. "Okay Eyes Only it is payback time, and Shadow, I hope that you forgive me for what I am about to do."
Within moments, Melfina had started to use her powers to the fullest of her abilities. She was flowing her energies into her laptop. Speeding the processor of the machine to its maximum level. The avatar she had created started to become more refined and streamlined. Many of her facial features and the physical characteristics started to merge into the digital entity she was creating. The red and white shirt with flowing sleeves, the face of an generic Asian girl transformed into an universal protean individual. Then the voice, the digital creation of an individual transformed into varied wavelengths which contained the voices of Jennifer Lopez, Kelly Hu, Brittany Spears, Nelly Furtado, and Michelle Branch segmented and amalgamated together into a minute variation of vocal patterns which was almost symphonic.
Then after completing the creation of the Avatar, Mel interfaced into several satellite uplink sites both public and privately owned and electronically muddied the cyber waters by looping the connection she created between these sites a few hundred times in and out of the system. With this scrambling of the network umpteen dozen times, she uploaded her avatar and ran it, all seven hundred megabytes of it. Then the photo-realistic girl took stage for the first time.
"This is Lady Chimera, and I am sending a message to the Cable Hacker, Eyes Only. You know by my name what I am and what I am capable of. I am a member of X5-424's unit and this is a statement. You better know who you are talking to, because I have lost good friends of mine over the last few months, now I know that I will get in trouble with 424, but If you want to talk with us, you better do it to our faces. No digital masks, just you and us in a room. You know how to reach us. Leave the message."
Across the city, Shadow and Aspen were watching one of the TVs in a electronic store window as they headed back to the Apartment where Melfina and Jim were at. they both knew that this was going to get ugly, but Melfina had forced the reclusive Eyes Only to come out of hiding and if things would go bad. It might be dangerous for all of the Transgenic community.
***
TBC
The next chapter will deal with the Lady Chimera fallout, and Aspen tries to clear her head from the mess as she tries to get in touch with the spirit world and runs into an old friend of Shadow's.
***
Chapter 6: The Call is for you, and the surf is up with Mermaids.