Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show Dark Angel, owned and created by James Cameron. I do, however, own any and all original characters appearing here. If you wish to use them, please ask me first.
Time Period: Before Cold Comfort, AU.
Summary: Meh, you tell me.
A/N: Try to believe my medical bull. =0)
Note: Okay, I apologize for the long period between updates, but I'm really disappointing myself with how this story is turning out. Grrr. The words are just not coming to me.
X 332340090210
by
Brin
"One thing I've learned in all these years is not to make love when you really don't feel it; there's probably nothing worse you can do to yourself than that." - Norman Mailer (1923 - )
For Lexie
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Chapter 8: Angel/Asshole
Jondy watched a sleeping Brin though the hospital room window, her hand over her mouth in shock at the events of the past several hours.
She had gotten her monthly four hours of sleep, then woken up to find Zack gone. Before she could properly wonder about where he had gone, however, he burst into the room with Brin cradled in his arms like a doll. She was crying, he was panicking, and it just got stranger from there. In a flash, the others were out of bed and trying to calm both parties down while asking about Ben's whereabouts. Eventually, Krit and Syl went to go look for him while Tinga and Jondy handled Zack and Brin.
That night, everything they'd worked for in the past ten years was almost compromised.
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"Well, do you want the slightly good news or the bad news first?"
Zack looked up at the fair-haired doctor and sprung to his feet from his position on the ground. Jondy, Syl, and Tinga's heads popped up right after him. Krit was still looking for Ben.
"Good," blurted Tinga, her face tight with worry. "Definitely."
The doctor's eyes swept over her clipboard as she began to speak, "Well, the slightly good news that I have to offer is that Miss Yang's pain is due to bruising of the abdominal portion of her body – nothing broken, though there's a small amount of internal bleeding. The bad news is that even so, I can't tell you if her child – if she is pregnant, of course, because two days is a little early to be buying cigars – will be harmed later on or not. The injury might cause a bit of scarring considering the intensity of the bruises, whose origins you have not yet made clear." She raised a perfectly-shaped eyebrow and continued, "Question – how can you be so sure of her pregnancy? You don't seem to have the slightest doubt about it."
The transgenics exchanged wary looks. Syl shrugged and intervened for her less eloquent brother, "Some things you just know."
Seemingly satisfied with this straightforward yet at the same time cryptic answer, the young doctor smiled at them warmly. "Oh well. Guess… family knows best." Her head shook slightly at the word 'family', for the only two in this 'family' who could've been even remotely related were Syl and Zack. "Anyways, Miss Yang will be fine by tomorrow morning. I need to keep her here to make sure we didn't overlook anything – funding these days is terrible, so we never know for sure."
"Thank you," replied Jondy, shaking her hand.
With a nod and a smile, the doctor headed off.
As soon as she was out of earshot, the X5s huddled together and formulated their plan.
"Syl and Tinga – go get the blood sample. Jondy and I will find the records, then we get Brin outta here. Got it?" whispered Zack.
The others nodded.
"Okay, on three. One, two, three, go!"
Here they split into their respective groups and slipped, unnoticed, through the crowds of people until they had seemingly disappeared.
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Syl exchanged glances with Tinga as they stood on either side of the white hospital door marked "LAUNDRY – WARNING POSSIBLE CONTAMINATION." Tinga nodded in response, casually leaning her head against the wall. Just a little longer now.
A minute or two passed, and the door opened, revealing a gaunt worker pushing a huge tub of hospital scrubs out, paying nothing more than a passing glance to the two women. He paid even less attention to the door as it swung closed behind him, or to the toe of a boot that slipped into place, keeping it cracked open. By the time he turned the corner, the two women disappeared inside.
"New digs. I'm so thrilled," commented Syl as she pulled her shirt over her head.
"Mask?" asked Tinga with a roll of her eyes.
"No. Too obvious."
Quickly changing into the scrubs, the two dumped their normal clothes into sacks and slung them over their shoulders. Syl poked her head out the door for a quick looksee, then nonchalantly slipped into the busy hall with Tinga close on her heels. With the same casual air, they strolled down the corridor. Through experience and not training, the X5s had learned that the trick to sneaking around in daytime was not to skulk about with a guilty look on your face, but to act like you belonged. If you looked like you knew what you were doing, no one would ask. That was how the world worked.
Following signs and arrows, they quickly located the blood testing lab. Here, things got a little tricky. Syl peeked through the window and knocked a few times. The worker inside glanced up and scrunched his face in confusion before approaching the door.
"What do you need?" he asked through the glass window.
Syl inwardly cursed. Damn windows. "I can't hear you!" she yelled back. "Open the door!"
Frowning, the lab tech opened the door. "What do you need?" he repeated.
"Hi! I'm Nurse Mendes," greeted Syl airily in a Southern accent. "I was just wondering where the maternity ward is? I left and I'm afraid I can't for the life of me find my way back." She forcefully moved into the doorway, causing the tech to take a few steps back in order to keep his personal space. "Could you help me, kind sir?" She could feel Tinga move into place behind her so that it was impossible for the lab tech to close the door.
"I don't think you have the authorization to be in here," protested the young tech, moving even farther back.
Syl was loving the young man's compulsive need for personal space. She took a few more steps into the room. Behind her, the door clicked shut. As soon as she heard the sound, Syl sprang into action. Her fist collided with his cheek, then her foot found his side. The tech went sprawling to the ground, nearly toppling an entire rack of blood samples. Kicking him in the face several times for good measure, Syl stood watch over him as Tinga rifled through the hundreds of vials of red liquid.
"Yang, Yang, Yang," murmured Tinga, lifting each and every vial to read the nametag. She jumped a few trays for good measure and by luck pulled up one marked Janice Yang. "Janice, right?"
"How many Yang's can there be?" replied Syl with a sigh. She bent and stole the tech's wallet and watch.
"Syl, will you stop that?" pleaded Tinga as she counted the other vials marked Yang. "Damn it, Syl, there's six."
"First names?"
"Janice, Lane, Peter, David, and David."
"It's Janice. That's what her old boyfriend called her," recalled Syl. "Let's go."
"Right."
Meanwhile, Jondy and Zack performed an almost mirror operation to retrieve Brin's medical file. After they were all done, they converged at the lobby for the last element – Brin herself. Without looking at each other, they made for Brin's room. It would be about five minutes before anyone found the lab tech or file keeper, and then hell would break loose. They had to leave as soon as possible to minimize chance of being chased. But as they entered Brin's room, they found that there was one problem…
Brin was gone.
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"I promise I'll make it up to you, Brinny. Don't worry, Brinny. Don't you worry. I got you out of that place, and we're never going back. Zack will make sure to get rid of your records and your blood and they'll never have proof that you ever existed. They'll never find us. I promise I'll make it up to you, Brinny," promised Ben again and again, stroking Brin's head with one hand and steering his stolen car with the other. "We're going to Manticore, and we're gonna get that antidote, and it'll all be okay again. I promise."
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"Where is she?" seethed Zack as Jondy ran toward the open window.
Syl went to the hospital bed and pulled back the covers. "It was Ben," she declared with a hint of dread in her voice.
"How do you know?" asked Zack, turning to her.
The blonde X5 held up a small card with the Blue Lady on it.
"Shit, Zack, we gotta find them!" Jondy shut the window. "I knew something wasn't right with Ben… Where would they go?"
"We gotta get out of here first," said Zack in his CO voice. "Syl, call Krit and find out if he's seen them. Tinga, go start up the truck. Jondy, come with me." He pulled a handgun from his jacket and tossed it to her. "We're going to look at the security tapes."
"Zack, they'll be on us in like two minutes," reasoned Syl worriedly. "We need you guys to take this out."
"Go!" barked Zack. "Jondy, now!"
Shooting an unsure expression to her sisters, Jondy ran after him. They pushed and shoved their way down the crowded hospital corridor, spinning doctors and knocking over patients. Zack paused for half a second to look at a map of the hospital hanging on the wall, then continued running. It was two floors up. They took the emergency stairs and were standing outside a door marked SECURITY around thirty seconds later. Producing another gun from his jacket, Zack casually kicked open the door and burst in yelling, "Down! I want you on the ground! Get down!"
The three security guards were on the floor in milliseconds. They were obviously not paid enough to deal with a six-foot, armed maniac.
"Get their weapons and handcuff them," ordered Zack as he went to the computer screens. He accessed the parking lot feed from the past twenty to ten minutes while Jondy silently took the tasers, night sticks, and teargas cans from the guards.
"Sorry, guys, family emergency," she whispered as she handcuffed them together. "You understand."
"Got it. Jondy." Zack waited until Jondy was behind him, then played the clip. For a few seconds there was no activity in the lot, then a pickup truck zoomed into view. It screeched into a space and a man got outside. He was easily recognizable as Ben by his hair and clothes. Ben ran inside. "Now, forward a little bit…" The clip sped up and, three minutes after he went inside, Ben burst back out of the hospital with a woman in his arms—Brin. Placing her in the passenger seat, he practically threw himself into the driver's side and was speeding away before he could close the door. The truck went to the end of the lot and, without missing a beat, swerved left, narrowly avoiding a bus and minivan.
"He's going to Manticore," breathed Jondy. "I know he is."
"Then we best get moving." Zack stood and looked at her. At the look on her face, he softened and asked, "You okay?"
"Yeah… I just… don't know what to think… How long has Ben been like this?" she whispered, running her fingers through her hair in a nervous fashion.
"For awhile now. I didn't want to tell you guys because I thought I could fix him." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "We gotta go, Jon. If he gets to Manticore before we do, it'll be the end of both of them."
Jondy took a deep breath and set her jaw. "Let's get to it, then."
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As they were hurrying out the front door, the transgenics noticed a group of policemen talking to the nurses at the front desk. Inherently, this was not a good sign. Nevertheless, Zack brushed his concerns aside and they ran out the front door just as one of the officers turned and yelled, "You! Hey you! Get back here!"
Jondy bowled over an officer standing near a patrol car and punched another one trying to get his gun out of its holster. Pitiful. They arrived at Tinga's SUV and all but leapt inside. Tinga started it up and flew backwards, smashing the patrol cars into one another. Then, wheels screaming, she sped out of the parking lot.
"Left!" yelled Zack at the last possible moment, forcing Tinga to almost swerve into oncoming traffic. The SUV's rear fender was brushed by a semi, jolting the passengers and causing the SUV to nearly spin out of control. By now, the police cars had recovered and were on their way, sirens blaring. Tinga looked at Zack and grinned. "Nothing like an X5's suburban, eh?" She hit the gas and the SUV lurched into action with the patrol cars right behind them.
"Krit said that he lost Ben and Brin on the highway. They were definitely heading for Manticore, and Ben is driving like a maniac," explained Syl. "He's meeting us at the next entrance ramp."
"We can't stop for him," declared Tinga with a glance in her rearview mirror. "The pigs are on us."
"He knows," replied Syl. "Open the sunroof."
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Krit watched the chase unfold with a smug grin. The police were converging on Tinga's maroon suburban, occasionally making an attempt to fishtail or body slam it. Every now and then, a head would poke out of the suburban's windows and fire a few warning shots at the coppers, but he could tell his siblings weren't making a real effort to piss off the cops—not until they got him, anyway. He shook his head. If it weren't for the whole Ben-kidnaps-Brin situation, this would be fun. Well… what he was about to do was sure to be fun. He stood as the SUV approached with a patrol car on either side. There was no way all three vehicles were going up that entrance ramp. He waited for Tinga to make a move and, true to his expectations, she did.
First, she swerved to the left. The patrol car on that side was pushed farther and farther to the left and, before he could recover enough to push back, the right side of his front fender struck a light post. In a teeth-clenching roar of bending metal and shattering glass, the police car's front end froze while its back end lurched to one side, nearly flipping the vehicle, and then lay still.
The police car on the right, in retaliation, tried to slam the SUV. Tinga hit the gas and sped ahead just as the car tried to hit her. The squad car was moving so fast that it passed onto the left side of the suburban and off of the road. The car hit a tree stump and flipped into the air.
Krit stepped forward as the suburban approached. Five… four…
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"I don't see him!" yelled Tinga.
"He's there," insisted Syl from the backseat.
Tinga opened her mouth to say something more, but suddenly—BOOM! The roof of the truck suddenly bent downward over Jondy's head, inciting a terrified yelp from the X5. Milliseconds later, a pair of booted feet slipped into the sunroof, followed by the rest of Krit. Syl grabbed a belt loop of his jeans and jerked him into the seat next to her.
"Krit! You son of a bitch!" shouted Tinga as she went up the entrance ramp. "What the fuck are you thinking?!"
"Hey, not like I had a lot of choices. Drive!" replied Krit with a smirk. He hugged Syl and kissed her forehead. "I'm okay, baby."
Zack turned around in his seat to gauge the police position. "I think they're backing off now. Scared the shit out of them."
"We do what we have to," mumbled Tinga. She crossed into the left lane. "So now what?"
"I suggest you drive fast and don't stop. Ben'll be there in a few hours at the rate he was going," warned Krit as he slung an arm over Syl's shoulders.
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Several hours later, Tinga pulled to a stop outside a looming forest. The sun was rising now, tinting the sky directly overhead light blue. Solemn and silent, the X5s stepped out of the Suburban. They stood shoulder to shoulder, all eyes fixed on the dark forest in front of them.
"So this is what it's come to," breathed Tinga. "This is… it."
Jondy looked at Zack, who was standing beside her. His jaw was set, his muscles tense and his eyes narrowed. Against her better judgment, she cautiously intertwined her fingers with his. When she got absolutely no reaction, she was unsure whether to be pleased or heartbroken… so she just took what she got.
"And it starts," muttered Krit before striding headlong into the forest. Close on his heels was Syl, then Tinga.
Zack then turned to Jondy and whispered, "Can you do something for me, Jon?"
"Hm?" Jondy raised her eyebrows.
"If something happens to me in there, I want you to watch over the others. You know what to do," instructed the burly X5 with narrowed eyes.
Jondy felt her heart drop and was ashamed by it. She was hoping for something more… romantic… "Of course, Zack," mumbled the female X5, dropping her hand away from Zack's and moving toward the woods. Tears were stinging her blue eyes and she pawed at them angrily. Damn him.
"Wait."
The single word made Jondy stop dead in her tracks. She felt a hand on her shoulder and let herself be spun around to face Zack. He was so close she could feel his breath drift over her face. His mouth smelled like ginger and the rest of him smelled like motorcycle exhaust and burnt leather. Jondy watched as his head dipped and the space between the lips suddenly narrowed to nothing. Heart leaping into her throat, she instinctively raised her arms to his neck while his hands traveled down to her hips. There they stayed for a small eternity, before the sound of Krit's voice calling their names broke the moment.
Zack turned away, then rested his forehead against hers. "No matter what happens to me in there, I will always come back to you."
Jondy bit her lip and smiled. "I love you, Zack."
He nodded, but said nothing in reply before disappearing into the trees.
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Note: Okay, I apologize for the long period between updates, but I'm really disappointing myself with how this story is turning out. Grrr. The words are just not coming to me.