Disclaimer: I have finally come to accept that I do not now, nor will I ever own Dark Angel…It took many lonely nights and several medications for withdrawal before I was able to do so. So please do not chide me for it. I do own Justin, Dalianna, her family and all her X-siblings, but I'm more than willing to share. If you'd like to use them, please just ask. Thank you.
A/N: Okay, this chapter really isn't that great, but hey, whatever. I'm almost finished the story. A few more chapters…I think. Are you guys still reading? Please review. Thank you.
Timeframe: After "Freak Nation", end of Season 2
Chapter 12
Christmas Eve in Terminal City
White sat at his desk, watching the sun come over the horizon. He had been trying for days to figure out a way to get in to Terminal City. Rumor had it that that was where all the transgenics stayed. He figured that 452 and 927 would most definitely be there. But they would be surrounded by others like themselves. He needed to find a way to surprise them when they weren't on the inside. His miracle came a few minutes later as the phone rang loudly, breaking the silence of the room.
"For my mother before me, for my daughters."
"For my father before me, for my sons," was his response.
"The time is now. I know her consciousness, her thoughts. She will dream about the boy, and then she will leave to try to protect him. Be there when she does, and you will have both of your targets."
White smiled evilly. "Congratulations. I think you've just earned your promotion."
"Thank you, Mr. White," the female voice answered.
"Fe'nos tal."
"Fe'nos tal." He hung up the phone, and picked up his walkie. "Get me a special ops TAC team. We move out in 48 hours."
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Usually, the days in December flew by for Dali. She loved Christmas. It was always a time of joy; a time to be spent with the family; a time for giving. It was Christmas Eve. Last year, she had spent the holiday with Justin, on the run. This year, she hoped it would be better.
Dali sat in a chair in the midst of the group of transhumans and transgenics in Gogo's, the bar in Terminal City. She figured if she ever showed her face at Crash again, she might get arrested. In her hand was the control to a game. The crowd stood watching her every move on the huge wall-sized television. She couldn't help feeling elated over the chant for her to win.
"GO! GO! GO! GO!" they screamed. Max walked around with a bucket in hand, people dropping money into it as she went along. The game resounded. It was over, Dali had won.
"Hand it over folks," Max demanded, "Mama needs a new pair of shoes."
One of the guys walked up to Dali. "How do you do it?" he asked.
"It's a gift," she replied with a smile.
Suddenly, Max approached them. "Back off Bub!" She turned to Dali. "Is this guy bothering you?" We don't need a repeat of the other night.
"No," Dali replied, a little annoyed. "We were just talking." The guy walked off in a huff, and the crowd started another chant.
"One more game! One more game! One more game!"
Dali sighed. "No guys, I don't think so. I'm too tired."
But they grew steadily louder. "ONE MORE GAME! ONE MORE GAME!"
"Come on, Dali," Max pleaded. "One more game? All we need is a couple hundred dollars more, and BAM! new bike." Dali raised an eyebrow at her. "And…I'll let you drive it."
She sighed beaten. "Ok, one more game. But that's it Max." With that, she turned back to the television, and Max walked off to see Original Cindy, sitting at the bar.
"What's up sistah girl?" Cindy greeted her.
"Chillin' you?" Max replied.
"Watchin young girl. She's pretty good. How come you never did that? We could've made a lot of money, a long time ago."
"I don't know. Actually, I tried beating that game awhile ago. Got high score, but came nowhere near actually beatin it."
"Damn," Cindy said, "homegirl beat it twice in 3 hours."
"I think it has something to do with her DNA. She's different."
"I hate it break it to you Boo, but all y'all is different."
"But she's even more different than the rest of us. She's got this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing going on. One second she's this sweet young girl, who just wants to be back with her family, and the next, it's like she's right out of Manticore. Plus, her barcode has 13 digits."
"Ok…" Cindy said, not really sure where she was going.
"Manticore barcodes are only 12."
"Oh, well she doesn't seem that much different to me. Sometimes she's like Alec, sometimes she's like you."
"Yeah, but it's small things. She has these special abilities. Beating this game? Probably nothing to her."
"Hmm." Cindy replied as she looked up. The crowd was loving Dali. She had beaten another game. Max looked up and smiled at Cindy. "I'll be right back."
Dali strolled over to the bar and sat down on a stool next to her friend. She looked up at Dix, the bartender. "Hey Dix, can I get a iced tea please?"
"Sure thing," he replied. Lately, they had been running short on supplies, but with the protests dying down, and everyone paying attention to the president's daughter and the news, they had been able to sneak out and grab some supplies.
"I seen you rockin' them scores up there Boo. You aight." Cindy said to her.
Dali smiled a little. "Thanks."
"What's up?"
"Nothin," Dali replied.
"This is Original Cindy you talkin' to. Now she may not be able to run faster than a speeding bullet or able to leap 20 ft. fences in a single bound, but she got aces across the boards when it comes to catchin the feminine vibes. So talk to me."
Dali sighed. "Max is your best friend right?"
Cindy nodded. "Yeah, we pretty tight."
Dali looked her in the eye. "Has she ever gotten angry with you?"
"Come again?"
"Have you ever done anything that really pissed her off?"
"Yeah. But Max and I have been through a lot together, even before I knew what she was. It's been plenty of ups and downs throughout, but through it all, we stuck together, and that's what a real friend is. I heard about the whole Crash thing. All men are scum. Don't sweat it. Trust me, Max will get over it."
Dali played in her tea, and nodded slowly.
"What made you ask that anyway?"
Dali began slowly. "I'm just trying to be careful with my relationships. I've lost just about everybody I ever cared about, and I want to make sure the friendship's true before I stay here. I just want to have some friends, be normal as I possibly can be. But sometimes, it seems like she doesn't even like me."
Cindy smiled at her. "Boo, of course she likes you."
"Yeah tonight! Of course she does, she's getting money off me."
"Max wouldn't do that. She's your sister."
Dali smirked. "Yeah, define sister. A female first blood relative that shares at least one common biological parent factor, and 50% DNA…and we don't even have that…"
"Dali, Max is your family, she cares about you."
"She has a funny way of showing it. The only real conversation we've ever had was about her and Logan…oh, and that time I spilled my guts about my family." She stared off into the distance. "You know, when this whole xenophobia thing started, I felt so alone. It's like somebody takes your greatest fault, the thing that makes you the most vulnerable and blows it up for the whole world to see. When I heard about Terminal City, I was so relieved. I thought I had finally found a place where I could fit in. But I don't fit in here. People think I don't notice the funny stares I get and the whispers. Especially after the other night."
"About what?" Cindy wondered.
"The 13th digit. They think just because I have the genius IQ to go along with the Manticore knowledge that I think I'm better than them."
"Genius IQ? I thought all y'all was supposed to be super smart."
"We're raised and built with better memories and high intuitiveness, which makes it easier for them to cram all that crap into our heads, but the willingness to learn, and the capacity to catch on quickly is innate. Even among transgenics. For some reason, mine is just higher than everyone else's."
"Oh, Original Cindy feels you."
"So I don't fit in with the humans, and I don't fit in with the transgenics. I don't fit in anywhere. I thought coming here would be better, make me feel safer, but it doesn't. It's actually worse. At least out there, people hate you to your face." She finished her iced tea, just as Max walked up.
"Guess who's gonna be the proud owner of a new Ninja 1200?" Max asked.
"Peewee Herman?" Dali asked sarcastically.
"Who?" Max wondered.
"Nothin," she replied. She took a look at Cindy, and grabbed her coat. "Thanks for listening Cindy. I gotta bounce."
"Whoa, whoa, wait. Where are you going?" Max questioned her.
"I just need a little fresh air. I'll be back in a few."
Max eyed her suspiciously as she left. "What's eatin her?"
"Why don't you ask her?" Cindy responded.
Max's head snapped up from counting money. "I'm sorry?"
"I said ask her. How much do you actually know about her?"
Max squinted her eyes in thought. "I know enough. She doesn't really talk much."
"Oh she talks. You just have to listen."
"I'm not following you."
"Original Cindy just had a convo with little Miss Einstein. She thinks you don't like her."
"What?" Max scoffed. "That's ridiculous. She's my little sister."
"Well to quote the young philosopher. Define sister: a female first blood relative sharing at least one common biological parent factor, and 50% DNA…and y'all don't even have that." Max stood silently, a look of clear shock on her face. "Plus she says that the rest of the transgenics are giving her a hard time bout that 13th digit thing, and what went on the other night."
"That's not true," Max countered.
"Oh?" Cindy asked.
Max looked to a nearby table, where two X-6's and another X-5 that she knew were drinking and laughing. Max toned her hearing to hear what they were saying.
"Yeah, I heard about that. She went postal on a guy outside," the guy X-5 stated.
"Broke his jaw, knocked out 2 teeth," the girl X-6 responded.
"Flat out dropped him. He didn't even know it was coming," the guy said.
"I heard that she's actually the one that White's looking for. Rumor has it, if he got her, he was gonna leave the rest of us alone," the guy X-6 finally spoke up.
"Yeah, she's supposed to be like the best Manticore ever put out or something. It's that 13th digit thing she's got going on. She's some kind of freak," the girl said.
"We should just turn her over to the Conclave. Then this whole thing would be over," the guy X-6 laughed.
Max had heard enough. She walked over to the table and turned it over, knocking their drinks and glasses to the floor. The laughter stopped, and every head in the room turned toward her.
"That's my sister you're talking about. And if I ever hear you talking about her like that again, the table won't be the only thing I turn over." She turned to the rest of the group. "How can you guys treat her like that? She's one of us. It's bad enough she has to deal with it from the people out there, but then to come and deal with it from everyone in here?" Her voice lowered to a whisper. "You're no better than they are." It didn't matter that her voice was so low. Everyone could hear her loud and clear, and the array of guilty looks spread vastly. She turned and left to go find the young girl.
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She found her sitting atop the roof of the command center on the very edge of the building. Staring out into the cloudy night. This whole thing is just a mess. Justin…I wish you were here.
"Thought I might find you here." A voice interrupted her thoughts, but she didn't look up. Max came and sat down beside her. "You shouldn't be sitting so close to the edge, you might fall." Dali finally looked over at her.
"I don't know what came over me…It was like I wanted to stop…but I couldn't. Lately, it just seems like everything's spiraling out of control. With White, the transgenics, the transhumans, the normals, xenophobia, the Conclave, Alec and everything else…it just feels like my head is going to explode, and it just….it hurts."
"Look, I swear I didn't know what was going on…"
"I know. You've got enough to deal with on your own." She sighed. "I think maybe it's time for me to keep going."
"You're leaving Terminal City? Why?" Dali didn't answer, but instead looked out over the city. Lights flickering in some of the windows. People walking with hoods over their heads. Fear in the air everywhere she turned. They were supposed to be soldiers; they shouldn't even know the meaning of the word fear. But it seemed as though not only did they know what it meant, but it showed on their faces. "Is it because of the other night? Look, honestly, don't sweat it. Everyone loses it once in a while."
Dali looked over at her. "Have you?"
Max looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, I have. And I've done a lot worse than deal a broken jaw."
Dali smiled. "Once, I blew up at this girl in school. She really pissed me off one day. Everyone hated her though. So it didn't really matter."
"What'd she do?"
"She called me a test tube baby," Dali sighed and Max raised her eyebrows. "I don't think she knew what she was talking about, she had probably just heard it somewhere, and said it 'cause she was mad at me. But it really struck a nerve."
Max nodded. "Did you break her jaw too?"
Dali looked over at her surprised. "No!...But I did break her arm…in three different places."
Max laughed. "You know, sometimes we feel so alone, and we think that nobody's there for us. I know I have. But it's times like those when people who love us stand out the most. Like Logan…even if we never find a cure for this virus, I know he'll always be there for me; and I will always be there for him." She smiled to herself. Just as Max finished, soft snowflakes began to slowly fall from the sky as if by magic. Dali thought Terminal City never looked prettier.
She stood up suddenly, and turned to Max, "Wait here for a second."
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A few minutes later, she came back, but she wasn't alone. Logan climbed up onto the roof with her. Max widened her eyes as she watched them approach.
"Don't say anything." Dali told her. Then she turned to Logan. "Sit," she commanded. He sat down, near Max, but not too close.
Dali sighed, not sure where to start. She looked at Logan. "Logan, look at this girl next to you. She's pretty isn't she?"
"She's beautiful," he answered. Max blushed a little.
"She loves you," Dali stated.
"I don't—" Max started.
"Zip it," Dali glared at her. "She wants to be with you. Think about that, she picked you…out of all the guys in the world. When she was fighting to get out of Manticore, you were the only thing on her mind. Stop being so damn stubborn! Your stubbornness is what got you into this mess to begin with. Forget about just being a normal. Max doesn't care about that. Love sees past all that. Don't sit and wallow in self pity. Love means you have somebody there who'll listen when you need them to. Take advantage of it." She turned to Max. "And you. Look at this guy next to you. He's handsome isn't he?" she said with a smile.
"He's gorgeous," Max replied. Logan smiled.
"He loves you."
"But we're not even—," Max began again.
"—like that?" Dali finished for her. "Yeah, I've not only heard that excuse before, I've used it. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, Max. You are the only thing on his mind 24 hours a day…believe me, I've heard it. The sooner you learn to accept and acknowledge the fact that you're in love, the easier everything will be for you. Forget about Manticore and transgenics and White and all that other stuff. Logan doesn't care about that. Love sees past genetics. Holding in your tears when you're in pain only makes it harder for both of you. You guys, please don't make the same mistake I did. Cherish every second. Don't take anything for granted. Life is too short. Have a better one together."
Max and Logan only looked at each other, neither able to speak. Dali reached in her pocket and pulled out a small glass vial with a clear liquid in it, and tossed it to Max, who reached out and grabbed it with one hand. "This is the cure for that virus you've got," Both Max and Logan's eyes widened at that, but she kept talking. "Don't ask me where I got it, or what I had to do to get it. You might get disgusted. Drink it, give it five minutes to go through your system, then jump each other's bones." Max blushed a little, and she looked away. "Merry Christmas, I'll see you guys…tomorrow…hopefully." Dali descended the ladder to let them be alone. She entered the headquarters. Everyone looked up as she entered, but no one said anything. She walked over to the sofa, to see Alec sitting watching television. Dali recognized the president's daughter, once again, holding a rally; anti-transgenic/anti-Conclave. He looked up at her as she approached him.
"Hey," he greeted her.
"Hey," she responded. She sat down next to him. "I gave it to them."
"You did?"
She nodded, and suddenly very tired, laid down, putting her head in Alec's lap, and swinging her legs up onto the sofa. Softly, very softly, she could feel Alec stroking her cheek. She closed her eyes, and drifted into a restless sleep.
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Max looked down at the bottle in her hand. She took the top off, without another thought, and downed the whole thing. She had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from gagging and throwing the stuff up. As far as she knew, this was the only amount of cure Dali had. So she choked it down, and coughed a little.
Logan sat staring as Dali descended the ladder. The concept had not yet pierced his mind that the final barrier that stood between him and the woman he loved was now coming down. He watched Max swallow the cure, and when she began to cough, he reached for her. But she backed away.
"She said give it 5 minutes." Logan looked into her the dark, brown, chocolate pools that were her eyes. Then she looked away. This is the longest 5 minutes of my life…she thought to herself.
"I've got an idea," he said, and then walked to the ladder, and disappeared down it. Max stood out in the snow alone.
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A few minutes later, he returned.
"Where'd you go?" Max asked him.
"It's a surprise," he replied with a sly smile on his face. "Has it been 5 minutes?"
Max looked at her watch. 3…2…1…She looked up at him, a smile on her face, and nodded. He walked near to her, his thoughts racing a mile a minute, and looked into her eyes. With the snow swirling around her, and the light of the moon peeking through the clouds on her every so often, he thought she never looked more beautiful. He sighed, and held out his hand, just as he had the last time they'd been through this.
Max took a few paces closer to Logan. Her heart beating like a rabbit's. As much as Manticore had prepared her for, she would never be prepared for this. She knew Logan was a little afraid; she could smell it on him, but he still trusted her enough risk his life for her. She closed her eyes, and took a slow breath, then she slowly raised her hand, and put it in his. They looked into each other's eyes, waiting for something, anything, to happen. When nothing did, Logan smiled, pulled her close, and his lips met hers, ever so softly. Then he pulled away.
"Come on," he whispered, and led her over to the ladder. They climbed down, and when they reached the ground, he took hold of her hand again. Max smiled to herself, realizing that this was the first time that they'd really walked hand in hand. He took her inside to what he called his 'temp room'. It was the place where he slept and stayed when he had to be in Terminal City for long amounts of time. He opened the door, and Max took note of the glow in the room created by the several lit candles that were spread all around. He pulled her slowly into the room and closed the door behind them.
Post: Sorry guys, I don't write explicit scenes. Rating's PG-13 and I'd be bad at it anyway. But hey, I'm sure you all have great imaginations, so imagine away!
