Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dark Angel characters or plot. All the
new characters are mine though!
Pairing: MA eventually, CA friendship
Alec quickly caught up with Cindy and Sketchy and said, "Make sure Hazel's okay. She's freaking me out by not showing any emotion."
"Don't worry, dude. We'll make sure she's okay." Replied Sketchy to reassure his friend.
"Original Cindy cannot believe, that Max is dense enough to mention manticore in front of that girl. What was she tryin' to do?" said Cindy exhaling quickly with annoyance.
"Max has never been the most tactful person, Cindy." Replied Alec as they walked.
"Yeah but that was just plain stupid." Said Cindy shaking her head.
"Well, I'll see you guys in a half hour." Said Alec as he went in the direction of HQ.
Sketchy and OC entered their apartment to be greeted by silence. "Hazel, are you here?" asked Sketchy softly in case she was sleeping.
"Yeah, I'm just in the bathroom." Came a muffled voice from behind the bathroom door. As they walked into the living room they could see parts of a vase by the far wall where it had obviously had been thrown.
"Are you okay in there, sugah?" asked Cindy as she saw a bit of blood on the floor where a piece of vase was.
"Yep, I'm fine. Just got a small cut." Replied the barely audible voice.
"Come out here, honey. I'll clean up." Said Cindy softly.
Hazel unlocked the door and walked up slowly. "If you think that's a small cut, I don't wanna see what you think a big cut is." Said Sketchy as he saw the big gash on Hazel's right hand.
"It's really deep. How much blood have you lost?" asked Cindy whilst inspecting the injury.
"I'll live. Can you just wrap it up for me?" said Hazel stiffly as she was still a bit miffed from what went down in the cafeteria.
"What's that smell?" she asked after a small pause. She sniffed around and then turned to Sketchy.
Cindy who was nearer to Sketchy sniffed him and jumped away quickly whilst saying, "Sketchy, get your ass into that bathroom and have a shower. You smell all kinds of bad."
"Alright, alright I'm going." Replied Sketchy as he ran to the bathroom with Cindy throwing the seat cushions at him.
When she saw that Sketchy was well into having his shower - indicated by his bad singing - she turned to Hazel and said, "Are you okay, sugah?"
"I'm fine Cindy." Replied Hazel in a monotone.
"You can tell Original how you feel. Cindy and Alec were ready to see you pounce." Said Cindy carefully whilst wrapping her hand in some ripped fabric.
"Yeah, well I promised Alec I wouldn't do anything to Max. Not unless she did or said something directly to me that I didn't like." Answered the transgenic whose voice had hardened slightly.
Cindy observed her new friend before saying, "Original Cindy's gonna go and get some more bandages. You stay here and wait for Sketchy to come out. Not gonna be long."
"Wait." Said Hazel who caught the humans arm stopping her from moving, "Don't tell Alec I hurt myself."
"He'll find out anyway." Said Cindy getting out of Hazel's grip.
"Fine he'll find out when he finds out. You don't need to tell him." Countered Hazel lying down onto the couch and promptly falling asleep.
Cindy left the apartment and instead of heading to the infirmary went to the cafeteria. Just as she thought, Max was still sitting where they had all sat just a quarter of an hour before. She swiftly walked up her best friend and sat down opposite her bringing the transgenic out of her reverie.
"What did you think you were doing earlier?" asked Cindy sounding annoyed.
"What?" replied Max still slightly out of it.
"Before. At lunch. What do you think you were doing talking about manticore?" asked Cindy again, talking to Max as she was a child.
"I just wanted to tell her why I did what I did. You know to explain my actions." Replied Max pleadingly.
"Her baby died in that fire. Original Cindy knows you did what was right but when her baby died a part of her died as well. Just leave the issue alone." Said OC softening slightly.
"Why? I did what the right thing." Replied Max who was beginning to get angry.
"Don't you dare get angry with me, girl. The only reason that girl didn't beat your ass is 'cos she promised Alec she wouldn't do anything to you. And I know you're tryin' to get back into baby boo's good books and you know Original Cindy's all for that. But the only way you're gonna do that is by being good to the girl." Said OC getting irritated as well.
"I wasn't hostile." Replied Max defensively.
"No, but you were insensitive." Said Cindy getting slightly wound up.
"Fine. No talking of manticore. Will you be happy with that?" asked Max sardonically.
Cindy just nodded and went speedily back to the apartment, as Alec would be coming soon.
"Oh hey Cindy. Where've you just been?" asked Alec as they both reached the apartment at the same time.
"Original Cindy has been havin' a word with Missy. Jus' givin' her a few of Cindy's wise words. Dunno what it's worth though." Replied Cindy as they entered the apartment.
She saw that the pieces of vase had been cleared up. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft laugh. They both turned to see Hazel laughing at something Sketchy said. "Hey guys." Said Sketchy as he stood up followed by Hazel, "Are we ready to go? I wanna see some of the skills held by manticore's most notorious."
"Yeah. Let's head up now." Replied Alec. He then dropped behind the two humans to walk with Hazel. "You ready to fight?" he asked with his stunning eyes twinkling with zeal.
"You know it." Replied Hazel her eyes emanating the same sparks.
The group arrived on the Eastside. As Cindy and Sketchy couldn't jump to the roof they climbed their way up the nine flights of steps to the roof. The sun's rays were blocked by the grey clouds which blazed silver. The breeze picked up to become a revitalizing wind.
"We should stretch, first." Said Hazel already falling steadily into the splits.
"Ouch. That looks like it hurts." Said Cindy to her friend. They were both sitting a little further away from the transgenics as they figured their friends would space to move in.
Alec and Hazel did a series of stretches and then went on to do a few acrobatics to stretch out their backs.
"How the hell do they do that?" said Sketchy more to himself than anyone else.
"You ready?" asked Hazel grinning madly with anticipation.
Alec nodded and that seemed to be the signal to begin because Hazel went straight into diving the first roundhouse kick. None of the group noticed Max come onto the roofs. She watched the two transgenics moving in sync. To Max it didn't even look as though they were fighting, it was more like a dance. The two matched each other at each step, continually pushing the other to do more advanced techniques. She saw Alec moving in to do the final kick of the spar, when he caught Hazel's arm and stopped so suddenly that the spectators were shocked by the abrupt stillness.
For a long time the two transgenics stood in the exact stance they had unexpectedly finished in. All that time Alec looked at Hazel straight in the eyes. The female transgenic stood her ground by unwaveringly looking back but his silent interrogation was so thorough she felt exposed. "What happened to your hand?" Alec finally asked as he moved in closer cradling her injured hand in his.
"I just got myself cut. It's only a scratch." Replied Hazel not looking into her former CO's eyes.
Cindy snorted in mild disbelief as Sketchy said, "It's more of a gash than a scratch."
"How did it happen?" he asked whilst looking at the blood soaked bandage.
"I got a bit angry. Did something stupid. Can we carry on sparring now?" Hazel replied quickly pulling her hand away and getting into a fighting stance.
"Well actually I was wondering whether I could join in." said Max as she stepped forward out of the light shadow in which she had been hiding.
Hazel rolled her eyes in frustration. Alec noticing this said, "Yeah you can. After we have one more round." Max looked up at him slightly taken aback as she thought he would willingly let her interrupt. "Maybe you can get a few tips." He added cockily. Max then sat down next to Sketchy pouting.
Alec looked back at Hazel and nodded again. The two then started circling each other. The spectators could see that they were thinking more about the strategic element of fighting with both transgenics looking intently at their opponent whilst still concentrating on other rudiments. Alec was the first to make a move this time. He moved in to do a series of punches just before his fist could connect with her body, Hazel blurred to his right at top speed. Max gasped quietly but her two friends heard easily enough.
"What's the matter, boo?" asked Cindy eyes never leaving the transgenics.
"She just.she just.it was so.how could that.it was too." replied Max still staring at the two transgenics as if they were on fire. But the two were blazing. The super quick moves and the beautiful grace with which they moved created an electricity in the air around them.
"Huh?" asked Sketchy turning his gaze away from the fighting pair.
"Hazel. She just moved so fast." Said Max wonderingly.
"Yeah but all of you do that." Said Sketchy confused.
"Did you see how fast she was. That was way faster than any transgenic I've seen. Way faster than I can." Said Max also looking confused on how this could happen.
Everyone's attention was back on the tussle. As Hazel got faster, Alec too got faster. Their movements were erratically rapid but also calmingly composed. Each kick was generated with acute precision and each punch was intercepted with marvelled strength. However, as the fight carried on Max could see Alec begin to get slower whereas Hazel moved with the same heightened speed. Alec instead of blocking the attack moved out of its line of direction with simple leaps and jumps.
"What is he doing?" said Max to herself in disgust. She couldn't understand why he wasn't fighting properly.
"He's wearing her out." Said Cindy simply, "Don'tcha see how she's getting slower." It seemed Cindy was right because the continued change of direction seemed to be confusing Hazel as her movements, whilst still keeping there composure and strength, were becoming more defective.
Alec then took the advantage when she seemed to be losing concentration because of her disorientation, and swiped her feet and quickly pinning her to the ground with her arms above her head.
When he was successively on top of her and had undoubtedly cut her off from any escape he whispered looking at her contently and grinning with triumph, "Your weakness, Hazel, is that you get too caught up with the fighting, with the movements. It disables you from being perceptive of the subtler actions of your opponent. It always has been and always will be."
Both were breathing hard. Hazel looked back at him still pinning her securely to the ground. Her eyes suddenly started sparkling but she quickly ordered her eyes to show no emotion and set a frown upon her glowing face. She then began to wriggle under Alec. Alec didn't know what she was doing and tried to stop her but she kept fidgeting under him. "Will you stop that?" asked Alec getting uncomfortable. His body was starting to react to the constant writhing beneath him. He held both her arms with one hand and took her face in the other and said, "Stop writhing."
After he said this he saw the twinkle in Hazel's eyes when suddenly she flipped them both around so that now he was the one pinned to the ground and she was on top. She said to him seductively, "Your weakness, Tomcat, is that you're a man." She then kissed him on the cheek and rolled off him. Alec seemed stunned as he lay frozen on the ground looking at her. Hazel rolled her eyes whilst letting slip a small smile and held her hand out to help him up.
"That girl has skills." Said Cindy laughing at what had just happened.
"She cheated." Said Max in defiance.
"Actually I used his weakness against him. Just like Alec used my weakness against me to pin me." Replied Hazel casually.
"You cheated." Said Max again looking at the X5 determinedly.
"No she didn't Max. She played dirty. Like you, remember? I have ten years training on you but you fight dirty or have you forgotten the cage fight?" Countered Alec coming out of his stupor.
Max had the decency to look sorry, when Hazel then turned to Alec and then said, "I think that was the first time I beat you. If I did that move on you back at manticore they would have put me in for a beating."
Pairing: MA eventually, CA friendship
Alec quickly caught up with Cindy and Sketchy and said, "Make sure Hazel's okay. She's freaking me out by not showing any emotion."
"Don't worry, dude. We'll make sure she's okay." Replied Sketchy to reassure his friend.
"Original Cindy cannot believe, that Max is dense enough to mention manticore in front of that girl. What was she tryin' to do?" said Cindy exhaling quickly with annoyance.
"Max has never been the most tactful person, Cindy." Replied Alec as they walked.
"Yeah but that was just plain stupid." Said Cindy shaking her head.
"Well, I'll see you guys in a half hour." Said Alec as he went in the direction of HQ.
Sketchy and OC entered their apartment to be greeted by silence. "Hazel, are you here?" asked Sketchy softly in case she was sleeping.
"Yeah, I'm just in the bathroom." Came a muffled voice from behind the bathroom door. As they walked into the living room they could see parts of a vase by the far wall where it had obviously had been thrown.
"Are you okay in there, sugah?" asked Cindy as she saw a bit of blood on the floor where a piece of vase was.
"Yep, I'm fine. Just got a small cut." Replied the barely audible voice.
"Come out here, honey. I'll clean up." Said Cindy softly.
Hazel unlocked the door and walked up slowly. "If you think that's a small cut, I don't wanna see what you think a big cut is." Said Sketchy as he saw the big gash on Hazel's right hand.
"It's really deep. How much blood have you lost?" asked Cindy whilst inspecting the injury.
"I'll live. Can you just wrap it up for me?" said Hazel stiffly as she was still a bit miffed from what went down in the cafeteria.
"What's that smell?" she asked after a small pause. She sniffed around and then turned to Sketchy.
Cindy who was nearer to Sketchy sniffed him and jumped away quickly whilst saying, "Sketchy, get your ass into that bathroom and have a shower. You smell all kinds of bad."
"Alright, alright I'm going." Replied Sketchy as he ran to the bathroom with Cindy throwing the seat cushions at him.
When she saw that Sketchy was well into having his shower - indicated by his bad singing - she turned to Hazel and said, "Are you okay, sugah?"
"I'm fine Cindy." Replied Hazel in a monotone.
"You can tell Original how you feel. Cindy and Alec were ready to see you pounce." Said Cindy carefully whilst wrapping her hand in some ripped fabric.
"Yeah, well I promised Alec I wouldn't do anything to Max. Not unless she did or said something directly to me that I didn't like." Answered the transgenic whose voice had hardened slightly.
Cindy observed her new friend before saying, "Original Cindy's gonna go and get some more bandages. You stay here and wait for Sketchy to come out. Not gonna be long."
"Wait." Said Hazel who caught the humans arm stopping her from moving, "Don't tell Alec I hurt myself."
"He'll find out anyway." Said Cindy getting out of Hazel's grip.
"Fine he'll find out when he finds out. You don't need to tell him." Countered Hazel lying down onto the couch and promptly falling asleep.
Cindy left the apartment and instead of heading to the infirmary went to the cafeteria. Just as she thought, Max was still sitting where they had all sat just a quarter of an hour before. She swiftly walked up her best friend and sat down opposite her bringing the transgenic out of her reverie.
"What did you think you were doing earlier?" asked Cindy sounding annoyed.
"What?" replied Max still slightly out of it.
"Before. At lunch. What do you think you were doing talking about manticore?" asked Cindy again, talking to Max as she was a child.
"I just wanted to tell her why I did what I did. You know to explain my actions." Replied Max pleadingly.
"Her baby died in that fire. Original Cindy knows you did what was right but when her baby died a part of her died as well. Just leave the issue alone." Said OC softening slightly.
"Why? I did what the right thing." Replied Max who was beginning to get angry.
"Don't you dare get angry with me, girl. The only reason that girl didn't beat your ass is 'cos she promised Alec she wouldn't do anything to you. And I know you're tryin' to get back into baby boo's good books and you know Original Cindy's all for that. But the only way you're gonna do that is by being good to the girl." Said OC getting irritated as well.
"I wasn't hostile." Replied Max defensively.
"No, but you were insensitive." Said Cindy getting slightly wound up.
"Fine. No talking of manticore. Will you be happy with that?" asked Max sardonically.
Cindy just nodded and went speedily back to the apartment, as Alec would be coming soon.
"Oh hey Cindy. Where've you just been?" asked Alec as they both reached the apartment at the same time.
"Original Cindy has been havin' a word with Missy. Jus' givin' her a few of Cindy's wise words. Dunno what it's worth though." Replied Cindy as they entered the apartment.
She saw that the pieces of vase had been cleared up. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft laugh. They both turned to see Hazel laughing at something Sketchy said. "Hey guys." Said Sketchy as he stood up followed by Hazel, "Are we ready to go? I wanna see some of the skills held by manticore's most notorious."
"Yeah. Let's head up now." Replied Alec. He then dropped behind the two humans to walk with Hazel. "You ready to fight?" he asked with his stunning eyes twinkling with zeal.
"You know it." Replied Hazel her eyes emanating the same sparks.
The group arrived on the Eastside. As Cindy and Sketchy couldn't jump to the roof they climbed their way up the nine flights of steps to the roof. The sun's rays were blocked by the grey clouds which blazed silver. The breeze picked up to become a revitalizing wind.
"We should stretch, first." Said Hazel already falling steadily into the splits.
"Ouch. That looks like it hurts." Said Cindy to her friend. They were both sitting a little further away from the transgenics as they figured their friends would space to move in.
Alec and Hazel did a series of stretches and then went on to do a few acrobatics to stretch out their backs.
"How the hell do they do that?" said Sketchy more to himself than anyone else.
"You ready?" asked Hazel grinning madly with anticipation.
Alec nodded and that seemed to be the signal to begin because Hazel went straight into diving the first roundhouse kick. None of the group noticed Max come onto the roofs. She watched the two transgenics moving in sync. To Max it didn't even look as though they were fighting, it was more like a dance. The two matched each other at each step, continually pushing the other to do more advanced techniques. She saw Alec moving in to do the final kick of the spar, when he caught Hazel's arm and stopped so suddenly that the spectators were shocked by the abrupt stillness.
For a long time the two transgenics stood in the exact stance they had unexpectedly finished in. All that time Alec looked at Hazel straight in the eyes. The female transgenic stood her ground by unwaveringly looking back but his silent interrogation was so thorough she felt exposed. "What happened to your hand?" Alec finally asked as he moved in closer cradling her injured hand in his.
"I just got myself cut. It's only a scratch." Replied Hazel not looking into her former CO's eyes.
Cindy snorted in mild disbelief as Sketchy said, "It's more of a gash than a scratch."
"How did it happen?" he asked whilst looking at the blood soaked bandage.
"I got a bit angry. Did something stupid. Can we carry on sparring now?" Hazel replied quickly pulling her hand away and getting into a fighting stance.
"Well actually I was wondering whether I could join in." said Max as she stepped forward out of the light shadow in which she had been hiding.
Hazel rolled her eyes in frustration. Alec noticing this said, "Yeah you can. After we have one more round." Max looked up at him slightly taken aback as she thought he would willingly let her interrupt. "Maybe you can get a few tips." He added cockily. Max then sat down next to Sketchy pouting.
Alec looked back at Hazel and nodded again. The two then started circling each other. The spectators could see that they were thinking more about the strategic element of fighting with both transgenics looking intently at their opponent whilst still concentrating on other rudiments. Alec was the first to make a move this time. He moved in to do a series of punches just before his fist could connect with her body, Hazel blurred to his right at top speed. Max gasped quietly but her two friends heard easily enough.
"What's the matter, boo?" asked Cindy eyes never leaving the transgenics.
"She just.she just.it was so.how could that.it was too." replied Max still staring at the two transgenics as if they were on fire. But the two were blazing. The super quick moves and the beautiful grace with which they moved created an electricity in the air around them.
"Huh?" asked Sketchy turning his gaze away from the fighting pair.
"Hazel. She just moved so fast." Said Max wonderingly.
"Yeah but all of you do that." Said Sketchy confused.
"Did you see how fast she was. That was way faster than any transgenic I've seen. Way faster than I can." Said Max also looking confused on how this could happen.
Everyone's attention was back on the tussle. As Hazel got faster, Alec too got faster. Their movements were erratically rapid but also calmingly composed. Each kick was generated with acute precision and each punch was intercepted with marvelled strength. However, as the fight carried on Max could see Alec begin to get slower whereas Hazel moved with the same heightened speed. Alec instead of blocking the attack moved out of its line of direction with simple leaps and jumps.
"What is he doing?" said Max to herself in disgust. She couldn't understand why he wasn't fighting properly.
"He's wearing her out." Said Cindy simply, "Don'tcha see how she's getting slower." It seemed Cindy was right because the continued change of direction seemed to be confusing Hazel as her movements, whilst still keeping there composure and strength, were becoming more defective.
Alec then took the advantage when she seemed to be losing concentration because of her disorientation, and swiped her feet and quickly pinning her to the ground with her arms above her head.
When he was successively on top of her and had undoubtedly cut her off from any escape he whispered looking at her contently and grinning with triumph, "Your weakness, Hazel, is that you get too caught up with the fighting, with the movements. It disables you from being perceptive of the subtler actions of your opponent. It always has been and always will be."
Both were breathing hard. Hazel looked back at him still pinning her securely to the ground. Her eyes suddenly started sparkling but she quickly ordered her eyes to show no emotion and set a frown upon her glowing face. She then began to wriggle under Alec. Alec didn't know what she was doing and tried to stop her but she kept fidgeting under him. "Will you stop that?" asked Alec getting uncomfortable. His body was starting to react to the constant writhing beneath him. He held both her arms with one hand and took her face in the other and said, "Stop writhing."
After he said this he saw the twinkle in Hazel's eyes when suddenly she flipped them both around so that now he was the one pinned to the ground and she was on top. She said to him seductively, "Your weakness, Tomcat, is that you're a man." She then kissed him on the cheek and rolled off him. Alec seemed stunned as he lay frozen on the ground looking at her. Hazel rolled her eyes whilst letting slip a small smile and held her hand out to help him up.
"That girl has skills." Said Cindy laughing at what had just happened.
"She cheated." Said Max in defiance.
"Actually I used his weakness against him. Just like Alec used my weakness against me to pin me." Replied Hazel casually.
"You cheated." Said Max again looking at the X5 determinedly.
"No she didn't Max. She played dirty. Like you, remember? I have ten years training on you but you fight dirty or have you forgotten the cage fight?" Countered Alec coming out of his stupor.
Max had the decency to look sorry, when Hazel then turned to Alec and then said, "I think that was the first time I beat you. If I did that move on you back at manticore they would have put me in for a beating."