Disclaimer: The usual stuff, Dark Angel belongs to James Cameron and FOX. The Elements, Reeve, and the plot are mine. Yay.
Author's Note: I wanted to state my appreciation for the kind reviews I've gotten so far, thank you so much!
The next chapter might be a little delayed because I'll be busy working to finally get my driver's license on the 30th— assuming I pass the test (I really hope so).
I had Tom Welling aka Clark Kent from Smallville in mind when it came to Zane's appearance.
The Gift of Daylight
Chapter 5: Shatter Point
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his."
—George Patton
Location: Terminal City, WashingtonTime: 2:00 AM PST
"This is bad. This is oh so bad," he muttered anxiously. Zeke yanked his sweatshirt hood up and stepped into the rain behind Alec. His boots made odd squelching sounds as it met the soggy mud.
"Would you be quiet?" Alec snapped, waving the flashlight around the area. For the most part, Terminal City was empty at this time of night. Many transgenics took shelter inside the warehouses or under ground in the sewers. This made things much simpler since Alec and Zeke didn't have to sort through a crowd in heavy rain. At the same time, the vacant and dark area made things much dangerous too.
"I think we should get Logan and the rest of them," Zeke suggested, shoving his hands into his pockets, shivering uncontrollably. "They'll know what to do … and have I ever mentioned that I hate water? I hate water," he muttered, and bit down on his bottom lip in an effort to calm his wild chattering.
"And what, get yelled at by all of them for losing Max? No thanks," he replied uneasily. "Come on, don't lag. This is your fault, after all." Alec threw a glance behind his shoulder to examine Zeke. "Man, you really do hate water, don't you?" he sounded really amused. In fact, he was.
Zeke glared sourly.
The two continued trudging past various warehouses in the heavy rain. They were soaked through in and through out as they ventured into the different dark and damp alleys of Terminal City. Zeke kept mumbling complaints the entire way, which warranted Alec to consistently tell him to shut up.
"We're almost at the end of Terminal City," Alec announced loudly, over the sound of the water, as the two of them approached Warehouse 15. "There's Warehouse 15 right there, right behind that black SUV."
"We're never going to find her then," Zeke stated, exasperated.
The two of them paused, blinked, then slowly looked at each other.
"Hey Alec?" Zeke called out.
"Yeah, Zeke?" he replied.
"I didn't know we had cars in Terminal City," he stated.
"We don't," Alec replied matter-of-factly.
"Then do you think we should check out that black truck over there then?"
"I think that's the best idea you've made tonight, Zeke."
It was a short walk to the black Durango; the car was tucked underneath Warehouse 15's extended roof. Relieved to get out of the water, but hesitant to approach a mysterious car, the two cautiously approached it from the side.
"Alec, what's the plan?" Zeke whispered from behind him.
"I'll knock on the door while you wait here. If I happen to get shot and/or die during the process, that would be your cue to sound the alarm," Alec replied, pulling out a silencer from his jacket pocket and loading it with bullets.
"Right. Gotcha," Zeke replied, giving him a thumbs-up. "… Wait a minute, you're not really going to die—"
But Alec had already moved towards the Durango.
Zeke could see the X5 duck his head down and kneel under the car's window as he approached the side door. He gave Zeke a string of hand signals, visibly braced himself, then yanked the door open, gun drawn and raised. Instantaneously, a pair of hands seized Alec by the shoulders and pulled him into the SUV. The door slammed shut, and everything was silent again, save for the thud of the rain.
Zeke paled, and turned around to leave quickly.
"Oh damn," he muttered a string of curses. "This is bad, this is really bad. Gotta sound the alarm—"
"—I'll tell you exactly what you're going to do," an authoritative voice stated from behind him.
Zeke froze in place. Reflexively, he clenched his fists and twisted around to send a swing at whoever was behind. Luckily he stopped himself before the fist made contact, or rather, she blocked the punch in mid-air with her arm.
"Hey hey, what the hell are you doing?" she demanded.
He recognized that voice.
"Max!" he called out, relief apparent in his tone. "You're okay! Hey, what happened? Where'd you go? Man, we were so worried! Oh yeah … sorry, thought you were going to kill me or something."
She raised a brow, lowering her arm slowly. She absently rubbed the spot where her arm had met his. "Are you sure I'm not?" she asked sarcastically. "Anyway, here's what I want you to do. I want you to run and wake up Logan, Joshua, Dalton, and Mole. Bring them here as fast as you can. It's important."
Zeke blinked a few times, the confusion obvious on his drenched face. "Yeah okay, whatever you say, Max. What's going on?"
"I'll tell you later," she promised. "But first, you need to get them here."
"Okay, but what do I tell them?" he asked through tightly clenched teeth. Zeke blew hot air into his hand and rubbed them together.
She paused a moment to consider this question— then smiled. "Tell them that … we're having an X5 reunion."
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Location: Above Terminal City, Washington.Time: 2:55 AM PST
"You knew this was inevitable, Agent White."
"I do … but wouldn't his death be unnecessary collateral damage?"
"His purpose to the Conclave has been fulfilled, he'll become detrimental to the mission."
"With all due respect, Priestess, but the others will not understand."
"Make them understand, Agent White."
There was a pause.
"… I bow to the wisdom. Fe'nos Tol," he concluded, flipping his cell phone shut and slipping it into his coat pocket. White swiveled his seat around to peer out the helicopter's window. Down below, Terminal City slept uneasily, and with good reason.
His walkie-talkie came to life. "Hey Whitey," a voice called from the other side.
White sighed, clicked a button, and brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth. "Was the sewer door opened, as planned?"
"That's a positive. We're behind schedule because he was delayed for some reason. We're inside Terminal City, moving to phase two."
"I'll be in touch," White replied. "Take out 452."
"With this team? She hasn't got a chance. Tanner, out."
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Location: Terminal City, Washington.Time: 3:05 AM PST
Logan was, unsurprisingly, the first to come. Joshua and Mole followed soon after. The three of them stepped out of the rain and entered Warehouse 15 one by one, each amazed by what they found inside. Warehouse 15 was the hugest of all the warehouses, and was, literally, a confusing maze of really high-stacked wooden crates. If it wasn't for Max's help, the three of them would have undoubtedly spent 15 minutes wandering aimlessly.
Logan didn't have a clue what was going on, he was still sleepy. All he knew was that Zeke had burst into his room, telling him to get to Warehouse 15, then ran off again. By the blank looks on Joshua and Mole's faces, they were both clueless as well.
Joshua peered up and saw a circular glass window at the very center of the large ceiling. The glass was dirty and littered with grime that had collected over the time. Even then, Joshua could clearly still see the rain through it.
"Where's Zeke and Dalton?" Max asked while they walked.
"Zeke said that he couldn't find Dalton for some reason, he decided to look again." He paused. "Max, what's going on?" Logan asked from behind, sounding concerned.
"We have visitors," she answered vaguely without looking back. The four of them were navigating to the center of the warehouse.
"Well are you going to give me a little hint?" he replied groggily, obviously still waking up.
"Maybe she's throwing you a surprise birthday party," Mole retorted gruffly.
"Max isn't the birthday party type," Logan replied. "And she hates surprises."
"—Surprise," a voice announced from around the corner.
Logan paused abruptly in step and flinched. He quickly observed the situation. The center of the warehouse had been turned into a makeshift meeting room, that was obvious. There were many fold out chairs and a tall garbage barrel that housed a fire. Beside a very wet and disgruntled looking Alec stood four X5's— four very familiar X5's. And immediately in front of him, stood Donald Lydecker.
Or … what was left of him, it seemed. "Yeah, surprise," Logan replied dully. "How did you get in? And … what happened to you?" Logan's mind was buzzing with questions; he tried his best to not ask them all at once.
"Through the front door," Lydecker replied, as if it was obvious. Lydecker felt the eyes on him; he acted nonchalant to it all. His face was now riddled with thick scars, healed gashes that permanently left their mark on his skin. There was an eye patch where is right eye was— or rather, where it used to be.
"Fair enough," Logan dismissed. "And question two?" Logan looked queasy, shocked, and maybe modestly concerned. He glanced briefly at the four X5's, one of them was lingering in the back, but all were dressed uniformly in black. Logan pulled his attention back to Lydecker.
"The Conclave got to him," Krit replied grimly from behind Lydecker. He had been waiting patiently to make his presence known; he hadn't seen Logan since Manticore's take down. "Good to see you again, Logan," Krit said with a nod, grinning widely despite the seriousness of the situation.
"And Syl, Zane, and—" Max pointed to each of the X5's as she called out their names but paused on the last one, "—and Brin," she finished weakly, identifying the lingering X5 in the back. Not surprisingly, Brin didn't bother to greet Logan. She stayed planted exactly where she was. There was no use denying the warmth in Max's tone as she named her siblings, she was all but beaming.
"Hey Logan," Syl greeted, her blonde hair was the same length Logan remembered it to be the last time he saw her.
He nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Hey there, Syl."
"Logan," a calm but firm voice spoke up. The brunette X5, Zane, stepped forward and extended his hand. Logan had never seen Zane— heard plenty about him— but never met the man face to face. The thing that struck Logan the most was how … harmless the other man appeared. After Logan shook his hand and felt Zane's strong grip, that impression quickly died.
"Now that we're all chummy with each other, I can finally do this. Been waiting a long time… " Mole stepped forward and unexpectedly seized Lydecker by the collar. "You've got a lot to answer for, buddy," he growled.
"Mole, what the hell are you doing?" Max demanded. She swiftly grabbed him by the elbow. The others circled around the scene.
"An anomaly," Lydecker stated matter-of-factly, examining one of his creations. He didn't seem at all bothered that his feet were off the ground.
"Right, one of many you left to rot in the basements," Mole retorted heatedly. "I've got a bone to pick with you, Lydecker."
"Hey, hey! Not right now, he needs to answer a few more questions. You can kick his ass afterwards," though of course, Max didn't really mean it.
Mole sent an appraising glance at Max. He knew he could never win a battle with her, and promptly released Lydecker to drop him on his feet. "Do anything funny, and I'll rip your arms off," he threatened darkly. He pulled out a cigar from his jacket pocket and lit it, walking away angrily to a corner of the clearing.
"Well that was … nice. Do all your soldiers behave this way?" Lydecker questioned.
"No, you just get special treatment," Max retorted resentfully. "All right, we're all here like you asked. Now talk. What's going on? What the hell are you doing here?"
Lydecker headed toward the chairs and occupied one. It took a few seconds for everyone to find their seats and get settled. Once they did, all eyes were on Lydecker. "You want to start from the beginning? Fine. A few months ago a few familiars kidnapped me, ran my truck off the road because I had stumbled on a few clues about their little plan. After escaping from the Conclave, I informed the Government of the entire situation; that is, the plague, the familiars, you, everything. They didn't believe me of course, but I didn't want to wait until millions died to prove my point. So I took action."
"I ran an ad in a few newspapers, called a few people, and tried to get in contact with any X5's I could find. Only a few answered my call, seems like I'm widely disliked by the transgenic community," he stated indifferently.
"Old news," Max scoffed.
"Go on," Logan encouraged, listening anxiously.
Lydecker's eyes darted around the faces of the X5's. Even after Manticore's takedown and all this, he felt hostility and suspicion radiating from them. It didn't bother him in the least it, he wasn't a sympathetic man by far, and he cared less of what people thought of him and his actions. Right now it was just a small hassle.
"Syl and Krit found me, they brought Zane along. Brin, well, we found her— but that's another story. I gave them the briefing, and we started on a hunt for him."
"Him?" Max inquired with a raise of the brow.
"Didn't you tell her?" Lydecker peered at Logan.
Logan fell silent; feeling the eyes on him— here came the moment of truth. He could see Alec look extremely relieved from the corner of his eye, Alec was probably glad he wasn't the one to tell Max. Joshua and Mole, wherever they were in the warehouse, were probably pleased too.
"Enough with the cryptic stuff. Out with it," Max demanded, looking from Krit, Alec, Syl, Lydecker, and finally at Logan.
"Of course you didn't, I told you not to tell her," Lydecker remembered, then turned to face Max. "I don't suppose you've kept in touch with him since then, stupid move actually, to hide him in the middle of nowhere working in a barn with a fake identity. He should've been told where he was from and what he was. Waste of his talents too—"
"Zack?" Max asked, disbelievingly. She felt short of breath at the mention of his name. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, it sounded louder than ever.
"Zack," Lydecker confirmed.
The X5's kept silent in the background, Lydecker seemed better qualified to break the news. Syl and Krit looked especially saddened at the mention of their brother.
"What happened to Zack? Is he okay? How does he fit into all of this? Answer me," she demanded.
"I will, calm down," Lydecker replied. "The Conclave found that doctor you worked with and got his location."
"Sam Carr?" Logan piped up from the side. "How did they find him?"
"Not sure, probably one of the nurses in the hospital. The Conclave is everywhere; you should have known that by now. They got Zack's location from him then went after Zack. Simple as that, really. We trailed White and his partner all the way to Oregon."
Max paled at the sound of White's name.
"Sam Carr wouldn't betray us like that," Logan spoke up, feeling it was his responsibility to come to the doctor's defense.
"They threatened his family, Cale," Lydecker spared a glance at the X5's— his kids. "What would you do if someone threatened your family?"
"Is his family okay?" Max interrupted before Logan could answer. She knew of Logan's family.
Lydecker shrugged. "Don't know, the poor guy didn't live long enough to find out."
They all fell silent, Logan especially. Sam Carr was a close friend and trusted associate of Eyes Only. But this was war, and he was another casualty. Casualties were expected, and Logan couldn't dwell on things he couldn't change.
"What do they want with Zack?" Max demanded.
"To kill you of course," Lydecker announced, as if it should've been obvious. "They'll either send him on a solo mission to infiltrate Terminal City and eliminate you or send him with a squad. We're not sure, we last saw him at some factory. I told the government of your role in saving possibly millions; they'll protect you for the time being, but only if you get out of here with us. We're your escort."
Max took the news just as Lydecker expected— bad. Her head jerked backwards as if she had just touched a live power cable. White and his familiars were hitting below the belt for doing this, now it was personal. "No, not a chance. We wait for him here. It's my fault he's running with the bad guys. I need to save him, he can be saved we've done it before," she put in firmly, through gritted teeth.
"Zack's not our main concern, curing the plague is. Your safety's been compromised, Max, you need to leave Terminal City now. This is selfish and illogical, you're out of line, soldier."
"In case you haven't noticed, Manticore's dead. I don't take orders anymore, you get that?" she retorted. "Besides, think about it. I'm safer here, behind a military barricade and around a bunch of genetically engineered soldier friends."
"All but one," Krit spoke up gravely.
Max looked confused, and she was. She put two and two together instantly. "There's more, isn't there? Spit it out," she demanded, addressing the entire group. She knew that all of them had kept her in the dark, and felt the sting of betrayal. But right now wasn't the proper time to scold everyone who had done so. Right now, she had to find Zack and save him, then eventually the world. That was enough on her plate.
"We caught up with the three of them early on at a diner somewhere in Oregon. Syl put a tap on his cellphone and we heard a couple of … interesting things," Lydecker stated with a sigh. "There's a mole in Terminal City," said slowly, waiting for the information to sink in. "White's been in contact with someone here, and we don't know who it is. It could be any of the X-series. So you see," he started again, in a compromising tone, "you need to leave. You can't save Zack if you're dead."
"I can't save Zack if I can't find him. And from what you've told me, he's coming here. Besides, how can I even believe anything you're saying is true?"
Lydecker's X5 squad shifted in their seats, as if to draw Max's attention to them. Krit was elected as the group's speaker, and piped up. "Um, we can verify whatever he's said so far," Krit stated softly. He knew that Max wanted to win this argument and stay in Terminal City for Zack, but what he just said basically handed the victory to Lydecker. For that, he sent an apologetic look to his sister.
Max set her fingers on her temple and pressed lightly. "This is not happening," she muttered to herself, unconvincingly.
"Hey, everything's going to be okay, Max," Syl assured her gently. "Just come with us, it's for the best."
"Zack's tough, he'll be fine," Krit tossed in too.
Despite their assurances, she put up one last effort to argue the inevitable. "Logan?" Max peered at him, in search of an opinion.
If she wanted a certain response from him, she would be disappointed. "You know what I think, Max," Logan replied softly. He had, of course, voted for her to go with Lydecker. Even if Zack and Logan had never truly gotten along, Logan did want to save the X5, knowing how important he was to Max. But balanced against the lives of million— it was a no-brainer.
"Alec?" she looked to Alec, who had been uncharacteristically quiet all this time. Yeah, she was bound to lose this battle if she was desperate enough to ask for Alec's opinion.
Alec had of course been listening closely the entire time. He let his cocky façade down briefly to handle the serious situation at hand. "Hey, Brother Zack survived a bullet to the head, Manticore pulling him apart, and an electric jolt to the head. I think he'll be okay," offering her a reassuring grin.
"Those monsters corrupted one of my kids," Lydecker stated darkly. "Don't worry, they'll get what's coming," there was no mistake of the murder in his tone. "But we need to handle one problem at a time— this comes first," he stated coolly.
Honestly, Max had given into logic and made up her mind to leave Terminal City the moment Krit had stopped talking. She had just been delaying the inevitable. Even so, Lydecker's words and tone held a certain blunt sincerity that she learned to appreciate. If he was ever anything in his life— Lydecker was determined.
"When do we leave?" she asked, resigned.
Everyone looked modestly relieved.
"Right after we get clearance to leave, the government recognizes this as a priority mission," Lydecker's hand reached into his coat pocket to produce a thick black military cell phone. He tossed it over to Brin. "Brin, tell the General we need an escort to the University's lab. Tell them to prepare a team of examiners, get their best scientists over there. We need to find out what's killing these people, and what we can do to stop it."
Brin caught the cell phone, and gave him a fractional nod of her head.
"I'm coming," Logan spoke up quickly, leaving no room to argue in his voice. "Let me get my laptop before we leave, I have a translation of the runes in it. Joshua, come on."
Lydecker nodded reluctantly, letting the two make their way out the Warehouse. "But hurry up," he called out after them.
"Mole and I are going to stay here," Alec stated, knowing that she would make him stay here regardless.
"Good idea," she replied.
"You want to explain what happened when the lights shut off and how you suddenly disappeared?" Alec asked, that little bit had been bugging him the entire time.
"Not really," she retorted.
"I can explain," Krit volunteered. "I trailed her back to her apartment and … um, kidnapped her."
"That doesn't explain the thump I heard," Alec pointed out.
"Oh yeah, that was the sound of her fist making contact with my jaw," Krit replied embarrassedly, he absently rubbed the spot where she had hit him.
"You snuck up on me in the dark," Max reminded him mildly, hiding a very amused grin.
"Hey, I thought I was rescuing you from danger," Krit shot back delicately, jabbing a finger at Alec.
"Me? Dangerous?" Alec asked incredulously. "You have it all backwards, bud, I need protection from her," he stated teasingly. Alec took an involuntarily step away from Max, just in case she wanted to sneak in a punch or something.
"Either way, I didn't get a clear look at you. I thought you were Ben," Krit stated soberly, "sorry."
"Ahh, I see," Alec replied, it all made sense now. As comprehension dawned, he quickly changed the subject. Ben was not a topic anyone wanted to bring up around Max. Alec was relieved when Zane interrupted their conversation.
"You always said you wanted an X5 reunion, Max," Zane spoke up, with a smile on his face. "Surprise, surprise."
"I did," she admitted musingly. "But you brought the bearer of bad news with you, that spoils things," she gestured over to Lydecker. At that second, something occurred to her. "Hey you," she called out to him. "Not that it matters much now, but how did you escape from the Conclave?"
"Yeah, you never did tell us that one," Syl spoke up.
Lydecker adjusted his patch slightly, enough for Max to see that there was nothing underneath. The torture the Familiars had submitted him to had been thoroughly horrific. But in the end, he survived. He always did.
"What?" he snapped out of his train of thought and looked up at the X5s. "Escape? Oh yeah, that," Lydecker thought back to that point in time. "The kid guard helped me out."
"Helped you out?" Max asked, in astonishment.
"Well, not exactly helped me out. He was standing too close to the bars, he paid the price for it," Lydecker said dismissively.
"Knowing you were an important prisoner with information on Max, they let some kid guard you? What a bunch of morons," Alec scoffed.
No one disagreed with him.
"But it worked out okay in the end, and now we're going to finally take those sick bastards out," Lydecker concluded.
"Hey Max, while you're away, do you want me to see what I can find on Zack?" Alec offered. "I mean, if … anything, that is. I can try to—" Alec paused mid-sentence and blinked, his eyes widening.
"Don't trouble yourself, 494," a familiar voice called out from behind Max. "That won't be necessary."
Everyone who wasn't already facing that direction adjusted their position quickly. Max followed suit. Slowly, disbelievingly, she turned around. It couldn't be. It couldn't.
But it was. There he stood, between two tall walls of wooden crates and in front of a group of four strangers she had never seen.
Zack.
Max forced herself to tear her gaze away from Zack and examine the person who had just stepped forward. Zack's squad of four parted in half like a curtain and revealed a fifth member. The traitor.
She couldn't believe her eyes— and neither could anyone else.
"You?"
A/N: Okay, so maybe I lied. Next chapter contains all the juicy death and destruction. Plus, the traitor's identity.