A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update.  I'm gonna bring White into this soon, ya know, to give it an actual plot *grins* now I just have to think of one…

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Chapter twenty-nine: Knowledge Speaks

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'I don't want your pity.  I want your absence.'

-Alec (The Berrisford Agenda)

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'Locked inside the only place where you feel sheltered

Where you feel safe

You lost yourself in your search to find

Something else to hide behind'

-Lifehouse (Simon)

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"I'm here" Mole announced as he walked into the meeting room "The meeting can start."  He sat down in a chair and looked at Max expectantly.

"No, it can't" Max indicated the empty seat across the table from Alec.

The table was packed, everyone sat close together with their shoulders touching.  At the table from right to left were Max, Alec, Mole, Dix, Gem, Brin, Jondy, Syl, Krit, Zack, Zane, Joshua, Lee, Jace and Tawney.  They were sat around a very large, very old conference table that Joshua had found in an old office building a couple of blocks away from HQ.  Max considered it a very good find.

The door opened and Erin walked in, a nonchalant expression on her oval face.  She just looked like your average teenager but Max had seen her in her dream, and knew that with the right clothes, she would look her age and then some.

Taking in the faces in front of her, she turned to Max with a raised eyebrow and a smirk "You summoned?"

"Sit down" Max instructed and with a shrug, Erin sat down in the empty seat between Tawney and Max.  She had wanted Erin close so when she talked to her she could see her eyes.

"Ya' know, you should really stop using Dalton as a gofer boy to try and find me.  His little X6 friends hate me as it is and it doesn't help that you make him go looking for me." Erin sat slumped in her chair and it looked like she was resisting the urge to put her feet up on the table.

Max simply shrugged and turned back to everyone who now wore curious expressions on their faces.  They had no idea about Max's dream.

"Okay" Max got back to business "Alec came up with an idea the other day about what you guys can do around here."  Max looked at her family.  "We've already had a meeting about it and Mole, Dix, Josh and Gem all think it's a good idea, so long as you listen to their recommendations and use the people they suggest.  We want to give you all a special responsibility.  You would each have to have SICs for these jobs and you would each have to report back to me and Alec, like the others to go ahead your plans and talk through the details, but it will mean you have something to do and it'll mean doing what you're good at."

Max turned to look at Jondy "Jondy, we want you to look after the infirmary.  You were a great medic in our unit so I figured you could handle it.  Plus, I hear you've been studying Medical texts on the outside to increase you knowledge."  Jondy nodded and Max continued, looking at each family member as she spoke.

"Jace, I want you to work with Gem on the baby situation.  Brin, you're with Dix on communication and intelligence.  You were always good at that.  Zack, you're on security, I want you to work out several escape plans, get people on escape roots and deal with the perimeter.  Zane, you're with Mole on the mechanical front- fixing stuff, building stuff, making traps, blockades and restoring whatever buildings we need.  Syl, you're on explosives, we will be getting some soon.  Lee and Tawney, I want you to teach the younger kids about the outside, teach them to assimilate into it, answer any questions they may have.  Joshua is supplies."  Everyone nodded in agreement and Max looked at Jace again.  "As you know, Jace arrived yesterday.  That means, there's a way out through the sewers.  It was blocked before but Jace's friends cleared it out.  This mean, we can get some supplies."

Max now turned to Erin who had been silently swivelling around on her rotating chair while examining her nails.  "You told us you got the grenades and gas from a warehouse.  We need to know where it is and how you got to it."

Erin stopped swivelling and sat up straighter under everyone's expectant stares and she suddenly felt very young and stupid.  Then she reminded herself that she was actually older than them and she slumped into a more comfortable position.

"I'd figured that when the Sector cops on the checkpoints get off duty, they have to take the confiscated stuff somewhere, right?  I figured I should follow them, so I did.  After sittin' on my arse for-" she stopped when Krit sniggered. 

Everyone turned to stare at him and he shrugged sheepishly "She said arse."  He got a whack to the head from Syl.  Syl gave Erin an apologetic look.

Erin continued as if she hadn't been interrupted "After sittin' on my arse for several hours I see a couple of 'em leave.  Jump on my board, grab onto the back of the car and off we go, straight to some place on the docks.  There's several warehouses, don't know how many, it was too dark to see.  They're surrounded by a 15 foot high fence with a large brightly lit barrier at the front.  I walked around the side away from the lights and found a hole in the fence.  Followed the cops to one of the warehouses where they stashed the guns they'd brought in.  Waited until they'd left before picking the lock and bingo, I'm in."  Grinning, she looked at Max "It's incredible- like a freakin' supermarket!  They got food, clothes, sweets, drugs, gas, weapons, explosives, computers and other electrical equipment; you name it- they got it."

"This might mean we'll only need to make one trip for supplies this month" Max thought for a second "Alec, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" 

Alec nodded with a smile "Surprising as that may be."

Max turned to Zack, Jondy and Zane, making sure not to look in Zack's eyes.  "I want you three on this mission- 10 years of Escape and Evade will come in handy.  Alec?"

Alec nodded again, writing something down on some paper.  "I'll sort out the teams, and we'll steal a couple of vehicles."

"Unless they're trucks, you're gonna need more than a couple" Erin grinned "Like I said, it's a warehouse- lots of stuff."  Alec nodded.

"Dix, Brin- I want you on Intel ASAP.  Use Logan's computer if you have to, just don't look at it when you turn it on.  If he protests, tell him you have orders."  Max smiled at the thought, not knowing why the thought of pissing Logan off didn't make her guilty like it used to.  "Erin, we need you to give us the exact location for the warehouse."

"Problem" Erin winced "it was dark and I don't know any street names.  I don't even know how many warehouses there were- it was too dark to see.  I think I'd be able to remember by sight though."

"I don't want you going on this mission" Alec said immediately "it's too dangerous and White's still looking for you."

Erin rolled her eyes "Please.  I survived a couple of weeks on my own out there with White looking for me.  I think I'll survive a few more hours."

"NO" Alec glared back and turned to Max "Tell her, Max.  It's too unsafe."

"I can't" Max didn't look at Alec "We can't miss this opportunity.  We need these supplies and Erin is our key to getting them.  It'll be at sunset and she'll be surrounded by transgenics, Erin goes."

Erin nodded in agreement and moved to put her head down on her arms on the table in front of her, ignoring Alec's glare.

"Right, there's 3 more things on the list we need to go over.  1) Because we escaped in '09, we missed out on a lot of training.  This means that a lot of transgenics don't respect us.  Alec has volunteered to teach us what he knows while someone else takes over his duty of training the kids."

There was silence and then Tawney spoke up "You think we need training."

"I know we need training" Max replied seriously.  She used her 'don't mess with me' voice.  "This is not negotiable.  After the mission, we'll start retraining.  Next on the list- we need to know how the familiars can tell who we are.  We need to find out how they got to Biggs."  Alec sat back in his chair at the mention of his dead friend.

Erin had been silently humming a Good Charlotte song in her head as she sat with her head on her arms in front of her, not looking at anybody.  At the mention of Biggs she stopped.  She knew what they needed to know, she couldn't not tell them about it.  Time for a little more acting.

Sitting bolt upright, Erin caused everyone to stare at her.  Erin put a look of confusion on her face that slowly melted into surprise.

"Erin?" Max frowned as Erin reached out and touched Max's hand and then Tawney's.

Nodding to herself, Erin looked at her.  "Your body temperature.  It's warmer than Ordinaries.  They're using thermal scanners."

"You sure?" Max asked, her mind racing.

Erin's eyes met Alec's and she nodded "Positive.  I remember it, I remember them spotting Biggs."  Everyone was looking at her like she'd grown another head.  She frowned again as if concentrating "They're box-like, not too small but portable.  Someone with the flu can also stand out on it."

Sitting back, Erin shrugged "Raise your hand if you think I'm weird?" She raised her own hand but everyone had already turned back to Max.

"Okay, we're gonna need to do some brainstorming.  Now," Max took a breath as if she was going to say something big.  Why did Erin suddenly get a very bad feeling?

"There's just one more thing I wanna talk about" Max looked at Erin "I had another dream."

'Oh crap!' Erin moved to stand up "Guess I'll go then."

"No! I want to ask you some questions" Max stopped her.

"Why? You won't even tell me about the last one except I was in it" Erin stared  "What's so different about this one?"

"This one was mostly about you- your life.  For some reason, I'm meant to know about it" Max shrugged.

'Double crap!' Erin sat back in her seat again. "Ask away."

Max paused again.  How could she approach this?  "I saw your home.  I saw your grandparents and I think I saw your friends.  You called them Skye and Dylan?"

A smile flashed across Erin's face.  She really missed her friends.  She missed her whole life.  She nodded and waited for Max to continue.

"Do you have any siblings?" Max had to make sure that everything she'd seen was real.

"Yeah, I got 2 brothers-Matt and Ryan" Erin was beginning to wonder where this was going to lead.

"I saw you and a boy with fair hair at a skate park.  He looked about 11 and you were teaching him some tricks."

Erin blinked "That would be Matt.  We used to go there all the time."

"I also saw you in a big hall doing self- defence with a boy who looked pretty much the same, only older- maybe 13?"

"Ryan" Why was she having dreams about her life?

"I saw you in a classroom writing an essay on Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth."

"My English Lit class at college" Was this gonna cover her whole life?

"I also saw you in a club.  Then, the scene changed again.  You said that you had a secret.  We were in a corridor."

Erin closed her eyes.  This was not good.  Why the hell were the Powers That Be giving Max dreams about her past?  Why?  It was just exactly that- the past.  It was over and done with and Erin had finally begun to put it behind her.  She hadn't seen a shrink for 6 months before she came to this reality.  6 months!  Why did this have to happen now?  And why did Max have know about it?  She felt a flash of anger and took a deep breath, calming her breathing and keeping a leash on her anger.  She would not overreact; she would deal with this in a calm and mature way.  She was over it, right?  Besides, it wasn't Max's fault she was having these dreams.

Erin opened her eyes and they met Alec's for a fraction of a second.  He was trying to read her.  Everyone was.  Erin didn't want them to know, she'd had enough trouble trying to forget it ever happened.

"What happened behind that door?" Max spoke quietly and Erin's composure almost shattered.  She wouldn't even look at Alec now.

"What happened to you, Erin?  I smelt blood, I heard you with someone else.  You could talk then." Max asked gently as she watched Erin look down at her hands.

Her whole pose was casual as she sat slumped in her chair but Erin's face was blank and that ruined the whole impression.

"I could scream then too" Erin wouldn't look up.  However, the next question forced her to.

"Who's Jake?" Max was shocked at the look in Erin's eyes as Erin looked directly at her.

"What do you know about Jake?"

"I just heard him.  He said it hurt and the last time you fought back, you were unconscious for hours.  You were protecting him from someone.  Who?"

"Jake's dead.  It doesn't matter.  I couldn't protect him." Erin was angry, very angry.  The Powers That Be were taking it too far.  She stood up with her fists clenched "Find me when we're heading out."

Erin left leaving a silent room with an incredibly tense atmosphere.  Max wasn't angry at being basically told to butt out, but she was incredibly annoyed.  She had had that dream about Erin for a reason; she figured it was so she could understand her better.  All it had done was make Erin even more mysterious and Max hated mysterious.  Erin was part of The Coming; Max was certain of that now, that was the only plausible explanation for her dreams.  But she couldn't figure out what an Ordinary had to do with it.  What was Erin's role in it and why was White so intent on finding her?  Max had to find out what it was that Erin was hiding, not out of curiosity, but out of necessity.  Any Intel that Erin could provide, any little clue about her role would benefit them.  Max looked to Alec, he knew a bit about her past.

He shook his head, a look on his face that Max hadn't seen since she saw him with Rachel.  Was that sadness?  Something flashed in his eyes as he stared at the door Erin had just left through.

"I can't tell you what she went through, Max" there was an edge to his voice that suggested he was angry but his face held the usual blankness he always switched too when he didn't want anyone to know what he was feeling.  "She'll have to tell you when she's ready."

Next Chapter:  United We Stand, Divided We Fall…

"Zack?! Jondy?! Anyone?!" Max yelled into the radio, panic clearly evident in her voice.

The static from the radio was loud in the silent Headquarters as everyone held their breath.

The static was broken as Zack's voice reached them.  He sounded emotionless which meant only one thing.  It was confirmed when he spoke "We are under attack."

There were sounds of fighting in the background, and Jondy swearing loudly.

"I repeat, we are under attack."

A/N: *wiggles eyebrows* don't worry dudes, that, Alec/Erin moment will happen soon, and it's kinda funny.  But first, I think a little bit more action is in order…

Marty: Dude, you know she's a Northerner.  Well, she kinda is.  Born in the south, raised in the north.  That still counts right?  I mean, she has the accent. 

MaxCat452: *grins* When I said guys I meant as in people.  Nah, I don't think Erin will have dreams like that.  But she will have dreams (more like nightmares) about her past.

Moonlight: Ah, the Link thing is meant to be mysterious. *grins evilly* You'll have to wait and see what it means.

Elin: That is SO cool!!!  *looks at readers* Did you get that guys?  They're considering bringing back Dark Angel! Woohoo!! *does my happy dance*

Mel: Ah, that's good. *grins* It's like me calling everyone dude.

Messymissy:  The whole stepping back thing is actually an important part of what's to come.  That and everything else Erin had to say.  *does spooky voice* "Choose your battles.  You can't always play the hero.  You can't always run.  Sometimes you just have to step back." And "Lines will blur and people will die.  It is the natural chaos of things." And "I am The Link.  One of two." And "Two joined together.  Warrior, defender.  Darkness and light.  Two joined forever."*looks wise and mysterious* It has something to do with the future, her nature and what she is…