Chapter 10

June 14, 2021

Another morning comes with another conversation, Samantha thought as she entered the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. Unlike the day before however, her friend had already arrived and was busy reading the newspaper. "Anything interesting?"

While most people would have had the decency to look surprised by her sudden appearance, Dawn didn't. But then again, she always seemed to know where everyone was. "Not much, although the corpses have been found."

"Corpses? What are you talking about?" Samantha demanded, while trying to look over the woman's shoulder.

"The vampires and demons didn't have the decency to be quiet last night. I think they wanted to catch Noir," Dawn answered, sounding angry.

Hmm, she didn't much like those creatures but if they tried to hunt Noir they couldn't be all bad, now could they? No, there was no excuse for those abominations. Dawn's reaction on the other hand seemed a bit out of character. "What are you talking about?"

"The people that died were arms dealers, or, in some cases, wannabe arms dealers. Noir had probably contacted them for weapons, but the vampires got there first."

"How do you know it wasn't Noir who killed them? I wouldn't be surprised if she did that. Hah! I don't think there's anything she could do that would surprise me."

A short laugh escaped from Dawn's mouth after hearing that. "I kinda doubt that. In fact, I've got a feeling that there's a lot about Noir that would surprise you."

With a very unladylike snort Samantha gave her opinion on that. "Some base born killer, surprise me? Now, that's something that I doubt. And besides, when did you suddenly become the expert on assassins? When I first mentioned her, you didn't seem to know anything about her."

"Why don't you sit down? We'll talk a bit more once you're comfortable."

What was this? Why did Dawn suddenly want her to sit down as if she was about to impart some great secret? Especially when she'd just asked about Noir. Whatever the reason was for her friend to direct her to a chair, she decided she might as well do so. So, walking around the table she moved a chair backwards and sat down, before asking her question. "Alright, what is it that you want to talk about?"

Instead of answering the question though, Dawn looked around the kitchen before asking a question of her own. "Why haven't you ever hired a cook? Wouldn't that be a lot easier?"

"I did hire the catering for the party yesterday." Samantha answered, slightly bemused by the sudden appearance of such a strange question.

"Yeah, yesterday," Dawn waved with her hand to illustrate her point, "but that was for a party. What I mean is, why don't you ever do so during the rest of the time?"

The question was actually a bit insulting, but for the moment she decided not to take offense. "I like to cook. Why? Didn't you like what we had the day before yesterday?"

"Well yes, but you didn't make that did you? We were sparring until just before dinner." Dawn seemed a bit bewildered by her question.

"Actually, I had it prepared even before you came. The servants only had to put it in the oven and all that."

"Oh, sorry."

The crestfallen look on Dawn's face was almost enough to squash the smirk that crept on her own face, but Samantha knew it was a futile effort to keep it away. That didn't mean she couldn't quickly change the subject though. "But I kinda doubt that's what you wanted to talk about. So spill."

"You really like to cook?" Alright, it seemed as if Dawn wasn't quite ready to give up on that after all.

"Yes. I like cooking. And besides, it just, you know, feels satisfying when I get down to eat something I made myself."

"If you say so. Anyway," Dawn shaking her head in bewilderment before once again changing the subject. "You were asking 'bout the dead people."

"Among other things, yes."

"Okay, now it's like this. I was a bit worked up last night, and decided to go for a stroll."

Samantha raised her hand to stop her friend from continuing. "Hold on, you mean to tell me that you decided to take a walk through Seattle, in the middle of the night?"

A shrug was all the answer she needed, but Dawn confirmed it verbally as well. "Yeah."

It really shouldn't surprise her, especially since she was the one who told Dawn that it was probably safe to do so. But she just knew what was going to come next. Closing her eyes in near despair she quietly asked the question that would confirm her suspicions. "You left this sector, didn't you?"

"Of course, I've already seen everything here. You know that. Besides, there's nothing here but rich people, like you. And well, that's kinda boring."

This time her eyes flew open, but before she could say anything about that comment she noticed the smirk on Dawn's face. Damn that woman! Why did she have to treat everything like a game? "Ha, ha. Very funny."

"Thanks." Argh! Not even sarcasm seemed to work. 'Okay, calm down, don't let her get to you.'

A couple of deep breathes was all Samantha needed to regain her earlier calm, and quickly went back to asking questions. "How did you leave the sector anyway? I didn't know you've got a sector pass."

"I don't. Oh, I could easily get one of course, but I didn't need one anyway."

"They let you through?" This time Samantha didn't even try to hide the tone of incredulity in her voice. "The guards never let anyone through. Hell, that's what we pay them for."

"You mean you bribe the guards?"

"Stop playing games Dawn, you'd do the very same thing so there's no need to pretend to be innocent."

"Oh alright, spoilsport."

"It's way to early for this," Samantha said while starting to rub her head, all this nonsense was starting to give her a headache, "why don't you just tell me what you wanted to tell me and let me eat? I'm getting hungry here."

"Sure," Dawn shrugged, not at all bothered by all this, "to tell you the truth there isn't all that much to say. It basically comes down to the fact that when I was walking I happened across that little scene. Or one of them at least."

"Sorry?"

"I saw the vamps. Well, not so much the vamps as what they had done. Even if they hadn't still been there I would've been pretty sure that it was their kind that'd done it."

See? She knew that her guest had gotten herself into trouble, she always did that. And looking closer at Dawn, Samantha also noticed a faint discoloring around her throat. It had been mostly covered up by make-up, but not even that could hide the fact that the trouble had been greater than she'd first believed. "Is that how you got that nice bruise as well?" Maybe that would help her understand the dangers of her actions!

But once again, Dawn seemed unfazed and only raised her hands to her throat. "Don't be ridiculous, do you really think I would have survived if a vampire had done this?"

The response was the right one, even the tone, and Dawn's behavior fit perfectly. But still there was something niggling at the back of Samantha's mind. There was something off about this situation, and she simply couldn't think of what it was. "Then how?"

"How did I get it? I didn't say that nobody tried to attack me, it just wasn't a vampire."

"A mugger? Somebody tried to mug you?" Suspicions forgotten, Samantha rose from her chair in indignation. How dare some low-life, two-bit, scum of the earth attack one of her friends?

A heavy sigh came from Dawn then, drawing her attention back to her friend. "Sit down Samantha, it's been taken care off."

"Taken care off?"

"He has learned the error of his ways."

She was in quandary now, she knew about the muggers in this city. And they weren't the kind that would be stopped by threats alone. She also knew that it was unlikely Dawn would have resorted to violence, which meant that someone else would have helped her. Did she want to know who that was?

In the end she decided against it. If Dawn had wanted her to know about the rescuer she would have mentioned him, or her. Most likely it was a criminal as well, and maybe he'd gone a bit overboard. No, in this case plausible deniability very much had its place.

"Alright, I hope you didn't hurt him too much, but I won't ask about it. But everything you've told me so far didn't tell me anything about your sudden knowledge about Noir."

Once again Dawn almost looked uncomfortable. Hah, her friend had probably hoped that she'd forgotten about that. "There isn't really that much to tell," Dawn hedged.

"Don't even try that. You were about to reveal some kind of big secret before you started talking about your little excursion last night, and I want an answer to that."

"Oh alright. I spoke to some of my people yesterday, and Noir came up as well. In particular we spoke of the way she acquires her weapons."

Well, it sounded completely logical and she had no doubt that it was the truth, but still… something seemed to be missing from the explanation. The expression on Dawn's face told her that she wouldn't be able to get anything more from her now. Which meant she needed to catch her friend off guard, and there was a very easy way to do so. "So, what are your plans for the day? I was thinking we might go shopping together, have a nice easy day after last night's party?"

"I'd love to, but I really can't. I only managed to do some scouting yesterday and I had planned on approaching some people today."

Samantha couldn't stop the disappointment from showing on her face. Not that she really tried, after all she had been looking forward to spending some time alone with Dawn even before she decided on trying to grill her for information. And if a little guilt trip would make her reconsider… "Are you sure? We could have so much more fun than you will if you're talking about acquisitions and such. Besides, I thought you'd already discussed things with Victor."

A tiny smile showed on the other's face. "Somehow I have a feeling that his ideas have changed by now. Besides, he was only interested in my French interests."

Instead of immediately trying to convince Dawn to do otherwise, Samantha got up to make herself some breakfast first. Once that was done however she spent her entire breakfast subtly trying to convince her friend how much better it would be if the two of them would go out for a bit of fun.

Unfortunately, in the end all her efforts were wasted and she had to watch as Dawn took a briefcase while going out to do her thing. Damn, now she had to wait until the evening before she could try again.

X.X.X

The sun had risen several hours ago already, but for once the inhabitants of the abandoned building that Carlos had chosen for his base showed no sign of going to sleep. Not that they were happy about staying awake, but there was trouble brewing and they all wanted to steer clear of it. The contingent of vampires and demons that had been sent out during the night had returned without their price, and to make matters worse not even all of them had returned. All of this served one purpose, to anger the master vampire.

"I don't believe this!" Carlos roared at the cowering vampires before him. "That, that, that bitch!"

Even in his towering rage, he noticed with some satisfaction that the beings before him were at least still afraid of him. Respected him. "How could she do this to me? Doesn't she understand what I'm offering her? And you! Why are you looking so smug?" That last sentence was directed at Brooks, who he only now noticed was trying to hide a satisfied smile.

Some nervousness was present in the fledgling's voice as he spoke, but not nearly the amount it was supposed to contain. And not only that, he seemed to have treated it as some sort of competition, one that he'd just won. "Well boss man, I don't mean to say I told you so. But I, ah, actually did."

While his anger soared to new heights, and his narrowed eyes felt as if they could be used to kill, Carlos knew that the little nothing was right. Most importantly, he was still too useful to kill. Not that he would admit an error or anything, but that didn't stop the noob from gloating. "And why were you so convinced that a dozen vampires, and six demons, eighteen of my best men! Would not be enough?"

"I've seen it before. Do you really think we were that inefficient? The first time we caught up with her she was practically unarmed and still managed to kill nine of our people. And don't say they were only human. The agents she killed were professionals, each and every one of them trained far better than the ragtag you send last night."

We? Our? It was obvious the fool hadn't yet realized that he wasn't a member of that team anymore. He belonged to him, and was very low on the pecking order there as well. Nonetheless, Carlos recognized the truth in Brooks' words. The past months had after all shown him that not all government employees were weaklings. Just take that NSA guy White for example. Now that was one ruthless human, actually exposing the barcodes to the public so that he could go and hunt them. And from what little Brooks had told him about that Mansfield who had headed the search for the Soldier Hunter, and later the early years of hunting Noir, he was just as ruthless. Both men he would love to have at his command, after all if they were like that as a human how would they be as a superior species?

But all that didn't stop him from being bothered by the events of the night before. He had been anxious to see his men return with their prisoner, and in preparation he'd spent most of the night coming up with things to convince Noir why she should join him. Not that he'd made all that much progress though. Even thinking of that made him frown, an act that, he noticed with satisfaction, actually seemed to scare Brooks. But every single idea he'd come up with during the night had ended with her staking him. And that wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

Had he been wrong about wanting to turn her? Surely he ought to be able to control a mere woman? Not that it mattered right now, or for the foreseeable future. As long as he didn't have her he couldn't discuss these things with her. But he should've had her last night! How could she have seen through the traps, why had she ignored three of the meeting spots and massacred the fourth?

She must have known that she was facing vampires, there was no other way she could've fought that effectively. Unfortunately that begged another question. How had she known? Slayers were able to sense vampires, and even a witch could cast a detection spell of some sort, but Noir was neither. Despite her exceptional skills she was still a normal human being. It wasn't exactly an easy question to answer. And as he didn't feel like wasting precious time thinking of something that someone else might already know, Carlos decided to lower himself and ask his resident expert.

"Hey, I didn't even know much about the supernatural until you turned me, remember? Only some of the basics that had been covered during the training." Brooks asked. "But if you ask me, I'd say she saw them using some kind of scanner. She has always used electronics, in fact we even discovered a destroyed digital camera during the Greenville operation. So she probably used some kind of night vision equipment to check the site for danger.

"How she found out that it was vampires she was facing is something I can only guess at. Maybe your people were sloppy when they killed the dealers, or she checked for body heat. I don't know what she can do with her equipment."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Carlos roared while once again rising from his seat. "You're someone that hunts her, aren't you?"

"Hunted, past tense. After all I can hardly turn up for work like this, now can I? And besides, pfft," Brooks waved a bit with his arm to show his opinion about this subject, "I crawled data, not mud. Other people were all gung-ho about her weapons, tools, and shit like that. That's what you do in a team after all, everybody works on what he's best at."

His eyes narrowing again, Carlos stared at the fool in front of him. Did he really think he'd get away with challenging his authority like that? He might be useful for now, but once Noir had been taken… Well, he was pretty certain that his future queen would love to spend some time with the young vampire. Yes, that would be a nice start for cementing a lasting relationship with the assassin. How could she possibly resist the opportunity to torture and kill one of the people that had hunted her for so long?

X.X.X

"This ain't fair," Max pouted. She knew it wasn't really fair of her to complain to her friends either, but in this case she opted for spreading the misery.

Alec gave her a look that clearly conveyed his opinion about the whining. "I know it's not fair Max, but you have to remain here for a while. Noir can't possibly get inside here, without us noticing, so she's sure to be waiting outside for you."

"Oh come on. If the cops and National Guard can't spot me, what makes you think a single person can? You make her out to be superman or something."

"She might only be human but that doesn't mean you should underestimate her. After all, you know that neither the cops nor the National Guard would try to kill you on sight, while she would."

She snorted at that. "As if she'd succeed; the woman's as human as Normal. Why do you keep making her be more than she is?"

Instead of answering her, Alec turned his head to the other occupant of the room. "Mole, can you try to pound some sense into her? I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

"The girl doesn't want to know. I'd say to let her out, but right now we can't afford to lose her," the lizard-faced man answered after taking his cigar out of his mouth.

"Thanks for being so useful," Alec bit back.

"Hey kid, relax. I'm as worried about the situation as you are, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to try and convince her of it."

Why did they keep doing this? Sure, from what she'd been told the woman was dangerous, but so was she. And, no matter how much she hated the place, Manticore had done a good job. So, before they could continue trying to blame each other for her lack of response, Max spoke up. "Will both of you relax? I've already agreed to stay here, haven't I? I may not agree with it, but for once I'm acting like the good little soldier I was bred to be, and follow orders."

"Why are you making such a fuss out of it anyway?" Alec wanted to know, "it's not like you haven't spend most of your time here."

"I don't like to hide from anyone, I've done enough of that. Besides, I feel locked up. I'm not allowed to go outside the perimeter, nor even go near the fence. I'm always under escort," she indicated the two of them who were after all with her for that very purpose, "and nobody wants to hear my opinion about all that. God, it's almost as if I'm back at Manticore." There. She'd said it, and they could take it anyway they wanted to.

"That's your problem? You feel like we took your choices away? We're an army sister. In case you've been away for too long, that means our decisions are always based on circumstances, not choice." The gruff words spoken by Mole once again showed the wide gap between them that existed despite everything. She had been away from Manticore for over twelve years now and had lived most of that time the way she wanted to. He, on the other hand, had been freed less than a year ago and had immediately landed in yet another war. The only difference being that this time around he didn't fight for the country that had created him, but for his own life.

Convincing him of the rightness of her opinion would therefore be useless, and seeing the look on Alec's face she realized he wouldn't be of any help either. Even back at Manticore, Alec had a kind of freedom. The casual way with which he'd spoken, and even bribed, the guards had shown her that on their first meeting. No, he wouldn't understand either. Ben would have, but no matter how much he looked like him Alec wasn't the boy who'd prayed to the Blue Lady.

"Whateffah," she therefore waived her own concerns away. Maybe she could complain to someone else later on. But who? The only one of her friends that was actually here was Joshua, and complaining to him about not being able to leave was simply too hypocritical. After all, she was the one who'd kept him locked up in Sandeman's house. And while Logan might come here, he was the reason she actually found herself in this situation. If he hadn't come with that ridiculous warning she might've been riding her bike now, or at least been doing something that didn't require guards. "Alright then, if there's no way that I can convince the two of you to let me go out, or leave me so I can sneak out, we'd better come up with something else."

The weary look the two shot at each other might have been funny in any other situation, this time she simply felt they deserved it. "And what would that something else be?" Alec asked with a hint of trepidation in his voice.

"Why," she beamed at him, "I thought that would be obvious. It's time for entertaining Max."

Neither of the men could hide their surprise at this, and they were rather vocal about their opinion as well. "What? You want the two of us to dress up like a couple of clowns an' throw pies at each other?" That was Mole's idea, and for a moment she actually considered it. Or a variant of it actually, it would be far more fun if she'd do the throwing.

"Well… now that you mention it. That actually does sound like a good idea."

"Unh-unh, Max. There's no way that I'll dress up like some kind of idiot just so I can get pasted with cream."

"Oh come on Alec, it would be fun. And besides, it could be worse."

"Really? What could possibly be worse than that?" the horrified X-5 asked.

Hmm, good question actually. What could she possibly say to that? Oh, of course. Long live technology. "I could record it and send it to the president as proof that we couldn't possibly be a danger to him?"

The look on his face was priceless, and Max had to do her best to appear serious, something that obviously failed when Alec sighed in relief. "Damn it Max, don't make jokes like that, you scared the hell outta me for a moment there." Shame, he'd figured it out.

"Yeah well, I'm still getting bored here."

"There's a lot that needs to be done," Mole spoke up. "You're the leader, that means you get to deal with all of the boring stuff, while I simply get to shoot things."

Right, administration and stuff like that. For a group that didn't really do any paperwork she sure had to deal with a lot of it. "I've been doing that for a coupl'a weeks now. I'd been planning on taking some days off, but then Logan came with his wonderful warning and you guys locked me up."

Alec's answer was so full of sarcasm that even a deaf person would've recognized it. "Aahhh, I feel so sorry for you. 'Cause you know? There ain't much else you can do at the moment."

"Oh come on, there must be something. If I have to deal with all that nonsense for yet another day-"

"Well," Mole suddenly interrupted her, "the only thing I can think off is that you go and meet some of the new recruits."

"New recruits?" she wondered.

"You're not talking about those two are you?"

"Those two?" Mole growled. "And what do you mean by 'those two', pretty boy?"

"No offense man, but you'd be starring as a centerfold before I'd call them pretty."

"Just 'cause Manticore messed them up more than they did you, doesn't mean they're less worthy or anything."

"I know that." But even to Max' ears that came a bit too fast, however she couldn't really blame Alec. There were times where she had trouble accepting some of her fellow escapees as well. She did her best not be feel like that, but sometimes she wished Manticore had focused on the X series. "But there's just something off about them. I can't really say what it is that bothers me about them though. Maybe it's the way they just don't really seem to fit, or something, I don't really know."

Mole didn't seem like he planned on going easy on Alec for his earlier slip, but he too seemed to think there was something strange about the two. In other words, they sounded interesting and it might be a good idea to go meet them. "So, when did they arrive?"

"Two days ago? Is that about right?" Alec asked the other man, who seemed to agree with that assessment.

"That's about it yeah. I think they arrived a couple of hours before Logan gave his warning."

X.X.X

Jack was terrified, and if he'd known a better word to describe the incredible cold he felt all over his body, he would've used that. Unfortunately, he didn't. Once again he looked around the place he was now working. Working! That in and of itself was just plain ridiculous. He was a thief! He shouldn't go around having a job, that was the kind of thing his victims did. One of those circle of life things he'd heard about.

A man works for someone else, he gets paid for doing so. After that, he goes home gives the money to his wife, who puts it in her wallet for when she goes shopping. While she's shopping, Jack comes around and takes the wallet from her. That's how it's supposed to work, that way everybody is happy and he wouldn't have to work this menial job. Oh, he almost forgot. To prove that he's at the top of the food chain, he might as well follow the other path too.

Another man has someone working for him. He pays that man for his work, but that is only a small portion of the amount he actually makes. The rest of the money he takes with him to his house, where he tries to make Jack's life a bit more difficult by hiding it. Fortunately, he doesn't hide it well enough and Jack can go home with more loot than he would've gotten from that first guy.

Unfortunately, he doubted that same thing would count here. Not that he, and the other messengers, earned a lot of money, but that Normal guy didn't seem to be rolling in the dough either. Which was a shame, because he'd gotten quite fed up with the whole 'bip, bip, bip' thing. Robbing him would've been very satisfying. Of course, he knew that he could just as well try to steal money from the business itself, but that was where his fear came in.

Cops. After an entire life dedicated to the fine art of acquisition, Jack believed he'd gained something like a sixth sense when it came to the law. And it was crawling with them here. Every second messenger was a cop, one that was undercover at that. If he hated one thing, it was undercover cops.

Having a potential mark suddenly turn into someone that might arrest you was the nightmare of every pickpocket. People disappeared in the prisons, he was sure of it. As a kid he'd seen one of his friends get arrested, and the next day Bill had been gone. Gone! As if he'd never even existed. Careful informing had told him and the rest of their little group that he'd been sent to an orphanage, but he didn't believe it. They'd done something to him, they must've.

But back to the present. The constant presence of the cops had already convinced him that this was going to be his last day here. So far he'd had only one encounter with them, five minutes after getting hired one of them had 'accidentally' tripped him and pulled his collar down. The cop had apologized afterwards, claiming the obvious lie of an accident, but he knew what that guy had been looking for. You couldn't fool Jack like that.

No sirree, they'd been checking to see if he had a barcode. Naturally they hadn't found anything, but it meant that he'd made sure to avoid them as much as possible. Luckily that wasn't too hard. They never seemed to go out on a run, instead opting to simply remain where they were, waiting for that genetic chick to turn up. Right, as if she'd do that.

Anyway, that did mean he'd spent most of his time on a bike and hadn't gotten to know his colleagues very well. So when one of the suddenly called to him, he was rather surprised. "Hey kid!"

Man, did he hate it when they called him kid. He had a name, if he'd wanted to be called kid he'd have chosen that as a name. But from what little he'd seen of the goofy guy that called him, he probably meant it in a nice way. "Yeah?"

"You've gotta take a break y'know. Don't let Normal run you ragged, if you never demand a break you won't get it."

Well, that was obviously meant as good advice but if he was gonna rest he'd do it in the city, not among the cops. "Thanks for the advice, but I'm fine." And with that he turned to his bike, still holding the packages he'd collected from Normal.

"No man, you're not fine. Look, I don't mind you doing more deliveries than me but it wouldn't be good if you burned yourself out working too hard."

"We're here to do work, aren't we?" At least that was what he'd figured. Not that he hadn't noticed the slackers that were around, those that weren't cops pretending to be slackers that is, but he'd simply figured they were the rotten apples.

"'Course we are, but not too hard y'know. Look, let's be honest here. I've seen you looking at the dudes over there, and I think I understand at least part of your problem."

That sounded ominous. Jack took a step back so that he could have a better look at the man. It was obvious that underneath the whole stupid acting thing there was at least some glimmer of intelligence. This guy might not be as smart as some of the other people he'd encountered, but he wasn't the slowest kid on the block either. He didn't seem like a fellow thief though, so if he really understood the problem he must've had one for a friend. Oh wait, wasn't this guy one the genetic chick's friends?

"Right, well if you do. I'm sure you understand why I don't like to be here too much."

"True, but come on. You can hang with Original Cindy and myself while you're here."

That offer did actually sound tempting, but he wasn't sure if he should accept it. But it was that moment that Normal decided to interfere from the other side of the room. "Jack. You've been doing good up till now boy, don't waste that with hanging with that reprobate."

Well, that clinched it. If he wasn't going to steal anything from the man, he was sure as hell going to tweak his nose a bit. Ignoring Normal he therefore looked back at the guy, Sketchy he now remembered, and nodded. "Sure, sounds like fun."

"Great man. Come on, let's go talk to Original Cindy then."

Jack followed him until they reached the dark-skinned girl who greeted him with the same openness he'd noticed in Sketchy. It wasn't long before the three of them were deep into a more or less interesting conversation, when Sketchy suddenly asked the question he'd been dreading.

"Hey Jack, I've been wondering."

"About what?" Jack answered.

"How come you wanted to work here? This place hasn't exactly been very popular to work at since the whole thing with Max happened."

Great, what was he gonna answer to that? The truth wasn't exactly something he wanted to tell. Although he wondered how they'd react if he told them his boss had given him the choice between leaving and facing one of the most dangerous persons in the world. However, some truth in the story wouldn't hurt either, as long as he took care not to say too much that is. "Well, I don't really care about the whole transgenic thing. They look human, and to me that's enough."

The obvious agreement from the two before him confirmed his suspicions that these two were closer connected to that whole scene than the cops here probably believed. But that was fine with him, he hadn't lied about not really caring. In fact, if people were concentrating on the transgenics they wouldn't pay a lot of information to what he was doing. Which was always good.

"Right on, man," Sketchy said, "and now you needed some money and thought you might as well join us here as another of Normal's personal slaves."

"Something like that yeah." Despite the words it was obvious that Sketchy didn't mind Normal all that much. Jack didn't know if that was a recent event, caused by what had happened during the whole hostage deal he still knew depressingly little about, or if that respect had always been there. Somehow he found the latter a bit hard to believe.

It was Original Cindy who then spoke up. "You ain't casing any of the places, are you?"

"Casing? Me? What would I do that for?" Damn that woman, didn't she know you don't ask questions like that where anyone could overhear? Especially around the cops that were still paying attention to everything? He risked a glance back to see if any of them were paying attention to him, but it was reasonably obvious they considered him harmless. For now.

His new friends had seen his movement though, and were quick to comment. "Oh, don't worry about them. They're only interested to see if Max'll come here. Unless you'd steal their sandwiches or something. Anyway, I have a feeling that Normal'll fire them real soon."

"Why?" Not that he minded or anything, but he just didn't see the man throwing any cops out of his business. That was never a good thing.

"I don't know if he knows that they're secret agents, but aside from the fact that it would help Alec, he'll probably figure that he can't afford to pay people not doing anything," Sketchy tried to explain.

Right, he didn't know who this Alec was, and decided against asking, but there was something else in that sentence that surprised him. "Pay? You mean he's paying them?"

"Like the fool said, we're not sure if the man knows they're agents. 'Sides if he didn't he wouldn't want anyone to just stand around anyway. He'd probably figure that'd be bad for business."

"But why hasn't he sent them away then? Wouldn't it make more sense if he'd done that already?"

"True," Original Cindy conceded, "but this is Normal we're talking about, you shouldn't expect too much from him."

"Holy mama, she's back," Sketchy suddenly said, while staring at the entrance, causing the two of them to turn in that direction as well.

A heavy sigh came from Original Cindy before Jack even saw who it was. "I told you yesterday, she ain't for people like us. A woman like that? She figures she's too good for us."

By now Jack had turned around completely as well, and the shock of the sight caused him to grab hold of one of the cold metal lockers in an effort to retain his balance. She was here. Just like the boss had told him. Easy, calm, don't panic. He shouldn't be drawing any attention to himself.

"She's coming here." The excitement in the voice of his new-found friend was obvious, and forcing himself to look back at the dark-haired woman he saw that Sketchy was right. She was heading right for them. May God have mercy on their souls.

X.X.X

Walking to the Jam Pony, Dawn once again considered her life. The current situation and the situation she'd been in all those years ago when she had thought she looked forward to the end of the bloody chapter of it. The end that never came when she discovered that there would always be people hunting her, leaving her with only one option to defend herself. Take them out before they did it to her.

That day had really been full of shocking events. The Terakans had been followed by the discovery of the Pulse, something she still couldn't really understand how she'd missed that morning. Paying attention to the news had always been an important aspect of her missions, and the only reason she could come up with was that she'd been so anxious to find out the truth.

A truth that changed several times over the course of a single day. First she'd known that Noir and Soldats had never existed, then she'd doubted because of the Manor, and after killing the Terakans she'd been sure again of the knowledge that they didn't exist. Until Véronique dropped her little bomb.

Doubts had returned in that very instance. Who were these people really? What did they know? Why did they want to help her? And most of all, did she really have a place here?

A slight grin appeared on her face as she recalled the dumbfounded look she must've worn at that moment. Later the two of them had laughed about that moment, but by then she also knew that her friend had been terrified. Terrified that she'd dismiss the offer, and instead would kill them all. Terrified that she'd dismiss the offer, yet let them live.

That had surprised her most of all. That they wouldn't have a purpose in life if she didn't want them. What was so important about her that they'd dedicate their lives to her? She'd understood it from the Soldats who lived there in the other world, but these people weren't Soldats. They hadn't been brainwashed into praying to her, killing for her, living for her.

No, these people were something different. Except… they weren't. And once again it all came down to that filthy magic. Not that they actually told her that was the case, but when she later thought about it she knew. Apparently her sister wasn't the only Summers starring in prophecies. Even if she didn't know all the titles given to her, she recognized enough of them to realize it was true. 'Created to live as a Slayer's sister.' Rather vague in her opinion, and she didn't quite get the created part, but accurate enough.

'The Green Lady,' hadn't really come as a surprise. She'd done some research into that strange vampire who'd called her that and when she found out that she was some kind of psychic Dawn had accepted the name and moved on. But both of these names, while enabling her to recognize it was about her wouldn't have helped the villagers.

Instead they got names that fit her, but wouldn't have told her much. 'The new Lady.' She'd asked Jacques about that one, and he said it referred to the fact that she'd taken over the mansion from madame Claudine. Right, whatever. In her opinion that was simply reaching to make the damned prophecy fit better. But there were others that she did accept.

'The maiden with the black hands will come and clean her heritage.' Now that one was just plain creepy. And it had been that one that had set the villagers on her path. They'd read about her in a newspaper article, and had immediately collected money for a DVD player and the Noir DVDs. And watching these they'd soon figured out what was meant by her heritage.

Maybe if she hadn't used Noir as her working name she could've prevented all that nonsense. Shaking her head in the same wariness she always felt while thinking about this, Dawn chastised herself for thinking like that. Whining was useless, so she really should stop doing it. What was done, was done.

And to be honest, she didn't really regret any of it. Life might have been easier if it hadn't been for that prophecy constantly hanging over her head, but she'd decided to ignore it. While ignoring something like that might not make it go away, it did help her when she needed to pay attention to other things.

In the meantime, the villagers had helped her with many things and when after several years she was completely certain they could be trusted she had finally explained some of the prophecy to them. Which in itself she thought rather strange. When Buffy or Faith had a prophecy about them, it usually had to be explained to them. Not the other way around.

Luckily they'd been more than willing to believe her interpretation of the prophecy. Not that she'd expected anything else, she was right after all. The filthy murderers were indeed, as the villagers had already believed, the Terakans, but there were still some people that she'd identified that they weren't completely sure about. Until she'd explained how she'd gotten that information that is.

And naturally that thought led her to the information she'd acquired the previous night. The demon had been pretty resilient for a while, but the moment she started her interrogation Dawn had known that its resistance would eventually be broken. And once that moment came, words spilled out like water from the Niagara Falls. Words that actually managed to surprise her.

Upon finding out there were vampires and demons waiting for her, she had figured that someone was trying to kill her. Unfortunately, the truth was worse.

Some filthy little creature with delusions of grandeur wanted to turn her. Her! It was impossible to figure out what it could possibly think to achieve with that. Well, no it wasn't really impossible, as the demon had told her that too. But it didn't make any sense, at least not from a tactical point of view. What was it thinking?

Sure, if she would actually be turned the effects would be rather impressive for a while. Combining her training and a nearly invulnerable body couldn't possibly be a good thing for humanity, but it would be a lot of fun. Or would it? Thinking it over again she looked at the downsides, well the downsides other than losing her soul that is. She'd be nearly invulnerable. The typical weaknesses of vampires were things that she'd be able to cover and that would take away everything that made life challenging. It would be like using god-mode in a video game. Boring.

Well, there would be one engagement she'd be able to look forward too. Her backup plan for when something like that happened. It's just that she couldn't be certain that the demon wouldn't find out about that. They did after all take over their host's body, including the brain and the memories it contained.

Oh well, if everything went completely south she'd just have to trust that someone would be kind enough to throw a nuke in her direction. That might be a bit of overkill, but it would most likely work.

Stopping on the corner of the street leading to her destination, Dawn considered those last thoughts. Wow. Her ego had grown hadn't it? There were times when she figured a couple of thermobaric grenades would do. Even that ridiculous thought seemed to trigger a chuckle as she tried to imagine Mireille's look if she'd told her something like that.

Instead of letting herself fall back into the dangerous trap of memory recollection again, Dawn kept her mind on the here and now. Focusing on the elements always seemed to help in that respect, so she tried to feel the gentle breeze as it caressed her face, the warmth sent down by the wan-looking sun, and the street beneath her feet. Today was the day. Today she would do what she'd come to this little town to do. All the plans she'd made should be coming to fruition, leaving everybody with a different piece of the puzzle.

Telling people what she was about to do added a bit of extra risk, but was something she liked doing. Or should it be, and was something she liked doing? Like with so many other things these days she just couldn't make up her mind. The sleep deprivation probably didn't help in that regard either. Once again she hadn't been able to make use of the comfortable bed in her room. No! Focus!

She was standing outside of the building now, and could already see inside through the half-open door. This was it, the deciding moment. Her last chance for turning back and trying another way. But why should she? This might not be fail-proof, but it was good enough.

Stepping through the door opening, Dawn walked over to the manager, who upon seeing her quickly tried to change his appearance. Poor guy. She'd seen his type before, always trying too hard to make his business work the way it should. And always failing to reach the potential that was inherent in a place like this. It wasn't really his fault either, he just didn't have access to the resources that were needed for something like that. Maybe once her other business in Seattle was completed she would see about this little firm.

"Miss Summers, it's an honor to see you return here. I trust everything went well with your package?"

"Indeed mister Ronald. Everything went alright."

"That's wonderful to hear. Does this mean you've come for another delivery?"

For what she needed a carrot would be better than a stick, so she decided she might as well play into the man's dreams. "Not right now. I'm here on business actually. I'd like to come back in a couple of days to discuss the ownership of this business."

This seemed to puzzle the man. "The ownership of this business? I'm sorry but I don't think I understand what you mean."

"From what I've seen so far, this seems to be a well-run business, but it lacks the resources that would make it truly great. I however, do have those resources and I've been thinking about increasing my interests in the States." 'Hook.'

Now he got it. "You mean you'd like to buy Jam Pony?"

"And keep you as the manager. For now at least." She wondered how he'd react to that.

"What do you mean for now? I'm the one running this place." Good, he showed some spine.

"True, but if we do this right we should be able to open some additional offices. And in that case I'd need a regional manager. And who could possibly be better for a job like that than the man who's been managing this place for the past years?" 'Line.'

"Regional manager? That would be so, so. I hardly know what to say." And indeed the man seemed lost for words. Exactly the way she liked it.

"You don't need to say anything right now. I want you to think about it for a couple of days, and once I return we'll discuss it in more detail. For now however, I'd like to get an impression of the people working here. I want to talk to some of them, how about those two?" Dawn said while indicating the two reasons she'd come here.

"Those two? Are you sure you wouldn't rather-"

"Why? Is there something wrong with those two? Are you telling me that you're not good at deciding who needs to be hired?"

"Ah no, of course not. But those two…" All it required for him to trail off was a raised eyebrow. "Right, why not those two? I'll just go get them for you. You can use my office if you want." 'And sinker.'

X.X.X

"Oh, she went to Normal."

Original Cindy had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Of course the woman had gone for Normal, who else could possibly be of any importance to a stuck-up little bitch like that? "What did you expect? That she'd come here and declare her undying love for you?"

"Well, that would've been nice."

"Men," she sighed in despair. "Look at her fool. She's so full o' herself that there's probably no room for even a single thought in her brain."

"So? I don't really see a problem with that."

Okay, she had enough experience with Sketchy to know that she'd never win a discussion like this. He could only see what the woman looked like, and nothing more. At least Jack hadn't joined him. Thinking about Jack, he'd been mightily quiet since Sketchy had started drooling. Turning back to look at him, she immediately noticed the lack of any color in his face. "Are you aiight?"

Those concerned words even drew Sketchy's attention who immediately spoke up. "Yeah, you don't look so good. Are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine." Strange, those words sounded almost scared. Was it because the agents were looking at the woman as well? After all, with the way everyone was positioned that meant they were watching the three of them as well. And their interest in the reappearance of the woman was pretty obvious. They were probably debating whether she was some kind of messenger for Max. As if her boo would contact Normal.

"Is it those fools?"

"What?" He didn't seem to grasp what she meant.

Nodding vaguely in the direction of the cops she repeated her question. "I know you're bothered by them, and we really should get rid of them. We just don't know how yet, maybe you could convince Normal. What with being his new golden boy and all." The last part was delivered in a teasing tone, in the hope that it would drag him out of his weird mood.

It did indeed generate a wan smile, but it was obvious from his words that it hadn't been enough. "Yeah, maybe. Look, I've gotta make a call, an' after that I'll go an' deliver these packages."

He didn't even wait for an answer before turning to walk to the phone, which was located near Normal and his guest. Poor guy. And from his behavior it soon became obvious he wasn't very good with women either. In fact, he almost stumbled over his feet in an attempt to stay away from the woman. Was he afraid of her? Because now that she thought about it, he hadn't acted like that with her.

Opening her locker she took something to eat out of it, but before she could actually eat the sandwich Sketchy spoke up in an excited voice. "She's looking at us."

Not again! "Sketchy…" she started her warning but her friend didn't seem to pay any attention.

"Now she's discussing something with Normal, who doesn't like what he's hearing."

"So? Look, I don't care what she's up to, so just dream silently aiight?" She was really getting fed up with this whole nonsense.

"No, a moment ago Normal was like the happiest guy in the world. Almost like when that Indian guy…"

"Oh shit," they both said as they realized the implications of his words..

"Not again," she hated the whining sound that come from her mouth, but in this case she just didn't have another way to express her disgust. The last time this had happened it had taken a lot of planning and a good dose of luck before they got out of it. Two things that they might not have this time around. No, they'd manage to prevent it from happening. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do if it stopped her from having to wear any ugly jackets.

"Normal's coming over here."

What? Raising her head from where she'd been resting it against the lockers she peered around the corner to see that Sketchy was right. "What's he want?"

"You two," Normal demanded before she could receive an answer.

"What?" Sketchy asked, looking down at his clothes. "Did I spill something?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny. I need the two of you to be on your best behavior. No funny business, our future depends on it."

Say what? "What are you talkin' about?"

"She wants to speak to the two of you of course. Don't ask me why, because if I had a choice I never would. But she does."

"Right," Original Cindy drawled. It was obvious that Normal at least was back to his normal self. Pun intended.

Even Sketchy had gotten over his worshiping of the woman now that he realized she might be threatening his easy job, and he didn't remain quiet either. "So what does she want to talk to us about?"

"The future, isn't that what I said? She's interested in the Jam Pony, but before she makes a decision she wants to talk to some employees. Now I realize that her choice was unfortunate, but she was stubborn about it. I couldn't convince her to talk to anyone other than the two of you. Remember, everyone is counting on you."

Original Cindy could feel a smile growing on her face as the impact of the words got through to her. They would be able to stop this from happening before it even started. "We'll do our best, but you do remember what happened last time don't you? You shouldn't get your hopes up just because someone says she wants to take us over."

"Ah, but this time it's not just anyone. This is Dawn Summers we're talking about."

Oh, right. Dawn Summers. "Who?" Sketchy asked, before she got the chance to do so.

"I realize that a couple of reprobates like you don't pay attention to anything but where your next meal is coming from, but you can't tell me you've never heard of her," Normal scoffed.

"Actually, I think we can. I've never heard of her, have you?" The last part was directed at her, and she only shook her head. Well, it was already obvious that she'd been wrong about the woman. Figures, she should have remembered those sad eyes.

"Well, I'll tell you a bit about her then," Normal started. And so in the short time that it took him to guide them to what passed for his office they got a lecture about the wonder that was Dawn Summers. She only heard half of it, and even that was soon forgotten as she had more important things to think about. Like how to get this woman to dump Jam Pony.

"Thank you mister Ronald, you can leave now," were the first words she'd heard the woman say, and they almost made Original Cindy like her. The look on Normal's face as he was summarily dismissed from his own office was priceless. Not to mention the fact that she had told him that with her back still turned to the entrance.

"Right, I'll just be outside then. Although it might be better if I'd stay."

"I'm sure that you've got business to attend to. I wouldn't want to keep you from doing what needs to be done."

Normal only nodded, and after he pulled the door shut behind him Original Cindy waited a couple of seconds before opening it again. Wow, he actually was halfway back to the dispatching station. Would wonders never cease to exist?

"Please close the door miss McEachin, and sit down. You too mister Theodore."

Okay, the woman had just officially lost every bit of goodwill she'd earned by that stunt with Normal. Besides, how did she even know her name? She doubted that even Normal would've been able to reproduce it without looking it up.

"If a ridiculous defiance like that makes you feel good, you can of course remain standing," the woman continued when neither she nor Sketchy had moved. "But the matter we have to discuss is quite important to all three of us, so it might be best if you did sit down."

"You want to take over Jam Pony."

Instead of confirming this like Original Cindy had expected her to do, the woman merely shrugged. "If I don't have a choice. It's not so bad a place actually, but the real reason I came here is to talk to the two of you."

What? Why? And when was she finally going to turn around? As she didn't care what the woman thought of her, she felt no compunction to voice those questions aloud. The reply she got however wasn't what she'd expected.

The woman did turn around, and immediately sat down, motioning for the two of them to do the same. With a glance at Sketchy, who didn't seem to have a clue to what was suddenly going on either, she decided to do as asked. "The subject I want to discuss with the two of you, is your friend. Max Gueverra. Also known as X-5 452."

Her head came up sharply at that, and Original Cindy glared at the woman before her. "What do you want with Max?"

"I have a proposal for her. One that is far more profitable than a place like this could ever be."

"What kind of proposal?" She didn't like this one bit, but she wasn't going to send the woman away until she was certain this couldn't help with her friend's situation.

"Do you have any idea of who I am?"

"No, and Original Cindy doesn't care either."

The smile that slowly started to grow on the woman's face was obviously meant to infuriate her. And, despite her best attempts to prevent that, it did work. "As you've probably already heard from mister Ronald, my name is Dawn Summers. I own one of the biggest companies doing genetic research in Europe. Now, where do you think my interests are when it comes to your friend?"

….…

She could hardly believe she'd let the woman convince her, but here she was. After a long discussion, with many heated arguments, she and Sketchy had finally had the woman accept the terms they demanded. Summers wouldn't attempt to recruit any of the transgenics she'd encounter while in Terminal City. In fact, she wouldn't talk to anyone but Max, who would see to further demands.

But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something completely wrong with this entire situation. For a moment she'd even entertained the possibility of her being Noir, but that thought had been dismissed almost instantly.

Not that the woman didn't seem to be a good enough actor, but despite her ruthless exterior Original Cindy had caught a couple of glances that showed her what kind of woman she really was. Eyes that innocent couldn't possible be faked, that sort of thing would go against the rules of nature. So that meant that the offer was genuine and something that she couldn't keep from Max. Naturally the woman had demanded the option to talk to Max in person, so that's what it came down to.

She had debated with Sketchy which of them should take Summers to Terminal City, and in the end it had been decided that she'd be the one going. Which meant that she was the one who was walking next to Dawn Summers when they stepped out of Jam Pony and into one of the weirdest situations she'd ever been in.

A situation that would last far longer than she expected, was far more complex than she could possibly predict, and started when they walked into a white-faced Jack.

"What's wrong with you boy?" Summers asked, clearly puzzled by the boy's strange behavior. A feeling that Original Cindy agreed with, after all this was the second time Jack appeared to be scared of the brunette. What was wrong with him?

The answer though came from an unexpected direction. From behind them in fact. "He knows who you are."

Summers stiffened at those words, and slowly turned around in a move that looked to Original Cindy as if it could turn into an attack at any moment. "Dave?"

"Hiya Dawnie, long time no see."

"But you're dead," was the surprised reply from Summers.

Post-fic comments: And here is another chapter for you to enjoy. Don't forget to send some feedback.

Vega12, Bob-from-Accounting, I'm glad you enjoy the story. And don't worry, a lot of questions will be answered in the rest of the story.