Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).
"We're back," Max said as she, Zack, Joshua, Becky, Karen, Jeff, and Krit walked back into the control room in Terminal City late that afternoon, each of them carrying at least one box.
"And you even brought presents," Dix remarked. "What exactly do you have there?"
"Father's books," Joshua said. "Most of them. Some medical, some not. Some other things and some stuff for me to keep."
"That's good," Dix said. "What about the journal that Josh mentioned?"
"That's in my box," Max said. She put it down on the floor, opened it, and handed it to Dix. "When Joshua found it back at the house, he found a CD inside. I don't know what's on it. It isn't labeled."
"Maybe it's something that we can use one way or another," Dix said. "It doesn't hurt to check it out." He opened the journal and found the CD case stuck between the cover and the first page. He took it out of the book and opened it and put the CD into one of the DVD-ROM drives on his computer and waited for it to load. He nodded when a window popped up after a few seconds. "We've got a video file here and a word processor file. I'm opening the video file first."
"Why the video file first?" Krit asked.
"Because it's actually labeled 'Video—open first'," Dix said.
Max rolled her eyes and smacked Krit across the back of his head before she and the others went to stand behind Dix so they could see the video play. "Let's see what this file is."
"Not a problem," Dix said. He double-clicked on the file and a window came up. A man in his early-to-mid sixties was sitting in a chair at a desk. Immediately, Joshua's eyes widened in recognition.
"That's Father," he said. "Father made this."
"At least we know what the guy looks like," Max said.
"Hello, all of you," he said. "I am recording this video file on the night of June 8th, 2020."
"What the hell?" Zack said in surprise. "That's the night that Manticore burned down."
"I have to make this for you because I know that the time will come within the next year or so for this to be needed and I do not know when or if I will get another opportunity to record this," he continued. "There is so much that I wish that I could tell you, but I can't. There is still plenty to inform you about, so I will do just that." He took a deep breath, his expression serious. "This will come as a shock to all of you, but I was born a part of a breeding cult known as the Familiars. You might have heard of them already. We were bred for millennia to be superior to other humans. For most of the cult's existence, we have been guided by a prophecy. Basically, this prophecy has indicated the eradication of what the Familiars refer to as the 'inferior' human race and the survival of only the Familiars."
Dix hit pause. "Ouch. That's got to suck."
"Yeah, but what does this have to do with us?" Max wondered.
Dix hit play and Father continued to talk. "The Familiars believed in this prophecy. They became firmly convinced that they would outlast the inferior humans. What they did not know is that they only found an incomplete version of the prophecy. Some of our Brothers and Sisters came across the full, true version of the prophecy and followed that secretly. I was one of the group who believed in the true prophecy. When the time and the technology was right, I set about to make sure that it happened."
"Time and technology?" Becky repeated when Dix hit pause again. "Us? We're somehow connected to this whole prophecy mess?"
"Maybe," Max said. "Let's see if we are." They waited for Dix to continue playing the video, which he did.
"I was interested in science my whole life," Father continued. "I especially excelled in genetics. I quickly earned my degrees and went to work in genetic research. After some experimentation, I realized that the time was approaching for what I had to do. I was trying to figure out exactly how to go about completing my task when I was approached by members of the government. They wanted to start a genetic engineering project to create soldiers and knew how advanced my work was in that area and wanted me to be in charge, the top scientist. I knew it would be the perfect opportunity for me so I joined them and I helped to create Manticore."
"I told you," Joshua said.
"We know," Max said.
"You kids…I wish that I could tell you more about the prophecy, but I can't. All I can tell you is that there were others of the cult who shared my beliefs about the prophecy and were placed within Manticore at various points in time to help you and make sure that you all stayed safe, as safe as you could at any rate." He sighed sadly. "I did not agree with most of the methods that they used and it pained me to see you being pushed so hard at such a young age. I knew it was for the greater good, but I still didn't like to see all of you like that." He sighed again. "There should be a file in this CD along with this video. Everything else that you will need to know is on that CD. I've sacrificed a lot for you. My relationship with my son, who believed in the version of the prophecy that the majority of the Familiars did, my work at Manticore, so much I have given up. But I have all the faith in the world in you and I know that you will come through."
"That's it," Dix said as the video ended. He closed the window and opened up the other file. "Holy crap, this looks like a translation program for those runes that are on Max's skin."
"At least this guy thought of everything," Zack said.
"Yeah, he did," Dix said. "Okay, Max, are the runes just on your hand?"
"No," Max admitted. "There are some on my shoulder blades and my upper arms and on my hips. They started showing up the same night as the ones on my hand did."
"Hmmm," Dix said. They sat in thoughtful silence for a moment. "Can one of you take some pictures of all of the runes for her? It'll be easier for me to translate them that way."
"I'll do it," Zack said.
"Good," Dix said. He got up, walked over to some shelves of various computer accessories, and took a digital camera and tossed it over to Zack, who caught it easily.
"Thanks," Zack said. He turned the camera over to examine it when he jumped in surprise. "Okay, what's going on here?" He saw runes similar to the ones on Max on his own right hand.
"Isn't that sweet, they have matching runes," Becky teased.
"Um, Becky?" Zack said. He pointed to her hand.
"Yeah, what?" Becky said. She looked at her hand and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh great, me too?"
"How quickly did the other runes show up on you, Max?" Dix asked.
"Pretty quickly," Max said. "Like when I went back to the apartment with Zack and we—well, they were there."
"Then if there's more on Becky and me, it'll show up by the time that we get back to our apartments," Zack finished. "Let's get this done."
"Yeah," Becky said. "The sooner the better."
TBC
Notes: Thank you so much again for the reviews and support, angelofdarkness78!