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.).
"I think that we're all set to go," White said with a smile the following afternoon.
"Where are we going to drop him off?" Stephen asked.
"I was thinking about dropping him off in Olympia," White said. "It's far enough from Seattle that I feel comfortable but it's close enough to Seattle for the news of 941's death to reach them quickly."
"You're the boss here," Stephen said. He turned around when he heard Jeff snort from where he was still chained up. "You should keep your mouth shut here, 941. You don't have any right to talk."
"Talk about what? I actually have the right to be the boss about something," Jeff said. "I'm the commanding officer of my unit. What are you the boss of?"
Stephen spit on Jeff. "Filthy freak."
"Hey, my girlfriend said it to me last week when we were having sex," Jeff said. They don't need to know that Becky and I haven't slept with each other yet. He grinned when he got the reaction that he wanted from White and Stephen.
"Do all of you animals have a sense of humor like that?" White said disgustedly.
"Let's see. Max, Rena, and Jondy do for sure," Jeff said. "I'm not that bad, but you bring out the best in me."
White backhanded Jeff, who just spit at him again. "Can you freaks do anything except spit at me and make smart remarks?"
"Yeah, we can kick your ass," Jeff said. "I believe that we've done that on more than one occasion."
"Not for long," White said.
"What, you're going to jack yourselves up?" Jeff said. "To quote Jondy when we were all having dinner last week, 'steroids are so pre-pulse.'"
"We got you," White said. "We're going to kill you. After you, we're going to find 405 and we're going to kill her. There won't be a single thing that you or anybody else can do about it."
Jeff's eyes narrowed and the look on his face was enough to make White flinch at least for a moment. Jeff's voice sounded even more dangerous. "You will not go anywhere near Becky. I am going to get out of this mess somehow and when I do and if you even try to hurt her, I will kill you. I will make it nice and slow and your screams of pain are going to sound so nice. Am I making myself clear?"
"It's easy to make those kinds of threats when you're chained up and beaten up," White said, recovering his nerve. "It doesn't matter because in a few hours, you are going to be dead and there won't be anything that you can do about it when I kill 405." He looked at Stephen. "Stephen? Would you be a pal and hit 941 for me? A broken bone or two would be nice."
"Absolutely," Stephen said. He stepped forward and hit Jeff hard in the ribs.
Jeff winced when he felt and heard a few ribs crack, but he kept his voice steady. "You want to think of me as an animal? I guess that I can't do too much about changing your mind about that particular subject, but just remember that the worst thing that you can do to some animals is to threaten them and to back them into a corner."
"I'll believe it when I see it, 941," White said.
"Fine," Jeff said. "How about when your buddies tell you that I wasn't killed?"
"How about I make sure that doesn't happen?" White countered. He kicked Jeff in the right knee and grinned when he saw Jeff unable to restrain the yell of pain. "941, I'm sorry, did I just blow out your knee?"
"My name is Jeff," Jeff said.
"Your name is dead," White countered. "Come on, Stephen, let's go to my office and get some things from there and then we'll get going."
"This isn't good," Biggs said from his position. "White just blew out Jeff's right knee. Even if we get Jeff out of whatever restraints we're going to use, he definitely won't be able to move well. We've got to get things going now. They're going to move Jeff at any moment."
"Damn," Max swore. "Okay, people, let's get moving. Zane, disable the vehicles. Biggs, take care of the man posted out here."
"Not a problem," Biggs said. He and Zane moved forward and he walked up to the man who was standing near the building, obviously on guard duty. "Hey, buddy! I'm kinda lost here. Do you think that you can help me?"
"Yeah, sure," the guard said. "Where are you heading?"
"I'm trying to get back to route 12," Biggs said. "My car's over there and I saw the building here, but I was too lazy to find a driveway to pull up into." He glanced at the nine millimeter in the guard's hand and immediately recognized it as Jeff's gun. "Dude, that is sweet! Is that yours?"
"Yeah, I found it—" The guard dropped to the ground when Biggs grabbed him by the neck and cut off his circulation.
Biggs picked up Jeff's gun and tucked it in the waistband of his jeans next to his own gun. "I'll take that." He made a motion to Zane and while he dragged the man out of sight and bound and gagged him, Zane quietly moved to the van that was parked in front of the building and lifted the hood and quickly removed something and closed the hood and then did the same thing to the cars that were also parked there. He returned to his original position.
"They're grounded," Zane said as he tossed something away.
"Good," Max said. "Becky, you set up above?"
"Ready and waiting," Becky said. She adjusted Kevin's sniper rifle in her arms. "If they try to hurt any of us, they're dead."
Max paused. "If they try to kill us, go for it, but do not go for the kill on White."
"Huh? Why not?" Becky asked, confused.
"I don't know," Max said. "It's just a feeling that I'm getting. Trust me."
"I trust you," Becky said honestly.
"Don't scratch my rifle or I will find a way to hurt you," Kevin said.
There were snickers from almost everyone. "Don't worry," Becky promised, a smile on her face despite her nerves. "I'll try my best to be careful."
Max shook her head and grinned. "Okay, building team, are you set to go in?"
"Ready," Wes said.
"All set," Christian said.
"Good to go," Dustin said.
"I'm good," Krit said.
"Ready, willing, and able," Rena said.
"I'm ready," Karen said.
"So am I," Kevin said.
"I'm ready. Building team is good to go," Alec said.
"Move out and head inside," Max said. "Is everybody else ready?" She listened as the others who had gone with them reported in. "Good. Biggs, we're moving on your signal."
Jeff watched White approach him with a syringe. "Oh goody, is it nap time again?"
"What a smart little animal," White said. "We're not stupid, 941. We're not going to transfer you to the van without calming you down first."
"You could have fooled me about the stupid part," Jeff said.
Stephen wiped his forehead. "I'll be glad when we get into the air conditioned car."
"You and me both," White said. "Can you hold the syringe for a moment, Stephen?" He handed Stephen the syringe and took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves.
"I was right about the stupid part," Jeff said. "Stupid people wear suits in July." Something caught his eye and he glanced down at White's right arm and saw an irregular-shaped mark on it. "You know, White, you babble about our barcodes, but that's a nice piece-of-shit thing on your bicep. If the barcodes make us animals in your mind, what does that thing make you?"
White glared at Jeff. "This is what is called a birthmark, the kind that real people are born with."
"Yeah, but weren't you complaining about ordinary humans as well as us transgenics?" Jeff pointed out. "I thought that you said that you were better than an ordinary human and now you're on the same level? Get your story straight."
"I'll take the syringe back now," White said. He waited for Stephen to hand the syringe back to him before he smiled at Jeff. "By the time that you wake up from your nap, you'll be less than an hour from your death."
"For my last meal, can I have your head on a stick?" Jeff said.
"Sorry, we can't accommodate your request," White said. "Do you have the keys for the cuffs that we're going to use for 941?"
"Right in my pocket," Stephen said. He took the keys out to show White before he put them back in his pants pocket.
"Thanks," White said. He stuck the needle into Jeff's arm. "Sweet dreams, 941."
Good luck, everyone, Jeff thought before he passed out.
Max watched from her spot as White and Stephen carefully undid Jeff's chains and took him down and put ordinary-looking handcuffs on him. She saw White and Stephen pick Jeff up and carry him out to the van, followed by ten other Familiars. She ducked down a little farther when she noticed White looking around the area.
"Where the hell is Brother Randall?" he said.
"He's probably taking another piss break," Stephen said. "He always finds the worst time to do that."
"True," White said. He and Stephen carried Jeff into the van and laid him out across one of the seats and got back outside. "We have to leave now. If he's not around in the next three seconds, he's staying back here."
"Now!" Biggs said.
Max, Riley, Zane, Kyle, Layla, Syl, Ralph, and Vance burst from their hiding places and attacked. White and Stephen ran for cover behind one of the cars. Two of the Familiars tried to pull guns on the transgenics, but Becky took them out before they could bring the guns up. Biggs blurred to the van and threw open the side door and reached in and grabbed Jeff. Becky saw White reach for a gun and gritted her teeth.
"Not this time you fucker," she growled and fired a shot and nailed him in the right shoulder. White dropped the gun and Max heard and she and Syl caught White and Stephen from behind and knocked them both out.
"Everybody to the vans, let's move!" she yelled. "Building team, report in."
"Three more Familiars down, no casualties suffered," Alec said as he, Rena, Dustin, Wes, Christian, Karen, Krit, and Kevin blurred out of the building and joined the others as they ran for their vehicles. "You contained them all out here. They didn't have a chance to run back in."
"Good," Max said. They piled into two vans. Biggs lay Jeff down on the floor of one of the vans and Wayne and Maggie started to check him over. Becky moved as close to Jeff as she could while giving Wayne and Maggie enough space. "How's Jeff?"
"Out cold, and he really got beaten up," Wayne said. "He'll be okay. No doubt about that."
"He'll definitely need to get into surgery for that knee," Maggie said. She carefully checked Jeff's ribcage. "He is one lucky bastard."
"White must have given Jeff something strong because he's not waking up," Becky said as she grabbed one of Jeff's hands.
"He said that Jeff would be awake about an hour before they got to Olympia, so he should wake up before we get to Seattle," Max said.
"Thank goodness," Riley said. She wiped her eyes. "I thought for awhile that I would never see my big brother again." She took Jeff's other hand. "Yes, Jeff, I'm crying. You can laugh all you want." The others laughed.
"He's going to have a great time laughing about that later," Wes said.
"Later," Becky repeated. "I'm happy he has a later." She leaned down and gently kissed Jeff on his forehead.
"Me too," Max said. "Me too."
TBC
Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, jracklesfan77, and willow98002 for their reviews and support!