Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters obviously do not belong to me. I am writing this purely for non-profit entertainment. Yada, yada! No infringement intended, so don't sue me!
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing guys. And thanks for the holiday greetings; it was a good break, away from civilization for 2 weeks, lol! Missed you guys though!
Calistra – Thanks for your review. Zack is so entrenched in his training that it would take something major to get him out of it.
GiRl MaGe – Thanks for reviewing. No more waiting, here's next chappie.
Iridescent Twilight – No it's NOT a cliffie, lol! We can go on and on about this! So you are morbid, weird and perverted, hehe! But NO! You still don't scare me -:laughs wickedly:- Thanks for reviewing.
Mel11 – Thanks for your review. Glad you thought they weren't cliffies; I've been trying to convince the others that it's not! Lol!
Kungfuchick – Alec and Jondy would be FUN together, I think. You like White? But he's the bad guy! -:grins:- Thanks for reviewing.
Gabbie760 – Thanks for your review. Manticore will exist for quite sometime!
Sarah – Aw, don't be mad! See, update is here! You'll find out the identity of the other guy in this chappie. You are also kind of right about Alec and Jondy. Thanks for your review.
Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing. Hmm…as for the other's pairing, you'll get some not so subtle hints in this chapter -:winks:-. Hope you like them.
Lady marauder – Thanks for your review. Yep, White is looking for Sandeman…and someone is helping him. Any guess as to who? Ah, you'll find out soon anyway ;)
Kelzaa – Thanks for your review. Glad you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think of this one.
Eva – Thanks for reviewing. Yup, plot is thickening, but rather slowly…-:Sigh:-
L80bug – Thanks for reviewing. Update is here.
Alana84 – Alec being Jondy's CO will probably be the fun bit of the story. As for M/A scenes, there'll be more as they get closer. So look out for it -:grins:- Thanks for reviewing.
Gamegirl452 – Thanks for reviewing. Yeah, I guess positive reviews always make writers more happy to continue with the story!
AngelKougaeri – Thanks for your review. Glad you liked the story ;) Please tell me what you think of this chapter.
Lotamoxie – Yeah, Zack's attitude is going to cause a bit of friction between him and Jace, but what's new! I am still trying to develop Alec's and Jondy's 'relationship' so that it gets entangled in Max's, hehe! Thanks for reviewing.
Angelofdarkness78 – I was worried at first when I put Jondy in Alec's unit, but after the reviews for this chappie, I think I did the right thing! Phew! More M/A moments in the next few chapters as I try to put them together without them biting each other's heads off! Thanks for reviewing.
Toniboo – Thanks for reviewing. Alec/Max action will come up in chapter 20; it just refused to fit in this chapter, lol!
GuestTypePerson – You are actually registered! Lol! Nah, I am trying to avoid my tendencies towards cliffies seeing that it was getting a bit out of hand for a while -:grins:- So you will be safe, I guess, from your book carts. You want Max to smash Alec to bits! Why? LOL! Thanks for reviewing.
Darkangelgirl – Thanks for reviewing. Glad you liked my stories, and hope that you continue reading.
NoAngell – Max and Alec will get together very soon, as in starting next chapter. So not much longer to wait -:grins:- Thanks for reviewing.
Retrieved Chapter 19 – Teen Spirit
(by elle6778)
Max stood uncomfortably in front of the large group of X6s in one corner of the training grounds. To be completely honest with herself, she had no idea how she was supposed to carry out what she was briefed to do. It was one thing commanding a small team; commanding such a big group was a different kettle of fish altogether.
Lydecker had told her that she would be in charge of them only during the morning drills, and the rest of the day she would train together with her regular unit. It was important for her to carry on her own training otherwise she would end up falling behind. Lydecker had expected her to condition the X6s so that they could be deployed on missions sooner and to integrate them with the other active units. He also asked her to select two which she thought would make good bodyguards. He was not very specific.
So how was she to know what exactly she was supposed to do?
Max caught their expectant gazes and sighed inwardly. This was going to be a long day.
"Right…All we are going to do today is to get to know each other. Then you will be split into smaller units to make it easier for us to train,"
They stared at her wordlessly. Their silence was beginning to unnerve her.
Max looked at the notes Lydecker gave her. The main topics she was supposed to get through to the X6s were teamwork and integration with other units. How was she supposed to do that with only X6s in front of her? She needed the participation of the other transgenics as well.
She decided that she should just give them a broad introduction to the other transgenics. Not that she knew that much herself. Maybe she should go for the interactive approach.
"So, who can tell me what an X3 is? Raise your hands if you know," Max asked, looking around. There was no movement from the sea of X6s in front of her.
"Come on! Before I start picking someone," she threatened with grin.
A small hand raised tentatively. Max smiled in encouragement
"They are anomalies, ma'am," he said. He was one of the X6s who went along with Max on the mission a few months ago.
Max eyebrows lifted at his answer. This was going to take longer than she thought, "Okay, but can someone define an anomaly?"
Another one of the X6s who went on the mission piped up, "They are transgenics who live in the basement because they did not pass Manticore's tests," she paused for a moment. Then turning questioning eyes to Max, she asked, "Permission to speak freely, ma'am,"
Max gestured impatiently for her to go on.
"There were X3s in the last mission we went on. Why were they allowed on the mission if they did not pass Manticore's tests?" she asked, confusion evident on her face.
Max smiled. That was the opening she needed. "Manticore developed one series after another of transgenics. Some of the resulting transgenics from the earlier series were considered flawed. This was just because at that time, Manticore's main aim was to create transgenics who will blend in well with society, making it easier for them to move around undetected," she told them what Lydecker told her, "But, the so –called anomalies are just like you and me. Some have a bit too much canine DNA, some with too much feline DNA, but they all have their own special skills,"
Max took a deep breath, feeling a bit more confident now when she saw the interested looks the children were sporting, "My task here as your CO is not to oversee your daily training, though if you have any concerns, you could come talk to me about it anytime. I am here to integrate you with the rest of the X-series and anomalies, so that we can all work together as one. I'll be overseeing your away missions as well,"
"To be able to assign you to the appropriate missions, I would need to know what sort of specialist skills you have. Now, I have read your files, but all they told me was what all of you have been trained for and that's just about everything. I need to know what you excel at. So, I want you to group yourself into different specialist groups. Weapons and explosives here; stealth over there…" she gestured to her left and continued listing down various other skills.
The X6s eagerly started to sort themselves into position.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Max could see the X5s undergoing the familiar morning drills.
Max spotted Zack in the midst of the group of transgenics led by Jace. They were reintroduced back to the regular training programme just recently, and she had no doubt that Zack was not too happy with that. Heck, Zack was not happy with anything to do with Manticore. Strange, because from what she could see from their mannerisms, Zack was the only one who retained his uptight CO façade till now. Max noticed that although Zack was technically under Jace's command, anyone could see that the way Zack held himself practically proclaims that he was the most dominant one in that unit.
She did not know how Jace would take it. Since her return, she had not had a chance to talk to Jace privately. Jace did not seem to have any inclination to want to catch up either. Max looked closer at Jace, focussing her eyes. She seemed to look more tense than usual. Max sighed, the situation did not bode well for Zack and Jace.
Looking further, Max grinned as she spotted Jondy in Alec's unit. Alec stood in front of Unit 6, going through the motions. Max could not help staring at him in amazement. The cocky, irritating transgenic was gone and in its place, a pure Manticore Commanding Officer.
Alec would not know what hit him if Jondy decided to misbehave. Her fun-loving sister would drive him up the wall, she was sure of it. Zack was often at a loss as to how to deal with their mischievous sister back when he was the CO in unit 2. Max almost wished that she was in Alec's unit just to see Alec dealing with her sister.
Almost.
But it was probably not worth all the aggravation she would get from him. Though she had to admit that recently, he had stopped insulting her; his words were more of the teasing types. So she actually found it easier to be in his company nowadays.
She thought back to their interactions in the past six, or was it seven, years. The hostility between them from the early years was gone. Sure, he still taunted her on and off, but she could live with it. She reddened as she remembered the kiss they shared. She could now admit to herself that she enjoyed it much more than she let on at that time, but why? Was it just her teenage hormones? Or was it Alec? She knew that he had been on her mind more often recently.
Lost in her thoughts, she was startled when one of the X6s called out to her, "Ma'am, we are ready," the boy said, giving her an expectant look.
Pushing thoughts of Alec to the back of her mind, she turned back to her job.
A couple of weeks later, Max and Gab having completed their training in the gym for the night, decided to head back to the dorm to catch a couple of hours sleep. Gab as usual, could not keep his mouth shut for two seconds.
"So, things are going well with you and Alec, huh?" he teased, knowing that the mere mention of the other transgenic's name was enough to unsettle her. Especially after he'd seen how she looked at Alec when she thought no one noticed.
Max scowled, "He's an ass, and you know it. So stop talking about him. I am not interested," hoping that Gab would drop it. It was hard enough to stop thinking about Alec without Gab bringing him up.
Gab grinned. He had bumped into Alec earlier and said the same thing to the guy. Alec just said that it was none of his business. Gab finally backed away when Alec threatened to sic 210, or better known as Jondy, on him.
Gab shuddered at the thought of Jondy.
It was no secret that Max's sister lived to torture him, and he had only known the girl for a couple of weeks. He regretted ever following Max when she decided to invite her sister to join them for training that night. That girl fought even dirtier than Max, he thought. Must have been the additional years she spent outside of Manticore. Gab thanked his lucky stars that Jondy decided to forgo the training tonight, otherwise no doubt he would have been hobbling painfully all the way back to the dorm. Not only she was violent, she also did not have any sympathy him. Instead, she seemed to gain a perverse pleasure in seeing him grit his teeth in pain.
"I did not ask if you're interested or not. Just wondering if you guys are still at each other's throats, that's all," Gab replied flippantly.
Max just grunted, refusing to answer.
So he continued, "It's just so funny sometimes seeing your reaction to each other. All that tension, tsk…tsk…" Gab shook his head in mock disapproval.
Max glared at him, "Oh, enough already! Stop before I smack you,"
"I thought you reserve those only for Alec," Gab taunted cheerfully.
Max fought the urge to wring her friend's neck. She settled for sticking her tongue out at him.
"Childish," Gab muttered under his breath.
"Look who's talking," Max shot back
Max pushed the door to their dorm open silently, careful not to wake any of her unit mates. Together they padded silently to their beds. As she was about to reach her bed, Max realised that Gab was no longer behind her. Instead, he stopped in the middle of the room, his eyes trained on Sandy.
"Gab," she hissed, "Whatever joke you're thinking of playing; don't do it!" She stalked over to Gab, who just ignored her. What the hell is wrong with him? She wondered, grabbing Gab's arm to tug him back to his bed.
Taking a step towards Sandy's bed, Gab shook her hand off roughly, surprising Max. Gab had never treated her that way before. He continued to advance towards Sandy, unheeding of Max's whispered threats.
"Gab, what the hell do you think you are doing?" she whispered urgently, following her friend as he approached the sleeping Sandy.
Gab continued to ignore her. He got his eyes fixed on Sandy.
Then her attention was drawn to the girl on the bed. Sandy was tossing around restlessly. Her skin was slick with a sheen of sweat. As she continued to toss, she let out a small moan.
Max felt the hair at the back of her neck stand as Gab gave an answering growl. Oh no, no, NO! Sandy's in heat! Max thought frantically. What was she going to do now? The whole room was full of male transgenics. Now she knew why Gab was behaving so strangely.
Max took a deep breath and decided to do the first thing that came to mind.
She launched herself at Gab, trying to pull him back.
Fuelled by adrenaline and hormones, Gab easily shook her much smaller frame off his back. Max fell in heap on the floor, waking the rest of her unit. Great going, Max, now we have the rest to deal with, she thought irritably. True to her predictions, the rest of the unit 4 males started heading towards Sandy, who by now was wide awake.
"Back off, guys," Max ordered loudly. There was no point in whispering now that everyone was awake.
They simply ignored her and continued to advance.
Cass and Val, the only other two females in their unit, caught on and tried to restrain the males closest to them. Considering that there six of them against only three females, Max realised that the odds were not good.
To make things worse, Sandy was now purring in delight at the attention she was receiving from the males. Gab, Zip and Blade, who were closest to her, growled in reply to her.
Cass had grabbed Treve and Speed, who were thankfully far enough from Sandy to be able to retain some of their sanity. She dragged them out of the room and locked the door after them, after instructing them to call the guards. She came back into the room to help Max and Val with Gab, Zip, Blade and Matt.
Max wedged herself between Sandy and Gab, trying to prevent them from doing what their hormones were telling them to do. Gab tried to reach for Sandy, but Max swatted his arms away. Irritated, he grabbed Max and threw her to the side.
"Damn it, Gab. Stop this now or you will regret it tomorrow," she snapped, angry at being dumped so unceremoniously on the floor by her friend.
"Leave us, Max. It's got nothing to do with you," Gab growled, his eyes not leaving Sandy.
Max tried to stop him again, but was rewarded by a punch in the face. She staggered, but remained standing. Touching her face gingerly, she swore as she realised that she would have a black eye for all her trouble. Her lips compressed in irritation as she remained where she was, glaring at Gab and continued trying to make him see sense.
Across the room, Matt found himself restrained by Val as he tried to go to Sandy. He knew in his head that it was not right, but he could not seem to help himself being drawn to Sandy. He looked down at Val, who had a death grip around him. Then as the smell of pheromones started permeating further across the room, he began to struggle away from Val.
When he started to break free, Val decided that the best way to stop Matt was to give him a little bit of what he wanted. She latched on to him and silenced his startled gasp with her lips. What she did not expect was her own reaction to the kiss. She wondered if Sandy's pheromones somehow affected her, as she moaned against Matt's lips.
Matt could not believe what was happening. One minute he was blinded by desire to run towards Sandy, and the next minute, he was kissing Val senseless. Or rather, Val was kissing him senseless. Although the smell of Sandy's pheromones was thick in the air, Matt could only feel the lips of the girl in front of him. He had always wanted Val, but he never thought this would happen. He continued to caress her lips, encouraged by her moans. They were both oblivious to the chaos around them
In the meantime, Cass was attempting to stop Zip and Blade from tearing each other apart in the quest for Sandy's affection without much success. They seemed intent on beating each other to a pulp. She finally stood aside, thinking that as long as they left Sandy alone, she would leave them to maul each other to their heart's content. She smirked as she made a note to herself to tease them about it tomorrow.
In the meantime, Gab was getting annoyed with Max's persistence in preventing him from claiming Sandy. Turning to face her fully, he poised to attack, intent on taking her down once and for all. Max did not back down, which led to them rolling on the floor, wrestling each other.
When everything seemed hopelessly messed up, the guards finally decided to make an appearance. Between the six guards, Max, Val and Cass, they finally managed to restrain the males and drag a kicking and screaming Sandy into Isolation.
Alec was walking back to his dorm carrying a medical kit when Max suddenly appeared, walking towards him looking thunderous. He almost dropped the box as his eyes took in the state she was in.
As she neared him, she slowed down.
Alec cast his eyes over her, taking in the handprint around her neck and the bruise around her eyes. He felt his anger rise as he cursed whoever that did this to Max. Not bothering to hide how concerned he was, he asked, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"Sandy went in heat and the males went berserk," Max replied irritably, looking away uncomfortably from him. Her irritation stemmed not only from the incident, but also the fact that Alec was seeing her in this state. She told herself not to care. It wasn't as if he's interested in how she looked anyway. But what about all the kisses and his teasing and his…she cut the annoying voice in her head off. All these thoughts she had been having in her head about Alec was beginning to drive her mad.
Alec nodded in understanding, "It happens," he said, reaching out a hand to touch the bruise around her eyes gently. He retracted his hand when she winced, "Sorry. Are you alright? You don't look so good," he said, realising too late that his last sentence did not come out right.
Her eyes narrowed as she took in his words, as usual, interpreting it the worst way she could.
Noting the look on her face, Alec said quickly, "That did not come out right. What I meant was that you need to get it checked by the medics,"
Surprised at his reaction, Max mumbled, shaking her head disbelievingly, "I can't believe I heard you say that. Must have got hit in the head harder than I thought,"
"What?" Alec looked at her in confusion.
"Can't believe you passed up the chance you got to tease me about my looks," Max winced as she heard her own words. Now I just sound vain and girly, she thought, irritated at herself.
Alec raised his eyebrows, "I never teased you about your looks," Alec said softly, "And you know these will fade," he said reassuringly.
"Why?" Max asked, curious. She felt slightly tingly at the way he was looking at her, but she decided to ignore it. Probably because I am still out of sorts after the fight with Gab, she reasoned.
"Why what?"
Max threw her hands up, "Is there an echo here or something! Why you never teased me about that?" she asked impatiently.
Alec frowned, then smiled when he realised what she was asking, "Your looks? No reason to tease you about it; you look good," he admitted sheepishly.
"Oh," was the only reply from Max as she tried to hide her smile.
"What? I gave you a compliment and all you can say is 'oh'?" Alec teased her.
Reddening slightly, she muttered, "What else could I say?"
"You could always return the compliment," he drawled.
Max's eyes snapped up to his, and saw the laughter in their depths. She could not help it; she laughed out loud, "You are terrible, you know that!" she remarked, laughing.
Alec grinned, "Well, I guess sometimes I just need the additional ego boost,"
Max smacked his arms lightly, "Your head is big enough,"
Alec grinned, "But I could never refuse a compliment from a pretty lady,"
"I see that you are back to your usual self," she said, rolling her eyes. Shame, she kind of liked it when he was all sweet and caring.
"What do you mean?"
"For a moment there, I thought…" she paused, unsure how to continue.
"What?" he prodded
"Nothing," she said with a tone of finality
"Aw, Max! You can't say things like that and leave me hanging," he complained, turning his pleading eyes to her.
Max grinned as she began to walk away from him, resuming her journey to the med bay, "See you around, pretty boy," she threw over her shoulders.
Not seeing the smile on Alec's face.
White stood in front of the members of the conclave in their designated meeting spot. The elder stepped forward, studying White all the while.
"Brother White, thank you for gracing us with your presence,"
White bowed respectfully.
"Now, if we could get down to business," the elder said, "How are things coming along on the search?" he asked.
"It is in hand. I am getting closer to finding out Sandeman's location. I just need a little bit more time, and faith from by brothers and sisters," he said meaningfully, knowing fully well that they did not trust him after what his father pulled. His father, he thought in disgust, who carried out the ultimate betrayal to the conclave by abandoning their beliefs and went off on his own way.
White knew he had to make things right; to restore the conclave's faith in their tainted bloodline.
The elder went on smoothly, "We have faith in your abilities, but Sandeman is a slick character. We were thinking perhaps you would appreciate some help from another brother?"
White shook his head, "It is not necessary. As I said, it's all in hand. We will get Sandeman. He have to pay for his betrayal,"
The members of the conclave nodded gravely.
After concluding the meeting with other matters, they dispersed, leaving White alone in the room.
As the last of them left, White fished his secure cellphone out of his pocket and started dialling. When he heard an answer from the other end, he started to speak.
"We are running out of time. I need the information now," White barked down the phone.
A sigh came through the line, "I told you, White. I am working on it,"
"My confidence in your abilities are waning. You have taken weeks, with no results whatsoever. I thought when we made our deal, you assured me that you would be able to give me the information rapidly,"
"It would make things easier if I had the disk, as I told you before. Why don't you just hand it over?"
White gritted his teeth. The reason he refused to hand the disk over was because he needed something to hold on to. But it would be pointless if that meant the delay of the information he required, so he snapped, "Very well, then. You can have it. Meet me in the usual place,"
"You won't regret it, I promise you,"
"You better keep your promise. You do realise that it would be no big deal for me to hunt you down, do you?" White threatened coldly.
"No need for that, White. I am a man of my words," he said placatingly.
"We'll see, Cale. We'll see,"
t.b.c
A/N: -:grins:- Like it? Don't like it? Please review and let me know. I love reading your reviews - make me want to write more!