Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters obviously do not belong to me. I am writing this purely for non-profit entertainment. No infringement intended, so don't sue me!

A/N: I'm glad that you all enjoyed the last chapter and thank you very much to those of you who have reviewed. This chapter had been a nightmare to put together, considering how much is going on in the real world around this time of the year, and I'm exhausted! I hope that you'll enjoy it.

Retrieved - Chapter 37 - Runes

(by elle6778)

The two-storey building near the lake was old and appeared to be abandoned. The paint was peeling off it in strips and the windows had been painted over. However, its appearance was deceiving, as it was the place in which the familiars held Sandeman captive.

But none of the transgenics would have known that it was there had Kelpy not pointed it out to them.

Matt's team was the first on site, after picking up Kelpy using the coordinates supplied by Brain. Kelpy had then told them what had happened to him.

Contrary to what they all thought, Kelpy had not actually been captured. When he had seen White haul Sandeman off amidst the chaos of the fight between the transgenics and the familiars, he had blended into the surroundings and followed them. Considering how nervous he was at that time, it had not been hard to keep his cover as he climbed onto the back of the White's SUV, clinging for dear life as the vehicle sped towards some unknown location.

When they had arrived at the building in Wendover, Kelpy had followed them in without being noticed. White had yanked Sandeman down to the basement and had thrown him into a small cell. At that time, Kelpy had wanted to rush in and beat the crap out of White for manhandling the old man. However, he had realised that it would be suicide for him to do so. He had decided to get back to Manticore instead.

Unfortunately for him, once he had decided to call for help, he found to his consternation that the doors and the windows had been all locked. So he had remained in hiding, continuously blending with his surroundings, sitting just outside Sandeman's cell until a commotion upstairs caught his attention. He had not been able to piece together what was happening between the familiars, but it had sounded as if White was being reprimanded for some security breach. After informing White that he would be useless in the field, they had deployed another team of familiars to find someone called Logan Cale.

That had been when Kelpy managed to sneak out.

The transgenics listened intently as Kelpy outlined the layout of the building, telling them what was on the ground floor, first floor and the two underground basements. Matt keyed in a few commands on his laptop, trying to come up with a the most efficient plan of attack.

When he was finally satisfied with his plan, he briefed the rest of the transgenics on it. A few tweaks to the plan were made before they were finally ready to move in.

After a preliminary survey, they had come to the conclusion that there was no way they could keep the mission covert. The familiars' defences were formidable. They would just have to push their way in with the help of the back-up teams.

It was decided that Zip and one of the X6s would man the base, while the rest of them split into four groups, attacking from all four sides of the buildings. Team Alpha-1 consisted of Matt, Sandy, Hulk and an X6 called Gin; team Beta-1 consisted of Max, Blade, Zack and an X6 called Beet; team Alpha-2 consisted of Val, Speed, Tank and an X6 called Dent; and team Beta-2 consisted of Cass, Treve, an X3 called Bounce and an X6 called Chop.

At Matt's command, the team fanned out, heading towards their designated areas.

Lydecker put down the phone slowly, his face uncharacteristically pale. He had just got off the phone with Jondy, who had informed him of Logan's plans to expose Manticore.

Again.

He smashed his fist on the table, making the transgenics around him jump as he frantically tried to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do to keep them safe and concealed this time. After the last move from Wyoming, Lydecker had scoped out a few possible back-up safe areas, but none of them was anywhere near habitable at that moment in time. No one had anticipated moving so soon.

Tentatively, Brain spoke up. "Sir? Is everything alright?"

"No! Everything is far from alright!" Lydecker snapped angrily. He could not believe that this was happening now. Turning to face a stricken looking Brain, he forced himself to calm down before he said, "We're about to be exposed again."

A few of the transgenics gasped. The rest of them just stared at Lydecker with shock in their eyes. None of them wanted to move again so soon after they had just settled in the new facility.

"Sir, we have a back-up for this, don't we?" Mia asked, her eyes belying her worry.

"Yes and no. We have a back-up, but the places in question are not suitable for habitation yet," Lydecker replied. "We need to work out some other way to get out of this mess." Turning to Mole and Pops, he said, "You two monitor the Retrieval Mission. Call me if anything deviates from the plan."

"Brain, I need you to work on a cover-up or an escape plan immediately," Lydecker continued as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Here's the access code to the database," he said, pushing the piece of paper into a stumped looking Brain's hands.

"Yes, sir," Brain replied numbly, looking shocked. Lydecker had just given him access to the most guarded of Manticore's database. And Lydecker wanted him to come up with a plan to save the entire facility. Brain had no either whether he should be proud or to run as far as possible screaming for help.

A second later, Lydecker walked out of the Command Centre. He needed to make a phone call fast. The committee needed to be involved in this. Lydecker hoped that Brain would be able to come up with a plan to get them out of there in one piece.

Max crouched low in the bushes with Blade, Beet and Zack close to her. Her sharp eyes zoomed in on the two guards who were leaning against the walls, and then travelled further up to spot a revolving camera which was mounted on the wall.

Max cursed inwardly at the inconvenience. Turning to Blade, she signalled for him to take out the camera at her command. Blade nodded in affirmation. Under her breath, she said, "Beta-1 to all teams."

"Go on, Beta-1," Zip's voice came across their comms.

"We need to take out the camera. Might get a bit noisy in a while," Max said softly. She knew that the familiar would come down on them like a pack of wolves the minute the cameras shattered. But she was confident that they would be able to pull it off, especially considering that the Canadian back-up and Alec's unit would be arriving soon.

"Understood, Beta-1. Everyone ready?" Zip asked.

"Alpha-1 ready."

"Beta-2 ready."

"Alpha-2 ready."

"Canadian-1 ready," X5-472, the CO of the Canadian unit said. He had offloaded his team of transgenics to the ground and was now waiting to move forwards five minutes after the main team had breached the building.

"Okay, on the count of three, teams," Zip said. "One…two…GO!"

Instantly, sounds of shattering lenses pierced the air. The teams rushed forwards, ignoring the blaring sound of the security alarm which went off a second after the cameras had been destroyed.

Blade and Beet reached the guards firsts, dodging bullets as they aimed their weapons to the guards. Being familiars, guards managed to dodge a few of the bullets before one of them finally found its mark, leaving only one guard for Blade and Beet to deal with. Max and Zack did not linger, but proceeded to smash open the windows to gain them access to the ground floor.

Swinging themselves through the window opening, they rushed forwards to where Kelpy had told them the stairs were located. Two familiars ran up the stairs just as Max and Zack were about to down. The familiars sprung up, skipping half the steps in flight to land in front of the transgenics.

"Filthy transgenics. How dare you even step foot in our sacred place?" one of them snarled.

Max rolled her eyes. "Gee, I didn't expect such a warm welcome from you." Pointing her shotgun at him, she said in a hard voice, "Now back off unless you want to end up scattered all over the building."

The familiar smirked, completely unaffected by her threat. And then in a move too fast for any ordinary person to see, he snapped out his hand to swat Max's gun to the side, just as Max pulled the trigger. The bullet impacted with the ceiling, spraying them with chunks of plaster.

Max cursed as she rushed into the familiar, intent on pushing him down the stairs. But the familiar was faster. With a twist of his body, he jumped up and extended a leg towards Max.

"Max! Watch out!" Zack yelled as he swung his gun around, smashing it into the other familiar.

Max's eyes widened and she managed to duck just a second before the familiar's booted foot fully contacted with her shoulders. "Damn!" she exclaimed at the close call. Swivelling around, she launched up into the air towards the familiar.

Not expecting such a quick retaliation, the familiar did not dodge in time before her feet came into contact with his midsection. As he staggered back at the impact, Max landed a blow to his head to knock him out.

Having taken care of his own opponent, Zack gestured hurriedly to Max, "Quick! Downstairs," he said just as Blade and Beet caught up with them.

"More of them coming this way," Beet said, tossing a nervous look over his thin shoulders as he ran along beside Max down the stairs. This was only his second away mission and he did not feel all that confident.

Understanding his apprehension, Max gave the thirteen-year-old X6 a reassuring look. "You're doing fine, Beet. Don't worry. I wouldn't have selected you to come if I didn't think you could do it."

Beet nodded slowly, and Max was glad to see a slight dissipation in his anxiety.

Zip's voice came through the comms, "Base to Alpha and Beta. The Canadian team's moving in as we speak. And Unit 6's chopper just landed. Their ETA is 1620 hours, fifteen minutes from now."

Max exhaled a sigh of relief at Zip's words. With the Canadian team and Alec's team on almost there, at least they could take care of the familiars as Max's and Matt's team searched for Sandeman.

Alec…

Max forced herself to push the thoughts of Alec away from her mind. Now was definitely not the time to think about her relationship with him. However, she was glad that they had somewhat reached an understanding last night. It was going to take time before both of them settled back into their relationship after the recent disaster. Max sighed.

A string of colourful curses suddenly reached Max from her comms. She grinned when she recognised the voice as Matt's.

"Beta-1 to Alpha-1. Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Alpha-1 to Beta-1. I've had enough of these freaks! Listen up everyone. No more playing nice transgenics here. Get the familiars in any way you can. We're not fighting to just disable anymore, we're fighting to eliminate," Matt snapped over the comms.

The transgenics each indicated that they had heard him through the comms.

Rounding a corner, they found themselves in a corridor with rows of cells on either side. The air smelled dank and musty, Max noted as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. But before they could take a step further, two familiars appeared at the other end of the corridor.

Max signalled for Zack, Blade and Beet to keep the familiars occupied as she tried to find Sandeman. As the three of them blurred forwards to engage the familiars, Max slipped past them to the cells beyond, peering into each to see if Sandeman was inside. What she was doing reminded her eerily of the time that she had rescued Zack and Jondy from the Reds.

All the cells were empty until she arrived at the ninth one. Max gasped when she saw the crumpled heap within, recognising the grey hair even though it was matted with dried blood.

"Beta-1 to Base. Objective's sighted in the basement, west wing. Field med required urgently," she snapped out hurriedly.

"Base to Beta-1. We're sending in reinforcements," Zip said.

"Alpha-1 to Beta-1, we're heading your way. We've got a field med here," Matt said through the comms.

Satisfied that help was arriving, Max turned her attention back to the cell. "Sandeman!" she called out, but he did not seem to have heard her. She stood back from the door and aimed her gun at it. A single shot later, the door swung open to allow Max entrance.

She rushed into dark, damp cell and fell to her knees next to the old man. Gently, she wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to pull him up. But before she could do it, Sandeman groaned in pain.

"It's Max here. Can you hear me?" Max asked softly, her hands checking him for injuries. "You'll be out of here soon. Hang on."

"Max," Sandeman rasped weakly as he cracked opened his eyes to look at her. "No time. I can't make it," he croaked painfully.

"No! You'll be fine once we get out of here," Max insisted, swallowing her fears. Her ears were telling her that more transgenics and familiars had arrived at the corridor outside the cell. The sound of fighting and gunshots were deafening.

"Max, listen to me carefully. Ask Lydecker to tell you about the familiars."

"Shh…he told us already," Max said, pressing her fingers to his lips. "Rest now and we'll talk later after we get out."

"No!" Sandeman protested in a stronger voice, his tone stilling Max's movements. "While you're here you need to take out the High Priestess. She's in the lower part of the basement. Kill her and we'll have less to worry about the familiars wiping out the human race."

Max stared at him in confusion. "High Priestess? Why?"

"The runes on her body will tell the familiars when it will happen. There's something in her genetic makeup which reacts to the changes in the movement of the constellation and stars. The familiars can't prepare for it if they don't know when it's coming."

"Okay, I'll do it," Max said, not exactly sure what she had just promised to do. Her eyes flicked to the door just as Zack skidded in. "Can you get up?" she asked.

Zack went to Sandeman and propped the old man into a sitting position.

Sandeman shook his head and grabbed Max's hand in a surprisingly tight grip. His bleary eyes burned into Max's. "Another thing, Max. Don't worry when you see runes appearing on your body. When I was mixing up genetic cocktail for you, I used the High Priestess's genetic blueprint in combination with animal DNA for you, so you will get the same runes. All COs can read it, but I only managed to train Zack to decipher the actual meaning of the runes before I left Manticore. Find out when the Coming will arrive and immunise the Ordinaries before it hits."

"You can tell us this later. Right now I need to get you out!" Max proclaimed desperately, not wanting to believe the implication of what Sandeman was telling her. Her eyes welled up at the resigned look on Sandeman's face. She knew that Sandeman did not believe that he would live, otherwise he would not be telling her all this.

Sandeman reached out a hand to touch her cheeks weakly. "You're my special little one, Max. I'm proud of you." Turning to Zack, he said with his voice growing weaker by the second, "Take care of her, Zack. Remember what I told you about the antidotes."

Zack nodded as he scooped Sandeman up in his arms.

At that moment, Matt rushed into the cell followed by his strike team, his eyes going straight to Sandeman. "Is he okay?" he asked apprehensively.

Zack shook his head. "It doesn't look good."

Taking a deep breath, Max raised her eyes to Matt and said, "Sandeman wants us to take down the High Priestess. She's hiding in the lower basement."

"I'll bring Sandeman out. I need to get him to the field meds," Zack said, looking down with concern at the pallor on Sandeman's skin.

"Sandy will go with you. She's a field med. Zip is also one, so if you just head to the Base you'll be fine," Matt said before he turned to face Hulk and Gin. "Hulk, Gin, I think it's better for you two to go with Zack and Sandy. I'll stay with Max and her team. Zack will temporarily take command of Alpha-1."

Zack glanced at Matt with a look of surprise.

"What? You were Max's CO before the escape, right?" Matt said with a frown as he made his way to the door.

"Uh, right," Zack replied, and then proceeded to instruct Alpha-1 to move out.

Matt did not wait until the cell had cleared before he signalled for Max, Blade and Beet to follow him.

"Beta-1 to all teams. I'm taking command of Beta-1. We're heading down to the lower basement. Report your status," Matt rapped out.

"Alpha-2 to Beta-1. We're with some of the Canadians on the ground floor, currently engaged with the familiars," Val reported.

Treve reported next. "Beta-2 to Beta 1. We're outside, scoping the perimeter. Unit 6 has just arrived."

"Good," Matt said as he ran down a flight of stairs which he hoped would bring him to the High Priestess. "Come on, guys, we've got familiars to wipe out."

t.b.c.

A/N: The mission continues in the next chapter…I'm all wiped out for now! Please review and let me know what you think!