Freedom on the inside
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own anything to do with Dark Angel. They apparently belong to some guy who is most definitely in need of a brain check. What was he thinking when he decided to axe the show? Oh well, I guess when I'm rich enough I'll just have to buy the rights to the programme and then we'll finally get a third season. I wouldn't count on it though.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: M/A (eventually!)
Summary: What if Max never escaped Manticore in 'Designate This' and didn't get the chance to infect Logan? Logan and everyone else in Seattle thinks she's dead and Renfro's still alive?
Author's Note: I know there's been a lot of 'what if she never escaped stories?' but this is my shot at what could have happened. Please read and review!
Chapter Thirty One
Here and Now
"The trademark of a true transgenic; your biggest weakness -"
Max knew very well what he thought it was. And she would have to agree with him. But, if it was a weakness, it was a necessary weakness; it made them more human then he ever would be.
"Pain. The ability to feel pain," White was continuing his conceited speech with a scarily neutral expression. It frightened Max to think that someone could be so warped that they actually believed this bull.
Alec wasn't the only skilled con artist however; Max was also pretty damn good. Although admittedly not quite as good as the transgenic supposedly suffering from a severe case of dementia, she still had White eating from the palm of her hand. Whilst he rattled on believing that Max was now a broken woman, her body language conveying as much, he completely missed the suspicious glint lurking deep in her brown eyes.
It was a glint of triumph, and Max was positive it was heading their way.
White's voice battered against Ginger's eardrums as she crouched against the wall behind 651. She could feel the anger radiating off her fellow comrades as they were subjected to listening to White's obscene insults via the microphone implant in Max's ear. White wasn't doing himself any favours really; a pissed off transgenic was a very dangerous one indeed. No amount of familiar DNA bred down generations of 'freaks' in White and his goons would be able to save them now. By opening his trap, White had just signed his own death certificate, but that in no way helped calm any of them down.
Both units had scattered along the four corridors leading to four of the entrances of the main warehouse where Max and White were currently 'chatting.' The outside guards had been removed with ease; it was now a case of getting past the remaining familiars and getting the prize itself; Ames White.
Without confirmation from Max on White's position however, they were stuck in their present places. If they moved even another metre forward, they would be in vision and would therefore be leaving with more than just a couple of casualties and worst of all; White would escape.
No, they needed Max's help; they needed to wait for her signal. 'Anytime soon would be good,' Ginger thought silently.
"Well you've seen him now," White said as he walked around Alec's conscious yet lifeless body. He had rolled on to his side, his injured leg resting on top of his better one. The rigidity of his position still had Max fooled to the extent that she was now questioning her own sanity. Had what she seen been true or had it been a figment of her lovesick, battered and mentally bruised imagination?
But somehow she knew what she had seen had been true. Somehow she just knew, especially as White's leg came hammering down on his wounded leg and she too winced in pain. The flutter of anger in the depth of Alec's cold stare told her all she needed to know,
"It's a bit of a wasteful trade in for your life, isn't it?" White drawled as he came to a stand still back in front of Alec.
With the coldest demeanour she had ever shown, Max finally answered back,
"Here's something you'll never understand White; sure you don't feel pain, but you know what? You'll never feel love either. And you wanna know why? Because you're not human. You don't even come close. Whilst you stand in the middle of this room with two of those things that have been so damaging to the human race, you forget one very important thing. We. Are. Better. Than. You."
White's eyes dilated but it wasn't in anger at the clear insult. It wasn't in fury. It wasn't in rage. It was in the most alien of feelings he had ever felt in all his miserable little life. It was confusion . . .
'Come on Max," Ginger silently begged. They needed a signal and a location, one sentence would do it but as of yet all they had heard was White's monotonous drawl,
"It's a bit of a wasteful trade in for your life, isn't it?" Ginger felt sick; maybe they were too late, maybe Alec was gone already, but somehow she couldn't get herself to believe the twisted son of a bitch. Once a liar, always a liar, and that small comfort was welcomed with the familiar sound of Max in her ear,
"Here's something you'll never understand White," she heard her say. To Ginger the words were the only warmth she had heard in the last hour. Had she been on the receiving end, she would currently be battling through an icy blizzard, which was undoubtedly an impossible oxymoron, but Max could be deathly cold and indifferent so very easily.
". . . sure you don't feel pain, but you know what? You'll never feel love either. And you wanna know why? Because you're not human. You don't even come close. Whilst you stand in the middle of this room with two of those things that have been so -"
The rest of the words didn't register with Ginger as they flew into a flurry of action. Max had said the magic words, middle and two with a gap of four in between. White's location and defence had been revealed and now it was time to kick ass . . .
White's eyes dilated as he heard them march in. He had just managed to catch the fleeting grin that swept Max's lips as he delved into his jacket to retrieve his gun. But Max had been ready for that. With a round house kick, she knocked the gun from straight out his pocket before his fingers could even latch on to the metal. It clattered to the ground as Max stepped back into her deadly fighting stance.
She raised her eyebrows in mock gesture, daring him to turn around to see his beautiful plan being pummelled to pieces, but White, much like what was expected of anyone with such an evil core, was only in it for himself. The rest of the familiars would have to hold their own; he had a job to finish. Turning to face Max straight on, he threw the challenge back in her face, "Don't say I never warned you . . ."
It was exactly how Max had described it. White was in the middle of the warehouse in between Max and Alec. There were eight familiars guarding the four exits which they had just stormed through. They more than outnumbered them, now they could only hope they outmanoeuvred them as well. After all, their genes may have been ten times more adapted to fighting but they were still presumably made up of the same stuff i.e. skin, bones and muscles, and none of that tissue could withstand a piercing burning hot piece of metal through it never mind the complexity of the DNA.
Ginger latched on to her own gun as she watched 651 ram a familiar up against the wall, punching him once, twice and thrice for good measure. She herself cursed mentally as she felt a bulky arm grab her around the neck in a choke hold. Her face was probably turning a lovely shade of blue to complement her ginger hair as her oxygen levels were being slowly deprived. However, the sight of Max easily disabling White gave her a renewed burst of energy as she stamped down hard on the familiars foot and elbowed him where she knew it would hurt any man, familiar or not. She found herself smiling at the irony as she wrenched free from his grip. So much for him being part of a breeding cult; he wasn't much use now . . .
Max was unfazed by the sound of bullets ricocheting off the metal piping. The other transgenics and familiars seemed as far in the distance as was possible. Here and now, her only task was White. She met his stony gaze with ease, allowing her to sense his every move; the only disadvantage with this being that it worked both ways. They were currently in a stalemate. Every move was anticipated and every move was effortlessly blocked. What she needed was a distraction . . .
Ginger's lightning speed had just saved her her butt, or her head to be more precise. A bullet shot straight over head as she ducked in time. She wasted no time in whipping out her own gun but found herself missing her target. The bullet hit her opponents shoulder as he dodged out of the way. Had she been hit by that bullet, she would be currently on the floor writhing in agony, but the familiars? Well, they didn't feel pain. 'Dammit,' she cursed. This wasn't what she had signed up for. Come to think of it, she hadn't really signed anywhere . . .
Pain. It was red hot, searing up the side of his arm, spreading across his chest. He felt almost light headed as the sounds around him faded to a quiet hum. The movement of khaki green, black and brown blurred his vision making him sickeningly dizzy, but thankfully his killer showed him a last minute mercy. The last thing he saw was the black of incoming scuffed leather and then all was silent.
She had heard it before she had seen it. Ginger's eyes widened in fear as she turned to see 441 hit the hard concrete floor. The sheer agony gracing his features didn't acknowledge as she hurtled forward towards the familiar. Time halted to a stand still as she urged her tiring muscles just that little further. But yet, it was still not enough. She watched in dumbstruck horror as his foot blasted against 441's head and the final definite shudder racked through the transgenic's mangled body.
Ginger let out a shrill cry. Pulling the trigger, she fired five, six seven times into the already bloodied chest of the bastard that had just killed her fellow soldier, fellow team-mate and fellow friend. The tears didn't stop flowing as she turned her gun on yet another deserving lowlife . . .
The unmistakeable cry of her best friend shattered all sense of rational thought. Max was struck by a nauseous feeling of dread as she heard five, six, seven consecutive shots ring out.
When she asked for a distraction, this hadn't been it. White's fist came smashing into her face as soon as her concentration had diminished. The stinging was nothing compared to the dread lodged in at the very base of her gut. The salty taste of blood in her mouth fuelled her anger but that emotion clouded all judgement as another limb came flying in her direction.
She doubled over clutching her stomach as White stood up straight; smiling inanely. His nose was bloodied but apart from that, he was in better shape than he had ever been in. 'Now to finish the job,' he thought smugly as he turned around scanning the grey floor for his trusty gun.
They hadn't moved very far, so where was it? Turning fully around, trusting he had caused enough damage to 452 that she wouldn't be a threat, he scanned further for his gun. It wasn't until he saw four fingers and a thumb wrapped firmly around familiar metal or more immediately the cold, lonely, empty barrel of his gun, his own gun, that he knew what fear was. After all these years, he finally knew what fear was . . .
It had happened all so quickly, Max didn't know what to believe. She was struggling to hold on to the remains of what little consciousness she had. The pain zig zagging through her entire body was enough to cause the numbing effect of a whole syringe of general anaesthetic and so she found herself floating somewhere in the midst of the land of the living and that of the dead.
A single clear shot rang out through the building. She had heard so many triggers pulled in the space of the last ten minutes, that this one had seemed no different to begin with.
It wasn't until the block to her sunlight fell with a thud in a heap on the floor that clarity filled her senses. The room fell to a deafening silence, but Max's focus was concentrated solely on the two angelic hazel green eyes that stared down at her. She watched in awe as Alec stood in front of her balanced heavily on his better leg. The gun slipped through his fingers hitting the floor with a single clatter, but her eyes never once left his face.
For a moment relief swept through her veins as she stared up at him, but that welcome feeling didn't last nearly as long as it should have. Before she could even call out to him, she watched in sheer horror as his eyes rolled backwards into his head and his entire body crumpled to the floor.
A/N 2: Sorry for the long wait, I have exams like this week, next week, the week after that etc etc, so I really genuinely am very busy. Which I suppose brings me on to another apology since I have left this chapter in a very horrible place and it's gonna take me ages to update again! But I will finish it and I will try to update again as soon as possible.
Thank you very very much to those of you who reviewed last time, I was absolutely thrilled with the 19 reviews I got, that had to be the most I got for a single chapter, so yay! does a little dance as never in all her imagination did she expect to make it to 300 reviews! Anyway, moving on, a very sincere thank you to:
-- : As often as I can, it used to be once a week but at the moment I'm busy with exams. Thanks so much for the reviews, they actually helped me make time to write this chapter! (also i'm sorry if your user name didn't come out properly, my comp doesn't like underscores, but i'm sure you know who you are!)
Natalie25: Am very glad that you like and I will definitely continue! Thanks!
C'est Magnifique: I'm very glad that you got the morse code, and I hope you liked this chap too. Thank you for all your reviewing.
Athena80: blush thank you! Hope you liked!
Kitto27: ok, I'm still blushing, thank you!
Senorita-DLH: Thanks for the luck, unfortunately I didn't find it, I think it just vanished! Lol!
TTT1901: Aw, thanks Vicky, from a part time ML, part time MA, that means a lot.
Naeri: Thank you, and I hope you liked this chapter
Tarzo: Well, I'm very happy that you're enjoying it, let me know what you thought of this chappie!
His Vampira: Yay, our boy was back, but is he back for good? Hehe, thanks for the review!
Ro: Thanks for the review, hope you liked this chap!
X5-459: I got another bus pass done, but thanks. I hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for all your reviewing!
Kristibella: Hey there! Glad you liked the morse code and hope you enjoyed the ass kicking!
Aqualung: Sorry for the delay, am very bogged down, but thanks very much from the review, you all make me smile!
jracklesfan77: Sorry for the wait, I'm stoked you're enjoying it so much. Let me know what you thought of this chapter too!
Suenooneus: Yep, mega pain in the ass! I had to pay another fifteen pounds for a replacement, oh well. Glad u liked it!
Willow98002: Yes damn public transport, but then where would I be without it! Lol!
Ok, hope that's everybody, thanks very much to you all, keep reviewing and I'll keep updating, deal?
Love SmilinStar xxx