PUMPKINS, GIANTS, AND BLUE LADIES OH MY

"You look ridiculous," Vada observed, nodding her head sagely, eyeing her friend's outfit warily. Blue Lady help her, she wasn't going to wear anything matching that, no way!

"Oh, come on, Veronica!" Missy Alphin pouted toward her friend and Vada rolled her eyes at the Ordinaries plea.

"I don't see how dressing up as a…as a piece of agricultural product is conducive to 'having fun'."

"Huh?" a pretty African-American girl asked, pretty face scrunching up in confusion at the unfamiliar words.

Vada bit back a sigh of annoyance at the girl's slowness. Kimberly Madison was not Vada's idea for valedictorian, or anyone else's for that matter. If the words weren't Gucci or Versache or Banana Republic or Maybelline then she was clueless.

For all of looking like Gabrielle Union the girl just didn't have a clue. Her range of topics was severely limited to guys, make-up, clothes, soap operas, and the mall. Anything else wasn't even worth her time.

"She means she doesn't see how dressing up as a pumpkin is fun," Missy translated with a 'duh!' eye roll accompanying it.

"Oh! Right," Kimberly smiled for now having got it. She soon turned indignant.

"What you mean dressing up isn't fun? Um, it's going to be Halloween and everybody dresses up. Like, where have you been living all your life?" she dismissed Vada with an imperious wave of her hand.

She. Did. NOT.

Vada forced a very insincere smile even as her eyes glittered a dangerous warning the other girl didn't pick up, forcing herself to remain calm.

The objective is to make and maintain friendly relations with normal human peers of your age group. Committing ritualistic murder is not the way to achieve the second half of the objective.

"Oh, Kimberly, didn't you hear? I never said I didn't like dressing up, of course I like that!" Vada gave an expressive gesture as if to say 'who doesn't?'

"I just didn't see how dressing up as a plant is very fashionable. I mean honestly," and here Vada gave a bored and snobbish flip of her head. "Anyone could be a regular ole pumpkin. We are not just anyone. Is that clear enough for you?"

I can be just as bitchy and cutting as you, Vada snarled inwardly, her face an outward mask of calm and fake sincerity.

"Uh-huh," Kimberly gave her a look and an attitude, her glare no match for what Vada had had to endure.

"So what did you have in mind, Veronica?" Missy asked, looking at her new friend for inspiration, missing the incredulous look Kimberly sent her way.

"I dunno. What's acceptable wear to this Halloween dance you're so hyped about?"

"Pumpkins," Kimberly sassed back.

"Please," Vada waved that suggestion away. "There has to be something that'll make us stand out, be above the crowd.

"Like what?" Kim huffed, intrigued despite herself.

"I have an idea," Vada grinned, eyes taking on a sparkle that looked suspiciously like one the Quad Squad would use. "Now listen up girls…"


Ashton gave a groan as he stretched his sore muscles, reveling in the feeling of release that occurred whenever a bone or ligament popped.

"Feel better?" Debbie laughed, smiling up at Ash.

"Oh, yeah," Ash smiled back at the female transgenic, taking his time to flex said muscles, showing off, and basically being silly.

Debbie, X5-070, recently from Unit 8 out of the Seattle facility, had been a lifesaver and she was now laughing at his antics, playfully swatting him on the shoulder. She had come up with the idea to request a CD player/radio so that Ash could listen to music and not the noise from the street outside his window. He now got the best rest he could while not sleeping back at his home facility.

She was such a bundle of vitality, her cap of auburn curls tightly spiraled close to her scalp of their own violation, hazel eyes shifting from Irish hill emerald to deep burnished gold and even shifting to rich, dark chocolate depending on what she was wearing and the angle and intensity of the light. She had a sprinkling of freckles breaking up the smooth alabaster of her skin, prominent across her nose and cheek, and also across her shoulders.

She had a little button of a nose and she barely came up to his chest, reminding him of Max and Jondy, the force of her personality taking one's attention away from her lack of stature.

"Ready to go Short Stuff?" he quipped, laying a casual arm around her shoulder as they walked to their bus.

"Just you wait! I'm going to be a regular giant, you'll see!" she grinned up at him, repeating her often spoken line.

"Oh, my, I'm sooo scared! Help me from the little Giant!" Ashton rolled his eyes theatrically, voice rising in pitch.

"I'm going to hurt you," Debbie griped, swatting him again.

"Stop that, you're making me feel like I'm not away from my sisters," he complained good-naturedly, thinking fondly of his sisters who had no qualms about smacking any of their male brethren for perceived offenses.

"Well, they're not here to keep you in line, so I'm just a filling in for them!"

"Blue Lady have mercy on my soul."

"Who's the Blue Lady?"


"You said something?"

"Yes, sir, X5-599, sir. You said something about a blue lady?"

"I did?" Zack raised an eyebrow introspectively, not even paying attention to the transgenics around him.

"Yes, sir," one of the gathered transgenics replied. She was one of the sharks; the one Zack had christened Shar, though her designation was 321 and her alias, Marissa.

"So I did," Zack mused, nodding.

The others fell silent on automatic reflex, waiting with the patient alertness that so many effective submissive soldiers perfected, a form of contentment in waiting for further instruction and/or explanation.

"Sir?" X5-403 asked. She was the other transgenic with Shark D.N.A. He'd named her Kay, which was similar enough to her alias Kayla. Out of all the new transgenics he'd had under his command, Kay was the one who disquieted him the most.

She was the clone, or twin, of one of the Lost Ones who had died under his command: Nala, X5-402, who had been…disassembled for autopsy resulting from the seizures that occasionally still plagued the X5 series.

"Yes?"

"The blue lady, sir," she prompted.

Zack turned his gaze on her, and points to her, she didn't flinch under that heavy stare, though she probably wanted to. Zack studied the female before him, debating whether or not to tell them of the Blue Lady or not while he gazed upon what Nala would have looked like had she lived. That was Ben's kick, not his.

"The Blue Lady is a myth, a fable, created by one of the X5s under my command to assist in combating insomnia in another unit members case. She is our 'protector', watching out for us, who helps good soldiers get into the Good Place, but only if they're good and sacrifice to her."

There, that should explain it.

"So…she's like the Virgin Mary we learned about in school?" one of the males from Seattle, a transgenic named Adam, X5-260, under the command of one X5-494, Unit 8.

Adam was completely serious, genuinely interested in hearing more to learn about the collective mind that was Unit 2 of Gillette.

"She was fashioned after her likeness to a point, yes," Zack nodded.

"Is she your patron, sir?" Shar asked, wide-eyed.

Zack paused as he considered his words carefully. He had never really thought of it that way; to his mind, she had always been one of Ben's stories, something he told everyone to bind them together, to get their minds off of the daily rigors of their training, to bring hope and happiness in an otherwise bleak and robotic existence.

"No, no she's not my patron. Nor is she the patron of any in my unit," he added, satisfied with the decision he'd come up with.

"If that's the case sir…why did you ask her to help you?" Kay was looking at him with the same intensity that Nala had, that same directness that had challenged and encouraged him to be the best and all that he could be.

"Sometimes when a soldier is under duress or faced with a task that is particularly disagreeable, the soldier will fall back on something familiar," Zack spoke fast, thinking quickly. "The Blue Lady is something familiar to my unit."

"So, it's a way of staying connected with your unit, roundaboutly?" Adam repeated slowly, looking up at Zack for confirmation. Thinking about that, Zack finally nodded.

"In a way, yes. Now, if there's not anymore relevant questions, let's move on to the task at hand."


"Charlie's Angels?" Missy asked, trying hard not to be impressed, and failing.

"But it's so been overused," Kimberly scowled, crossing her arms.

"I agree," Vada nodded. She and the other two girls were sitting at a little round table in Missy's room that had once served imaginary tea parties. They had a piece of paper with ideas for themed costumes written down. A good many were crossed out or had question marks by them.

"You agree?" Kimberly gave her a disgusted look and turned away in her seat.

"Josie and the Pussycats?"

"Oh yes!" Kimberly suddenly turned around, eyes alive with the prospect of something she loved. "Josie and the Pussycats would be purr-fect! We could get those cute little cat ears and matching leopard print shirts and pants!"

Glancing over at Missy and seeing her acceptance, Vada fought not to smile. Being a pussycat was purr-fect indeed.


"So that's why you mention the Blue Lady like that," Debbie mused quietly on the bus.

"Yes," Ashton agreed, keeping his voice down as well, having explained about Ben coming up with the Blue Lady and what she meant to his family.

"We don't worship her like the Catholics do the Virgin Mary, she's more a…story, a folk tale, a creation among my family for our own pleasure and morals."

"I get it," Debbie assured him, smiling that special smile that lately had been directed only at him. That smile made him both nervous and anticipatory, and he wasn't sure if it was good, bad, or not.

He remembered Vada, and his love and affection for her, but…Vada wasn't here, and even if she was, would it really have made a difference? Vada didn't acknowledge that part of the relationship unless she was pitting him against Taz or any of the other hapless transgenics taken in by her spell.

Will I ever win?

A/N: just the usual disclaimer, I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters created by Cameron and Eglee. I only own the original characters.