Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters from Dark Angel the belong to James Cameron, Charles Eglee, and Fox. But, Mercy and Amora are ours, as well as any other characters you are not familiar with.
Max's thoughts were interrupted by something she heard behind her. She froze. It was a growl. Not a human growl, nor an animal's. It was unlike anything she had ever heard, and she could feel the blood drain from her face. Max's heart stopped as once again the deep growl filled her ears, and it sounded close.
Slowly Max turned around and gulped at the site before her, a man with long hair and a dog-like face. He growled and barked at her. Max backed up, with her hands in front of her.
"Easy," Max started not sure of what to say. "Relax big fella."
"You relax," the man replied. "Little fella."
Max eyes widened, "Wow you can talk."
"Wow." He mimicked.
"Sorry. I've just, never seen anyone that's looked like you before." Max mused, in awe of the man standing in front of her. "So what happened? Did they put to much canine DNA in your cocktail?"
"Cat." The man stated sniffing the air. "Cat in your cocktail."
"Don't hold it against me." Max smiled at him, as she raised her hands in front of her.
"You're X5."
"Yea," Max nodded, "But you can call me Max."
"Max...Max...Max." The man repeated, tilting his head to the side. "Father named you?"
"No." Max sighed. "No father. Just me. What about you? You have a name?"
"Father named me Joshua." Joshua beamed.
Max's eyebrows knitted together, "Lydecker named you?"
"No." Joshua growled in reply. "Sandman."
"Okay..." Max trailed off.
Joshua paused and listened. "Guard."
"Where?"
"Above." Joshua replied.
"Oh. So they don't know you're down here?"
When Joshua shook his head in reply Max asked, "What about this Sandman father of yours?"
"Left me here." Joshua replied with a sad voice. "Here I am."
"He just left you?" Max questioned feeling sorry for Joshua.
"Made me, then left me. True enough."
"That's pretty whack." Max mused.
"He made us all." Joshua stated, looking down at Max. "I was first- special. Then more like me...more like you... more people- up there people. Father lost. Lost in all the people. I'm here, waiting. Waiting for him to come and see me."
"Don't you eat?"
"When lights out. I go up there, get food. Share with others."
"Others?" Max questioned.
"In cells. Others like me."
"Don't the guards feed them?"
"Sometimes."
Max nodded. "I gotta blaze though Joshua. I'll come back tomorrow, I'll try to bring you some food."
"Promise?"
"I promise big fella." Max smiled, before turning and heading back the way she had come.
Joshua watched her leave, "You blaze, little fella." He called after her.
Mercy sat up in her bunk in a cold sweat, and her breathing labored. Another dream. Why did her past have to haunt her so badly? Why did she have to feel so much guilt? Glancing over at the bunk beside hers she saw Six still asleep. Trying to calm herself down Mercy swung her legs over the side of the bunk and walked over to the small 'closet' in the cell that served as a bathroom. Splashing cold water on her face she felt herself calm down. Turning off the tap she heard Six moving around on her bunk. Sighing Mercy quickly changed and headed out of the cell before Six woke up, all she wanted was some alone time before breakfast and training.
Mercy made her way to the rec room, passing the odd guard and transgenic. As she sat on one of the couches she stared ahead, letting her mind drift off. She hated how her guilt racked up, it always had negative side affects on her. Only a few people truly understood, or at least they seemed to understand.
Biggs stretched, glancing around the room, surprised to see no sign of Alec. Running a hand over his face he thought about the night before, well only a few hours earlier. Mercy wanted him to tell Alec they were going out, but he didn't want to. Why couldn't Mercy tell him? After all he was her brother. She should be the one to tell him.
"Hey Biggs," Alec said walking into the cell. "What's up?"
"Wondering where you were." Biggs smirked. "Sleeping in the rec room again were you?"
"No." Alec replied. "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. Why are you up so early? We don't have breakfast for a few hours."
"Look... we need to talk." Biggs sighed, deciding to get the conversation over with.
"What? You're breaking up with me already?" Alec questioned, flashing Biggs one of his trademark grins.
Biggs shook his head and replied, "You gotta sit down and promise you are not going to kill me."
Alec warily sat down, "I really don't like the sound of this. But I promise."
"It's not something horrible." Biggs stated. "It's just that..."
"What?"
"I'm kind of..."
"You're kind of what?" Alec questioned.
"Mercy and I have been going out for the past year. We didn't tell you at first, 'cause we thought you'd overreact. Mercy decided that we should probably tell you now, 'cause she doesn't like keeping you in the dark, and...well neither do I. She felt that I should tell you because, I don't really know why." Biggs said quickly, glad to have gotten it all off of his chest.
Alec was silent for a couple of minutes which made Biggs weary. "You're going out with my sister?" Alec questioned rather calmly. "My baby sister?"
"Yes I am." Biggs replied, watching as Alec's nose flared. "You promised you weren't going to kill me."
"Who says I was?"
"The look on your face. It's your 'I'm going to kill you' look."
Alec clenched his teeth. "If you hurt her Biggs, I'll kill you."
"Which I understand completely." Biggs replied, raising his hands in an 'I surrender' way.
"And I'm sure Ben would help me, because Mercy is after all his sister too."
Biggs nodded. "I can understand. I thought you'd be taking this so much worse."
"I would be if it was any other X5 in this hell hole." Alec replied. "You just keep her safe, and don't hurt her. Or so help me Biggs, you'll feel one hundred times more pain then she felt."
"Ok, Alec. You're going all psycho Alec on me." Biggs stated.
"Just as long as you understand."
"I understand."
"Good." Alec grinned. "It's not like anything drastic has happened between the two of you."
Biggs laughed weakly, "Well you see..."
"What?"
"You know what? Never mind. I'm gonna try to get a couple more hours of sleep before we have to head to the mess hall." Biggs said quickly, as he laid down on his bunk.
Alec opened his mouth to question Biggs, but changed his mind. With a sigh he laid down on his own bunk, he needed to catch a few hours of sleep before the night had completely vanished. Biggs and him were just going to have to have a long talk later.
Max sat in the middle of her cell, on the floor. She was lucky, the X5 she was suppose to be sharing a cell with was, by the sounds of it, on a long term mission. This meant that Max had the cell to herself, for awhile anyway.
Max found herself thinking back to the life she had lived before she had been recaptured. All she could truly remember were bits and pieces. Faces mostly. The only things that really stuck in her head were the escape, and the day in the forest with Ben.
Max closed her eyes trying to force the memories to come to her.
Flashback
"Say something." Max whispered to the woman standing in front of her.
"What am I suppose to say? My home girl just tells me that she's not even human." The woman replied.
"I'm mostly human." Max stated. "I thought about telling you a million times, but... I was afraid to."
"What, you didn't think you could trust me?" she questioned.
"When you and me hooked up...It was like, all of a sudden, there was this part of my life where I didn't have to be hiding or fighting or anything else except... Trying to make a living and kicking it with my home girl, I never had that before- a friend. I was scared that if I told you what was up it would all change. And that you would look at me like you are right now- like I was some kind of freak you didn't even recognize."
"Dayum. All this time, I never knew."
"Is this going to change things?"
"No doubt. No doubt. There's some issues here Original Cindy's got to think on."
As the tears rolled down Max's cheeks, Original Cindy pulled her into a hug. At the same time the tears fell from Original Cindy's eyes.
End Flashback
Max smiled to herself. Her memories were coming back faster. Original Cindy. Her first true friend. Names and faces were flashing through her head now. Original Cindy. Sketchy. Kendra. Herbal. Normal. Logan. Max flinched. Logan, how could she forget him? He had done so much for her the past year. Had she made a mistake kissing Alec?
Flashback
"Max."
"I didn't know you wrote poetry."
"You startled me." Logan stated, as Max pulled his journal out of his hands. "It's not poetry."
"Looks like poetry to me." Max grinned.
"May I please have my book back?"
Rolling her eyes, Max sighed and gave Logan back his journal.
End Flashback
"Forever eyes. Dark. Somebody's angel." Max whispered to herself.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Ben questioned as he walked into the rec room.
When Mercy didn't say anything in reply Ben walked closer towards the couch. "You ok there Mercy?"
Mercy jumped slightly and turned to face Ben. "Couldn't sleep," she replied, giving Ben a small smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Felt like going for a stroll."
"A few hours before you had to get up?" Mercy mused.
"Woke up and couldn't fall back asleep." Ben replied sitting down on the couch, as Mercy pulled her knees to her chest making room for him.
Mercy didn't say anything else, she just stared ahead, almost lost in thought. Ben glanced over at her and could tell that something was bugging her. "So you going to tell me what's on your mind?"
"Don't really have anything on my mind." Mercy replied.
"You sure about that?"
"Positive."
"If you ever want to talk, I'm around."
"I know. Everyone is. So many people have told me that before." Mercy replied. "And when there's something I need to talk about. I'll find you or one of the others to talk with."
Ben sighed, and stood up. He was about to leave the room when Mercy said, "Wait,"
Ben turned around and faced Mercy, "What?"
"Have you ever felt guilty?" Mercy questioned, looking down at the floor.
"About what?"
"Killing." Mercy whispered so quietly that if Ben hadn't been genetically enhanced he wouldn't of heard her.
Sitting down again, Ben looked at her. "Yes," he replied simply. "I'm sure everyone has... does."
"Why doesn't the guilt keep us from killing again? I mean...you would think it would be enough to stop us, but it's not. No matter how much guilt racks up, it's never enough. It's never enough to stop us from killing, and feeling that guilt all over again." Mercy paused for a brief moment. "But I guess that's a good thing. Because if we couldn't kill, Manticore would get rid of us. We'd be considered failures, and we wouldn't be worth keeping around. All because we felt guilty for finishing a mission. All because we couldn't do it again."
"Manticore's messed up that way." Ben stated. "They only made us to do the things they can't do themselves."
"I don't think they wanted us to have emotions."
"But we do."
"It gets in the way sometimes. Prevents us from seeing things. They blind us." Mercy mused, still staring at the floor.
"But they make us human." Ben replied. "Emotions give us a choice. If we didn't have them, we'd be nothing but mindless drones. We'd do everything we're told."
"We do that already. Manticore gives us an order and we do it."
"But outside of Manticore, we don't have to listen. It's our life to live, not any one else's."
"But you see Ben we aren't out there. We're in here. And in here, emotions can get us killed."
Mercy looked up at Ben, and the look in her eyes caused him to shudder. The look in her eyes was one he had seen in his own so many times before. They were dark, and looked almost haunted.
Almost as if she had realized that she had said to much,. Mercy jumped up. "I...I gotta go. I need to do something."
"Mercy!" Ben called after her as she quickly left the room.
Ben clenched his jaw. He felt nervous now. Something about they way Mercy had been acting unnerved him. It was almost like she had some big dark secret she didn't want any one to know about. Maybe it was the big brother in him, but he felt a large need to keep an eye on her.
Six rolled over on her bunk, only to land on the floor. "Ow." She groaned as she sat up and looked around.
The lights were on, meaning she had an hour to get ready for breakfast. As Six stood up she realized that Mercy wasn't there. Usually Six had to wake Mercy up and make sure she got her act together. Shaking her head Six headed towards the small bathroom in the cell. Mercy had probably woken up early to go spend some time with Biggs.
Six quickly changed and washed up. Stretching she headed towards the rec room. "Might as well see if anyone else is up yet," she said to herself.
As soon as she entered the room she saw someone sitting on one of the couches. Walking further into the room she glanced over and thought that it was Alec, but quickly dismissed that thought. "Hey Ben."
Ben looked up and smiled at her, "Hey Six. How are you?"
"Not looking forward to another day at good old Manticore." Six replied, collapsing on the couch beside Ben. "I wish they'd send me out on another mission. It's been so long since I've gotten to leave Manticore."
"When was the last mission you went on?"
"Probably seven months ago." Six sighed. "Then there's Mercy who's been out on two missions in the past seven months. Why they choose her I'll never understand. She always comes back different after a mission."
"What do you mean she comes back different?" Ben questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"She...she's just not herself." Six shrugged. "It's almost like when she comes back from a mission a small part of her is lost. It takes her awhile to get back into the swing of things. It doesn't help that Biggs and Alec get all protective when she gets back."
"Do I sense a bit of jealousy?" Ben questioned.
"Not at all." Six laughed.
Silence fell between the two of them, which slightly unnerved Six. "So..." she trailed off.
"How do you feel about us '09ers?" Ben questioned.
Six opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. How did she feel? "I have to admit, when you guys ran. I hated all of you. You guys were traitors. Rats. Deserters. I felt abandoned, even though I didn't know you. After you guys left things got bad around here. Then I got to know you and Max. You guys aren't so bad, you just wanted freedom. We all do, but you guys were brave enough to attempt to get it. But really its not me you need to be asking that question. It's Alec, Mercy, and all of the other twins around here."
"Why?"
"They got it bad after you left. Worse then the rest of us. Manticore wanted to know what went wrong with you guys. They wanted to know why you had it in you to run. So they used your guys's twins, clones, to answer their questions."
Ben swallowed the lump in his throat. "Do you think they hate me?"
"I doubt it. I'm sure they enjoy having you around."
Max stood up from her spot on the floor of her cell. Dusting herself off, she quickly changed, washed up, and headed towards the Mess Hall. As she got her food, she scanned the room, looking for the others. She was beginning to think she was the first one there, when she saw Mercy sitting at the end of one of the tables. Max hurried to the table and sat down across from Mercy. "Hey."
Mercy gave Max a small smile, which seemed slightly forced. "Hey."
"Where's everyone else?" Max questioned, moving her food around on the plate. She was beginning to get the feeling that Mercy didn't really like her.
"Not sure, last I saw Ben he was in the rec room, and Six was in our cell. They're probably on their way here." Mercy replied.
Before either could say anything else Alec and Biggs showed up at the table. "So, you didn't have the heart to tell me that you're dating my best friend?" Alec questioned taking a seat beside Max.
"I didn't know how you'd react if I told you." Mercy replied, as Biggs took a seat beside her.
"Oh, so you were to chicken to tell him yourself?" Biggs questioned. "That's why you got me to tell him?"
Mercy laughed, "I guess so."
"You really didn't care if he killed me?"
"He wouldn't of exactly killed you." Mercy replied. "He might of hurt you, but I doubt he would of killed you."
"Who would have killed who?" Ben questioned as Six and himself sat down at the table.
Max glanced at Ben, "Biggs told Alec that Mercy and him are going out. It was possible that Alec would of killed Biggs."
"He wouldn't of killed Biggs," Mercy snorted. "He knows that if he did, I'd be upset. Then I'd probably have to kill him."
"I was right!" Ben exclaimed happily. "See I told you Alec."
Alec rolled his eyes, "Yea, yea, yea. You were right. I was wrong."
"Wow, you're a pretty big man for admitting that." Mercy grinned.
Alec's reply was cut off, by the static of the rarely used P.A. system. "X5-441, X5-289, X5-754, X5-309, and X5-613 please report to debriefing room two."
Everyone at the table glanced at Mercy, who's smile had faded. As Mercy stood up she looked at them and said, "I'll see you guys in training or in the rec room. Never know how long these things take."
The group watched as Mercy quickly left the Mess Hall, meeting a few other X5's at the door. As the doors closed behind her Max looked at the others, "I'll...be back."
"Where are you going?" Six questioned.
"Bathroom." Max smiled at Six, as she stood up, and picked up her plate of food.
"And you're bringing your food with you?" Alec questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't trust it to still be here when I get back." Max stated, quickly leaving before anything else could be said.
As Max made her way down the hall she watched and listened for guards. Quietly she made her way down the flight of stairs she had gone down the night before. When she finally got to where she was headed she looked around. "Joshua." She whispered, afraid someone above might hear her. "Where are you?"
"Here." Joshua's voice came from a small distance away.
Max smiled to herself as she headed in Joshua's direction. "I brought you food Josh. Like I promised you I would."
"Thank you." Joshua smiled up at Max, taking the plate from her.
Max sat down on a crate opposite of Joshua, "You ever get lonely down here?"
"Lonely down here by myself." Joshua nodded. "Company would be nice."
"I'll try to come visit whenever I can." Max stated. "It's hard with training and guards all around, but I'll do my best to visit."
"Max stay for awhile?"
"I have to get back upstairs." Max sighed. "If I'm gone to long the others are going to worry and come looking for me, and I don't know how that'll turn out. That and I have to be out in the training fields in a bit. If I don't show up for that I'm dead."
"Max go." Joshua nodded, finishing the food Max had brought for him "Come back later, to visit."
Max smiled, and stood up, "I'll do my best."
"Good." Joshua grinned, giving Max the plate.
"Bye big fella."
"Bye little fella." Joshua replied
Max spared Joshua one last look before quickly heading back up the stairs to the mess hall.
"X5-613 will be your commanding officer on the mission. X5-289 will be second in command. I expect this mission to go without any flaws. It shouldn't take you more then a week or two to complete. You've been given all the information, and will be leaving tomorrow evening. Understood?" Renfro's voice echoed around the room.
"Yes, ma'am!" The X5s chorused.
"Good. You're dismissed for now. Go immediately to the training field. X5-613, I need to talk to you."
As the others filed out of the room, Mercy swallowed the lump in her throat. What had she done now? "You are one of the best soldiers here 613." Renfro stated as the door closed.
"Thank you, ma'am." Mercy replied, looking forward. "Permission to ask a question, ma'am."
Renfro looked at her before saying, "Permission granted."
"Why did you choose me as the commanding officer? There are far better choices out there."
"I've been keeping my eyes on you 613. You seem to like to get your missions over with as soon as you possibly can." Renfro replied. "It appears to me that you never let anything get in the way of your mission. Which is a good quality for a commanding officer. Which brings me to why I asked you to stay. I want you to report to Psy-Ops for an evaluation before you join the others in training. I've noticed that you seem to suffer from a guilty conscience whenever you come back from the missions I send you on.
"A guilty conscience isn't a good thing. It can screw up your mission big time. So before I send you on this mission I want Psy Ops to evaluate you. I need to know if it's a risk to send you back out on a mission. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Mercy replied.
Renfro nodded, "You're dismissed. Head straight to Psy Ops. I'm letting them know you're on your way there."
Mercy nodded and left the room. As soon as the door closed behind her she shuddered. Psy-Ops? Evaluation? Guilty Conscience? Risk? She hated Psy-Ops. It was a horrible place where horrible things happened. Why did Renfro have to send her there? Why couldn't Renfro have a little faith in her? After all, she'd never failed a single mission. She didn't need to be sent to Psy Ops.
Mercy took a deep breath as she got closer to the room marked 'Psy-Ops'. This little trip was going to be hell on her. Taking a step into the room, she felt eyes watching her. "I'm X5-613, Renfro sent me here for an evaluation."
The man in the lab coat standing on the other side of the room looked at her. "Follow me 613."
Mercy took another deep breath as she followed him into the next room. All she wanted to do now was run away as fast as she possibly could. If she tried though, she knew that it would only cause her more problems. As soon as the door closed behind her she became afraid, so very afraid.
"Have any of you seen Mercy?" Biggs questioned as he walked into the rec room.
Alec looked up at his friend from the chair he was sitting on and shook his head, "Not since this morning. Which is odd, because I saw all the others that were called to the briefing room. Even talked to 289 and 754. They told me Renfro had Mercy stay behind."
"She's probably hiding out in our cell." Six mused from where she sat on one of the couches between Ben and Max. "I can go check if the two of you would like me to."
"If you're talking about me, no need." Mercy's voice flowed through the room. "I'm right here."
Biggs turned around and grinned at Mercy, but his grin disappeared when he saw her appearance. She looked pale, and tired. "You ok?" he questioned, "Where have you been? I almost thought you were going to miss out on dinner."
"I'm fine. Renfro had me running around doing a bunch of things for her." Mercy quickly replied, walking further into the room. "I'm gonna be commanding officer of my next mission, which starts tomorrow night."
"You're leaving tomorrow?" Biggs questioned looking at her
"Yea." Mercy replied sitting down on the other couch. "I have a full day of training tomorrow and then I head out with the others. Should be back within the next two weeks."
Alec looked at Mercy, "Wait... you're going to be commanding officer?"
"That is what I said isn't it?" Mercy questioned.
"That's awesome!" Alec grinned.
"Yea right." Mercy laughed. "You're probably thinking 'I should be in her place right now'."
"Now why would you say that?" Alec questioned.
Mercy rolled her eyes but didn't reply. A silence soon filled the room, as Mercy pondered whether or not to tell them where she had truly been. Looking down at her hands she froze. They were caked in dry blood. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of it. Couldn't anyone else see it? Looking up she glanced around the room, no one was looking at her differently. Ben, Max, Alec, and Six were talking to each other, and Biggs was sitting beside her.
The only explanation was that she was seeing things. She closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping it would get rid of what she had seen. When she opened her eyes and looked down again she was surprised to see it hadn't disappeared. Mercy quickly stood up and said, "I'll be right back," before she left the room.
Mercy hurried down the halls to the cell she shared with Six. What had Psy-Ops done to her? Could she even blame this on Psy-Ops? She ran the water in the sink as soon as she got into the cell. As she scrubbed at her hands she looked up at the mirror and shuddered at her appearance.
"How many people have you killed?" she whispered to herself, looking down at her now raw looking hands. Taking a step back from the sink she looked up again at her reflection, "How much blood have you shed?"
Mercy could feel, and see the tears now flowing from her eyes. Not bothering to turn off the running water she backed up into the wall. She brought her hands to her face as she began to sob, and slid down the wall. All her guilt was now coming out, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She had killed so many people, some were innocent people. Maybe Renfro was on the right track. Maybe Mercy was beginning to become a flight risk.
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Next one will hopefully be up next week sometime. Don't forget to leave a review telling us what you think!
