Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Jondy, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Elle/X5-164, etc.).

Chapter 4: Eva (X5-766)

I yawned and stretched as I heard the bugles wake us up. I grinned. If we were lucky, today would be the day that Zack would come back to us. It's been three months since Unit 7 tried to escape and they took Zack and all those other commanding officers to Psy Ops as a precaution. The members of Unit 7 that hadn't made it over the perimeter fence still haven't come back from Psy Ops. I shudder to think of how they're doing.

"It's a beautiful morning," Jondy said cheerfully as she practically bounced out of her bunk. "Look out of that window. Blue sky, no clouds, it is so gorgeous out there!"

"Calm down," Max said, but she was also grinning. "We'll be going on the parachuting run after breakfast so calm down."

"Calm down? How can you possibly be calm when you're about to do one of the greatest things ever known to mankind?" Jondy asked.

"Does anybody have anything that we can strap her down with?" Tinga asked.

"Leave Jondy alone," Wayne said. "I think that she's right. Parachuting out of an airplane is the biggest thrill ever. I'm glad I don't leave for my probation mission until Wednesday so that I won't miss this."

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"The preliminary briefing I got yesterday said that those X3s and I would be heading out to China," Wayne said. "Manticore got intel that there would be an illegal weapons exchange happening and we need to break it up and return the weapon to the nearest American military base, where it would be shipped back to the lab it had been stolen from in California."

"That sounds like fun," Rena said.

"Your sense of fun is warped sometimes, Rena," Elle said.

"I see nothing wrong with actually getting out of this place for awhile, even if it is only out on a mission," Rena said. "Besides, if the bad guys actually are bad, then it's fun watching them getting theirs."

"I agree," Kenny said. "Hey, Zane, remember that mission that you and I went on and those guys came across one of your special surprises? The looks on their faces when they recognized the explosives were priceless!" He saw the looks on some of the faces of the others and he smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, these guys were about as low as you could get. They were causing unrest in the region and everything that we had been told in our briefing that they had been doing, but when we got to their compound, we came across these poor kids. They were starving them and the X4s on our team said they were using them for other vile things. I asked them what kinds of things, but they didn't want to tell me. It must have been really bad because after some of the X4s entered one of the rooms where some of the kids were being held, they got this really angry look on their faces and they really did a number on the enemies that were in that room with the kids."

Zane nodded. "I remember that mission." He tried to lighten the mood. "You know, Kenny's right. The looks on those guys' faces when they saw one of my 'special bombs' was absolutely perfect. I think they looked something like this." He made a really funny face and a bunch of us laughed.

"Come on, you guys," Max said. She tried to sound commanding, but she had an amused look on her face. "We need to get showered and changed before we have to report out to the field for line up and roll call."

"She's right."

Oh my God! Zack was back! The spilt second that the guard that had brought him back to the barracks had closed the door behind him and was out of earshot, we ran up to Zack and surrounded him. We missed him so much!

"Zack, I've been so worried," Max said. She gave him a big hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Maxie," he assured her. "Everybody says I'm good to go."

"Does that mean that you're in charge again?" Ben asked, pretending to be disappointed.

"Yes, it does," Zack said.

"Good," Ben said. He smiled genuinely and gave Zack a hug. "I missed you, big brother."

"I missed you too, Ben," Zack said. "I missed all of you." He caught a glimpse of the clock. "We need to hurry if we're going to be on time for line up and roll call."

Kenny laughed. "It's official. Our big brother is definitely back." We grinned and started to head for the showers. I turned around for a sec and saw Zack looking at us. I saw a look pass through his eyes that worried me a little bit. Max also saw it.

"Zack, are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Maxie," he said.

"Psy Ops?" Max said quietly, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Yeah," Zack replied. I turned around and continued to showers when I heard the two of them following the rest of us. We went through our normal early morning routine like normal, except that most of us were in a jubilant mood because of Zack's return. I was happy, but I couldn't help be worried for Zack. He did just come out of months of Psy Ops. I finished getting dressed for the day and turned to Max.

"Zack's okay, isn't he?" I asked.

"I think he is," Max said. "At the very least, he will be soon. I can't imagine being stuck in Psy Ops for as long as he had been." She sighed. "We'll be there for him."

I giggled. "Whether he wants it or not." Max giggled too. Zack's stubborn streak occasionally bordered on infamous.

"Oh yeah," Max agreed.

"Let's hurry it up," Zack said from where he was standing near the door.

"No doubt about it, he's back," I said.

"Yeah," Max said. Her stomach growled. "And if we don't hurry up, I'm never gonna get breakfast." We giggled again and went over to the door and lined up to go outside.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, Kelzaa, and lady marauder for their reviews and support!