Disclaimer: All characters and settings from Dark Angel belong solely to their creator, which is most definitely not me, I'm just playing around.
Authors Note: Thank you to all readers particularly those who have submitted a review or added this story to their alerts or favourites. I really appreciate it.
Prodigal Daughter : Chapter 1 : The wanderer returns
Colonel Donald Lydecker could feel his head starting to pound already as he looked down at the girl lying unconscious at his feet. Somehow he had to salvage this capture from the complete logistical nightmare it had become. His men were originally going to cover the exits and grab Max when she exited the room, but the terrorist invasion had scuppered that plan completely. Then again maybe this could work out for the best.
Motioning over his Lieutenant, Deck urged him and some of his men to remove the other conscious hostages except for the young boy Jude. His men hadn't been quite quick enough, and Dr Tanaka and his bodyguards had been caught in the crossfire.
The terrorists were all out for the count, either dead or knocked out with tranquilisers. He could just explain that Max or Rachel Glasser as she was calling herself here had been caught in the crossfire and killed instantly in case anyone was looking for her. Motioning over his Sergeant he sent him to acquire Dr Tanaka's research whilst some other men started to bag up the bodies.
Once the place was cleared he had all Dr Tanaka's research as well as Max and the boy Jude on their way back to Manticore. Meanwhile he prepared himself to go and deal with the press.
Logan Cale was sat at his computer working on some information he'd acquired about corruption in the mayor's office when Bling's voice broke into his thoughts. "Logan, you need to see this." Sighing loudly Logan pushed backwards from his computer before making his way through to the lounge as a breaking news story was underway. Logan and Bling listened intently as the newsreader continued to describe the story.
"I repeat a failed terrorist attack at the Steinlitz hotel has led to the capture of Jon Darius the leader of the May 22nd movement as well as many of his followers. Sadly it appears that a number of hostages were killed by the terrorists before the special-forces team could capture them. We are now going live to the scene where the leader of the special-forces team Colonel Lydecker is about to make a statement."
Deck took a deep breath before stepping in front of the mass of reporters. "We have been tracking the May 22nd movement for the past 6 months. We received an anonymous tip 2 hours ago that they were about to attack the genetics conference here at the Steinlitz hotel. A team was assembled immediately to prevent this attack. However, we were too late to prevent this attack from occurring. We were able to apprehend or defeat all the members of the movement here including their leader Jon Darius. Sadly we were unable to prevent the deaths of four hostages and injuries to 5 others before we could attack. Names of the hostages who were injured or killed will be released after their families have been notified. It appears that the terrorists aim was to kidnap Jude a young boy under the care of Dr Tanaka. He has now been taken into protective custody. This has indeed been a tragic day for the scientific community to have been attacked in this manner. Our thoughts go out to the families of those who are no longer with us, and to the injured. Thank you." Deck finished before walking quickly off the makeshift stage and to his black hummer.
"Max" Logan whispered to himself as he stared at the screen.
"What do you mean, Max" Bling asked him curiously.
"Max was at the conference, and I don't by that load of bull for a second. Colonel Lydecker is the man that's been hunting her for the past 10 years there's no way he was after the May 22nd movement, and I very much doubt any of them would have tipped anybody off. I interviewed Darius a few years ago and all his supporters were as fanatical as him if not more so. I need to know what happened there. Maybe Matt Sung can help me." Logan said as he made his way back towards his computer desk to call his friend.
Max could hear people talking all around her, but it was completely blurry. Her eyes fluttered open slightly to try and take in her surroundings. Black spots danced in front of her eyes as she struggled to focus. She was lying in some kind of truck, and she could feel it slowing down. She tried to lift her arms but they wouldn't move. She could feel metal against her wrists and ankles. Obviously she was chained down to some kind of stretcher. She could make out a few figures around her. There were men in black special ops outfits in front driving the truck, and there were two men on either side of her their guns trained on her. Even if she wasn't feeling so weak and chained down there's no way she could take out all four of them from this angle before one of them got a shot off at her. "Don't you think this is a bit much" Max quipped at them but even she could hardly make out her own words. She was too groggy from whatever tranquiliser they'd shot into her.
Suddenly the truck stopped, briefly before continuing on. She could make out a 16ft razor topped wire fence. That would certainly clue her in about her whereabouts if nothing else. Fear gripped at her heart as she realised exactly where they were taking her. "Back to sleep, 452." She heard one of the guards say as she felt a pinch on her arm before darkness overtook her once again.
494 stood with the rest of his unit on the parade ground as the convoy of trucks and hummers rolled in front of the building. He saw Lydecker get out of the first hummer along with a young boy he'd never seen before. He certainly didn't appear to be an X from the way he moved. He seemed to be an ordinary. From the back of one truck he could see the team removing some computer equipment. Whilst from another he saw a stretcher being removed. His eyes zoomed in on the figure. "453" he whispered to himself, but why would she need to be brought in like that. "Take her straight down to Psy-ops and hooked up. The sooner we can get her re-indoctrinated the better." He heard the Colonel saying to the men carrying the girl before he walked into the building with the small boy.
He knew he shouldn't be curious about why they were bringing her in, but hey he was a cat or at least part cat anyway. With his Manticore mask firmly in place he decided that he'd find out tonight when Vic, one of the guards, came to his cell to collect the Cuban cigars he'd picked up on his recent mission.