All of Us -- Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, 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 (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Here it is! This is the sequel to “Where Were You?” and “Together.” This starts about a day after “Together” ended. Enjoy!

Max wandered over to a parking garage in Terminal City. She headed downstairs to the lowest level and grinned at the motorcycles and other vehicles parked there. “Having an actual garage here is a great idea. Even I was getting sick of keeping my bike in my apartment.”

“I hear ya,” Rena agreed. She was focused on cleaning her own motorcycle with a rag. “You want to hear something scary? My apartment here is better than the one that I held in the city. It’s bigger, anyway. My old apartment was practically a closet. This one’s a walk-in closet.”

“I know what you mean,” Max said, laughing. “You should have seen the apartment that I was living in back in San Francisco. It was so tiny, I barely had room for myself and my baby. I wish that I’d had a garage then, but even if I did I was so paranoid about people stealing my bike that I probably still would have kept it in the apartment.”

“You kept that beautiful piece of machinery in a tiny-ass apartment?” Rena said. “So did I, but it worried me because I was constantly afraid that I would bang it up really good when I was just taking the thing out of the apartment when I wanted to go for a ride.”

“I did, but it wasn’t that bike,” Max told her. “I’d crashed my bike one night about two months before I left San Francisco and came to Seattle. It wasn’t that bad of an accident and I was perfectly fine, but it bent some of the gears beyond what I could fix quickly and I could hear people coming to see what had happened, so I ditched the bike. It was too bad because that bike was a thing of beauty. It kind of reminded me of my Ninja. Gorgeous and black and sleek…oh well. I got another bike that was okay right after that and then I picked up this baby when I got into Seattle. Three years and it’s in perfect condition.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Rena admitted. “Not as much as this beauty right here, but still nice.”

“Very funny,” Max said. “I’m going to meet Syl and Zack over at what passes for a gym over here and we’re gonna maybe go at it for a few rounds. You in?”

“Sure,” Rena said. “I love to watch them get their asses kicked.”

Max laughed. “Let’s go.”

The two of them walked over to the large warehouse that some of the transgenics living in Terminal City had set up as a gym. They heard the sounds of two people sparring inside and opened the door and walked in to find a group of people watching Becky and Jeff go at it. They found Syl and Zack standing near the front of the group and walked over to them.

“How long have they been fighting?” Rena asked.

“Eleven minutes so far,” Zack informed her.

Rena whistled. “They’re good.”

“I say twenty dollars that Becky will beat Jeff,” Kyle said from where he was sitting with Wes and Kevin and Vance.

Wes shook his head. “Twenty on Jeff. He’ll beat her.”

“I’m putting my money on Becky,” Kevin said. “I’m good for twenty also. Vance?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Vance said. “Twenty on Jeff.”

“Boys,” Max commented, shaking her head. “They’re the same everywhere. I’m half surprised that Alec’s not here to get in on that pool.”

“What pool?” Alec wondered.

Max jumped and turned around to face him. “Some of Becky’s and Jeff’s brothers are getting a pool together on who will win.”

“Put me in for twenty on Jeff,” Alec said.

“Oh come on, Alec,” Max said. “You’re actually betting against Becky?”

“Hey, Jeff and I are from the same facility,” Alec pointed out. “I’ve got to show some support for the home team.”

“Right on, buddy,” Wes said.

They watched as the boys got some more people to join in on their pool and as Becky and Jeff continued to fight. It didn’t look like it was going to end any time soon, until finally Jeff made a mistake and left his right side open and Becky elbowed him in the kidney area and he went down and stayed there catching his breath. Becky helped him up and they hugged and gave each other a kiss while the people who were watching cheered and their younger brothers made gagging noises. They walked over to where Zack, Max, Syl, Rena, Alec, Kyle, Kevin, Wes, and Vance were sitting.

“How long did it run?” Becky asked breathlessly as she reached for her water bottle and drank from it.

“Fifteen minutes, twenty-one seconds,” Kevin reported. “Not bad.”

“Thanks,” Becky said. She looked at Jeff, concerned. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you with that last shot?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Jeff assured her. “It takes a harder hit than that to bruise one of our kidneys.” He grabbed his own water bottle and drank. “Damn, that was a good workout.”

“I’d say,” Syl said. “You guys were impressive.”

“Thanks,” Becky said. “I need a shower so bad right now.”

“I’ll agree with that one,” Kyle said. He winced as Becky smacked him across the back of his head. “Yeah, thanks, I really needed that one.”

“Punk.” Becky shook her head.

“Who’s next?” one of the other people in the room asked.

“I’ll go,” Zack said. “Who wants to go against me?”

“I think Kyle volunteered himself a minute ago,” Becky said, smiling sweetly at him.

“Yeah, thanks,” Kyle muttered. He got up and followed Zack to the center of the room. “I’ve gotten better since the last time you kicked my ass.”

“Prove it,” Zack said.

“This should be good,” Max commented. She grinned wickedly. “Who are you going to bet on, Becky?”

“Very funny,” Becky said.

“I thought it was,” Kevin remarked, counting the money that he’d won from the pool.

“You actually placed bets on who would win?” Becky said incredulously.

“Yeah, what did you think that we would do?” Kevin said. “Hey, I bet that you would win!”

“Should I kill him?” Becky asked the others.

“Um…no?” Kevin said.

“Yeah, I think I’ll let you off easy.” Becky ruffled his hair. She looked over to where Zack had knocked Kyle to the ground. “Whether Zack lets Kyle off easy, on the other hand…”

“Oooh, this is going to be a close one,” Vance said. “Twenty on Zack.”

“You just lost twenty dollars and you’re still betting?” Jeff wondered.

“The only reason you’re not betting is because you don’t want your girlfriend to kick your ass again,” Wes said.

“I should owe you an ass kicking for that one,” Jeff said.

Wes winced. “Crap.”

“Is it just me, Jeff, or should we be keeping our respective younger brothers on a choke collar sometimes?” Becky asked.

“I agree,” Jeff said.

“Don’t worry,” Max assured them. “They’ll grow out of it.” She looked over to where Alec was placing his bet with Vance. “Maybe not.”

“Men,” Rena said.

“Oh yeah,” Max agreed.

TBC