All of Us -- Chapter 11

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.).

“I’ve almost got it,” Becky said as she typed away at a computer in the control room in Terminal City. “How does this look?”

Dix looked over her shoulder. “Not bad. It just needs another line of the code.” He continued to monitor Becky’s progress. “Yeah, that’s it. You’re not too bad at this programming stuff.”

“I had to pass my programming and hacking classes before I got cleared for solo ops and was deemed fully trained,” Becky pointed out. She shrugged. “I’d rather be out on sentry duty or sparring in the gym but I got the damn pins taken out of my leg yesterday afternoon and the guy who took them out told me that I have to be on crutches until tomorrow.”

Zack, who’d also been standing behind Becky, winced. “Sorry.”

“Zack, it’s been two weeks since Max went into heat,” Becky said. “I accepted your apology when you first made it when we were stuck in med bay. It’s fine.”

Zack nodded. “You’re lucky that you’re this good at programming. I’m okay, but I don’t like it that much and I haven’t had as much training in this area as you have.”

“I never said I liked it either,” Becky said. “Xavier is much better at it than I am, and I’ve got a few years of training on him.” She clicked with her mouse and grinned. “This security system is a great idea.”

“It’s a good thing that Max grabbed the database when Manticore burned and let us copy it or we’d never be able to get this off the ground,” Luke agreed from his own computer. “Okay, all transgenic security cameras are back online and running smoothly. I’d say they’re running better than they were before.” He spoke into the headset that he was wearing. “We’re ready for testing. Biggs, Jondy, May, Lake, are you guys ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Biggs reported. He stood in front of main gate in Terminal City, apparently blending in with the people that were standing around, gawking or protesting.

“Sure,” Jondy said. She stood near the west gate.

“Absolutely,” May, an X6, confirmed. She stood near the south gate.

“I’m good,” Lake, an X3, said. He stood near the east gate.

Luke entered a command into the computer, activating the security system. Almost immediately, his monitor split into four windows, each one with a picture of one of the transgenics outside and a short blurb of information. He grinned. “Good work, you guys. The system is running great. You can come back when you’re ready.”

“Nah, I think I’ll see if I can get laid with one of these bozos,” Jondy said sarcastically. “The guy over here holding the ‘transgenics are evil’ sign looks pretty cute.”

“Jondy,” Zack warned.

“I was kidding,” Jondy said. “I’m heading in now.”

Zack sighed. “Good. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He looked over at the clock on the wall. “I’m going to head over to the gym. Becky, do you want to come with me?”

“Yeah, sure,” Becky said. “I can still do some upper body work. Do you guys need me here?”

“Nah, you can go,” Dix told her.

“Thanks,” Becky said. She got up and she and Zack left the control room and the building and headed over towards the gym. “It’s a nice day out today.”

“Yeah,” Zack agreed. “The crowds aren’t too bad outside today. It’s nice to see that they’re finding better outdoor activities to participate in today than to stand outside of the fence and annoy us.”

“There’s barely any military outside, too,” Becky noted. “It’s a good thing that none of those morons can stay in here for too long without eventually needing a radiation suit. If things stay like this, we’ll be pretty set up. I don’t think things will stay like this, but even I dream sometimes.”

“So do I,” Zack said. He saw the look on Becky’s face and felt concerned. “Are you okay, Becky?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Becky said. “I’m just missing the rest of my family. The other half of us hasn’t gotten to Terminal City yet and I don’t have any contact with them. It’s driving me crazy. I have every confidence in the world that they can stay underneath White’s fucked up radar and stay safe or at least know how to get themselves out of trouble, but I just wish that there was a way that I could get out there and find them.” She laughed bitterly. “Yeah, I could go out and find them. I could ride around the country at night when people are less likely to be out and the shield on my motorcycle helmet hides my face so the chances of people recognizing me are minimized. I’ll find them eventually and if they happen to turn up at Terminal City when I’m out looking for them, I’d only be a phone call away. What’s to stop me from going out and doing that? It’s not like I wasn’t hiding my identity before that whole hostage bullshit. Instead of going out there and finding the rest of my family, I’m hiding here like a selfish little brat who only thinks of herself.”

“Becky, you are anything but selfish,” Zack insisted. “You know how dangerous it is even for you to be out there away from Terminal City for that long now that you are exposed as a transgenic. By staying here, you are minimizing the chances that White will pull not only you in, but your other siblings if you do go out and look for and find them. You’re still protecting them. Besides, how much do you want to bet that White has thought of that situation?”

Becky nodded. “You’re right. I’m just feeling a little down today.”

“We’re all entitled to our bad days,” Zack said. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

The two of them sat down on the steps of the building across the street from the gym. “Speaking of finding siblings, how long did it take you to find yours?” Becky asked.

“Anywhere from months to years,” Zack admitted. “Max was the first one that I found. I found her six months after the escape when she was living near Las Vegas, but you know how long it was before I actually made contact with her. I found Rena and Zane just over a month later in New Jersey. I found Brin another eight months after that in Oregon and she told me that she and Elle had to split up the night of the escape. It was another year after I found Brin that I found Tinga and Wayne down in Florida. I found Jondy in Santa Monica only a month later but then it was another ten months before I found Krit and Syl in Chicago. Ben and Reese were the last two that I found and I found them about two years after I found Krit and Syl. Max convinced Jace to break free of Manticore and I never found Elle and Parker and Kenny and it wasn’t until the night that we found out about the two of us being physically related that I found out that the three of them had died.”

“I hope that it doesn’t take me that long to find 367, 029, 570, 144, and 887,” Becky said.

“It won’t,” Zack assured her. “They’ll find their way here soon. Trust me.”

“I will,” Becky promised. “I always trust you.” She smiled. “Thank you, Zack.”

“You’re welcome, baby sister,” Zack said. “Do you want to go see me beat the hell out of somebody now?”

“That sounds like fun,” Becky said, laughing. They got up off of the steps and headed into the gym.

TBC