All of Us -- Chapter 17a

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.).

Caroline slowed her Jeep down to a stop and parked it near several military vehicles. She grabbed her folder, got out of the car, and walked up through the crowd over to where the military had set up several tents. She looked around and started to go over to a soldier to ask where the general in charge was, but was interrupted by a voice.

“Caroline Robinson? Is that you?”

Caroline grinned and walked up to the man who had spoken. “Dennis Murphy. It’s been a long time since I last saw you.”

“West Point, May of 1994, the week before I graduated,” he agreed. “You look great. You don’t look a day over forty-six.”

“Very funny,” Caroline said, laughing. “And I’m not. My forty-sixth birthday isn’t until July.”

“I know, I was kidding,” Dennis said. “Seriously, don’t look much past forty, if that.”

“Thank you.” Caroline gestured to Dennis’ uniform. “You’ve definitely come a long way. Four stars. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Dennis said. “What about you? You were only a freshman when I graduated, but you were definitely on the fast track back at West Point. I thought you’d be only a star or two behind me at this point but you’re still only a colonel. What happened?”

“This and that,” Caroline said somewhat evasively. If you knew the reason that I think is the reason why they held me back… “I was in a car accident about eight years ago and it took me a long time to recover, so that set me back awhile.”

Dennis looked at her. “You can always tell me the entire story later.”

“Thanks, I will,” Caroline said. “You’re looking pretty good yourself. Either my eyes are going or the only grey on or in your head is still the color of your eyes.”

“Nope, those eyes of yours aren’t betraying you yet,” Dennis said with a smirk. “You still look like you pass for a beauty queen. All you need is the blond dye-job and the implants.”

“I’m so sorry that I was cursed with brown hair,” Caroline teased.

“Are you married?” Dennis asked.

“No, divorced,” Caroline informed him. “It became final about a month ago, actually. We were married for twenty-one years, but things fell apart after my accident and I stayed in the marriage for as long as I did after that pretty much for my daughter’s sake. I have a ten-year-old daughter with my ex. Her name’s Jennifer. How about you? Are you and Simone still married?”

“No, we divorced three years after the last time that we talked. I remarried about two years after that divorce became final, but my second wife, Brooke, and I called it quits ten years later,” Dennis admitted. “Brooke and I are still on fairly good terms and we speak to each other occasionally. I just broke it off with my latest girlfriend before I got assigned to come here to Seattle for this assignment. I don’t have any children. You’re lucky.”

“Yeah, I am,” Caroline agreed.

“Listen, why don’t we go inside and start talking business,” Dennis suggested. “We can finish catching up later.”

“Good idea,” Caroline said. Dennis led her into one of the tents and they sat down at the table that had been set up in the middle of it. She put down her folder. “Here’s information that I was given about some of the transgenics.”

“Let’s see what you’ve got,” Dennis said.

Caroline looked him right in the eye. “Are you sure about this, Dennis?”

“Yeah,” Dennis said. He started to say more, but he caught the look on Caroline’s face. “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”

“I wouldn’t exactly classify it as wrong,” Caroline said. “You remember when we met up when we were both donating for that government research project that was testing that medication that promoted cell regeneration and how they needed different types of cells?”

“Including reproductive cells,” Dennis recalled. He frowned as he realized what Caroline was about to say. “That was a front for Manticore?”

Caroline nodded and took out two pieces of paper from the folder and slid them over to Dennis. “Take a look for yourself. These two are pretty undeniable evidence of that, wouldn’t you say?”

Dennis took the papers and his eyes widened. “Oh my God.” He looked back and forth from the information, to Caroline, and even himself for several long moments. “Caroline, are they...?”

“They are,” Caroline confirmed. “I came across information completely by accident a couple of years ago that confirmed that he was my son.  After seeing the resemblances between the two of them and the two of us...it’s pretty clear, isn’t it?”

Dennis nodded. “No denying it.  How--”

“Excuse me, General,” a young soldier interrupted, sticking his head in the tent. “There’s an NSA agent here to see you.”

“We’ll be right out,” Dennis told him. He handed the papers back to Caroline, who put them back in her folder and they marched out of the tent and over to where White was standing nearby. “Can I help you?”

“Special Agent Ames White, NSA,” he said, showing them his badge. “I’m in charge of the operation.”

“I’m sorry, but you need to recheck your information,” Dennis said coldly. “The whole Manticore cleanup operation, which includes the situation here in Seattle, is a joint operation between the military and the NSA. You might be coordinating the teams that are rounding up the transgenics that are on the loose, but the military is in command of this specific situation here.”

White nodded, slightly unnerved. Something’s off here. They seem familiar to me. “My apologies.” He opened up a folder of his own. “General Dennis Murphy and Colonel Caroline Nelson?”

“Robinson,” Caroline corrected. She didn’t like White one bit already. “I dropped the last name the second my divorce became final last month.”

“How can we help you, Agent White?” Dennis asked.

“I just wanted an update on the situation,” White said.

“Not much to update,” Dennis said. “They haven’t done anything to warrant any kind of action yet. We’ve noticed a few transgenics wandering about within Terminal City as far as we can make out and we assume that there are some out on sentry duty, but they’re keeping themselves hidden. You will be notified should something occur.”

“Of course.” White nodded. “You’ve reviewed the information that you received about the transgenics?”

“We’re in the process,” Caroline told him. “Why? Do you have any addition information that’s missing from what we received?”

“No,” White lied. He couldn’t tell them everything about his run-ins with Max and Zack and Becky and Alec and the others without giving away too much about himself. “I guess that will be all for now.”

“Good,” Dennis said. “Check back in with us tomorrow if you like.”

“I might do that,” White said. He turned around and left.

Dennis and Caroline watched him go and then turned around and walked back into the tent. “So that’s the prick who’s been hunting them down,” Caroline remarked, disgusted. “What an asshole.”

“I didn’t like him at all either,” Dennis agreed. “He’s got his own agenda, I can tell that much from him already, and I’ve got a feeling that agenda of his is dangerous for them.”

“Right now, so are we,” Caroline pointed out. She laughed bitterly. “How sick is that?”

“We’ll try not to be dangerous to them,” Dennis swore. “We won’t hurt them at all if we can help it.”

White got back into his limo and sat down and picked up his cell phone and dialed his office. “Fenos’tol.”

“Fenos’tol. What can I do for you, buddy?” Stephen asked.

“I need you to get all the information you can and everything you can’t on the two people that are in charge of the military forces outside of Terminal City,” White said. “I need you to work your other contacts on this one because it’ll look suspicious if I have my people do it.”

“No problem,” Stephen said. “Who are they?”

“General Dennis Murphy and Colonel Caroline Robinson,” White told him. “She might also be under the last name Nelson. She apparently has recently been divorced and Robinson is her maiden name.”

“Got it,” Stephen said. “You need to know just who you’re dealing with, huh?”

“Absolutely,” White said. I need to know why they are so familiar to me. Why do I have a feeling that it’s as critical as it is to know who they are?

TBC