All of Us -- Chapter 17b

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.).

“Look who’s here,” Max said quietly as she watched from the window of a nearby building as she stood on sentry duty. “Everbody’s favorite asshole.”

“White?” Krit guessed. He peeked out the window and saw White talking with Caroline and Dennis before leaving. “Well, he’s leaving now. Looks like he wanted a chat with the general and his second-in-command.”

“That’s not a surprise,” Max said. “What are they like?”

“I don’t know,” Krit said. He frowned. “There’s something odd here. They don’t want to hurt us.”

“Well, that’s nice to know,” Max remarked.

“Max, I’m serious and I think they are too,” Krit said. “First of all, neither of them appears to trust White farther than they can throw him. Second of all, he mentions to her that he’s got the feeling that White has his own thing going and it’s dangerous to us and she points out that the two of them are dangerous to us too. Then she kind of laughed, sort of like how Becky does sometimes when she’s talking about something that’s frustrating her or getting her down, and says ‘How sick is that?’ Why would she say something like that? To which the general replies ‘We’ll try not to be dangerous to them. We won’t hurt them at all if we can help it.’ They want to protect all of us, or at the very least a few of us specifically.”

Max frowned. “That is weird.” She zoomed in on Caroline and Dennis and took in everything, their uniforms, their name tags, everything. She focused in on Caroline’s face and gasped in surprise. “Her eyes,” she whispered. Her mind went back to early August.

“Don’t worry, Zack will be here in a few minutes,” Max told Becky after she disconnected her cell phone. “Just hang tight.”

“Hang tight…yeah, sure,” Becky muttered.

“Don’t worry,” Logan said. “Is there anything that you want to look up while you’re waiting for Zack?”

“Hell, while we’re on the subject, how about my biological parents?” Becky said sarcastically.

Logan missed Becky’s sarcasm by a mile and was scrolling down Becky’s file. “Here we go. Biological donors: #M100957122500 and #F100264399375.” He clicked on one of the links. “Biological donor #M100957122500. Name: Dennis Andrew Murphy. Donor for: 330417291599 and 330768235405. D.O.B: June 11th, 1972. Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland. Current Marital Status: Divorced (twice). Children: None. Occupation at time of donation: Student/West Point. Current Occupation: General, Pentagon, in charge of…” He trailed off and read the rest silently. “There’s no picture. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Becky said. “What about my biological mother?”

Logan clicked on the link. “Biological donor #F100264399375. Name: Caroline Ashley Robinson. Donor for: 330417291599 and 330768235405. D.O.B.: July 7th, 1975. Place of Birth: Columbus, Ohio. Current Marital Status: Married. Spouse: Colonel Patrick Nelson. Children: 1, Jennifer Audrey Nelson (D.O.B.: 4/2/2011). Occupation at time of donation: Student/West Point. Current Occupation: Colonel, Fort Benning.” Again, he read the rest silently. “There’s no picture for her either.”

“Darn my luck,” Becky said sarcastically.

“Get two donors that were already in the military or were on their way there,” Max commented. “Take the best and the brightest when they can. Give themselves an even better chance of getting at least one great military leader. Sick bastards. I wonder if they knew or if they left them at least partially in the dark since they wouldn’t have had the clearance at that point to know about Manticore, if they ever knew about Manticore at all.”

“Who knows?” Becky said. She sat back down and quietly and nervously continued to wait for Zack.

“Zack’s eyes,” Max whispered.

“Huh? Max, what the hell are you talking about?” Krit asked.

“Take a good look at the general and the colonel,” Max instructed. “A serious good look.”

“Okay,” Krit said. He zoomed in on Dennis and Caroline and he blinked. “They look like Zack and Becky.”

“They’re their biological parents,” Max said.

“Are you shitting me?” Krit asked.

“I wish I was,” Max said. “I saw it in the database for myself back when Logan managed to decrypt the information on the X-series.” She was quiet for a moment while she continued to watch what was going on outside. “They know. They somehow figured it out and they don’t want to hurt Zack and Becky.”

“I guess they have to get it from somewhere,” Krit remarked.

Max laughed a little. “Yeah, they do.” They waited while two X6s came up to relieve them and they headed back to the main building and into the control room.

“Good to see that you two are back unscathed,” Dix said.

“Anything significant happen while you were out?” Zack asked.

Max and Krit looked at each other before they looked over to where Zack was standing with Becky. “Yeah, and you two are going to want to sit down when you hear this one.”

“Sit down?” Becky repeated. She raised an eyebrow in surprise and amusement. “What can be so shocking that it’ll make us want to sit down when we hear it?” She shrugged and she and Zack found two chairs and sat down. Max and Krit grabbed two more chairs and sat down in front of them. “Go ahead. What’s this big shocking thing?”

“The general and the colonel both arrived while Krit and I were on our shift,” Max said. “After a little while, White showed up and asked for an update. Actually, he tried to take over the show but the general told him where to shove it. Not in those words, of course, but you know what I mean. White apologized and asked for an update and got it and went off to who-knows-where. The weird part was after he left.” She bit her lip. “Afterwards, both the general and the colonel seemed really defensive and not just because White leaves that kind of an impression on people in general. They seemed defensive of us. They said they didn’t want to hurt us. In fact, the colonel said that she thought it was sick that the two of them were there and could hurt us. I looked closely at them and the colonel’s eyes caught my attention and I knew just who they were. I’d heard White say their names, of course, but it didn’t click in my mind until I saw the colonel’s eyes.” She looked Zack right in the eye. “They were your eyes. The general’s name is Dennis Murphy and the colonel’s name is Caroline Robinson. Your’s and Becky’s parents.”

Becky looked like she was going to puke. “Holy shit. This isn’t real.”

“Unfortunately, it is real,” Krit confirmed. “You guys look like them. I have no clue where the blond hair comes from since both of them have brown hair, but both of you look too much and act like the two of them for this to be a mistake. They’re definitely your parents.”

“Jesus,” Zack said. He ran a hand through his hair. “This is insane.”

“Zack, they know,” Max said. “They said they didn’t want to hurt them if either of them could help it. That must mean that they know about you and Becky. General Murphy and Colonel Robinson are on our side. They won’t let anything happen to the two of you.” She smirked. “Where do you guys think you get that protective instinct from?”

That got a little laugh out of both Zack and Becky. “Good point,” Becky admitted.

“Come on,” Max said. She stood up. “Let’s get back to our apartments. I think we all need to rest and think this bitch over.”

“Good call,” Zack said. “I know I do.”

TBC