All of Us -- Chapter 22

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.).

Dennis sat up and smiled when he heard the doorbell ring. He got up and opened his front door. “There you are! I’m glad you found the place.”

“It wasn’t too hard,” Caroline replied. She took off her raincoat and handed it to Dennis, who hung it up near the door. “It’s coming down out there. Don’t you just love Seattle weather?”

“It thrills me,” Dennis deadpanned. He went into the kitchen. “I ordered pizza. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, pizza’s fine with me,” Caroline said, following Dennis.

“Good,” Dennis said. The two of them grabbed a plate and sat down at Dennis’ kitchen table and opened the box of pizza and each took a slice. They ate hungrily, only occasionally making small talk. After they had finished the pizza, they went into the living room and sat down on the couch. “Where’s Jennifer?”

“Jenny’s at home with a babysitter,” Caroline replied.

Dennis nodded and stared off at the wall. “You wonder what they’re doing right now?”

“Yes,” Caroline said softly. She knew that Dennis was referring to Zack and Becky. “I’ve wondered that since I found out about them.”

“I can’t believe it,” Dennis said. “I’ve known about the two of them for more than a month now and I’m still having trouble sometimes wrapping my mind around the concept.” He ran a hand through his hair. “They took our samples and they used them to help create these two so that they could be more than just soldiers, but killing machines? It’s sick as hell. Zack and Becky’s existence isn’t sick, I could never think anything like that about them, but…”

“I know what you mean,” Caroline agreed.

“It makes sense now,” Dennis said. Caroline gave him an odd look and he clarified what he meant. “My assignments, where I was stationed, things like that. Even once I made general, I was never assigned anything that had to do or might have had to do with Manticore. They didn’t want me to be around the kids—well, just Becky at that point since Zack had already escaped—and maybe figuring it out.” He snorted. “They did a good job because I didn’t have a clue about Zack and Becky being our children until you showed me those pictures. God, seeing the pictures of the two of them was like getting punched in the stomach. It wasn’t bad, it was—“

“You were so shocked you couldn’t breathe for a moment or two,” Caroline finished.

“Exactly,” Dennis said. “I didn’t see the broadcast when their pictures and those of the other two—Max and Alec—were shown. I only heard about it on the radio as I was driving back from work that night. Even then, though, I didn’t understand what the big deal was about the transgenics. They or at least most of them were trained to control their abilities and the older X-series were trained to blend in with the general public and the younger ones were children. If the other transgenics could keep themselves hidden and off the radar, what was the problem? Oh yeah, Murphy, the government is full of paranoid morons. You should know, you work with a lot of them on a daily basis.”

Caroline laughed a little. “That’s definitely true.”

“I get so furious when I think of what they’ve gone through so far in their lives,” Dennis continued. “Tortured, experimented on, pushed so hard so young, running for their lives? I mean, Zack is twenty-five. He should be working at his first serious job, settling down with somebody, maybe even have a kid or two already. Becky is eighteen. She should have just finished her first year in college and be griping about a summer job that she can’t stand. Instead, look at them.”

“I can’t say that I’m not proud of them, though,” Caroline said. “Look how tough they are. Look how much they have persevered through.”

“I know,” Dennis agreed. “I’d like to think that I’m tough and I know that you are too, but those two just blow us out of the water and I’m not just talking about their respective physical abilities.” He smirked. “And from the intel that we were given, it looks like Zack might be settling down or at least be serious with a woman.”

“That girl, Max,” Caroline said. “I’m glad for him, and her too. If they find happiness together and some degree of normality within this whole mess, then good for them.”

“I wonder if Becky has a boyfriend,” Dennis said. He laughed. “Listen to us, just sitting here and wondering about the love lives of our children that we’ve never even met.”

“And we’re not even drunk,” Caroline remarked.

“Yeah,” Dennis said.

They were quiet for a few minutes. “Is it just me, Dennis, or do you get the impression that there’s something in the intel that we were given about the transgenics and the intel about Zack and Becky and Max in particular, that’s missing or just left out purposefully?” Caroline wondered. “What intel we actually were given is pretty impressive considering that the Manticore database is missing and presumed to have burned in the fire last year, but I’ve read everything over and over again since I was first given this assignment and I feel like there are a few gaps.”

Dennis nodded thoughtfully. “I know what you mean. I’ve been getting that impression, myself.” He thought for a few moments. “It’s not exactly like there are chunks that are blatantly missing, but it’s how a lot of it is worded. Like there’s something more to it but they want to give a particular spin to everything.” A thought occurred to him. “Or somebody in particular wants to give a particular spin to it.”

“White? That self-righteous bastard?” Caroline guessed.

“It might be speculation and the fact that I just plain don’t like the scumbag, but that’s who I’d guess,” Dennis said. “You’ve seen how he’d clam up when either of us would ask him a question about Zack or Becky or Max or even Alec?”

“And did you see the look in his eyes whenever we’d mention one of their names?” Caroline pointed out. “I think they did something or more than one thing to personally piss him off.” She smirked. “Good for them.”

“Yeah,” Dennis agreed. “White is also in a position where he could give us intel or alter it before it gets to us. He’s got some kind of personal vendetta against the transgenics. He wants to hurt them. I’ve got to believe that he wants to use us to hurt them.”

“Bastard,” Caroline said. “Especially if he finds out about our relation to Zack and Becky. You don’t think he knows, do you?”

“No, I don’t think he does,” Dennis said. “Those records are classified so highly, I’m not even sure if the President can access them without going though about ten million years of red tape. If he does know…he’s sicker than we thought.”

“I think he’s plenty sick already,” Caroline commented. “I’m just glad he doesn’t work side-by-side with us at the site and he has his own nice office in the Federal Building here in Seattle.”

“You and me both,” Dennis said.

“Are you okay?” Caroline asked.

“I will be,” Dennis said.

“I don’t want to hurt them,” Caroline said. “I don’t want that prick to hurt them. Losing family hurts, Dennis. It damn near killed me inside when I found out that my brother Chris had been killed in that accident when I was in my senior year of high school. My mom was killed two years ago in a plane crash and it almost killed me inside then, too. I don’t want the same thing happening to Zack and Becky.”

“It won’t,” Dennis vowed. “I lost both of my parents a few months after I graduated from West Point, I’m an only child, hell, the only family of mine not counting the kids that I know is living is my uncle Tommy and my cousin Cheryl. I don’t have a lot of family, Caroline, and I’ll be damned if something happens to the family I do have.”

TBC