All of Us -- Chapter 30

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: Spoilers and spoiler-ish stuff for “Freak Nation.”

They met in the conference room in the main building Terminal City. Max and Zack sat nervously near the head of the table. Becky sat close to them, not looking too much calmer herself. The others were scattered around the room. Finally, Dix came in the room and sat down next to Max.

“I finished decoding the runes,” he told them. “This is freaky.”

“Freaky how?” Max wondered.

“The runes on your back and that whole area of your body are basically the whole prophecy that this Father was talking about,” Dix said. “The whole entire thing goes ‘When the shroud of death covers the Earth, the one whose power is hidden will deliver the helpless. A great sickness will envelope the Earth, leaving behind only a select few, but it will be stopped by The Chosen One. The Chosen One will not be alone in this task. In addition to the others who will support and help her, she will be joined by two other perfect ones, The Guardian of The One and The Decoy. Three people, two connected by blood and two connected by love. Both The One and The Decoy are born on the day that the spirits come forth and The Guardian has already proven how far he is willing to go to protect The One. The final chain of events will be set in motion once the blood of The Decoy is in the hands of the enemy and she is uncovered and after The One and The Guardian unite. When The One has defeated The Dark One before the sickness can be unleashed, the shroud will be lifted, not only from the helpless but from whom The Dark One belongs to.”

“That’s some prophecy,” Zack commented after a moment of silence.

“Born on the day that the spirits come forth…Halloween. Becky and me?” Max said.

“Oh shit, one of us is supposed to save the world?” Becky said.

“Scared?” Zack asked.

“No, I’m not scared,” Becky insisted.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re scared or not because you’re The Decoy,” Dix said. He gestured to her hand. “That’s what the runes on your hand and Max’s and Zack’s say. Think of it as a screwed-up nametag.”

“Like the barcode isn’t enough,” Max said sarcastically. “I guess that makes me The One. I get to save mankind.” She sighed.

“It looks that way,” Dix agreed. “So the enemy, obviously White and the cult he belongs to, got a hold of Becky’s blood somehow and the prophecy mentions uncovered, which I’m guessing means that White had tests run on her blood and in the course of those tests discovered the fact that Becky has no junk DNA, like Max does, and believed that Becky is really The One and most likely assumed that Max was created as a decoy.”

“It mentioned three perfect ones,” Zack said. “Does that mean that I also have no junk DNA?”

Dix nodded. “We had Wayne run a full DNA analysis on some blood of yours that we had in the lab in the med bay from when you and Becky were injured after she restrained you the last time Max was in heat. We also did the same for Becky. Neither of you have junk DNA. You’re both perfect. Whether or not it means something physical will develop or if it’s simply the way to identify the correct people involved in this prophecy remains to be seen.”

“That’s good to know, I guess,” Zack said. His eyes widened. “The last time Max was in heat…Maxie, when was that? April?”

“Yeah, three months ago,” Max confirmed. It dawned on her what Zack was getting at. “And I should get my next one next week sometime. Is that what the prophecy means by uniting? Zack and I have been dating for almost a year now and we’ve slept together, but never during my heat.”

“That might be what the prophecy means,” Dix said.

“So no interrupting you guys next week. Gotcha,” Becky concluded.

“Great, she has to make a joke at a time like this,” Zack said, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry,” Becky said. “Damn, I must be turning into Kevin.”

“Hey!” Kevin exclaimed from where he stood with some of his brothers near the back of the room.

“Cool it,” Max told him. “Is there anything else, Dix?”

“Yeah. After I finished decoding all of the runes, I came across another CD in another one of the books that you guys brought back from the house.” Dix walked over to a laptop that was hooked up to a projector and took a CD out from his pants pocket and loaded it into the computer and then turned the projector on. “Take a look at this.” He clicked on something and another video file played.

“If you’ve found this, then you’ve decoded all of the runes and found out about the prophecy,” Father said. “I can fill you in on some more things now. The version of the prophecy that most of the Familiars follow tells of the sickness that will cover the Earth except for a chosen few—themselves. It mentions The Chosen One, but it does not mention The Guardian or The Decoy, though if The One’s blood is uncovered before The Decoy’s, they will assume that The One is a decoy that I purposefully created as a precaution. The Familiars believe that they can destroy The One or now, The Decoy. Work together and neither will happen. Like I said before, I have complete faith in all of you. I wish you all the best and perhaps we will meet in the future.”

“That’s it,” Dix said when the clip ended.

Max looked thoughtful. “This is finally starting to make sense. My runes started showing up the night that Becky got shot when she and her sibs went to rescue Karen from White. White must have gotten a hold of some of her blood then.”

“But he obviously ran some tests and picked up on my DNA then,” Becky said. “You don’t just discover that somebody has no junk DNA just by glancing at blood with the naked eye. The question is why did White want to test my blood? What was his reason?”

Zack shrugged and glanced in the direction of the main gate of Terminal City. Why would… Suddenly, like a brick wall, it hit him why White would want to test Becky’s blood. He looked at Becky and he knew that the same thought had just occurred to her as well.

Max saw the looks on their faces and knew what they were thinking. “I want at least one person guarding General Murphy and Colonel Robinson when they are not on duty at all times. The same goes for Colonel Robinson’s other daughter. Now! Does anybody know the current whereabouts of Jennifer Nelson?”

“Yeah, I overheard Colonel Robinson mention in passing to General Murphy yesterday afternoon when I was on sentry duty that Jennifer would be attending a pool party at a friend’s house. I ever heard her name an address,” Jeff said.

“Go now,” Max ordered. Jeff nodded and left the room.

“What makes you think that we should be babysitting some Ordinaries, sweetheart?” Mole demanded. “You think just because you found out that you’re gonna save the human race that you can just let common sense go to hell, even though you’re running this joint?”

“Let’s ignore the fact that these people are related to Zack and Becky for a moment, which you are obviously doing already,” Max said angrily. “I’ll put it into terms that I’m pretty sure that you can relate to. If White tries to take any one of them out, it’s almost a sure bet that he’ll pin the blame on us and that means more heat on us and that means an excuse for White to try to take us out. Now will you shut up about it?”

“Sorry,” Mole mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Max said. “Everybody’s tense now. Let’s just take things one at a time. First we make sure that General Murphy and Colonel Robinson and her youngest are covered. Then we’ll take things as they come.”

TBC