All of Us -- Chapter 31

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.).

Jeff casually leaned against a fence, watching as a group of children laughed and splashed in a pool. This poor kid. She’s in danger because Ames White has it in for Becky and she and Becky have the same mother. That guy’s such an asshole, he hates anything that has to do with Becky. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Stay cool, Jeff. You won’t be any good guarding the kid if you’re too pissed off to concentrate.

He blinked and focused in on Jenny. With all those kids talking, it sure didn’t take me too long to figure out which one is Jennifer. That and the fact that Jennifer and Becky both have the same smile. I guess they get that from their mother.

He scanned the area. I don’t see anybody here that shouldn’t be here…yet. White’s got to have somebody around here. Are they taking precautions because White’s anticipated a transgenic or transgenics around to guard Jennifer? Then again, they could be taking precautions simply because they don’t want any ordinary people seeing them trying to kill an innocent child. If that’s the case, then they’ll slip up just enough for a transgenic to catch them. Either that or they’ve gotten better!

Jeff shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. Things have really gotten weird around Terminal City recently. Between Zack and Becky’s parents showing up back in May, the runes, White presumably finding out about the relationship between Becky, Zack, General Murphy, and Colonel Robinson…I can’t believe that nobody’s flipped out yet! Hell, I can’t believe that Becky hasn’t gone crazy. He smiled as he thought of his girlfriend. I respect her so much for what she’s gone through recently that even I can’t begin to believe it. What a woman…

Suddenly, Jeff’s head snapped up to the roof of a nearby house, his training kicking in. They’re going for the sniper… He tensed and got ready to make a move, keeping his eye on the sniper. He’s pointing…he’s pointing… Jeff suddenly sprang from his spot, vaulted over the fence, and blurred over to Jenny, snatching her just milliseconds before bullets hit the ground where she had been. He continued running, holding on tightly to her before he finally stopped to catch his breath, looking around to make sure that they weren’t being followed.

“What’s going on?” Jenny asked. She sounded panicky. “Did I just hear bullets? Did someone try to kill me? Who are you?”

“Somebody who just saved your life,” Jeff replied. “Listen, Jennifer, I want you to listen to me and do what I tell you to do. I’m going to take you to someplace safe. I’ll explain more when we get there. I might have to pick you up and run like I did before and if that happens, I need you to hold on as tight as you can to me.”

“Okay,” Jenny said.

“Come on,” Jeff told her. He took Jenny’s hand and they walked quickly towards the safehouse, occasionally ducking into alleys and corners to make sure they weren’t being followed. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the safehouse and went inside.

“Now will you tell me what’s going on?” Jenny said. The fear had faded from her and now she just sounded a little impatient.

“I will,” Jeff promised. “There’s—“ He stopped when he heard the entrance to the direct tunnel access to Terminal City open and a few moments later, Zack and Becky came into the room. “Hey, you guys.”

Jenny’s eyes widened in recognition. “You’re those people from those pictures that Mom looks at all the time!”

“We are?” Becky wondered. She looked at Zack, not sure whether to be happy or uneasy or what.

“Yeah,” Jenny confirmed. “I think they were pictures that Mom needed for her work here, but she would look at them and get really sad. I saw her do that. She didn’t know that I saw her but I did. I only saw the pictures themselves once, but I see Mom looking at them and getting sad a lot.”

“Oh,” Zack said.

“Uh-huh,” Jenny said. She looked at Zack. “You know, you kinda look a little bit like my Uncle Chris.”

“I do?” Zack asked.

“Yeah, you do,” Jenny said. “He died way before I was born, even way before the Pulse. Like fifteen or sixteen years before the Pulse. I think Mom was about her age or something like that when he died. My mom has this favorite picture of him and her and my Uncle Danny and my Uncle Pete that my Grandma took the last time that all of them were together before Uncle Chris died.”

“I’m sorry about your uncle,” Becky said. Our uncle. “I bet he was a nice guy.”

“Mom says that he was,” Jenny said. She turned back to Jeff. “Didn’t you say that you would explain?”

Jeff nodded. “I did. These two are connected with your mom. I won’t tell you how or why because I think that your mom should be the one to explain because I don’t have all the details and I don’t think that either of them do themselves. There is somebody who’s really angry with some things that these two did and because of that, he’s going after anybody who’s connected with them and that included your mom and you. Don’t blame either of them for what just happened. Neither of them did anything wrong. The bad guy here is the one who’s angry at them and who had somebody try to kill you.”

Jenny nodded. “I believe you.” She looked thoughtful. “You’re a transgenic, aren’t you? And they are, too?”

“Yeah, we’re all transgenic,” Zack said. Neither he nor Becky seemed as nervous or agitated around Jenny as they’d been when they first heard about Caroline and Dennis showing up almost two months ago. Siblings we can definitely deal with. “We’re not the bad guys that the media wants everybody to believe that we are. We don’t want to hurt people. Most of us don’t, anyway. No more so than a regular human wants to hurt another person.”

“Okay,” Jenny said. “Mom doesn’t think that you’re the bad guys, either. I get that feeling from her when she talks about her day to me.”

“You’re a smart kid,” Becky commented.

Jeff looked at his watch. “I should get over to her house and be there when Colonel Robinson gets home so I can explain things to her.”

“You’ll eventually meet up with Krit there,” Zack informed him. “He got the first shift on watching her.”

“Got it,” Jeff said. He turned around and left the safehouse.

“So…what now?” Jenny asked.

“Now at least one other person will stay here with you until it’s safe for you to go back home,” Zack assured her. “It might not always be us, but you’ll never be unprotected.”

“Okay,” Jenny said. “Um…who are you?”

“I’m Zack,” Zack said.

“I’m Becky,” Becky told her.

“I’m Jennifer. Call me Jenny,” Jenny said.

“We will,” Zack said. The three of them just looked at each other for a few moments before they smiled and walked into another room.

TBC