All of Us -- Chapter 35
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 and Caroline stood in the middle of the military camp in front of Terminal City, sipping coffee and going over reports when they looked and saw a car pulling up just outside of the camp. Caroline tried to hide a smirk. “Think you can get through this without bursting out laughing?”
“Do you think that you can take a picture with your camera phone without him noticing?” Dennis asked.
“Are you serious?” Caroline said.
“Hey, the kids did say that they wanted to see the look on his face when he sees that we’re still alive,” Dennis
reminded her. He dropped the volume of his voice. “And judging by the look on his face, he’s not happy with the story that Mia left his people with. It’s show time.” He straightened up. “Agent White.”
“General Murphy,” White greeted him, trying to contain his fury at seeing him and Caroline still alive. “How are you today?”
“I can’t complain,” Dennis said. “The transgenics inside Terminal City are still behaving themselves. Makes our jobs that much easier, doesn’t it?”
It makes mine easier, at any rate. It also makes it that much more fun to see how it pisses you off!
“It does,” White lied. He turned to Caroline, who was apparently having a conversation on her cell phone. Caroline noticed him and held up a hand while she finished and ‘disconnected’ her phone and put it back in her pocket. “Hello, Colonel Robinson. I’m surprised that you’re here and not waiting by the phone at your house waiting to hear from the police about your daughter. I’m sorry to hear about that, by the way. I hope that the police find her soon and that she’s safe.”
She’s safe and the police will ‘find’ her when it’s safe for her to be found. Caroline resisted the urge to frown at the condescending tone of White’s voice that White was trying to hide. “Thank
you for your concern, Agent White. I appreciate it. The police have told me that there was nothing that I could do and I would go crazy in my house all by myself all day, so I came here where I can at least try to keep my mind occupied with other matters.”
“Was that the police that you were on the phone with now?” White asked with apparent innocence.
“No, I was actually on the phone with my father trying to reassure him that I
was fine and everything was under control,” Caroline lied. I guess Krit and Jeff were right about his hearing being normal. “You know how it is, Agent White. No matter how old you are, the second that your parent or parents hear even the slightest whisper that something is wrong, they freak out. Your parents are still the same way with you, right?”
“No,” White said. Caroline saw that she’d accidentally hit a very sore spot with
him. White shook his head. “My mother died when I was young and my father and I…we don’t have the best of relationships. It started to fall apart after my mother died and I haven’t spoken to him at all since I started college when I was eighteen.”
“Oh.” Caroline blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” White said. It’s not okay that you reminded me of where my father went wrong, whether you meant to or not. No wonder that they chose you to contribute to those pieces of garbage 599 and 405. I guess it’s appropriate that they used human filth to create transgenic filth. He was brought out of his thoughts when his cell phone beeped. “Excuse me for a minute?”
“Take your time,” Dennis told him. He and Caroline watched as White turned so that his back was towards them and took out his cell phone. They saw how White’s back stiffened when he saw whatever text or picture message that he had obviously just received. Dennis waited until White turned back to them before he spoke again. “Is something the matter, Agent White?”
“No, some telemarketer managed to get a hold of my phone number and sent me a text message,” White lied. “They seem to think that sending text messages doesn’t count as harassing people by actually calling them. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Caroline knew that he wasn’t telling the truth, but she smiled anyway. “I know what you mean. They just can’t leave it alone at spam email or calling in the middle of dinner, can’t they?” She shrugged. “Do you need anything, Agent White, or is there something that you need to give to us?”
“No, nothing on either count,” White said. “I was just checking in as usual. There’s nothing to be reported on my end. Any transgenics that are still at large outside of Terminal City have also been well-behaved. We haven’t had any reports in a few days at least and no captures in quite some time.” He looked at his watch. “I need to check in with my superiors downtown. I’ll be in touch.” He quickly left.
“I wonder what got him so bothered,” Caroline said.
“I’ll see if I can find out,” Dennis told her. “Go check in with the troops over by the east gate. I’ll be with you in a sec and we can finish with those reports and send them to the Pentagon.”
“Got it,” Caroline said. She walked off.
Dennis watched her go and smiled before he took out his own cell phone and dialed a number. “It’s me. White just got some kind of text message on his cell phone that got him pretty pissed off. Did you have something to do with it or do you know anything about it at all?”
“Yeah, it was Becky who sent the message,” Zack said. “Dix and Luke managed to get a hold of White’s cell phone number and Becky sent him a message. It was something that more or less taunted him for his men not being able to kill you last night.”
“That would get him going,” Dennis remarked.
“Anything that has anything to do with one of us would get him going,” Zack
added. “White is the worst loser I have ever seen. He’s not happy about Becky surviving that fall or me punching him off of a moving car or Becky knocking him out twice.”
“He didn’t look too happy about seeing Caroline and I alive and well,” Dennis agreed. “Did your sister get the picture that Caroline sent?”
“She did,” Zack said. “Some of the others are passing Becky’s phone around now to have a look. Max and Alec are both still laughing.”
“I’m going to have a good laugh myself as soon as I get the chance,” Dennis said. “I know that Caroline will, too.” He paused. “Zack…take care.”
There was a similar pause on the other end of the line. “You too, Dennis.”
“Talk to you later.” Dennis disconnected the phone and smiled to himself before he walked over to Caroline.
TBC