All of Us -- Chapter 38b

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.).

“Max, can you help me find that equipment that Dix wanted?” Zack asked as he looked around on a shelf in the control room.

“Sure,” Max said. She leaned forward so that her lips were right next to Zack’s right ear. “I can also find something else if I wanted to. I bet I know exactly where that certain something is.”

Zack closed his eyes. “Maxie, I’d love to, but we’re in public. When we get back to our apartment, we will, but let’s finish this work first.”

“Are you in heat now?” Riley teased.

“No, I’ve got at least four days to go until then,” Max replied. She rolled her eyes.

“Four days until Zack gets laid like never before,” Alec said gleefully. “Hey, maybe you and Max shouldn’t get busy when you get back to your apartment. I had sex with Brin when she was in heat back in the breeding program back at Manticore and if Max is anything like her and if you are anything like me, then you are going to need to save all of the energy that you can.”

“Alec, can it,” Max told him.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Alec said.

“Thanks,” Krit said. “I thought that I was going to hurl.”

“Immature brat,” Max muttered under her breath.

“I heard that,” Krit said.

“Yikes, and they told us to obey an X5’s orders back at Manticore?” Riley remarked skeptically. “That was a great move there. That reminds me, when will Jeff be getting back from his heist with our own Mr. Full-of-It?”

“They only left twenty minutes ago,” Dix reminded her. “There’s no ETA for their return yet.”

“I bet Becky can’t wait for Jeff to get back,” Alec commented.

“Watch it,” Zack warned him.

“Okay, okay,” Alec said. “I’m sorry that I made a remark that came even remotely close to implying anything about Becky.”

“For somebody who was as hot shit as Jeff, Biggs, Sasha, and everybody says that you were back at Manticore, you sure do back down from somebody easily,” Max teased.

“Let’s take a look at the tape, shall we?” Alec said. “That first time, I was outnumbered two to one, one of whom was Becky who kicked my ass only the day before. This time, I wasn’t outnumbered, but I was back down by somebody who under normal circumstances I might be able to take down though not without a lot of pain and bloodshed, but has an enormous protective complex when it comes to his siblings.” He gave Max a cocky grin. “I didn’t get my rank at Manticore by being stupid.”

“I guess Renfro or whoever promoted you must have been—“

“Control, this is Jeff. We’ve got a possible situation. Rob and I hear people in the area and we believe them to be observing us. Possible Familiar activity. Do you copy?”

“We copy,” Dix said. He motioned for the others in the room to be quiet. “Get back to your car and abort the heist. We need the two of you safe. We can always send other people out somewhere else to get the money and other supplies.”

“Got it,” Jeff replied. “We’ll see you soon.” There was a brief pause. “Well, this was a pointless trip out.”

“You forgot to turn your earpiece off again,” Riley muttered, snickering softly.

“Do you have to whine about everything? Maybe we didn’t accomplish what we had set out to do, but you do not have to complain about it,” Rob said.

“The little bastard still doesn’t know how to shut his mouth,” Alec observed.

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, Rob.”

“Whatever.”

“Fine. Wait a sec…crap, we’re being tailed.” They all froze, their eyes and ears focused on Dix’s computer speakers. “I’m counting at least two people…no, now four…”

“…and now seven. Son-of-a-bitch.”

“Get out of there, get out of there…” Max murmured.

“Let’s just get back to the car.” There was the faint sound of something, possibly darts, being shot and then a gun firing. “They’re coming at us from behind, but if we fire quickly…Rob? Rob?” The others looked at each other, confused. They hadn’t heard somebody being shot or a body hitting the ground. They heard noises, as if Jeff was running and Rob yelling something that was hard to understand. Their eyes widened in shock as they heard a car door slam and tires squeal and Jeff’s frustrated yell. “Rob, damnit!” Then there was the sound of fighting and they felt their stomachs drop at the sound of Jeff hitting the ground and the unmistakable sound of a Taser being shot, followed by feet kicking Jeff.

Dix shook his head. “His tracking signal just went out. One of the people who attacked Jeff must have accidentally destroyed the transmitter when they were kicking him.”

“I’ll be damned.”

Max’s jaw dropped. Oh God, no. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.

“It’s 941. One of 405’s precious friends. Maybe even her boyfriend. One of my friends said that the two of you looked pretty close and cozy during that hostage situation back in March.”

“Fuck you,” Jeff said. They heard him spit at somebody.

“You would think that with all that they put into you animals that they would teach you freaks some manners.” There was the sound of a foot kicking Jeff again, hard. “You little bastard.”

“I could say the same thing about you.” There was the faint scraping noise of Jeff trying to pick himself up off of a sidewalk and then a Taser again and Jeff gasping in pain. “Asshole.”

“I think that somebody needs to take their nap.”

“Could he sound any more like a prick?” Krit said, furious.

“Who wants to take his sedative?”

“Go screw yourself.”

“That’s my big brother,” Riley said proudly.

“You really have a lot of spirit. What a shame.” There was another pause. “Have a nice nap, 941.”

“My name…is Jeff.” They heard Jeff sigh softly, as if he had just passed out.

“What should we do with the freak, Brother White?” a different voice asked. “Should we kill 941?”

“No, no, no…” Riley said desperately.

“We won’t kill him yet,” White informed his accomplice. A moment later, all that came from the radio was static.

“He must have destroyed Jeff’s comm.,” Dix said grimly.

They were all silent for a few moments. Max felt almost like she was going to pass out. White has Jeff. He’s going to kill him. If and when White moves Jeff, we won’t know where he is. Rob—wait, Jeff sounded pretty pissed that Rob apparently bailed on him. She calmed down a little. “Did any of you catch what Rob said as he apparently bailed? Riley?”

“No, even I couldn’t hear it clearly,” Riley admitted.

“Dix, can you get that audio for us?” Max asked.

“Of course,” Dix said. He worked quickly. “Here it goes. I took out the background noises that were obscuring Rob’s voice. The only things that we’ll be hearing will be Rob’s and Jeff’s voices.” He hit a few keys and clicked with his mouse.

“—from behind, but if we fire quickly…Rob? Rob?”

“Fuck you, Jeff. I’m getting out of here.”

“Rob, damnit!”

“Cut it now,” Max ordered coldly. She couldn’t believe it. Rob deliberately left Jeff behind so that he could save his own sorry ass? Because Rob was too damn self-centered, Jeff could be dead right now?

“That fucking bastard! He fucking left Jeff behind on purpose? That stupid mother…” Riley’s temper was as fiery as her hair.

“Riley, cool it,” Max said. “Let’s wait until that asshole gets here.” I’m almost feeling sorry for Rob, and he’s really going to be in for it when… She turned to Zack. “Becky. She’s back in her apartment.”

“Like you said to Riley, let’s wait until we get what Rob passes off as his side of the story,” Zack said. He narrowed his eyes. “Not that it matters what the little prick says.”

“What’s going on?” Mia asked as she came into the control room.

“Jeff and Rob were ambushed when they went out on their heist,” Max told her. “Rob left Jeff behind deliberately so that he could get away and White has Jeff and is planning on killing him. It’s all on the audio feed from Jeff’s earpiece comm. He left it on.”

“Do you need my help when Rob gets here?” Mia offered.

“Mia, you’re an angel,” Max said. “This isn’t Manticore, so…”

“I won’t go full-out torturing,” Mia assured Max. “That wasn’t my department, anyway. Those ordinary soldiers were in charge of the physical torture in Psy Ops. Can I listen to the audio?”

“Go ahead, Dix has it on his terminal,” Max said. “When is the asshole getting back here?”

“Judging by the rate that his tracking signal is moving, less than five minutes,” Dix estimated.

“Good,” Riley said angrily. “I can’t wait to beat some sense into the bastard.”

They waited tensely for minutes before Rob burst into the room, out of breath. “Something’s wrong. I don’t know where Jeff is. We were leaving the area when…” He looked around at the angry faces. “What the hell is this?”

“This would be us not believing a word you said,” Max said. “We know that you left Jeff behind deliberately so that you could have an easy getaway.”

“Oh come on,” Rob said. “You actually think that I deliberately left Jeff behind? I know that Jeff and Riley and Jeff’s girlfriend and others have told you that I’m hard to get along with, but that’s no reason to jump on my case.”

“Hard to get along with is a huge fucking understatement,” Riley growled. “We don’t think that you left Jeff behind on purpose, we know that you left Jeff behind on purpose you fucking dipshit.”

“Riley,” Max warned.

“I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry at all,” Riley said.

“Rob, you’re going to listen to me and you are going to listen to me very well,” Max said icily. “Jeff accidentally left his earpiece on after he made that first report back here about you guys possibly being watched. We heard the whole thing. Thanks to modern technology, we even got to hear the part where you told Jeff and I quote ‘Fuck you, Jeff. I’m getting out of here.’ Because you weren’t around to help him, Jeff is now in White’s hands and there’s a damn good chance that he could be dead and we don’t know where he is because his transmitter was destroyed. Now what do you have to say?”

“I’d say that you’re bluffing,” Rob insisted.

“Why would we bluff about something like this?” Zack hissed. “You were the hot shit soldier. I know that you can figure this out, can’t you?”

“Confuse the enemy,” Rob said, smirking cruelly. “I remember learning that one when I was little, so I know that even you pathetic ‘09ers know that one.”

“Let’s just calm down, everybody,” Mia said. “You guys don’t mind if I talk with Rob, do you?”

“He’s all yours, Mia,” Max confirmed.

“Mia? Who’s Mia?” Rob asked. He turned his head and paled when he saw Mia. “Crap, 400.”

“My name is Mia, sweetie,” Mia informed him. She walked up to Rob and smiled. “Now, what were you and Jeff doing at approximately twelve-thirty tonight or this morning, depending on your point-of-view?”

“We—you know what we were doing, right?” Rob said, clearly trying to fight Mia.

“Sweetie, can you please tell me?” Mia asked again, her voice never losing its light tone.

“We were preparing to execute a heist at a store in sector one,” Rob answered, his voice almost eerily mechanical.

Mia nodded. “Good. Why was Jeff with you on the heist? When I was in here the other day, I saw you and your unit mate Trent planning a heist. Trent said that the heist was to be executed at this time on this day, so why was Jeff with you and not Trent?”

“Trent was injured early this afternoon sparring against Rin, another unit mate of mine and his,” Rob replied. “Trent sustained a broken left femur and was ordered not to engage in any sort of physical activity for a minimum of four days. Jeff was available at this time, so it was decided that he would go with me on this heist.”

“That’s good,” Mia said. “Now, Rob, why did you leave Jeff behind when the Familiars started to attack the two of you as you were heading back to the car?”

“I wanted to get out of there,” Rob said.

“Okay, but why? Did you believe that you and Jeff together wouldn’t be able to take down the seven Familiars that attacked?” Mia asked.

“No, I believed that with Jeff’s and my abilities, we could have taken out the Familiars or at least have taken out enough Familiars for us to get away,” Rob said.

“Oh? Then why did you leave Jeff behind?” Mia wondered.

“I do not like Jeff,” Rob said. “I believe that Jeff is a threat to me. He has been a threat to me for years, to my position and he took the one who I want to mate with, even though she herself is a threat to my position as well, though not as immediately as Jeff is.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good reason to me,” Mia said. “That doesn’t sound like anything close to a good reason. Rob, were you consciously thinking any of these thoughts when you bailed out on Jeff?”

“I’m not sure,” Rob confessed. “It was probably in the back of my mind. I know that my not liking Jeff was in the back of my mind, if not close to the front, but I wasn’t consciously thinking of the exact reasons why I do not like Jeff at the time that I made the decision.”

“Now, Rob, you’re going to do me a favor,” Mia said. “Whatever they decide to do to you, you won’t resist them. It will be very messy if you resist. I know that you think that you can take on one of the X5s in the room and I know that your abilities are higher, but Riley is here also and you are very outnumbered. Okay? You do know that you won’t remember this, right?” She blinked. “Rob?”

“What?” Rob said irritably. “Why the hell are you all looking at me like that?”

“Because we just heard the entire talk that you just had with Mia,” Max informed him. “How dare you, Rob? You know damn well that you never leave somebody behind in enemy territory! Riley, get those cuffs from the cabinet and cuff Rob and take him to the basement and lock him up in one of those rooms for now.”

“What are you going to do, kill me?” Rob sneered. He didn’t resist Riley when she cuffed him, though.

Max looked him right in the eye. Rob flinched at the look that she was giving him. “Pray that we find Jeff somehow before White kills him.” She turned away as Riley led Rob off and she felt everything finally get to her and she started to shake from fear and shock. “Oh my God. This is my fault.”

“This isn’t your fault, Maxie,” Zack said. “This is White’s fault and it’s Rob’s fault for deliberately leaving Jeff behind like that.”

“If I wasn’t destined to save the world,” Max sobbed. “Then Becky wouldn’t be my decoy and White wouldn’t want to destroy the people who she cares about the most.”

“Go tell Becky. I’ll stay here with Max,” Krit said softly. He watched as Zack walked away slowly before he walked to Max and hugged her. “It’s okay, Maxie. This will turn out okay. Jeff’s a tough kid. We’ll find him.”

“Will we?” Max wondered. “White said that he wanted to kill Jeff. He could have done it already! Jeff could already be dead!”

“No news is good news until we hear otherwise, Maxie,” Krit said. “It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.”

“It won’t,” Max said. She buried her face in Krit’s shoulder and cried.

TBC