All of Us -- Chapter 38c

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/spoiler-ish stuff for “Meow,” “…And Jesus Brought A Casserole,” and “Designate This.”

Zack walked down the street, not looking forward to what he had to do. I hate this. I hate telling family bad news. How is Becky going to take this? He sighed. I didn’t take it too well when I realized that Lydecker had gotten Max when we tried to rescue Tinga, but I knew who to go to so that I could get Max back. But those three months when I thought… He mentally shook his head. We don’t have any proof that Jeff is dead. There is no way in hell that Becky will have to wait as long as Max or I did about each other. If I have anything to do about it, she will not have to go through that kind of pain for that long.

He entered the apartment building where Becky lived and walked up the stairs to the fourth floor and down the hall and stopped at the door of Becky and Maggie’s apartment. He took a deep breath before he knocked on the door. Nobody answered it. “Becky?”

“Hang on a minute,” he heard Maggie say irritably from inside the apartment. A moment later, the door opened and Maggie stood there, rubbing her eyes. “She’s still sleeping and you just woke me up and…” Maggie looked up at Zack and grew worried. She’d seen the same look on Becky’s face before. “Zack, is something wrong? Is somebody hurt? Who’s hurt?”

“Where’s Becky?” Zack asked.

“I’m right here,” Becky mumbled. She walked into the living room and froze when she saw Zack. “Zack, what’s wrong? Is everybody okay?”

“No,” Zack admitted. He entered the apartment and Maggie shut the door. “Becky, something went wrong on Jeff’s heist tonight.”

“Jeff’s okay, right?” Becky said. “He’s just down in the med bay banged up and probably really pissed off, but he’s okay, right?”

“No,” Zack said.

Becky tried to fight the hysteria that she suddenly felt. “Zack, he’s not…”

“We don’t know,” Zack confessed. “We don’t know what his status is.”

“What do you mean? What exactly happened?” Maggie asked.

Zack sat down on the couch. Becky sat down next to him and Maggie sat in the armchair. “I was in the control room on my shift with Max, Riley, Krit, and Alec and the others and we were going about our business when Jeff radioed in about people, possibly Familiars, watching him and Rob. Jeff accidentally left his earpiece on, so we heard everything that happened next.”

“Oh my God,” Becky said. Her face went nearly white. “White has Jeff.”

“He does,” Zack said grimly. “Jeff and Rob picked up that they were being tailed by about seven people, Familiars as it turned out. Jeff took out a few of them, we think about two or three, but there were too many for even Jeff to take down and they tasered him and kicked him so he’d stay down and then White came on the scene. He realized who Jeff was and after they tasered Jeff again when he tried to get back up, he sedated Jeff. He said something about wanting to kill Jeff but not yet before he destroyed Jeff’s earpiece.”

“When are we moving out?” Becky asked immediately.

Zack shook his head. “One of the Familiars destroyed Jeff’s transmitter when they had him on the ground and were kicking him. We don’t know where he is.”

“No,” Becky whispered. “No, Jeff.” She bit her lip and tried to hold it together. “How could…wait a minute, as much as I can’t believe I’m asking this question, what about Rob?”

Zack’s eyes and voice grew cold. “Rob left Jeff behind on purpose.”

Becky and Maggie were speechless. When Becky spoke again, her voice was even colder than Zack’s. “What?”

“On the audio, before Jeff fought against the Familiars and after they tried to shoot Jeff and Rob with what sounded like tranquilizer darts, we heard Rob yell something a second or two before we heard the car pull away,” Zack said. “Not even Riley could make it out because of the background noise, so Dix cleaned up the audio and Rob had said ‘Fuck you, Jeff. I’m getting out of here.’”

“He left Jeff behind in enemy territory on purpose?” Maggie said angrily.

“He did,” Zack said. “Mia confirmed it. Apparently, Rob hates Jeff because he believe Jeff is a threat to him. To his position, I guess as the leader of the X6 squad from Seattle, to everything…” He trailed off and looked at Becky.

“To me!” Becky finished. She got up and started to pace. “You’re fucking telling me that Rob put Jeff in danger because of some fucked up Alpha male bullshit complex that he’s got?!”

“Basically,” Zack confirmed.

Becky continued to pace. “That son-of-a-bitch. That mother—“

“Swearing about it won’t help,” Zack said.

“What will? I can’t do anything else! Jeff’s out there somewhere and he could be dead because I’m number one on White’s shit list and because Rob transcended practically all known levels of bastard and I can’t do anything to save Jeff! I can’t do a fucking thing!” She broke down in tears. Zack and Maggie both went up to her and hugged her.

“Becky, it’s okay,” Zack comforted her. “It’s okay. Jeff will be okay.”

“How do you know?” Becky said, still crying.

“You know how White thinks,” Zack said. “If he does kill Jeff, he’ll make sure that we find out. He’ll want to taunt you with it. As long as we don’t hear anything from White, we’ve got hope and most importantly, we’ve got time to find Jeff and get him back.”

“He’s right,” Maggie pointed out.

“You are right,” Becky said. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. “You are right. I have to believe it. We will find Jeff and he’ll be okay. If I can survive a ten-story fall into a dumpster, Jeff can live through this.” Her voice became angry again. “Speaking of betraying bastards, what’s going to happen with Rob?”

“We’ve got him locked and chained up in the main building,” Zack informed them. “We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do about him. Right now the top priority in this situation is to find Jeff. We’ll let you know when we get a planning session going.”

“Got it,” Maggie said.

Zack smiled at Becky. “Why don’t you get back to sleep? The sooner you get back to sleep, the sooner we’ll be able to get some concrete planning going.”

“I will,” Becky said.

“It’s okay to be scared, baby sister,” Zack said. He gave Becky another hug.

“I’m terrified,” Becky admitted. “I love him, Zack. I really love Jeff.”

“I know you do,” Zack said. He let go of Becky.

“You look like you could use some sleep, too,” Becky observed.

“Yeah, I’m wiped,” Zack admitted. “Take care?”

“I will,” Becky promised. “You do the same.”

“I will,” Zack said. He turned around and left the apartment and walked back to his building and up to his and Max’s apartment and let himself in. “Maxie?”

“She’s sleeping,” Krit informed Zack. He sighed. “How did Becky take it?”

“I guess how I expected her to take it,” Zack said. “How’s Maxie?”

“She’s still beating herself up about how she thinks this is her fault,” Krit said. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either,” Zack confessed. They stood there quietly. “I should be getting into bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll see you then,” Krit said. He left the apartment.

Zack walked into the bedroom and bit his lip when he saw Max sleeping on the bed and the tearstains on her face. “Maxie,” he whispered.

Max stirred and blinked. “Zack?”

“I didn’t want to wake you up,” Zack apologized.

“Zack, I’m sorry,” Max said.

“Max, what happened to Jeff is not your fault,” Zack assured her. “Please understand. It’s not your fault at all.” He quickly got ready for bed and slid in next to Max. “Maxie, it’s okay.”

“I hope so,” Max said. She reached out and held Zack close and fell asleep.

TBC