All of Us -- Chapter 48b

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.).

“Huh?” Zack said in disbelief. “It’s White? The person that you’re supposed to kill to save the world is Ames White?”

“Yeah, how about that?” Max said sarcastically. She sighed. “Unbelievable.”

“I’d say so,” Syl agreed.

“What are you going to do now?” Jeff asked.

Max thought about it before finally nodding. “I know what I’m going to do.” She took out her cell phone and speed dialed a number. “Becky, it’s Max. I need you to get to the control room right away. It’s important.”

“Sure,” Becky said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Why do you need Becky’s help?” Syl wondered.

“You’ll see,” Max assured her as she put her cell phone back in her pocket. She and the others waited for a minute or two before Becky ran inside the control room. “We know who it is.”

“We know who is what?” Becky repeated.

“White’s The Dark One,” Max said.

Becky’s eyes widened in surprise. “What the fuck? Are you kidding me?”

“No,” Max said. “That’s the truth. Some new runes popped up on my arm while I was watching Jenny and I came right over here after my shift was done so that Dix could translate them. They pretty much said that it’s time for me to kick The Dark One’s ass and that this guy would have a certain birthmark on his arm to let me know who he is. Jeff happened to see this birthmark on White while White was holding him.”

“I don’t believe it,” Becky said. “At least he’ll be getting what he deserved. I wish that I could be the one to give it to him after everything.”

“I don’t blame you,” Max admitted. “But White will think that you’ll be the one who will kill him.”

“What do you mean?” Zack asked.

“We use Becky as bait,” Max explained. “We pick a spot and a time for this confrontation to take place. We control the setting. I’m not going to take any chances and have White control any aspect of this. If he does, this can go to hell faster than any of us can blink. After we choose the time and place, Becky calls White and gets him to agree to meet her there. After that…”

“That works for me,” Becky said, grinning.

They sat around and talked for a few minutes before Dix reached under the computer desk that he was sitting at and pulled a cell phone out of a drawer and tossed it to Becky. “It’s showtime.”

“I should have been an actress,” Becky deadpanned. She flipped the cell phone open and dialed a number and waited.

White put his pen down and frowned when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and checked the number. He didn’t recognize it, but he opened the phone anyway and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hello, Agent White. How are you doing today?”

“Hello, 405,” White said icily. “How is your boyfriend doing? Is 941 healing all right? I’m so sorry about his injuries, but he was being a rude guest and I had to punish him.”

Becky snorted on her end of the line. “He’s doing just fine, not that it’s any of your business.”

“I’m sorry, I was just concerned,” White said with a smirk.

“Let’s cut the crap here,” Becky told him. Her voice became deadly serious. “I’m sick of all of this shit. I’m sick of you trying to kill me and trying to kill my friends and my family. I want this crap to stop.”

“So do I, 405,” White agreed. “Are you freaks offering to die for me?”

“We’re not that generous,” Becky said. “I think that we need to talk this over.”

White couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Talk this over? 405, I don’t think that even you would believe that I’m stupid enough to believe that you just want to talk and maybe negotiate.”

“I’m mostly human. I’ve got to hope,” Becky said.

“That’s all you’ve got and that won’t even last,” White said.

Becky’s voice grew even colder. “This will end one way or the other, White. We both know that. You’re right. Wasting time is dumb right now. Meet me tomorrow in sector 4. 990 40th Street. I’ll be waiting for you inside the building and I’ll have to trust that you’ll also be alone.”

“You’ll actually trust me to be alone?” White said skeptically.

“I’ll trust you to be alone because I’m not going to give you a choice in the matter,” Becky said smugly. “I’ll have plenty of my people posted around the building. I’ll know if you bring a whole big bunch of your friends with you. It’s one of those things that they trained us to do back in Manticore before it burned down. If you bring in a large force with you, you’ll be dead before you can get inside. That sounds pretty simple and easy to understand.”

“You have a deal, 405,” White told her. “When exactly do you want this meeting to take place?”

“Eleven tomorrow night,” Becky said. “I’ll see you then.” She abruptly disconnected.

White disconnected his phone and smiled. This is perfect. 405 just handed me the opportunity of a lifetime. His grin grew. She only said a large force. She didn’t say anything about only one person! He speed dialed Stephen’s number and waited for him to pick it up. “Fenos’tol, Stephen.”

“Fenos’tol, Ames,” Stephen replied. “What is it?”

“I need to tell you this first before I get in touch with the Conclave about it,” White said. “I just got a call from 405 and she…”

“…you then,” Becky said. She quickly disconnected the phone and tossed it back to Dix. “He and Stephen will be there.” She smiled sweetly at Zack. “He’s bringing his buddy along for you to play with.”

Zack rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”

Max tried but couldn’t stop her smile. “Great job, Becky. Let’s get everybody down here to put the finishing touches on the plan. I don’t think we should lie to White, should we?”

“That wouldn’t be fair of us,” Zack agreed.

TBC