All of Us -- Chapter 49

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.).

“We’re here,” Becky said to Max as she and Riley walked up to her in front of the main building in Terminal City.

“Yep,” Riley said. She carefully checked her nine millimeter. “We’re ready to go.” She made a face. “Not that I’m thrilled that we’re letting Rob loose.”

Max nodded. “I know what you mean. Let’s do this.” She, Riley, and Becky walked down the hallway until they got to a stairway and walked down the steps and into the basement. They walked down another hall until they reached a door and Max knocked on it. A moment later, the door opened to reveal Mia and another Psy Ops soldier standing on either side of Rob, who was lying down on a cot. “How did it go?”

“As well as can be expected,” Mia replied. “He’s a little tired, but you know that’s normal. The mental side of Psy Ops usually leaves the recipient at least as physically drained as the physical torture does.”

“Yeah, I remember that,” Max recalled. “Thank you. I’m going to have a talk with Rob. I’ll let you know if I’ll need you again. Becky and Riley will wait outside the door. Can you guys wait out there with them?”

“No problem,” Mia said. She and the other Psy Ops soldier left the room with Becky and Riley.

Max shut the door and pulled up a chair next to Rob’s cot. “Hello, there.”

“Hello,” Rob said quietly.

“Are you okay?” Max asked.

“I guess so,” Rob said. He shrugged.

“I need to make sure that you understand exactly what’s going on here,” Max told him. “We’re springing you loose from temporary Psy Ops tonight if you’ve learned your lesson. If you haven’t learned your lesson, you’ll be kept here for longer.”

“That goes without saying,” Rob said sarcastically. Max glared at him and he winced. “Sorry.”

“Rob, you are damn lucky that you are still alive,” Max pointed out. “The fact that what you did to Jeff wasn’t premeditated is the only reason that you’re still here and not dead in the ground or cremated. Nobody’s going to trust you for a long time. If you haven’t learned your lesson, nobody will ever trust you again. There isn’t a single person out of all of us that will want to work with somebody who has already betrayed us. Oh, and need I mention that if I hear one word about the pot calling the kettle black, I will either ask Mia to get back to work or I’ll ask Becky and Riley to get in here and we could do things their way. I guess it depends on which you’d prefer, physical torture or mental. We’ve been nice so far just keeping it to mental torture.”

“I know,” Rob said. “I have learned my lesson. I won’t do anything like that ever again.”

Max nodded. “Good. You can get up. You’re free to blaze, but don’t count on anybody to roll out the welcome wagon for you.”

“I understand,” Rob said. He slowly sat up and swung his legs around and stood up. He took a deep breath and left the room and went upstairs. Max and the others followed him. Once they got upstairs, Max, Becky, and Riley walked outside.

“I still think that we should beat the living hell out of him,” Riley insisted. “If he tries any of this crap again, I get at least one good punch.”

“Deal,” Max said.

“I was thinking about maybe in a few days wanting to pull of a raid out on that new bank that opened up here in Seattle,” Riley said. “It’s the one from those surveillance photos that Dustin took for that heist a few weeks ago, remember? It looks like it would be a lot of fun to do.”

“No argument there,” Max agreed. “I haven’t been at my night job in at least a few weeks. It’ll be nice to be back in the swing of things with that.” She looked over at Becky when she realized that Becky had been quiet for a relatively long time. “Are you okay, Becky?”

“I’m fine,” Becky reassured her. “I’m always quiet before a major battle.”

“Major battle,” Max echoed, sighing.

“I’d call confronting someone with the fate of all of mankind a major battle,” Riley remarked.

“Thanks a lot,” Max said.

“I’m sorry,” Riley apologized.

“No, I’m sorry too,” Max said. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I just…in twenty-seven hours, I’m going to like you said, have the fate of all of mankind on my shoulders.”

“Hey, you know that you’re going to win,” Riley said helpfully.

Max shrugged. “Yeah, the prophecy does say that I’m going to win, but at what cost? It doesn’t say if I live or die through this and it doesn’t say…” Max couldn’t finish the thought and winced as the pain her unfinished thought caused, as well as from the look in Becky’s eyes that she saw. She knew that Becky had to be worrying about the same thing.

“I’m going to go find Jeff and keep him company for awhile,” Becky said. She walked off in another direction.

“I guess we’re both putting our feet in our mouths,” Max remarked.

“I guess so,” Riley said. “I think I’ll go to the gym and work off some steam. Do you want to come with me?”

“No, I think I’m just going to walk around for awhile and get my thoughts together and then I’m going to head back to my apartment,” Max said. “Thanks for offering, though. I’ll see you later.”

Riley smiled. “I’ll see you later.” She walked off towards the gym.

Max sighed and walked around, finally sitting down on the steps of a building. Riley and Becky were right. This is going to be a major battle tomorrow night. I’ve never been involved with anything like this with so much on the line, not even when Zack and Krit and Syl and I blew the DNA lab last year. I thought that the tension right before we left Seattle to head for Wyoming was bad, but this blows it to hell.

She idly nudged a stick on the ground around with her foot. What can I do about it, though? Not much, that’s for damn sure. I just got to deal with it and hang on tight until the ride’s over. She snorted. Like I’m going to be enjoying this ride!

Max stood up and started to walk back towards her apartment. Just deal with it one minute at a time and you should be good, or sane at the very least. Just deal with it one minute at a time.

TBC