Dysfunctional -- Chapter 38

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Alec, Biggs, Renfro, 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 (X5-121, etc.).

121 sat down in front of a computer in one of the computer labs one morning a week later.  She closed her eyes for a few moments before she opened them again and took a look at the programs that were available for her to use.  I hate morning sickness, I hate morning sickness, I fucking hate morning sickness!  Not that I particularly needed another excuse to want to strangle 591, but hey!

“Awww, is poor 121 not feeling so well?” a patronizing voice said next to her.  121 turned her heard to the left to see a smirking 714 sit down next to her.  786 was sitting down next to 714 on her other side and had a similar look on her own face.

“Yes, it’s called morning sickness,” 121 replied.  “It’s why I ended up spending all morning in the infirmary yesterday, remember?  I just happened to get it stronger than an X7 on steroids, that’s all.  I guess I’m just an overachiever.”  She smiled sweetly.  “Just wait until you start getting it, 714.  It’s a blast and if you’re lucky, you’ll get it as badly as I seem to have it.”

“But if she actually is lucky, she’ll be like me during the first breeding program when I actually conceived successfully,” 786 spoke up.  “I barely had morning sickness.  I was only a little nauseous during the morning for a few weeks.  I didn’t even have to throw up at all.  Not unlike some people who had to spend hours on end in the infirmary because they couldn’t stop their—“

“786, I don’t think the trainer who’s supervising us would appreciate a graphic description on how one of the trainers who was at lineup and roll call yesterday morning sent me to the infirmary,” 121 interrupted.  She rolled her eyes and opened up a program.  I really should get to work.  My hacking skills definitely could use work.  I still don’t know how I managed to get the score that I did when I took that exam.  She got down to business.

“You know, if you use an imbedded loop over here instead…” 714 started to say condescendingly.

121 sighed and tried to keep as much of her annoyance out of her voice as she could.  “714, I might not be the computer specialist in our unit the way that you are, but I am not a complete idiot around these things either.  If you would actually like to offer some help instead of just being you, then I’ll be more than happy to accept it.  If not, then please shut the hell up.”  121 shook her head and went back to what she had been doing.  Somebody needs to put a muzzle on her sometimes.  It could be worse.  At least they sent 908 out yesterday to Rome to assassinate some jerk mole of ours in the Italian government so I don’t have to worry about her for the next couple of weeks.

“Excuse me?  Is anybody sitting here?”  121 looked over and saw another female X5 standing at the computer next to her.

“No, you can sit there,” 121 replied.

“Thank you,” the young woman said.  She sat down, paused, and then turned to 121 and extended her hand.  “I’m 734.”

“I’m 121,” 121 greeted.

“Oh.” 734 paused and bit her lip thoughtfully before she sat down.  She looked at 121 for a few moments before she shook her head.  “I’m sorry.  You must think that I’m a complete moron now.”

“That’s alright,” 786 said.  “We thought that you were a complete moron long before you just stared at 121 like an idiot.  I mean, you are or were an ‘09er after all.  Even if you did get successfully reindoc-ed, the fact that you went over that fence in Wyoming all those years ago shows a complete lack of judgment and hey, if that…”

“Shut up,” 121 told her teammate.  She turned her head and smiled at 734.  I should be nice to her.  Even if 494 didn’t speak kind of highly about her, I’d still be friendly just to piss those two bitches next to me off!  “It’s nice to meet you.  494 said that you were nice.  The one sitting next to me is 714 and the one who’s sitting next to her who just ran her mouth off is 786.  They’re also in 494’s and my unit.”  She shrugged.  “I’d say that you could blame their behavior on hormones, but they’ve been like that for as long as I’ve known them.”

734 looked amused.  “Yeah, 494 told me a little bit about them.”  She leaned back in her chair and winced.  “That still stings.”

“Oh yeah, you were in heat, weren’t you?” 121 said, recalling that she hadn’t seen 494 around for the past day-and-a-half.  “That explains the way that 494 was walking when he met us at the indoor firing range earlier.”

“Yeah,” 734 confirmed.  She blushed.  “I didn’t think that I would be that rough with him.  I’ve been with ordinaries when I’ve been in heat twice and that never happened.  I’ve never…lost control I guess would be the best way to describe what happened.  One moment I’m practically crawling the walls in my cell and the next thing that I was completely aware of was waking up in my bunk with 494 earlier this morning.  I only remember vague bits and pieces of what happened in between.”  She blushed again.

“Now, now, there’s no need to be shy,” another female X5 spoke up from behind 121 and 734.  “Just because you’ve spent half of your life on the Outside away from home is no excuse to be such a naïve little girl, 734.  Pick up those eyes and take it like a real woman and not like the damn ‘09er that you are.”

121 turned around in her chair.  “I don’t know who the hell you are, but do us all a favor and shove it, okay?  734 isn’t an ‘09er anymore.  She’s been through reindoc so as far as I’m concerned, she’s paid her dues and she’s one of us.  End of story.”

“End of story?” the other woman remarked skeptically.  “Funny you should be the one sticking up for her, 121.  Then again, maybe it isn’t surprising after all.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” 121 gave the other X5 an annoyed look.  “I know.  I’ve heard it all before and let me remind you that I went through six months of Psy Ops and yet I still managed to become one of the best X5s here in Seattle.  How about you take a page out of my book and shut up and work your ass off.  Sound good?”  She turned back around and sighed irritably as she typed some commands on the keyboard.  “It’s been more than eleven years and yet some of them still won’t let it go.”

“Thanks for standing up for me like that,” 734 said gratefully.

“No problem,” 121 assured her.  “I meant every word that I told that idiot.  You have paid your dues.  494 also spoke very well of you and I trust his judgment.”  She snorted.  “If I ever meet one of your former teammates, I’ll probably flip them off and then kick their asses because to be honest, 734, I think that they deserve every bit of it.”

“I bet you couldn’t kick 599’s ass,” 734 said.  121 raised an eyebrow and 734 shrugged.  “Hand-to-hand was one of his specialties.  When we es—went A.W.O.L. back in March of ’09, the only X5 that beat him occasionally or even come close to defeating him in a straight fight like that was 452.”

“Well, if that was one of his specialties, then I’d say you might be right,” 121 conceded reluctantly.  “I’m pretty good at it myself, but it’s not one of the things that I’m best at.”

734 nodded.  “Same with me, though I’ve improved a lot since I came back home.  If there’s anything that needs to be done that involves any kind of acrobatics, then I’m your go-to girl.  I think they must have used some DNA from a gymnast in me because I’m really flexible.”

“I bet 494 must have just loved that,” 714 commented cattily.  A few of the other women in the room giggled.

“Since you’re in the same unit, why don’t you ask him that yourself later?” 734 calmly replied.  714 made a face and turned back to her computer.

“I guess that technically I should apologize for her since she is in my unit,” 121 said hesitantly.  She shook her head.  “But why start apologizing for her behavior now?”

“Good question,” 734 agreed.  She turned back to her computer screen and started to get back to work, but she seemed distracted.

“Are you okay, 734?” 121 asked.  “Are you letting 714 and the others’ crap getting to you?”

“Uh-uh,” 734 told 121.  “It’s not that, honest.”  She sighed.  “Did you happen to get a good whiff of me?”

“No,” 121 said.  She sniffed and realized what 734 had been talking about.  “You and 494 were successful?”

“Yeah, we were,” 734 confirmed.  “It must have happened while I was in heat because 494 and I only noticed it this morning after it was over.  It’ll be a little while still before the doctors find out about it because my next pregnancy test isn’t scheduled for another five days from now, but…we did it.  We successfully completed this mission.”

121 didn’t quite know what to say.  What am I supposed to tell her?  That when I realized that 591 had gotten me pregnant, that I was in an almost complete state of shock and then I ended up breaking down on 511’s shoulder that night because I was so upset that I had let somebody other than him get me pregnant?  I don’t exactly have any fun and happy memories to draw from here.  “Well…it could be worse.  You could have had my breeding partner.”

734 laughed a little.  “494 told me about him.  At least 494 wasn’t an asshole.  Actually, he was pretty gentlemanly about the whole thing.”

“Yes,” 734 confirmed.  She put on a snobby voice.  “He was actually a charming young man with all of the qualities a girl could ask for in a breeding partner.”  She and 121 both started to giggle.

“Oh, brother,” 786 said.

“That is none of your business, 121,” 786 insisted.  She rolled her eyes and focused her attention on her computer.  121 just gave 734 a knowing look, smiled, and went back to her own work.

TBC