Dysfunctional -- Chapter 4

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 (Sasha/X5-121, etc.).

“Two more weeks until August 18th, 2011,” 121 remarked as she led most of the unit towards the rec room one night.

“What’s so special about August 18th?” 237 said, annoyed.

121 rolled her eyes as she opened the door to the rec room. “That’s the day of the start of the trials for command and second-in-command of the entire X5 platoon here, numbnuts.”

“Why would you care? You’re not eligible,” 786 sneered.

“I’m rooting for 494 to win,” 121 said. “Come on, 786, you’re friends with 908. I know that you’re hoping that she’ll make C.O.”

“True,” 786 admitted.

“Speaking of which, when will her and 494 and 511 get back from Director Renfro’s office?” 714 wondered.

What, you can’t stand having me in command of your sorry butt even if it’s only for a few minutes? 121 thought. “I don’t know. If we’re lucky, it won’t be too long.” She led them into the rec room and blinked in surprise when she saw Unit 4 already there. “Hey.”

“You guys can come in if you want,” Unit 4’s commanding officer, 849, told Unit 3. She shrugged and smiled. “No reason not to.”

“Great. Thanks,” 121 said.

“Where are your C.O. and second-in-command?” another member of Unit 4, 327, asked.

“In Director Renfro’s office along with someone else in our unit,” 714 answered.

They all sat down and started to talk among themselves or with some of the members of Unit 4. 121 went over to the one of the couches where 849 was sitting with another X5. “Can I sit here?”

“Sure,” 849 replied.

“Thanks,” 121 said. She looked at the other soldier that was sitting there. “You’re 228, right?”

“Guilty as charged,” 228 confirmed. “Nice to actually meet you.”

121 laughed. “Yeah, nice to actually meet you too.” She stretched. “Are you excited about the trials coming up, 849?”

“I am so nervous, I’m surprised that I haven’t thrown up yet,” 849 confessed. “I’ve been going over everything that I’ve ever learned in my head. Every bit of information, every move that I can pull off, you name it. I think I’m going to go insane.”

“Don’t sweat it,” 121 said. “From what I’ve heard, you’re pretty good. You’ve got a good shot.” She shrugged. “And from what I’ve heard, the focus on the trials will be primarily on your leadership abilities. The X3s and X4s that I’d talked to said that it was mostly a lot of training missions where they’d paired up different officers to see who worked best as leaders and also which combination worked best together.”

228 nodded. “I also heard that the different facility directors placed emphasis on different areas. Like Director Renfro factors in individual skill the most. I think Director Warren of the New York facility is the same way. Colonel Lydecker of the Wyoming facility, on the other hand, values individual skill and the combination of soldiers that work the best together equally, maybe even placing a little more weight on the latter. That’s not to say that a C.O. and a SIC of a unit won’t end up as the C.O. and SIC of the entire platoon after the trials are done, but that would be more likely to happen in Wyoming than it would here.”

“558 is probably wishing that he’s in Wyoming, then,” 849 remarked, rolling her eyes and looking over towards her second-in-command. “He’s so confident that he’s going to leapfrog over me and take C.O. over the squad. He’s driving me crazy.”

“I feel your pain,” 121 said sympathetically. “908 in our unit has been the same way. She sees this as her big opportunity to redeem herself and to take back C.O. of our unit from 494 and boost her standing overall.”

“You don’t like 908 much, do you?” 849 commented.

“Are you kidding me? I hate the bitch,” 121 said. “She was not the most likeable person in the world before the whole ‘09er mess happened and since then she’s been a million times worse. She’s obviously got some kind of a self-esteem problem at the very least but she takes it out on everybody except for 786 and 714, who are almost as bad as 908 in a lot of ways. All three of those bitches can kiss my ass.”

228 raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying that within their hearing range?”

121 shrugged and then smirked at 786 and 714 when they gave her dirty looks. “It’s nothing that I haven’t said when I’ve been in their hearing range before. Besides, they’ve both said much worse things about me, especially after I got out of Psy Ops in September of ’09. I stopped caring what they think about me sometime around that following New Year’s.”

“Good for you,” 849 said.

“Um…what did you think about that whole thing?” 121 wondered. “About me and 494 having twins among the ‘09ers?”

“I don’t care,” 849 said. “I never cared about it. What was the big deal? Yeah, 120 and 493 are genetically identical to you and 494, but they’re still different people in a different place. You and 494 never did anything wrong other than being their twin and even that wasn’t a crime, you know?”

228 nodded in agreement. “I feel pretty much the same way. I never understood what all of the fuss was about, either.”

121 grinned. “Thanks, you guys. It’s nice to actually have some friends outside of my own unit.”

“No problem,” 849 told her. Suddenly, they all looked towards the door when they heard footsteps heading towards the rec room. “Speaking of which, I think that might be your missing unit mates.” Sure enough, when the door opened a few moments later, it was 494, 511, and 908 who walked inside of the rec room. 494 and 511’s faces were mostly expressionless, but their eyes were twinkling. 908 was definitely angry and was barely hiding it.

“Why did Director Renfro want to see you guys?” 121 asked.

“Change in the chain of command of the unit,” 494 replied. He gestured to 511. “Say hello to your new second-in-command.”

“Are you serious?” 121 said.

“Very serious.” 494 smiled before continuing. “Not only was 511 moved up to second-in-command, but Director Renfro also told me to tell you that you’ve been moved up to third in the chain of command in our unit. Congrats, 121.”

“Wow, thank you,” 121 said. She gave 494 a hug and then turned and gave 511 a hug as well. “Congratulations, 511! This means that you’re going to be participating in the trials in two weeks now!”

“Oh yeah,” 511 agreed. “I am going to kick some ass.”

“Except mine?” 494 said with a smirk.

511 returned the smirk. “Including yours, boss.”

“That’s bullshit!” 908 snapped. “This whole thing is bullshit! I see no reason why I was bumped down from officer status or even why that little bitch was moved up the chain of command ahead of me! I still don’t fucking see why that fucking twin of a traitor was promoted ahead of me last year! This is all a bunch of crap and I won’t fucking take it anymore!” She started to lunge for 121, who was the closest to her, but 494 and 511 had anticipated the move by that point and grabbed 908 by the arms and restrained her.

“908, stand down right this instant,” 494 instructed. When 908 still struggled, he and 511 yanked her back and he looked her in the eyes. “That’s an order, 908. Stand down.”

“Fine, sir,” 908 said angrily. “I wonder why I even take orders from you.”

“Sometimes I wonder the same thing,” 494 replied. He looked over at where 786 and 714 were standing. “If the one or both of the two of you or any of you start the same crap that you pulled back in ’09, I will have you sent to solitary. Just because I haven’t yet exercised my ability to do that yet doesn’t mean that I can’t or I won’t. It only means that you haven’t pushed me that far yet.”

“You don’t have the guts, you little piece of shit,” 908 hissed. Her voice was much quieter, but it was no less venomous. “You never had the guts to do anything, 494. You never had the nerve to do a single good fucking thing in your miserable little life. The only reason that you’ve gotten this far has been by pure luck.”

494 just met her gaze and he kept his voice level. “Is that true, 908? Oh, well.” He shrugged. 908 narrowed her eyes at his sarcastic dismissal of her words, but she didn’t respond. “I’ll play nice and let you spend until tomorrow night in solitary to let you rethink your opinion.”

908 raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a challenge, 494.”

“You made one first, sweetheart. 511, 121, keep an eye on her for a few minutes.” 494 left the room and returned a few minutes later with one of the guards. “Here’s your ride over to solitary, 908. Have a nice day.” They all watched as the guard escorted 908 out of the rec room. After a few minutes, things returned to close to how they’d been before 494, 511, and 908 had joined them.

“I’m really sorry about that,” 121 apologized to 849 and 228.

“No apology is necessary,” 849 said. “I’m sorry that you have to live with her.”

121, 494, 511, and 228 laughed. “Yeah, that’s a nice little slice of our life,” 494 remarked. “I’m glad that we’re in individual cells now.”

“Me too,” 511 agreed.

“Well, 511,” 849 said. “It looks like you’ll be joining 494 and myself in the trials soon. Do you think that you can handle it?”

“Absolutely,” 511 said.

“Whether everybody else can handle him, on the other hand…” 121 commented. The five of them laughed.