Prophecy -- Chapter 20

Disclaimer:  The TV shows Dark Angel and Supernatural, all of the characters that appeared on them, and everything else that has to do with the shows belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Dylan/X6-175, etc.).

“Got everything you need?” Alec asked as he approached Dylan in the control room the following day.

Dylan nodded.  “I think so.  I was just going through my equipment to make sure that I haven’t forgotten anything.”  He looked inside the backpack that was on the table in front of him before he nodded and zippered the pack shut.  “Good to go.”

“Great,” Alec said.  He took a closer look at his friend’s face and frowned.  “Are you sure about that?”

“I’m as sure as I’m going to get, which isn’t very much,” Dylan confessed.  “White aside, who are we supposed to be looking for?  This mystery guy has the same build as you do and acts like you as well, but what the hell does he look like?  How are we going to know who to protect?”  He shrugged.  “Besides Logan, of course.”

“Of course,” Alec echoed.  “Only White would make me want to defend Cale with my life.  Don’t misunderstand me, Dylan, I don’t have a gigantic hate on the guy.  Well, maybe I’ve got a little hate on him.  Then again, is it fair to hate somebody that stupid?”

“I don’t know,” Dylan admitted, trying not to laugh.  “I’ve never been in your exact position.”

“True enough,” Alec said.  He reached into one of his jeans pockets and pulled out his cell phone.  He flipped it open and looked at the display for a few moments before replacing it and nodding.  “Well, Logie didn’t call or text message me with a change of plans, so it looks as if we’re still going to be meeting him at his new apartment before we head out to Novelty.  We’re leaving in about twenty minutes, so now’s the time to go potty because we’re not making any stops.”

Dylan rolled his eyes.  “Very funny, you moron.”

“Thank you.  I thought that it was pretty funny, myself,” Alec agreed.  He turned around and saw Audrey approaching them.  “Hey, Audrey.  If you’re looking for Maxie, I think that she’s in her office.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Audrey said.  “I was just in there.”  She shifted around nervously.  “I was actually looking for Dylan.  Do you mind if I speak to him for a few or do you guys need to get moving?”

“Not a problem.  We’ve got a little bit of time before we have to leave.  You kids have fun and don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do, okay?”  Alec gave Dylan a smirk and received a glare in return.  “See you in a bit.”  He walked away.

“I want to apologize for him,” Dylan grumbled.

“It’s okay.  You don’t have to,” Audrey said.  “He’s just giving you a little bit of a hard time.  You should have seen some of my brothers back in the day.”  She laughed a little.  “Those guys, I swear.  So, you nervous about this?”

“Playing bodyguard to Logan Cale?” Dylan guessed.  When Audrey nodded in confirmation, he shrugged.  “Not really.  I’ve completed missions for Manticore that were a lot more complicated than this without a problem.  This shouldn’t be, either.”

Audrey looked at the X6 skeptically.  “Are you sure?  You look a little nervous.”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Dylan insisted.  “Really.”

“Dylan, I don’t want to bug you.  I’m just worried,” Audrey told him.  She briefly closed her eyes.  Get over it, girl.  One raid gone sideways and you’ve turned into a nervous wreck.  You’re twenty-one years old, for crying out loud, and Dylan’s not that much younger than you.  Not enough to give you this much reason to be nervous, at any rate.  “I don’t…”

Audrey’s own nerves cut right through Dylan’s heart.  “Audrey…”  He looked around before moving closer to the young woman and motioning her over to the far corner of the room and lowering his voice enough so that only the two of them could hear it.  “Audrey, what I’m going to say, it can’t go farther than the two of us.  Alec knows this already, but I’m not ready to tell anybody else.  Not Max, nobody.”  He shook his head.  “I’m still nervous about telling you.  You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“We’ll deal with that after you tell me what’s on your mind,” Audrey said.  “Which you don’t have to if you don’t want to.  There’s no need to spill right now, Dylan.”

“No.  I have to tell you this,” Dylan said.  He took a deep breath.  Here goes.  “A few nights before the raid that went south for the winter, I had this dream.  You were there, Max was there, I mean, I saw everybody from the raid aside from the guy that drove the van for all of you.  I didn’t just see you guys, I saw you guys in that alley.  I saw the entire thing happen, only it didn’t stop when Coop was killed.  Everybody else died too, including…including you.”  Dylan paused to try to compose himself.  “It…it felt…so different.  So real.  It was as if I was there, witnessing the event as it happened.  It almost did, Audrey, it almost did.”  He couldn’t help the tears that slipped down his cheeks.  “It was a premonition.  I know that it was.  I didn’t realize it until after Alec, me, and the rest of the team that Alec put together came in for the rescue.  I just sat down and went over the notes and blueprints and everything because I was trying to convince myself that I wasn’t being paranoid, that seeing that list and then finding out that you subbed for Tori and were out was only a coincidence.  Audrey, it was my fault.  I should have spoken up about it sooner.  I’m sorry.”

Audrey was silent for several long moments.  “You can see into the future?”

“I guess so.  Sort of,” Dylan admitted.  “I mean, the…that incident was the first time that it ever happened.”  He sighed.  “It stopped for a few days and then I’ve had a new one the past two days.”  Dylan explained his latest dream to Audrey.  “I’m scared that something will happen to Alec.  It’s not that I’m scared about Logan Cale, it’s just that I don’t know him at all.  I don’t want anybody to get hurt.  Well, except for Ames White.”  He looked at Audrey worriedly.  “That’s the truth, whether you believe it or not.”  Please believe it.  Please!

He can see into the future?  How can that be possible?  Psy Ops transgenics that can manipulate a person’s will through telecoercion?  That one’s a stretch, but it’s as real as it gets.  Precognition?  I’ll believe it when I see it…but how much time have you spent with Dylan since you got to Seattle, huh?  How often have him and I just been laughing and talking about anything?  You trust him and you know it.  I…I don’t know.  “I’m not sure,” Audrey finally confessed.

“Oh?” Dylan tried hard to hide his disappointment.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Audrey said quickly when she saw the crestfallen look in the X6’s eyes.  “I really don’t know what I’m supposed to say.  It’s really hard for anybody to believe that somebody can see what’s going to or could happen in the future.  But…I’ve also gotten to know you, Dylan.”  She smiled as resolution came to her.  “And I trust you.”

“Sounds like you do,” Dylan commented quietly.  “You don’t believe me, but you trust me?  That sounds as impossible as having these nightmares.”  The X6 willed himself not to tear up.  What could you have been thinking?

Audrey reached up and gently moved a lock of Dylan’s hair away from his face.  “Just give me some time to come to terms with your precognition, that’s all.  This is a hell of a revelation you’ve dropped, Dylan, but I still have trust in you.”

“You do?” Dylan asked hopefully.

“Yes, I do.”

“And…you’re not angry at me?  Audrey, I could have…”

“…chosen not to save my life,” Audrey pointed out.  “Dylan, I might not have as much training and mission experience under my belt as you do, but I’m probably as aware as you are that no matter how well planned out a mission is, no matter how much foresight you have, whether it’s the special brand that you’ve been getting lately or just the usual intel that a person would get, things can and often will go wrong.”  She managed a smirk.  “If you’ve heard that one lately, please let me know.”

Dylan laughed, as much from his relief as from as funny as he found Audrey’s remark.  “Yeah, Alec gave me a similar speech when I finally told him about my nightmares.”

“If he was the other guy in your latest nightmares, you will save him,” Audrey said.  “And if he wasn’t, then the two of you will save the mystery man.  And you’ll save Logan, too.”  She made a face.  “Even though I’m still not thrilled with what he did to my sister.  I let the jerk know it.”

“You did?” Dylan wondered.  “When?”

“The last time that he called Max on her cell and tried to beg for her forgiveness,” Audrey replied.  “He went on and on for a couple of minutes until I could practically see the steam come out of Maxie’s ears.  I hadn’t seen her that pissed off since the last time Lydecker taught one of our classes back at Manticore before we left.  I asked for the phone before she could go apeshit and I calmly introduced myself and re-iterated what Max had told him about her not wanting to get back together with him and I let drop the fact that I used to be the sniper in my family back in the day at Manticore.  That shut him up.”

“You are something else, Audrey,” Dylan managed to say through his laughter.

“Of course,” Audrey agreed, grinning.  “Don’t you forget it.”

“Yo, Dylan.”  Alec re-entered the room and nodded in his friend’s direction.  “We’ve got to get moving if we want to meet up with Logan on time.”

“All right, I’ll be right there,” Dylan told him.  “I’m sorry, Audrey.  I’ve got to go.”

“I know.”  Audrey stepped closer to Dylan and gave him a hug.  “Good luck out there.  Stay safe.”

“I’ll do my best,” Dylan promised.  He released his hold on Audrey, gave her one more smile, and followed Alec out of the room.

TBC