Prophecy -- Chapter 3

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.).

“So, what do you think of Terminal City so far?” Alec asked Dylan the following morning as the two of them were walking around the area.  “Like it?  Don’t like it?  Want to take a flamethrower to it?”

Dylan snickered.  “It’s fine.  Thanks for setting me up with the apartment, by the way.”

“No problem,” Alec said.  “We’re supposed to hook everybody up with some place to crash.”

“You know what I mean,” Dylan said, but he was smiling.

“Yeah, I do,” Alec agreed.  “Just busting your chops, man.”  He stretched his arms out.  “I forgot to ask you yesterday, how exactly did you find out about Terminal City?”

“I was crashing in a random town near the Washington-Idaho state line, only about ten miles from the Canadian border,” Dylan recalled.  “I’d been there for a few months.  The place was as thrilling as watching paint dry.  Anyway, I went into the local bar for a beer—they didn’t care about checking IDs—and I spotted an X4 there.”

“You always could spot those things from a mile away,” Alec commented.

Dylan shrugged.  “So can you.  It’s not that hard.  Anyway, the guy’s name was Spike.  We got into a conversation about nothing in particular at first, but it drifted over to the transgenic situation.  Spike mentioned that he’d been through Seattle fairly recently and he’d heard about Terminal City and how everybody seemed to be gradually grouping over there.  I asked him why he wasn’t there and he said that he’d heard that an ‘09er had somehow managed to put herself in charge and he didn’t want any part of that.”

“Oh, I wish he would get here just so that I can watch Max beat the shit out of him for that,” Alec said.  “That would be sweet.”

“After seeing Max deal with that punk from that one X6 unit in Wyoming yesterday, I’m with you all the way on that one,” Dylan agreed.  “I told Spike that I wanted to check it out and he told me everything that he knew about this place.  Once I’d finished my beer, I went straight back to my apartment, packed up what I needed to take with me, and headed out.  You know the rest of the deal.”

Alec nodded.  “You have no idea how glad I am that I was able to get to you in time, Dylan.”  He looked downward, unable to continue talking.  Dylan put a comforting hand on Alec’s shoulder.

“So, how did you meet back up with Biggs?” Dylan asked.  “Max made some remark to me after you left for your sentry duty shift last night when she was showing me to my new place here about how you like to meet back up with your friends in dramatic fashion, but that it was a funny story with you and Biggs.”

“Indeed it was,” Alec agreed, giving Dylan a grateful look.  “Max and I used to work at this bicycle messenger service downtown called Jam Pony and we had a couple of friends there that we would hang out with every night at this local bar.  Well, on this particular night our bud Sketchy had a date, Max’s best friend Original Cindy had some twenty-four hour bug, and Max wanted to go over her plans for this bank that she wanted to hit.  I decided to go to a liquor store, grab a six pack, and have a quiet night in with me and the TV.  I went in, grabbed what I wanted, and went up to the counter to pay.  The guy behind the register…oh, man.  You remember that instructor that taught the basic foreign languages?  Tall, skinny, acted like he’d downed at least three espressos before reporting?”  Dylan nodded and Alec continued on.  “This guy was exactly like him, except even more skittish and a hell of a lot nastier.  I was playing nice and trying to make small talk and I was forcing myself not to strangle the crap out of him the entire time.  He wasn’t annoying.  I can deal with annoying without a problem.  This guy seemed to think than anybody who was obviously younger than himself was evil and going to rob him.  I was about to finally get out my cash so that I could pay him and get the heck out of there when I heard the security cams shut down.  I knew that not only was this guy going to get robbed, but that it might be a transgenic or at the very least somebody that would be half a challenge or fun for me to kick the crap out of.  I was right on both counts.  Biggs had his face covered when he came inside, but I recognized the eyes and voice right away.  He ID-ed me and I let him know that I wanted to help him so we put on a show for the guy behind the counter before I knocked the poor bastard out.  Biggs and I grabbed money from the register and safe and some liquor and went back to my apartment.  It was starting to get late by that point, so we split up what we had gotten from the store and the next day I hooked Biggs up with a job at Jam Pony.  We met back up at my place that night and drank some of what we’d grabbed the previous night and caught up on what we’d been doing since the fire.  It was fun.”

“Sounds like it was,” Dylan commented.

“Medium fella!”

Alec turned around and grinned.  “Josh, there you are.  I want you to meet a friend of mine from back at Manticore.  This is Dylan.  He’s an X6.  Dylan, this is Joshua.  He’s a friend and one-time roommate of mine.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dylan said.  He held out his hand to Joshua and his eyes widened in surprise when Joshua shook it.  “Whoa, careful with the grip, big guy.  You’re pretty strong.”

“Sorry,” Joshua apologized.

“Trust me, the big guy here might not have turned out quite the way that the folks that were in charge had been hoping he’d look like, but he can beat the daylights out of me almost blindfolded if he wanted to,” Alec said.  “That’s not Josh’s thing, though.  He was the first transgenic, but he wasn’t trained like you and I were.  We’ve taught him a few basics, but what Joshua here’s really into is painting.  He’s really good.”

Joshua nodded.  “Little Fella gave me studio here.  If you want, I can show you my paintings.”

“That sounds really cool.  I’d like that,” Dylan said.  He frowned.  “Who’s Little Fella?”

“Oh, that would be Max,” Alec told him.  “She and Joshua have been friends for awhile.”

“Oh,” Dylan said.  “So, Joshua, what are you up to?”

“On my way to fix apartments,” Joshua replied.  “I help decorate, set up furniture, and make them livable.  I like it.  Little Fella gave me this job months ago and it’s fun.”

“That’s great,” Dylan said.  “Thanks for fixing up my new place, Joshua.”

“We’ll meet up with you later at dinner, okay, Big Fella?” Alec said.

“Okay, Medium Fella,” Joshua agreed.  “I’ll see you, Dylan.”  He continued on his way.

“He’s a nice guy,” Dylan observed.  “A hell of a lot nicer than some of the people I’ve met over the past year.”

“Definitely,” Alec said.  “While we’re on the subject, have you met any interesting people over the past twelve or so months?”  He grinned wickedly.

Dylan laughed.  “Nobody whose number I’d give to you.”  He looked thoughtful.  “I did actually have a girlfriend at one point.  It was about two months after the fire and I’d just settled into a town near Indianapolis.  Her name was Katie and she was a real sweetheart.  She was so beautiful, like she could have been an X-series if I didn’t know any better.  I mean, I know that she wasn’t.  I could tell.  I had a job working at one of those stupid department stores and that was where I met Katie.  She said that she’d just started college and that she was working to pay off part of her tuition, and I lied and said that I wanted to earn some money and be completely independent for awhile before I started school.  We ended up having dinner together that night and dated for the next three months.”  He made a face.  “She dumped me for this big, dumb jock that was on her school’s football team.  If I wasn’t trying to blend in, I would have taken him easily.  This guy was taller than I am and a lot bulkier, we’re talking at least two hundred pounds, so I had to back off.  Damn.”

“Don’t sweat it, Dylan,” Alec said.  “You’re only eighteen.  There’s plenty of time and plenty of girls.  Not to mention that lovely ball of sunshine Ames White doesn’t have you on his personal hit list, so you can actually go out when you want to meet said girls.”  He reached up to pat Dylan on his shoulder, but Dylan ducked and tried to put Alec in a headlock.  Alec just laughed and easily reversed it.  “You fall for that every time.”

“I know,” Dylan muttered.  He sighed as Alec released him.  “Just like old times.”

“Just like old times,” Alec echoed.

Dylan smiled.  “I’m glad.”

“Me too,” Alec agreed.

TBC