Prophecy -- Chapter 4

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 these fics.  I only own the original characters (Dylan/X6-175, etc.).

“What’s next on the agenda today, Great Leader?” Alec asked Max the following day during the daily morning meeting.  He managed to hide his laughter at the glare that Max sent in his direction.  Mole, however, didn’t bother to cover up his chuckles and soon found himself on the receiving end of Max’s annoyance.

“I’m glad that you’re in such a good mood this morning, Mole, because I’m seriously considering putting you on the schedule for repairing the bathrooms in the buildings on the South section,” she informed him.  Max smirked when Mole shut his mouth.  “Thank you.  And to answer Alec’s question, it’s the living arrangements of the younger X6s on down.  More of these kids have been coming in lately, so we need to find a building that will make a better dormitory for them.”  She gestured towards the female X5 that was in charge of housing.  “Lori, do you have any suggestions right off the top of your head?”

Lori nodded.  “Yeah, there’s a great building for it over on the corner of Ninth and Jacobs.  I think it used to be a small medical center.  With a good crew on it and a raid or two for the right supplies, we can have the place ready within a month.  Easy.”

“Perfect,” Max said.  “I think that’s it.  See you same time, same place tomorrow, people.”  She walked over to where Alec was talking with Dylan and gave Dylan a smile.  “That was what our daily meetings are like.  Hope it wasn’t too boring.”

“Nah, it wasn’t,” Dylan said.  “Meetings are meetings.”

“Yeah, they’re going to be boring no matter what,” Alec joked.  He threw an arm around Max’s shoulders when Max gave him a dirty look.  “Relax, Maxie.  I know you like meetings as much as I do, but kidding around about how crappy they are wouldn’t kill you.”

“Neither would learning to get a clue, you dumb ‘09er bitch,” a voice muttered.

Max whirled around and smiled sweetly at the X5 that had spoken up.  “Oh, Wade.  Nice of you to join us.  I can always count on you to show up to brighten my day.”

Dylan shot Alec a confused look.  “What’s his problem?” he whispered.

“Beats the hell out of me,” Alec replied just as quietly.  “He always was wound tighter than a zip tie.”

“What was that, 494?” Wade asked nastily.

“Oh, nothing,” Alec said.  “Just a little chit chat.  You know, Wade, you might want to consider letting go or at least pretending not to give a damn about the whole Max and her old crew splitting from Manticore way back when deal.  It’s been a bunch of years since then.”

“Says the man who probably got into her pants,” Wade remarked.  He laughed when Alec’s eyes narrowed in anger.  “Did I just hit a nerve, 494—I mean, Alec?  Does it bother you when I make a comment about your dumb little girlfriend?”

“Max is not my girlfriend,” Alec said through gritted teeth.  Dylan gave him an odd look, but kept his mouth shut.  “You’re starting to piss me off, Wade, so do us all a favor and go off to whatever you were going to do, okay?  I’m not in the mood to clean up the mess that’s gonna happen if and when I beat the crap out of you.”

“Such language.  I’m shocked that the alleged best that Manticore had to offer would resort to threatening me like that,” Wade commented.  He gasped in mock horror.  “I’m scared.”  He looked over to where Dylan had been silently observing the exchange.  “I’m surprised that you’re tag-along hasn’t said anything yet.  Cat got your tongue, 175?”

Dylan shrugged.  “It’s not my battle to fight.  Alec can handle you on his own.  He’s a big boy.  By the way, the name’s Dylan.”

“Whatever,” Wade said.  “Has he been feeding you the same ‘love the ‘09ers’ B.S. that he was just puking up at me?”

And you said something to Alec about language?  “No.  He didn’t need to.”

“Well, I guess that really says something about you, doesn’t it?” Wade said.  “You know, you are the biggest moron that I’ve ever met, 1—Dylan.  Really.  You’re out from Manticore for a year and you’ve forgotten everything that they’ve taught you about those assholes.  They were the ones who made the people in charge tighten their leashes on us.  Those brats were the people who made the punishments even stricter whenever we stepped out of line after they bailed out.  Do you honestly not remember that anymore?  Huh?”

“I remember everything that happened when Max and her unit escaped from Manticore years ago,” Dylan hissed.  “I might have been even younger than you, but I can recall every microsecond.  Do you remember that forty of the X6s were chosen at random to be thrown into Psy Ops the day after it had happened just to make sure that my generation would be too scared to make a break for it if the idea would ever occur to us?  I was one of that bunch.  But did Max drag me from the class that I was having at the time?  No.  Did Alec’s twin strap me to that God-awful chair?  No.  Did any of them point that laser into my right eye and physically torture me?  No, they didn’t.  Do you know who did?  It was the trainers.  The doctors.  The lab techs.  They were the people who put me, the other X6s that were taken in, and every other transgenic at all of the Manticore facilities through hell, whether it was immediately after the ’09 incident or at some point along the line before or after that.  I know who to blame.  Do you?”

Wade walked up to Dylan and looked up at his face.  “If you hated Manticore so much, why didn’t you ever leave?  Don’t talk the talk unless you can back it up.”

“While we’re still on the subject of recalling facts, do you remember a story floating around in the summer of 2010 about an X5 who tried to escape from the facility over in New Hampshire?” Dylan asked.  “She had allegedly made it over that place’s fence before she was found near a river about fifteen miles out and taken back and they went to work on her in Psy Ops.”

“Yeah, but that was the Manticore equivalent of an urban legend,” Wade pointed out.  “You know that.  It was never proven to be true.”

“Not by most people,” Alec spoke up.  “My buddy Biggs was the one who had heard the brass bitching about it when he passed by a conference room.  He gave Dylan and me all of the dirty details and believe me, they were dirty.  But to make a long story short, they ended up putting the girl out of her misery with a gunshot wound to the head after a month.”  He gave Max an apologetic look when he saw her go pale.

“Do you understand how that would get a message through a seven-year-old’s head?” Dylan said.  “I never stopped hating Manticore, but I knew what would have happened if I had tried to do something about it.”  He sighed.  “Please leave, Wade?”  Wade stared at them for several moments before finally nodding and walking away.  Dylan turned to Max.  “I’m sorry that you had to hear about that X5.”

Max shook her head.  “Alec told me about what went down with the girl a month or so before Biggs died.  It still freaks me out, though.”

“I don’t blame you for being freaked,” Dylan admitted.  “I would be, too.”

“You—“ Max was interrupted by the sound of Mole yelling.  “Oh, great.  Time to stop Mole’s first temper tantrum of the day.”

“This should be good,” Alec observed.  “It sounds like the poor sap that’s getting the verbal kick in the ass tried to swipe a cigar from Mole’s pocket.”

“While Mole wasn’t all that preoccupied,” Dylan added.

“Not a smart move,” Max remarked.  “Boys?  Ready and willing to come with for back up?”

“Sure,” Dylan said.

“Always,” Alec agreed as he followed Max and Dylan out of the door.

TBC