Nightmares Redux -- Chapter 6b

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, 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 (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

When the group marched into the control room in Terminal City, Dix’s eyes widened in surprise.  “Well, this is unexpected.”  He hesitated when he saw the looks on some of their faces.  “What’s going on?  Is something wrong?”

“Very wrong,” Alec said.  “Melanie and Bryan’s daughter was just kidnapped.”

“What?” Dix said.  “How the hell could a transgenic get kidnapped?”

“Now would be a good time to share that idea of yours, Alec,” Zack said.

Alec nodded.  “Meredith isn’t—“  He stopped suddenly when they heard two voices approach the control room.  A second later, Jeff bolted towards the doorway and hugged his only child.

“Kylie,” he greeted, relieved beyond words.  “You’re here.”

“Yeah,” Kylie said slowly, confused by Jeff’s behavior.  “You knew that I was heading over here to hang out with Mandy.  I left her and her parents’ place and I ran into Mole as he was heading here and we got to talking.  Dad, you can let go now.”

“Sorry,” Jeff apologized, releasing Kylie from the hug.

Kylie’s eyes narrowed.  “Dad, spill it.”

“Meredith, do you remember her?  The daughter of two of Uncle Alec’s former unit mates,” Jeff said.  Kylie nodded and Jeff continued.  “She was kidnapped just a few hours ago.”

“Whoa,” Kylie said.

“But wait, there’s apparently more,” Rena deadpanned.  “Alec was going to fill us in on his take of the situation.”

“Yeah, what the hell is going on, pretty boy?” Mole growled.

“What’s going on is that somebody’s got the bright idea to kidnap second generation Manticore transgenics,” Alec said grimly.

There were a few moments of total silence.  Max was the first one to be able to speak again and when she did, her voice managed to be both shocked beyond words and icy cold at the same time.  “What?”

“All of the children that have been kidnapped to this point have been second generation X-series.  None of them were ordinaries,” Alec told them.  “Remember when some of us were over at Jondy and Wayne’s place when we caught that report of that boy, the first one that was publicly reported as being missing?  There was something about him that was familiar, but it didn’t click until tonight when Melanie called me to let me know about Meredith.  I have seen him before…around here in Terminal City with his X6 parents.  Caitlin Brown is the daughter of an X4, Chelsea, that I’d been paired with on a mission back at Manticore when I was twelve and Chelsea’s X3 husband.  The teenage boy who was taken is the son of two X5s originally from Wyoming, the little girl has X6s for parents, and the twelve-year-old girl that was reported as missing on the twelve o’clock news this afternoon was the daughter of an X5 and an X4.”

“Holy hell,” Brin said.  “This can’t be right.  There’s no way.”  She tried to collect herself.

“What about others?” Zack asked.  “There have been five children reported as missing by the media, plus Melanie and Bryan’s daughter, but those are the only ones that we know about for sure.  Like you said, Alec, these are second generation kids.  Their parents have the training and the motivation to try to locate them on their own without public assistance or knowledge, and I can understand why they would want to keep this quiet.”

“That thought hasn’t sprouted wings and flown out of my brain,” Alec agreed.

Kylie looked slightly confused.  “Why only second gen-ers like me?  Why not make a go for a first generation, at least an X9?”

“Because second generation transgenics like you don’t have barcodes,” Zane said.  “X9s were engineered and born in Manticore, so they’ve got them on their necks.  The children of the X4s had been born with barcodes, but they had all faded away by the time any of those kids turned a year old, if not sooner, and they didn’t return.  Not a single one of you guys have any identifying marks to give you away.  It makes things that much easier for whoever is behind this.”

“But why are they targeting these young kids?” Syl asked, understandably nervous.  “Why us?  Why them?”

Max felt everything inside her freeze and she exchanged a glance with Zack.  “They might not just be targeting the younger ones.  The breeding program kids and some of the other older ones that are at least eighteen are legally adults and might not be living with their parents, so there wouldn’t be anybody who would immediately report them as missing.”  She turned to Dix.  “Check in on every known second generation Manticore transgenic.  Contact them or their parents and verify their whereabouts.  Try to peek in on where these kidnappings have been taking place, if they’ve been concentrated within the Seattle area or if they’re more spread out.”

“Get in touch with all known non-Manticore transgenics,” Alec said.  “Fill in our buddies in Australia, France, Japan, Greece, and Spain and have them check up on their guys, first and second generation.  We also need to try to get a plan to protect our kids.  For now, advise all older kids not to go out by themselves.  If the parents agree to it, try to get as many of the younger ones settled temporarily here in T.C.”  He looked back to the others to gauge their thoughts and smiled briefly when they nodded their approval.  “Most of the anomalies and transhumans, including the two of you, as well as the X7s still live in these parts.  The kids will be safe.”

“Also, contact the X9s as well to make sure that none of them have had their barcodes removed for one reason or another,” Zack added.  “If any of them got those things lasered off, they’re as vulnerable as the kids.”

Kylie turned to Jeff.  “What time is Mom’s flight getting in?”

Jeff couldn’t help laughing a little.  She sure knows how her mother thinks.  “I’ll call her and find out.”

“What, you’re not even going to bother with the semi-requisite ‘stay where you are, we’ve got everything under control, there’s not much you can do’ speech?” Biggs teased.

“Using those lines on Becky would be as useful as trying to a wad of gum to put a rocket launcher together,” Jeff reminded him.  Jeff’s cell phone rang and he picked it up, looked at it, smirked, and held it out in front of Biggs’ face.  “You were saying?”  He walked aside to have some privacy.

“How should go about this in public?” Krit asked.  “I’m all for doing anything that would protect my children, but would letting everybody know what details we’ve got help things or hurt them?”

“Good question,” Max said, sighing.  “I think we should keep things on the down low in general, but let the police and those people in.  There are still some prejudiced assholes out there that look for any and all excuses to stir up trouble with us and the last thing that we need is for one of those guys to mess things up further.”

“Plus, we’re clearly dealing with somebody who knows how to deal with transgenics,” Alec added.  “All of those kids have had some training to one extent or another and even taking that as well as their natural physical abilities into account, they were taken cleanly.  I’ve got to figure that if we’re looking at people who are smart enough to know how to handle us, they’ll out maneuver the ordinaries without much of a problem.  We should fill the authorities in and keep them in the loop, but advise them to let us handle this.  My opinion.  It’s within our rights.”  He looked over at Jeff, who had just returned to the group.  “When is Becky getting back into Seattle?”

“She’s going to get onto the next available flight,” Jeff said.  “She said she hopes to be on her way back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, but she might be able to get on one of the last flights tonight.”

“I guess all that’s left to do for the time being is to make all those who need to know wise about this,” Max concluded.  They all agreed, drifting off to make phone calls or to talk with Dix and Mole.  Max sighed and leaned against Zack.  “Part of me wants to go down to California right now to get the boys so that I know that they’re safe and another part is telling me to listen to my own damn logic and wait until we know if these kidnappings are concentrated in our neck of the woods or not.  I want to know that they’re fine, but I…”

Zack hugged her.  “Go call them.  I’ll call Gabby and make sure that she knows what’s going on here.”

“Thanks,” Max said.

“Don’t worry,” Alec said.  “Come hell or high water, we’re going to figure out what’s going on and get things right.”  His expression darkened.  “There’s no way in hell anybody’s going to get away with this.  If they even try something with one or both of my children…or any of our kids…let’s try not to let it get that far.”

“I hear that,” Max agreed.

TBC