Together -- Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All of the characters that appeared in the TV show Dark Angel (Max, Zack, Logan, etc.) belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (X6-405, etc.).

X6-405 sat in the library in Manticore's Gillette facility, trying to concentrate on the book in front of her. Around her, her unit mates were doing the same. At least that's what she assumed they were doing until a pencil came flying past 405, just missing her nose. She looked up and glared at the boy sitting next to her. "Was that you, 773?"

"Don't mind him, 405," the strawberry blond-haired girl, 691, on her left said. "He's just antsy because he has to report to mission prep tomorrow."

"His first long-term away mission," another girl, 392, teased. "And with a girl, no less! Our little 773 is all grown up."

"I'm older than you are," 773 pointed out. "And you haven't gone on your first yet either."

"And I'm older than all of you," 405 retorted. She smiled a little. "Give 773 a rest."

"Yes, ma'am," 392 said, grinning.

405 shook her head. "You guys are all insane." She sighed and tried to concentrate again on her book. They drove her up the wall sometimes, but they were the only thing keeping her from making a break for it like the '09ers had done almost eleven years ago. 405 hated Manticore and figured that she was probably the only person, except maybe Lydecker, who didn't hate the '09ers. She'd almost hero-worshipped them when she was younger. X5 Unit 2 had been the best, the ones that other units were compared to, and there was something else, something that 405 couldn't quite put a finger on. When the '09ers had escaped, 405 had figured out why and couldn't blame them, no matter how hard Manticore tried to make all of the transgenics do just that. She had thought about making her own break, but knew deep down that her own unit mates didn't want to leave. So no matter how much it hurt her to stay, 405 knew it would hurt worse if she wasn't there to protect her unit.

"I heard that something's got the Colonel practically climbing the walls," 058, the youngest in the unit, spoke up.

"More so than usual?" 405 questioned. "What do you mean?"

"I think that they're stuck worse than an X3 on the first assault course on a rainy day with X5-599," 058 replied. He shrugged. "The Colonel's been acting as fidgety as he ever gets.  The only time I can recall this kind of behavior coming from him was when 599 and the rest of them went A.W.O.L. all those years ago."

Good for Zack. 405 shook her head. "You know better than to believe something just based on hearsay, 058. You do remember the time that 029 and 367 tricked you into believing that story about the guy's bathrooms in ours and all other X6 barracks being under repairs so you had to use Unit 5's girls room?"

"No sh--" 058 quieted down when he got a warning look from 405. "I know what you mean, 405, but everybody's talking about 599 being back and in Psy Ops. That's all anybody can talk about for the past few months."

"He's right," 691 confirmed. "I mean, you can't blame everybody for that. The guy's infamous as hell."

"Why are we gossiping like a bunch of norm teenaged girls?" 405 wondered.

"Remember what the instructor told us in our very first culture class, ma'am," 773 teased. "'Gossiping may seem like a waste of time, but it can be a perfect place to accumulate intel.'"

"I know," 405 said.

Just then, the door to the library opened and a regular soldier entered the room and walked up to 405. "X6-405?"

"Yes," 405 said. She stood up. "Is there a problem?"

"Colonel Lydecker would like you to report to his office immediately," he told her.

405 nodded and turned to her unit. "I'll see you later. 115, take lead in the training exercise we're going to run this afternoon if I'm not back in time."

"Yes, ma'am," 115 replied, saluting.

"Good," 405 said. She followed the soldier to Lydecker's office, trying to figure out what he could possibly want.

TBC