Together -- Chapter 33b

Disclaimer: All of the characters that appeared on 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 (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Come on, come on, there's got to be some place for me to hide," Becky said as she tried another door, only to find that it was also locked. "This is not good." She grabbed her cell phone and speed dialed Zack's number. He answered on the first ring.

"What's your situation?" he said.

"I'm in trouble," Becky said. "I need help ASAP. I just walked into a trap apparently meant for you and they know it's me."

"We know," Zack said. "We caught some of the live feed from Cale's. He's the one who tried to set me up."

"Damn it," Becky swore. That son-of-a-bitch! How dare he?! He's going to regret this.

"What's your status right now?"

"I'm on the eighth floor. They've got men above and below and they're closing in, so I'm stuck on this level," Becky said, still listening for more signs of White and his men. "White had his people lock the doors to every office and closet so that you—or me, as it turns out—would have no place to hide."

"Are you armed at all?"

"Yeah, I got my nine millimeter with me," Becky said. She checked to make sure it was still tucked in the waistband of her jeans. Thank goodness.

"Good. Keep trying to find a hiding place," Zack told her. "If you can't, try to sneak past the people above you and get to the roof and get away that way until you're clear and call me then. Max and I will be there in less than five minutes."

"Got it," Becky said. She could hear White's men getting closer. "Hu—" She abruptly stopped, disconnecting the cell phone and shoving it back into her pocket and bringing her gun up and firing at the men who came out of the elevator and bolted back towards the stairs. Why couldn't they have given me five more minutes?!

"Sir, she's running," one of the men said.

"Alpha team, you are to pursue 405. Shoot to kill. I repeat, shoot to kill," White said.

"Not if I can help it," Becky said to herself as she kicked the rifle out of one of the soldiers who came at her and elbowed him and whipped around and kicked another in the head. There's no way in hell you're taking me at all, much less without a fight! She turned back around and fired a few more shots at the men coming at her from that direction and continued to run for the stairs. She ducked as another soldier tried to hit her and punched him and kicked another one in the knee, destroying it and taking him down. She reached the door to the stairs and opened it and viciously slammed it into the face of another soldier before bolting up the stairs, only to find herself face-to-face with the soldiers who had been up on the ninth and tenth floors. Becky didn't pause or hesitate for a moment. She fought her way past several of the soldiers and grabbed the rifle right out of the hands of another and hit him in the head. She heard the ones behind her draw their guns and immediately turned around and threw the soldier she'd just disarmed back down the stairs at his comrades, taking them down and continued to race up the stairs. She was almost to the roof when she saw White standing by the door with a smirk on his face.

"Where do you think you're going, 405?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" Becky said, quickly drawing her gun again. She shot White in the thigh and shoved past him. "I don't have time to kill your sorry ass today." She shoved the door open and ran onto the roof and continued to run, jumping from roof to roof. She slowed down and stopped after a minute or to and tried to catch her breath.

That was way too close! Crap, I hate this. I should find the fire escape and get down it and let Zack know I'm clear. She straightened up suddenly when she heard something behind her and saw White running from roof to roof after her. She bolted. Damn, how the hell can he be doing that at all, much less with a bullet in his thigh?

"Surprised, 405?" White said.

"What do you think, asshole?" Becky managed. She heard White shooting and gasped in pain as one bullet grazed her upper right arm. Son-of-a-bitch! She quickly turned around and shot him in his other leg, but he continued to run. He's not even showing any pain! Why the hell is he running so fast? He shouldn't be that close to me!

White continued to chase Becky across the rooftops, not losing too much ground on her and exchanging fire with her as they ran. Suddenly, White stopped shooting.

Why did he stop shooting? Becky wondered. She looked ahead of her and realized why.

Zack and Max slowed their motorcycles to a stop several blocks down from the building. The quickly chained them up and started running.

"I hope we're not too late," Zack said. "We better not be too late."

"We won't be," Max said. "If she's not still in the building, fighting off White's men, then she probably did what you told her to do and snuck out of there and is looking for a hiding place. She'll be fine."

"I hope so," Zack said. "I hear her on the roof tops a few building down...there's someone following her? How can that be possible?"

"I don't know," Max said. "It can't be a transgenic." She went pale. "It sounds like White."

"How could White chase her like that?" Zack wondered as they headed closer to them. "I hope Becky can dodge bullets."

"You and me—he stopped shooting," Max said. They ducked behind a building and peeked around.

"Why—oh no," Zack said. "The gap."

"Shit," Max said. There was a good-sized side lawn next to the building that was next to the one that they were hiding behind, and in between the lawn and their building was a side street and a wide sidewalk. "There's no way she can jump it. She's screwed."

"Yeah," Zack said. There's got to be a way for Becky to get out of this! We've got to distract White somehow. He looked back up and felt his heart jump into his throat. "No way. She's not really going to do it..."

Becky saw the large gap ahead and bit her lip. That's gonna be a close call. I've never jumped anything that large before. I don't have a choice, though. It's either try to jump the gap or stop and let White shoot so many holes in me I look like a cheap piece of Swiss cheese!

White couldn't help grinning as he saw Becky jump onto the roof before the gap. The little freak is trapped. She's gonna die now.

Becky took a deep breath and picked up speed. Here goes nothing... She took off and soared across the gap. Come on, come on, almost there... She felt herself starting to fall. No. I'm so damn close! She reached out to try to grab the edge of the roof and felt it scrape underneath her fingernails. Oh no, oh no...

"Come on, Becky, you can do it..." Zack muttered to himself as he and Max watched Becky take off across the gap.

"Oh crap, she's not gonna make it," Max realized.

"She will," Zack insisted. "She has to." They watched as Becky desperately reached out for the other building and disappeared from view. Zack held his breath and waited for the sound of Becky hitting the ground. A moment later, there was a muffled thud, followed by a loud slam. Zack's heart jumped into his throat and it felt like everything inside him suddenly went icy cold. He closed his eyes. "Becky..."

"It didn't sound like she hit the ground," Max said quickly. "It sounded to me like she fell in maybe a dumpster or something. She still could be alive."

"She has to be," Zack said. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

White stood on the rooftop that Becky had just jumped off of, smiling satisfactorily to himself. That freak at least had the courtesy to do the job for me. I've got to give her credit for that. He walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down, but it was too dark for him to see anything, much less a body. He sighed and walked back to the middle of the roof and was about to pull out his walkie-talkie to get what was left of his men to look for Becky's body when his cell phone rang.

"Fenos'tol," he answered. "The transgenic I was just after fell and died when she attempted to jump between buildings to get away from me. I was about to send teams to search for the body." He listened for a few minutes. "Are you sure it can wait? There's no way even a transgenic can survive a ten-story fall, but I still would like official confirmation." He listened some more. "Of course, the wishes of the Conclave must always come first. I will be there. Fenos'tol." He disconnected and walked over to the fire escape and left.

Zack and Max waited until White was well out of hearing and sight range before they walked out from their corner of the building and over to where they'd heard Becky fall. Sure enough, there was a large closed dumpster. Max immediately went over and dragged a crate in front of it and Zack stepped onto it and lifted the dumpster's lid and looked inside. Becky was lying in the half-full dumpster, unconscious but definitely alive.

Zack sighed in relief. Thank goodness she's alive. I thought I lost her.

"How is she?" Max asked.

"Out cold," Zack said. "And her left shoulder is definitely dislocated, but she's alive."

"Thank God," Max said.

"Yeah," Zack said quietly. He shook his head and gently tapped Becky on the back, trying not to touch her injured shoulder. "Becky? Becky, it's Zack. You can wake up now. You're safe."

Man, am I hurting...wait a sec, I'm actually still alive?! Becky thought as she regained consciousness. I'm lying on something vaguely soft that's definitely not gravel and it smells like hell. It broke my fall, so I shouldn't complain too much. She heard something open above her and a moment later felt somebody tap her on her back.

"Becky? Becky, it's Zack. You can wake up now. You're safe."

Becky blinked and turned over slowly onto her right side, wincing in pain. "Zack?"

"I'm here," Zack said. "Come on." He carefully reached inside the dumpster and lifted Becky out. "Can you stand."

"Yeah, I think so," Becky said. Zack set her down and Becky closed her eyes. "It would be nice if everything stopped spinning for a moment."

"Just take a deep breath," Max said. "Don't push it."

"I don't want to," Becky said. She groaned. "It's been a long time since I've been in this much pain."

"You sound like you have a concussion," Max said.

"I feel like it, too," Becky said. "My shoulder's dislocated and that asshole White grazed me with a bullet on my other arm. I'm just hurting all over right now."

"We should get you checked out," Zack said.

"I'll live," Becky said.

"Becky, you just took a ten-story fall into a dumpster," Zack pointed out. "You need to be checked out. The only problem is that I don't feel safe going to see any of Cale's contacts."

"Not a problem," Becky said. She reached with her better arm for her cell phone and looked at it. "I can't believe it's still in my pocket at all, much less working. I'll call Maggie. She's only two towns over." She managed to hit four on her speed dial and waited for Maggie to answer.

"Becky? What's going on?" Maggie asked when she picked it up.

"I need you to check me over and patch me up," Becky said. "Can you go to my apartment with your med gear?"

"Of course," Maggie said. "I'm in the city right now, so I'll meet you there. What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Becky said.

"I'll see you in a few minutes, then," Maggie said.

Becky disconnected and put her cell phone away. "Maggie will meet us at my apartment."

"Can you ride on the back of a motorcycle?" Zack asked.

"I think so if you don't drive insanely fast," Becky said.

"Good," he said. "Let's go."

TBC