Together -- Chapter 62

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Logan, 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.).

“Where the firetruck is Max?” Normal yelled from behind his counter. “She should have been back from that run a long time ago! If she wanted to leave early, she should have at least…”

“Relax, I’m right here,” Max said. She set her bike against a wall. “Some gang tried to jump me as I was coming back from my run and I wanted to make sure that they weren’t following me before I headed back here.” She took off her backpack and took out her clipboard and handed it to Normal. “I didn’t lose the signature, if that makes you feel better.”

“Be more careful the next time you go on a run, got it?” Normal said.

“I got it,” Max assured him. She went over to a pillar and leaned against it and closed her eyes and sighed.

“You look like hell,” Original Cindy said.

Max opened her eyes and shook her head. “I just took a trip through there on my last run, thanks. I’ll give you the details later. Where are Alec and Jeff?”

“It was one of those runs, huh?” Original Cindy said. “Jeff should be getting back from a run any minute now and I think that Alec’s taking a bathroom break. What about Becky? Whatever you’ve got to tell the soldier boys, and it sounds damn serious from the way you’re talking, shouldn’t you be telling her too?”

“It doesn’t matter where the guys are,” Max said. “I should talk to them in private, anyway. Becky’s covered. Zack happened to be with me when this thing went down and he’s going to give Becky the heads up. I’m going to go ask Normal if I can split now. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Take care, boo.” Original Cindy gave Max before walking away.

“Normal, I’m going to split,” Max said.

Normal looked at his watch. “It’s close enough to closing time, anyway. Go ahead, get here on time tomorrow morning, and remember to be careful.”

“Thanks,” Max said. She walked back over to her bicycle and got on and rode off. She didn’t go back to her own apartment building, but over to Becky’s. She chained her bicycle up to the fence in back of the building and went inside and up to the apartment and let herself in. Becky was nowhere to be seen, but Zack was lying down on the couch. He looked like he was sleeping, but he opened his eyes when Max came in.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey,” Max said softly. She sat down next to him and Zack pulled her onto his lap and she lay down on top of him and snuggled close. Zack put his arms around her and they lay silently for a few moments. “Where’s Becky?”

“Out,” Zack told her. “She said she needed to get her thoughts together. She needs to talk with you when she gets back.”

“Okay,” Max said. “Zack?”

“What is it, Maxie?”

“I’ve been thinking about this occasionally since the fire and today especially had me thinking about it,” Max said. “You want to keep us all safe and so do I and even I have to admit that the separation policy that you’ve had with us since we bailed back in ’09 has worked really well. But with White and whatever freak breeding thing he’s a part of and everything…there’s a line between it’ll be harder to catch us if we’re spread out and safety in numbers. Is that line starting to blur? We had a hard time with White and his friend. I don’t know how many people like that are out there or what exactly all of them are capable of, if they’re like White or more powerful or just powerful in a different way. If I hadn’t seen spotted you and warned you…” Max had to fight back tears.

Zack tightened his grip on Max. “It’s like what I thought when I first got acquainted with Director Renfro. Just when you think you know what evil is, there’s something more. At least now we have a better idea of what White is capable of. We learned all about our enemies before and we’ve evaded and defeated them. White is no different. You have a point, though, about that line. I was actually starting to wonder the same thing myself. That’s why I called Krit and Syl after I called Becky. I told them to relocate to at least within twenty miles of Seattle.”

“You did?” Max said. She was genuinely surprised.

“I did,” Zack agreed. “They were within a day’s travel from here to begin with. The others are fine, too. They’re safe at their current locations. Krit and Syl were also, but they were relatively close to here to begin with. We’re going to need all the help that we can get, Maxie.”

“I know,” Max said. “This is scaring me.”

“It’s scaring me, too,” Zack admitted quietly. “We’ll get through this together. We’ve survived Lydecker and Renfro and Felicia when she was brainwashed. We’ll survive this too. We’re definitely going to survive White and we’ll defeat him as well. We defeated Lydecker, you defeated Renfro, and Becky brought Felicia’s real self back. We haven’t met an enemy that we’ve been unable to defeat yet.”

“Actually, I’ve always thought that Renfro defeated Lydecker,” Max quipped.

“Ha ha ha,” Zack said. He grinned. “There’s my Maxie.”

“You can’t keep this bitch down,” Max said. She sat up and grinned back at Zack. “Not for long.”

“I’m glad,” Zack said. He sat up, gently stroked the side of Max’s face, and kissed her deeply. Max gladly returned the kiss. They parted, stared into each others’ eyes, and gave each other a smile before they leaned in for another kiss.

TBC