Together -- Chapter 63

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).

Notes: I guess some spoiler-ish stuff for “Dawg Day Afternoon.”

White sat back in his desk chair in his Seattle office and patiently waited for the man on the other end of the video link to appear on his computer monitor. He smiled when he saw his boss finally sit down in his own chair. “It’s good to see you again, sir.”

“Good to see you, Ames. I apologize for the delay,” he said.

“It’s okay,” White assured him. “So, can I ask what the purpose is for this video call?”

“I just want to check up on your progress again,” his boss said. “Is there any progress hunting these transgenics?”

“Unfortunately, the well appears to be drying up,” White said regretfully. “We didn’t capture that transgenic that appeared in that tabloid here in Seattle back in December and while we’ve had a few similar occurrences elsewhere in the country, we haven’t had nearly as many captures. The number of transgenics that we have captured since the facility burned down has dwindled significantly. As a matter of fact, no transgenics have been captured at all within the last month. It seems that they are adapting to this situation. As much as this situation works against us, we probably should have been expecting it. The transgenics are very well trained to handle any situation.”

“You have a point,” his boss said. “We need to pick things up again. We need to contain this problem.”

“If I may suggest something?” White asked.

“You still want us to let the public know about Manticore and the transgenics,” his boss guessed. “Ames, we’ve been over this a million times. You know exactly how I feel about that idea.”

“And you know exactly how I feel about it and you know that I’m right,” White said. “Sir, nothing else seems to be working anymore. We only have so many eyes out there. If we bring the public in on this, if we let the public know exactly what they’re facing, we get millions of pairs of eyes helping us. The general public is a powerful tool that’s just sitting there charging up and ready to use. You know exactly how they’re going to react if and when they hear about the transgenics. The majority of them or at least a significant portion of them will panic. They’ll be so concerned for their own safety that they’ll maybe be even more vigilant than we are.” White smirked. “If this still bothers you, you can always think of this as hiring more employees and not paying any of them. You always were complaining about being short-staffed but not having the funding to be able to pay more people.”

His boss chuckled. “That part is true.”

“What is stopping us from going forward with this idea?” White said.

“Are you sure that you haven’t had any progress eliminating the transgenics?” his boss asked.

“I faxed you the reports first thing this morning,” White said. “I’m not sure if you’ve had the time to look at them yet, but you should at least have them in your possession.”

His boss nodded and reached for a folder and opened it. “You haven’t even been able to capture the females that were in Manticore’s breeding program? Even the ones that have given birth within the last month?”

“Not even them,” White said regretfully. “Like I’ve said before and like I know that you’re aware of, these transgenics are extremely well trained and these females have the most training out of all the transgenics, especially the X3 females, and the X5 females have a higher skill level with the X4s falling somewhere in between. Look, sir, I need to know whether or not we are going to be going ahead with informing the public or not so that I can get the ball rolling here.”

“I know, I know,” his boss said. He sighed and sat there quietly while he contemplated it. “All right, we’re going to go with this.”

“Thank you, sir.” White managed to hide his grin. “How are we going to be doing this, sir? Who will be giving the press conference? Will it be you, since you are in charge of the NSA or will it be me since I am in charge of the operation?”

“It will be me,” his boss said. “The public will find it more believable if the news was given to them by the person that’s in charge of the agency.” He smiled somewhat patronizingly at White. “I know how ambitious you are, Ames, and I can tell how much that you wanted to deliver this news yourself. But you can understand my reasons, right?”

“Of course, sir,” White agreed. “My most important thing is for the public to receive this information in the most efficient way possible to ensure that we get as many transgenics as we can. I do wish that I could have been the one to deliver the news, but sometimes I’ve got to take one for the team.”

“That’s what I love about you, Ames,” his boss said. “You’re a smart man.”

“Thank you, sir,” White said. “When will this news conference be taking place?”

His boss picked up a PDA and scanned through it before he entered some information on it and set it back down and looked back at White. “It should happen between nine and nine-thirty tomorrow morning. I’ve got some meetings that I have to get to so I’ll call you if I need anything from you.”

“That sounds like a plan,” White said. “It was good talking to you again, sir.” He disconnected the video link and pulled out his cell phone and speed dialed a number. “Fenos’tol.”

“Fenos’tol,” the voice on the other end said. “What news do you have for us, Brother White?”

“Well, it’s funny you should happen to use that particular word…” White remarked with a laugh.

TBC