Together -- Chapter 9

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 (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Zack was pacing in his cell the following evening, trying to keep his temper down. If he’d thought the time when he’d turned himself to Lydecker to keep Max safe was hell, this was worse. At least Lydecker didn’t screw around with you when he wanted something. Zack would almost welcome the straight-up torture compared to that bitch Renfro. Renfro was frighteningly fond of mind games, taking every opportunity to remind him that Max was dead because of him, that he’d failed her and the others. She knew which buttons to push and pushed them as often as she wanted.

I never thought I would hear myself say this, but she makes Lydecker look vaguely like Santa Claus, he thought. Zack heard the door to the cell creak open and spun around, his eyes cold. “Don’t even think about coming in here unless you’re in the mood to lose a few pints of blood.”

“Nice way to greet someone you haven’t seen in six months,” Becky remarked, amused.

“Becky,” Zack said, relieved. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

“Yeah, Siberia was a breeze,” Becky told him.

“What are you doing here?” Zack asked. “If you get caught...”

“Don’t worry,” Becky assured him. “I would have been here sooner, but it took me awhile to find out exactly where they were holding you. How have you been, aside from the obvious?”

Zack looked down. “She’s gone.”

“Max?” Becky said.

“I saw her. I saw her lying there on the operating table in the infirmary back in Wyoming and I tried...I tried...” Zack paused to collect himself and only partially succeeded. “If I hadn’t been shot from behind before I could fire, Max would still be alive. I was too slow.”

“That’s Renfro talking,” Becky countered softly. “Zack...Max is alive.”

“What?” Zack was stunned. “Please don’t tell me you’re joking.”

“You know me better than that,” Becky reminded the older transgenic. “She’s alive. Pissed off, but alive.”

“How?” Zack wondered. “The last time, I saw her, she was flatlining and had a hole in her chest.”

“She got a transplant from another X5 donor,” Becky informed Zack. “I don’t know who, I was here in Seattle checking in and training before I went back to Russia later that week to finish up my mission.”

Zack felt his breath catch in his throat and had to restrain himself from shouting in sheer happiness and relief.  “Do you know where she is?”

“Over in D Wing, on the other side of the building,” Becky answered. “They’re having about as much success with her in Psy Ops as I can imagine they’re having with you.”

Zack grinned. “That’s my Maxie. How did you manage to sneak in here?”

“I blackmailed someone into helping me,” Becky said. “Your brother Ben’s twin, 494. Max named him Alec.”

“How does Max know him?” Zack questioned.

Becky winced. He’s not going to like hearing this one. “Apparently, someone in the committee that’s in charge of Manticore decided that they still wanted to produce new soldiers, in spite of the destruction of the DNA lab. I’m sure you can figure out how that would be possible. The older X-series, the X3s, X4s, and X5s so far have been ordered to participate in the breeding program. Alec was assigned to be Max’s breeding partner.”

“He was what?” Zack said. He managed to keep his voice level, but Becky could tell that he was ready to tear someone’s head off.

“Don’t worry,” Becky assured him. “As soon as he told Max what was going on, she kicked him across the room. He hasn’t touched her since.”

Zack smirked. “Good boy.”

“Last night, when I went to talk to Max, he came back to her cell. He left his watch in there,” Becky continued. “He overheard me and Max talking about working on an escape plan for the two of you and threatened to turn her and me in to Renfro. I threatened to tell Renfro that he wasn’t copulating with Max like he’d been ordered to and then Max told him to help us. He got me around the cameras, but I only have a few more minutes before I have to sneak back out of here.”

“Do we have a plan so far?” Zack asked.

“Nothing yet. We wanted to find out the specifics of your situation before we made any kind of move,” Becky replied. “Though like I told Max, we potentially have a wild card that could trip us up.”

“Let me guess: Logan’s so distraught that he’s threatening to expose Manticore,” Zack mused.

“Bingo,” Becky confirmed. “He better not find out where we are. According to the latest Eyes Only broadcast I saw, he already knows that all of the Manticore facilities have been consolidated into one facility, though he doesn’t know our location yet. If he does, something’s gonna happen and it won’t just be the three of us who’ll be screwed.”

Zack looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t be helping him.”

“Who would be helping Cale?” Becky asked.

“Sometime after my sister Tinga had turned herself in to save her son and before Max and Krit and Syl and I went to blow the DNA lab, something happened between Renfro and Lydecker,” Zack explained. “Renfro cut Lydecker out of the loop and tried to have him killed. Lydecker got away and he tried to get Tinga back, but when he got there with his own soldiers, Tinga was already dead and Max was holding her and crying. He took Max and Max somehow convinced Lydecker to let her help them get out of there before Manticore closed in on them and somehow managed to convince him to help us take it down.”

“But Lydecker wouldn’t want to kill all of us,” Becky said. “He cares about us, in his own weird way. I guess he figured if it was simply a matter of the DNA lab blowing and a possible loss of funding, we’d be quietly dispersed into the world, at least the X-series.”

“If only Cale could just get his head in the game and realize how much is potentially at stake,” Zack complained.

“I said more or less the same thing to Max last night,” Becky remarked. She smiled a little. “After she admitted that I was right, she said that sounded like something that you would say.”

“Great minds think alike,” Zack commented.

“I should get going,” Becky said reluctantly.

“Tell her I’m fine and we’ll get out of here together,” Zack instructed.

“You know I will,” Becky promised. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

TBC