Welcome to Our Life -- Chapter 29: Jack (X5-417)

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Jondy, 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 (Elle/X5-164, etc.).

Escape and evade. Again. How many times have I participated in this particular exercise since the age of two? About ten million. What the heck, let’s make this number ten million and one. I shouldn’t be complaining about it too much, though. At least it’s pretty warm for Wyoming in early April.

I closed my eyes as I patiently waited for the time when we were told to try to begin to escape from our starting positions. We were going up against a combined group of Unit 8, since about half of them were away on a mission, and Unit 7, of whom all of them minus 311 who was still in Psy Ops were present but is just a small unit to begin with. Nineteen of us against twenty-three opponents hidden somewhere in this area of the woods. This should be interesting.

I silently counted the remaining couple of second down before I began to try to free my wrists from the zip ties that were binding them. It took a good couple of minutes before I was able to get them free but once they were loose, it was pretty easy to unbind my ankles. I stood up and began to move as quietly through the forest as I could. I was usually decent enough at E&E. I would get through nearly all of the time, though usually it was by the skin of my teeth. I suddenly tensed when I heard a noise and ducked behind a bush, but once I saw that it was only Jondy, I grinned in relief.

Hey, I signaled to her silently. Where were you?

Just a few yards to the northeast of here, she replied in the same way. If we gave our positions away because we wanted to have a normal conversation, Lydecker would have our hides. What about you?

Also a few yards from here, but west of your original position, I replied. We both scanned the area before Jondy gestured for us to continue on. We were quiet for a good couple of minutes before we ducked behind another bush. I looked over towards some nearby trees and sure enough, I could barely make out the outline of a soldier wearing forest camouflage hiding close by them. I frowned for a moment as I thought out a plan before I began to gesture it to Jondy. She considered my plan for a few moments before she nodded and we split up. Jondy whistled, mimicking a bird fairly well but just off enough to get somebody like her or me’s attention. Sure enough, the X5 that was laying in wait moved completely out from behind his cover and I snuck around and cut off his oxygen supply until he passed out and I lowered him noiselessly to the ground. I motioned Jondy over. 745 from Unit 7.

He’s not going to be a happy camper when he regains consciousness, Jondy replied. Okay, Jack, you know the drill.

I nodded and I stripped 745 of his weapons, frowning as I did so. One of the rules for Escape and Evade was that if we came across an enemy solider and took him or her down that we were not allowed to take his or her weapons since that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. We weren’t allowed to take their comm. units either, though that was also pointless since the soldiers on defense would inform the trainers of a capture by pressing a button to send a signal directly to the trainers’ own comm. device. Lucky for us, the defending soldiers were equipped with mostly the standard gear and while that was modified to include paintball guns for escape and evade, it also included zip ties and we were allowed to use those. I found the ones that 745 had on him and I bound his ankles while Jondy bound his wrists behind his back. Once 745 was secured, Jondy motioned for me to move forward. We continued to move stealthily through the forest, finally arriving at the rendezvous point unscathed. We saluted the trainer. “X5-417 reporting in, sir!”

“X5-210 reporting in, sir!” Jondy said.

“Good,” the trainer said. “Did the two of you end up working together?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Any captured enemies?” the trainer asked.

“Yes, sir,” Jondy said. “X5-745.” She gave the trainer 745’s location and he nodded and entered some information into the laptop that he was holding.

“Very impressive, 210 and 417. I think this might be 417’s best result in Escape and Evade yet. The two of you are the second member or members of Unit 2 to check in. Only 452 has done so thus far.” Naturally. “You may wait over in Yard C with 452 for the rest of your unit mates. Dismissed for now.” Jondy and I saluted the trainer and marched over to Yard C. We saw Max sitting by herself over to the side and we walked over to and sat down next to her.

“Hey,” she said. “You guys actually beat the others out of E&E?”

“We sure did,” Jondy said. She was grinning.

“Hey, you know what the trainers and Lydecker say about me. I definitely function best as a team player,” I said. It’s true. I’m okay on my own, I did pass my solo ops tests and everything, but I do work best within a team. “I guess Jondy and I make for one hell of a team.”

“Apparently,” Max said.

“You really did great out there, Jack,” Jondy said. “You were quieter than a mouse. 745 never had a clue that you were coming up behind him and neither did 667 from Unit 8 and 836 from Unit 7 when we slipped by them.”

“It wasn’t all me,” I said. “They were all clueless to the fact that you were there as well. You rocked today too, Jondy.”

“Thank you,” Jondy said. She grinned and I couldn’t help smiling as well. “But the most important thing of all? All three of us beat Zack this afternoon.”

Max laughed. “Big deal. I beat him at Escape and Evade about ninety-nine percent of the time.”

“But when have Jondy or I ever beaten Zack at anything before?” I said.

“We deserve our moment in the sun,” Jondy said. “Don’t we, Jack?”

“I won’t lie,” I said. “I’m going to enjoy this moment while it lasts because it probably isn’t going to last for very long.”

“Let me guess. You’re celebrating the fact that you beat me in Escape and Evade?” Zack said as he approached us. He smiled as he sat down next to Max. “Good. I’m glad that you did that well, Jack. You too, Jondy.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Looks like it’s just the four of us so far,” Max said. “Zack, did you see anybody else from our gang on your way out of the woods?”

Zack shook his head. “No. The only people I saw were the members of units 7 and 8 that I was trying to avoid. I think I spotted a total of seven enemies and I ended up having to capture three other ones. It was 952 and 349 from Unit 8 and 836 from Unit 7 that I had to tie up.”

“You must have passed by the route that Jondy and I ended up taking to get out of there,” I remarked. “We had to get around 836 as well. She’s not going to be very happy when we’re all debriefed over this.” I stretched my arms out. “That’s better. How did you do out there, Max? Did you have any close calls and did you have to capture anybody before you got to the rendezvous point?”

“No captures, though I almost had to make the grab on one of the members of Unit 8 when I realized how close the guy was,” Max said. “Made it through, though.”

“That’s our Max,” Zack said. I noticed that he inched a little bit closer to her and I turned to Jondy and discreetly motioned to the two of them with me eyes. Jondy’s own eyes sparkled as she nodded in agreement. Zack turned his head to look at Jondy and me and he frowned. “What are you guys thinking?”

“None of your business, big brother,” Jondy said sweetly. She leaned over to me and whispered in my ear just loud enough for me to catch but for Max and Zack not to be able to understand. “Even if it was, do you think that I would tell him? I value my life.” I couldn’t help laughing and Jondy grinned back, blushing faintly. I ignored the annoyed look on Zack’s face and I leaned in so that my lips were close to Jondy’s ear.

“That’s good,” I whispered. “So do I.” Jondy looked up at me and I felt my heart beat weirdly. What the heck?

“And what is going on here, hmmm?” Max teased.

“Not a thing, sis,” I said.

“Don’t worry, Maxie,” Jondy said. “It’s all good.”

“Good,” Max said. She gave me and Jondy another somewhat odd look before she shrugged and turned to look in the direction of the rendezvous point to see Rena making her way over to us. Phew, saved by another sister. I watched Jondy get up and walk over to and greet Rena, again finding myself smiling as I heard Jondy’s laughter, this time about a smart remark that Rena made. Something was going on, all right, and I should probably figure out what it was.