Welcome to Our Life -- Chapter 47: Brin (X5-734)

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.).

I’ve never really like the month of March. I don’t know why. You’d think with Spring starting and everything that it would be a great month, but not really. Maybe that comes from growing up where I did. Spring always seemed to start a little bit late back there.

I looked out the windows of the library, shook my head, and tried to focus back on my work. I was scheduled to go out on a solo mission in a few days. I’m only scheduled to be gone for a week, but I still had some planning that needed to get done before I would go for my final prep work the day before being deployed. Luckily, I was not alone in my relative misery. Everybody in my family who wasn’t currently out on a mission, and only Jondy and Ben were out and about, were there doing their own work, plus Alec, Biggs, and Sasha’s unit, though Biggs himself had gotten called from the library a few minutes ago, a unit of X6s, and two full units of X8s were in here as well. Good thing this place is bigger than the one in Wyoming.

“Anything new out there or is it just the same old trees, the same old trainers, and the same old drills?” Reese teased.

Does this guy really have an IQ as high as the rest of us? “Yes, Reese, there’s a cloud out there that’s the same shape of your head, except that it somehow looks smarter.”

“Leave her alone,” Elle, who was also sitting at the table with Reese and me, insisted. “You should be talking. Don’t you have your own work to do?” She rolled her eyes and turned her head to look at me. “Are you okay, Brin? Is something going on?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” I assured her. “Everything’s cool. I don’t know, maybe it’s the changing of the seasons and all of that.” I shrugged. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Back to work.” I turned to my papers. “Elle, If you were out in the middle of Vancouver and you had to infiltrate a group of university students to gain access to a professor who both our government as well as the Canadian government suspect of selling nuclear information to a wide variety of terrorists, what would you think is the best method of getting in with them?”

“You’re acting like you’ve never infiltrated a group of people before, Brin,” Reese said, pretending to be shocked. “My goodness. Does Director Renfro know?”

“R—552, how about you be quiet,” I hissed. Trainer walking by, ix-nay on the names for the time being. I let out my breath out of reflex as he passed by our table. “I do know how to infiltrate a group of people about our age and if you would look to the other side of the table, you would see that I’ve got several possible ideas that I have written down based on the intelligence that I was given. It never hurts to get ideas from somebody else, especially if they turn out to be better than what you have.” I smirked. “Got any bright ideas?”

“Something’s got your panties in a twist,” Elle said. “You’re not normally this testy. I know it’s not seizures, illness, or heat, so what gives?”

I shrugged again. “I’ve never really liked March. So, do you have any ideas, Reese?”

“I don’t know, I was distracted.” Reese was staring at Elle’s chest. Wow, he can be such a hormonal kid sometimes. “You’ve got something on your shirt. Can I brush it off for you?”

“That’s awfully nice of you to offer to do that for me, but no. Look-ee, no touch-ee,” Elle said sweetly. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Reese pouted. “Be nice.”

“I don’t feel like it. While we’re on the subject of other people’s ideas…” Elle twisted around to look at the next table over. “Hey, Max, can you give me some advice? There’s this guy…say, for example, the moron sitting in front of me, who wants to put his hand up front where it’s not wanted. If he actually managed to accomplish this action, what should I do to him?”

“Hmmm, good question,” Max said. She grinned cheerfully at us. “You could grab his wrist or wrists until you hear some bones breaking, you could grab his wrists and then headbutt him, you could slap him in the face…or you could knock his ass to the floor, step on his twig and berries, and crush ‘em like you’re a lab tech putting out a cigarette before going back on duty.” Elle and I looked at each other, both of us having a hard time stifling our laughter at how Reese suddenly found the library floor extremely interesting.

“Thank you very much, little sis,” Elle said.

“Anytime,” Max told her.

“Don’t feel too bad, 552. If that prude won’t let you have any fun, you can always come to me.” Guess who?

“How kind of you to offer, 786,” Reese said pleasantly. “If I didn’t have any sort of taste, I would take you up on it. Thanks, though.”

“Why do I even bother,” 786 muttered. She gave Reese, and then the rest of my brothers that were there, a long visual appraisal. “So much deliciousness, so little brains.”

Max’s eyes narrowed when she saw 786’s eyes sweep across Zack. “Get the hint, 786. Or did you miss the lesson when you were a kid that said that persistence can be a valuable asset, but only until you realize that you can’t win and have to execute a tactical retreat? Then again, tactical retreat would imply that you actually have a chance to win later. I would call this running the hell out of here with your tail between your legs.”

“You need somebody to correct your attitude, little girl,” 908 said haughtily. I’ve got to give the psycho some credit for coming to her friend’s defense. “Say your piece and be done with it.”

“I tried that. It didn’t work,” Max informed her. She turned back to what she was doing.

714 stopped what she was working on and gave Max a dirty look. “Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you weren’t worth listening to?” She tossed her hair, gave Max a condescending smile, and turned back to her friends.

“Has it ever occurred to you that you might need your head examined, too?” Max retorted.

“Time out,” I said. “If we don’t quiet down soon, those two trainers who happen to be at the other end of the library right now are going to head back this way and we are going to be in loads of trouble.”

“You are so pathetic,” 967 said. I guess she just couldn’t resist jumping in. I didn’t even spare her a glance. “I can’t believe that such a pathetic little bitch can---“

“Am I interrupting something?” I straightened up. That innocent-sounding but incredibly mischievous voice could only mean one person. I looked up and towards the door and sure enough, Alec was standing there, that grin of his plastered across his face. Biggs was just behind him, looking similarly amused.

“And you would be here because…” 908 trailed off.

“Because they released me from Psy Ops, 908,” Alec said. “What do you think? Does three months in there do a body good?” He struck a pose and I couldn’t help giggling. Thank goodness Psy Ops didn’t destroy his sense of humor.

“How dare you,” 908 said.

“I aim to please,” Alec laughed. He greeted Sasha and spent a few minutes talking with her and Biggs before making his way over to me and my siblings. After a little while, he sat down at my table. “How are things going?”

“Not too badly,” I said. “They tell you that Ben’s out on a mission right now?”

“Yeah, I’ve been told,” Alec said. He looked a little disappointed. “I wish that he was here right now, but that’s how things go. How soon is he getting back?”

“A couple of days,” Reese said. “It’s just a quickie.”

“You seem to be doing pretty well,” Elle said.

“I don’t feel all that shabby,” Alec agreed, but I could almost see the shadow pass across his eyes and I bit my lip. I guess even Psy Ops couldn’t make you forget something like that. “It’ll take a heck of a lot more than three months in Hell, U.S.A. to put me down.”

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” I asked. He was clearly in pain over what had happened on his mission.

“Always,” Alec said, but as soon as Reese and Elle were occupied with arguing with each other again, he briefly shook his head and I reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. He gave me a grateful look. I guess it helps when you’ve got somebody that you don’t have to bother pretending anything with, you know what I mean.

Reese suddenly looked up and smiled mischievously. “Do you two need to find an empty cell?”

“Oh…my…God,” I said slowly, releasing Alec’s hand and shaking my head.

Alec laughed. “Thanks, you guys. Gotta continue making the rounds.” He got up and moved on to another table.

“You’re immature,” I informed Reese.

“You wouldn’t have it any other way,” Reese said before turning back to Elle and resuming their argument. I sighed, shook my head, and returned to my work.