Welcome to Our Life -- Chapter 6: Kenny (X5-987)

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 walked down the street with Zack and Ben, the three of us talking and enjoying ourselves.  Well, Ben and I were talking and enjoying ourselves.  Zack was mostly silent, as usual, and I guess he could have been enjoying himself.  Ninety-nine percent of the time he doesn’t show you what the heck he’s feeling.  We’d just completed a mission with three other X5s from Unit 4 and we had some off hours before we had to return to where we were staying for the night.  Personally, I was happy that I was out of Manticore, at least temporarily.

“I love off hours,” Ben said.  “It’s nice to have some time to just pretend to be normal.”

“Absolutely,” I agreed.  “There’s nothing better than not listening to orders.”

“Including his?” Ben teased.  He pointed to Zack and he and I laughed.  Zack gave us his ‘I will hurt you’ look.

“Will the two of you grow up?” he said.

“If we haven’t now, will we ever?” Ben asked cheerfully.  I couldn’t help laughing.  Zack had definitely walked right into that one.  Good job, Ben.

“I should just count my blessings and be thankful that as far as we know, you don’t have a clone or twin,” Zack said.

“Yeah,” I said.  “Thank goodness that there’s only one Ben.”  Under my breath, I added.  “That I will outrank in the unit again one of these days.”

“Kenny, admit defeat,” Ben said.  “I moved ahead of you in rank in the unit fair and square.”

“You’re fifth and sixth,” Zack said.  “It’s not as if you’re fighting for C.O. and second-in-command.”  His expression for the most part didn’t change, but I could have sworn that he had the faintest of smirks on his face.  Zack’s as competitive as any of us, if not more.  He knew how good he was and that it would be close to impossible for us to catch him in rank.

“It’s the principle of the thing,” I said.  I grinned and stuck my hands in my jeans pockets and looked around.  Minneapolis had taken a hit from the Pulse, as people have been calling it, but I guess it could have been worse.  Then again, it’s easy to say that it could have been worse when comparing a place or a situation to Manticore.  I mentally shrugged and I was about to say something else to Zack when something caught my eye.  “Hey, you guys, does that girl up ahead look familiar to you?”

“Which one?” Zack asked.

“That one,” I said.  “The really pretty one with the short hair.  The one wearing the turtleneck and the pink parka.  I swear that I know her from somewhere.”

“She does look familiar,” Ben agreed.  Suddenly, the girl turned around, looking suspicious.  She looked around the area before picking up her pace.  Ben frowned.  “Am I getting paranoid?  There’s no way that she should have heard us from as far away as she was unless…”  It hit us at the exact same time who the girl was.  It was X5-836 from Unit 7, one of the three members of that unit who had actually made it over the perimeter fence.  We started to walk quicker, keeping pace with her.

“What should we do?” I asked.  The three of us knew of the standing order that if anybody were to spot any of the three missing X5s while out on missions, then we were to contact base and bring them in.  But now that the situation had actually presented itself, I was starting to feel a little bit nauseous.

Zack bit his lip.  I could tell that he and Ben both felt the same way that I did, if not worse.  “I don’t know.  We know our orders, but…”

“I don’t think I can,” Ben admitted.

We just continued to tail 836 quietly, being careful not to let her see us, but still completely undecided as to what to do.  What could we do?  I couldn’t bring myself to bring her in, Ben couldn’t, and Zack couldn’t.  This was—

“Hey, you guys, what’s going on?” a voice said.  We turned and saw one of the other X5s on the mission, 272.  He looked ahead and saw 836 and his eyes widened as he saw her momentarily pull down the neck on her shirt so she could scratch and he saw the barcode.  “It’s one of the rogues.  We need to call base.”

Zack, Ben, and I looked at each other.  Finally, after what seemed like forever to the three of us, Zack nodded and pulled out the secure cell phone that Manticore had given him before we had left to go on the mission.  He speed dialed a number and waited for somebody to pick it up on the other end.

“599, this is Colonel Lydecker,” Lydecker said on the other end.  “What is going on?”  I winced inside at hearing Colonel Lydecker’s voice.  There was no getting out of this now for sure.

“We’ve got a situation, sir,” Zack said.  “I’m on my off hours with 493, 987, and 272 and we’ve spotted 836.  What are your orders, sir?”  We knew exactly what his order would be, but we still had to ask.  I briefly closed my eyes and tried to make the urge to strangle Lydecker pass.  Take a guess as to how well that worked.

“Subdue 836 and bring her back to your accommodations with you,” Lydecker ordered.  “When you return to base tomorrow, she is to return with you.”

“As ordered, sir,” Zack said.  “X5-599 out.”  He disconnected the cell phone and gestured to Ben, 272, and I.  We nodded and spread out quietly enough that 836 didn’t hear us with the crowd noise.  I took a deep breath and tried to shove my uneasiness away, at least for the moment.

“Hey,” I said, walking up to 836.

She looked at me suspiciously, but she didn’t look frightened.  I guess she didn’t recognize me with my grown out into a normal length for a guy.  “Will you leave me alone?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because…”  836 started to say.  She didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence.  She noticed Zack coming up behind her, but it was too late.  Zack quickly pressed his fingers to either side of her neck and she passed out.  He quickly caught her and motioned for the rest of us to follow him.  We quickly made our way back to the motel where we were staying and went into the room that 272 and his two unit mates that were also on the mission, 016 and 509, were staying in.

“Whoa,” 016 said when she saw us with 836.  “Who’s that?”

“X5-836,” Zack answered.  “509, get the cuffs.”  509 nodded and reached inside a drawer that was near him and pulled out two sets of handcuffs and tossed them to Zack, who put them on 836’s wrists and ankles.

“How did you find her?” 509 asked.

“Luck,” I said.  “I happened to spot her on the street and then 272 came along and verified the I.D.”

“That’s the first of the three rogues, isn’t it?” 016 asked.

“Yeah, it is,” Ben said.  “And it’s only been nine months since that whole debacle.  We should be bringing in 311 and 429 any time now at this rate.”  He gave the barest of shudders.  016 and 509 probably thought that it was out of disgust of dealing with the rogues, like most of the other soldiers back at Manticore felt about them, but Zack and I knew better.

“We’ll rotate shifts on guarding 836,” Zack said.  “The three of you will take the first watch.  In three hours, bring 836 into our room and we’ll take the second watch.  We’ll rotate in this fashion until it’s time for us to return to base.”  272, 016, and 509 nodded and Zack, Ben, and I walked through the door that connected our room to theirs and as soon as we had closed the door, we sat down on the floor and put our heads in our hands.  I couldn’t believe that we had done that.

“How can we…” I started to say.  I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“I wish I knew, Kenny,” Zack said quietly.