Where Were You? -- Chapter 1: Wayne (X5-369)

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, 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 (Wayne/X5-369, etc.).

Notes: The X5s in Max and Zack’s unit will be the only transgenics that I will be referring to by their names in this fic when I write a part from one of their points-of-view. I hope it’s not too confusing!

“That was insane,” Zane commented to me as we got out of the shower after a rough training mission. “I can’t believe that you pulled that stunt off.”

“You could have done that,” I reminded him. I smirked. Zane was jealous and I knew it.

“I know,” Zane conceded.

Zack glared at us. “What I can’t believe is that you didn’t get into trouble with the trainers for that move. That was too risky, Wayne.”

“Hey, it helped us successfully complete the training mission,” I pointed out.

“Zack, he’s right,” Max said. “It did help us and Wayne didn’t get caught. He knows how to be careful. If he didn’t know how to be careful, he wouldn’t have attempted that move in the first place. Right, Wayne?”

“Right, Maxie,” I agreed. Am I glad that Colonel Lydecker decided to make Max our second-in-command last month! No offense to Tinga, she was actually a really good second-in-command, but Max is the only one in our family who can get Zack to listen to her and to get sense through to him on the first try.

Zack looked at me. “Just be more careful and let me know beforehand the next time you want to do that again.”

“I will,” I promised.

“That was pretty sweet,” Ben said, grinning at not only using the slang that he’d overheard two of the guards said correctly, but also at the look on Zack’s face.

I laughed. Good old Ben. Nobody brings out his devilish side better than our big brother. “It was. That was a nice drop that I got out of that tree. You saw how high it was, right, bro? It had to be about the high of a four story building! That was great. The look on Elle’s face when I dropped in behind her…”

“Don’t forget the same look of shock that Eva had,” Krit interrupted.

“I don’t think I can forget that one that easily.” Eva threw a dirty look in my direction. “You almost gave me a heart attack, Wayne!”

“Me too,” Elle said indignantly.

“Oh come on, don’t tell me that you wouldn’t have done the same thing,” I said. I thought about it. Okay, maybe Elle and Eva wouldn’t have. That wasn’t their style. “I know that Max and Jondy and Rena over there would have.”

“Heck no,” Jondy countered. She sounded almost as angry as Eva did, but then she also smiled. “I would have picked a higher tree!”

“And I would pick a spot to hide your body,” Tinga grumbled. “You’re going to drive us all crazy one of these days.”

“What about me?” Zane wondered. “You said the same thing about me yesterday.”

“Oh, Maxie,” Tinga said sweetly. “This is your job now, remember?”

“You’re still older than I am,” Max reminded her. “When we’re not out on duty, it’s still your job.”

“It’s so nice to know the support that I have from my family,” Tinga observed. “I swear, one of these days I will get you before you know what’s coming.”

“Like you got me when your underwear mysteriously turned green last week?” Max said.

“You have an unfair advantage,” Tinga noted. “You almost never sleep.”

“I sleep and that didn’t stop me from--” Krit started to say.

Zack cut him off and I had to try really hard not to laugh. “—trying to get some sleep when it’s lights out in a few minutes. We’ve got another very long day tomorrow. We start out with the usual, but then immediately after lunch we’re going to be sparring against an X6 unit.”

“X6s? Why do we have to spar against them?” I whined. “We’re going to kill them! I heard that they’re not as good as us.”

“Remember what Colonel Lydecker always tells us,” Zack said. I could see the look of disgust in his face. Zack, and the rest of us, hates it so much whenever something that Colonel Lydecker says actually turns out of be right. “Never underestimate your enemy. If it makes you feel any better, we’re going to go against one of the top X6 units, Unit 1.”

“I think it will be fun,” Jack predicted as he climbed into his bunk.

Zack actually smiled at Jack as he walked over to him. “Feeling better today, little brother?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling much better today,” Jack said. “I haven’t had any seizures for the past two days.”

“Keep it going, buddy,” Reese said.

“I’ll try my best,” Jack promised. “Those seizures are scary.”

“I hate them,” Brin said. “I hate watching one of us have one and I hate having one myself.”

“Maybe one of the doctors will fix them someday,” Eva offered. She shook her head. “Yeah, right. Like they’d care about us enough to fix these seizures.”

“I don’t want to think about them,” Max said.

I looked up at the clock on the wall. It was getting pretty close to lights out. “We should be getting into bed now. It’s going to be time for lights out in a minute or two.”

“He’s right,” Zack said.

We all climbed into bed and pulled up the covers and sure enough, a guard stopped just outside our door and watched us as the lights in the barracks went out. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he looked at us for a few moments more to make sure that we were asleep before he walked away. I sighed and sat up in my bunk. Everybody else, except for Jack, Brin, Elle, and Parker who actually did fall asleep, also sat up. “Who here that had advanced tactics with Sergeant Benson this afternoon actually believed a word that he said?”

“You didn’t believe a word he said because you weren’t paying attention to him. You were trying to find a way to distract Ben,” Rena said.

“I was trying to think of a way to distract Ben but I was also paying attention to the commander,” I insisted.

“Prove it,” Rena told me. “What was the first thing that he said to us in the class today?”

“That’s easy,” I said. “When the enemy…”

“Guards. Get down,” Zack hissed. In a heartbeat, we all lay back down on our bunks and closed our eyes. A moment or two later, I heard a guard pass by a pause at our door before he moved on. We waited a few more moments before we sat back up again. “Don’t be so loud. How many times have I told you not to be so loud after lights out?”

“Relax, big brother,” Krit assured Zack. “We know what we’re doing.”

“That’s what you said every time…” Zack said. He shook his head. “Why do I have to go through this night after night?”

“Because…hey, Krit, do you know why?” I asked.

“Not a clue,” Krit said. “Zane, got any ideas?”

“I don’t know either,” Zane replied. “I think Zack might be nuts, though.”

Zack sighed. “I think you’ve got that in reverse, Zane.”

I grinned and lay back on my bunk and closed my eyes. Nothing makes you feel better after a typical Manticore hell day than being with your family and teasing your oldest brother.

TBC