You and Me -- Chapter 10b

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, 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 (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Jamie—Lana—just stared at Max and Zack for several long moments, unable to say anything. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag, huh?” she finally said.

“I would say so,” Zane said dryly.

Zack shot Zane a look and shook his head. “I think that we should move this inside and out of the public. Max’s apartment is closest.” At this, Lana did another double take, but refrained from saying anything as the four X5s walked quickly towards Max’s building. Once they were inside and in the apartment, they stood around staring at each other. “Where have you been all this time, Lana?”

Suddenly, Lana’s face grew angry and she swung out and punched Zack in the face. Zack had managed to see it coming at the last second and twisted to get out of the way, but he still caught enough of it to make him steady himself. “You fucking asshole! You want to talk about where I’ve been for the past eleven years, how about we talk about where the hell you have been all of that time, huh? Why the hell haven’t you found me before now?”

“It wasn’t for a lack of trying,” Zack said, glaring at her.

“Real nice, Lana,” Max said. “Punch a guy who has just recovered from a nasty motorcycle wreck.”

“Get bent, Max,” Lana snapped. “If I really wanted to physically hurt him, then I would have swung for his side or kicked him in the left leg. While we’re on the subject, why the hell didn’t you tell me who you were when we first met at work after I’d gotten into the city almost two months ago?”

“Probably for similar reasons why you didn’t tell me who you were when we met up again,” Max retorted. “It has been about eleven years since the last time we saw each other, not to mention that dye job of yours.”

“Well, I thought that blonds had more fun,” Lana said sarcastically. She gave Zack an evil look. “Though, from the looks of things, I might have to re-think that one.”

“Okay, time out,” Zane said. “You guys all need to cool off big time.” Max just stared at him for a few moments before she began to crack up.

Lana looked at Max, puzzled. “What’s up with that?”

Max tried to compose herself. “I’m sorry, but you know that we really are being ridiculous when Zane of all people is the voice of reason.” She started laughing again and this time, Lana joined her and after another moment, so did Zane.

“You’re all crazy,” Zack said.

“And now things are back to normal,” Zane said.

“Speaking of which,” Zack said. “What are you doing here in Toronto, Zane?”

Zane shrugged. “I was feeling a little bit restless and I wasn’t sure exactly when you’d be finally getting in to check up on me, so I decided to take a mini-vacation. I was going to call you by tomorrow at the latest to let you know. Honest.”

“Bullshit,” Lana coughed.

“We’ll debate on that one later,” Zack said. “The fact still stands that there are currently four X5s in this city and that’s three too many.”

“Oh, here comes the C.O. crap,” Max snapped. “Good grief, Zack. Zane, as far as we know, is only in Toronto temporarily and let me point out to you that Lana and I have not only been in the same city for awhile, but for the duration of that time, we didn’t have a damn clue who the other was and there’s a good chance that if we hadn’t randomly ran into Zane on the street, that we could have gone a lot longer before finding out about each other. If we could fool each other, then I would say that we’ve got at worst a fighting chance of not being caught by Lydecker’s peeps. Not to mention that even if they did catch onto the two of us, we’re in a different country and it would still take even Lydecker at least forty-eight ours after he’s I.D.ed us to clear through whatever red tape that he would have to get around in order to bring us back to Manticore and that would give us the time that we would need to evac out of here. You know damn well that I’m right.”

“Besides, it’s not like we’re sharing an apartment,” Lana pointed out. “We might work at the same company, but we’re in different departments. We’re being as careful as we can be considering that we’re in the same city, big brother.”

Zack nodded. “You two have got a point,” he reluctantly conceded. He sighed. “Fine, the two of you can stay here in Toronto at least for the time being. As for Zane, I want you to get out of this city and back to your current location immediately.”

“Hell no,” Lana said immediately. “For crying out loud, he’s my twin. As much as I’ve missed all of you, and God knows that I have, do you have any idea what’s it’s been like not to have seen Zane in so long? I know that I would have known somehow if he’d been killed at some point along the road, but it’s still been hell for me not knowing how he was doing of if…if he’d been re-captured or what. I’m sorry if you can’t understand what I’m feeling right now considering you’ve most likely seen all or at least almost the whole gang, but Zane is not going anywhere until we’ve had a chance to decently catch up on each other’s lives.”

“Don’t deny me this, Zack,” Zane said. “Don’t you dare.” Max didn’t say anything, but it was clear that she was in full support of Lana and Zane.

“All right,” Zack said. “We’ll re-evaluate this situation in the morning.” He sighed again.

Max’s expression softened. “I bet this was why you didn’t pair Zane and Lana together in the escape, huh? So they wouldn’t be able to gang up on you in an argument.” She smiled and kissed Zack. Lana looked at them for a moment before she made a disgusted face.

“Oh, gross,” she said. “Ew, ew, ew! Sick!”

“Grow up, Lana,” Max said.

“Not the two of you smooching, though a PDA wasn’t totally necessary,” Lana said. She pointed at Zack. “I can’t believe that I was actually crushing on you! That whole time, I thought that you were some random friend of Max’s and you were really you. Gross!”

Zane laughed. “Ha, sucked to be you, sis.”

“Lana?” Zack asked.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s Angie?”

Lana looked stricken. “She…she’s…dead.” She almost stumbled over to the couch and sat down and put her head in her hands. Zane immediately sat down on one side of her and Max sat down on Lana’s other side. Zack pulled up a chair in front of her. All of them looked shocked.

“How did it happen?” Max asked. “When?”

“About eight years ago, so I would have been about sixteen at the time,” Lana recalled. “I was still in the States, I didn’t move up here to Canada until I was twenty-one. Angie and I were living on the East coast at the time, out in the Boston area. One Sunday afternoon, Angie had a date with some guy that she’d met at her job and I felt like staying in our apartment so she went out and I remember I’d turned on the TV and I was watching when I heard shots outside. I could tell that they’d come from down the street and I knew that had been the direction that Angie had been walking in when she’d left our apartment, so I got out there and I went over to the scene as quickly as I could without attracting attention and sure enough when I’d gotten there…” Lana couldn’t continue.

“How could Angie have gotten hit?” Zane wondered.

“I don’t know,” Lana said. “Maybe it was just a lucky ricochet that caught her. I know that it wasn’t Manticore because I couldn’t see any of their guys or any X-series around and even if it was, I figured that they would want to try to take us alive if they could, not in a crowded street in the middle of the city and in the middle of the day. Bad tactics and all of that. By the time that I had gotten to the scene, some cops were already there and I wasn’t able to get to Angie’s body without suspicion. I knew that I had to get it out of the area not just so that Manticore wouldn’t get wise to my location, but just to spite the bastards.”

“That’s what you eventually did?” Zack guessed.

“Yeah,” Lana said. “I found out which hospital they’d taken Angie’s body to and that night I snuck in. First I wiped their systems clean of any record of Angie. I’m no Cody, but I think I did a good job.” She winced. “I was too late in a way because after I’d finished, I could hear Lydecker and company closing in. I had barely enough time to get the body and make a clean getaway. I gave Angie as good of a sendoff as I could manage and I cremated her.”

They were all quiet for several minutes while they thought of their dead sister. Zack was the first to take a deep breath and to wipe his eyes. “Lana, I am so sorry that I didn’t find you, and Angie, before. I wish that I could have done something.”

“I know,” Lana said. “I don’t think there would have been anything that you could have done that I didn’t do. It was just really horrible luck.” She shook her head. “It took me awhile to realize that, no doubt. I used to beat myself up about it all of the time.”

Zane gave Lana’s shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, don’t worry about it now. We’re here.”

“I know,” Lana said. She smiled. “I know.”

A cell phone rang and Zack reached into his pocket. He looked at the number, frowned, and gestured to the other three before leaving the room to take the call. Once he was out of the living room, Max turned back to Lana. “So, what else have you been doing? Were you really a paramedic for awhile?”

“Yeah, I really was,” Lana said. “I was living out in Michigan somewhere between East Lansing and Detroit for three years or so, from when I was around eighteen to two months before I moved up to Saskatchewan, where I first lived in Canada. I might not have been the field med in our family, but I did have as much training in that area as Zack, Zane, and Tinga do and I figured it would be a good chance to brush up on that particular skill set, not to mention be interesting. I was right, it was a pretty cool job. I hated having to leave it when I thought that Lydecker might have been getting wise to my location, but I did what I had to do.” She grinned. “You saw it for yourself, Maxie, that work did come in handy.”

“Yes, it did,” Max agreed. “I can’t thank you enough for being there the night that Zack wrecked his bike.”

“I’m glad I was there, especially now that I know that it was our big brother,” Lana said. She grinned wickedly. “Of course, he’s not so much of a brother to you, now is he?”

Zane gave a grin that matched his sister’s. “Zack and Max hooked up? Oh, sweet!”

“Barely,” Max said. “I mean, we only really kissed for the first time yesterday and we’re still figuring out the exact specifics of this whole dealio, but yes, we are a couple now.” She smiled happily. “Thank goodness.”

“Ooooh, you are so in love,” Lana teased.

“So what if I am?” Max said. “It’s great. In fact, you should find somebody so that you—“ She stopped suddenly when Zack walked back into the room and she saw the expression on his face. “What’s going on?”

“Get whatever gear you’ve got,” he said, all business. He shouldered the duffel bag that he was carrying. “Zane, if you’ve got anything on you, take it. Lana, we’re stopping at your apartment next for anything useful that you’ve got and then we’re heading to Portland. Tinga’s in trouble.” Without any hesitation, Max and Zane quickly grabbed some things and then all four of them left the apartment.