You and Me -- Chapter 12

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.).

Max sighed impatiently the following afternoon as she sat in her room. I hate being by myself on comm. duty while the others get to play. I know I was out doing my bit last night outside Tinga’s crib, but it’s still kind of boring. Her cell phone rang and she smiled. Finally. Nice timing. She picked it up and answered it. “Yeah, what’s the dealio?”

“Hey, sis,” Zane said. “Just popped into the bakery. Big sis was right, they’re all over the place. And yes, she did threaten to castrate me if I tried that for real on her.”

“I bet she did,” Max said, laughing. “Well, you know were to go next.”

“That I do,” Zane agreed. “I’ll catch you later.”

“Later,” Max said. She disconnected and picked up the remote control and turned the TV on and couldn’t help smirking. Let’s hear it for the people who are almost as screwed up as we are! It somehow makes me feel better to know that while I have black helicopter guys gunning for me 24-7, at least I’m not-- Max suddenly looked to her left towards the curtained-off window when she’d heard a female voice swear. That voice…have I heard it somewhere. She kept the TV on, but focused on the outside as she heard somebody stop and open up a cell phone.

“This is Control.”

Max froze and held her breath. Oh, hell.

“X5-268 reporting in as ordered, sir,” the female that Max had heard before answered.

Allie? Max thought. First Cody and now Allie, hell let’s get all the rest of our sibs that didn’t make it out and throw them in the mix! Let’s have a freaking party.

“What’s your situation, 268?” Control asked.

“The situation is unchanged,” Allie replied. “577 and 341 have reported in from their locations outside of 656’s place of employment and from the school of 656’s offspring, respectively. 656 at this point is unaware of our presence, sir.”

Cody and Allie for sure and now Richie as well, Max thought. Shit.

“Continue as you are,” Control ordered. “Report back in again tomorrow at this time. Control out.”

“X5-268 out,” Allie said crisply. She dialed another number. “It’s about time you picked it up, 341.”

“Get a hold of yourself, A—268,” Richie said. “You sound like you jammed your M-16 up your rear end.”

Max grinned at the comment and the laughter apparent in Richie’s voice. He hasn’t changed one bit. He’s definitely still part of the Smartass Brigade. Thank goodness Krit and Ben aren’t around.

“Cut the unnecessary chatter, 341,” Allie snapped.

“Seriously, 268, relax,” Richie said. “Nothing’s going on here. I didn’t pick up on the first ring because I had been watching a teacher lead a group of children out of the building and to a park just down the street and I was checking to see if T—656’s kid was among them, which he wasn’t. I was doing my job.”

“Then keep doing your job,” Allie said coolly. “When 656 arrives to pick her offspring up from school, return to our accommodations downtown. You’ll need to rest up.”

“I know. I did the same thing yesterday,” Richie said. “And I last slept the night before we left to get out here. I’ll be fine.”

“Just do what I tell you,” Allie said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Richie said.

“Thank you, 341,” Allie said. “That wasn’t so hard. 268 out.” She disconnected the phone and then dialed another number and Max listened as Allie had a nearly identical conversation with Cody before she disconnected her phone and walked away. As soon as Max was sure that Allie was out of range, she picked up her own phone and dialed Zack’s number.

“Max, what’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s not just Cody that’s here, Allie and Richie are on the mission too,” Max said. “I heard Allie just outside of the motel. Don’t worry, she and the guys aren’t staying here. I think she was coming from the diner after lunch and judging by how she swore, I guess she had been planning on checking in when she was in there and forgot. Cody’s still by the bakery and Richie is down near Case’s school, so Lana needs to watch out from him. I don’t think either of them has spotted the other because I haven’t heard from Lana one way or another. It also sounds like Richie’s pulling night duty by the apartment like I am because of his own shark DNA. I know I didn’t see him last night.”

“Damn,” Zack swore. “Call Zane, Lana, and Tinga and let them know. You’ll most likely get Tinga’s voice mail at this time of the day.”

“Gotcha,” Max said.

There was a slight hesitation on the other end of the line. “How did she sound?”

“Allie? Bad,” Max said grimly. “She’s Manticore all the way now for sure. She sounded even more uptight and pissed off than Trainer Wilkins, that guy who thought that having us run the assault course in a blizzard in ten below would be fun. Both Richie and Cody, on the other hand…”

“I can almost hear the wheels turning inside of your head,” Zack said.

“It doesn’t sound like either of them has changed at all,” Max said. “As much as I hate the sound of it, we might have a few weak spots.”

“Weak spots, maybe, but our first priority is making sure that Tinga and Case stay out of Manticore’s hands,” Zack said. “Convincing Cody and Richie to bail is secondary.”

“You do know me well,” Max said. “Noted.”

“Just notify the others. I’ll be in touch,” Zack said.

“Will do,” Max said. She disconnected the phone and dialed Tinga’s cell and left a message on her voice mail before she dialed Lana’s number. “Yo, Lana. Keep your eye out for Richie.”

“You’re shitting me,” Lana said. “Richie’s here and he’s covering this area for our old home?”

“Bingo and bingo,” Max said.

“Shit,” Lana swore. “Anybody else we should invite to the family reunion?”

“We know about Cody and Allie’s here too,” Max said.

“I never got along with her all that much,” Lana remarked.

Max laughed. “True that. I remember. I’ve got to relay this 411 onto Zane, so I’ll get back to you later. Keep your eyes peeled.”

“Consider it done,” Lana promised.

“Catch ya later,” Max said. She disconnected the phone, sighed, and was about to dial Zane’s number when it rang. She looked puzzled but she answered the phone anyway. “What is it?”

“Maxie? Oh, Jesus, Max…” Syl said.

“Syl? Calm down, what happened? What’s going on?” Max asked. “Are you guys all right?”

“Krit and I are okay, but…” Syl took a deep breath to calm herself down. “We were tailing Tinga’s husband and it seemed to be going all right. We followed him to an office building in downtown Salem and when we got close, we smelled something off. It was vaguely familiar, but neither Krit nor I could place it at first. It took us a few seconds to figure out exactly what it was because we hadn’t smelled this particular brand of putty yet, it must have been a Manticore special that came out after we left the place, but by the time…we got to the doors when the explosion happened. We were knocked for a loop a little bit, but we got ourselves together and we got into the building in the confusion and we looked for Charlie…” Syl had to take another deep breath. “Maxie, we failed. He was dead. I’m so sorry, we’re both sorry. Oh God, Tinga’s going to hate us…”

“Calm down, Syl,” Max said, trying to sound calm. “Tinga’s not going to hate you. You tried your best. Neither you nor Krit specialize in demolitions, so neither of you should blame yourselves for what happened. I’m going to get in touch with Zack and we’ll figure out how to take things from there, okay?”

“I got it,” Syl said. She still sounded a little bit shaky.

“Relax, everything will be okay,” Max assured her. She and Syl said good-bye and then she disconnected the phone, dropped it onto the bed, and put her head in her hands. Her husband is gone…poor Tinga! Poor Krit and Syl…can this get worse? Don’t answer that one, Max, of course it can! Don’t let it get worse. She picked up the phone again and dialed Zack.