DISCLAIMER: All DARK ANGEL characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and DARK ANGEL itself belongs to FOX.
ARCHIVE: No
The following scene is based on characters
created for the television series DARK ANGEL,
and is set in the time frame following the Max Allan Collins novel AFTER THE DARK. -- author's note
All in a Day's Work
By Valjean
*************************************
Quite awhile after the events
of AFTER THE DARK
It was all in a day's work for the two X5s ...
"How serious do you want me to get?" Alec asked, his voice dropping in a way that promised an enjoyable fight.
"Hurt 'em ... take 'em out ... but don't kill anyone," Donald Lydecker said quietly as he studied the six beefy Black Ops soldiers lined up on the other side of the gymnasium. "At least not intentionally."
"Yeah," the X5 drawled, eying his opponents as he cracked knuckles in anticipation, remembering when he used to live for this kind of shit ... when it was a part of his everyday training. "Sometimes accidents happen, though," he warned, "so we better not be held accountable if these guys get broken."
"You won't be," the Special Forces major standing beside Lydecker said with a condescending smile. "But the same goes for my men -- we're not responsible if we end up with a transgenic corpse on the mat."
Alec smirked, favored the watching Max with an egotistical wink, then shrugged out of his canvas jacket. Unshaven (because Lydecker had dragged him out of bed for this shindig), wearing a black t-shirt, and low riding, loose fitting blue jeans that allowed for throwing easy kicks, the X5 Unit bounced lightly on the balls of his bare feet and flexed his hands with the confidence of a show off. Of course Alec realize he usually didn't face odds of six to one -- but what the hell, it's not like he was going to let Max do the demonstration ... not in her condition. Besides, they were just Ordinaries -- albeit well-trained Ordinaries. He'd held his own under far worse circumstances.
"Just so we're straight," Lydecker said to the major. "My man wins, we've proven the X5s' worth on the battlefield, and the military contract goes to the transgenics."
Major Robert Nyland -- a lean blond Quantico handler in his mid forties with the scarred face and cool eyes of a soldier who'd seen more than his share of action -- cleared his throat. "If your man -- and I use that term loosely -- takes out mine, then you've proven your point, Colonel. However, I still refuse to believe that a single soldier, no matter what his pedigree, can perform the way you describe.
"Just watch," Lydecker said with a smug smile as he crossed arms over his chest. Max moved closer, intently eying Alec, but remaining silent.
"Your boy could get badly hurt, you know," Major Nyland said. "Or killed. No guarantees. He looks a bit lightweight to me. He can still back out." This last was said directly to the X5 who was about to enter the sparring arena.
"My man's a warrior," Max said, speaking for the first time. "Just like me. We don't run from fights."
Alec's raised an eyebrow. Personally, there were times when there was nothing at all wrong with a strategic retreat -- but not here. These bad boys needed to be taken down and the honor of his people upheld, not to mention a lucrative mercenary deal clinched.
Duty. Honor. Loyalty. Funny how those words now really meant something to 494 when all those years he'd spent imprisoned at Manticore they'd been just that -- words. He supposed having friends and family did that to a man ... that and the fact he was going to be a father.
Alec glanced at Lydecker, then at the Major, smiled craftily one last time, and said, "Bring it on, fellas." Then, with a challenge in his heart and in his hazel-green eyes, he planted bare feet firmly on the mat, jumped into a sparring stance, and motioned with his hand for the enemy to make the first move.
Circling like hyenas around prey, the half dozen clean shaven, crew-cut, Special Forces trained soldiers (one of whom smelled faintly of Old Spice cologne to Alec's sensitive nostrils), also assumed ready positions.
The X5 didn't have eyes in the back of his head, but he did have excellent peripheral vision, and could keep track of all but one of his opponents -- and of course it was that one that charged first.
With a ferocious martial arts cry, Solder #1 leaped into a flying side kick, his foot aimed directly at Alec's head. Whirling with inhuman swiftness, the X5 did what came instinctively. He threw out his left arm to block the oncoming blow, ducked, came up practically on top of the surprised soldier, and caught the guy square on the chin with a vicious uppercut, knocking him out cold.
One down, five to go.
Not even bothering to look down at his fallen adversary, Alec resumed his own sparring stance, watching all directions at once. This time -- as he expected -- two of the men charged him at the same time, one from the left and one from the right. This is almost fun, he thought as he jumped high into the air in a spectacular leap, both feet kicking out at the same time and his heels connecting perfectly with two chins.
Three down, three to go.
Landing in a cat crouch as his victims' bodies hit the mat, Alec blinked once, narrowed his eyes, and charged, taking the offensive for the first time.
"You really have no idea what an X5 is capable of, do you?" Lydecker said softly to the Major as his blue eyes sparkled with pride while he watched the show.
"No," the now disturbed Nyland replied dryly, his own eyes on his three fallen men.
"Just wait," Lydecker returned while Max -- hands on hips as she silently cheered her mate in the ring -- merely grinned. "You might as well call 911 now, Robert, because he's gonna clean their clocks."
The kid Alec had chosen as his target took one look at the Dervish blurring toward him and -- instead of defending himself -- threw hands up and ran out of the ring. The X5 immediately whirled to face the remaining two soldiers who were splitting up and keeping out of his reach.
It didn't matter to Alec. He simply flipped into a handspring that brought him upright directly in front of the man on his left. The guy actually got in a single punch that connected with 494's chin, eliciting a grunt of pain from the X5. But then Alec's fingers were around the soldier's throat. When the other man charged in from the right, a vicious high side kick smashed his nose, and he staggered away with blood gushing down the front of his face. Meanwhile, as the kid in Alec's iron-fisted grip squirmed and gasped, his feet several inches off the floor, the soldier who'd retreated leaped back into the fray, intending to help his team mate.
Big mistake. Dropping the gasping man, Alec once more leaped into the air with panther grace, landing a spinning hook kick on the side of the poor kid's noggin' and sending him careening back out of the ring to slump unconscious against the wall. Hitting the mat with a preternatural sense of balance, Alec's head whipped toward the last remaining man who was on his hands and knees on the floor gasping for breath and holding his bruised neck.
Green gold eyes flew to his colonel's.
"Finish him," Lydecker ordered brutally.
Max grabbed Lydecker's arm. "No," she said firmly. "We said no killing."
Alec waited, breathing lightly, crouched low like the cat he part was, hands and feet ready. His attention was on the wounded man in front of him, seriously hoping he wouldn't have to kick the kid while he was down in order to gain the knock-out and the win.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck above Alec's bar code prickled, the uncanny sixth sense all X5s are born with sending a warning. Turning his head swiftly, the young transgenic saw a seventh soldier in the watching crowd taking aim on him with a hand gun. Without even thinking about it the now pissed-off X5 knocked the man gasping on the mat out cold with a kick to the head. Then, in a blur he was across the arena and had the gunman's hand by the wrist. To the tune of snapping bone, the would-be assassin shrieked with agony and fell to his knees as Alec wrenched the 9 millimeter out of his fingers then spun to aim the weapon directly at the aghast Major Nyland.
"Your orders, sir," Alec said, speaking to Lydecker as if it were old times. Then again he thought, in a way, the band really was back together.
Some of the other watching soldiers began to mutter and move menacingly toward the Freak who'd just dusted seven of their best. Max, with a worried look in her amber eyes, edged away from Lydecker, getting in the clear where she could help Alec if he needed her.
"Stop your men," Lydecker said quietly, speaking to the Major. "Or I guarantee you that you won't have any soldiers left. He's as good a shot as he is a martial artist."
The Major, breathing heavily, looked around at his squad.
"Although," Lydecker continued smugly, "I can't blame you for being pissed, Robert. After all, your best men just got their asses handed to them by a Freak. Admit defeat, Major. Surrender and bring out the paper work for that contract."
Alec smiled devilishly at the Colonel's pronouncement as he raked fingers back through sweaty dark blond hair, the look in his eyes now cool pure danger while he kept the gun trained on the senior officer.
"At ease men!" Major Nyland barked. Then he glanced dourly at Lydecker. "We have a winner," he said, speaking as if the words tasted bad in his mouth. "The contract goes to the transgenics." Turning his attention to his fallen men in the ring, three of whom were still unconscious, he added, "Call the medics."
Lydecker nodded, and Alec -- released -- lowered the gun and walked over to them. Although he handed the weapon to the Colonel, his eyes were on Max.
"Satisfied?" he said, his voice deep, low, and sexy.
"Not bad," Max replied flippantly. "Although I've seen better."
"Liar," Alec smirked.
She rested a hand on her belly. "Whatever," she said with a shrug as she reached out and drew him to her for a well deserved kiss.
All in a day's work, Alec thought to himself as he tasted her lips happily, satisfied with himself and -- at the moment -- life in general. All in a day's work.
THE END
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