The Rise of Taj - Chapter II
Title: The Rise of Taj - Chapter II: Instinct
Author: Liv darkmagic_luvr
Fandom: Dark Angel
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don’t own Dark Angel. Any characters you don’t recognize are original and should not be used without my permission.
Author’s Note: Eventually will be MA, pictures and brief bios can be found here.
Summery: After Manticore burned to the ground, Alec lived in Max’s shadow, but after a member of his unit finds him, he has to pick up the role he thought he left behind.
Chapter II: Instinct
Six years ago
“X5-494 and X5-451 will meet the Manticore contact in India, gather the weapons schematics and return for pick-up immediately. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Lydecker nodded, turning away from the two X5’s and back to the blonde woman behind him. She sneered at him.
“Very good, Deck, maybe you’re salvageable after all,” Renfro was trying not to laugh, but really, he’d been spending the last ten years trying to catch a bunch of under trained, frightened children. What did he expect. Her steel blue eyes flickered back to the two X’s still standing to attention in her office. Their masks where impenetrable, but nothing could mistake the shiver of fear when they walked in to find good ol’ Deck standing behind the door.
He was a perpetual pain in the ass, and a complete screw up, but he was still able to send ever X5 stiff with fear. Renfro waved the X5’s away and then fitted Deck with a stare. “You’re dismissed.”
India was…well it fucking sucked. In 494’s option, the heat was almost as bad as the smell. Post-Pulse world had knocked ever country down on the totem poll, leaving people homeless, starving and desperate. He was bored out of his mind driving in this heat and all he wanted to do was grab the weapon designs and go home, back to his nice, air-conditioned cell. With running water and food and working toilets. 494 glanced over at 451, she was staring out the window at some building in the distance, a dreamy expression on her face. Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail, but every time the car jerked or she shifted it would stick to the back of her neck. It didn’t look like she minded much. 494 frowned, leaning around her to follow her eyes to the building.
“What are you looking at, 451?” startled, 451 looked back at him sharply, and not for the first time, 494 had to admire the differences between her and 453. They were so close in number but they were totally different. He sometimes wondered what 452 would be like. If she was like 453 or 451. He decided it didn’t matter and tuned back in to catch the ending of 451’s sentence.
“…and named it in memory of his favorite wife,” 451 narrowed her eyes at him and said dryly, “You’re an excellent listener 494. Really, I’m astounded by your level of attentiveness.”
494 rolled his eyes at her. “Why are you so captivated by the stupid building, 451?”
“It’s beautiful,” she said simply, turning back to look at it. “The Taj Mahal is one of the most amazing places in the world-”
“You’ve always been too interested in history for your own good,” teased 494, smirking as she glared at him over her shoulder. “Is that why you volunteered for this mission?”
She shrugged. “I know 331 usually goes on assignments like this, and he always talks about the buildings.”
“He’s got an attention for detail,” said 494 with a shrug. 451 sighed, looking away from the building and settling back into her seat. She was quite for a long time, and 494 wondered if he had hurt her feelings or something. He was about to open his mouth to apologize when 451 interrupted.
“I just, wanted to see it,” she said softly. “It could be the only chance I get.”
494 stared at her, evaluating before replying seriously. “You see it now. What do you think?”
She looked at him, her eyes shining with tears. “It’s perfect.”
.
Original Cindy had seen a lot in her life. She seen the woman she loved die, watched her Boo get her ass handed to her by some revved up dude and then hand his ass right back. She’d learned Max was a genetically revved up female and she’d seen the girl come onto Normal.
However. She never thought she’d see the day when she would open the door at 11 at night to find Hot Boy standing in the doorway with a baby boo in his arms.
“Alec, honey, why the hell do you have a baby?” Alec shrugged, amused, stepping into OC’s personal space, causing her to take a step back, her eyes still on the baby in his arms.
“She’s mine.”
“What the hell do ya mean, yours?” OC’s snapped the door shut, jutting her hip to one side and crossing her arms over her chest. Alec gave her a look.
“I know you’re a lesbian, but you gotta have some sort of general knowledge about where babies come from.” OC pursed her lips together.
“Who’s baby is that, Hot Boy?” Alec’s face twisted in amusement.
“Hot Boy?”
“Answer the damn question fool.”
“I told you, she’s mine. Max told you about the breeding program, right?” OC nodded. “Well, OC, this is Taj. Taj is the very first of the second generation of X-5‘s.”
“What the hell kind of name is Taj?” Alec’s eyes darkened briefly before replying.
“Better than if Max named her. I mean, Bugler? Fixit? I’m lucky my name makes sense.”
“Max named you?” asked OC. Alec shrugged.
“Speaking of Max, where is her royal bitchiness?” OC rolled her eyes and turned away from him, heading into the kitchen where a kettle was sitting on the burner.
“Boo stopped by Joshua’s for dinner. Why? You better not be thinkin’ you gonna drop another one of your messes onto my girl’s lap.”
“Actually I was wondering if you could watch her while I go steal thing. I don’t have baby things at my place, and you have no idea how inconvenient it is to disable an alarm system with a crying child.”
OC gave him a look. “Speaking from experience?”
“There was this one time-”
“Changed my mind, I don’t wanna hear it,” interrupted OC, raising her hand to stop him. “So where your baby mama at?”
Alec didn’t answer. His eyes darkened and he looked away. “She’s gone.”
“Gone? So some chick just shows up on ya doorstep, hands you a baby and booked it?” Alec didn’t say anything. He moved to the worn out couch and sat down, staring at the floor blankly. “Alec?”
“She’s dead.” he said it so softly that OC almost didn’t catch it. When she registered what he’d said she felt something in her heart break for the poor boy. She moved out of the kitchen and sat down next to him on the couch, putting her hand on his shoulder. Alec shook his head, like he couldn’t believe it was all real. “She was in my unit at Manticore. Her name was Polly. Died in childbirth.”
“When, sugar?”
“A couple hours ago.”
“Damn, Boo,” whispered OC, moving her hand from Alec’s shoulder to his hair, brushing it off his forehead gently. “I’m sorry-”
OC was cut off as the door opened and Max came storming in, all Max-like. She stopped the second she entered the room and stared at Alec and OC sitting on the couch together. She raised an eyebrow in amusement and the other one shot up when the thing in Alec’s arms moved.
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s a baby,” said Alec dryly. Max’s face twisted into something akin to disgust.
“Where’d it come from?”
“Where do you think? I thought OC was bad, but-”
“Fool, don’t be talking like I ain’t here.”
“You’ve only been out of Manticore for two months, Alec,” said Max, ignoring the way OC’s eyebrow rose at the venom and disgust in her voice. “Where’d you get the baby?”
“Ah, Alec, why don’t I take Taj into the other room? Ya know, ‘case you twos start duking it out in the living room.”
Alec looked warily at her before handing OC the little girl in his arms. He watched the black woman disappear through the bathroom door and slowly turned back to Max, taking a breath to prepare himself for the inevitable blame fest. Max stuck her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at Alec as he readied himself.
“Where’d the baby come from, Alec?”
“Breeding program.”
The two little words hit her like a fucking brick. Max stared at him, her mouth hanging open, unable to really…comprehend what he told her. It was like her synapses weren’t firing or something. Alec started smirking at her, and that seemed to snap her brain into gear and she shut her mouth, her teeth clicking together. Max narrowed her eyes.
“What the hell are you talking about, breeding partner? I was you’re breeding partner at Manticore and I’m pretty sure they didn’t assign you more than one,” his snort told her he agreed so Max prattled on. “So what? You get tired of not getting any locked up inside Manticore so you decided to get all hot and heavy with someone you could have your way with-?”
Max didn’t even finish speaking before Alec spun around, blurring across the room and slamming her against the wall five feet away, the wood cracking at the force he used, his hand on her neck and pinning her against the wall so her toes barely scrapped the floor. OC walked out of the bathroom with Taj in her arms, her face screwed up in concern over the noise. Whatever she said was lost on Max as Alec’s face moved closer to her, his voice low and dangerous and taking an authoritative tone she’d never imagined him having.
“Max I put up with a lot of your shit with the only reason being because I owe you, but if you ever insult someone from my unit, my family ever again, you will find yourself thrown through the nearest wall, do I make myself clear?”
All Max could do was nod and just like that Alec released his hold on her neck and taken a step back. Max’s hand flew to her neck, probing the tender skin with her fingertips and wondering if it would bruise. Taj let out a whimper, sensing the anger and tension in the room and just like that Alec’s body relaxed and his eyes softened. He turned away from Max and moved towards OC, who backed up a step automatically as he approached. But after gauging that he wasn’t a threat, she relaxed and let him take his daughter in his arms, running the pad of his thumb down her check, a smirk on his face with so much tenderness in it that it made Max’s heart ache.
“Didn’t think Manticore had Parenting 101. Was it in between your CVU course and How To Manhandle Women 101 or was it after lunch?”
A little bit of the smirk she knew caught on his face, but he just lifted a shoulder to her jab at how he treated girls and simply said, “Instinct.”
“Instinct?” asked Max, putting on her bitch face and cocking her head to the side. “You automatically know when she’s upset and how to fix it because of instinct?”
He shrugged again and finally turned back to look at her, his eyes still soft. “Pretty much. You wanna give it a shot?”
He sounded so serious that she was almost speechless. She felt herself nodding before she had a chance to control the movement and then Alec was in front of her and instructing her on how to hold Taj. The baby was soft and shiny and new and stared up at her with eyes that were defiantly going to turn green. She’d have his coloring too, maybe her skin would be lighter because Polly was almost translucent, and she’d have lighter, dirty blonde hair when she got older too. She’d be a knock out, panties would drop to the floor just because she was looking at you. And the way Alec was looking down at his daughter, she’d have him wrapped around her finger, she already did.
Alec was looking at her funny, holding his daughter to her chest. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest and she nearly forced Taj back into his arms before her hands started shaking. But the look was gone after she blinked, and the smart ass was back despite Taj in his arms.
“Guess you’re just not cut out for it, Maxie.”
And that actually hurt.
Author: Liv darkmagic_luvr
Fandom: Dark Angel
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don’t own Dark Angel. Any characters you don’t recognize are original and should not be used without my permission.
Author’s Note: Eventually will be MA, pictures and brief bios can be found here.
Summery: After Manticore burned to the ground, Alec lived in Max’s shadow, but after a member of his unit finds him, he has to pick up the role he thought he left behind.
Chapter II: Instinct
Six years ago
“X5-494 and X5-451 will meet the Manticore contact in India, gather the weapons schematics and return for pick-up immediately. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Lydecker nodded, turning away from the two X5’s and back to the blonde woman behind him. She sneered at him.
“Very good, Deck, maybe you’re salvageable after all,” Renfro was trying not to laugh, but really, he’d been spending the last ten years trying to catch a bunch of under trained, frightened children. What did he expect. Her steel blue eyes flickered back to the two X’s still standing to attention in her office. Their masks where impenetrable, but nothing could mistake the shiver of fear when they walked in to find good ol’ Deck standing behind the door.
He was a perpetual pain in the ass, and a complete screw up, but he was still able to send ever X5 stiff with fear. Renfro waved the X5’s away and then fitted Deck with a stare. “You’re dismissed.”
India was…well it fucking sucked. In 494’s option, the heat was almost as bad as the smell. Post-Pulse world had knocked ever country down on the totem poll, leaving people homeless, starving and desperate. He was bored out of his mind driving in this heat and all he wanted to do was grab the weapon designs and go home, back to his nice, air-conditioned cell. With running water and food and working toilets. 494 glanced over at 451, she was staring out the window at some building in the distance, a dreamy expression on her face. Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail, but every time the car jerked or she shifted it would stick to the back of her neck. It didn’t look like she minded much. 494 frowned, leaning around her to follow her eyes to the building.
“What are you looking at, 451?” startled, 451 looked back at him sharply, and not for the first time, 494 had to admire the differences between her and 453. They were so close in number but they were totally different. He sometimes wondered what 452 would be like. If she was like 453 or 451. He decided it didn’t matter and tuned back in to catch the ending of 451’s sentence.
“…and named it in memory of his favorite wife,” 451 narrowed her eyes at him and said dryly, “You’re an excellent listener 494. Really, I’m astounded by your level of attentiveness.”
494 rolled his eyes at her. “Why are you so captivated by the stupid building, 451?”
“It’s beautiful,” she said simply, turning back to look at it. “The Taj Mahal is one of the most amazing places in the world-”
“You’ve always been too interested in history for your own good,” teased 494, smirking as she glared at him over her shoulder. “Is that why you volunteered for this mission?”
She shrugged. “I know 331 usually goes on assignments like this, and he always talks about the buildings.”
“He’s got an attention for detail,” said 494 with a shrug. 451 sighed, looking away from the building and settling back into her seat. She was quite for a long time, and 494 wondered if he had hurt her feelings or something. He was about to open his mouth to apologize when 451 interrupted.
“I just, wanted to see it,” she said softly. “It could be the only chance I get.”
494 stared at her, evaluating before replying seriously. “You see it now. What do you think?”
She looked at him, her eyes shining with tears. “It’s perfect.”
.
Original Cindy had seen a lot in her life. She seen the woman she loved die, watched her Boo get her ass handed to her by some revved up dude and then hand his ass right back. She’d learned Max was a genetically revved up female and she’d seen the girl come onto Normal.
However. She never thought she’d see the day when she would open the door at 11 at night to find Hot Boy standing in the doorway with a baby boo in his arms.
“Alec, honey, why the hell do you have a baby?” Alec shrugged, amused, stepping into OC’s personal space, causing her to take a step back, her eyes still on the baby in his arms.
“She’s mine.”
“What the hell do ya mean, yours?” OC’s snapped the door shut, jutting her hip to one side and crossing her arms over her chest. Alec gave her a look.
“I know you’re a lesbian, but you gotta have some sort of general knowledge about where babies come from.” OC pursed her lips together.
“Who’s baby is that, Hot Boy?” Alec’s face twisted in amusement.
“Hot Boy?”
“Answer the damn question fool.”
“I told you, she’s mine. Max told you about the breeding program, right?” OC nodded. “Well, OC, this is Taj. Taj is the very first of the second generation of X-5‘s.”
“What the hell kind of name is Taj?” Alec’s eyes darkened briefly before replying.
“Better than if Max named her. I mean, Bugler? Fixit? I’m lucky my name makes sense.”
“Max named you?” asked OC. Alec shrugged.
“Speaking of Max, where is her royal bitchiness?” OC rolled her eyes and turned away from him, heading into the kitchen where a kettle was sitting on the burner.
“Boo stopped by Joshua’s for dinner. Why? You better not be thinkin’ you gonna drop another one of your messes onto my girl’s lap.”
“Actually I was wondering if you could watch her while I go steal thing. I don’t have baby things at my place, and you have no idea how inconvenient it is to disable an alarm system with a crying child.”
OC gave him a look. “Speaking from experience?”
“There was this one time-”
“Changed my mind, I don’t wanna hear it,” interrupted OC, raising her hand to stop him. “So where your baby mama at?”
Alec didn’t answer. His eyes darkened and he looked away. “She’s gone.”
“Gone? So some chick just shows up on ya doorstep, hands you a baby and booked it?” Alec didn’t say anything. He moved to the worn out couch and sat down, staring at the floor blankly. “Alec?”
“She’s dead.” he said it so softly that OC almost didn’t catch it. When she registered what he’d said she felt something in her heart break for the poor boy. She moved out of the kitchen and sat down next to him on the couch, putting her hand on his shoulder. Alec shook his head, like he couldn’t believe it was all real. “She was in my unit at Manticore. Her name was Polly. Died in childbirth.”
“When, sugar?”
“A couple hours ago.”
“Damn, Boo,” whispered OC, moving her hand from Alec’s shoulder to his hair, brushing it off his forehead gently. “I’m sorry-”
OC was cut off as the door opened and Max came storming in, all Max-like. She stopped the second she entered the room and stared at Alec and OC sitting on the couch together. She raised an eyebrow in amusement and the other one shot up when the thing in Alec’s arms moved.
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s a baby,” said Alec dryly. Max’s face twisted into something akin to disgust.
“Where’d it come from?”
“Where do you think? I thought OC was bad, but-”
“Fool, don’t be talking like I ain’t here.”
“You’ve only been out of Manticore for two months, Alec,” said Max, ignoring the way OC’s eyebrow rose at the venom and disgust in her voice. “Where’d you get the baby?”
“Ah, Alec, why don’t I take Taj into the other room? Ya know, ‘case you twos start duking it out in the living room.”
Alec looked warily at her before handing OC the little girl in his arms. He watched the black woman disappear through the bathroom door and slowly turned back to Max, taking a breath to prepare himself for the inevitable blame fest. Max stuck her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at Alec as he readied himself.
“Where’d the baby come from, Alec?”
“Breeding program.”
The two little words hit her like a fucking brick. Max stared at him, her mouth hanging open, unable to really…comprehend what he told her. It was like her synapses weren’t firing or something. Alec started smirking at her, and that seemed to snap her brain into gear and she shut her mouth, her teeth clicking together. Max narrowed her eyes.
“What the hell are you talking about, breeding partner? I was you’re breeding partner at Manticore and I’m pretty sure they didn’t assign you more than one,” his snort told her he agreed so Max prattled on. “So what? You get tired of not getting any locked up inside Manticore so you decided to get all hot and heavy with someone you could have your way with-?”
Max didn’t even finish speaking before Alec spun around, blurring across the room and slamming her against the wall five feet away, the wood cracking at the force he used, his hand on her neck and pinning her against the wall so her toes barely scrapped the floor. OC walked out of the bathroom with Taj in her arms, her face screwed up in concern over the noise. Whatever she said was lost on Max as Alec’s face moved closer to her, his voice low and dangerous and taking an authoritative tone she’d never imagined him having.
“Max I put up with a lot of your shit with the only reason being because I owe you, but if you ever insult someone from my unit, my family ever again, you will find yourself thrown through the nearest wall, do I make myself clear?”
All Max could do was nod and just like that Alec released his hold on her neck and taken a step back. Max’s hand flew to her neck, probing the tender skin with her fingertips and wondering if it would bruise. Taj let out a whimper, sensing the anger and tension in the room and just like that Alec’s body relaxed and his eyes softened. He turned away from Max and moved towards OC, who backed up a step automatically as he approached. But after gauging that he wasn’t a threat, she relaxed and let him take his daughter in his arms, running the pad of his thumb down her check, a smirk on his face with so much tenderness in it that it made Max’s heart ache.
“Didn’t think Manticore had Parenting 101. Was it in between your CVU course and How To Manhandle Women 101 or was it after lunch?”
A little bit of the smirk she knew caught on his face, but he just lifted a shoulder to her jab at how he treated girls and simply said, “Instinct.”
“Instinct?” asked Max, putting on her bitch face and cocking her head to the side. “You automatically know when she’s upset and how to fix it because of instinct?”
He shrugged again and finally turned back to look at her, his eyes still soft. “Pretty much. You wanna give it a shot?”
He sounded so serious that she was almost speechless. She felt herself nodding before she had a chance to control the movement and then Alec was in front of her and instructing her on how to hold Taj. The baby was soft and shiny and new and stared up at her with eyes that were defiantly going to turn green. She’d have his coloring too, maybe her skin would be lighter because Polly was almost translucent, and she’d have lighter, dirty blonde hair when she got older too. She’d be a knock out, panties would drop to the floor just because she was looking at you. And the way Alec was looking down at his daughter, she’d have him wrapped around her finger, she already did.
Alec was looking at her funny, holding his daughter to her chest. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest and she nearly forced Taj back into his arms before her hands started shaking. But the look was gone after she blinked, and the smart ass was back despite Taj in his arms.
“Guess you’re just not cut out for it, Maxie.”
And that actually hurt.