Disclaimer: Sadly, i do not own Dark Angel, otherwise, the series would still be running

Without a Doubt

Five years after she escaped, Max is recaptured. For no real reason she can think of, Lydecker sends her out on a mission, despight being a flight risk. There's a catch. X5 494 has to go with.

The mess hall would have been almost silent to human ears, although, to those in it, it was loud enough. When you could hear a conversation across the room, there wasn't really such a thing as privacy, so, by default, the transgenics stayed quiet while eating. It wasn't easy in a top-secret facility to keep a conversation in the ears only of those you wished it to be with, but they'd managed to go about it reasonably well.

Max bit back a sigh as a tall, very annoying X5 made his way into the room, all eyes turning to him without him needing to do anything. Max went back to pushing what passed as food around on her plate. She would normally eat it, but she really wasn't hungry, something that worried her. Naturally, if she were to tell any of the instructors, they'd have her sent to the med-bay, make her get a check-up, but she really wasn't in the mood for it.

She ground her teeth as someone dropped heavily onto the seat next to her, and the mess hall became silent. She gave her food a bit more interest as she piled the goop into a slop mess, determined not to let those around her see anymore humiliation. She'd had enough of it in her time on the mats.

"What's the matter, 452? Worried about hand-to-hand combat next?" the X5 next to her taunted. Max refused to rise to the bait. The first time she'd done it, she'd been sent to psy-ops for a week. It didn't sound like much, but even for her, a week without rest, let alone sleep, was torture.

"The way I remember it, you always get your ass kicked." The X5 continued. She looked up, looking at the green eyes that had become so familiar in her passed years, before she picked up her still full try, shoved it, not into his face like she desperately wanted to, but the trash before sticking it onto the pile to clean. As soon as the door closed behind her, she knew the hall would be back to talking. They just enjoyed seeing her CO push her to edge, and see if she would jump off.

Officially, she was in unit 3 now, under the command of X5 494, but she very rarely trained with them. Instead, she mostly did it alone, thanks to her 'traitor' status. She knew why they actually kept her separate. She was better than Maticore liked, her being from the outside and all. She knew she could take 494 on, however, she also knew the consequences of such an action. She was allowed to take on the X6 groups and the X7s that came before her on the training mats, hidden from everyone else, but the X5s, her group were to be kept in the dark.

So, on the rare occasion, like this one where she actually had to train with her unit, she was given very strict orders. Under no circumstances was she allowed to win against them. Actually, her orders included for her to fail miserably. So, when, she'd first attacked 494 in the mess hall, rendering him unconscious, and fought off a large group of the X5, she'd been severely punished. She still had the scars years later.

They were starting to ease the leash on her, though. After her fist two years of being back behind the fences, she started to earn the privileges that the other X5s had: beds with an actual mattress, a pillow and coffee. She'd recently even been allowed outside without a guard. Slowly, bit by bit, she'd somehow managed to call the place home. She wasn't stupid. She'd never get out on a mission: she'd be a flight risk. After her first attempt at escaping, and finding herself all dressed up with no-where to go, she knew she wasn't getting out that way any time soon either.

So she'd done the only thing she could: made it as homely as possible. Don't get her wrong, it was still grey as storm clouds, but she could now see the sun. Here she didn't need to hide her instincts from those around her: they already knew them. She was a predator, she gave the chase, she didn't run, and most importantly, she made the kill.

She headed towards the gym, breathing deeply, getting herself under control. She knew she needed to take a dive every time she was put on the mat, and she always needed to do it fast. The door opened automatically, and she was surprised to find Lydecker in the room as well. She saluted to him before moving over to the mats, stretching.

One after the other, the rest of her unit entered. Max took her place at the end of the line, ready to make a fool of herself again. She'd been jumping though their hoops often enough to know what would happen.

"X5 452, 494." Max was surprised that she began up against her leader, but didn't do anything about it. Not a trickle of emotion showed in her eyes, her mask up, leaving no cracks in it. She moved on to the mat, slipping into a fighting stance that was deliberately wrong, and would give her a bad balance.

"Wait." Lydecker's voice stopped her in her tracks, and she turned to look at him, moving into attention. A glance in her direction caused her to rethink the action, and instead, she repoisoned herself to be in more ease. "X5 452, are you ready to be a proper part of this unit?" he looked at Max and she struggled to keep the mask up, to keep the thoughts swirling inside her head away from him.

"Sir?" she asked, wondering if he meant what the only thing she could come up with.

"452 are you ready to show this unit what you can do?" he clarified. It took her all her training and self control not to smile at his words.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" she was sure she imagined it, but for a moment, she could have sworn that there'd been a twinkle in his eye. Almost like the pride she'd seen in Zack's before they'd broken out the first time.

"Unit 3, you have been authorised to use the whole gym to take down 452."

"Sir?" this time it was 494's time to look confused. Surely he didn't want the nine of them to all attack 452? She wasn't able to take them down one-by-one, let alone, all at once.

"Don't underestimate her, 494. Form up, group attack on 452." The unit quickly surrounded 452, the same thought running through their heads: what the hell was going on?

"Once I leave this room you are authorised to commence." Lydecker swiftly turned, allowing the other instructors out before him. Max allowed herself a feral smile. She could finally get some pay-back. "Oh, 452." Lydecker called as an after though. "We're going to need them operational." He left after that without a word.

As they had been drilled, four of Unit 3 moved in sync to take her out, blurring forward, thinking this would be an easy mark. None of them really concentrated, so when their target pushed 371 into one of the others, they had to look twice to make sure he hadn't tripped. But, no, 452 had somersaulted over him, and pushed his back to make him stumble. She landed on her feet, so they knew something was going on. Warier this time, they each made their move, pulling into action as they one by one, began to take her on, trying to leave her back open.

371, now having something to prove, went in first, surprised to find his kicks and punched matched. He smiled when he landed a blow, but the look was quickly wiped off his face as his leg was grabbed and he was swung around, smashing into his CO.

Max looked around, and seeing the wall, an idea mapped itself in her head. Quickly jumping over 829, she raced towards it, flipping back over and landing behind her pursuer. Having him in a head-lock, and a quick movement that was only used in the training to symbolise breaking someone's neck, 321 tapped the ground twice to show he was out. Max turned to face the eight other on-coming X5, smiling to see they were getting annoyed. They would probably make more mistakes now.

829 reached her, and after a brief struggle, flipped Max over her shoulder. Max fell into a roll, swiping at the feet of the person in front of her and dislocating their arm before she even knew who it was. 691 would be out of the fight, until he could get to a medic, one that would make sure that nothing else had been harmed before they popped the shoulder joints back together.

Two down, seven to go. She smiled wickedly as they paused to watch her, now realising their mistake. Lydecker had told them not to underestimate their enemy, and that was exactly what they'd done.

Looking at each other, they flipped three of the 'alive' transgenics over, so they landed in a triangle around her. One of them immediately grabbed her arm, pulling it into an arm lock. She sunk to her knees before twisting and kicking out at the transgenic's legs. She shot up and mimicked snapping his neck with her foot, getting two taps and you're out from him

Her legs where swiped out from under her, and she fell, catching herself on her arms and pushing straight up, smashing her head in whoever's nose it came into contact with. They swore, but managed to get her into a head lock before she could move. Naturally, Max resorted to street flighting, jamming her boot between his legs. His grip loosened considerably and she tipped him to the floor with a nudge. She heard two taps behind her.

Realising their current strategies weren't working, the four transgenics left over looked to their CO for help. He twitched his finger at one of them, telling them to go with the one on one again, while he'd get behind her. Their 2IC moved forward, only getting close enough for his kicks or punches to hit, before moving back, so he wouldn't get a flogging from her. Unfortunately, he hadn't realised the pattern he made when he moved in, and was promptly knocked unconscious as he moved in for the kill again.

Max used the fallen man to stall 494, as she raced to another X5 waiting on the outskirts. They had managed to get a few good kicks in and where going into for a knock-out blow to her head, when they were dragged to the other side of her, using his momentum to her advantage. He stumbled, and landing strangely, broke a wrist, sending him out of the fight.

Max wasn't sure what idiot decided to blur at her, but used it to throw them against the wall, where the sound of their rib cracking caused everyone to flinch.

494 watched in horror as there were only two of his team left standing against the '09er. 348 rushed to her back, having learnt not to blur at her, he stopped, trying to get the escapee into a head lock. Max flipped over his back, landing behind him, taping a knee to the base of his spine, letting him know it was broken.

494 growled in frustration. This wasn't possible! He glared at her, but, taking the mistakes of his unit in hand, he moved forward to confront her. She blocked his every move, seeming content to wait her turn. Her breathing was heaving, having had a hard work out, and she was becoming fatigued. He knew it. So when one of his kicks left her off balance, it was a surprise to him when she jerked him down with her, and 'broke' his neck.

He grudgingly gave her the two taps to win, and she jumped off him, stepping back as Lydecker re-entered the room. The fight had lasted ten minutes, and even he was surprised that she'd been able to pull it off. Yet he gave her the comments needed for the moment before sending them off to their respected places, be it the firing range or the med-bay.

Alex frowned behind his Manticore mask. He could still see Lydecker levelling his eyes with him. Yes, he admitted, he'd learnt his lesson very well. Lydecker had told them it at the beginning of the match, even. Hell, he'd practically made it an order in the fight, and his whole unit had disobeyed it. They would all have been killed, had it been a real fight. Nine adversaries, against the one, and they'd still managed to lose, although, how 452 had managed it was another question. He turned to their instructor on the firing range, seeing the same thought going his unit's minds. They'd had it drilled into them at an early age, and yet they were still learning it: never underestimate the enemy.

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