3.01.03

[virtualda]

episode: Virtual Dark Angel episode 3.01
season: Virtual Dark Angel season 3



Hallway outside of the Command Center, Terminal City

Cindy was looking for Max. Instead she ran into Alec, heading toward the perimeter. "You seen Max?" she asked.

Alec jerked his head back in the direction he'd come from. "Command Center. Sector cops chased a bunch of transgenics into the sewer. Joshua to the rescue!"

"Where you going? Why ain't you back there helping out?"

"Logan's got it all under control," Alec assured her. "I'm headed down to the local manhole to help out once our trusty Saint Bernard leads them to safety."

"Go easy on doggy dog," she warned him. "He's had a bad time lately."

Alec's face immediately grew serious. "Yeah. You don't have to tell me. Hey," he added as Cindy turned away. "What's up with Logan anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I was back there at the Command Center with him and got kind of a weird vibe. You know, sort of like he was hoping I'd drop dead or something. Any idea what I did this time?"

Cindy folded her arms and fixed Alec with a stare. "Ain't what you already done enough?"

"Yeah, blame Alec for everything." He walked away in disgust.

Police Headquarters, Sector 4

When Matt Sung came back from a late lunch, looking forward to a slow afternoon and an early departure, the squad room buzzed with excitement. Detectives who would normally be at their desks attending to paperwork were standing around talking animatedly.

"What's up?" he asked.

"You didn't hear? Guys down in Sector 6 got a pack of trannies on the run."

"At least ten of 'em. Freaks too."

"This is it!" added a third cop excitedly. "A few more blocks and they'll be caught between the sector cops and the National Guard like a rock and a hard place. They're cornered, they attack…bam! Perfect excuse to tear down that chain-link fence and clean out Terminal City for good."

Sung frowned.

"Hey, Matt," said the second cop, "didn't you take out one of those freaks a few months ago?"
Sung stiffened. "I thought he was hurting a child."

"Probably was," said the first cop.

"Who's heading up the force down there?" Sung asked abruptly.

The second cop said, "I heard the city put Ramon Clemente in charge of the whole trannie thing today. Beats me why. He's the one who let 'em hole up in there to begin with. Shoulda taken 'em out when he had the chance."

Clemente, huh? Sung turned back to his desk and dialed the number of his old precinct chief. The chief had been a good friend of Clemente's back in the day.

Command Center, Terminal City

After Sketchy's ignominious departure, Max headed straight for the Command Center. "What's happening?" she asked quietly, sliding into a seat next to Logan.

Logan didn't look away from the tracking screen. "We're just about to…Joshua?" he interrupted himself, speaking into his headset. "You're almost there. Turn right at the junction…that's it…go on about 100 feet and then left." He watched the screen intently as a flashing yellow spot, Joshua, turned at a right angle and slowly advanced along a straight line marked V-323. A blob of blue spots, the transgenics, remained stationary. Four red spots, at the top and left of the screen, moved gradually closer to the blue blob. The sector cops were closing in on the fleeing transgenics.

"That's it, Joshua. Now just around that corner to the left…bingo!" Logan let a small note of triumph break through the calm, steady tone he'd been using. Over the loudspeaker came a quiet, ragged cheer as the transgenic group saw Joshua. There were smiles and high-fives in the Command Center. Max tried to catch Logan's eye to give him a congratulatory smile too, but he stared steadily at the tracking screen.

"Good work, Joshua, but we're not out of the woods yet," Logan said into the mouthpiece.

"Not out of the sewers yet," came Joshua's rough voice over the loudspeaker. That did make Logan smile.

"You're right. Not out of the sewers yet. How's the group? How fast can you travel?"

There was a momentary silence, and then Joshua replied, "Two hurt, but we can carry them."

"Okay. Start heading back the way you came. Move as quickly as you can. They're still after you."

"Right," said Joshua.

Without taking his eyes from the screen, Logan said to Max, "Looks like we've got this under control here for the moment. I've still got a diversion in mind if those cops get too close. Maybe you should go see about a med team to meet them when they get here."

"Yeah, sure," said Max coldly, turning her back and walking away. But even that didn't make Logan look up.

* * * * * * *

Max was stalking away from the Command Center when Cindy found her.

"You got a second, boo?"

"Yeah, sure. Logan's got everything under control in there. What's up?" Max kept looking over her shoulder at Logan.

"Thought you said he's got everything under control."

"He does," said Max, reluctantly turning her attention back to Cindy.

"He does, but you don't," said Cindy. She took Max by the shoulders and firmly steered her around a corner where she couldn't see Logan. "Come on, tell Original Cindy what happened. And make it quick, 'cause I'm looking to get a shower. I got plans for tonight."

Max leaned back against the wall and sighed. "I wanted everything to have a fresh start. So I told him about Alec. I mean, I told him there wasn't anything between me and Alec."
"And?"

"And I don't get it! Last year I tell him I slept with another guy and he's cool with it, now I tell him I didn't sleep with another guy and he's mad at me!"

Cindy sighed. "Max. You're tellin' the man everything except what he wants to hear."
"What's that?"

"Three words. Four, maximum. I love you. I love you, Logan."

"I can't!" Max protested. "He won't even speak to me."

"Fine. Have it your way. But I told you a long time ago…one of these days you're gonna have to step to the real with Logan. And that don't mean tellin' him all about you and the pizza guy, or how you and pretty boy just sat up all night talkin' bout how it was back at Manticore. It means tellin' him how it is with you and him. Straight up."

"I can't deal with this now. I have to go find Mole," Max interrupted, plainly exasperated.

"Three words, Max," Cindy called after her retreating back.

Police Headquarters, Sector 4

"Lieutenant Sung." Clemente did not rise from behind his desk as Matt Sung entered his small, cluttered office. "Have a seat," he offered, settling further into his chair. Sung sat in a battered plastic chair in front of the desk and waited.

"I'll get right to the point, Lieutenant. Most of our fine folks in blue can't get far enough away from the transgenic menace, and you want to be assigned to my team? You got an explanation?"
"I had an encounter with a transgenic in Chinatown back in the fall. Shot him. Turns out he wasn't hurting anyone," Sung began cautiously.

"You looking to ease your conscience? Earn a little good karma?" Clemente seemed almost scornful. "I'm warning you up front, Lieutenant, I'm not on their side." He stared steadily at Sung.

Sung returned the stare. "So are you saying you're against them?"

Clemente smiled grimly. "No. Not yet, anyway. But that depends on the transgenics themselves. And Max."

"Max!" In spite of himself, Sung couldn't keep the astonishment out of his voice--which, of course, did not escape Clemente's notice.

"Oh, so you know her," he said, pushing a hoverdrone surveillance photograph across the desk. Logan's friend. That was her, all right.

"She was briefly involved with the Chinatown transgenic. I had no idea she was transgenic herself, though."

Clemente picked up the photograph and stared thoughtfully at it. "Involved how?"

"Maybe 'involved' isn't the right word. I saw her at the ME's office," Sung replied, trying to keep it vague. "No idea what she was doing there."

"Oh," Clemente said casually, as if he'd lost interest in Max. Then he looked sharply at Sung. "Cops who were in on that Chinatown terrorist arrest think she might have been on the scene there, too. And if I'm not mistaken, you took that guy down. Ring a bell?"

Sung shrugged, trying not to rush his answer. "Maybe. I don't know. It was pretty chaotic."

"Hmmm." Abruptly, Clemente changed the subject. "Eyes Only. Know anything about him?"

"What does Eyes Only have to do with the transgenics?"

"He's broadcast in support of them."

"He's always been on the side of the good guys."

"Has he?" Clemente seemed amused. He dropped the photograph on the desk, stared at Sung for a few more moments, and then nodded. "Well, Lieutenant, if the transgenics are the good guys, that might just make me the bad guy." He stood and Sung did the same. "Sure you want to join my team? You might end up wearing one of the black hats before this is all over."

Sung looked him straight in the eye. "I prefer to think of it as good cop/bad cop, Detective."

At that, Clemente laughed out loud. Then he nodded. "All right. Eyes Only's been quiet for the last couple of weeks. See what you can find out about that and about this girl, Max." He turned back to his work, but Sung didn't move. Clemente glanced up. "Is there a problem, Detective?" he asked with an edge in his voice.

"Just wondering what you plan to do about the transgenic chase in Sector 6."

"The what?"

"Sector cops in sector 6 are in pursuit of transgenics. It's all over the squad room."

Clemente sighed. "You'd think someone would let me know, me being the guy in charge and all."

"I just did."

Clemente stood and grabbed his coat. "Come on then, Mr. Good Cop. Let's head out to Sector 6 and see if we can keep a transgenic from getting killed today."

Outdoors, Terminal City
(scene music: "Dark Jungle" by dillinja)

Max found Mole on a rooftop overlooking a lot between two dilapidated buildings, where the blacktop had long ago buckled and weeds pushed up through the cracks. He'd been easy to find. She had followed the sound of smashing glass and metal with her heart in her throat, thinking that troops had broken through the perimeter.

They hadn't. Mole stood next to a heap of old, rusted, cast-off lab and industrial equipment and was dropping it, one item at a time, over the edge of the roof to watch it smash into bits below.

"Stop that! Are you out of your freaking mind?" Max demanded, pulling him back from the edge. Mole jerked away from her angrily. For a moment they faced each other, furious.

"What's wrong with you? You want the National Guard to pick you off up here? And why the hell were you trying to lynch Sketchy?" Max was almost shouting.

"Awww, get over it, Max. The National Guard couldn't find its way into here if Logan drew them a map. And I was just goofing on your pal Sketchy."

"That's not the point…"

"Cripes, Max, the guy's an idiot. He had it coming to him. Lighten up, huh?"
"I can't," said Max.

Mole aimed a vicious kick at the remaining pile of junk. "No, 'cause you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"What's that supposed to mean?"


"You're still thinking this is gonna be a war, aren't you?"

"What do you mean? There are transgenics in danger right now, trying to make their way in here! What are you doing to help?"

Mole pulled a cigar out of his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag, exhaling the smoke and watching it rise lazily up until it vanished in the gray sky. Then he pulled a small receiver from his belt and showed it to Max. "If those guys in the Command Center need me, I'm right here. But my guess is Joshua and Logan will do just fine. Which leaves you to baby-sit."

"Baby-sit who?"

"Idiots like your pal. Assholes like me. And this." Mole grandly waved an arm at the dilapidated brick buildings and cracked blacktop. "We're not commanding an army, Max. This ain't a war. They'll just keep us penned up in here--forever, if they have to. No, we're running a city here. A city with no clean water, not enough electricity, not enough food, and not enough medical supplies. You wanna be a bureaucrat, Max? Knock yourself out. But you said it yourself. Me, I'm a soldier."

"Are you saying you want to fight your way out of here?"

"Dunno," said Mole thoughtfully, watching his smoke spiral upwards. "Maybe so, Max. Maybe so."

END OF ACT III

Act IV