TITLE: A NORMAL DAY

AUTHOR: SARGE

E-MAIL: SARGE2525@HOTMAIL.COM

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SHOW DARK ANGEL. JAMES CAMERON, CHARLES EGLEE, AND FOX
DO. I CLAIM NO OWNERSHIP. 

SUMMARY: MAX GOES BACK TO WORK AFTER THE ACCIDENT, BUT RUNS INTO A LITTLE TROUBLE THAT LEADS TO A
SOMEWHAT INTERESTING TALK WITH KENDRA.

Max walked up to Normal, a disgusted and somewhat pained look on her face as she leaned up against the counter. 

"You know that your guys have no class, right?' Max asked Normal as she tried to ignore the pounding in her head. She
was starting to agree with Kendra that it had been a bad idea to come to work again. Then again the headache might
be from all the stuff she had been thinking about. 

"Why? You think you're different?" Normal asked as he sorted through a stack of packages. "Sketchy, Cindy, Herbal, get
over here. It's time to earn your paycheck." 

The three scurried over without comment. They were exhausted due to the recent outpouring of energy they had
expended in order to try convincing Max to go home sick. It hadn't worked. 

"Normal, can't you see Max is in pain?" Original Cindy objected, giving it one last shot. "You don't send her home now,
and she could be out for days." 

"She's assured me that she's fine." Normal answered without looking up. "Now are you going to work, or do I need to
start looking for new employees?"

"Aren't you always looking for new employees?" Sketchy asked. "I mean, because most people don't like working for you
and such?"

"Just for that you can take these two to the west side," Normal answered as he handed two fairly light packages to
Sketchy. "They go to the hospital. Probably more organs to save the lives of those hoodlums."

"Isn't Samantha still in that hospital? You know, because of the last run she took there and one of the said 'hoodlums'
shot her?" Original questioned. At Normal's glare and Sketchy's gulp, she shrugged. "I could be wrong."

"Do I get hazard pay for this?" Sketchy asked. "I mean, I think I heard the same thing." 

"Tough luck," Normal answered. "I'm counting you in the same group, only with less money. You can't afford the guns
and drugs." 

"Who said anything about them buying the things down there?" Herbal asked, taking on a slightly self-righteous look.
"We of faith at least pay for our faith. I resent the comparison they are all about the blood." 

"You heard that right?" Sketchy asked Normal. "He said blood. I think he meant my blood. I think we should stop taking
deliveries."

"I'm seeing me writing paychecks, but I don't see me writing yours," Normal replied. "Pip pip pip. Now get lost!" 

Sketchy sighed but jumped onto his bike without another word. He headed off at a slightly slower pace then normal due
the accident. His ankle had been slightly twisted, but nothing more then that. He hadn't even gone to the doctor. Just
braced his ankle and gone back to work. 

"Max, you can take this to the North High School. They got a textbook for a change," Normal said, handing her the
packages. "Two, in fact." 

"Normal, I need a bike," Max responded. "The car totaled mine."

"That's what you get for not letting it total Sketchy," Normal answered. "Fine, pull one out of the back. You better have
your own again after payday."

"I'll start looking after work," Max replied before she went to the back. She shoved the packages into her backpack and
grabbed a decent-looking bike from the spares rack. She took off, this time being careful of her surroundings and the
traffic. After a while she noticed that she naturally took turns that helped her to avoid contact with police and sector
guards. She wondered what was up with that.

"Delivery," Max said calmly as she walked into the office of North High School. "Two teachers' textbooks. Comes to a
total of 30 bucks."

The office assistant gave her a withering glare before looking back down at her computer and typing a few things in.
"Sorry, we don't have clearance to take those for another week," the office assistant responded. "If you would, tell your
boss to hold future deliveries for us until we can give clearance. If something happens to the packages at your site you'd
have to cover them, however we don't get insurance on them for another week. We can't risk them being on the
premises."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Max demanded, somewhat upset. Sure they had problems as the runners, but Normal
had made it very clear from day one that you didn't bring packages back unless they were returns. Jam Pony did not
hold packages; they delivered them. "We aren't a holding service."

"Well I'm sorry we just can't take it," the assistant answered. Then she looked up at a security camera. "Oh dear." 

Max turned and caught a glimpse of a guy. Why did that guy look so familiar? Then it hit her. It was Zach, and he was
following her. She turned and stormed toward the door. This guy was going to explain who he was and why the hell he
was following her. 

"Zach!" Max called once she was outside the building. Zach was nowhere to be seen so he might have already beat it,
but something told her that he was still watching. "Come on. Why are you hiding? We saw you. Bet she's inside calling
the police right now. I think I'll wait here and file you for being a stalker."

Zach dropped gracefully from the roof of the school to stand next to her. It was only two stories, but Max was still
slightly surprised. He had made that look natural.

"You can't be around the police," Zach said in a slightly panicked tone. "You don't understand how dangerous that is."

"Then I guess you shouldn't have been stalking me," Max answered. She sat down on a bench holding the undeliverable
packages. "I'm sure that the boys in blue will do their best to capture such a deranged citizen." 

"I don't fall under police jurisdiction and neither do you." Zach replied. "Trust me. You don't want to talk to them."

"Then whose jurisdiction do I fall under?" Max questioned, real fear in her eyes as the sirens became noticeable. Zach
started to fidget at the sound. "Why should I run?" 

"Oh hell." Zach swore as he grabbed her arm and dragged her after him. He pulled her toward the other side of the
street. His goal was to lead them to another street with much more traffic where they could lose themselves. 

"I can't leave Normal's bike there," Max objected as she tried and failed to tug her arm free of Zach's grasp. "He'll kill
me." 

Zach glanced at Max who was still tugging on his arm in a vain attempt to get free. He shot her a look of contempt. "How
could he fail when you're acting like a day old kitten?" 

Max stopped tugging on his arm in shock. Then shock soon faded into anger; anger that she wasn't going to try and sit
on. She formed a loose fist with her free hand and then proceeded to rake what there was of her nails across his face.
Zach howled more in surprised shock then in pain and hastily let go of her arm to fend off other attacks.

"Even kittens have claws," Max warned him. "Now go. I'll get out of here as soon as I can. I won't give them a
statement. However, don't let me catch you following me again." 

Zach allowed her to go back to the school, melting into the shadows. Lydecker's men wouldn't come down on her, or
him, if she didn't give a statement. If she just left quietly then maybe there wouldn't be any problems. Today however,
had just proved how much Max needed to be watched, and that she needed her memory back before something beyond
bad happened to her. Max was good. If Lydecker got his hands on her and retrained her for the field, Zach knew what
the first target would be. 

Zach headed toward a pay phone to call Logan. Max was in trouble, and they needed to find a way to keep her out of
danger for the next few days. Clearly her work wasn't going to allow that. Zach paused before he put the quarter in
though, as he thought more about it. Max's attempts to get away had been weak. He should have known that normal
girls used whatever was sharpest and would be most distracting in a fight. Maybe what Max needed wasn't to be
sheltered from the Manticore type of lifestyle, but rather exposed to it more. Zach turned away from the phone and back
in the direction he knew Max would be heading. This idea warranted thought more than anything else.

Max had watched Zach fade into the shadows as if he controlled them. The thought that he so easily blended disturbed
her, as had her attempts to pull her arm free. Either he had mastered making hard things look easy and had been trying
to hold her, or she had been badly mistaken when she had said that she could most likely handle him in a fight. The fight
was starting to look more and more appealing, that was if she didn't think it might lead to getting her ass kicked. And
right now she just wasn't sure. 

When Max did return to work Normal was yelling at some poor guy who hadn't gotten his package delivered. The poor
guy had stopped to ask a girl out instead. 

"What do I pay you for?" Normal asked. The kid looked back at him with a smug expression as if he thought he knew
that Normal couldn't fire him. "Oh, that's right. I don't pay you anymore. You are fired." 

"You can't do that! You're already understaffed," the boy pointed out. "Besides, you'd have to fire Sketchy and Max
before me. They're the one's that might land Jam Pony their first law suit." 

"Yes, but you see they actually do their runs," Normal answered. "So clear your locker and get out." 

Max decided that waiting for Normal to calm down might take until the next ice age. She definitely needed to talk with
Logan and Bling about why Zach had been following her, so she might as well take her chances with Normal now. She
walked up to his desk and put the packages down. 

"They wouldn't take them," she told him. "Said something about insurance and that they wouldn't accept them until next
week."

"Fine," Normal said as he snatched them and placed them behind the counter. "You're off duty. Get out of here."

Max walked out leaving the bike leaning against the wall without a second thought. She had things to do and people to
talk to. For one thing Logan was going to answer some questions, and then Zach was going to answer a whole bunch of
them. When Max reached her apartment she wasn't surprised to find Kendra pacing and giving the clock frustrated and
worried looks. 

"It's cool," Max told her softly. "I didn't get hit by a car." 

"That's a great improvement over this morning," Kendra answered, smiling as she decided for herself that Max was fine.
"So did anything interesting happen while you were on the job?"

"Not a lot," Max answered. "Normal was a jerk, I ran stuff. Nearly got kidnaped, clawed Zach across the face. Like I said,
nothing much."

"What!?" Kendra asked in surprise. "Could you repeat that last part?"

"It was nothing big," Max answered. "I'm going to talk to Logan and Zach later. Do you think I can trust them?" 

Kendra had to do a retake. It was clear that Max wasn't going to let her go crazy over the fact that someone had tried
to kidnap her. What had been that last part about Zach? Did she mean that it had been Zach who had tried it? What a
jerk! 

"Max, when you first walked in that door, I could have given you crystal clear answer," Kendra answered after a minute
or so. "Now I just don't know what to say. Logan I'd trust for sure, but Zach... I've never met him before now, and what
I've seen I don't like."

"Well, apparently I've met him before, and apparently we were good friends. Maybe if I knew what our connection was
in the first place..." Max answered. "I mean, I don't remember either one of them, but Zach's the one following me and
jumping from buildings."

"So you can't remember either one of them, which is why you're having problems trusting them," Kendra summed up.
"Plus the fact that Zach's following you and jumping from buildings. Sorry, Max, but it makes sense to me. Guess you'll
just have to make up your mind after talking to them." 

"Wonderful," Max said as she flopped onto the beaten down couch. "I'd rather just get my memory back. Things would
be so much easier."

"Even then, Max, life isn't a picnic," Kendra answered. "You had problems. Which is why I agree that you need to talk to
Logan." 

"What do you know about them?" Max asked suddenly. "What do you know about what I've lost?" This was the first
time that Max could almost feel a void where memories used to be. She searched for her childhood years and had almost
no memories except of a girl named Lucy. Even those memories were somewhat dull and didn't explain the feeling she
always seemed to have of being hunted. Even now Max could feel a vague feeling of danger, of a need to stay moving
and stay out of sight. 

"Not much," Kendra answered as she gestured to the corner where a Ninja motorcycle sat. "I know that you have that.
It's the love of your life, Max. No really. You'd have a cow if it got scratched." 

"Wonderful," Max said as she stood and walked over to it. She examined it with her eyes, trying to recall anything about
it. Even just when she had gotten it. However, nothing came to mind, and now all she knew was that she owned it. "I
don't remember anything. Not one thing. For example, why do I have a motorcycle?" 

"Because it goes very fast, and you like that?" Kendra questioned hopefully. "I don't know. You're Max. You've always
kept something hidden."

"Great, so now I've forgotten what that thing I kept hidden is, and I've forgotten probably anything and everything
remotely related to it. Plus I have Zach telling me that not knowing what I've forgotten might get me killed. In fact I think
he's almost sure of it."

"That's why you need to talk to them," Kendra said. "I think Logan may know a lot more then I do. I'd even bet that
Logan may know more than half of what you're missing. I don't know what Zach would know, but he seems to think he's
important." 

"Well, I guess I should head out now," Max said as she started toward the door. "I'll come home tonight no matter
what. I'm sure I'll need a night to think over what they say."

"Just be careful. I've gotten a vibe of fear off Logan about your safety; one that Zach keeps reinforcing. Try to stick to
populated places where you won't be noticed, but if someone tries something they will be," Kendra advised. "Good luck"

"Thanks," Max answered as walked out the door. Once outside, she headed in what she was pretty sure was the
direction of Logan's apartment. Max had a feeling that Zach was still following her, which might save her the trouble of
having to look for him. Then again if he wasn't still following her, she hoped she got lucky and he was at Logan's. She
had absolutely no idea where she would begin to look for Zach if he wasn't with Logan. 



* * * 

end part three