Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel. I own Xandra, and that's all. Don't sue me. Chapter 6 2 Days Later.... Xandra was in the middle of a heated argument with Normal down at the Jam Pony when David walked in through the open metal doorway. "Hate to break it to ya Normal, but we're all looking for another job. And by the way, no one likes it when you try and play dictator." Xandra snapped, leaning against the front counter, tapping her nails on the metal. "That's nice, but this is MY business, and I'll run it the way I see fit." Normal retorted, shoving packages into Xandra's coworkers' hands. David tapped Xandra on the shoulder and she spun around. "What do you want?!" she started to say, but stopped when she saw his face. "And, Xandra, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't let your little boyfriends waltz right in and out of here whenever they please. This isn't a social hour, it's a job." Normal said angrily, looking at David. "He isn't my boyfriend, you asshole." She snapped back, grabbing David's arm and pulling him aside to an empty part of the building. "What are you doing here?" she asked, and then, "You know it's dangerous for you to try and find me, or are you too mentally deficient to figure that out yourself?" She stared angrily into David's face, she probably wouldn't have said those things if she hadn't been in that fight with Normal right before, but she was feeling particularly angry this morning. "Rowr!" David growled, acknowledging her moodiness, "So you wanna go talk or something." "I'm at work. Maybe if you weren't half-blind you could've noticed that by now." Xandra snapped. Sure, she was at work, even if Jam Pony wasn't the most desirable job on the market, but it wasn't exactly worth it to talk to this fool considering the way he had just taken off the other night. "You're coming with me, Okay." David said to her sternly, leading her out the door. *** "Did you lose the desire to leave right after the first sentence of the conversation or something?" She asked David, sitting down on the leather stool at the unwashed café table. "Funny." He said, taking another sip of his coffee, if you could call it that. Xandra held her own Styrofoam cup in her hand, taking periodic gulps. She didn't drink coffee, but if the water alone tasted this bad, she wasn't sure that she'd ever want any. "So, how long have you been...you know?" David asked, boring holes into her head with his eyes. "Three years." She said hesitantly, staring at a piece of almost-food that was crusted onto the tabletop. David stared at her disbelieving most of the statement. He was older than she was, but somehow he wasn't strong enough to make it out of there before she, a skinny little girl, did. That was what the Manticore officials described as pitiful. But that was probably one of the many other reasons why she was so valuable to Lydecker. On the outside she was a small, slender, blue-eyed-blonde that you probably wouldn't think twice about taking on, thinking that you could easily hurt her. On the inside, Xandra was tougher than steel. That aspect of her was so surprising to most, one of the things that made her worth so much. "What about you?" she asked David, looking up from the table into his face. He hesitated for a moment and then said, "About a couple years." Are you lying again now? Xandra thought. Despite the fact that he covered it so well, Xandra still thought that maybe he wasn't really her 'brother.' There was just something a little wrong with him every time that she saw him that was a little out of place, but she couldn't put her finger on it. *** ::Phone Conversation:: OUTSIDER - Hello? DAVID - It's me. We're good to go. I think she believes me. OUTSIDER - What do you mean 'YOU THINK?' Does she believe you or not? DAVID - Sorry, yeah she believes me, don't worry about it. OUTSIDER - Good. You've gone through with your part of the deal, now I'll uphold mine. Don't you dare screw this up. That girl is very, very valuable to the agency, you understand? If anything goes wrong, I'll have your head. DAVID - Yes sir. ~End of Conversation~ *** It was ten at night, and Xandra, Zack and Max were standing around in Logan Cale's apartment. The topic of discussion was, of course, Xandra's supposed 'brother.' "I'm still not sure if he's for real." Xandra said flatly. She could feel Zack's anger almost bursting. She couldn't deny that he had a right to be mad, because she would've probably said the same things if it were Zack or Max in her shoes. Logan and Max hadn't believed her theory that this guy was telling her a bunch of bullshit from the start. She wasn't about to say it all again, just to try and convince them. It was a lost cause. As soon as the door closed behind them, Zack turned towards her. "You know, I think you're right. Maybe this asshole isn't really who he says he is." He said quietly, looking down into her eyes. She hadn't noticed it before, but Zack was almost an entire foot taller than she was. "Yeah, well at least someone believes me." Xandra said appreciatively, quietly exiting the apartment buildings and heading for her own. *** Xandra walked quietly down the puddle-covered alley on the way to her abandoned apartment building. Her black oxfords make a squeaking noise as she walked. She wasn't really thinking about what was going on, and for the first time in a long time she was calm. And for some odd reason, she kept thinking about Zack. The way his eyes always seemed to sparkle a little when she talked to him was a little suspicious. Oh shut up, she thought to herself, I'm seeing things. Just then, someone standing behind Xandra in the shadows raised their hand up, and brought it down hard against the back of her head.