Inside the vast hanger, the dusty silence is broken briefly by a shuffling, and then all is still again.

The hanger is roughly 60 meters by 100 meters. Shuttles of various designations line both of the long walls. There are two garage type doors, one at far end, flanked by a smaller personnel door and one midway along the side wall. The only other door is a personnel door at the other end of the hanger and it is ajar.

From the other side of the side garage door, the roar of an engine grows louder. There is a scream of rubber on asphalt and the side garage door crashes in followed by an Alliance military truck. The truck shudders to a stop amid the wreckage of the door, the engine smoking and knocking before finally dying.

The occupants breathe a sigh of relief. But their relief is short-lived. Shadowy shapes swarm the truck, dragging the occupants out and back into hiding. Silence settles over the hanger again.

--

At the far end of the hanger, the personnel door bursts inward, nearly jumping off its hinges. Safe pokes his head around the jam, quickly scanning the interior.

Safe stands outside the hanger next to an open door, his back against the wall.

Jacks stands on the other side of the door beside Citizen and Bride7 stands next to Safe. Bobbie sits slumped against the wall in between Safe and Bride7.

A small ring of flame appears in the air before them. It expands into what some recognize as one of Me’s dimensional portals. The man’s voice comes through like a distant echo:

"Hello, Bobbie? Bride7? Safe? Jack? This is Me. Can you hear me?"

Bobbie laughs. "Hi, You!"

"Ah, good! You ARE there! It would be most convenient to us if you could make it into space, but we could probably make it down to you. What is your location on Boros?"

Safe never got used to TRM’s talent during the Arkham affair, so it still surprised him. “We're at a hanger on the outskirts of Boros Prime. Looks like we have a way off this rock. We should be airborne in about ten…”

The portal closes before Safe can finish.

Safe quickly checks the hanger again then signals to Jack.

Jack and Citizen enter the hanger crouched, guns ready. Jack signals all clear and Safe and Bride7 carry Bobbie into the hanger.

Crouching inside the door, Safe whistles softly in awe at the line of shuttles. Jack draws Safes attention to the ruined truck halfway up the hanger.

“Hey, that looks like the truck I saw Mister Needy get into.” Bobbie whispers. The hanger is quiet and there is no movement from the truck.

“Citizen, you and Bride7 wait here. Keep an eye on the door; make sure no one comes in. Jack and I are going to scout the hanger”

Safe and Jack just about reach the truck when a man steps out from behind a shuttle beside the truck, clearing his throat.

“See, I knew where you were going. I must say though, it’s been an… exciting run.” Safe and Jack both level their guns on the newcomer.

“Ah ah ah… You don’t think I’d come here alone or without insurance do you?”

The man snaps his fingers and two Alliance guards step out of the shadows, one holding Amy the other, a groggy looking Needy.

“I have the other two as well. Now, are you ready to come along quietly?” On the floor near the door with Citizen and Bride7, Bobbie aims her pistol left-handed at the distant figures. “A gorram shuttle is in the way. Pull me three feet that way!”

Bride7 drags Bobbie as requested. The latter grits her teeth in pain. But then Bobbie points her pistol left-handed at the one holding Needy, then at the one holding Amy, then back. She frowns. “I can’t get them both before they can act. Not without some sort of distraction!" “Distraction, huh?” Bride7 brings a grenade out of her pocket, and holds its lever down while she pulls the pin. With her other hand, she grabs a second grenade, pulls its pin with her teeth, and spits it out. “If I get close enough to them, they’ll be real careful to pay attention to me! They want to shoot me, fine, I'll drop these babies and they'll blow them up too!" Bride7 advances toward the confrontation, careful to not get in Bobbie’s line of fire.

Bobbie blinks. “Hey, that’s dangerous!” Still disorientated from his whole ordeal, Needy struggles to keep his eyes open. In the last hour, he had held up a weapon store, got involved in a firefight, been fatally wounded and quite possibly been resurrected by some spiritual being. Or by Versa at the very least.

The device she had used could possibly have been responsible for his sudden recovery, he just didn’t know, but something told him there was more to it. Maybe it was normal under these circumstances to be somewhat disorientated, but he didn’t feel lost per se. He didn’t really know how he felt. He wasn’t surprised when the Alliance storm their vehicle when they did, neither was he too worried.

Maybe he was in shock.

Physically speaking, he had felt better.

But he wasn’t in pain. He’d been shot, but it didn’t sting, instead his body felt like it was burning up, like he was fighting an infection. He was weak, bruised and he struggled to stand. In fact, he would likely collapse right there and then if it wasn’t for the officer that held him at his left bicep.

“Now lower your weapons,” the man in charge orders Jack and Safe.

The two hesitate to listen to him.

“Drop your weapons now or you won’t like the consequences.” He threatens When Safe and Jack fail to comply, still evaluating the situation, the man signals to the officer that held Needy.

Needy tried to keep up with the conversation, his head still spinning. But things soon became clear when the officer beside him pressed the barrel of his gun against Needy’s temple.

Just then all the pain and confusion evaporated and his mind was once again clear. His purpose was focused.

“No!” Safe screamed, lowering his weapon – but it was too little, too late.

The officer pulled the trigger.

-- --

“You will be in a position to help your new friends. This is what you must do.” Needy recalled the words spoken to him before, and he realised that now was the time.

Maybe Safe’s scream triggered the reaction, or maybe it was gut instinct, whatever it was, Needy seized the opportunity.

Nobody was expecting it, not from a person that had already been shot and was about as alert as a dead duck. Not the Alliance’s men, the companion’s new colleagues… not even Needy himself – his reactions were almost superhuman in nature and came completely out of the blue.

In the split second that it took the officer to pull the trigger of his gun, Needy had felt a surge of energy within him and ripped himself from the man’s clutches and pulled away – dodging the bullet meant for him.

Before the officer can even react, Needy knocks him out cold with a solid punch to his chin, snatching the weapon from his hand as he falls.

Immediately he spins around to the other officer that stands over Amy and uses the barrel of the gun to strike him on his brow.

With the officer knocked down but not out, Amy jumps aside, away from his grasp. Acting more like a program than a man on the defensive, Needy next turns around again, and faces the leader of the soldiers. Then with a cold soulless look in his eyes, raises the weapon he has obtained and aims it at the head of the man. Needy doesn’t speak. Just waits for instruction from Safe Both Safe and Jack stand mouths open in shock. The squad leader, however, looks unimpressed, his hands still clasped behind his back. “That was most… unexpected and a little disappointing.”

Out of the corner of his eye Safe sees Bride7 advancing, a nasty grin on her face and a live grenade clutched in each hand.

“Whoa!! Hold, Bride7!!” Safe turns making a calming motion with his hands. “Let’s see what the man has to say now.”

Safe turn back to the squad leader “Seems the tables are turned now.”

“On the contrary Mr. “Safe”, the deck, as you would say, is still stacked in my favour. You don’t honestly think I would come undermanned when breaking the back of the underground, and capturing an Alliance traitor, do you?” The man waves a blue hand at the shadows. Eight more soldiers appear, two holding Versa and a slumping Flechette. The one holding Flechette sported a rapidly expanding bruise on his cheek and a bloody nose.

“There is another squad approaching as we speak, so you see, your running is over.”

- Outside the hanger, a group of ten troops approach the building, unaware that they were being watched. As the lead trooper grabs the handle of the side-door, he finds it sticks. But it’s not locked. Puzzled, he watches as he watches small patches of ice form around the door. At first they seem like random patches, but soon the entire wall is encased in foot thick ice. The troops by the wall step back, mouths agape. The other soldiers stop and stare. - Unaware of what was happening outside, Safe gasps “How many of you are there??” The adrenaline drained away, leaving in its place a gnawing void created by blood loss, overexertion and the crushing weight of guilt. He couldn’t see how they were going to get out of this. Yet more people were going to die because of his actions. A cold chill ran through his body.

Safe left arm sagged, the gun falling from his numb fingers. Why were these people willing to die? He had led a squad of soldiers that would have, and eventually did, die for him. But that was born from a bond built on the battlefield. With the exception of Jack, he had known these people too briefly to build that bond. “Why?” Safe whispered as his shoulders sagged in defeat.

“Safe!” Jack called out “You’re not going to let this piece of go se win are you? We’re so close.”

- “If Safe doesn’t get a move on, I’m not going to be able to talk our way out of this one,” Citizen thought to himself

He’d been guarding the back door when a weight forced the door closed. Citizen turned back shocked, yanking his hand away leaving skin still attached to the door knob. “What the..?” he exclaimed as frost crept up the metal door. -

Gunshots and shouting outside and Jack’s momentary distraction was all opportunity the soldier holding Flechette needed. With Safe’s one gun hand wavering and Jack no longer looking at their leader, the soldier fired on the only remaining threat, Needy.

Needy looked around in shock at the sound, trying to assess who was hit. Needy looked at the leader and saw his grin of triumph fade to a look of confusion. The man was staring at him.

Needy looked down and saw a stain of blood slowly expanding on the high right side of his chest. He fully expected to pass-out; as he had done before, when it occurred to him that there was no pain. In fact the blood flow had slowed.

At this point, everything seemed to happen at once.

Flechette had apparently been playing possum. When her captor had raised his gun and fired, she had reacted instinctively. Her right arm flew up and backwards, the back of her elbow catching her captor right at the base of his nose. There was a snap and a spray of blood and the guard dropped, dead before he hit the floor.

*

Bobbie had watched the tension build. When Versa and Flechette had appeared, she had altered her aim. Something she had seen had convinced her that Flechette wasn’t out of the picture, so she had targeted the soldier holding Versa. Bobbie’s reaction had been almost instantaneous, breathing in deep to block her pain, she could swear that she saw her own breath as she exhaled and fired. Her gunshot echoing Flechettes captors’ gunshot, Versa’s captor dropped, a neat hole in his forehead.

*

Jack’s focus changes as the remaining six soldiers start to recover from the surprise. Jack’s sub-machine pistols blare, spraying death. Two soldiers are thrown backwards. The return fire from the soldiers is cut off almost before it can begin as Bride7’s two hand grenades bounce into their midst. The men drop their weapons in their haste to flee. They head for the hole in the side door caused by the truck. Bobbie and Citizen manage to drop two more before they make it out. The remaining two soldiers don’t’ make it far when a wall of ice seals the breach in the door and the fleeing soldiers mid-stride. The approaching soldiers remain on the other side, but now the blue hand was trapped in the room with Safe and his crew.

*

The blue hand fumbles in his pocket for the tool of his trade. He finally frees the pen shaped object when a gunshot shatters his hand and sends the “weapon” spinning across the hanger. The bluehand looks up, fear showing for the first time on his face, and stares down the barrel of Safe’s gun. - - From outside, a loud explosion shudders the hanger, sending the remaining soldiers hurtling into a wall of ice by a wave of fire. Those that aren’t immediately rendered unconscious are then set upon by a band of fighters. Unbeknowngst to the crew in the hanger, a small army was being taken apart outside by a trio of armed men. Back-up had arrived. - -

Whilst Safe, Citizen, Jack, and Bobbie keep the Blue Hand covered, Bride7 smirks as she casually walks up and retrieves the grenades she threw. She resets them, replaces their pins, and sticks them back onto her belt. “I always like to carry a pair of duds with me. You never know when you might need them for a little psychological warfare.”

“Now, now Captain, let us not be hasty.” The Blue Hand’s eyes never leave Safe’s.

“I’ve read your service records. You’re an… honorable man. You wouldn’t shoot and unarmed man, and as you can see I am unarmed.”

“I don’t have any such qualms.” Jack sneers. “Let me shoot ‘im Safe.”

“I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.” Blue Hands still refused to acknowledge the other members of the group. “Just walk out of here with me quietly. And they…” he waved his good hand dismissively at the others “Will be allowed to leave the building unharmed.”

“Say again??” Citizen blurts in amazement. “How the Blue Sun Corp. ever stays in business with that kinda twisted logic amazes and sickens me.”

“What would you know about business?” The Blue Hands snaps at Citizen, his calm demeanor starting to fray. “Wait… I know you, or should I say I knew your grandfather wasn’t it? He was a weak man.”

Citizen dives at the Blue Hands tackling him to the ground.

Jack, Bride7 and Safe struggle to separate the two. Jack and Bride7 pull Citizen off the Blue Hands while Safe pushes the Blue Hands down and plants his boot on the mans throat.

“I’LL KILL YOU ALL!!” The Blue Hands screams, clawing at Safe’s leg. “Bunch of stinking animals, that’s all you are! You are nothing, NOTHING!!”

Safe steps down harder on the man’s throat to control him. The Blue Hand is reduced to grunting, foam flying from his mouth with his exertions as he continues to claw at Safe’s leg.

“Versa, Flechette, can either of you prep a shuttle?” Flechette and Versa nod.

“Good, prep that shuttle over there.” Safe points to the larger shuttle at the top end of the hanger. Barely visible on its side are the markings ISSCV. “There’s a ship in orbit waiting for us. Jack, open the hanger roof.”

At that moment, the Blue Hand punches Safe in the back of the knee, loosening his hold on him. Safe’s gun bucks and Bluehand flops once and is still.