Veronica took a shuddering breath and held her side as blood poured from the wound. The alert window was flashing the countdown process for the destruction of the building. Part of her considered just sitting there and letting it happen, but her stubborn streak and indignation over a secondary attack happening on her building forced her to move.
The pain was immense and threatened to pull her under as she walked across the office toward a door nobody but her had clearance to enter. Pressing her bloody hand to the panel, it slid open allowed her access to a small room where a capsule sat open and waiting.
After climbing in, her vision blurred to the point where she couldn't focus on the buttons no matter how hard she tried. Not knowing how much time she had left, she simply punched the panel and blacked out
When she awoke, she was in a bed and her wound had been patched up expertly.
"We were wondering if you were ever going to come back to us." A portly woman said, setting a tray down on the bedside table. "You've been out for a few days."
"How'd I get here? Who patched me up?" She asked.
"A doctor." The woman replied, her northern accent coming through more clearly now as the fog lifted.
"Obviously." Veronica said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "But who? From where?"
"Never caught his name. Tall fellow. Bright red hair. Didn't look like he was from around here." She said. "He came by looking for food, saw you lyin' there on the bed, and fixed you right up before eating a meal and leaving."
"And where am I?"
"About ten miles outside Mercy." She said.
Veronica sat up and felt the room spin, but she gritted her teeth and willed things to be normal. "Thank you for looking after me. Now, if I could impose on you for some fresh clothes, I'd like to be on my way."
The woman stopped straightening the room and looked over at her. "Not so sure that's a good idea, ma'am. Been hearing weird rumors coming out of Mercy lately. Said the hospital was targeted by the GA for an attack this morning. Transport flew overhead not an hour ago. Never seen one move so fast or so low before."
Veronica slid out of the bed. "The clothes, please."
~
"Not much of a story." Clint muttered. "Other than the miracle doctor being Phoenicks of all people. The crazy one, not the- You know who I mean."
All three women gave him a withering look and Veronica rolled her eyes. "Sorry that my narrow escape from the destruction of Coast City and subsequent recovery isn't exciting enough for you, Roberts."
"I just thought-"
"I know what you thought." She said dismissively. "But sometimes things are just mundane. Anyway, I made it to town and found Tim. Thought he might've been responsible, but he seemed just as concerned about the hospital as I was. So we escaped the city before they could fully close the borders and made our way here."
"How'd you know we came to the Spire? We didn't know until about sixteen hours prior." Rebecca asked.
"I'd pieced together it was you from the people talking around Mercy. Tim's presence all but confirmed it. And you wouldn't have moved unless you had to, so that led me to think about who would've convinced you. It had to be someone you'd trust. So I pieced together that it was someone from Echelon. And Echelon began in the Spire." She explained. "Not that you'd know that, but I did. It was about sixty percent guesswork, though. If that makes you feel any better."
Clint just stared. "How do you do all that so easily? And get it right every time?"
"Years of practice, dear." She said smugly. "You'll get there."
"I see Rodinia. It some ways off, but I think we're likely to make landfall by the morning." Sebastian said, walking into the room and dropping into the seat next to Clint. "Good thing, too. I'm running low on supplies. How's your pain level, Miss Tunney?"
"I'm doing fine, Doc. Just focus on Alice."
He frowned. "I'm capable of managing more than one patient at a time, thank you."
"Never said you weren't." She said blithely.
~
Tim refused to let anyone help him with Alice any more than absolutely necessary. He paid close attention to Sebastian as he treated her injuries, making sure to commit everything to memory so he could be of more use to the doctor. Sebastian was a great teacher, explaining things as he went as concisely as he could. Tim didn't need a full understanding of medicine, he just needed to know what to do, how to do it, and when.
In turn, Tim explained what he could about the procedures that had been performed on them. But there were too many gaps in his knowledge and his understanding of them were too elementary to be of much use to the doctor.
Alice, for her part, allowed the team to visit her in short bursts and only to keep her up to date on what was going on. She didn't want their sympathy or their pity. She simply wanted to be kept in the loop.
They'd found an abandoned hunting cabin in the woods outside of the small city of Ursinet and moved into it. It was freezing to be so close to the mountain pass that separated the Frontier from the south, but Tim had scavenged several thick blankets and various things that helped keep them warm without a fire.
He'd also managed to acquire medical supplies that Sebastian was impressed with, even if the thought of theft made him uncomfortable. The food was better than on the ship, but it was largely small things that he could grab loads of at a time. Various canned goods and instant meals. They filled stomachs, but were shallow on the nutrition aspect. As such, Eve and Alice received the most healthy of the foods to aid in their recovery.
"Can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm tired of candy bars." Clint moaned after two months.
"I'd like a burger." Eve said. "And I don't like burgers."
"Nonsense, everyone like burgers." Sebastian countered.
She laughed. "Well, I don't."
"I'll see what I can do next time I head out." Tim said, pulling the door to Alice's room shut. "Heat's picked up though, so only ask for what you need when you make a list. I'll try to do a big run to buy us some more time, but it'll probably be the last one. After that, we'll have to move."
"How is she?" Rebecca asked.
"Better, but we don't have six months for a full rehab. She knows that. So she's decided to put the armor on again."
"What?" Sebastian and Clint blurted at the same time.
"She's not going to use it as anything more than a prosthetic." He said. "No fighting, no escaping, nothing that could put her at anymore risk than she's already taking by putting it back on."
"I was planning on wearing it when we left." Eve said. "Given what's happening, we could use the extra firepower."
"I figured you were thinking that and told her. She said that if what happened to her happens to you, then we'd be down two soldiers instead of one. At least this way, she can keep up without being a burden."
Eve frowned, but nodded. "I get it. I don't like it, but I get it."
"Chases?" He asked, looking over at Rebecca and Veronica.
"If she's sure, then we won't stop her." Rebecca said while her mother shrugged.
"I guess I'm with them." Clint mumbled. "Her choice."
"Doc?" Tim said, looking at Sebastian.
"I'll do my best to make sure that she's whole enough that it won't be so much of a strain on her before we have to leave." He said. "But I still think we should've left that infernal thing on the ship."
"Understood. I'll let her know."
"Tim?" Clint asked as the teen made to head back into the room. "You doing okay?"
"Just tired, man." He said with a grin before disappearing through the door.
"Aren't we all." Clint muttered to himself.
~
"I keep telling you that I'm fine. Stop mothering me." Alice signed with a scowl on her face.
Tim hung his head. "Sorry."
She regretted snapping at him after he worked himself past the point of exhaustion to help her recover, but when she lifted her hands he increased his pace and started leading the group. Sebastian turned and looked at her, but stumbled slightly on a branch and swore, returning his attention to his footing.
"Mom." Rebecca said, falling back in step with her mother. "We never got to have that discussion."
"No, we didn't." Veronica said crisply. "But is hiking over a mountain that could easily kill us any number of ways really how you want to have this talk?"
"Just tell me what happened. To you, not Veronica Chase."
The older woman looked at her daughter wearily. "I don't know what you want me to say, dear. You're going to have to be more specific."
Rebecca laughed bitterly and sighed. "Between you and dad. Then after Kurokawa. Clint said you'd been keeping an eye on me, but you never reached out. Even after dad died."
"You're looking for explanations that make sense, Rebecca. And no story I tell you will ever make sense because you still think these things happened to you when they..." She let out an exasperated breath. "They happened around you, dear."
"Tell the story anyway." Clint said, walking past them. "Give her something, Veronica. She deserves that much."
"Please, mom."
Veronica shook her head and looked up at the sky for a few seconds before sighing. "We weren't too busy to finalize the divorce. I knew that if I signed those papers, your father would disappear and I'd probably never see you again. But I was so wrapped up in that, that I had no idea how bad your father had gotten." She began. "Then Kurokawa came along and I didn't want him at first because I knew it was temporary situation. You saw how well my willpower held up when it came to him, though. I wish I had an explanation for what changed inside me with him around, but I don't. I just know that when they came for him and took him from my arms, screaming and crying for me like I was his mother, something inside me shattered."
"That's when you left." Rebecca said quietly.
"That's when I left."
"Did you love him more than us?"
Veronica stopped walking and looked at her daughter. Gone was the sharp tongued CEO and in her place was someone letting herself be vulnerable for the first time in years. She held her daughter's gaze for a few seconds, then nodded slowly. "I did."
Rebecca wanted to be angry with her mother, but she'd expected this response. It was a simple affirmation of a suspicion she held since she first saw the documents on the table with her signature on them. Instead she just had pity for the woman. Fuse barely remembered who they even were when they met, and even then it was debatable if he was being honest.
"I'm sorry, Rebecca."
The words stung, but Rebecca had expected this as well. It was the reason she avoided the topic when there had been more than one opportunity to bring it up. She didn't want an apology, she wanted answers. And now she had them.
She'd meant to nod and keep walking, dropping the topic, but instead of following after the others she was wrapping her arms around her mother and holding her tightly. "Thank you." She heard herself say.
Alice waited until they started walking again, their tone lighter as they exchanged quiet words, to start moving. She walked past everyone, ignoring the concerned look Sebastian gave her and the confusion on Eve's face as she made her way to the front where Tim was panting.
Catching his shoulder, she spun him around and pressed her lips to his before he could react. Then stepped back and motioned for him to stand there.
"I'm not made of glass, Timothy Campbell. I'm stronger than you, so stop treating me like I'm made of glass."
He gaped at her, still stunned from the kiss. "Y-Yes ma'am."
With a nod, she trudged ahead, letting a smile form on her face as she continued forward.
"Timothy Campbell?" Clint asked, smirking.
"You're one to talk, Clinton." Rebecca said, giving him a shove.
"What just happened?" Tim asked.
Veronica and Sebastian shook their heads and muttered "Children" at the same time as they passed by him. Eve was the only one who stopped and slugged his shoulder to get his attention.
"Thought you were the one with the crush. Figure it out." She said, spinning him around and shoving him forward.
~
Rinku surveyed the damage to the Spire without emotion. He didn't view this as a victory, but an inevitability. Crushing the technological superiority of the Spire using their own weapon against them essentially negated any other challenge to him. While the men scavenged tech, gear, and supplies while rounding up survivors, he turned his thoughts to the ones who managed to escape.
"The explosion would've reactivated the warp core in the shuttle's engine." He said, not to anyone in particular, but merely to give voice to his thoughts. "Whoever conceived of installing those in short range vehicles was a fool."
"Cost efficient, though." Caspar said from just behind him.
"Indeed. How're things progressing?"
"I've got several reports. Halo was spotted carrying the Tunney woman through the city toward the south bank. Tim was seen with the Echelon spies, including the previously thought dead Veronica Chase."
"What of our targets?" Rinku asked, turning to look down at him.
"They weren't with the others, but the shuttle that managed to jump had three passengers aboard. Safe to assume that Lin, Fuse, and Cruz were the three."
"Hm." Rinku muttered. "What's the likelihood of their survival?"
"Ordinarily, I'd say not high. The shuttle with peppered with debris and the explosion is probably what activated the core, which would mean the housing was damaged and leaking terminal levels of radiation. Those shuttles also don't have full navigation suites since they just go up to the satellite or the lunar colony. So if the radiation doesn't get them, then they're adrift in space with a damage shuttle, no way to orient themselves, and no supplies." Caspar said, then sighed. "But-"
"Fuse is on the shuttle and he's the roach that won't be squashed." Rinku finished. "Well, for the time being, they aren't our problem. We need to finish up here and return to Rodinia to clean up our terrestrial cockroaches. You've had HQ shut down travel to and from the planet, yes?"
"I sent the order, but there's one final issue."
The tall alien turned slowly. "And that is?"
"Porter and Lulu are MIA."