It was a battle nobody wanted to fight, they just wanted to get out of there. Get to safety. This was as true for Safe and his crew, as it was for Amy, Versa and Needy – though for some reason Flechette seemed eager to do some killin’.

Amy was one who would have backed Needy if he had decided not to follow the gunfire, but when she thought about the others, she realised that if she was caught up in a firefight, she’d need all the help she could get.

Unfortunately, she now had found herself in that firefight out of her own volition. True, she wasn’t actually doing any shooting, not at the minute at least, but she was hardly free from the action.

She and Versa had been told to run to an upper room in the building, and seek out a location from where they could get a good view of the fight. That they had done on orders, and now as Needy had given them further orders to make for the exit, they were going to do that too. But still, something didn’t seem right.

Amy kept telling herself that she didn’t want to be involved, but at the same time, she felt like she wasn’t doing a thing to help

The sound of more gunfire erupting confirmed to Amy that Needy and Flechette had now joined the fight, doing all that they could to help. As she ran alongside Versa, down the dirty stairs to the front entrance of the building, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being a coward. Fleeing when she should be fighting. She could be hel…

Suddenly, a crackle on the communicator interrupts her thoughts. There is no voice, but the sound of interference, as if the device had been damaged somehow whilst still being able to transmit

Amy stops running and pauses to listen out for a word, a command, anything.

At this point, Versa, hearing that she was running alone, stops and turns to face her peer, mere feet away from the door they had been sent to.

Hesitating for a moment, Amy grabs hold of the comm. and speaks in to it, “Needy… are you there”

Nothing.

The silence seems to last forever and whilst Versa stares at Amy for a reaction, Amy only looks down, her worries now having consumed her every thought… -

Falling to the floor, Needy’s head hit the dusty ground hard.

His world went black

The officer that shot him began to laugh with sadistic gleam in his eye when his head exploded like a meat melon. SR dashed across the street to where Needy laid bleeding. He quickly dragged him under cover. "Son that was the bravest act of stupidity I've seen in the last thirty years." SR says as he cuts Needy's shirt open with a tanto dagger. SR grimaces at the all the blood. He quickly reaches into a pocket and produces another bandanna and a flask of whisky. He douses the wound with the whisky, wads it up the bandanna and forces it on the wound and begins taping it down with duct tape.

"Needy are you there," the voice repeats over the companion’s comm unit.

Flechette takes it up with her good arm and clicks to talk.

Although the sound over the comm is unclear, Amy and Versa can identify is as Flechette.

Both women breathe a sigh of relief, momentarily, before Amy discerns there should be no reason why Flechette would be answering the man’s comm., unless…

“Needy’s hurt bad,” Flechette answers, confirming Amy’s fears. “I’m hurt too” Then the line goes dead

Without saying a word, Amy turns and runs back, past the stairs and for the side entrance – the one they had used to gain entry to the building.

Versa calls back to her, but she isn’t listening.

She herself is torn between what to do. Follow through with the plan, or go back to help their guide.

Amy is out of sight by the time she has made up her mind, already having head for the door to the alley – the place they had last seen Flechette and Needy.

Versa hesitates, before making her mind up, following the path Amy had taken. --

Needy struggled to get a grip on what was happening around him.

The moment the officer popped up, took aim and fired, the companion could only look on and stare. Then came the sharp pain in his chest.

Looking down, he watched as blood seeped through his top, and began to drizzle down.

That was when he dropped to the floor.

What happened next was a blur as he struggled to gain control of his cognitive abilities. "... bravest act of stupidity I've seen in..."

*****

"Needy are you there,"

*****

"...hurt bad, I'm hit..."

Needy slipped in and out of consciousness. He tried to focus his mind on getting to his feet, but it was too much of a struggle to keep his eyes open.

The bullet wound would have been bad enough, but the blood that flooded the ground around his head was proof enough that his fall took as much a toll on the body as the hole in his chest.

A figure stood over him. It was a man, a man he had not seen before.

The man had his hands close to the companion’s chest, and he could feel him putting pressure on his wound.

Then Needy saw a more familiar face – Flechette, who crouched over him with an expression that told him that there was a good chance he wasn’t doing so good. Needy tried to form words, maybe to ask for a hand up, or to ask if Flechette was alright – that flesh wound to her shoulder didn’t look pretty. But he couldn’t form words. He manages to make a sound using his lips, but that’s all it is – a sound, a groan, a gasp for air.

He coughs, spurting up blood in the process, blood that covers his chin and begins to run down his neck

“Hold on” Flechette encourages, as gunfire continues to blast around them.

“I…” he starts, before gagging on the blood in his throat

“Dammit, stay…” Flechette orders, but Needy doesn’t hear the end of it, as he loses consciousness once more.

“Stay with me” Flechette ordered, her hands gripped on the wounded companion’s torn shirt, but her words fell on deaf ears. A tear formed in her eye as she realised he was no longer responding. “Needy!” she calls out as SR pulls her aside. “What are you doing?!” she screams at the stranger.

“You’re not doing him any good, he needs more help than you screaming at him” SR says plainly.

SLAP

Flechette hits the guy on the right side of his face with her good arm. “Then you friggin’ help him!”

SR’s head snaps back at her as the anger builds up inside of him “It’s not me she’s angry at”, he tells himself, restraining the urge to hit her back.

Sighing loudly, Flechette drops the comm unit and musters the strength to turn her head and look at this stranger. "So who the hell are you?"

"Stan,” SR replies. “Stan Bye Passenger.”

The words mean nothing to her. She feels nothing but emptiness.

She was in shock, SR could see that. He’d seen it plenty.

In a calm tone, he said “Let's see that shoulder." Holding the wrist on her right arm as he looks at the wound, he then adds, “You're not so bad."

“It’s not me, that’s the problem! He needs help” Flechette shouts, pulling her wrist away from him

“That he does, but we can’t do much here, we need to move him” SR tells her, grabbing hold of her arm as he moves in for a closer look at her shoulder.

SR employs yet another bandana bandage on Flechette.

Just then, two women appear from the alley behind Flechette.

SR notices them and recognises them for guerillas or civilians. He motions that they be quiet and join them under cover which they do quickly.

Amy and Versa spot the man and although the latter understands what he is trying to say, Amy is too caught up in her own thoughts, especially when she catches sight of Needy lying motionless on the floor close to the man. Amy runs up the three of them, occasionally ducking her body as gunshots shout out.

She slides next to Needy’s body, kicking up dust in the process with her feet.

“Oh god no!” she sobs, tears falling from her cheek onto his exposed bloody chest. “You’re together?” SR asks her but she is unresponsive. Looking up to Versa as she carefully approaches them, he asks the same question. She too doesn’t speak words at first, merely nodding before a word escapes her lips “Yes”.

“They’re with us” Flechette stares into SR’s eyes.

Versa looks down at Flechette, a lump forming in her throat as she realises that Needy isn’t the only one who has been injured.

"Your friend is in a world of hurt,” SR tells them. “you need to get him out of here and to a doctor right away, preferably one off-planet. When I start firing get him over to that truck and get him out of here." The man that had chosen to assist them spoke slow and clearly but Amy could not fully take in his words. Flechette’s head was in it at first, but now the pain of the bullet wound was becoming apparent, soon she found it difficult to focus her mind on anything else.

Versa was the only one that was strong enough to keep her mind in the game.

“That’s an alliance militia truck” she replied to him

Realising that the only one listening to him was the one responding, SR turned to face Versa alone.

"Yeah, it means that it will have the keys in it, a full tank of fuel and if you’re driving it fast enough no alliance will stop you."

Versa looks up at the truck in the distance, locking her gaze upon it.

Then she looks at the other two women – they weren’t with it. Responsibility fell on her shoulders.

“Ok” she replied to him

Nodding to her, SR follows through with his part of the plan, breaking cover to engage the troopers. He zigs and zags his way back towards the alley. laying down heavy fire on any that stands in his way.

Having practically ignored every other word that had issued forth from the stranger’s mouth, Amy tears her eyes from Needy just long enough to see the man duck and dive through the bullets.

She looks at Flechette and begs “Who… who was that masked man?”

Flechette can only shake her head.

“We’ve got to get him out of here” Versa interrupts, getting the attention of the others. “We need to move him, get him to that truck”

Amy and Flechette share a look with one another, unsure about the task at hand “It’s his only chance!” Versa insists

“Ok” Amy mutters before moving close to the companion’s ear. “Needy, we’re gonna get you out of here. Hang on”

Flechette bites her lip through the pain as she bends down, ready to lift him

“No, you’re hurt” Versa stops Flechette “I’ll help lift him, you go for the truck” Flechette would normally argue the point, she was after all much stronger than Versa and more capable therefore of lifting someone, but she knew the woman that had taken it upon herself to lead them was right.

“Ok” Flechette replied, running back down the alley to cut through the abandoned building to get to the truck

Versa and Amy crouched on opposite sides of the companion as they both put their hands under his armpits, preparing to lift him upwards.

“Ready?” Versa asks, prompting a nod from Amy as they struggle to pull and raise the man’s back from the hard floor.

Amy cringes as blood pours out from his chest as he gains upright position.

“C’mon we gotta move him now. Are you ready to lift him?”

Amy hesitates as her eyes follow the blood down his chest to his belly “No”

“What?” Versa gasps

“Look” Amy replies, nodding her heads towards Needy’s hip

Slipping out of the man’s trouser pocket is a silver pen-sized device

“What is that thing?” Amy asks

Being an expert in bombs and Alliance weaponry, Versa recognises it for what it is knowing all too well about it, and what it does.

Her next thought is how Needy came to have it in his pocket. Versa snaps her head up. He must have picked it up... that means... Leaving Needy slumped against Amy; Versa jumps up and runs off to the fallen Alliance officer. Searching him, she pockets any pass cards or ID she finds. Taking his hat and coat, she pauses scanning the ground. THERE! Laying against the wall, about the size of a baseball bat, a Sonic Mine!

Adding the mine to her armful, Versa turns as the Alliance truck backs into their area.

Flechette jumps down from the cab and the three lift Needy into the back. Flechette accepts the coat, hat and papers from Versa without question. Putting the hat on, she slips gingerly into the coat with Amy’s help. Amy’s tailor instincts overriding her fear, she adjusts the jacket commenting that the dark colors will hide the blood stains.

“Hey!! What’s this truck doing...” an Alliance soldier starts as he rounds the corner. He never has a chance to finish the question. In one quick motion, Amy plucks the square metal name tag from the front of Flechettes new coat, spins and throws. It whistles through the air catching the soldier square in the windpipe. The soldier drops noiselessly to the ground.

Flechette and Versa stare open mouthed at Amy.

“What? I took training too you know...”

“Ok, let’s move!” Versa and Amy hop into the back of the truck. Flechette puts the truck in gear and drives forward. The Alliance soldiers, having seen the truck drive in, don’t gave it a second thought when a "uniform" drove it back through the ranks.

In the back Amy, tears in hers eyes, looks to Versa “He’s not going to make it.” Versa looks down at the Sonic mine still held in her hand. Her mind flashes back to the book store. She had a Blue Sun Tech manual that she had paid a pretty penny for. She had spent hours poring over it. Recalling the pages on the Sonic Mine, its effects included a slowing of the body’s functions, allowing for easy capture. If she could jury-rig it to localize its effects, she might be able to slow Needy’s body down to buy them more time.

Gently releasing the mine from the end of the rod, Versa eases open an access panel exposing the wires. Versa dials back the event radius and puts the cover back in place.

“That should about do it.”

“Do what?” a nervous Amy asks.

“Watch and see.” Versa grins. She puts the mine over Needy’s chest and triggers the release mechanism. Four “legs” pops out of the sides of the mine and a humming, more felt than heard, fills the back of the truck. Versa slowly lets go of the mine and it hovers about two inches over Needy’s chest.

Amy gasps as the blood, once flowing freely from Needy’s wound, slows and stops.

-

SR realized as he dashed back into the fray that the militia had written him off as a break and run when he disappeared behind cover to help the wounded companion. There were only three troopers covering his direction. He dispatched two of them before they could even raise their weapons. The third panicked at the sight of a masked man covered in dirt sludge and gore. He dropped his weapon and put his hands on his head in surrender.

SR, having no time for the greenhorn, smacked him in the chin with the stock of his weapon knocking the soldier unconscious. He quickly swept up the man's sub-machine gun and relieved him of two grenades. As he did so, one of the eight troopers at the alley mouth caught sight of SR and sprayed his own submachinegun in the rebel’s general direction.

SR quickly dove behind a parked car for cover.

Not waiting for more troopers to concentrate their fire his way SR threw both grenades towards the alley mouth, one after the other. As the second shockwave struck, he popped up firing the submachinegun in his left hand and his weapon in the other, pouring a rain of lead upon the alley mouth. He watched the soldiers fall like rag dolls and he began to feel that terrible sickening ecstasy of battle rage when a burning in his abdomen told him that he was gut shot. SR dropped the submachinegun and dove through the plate glass window of a store front and out of the field of fire. He crawled and staggered deeper into the store and collapsed behind the cashier’s counter.

-

Jack ejects the spent cartridges and quickly reloads. To his left Citizen hoists Safe to his feet and moves to wall to the left of the gate. To his right, Bride7 disappears into the smoke, from her smoke grenades, a dangerous look in her eye. Directly ahead, the guards at the gate are unaware that Citizen and Safe are almost right next to them, thanks to Jacks heavy cover fire.

Jack looks down. Bobbie is slumped against the wall beside him gamely trying to load her gun with a ruined hand.

Jack holsters his left gun, steps to her side and hooks his arm under her wounded arm lifting her to her feet. This kept his right arm free and Bobbie’s uninjured left arm free.

“Let me be your right arm and leg, you be my left gun hand. We’re gonna make a run across the alley to the opposite side of the gate from Safe and Citizen.” Jack looks into her eyes, “You ready?” A pale, grim faced Bobbie nods back. Jack leans in and kisses her. “Ok babe, let’s do this”

"Uh.. Okay." As he helps her up, Bobbie winces with pain; the adrenalin is starting to wear off. "Hey, was that Mister Needy they loaded into that truck? Mister Needy! Huh. Looks like he needs a doctor! We have a REALLY good doctor on our ship, the S..."

Jack muffles her mouth with his gun hand. "Hey, babe, no need to advertise ourselves!"

"Oh, right." She looks around. "Where is Stan?" -

SR hears the voices from the street.

Alliance troops are outside and soon they will either saturate the store front with enough fire and grenades to render him unrecognisable from ground meat or they will gas him such that a quadriplegic would consider him a pushover. Even if they didn't know where he was it would only be a matter of a few excruciating hours before he would be dead. He knows there is only one more option besides eating his gun. He closes his eye and clears his mind of all thought, all his senses are ignored and his entire world is only the sound of his heart beating. - At that moment, from the obscuring smoke, an Alliance squad charges forward. Both parties stand momentarily shocked at the sight of the other, then the skirmish starts over again.

Jack helps Bobbie move toward their destination while both pour shots into the group, dropping a few. Some hand grenades go off among the squad. Then, suddenly, the garbage bin at the other end of the alley explodes and from behind the Alliance squad, a shotgun starts blasting them.

Jack instinctively drops to a crouch and fires. His first shot drops three soldiers?? “Hunh?”

A form walks out of the smoke behind the soldiers, shotgun held at hip level. Bride7.

Citizen pulls a vial of bright green liquid from his kit, steps away from the wall and tosses the vial over the barricade at the gate then presses back against the wall beside Safe.

The vial breaks splattering everything in its vicinity.

“Umm Citizen, I think that was a dud.” Safe says in between shots at the Alliance squad emerging from the smoke.

Citizen grins and winks, “Give it a minute…”

Sure enough, a series of explosions of varying intensity sound from behind the barricade. Safe looks at Citizen puzzled.

“Every drop of that liquid acts as its own explosive when exposed to air.” Citizen grins even wider.

Seeing that what remains of the Alliance squad was now in a state of panic, Safe steps out from the wall, gritting his teeth he pushes aside the pain in his left arm, and steps around the barricade both guns level.

The sight that meets him is grisly even by experienced soldier standards.

Safe signals to the others the way is clear.

Bride7 blasts the last soldier, steps over to Bobbie’s other side and together with Jack, carries her through the barricade.

“Ok, it’s a brief sprint across the tarmac to the hanger.” Safe looks at Jack “You gonna be able to handle that?” he asks Bobbie. Jack nods.

“Citizen! What are you doing? Lets go!”

“Just leavin’ a “surprise” for any what decide to emulate our particular direction of travel.”

At that point, an Alliance truck crashes a gate further up the compound, headed for the hanger.

“Man, we’re humped now.” Jack says hoisting Bobbie up.

— —

Needy opens his eyes suddenly. The bright light that surrounds him should be blinding, but instantly his eyes adjust to it, as if it’s normal.

Something’s not right he thinks to himself. “I’m… I’m okay No pain, there should be pain And, I shouldn’t be here of all places”

Needy raises his back until he is in sitting position.

He is lying on his own bed, in the companion house

“This isn’t real” he tries to convince himself.

“No, it’s not…” a figure ahead of him calls out. The voice belongs to a woman, but for some reason, he cannot make out who it is, her identity obscured by the bright light that seems to be issuing forth from her, and her alone. “… but it is necessary”

“Wh…what?” Needy stutters, completely bewildered. “What’s going on?”

The being steps closer to his bed, her face still obscured but now the silhouette of her figure takes shape.

His visitor is tall and slim… and winged.

Needy rubs his fingers over his eyelids and looks again.

The heavenly being tilts her head and looks consolingly at the companion. “Don’t worry” she utters softly

Needy begins to breathe heavily and swallows before asking the next question.

“Am I dead? Is… is that what this is?”

There is a silence before the being responds

“You think I’m an angel?”

Needy doesn’t respond vocally, but slightly shrugs his shoulders as if to say “I don’t know, you tell me”

Just then, the light grows dim and the figure edges closer to him.

No longer masked, Needy recognises the being standing before him.

“… Serenity?”

“Not exactly.” The being replies

“I… I don’t understand”

“You said it yourself, you know it in your heart. This isn’t real… that is you’re not physically here”

“So I’m dreaming?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that” She replies with a smile

“Then… what? What’s going on?” Needy asks, seemingly starting to panic

She continues to smile as she hesitates to answer

“Serenity?” He begs for a response

“I’m not her. Not really.”

Needy’s face has turned from anxious to puzzled again.

She continues “I’ve taken this form because it’s one you recognise, a person you are comfortable with, a person you trust. That is also why I have brought you here, to this place, this home of yours”

“But you say you’re not her… this isn’t real. Why should that make me trust you, trust any of this. This could be a dream, no matter what you say. Or worse, this could be somebody’s sick experiment”

“It doesn’t matter that you know I’m not her, psychologically you are more at ease with me than you would be with anyone else”

“Well I don’t feel at ease!” Needy shouts back, putting his feet on the floor and standing up to her.

“You must realise I’m here to help you” She replies softly, unperturbed by his harsh reply.

“What are you talking about?” Needy asks, getting more agitated by the minute

“Well, if you’ll remember you’re not in the best condition” Her eyes focus upon his chest.

Following her gaze down to his own body he remembers his injury. His chest is covered in blood – mostly dry now – whilst there is an unmistakable hole in his body where the bullet had burrowed its way in.

“You do understand that it is a fatal wound”

“No… it’s… I can pull through… I…” Needy slows as he begins to feel tired – his body all of a sudden feeling drained of energy.

His legs give way and he falls, only to be caught by the form of Serenity.

Needy begins to gag as he coughs up blood

“I can help you” she offers

Needy fixes his gaze into her eyes as his coughing briefly desists.

“I can help you… if you’ll let me”

Speechless, Needy can merely blink in acknowledgment.

“You cannot give up now, there is much for you to do” -- The truck bounced along the road.

“Where’re we goin’ Flechette?” Amy asked, hanging on for dear life.

“We’re getting’ off this rock. Gonna meet with that fella Safe and Mr. Citizen.” Flechette snapped through clenched teeth.

“Seems like we just got settled in after helping that young doctor get his sister out and now we’re movin’ on again. I’d like to stay in one spot. Find me a nice man…” Amy says wistfully.

“Nature of the business littl’un. Fightin’ the good fight. Our day will come, then you can find your nice man and settle down.” Flechette says softly.

“Versa, how’s Needy holding up?”

“Stable, but I don’t know how long the mine’s power will last. There weren’t any specs on that in my book.”

“Is it goin’ to… affect him?” Amy asks, nodding towards the Sonic mine.

“It’s not like it’s radiation, it’s electricity and sound. What could that possibly do to him?” Versa shrugs.

“There..” Flechette says and cranks the wheel hard to the left. The truck tires squeal their protest at the sudden move but hold.

Ahead is another gate to the compound guarded by two Alliance soldiers. Flechette jams her foot to the floor. The truck roars, crashing through the gate, sending the soldiers flying. -- Within his own unconscious mind and still in the arms of the being that resembles Serenity, Needy struggles to breathe.

Gliding across the floor, Serenity-form moves the companion over to the bed and softly lays him down.

Lying on his back with his eyes facing the ceiling, he can no longer see not hear ‘Serenity’. He hoped she was still there, and just remaining silent.

But if she is there, he cannot move to his head to check. His body is asleep - the only part of him able to move being his eyes.

He tries to speak but he cannot.

Only in his mind can words form, words that cannot be expressed vocally. Serenity. Please. Are you still there? Help me.

A voice then calls back in reply to his thoughts “I’m here.”

Needy calms slightly, but he is far from comfortable.

Now paralysed, his thoughts are overcome by the pain that has taken over his body - a sustained unbearable pressure on his chest.

“I can make it go away, but it won’t be over.” Serenity-form adds, leaning over him so that he can see her face.

Needy’s expression is one begging her to relieve his pain.

“You have to understand though that what I’m about to do is not without consequences. There will be some, some you may not be ready for, but ones that are necessary if you are to carry on with your life.”

Needy blinks at her, acknowledging what she has said. But he doesn’t understand just what consequences she could possibly be referring to - he doesn’t completely understand anything at the minute.

“You will be in a position to help your new friends. This is what you must do. This is why I’m taking the risk and doing this now. This is not how things are to be done usually – there are rules, ways of doing things - but there is no time. You must get back now.”

A tear runs down Needy’s cheek, the pain now too much to bear.

Serenity-form moves away from his face and, standing beside his body, places her hands on his bloody chest.

“This may hurt” she warns

Suddenly a sharp pain strikes his chest, the pain running through the rest of his body like an electrical current. He feels it sizzle and burn as it runs through his veins causing his body to tense up

Closing his eyes, he next feels his body jerk and he lets out a scream of pain.

Then he feels a hand push him back.

Opening his eyes he realises he’s no longer at home.

He’s no longer lying helpless in an alley.

He’s in a truck. The hand that presses against him belongs to none other than Versa.

“Needy?” she asks astonished.

His eyes flutter back and forth as he takes in his surroundings.

“Stay with me, you hear?” she encourages

He rubs his hand against his chest where the bullet had hit him

“Don’t do that” Versa tells him with a faint smile.

Moving his hand away, her mouth drops as she sees his wound No longer is the wound open, but it has been covered over, so much so that the entry wound now looks like nothing more than a scab. Looking at the device she had been using, she gasps and says “Well, that’s just shiny. I’m keeping this.”

Smiling she looks up at Needy “How do you feel?”

He is unresponsive, staring forwards with open eyes.

“Needy?” she pushes

Still he doesn’t respond.

“Are you o…” Amy begins but Flechette calls from the driver’s seat, repeating the question

“Is he okay?” Flechette calls from the driver’s seat

Amy and Versa look at each other, not knowing how to answer. “He’s awake,” Amy says cryptically, but it seems Flechette isn’t listening anymore, her attention now on the hanger in front.

“You all might want to hold onto something,” Flechette says as the truck hurtles to it’s final destination.

Finally Needy speaks in a soft tone. His words are quiet but clear. His tone urgent. “It isn’t over”