The worst part of waking up in sensory deprivation tank was that it was too much like a coffin. Pure blackness greeted Ember when her senses returned. She was practically floating in it. 

Her hands reached up to her face and she felt the mask they'd applied to her face. So she was in a cage of sorts. Panicking she reached out and felt the walls around her, the liquid she was suspended in kept her sluggish and slow and the container was maybe an elbow length from each of her sides.

She knew exactly what it was. Her father had used it to keep her tame during the weeks following the purge. It was mentally taxing trying to stay sane in this place, she remembered begging to come out, she'd behave, she'd get her implants removed. 

But every time, she also refused the removals because simply put, she'd be back in this tank without them.

Her hands dropped to her sides as she fought down the urge to puke. She reached behind her and felt the cable in her back. That was new. They were interested in keeping her alive at least. If they were monitoring her health through that line, then surely she could monitor back.

She focused and stretched out through the cable... The tank blocked all of her communications normally. But normally she wasn't attached to anything. She froze, realizing... This was going to be a long trip. Wherever they were going, they planned on keeping her in here for the long haul. 

Oh God, please no. She shuddered at the idea of her father taking her back. Red... Please find me.  It was unspoken and she didn't know why she was forcing the signal. No one could hear her in here. 

The cable, she remembered, Red had used it to gain access to her personally. He'd changed her name for her. Her heart warmed at the idea of them pulling up her logs and them registering as simply Ember. Think Ember, you're not dead yet...

Her senses focused on the connection in the back, she pushed through it following it back, if Red could get in, surely she could get out. She was flesh, circuit, and bone after all, even more so than he was. 

She crossed a barrier and tried looking for a way to see into the room.

"I was wondering who they were keeping in that box," a voice popped in next to her. "Hello."

Ember screamed.

########

Cyril found himself in an impossible situation. Jack had ordered the LR placed inside of Red. His hands shook as he readied his instruments, Red hadn't wanted the Last Resort bomb the last time he was here and Cyril could understand that. Leah hadn't been allowed to check on him, Jack had headed her off and pointed her elsewhere. She wouldn't have allowed this either... Cyril stared at the man on the table, the staples were still in the back of his head, but bleeding, Jack had said he'd taken a blow to the back of the head during maneuvers...

Cyril wasn't so sure about that. 

The medical unit on the Aphelion was even more sophisticated than the one on New Elysium, Jack had considered stripping it out, but changed his mind. Cyril was glad he had for moments like this but now staring at the man who'd 20 hours ago, refused this same procedure he was thinking how had things gone so awry.

He swallowed, pushing back bile as nausea rose up in him. Jack wanted control, he understood that much. For some reason, he had to have control of this one man and Red wasn't about to let him do it. Maybe there was something to all that propaganda about Red after all. But Cyril couldn't see it while Red lay unconscious on the table in front of him. He was just another man in a black New Elysium uniform.

There was a scuffle in the hallway and Cyril backed away from the patient, still not sure if he was going to follow Jack's order or not. If he didn't it meant he'd lose his position for sure, but Jack had never given him an order he wasn't sure he could follow...

Until now.

The door swung open and Amy Larsson strode in looking defiant as always. Cyril's breath caught as he took her in. He froze in place, mouth hanging open, not quite knowing what to say. They'd had their moments together before, but he'd never expected to see her here in this room. She'd made a point to avoid it after she'd kissed him and said good-bye. She knew he was attracted to her. They never mentioned it directly. 

Cyril raised his hands up and backed against the wall.

"You weren't really going to follow that order were you?" She eyed him, one eyebrow raised over the black eye. Unlike Cyril, Amy wasn't having any trouble getting over the past. She pinned him in place with just her gaze alone, her anger palpable. 

"I don't know, Jack's never given me an order like this... I mean Red refused this already... Why now? Why him?"

"He wants a martyr," she snapped, glancing down at Red, on the table, unconscious he was almost tame. "Red doesn't know it yet, but he's quite popular back on Neo-Tokyo. Jack would love nothing more than to tack onto that going down for New Elysium, or augments, or for the woman he loves. Any of that sappy shit will do."

For one moment Cyril felt a surge of jealousy, and he was surprised by its intensity. Amy had brought plenty of strays in before. One particular one, he'd caught her with on her shift, by accident. He swallowed, not wanting to remember that particular incident. Amy looked at this one almost possessively and he fit the profile from what he'd seen her with before. He closed his eyes and pushed away from the memory. Not everyone got what they wanted in life. He certainly hadn't.

Which was sad because Red clearly belonged with the Vesper he came in with. And he doubted Ember would willingly share Red, she didn't seem the type.

Come to think of it, Cyril would never have wanted to cross Ember either. With all the hardware that Amy Larsson had inside of her, a Vesper with its own ship would have been even more dangerous, at least until they ran out of energy. He'd heard some rather vindictive stories about them before the purge, and given that they were only drawn from the ranks of the elites on Neo-Tokyo, he believed them. 

"So, where is it?" Amy demanded, shaking him out of his thoughts. He opened his eyes again, staring at her. Her tense stance told him she wasn't going to leave the "Last Resort" behind. It was also the moment when he knew that he wasn't going to touch the man on the table. He reached over watching as she stiffened up but he only undid the straps holding  Red down. 

"Help me unstrap the rest," Cyril moved to Red's chest.

"And the LR?" Amy's nimble fingers made short work of the straps. 

"Behind me." He nodded his head to the left as he scanned Red's body. His hardware looked fine. It was the organics that were damaged.  Any moment now his systems should be bringing him around to consciousness. 

Right on cue, Red's eyes snapped open. He took one look around the room and in one swift motion had Cyril in one hand around the throat, against the wall and lifted into the air. "What am I doing here?" He demanded, his voice low. He kept Cyril just high enough to keep him choking. He scanned the room and caught sight of Larsson. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her.

Cyril choked, shocked by the strength Red had in one arm. "Helping..." he gasped out as Red help him slightly off of his toes. 

"Put him down, Captain," Larsson said, her voice strangely monotone. Cyril gasped as Red lowered him to the floor, his gaze focused on her. 

"Are you going to get in my way?" He eyed the smaller woman and Cyril briefly wondered if he'd done the right thing by refusing Jack's orders.

"No," she answered. 

"Lars?" He questioned.

"Null," she responded. She glanced over at Cyril who just stood there open-mouthed as the two augments had a conversation he couldn't even begin to fathom.

#############

Red's attention shifted to the doctor in the room. He ran a systems check on himself, everything seemed normal except for the back of his head. He swore he'd let Ember check on it again. Remembering her only brought on a fresh wave of pain.

His gaze settled on Null who stared at him impassively as she inspected him.

He felt dizzy, his augments working overtime to push the feelings down, nanotech in his bloodstream worked at the site on the back of his head to clot the blood faster. He sighed running his hand over the back of his head again, resisting the urge to touch the injury.

"We need to head for my ship," she moved toward the door, stopping only to reach for something off of the shelf. "I'll take this if you don't mind." The doctor only nodded. Red didn't know what was going on between them, except the wistful expression and Amy's determined expression spoke louder than words. 

Red stared at the man for a moment. "Should I be thanking you?" He asked as he followed Null out of the infirmary. 

The doctor shook his head, his expression grim, he kept his hands up though and Red could only nod at him. Clearly, he wasn't privy to all that had happened between these two.

Red tried picturing Dr. Cyril with Null, but couldn't. Or perhaps it was because he really didn't care at the moment. His mind was still running through what he could have done better. He knew he shouldn't run through the simulations, it was going to drive him mad but he needed something to do besides watch the doctor fawn all over his former second in command and the woman Lars shared a body with. 

It was too strange to comprehend.

"Watch your step," Null called out from in front of him. There were four guards in the corridor, each lying on their backside. He had to step over their bodies, they weren't dead but haphazardly pushed to the side, each face pointed at the ceiling with their eyes closed. Breathing, but that was it.

"Did you...?" 

Null turned and favored him with a malicious smile. "Lars was a bit more lenient on them than I would have been. "He did remind me that we might need to come back here at some point." 

He wasn't sure where they were going just yet but after they passed four guards just outside the doctor's door he pulled his hood up to be on the safe side. For the first time, he gave some serious thought to shaving his mohawk completely off. If only to hide.

Null stopped just outside a door Red recognized as his old quarters. After a second's hesitation, he followed her inside, noting someone's belongings were in the room. "Who is in here now?"

"Jack kind of took over." Null shrugged as she moved around the desk and pulled open the bottom drawer. "Leaving him a gift."

"A gift?"

"Well, I guess it's only a gift if he decides to use it." She extended her hands out palms wide and waggled her fingers. "Booooom."

Red stared at her as she walked towards the door again. "You seriously just left a bomb in my old rooms?"

"Those were yours?"

"Lars didn't mention it?"

"Come to think of it, he didn't. He is laughing...I didn't know what was so funny." She shrugged, "We need to get to the Blackstar."

"Won't they just hold you here?"

"Red, you've been in prison for 7 years. Lars and I have been working on my ship, let's just say that no one could keep me here if I don't want to be." 

"In that case," Red hit a panel next to his old doors. A door slid open and inside was another tunnel. Red grinned as he pulled her inside. "Let's take a shortcut, shall we?"

"Where does this lead?" Null nervously stepped in with him.

"Straight down to the landing bay."

"Another one?" She blanched as Red pulled her tight against his chest.

He ignored her reaction, and her screech as the ground left their feet and they were basically freefalling through the Aphelion in the dark. His mind was entirely focused on the task at hand.

He had no weapons in hand, he would have to fix that between here and there. He rolled through his systems and set his adrenaline boost at maximum. He didn't mind punching it if that's what it took, he could handle the headaches later. A few shots of Tylenol and hydration and he'd be fine later. 

If he made it.

His knees bent as they slowed to the level he needed. He was still linked with the Aphelion. Jack hadn't locked him out of it yet. He probably didn't even know Red was no longer in the doc's office. He held onto Null tight to keep her balanced and when the gravity adjusted immediately released her and opened the door. He stepped out, pushing his hood back over his hair again.

"After you," he said to Null. "It might look weird if I lead you to your own ship."

She only glared at him, the ride in the tunnel had blown her hair into a mess. Red turned away barely noticing. Any other time, he might have commented, but right now, he simply did not care. 

No one bothered them, Dr. Cyril must have kept his mouth shut. Red would have to thank the man later. 

The Blackstar was left close to the entrance, those who knew Amy Larsson knew she came and went frequently and had earned her spot near the front. She nodded at a few here and there but went directly to her ship. The Blackstar's tentacles pointed towards the back of the ship, looking like a warped "black star" hence the name. 

Red remembered exactly what it was capable of having chased it with Ember through an asteroid belt. 

He followed her through the door of the ship when she stopped in her tracks and whirled around, slapping the door, causing it to slam shut behind him. She didn't move staring up at him, her hard gaze just as disconcerting as it was the first time she'd run into him.

"What is she to you?"

Red's eyes narrowed. "Explain."

"Ember? I knew someone who would do anything to keep the woman he loved. He turned her into a monster when he should have let her go. What is she to you?"

Red snorted and lowered his face until he was eye level with her, she stepped back from the ferocity of his gaze. "Ember is my better half. And I'm not doing anything to keep her alive. Her father will strip her of her augments, and she'll end up trapped inside her own body. I know for a fact that she'd rather be dead than in that state." 

"Her father would do that to her..." Null shook her head not quite believing it. 

"What answer would satisfy you better, Null?" Red's eyes began to look wild. "Do you want to hear that I love her? I do. Do you want to hear about how she has the bad habit of trying to die for me? How I wish she'd be a just a tiny bit more selfish? I cannot do any of this without her. I don't want to live without her." He backed away from her and put his back against the wall. "I'll find another ship."

"No." Null's organic eye was glistening. "We're going to help you..."

"I'm not him," Red closed his eyes. For whatever reason, Null was standing between him and Ember, his hands formed into fists as she struggled to remain calm. 

"That's what Lars says."

Red pushed himself away from the wall. "So why won't you believe him at least?" 

They were interrupted by a voice coming from inside the ship. Red stiffened and Null groaned. 

"Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" Flashing a bright purple hairdo that was shaved on one side, and curled on the other, and contrasted sharply with his naturally tanned skin. The man sauntered into the room, fingers in his black belt loops. His brown eyes studied Red up and down for longer than Red was comfortable with. "Nice hair."

Red by reflex scanned him in turn, noting in satisfaction that he paled and stiffened as he felt the scanners run over him. Under that shabby black leather jacket, the man was loaded with knives, guns, you name it, he probably had it. His eyes narrowed at Red and he reached into his jacket, his hand going for a blade that Red already knew was there. Null was there in an instant a hand on his arm.

"Nova," She warned. "Can you not hit on everything with two legs?"

"You jealous, Pirate Queen?"

She responded with an eye roll and walked past. "Nova, Red... Red, Nova. Nova, don't give Red a reason to kill you." 

Nova eyed Red again with more interest. "Nice... augments. Military?"

Red nodded, his biggest ambition was to get this ship moving, and every second he was on boards seemed to stall them further.

Red watched as Null came to a stop and turned back to eye Nova. "How the fuck did you get on here? Let alone the Aphelion?"

"Hey you called, and I answered, Pirate Queen." He eyed Red, "Can't give away trade secrets now."