"What's going on?" Esme asked, appearing from below decks with wide eyes and covering her ears. She must have been lured up by the sound of gunfire, but Bo wished she had just stayed below. She might have remained hidden to the militia and gotten away. But now they would have seen her.

Bo sighed. "Silver here has decided that his greed for gold was more important than the fate of the hundreds of people who rely on Adam and the Forlorn."

Silver shrugged and smiled. "If it's not my fate, then I'm not too interested," he said.

Helga scoffed. "Disgusting."

Before Silver could reply, if he even wanted to reply at all, the militia tanks had surrounded the ship and forced it to stop and lower to the dust. It groaned as it set down, and Silver stood back from the controls with his arms crossed. Helga and Khan turned, looking like they would fight the militia men who poured onto the decks, but Adam held out an arm to stop them.

"Put the guns down," he said, glancing at Khan and Helga. "There's no use fighting them. We'lll give up this battle and hope we get another chance to win the war."

"That's a pretty big hope," Helga muttered, but she did as she was told and dropped her gun to the ground, kicking it toward the militia men who even in the perilous situation still stared in awe at her beauty. Khan didn't part as easily with his gun, but when Adam gave him a long and meaningful stare, he finally dropped it and stepped back. Adam and Bo followed suit a few seconds later, and as soon as all the Forlorn was disarmed, the militia swooped in with power-cuffs that clamped into place with powerful electric currents.

The men parted to reveal Clayton strolling onto the deck from the top of a tank, smiling and running a hand through his white-shocked hair. He steepled his fingers in front of his face, grinning over his fingertips, as he circled Bo and Adam.

"Well, well, it looks like we've caught ourselves a few little pests in an embarrassingly obvious trap," he said. "Did you really think trusting a random criminal was the best idea?"

"Unlike you, Clayton, we like to give chances to people. Let them have a chance at being human," Adam bit back.

Clayton sighed and turned to look at Helga and Esme, standing side by side. Ignoring Adam, he walked their way, scanning them from head to foot with his eyes. "Ah, the enchantress still sides with you, I see," he said, brushing his fingers along Helga's shoulder and under her chin. She snarled and lunged toward him, but the militia soldier behind her grabbed her just before she made any contact. Clayton laughed. "Don't worry, darling, I know better than to think any kind of civility can be gotten from your second-hand body." His eyes moved from Helga to Esme, who shrunk back as he stepped in front of her. "Now this one, on the other hand, looks a little more friendly."

He grabbed her wrists, just above the power-cuffs, and pulled her in so close that she was pressed against his chest. Her eyes widened as his breath stirred her black curls, and he gripped her chin in one hand. "A nomad?" he said, his eyes boring into hers. "I've heard so many stories."

"Leave her alone!" This came from Khan. He shook even with two militia soldiers restraining him, and they looked like they were barely holding onto him. His tanned face was red and mottled, and his teeth bared. "Or I'll kill you."

Clayton drew in a breath, but stepped away from Esme, releasing her. She stumbled back a few feet, almost relieved to be back in the clutches of the soldier who held her with only brute efficiency.

"If it isn't our resident kitten," Clayton said, circling around to Khan now. "Your claws seem to be cut, little one." He nodded to the power-cuffs.

"Touch her again and I'll tear your face off, you bast-"

Clayton sighed loudly and spun on his heel to walk away. "Looks like we need to muzzle the kitten," he proclaimed, waving his hand as he walked to the edge of the ship where Aston was just boarding.

As Clayton talked to Aston, a militia man stepped forward and jammed his knee sharply to Khan's stomach. Khan immediately crumpled, gasping for breath but still managing to get out a few more curse words before the soldier used his temporary incapacity to shove a dirty rag into his mouth and tie it in place with a strip of cloth.

Bo inched closer to Adam as Aston stared at them, his hatred practically burning the air around him. He merely glanced at Bo, but his attention was squarely focused on Adam. Clayton talked to him, but he stared over his head and straight into Adam's eyes while his hands curled into fists at his sides.

"Adam," Bo whispered. "I think we need to try and run." She glanced up at Adam to see that he was returning Aston's glare with almost as much anger.

Adam shook his head. "We'd be shot before we even took two steps," he replied, and finally look back at her. He smiled, leaning in close to quickly kiss her before the militia men grunted in disapproval and moved him a few feet away. "Don't worry. We'll get through this," Adam said.

A moment later, Aston appeared in front of the prisoners, his nostrils flaring while he still stared at Adam from the corner of his eye. Clayton stood at his side, talking to one of the militia officers.

"It's been so long," Aston said, talking to no one yet obviously wanting his words to hit two specific people. "So very long since I was thrown out of my home and away from the people I would have protected with my life."

Bo swallowed, but tried not to let her fear show as she watched his hand twitch closer and closer to the gun on his hip. "Aston," she said. "You shot me and nearly killed me. How did you expect to stay in the camp when you'd done that?"

Aston finally tore his eyes away from Adam, and instead focused them on Bo along with a crazed smile. "How would the camp have let me stay? Perhaps they never got the chance to know that their precious princess had been doing who knows what with the deadliest alien to ever invade our planet? Perhaps they didn't realize that they only loved this princess because she was the daughter of a much better leader. Perhaps they never realized that that leader has gone insane in his old age." He laughed and raised a fist which shook uncontrollably. "My entire world was ripped away for just protecting the camp. I kept them safe, and I tried to keep you safe. But in return I was forced into the dust fields, where I nearly died. I ate the dung of rats just for something to put in my stomach. I drank blood and whatever else I could find to sate a thirst you'll never experience. I nearly lost my arm after a coyote attacked me when I tried to get a few minutes of sleep at night." He wrenched down his sleeve over his forearm, revealing a mass of scars that still didn't look fully healed though it had been years since he'd gotten them. No doubt it was still painful, and she saw the pain in his eyes as his muscles flexed beneath the scars.

"Aston—" Bo began, but he cut her off.

"I had no choice to but to enter the militia. When they found me, I was practically a corpse. But they brought me back to life. Through training that was nearly hell, they forged me into something that you could never be. The kind of leader that can protect and build. But most importantly, they taught me that good intentions are the cruelest lies. No matter how much good you try to do, you'll never have it returned. Because humans are selfish creatures, and they want what they want. It doesn't matter what you do for them, if you get in the way of their selfish desires... you'll be destroyed."

As he spoke, his eyes swiveled back to Adam, and his hand dropped to his gun. Bo drew in a sharp breath, trying to take a step forward, but unable to when the soldiers holding her elbows jerked her back.

"Aston, don't! Your mind has been warped," she said, hating that she could hear an edge of panic to her voice. "You can't really believe that love isn't true!"

He gently laughed. "Maybe it's not a lie," he said, his attention returning to her. He stepped close, so that his face was only inches above hers. "But I learned one thing that day you chose our worst enemy over your family, Bo. I learned that at least you like the kind of creature that can murder countless people and remain as cold as ice. So perhaps it's time I try that track to your heart, hm? Or maybe I don't care about earning a place in that empty cavity in your chest." He spit the words out, his lips curling back. "Maybe I just want to watch you suffer."

He took a step backward, and then turned toward Adam, drawing his gun while he walked. Bo's heart plummeted, panic coursing through her blood.

"Aston, no! ASTON!" she screamed, her throat going raw. She jerked against the soldiers, but they held her fast. Clayton laughed as Aston kept walking, but then order the militia to move the prisoners. The soldiers blocked Bo's vision, moving between her and Aston and Adam. She could only see slivers of Aston, his gun drawn, walking toward Adam as the militia shoved her forward and toward the tanks. She tried twisting in their grip to keep Adam in her sight, but she could no longer see either him or Aston. The soldiers were all around her, blinding her, and as they pushed her down into the black depths of the tank interior, all she could hear was Khan, Helga, and Esme's hysterical protests as they too were dragged from the ship. And then the tank roared to life, and the engine blocked any noise she might have heard from a gun.

There was no way Adam could fight.

There was no way Aston could lose.

Bo leaned over and threw up as the walls around her closed in and her vision swam into darkness.