((A/N hallo there c: second to last chapter. boo. i own nothing but adie. and the rude cardassians i guess, lmao. enjoy! review! be awesome!))
Bones was thrown onto a chair roughly. He was in a separate room from Adellia, who had been dragged off somewhere else. The room was small, and dark, and the only light was a hanging overhead one. He was reminded of old cop shows; they would sit the suspect down at a table and interrogate them under a "stressful" situation by darkening the room with no windows. He knew he'd been in more stressful situations than this before, though. He looked up at the two Cardassians who were chatting away quickly in their own language, leaving him even more irritated. He looked down to his lap, frowning, looking very concentrated.
Finally, one of them acknowledged Bones. "I can see your new treatment has not been kind to your weak human body," he mumbled, and got no response out of Bones. This surprised him, but he didn't make it known to Bones whatsoever. "Have we caused you stress? Have we made your life hell?" he asked, and once more, received no answer. "Hm. Funny, you seemed willing to talk before, when you were brought onto our planet. According to your record, you had a few choice words."
Still no response came from his mouth. About a million responses formed in his brain and went straight to his lips, but he forced them to stay back in his mouth. The only real clue he would give them to how he felt were a pair of clenched fists. He frowned, staring at his lap with his dirty, sweaty hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning a violent shade of white. His eyes were growing wider, too, as he felt the Cardassian walked closer. The alien bent down right into his face, as if he was begging Bones to just clock him.
"We know you and your Vulcan friend sent the transmition," he started, looked up. Suddenly the lights turned on, and a two-way mirror was turned off so Bones could see the other side of the mirror. He saw Adellia and immediately gulped. She was in a chair, just as he was, but she looked as if she'd been roughed up on the other side. Behind her stood a beefier Cardassian than he had ever seen. Bones looked at her, clenched his teeth together, and then glanced up at the Cardassian.
"Not only did you convince a soldier, and several officers, that there was a serious health risk in our hospital…but you sent a transmition out when clearly we said for you not to." The alien bent down, raising his eyebrow, and feeling a response coming from Bones. Sure enough, the man rolled his eyes dramatically and turned back up to him.
"It's not problem you guys believed the bull," Bones said, without even thinking. He just couldn't help himself. A small smirk crossed his cracked lips, but it was punched away by the stronger Cardassian who had yet to speak. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry…sheesh…"
"You're not sorry yet, Dr. McCoy. Would you say you care quite a bit for the woman on the other side of that glass?" the Cardassian asked. He spoke condescendingly, and had an air of superiority as he said that. He was fully sure that he had the upper hand right now.
Bones looked up suddenly, his face stone cold. "Don't. Just, don't." Suddenly he knew what was going to happen. He couldn't allow this to go on…he had to make it stop before it even started. He clenched his fists even tighter, little half-moon marks appearing on his palm from the nails digging in. He didn't seem to mind at all, though…he needed to keep her safe.
"Don't what? Don't this?" he asked, and when he talked into the communicator, one of the aliens on the other side of the glass kicked Adellia out of her chair, picked her up, and slammed her against the wall violently. He held her there when he saw Bones' mortal enemy on the other side raising his hand. "Is that what you were talking about?"
"Stop, damnit! Can't you see she's had enough?" he yelled, careful not to look at her. If he did, he knew he would see her looking beat up, but still willing to fight. And that made him so incredibly frustrated. "Look, we're sorry for sending the transmition, but can you blame us? At this rate we'll whither away like the rest of your damn planet! We're humans, we're trying to survive!""
"As much as I appreciate the apology, Dr. McCoy, that is not the way we do things on this planet. We intend to kill her for her disobedience, and because she is worthless to keep around anyway. We could not barter for anything with her…she's a subpar doctor at best, and the fact that she was clearly not taught the Vulcan ways makes her that much less valuable." He tugged on his lapels, wrinkling his nose.
"So the rumors are true. You are the most ruthless species in all quadrants," Bones snapped. "Let her go. This was my idea, and she…she didn't know what she was doing."
"But we are punishing you, McCoy. We're going to let you watch," he said and pulled out the communicator again. He mumbled some commands and the fighting began on the other side. The stronger Cardassian restrained Bones against his seat as he watched Adellia take a punch on the other side.
She winced, but attempted to fight back. Something in her told her that she needed to fight, to protect herself from the inevitable. She had to survive at all costs. When he came at her again, she ducked and stuck her boot into his back, knocking him away for now. She had a total of zero hand-to-hand combat training classes under her belt, so all of this was going to have to come from some hidden instinct.
Bones tried not to watch as best as he could, but that was soon not becoming an option. His eyes were being held open and his head was forced forward so that he had no choice but to witness the fight going on beyond the glass. He watched as it quickly went from a fight to Adellia being dominated and beat up. He winced when her head was forced against the glass that was the two-way mirror, and she was thrown onto the floor.
He was counting the injuries she had probably sustained. A concussion, definitely. Broken bones. He didn't want to believe she was experiencing organ damage, but she might have. Bones clenched his fists as tight as he possibly could, and he tried to force his eyes closed, but he couldn't. Her body was limp, now, but she was still breathing. In the back of his mind he knew this was take much longer than it would a full human, and for that he hated them even more.
She was hit a couple more times before Bones finally cracked under the pressure. He struggled to look up at the one in charge, but was being held down tightly by the muscle. "God, stop it!" he yelled, and fought against the Cardassian with all of his strength, but it still wasn't enough. "Stop it, she doesn't…deserve this! No one would!"
"She deserves it as much as the last few Starfleet soldiers did," he mumbled, and helped his friend in holding Bones down in his chair. "Don't worry, it won't be long now. A Vulcan's body is very strong, but in her condition, it won't be long. And then you'll have nothing else to worry about. Then you can go back to doing your job on this planet, and forget about her and everything that happened to her."
That wasn't true. As much as this would wear down on his heart, he had the rest of his friends to worry about. But this…this would feel different from anything else. He cared about Adellia as much as he cared about Jim, or Scotty, but this would be a much different sort of hurt. He hoped he never had to hurt like this, but apparently his hoping was all for nothing.
In one fleeting moment, the Cardassian in the other room backed up to survey his work. Adellia was stiller than an early morning in the other room. Her body was laid down askew on the floor, green blood dripping from her lips. She had little color left in her cheeks. Bones winced, looking over with a medical eye, and all the signs were there as far as he could see.
The alien in charge said something to the one in Bones' room, and he turned down to Bones, who looked as if he might just tear the chair apart. "She's dead, Dr. McCoy," he mumbled. "I hope this will teach the medical crew a lesson about using their power to—" he stopped when he got a message on his communicator. He frowned, and spoke in his language to whoever was on the other side.
At once the two of them just left the room, with absolutely no words to either one of them. The other one left briskly as well, having apparently gotten the same message. Bones sat there for a moment before he got up, and peaked out of the cracked door. He saw outside, and among all of the desolate buildings and uneven ground were ground troops from Starfleet. He was watching his own medical crew being pulled from their cells, one by one, just like they walked in.
Bones glanced over to the other side of the mirror. He opened the door into the room and he bent down next to her, frowning to himself. He took a chance, risking being very disappointed, and he took her hand. If she didn't answer him, he could not have possibly felt worse about it. But he had to at least try. "Come on, Adie. You know there aren't any Oscars on Cardassia Prime."
He stared at her face for a moment, seeing it lifeless. Until, that is, a small smile spread across her lips. "I was hoping for Best Saving My Ass, but…" she mumbled, her voice hoarse and soft. When she opened her eyes she saw shock on his face. "I was about a couple of pummels away, but when he stopped…I knew he wasn't going to bother taking my pulse or anything." Adellia closed her eyes again. It was just beginning to register that something wasn't right. Why was he here? Why wasn't she began take out to be buried, or something?
Bones' hand moved up to pushed some bangs out of her eyes. He couldn't hide the smile on his face, but he tried not to be too excited about it, lest something happen and he would have to lose his hope again. "Starfleet's here, if that makes you feel any better. Our transmition worked, I guess…" his voice was soft, but still had that hard edge that seemed to put Adellia at ease. "I really did think you were gone." He sighed, when she smiled a little. "Will you be okay to travel?"
"I will be okay to travel. I have a broken wrist, a broken rib, a head injury, but…I think I managed to avoid internal bleeding, and I will be okay," Adellia said softly, and her eyes got wide when she felt her body being picked up. "Ooh, right…Starfleet…" she mumbled, and she closed her eyes again.
"Yeah. They're here. Took them a damn while, but…" he grumbled, and he rolled his eyes a little bit. "Relax a bit, Adie. I'll get you into a shuttle and check you in and all that jazz."
"I know," she mumbled, and she tried her best to relax in his arms.