It was close to eleven in the evening when Elizabeth felt the clarity of her consciousness return to her. She had been laying in bed awake for several hours beyond the designated bedtime set by her doctor. All she could think about was what lay before her. She had been given what seemed to be a chance to reclaim her child, and despite it being almost too good to be true, she knew the man who had come to visit her, and she knew what power he held in scientific and military circles. She didn't think him a liar, when it came down to it.

As it turned out, he had not deigned to make a liar out of himself, either.

There was a soft scuffling sound at her door, and something moved beneath it. She could see the metallic glint in the sliver of pale moonlight that illuminated her room. She slid off of her bed after a moment of silence, then swiftly moved across her room to examine it. It was a key. For a few more minutes, she did nothing, then finally decided that she couldn't come up with a better plan before first knowing what theirs was. Elizabeth used it quickly, opening the door to find one of the extra men who had escorted her earlier.

"This way," he said. "Keep low and quiet."

Elizabeth just looked at him for a long moment, as though she was debating on whether to trust him. It wasn't until she saw the glint of a dogtag beneath his shirt that she felt a little of the tension wear between her shoulders. "Why are you helping me?" she asked softly, falling into step just at the edge of his shadow.

He gave her no answer as they walked, holding his hand up and making a fist as they came to a four-way intersection within the more fortified part of the ward. Elizabeth froze in place, so eerily still that she seemed to have been turned to stone. When he nodded to her to continue, his eyebrows peaked ever so slightly at her ability to become a ghost.

When they got beyond the last heavy-duty set of doors, he turned. "You'll have to make the rest on your own. Your next contact is a quarter mile out in the woods. All I can give you for now is this," he explained, handing her a small watch. She tightened it down on her wrist and looked at it. It seemed to be some sort of tracking monitor.

"He'll be at that point. From there, he'll get you off planet. You need to move as quickly as possible; if they notice you're missing, they're going to full scale lockdown, and that mean you only get one chance to do this right. There are people that have a vested interest in you never getting out of this place, Force. You need to believe that, if nothing else."

Elizabeth looked at him for a second, and then nodded. She figured that he wouldn't give her any more information than that. "Thank you," she said sincerely, grabbing him by the wrist as he turned to leave. He looked uncomfortable at the contact, and then finally nodded his head once to indicate his acceptance.

With that, Elizabeth turned on her heel and sprinted to the end of the hall, disappearing around the corner as she made her way to the exit. She got as far as the second floor before the alarms went off, and she realized that someone must have made an unscheduled visit to her room. She had ducked into a darkened alcove and tried to decide whether or not she wanted to make a run for it or try and continue to sneak around when two guards ran past her – two armed guards.

Shit, she thought to herself, her eyes widening as she felt a surge of adrenaline run through her. The man had said they'd be on full lockdown, but she couldn't possibly imagine why they'd have guns. True, she'd roughed some of them up and she was considered dangerous, but this hospital wasn't that sort of place. Violence was generally frowned upon in all forms – a guard had been caught hitting a patient once who had a history of being difficult and he'd been punished to the letter of the law.

The warning the man had given her rang through her head. There are people who have a vested interest in you never getting out of this place, Force. But why? Had she truly stumbled upon some sort of conspiracy? The man who'd come to see her, the one she recognized from a few years prior, told her she'd be closer to getting her son back. It had to mean that she had been on the right path before she'd been committed. She was always sure, but this was proof.

She finally decided that she had waited long enough, and darted from the alcove to an empty office that was only about ten or so feet down and on the other side of the hall. If she timed it just right, she could run out and go right through the open door. She counted to three, and ran for it.

As soon as she stepped into the hall, she regretted her decision. There was someone standing just down the end of the path, and he opened fire on her. The alarms went off at the same time, and all of the normal lights went dark. The emergency lights switched on, bathing everything in a red glow, and the muzzle flare was her only indication of where he was. She ducked as quickly as possible and slid into the open office, the bullet glancing off the frame of the door and splintering a chunk of wood off in all directions.

She managed not to cry out, instead running into the office and dropping down behind the desk. Footsteps drew nearer to her and she could see the booted feet in the doorway from her vantage point. She was effectively pinned down, with no exit. Shit. Just as she was trying to put a plan together, there was another shot and the body of the first man dropped to the floor. She kicked the chair out of her way and scrambled out from under the desk, catching an object as it was thrown at her. The cold steel of the object told her it was a gun, and she gripped it firmly in her hand.

"I'll hold them off. Force, you had better be worth all of the trouble Stark as me going through. Follow the HUD on the watch, and get out of here. And Elizabeth? Good luck, soldier." He drew near and pressed something into her hand – her dogtags. "Scan these when you get to the shuttle. You're the only one authorized to operate it."

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded again.

He looked at her, then smiled a little. "If I were ever in your son's position, I'd hope to god I had a mother like you to fight for me. Now go. I'll do what I can from here. Keep your head down, and don't look back."

She nodded, then took off down the hall. She knew this part of the hospital because she'd been in there pre-drugging, but there had never been people trying to kill her before when she'd been there. It was a little more difficult to navigate between trying to avoid getting her head blown off and attempting to not shoot people, but after a bullet nicked her upper arm, she realized that getting out without doing some damage was out of the question.

She didn't have to wonder if her aim had withered over time; the first shoot she took was direct to center mass. She jumped over the man as he fell to the floor, kicking his gun away as she landed on the other side of him. No use in chancing him getting a last ditch surge of energy and shooting her in the back, was there? She continued on, shooting two more just before she rounded the corner to the exit. She slid to a halt as she realized there were several people posted at the door, jerking back behind the corner before she nearly got her head taken off.

She dropped the magazine out of the gun and counted four rounds, plus one in the chamber. Not good. She'd have to improvise. She turned and scanned the area wildly, then focused on an oxygen tank. She knew it wouldn't explode because she remembered Lisa detailing a list of things that she'd shot to make holes in the ground, and she'd been thoroughly disappointed when she'd found that list to be short. However, most people didn't know that, and Elizabeth was banking on the security at the ward being in that group.

She grabbed it with great conviction, thankful that it wasn't as big as it could have been, and with all her might, hefted it out and at the group guarding the door. She ran out directly after it, shooting at it and flinching as bullets kicked off the side. Sure enough, everyone ran for cover, giving her the opening she needed. She prayed she still had luck on her side, and broke out into a run for the door.