Hoist the Colours II

Some have died

and some are alive

others sail on the sea

Something was spreading into his arms and to his fingertips. It felt like a million pinpricks at first. Sensation. Feeling was starting to come back. He was regaining control of his body. Atherton Wing closed his eyes relieved that he could move his fingers once more. He promised himself that when he had full control of his legs, he would march right out of this private hospital room suite and give the aging mobster something to think about.

He heard a small click. Someone was coming in his room. At first, he thought it was just the nurse or a doctor. But he knew better when he heard a third step. His eyes went wide knowing that was the sound of a cane hitting the floor. Immediately, he turned to look for something to defend himself with but found nothing. Despair started to creep in when he saw a silver sparkle on the nearby table. An empty syringe.

The intruder fourth step and Atherton Wing was playing dead on his bed with a syringe on hidden on his right hand. "Mr Wing." The man said in dismay. Atherton tried to control himself. That was him. Adelei Niska himself. "I would have liked this done on the outside but it seems original plan had no luck.." There was a sound he knew very well. It was metal sliding against metal. The sound of a sword being unsheathed. "You see, Mr. Wing. I derive no pleasure in taking care of you this way. No. But our employer-- they want it done quickly and the circumstance is correct-- So i will oblige." He continued on walking forward. "You've been a good boy Mr. Wing." Atherton knew he was right beside his bed now. "But good people, as they say, die first." He finished.

Atherton Wing growled as he sprang to action. His muscles were lethargic but it was enough for him to have knocked the sword from the man's two handed grip ready to stab down his beating heart. He could see the shock in the older man's eyes and the sinister smile that came after when the old man punched him back to bed. Then Niska placed both hands around his neck cutting off his air supply. The sensors that were attached to him went crazy as he struggled to get free.

The politician's hand found the syringe once more in his bed. He was getting dizzy now due to the lack of air but he knew he had to try to free himself one last time. On one single burst, he had managed to stab the syringe where he thought the old man's heart rested and pressed on the plunger letting a syringe full of air into his body. But Niska pressed on.

But several seconds later, he felt the hands around his neck loosen giving him some time to breath a bit more freely. A coughing fit started when his airways were completely clear. Only one hand was on his neck now. Atherton could see Niska's right hand on where the syringe was embedded. This time, the roles were reversed. It was Niska that was trying to gasp for breath.

"Didn't think you had a heart." Atherton spat at the man when he fell to his knees. "You told your minions to tell Fanty and Mingo about a job to kidnap me. You knew Fanty and Mingo couldn't resist. You knew Reynolds and his crew wouldn't have a choice but to take it." He delivered a jab at the old man's temples. Niska fell to the floor helplessly grasping his heart with both hands. "You didn't give me that transmitter because you cared for my safety. You wanted me to lead you to that firefly so you could kill them." He growled. "And me."

There was a snicker from the mobster. "We have the girl so you were never my concern, boy." He managed to say. "You were theirs." The man's eyes grew wide as his body stiffly jerked several times before going still.

Atherton willed himself up on his feet. Staggering, he picked up the discarded sword and found it's sheath-- Niska's cane.

– with the keys to the cage...

and the Devil to pay

we lay to Fiddler's Green!

"Note to self.." Andy bit her lip as she fired several well aimed rounds before pressing her back against the cool cement of the basement's walls. She took a peek around the corner to see where the guards were positioned just to snap her head back when she saw one in particular, raise a gun to her direction. "Suggest an investment in Kevlar if available here." She winced when bullets flew past just where her head had been. Bits and pieces of the cement and plaster crumbled to the floor.

She watched Jayne Cobb across her in the other side grunting as he fired away at the Alliance soldiers that were trying to kill them all. Beside her, Simon Tam was still trying to support his half lucid sister. The downers they've injected in her were still on their course. Andy sighed when she fired at the two guards who were to slow to dodge wondering if another gun hand would've really made a difference.

The trooper looked up at the ceiling while bullets whizzed by as a reply to theirs. "Pipes." She said as if she were dazed.

"What?!" Dr Tam asked.

"Pipes." She pointed upwards following some of the larger pipes turn the corner heading down the adjacent hall filled with soldiers shooting at them. "Pipes normally have stuff in them." She grinned.

Simon raised an eyebrow doubtfully at her. " That's normally why they exist." He replied sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Exactly." She snapped her finger eying the shot gun Jayne was using to fend off soldiers. "Jayne!" She called out. "I've got an idea. On the count of three, you're heading right over here. I'll cover you." She took a peek beyond the corner taking note at where the Alliance men were.

Jayne stared at the young girl with disbelief. "Are you crazy?" He answered back.

"What's the matter? You want to live forever?" She inquired using the phrase everyone in SICON threw around to get troopers to steel their nerves. Then, she mentally slapped herself for that mistake.

"Not forever." Jayne replied. "A good long while without bullet holes though me would be shiny." He added.

Andy groaned regretting she had ever tried using words of encouragement. "Just get ready." She replaced the clip on her handgun before she gave the large man a nod. Jayne nodded back signaling that he was ready. "Three!" She yelled automatically sliding out of her hiding spot gun on hand just as Jayne threw himself to cross the hall behind her, landing just a few inches away from the doctor and his sister.

The trooper rolled back into safety, crouching in front of Jayne ignoring the bullets that were threatening to hit them. "You good?" She asked.

Jayne Cobbs patted himself down to make sure. "Seems like I'm all here." He answered. "Now what about this plan of yours?" He prompted.

"Right. So." She handed her gun to him along with a few extra clips from her pack. "I need your shotgun. We need to trade." She flinched when much louder weapon was fired their way. "And then I need you to take the good doctor and little sister to the rendezvous while I finish them off and get them off our back. Clear out of here." She pointed at the hall.

"No, Jayne." River suddenly shook her head slowly. "Don't do it. Please Jayne. No." She pleaded.

Jayne shrugged and shook his head. "Little Crazy there thinks it's a bad idea..." He trailed on. "Why can't we just mosey on out of here? Meeting point's just a few turns down." He suggested.

"Because the notion of being chased around is ridiculous and ups the stat that we get shot at every extra turn." She insisted.

"Jayne we can't leave her alone." River continued to lament.

"Look, it's not like I don't have a plan." Andy ignored the psychic's call and took and extended a shock stick off her pack. "There are pipes leading down that hall. I figure a few good shot gun blasts would dump stuff on them. Gas would disorient them enough so I can pick them off one by one. Liquid--" She activated the shock stick grinning. "-- and they get lit up. I can't set it up while you're still here so you have to go. I'll follow after. Easy peasy." She tilted her head towards the direction of the rendezvous point while deactivating the shock stick.

"Simon, we can't leave her." The girl sobbed.

Jayne glanced at the girl uneasily. "Gorram it, Anderson. Seems mighty shifty that River's..."

"Captain left you in charge not River." She cut him off. "So what'll it be? You have to make a decision Cobbs." She pressured.

"Get up Doc." He relented though River wouldn't stop protesting. "But you're to follow, dongma?" He relinquished his shot gun to the younger girl.

"Aye aye." She gave him a thumbs up.

"NO!" The psychic panicked trying to break her brother's hold on her. "Andy, you have to come with us. Simon... He's very good. Simon, he can--"

"Sshhh." She placed a finger on the psychic's lips. "It'll be fine. Now, you better go so I can start." She prompted.

Andy fired several rounds at the guards without knowing if she had hit any of them. She glanced at the disappearing figures that turned the corner then let her facade fall. Leaning against wall, she slowly unzipped the tight SICON jacket all the while grimacing in pain.

She was somewhat grateful for the opportunity to force them to leave her without much arguments. It was starting to get increasingly difficult to hide the fact that she had been shot when they were trying to get River out of the chair. The jacket helped a little. It was black. Blood wasn't going to show through black. She didn't count on it being so absorbent as well which proved helpful in that it prevented her blood from spreading against her blue dress. It was however, too tight. It was getting very uncomfortable, applying pressure at the wrong bits.

Besides, River knew she was hurt even when she was trying not to think about it. And Andy knew that River knew. It was lucky that the psychic was still doped up. She couldn't have done much about the situation in her state but protest. River couldn't have held the rest of them from choosing to escape, especially with a brother that protective. And the trooper didn't want to hold them back which would've happened if they found out that she was shot.

A shower of powdered cement near her cheek brought her back to reality. She looked up at the ceiling shaking her head in dismay. "I tried the "Thou shall not kill" thing. I really did. But there's not much choice now. I'm really sorry." She whispered before readying the shot gun and placing the shock stick within easy reach.

She took a deep breath, popped out of hiding and started shooting, not at the guards shooting back at her, but at the pipes above them. Andy kept shooting until the right pipe broke and spewed water onto the surprised Alliance men. Then, the trooper activated the shock stick and threw it into the pool forming on the floor. In an instant, electricity spread everywhere electrocuting the guards in an instant. There were a few small explosions when the gunpowder inside their weapons ignited but Andy couldn't watch. Instead, she aimed the shot gun to the head of the shock stick, pulled the trigger and leaped out of the way as the massive energy held on the charge was released simultaneously in the form of numerous bolts of lightning and thunder. The walls cracked where the lightning struck. And she was quite sure that the building was shaking. But that barely registered to her crumpled form.

She pounded the floor with her fist to keep from crying out when she landed on the wrong side of her body. Her free hand automatically went to her side at the site while watching the lightning dissipate and the dust and small debris in the air subside. "It's not that bad Andy. move along." She told herself. But something in the back of her mind was calling her a liar. Very slowly she pulled herself up using the wall, one hand on her wound and the other with a shot gun. Her body protested when she took a step forward. "Just keep swimming." She urged herself following the way that the others had went. "Just keep swimming."

-- -- -- - -

Yo, ho, haul together.

Hoist the colours high.

They ran. Down halls and corridors, they ran to find the elevators that brought them down. They knew where they were going once-- when they left the room where they held her hostage. But the gun fights and running led them to turn on corners they weren't suppose to. The exchange of bullets made them leave when they didn't want to-- or at least she didn't.

And now they were lost.

Nobody was following them. River was at least sure of that. Every step she took made her more awake and more aware of the people around her and the minds around them. The lights flickered for a moment then it became steady once more. They ran until they saw an open door with a chair in the center of the room and several unconscious bodies littered around it.

"No no no no no." A frustrated Jayne Cobbs yelled. "We're right back where we were previous. This ain't right." He complained punching the wall.

"At least we know where to go now." Her brother Simon said trying to catch his breath by leaning against a wall.

"Someone's coming." River whispered looking around the room. She saw Jayne get his pistol ready. "Someone's coming." She repeated more certain than ever. She grabbed her brother out of the way just as the metal grill above him fell clanging on the floor. Jayne readied his gun.

"Don't shoot." A female voice cried from the hole. A body fell from the air vent and landed deftly on her feet with her hands up. "Don't shoot big guy." She said moving away from where she came from. "All clear!" She shouted before three more troopers came down.

"What in gorram's name are you folk doing here?" Jayne demanded in his mounting frustration.

River watched Dizzy Flores frown. She wasn't happy. River could feel that she didn't think this was right. "Helping her get out of here." The trooper answered pointing her thumb at the psychic. "L.T.'s orders." She informed them formally.

"Oh." River was surprise to hear Simon react so wryly. "Now you decide to help. Great."

"Better late than never." Their medic replied though the psychic couldn't understand why it sounded like an apology.

"We have to go." She warned a bit too late. A second later the sound of a single gun fire brought them all back to reality. They all quickly steered clear of the door, dividing themselves on it's edges. Jayne slid his spare pistols to two troopers just as more bullets were fired their way. "Well, ain't it possible to get out from there?" Jayne asked pointing at the air vent above.

The reporter with them shook his head. "There was a pretty steep drop at one point. I don't think we can climb out." He grimaced as one bullet went a bit too near for his liking.

"What's that?" River asked all of a sudden eying the something poking out of the pocket of the trooper beside her.

"I don't know. L.T. said to hook it up to a computer after we find you." The mechanic sighed. "Doesn't look like anything here would work though. All medical stuff." He shrugged before shooting several rounds.

River's eyes grew wide and made the trooper face her. "I saw it in her mind. The signal-- the signal can not be stopped. It goes everywhere." She saw the man's face crumple into confusion. "Give it to me." She requested.

"River, what are you doing?" Simon asked.

"I'm going to start the signal. I can do it. I know what to do." She answered pointing up at the air vent. "If you stay here, they won't know I'm gone." She argued.

"And what if trouble finds you?" Simon challenged. "We'll find away for that after we get out of here."

River ignored him and instead stared at the mechanic and placed her hand out waiting for the red box.

"I don't know—" The trooper eyed her brother warily.

"What's the matter?" River mimicked the line she has heard so much of since the troopers came on board. "Want to live forever?"

She knew she had won when the trooper sighed and handed her the box. "This better work." He warned her before going down on one knee to boost her up.

"It will." All she had to do was find a computer in an empty room

Heave ho, thieves and beggars,

never shall we die.

The alarms rang.

"Copy that Jayne." Captain Mal Reynolds said into his piece. "Zoe, they set off the alarm." He faced his second in command who was staring into the small window of a door. He waited for the usual dry response that normally followed but none came. "Zoe?" He walked towards her tentatively. "This ain't the time for--"

"Captain." She said quietly moving aside, head bowed in dismay. Mal saw her eye the window. He knew she wanted him to see what's beyond the door. He sighed taking a step forward and peered in. Much to his surprise, there was a little boy sitting on a small chair. He had a mess of strawberry blonde and wore a simple white nightgown. On his lap was a small bear. The child's hazel eyes stared at him with the intensity he thought no child could manage. He didn't look any older than five. "Captain." Zoe placed one hand on his shoulder.

"Line the door with explosives. Get him out." He ordered moving back so that she could do her job while he served as a look out. He heard several poofs and a loud thud. Yet nobody miraculously, nobody came for them. It didn't mean, however, that they would never come. "Zoe? You done?" He asked.

"Captain, they set off the alarms." She said walking past him carrying the child in her arms.

Mal deadpanned. "You don't say." He replied going after them, expertly re tracing their steps with caution. "Kid have a name?" He asked before peering down an empty corridor.

"If he does, he ain't saying." Zoe answered giving the boy a pat on the back. Mal was sure he was seeing things. He knew she planned on having children. The image of Zoe being motherly, however, was something he had trouble imagining.

Captain Reynolds wasn't complaining when they reached the elevators without meeting the opposite side. The had flickered several times like an omen of things to come. But he shoved the thought away. He wasn't the superstitious sort. What bothered him the most is the echoes of gun fire and the fact that his crew was still missing. "They should've been here by now." He frowned eying the corridors for signs of his crew.

"Reckon they ran into trouble." Zoe gave him a humourless smile. "Do we go after them, sir?"

"Don't even know where they gorram went." He replied staring at the elevator door behind her, opening to reveal several men behind one furious Atherton Wing. He was holding a sword. "Besides, I think we have our own troubles now."

-- -- -- -

Note: I forgot. Hoist the Colours is that song from POTC III