Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Leonard McCoy, or Jim Kirk. I only own Camille and Karina. And any other non-canonical characters that may or may not show their ugly faces in this chapter. (Once again, saying nothing!)

Enjoy!

Camille crept along the corridor. The one holding Jim muttered to the lithe one, who appeared to be his superior, "Hey, this one's really heavy. Anyone want to switch for a while?"

The lithe one whirled, knocking Karina's head against the doorframe. Camille wished for someone to hold her back so she didn't have to exercise self-control, but settled on gritting her teeth and picturing the guy's soft hand flesh between them. Did she scare herself sometimes? Yes. Was this helpful when the guy had obviously just hurt her friend, judging by the cry coming from behind that disgusting-looking piece of cloth in Karina's mouth? As helpful as any solution.

"Oh, shut up," he snapped at Karina. "And you! What can this guy weigh? One-sixty? He isn't exactly fat!"

"Muscle does weigh more than fat, boss," the oaf muttered.

"Quit whining and grow a pair," the skinny one demanded. "Just behind this door and we're home free. No one knows about the tunnels under Starfleet. They were used quite frequently as a safe meeting place when the place was established, but they're barely even remembered anymore."

The thug entered a combination and a door slid open. The group ambled through and the door slid closed. Camille smiled. Well, guess who knows now, buttface? Plus, she'd seen the combo. She was about to book it for the lock, when a vice-like grip wrapped around her arm...

She whirled, placing a solid punch into the owner of the hand's gut. It was only when he doubled over that she recognized him.

"BONES?!"

Rising, pain etched on his face, he growled, "Dammit, woman, what are you doing? I thought those evacuation bells were quite clear!" Having not released his grip on her, he began dragging her along the corridor. She dug her heels in, and cried, "They have Karina and Jim!"

Bones straightened. "They what?"

"Karina and Jim. She was trying to get proof of the Romulan attack and they got nabbed! We have to get them back, Bones! And I'm doing it whether you help me or not!"

He shook his head as though to clear it. "I – I –" Torn between common sense and loyalty to Jim Kirk, he groaned and threw his hand in the air. "Well, of course, I'll help you, Camille. If that's the case. But how do you recommend we get into that fortress?"

She grinned. "I've got the combo."

He stared at her, then smiled, one of those rare genuine smiles from Bones, and shook his head again. "You never cease to amaze me, woman."

Camille went to enter the combination, then paused, her finger poised over the first digit. "You just called me 'woman.'"

Bones' frown returned. "Come again?"

"Twice just now. You called me 'woman,' not 'girl.'"

Bones looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, clearly trying to get out of what he considered an awkward situation. "I did no such thing."

"Yes, you did. You called me 'woman.'"

"I did not."

"In fact, Doctor, I think you'll find you did."

"Dammit, woman!"

"Ah! See, there it was again."

Camille had never seen a man that red before, but with the combination of anger and embarrassment, Bones was nigh on a lighter shade of violet. Smiling to herself, Camille turned to the lock again. Behind her, Bones snorted.

"You could look a little less pleased with yourself, you know, Camille."

Camille did, in fact, sober up, but not for the reason he was intending.

"You're right," she said. As the door slid open, they made their way into the tunnels. Under her breath, Camille muttered, "Who knows what they're doing to them in here."

With the door open, there was a little light afforded to them, but slowly it began to slide shut. The pair of them whirled, but with a small thud, nothing too conspicuous as to draw attention, the door was fastened off, cutting off what little illumination their path had.

In the darkness, so pitch black her eyes couldn't even adjust properly, Camille muttered, "Well, that's just great, isn't it? Now how are we supposed to – "

The tiny beam of light appeared on the cement floor in front of her. Bones had fished a miniature blue flashlight out of his pocket. "Will this do the trick?"

Camille's mouth tipped up in a half-smile. "You're not so bad yourself, Bones."

It gave her no end of delight to see one of the most serious men she'd known outside the military looking like a child who'd just received a golden star on a spelling test. She almost wanted to giggle, but the situation didn't really afford it. Then she realized – he looked way too pleased with himself to have just scored a flashlight. And sure enough, he was still rummaging around in his pocket with his flashlight-free hand.

"You think that's good?" he said, finally finding his object of desire and tossing it to her. She caught it, and saw that it was a small phaser. Nothing firefight worthy, but just intimidating enough that she might just stun a few ruffians with it. He'd also produced one for himself, identical in size.

"I'll be holding the flashlight, so my reaction time won't be nearly as good as it would normally be," he told her. "I'm going to need you to be quick on the punch. Can you do that for me?"

She normally might have been offended by what she would have construed to be doubt, but she didn't find it so today. This wasn't doubt. He innately trusted her, he just wanted to make sure she was okay, that she would be.

Fortunately, he'd chosen the right person to be his partner in crime in this case.

"I spent two years in the military, Bones," she said, readying her phaser. "I think I've got pretty good reflexes at this point in time."

Karina saw what was coming even before she was dumped, none-too-gently, on the cold cement floor. Even though she'd hit the sore spot on her head from where she'd been rammed into the doorframe, she determined she wouldn't cry out. If she died today, she'd take what little dignity she had left with her.

Jim, on the other hand, made no such attempt, but could she blame the man? He was only half-conscious anyway. Still, his groan as they practically threw him onto the ground sent an ache through her that nearly doubled her over in spite of her determination not to show emotion. She'd dragged him into this, and now the likelihood that either of them would make it out was slowly dwindling.

The one who'd been carrying her removed the filthy sock from her mouth, almost gently, if she dared to believe it. She couldn't resist running tongue over her teeth, just to see if there was any residue of gunk in her mouth. Thank goodness, the disgusting thing hadn't seemed to leave a long-lasting impression.

Looking over at Jim, she saw him haul himself up on his side, working to spit the sock out. His eyes were slightly glazed over, but otherwise he looked unhurt.

"Oh, don't get your jock strap in a wad, Kirk," the guy spat, and his voice, though muffled, still sounded vaguely familiar. He went and yanked the sock out of Jim's mouth. Once again, less concerned with dignity than Karina appeared to be, Jim was clearly trying to get as much of the taste out of his mouth as possible. His feeble attempts seemed to make their captor laugh.

"You might as well stop struggling," he muttered. "By the time I'm done with you, you'll have tasted worse things than week-old sock."

"Leave him out of this," Karina growled. "I think we all know it's me you have issue with here. Jim was unconscious the entire way here, at least until we got into the tunnels. Let him go."

Jim let out a barking laugh, shaking his head. "Not on your life, Kari," he muttered. "We got into this together, we'll get out of it together."

"This is my fight, Jim!"

The thug appeared to be enjoying watching them spar. His head moved back and forth between the pair of them, as though observing a tennis match. But now he threw his head back and laughed.

"Seems the fight's turned slightly in our favor here, Karina," he said. "But go on. Refer to it as yours if you wish."

Karina stared him down, her glare quite terrifying. Later Jim would describe it as she looked as though she was about to suck the guy's soul out.

"Well, considering that only one side will probably emerge from this alive," she growled, "why don't you show me your face, you cowardly snake?"

His back was turned to them at this point, but at that, he stiffened, turning to her, a twisted grin surely showing behind that mask.

"Are you quite sure you want to see what's behind this, Americana?"

The blood slowly drained from Karina's face. She looked at Jim, who appeared lost. Steeling her nerves, Karina attempted a brave face. "I think you've basically given yourself away by now, don't you?"

Jim sat there and muttered, "Nope. Not really. Who is this guy, exactly, Kari?"

A dry laugh sounded from behind the mask. "Oh, Karina and I go way back. Don't we?"

He pulled the mask off, and Karina managed the name that had been in the back of her mind ever since they'd been deposited in this cell, however strangled it might have sounded. "Agustin."

"How clever of you, Karina," Agustin said, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. He paced. "You know, turning on my own men and saving you back there the first time, now that was a risk. But I thought if we could just scare you, you'd turn tail and run like the scared little girl we all thought you were."

"You know, I always knew there was something up with you," Jim growled, struggling against his bonds, looking like he'd like nothing better than to deck the sorry guy across the face. And Karina, though her mind was still reeling, would welcome the sight better than anything else. Well, other than the feel of his jaw breaking under her own fist.

Agustin once again laughed, the sound devoid of humor and only containing sadistic pleasure. "But what I didn't count on was you running to big brother Jim over here and rallying the troops. Clearly you were a lot smarter than I thought you were, Karina. But maybe not as brave." He hauled her to her feet and began dragging her out of the room. "Let's see how well you hold up under my boss's questioning."

Jim began snaking toward the door after them, and Agustin almost closed it. "Oh, don't worry, Kirk. We'll be sending some of our boys along to have some fun with you, too. If it's failing to protect her you're worried about, you won't live long enough to feel the pain too much." He pulled a foot back and kicked Jim in the gut. Jim groaned and curled around the bruised spot, spitting a curse at the boy who'd betrayed them all.

Karina began to struggle for the first time. "NO! JIM!" she screamed as Agustin dragged her away from the cell.

She could hear him call back, "Kari!" just before the heavy metal door slammed in his face.

"JIM!"

Jim had long ago given up trying to slam his shoulder into the door to open it. The thing was metal, and he was pretty sure his shoulder had already been dislocated and relocated twice. Best be prepared to put up a fight when the torture started. He wasn't going down without at least trying to get Karina out of this –

The door began to slide open. Jim struggled to his feet, backed up against the wall, preparing to use a move that he called "the Bull and Matador." Okay, he'd just come up with it then. But he thought it was pretty brilliant, actually.

Two figures stood in the doorway. One looked to be about his size, the other was remarkably tiny. Well, perhaps the Romulans were down on their recruiting standards. Then again, he'd learned from Camille never to underestimate the toughness of a tiny person. Both figures wore long black robes with hooded cowls. Romulans for sure.

Deciding to go for the one about his size, Jim let out a guttural roar and bent over, head-butting the guy in the stomach. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was prepared. Grabbing him by the shoulders, the figure held him at arm's length, well out of reach of his swinging arms.

"Dammit, man, can't you recognize a rescue attempt when it comes?"

Jim blinked, then looked up. "B-Bones?"

Pulling the hood back, his friend's gray eyes looked down at him like a beacon of hope the color of the storm itself. Jim glanced over at the tiny one. If his suspicions proved correct - ?

Camille removed her own hood, shaking her head. "I think they might have knocked on your head harder than you can afford, Jim."

"Yeah, and thanks to you, Camille, my stomach's received one too many blows today," Bones muttered. "I wasn't about to let you add to that damage, Jim. I still haven't entirely ruled out internal bleeding here."

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Camille muttered. "I didn't hit you that hard."

"Yes. Yes you did."

Jim, while enjoying this banter, was also inclined to pull their attention back to a more important matter. "Um, guys, while this is all very entertaining, Kari?"

Camille's eyes widened, whereas Bones' narrowed grimly.

"Where have they taken her?" Camille asked, hiking her robe up and tucking it into her uniform's skirt. Bones did the same with the waistband of his pants.

Jim turned to the right. "They went this way. At least that's where I saw him take her before the door slammed in my face. Literally."

"Ah, so that explains things," Bones muttered.

"Explains what?"

"The fact that your nose looks like a squashed, rotten tomato."

Jim gingerly felt his nose. There was crusted blood on it. Huh. He hoped that didn't last. It would certainly wreck his chances with the ladies.

"Are we coming or what, boys?" Camille called from ten feet down the tunnel.

Jim turned to Bones. "Is getting her angry a good idea, do you think?"

Bones shrugged. "She may see red or she may channel it into kicking some poor Romulan soul's butt. Your guess is as good as mine."

As the pair of them ran to catch up with Camille, Jim called, "You may want to know: That Agustin kid is a traitor. In fact, he's the ringleader. He's the one who has Kari right now."

Well, he wasn't so sure she wasn't seeing red. But it looked as though channeling it was going to be a result of this news as well. Camille's green eyes clouded with rage and she took off at a faster run. Jim took off after her, Bones close on his heels. But instead of encouraging his pursuit, Bones was shouting the exact opposite of Jim's expectations.

"Whoa, Jim! You probably hit your head at least two times before the door, right? You've got to have a massive concussion and aren't nearly in any condition to attempt any kind of rescue! Leave that to me and Cam and get back to – "

"Not on your life, Bones!" Jim shouted back.

"I'm not kidding, Jim, your vitals are probably way off!"

"Wouldn't be the first time. Haven't you ever been slightly drunk, Bones?"

"Not the point and not even an accurate description."

"So what's with the fancy get-up?"

"Don't change the – "

Camille groaned. "We jumped a pair of Romulan guards a while back. Figured it would be easier to get through security that way, you know? Now stop squabbling, you two! Ideal circumstances would allow you to do your doctoring thing, Bones, but now we have to find Kari!"

Bones cleared his throat. "My…doctoring thing?"

"Oh, shut up."