That last cliffie was a doozie, wasn't it? I'd say I'm sorry but we'd all know I'm lying. It's not like I make you wait long for the next chapter! I only cliffie so hard because your next hit is 24 hours away. Even TV isn't that nice! (so enough with the tribbles already!)
Speaking of TV, I hope by now you're on the same page as I am! While I loved the movies, TOS will always be my favorite, and I found myself agreeing with nu!Scotty when he said Starfleet was acting like the military. The TOS bromance and adventures were my favorite things, and I wanted to find a way of moving nu!crew into that setting. Since the world of reboot land is much grittier, and the political climate much darker, I needed to make certain things happen in order to get them there. This was part of it. Jim, thou shalt face thy demons and set Spock on them!
Only a couple more parts to go, and no evil cliffie this time. Lots of swearing though: you have two Kirks and Jim's in one of those moods. Wonder who we can blame for that…
(Oh, and to answer the question that came up in a review, no, I am not Scottish. Or English, for that matter!)
Jim's body might not have been working as well as he'd have liked it to, but while his physical reactions were dull and slow, his mental reflexes were not. He dug his thumb into the pressure point in the ball of McCoy's shoulder hard.
Bones dropped him instinctively, and Jim dragged him down as he went, just in time for the both of them to avoid getting their heads blasted off.
"What the hell?" McCoy yelled loudly in Jim's ear, his chest pressuring heavily against Jim's.
Jim ignored him, his eyes on Spock, who had also ducked for cover, dragging Kodos with him.
Their position was impossible to defend, with no cover and nothing to use offensively.
If Jim had been by himself, physically capable or not, he'd have gone outfighting anyway, but under no circumstances would he risk Bones or Spock being hurt.
He shoved McCoy aside, adrenaline powering muscles that hadn't worked in far too long, and rolled flat, ready to hoist himself to his knees and call out a surrender.
But then a voice cut through the chaos. The very last voice he'd ever expected to hear. "Cease fire! Cease fire! Are you dipshits fucking insane?!"
"Sam?" Jim yelled, his voice horribly loud as the shooting came to an abrupt halt.
Sure enough, Jim's elder brother propelled himself out into the corridor, placing his body between Jim and the armed men. "What the ever loving fuck are you doing here?" Jim demanded. Sam was literally the last person Jim wanted to see. His brother had an uncanny ability to take a fucked up situation and make it ten times worse.
"Jim!" Sam looked delighted to see him. "You're okay! You are okay, right? Is he okay?" He asked the last part to McCoy, who had clambered to his knees, arms once again wrapping themselves around Jim's back and shoulders. Jim couldn't have shrugged him off even if he'd wanted to.
"He'd be fine," Bones said testily, "if people stopped shooting at him. Where the hell is Sulu?"
"Sulu's here?" Jim asked.
"Everyone is here, Jimmy. It's like a family outing but with more explosives." McCoy said with a hint of irony, now knowing full well how many of Jim's family outings actually had involved explosives.
"That was you guys I heard?" Jim asked, thinking of the explosion that had dimly filtered through his fugue like state.
Bones grinned at him. "That would have been Scotty, four pounds of sonic adhesive and the gates of Edinburgh Castle."
Jim was fairly certain his expression was utterly ridiculous, but then the whole situation wasn't much better. Mustering some semblance of control, he turned to glare at Sam. "Where the hell is my navigator?"
"Being a terrifying badass somewhere else, I imagine." Sam shrugged. "Does the Enterprise have some kind of selection criteria when it comes to ninja like awesomeness?"
Jim felt a swell of pride at the words, because hell yes, Sulu was awesome. It did, however, bring them back to the initial problem because:
"Who the hell are they?" He demanded, indicating the armed men who seemed perfectly content to just hang around after such a dramatic entrance.
"Insurance." Sam said. "Just in case."
"In case what?" Bones growled. "We found Jim and Spock was doing perfectly well at beating on Kodos without armed assistance."
"I can see that." Sam said. "They might have gotten a little over excited. Sorry."
"Sorry? Are you kidding-"
"Bones," Jim soothed his friend, knowing that once McCoy started on a rant there would be no stopping him. Amusing as they always where when Jim wasn't the subject or the target, they had more important things to concern themselves with. Namely Kodos. He looked at the men with assessing eyes, then back up to Sam. "You know, I'm getting really fucking sick and tired of Section 31 fucking things up."
McCoy looked at him and frowned. "They're 31?"
Jim nodded. "Come on Bones, they're practically wearing signs saying shifty covert operatives. Figures you'd bring them into this." He said to Sam. "You assholes all deserve one another."
"Technically I'm retired." Sam protested.
"Technically you're psychotic, but that seems to be an enlistment requirement."
"You're upset." Sam looked dismayed.
"No shit." Jim snapped. "Why the hell are you even here? To kill Kodos? I mean, that's your life's goddamn mission, isn't it? Your little obsession?"
"Jim-"
"No. Fuck you. Fuck all of you. Not you," He said to McCoy who steadied him as he climbed to his feet, "though don't think I'm letting you carry me again, asshole." Jim didn't miss the way Bones' lips twitched at the edge. Bastard. "You want to kill him? Then you're going to have to kill me first because I'm the one who has had to live with the deranged fuck, not you, and I say he gets a trial, gets a fucking lawyer and then spends the rest of for-fucking-ever behind bars."
"That's a lot of 'fucks', Jimmy." Bones said, looking far too amused at Jim's rant. Sam really did know how to push his buttons to rage, but he supposed it was better than the miserable state he'd been in.
"Shut up, Bones." Jim growled. He might speak a dozen languages and understand a few more, but goddamnit, fuck was a really satisfying word to use, especially when he was in the kind of mood he was right then.
"That's not-" Sam started to protest, cut off when Jim didn't turn around and barked:
"Don't you fucking dare." They all turned to look at Kodos, who had taken advantage of the commotion and Spock's distraction to try and crawl away. He didn't get very far. Even before Jim had spoken up, Spock was hauling him back into place. Jim had been on the receiving end of that Vulcan strength and knew exactly what kind of power Spock was capable of, but he was still stunned to see it being so casually used. Normally his XO was painfully cautious with the humans around him. After that incident on the bridge, he had only ever touched Jim with the utmost gentleness, even when angry or scared.
"Now tell your goon squad to stand the fuck down." Jim demanded. "Tell me where the rest of my crew is and lets get the hell out of here before we have to explain why Scotty just blew the doors of a castle. And seriously, who the hell houses his evil lair in the middle of a medieval fucking castle?"
"Oh kid, you have no idea how much I missed you." Bones said, squeezing his arm.
"Perhaps it is time we put Mr Chekov to use?" Spock suggested, as always the voice of calm when Jim wanted to destroy something and McCoy encouraged him. Spock touched the comm and gave the order.
"Wait, Christine Chapel…" Jim explained, suddenly panicking and hating himself for not thinking of her sooner. "She's here, she helped me, we have to-"
"We got her, Jim. It's okay." McCoy soothed.
"Mr Sulu, are the shields down?" Spock asked.
"Yeah. Just. I might have lost Kirk, though."
"No shit." Jim muttered, giving his brother a dirty look.
"We have located him. Mr Chekov, initiate transportation."
"What about my team?" Sam asked as they were caught in the transporter's beams.
Jim felt his atoms dissolving and let out a breath of tension. He was going home.
"Fuck 'em." He said irritably. They had Kodos in custody, and he was going home. He'd deal with the rest later.
McCoy had to tighten his grip as they materialized in a lush, warm room filled with exotic plant life. His knees buckled and he grabbed at Bones's arm as several voices called his name in delight.
The first to reach him was Uhura. "I'm going to hug you now." She told him firmly, her eyes bright with tears. "You've got two seconds to say no."
Jim gawped at her and a moment later Bones had to balance her weight as well as her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she clutched him tightly.
It opened the floodgates for warm hugs and tears of relief, even from Scotty and Sulu, who weren't exactly the hugging type.
Jim's anger was stripped away, leaving him hopelessly bare to the tears that pricked his eyes as one after another, the people he loved most in the universe welcomed him back with warmth, relief and joy. "God, I missed you guys." He said genuinely.
"Ve missed you too, Keptain!" Chekov said, his wide grin almost splitting his face.
"A little." Sulu smirked.
"I didn't." Scotty huffed. "Crazy wee bastard."
Jim choked on a laugh, his eyes stinging. "Thank you." He said. "For finding me."
"Yeah well, next time we're putting a bell on you." Uhura smiled hugely, one of her big, real smiles that lit up the room. "Don't worry, we'll get you a pretty one."
"Why do I get the feeling I owe you more shoes?" Jim grinned at her.
"You always owe me more shoes. Consider it insurance against future acts of stupidity."
Jim could have just stayed there and soaked in the warmth and happiness around him. Give him a hug from Jo, and he'd have had everything he'd ever wanted right in the room with him.
But one person hadn't joined in the reunion. While Bones had snuck off to check on Christine, and the rest of Jim's crew had swarmed him, one person stood out in his absence.
Kevin hadn't stepped forwards. He, out of all of them, was the most physically demonstrative with Jim. They'd known each other so long and Jim had always been able to comfort him with a hug and vice versa.
But nothing.
Jim gently tried to wriggle his way through his crew, trying to spot Kevin in the room.
He saw Spock, his eyes dark with affection as he watched them, and Kodos, barely conscious on the ground behind him, nowhere to run to and no hope of escape.
And then he saw Kevin.
Jim shoved his way past Scotty and stumbled into Sulu, who instantly tried to steady him. "Kevin, no!" He shouted, stalling their conversation with his cry of horror.
But though Kevin heard him, he didn't stop. He walked right up to Kodos, hauled him up by the shirt, and though Spock had spun around at Jim's call, there was no stopping Kevin from slitting Kodos's throat from ear to ear.
Spock reached him a moment later, hauling him away and disarming him gently.
McCoy reached Kodos a moment later, the doctor in him responding to the crisis when the man in him would perhaps not have cared.
But the cut was deep, almost down to the spinal column. There was no saving him.
"I'm sorry Jimmy." Kevin said quietly, his young face blank and drained of all color. "But the dead don't care about justice."
For a second, Jim was back on Tarsus and seeing little Kevin Riley for the very first time. Scared and sobbing, clinging to his mother, mindless of the blood that had been spilled down her chest, her blank face white and her dark eyes empty as they stared up at the sky.
It was a look Kodos wore as he died, mindless of McCoy's attempts to slow the bleeding.
Jim's knees buckled and he was being grabbed by several sets of supporting hands.
Transfixed by the blood that flowed in rivers across the floor, Jim felt lightheaded and dizzy.
But really, he thought, how could he ever have expected this to end any other way?