Chapter Fifty-Two: Cheers

Happy Halloween to those that are celebrating!

Happy Samhain as well!

And for tomorrow have a beautiful Dia de los Muertes!

Now for the spotlight:

Thanks to the hannimal and trickst3r-97 for the follows and faves!

Thanks to Detective Otaku 1412 for the fave!

And thanks to Sakura1987 for the review!

And now, please enjoy, because I just know you're going to love this one!

~o~OoO~o~

Two led her around the corner, dispatching guards as Seven came up the rear and kept an eye out behind them. Her abdomen felt numb and yet there was pain that would slice through her at any wrong movement, which at this point seemed to be any movement at all. Her vision would blur and she almost failed to warn Two of some guards coming up a side corridor, but her captain seemed to hear it before she'd even finished dealing with some others that she'd liberated guns from. Seven could feel the blood too. The bandages were already beginning to feel loose and heavy, but they were stuck to her skin as the blood began to congeal. She had an odd thought about how she was going to get her clothes off after this, since as the tacky liquid dried it would have a similar consistency to any other organic adhesive. The thought floated through the drifting, swishing fog that currently served as her mind. It was terribly funny and gravely serious all at the same time.

Eventually, they found their way to what looked like a large hydroponics bay with a fully laid out dining table in the center. Two picked up tablet as Seven leaned heavily against the table, her foot slipping a bit. She looked down and realized she was bleeding more than she'd thought, in fact a smeared trail of it led away from the small puddle that was now collecting on the floor near her shoes. Two cursed as she looked at the tablet.

"What's gone wrong now?" Seven wheezed out.

Two didn't take her eyes off of the tablet. "The man that created me escaped. He's gone."

"Baby-face?"

Two looked up and frowned, but nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't like him," Seven felt her head dip down a bit, feeling almost intoxicated. "And I don't think he liked me much either."

Two shook her head as she glared back down at the tablet, knuckles white as gripped it. "No, he didn't. He was forced to create you and apparently others like you for a company or a family, the name sounded weird."

"Mezzo-Altero."

Her dark eyes narrowed, but she nodded. "To fund the research he used to… create me, he had to take on a contract they offered him for a series of clones that would last longer than any legally allowed by the corporations and the G.A. There were five of in all. Two previously killed while protecting someone. Then you were sent out to replace someone. The other two that were kept in the facility were rented out to Ferrous Corp for a few jobs so he could collect funding from them too."

"I think he said something about at least two," Seven tried to forcibly peel back the fog that wrapped itself around her memories, even putting her hands on her head as though it would help. "I can't remember."

"I killed them," she replied in clipped words. "When I escaped from a facility like this one somewhere else. They were in the facility and they tried to stop me. He said I obliterated every last shred of useable DNA. He only identified them through the surveillance cameras and security checkpoint confirmations or something like that."

Seven frowned at her. "I guess that explains why you never liked me either."

Two seemed ready to argue, but she stopped and tilted her head a bit as though she were listening to something. Seven strained to hear anything past her own wheezing in the silence. Then all of a sudden, Two whipped around and flung the tablet across the room.

The Android caught it as easily as if it had been a low flying Frisbee. As usual, she seemed a bit to animated, in this case smug, for any normal machine as she looked from the tablet now in her hand up to the two women at the table.

"The Marauder is awaiting my signal." She was practically smirking. "Would you like to help me blow something up?"

Two didn't hesitate to take the cheeky robot up on her offer of mayhem. Seven almost wished she could have responded so enthusiastically. Instead, the Android told them the facility had been cleared of personnel and instructed Seven to proceed to the rendezvous site to await the shuttle. She didn't argue.

~O~o~O~

Two and the Android arrived just as Six was bringing the Marauder down for the pickup. The guys were cheering as they landed, the facility burning in the distance. Three and One bounded off the shuttle like a pair of kids at a fireworks display, their grins matching Two's as she clapped Seven on the shoulder on her way up inside the shuttle. Seven grit her teeth as fresh pain sprouted in her cold, numb body, but returned it best she should as she shuffled her way into the Marauder.

"Do you require assistance?" the Android stopped next to her.

Seven shook her head. "Not yet, but when we get back to the ship I'll need you to sew me back up."

The Android cocked her head to the side, confused, and Seven could only imagine what she would have said if Four and Six hadn't met her at the back of the shuttle. She also couldn't have imagined the looks on either of their faces at that moment.

Sharp edges and dark eyes burned with rage Four stepped down to help her into the shuttle. She knew he wanted to ask the question, but his discipline and reserve locked his jaw tightly closed as one hand went to her stomach and the other under her arm to support her. Six seemed more horrified at the blood that still dripped down her pants, although it had slowed considerably since she'd left the facility, and his lips were not so easily tamed by fury.

"What happened?" He exclaimed, his hands out to help, but not knowing how.

Two touched him on the arm and directed him back towards the console. "Get us back to the Raza so we can get her to the infirmary. We'll explain later."

"But…" he turned wide eyed back to Seven and the dark red that stained her pale hands.

"Get us back to the Raza, Six," Two snapped. "That's an order."

Four moved her into the shuttle a bit faster than was comfortable, but eventually everyone was buckled up and they were skyward again. In the seats closest to the shuttle's door, Four sat next to her like a vessel of burning emotion. He didn't say anything or outwardly express it, but Seven could feel it pouring off of him in tense, stiff waves. She couldn't help it, but her hand slipped off her stomach and inched its way towards him. She tried to squeeze his thigh inconspicuously in an effort to comfort him, but her fingers didn't seem to have a lot of strength at the moment. She was about to move her hand away when he laid his over it. She could feel the strength vibrating through the muscles of his hand has he slowly closed it around hers. Four's eyes closed and the muscles in his jaw ticked as he clenched his teeth even tighter together, but that the most he showed her. Seven closed her eyes then, her own grief beginning to seep into the numbness that beckoned her to sleep.

~O~o~O~

Weeks seemed to fade together for Seven. It seemed as though every day she woke up, she was ushered into the infirmary by Four or the Android to run tests, conduct minor fixes, and to monitor her over all condition as she healed. The scar itself had already faded into to a dark wrinkled line along the bottom of her stomach.

"You've healed much more efficiently than I would have assumed based on your previous scans," the Android announced, blinking her big eyes at Seven who found just enough energy to frown. "I believe that it is due to the nanites I've located in your system thanks to the information I received from Two and yourself that you obtained at the Dwarf Star facility."

"So no more stitches?" Seven sighed, wary of going under the Android's less than delicate needle again, Five having absconded with the precision laser suture device for a project of some sort.

"Not unless you insist on such a procedure," she chirped. "Although in such a situation I would need to refer to my psychologically therapeutic programing to assist and dissuade you from such an action."

"No thanks," Seven shook her head and hopped off the table, but then a thought struck her. "If I have nanites, how come I've never healed as quickly as Two has?"

Big eyes blinked again, less than metaphorical gears whirring. "Your nanites are localized in the area of your female reproductive organs. Their main function seems to be to protect and sustain your offspring until the child is born."

"Would my child then have nanites?"

"The nanites are not a disease or infection to be transmitted through the exchange of DNA," she explained. "Even if your child would have been born the nanites would have remained in your own body, dormant until you once again pregnant."

A bitter wave tried to crash through her mind, but Seven swallowed it back so she could ask her next question. "Will I ever be able to get pregnant again?"

The Android processed the question for a moment, the screen behind her flipping through scans she'd taken of Seven over the duration of her previous pregnancy, until finally she blinked and gave her that queer smile of hers. "Yes. From the data I've recorded, it is unlikely that you would have any trouble trying to conceive again. However, if you like, I can continue to review the data until I can produce a guaranteed result."

"If you would, Android," Seven nodded. "Now, let's get to dinner. I'm sure the others are waiting for us by now."

"Okay," she chirped again and followed Seven to the mess hall.

Six and Five were just setting out the food on the side table so that everyone could grab one of the trays Four had just set down and fill up. Three grabbed a bottle of whiskey from a crate.

"Is that really necessary?" One complained from his seat at the table.

Three gave an expression that mocked serious thought and then nodded. "You know, you're right."

"Thank you," One sighed with relief.

Three turned back from the crate with a second bottle in hand. "Better grab two. No sense in making a second trip."

The first man groaned as Seven clapped him on the shoulder and took her seat at the end of the table, opposite the Android. "I'm not sure why you sound surprised."

He just shook his head, but Seven let the light hearted mood of the room push back her dark thoughts. Four caught her eyes as he sat down with a tray for each of them and she could see that he'd done much the same thing. Two hadn't joined them yet, then she'd cloistered herself away with her own dark thoughts since their return to the ship. Still it was a welcome surprise to see her interrupt their jokes, looking refreshed and back to her normal self. But the jokes came back strong and soon enough Three was popping open the second bottle, having drained the first on his own with a little help from Six.

Everyone raised their glasses with a near simultaneous, "Cheers!"

Seven lifted the glass, but couldn't make herself drink right away. She starred at the contents for a moment, the scent of the nearly sterile liquor burning her nostrils. Eventually she sighed, noticing the odd looks from Four and the others, and lifted the glass again. Maybe a night of release would be worth the consequences presented in the morning.

She hadn't seen her get up, but suddenly the Android was there, holding her wrist and the cup away from her lips. "That would not be wise."

"Oh come on," Three complained. "After all she's been through, I think the lady deserves a drink."

Seven just frowned up at the Android. "What's wrong?"

She had that look of gears whirring behind her eyes again. "I've just finished processing the most recent scans of your wound and I believe that the consumption of alcohol would be a detriment to your still existing condition."

"Existing condition?" Six frowned as the Android let go of Seven's arm so she could set the cup down.

The Android blinked at him and then looked down at Seven who just had to ask, "What condition, Android?"

"You are still infected."

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