Author's Note – I do not own Outlaw Star or anything that
has any affiliation with it. This is my
first attempt at an Outlaw Star fic so be gentle. It's also only the second fic that I've written. Sorry about the delay, but I have that whole
college thing going on. Since it's near
the end of the year the chapters will come out slower for the next couple of
weeks.
Jim groaned softly to himself as he attempted to shift into
a resting position that didn't make his whole body feel like it was on
fire. As best as he could tell, he had
been shut up in this closest for two or three days now. The only times he could come out where for
the interrogation sessions. He hadn't
had anything to eat or drink since he had been turned over to the foster
parents from hell. However, his stomach
was the least of his concerns. Wincing,
he shifted around again, trying to avoid aggravating the ribs that had been
broken during the first interrogation.
Closing his eyes, the agony replayed itself behind his lids for the
hundredth time…
He had woken up from his nap to find himself on the floor
of a dark room. Confused and
disoriented, he stood up and hit his head on the ceiling of his chamber. Cursing, he ducked back down and began to
feel around the room. He quickly
realized that the walls were no more than four feet apart, and the ceiling was
the same height. Tentively he opened
his mouth to call out, when the door suddenly opened and light flooded in. Momentarily blinded, Jim had no chance to
react when a hand reached in and roughly jerked him from the room.
"Get out here you little brat." Growled the voice of Stephen.
"We've got work to do and you've already wasted enough of our time."
Jim, off balance and somewhat frightened by the sudden change
in the man's attitude, could do nothing but stare at Stephen. He had no idea what kind of work he was
talking about, nor did he have any clue as to the sudden change in the man's
demeanor. Suddenly Stephen's fist
lashed out, striking Jim solidly across the jaw. Stunned by the force of the blow, Jim dropped to the ground
holding his face.
"That's more like it.
Now, you're going to tell me everything you know about the Galactic
Leyline, and what that little bio-android has to do with it."
Jim stared at the man uncomprehendingly. "You want to know about the Galactic
Leyline? Why? And why do you want to know about Meflina?" Stephen's only response was a vicious kick
to Jim's ribs. For a moment, his world
went completely white from pain as the agony of a broken rib struck him. Sucking in air, Jim was able to do nothing
more than curl up on the floor and groan.
"Don't play with me you little punk! Tell me everything I want to know and things
will be over a lot less painfully. I
know you went into the Leyline, I know you what it is and how to get to
it. You're going to tell me how I get
that power." Reaching down, Stephen
took hold of Jim's hair and jerked his head up so that the two were facing eye
to eye.
"Go…go to hell you bastard." Jim managed to grit out.
"I'm not telling you anything."
"Fine then, it looks like you and I are in for a lot of
fun."
"My friends will come for me. And you're dead when they do."
Stephen looked at the boy oddly for a moment before bursting into a fit
of laughter.
"Heh, you really think they're coming for you? You stupid brat, they couldn't care less
about you."
"You're lying."
Jim responded with as much force as he could muster. "They'll come for me, just you wait."
"You stupid kid, don't you understand that the entire
reason that you're here now is because they don't want you? You're useless to them. All you are is an annoyance. What would they want with a little snot like
you? You're worthless, you're nothing
but a nuisance to them."
"You're lying."
Jim whispered. "You bastard…they
do care about me. I'm…I'm not
worthless."
"Believe whatever you want kid, but none of this would
have happened if they hadn't made contact with my daughter in the first
place. Why do you think it is that after
eleven years someone just happened to notice that you had no legal guardian
huh? It's because your friends wanted
to get rid of you. They called up
social services and set everything into motion. Michelle told me that they didn't even say goodbye to you. You think that means that they care about
you? Stupid kid, you're nothing to
them. All you are is a little punk." Suddenly Stephen's head shot forward as his
forehead slammed into Jim's nose. The
sound of bone cracking resonated through the room. "And you're also my ticket to ultimate power. So start talking you little brat."
That first time had been too hard to cope with. Jim remembered simply shutting down in shock
at everything that had happened to him.
Finally, Stephen had given up trying to get anything out of him and
thrown his back into his little closet.
Jim lay awake in the darkness, sobbing softly into his hands and running
through the words that Stephen has said.
He didn't believe the man, he was just trying to destroy Jim's mind. But still, how had social services just
happened to come across him? It must
have been something Stephen did. His
friends would come for him. He knew
that they would. There was no way that
his Aniki would ever let him down like that.
They were family, and they would always be there to take care of each
other. However, Stephen's words had
left the tiniest seed of doubt in Jim's mind.
That seed had grown as time passed and no one came for
him. The interrogations worsened. Jim had lost count of how many times Stephen
had pulled him out of that closet and attempted to beat answers from him. One time his wife, Anna, had come into the
room. She spoke out against the beating,
asking her husband if it was really necessary.
She felt that they could simply use drugs to get the truth out of the
boy. Stephen had snapped at her. He told her that it wasn't necessary at all,
he simply enjoyed doing it. He had
yelled at her that he would get the answers his way.
Jim's hopes crashed after that brief argument. There was no one there to help him. He was out in the middle of nowhere, his
friends had already forgotten about him, and he was trapped with a madman who
was determined to beat him into annihilation.
At times, Jim toyed with the idea of telling the man everything that he
knew. But he would never do that to
Melfina. Even if she hadn't wanted him
around, he would never do anything to hurt her.
Wincing again, Jim shifted himself around so that he could
face the doorway. Smiley slightly, he
reached into his pocket and pulled out the paperclip that he had managed to
grab during his last beating. He had
spotted the object on the floor, and managed to get away from Stephen long
enough to grab it. He hadn't seen Jim pick
it up, and thought that Jim was simply trying to escape. Tears trickled down Jim's face as he
remembered that rage that Stephen had gone into whenever he caught Jim. He had grabbed a metal rod off of the
fireplace and beaten Jim viciously with it.
During the beating Stephan had crushed one of Jim's arms and shattered
his left ankle. However, Jim had
managed to hang onto the paperclip, and it now served as his ticket out of
here.
Slowly and carefully, the boy rearranged the form of the
metal object, and worked into the lock on the door. After several minutes of concentration, he was finally rewarded
with the soft click of the lock pulling back.
Gently turning the handle, he just barely stuck his head out. All around him was darkness, and Jim guessed
that it must be nighttime. Hoping that
his luck would hold, he quietly stepped out of the closet. Listening intently, he heard the small
sounds of snoring coming from down the hallway he was in. Obviously the couple had turned in for the
night.
Jim shuffled softly down the hallway, gripping the wall for
support when he tried to put weight on his ankle and it promptly gave way. Hobbling down the hallway, he came into a
large main room with several windows.
Jim quickly recognized this room as the main entranceway, and if he
wasn't mistaken…yep, there was his computer case that he had left in the living
room the first day he had gotten here.
Half walking, half crawling, he managed to make his way to the case and
boot up his computer. Jim knew that he
had to get as far away from this planet and as fast as possible. With some quick hacking, he managed to bring
up the port registry on his computer.
His eyes widened in shock as he scrolled through the ships and found a
familiar name. Maybe they didn't want
him, but they were the only people he had in his life. He had no choice but to try and go to
them…to try and go to his Aniki.
Shutting down the computer, Jim softly made his way to the
main door. Glancing out the window, he
realized he was in business. The couple
had an fairly decent car sitting outside, and Jim knew from experience he would
have no problems hotwiring it and driving it into the city. As tough as it would be, he still had his
right foot and he could drive with one hand.
Smiling grimly to himself, Jim limped over to the car. Determined that he would not only make it to
the Outlaw Star, but that he would get some answers out of his friends before
the night was up.