Jim groaned softly to himself as he attempted to shift himself into a resting position that didn't make his whole body feel li

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.