Bare These Bones

Toxicity

Vahl'Sai wasn't a fool. She knew that something was going on, perhaps she hadn't yet decided on whether or not to believe that Pike had really sent that message, but she knew better than to believe that it was normal for his writing to be so different and the ID to be blocked. Due to this, she took a different route than she usually would when going to Building C, circling around to the back of the building instead of taking the direct route to the front entrance.

It was nearly dark now, the time that had passed while eating dinner having let the sun disappear over the horizon and leaving the city in a faint red hue.

Wearing all black, Vahl'Sai merged well with the night, only the shimmer of white hair visible past the shadows that she slipped between. Her strides were long but careful, not taking her toward anything without caution behind every step. It was an instinctual pace, carrying her like a predator. It was a riveting feeling, something that she hadn't realized she craved. Life on Earth was too simple, there was no danger and it was putting her on edge—she realized now that this was part of the reason Pike had allowed her to run from the park to the Academy, burning off the energy and the instincts.

She was a hunter, a predator, the top of the food-chain, and she was locked up like a dog in a cage. She was not going to be some pet, some lab-rat. Whatever this person thought they were going to achieve, they were sorely mistaken.

Slipping into the building silently, Vahl'Sai stopped at the entrance to listen intently. Most of the sounds from within were students that were speaking in distant, muffled tones. Since it wasn't technically school hours during vacation, most of the students that remained on campus occupied the labs and study-halls, choosing to use their free time doing something helpful toward their grades. From what Vahl'Sai could pick up, there weren't any students on the bottom floor of the building, leaving the only people to be her and 'Pike'.

Striding down the hallway, her boots were silent on the ground as she kept her stride slow and deliberate. Her senses were acute and focusing attentively all around her. If someone so much as inhaled, she could hear it.

Pupils dilated fully, nothing escaped her notice.

In her chest, her heartbeat slowed, letting her senses focus. For a moment, there was only silence around her—then, a heartbeat. One not her own.

Slowing her pace, the Sahvarian woman approached the corner a few feet ahead in silence, broadening her senses. Male. Human. He was carrying a weapon, drawn and prepared to fire. The low level of electricity in the air told her it was set to stun. The threat caused the hairs on the back of her neck to raise, pupils dilating as her blood was flooded with adrenaline. Who was foolish enough to send just one mortal man after her?

Stopping just before the corner, she waited. He had no idea she was there. Barely angling herself past the corner wall, she was able to see the back of his right arm. He was facing away from her, toward the entrance that she would have come in if she'd gone through the front. The phaser in his hand was still lowered, mostly out of sight in case anyone else came through the door, but she could see if just fine where she was.

This man was wearing a uniform she had never seen before, as well. It was a sleek gray top with black pants and regular boots, but the materials and design weren't anything she'd encountered at Starfleet before. She assumed whoever had been coming after her had hired outside of Starfleet.

The sound of the lift activating to the right cause both Valh'Sai and the man to glance in that direction, the latter of the two remaining out of sight. She could see the man's hand tense on the phaser, but it remained down and out of sight. Swallowing against the dryness in her mouth, the Sahvarian woman found herself praying that the student in the lift would leave quickly and quietly.

The doors opened and a familiar smell assaulted Vahl'Sai's senses.

Cadet Moore wasn't entirely paying attention as she stepped off the lift, her PADD cradled in one arm as she fiddled with her communicator in her hands. She seemed to notice someone in front of her belatedly because she jumped in surprise and looked up from the device. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" There was a stutter to the shy girl's words, and Vahl'Sai was silently willing her to continue on. "Uhm….are you lost?" she continued, noticing that he wasn't moving and seemed to be glaring at her.

"I'm waiting for someone."

The hand on the phaser tightened again. Vahl'Sai rocked forward on the balls of her feet, preparing to run as her thighs flexed against the constraint of her uniform pants. One move. One wrong move and she was going to drop this man.

"Oh? Alright. Sorry to bother you," Cadet Moore mumbled, glancing from the man's face to his odd uniform. While Vahl'Sai didn't recognize it, Cadet Moore seemed to have a better insight about its design or maybe an insignia that she couldn't see. She could hear the young girl's heart begin beating faster from where she was hidden, her eyes suddenly flicking back up to the man's face. Abruptly, she turned to leave.

It was too abrupt. Too suspicious.

The arm partially hidden behind his back, with the hand holding the phaser, shifted into view.

Vahl'Sai launched herself from around the corner—the only sound she made was the faintest shift of material as she ran, her arm outstretched for the hand holding his weapon. Her movements were enough to draw both his attention and that of Cadet Moore, the sudden third party enough to make the man jerk in surprise. In the span of a few seconds, Vahl'Sai had charged around the corner and reached the man, her hand closing around his wrist in an iron grip—she could hear his bones shift momentarily before she squeezed harder, shattering the carpal bones.

The sound of the phaser dropping to the ground was drowned out by the man shouting in pain, his now limp hand still in Vahl'Sai's grip as she used her hold on him to keep him in place long enough to get her other arm around his neck.

Moore had seen the phaser drop and caught on to what was happening, releasing a surprised shriek as her PADD clattered to the ground. Vahl'Sai could hear the sound of the screen cracking through the man's pain, but ignored it in favor focusing on applying the proper amount of pressure to his windpipe—she wanted to knock him out, not break his neck.

Unfortunately, she'd been so focused on his weapon that she hadn't noticed anything else on his person that could be dangerous.

His good arm snapped up quickly enough that Vahl'Sai barely had time to shift her arm before a hypo-spray needle was grazing along her forearm, tearing her sleeve and releasing a minimal amount of the injection into her blood. She could smell the toxins immediately, some type of human sedative, and could feel them course into the blood of her arm. Since he hadn't been able to do a direct injection most of the serum had ended up on her skin or shirt sleeve, but it still causing Vahl'Sai's expression to pinch in anger. She couldn't ingest human medicines; they didn't know what it would do to her.

Originally, she'd planned to just cut off his air until he passed out, but she wasn't quite in the forgiving mood. Taking solid hold of his dark brown hair, a decent enough length for her to get her fingers into it, she spun herself and the man around before pushing against the back of his head, driving him nose first into the nearby wall.

A satisfying crunch told her that she'd broken his nose, accompanied with the coppery spray of blood, before he collapsed to the floor. Thoroughly unconscious.

Her first thought was to check her arm, glancing at her dark skin through the torn material of her sleeve. She could see the miniscule cut that was oozing a faint amount of blue blood, mingling with the clear liquid that he must have intended to incapacitate her with. Her nose wrinkled at the strong smell of the chemicals. Next, she stepped over the man's body to kick away the phaser he had dropped, toward the door, which then brought her eyes onto Moore.

The young girl was sitting on her butt, back against the wall, with a horrified expression.

Recoiling, Vahl'Sai realized that she was afraid of her.

"I…" she didn't know what to say. Was she supposed to explain herself? How could she possibly do that? "Are you alright?" she asked instead, her head cocking slightly to the side. Moore looked fine, aside from the sheet-white quality that had overtaken her complexion. Vahl'Sai could smell the fear through the girl's sweat, which was beading at her temples. "I'm sorry you had to see that, but I won't hurt you."

Suddenly, another heartbeat came close.

Moore opened her mouth to scream, but Vahl'Sai had ran at her so quickly that the woman's hand covered her mouth before a sound could come forth. "Shh," she hushed lowly, her face near Moore's. "There's someone else here."

She could smell the phaser, taste the electricity in the air like a lightning strike.

Snatching the phaser from the floor, she released Moore's mouth in favor of grabbing her arm. "This way."

Hauling the young girl through the nearest doorway, Vahl'Sai tossed the weapon aside once she knew it wouldn't be used against her, and reached into her pocket for her communicator. She'd put it on silent on her way to the building, but the screen was now flashing with several missed messages and calls. Pike's familiar ID read across the screen. She didn't know how he was aware of her predicament, but he'd never been so insistent to get a hold of her before.

Turning to Moore, Vahl'Sai ducked in close and kept her voice low. "Lock this door behind me and stay here—do not make a single sound. Do you understand me?" Moore could only nod, eyes wide with fear. Guilt burned in Vahl'Sai's chest. "You will be just fine. I promise."

She didn't wait for Moore's answer and quickly slipped out of the room, the sound of the second man closer now. He'd come through the back, just like her. Perhaps he'd seen her and come to give the first man backup? Glancing at the unconscious man on the floor, Vahl'Sai noticed the insignia that Moore must have spotted earlier. Knowing that Pike would want to see it, the woman leaned down briefly to rip off the patch at his breast before tucking it away alongside her communicator.

Approaching the same corner she had first ducked behind, now on the opposite side, Vahl'Sai listened carefully. She couldn't try to peek around this time—her sense of smell and hearing would have to do. Focusing carefully, she knew that he was trying—and failing—to be quiet in his approach. If his heartbeat wasn't loud enough, the clunk of his boots and the shifting material he wore would have easily given him away.

Not even a challenge.

This time, she left no room for him to strike her. The second he came around the corner her fist connected with his windpipe while her other hand took the phaser, preventing him from shooting it while wheezing for air. He would recover easily enough from the blow to the throat, so she took hold of his hair and brought his face down against her knee in rapid succession, knocking his backward and into unconsciousness.

He had barely hit the floor when Vahl'Sai heard the thundering of several more people running, coming in through the front.

"Vahl'Sai!"

Blinking in surprise, the Sahvarian woman looked over her shoulder in time for James Kirk to come barrelling through the entrance, almost tripping over the bloody man she'd left on the floor. "Still know how to make an entrance, Captain Kirk," she greeting, shaking the hand of her left arm when her fingertips began to tingle faintly. She'd have to speak with Bones about what he injected her with.

Kirk stared down at the man in front of him before he looked up to the second one at Vahl'Sai's feet. "And here I was, worried about you," he finally said, almost sounded offended at she'd gone and saved herself. It made her lips twitch with the urge to smile. "Well, Pike's on his way here with Spock. He got in touch with someone about all the guys being sent after you."

"How did he know to find me?" Vahl'Sai asked, the curiosity getting the better of her.

"He and Spock showed up just after you'd run off," he answered. Before he could elaborate further, Bones came flying through the door much the same as Kirk had, nearly plowing into the Captain in the process.

"Good God!" he stuttered out, stepping closer to the man on the floor. "He's not dead, is he? I'm a doctor, not a coroner."

This time, Vahl'Sai did smile. "He has a broken wrist and nose, more than likely a concussion, but I am to assume he will survive." Her answer bordered on being smart-ass, which Kirk seemed to find highly amusing. She was distracted from his youthful grin, however, when a shooting pain rocketed up her arm, causing her to wince and shake the limb in the attempts of alleviating it. As Kirk had been looking at her when it had happened, the pained looked on her face didn't go unnoticed.

"What happened? Did one of them get you?" he asked, stepped around the guy and Bones.

"I am fine. It's barely a scrape."

Vahl'Sai stepped around him before Kirk could press more, approaching the room that Moore was still locked inside and tapping on the door access button. Of course, it was locked. Pressing the second button, Vahl'Sai spoke up, "Moore, it's me. You can come out now."

It took a moment, but the door unlocked and opened with a hiss. The pale Cadet stood before Vahl'Sai, completely trembling.

"Doctor McCoy, would you mind checking over Cadet Moore?" Vahl'Sai asked, gently taking the girl by the shoulders to draw her out of her corner, keeping her body in between the cadet and the unconscious men—she didn't want to frighten the girl any more than she already had. "Perhaps take her outside, get some fresh air?"

Bones did as suggested and took the girl from Vahl'Sai, leading her outside. Once he had left, Starfleet security seemed to flood the room. Vahl'Sai was pulled aside by one while the others collected the two men from the floor, carefully capturing the room with their cameras as Kirk stood to the side, ever watchful. Spock and Pike appeared not long after, the older man striding slowly with a prominent limp that showed the pain he was in from trying to rush there too quickly.

Vahl'Sai explained the exact sequence of events to the Officer in front of her, her words recorded on the man's communicator as he checked her ID and communicator for the message she had received. The entire time she was talking, her hand clenched at her scraped arm. It was beginning to sting at the injection sight but the entire limb was throbbing more and more. Even just the slight amount that had entered her body seemed to have caused something.

"Thank you, Commander. We'll get in touch with you if there is anything more we need," he dismissed. She knew she'd be hearing from someone—these men were sent directly from Admiral Bennet himself.

Nodding once, Vahl'Sai pushed away from the wall she had taken to leaning against. Her arm was beginning to tremble and she couldn't still the actions. Kirk was with Pike when she left the building, Spock a couple of feet back. Bones was just leaving Cadet Moore, the young girl being escorted away with one of the security personnel. "Are you alright?" Pike asked first, narrowing his eyes at the woman's slightly pale complexion. "You…you look sick."

"I…" For the second time, she didn't know what to say. Her vision blurred abruptly, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut as she rocked on her feet. Kirk, who was closest to her, reached out to take her arm in a sturdy grasp.

"Whoa, what happened to you?"

Bones had seen Vahl'Sai teeter on her feet and jogged the short distance to reach them, already holding his tricorder in his hand. Vahl'Sai couldn't seem to answer, her tongue felt dry and her throat was tight. She'd never had so much trouble concentrating than in that moment—her mind was switching between the pain in her arm and the muddles information her senses were trying to send to her brain. There were too many smells, too much noise. Her clothes felt scratchy and her eyes blurred if she opened them.

"What the hell happened?" Bones was demanding. Kirk's hand was still on her shoulder, feeling cool in comparison to her suddenly burning skin.

Then her sleeve was being pulled, exposing the cut that was stinging her arm. Already unstable, the sudden jerk overbalanced Vahl'Sai. Bones and Kirk each grabbed at an arm, but her weight surprised them and the woman ended up taking Kirk down in the process of falling over. She ended up half draped across him, her injured arm still being held by him.

"What is that?" Pike's question was too loud in Vahl'Sai's head, now tipped forward until her chin touched her collarbone. He was referring to the wound on her arm, now open to the air. The cut itself was small, crusted blue-black blood around it after her blood had clotted quickly in reaction to the wound. It was the black spider veins that were branching out across her arm that had drawn his attention. They were stretching in all directions, but mostly up toward her elbow and bicep, toward the rest of her body.

"They must have injected her with something," Bones growled out, his voice much lower but closer as well.

The now familiar hum of Bones' medical devices touched in Vahl'Sai's ears, making her wince. It was worse when he suddenly tipped her head back, forcing one of her eyes open to shine a blinding light into it. "Her eyes won't dilate. Shit…it was a sedative. They tried to give her a damn sedative!"

"I take it that's a bad thing…"

"Sedative's are toxic to her species! It's like injecting straight poison into her blood!"

That explains it. Vahl'Sai grumbled suddenly, trying to talk but finding it rather difficult. "If that is the case, antidotal drugs cannot be administered to reverse the effects."

The men jerked back in surprise when Vahl'Sai growled suddenly, the sound rumbling in her chest. It was followed by a sharp, foreign word. Of all of the men, Pike was the only one who had ever heard her speak in her native tongue and it was oddly concerning. She only ever did that when she was too tired or muddled to translate her thoughts into English.

"What did she say?" Kirk asked, panicked. His leg was starting to fall asleep with her weight on it and she was getting heavier by the minute as her body succumbed to the sedatives.

"Marrow," Pike answered abruptly. Bones' attention snapped over to him. "She said marrow."

"Like bone marrow?" Bones asked, but he wasn't waiting for anyone to answer. Reading Dr. Galls' notes on Vahl'Sai's initial exam and tests, he'd known already that she couldn't be given most human medicines—most medicines for any species, really. Sahvarians had a completely new strand of DNA that made them react to chemicals and medications like a deadly allergy. It wasn't that this sedative would just harm her or make her sick. It would eventually cause her body to turn against itself, going as far as to stop her heart to eliminate it.

Sahvarians' natural immunity came from their bone marrow, usually near the sight of an injury so that the injury was healed first, the rest of the marrow filtered through the body at a slower rate to heal an internal infections.

"Admiral Pike, I have to request permission to take drastic measures," Bones barked out, looking at the older man to his right.

"Granted," Pike stated immediately. If there was one person he trusted with Vahl'Sai's health, it was McCoy. And he was lacking options at this point.

"Spock, I'm gunna need your help with this one," Bones warned, shifting Vahl'Sai's right around to lie on the pavement. Kirk was still stuck beneath her, but he didn't have time to move her or get him out from beneath her bodyweight. Spock moved as though he was going to crouch down to assist, but Bones motioned him to stop, remaining at his full height. "For once, you gotta trust me."

The frown that marred the Vulcan's features was very close to a concerned one.

"Step on her arm. Break it."

"What?" Kirk demanded, his voice raising to a shout. Vahl'Sai showed no reaction to the loud voice near her ear. She was becoming unresponsive.

"I don't have time to explain right now, but this is the only way to save her from the toxins that are killing her right now. Spock, break her arm." Kirk looked appalled as he glanced from his friend kneeling beside him, to the one standing at his full height, looking down at the limp arm that Bones was telling him to step on.

"Doct-"

"Spock, do as he says," Pike ordered. It made him sick to say it, to even think it, but he was putting all of his hope that he didn't just order Vahl'Sai's injury for nothing. Out of all of them, McCoy was the only one to learn about Sahvarian biology. He'd have to put his faith in his abilities as a Doctor.

Spock's expression only changed minutely, but even the three men around him could see that the order left him unsettled. However, he had always done as he was told. Angling his body, he lifted his foot above Vahl'Sai's prone arm. Kirk closed his eyes and looked away, unable to leave because of his predicament. Unconsciously, his hand clenched in the material of her shirt on her other side, away from Spock.

The Vulcan used his full strength when he brought the heel of his boot down onto Vahl'Sai's arm. Immediately, the snap of bone could be heard as he cracked through her radius, leaving the ulna intact. A split second after the snap, Vahl'Sai back arched abruptly as an ungodly shriek passed her lips, fangs barred with her head thrown back. Spock immediately lifted his foot from her arm, crouching down to instead keep her from moving the limb. Kirk tried to stop her as well, but after the initial reaction she fell limp again.

"Care to explain now, Doctor?" Pike asked in a trembling voice.

That noise was something he never wanted to hear Vahl'Sai make, ever again.

"Sahvarians have certain properties in their bone marrow that allows them to heal from injuries that could otherwise kill someone. Her arm should be healed in less than a month, I'd say two weeks by what she's told me, but I needed to break the bone in her arm so that the marrow would start fighting against the sedative they'd used. It's crude, but I didn't exactly have the time to go and get a needle to extract some marrow from her pubic bone."

"Spock," Pike began calmly, though his heart still raced in his chest. "Contact medical."