Anna handed Jack over to Mary, brushing back his hair and kissing his forehead before turning to Mary. "Thank you, truly, for taking him for the weekend."

"I think you're absolutely insane for taking on this conference."

"Which part of it?" Anna stepped back, smiling at Jack.

"The part where you're letting these rebellious individuals meet in your bar." Mary adjusted Jack on her hip, talking to him. "Your mother is a bit mad."

"They need a place to meet and there's nothing wrong with using a dump on a forgotten moon for rebels to meet."

Mary snorted, "It's not as forgotten as it used to be but I'd say your aspiring writer is to blame for that."

"Aspiring?"

"He endeavors to write something much, much deeper than his war correspondence." Mary stepped back, out of the way of someone moving into the bar. "You can read between the lines to see that these things he writes aren't what he wants to write forever."

"We don't want to be at war forever either." Anna waved her hand toward her door, "Hence the meeting here."

"It's still crackers."

"Your father's the one leading it."

"I know who organized the families of the Yorkshire Run because I told him he was mad to do it in the first place." Mary sighed, "I'd better get back or Matthew'll worry and George'll cry if he believes I abandoned him."

"They'd never believe that."

"I'm just impressed you never believe that."

"About John?" Mary nodded and Anna frowned, "I'll have you know I received a message from his just this morning. He and the Brothers Krypton are on their way back. I'll see him before the week's out."

"Goodie. Our budding revolutionaries under the same roof again."

"Just take care of Jack and don't try and make him as apathetic as you." Anna kissed Jack again before hugging Mary.

"I make no promises but given he's not even celebrated his first birthday so I very much doubt he'll be overly affected by what I say." Mary turned to Jack again, "You promise to be better behaved than your mother and I promise not to turn you against her. Agreed?"

Anna kissed Mary's cheek, "You are terrible."

"I am what I am." Mary turned down the stairs, waving behind her while holding Jack to her hip with one hand, "This is what happens when people go absolutely mad."

Anna snorted, walking back inside to address the tables Branson and William already debated moving across the floor. She joined them, ending the debate about positioning, and sending them on their way to organize the tables as she saw fit. With a snort she turned back to the bar.

"Tom, where's the list of drinks for tonight?"

"It's not on the bar?" Branson grunted, tugging a table across the floor while William tried to shove from the other side. "I left it next to the register."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"He's not," William huffed, tripping a bit on a catch in the floor, "I saw it on a shelf in the back pantry. It stuck to the inventory list and fell back there."

"I'll get it." Branson left the table, only just catching William when the table slid out from under him.

"No, I'll get it." Anna pointed to the tables before them. "I don't want either of you killing yourselves if you attempt to prove how manly you are and move those tables alone."

They tried to argue with her but Anna ignored them, making her way into the back. Her fingers on the light switch flickered but did not catch. She sighed, following the path she tread hundreds of times, and opened the door to the pantry.

Again the light failed to catch. Anna hung her head a moment, pushing off the doorway toward the back of the building to check the leads on all wiring. Light from the backdoor blinded her a moment and she squinted before blinking enough to reacclimatize to the increase.

A hand came down on hers, puling her down the back stairs to throw her against the wall. She let out a shout when her lungs expelled all her air to leave her gasping while rough hands held her arms in a punishing vice. The face before her seemed familiar and something in her gut had her arm trying to bend for the pistol tucked in the back of her corset.

"It seems we meet again, Ms. Smith."

"Ms. Smith?" Anna shook her head, "I think you've mistaken me for someone else."

"No, I haven't." The man leaned forward, risking a hand to pull something out of his coat.

Anna reached the gun behind her, drawing it out but his hand grabbed her wrist, throwing it against the building. The gun went off and the man flinched. She brought her knee up, bending him at the waist when she connected with his crotch, and then used the gun at the back of his head.

He fell to the ground and Anna tried to escape back inside the bar. But something struck the back of her neck. When her fingers went to touch it her whole body froze, dropping her sideways on her shoulder before rolling down the few stairs to the ground. She twitched and spasmed, muscles clenching and rippling as shocks ran through her body, struggling to make any sound past her own locked jaw.

His hands grabbed her, lifting her off the ground and over his shoulders to dump her in the back of a ship. Anna still shuddered and jerked over the bed of the vehicle as he drew a cover over her. The convulsions persisted until Anna heard the sound of the airfield, the contractions leaving her in odd positions from moment to moment as her body succumbed to the influence of whatever stuck to the back of her neck.

Then it stopped. As quickly as it began the feeling on her neck ended but her body still moved. The cover ripped off from over her and the man's hands grabbed at her ankles, pulling her across the bed and back over the man's shoulders.

The bouncing, flailing motions of her body seeking to regain control of itself had her confusing their progress so she had no idea how far they moved. All she knew were the sounds of ships, the feeling of a belt strapped around her chest and waist, and the weightlessness that came with a departure from even the weaker gravity of her rocky moon. Even the tilt of her head only showed her the stars.

Her mind flailed for explanations while her body flopped useless and rubbery as if it was no longer her own. Floating limbs in her peripherals had her struggling for enough muscle control to see what was going on until a hum buzzed through the vessel, leaving her arms and legs to flop back to the floor. But the motion jolted her enough to align her head to gain a better understanding of where she was.

Or, to her frantic and anxious mind, where she was not.

The click of a belt alerted her to the man coming closer to her, holding something to the back of his head as he crouched just within her eye line. If she had use of her limbs Anna would have punched the sneering smirk off his face but when he grabbed her hand it was all pins and needles before hitting the seat next to her when he dropped it. With a shake of his head and a wag of his finger he started speaking.

"You must've forgotten me." Anna tried to move her lips but nothing responded to the orders of her brain. "Your body is still recovering from the taser and it'll take at least another hour before whatever horrible thoughts you're having about me up there come to fruition."

He tapped a finger to her forehead, "It must be driving you mad to keep it all buttoned up. Especially given how you talked to me last time."

Anna only grunted against her teeth.

"You told me all about Wuthering Hydrogen, said you'd withstand whatever I had coming for you." He waved his hand, changing the position of his hands on the back of his head for whatever he held to his neck. "I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to club me with your pistol but I would've been disappointed if this had been easy."

Anna grunted again, devoting all the energy she had to moving her jaw at the very least.

"The woman who hides john Bates from those he owes a great debt is a woman not to be underestimated." He shook his finger at her again, "But we think you know where to find him. And, if not, then he'll come to find you and that's what the RA wants. John Bates back in his box and you'll help us do that."

"I'd… rather… die." Anna finally intoned, though the man's scrunched face had her repeating it with all the strength in her frame. "I'd… rather… die."

"That's not the spirit we want to hear from our prisoner." He flipped something out of his pocket, placing a lead on one of her temples and then the other. "It doesn't make me very happy and you're about to learn what happens when I'm not happy."

Anna did not respond or even try to as he fidgeted with something before meeting her eyes again.

"You'll tell me everything and then John Bates and I can have a little chat. I'm sure he's missed me since I know you probably didn't even tell him last time that Mr. Green said hello."

A steady vibration echoed in Anna's skull and her eyelids fluttered. Her whole body grew heavy, resting on the restraints keeping her in the seat. The last thing she saw before blackness overtook her mind was Mr. Green leering at her.

A splash of cold water doused Anna awake and she gasped. Water dripped over her face, blinding her to send her vision hazing. She thrashed her head, blinking rapidly to clear the water from her eyes, and tried to rub her eyes clear.

But when she attempted to move her arms they snapped back in place above her head. Anna craned her head back, squinting against an unforgiving white light beating above her head. She almost gasped to see the crackling and clanking chains attached to the pipes and bars dangling in shadow over her to let her hang to the floor.

"It's a bit old fashioned." Anna turned her head back down, twiddling her fingers to feel them. Mr. Green walked out from the shadows, pointing above Anna. "Must seem very medieval to rely on chains and pipes but it's effective and the RA's all about effectiveness."

"Then why'd they send you?" Anna taunted, swinging in the chains. "I don't see what's so effective about kidnapping me."

"We need John Bates, I told you that."

"What makes you think I know anything about your precious Mr. Bates?" Anna paused, "Is this personal?"

"What?"

"A man doesn't usually capture someone and hang her from the ceiling because they're simply looking for a mate to join them at bridge."

"John Bates owes a debt to the Rebel Alliance and I'm making sure he pays it."

"Is that why you black badged your way to Plutonium?" The corner of her mouth twitched upward in a smile. "That's right, I knew you weren't government."

"No," He wagged a finger at her, coming closer while holding a tube between his arm and body. "You wouldn't know unless he told you."

"I'm not an idiot, Mr. Green. I can put two and two together since after you left real government agents dropped by."

"Who?"

"None of your business." Anna tried to shrug but the motion sent pain into her shoulders from her dangling position. "Besides, I thought this was about your Mr. Bates."

"It is."

Anna tsked her tongue against her teeth, "I don't think this interrogation's going to go the way you want it to."

The tube at his arm expelled cold water, dousing Anna again. It pushed her back, keeping her body at an angle with the force of the water driving air from her lungs and sending her body into tremors at the temperature. After a moment it stopped and she gasped, trying to pull air through her chattering teeth.

"This interrogation's going to go like this," He walked next to where she swung back into position, grabbing her ankle to abruptly stop her pendulum swing. "I'll ask a question and you'll answer honestly. When I'm finished I'll let you down and dry off. If you lie to me, or give me anymore cheek, I'll spray you with water until your body tinges blue."

"Can't answer your questions if my teeth chatter." Anna gritted her jaw to stop the clack of her teeth, "And I don't know anything."

"I think you do." Green stepped back a pace, "See you might be wondering what took me so long to return to your little shithole of a planet."

"It's a moon, actually."

He cranked the tube and another shot of water drenched Anna. "Don't get cheeky."

"Since you rely on your forces, I will show you mine." Anna bit out. When Green frowned she rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything about history?"

"Enough to know that when a woman like you is in a position like the one you currently occupy it doesn't end well for you." He snorted, "You don't have the endurance for what this might mean."

"My courage is as great as yours."

He stopped, "That's too god to be off the top of your head."

"It's not. Neither of them are mine."

"Then who'd you steal them from? Your husband, John Bates?"

Anna bit down, "Catherine di Medici."

"Who?"

She sighed, "You're really ignorant, aren't you?"

Green shot her with another blast of water, shorter than the time before. "Will she be who you name your next child after? You named your son after his father." He snickered at the look Anna could not prevent taking shape on her freezing face. "That's right, I spent the months between now and our last meeting combing through medical records."

"What?" Anna's teeth chattered, "Why?"

"Because your husband's got this cybernetic leg that needs touch ups and given there aren't many cyborgs looking for medical service all over the galaxy I thought, 'why not track him through his appendage' and there it was, buried in the code of a thousand medical records." Green sneered, "The record of birth for one John Smith Bates."

Anna did not answer, her ears picking up a noise under the drone of Green's voice. She tilted her head, scrunching her face as if it would help her drown out Green's voice and focus on the sound. Then she realized what it was.

"His father, John Bates, listed as present and active at the birth. Then, the marriage license, between one Anna May Smith and one John Bates. What? Didn't want your bastard child growing up a bastard?"

Anna flicked her legs, trying to continue the swing from the last dousing of the hose and realized she needed another blast. With a shiver down her spine she readied her response, "You mean like you must've? I can't imagine any father wanting to stick around when you'd obviously grow up to be such a sodding waste."

The water hit her hard, throwing her back on the chains around her wrist. They cut into her skin but Anna called over the deafening rush of water. "And your mother probably didn't do much more than have you to get rid of you."

Persisting through the deluge Anna waited for Green to cut the water. She coughed, spitting the metallic taste from her mouth. "I'd even hazard she asked for the scissors herself to cut herself free of her unwanted parasite."

Green let the torrent loose, flinging Anna back farther than before. She scrunched her face, trying to stop water flying into her mouth and nose with her eyes tight shut. Her ears strained to hear above the water for the noise that meant her freedom.

When the water stopped Anna swung forward, almost comically, as she tried to add a bounce at the end of each peak. Green grabbed her ankle again, jerking her to a stop that covered the screeching groan above them. His voice hissed at her, face red and fingers shaking against her skin.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I think I do."

"You don't." He released her, "You're going to be in a great deal of pain. And when I finish with you, I'll take your husband and do the same to him. When that's done your son is next."

"You leave Jack alone."

"That's not how it works."

"It is now." Anna jerked downward and the pipe holding her to the ceiling ripped free.

With Green right beneath her Anna aimed for him, landing heavily on his chest. He slipped on the slick floor, knocking the air from his body. Anna punched forward, knocking her metal manacle against his face to send his head knocking against the cement.

As he groaned she dug around in his pockets, finding the key to free herself. Two clinks unlocked the manacles and Anna rubbed her wrists for only a moment before wrapping the chains around Green's throat. She squinted upward again, tossing the end of the chains over a more secure pipe and using all her strength to haul his body up.

His legs flailed, consciousness fighting to resurface as Anna linked the chains through another pipe on the wall and lock them in place with one of her manacles. She avoided his feet, dancing to the side, and stared up at him. He clawed his fingers against the chains, reaching one out to her but Anna shook her head.

"You threatened me, which was bad enough, but you also threatened my husband. More than that, you threatened my son. I don't forgive that kind of foolishness." Anna examined her handiwork, "You won't die quickly this way. You'll have a lot of time to think about how stupid this all was."

"You can't get off this base without me."

"I think I can."

He worked out a choking laugh, "You don't even know where you are."

Anna backed away slowly, taking the door into a metal lined hallway. She took the hall to the end, pushing at the door there. Craning her head back she saw the levels of stairs above her head.

Starting her ascent she tried to keep pace, stopping near the top to catch her breath. But when she opened the door there her mouth dropped open. Empty space greeted her, dark and unforgiving, and Anna realized where she was.

Floating on an asteroid field. Far from the constellations she knew so well. Far from anyone who could help her. Anna sagged against the door. She was never going home.

Running back down the stairs Anna burst through the door to the makeshift torture chamber. She slapped Green's leg, to get his attention. "Where the hell are we?"

"Asteroid outpost for the RA. Only they know where they are."

"When are you reporting in?"

"Not until I get John Bates. If I do before then they'll blow this place."

"What?" Anna stepped back, running a hand through her hair.

"They don't want to risk us getting found out."

She paced to the wall and then back to him. "How do I leave?"

"Tell me where John Bates is."

"Never." Anna spit at him, "I wouldn't give him to you for my life on any day of the week."

"Then you'll die here with only me for company." He grunted, "For the next few minutes anyway."

"No," Anna held herself taller, "I'm not that weak."

"You're the Lady."

"The what?"

"Isabel Archer," He coughed, "I'm not as ignorant as you believe."

"The fiction story? The woman caught between two Machiavellian schemers?"

"That's right." Green struggled against the chain, his face reddening to a purple. "You're caught between two large objects: the RA and the government. They'll crush you because you're alone and abandoned."

"You're wrong. I'm not alone." Anna walked back to the door, "I've got more spine than to just give up and believe you."

"You're alone here, Ms. Smith."

"No, you're alone." Anna shut the door, proceeding back to the stairs, "I'm a lady to him and he'll find me."