When the door banged open again Anna flinched, trying to stand up before the shadowy figures could reach her but they grabbed her arms. Lifting her from the floor they moved her restraints to attach to each other instead of the wall. Anna struggled but the tight grip dragged her toward the door.
In the corridor she saw John, in the arms of two androids, and broke from her captors in a moment of stunning strength. She grabbed John, clutching her hands in the fabric of his shirt and noted the way he tried to wrap around her. He grunted in pain when she pressed herself close and Anna immediately released him. Running her fingers over him, as if to detect every bruise or blemish on his body, Anna held back her tears. They threatened to spill over faster when she noted the stuttering wheeze of his cybernetic leg.
"What'd they do to you?"
"Nothing I couldn't endure." His fingers trembled as they touched her face. "Did they hurt you?"
Anna shook her head, "No. They left me be."
"Good." He tried to move but his leg creaked and Anna hurried to slot herself under his arm. "I think they destroyed my leg though. It doesn't hold my weight."
"Then you can't run away from us." Anna and John turned to see Carlisle, flanked by the androids who retrieved Anna. "Much as I hate to break up this little reunion, you're free to go Mrs. Bates."
"What?"
"Didn't your husband get a chance to tell you?"
Anna turned to John, "What did you do?"
"I only agreed to it on terms you weren't hurt and they'd send you home."
"I'm not going anywhere without you, I don't care what you told them."
"Unless you know how to appease the locals keeping their tin supplies from delivering as instructed then you're no good to me." Carlisle grabbed Anna's arm, all but ripping her from John's side. "You're in the way and I don't deal with people who get in the way."
Anna spit at Carlisle, tearing herself away, "If you're taking my husband then you're taking me as well."
"Obviously you're not listening."
"And obviously you've no idea what I do for a living." Anna took John's hand in hers. "I'm a bartender, Mr. Carlisle, and while you may scoff- please do, it'll only prove you don't know me at all- my occupation makes me an incredible people person."
"And what does a bar wench with a personality mean to me?"
"You want to swindle some tin from the poor folk on a planet or moon or asteroid somewhere then I'm the person who can get them to give it up." Anna rolled her shoulders back, "And I can probably guess where you're trying to mine it from."
"Can you?" Carlisle snorted, "And how would you have any idea where we'd be collecting from?"
"Same way I convince people to buy more drinks than is wise or healthy." Anna crossed her arms over her chest, standing in front of John. "I listen really well. I also happen to live and work on Plutonium. It's a way station for anything making trips through the Yorkshire Run and I happen to know the mines in the asteroid belts owned by the Crawley family in that area are tin mines."
Carlisle's face split into his spine-chilling smile, "You do surprise in more ways than one, Mrs. Bates."
"It's part of my innate charm." Anna stuck out her hand, "Do we have a deal?"
"I'm sure you're thinking you could get one up on me in this."
"No," Anna shook her head, "I'm making your job easier. You'd have to go in that direction anyway to drop me off… if that was even your plan."
"I assure you," Carlisle put a hand to his chest. "I had every intention of delivering on the promise I made to Mr. Bates for your release."
"And those androids there weren't programmed to shove me out an airlock on the way to terrorize some colony in the American settlements or something?" Anna noted the slight twitch in Carlisle's lip. "I might've been born in the morning, Mr. Carlisle, but it wasn't this morning and I promise you I'm not as stupid as you seem to think."
"That would be where you're wrong, Mrs. Bates." Carlisle straightened his uniform, "I don't think anything of you."
He lifted his arm, circling his finger in the air, "Load them both up then. We've got a meeting with the Crawley family about their missing tin shipments."
The androids took hold of Anna and John again, marching them forward. With every step, John grimaced in time with the unnatural bends and cracks of his cybernetic leg. Anna tried to reach out for him but the restraints on her hands and the androids' grip on her arms kept him just out of reach.
As they reached the exit to the building Anna hoped for a moment to detect their location by the star patterns. But there were none to be seen. Wherever the government built Wonderland, the atmosphere of the planet choked with smoke. Anna coughed through the haze, feeling the burn to her lungs before the androids hustled them into the rear of a ship.
Her restraints separated enough to allow the faceless androids to secure a belt over her chest. They dropped John in the seat next to her and Anna turned her body to hold his hand. He smiled at her, fingers tightening in her own, and leaned over as far as he could to whisper.
"Why did you agree to come?"
"What were my chances of survival if I didn't?" Anna paused, waiting for the android that passed to attach itself to the far wall, the hiss of the steam port closing before it shut down. "We'd be near friends there."
"It's not like we could run, Anna."
"We might not have to. I got a visitor while we were in there."
"Who?"
"Edith Pelham." John frowned and Anna continued. "Robert's second daughter."
"Robert has a second daughter?"
"I know she's not his favorite but he must've told you about her before." John shook his head and Anna groaned, "What is it with fathers and not realizing that all their children are important?"
"I couldn't say, I only have the one."
"I'd give you a slap right now if I didn't want to kiss you so badly." Anna chided, slipping her fingers between John's. "But the point is that she told me the Brothers Krypton are trying to help us. Or they were trying to help us get out of that place."
"Why didn't they come sooner?"
"I don't know but given what they'd have to fight against I can't say they didn't have good reasons."
"Now what'll they do?"
"I don't know but if Mr. Carlisle's serious about taking us to the tin mines and refineries the Crawleys own then we're on home territory and that gives us the advantage."
John stared at their joined hands, taking a deep breath before speaking again. "And on the off chance that he decides we're expendable before then and we don't make it that far?"
"Then we can both be glad Edith allowed me to make a recording for Jack before she left my cell on her visit." Anna blinked back tears, hoping she could keep them out of her voice but knew the moment she looked at John's face she couldn't. "He has a last message from me about us and that's what we could do."
It took a moment for John to respond, fighting past the lump in his own throat. "I don't regret it you know. I probably should, given what I've put you through, but I can't regret it. No man could regret loving as I've loved you. As I love you."
"Me either. Not for one moment." Anna smiled at John, the tears streaking down her face. "I'd marry you, right here, knowing this would be our fate if I weren't already married to you."
"What a pair we make then."
"What a pair indeed." Anna let out a squeak as the ship rocked them to the side, lifting off the ground. "Let's hope we make it home yeah?"
"Yes."
They kept their hands linked for the remainder of the trip, despite the way it twisted their bodies against the belts and eventually sent one of Anna's legs to sleep. The shuddering moan of the engines signaled their landing and Anna released John's hand, her fingers tingling as blood tried to flow back into the appendages. They shook in their seats when the ship sank into position and then blinked at the bright glare when the rear doors opened.
Androids dropped from their positions, hissing steam as leads disconnected, and hurried to get their prisoners to their feet. Anna walked stiffly, still trying to get all her limps functioning, and tripped so badly near the exit the androids lifted her off the ground to carry her out of the ship. They stopped at the edge of the ramp, maintaining a holding pattern as Carlisle and the androids maneuvering John joined them.
"Well, Mrs. Bates," Carlisle opened his arm toward the gathered group before them, just shadows to Anna when she squinted against the glare. "It's up to you."
"I have to be closer to them."
"Then we'll go." Carlisle grabbed Anna's arm, dragging her from the grip of her androids toward the waiting crowd. "And remember, I hold your husbands life in my hands so one wrong move and he'll need more than a cybernetic leg to replace what we'll take from him."
Anna caught her gasp in her throat, tripping to keep up with Carlisle's long strides as he tugged her behind him. But they soon fell under the lights, allowing Anna to blink the crowd into distinct clarity, and she almost cried with relief at what she saw. Conversely Carlisle did not appear so pleased.
He dropped Anna's arm and she hurried out of his reach. Branson's arms wrapped around her, pulling her away from Carlisle and freeing her wrists from her restraints. Once they hit the ground Anna threw her arms over Branson's neck and almost sobbed into his shirt.
"How'd you find us?"
"Edith." Branson pointed to the woman approaching them. She told us when they moved you and we came right here."
"John needs-" Anna stopped, looking over her shoulder to see two people helping John get away from the ship.
"By order of the government I'm taking the owed shipments of tin." Carlisle pointed toward the ground, "Should you attempt to stop us in our rightful action we'll have no choice but to fire on you."
"Who says you won't fire on us anyway?" Matthew stepped forward, "We no longer recognize the authority of your government and ask that you take your ship and leave us be. If you do so now then no harm'll come to you."
Carlisle opened his hand toward the gathered group, "You expect me to be afraid of a few insurgents? There're enough cells at Wonderland for all of you."
"You'd have to get us there first." Branson hollered over Anna's head, passing her to John as they embraced for the first time since their capture. "And good luck with that."
Carlisle drew his pistol and fired at Branson. Edith shrieked and Anna tugged the woman down to duck the errant shot. But when Branson hit the ground it was because Matthew shoved him out of the way.
Suddenly shots fired from everywhere. Angry workers firing at Carlisle and androids hurrying to respond to the threat on their commander had bolts and balls and bullets flying through the air to mix with the screams and cries of the fearful or the fallen. Anna hit the ground, covering her head, and soon felt the sensation of John trying to shield her body.
A tug on their arms had both hurrying to their feet, bent low as they ran toward the mine for cover. Anna stopped only long enough to pick up a steam-powered repeating rifle and took aim at an android heading for them. The shot struck through the face plate, sending steam and sparks everywhere but the android kept coming.
John wrenched his broken cybernetic leg free and used it like a cricket bat to break the head of the android clean off, sailing over heads to knock against another android. Anna fired on that one, emptying the barrel of the rifle into it until only buzzing and bucking remains signaled any life at all in the fallen android. She passed the gun to John and he used it like a crutch as she took position under his other arm so he could hobble with her into the safety of the mine entrance.
They joined the others huddling inside, some crying out in fear and others in pain. Anna helped John sit and checked over him with quick hands before he stopped her. He brought her knuckles to his mouth, kissing over them, and then her. She returned the kiss, half sobbing.
"We've made a mess of it all haven't we?"
"We're still alive, for the moment, and we'll get out of this."
"How?"
"I don't know but nothing that should've killed us yet has and if we're alive for the moment we can still keep thinking we'll be alive for the next moment." John looked around, "I don't suppose you see another gun anywhere?"
Anna went to check when a roaring sound filled the mine. She covered her ears, squinting past the dust, and then gaped. Another ship landed on top of Carlisle's to crush it to scrap metal. The back opened and three people ran out, guns firing, while another two followed them.
"Who is it?" John leaned over to see but Branson was already at his side, lifting him onto his leg while acting as his right.
"Finally Gillingham decides to show up." He handed Anna a gas-powered pistol, hustling them out of the entrance. "Keep us covered boss?"
Anna followed, firing at any surviving androids, and only managed a half-nod to Charles Blake as he and the other two of the Brothers Krypton hurried to collect the other survivors from the mine. When they approached the back of the ship Anna could not stop tears and smiles at the sight of Ms. Baxter and Mr. Moseley providing cover for those entering the back of their ship. Both shouted to her but she could not hear them over the sounds of the survivors hustling on board.
Seating everyone soon proved impossible so Anna helped John stand to the side. They waited as everyone got on board, the injured taking attention while the dead offered only tears. Blake and Napier carried Matthew between them and Branson left John to help care for Matthew in another corner. But when Gillingham threw a restrained Carlisle inside the doors closed and everyone rocked with the lift off of the ship.
After a few moments the noise in the ship dropped to whispers and Anna had a moment to hold John. He slipped against the wall and Anna panicked a moment before Mr. Moseley helped lower John to the floor. Mr. Moseley patted his shoulder before Anna could shake his hand.
"Thank you."
"You seem to've found yourself a bit more excitement without Mr. Bates." He smiled at them, head ticking to the side, "But we've been looking for you since you got left behind. We feared you might've burned to death in that cargo hold."
"We were lucky not to."
"Interesting definition of 'lucky' Mrs. Bates." Ms. Baxter joined them, holding something in her arms. "But we're glad you're alive."
"How'd you know to come and help?"
"Whatever you said to Mrs. Patmore changed her stance." Mr. Moseley laughed a little, "She immediately steered us right to the Brothers Krypton and offered her services. They took her on and then called us for this the moment they knew where Carlisle was headed."
Ms. Baxter unwrapped her present and Anna covered her mouth in surprise at the sight of a cybernetic leg. "That man's been hunting us for ages."
Anna risked a look over at where Gillingham kept a tight hold on his shoulder. "What'll they do with him?"
"Probably ransom him back to the government. Or just hold him until the war's over." Ms. Baxter worked herself next to John, fitting the leg to the harness. "But he's no longer our worry or yours."
"For which we can all take a few deeper breaths." Blake joined them, holding a hand out to Anna. "We'd like to offer our sincere apologies on the delayed rescue Mr. and Mrs. Bates but we're grateful for all you've done for us."
"Done for you?" John scoffed, "We've not been overly helpful lately."
"You destroyed the RA's torture chambers, taken out enough of their ships that they're crippled and out for the count, and given us Carlisle." Blake lowered his voice, "You've also given us the location of Wonderland, which'll let us destroy it."
"When you put it that way." John interlaced his fingers with Anna's, holding tightly. "We're glad to help."
"How's Matthew?" Anna nodded over at the corner where Branson and Napier were treating him.
"I don't know but I don't think it'll be good news when we reach Plutonium." Blake took a deep breath before trying to smile. "But at least you're going home Mr. and Mrs. Bates and I'm sure there's a little boy who'll be pleased as punch to see you."
"We're grateful." Anna looked from Blake to Ms. Baxter and Mr. Moseley. "Really, we're without words."
"It's all part of the effort to save the galaxy." Mr. Moseley stood, helping Ms. Baxter do the same as she finished attaching the new leg. "We're just glad we could find you alive."
"So are we." Anna waited for them to leave before cuddling up to John. "We're going home John."
"It's well overdue."
"Yes it is."
