The side of the Widow was only open a few feet or so before Buck slid out with Vale in his arms. "SHE NEEDS HELP! SOMEONE-"
He hadn't even finished his sentence before a group of medical officers ran forward with various instruments and a gurney. Gently taking her out of his hands, they laid her on the stretcher and began to wheel it down a corridor as fast as they could while maintaining caution not to hurt her.
"Where are they taking her-?" he questioned, but a caregiver on the scene grabbed his shoulder.
"We've been here on standby for any injuries you all sustained; we're as prepared to help as we can be."
Slowly, Buck registered what exactly the man was saying and his racing mind began to calm itself. Still stricken with worry, he looked to where Vale had been taken once more before asking, "What ship are we on?"
"The Cardea, one of the finest medical ships in the fourth Militia fleet. We were the closest medical frigate in range when the order to evacuate you all was given." He spoke soothingly, trying to alleviate Buck's concerns. "From what I can gather, you all just escaped a pretty horrible ordeal; but you're safe now. We've warped away, and you're in good hands."
"Where were we being held?"
The officer sighed. "Thone, some kind of weapon testing facility run by Vinson Dynamics."
Buck growled at the notion. "That please isn't some damn weapons facility, it's a damn hell. We're the first ones to escape, as far as I can tell."
Shuddering, the officer grimaced. "Not much we can do about it except spread the word; Thone is IMC controlled, many of them will probably swallow whatever lie they and VD cook up. Still, some of these captives are IMC and ARES Pilots. I can't imagine that they'll be particularly thrilled to hear about the partnership that their superiors have with their kidnappers. Maybe some of 'em will swap to our side."
Buck knew that it was good news, but he couldn't bring himself to care; he knew that he needed to be elsewhere, and nothing else mattered until then.
Vale.
…
The grim beep of a heartbeat monitor was present, as well as the sucking noise of Vale's body trying to force air into its damaged lungs through the oxygen mask over her mouth.
By all accounts, she was completely crushed. Spinal cord was broken, pieces of bone were protruding in various places, and some of them were no longer even there, having been crushed to dust by the pressure applied to them. How she was even breathing, he had no idea.
But the fact remained that she was, and he wasn't about to leave her side until otherwise.
Unfortunately, the medical staff on-duty weren't as hopeful. It seemed like what she'd been given, the bare minimum, was all they were going to spare her. With a gnawing worry in his gut, Buck noticed that they were paying less and less attention to her in favor of other survivors who also needed medical help. While he wasn't against them helping others, he was definitely not about to condone their abandonment of Vale.
One of the doctors noticed him standing next to her, and her face took on a regretful expression as she walked over to him. "Sir, I don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but-"
"Then don't give any!" he replied angrily. "She's still alive, she's right here, why aren't any of you helping her?!"
"We have other patients here," she argued, "patients who have a much better chance of surviving if we help them ASAP. As much as I wish it wasn't the case, she's as good as gone."
Gesturing to Vale, she rattled off her injuries; "Punctured lung, obliterated skeletal structure, spinal cord severed, severe blunt force trauma, the list goes on." She sighed. "We're doctors, not miracle workers. And even if she managed to survive, it would be a doomed and painful existence for the rest of her life. She'd never be able to walk, to feel, she'd need constant assistance for even the smallest of tasks- the most we can do for her is to make her last moments as painless as possible. I'm sorry, but my attention is needed elsewhere. I'll be back to when I-"
Just as she started to walk away, Buck grabbed her arm firmly. Not enough to hurt, but enough to worry the doctor. To her surprise however, he tried a completely different approach.
"Then release her into my custody with one medical officer and the required equipment to stabilize her."
She was nonplussed. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. If you've given up on her, then that's your prerogative. But I still have a card I can play." His voice was low, almost resigned. If she didn't know better, she'd think that he was almost as opposed to whatever option he had in mind than simply declaring it a lost cause.
Reaching into a pouch at his side, he pulled out something that he held up for her to see. It was a small transparent cube with something encased within. Looking closely, she saw a glass coin-like object with an emblem or insignia of some kind on the side. Against her better judgement, she analyzed it further.
A sword against a turquoise hexagon, impaling a broken half of a planet beneath it as other shards fell away. Along the planet's curve read the words, Primus Inter Pares.
She gasped and jerked back in shock. She'd heard rumors about this, some individual or group of individuals who assisted both the IMC and Militia from the shadows. Their intentions unknown, but their power unmistakable.
"The Mark of the Advocate?! How do you-"
"How else do you think I became a Simulacrum?" he cut her off, "Neither the Militia or IMC have employed any standard procedures for it. Ever wonder why so many people seem so wary of us?"
After regaining her breath, the doctor weighed her options. Ignore the ACES Pilot's wishes and simply accept the consequences, or listen, spare a single medical officer with some equipment, and hand the patient off to him while absolving herself of blame or risk of incurring his wrath.
Not a hard choice.
"I'll send someone along to help you gather what's necessary," she muttered, and walked away.
Internally, he gave a breath of relief; he'd gotten this far. Now, he had to call in a favor.
…
The dropship landed carefully, what with the unorthodox nature of their hurry. Dropping the bay ramp, Buck carefully but hurriedly wheeled the gurney carrying Vale out and onto the platform. He looked up, a stormy rain falling to accentuate the dire mood he was in.
He'd left in a hurry, barely having enough time to tell EV where he was going before leaving the Cardea with no one other than a medical officer to monitor Vale's vitals, and a Pilot to fly them to the drop-off point.
Looking back at the medical officer, he waved for him to stay. "That's as far as you can go; I'll handle everything from here."
"Do you want me to wait?" the officer called, but Buck shook his head.
"If all goes well, we'll be provided passage off-world anyway. If it doesn't, then I'm not sure there'll be anything left of me to come back!"
The officer seemed understandably disturbed by the vague and ominous warning Buck had given, but he obliged and waved for the pilot to take off. Not stopping to watch them leave, Buck began his urgent journey to the coordinates provided to him.
The rain was good, it would force most of the population indoors and away from anywhere they could see him; if there was anything that would improve his chances of making it out of this alive, it would be no witnesses.
Making his way to a particularly seedy section of Luma's capital city, Helena, he used his navigational processors to keep track of his coordinates and maneuver through the back alleys accordingly.
All too soon, he was met with a sight that forced him to stop in his tracks. He'd been expecting it, but that didn't stop it from unnerving him.
In front of him stood a run-down warehouse-like building. The door was closed but he knew it would be unlocked. Next to it was a hastily sketched image of the Advocate's emblem, the signal to him that this was the correct place. It would seem that this would be the location they'd chosen; the Advocate always chose somewhere secluded and away from prying eyes, immediately vacating the area once the job was done.
With anxiety for Vale's life at the forefront of his mind, he pushed open the door and wheeled her inside.
He was greeted with the same view he'd received on the last night he'd been human; mysterious people in medical garb, their faces covered to hid their identities. Surgical instruments amongst other high-tech components resided near an operating table.
One of them, presumably the contact for tonight, approached him and spoke in a low and indifferent tone.
"It is unheard of for one to call upon the Advocate. Considering it is usually the other way around, they are most disgruntled by the … change of pace, so to speak."
Buck steadied his nerves as best he could, knowing that one wrong move could prove deadly for both him and Vale. "I humbly apologize, please believe me. But I had no other options if I was to save her life."
The contact looked down at the broken mess that Vale was, their expression unreadable behind the black mask they wore.
"The Advocate is not one for charity. What do they gain out of this?"
"Another opportunity to experiment," Buck replied, as much as he hated to phrase it that way. He knew that the Simulacrum conversion process was still a dodgy one, one that hadn't quite yet been refined enough for a high success rate. It was about a fifty-fifty on whether or not the process worked, and every new Simulacrum made was one step further to standardizing it.
Still, the contact seemed unconvinced.
Buck gave a synthetic sigh. "I also can vouch for her vitality; you know of my record, and what standards I hold myself and other soldiers to." He nodded at Vale. "She exceeds those standards easily, much more than I would have expected her to. And it wouldn't hurt to have two capable Pilots, such as her and myself, indebted to the Advocate."
He waited patiently, knowing that whatever decision transpired would settle both their fates. If they agreed, maybe Vale could still walk out of this.
If not, then neither of them would see tomorrow.
After a moment, the contact turned around and gave a nod to the surgical team. They immediately set to work, one of them coming over and bringing Vale to them so they could move her onto the operating table.
He would have given a sigh of relief if it was possible, but instead decided to simply stand there and observe.
For Vale's sake, he hoped that his luck would hold true.