Chapter 3

---Bones---

After our captors left I took stock of our injuries while Jim tried to talk strategy. Needless to say none of us were very useful; we had absolutely nothing to work with.

"There has to be a way out of this situation," Jim said absently as he once again observed the bars.

"Captain, if we could manage to get a hold of that key ring they were carryin' then it would be no trouble at all. I'd wager they have keys for this entire place there," Scotty offered.

"And just how do you expect to get them? When they come back just say, 'Oh! Could we have the keys please, and while you're at it could you get me a sandwich as well? Thanks!' We are hostages here. They are not going to just hand them to us on a silver platter, Scotty." I was pessimistic at best at where this conversation was headed.

"Maybe they won't hand the keys over, but if we could get one of them close enough we could knock him out and take them."

"Jim, even if we did manage to get a guard stupid enough for this plan to work, what are we supposed to do if we did escape? We have no idea what this complex even looks like, not to mention we have no way to contact the Enterprise once we got out."

We went silent as once again as we heard the jangling of keys and the click of the lock to the outer door. I could hear the soft clanking of dishes, and sure enough a moment later a hooded woman walked into view carrying a large tray with several dishes on it.

We all watched in silence as she placed the trey of dishes, as well as a bag that had been slung across her shoulder, on a nearby desk and proceeded to flick on several lanterns placed throughout the room.

With light now flooding the previously dim room I was able to get a look at her face behind the hood.

She has brown eyes.

She was human, or at least humanoid. I couldn't know for sure without my tricorder. She had an attractive face and I could see tendrils of brown hair peeking out from underneath her hood. She was pretty, I suppose, not a supermodel by any means, but the fact that she had breasts was enough to activate Jim's girl radar and switch him from captain mode to full out flirt mode. It wouldn't take long before…

"Hey there, Beautiful! What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Ah! There it is! The first of the corny pickup lines had begun.

She looked at Jim skeptically for a moment then retrieved the trey she brought from off of the desk. "I don't think you are going to like me as much when you see what I've brought you to eat," she eventually replied as she place the trey on the floor and carefully pushed it under a small gap under the bars.

I reached for the trey and pulled it in the rest of the way, examining the contents.

She's right. It looks terrible.

There was three bowls filled with some kind of sloppy purple soup- it was slimy and chunky all at once.

Oh joy!

It was accompanied by a large speckled yellow root of some kind, and a canteen, set on its side so as to fit under the bars.

"You should have spared us and left the lights off," I said.

She was silent for a moment as if deciding whether she should speak.

"I would have but I wanted to see what I was doing… and what you were doing."

She turned to her bag and began rifling through it "You'll just have to deal with it because it seems we are now stuck with each other, as I have been declared your new babysitter."

Jim ripped off a hunk from the root, the safest looking thing on the trey and took a bite. "Ugg!" He spit it back out, "must be an… acquired taste."

"Nope!" I could hear the smile in her voice from here. "It just tastes like crap- nothing more, nothing less."

From her bag she retrieved a large roll of fresh bandages, a clean rag and a small jar full of some kind of salve which she quickly pushed under the bars as well.

"Here, you can use these to treat your wounds."

Jim flashed his most charming smile at her. "I feel a bit weak. Couldn't you come in here and help me out, sweetheart?" Jim asked his voice filled with innuendo.

"No," she was abrupt. "I'm your warden, not your doctor; nor am I 'stupid enough' to come in there with you." She was frowning at them.

Damn, she heard us.

She walked back to the desk off to the side of the room and settled into the chair behind it. Pulling a laptop out of her pack she proceeded to ignore them and began to type away at the keys.

Silence filled the room while I examined the supplies she had provided me. There was no way they would be remotely sufficient.

"Well, I am a doctor and this is not going to be enough to fix us up. If I could just have my tricorder…" I trailed off in suggestion.

She heaved a soft sigh and looked up at them over the computer screen. "Look that's the best I can do, so you'll just have to make do."

Infernal woman!!!

The next half hour or so continued on in relative silence as I attempted to care for all our wounds with the feeble, primitive supplies provided to me. It was frustrating to know that I could have us in perfect health in less than half the time if we were on the Enterprise.

I glanced up at our keeper once again. She seemed to be deep in thought as she typed away at the keyboard; besides a few grumbled complaints from Jim as I patched him up, that was the only noise to be heard.

It was only a matter of time before Jim got bored with the silence.

"They called you Keys. Is that right?"

She glanced up briefly in his direction before continuing on with her work. After several moments of thought she replied with a soft, "yes."

"That's a strange name. Who names their kid Keys?" I jabbed my finger into one of his wounds. "Ouch!"

Honestly, Jim needs to learn some tact.

She didn't look up. "It's not my real name."

"Ah! So what's your name?"

She looked up this time, brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Huh?" Jim looked very confused.

"Why do you want to know my name?"

"I don't know. Just curious I guess."

"Nobody asks for names here. And nobody goes by their real name either."

"Why not?" Scotty asked.

"That's just the way things are. I guess it's kind of an unspoken rule. This is a place where undesirables from all over the galaxy come to disappear."

I had finished bandaging Jim's wounds and I just sat and watched her. She had a strange expression on her face; one that I was having trouble placing. She looked almost sad.

Does she regret becoming a smuggler? Something is off about her. She doesn't seem to have a place here; it doesn't feel like she belongs. But if that is the case… why is she here?

I decided to voice some of my confusion. "What about you? Are you trying to disappear?"

She didn't answer me, but she looked pained. After a while, she looked away and ran a hand through her hair as it fell in front of her face and then began rubbing at her temple. I heard her whisper something under her breath that sounded a lot like "Why am I talking to you?"

With her hair in the way I couldn't get a good look at her face, but I had the feeling that she was on the verge of tears.

"Are you… alright?" I asked.

She looked at me again and really studied me for a few moments. "You are the strangest people that Sylar has ever brought here. What did you do?"

"We were ordered to apprehend Sylar and put an end to his smuggling operation. He just got the jump on us first." Kirk shrugged.

"Sylar doesn't take prisoners. Not unless they have something he wants. You are obviously not smugglers are you bounty hunters? What could he possibly want from the likes of you?"

"I guess that's what we get for being a part of Starfleet" I answered.

"Starfleet!" She stood up abruptly, upsetting the lamp on the desk and it plummeted to the floor. The shadows covered up the brief glance I caught of her surprised expression and all I could see was her silhouette created by the lights behind her.

I could see her fists clench for a moment before she slammed the screen closed on her laptop. She grabbed it up and rushed out of the room.

I was surprised at her response and was only vaguely aware of Scotty's voice from behind me, "What was that all about?"

What was that about indeed?

At that moment Jim had an epiphany, "Hey! She never told me her name!"