Author's Notes: Feeling good in the direction I'm going with this story.
Things were looking up for Bo and her friends. Buzz was released out of the hospital ward the next day due to the advanced medical technology, and word came to the base that Star Command had been successful in overpowering Porkchop's army and had him in custody.
They sat in the cafeteria, catching up on lack of nutrition. On the surface, they all looked pretty worn out and beat up. Woody's arm was back in a cast, and he had a few cuts on his face. Bo was covered with bruises and cuts, especially on her wrists and back. Jessie was the best off by far, but upon the initial explosion out of the transporter ship when they had just arrived at Porkchop's ship she'd retained a nasty cut on the back of her calf. And then finally Buzz had a wicked black eye and other bruises and cuts on his face along with the brand new stitches on his chest.
Booster and XR joined them later, congratulating them on the mission and begging for the four to expound on how they broke in, saved Bo, and escaped. Mira, however, didn't ever show. Jessie supposed it was because she was probably still sour about the whole thing. The cowgirl didn't blame her, as she'd been pretty ticked at her brother in the moment when he'd almost left them behind too.
But Jessie had a sense there was more to it than that.
In reality, it had little to do with being left behind and more Mira's attitude towards Buzz as being the unattainable expectation of what every Space Ranger should be. And although it was ultimately Woody who had orchestrated the Emergency Transportation System trick, Mira believed that Buzz would have done the same thing in that situation. She envied Woody for being able to think at all like Buzz, as it seemed his mental processes had been beyond her understanding.
She had secretly come to see Buzz after his surgery, but Jessie, Bo, and Woody were already there. Her heightened mental powers let her sense some of the thoughts bouncing around in the room. She left shortly after without seeing him at all.
Mira was having a difficult time placing her thoughts and feelings.
She was angry. But was she really? No, she wasn't angry at Buzz or any of the others. If she was angry at anyone it was herself, angry that she'd let herself become so upset over this. When Booster, XR and her ended up back at Star Command, it felt like Buzz had left all over again. She didn't know what to do or how to react. Booster had been the one to meet with Nebula to help organize the siege. BOOSTER of all people.
She did go along with the fleet to help out, and she was the one that saved their sorry behinds. But when it really came down to it, she felt completely insignificant again. All of her insecurities flared up and were exposed again.
Why in the Universe wasn't she exactly like Buzz Lightyear?
Later in the day, Buzz asked around to where Mira was. No one knew for sure, but there were rumblings that she'd already left on another extremely secret mission on her own.
The Star Command fleet would arrive back at base the following day. If Woody had his way, they would've already been headed back to Earth, but Buzz insisted they stay for another day or two after things had calmed down. They would have to come back to Star Command in a few months for the criminal trial for Porkchop anyway.
Bo's health had surprisingly improved vastly, despite everything that had happened. That night the four were allotted quarters to sleep in again, and so after saying goodnight to their boyfriends, Jessie and Bo wandered into the women's quarters.
They were practically giddy.
When they arrived in the room, each of the 6 beds were empty, something that Jessie was immensely grateful for due to her previous experience with ranger roommates. The cowgirl sat on the bottom bunk of their beds while Bo produced a hairbrush from the bag containing a few of her things.
"Do you think things will finally go back to normal?" Jessie romanticized as Bo started to pull out the redhead's braid.
"Can't say for sure, but it's going to be great being home again. I feel like we've been gone for years…" Bo replied.
Jessie's thoughts drifted back to the wanted posters that Bo still didn't know about, and the remnant bands of the Black Cactus. She tried to clear her head of the troubling thoughts, but they kept creeping in.
Upon seeing that Jessie wasn't going to respond, Bo continued. "I wasn't sure if you were coming home at all, to be honest. I thought perhaps you were going to initiate your space ranger career."
"Oh, that…" the cowgirl said distantly. "Actually, I'm not so sure about that anymore. I mean, Buzz finally gave his approval but suddenly I remember everything I dislike about all of… this." She gestured to the otherwise empty room.
Bo nodded, and Jessie continued.
"And if we're ever going to get married, if we ever start a family, well I don't think this is what I want. But at the same time, I really don't want to keep Buzz away from what he loves to do…"
"Maybe you could do what Woody does in helping out occasionally," the blonde suggested.
Jessie twiddled a loose strand of her hair that had escaped Bo's brush. She didn't really know how to respond, because she had no idea what she wanted at this point other than to be with Buzz.
Bo acknowledged that Jessie was uncertain and wasn't going to continue this tangent either. She herself didn't really have anything to say, so they sat in silence as Bo continued to brush Jessie's hair.
"Why did Porkchop kidnap you?" Jessie suddenly was compelled to ask. She knew why, she just wanted to know if Bo knew why. After the blonde let out a deep sigh, she added quickly "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to…"
"Jessie, my mother was a space ranger," Bo started cooly.
This clearly wasn't was Jessie was expecting to hear.
"She married my father from Earth, and started a family there. She was called to this group I've heard described as a cult. I think Buzz brought it up a few years ago, 'The Defenders of the Black Star.'" Bo paused to see if Jessie was following her. The cowgirl gestured for her to continue.
"Well she joined, only because she was forced to. I don't know very much about it, but I do know that it has the power to… destroy everything. Apparently to activate this a sample of blood is needed from each member of the organization. Stoneheart- Alan must not have known about this because he killed my mother and didn't have access to her blood. My father hid me on Earth because for some reason my blood has the capability to activate it too. Porkchop worked under Alan, and he found out about me…" suddenly Bo recalled that surely Alan and Porkchop weren't the only ones that knew about her blood.
Even though Jessie knew bits and pieces of Bo's story already, hearing it from the source made her infinitely more uneasy.
"Bo…" the redhead said timidly.
"I know. Alan wanted to use the Black Star to end the world, but I'm sure that's not what Porkchop wants. I think he wants to create some sort of weapon. Something that has the capacity to wipe out planets, galaxies, Star Command…"
"Are you ok?" Jessie asked when Bo trailed off and let the hairbrush drop from her hand.
"Uhh…" Bo mumbled, snapping out of her trance and shaking her head. "I'm fine, I just-"
In that moment, Bo realized that everything surrounding the Black Star was far from being over.