There was something strange going on with Tassiter. He was acting almost… decent. Sure, he'd drop a scathing remark every now and again, but it lacked any real venom. While this new occurrence should have made for a nice change of pace, it only served to heighten Timothy's growing sense of paranoia. Tassiter's abrupt mood change combined with Angel's revelation about his bodyguard's extracurricular activities certainly weren't helping Timothy sleep at night.

Instead, he now found himself occupying the office every evening as he frantically worked to copy down anything relevant he could find on Jack's computer. This process was rendered painfully slow by his need to print it all out. Any kind of digital storage was out of the question with Angel and her strange deus ex machina powers right down the hall. All it would take was one little inquisitive peek at a storage drive and she would know things that Jack – and now Timothy – had been keeping from her. Some of a parent's secrets were things that should never be found out by their children… or anyone else for that matter.

It had become increasingly apparent to Timothy that his performance wouldn't be able to stand up to the scrutiny that a man in Jack's position was subjected to. Tassiter was asking questions he didn't know the answers to, trying to manage the station was quickly overwhelming him, and Nisha was bound to come back making offers Timothy was sure he would find it hard to refuse. Jack had been an engineering genius; Timothy a failed actor. The long con was never a part he'd signed up to play; he was only supposed to be stand-in. In short: shit had gone past hitting the fan and was now spraying him in the face.

Everything related to Angel was the first to be copied. If Timothy had to leave in a hurry, he was making sure that no evidence of Angel was left behind for anyone to find. Since replacing Jack, he had felt a certain sense of responsibility for the waifish young girl. Admittedly, this was because he was technically responsible for the situation. While her life under Jack could hardly be called healthy, Timothy shuddered to think of what would happen if Tassiter got his bony talons on her.

Of course, Jack's plans involving Pandora weren't much better either. Bandits were expendable, and everyone on Pandora was a bandit as far as Jack was concerned. Human experimentation, forced labor, authoritarian rule: nothing was too much for the self-proclaimed Hero of Pandora. The painstaking effort that had been put into planning the destruction of anyone who opposed him could almost be considered impressive... except for the horrific results.

Scanning through what was left of the files he had yet to delete, Timothy came across a folder simply labeled 'Double The Fun.' Assuming he finally discovered Jack's porn stash, Timothy braced himself and opened the file. Wonder if I'll find some of Moxxi in there. Instead, the folder's contents were decidedly less sexy than anticipated. The image that topped the page was at once both alien and familiar. It was him… or at least it used to be, before a dozen different surgeries turned Timothy into a Jack-double. The photo was one of many that had once filled his acting portfolio. His average appearance combined with the constant breaking of his voice had ensured that his career had been a less than stellar one. Yup, definite upgrade.

Continuing through the file, Timothy found pages of notes that had been made by the doctor responsible for his surgeries. Apparently, his bone structure was over ninety-eight percent identical to Jack's. No wonder they chose me: modifying skin – easy; bones – not so much. It also helped that Timothy had an amazing gift for recall. Emulating others came easy to him, and after only a couple of months of recordings and study, he had no problems stepping into Jack's shoes.

With one last glance at his old self, Timothy deleted the contents of the folder. No one cared about Timothy Lawrence anyway.

Continuing to pick his way through the folders for a time, Timothy had just deleted the blueprints for the BNK3R when another caught his eye. Wait, The Warrior? Curious, he opened the file and found a satellite photo of what appeared to be a mountain range. Coordinates had been added on the map and a specific volcano had been circled. The next page was a picture of an object he didn't even recognize: a cone formed from three separate pieces of stone inset with purple sweeping lines. The words 'Vault Key' were captioned below. Seriously, another Vault? After his experience on Elpis, Timothy was hardly enthusiastic about the prospect of dealing with another one. Ever since his encounter with the last one, Jack had taken a turn for the worse. Although, it could just as easily have been the sucker punch that ruined his face. Toss up, really.

Clicking to the next page, a rough sketch dominated the page. Huh, kinda looks like a kraggon – hardly a 'Warrior.' Scrolling further down however, quickly convinced him otherwise. Jack had drawn the Warrior to scale and the creature towered over a small village of stick figures set ablaze. Well, that doesn't look good.

Tassiter lounged at his desk, his legs crossed at the knee as he waited for the ECHO to connect. His fingers drummed together in anticipation and a rare smirk pulled at the edge of his lip. His mood was the best it had been since he had come to this station, though the blank metal walls of his office failed to notice. But that would soon be changing.

John's face shimmered into existence over the desktop as the ECHO device connected his call. "Oh hey, it's you. I'm kinda busy at the moment, Tassiter, so can we make this quick?"

"Oh, I'm planning on it. I found a couple of anomalies in the budget that I need you to look over."

John's hands came up to rub at his temples, "Look, we went over this last time: it's the accountant's job to do the accounting; it's my job to manage the station. If you have any questions about the accounts: Ask. The. Accountants."

The smirk on Tassiter's face widened into an almost predatory grin. "You know, I'm starting to think that you don't even know what the accounts are – not that it matters. I've already located all of the information that I need. Nigel should be there with the paperwork shortly."

John arched a brow at that. "And you felt the need to call me about this whyyy?"

"Common courtesy, of course." Tassiter leaned forward in his seat as the sound of a door sliding open filtered through over the call. John's image looked away expectantly as the heavy footfalls of Tassiter's servant echoed through the office. This really was disappointingly easy, he mused. Jack wouldn't have fallen for such a simple ploy. "Well, I suppose I should leave you to the rest of your day. Goodbye, Timothy."

"Yeah, talk to ya-" Timothy's attention suddenly snapped back to screen. Anything he would have said was cut off as he heard a mechanical whirling sound. Tassiter's bodyguard stood a few feet in front of his desk, the folder of papers now discarded. Instead, Nigel stood planted with one arm grasping the forearm of the other as it's hand began to rapidly spin.

Oh shit.

Timothy barely had time to drop behind his desk before the roar of gunfire filled the room. Bullets embedded themselves into the glass behind the space his body had just occupied as he tried to scrunch up against the back of the desk. His wrist passed over his digistruct module and the wrist-laser phased into existence over his forearm. Pinned behind the – surprisingly bulletproof – desk, Timothy could do nothing but wait out the onslaught. He has to run out of ammo sooner or later.

The gunfire finally ceased, and Timothy prepared to make his move. However, his attempt to rise up from behind the desk was quickly thwarted as the object in question suddenly went flipping over his head. Exposed, Timothy wasted no time in unloading several shots from the laser-shotgun into the chest of his assailant. Trails of smoke rose from Nigel's chest as the bodyguard's hulking form collapsed heavily to the ground. Timothy looked back as his desk's new position ten feet away, impressed despite himself.

Timothy didn't even have time to congratulate himself on the victory before he heard a familiar whirling sound from behind. Oh, come on! Beneath the smoldering remains of his opponent's suit, the shine of armor plates peeked through as he raised his hand once more. Timothy ran toward the edge of the platform as a slew of bullets chewed into the airlock windows behind him. Vaulting over the pool's railing, he splashed into the water below. Where the fuck did Tassiter get this guy?

Scrambling to push himself out of the water, Timothy backed up into the shadow of the wall as far as he could. Tugging up a soaking sleeve, he relentlessly jammed his finger into the activation button for his cloaking device. A brief shimmer of light engulfed him for a moment until the watch began to throw off little sparks and flickered off. ShitshitSHIT. Timothy ducked lower into the wall as he heard the bodyguard clambering to his feet.

How the hell was he supposed to get out of this? The cloak wasn't going to work and he didn't fancy his chances going toe-to-toe with a behemoth that had a gattling gun for a hand. Besides, if several laser-shotgun blasts to the chest didn't put him down, Timothy was pretty sure nothing else he had would. That only left the option of running. Besides, they say that discretion is the better part of – who the hell am I kidding – that guy's friggin' scary.

Well if he couldn't disappear, he could at least give that thing more targets to shoot at. Timothy phased three holographic projectors into the palm of his hand. Not daring to risk a glance over the edge, he rolled them off his fingertips until they hovered in the air around him. It was slightly disconcerting to suddenly find himself face to face with three exact copies. They even gave off the appearance of being wet. The three looked at him expectantly as they waited for orders.

"Attack!" Timothy directed his imaginary minions. The three gave a nod of acknowledgment to the command and fanned out to the edges of the pool.

"Hey, you know you want this!"

"Gotta shoot better than that, Kiddo!"

"One day, you too can fight like me!"

As Timothy started his mad dash to the exit, a detached part of his mind snorted at the fact that Jack had spared at least one expense after all. Those were the best lines he could come up with? The distraction at least proved effective since he was able to make it to the heavy office door without taking a bullet in the spine. He had just managed to reach the door when the electrical burst of metal signaled the destruction of one of the doubles. Welp, there goes my college tuition.

In his rush, Timothy bodily slammed into the door seconds before it slid open. Stepping out into the hallway, he hesitated for a moment until it occurred to him to put as much distance as possible between him and his attacker. Raising his wrist-shotgun, he blew a hole into the door's access panel. He hoped that would be enough to slow that guy down as he ran down the hall.

His secretary leaned over with an unsettled look as Timothy went skidding past the front of her desk. "Sir, was that gunfire I just heard, and… why are your clothes wet?"

"Nevermind that, lock down that room and get every security bot we have up here! I want so many guns shoved up this guy's ass he'll look like a modern art sculpture!"

She jumped at his command and by the time she had looked up from her terminal, Timothy was already gone.

The entire elevator ride to his apartment floor was a nerve wracking one. Every floor he passed only served to heighten his sense of dread. He couldn't be sure that there wouldn't be a less than warm welcome waiting for him once he reached his destination. As the elevator doors dinged his arrival, he let out an audible sigh of relief when he peeked out from behind the side walls to see no one waiting for him.

He ran haphazardly towards his apartment door, shoes squelching with every step. That's it then. Time to bow out and get out. At least Timothy had already been quietly preparing for his inevitable departure. This was just forcing his hand. However, as the expectant eyes of his 'daughter' looked up from her latest book and appraised his soggy appearance, he realized that there was still one last detail he hadn't considered yet.

"You're all wet," Angel observed.

"So I am," Timothy agreed, distracted. He paced a wet trail across the floor, at odds with himself. On the one hand: if he left her here, Tassiter would discover her 'special talents' and her life would be over. On the other... well it would only be a matter of time before she realizes that 'daddy' isn't around anymore. At least the second option would give her a chance.

"Look Angel, we need to-"

Anything he might have said was interrupted as the station's PA system kicked in: "Attention Hyperion personnel, this is President Harold Tassiter speaking. As of this moment, Helios Station is placed under emergency lockdown. Per section thirty-one of the station's guidelines, you're all to proceed to your designated waiting areas until further instructions. Security personnel will be going through the station to verify all worker's clearance and identification cards. Failure to comply with this will result in your automatic termination."

Angel worried her lip in the silence that followed the announcement. "Dad, what's going on?"

"Pack some clothes. We're leaving." Timothy made his way towards his room to do just that.

Angel trailed behind. "What do you mean? I just got here."

"I mean: we are leaving this station, now." Timothy knew he was getting short with her, but they didn't have time for the usual wholesome chat.

With an exasperated sound, Angel grasped his wrist to get his attention. "But why?"

Timothy spun around and grabbed her shoulders. "Because Tassiter is trying to kill me! Now please just do what I say and get ready to go."

Angel wordlessly nodded and ran into her room. With that, Timothy did the same and pulled a pile of clothes out of the closet at random. Hurriedly striping out of his wet clothes, he tore through the pile, mentally checking off every article of clothing he might need. In the end, the jumble of clothing he wore covered everything it needed to. Speaking of cover… Timothy yanked out a drawer where Jack had kept his more 'functional' items. A mess of random storage decks and a shield clattered onto the bed as he dumped the contents of the drawer. Too pressed for time to inspect them further, he clipped the shield to his belt and threw the rest into his growing duffel bag.

"Angel, we need to go," he called, zipping up the bag. "You ready?"

"Almost!"

Timothy fought to keep himself from running as he left his room. Not bothering to knock, he found Angel in her room packing clothing into a large dufflebag… neatly. Timothy's hand nearly carved a hole in his forehead as he tried to keep his voice level, "Angel, we don't have time for folding our clothes when we are running for our lives."

Angel didn't glance up from folding a pair of socks. "Well, we aren't going anywhere until we get rid of the security guards outside the door."

This revelation stopped Timothy up short, "Wait, they're already here? How do you know?"

"Cameras," she shrugged, and only then did Timothy notice the glowing patterns on her arm. Oh yeah… that's a thing.

Maybe having Angel with him was more useful than he had first expected. "So, can you get rid of them?"

Angel cocked her head to the side, "When I'm done packing-"

Timothy cut her off, "You hack, I pack."

Angel stepped back from the bed with a nod and closed her eyes. The markings on her arm began to glow even brighter. Timothy just looked in silent wonder until he remembered that he was supposed to be packing. Throwing her clothing into the dufflebag with much less care than she would have probably appreciated, he quickly digistructed the bag along with his own before she could reprimand him. Angel finally opened her eyes and the glowing on her arm ceased.

"C'mon Angel, tell me you got something."

"I sent the security guards a false notification that you were sighted on your way to the Research and Development level. They should be entering the elevator… now."

Timothy breathed a sigh of relief, "Perfect, now let's go." He grabbed Angel's hand and began rushing to the apartment's exit before a sudden thought occurred to him. "Oh, one last thing."

Turning back down the hall, Timothy made his way back to the office. Opening the door, he took one last look around the room before his arm passed over the storage deck on his leg. Hefting the trusty laser-shotgun, he blasted the computer that sat on the desk. Couldn't grab everything, but at least Tassiter can't either. Turning back to where Angel stood silently behind him, he waved away her questioning look. "I'm not big on sharing."

The two of them made their way back to the entrance. Timothy peeked down the hallway to find it... empty. Of course he expected it to be empty, but it was still a little hard to wrap his mind around the inexplicable things Angel was capable of. Arriving at the elevator, Angel reached out to call it back up before a sudden realization made Timothy pull her hand away.

"Wait – don't. We can't call the elevator." Shit! Now what?

"Uh, yes we can. I can just -"

"No. Think about it, we're under lockdown. If the elevator starts moving, they're going to check to see who's using it." Timothy pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried think of an alternative route and failed. The elevator was the only way out of this wing, as per Jack's design, and that elevator wasn't here right now. On the other hand, they didn't necessarily need the elevator… "How are you with heights?"

A shrug. "Mmm I'dunno."

"Okaaay well I hate heights so I'm really gonna hate this next part." Timothy dug his fingers into the crease of the door and gave Angel a nod. "I need you to shut down power to the door I so can open it."

"But won't that alert them that we're using the elevator?"

"Possibly, but it won't tell them where we're going. We'll travel down the shaft."

Angel looked skeptical, "That sounds… difficult."

As the magnet locks for the door switched off, Timothy pulled the doors open and stepped off the edge and into the space. Floating in the center of the shaft, he twisted around to grin back at Angel, "Or easy. There are no gravity generators in the shaft, makes it easier to operate the elevator."

Angel stepped off the edge and into weightlessness, "Cool."

Timothy made the mistake of looking down the long shaft below them, "Nnnope, uncool. Very uncool!" Squeezing his eyes shut to fight off the vertigo that threatened to paralyze him, Timothy reached out his fingertips until they touched the nearest wall. The rational part of his mind knew he wasn't going to fall to his death in zero gravity, but fuck that.

"Are you going to be okay?" Angel cartwheeled past looking significantly less concerned than their situation should have called for.

"Yeah. Sure. Fine. A-Okay over here." Timothy tried to keep himself from looking anywhere but the wall directly in front of his face. "Only twenty-three floors to go…"

"Where are we going anyway?"

"The last place they'll be looking for us."

"Your office?" Angel hissed at him when Timothy pulled her out of the shaft and into the hallway. "Dad, this is the first place anyone would think to look for you."

"Not if they already found me here." He knew it was a risk, but he was running out of options and the office entrance had a fast travel station. "With any luck, this'll be our last stop anyway."

The hallway leading up to his office looked like a war zone. Pieces of debris and things of a… less identifiable nature lay strewn about the once pristine entryway. The dismembered torso of a loader bot tainted the waters of the fountain with hydraulic fluid. Not wanting to take any chances, Timothy gestured at Angel to stay behind as he crouched low and quietly made his way to the top of the steps. Once there, he was greeted by… nothing. No guards, no bots, no people: damn if his luck wasn't finally kicking in.

"See Honey, everything's under control," he called back, until the sudden clatter of metal had Timothy scrambling for his gun. Advancing slowly towards the sound, Timothy found himself face-to-face with a very familiar person.

"Hello, Sir," his secretary began as she wrestled a leg formerly belonging to a loader bot off her desk. "Didn't expect to see you again… alive."

Timothy lowered his gun as he internally breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, wasn't expecting that either. So, what the hell happened here?"

"Well, Sir, after I sealed the room and called security, Nigel decided to let himself out," she gestured down the hallway and Timothy followed her gaze towards the blast door that had once barricaded his office now torn off its tracks. Again – where the fuck did Tassiter get this guy? "After he escaped, there was a bit of a struggle with security until President Tassiter ordered a stand down."

Timothy was starting to wonder if a talent for understatement was required for her position. Given how calm she was through this whole situation, Timothy figured this wasn't exactly her first rodeo. "Yeah, I can certainly see that."

The two of them lapsed into an awkward silence, broken only by the spastic tics of the loader bot in the fountain. Both looked around expectantly as if waiting for something else to break the tension. As Angel finally closed in behind him, Timothy finally remembered the purpose of their little visit. "So… uh, we were just leaving. You don't mind if we use that fast travel station, right?"

The secretary shook her head, "Not at all, Sir. You are still my boss for the moment."

"Great!" Timothy holstered his gun. "Thought I was gonna have to – I dunno – kill ya or somethin'. Y'know, you're alright uh… uh…" Timothy snapped his fingers as he once again tried to remember his secretary's ever elusive name.

"It's Megan, Sir."

"Megan – Meg," he amended. "Right, so we'll just be on our way." Without further distraction, Timothy steered Angel to the fast travel station. "Say goodbye to the helpful lady, Sweetie." Angel gave a weak wave that Meg awkwardly returned as to two of them reached the fast travel station.

Looking at the station, Timothy immediately noticed a problem. Why is this thing flashing red? As the holopad came to life, he was not greeted with the usual 'touch to begin' symbol, but rather a red 'no access' symbol. This complicates things. "Angel, what's going on with this thing?"

Angel stepped forward as her arm began to glow and laid her palm on the control panel. Timothy tried to hover between her and the secretary in a vain attempt to block the view. Angel's calm expression quickly contorted into a grimace before finally settling into a frown.

"We can't use the fast travel network. With the station on lockdown, it's been placed into standby mode. I unlocked the machine, but that can't help us if there's nothing to connect to."

"Oh, come on!" Timothy took his frustration out on the machine with a savage kick. Breathing hard through his nose, he knifed his hands through his hair for some composure. "Okay. It's okay. It's fine. We'll just take a ship. I mean, it's a friggin' space station, there's bound to be a ton of them just sitting around. Right?"

Behind him, the secretary cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, Sir, but all shuttle traffic has been put on hold due to the lockdown."

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" The women flinched around Timothy at his colorful response.

Megan quietly interrupted his seething, "A-actually, there may still be a way for you to take a ship off the station."

...And suddenly Timothy's mood was much improved, "Really, and what might that be?"

"The eridium transports that go to and from Pandora run on an automated system. Even during a lockdown, they should still be active."

Timothy turned to Angel, "Can you make it happen?"

"If we can get aboard the ship, it shouldn't be difficult for me to alter the launch time," Angel confirmed.

"That's what I like to hear," Timothy turned back to Megan. "You have been a wonderful help Meg. I'd totally give ya a raise, but yeaaah – not really my department anymore. If you ever need a recommendation though…"

Megan smiled, "Thank you, Sir."

Timothy and Angel began to make their way back to the entrance of the elevator shaft of doom when he turned back towards Megan, "One more thing, if you're ever ahhh-around sometime, then maybe we could go out for a drink – or anything really if drinking isn't your thing."

Megan blushed at that. "I think I'd like that, Sir – um – Jack."

Whipping out two thumbs up, Timothy felt a tug at his collar before he fell back into the weightlessness of the elevator shaft. "Really, Dad?" Came Angel's exasperated voice floating somewhere behind.

"Hey, priorities," Timothy waved off her impatience. "Just 'cause I'm running for my life doesn't mean I can't make time for the ladies."

The loading bay was flush with activity, something Angel was very quick to point out when she hacked into the security cameras. "Dad, there is no way in heck that we can make it across the loading bay without being seen. There are security guards everywhere."

"No sweat, Sweetie. I've got this part covered." Hopefully. Timothy flicked his wristwatch a couple times before activating the cloaking device. He turned back to Angel as his body shimmered out of existence, "Pretty nifty, riiight?"

Angel's hands gestured up and down her body, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh. Right." Timothy thought for a moment before sizing up her slim figure. Well, it's not like it only fits a certain size, right? "Okay, get on my back: we'll piggyback it."

Angel seemed unconvinced with his logic. "We're going to risk everything… on a piggyback ride."

"You have any better ideas?" When that garnered no response, Timothy waved her over, before realizing the futility of the gesture. "Thought not. Now: on the back."

With a heaved sigh of protest, Angel reached out blindly until Timothy grasped her hand and ducked low enough to lead her around his shoulders. As she clambered on, her body shimmered briefly before it too went invisible.

"See, what'd I tell ya." With a minor adjustment, Timothy hiked her up a little higher. "You ready?"

Timothy could practically see the pout on her face when he heard her frustrated hiss, "This is so stupid."

He was glad that Angel couldn't see the shit-eating grin he was sporting, "Stupid like a fox."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Shush," Timothy gave her a little bounce to stop her complaining. "Here we go."

Timothy stepped out of the elevator and adjusted to the sudden weight on his back – and wow was she light. Without any preamble, they made their way out onto the floor of the loading bay. Angel wasn't kidding about the amount of people she had seen on the camera feed. Close to three dozen guards were slowly patrolling the docks – all armed and alert. Hopefully, not too alert.

The awkwardly misshapen specter cautiously made its way slowly to the launching area at the far end of the dock. The sides of the huge container ships hung open over the dock as loaders slowly gathered their disgorged contents. The dozens of crates stacked two and three high brought them ever closer to the patrolling guards. More than once, they were forced to awkwardly wait and listen to the, decidedly less than clean, conversations of the men as they complained about their wives and boasted of their – nearly complete – comic book collections. After what felt like forever, the couple continued unnoticed as the guards resumed their patrol.

Finally, the two of them spotted their destination. In front of them loomed the massive shapes of the transport ships being prepared for the return journey to Pandora. Fuel lines snaked from the dock to their hulls as they were resupplied for the trip back.

"There," Timothy felt the weight of Angel's arm shifting as she pointed to the one near the end of the dock. "Those are the ones scheduled for launch."

Nodding, Timothy followed her direction. Dodging a few more loaders along the way, they arrived at the ship without incident. Magnetic clamps anchored the ship to the dock until it was time for her to launch. Giving the ship a once over, Timothy didn't see any entrances. "How do we get in?"

"There should be a maintenance hatch in the hull for repairs. Look for a small hexagonal door with a control panel next to it."

Timothy slowly circled the ship until he found the hatch… about ten feet off the ground. "Aaand that's a problem." Naturally, any of the workers could simply use a ladder if they needed to reach it, but Timothy highly doubted a phantom ladder would go unnoticed. "Now what?"

"Just – just give me a boost. I think I can reach the control panel."

Timothy winced as an elbow dug into his shoulder in Angel's attempt to climb up him. "Ow, yeah just – dig right in there."

For her part, Angel ignored the comment as she clambered ever higher on the Ladder of Timothy. Finally, with Angel's boney knees digging into his shoulders, Timothy watched her now visible upper torso make a grab for the control panel. She better make this quick, floating women tend to attract attention.

"Still a bit short – one more push!" Came her rushed whisper above.

Timothy could imagine Jack's corpse spinning in space at the thought of what he was about to do. With a near silent sigh, he raised both hands over his head and gave Angel's posterior a solid push. Angel's surprised squeak was instantly muffled as her face met the bulkhead. Even her butt is bony.

"Remind me to feed you something when we get out of here," he mumbled under her weight.

Angel growled in frustration. "Are you really going there right now?"

"Less talky, more door openy." Angel's efforts were finally rewarded as a hiss of air signaled the opening of the hatch. "Up you go," he urged with one last shove.

Angel's foot connected with the side of his face as she pulled herself up. Rubbing his cheek, Timothy figured he probably had that one coming. Giving one last check to see if they had been noticed, he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw no swarms of armed guards running towards them. Backing away a few paces, he made a little stutter-step before leaping up the side of the ship. Catching hold of the entrance, he hauled himself up and into the narrow corridor.

Closing the hatch behind him, Timothy allowed himself a brief moment's rest. Alive: check. Undiscovered: check. Escape: in progress. All in all, things have turned out damn good for how it started. The narrow corridor closed in on all sides with pipes, bare electrical panels, and wiring running along the walls. Ahead, Angel waved him over to a ladder that sunk down into the metal catwalk.

"Over here," she called. "This should take us into the storage compartment."

The two quickly made their way down the ladder and through another cramped catwalk before they found themselves in a cavernous dark room. What little light there was faded away to black as the room continued on. The glow of her tattoos chased away the darkness for a moment before the lights flickered on.

"This way should lead us to the command deck," Angel urged him on past the storage compartment devoid of any cargo.

The two of them walked towards the bow of the ship, doors opening automatically as she led the way. Finally reaching the ship's command deck, they found only a couple of chairs and a large computer set into the floor.

"This is the navigation center. I can launch us from here once I bump our ship up the que."

"And that's it?" After everything that's happened, it simply couldn't be that easy.

"That's it," Angel smiled.

As Timothy made himself comfortable in the co-pilot's chair, he reminded himself that getting to Pandora was only the start of their problems. Still, when he watched Angel humming idly to herself as she worked on their escape, he couldn't bring himself to trouble her with that revelation just yet. There'd be plenty of time to worry about those things soon enough.

A/N: Hello, Orieon and LittlePorcelainDoll here. Sorry about the delay on the update, but life got in the way for both of us. Hope this long chapter makes up for it.

Only one change this time we should probably address: Timothy's holographic doubles. Yeah, there's no way in game those blue shimmering things could convince anyone that they're the real thing, so we rectified that. They look practically identical in our version. Also, they can move and they don't actually fire bullets because that makes no sense. Not much else to add, so thanks for reading!