"Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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It had been easy to forget the uncertainty of their situation when they could indulge in each other's presence. Yet Indulgence was a luxury they had bought but could not afford. Now, he had a debt to pay.

Such a debt was of a special breed, and it demanded payment alike—one that Adrian, unfortunately, found himself paying in full. It was that of a terrible pain in his heart, born not only from the violence of which it pounded but more so from his concern for Elena's fear and worry. While already a situation Adrian would have rather not found himself in, it was now, considering the circumstance, nearly existential.

"Richardson, sir. Why don't we just take the time to see the alternatives." Adrian was almost at the point of begging or screaming. "I'm sure we can still talk about it. There's a thousand ways this can go, and I can assure you there are better ones than this." Adrian tried to reason with him again, barely able to keep himself calm.

"We've already talked about it, Knight. We just did." Richardson replied apathetically. His stress-aged and combat-worn face was once again free of his helmet.

Adrian didn't know what he expected. Richardson had been cold and indifferent to every attempt made at diplomacy. He was almost entirely focused on Elena in Adrian's arms.

The young girl wasn't handling any of this too well herself if the turmoil he felt in her was the least of it. Not to mention how she pulled herself as deeply as she could into his arms.

The men flanking Richardson only added fuel to the fire that was quickly threatening to overwhelm him—or maybe it already had, and his panic and hope had blinded him to it. Their eyes were veiled behind their visors, a veil just recently lifted from his own. Their mouths betrayed no emotion, and their heads were all locked on him. The jackals had found their next meal.

"You- I- We can...?" Adrian struggled for words as his eyes darted across each one.

The only other individual in the room who harbored some modicum of emotion aside from this cannibalistic greed was Jules.

He stood to the side, away from everyone. The only part of his face that his helmet let be seen was twitching contemplatively and indecisively.

Adrian looked at him hopefully. Hoping he would at least try to help him, help her. They hadn't known each other long, and Jules seemed like a wild card, especially now.

"Jules…" Adrian almost pleaded. "Tell him! Tell him what you saw! Tell him what you see even now!"

But nothing came. He just kept looking from Richardson to Adrian, to Elena, and then back to Richardson without saying a word.

Goddamnit, Jules. Adrian cursed internally, I don't know who or what in your life left you fucked up like this, but I need something here!

But he had nothing to give, and the end of the rope was tangling in front of their face.

Adrian squeezed Elena closer to him, and she curled tighter into herself.

"Why?" Adrian asked, his facade of calm slipping even further. "Why, Richardson?! She isn't going to be any trouble. It's not like that; she's not like that! What have I got to do to show you? He's seen it, whether he wants to say it or not! Give me the chance, and I can show you as well. Show you that none of this is what we could have ever thought it was!"

"I already know this isn't normal, Knight." Richardson replied callously "It's why they called us here, but this isn't different the way you think it is."

His eyes moved Adrian between Elena, with the occasional contemplative glance toward Jules. "I don't know what it did to turn you feral like this, but I hope for your sake you won't still believe that once it's grown. Now, give me the asset." He put his hand out. "And then we can talk about 'how it really is.'

Adrian narrowed his eyes and answered with a step back.

"No."

Richardson flexed and tensed, ready to snap, but stopped himself.

"Alright, we'll do it like that then." He motioned to the rest of the team, who began to circle them slowly.

"Remember. Damage the asset, and corporate will do ten times worse to you."

Elena's quiet growl had begun to vibrate through them as she slowly tracked those who were moving to block the exits. Adrian tried to calm her any way he could, but they'd reached the apex of this wildfire that crept in from every direction. He'd have to act soon, and he'd use her fiery spirit to aid his own.

"It doesn't have to be like this." Adrian stalled for time, accessing his options. "I'll go with you, but you're not going to take her from me."

"Where do you think you are to be making demands right now?" Richardson was caught between a laugh and a scowl. "It's just an asset, Knight. Company property as well. Do you care about this…" He motioned at Elena with contempt, whose growl grew louder. "...thing more than your team? Yourself? Maybe even humanity at this rate. I don't know what you think you know, but it isn't real."

"I KNOW GODDAMN WELL IT IS!" Adrian shouted, finally caving to his anger. Diplomacy had proven unable to see them through, but he'd be damned if he let such drivel slide.

"You're too far gone, too blind, or too whipped by the 'company' to open your eyes! Hell! You probably even think they care about you! That you aren't replaceable, expendable like the rest of us!" Adrian wrapped his hand around Elena, bringing her head to his chest, which momentarily quelled her fear and the growling it bred. "Or maybe you do. No-no you have to know what they think of you by now, of all of us. You just don't care. It's the money, isn't it? It's always the goddamn money. It's never been anything more than the money. I don't remember a damn thing about us ever being a 'team' other than getting paid for this bullshit!"

"Possibly. But here you are."

Adrian grit his teeth taut as he clenched his jaw. He hated this. He hated him, all of them! Most of all, he hated how much they were frightening Elena, threatening to take her from him. She shouldn't have to deal with this, feel like this. Not this young, not this delicate and pure. But how could he have been so naive to hope it would be any different? He knew who he worked for and how they were. He'd just refused to see the writing on the walls.

Elena tried to reciprocate his attempts to comfort her by brushing against him both physically and through their bond. All it did was betray how scared she really was and make him ever more hateful.

She was afraid but still with an incredible will that inspired his own. She took comfort in him no matter what, and he couldn't let her down.

"Jules," Richardson called, snapping the man out of his stupor. "Please relieve Knight here of the company property."

Jules looked over at the two, mouth agape. He turned back to Richardson to say something, but it was too late for that now.

"Jules!" He said again louder, cutting off whatever Jules might have said. Richardson pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"They told me they'd made this one strong, the fools, but I had hoped your brick wall for a skull would have been able to manage against it. Last chance." He growled, "Relieve Knight of the asset–which, might I add, is worth more than you, I, and everyone else on this team combined–or you'll be going where he's about to. If he lives."

The weight of the threat was enough that he turned to Adrian and reluctantly approached. Elena's growl had resumed, this time loud enough for all to hear.

"I'm sorry, mate. There's nothing either of us can do. This is about the only safe way forward for either of us." Jules said in a somber tone that Adrian didn't think he'd ever hear from him.

"Oh, Jules. But there is, even if you can't see it. Don't be sorry. I'm going to make sure there's nothing to be sorry about." Jules paused and tilted his head at this.

The moment he stopped, Adrian had braced Elena against himself and slammed his shoulder into Jules.

He drove him back as quickly as he could and threw him into the two that were blocking the door behind him, sending all three to the floor.

Adrian held her close and made to get moving out of there as if the world depended on it, or at least hers did, and that was all that really mattered.

A small squeak of fear brought his attention to her as he ran. She was looking up at him concernedly from where he held her, and he planted a light kiss atop her head to soothe her fears.

"Don't worry, girl!" He said where only she could hear as he ran, holding her so dearly close. "I'll see us out of here. The two of us, together! Alright?" Adrian huffed out.

He knew better than to make promises he wasn't sure he could keep, but the trust and loving deference he felt she held with him propelled him to do so. He'd have to work hard, possibly harder than he ever has, but that was something he was more than willing to do now. It wasn't just for his own sake anymore.

Everyone was quick into motion as he rushed out of the room and into the corridor. Echoing yells and slamming boots chased him down the hallway as he made for the doors that were already opening. Wait, already? He came skidding to a stop just before them.

The behemothian figure who had until now been absent stood right in front of them.

"Horrigan..." Was all he could say in his stupor as his eyes drifted up towards the man's head.

With his senses sent into overdrive, Adrian struggled for a decision. There were bayonets at the rear and a cannon at the front. But hesitation is an insidious killer, and he had hesitated for a moment too long. The decision was made for him.

A grip akin to a Powered Work Loader clamped around the breadth of his head and lifted him into the air. Despite the resounding pressure and choking it inflicted on him, he dared not let her go.

That was it—this was all too much. This beast, this mongrel, it sent her over the edge. It didn't matter how big he was, how small she was, or how improbable the odds at all. She was scared, terribly so, but she wouldn't sit idle in Adrian's struggle and time of need. Even at her weakest, she would fight all she could!

Lunging away from his hold, she clamped down on the hand wrapped around Adrian's head. It wasn't long after that she yelped when she was pinched and pried off.

"Careful, Horrigan! Be careful!" Richardson yelled concernedly as they caught up.

"You already know that asset's priority level. You'd take care to remind yourself!"

Horrigan softened his grip on Elena. She was writhing, fighting, and screaming in any way her tiny form, which she cursed, would allow.

"Him too." Richardson added, almost reluctantly, motioning to Adrian's struggle in the air.

Ruminating the command, Horrigan let Adrian desperately grab and beat at his fist for a second more before dropping him onto the ground. He landed with a rough thud and gasping for breath. It didn't take long for a boot to come down onto his back in response to his scramble to get up.

A groan escaped Richardson as he clenched his fists.

"NOT– quite what I meant. Get him up." He told the big man and called over another person who carried a cylindrical container similar to the one that held Elena earlier.

Adrian was pulled onto his feet and had to be held there.

Where was Elena? He could hardly see a damn thing, but he could feel her, her pain and struggle; he needed to get to her. Yet Richardson, damn the man, was the only thing that stood in front of him.

"I don't know if I should blame myself or if—" Adrian's jab to his nose cut him off.

Horrigan was prompt in delivering his retaliation through the deliverance of his head-sized fist into Adrian's gut, effectively neutralizing any more resistance he may have held.

By this point, Elena had already been going crazy as they forced her into the container, but this pushed her past the point of fighting. She wanted to cry, to scream, to bite, thrash, and tear at them until her teeth went dull or broke. She wanted to do something, anything. She didn't know what she wanted to do.

All she knew right now was that she was small, she was weak, and she blamed herself for this. She hated them for doing this to the two of them, but most of all to Adrian, and was angry with herself for not being able to do anything about it. Her anger bled into woe, and she could only cry.

For Adrian, the world swam around him yet again.

He was barely hanging onto lucidity as he struggled with, well... just about everything now. He couldn't take another trip to dreamland today, not with everything on the line. All he found himself able to do right now was hold onto Elena's presence as they were dragged away from each other. He'd failed her like he'd always failed himself. Yet, he could still feel that love and concern she held for him and he feared this would be the last he'd know of it. He should've done more, been more, but all he could be was the man he'd been wasting his life creating, and that man hadn't been enough.

He wouldn't make that mistake again. He'd find a way to right this, a way to truly earn all she gave him, and he wouldn't stop for anyone found caught in his way.

"I have no clue why I signed off on you. Your record was too clean anyway." Richardson said, wiping a trail of blood from his face as he turned away. "Get the asset onto the extraction headed out of system, and get him on the other squad's ship headed to local. He's going ground side."

While the two were hauled to their respective shuttle, Richardson turned to Jules.

"It seems like you put me in these positions on purpose now."

"Sir, I-"

"Don't you even think of 'sir'ing me right now! From the very start of today, like most others, you've been nothing but trouble, but somehow even more than usual." He began at Jules.

"Insubordination, disrespect, and not to mention going halfway across the station to fetch him without telling me or even answering my pings?! You can't even begin to comprehend just how fucked we all would've been if that asset was lost!"

"Listen-"

"I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU!" Richardson's yell echoed down the hallway.

"But you as sure as hell is hot haven't been listening to me! If I really was the only one here with half a mind, I'd send you for judgment with him! But guess what? I've only got one recon unit left now, and the only good one at that. " He closed the distance between them. "What that doesn't mean is I have to deal with you anymore today. You're on borrowed time, Mister Carter. Get to the other ship headed to the ground."

Through his straight face held through that charade, Jules had still wanted to say something in his defense, even in Adrian's. That was until Richardson had summoned the use of his last name. It had been quite some time since he'd heard it from him. Even now, he knew better than to keep talking if that was the case and held his tongue.

"Fuck." Or at least until Richardson couldn't hear.

A glare from up ahead got him moving again.

Not even a step after the door opened, the two recoiled. A sudden wave of nausea with hints of a growing migraine hit them both. No one else looked to be doing any better, and the person handling Elena's container seemed ready to fall over.

"Turn the restrictor on!" Richardson yelled and sped over to them, the pounding in his temples growing worse with each step.

Reaching them, he yanked the container out of their hands and quickly twisted the device attached to the side of it, turning it on. The nauseating headache almost completely vanished the second he had.

"Where do they find you incompetents?" He hissed at them but looked back down at the container.

She was quiet and still, only staring at him, never breaking her gaze, never moving an inch. Richardson's stomach turned, although he'd attribute it to the lingering psychic aftereffects.

"Why, oh why, am I always the one who's assigned these missions?" Richardson asked no one in particular as he pushed the container back into the previous person's hands.

"Because no one else could." He smirked but dropped back to his usual flat stare. "Everyone going groundside or with the asset, get to your ships!" He called out to the group. "Everyone else, back with me. It's time to mop up the rest."

As Adrian had been dragged away, he'd felt Elena's presence and connection grow fainter. He grasped for it as it seemed to flutter away, but it did nothing to keep her with him. Her link was reduced to merely a pinprick in his mind's eye. Not gone yet, but so threateningly close to the edge. If she'd chosen to do this, he couldn't blame her.

I'm sorry, Elena, He muttered out to the last small amount of her presence he still held. I wasn't enough. I'm so sorry.

He was forced into a seat on the shuttle, and the door shut.

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She was tired now, so very tired. The only thing keeping her awake was her worry; it overwhelmed her. She hadn't been strong enough. Neither of them had.

But at least he had tried.

He had been trying the entire time, but all the while, she had only growled and hid away in his arms, fighting only when it was too late. She wanted to be brave for him, for them both, but she was nothing but terrified, constantly moments away from falling apart.

But whatever they had done with this prison that held her, it was now more than physical. Every attempt she made to reach out beyond it, to find Adrian through their bond for some semblance of safety or comfort, was almost completely stopped. Her attempts bounced off or fizzled away when they reached an invisible barrier that now surrounded her on top of the thick glass. The small amount she could slip past it was faint and hazy, but still managed to reach him, if just barely. She hoped he'd find some solace in it and forgive her.

As her woe and exhaustion seemed to drown her, a distant thought briefly caught her attention. One which wondered what that strength she had used was and how it had aggrieved her captors' minds so. She didn't know she had anything like that in her. Nor, in faint genetic memories, did she think that any of her kind did. Such a power had only been born at the peak of her fear and anger, though, and it still hadn't been enough. All it had really done was drain what little energy she had left.

She was emotionally and mentally reeling and wrecked but utterly exhausted. As she Lay against the cold glass of her cell, she held onto any faint grasp of their link she could with naught but a whimper.

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The door to the cockpit opened with what must have been the co-pilot strolling into the troop bay. Adrian had been its sole inhabitant until now.

The co-pilot clicked his tongue on spotting him.

"So, you're the fuck up?"

"Where are we going?" Adrian ignored his question, eyeing the man.

"Groundside, dumbass. Pretty sure they said it at least half a dozen times." He replied rather annoyedly as he looked Adrian over. His eyes lingered on and studied the wounds and damage he'd accumulated over the day.

"Though I guess you probably weren't in much of a condition to be paying attention. If you even gave a damn."

"Look, I already fucking know-" Adrian yanked his wrath to a halt. The only thing he knew for sure was he was already in shit creek, and If making it out of this was even going to be a distant and daring dream, he'd need to stop paddling upstream. No matter how badly he was hurting both physically and every way beyond.

"Where exactly, I mean."

"Planetary headquarters." He said after a moment, scratching his chin.

"And what happens there?"

"Well, on paper, they'll filter you out and send you off to regional. But, to be honest, it'll probably be your last stop." He looked undecided about Adrian's apparent doom but shrugged. "I shouldn't really even be talking about it. I'm just here to ferry you."

"Jesus..." Adrian eyed the floor.

That wasn't good. That REALLY wasn't good.

It seemed tragedy and misfortune still refused to release him from their hold, ever content on keeping him there in their deathly grip so that he may not live to see tomorrow. So that he may not find and free Elena from the slimy hands that now held her in chains, so that it may have another soul to torment. He was restrained, disarmed, and the metaphorical stream of shit he was in was quickly approaching a drop-off. So now what?

Now, Adrian did the only thing he could, no matter how audacious he was for it. He prayed.

Alright. God, I know I-

A loud blast outside cut his prayer short as it rocked the ship. It seemed the big man didn't even want to hear him speak.

"Shit!" The co-pilot yelled as he had been thrown to the ground but was back up and stumbling to the cockpit when another closer blast nearly tripped him again.

Adrian figured that God had either decided to immediately help him so he didn't even have to hear Adrian, or he couldn't wait until they landed to judge his soul. Either way, he was still stuck in this chair and had to ride it out.

If this isn't for me. Adrian closed his eyes and began again despite it. Please let it be for her.

A third explosion threw the shuttle. It must have damaged the inertia dampeners since Adrian began to feel the ship tilt and lean as it desperately tried to stay airborne.

Despite all I am, all I've done, or, truthfully, all I've refused to be, please look after her. Help her where I couldn't. He said all he could, feeling an indescribable wave of acceptance wash over him.

Thus, as the shuttle had been made of the earth, so it returned.