"It takes more than eyes to see
It's out in the energy but
I can hear it calling " -Starset "Into The Unknown"

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." - Sun Tzu "The Art of War"

Matthew 10:34-42  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.  

Red snatched Darius up and hauled him to his feet. Darius grinned a wolfish grin, certain of his victory, before leaning forward and whispering a name into Red's ear.

"He created that virus you know. My boy, the ultimate control, he wanted so badly to impress me. He wanted our house to come out on top. Not something, a fatherless dog like you would understand."

Red almost dropped him in his astonishment. It couldn't be.

In his shock, he didn't notice the blade springing up going straight into his side, right where his left kidney was.

He staggered back a step, staring down at the blade sticking out of him. His augments working to keep him moving deadened the pain immediately, even so, he sucked in his breath as it seared through his abdomen. Darius kept his hand on it and tried pushing it in further.

This would be a slow death for him. A blade to the gut, that was all the rage for the Neo-Tokyan types. They wanted them to suffer and know why they were suffering. Fuck that. Red grabbed his wrist to prevent Darius from doing any more immediate damage.

The door opened behind them and he heard Ember cry out, "Red!"

Red stiffened at the sound, realization hitting him as he drew the dagger back out of his own body, flipped the grip around and drove it through Darius's head.

"Hey Red," Ember's voice called to him again, full of worry.

Did she know?

Red's brain was fuzzy as he opened his eyes. His adrenaline was going and it took him a second to realize that he was laying in a hospital bed. He could sense the blackness slipping away as he returned to towards the light. It would have been a cosmic joke if that's not what it actually looked like to him. His eyes drifted open and he shut them again, stretching his arms out to the side.

He tried remembering what it was that Ember was supposed to know. He heard the question echo in the back of his mind, but the dream had already faded and his head was spinning. He couldn't bring it back. All he remembered was the sound of her shrill scream as she yelled for him.

"Red," Ember's voice whispered down to him again. His eyes flew open as he stared at her for a moment. He wasn't on the Perihelion, he was on New Elysium.

"Hey," he inhaled reveling for a moment that it didn't hurt. Nothing did, he felt fine. His augments were working.

The familiar blue tinged his vision as his augments scanned the room. It was just Ember with him.

He tried sitting up. That was a mistake, I'm still dizzy.

"They put your augments back online and Leah disconnected you." Ember's eyebrows were furrowed.

"You don't look happy about it."

"You were supposed to be in recovery for another week, Red." She stared at him. "Something is wrong. Leah, from what I've seen is pretty strict. Dr. Cyril keeps muttering about missing tools... He thinks I can't hear him. They wouldn't have just changed their plans on a whim."

"So what do they want me to do now?" He was starting to hate being half injured the whole time. He was barely processing what she was saying.

"I'm supposed to get you back to your room."

"Our room?"

She smiled at that. "Well, someone started a fire in the middle of your room and just left it, so it would definitely be my room until it's cleaned up."

"That felt like ages ago," he swung his legs to the side of the bed, fully intending to stand up. It didn't quite work out as he expected and he felt faint, the searing pain extended up his side under the bandages and he inhaled sharply before his augments pushed the pain away.

"Wait until Dag gets here at least," Ember put a hand on his chest as his eyes rolled a little.

"Why? You're strong enough to carry me."

Ember lifted an eyebrow. She hated watching him lay there as much as he hated doing it.

"Dag insisted, something about news?" She looked troubled and Red realized she was really worried. The change in plans bothered her more than she was willing to let on.

The door opened and Dag walked in. He stopped short staring at Red for a moment and then moved towards him and gave him a hug, clapping him on the back.

"Hey, Red, I wondered if you were going to make it. Leah said you asked a lot of funny questions last time you were awake."

Red fixed Ember with a surprised look and watched as Ember's face turned pink. He lifted an eyebrow. "I did?"

"You don't remember?"

"I don't think my body will cooperate yet," he stared at Ember whose jaw dropped. The corners of his mouth tugged slightly up as she realized he remembered.

Leah opened the door behind Dag interrupting the conversation further.

Red stared at her for a moment and then looked down at his lap as he withdrew inside himself.

"Leah."

"Red."

Dag put an arm around Leah who looked up at him for a moment smiling and kissed his cheek.

It only made Red feel worse. It was his fault these two had been separated these past few years. He curled his hands together, jumping slightly when Ember reached down and put her hands in his. He grabbed her hand tightly, once again she was his lifeline. When he looked up at her he could see the worry in her eyes.

"Red I wanted to thank you." Leah's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

Red's gaze snapped up at her. "What?" His mouth must have been hanging open because Leah smiled at him.

"You brought him back, I didn't think I'd see him again, but you brought him back to me..." Leah broke down and Dag wrapped his arms around her for a moment.

"It's ok, Leah," Dag soothed.

"No, it's not." Red looked up, his eyes were wet. He hated that, hated how weak he was right now. "It's my fault Dag you would never have gotten imprisoned if it wasn't for me..."

Ember stiffened but her hand didn't leave Red's grasp. If anything he was holding onto her tighter.

Leah stepped out of Dag's arms slowly and put a hand on Red's chin. "Red, you don't need to hold onto that any longer. Do you hear me?"

Red nodded, it didn't make the guilt go away, but clearly, Leah wasn't going to hold a grudge.

"I can't speak for everyone," she continued, "Dex is... well, he missed his father. But you got him here, alive and in one piece." She looked back at Dag. "I don't know why things happen the way they do sometimes, but you brought him back, Red. I will always be grateful."

"But—"

"No, Red," She smiled. "We were all where we were supposed to be. I won't forget what you've done for us."

Red closed his mouth and nodded. If anything he felt worse than ever, but a weight fell off of him.

"We'll leave you two," Dag said, pulling Leah behind him. Ember nodded and watched them leave.

Red still held onto her long after they'd left.

"I don't understand," he finally whispered. "I wouldn't have—"

"They're not you," she whispered climbing onto the bed and pulling him against her.

He buried his face into her chest and wrapped his arms around her. At least this didn't hurt anymore and he could hold her again.

Ember pulled back, "Come on Red, let's get you to *our* room. At least you won't have anyone bugging you in there."

Red snorted, but he allowed her to help. Dag he noted was standing outside the door. Guilt welled up again, but not as strong as before. He would have to repay them in some way. They kept saving him, even when he wasn't worth saving.

He looked over at Ember as she pushed a wheelchair up to his bed. He didn't deserve her either, yet he couldn't tell her to go.

She held him steady as he stood up and half fell into the chair. Looking towards the door she nodded and Dag opened it, "Ready?"

"Yeah," Red felt himself tiring already. He turned the idea over in his mind. He was supposed to be in here another week. He was about to ask Dag when he noticed that Dag was exchanging glances with Leah.

He held his tongue. Dag would tell him soon enough.

It turned out that Red didn't even have to wait that long.

"Leah wanted to get you moved out of there because things have gone missing."

"What things?" Ember was alarmed her pace quickening.

"A few things here and there. Dr. Cyril's interface."

Red watched as the hallway moved in front of him. "And what's that got to do with me being moved?" He yawned as Dag stopped at an elevator.

New Elysium had truly grown in the past seven years. Red had to hand it to Jack. He'd been able to set up an impressive place to hide, even if he was an asshole.

Did she know?

Red sat up in his chair as Dag kept talking. It was a question that he'd asked himself from the other night. But he couldn't remember the rest of it. He glanced up at Ember walking faithfully next to him. What was she supposed to know?

It bothered him more than he was going to admit. He'd started having nightmares about his second in command being dead and then Lars had turned up very much alive. Albeit in a very different body.

"—glitches in the system here and there." Dag finished, pushing Red off the elevator.

"So we've got a thief and potentially a mole?" Ember sighed. "Clever."

"Clever of who?" Red shot back. "Darius is dead."

Dag shook his head. "Darius is only a head, he's certainly not the only force behind the purge."

"What else is there?" Red couldn't stop another yawn as Dag and Ember exchanged glances. "I saw that you two."

"And you'll keep seeing it," Ember produced a keycard to her own room. The door slid open and Dag pushed Red inside.

"I'll just leave him, want me to take the chair back?"

"No, Ember looked down at Red who already looked pale. "I think we're going to need it for the next few days."

"Guess it's back to the ship for me then."

"Thank you, Dag." Ember smiled at him. "I mean for taking care of the Ember, fixing it."

"Well now you have the two rail guns, Red promised. He delivered you know."

"I know he did," she whispered.

Dag laughed and turned to go. "I'll see you guys later."

"What did he mean?" Red looked up at her. "I think I missed half the conversation. I'm sorry."

Ember sighed and sank down to sit in front of him. Crossing her legs she hugged her knees to her chest and looked up at him. "Leah's worried about Jack, says he's been behaving oddly."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him."

"You haven't?" Red's eyebrow raised, "You haven't gone to see your own brother?"

Ember looked away. "Apparently no one is supposed to know we're related."

"Why?"

"I'm Neo-Tokyan...and he's not."

Red's anger flared. "But he is. And you're one of us, Ember."

Ember looked down at her lap. "I get it, but a lot of people are angry, and they have the right to be—"

"But not at you."

She sighed as he leaned forward and cupped her chin. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Searing pain shot up his middle, and he quickly pulled back. "Damn." He inhaled deeply as his augments took over and pushed the pain away.

"Don't pull your stitching apart," Ember leaned in and raised his shirt to take a look at his bandages.

He grabbed her hands. "I'm fine, really. What did you want to do now?"

"Something normal couples do, I guess."

He cocked his head at her. "What?"

"I figured we could lay in bed for hours and argue over which is better, Star Wars or Star Trek."

Red stared at her, that answer was the last thing he'd expected. Then he slowly smiled and stood up taking her offered hand he edged toward the bed slowly and collapsed on top of it.

Ember turned on a wall unit and fished around for Star Wars Episode One. Red groaned, "I thought we were arguing"

"We can do that later after you watch it."

"You do hate me."

"I told you, in the good way." Ember laughed and came back to the bed and climbed in next to him. "You ok?"

He nodded and moved to put an arm around her. In moments he was out cold and Ember waited, listening as his breaths turned long and deep before turning over and positioning herself so that his head was resting against her chest.

As in the past, he didn't wake up but curled around her, pushing an arm around her and pressing his face into her chest. She put her arms around his neck and laid her face against his hair, running her fingers through the mohawk.

Unknowingly to Red, Ember sobbed quietly against him giving vent to her relief. She'd almost lost him, she had no illusions about it. She didn't know what was next, but he was still here. She cried alone in the darkness, just grateful he was still breathing. 

#############################

A knife in each hand Nova shrugged as he watched Bjorn Andersson impassively. Hiding weapons on his body was a long lost art in his opinion, he'd been confident they hadn't found them all.

He wasn't wrong. 

Bjorn did not look startled or afraid, a fact that bothered Nova on the inside even if he didn't show it. He still thought he had the upper hand, and maybe he did. At the moment Nova had no way of knowing. His eyes flashed, the brilliant white rings around his irises catching Bjorn's attention. It was one of the few ways you could tell he was an augment.

Nova had managed to get himself caught. Purposefully. He smiled as Meyers had once again made himself useful. Who knew the young man would have developed such a devil-may-care attitude since they'd last met? It was fucking beautiful. 

Amy would be so proud. 

But right now he needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. His leg ached but he ignored it. He'd already spotted the Starseed pods located around the room. Bjorn was stupid. Clearly, he didn't understand their purpose or had intended them for use on Nova.

Once again it seemed almost providential and Nova didn't exactly believe in any higher power. He remembered the first time Amy Larsson had shown him what the plants could do. They'd been forced to hide amongst them and it was like a whole other person had shown up, talking about plants like an expert instead of his rogue Pirate Queen. Turns out she'd been an expert in another life before the purge. Who knew? Just too fucking providential. They'd blown up the home base of Orion's Reach, a company that hunted down Augments like himself. That had been over seven years ago.

And damn it, Red had gotten the credit for all of it.

He liked Red, the man was intense, and hell, Nova wouldn't have minded having him around. Especially now that he was standing in the middle of the fucking successor to Orion's Reach. But to get all of the credit when he was still in jail? It wasn't Red's fault either, but still... Damn. It.

And here was a bunch of Starseed pods sitting around like candy because Bjorn Anderssen was a moron. 

Nova just needed his gun.

"Tell me, old friend," Nova said from his place behind the chair he'd just been strapped to. "Was this worth the life of your sister?"

Bjorn stiffened. "Don't you mention her to me, ever, augment."

Nova chuckled and crossed his arms. "Why not? She deserved better you know."

"She was going to have better."

"What as one of your soldiers? Nah, you were going to turn her into a fucking machine."

"She was already a machine," Bjorn lost his calm demeanor. As he stepped forward two things happened.

Instead of attacking Nova reached the desk and grabbed the earplugs they'd confiscated from him. He sighed with relief as the loudspeakers began playing the lovely sound of Alonian Opera music. He'd gotten them in just in time. Meyers, you are fucking beautiful. You get a medal.

Nova normally didn't mind Alonian Opera in small doses. A lot of AI listened to it because they could genuinely catch the differences in the inflection of the screaming disjointed sound. A few AIs claimed they could even hear the rhythm. A few humans didn't mind it, but to most, it was like nails on a chalkboard. In large doses, it could make your ears bleed.

Bjorn dropped to the floor hands over his ears as Nova waltzed around the room. He grabbed up most of his weaponry at his leisure. He'd come for information about this new organization that had risen up to take the place of Orion's Reach, recently discovering they were, in fact, an extreme branch of the dead organization.

Atlas, he thought. What a name... What a stupid fucking name. The old tale of an ancient god bearing the burden of the world on his shoulders came to mind.

He grabbed up his EMP gun, a small token of his last run in with Orion's Reach. He considered Bjorn for a moment; he'd known that Bjorn had joined Orion's Reach. He hadn't expected to find him here, the head machismo in charge of Atlas. They'd been secretive, and so he'd taken a page out of Larsson's book, getting himself caught and hauled in. It had been easier than he'd thought. 

He hadn't counted on getting recognized by his old schoolmate. 

But that had only made things easier. Bjorn had always loved to brag in front of an audience.

The man had stood up, hands over his ears staring at him. The hatred that was there surprised Nova. It probably shouldn't have.

The door flew open and two other uniformed men ran into the room, both holding their ears. "Boss! We--"

They stopped short, one even making the mistake of uncovering his ears, wincing and clapping his hands over them again.

Nova shook his head out of the past. "Oh, fuck it, we'll dance next time, Bjorn." He aimed at the seed pods watching as Bjorn flew at the table screaming. 

"Nooooo!"

Shrugging Nova fired throwing up his arm as the Starseed exploded. He was blown off his feet along with everyone else in the room.

The Alonian Opera screeched on like a death knell as Nova scrambled to his knees. A gaping hole in the wall had opened up and Nova crawled to it.

"Theo, you bastard..." Bjorn pointed a gun at him.

"It's Nova, now," Nova snapped "And don't worry, I'll make sure we'll dance again."  He dragged himself forward and let gravity pull him from the tower.

##################

Dr. Cyril was missing quite a few bits of his normal toolkit: His interface glove, the one he could actually hook into a patient and read their augments to tell where the actual malfunctions were occurring.

He'd just operated on a little girl last. Thankfully until Red, there'd been no other intense operations like that. He'd had nightmares for days after seeing what had been done to the girl.

Then Red had shown up fully frozen with a panicked Ember in tow. It had been a satisfying moment seeing her go crazy against her brother. Cyril smiled at the memory of Ember punching him when he'd tried to interfere. 

But Cyril respected Jack and what he was trying to do here, even if he didn't agree with the methods. 

Cyril had never met a Vesper pilot before the purge. Ember's tiny stature had been laughable at first. But her ability to toss Jack around like a rag doll, culminating in the fact that she'd gone into a rage and electricity had sparked from her hands. Dag had to intervene. 

She'd guarded Red furiously while Cyril and Leah had worked on him. Red had crashed twice, but he'd been stabilized. Dag had physically restrained Ember from coming into the operating room, but he'd allowed her to wait outside the room with him, his metal arm around her, as he whispered prayers for Red.

Cyril was no believer in any kind of higher power but the fact that Red had survived was some kind of miracle in itself. He should have died back there, and Cyril wondered what had kept him going. No doubt his augments were top of the line. They were meant to keep him going until he dropped dead, and in Cyril's estimation, he'd been close to doing just that. 

But now he had new problems. He and Leah had been searching all morning for missing medical gear.

It was mostly interface equipment, things he needed for augmented patients who were completely unconscious and he needed to scan their systems while Leah checked their organics.

"Is Red out?" He bumped into Leah who had just come into the office

"Yeah, he's out."

"Do they know?"

"I left Dag to tell them," Leah began to open doors, searching, hoping everything had just been misplaced.

"Leah, I think we seriously have a problem now, it's mostly interface tools that are being removed."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Leah pulled the door closed behind her. "The techs are talking about glitches in the system. Camera's winking offline at odd times. But nothing is going wrong, yet."

"So a person is using my interface tablet?"

Leah shrugged. "It's possible. I came to warn you, no one is to plugin yet."

"What does Jack think?"

"He's not sure," Leah sighed as she sat down. "We're under a different form of attack." As she turned to look at Cyril, her expression was guarded.

"There's something you're not saying," Cyril's voice dropped to a whisper.

"It's Jack," she said glancing towards the doors. "He's been on edge, Dag actually went and talked him down today, physically restrained him. I don't know what's going on."

Cyril stood, "The Purge did a number on everyone. But this is, I'm hoping it's just a prank."

Leah shrugged. She'd lost quite a few family members, her husband was imprisoned for seven years and she'd fled to avoid being arrested as a sympathizer.

She knew all about what it could do.

"I don't know Cyril, I don't think it is."