*Dedicated to AuthorJMColes because taivaan_sininen and myself couldn't help but think of you when we were writing some of these scenes!

*Also dedicated to Ashabellanar4life because we just had way too much fun laughing over this chapter... especially about the band-aids. XD

"Erasing my final memories, they won't stop till my whole life is gone." -"Eon" -Celldweller  

Nova's opened into the harsh light forcing him to close them again, cringing. 

Two faces gazed down at him. The one he recognized, although he didn't know his name. He'd seen the neuro cyberneticist's face on his Pirate Queen's ship when he'd interrupted Nova finally getting what he wanted. 

"You like the show, doc?" He managed, wincing as he spoke. 

The other was a beautiful dark-skinned woman that he'd never seen before, but she wore a doctor's jacket, so he assumed she was at least the assistant of the man in front of him.

He felt nauseated realizing that he could feel more than see Amy Larsson nearby. He felt snatches of mental conversation from her, her concern radiated outwards to him. She was literally making him sick through that leftover connection from Blue. Which was ironic, considering he wanted her so damn badly. 

"Amy?" He gasped, looking around the room. His head was spinning for a moment and he closed his eyes against the lights. 

"I'm here," he heard her voice from across the room. She didn't sound pleased at all. He tried raising himself up off the table to get a better look at her only to find that he was strapped down.

"Oh come on! Seriously?" He wiggled his arms to no avail, his gaze swept over accusingly to the neuro-cyberneticist. 

He heard a door bang open somewhere near his feet and saw a splash of crimson that could only be Red. 

"Seriously Nova, is this why we got interr--," Red halted as he looked Nova over from head to toe, his eyes going wide with astonishment. He stepped closer, "Why are there fucking pink band-aids all over you?" 

Nova's eyes widened. "What?" He swung his gaze back over to Null as it was clearly Null in control, because she was chewing on her lip as she tried to hide her own amusement. Nova stared at her in disbelief. "Pink?! Seriously?" 

"Rutherford's extent of medical knowledge," she just said and shrugged.  

"I'm going to kill him!" Nova began to struggle against the restraints which turned out to be a bad idea, his right arm was incredibly sore. He paused fighting nausea and his aching arm.

"I may have helped..." Null adds in a low voice, blushing. 

Well, that changes a few things.

The neuro-Cyberneticist frowned at her and Nova couldn't help feeling a twinge of triumph even at this hour. That's right doc. She touched me, not you.

"Where do you even find pink band-aids with unicorns on them?" Red asked glancing at Null, who only shrugged.

"UNICORNS?!!" He looked back at Null, his eyes wide with horror. He pulled at the restraints again, "No way, no fucking way, Amy. This is a joke, right? Tell me that I don't have pink band-aids all over me." 

"Sorry, we were out of Rainbow ones," Null covered her mouth to hide her smile, her concern evaporating and with it the pressure eased off of his mind. 

He groaned and sank back onto the bed. A few strands of his hair fall over his face and his nose itched. 

"No. Fucking. Way. Even my hair? Ugh. Why don't you just kill me right here and now! My hair!" 

"So who exactly is this?" Another voice asks, one that Nova didn't even know was in the room. He leaned forward staring at his feet trying to make out the other two people who'd come in with Red. 

"Jack, this is Nova," Null gestures to him. "Nova, this is Jack. This is Leah, the local doctor. And you have... met Cyril." 

"Seriously, he's not a threat, Jack. Unstrap him," Red crossed his arms, managing to look threatening without moving a muscle. 

Jack hesitated as he turned to look at Red, his mouth working, when suddenly Red was in the man's face, his face contorted with anger. "Trust me, Jack," he snapped. "I'm more of a threat to you than that kid is."

Nova watched the interaction with interest, noting the way Red had placed himself between Jack and Ember the entire time to the way Ember had laid a hand on Red's arm. The resemblance between Ember and Jack was striking, but Nova put that aside for now. 

He was too mortified at his current condition to make any sense of what was going on, other he was completely undignified in appearance.

Jack looked down at Nova and then ordered Cyril to loosen the straps. Nova took notice of Leah, the organic doctor as she frowned at the exchange. The straps being loosened, Nova hauled himself up and looked down taking full stock of himself. 

"Wait a minute," Nova looked down, spotting bandaids underneath his shirt. He shifted, feeling more of them all over his body, even under his pants. "What the?" His gaze fell on Null in disbelief. "You did this-?" 

"Well, not all-" 

"Don't," he cried out, pushing the mental image of cold robotic fingers away, "Don't finish that sentence. Just say you did this, and I'll grin and bear it." He inhaled staring at the ceiling before dropping his gaze back to her. "As long as you take them all off again." 

Null's face went crimson giving Nova a moment of satisfaction.

"Can we sedate him now?" Cyril interrupts, his face contorted with anger. "He doesn't seem to have anything of relevance to say." 

"Shut it, doc," Nova remembers what he wanted to talk to Amy about initially. "I came to tell Amy something serious. But if you're all just here to gawk at me, I might as well walk out of here right now and take that conversation elsewhere." Nova struggles against the restraints. "Where the hell am I, anyway?" 

"New Elysium," Ember answers him, speaking up. She was smiling at him this time, her eyes lit up with amusement. He didn't consider her as beautiful as the Pirate Queen but she was striking in her own way. Even shorter than Amy Larsson, but she had enough augments to kill a few good-sized men if she wanted to. She was so different from their last encounter when everyone thought Red was going to die. Ember was the only woman Nova had never hit on. He'd met her on the Perihelion just as Red had gotten to her and her hands had lit up with electricity before he'd gotten a sentence her way. Hell, Nova thought. Remind me never to touch anything belonging to Red.

He switched his attention back to Null, who was frowning at him.

That's not a good sign. He had something he wanted to tell her, a few things actually but being strapped to the table wasn't helping. Hell, being in her presence wasn't helping either

"Atlas," he started, looking her in the eye. 

"What do you know about Atlas?" Jack came forward to stand at his side.  "You haven't been properly vetted," Nova recognized authority when he saw it. Naturally, he hated it. 

"I'll vouch for him," Null's voice came from his right. 

Jack lifted an eyebrow. "You're hardly the person I'd trust with the safety of New Elysium."

"Jack!" Leah snapped. "We're kind of needing to work on the patient--"

"--Nova," Null interjected.

"He stays under guard," Jack turned his attention back to Nova. "What do you know about Atlas?"

Nova looked over at Null who nodded. "Shipping company by day... hawking augment parts by night."

"Lots of people are attempting it these days," Jack said, rubbing his eyebrow. His gaze was serious though and Nova knew he'd hit a nerve of some kind.

"Yeah well not everyone is making an augmented army fully controlled by the virus," Nova snapped, his momentary bravado slipping as he stepped into a completely different person.

"And?" Jack's eyes narrowed, even Red took a step forward, and Null stared at him.

It was Null's reaction that he was waiting for though. Oh yeah, she's heard of Atlas. And if he knew her, she was already working on them. 

"The man in charge," Nova lost his grin and turned serious. "We've got some unfinished business."

"Unfinished business?" Jack leaned forward. "So you know him?"

"Blood business," Nova replied not backing down from Jack's stare. Jack did not just have the presence that Red did. Must be the hair, he decided as he fought down another wave of dizziness.

Cyril cast another glance between him and Null and pulled out a syringe with a sigh. "She's mine doc, I licked her first."

The room went dead quiet.

Ember let out a small giggle from beside Red. 

"Nova!" Null snapped, covering her mouth. She immediately straightened and Nova knew that Lars had taken over. 

His head started to swim, and he felt his nose tickling, he reached up and wiped the blood from his nose. His glanced at Amy, his face full of anxiety. "Ah, fuck..."

########

Nova's body shook on the bed and Red was the first to react, grabbing the flailing man so he didn't fall off the bed. His nose had begun to bleed profusely, dribbling off of his face.

Leah was next to him holding his head so he didn't choke on his tongue, her hands turning red with his blood. 

"Nova!" Null put her hands over her mouth and backed away until she hit the wall, when she did she straightened and Lars had taken over. Red glanced at them and Lars shook their head and bolted out of the door. 

I'm just making it worse, Lars sent to him a moment later.

Red turned back to Nova as the shaking began to subside.  His nose was still dripping but his body otherwise lay still. 

"Thank you," Leah glanced up at Red who stepped back eyes on Nova. The younger man's breath was shallow but at least he was still breathing. 

Cyril pulled out a syringe and pumped it into his arm.

What's wrong with him? Red sent the question directly to Lars. What do you mean you're making it worse?

It's hard to explain, the reply came from Null. 

I'm listening.

"Red, I need you guys to clear out, so we can stabilize him." Red looked at Leah and nodded. It was hard to have a conversation with two people at the same time. 

Someone stay with him. Please Red, I watched your back, don't leave him alone. The pleading tone in her voice surprised Red. 

"I'll stay with him," Ember surprised him when she spoke up. 

"You're listening?"

"Of course," She smiled at him. "They hit us both, I'm the one who usually answers remember?"

"I don't know..." Red still had mixed feelings about there being a bounty on Ember's head. 

"It's fine," Leah snapped. "Out, Jack, Red."

"Let me know when he wakes up," Jack tried claiming back some of his authority. 

Leah only shot an upraised eyebrow at him. He gave a curt nod to Red and left the room. 

Red stared at Ember for a moment, unsure of what to do. Go, Ember mouthed at him.

He left slowly making sure he wasn't going to run into Jack whom he was growing to hate by the hour.

He stopped outside the door. Ember was probably the safest here. Leah and Cyril weren't going to hurt her, Jack lived in this part of New Elysium as well. He doubted he'd have anyone there who'd lift a finger to hurt Ember.

But still Red was uneasy.

I know you're outside the door, Red. Why don't you go find Amy and figure out what's going on? Cyril is saying something about scarring overtop of scarring.

Fine, just keep in touch?

I will, I promise...

He left it at that. He didn't need to tell her how crazy he'd gone finding that she'd been kidnapped, she'd seen him when he showed up to rescue her. But it seemed that everyone wanted to put their claws in her, and he wasn't about to let that happen.

He sighed as he walked opening the channel to Lars again. For whatever reason, it was relatively easy to reach Lars over Null. Probably had more to do with the fact that Lars was an AI in an organic brain and the transmission probably hit him first.

What was that about?

I don't think I could explain it adequately, Captain, Lars replied.

He licked you, huh?

Yes, Sir. 

Licked you before the doctor could, eh?

He smiled even though Lars couldn't see it. Where did you go?

We're on the Black Star, I thought it best to bring Null here, she's a bit worried.

I think worried is a bit of understatement. I've never seen her lose it like that.

Red shook his head and turned over the name Atlas, in his mind. He didn't know much about Atlas, he hadn't plugged into anything since that day he first went back to the Aphelion. Even then it had only been to see why he'd had such a reputation. He was so used to not surfing cyberspace that it slipped his mind that he could plug himself back in at any time.

But the truth was he'd seen so much about himself it had made him sick. Things he had supposedly done, how he acted, what he was like. Even a made-up bullshit version of his history. 

He had shared a joke or two with Null about "taking credit" for some of their heists but the truth was, inwardly he was horrified at how big his name had gotten back on Neo-Tokyo. He didn't want any of that.

I didn't know anything before, he thought as he made his way to the Blackstar. People moved out of his way, a few saluted. He nodded at them all, trying not to let it gnaw at him. 

When he finally made it to the Blackstar, Null opened the door for him.

"Ah, your majesty, Queen of grace!" Heisenberg greeted him. The reaper unit had taken a liking to Red during their trip together to save Ember. He still couldn't get Red's name or title right. Red found it no longer mattered as much.

"Heisenberg," he greeted him.

"Where's Ember?" Null asked, crossing her arms, or at least she tried. She ended up hugging herself. Red had never seen her so rattled before. 

"She stayed behind, remember?" 

Null exhaled in relief. "Yeah, I didn't wait for a reply..."

"So tell me what's going on with Nova."

Null looked up at him and he no longer felt mortified by her gaze. Her organic was red from crying. And then she straightened and Red knew that Lars had taken over the body again.

"Captain, we picked Nova up on Talus, where the Atlas company has some of its property."

"And?"

"Well he came aboard and collapsed."

"Because of you?"

"Well I don't think so, Sir, he was already injured. We did put his arm back into place, it was out of socket."

Red scrubbed his face with his hands. "So tell me about Atlas?"

"Even a well-lit place can hide salvation
A map to a one-man maze that never sees the sun
Where the lost are the heroes
And the thieves are left to drown
But everyone knows by now
Fairy tales are not found
They're written in the walls As we walk in a straight line
Down in the dirt with a landslide approaching
But nothing could ever stop us
From stealing our own place in the sun
We will face the odds against us
And run into the fear we run from

It has begun"- "It Has Begun" Starset