Chapter Text
We had to hurry. Fang's painkillers were good, but they couldn't make miracles happen. My body followed my instructions, but a dull pain accompanied me with every step. It felt as if the Ataria Express had dragged me through the entire Eufala Dessert at full speed.
I frantically packed my bag and pocketed some of the medication from Fang's work table.
Fever-reducing medication and stimulants. I would really need them for our plan.
Logan watched me and raised an eyebrow when he realized what I was putting in my pocket.
"You never know"
I said and closed my bag.
He didn't reply, but followed me out of the clinic. The fresh air felt good and for a brief moment I felt almost normal.
One wrong step and a stabbing pain brought me back to reality.
I didn't want to let it show, but Logan's worried look told me that I wasn't a good actor at all.
Rambo was tied to a fence next to the clinic.
Logan carefully lifted me into the saddle and then swung himself up in front of me.
"You're good darlin'?" he asked over his shoulder.
"I'm good, don't worry. We should try to be as fast as possible."
He just nodded and gave Rambo the signal to start running.
Thank God Logan couldn't see my face. So at least I didn't have to waste any energy on trying to keep a neutral expression on my face. In addition to the pain, I was becoming more and more exhausted. My fingers cramped and I tried to distract myself mentally. I went through my commissions from the last few days that I hadn't handed in yet. Sorted them by urgency.
It worked.
Before I knew it, Rambo was stopping in front of the huge ruins of an old battleship.
Military.
Normally I wasn't a fan of ruins like this, because for some reason the fighting robots inside are usually still in top condition.
Not helpful when you're trying to collect materials.
Definitely not helpful when your own body is on the verge of collapse.
While Logan tied Rambo down in a protected place, I quickly reached into my bag and took one of Fang's stimulants.
"Not too many. Not good for your heart"
I heard him say in my head. I decided that if I got through it all well, I would listen to him for a change and take at least one day off a week.
Especially since I hopefully need time for dates in the future. At the thought of a classic date with Logan, a subtle blush crept back into my face.
>> Good, makes me look only half as dead. << I thought to myself.
The meds started to work and in my experience I had a good hour before the effects wore off.
Even though I was aware of my otherwise good health, I still didn't want to take the risk of taking painkillers on top of that. Pain was fine.
Pain just meant that I was still alive.
The wreck in front of us had an enormous crack that ran the entire length of the ship, which was probably the reason why it ended up at the bottom of the sea.
A catastrophe for people back then, but a blessing for us today. The large crack gave us the opportunity to enter the ship near the sick bay.
Logan went ahead and took out some robots while I concentrated on not getting in his way.
Playing hero wasn't an option for me in my condition.
The map that Fang had given us enabled us to make rapid progress.
"I don't know..."
Logan raised his eyebrow.
"What you mean?"
I stopped in front of the door that marked the entrance to the sick bay.
"Seems all too easy."
"What, you bored now?"
I laughed briefly.
"I wish. Call it being pessimistic, but it all seems just to easy."
It took a second, but then he nodded in agreement.
"not enough robots in here, is that what ya mean?"
"Right. You know ruins like this just as much as I do. It almost seems like.."
"Someone else already cleaned up in here." He finished my sentence for me.
Now I nodded.
A bad feeling filled me more and more.
My hand reached into my pocket again.
Logan started to protest.
"The hell ya think you doin'?" Before he could stop me, I quickly downed a second vial of stimulants.
"If I get a heart attack, there's a machine in there to save me."
I joked. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn't in the mood for jokes though.
"Listen, it's either nothing behind this door and you're just gonna put me in that machine and everything's okay."
I took a deep breath.
"Or there's gonna be someone, and I think we both think about the same person right now, behind this door."
His eyes remained on my face. His expression was as serious as I had rarely seen it before.
"And then we're both gonna be happy that I am at least capable of defending myself."
I finished my thoughts.
He said nothing. The silence was almost driving me crazy when I suddenly felt the warmth of his hand on mine.
He tenderly closed his fingers around mine and squeezed tightly.
"We're gonna get you healthy darlin'. I'll protect you no matter what."
He gave me a quick kiss on my forehead before he let go of my hand and reached for the door in front of us instead.
I swallowed hard and took one last deep breath before I confirmed with my look that he should finally open the door.
Logan slammed the door open with a loud bang.
The room in front of us was pitch black. I breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, but the relief didn't last long. Before I could even take a step into the room in front of us, everything suddenly lit up.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light.
Reality hit me like a flood of sense.
In front of us, leaning relaxed against the wall and with his terribly smug grin on his lips, stood Pen.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"Just that one time, I was hopin' to be wrong." Logan whispered in my direction.
"What's wrong Logan? Skinny? Not happy to see your old friend?"
Pen pushed himself off the wall and took a few confident steps towards us.
"I'd be happier if you could just take a hint and f*ck off."
Pen grabbed his chest in a dramatic way.
"Ouch, Skinny. And here I thought we have some kind of connection."
"Cause I beat your ass before?"
I grinned provocatively in his direction, but secretly we both knew that I was in no condition to harm him in any way.
"Oh my sweet, sweet Skinny. I was hoping you'd let me spank your ass for a change but it seems like you already found a Yakboy to play with."
What was the point of these stupid taunts all of a sudden?
Was he trying to upset Logan? A quick glance in Logan's direction told me that it certainly seemed to be working. But instead of answering Pen, he grabbed his revolver and fired the first shot in his direction without a warning.
That's right, there was no time for these pointless psychological games.
Pen seemed to understand that too, at least he lunged straight at me with his fists.
Take out the injured opponent first, clever.
Luckily the medication took effect and I was at least able to quickly dodge his attacks.
Logan, on the other hand, wasted no time and attacked Pen from behind, just as he was still pinning me down.
The two began to fight each other in a relentless duel.
Pen used his gloves, which gave him an unnatural strength.
Desperate because I felt so useless at that moment, I scanned the entire room. Those strange machines that Fang was talking about, all seemed to be intact, which surprised me.
It would have made sense to destroy them if Pen already suspected what we were planning.
>>He might thought that he'll need them for himself in the future<< flashed through my mind. Whatever the real reason, I was relieved that my chance of being cured was still there.
As I spotted a familiar vial on the counter in front of me, I saw something moving towards me out of the corner of my eye. Luckily my legs reacted before my head could and I narrowly avoided Pen's blow to my left.
"That's all you can do Skinny?" the scorn in his voice always drove me mad.
"Since someone is too scared to fight fair and square, yes!"
Before he could swing his next blow, Logan was already in front of me to protect me.
Now it was Pen who had to dodge his shots.
Logan finally hit him on the shoulder and with a loud bang Pen fell backwards against a cupboard.
"You gotta get out of here!" Logan turned to me.
"You can't fight like this and I can't concentrate when I am worried about you the whole time!"
His voice sounded almost annoyed, which overwhelmed me for a moment.
I knew he was only worried about me, but the feeling of uselessness was omnipresent.
I was about to protest when I noticed a movement behind Logan. Pen was standing on both feet again, but his posture confused me. He stretched his left arm straight out towards Logan.
"Logan, watch out!"
But before he could react, I saw Pen's glove start to glow.
>> Laser. << flashed through my mind.
I grabbed Logan's collar and pulled him to the side with all my strength.
A bright light shot through the room and I felt a stabbing pain in my right shoulder.
"No!"
Logan's voice sounded angry. I tried to open my eyes, but my body let me down.
"Poor Skinny, can't even take one hit. But now it's finally just you and me Yakboy."
I heard Pen's voice clearly and distinctly.
Even though I didn't want to worry Logan any more, this was a welcome opportunity for me.
>> That's right. Just think that I'm fainted and pay no more attention to me. <<
I finally remembered why that stupid vial looked so familiar.
Narcotics.
Time to send that show-off to sleep.
The feeling in my shoulder and the rest of my body was gradually returning. The throbbing pain was almost killing me, but I didn't have time for that. I had to function.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Pen and Logan were now at the other end of the room. Both completely engrossed in their fight.
Slowly, really much too slowly, I pulled my body with my uninjured shoulder along the floor towards that stupid counter. I had to stop again and again to make sure that neither of the two men had turned their attention to me.
Luck was finally on my side, at least now.
I pulled myself upright in excruciating pain.
I grabbed the vial and examined it as quickly as I could.
100 mg. Enough to send a yakmel to sleep. Definitely enough to put the guy with the way too big ego to sleep.
Syringe.
I looked around quickly. On a small table not far away I saw needles and syringes.
I had no other choice, I had to act quickly. With the last of my willpower I pulled myself back to my feet and crept as inconspicuously as possible to the materials I needed.
"Skinny!"
f*ck.
Pen stared at me with a broad grin. But I didn't let that unsettle me. With my back turned to him, I quickly drew up the medicine and discreetly hid the syringe in my sleeve.
There was a loud bang behind me as a hole in the wall next to me appeared.
>> So it takes him about 2 minutes to recharge that stupid glove. <<
I turned to him.
>> Should be enough time for Logan... <<
Logan was laying in front of me, contorted in pain. A hole went through his right thigh.
All the color drained from my face.
I was so stupid. So careless.
"So sorry. I didn't mean to break your toy."
Pen slowly walked towards me.
No chance. There was no chance that Logan could still fight in that condition.
>> Two minutes. <<
I had exactly two minutes before Pen could fire another shot that would probably kill me or Logan.
My body was shaking. I felt like I was about to lose consciousness.
I couldn't fight. I couldn't defend myself.
I only had one attempt.
Pen had stopped in front of me by now.
"What's wrong, you're so quiet."
It was stupid how much it cost me to overcome my fears. Given the situation we were in.
I couldn't even bring myself to look in Logan's direction, I felt so sick.
Pen backed away for a moment before wrapping his arms around me.
>>Disgusting.<<
I pressed my mouth together as tightly as I could, but Pen seemed to enjoy it more than I had expected.
His lips became more and more demanding and I heard a slight moan.
>>Disgusting.<<
When I felt his tongue on my lips, it was over.
With a violent thrust, I rammed the syringe into his back. I let all the liquid flow into his body before I freed myself from his arms.
He stood there with his eyes wide open. I could see him trying to tell me something, but it was too late.
The medicine worked.
Thank God, it worked.
With a dull thud, Pen finally collapsed at my feet.
It was over.
I immediately dragged my body to Logan. He was already trying to pull himself up on a wall when I grabbed his arm to support him.
"Disgusting."
I was caught of guard by his statement, but a quick look at his smiling face told me that he didn't mean it in an angry way.
"Disgusting." I replied with a smile and helped him sit down on one of the chairs that was still standing in the room.
My head was spinning. I didn't have much time left, I finally had to get into one of these machines.
Logan was sitting fairly safely so that I could concentrate on the control panel in front of me.
"Fang didn't lie." I said half to myself, half to Logan.
"Huh?"
I pointed to the screen in front of me.
"It's really very easy to use.
You just have to activate the diagnostics and the computer examines and treats you in..."
I looked more closely at the panel again.
"In 5 minutes."
I tapped start and crawled into the machine with the last of my strength.
The treatment took less than a minute. A laser scanned my entire body and before I knew it, several needles had already pierced my flesh. Unpleasant, but definitely not the worst thing that had happened to me today.
The door opened with a loud whoosh and I stepped out into freedom.
My pain was gone. My shoulder was obviously stitched up and apart from a slight dull feeling in my head, I felt fit again.
"That thing is magic!" I shouted enthusiastically.
The display showed in large letters
TREATMENT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED. TIME TILL FULL RECOVERY: 24 HOURS.
"That's impressive." Logan's face beamed.
I nodded happily and reached for his hand.
"Your turn."
He willingly got into the machine and I started his treatment on the display.
After just a few seconds he was finished. He also had a stitch on his wounds and an injection of what was probably painkillers and he was as good as new.
He stepped out of the machine and I could no longer contain my joy. I jumped around his neck and pressed myself against him before he gave me a passionate kiss.
>>Wonderful. <<
We separated from each other far too quickly, but we both knew we had to hurry. Even if Pen was going to be out of action for a while, it was important to notify Justice and Unsuur as quickly as possible so that they could finally lock him away.
We decided to tie him to Rambo's back. We were both physically in good shape again and the way back to Sandrock was easy to manage on foot.
Logan didn't let go of my hand the whole way.
When we arrived in Sandrock, Justice intercepted us in front of the water tower.
"Guys I can't believe you! Going on that mission without reporting it to the Civil Corps?"
Fang must have told him.
When he spotted Pen, however, he was too busy dragging him to prison with Unsuur's help to admonish us any further.
The door slammed shut and before I could react, Logan sat me back on Rambo's back.
I looked at him in surprise as he swung himself into the saddle.
"Sorry Darlin'. I'm gonna be a bit selfish now."
I couldn't reply because Rambo raced towards my workshop way too fast, so all I could do was cling to Logan's back.
I leaned my head against his back and could hear his heart galloping just as fast.
It was still relatively early in the morning. Andy was with Heidi for his lesson. I had to practically beg Logan to make a detour towards the clinic to at least inform Fang that I wasn't going to die after all.
Fang gave me a quick hug and I heard Logan growl behind me.
>> What got into him all the sudden? << I thought to myself as we finally stopped in front of my house. Rambo knew the way to my stable by himself by now, which I thought was super sweet.
I let Logan enter the house first. As I was just closing the door Logan's hand suddenly reached past me and locked it.
I turned around to ask him why he was locking the door, but my mouth was immediately sealed with his lips.
Logan pressed me against the door with his weight and grabbed my hips with his hands. Instinctively I grabbed his hair and let the pleasant shiver flow through my body.
Logan pressed his tongue against my lips demandingly and I let him in. When his hands started to wander over my back and under my shirt, I broke the kiss.
Completely out of breath, I looked into his eyes.
"Slow down Yakboy. I'll need a shower first." I grinned playfully at him, but he continued to look at me seriously.
Now I was worried.
"You okay?" I asked.
Instead of answering me, he pressed both my hands over my head against the door behind us.
His lips wandered over my neck and he distributed several kisses that became more and more intense.
My whole body tingled and I lost more and more feeling in my legs.
Before I knew it, he grabbed me with his strong arms and carried me over to the couch in the middle of my living room.
After he carefully put me down on it, he moved his body over mine and left several marks on my neck. It took all my strength to push him away from me again.
"Logan!"
This time I finally seemed to get through to him. He leaned up and looked down into my eyes.
"You don't like it Darlin'?"
I shook my head vigorously. Of course I did. But I could tell that something was wrong with him.
"Quite the opposite. But I can tell something is bothering you. Would you talk to me?"
He sighed and sat up straight.
"Listen. I know it's stupid but I can't get the image out of my brain."
I knew immediately what he was talking about. And I understood his feelings. Just the thought of having to see him doing this to another...
But what could I do?
"I'm sorry." I finally managed to say quietly.
"No, no! That's not what I mean. It was a smart move, honestly. It's just."
He clenched his fists.
"I'm gonna beat the sh*t out of Pen."
I understood this need all too well, too. However, it probably wasn't the best idea to beat up a prison inmate.
"What can I do? I wanna make you feel better." I finally said.
He seemed to think for a while before he answered:
"Can I just hold you?"
I smiled with relief. There was nothing I would rather do at that moment.
He pulled me into a tight hug.
"You're mine, right?" he asked me, burying his face in my hair.
"I'm yours."
