I spun and rushed down the corridors, heavy footsteps resonating behind me like thunder out on an open field. There was no way I could outrun the storm I had found myself in, so I had to try and create enough distance for him to lose sight of me, and then hide away and pray he would pass by long enough for me to slip past, and out the ship. Thankfully, I was a lot leaner than the Captain which allowed me to fling myself around corners that Wisp had to slow down for. There was no time to open any doors, I dared a glance behind, which was probably a mistake as I slowed down the tiniest bit, which was enough for Wisp to be close enough to nip at my heels. 

I desperately tried to gain another burst of speed out of my quickly dwindling stamina reserves, my breathing was heavy and my heart was thumping quicker than my feet were on the ground.

 Then, I got an idea. 

I swung my disabled arm down, the whip extending in between my legs. Wisp did not have the time to evade it and stepped right onto the electrically charged wire. I heard a thump behind me as the Captain's body hit the floor after his muscles had seized up and I got tugged to a painful stop as my arm got pulled by the whip that was caught under Wisp's body, which made me tug at it until it slipped free and I did not turn back again as I kept sprinting until I deemed the distance between us far enough to slip into a room without it being too close to where he last saw me. I heard shouts and decided to duck into the next best hiding spot available to me. 

It seemed like some sort of conference room, unfortunately, there was no door but instead, there was a big table in the middle, which was loaded up with maps and other papers. I didn't take the Captain for someone old-fashioned but it drew me further in, taking a peak at all the wild circles and scribbles drawn onto the maps. Muted thuds outside shocked me out of my focus and I quickly slipped underneath the heavy table. I heard members of the crew shouting outside but the boots ran past the opening and the voices grew muddled again, signaling they were running away from my current hiding spot. 

I exhaled in relief and quickly checked my gauntlet, where a missive from Temos instantly popped up. I opened it and saw that he had found his crew and, after knocking out the guard and hacking the security, had managed to break them out. He was waiting for me outside at the marketplace. My hands moved swiftly, letting him know of my predicament. This was the ideal moment for him to hijack our shuttle, to run away with it and both of us knew it, which made me hesitate in sending the message. If he ran off there was no way for me to escape the city, yet I sighed before tapping the send button. I wasn't even sure if I would make it off this ship in the first place. Let him have it. My body flinched and I hunched further under the table as alarms outside started blaring. There was no way I could hide in here for much longer without being found, so I slowly crawled out from under the table and focused on my hearing trying to figure out if it was safe to leave the room. The alarms made it hard to make out anything, so I had no choice but to take the risk. 

I loaded up my gun and slipped back outside into the, thankfully, empty hallways that were now tinted into a flickering, red light. With careful steps, I sneaked from one dark corner into the next until I miraculously arrived at the door that had the mist coming out from underneath. The hand scanner was shut off now, which meant there was no way I could enter the room and take the Breath before booking it back outside. Admittedly, the mission wasn't even close to my highest priority at the moment. I'd have to try again another time. First and foremost, I had to get out, so, I sneaked my way further down, hoping I'd somehow make it back to the med bay from where I should be able to remember the way back outside. 

I checked behind me before I slipped past the next turn and bumped into a chest. A big, burly creature with heavy armor plating all over his body looked down at me unimpressed. He grabbed the cigarette out of his maw, smacked his lips once, and exhaled the smoke right into my face. Yet, nothing could pull my attention away from Temos, who was held by the collar of his shirt in mid-air. He said he was outside. Why did he come back? 

A clawed hand came towards me, effectively ripping me out of my stare down with Temos and making me lunge backwards to avoid it. The big creature snarled, revealing several rows of teeth while advancing towards me at an alarming pace. There was no point where I could shoot it without accidentally putting Temos at risk, so I kept stumbling backwards, hoping for an opening, which revealed itself after only a couple of seconds. The creature shoved his hand into the belt wrapped around his waist, moving Temos a little bit to the side, since he had been blocking access to the weapon with his body. I acted quickly and shot a round right into his, now revealed, stomach. The guy dropped Temos to press his hand into the wound, blood leaking past his fingers. I didn't hesitate any longer and grabbed Temos, before taking off around the lizard creature towards the exit. 

We took turn after turn, getting closer to our freedom but then everything happened quickly. A shot rang out, piercing through the alarm. I didn't feel any pain, due to the adrenaline, so I was able to keep pushing towards where I was sure the exit was located. I heard voices closing in behind me as Temos started to slow down more and more. I cursed his stamina as I tried lugging him alongside me until he tripped and tore both of us down to the ground. He got ripped away, out of my grasp. I turned on my back, still on the floor while pointing my gun at the three pirates that must have been the ones chasing us. One of them held Temos close, a gun cocked at his head. Twin pistols were in the second one's hands and the third pointed a more heavy-looking caliber at my face. I pushed to my feet and saw why the shot hadn't started hurting yet. I hadn't been the one hit. 

Temos was. 

He looked pale and sweaty in their clutches. I was panting, as I inched backwards closer to the door. I didn't know what to do. I was scared. Temos came back for me but there was no way both of us would make it off the ship together. I risked a glance sideways, where the button located to my freedom was. It was lit up, which meant Temos must have hacked it back into functioning for us when he realized the ship went into shutdown. He knew I would be stuck inside while the doors were offline, and tried to help me. Thankfully, behind me were only solid walls, as this was the end of the corridor, so I wasn't in danger of being snuck up on as I tried relentlessly to come up with a solution that would get me out. 

There was no way to shoot or electrify the pirates, as they would immediately retaliate firing, the moment one of them got put out of commission. I considered going for the one clutching onto Temos so that he could then help me fend off the others but he wasn't in any state to fight. If I lunged at the exit the hatch would take too long to open, to guarantee a safe escape, but it seemed like the only option I had. I was about to turn and make a run for the scanner that would open my way to freedom, until I heard a pained grunt from Temos, as the pirate seemed to follow my thought process and pressed the barrel into Temos' temple with more force. Temos came back for me after freeing his crew. I sighed in surrender, tensing my muscles while getting ready to shoot and then hopefully duck away quick enough to not get hit by their bullets, but just as I was about to start firing, the blue smoke that we saw on the floor earlier reappeared, curving past the pirate's legs, that didn't seem to mind it in the least, advancing towards me at a rapid pace. I stumbled back but it flowed right through between my legs and not a second later I had a hand pushing a knife against my throat, an elbow hooked under my shoulder, the hand pushing my gauntlet up towards the ceiling, so I couldn't aim my gun at the other pirates anymore. The blade was pricking my skin, making me hold my chin high trying to create some distance between the cold metal and my neck, which automatically ended in me leaning my head backwards, against the shoulder of whoever snuck up behind me, and upwards, peering right into the Captains smirking face. Bright blue glowing eyes glancing down at me. The mist was slowly evaporating off of him until it completely dissipated. Just what sort of creature was the Captain?

"Now then gentlemen what is the meaning of this rowdy fight in my humble abode?" he asked, as all but the pirate holding Temos stowed away their firearms. Wisp didn't wait for an answer as he continued.

"A captain for a crew." he looked at Temos, then back to me, "-and a wanted ex-agent of the Space Force. What an interesting find indeed." He started forward, making my unwilling feet skid against the floor as he pushed me from behind, keeping me tightly in his clutches as he gave command to his crew, "Patch that one up and throw him into the cells. I'll take care of this little one."

Watching with dread as they carted Temos off down towards the med bay, I was still shocked that he came back for me. We weren't that close yet he risked his life to come to my aid. The knife got removed from my neck but before I could try and spin out of his grasp to regain my freedom, both of his arms had wrapped tightly around me, pinning my arms against my body, then I got tipped over sideways with one of his legs digging forcefully into my back and lifting my lower body, in mere seconds he had moved his grasp on me so I was, still immobile, lifted into his arms. Then, he started walking, deeper into the ship and, step after step, further away from my freedom. I should've listened to Mr. Whisper. Instead, I had acted recklessly and removed all ties to the agency, that would now have sent for backup, doing everything in their power to get me out. My body hunched, head pulling in between my shoulders as I realized how alone I truly was in this now. Temos was hurt and locked away, and I was on my own against a whole crew of notorious, ruthless pirates.