Unlock(Izzie)

[Gordon McFadden]

The shuttle docked with the Venia in it's normal fashion, attaching itself to one of the many miniature ports that were held on the starboard part of the ship for shuttle arrivals. Once the shuttle touched down, the lighting within the interior of the shuttle turned on, revealing a battered and bruised body that belonged to Gordon Mcfadden. Blood that had been running from the several wounds inflicted on his face and upper body formed a minute pool around him, as if he were already dead. His captors thought he was.

It started when Gordon had followed the information he had gotten from his first venture dealing with the small smuggling ring Michael had wanted broken up. The info he got from the smuggling ring indicated that there more branches, one on Earth in his hometown of Washington D.C. Upon arrival, Gordon was ambushed and kidnapped by the ring. Their leader, Gyrax, had him beaten and sent the shuttle back where it came from with Gordon's body as a message to the ones who "sent" him.

Gordon's eyes opened slowly, the pain settling in slowly. He could see the exit of his shuttle from where he was laying and could hear the familiar rumble of the Venia's engines. He was back onboard somehow...how lucky that was. He attempted to push himself up to a standing position, but was unsuccessful, hitting the floor of the shuttle with a solid thud, causing him to let out a muffled shout of agony. No, he couldn't get up. But he could try to crawl. Mustering up whatever energy he had left, the tactical officer put one arm in front of the other. It was a painful process, but it was a whole lot easier than standing.

The airlock automatically opened for Gordon, who now crawled out into the ship itself. He didn't know where he was exactly, but that didn't matter...he had made it. He needed help, he need...
"Izzie..."

Blackness

[Izzie McFadden]

It was a slow day on board ship, and Izzie had to admit, she'd done practically nothing. There had been a stack of files to go through on her computer, but she hadn't touched them. She hadn't even been anywhere near the gym. She'd barely been on the ship a few days and already she felt discontented, not with her situation particularly - when everyone came back from their holidays, there would be more than enough for her to do - but with... well, what happened with Gordon. She'd never felt like that about someone before, and she'd left their first encounter with things pretty tense between the two of them.

Deciding she needed to clear her head (as much as someone could on a ship like this), she went for a walk, meandering her ways around the halls, just following her legs. Eventually she ventured near the hangar bay, and what she saw lying on the floor in the corridor made her gasp. Who was that? Dashing over, she skidded to a halt and dropped to her knees, gently pulling the person's head into view - it was Gordon.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," she got caught in a loop of panic. What had happened?! "Gordon, can you hear me?" Pressing two fingers to his neck, she found he had a pulse, but it was weak. At least he was alive. She thought about calling for help, but who was around to help her? "Hang on, okay? Hang on." It took all of her strength (he was a heavy lump of muscle) but she managed to drag him to the medical bay, which (luckily) wasn't far from the hangar bay.

Once there, she began frantically searching through cupboards and drawers for anything that might help. Shooting him up with a dose of painkillers and stimulants, she hoisted him onto a bed, and began tending to his wounds, hoping to God that a Doctor would magically walk through the door any moment.

((Feel free to skip ahead to him waking up xD))

[Gordon McFadden]

It was pitch black on the surface of Dune VI when Gordon and his squad moved into the forest that surrounded the complex of refugees. They moved gracefully, and yet there was a forceful purpose behind their movements, as if they were attempting to contain a fierce anger that burned within them by expressing themselves through the grace they were currently exhibiting. And they were angry: that's what kept them going, what drove them to do R4's dirty work. Gordon could feel the emotion coming off of his squadmates in waves, prompting a small smile. They would be ready for their work.

They arrived at the complex and then began their masterpiece: Gordon charged forward past the energy barrier, his energy shield deflecting the harm the barrier could have caused, and lifted the power supply of the barrier up into the air, shooting it to pieces with the energy pistol in his free hand. It didn't matter that the refugees heard shots; they would be dead soon anyhow. They filtered into the outer courtyard, where a few refugees were standing on guard with faulty energy rifles, looking petrified. Gordon chuckled, raising his right hand and lifting the patrol into the air.
"Nice night, eh?"

"DON'T!" Gordon raised his right arm, his biotic power grabbing the first thing he saw and throwing it across the room. He now recognized where he was: Venia medical bay. How did he get her...

Izzie.

[Izzie McFadden]

Izzie ducked reflexively, not wanting to get smacked on the head by the box of medical supplies that went soaring across the room with Gordon's cry.
"Hey, hey," she said soothingly, taking his arm, placing it back down against the bed gently, "it's ok, I got you." She'd managed to clean up most of the blood, disinfect any cuts, and seal up anything that was deep. It was a good thing she had a strong stomach, otherwise she would have been huddled in a corner freaking out, especially with all the blood she had all over her top and arms.
"I found you," she began filling in the gaps, "lying in the hallway outside the hangar bay, covered in blood." An experience she wouldn't like the relive any time soon, if ever, "what happened?"

[Gordon McFadden]

As Izzie talked, Gordon attempted to sit up, but then groaned as a wave of pain shot through his abdomen, forcing him back down to the examiners table that he had been laid on. For a moment, he didn't know if he wanted to tell her, if he wanted to disclose the trouble he had just faced. He turned and looked at Izzie, about to tell her to mind her own business when he saw her eyes, those beautiful and passionate orbs of color that made him rethink his answer. After a few more moments of silence, he spoke:
"Followed a lead that sent me to Earth. Slavers caught me, roughed me up, and sent me back here. Probably to let anyone else know what would happen to them if they tried to mess with their op. Too bad for them I'm going back to kick them all over the pave..." Another wave of pain came, this time through his shoulders down to his arms. Felt like he had just gone through a meat grinder.
"Why'd you come for me? I thought you didn't want to see me after our little fight."

[Izzie McFadden]

"Don't move," she told him, "I know you're Superman, but even he had to rest sometimes." She retrieved the box of medical supplies, and gave him some more painkillers, seeing as it had been a little while since she'd last dosed him up. Hopefully it would help relieve some of the pain.
Tugging her hair back out of her face, she looked down at him. It was hard to make out Gordon through the swelling and the bruises, but he was still in there, just about.
"I found you by accident," she admitted, "but even I'm not vindictive enough to leave you there after a fight. I honestly thought," she took a breath, "when I saw you there, I thought you were dead. And, after thinking something like that, stupid fights don't really matter any more."
Looking down, she finally saw all the blood on her shirt and grimaced, "looks like you painted me red." Feeble joke. Bad, feeble joke. Taking a step backwards, she pulled off her shirt and tossed it to the side, leaving just the tank top underneath. That, and the shorts she was wearing, made it look like she was ready for the beach, not bandaging someone up in medical bay.
Biting her bottom lip, she said, "if it's worth anything, I'm glad I found you. If you had..." No, it didn't bear thinking about.

[Gordon McFadden]

Gordon swallowed the painkillers gratefully, knowing that the stuff they had onboard would help him get around quite well for the next few days as he recovered. He chuckled at Izzie's joke, saying:
"I've done that to a lotta people" The smile that had come across his face disappeared as he heard her next statement, his facial expression changing to that of bewilderment. Glad she found him? What in the world? He had never heard anyone say those kinds of things about him. It was kill or be killed where he came from, and for her to say that...well, it changed his view slightly on a few things. For one, he felt a little bit of his apprehension about her disappear(as well it should have), which was a good beginning point for the development of their relationship.
"Be honest with me Izzie..." He sat up now(the painkillers had taken effect), asking:
"I was in a crumpled heap, blood pouring out of my carcass, and you rescued me. Yeah, most people would. But what you just said...it's almost as if you cared about me. Almost as if you..." He trailed off, not wanting to say the word, not even DARING to mention the word that had escaped his vocabulary for twenty two years, the word he would never utter to another human.

[Izzie McFadden]

Izzie ran a hand through her hair, her bangs falling back into place messily against her forehead. She didn't know what she was thinking. Part of this just felt ridiculous, they'd spent less an hour together - while he was conscious, unconscious, it probably totalled to more than a couple - how could you feel such feelings for someone you hardly knew? It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Moving back towards him, she perched on the edge of the examination table, looking right into those blue eyes of his.
"I don't know what this is," she said, "or how I feel this way when I barely know you, and we keep butting heads. But I don't want to betray these feelings, right here," she put her hand to her chest, "so, provided you don't make too many wisecracks about how hot I am or whatever, and stay in one piece, I want to get to know you, and I want to see where this crazy connection takes us."
She wasn't going to jump in straight away, both of them could end up getting hurt, and she knew she didn't want to risk that, he probably didn't want to either, not seeing how much he'd apparently been betrayed in the past.
Taking her hand in his, she said, "how does that sound?"

[Gordon McFadden]

Gordon appreciated her approach, silently hoping that she wouldn't jump all over him and confess her love(women do stupid things like that). He was gradually beginning to trust her, which was certainly a good thing in his eyes. And it didn't help that she had a SMOKIN figure. He hadn't noticed how good it was until she sat down close enough to where he could fully appreciate it. He opened his mouth for a moment, trying to express what he felt, but realized he couldn't get the words out. He wasn't very good with words in intimate moments such as these(what few moments he actually HAD like this one), but he wanted to tell her he felt the same way, that he couldn't deny the bond that he had almost instantly felt when they had touched, when their eyes locked on each other for the first time. He did manage to come out with a few words:
"Yeah...yeah. That works." He squeezed her hand gently before saying with a tiny smirk:
"Gotta watch yourself with that request honey. Can't help but comment on what I see."

[Izzie McFadden]

Izzie wasn't expecting a profound declaration of love in return, Gordon was a man after all, and a damaged one at that. But, like she'd said, she wanted to give it time, so if was willing to as well, then that was definitely cool with her.
"Good," she smiled for the first time in hours, "glad we can agree on at least one thing."
She let out a small laugh at what he said next, "as long as the comments are all complimentary, I think I can handle it." Rising onto her feet, her hand slipped from his, but instead of moving away, she came closer instead, kissing him gently on the side of his lips that weren't busted, "for not dying," she told him, "and a teaser of what's to come." Even if they had already made out.
Walking away from the bed now, she said, "you need to rest. I'm going to go put a message in to the UGAP, get a Doctor back here pronto if they're not already on their way. We don't want my bad medical skills leaving you scarred for life or anything. That pretty face of yours should stay pretty."

[Gordon McFadden]

"Rest? I don't need rest..." Gordon trailed off as another effect of the painkillers kicked in: drowsiness. He wanted to say something else, but his eyes were starting to droop and before he knew it, he was...

"Back right where we started, eh boss?" One of his squadmates, Jackknife, said with a sadistic smile. They had worked their way into the compound, slaughtering the refugees without a single hint of remorse or thought. It was as if they were operating off of reflex, their movements suggesting that their thoughts were somewhere else instead of the present. There hadn't been much of a fight to begin with, so not much concentration was needed, but it was still a bit frightening to Gordon, who now stared at the carnage they had created from their viewpoint at the entrance of the facility. In particular, he noticed a small girl who was pinned underneath a body, whimpering. She had somehow survived, but Gordon could tell she was injured.
"Lemme finish her off, Gordon. Save her the trouble." Another squadmate piped up(Lilian, his former lover).
"Shut it, both of you." Gordon jogged over to the girl, moving the body off of hers and saw a massive wound in her right leg.
"Wh..y..." Gordon's heart began to thud rapidly in his chest, his eyes clouding up with some kind of...

He was crying. Gordon Mcfadden, ruthless biotic terrorist, was beginning to cry.

Gordon was about to try and say something to the girl when he heard the familiar WHIZ of an energy bolt go right by him and strike the girl in the chest.
"Sorry, no survivors." Gordon turned to the squadmate who had fired on the girl and was now about to fire on Gordon.
"You're weak, Gordon. Got orders from on high. Gotta take you down."
"Too bad. I really liked you Eric."

Gordon's eyes snapped open, his senses coming back to him. Sitting up(he was feeling a lot better), he rubbed his face with his hands(there were a few bumps here and there but it felt a lot better).
"Good, you're up." Gordon jumped at the voice, looking around to see that there was no one there.
"What? Where are you?"
"I am Medical Intelligence Unit Two Five Seven, also known by the medical staff as Charlie. You can call me anything else if you like." Gordon had known that there were several virtual intelligence units in the ship, but didn't expect one here.
"I have done what I could with Arti-Flesh, but you will need exactly one week and three days for superficial scarring and bruising to go down to reasonable levels."
"Wait...what?"
"Arti-Flesh was utilized on your body at several different areas to ensure cosmetic and organic damage was contained. You retain most of your natural look, but as stated before.."
"Yeah yeah, a week and change, whatever." He stood up and grit his teeth as an acute pain ran through his legs and lower back.
"You will most likely need walking assistance. I will..."
"You won't tell me I can't walk, ya computer program."

[Izzie McFadden]

"Hey, don't take it out on Charlie, he's only trying to help."
Izzie appeared in a change of clothes, her hair wet and wavy from the shower she'd had to take to get rid of all the blood. As soon as Gordon had conked out, she'd suddenly become very aware of how much of a mess she was, her skin crawling at the feeling of his dried blood up and down her arms. Sure, they had a connection, but that didn't mean she could deal with being covered in his blood.
The shower had been long, she spent a good while sitting in the cubicle, just letting the water run over her as she tried to purge the images of Gordon lying in the corridor from her brain. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
"He's all right to leave, right?" Izzie asked Charlie, figuring Gordon would want to get out of here for a bit. Sam was back on board, or so she'd heard, and she knew she could do with something to eat.
"Provided he does not..."
"Walk, right, got that covered. And no," she glanced at Gordon, "I'm not carrying you."
She popped over to the corner of the room and wheeled over a wheelchair, whispering in Gordon's ear, "humour him."

[Gordon McFadden]

Gordon cocked an eyebrow up at Izzie, saying:
"You really think I'm gonna sit in that thing? That old, rickety wheelchair that probably belongs back in the 2200's? Nah, that's not happening."
"You are not in walking condition, Mr.Mcfadden. If you do not comply with instructions, I will be forced to sedate you." Gordon shook his head and begrudgingly sat in the chair, the VI responding:
"Very good, Mr.Mcfadden. I see you can listen."
"If you don't shut it, I'm going to blast your core into space."
"No need for violence, Mr.Mcfadden." Gordon then looked at Izzie, saying:
"Gonna push me around? Fine. I need food. Want to eat it on the observation deck too." He wasn't so keen on being hemmed in like this, but he was adaptable; he would work with what he had.

The food was astounding(as usual) and the view was just as beautiful as he had remembered it. This was another place that Gordon enjoyed coming to(and the first place where he and Anna had a civilized conversation).
"Where'd you grow up? Earth? New Earth? What were your parents like?" He asked the question a bit apprehensively, as if he was not expecting an answer. Although, Gordon knew he would get one. And he enjoyed that satisfaction.

[Izzie McFadden]

Izzie could sympathise, the idea of being carted around in a wheelchair wasn't appealing to her either, but at least there weren't that many people on board, so Gordon's dignity would remain largely in tact.
Sam had been kind enough to provide them both with a meal of their choice to go, although as soon as the words 'grumpy gills' left his mouth, Izzie had wheeled Gordon out of there as fast as she could go. Sam was adorable, and didn't really deserve a biotic fling of a scolding hot pan to the face for being jokey.

Sitting cross legged with her food on her lap, she stared out at the stars, nibbling on an asparagus tip. Looking over at Gordon, she raised her eyebrows slightly upon hearing his question.
"Earth," she replied, "New York, or more specifically, Queens. My parents... they're interesting people," she smiled a little, "my Mom was a dancer, I think I might have mentioned that in passing before. She learned ballet at the Royal Ballet School in England, and went on to dance professionally for several years until she was too old. She's strong and determined, still has that same focus. Only now, that focus is working on the rooftop garden in our old building. My Dad is a public defender, the sort of person who fights for the underdog. He's a big softie really."
Honestly, she didn't know what question to ask in return, or what sort of answer she would get, if she got one at all. "After you left R4, what did you do then?"

[Gordon McFadden]

"Fight for the underdog...I like that." Gordon had done a lot of that in his time between his desertion of R4 and joining the Alliance. He respected anyone who would stick their neck out for someone else weaker than they were, even if they knew the odds were against them. Those, in his book, were the unsung heroes of the galaxy. Gordon took a bite of his food and swallowed before he answered Izzie's question:
"Drifted. Did a lot of drifting. Just went from planet to planet, living off the grid, making sure those clowns at R4 didn't catch me. Saw a lotta people's suffering, pain, anguish...so much of it is out there and we turn a blind eye to it, like it doesn't exist. That's why I wanted to be a part of this op. It would give me something to do with my power and skills that was productive. You're gonna laugh at me for sayin this, but I don't like bashin heads for no reason. I need a purpose. R4 told us it was to serve their own needs, Alliance tells me that I can eliminate evil throughout the galaxy, blah blah blah. As long as I'm out there with something to look to, then I'll do whatever I have to do. Made it my mission when I was roamin around to look out for people who couldn't take care of themselves. Got them stuff...you know, food, water, whatever. They liked having someone who cared." Gordon then realized what he had just said...someone who cared. He looked down at his food for a moment before the remnants of the dream came to him...that poor girl.
"I didn't want...didn't want to k..." Gordon stopped himself, knowing that Izzie didn't need the burden of that memory on her mind, especially not after she had seen him in a pool of blood.