Chris stared at the ground, his mind churning as he attempted to work around the blatant denial ringing in his mind. He had asked a dozen questions, thought of a hundred more, but whatever his disagreements with Sam he knew the man was a professional. He would have gone to every length, made every check he could make. Erin had been taken back to her room at least an hour prior, but he couldn't bring himself to move. Had it actually been machine error? That blip on the EEG, it had seemed real enough. Sarah had seen it just as well as he had.<br/><br/>Finally, though, he stirred himself. He thanked Sam for trying and stepped out of the technician's office, out into the hallway beyond.<i>I don't know what to tell you, doc. Your girl isn't awake in there. I wish I could tell you otherwise.</i>The words rattled around in his brain like wasps, stinging and biting at his certainty. What if everyone else was right? What if she didn't recover from this? What if she truly were dead, a shell living without its spark? He rubbed his face with both hands and dropped them to his hips, his head tilting back as he exhaled and counted down from twenty. He couldn't give up yet, wouldn't. There had to be something he hadn't thought of, some kind of treatment or measurement that he hadn't found.<br/><br/>He was about to head back to her room when a familiar voice called his name and an arm flung itself tight around his neck. "Doc Tool! I was wondering if you'd still be here." Chris had to grasp the arm around his neck and remove it somewhat forcefully to straighten up, but when he did he was met with a friendly face. Like his sisters, Ryan Norton had dark brown hair and blue eyes, but the pixie-like quality the girls possessed--big eyes and pale soft skin--was lost on him. He was still on the slight side of things, though, thin and shorter than Chris by half a head. Chris had taken to him instantly as the little brother he'd never had.<br/><br/>"Where else would I be, you repugnant turd?" he asked, grasping Ryan's head with both hands and tousling his hair until it stuck out in every direction. Ryan jerked free and set to patting and smoothing his hair back down, smirking back at the doctor.<br/><br/>"Sarah texted me. I guess something actually happened with Erin?"<br/><br/>"Ah, yeah." Chris's face fell. "Walk with me, I'll explain on the way to her room."<br/><br/>He led the way back to Erin's room, bringing Ryan up to speed on the situation as they went. The boy--which wasn't a fair use of the word, really, since Ryan was at least twenty--listened well and without interruption, though once he'd heard it out he shrugged. "So the machine didn't find anything, big whoop. Erin always thought those things were crap anyway. Trust me, Tool-man, she's just waiting for the right time to make her grand debut." He patted the doctor's shoulder then pushed through the door into Erin's room, where he hurried to his sister's side, smiling down at her as he leaned over the bed.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr"/><br/>By the time the Hunter made it to the site of the attack it was long over. The sky had turned an ugly grey when he got there, and he could taste rain on his tongue. He found the Sister there, weeping bitterly but unharmed, and he knelt down in front of her to touch her shoulder. "Hooke's men came, didn't they?" he asked her quietly, and she nodded, sniffling fitfully where she sat on a fallen log. "How many?"<br/><br/>"I don't know," she said, wiping at her eyes before she looked up at him, the soft blue swimming with more unshed tears. "There were too many, though. I couldn't do anything to stop them. She looked so scared, though... she was terrified, and I couldn't even move to help her...!"<br/><br/>She began to weep anew, burying her face in both hands, and the Hunter put a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed gently, but soon had to turn away, his eyes on the ground. Three, at least, not counting the sisters. The struggle had been brief and minor. As she said, Sarah hadn't moved to do much that he could see--and what could she do, realistically, against the pirates? Hooke's people were trained, efficient, nasty enough that even he paused to tangle with them directly. Now, though, he had no choice. He wasn't sure how he would free Erin, but he knew that he had to. There was no choice. He stood as the first raindrop fell through the trees, fat and heavy, right onto his upturned cheek. "Stay here," he told the woman softly. "I'm going to go get her back."<br/><br/>"What, all alone?" came a playful voice, and the Hunter turned, smiling despite himself. The Brother stood at the edge of the clearing, grinning and brash, hands on both hips and a dagger tucked into his belt. The Hunter shrugged.<br/><br/>"Well, only if you insist."<br/><br/>Before long the two of them were kneeling at the edge of the trees again, this time looking out at the shipyard. The Sister was with them, hiding behind a tree. She had refused to stand idle while they went to fight, and while she couldn't do much to stop the pirates by force she had her tricks and wiles. "There," the Hunter pointed, right to Hooke's flagship. A cell stood on the deck of the ship, round and white and locked down tight. Four pirates all clad in blue stood around it, including Samuel himself, his white eyepatch turning as he stood guard in the rain. The Brother nodded, eyes scanning the docks.<br/><br/>"Can you get an arrow on the deck at their feet?" he asked, and the Hunter grunted in the affirmative. "Good. Do that on my mark. Sarah, are you willing to be a distraction?"<br/><br/>"Yes. I'll help however I can."<br/><br/>"Atta girl. Here's my idea--as soon as Chris's arrow lands, you and him break out of the treeline and distract and draw away as many of the pirates as you can. When I see an opening, I'll go in and grab her. You'll know we made it out when those stupid white sails on the main ship go up in flame. Sound good?"<br/><br/>The Hunter nodded, then looked to the Sister. "Stay ahead of them. Lead them away from the docks, and don't linger in one spot for too long."<br/><br/>"Don't worry about me, Chris. I can handle myself... especially for Erin's sake."<br/><br/>The Hunter nodded, then stood and stepped out of the trees. An arrow was already nocked on his bowstring, and he drew it back to his cheek, aiming up and up and up... and then he released. It sailed through the air, whistling through the rain to land with a thrumming thud between Samuel's feet. The pirate swore and jumped, then glared in the direction the arrow had come from. The Sister broke cover a heartbeat later, charging the docks on light steps. She jumped and kicked a pirate in the chest with both feet, slamming him onto his back and leaping elegantly over a chest two others carried. She bounced off of it and slammed it to the ground, then ran away again, a knot of the brutes roaring and giving chase.<br/><br/>Another group had turned to engage the Hunter, swords and shields in hand as they chased him, his arrows whizzing past their heads and into the fleshy parts of their arms and legs. He kept them angry and engaged, just enough to follow, and in the silence after the Brother slipped away from the trees and out onto the docks. The few pirates that remained were easy to evade, and in minutes he stood next to the cylinder, which thumped and banged with strange noises and rain that pounded over its metal surface.<br/><br/>He leaned down next to where her feet stuck out and found the ends of the stretcher they'd used there, too. He grinned as he drew his knife, slashing the ropes that kept her from crawling out on her own, then yanked at the stretcher and pulled her out of the device all at once. "Surprise," he said cheerfully over her, and his knife flashed as he cut Erin's bound arms and legs. "Hurry, now! We don't have much time to escape before the pirates come back!"