The doors to the warehouse Hao had instructed Indra to go to slammed open at her approach. Several footsteps rushed forward, taking Hawke from her grasp. Warm, sticky blood stained Indra's body, dripping down her chest as if her throat had been slit. It was Hawke's. All of it was Hawke's.

"Get him to the table," one of the unfamiliar voices commanded.

Several replies in different languages followed the slam of a metallic table.

A gurgled scream split the air, a voice barely recognizable as who it belonged to.

Indra marched forward, tracing her hands along the closest objects. "Put him under, now." It was said too quiet. They didn't hear her. There wasn't time to wait and hope they'd listen. "Stop talking! Put him under!" Indra cried, the bellow causing the burns on her back to ache.

All chatter stopped.

"Now!" Indra commanded. "Get me the materials for cybernetic spinal construction, get a laser, a metal chest plate, sewing needle and thread, a scalpel, cranial plates, and a starshitted cane so I don't run into everything in your mess of a room."

"Yes ma'am," the said in unison, immediately scattering about the room.

A cane was placed in her hand. Indra used it to get a better scope of the room and find her way to Hawke. "Get him blood, human will work as well as Harken."

Hawke's breathing was shallow, labored, slowing.

"He's a Harken?"

"I didn't know the Commander had a son."

"Maybe it would be better if we let the poor kid die."

"Enough!" Indra cried, limping across the room to find her way to the table of materials. An already assembled spine lay out, the smoothness and lightness of weight alerted her to just how expensive this material was. Grabbing a wrench and a few screwdrivers, she made adjustments to it, adding armor plates that would give it better durability while still being mobile. As she traced toward the top, she halted. "Why aren't there any of the wires to connect to the nerves?"

"Oh Starshit."

"Did we forget. . ."

Were they serious? Without that, Hawke would be paralyzed, or worse, his body would simply shut down with no stimulation from his brain because the connection was severed.

Fuck.

Indra ran her hands along the table, finding nothing that could be used to replicate it. Think. Starshit. Think! Indra clenched her jaw. Many times she'd jeer-rigged cybernetics to work. This was a key component that would not be easily replicated, but even if there was a slim chance that she could, she'd take it. If she did nothing, he'd die.

The beep of the machine reminded her just how quickly time was running out.

The machine.

Machines. Wires.

"Bring me all of the spare medical equipment, a screwdriver, pliers, and scissors. Now," Indra commanded, her mind spinning. This had to work. And if it didn't, then at least she tried. She would give it everything she had to save him.

Setting to work the instant the machines were rolled over, Indra ran her hand along them, figuring out what she needed, what might work. What she would make work. "Guide me to the yellow wires."

One of those present grabbed Indra's hand and helped her as instructed, guiding her to each thing she requested. With the help of all on hand, they worked quickly to weave together a series of wires to replicate the stand-in nerve's for the central nervous system. Rushing to the table, Indra took her scalpel to Hawke's back, opening it enough to feel the entirety of his spine. She ran her hands along the damage, noting where it was broken, and where it wasn't. In order to connect the new piece, she'd have to remove what little remained intact.

"Have the heart starter ready, just in case this takes long enough for everything to shut down. Hand me the bone saw," Indra said, reaching out her hand. This was going to work.

She placed the saw just below the cervical vertebrae. Everything below it would have to be removed. Taking a deep shuddering breath, she steadied her hands. There was a chance this could kill him. In fact, his chances of survival from the successive surgeries that needed to be done were ten percent or less.

"You better live through this Hawke, or I'm going to—" Indra choked. "Be very angry."

The crunch of the next motions make Indra sick to her stomach. Each moment her hands remained in contact made bile dance up her throat. There was so much more to do. She didn't have a choice. Even as it made her skin crawl, assailanted by a thousand nonexistent insects, even as Jacque's laughter peeled in her ears as if he stood beside her, behind her, Indra pressed on.

Hawke's pulse dropped steeply when she pulled the remainder of the broken spine from his body.

Come on, Hawke. Hold on.

She quickly started installing the cybernetic, delicately connecting each nerve to a wire with a fusing serum.

A loud, low beep screamed from the machine.

Indra couldn't stop in the middle of this. Warm blood coated her arms and fingers, making it difficult to get a grip. If his heart remained stopped for too long, they wouldn't get him back. It would be over.

Come on!

She internally screamed at herself when the last two wires slipped from her grasp. Speed wasn't possible, it would only cause damage. Indra held her breath, reaching for them. One down. One more.

"Don't you dare die on me, Hawke. This is too much work for you to die," Indra whispered.

The cybernetic hummed to life, confirming a successful connection.

Indra immediately pushed Hawke onto his back. One of Hao's friends ran forward, stabbing a needle into Hawke's chest. Nothing.

"Do it again," Indra said quietly.

They complied.

Nothing.

"Again."

"Indra, if it hasn't worked twice, it's not going to work," they said quietly.

Indra clenched her bloody hands into fists. "I said, again." She tore the needle out of their hand, stabbing it into his chest.

Nothing.

She stabbed again, pressing harder. "Come back, starshit!" Indra stabbed again, and again, and again, her chest making it almost impossible to breathe. "You can't leave me Hawke."

"Please." She stabbed a final time, laying her head on the metal table as sobs shook her frame. "Please don't die."

A small blip echoed in the room. Indra held her breath, not knowing whether it was real or not. It sounded again. Distant but there. She bit her lip to keep it from trembling. He was alive.

Thank the stars.

Hao's friends turned him back onto his stomach, working to stitch him up quickly. Indra took a moment to compose herself and stop her hands from shaking. If she wasn't calm, she would botch the rest of what needed to be done. Even with Hawke's weak heart beat now, it wasn't a promise that he would make it through. She still had to repair his broken skull, his caved in rib cage, and do her best to repair the internal damage the stab wound had caused. For now, the piece of wing that stuck out of his body remained to prevent him from bleeding more than necessary.

Inhaling, Indra reminded herself she'd done this intensely before, with less tools, less access to cybernetics. She had saved Bolivar. She could save Hawke. She would save Hawke.

Indra stood up, grabbing the next cybernetic implant. "Let's do this."