Another Life (Oc x reader)

Chapter 28 - Clamp

Ethan is in the shuttle and detached from the ship. "Jason? I'm gonna move into position over the lower decks, try to hook up."

Jason gets to a window where he can see him. "Okay, I see you."

"Alright. Nice and easy."

"Forty meters."

"Angle?"

"Still good."

"Are we gonna talk about what happened?.. Look, Jason, we were both stoned out of our minds, and I didn't mean what I said."

"I did."

Ethan clench his jaw slightly. "Okay."

"And if I meant it, you meant it."

"Fine. You are your own worse enemy. I meant that."

"Well, cheers to being honest."

"But you are also great, and you have so much potential and-"

"No, no. Do.. not do that! Don't tear me down just to build me back up in your image."

He frowns. "If that's what you think, then-"

"I'm not just saying that to hear myself speak.."

"Then I owe you an apology. I am sorry."

"Ten meters. Nice and easy now.. Five meters.. Three.. Two.. One."

The ship grind and clank.

"Contacts good."

"Tell August I'm on standby. Start reattaching those clamps."

...

"August, you've got seven minutes before the protocol sends half of us to Earth."

You're in the observation deck with the others. August pulls the four levers for the clamps one by one. She tries the fourth but the light doesn't get green like the others.

"The last one isn't locking." She tells them.

"Why not?" Ethan asks.

"There must be a short with the clamp on the outside of the ship."

"Okay, I'm gonna come back in and dock. I'll go back out and fix it myself."

...

Sasha is trying to meditate after Zayn's advice, but it's not working. The hallucination torments him, his mental state is starting to devolve. It tells Sasha to accept it and let him in, so they can proceed.

...

Ethan is spacewalking, working on fixing the clamp. "Okay, count me down."

"Eighty seconds." Jason tells him, watching from the window.

"If this ship falls apart because of one clamp." Ethan mutter to himself. He grunts as he pulls on it. "Okay, try it now."

August tries it and it turns green. "It worked, Ethan. Locking down."

"Great. Now I'm coming back in."

"Hurry up. We're jumping off in less than a minute." You tell him, feeling stressed, wanting him to get back inside before the Salvare makes the jump.

A rumble on the outside of the ship and Ethan gets pushed away from it, the force pulls off some of his umbilical cords safety anchors. It eventually stops and he's still attached to the ship, just at a distance.

You heard him grunt. "Ethan?"

"It's okay, it's okay. My umbilical caught me."

Ethan looks to the side and from here he can spot what and where the problem to the ship is. "Jason? I know what the problem is. There's damage to the-" His voice breaks out from static.

"Ethan, I can't hear you." Jason tells him,

"Outside the exotic matter containment." Ethan says but no one hears it.

"Ethan?" You frown worriedly when you can't hear him and he doesn't answer.

Then the bubble that forms when the ship is gonna fly faster than light activates itself because the Salvare is about to jump and it cuts Ethan's umbilical rope. The Salvare jumps and disappears from Ethan. He floats helplessly.

"Jason? Yn? Can you hear me? Michelle? Do you copy? Jason, do you copy? Yn?"

...

Everyone is in the observation deck, frantically trying to locate Ethan. Jason walk in.

"Keep trying on comms." You tell Michelle while you work on your side of the room to try and find a way to get back to Ethan.

"We're going faster than light." She tells you.

"Just keep trying!" You say desperately.

"Yn." Jason say putting his hand on your shoulder in comfort, to calm you. "It's gonna be okay." He reassures you. You take breath and nod. Jason walk over to Javier. "I need that override now-"

"I'm working on it! Okay? This Go Home Protocol has me locked out of every system."

Jason tries to silence him to not make you more upset. "Then find a workaround." He tells him lowly.

"Jason, listen.." Michelle walk up to him, glancing at you to see you distracted. "I know you don't wanna hear this-"

"Don't.. don't even think about finishing that sentence." He tells her.

"Ethan is dead." She whispers, glancing at you again to see if you heard. Not wanting you to chew her head off. "Okay? He's dead. But for the rest of us, this is our chance to go home alive."

"Without finishing the mission.."

"Jason, we tried. No one can say we haven't tried, but it's been too much. Ian, Petra, Julian." She tells him.

"And what did die they for?"

"Jason they're dead! It doesn't matter." She says loudly, not caring about you hearing anymore, you had to face the reality anyway.

"All you've done since day one is be a pain in the ass and complain about every single thing! Can you just try for once, just once, to think about somebody else other than yourself?" Jason tells her.

Oliver walk up to Jason. "Look, Jason, last thing I want is to abandon Ethan, but even if we figure out a way to stop this train and we go back, there's no guarantee we'll find him."

"His suit has a locator chip. He's been trained for this kind of situation." You tell them.

"Assuming he survived the blast."

"If we don't go back, he's dead for sure!" You say and then look at Jason. "We have to go get him. Right, Jason?"

He looks at you, then down at the table, thinking about what is the best decision to make as the one in charge now.

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