Hello friends, it has been a long time since I have updated. There have been a lot of craziness and unpredictable things happening in my life this year. I kept trying to come back to writing, but it took a lot to get myself back in the zone. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's maybe not up to my usual standards, but I'm hopefully if I keep rolling I'll get there!
Happy Reading!
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John opened his mouth to argue, to tell Kai it wasn't his fault the whales had shown up. Blasting the jumper up through the surface of the water at full power with so many atmospheres of pressure on the hull had been the only way to save himself and McKay. He opened his mouth, but hesitated. He could feel Kai's annoyance, like a buzz a bees along his skin
His eyes widened as they held hers. There was a hint of panic in her gaze for a moment and then her gaze dropped to the ground and her brown furrowed with determination.
John flinched as the Bond slammed closed between them. But she had opened it. Whether it was on purpose or once again by accident, he had felt her through the Bond. Which meant there was still a chance for him to repair what was broken between them.
Kai lifted her gaze once more once the Bond was as closed as she could manage. She didn't even know when or how it had fallen open again, and how she hadn't noticed. She had fallen into the old habit of verbally sparring with the Colonel and it had happened gradually, comfortingly. She tightened her jaw and laid back against the pillows.
She couldn't do this. It was too hard.
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Later that day Weir, Zelenka, Ronon and Teyla all met in the control room. They gathered around the viewing screen where Zelenka was working. "The whales are approaching from every direction," Zelenka said motioning to the screen. "It appears they are converging on Atlantis."
"We're their destination?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.
"Yes, it appears so," Zelenka said grimly. "The signals they emit are their way of communicating with one another. Unfortunately, the closer they get to the city, the more it may effect the people living here."
"Even above the waterline?" Ronon asked, frowning. He crossed his arms over his chest. Whales weren't something he could help fight against and it bothered him to know that more people would be in danger.
Zelenka nodded grimly.
"We are already being affected. Several of us are experiencing headaches, not as severe as Kai, Colonel Sheppard or McKay, but if these whales get any closer..." Teyla drew off.
"Turn on the shield," Elizabeth ordered.
Zelenka nodded his agreement.With McKay in the infirmary he was the highest ranking scientist on Atlantis.
Teyla turned to Elizabeth and Ronon. "These apparitions we've been seeing, if they are indeed trying to warn us of something, perhaps this is it. I first saw the ancient woman at the same time Rodney saw his first whale and Kai-"
"Kai had a headache that night," Ronon rumbled.
Zelenka frowned thoughtfully. "Has it continued since then?" he asked in concern.
Teyla shrugged but it was Ronon who responded. "You know Kai."
Zelenka nodded, looking exasperated. He did know Kai. She wasn't likely to admit to such a thing. Her people had instilled a concern of appearing weak which he understood academically, but couldn't fully understand.
"I will go check on our patients," Elizabeth said decidedly, and she left them to return to the infirmary to see if there were any changes. Not having McKay and Sheppard at her side was like missing a limb. She had grown so accustomed to their work as a team and being able to depend on them when things were going wrong. This mystery was continuing to unfold and she wished there was a clearer answer with a path forward. Lourne and Zelenka were certainly capable, but she trusted the Colonel and McKay in a way she didn't trust the others.
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They had been in the infirmary for several hours and John was slowly going stir crazy. He wasn't good at sitting still when he was injured, and while the ear drums were annoying, now that he had some pain meds on board he was ready to get back to work. "Pain's going away, I think my hearings getting better too, what about you?" John asked turning towards McKay.
Rodney didn't look up from his tablet, he continued to work as though he hadn't heard John at all, which didn't exactly mean he couldn't hear John. McKay had a habit of ignoring people and things when he was focused, or simply didn't want to be bothered.
"Rodney?" John called, testing to see if it was the former or the later this time. When there was still no response, John smirked. "Canadian football leagues a joke," he said playfully and when he still got no response he continued. "Celine Dion is overrated..." Nothing. "Zelenka is smarter than you are!" he hollered loud enough half the people in the infirmary turned to look his way. He grinned unrepentantly.
"HEY," McKay called turning towards him. "I FOUND REFERENCE OF A BIO LAB IN THE DATABASE. ANCIENT SCIENTISTS USED IT TO STUDY ANIMAL LIFE. WE SHOULD CHECK IT OUT."
John scoffed and let out a sigh. "Okay, Meredith," he agreed with a shake of his head.
John's cut to where Kai was resting, her eyes were closed, and there was a grimace of pain on her face. It seemed unlikely she could hear them, so either she had finally fallen asleep, or she was choosing to ignore their antics.
The doors slid open and Elizabeth stepped in. She spotted Carson across the room and moved towards him. He looked tired, but still offered her a warm smile as she approached. "How's it going?" she asked.
Carson set aside his chart, his mouth was pinched into a concerned line. "More people have fallen ill. Headaches, nose bleeds...I've given everyone pain killers hopefully to buy some time until we can figure out how to stop this."
Elizabeth nodded looking around the rapidly filling infirmary with concern. "And how are you feeling?" she asked, stepping closer to him and dropping her voice.
Carson's eyes warmed at her concern. "My head's throbbing a wee bit, but I'll manage. How are you?"
"I'm fine," Elizabeth said, but her tone was a little sharper than usual.
"Here," Carson said, pulling out a packet of pain killers from his jacket pocket. "Pain killers, just in case." He closed his hands over hers, and held on for a moment longer than was necessary.
"Thank you," she said gratefully and her cheeks warmed, "I hope it doesn't-" she stopped with a frown as the door behind Carson slid open and McKay and Sheppard came through. She quickly stepped back from Carson and turned to the boys. "Hey, hey, what's this?" she asked, her tone sharp.
"That's a damn good question, who said you could get out of bed?" Beckett demanded. His normal gentle tone falling away beneath the air of authority he commanded in the infirmary.
Sheppard looked a little guilty, but he puffed himself up trying to use his bravado to get past Weir and Beckett. "WE'RE FEELING A LOT BETTER," John called, his voice still overly loud.
"Well, I beg to differ, back to bed, the pair of you," Beckett ordered.
"WE NEED TO CHECK OUT A LAB," McKay shouted.
"What lab?" Elizabeth asked.
"IT'S A BIO LAB. IT TURNED UP IN MY WHALE RESEARCH," McKay explained holding up his tablet.
"IT'S IN ONE OF THE FLOODED AREAS OF THE CITY," Sheppard cut in.
"FORMERLY FLOODED," McKay cut in. "WITH THE AREA FINALLY REPAIRED, WE'RE NOW ABLE TO ACCESS IT. ACCORDING TO THE DATABASE, THE ANCIENT SCIENTISTS USED IT TO STUDY ANIMAL LIFE ON THE PLANET. LOOK, THERE MAY BE SOME MORE INFORMATION STORED THERE."
Sheppard nodded. "SUCH AS, UH, HOW TO TELL THESE WHALES TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE."
"BUT WE WON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE UNTIL I CAN HAVE A LOOK AT IT," McKay finished.
Elizabeth and Carson exchanged a long look before Carson let out an impatient sigh. "All right," he said gesturing over his shoulder towards the door. There wasn't much he could say to argue with their logic any way.
McKay and Sheppard stepped around them and headed towards the hall.
"Doctor Weir?" Chuck's voice came through her comm. "The Daedalus has just arrived in orbit and are requesting permission to beam people down."
Elizabeth let out an exhausted sigh and Beckett rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She was not looking forward to having this conversation with Caldwell. At least John was mostly up and about. Without John, Caldwell was the highest ranking military man in the galaxy, and things had never gone particularly well when Caldwell decided to exert his authority.
Elizabeth straightened and lifted her chin and marched out of the infirmary, headed to the bridge.
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McKay and Sheppard moved through the dark parts of the city. There were emergency lights, but other than that only the glow of McKay's tablet illuminated the area. McKay held his hand up in a fist in the military signal for Sheppard to stop. Sheppard scoffed and shoved McKay's hand down with a look.
"THIS IS IT," McKay called loudly, pointing towards the lab.
Sheppard just stared at McKay for a long moment before stepping around him to enter the lab first. There was no reason to suspect anything unsafe, but his hand was resting near the gun at his hip anyway. He stalked into the lab and the lights and consoles all lit up, responding to the genes he carried.
"All right, let's see," McKay said stepping up to the main counsel. He went very still and looked up at Sheppard. "Get Elizabeth and Radek down here."
Sheppard did as McKay asked and then sat back, mainly staying out of his way. McKay kept muttering under his breath and moving from terminal to terminal looking agitated. A short time later the doors slid open and Elizabeth and Radek came in.
"Tell me you have a plan," Elizabeth said, the stress in her voice evident. "One that doesn't involve killing the whales before they kill us."
John frowned in confusion at Elizabeth and looked to Radek who mouth. "Caldwell," silently. John nodded as though the answer didn't surprise him.
"They aren't trying to kill us," McKay interrupted. "It's quite the opposite, I think they are trying to help us."
"Help us?" Weir asked in surprise. "What makes you think that?"
McKay crouched below the console, connecting his laptop. "This whole
lab. It's like a receiver, calibrated to the specific frequencies on which the whales communicate. The Ancients designed it to study the whales so they could learn about their songs. They were studying the whales language, trying to assign frequencies to emotions and identify moods."
"All sorts of tree huggy stuff," John griped. "Tell them about the ghosts."
"Ah," McKay said straightening. "Not ghosts, image projections. There appears to be a causal relationship with the whales. They may very well be what's been projecting the images to us, and this receiver should, from what I can tell so far, be able to interpret them."
John nodded. "Seems like we've been going about this backwards. The ghosts aren't warning us about the whales."
"They're not?" Zelenka asked.
"No," McKay said. "No, it seems the whales may be using the images to warn us."
"About what?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ah well, that I don't know yet," McKay said looking a little sheepish. "I haven't been able to fully connect to the programs network," he said and he jerked his chin towards Zelenka, signaling to him he would like his help.
Sheppard shook his head at McKay's inability to even use words to ask for help, but turned back to Elizabeth. "Judging by the way this machine is freaking out, it can't be good," John said grimly.
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Kai blinked awake, surprised she had managed to drift off. The pain in her head had increased and it made her stomach churn. She turned her head and saw McKay and Sheppard's cots were empty. She wondered if they had managed to find a solution.
"Kai dear," Beckett said, he approached her cot when he saw she was awake. "How are you faring?"
Kai nodded weakly. "The pressure has increased," she said, her voice sounding even weaker than before.
"And you still haven't seen one of the visions?" Carson asked.
Kai shook her head.
"Perhaps your psychic defense abilities are helping you," he suggested.
Kai nodded, she hadn't considered that. Although she had only ever known them to help against the Wraith. Perhaps that meant the wraith were somehow associated with this attack.
Elizabeth came into the room. "I just spoke with Colonel Caldwell, the Daedalus's infirmary is ready to beam up the sickest of our patients."
"Good," Beckett said with a curt nod. "Kai should be among the first to go."
Kai shook her head. "No, I'm staying," she argued.
Beckett pressed his mouth into a grim line. "There is no telling how this will continue to effect you. McKay and The Colonel are working on it, but as more whales come it is likely to become worse before it gets better."
"I am aware of the risks," Kai informed him crisply.
"Carson!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "Your nose."
Carson reached up and blood was trickling down. "Bloody hell," he muttered. "Excuse me," he said and quickly stepped away.
Kai watched closely as Elizabeth wrung her hands together as she watched Carson's retreating form. She knew the Atlantis leader would never admit to her feelings for the Doctor, but it was clear for anyone who bothered to look.
"Elizabeth," Kai's voice was softer than usual, just the normal volume made her head ache. When the Atlantis leader didn't acknowledge her, Kai became more resolute. "Elizabeth," she called more firmly.
Elizabeth jumped, as though surprised and turned back to face Kai, looking a little sheepish.
Kai flashed her a weak, but gentle smile. Of everyone on Atlantis, Kai understood better than most holding a candle for someone she couldn't be with. "Are McKay and Sheppard making progress?" she asked.
Elizabeth's mouth pressed into a grim line and she shrugged. "I don't know," she said honestly. "McKay asked Zelenka for help, something about the network...If we lose Carson-" she dragged off, her eyes clouded with concern as she took in all of the sick people in the infirmary. "I'm sorry," she said and she shook her head. "I should go check on Doctor McKay and the Colonel." Elizabeth slipped out the doors into the hall.
Kai pushed herself up on her elbows and took in the full beds of the infirmary. Teyla lay on a cot a few beds down from her, her face sallow and pale. Weir was right, if they didn't figure this out before Carson went down they were going to be in trouble. McKay and Colonel Sheppard had found something, but if McKay was asking Zelenka for help they weren't as close to a solution as they needed to be.
Kai forced her body to sit up and reached down to pulled the IV needle from her arm. Carson was getting ready to beam people off planet. She couldn't help work the problem from the Daedalus.
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Elizabeth hurried down the hall towards the ancient lab. She was embarrassed by her show of emotion, even if it was just in front of Kai. She needed to get herself together. She took a deep breath right before she waved her hand in front of the controls for the lab. The door slid open to reveal McKay crouched in front of the terminal and Sheppard leaning against another with his arms crossed.
"How's he doing?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know," John said with a shrug. "He's taking a long time, a lot longer than usual."
"He can hear you, you know," McKay snapped turning back around to face them.
"Yeah," John agreed sarcastically. "We know." His tone was sharper than usual. He had felt a spike of pain through the Bond just a little while ago, which meant Kai was either awake or her pain had increased to the point she couldn't block it from him. Either way he was grinding his teeth as he fought the desperation of inaction.
Behind them the door slid open once more. Sheppard and Weir turned in surprise to see Kai standing in the open space. She stood for a moment as though gathering herself and then moved into the room. She moved more gingerly than usual and John pushed himself to his feet.
"What-" he started to say his expression was open and the worry shown in his eyes for anyone in the room to see.
Kai glanced at him and quickly looked away, back to where McKay and Zelenka were working.
Elizabeth quickly took a step towards Kai. The Mortii had always been pale, but she looked weak and her face was pinched with pain. "Kai, you should be in the infirmary. Doctor Beckett-"
"Doctor Beckett is himself beginning to feel the effects of this problem. We need to solve it," she said resolutely, her tone brooking no argument.
Kai moved into the room and grit her teeth as she forced her body to move straight and not give away the pain she was feeling. Knowing she wouldn't be able to stand on her feet much longer, she lowered herself onto a stool and slid the laptop over to herself. "Where are we at?" She asked.
Elizabeth looked back and forth between John and Kai and looked like she wanted to argue but kept her mouth shut. She didn't like that Kai was going against medical advice, as she doubted very much Carson had agreed to allow her to leave, but at the same time she was thankful she was there to help work the problem. Elizabeth glanced towards Sheppard, whose jaw was like granite, but he surprisingly didn't say a word. Elizabeth was fairly confident she would get an earful from John if they made it through this one.
McKay was completely oblivious to the whole interaction and immediately began explaining to Kai all the work he had done so far.
John's jaw and fists were clenched the entire time the scientists worked. He hated this. Hated that he could not only see the pain Kai was feeling in the sallow tint to her skin and the pinching around her eyes, but he could also feel it. The level of pain was high enough that not even Kai's tolerance and desire to keep the Bond closed could keep it from him. It grated in the back of his mind and set his nerves on edge. He had to do something.
"Have you tried hooking in through the port and looping back through the power relay?" Kai asked. "The Replicators made many of what they probably considered upgrades to many of the systems they repaired."
McKay froze for a second and then snapped his fingers before leaping into motion with a huff. "Why they insisted on making everything worse, I'll never know," he grumbled as he crouched down and moved the wires around. The large screen in front of them immediately lit up with wave lengths and the noise associated with the 'ghosts' filled the room.
"What's that?" John asked with a frown.
"The woman," Elizabeth said after a moment. "That's the Ancient woman."
"The not-ghost?" John asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "That's her voice I'm sure of it."
"She's speaking ancient?" John asked, turning to look at Kai.
Kai frowned thoughtfully but shook her head. "It doesn't sound like the language, but I have mostly read it. I don't recognize any of the words."
"That's because it's gibberish," McKay said. "To be more accurate, it's an attempt at mimicry. This receiver is also a transmitter. The ancients weren't just trying to learn the whales language they were also attempting to teach them theirs by sending auditory and visual signals. While they were doing that, they experienced a traumatic moment which the whales stored in their genetic memory."
"That's what the images we have been seeing are?" Elizabeth clarified.
McKay nodded. "Exactly, reruns. Now unfortunately, these whales are several generations removed from the incident, so they are finding the language a bit of a tough go. It's kind of like trying to sing the lyrics to the Macarena. You can sound out the words, but you have no idea what you are singing."
Kai frowned. "What's the Macarena?" She asked.
The first hint of a grin pulled at the corner of Sheppard's lips. He opened his mouth to respond but Elizabeth held up her hand to stop him.
"Okay, so this traumatic event, I'm assuming it's the war against the wraith?" Elizabeth asked.
"That's what I'm assuming as well," McKay agreed.
"And what? The whales are trying to warn us it might happen again?" Elizabeth asked with a frown.
"I don't know, possibly," McKay snapped.
"So what, the wraith might attack, tell us something we don't know," John said sarcastically.
"I think I found something," Kai said, glancing up from her computer. She typed another couple of commands before reaching over and sliding two controls up on the terminal. "There is a filter built into the receiver," she said as the warbly language began to play once more. She made another minor adjustment and the language began to clear out. "That's ancient," she said and she played it back again several times. "I can start to make out a few words. Incarsus - something was attacked or overtaken."
"Atlantis?" McKay asked.
Kai shook her head. "No, I don't think so." She frowned against a renewed pounding in her temples, and across the room John flinched. She hit the playback again and again. "Adaris."
"What's Adaris?" Sheppard asked.
Kai shook her head. "I don't know. It doesn't make sense," Kai said. "I don't know that word. Perhaps it's a name?" she suggested with a frown. She swung back around to her computer and began typing. "Here," she said. "It's an Ancient science vessel. It was destroyed about 15,000 years ago, everyone in the crew was killed except the pilot."
"The burned man?" Elizabeth asked. "He was wearing what could have been a flight suit."
"It would explain the burns," McKay said pointing at the screen.
"What does?" John asked.
"The ship was hit by a coronal mass ejection," Kai continued to read.
McKay jerked in surprise. "A radiation blast that dwarfs anything our sun has ever emitted."
"The ship was very close to the sun when it hit," Kai said as she pinched the bridge of her nose as the words went fuzzy. She blinked down at the screen and shook her head as though to clear it.
"Kai..." John said her name, but it sounded like she was underwater.
She froze, her body stiffening and John flinched a moment before she passed out. John leapt forward and caught her before she could hit her head on the floor. There was blood coming out of one of her ears. He scooped Kai up into his arms. He glanced back once towards McKay and Weir, torn between working the problem and needing to take care of Kai himself.
"Go," Weir instructed firmly.
He walked as quickly as possible to the infirmary. Beckett met him at the door his eyes grave. There were no open cots. John adjusted his grip and held Kai's small form against his chest. His heart was thundering in his chest as he took in the filled beds. Against the far wall a nurse pulled a sheet up over the head of one of the newer marines.
"Our first fatality," Beckett said gravely and he went back to examining Kai. Blood was trickling out of her ears and nose. "John," he said. "We need to get her as far from here as possible. We have sent the worst of the patients up to the Daedalus. She needs to go."
John nodded. He certainly want going to stop Beckett from sending her. Hell, he wasn't above loading her and the worst patients into a jumper with a nurse and sending them through the Stargate.
Beckett reached up and touched his ear piece. "Atlantis Infirmary to Colonel Caldwell." He said.
"Caldwell here," came the stern rely.
"Colonel, I have one more patient that needs to come up."
"Negative Doctor, our infirmary is full," there was a pause as though Caldwell were considering his snappy reply. "You said you had already triaged the worst of your patients. Has something happened?"
"It's Kai, Colonel. She is not human and the sonar has been effecting her since the beginning."
"She should have been with the first then, when we still had room," Caldwell replied briskly.
Beckett's jaw flexed angrily. John opened his mouth, ready to lay into the other Colonel but Beckett shook his head severely. The two Colonels had rubbed one another the wrong way since the beginning, usually over the Pegasus members of the expedition, and Kai in particular.
"She was working on solving the problem Colonel," Beckett reasoned. "Trying to help others at the cost of her own well being. She needs off this planet."
Caldwell waited a long time before responding. "Very well Doctor, but she has to be the last. We are out of beds."
"Understood Colonel, thank you very much."Beckett nodded to John encouragingly, but he didn't look entirely convinced.
Kai disappeared right out of John's arms.
"Will they know how to treat her?" John asked rubbing his bicep. "How she reacts to drugs?" There was a relief in not having to mask his concern over Kai. Carson of all people knew how he felt.
"They know she isn't human colonel. They'll be careful in what they administer to her. Her metabolism is such she burns through drugs too fast, so there isn't much danger in harming her. To be honest there isn't very much that can be done for her. Once she is sufficiently far away she will begin to improve. Our girl is strong," he said patting John on the arm.
John nodded but didn't look convinced. His eyes went over everyone laying the beds in the infirmary. Ronon sat beside Teyla. John approached. "How's she doing?" He asked.
Ronon shook his head. "She's out of time."
John nodded and rubbed at his face.
The door slid open behind him and Major Lorne came in carrying an unconscious Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth!" Carson exclaimed, rushing towards her.
They were all out of time. He had an idea. It was a crazy, desperate idea, but with Kai's blood still on his shirt he was feeling pretty desperate.
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Kai blinked awake slowly. She felt entirely disoriented. The ceiling above her was not the ceiling in the infirmary in Atlantis. She was very familiar with what that looked like. She turned her head and found John resting his head on his arms dozing on the edge of her cot. She immediately recognized the infirmary on the Deadalus. She scowled, she didn't like not remembering how she got here.
"Finally, you're awake," McKay grumbled. "He refused to leave until you had at least woken up." The scientist shoved himself to his feet loudly making Sheppard jerk.
"I'm awake," John said with a sniff. He blinked a few times looking just as disoriented as Kai had felt. "How are you feeling?" John asked.
"Fine," Kai said briskly. "Is it over?" she asked with a frown.
John nodded. "Most of the whales have left Atlantis. We will wait for the last few before we beam the rest of you down. Beckett wants to make sure you are all recovering before you are exposed to them."
"But...how?" Kai asked in confusion.
McKay perked up at the opportunity to explain and went into a long winded explanation of what they had done to save everyone.
"Hold on," Kai said, holding up her hand to stop him. "You convinced Colonel Caldwell to block a coronal mass ejection with this ship?" Kai clarified. She was too shocked to remember she was supposed to be angry with Sheppard.
"You say it like I didn't think it through," he grumbled.
"Did you?" She demanded.
"Sure," John said a little sheepishly.
"And we're not all dead?" She asked.
"Don't appear to be," John replied with a grin.
Kai shook her head in disbelief. "How bad is the ship?" She asked after a moment.
This time John did look sheepish.
McKay made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat. "Well, one of the reasons you are still aboard is Hermoid requested you specifically for the repair efforts that will have to happen before the Daedalus can get back on its feet. Currently we are limping our way back to Atlantis."
"Specifically requested, you should feel honored," Sheppard teased.
"Yes well, I have a lot to get done," McKay sniffed indignantly.
Kai pushed herself up onto her elbows with a groan. Sheppard got to his feet and hovered nervously wanting to help her. His hand hovered just over her low back in case she needed support.
Kai shot him a disgruntled look. She wasn't damaged, her head was pounding, but physically she was fine. Kai shot him a warning glare as she swung her legs over the side of the cot and got to her feet. John held up his hands in surrender and stepped back. Kai swayed as the room spun and she put a hand down to stablize herself. There was still a sharp pain behind her left eye, but she felt better than she had in days.
"What are you doing?" John asked sharply. He could feel the haze of Kai's annoyance and he tried not to be too pleased with the fact that she wasn't fully shielding herself from him.
"Going to help Hermoid fix what you broke," Kai bit off.
John snorted and flashed her a cheeky grin but let her walk away.
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I hope you enjoyed the update! Feels good to be back!