Chapter 11

She scales the brick wall effortlessly and perches on the window seal. A flash of silver presents itself as she pulls out a knife and begins to work the window open. Minutes later, she is dropping quietly into the darkened room. No alarms sound. No guards rush out at her. Exhaling quietly with relief, she slinks to the end of the room and eases the door open to peer into the hallway.

Awesome!

She got here just as the guards move to change shifts. Moving quickly, she shoots to the windowless room across the hall. It is lined with empty beds. At the far end is the grubby, white cradle which houses a sleeping Fox. His tiny white cheeks are covered in dirt and grime.

"Wake up," She shakes the three years old's shoulder. "Fox, come on. We got to go." The toddler groans and eases his eyes open.

"Lil' Wolf!" He whispers loudly. "Lil' Wolf!"

'Shh!' She shushes quickly. 'We've got to go. Come on, get up—and be quiet! You don't want to get caught again do you?'

'No.'

'Good. Then let's go.'

'What about the other kids?' Fox yawns.

'I'll come back for them one day, but we don't have a lot of time. If they come with us, they'll get hurt real bad.'

'Do you promise you'll come back? Promise, Lil' Wolf. Right now,' The toddler demands.

'Fine! I promise, alright? Now, let's go!' Little Wolf says after mimicking Khan's dramatic eye roll.

'I'm coming! Stop yelling at me!' Fox grumbles.

'I'm not yelling you stupid little-!'

'I'm not stupid! Lil' Wolf! Look out!'

'What?'

She turns around just in time to see the boot aimed at her head. It connects brutally and sends her sprawling across the floor. Whimpering, she looks up to see a large guard snickering down at her. His boot flashes forward and cracks painfully into her ribcage. The blow sends her flying into the wall. Pain explodes in her chest and skull, and she whines in pain. The footsteps lurch towards her and a dark chuckle follows it. Fox screams and begins to cry.

'Lil' Wolf! Lil' Wolf! Get up! I'm sorry! Get up, please!' Fox begs.

She rolls painfully onto her back as the boots stalk towards her. She attempts to back away from her attacker but the wall won't allow her passage through it. Quickly, she throws her hands up in front of her face in an attempt to avoid the next blow. His boot swings backwards in preparation but, before he has a chance to kick her again, the shadow from the doorway roars like an avenging angel and lunges for his throat. Seconds later the limp carcass of the guard is being hurled into the hallway.

"Could you two be any louder?" Khan growls from the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" She winces as she sits up painfully.

"You aren't as stealthy as you think. I've already disabled the guards. Unless you desire for more people to get hurt, I highly suggest we leave immediately."

'What did he say? Lil' Wolf? What was he saying?' Fox whines.

Little Wolf struggles to her feet and pants: 'He said if you don't hurry up, we're going to leave you here and throw all your toys in the river and you'll never see 'em again.'

'He can't!'

'Oh yes he can and he will, too. He threw me in a few days ago and I barely got out alive. If you don't hurry up, your toys are next and I won't buy you no more.'

'No! I'm coming! I promise I'm coming!'

…

Khan jumps the fence easily with Fox and puts him safely on the ground before going back for Little Wolf. Once they're all over, he carries Little Wolf safely in his arms while Fox sits on his shoulders. When he returns to the camp, both children are sleeping and Fox is leaning precariously to one side. Sharp Quill stands on shaky tip toes to grab the boy into her frail arms.

"Hm. So this is the famous Fox, huh?" She asks Khan. He grunts sleepily in response. "Well, he's sure gonna be a looker when he grows up. Here. Let's trade, young man. I'll take the girl, you grab the boy."

"Is she going to be alright?" Khan asks.

"Little Wolf? Of course, she'll be fine. It looks like her ribs are cracked but they'll heal soon enough-don't you worry none about that. The People heal three times faster than the average Augment. Where do you think your people got their healing abilities? Their intelligence?" She shakes her head. "And you think we're the ignorant ones." She takes Little Wolf from him and lies her down close to the fire. "The trick is to keep her warm. The Fever will come but once it breaks, she'll be fine."

"Is it dangerous? The Fever?" A pang worry stabs him in the chest.

"It can be, but she'll be fine. These injuries are nothing to worry about. They're superficial. In a few minutes, they won't even exist." The old woman reassures him.

An hour later, Little Wolf is fine. The Fever had died down and her injuries had melted away. She groans quietly and cracks her eyes open. Blinking, she raises herself up on one elbow and looks around.

"Feeling better?" Khan asks, careful to keep his voice low lest he wake the others.

"Lots. Are you hurt?"

"No. How is your head? Your ribs? Do they hurt at all?"

"Not no more." She sits up completely and looks at the sleeping forms of her people.

"Any more." He corrects gently. She sticks her tongue out at him. A thought suddenly strikes him. "Listen, is there a lab anywhere around here?"

"What's a 'lab'?"

"A place where people do experiments."

"Scientists?"

"Yes." He says impatiently.

Her nose scrunches up while she thinks. "There's an old one not too far from here that the Invaders used to use but there was a fire in it. The stuff may not work."

"Can you show me where it is?"

"Yeah, we can go right now. They're gonna be asleep for just about forever. We'll have plenty of time. Zevi, you come with us. Alma," She looks at the groggy Sehlat. "You stay here."

…

It takes only ten minutes to get the lab. It looks like a modern house from the outside. Inside, it has a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom…bedrooms…

"This is not a lab," Khan sighs. "This is a house."

"No, it's a lab. They hid it behind the books. It's too heavy for me to move—you have to do it."

"What books?"

"Right there. The shelf."

He pulls on the shelf revealing a set of stairs descending into pitch darkness.

"Stay behind me." Khan warns as he begins to climb down.

Little Wolf holds onto a fistful of Khan's shirt as she follows after him clumsily. Her other hand brushes against the wall and accidently hits a switch. Blinding light attacks them from above. Little Wolf's foot slips and she tenses and she lurches past Khan. His hand flies forward and grabs her by the back of her shirt before she has a chance to get injured.

"Be careful." He growls before setting her back down again behind him.

"You be careful," She shoots back. Inwardly, Khan groans. Was he this difficult as a child? This clumsy?

"Just stay close. Come on." He creeps forward again slowly. Rolling her eyes, Little Wolf jumps past him and hops quickly down the stairs. "Little Wolf!"

"There's no one here. There's no point taking all day to get down here! Ain't nobody been here in forever!" She complains.

"You should still be cautious!"

"Of what? Dust rabbits?" With that, she walks out of his view.

Khan wants to pick the girl up by the throat and slam her into a wall again and again. Couldn't she see the how dangerous this could be for her? If someone was lurking down here, she could get hurt—or worse. Why must be she so stubborn? She was so irritating!

Khan enters the lab. There is definite ash residue but none of the equipment seems to be damaged. Carefully, he picks up a syringe and draws a vial full of his blood before picking up a second syringe.

"Little Wolf, give me your arm." Khan requests.

"No." She backs away from him and shakes her head.

"It's not going to hurt. I just need to take some blood. That's it."

"Why?" She asks.

'Why'? Khan thinks. Because that way he could see if they were truly related. He wasn't just going to take someone's word for it—even if he had once loved-and still loved-Silver Moon. This way, he could be sure.

"I need to run a test." He explains carefully.

"What will happen to our blood after the test?" She cocks her head to one side.

"It'll be burned away." What else was he going to do with it?! Drink it?

"…Okay. If it'll get you to shut up and leave me alone about it, old man."

Khan rolls his eyes but says nothing. So long as he can conduct his test, he doesn't care what she says.

She walks forward, rolls down her left sleeve and offers up her arm. Gently, he inserts the needle into one of her spidery veins making the girl wince slightly. Khan drawls the blood carefully and then gets to work on comparing the samples. Little Wolf sits on a stool a few tables away and waits.

And waits.

Waits...

"I'm going to go explore the other rooms." She announces loudly as she hops back down to the floor. Zevi wags his tail and looks up at her before flicking his tongue across his lips. Little Wolf smirks at her dog before looking up to meet Khan's calm gaze.

"Be careful," Khan says.

"I knooow." She sighs. "Jeez. I'm not a baby." She complains as she leaves the room.

"Of course not. Not even an infant can get into as many dangerous situations as you, my dear."

"I heard that!"

…

Positive.

Their DNA was a positive match.

Silver Moon was telling truth. He was father. Little Wolf's father.

Lord, help them both.

…

"What are you doing?" Khan inquired with a tilt of his head. Little Wolf is sitting in a small library. In her hands is an upside down book. Her eyebrows are furrowed in confusion. Zevi yawns and wags his paintbrush tail in greeting at the Augment.

"Reading a story."

"About?"

"I don't know. I can't read."

"Perhaps we should work on that." He takes the book from her hands and looks at it: it was about the Eugenic Wars. "Why don't we pick a different one? One less…violent?"

The last thing he wanted for was for his daughter to think he was a monster. The faster he got that book out of her hands, the better.

"Hang on." She sits up and takes it back from him. "Look. You're in it. See? This picture right here? That looks like you."

"So it does." Khan vows to kill the author of the book should they still be alive. "What about this one instead? The one with the cats on it?"

"Why are you in the book, John? Why do you look angry?"

"Maybe I was having a bad day." He says, allowing a fraction of his irritation to leak into his voice in an effort to warn her away from this topic: she doesn't take the bait.

"Must have been a really bad one." She comments.

His face in the photo was twisted with blinding, uncontrollable rage that had burned his body from the inside out: it had been the day he learned that the humans planned to slaughter him and his entire crew.

"You look scary." She says quieter. Khan sighs and sits down beside her.

"So, what I'm hearing is…you don't think I look 'fabulous'?" He uses one of her favorite words to try to steer her away from the him being a merciless-genocidal-maniac- topic. Khan earns a giggle from her.

"You always look fabulous, John! Always!" She laughs harder and hugs his arm, hiding her face behind his elbow. Khan smirks.

"Your mongrel is looking tired." Khan comments. "It may be time to head back to camp."

"Oh, right! Get up, get up! Come on! They'll wake up soon and they won't be happy to see us gone! Come on, John! Hurry!"

Then she's running out the room. Zevi sits up quickly and stares after her. With a yawn, he slowly gets to his feet, stretches, and then bolts after her. Smirkng, Khan follows not too far behind.