"You okay?"

He already knew the answer to that.

He knew his brother.

"Yeah."

That wasn't it.

That was a lie.

"Like for real okay? Fancy's on the RAC with Zeph. It's just me, you, and Luce."

D'avin didn't answer and Johnny knew that it was just his brother's way of being strong for them...for him. Dutch and D'av were always protecting him from shit that he didn't need to be sheltered from. He wasn't twelve. Instead of bringing this up, though, because Johnny knew it wasn't something that his brother needed to hear, he just sat down next to him on the couch.

"Dutch is okay."

That caught his attention. His brother turned to him now. "How can you be so sure?"

"It's Dutch."

"John-"

"Look, I know it probably sounds stupid, but I would know if something had happened to her," Johnny told him. "I bet you would too." He poked his brother in the chest. "You know this feely place that you and Dutch like to avoid...you'd know deep down inside because we're all connected, D'av."

"I want to believe that."

"Believe it," Johnny told him. They were both quiet and Johnny knew that it wasn't just Dutch's absence that was weighing on him. "Caspara's your daughter...and you haven't really talked about that."

"What's there to talk about? Aneela looks just like Dutch...and so does that baby...and she's sort of evil...and then there's Delle Seyah...it's like the magic duo of evil decided to make a baby that just happens to be mine. I can't exactly walk in there and ask to see Caspara. She wouldn't even know who I was, if I could even hold her…"

"I know we didn't have the greatest childhood...and neither did Dutch," Johnny said. "We're going to make Caspara does."

"In this war?"

"This war has got to end. You and I both know that."

"Do you have some kind of new plan?"

"Actually, I sort of do," John admitted. "It's a plan that's hells crazy, but what do we really have to lose at this point?"

"Tell me."

"You know the needle thing that Zeph worked up with the memories?" John asked.

"Yeah."

"We capture Aneela and Delle Seyah...and hopefully they have Caspara. We inject Aneela with the memories. She has to like not be such a stone cold bitch then, right? She's like Dutch's mom...or sister...or clone...or something...but she wanted baby Dutch...she wanted the best for her. She's got to have feelings for her."

"Are you trying to tell me that you want to flip Aneela onto our side?"

Johnny shrugged. "And we haven't even gotten to the insane part."

"If it's something about how we're all going to live in this communal house on Leith with Aneela, Delle Seyah, and Caspara...you can just stop there."

"Ew, no." Johnny shook his head. "So...Aneela pulled her younger self from a memory and created baby Dutch, right?"

"I guess."

"So, what if Aneela could go into the green and pull another ally back into the land of the living?"

"What?

"Khlyen."

"Whoa...wait…"

"I mean, I don't know if she could even do it, but imagine if we had them both on our side…"

"You mean how screwed up it would be when Dutch finally comes home?"

Johnny sighed. "Think about it, D'av." He tapped his brother's temple. "We're using this now." He paused as D'av glared at him. "Who else know so much about the Hullen that we could ever even imagine to take on as allies?"

"No one."

"Khlyen and Aneela have been behind the lines...and Delle Seyah is going to go wherever Aneela goes...so, why not try to make them allies?"

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Then we're as screwed as we are today."

"Comforting."

"I was thinking...consistent...but…sure." Johnny shrugged and waited to see if D'avin had anything else to say. He knew it was crazy. He knew it was a long shot. Sometimes that was all they had.

"I guess it beats doing nothing."

"Maybe we shouldn't take Fancy this go around," Johnny suggested. "Take Zeph because of her bio science...but let Fancy stay at the RAC with Turin."

"Agreed."

"We go today?"

"You sure about this plan?"

"Nope."

"Awesome. I'm in."

TBC...