"Theo, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," Theo said, hovering over CYCLOPS so she could more easily weld new plates to the existing frame.

Aisha waited. "Can you stop and come out of there?"

"Is It Urgent?"

"No."

Theo focused NYMPH's optical sensors to check for mistakes and the integrity of the framework beneath. "Then No."

"May I ask why not?"

"I Need To Fix CYCLOPS As Quick As Possible So I Can Fight Again."

"That is exactly the topic I want to talk about."

Theo felt her physical body sigh. "I Can Talk And Weld At The Same Time. I Can Also See Everything Around Me, So You Don't Have To Move."

Aisha halted in her tracks. "Very well. I'm concerned about the danger Cassandra puts you into."

"Is This Gonna Be About How Kids Should Be As Far Away From Combat As Possible?"

"That is one of my main points, yes."

"Well, Stop Asking About It. You're Not Gonna Get Me Or Cap To Change Our Minds. Plus, It's Extremely Hard To Get Through Three Layers Of Armor Without A Lot Of Strength Or Special Abilities."

"Does she ever leave you to fight alone?"

Frustration at Aisha's persistence overriding her desire to keep fixing CYCLOPS, Theo flew over to Aisha and opened her faceplate. "I don't do anything alone. Somebody is always nearby. I wasn't allowed to be alone with Damien or Raven until Fursanthany. I still can't be alone with Lyn or Alexander because they might not be able to protect me if something happens. I can't even leave CYCLOPS unless absolutely necessary because fighting badly in three layers of armor is safer than fighting well in two. That's how worried Cap gets about me. Only after all safety measures are in place does she let me fight."

"I understand but-"

"Do you know why I'm here?" Theo yelled. "Do you know why she let me join? It's because I'm a genius. I held my own against Damien, and you've seen how he fights. Even though I sorta beat him, I had to beg her to let me join. She didn't want me to join in the slightest. If it wasn't for Alexander convincing her to let me join, she would have abandoned me by now. But since I contribute to the crew in the only ways I can - engineering and weapon making - I became one of her nakama. I'm not dead weight, and the only reason I'm not is because I pilot these."

Aisha frowned at her. "If that's the only reason, why don't you leave?"

"I'M NOT LEAVING!" she screamed reflexively, then took a deep breath to calm down a little. "One, this is my home. Two, I have nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. The World Government wants me to go back to my father, and if I stay in one place too long, they're guaranteed to find me. I would rather die than go back."

"I know what you're talking about better than you think," Aisha said. "I escaped from prison and was always worried about being caught. I was haunted for decades. Eventually, I was caught. I lost everything. I thought my life was over, but I fought to stay alive. It was hard and humiliating, but look at me now. Even though I'm associating with criminals despite vowing never to do so again, I'm earning enough to make yet another clean start. One's situation can always get better, but death is final."

Cap surprised them both by dropping through the main hatch. "Are you really telling her there aren't things worse than death?"

"Regardless of how bleak things might be, there is always the opportunity to turn things around."

Theo stopped hovering as Cap crossed her arms. "How adorably optimistic. Most people aren't as lucky as the half of my crew that I stumbled upon. For every person like Miserie, there are a thousand people who will never escape bondage. Lots of kids like Theo get abused until they run into gay or trans panic and get beaten to death. People get mutilated or contract diseases that leave them in agony for the rest of their lives. Death ends their suffering."

"Death eliminates any chance of improving one's life."

"Not everyone is as strong as us," Cap snapped. "Not everyone has Miserie's tenacity. Almost thirty years of brutal captivity before finding her first real home?"

"Some people hold on for three times as long."

"Would they spend 90 years in continual agony if they knew there wouldn't be any relief?"

"If they die when they're 74, they'll never know about the cure for their suffering that came out when they would have been 75."

Cap crossed her arms. "Relief is not guaranteed, and hope only prolongs their suffering."

"Dying guarantees one's life will never be improved."

Aisha and Cap stared at each other intensely, and Theo felt she had to break the tension. "You went to prison? For what?"

Cap's smile was the one she gave when she wanted to see which bad option would be chosen, but Aisha probably hadn't been around long enough to recognize it. "A lot of minor offenses built up into prison time," she said at last.

Theo knew if Aisha was willing to share more, she would have kept talking. Cap wasn't finished. "I know you're worried about Theo, but you're nowhere near as worried as I am. She's given you a pretty thorough rundown of my safety measures, so I won't repeat them. Your worry is starting to border on harassment. Theo is my nakama before she is your student. Her education is important, but being a pirate comes first. If you don't like it, I'll pay you through the week and politely ask you to get the fuck off my ship."

"I don't like it," Aisha said, "but I'll stop bringing up Theo's… duties. Even if nothing I say or do will change anything, my teaching skills are still needed."

Cap grinned. "That they are. In that realm, you hold way more power than I do. I'd also like to thank you once again for going along with that Eternal Sun business. You saved me a lot of time and energy."

Aisha smiled too. "It was certainly an eventful trip. Seeing Theo fight firsthand did alleviate some of my concerns."

Theo was drawn into her captain's arms. "That definitely factored into me letting her join. There's no way I would have let her if she had put up less of a fight."

"It still amazes me how many people you fought before they joined your crew."

"It was only Damien and Theo, technically Raven, and Morgan fought Alexander, not me."

"That is a markedly unusual recruitment strategy."

Cap laughed loudly. "I wouldn't have many friends if I held a grudge about them fighting me."

"Or trying to kill you," Theo added.

"Is that why you think dying can be preferable to living? I believe Cain said death was treated as lightly as the common cold where you were from."

She shrugged. "Probably. I know my moral compass is broken beyond repair. That's what I have Lyn for."

"Yup, the only reason," Theo teased.

"I can't think of any other reason."

"You often seem like a completely different person when you're with her," Aisha said. "It's quite startling."

"As in, I'm less mean? She's watched me torture someone before." Aisha's eyebrows shot up. "Okay, so that someone had just destroyed Lyn's mental health, but Lyn was never one for that kind of revenge. It's a physiological issue too. Since my senses are so strong and she's a very physical person, her very presence can change how I think. Especially when she's hanging off of me."

"She does give magic hugs," Theo agreed.

Aisha looked between the two of them, then deflated. "I'm sorry if I come across as overbearing. Life without my wife and son has been really hard for me, and I can't help but think of him when I see you. In terms of being a child, not your gender."

Theo gaped at her, though she was totally unsurprised to see that Cap was totally unsurprised. "You're married?"

"Not anymore." Aisha had never looked more down. "Sasaya couldn't forgive me for never telling her that I was a prison escapee and filed for divorce while I was finishing my time. The court gave her full custody, denied me visitation, and wouldn't tell me where they moved to. I haven't seen or heard from them since. I guess I'm projecting Hirini onto you, and I'm sorry for that."

"I didn't know," was all Theo could say.

Cap had a real smile when Aisha looked at her. "I mean, everything except the reason for your divorce was on your police file. I didn't even have to try to find that."

"Okay, fair," Aisha allowed. "I spent the next few years hoping Sasaya might take me back if I just showed her that my criminal life was behind me, but society isn't friendly towards ex-cons. I had no choice but to work at terrible jobs for peanuts, live in rundown apartments for exorbitant prices, and get barred at every turn from basic rights and necessities. Sometimes it got so bad that I considered breaking the law so I could go back to prison for a better standard for living. Then, some twenty-something outlaw comes along and offers me a completely outrageous hourly wage on top of a comped room and amenities. That wasn't an easy decision."

"I gave you a choice: metaphorically die and end your pain or struggle on the off-chance you'd get what you want."

"I am still literally alive," Aisha said sharply. "I will see them again. I just need to make enough money first."

Cap raised her hands. "That part is actually none of my business. I don't give a shit about what you do with your money, provided it's not threatening my crew. If you want to save it or blow it all on helium balloons, that's on you. I'm just the insurer if something happens to it."

Theo didn't want to hear about boring things like finances. "I remind you of your son?"

"He was a couple years older than you when I was caught and set back. He graduates from high school this year, and I have no idea what he's going to do." Aisha sniffed loudly. "Will he go to college? Will he pick up a trade? Does he want to stay with Sasaya or live independently? Does he have a boyfriend or a girlfriend? Does he have a new mother? Does he ever think about me? Am I still Ummi to him?" She gave a shuddering sigh. "I don't even know if his favorite food is the same."

Theo exited NYMPH and joined Cap in holding the crying woman. The only thing she could think of saying was, "Now would be a great time for Lyn's magic hugs."

Aisha laughed weakly and pulled the two of them closer. "Yours are more than enough."

\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\

Cassandra was pleased with how quickly she scaled the skyscraper. Jordan wouldn't be able to mock her now. Granted, she wasn't paired with an ill-tempered Damien this time, so there was significantly less pressure. She kept her eye on the target window as she made her way up. Just as she reached the floor below, Raven twisted around and cut a perfect circle in the unlit window. Cassandra leapt up, knocked the glass disc out, and crouched on the hole in the pane. "Hi Dad."

"Daughter," he greeted from his position lying atop the bookshelves.

"You used me as a fucking smokescreen to access their data," she said, moving to the office chair. "They flipped their shit when they realized someone was tampering with the surveillance feeds and correctly blamed us. What they didn't know was you were also messing with them. Any inexplicable activity was blamed on Raven since nobody knew where she was and you knew I'd keep her operating out of sight. The guards were in a panic, and the mercenaries were after our heads. All of the attention was on us, with some spared for all the other assassins they knew were there. You had free reign to do whatever you wanted. How far back did you plan? You can't have gone farther back than Fursanthany. There was no guarantee we'd land there after Matarm after delaying for two weeks past the set time."

"Tanesrough is the only island accessible by Log Pose from Fursanthany," Raven identified. "But we could have acquired an Eternal Pose or a different Log Pose."

"There wasn't any reason for us to," Cassandra said with a smile. "Our bounties and elimination of the Harpys weren't the only reasons Fursanthany kept their strongest fighters back."

Raven looked at the man on the bookshelves. "Because the only times we have used a Pose other than the one we used to reach a given island are when we needed to flee or the set time was too long."

Eirwyn stared impassively at the ceiling.

"The Suns wouldn't actually have given a shit about me without a small nudge. The part I'm not sure about is why you revealed yourself. You didn't need to meet Lyn, and you didn't know Raven has feelings. I know nothing outside of my crew that you don't. You didn't need any of our unique abilities. Did you really just want to see me? I'm going to shoot you if you say 'fathers are supposed to check on their daughters' or some bullshit like that."

"I may not have known about your feelings, Raven, but you are still a subject of immense debate," he responded. "Meeting you was essential. I also did want to visit my daughter, not just because I am supposed to, but because I care. Most importantly, there is something I must tell you. There will soon be an opportunity that will change both of your lives specifically. I would highly recommend you not miss it."

"What sort of-" Raven started.

"Welcome to being one of Black Glove's daughters," Cassandra said in delight. "We only get help in the most circuitous way possible."

"I do not understand."

"Our lives are full of impactful opportunities that we shouldn't miss. The question is, what does he know that we don't?"

"Many things."

"Yes, thank you, Raven," she said as Eirwyn didn't show his amusement. "I meant it's up to us to figure out what specific thing he's talking about because, to translate, we're fucked if we don't."

Raven pondered this. "If his words qualify as help, it explains a lot about why you think and act the way you do."

Cassandra burst out into laughter and knew her father was close to almost grinning. It took a while to form coherent words. "I am most assuredly my father's daughter. And Dad, you had better not say-"

"I do not expect you to forgive her," Eirwyn said. "As I have said repeatedly in the past, Priya received an assignment that nobody could complete but her. That assignment just happened to arrive right as you attempted a feat never before seen in history. Your mother did not make the difficult decision to depart on her own. I was just as involved."

"And you were just so fucking forthcoming with that, weren't you?" Cassandra spat, all humor gone. "That was the one thing I shouldn't have had to figure out on my own. I had to resort to waterboarding our own Family to get you to talk."

"Are you going through this again for Raven's benefit?" he asked. "Have you some new insight you're willing to share? Or are you just venting?"

"First, I should be allowed to vent to my godsdamned father about whatever the fuck I want. Second, if you can reach her, tell her I've cooled down more than I ever thought I would. I only want to rip her arms off, blend them, and pour it down her throat instead of all her limbs along with her head."

Eirwyn turned his head slightly to look at Raven. "How much do you know about this?"

"Priya Tuggee has the unique distinction of being the sole person who has hurt Cassandra and ignited her desire to retaliate with violence normally reserved only for those who hurt those she loves, even accounting for how Priya Tuggee's departure affected Helen."

Cassandra opened her mouth, then actually processed her Sister's words. "Are you saying I'm a hypocrite?"

"I was not accusing you of hypocrisy. You are under no obligation to justify your responses to any given situation. I simply stated an observation. Priya Tuggee also has the unique distinction of being your mother, which may merit a unique response."

She ran her hands through her hair. "I know, I know, I fucking know. What I can't forgive is her just vanishing without a trace and not telling me and Helen. Even if I hadn't been trying to unite the Moon Sisters, that's a real dick move to do to your children. I just hate how I have an unsubstantiated idea of her target and, assuming I'm anywhere close to the right answer, I would probably have done something similar in her shoes."

Eirwyn suddenly sat up. "Now, that is some new insight."

"I hate being me sometimes," Cassandra sighed. "Thanks to my parents, I'm way too good at being bad. Sometimes it's clear that my nakama forget what that means. Not you, Damien, and Miserie; you three are as fucked up as I am, if not worse. But the others would be absolutely horrified if they knew I played a full game of Unnti or why I asked you to keep samples of the ZMM virus. That's why sometime on the last island, I realized I'm mad at Mom not just for the whole abandonment deal, but also how similar we are and how that affects my relationship with my nakama. She's a cunt, but so am I. You're a cunt too, Dad, but you're a lot more supportive about it."

"Isn't that what every father wants to hear from his daughter?" he said, not smiling.

"Does this relate to your increased distress specifically regarding your relationship with Lyn?" Raven asked.

"Of course, it does. Dad, I don't want to hear a single fucking thing about her. Meeting her was like stepping into sunlight for the first time, and yes, it's really hard for me to stop using sun imagery for her. I want to spend as much time as possible with her before I inevitably commit some atrocity that'll make… her…" She swiveled her chair to stare out the window. "Oh shit. Is that what Damien was getting at?"

The other two people in the room remained silent.

"Oh, I fucked up, didn't I. I did. I fucked up bad. The instant I told Alexander on Reichmann Island that I'd fully become the captain of the Black Glove Pirates, I doomed myself. Being too wicked for Lyn is only part of the problem. Anything that would cause her to stop loving me would also break the crew, since the others probably wouldn't be able to forgive me either. If I lose her, I'll also lose the rest of them." She slumped back in her chair. "Seven hells."

"Do you want me to dispose of the ZMM samples?"

"Hmm? Oh no, no. I'll just have to be more careful if I decide to use them. I'll make sure only you and Damien know, since I wouldn't be too confident about my chances of survival if he found out I lied to him."

Raven looked at her. "Because by the time you would need to use them, you predict Damien will be too powerful for me to stop."

"Have you seen his blue flames? Imagine him getting used to those on top of how fast his power grows. Damn it, Dad! Why'd you do this to me?"

"If you were truly upset with me, you would strive to change your behavior."

She cracked a grin. "Yeah, I love being me. All of you love who I am, even though my sisters and crew - not you, Raven - are always about one second away from punching me in the mouth."

"Most of them have," Eirwyn said idly.

"You mean the ones that I only befriended because I didn't give up regardless of how much they hated or resented me?" She leaned her head back to look up at the woman perched on her chair. "Or thought I was an extremely foolish and desperately lonely possible heiress whose only value lay in her involvement with an information network wide enough to find her real name?"

"Raven is not merely my commonly pronounceable identification," she droned. "Raven is the name of the seventh Moon Sister. Raven is the name of the doctor of the Black Glove Pirates. I am just as much Raven as I am-" Cassandra was only momentarily surprised that Raven spoke her eerie, inhuman-sounding name aloud. After all, the other two people in the room already knew it, and nobody could possibly be listening in because Eirwyn Negras was never eavesdropped upon. "Unlike what the rest of my family believes, both of those names are my real names. Many of our crew members have identified themselves with another name in the past."

Cassandra laughed lightly. "Well, I obviously can't argue with that. Anyway, we got our hint. He's being nice by giving us an easy one since this is your first father-cosmic daughter hint. Anything else you want to ask?"

Raven stared at him for a moment. "Will you tell me where Silver is?"

"No. You will learn on your own." Cassandra raised an eyebrow, astounded by his generosity. "I have never known someone to be so difficult to keep track of in my life. Even I don't know where he is all the time."

"Riiiiiiiiight," Cassandra said. "And approximately what percentage of the time do you not know where possibly the deadliest person in the world is?"

Eirwyn held her gaze, not grinning. "A percentage."

"I'm sure. Raven?"

"If you have the time and opportunity to do so, please tell the other Moon Sisters that I have positive feelings for them."

"If you do," Cassandra added, "also remind them that regardless of Raven's message, I'll still keelhaul them if they just stop by, and tell one of them to thank Pythia for Vathyen unlocking my cell."

He nodded. "I understand."

After briefly hugging her father and kissing his cheek, Cassandra perched once more on the hole in the glass pane. "I'll riddle you with bullets if you use me again," she said over her shoulder, "and if Mom gets in contact with you at all, tell her I still hate her. Love you!"

"Live dangerously."

Laughing more happily than she had recently, she pushed off hard enough to break the rest of the pane and backflipped into the air. She held onto her hat to prevent it from flying away, and unbridled glee filled her body as she plummeted headfirst towards the ground. Sometimes, she just needed to have some pointless, reckless fun, especially if it helped quash negative emotions from parting with loved ones.

She twisted in the air at the last second and slammed onto the ground, making a relatively large impact crater on the street. She always loved intentionally making them instead of their creation being a consequence of her body being slammed against a hard surface against her will. After hopping up to the sidewalk, she strode off and stretched her arms above her head. What on earth was she going to do for the rest of the night? Play with Theo? Gamble against Alexander? Make out with Lyn?

Her smile gained a nasty edge. The mood she was in left her with only one option. She took to the rooftops and pushed her speed to its absolute limit. When it became apparent that her destination wasn't nearby, Raven momentarily upset her balance by landing on her head. The extra weight slowed her down a little, but she adjusted easily enough.

After leaving the city limits behind for wide swaths of farmland, she took an extra big jump to clear a barn and landed directly next to Damien. She rolled to dodge the swipe that would have taken her head off and deflected the subsequent punch. "Listen to what I have to say, dipshit. Theo's basically done fine-tuning CYCLOPS, but I figured us Immortals could start a little early."

He lowered his leg, madness burning in his eyes. "That so."

"Yeah, I need some help focusing my Haki, and I thought, why not spice it up a bit? So, it's just the three of us. No interruptions. Hard sparring." She looked at Raven. "In a free-for-all."

"No teams?" His mouth split in a malicious grin. "You two pissmagnets'll fight too?"

"We could all use some practice with solo fighting. What do you say, Raven?"

"This is an optimal opportunity to engage in the type of mock combat that our crewmembers would try to prevent us from doing at all costs. I agree that you and I, Cassandra, would benefit from additional individual combat practice focusing on multiple enemies instead of continually facing Damien together."

Cassandra turned back to Damien. "Will that tide you over?"

He erupted with laughter and smashed his fists together. "Shoulda done this sooner, Your Flowerness! This' gonna be a blast!"

"Exactly. Anyway, since when do real fights have countdowns?" were the last coherent words she would say for some time.