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After stopping in the area outside the McCullen manor's yard, Duke orders the Joes to rest and let Doc and the village's medic check them for injuries. Hearing that reminds Lady-Jaye of the fight in the tunnels. "Flint, your hand!" She says to him while pointing and covering her mouth.

"I'm fine, it was just a-er... ok... not a scratch." He says once he finds half of his right third finger shot off, and winces as he takes his glove off and presses down on it until Doc walks up.

"Yeah right; how long has it been since this happened?" Doc asks him while getting some iodine.

"Probably somewhere around 12 to 18 minutes, can't give you more than that, my wat-gah!... my watch broke when this big explosion took out a tarantula back there about the size of a car."

Doc looks over to the manor for a second before putting a bandage on his hand. "I'll let Airtight know about that later; Just keep this on." Doc tells him, thinking Flint and Lady-Jaye may have been exposed to hallucinatory fumes. "Come find me when he over-On second thought, how are your feet?" He asks the latter.

"Huh; aw, i lost my slippers." She says to herself while Flint complains about Doc's remark. While Doc leaves for another patient, she lowers her head.

"Something wrong?" Flint asks.

"St-fro-m-." She says under her breath.

"Did you say something; i couldn't make that out."

"I said stay away from me." She says in a louder voice. Flint tilts his head before reaching for her shoulder, only for her to smack his hand. "No... Fuirich air falbh!" She shouts, and starts to run from him, but trips over some stone fragments from the manor. (Stay away!)

"Lady-Jaye, what's gotten into you?" He asks while her struggling attracts Doc and some others.

"Brownie?"/"Whut in tarnation?"/"She done lost her marbles!"/"Back up, back up; give her space!" Cover-Girl, Wild Bill, Cross-Country, and Spirit say.

"Stop it! I said let me go!"

"Lady-Jaye, please, you have to calm down... Alison, can you hear me?!"

"Outta the way, Flint, she's in a state of shock. I need you and Short-Fuze to hold her down so i can give her a sedative... now, dammit!" Doc orders when Flint hesitats.

Once the injection takes effect, he gives Flint the go-ahead to try again. "Lady-Jaye; can you tell me what happened?" He asks her.

"Uh-wha... Flint?" She asks, and latches onto him once her eyes get their focus back. "Flint; that thing... that-that monster... it was horrible."

"Monster?"/"What's she talking about?"/"You must have, like, given her a bit too much, Doc." Quick-Kick, Barbecue, and Footloose say.

"Do you, uh, mean the spider; i thought that was Scarlett's phobia?" Flint asks her, doing all he can not to look down.

"Not that, i mean from the well. Didn't you see it?" She asks him while looking up at him.

"No i was too far to see the bottom. Why, was there something down there?"

"Well... forget it. Must have just been the fumes from whatever that liquid was... either way, thanks for getting me out of there. I hope this damsel in distress routine is over; it's getting too damn monotonous." She explains.

"Maybe, but what about that big spider we both saw those screwy animal guys ran from?" He asked while pointing to the ruins.

She takes a second to think, but shrugs. "Must have been an animatronic; they just ran off to wait for it to show that it's "fangs" were just machine guns or something." She says before sighing.

"What now?" Flint asks her.

"It's about something i was told of before you showed up... I... I have to leave; to resign." She replies, shocking everyone.

"What for?" Duke asks her while trying to calm the others down.

"Because... I'm one of those god damn snakes, a... i can't stay with you... or better yet, goodbye." She says, and takes Duke's pistol and puts it to her head.

Cover-Girl screams as Cross-Country turns her around. "Dun'cha look, Darlin'!"

Duke and Doc rush over and hold their hands up while Flint can only stand paralyzed. "Hold it, stop, don't do it!"/"Easy there, Lady-Jaye, you're not thinking straight; so please... just put the gun down, and we can talk this over, okay?"

While she is backing away in her confused grief, Quick-Kick tosses one of his gas shurikens, causing her to fire, but miss, before coughing, allowing Flint to tackle and slap her. "You stupid crazy bitch, don't you ever do that to me again!"

After she feels the mark on her cheek, she moves both hands over her eyes and starts crying. "I'm S-sorry; I wasn't... I don't-"

"I am too; but what's happening... Please, Alison, let me help you." Flint asks as he puts his arms around her.

"...The manor, it was..." She starts to say.

"It's Destro's." Flint finishes.

She nods and looks to the other Joes. "I'm... I'm part McCullen; i can't stay with you guys with his rotten blood in my veins!" She tells them before looking to Flint. "Chan urrainn dhomh a bhith còmhla riut air a sgàth; chan urrainn dhut duine sam bith a tha càirdeach dha a ghràdhachadh." As she stands up, he does so too. "Flint, please; you have to let me go." She whimpered while struggling, albeit less than before. (I can't be with you because of it; you cannot love anyone who is related to him.)

"Chan eil dragh agam. Cha 'n 'eil annad ach pàirt McCullen; agus cha'n e a' chuid sin dhibh leis am fàs mi sean." Flint whispers in her ear while caressing her back, making her heart skip a beat. "Thug mi mo chridhe 's m' anam do Burnett." (I don't care. You're only part McCullen; and it's not that part of you I'll grow old with.) (I gave my heart and soul to a Burnett.)

"Dash." Lady-Jaye said simply as her tears stained his shirt.

While she and Flint return to Rhona's house to confirm the connection, Destro is in Glasgow for the same reason when he is stopped by a policeman who notices the glint from his mask and draws his sidearm. "Stop; ye mus' be daft if yuir thinkin' I'd let the likes o' ye walk the streets."

Destro rolls his eyes before raising his hands. "I am quite aware of what the penalty is; but i assure you i am not here to harm anyone. I only wish to access the genealogy records at city hall to confirm something i have recently been informed of."

"Do ye now; why should i believe ye?" The officer asks.

Destro pulls out his own pistol and crushes it in response.

A few dozen minutes later, he is being presented some old books. "'E-ere you go, Mr. Destro. The shelf was a pig's breakfast, but i got it. Enjoy." The employee tells him before rushing off.

Destro shakes his head with a huff before going through the pages. After five books, he finds a document from 1731 detailing the marriage of Eoghan McCullen and Maighread Burnett to settle a trade disagreement. The find causes a sinking feeling in his gut... the woman whose brushes with death he occasionally had a direct hand in... who he attempted to make a mutation of... carried McCullen blood?! Once he got over the feeling of shame in himself, he requests a copy be made.


On Christmas day, Stalker took the mail for him and the girls from the Moes. "Ho ho ho, ladies... speaking of which; L.J., you got any relatives in Glasgow?"


Chapter Twenty-three.