USS Theodore Roosevelt, July, 10, 2018
James Smith couldn't remember the last time he had been aboard a carrier. It had to have been before the war started. The Seahawk approached the deck, then settled down on one of the landing spots. Smith was out the door before the rotors stopped turning. He had to brace himself against helo's rotor wash as he ran out onto the deck. To his surprise, Dakota was standing near the island, apparently waiting for him. The battleship snapped off a quick salute, and said, "Welcome aboard, sir." At least that's what Smith thought she said, the noise of the carrier's deck made it hard to understand her. Even with the ship so close to Pearl, flight operations never stopped.
Smith returned Dakota's salute, and said, "Good to see you again. I heard you had a little adventure while you were away." He was close enough to her now that he could hear her over the roar of aircraft.
"You could say that, sir," she replied, her expression changing for a second and she lowered her gaze to the deck. That was something Smith would have to talk to her about later. Enterprise jumped out of the helo, and ran across the deck to meet up with them.
"I saw pictures, but I never really thought they were this big," she gushed.
"Carriers have matured a lot from back in your day," Smith replied, "That's what comes from becoming the new center of naval warfare." Enterprise didn't reply, she was too busy scanning everything that was happening on the deck.
Dakota ignored the little exchange, and said, "Why is Enterprise here?"
"Admiral Davies though that she would make a good face for the cameras to look at, and I agree with him," Smith replied.
"Oh, we're going to do a press… thing when we get back to Pearl Harbor, aren't we?" Dakota sighed, "Talking to the media hounds, and Third Fleet HQ, sounds like fun." There was definitely something going on with her that Smith needed to figure out.
"You don't have to sound so excited about it," Enterprise quipped. Smith raised a hand to indicate that he wanted to talk now.
"Dakota, is there somewhere we could talk about what happened? I'd like to get the story straight from you."
"Yes, we could use the ready room they turned over to us."
"And how hard would it be to round up the rest of the girls?"
"Decently sir, they're spread all around the ship by now. We cut back our patrol schedule pretty far after the battle." Smith nodded silently, thinking about a possible course of action.
"Let's go visit that ready room first," he said after a minute, then turned to Enterprise, "I want you to go find everyone else. I'd like their reports as well."
Enterprise nodded, "Aye sir. I'll be back soon." She disappeared through an open hatch a second later.
"Let's go, we don't have all day," Smith announced once she had left.
"This way, sir," Dakota lead Smith down below the carrier's deck. They walked in silence for several minutes, and Smith was reminded once more of just how big carriers are. If he was back aboard the Evans, he could have walked to anywhere in the ship in ten minutes. Here, he could walk for ten times that long, and still not see the whole ship. Smith was about to make a comment to this effect, when a man wearing the insignia of a seaman ran up to Dakota.
"Miss, miss," he said, "You wouldn't happen to be South Dakota, would you?"
"Yes, and you are, sailor?" Dakota replied.
"Seaman Broun, ma'am," he said, "Miss Johnston told me to come find you."
Smith felt that this would be a good time to interpose himself, "Son, exactly why were you sent to find Lieutenant Dakota?"
"Sir, I don't think you would believe me if I told you," Broun replied, cryptically, "Miss Johnston is in the sick bay, and she wants to see you ASAP." Dakota gave Smith a pleading look, deferring to his judgement in this case.
Smith sighed, then said, "I guess the report can wait for a bit. Lead the way seaman."
"Yes, sir," Broun said, then ducked down a corridor. It didn't take long to find the sickbay, despite the fact that Broun got lost, twice. A quick round of questions reveled to Smith that he was off the Halsey, and had only come aboard the Roosevelt after his ship had been sunk.
"Sir, Johnston asked for me," Dakota announced, "Would you like me to go in first?" Smith nodded. Dakota was Johnston's CO, there was no sense breaking the chain of command for this, but he stood nearby so he could see what was going on. He could see that Johnston was sitting in a chair next to a bed, and in the bed was a girl he didn't recognize. "You wanted to see me, Johnston?" Dakota asked once she was in the room.
Johnston looked up at the battleship, then said, "I don't think you're going to believe this one."
"What do you mean?"
"We got a new girl," Johnston replied, seemingly changing the subject.
"How? Who?" Dakota replied, stunned. Johnston replied by pointing at the girl laying on the bed.
This apparently got her attention, because she raised a hand to wave at Dakota, and muttered, "Hi."
Dakota waved back apprehensively, and asked, "So who are you exactly?"
The girl shot Johnston a look, and asked the destroyer, "Should I? I mean, is it alright?" Johnston gave her a silent nod, then crossed her arms over her chest. The girl took a breath, then said, "You know how you lost a ship today, out there." She made a vague sweeping gesture to emphasize her point. "Well, you did lose one, but not for long."
"Wait, you mean," Dakota's eyes went wide as realization dawned, "You're?"
"Yep," the girl replied, nodding furiously, "My name is Halsey, nice to meet cha."
Dakota stood there, completely stunned for several seconds, before asking Johnston, "Is she telling the truth?"
Johnston shrugged, "I have no clue, but when I found her, she was passed out on the deck of the Halsey. I dragged her and Broun back with me." Smith couldn't take it anymore, he stepped through the hatch, earning a look of surprise from Johnston and one of confusion from Halsey.
"When did you get here, captain?" Johnston asked, confused.
Smith waved her off, as he bent down over Halsey and asked, "Are you really Halsey? How did you come back?"
She gave him a pained look, and replied, "I sunk, sir. I could feel it happening, and decided that if they could do it, I could too." She pointed at where Johnston was sitting. Smith reached down and put a hand on Halsey's shoulder in an attempt to calm the girl.
"My name is James Smith, and I'm the commander of the shipgirls," he explained, "If you would like, I could get you transferred to my command. You could work with Johnston, Dakota, and everyone else."
"Yes, sir. I want to keep fighting. I can't let those Abyssal bastards sink any more of my sisters," Halsey said, "We've already lost too many."
Smith patted her shoulder, "Good girl, you get some rest. I need to go make some calls." He started to walk out, but shot a glance back to Johnston, "Could I have a word with you, out in the corridor? You too, Dakota." A second later, and they were discussing in relative privacy. "Is she telling the truth?"
"Sir, I did find her passed out aboard the Halsey, and none of the other survivors recognizes her," Johnston replied, "I think so. She has to be." Smith reached up to run a hand through his hair while trying to work through things in his head.
"I served aboard her," he muttered, "I served aboard her, and now there she is, laying in front of me."
"Sir, what do we do?" Dakota asked, still trying to grasp the extent of the situation. Smith stood in silence for several seconds, a fact that unnerved Dakota.
Finally he replied, "We buck this up the chain. I'll have to have Admiral Davies look into this. Until then, she's in your chain, Dakota. Let Nick know she has one more DD to look after, or, in this case, a DDG."
"What do we do until then?" Johnston asked.
Smith took a quick look at his watch, then replied, "We'll be arriving in Pearl early tomorrow. After that we have a pretty full schedule laid out. I want to talk to her, but right now, I need a report on how the battle went."
"Sir, if it would be alright," Johnston interrupted, "I think I'll stay with Halsey for now. She's having a bit of trouble adjusting to things, and I think I can help her."
"That's a good idea, go ahead," Smith replied, then he had another thought, "Go find Nicholas, Johnston. She needs to be brought in on this, and you can do it while I'm talking with Dakota."
Johnston nodded, "Aye, sir." She ducked down the corridor and out of sight.
Smith turned back to Dakota and asked, "Think now would be a good time for that report?"
"Yes, sir, and the ready room isn't too far from here." Smith nodded his approval, then followed Dakota deeper into the carrier.
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All told, Nicholas was having a pretty decent day. The Abyssals had completely disappeared after their last battle. Even the cruiser and destroyer groups that had been harassing them ever since leaving Japan had disappeared completely. The lack of attacks had meant that Nicholas could stand down her girls for some much needed rest, and today was her day to stay off the line. She was using her free time to do a little research, and draft her after action report for Dakota. She had seen several things go right, and even more go wrong during the battle, and she wanted to get her knowledge down on paper before it faded from her memory.
Or at least she was trying to draft an AAR. O'Bannon was also in the room, doing everything she could to distract her twin. "Do you realize that what we're doing now is the exact same thing we did back then?"
"Uh-huh," Nicholas replied, not really paying attention to O'Bannon's ramblings, she was too busy attempting to decipher the official form.
"Escorting ships, smashing tin cans, and running away. Hell, the only thing that would really give me déjà vu would be if I got to charge a battleship, at night. Did you know Dakota met her you know? Hiei I mean, said she's nice enough, but a bit too crazy about her older sister."
"That's great," Nicholas replied. She was slowly coming to the realization that the report form was written in some foreign language, and wasn't supposed to be understood.
"Do you realize that Taffy 3 is more famous than us? I was on a few forums before we left, and all they could talk about was Taffy 3. Not one bit of love for the heroes of the slot," O'Bannon announced, changing her subject for the fifth time.
"Great, that's great." Nicholas was beginning to understand why Captain Smith snapped when someone entered his office unannounced. This was one form, and it was taking all of her concentration just to figure out what to write in each box.
"Oh, and I threw the rest of your uniforms overboard. You'll have to make do with what you can borrow from the Japanese," O'Bannon said, getting the feeling that her sister was no longer paying any attention to her.
"Great just," Nicholas began to say, then realized what O'Bannon had said, "You what?"
"Ah, got ya," O'Bannon said, poking a finger into Nicholas' forehead, "You don't listen too well. You need to learn to lighten up every so often." Nicholas sighed, then shoved the still incomplete form across the desk.
"You're right, this can wait."
"Great, now to restate, do you realize that no one knows what our old unit did during the war?" Nicholas was about to reply, when someone knocked on the hatch.
"Come in," she shouted, somewhat thankful to be able to forestall O'Bannon's latest rant.
Johnston suck her head into the stateroom, asking, "Ensign, you in here?"
"I need to explain something, but I really don't know how to put this," Johnston said, rubbing the back of her head in thought.
"You obviously have something to say, so say it," O'Bannon said.
Johnston took a deep breath, then began, "That girl we picked up off the Halsey, the one who was unconscious. Well, she's not a girl, or at least she's not a normal girl." Nicholas raised an eyebrow, having trouble following the other destroyer's train of though.
"Run that by me again, I don't think I got everything."
"This is the part I don't know how to explain," Johnston stated. She began to pace back and forth across the deck, wringing her hands together in though. Finally, she announced, "She's a shipgirl like us."
"She is," O'Bannon cut in, "Cool, who is she?"
"I'd like to know too," Nicholas added.
Johnston took a deep breath, then looked Nicholas strait in the eye, "She's Halsey." The room became so quiet, that you could hear the proverbial pin drop.
Finally, Nicholas managed to speak again, "She's who?"
"She's the AEGIS destroyer Halsey. Who was sunk by the Abyssals, and came back as a shipgirl," Johnston announced.
"That's a thing?" O'Bannon asked, "Can ships really come back on their own?"
"Apparently, they can," Johnston sighed, "Anyway, Captain Smith wanted me to tell you, seeing as she's now in your command."
Nicholas was stunned for the second time in the last ten minutes. "Captain Smith is aboard? Why?"
"Don't you remember, the whole reason we're talking this tub to Pearl," O'Bannon supplied, "The media circus gig." Nicholas sat in silence for several seconds, trying to piece together everything that she had just learned in the last five minutes.
"I didn't think it was possible for things to get stranger," Nicholas said softly.
"I know, right," Johnston exclaimed, "That's what I said."
"Is she awake?"
"I don't think I could be here talking about her if she wasn't."
"I want to meet her," Nicholas said. She stood up from her chair, and took a long stretch. She was a lot stiffer than usual. She must have been sitting down for way to long, again. "I need to get a feel for her."
"She's still in the sick bay," Johnston explained, "You can always go down to visit her."
"I've got a better idea," O'Bannon chimed in, "We need someone who is better with people than we are. Sad to say, but you can be a bit, stiff at times, sis."
"And who do you have in mind?" Nicholas said, choosing to ignore her sister's veiled insult.
"Which one of the squadron is the best with people," Johnston added, "The only one who would even give me the time of day when I first came aboard?"
Nicholas shot a look at O'Bannon, and then the two said simultaneously, "Radford."
"I'll go find her," Nicholas said, then pushed herself off the chair, "Try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone."
"I'll keep 'er in line," O'Bannon replied, giving her sister a mock wave as she disappeared.
"I think she meant you," Johnston said, confused. O'Bannon, jumped off the desk and walked over to grab Johnston by the shoulder.
"Come on, I'm hungry, and I owe you lunch for that stunt you pulled with the laser" O'Bannon unceremoniously led Johnston out of the room, towards the mess hall.
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Dakota lead Smith into the ready room a few minutes later. They had to shoo out a few girls in order to have a discussion in private. Smith sat down at a table, and took a long look at Dakota's face, trying to figure out how to start this conversation. He settled on, "What happened out there?" Dakota sighed loudly, then looked down at the tabletop for several seconds.
She looked up at Smith and began, "We weren't ready for the level of attack they hit us with, and I couldn't deal with it when they struck in force." That was why she wouldn't talk early, the reason she had seemed so evasive earlier. Smith had seen this before, Dakota was having second thoughts about herself.
"Tell me the whole story, and then we can talk about what you did," Smith said, thinking about how to approach this problem in his head. Junior Officers tended to have confidence problems. It took time and practice before one could lead men effectively.
"When it started we were in a briefing to discuss how we were going to scale back patrols," Dakota began, then detailed the course of the battle
Smith raised a hand to pause Dakota halfway through her explanation, "So, for clarification, the Abyssals only targeted the Halsey after she fired her missiles?"
"Yes, sir. We think they saw her do that on our run to Japan, and were holding their carrier in reserve just to hit her."
"That's new," Smith said, rubbing his chin in thought, "I don't think we've seen one of their carriers in months."
"Why would that be, they're so powerful, why wouldn't they use them?" Dakota asked, confused.
"Because a carrier is a high valued assed, and when a squadron of cruisers and destroyers can take down all but the strongest of our old task groups, why risk a carrier? But them holding one in reserve, that's new. Throwing away the air group to strike a single target, that's not. They used to do that to probe our defenses. When several DDGs were working together, they could swat down those fighters like flies. Distressing as that is, what else happened?"
"Not much after that, sir. Anything they did have left ran away. We haven't seen them since. I don't know why," Dakota replied.
"Now Dakota, I want you to tell me how the battle went." She opened her mouth to protest, but Smith cut her off, "I want you to tell me, from your perspective, how the battle went. What went right and what went wrong from your view." This was a common tactic for testing officers, in order to see if they knew what their failings were.
"Sir, I," she began, then took a deep breath and tried again, "I-I, don't know. I know I screwed up, big time." Smith sighed, then stood up from his seat. "What are you doing, captain?" Dakota asked, confused. He ignored her for a few seconds as he undid the buttons on his uniform blouse. Pulling off the shirt, he draped it over the back of the chair, then sat back down.
"I just removed my eagles," he explained, "Now, I'm not Captain Smith, I'm just good 'ole James Smith. Start over, but this time don't think of me as your CO, just your friend."
Dakota nodded, "Sir, I…" Smith cut her off with a raised finger and a shake of his head. She nodded, then tried again, "I messed up. When the attack got crazy, and everything got confused, I didn't know what to do. I hesitated, and didn't give the order to send in fighter cover for Halsey quick enough. We could have stopped them if I had."
"Everyone makes mistakes, Dakota. In the heat of battle, it's easy to get confused and not know what to do instantly," Smith tried to reassure the girl, but didn't quite manage it.
"I've done this before, when I had my goddamned electrics knocked out. I couldn't do anything but watch as the ships I was supposed to protect sank around me. Sir, I don't think I can be an officer, I can't handle this pressure. A few of the girls out their almost died, and one of our escorts sank. This was all my fault." The battleship had tears in her eyes when she leaned back, waiting for Smith to reply. He was surprised to see the normally twenty-something battleship suddenly look a lot older. He sighed, trying to decide what to say to this ship that seen more war than he ever would.
"What makes you think it was your hesitation that sank the Halsey?"
"Because Hornet had her fighters up, and I told her to keep them in reserve instead of trying to find the Abyssals. I was being too cautious, and because of that, they were too far away when the Abyssal carriers struck."
"And why did you tell Hornet to keep her planes in reserve?" Smith asked, trying to follow the battleship's logic.
"Because we thought the Abyssal carriers had run. We hadn't seen them all day, and I didn't think they would be waiting to launch an alpha strike."
"So you made your decisions based on known information, and were unprepared when the Abyssals did something you couldn't see coming?" Smith said, trying his best to figure out what exactly was upsetting Dakota. Because In his eyes, she had done everything right. He tried to lead her to this thought, "So you got hit with something new, and reacted to it, but weren't able to react fast enough because of circumstance?"
"Yes, maybe I couldn't have saved Halsey, no matter what I did," Smith had to keep himself from exclaiming with joy at Dakota's admission, but then what she said next stunned him even farther, "I hesitated, sir, because I was afraid. The destroyers came under attack, and all I could think of was that night off Guadalcanal. We lost four destroyers that night, did you know that? We fought the Japanese, and lost four destroyers because I took a bad hit. I couldn't save them then, and I thought I couldn't save them now."
"You know, I used to be terrified of the Abyssals," Smith said, the sudden change in subject confusing Dakota, "When they first hit us, I lost a good friend of mine. His ship was one of the first to be lost in this war. Then I had to watch as more and more casualty lists came over the wire services, thinking all the while that my ship would be the next one they hit. I was so afraid that I didn't think I would be able to think straight when they did attack."
"What happened?" Dakota asked, now curious. She didn't think it was possible for her CO to be afraid, she had never seen him even hit that he was scared.
"Well, we eventually got hit, as you know, and I was scared. They came in the same old way, we fought them in the same old way, and they beat us in the same old way," Smith replied, paraphrasing a quote he had heard from somewhere.
"If I may ask, how did you handle it?" Dakota asked, curiosity suddenly replacing her own misgivings.
"I was too scared to move," Smith replied, surprising Dakota, "Then Chief Boggs grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me out of it. I gave the orders, and we fought back. One of the first times we managed to fight them to a standstill. It's okay to be afraid, Dakota. Hell that just confirms that you actually are human. It's what you do when you are afraid that counts."
"Sir, I still feel that I'm not ready for this, if I can't do my job without freezing up," Dakota replied. There wasn't anything else he could do here, Dakota would have to come to the conclusion on her own. Smith stood up, then retrieved his blouse off the back of the chair.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, saying, "No matter what you think, you did fine out there Dakota. If you want to take a break from all this to collect your thoughts, I can do that, but we need you in the middle. This war is just getting hot again, and we need everyone we can get to fight it."
"I just can't take it, not if I crack up every time I try," she sighed. Smith shook his head in consternation. There were many things he was good at, unfortunately, this wasn't one of them. Trying to rebuild a person's confidence was a hard task, and would take some time. Right now, it was best to just let Dakota come to this realization on her own. He left her alone in the room. He would give her ten minutes, before sending Enterprise in to talk to her. Maybe the carrier would have more luck with this than he had. Smith walked down the corridor towards the hangar deck, expecting to find Enterprise there.
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Halsey was currently playing back the events of the last few days in her head, trying to figure out what exactly had happened to her. She remembered her last ten minutes as a ship quite vividly. The absolute terror she had felt as the cloud of torpedo bombers had descended on her, and she could do nothing to stop them. Then the pain that had wracked her hull as the Abyssal torpedoes tore holes in her flanks. After that, things just got fuzzy. She briefly remembered looking up at the bridge before everything went black, and she woke up here. With Johnston and Broun watching over her. That brought a smile to her lips, for some reason, the thought that someone had been there to take care of her made her feel good.
She was still having trouble coming to grips with her new form. The sudden presence of new feelings had overwhelmed her at first. She was finally coming to grips with it. If Dakota and the rest of them could deal with this, so could she. She was a guided missile destroyer of the US Navy, and she wouldn't waste her second chance to defend her country, no sir. Her lips creased in a faint smile as she thought about what her sisters would say if they could see her now. She was thinking about what she would tell her old division mates would think of her now, most of them were still tied up in Pearl. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone knock on the hatch. "Come in," she said. She was still intrigued by the sound of her own voice. A small girl stepped through the bulkhead and walked over to Halsey's bed. She recognized this girl, she must have been one of shipgirls from before.
She sat down on the edge of it, and held out a hand for Halsey to shake, "I'm Radford, DD-446, they said you're Halsey?"
Halsey took her hand and shook it fiercely, "USS Halsey, DDG-97. I guess you're the welcoming party? I've already met a few others, but they didn't stay that long."
"Nicholas told me to come down and say hello. She's still a little shaken up by this whole ordeal I think," Radford observed, "The captain's dealing with official stuff, and O'Bannon's still being a bit hostile, so I was the only one left."
Halsey nodded, then asked, "So, what now? I was told that I can fight with you girls, but I don't know how."
"We can teach you," Radford said, with a smile, "How to fight, and how to live. You're something special, Halsey, exactly what we need right now." Halsey came to the quick conclusion that she was going to like this little destroyer, and smiled back up at her.
"Am I interrupting something?" the voice from the hatch caused Halsey to sit up and look. It was that captain from earlier, the one with the eyepatch who had said he was the one in charge. Smith, she thought.
"No, sir," Radford said, standing up.
"Keep your seat, petty officer, I see they made you the ambassador? Can't blame Nicholas' choice really." Radford nodded agreement, and Smith walked over. He held out a hand for Halsey, who took it firmly, earning her a smile from the officer.
"I introduced myself earlier, but now that I've had a chance to think things over, I want to talk to you in person. I'll start out with asking if you have any questions for me."
There was one that she could think of, one that had been sticking in her mind like crazy, "What's next? What happens next?"
"Right now we're going to Pearl, as you should remember." She nodded, she did remember those orders, "When we get there, we're going to talk to Third Fleet. I'll try to figure out how you fit into things now. You are, technically still under their command. While I'm doing that, go visit Honolulu with the rest of these girls." He placed a hand on Radford's shoulder to make clear who he meant, then continued, "Let them help you. They've all been through this, and should be able to give you some insight."
"Alright," Halsey replied, "But what do I do about this?" She moved the sheet aside to display the cast around her leg.
Smith sat in silence, but Radford replied, "We get you some crutches, or a wheelchair, and work you through that. It'll heal in time, and you'll be back up to one hundred percent in no time."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Smith replied, "Get some sleep you two, we'll be pulling in early tomorrow, I want to see you Halsey after we get off. And Radford, tell O'Bannon to try to stay out of trouble, I don't want to have to go rescue her from the brig while we're there."
"Aye, sir." Smith stood up, and walked out without another word. From first impressions, Halsey figured that she was going to like this officer. She'd have to try to talk to him more later on. "Back to what we were discussing, if you need any help, just ask. DesRon 21 will be there for you." Halsey nodded, thanking Radford for her effort. This was going to be a long week for the new ship girl.
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USS Theodore Roosevelt, Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, July 11, 2018
Manning the rails was a sign of respect and tradition that dated back to long before Smith had joined the service. And one of the places where the most respect was shown, was when a ship transited into Pearl Harbor. The ship's company was up on deck, standing evenly spaced along the rails, in their best uniforms. After the ship passed a certain point, the 1MC speaker blared, "Prepare to render honors to port, USS Arizona." As one, the company raised their hands to salute the wreck that had once been the battleship USS Arizona. It was a practice that could bring tears to the eyes of even the most senior personnel.
For Dakota, it was no different. She had somehow managed to convince the skipper of the Roosevelt to let her girls stand the duty alongside the regular sailors, and they stood, in borrowed dress uniforms, saluting their fallen comrade. One that, perhaps, they might greet one day again, in person.
For Smith, the emotion of the moment was of a different sort. His girls had done it, they had accomplished something that had not been thought possible for months. For the first time since the beginning of the war, an American carrier was entering Pearl Harbor. He stood on the navigation bridge, watching as the harbor passed them by, and trying not to get in the way of the current watch. "It really is something," He muttered."
"The last time I remember seeing this port, everything was in flames," replied Enterprise, keeping her voice as soft as Smith's, "It's really something to see it now."
"Yeah, hopefully this won't be the last time we see it." The carrier lurched sideways as a tug nudged it towards its slip. A few minutes after that, she was alongside the pier, and lines were being snaked off to handlers in the dock. "Come on," Smith said, "I want to get this over with as soon as possible." He gave the Roosevelt's captain, a friendly nod, then walked out of the bridge, hoping to find the rest of his girls. Things were just getting started.
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A/N: Well that's finally done, sorry for the delay, but school decided to whack me over the head rather heavily.
Anywho, review time:
Colonel AmiruddinArifSulaiman: Quite possibly. Well, the Abyssals have to start getting stronger sometime.
Rubin34: Here it is, sorry it took so long.
Thorthemighty321: Was thinking about it, but it will probably be a point in the final arc, whenever I get around to that.
SulliMike23: Time for her to exact some extra revenge, now ain't it?
Anonymous: As long as ya'll keep reading this, I'll keep writing it.
Advancer231: Atlantic side has kindof hit my writer's block pretty hard. I have some ideas, but the main fic takes precedence in this case.
Wolfman-053: Loved writing that bit, and I hope I can write more of her