"You know as much as you look like her, you don't."

"You have feelings for her, don't you?" Aneela asked as she moved towards him.

Aneela looked like she could be Dutch's twin, it was unreal to see her in person (the non-green-mind-powers way), but her voice was different...there wasn't the accent that Dutch had, the one that he could listen to all day. How Aneela spoke was almost child-like. She knew her crap about science, but she didn't sound like any other geek adult he knew. Sometimes he felt like Zeph or even Johnny could sound childish, but not like this…

"I have feelings about everyone," D'avin told her. He knew that he could just not be giving a shit about why Aneela was there, but that wasn't going to give them the intel they needed. There had to be a reason why Aneela and Dutch looked alike and D'avin was going to find out.

"I shouldn't feel," Aneela told D'avin as she sat down next to him.

They were in some kind of Hullen lab, which was giving D'av all kinds of heebie jeebies feels. This wasn't just about Dutch, though, this was about their team. Even more than that, this was about their family. "Because of the green?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Is that why I'm here and not Dutch or Johnny?" He didn't miss the quick change in Aneela's expression at the mention of Dutch. "Because Khlyen tried to make me a Six? Red 17?"

"But you're different," Aneela said in almost a purr.

She was interested in that.

"I'm all kinds of broken," D'av told her with a dismissive shrug.

"The green perfects or kills."

He smirked. "Maybe I was already perfect enough?"

Aneela brightened at that. "Is that why Daddy choose you?"

"Daddy?" D'avin asked. "Khlyen?" He wanted Aneela to talk to him, about everything. It didn't matter if he had pieces from Dutch or a hunch in regards to Aneela, this was his chance to put everything straight.

"Yes," Aneela told him with a tilt of her head. She looked like she was studying him. "But I think you knew that."

"Khlyen wasn't exactly like the Hullen," D'av put out there. "He wasn't completely cold. He cared-"

"There are two types of green."

"Of course there is," he mumbled. "And let me guess, one makes people into slaves?"

"If you chose to use such a term."

"But not you two."

"No," Aneela told him almost like she was telling a secret to her best friend. "But I don't think I was made to be Hullen."

"Why do you say that?"

"You aren't the only broken one," she pointed out quietly. "The green didn't kill me. It didn't perfect me. I feel too much. I can hear her-"

"Hear who?"

"The green."

Now D'avin was caught off guard by that. He was certain his face was showing the surprise he felt. "The green is a woman? And it talks to you?" he questions slowly, really trying to follow with the crazy that Aneela was spewing.

"Yes."

"I'll add that to the list of the freaky things that the green does," D'avin brushed off. Was he surprised at her statement? Hells yes. But was he surprised that the green did things that he'd yet to experience? No. Nothing was really surprising in general (at least not for long) for D'av after all the crap he'd been through and seen.

"Do you want to know what She says?"

"I'm a curious person, but I just might need to pass this time around," D'avin told her. He had a feeling that he might hear it anyways, but he didn't want to tip her off that he was interested in anything she'd share. "I have enough nightmares as it is."

"Daddy wanted to know."

"I'm sure he did."

"You didn't like him."

D'avin felt like this was a tricky question. It wasn't only because it was Aneela asking it. They didn't know everything about Khlyen and why he did the things he did. He'd given his life to save Dutch and had set Fancy and the other now 'cleansed' Killjoys free of the Hullen's hold. That had to count for something. "There were things he did that I didn't agree with," he said as diplomatically as he could muster. Diplomacy and watching the worlds he used had never been his strong suit. "But there were also things I understood."

"Do you know why he protected her?"

He let a beat pass before responding. "Her? Like the green or are we talking about Dutch?"

"Her name is Yalena-"

"Oh, I know," D'av said. Apparently Aneela knew too. "But I call her Dutch."

"As you wish," Aneela said before making a hand gesture for him to proceed.

"I'm not sure why Khlyen protected Dutch or taught her what he did," D'avin said honestly. "But I do know that everything he did...whether it was right or wrong...messed up or completely wacko...he did it out of a place of caring and concern for her. That's why he tried to make me a Six, so I could be close to her and still protect her. Dutch doesn't get close to many people."

"Perhaps she and I have more in common than I had thought."

Silence stretched out between them.

"Can I ask a question?"

A beat passed before she gave a nod.

"Do you know anything about why Khlyen did what he did?"

"Not that I can remember," Aneela told him. In that moment, he felt like he saw the most truth and innocence exuded from her. "But not all my memories are here," she said in a near whisper as she tapped the side of her head. "Daddy took some."

"Khlyen took your memories?"

"He took them from me...and from the green."

"Why would he…" D'avin started, but then remembered that Zeph had talked about finding neurocortex. Was that what they'd gotten open that Khlyen had hidden? Could you do that? Quite literally take memory slices? He'd never gotten to actually talk to Dutch about what she and Zeph had gone off with Lucy to do, but he'd known that they'd taken the remnant and crap went on. Dutch hadn't been the same since. "Look," he said as he looked right at Aneela. "I know how it feels to have your head...your memories messed with...to have a piece of you taken. To feel like you're broken and that nothing can ever be done to right that."

"How can you know that?"

"The army, one of their docs experimented on me-"

"Is that what makes you different?" Aneela asked as she lit up. "Is that why you couldn't be effected properly by Red 17?"

"I have no idea."

''But you can affect the plasma?"

"And Hullen...though sometimes it ends in eyeballs popping out of heads."

"I could see you before-"

"Right, that was freaky."

"Will you share in the link with me?"

He'd been connected to the green before, but last time...the time that Aneela had seen him...that had required some additional brain shocking to get it working. D'avin wasn't sure if he was up to Aneela trying to figure that out on him. "My brain isn't quite wired for it," D'av admitted. After all, if Aneela wanted to figure out how to do it, she certainly could. He wasn't fooling himself into thinking that he wasn't a prisoner and that this was just some quaint friendly conversation.

"I think we can figure it out together."

Their sharing of the green plasma link had been intense. He'd known what the plasma held, but with Aneela he was flooded with intense emotions and glimpses of memories. When the connection was severed, it took him a few moments to really breathe and process. He definitely knew more about Aneela and even Khlyen, but he didn't have any more of a clue about how she was connected to Dutch.

"You were hoping for answers."

She wasn't wrong.

As he stared at Aneela he couldn't help but feel bad for it, it wasn't pity, but rather one child who had a shitty father realizing he was looking at someone with a similar past. The thing was D'avin knew that Khlyen had to have loved Aneela...and he'd even seen it. It was definitely due to missing memories.

"I still don't understand about you and Dutch," he blurted out.

"I've compared DNA."

"And?"

"It doesn't make sense," Aneela told him. "It shouldn't be possible."

He waited.

"Yalena Yardeen, Dutch as you call her, she's basically me...before I was made Hullen."

"How is that even possible?"

"I don't know."

D'avin knew another thing about Aneela.

Aneela was a prisoner on her own ship.

"If she's you, then why do you want to kill her?"

Aneela was silent.

D'av knew from the plasma link that Aneela could be violently unstable. He was doing his best good-vibrations-calm-monk-thing. He was hoping that it helped with the current situation.

"It doesn't make sense."

It was something Aneela had repeated a few times already. It wasn't making it go away and it certainly wasn't answering any questions. "I'm not a nerd, we have Johnny and Zeph for that, but there has to be some kind of weird reason, right?" D'avin asked calmly.

"She exists, so yes."

"How about I help you figure it out?"

This seemed to get Aneela's attention. "How? You are no scientist. Your brother is not a biological scientist and I didn't manage to acquire your...Zeph as well."

"Let me talk to Dutch, maybe she knows something more."

"How could I even believe her?"

"Believe me."

"Daddy only trusted you because of her," Aneela said, clear that her anger was starting to rise inside of her. "She's not even his daughter!"

D'avin was silent for a moment. He let Aneela have a moment to breathe before speaking again. "Khlyen's dead-"

"She killed him!"

"No," he said maybe too firmly. He had her attention though. So, he didn't stop. "He killed himself. He did it to save Dutch and he cleansed the green plasma pool you had locked away."

She was still angry and seething, but she was silent.

"Right now, do you really have anything to lose? I'm offering to help you find your missing memories and figure out how Dutch comes into play with all of this."

He had thought it was going well.

"No."

TBC…