“Who’s there?” Sophia sat up in her bed. 

“It’s just me.” Nick’s voice carried a note of amusement, and a second later she felt his presence settle into the chair next to her bed. 

Sophia smiled and lay back onto the mattress. It was so nice to not be confined to her glass enclosure anymore. Even though towards the end she couldn’t see it, she’d always been able to feel the claustrophobic presence of the enclosure. 

Now, she could feel the slight breeze from the ceiling fan above her. She could hear the sounds around her without having them muffled through glass. 

And Nick could come and sit with her for a while, which he did often. At least, when he wasn’t down in Avalon overseeing the inoculation drive. 

There was a rustling and she felt him lay a cool damp cloth across her forehead. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked softly. 

“Marvelous.” She replied with a smile. “I’m going to live, Nick. How else would I be feeling about that?” 

Nick chuckled and gripped her hand gently. “You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear you say that.” 

Sophia smiled and squeezed his hand in return.

“So how goes it down in Atlantis?” 

She heard a laugh escape Nick’s mouth. “Well, I’ve finally managed to convince the temple healers and the other townspeople that I’m not trying to make a fool out of them when I jab a needle into their arm. I’m sure they figured I was nuts or something. I think actually seeing the sick get better after I administered the shot went a long way towards that.” 

“I’m sure Pryvani vouching for you helped a bit.” Sophia replied.

“Well, that certainly didn’t hurt, no.” Nick chuckled. 

“I’m just glad this nightmare is almost over…” Sophia sighed

“Me too.” She felt Nick reach over and gently brush her bangs away from her eyes. The realization hit her that for the first time in far too long she was able to touch another human being. 

Emotion overwhelmed her and she felt tears welling in her sightless eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” The concern in Nick’s voice made her smile. 

“Nothing…” She half laughed and half sobbed. “It’s just…” Her throat closed and she was unable to speak. Instead she reached up, as if guided by some instinct. Her hand clutched at the hair on the back of Nick’s head and she swiftly pulled him down for a kiss. 

She felt his surprised exclamation against her lips before he relaxed into the kiss. Neither of them were quite sure how long the kiss lasted, so wrapped up in the sensations they were giving each other. Days of pent up emotion were vented as each- 

“Oh that’s adorable!” 

Nick’s eyes opened in shock. He and Sophia pulled away from each other and Nick looked up to see Zara and Brinn towering over the two of them, matching Cheshire-cat grins on their faces. 

“I hope we weren’t interrupting anything?” Brinn asked with quirking her eyebrow. 

“Um, er, no.” Nick mumbled, blushing furiously. 

“YES!” Sophia shouted at the same time in mock anger. 

The two titanesses exchanged a knowing smirk. 

“Well as much as we hated to interrupt this little moment you two were having…” Brinn giggled. “I’m afraid I need to take Nick up to Pryvani’s office. She wants a status update on the inoculation efforts in the city. Sophia, did you want to come along? I’m sure you’re si- er, tired of laying in that bed by now.” 

“Oh that sounds amazing.” Sophia sighed as she pulled herself out of the bed. “I don’t even care where we’re going, just that we’re going somewhere that isn’t this stupid lab.” 

“Good. I was going to insist on it if you’d said ‘no’.” Zara chuckled. She lowered her hand until it was situated just behind Sophia, who slowly sat down in her palm, before carefully wrapping her fingers around the little woman. 

Brinn also lowered her hand and allowed Nick to climb into her palm.

“Okay let’s go.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Lysis was rather looking forward to a bath. 

The weary young captain crested the hill and her heart rejoiced as the city of Atlantis came into view. Behind her came a small caravan of tired soldiers and wagons transporting the relatively few of Khalin’s followers who had survived the battle to retake the city. 

Lysis had been absolutely overjoyed when they had been allowed past the checkpoint further up the road. She was hoping that meant that whatever cordon had been in place over the city had been lifted and they would be allowed to reenter. 

The group of travelers and soldiers traipsed down the hill towards the entrance to the city. Lysis was mildly annoyed, but not terribly surprised when they were stopped just outside the gate by a man in the uniform of the city watch.

“Captain!” The young man sketched a hasty salute when he saw whom he was addressing. “It’s good to have you back, ma’am.” 

Lysis returned the salute exhaustedly. “You have no idea how glad I am to be back. Now, what’s the reason we’re not being allowed into the city this time?” 

“Oh well, you will be. The only problem is…” The young officer cleared his throat. “Well, first we have to give you a… a shot.” 

Lysis blinked. “A what? You’re going to shoot us? What kind of treasonous…?”

“Oh no ma’am.” The guard hastened to explain. “It’s not… um… they tell me it’s a way to prevent the plague that swept through here. Or something. I’m not really clear on the specifics myself…” 

“Clear out Dreki, I’ll handle it from here.” 

The shadow of a man appeared in the door way towards the guard station. A moment later he stepped out into the light. Lysis was surprised to see it was Zhan. He looked rather worse for wear, several areas on his body were still covered in bandages and he was leaning heavily on a cane. 

But it was definitely him. 

“Zhan!” Lysis barked out in surprise. “What are you doing here?” 

Zhan grinned. “I left orders with the wall guards and the check points to notify me the moment any of them spotted you.” 

“No, I mean… well we all assumed Trell had killed you.” 

Zhan chuckled mirthlessly. “She nearly had. But that’s a story for later. In the meantime, there’s something we need to take care of before I can allow you to set foot in the city.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Rixie hiked the strap of her supply pack higher on her shoulder as she ascended the boarding ramp that led into the shuttle that would take her up to the Gyfjon. 

She had to duck her head to get inside the vessel, and she felt Alex grab hold of her collarbone to keep from slipping off. 

Her eyes adjusted quickly to the dark interior of the shuttle. She wasn’t surprised to see Vanser sitting there, a brand new silver comet attached to his collar where a pair of starbursts had been before. 

“Hello Rixie.” Vanser grinned and reached out to take her pack from her, stowing it below the other passenger chair.

“Good to see you Vanser.” Rixie replied, lowering herself into the empty seat next to him. “Or should I say Legatus?” 

“Vanser is fine, Magister.” Vanser replied, with a mocking salute and a smirk. “I see the new voice box is working fine.” 

“I’m still getting used to it.” Rixie replied with a shrug. “Although it would be easier if this one didn’t think it was a new toy.” 

“It’s funny and you know it.” Alex shot back. 

The door to the shuttle hissed open suddenly and a figure became outlined in the doorway. After a moment, the titan ducked into the shuttle and a familiar face framed with red hair appeared. 

“Lemm!” Rixie cried, shocked at seeing her friend. “What are you doing here?” 

Lemm smirked and climbed into the shuttle, squeezing past Rixie and settling her tall frame into the pilot’s chair. 

“Somebody has to fly this thing.” 

Rixie snorted in amusement. “Did you get demoted since I saw you last? Since when does the Executive Officer play shuttle pilot?” 

Lemm shrugged. “I had nothing better to do today.” 

“Uh huh.” Rixie’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head in amusement. 

Lemm fell silent as she went through the preflight checks. After a few moments, she received take-off clearance from ground control. 

“Okay, hold on, we’ll be at the Gyfjon in no time.” 

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Lysis peevishly rubbed at her arm where the nurse had given her the “injection.” It had taken a few hours to process all of her people as well as the prisoners, but it was hard to complain about the inconvenience when the alternative was a deadly plague. 

She’d directed some of her men to deal with their prisoners- which was going to be tricky since they didn’t quite have a jailhouse anymore- while she and Zhan looked over how the city had fared in her absence. 

“What exactly happened here?” Lysis asked in astonishment as she looked around the wrecked streets and toppled buildings. 

“This is apparently what happens when two Titans decide to have a brawl in the middle of a human sized city.” 

Lysis cocked an eyebrow. “Trell and Rixie?” 

“Trell and Pryvani, believe it or not.” 

“Really?” Lysis’s eyes widened. “And I assume Pryvani won? Well, she’s full of surprises.” 

“Captain!” Lysis and Zhan turned to the sound of the shout and saw a member of the Watch rushing over to them. “We’ve found more bodies!” 

Zhan and Lysis glanced at each other before quickly following after the young guard. 

They were led to an old abandoned tavern. After stepping inside Zhan got the immediate impression that someone had converted it into a meeting hall of some kind. There were rows of chairs all facing a lectern at the front of the room. 

“Over here.” 

The guard led them over to the back of the room where a group of Watch officers were huddled. The area locked like a storm had ripped through it. Chairs were overturned, tables had been smashed. Broken glass crunched under their feet. 

And two dead men lay in the center of it. 

“What happened here?” Lysis asked. 

One of the officers looked up and, after noting who the speaker was, nodded towards the two bodies. “Near as we can figure Cap, the two men here killed each other off. And if the look of this room is any indication, it must have been one hell of a struggle.” 

Zhan’s eyes narrowed as he peered at the two bodies. “Wait a minute…” He knelt down and used a cloth from his pack to wipe away the blood from the face of one of the corpses. After a moment he drew in a sharp breath. 

“What is it?” Lysis asked, kneeling down next to him.

“I… I know this man. His names Irin. We were friends. He’s a baker… how…?” 

“The other man is named Garteh.” One of the guards informed them. “He’s a lowlife who was suspected of burning down a safe house for those infected by the plague. He’d recently been seen taking charge of a group of thug cultists who claimed the plague was a divine punishment.” 

“And Irin took this man out? Irin?” Zhan blinked, unable to believe it. 

“It sounds to me like your friend was a hero, Zhan.” Lysis whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder. 

“I suppose so…” Zhan responded; his voice filled with awe.

After a moment of silence Zhan cleared his throat self-consciously and rose back to his feet. “Right, well, I’ll let you gentlemen get on with your job.” 

Lysis arched an eyebrow at the young man’s reaction, but rose to her feet as well. 

Everybody mourned differently. 

*.*.*.*.*.*.* 

Pryvani tapped at the keypad of her office computer, trying in vain to catch up on the ‘outside world’ work that she’d let slip the last few days. 

There were other things she’d much rather have been doing than, but one of the first skills Pryvani had ever mastered was the fine art of delegation. 

It didn’t take long after Brinn and Selil pronounced the new treatment successful before Pryvani and the others began strategizing how best to distribute it. 

They decided the easiest way was to have Nick begin training the workers and nurses of the temple to administer the drug through simple intramuscular injections, beginning with those already infected. 

The relief that Pryvani began to feel when Sophia’s condition gradually started to improve was palpable. An enormous weight seemed to have been lifted off her shoulders and for the first time in weeks she felt like she could breathe freely. 

The news wasn’t all good, however. There seemed to be no sign of Sophia’s eyesight returning.

They could all tell the little woman was trying to be upbeat about the situation; she was alive, after all. But when she thought no one was looking, it was easily to see the fear and worry on her face. 

Pryvani made a mental note to see if there was any up-and-coming artificial vision enhancement technology research she could quietly invest in. 

Of course, first she’d have to get her assets unfrozen. 

The chime on her office door sounded, and Pryvani looked up with a start. Shaking her head in amusement, she pressed the button to open the door. A moment later, Dr. Selil entered, eyes glued to the data pad in her hand.

“Dr. Selil.” Pryvani folded her hands on the desk top in front of her. “What can I do for you?” 

The young scientist looked up from her data pad, as if somewhat bemused to find herself in Pryvani’s office. 

“I was wondering if you’d had a chance to look over that message I sent you earlier this morning.” 

Pryvani’s eyes slid over to the screen of her computer, noting the rather full inbox she was currently attempting to wade through. 

“No.” She answered simply, a small smirk on her face. “I’m afraid I’ve been a bit… tied up, this morning.” 

Selil nodded. “Ah. Well, no matter. I merely wanted to share with you my thoughts on the rather fascinating similarities between human and Titan genetic structure that I’ve been noticing during this entire ordeal.” 

Pryvani’s eyebrow arched. “Go on.” 

Kharee set her pad down on the desk and turned it around to show Pryvani the screen.

“Here we have two sets of DNA strand. One human, one titan. As you can see they are virtually identical.” 

“Over 97% identical. Yes, I recall reading that not terribly long ago.” 

“Exactly.” If Kharee was perturbed at the interruption, she didn’t allow her face to show it. “For the past several years my team and I have been studying insectoids cross-caste metamorphosis. In other words, the process by which insectoids change from one caste to another during times of need.” 

Pryvani nodded, she was vaguely familiar with the concept. 

“We discovered that the DNA of insectoids castes are only 86.5934% identical to one another. And yet, somehow they can transmogrify from one caste to the next.” 

“I’m with you so far, more or less, but I’m afraid I’m not seeing what you’re driving at.” Pryvani’s brow creased in confusion. 

“My team and I discovered a rather unique RNA sequence responsible for the transformation. My overall point, Ms. Tarsuss, is given how closely human and Titan DNA already mirrors each other, it should be a simple matter to use a similar process to that which the insectoids use…” 

Pryvani’s eyes widened and she inhaled a sharp breath as the pieces finally fell into place. 

“You believe you’ve discovered a way to turn a human into a Titan?” She asked, astonished. 

“It’s theoretical at this point, but yes.” Kharee responded, tucking her data pad under her arm. 

“Amazing.” Pryvani breathed. She blinked and smiled. 

“In fact, I think I know of a number of humans who would be overjoyed at this idea…”