“Let’s introduce ourselves, shall we?” Kira started up the steps without waiting for an agreement.
She’d been looking forward to this. A chance to work off some of her aggression and exact a little vengeance in the interim.
“Just remember not to go overboard, Nixxy,” Raider called.
Sure. Sure. She’d do her best. No promises though.
Terrel’s House had already used up the last of her good will.
“You cannot kill him,” Finn warned.
“I won’t.”
Not when there were so many other fun things Kira and Jin could do to him instead.
Selene’s blank expression caught Kira’s attention; the other woman’s tension evident in the ramrod straightness of her back.
Kira sent her a smile that made Selene blanch.
Huh. Maybe her reassurance skills needed work.
Alexander’s arms were crossed as he stared at the duel.
“You can’t do anything to him either,” Finn nagged.
“Is that my oshota or House Roake speaking?”
“It’s your friend telling you that any action you take against House Votair will not lead to the outcome you wish,” Finn snapped.
“Friend,” Kira tested the word.
She liked the sound of that.
“Good. Friends then,” Kira agreed before continuing up the steps. “Don’t worry. I won’t raise a hand to him.”
Finn stopped arguing, probably recognizing the futility of the endeavor.
“Are you in position?” Kira asked Jin.
“Is a baby’s bottom smooth?”
Kira’s steps paused. “And how would you know that?”
“I’m a genius, Phoenix. I know things.”
Sure, he did. That’s why he constantly got into trouble.
“At least send the girl back. This isn’t the sort of thing someone her age should witness,” Finn tried one last time.
Kira paused to look at their shadow, finding Ziva with a determined expression on her face that Kira knew meant the girl wouldn’t allow herself to be sent back. She clung to Kira’s side with all the tenacity of a tick. Only instead of sucking Kira’s blood, Ziva would absorb every action, word and deed.
An impressionable disciple who might later employ what she saw here today in her own adventures.
Finn was right. Kira should send her back. She really should.
But she wasn’t going to.
Joule was Ziva’s last remaining family. Watching him battle alone against their enemies would have been an unimaginable hell.
