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John comes inside the room, shutting the door behind him.
"What's going on?" he asks immediately.
"What's going on?" he asks immediately.
"You've talked with Scorpius," she says, looking him over carefully.
"Yeah," he says slowly. "Twice."
"Like?" John has no idea what's going on.
"We talked once in the hotel," John tells her. "And I saw him at Jeff's. Helped him pick out a pastry."
She doesn't feel any better. Yes, she's paranoid. "What did he tell you?"
"About the other me," John says, "and how helped him and how they fought together. And about wormholes."
"What?" John shakes his head, rubbing at the lingering headache in his temple. "I mean...what?"
She takes a deep breath. "He approached me yesterday about the Peacekeeper weapons Tex is selling. He proceeded to tell me about the other me, and you. I went to Zhaan for confirmation of his story. At the very least, he twisted details in what he told me. He wasn't helping you with anything."
"What was he doing with me then?"
Only now does Aeryn realize she doesn't really want to tell him this. "Torturing you for wormhole information."
John pales and leans back heavily against her door.
"Torturing me? Why? I didn't do anything!"
"Torturing me? Why? I didn't do anything!"
"I know," she says, softening a little. "But you knew about them, and you were given more information, and for whatever reason, Scorpius wanted it."
He just keeps shaking his head.
"I didn't do anything," he repeats. "And he just talked to me. He didn't even touch me. He just talked to me."
"I didn't do anything," he repeats. "And he just talked to me. He didn't even touch me. He just talked to me."
"Did he come looking for you at all?" she wonders.
"Um, yes," he answers. "Yeah, yesterday."
Aeryn stiffens a little at that. "What did he want?"
"A pastry?" He shrugs but tries to remember anything out of the ordinary happening. "He just talked to me."
"Talked about what?" she presses. She trusts Zhaan to tell her the truth, so she wants as much information as possible.
"That the other me and him got in each other's way until they resolved their differences to unite and take down a tyrannical empire," John tells her.
Aeryn sits on the bed, looking at the floor as she tries to work this out. On one hand, that kind of fits with what Scorpius told her, too. Put Earth at risk and John would probably help his torturer if it meant doing the right thing. On the other hand... "He also told me I brought him aboard the Leviathan," she says. "After you'd been tortured. I don't believe him."
In one small case, it's a disappointment to make the decision not to believe it. Because after all she's finding out, that John deserved to have things work out.
In one small case, it's a disappointment to make the decision not to believe it. Because after all she's finding out, that John deserved to have things work out.
"How did he torture me?" John asks because he can't avoid that question forever.
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