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Fox allows himself to slump out of his normally perfect parade rest, his shoulders curling into himself and one hand coming up to rest loosely over his fractured ribs. Here in the privacy of his office, with only Thorn as his witness he doesn’t have to pretend.
Thorn’s face pinches even more deeply into his frown and his hand tightens where it rests on Fox’s shoulder that hasn’t been recently dislocated.
“I could take your armor.” Thorn says, voice pitched low enough that Fox has to fight the urge to lean forward to hear him better. He grimaces and moves to shrug Thorn off but the stubborn Commander moves with him easily and Fox stills with a sigh.
Normally he’d push it harder, but normally he hasn’t spent the majority of his last 24 hours writhing on the ground in pain, and right now he simply doesn’t have the energy. They’ve been arguing about this since Fox first received the orders, passed down from the Chancellor himself.
“You can’t take my armor Thorn.” He hisses. Despite his harsh tone he lets himself lean further into Thorn’s grasp, allowing Thorn to support just a little more of his weight. Thorn opens his mouth to protest, to keep pushing, to spout any of the hundreds of arguments he’s presented Fox with in the past hour.
If Fox were a stronger man he’d let Thorn. He’d understand that it’s simply worry, warranted worry at that.
But Fox isn’t strong, so instead he snaps.
“This is my punishment. I won’t have you getting in the middle of whatever plan the Chancellor has for me, I won’t have you getting hurt in my name. Besides it’s a mission with the 212th, with Cody. My counterpart. My twin . He would notice it wasn’t me in my armor before you even made it on the transport.”
Thorn is a good man, he doesn’t even flinch at the venom dripping from Fox’s tone. Instead he tilts his head and slowly takes in Fox’s words, clearly weighing them in his mind. Logically running through them, balancing them against his own worries for his ori’vod. Fox has a point about Cody he relents after a moment.
Cody has caught them switching armor before. At that point Thorn hadn’t even known how close Fox and Cody were, hadn’t known there was reason to suspect the Marshall Commander would be any more able to figure out their deception than the rest of Fox’s batchmates. But Cody’s gaze had snapped to his from across the hanger and hadn’t flickered away once, even as his General leaned forward to mutter something in his ear. Cody shook his head once and then stalked towards Thorn, his angry prowl just as dangerous and terrifying as Fox’s.
He slammed Thorn into the wall so hard Thorn saw stars and demanded, “Who are you and why the kark are you wearing my batchmate’s armor?” All Thorn could do was gasp uselessly for air as Cody increased his pressure on his chest, lips curled in anger.
Thorn tried to explain but he only had enough air to answer the first question. “I’m Thorn.” He took another deep gasping breath and Cody let off slightly, anger fading as confusion slipped onto his features.
“Fox’s second in command?” He asked, and yeah that was definitely only confusion in his voice. Good, that was far better than the righteous anger from before.
“Yeah. Uh. Fox wasn’t feeling well this morning and he had a triple shift so I offered to take it. If you want to find him he’s in my armor since I only had a double shift, guarding Senator Organa, and we figured that would be a lot more doable for him. He uh, didn’t warn me you’d be here looking for him.” Thorn stuttered out. That was strange, he was not normally the stuttering type. Still it was enough that Cody released him fully and he gratefully doubled over to catch his breath. There was an unreadable look on Cody’s face as he looked over Thorn one more time before spinning on his heel and stomping back to where he left his General.
Thorn shakes his head, hoping to physically dislodge his memory, and meets Fox’s gaze. He narrows his eyes at the smug look on Fox’s face. “I guess you’re right. But I’m not happy about it.” He mutters with a pout that gets a soft giggle from Fox. “You’ll be careful right? I can’t. I can’t lose you.” Fox’s face softens and he tucks Thorn gingerly against his chest. Thorn lets himself be comforted even though his brain is screaming that he should be the one comforting Fox not the other way around.
“Of course vod’ika. You know you’ll never get rid of me.” He says. And though he doesn’t say it, Thorn hears the unspoken repetition of their pact, we go out together or not at all . He nods against Fox’s neck and loosens his grip enough that Fox can wiggle out.
As he’s about to step out of the door Thorn says, “K'oyacyi.” Fox gives him a sharp nod and then he’s gone. Thorn can’t fight down the horrible feeling curling in his gut as Fox leaves.
—
As much as Fox is loath to admit it he also has a horrible feeling about this upcoming mission. He’s not sure if it is the vague nature of the mission briefing, the complete lack of intelligence on the planet they’re going to be visiting, or the cruel smile on the Chancellor’s lips as he told Fox that he’d been personally selected to join the Ghost company on the scouting mission that has him this on edge, but every part of him that isn’t screaming in pain is coiled tight with dread.
As he steps into view of the transport ship he tightens up his posture, making his steps as rigid as his injuries will allow. He knows Cody will see right through it, he always has, but it’s about the principle more than anything. Sure enough as soon as he’s come to rest on the ship, before he can even reach up to grip a handle, Cody is plastered against his side. Fox tries to fight the flinch as their plastoid cracks together and jostles his broken bones, but from the concerned hum that Cody lets out he can tell he hasn’t succeeded.
“Fox?” Cody’s worried voice comes through Fox’s internal comm and Fox feels a bit of his resolve crumble. He tilts himself enough that he’d be cradled against Cody’s chest if his twin lifted his arms. Cody doesn’t disappoint, easily slotting a hand against Fox’s lower back.
“Fox’ika?” Fox chokes down a sob at the stupid nickname. He knows what Cody wants, what Cody expects from him. It’s a well worn little game, Fox is the oldest and he never passes up a chance to remind Cody of that, and Cody never passes up an opportunity to jab at him. He gets treated to another worried hum when he stays silent, and Cody tucks him closer.
“I’m worried about this mission.” He says eventually. He can almost feel the dissatisfaction that Cody is radiating about his change in topic, but he can’t admit what’s actually wrong. He can’t put his twin in that kind of danger. Because Cody has always been the most stubborn of their batch, which is quite a feat considering they’re clones of Jango Fett and their batch was trained by Alpha-17 meaning they all have enough stubbornness to outlast your average donkey, and if he caught on to exactly how bad Fox has it, Fox knows he wouldn’t let it go until he stumbled onto something really dangerous. And the Chancellor has killed clones for far, far less.
Fox really would eat his blaster if he was the cause of Cody’s death, and he knows the rest of the Guard Commanders would be soon to follow him. It certainly isn’t good that they’re so on the edge that one wrong move will send them all tumbling over, but that’s how it is. So Fox brings up his concern over the upcoming mission and ignores the unspoken question about his physical state.
“Me too.” Cody admits when it becomes clear that Fox isn’t going to say anything else. “Obi-Wan got one of his ‘bad feelings’ about it.” Cody says, familiar fondness creeping into his voice as he mocks his General. And Fox wants to tease him, he knows how easy it is to make Cody a blushing, stuttering mess with a few careful words about his not so subtle crush on the jetii but he’s still so tired, so he says nothing as Cody continues. “He offered to come with, but the Chancellor sent him off on a priority mission this morning.”
Fox stiffens in Cody’s grip at the mention of the Chancellor and he notices the suspicious tilt to Cody’s helm at his reaction. He really is off his game today. “That’s not good. We have no idea what we’re walking into down there, I would certainly feel better with your jetii’s force intuition helping us out.”
“I know, but we’ll get through it. We always do.” Cody says with such certainty that Fox can’t help but agree, leaning his head against his twin’s shoulder until the transport ship lands on the Negotiator.
They split up, each having their own duties to attend to, and Fox doesn’t see Cody again until they’re dirtside. Cody still makes his presence known though. His stupid, cheery medic makes himself Fox’s shadow pointedly ignoring any questions about his own duties that he should be attending to. Fox wants to be angry, he really does, but if he’s being honest it feels pretty good knowing that someone cares about him that much and Shade is refreshing to be around, far less beat down than anyone in the Coruscant Guard is at this point in the war.
It’s not until they get boots on the ground that he next sees Cody. “Even though this is neutral space, I want everyone to keep their eyes peeled and their blasters warm. If anyone sees signs of life, potentially hostile or otherwise you are to immediately report it to me or Marshal Commander Fox.” Cody snaps out. The men reply with a chorus of yes sirs.
They set off on their march, keeping movement to short bursts between cover, with regular check-ins. Despite the lack of evidence of enemy activity, or their allies who supposedly sent the distress signal, they have to act as though there are enemies everywhere. Waiting for them.
See your enemy first and you’ll stay alive long enough to report back with your intel.
It’s exhausting work, moving silently, constantly on alert. It wears on Fox and his injuries are making themselves known to him, each ache and pain growing stronger with every time they stop and rearrange formation, check-in, or simply look for the next path to take. It seems to be wearing on the rest of the men as well and Fox wonders idly if he should tell Cody to slow down, or give them a break. Before he can decide Cody signals for them to move out once again.
Now, Fox keeps time with the back of the pack as they follow the next chosen path, careful to keep his armor from clacking against itself and raising his boots high enough to clear the brush. There’s a tension in the air that all of them can feel as they duck back into cover and he turns, scanning their surroundings for signs of any sentient life. Honestly at this point he would be happy to see anything alive other than plants, but the dense forest is still unmoving.
At Cody’s signal they start forward again. This time Fox lags half a step, his feet feel too heavy to raise fully and his boot catches on one of the glowing blue flowers, coating him further in the sticky pollen and he winces. He can already tell cleaning the stuff out of his gear after this is not going to be pleasant. With his next step his head spins slightly, and he grits his teeth against a wave of nausea. He has to focus on the men, none of them can afford him getting sloppy because of a few injuries.
Just up to Fox’s left, one of Cody’s troopers’ steps falters and they swipe a hand down their bucket to clear some of the pollen that has gathered around their air intake and Fox prays that their filters are strong enough to prevent any of it from getting into their lungs. Fox continues watching, waiting for the trooper to fall back into step, but he never does. Fox steps up close enough to tap their armor together and the kid’s voice rings out over his internal comms in explanation.
“I think this stupid dust is clogging my air filters. I’m having trouble breathing.” Between each breath the trooper sucks in ragged pants, and now that Fox is looking he can see several of the other troopers faltering or moving awkwardly.
He taps his comm to signal Cody to find the next set of cover so that they can reconvene and he sees Cody flash an affirmative hand signal over his shoulder. The trooper next to him lets their shoulders slump slightly in relief as Cody signals them to regroup.
The moment they’re not moving, one of the other troopers, probably young based on the unchipped paint and how shiny the white plastoid is between his stripes of 212th gold, rips his helmet off and doubles over, gasping for breath.
“Helmet on trooper.” Fox snaps, his fear making his words sharp, but the kid doesn’t listen. Shade descends on him within moments and slams his helmet back on his head.
“Wooley, what were you thinking? You know there’s potentially dangerous chemicals released by these plants.” Shade hisses.
“I know. I’m sorry sir. I just-” And then it’s lucky that Shade still has a hand resting on the kid’s shoulder because he pitches forward into the medic’s hold, completely limp. The medic hisses and gently lowers Wooley to the ground before quickly pulling a scanner from his medpack. Cody seems thoroughly distracted by the commotion so Fox turns to the troopers around him.
“Sitrep.” He demands.
“All clear sir.” Three of the troopers chirp in unison.
A fourth says, “I’ve got a pretty bad headache.” Fox casts a critical eye over the three troopers claiming to be unaffected and is satisfied to see they’re at a perfect stance of attention, not favoring any aches or trying to slump to better draw in deep breaths. Fox has plenty of experience looking for hidden injuries in fully armored troopers and he doesn’t see any signs of that in them.
“Good, I want you three on sentry duty while we provide medical care for Wooley. Verbal check-ins every five minutes with both me and Cody and you are to inform one of us immediately if you start to feel bad.”
“Sir yes sir.” They split up easily, slipping into the brush at even intervals around the main groups’ position and Fox turns his attention towards herding the other trooper in Shade’s direction. He doesn’t really want to have to deal with it if the trooper passes out so he’s eager to pass him off to the actual medic.
Once Fox is satisfied that everyone else is being taken care of he tugs Cody gently to the side, letting him know over internal comms, to avoid causing any alarm amongst the men, that they should plan their next move. Cody beats him to it.
“We need to get out of here. Whatever these plants are letting out is clearly not being filtered out by our helmets. We can’t even provide proper medical aid while on planet and each minute we spend here is only making it worse.” Cody says. Fox can hear the worry in his voice and he understands it fully, but that doesn’t stop the unpleasant swoop of fear in his stomach as he thinks of failing the mission.
“We can’t leave yet. The Chancellor made this a priority mission. We have to complete the mission objective” Fox mutters. Cody lets out a little outraged noise and shoves an accusing finger against Fox’s chest.
“You would really turn your back on your brothers to lick the Chancellor’s boots? Have you really become so uncaring?”
Fox tilts his head at Cody, confused. He knows it’s a hard decision to make, it never really does get easier, but surely he knows by now the punishment for failing to follow orders will be far worse than pushing through. “No. That’s not why I-” Fox is cut off by the sentries checking in with them, letting them know they’re still feeling well and that there has been no signs of enemy activity.
By the time they're finished Cody seems like he is no longer in the mood to listen to Fox.
“We’ll talk about this later, Fox. Right now I have to put my men’s health above everything else and in case you’ve forgotten, I’m in charge of this mission.” With that he storms away and Fox is too busy trying not to collapse under the wave of nausea and dizziness that washes over him to protest further.
Fox doesn’t really blame Cody for the harsh words. He’s sure his brother is also feeling the effects of the plants. And it’s not like his own tongue has never been laced with poison by his fear and helplessness at his shinies being injured.
With a grimace Fox straightens his spine and makes himself useful, assisting Shade with caring for the increasingly large number of sick vod’ike. It’s about all he can do as he continues to fight down his own growing nausea and dizziness.
Out of the corner of his eyes he can see Cody arguing with whoever is on the call with him. Even though he expected it, it still hurts to see how desperately his vod’ika is asking to be allowed to take care of his younger siblings.
Fox should, he should go over there and help his brother. Or at least apologize for seeming uncaring in face of injustice. He knows how important having the support of his vod’e is and yet he still refused to give that to his twin. He only makes it about two steps in Cody’s direction before his vision dims and he finds himself stumbling over a low growing plant.
That’s not good.
Unfortunately it is a very familiar feeling. If the pattern holds he’ll be passed out cold within a minute. He glances around for anyone to help him in a panic but Cody is still distracted by his comm call and Shade is tending to a shiny, so he carefully lowers himself to the ground. Afterall, it wouldn’t do to dramatically fall, possibly furthering his injuries and worrying the others. He’s not a karking shiny.
Those are his last coherent thoughts as darkness completely overtakes his vision and he’s dead to the world.
—
Cody’s attention is drawn from his heated comm call by Shade cursing loudly. That’s new, he doesn’t think he’s ever heard his good natured CMO sound quite so distressed, and he certainly didn’t know that Shade even knew that many curse words.
He looks sharply over at where the medic is sprinting towards and feels his stomach drop to his feet at the sight. Fox is sprawled on the ground, his arms splayed just unnaturally enough that Cody can tell he’s not conscious. How long has he been like that? How did none of them notice?
Cody ends his comm with a few terse words and then he rushes to Shade’s side. Already Fox is coming around, shifting under Shade’s probing hands and groaning softly. Then he gasps and sits up, nearly smacking his helmet against Shade’s.
“Fox. Fox hey.” Cody says, gripping his shoulder and gently guiding him back to the ground. “Why didn’t you tell any of us you weren’t feeling well you di’kut?” Cody scolds gently. Shade shoots him a look, and Cody suspects that if things were less dire he’d be calling Cody a hypocrite, but thankfully he doesn’t comment.
“Didn’ wanna worry you.” Fox mutters, pressing back up against Cody’s grip. “M’fine lemme go.” Cody wouldn’t believe him even if he wasn’t actively slurring the words. Against his better judgment Cody finds himself amused by Fox’s antics, his behavior reminding him strongly of when Fox was a cadet.
“Nope.” He says simply. He can see Fox preparing to fight him so he quickly adds, “I’ll let you go if Shade scans you and clears your health.” He expects Fox to be pleased at the possibility of being allowed to continue on, although Cody knows that there’s no chance Shade would clear him, but instead Fox goes rigid under his hands.
“No.”
“Fox, come on. I know you’ve been hiding injuries from me.” Cody says, struggling to keep his stubborn twin still. Shade shoots him another look and Cody suspects he’s also going to get a lecture for not telling him that Fox was hurt before the mission. “Just let us help you. You don’t have to do everything on your own.”
“No. No scans Cody please.” Fox says, breaking free from Cody finally, scooting away, one hand up in front of his chest to keep both of them away from him. “Please.” Cody doesn’t understand, Fox is hurting and Cody just wants to help him, but there’s something approaching desperation in Fox’s voice and he keeps flinching back whenever either of them try to get closer to him.
Before Cody can think of something to say to calm Fox down, Fox goes limp once again, this time Shade catches him and immediately starts a scan while Cody loops around to his other side, cradling his head in his lap, fingers running soothingly over the top of his helmet even though there’s no way Fox can feel it.
Shade sucks in a sharp breath as he reads the results of his scan and then he adjusts the settings and starts another. “Send a message to the General, he needs medical attention immediately.” He says, voice perfectly level in a way it only gets under the most dire of circumstances and Cody is quick to follow instructions while Shade pulls out a secondary scanner and begins again.
“I can’t.” Shade chokes up as his new scanner flashes more numbers at him. “I can’t treat him here. The sooner we can get off this karking planet the better.”
“The General is on his way. It should be 30 standard minutes, but we need to move two klicks North for extraction.” Cody informs Shade who grimaces but nods.
“He’s stable enough to be moved. I’ll give him a light sedative to keep him under, and I’ll carry him.” Cody opens his mouth to protest, he doesn’t think he can let go of his ori’vod, but Shade cuts him off. “You need to organize the men. I’ll take care of him, I promise.”
Cody nods and recalls the men, explaining the situation to them in broad terms. Then they set off, towards the clearing the Obi-Wan is going to extract them from. Cody tries to put Fox’s predicament out of his mind as much as possible while he’s organizing his men but the moment they’re on the transport and Cody is able to hand over command to Obi-Wan he rushes to Fox’s side.
Shade already has his armor and the top of his blacks stripped off and Cody chokes down a distressed cry at the sight that greets him. Fox looks like he’s starving to death. His skin is sallow and clings to his bones in a way Cody has never seen on a vod before. Then there’s the scarring. Starburst blaster shots, jagged knife wounds, neat rows that can only be from a whip, scrawling electricity that almost looks like lightning, and even more that Cody can’t recognize. He brushes his fingers lightly over one of the deeper whip marks and Fox whines in his sleep.
“Did he get these stitched?” Cody demands, running his fingers along the small puncture scars spanning the length of the wound. He can’t help how incredulous he sounds, as far as he knows stitching up wounds isn’t even part of the basic medic training on Kamino, not when they always have bacta patches to help the skin knit itself back together.
Even worse than the scars is the evidence of more injuries creeping out from Fox’s blacks. A clear bruise in the shape of his boot on his chest, the top of a set of neatly cut lines curling around Fox’s hip. It’s clear that there’s even more hidden under Fox’s lower blacks.
As carefully as they can they start to strip off Fox’s blacks, wincing as dried blood sticks them to his wounds. He clearly pulled them on over freshly bleeding cuts, not even bothering to put on a bacta patch or even bandage them. Cody can’t fathom why.
As they pull the last part over Fox’s feet it’s even worse, there’s a bad burn covering the soles of both feet and winding up his ankles. The area is badly swollen and the skin has basically melded with his blacks. Fox’s eyes flutter open and he makes a quiet noise of pain. Cody curses and moves towards his head, gently holding his shoulders down as he begins to struggle against Cody’s hands. Cody starts to whisper soothing nonsense and Fox’s wild eyes find his own gaze.
“You’re doing good, Fox. It’s okay.” Cody murmurs, moving one hand up to trace over Fox’s face. His ori’vod melts under his grip, the fight and tension draining out of him with sigh. Cody smiles and keeps up his gentle, soothing touches. For a moment Cody almost forgets his horror as he comforts his vod in a way he hasn’t been able to since they were cadets. Then he glances back down at Fox’s legs and the moment shatters.
Fox has been tortured . There’s no other possible explanation. There’s not an inch of skin that isn’t covered in bruises, cuts, burns, or all three. How he was even conscious for the mission, much less keeping up with the march, is baffling. And extremely concerning.
Fox whines, high and plaintive, and Cody realizes he stopped his soothing movements as he examined him. Immediately he resumes the softs touch and he slides his other hand into Fox’s curls to scratch lightly at his scalp.
“Fox, what happened?”
“Ran out of time. Was teaching them. Teaching them to hurt us. Said twas portant. But no time because the mission. S a trap though. He’s gonna hurt Kote.” Fox rambles. He’s clearly far too out of it for this conversation. His words are heavily slurred and his eyes are glassy and distant, and he doesn’t even seem to recognize Cody. Before any of them can ask anymore questions Fox slips back into unconsciousness.
Slowly, painstakingly Shade continues to treat Fox’s wounds while Fox drifts in and out of awareness. Sometimes when he wakes up he remembers what’s going on, sometimes he is confused and hurt and warm tears roll down his cheeks. Sometimes he wakes up begging. Begging desperately for some unseen enemy to stop hurting him, that he’s so sorry, that he’ll be good if only the pain stops. During those times Cody has to count his breaths to keep from comming Chopparrt and telling them to gather enough explosives to blow the Senate off the face of the planet.
Finally Shade has done the best he can for Fox, leaving him covered in bandages and smelling of bacta. He says there’s going to be permanent damage from his injuries with such despair on his face that Cody can barely process it, before fleeing back to his office.
“Kote?” Fox’s confused voice causes a sharp pain to lance through Cody’s heart.
“It’s me Fox. I’m here.” He murmurs softly, pressing a cool hand against Fox’s feverish forehead. “I’m here'' he repeats more firmly as Fox lets out a relieved sigh, either at Cody’s presence or the brief respite from the fever ravaging his body.
“Kote.” Fox says, his voice is a high, pleading whine. “M cold.” A violent shiver wracks his frame as if to emphasize his point. “And m feet hurt.” Cody swallows tickly as guilt and worry flood his throat.
“I know, Fox.” He leans down further to press his forehead against Fox’s. “I know, and I’m sorry. Shade is doing his best but you’re in bad shape.” Fox squirms and Cody pulls back, his heart clenching as Fox turns confused, fever bright eyes on him.
“Who’s Shade?”
This is the third time Cody has had to explain this to Fox but he keeps his voice patient as he explains again. Once again Fox’s eyes go wide. “M not posed to be in the medbay.” Fox mutters. Something deep inside Cody breaks and he collapses tugging Fox into his lap and burying his face into his sweaty curls.
“I know Fox, but it’s okay, I swear.” He says, and he feels a tear slip down his face soaking into Fox’s hair. He can’t bring himself to let go or pull back. “I’ll protect you.”
“Be careful Kote. Can’t. He can’t get you too.” Fox mumbles, burrowing into Cody’s hold. “Love you, my love is dangerous.” He reaches up with clumsy fingers and pats Cody’s head before slipping back into sleep. Once he’s snoring Cody extracts himself carefully, arranging the blankets and pillows around Fox, before slipping out of the room. He needs to talk to Shade. He needs to get confirmation of his suspicions before he sets off on his warpath.
Shade is waiting for him in his office, and the privacy lock engages behind him as he steps in.
“Did you know how bad his injuries were?” Shade demands, brows furrowed in righteous anger. Cody reels back, shaking his head fiercely. Obviously he wouldn’t have let this go on if he had any idea exactly how hurt Fox was.
“Kark I’m sorry Codes. I know it’s not your fault. I just.” He heaves a ragged sigh and drags a hand down his face. “He was tortured. He was tortured and so scared that even while on the brink of unconsciousness he was trying to hide it.” Cody’s breath catches at the plain terms that Shade put it into. Obviously he knows that Fox was tortured.
But Fox was never captured, at least not that is noted anywhere in his sparse files. And the fear in his eyes when Shade said he wanted to scan him. The story just isn’t adding up. In fact, it’s pointing rather clearly in another direction that Cody really doesn’t want to think about.
“Cody.” Shade’s voice is small. “I think. I think he’s being abused.” Shade confirms the worries that Cody has been carefully avoiding giving a name to. “I think the Corries are probably all being abused, or at least controlled and manipulated. I mean injuries like that, he’s not hiding it from his Command team at the very least. And his scars, I’m not sure he’s ever gotten a bacta treatment but they’re typically well taken care of. So his medic cares, but can’t use proper supplies to help him for some reason.”
With Shade’s confirmation anger begins to build up, replacing the dread and fear that has been clogging Cody’s mind. He’s got a new found determination. He’s got three days in hyperspace travel to figure out who did this. Three days to plan his revenge.
Anyone who is complicit in doing that to his ori’vod is going to burn . Cody will make sure of it.