tampered | [log || ongoing]

[log || ongoing]

When; Sunday 21st June [father's day curse]
Rating; PG-13 [ps: spoilers]
Characters; Holly Short [

captainshort] and John Connor [

resistfate]
Summary; What happens when you cross a three foot elf, the arrival of an injured soldier, and a city curse?
Log;

'No one is ever safe.'

It was a mantra he'd been forced to live by from the moment he was old enough to understand it. Perhaps even long before. So the moment he heard that quiet rustling sound in the distance, John had snapped back to alertness. Or as close as he could manage in his morphine addled state. His eyes were drawn to the figure at the end of his bed. The one that was now so familiar to him, despite them only having recently met.

Kyle Reese.

His father.

John spared the smallest of smiles to the teenager, his own hand relaxing its grip on the handle of the handgun hidden beneath his sheets. He'd been standing guard for what must've been hours now. There was a a silent moment, before John started to slowly lever himself upwards to slide back up the bed. Just enough that he could see the room without having to crane his neck. The bloodied bandages on his chest tugged tighter at the movement, and a few curse words hissed out through gritted teeth followed. He could vaguely hear talking in the background; undoubtedly Kyle saying something along the lines of him having to keep still. But John was already used to being injured- even if it wasn't post-surgery recovery -so he knew plenty enough about how far to push himself.

"Reese-" He paused, his voice slipping from the harsh tone of before and in to a softer one. A friendlier one. "Kyle. Go get some rest while you can. Send Barnes in." His eyes trailed after the boy as he stood up and made his way out of the room without another word.

Another few moments passed before John was settled back against the headboard, giving him the opportunity to look around. To look around and realise that they weren't back at their own base. They were somewhere new. Somewhere...clean. And equiped. Somewhere that looked remarkably like the hospitals he remembered before J-Day had come round.

"Kate?" He coughed, a hand jumping to his chest to press firmly over the wound. The other dropped back to the weapon once again, slipping the safety off. "Anyone out there?"

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Holly never really liked hospitals or clinics, for all the good they did. Honestly, it wasn't as if she held something against them, but painful memories being what they were—her mother had succumbed to radiation poisoning in a place like this—still made her pause every time she stepped into this sterile environment.

It's unfortunate that her friends had the tendency to end up here, either because of stubbornness, a curse, the consequences of wanting to settle a score. It's the first two reasons why the elf is here: visiting a very good but very stubborn friend who, according to Artemis' findings, was the unlucky victim of a parasite-borne illness. A bug is sweeping the City and it isn't natural. Why does this always happen when things were going so... normally?

Holly sighs, adjusting her helmet under her arm and sweeping back her short auburn hair as she walks down the hall (the last time she flew down it, she got told off by the nursing staff). She's thinking of grabbing a bite to eat before doing a bit of patroling around the eastern half of the City when her sharp elfin ears pick up a voice, hoarse though it was, calling out.

The captain pauses, turning on her heel and backtracking to the open room she had just passed. Maybe she's just hearing things. Still, best to check. So Holly Short—who, to the soldier in the room, is wearing the face of his wife (albeit with a darker complexion)—peers into the room, brows raised.

"Is there a problem, sir?"

It took a few moments for him to register that somebody had arrived. Something that he clearly wasn't all too happy to realise. He was a soldier, a leader, and his awareness was something that had kept him alive for this long. He knew the drugs running through his system were to blame, but that didn't make it any easier to stomach.

The voice is what clued him in first, even as his eyes squinted to try and see the very person he was talking to. "Hey." It was relief that followed. Kate was there, and that automatically made things that much better. Resting his head back against the head of the bed, John took a deep breath. It was one to try and bring an end to the swirling feeling washing through his mind.

"You did it." His words were accompanied by another weak smile. It wasn't a subject he knew they'd ever be comfortable talking about. The fact he would've died if Marcus hadn't sacrificed his life for him. Yet again, John Connor saved by one of the very machines he fought to destroy.

"Where are we?" Beyond the obvious. But they were at a base that Tech-Com hadn't been to before. And one that was better equipped than any they'd seen before. It was enough to tell him that they weren't anywhere near Los Angeles any more. Possibly not even in California itself. "Which base? And where's-" Another cough fought to escape him. "-I need to speak to whoever's in charge." As much as he knew that Kate would've already done just that.

There's a beat of silence in the wake of those questions.

Clearly he thinks Holly is someone he knows and while this isn't exactly the first time it's happened, it's rare enough that it makes the elf pause with uncertainty. The problem here is that she isn't sure whether the man is delusional or if he had just arrived—or both. It's automatic, the way her mismatched eyes take in the human on the bed, the grit and weathered clothes telling her that he had probably just been through hell. But whether that was in this world or his own remains to be seen. Can people conveniently arrive in the hospital when they need it?

So the elf steps further into the room, glancing back over her shoulder to see if any of the nursing staff was nearby (they weren't).

"This is the City General," she answers in an even, professional tone. She doesn't want to startle him and have him either charge out of the building or raise that weapon. "As for who's in charge, that'll be your doctor." A glance to the foot of his bed has Holly's brows knitting. No medical file. Strange. "If you sit still, I can go and call someone. I don't exactly work here."

There was an eye roll at that. Something he couldn't help but give. The city general, and his doctor. "Which city?" He paused, turning his head toward her, and ignoring the small twinge of pain that reminded him of the reason for those bandages on his face. The sharp edges of metal, both heated and frozen that had reached out toward him. That hand that could have turned his skull in to dust if it had reached another few inches further.

"You've handed me over to someone else?" There was badly filtered curiosity that accompanied his words. Kate was the only person he truly trusted to take care of him, especially in something this big. Even if it wasn't what she'd trained to do, back before the world fell apart around them, she was the best at what she did. She was the only surgeon he would ever place his faith in.

A bruised arm reached out towards Kate- Holly -in an attempt to reach for a hand. An arm. A shoulder. He wanted a connection to the wife he'd scared those long hours ago. He blinked through the blurriness, trying to focus on the far off figure.

"…you cut your hair."

Great. It's a new arrival, just as she suspected. It was one thing to greet a new arrival over the Network but running into them in person was another thing entirely. You're actually there for the inevitable freak out, for example. Add the complication of apparently sounding and looking a little bit like someone from home and you've got one hell of an awkward time.

Speaking of awkward... Holly hesitated when that hand reached out to her. She knew she couldn't let it just hang there, that it would be a cruel thing to do to someone who clearly had no idea where he really was and who was looking for someone he knew. So that hand was caught by one much smaller than any human's and set down on the bed—and Holly drew back quickly after that. She knew it would be messy if she helped continue the charade of being whoever this Kate was.

But Holly couldn't help but smile bemusedly at the comment about her hair, despite the situation. "I'm growing it out, actually. But I guess I remind you of someone else—"

And the captain cut herself off when she realised it. She had a feeling that voice sounded familiar—and now she knew why. She'd bet her gun that she spoke to a man over the curse weekend, one who had the same voice, had mistaken her for the same name. Maybe he wasn't as new as she thought he was.

"This is the City," Holly continued, watching him carefully. "Just the City. Unoriginal, I know. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing you arrived this weekend." A slow exhale. "By the looks of you, though, you probably won't remember that. Got into trouble since Saturday, huh?"

He froze at that. At the feel of a hand so different to the ones he was used to holding. Too small. Too tense. They weren't the hands of a surgeon. They weren't Kate's hands. John's attention returned to that gun that still sat in his fingertips, and he pulled it back again. His other hand, the one returned to the bed by Holly, was drawn back to his waist and used to push himself upward, ignoring the pain that struck him once again. This was more important than a little discomfort. This could very well be life or death.

And he'd been caught off guard so easily.

"Barnes. Reese." His voice was raised as loud as he'd dare. They were in unknown territory, and he wasn't going to risk alerting anyone else there. The gun was levelled toward Holly, his arms barely moving despite the tiredness he already felt in each of his limbs. If she was one of them he knew he didn't stand a chance. Not in his current state.

"Who are you?" His eyes stayed on the figure he could still only barely make out. Someone who'd already moved off. Someone who, now he was paying better attention, was a poor copy of Kate. He was mentally kicking himself as Kyle returned to the room, his weapon drawn but not yet pointing at Holly. He only seemed to be watching, even as John motioned toward Holly, trying to get him to join him in his defence against what could very well turn out to be a machine.

Oh gods, not again.

Holly really, really didn't like it when she had a gun pointed at her. Usually they held tranq darts, but only because she was supremely unlucky in that area. More recently in the City, they held bullets and what with being a member of the police force, sometimes you've just got to face them. Never mind that she could heal it. It was still unpleasant. Being in a hospital, however, has her placing those within it at first priority for safety, never mind herself.

"Sir, I need you to calm down and lower your weapon. I'm not going to hurt you." Holly voice held the same tone of stern command John's did, but where his was angry, probably with a note of panic, the elf's was cool. Her aim here was to relax the situation, not escalate it. And while she kept her hand on her blaster, she didn't draw it and she didn't step back any more than she already had. Between him and the door.

"I'm Captain Holly Short. I already told you, you're in the hospital in the City. If you want answers, I can try to give them to you—but frankly, briefing you on this place will be difficult if you aren't willing to listen." A pause, and Holly sighed with exasperation before adding, "Or unconscious. Lie back down, for Frond's sake."

"Answers first." His gun wouldn't do much damage to her if she really was a machine. He knew that, Kyle knew that, and if Holly was a machine, she knew that too. But that wasn't enough of a reason for him to put it away. Not yet. Instead, he forced himself to twist his legs out of the bed, which left him seated on the edge. There the gun now rested on his leg, his finger still on the trigger and clearly directed toward Holly still.

And then he paused once again at a certain word.

Captain.

He cast a quick glance over to the teen at the foot of the bed. "Which unit are you under?" His eyes were narrowed, but there was a note of curiosity in them. He was listening, and he was waiting for answers. Now it was just a matter of getting the ones that made sense. If they even existed.

"And where's the rest of my unit?"

Good. Better.

Holly could see that his finger was still curled around the trigger but the weapon wasn't as active a threat as it was a moment ago. She could tell the human—gods, what was his name—was still in recovery so perhaps his slower reaction time would be enough to get her out of harm's way if it came to that. She groaned inwardly; honestly, not even on shift yet and she was facing something like this? Thanks, City.

"I'm with the City Police Force. Head of the Intel division, if it makes a difference, though I worked on a recon team back home. As for the rest of your unit, I'm sorry, I don't know." She eased her hand off her blaster to hold it up to him, palm out, universal sign for Wait, I'm not finished talking.. Holly barely even noticed she had dropped her helmet to the ground in the earlier confusion.

"Now, it's going to sound crazy when I say this, but humour me." Deep breath, Holly. She made a point of maitaining eye contact here, because explaining the City for the first time never sounds plausible and she needed this guy to believe her. At least a little bit. "You're not on Earth, but there are lots of us here who are from it. This City is a world between worlds. With me so far?"

Intelligence and recon. Two areas that' grown increasingly important since J-Day. Of course, it was still the ability to fight that stood above all else, but it was intel and recon that kept people alive. But how useful could that be if this woman wasn't really who she said she was? He knew he still had to play it safe.

The news of her connection to the police force was pushed aside in favour of the second piece of information. The one revolving around the city itself, and it's supposedly alien nature. It sounded like something out of a movie; or what he remembered of them. Another world. It seemed like a story that'd be concocted by clueless others in order to try and explain away the arrival of the Terminators. Because for some, it was easier to believe in other worlds than to believe that mankind itself was responsible for the emergence of Skynet.

He opened his mouth to reply; something along the lines of 'what kind of an idiot do you take me for?', but it was cut off with a single look. One sent to him from Kyle. One that almost begged him to just listen for now. And for some reason, against his own better judgement, he was willing to do just that. Instead, it was just a nod. Not another word was uttered just yet. He was waiting.

Holly found it rather interesting that the man before her didn't question her appearance like most did upon realising she wasn't human. But there was no need to dwell on that for now; more importantly, he was willing to listen and so she took the moment to think of how to properly explain this place. She did have a guide on hand, but it was digital and it was on her helmet's computer. And right now, it was probably best to keep sudden moves to a mini—

....hm? The captain frowned a little at the look John shot over her shoulder and despite herself, she turned to follow his gaze—but just as soon turned back to face him, a little bewildered. No one there. Her expression was one of clear confusion that, yeah, John, she couldn't see Kyle like you. She didn't even know today was cursed.

"Right. Thank you." Where was she? Oh, yes. "Now, most don't know how they end up here, or how they leave. It looks like it's random, though. You could be walking into your bathroom back home and walk out into the main Square here, for example... Or you could just fall asleep—" a nod to John "—and wake up here. It's easier for people who have magic in their worlds to believe all that, but that's not always the case." Holly offered a wry smile, gesturing to one of her pointed ears. "You don't strike me as the kind of guy that comes from a world like that. Or with People like me."

The morphine was doubtlessly to blame for the first. His vision- all his senses -were off. Even the act of sitting upright came with some difficulty. But he had Kyle there, so he was content enough to rely on the teen. He'd survived as long as he had, on his own. So John knew he could be trusted to do the right thing. Between him and-

"Where's Star?" He was looking across as Kyle again, expecting an answer. The pair were never separated, and no one within his own unit would force them to change that now. Not when they worked so well together. To Holly, it'd appear that John was ignoring her. To John, he was listening to Kyle. Him saying that Star wasn't there right now, and that she was alright. It was only answered with another nod.

He finally spoke to Holly again, keeping his voice low. Quiet. "I was being transported." From the emergency med bay through to an official one. Or at least something close to it. Somewhere protected so that he could recover. And this, wherever they really were, wasn't it. This was too…new. Clean. This wasn't a place that should've existed in this day and age. He gave another pause, stretching his neck to the side and wincing at the tug. He wanted to get up and mobile, but he couldn't do that yet. Not until he was alone again. "Magic is make believe." Another blink through the bleariness. "And what do you mean 'people like you'?"

Captain Short had no idea who he was talking to apart from her. There was no one else in the room. But she didn't pay too much attention to it, because this was coming from the guy who thought her name was Kate until she actually touched him. Her training didn't extend to medicine but she had been around it enough to know he wasn't at a hundred percent yet and all this was probably making it more confusing than it needed to be.

"Alright," Holly sighed patiently, pointedly ignoring the request for clarification on her last words. "Too much information at once. I'm pretty sure a lot of this will be easier to explain when you're actually... coherent. So I'm going to say it again: lie down."

Gods above, was she lucky to have a few extra hours until she was expected to be on-duty. She didn't want to have to rush this. After all, Holly knew as well as everyone that arriving in the City was one hell of a disorientating experience and, well. Any way to make it easier on a newcomer.

That stare turned in to a glare in the blink of an eye. He listened to orders when they came from those he had to listen to. He listened to suggestions when he was on the battle field. What he didn't listen to was near-complete strangers ordering him to bed when he wanted- needed -to be sat up. He needed to be able to watch Holly for as long as she was in his room.

He needed to watch up until he was free to leave the room himself. He'd leave with Kyle and find the rest of his unit. He'd find Kate and then they'd leave this base. The war still continued on while he was sat in the hospital bed, and he refused to leave things as they were. He was still both a solider and a leader, and he'd continue to be one until his dying day.

"It'll make no difference, so try for the-" A blink. Again. And a quick shake of his head. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd seen, but it didn't seem…normal. "The truth would be helpful. But if you're planning to stay in the realm of make-believe, you might as well turn around and leave right now."

"If you continue to call it 'the realm of make-believe,' then you won't hear it as the truth—no matter how many times I tell it to you," Holly replied firmly, returning his glare with a bit of her own. She didn't move but she did point at the window by the bed, one partially obscured by snow. In June. "Look outside. This is a city, I'm not making that up. It's run by deities and there are curses that hit every few days. I'm not even going to bother explaining those with you like this."

The captain sighed inaudibly. Normally she had so much patience for these sorts of things but she hadn't exactly had the most restful of weeks, what with that thing that crash-landed on Thursday and the freak midsummer snowfall that started over the weekend... Honestly, John, if she were a machine, could she look tired? But that weariness was smoothly covered up as Holly crosses the room, keeping watch on John's gun out of the corner of your eye.

"I'm not explaining this very well, I know. But if you're a new arrival, you should have... aha." Holly stopped by his bedside table where a familiar and standard communication device sat. She didn't touch it, just to prove she hadn't tampered with the thing but she did point. "This will hook you up to the local Network here. Search for a guide to the City; there should be several written by current and past citizens. Is that good enough for now?" And, because Holly can't resist adding a touch of dryness, "Am I allowed to know who I'm speaking to?"

"Look at this from my point of view, Captain." There was almost a sneer at her title. "You're expecting me to believe that I'm in another world with some kind of gods in charge here." His mind drifted to the Skynet sympathetic humans that existed. Those that Skynet coddled and used to try and gain ground against the rest of the human face. To them, the Terminators were almost seen as gods, and John was close to believing that things were the very same here.

It was even more of a reason for them to try and get out of there as soon as they could. But then, if that were the case, why hadn't she made a move against him yet? She'd had the opportunity when she'd first arrived, so it didn't make sense to wait.

He didn't turn to the window yet. Not while he was still unsure whether to believe Holly was a friend or an enemy. And especially not when she was starting to make her was across the room. When she moved to the bedside table though, he froze, however momentarily that lasted. He was openly staring now. Staring at the woman who…only seemed to reach the height of the table. Despite clearly standing right next to it. His gun twitched in his hand, and John found himself caught between aiming it again or leaving it where it was.

"What are you?" The last time he'd asked that-

Humans, honestly. They only saw what they wanted to see. And when when they finally did see it, they still were reluctant to believe it. "Shoot me," Holly said with a pointed glance, "and you'll have to talk to someone else who will give you the same explanation."

But now she had to change tack a little. Another explanation, but one not exactly rooted in the City. So she leaned against the wall by the window, arms crossed and away from her own weapon, for all the world looking like a human child with the expression of an adult beyond her years. Holly could be in her mid-twenties. Her mistmatched eyes hold more years than that. Accidentally or perhaps not so, Holly had her head angled in such a way that one pointed ear was visible.

"But yes," she continued evenly, "I expect you to believe that. Otherwise, how could you, a human, be talking to me—an elf? Hmm?" There, she said it. Holly didn't want to throw too much information at John at once, but he demanded it and who was she to deny it when he was pointing the gun?

"Look. You've got me at gunpoint, Mister. I haven't even drawn my weapon. Why do you think I have any reason to lie to you? And even if these were lies, you've got to admit, they're pretty awful ones. Way too far-fetched. Someone hoping to be believed would stick with something simpler, don't you think?"

"You aren't human. And if you aren't human, that makes you a machine." His words were slurred, this time through a combination of the confusion, pain, and the last of the drugs in his system. He was trying to make some kind of sense out of this. But there wasn't any he could find. Why would a machine just sit back and watch while their top two targets were sitting in a room with them? The only ones left on Skynet's named list.

But then, the past week hadn't been all that logical either. Skynet had taken chances that they shouldn't have, and because of that, he and Kyle were still alive. Of course, that didn't mean they'd gotten out without losses. His mind drifts to the entire unit full of dead soldiers. Resistance headquarters. Marcus Wright. But they were still here, and the future still had a chance.

The word 'elf' was something he knew he should remember. It was something from his childhood that sat as little more than a niggling feeling in the back of his mind. Something heard, stored, and forgotten.

"They run on a different kind of logic. For all I know, you're hoping to keep me off guard for another reason altogether." He turned to Kyle once again, his eyes narrowed, and gun re-trained back on Holly again. "If you know something about this, I suggest you talk. Now."

"Machine?"

That was definitely an unexpected conclusion. An unusual-looking human girl, sure. Plastic surgery, been there and heard that. Aliens? Sure, why not. But machine? There's no denying that the surprise in Holly's tone is genuine. There was no time for her to dwell on that for too long, though. Not with the gun back up again. She was really not doing too well with this. Her instructors from Academy would probably use footage of this scenario of what not to do when negotiating with an armed subject. Not as if it would be the first time she was used as an example, though.

"I'm as much flesh and bone as you are, sir," Holly stated sharply. She had straightened by now but her hands still hung empty at her sides, though they curled into fists in her frustration when John turned away from her to speak to an invisible third party. "And who are you talking to?" the elf finally asked, unable to contain it. If there was a curse happening today, that changed things. "There's no one else in here!"

"I'd make you prove it, but I've seen what they're capable of. I'm not falling for the same tricks twice." The existence of terminators with a combination of human organs and mechanical components was something he'd only learned about a few days previously. But it was something he wasn't ever going to forget. The shock of being called down to see the man that Blair had brought in, and finding out he was in fact Skynet's newest creation.

He wouldn't let himself be caught off-guard again.

Turning back to look at Holly again, John frowned, confused by her question. There had to be a reason she was ignoring the presence of the other soldier, and sooner or later, John would work out why. He wasn't going to flat out ask her. "What're you doing here?" A pause, and a small shift with the gun. "What do you want?"

Resisting the urge to rub her temples, the elf simply stood her ground and responded flatly, "What am I doing in the hospital? Visiting a friend, actually. He's not exactly doing well right now and I'm concerned. As for what I'm doing in your room..." She sighed, wondering the same same thing. "I heard you when I walked by it."

The captain paused, keeping her hands at her sides though her right itched to rest on her blaster just for the comfort of knowing it was there. She still didn't know his name but was mentally berating herself for not being able to remember it; she had definitely spoken to this man before. She wondered if there was anyone in the City already from his world, someone she could contact so they could deal with the situation more smoothly than she could. Clearly, the human was wary of trusting anyone outside of his unit. That much, Holly could tell. And right now, he thought a member of that unit was in this same room. Should she ask again?

"You're being very rude, you know," she eventually continued. "I've done nothing but answer your questions and you still haven't answered any of mine. Since you won't give me your name, let's start with the second one: who are you talking to?"

"You were just walking by, and you thought you'd come in and check on a 'complete stranger'?" The airquotes were obviously there, even if he didn't make them with his fingers. There was no need. As far as John was concerned, it was still some kind of setup. They just hadn't made the reasoning any clearer in the time he'd been there. Why would someone keep him alive and then stick to such a ridiculous story for as long as Holly was?

"Nobody survives long being 'nice'." The words slipped out distractedly. 'Nice' was something that only existed in the relative safety of your own base. 'Nice' only lasted for those few brief moments in which your role slipped away, leaving the human underneath. It wasn't something for a soldier, and doubly so for a leader. "And I have nothing to say to you." He glanced to Kyle, his face set this time, despite the teenagers' insistence on him answering Holly's question.

He turned back again. "If you're really who you say you are, you'll move out of the way and let me leave."

"With you in this condition? I don't think so."

This time, Holly did move, and with surprising speed. She crossed to the door so that she was between him and it, even though she knew it wouldn't exactly look like a good thing. John should be at least somewhat proficient in reading body language. Holly didn't look defensive, not even threatening; she just stood there, looking him over, gauging whether him even standing was a good idea. She strongly suspected it wasn't.

"And no," she added, hand rested on her hip in a way that was too natural to be mechanical. Too much like any irritated female. "I'm not doing this to 'keep you' here. It's for your own safety. You hardly look like you're dressed for the winter and if you haven't noticed yet, it's snowing outside and it's in the middle of June."

Holly did rub her temples then. But then she narrowed her mismatched eyes at him, blue and hazel more than a little annoyed. "But yeah, I thought I'd come in and check. In case you needed help? This is a hospital, after all. And I did offer to call a doctor earlier."

"I'm fine. I don't need your help. So leave." His expression was deadly serious; more so than before. She had made a move to try and keep him trapped where he was, and it was an action that was inexcusable if she truly wasn't a machine. All humans knew that having a clear way out was what kept them alive if the machines came searching. And now she was stood directly in the way.

"I don't need anything. Except you. Gone." He gave a quick motion to the door with his gun, catching the eye of the soldier who stood silently near by. Once they were alone again, Kyle was next on the list. For disobeying orders. For standing by and simply watching. For ever letting her inside in the first place. But they were points that would be made in the privacy of a closed off room. Not in front of a complete stranger.

Possible machine. She was a possible machine. He needed to remember that.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself once more, and waiting. Staring. Looking for a sign of what her next move would be.

"What are the odds," asked Holly after a moment's silence, "of you being up to standing or even walking out of here? If you don't mind me saying so, you look like hell."

Human turns of phrase. If she didn't have a gun pointed at her, the elf would be amused at how much she had picked up from her time in the City. But this wasn't going anywhere. It's not like she didn't try. But whatever, stubborn human men. Knowing and dealing with Niko Leandros hadn't made handling things like this any easier. Then again, at least Niko listened to reason—er, most of the time.

Holly sighed, scooping up her helmet and tucking it under her arm again. "... Alright, fine. I tried. But if you get lost out there... call me or something. You know my name. Though I still don't know yours."

It was another question he refused to answer. While he knew he wasn't in any fit state to be moving around- hell, he knew he shouldn't even be sitting up right now -John wasn't going to admit to any of that around this stranger. This stranger who sounded exactly like Kate, and yet looked less like her with each passing moment. For the time being, he was willing to attribute that to his tiredness. To his injury. But that had to be pushed aside in favour of safety once again.

"I wont need your help." And that was all he said before casting one more glare at the silent soldier. "Thank you." It was an obvious dismissal as opposed to there being any form of gratitude in his voice. Perhaps, at a later date, that may change. But for the time being, he was willing to leave it as just that.

He'd had enough.

Holly didn't like not having the last word, but she bit back the urge to claim it now. This wasn't the time for her customary stubbornness, not in place of putting a new arrival's mind at general ease. Obviously she wasn't very successful at that, but at least she kept him from waving a gun at someone else. There was that, after all.

But the tone of voice he put to his parting words set her teeth on edge. She didn't say it, but. Oh, he did not have the right to dismiss her like she was under his command. Human men, honestly.

"Keep it in mind, anyway," Holly replied coolly. "Captain Short. In case you've forgotten."

With that, the elf turned on her heel and departed the room, but not before dropping a hint to the nursing staff to keep an eye on the fellow down the hall.

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