As plans went, it wasn't her most airtight. Hell, it was far from airtight. But then, it was harder to anticipate an opponent's strategy when the opponent in question used so little strategy to begin with. Oh, he'd been cunning enough, and he'd been smart and fast and sneaky enough. But anyone could land a solid punch when their target was distracted — and so thoroughly.

Billy had been finding and using areas that were symbolic. Specific. Important. He'd been planting bodies there, depending heavily the element of surprise, of theatricality, to terrify people and in the process, pressing a poisoned blade deeper and deeper into people's faith and confidence in Thena, attempting to taint their belief. He was trying to nudge a tower until it toppled, placing pressure on a structure until it crumbled — to what end, she didn't know. Problem was, it didn't seem to be working the way he wanted it to. People were scared — indeed, terrified — but they didn't seem to be turning against her. Oh, there'd been the woman who'd scolded her for not tending to the Reapers as she ought to have been doing, but overall, if Billy was trying to make her look bad, if he was trying to turn the tide of public opinion against her, it wasn't working.

And the problem with that was that it simply served to feed his frustration and, consequently, his desperation.

Thena's plan, such as it was, was to monitor anything remotely resembling missing person reports; she wanted to know the second something, anything showed up on the radar, and she wanted to be poised and ready to go the second something did show up. Her plan placed recon teams in some of Billy's preferred hunting grounds — the docks, chief among them — and in locations she was betting were symbolically significant enough to catch Billy's attention: the embassy offices, where she'd been taken before fleeing for the ducts; the turian shelter; and, perhaps most incongruously, C-Sec headquarters.

Her final choice had earned her a skeptical look from Garrus.

"Tell me again why you think he might try anything in the heart of C-Sec?" he asked as they walked together through the docking bay, on their way back to Bailey's office. Thena hadn't wanted to waste any more time than absolutely necessary, so she'd left Liara to hunt down the recon and squad members and send them on to C-Sec HQ, so Thena could brief them.

"Lots of reasons," she replied. "Your dad, for a start. I'm thinking if Billy's playing a blame game, C-Sec's got to be at the top of the list."

Garrus didn't look convinced. "Shepard, my dad's not even with C-Sec anymore," he argued. "And since the rebuild, his office isn't there anymore."

"Still, C-Sec's the reason he got his ass jettisoned off the station. C-Sec and me."

"So that's where your money is."

She nodded. "And that's where we're gonna be. He already took out Adler and her squad, so I can't see him being too worried about the odds if he's outnumbered."

Their route took them through the docks, and they were nearly to the elevator when a shrill whistle sounded through the hall.

"Shepard!"

Thena and Garrus both turned in time to see Jack and Ash striding towards them. Ashley, it was clear, was tamping down on her emotions; her lips were pressed into a hard line, and everything about her bearing screamed urgent. But Jack was taking no such measures; her jaw was set, and her eyes burning with rage. A turian C-Sec officer was close behind them. "We got a development, Shepard."

That's understating things, was what she'd wanted to say. Instead she inclined her head at Jack. "What's the sitrep?"

"We've got a missing person, Shepard," Ashley told them. "We've been able to confirm she was last seen about an hour ago.

Jack jerked her chin to the side, indicating the refugees behind her. "The C-Sec cop on duty made the report. Told us she was a regular at his kiosk—"

Thena's stomach plummeted. Oh, no. No, no, no.

"A girl?" she asked, hoping — clutching at the possibility — she was wrong. "About this tall? Blonde? Mid-late teens?"

Jack's brows drew together in a frown. "What, you know her?"

I was her.

It wasn't supposed to have been her. Thena wasn't sure who exactly it was "supposed" to have been, but not her. And yet, in retrospect, Thena could only chastise herself for not seeing it ahead of time. Of course he chose her. Damn it.

According to the C-Sec agent on duty, he'd spoken with the teenager — Amanda — briefly before an early-morning shuttle of refugees docked. And she, as she always did, went to wait dutifully by the airlock, looking hard at every exhausted face for familiar ones. The agent — as frequently happened — found himself answering the new wave of refugees' questions, and pointing them to whoever it was they happened to need to speak with, dependent upon their needs. Some only needed to be shown the memorial wall. Others needed doctors. Still others had business in the embassy.

By the time the crowd thinned, the girl was nowhere to be found.

"I was making my circuit," Jack said with a shrug. "Figured I'd make sure Billy's pictures were still up, keeping an eye out. Williams here was just coming in to take over watch."

"Got to talking with Agent Vexius, and soon as he mentioned a missing girl… well, there you were."

"And you last saw her an hour ago?"

"I saw her waiting by the airlock an hour ago," the turian officer said. "Then, once the new arrivals went on their way and cleared out of the immediate area, she was gone.

"Did she mention any friends?" Garrus asked. "Anyone she'd been spending time with?"

Vexius shook his head. "Kid hardly talks to anyone. Except for me, I think," he added with a shrug. "She's been looking for her family since she got here."

Thena exhaled hard through her teeth. "And that's not the sort of thing that lends itself to socializing." The officer gave a grim nod.

She tried not to think too hard about it — about how he'd chosen this girl with obvious care. He had to have noticed her from the start, from those days after the coup. And once he'd watched the bio-vid, Billy made the same connection Thena had felt when she first noticed the teen, first heard her story.

She wasn't going to let him finish this. And like hell she was going to let the window close.

"All right. Ash, round up whoever you can — C-Sec, marines, even other refugees — and get a local search started. There's still a chance she just wandered off."

"Yes, ma'am." Ashley snapped a salute and strode off.

Jack, Garrus, get your asses up to C-Sec and find Bailey. I've got to get a hold of Liara—" She pulled up her omni-tool to call over to Liara, but the chirp in her ear sounded before she even opened up the channel. "Shepard here; Liara, is that you? I've got—"

But it wasn't Liara, not by a long shot. The male voice was as calm, as perfectly serene as it had been when he'd greeted her in the apartment doorway. "Hello, Thena."

Too fast. It was all happening too damn fast. She'd wanted to get her people on the offensive. She'd wanted men in place before he could do anything, before he could hurt someone else. But here he was again. Again, he was taking away the upper hand, snatching it right out of her grip.

"Hello, Billy," she said, as conversationally as she could manage through gritted teeth. "Got some new tech, huh?"

"Well, it's not like C-Sec's really got anyone to guard anything. It's like a candy store in there, if you know what you're looking for."

"And I guess you do."

Billy chuckled. It was pleasant on the surface, but with an oily undercurrent that slithered into her ears and down her spine. "I always know what I'm looking for."

"And that is…?"

"Well, right now I'm looking for you."

She spoke, delivering the words slowly and deliberately. "I think you know exactly where the hell I am."

"I have a few ideas," was his airy reply. Airy and smug. "You're off the Normandy, I know that much. I can't seem to connect to you when you're aboard the ship. Funny thing, that."

"Yeah. Funny." She spat the words out. "Tell me what you want. You have a hostage, I know that much. So let's figure something out before someone else gets hurt." Unless that someone's you. Then I'm all for it.

"Don't even want to talk, do you?" the voice sneered. "You used to like to talk. Tell us stories. Do you remember the stories, Thena? They were stories your mother told you, weren't they? And I suppose you told them to us so you'd never forget them. Because they were important."

She remembered the stories. She remembered thin bodies huddling together for warmth in the ducts, as she told them tales about a girl and a white rabbit and a grinning cat. She recalled nights in various shelters, tired enough but too hungry to sleep, whispering other stories her mother had told her about heroes and lost warriors — Perseus and Odysseus — about meddling gods and goddesses — Hera, Aphrodite, Ares — of a time further back than any of them could have imagined, a time filled with one-eyed giants and flying horses, of women who could control a man with the power of song alone, of snake-skinned women who could turn a man to stone with nothing more than a look. Yes, the stories themselves had been important. But not as important as the reasons she'd had for telling them in the first place.

"What are you getting at?" she ground out.

"They were more important than us."

Thena gestured to Garrus and Jack to follow as she started for the elevator. "I don't know what you're talking about, Billy. And, either way, this isn't you telling me what you want." Keep him talking. Gotta keep him talking…

"I want people to see you for what you are. You left us. You left us to starve and to die and to be shipped off to a fucking juvie work farm, you selfish bitch."

Once they were safely inside the elevator, Thena pulled out her omni-tool and redirected the comm signal through it, turning up the audio. "No one was supposed to starve, Billy," she said. "I sent back more than enough credits for that. Nevvar—"

His voice sounded tinny over the speaker. "Oh. Right. The credits. In the mailbox. Yeah. You know, I might've neglected to mention the credits to anyone."

"How did you even— I gave the mail passkey to Nevvar."

"Yeah. Funny thing about that. Nevvar died. Poor, clumsy Nevvar. He… uh, fell into the vents after he told me what you'd done. He was nervous, you know. He was afraid he'd let you down, that he wasn't responsible enough. I told him he was right — he'd probably lose the passkey and that he should let me hold on to it." There was an unhinged little giggle that told Thena far more than Billy's words had. "They all thought you'd abandoned us."

"But you knew better. And you let them think it."

"You did abandon us," he shouted. The signal crackled with static even as Billy's voice cracked and trembled with the sudden flood of rage. "Who the fuck gave you the right to leave? You owed it to us to stay. What the hell made you so goddamn important?"

"I wanted to make things better, Billy. For everybody." She was barely even aware of Garrus and Jack in the elevator with her; she didn't look at them — she didn't dare. Her emotions were too raw, too intense as they roiled dangerously close to the surface. This wasn't her — she had better control over herself than this, but every discovery, every revelation was like a punch to the gut, with less and less time to recover and catch her breath between strikes. "I wanted to do something to help. I wanted to—"

"Make things better. Yeah. You said. Funny, but Nevvar didn't think they were too much better."

"You killed Nevar," she spat, fury lowering her voice to a growl.

"No, Thena." Another chuckle. "You did. So are you coming to find me?"

The elevator felt too close, too hot, too damned stifling by half. "We need to talk. You wanted to talk, right?"

"Are you alone?" he asked.

"No." That earned her glares from both Garrus and Jack, the latter whispering "Are you fucking stupid?" But Thena shook her head sharply at her, mouthing the words Not now.

"You don't get to bring your friends. Besides, something horrible might happen. Again. Would you really want that on your conscience along with so many other deaths? Would your friends forgive you if you got them killed, Thena?"

"You know what I think? I think I'm tired of your questions, Billy. I think it's time for me to ask you one: Where are you?"

"Oh, come on," he scoffed. "That's an easy one."

"Tell me."

"I'm where our little reunion started. Purgatory."

###

The first thing they noticed coming off the elevator was how quiet it was. There was no pounding music coming from the nightclub, no patrons milling around outside. No noise, no people.

"I'm going in," she told them.

"Fuck that," Jack retorted.

"Never thought I'd say this, but… I agree with Jack," said Garrus. "You going in alone? Bad plan, Shepard. Scratch that — no plan."

"There's a back way in."

Thena turned to find Aria T'Loak leaning against the far wall, a cigarette held lazily between her fingers. She took a drag and walked closer, her heeled boots clicking and echoing in the empty space.

"A loading bay for deliveries, mostly. Should do the trick… if you're actually planning on going in there and putting a bullet between that fucker's eyes."

"I guess he cleared out the place," Garrus intoned, looking over again at the deathly silent club.

"Not like it took much convincing. Some crazy-ass biotic comes in dragging some screaming brat in by the hair, people tend to sit up and take notice." She paused a beat. "Right before getting the fuck out, of course, quick as you please."

"I notice you're still here," Jack said, tossing Aria an insolent glare. The two women sized each other up for several seconds before Aria took another drag off her cigarette and blew the smoke skyward.

"I'm waiting for my ride." She nodded again at the club. "You'll have to take the elevator down another level; you can get to the delivery bay around back from there." She nodded at the platform below them, then looked at Garrus, eyes glinting at the sight of the Widow on his back. "Door's locked, but you could probably hack it. Take the back stairs to the left of the office. You can get anywhere from there, but it's a hell of a view from the top level."

Garrus looked at Thena and shrugged. "You know I love a view."

Jack crossed her arms and cocked her head at Aria. "What, no more helpful advice?"

"You look like the sort of girl who can handle herself." Aria turned back to Shepard. "And try not to break too much."

"I thought you hated this place."

Shrugging, Aria dropped the cigarette and crushed out the smoldering remains beneath her heel. "I do. But you ruin this dump and I'll be left running things out of Flux." A sudden wind from above gusted down at them, carrying with it the hum of a skycar engine. A blood-red vehicle landed both silently and precisely, the canopy opening with a hydraulic hiss. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to catch my ride." And with that, Aria sauntered to the car and slid inside. It hovered briefly before pulling back up into the traffic high above them.

"That's one creepy blue bitch," muttered Jack.

"Can't say I'm one of Aria's biggest fans either, but I've got to admit," Garrus said, pulling the Widow free and checking the clip before returning it to his back, "she gets things done."

"Okay. You two, get in through that back entrance. Garrus, like Aria said, go high. Jack, stay in cover — don't let him see you."

"Come on, Shepard. Like I fucking would." She turned on her heel and headed off for the elevator, leaving Garrus behind.

Once they were alone, he looked over his shoulder at the nightclub, then back at Thena. "Only thing we're missing is Kasumi and her cloak. Wouldn't mind the addition, frankly."

"Hey, I've got Garrus Vakarian watching my six. I don't need anything else."

Garrus glanced at the club, his plates shifting as he scowled, mandibles pulled in tight. "I don't like this."

Thena rocked back on her heels and looked hard at Purgatory's closed doors. "Oh, I'd bet a month's pay it's a trap. Don't bet on being able to contact me once you're in position. My guess is he's got comms scrambled somehow, or blocked entirely."

"And here I thought I was just being paranoid."

"No," she said, taking his hand in his and squeezing hard. "This is his endgame, and we knew it was coming. Hell, we've practically been playing into his hands the whole time. And whether we like it or not, he's chosen the venue. One way or another, it ends here."

"One way or another, huh?" he echoed, tipping his head to the side and squeezing her hand before releasing it. "And by that I'm going to assume you mean either I get the kill shot, or you do."

She shrugged, grinning crookedly. "What can I say? You know me best, Vakarian."

"Not yet, I don't. But I'm still looking forward to the process."

From the elevator — it's doors still wide open — came Jack's voice, strident and impatient, and carrying with it maybe the tiniest hint of malicious glee. "Hurry the fuck up, Garrus. You guys can suck face or whatever the hell it is you do after the job's done!"

"Have I mentioned she's charming?" he asked, dryly. And on those words, Garrus turned and headed off in the same direction Jack had gone, leaving Thena alone to enter through the front doors.

One way or another, it ended here, today.

###

If Purgatory was silent on the outside, it was like a tomb within — well, a tomb aside from the static crackling in her ear. As she'd expected, the comms were scrambled. Not all the patrons had gotten out, Thena saw; there were crumpled bodies in the dim light — they could have been dead or simply unconscious. The latter seemed likely as well, if Billy did in fact have Amanda with him. He was a powerful biotic, that much she'd seen and experienced herself — but with such a crowded locale, she also knew there were limits to what even a powerful biotic could manage, even if his abilities were being augmented with red sand.

"I'm here," she called out into the frantic flashes of light. The music had been silenced, but the lights still spun and pulsed and glowed in dizzying patterns across the floor and walls. "Billy?" When there was still no answer, she pulled the Vindicator free and slowly explored the silent nightclub.

She'd never truly appreciated how large Purgatory was — below and above were levels she'd never even thought to visit. Too much space and too many places for Billy to hide. Normally she'd have followed the carnage, but there was too much of it to discern a path; mirrors had been shattered, light fixtures hung from wiring. It looked as if the person coming through wanted only to cause as much damage as possible, giving no thought to rhyme or reason, only destruction. Glass and mirrors and lighting had been smashed; sparks issuing forth from the fixtures were caught and reflected in the shards like so many tiny stars. Broken glass crunched under her boots as she walked, gun drawn, calling out Billy's name, though that was more for Garrus and Jack's benefit than because she expected any sort of answer from Billy. She glanced up, and in the flickering flashes of light, she caught a glimpse of Garrus' profile before he ducked into cover. He was still watching her back, though — she could practically feel his eyes on her, sweeping the area, keeping a sharp eye out.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," she sang under her breath, holding her assault rifle close. After one full circuit around the VIP level, Thena still found nothing of Billy or Amanda. Garrus had the upper level, which left nowhere to go but… down.

She was barely halfway down the stairs leading to the lower-level dance floors and bars, when a hydraulic hiss cut through the silence like a cobra's warning. Gun raised, Thena whirled on the stair in time to catch a blast of energy to her chest, knocking her off her feet, bypassing the stairs altogether and landing with a hard whump flat on her back. Her head ached with the thump, and though her armor left her protected and otherwise unhurt, the landing was more than enough to knock the wind from her lungs. When she looked up, she saw Billy upon one of the moving platforms that typically showcased Purgatory's dancers. The platform wasn't moving now — it was frozen in position midway down the pole on which it moved. Next to him, on her knees, was the same girl from the docks — Amanda; his hand was twisted cruelly in her hair, and her face was swollen and mottled, and streaked with tears.

Scared, but still alive. That was something to hold on to.

Hissing a swear, she got to her feet and began climbing the stairs two at a time, until Billy raised a hand and flung a stasis field around her, stopping her progress with all the effectiveness of a brick wall.

"I don't think you need to get any closer than that, Thena," called Billy. "And I really don't think you'll be needing that gun. You won't be needing any of it. The stasis field eased up, and she no longer felt like a bug trapped in tree sap, but there was a pulse that knocked the assault rifle from her hands, sending it to land with a muted clatter, several meters away.

"You've got to know how this is going to end, Billy," she called, keeping her hands out, palms up.

"Do I? That depends on if you plan on dying horribly. Because if you do, then I sure as hell know how this is gonna end. You know, I couldn't decide where to lead you — it was nearly the vents, where I pushed Nevvar, but those are a little gummed up now, I hear." He sent her a cold smirk. "The embassy? That would've had a nice poetic ring to it, but too many exits and entrances. Too many eyes, too many cams to scramble, too much security to deal with. You know how it goes."

"And no direct duct access," she added.

"That too. Weren't you going to disarm?"

"You really need me to? You've got the upper hand here, BIlly. I'm just trying to negotiate Amanda's release and safe return."

"Oh, is that why you're here?" He looked down at the teenager, twisting his hand in her hair until she jerked and yelped, the cry ending on a sob, the sound twisting painfully through Thena's breast. No, she told herself. He'll use her against you. He already is. He knows you and he knows how to make it hurt. So don't let it hurt — just don't let him know that.

"I'm not letting you hurt anybody else," she told him, her voice steady. "It's me you're angry at, so let her go."

"You think it's that easy?" Billy yelled over Amanda's sobs, which had softened to a rhythmic hiccuping.

"I do think it's that easy. It's what you want, isn't it?" She tried to take a step up the stairs, closer to the main landing, but Billy put his hand out, blue light just beginning to emanate from his palm, and she froze. "It is," she pressed, "isn't it? You want to carve your name into my skin."

"You don't actually expect me to fall for that, do you?" he sneered. "What, you think because the vids call you a big fucking hero, you're going to act like a big fucking hero?"

"No," she answered, inclining her head and trying to pinpoint Garrus in her peripheral vision. The dancers' platforms weren't quite as clear a shot from where she'd seen him last, and no doubt he was trying to find the best vantage point to line up his shot. All Thena had to do was keep Billy talking until Garrus found the shot. Easy. "No, that's not what I'm doing at all. I'm trying to make things right. It's me you want to hurt — not anyone else, right?"

"Oh, I've been having more fun than you'd think doing just that. Maybe I'm not ready to stop. Maybe after I kill you, I'll just keep going."

She bit back the acerbic retort and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "Just let the girl go, Billy. She isn't part of this."

"You sure that's what you want, Thena?"

She opened her mouth to say yes, let her go, but too late she realized — catching the way his muscles jerked a split second before he acted — that something was about to go horribly wrong. The sound that came out of her mouth was a yell — No! — as Billy's grip went from the girl's hair to her arm and he flung her from the platform, the girl's body flailing as she screamed before he caught her in a stasis field.

"Help me!" she screamed, the words broken with terrified sobs. "Oh, my God, help me! Please!"

"Must be nice to be that age," Billy said, his tone conversational despite Amanda's cries and pleas. "When you think people actually can help you. Then you learn that everyone's out for themselves. That kinda sucks, doesn't it?"

"Put her down, Billy. Gently. Put her down."

"You put down your weapons first," he said. "All of them. Or I might decide to see how Mandy here'd like being squished." A ripple of power shuddered through the field and the teenager's body gave a spasm as she fought against the compression. "What do you think? Which organ do you think I can crush first? Or will we hear her bones crack before anything else? Whaddaya think, Thena?"

"All right!" she yelled, pulling the Paladin from its holster first and tossing it aside. "Look, Billy — just what you want. Look." Next came her Graal and the Widow — Thena lamented not having the time and cover to get Billy's head in the Widow's sights, and she just hoped Garrus was finding somewhere he could line up the target just as well. The last thing she removed were the fragmentation grenades, setting them on the ground in a neat row before stepping away. "Now stop. Stop, and let her down. She hasn't done anything to you, Billy. She isn't part of this, and she doesn't deserve it."

The rippling field stilled, and though the teenager still looked terrified, she didn't look as if she were being crushed to death, which was an improvement, however slim.

"Who the hell says that's got to matter?" he asked. "So what if she hasn't? You have. And once I'm done with her, and then with you, nobody's gonna fuck with me ever again."

From the corner of her eye, Thena caught sight of Garrus, still up on the highest level. He was closer to Billy, but, as she'd suspected, it looked as if he was still having difficulty lining up a clean shot. He was moving slowly and quietly, drawing ever nearer to the platforms. Still no idea where Jack was, though she was certain the other woman was — like Garrus — trying to get herself into position.

"Now. Come up the stairs," Billy told her. "Just leave your little armory behind you." Thena stepped carefully over the guns and grenades and, keeping her hands out, palms up, she slowly climbed the stairs, up to the landing. Billy watched every move, his smile small and cruel as she cooperated. "That's better. You know," he went on in a conversational tone entirely at odds with the fact that he held a girl captive in a stasis field above both their heads, "I broke every piece of glass in this place. Did you know that?"

"I noticed the mess, yeah," Thena replied.

"Everything but the exterior windows. Gotta keep up the ambiance, y'know?"

She tipped her head back, looking up at the windows. "…Right."

"So what do you think, Thena?"

She swallowed, willing Garrus or Jack to be in goddamn position already. "About what?"

He pulled his hand back, and a new sort of energy began funneling into the stasis field, making it almost vibrate with kinetic energy, and he reminded Thena of nothing so strongly as her father drawing back before he threw a baseball.

Throw. He's going to—

"If I aim for that window right there," he said, nodding at one of the nightclubs tinted skylights, "do you think the impact'll kill her…"

Purgatory's crypt-like silence was broken with the girl's scream, the sound shooting down Thena's spine and flooding her body with adrenaline as Billy flung her upward. The sound, rather than being swallowed up by the enormous space, echoed throughout, ear-shatteringly loud.

"…or will it be the fall?"

"Jack!" Thena yelled sharply, pivoting on the ball of her foot and leaping down to the lower landing, eyes trained on the girl's form, hurtling toward the skylight. There was nothing she could do — the girl was too high, and even if she fell, there was nothing— nothing she could do. Now, just like every other damn time, she was left to watch.

Gritting her teeth, Thena looked over her shoulder at Billy, then reached down and swept up one of the discarded grenades—

Suddenly, a field of biotic energy enveloped the girl, catching her safely and pulling her back down.

"Gotcha!" came Jack's triumphant yell from one of the lowest levels of the club, followed by, "Now fuck off and suck on a concussive round, dickweed!"

Thena hadn't yet pulled the pin on the grenade, and it was a damn good thing. Billy's outraged scream tore through his throat, a ragged, inhuman sound as he pulled her across the club, then lifted and flung her hard against a wall, pinning her with a biotic field. He bared his teeth at her; she saw spittle foaming at the corners of his mouth, his eyes wild with unchecked rage.

Just to Billy's right, high above, Garrus stood, the Widow drawn.

Now, Garrus. Now. Now.

"So you did bring two," he said, breathing hard, flecks of spit flying as he growled the words through clenched teeth. "I thought you only brought one!" And with those words he flung a second field up, knocking Garrus back and sending the Widow's shot wildly awry. The round hit a glowing perfume advertisement that featured a young asari's face — or had, until it shattered in an explosion of glass and crackling sparks that glowed and flared as they bounced off every surface. In the hectic light, Jack appeared on the landing Thena had been standing on just seconds before. Her features twisted in fury as she lifted both hands, biotic light glowing and dancing, as if a reflection of her anger.

"Well come on, asshole," she said, her words edged in a snarl. "Pull your dick out. Let's measure." Red lips curled in a dark grin. "Pretty sure I'll win."

Billy tipped his head, regarding Jack with predatory curiosity. "You think so?" he asked lightly, his tone at odds with the cold hate glittering in his eyes and the furious flush upon his face. After a moment the field shifted and rippled again, and soon it began pressing in on Thena. The armor she wore was sturdier against biotic attacks, but still she felt the pressure crushing at her throat.

"Seriously?" Jack asked, crossing her arms and shifting her weight until one hip jutted out. "You think that shit's gonna scare me off?"

"So you'd just stand there and watch the famous, the heroic, the indomitable Commander Shepard—"

"What, die? Is that what you were thinking?" Jack asked. "You were thinking, Oh, poor me, this bitch got famous and I'm still a murderous fuckhead. I know, I'll make her look bad and then I'll kill her and everyone'll fuckin' love me — is that it? Because if that's what you were thinking, you're even fucking dumber than I thought. So, what, you thought you'd leave a few dead bodies around, play Mister Big-Bad-Biotic and she'd be pissing herself in her hardsuit or something? Did you even watch the vids? A fucking thresher-maw, you stupid prick. You wanna talk about something that'll make you piss yourself? And she's faced 'em down. Not once. Not even twice. Three times, you ignorant piece of shit. You really think she's going to be afraid of some pathetic fucking waste like you?"

"It's not about fear," Billy explained with a sneer. "It's about pain." As he spoke, the compression field around Thena released, still holding her in place, but not crushing her like it had. "And I know just how to hurt her."

Up on the highest landing, Garrus stood stock-still, pushing against the stasis field. Even from such a distance, she saw the way the Widow trembled as he tried to lift it up just a little higher. But the field around him slowly began to change, and when Thena looked sharply back at Billy, she saw familiar threads of light threading through and around the field until they danced around Garrus. His mandibles were pulled in tightly against his face, his eyes were closed; he was in pain — that much was evident.

Reave.

She went cold suddenly, watching — she had no choice but to watch. Thena recalled all too clearly how how excruciating the pain had been, how the attack had felt as if it were hollowing her out, breaking her from the inside out.

One way or another, you son of a bitch, this ends here and it ends now.

"Yeah," Jack said. "And some of us just stand up a little straighter when it hurts."

What happened next came all too quickly, and all at once.

Jack, as if to punctuate her statement, drew both hands back and flung them forward, sending a shockwave of energy hurtling at Billy. The bolt of blue light hit him solidly in the chest, flinging him back and sending a crack down the center of the platform. It didn't break, but the force had been enough to render it lopsided. In that instant, his concentration was broken so completely that the biotic energy coming from his hands flickered and sputtered before going out entirely. Thena dropped lightly to her feet, but when she looked up, eyes scanning the uppermost level, she didn't see Garrus. Breathing a swear, she popped the pin on the grenade she still held and flung it at Billy even as she turned and sprinted back toward Jack, who held Thena's Paladin in one hand and her Graal in the other, tossing the latter at Thena, who caught the weapon's solid weight in her arms.

The grenade blew, the explosion sending a rush of hot air and flame upward as Billy's body was thrown forward with the blast. He careened into several tables and chairs, sending them tumbling before he landed on the floor in a heap.

"Hey, Garrus?" Thena called, hefting the Graal and training it on Billy. "You okay up there?"

No answer came from above. She tried to remember how long Billy had used reave on her, how long it had taken to do the damage he'd done, but time had meant little to her at the time. She could have been caught in the field for minutes, hours, or days. She swore silently.

The shotgun primed and ready, Thena motioned for Jack to follow her as she slowly approached Billy, who remained deathly still on the floor. She considered those words, deathly still, and found herself hoping they were accurate. With the toe of her boot, she nudged at Billy's shoulder, rolling him over.

She realized too late he wasn't dead; he'd been waiting.

The blast was blinding and, ironically, Thena thought, carried with it all the force of a grenade. They were both shoved back — the shotgun went off — and Thena slammed solidly into the bar with a resounding crack — before tumbling to the floor. Jack had been thrown into the pit seating nearby, sliding across the table before landing hard on the floor.

Billy was standing now, biotic energy — energy he stole feeding off Garrus, she reminded herself — flowing from his hands. His thigh was bloody with the Graal's errant shot, and she hoped it hurt like a bitch. He was breathing hard, his face twisted into a snarl as he strode closer. She lifted the Graal, finger poised on the trigger.

"You are not taking this from me. I won't let you. I won't let—"

Before she could aim, before she could pull the trigger at all, Billy's words stopped and his body jerked as his head exploded into a red mist of blood, bone and grey matter. He was talking and then he wasn't. His head was there, and then it wasn't. The fine spray of it went everywhere, landing on upended tables and broken chairs. His body twitched and jerked for a second or two before collapsing to its knees, and then falling to the ground.

"Maybe she won't," Garrus drawled from above, subharmonics doing nothing whatsoever to conceal his exhaustion or pain. "But I sure as hell will."