"Why does that name ring a bell?" Nero asked.

"Ser Alrik? Have you been hanging out in the gallows, or talking to circle mages lately?" Anders asked with distaste.

"No, he just sounds...familiar...and not in a pleasant way. I've been trying to recall where I heard it before all day."

When Anders had approached him that morning and told him of some 'tranquil solution' he believed the templars were trying to put into effect Nero had initially been skeptical. But then Anders had told him that it was the work of a templar named Ser Alrik, that the man was a nasty piece of work and liked to make mages beg, and it struck a fairly painful cord. He was curious, and felt he had to see this templar, and hoped it would shed some light on his confusion.

It didn't help that Anders claimed that Nero was the only person he could trust with it and had said please and everything. So now Nero, Isabela, Aveline and Fenris were making their way from Anders' clinic to the secret entrance beneath the gallows. Isabela had been seeing Anders about a ...private medical problem, with Aveline along for some baffling reason and had demanded to know what Nero and Fenris were there for. When Isabela had found out she had decided she was coming along, as did the guard captain. Fenris was there, well, because that was what Fenris did.

"You trust the abomination too much, I do not wish to see you destroyed because you placed your safety in his hands. I am coming and that is final." Was all Fenris would say on the matter.

They had just descended the ladder into the tunnels when Anders put a hand on Nero's arm to stop him from proceeding. Isabela, Aveline and Fenris waited a few feet away, once they realized that the two men had stopped to talk, and Aveline took the opportunity to probe Fenris about something that had been bothering her.

"Are you safe, Fenris?" she asked.

Fenris scowled, "no. I appear to be a rather highly regarded magister's lost property, in case you have forgotten."

Aveline sighed, "you know, some guards give people the opportunity to lie if it will keep the peace."

"You can see what I am. Lie to yourself if you must."

"To the void with it then, I'm just going to come out and say it. Fenris, you need to present yourself better." Aveline said, a hint of reason ringing in her voice.

"Pardon?"

"You stick out like a sore thumb in Hightown. Nero may have made an effort to blend in, but you have not, you are drawing unnecessary attention to yourself." she explained, "we do not know who had taken Nero yet, but you are not helping matters by drawing attention to both of your presences."

Fenris frowned and looked away thoughtfully.

"I'm just saying, you should be more discreet about yourself." Aveline continued

Fenris frowned, "I shall...endeavor to exist with less offense."

"Oh, you're not going to like that, Fenris, my dear." Isabela muttered from where she was straining to eavesdrop on Nero and Anders.

Fenris scowled again and turned his attention to the conversation that the two men were having.

"I know it isn't my place to criticize, but...are you sure about Fenris? He seems less a man to me than a wild dog." Anders tried to say quietly.

Nero laughed "are you serious? Are you implying I'm sleeping with a dog?" when he realized that the mage was not jesting, he sighed "you just don't know him, Anders."

"I know as much as I'm ever likely to." He said crossly, folding his arms.

Taking it upon himself to intervene, Fenris stepped up to stand beside Nero and said threateningly "that's right, mage."

Anders scoffed at the elf, but otherwise ignored him, "he has let one bad experience color his whole world. Surely you would want someone more open-minded?"

Nero, shocked by Anders' naive statement, simply gaped at him.

Fenris, was unsurprised however, and instead he rolled his eyes, "a mage and a hypocrite. What company you keep." he said sourly.

Anders sighed angrily and strode away to join the women. With some urging on Anders' part Isabela and Aveline finally turned around and began heading deeper into the tunnel with the mage while Nero continued to gape where he stood.

He began to follow Fenris when the elf trailed after the others and after a few moments he shook his head in disbelief.

"I think..no. That's crazy. What the void.."

"What are you muttering about?" Fenris asked.

"...did Anders just come on to me? Is that what that was? I'm terribly disturbed. I think I need to clean my ears...with acid."

"If he was I will personally rip his heart out." the elf growled.

"You could always rub it in his face that you see me naked quite frequently, and he does not." Nero teased.

"I would rather not share such personal matters with the abomination."

"You're starting to make me feel voyeuristic. Stop it."

"A little help, guys!" they heard Isabela shout from around the corner.

Drawing their weapons they quickly joined the others, finding them knee deep in men trying to kill them. A warrior was advancing on Anders and despite his irritation with the mage, Nero jumped behind him and sunk a blade between the warrior's ribs before advancing on an archer and slitting his throat. He twirled to face another attacker he had seen out of the corner of his eye to find that Fenris had his hand in the man's chest.

Seeing a rogue a few feet away pull a flask from his belt he rushed over and tackled the man to the ground. Jumping to his feet he kicked the dagger from the man's hand and plunged his own blade into the man's face. Nero stumbled forward as someone fell into him and he turned around, to find a man smacking Isabela with his shield. He dodged around the two and plunged his blade into the man's back, piercing his lungs. With a gurgle the man fell.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a man approach from the direction they had come from and he grabbed the knife in his belt and tossed it, it landed in the mans throat and he fell back, scrambling to pull it out, only to choke on blood when he did so. Nero turned to kill someone else only to find that there was no one there and the fight was over.

"Lyrium smugglers built these tunnels, to service the templars that crave the stuff." Anders explained

"You don't think you could have mentioned that we might meet more than templar resistance before we came down here?" Nero asked.

Anders shrugged, "I just assumed you knew?"

"Ugh, your such a tit." Aveline grumbled.

They continued on in silence, meeting, and destroying, a few more groups of smugglers along the way. When they finally found the templar he was threatening an escaped circle mage, flanked by a small entourage of templars, mercenary guards and a young nobleman, who stood with his arms folded across his chest and a smug expression on his face. Nero froze upon seeing them, terror seizing his chest and locking his feet in place, images of their faces in a different place flashing through his memory, and echoes of the pain wrought on him by their hands whispering across his skin.

"Well, well, well. It would appear your pet has found you, Alrik." the nobleman smirked.

"That's one of the de Launcet boys, what is he-" Aveline's eyes widened in surprise, "oh maker! It was him, wasn't it?" she asked Nero.

He nodded and tightened his grip on his daggers as Alrik laughed, "I didn't realize you had a friend in the guard, much less the guard captain herself. That's a shame. You know I can't have you leave, of course." He placed his hands on his hips and turned to face the cowering girl, "I was just about to show this apostate what we do to mages who lie, then I suppose I'll be showing you what we do with mages who escape, how joyful."

"I just wanted to see my mum! No one ever told her where they were taking me." the girl tried to explain.

Suddenly Anders' skin was cracking and glowing and a black smoke seemed to emanate from his skin, "you will never touch another mage again." he stated, the echo of Justice in his voice, before hurling a fireball at the templar.

Ser Alrik dodged however, grabbing the nobleman as he did and shoving him in the direction of the stairs, saying "run, you fool. Your status will not protect you from a mage."

Nero growled and rushed forward, the terror replaced by a rage he had not known he could possess, he ran past the templars that were on fire and past Alrik, to grab the retreating man by the collar of his shirt, causing him to fall to his knees and gag due to the fabric constricting his throat.

"Eugene, was it?" He spat and threw one of his daggers into the chest of an approaching guard, he twisted the shirt in his hand, forcing the man to sit on the stairs and look up at him. Nero reveled in the terror he saw in the man's eyes, knowing that the other man had done the same to him. For a fucking month, he thought bitterly.

Nero let go of the man but before he could scrabble away he knelt onto the his chest, forcing him painfully into the stairs. Glancing up Nero noticed another guard approaching and tossed his other dagger to embed itself into the man's skull.

"I will have you know, I am no mage." Nero snarled

Eugene cowered, "b-b-b-b-ut, you're glowing! And I saw what you did to those men, and-"

Nero let his eyes drift to his hands, noticing for the first time that he was, in fact, glowing. Angry purple tendrils seemed to be streaming from his pores, forming a haze around his body. He ignored it, instead he laughed darkly, cutting the stuttering man off.

"You saw that did you? Would you like to know what they felt?" He smirked, "I think you would look very pretty, swimming in your own blood."

Before the man could respond Nero called upon the flames of another fireball that Anders was throwing and the fire encircled Eugene's wrists and ankles, forcing him to cry out in pain. Nero stood, but Eugene could not get up, nor could he move his limbs. The fire holding him still, as though it was chaining him to the ground. Tears filled the nobleman's eyes and Nero spat on him, then watched as roots shot up around the man, and curled towards Eugene. Slowly the pointed ends pushed their way into Eugene's body, blood oozing out around them. Several minutes passed before Eugene's screams were cut off by a gargle as he began to choke on his own blood and his body convulsed. Nero watched all the while, growing impatient when the body stopped convulsing but the eyelids kept fluttering and pulled the small knife from his belt and slit the man's throat.

Nero stepped over the mangled corpse to retrieve his daggers and took in the situation around him. Isabela was knocked out and Aveline was bleeding from her arm and leaning heavily on her shield, trying to catch her breath. Nero could not see Fenris but there was a faint glow coming from the way they had come. Justice was still fighting Alrik, who seemed determined not to die.

No longer preoccupied, Nero advanced on the Templar and quickly ended the battle with his blades. He saw the girl they had saved retreating from both Anders and him, and he almost felt shame at the fear he saw on her face. Almost.

Justice, however, was not satisfied, and swung the staff in his hand threateningly, "they will die!" he said, "I will have every last templar for these abuses."

"What, right now?" Nero asked incredulously.

He turned on Nero, and said threateningly "Every one of them will feel justice's burn."

"Get away from me, demon!" the girl said.

Justice then turned his attention to the mage, and approached her angrily, "I am no demon! Are you one of them, that you would call me such."

"Justice...Anders, whoever, that girl is a mage, you just rescued her from being made tranquil. The fuck are you on about?" Nero demanded.

"She is theirs, I can feel their hold on her." Justice insisted.

Nero frowned and approached the man, grabbing him by the shoulder to force Justice to look at him, instead of the girl. Justice growled and glowed brighter, but Nero was not deterred, instead it only made him more angry.

"Are you serious? I thought you were a spirit of Justice, not this..this...vengeful bastard. I will not let you kill her because you're a fucking lunatic. What the hell do you think that would do to Anders?" he demanded.

Justice shoved him away, "do not pretend that you could stop me, worm. I do not know why Anders demanded your help, you are not worthy of this cause. Step aside or face your death."

"Do not threaten me, spirit, or you will find yourself returning to the fade, permanently." Nero growled, leftover rage from the confrontation with Eugene and anger at the absurdity of arguing with a fade spirit causing him to glow again. Tree roots rose from the ground behind him and wavered in the air as though they were bodyguards, waiting to strike.

"Please, messere's." the girl begged.

Speaking was a mistake on her part, as it reminded Justice of her presence. He turned and pulled back an arm, a ball of energy forming around his hand. Before he could throw it at the girl, however, the glowing flickered out and Anders stumbled backwards. The blue cracks flickered shut and Anders fell to his knees, holding his head as though he could physically hold Justice in there.

Nero rested his eyes on the girl, "I suggest you leave, quickly."

"Where will she go?" Aveline asked from where she rested next to Isabela, trying to rouse her. Fenris stood next to them, a slightly amazed look on his face.

Nero shook his head, "I don't care."

"I will escort her back to the circle, then." Aveline stood, "I am not bleeding very heavily any longer." She spared a glance at Anders, "Maker, good luck with that." She muttered with a shake of her head before forcing the girl to her feet and leading her away.