*Frowns* I'm not sure if I like this particular interlude...but oh, well...

A/N 1: As in the previous chapters – ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net

A/N 2: The interlude takes place simultaneously with the third vignette and chapter 35. Oh, and before anyone starts to believe everything the characters say - remember, a lot of the recent information about the Shadow Alliance comes from Jhonen's view of things. But he's a human, and humans can be manipulated. I'll leave it to you to figure out how much of it is true ;)

Italics indicates thoughts/telepathy

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Sixth Interlude: Morality and Honor

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Jhonen walked into his room, tired beyond belief. The conversation with Suzuka had drained him more than he cared to admit - her accusations and anger had hurt. To hear his former teammate curse the day they accepted him on the team...

He sighed, willing himself to forget Suzuka, but found that he couldn't.

"You look like shit," someone remarked.

Jhonen looked up, and found Zach leaning against the wall with a deliberate laziness that seemed completely at odds with his threatening attitude.

"Bad day," Jhonen explained. "Even worse night."

"Oh, yeah," Zach agreed. "I heard you had a talk with Twilight," he noted.

"Yeah," Jhonen replied and sat down on his bed. "If you could call yelling and cursing a talk," he added under his breath.

"Didn't go too well, I take?" Zach asked, although the words were more of a statement than a question.

Jhonen winced.

"Well...she called me a traitor and a coward, and said that they should never have accepted me on the team in the first place. Other than that..." he trailed off, looking downright uncomfortable.

Zach snorted.

"Ignore it. She's just a bitchy pain in the ass."

"But she has a point, I think," Jhonen sighed. "I *did* leave them. Not exactly honorable, you know."

"Honor?" Zach repeated, and this time there was a note of scorn in his voice. "I wouldn't talk too much about honor, if I were her."

Jhonen looked at Zach, confusion plan on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"She calls herself a fighter, and yet she tries to kill people in their sleep. I hate people like that."

Jhonen frowned. Something wasn't making sense. He wasn't particular keen at getting into a discussion with Zach, but something in him refused to let the comment pass.

"But isn't that what Blade and Laetitia do?" he asked, against his better judgement.

Surprisingly, though, Zach didn't get angry. Instead he looked at Jhonen with an almost serious expression on his face.

"No. No, it's different, don't you see?" he asked, and this time there was no scorn in his voice. "They don't hide what they're doing, J.," he continued. "They don't try to hide they actions behind some righteous facade. If they kill someone, at least they're honest about it."

Zach paused, but Jhonen didn't reply, sensing that the other still had something he wanted to say.

"I only kill people in self-defense, and only if there is no other way out," Zach finally said. "Now personally, I don't care much for assassinations, but I respect Blade and Nike's frankness."

"You're not-?" Jhonen stopped before he could finish the question, afraid of Zach's possible reaction.

"-A killer?" Zach asked wryly. "Is that what Cretes calls us? Killers? Murderers? Criminals with delusions of grandeur?"

Jhonen looked away, a bit ashamed at he'd asked the question. They were his new team now, not the enemy he'd faced in the past. They had done nothing to deserve his accusations.

"Jhonen, most of us don't kill without a reason. We do it only when we have to, and only to save our own lives," Zach explained with quiet conviction. "We do have a sense of honor, no matter Cretes might have told you about us. We are neither insane, nor bloodthirsty. We just try to stay alive."

"Blade told me otherwise," Jhonen remarked. "Before I...left the others. He told me that while he might not kill a mutant without a reason, he would have no problem with killing a random human."

Zach sighed.

"Let's just say that Nike and Blade are special cases, okay? Nike was raised to be the perfect killer, and Blade...he has issues with the existence of humanity. Don't judge the rest of us on their actions."

Jhonen paused, talking some time to consider Zach's words. In some weird way they made sense - that surprised him. Sure, he hadn't exactly wondered about his new team's view on morality and honor, but he'd never expected any of them to have a sense of honor that was as strong as Zach's. It seemed so strange compared to Blade's indifferent attitude to killing...and it didn't sound anything like the things Ryan had told him about the Shadow Alliance.

"How'd you even end up here in the first place?" Jhonen asked curiously.

Zach frowned, silently debating how much to tell Jhonen, then sighed.

"I had to leave my mom and my little sister to keep them safe from the humans. I followed a local fight circuit and ended up in New York. I met Hal there, and we teamed up, making a living through stealing and fighting."

"Fighting?" Jhonen repeated, disbelieving. "How old were you?"

Zach lay down on his bed and closed his eyes with a tired look on his face.

"Fifteen," he finally admitted. "Too young to follow a fight circuit, but I was a good fighter, and the alternatives were even worse."

"Shit..." Jhonen muttered.

Zach opened his eyes.

"What? You thought all of us have had as easy a time as Cretes and his team? There's a darker side to society, Jhonen, and they don't give a damn about peaceful coexistence. We've all been trapped there at one point or another. It's kill or be killed, and as you can see...we're still alive."

"I-I used to steal, too, before I met Ryan," Jhonen confessed.

"Then you know," Zach said quietly. "It's not easy out there. What we're doing...it's not morally correct or particularly honorable, but it keeps us alive. Alive and safe, and that's what matters."

Jhonen nodded and was almost surprised to find himself agreeing with Zach's words. They made sense. He'd lived on the streets, too, and knew exactly how it felt. And with the words came another realization - Ryan had been wrong. The members of the Shadow Alliance were human, too - most of them were just too weary and scarred to show it.

They were human, with emotions and dreams and fears and desires. And the more he thought about, the less he cared for the self-sacrificing attitude of his former teammates.

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Coming up: Will Ryan and the others be able to save Suzuka? And just how far will Blade go to get even?