It had been two weeks since the Academy found out about the baby. The recruits kept congratulating Joker and Jo in the ways of their respective race, which led the Senior Instructors to come up with an idea. A big screen was put up in the atrium. It showed a calendar marking important holidays celebrated by each race, and as they came up the recruits in question would make a vid explaining the significance, the tradition and the proper rituals. The entire Academy was going to join each celebration, thus learning more about each other's culture than ever before.

Joker loved his job. When Vega took one of his classes on their first survival exercise to a rocky and cold terrain on Chrysalis, far away from any settlement, Joker personally flew the transporter. Jo came along to mark the occasion. It was almost funny to watch Vega. During the Reaper war he'd been the youngest, newest, the least experienced team member. Now, facing thirty recruits, it became obvious just how good he really was at what he was doing. Not only did he have the practical knowledge, he was also really good at teaching. Right before Joker landed, Vega, dressed in his full battle gear, addressed the class:

"Listen up, recruits. This exercise will last four days. Your main objective is to survive. Your second objective is to get to the extraction zone. It's located south-east from here, behind a dried-out lake and a mountain ridge. That's all the intel I'm giving you. You'll have to find the EZ on your own. It's marked with an X and an O. In exactly 106 hours I will pick up everyone who makes it there in time. See, I even gave you an extra 6 hours, just in case. Those who aren't there will be left behind. And just to make this about real survival, you will leave behind everything you have on you. Including clothes."

Joker chuckled at the recruits' shocked outcries as he landed the transporter and opened the loading ramp.

"You want us to go out there naked for four days?" A salarian woman asked.

"Yes," Vega dared her to complain more. She said nothing, but shot him an evil glare while she and the others jerked their clothes off. Once they were done, Vega ushered them out of the transporter onto the rough ground. All thirty of them stood close together, shivering in the cold wind, looking around worriedly. They were reluctant to leave the shuttle while it was still there, their last contact with civilisation for the next 4 days.

"Hey, Commander," a krogan called out to Jo. "Why don't you get naked and join us?" He winked.

"Perks of being old and wise," Jo shrugged with a smirk.

"Pfft, I'm twice as old as you," the krogan rumbled.

"And yet you're the naked one," Jo shot back.

Michael Portman, who stood alone a little to the side from everyone else, said slowly and deliberately:

"Mr. Vega, do you realise that our best chance of survival is if we jump you right now and take all your weapons and your armour?"

Silence fell. Vega only moved one eyebrow, incredibly pleased that someone actually came up with this idea.

"Yes," he said. Portman looked back at his fellows, who seemed much too intimidated to actually attempt it.

"Wusses," he expressed his annoyance.

"Why, Recruit Portman, don't you want to take on your instructor by yourself?" Jo asked the guy. "The gear would give you an edge in this exercise."

"On my own I have no chance against Vega," Portman shrugged. He was the only recruit who allowed himself to drop titles with the instructors, using just their names. "Of course if we all teamed up we'd win even though we're naked, but me alone? I'd only get injured and weakened before the exercise started. I'll play your game by your rules this time, but don't expect me to do what you tell me to do forever."

Jo and Vega exchanged a knowing glance and a subtle fist bump. Joker could see it just as well as they did: Michael Portman was a born N7, standing out even this early in his training.

"If anyone wants to follow Portman's suggestion, now is your last chance," Vega declared and turned his back on them, heading inside the shuttle. Nobody attacked him or Jo. They still huddled together, shivering, when Joker lifted off and headed back to the station. The exercise was going to be monitored by the satellites and scanners in the planet's orbit, but there would be no technology on the ground with the recruits. Joker just loved his job.

For the following four days at least one instructor was always keeping an eye on the satellite images. The recruits had all the theoretical knowledge they needed: how to find water and make fire, how to tell time by the sun and find the right direction, how to find food even in the harsh conditions, how to build shelters and keep themselves warm. Now it was time to put that knowledge into practise.

Just as expected, the nakedness got very old very soon. By the end of the first day even the krogans were over comparing their dicks to other races'. When everyone had literally seen all there was to see of everyone else, tiredness and cold kicked in and they focused on the mission.

Despite his aloofness Michael Portman neither headed out on his own, nor did he push the others to do as he said, even though he clearly knew better than most of them how to survive. He'd lived on Tuchanka for a while. Instead he silently took care of the others. He hunted for snakes, lizards and other indigenous animals. When an asari cut her foot open on a sharp rock he helped her walk. When another one got bit by a snake he was the one to suck the venom out of her leg and found some cool leaves to keep her more comfortable until they were extracted and treated by a medic. But when a human guy complained about dehydration, Portman slugged him.

"If you can't deal with the situation, you have no business being here," he spat at the man. "Maybe you should quit the training and go back to your masseuse."

That effectively shut up anyone who wanted to complain. Joker flew the transporter again when Vega and Jo went out to collect the group. The recruits were waiting for them. They'd found the EZ just fine and arrived without losing anyone. The snake bite looked bad, but the foot cut and other injuries didn't seem too tragic. When the cold, dirty, bruised and chafed recruits filed into the shuttle, they had no strength to talk. With grim miens they strapped themselves into their seats. Nobody even asked why their clothes were nowhere to be seen.

"You did good," Vega offered his assessment. "And you deserve a reward. I have good news! You don't have to wait another month for your next exercise. In fact, it's starting right now - a seven day trip across a desert. Are you all as excited about it as I am?"

"Yes, Sir," Portman nodded and Joker had a feeling that the guy seriously meant that. "It will be our pleasure."

Vega looked at the other recruits, while Jo and Joker observed the scene on a screen from the cockpit. The guys were harried, exhausted and miserable, but not even a single one of them complained. Sure, they weren't exactly happy, but one by one they all nodded, determined not to show weakness or disappoint the brass.

Joker looked at his wife from the side. Her eyes were glistening with tears as she watched the group pull themselves together and mentally prepare for another harrowing journey.

"You did good choosing them," he told her. Jo nodded, rubbing her belly. "They really are Ns, maybe not in experience but definitely in their hearts."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But it's still something to see them toughen up like that. When you choose someone based on their profile, you never really know what you're getting. I'm glad that at least these thirty are worthy of calling themselves Ns."

Vega assessed each recruit before releasing his business-like stance.

"I'm kidding," he smiled. "We're going home, there won't be another exercise for at least a week. Relax."

Work continued as usual at the Academy. Vega sent out his next group for a survival exercise. The Infiltration Instructor, Gilla O'Ran, implemented obligatory chess and poker tournaments. General Austos Lexos' Crisis Management classes ran around pestering Naohe's Intelligence recruits to show them how to hack computers. Tali's entire class reported to the med wing with temporary blindness after they failed to disable a flashbang bomb in time. While treating them Karin made sure they knew of her disappointment in their performance. Amanda Theri's Xenophilia classes sat in with other specialisations' courses to practise empathising with different ways of thinking. Joker scheduled Steve Cortez's first exam. Even this early in the training the pilot was better than many other recruits. When he succeeded (there was no if about it), he would be the second recruit under Jo's supervision to gain an N rank.

Jo worked non-stop and Alice barely kept up with her. There was Michael Portman's private tutoring, for one. The man was still defiant to a fault and challenged Jo's authority at every step, but he was no longer unwilling to be at the Academy.

There was the Aurora Foundation to promote. Among other things the foundation started building orphanages on Earth and other homeworlds. Supplies had to be delivered and the shuttles had to be defended against pirates. A whole infrastructure had to be considered and organised. Everyone helped as much as they could, but Jo saw it as her personal project to create orphanages and to keep them open. One of her ultimate goals was to make absolutely sure that people working in those orphanages were truly decent. At all cost she wanted to avoid any other child to live through the trauma she'd had in her own childhood.

Despite being busy, she'd found time to organise an auction for her ball gown. It was announced in a big way on the galaxy-wide news. The dress she'd worn to the First Annual Victor Ball was cleaned before Jo released it, so that no DNA was left on it. She didn't want anyone to try and clone her from her skin flakes. The auction was going to run for a week to give as many people as possible a chance to place a bid. The whole sum would then go to the Aurora Foundation. By the second day the bid was raised from ten thousand to two million. Joker had a suspicion that in the end it would go for a billion, at least.

There was also the business with Multistars and their epic vid project. Joker and Jo sat down for a vid conference with the writers at some point to go through the new, revised version of the script. The whole thing was now planned as a five-part thing with a full runtime of 25-28 hours. The studio was building the sets and casting actors full speed. Jo and Joker had to promise to come in personally very soon to give their okay on everything.

Some time along the way Joker had released a call for scientists to set up a lab and look for a cure for his bones. The grant he and Jo authorised for it attracted hundreds of qualified prospects. After looking through many applications Joker decided to put an STG member in the leading role. The salarian could then hire the rest of his team and put together the tech he would need.

They were also making tremendous progress with Justine. She was stunned when Jo showed her a famous sculptor's work and told her that she'd invited him to design a statue of Lady Justice with Justine's face for the station. For that she made Justine pose and took pictures until she was satisfied. Justine had called Joker twice more in the middle of the night, crying and screaming. Both times he went over and they talked. She was slowly braving the outside, wearing sunglasses and a cap. Most of the time she stayed at home and self-educated by watching vids, documentaries, the history channel and other useful stuff. But sometimes she took small trips to the nearby restaurant or a mall. Most of the time she called Jo to ask her if that would be okay, though. Jo repeatedly told her that it would always be fine, that she didn't need permission, but Joker felt that Justine simply wanted Jo to know that she was trying, despite all her inadequacies. Jo was incredibly proud of Justine for taking her life in her own hands, and for taking it slow. The woman was on a hard journey, but she still braved every step with unshakable willpower.

One evening in early December Tali and their other friends invited Joker and Jo along to Seashell for their usual Saturday night outing. Ever since Kolyat had opened The Bar, the recruits had somewhere to unwind in the evenings, and while the staff joined them during the week, they went planetside on weekends to relax from all the teaching and to give the recruits some time among themselves. It was one of the new traditions. That night Jo and Joker had planned to do some work in the nursery they were setting up in a room right across from their own bedroom, therefore they initially declined the invitation.

But when they finished putting together a crib and decorating the walls with pictures of animals, plants and various intelligent species, they decided to join their friends after all.

Seashell was well-lit from the inside and the music throbbed when Joker landed the Swan nearby. He was tickling Jo as they approached the door and she was laughing and squealing like a little girl. Which was perhaps the only excuse they had for not noticing a distinct lack of patrons around the front entrance. It was a testimony to their relaxed lifestyle that they had made it almost three meters inside the bar before they noticed anything strange.

Joker's skin suddenly prickled. His arm, still around Jo's waist, went tense.

There were no patrons in the bar. Nor were there any bartenders, waiters or staff of any kind. Instead they faced a small army of nearly fifty men, all humans, all heavily armed, all grim-looking, giving them scowls. A quick look back confirmed that their exit had been blocked by three more people with military grade assault rifles worthy of even Jo's collection. They meant serious business.

Jo went stiff at first, but it was nothing compared to what came over her when the music was turned down and a man spoke up from a higher level of the club:

"Long time no see, baby girl."

Slowly the tattooed and scarred thugs unfolded their weapons and aimed them straight at Jo and Joker. Joker instinctively stepped in front of Jo and...

...she let him. The woman who knew no fear, who would jump into an abyss to save a stranger, who would put herself between another soldier and a bullet any day, she now stood behind Joker with her hands firmly twisted into the fabric of his shirt at his sides. She held him in front of herself like a shield.

Her hands were shaking.

An icy shiver almost peeled the skin off Joker's body. Who were these people to get that strong of a reaction from his wife? It couldn't just be the fear for the safety of their baby, there had to be more than that. Jo was scared out of her wits, spooked like she'd seen Harbinger's ghost. She was no Commander Moreau or even Shepard right now, but a frightened little girl.

With his heart threatening to break through his ribcage Joker focused his attention on the man who had spoken.

He was tall, had dark brown hair and a fair complexion. Unlike the thugs, he wore an expensive suit, which didn't hide a pistol in a holster. From the looks of him he was still pretty young, maybe in his fifties, well groomed, confident. It was the cold, cruel set of his eyes and lips that testified to his true character. A leader of a terrorist organisation, maybe?

"Gore," Jo finally said.

She'd obviously tried to sound unaffected and failed miserably. Joker couldn't remember the last time this had happened. She was freaking out.

Gore. Joker knew of a person by that name, and he hadn't been far off in his assessment. Gore Stanbury, the leader of the 10th Street Reds, had turned his gang from drug and arms dealers on Earth into a real terrorist group committing hate crimes against non-humans. One of his thugs had even approached Jo on the Citadel when she was hunting Saren. She'd killed that messenger, and now the boss had decided to come and see her personally.

Joker was almost awed. He was looking at the man who pretty much made Jo who she was, who'd played a huge role in her life, and who was the only person in the world able to reduce her to a horrified child even now.

"You played hard to get for too long, baby," Gore said. "It's time to come home. To remember who you owe for everything you have."

Jo's breath was shallow and shaky against Joker's neck. She was clutching his shirt with a death grip.

"Would that be you?" Joker snorted. Jo wouldn't be strong, confident and defiant against this man, he could sense that. Perhaps this was a once in a lifetime chance for him to slay her demons.

"Of course," Gore focused on Joker as if he'd just noticed him. "Without me she would have died under a bridge at the age of eight."

"I think we both know that Jo would have survived with or without your help," Joker said. "You, however, were too conceited and chauvinistic to give her her due. What you are is a bully who feels better about himself by hurting innocent children. And when you met a little girl who just wouldn't conform, you did all you could to break her. You failed to see that she was stronger, smarter, tougher and more dangerous than any member of your sausage fest here," he gestured at the congregation of men around them. There was not a single woman in Gore's gang. "She was more than you could handle from the age of eight, and at eighteen she finally left you behind, the useless weight that you were. Man, did it have to hurt when she handed your balls to you!"

Gore considered Joker for a moment. Most people wouldn't have noticed, but Joker had practised enough on Jo to see the slight crinkling at the corners of Gore's eyes. He'd struck the nerve and made an enemy here. Good.

"Shut your mouth until you're spoken to," Gore finally declared, and boy, was that the wrong thing to say!

"Or what?" Joker managed to look down at the man who stood a flight of stairs above him. "You're going to try and scare me? You dickwad, I live and sleep with the person who made the Reapers shake in their boots. You're nothing but an insect on the sole of my shoe."

Gore changed the tactic and focused back on Jo, ignoring Joker:

"Why so quiet? Aren't you happy to see me?"

Jo said nothing. Her grip on Joker was still tight.

"How are you still alive, anyway?" Joker asked, as if Gore hadn't spoken. "Our guys were supposed to be here and there is no chance you could have overpowered them."

"Which ones were they?" Gore couldn't help his curiosity.

"A turian, a quarian, a couple of humans."

"You mean the Mohawked Beefcake, the Visor, his face-hiding girlfriend and the Tattooed Maniac?"

"That's Psychotic Biotic to you."

"They were here," Gore gestured at the booth the Normandy crew usually took. "They left almost two hours ago. Something about trying their luck at the casino downtown. We let them go. No sense killing for sport. It was you I wanted, Jo."

"And what is it exactly that you want?" Joker poked.

"Just..." Gore interrupted his own train of thought and snapped irritably: "Jo, are you just going to stand there quietly, hiding behind the cripple, and letting him speak for you? That's pathetic. I know you're not a fighter anymore after the Reapers, but I didn't realise just how weak you've become. I must say, I'm awfully disappointed."

"I'm pregnant," Jo finally said. Her hands were still shaking, but her voice was firm. "You know what I can do just because I can. Simply imagine right now what I will do as a mother, if any harm comes to my baby."

Silence became heavy, oppressive. Gore tried to look as tough as ever, but he was clearly startled by the news. His eyes darted to his men, who collectively removed their fingers from the triggers. Most of them looked at each other in concern. Jo didn't need to make any graphic threats. These people knew exactly what she was capable of. Their imagination supplied all the details, and even those wouldn't be as agonising as the reality if Jo truly went berserk. They all knew that, too.

One by one the thugs started lowering their guns. Gore clenched his teeth and reassessed the situation. Jo and Joker, unarmed, unprotected against fifty terrorists with the best equipment: in any other case he whould have laughed at the odds. However, the man was smart enough to understand that with the right motivation Jo could destroy each and every one of them. And she'd just told them that the motivation was more than right. Gore was far from stupid. Even if they killed her now, she would claw her way out of perdition to rain destruction on them.

After a few moments he gave a sign for his people to lower their guns and move to the exit. They had probably never obeyed him as eagerly as this time.

"All right, Jo, I see," he said, coming down the stairs very slowly. "Don't think I don't. I had big plans for you, but this obviously changes things. How about we go our separate ways and simply forget the other one exists?"

That was a smart move. Gore and his men knew Jo from the days before she'd learned to control the violence inside her. They knew that she could have ended all of them at any point of her military career if she'd decided to clean up her past. Gore may have tried to play the 'father figure' card, tried to intimidate her right back into becoming the little girl she used to be, but he knew very well that this time he'd bitten off more than he could chew. All he could do now was make a deal that ensured his safe exit.

"Just leave my part of the galaxy," Jo hissed through her clenched teeth. Gore nodded and followed the last of his men out of the bar. The door slid shut behind them and silence rang in the empty room.

For several long seconds they stood tense, listening to the sound of engines starting outside. When six shuttles lifted off somewhere further down the street, Jo's legs went out from underneath her.

"Ohmygod..." she sank down, still clinging to Joker's shirt. He turned to help her sit on the floor. Her breathing came faster and faster, her skin flushed with blood her heart was pumping through her at an alarming rate. Her whole body was sweaty and shaking in a rising panic attack. Joker stood close to her, giving her a chance to lean against his legs, since there were no chairs in their direct vicinity and she was clearly unable to walk even a few steps. He opened his omnitool and started typing. His hand shook a little, too, but that wouldn't stop him from what he was planning.

When all the messages were sent he lowered himself onto the floor and held his wife until six minutes later the door flew open again and several people stormed in. Jack was glowing blue with all her power, Garrus had his armour on over a fancy suit. Tali had five drones around her at once, and she sent them out to check the entire club. Vega spared a quick look around and fell to his knees next to Jo and Joker.

"You ok?" He asked Joker while patting Jo down for injuries. "Lay down," he then directed her to stretch out on the floor with her head on Joker's thigh. "Exhale. Lola, you need to exhale before you gulp in more air. Karin's on her way. You're safe now. Are you in pain? Do you feel cramps in your lower belly?"

She shook her head, honestly trying to slow down her breathing. Joker did the same when he realised that he was just as panicked as she was. Vega's solid presence and take-charge attitude gave them something to hold on to.

"You're not bleeding, so the baby is probably fine," Vega continued checking her. He rubbed her calves and thighs: "Relax your muscles, Lola. You're cold as ice, your heart is racing and you're one big cramp all over. The baby is getting scared. Relax, assure the baby that everything is fine now. Exhale slowly with me." He guided her into a breathing exercise, which Joker followed. Jo grabbed Joker's arm painfully and hid her face in the crook of his elbow. She sobbed.

Even with Vega's calming presence and instructions she needed Joker to hold on to in a moment of weakness.

"That's it," Vega crooned. "Both of you, breathe slowly. The baby needs to feel your presence."

People started coming in from one of the back rooms. Some wore the staff uniform, some were patrons. They had been handcuffed and gagged by the Reds and dumped in the back. Tali's drones freed them. Many worriedly inquired after Jo, but Garrus and Jack held them back. Only a few minutes later Karin rushed inside the club, followed by a fully battle-geared Michael Portman and a squad of recruits from several specialisations. She quickly and efficiently scanned Jo and sat back on her heels with an exhale.

"Don't scare me like that, children," she chided them. "You're fine, Jo, and so is the baby. Will someone finally explain to me what's going on?"

"Later," Joker let Vega help him up and then together they brought Jo to her feet. She was still blotchy red and pale, sweating and shaking, but she was slowly regaining her equilibrium. "You and you," he pointed at Jack and Vega. "In the car with us. You," he singled out Portman. "Take the squad and Karin. Your Kodiak is on point. You two," he pointed at Garrus and Tali. "Take your car and follow us. I want no more surprises. First we go to our house, take our own Kodiak, and then we all go to the station."

"Why there? You both should rest." Karin frowned.

"We have an unfinished business."

Most of the people were confused, but nobody protested against Joker giving orders. Everyone did as they were told. At the Moreau house they left the Swan and Garrus' car, and took their shuttle. Both shuttles then cleared customs according to protocol and headed to the station.

They felt tension in the air from the second the two shuttles landed in the VIP dock. All recruits waited for them in the atrium. Those staff members who'd gone planetside for the night had hurriedly returned for the emergency.

Joker led Jo to a bench in the atrium and made her sit. She was quiet, protectively rubbing her rounded belly ever since they left Seashell. Joker let her be and addressed the recruits:

"Is the Flight Class back yet?"

"On their way," Matt reported. For once he was in the atrium with everyone else and not in his lab. "ETA seven minutes."

"What's going on? What did you do?" Jo asked him.

"Just trust me," he hugged her head to his abs. She gratefully leaned into him for a few moments. "Come on, let's go meet my guys at the dock." He pulled her up and led her to Dock 1. The station's population followed them. His eyes were unusually dark and his jaw tense.

Shortly after they all assembled inside the Dock 1 near the Normandy, the blast doors opened, letting in a squadron of twenty eight one-man fighters and nearly as many heavy Kodiaks. Steve Cortez, who exited one of the fighters, marched to Joker and saluted him, not like a friend but like a CO.

"Instructor Moreau," he reported. "As you ordered, the Flight Class tracked the shuttles that left the planet's surface at your estimated coordinates. We followed them to the edge of the solar system. Once we were sure that the Chrysalis Fleet wasn't tracking us, we followed the shuttles beyond the system and attacked them. We identified the shuttle holding their leader and destroyed the other five. When we boarded the last shuttle, the crew inside offered resistance and was dealt with accordingly. The leader and sole survivor has been taken alive, per your instruction."

"Well done, Recruit," Joker nodded. "Bring him here."

Other pilots grabbed the shackled, worse for wear Gore Stanbury and dragged him close. Just like an hour ago, the man stood facing Joker, while Jo was hiding behind her husband. The difference was that this time they were surrounded by Jo's gang, not Gore's.

"What's going on?" Gore snapped. "Jo, I thought we had a deal!"

"You don't talk to her," Joker spit. "You talk to me. In fact, disregarding me was the biggest mistake of your life." He took the datapad Matt silently handed to him.

"Gorden Stanbury," he began in a heavy, official tone, skimming through the text on the datapad. At some point he interrupted his reading and stared at Matt, scandalised. "Are you fucking kidding me? Why is he still alive?"

"The invisible leader had never bothered with him," Matt looked aside, ashamed.

"That's not an excuse. Gorden Stanbury," Joker addressed the shackled man once more. "You have always successfully managed to evade the law, to bribe or blackmail authority figures to make charges against you disappear. However, the list of your crimes includes an organisation of an illegal force called the Tenth Street Reds, Red Sand dealing, illegal arms dealing, illegal acquirement of custody over at least 120 minors, failure to provide adequate conditions for those minors, wilful endangerment of minors by engaging them as couriers in your drug deals, employment of minors in a strip club co-owned by you, sexual intercourse with at least forty one female minors in your custody, selling at least two male minors into slavery, orchestrating at least eighteen terrorist acts on Earth against non-humans and over thirty more that can't be proven directly, but are most likely committed at your command. Over one hundred terrorist acts against non-humans across the Council Space, cooperation with Cerberus, pirating, attacks on the Systems Alliance's supply ships, kidnapping, blackmailing, causing four suicides, the list just keeps going and going."

He looked up. There was a tense silence inside Dock 1. Nobody but Matt, Jo and Joker really knew who Gore was and why he was here right now, but the list of his crimes impressed them all.

"But you know how little all of this matters in the face of the one crime you won't be able to shake off." Joker returned Matt's datapad and narrowed his eyes at the prisoner. "You pointed a gun at my wife and my unborn child."

Recruits and staff members collectively gasped.

"You are hereby sentenced to death."

"You can't sentence me to death," Gore huffed. "You don't have that kind of authority. We're in Council Space."

"Oh?" Joker huffed. "I have 639 witnesses that this never happened. Your shuttle has met its unfortunate end by perishing inside a comet's tail. Such a shame that your pilots were so bad."

Gore looked around at the 639 witnesses, who looked at him coldly. Not even a single one of them was going to protest Joker's sentencing. Gore paled slightly.

"Jo, didn't we make a deal?" He tried. "Are you just going to stand there and let this happen?"

"You still don't get it, do you?" Joker spoke in Jo's stead. "She's not calling the shots. She may have let you go, but I didn't. I'm the master of your fate now and I'm by far not as... charitable as my woman." He spat. Gore blanched. Charitable was one of his favourite words when Jo was in his gang, and Gore realised now that Joker was privy to information nobody else here had: The reason why Jo had left the Reds, had run from Vancouver and never returned voluntarily.

His attempt to drug and rape her.

"You have a choice now," Joker said. "Either you stay here and the recruits use you as a subject in their torture class for many years to come. Or you walk out through the energy field right into open space. The second option is quick and painful, but I personally prefer the first one. I might even join the Infiltration branch myself just to have a go at you."

Gore remained silent for a long moment. The muscles of his jaw worked hard.

"You useless motherfucking cripple," he finally hissed. "You can't be the one to end me. Me! This was not supposed to happen! I lead a powerful organisation, I have friends in very high places!"

"I don't see any of your friends here right now," Garrus noted. "Nor do I see any shuttles outside ready to rescue you."

"If you touch a hair on my head, you'll live to regret it. The consequences will be dire for each and every one of you."

"I don't think so. Make a choice, Stanbury, before I make it for you." Joker said.

"You wouldn't dare. You're a sissy, a cripple, you don't have the balls. None of you has the balls! Only Jo ever did, and she's turned weak and soft!"

Joker held out his hand and Vega placed one of his pistols in it. It had a Cranial Tauma System.

The bullet did what it was modified to do: it broke through the bone and exploded in the soft tissue. Gorden Stanbury's head burst, painting Joker and several others red.

Jo whimpered and swayed. Jack caught her around her waist and Tali supported her from the other side.

Joker returned Vega's pistol and told Cortez:

"Get rid of the corpse. Toss it into the sun or something. Nobody should ever find it."

"On it," Steve nodded. A mech already hurried over with a body bag. The rest of the spectators watched in silence how Joker turned to Jo and wrapped his arm around her neck. She held him tightly and he was the only one who heard her sob. Gore's blood on his skin and clothes smeared over her.

Everyone knew how hardcore Jo was. But nobody on the station had probably ever imagined watching Joker of all people commit murder in cold blood.

And they agreed. Nobody would ever admit that this execution had taken place. Dex had even deactivated all cameras and other recording devices inside Dock 1. A man guilty of as many crimes as Gorden Stanbury deserved the harsh judgement. But a man who had pointed a gun (or ordered fifty thugs to do so) at Jo - their Jo! - had just gotten off much too easily.