"I could kill you," Capala whispered. "I could kill you right now, and avenge him."

"But where's the fun in that?" the man asked, his dark eyes sparkling. His teeth were pointed.

"Fuck you," the woman spat.

The man smirked. "Rather rude of you."

"Who are you?" Robin asked in a reverent whisper. He couldn't stop himself from asking.

The man grinned. "I, Goodfellow, am Thorne. Killer of kings, founder of empires and destroyer of civilizations."

Puck swallowed. "An impressive resume for someone I've never heard of."

"For most of my life, I've stuck to the mortal world." Thorne smirked again. "Humans have a wonderful bloodlust. Gives me plenty to do. Of course, I do make rare exceptions." He winked at Capala.

Robin felt Capala tremble beside him. His slid his hand into hers, trying to give her some silent comfort. "How adorable," Thorne remarked. "He thinks he loves you."

Capala took a shaky breath. "Thorne, we can settle our differences later. For now...I need you to kill Queen Meghan."

Thorne smiled. "Isn't that interesting?" he said. "How you can throw away an entire history with one phrase like that. 'Settle our differences,' as if it's a lover's quarrel about who left the toilet seat up."

"Thorne," Capala said, her voice warning.

The assassin cocked his head to one side. "Capala, you really don't know, do you? Just whose bidding you're doing."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Really, I don't."

"Hm." Thorne smiled. "Did you know that General Arrakis had a daughter, Cap?"

Cap froze. "A daughter?" she repeated.

The man nodded. "Yes. Your beloved General, your boss, your commander. He had a plan in mind for you, you know, before you...lost your nerve."

The iron soldier clenched her hands into fists, crushing Robin's fingers in her grip. "Stop this."

"He taught young Gage all of his ideas. All of his lovely conspiracies. He wanted to start a revolution, Cap. He believed he was right and everyone else was wrong. He thought his beliefs gave him the right to dictate who lives and who dies." He smiled. "And it seems he's passed this belief onto his daughter."

"Stop."

"You followed his every order, Cap. You did whatever he told you, because you wanted to believe in something. And when he told you someone was getting in the way of his grand vision, well...you didn't hesitate."

"Stop!" Capala pulled away from Puck, stepping closer to Thorne.

"Arrakis told you that for a price, no one would miss him. When you found me, you didn't even ask Arrakis who he was aside from his number. You ordered a professional killer to end a person's life, and it didn't even occur to you to ask for his name."

Capala pointed her gun between his eyes. Tears fell down her cheeks. "I w-will end you," she croaked.

"So you gave me the order. You gave me the order, and I ended him. I watched the blood drain from his body. I listened to his last words. He asked for you, Cap. He loved you."

Capala tightened her grip on the trigger. She was sobbing, openly now. "Stop," she whispered.

Thorne took the final step, coming close enough so the gun touched his chest. He spoked in a whisper. "His name was Xylem."

Capala let out a tortured scream, striking Thorne across the face and beating him until the flesh peeled from his face and left blood splattered across the floor. Puck jumped forward, trying to stop her from killing him. He pulled on her arm but couldn't stop her as she released wordless howls of rage, sobbing and shouting as she pounded on Thorne's body.

But Thorne fought back.

He pushed himself to his feet and produced a knife from one of his sleeves, slashing the side of her arm open. She cried out and fired her gun. The shot flew over his shoulder and into the wall behind him. They grappled on the floor, sharing punches and strikes across the face and body.

"You promised you'd kill me!" Thorne shouted, his voice coloured with insanity. "Now keep that promise!"

He took hold of her chest and threw her against the wall, leaving a dent in the plaster. She grunted and Puck saw her head hit the wall, leaving a trail of blood as Capala crumpled to the ground. She groaned and tried to get up, but Thorne kicked her in the stomach and kept her down. She shouted and rolled out of the way of his next strike, forcing herself to her feet and launching herself at the assassin. Blood matted her hair, but she unleashed a flurry of blows on Thorne's joints and various weak spots.

But it didn't stop him. He pulled her into a headlock and kept her close, trying to choke her out. She flung her head backwards in an attempt to hit his chin and failed. If she moved her legs he could pin her and finish her. She flailed wildly. "You tried to kill me three years ago," Thorne hissed in her ear. "I defeated you then and I'll defeat you now. Only this time, I won't leave you alive to suffer."

Now, all this time Robin had been standing by, unsure of what to do. Any other time, he would have jumped in right about now, dagger swinging and ready for blood. But this fight seemed too familiar to him. It was the fight of old enemies, a duel that reminded him too much of his own fights with Ash. But watching the fight as it went on, Puck knew Capala would lose.

Ah, screw it, Robin thought. I'm not going to let her die because she's too stubborn to admit she needs help.

Puck pulled the dagger from his boot and flung it at the assassin. Not expecting the attack, Thorne cried out and whipped his head towards the jester. Before the trickster could even take a step forward, Capala ran out the last adrenaline she had and delivered a devastating blow to the side of Thorne's head, making the assassin fall back and cry out.

She'd made him see stars, if only for a moment, and she pressed the advantage. Another few blows to the skull got her too close, and he pinned her to the ground. Capala picked up her gun that had been dropped in the scuffle and pointed it to his head. Simultaneously, Thorne pressed a blade to her neck. The last flurry of movements had taken only a few seconds, too fast for Robin to intervene. "A stalemate," Thorne murmured. "Better than last time, Cap. Faster this time too."

"I've had three years of practice," Capala grunted.

"Indeed." Another second passed. Thorne got to his feet, but pressed a boot down on Capala's stomach to keep her pinned to the floor. "You're lucky Goodfellow was there to save you. And on another day, I would punish him for that. But that is not this day." He raised his chin. "Gage already paid me to kill Meghan. She wanted to test your loyalty, and it seems you failed."

Thorne lifted his foot from Capala's stomach. "Three years ago, I left you on my doorstep, near death. I wanted to see what you would do. I have not been disappointed." He paused. "Goodbye, Capala."

And then the lights went out.

Puck fell to his knees, his hands outstretched to find Capala in the darkness. The smell wafting into his nose told him the house had returned to the way it was when they'd first entered. Filthy. "Cap?" he asked. "Cap, where are you?" His hand brushed something warm.

Capala gave a weak chuckle. "Robin, that's my boob. Not the time, love."

Puck felt a smile spread across his face as he followed her chest to her arm by touch. He dragged her close to him, laying her head in his lap. "Are you okay?"

"Never better," she coughed, spitting crimson on the floor. "I just had the shit beat out of me, and now I'm lying on the floor in a mix of my own blood and rat shit. How's your day?"

Robin chuckled. "You're fun when you almost get yourself killed." He brush a stray hair off her face, his eyes now adjusted to the darkness. "We need to get you out of here, and cleaned up."

"Where are we going to go, Puck?" she asked. "It's a blizzard or rat crap. Not great options."

"We'll find somewhere," the jester insisted. "We always do."

Capala swallowed. She outstretched a hand to cup his cheek. "I'm sorry, Robin," she whispered. "I'm sorry you had to hear my story that way."

"...I just wish you'd told me before."

The woman sighed, dropping her hand from his face. "What was I supposed to say? There was never a good time."

"Is there ever a good time for something like that?"

Capala shook her head in his lap. "I guess not. I just..."

Puck interrupted her, bringing her from his lap to lie against her shoulder. He whispered in her ear. "Cap, I want to hear what happened. From you."

A moment passed. Capala took a deep breath. "Three years ago, I worked under a General Arrakis. He...he had a lot of conspiracy theories. He wasn't a fan of the then new Queen Meghan, or much else for that matter. I...I was his top underling, and he told me all his conspiracies. Thing was, I believed him. I wanted to move up the ladder with him, start a revolution with him. So I did whatever he told me.

"I had a fiancee back then. A techie, called Xylem. He handled the computer stuff at the military base. We met when I was promoted high enough that I had to do my own paperwork. One of the computers in the office I visited always seemed to be broken when I was around, giving him the chance to come over and talk to me." She smiled. "He had the best smile. And this big, loud laugh as well. He always seemed to be laughing at something, like life was some big joke and he was just along for the ride. I...I loved him."

The smile faded. "But Arrakis decided he didn't like having someone around who knew so much about the computer system. It's much easier to hack in and move some things around if no one at the office knows what they're doing. So he gave me a military number and had me contact Grimalkin. Grim led me to Thorne, I gave Thorne the number...and only later did I found out Xylem was dead.

"I asked for a transfer, then. I was terrified for what Arrakis would do to me, let alone Thorne, if I told anyone. I went to a different military sector, but I got it in my head to avenge Xylem's death. I went and found Thorne's place, and I fought him. I lost. He beat me within an inch of my life, and left me on his front porch. I crawled away and managed to fix myself up, but since then I refused to make friends, to talk to anyone, to do anything. I worked, and I trained, and I made ready for the next time Thorne and I met.

"Arrakis left the military shortly after I transferred. He dropped off the map for a while, and I guess...I guess Gage is taking up the family business. I just..." She took a deep, shuddering breath as her eyes began to water. "...I just want to know you don't hate me for what I did."

They sat there for a few minutes, Capala just breathing and Robin stroking her hair. "We can't change what's already been done, Cap," Puck murmured. "And god knows I've got a list of things I'd change if I had the chance. But we can and will move on." He pulled her closer. "And I'll love you as long as you'll have me."

"...Thank you, Puck."