Jeff lightly traced his finger around Annie's bare shoulder as he watched her sleep. He thought back to the first time they had spent the night in this bed. He had assumed she was one of those women who would race to put clothes on right after sex, either pajamas or underwear or even a worn t-shirt. But afterwards she had simply snuggled closer to him and drifted off to sleep. He never knew if his assumptions of her were wrong or if she simply was growing more comfortable with herself.

His finger moved downward to the scar above her right breast, a souvenir from her apprehension of El Tigre. As he gently rubbed it he thought of the vow she took when she first decided to become a superhero, to only kill in self defense and never in cold blood. While he often told her she was naive in not realizing that some villains were too dangerous to be simply sent to jail secretly he admired her for the code she set for herself. She had more integrity and strength of character then he did.

Although that integrity was almost broken during that battle. She had been enraged by Pierce's death and went mad in her quest to take his killer down. As she stood over El Tigre with a knife to his throat Jeff begged her not to kill him. That doing this would change her forever. In the end she reluctantly agreed and turned him over to the police. But he never forgot just how close it had been.

As he thought of that he realized that now there were two people she wanted to kill; El Tigre and The Pusher. While he hated Rich and wanted to see him dead he didn't want Annie to have blood on her hands because of that monster. Especially when her main motivation for it was due to the lie Jeff had told her. He might not be able to prevent her from killing El Tigre, but if he told her the truth he might be able to stop her from killing Rich.

As he looked at her he saw her whimper and squirm in her sleep. He guessed she was having a dream. He just didn't know if it was a good dream or a nightmare.

"Come on Annie. You can do this."

"Pierce, I don't think I can."

They were standing in the courtyard of Hawthorne manor. Aside from the sky being light purple and a unicorn in the distance, and Pierce sitting on a cloud a few feet above the ground, everything seemed fairly normal. Pierce stepped off his cloud and landed heavily on the ground, wincing as he walked over to Annie. She looked at him with concern.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"No, no. Just broke my leg. There now, all better. Now, you just have to practice. Oh Kronz! Can you come here for a moment? The lady needs to practice."

A disgruntled manservant walked over and stood a few feet in front of Annie.

"Now Annie, just stare into his eyes and concentrate. Remember not to squint your eyes and to focus deeply. Focus all of your mental energy into his brain. He is not in control of himself. You are. Concentrate and take away all thought from him."

Annie took a deep breath and concentrated, focusing entirely on Kronz. As she looked at him she saw his face become blank and impassive. Pointing a finger at her so she didn't stop Pierce went over to Kronz and pushed him. He didn't react at all.

Annie jumped up and down squealing in happiness. Smiling warmly Pierce went over and hugged her.

"I'm so proud of you Annie. With a bit more practice you'll be able to do the Hawthorne stare better than I can."

"Did you ever teach this to Troy? I've never seen him do it."

"Um, no." As Pierce pushed her away to arm length he tried to voice what he wanted to say. He wasn't good with this stuff and this was important. "Troy was a great student. But this…see, the Hawthorn stare is handed down throughout the generations of my family, from parent to child. My grandfather, who learned it from his mother, taught it to my father. My father taught it to me. And now, I teach it to you."

"Pierce." Annie's eyes started to tear with emotion at what he was saying.

"Annie, I don't have any kids. I never thought I'd have anyone to pass this down to. But when I look at you I see…you're like the daughter I…."

Pierce held his hand over his face as he uncharacteristically became overwhelmed with emotion. Annie hugged him tightly, trying to put how touched she was into this simple gesture. She felt his arms wrap around her as he hugged her back.

She looked up as the entire world changed around her. She was still in the court yard, but the sky was a stormy black. She looked down and her blood ran cold. Pierce was laying at her feet, blood pouring out of the multiple stab wounds throughout his body.

"PIERCE!" She dropped to her knees as she held him. "I'm going to get help. Just hold on while I get help."

"Annie…." He took hold of her hand and held it, but a moment later it fell to the ground as the life slipped away from him. Hot tears spilled down Annie's face as she looked down at Pierce's body.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Annie looked up and saw El Tigre standing next to her, laughing maniacally. "Oh, what are you going to do? Your sensei is dead and you're not going to do anything."

"You have to avenge me." Annie gasped as she looked at Pierce. His eyes were completely rolled back in his head and his body was rotting in front of her. "You have to kill him for killing me. Do not let my death go unpunished."

"She won't do it." Suddenly Pierce's body morphed into Troy. He was in a hospital gown and hooked up to various machines. When he spoke to her his voice was strangled and strained. "She doesn't have it in her to kill. She's weak. She won't do what it takes to get justice for those she cares about."

"Of course she's weak." Annie looked up and El Tigre had disappeared. Instead Rich in his Pusher outfit stood in front of her. "Why else would you let those who hurt the ones you love get away? You couldn't kill El Tigre. You certainly aren't going to kill me. Maybe I should just save you the trouble of being weak and put you out of your misery.

Before she could react he pulled a sword out of nowhere and stabbed her through the chest with it.

"NO!"

Annie woke up with a start. She looked around, seeing that it was all a dream and that she was back in her apartment. She shook uncontrollably as the memories of the nightmare flooded her mind.

"It's ok, I've got you." As she looked up she realized she was in Jeff's arms. He was holding her tightly, trying to calm her down. "It's ok, it was just a nightmare. You're safe."

"Jeff, I was so scared. I saw Pierce and Troy and…" As she remembered her head became clear and cold determination flooded through her. She pulled away from Jeff and got out of bed. Not caring or not realizing that she was naked she paced frantically, talking to herself. "I can't let them get away with it. I have to make them pay. El Tigre and The Pusher. They're going to pay for what they did."

Jeff looked at Annie with real concern on his face. He had never seen her this worked up before. "Annie just sit down and calm down. You're acting like a crazy person."

She stopped pacing and turned towards him, anger etched on her face. "No Jeff! What's crazy is letting the monsters who hurt the ones we love go free. They have to pay. They have to die and I'm going to be the one who kills them! I let El Tigre live once, I'm not going to do it again! And as for Pusher, he's done enough to this town already! But I won't let him get away with putting Troy in a coma! I WON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT!"

"ANNIE, STOP!" Jeff grabbed her arms and pulled her down on the bed. She squirmed as he held onto her "Annie, listen to me. There's something I have to tell you." He had hoped he could put this off. But he knew the time had come to tell her the truth. "Rich didn't attack Troy."

"Yes he did. Troy said so himself. Just before he lost conscious you said he told you The Pusher was the one who attacked him."

"I lied. The Pusher had nothing to do with Troy's attack." Annie finally stopped struggling as Jeff let go of her. She looked at him as he internally battled the instinct to continue talking or to shut up and run.

"What? You lied to me?"

"I figured it was easier. You already hated The Pusher for turning half of Greendale into drug addicts. I figured pinning it all on him was better than telling you the truth."

She looked at him, her face and voice as hard as steel. "Jeff, tell me what happened."

Jeff swallowed the lump in his throat as he prepared himself to tell her what really happened. "The person who attacked Troy wasn't The Pusher, or anyone who's worked for him. It was Dark Iris. She was the one who did it."

Annie's eyes widened in shock. "Annie Kim. She attacked Troy? Why?"

"You remember how she was. How she made it her mission to be your evil doppelganger. To be the evil version of you. Well, it went deeper than that. She wanted to destroy everything about you, starting with hurting those you cared about. Remember a few weeks before Troy's attack, when you two were patrolling and fought Leonard's boys?"

She nodded as she remembered that night. "Yea. We were at the docks stopping them from delivering a gun shipment. One of them knocked me in the head and threw me in the water. Troy fished me out and had to give me mouth to mouth. He saved my life. "

"Well, Annie Kim was there also, watching you two from a distance. And to her she thought Troy was kissing you rather than resuscitating you. From that she thought Captain Awesome was involved with Bright Eyes."

Shock crashed through Annie in waves as what Jeff said flowed through her. "You mean…."

"The night Troy was attacked I found him in a warehouse. Before he lost consciousness he told me Dark Iris attacked him to get to you and that this was only the beginning. She would kill everyone Bright Eyes loved before she captured and tortured her to death."

"So it's my fault. What happened to Troy was my fault."

"No it isn't Annie."

"Yes it is Jeff! If I hadn't been thrown in the water Troy would never have had to save me and she would never, wait a minute." Annie suddenly stopped as a sudden memory came to her. "Annie Kim died. She was found dead in an ally, her Dark Iris costume in tatters. "

Jeff looked down as Annie's eyes bore into him. "Jeff, did you kill her?"

"No…..not exactly." He sighed deeply as she continued to look at him. "I knew she wasn't going to stop. She would find you and she would kill you. And I couldn't let that happen. So me and Abed decided on a plan."

"What?"

Jeff turned his head away, unable to look at Annie as he told her this. "We found and captured her, kept her locked up in an abandoned warehouse, and force fed her sunshine pills round the clock for a week straight. By the time we let her go there was no trace of her left. She was nothing more than a wild beast."

Annie pulled away from Jeff, shocked at hearing this. "You…how…I feel sick. How could you do that?"

"Because I couldn't let her hurt you." Jeff said as he looked at Annie again. "I did what had to be done, to protect you."

"That wasn't protection. That was sick and inhuman. You're as bad as they are."

"Annie." Jeff's voice breaking as she literally and figuratively pushed him away from her. "I know it was bad. And I hate myself for it. But I love you. And I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you. I'm not you. I don't have that thing inside me that you and Troy and Shirley have. I can't draw a line in the sand and vigorously stay on one side. If I have to I do whatever it takes, what others can't and shouldn't have to do."

"Does Shirley know?" Annie sobbed, tears flowing from her eyes as she cried.

Jeff shook his head. "No she doesn't. Me and Abed swore not to tell either of you what we did. But Abed told me tonight that I had to tell you, because you were becoming obsessed with killing The Pusher. And I couldn't have his blood on your hands over something he never did. Annie, I'm sorry. For everything. For doing what I did to Annie Kim, for breaking up with you to try and project you, for all of it."

As she looked at him through red rimmed eyes the bedroom door violently burst open. Before either of them could react both Annie and Jeff were hit with stun guns. They cried out from the electrical shocks as their bodies tensed up. Jeff's eyes looked around as men in black suits came marching into the room, followed by Miss Statistics. She smiled evilly as she looked down at them. She bent down and kissed Jeff deeply, enjoying the moans of protest from Annie.

"Well Well Well." She cackled as she cracked her whip. "Look at what we found here. The great ATL and Bright Eyes. Oh, I'm sure you're wondering how I knew it was you. You see, there's a reason heroes shouldn't say their real names when they're in costume. You never know who might be listening in. You see, Pop Pop had on a microphone that recorded everything he said and heard so we could keep track of him. And when you two yelled out your real names when he attacked tonight we figured out Annie Edison and Jeff Winger were really Bright Eyes and ATL. Though I had a hard time recognizing you Annie with your new hair. If I swung that way…. "

She turned to her henchmen. "Take our guests and put them in the van. But first get both of them in their costumes. I want the world to see their beloved heroes' dead, not two ordinary people. "

"You sure the boss is ok with that?"

Michelle cracked her whip in the air and wrapped it around the henchman's neck, pulling him closer as he struggled for air. "I am my own boss. Pusher is my partner, not my boss." She gave the whip a hard tug and snapped his neck. He crumpled to the ground as she looked at her men. "Anyone else have anything else to say? No? Then get to work."

Twenty minutes later Jeff and Annie were lead outside, bound and in their superhero costumes. They were pushed into the back of a van as Miss Statistics and her henchmen got in after them. No one noticed the grey cat that looked on at all of this. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the cat, except that on his collar was a tiny camera that was recording everything onto a hand held video screen across the street.

Britta looked away from the screen as she switched on her radio. "Meta, you were right. Bright Eyes and ATL were found out. Miss Sluttistics just put them in a van and drove off. Captain Whiskers is following them. And so am I. Anarchy over and out."

I should hopefully be writing the exciting conclusion to this tale in the next few days. Also I know Greendale is nowhere near water (as was clearly stated in Beginner Pottery), but for plot purposes of this story I took a bit of creative license.