There was a momentary stillness as Jay wavered between whether to shoot Nico or not. No one else spoke. Nico cursed silently, all the the shadows dark enough to travel through were along the walls, not in the middle of the room when he and Jay were standing. He was just about to risk diving for one of them when there was a noise from outside.

"Nico?" Toby yelled plunging in suddenly through the front door, the grin on his face turning sour in a second.

"Wha?" Jay yelped. Nico dropped to the ground feeling the bullet that had been shot just a nanosecond too late ruffle his hair as it sailed over his head. The bullet hit the wall in a shower of old drywall. Toby was on Jay in an instant, leaping over Nico's prone form, ripping the gun from Jay's hands. Jay gasped and flinched back, but it was already too late.

"I said I would rip the next person who hurt Nico apart. Oh joy that the next person was also the last person." Toby snarled, pushing Jay to the ground grinning coldly.

Nico turned over and sat up wincing as his hurt leg touched the ground, he glanced over as Hoody finally followed Toby in. Hoody took in everything that was going in instantly and shot a glare at Alex as he walked over to help Nico up.

"T-Toby we don't have t-time right now." Hoody told Toby gently. Toby's head snapped up, he practically snarled.

"Toby, he's right." Nico said struggling to stand on his own, then giving up and leaning on Hoody to take some of the weight of his leg that was now steadily dripping blood. "I destroyed the spirit that was possessing that girl, the Operator knows I'm after him now. We don't have much time. We need to find out what I need to know from Alex, and get as close as we can to the heart of the forest before he decides to show up. And before I become too weak from blood lose to face him." Toby seemed to notice that Nico was bleeding for the first time.

"Oh my god Nico what happened? Did he actually shoot you?" Toby asked leaping to his feet, pointing the gun he had taken from Jay, back at Jay so he wouldn't move.

"No, Alex did." Nico said pointing at Alex who was watching them all sullenly. "I'll be fine, but my backpack with my ambrosia and nectar is back at Clockwork and Bloody Painter's place so I can't heal right now."

"Do I have time to go get it?" Toby asked looking at Hoody, who in turn looked at Nico.

"Is T-Tim here as w-well?" He asked and Nico nodded.

"The dead who inhabit the hospital told me there was a third person restrained on the third floor. They say that that person used to be a patient here, so I don't see who it could be but Tim." Nico answered gasping a little as the adrenalin began to wear off and he felt the full pain of the bullet hole.

"Then yes." Hoody said nodding. "Help me g-get everyone up." Toby nodded.

"Two of the dead I summoned can handle Alex, so two can escort Jay." Nico started as he hissed in pain and He felt someone tap his shoulder and looked behind him to be terrified. "Shade?"

Shade was standing with his black Phantom of the Opera mask with a sinister smile on his face while his hair covered his right eye and he held his bowie knife in his belt. "Yep that's me, let me carry Jay upstairs, take the stress off of you."

"Alright, but I'm afraid that I don't think I can manage the stairs by myself though." Nico said frowning up the flight of stairs in front of him.

"It's okay I can carry you." Toby said fervently. "Hoody, can you get the girl? I'm assuming you don't want to leave her down here." Hoody nodded and scooped the petite brunette up easily. Nico instructed two of his skeletons to let go of Alex and grab both of Jay's arms. The two dead dragged Alex to his feet and began dragging him up the stairs following Shade who carried Jay as Toby lifted Nico carefully.

"Sorry." Toby mumbled, wincing when the movement of being picked up made Nico hiss in pain.

"It's okay." Nico reassured through gritted teeth as they started to follow Jay and Alex up the stairs. They ascended the stairs quickly trying to minimize the amount of Toby's tics as it could jar Nico's leg. Once they reached the third floor, Nico relayed directions from the dead nurse to where Tim was.

When they found him he was unconscious and tied to a chair with those silly plastic ties everyone here seemed so fond of. There was a second chair and more ties. Nico suspected that the Operator had wanted to see if he could force Nico's will, and make himself a more powerful puppet. It suited them just fine though, as now they had a place to secure Alex as well. Toby helped Hoody do just that once he had set Nico down gently against one wall. They tied Jay up, and left Alex in a different room where he couldn't cause any trouble.

"You're only alive until I have time to kill you as slowly as I want to." Toby hissed to Jay. He probably thought Nico couldn't hear, but Nico didn't care. Now that both of the prisoners were secured, Nico could let the skeletons go, which he did with a sigh of relief. Resting his head back against the wall, Nico breathed deeply. He closed his eyes, doing his best to block out the pain and fatigue that was creeping up on him.

"I'll be back at soon as I can" Toby murmured in Nico's ear waking him from the half doze he hadn't realized he was in. Before Nico had time to respond, Toby had kissed Nico's cheek quickly, and bolted out toward the exit. Once Toby was gone, Nico found the urge to return to his doze almost irresistible but he did resist it. The one thing he hadn't figured out was how to get the information he needed from Alex, he didn't think just asking would work but it was worth a try.

"How did you get out of the underworld?" Nico asked opening his eyes and looking at Alex coldly.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Alex snarled pulling at his restraints.

"I figured as much." Nico muttered grumpily. "Give me a minute." He said to Hoody and leaned his head back against the wall breathing deeply again. Jay had said that he and Alex had been students together before all this. That meant that Alex must have just been a regular mortal at some point. Maybe there was someone who could remind him of that, maybe someone who would make him want to get back to that. "Did Alex have anyone he cared about a lot before all this? Preferably someone who's dead now." Nico asked Hoody without opening his eyes, he heard a angry noise from Alex but he ignored it.

"He had a g-girlfriend. Amy." Hoody answered and Nico hummed an acknowledgment.

His body hurt so much it made it hard to focus. Not for the first time he wished part of his power was being able to leave his body. At times like this it certainly wasn't a very comfortable place to be, but he had to work around it. Doing his best to block out all sensations and instead focused on becoming a beacon, calling anyone who had loved Alex and been loved by him. He pushed the summons as far as he could while keeping control of it and then let it continue on by itself. He felt a couple echoes but they were from family, Nico turned them away, he doubted they would help.

Nico sent out a couple more summons then sighed and opened his eyes, there was nothing to do now but see if Amy answered. Hoody was watching Nico curiously. Nico shrugged not feeling like explaining what he had done. Hoody's frown deepened but he didn't ask, instead going back to watch Tim who was still unconscious but breathing lightly.

When Tim stirred Hoody was by his side in a moment, kneeling down to his eye level and slipping off his own mask.

"M-Masky?" Hoody asked softly cupping the others cheek in one hand as his eyes began to flutter open.

"Brian?" Tim asked softly. Hoody jerked back like he had been struck. Tim's eyes widened and focused on Hoody. "Brian"

"NO." Hoody shouted cutting Tim off and making Nico jerk in surprise. "I'M NOT BRIAN ANY MORE THAN YOU'RE MASKY." Hoody's anger was blocking out the fear that usually caused his stutter.

"What?" Tim asked his eyes wide.

'Why are you here, Tim!? NO ONE NEEDS YOU! I thought you realized that years ago! I thought that's why you tried to kill yourself! That was supposed to be the promise that you would stop getting in the way that you would let me and Masky be together!

God damn him... HE PROMISED HE WOULDN'T LET YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME AGAIN!" Hoody was crying now, the bottled up emotions from the past few days welling over, Shade walked over to him and patted his shoulders and tried to calm him down. Nico looked away.

"I don't understand." Tim asked looking confused, hurt and scared.

"No of course you don't." Hoody said laughing bitterly. "Of course you don't understand, you never understood anything until after it was too late. It's Masky who understands it's him I need, why are you keeping him from me." Tim stuttered for a moment obviously unsure of what to do or say. There was nothing he could say or do, nothing anyone besides Masky could.

"I-I didn't mean to." Tim said shrinking away from Hoody. He was making himself small in a way that Masky never was. Hoody sneered and scoffed angrily. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a sharpie marker. He turned to the wall, quickly and sharply he wrote 'Liar' on the chipped white paint. Hoody shoved his gloved hands in his pockets and strode out of the room definitely. Tim was left staring at the writing on the wall with an expression of blank shock.

Nico left them both alone, he had felt a pull on his power, someone was trying to use it to answer his summons. Instead of saying anything he reached out with his power to help them to him. They came immediately once she was able, it was a small woman, blonde.

"Are you Amy?" Nico asked through his power rather than tip the still sullenly silent Alex that she was there.

"Ya I am." She said without looking at Nico, she was looking around the room instead, until her eyes settled on Alex. She ran to his side, though he couldn't see her. "Oh my god Alex, what have you done?" She sounded rueful and sad more than anything else and a little angry.

"I need your help. Alex escaped death somehow and he had help. He might not know, but whatever helped him out is trying to destroy the balance between life and death. That could destroy everything." Amy looked at him her eyes wide, death sometimes gave people insight they didn't have in life, obviously Amy knew how bad that could be.

"Of course I'll help! Alex was a good guy… well when I knew him anyway. I'm sure he's not doing this on purpose, he just doesn't know! I can explain it, he'll listen to me, he loved me." Amy's voice was soft and certain. Nico nodded and lent her his power, just enough to let her become visible. He let her maintain the connection, letting her take the energy that she needed. He got up, carefully using the wall as a support to follow Hoody out, letting Amy and Alex talk alone.

"Amy?" Nico heard Alex gasp as he left the room.

"Ya you dope! I always knew you'd get into trouble without me around, I didn't expect to be THIS right." She said with laughter in her voice.

Nico sat outside the room in the hall, out of sight. It was easier to give Amy the energy she needed when he was closer but he didn't want them to feel like he was interfering.

"Everything will be fine Nic, it always ends up that way, doesn't it?" Shade said as he slid down on the wall, Nico noticed he was wearing his old leather biker jacket from the titan war.

"Yeah, I guess that 's true," Nico then leaned his head back onto the wall. "Let me listen to them, so I can concentrate."

"It's not my fault." Alex said sounding defensive. "It's these other people." Alex said his voice growling in his throat.

"No it isn't, Alex, it isn't any of their faults it's that creature that killed me. All of this is it's fault, I thought you'd realize that. None of them asked for this either. At least they're trying to fix it." Amy accused.

"They!... They are?" Alex asked at first sounding angry then uncertain.

"Ya they are."

"But the woman who helped me out said that no one could do it but me." Alex said his voice waving.

"Well then she lied to you. You can't do much about this, the person who helped you is trying to disrupt the balance that keeps the world safe. If the balance weakened, it will only make things like… the operator you used to call it? Stronger."

"Oh." Alex whispered sounding ashamed of himself. "Then what…?"

"Help Nico. He's a keeper of the balance, that's what he's trying to do. He thinks he can kill the Operator but not until he knows how you got out of death. He's worried about who might follow you."

"Who's Nico?" Alex asked, making Nico realize with a jolt that Alex had never learn Nico's name.

"The dark haired guy who you shot."

"Oh." Alex asked sounding shocked. "Oh oops." Making Amy chuckle. Shade smirked after he heard how stupid Alex was being.

"You don't get any smarter do you?" Amy asked affectionately. Alex chuckled nervously. "I've missed you Alex." Amy said her voice soft almost so that Nico couldn't hear. "Maybe if you help Nico, they'll let you come to where I am. Nico is the son of the judge after all."

Out in the hall Nico bit his lip, he couldn't promise that, one good deed didn't make up for all the bad ones Alex had done, or tried to do. However there was no telling, and maybe if he escorted Alex himself, he could get Alex into Elysium where Amy had answered his call from. Nico hoped his father would trust his judgment enough to leave it. Amy was obviously right that Alex wasn't always a bad person. What he had done he had thought was right, he was just too pig headed to realize it wasn't.

"I've missed you too, Amy." Alex said ruefully, "I thought what I was doing was right and I had just gone about it wrong somehow."

"And so you figured you'd come back and try it the same way again? That's the definition of insanity Alex." Both Alex and Amy laughed.

Nico gave a thin-lipped smile and forced himself to his feet again. Rounding the corner to lean on the doorframe where they could both see him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't keep helping Amy manifest for much longer. With the amount of blood I'm losing I don't have much life energy to lend." Nico couldn't help the bitterness that crept into his voice. His leg hurt terribly, as much as anything else ever had and it was becoming hard to fight through the dizziness of blood loss. He tried to feel bad when Alex winced guiltily staring at Amy, trying to memorize her incase this was the last time he saw her.

"Alex, you'll help him?" Amy asked Alex, reaching out as if to touch his face but stopping a centimeter away because they all knew her hand would go through him. Alex gazed into her eyes sadly obviously holding back tears and nodded slowly. Amy smiled at him affectionately. "Then I hope I'll see you soon." She let go of Nico's power and was instantly taken back to the underworld. Alex turned his gaze back to Nico who had sat down against the wall again, minimizing the blood that could flow to his leg only to flow out.

"So you're a keeper of the balance. How?" he asked his voice sounding cold again. The cold feeling around Alex reminded Nico a little of Masky but he pushed that aside.

"Yes I am. I'm a... helper of death and the dead. My father is the god and keeper of the underworld and it's a not an easy job to look after that. Not to mention all the people who die but stay on earth to become ghosts. I've become known as the ghost king because I've taken the responsibility of looking after them. That's why it's my job to take care of the Operator. He's become something else, but he started as a collection of human souls that tried to combine their powers and became…. Something else. It's far from human anymore but I might be able to disband what's left of the human souls to weaken it enough to drag it to the underworld where I can return from but no one else should."

"So you need to know how I got out so you can make sure the Operator doesn't get out that way?" Alex asked.

"Yes but it's more than that. You can't tell but the Operator has ties to you, he takes power from you and probably plants ideas in your mind somehow as to what to do. Whoever helped you get out of the underworld was probably trying to gain his favor, not yours. So if that door is open I think it's likely it won't matter how many times I send the Operator into death, because whoever helped you will just help him out again." Nico explained patiently. It didn't really matter how much Alex knew now, after all he needed to die for any of this to work.

"I'm afraid I can't help you there." Alex said shrugging. "It was a woman but she didn't tell me her name. She seemed sort of half asleep the whole time but she just told me I needed to come back to finish what I had started. That's what I wanted to do already so I didn't question her any farther."

"As for where the door was it was down from the hell I was in. Like way farther down, there were cliffs and it felt like I was walking down for days. It smelled awful too and everything was red, I can't tell you what it was called or anything but is that enough?"

"Yes it is." Nico said with a wince. "It sounds like the door is in Tartarus, the realm of the god of chaos. That would make sense his power would help feed something like that, but it means whatever is using the door is definitely no good. Tartars is where almost everything truly evil is born."

"Oh." Alex said fidgeting I the chair he was still tied to. "Damn I really messed up didn't I?"

"Ya." Nico said chuckling softly. "But you didn't know this time, your intentions were good and you were mislead. I think there's a way I can keep you from the fields of punishment again."

"Really?" Alex said looking at Nico incredulously, Nico nodded.

"Because of the ties the Operator has to you I can't banish him properly until you have left this world. Until you're dead again." Nico could see Alex swallow hard. "It will help to right the balance and save future mortals from the fate you and your friends have suffered at the Operator's hands. Are you willing to die for that?"

Alex took a deep shuddering breath and nodded. "That's all I really wanted to from the beginning, I just thought everyone who had been infected by the Operator needed to die too."

"I think that might be enough to balance out the mistakes you've made. If not I'll come speak for you once I've taken care of the Operator and recovered enough of my power to travel safely through the underworld."

"Okay." Alex agreed softly his shoulders slumping and the coldness around him dispersing into resignation.

"Do you want me to do it or one of the others?" Nico asked.

"Is there a difference?" Alex said looking at him curiously.

"Yes there is." Nico said nodding. "They would probably shoot you, that does hurt though it's a very quick pain when it's done right. My way is less painful than going to sleep but if I do it I will feed on your life force. After all you won't need it anymore but the idea makes some people uncomfortable."

"I'd rather one of the others did it." Alex said wincing.

"That's fine, they're coming back now." Nico said, the dead had just informed him of Toby's approach. A few minutes later Toby came bursting in with Nico's backpack over his shoulder. Immediately he kneeled down next to Nico and handed it to him. "Thanks." Nico said, quickly and turned his attention to Hoody. "Hoody you still have your gun?" Hoody nodded looking at Nico questioningly. "Alex told me what I needed to know, please make sure it's fast, he was very cooperative."

Hoody raised his eyebrows but nodded again. Quickly he pulled his gun out of his back pocket and clicked off the safety, he leveled it coolly with Alex's head. Alex met Hoody's eyes expressionlessly; it didn't seem like the first time they had done this somehow. After a moment of heavy silence Hoody pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot was coupled by a yelp from Tim and a shot of sickness through Nico's stomach. Helplessly Nico curled in on himself groaning and clutching his stomach with one hand covering his mouth with the other.

"Nico are you okay?" Toby yelped wrapping one arm around Nico protectively. Shade jumped up to checka on Nico as well, to realize what was wrong.

"Ya I'm fine." Nico said breathing slowly though his nose. "Everything comes with side effects. My power has the side effect of being able to feel other people's deaths, it's worse the closer I am. I don't think I've been this close since my mother." Quickly Nico fumbled with the zipper on his backpack, pulling out his bottle of nectar. He took a quick drink from it, feeling it's warmth settle his stomach and calm his nerves. Today it tasted like the richest, best hot chocolate. Carefully he took another deep breath coughing at the smell of blood and closing his eyes.

"Would it help if you were farther away from the body?" Toby asked his hands fluttering nervously and twitching quickly.

"Yes it would." Nico said reaching out to Toby who quickly grabbed Nico's backpack for him, then Nico himself, helping him out of the room and a little ways down the hall.

"I guess that's why you could never kill for fun the way we do huh?" Toby said chuckling nervously. Nico didn't answer him at first. Instead choosing to unscrew the top of his bottle of nectar again and pour a little bit of it through his bullet wound. Since it burned anything that wasn't of godly nature, it made a fairly good disinfectant. Though the heat of the burning bacteria made Nico hiss, his wound steamed slightly.

"Yes that's partially it." Nico admitted, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath through the pain. "I could get used to the feeling probably, but then I'd come to depend on it. The world is still recovering from the last son of Hades who did that. He killed millions, the Jewish population of the world might never fully recover." Nico took three large gulps from his bottle of nectar. Gasping at the warmth and the sighing as it dulled his pain and started to heal the now clean wound.

"Who… wait." Toby said thinking for a moment. "wait, do you, you can't mean Hitler?" Toby said staring at Nico wide eyed. Nico smiled ruefully and nodded.

"I think I win the contest for worst family. He was my half brother and an excellent example of why children of Hades can't ever, ever let ourselves depend on death. We will try to depopulate the world to make ourselves powerful and that's just not good for anyone. That war only ended when the children of all of the other gods besides Mars teamed up as part of the alliance. It took all of them to take down my half brother because all the death he had consumed had practically made him a god." Nico closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall again, now just letting the nectar course through his system. He felt Toby lean against his shoulder and smiled softly.

"We found another thing we have in common, we both have family we're determined not to be like." Toby mumbled softly kissing Nico's jaw lightly and making him smile. He didn't ask, he figured Toby would keep talking if he wanted but he didn't so they sat together in silence.