A/N: Once again, don't own jack shit. Please review!

The scene changes to the opera house, which is crowded with wealthy people in their best clothing. The emcee in a tux plunges in followed by rows of scantily-clad gyrating genterns.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Genetic Opera!" sounds over the loudspeakers.

"Everybody, everybody!" the emcee yells. "Get down, get down now. Stand up! Don't be shy! People, people, people. Everybody, everybody testify! Everybody get down, get down now. Stand up! Don't be shy! People, people, people, get up, get up, get up! Everybody testify!"

A skinny young vampire appears next to the emcee. "GeneCo helped my upgrade my second-class heredity!"

"Testify!"

A skinny tramp of vampire in a low-cut dress is next. She lifts her martini glass to the crowd. "My liver was wrecked, but now I can drink whatever I want!"

"Testify!"

An enormous werewolf stands up next. "Before GeneCo, my anatomy was completely repressed." He throws back his head and howls as everyone cheers.

"State… your… names!" the emcee yells to the girls who have made it to the stage by now.

"Genterns." And with that, the girls start making out, feeling each other up, mock-humping each other, and just generally acting like a bunch of sluts, punctuated with many sexually-charged moans and sighs and squeals of ecstasy.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-saved!" the emcee yells. "Everybody, everybody! Testify! Stand up and don't be shy! People, people, people, get up, get up, get up! Everybody, everybody, testify!"

Philip stands with his arm around a lovely young woman with platinum blonde hair and gestures for her to sing her piece.

"I needed a kidney transplant desperately. GeneCo showed this single mom sympathy," she simpers. "This makeover came for a small added fee, and now I look smashing on live TV!" She rips her clothes open, to reveal every inch of her fully naked body. And Philip definitely cops a feel as she does this.

Rodger walks in, gesturing magnificently. "Be healed!" he proclaims.

"GeneCo's got it! You know you want it, baby, GeneCo's got it!" the geneterns are singing now, along with the Largo boys and the emcee. "You know you want it, baby, GeneCo's got it. You know you want it, baby. Testify! Testify! Testify! Testify! Testify!"

Greta walks into an old abandoned house. A projection of Rodger appears and he has a message for her.

"Greta, you've made it. You're close enough to taste it. Your cure, your cure is waiting. There is but one thing pending. Help us catch him. This former GeneCo trainee who's lost his mind completely and managed to escape me. You saw him… in the graveyard. Thank God my guards responded. It seems this fiend has set his teeth on you, so be on guard. He's coming. We'll use you as bait to draw this snake out of his hole. And I am sorry, Greta, for that, but this is your defining moment. Will you let yourself by trapped, or will you use your trap to trap him?"

Greta looks even more white than usual and she begins to shake.

Back in the opera house, the emcee is making another announcement.

"Put your hands together for GeneCo's favorite, and only daughter, Rachel Sweet!"

Rachel appears. She has undergone surgery again. Her face is paler than before, and it is thinner and more well-defined. She has thick golden curls now, piled on top of her head, and rich blue eyes. She would be utterly gorgeous except for the fact that her face actually appears to be peeling off. She keeps nervously pressing at her forehead in a vain effort to hold it in place, and she tries to sing anyways.

"Blame not my cheeks, though pale with love they be…" She starts to spin and her face falls to the floor with an odd splat. The audience begins to hiss and boo at her. The stricken girl slowly crouches to pick up her face. The muscle tissue under her skin stands out, ghastly and red where before there had been alabaster skin. She looks at her disgusted father for a moment before fleeing in tears.

"And now, without further ado," calls Rodger, "the event you've all been waiting for. GeneCo proudly presents Blind Tabitha."

Tabitha glides out onto the stage. She is wearing a leotard that had been liberally decorated with thick black feathers. Her black hair is piled on top of her head. Her unnatural blue eyes stand out even more than normal because she has lined her eyes with so much feathery makeup, it's as though her eyes have wings and are trying to fly off her face.

"Tanto tempo fa

Un Uccello fatale di nome

Chromaggia

Incroci? In volo la freccia di un

Arciere

Lungo le coste li lava

Per anni, pensando di essere

Inseguita

Scapp? Dalla freccia

Chromaggia, chromaggia

Perche non affronti il pericolo

La freccia era legata all'ala

E lei volava per liberarsene"

She turns now and approaches the back of the stage, strapping herself into a harness and floating several feet into the air while holding her arms wide apart, as though she is lifting herself into the air under her own power.

"Tirando la freccia

Altri son ferriti per mia colpa

Mia colpa

Verso la bocca del diavolo!

La sua freccia, I mei occhi

Chromaggia…

Come take these eyes…!" Now she casts half a glance at Rodger, then focuses on the audience again, her brilliant bright blue eyes widening and sparkling. "I would rather be… blind!" With that, she looks at the decorative "talon-like" silver spikes attached to two of her fingers, and without hesitation, plunges them deep into her eyes. Vivid red blood spurts several feet in front of her and the audience gasps.

Rodger's face clouds with fury and he strides over to the rope holding Tabitha's harness, and slicing it. She plummets towards the ground, but is met partway by the spiked fence below, which impales her slender body. Now the audience begins to shriek with horror.

"Ladies and gentlemen, don't panic. Stay in your seats," Rodger says calmly, striding to the center of the stage as the curtains draw behind him. "It's all part of the show. Stay tuned folks, you don't want to move, folks. Cause there's more excitement coming. As an encore, GeneCo will cure a very sick and needy young girl. She's been caged up… like a monster… by her overbearing father. But tonight, we're gonna set it right and for all your viewing pleasures."

Inside the abandoned house, Eric in full Repo Man costume steps cautiously around. Seeing a figure in a dress he recognizes as belonging to Marilyn, he approaches it and moves to brush the veil aside, when Greta steps up behind him and hits him over the head with a poker. He tumbles to the ground and slowly removes his mask. Father and daughter stare at each other for an agonizing moment, then Eric drops his eyes before he can bring himself to lecture his daughter.

"Didn't I tell you not to go out? Didn't I?"

"You did, you did." Greta's voice is soft and terrified.

"Didn't I say the world was cruel? Didn't I?"

"You did, you did."

"Then tell me… how this happened, what I did wrong, tell me why. Can't we just go home, Shi, and forget this dreadful night?"

"Didn't you say that you were different, didn't you?" Greta's voice gains strength as she questions her father.

"I am, I am."

"Say you aren't that person, say it."

"I am, I am."

"Then tell me how to act, Dad, what to say, Dad, tell me why. All you've ever told me, every word… is… a… lie!" The last word comes out in a high-pitched keening sound.

At that convenient moment, a projection appears showing Tabitha's limp body. Eric and Greta are both struck dumb for several moments. Greta finds her voice first.

"Didn't you say that you'd protect me? Didn't you?"

"I tried, I tried."

"Is that how you'd help me? Is it?"

"I tried, I tried."

"Don't help me anymore, Dad, you are dead, Dad, in my eyes. Someone has replaced you. Dad, I hate you. Go and die!" With that, she turns and flees.

"Didn't I build a house, a home? Didn't I? Didn't I raise her all alone? Didn't I? Then Rodger took her from me, stole my Greta, he's to blame. Have I failed my daughter? Then let the father die! And let the monster rise!" Eric rises slowly and follows Greta.

Greta runs onto the stage at the opera house, clapping her hands to her mouth and letting out a strangled sob as she sees Tabitha's body in person. Then Eric strides in, shoving aside the twins. He approaches Tabitha's body reverently and touches her still face, before pushing her eyelids down over their empty sockets. He presses her limp hand to his lips for just an instant, wishing now that their last encounter had ended differently. There was so much he wanted to say to Tabitha. Maybe… just maybe… he would have given her the chance to try to heal his heart. But now that will never happen. He turns back to Rodger, furious that this man has now killed the only other woman he truly loved, in addition to trying to steal his daughter away from him. But while he is distracted, Philip reaches out and slices his hamstring, bringing him to the floor. The twins grab him and hold him in a kneeling position. Rodger nods approvingly at Greta.

"You've exceeded all my plans."

"More than you could say for Rachel," Philip gloats.

"More than I could say for you!"

"What?"

"Or your just-as-worthless brother," Rodger adds. Ebon looks properly shocked.

"I just want to get my cure," Greta whimpers.

"And I promise to deliver."

"Don't you lay a hand on her," Eric snarls.

"Watch your tongue before an elder!"

"Touch her, and I swear I'll kill you."

"Bring it on, you cheap imposter." And with a nod from Rodger, the twins shoot him with a taser, causing him to collapse. "Even though I'm terminally ill…" He pauses as people seemed confused. "I'm dying, you idiots."

"Please don't say you're dying, Father!" Ebon cries.

"Please say you ain't dying, Father!" Philip echoes.

"So I planned my perfect end."

"A tale befitting any opera!" the boys sing obediently.

"An ending only I could spin!"

"Ending you will be my pleasure," Eric snarls.

"I no longer trust you, Dad," Greta whispers.

"You can never trust a monster," Rodger agrees wisely. "And there's more beneath his mask. Did you know he killed your mother?"

"It was just an accident!" Eric moans.

"Accidents can end in murder."

"Greta, believe me."

"And that is not his greatest fib."

"Someone tell me what is going on!" Greta cries.

"Tell her, tell her!" Rodger and his sons chorus.

"Someone tell me what is going on!"

"Let's leave…" Eric mutters, although that really isn't an option.

"Tell her, tell her!"

"Let's leave…"

"Someone tell me what is going on!"

"No more…"

"Tell me, tell me…"

"Tell her, tell her!"

"Tell me…"

"No more…"

"May I introduce you," Rodger interrupts, "to the man who made you sick. He's poisoned all your medicine."

Greta drops to her knees. "I can't breathe."

"You've got to fight through it."

"Someone please, please help my daughter!"

"This will pass, you've got to fight through it," Rodger insists.

"I've deceived the only ones that matter," Eric mourns.

"I need my pill," Greta whispers.

"You need to know," Eric gasps. "It's not your fault."

"You've got to fight!" Rodger continues insisting.

"Believe me, Greta, it's me who failed you," Eric groans.

"My stomach…"

"It's his medicine."

"My medicine."

"It's your medicine?" Greta gasps, staring at Eric.

Eric hesitates. He doesn't know what Rodger is up to now. "I'm the cause of all your sickness," he says finally, since that seems to be what Rodger is trying to prove.

Greta finally collapses in a heap on the stage, passing out in a pool of Tabitha's blood.

Several minutes later, she comes to. Her father is bound to a chair nearby. Rodger puts his arm around the girl.

"Your mother once promised her love to me. Had she never fled, you'd be mine. Deny your father now for the world to see. Kill him!" he says, pressing a gun into her hands.

"Kill him!" Ebon and Philip yell.

"No."

"And I'll leave you GeneCo."

"What?" screams Philip, throwing the popcorn he'd been eating into the air.

"All of it?" Ebon wails.

"Oh yes!" Rodger snarls, smiling coldly at his sons.

"Oh no!" Ebon looks horrified by this news.

"So witness it, people. All I have to do is sign the paper. All you have to do is pull the trigger. I want you to do what is right."

"You… want… to… pay… me… to… kill my father?" Greta gasps in horror.

"This man killed your mother, your mother."

"Greta…" Eric whispers.

"He betrayed you both, he's a liar. And he poisoned you!"

"Force me to kill…" Greta shakes her head firmly and points the gun at Rodger instead. "I am not a murderer."

"But you share your dad's genetics. What if he passed this to you?"

"I don't have to share his choices."

"Didn't you say you were infected? Didn't you? Didn't you?"

"I poisoned you," Eric gasps, catching her attention. "I'm worse than Rodger… imprisoned you… I couldn't lose you. What have I done? Forgive me, Greta, I drugged your blood. Oh God, what have I done to you?" He's realized now that Rodger is going to kill him. Better, he decides, to allow Rodger to take Greta in. She's a delicate girl, not prepared to live in the real world. She has no education, no skills… really, this is her best option. Rodger could give her everything that he, Eric, never could. And if he's going to die now, the best way to encourage Greta to embrace Rodger as her new guardian… is to make her think that he, Eric, is the real monster on this stage.

Greta glares at Rodger. "You used my mother's death to use my father. You'll use my father's death to use me too."

"Your dad deserved whatever happened to him," Rodger insists. "He needed me, and so do you."

"I remember…" Eric moans. "Remember my mistakes… remember you can change… remember that I love you. I'm sorry that I failed you. Remember that it's up to you… to go and shape your life into… one that's worthy of remembering."

At that moment, the lights go out. Greta screams.

"NO!" Then a shot rings out. "DAD!" she shrieks. When the light comes back on, her father has been shot. Greta flies across the stage to his side. "Dad, no, please! Somebody! Somebody please help!"

The gun falls from Rodger's hand and hits the stage. "Money-grubbing beggars, no better than I am…" he gasps. His sons hurry towards him. "You! Don't come near me. You're embarrassing! You're disgusting. You're not men, you're creatures! I'm embarrassed by you. Get away. I don't need you, not either one of you. Go away!" He glances to the wing of the stage and sees Rachel standing there. She still has no skin on her face, but her eyes are large and frightened. "Don't show your face to me. You're disgusting. You're not my daughter. You're nothing. When I'm gone, GeneCo will crumble. I doubt the world will remember… how lucky they were… to have Rodger Largo." And with that he collapses and expires on stage.

Greta holds tightly to Eric, sobbing helplessly. She strokes the hair from his face and tries to smile at him when he opens his eyes. "Dad, be still. There is nothing you need say. It can wait." Her voice is soft and trembling, like a much younger girl's.

"Shi, your mother's… calling me."

"Sometimes I wanted to cry when the people on TV were not quite the way we were. Somehow I guess I just knew. But I didn't know I love you so much. I didn't know I love you so much. I didn't know I love you so much. But I do."

"Sometimes I'd stay up all night, wishing to God that I'd been the one who died. And sometimes there's not enough time… But I didn't know I love you so much. I didn't know I love you so much. I didn't know I love you so much. But I do."

Together the two of them sing, "I didn't know I love you do much. I didn't know I love you so much. I didn't know I love you so much. But I do."

"Greta, go," Eric sighs.

"Dad, I will not leave you here, you will live," Greta insists. She knows instinctively that her father lied to try to protect her. The medicines may have been drugged, but it must have been Rodger who gave Eric a faulty recipe… otherwise, how would he have known about the medicines in the first place?

"But you've already saved me, dear. Now go and change the world for me."

Together they sing again. "And we will always have each other in our time of need. Daddy/Greta, you're the world to me."

And with that, Eric's eyes close for the last time. Greta shakes her head, denying it as long as she can.

"Oh, Daddy, please, no… Please, please, please get up! Please!"

The audience continues to sit in their seats. They seem deeply moved by the performance and many are crying, but no one has the good sense to call for help! Seriously, they watch three people die on that stage and NO ONE thinks that maybe they should summon the police?

Finally Greta rises to her feet and begins to walk away from the stage and up the center aisle. "Years… it's been so many years… resenting the years… and my heredity. Oh, I have hated and loved you, I have hidden behind you, but I finally see. You I've mistaken for destiny, but the truth is my legacy is not up to my genes. True, though the imprint is deep in me, it will always be up to me… up to me. Free at last… free at last!" With that, she throws open the doors to the opera house and walks away without looking back.

Talbot is lounging in one of his favorite alleyways, smiling that mysterious smile. "Goth opera… Blood saga… Sometimes I wonder how we ever got here. Old grudges… scorned lovers… Sometimes I wonder why we all don't move on. Cause we all wind up in a tiny pine box, a mighty small drop and a mighty dark plot. And the mighty fine print hastens the trip to our epilogue."

"Epilogue?" cries a female voice that may or may not be Greta.

"But the little girl fled, and the king is dead, and the castle is left for the taking. But GeneCo may survive if it undergoes surgery… surgery… surgery…"

Rachel steps up to a bunch of reporters, flanked by Philip and Ebon. She has long brown hair and is dressed conservatively, looking very much like a real professional businesswoman.

"Our heroes will not be forgotten," she says sweetly. "GeneCo WILL live on, under new management. Me."

"Rachel Sweet, ladies and gentlemen! Rachel Sweet!" Philip exclaims, clapping for his sister. "I can't hear you. I can't fucking her you, you fucking peasants!" he cries. "You gonna start applauding? I'll kill you all, you fucking mice!" His fangs appear for a minute and his eyes blaze red. Then the rage fades and he begins to sob like a child. Everyone is so busy staring at Rachel and Philip, and no one is paying attention to Ebon. The suave debonair man isn't preening and primping as usual. He just watches the scene with narrow eyes, a tiny smile playing on his lips.