Jessie had taken a detour from following Storm Shadow in order to stop by Rex's work station. Her father's welcome home had been less than heartwarming and she hoped that seeing one of her closest friends would make her feel better, Rex didn't disappoint.

As soon as she walked into the lab he greeted her with a large hug and a 'glad to have you back.' She was then led over to one of the many panels lining the walls of the room. Rex started to explain that Duke was going to be used as a nanomite test subject, he was about to go into greater detail when he noticed how close McCullen, Ana, and Duke were to reaching their current location and excused himself to finish preparing for the experiment. Jessie, having nothing better to do, turned to the panel displaying the three and listened in on their conversation.

"What are you going to do with the warheads?"

"You take to your training well. That's good, still trying to develop intel."

"So you won't mind telling me."

"Isn't it obvious? I'm a business man; I'm going to use them."

"Millions of people are gonna die if you launch those warheads, so what is it that you want? "

Jessie flinched when Duke mentioned the millions that would die when her father set the warheads off. She knew that he wasn't a nice man, but she tried not to think of what would happen when he was finally able to finish his work. Despite what most would think of her she wasn't a bad person, her family just happened to be not so nice and she simply loved them enough to go along with whatever plan they concocted.

"To strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and child on the planet, then they'll turn to the person with the most power."

"You?"

"No, not me; you're not seeing the whole picture."

"Then tell me."

"I don't want to spoil the surprise."

Jessie turned as her father and his companions entered the room.

"Ah, guests."

"Meet the genius behind all my nanotechnology."

"Genius? You are too kind. As you can see we are loading my nanomite warheads into the high-V missiles. Once at maximum velocity, Mach 5, not even the Joes have the technology to catch them,"

Jessie had heard these facts before and so instead of watching Rex and her father she chose to see what Duke and Ana were doing, and boy was she glad she did. She looked over at them just in time for her to catch them share a look. Duke was obviously concerned, but for a moment so did Ana, something Jessie found hard to understand. Ana had played a huge role in the operation and she'd never shown even the slightest hint of remorse or conflict until that precise moment.

"So who's this? Another recruit?" Rex's inquiry broke Jessie from her train of thought.

"Albeit a rather unwilling one."

"I'll prepare him for the procedure." At that Rex led Duke and his two guards away. Jessie noticed the look of longing Ana had as he was led out and she started to wonder if something was up. Unfortunately she didn't have much time to ponder her new theory because right as they were leaving Storm Shadow walked in, instantly obtaining most of her attention.

She went to say something to him but McCullen gained his attention first and the two of them departed. Jessie sighed softly to herself before getting up and walking over to Anna, putting a hand on her shoulder. She might not have known exactly what was going on in the other woman's head but she knew that Ana was troubled by something, and she'd be damned if she didn't do everything in her power to help her.

Jessie hadn't actually been aware that the Joe's had breached the bases security at first. After attempting to comfort Ana without actually saying anything she had headed down to where Rex was going to perform the "operation." She rather enjoyed watching him work and the nanomite technology fascinated her no matter how many times she saw it used.

"MARS Industries manufactures 70% of all arms on this planet, 70%. Did you know that, Duke? There are two sides to McCullen's operation, the Sword and the Shield. The Sword creates and sells weaponry. The shield creates defensive technology, like high-tech bunkers, which are supposed to protect one from anything from a nuclear blast to a nanomite warhead. Unfortunately, the bunker in which I took shelter was just a prototype."

"Who are you?"

Instead of verbally responding to Dukes question Rex chose to show him instead. He walked over to the chair in which Duke was restrained and removed his wig and mask showing Duke his severely scarred face. Jessie didn't flinch; she had seen Rex's face before and maintained the idea that even though his face was severely disfigured, she would still always love him as family.

"Rex?" His smile confirmed Dukes question.

"You son of a bitch! Ana buried you! "

"Moving ceremony, I'm sure. The three-volley salute, boots on the ground, a folded flag in her arms."

"Why? Why didn't you just come in?"

"Because I discovered something," Rex began to retell the story of what happened the day he supposedly died, "We survived that blast, somewhat. And Dr. Mindbender and I escaped with his research, which I perfected and which you will now experience first-hand."

"Does Ana know about this? About you?"

"No, and she never will."

Jessie felt for Rex, he had told her the true reason behind not revealing himself to her and it had made perfect sense. Her heart ached for him; he had to live so close to his sister without her even knowing who he was.

"You left me for dead, Duke, and look at me. Now you'll know what it's like to be a monster." Jessie wanted desperately to correct Rex, to tell him that he wasn't a monster, but she knew he wouldn't appreciate her interrupting him so she stayed quiet.

Jessie had been so focused on what was about to happen to Duke that she totally missed Ana entering the room. It was only when she knocked Rex out of his seat that she realized she was there. Before Jessie could do anything Ana had shut down the machine and removed Dukes restraints.

"We don't have much time."

"Ana?"

As soon as Duke was free the two of them shared a passionate kiss, until Duke noticed something on her neck.

"Oh, my God."

Suddenly Ana's body started to writhe as if she were being electrocuted.

"Ana!" Duke and Jessie's worried cries sounded at the same time, both worried for Ana's safety.

"Security, to the operating chamber!"

"Rex!"

"I press this, she dies."

"You did this to your own sister!"

"I loved my sister. Do you have any idea the state she was in with me dead, you gone? Have you ever felt truly alone? I gave her a way to deal with the pain. I gave her purpose."

"You could have stopped all of this just by letting her know you were alive!"

"Science requires sacrifice."

"All she's done was because of you!"

"And because of you, Duke. You abandoned her, let's not forget that point."

"I'm gonna kill you, Rex."

Jessie had moved to the far end of the room as soon as the two of them had started fighting, verbal fights had always frightened her and she was feeling very much like a little girl at that moment. She desperately wanted them to stop but she couldn't figure out how, luckily for her McCullen and the security that Rex had called for showed up before the situation got any worse. McCullen instantly went over to Ana's prone body looking her over with concern.

"Is she still alive?"

"For now."

"I thought we had complete control, you said this couldn't happen."

"I didn't think it could. I've never seen anyone override the programming, even momentarily."

"She did this for him."

"The pain must have been excruciating."

Suddenly the entire room started to shake. McCullen instantly went to the intercom and started barking orders.

"Fire up the pulse cannon!"

"We're on it, sir."

Duke used the momentary distraction to take Ana's gun and shoot the two guards. He then turned his gun on McCullen. Rex was the one to stop him by hovering his finger over a button on the board controlling the nanomites inside Ana.

"I'll do it!" Jessie couldn't believe he was threating to kill his own sister, even if it was just a bluff, it greatly disturbed her.

"Put it down!"

"Your choice, Duke."

"Do you think she loved you? Did you imagine your life with her?" Jessie wasn't sure if her father was trying to provoke Duke or if he was simply running his mouth for the sake of it.

"All I know is, neither one of you deserve her."

"That's it she dies."

"Don't do it, Rex!"

Suddenly McCullen grabbed the flamethrower that was next to him and tried to fry Dukes head, unfortunately for him Duke used the pulse gun to redirect the flames back at him. Jessie could only watch as her father fell to the ground as his head was engulfed in fire. Rex had dropped to the ground as soon as the gun went off and dropped the control pad in the process. Duke used his temporary victory to retrieve it and revive Ana while Rex got away. Ana woke with a gasp and despite everything that was going on Jessie felt a surge of happiness.

"Come on. I'm gonna get you out of here."

Rex stopped just long enough to grab McCullen off the ground, dragging the wounded man along with him. Jessie, realizing they had forgotten about her, quickly jumped to her feet and attempted to follow them without drawing Dukes attention. However, it didn't work. He looked up and noticed her trying to sneak out the room and promptly aimed his gun at her, preparing to shoot.

"No! Duke don't shoot her, she's innocent in all of this; she was just doing whatever she could for her family, for me." It was Ana who had stopped Duke; it would seem that even though she had gotten her old memories back she hadn't forgotten about all the time the two of them had spent together.

Duke looked apprehensive about the whole thing but after he had shared a brief look with Ana he lowered his gun.

"Fine, but you're coming with us. Just because Ana says your innocent doesn't mean you won't have to pay for the crimes you committed."

Jessie could only nod weakly and fall into step behind them as they left the room. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she took in the extensive damage that had been done to the base. It was her home and it pained her to see it damaged. She suddenly wished that Storm Shadow was with her, she needed the stability he provided her. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to her after all of this was over but she knew one thing for sure, nothing would be the same ever again…

So I've updated again, hopefully the multiple updates in a short amount of time will make up for the long time I made you guys wait for that last chapter. It's weird to think but this story's almost done, don't worry though I'm going to make a sequel, and I was hoping someone would be willing to beta for me. If you're willing just shoot me a message and I'd be extremely grateful.

I'd like to give special thanks to Red Rose Cat for adding my story to their favorites.

To ShiningWingsOfTheDragon: I do so love to read your reviews and I hope that the drama in this chapter was to your liking, I was feeling in a dramatic mood so it all just sort of worked out XD

To Guest: So here's the next chapter, for once I've updated in a timely manner hope you enjoyed it

To kittyloverluna: I'm glad you like the story and thanks for the compliment, you're great too! There wasn't a whole lot of Storm Shadow in this chapter but there will be in the next one, I hope you like it!

To ZabuzasGirl: Your dedication to this story is inspiring. I hope you liked this chapter and continue to enjoy it.

Thanks to everyone who has read this story up to this point if I could I would give you all a cookie. Please Review the story if you liked it. Again I ask that you REVIEW the story, I would love feedback on what everyone thinks. Thank again!
-Ambercat999