I posted this yesterday, but had some formatting trouble… sorry about that. As I said yesterday, this is mostly because I want to have easy access to this drabble. And because I hope some of you might enjoy it.

Jack stood among the broken glass on the floor of the pent house apartment, eyes wide and darting between the two women who had once claimed to be mother and daughter. Well, whether they were or not, this situation was messed up. Blood from his injured shoulder dripped down, staining for white carpet.

Seventy stories up, the wind howled outside the broken window, hissing over the jagged edges of glass, possibly in response to his own agitation as the air around him continued to tighten with deadly tension.

Gothel cowered on the floor, perfectly manicured hand held up in a vain attempt to protect herself from the threat leveled at her with deadly accuracy and the accumulation of nearly 20 years of manipulation and usury. Her tailored red dress was wrinkled from the struggle that had happened before he arrived, small tears in the expensive fabric from there it had come into contact with the black.

And Rapunzel, her golden blond hair free from her earlier braid, strands whipping back and forth against her face. A bruise was forming on her right cheek, and her black skintights were cut from the glass, and her earlier fight against the Stabbington brothers. Her green eyes were hard, narrowed in focus.

What scared Jack most was that her hands didn't even tremble.

"Put the weapon down." he said, not daring to take a step in any direction for fear of setting her off.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" she asked, not taking her eyes, or her aim, off Gothel. "For me to stand up to her?"

"Not like this!"

"What other way is there?" she snapped, finally glancing over at him. "Your way? Where Pitch is still coming after you, and everyone else? Do you think I haven't been watching the past few months? Do you think I didn't notice there was a hit man after you? Or that I didn't know why?"

"Because the legal system is messed up, and he got back into the country, yes," Jack sighed. His shoulder still burned from the bullet of said hit man. Why did everything have to come to a head tonight? "And trust me, I've thought about how much easier it would have been if I'd killed him."

Gothel whimped, her mascara horrible smeared around her eyes. But neither of them glanced at her.

"But if you want your freedom, this isn't how you get it. You kill her, then what? You think being locked in this penthouse was bad? Try a prison cell. I've done that, and I don't think you want to."

Rapunzel's gaze returned to Gothel, and he saw her finger curl around the tripper, preparing to fire.

"Rapunzel!" He growled in his throat, casting around desperately in his mind for an argument that would get through to her. She was in the midst of a mental break down, logic wasn't going to do much. (Though he'd figured it was worth a shot, hoping her mind wouldn't be as much of a mess as his had been when he'd been in her place. She was the organized one.)

When he'd set out on his little vendetta to get her away from Gothel's manipulation, feeling responsible since it was Pitch's success in using him that had inspired Gothel, he hadn't expected it to turn out like this. He hadn't expected a full on crime war that would rack Burgess and Corona both. He hadn't expected Pitch's lawyers to find a loophole to get him back into the country - not after all the proof he'd given the officials that Pitch was the Nightmare King, the crimelord they'd been chasing for the better part of two decades.

He hadn't thought Gothel would be desperate enough to set Rapunzel up, just to get rid of the evidence.

Outside he could hear the wail of sirens siveral blocks away.

Corona was burning. And they were the heart of the storm, but no would think to look for them here. Hiccup and Merida were busy trying to protect civilians caught in the line of fire.

He was on his own.

"Rapunzel…"

They both glared at Gothel. Rapunzel because she really didn't want to hear it, and Jack because he knew there was nothing the woman could say that wouldn't make the whole situation worse.

"Don't," Rapunzel hissed. "Don't you dare talk to me. You've lied to me, used me, and you've made me do your dirty work. I've done everything you've asked - even when I didn't want to. I nearly killed Jack when he tried to make me see sense. And you sold me out! Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you. Just one!"

"Because I love you," Jack said.

Both women turned to stare at him. And, for the first time, Rapunzel's aim faltered.

"What?"

"I love you," he repeated, finally daring to take a step closer. First one, then another, slowly, watching her face all the time to make sure he wasn't about to turn the gun on him.

Finally he was close enough he could read out to touch her shoulder.

"Put the gun down," he whispered. "Please."

"What happens when she comes back?"

"I'll be here," he said. "I won't let her touch you."

Her whole body had begun to tremble, and he saw the tears well up in her eyes. Her fingers went slack, and the gun clattered to the ground, among the broken glass.

He wrapped his uninjured arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest as she started to sob. He stumbled under her weight, but regained his balance and held on tight.

The sirens had come to a stop outside the tower, and he could hear heavy booted footsteps coming up the stairs.

It was over.