"Nightfall, all you have been doing is making a fool of yourself," Loid Forger said. He looked directly into the screen. "You were a field agent, not an analyst. You were never good at seeing the bigger picture. You were better off without it. All the secrets you think you are exposing are only what the people who did see the big picture already know, or know to be unimportant…"

"You're with them?" Yor said, backing away from Sharon.

"Actually, no," Sharon said. "In fact, all of this completely disrupted the plans I was prepared to execute." She held the gun far too steadily for Yor to make a move.

"Yeah, I heard nothing about her," Welrod said. "In fact, if it's all the same, I'm strategically withdrawing."

"I absolutely don't care," Sharon said. He and his last conscious companion retreated into an elevator.

"Garden," Yor said.

"You didn't think they would put you in the office all alone, did you?" the other woman said. Anya stood by, her shoulder cannon ready.

"You want a bigger picture?" Nightfall said. The camera shifted to include her and her Prince, masked as a Hellene player. She jabbed Twilight with a toy gun. "How about you? You described this to me. You said you remembered it even after you forgot your mother's face. You said you bought it when you were eight, just before the war."

"I know, I was wrong about the gun," Loid said. "I can't explain it."

"Oh, I have a few ideas," Nightfall said. She held up a skull X-ray. "There's the time you were shot in the head, in front of Franky! That's probably where this bit came from. Probably..."

"Oh, poor Papa," Anya said, without taking her eyes off Sharon and Mama.

"I'm sure they explained the usual terms," Sharon said. "You can go your own way. Just stay out of our way."

"Now here's the real problem," Nightfall said. "You fought in that war. You told me you lied so you could enlist at, what, 15? 16?"

"I'm not sure," Loid said. "I don't think I was sure then…"

"Twilight…" Nightfall gazed at him with an expression of pity. "The war lasted six years."

"5 years, nine months, actually," the Prince said. "An' 23 days…"

"No, this is not what I did," Yor said, standing firmly. "These are men I know. Tell me which one you think deserves death, and why."

Sharon gave her the same pitying look as Nightfall. "That was always important to you, wasn't it?" she said.

On the screen, Nightfall hit Loid over the head with the gun. "I told you all this!" she said. "I told you when you were training me! You admitted you were wrong! And I found three other agents who had heard you tell the same stories and told you the same thing! And Gawwd, I still listened to you!"

"I told him," Yor murmured aloud. She was too distracted to resist when an arm pulled her back. Donovan Desmond stepped forward.

"I am the most powerful person here," he said. "If I am your quarry, here I am! If I am not, decide if you are willing to shoot through me!"

"For what it's worth," Fiona said, "something did happen when you were eight. It might have something to do with this bit here. Now, they call it the Luwen Protests. Ostania called it the Luwen Massacre…"

"Fine," Sharon said. "You can die, too." Just as her finger pulled the trigger, a rushing body slammed into her. She went sprawling. Her gun skittered across the floor.

"Yeah!" the Flea said, waving a cast. "You can take away the exoskeleton, but not the trooper!" Sharon was already sitting up, a second weapon drawn. Yor rushed in and wrenched the gun from her hand.

"Huh," Anya said, looking at the sandstone kiva with its desert plants, "the setting had no role in the resolution."

"It's over, Sharon," Yor said. "Just tell me who your target is!" When Sharon was silent, she turned to Anya. "Anya, read her mind!"

"Actually, Sharon was always kinda fuzzy," Anya said.

"Yeah, you weren't the first telepath we ran across," Sharon said. "We can't exactly defend against you, but there are people like me who don't seem to register the same way. At Garden, it's a perk."

"So here's the thing," Anya said. "When Bondman gets double-crossed, there's usually a point where it looks like everything is okay again. But that's always when there's a double double-cross!"

"For crying out loud!" Sharon said. "You're an exotrooper, and you're still going by what a cartoon showed you!"

"There's two targets," Anya said abruptly. "And I'd say it's a good bet one of them is with the bad guys!"

"I agree," Yor said. "If you have anything to say, I'm listening, Sharon."

"Ah, that won't be necessary," said one who had so far been silent. A mustached man stepped forward. He was Rudolph Blackbell, Becky's uncle. He held a very advanced weapon that happened to look a great deal like Loid's toy. He used a free hand to adjust the straps of a flight pack. "Yes, it was I who disabled the arcscraper's security systems so the Cold Front could enter. I intended to force my idiot brother to resign and give me full control of Blackbell Industries." He glanced toward the screen, where Nightfall was down to swearing at Twilight in her unrevealed native tongue. "Since it's clear their plans are unraveling, I am taking my leave. Unfortunately, I am going to have to-!"

Anya hit him with three polymer slugs from her shoulder gun, knocking the gun from his hand. Yor ripped the flight pack off and threw him straight into a wall covered in ocotillo. "Talk, talk, talk," Anya said. She considered Blackbell's position. "Okay, that made the setting relevant."

Mama was looking at the screen again. Anya stepped to her side. Fiona thrust the X-ray in Papa's face. "And here's the punchline," she said. "This isn't from when you were Loid Forger, it's from when you were training me. And they still trusted you to teach me to kill, and lie, and make love, and die!"

Yor wiped a tear from her cheek. She looked down as Anya took her hand. "Don't worry," Anya said. "We'll get him home."