A/N: This is one of two endings for this fic. They're similar, but I just couldn't choose which one to use, so I decided to post both!

Tony panted, leaning his head against the wall. Jack was just as out of breath. If the mood between them wasn't so grim, Tony was sure one of them would have commented about them getting too old for this shit. Frankly, it was a miracle they had stormed Novakovich's room without being seriously injured, but here they were.

Beneath Jack's weariness was a wild look in his eyes that was more than a little concerning. The last time Tony saw it was when Jack killed the Drazens, one of the few moments when he had looked at Jack and been afraid of him. Right now was a close second. It wasn't that Tony thought Jack was so deranged he might hurt him. No, it was more that Jack's thirst for revenge was clearly insatiable, and Tony feared he might not be able to draw the line. He had just slaughtered a dozen Russian diplomats. He could have set up a sniper across the street or put a bomb in their hotel room. He could have even gone into that room with his gun ready, Rambo-style. But Jack had decided to risk everything to stab most, if not all, of the diplomats. It was deeply personal. Renee was just the surface. This was the result of years of pent-up resentment. Tony was more than familiar with that. Anyone who framed what he did to get to Wilson as purely revenge for Michelle's death was wrong. It had been about the government betraying him after he had laid his life down to serve it.

Tony didn't know what to say, but before he could try, Jack pressed his hand to his earpiece. Part of the goal of ambushing Logan had been to bug him, neither of them believing a word that came out of his mouth. Tony silently watched Jack's cheek start twitching, his eyes still focused in front of him as he tried to discern every word. Eventually, with a hand trembling in a way that Tony knew was rage, not fatigue, he took the earpiece out. Jack didn't speak.

"I can't believe he fell for it twice," Tony commented, trying to lighten the mood, increasingly worried by Jack's unreadable expression. "You think the guy would have asked someone to pat him down after you were through with him."

There was a pause before Jack flatly uttered a single word. "Suvarov."

Tony furrowed his brow. "President Suvarov?"

Jack gave a small nod. "He's in on it."

"As in?-"

"Logan was talking to him, assuring him that I believed it only stopped with Novakovich."

The president of a powerful country being part of a conspiracy was certainly not unfamiliar. But this was enough to start a world war. Forget taking troops out of a base or an airstrike; if this got any uglier, it would make every domestic terrorism threat they had ever faced look like a smoke bomb in a high school bathroom. He now felt the need to pause and rethink. At the same time, once Jack's mind was set, it was nearly impossible to change. If Tony was in the same position, if the president of some foreign country had had a hand in Michelle's death, the bastard would be dead ten times over. An immature part of Tony wanted to point out Jack's hypocrisy. He might have destabilised the government, but at least he hadn't started any wars. But this was not the time to argue, and, really, that would only make Jack more convinced to do his own thing to spite him.

Jack got up, leaning on the wall for support. "We're going to the Hart building."

Tony followed him aimlessly, trying to ask about his intentions, but Jack wouldn't respond. Given that the Hart building had a direct line of sight into the building where most of the diplomats and politicians were… it was pretty easy to conclude what Jack intended to do. He had long since lost plausible deniability. This wasn't a sting operation where someone at CTU secretly knew what was going on, and everything would work out judicially. No, Jack was the sole operator here, and Tony was just along for the ride. What put paid to any lingering naivety that things might not be as they seem was Jack setting up a camera and recording a message for Kim, as well as the president. Jack wouldn't do this if he didn't think he was coming back.

As the weight of the situation set in, Tony suddenly noticed footsteps from outside the room. It only sounded like one person, so he trusted it wasn't CTU who would have busted the doors down. Tony warily stepped out, keeping his motions quiet, his gun drawn. There was a woman, also armed, descending the stairs above. She happened to turn towards where he was hiding, and he realised it was Chloe. She obviously wasn't helping Jack — otherwise, Tony wouldn't be here. But maybe she wasn't just here to uphold the law. Maybe she was here to save Jack from something he couldn't undo. So, he started tracing her steps, staying in the shadows, and making his move when she paused to look around on the landing of the floor they were on. He came up behind her, locking his arms around her neck. She struggled, managing to elbow him in his already bruised ribs, but he maintained his grip, and she fell limp in his arms. He lifted her up and carried her back to where Jack had set up the sniper. His eyes widened.

"She came alone," Tony explained.

Jack nodded. "Take her phone and comm unit out of her pockets, then cuff her."

He obliged, watching as Jack proceeded to call Logan and tell him he had a rifle pointed at his head. In fifteen minutes, Suvarov would be up there with Logan, and with a single gunshot — two, if he considered that Jack would most certainly take out Logan as well — all hell would break loose.

Chloe didn't take too long to wake up, meeting his eyes with a stunned expression. "Tony? Aren't you supposed to be in prison?"

"He's helping me," Jack answered without turning to look at her.

"Jack, you can't… you can't take out Suvarov. You know this is too far."

He spoke eerily calmly, like his soul was already beginning to detach from his body. "I can't let him go on."

"I know, but you have evidence. We can do this the right way-"

"Taylor won't confront Suvarov," Jack explained simply. "She's too scared of the fallout. She won't do it. There won't be a tribunal or an investigation. If we let him get away with this, he'll keep doing it, and I can't let that happen."

Tony felt somewhat conflicted. He needed to stay out of this. Hell, he needed to start packing up his shit and running because even if Jack didn't take out Suvarov, his arrest would lead to the question of who was helping him.

Chloe looked at him again. "Michelle…" The mere mention of her name made him tense, and Chloe must have seen that because she looked a little afraid. "Michelle would want you to interfere here."

"This isn't about me, Chloe."

"It would be a good thing for you to do," she begged. "You've done enough damage, but maybe you can stop some more from happening. She would want you to protect Jack. That's what we did when we got him into hiding. We made a promise to keep him safe, so if you really want to redeem yourself in Michelle's eyes, you'll do this. Please."

When he had worked closely with Bill and Chloe to get the CIP device, he had come to trust her more — although not enough to tell her about Alan Wilson. Chloe was not a naive rule-follower who believed that the legal way was the only way to do things. At the same time, she wasn't totally chaotic and disrespectful of the law. Chloe was reasonable. She saw both sides of the argument. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe if Taylor knew more of this, they could stop it from getting out of hand. A bitter part of him — one that sounded a lot like David — told him he was pathetic and naive for thinking that Taylor wouldn't try to cover this up to protect her treaty and reputation. However, a larger part of him, one he had believed was long gone, wanted to do this right and stop Jack from throwing away what little life he had left. He realised he had missed that part so much. It was what Michelle had always brought out in him. She had made him a better man. Her absence had left a gaping hole where his morality used to be, but maybe it wasn't all gone. Maybe this would affirm to him that some of it was still left.

"Jack, maybe she's right," Tony conceded.

Jack turned and pointed at him. "You do not get to tell me where to draw the line."

"If you do this, the country will descend into chaos," he said gravely. "Kim's already going to be in danger because of you. You don't need to make it even harder for her."

"I can give her instructions to leave-"

"Not everyone is like you. Not everyone can just pack up and leave at the drop of a hat!" Chloe yelled, cutting him off. "Her father's going to go down as the cause of World War Three. Do you really want that for her? For her kids, for your grandkids?"

Mentioning Kim was always a touchy subject for Jack. It was like he believed even her presence in a conversation put her at risk. But she ultimately drove Jack's decisions. If Kim were here, she might be able to talk him down, but they couldn't call her without risking her safety, too. They had to use Kim however they could to get Jack to listen.

"You know if you do this, you're an idiot," Tony said, more anger in his voice than expected. "You tempted fate enough by staying in New York. Now, you've fucked things up, but you still have a small chance at getting out of this without too many consequences. For all these years, you've done everything you could to protect Kim. You've talked about how you would give anything to have been there for her when she needed you. Well, guess what. The only person to blame here is yourself. You keep making this choice. You bring this upon yourself, then blame the world and act like you're a fucking hero and that nobody can do what you can. You make excuses because deep down, you're terrified of facing your grief and everything you've bottled up for the last twenty years." He huffed. "I have nothing, alright? You have your daughter and her family. Why can't you just be satisfied? Everything was taken from me, everything. Yes, you've lost a lot, too. But you have something to hold onto. I don't, and I would sell my soul to the devil himself if I could have that back. So why the hell are you throwing it away?"

"Taylor's not going to let me get away with what I did to Novakovich," Jack pointed out. However, the fact that he wasn't yelling back at him and arguing had to mean he was getting through to him on some level.

"No, she probably won't. You will still need to go into hiding," Tony acknowledged. "But you have a better chance of eventually being with your family now than if you kill Suvarov. I know you think you've crossed the line so much that nothing matters anymore. That was how I felt eighteen months ago, but I was wrong. You can still stop yourself. I know deep down you still care about protecting innocent people, even though it's so hard to do that when every time you try, you're fucked over. At the very least, recognise that if you kill Suvarov, you know damn well that the Russians will come after Kim and her family. You don't want that. You want her to be safe. You want her to be kept away from you and your actions, but you can't have that if you start a world war."

Tony had continued to watch Jack the whole time, looking for a tic, a sign that he was breaking, and he believed it was working. Jack was gripping the gun tighter, trying to mask his pain with anger, but he had nothing to say because he knew he was right. Tony went to lay on the guilt even more, but to his surprise, and he was sure Chloe's, too, he put the gun down. Better still, he moved away from the window.

"Tony, uncuff her," Jack ordered. When Tony did, Chloe gingerly rubbed her wrists.

"Could you have done them any tighter?"

He laughed through his nose. "Sorry."

Jack then came over and passed her the memory card. "Promise me, you will protect this with your life and get this to the right people."

She nodded. "I will, Jack." She then secured it in the back of her phone, somewhere that wouldn't be discovered even if they did a strip search.

Chloe looked between them. "You guys won't have long to get out. The Feds are probably already looking for me."

"I have an exit," Jack assured.

"If you want, I can help-"

"Don't," Jack was quick to say. "We'll be fine. Don't incriminate yourself any further."

Chloe bit her lip, clutching her phone tightly. "Alright… good luck to both of you."

He and Jack thanked her, letting her leave before they ended up underground.

"Where are you going to go?" Jack asked.

That was a fair question. Initially, he had thought as far away as possible from Jack was a pretty good idea, but now… well, they were in a similar boat. Sure, he might only be on a US Wanted List, versus Jack had top ranking on the international shitlist of not one, but now two countries. But really, the consequences were the same for both of them. If they weren't riddled with bullets, they would be captured and tortured at a black-site. Really, they would try to ensure it was over quickly, and they could help each other do that. It would certainly be tense at first, but hey, all that time together had to mean they would eventually reach common ground.

"Well, initially, I was just going to get away from you, but now…" He shrugged. "Feel like some company?"

Jack seemed a little surprised but not offended. He couldn't exactly raise a point about Tony drawing risk to them. They were both in it now.

"What the hell. Let's go."