Somewhere on the docks of Grifftown, Luce boarded the ferry boat to take him to C3. The captain sneered at the tall man's denial to pay for the voyage. But the sneer soon faded when Luce flashed his provisional Agent badge and uttered the words 'national security'. The captain stayed out of his way for the rest of the journey.

###

At the Koehlwin manor in Mathesdale, Lisa, Erik, Cathy and Oriana sat at the dining table and ate their breakfast. Lisa's hair were up in a bun, held together by a pencil. She had a blackened swollen lip and a bruised cheek that pulsated a little as she chewed on her bowl of oatmeal.

"Can you pass the pepper, Lisa?" Erik said. He had a bandage on his left jaw, sealing a four inch long cut that had bled for about fifteen minutes before they decided to dress it.

Lisa passed the shaker. Erik shook some black pepper over his mashed potato salad and put the shaker aside.

Cathy had dark circles under her eyes. And she chewed on her eggs and toast with a deadpan look on her face. She only ever smiled when baby Oriana--or Ana, as she had decided to call her--would crawl up to her on the dining table and wave her rattle in front of her.

Cutlery clattered against the plates in the big dining room over the uneven chorus of Ana's baby-talk. Cathy was the one who broke the silence first. She cleared her throat.

The clattering paused. Lisa and Erik looked at her.

"What have you two decided?" she said. "Or are we just gonna see a repeat of yesterday?"

The two adults just frowned at each other.

###

Yesterday.

"You really can't stop blaming me for why your sister left, can you?"

"That's not what this is about!"

"Then what's it about, Erik?!"

The two of them were yelling downstairs. Lisa had called out for Cathy and told her to watch over the baby while she and Erik went down to "talk about something important." That was twenty minutes ago. The baby had fallen asleep by now.

"You know what this is about, Lisa!"

The child lay on Lisa's blanket on the bed. An old photo album lay by her head. Her rattle was by her hand. The baby girl rolled over on her stomach and gripped the blanket as if trying to find the warmth of a mother who wasn't around.

"I gave you too much power, Lisa. And it's turning you insane."

A scoff. "Again, about those prison guards. I bet the families of our enemies aren't weeping over their deaths as much as you are."

(Enemy. Fascinating word, isn't it?)

Cathy looked down at the Milo necklace that she was wearing. "What's so fascinating?"

(Enemy. 'The enemy is dead.' Would you feel bad for hearing that news?)

"Shut up, Milo, you are being annoying again."

(I don't think you'll feel bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. 'Enemy.' You put that word on a person and the person stops being a person. Don't tell me that's not even slightly fascinating?)

"You can't be a part of Last Hand anymore, Lisa," Erik said. "I can't trust you with that truck in your hands."

"I don't need your trust to win against the enemy!"

The baby frowned, winced and then started to cry.

Cathy rushed to the bed. "Hush! It's okay." She lifted the child in her arms and rocked her gently.

The baby didn't stop crying. Erik and Lisa kept fighting.

"Shhh, it's okay. Mommy will be back soon." Cathy patted the baby girl on her back. It didn't work.

Cathy sighed. She finally carried the baby downstairs.

"I don't wanna fight you, Lisa. Don't make me–"

"Lisa!" Cathy snapped, "the baby is crying. She needs you."

Lisa didn't look at Cathy. She kept her glare focused on Erik. "She must be hungry. I'd warmed the formula and put it in a thermos. Fill it in her bottle and make her drink it. She'll go back to sleep."

"Where's the thermos?"

"In the kitchen."

Cathy carried the crying child into the kitchen. Lisa and Erik went back to arguing.

"I'm not gonna give up the truck or Last Hand so easily!"

"I wasn't asking for your opinion," Erik said. "I'm not gonna have you in the group anymore."

"Then make me leave! You can't, because you're too much of a wimp without Gemma!"

Cathy poured the formula from the thermos into the baby's sipper bottle and screwed the lid on. She squeezed a drop of it on her arm. The temperature was just right. The baby was still crying.

"Here comes the choo-choo train!" she said and pushed the sipper into the baby's mouth.

The child gaped in surprise but soon stopped crying and focused on the milk. Cathy sighed in relief as she held the kid in her arms and kept feeding her.

"Tell me, am I wrong?" Lisa yelled. "You can't do anything without your sister!"

"And I bet you are just gonna use Richard as your excuse for why you killed the prison operatives."

"Don't drag Richard in this!"

"Then don't bring up my sister in this!"

The baby was done with her milk.

"Are you full now, kiddo?" Cathy smiled.

The child leaned in and rested her head against Cathy's chest. Her tiny fingers closed around Milo's skull, eyeing it curiously.

(I'm scared, Cat. I don't like the way this toddler is handling me)

Cathy smirked. "Don't you have anything profound to say about that?" She was carrying the child back upstairs.

(Make her stop, Cat. Do it or I'll never shut up)

"I don't think you ever shut up, Milo."

The baby opened her gummy mouth and was about to chomp down on the bird skull.

(Cathy!)

Cathy laughed and grabbed the Milo pendant out of the baby's hands. "No, that's not something to eat. Not to mention you can't chew anything just yet."

The baby girl pouted.

She adjusted the baby in her arms and started to pat her back gently. The girl burped. Cathy laid the baby on her side in the small crib Brendan and Gemma had put together. She patted the baby's head till she fell asleep.

Lisa and Erik were still yelling.

###

"You are playing with fire here, Lisa. Back off." Erik sneered.

Lisa didn't flinch. "I'm not giving up the truck."

"It never belonged to you in the first place."

"No one can use it better than me."

"It's all about the sequences." Erik reached in his pocket. "And as long as we have this, anyone can drive it." He pulled out Lisa's dog-eared notebook, the pages scrawled with her notes on the truck and all the sequences.

Lisa's jaw went slack. "Son of a..."

"You are never going near that truck again."

"In your dreams!" Lisa charged at the man.

Erik was ready, sidestepping just in time and smacking her over the back of her skull and stepping behind her. Lisa almost tripped, almost tumbled ahead into the fireplace in front of her. The sneer hardened on her face. She yanked the poker off its holder below the mantle and swung around, slicing the air in a violent arc.

Erik was nimble as always, leaping back, dodging the poker's sharp bronze head. Lisa grunted and gripped the poker with both hands, raising it over her head.

"Think again, Lisa," Erik said, "We both know how this will turn out."

"Go to hell!" She brought the poker down.

###

There was a loud crash of breaking glass.

The baby woke up at the sound, then wailing ensued.

Cathy groaned. Are they really fighting now? she thought as she lifted the baby out of the crib and went downstairs. "Hush! It's okay. Don't cry..."

The kid wasn't having any of that.

Cathy rolled her eyes. "Will you two keep it down?! You woke the–" she lost her words when she looked at the scene in the living room.

The glass top of the coffee table lay shattered and Lisa lay atop the broken glass, a bronze poker in hand. Erik stood a few steps away from her with his foot lifted in the air, as if ready to stomp the woman in her face. The baby wailed even louder.

"What the heck is wrong with you two?!" Cathy yelled over the sobbing child.

"She started it!" Erik pointed at Lisa.

"I did?! You were the one who came in and told me about kicking me out of the Last Hand and–"

"Shut up, both of you!" Cathy yelled even louder. "I don't care what the heck you two are up to. If the baby cries again because of you, I swear I'm gonna put a bullet in both of you!" She didn't wait to see them nod in agreement. Cathy just stormed back upstairs with the child still crying in her arms.

###

Lisa sprang up to her feet again, getting ready to swing the poker again. Erik was already a step ahead of her, driving his fist into her stomach.

"Oof!" Lisa felt the blow all the way back in her spine and up in her neck. She stumbled backwards, losing her balance again while her midriff ached in pain.

"That's a warning, Lisa. I won't pull back on my next punch."

Lisa grit her teeth, threw a mad glare at the man and charged at him again.

Erik rolled his eyes. Lisa swung the poker at his head, only to pull back at the very last moment and deal him with a left uppercut to the chin.

It didn't hurt Erik much but it did surprise him. He was still reeling from the surprise when Lisa drove her shoulder into his torso and pushed with all her strength, sticking her right leg behind his left shin to make him trip.

For a moment, Erik was confused. "What are you even trying to do?" He frowned.

Before Lisa could answer he raised his elbow and brought it down on Lisa's back.

###

There was a loud thump of something big hitting the floor.

The baby was still crying. Cathy was still rocking the child, trying to soothe her. "There, there. It's okay. Go to sleep..."

The child wailed even louder.

Cathy sang a lullaby, shook the rattle, waved Milo's skull in front of the baby. None of it worked.

"You wanna go back to mommy?"

The child's wailing turned hoarse, almost desperate. Then her face turned red in agony.

Cathy frowned. "You don't look quite righ–"

Before Cathy could even finish the thought, the baby leaned over her arm and threw up all over on the floor.

###

Erik dealt a backhand to Lisa, straight across her face, the impact busted her lip open. The woman went down, spewing blood off her mouth.

Lisa recovered in less than a second, reaching for her poker again only for it to get kicked away by Erik before she could grab it. Next, Erik booted her in the gut. Lisa doubled over on the ground, feeling that morning's breakfast turning in her stomach.

"I already told you, we both know how this was gonna end." He stepped closer. "I can cripple you right now just to keep you away from that truck. I don't wanna do that because I don't want your daughter growing up cursing me."

Lisa growled, slamming a fist on the carpet. "This is my cause too. I am a part of the revolution too! How can you discharge me?!"

"Your cause has changed, Lisa. Dangerously, so." Erik looked down at her with a grave face. "The power of that weapon is better suited in the hands of someone who isn't hungry for vengeance."

Lisa licked the blood off her lips and spat it off. "Big talk. All of it is nothing but big talk. That power is useless in the hands of someone who can't use it!" Lisa grabbed one of the shards of glass from the broken coffee table and swung up at Erik again.

The man dodged the jagged edge of the glass, but only barely. The pointed end cut through the skin of his jaw and went slicing up ahead, stopping just below his ear. Erik staggered back on his feet, blood gushing from his face.

Lisa stared at him with the same mad look on her face. She let the bloody piece of glass fall out of her hand as she stood in front of him, breathing heavily, long lanky hair falling in her face as sweat dotted her forehead. "I can run out to that truck and blow you to bits too," she said, "I don't want to because this revolution is nothing without you."

"I dare you to outrun me," Erik said, narrowing his eyes at her.

Lisa just stared at him, exhausted.

Before either of them could say anything–

Bang! Bang!

Lisa and Erik went down as Cathy glared at the two of them with the smoking pistol in her hand. Somewhere upstairs, the baby was still crying.

###

"I'd told you, I'd put a bullet in you both if the baby cries because of you again," Cathy said, her forehead scrunched with anger.

"What did we do?!" Erik cried out, gripping the gunshot on his shoulder.

"Just feed her the formula!" Lisa was shot in the leg.

The bullets had only grazed the two of them but it was enough to get their attention and it still stung like hell. Erik's training had made Cathy efficient enough to pull off a trick like that. He probably wasn't expecting her to use it against him like this.

"I gave her the goddamned formula." Cathy threw the half empty packet of the infant formula at the woman. "Turns out, it expired last week!"

Lisa gasped. "Is Oriana okay?" She scrambled up to her feet and started towards the stairs.

Cathy fired another shot. This time close to the woman's feet. Lisa froze in her steps. "Stand back." Cathy aimed the gun at her. "Don't be under the impression that I am unaware of what you two have been duking it out for."

Erik and Lisa stared at the girl.

"I know you both are making it sound like this is about the Prison Massacre. I know it's not," Cathy said. "The truth is you both are pathetic. The truth is you both fucked up. And neither of you are ready to take the responsibility for it. And that's why I've decided something for you two."

The baby was still crying upstairs.

Cathy walked down to the living room. "To the pantry. Now!" She waved the gun in the direction of the kitchen.

Lisa and Erik complied gingerly.

Cathy herded the two of them into the pantry. "Now go downstairs." She pointed at the trap door that led to the basement where they'd treated Cathy on their return from Sector 22.

"Cathy, at least let me see Oriana."

"Shut up and go down!"

Lisa bit her lip nervously. Erik sighed and opened the trap door. The two adults descended underground. Cathy slammed the doors shut. "I'm only gonna open this door once you two come to some kinda agreement. How you come to that agreement, I don't care. Murder each other if that's what you want. I'll just go away with the baby and you might as well forget any revolution that the Last Hand could've brought. So take your sweet time talking things out. However if either of you tries to break the door from the inside, I'll shoot you both. And I won't miss on purpose this time."