"Princess!" Frieda threw herself down onto her knees. "He's got a pulse, he's still alive."

Niko was still looking down at Nora. "Are you sure she really was MEC? What if she was just scared?"

"She was holding you at knife point, she was gonna turn you in."

"But--"

"Nikolai, not now! Princess is dying!"

"I, uh, I..." He looked from the knife in Nora's neck to Princess. Frieda was pressing her hands against the bleeding wound in his head.

"Snap out of it and come help me get him into the truck!"

"Right." Niko moved to help Frieda but everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Frieda was yelling commands at him and he was quietly obeying but all he could think about was Nora lying dead on the ground and the way the red and pink clashed on Princess' dying body. At some point, Frieda left Niko pressing against Princess' wound as she climbed into the driver seat. They were driving, driving so quickly that every little bump in the ground was nearly enough to send them flying but Princess' truck was too well built for that. In any other vehicle they probably would have rolled over already. "But... but what about if she wasn't?"

"If who wasn't what?"

"Nora? What if she wasn't an MEC agent? She told me she wasn't."

"Damn it, Niko, drop it! Whether or not she was an MEC agent she was either gonna kill you or kidnap you and turn you into them."

"I could have handled myself! If she took me, I could have gotten away. She was just scared, she was doing what she thought she needed to and Princess just--"

"Princess just what? Saved your damn life?"

"Or killed an innocent woman who was just trying to survive."

Niko could see that Frieda was glaring at him in the rear view mirror. "Princess is your friend and teammate, that Nora chick was a stranger who was threatening all of us. It doesn't matter who she really was, you got that? The lives of your teammates are what matter."

"I wasn't always a teammate, but now I am. What if she could have had that potential?"

"She was MEC, Niko. They would do anything to stop us, do you understand that? Anything. They planted her, they wanted to get to me, it's that simple."

"So why you? From what I can tell all you've done is save a couple deviants. That seemed like a lot of effort just to put down one person."

"The movement is bigger than me. I'm just one soldier, we're just one cell, but I've made a name for myself around here."

Niko's thoughts drifted back to his family. "Leo? Will he be okay?"

For the first time since Niko met Frieda, he noticed a look of genuine vulnerability on her face. She was clearly afraid for Leo's safety. "I dunno, kid."

"Is there something going on between you and my brother?" Niko had wanted to ask for a long time but he was afraid of how Frieda would react. He wasn't sure why he felt that now would be the best time to bring it up but as he watched Frieda in the mirror he realized he was wrong. Her expression shifted into one of fury.

"Just make sure Princess doesn't die."

"How? I'm not a doctor?"

"Keep pressing on the wound, try to talk to him. I'll stitch him up when we're somewhere safe."

"Where? Where can we go that'll be safe? Back to the old mine?"

"No, we have to assume that's been compromised. We have dozens of safe houses scattered around, we'll have to go to one of them."

"What makes you think those won't be compromised?"

Frieda gritted her teeth. "Honestly, I can't tell you for sure that they're not. If we get there and the MEC are waiting for us, then we fight our way back out and try another."

"Why can't we just run? Just drive right outta this horrible republic and never look back?"

"Leo will come looking for us!" She screamed. There was a moment of tense silence, then in a more subdued tone she said, "He's gonna come looking and I intend to be there for him."

Niko knew Frieda was right. His brother would come to find them, how could Niko abandon him? Before he could say anything else, Princess groaned. "Princess! Are you awake?" The man just groaned again and Niko shook him gently. "Don't die, okay? You gotta stick around cause I still haven't perfected my round house, right?" Niko realized he was crying. He had seen a lot of men die in his life, working in the mines wasn't easy, but none of them had effected him this strongly. Maybe it was because Princess knew the real Niko, the one who liked to wear high heels and look pretty from time to time. Being able to live freely had allowed Niko to connect with Princess and Frieda more deeply than the oppressive people of his home town.

Princess groaned again. It sounded like he was trying to speak but Niko couldn't make out the words.

"Not much longer now, Princess," Frieda said. "We'll go to the lake house, it's your favorite, right?"

"I think he's smiling a little." The sight of his friends blood coated lips curling up, even just slightly, made Niko chuckle. "He might be okay."

"Yeah, he might be."

Frieda took them down the side of a steep valley. The truck clung to the rocky terrain like a spider on a wall. When they pulled up to a small house next to a lake at the bottom, Niko knew they'd made it. Frieda cut the engine and hopped out. She swung open the door and instructed Niko to help her get Princess Sparkles into the house. It wasn't really a house at all, more like a single room. There was one bed, one table, one chair.

"This place doesn't seem like it's meant for so many people."

"It's not." Frieda urged Niko to bring Princess to the bed. "Put pressure on his wound again, I gotta get some supplies." She moved quickly, sterilizing a needle and stitching Princess' scalp back together.

"Is it even possible for him to survive this?"

"I don't know." Frieda bit her thread and ripped it. She fell down into the chair, so covered in blood that Niko couldn't tell which stains were from her victims and which were from their friend.

"I mean, even if he does live, there's no way he'll be the same."

"Look, let's not talk about that stuff. Just, clean him up a little. I'll look around for some food."

"What if the MEC find us here?"

"We'll fight."

"What if they over power us?"

"We'll run."

"What if--"

"Enough!" Frieda roared like a beast and it chilled Niko. "I can't answer all these questions for you Niko! You signed on for a dangerous life, you knew that, now either get your act together or get out cause if you can't handle this then I don't need you on my team!"

Niko blinked at Frieda. He had seen her get angry before but never like this. "I... I'm sorry, you're right, I'll shut up."

Frieda smoothed her hair with her hand, unknowingly smearing more blood in it. "Well look at that, you made me take out my man voice. I hate using my man voice."

"It was scary."

"I know."

"Are... are we okay?"

Frieda smiled but it was a weak looking smile. "We're okay, Niko, but we're not safe."

"When will we be?"

Frieda shook her head. "We never have been safe, not in Borrylea, and we never will be."