Billy's hands tightened around the bottle, still unopened. Mike was wrong. When bad things were done in the name of good, the thing that made it all worth it was knowing lives were saved. It's not that it's justified, it's just that it's necessary. You don't stop bad people unless you're willing to be on their level. That's why Billy was there. To be on their level and take them down from the inside. He could never do these things if it wasn't to protect innocent people.

But he couldn't say any of that. Nor could he say he'd done similar things in the past. However, he hadn't buried it. Hadn't shoved it away in a dark corner. He brought it into the light and let it go. Any time he saved even one life with his actions, it made it all worth it. It lightened his burden until he was able to release it entirely. But this was too heavy. He couldn't let it go.

"Is that what I saw, then?" He asked, still in that same tone. "Everything you've had to bury to do what you do?"