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"A candidate like you, she was the choice recommended to me by the Judge." Sam said it rather firmly as she flagged down a taxi in the busy road outside. A car pulled by and they both got in. "Nearest train station please."

As Shiloh too followed, as he moved in, it felt for a second like someone was watching him. Someone from inside the party.

"Well, that was ridiculous." Sam was already removing her gloves and heels. "Frankly, I'm a bit surprised you got chosen so early. What really are they playing at." She sighed and undid her hair, leaning back into the seat. "I only like games when they involve me and it's pretty obvious you're the new favourite." The car contined to drive into a tunnel now.

Sam shrugged. "It was supposed to be fool proof. You were supposed to be my escort, but it seems we're in a bit of a bind right now." She visibly frowned, reflection clear against the window. "Really, you should only get into things you can get out of. You can't win this game Lucky, they have you pegged to a wall and me by proxy. I shouldn't have let it happen in the first place, but I considered all odds but one." She chewed on the nail of her thumb. " You know what Couriers do right?"

Shiloh had thought this plan was foolproof, that it was the perfect way to play detective. But as he followed the two conspirators from the room, it felt as though there were eyes on him, as though someone was looking at him. But the place was crowded, and by time he looked, he couldn't spot anyone spying on him. He chalked it up to paranoia, and then chided himself, after what he'd just watched, and was continuing to watch inside the taxi, he had every reason to be paranoid.

It was a game but the rules had changed, and Sam wasn't happy. Shiloh wasn't happy either as he listened intently, wondering just how much of a game they were actually playing, and how much of it was real.

"Right behind you-" Lucky was easily impressed by the preparedness with which Sam was guiding them with. It was perhaps the reason they did not share the same division. Sam was decisive; Lucky was merely curious.

It was oddly refreshing to get away. Even a seedy subway station in the middle of the night was a nice change of pace from the island in the throes of a power shortage. It was dizzying to realize he'd been removed from society for over a year now, with only other Hunters for company. His hand brushed against the small totem of a weapon in his pocket. It was impossible to be anything but an outsider now.

The weight of Sam's explanation made his shoulders sag. Shiloh's death had been an accident, of sorts - he couldn't count on anything like that happening again. No wonder this was game over. Every move now was a decisive loss, and the attention of an enemy he didn't stand a chance against. If they expected him to just - and if he didn't - and if he did -

"Is that vhat you had to do?" he asked, and there was no judgment in his voice, only resignation. Lucky glanced a little jealously at the cigarette for a moment but didn't comment. He had kicked the habit years ago, but now and again he would see another smoker and be reminded of the easy answer to calm his nerves. "To become a Speaker for them."

A gust of wind swept through the empty platform as the train pulled up and they crowded inside.

Lucky remained standing, letting his weight hang off one of the handholds looped from the ceiling. Her question elicited a brief, pained silence while his eyes wandered to the tunnel lights flitting past the window. "Not this."

He readjusted the lapel of his jacket with a hand bearing a crude blackened circle beneath the skin. "I agreed to this... life... to help humanity, shocking as this reason must be after all I have seen. I vas blinded to vhat hid beneath the surface, at first. But it is like you say. Trudno naturę odmienić - people do not change. Even vhen they hold the fate of the vorld in their hands."

Taking credit for Shiloh's death had delayed his realization of how deep he'd mired himself. His hands were still clean, but only to his own eyes. He wasn't a murderer. Not really. Not yet. If they were doomed now, at least he could get that off his chest. He'd never heard anyone else dare to criticize the system in such a way before her - for all of Sam's abrasiveness, he felt like there was finally someone else who saw what he saw. And was equally revolted by it.

"So vhen I learn there are others who saw these problems, I could not help but to be curious. And to take my chances in order to learn more about them. Even if it meant..." Lucky trailed off, and looked up again, giving Sam a tired sort of half-smile. "Vell. It was a mistake to believe there is anything more for us than to kill or be killed."

He was taking this all rather well. Being away from the watchful eyes of the hunters and O alike spared him from descending into paranoia, if only for a little while.

Even if Shiloh had been able to say anything, if his words hadn’t been voiceless to the living members of their party, it wouldn’t have mattered as in a single sentence Sam had rendered him utterly speechless.

Killing him? Him?

It was like the entire world had turned to white noise, shutting out the busy sounds of the street, the eerie hollow echo of the subway. He followed them in shocked disbelief; unable to parse the fact that, that – It didn’t make sense. How could Lucky have killed him? He was some semblance of dead yes, but it was Rep’s axe that had landed the killing blow, a tweeted threat that Shiloh wasn’t aware that the redhead would take so literally. He’d assumed it hadn’t been intentional, not really, or that Rep was possibly just psychotic but had it been premeditated? Had Rep somehow been in cahoots with Lucky, carrying out the hunter’s dirty work? After all, Lucky was about the same size, more wiry, not a very formidable advantage in taking out a hit on someone.

Why? Shiloh stared hard at Lucky as the three of them settled on the train, all but ignoring Sam. He was something akin to livid now, his face wrinkled with the frustration of what he’d just learned. He’d been given the same choice as Lucky, the same prospect and he’d turned it down and he wanted to sock Lucky right in the face for having done what he did, but his fist connected with nothing as it phased through the man’s face, which only pissed off Shiloh more.

“You rat b*****d!” he screamed at him, the gesture useless but it made him feel better. “You god damn piece of s**t. Did you really think that you were going to help anyone, that an organization who’s initiation rite is ******** murder was really going to be the way to save humanity, to save Deus? Are you ******** dense?”

He turned to Sam.

“And you, you just sit and let it all happen didn’t you! You talk about games and winning but when it comes down to it you’re just the same as everyone else, the queen of inaction, letting the chips fall where they may because you either just don’t care or you’ve given up and nothing ******** matters unless it threatens to get a little dirt on your shoes.”

They were outside, up the subway stairs and down a street punctuated by apartments and small businesses, quiet at this time of night. Shiloh had mostly ranted himself out by now, his usually smiling face twisted into a scowl as he followed along behind them.

“With so many snakes, it’s no wonder the island’s ******** eating itself.”

Sam took the cell phone, swiped it across a flat black box, and handed it back to Lucky. "Another secret for another day. I swapped my phone signal with yours. I'll do your dirty work for a bit, but only because it still benefits me in some way." She paused, closing the fridge, turning around, obliviously unaware of Shiloh. "I will tell you this. I'm not on your side, not now, not ever. You'll meet people who want to just use you and people who can't even be bothered. I'm honest enough to at least give you fair warning. The only reason I helped you was because you were a convenience for me to prove my loyalty on both sides. We aren't even close to allies, but for your convenience, I would hope we are on working terms."

Sam tossed Lucky a pair of keys. "Address is already on your phone, if you can find it. This will be your only temporary safehouse, and even then a shitty one. If you mess up, on either side, you can guarantee both are out for blood." Her cell phone beeped and she looked at the incoming text. A smile, so smooth and easy. "Time to tell the boss everything went well."

She all but forced Lucky out of the room as they began walking again, briskly outside. A portal was waiting for them. Sam stopped in front of it, turning to face Lucky for a moment longer. "Shiloh isn't dead Lucky. He might wake up. If he does, can you really kill him again to keep your little guise up?"

She didn't wait for an answer as she through the portal.