The building continued to quake around Rowan as he moved towards the front door and salvation. Dust was thick, he covered his mouth as much as he could but he was already coughing. Screams could be heard in the distance. He didn't bother to check for survivors as he went. The whole group could die. He was here for one person only. 

He navigated the crumbling corridors barely seeing them as his mind raced with calculations and possibilities. 

There was the matter of deciding who to hit first. Dik or Dana? He couldn't have the other coming up on him if he was forced to fight at the entrance.

Another rumble and he lost his footing. He pitched forward onto the floor barely catching himself with his hands. It wasn't enough to stop him from skittering into the wall. He was up in an instant on unsteady legs still mentally working out the last details to his plan.

Dik was closer and also picking his way towards the door but he was alone. Rowan tried to figure out his former partner's motivations but it became far more difficult with rubble falling left and right.

"Shit," he bit his tongue as the building shook again. Blood filled his mouth and he found himself spitting it out and then coughing on the dust in the air. The lights continued to flicker on and off but the rumbling had at least paused for now.  

Rowan knew this was far from the main event.

The fail safes were slowly burying the evidence. But he suspected a sophisticated network of hackers were working on slowing them down or stopping them. Now that the firewall was down anything could happen in here. The Watchers were just one faction of many. It was their time. 

The mainframe died. 

Rowan paused attempting to link up to it again. There was response, not even a glimmer. It was probably one of many fail safes to keep hackers out. They'd failed at shutting down the count down. This would be far more difficult without access to the palace network. Opening the front doors just became everyone's problem. If he was no longer tagged in...

"Guess we'll all go together," he thought. It wasn't his preferred way to go, but it was better than his other options. And quicker.

The building continued its onslaught. Rowan knew it could come down around him any second. He dialed out again. That access at least was still working.

"Code Terra: Going to need the front door open," he snapped before breaking the connection. He hadn't reached out to his contacts since he'd gotten into this mess. He could see the messages piled up but now wasn't the time.

He was so close to the entrance. It really wasn't going to matter anymore who saw him. 

He surged into the room, guns drawn, spying both Dik and Dana. 

Dik whipped around to face him, gun drawn. 

"Rowan," he said. He tipped the gun up, his other hand up. "Not here to fight you."

He backed away, away from Rowan and away from Dana. No threat. Rowan turned and focused his attention towards Dana.

The building shook knocking all of them off their feet. The sound of the building's tortured screeching metal and stone was nearly deafening, creating a cacophony of destruction that underscored their need to get out and get out quickly.

"Can you open the door?" Dana asked, her voice muffled. She coughed as she picked herself up. Blood ran down her forehead. Her eyes were wide. Her face betrayed real fear. Her voice cracked as she spoke. 

"Where's Miranda?"

"What? This isn't--" 

Rowan pointed the gun at her face. Her eyes went to the barrel and then back to Rowan's face. 

"Where the fuck is she?"

"I don't--" 

Rowan pointed the gun at the nearest recruit and fired. The bullet pulsed through the young man's throat blowing a hole wide through his Nordic skin, scattering his precious stack to the wind. Both man and skin were gone, useless. No more. 

He pointed the pistol back at her just as fast.  

"One more time," he snapped.

"I left her in my desk."

Rowan closed his eyes. "Wrong answer," he said. The pistol pointed at her remaining recruit, a man with a Slavic unit, with a hint of the caucuses, and pulled the trigger. The bullet lodged into the forehead and the body collapsed in place. Rowan pointed the gun towards the throat. He stared at Dana. Another real death was imminent. She clenched her fists. 

"I am not a patient man, Dana." He cocked the pistol again to emphasize the point. 

The building buckled around them hammering the danger they were all in home.

"It's the truth, I swear," she shouted, holding her hands wide, panic etched her features. 

"Rowan wait, wait!" Dik shouted. 

Rowan turned to him but kept his gun pointed at Dana. 

"This, I have her right here."

Dik reached into his pocket snatching out the small stack and raised it up in the air, the little blue metal piece that held Rowan's whole world in its tiny embrace. 

Rowan's eyes locked onto the stack in Dik's hand, a mix of relief and suspicion coursing through him. His grip on the gun didn't waver as he took a step closer to Dik, his gaze flickering between the stack and Dana, who looked visibly shaken by the turn of events. She also looked relieved which confused Rowan further. They were sisters after all. He'd need to find a body for Miranda when he got out of here. 

Dik tossed the stack to him and Rowan caught it in his free hand. His knees almost buckled in relief. He still needed to figure out if it was her.  He shoved the stack into his pocket  with deliberate care, sparing Dik what he hoped was a grateful glance. Dik nodded, returning his pistol to its holster. 

His internal coms rang. <I'd get away from the front door if I were you. Stand back.>

"Get down!" he shouted. He moved back closer to where Dik was standing.

The door blew apart. 

The explosion knocked the three of them back from the opening. With a roar the building began its final descent. 

Ears ringing, blood dripping from several new wounds on his body, Rowan was up on his feet sprinting towards the entrance, not caring who was around him. The air was clocked with debris and choking. He ran even though his lungs were burning out into the the predawn air. The cold hit him as he emerged from the building, the chaos of sirens and flashing lights enveloping his senses. He blended into the crowd of evacuees, moving swiftly away from the scene, hunched over coughing as he went.

"Hey, you ok?" His gaze snapped up to a man on the street who moved to intercept him. His dress said he was a medical staff at the local hospital. Rowan pushed the tension away and dragged his gaze upwards towards the spires. He inhaled and coughed again trying to clear the last of the dust from his lungs. The man clapped him on the back repeatedly. "That's it, buddy, cough it out, let's get you checked out."

"I'm fine," he tried to say. His voice was hoarse and a bottle of water was pressed into his hand. He choked it down letting the water cool his throat. 

Sirens buzzed in his ear, the ground shook once more the self destruct sequence had done it's job admirably. 

Rowan turned to look behind him.

He wasn't fully prepared for the destruction he faced. The Palace had never really been visible from the street. But now the tall building was caved in, top to bottom. The once orderly array of corridors and training facilities inside were now a chaotic jumble of debris. The interior was visible through the torn-open sections: splintered furniture, shattered glass, and the scattered papers of a thousand secrets now exposed to the elements. Smoke billowed from the ruins and a hundred or so alarms were screaming at once.

The only survivors guaranteed to be stacks, not bodies, simply stacks. The stacks he hadn't managed to take out at least.

"Some kind of rupture or leak," the man next to him was saying. "Lucky anyone made it out at all."

"Any other survivors?" 

"Yeah," Scrubs turned and pointed. "A man in that ambulance, broken arm, but he'll live. A woman in the second ambulance - there." He paused. "Most are from the the two surrounding buildings. But not too many injuries that need to be treated. The one in the middle where it all started? Very few. I'm sorry for your loss."

Rowan was already looking away towards where 'the woman' was but he couldn't see her. He knew it was Dana in the last ambulance.

He walked away from the doctor towards the two ambulances, staggering inside the last one.

Dana lay on her back, bruised, bloody but alive. She met his gaze with defiance even in her broken state. 

"Rowan," she sat up trying to get away.

The paramedic looked between them and Rowan held up his hands. "I come in peace," he said. His voice has hint of joviality to it. As if he hadn't just walked out of a collapsing building. 

Police and medics were all over the place. Sooner or later someone was going to ask questions. He looked down at Dana. "Why you'd take your sister?"

Dana looked away. "She had the means for my best case. Isn't that ironic? My beautiful sister who was so good, so kind, found the most ruthless killer alive to love her. It was too tempting."

"You recognized me."

"Hardly a feat." Dana shook her head at him and then winced. "You weren't hiding."

"Who asked for me to come back?"

Dana shook her head. "Does it matter? The Watchers are done. This hit - this was a hit wasn't it? Who do you really work for?"

Rowan stayed silent. There was always a bigger fish in the pond. It was one of the first things they taught you. Unfortunately some of them were sharks from the upper spires. The upper spires had their own factions and their own soldiers.

"Who helped us get out? Can you tell me that at least?"

"Only if you want to be dead," he said, his voice serious.

When she blanched, he smiled. "Only joking. Pay back is a bitch. Don't forget that."

He turned away and hopped out of the ambulance. His hand went to his pocket again. The stack was still there. He needed a body, he'd get a synth in short working order for her. Miranda would hate it, she said synths couldn't taste a thing. But a real body would be out of the question for a while. They might need to take a trip off world. Paralax was a fun place. Less tech but more lively. He was fond of old Westerns. 

Dik was there standing, one arm in a sling. He grunted in acknowledgement. Rowan strode over to him pretending his legs didn't feel like jelly. He wanted nothing more than to collapse on the street.

"Sorry about the whole leaving you behind thing."

"Don't mention it," Dik said. "Ever."

"Where you going now?"

"I think," Dik smiled, "I might retire. Or try to anyway." 

"Good hunting, Dik. If you need a job," Rowan started as he clasped Dik's hand. Dik responded with a firm grip. Part of the job was knowing who to leave behind and who to take out. Rowan hoped this was a good investment. If Dik was recruited elsewhere there was a good chance he'd let Rowan be. It wasn't him who'd tried to bring him back in anyway.

"Retired, I think." Dik smiled. "Rowan, there is something you should know."

Rowan stiffened. "Oh yeah? And what's that."

Dik flicked his gaze to Rowan's pocket where Miranda's stack sat protected in his other hand. Rowan's hand squeezed it protectively.

"Miranda didn't come willingly. And the information was extracted - they weren't gentle. Be careful when you spin her back up."

Rowan dropped Dik's hand. He went for his gun but paused leaving it in his pocket as his training took over. Dik for his part didn't make a move to defend himself just waited to see what Rowan would do.

"Did you know they were sisters?" Rowan asked studying Dik's face. 

Dik's eyes widened showing true surprise. "Damn," he said. "That's cold. Even for a Watcher."

Rowan nodded to Dik and turned away. He's spin Miranda back up and figure out what was going on. And then maybe he'd pay her sister a visit. 

A familiar but unwelcome scent of mint gum invaded his nostrils. Unbelievable that out here that stuff was stronger than the smell of burning and twisted metal. 

He turned to the unwelcome sight of Detective Karen Miller. She was directing a group of officers close by. Stack detail, he figured. The worst job policing job you could get. They would be pulling stacks from bodies, literally cutting them out of the back of their necks where they were nestled in at the base of their heads.

"You quit smoking?" he said, as he caught her look. "No smoke, just mint this time?"

She did a double take and eyed him again. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Rowan nodded. She stared at him for a minute longer and shook her head heading in the opposite direction. 

He stood there and watched the Detective walk away. She might be the smartest person he knew after all. At least she hadn't assaulted him with the smell of stale cigarettes as well. He pitied her. The collection detail was going to take weeks. And that was just for stacks. They had to spin the people they found back up and figure out what happened in Virtual. He wrapped his hand around Miranda's stack. 

<Code Terra: Can I get a lift?> 

WC: 2283