"Everything okay in there?" Mercy's voice asked from outside the door.

It'd been a little less than an hour since she'd disappeared with the rest. Theo and I haven't been doing much. We talked a bit about the past and then moved onto random stupid questions like: what's your favorite color or what's your favorite book. Stuff like that.

"Yep," Theo replied, "we're all good. Feel like letting us out now?"

"Hmm, that depends. Is Shadow gonna kill anyone?"

Theo glanced at me and I shrugged.

"No, I managed to calm her down."

"Okay then. I'm trusting you." I heard the door click as it was unlocked.

"So hold on," I said, while walking outside the doorframe, "there's a lock on the outside of this door? Who thought that was a good idea?"

"We didn't lock it," Mila replied from where she was sitting on a chair, "we propped a chair up a chair up against it."

Hm, smart. Also no way to break it open. Looks like the vent really was my only choice.

"Well, I'm starving," I said, "why don't we go and-" A knock sounded from the door. "Oh, come on! Levi, go get the door."

"Theo," Mercy said, glancing at Theo who was waiting behind me.

"On it."

Arms wrapped under my own, holding me back against a wall with tremendous force.

Levi opened the door on the other side of the room. Behind it was a tall red haired woman with brown eyes. She stood tall with a smile crossing her lips. I, honestly, had no idea who she was. The others, on the other hand, seemed to know her.

They all stood, shocked, with wide eyes, staring at the woman. I took the moment to easily slip out of Theo's grip.

"Clover, ma'am," Bryce stuttered, "how can we help you?"

"Two things," the woman replied with a strong smooth voice. "First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on the competition." She nodded at me. "You clearly should've won that fight. The kid made a dirty hit and, while I don't think anyone would've minded in real life, this was a competition. I'm seeing to it that he's punished accordingly."

"Punished?" I asked. "Will the higher ups let you do something like that?"

She smirked. "No, not directly anyway. Doesn't mean karma can't come back to bite him in the ass. Especially when karma's got a higher position than him."

She laughed at that and I laughed with her. Government or no, I like this person.

"Oh, and another thing," she said looking at me, "I need your help on something. Come on."

"Me?"

"Yep. I need some help picking out a very specific person, but I'm not allowed to say any more in front of anyone who's not involved."

"I'm supposed to come with her," Theo said, stepping besides me. "I'm supervising her until-"

"Sorry, but I outrank you," Clover cut in, walking towards me. She took ahold of my arm and dragged me out of the room, waving and closing the door behind her.

"Sorry about that," she said. letting go of my arm while we walked. "I'm not usually in a rush or anything, but I've got people waiting on us. Anyways, I don't think I've properly introduced myself. Name's Clover. And don't bother, I know you, everyone does now. Shadow the Thief."

"A pleasure," I replied awkwardly. "So, what is it that you need my help with?"

"A murder in Evergreen. We cant figure out who's responsible and I figured if anyone knew it'd be you."

"As honored as I am, I don't know how much I'll be able to do."

"That's fine, it's just an excuse to get you out of there."

"Wait, so I'm not checking out a crime scene?"

"No, you are, we'll just be stopping in a secluded place to momentarily talk."

"Well that doesn't sound suspicious at all."

"You think it sounds bad for you? I'm taking a renowned criminal into a secluded place and praying to the gods she won't kill me."

"I see your point."

---

When Clover said a secluded place, I'd assumed some back alley. But nope, she took me into an old abounded building with bloodstaining the floor. It seemed, vaguely familiar. Maybe because I think I took someone here once. And then killed him. This was a crime scene, my crime scene.

"Deja vu hitting you?" Clover asked, leaning back onto a counter in the kitchen. "I looked into your files, sorry about that, by the way. This was the first place you killed someone, wasn't it?"

"The good old days."

"If that's what you wanna call it."

"So, what did you wanna talk to me about?"

"Right to the point, huh?" She took a breath, calming herself before she started talking. "Listen ,what I'm about to say can't be repeated to anyone. How do I put this? The Kaiser is out to get you."

"Okay. Isn't he out to get all criminals? Part of the justice to all thing, cause that's completely how Lament works."

"Not like that. Specifically you. He's scared of you, thinks you have some information that could get him kicked out of his position. That could send the whole city into chaos. See, whether you believe me or not, for a long time there's been this...underground organization called the-"

"The Seventh Sword." I eyed her, waiting for any sign of betrayal.

"So you do know."

"Yeah, I know. And what about you? How'd you get yourself into something like this?"

"When I got my place in the government, I was given access to the Information Rooms, where all the history's stored. I noticed that a few of the files mentioned the Seventh Sword. I did some more looking, and I noticed their name on a lot more things, dating back since when Lament was formed."

"And if you noticed why didn't you run?" I yelled, making her jump. Calming my tone, I spoke again, quieter. "You should've stopped there! What you've done is suicide. Talking to me will just make the god dammed bastard more suspicious. He's going to kill you just like he did the rest."

"I was right about you," She said, smiling gently at me. "You really are a good person, aren't you?"

"What?"

"I was looking through your file when you first came here, making sure that everything was in order when I noticed something about all your targets. For starters, you only attacked rich people, people from Rosemary. You may not've done any research on them, but you specifically picked richer targets. For instance, when Bryce was sent in to get you, we had him dressed up as a high ranker in the police."

"So what? I still killed people. Even if they were richer, that doesn't exactly make me a hero."

"True enough, but it doesn't make you as bad as the others."

"So what? That doesn't- You can't- This has nothing to do with you putting yourself in danger!"

She took a second to laugh at me before she continued to talk. "I didn't put myself in any danger. In fact, me telling you all this just about ensures my safety. See, as long as you're around, Kaiser Worick wouldn't dare use the Seventh Sword to touch anyone."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, if he does, you'll be the first one to point the blame at the Seventh Sword. And with that Squadron at your back, there aren't many who wouldn't believe you."

"Why can't he just blame me?"

"Because people know you're not stupid enough to get yourself caught killing inside the government."

"True enough. Now, how does the Kaiser plan on killing me?"

"Missions. He wants to send you on the most dangerous missions possible. I took it upon myself to look into the upcoming missions and he plans on sending you and your Squadron out to crack down on a...human trafficking organization."

"That makes sense, I guess. Ten times more dangerous than any black market traders. If I die, I die, if I get caught, they never have to worry about me again. I wouldn't be to worried if it was just me, but I don't wanna risk any of my Squadron getting caught."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. That's why I came up with an idea. Using my position, I can 'accidentally' overlap your mission with another team's and send them out an hour or so behind you. You all come back and everyone thinks it's an accident. It happens sometimes."

"Why don't I just book it before I'm sent out on the mission, wouldn't that work fine."

"Well, everything would be fine for you, but I'm not so sure about the rest of Squadron Five. Kaiser Worick would still send them out, because the dates already been set for it. He wont just stop it all. There's a lot of paperwork that'd have to be done."

"Fine, so I'll finish this next mission and then run. That way, everything ends well for everyone. Except you. You still need to get out of there after you overlap the missions."

"You don't want them to just kill me after you leave."

"Well, someone needs to take control after everything goes to hell."

"Wait, what? I thought we were just talking about surviving here."

"We are. An entire city surviving."

Sighing, she nodded at me. "I see what you mean. What did you have in mind?"

"Revealing the Seventh Sword to the world."

"What that would cause-"

"Mass chaos," I finished for her. "I know. And that's exactly what we need to get someone like you in charge. What better time to grab control than when no ones knows what's going on?"

"Wait, why me? Why can't you take charge of Lament?"

"A criminal like me? Things would be even worse than they are now."

She nodded in understanding. "Wait a second, you seem like you already had this all planned out."

"I may have had some of the ideas in place. I just had to find one more thing before I could put everything in motion."

"And you didn't even have to look for it."

"And you walked right into my hands.

---

I gave Clover Ravi's address and told her to say three special words to get his help. She nodded and then we carefully left the building.

Clover took me to the scene of the crime, where I told them a few details that they hadn't noticed. Blood under the nails which meant a struggle. Achilles heel was cut which meant that the victim was left to watch his killer approach without being able to run. Simple things like that.

After all that, Clover escorted me back to the room where the others questioned me.

"Shadow," Theo said to me, "we got a job while you were out. They're sending us after a human trafficking organization outside east wall."

Figures.