Who: Sam Victorio and Leon Sullivan What: Unhappy ending When: The middle of the night Where: On top of the US Bank Building, Los Angeles Warnings: Violence, character death
She should have told Logan. By all rights, she should have told Logan what she was planning. She'd told Betty that she'd be in touch too, but she didn't tell her either. Sam wasn't ever planning on telling either of them. They'd either find out and figure it out, or they wouldn't. After tonight she was going to pretend this never happened. She was going to try as hard as she could to forget it ever happened.
Doing this once was bad enough, but twice... no. She'd hadn't done this before. Max had, but she was going to leave Max out of this. It was too complicated when she included Max and Ben in the equation. She had to leave Max out of this. Max got a lot more worked up about killing people than Sam ever did. As far as Sam was concerned, sometimes it was necessary for survival. Regrettable, but necessary. It was kill or be killed. That's all this was. Sam, the professional, was removing someone who was a threat to her, to her friends, and to the fledgling organization that was currently the only chance the reincarnate world had of resisting the combined powers of Camelot and the Agency. This was necessary. This was business.
It was well past midnight when Sam slipped out of the seedy apartment building they'd secured as a safe house. She'd asked Ana for help, telling her that she needed to track someone. She hadn't mentioned that the person she needed to track was Leon. Dear, sweet Ana had given her exactly what she needed. Now the tiny device beamed coordinates back to her. She knew where to find him. The coordinates led her into the heart of the city, and as she got closer and closer she had to wonder what Leon was up to now. The US Bank Tower? That really confused her for a moment until she realized - the tallest building in LA. The High Place.
She broke into the building and made her way to the roof. It was a warm clear night, the air still even this high up. A corpse was laid out in the center of the helipad, the dead man's arms broken and twisted at impossible angles. She didn't have to look to know that his teeth would be missing.
Leon was still there. She could see him at the edge of the building, his form silhouetted against the dark sky as he looked out at the sea of lights below them. Looking down at the world from the High Place where he'd given the Blue Lady another gift. Sam drew her gun and walked towards him cautiously.
"Leon, you have to stop this."
He turned around slowly to face her, not at all surprised to see her there. "Sorry, Max. I'm not him."
"No. You're not."
Sam held up her gun, aiming. She didn't want this to turn into a physical confrontation. She didn't know if she could take him, not if Ben was totally in control while she was trying so hard to suppress Max. She didn't want to take that chance. Of course, she might have to, if he was fast enough to beat the bullet. It was a chance she was willing to take.
"Ben. Stop this."
"This is what I do. It's what I've always done. It's what we do. I've seen you in action. You still love the hunt as much as I do. You're still a soldier, a killer."
"Not like this. I can't let you keep doing this."
Ben stepped back. He couldn't go far though, he was at the edge of the rooftop. She saw him look down to the street, 73 stories below. Something in his expression changed. For a second he was Leon again. Just for a second.
"You can't let me?" Ben said. "What are you gonna do, Maxy? Kill me again?"
Max wavered. She couldn't do this. Not like this. There had to be some other way. "I can't. I don't want..."
Sam took a step forward, confident. Certain.
"Sorry, Ben. I'm not her."
She fired.
It turned out he was fast enough to beat the bullet.