Tseng and Reno came down from the lookout spot a couple of hours later, to find Rude sleping soundly, out like a light, with Elena still perched on the edge of her bed, running her hair through hher fingers with a distasteful look on her face. Reno crossed to sit next to her,making the mattress bounce a little as he sat, throwing Elena on to her back.

"Good morning to you too," she snarled, righting herself and glaring at Reno's bleary-eyed face.

"Yeah," said Reno, glancing at her sideways, "Doesn't look as if you slept much, huh? What, Rude too noisy a sleeper for you?" They both glanced over at Rude, who was barely even breathing, his chest rising and falling silently, sleeping the sleep of a man who has been long used to stealth.

"Yeah," muttered Elena, stretching and arching her back against the post of the cot. "That's it." She blinked, and then peered up at the two men, raising an eyebrow. "How about you, you doing okay?"

Tseng nodded. "Nothing to report," he said with a shrug. "We should be getting on the road soon, no chance of staying here, I'm afraid."

Reno stepped over to Rude's cot, and, leaning over him, bent down to his ear, and whispered "Wake up, what are you, sleepy the dwarf?" Rude sprang off the bed almost instantly, jolting upright, his hand going immediately to his gun, which, rusted and worn, was still tied to belt loop of his tattered jeans. Reno stepped back sharply, putting one hand out in front of him as he backed away. "Hey, hey, whoa now. It's me."

Rude grunted, and turned to Tseng, then to Elena. "Morning," he muttered. "Time to go?"

"Yeah," Tseng agreed, "Time to go." He started for the ladder which would lead him to the exit, and then stopped, doubling back and turning to Reno. "Hey, what about our friend?"

Rude blinked, puzzled. "What?"

"Our prisoner," Reno clarified, leaning against the wall next to Elena's bed and rubbing the back of his neck reflectively. "Dunno. Either we kill him, or we take him with us."

Elena shook her head. "We've got enough problems," she said, standing and crossing to Reno's side, as Rude pulled himself reluctantly out of bed. "We don't have the time nor the provision to keep him."

"Aw, c'mon, mom," whined Reno, making his best puppy face and batting his eyes at Elena. "He followed us home, are you sure we can't keep him?" He laughed at Elena's look of disgust. "All right, yeah, lead me to him, boss."

Tseng and Reno left Elena and Rude to finish orienting themselves, and climbed back up the ladder to the roof, where they'd left their wounded, exhausted attacker. He was still lying facedown on the ground when they approached, and only lifted his head up to grimace at them when they got close enough for Reno to put one foot right up next to the man's head.

"So," Reno started, hunkering down to the wounded man's level as best he could, "Let's play a game." The man tried to roll over on to his back, but Reno reached around his waist with one arm, rolling him back over to face front. "Here's the rules. You tell me who sent you, and you win, I let you live." He paused, cocking his head to one side, as if considering for a moment. "You decide not to tell me what I want to know, and I kill you, you lose." He nodded, and then waited, as if expecting approval or confirmation from the attacker. From the ground, the other man simply snarled at him.

"I'll take that as an "I getcha," Reno said, grinning. "Great." He leaned back on to his haunches, getting out of the man's face. "So. Who the hell are you, and who sent you here?"

The man waited for a moment, and then opened his mouth to say something. Reno leaned in a little closer, trying to catch the words. Straightening up a little, propping himself on to his shoulder, the injured man glared at Reno for a minute, and then spat right in his eye. Reno, wiping his eye with his free hand, sighed dramatically.

"You just had to go and be all melodramatic and noble, didn't ya." He shrugged "can't understand what that's for, really, nobody's gonna recognize the nobility of your deeds after I've shot you in the head." He glanced down at the man, offering a hand. "Hey, c'mon, get up. Let's do this like men."

The man didn't move. He stared Reno in the face, and then rolled over on to his other side. This time, Reno did nothing to stop him. Turning back to Tseng and the others, Reno shrugged. "Useless piece of shit, won't get a thin of out one like that."

Tseng shook his head with a sign. "All right, then. Rude." Rude turned to face him, raising his eyebrows in a questioning gesture. "Kill him."

Tseng started down the ladder, and Reno followed, whistling a little bit as he went. Elena glanced at Rude, and then started down after them. Left alone with his stoic former attacker, Rude sat down on the ground next to him, trying to peer into the man's face.

"Hey," he started. The man didn't respond. Rude tried again. "Hey," he said, "What's worth dying for?"

The prinsoer rolled over again, and looked him in the eye. "Well," he said, speaking for the first time since they'd cut him down the night before, "Aren't you going to kill me? Aren't you going to follow orders?" There was a sneer in his voice that raised Rude's hackles, but there was nothing about this guy to be afraid of. Rude watched him as he coughed blood out on to the roof of the Fort, while he tried to keep his eyes menacing and narrowed in Rude's direction.

"Who's following orders," Rdue asked. "Gonna die for your orders from whoever it is you're working for."

The man shrugged, coughed again. "Who says they're orders?" He asked. "Maybe I just wanna have some dignity when I'm going."

"Yeah," grunted Rude. "Dignity my ass."

Rude drew his gun from his jeans, and pointed it at the man's head. His former assailant didn't flinch, didn't push himself away, but just sat there, looking curiously at the barrel of Rude's gun. Rude bit his lip, went to pull the trigger, and then in an instant grunted and slid the gun back into the loop on his jeans.

"Dignity my ass," he muttered again, as he stood up to leave. "Let the beasts eat you." He could hear the man coughing, still, as he climbed the ladder down to where his friends were waiting for him.