Target: Hiram Burrows

Thomas made his way up to the top of one of the tower's…. towers. He didn't know what it was called, Emily had just pointed. But the top was exactly what she had said it would be, a small room filled with machinery and a small, middle aged man sat beside them. He flinched upon seeing Thomas, but the ten-year-old raised his hands peacefully. "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you." One hand opened, revealing what was clenched within. "Actually, I have a job I need your help with."

._.

Hiram stood, not sat, by the large table in the centre of the room. It's surface was a map of the Empire, an empire that should, by any rights, have been his. Was his. But with a dreadful feeling of certainty, it seemed to be falling out from beneath him; or disappearing in mist as though he had never had it in the first place. But that was Impossible. He shook himself, and forced himself to look outwards. Beyond the wall of light that covered the only entrance to his saferoom, a tallboy clanked along the corridor. Elite guard patrolled along with it. Overseers, much as he despised them, were there as well, playing the music boxes that he had once doubted could stop supernatural attacks. Now though, he would take what he could get. I'm safe. No one but me is keyed to this wall of light, no one but me can get in, I can see it's still sparking-

"Hello again Hiram." He froze. Not deliberately of course, he wasn't that afraid, but he felt practically anchored in place. "You've certainly outdone yourself. And all for little old me! Insufficient of course, but I appreciate it."

"Please." He growled. "Enough with your witchery nonsense, Emily Kaldwin."

There was a pause. "Very well." And then his feet turned. Looking down, he saw his shadow moving his body like a puppet. Looking up, he saw her, stood in the corner of the room. Her eyes burned. "You disgusting, traitorous…Worm!"

Hiram snorted in derision. "Please. You will never understand what I've done to this nation."

"Thrown it into chaos? Destroyed most of its population? Oh, I think I do understand. I've seen it."

"What you've seen is the damage dealt to the poor. The homeless. The gangs! The wretched scum that have been ruining Dunwall since it's conception! Can you truly tell me that any one of them is worth the square metre they live on?"

Emily smiled wistfully and looked down. "Yes. I can."

He snorted again. "Then you are a fool, just like your mother." Her eyes snapped up at that and he continued. "Oh yes, she expressed the same sentiment. All she had to do was leave them be and let the plague take them, but no! She had to burn through all the funding we had trying to help them!"

"Because my mother was kind!"

"No, your mother was stupid. I really should have thanked you when you killed her."

Tears in her eyes, Emily took a threatening step forward and the hands of Hiram's shadow tightened around his throat. "You saw what happened to your head guard." She said in a tone few would ever expect to hear on a ten year old girl. "I could always make them squeeze harder."

Burrows let out a choked laugh. "Please do! You believe you've found the heart of corruption at the centre of your country. Why don't you cut it out?"

Shaking, she stood there for a long moment. Then she stepped back. "No. I won't become what you are. I will never become what you are."

He grinned. "Then I'm afraid it's checkmate dear. I knew you would lack resolve, just the same as your mother. Do you know I almost liked Corvo Attano for he occasionally made her take responsibility. Now, though? If you won't kill me, there is nothing you can do to keep me from this tower."

And Emily began to laugh. It was a beautiful sound, laced with something fear-inducing, but there was nothing magical about it. It was all her. "That's where you're wrong. You believe evil cannot be stopped without becoming just as bad as the evil-doer. That's what your experience as a spymaster has taught you. Me? I was raised on fairy tales." An ominous crackling came from the audio system on the desk. Emily looked up at him and smiled. "There's always another way."

The audio system began to let out words. They were in Hiram's voice. "If I explain then you will see; I am not at fault. My poverty eradication plan was supposed to bring prosperity to the city…"

His eyes widened. Emily nodded. "Remember recording this? You really shouldn't leave those audiographs intact, even in a safe."

"And it was a simple plan-Bring the rats in from the pandyssian continent, and let them take care of the poor for us…"

Emily straightened. "Hiram Burrows." She intoned. There was a flicker, and another copy of her appeared beside her. "Royal spymaster and now lord regent. For your crimes against the people of my country, you will be placed under arrest by the city watch and be stripped of your position." A third copy of her appeared, on her other side. "The courts will decide your fate." For a moment, all Hiram could see was Jessamine Kaldwin in the place of her daughter. Then all three of her were gone. He barely noticed that the wall of light was down, all he could hear were his own words sealing his doom. From his saferoom's speaker, from the speakers all across the castle, and from every speaker across Dunwall: "…They hid from the catchers, and bred at a sickening rate. Soon it didn't matter, rich, poor, all were falling sick."

He turned as guards and overseers began moving through the entrance to his room. "Don't you see?" He yelled, spittle flying from his lips. "This is the witch's doing! You're all bewitched!"

At the head of the group, Jack and Geoff looked at each other, then Jack reached for his handcuffs.

._.

Emily met back up with Thomas where they had promised, in the marble gazebo in the garden. She walked up to a certain spot on the floor. "It was right here." She said, slowly. "This was where…This was where I killed my mother. Thomas put a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. You know that, right?"

She sighed. "I know it's not my fault. I doubt I'll ever forgive myself, but…" She swallowed. "I can't just wallow in self-pity." She turned back to the tower. "Now that this has happened, I have no choice but to take the reins of the empire. So it is my responsibility, if not my fault."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "You and your fancy words." They stood in silence there for a moment. "Come on." He said. "Samuel will be waiting for us."

She nodded distractedly. Then she turned around and moved back towards the water-lift.

Woo! victory acheived! But wait...what next?