“This is all happening too goddamn quickly” Eliza mutters, slumped in her seat beneath the piercing white light of the outhouse lightbulb just overhead. “Let’s not get caught up in that too much” Josh replies, handing the woman a water bottle and taking a seat in a chair opposite Eliza. “All we’ve got to do right now is keep our heads down and wait all of this out” Josh replies, his phone buzzing as Eliza tells him that this has come too far.
“We just saw a man fighting with us get gunned down to keep us alive” Eliza retorts as Josh answers his phone, “we don’t need to keep our heads down, we need to take a step back.” Answering their guardian, Josh places the phone on speaker and lets it reside in the middle of a tiny center table. “What can you tell us right now?” Josh asks, his head hanging with the expectation of straight-forward information, surprised when the guardian answers in a mellow tone. “It’s a lot of bad” the guardian replies, the exhaustion in his voice telling the tale of a man lacking any confidence in future progression of any master plan. “Give us the best of it” Josh replies, the man on the other end telling him that he’s made the kill list. “I’m sorry” Josh replies, “the what?”, his head dragging sideways as the guardian explains. “The pipeline has a ‘kill list’ of people that threaten their business, you’re on it.” Wiping his face, Josh thinks about the gravity behind that and comes to the conclusion that he’s most likely been on much worse before and gotten away. “No” the guardian replies, his decline pulling Josh into his following statement, “both of you are on the kill list.” His head lifting to look at Eliza, Josh watches her eyes go dead for a moment as she slowly sits back in her seat, her eyes remaining glued to the phone. “How do we get her out of the crossfire?” Josh asks, wasting no time in looking for a solution to get Eliza out of dodge, his attempts however, falling short when Eliza refuses to leave. “I’m not taking it, whatever’s offered, I don’t care” Eliza replies, “I started this, I’ll see it to the end.” Telling Eliza that he will not allow her to continue, Josh catches immediate flack from the woman, who tells him that she will not run away from any of this. “The difference between you and I is that you can get away with just as much as these assholes can” Eliza returns, “I’m risking everything and I have no fallback. You don’t tell me what I can and cannot do.” Asking the guardian to find an option that takes Eliza off the list, Josh feels the heated smack from Eliza’s hand collide with his face. “I’m not running away” Eliza proclaims, “we either see this through whatever comes after, or I die holding my end.” Refusing to allow Josh any further attempts at directing the conversation, Eliza takes the phone and holds it in her hand, asking the guardian what that means for the plan itself. “It’ll be much more difficult to get inside” the guardian replies, “hell, it might even take it off the table completely.” Eventually, Josh asks for further information on the pipeline, looking for what truly makes them such a danger outside of their trade. “This isn’t just a bunch of pedo’s trading pictures on the dark web” the guardian replies, “it’s high end criminals tapping into a market that no one else had.” Mirroring it to the first appearances of cartel dealings, the guardian states that the pipeline is the first syncronized group with a ‘product’ that no one else sells. “So what’s the difference?” Josh asks, “what makes this any different other than how many people are involved?” “It’s pretty easy to get what you want when you’re a celebrity, even when it’s illegal” the guardian replies, “but there’s a big difference between finding out a celebrity does coke and figuring out that they jerk off to kids.” Informing the pair that the majority of the money comes from individuals looking for guaranteed secrecy to come with the product itself, the guardian states that the pipeline guards it’s catalog more than it guards the product. “They’re selling pictures and videos, which ain’t exactly easy to trace back like it is with any drug” the guardian concludes, “not much to keep track of other than making sure people don’t know which lines to connect.” Nodding, Eliza compares it to that of a spider web. “If their clients are found out, all that has to happen for them to get caught is by the ‘product’ being found” Eliza exclaims, the guardian acknowledging her to have hit it right on the nose. “They keep security on everything they can to make sure you don’t know where to draw the lines” the guardian states, “all you need to do is draw one line and the web falls apart.” Understanding when put into simple terms, Josh begins to put together why the guardian chose him specifically to head the operation. “I have connections to the people that would be found in that web, don’t I?” Josh asks, the energy from the guardian’s side giving him his confirmation. “As long as you’re still good to go, we don’t need to put anyone down there” the guardian replies, “the location of their little pedo-ville was needed in the event that you get shot or locked up.” Covering all the bases, the guardian informs the pair that they’re finally reading to start trying to draw lines, only for his excitement to be cut short when Eliza asks for the worst of the news he called to discuss. “Yeah” the guardian replies, his mood immediately flipping as he realizes the one final piece of information to share. “They, erm…” the guardian begins, both Josh and Eliza looking at the other as they await the follow-up. “They found Deangelo’s body” the guardian replies, Josh turning his look into one of relief as Eliza’s only worsens. “That’s fine” Josh returns, “we expected that to happen eventually, we’re all covered!” “Not exactly” the guardian replies, “they found him the day after you shot him, they’ve just been hiding it while they identified him.” Looking up to the man, Eliza exclaims “your car”, surprising Josh, who asks the guardian for the point. Back in downtown New York City, a detective is dispatched to an unfamiliar precinct, where she walks with confidence through the front doors and up to the main desk. “Hi, my name is Hayden Arcnote, I’ve been called for detective work by Officer Holiday?” the woman asks, the man in question overhearing the conversation from afar. “She’s with me!” the man calls towards the desk worker, “I’m Julius Holiday, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Walking past a section of desk jockeys, Arcnote asks why she’s been called into investigate a random drug dealer on such a secretive level. “That’s the thing, ma’am” Holiday replies, the woman already eliciting the response of a veteran despite being twenty-seven with two years of experience in the field. “We don’t believe this is any random drug dealer” the man replies, “we believe he’s one piece in a much larger chain of an underground, child pornography ring.” Stopping in her tracks, the woman looks towards the man with suspicion, asking him to repeat what he had just said. “I’ve never heard that one before” the woman replies, the man quick to point out that much of the state’s force had been investigating it for years. “The idea is that there are a number of wealthy, powerful figures at the top keeping people blind to it” Holiday continues, “we never really had any solid connection to it until now.” “So why are you bringing me into this all of a sudden?” Arcnote asks, “other than you’ve finally put a body to a bigger picture.” Stopping beside the door to the evidence lab, Holiday says that she’s going to see something unprecedented. Once inside, Arcnote is greeted by the sight of a bin with pictures of tire marks pinned on the envelope of a case file labeled ‘Underground Ring.’ Glancing at the pictures, Arcnote opens the folder to reveal a list of names, few of which are circled, all connected to a chain of owned vehicles in the state. “Why is this guy circled?” Arcnote asks, Holiday quick to respond, “That’s Eric Devine, he used to serve as our lieutenant.” When asked why he no longer is, Arcnote is informed of his passing and subsequent reputation being made public. “That’s the Eric Devine guy?” Arcnote asks, having heard of the case in detail over the past number of months. “And who’s this?” Arcnote asks, Holiday reading the name out to be that of Joshua Lane’s. “What does he do?” the woman asks, informed of his former status with VeroSoft. “He was the man that Devine was intending on framing for the murders of a few wealthy businessmen in the city” Holiday replies. “What am I looking at?” the woman asks, Holiday informing her of the list of four circled names to be those believed to have connections to the underground organization. “In what way?” the woman asks, Holiday taking a deep breath before going down the line. “We believe Devine was a figurehead in their operation until his death, we believe the other two names are of high stature in the organization as well.” “And what about Joshua Lane?” Arcnote asks, turning towards Holiday, who thinks carefully before saying what he proceeds to. “We believe he’s killing them off” Holiday replies, the look of surprise coming over Arcnote’s face as she questions whether or not he’s the suspect or hero of this story. “He’s committing murder” Holiday replies, his tone not taking that of someone confident in the simplicity of the claim. “But since most of the people he seems to be killing would just buy their way off of the stands anyway, most of us believe he’s doing more good than bad” Holiday concludes. “You’re telling me the department that let Devine do what he did is alright with vigilante work?” Arcnote asks, watching Holiday struggle to find the right response. “Any work we do to bring these guys down for what they do does nothing if we just take them to court” Holiday replies. “Do you believe he’s a suspect in this guy’s murder?” Arcnote asks, Holiday responding with a ‘yes.’ “I’m not gonna argue with what’s right and wrong, but I know the law states that you cannot kill” Arcnote says, handing the folder off to Holiday. “Bring him in for questioning” Arcnote demands, “let’s see who we’re talking with.” Leaving the room, Arcnote begins the process of growing accustomed to the precinct she now expects herself to become very familiar with. = Joshua Lane is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “You’re getting too close” Nora cries, reminding Josh that she had called his demise long ago. “I’m not too close, I’m right where I need to be” Josh replies, his eyes glued to the winding road ahead of him. “I used to think the same thing” Nora returns, her eyes menacingly locking onto the waterfront a few paces away. “Care to take a walk with me while we’re here?” Nora asks, the soft, whisper-like pull of her voice convincing Josh to consider it for a moment. “No, I came here to do one thing and then I’m gone” Josh replies, his vehicle turning towards the exact spot Nora’s eyes had been locked onto. “Familiar territory, isn’t it?” the woman asks, watching the man slow the car to a stop before opening his door. “Vanish, please” Josh requests, rising from his seat and pushing the car closer to the edge of the waterfront. “The answer’s yes” Nora whispers, her words entering Josh’s ear and wrapping around his brain like a rope. His push slowing to a halt, Josh looks a few feet off to the left and pictures the events of a night he’d been trying to, but never succeeded at dropping from his memory. -> “It doesn’t have to go like this!” Nora cries, watching Josh pull his gun up from his side and steady his hand. Continuing to plead, Nora’s hopes fall on deaf ears as a shot fires, the burst of light from the gun reflecting in the water as another bullet fires. <- “No, it doesn’t” Josh replies, continuing to push the car forward until it’s front wheels tip over the edge. Saying goodbye, Josh pushes the car the rest of the way over, watching it collide with the water’s surface and slowly submerge beneath the drink. “You’ll never change” Nora says, stood behind the man now turning around to meet her eyes. “I’ve changed more than you’d ever know” Josh retorts, “just because you can’t agree with the work that I do, doesn’t mean you can torment me for it.” “You know it’s not your work that I’m with you for” Nora replies, the man wasting no time in shouting back to her, “I didn’t kill you!” Stood there, watching the girl approach him cautiously, Josh stares into her eyes as they turn a silky white. Turned away, Josh refuses her attempt to frighten, turning around to see her returned to her normal form. “I didn’t kill you” Josh replies, “I didn’t kill you, and I will never believe otherwise.” “Fine” Nora replies with a smile, “you’re doing this to yourself.” Vanishing into thin air, Nora leaves Josh stood on the pier alone, the buzzing of his phone keeping him from dwelling on the encounter too much. “Yeah, it’s me” Josh says, listening in ass the guardian breaks the news to him. “The precinct has put your name to the case” the guardian declares, “they’re onto your work.” “They’re gonna try to bust me for killing some low-life?” Josh asks, laughing it off and suggesting they’d never waste so much resources on a low-level offense. “They know about the pipeline” the guardian shouts, immediately catching Josh’s attention right back, “and they know about our work, all of it!” On the edge of his seat, Josh asks the guardian for his next move, the only one available to him in the moment is to return to the safehouse. “What about Eliza?” Josh asks, “have they pinned her to it?” With the knowledge that Eliza’s name is out of the hat for the moment, Josh hurries back to the safehouse. His taxi dropping him off exactly where he needs to be, Josh rushes into his shared room with Eliza and notices something immediately alarming. “She’s not here!” Josh shouts as he calls the guardian back, red flags flying for both parties involved. Within seconds, a buzzing comes from a random corner of the room, a burner phone lighting up with the guardian’s information in a waste basket. “She left her phone” Josh says, the guardian immediately slamming it’s fist to it’s desk on the other line. “Where the hell did she go!?” the guardian shouts, Josh at a loss for words until he notices something out of place left on the kitchen tabletop. “It’s a receipt for hair-dye” Josh says, both he and the guardian beginning to fear that they already know where she’s going. “I’m going after her” Josh declares, the guardian immediately suggesting against that. “I’ll take care of her, you just stay put and don’t answer the door” the figure on the other line shouts, leaving Josh stranded in the middle of his room, aware of exactly what happens if Eliza gets where she’s going. | “No answer” Holiday replies, returning to Arcnote with empty hands. “Think we weren’t on the same page time-wise?” Arcnote asks, Holiday admitting that to be a strong possibility. “Is everything alright?” a voice calls out from the end of the corridor, the pair turning around to notice Becca walking gingerly to the door. “Are you here for Mr. Lane?” Arcnote asks, Becca replying with the affirmative, asking the officers of the same thing. “We were just looking to see if we could ask him some questions” Arcnote replies, Becca immediately wondering whether or not they know anything of use. “Is he hurt?” Becca asks, the officers curious towards the suggestion. “I’ve been coming here every day for the last month” Becca replies, “I’ve called him a few times, but he hasn’t been here anytime he says he has.” “Do you know where he is?” Holiday asks, jumping on the opportunity until Becca denies it. “I was hoping you would” the woman replies, “is something wrong?” Insisting that everything is fine, Arcnote tells her that the department will inform her if they hear of him turning up anywhere. “Alright” the woman replies, stepping back to allow the officers through. After a few moments, Becca knocks on Josh’s front door and calls out “coast is clear” to the inside. “Did they suspect anything?” the man asks, Becca, frustratedly, replying in the negative. “What are you doing, Holland?” Becca asks, “what more do you need to let me go back to my shit?” Reminding Becca of the need for evidence, Holland makes it clear to the woman that evidence is equal to her freedom. “He’s a bad guy” Holland begins, Becca interrupting him by mirroring that statement onto Holland himself. “But only one of us can decide when you’re free or not, ain’t it?” Holland voices, the woman looking to the ground without an answer. “Don’t waste my time with these questions” Holland says, waving for Becca to follow along as if she were a lost dog. | Her car placed into park, Eliza steps out of her vehicle and closes the door behind her, leaving behind a set of folded papers resting on the dashboard. With a deep breath, Eliza walks strolls along to the other side of a dead road and meets her destination at the window of a motel. “Key 14T” Eliza utters, the man stationed at the window immediately lifting his head from his check-in book and pulls a special card from beneath his desk. “Beneath the mural” the kid exclaims, immediately closing the window as soon as the woman takes the key. Turning around, the woman, now sporting the look of a dastardly redhead approaches the one room cut off from the remainder of the motel’s main exterior. Her eyes briefly taking view of a set of headlights in the distance, Eliza performs a double-take, returning to her view of the vehicle as it speeds up. Turning into the lot, the vehicle hits the brakes as it lines up with Eliza, who dives out of the way as rocks splatter against the cedar tiles of the building itself. Taking cover behind a wooden pillar, Eliza retrieves a gun from her boot and fires a round randomly towards her attacker’s direction, putting him in the position to duck for cover behind his car. Taking this moment as he opportunity, Eliza hurries for the door marked ‘14T’ as the man pulls his head over the hood of the vehicle. A firearm brandished in his hands, the man fires one shot directly at Eliza, the bullet fired immediately ripping through her side and planting her into the ground with a thud. “We’ve got her, boss” the figure calls out, hanging up before beginning to assess and bandage the wounds. Having hit her head on the tumble, Eliza fades out of consciousness as the man ties her hands together and begins dragging her back to his vehicle. Left on the ground, the ‘14T’ room key Eliza no longer had the awareness to hold onto, remains partially buried beneath the pebble-covered ground as the vehicle speeds off with Eliza inside. | “We have one possible suspect possibly on the run, and we have two other figures in the ring as of yet unknown” Holidays explains, “where do you want to start first?” Considering her options, Arcnote wants a team of people finding out the identities between the two alias’ listed on Holiday’s report. “Until we know who’s circled, I want to know where Joshua Lane is” Arcnote says, her prayers seemingly answered as soon as they’re uttered. “Ms. Arcnote, we have someone with information they say they’d like to share with you” an unnamed officer declares, leading her to the interrogation room where Becca awaits. “Ms. Havish, is it?” Arcnote asks, walking in alongside Holiday. “My officer said you had information to share with us?” the detective asks, Becca confirming that suggestion by placing her phone atop the table. “What is this?” Arcnote asks, Becca informing her of the photo on the screen being that of which she had taken the month prior. “Why is this important?” Arcnote asks, Becca requesting that they speak about this matter without the presence of those behind the two-way glass. Nodding to those stationed behind, Arcnote listens to Becca explain that a leak coming from the department is that they’re running down a shortlist of potential drivers of a classic, cherry red muscle car. “The suggestion is that you think whomever was driving it is connected to a murder” Becca continues, watching the eyes of both Arcnote and Holiday glance back and forth to each other. “Take a closer look at the picture” Becca says, pointing out the make and model of the car being imprinted in the leader glove compartment cover. “Joshua Lane owns a classic, cherry red muscle car, and he won’t tell me where he is” Becca concludes, giving the detective’s their tip. Exiting the station, Becca walks into the waiting arms of Holland, who plays the role of her boyfriend as the detective’s look on. “Is that enough?” Becca asks, the fake smile plastered across the man’s face parting long enough to tell Becca of more work needing to be done. “When he’s behind bars, you’re free” Holland replies, holding the passenger’s door open for the girl and preparing to drive off. “Let’s put a B.O.L.O out on Lane” Arcnote says, Holiday already putting in the request before Holland’s vehicle can even hit its first stoplight. | “Untie me, assholes!” Eliza shouts, the door to the safehouse swinging open to reveal an aggravated Josh storming inside with his temper heightened. “What the hell was she doing!?” Josh shouts, the woman immediately turning her face away from the man as he looks towards an unnamed man for answers. “All I know is that guardian sent me” the man replies, attempting to suggest they wait before adding anything to the conversation until the door opens again. With a briefcase in hand, the figure closes the door behind himself and turns towards the trio, his face covered by a metallic-like mask, a gate-like pattern over the mouth the only thing leaving skin visible. “You may leave” the figure orders to the unnamed man, who stares at him with a look of amazement. “Yes, you’ve seen me… Now go” the figure reiterates, watching the man snap from his gaze and do as instructed. Looking back to the pair, the figure takes a seat before them and directs Josh to a chair near the corner of the room. “Are you the guardian?” Eliza asks, the figure refusing to answer her question, having stripped her of her right to do so. “Are you the guardian?” Josh asks, the figure affirming his suspicions as the attention centers around the woman. From his pocket, the guardian unfurls a folded piece of paper left behind by Eliza and begins reading it aloud. The suicide note of a woman knowing that this is her final action before her fate is sealed, the guardian continues to read as Eliza simmers without any outlet to relieve. “She was going to infiltrate the pipeline ahead of schedule or die trying” the guardian concludes, “she was looking for a way to be done with this once and for all.” His eyes glued onto Eliza, who refuses to share his gaze, Josh asks why she would do that if she’s begun to come around to the truth behind their work. “She hasn’t” the guardian replies, making the woman’s mind up for her. “She got dragged into this, it wasn’t her work by choice” the figure continues, standing from his seat and opening his briefcase, “if she can find a way out, she’ll take it or die trying.” Refusing to give the guardian credit, Eliza clarifies that he is only partially correct, speaking ill on her true outlook on the work itself. “I’d rather die than live in a world where there’s no way out from this” Eliza replies, “this is your work, that’s fine, I understand why you believe that it’s necessary, but it’s not mine.” Her stare turning away from Josh and centering itself on the guardian, Eliza tells him that the fault of her predicament lies solely on his shoulders, only for the guardian to twist that knife right back in the direction of the girl herself. “You didn’t need to do as instructed” the guardian says, “I never threatened you with anything, I simply stated that I know the secrets you wouldn’t want anyone else knowing about.” His hands folded together at his hips, the guardian tells Eliza that he’s never blackmailed anyone into doing anything, he’s simply stated a fact and let the individuals take it from there. “You can’t blame me for pulling a trigger, detonating a bomb, slicing at a throat” the guardian concludes. “Let her go then” Josh says, “if you’re not forcing her to keep this up, let her go and move on with her life.” Reminding Josh of the kill list, the guardian tells Josh that any involvement that Eliza’s had has been because of him. “What will you do if she stops then?” Josh asks, closing the distance between himself and the guardian. “If she’s not being blackmailed, what does she have to worry about you knowing her secrets?” the man continues, testing the guardian’s word. “If she’s free to go, then fine… None of this is on you” Josh continues, eventually getting close enough to the guardian that he matches every step forward of Josh’s with a step back of his own. “But if any of these secrets end up in the wrong hands, then you’re no guardian, you’re just a fucking puppet master” Josh concludes, eventually backing the guardian up against the wall, daring the figure to prove him wrong. “You’re on a kill list” the guardian replies, his hand sticking out and lightly pushing Josh back with a single finger, “as long as you’re alive, you ought to be thanking me.” Pushed back far enough, Josh pulls the gun from his holster and takes aim at the guardian’s head, the figure immediately raising his hands. “Let her go and prove to me that you’re worthy of trust” Josh demands, the guardian pressing himself against the wall. “Tell me that she’s free to go!” Josh shouts, one eye narrowed further than the other as the guardian goes silent for a moment. “No” the figure replies, Josh’s lip arching when the answer isn’t one he had anticipated. “Well” Josh replies, “I guess you’re just as responsible as we are” as he lowers the gun, returning it to his holster. “I suppose you’re right” the guardian replies, “but I’m not on the losing… Not anymore.” “What do you mean by ‘not anymore’?” Eliza asks, the pair looking towards the figure as it stares blankly at the ground. “I used to be part of the pipeline” the guardian admits, the revelation bringing a surprise to both, “before it became what it is now, that is.” Going into detail about the origins, the guardian reveals that the group took a turn when people with power decided that they needed an industry to hold a strangle hold on. “Once suggestions started turning sour, I called them out on it” the guardian replies, “that’s when I left. They overhauled everything down to their location, and no one was allowed to leave.” Looking up to Josh, the guardian tells him that he’s aware of the conversations he’s had with Eliza, eventually turning to face the woman herself and answer the question often raised by her. “There’s a big difference between vigilantes and monsters more than just what the public believes” the guardian replies, kneeling beside her. “I’ve been around monsters before, and we are not monsters.” A buzz coming from his briefcase, the guardian retreats to it, checking his phone to find a notification he hoped would never come. “You’re ‘bolo-ed’, Josh” the guardian says, providing the man with proof of the New York City police department coming after him once again. “Go back to the safehouse’ the guardian instructs, “stay there until I tell you otherwise.” When asked about Eliza, the guardian tells him that she needs to be looked after until he can be assured she won’t do something stupid again. “No!” Eliza shouts, “let me out of here!” she screams as she further strains her wounds. “Josh, listen to me” the guardian says, “she’s gonna jeopardize everything or get herself killed, probably both, if we don’t do anything.” Accepting the point being made, Josh leaves the room and makes for his ticket back to the safehouse as Eliza stares down the man behind the mask, telling him that he’s going to regret making that decision as Josh departs.
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“Let go of me you pigs!” a man with his hands tied behind his back shouts, his head covered with a black potato sack as his boots drag across the ground. “You’ve got no clue who you’re messing with!” the man continues shouting, watching the heavily obstructed sights of being carried by two large men down a corridor filled with natural light. “Hurry up and get him quiet” a woman shouts from behind, the pace of the men picking up with the demand.
“Yes, boss” one of the men replies, the woman responding with a very prominent “don’t you care” in his direction as the man laughs. “You’re messing with the big boys now!” the man shouts, continuing to struggle as the two men carry him into a much darker room with only one source of light directly opposite the seat he’s been placed upon. “Tie him up” one of the men orders, the attempt falling short when the imprisoned man stands up and makes a dash straight ahead. “You’ll never get me to talk!” the man shouts, continuing to run with no one following after him. “It’ll serve its purpose” one of the men says, remaining stood as the cloaked man inches towards the light. “I’m free!” the man shouts, leaping at the lightsource as it grows nearer before running into a long piece of machinery and collapsing back to the concrete ground. “Let’s go” one of the men says, he and his partner walking up to the suicidal figure and returning him to his seat. Placed and restrained, the man tells his captors to ‘fuck off’ as he tries to regain his breath, ultimately finding himself blinded when the sack is suddenly ripped from his head. “Alright now” one of the men says, pulling the man’s face near his own and telling him to play nice. “You got any water, Virgil?” Josh asks, Eliza walking up behind the man as Virgil pours a bottle of water over the prisoner’s head. “Now” Josh says, rubbing his hands in anticipation for what comes next, “where do we start?” = Joshua Lane is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = -> Twenty-Four Hours Earlier <- | “Sam cherry red, huh?” Nora asks, refusing to allow Josh to drive alone as he nears the outskirts of New York on his return to Eliza’s place. Before he has a chance to retort, Josh’s phone begins buzzing, the caller ID sparking a smile from the man. “Lady friend?” Nora asks, the smile on Josh’s face immediately fading as he rolls the convertible top back up and answers the call. “Becca, to what do I owe this surprise?” Josh asks, the woman on the other line apologizing for having freaked out days prior. “I’m just under a lot of stress and I get a little paranoid when I work long hours and don’t sleep between any of them” Becca replies, asking Josh if they can talk later that evening. “Sure, swing by my place after you get out of work” Josh replies, the woman on the other line suggesting they go somewhere more public. “What did you have in mind?” Josh asks, before Becca suggests they meet for dinner. “Can I scratch this off as the date that I owe you?” Josh asks, the woman telling him not to get too confident. “I’ll pick you up at eight” Josh replies, “for real this time.” Telling the man that she looks forward to it, Becca hangs up, leaving Josh to glance at Nora, who shakes her head. “You never learn, do you Joshua?” Nora asks, the man telling her to leave his passenger’s seat or remain quiet. “You don’t get to give your subconscious an ultimatum” Nora replies, Josh reminding her that it is his head she takes residency within. “If I want to put you aside, I can” the man replies, the woman insisting that he stop trying to convince himself of something so untrue. “I’m not going to leave until you realize that there’s no escaping what you did” Nora replies, “every detail down to the most specific of statements.” Refusing to drive another inch with Nora’s badgering beside him, Josh takes his exit from the highway and pulls onto the side of the road. “I didn’t kill you, Nora” Josh says, making it as clean-cut as he possibly can, “you got yourself in hot water, and what happened was on you.” With a smirk, Nora runs her hand down Josh’s cheek until he pulls away, telling her that she has no pull over him. “Of course I do” Nora replies, “that’s why you killed me.” Hitting his steering wheel, Josh begins to shout “I didn’t kill you” before he pauses, playing the memory out in his head as if he were watching a haunted recollection of his worst nightmares. // “Josh, please don’t go this!” Nora screams, the dead of night allowing the sole reflection of the moonlight to originate from the bounce of it off of the surface of the sea. Behind the woman lays a man oozing blood from his mouth and his nose, one half of his left hand removed. “Josh, please” Nora begs as Josh slowly raises the gun in the air. “Josh, please don’t do this!” the woman continues to beg, Josh gasping for air with a vindictive smile on his face. // Just as the gun fires, Josh returns to his current scene, the car parked as it had been moments prior, the only difference being Nora having vanished from the passenger’s seat. Rubbing his eyes, Josh starts the car up again and continues his drive. After nearly another hour, Josh finds himself pulling into the front lot of Eliza’s home. After a few knocks on the door, the woman answers, welcoming the man and the bouquet of flowers he bought along the way inside. “How thoughtful” Eliza remarks, Josh smirking as he replies that it was the only thing they had at the dollar store. Before either can get situated, the pair watch a third car pull into the lot and park beside Josh’s. Emerging from the vehicle is a black man in a long, white suit pulling a pistol from his sports jacket. “Do you have the gun I gave you?” Josh asks, telling Eliza to fetch it as he retrieves his own. Knocking at the door, the man on the other end requests entry, referencing Josh and Eliza by name. The door remaining shut, the man hears the mechanisms within unlock, serving as the signal to allow him inside. With three steps, the man finds the barrel of Josh’s gun placed to the inside of his neck, telling him that he has five seconds to explain what his reasoning for being here is or else his blood would paint the wooden floorboards. “I am the man the guardian sent for your help in Operation Crook” the man replies, Josh’s eyes narrowing just before his phone begins buzzing uncontrollably. “I see he is late to the party” the man replies, muttering under his breath “as per usual” as he locks eyes on Eliza. “I see you’ve met Virgil” the guardian replies on the other end, the man waving to Josh as he overhears the guardian on the speaker. “Sorry for being late, let’s have everyone take a seat in the living room so we can get started” the guardian continues, Josh immediately looking out of the front door. “Josh, you’re not going to spot me, please take a seat so we can continue” the guardian says, watching from afar as Josh shuts the door and takes a seat. “I assume Virgil mentioned ‘Operation Crook’ so you wouldn’t blow his brains out” the guardian asks, Virgil confirming. “Early tomorrow morning, you’re going to meet a man by the name of Drake Minosha” the guardian instructs, “you’re going to catch him off guard, he thinks he’s buying catalogs from you.” Questioning what he means by ‘catalogs’, Josh requests for the guardian to stop the second he mentions the idea of a collection of child pornography. “He’s going to have some muscle, so you’ll need to act quickly and quietly” the guardian concludes. “Josh, I’ve sent a location to your phone, and that is where you will take him.” Questioning what exactly they’re holding another guy hostage for, the guardian replies that they’ll be using Drake as bait. “Number one, you won’t kill this one” the guardian says, his brief pause giving Josh the chance to glance at Eliza. “Number two, he has insider information on how you can manage to infiltrate the pipeline” the guardian continues, his second portion immediately raising red flags. “Guardian, I thought you said were going to take it down?” Josh asks, the guardian insisting that the smartest move would be to take it down from the inside. “Once he’s given you that information, you’ll do whatever you want with him” the guardian concludes, leaving fate to decide. “Everybody on the same page?” the mysterious figure asks, the group going around and sharing a nod to each other. With that, the phone hangs up and the three are left to look towards each other with the eyes of those that are about to wage an act of war against New York’s most dangerous forces. “This isn’t going to end well, is it?” Eliza asks, looking to Virgil, who in turn looks to Josh as he puts his head in his hands. “No, it most likely will not” the man replies, glancing back towards his new partners with the look of a man knowing that this evening might be their final evening. | “I had a lot of fun” Becca says, thanking Josh for a fun night. “Of course” the man replies, returning the thanks to her. “Call me soon?” Becca asks, Josh nodding, “I’ll think of something clever and test it out on you.” With a wink, Becca closes the door behind the man and allows him to drive off. Entering her home, Becca hangs her coat on a rack beside her door and greets a man waiting for her on the sofa in her living room. “So?” the man asks, watching Becca pull her hair into a ponytail and toss the man a tape recorder. “Literally nothing the entire night” the girl replies, walking over to her kitchen and pouring herself a glass of champagne. “He didn’t say anything?” the man continues to ask, the woman continuing to deny. “I don’t know what your end game is here, and I don’t think I want to” Becca replies, “I just want to get back to living my life and being done with whatever you’re doing here.” “You will be” the man replies, walking over to the woman, who stares forward blankly as he runs his finger down her chin. “But if you want us to leave you alone, you’re going to have to give us something worth letting you go for” the man continues, “and that’s your ticket back.” Nodding, the woman downs the remainder of her champagne as the man returns to the sofa. Wiping away a tear, Becca pours herself another glass and places the blank look back on. | “Are we ready?” Josh asks, fitting his gloves onto his hands as he pulls his firearm from his holster and readies himself around the corner from Drake’s armed crew. “On my count” Josh says, counting to three and emerging from the corner to find the men, having been alive and well moments prior, laying dead in a pool of their own blood with holes in each of their heads. Suddenly, Josh’s phone begins buzzing erratically once more, the call from the guardian coming as the figure on the other line tells Josh ‘you’re welcome’ before hanging up. Figuring them to still be watched, Josh gives a thumbs up to no one before sneaking into the back entrance. Checking a message from the guardian on his phone, Josh is told exactly where to find Drake, almost walking by it as his face was glued to his screen. Surrounded by overnight staff, Drake sits alone waiting for his guards to arrive with the car. “Hands up, don’t move!” Josh calls out, holding the gun at the man before he immediately looks to make a getaway. “Stop!” Josh shouts, his order being obstructed when Virgil picks up a pan and hurls it towards the man, knocking him unconscious before he could call for help. “Nice shot” Josh says, watching Virgil walk over to Drake and slap restraints onto him. “These guys are trained in a specific way, if you put him in the chair and he runs, just let it all play out” Josh says, reading the guardian’s test aloud to the group. “It’s bad enough you’re making me drive into Connecticut at dawn” Eliza says, “don’t tell me about how fun it’s gonna be to play with our victims.” Looking towards Josh, Virgil asks if she’s new to the idea, the man confirming Virgil’s suspicions. “I got dragged into this” Eliza replies, Josh’s eyes rolling whilst Virgil tells her that his fate happened the exact same way. “What do you mean, big guy?” Josh asks, the man with little known backstory admitting to having gotten a random call from the guardian one night he served a job outside Michigan. “He asked me if I wanted to ‘put my talents to good’ in New York” Virgil recalls, “he put me on the first flight out and told me to stay on my toes.” “So the guardian recruited you?” Josh asks, Virgil looking at him with surprise that he hadn’t already figured it out. “The guardian used to recruit a ton of dudes, man!” Virgil replies, the surprise on Josh’s face telling Virgil all he needed to know. “How’d he reach you two?” Virgil asks, curious as to why they weren’t recruits in much of the same fashion. “He called me because he couldn’t get a hold of him” Eliza replies, leaving only Josh’s past to dig up. “He called me after an encounter I had with an old colleague of mine” Josh replies, “got me out of a few tricky situations.” Completely aware of what Josh is getting at, Virgil informs him of the guardian’s trick towards pulling people in. “When they need help, he’s there to keep eyes and that’s all she wrote for you” Virgil replies, “you’re indebted for life.” Refusing to think about what that means for his own future, Josh insteads looks towards Eliza, who stares forward with the ominous eyes of someone having punched their ticket. “It’s alright, Eliza” Josh says, the woman glaring at him before calming her nerves. Apologizing for being so up front with everything, Virgil tells Eliza that she simply seems like she was dragged in. “If he didn’t intend to bring you in, he’ll let you walk” Virgil says, restoring a small bit of hope. After another hour of driving, the prisoner is dragged back into his seat and Josh eagerly stares into his eyes, awaiting their first action. “You interested in talking?” Josh asks, Drake balling up spit in his mouth and targeting Josh, who learned his lesson days prior and tilts his head away. “Nice try” Josh replies, slapping the man across the face with a steady hand, taking joy in watching the red mark grow more apparent with each second. “Tell us about the pipeline” Josh says, watching the man ready another ball of spit until Josh slaps him again, forcing the loogie onto the ground. “The last time someone spit in my face, I broke his clavicle and shot him through the eyes” Josh says, getting close to Drake’s face, “do you really want to press your luck with me?” Watching the man’s eyes twitch Josh realizes Drake to be forming another ball of spit in his mouth, taking action before hand this time around. Covering Drake’s mouth with one hand, Josh becomes livid and digs his thumb into the man’s nostril, pushing upwards as the sound of cartilage begins tearing alongside Drake’s screams. Pulling his finger free, Josh watches the blood begin trickling before asking Drake again if he’d like to work with them. Nodding, Drake lures Josh into a false sense of hope and spits in his face, this time hitting his target, only bringing Josh into a greater rage. Wiping the saliva from his eye, Josh smiles and nods before walking away from Drake and picking up a bowling ball. The second his eyes spot the weighted green sphere, Drake begins to worry, watching josh take the ball with both hands and swing it as Drake’s mouth. After a deep growl of pain, Drake spits out a few sets of shattered teeth, watching them bounce upon the ground before coming to a rest. “You’re gonna kill me anyway, faggot” Drake continues, “I’m not gonna go out like a rat.” Accepting his fate, the prisoner watches Josh nod and walk away, allowing Virgil to have a go at opening his mouth. Stepping up to the batter’s box, Eliza sticks her hand out, stopping Virgil from progressing too close. “Give me a shot at him” Eliza says, Josh turning around to watch Eliza grab a baseball bat, surprised by the sight of the woman taking initiative. “Look at this pretty little piece of pussy” Drake exclaims, laughing at the sight of her stepping up to take her shot at cracking him open. “What’s your fine ass doing with these pu-” Drake begins, his cowardly dares for the group to act being turned into muffled screams as Eliza places her hand over his mouth and takes the head of the bat to his groin. “You bitch!” Drake shouts, silenced once more when Eliza brings the bat down on his left kneecap, shattering it into pieces. “Fuck you, whore!” Drake shouts, the bat coming down on his knee again, furthering the damage before bringing kicks to her targeted spot. “Do you wanna talk now!?” Eliza asks, her hands clutching at the man’s throat as he screams in a mixture of agony and horror, staring the woman directly in the eyes. “You’re the woman of death!” Drake shouts, watching Eliza’s eyes flare with fury as she demands he speak. “No!” Drake shouts, giving Eliza the chance to take another few swings at his irreparably damaged knee. “Speak, bitch!” Eliza shouts, spit flying from her lips until Josh drags her away, telling her to take a breath. “You’re crazy, bitch!” Drake shouts, his knee causing a great deal of pain as Eliza takes a few deep breaths, coming down from the high of whatever she considers that to have been. “You still with me?” Josh asks, holding her head up as she nods. “I’m turning into you, aren’t I?” Eliza asks, the fear of what she’d just done being replaced by the fear of what she’s already become. “Don’t think about that right now” Josh replies, holding her close, “just forget about all of that.” | Over a month later, Josh goes about his day as if it were any other. His morning routine consists of a morning run, a solo trip to the local cafe and a chat with Lou, grocery shopping, the overseeing of a real-estate business and a trip to the outskirts of New York. “You ready?” Josh asks, watching Eliza stroll into his car as they make another one of their daily trips to Connecticut. “I’ll call you tomorrow” Josh replies, hanging up the phone call with Becca as he and Eliza pull into the abandoned worksite. “He talked yet?” Josh asks as he and Eliza stroll in and make themselves at home. Having placed a couch, refrigerator and brand new porto-potty in the space, the group stays in for the long-haul, ready to ride this task all the way out. “Nothing yet” Virgil replies, throwing another water balloon at a greatly-soaked Drake. “He that bad?” Josh asks, Virgil pointing to the puddle of urine and feces beneath Drake’s chair as the indicator that the soapy water balloons have their place. “He’s so against looking like a rat that he’d rather shit himself than give up any tiny amount of information?” Josh asks, Drake speaking up by telling the man that he will go down as a hero. “A hero?” Josh asks, laughing as he hands Virgil a stack of magazines to keep him company. “Who are you gonna go down as a hero to, Drake?” Josh asks, “a syndicate of child pornography watchers and traders?” Joining Virgil on the sofa, Josh admits that he doesn’t understand the loyalty behind Drake’s motives. “You act like this is the mafia, or the cartel” Josh says, “you’re just a bunch of sex offenders!” Standing up and dousing Drake with air freshner, Josh makes it clear to the man restrained to a chair that he will not go down as a hero. “You’re swearing loyalty to a bunch of low life’s, this isn’t hard-nosed business” Josh says, “this is a bunch of rich, elitist assholes with the money to make you feel like a hotshot.” Catching the sound of something he finds interesting, Drake looks up and asks if he heard Josh correctly when he said ‘elitist assholes.’ “You heard me correctly, Drakey” Josh replies, watching the laughter attempt to escape the quivering lips of their prisoner. “Elitist assholes like you?” Drake asks, the confidence in Josh’s face turning into anger. “You want this one?” Josh asks, looking towards Eliza, who quickly leaps from her seat on a rustic, run-down chair. Picking up a butter knife, Eliza walks over to the man, who immediately begins praying once he notices, his following screams resonating throughout the entire complex. | Days later, Josh stands at the same rooftop spot he and Eliza shared nearly one month prior, staring out at the skyline alone until Eliza rides the elevator to join him. “It’s getting colder” Eliza exclaims, making her presence known to the man, who suggests that Drake will have Virgil to keep him cozy in all of this. Walking beside him, Eliza joins Josh’s view party as the sun finally sets to the point that every light in nearly every building lights up at once. “And there’s the spectacle!” Josh proclaims, Eliza’s laughter finally sounding normal to him once more. “About what I asked you a few weeks ago…” Eliza sets up, the question catching Josh by surprise. “...You never answered it” the girl continues, Josh asking for a refresher. “When I asked about whether or not I was turning into you” Eliza replies, the mention of the question immediately dropping Josh’s head. “Well, I don’t know…” Josh begins, turning towards Eliza and making sure the pair are looking at each other as he asks, “what’s wrong with being me?” Paying close attention to her following words, Josh is surprised to hear the woman admit to not being sure anymore. “I keep trying to think of what I feared about you, but everytime I do, I come up with something that I am too” Eliza replies, “and it makes me hate who I see in the mirror.” Holding back tears, Eliza asks Josh to remind her about the point he made between vigilantes and monsters. “I said people argue over whether or not vigilantes serve a good purpose” Josh replies, “and you can’t have that same conversation about a monster.” Shaking her head, Eliza corrects Josh, telling him that he didn’t use those words. “You said people commonly argue about whether vigilantes are good or bad, not whether or not they serve a good purpose” Eliza replies. “So which is it?” Eliza continues, watching Josh look towards the chain around her throat. “Yin and Yang” Josh proclaims, “you can’t have one without the other.” When asked what he means, Josh says that it’s whether or not they’re good or bad. “People know they serve a purpose, they don’t know whether it’s a good or bad one” Josh continues, “but you can’t have one without the other.” Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath, Eliza tells Josh to answer her honestly when she asks her next question. “Are we the good guys or are we the bad guys?” the woman continues, watching Josh’s head tilt confidently up. “To them, we’re the criminals” Josh says, pointing out to the sea of humanity flooding New York in these very moments, “but to whatever logic governs this world, we’re the good guys.” “Ask yourself where they’d be if we hadn’t killed them” Josh follows, “ask yourself how many other people that currently live comfortable lives wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for us.” Returning for the elevator, Josh places his hand on Eliza’s shoulder and reminds her that they’re the same more than they ever have been before. “You climbed off of that ledge” Josh continues, “now start working out how to look at yourself in the mirror the right way again.” With that, Josh enters the elevator and watches Eliza look to him with the full moon just beside her as the elevator doors close. Looking towards the moon herself, Eliza feels the wind pick up and become chilly once again, prompting her to take a seat on a wooden bench and enjoy the view. | “Another day, another dollar” Josh walks in shouting, handing Virgil a cup of coffee before pouring an undisclosed fourth one over the head of Drake. “Drink up!” Josh shouts, basking in the sounds of the man’s screaming of pain as steam rises from his body. “It’s in the old tunnels!” Drake shouts, catching Josh by surprise. “Shut up!” Virgil shouts, laughing to himself before he and Eliza realize what he was trying to say, “nevermind, keep talking!” “They’re stationed out in the old bureau tunnels in Buffalo!” Drake shouts once more, prompting Eliza to send the revelation into the guardian. “Anything else?” Josh asks, the man telling him to let him use the restroom like a human being before he gets anymore information. Caving, Josh unties the restraints and allows Drake to hobble to the porto-potty, knowing he can’t get far with his wounds. After a few hours, the sun begins to set whilst Drake remains restrained in his seat. “We’re gonna need more” Josh says, “how the hell can we blend in with these guys?” Running down a checklist of marks to have, Drake tells them that they need an open invitation on hand anytime they return to the entry points. “Give us yours” Josh demands, Drake shaking off the suggestion, stating that he only has one whilst the group themselves need three. “Is there anyone we can go to for that?” Virgil asks, his question unable to be answered when the sound of popping begins ringing out at the back of the site. “You all heard that too, right?” Eliza asks, the sound returning closer, presenting itself as gunfire. Directing Eliza to lookout on the escape hatch, Josh watches Virgil storm through the open slot in the building. “I’ll check the front” Virgil says, turning one corner to immediately find himself being shot at. “Go, you’ve gotta go now!” Virgil shouts, running behind Josh as the man squeezes through a slot in the wall. “Virgil, let’s-!” Josh shouts, stopping halfway through to get Virgil to hurry quicker, only for his sights to stumble upon the man dropping to the ground with a bullet flying through the slot between his eyes. Taking it as his sign, Josh squeezes the rest of the way through and continues booking it, shouting for Eliza to run once he spots her. An assortment of armed mercenaries chasing after them, Josh and Eliza leap over a broken wall and drop into a jumble of mattresses and blankets. Hurrying into the vehicle, Josh starts the engine and pulls the vehicle onto the road, making their daring escape just in time to watch the mercenaries stand in the spot they once were parked watch them drive off into the sunset. “They shouldn’t have let me use the bathroom” Drake says proudly, watching a man tower over him with his mouth covered by a gater. “Help me up, boss” Drake says, watching the man walk behind the chair and pull out a knife. “Let’s show those fools who they’re fucking with” Drake says, surprised when the man grabs him by the chin and runs a knife over his throat, allowing the dirty white undershirt he’s had on for over a month stain with a fountain of red from his neck. Bleeding out, Drake’s head slumps down as the man behind him wipes the blade on his black combat pants. “Leave the bodies” the man orders as the mercenaries return through the tiny slot in the wall. Walking off, the pipeline makes their presence known, taking out one of the guardian’s recruits with two new targets caught directly in their crosshairs. “Why is she staying with you again?” Eliza asks, descending the stairs with Josh after he informed the lady residing in his apartment that he’d be home later in the evening. “She got that note from the pipeline” Josh replies, “it was a dig at me, sent through her.” Walking for the side exit, Eliza is called for by the man, who tells her that there’s one stop they need to make before they depart.
Entering the parking garage, Josh combs through the lots without the memory of his last spot, ultimately beckoned by the call of cherry-red paint and black seats lit beneath a dying lightbulb. “You expect to not stand out in this?” Eliza asks, her hand motioning towards a well-maintained convertible sporting the look of a classic American muscle car. Hopping into the vehicle like a kid on spring break, Josh turns the keys in the ignition and puts up the convertible roof. “There!” Josh replies, “all better!” Her eyes rolling, Eliza climbs into the passengers seat and the vehicle drives off, entering the New York streets for the first time in weeks. “How exactly does this guy expect to get insider information?” Eliza asks, “you’d expect members of an underground child porno circuit would learn to keep their mouths shut about what they do for a living.” With a smirk, Josh tells Eliza that there will always be weak links in a system of chains. “The only way to bring the chain down is to break the weakest link in it” the driver says, turning towards Long Island, “so the pipeline keeps extra support around that link to make sure it doesn’t snap.” Her arm hanging out the window, Eliza asks why any of this information would be reassuring to their current task. “If you take out the support keeping that link upright, you get the weak link all to yourself” Josh replies, the eyes of Eliza losing their poise as she takes a glance towards Josh. “You’re not gonna kill them, are you?” the woman asks, the man looking towards her, asking if she has an issue with the murder of child-endangering sociopaths. “I have a problem with killing in general” Eliza replies, Josh reminding her of the ease it took for her to kill Devine. “You should have let me go down for that” Eliza returns, Josh making sure she hears him clearly. “I wasn’t gonna let you take the fall for something you didn’t deserve to take” Josh retorts, “and considering the only other person that knows that wants pipeline bastards dead, I’d suggest you change your primary issues real quickly.” Biting her lip, Eliza begins her attempt at accepting that she’s now become a part of Josh’s bigger picture now, forcing her into a state of discomfort. Handing her a handgun, Josh tells her to simply take it and use it if she needs to. “I’ll do the killing, you just cuff the link when I tell you to” Josh says, “but if I go down, this is the only thing that’ll keep you alive.” Truly wanting to hop out of the car instead, Eliza reluctantly takes the firearm and places it in her boot. “I’m beginning to hate you more and more” Eliza says, Josh glancing towards her and laughing. “I’ve gotten used to it by now” the man returns, keeping his eyes on the wheel as he drives onto the freeway, leaving behind downtown New York with his hands ready to be bloodied once again. = Joshua Lane is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “Did I stutter?” a man pimped out in jewelry almost overloaded with diamond says, watching an aggravated armed enforcer hush down and return to his phone. “De, nothing’s gonna throw us off the game” another unnamed enforcement assures, the pimped out leader quelling his nerves about potential exposure as the door bell rings. “Get the pizza, fool” Deangelo directs, the initial armed enforcer grabbing a few loose bills and walking towards the door. “Just take the cash and-” the enforcer begins, the end of his order being stifled when a bullet rips its way through his head. Still stood in the doorway, Josh fires off another round, taking out the second armed figure before shooting Deangelo in the arm. “Having a little group therapy session?” Josh jokes, Eliza stood frozen in the doorway as the initial victim lays at her feet. “Care to do the honors?” Josh asks, snapping her out of her unconscious daze as his foot rests itself on the back of the wounded target’s neck. “I’m sorry!” Deangelo shouts, his apology being accompanied by his groans of pain, “I’ll give you whatever you want!” Tossing Eliza the handcuffs, Josh replies that he wants answers, and he’s very much aware of how easily he is going to get them. “Let me go!” Deangelo shouts, his mouth immediately being silenced when Josh forces a sock between his teeth, telling him to bite down. “That’s not gonna happen so easily” Josh replies, picking the man up and leading him away from the apartment. Beneath the cover of total darkness nearly an hour later, Josh leads a blindfolded Deangelo into a run down building surrounded by the remnants of a dismantled plaza. Followed closely by Eliza, Josh drags a chair from a random corner of the room and shoves Deangelo into it before tying him in. “You don’t know who you’re fucking with!” Deangelo shouts, Josh replying with a thunderous backhand to Deangelo’s face, causing him to go momentarily silent in pain. “Shut your mouth” Josh returns, ensuring the restraints are as reinforced as they can be. “Now” Josh says, braggadociously strolling to a hammer left in the middle of the floor, “what shall we look for first?” Trying to get some leverage, Deangelo tells Josh that he’s going to come away empty handed if he’s looking for answers. “The pipeline’s tight-lipped” Deangelo quipers, “ain’t none of us gonna tell a word to you!” Pulling a chair up for Eliza to have a seat, Josh walks back to the man, asking if he’s confident in that assessment. Confirming his side, Deangelo smiles at Josh, telling him that he’s got nothing to keep him safe from the pipeline. “Is that so?” Josh asks, his own smile spreading on his face before he brings the hammer down on Deangelo’s foot, causing a deafening shriek of pain. “You fuckin’ faggot!” Deangelo shouts, Josh following his surprise attack by placing his shoe onto the man’s injured foot and gradually adding pressure. “It’s the modern world, Deangelo” Josh replies, lifting his foot, “you should be more open minded.” Gasping for breath, Deangelo listens to Josh grant Eliza permission to step outside and get some fresh air. “You don’t have to sit through this” Josh says, “I’ll come get you when I’m done here.” “Weak stomach, eh!?” Deangelo interrupts, another backhand from Josh silencing him before he can add any further details. “I should stay” Eliza replies, “If I’m stuck in your world, I should start figuring out how you navigate it.” Shrugging, Josh tells Eliza to suit herself, turning back to the captive man and crouching. “How about you tell me where the main pipeline meets for a start, De?” Josh asks, Deangelo getting lucky, spitting forward, his saliva landing in Josh’s eye. Wiping it away slowly, Josh rises to his feet, the slow pace audible in the sand beneath his shoes gradually grinding against the ground. Assuming himself to have screwed up, Deangelo quickly removes his smile, telling Josh that he meant nothing by it. “Eat shit” Josh replies, lifting the hammer into the air again and bringing it down directly beside his head, the snapping of Deangelo’s clavicle being followed by a howl for mercy. “Where the fuck do you meet?” Josh asks, leaning towards Deangelo closely enough for the two to become inches apart, one hand holding his prisoner’s head towards his own, the other adding pressure to the shattered bone. “You’re hurting me!” Deangelo shouts, Josh continuing to increase pressure. “Tell me where you meet!” Josh screams, his spit flying from his mouth and landing at random spots on Deangelo’s face. “The Lone Wolf!” Deangelo shouts, his pleas for mercy turning into a cry as he directs Josh towards a rundown motel on the outskirts of Buffalo. “Oh goddamnit!” Josh shouts, walking away from Deangelo as the tortured man horrifically groans in pain. “What?” Eliza asks, surprised by the unusual response by the man now creating distance between himself and his captive. “I fucking hate Buffalo” Josh replies, Eliza rolling her eyes as she turns back to the prisoner, noticing the sharpened clavicle bone ripping through his skin. “How many of you are there?” Josh asks, his back towards Deangelo as his hands take residency on his hips. “A couple hundred” Deangelo replies, his answers barely coming together in a coherent sentence as his tears continue running. “How many of those have power?” Josh asks, the question coming off as generic, but remaining crystal clear to those familiar with the underworld. “A few” Deangelo replies, “maybe thirty.” Nodding to himself whilst muttering “I can handle thirty”, Josh turns around to look at the man, asking if he can spare any other information he has yet to be able to ask for. Continuing to gasp for his breath, Deangelo remains silent as Josh nods to himself whilst pulling out his pistol. “Well, I thank you for your cooperation” Josh says, beginning to give Deangelo his send off until the wounded captive utters one line that Josh takes immediate interest in. “They won’t kill you” Deangelo says, his head hanging low as it’s one of the few positions where the pain isn’t as bad. “You think I’m gonna believe that?” Josh asks, “not all billionaires are idiots, clearly by the fact that I haven’t been caught yet, I’m not one either.” Readying the gun to fire, Josh holds it towards Deangelo once again, lowering it back to his side when Deangelo clarifies his prior statement. “They’ll kill the girl and make you watch” the prisoner says, putting fear in Josh’s heart. “They’ll kill her… Just because they can” he continues, “you’ll know they don’t fuck around, and then they’ll blackmail you with whatever dirt they’ve got to make sure you play nice with them.” “How did they know anything about Becca?” Josh asks, “how could they know anything about her connection to me?” Confused, Deangelo asks why he’s calling the woman by the name of ‘Becca’. “That’s who you sent the letter to” Josh replies, “that’s who you’re targeting to keep me from your tail.” Now lost, Deangelo asks what Josh is talking about when he mentions a letter, stating that he wasn’t talking about this Becca girl. “I’m talking about that blonde friend” Deangelo points out, immediately raising the concerns of Eliza, whose eyes widen as Josh turns towards her, watching her stare at the blinded man. “They’re gonna get her and you’ll never see it coming” Deangelo continues, knowing his time is limited, opting to go out in the cockiest manner imaginable, attempting to play his hand at digging Eliza’s fear deeper. “They’re gonna have to give it their best shot” Eliza replies, her voice going cold as she reaches into her boot, pulls out her firearm and fires a round through Deangelo’s head, spilling his brains into the sand. His mouth slightly ajar, Josh turns his gaze from the corpse of his prisoner to Eliza, who quickly goes from composed to sick, turning around and spilling her dinner all over the floor. | “It’s been four days, Angel” Josh says, “there haven’t been crews down there for months and it’s rained for two full days. Our tracks are covered.” On the other line, the guardian checks off a list of “must’s” to avoid Josh and Eliza’s capture. “And you said she pulled the trigger?” the guardian asks, Josh pausing for a moment before forcing himself to confirm. “You sound disappointed” the guardian suggests, “you should be happy she’s getting the balls to keep herself from getting killed.” “I don’t want her coming along anymore” Josh replies, wasting no time in voicing his concerns, “I don’t want you roping her into business she doesn’t deserve to get her hands dirty with.” Placing down the checklist for a moment, the guardian asks Josh why he phrased it in such a way that makes it sound like a bad thing. “Do I have to remind you of the fact that were killing people that never get what they deserve and move onto hurting more people?” the guardian asks. “Of course you don’t” Josh replies, “but some people don’t exactly have the guts to think of it as being different from what we do. Eliza’s one of those people.” Sighing, the guardian reminds Josh that he’s not there to blackmail them into doing anything. “You almost got exposed by Devine, and the threat of exposure only grows the longer we do this” the guardian continues, “your name is involved in the cases regardless, she’s a key to making sure it stays in the right column.” “I’m aware of this all, but I don’t want it to be Eliza” Josh replies, “just knowing about what I do makes her blood boil. I can’t ask her to get involved with it now too.” Assuring Josh that he’s well aware of his side of things, the guardian tells the man that there are no true alternatives. “The work we do is important, and the only way to continue that is by making sure you don’t get caught” the guardian concludes, “Eliza is the key to making sure that remains the same.” “I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, and I really don’t want to know” Josh replies, the guardian telling him to keep it that way. “I’ll get in contact with the pair of you in the coming hours, be ready” the guardian signs off, hanging up, allowing Josh to go about the remainder of his day. “That Eliza?” a voice calls out from behind, startling Josh for a moment before he notices Becca’s face. “I didn’t expect you to be there” Josh replies, shooting down the suggestion by passing the other party off as a friend from work. With that, the pair go silent, Becca walking over to zip up a bag placed on a table in front of Josh’s couch. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for a few more days?” Josh asks, his request being presented as a concern for Becca’s safety, whilst also quietly representing a hope to not be left alone with whatever may follow him afterwards. “I can’t stay here forever” Becca replies, the smile in the corner of her mouth having the appearance of a smile for the sake of smiling rather than it being genuine. “I almost forgot that I still owe you that date” Josh says, the suggestion coming out of the blue. Her hands folded, Becca turns towards him and does her best at letting him down easily. Telling Josh that she thinks he’s a nice guy, she admits that he seems to have more pressing issues to deal with. “I think you’ve got something that you haven’t truly gotten handled yet, and you should probably deal with that first” Becca concludes, “I’m sorry.” Swallowing the little hope he had left at making right on his wrongs, Josh flashes Becca a necessity smile back, telling her that it’s fine. Holding the door open, Josh nods to Becca as she walks off, allowing him to close the door and return to his warmly-lit living room alone. “It’s like I’m watching a sad movie” Nora says from the couch, prompting the man to glance towards her with a frown. “You can keep your sarcasm to yourself” Josh replies as he ventures down his hallway. “It wasn’t sarcasm” Nora replies, “I thought you were supposed to be the mean, tough, nice-guy vigilante that everyone looked up to and adored!” Turning back, Josh glances back to Nora, asking her exactly what she expected. “Knowing you, less of this complex-character bullshit and more honesty” Nora replies, “I really didn’t get my money’s worth.” His eyebrows lifted, Josh returns to his room, closing the door behind him, only to find Nora with her hands folded on her chest, laying gracefully atop the bed. “I’m a figment of your imagination” Nora repeats, “You can’t exactly walk away from me when I’m practically haunting you.” “You’re not haunting me, you’re pissing me off” Josh replies, “there’s a very big difference.” In disagreement, Nora tells Josh that whatever he tells himself is not strong enough to make him forget about the truth. “If I were alive and in your ear all day, I’d be pissing you off” Nora replies, “but I’m dead, you killed me, and now what I’m really doing is getting even.” Only one eyebrow raised, Josh asks the woman if attempting to kill him was a good enough form of revenge. “It was just where I started” the woman replies, her prize-winning smile antagonizing the man. Getting up to leave, Josh is called back by the woman asking him why he thinks the outcome of this attempted runaway will be any different. “I don’t, it just feels-” Josh begins, Nora cutting him off by finishing his sentence, “-like it helps?” Stammered into silence, Josh confirms her suspicions and walks away, Nora walking after him. “You don’t get to walk away from what you’ve done!” Nora says, the statement immediately catching Josh’s ear, forcing him to turn around and stare daggers at the woman chasing him. “What did you just say!?” Josh asks, the woman flashing a smile, casually asking if he’s getting used to the ‘sparkling white’s’ yet. “Seriously, repeat what you just said” Josh replies, hearing as Nora repeats the same exact statement, word for word as she had said it prior. “You’re starting to remember it now, huh?” Nora asks, citing his internal shock when Eliza said it as he was leaving for New York nearly a week prior. “You were caught off guard by her saying it because it reminder you of when I did” Nora returns, watching Josh slowly look back at her before swallowing the spit in his mouth and walking for the door. “You don’t” Nora repeats as Josh pulls the door open. “She’s not wrong” Nora replies, “and neither was I” as Josh walks through the opening. | “Eliza, open up!” Josh calls, pounding away at the front door of her hideout home to no answer. “Eliza, it’s Josh!” the man repeats, continuing to knock as he begins wondering whether or not he should have mentioned that it was him specifically. Eventually, Josh tries the handle, realizing the door to be uncharacteristically unlocked. “Eliza!?” Josh calls once more, peaking his head through the front door before shutting it behind himself. Noticing the front corridor to be completely void of life, Josh looks through a side window to spot Eliza’s car still in the front lot. Not liking the potential for disaster, Josh draws his gun, calling out for the woman once more as he reaches the top of the staircase. Every door other than one closed, Josh begins his travel down the hallway, opening each door he walks past on the way before reaching the intended one. Cautiously pushing the door in, Josh spots a slump beneath a blanket in Eliza’s bed, whatever rests beneath it having the appearance of a sleeping woman. The blonde hair protruding from the tucked sheets, the figure remains motionless as Josh closes in, reaching for the blanket and pulling it off of the figure. “Eliza?” Josh asks again, hearing a muffled “please leave” coming from the figure’s mouth. “Why the hell would you do that?” Josh asks, citing her refusal to answer and complete lack of cooperation as a reasonable cause to come to the conclusion of her being in trouble. “I was hoping you’d go away” the woman replies, still having refused to turn around or attempt to exit the bed. “Can you pull it the fuck together?” Josh asks, his gun being placed back into his holster as the woman groggily steps up and walks for the connected bathroom. “Why is everything in here so empty?” Josh asks, the question remaining one of the many things keeping him up at night. “What’s the point of pimping out the one place I only want to be in when I’m asleep?” Eliza asks, the genuine complexity some people have over the smallest of things always having eluded her. “Because it, I don’t know, looks nice?” Josh replies, his response coming off as more of a question neither of the two truly have an answer for. “I don’t like to cause trouble for myself in the decorative department when I have much more pressing issues to deal with” Eliza replies, scanning Josh up and down. “I get I’m a bit of a handful” Josh replies, “but I’m not the only problem you’ve got and I certainly shouldn’t be.” “You’re telling me” Eliza replies, Josh quickly trying to redirect the conversation towards their current objective. “What happened the other night?” Josh asks, the woman refusing to face him as she brushes it off as nothing. “It’s not nothing” Josh replies, “you killed someone.” Quickly turning around, Eliza reminds Jsh that she pulled the trigger on Devine too. “Devine was self-defense” Josh replies, “what you did was outright murder.” “What I did was self-defense” Eliza replies, not seeing the hypocrisy staring her down for miles. “What you did wasn’t defendable” Josh retorts, Eliza telling Josh that it was what was necessary. When asked why, Eliza throws her hands outwards and tells the man that it just was. “He threatened to kill me” Eliza replies, “how is that not defendable?” Seeing his opportunity to change favor, Josh takes the same hypocritical train as Eliza. “For a start, he said the people he knew were going to kill you, not that he himself would have” Josh replies, Eliza’s question of whether or not that makes it right being quashed beneath his shoe. “You didn’t have to kill him” Josh replies, suggesting that they could have taken him into the hospital. “You were going to kill him anyway!” Eliza shouts, baffled when Josh pulls the card designed for stupidity, suggesting that she’s not positive of that. “You would’ve blown his brains out, don’t even pull that shit!” Eliza retorts, Josh catching her by surprise when he asks if he would’ve deserved it. “What do you mean?” Eliza asks, her shouts having turned into tired responses. “He did bad shit, did he deserve to die?” Josh asks, “would you do it again?” After thinking it over for a moment, Eliza answers yes to both, putting a delighted smile across Josh’s face. “What makes what you did different from what I did then?” Josh asks, the air going quit as Eliza realizes what she’s turned into. “It’s not” the woman replies, her voice going soft as Josh subtly nods, walking for the exit of the room. Left stood in the empty room alone, Eliza looks around aimlessly as she begins to look at herself as the same monster she’s viewed Josh to be as the man walks off, leaving Eliza to her own vices. As the night falls on New York City, Josh parks his car in the lot of the VeroSoft building and begins navigating the stairwell towards the roof. Upon reaching the tallest point in downtown New York, Josh walks over to the ledge Eliza stands upon and leans over it. “It’s a beautiful night, ain’t it?” Josh asks, the woman, taking her gaze from the ant-like cars one-hundred and twenty-three feet below and placing them squarely on Josh’s unaffected shoulders. “Why are you not trying to get me to climb down?” Eliza asks, knowing the tricky gears in Josh’s head already know something she doesn’t. “Because I already climbed down” Josh replies, Eliza’s intrigue captured in a snap. “You didn’t ‘kill’ Devine, you defended someone you thought you loved at the time” Josh replies, “your first true kill was Deangelo.” With the woman now standing over him with a look at his face as he peers out at the New York skyline, Josh admits that he felt the same way after his first. “You never forget your first kill” Josh says, “it changes you until you realize that you were the same person all along, you just never knew you had this ability in you.” With a laugh, Josh asks Eliza if anyone that finally learns how to play the guitar looks at themselves as a monster for learning something new. “It’s in our nature to kill” Josh continues, “we just don’t do it that often anymore.” Accepting that she won’t end up jumping, Eliza takes a seat on the ledge, dangling her feet over the edge and feeling the gusts of wind sway them gently from one side to the other. “What was yours?” Eliza asks, hearing the wind snap in her ears as Josh looks towards her for reiteration, not having understood the question at first. “Tess McKnight” Josh says, his words not missing a beat as he reads out her birthday, the date in which the ordeal occurred, and the manner in which it happened. “Her little baby was crying so she smacked it a few times while I was on the bus” Josh says, “I saw it from the window and I was incensed.” Following Eliza through the steps, Josh admits to following the woman nearly a mile until they were out near the docks. “She died out her cigarette on her baby’s head and I couldn’t stand it anymore” Josh concludes, “I caved her head in with a brick and dumped her body in the bay.” After running down the events of her body washing ashore, Josh admits to fleeing from his original home and making peace with his actions in New York City. “I worked my way up the ladder at VeroSoft and never worried about it again once my wallet hit a certain number” Josh finishes, “I am much more of a hypocrite than you think you are.” Eliza asks if she’s going to end up turning into the monster that Josh had become, prompting the man to breathe for a second and think about his response. “Yeah, probably” Josh replies, telling the woman that the thing he and Eliza share is that they take their rages out on the right people. “These people deserve to be punished” Josh continues, “and if it weren’t for people like me, they never would be.” Acknowledging that it brings on an entirely different conversation as to whether or not vigilante justice is moral or inhumane, Josh says that it never truly matters. “Bad people deserve to have bad things happen to them and it never does” the man continues, “so if you’re going to kill anyone, these are the people you should target.” “You talk about this like it’s a job” Eliza replies, the smirk from Josh as he turns towards her and admits it to be his passion sends chills down the woman’s spine. “I’m not killing good people” Josh reiterates, “I’m killing the people that let good people take the fall for them.” Preparing to leave Eliza to make the decision for herself, Josh tells her to keep one thing in mind. “We’re not monsters, we’re vigilantes” Josh says, his hands leisurely tucked in his pockets. “People commonly argue between whether or not vigilantes are good or bad” Josh reaffirms, “you can’t have that conversation about monsters.” Walking off, Josh disappears behind the doors of the VeroSoft tower elevator and sinks into the building as Eliza takes a final glance at the world beneath her feet. With a deep breath, the woman pins the hairs being flung by the wind behind her ear, whilst Josh climbs into his car and pulls out of the lot. Stopping on the side of the road, Josh looks towards the very top of the tower and watches Eliza climb down from the ledge, offering him the assurance he needs to drive off. -> I know it seems like Eliza was a mess, someone that can be happy at one point and violently infuriated at others, but how can you blame her? Take one of your closest friends, someone you see a lot of yourself in and feel extremely comfortable around, and figure out, with no assistance or confirmation, that they’re a serial killer. Just… Just think about that for a second, take that person in your life and give them this truth that I hold. Can you imagine the horror?
You’d never see them the same way again. The bond you have with them is gone and replaced with a truth that seems more fictional than anything else you could conjure up. You may be there for them to talk, or to give advice, or to support them, but they’ll never see you that way. They trust you the least, your relationship takes a complete turn, and every face of a missing person or a murder victim is instinctively placed next to your face in their head. Throw in the question of how that would make you look at yourself and you can sort of figure out why she is the way that she is. She still cared about me, but she couldn’t bare the sight of me. She didn’t want to see me in trouble because I had never meant for any of this to come to light, but she couldn’t stand hearing me because I reminded her of everything she’s now been clued into, everything she used to appreciate so dearly, and everything she has to fight with now. If you can’t fully comprehend the mental tole that inflicts on a person, I don’t think you have the capacity of truly understand the point I’m trying to get at. = Joshua Lane is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “You’re leaving?” Josh asks, calling out the question towards Eliza through clunky wording as she grabs her car keys from a bowl. “Some of us need to work in order to earn a living” Eliza replies, “if I come back and you’re not here, you know the drill.” Asking when she’ll be home, Josh is forced back into a slump when Eliza responds with the suggestion that knowing such a thing would make an escape much easier. “Don’t try anything” Eliza concludes, slamming the door behind her as the alarm system triggers, locking Josh in the confines of the home alone. “You’ve gotten yourself a keeper” Nora mocks from the other couch, her legs crossed as she watches Josh look towards her with vigor in his eyes. “You won’t get the better of me” Josh replies, brushing off his hallucination’s statement in favor of priding himself on having the last say. “I know what you’re thinking Josh” Nora replies, ‘remember, I’m a manifestation of your own subconscious, I’m in your head with a magnifying glass at every thought.” Standing from her seat, Nora marches to the kitchen and leans out towards a window just over the sink, watching the rain drop from the gutters just above the view. “Shitty weather today, ain’t it?” Nora asks, her question brushed off again when Josh reshapes it, asking what it is that she’s here for. “You know what I’m here for and you have since you took that little dip into the river a while back” Nora replies, “so don’t play dumb with me, just get it over with and move on.” Shaking his head, Josh refuses to give into what Nora wants, annoying her, but doing little to bring her to emotion-boiling anger. “You can’t run away from the truth anymore, Josh” Nora replies, ruby-red lipstick allowing her words to flutter with perfect resonance. “I’ve already caught up and am in the process of nipping at your heels, so you might want to start taking some responsibility for what you’ve done” Nora concludes, taking a seat beside Josh. “I kill the bad, not the good” Josh responds, standing from his seat and marching into the kitchen, “And I certainly would never kill you.” Eyes rolling, “And yet, that’s exactly what you did” Nora responds, “or should I take out the putty between my eyes and show you the work you did first hand?” “Keep the putty in and get the fuck out of my life” Josh replies, Nora’s instistance on staying a while driving him crazy whilst he’s already on a short fuse. “I said go the fuck away!” Josh shouts, his finger shaking in the air as it directs Nora to the front door, only for her smile and caress of his chin to respond as she walks past him. “I’m not your wealthy mogul friends Josh” Nora responds, calling out to him on her way to the kitchen, “you don’t give me ultimatums.” “I am in your head at every hour of the day and you know that” Nora replies, “I pop up and drop off whenever I please and you know that.” Sniffing the glass Eliza left behind the night prior, Nora walks back to Josh and continues. “I’m literally nesting in your brain and you know that” she continues, looking over to the glass for long enough to convince Josh’s eyes to do the same, following the whites in her eyes as if they were a religion. “And I think I have more pull over you than you truly realize” Nora concludes, disappearing into thin air as Josh’s eyes lock onto the glass at the other end of the room. Trying to fight the urge invade Eliza’s space, Josh gives in, corrupted by the thoughts implanted into his head. Walking down the corridor towards Eliza’s room, Josh walks past the bathroom and takes the opportunity to walk in and scour through her medicine cabinet. Taking bottles from the shelves and looking through any operable doors, Josh comes up empty handed. Turning his attention towards her room, Josh walks through the door to find a very blank room, white walls on each side and very little furniture other than the generic bedroom setup. Surprised by the contract between her office and her bedroom, Josh takes his time walking throughout the area, his bare feet welcomed by the warm carpet between his toes. “Why would her room be this baron?” Josh asks himself, pleased at the lack of things to look through, but curious as to why an expressive person like Eliza would leave anything blank. Searching through the drawers, Josh finds nothing more than clothing, a lack of possessions or accessories remaining in each pocket or slot. “How the fuck can she have such little bullshit in the room?” Josh asks, walking towards her office to find a similar sight. Whilst the walls are painted blue and the holes from thumb tacks remain lining the walls, very little of note is left behind other than a desk, a lamp and a chair. Getting frustrated, Josh slams the top of the desk and leans forward, staring at the blank wall with one window looking out into the side yard. Gazing outwards at nothing more than a forest of trees, Josh places his hands to his hips and finds himself at a loss for what exactly he intends on finding. | Pulling her car into the gravel-spread driveway, Eliza emerges from the vehicle and walks to the front door, disabling the security from her phone and walking inside. Progressing up the stairs, Eliza spots Josh packing his bags into suitcases, preparing everything as if he were ready for a flight. “What’s all this?” Eliza asks, her hands waving at the three bags on the ground tucked together. “I’m leaving” Josh replies, his fingers dancing along the back of his neck as Eliza looks on. “You’re right, it’s unfair of me to stay here and remind you of what you can’t get back” Josh returns, zipping up the third and final pack. “So, I’m getting out of your hair and keeping you from getting caught housing a fugitive” the man concludes, pulling one bag over his shoulder before taking the final two by their respective handles. “No” Eliza replies, catching the man’s attention just as he nears the stairs to begin his descent towards the next chapter. “What?” Josh asks, staring at Eliza as she reiterates her refusal to allow him to just move on. “I don’t understand” Josh replies, “you wanted me gone.” Nodding her head, Eliza states that she now wants him to stay, watching him drop his bags and throw his hands out. “Which is it?” Josh asks, “do you or do you not want me to be here?” Shrugging her shoulders as her hands take refuge on her sides, Eliza tells him that she hasn’t truly decided on that. “I just know that I’m not letting you just walk out of here and move on” the woman concludes, staring at the man with the dumbfounded expression on his face as he asks why. “I don’t need to give you an answer” Eliza replies, her refusal shot down as Josh reminds her that refusing to let him go is unlawful imprisonment. “I don’t care, I don’t have a reason and I don’t need one” Eliza responds, the anger and disappointment in her voice appearing to be one in the same. “Yeah you do” Josh replies, noticing her become hard-pressed to give him answers she would otherwise give him had she not been caught off guard. “You weren’t expecting me to go and you didn’t have time to come up with a cover story” Josh continues, “you’re hiding a reason and the surprise got you to lower your guard down.” Her teeth clenched and her breaths beginning to last longer and space out shorter, Eliza replies with a simple, “fuck you.” “Of course, because that was so impactful the last eighteen times you came back with it” Josh retorts, walking away from Eliza. “You don’t get to just move on with your life and leave me behind!” Eliza shouts, admitting that this is as much about punishing Josh as it is about punishing herself. “I want to believe that what you did was good, you have no clue how much I want to convince myself of that, but I simply can’t” Eliza replies, getting closer to the man. “Am I tired of being angry at you? Yeah, I am… But I’ve got a better reason than most to absolutely despise you.” Now angered himself, Josh turns around and tells Eliza to get off of her high horse. “If there’s anyone that should hate me, it should be the families that those pricks left behind that had no say in whether or not they got sucked up in this” Josh begins, “not someone that can move on, but instead, chooses not to.” Feeling slighted, Eliza raises her hand to Josh, who catches it in mid-swing and holds it in the place it was stopped. “I deserved it last night, so I took it” the man continues, “I don’t deserve any ounce of it now for telling you the truth.” Spitting in his face, Eliza watches him wipe below his eye, turn her arm behind her back and push her against the blank wall. Breathing down the back of her neck as Eliza refuses to put up a fight, Josh tells her to get one very important think through her head. “Your troubles are about you more than they’re about me” Josh says, “I just make for a really good scapegoat to keep you from blaming yourself for them.” Refusing this notion, Eliza tells Josh that her world has never been more backwards, and it only became so when the truth of his work came to light. “It’s not backwards, Eliza… It’s split in half” Josh replies, “you don’t know when to be the girl that kissed me in that warehouse or the girl that wished it was me she shot instead of Devine.” Closing her mouth, Eliza bites the inside of her lip, shaking her head in refusal to accept that both of those worlds can exist at the same time. “You shouldn’t have walked out of that building” Eliza replies, the grip on her arm being relieved before she turns around and looks at Josh. Tears in her eyes colliding with the anger in her face, Eliza tells Josh that she doesn’t know what she would do if she were given the choice again. “Eliza, there are people that should be furious at me” Josh admits, “but you are not one of them.” Reaching down for his luggage, Josh looks towards Eliza and tells her that all she blames him for falls squarely on her shoulders are products of her creation. “You hate me for taking away what we had when what we had never existed the way you thought it did” the man replies, “all I did was break the illusion you had of me.” Clearing his throat as he tosses the third bag over his shoulder, Josh looks into the woman’s eyes as she listens closely to him. “At the end of the day, showing you the true me isn’t a crime” Josh concludes, “and if you hate me because I proved you wrong… That seems like something only you can fix.” Descending the staircase as the woman stands in the middle of the room, Josh walks through the front door and directs himself to the end of the gravel-laid path. Taking in a deep breath, Eliza looks around the room quickly before hurrying for the front door and stopping on the front step with the intention of shouting out to the departing man. Suddenly, the sky darkens and the clouds grow gray, leaving her to watch him walk away with her intentions having faded off. As he disappears beneath the road on his way to the bus stop at the bottom of the hill, Eliza allows him to move on before returning to her home and closing the door. Once far enough down the path to be out of Eliza’s sights, Josh turns around to take one last look at the area behind him before turning around and returning to his life. | Marching up the stairway to the apartment he’s emptied, yet still pays rent for, Josh comes to a sudden stop when visited by the sight of an unexpected visitor. Calling out the woman’s name, Josh walks towards Becca as she sits in the hall awaiting his arrival. “What are you doing here?” Josh asks, informed by the woman that she came by a few minutes ago when he wouldn’t answer his phone. “So you just decided to sit out here and wait for me?” Josh asks, watching the girl’s head drop as she swallows the nerves coming to ahead in her mouth. “It felt safer than going home” Becca replies, the answer sending chills down Josh’s spine as he watches the look of concern dawn over the woman. “Why do you say that?” Josh asks, watching the girl nod towards the door, giving the hint to discuss matters inside. “I haven’t been here in weeks” Josh says, dropping his bags on the opposite side of the room, “you’ve already gotten pretty lucky.” The sweat running down the side of his neck, Josh turns around and looks at Becca, hand extended with a paper held towards him. “It was sent through my door slot while I was at work” Becca says, watching Josh take the paper and stare at him, his expression unchanged from what it had been moments earlier. “Okay” Josh says, looking back up to her and returning the sheet of paper, watching Becca’s eyes narrow as she repeats his response back to him. “What about this is okay?” Becca asks, “what are they saying you did and why are they coming after me for it?” Arms held out to her before they’re swatted away, Josh tells the disgruntled woman that everything’s alright and no one would be coming after her. “It’s just a few guys that I can’t give money to anymore because I’m not with my company” Josh replies, making up the story as he goes along. “They’re just using you to scare me, it happens all the time with people of high reach” Josh concludes, gently placing his hand on her shoulder and reminding her that he promised it would be alright. “I know I’ve seemed very off lately” Josh says, “but I’m starting to get back on track. They’re not gonna harm a hair on your head as long as I’m around.” “Why are you talking like I’m a damsel in distress?” Becca asks, watching Josh wave off the notion before she can get the chance to air it out. “In no way are you a damsel in distress to me” the sweaty man replies, “but they really want you to be so let’s keep that from being the case.” Pulling her in close, Josh affirms her that everything is going to be alright. “You can stay here tonight if you’d like” Josh offers, a gracious acceptance coming from the woman. Tucking her hair behind her ears, Becca goes into the bathroom to take a shower at the offer from Josh, gently closing the door behind her as Josh pulls his phone out. “You’re welcome” the guardian angel replies, telling Josh that he placed his phone number under the correct name whilst he was on the bus. “I need your help” Josh says, the giggle from the guardian angel suggesting he knew it wouldn’t be long before Josh got tired of keeping a low-profile. “What do you need?” the guardian asks, notable silence coming from his end of the call when Josh asks for the location to the center of the pipeline family. “I’m sorry, what did you ask me for?” the guardian asks, sarcastically suggesting that he must have heard the request incorrectly. “I wanna know where the pipeline family is staying” Josh reiterates, “I’m gonna kill ‘em, the whole lot of ‘em.” “Umm…” the guardian replies, “you’re telling me you want the location of an organization of people that can afford to buy you three times over in order to slaughter them?” Without hesitation, Josh replies with the confirmation to the guardian’s curiosity. “Yeah, I’m not gonna fucking do that, Josh” the guardian replies, almost blowing a gasket when Josh questions why he won’t as if he were denied a bag of chips for his 5th grade lunch. “Oh gee, how could I deny such a request?” the guardian calls out, “how about ‘cause I’d rather you not become a pin cushion for mafia gunfire and blood-letting!?” Rolling his eyes, Josh tells his guardian that he’s not about to sit back and let innocent people get hurt because the pipeline is mad at him. “Wait a moment, back it up there skipper” the guardian replies, “what does innocent people getting hurt have anything to do with the pipeline?” “You remember me mentioning Becca, right?” Josh asks, the guardian replying that he’s gotten bits and pieces, “well she got a message from the pipeline that they’d expose my deeds and bring her down with me!” Quickly running over other possible scenarios, the guardian and Josh find themselves tucked into a corner, realizing that the immediate exposure of his crimes would completely bankrupt everything they’ve been working on. “Can we get her in hiding?” the guardian asks, Josh telling him that she isn’t aware of the truth. “So anything that can be done-” the guardian begins before Josh finishes his thought, “-needs to be done in secret.” With a sigh, the guardian tells Josh to stay put, informing him that he’ll work as quickly as he can to find a plan. As the guardian hangs up, Josh looks towards the light beneath his doorway as the shower water runs, making him feel like he’s on the verge of failing someone else. | Sat on her patio overlooking the woodlands behind her tucked-away home, Eliza sips on wine as her phone buzzes relentlessly in her pocket. Ignoring the disturbance, Eliza allows the phone to ring to completion before it dies off completely, her desire to drink in peace unrelenting in its quest to be seen through. Within seconds, the phone begins buzzing uncontrollably once more, again being ignored by the woman, refusing it the attention it seemingly craves. After a further few seconds, the phone begins buzzing again, triggering Eliza into action. No longer able to drink in peace, Eliza whips her phone out and answers the call, asking what kind of robocall is persistent enough to ruin her evening to such a degree. “Is this Eliza Bradburry?” the voice on the other line of the call asks, the questions dancing inside of her head upon her name being said aloud as thousands of synapses fire in her brain at once. “Who am I speaking with?” Eliza asks, the voice on the other line brushing off the question, informing her that her questions will find their own answers when they’re ready. “Can you-” Eliza begins, cut off by the voice, which is completely unconcerned with whatever she was going to ask. “All you need to know right now is that I know your name, I know where you are, and I know everything there is to know about the people you love the most” the voice replies. As freaked out as anyone would be in this scenario, Eliza stands from her chair, accidentally knocking a glass of wine off the arm rest of her patio seat. “What exactly do you know?” Eliza asks, her worst concerns coming to light when the voice mentions the names of Joshua Lane, Lieutenant Eric Devine, and the names of those Josh has called his victims. “And what do you want from me?” Eliza asks, the voice allowing laughter from its mouth on the other end. “Cooperation” the figure replies, telling Eliza that it wants her to do as it requests exactly when it is requested, without question. “You jump when I say ‘jump’, you hide when I say ‘hide’, and you ask no questions unless I tell you to. Do you understand?” the voice demands, the stubborn and refusing tone of Eliza making her answer of “No” much more resounding to the figure on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry?” the voice asks, Eliza standing firmly by her statement with unwavering support. “I’ve found myself going through hell and back over the last few weeks, so whatever punishment comes along with declining you will be a welcomed resort.” Suggesting to the voice that she’d be much more in favor of helping it accomplish whatever it looks to be out to accomplish if she had some answers, Eliza feels the air lighten when the voice begins chuckling again. “I think I’m gonna like you, Eliza” the voice says, adding in the follow-up of, “you’re much more strategic than Josh seems to be.” Eyes narrowed and hands effectively shaking where they rest, Eliza asks what connection the voice has to Josh. “Are you Josh?” Eliza asks, the voice seeming outright disappointed at the suggestion. “No, I’m not Josh!” the voice replies, “the guy can’t even stop hallucinating his dead ex-girlfriend, you think he’s gonna prank you on a Tuesday night?” “Then who are you?” Eliza asks, the voice on the other line audibly thinking over the pros and cons of revealing any identity. “Can I have your name?” Eliza asks, the scoff on the other line before “giving you my name would defeat the purpose of calling you anonymously” signalling that the voice isn’t outright vile in nature. “I’m not willing to tell you who I am just yet” the voice on the other line replies, “but you can call me your guardian angel.” “So what is it that you want from me, guardian angel?” Eliza asks, the man on the other line offering her precise instructions on what routes to take next. “And how do I know you’re legitimate?” Eliza asks, the voice clearing his throat on the other line. “Because I didn’t outright blackmail you as soon as you picked up the phone, even if it was only on the third try” the guardian angel replies, laughing again on the other line as Eliza’s phone drops to her side. | A towel in her hand running the water out of her hair, Becca jumps at the sound of knocking at the door, the shower not even having been off for enough time for the mirrors to clear up. “I’ve gotta head out for a quick second” Josh says from the other side, “help yourself to whatever you want and keep the door locked behind you.” Her agreeance giving him the go ahead, Becca listens quietly to the keys lift in his hands and the door shut and lock behind him. Quickly wrapping the towel around her body as she places her hair into a neat ponytail, Becca emerges from the bathroom and tip toes into the living space. Startled by the cool fall breeze sneaking through the window’s cracks, Becca clutches at the towel harder and sneaks back into the bathroom for warmth. As she begins to close the door, she lets a thought flutter into her brain that keeps her from closing it the full way, instead choosing to exit the bathroom entirely. Walking to the end of the hallway, Becca slowly pushes open the door to Josh’s bedroom, seeing the majority of his belongings still packed up and air-vacuumed into clear plastic wrap. After a brief scan, the woman notices a few pieces of large furniture remaining in their prior placement, slightly dusted over. Allured to a bureau near a wall off at the end of the room, Becca’s wet feet and dripping towel leaves a path in her trail as she approaches it. Opening the top drawer, Becca finds the back of a large black object protruding from a shirt tucked neatly in the corner of the space. Unfolding the shirt, Becca notices the sight belonging to that of a gun, hidden from the naked eye and only visible by the curious mind. Picking it up for a moment, Becca feels the weight in her hand before thinking better of her decision and returning it to its prior resting place. Sliding the drawer back in, Becca spots something else of interest hiding in the corner of Josh’s room, making up a part of the floor itself. The only thing protruding from it is the dial used to unlock it, a safe rests beneath the moonlight peering through the blinds just over Josh’s bedspace. Tapping on it’s door, Becca notices a single white string poking through one of its slots, almost camouflaged by the near-white carpet itself. As his guest surveys the scenery she expects to reside in for the night, Josh scales the stairs of his apartment with the intention of making another set of victims disappear into the night. “Going somewhere?” a woman asks, stopping the man for long enough to watch him look back at her, the figure ahead doing a double take when he puts the voice to a face. “What are you doing here?” Josh asks, watching Eliza stand from her seat on a second staircase to approach him. “I was told you were doing something dumb” Eliza replies, “and much as I’ve seemed to be doing often, I was told to stop you.” Taking his chance to scoff, Josh turns around to return to his duty, telling Eliza to return home before she has to get her hands dirty. “The last thing you need is to be caught with me when I’m caught with a red hand” Josh replies, the woman refusing to allow him to walk off so easily. His hands extending to the door ahead of him, Josh shoves the latch in to no use, the door being jammed from the inside. “What did you-” Josh begins, turning around to ask Eliza for an explanation, only to eat a firm shot to the already-damaged ribs. Confidently walking in strides around the echo chamber-like corridor, Eliza tells Josh that the true last thing she needs to do is let the one guy that knows everything the police want to get caught with blood on his hands again. “Have you forgotten that you weren’t the one to pull the trigger on Devine?” Eliza asks, pulling Josh’s face to look at her own, “and they can very quickly try their hand at the woman with no money and no job?” Letting the man go, Eliza walks back to the stairs as her hand pushes the hair falling onto her shoulders to the back of her head. “I bet you thought the guardian angel was a hallucination too?” Eliza asks, the man lifting his eyes towards her as he gasps for air. “What’s going on in that fucked up head of yours, Josh?” Eliza asks, leaning against the railing as Josh hacks up a lung in an effort to return to his feet. “How the hell do you know anything about that?” Josh asks, Eliza rolling her eyes, beginning to grow annoyed at the twenty-questions games with obvious answers. “You ask a guy whose single motivation is cleaning up New York where a mafia dungeon is, and you expect him to just let you?” The question raised by Eliza offering Josh enough sense to find the fault in his direction, the man leans against the wall as his hands clutch towards his abdomen. “So what the fuck are you gonna do now?” Josh asks, the woman tucking her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “I don’t know” Eliza replies, “but I know I’m not letting you run into the pipeline with a deathwish.” Her phone ringing, Eliza takes out the device and reads the Caller ID of what she’s labeled to be “Josh’s Pal” and answers. “You’re on speaker” Eliza says, the man clearing up his voice as if he were trying to be presentable. “You forced my hand Josh” the guardian says, “you pulled her into this with us.” Annoyed, Josh hangs his head knowing himself to be the sole reason for the annoyance he now finds latching onto his head. “So I bet you’re standing around wondering what happens next?” the guardian asks, telling them to buckle up. “You both have truths you don’t want anyone leaking” the guardian says, “and the three people hearing this call are the only three people that know them.” Asking for him to get to the point, Eliza bites her lip when the guardian informs them that they will now do as told in order to truly be able to move forward. “I have a reason for bringing the both of you together” the guardian directs, “Josh is a ticking time bomb that Eliza keeps from detonating, and Eliza’s a lost puppy that Josh keeps feeding.” Clearing his throat once more, the guardian tells the duo to continue playing nice, as he serves as both Josh’s detonator and Eliza’s kennel. “I’m the one string keeping you two together” the guardian continues, “and that’s gonna be real necessary to finish this job.” “What job?” Josh asks, finally getting the clarification from the guardian he’d been waiting for since meeting Devine in the factory. “Since neither of you seem to wanna stay low for a while, we’ll just get the plan moving” the guardian replies, “I want the pipeline eradicated from New York, and the two of you are going to make sure I see that through.” Eyes widened, both Josh and Eliza look towards each other, their hatred or misguided care for the other completely dissipating as they both collide on the same road. “Instructions will soon follow” the guardian concludes, ending the call before either party could follow up. Without a word, the two continue looking at each other, Eliza’s hand dropping as Josh sucks in a deep breath, the air in the stairway growing thin as the temperature rises and the stakes increase. Season Two Premiere
I have to do a lot of self-reflection in my life, so allow me to be perfectly clear when I say that there are some things about me that I don’t feel are appropriate to share. Don’t be worried, of course… It’s not like I’m leaving any information out, I’m simply choosing to keep some things private. I’ve been doing this since we started talking, so let me very upfront when I tell you that I’m not very confident in what I do or don’t deserve. Since we last talked, I told you about when the law first became a legitimate threat to my work and I. I chose to describe myself in a specific way because there was a specific way I wanted you to see me. I don’t believe I deserve to be viewed as a hero, so I chose to make myself seem like the least likeable person you could imagine a criminal to be. When things began unfolding in my story, I disliked it at first, but I began realizing that I deserved every last bit of it. Sure, it all happened in exchange for my freedom. But I still deserved to lose the pieces I negotiated with. After my name was cleared, I was let go from VeroSoft Industries. They decided that it was best for them to cut all of the loose fat from their more controversial episodes in order to, shall we say, redevelop their public image. I deserved that almost as much as I deserved the deviated septum and broken ribs from taking the dive off that bridge. There are some parts of my life that I refused to leave out that, whilst making me look good, needed to be mentioned for the better of the story. Helping the hot dog vendor guy gave me a feeling that I had never felt before, like I was doing good without feeling like what I did could be construed as bad. Other small bits like the fact that I despise Buffalo and have a soft spot in my heart for people that stand out from the crowd are also true in nature. But this is different. Yesterday is a day of the past and today is another one entirely. You got a story for your efforts, and now you want another one. Okay, I’ll agree to bite down on the line so you can pretend you caught a big one. If you couldn’t piece together the parts that don’t outright fit, I’ll spell it out for you so you don’t have to go home feeling like you were duped, fed more questions than you were answers. I’ll make this story an interesting one for you, one that you can really appreciate going through the process of digestion for. So grab a frosty beer, put your hand in whatever your preferred snack is a munch down. Who was Nora and what did she want from me? What did I do after I took that dip? How did I find out who my guardian angel was? What did I do with Eliza? All of these questions, and probably some more… You’re gonna wanna hear about from the horse’s mouth itself. = Joshua Lane is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = Halfway between conscious and unconscious, Josh floats atop the water face up, unable to move his body, but the sensation of the waves gently caressing his back convince him of comfort. After a few minutes atop his watery grave, hollering from a few yards away begins to take his focus, the calling for help as the water reacting to a man swimming to him acting as the only thing he can concentrate on in order to stay awake. After a brief struggle, the man wraps his arm around Josh’s torso, where he notices the broken ribs from Josh’s agonizing groans. Reaching the shore, the man tilts Josh on his side and allows the water in his nose and mouth to dribble onto the soft sands. “Call for help” the man directs his friend, whispering to Josh that everything’s going to be alright. Struggling to stay conscious, Josh manages to hold his own until the emergency crews arrive, when the power to fight fully depletes. After a few hours, Josh opens his eyes for the first time since the bridge, immediately shutting them upon glancing at the heavy white lights above. His hands extending outwards, the man tries to push himself up with the bars on each side of the bed, feeling the weight of his efforts lay a direct blow into his ribs. “Stop! You shouldn’t push yourself too hard!” a woman’s voice calls out from the other side of the room, rushing to assist him up. “Where am I?” Josh asks, looking at Becca for the first time before realizing himself to be in bed as a patient in her hospital once again. “Right back where you started” Becca replies, trying to be mad at blowing her off, but unable to do anything more than feel bad for the bed-ridden man as he holds her hand out of gratitude. “How did I get here?” Josh asks, Becca glances down at the floor and swipes at the hair in her face, not wanting to give him the truth. “Some men found you floating in the river while they were coming home from fishing” Becca replies, “apparently your car was found parked on the bridge a couple feet away.” The hours he spent in and out of consciousness having blurred the events, Josh tilts his head back with his mouth open as it all comes flooding back to him. “Why did you do it?” Becca asks, Josh turning around to look at her, “you hadn’t been answering my calls, I was worried I had done something.” Shaking his head, Josh tells the girl that it had nothing to do with her, and she hadn’t been told the full story. “I like to look out at the water from the bridge when I need to clear my head” Josh replies, “a bead fell off my necklace as I was looking over and I fell over trying to catch it.” Her eyes narrowing, Becca lowers her head as Josh instructs her to pull it back up. “I’ve got almost everything I could want in the world” Josh mutters, “I’ve got no reason to want out of it.” As Becca’s frown lifts, the door to the room glides open, splicing the moment as Eliza walks through the door, glancing at Josh’s bed with a puckered smirk. Walking towards the girl, Eliza holds her hand out and introduces herself, having been called in as Josh’s emergency contact. “Could you give us a second?” Eliza asks, “I don’t mean to be an ass, especially when you’re here on your off-time, there’s just something confidential I need to talk to Josh about.” “Sure” Becca says, flashing Josh another smile and nodding at Eliza as she walks out of the room, leaving Eliza to sit beside Josh at his bedside. “What the fuck were you thinking?” Eliza asks, her tone taking a complete turn, “trying to off yourself like that and leave me here with the mess?” Rolling his eyes, Josh tells her that he wasn’t looking to off himself, only for Eliza to respond by asking why the scene he leapt from looked exactly like a suicide attempt. “It wasn’t a suici- ugh!” Josh says, groaning before he can finish, frustrated at how poorly everything has been made out to look. “I was trying to stop someone from jumping off the bridge” Josh replies, answering “no one” when Eliza asks for a name. “Don’t tell me it was no one when-” Eliza begins, Josh cutting her off with, “Not just no one, it was literally no one! I thought I saw someone jumping off the bridge and I was wrong!” “That makes no sense!” Eliza says, her head shaking as Josh admits that it only makes less sense with the more information he gives away. Her hands held out as the signal for him to continue, Eliza’s right hand smacks herself in the head when Josh admits to hallucinating people. “You’re just a massive bag of party-sized fucked up, ain’t you?” Eliza asks, Josh’s hands being thrown out as he admits to not being the most well put together person in New York. “So what hallucination did you have that ended with you faceplanting off a bridge?” Eliza asks, Josh growing quiet, annoying Eliza, who refuses to let him play the silent game after everything else he’s already confessed. “My ex girlfriend” Josh replies, Eliza’s head tilting until her eyes slightly widen. “You didn’t kill her, did you?” Eliza asks, Josh turning towards her abruptly with a stern “no!” before he drops his head again. “Well” Josh furthers, Eliza’s slight comfort turning sour again as Josh admits to being partially responsible for why she died. “What do you mean when you say you were ‘part of the reason’?” Eliza asks, turning Josh’s words towards him and asking for clarification. “I can’t tell you that” Josh replies, Eliza shaking her head at the start of more secret keeping. “If I could, I would… Just comfort yourself in knowing that I wasn’t the man that put the bullet in her.” Clenching her teeth, Eliza subtly nods to herself, just another tragic realization on a bed of thousands of others to stain her view of her former friend. “Why do you keep finding new ways to disappoint me?” Eliza asks, Josh responding by struggling way closer to her and coming within inches of her face. “I’ve murdered people with big wallets and disgusting motives for years” Josh retorts, “I’ve lasted this long, so I’d expect you to be pretty fucking impressed.” The seering anger on his face once which she rarely sees, Eliza stands from her seat and throws his bag of clothes at him, informing him that she’d already signed him out. “Get dressed big shot” Eliza replies, leaving the room and flashing the fakest smile at Becca before returning to her car. “What’s with her?” Becca asks caught off guard by her expression, with a smile, Josh replies, “It’s the New York winter… She just wants to get the car heated up.” | -> After a few days, I was let go from VeroSoft. Once the charges were cleared and my name was as glorious as it used to be, all be it with a few caveats, and I was free to live the rest of my life. A few days later, all the true crime YouTube channels were plastering the story on their front pages, and from what I can hear, it was pretty much public frontline that Devine acted in the killings and used his position in the department to keep from anything tracing back to him. I was the footloose guy that had as much resource as him with more motive than he could have. From then on, he tried pinning me to the crimes at every turn until he got too caught up in it and the truth started falling through the cracks. When the hot water started boiling him up, he went rogue and it ended in death via inferno. A few days later, I joined Eliza in hiding out at her cabin. We both needed to lay low, so why not do it with the only other person to know the whole truth? <- | Asleep on the pull out couch, Josh is awoken by the shifting of plastic bags directly over his head, the sound of crinkling plastic jolting him. “What the hell?” Josh asks, wiping the gunk from his eyes as Eliza tells him that it’s time to wake up. Reaching for his phone, Josh looks at her with the look of a man at the end of his rope. “It’s 6:45!” Josh replies, Eliza staring at him as if he were a disappointing child that disobeyed her orders and immediately paid the price. “You literally kill child-fucking millionaires, Josh” Eliza responds, “I think you’ve got some pretty big issues if that’s easier than waking the fuck up.” Tossing him a shirt and a clean pair of socks, Eliza heads to the end of the cabin and enters her office space. Now fully dressed, Josh joins her in the room, watching her pull down the massive wall coverings of news stories dedicated to following the murders of New York’s elite. “You had me pretty well scouted” Josh says, his presence not being clear at first to Eliza, who’s briefly startled by his voice, dropping a picture and thumbtack on the ground. Reaching down to pick up the photo, Josh’s ribs act up, forcing his hand over Eliza’s by accident, driving it palm-first onto the pointed spike, causing her to yelp in pain. “I can pick up a goddamn picture on my own, Josh” Eliza states, placing the picture and the tac on her desk before walking for the bathroom. Hearing the rummaging of her medicine cabinet, Josh takes the moment to take a look at the photo she dropped moments earlier. Staring intently at the photo, Josh notices a familiar looking symbol in the background of the shot, an accompanying news article mentioning an underground network of undisclosed dealings. The sound of a bandage being unwrapped signalling that his available time is closing in, Josh folds the picture and places it into his back pocket. The sound of footsteps inching closer acting as the final countdown, Josh turns around with a smile on his face, clutching at his ribs due to the additional effort. “Why do you look so guilty?” Eliza asks, Josh rolling his eyes and asking why everything he does seems guilty to her. “Do I have to keep reminding you that you’re a murderer and I’m probably the only one that knows that for a fact?” Eliza replies, the guilt on Josh’s face catching Eliza’s interest. “That’s new” Eliza says, Josh beginning to turn his expression towards her into one of confusion. “What’s new?” Josh asks, watching Eliza slowly walk up to him, glancing at his eyes and lips. “You seemed... “ Eliza begins, wandering off, forgetting her place and not finishing her thought. “I seemed like what?” Josh asks, his tone growing deeper as the ease in the air is quickly devoured by Eliza’s treatment of him like a zoo animal. “Nevermind” Eliza concludes, patting him on the shoulder and telling him to look in the fridge for something to eat as she continues cleaning out the office. Later on in the night, Eliza walks from her room and into the kitchen area, pouring herself a glass of water and using it to take her medication. Placing the glass on the countertop, Eliza turns around to spot Josh, sitting on the sofa staring at the blank wall opposite him. “I know” Eliza begins, “it really could a fresh coat of paint.” The statement making him laugh, Josh nods and tells her that he’ll see what he can do about that. Pouring the remaining water down the drain, Eliza walks towards the empty loveseat and looks at Josh, prompting him to feel the need to ask a question he’d been downplaying for days. “Why aren’t you afraid of me staying here when you know what I’ve done?” Josh asks, Eliza chuckling to herself. “I’m not afraid of you, Josh” Eliza replies, “I’ve faced more things scarier than death. You, or what you can do for that matter, none of it can frighten me.” His head dropping, Josh is brought back into the conversation when Eliza asks why he’s so interested. “I just miss what we used to be” Josh replies, “I miss talking to you like I was an actual person.” Her legs crossing, Eliza tells Josh that it isn’t that simple, nor is it that easy anymore. “I didn’t think you were a murderer back then” Eliza replies, “I may not necessarily know exactly what I want… But I know that I don’t want to view you in the same way anymore.” His breathing becoming more spaced, Josh disappoints himself, hoping she would’ve left the door open for their old selves to have been possible to reclaim again. “You’d done so much for me before, so racing into the fire to save your ass, and letting you stay here is me paying my dues” Eliza concludes. “So what are we?” Josh asks, Eliza rolling her eyes as if she could have expected that question from day one. “Josh, we’ve never been a couple, so let’s not talk like we were” Eliza says, “you’re a murderer, you have more than enough to go out and live on your own, and when everything settles down, I want you to get the fuck out of here.” All of this being said in a smooth, gentle tone, Eliza gets up from her seat and walks off until Josh asks another question. “Why did you act like that back in that factory?” the man questions, Eliza turning her head over her shoulder to glance down at Josh. “The heat of the moment” Eliza replies, “that’s all it was.” Shaking his head, Josh is instructed by the woman to look at him and understand what she is saying. “It was a woman, who you caused a fuck load of pain, rambling because nothing made sense and she was stupid to believe things could ever be the same” Eliza concludes, storming off. The bedroom door slamming behind her, Eliza gets herself ready for bed as Josh stares onwards, angered by her words, but unable to do anything about it other than sit in his seat and simmer. Eyes narrowing as his anger begins threatening to boil over, they crack wide open once he thinks to look into his back pocket, slowly retrieving the picture and looking up directions to the specific street on his maps app. Taking Eliza’s car keys, Josh sneaks his way out of the front door and down the front steps, evading the security light before climbing into the vehicle and taking a seat at the wheel. Suddenly, as he prepares the place the keys in the ignition, his phone begins ringing, signalling for Josh exactly what he was afraid would happen. “Guardian, I swear if you’re trying to-” Josh begins, halting when the guardian tells him to look in the backseat. Turning around, Josh spots Eliza with her right leg draped over her left, her eyebrows lifted as if to insult Josh for thinking he’d get away with this getaway. “I’ll talk to you soon” the guardian says, hanging up as Josh is left to deal with being caught pre-red handed. “I know it-” Josh begins, immediately cut off as Eliza takes another track, calling him out as a hypocrite, and worth nothing more than the gum she can find on a random sidewalk. “You had the balls to think we could go back to the way things used to be” Eliza begins, searing with anger, “and then you climb into my car and start killing more people?” Her lips arched as the disgust she feels consumes her, demanding that Josh get back in the house and learn to play by her rules. Storming into the home and slamming her door shut, Eliza turns the alarm system on before aiming for Josh and tearing into him further. “I thought I saw something in your eyes earlier today” Eliza says, “I don’t know what, but I thought I saw it and I couldn’t be more wrong.” Trying to get another apology out, Josh is overwhelmed, forced back into silence by Eliza, instructed that he is not allowed to speak unless Eliza gives him permission. “I am an accomplice to murder, your murders. So as long as you are in my house, you will obey my rules or I will turn you in without a second thought.” His eyes getting puffy, Josh looks away from Eliza until she demands he return his look to her, wanting every last ounce of his attention that she can get. “You have fucked my life up far beyond repair, and you will not get a redemption story, and I will be damned if you get a happy ending you disgusting pile of filth.” Tears beginning to form in his eyes, Josh stands up and walks up to Eliza, who swiftly takes him by the arm and serves him a hip toss, dropping him hard to the ground. Groaning in pain as the tears run down his face, Josh begs Eliza to let him go, accepting whatever rules she puts on him. “Whatever you want! Please let me go!” Josh says, his words hard to hear by the pain in his voice, his breathing mixing with hiccup sounding gasps. Her eyes narrowed as she looks at him, Eliza begins calming down, realizing the pain in the man’s voice to be genuine, easing her grip and letting go of his arm. Struggling to find the words to respond with, Eliza shakes her head and sust off her knees, returning to her bedroom after swiping the photograph away from Josh and slamming her door shut once more. Left on the ground of the living room, Josh is left with the tears running down his face, forming a tiny puddle on the ground, the only friend he once thought he had left probably hating him more than any of the families of his victims. | -> I’m not gonna pretend like any of that was fun. It… It hurt more than anything else I had experienced because she was right. I walked into that house thinking I was a welcomed guest, and everything I thought came crashing down. The truth hit me in the form of a crash onto the ground. It was exactly what I did to her. I deserved it, and I knew that the second it happened. I wasn’t the one that was betrayed… She was, and it happened long before that night. Eventually, I climbed onto the couch and tired to forget that it happened, but that obviously wasn’t the case. I spent the whole night holding my probably re-broken ribs as I looked at that wall again. It was so fucking empty that it pissed me off. All it did was depress me that night. <- | Walking from her room, Eliza steps into the kitchen without thinking about, or even looking at Josh, taking her morning medication and preparing herself a bagel. “What did you think you saw?” Josh asks, his question breaking through the most difficult silence to bare either of them had ever known there to be. “What was that?” Eliza asks, her voice sounding chipper as her act of giving him the cold shoulder persists. “You said you thought you saw something in my eyes yesterday” Josh says, Eliza replying, “What about it?” His lip quivering as the hole in it from his K9 tooth biting through it upon impact with the floor the night prior, Josh asks again, “What was it that you saw?” Finally taking his eyes off the blank wall, Josh stares at Eliza, watching her make her breakfast as if the conversation wasn’t even happening, refusing to answer Josh’s question. His eyes clenching together, knowing she will refuse him the satisfaction of knowing what she doesn’t care for him to know, Josh looks back at the wall, his eyes jolting open when a single word is stated from within the kitchen. “Remorse” Eliza replies, picking up the hot bagel from the toaster and placing it on the plate, smearing the top of it with sour cream before taking a bite. “Happy?” Eliza asks, her first glance towards Josh on the day being one of finding him with his eyes directed at her, before being directed at the ground, before finally coming to a rest at the wall once more. “No” Josh replies, the word fluttering beneath his breath, effective enough to interest Eliza, who would’ve thought him to have expected such an answer. “And why are you not surprised?” the woman asks, strolling into the living room as if there was no need to care, flinging the rope on her robe in the air as if Josh’s sorrow was an amusement fair for her. “I would’ve hoped it would be something better” Josh replies, “something possible.” “Why is feeling remorse for what you did not possible?” Eliza asks, “you’re the reason lives aren’t here anymore, how is there any lack of remorse in knowing that?” Turning towards her with conviction, Josh reminds her that it wasn’t simply a set of people chosen at random, but rather, very terrible people that had done very terrible things, and had enough money to never have to answer for that. “Perhaps you weren’t killing people with the potential to do good, but-” Eliza begins, Josh cutting her off, surprising her, leaving her with a small amount of insult taken from the action. “No, there is no ‘but’ in this conversation. I didn’t kill people, I killed monsters” Josh replies, “I killed very bad people that would have never had to pay for their crimes if I didn’t do what the justice system couldn’t be trusted to do.” Effectively silenced, Eliza allows Josh to continue his descriptor, watching the tears well up in his eyes as he truly believes himself to be more of a hero than a villain. “I understand that I complicated your life in measures that I will never understand, and I will never ask for forgiveness for that” Josh concludes, “but the anger you have for me should not be due to the work that I have done, which has statistically brought sick crime like this to an all time low.” “You’re not meant to choose who gets to live and who gets to die” Eliza replies, watching a near-smile appear on Josh’s face as he asks why she gets to choose who gets to be blamed for what. “They’re dead” Eliza says, “they’re not suffering, they were spared from having to answer for their actions.” Taking in a deep breath as she decides whether or not to continue this line of dialogue, Eliza decides in favor of it, making it clear to Josh exactly what she thinks. “I’m not saying they would have suffered consequences, but they sure as hell aren’t suffering right now” the woman concludes, “you played god, and that’s no kind of power for one man to have.” Opening his mouth to reply as Eliza’s frustration slowly turns into sadness, Josh attempts to say anything, watching Eliza actively quiet herself in hopes that he would say something worth the emotional tole this conversation is having on the two of them. “Even if it may seem self-aggrandizing, sometimes there are things we can’t trust our government to get right” Josh responds, “sometimes they’re just too afraid to do what’s necessary. And when that happens, people are forced to take measures into their own hands.” Wiping away the tears that have seemingly become residents of his eyes over the past day, Josh makes it clear to Eliza that there is a side that is never taken into account. “This isn’t even just about justice served for those people” Josh says, “where the hell is the justice for their victims?” Puckering her lips, Eliza admits that the only justice for the people his victims have hurt is currently well-hidden underground as they speak. “As far as I’m concerned, the only way you can justify killing those men is by freeing those children, and allowing them to actually live their lives.” “And what if I do?” Josh asks, Eliza smiling, a chuckle hidden behind her sincere smile. “Then perhaps I’ll have to own up about being wrong to doubt your work” Eliza replies, standing up and walking away, only to be called back by Josh. “Don’t pretend like it’s who I am that you have a problem with” the man says, watching Eliza turn and face him, “we both know it’s because of what I did to you.” Taking a specified interest in putting that to the test, Eliza tells Josh that she wants a completely honest answer from him, without the top of that response being sugarcoated. Welcoming it, Josh watches Eliza’s lips move as she asks if he has any remorse for what he did to those men, even if for the greater good. With the most confident response he’s given all morning, Josh allows a broken smile to pierce through his dried lips as his hands fold together. “No” the man replies, watching Eliza slowly nod as she takes this information in. “Then it’s both” the woman replies, returning to her bedroom with her bagel still in hand. Slowly returning his stare to the wall, Josh notices the familiar figment of his imagination having a seat on the loveseat Eliza had just left. With confidence, Josh tells Nora’s hallucination, “I don’t” before watching it wither away, leaving him alone as the sun rises, and the glow appears through the curtains. |
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March 2022
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