One hastily-improvised bandage later, Hawkeye picked up the weapon again. A set of thin crosshairs drifted over comparably innocent men until they rested upon the chest of the Earl. Elletra had been right, he realised – there was only one way to win against people like Dieter.

It took monsters to kill monsters.

There was something wrong, though, and Hawkeye pondered this briefly as he pulled the charging handle and watched a dial tremble its way into the red zone. There was something he’d missed.

Elletra and Hawkeye both heard the faint click at precisely the same moment.

Of course. Of course the Earl would have men of his own up here. For insurance. And when they heard a revolver firing, they would come to investigate.

There was no hesitation from either of them. The door leading inside exploded open, and Elletra’s knife thudded home in the man’s chest.

Hawkeye, not being a man to take chances, drilled through the man’s heart with blast of silver from the gun. The body toppled and fell.