<span style="font-size: 115%; line-height: 116%;">Watching the human respond, he felt the tension in his gut holding, one long note. Well, this could be going better. But it could also be going worse, right? He had to hold onto that. The demon closed his eyes for a long moment, almost long enough that it might look like he had given up and accepted her judgment. Still, before anyone pulled the trigger, they snapped open, and he found his voice. His tone was low, but not playful or over-friendly. Serious, but not threatening. His hands were limp at his sides, and his gaze was solidly on the woman before him. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"I'll give you three."</span> This would take nuance, something he was inexperienced with. Still, his wasn't the only life on the line.<br/><br/>The two-way mirror began to crackle quietly, slowly frosting over as the temperature in the room dropped noticeably - but his hands were at his sides. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"If this was a trap, then you're already dead, because that would mean they know where you are. Listening to me or not would only change how you die, but you'd be destroyed either way. If this was a trap, and it's not."</span> That was reasonable. Something told him reasonable wasn't going to be what saved him, but he had to keep trying. The room was still getting colder.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFBF40">"Second,"</span> and as he said the word the ice over the mirror thickened, blocking off the receiver. He wasn't sure that would prevent them from being overheard but he had to try. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"Someone is in on this. One of your guys. I don't know who, but one of your people had to tip the horde off to your location. They'll probably try to slip away before the bombs fall, if they haven't already."</span> He let the temperature rise again, the two-way mirror thawing. He heard shouting from outside in the hall. That little stunt had him in the cross-hairs again. Two strikes, he couldn't afford another one.<br/><br/>He stepped back, noting the blood from her hand dirtying the sterile tiles of the floor. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"You need help right now. You can't win this fight alone, and I have information that will help you."</span> He allowed himself a smile, but not a smug one. Confidence was what he meant to project. Hopefully it worked. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"I know security routines, I know our schedule, I know what the next major moves for the horde are. Even if you don't believe anything else I tell you, and you should, I'm too valuable to be thrown away. I'd be insulted if you didn't at least try to extract all the information I have - which will be pretty easy considering I'm offering to give it all to you."</span><br/><br/>This was it. The final play. He slowly, slowly, raised his hands, palms extended towards her as he took a second step back. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"You've got a decision in front of you. You can kill me, but if you do I promise you - everything you've built here is going to die. All of it. And it won't be the demons who took it away from you, but your own hatred. You'll be pulling the trigger on every man, woman and child who trusts you to keep them safe."</span> He looked down. <span style="color: #FFBF40">"Maybe you're not so different after all."</span></span>