"- it has serious ramifications for our health and survival; and for the survival of our entire ecosystem. But, like any addiction, it can be hard to see a future without something that we desperately need. There are alternatives - solar power, wind power, hydrothermal; but these are the nicotine patches designed to wean us away from our unhealthy habit. What we need is a clean break."

The television's sound cut off abruptly as the mute cut in, the remote tumbling from Roy's fingers an instant later. "My god," he grunted, slumping at the foot of the hotel room's disconcertingly weak-springed mattress. "Have you heard this guy?"

Falling backwards onto the evidently cheap bedsheets, his eyes sought out patterns in the textured paintwork of the room's ceiling, arms draped idly across his chest. Admittedly, the hotel wasn't the worst dive he'd ever spent the night in, but it wasn't exactly pricey. It was the strange irony of the League of Assassins: all those zeroes on the price tag for a kill, and yet they dump their assets in the cheapest venue they can find.

Economics at work, he supposed. Every successful business had to cut costs somewhere; and unless there was an Assassins Union that he wasn't aware of, people in his line of work were ill positioned to complain if employee welfare was one of the areas that felt the pinch.

"They can keep their money," Roy called, raising his voice enough to be clearly heard from the adjoining bathroom. "I'll shoot this guy just for the satisfaction of getting him to shut up."