There's a moment when Steel drops his guard, struggling with his balance on the cracking staircase.
Just a moment, but it is enough for you. You send your nanovores racing into the cracks, widening them, listening to him as he spits his accusations at you. What did you do? Nothing, but he doesn't need to know that.
"Just took advantage of an opening," you brag, with no small amount of glee as the staircase breaks apart underneath him, sending him plummeting into the rubble below. You ready yourself to leap after when you hear another creak and realize that the whole structure is ready to come apart around you.
Oh no, you made it worse. You need to leave before you're trapped with him.
Time To Run
At a safe distance, you watch the spectacle unfold. The fire looks to be under control, but it's obvious that the house can't be saved. You feel uneasy thinking about the guards you left unconscious. Did someone find them and drag them out? You don't know; you certainly didn't plan for the building to get blown up.
It's not your fault. You keep telling yourself that. You didn't want casualties. If you hadn't been there, would things have been different?
No. You can't think about that. You need to focus on your goals. It's not your job to carry the world on your shoulders.
Not anymore.
Not exactly what you set out to do tonight, but you're still in one piece, and Steel messed up bad. Lou Carter is dead, and the Marshal of Los Diablos couldn't save him.
Life is unpredictable. You knew the life of a villain would be chaotic and full of challenges. You need to adapt to that mindset fast.
For Now, Back To Base
Later.
By the time you reach your destination back in your hideout, you've gone through what went wrong at least ten times in your head. Still, it could have been worse, you are here, free and alive, and that's what counts.
You sure got some new mysteries to unravel, but getting back here drives home the fact that you also need to plan to make some more money. You might have other goals in the long run, but to reach them, you need cash.
In the end, after a lot of soul-searching, you decided how to make your money in the future.