Poker Face

Chapter 69 - Act Two: Bad Liar

Negan and the Saviors arrived back at the Sanctuary past midnight after bringing down Alexandria. He was pleased to see the Sanctuary pulling back together so well, but that feeling was immediately overcome by anger as it became clear that Gavin's attack on the Kingdom hadn't gone according to planned. Gavin wasn't answering on the radio, but it wasn't long after Negan returned that thirteen Saviors made it back in their trucks and relayed what had happened: all other Saviors sent to the Kingdom were dead, as were many citizens of the settlement. As far as they knew, though, King Ezekiel was still alive and escaped, with help.

"They'll all be going to Hilltop," Negan thought aloud, pacing back and forth in the conference room with Simon, Regina, and Arat sitting before him. "Or maybe even the dump. I know for fucking sure Jadis fucking helped them."

"She needs to be taken out," Simon insisted. "Those garbage people have fucked us over too many times. You want me to take care of them while you work on getting Aven back?" he asked a little too hopefully. He was already about to leave for the dump to collect their guns for battle, and he was eager to put them in their place.

"I most certainly fucking do not want you to do that," Negan replied, speaking slowly and deliberately as he loomed towards Simon, clutching Lucille tightly at his side.

"Not everyone from the Satellite outpost died," Simon began, rising from his seat and beginning to pace as well so he wasn't stuck low under Negan's gaze. "We found some of them safe but Rick took prisoners. Those are my people."

"No, you dumb fuck," Negan spat, running dangerously low on patience and growing increasingly intolerant of Simon's recent defiance. "They're my people. And so are you, and you will do what I fucking tell you. We're sticking with the normal routine. Nothing more, nothing less. Kill one person and get all the guns. Killing everybody is the easy way, not our way. What we do, saving people, it is hard. But it damn well works." Negan and Simon stood on opposite sides of the table glaring at each other.

"Not lately," Simon said simply, standing tall though still looking upwards slightly towards his boss. "We can't let them get away with-" He was cut off by Lucille being slammed down on the table, much closer to Arat's arm than she felt comfortable with.

"YOU WILL DO YOUR JOB," Negan bellowed, his voice echoing in the otherwise silent room. He continued to stare Simon down until it was clear the man wasn't going to respond. He remained silent for a moment, his jaw clenched so tightly it hurt as he resisted the urge to jump across the table and bash Simon's head in. Simon was good when he was loyal, but otherwise he was a shitty person. Negan had known that all along, but he let it go because Simon was loyal.

"What, you want to kill them all because they killed your men?" Negan continued, softening slightly and clearly goading Simon, who took the bait.

"People like that need to be put down."

"So they should die for killing all those people," Negan confirmed, starting to pace again. Simon nodded and Negan's eyes seemed to focus in on him even more, his head tilted slightly. "By that logic, I should probably take out the guy who killed all those men and those boys in that settlement in the woods way back when." The corner of Negan's lips quirked upwards into a veiled smirk, but his eyes were still burning angrily as he continued stalking around the table towards Simon. "Oh wait, that was you, wasn't it?" he said, pointing Lucille in Simon's face. "You know, when you helped me take this place, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep you on board. What you did back then, a lot of people would think that is some psychotic shit," he emphasized the words with two sharp pokes to Simon's chest with Lucille, "the work of a demented, broken god damn ghoul." Simon was clearly holding back a similar urge to Negan's, that being the desire to just kill the man standing in front of him and call it a day, but still he said nothing. "Should I kill you, Simon?" Negan leaned in close, getting in his face.