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Stefan's eyes dart around in the autumn night as he walks the cobblestone streets towards his shitty cellar apartment. He feels like he's being watched, and he can't tell if it's gut feeling or if he's being paranoid. The nazis could come for Stefan at any moment because of the disabilities he's trying to downplay or his political views, or find out his apartment is a hiding place for jews and roma on their way to Switzerland. Any time Stefan has to leave, he fears the people will be gone and the Gestapo will be waiting when he returns. He finds the handle of his father's service pistol in his coat pocket as he rounds a corner, as if making sure it's still there, the old Parabellum familiar in his white-knuckled grip. Stefan isn't much and ammo is limited, but he won't go quietly.Arriving at the building he lives in, Stefan pretends to fumble with his keys while he checks the reflection on the dark window of the shop that used to belong to Max's family. There isn't anybody behind him, or stalking him from behind the corner, as far as he notices at least. He slides the large key into the door's lock which turns with its usual difficulty, and Stefan quickly steps into the dark cellar and closes the door after him. He lights the oil lantern and puts it on the table before drawing the curtains over the room's pavement-level windows. Stefan turns on the stove and quickly cleans the small fish whose species he has no idea about before throwing it on the pan next to the coffee pot he fills with water and shitty ersatz coffee. Job opportunities for artists who don't want to draw nazi propaganda keep shrinking, but life goes on in the river so there's something to eat.Leaving the fish to cook, Stefan goes back to the stairs that appear to be solid brick and kneels to knock on the side, whispering "Doctor, i'm back. The coast is clear."Stefan puts his fingers in a thin gap in the stairs' brick wall and pulls hard, moving most of the wall which isn't actually attached to the stairs and revealing an old bespectacled man in a small space bare save for another lantern, a thicker blanket than Stefan has on the bed, a bucket, a can of water and a few breadcrumbs."I thought something had happened."Yeah, Stefan was a bit late "I made the arrangements, but you need to eat first. I caught a fish."Stefan backs down to give Erskine room to crawl out of his hiding place. He takes his suitcase with him and sits down at the table, thanking the younger man when he brings the unseasoned fish. They share the plate and Stefan uses the fork and kitchen knife he'd gutted the fish with, and drinks lukewarm coffee from the morning's unwashed coffee cup while Erskine drinks water from the cup he's been using during his stay, because if somebody were to come in they could notice two coffee cups or two water cups or two sets of utensils in the sink of a man who supposedly lives alone, and get suspicious. Such is life these days."Müller will come somewhere after midnight" Stefan whispers over their meal "She'll take you to the next house. If all goes well, you'll be in Switzerland in a few days.""Thank you" Erskine says again, cracking open the mysterious suitcase he's been nervously keeping at arm's lenght the whole time Stefan has known him. Stefan doesn't see inside from the other side of the table, but does see the clipped-together papers he pulls out. Erskine looks at them, seeming concerned and uncertain, and flips through the pages before opening the stove's door and shoving his papers into the fire."What are those?" Stefan asks, even though he shouldn't pry."If i get caught at the border or on the way there, my research would fall into nazi hands. I can't let that happen" Erskine reveals, and Stefan assumes it's about physics."You're an.... atomic scientist?""No, no. I'm a medical doctor."That piques Stefan's curiosity. What kind of research can a medical doctor have that could be so dangerous in nazi hands? He ventures to ask, and Erskine tells him about a serum he invented that should heighten peoples' physical capabilities beyond ordinary humans, which would be disastrous if the nazi war machine got a hold of it. Erskine says he has memorized the formula, but he has a vial of the serum that's too dangerous to carry over the border. Stefan had, earlier, told Erskine he wishes he could do more, that he could take the fight to the people who took their homeland away from them. That he could do more. Is Erskine implicitly offering Stefan the means to do that?