Why would he need to act? He has nothing to prove to Durkon, especially if he'll kill him. It might be the minimalism of the art, but the few times Redcloak makes that expression pretty much always has to do with regret/getting ready to do something decisive. (the aftermath of SOD's climax, unable to stop Tsukiko from reanimating dead hobgoblins, confessing the Plan).
Okay, I'll agree there. Durkon really shouldn't have mentioned his team, in hindsight.Well, certainly. Implosion is a very-very rude way of saying no. Nevertheless, as many posters have already pointed out, it is a very efficient way of solving Redcloak's problems here. If he was going to say no anyway, he had reason to expect Durkon (whose group has inconvenienced him before) is soon to become his enemy again. He had no use for him, and he needed no high level enemies around. In this situation, Implosion, a spell which is impossible to dodge, hard to block and quick to kill would seem to be a good (if evil) way of using the element of surprise which was on Redcloak's side.
From specifically V/Redcloak's point of view, not anyone else's. V didn't know that the Plan the IFCC gave them was utter rubbish.You do realize you're arguing for my position here, don't you? When Qarr called bovine excrement on the „alternative plan” the IFCC offered to V, the archfiends basically admitted he's right, and it wouldn't have worked.
Redcloak turns down the deal nnot because it's completely a crapshoot -- he, being someone smart, would have pointed out the flaws and counterargued. Durkon doesn't point a spell at him and force him to answer. Durkon's not asking him to agree to every detail of the plan -- just the basic flow of it, which is "stop your Plan and help us out."
I'll take a page from LadyEowyn's book and say that I really don't know what's going through RC's mind (I'll wager it's the sunk-cost rearing its head, but it's definitely more complicated than that), but next strip should be illuminating.