"What do you think of her?"

In the hotel room they had booked, Higler and Drake were preparing to go to sleep. Drake was worried that they had provoked the Association of Riverplate too much, and that they might make a move tonight, but the ranger had dismissed this thought. According to him, Anderson would try to settle it with his puppet - Chief Jones - first. If that didn't work, then they would start using underhanded methods. Which was why they would enter the lion's den tomorrow, and go to Fallen Star City's police station.

"She is just like you said. Our badge scared her, so she is probably thinking about abandoning her counterparts. But when you offered to let her keep what she has, she was tempted. Do you have the authority to do that? I mean, can you just let her go unpunished? You did the same with the other guy."

That had been bugging Drake since the start. Not to mention Miss Lauren, but the man they beat up could be charged with a homicide attempt. Even if the police here was corrupt, they could bring him somewhere else.

"It's too troublesome, and not worth it. He knew basically nothing. Although the same can't be said about her, it will do more good for us if she hops over the fence. Rangers have the power to make that kind of concessions. You will understand it better later."

Drake shrugged, and laid on his bed. Frainer floated over him, hungry.

"All right. Time to eat Frainer, but leave my consciousness, okay? Take only the dreams."

Higler threw him a strange look, confused as to what Drake meant. However, before he could say anything, he saw he had already fallen asleep. Grinning, he shook his head to Warkin.

"I guess we better sleep too. Save your energy, tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

------------------------------

In Miss Lauren's room, at Angel's Nightclub, Bartow and her were sitting in her bed, looking at each other. She had just told him what the ranger had proposed.

"Uhmm... Are you sure he was a ranger?"

"Have you ever seen anyone who dared to pose as one? Face it, Bart. The Association is over. It was good while it lasted, but now it's time we move on."

"We could eliminate them."

"Ha! Do you killing a ranger is that easy? And, even if we did, it would only make more of them show up. You know how they are. When one of them is killed, the others will go to hell and back to avenge them."

Bartow frowned, deep in thought. She was right. While normal folk heard the good side of the stories about rangers, criminals knew a lot more. It was a fact that whenever a ranger was involved, it almost certainly meant the destruction of their target.

"Anderson and Montez will kill us if we betray them, though. What are we supposed to do?"

"We will let the rangers deal with them. The older one said they are going to confront Jones tomorrow. He is a hot-head, so he will try to kill them as soon as they leave the police station. If they survive, I will send a message to them through Sana, telling them where they can find Anderson, Montez, and Cramer. When they come looking for you, you just say you are in accordance with me, and give them some documents they can use against Anderson. Nothing with our names on it, obviously."

In a single breath, Miss Lauren laid down a simple but well-thought-out plan. Bartow smiled, impressed, and put his face close to hers before planting a kiss on her lips. The situation developed quickly from thereon.

----------------------------

The next morning, after having a calm breakfast, as if nothing out of the usual was happening, Drake and Higler walked towards the police station. This time the ranger brought his rifle with him, carrying it over his shoulder. That told Drake that he was expecting things to go south.

As it was to be expected, the closer they got to the police station, and the more cops they saw, the more nervous Drake got. If Chief Jones was bolder or crazier than Higler thought, they couldn't just shoot their way out of it. Most of the cops were probably honest people, doing their job the best they could.

A few stopped them, and asked questions - after all, although it wasn't prohibited to carry weapons, Higler was packing heavy artillery, per se - but all the ranger did was show them his badge. The only one who insisted was a cop inside the police station. A lieutenant, to be exact.

"Ranger or not, you can't enter armed, sir. You have to leave them here, and pick them up when you are done, okay?"

Higler sized him up, and for a moment Drake got scared, thinking he would punch the law enforcer, but in the end, the ranger just smiled.

"Look, lieutenant, you seem like a good person. I bet you don't like the... Friendships your boss keeps, right?"

The officer froze. Higler was walking on dangerous grounds right now. But what he was saying was the truth.

"What do you mean?"

"What's your name?"

"Err... Carson, sir. Lieutenant Ted Carson."

"Okay, Ted. The thing is, your chief is not going to last long now, and someone will need to step up and take over. That person could be you."

Drake raised an eyebrow. Rangers were technically civilians, so there was no way Higler had that authority. Besides, who knows? The lieutenant might be in collusion with Chief Jones. However, the man was obviously tempted.

"Are you sure he is going to be removed?"

"More than removed. So, what do you say?"

Lieutenant Carson thought for a few seconds before nodding affirmatively.

"All right, follow me, please. Jones is a cancer that needs to be taken off the city. I just hope you can really do what you are proposing, ranger, or we three are dead."

While the lieutenant led them through the building, towards the chief's office, Drake approached Higler. The other cops looked at them curiously for a moment before turning back to their work, unaware of the tempest that was about to start.

"Are you sure he isn't going to turn on us?"

"Yeah. I've always been a good judge of character, and I'm rarely mistaken. Carson really doesn't like Jones. Just follow me, it's gonna be quite the show."

"Here he is. It's all on you now, rangers."

Higler nodded, and pushed open the door with 'Chief Jones' written on it without knocking. What greeted him was a slightly fat man, with a bald head and big eyebrows. He was talking on his cellphone when they entered, but put it down when he saw them.

"Wo the f*ck are you? And why are you armed?"

Higler gave him his trademark cold smile, which meant he was already itching to beat the crap out of Chief Jones. Seeing that, Drake decided to stand back and block the door, just in case someone decided to interfere.

"I'm ranger Ben Higler, Jones. Or, if you want, you can also call me the guy who stopped Montez from attacking Box O Farm, and killed two of Cramer's dogs."

The corrupt cop was shocked, but regained his composure quickly, and started yelling at them while getting red.

"So you are the ones who caused that massacre! Ranger or not, you have to answer for the murder of two respected citizens of our..."

He didn't have time to say anything else. Higler pulled him by his collar, and dragged him over his table.

"Shut up, idiot. We are not here to play games. You are going to tell me everything about the Association, so I can bring you and your friends to court."

"Y-You! How dare you touch me?! I'm Fallen Star City's police chief! Men! Officers, arrest these... Ack!"

Higler hit him with a right hook, followed by a blow to the stomach, which sent Chief Jones flying until he crashed into his table, which broke under his weight. Drake had to admit it was pleasurable to watch.

"What is happening in there?"

Lieutenant Carson opened the door a little, and his jaw dropped when he saw the state of the office. Before he could do anything, however, Drake closed the door on his face while grinning.

"Don't worry, lieutenant. Chief Jones just stumbled on his table, and made a mess. We will help him recover."

Higler winked at him when he heard what he said.

"You learn fast. Now, Jones, where were we?"