Jonathan decided that he would drive Jocelyn home. Cherie was in the backseat while Jocelyn was riding shotgun.

Cherie decided to call it a night and get some sleep in her hotel room, “could you drop me off here? My hotel room is just a couple of blocks away. I’ll be fine.”

“Sure,” Jonathan said as he pulled up on the side of the curb.

Cherie then reached over to Jocelyn and gave her a great big hug and a kiss on the cheek, “everything will be fine, now. I promise…”

With those comforting words, she got out of the car and walked to her hotel.

Jonathan began to drive again as he paid attention to the road, “I want you to stay with me for a couple of days…”

“Why?” Jocelyn groaned with a throaty voice.

“Don’t argue with me. That penthouse of yours isn’t safe--”

“Why aren’t you leaving me?” Jocelyn stopped.

“Because I love you, J.J.,” Jonathan reassures.

“I am a fraud… A false prophet…” Jocelyn mumbles.

After hearing enough, he decided that it would be best for them to speak about this in private. As they finally made it to Jonathan’s apartment, which is a duplex, he helped Jocelyn out of the car and up the front porch.

Arriving at his apartment, Jonathan helped her to his spacey bathroom as she sat on the edge of the bathtub. With her head down, she was looking at her half-painted toenails and the tiles on the floor.

Finally, they have some time alone, and Jonathan finished what he wanted to say, “You are not any of those things, J.J. In that instance, you chose to live, and you were forced to sell your soul. Anyone in your position being young and scared, would have done the same thing!”

“JoJo, Do I see an epiphany on the horizon?” Jocelyn mumbled.

“My own father,” Jonathan reluctantly admitted.

Jocelyn raised her head and looked at him with bloodshot eyes, wanting to cry again, “Your father… you hardly ever talk about your family…”

“Yeah, for a good reason, and wanted to keep it that way!” Then, Jonathan knelt before Jocelyn as he spoke to her face-to-face. “See… he was a patrolman in Harlem in the seventies at the height of the narcotics trade, dealing with scum like Frank Lucas. He was never a drug user himself, but he was one of Frank’s ‘Lieutenants’ who used to bust people’s heads wide open when they didn’t pay in time.”

Jocelyn shook her head in disbelief, “How?”

It was hard for Jonathan to tell her the story, but he had to prove a point to her, “That one night, he volunteered to be in plain clothes, looking for activity in the area as an undercover cop. He almost got gunned down by a couple of hoods and bled out on the sidewalk. When Frank and his group discovered who he was, they flipped him before rushing him to the hospital. And I keep on saying to myself every time something comes up in the news; if it weren’t for him dealing with the devil like Frank, he would have never met my mother a year later, and I wouldn’t have been born…”

It was a fantastic story, both inspiring and heartbreaking. She could tell that this was the first time he was ever open about his family. She felt like she didn’t deserve this, but she got it, “JoJo, I…”

“We all have to do things to survive in this world… the world is indeed cruel, and not everyone will care if you die today or tomorrow. That is why, in desperate times, you do what is necessary just to live for tomorrow…” He concluded.

After that persuasive speech and words of encouragement, it had given her very much hope for her future. But she was still at a loss. She didn’t know where to begin. She was always under the thumb of Eichner and the Oleander Syndicate.

“Well, what do you want me to do?” Jocelyn questions.

“You carry it, J.J. Like my father did… Sometimes, it’s best not to die on that cross and be a martyr,” Jonathan suggested. “And if you are wondering where is he now? He is in Canada with my mom, channeling his inner Paul Bunyan.”

With that revelation, made Jocelyn laugh a bit. She needed that laugh after what happened today.

“Sit tight, I’ll be right back with some pizza…” Jonathan offered as he got up and left the bathroom.

But before you left, Jocelyn sent this that made his self-sacrifice with everything, “I wish I found someone like you growing up, JoJo…”

He turned around and looked at the woman that he loves with a confident smile, “Same here…”

Meanwhile, Cherie was in their own hotel room, pacing around the room, going over what she had just witnessed, and heard from Jocelyn during their group therapy session. Cherie is new that the Angel of Death Adrian Eichner was a sexually sadistic psychopath, and her ungodly reputation to thoroughly precedes her from the number of unsolved murder cases that are still active in databases throughout the world.

She went for her smartphone, but out of confusion, she grabbed Jocelyn’s instead. Anyone could make that kind of mistake since, on the surface, it was the same make and model. But hers was a bit different since it was powered with her own Aethereal energy. She would switch back phones tomorrow when she sees Jocelyn again. Yet Cherie saw this as a perfect opportunity to find out what Jocelyn has been going through.

With her Aethereal powers through techno-kinesis, she unlocked the phone without using a password. She plopped on her queen-size bed and went through her messages and day planner.

Even though she is at the tail end of her campaign, she was swamped with interviews and charity events. Only to get her numbers up. Clearly, this woman was overworked and overstressed. This might have triggered these outbursts and certain lapses of judgment.

She then listened to her voice messages. A lot of them were from Jonathan, of course, so she skipped those entirely. She later then found one of herself is not so supportive of someone who is altogether fragile. She kind of regretted saying those things to her now more than ever…

Then it was a message from Dr. Revan Zayne of urging her to come back for another session, in which she was very fortunate that she did. And then she listened to another recent text message as she played it back in full:

“Yo, J.J., it’s Natty,” the familiar mundane voice startled Cherie as she sat up in shock. “Look, I’m sorry that you and I got into it at the hospital… Yet you have every right to be pissed off at Adrian of what she tried to do to you… But I had no part of it. I was at the hotel, but… We are going to get into some crazy shit with some fox bitch, so I’ll shoot you a text later! Take care, I mean that!”

That was all she needed to hear. Jocelyn was in trouble. This could not wait for not one second. She immediately called the Aethereal Queen to have the situation escalated as their own top priority. After what she had discovered, she wouldn’t have any problems or any objections whatsoever.

While Cherie was rallying up the sentinels, Jonathan had a change of heart and started to call upon someone else. He drove all the way to his precinct and turned on all of the searchlights to signal a ‘familiar friend.’ He didn’t want to, but he had no other choice.

Where the hell is he? Jonathan thought. Usually, he would come, or maybe he was too busy fighting superhuman assassins again? However, he would be relieved to see a certain royal purple/royal blue-winged diara, wearing armored dark purple archery gear with a hood and a pair of reflecting goggles descending from the ominous black sky.

“Memento Dark!” Jonathan greeted.

Even so, Memento Dark was a bit surprised by this, “Detective Peterson. I wasn’t expecting you to be here…”

Already in distress, he didn’t have time to argue or to come up with a rebuttal, “Well, you are a hard person to reach…”

“Well, detective…?” Memento Dark not wasting any time.

With a deep breath, he told the avenging angel exactly why he is here, “I want to talk to you about Assistant District Attorney Jocelyn Shane.”

Taken aback by this, Memento Dark had already known that Jocelyn Shane and Jonathan Peterson had somewhat of an intimate relationship, he wanted to find out more about the Assistant District Attorney’s good fortune and shortcomings.

Even though he could have found the information himself, he was gifted with the person who pretty much knows it better than anyone. Memento Dark couldn’t resist this kind of opportunity,

“Okay, I’m listening…”

Meanwhile, in Shayna’s apartment suite in the Upper West Side, she is making do with her house arrest. She still has to wear her ankle monitor and is not allowed to leave the new home that her own lawyer emergency leased for her.

At least she could have company. With her half-sister out of the country, Shayna felt she wasn’t safe. In her line of business, making decisions with your mind and not with your heart is not only essential but a necessity.

The Killer Queen wasted no time setting up a meeting, hoping to land another deal. One that could guarantee her freedom.

Shayna’s freedom was in the form of the same assassin was still decked out in a long jet-black oilskin duster long coat, and a motorcycle helmet was concealing its identity sitting across from her.

The assassin itself wasted no time getting to business, “So, do we have to deal, Killer Queen?” The assassin uttered.

Eating healthy, Shayna ate a piece of her roasted chicken, “You know, I’ve always felt that Adrian was a lying piece of shit. You would think after all these years she would change her spots or even have the common decency to be a businesswoman. I never trusted her, but I always trusted greed.” She reflected.

“So I take that as an agreement, Miss Hu,” The assassin eluded.

“I should’ve known better than to fuck around with that old skank. Fuck that bitch, okay?” Shayna agreed. “And as for you, I don’t have any quarrel with you or your people. It was just business back in the day, kid. If I do say so myself, you truly are a quality king. Shrewd and dexterous, if I say so myself… However, if I can share one helpful critique. I would say you’re very young and energetic in your tenure in your reign, Saith. Being so… hands-on. I admire that… You reminded me of me when I was younger.” She complimented while sipping her red wine.

“There’s always room for improvement, Miss Hu,” the assassin accepted.

“Fine. You get this ankle bracelet off of me, you let me walk out of this country, and my crew will aid you any way we can,” Shayna summarized.

“I have a few ideas.” The assassin said. “More importantly, I want full access to all personnel files of the Royal Nephalem Order and Encyclopedia and the Crux Nexus--”

“Look, I told you before: we borrowed them, but we don’t have the bingo books!” Shayna hastily reminded. “And she doesn’t have them either. That fuckboy Dolph used that for leverage so they wouldn’t hang him from the ceiling fan five years ago. All she ever did was give us a couple of family’s names and… we did our jobs, no questions asked. If you want the whole thing, you going to have to go to the source. They have it now.” Shayna corrected.

Through the assassin’s helmet, Shayna could see its eyes brightly glowing a vivid color of orange, piercing through her, “Interpol. I’ll deal with them later… However, first things first…”

Shayna didn’t have to see the assassin’s face to see its frustration. The Killer Queen had to play it smart and not to piss off her new business partner. Using her keen business sense, Shayna turned her would-be assassin into a fragile ally, but an associate, nonetheless.

The Angel of Death Adrian Eichner might have been the “be all end all” in the criminal underworld and the Dark Nebula Coalition, but not anymore.

Moreover, for a shrewd businesswoman like Shayna Hu, it is either get with the times or gets left behind, and the new breed of monarchs rising in the Royal Nephalem Order has become the most modern gold rush. With this untouched potential in commerce, Shayna could make a fortune.

If Shayna can keep herself alive, that is…