“Are you familiar with the Emergency Recruitment Decree?” Sheriff Reeves questioned.

“It’s the decree passed by Emperor Churchill that allows the government to recruit anyone to protect the homeland from invasion. There’s a clause in it that says if felons are recruited their crimes are forgiven as payment for their service” Akane explained, having now stopped trying to go after Tarz.

“That’s right. Smart girl” the sheriff acknowledged with a nod of his head.

“How’d you know that?” Warren asked, still holding onto Akane’s hair.

“It was the decree used on my ancestor. He was a prisoner but discovered he had a skill for battle during the war. After the war ended he decided his family would become a family of assassins. But you should already know this when I told you my backstory, were you not paying attention when I told you?”

Warren averted his gaze from Akane’s.

“Warren?”

“Sheriff so you’re using that decree for us?” Warren questioned, ignoring Akane.

Warren could sense Akane drilling holes into him again with her stare.

“Warren answer me. I-”

“Yep. That’s my legal loophole for you two. This way I can have you two go loose without breaking any laws. Of course this means you two will have to succeed because there will be no going back from this. Once I invoke this thing the Humanity Defense Front will be categorized as a foreign, and I’m sure you two can guess how they’ll react to that.” the sheriff explained.

“That’s why we gotta hit them before they can react.” Sarah said re-entering the room with healing potions in hand.

“Hah! Ms. Madison I suppose you already have a plan?” the sheriff mused.

“She does. She’s thorough.” Tarz acknowledged entering behind Sarah.

“My mommy’s very smart! She’s going to defeat all the bad guys!” Sophie bellowed.

“Oh please it’s not that complicated. By the way you two drink these.” Sarah dismissed, handed the healing potions to Warren and Akane.

Warren drank his but Akane kept staring at Warren, her face neutral yet everyone could sense the anger underneath.

“Ms. Akane please drink the healing potion” Sarah insisted.

The request made Akane temporarily forget her anger, shifting her attention to Sarah.

“I refuse. I heal fast.”

“That may be true but drinking a healing potion will make you heal even faster. I won’t have you be at less than 100%”

“I-”

“Drink it”

Akane saw the fury in Sarah’s eyes, obeyed.

“Ok now with that out the way. Time for me to lay out the plan. First we’re-”

“Ms. Madison I appreciate your enthusiasm but they still need to sign the paperwork. There’s about 30 pages these two need to fill out before we can start thinking about plans. I also think you should let me handle things from now on. You can go home until it’s all over.” Sheriff Reeves suggested.

“Well I would but given that this was my idea I’m going to see this thing through to the end Sheriff. Besides, I can’t go home. They broke into my place once they’re bound to do it again. I have to stay here for Sophie’s sake. I might as well make myself useful and nothing is more useful than giving you a foolproof plan.”

Sheriff Reeves flicked a glance at Tarz, saw him nod his head in agreement. He looked at Warren, who shrugged, and Akane, who said: “I vouch for my friend. Her plan is 100 times better than anything you could come up with.”

“But you don’t even know it yet,” Warren mentioned.

“No but I know it’s going to succeed, I feel it.”

Warren nodded, Akane had an unusual knack for ‘feeling’ things. Perhaps it was the intuition from years of training.

Sheriff Reeves, seeing that no one agreed with him, decided to relent.

“Very well. I’ll hear out this plan of yours Ms. Madison after we get these two settled. Tarz go ahead and get the-”

A loud thumping sound interrupted him. It was rhythmic and occurred with such force that it felt like the entire police station was quaking in its boots. Akane and Warren had to hold onto desks to keep their footing.

“What is that!?” Sarah asked, quickly picking up Sophie to protect her, her legs shaking.

The sheriff remained seated unperturbed by the thumping. He looked at Tarz, nodded.

“I didn’t think he’d come this quickly.” the sheriff muttered.

Warren focused his hearing, realized where the thumping came from.

“Someone’s knocking?” he asked the sheriff.

“Everyone stay here..” the sheriff ordered. “I’ll handle this.”

“Wait is it him?” Sarah questioned.

The sheriff didn’t respond, he rose from his seat and headed toward the front door. The sheriff opened it, a sense of dread overcame him despite knowing who he was going to see.

“Good day Sheriff!” James Mason greeted, a warm smile on his face.

“James” he replied, walking through the front door, closing it behind him.

“I didn’t catch you at a bad time did I? I was hoping we could chat for a bit.”

“As good a time as any.”

“That’s great! You want to head to the usual spot?”

“Fine. How come you came yourself? What happened to your dog?”

“She’s doing her own thing right now. Why, you miss her? Despite never exchanging a word with her? Don’t tell me the sheriff has fallen in love.” James joked.

“Don’t act like we’re friends James. I’ll meet you at the spot so get out of here.”

“Alright alright. Such a serious old man.” James remarked.

James walked to his brown steed, got on.

“Forgive me for trying to lighten the mood, sheriff, I just wanted to ease things before we talk. We both know we’re going to be talking about serious subjects.” he said, and rode away.

Sheriff Reeves sighed. He knew that today would be the last meeting between him and Mason, for good or ill.

“I never get tired of this view. I love the way this town looks, all snug in its crater. It’s like the earth itself is cradling the town. Don’t you think so sheriff?” James asked.

The two of them were on their horses on the outskirts of Redrock, looking down at the town below them. The entire town was visible from their vantage point. The sheriff squinted his eyes, saw the police station. It looked so small, so vulnerable.

“I don’t have time for small talk James.”

“Ok ok if that’s how you want to be. Where should I start?”

James scratched his chin for a moment, his eyes lit up.

“I’m sorry.”

The sheriff’s eyes widened in surprise. He did not expect that opening.

“For what?”

“For what William did. Coming to your place and acting a fool. What he did was inappropriate and I wanted you to know he’s been punished for it. Losing Richard hit him real hard but still it’s no excuse.”

“Alright.” The sheriff said, slowly nodding his head, not too sure how to react.

“I promise you something like that would never happen again. We have a good relationship sheriff, in fact I say we both do the same job. We handle the non-humans when they get out of line and you do the same with the humans. I don’t want to ruin that.”

“Don’t compare yourself to me James. We are nothing alike.” Sheriff Reeves hissed.

“Are we that different? We both uphold the law. You the law of man while I the law of Vienna.”

“I doubt what you do makes the gods and goddesses happy.”

“Are you religious, Sheriff Reeves? When was the last time you’ve been to the local church, heard Preacher Roper give a sermon?”

The sheriff shuddered at the idea of going to one of Roper’s sermons. He knew the farce that the local church of Vienna was. It was nothing but a den of hatred, where Roper went on long tirades about the need to kill the ‘enemies of humanity’ while his congregation was drugged out of its mind. It was nothing like the church he went to as a child. The love was gone. That was the old Redrock, not the present one.

“I haven’t been in a long time.” The sheriff replied.

“You should change that. They’d be happy to have you but I digress. I wanted to ask you something. Do you know who killed Richard? My men say a woman is responsible, have you heard anything about that?”

The sheriff didn’t answer. He just stared at James, weighing his options, wondering what would be the best course of action.

“So you have.” James concluded, stopping the sheriff’s train of thought.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No but you didn’t need to. I’m good with people, Sheriff, I can look at a person’s face and tell if someone’s lying or hiding something. You kinda have to be good with people to do my job.”

“What if I do? I told your man that the law would handle Richard’s murder.”

“I completely agree. 100%. The law must handle it. Though it should be our law. Our men were killed so we should handle it. Just think of it as another thing to ignore so you can focus on your own duties. I would very much appreciate it if you handed her over sheriff. Do that and you won’t have to worry about this whole murder thing anymore. Sounds good?”

“Is that all you want?” The sheriff asked, feeling that there was more than James was letting on.

“Well no there’s a few more things I want but I was thinking them more as personal favors. I heard there was an outsider who came into town alongside the woman who killed Richard. Started a ruckus as he tried to break into my nephew’s place. I know you have him as well given that he punched one of my men when William confronted you. Hand him over as well.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Like I said, it would be a personal favor. The man you have might be a threat to my family. I don’t want him running around. Think about it like this, that’s one less prisoner to handle.”

“That is one way to look at it.”

“And I know Sarah’s alive and that’s she’s at your place. This should be obvious but you need to hand her over as well. Just wanted to lay that out there to make sure you don’t forget.”

“Why would Ms. Madison be at the police station?” the sheriff asked, knowing the truth.

“Oh you’re feigning ignorance Sheriff Reeves, that’s no good. We tried to punish her for giving birth to that abomination but lo and behold, when Richard died she escaped. My men just checked Sarah’s place and she wasn’t there. So where else could she be? With her savior at the police station of course with her abomination.”

“You really expect me to hand over a child knowing what you’re going to do to her?”

“What child Sheriff? I haven’t mentioned any children. That thing Sarah gave birth to is no child, it’s a monstrosity. We have to get rid of it. Don’t let that thing fool you Sheriff, it’s an affront to Vienna. Preacher Roper is adamant about the need to remove it. But don’t worry, he’ll do it painlessly. We don’t get off on torture, we’re not monsters.”

Sheriff Reeves clenched the reigns of his horse, holding in his anger. He wanted to attack James then and there but held off, knowing that it would’ve been a fool’s errand.

“Is that it?” he inquired.

“Ahhhh yeah that’s about it. Essentially hand over everyone at the police station. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Do that and we can get back to normal.”

“No” the sheriff flatly denied.

James looked behind him, then back at the sheriff, confused by what he meant. Did he just say no to him? It’s been over a decade since anyone said no to him. He didn’t expect this reaction.

“No?”

“I’m done James.”

James got off his horse, walked a few paces towards the sheriff.

“Done with what?”

“I’m done with you James. I’m done turning a blind eye to what you and your men do. I won’t stand for it anymore.”

“Sheriff where is this coming from? You’re sounding crazy right now. We have a good thing going, don’t ruin it.”

“It was never a good thing. I’ve been failing my job for the past 20 years because of you. But today that changes.”

“Hah! What changed? You think just because an outsider killed Richard that you suddenly have the means to go against me? You have like what? Two more people? That’s all it took? Sheriff, I respect you, but I believe it’s time for you to enter a home, your mind is not what it used to be.”

“No James, my mind is clearer than it’s ever been. I’m giving you one chance, to get all of your men, and leave Redrock once and for all. Otherwise you’re all going down one way or another.”

The sheriff looked at James’s face, expecting to see him angry, expecting to be attacked. But instead of that James entered a laughing fit.

“Sheriff please don’t say that, it’s too funny. Oh boy”

“I’m completely serious. I’m giving your men until 5:00 to get out of my town. If they don’t leave by then, I can’t guarantee their safety.”

The threat made James laugh even more. Having said his piece, the sheriff rode away, descending into the town. James’ laugh echoed as he travelled, until it became a faint noise, then all was quiet.