Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: The Return of Sir Lionheart!

The upshot of the
Insurance Siege was that all the hostages were rescued long before
Haiter had his men together, and Crusader Daryl and his March Hill
Crusaders were forced out of the building. This infuriated Daryl no
end, especially when Crusader Alex then turned around and told
Crusader Roger that Judith Jofrey was the secret sister of Mobster
Marion.

“And when were you
thinking of sharing this information with us Daryl?” Roger asked
the night afterwards as the group sat in Rogers dingy office. Alex,
Aiden and Alice were sat on the small sofa, trying not to look like
they were enjoying watching Daryl get ripped to shreds. “You're
lucky that Alex pays attention and knows who's in charge.”

“I thought everyone
knew!” Daryl felt exasperated.

“No, we DON'T know
Daryl, that's the whole point. Not everyone has had the privileged
upbringing you had!” Roger snapped. “Thankfully.”

“What's that supposed
to mean?!” Daryl snapped, only to cop the butt of Rogers gun across
the jaw.

“It MEANS, you little
worm, that you've had so much handed to you on a silver platter that
you have absolutely no worth or ability outside of being a
hindrance!” Roger barked. “You are USELESS!”

Daryl had never been
struck like that before. Demon, while dismissive of Daryl of late,
had never sunk so low as to hit his son.

He felt angry.
Embarrassed. Sore. Vengeful. Roger would pay dearly for that.

—

“I don't get why
you're so against rejoining your friends. They miss you like crazy.
Couldn't you tell?” Judith asked as she folded up cloth nappies and
put them in the top drawer of the baby table Daniel had made.

“I just don't want
to, okay?” Daniel groaned as he held up two pieces of plastic.
“This cot is a nightmare to put together.”

“That's not going to
cut it with me Lightheart and you know it.” Judith put another
nappy away. Suddenly she clutched her mouth and bolted out of the
room and into the bathroom. Soon Daniel heard the sounds of retching
coming from down the hall. Five minutes later, after rinsing her
mouth, Judith returned. “You did this to me.”

“My apologies.”
Daniel got up to rub her back.

“Are you EVER going
to tell me why you won't be Sir Lionheart again?” Judith pleaded.

Daniel exhaled loudly.
He had to tell her something. He couldn't keep fobbing the mother of
his child off.

“I just…I've made a
lot of mistakes as the leader of the Knights. Huge mistakes…” He
trailed off.

Judith seemed satisfied
with this.

“You think Marion's
never made mistakes? I mean, look at Revolver. Heck, Chuckles and
Giggles have made some HUGE blues, but they still keep going. Give
yourself a break already!” Judith chuckled. “No matter how far
you get knocked back, you gotta keep going forward. How do you think
I got so rich?”

“You inherited most
of it!” Daniel teased. Judith swatted him.

“Go be with your
Knights. You need them as much as they need you.” Judith said.

“Even if we end up
beating Marion?” Daniel raised an eyebrow.

“I think she needs to
go away for a long time, and not just to gaol. Somewhere where she
can work through her issues without pressure and attacks.” Judith
sighed. “But that's you trying to change the subject again.”

Daniel groaned. He went
back to the cot and started trying to put it together again.

Judith sighed, and
continued putting things away. As Daniel was finally getting the cot
in some sort of shape, he noticed Judith putting a toy lion on a
shelf.

He rolled his eyes and
tried to read the instructions of the cot again.

—

“WHERE ARE CHUCKLES
AND GIGGLES?!” Lady Silent roared rather loudly as she ran from
three Haunted Maze Troupers.

“Chuckles and Giggles
and Giggles and Chuckles…” Sir Dark already had a heavy dose of
the dust that the Haunted Maze Troupe were using.

“DARN IT! Guys, get
BACK!” Lady Courage cried, trying to keep the Troupers away from
the others, given she was the only one with any defence against their
drugs due to her mask.

“How did they get
THIS much stuff to use against us?!” Lady Luck tried to drag her
husband to safety.

“Demon bought it for
them, then lured us out here to destroy us! WHERE are Chuckles and
Giggles?!” Lady Courage yelled furiously.

The situation? Two
Troupers trying to sell drugs to children again at Pleasant Park. So
when the Knights of the Last Order showed up, they expected an easy
time. They didn't expect an ambush.

“We're doomed if
Chuckles and Giggles don't get here with the Backpack.” Sir Hyper
coughed, trying not to breathe in any of the drug that had
incapacitated Sir Dark.

The head Trouper had a
small machine that was spewing out dust around them, making it
impossible to get close. The Knights were surrounded.

“I swear if I see
either of those two again…” Lady Courage growled as the noose
tightened.

That's when the head
Trouper dropped, and their machine smacked across the park against a
tree by a replica of the Dragon Scale Scythe!

“SIR LIONHEART!”
The Knights screamed in joy.

“Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiions…liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiions…”
Sir Dark hummed in his drug-induced stupor.

The other Haunted Maze
Troupers looked at each other. One walked over to where the head
Trouper lay, dizzy from the blow from the replica Scythe. He stabbed
the fallen Trouper, killing him, before they all disappeared.

“You're KIDDING. The
moment things don't go their way they start killing their own and
running away?!” Sir Lionheart shook his head. He didn't have much
time to wonder though, as he was mobbed by the rest of the Knights.

“YOU CAME BACK!”
Sir Hyper cried.

“I KNEW YOU WOULD!”
Lady Courage cried.

“WE MISSED YOU!”
Lady Luck cried.

Lady Silent hugged her
old friend tightly, while Sir Dark started singing randomly.

“We should probably
fix up Sir Dark.” Sir Lionheart pointed out.

The others at least had
the decency to look sheepish.

—

“So you're back for
good?” Sammy asked as they let TJ sleep on a pile of old
mattresses.

“I hope so.” Daniel
smiled. It wasn't a complete smile, but it was much more than they'd
seen for a long time.

“If you need to talk
to us, we're here, okay?” Petunia patted his arm.

“I'll try to remember
that.” Daniel sighed.

Then he heard the
snoring.

“Have homeless people
started sleeping HERE now?” Sunny asked.

“They avoid the place
like the plague for some reason.” Tammy pointed out.

“Then who is it?”
Sunny asked as Daniel went to look.

“You're KIDDING me!”
He cried.

Fast asleep in an old
car were none other than Chuckles and Giggles.

“YOU TWO JERKS!”
Sunny banged the hood of the car while Petunia reached in and beeped
the horn, waking the two heroes up.

“Wha-?” Chuckles
bumped his head on the roof of the car.

“You two losers left
us to face the Haunted Maze Troupe alone! An AMBUSH if you don't
mind!” Sunny cried. “I thought I was your SISTER!”

“We were on our way
to come and help you…” Giggles looked confused. “I don't know
what happened!”

“Maybe you two should
look at taking a break if you're randomly falling asleep.” Daniel
suggested as the two got out of the old car, which promptly fell
apart.

“I think we might.”
Chuckles scratched his head and the whole situation.

—

Daryl Jones was
furious.

He had gone for a long
walk on the road between Fallsville and Pleasantville, trying to calm
himself and figure out what to do. No one respected him. No one liked
him.

He was the son of the
Mayor! He had been School Captain, both at primary AND high school.
He had grown up well-off, which had turned into filthy rich once his
father had become Mayor. He wasn't a loser like the Masters or the
Beglys or his snotty little sister.

Daryl growled. Sunny.
She had ruined his life when she had been born – his parents had
never let him forget it. He had been nice enough to allow her living
space and to let her help him torment people, and what did she do?
She turned on him to go and cosy up to the Masters and Begly
families. It was a toss-up who he hated more – Sunny or Lady
Courage.

As he walked, simmering
in his hate, he stopped himself. Sunny was worthless. She could do
nothing to him. As for Lady Courage, he was certain she'd be taken
out by the Haunted Maze Troupe, who were far more efficient than the
Death Valley Mobsters. No. Daryl's main problem right now was
Crusader Roger.

After he'd lost the
Ruby Suit and been kicked out by his father, he'd had no where to go
but to retreat to Fallsville. In Fallsville, people were even worse
off than they were in Pleasantville. Nearly everyone there was in
debt to the March Hill Crusaders leader Roger. It's how he'd roped in
Daryl. Using Daryl for his connections to City Hall and the Mob.

Well, that had failed,
hadn't it? Daryl had no more connections to use or favours to call
in. He was skint. So Roger had started spying on him and trying to
turn the rest of the Crusaders against him.

If Daryl had any ounce
of self-reflection he would have realised that his sense of
entitlement and poor attitude were doing plenty to turn everyone
against him, and Roger didn't need to do much at all. Alas, Daryl was
spoiled, selfish, and just an overall crappy person. There was no
room for self-reflection in Daryl. What there WAS room for however,
was revenge.

Daryl continued walking
down the long highway, as Pleasant Gorge came into view. He would
find a way to have his revenge.

And when he did,
everyone would have to respect him.