Chapter Sixty-One: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

"Not cool!" Chuckles unsheathed the Lions Claw Blade and pointed it at Sidewinder. "You could have seriously hurt Giggles!"

"I was aiming to kill. But I'll take what I can get." She pulled out the Mystic Eight Gun. Sir Lionheart gasped.

"HOW did you manage to steal THAT?!" He asked, picking up the fallen replica that he'd made.

Sidewinder didn't answer, instead firing three rounds at the group, who scattered. Giggles fired a round back, making Sidewinder laugh.

"Why do you bother firing that thing with no intent to kill or harm?" She asked, swinging the Dragons Scale Scythe at her and instead colliding with the replica scythe that Sir Lionheart was using.

"Maybe because she's a decent human being who recognises the basic rights of other human beings?" He fought back, swinging at Sidewinders midsection and narrowly missing.

"There ARE no rights in this world, only privileges, and you have to fight for those, including the privilege to survive." Sidewinder brought the Dragon Scale Scythe down onto Sir Lionhearts head, the move being narrowly blocked by the replica. The green glow of Emerald Power began to envelope Sidewinders hands and Sir Lionheart felt the two blades beginning to weigh down towards him despite his massive strength. The eyes of his opponent seemed to drill into his own, her long blonde hair touching his face, the blade of her scythe beginning to push into his shoulder.

"Sir Lionheart!" Sir Dark cried. The other Knights of the Last Order had rushed back to help their leader, all of them grabbing onto the replica scythe and pushing back and hard as they could, Lady Silent scrambling onto her brothers back to be tall enough to reach, and Lady Courage and Lady Luck standing on their toes.

Giggles flew up above them, pointing the Lucky Seven Gun at the real Dragon Scale Scythe while Chuckles pointed the Lions Claw Blade at Sidewinders back.

Seeing she was outnumbered for the time being, Sidewinder lurched and threw the Knights of the Last Order aside, all of them landing on each other. She rolled out of the way of the Lions Claw Blade and fired another shot from the Mystic Eight Gun at Giggles, scratching the heroes arm.

Sir Lionheart glared at her.

"We're leaving, the cops should be here soon." He said. "C'mon guys."

The Noble Knights of the Last Order left, Giggles flying backwards with the Lucky Seven Gun and her Desert Eagle trained on the Emerald Mobster until they were out of sight and the Backpack gave out again, leading to her landing on everyone and causing an argument.

"Bunch of cowards." Sidewinder smirked to herself. She holstered the Mystic Eight Gun, shouldered the Dragons Scale Scythe and headed back to the Council building.

—

"Why, why, WHY do things insist on getting worse for us?!" Belle groaned, sitting on an old chair with her helmet in her lap as Petunia tended to the scratch on her arm. They were back at the tip, and they were all confused.

"I have no idea where this Sidewinder came from!" Tammy pulled off her Lady Silent mask and went to her laptop. "She's definitely NOT a regular Emerald Mobster, that's for certain. She's just as skilled as Marion."

"Perhaps even more skilled than Marion, especially if she was able to steal the Dragon Scale and the Mystic Eight. No wonder Mark and Roger were angry, they've both been humiliated by the Mob." TJ pointed out. "Hey, Danny, you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine. I'm just glad my replica held out. It's badly damaged though, unfortunately the timber mill doesn't have the best wood." Daniel looked at his weapon, the wooden handle badly chipped and in some places worn through completely.

"You tried, that's all that really matters." Sunny smiled. She checked her phone. "Uh, I gotta go, Melody has bitten another child at daycare again."

"Sounds like her mother." Pentunia said dryly, remembering when she had gone to daycare with Sunny and had been bitten. Sunny looked sheepish.

"Speaking of Marion, did you notice the blonde hair and aquamarine eyes that Sidewinder had?" Charlie said thoughtfully. "She's definitely a relation of Marions."

"Not possible. The last living relative of Marion was Mobster Marcus, her father, and he died the same day that Masked Revolver did." Belle began to lecture. "The Misneach family are interesting in that they only ever have one heir, in order to stop infighting over who owns what. The only time this went wrong was 150 years ago when they were first branching out into Ostraya."

"Why is this relevant to us?" Charlie asked.

"It's not really. It IS interesting to know though!" Belle replied.

"No, it's not, so shut up." Charlie deadpanned.

—

"Sidewinder? Never heard of her." Peter said back at the Masters residence as Petunia wrapped Charlies toe in gauze. "And I know a lot of the Mobsters, they're always prowling around the office."

"OWCH!" Charlie cried. "So you don't know any Mobsters with blonde hair and aqua eyes?"

"Nope, only Mobster Marion." Peter mused.

"OWW!" Charlie cried again.

"You really shouldn't antagonise Belle, then things like this wouldn't happen." Petunia pointed out.

"Worth it!" Charlie replied.

—

Daniel lifted another small log from the conveyor belt and threw it into the woodchipper. He winced – the small cut from the Dragons Scale Scythe still stung if he over-exerted himself, even though it had been a few days since he'd gotten it. Petunia had forced him to cover it with a dressing while he was at work, complaining that he shouldn't risk getting sawdust in it.

"Just take a day off work!" She scolded.

Not possible. The bosses were working them to the bone, trying to make the place look profitable to prospective buyers. Any days off would be heavily scrutinized, either losing Daniel his job or getting Sir Lionheart and the rest of the Knights of the Last Order discovered.

Of course, this meant risking damage to his "Lionheart" tattoo, but sacrifices had to be made.

He looked back at the conveyor belt, adjusting the larger logs to make sure they didn't jam while going through the saws and removing any small logs that were too small for building – they were used for paper manufacture.

"GOSH DARN IT!" He heard a cry from further back up the conveyor belt. That idiot Sawyer had dropped a log from the crane onto the feed outside, smashing the conveyor belt again.

"Why hasn't he been fired yet!?" Daniels direct supervisor groaned.

"His family are pretty close to the Misneachs." The guy manning the saws replied. "If he got fired this place would be destroyed."

"Swell." Daniel sighed. He looked towards the catwalk, and nearly fell over.

"What's Councillor Jofrey doing here?" He hissed to the man at the saws.

"I think she wants to buy the place. She's got a huge portfolio already." He replied, looking at her suspiciously.

"She's pretty young to have a portfolio that big." Another worker came over to join the conversation.

"She inherited most of it." Daniel pointed out.

"OI! Get your arses back to work you slackers!" They heard a loud yell from the catwalk.

Councillor Judith Jofrey had walked into the office, and the manager was now glaring furiously.

"C'mon, let's get back to work." The saw-manager groaned. Daniel looked up at the catwalk one last time.

She was pretty, with her short mousey brown hair and aquamarine eyes, her high cheek-bones, long eyelashes and slender body. She was also strangely familiar.

—

"Judith Jofrey is going to try and buy with timber mill?" Peter looked concerned.

"That's what Dan said. Why?" Charlie spooned another helping of Bills mushroom gravy onto his mothers roast beef.

"Because the only person who owns more of Pleasantville is Mayor Jones." Bill pointed out.

"And it looks like he might now have a rival."

"Are you saying…?" Belle perked up.

Thomas grinned.

"I think it's time we invited Judith Jofrey over for dinner." He said.

"NO!" Was the reply from Peter Masters, who looked horrified at the prospect. "Don't go inviting my evil boss over!"