Strictly speaking, Rafferty did not follow the rules.

She'd meant to. She really had. Rafferty's intention had been to hurry up to Max's office, and tell him all about the dangerous God that was circling the village of Grackle. Sure, she might have suggested that J Hall get to go, they were in a hurry after all, and Rafferty was already here, but she had totally meant to do everything the right way.

And then she had run into Cody on the Abbey steps.

'Hey, Rafferty, thought you were stuck in the Shack?' Cody had asked.

Rafferty couldn't help it, she found herself blurting out an answer, perhaps sounding more emotional than she actually felt. Perhaps.

"It's terrible, Cody. People are in danger, kids even, and they'll die if we don't help them!"

After that, Cody had done most of the work, and they soon found themselves in a truck driven by the new girl, whose name turned out to be Nessa, with a puzzled Sheridan and a sleepy Blaspheme tucked in the back.

Nessa made them promise to return the truck when everything was done. They had agreed, but given the scary fast speed Nessa was driving, and her tendency to completely ignore the actual road, Rafferty wasn't sure there would be much truck left to return. Sheridan tried to offer a few suggestions, but eventually gave up.

Rafferty liked this chick.

When they could see her village, Nessa slammed on the brakes. Blaspheme swore as her head hit the back of the front seat.

"It's closer," said Nessa from her seat.

The God took another step in its circular path, turning its face and body towards them. When Rafferty got a good look at it, she sat straight up, battle butterflies fluttering happily in her stomach.

"Oh, come on!" said Blaspheme.

"A War Pig? You didn't say it was a War Pig," whined Cody.

They called them War Pigs because of their round bellies, and the noise they made when they fired their weapons, which a lot of Hunters thought sounded like a grunt. War Pigs were dangerous. They were quick and flexible, responsive to attacks. Unlike most Gods, this one had multiple guns from which to shower them with bullets and rockets, and if they gave it enough time, it could heat its exterior enough to melt skin on contact.

If everything on the Pig still worked, this was going to be a very tough fight.

"Is that bad?" asked Nessa.

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"Yes," said Cody and Blaspheme.

"No," said Rafferty.

"What do you think it's waiting for?" asked Cody.

"Us," said Sheridan, getting out of the truck, a smile at the corner of her mouth. Rafferty was pretty sure that Sheridan was just as excited as she was.

They spoke little as they got ready. Sheridan counted her arrows. Cody rubbed rosin into the handle of her hammer. Blaspheme loaded her gun, and obsessed over the sighting. Everyone stool glances at the God. Rafferty noticed that Nessa couldn't take her eyes off of it.

"Can I help?" asked Nessa.

"Yeah, if we don't make it, tell our families that we died stupid," said Blaspheme.

The hush settled back over the group, and Rafferty though Blaspheme glared at her, just a little.

Sheridan broke the silence.

"Triple," she said.

The other girls looked up. Rafferty could see uncertainty on Cody and Blaspheme's faces, and wondered if it was on her own as well. She understood what Sheridan was trying to do. They were way outside of protocol here. This type of God normally required a second Hall for backup, to say nothing of the fact that they were Jackless. Sheridan wanted to end the fight before the Pig even knew there was a fight.

But this maneuver called for very precise timing, and J Hall hadn't exactly been on the same page as of late.

Rafferty put her doubts aside, and nodded.

"Let's do it," she said.

"Easy for you to say," said Blaspheme.

"We won't miss," said Rafferty.

Blaspheme looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything else.

They took up a position a hundred yards or so away from the God. Rafferty lined up to Sheridan's right, Cody a dozen paces behind, Blaspheme just a bit further back. Once Sheridan initiates the fight, they have to time their attacks just right. They can't wait on each other, or the Pig will get wise and shut them down.

And if anyone misses, Blaspheme will wind up getting crushed in the God's giant grip.

Everyone understands this. Especially Blaspheme.

When Sheridan fires her arrow at the God's chest, Rafferty is already running. Sheridan's arrow won't do much damage. She's only marking the spot. The tricky part comes next. The other three girls have to attack the same spot in quick succession, with a margin of error of almost zero.

Rafferty jumped, feeling right away that she's got the height and angle right. There was still work to do. Her job was to slice a deep gash at the level of the arrow. If she didn't cut deep enough, Cody wouldn't be able to punch through the Godmetal with her hammer. But she had to do that without drifting in too much, or she might bounce off the Pig and get in Cody's way.

She rose toward the God, and saw the arrow lodged in its belly. Blue hissed down her blade. Rafferty swung, cutting into the Pig just above the arrow. The sword slipped further into the metal, and Rafferty pulled hard as her jump carried her across the front of the God. She glanced to her right, and could tell by how little of the blade was visible that she was deep enough. She put both hands on the handle, and yanked the sword free, pulling hard enough to spin herself around in the air.

As she started to descend, she saw Cody rise behind her. Cody's job was to smash the compromised area with her hammer, opening up a hole for Blaspheme to jump into. If she didn't center the blow, or pulled the hammer back too soon, the hole wouldn't be big enough, and Blaspheme would bounce off, and get snatched out of the air by the God, which was already reaching toward the attack.

Cody struck the God. It sounded good, but behind the big Blue bang, there was no way for Rafferty to know for sure. Blaspheme wouldn't know either. She just had to jump to where the hole was supposed to be, and hope it was there.

Rafferty fell toward the God's knee. She slapped her heels together, and pushed off its upper leg, somersaulting in the air. As she flipped, she saw Blaspheme disappear into the cloud of Blue, the God's hand snapping together right behind her.

She landed on the ground, and looked up to see the God's hand come away empty. Blaspheme was inside.

The gunslinger only had one job now.

Start shooting.

If she could destroy enough important stuff in a short enough time, the fight would be over before the War Pig had even fired a single shot.

Rafferty heard the gunshots. She watched as the God raised its arm, like it was going to fire. Then she watched as its eyes went dark, and it started to fall.

It worked! Go Blaspheme!

There was an anxious moment as the God fell forward. Cody landed next to Rafferty, and then both watched, waiting for blue puff on the back of the God that would signal Blaspheme's shooting her way out.

Come on, come on.

Cody's gripped Rafferty's hand hard as the God neared the ground, and then there it was, a little Blue smoke signal followed by a black and gold object shooting into the air.

The War Pig crashed into the ground, scaring up clouds of dust. Rafferty could hear screams carry from the town. Blaspheme spread her arms, slowing her descent, and landed on her vanquished foe. She tossed her hat into the air, let out a celebratory whoop.

The others took up the call, even Sheridan, and Sheridan never whooped.

For the first time in weeks, J Hall was on the same page.