As the lights flickered on and all present observed what had happened, there was a pervasive silence that resonated throughout the cantina. Timothy sat next to the body of Corpus Rex, who a minute ago had been the richest man in the universe but now only qualified to be the deadest. The boy’s eyes narrowed at the body, then went wide at the sight of what he was holding in his hand. “Oh my!” He exclaimed, tossing the Blazer gun away like it was hot.

“Timothy, what the hell did you just do?” Sophia cried, her eyes somehow wider than his.

“I… I…”

“I think it’s clear what happened!” Vander Extemorst spoke, his hands on his hips as he shook his head dismissively. “We all have eyes, don’t we?”

Timothy struggled to make words come to his lips, “I um, I’m sorry but, ah… what?”

Sally spoke up, “oh, come on, take accountability at least!” The blue lady walked over and picked up the Blazer from the floor. “With the sod’s own gun, too. Well, can’t say I’m sorry for him.”

“Wait, you’re not saying that Timothy killed him, are you?” The girl in green’s mind whirled, what the hell just happened?

“Lady, are you blind?” Sally replied, waving the gun at the boy who was now trying desperately to move away from the body. “This kid just shot that fool dead!”

From over at their booth, Neil and Alex exchanged horrified looks. Alex stood up, moving closer to the situation, but stopped in his tracks. What was he going to do when he got there? I’d only make things worse, he thought to himself, I’d probably get us all killed.

Jenny, who had been silent up until now, walked over and grabbed Sophia by the shoulder. “Well, out of all your pals, I certainly didn’t expect he’d be the first to draw blood.”

Sophia looked at the pirate’s hand with disgust before shoving it away. “That’s because he wouldn’t!” The girl marched over and helped her very bewildered friend to his feet. “Look, I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I know that Timothy wouldn’t hurt a fly… like literally, I don’t think he would!”

“That remains to be seen,” Vander said coyly. Then, almost like a conductor waving his wand, he gestured over to the bar. “Let’s have Mr. Ham be the judge of that.”

Neil’s heart sank as he watched the giant man raise himself out of his seat. His eyes latched onto the huge, cannon-like gun on the pig man’s back, he couldn’t help but remember what it did to that shop owner. The image of what it could do to Timothy flashed in his mind, he shook the thought away as quickly as he could.

Mr. Ham made his way over to them, each step of his foot making the ground shake a little. The man looked down at Timothy with his hog-like eyes, he could squash the boy like a pimple if he wanted to. Taking the boy in, Mr. Ham shook his head and began to reach for his gun.

“Wait!” WaldAcker chimed in, back to his usual flair. “Look, while I’ve only known this fellow for the space of a single conversation, I think it’s only fair we give him a shot! I mean, none of us actually saw what happened, the lights were out! Besides, why would he of all people kill Corpus? He has no motive!”

“Well, that’s a lie!” The group all turned to the new voice that had entered the ring. It was the woman with the spiraling helmet, and she was making her way over to them with a pep in her step. “I know exactly why this scraper wanted to kill the bastard!”

“Oh, hello again!” Timothy managed to get out. “You were the woman that saved my life when I got stuck in the line, thanks for that again by the way!”

“Well, I suppose I’m just correctin’ my error now.” She smiled. “Names Mulq, and I know exactly why you did it!”

“Well, spit it out already!” Sophia spat.

The entire bar leaned in to hear the strange woman’s explanation. “Because that ticket wasn’t Corpus’s, to begin with! It was his!” She pointed the finger of accusation at Timothy, and the boy's heart sank. “I saw it with my own eyes, the kid got jumped! He got away, of course, but not with his lucky ticket! That’s why he did it, he was getting revenge and takin’ back what was his!”

“I can confirm that the winning lottery ticket was originally purchased by this humanoid,” ARI admitted.

John-John hadn’t been paying attention, he was too busy crouching at his friend’s body, but the news brought him out of the slump. “Yeah, we did rob him!” The man’s eyes suddenly filled with tears as he grabbed Timothy by the neck and started to squeeze. “It wasn’t enough to take one pal from me, was it? You had to go and get the other one too! I’m going to kill you, you idiot bastard!”

There was a crunch of bone as Sophia’s fist flew into John’s face. He fell backwards landing on his side in a heap, his crying stopping as abruptly as it had started. “Nobody touches him, ya got that!” The girl shouted, placing Timothy behind her. “He didn’t kill your friend, alright! And even if he did, he would’ve done you a favor, the guy was an asshole!”

“Nasty left hook.” Jenny couldn’t help but comment.

“Favor or not, rules are rules.” Vander twiddled his tentacle fingers. “It’s rule one, remember? There’s no killing without fair warning, and it seems that your friend here did just that!”

“He didn’t kill him!” Sophia felt like a broken record, albeit one that was skipping on a very important point.

“You seem pretty sure of yourself there, missy!” Mulq interjected once again.

WaldAcker looked over at the woman with a look that could only be described as disgusted annoyance. “Will you just leave, please? This doesn’t concern you, does it?” Mulq opened her mouth to speak but the man raised a finger and placed it on the outside of her helmet. “Before you speak again, remember that somebody in this room is very capable of sudden murderous outbursts and they probably have a gun.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Mulq nodded understandingly, and slowly backed away to her booth.

“Listen, Timothy didn’t do this, alright? So just leave him be!” Sophia demanded, holding tight to her friend’s arm from behind her.

Jenny frowned and leaned against the bar. “I’m sorry kid, but ya gotta face facts here, your pal broke the rules and now he’s gonna pay the price.”

Mr. Ham nodded as she spoke, reaching his giant hand out for Timothy. Sophia tried to bat it away, but it was like trying to topple a skyscraper with a baseball bat. She felt her arm nearly yanked out of its socket as the giant man grabbed her by the wrist and flung her aside. Her body landed with a hard thump, sliding across the ground to where Alex happened to be standing- he was quick to help her up. But it would appear to be too late, Mr. Ham had already reached to his back and pulled out his cannon.

Timothy stared down the barrel of the gun, his heart stopped in his chest. He had never seen a gun up close before, he noticed how from deep inside the mechanics a light was kicking on as it started to charge up. Closing his eyes, he tried to think of home, but he simply couldn’t conjure the right image, instead, he thought of his friends. The boy wished he could have spent more time with them, he felt like he was just starting to get to know them better. “Guys, I’m so sorry!” He said softly, bracing himself. “I hope you can find your way back home!”

Mr. Ham tightened his grip on the gun, the charge was done, now all he needed to do was pull the trigger.

“Stop!” The crowd watched as a boy with only half a tie slid over and stood next to his friend. While not in the line of fire, Alex stood in a position so that Mr. Ham could see him. He gripped his hands together to keep them from shaking, he had to get this right. “Rule 2.”

The giant man raised a grubby eyebrow, “huh?”

Alex swallowed. “I-I said, rule 2.” He straightened what was left of his tie. “We have a disagreement, and now we’re trying to settle it ourselves! That’s how it works, right? If we can’t do that then that’s where you come in!”

Sally spun Corpus’s old Blazer idly in her hand, “what’s your point, kid?”

“My point is that we haven’t settled the disagreement yet!” Alex pointed out.

“But there isn’t a disagreement.” Vander was getting tired of all this nonsense; he wished the rift-raft would hurry up and settle this. “He broke a rule, now he has to pay the price.”

Alex closed his eyes for a moment, he imagined himself as a clever lawyer pointing out a flaw in his opponent's case. “I disagree!” He only wished that the imaginary jury was a little less murder-happy. “If he didn’t kill Corpus, then he didn’t break the rule, and since we don’t agree on who killed Corpus, we’re in a disagreement!”

The crowd was silent.

They make it seem a lot easier when they do it on stage, Alex thought.

“What are ya on, kid?” Jenny’s confused face said it all.

“Not Broadway…” Alex whispered to himself.

WaldAcker, however, seemed moved by the performance. “That makes sense to me!”

“Oh, will you just shut up!” Vander exclaimed at his breaking point. “Just shoot the kid and get it over with, we’re wasting time!”

“Strange that you would say that!” Alex countered. “Maybe it’s because you’re rushing to hide something?”

ARI rolled next to his master. “What is it that you imply?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “All I’m saying is that your boss had a lot of motives for wanting Corpus dead, as well as everyone else in this room!” He turned his sights back to Mr. Ham. “You can’t just shoot him before we’ve settled this, can you? That’d be breaking rule number 1!”

Mr. Ham, while having an admittedly extremely thick skull, wasn’t stupid. “Your words mean nothing here.” The man focused his aim once again on Timothy, not swayed by Alex’s ruse.

Alex looked at his friend, his heart dropping to the floor. He couldn’t do it; he had messed up again. “I challenge you to a duel!” The words seemed to erupt from his lips without warning.

As soon as the words left the boy's mouth, an audible gasp erupted in the crowd, who by this point was watching the event go down like it was the Superbowl. Neil got up from the booth and ran over to Alex, grabbing him by the arm and whispering into his ear. “What are you doing, man? You’re going to get yourself killed!”

Jenny’s eyes perked up from beneath her giant-brimmed hat. “What in tarnation do you think you’re doing.” Even Jenny wasn’t stupid or skilled enough to challenge such a beast.

“What?” Mr. Ham seemed stumped himself at such a suggestion.

“That’s right!” Alex repeated, this time not nearly as sure. “I challenge you to a duel… of wits!”

The crowd fell silent again.

“Alex, are you insane?” Sophia was sweating, it was clear that this rollercoaster of emotions wasn’t a fun ride.

The boy gave her a look, it was a somber expression that caught Sophia off guard. “I’ll try to get it right this time…” He shot his gaze back at the giant pig-man. “Look, I know this is nonsense, alright? But please, give me a chance! I-I’ll… I’ll prove he’s innocent! If I can do that, will you let him go?”

Everyone in the near proximity to the cannon held their breaths and waited for the reply. From behind his friends, Neil was trying to hide how frightened he was. He wanted to run away, hide, do anything except stand here to wait and see if his friend was going to get pulverized. But he didn’t, he knew he had to stand with them, it was the least he could do. The relief he felt when he heard the sound of the gun charging down was almost indescribable- it was like a balloon full of every negative emotion had filled up inside of him and then popped.

“Twenty-four hours.” Mr. Ham spoke, his words hitting the air like thunderclaps. “Try and run, you’re dead.”

Alex nodded, “thank you.”

Mr. Ham placed the giant cannon back into its holster- then did something unexpected. He reached out and grabbed Timothy by the shoulder and started to drag him outside the cantina. “Wait, what are you doing?” Shouted Sophia.

“He stays with me.” The pig replied bluntly. “Meet here when the time comes.”

The group was powerless to stop him, all they could do was watch as Timothy shot them a confused stare as he disappeared out the doors. This action seemed to mark the end of the show and soon the crowd went back to their usual ramblings. “Okay, so… now what?” Neil asked, at a loss.

“You know, I didn’t think this far ahead,” Alex said, scratching his head.

Sophia bent down onto her haunches and placed her head into her hands. “Jesus.” She muttered, trying to keep it together. “He almost died…”

“Almost? Almost isn’t even it!” Neil remarked. “He was a finger twitch away from being a goner!”

“But now he’s twenty-four hours away, at least.” Alex began to pace. “Well then, I suppose there’s only one thing we can do now.”

“What’s that?”

“Solve a murder.” Alex smiled painfully. “Well, shit, I was not expecting to be doing this today, I can promise you that. Now, I suppose that the first step is to question the suspects?”

The three turned back to the bar only to find that their suspects had already dissipated. Jenny was leading her crew of three out the door, Sally had disappeared, and while WaldAcker and John-John seemed to be still standing around Vander had already left along with ARI in tow. They had forgotten how casual the people on the Ring were when it came to murder- it seemed like more of a sour fact now they were on the receiving end of it.

Turning their heads back to the doorway, they revised the plan. “Maybe we start with the body?” Neil suggested. “They always do that in movies.”

The three turned again only to find the body was now no longer alone on the floor. They found themselves backing away as the dark mass of emptiness known as the Janitor loomed in the middle of the room. In a second, that in its presence seemed like an eternity, the blankness spread down and around Corpus until there was nothing left of him anymore. In the next moment, the creature moved on, and the cantina continued as if nothing had happened.

“Ah… there it is.” Alex said, defeated. “Rule 3.”