Jasho came in like a bull in a china shop. Sherry sighed, ready to hear another tirade about how supporting Nero was leading them to destruction.

Nero was an odd child, when Tembo's girl had come in, sobbing about what had almost happened to her, she was terrified for her niece. Sherry had been where she was, along time ago, and had sworn to never be in that position again, and that nobody she loved would be subject to the depredations she had suffered.

She had failed, repeatedly. She'd failed so hard and fallen so hard that Nero had appeared to be an angel. Somebody who finally had the will, the ability, to build the life she was so desperate to see.

She'd sent Tembo to the alley, with a group of her most level headed customers, and had Nero brought to her cafe. The hero of the day was unassuming. His gaze was blank, shock, she'd seen it before, This was a man who'd just found himself to be very capable of violence.

While his gaze was blank, his arms trembled, he was covered in sweat, adrenaline. She could almost feel the adrenaline rushing through her own veins, her teeth were grinding together, she ... She was calm, the past was the past. But the boy, the man, she thought that one might take them into the future, she had squinted, and could see the path they could take, to build something she'd never been able to.

It had taken more time than she thought to get Nero back from the edge. But also more time for her to decide what she could say to him. He had put them on a crash course with disaster. The Taliban boy was a mook, a tick that stuck onto the furs that was the mangy mutt the Taliban proper was. But He was a Talban boy. They would hear about it. They were losing people to their three front war with the Greenbacks and the Red Tide. They needed to find both bodies and income from whatever territories they could access.

This plaza was not a big one, but they paid, religiously. The traders here were old, and willing to pay protection to whoever asked just to live them alone. Now, this revenue stream was going to disappear. Eventually somebody would come to punish.

The motorcycle mechanic from down the road, a man who'd built his business from an apprenticeship into a workshop, had already come to her to discuss about how they were going to surrender Nero to the Taliban. "We need to get ahead of this, before the come looking for their man"

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Nero had accepted his new position with admirable courage, steeling his back whenever he had to. She'd rounded up the community men she could and threatened them into providing people and money for their incipient militia. The smart ones knew that if the Taliban came and Nero wasn't already dead, they would be, so they needed to prop him up and give him time to grow.

Sherry came to be impressed with the Nero. He asked for help, but made his decisions with so resolve and speed. It had left her reeling when she found out about Muite's man being mangled in the street. Nero had disappeared after, until he came back hat in hand with five of Muite's lieutenants and Muite himself asking for a room to store his prisoners of war, how exciting.

With her advice, He'd handled the negotiations with a rare amount of wisdom. It worried her, Nero sometimes behaved like he didn't want anything. He hadn't drank a drop since the incident. No woman had touched him, since he moved into the community. This monk like behavior made the community men even more nervous.

With no obvious way to get their hooks into him, they feared the aggression with which he was expanding. Already the tribute they gave was almost negligible compared to what Nero himself had won from his battles.

But Fuck them, Sherry had seen the future and it was bright.

Now Jasho, a man who controlled his furniture making workshop in much the same way she imagined police barracks were run, was here to scream at her again. He was one of the ones who saw Nero's aggression as a curse. Sherry thought he was just a control freak. But he had provided more than a few men to support Nero.

"He's meeting with the Greenbacks."

"Yes, it's very smart" Sherry shocked the man by replying. "Now we could have our own big brother, to beat up the bullies if they come around"

"Or now, the bullies have to come, They know their enemies have an outpost in the far side of nowhere. Would you rather attack a well defended fortress or that?"

Jasho sat back, pleased with his point.

"The point of Nero was building our own fortress. We can't hide anymore. If we are afraid, we just need to give him everything we can to make sure we aren't as soft a target as the Taliban might imagine."

Jasho laughed, "Where are you from? I'll get it out of you one day, you definitely didn't grow up around here."

Sherry observed her opponent from across the room. She mused about Nero, wherever he was and hoped she hadn't cursed them by throwing his weight so completely behind the young upstart.