While Sam and Callen were chatting on the phone, Hetty decided she needed to make a trip to the little girl's room so she left the table. Coming out of the facilities, she wandered over towards Ralph the bull. After watching a few men bite the dust, she decided she wanted to ride the bull, for Sylvia, and took her place in line.
As she stepped into the queue, the six foot two cowboy in front of her turned around, looked down at her and snorted. "Lady, this ain't the line for the powder room."
"Well that's good because I don't have to go, thank you," Hetty returned politely.
The man gave her an odd look assuming she must have somehow misunderstood him. "This is the line to ride the bull."
Hetty smiled. "Oh goody. Then I am in the right place."
A guffaw erupted from behind her where another wanna-be cowboy was bent over slapping his thighs in mirth.
"Something funny," Hetty asked with a dangerous edge to her voice. A lot of unpleasantness might have been avoided had the two laughing cowboys caught it.
The guy in front of her stopped chuckling long enough to say, "I'm pretty sure there is a height requirement." That set off the other cowboy laughing again.
Hetty calmly shook her head though the dangerous glint remained in her blue eyes. "No. I checked."
The fore and aft cowboys looked at each other in amazement over her head. Finally, the one in the rear said, "Listen lady. You can't ride the bull."
Hetty pulled herself up tall and threw all her authority in her voice. "I fully intend to ride that bull and neither you," she gave the first cowboy a withering look, "or you," she gave the second cowpoke the death glare, "are in any position to stop me."
That is when the men made their final, fatal mistake. "Listen here, Granny," the first one started as the both reached out and placed a hand on Hetty's arm.
What happened after that would become an urban legend in that bar; the story told night after night to unbelieving patrons. As the legend goes a four foot high, ancient ninja warrior, along with her young, handsome protégé, laid out more than a dozen gigantic men in an epic battle. The legend states that the ninja warrior fought with the fury of a mother lion protecting her cubs. Though diminutive, the she-warrior easily brought down men twice her size with no effort, using her magical prowess. Her trusty side-kick did some impressive damage himself until Ralph, the bouncer not the bull, unexpectedly caught him from behind. With one hand, Ralph had lifted the handsome sidekick aloft and slid him face first along the top of the bar, much to the managements (a.k.a. his father's) dismay. The sidekick slid down the slick surface as smooth as silk, dislodging beer glasses with his head before flying off the end of the bar and landing in a heap on the wooden floor. The legend ends with the ninja warrior walking proudly from the bar with her trusty companion limping at her side, off into the sunset.
It was a cool legend which did contain some elements of truth. Where it went wrong was it neglected to clarify that Hetty, a.k.a. the ninja warrior, started the fight by kicking the two cowboys in their privates with enough force to make them sing soprano. Things might have ended right there had it not been for the trusty sidekick, a.k.a Callen, deciding he need to protect Hetty's honor and he choose to do that by punching two more cowboys. Unfortunately, the two cowboys he picked had nothing to do with the original altercation. Their only crime was standing too near the first two cowboys Hetty had decked. Needless to say, they hadn't taken kindly to being punched for no reason, even at a cowboy bar. From there, all hell had broken out.
The other part of the legend that was slightly skewed was the ninja and the sidekick riding off into the sunset. First, it was after midnight so there was no sun. However, in a way, Hetty and Callen almost did ride off into the sunset, in the back of a police cruiser. Only Sam's timely arrival and a lot of pleading and calling in favors, kept Hetty and Callen from spending the night in jail. A large check from Hetty to the proprietor of the bar for damages also helped.
When Sam got things straightened out, he found Hetty and Callen by the EMT vehicle that had been summoned to the scene. Hetty was holding Callen in a rather nasty grip while the EMT cleaned the cut on his forehead over his left eye. When it was bandaged, Hetty released her death grip on her recalcitrant agent.
Sam walked up to his two disheveled co-workers about to tell them to go and get in the car when the police sergeant on duty beckoned again. "You two sit here on the curb and stay. Don't go anywhere. Don't talk to anyone. Hell, don't even look at anyone. Stare at your shoes. Got it!"
The two embattled warriors nodded meekly and did as instructed. Sam went off to talk to the cops again, the ambulance left and the area in front of the bar cleared out.
"You know," Hetty said conversationally to Callen as they sat side by side on the curb. "I didn't get to ride the bull."
"No you didn't," Callen solemnly concurred.
Hetty wearily sighed, still staring at her shoes per Sam's instructions. "I really wanted to ride the bull. For Sylvia."
Callen, who was still less than sober, felt remorse for his boss. Her request wasn't outrageous and had been spoiled by a bunch of ignoramuses. Breaking Sam's rules, Callen looked up and scanned the area around them. It looked deserted except for the two policemen and Sam, who were a ways off to the left. The bar signs were all shut off and it too looked desolate.
"Come on," Callen said rising to his feet and holding a hand out to assist Hetty.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she took his hand and clambered to her feet.
"You wanna ride the bull," he replied moving towards the alley that led to the back of the bar. "You're gonna ride the bull."