Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas le Tin Man.

Author's Note: I had to rewrite this twice; I wonder why it is that those chapters that I look forward to seem so disinclined to cooperate with me. Maybe it's because it's a thinking chapter.


...


Emily watched the confrontation before her in a state of systems freeze, situation analysis jamming up as her environmental sampler clashed with comparative data and input discordant with recognized behavioural norms. Not that the policeman's actions were outside of normal operating parameters per say, there was just something within the qualitative field that her mostly quantitative CPU just couldn't seem to wrap its wires around. So the cyborg watched, her Princess Protection Protocols activated but momentarily satisfied with the Otherside bodyguard's current handling of the situation. Whatever it was in the cop's bearing that was disturbing her, the cop had placed himself – as always – between DG and the potential threat, and that was more than enough for the mother unit.

Officer Gulch had been less than impressed to receive that phone call from the Chief, something to do with the lateness of the hour and his former status of blissful sleep, or at least so the nurture unit had been able to reconstruct from the general mush vaguely resembling words slurred through the communication device. He'd responded promptly, if wearily, to the Code DG, however, as everyone involved had known he would. Emily had pondered the futility of the younger policeman's edict against the nurture units calling him at home when he was off duty considering everyone else was going to do it anyhow. It would be much more expedient for them to make direct contact rather than working through intermediaries after all, especially at those times where time was of the essence (essence of what she wasn't entirely sure).

Half asleep and grumpy as he was, the off duty cop took mere moments to perceive where the princess might be. The tic tok could not comprehend how her stern and logical representations earlier that night as to why DG was too young to go should have developed into certain probability that the thirteen year old would put in a clandestine appearance at the rodeo dance currently being held at a nearby community hall, but both lawmen were convinced this was so. Furthermore, they were fairly concerned about the combination of alcohol and certain riders they hadn't liked the look of when put in proximity with DG, who had a certain knack for finding trouble. There was no clear danger, but the potential for disaster was enough that Officer Gulch was up, dressed and heading out the door before he'd even hung up the phone.

There were predators hiding beneath the visages of some humans, this was something Emily had come to realize during her eight year stay on the Otherside. She didn't understand what it was in humankind that made some of them prey on the weak and vulnerable among them where others would seek to shield and protect. It was puzzling how with such similar genetic blueprinting – much as she and Hank were wired the same – some could consider children to be targets while the rest of the race considered them sacrosanct, as was only logical in a mortal species whose children were its future and its continuation. The mother unit wondered sometimes if the programming was faulty or if the destructive behavioural patterns were a glitch in the system of the organic machine.

It was an old cognition, and was not her main concern as she and the princess' Otherside bodyguard raced towards DG's location from opposite directions. To be honest, Officer Gulch had seemed just as concerned about the dance attendees' safety as he had been about the princess', right up until the moment he spotted her and took off across the dance floor in the manner of a cop who has detected trouble in the making. Emily was not as surprised as she might have once been at the human lawman's having discerned DG's location before the cyborg, despite her many extra sensory advantages. The nurture units had learned annuals – years – ago that while not as reliable, human instinct was much faster than a probability generator any day. Emily was still calculating the variables for why this was so, but she'd wasted no time in following the policeman across the room.

The princess was quickly being backed into a corner when the mother unit caught sight of her; DG's face had contained the elements of both fear and anger, as well as absolute shock at finding a danger in her safe little town that was not of her own making. The man chasing her was big, drunk and decidedly predatory, and the tic tok had the sudden realization that the princess was reaching a state of maturity where her youth would not protect her, if, indeed, it ever would have. Alerts had started going off in her CPU, the programmed restraints on her enhanced strength were lifted, the cyborg prepared to intervene in a manner that may well expose her true nature to the denizens of this realm...

...and Officer Gulch slipped smoothly in between DG and the looming threat, and though the unknown human male was several measures larger than the policeman, drunkenly belligerent and inclined to be angry at the plain clothed cop's interference, the princess' Otherside guard promptly left him in no doubt of who was in charge of this situation.

Which, in the end, was what brought about the source of Emily's systems freeze. The policeman's left hand had settled reassuringly on DG's shoulder to pull her protectively behind him; his right arm was outstretched to lay an implacably restraining hand on the big stranger's chest, keeping him away from the thirteen year old. The teenager, meanwhile, had relaxed perceptively, even to human senses, and was currently busy trying to pretend that her attempt at teen rebellion hadn't ended with her leaning into the cop's back like he was a big walking security blanket. And while this was well within the expected outcome measures, the would-be predator was backing down fast, alcohol debilitated senses notwithstanding, under the weight of Officer Gulch's quiet words and the unsettling glint in the smaller man's eyes...

...the glint that was making the tic tok ponder whether the question really was what made some humans predators, or rather, what it was they chose for prey.