Sadie was silent for a long moment as she recanted the end of Arthur Morgan. There were many tales about the legendary outlaw, and like most of them, it hadn't ended well, though also like most of them, there was still some doubts as to the exact nature of his demise. Stories about the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid varied between a blazing last-stand against an entire army and the two men shooting themselves to prevent their capture depending on who told the story, and Arthur was no different. Ross, of course, took credit for his death, but since anyone who was there at the time was either now dead or on the run and unlikely to tell anyone the truth, there were many accounts as to who actually killed him, varying from Ross heroically taking down the man himself to him falling in a hail of bullets to the Pinkertons to many blaming it on one of his former gang members, with names like Bill Williamson, Dutch and even Micah being the most popular culprits. The only thing consistent with all the stories was that Arthur Morgan was dead.

Sadie poured herself another glass, wiping her eyes off with her sleeve as she took a deep breath. Levin leaned forward.

"So, Micah Bell killed Arthur?" He asked her. She just nodded.

"Yup." She replied. "No…maybe…I don't know. He weren't shot, so it looks like they had a fight. Arthur's fists looked almost as messed up as his face, so I don't think Micah got away too clean. I never saw what happened, only what were left behind. Still, whether he did finish off Arthur while he were dyin' anyway or walked away and left the job half-done, neither would surprise me. Still, either way, far as I were concerned, Micah may as well have finished him off. Son of a Bitch never went anywhere without them guns. Shot up the whole of Strawberry to get 'em back, so the only reason Arthur would have had it was if Micah couldn't get it back before he had to run off because the Pinkertons were on his ass."

She looked to Levin as she tried to compose her thoughts.

"There were more Pinkertons comin' to collect Arthur's body, that much I knew. I tried to get him away from there, honestly, I did but when they were closin' in I had to leave him behind to get away. I figured if it were between savin' his body and settlin' the score with Micah, I know which one would have been more important to him. At least…That's what I told myself. Either way, I knew, I just knew that Micah had to die…and I were gonna be standin' over him to spit in his eye when it happened. I just needed to tie up one loose end first."

Back in 1899, it was a couple of weeks later that Sadie made her way into Blackwater. She'd split her time between trailing through every shit hole and dive she could find, trying to find any whispers of where Micah might have gone, and looking for any signs of John and Abigail. She'd ended up getting a letter at a post office addressed from Tacitus Kilgore to 'his dearest niece Caroline' telling her he was heading to Blackwater to catch a ship on an extended vacation. There weren't many who knew or used that alias, and even less now that whatever was left of the gang had gone to ground to escape. Certainly, none that would have any interest in contacting Sadie. She rode into town, finding the saloon and hitching up outside.

She went inside, looking around and finding Abigail, Jack and John in one of the corner tables. John gestured her over towards their table. As Sadie made her way over and sat down, she could see that the last few weeks had been mostly kind to them. John didn't appear to have a stick, so it looked like her little parting gift, shooting him in the leg to prevent him running straight back into the middle of a Pinkerton army, was healing up. John was always a fast healer, and he was tough as an old pair of leather boots into the bargain. Arthur had always said that about him.

"So, you did manage to get out." John greeted her. Sadie just nodded.

"Not by much." She told them. "Arthur…I…I tried but…"

"We read in the paper." Abigail told her. "Well, John read it to me. Ross said…"

"Ross is a goddam liar and he were about as close to…" She stopped herself as she looked to Jack, who was, as per usual, burying his nose in one of this penny dreadfuls, this one something about Otis Miller and some ghost or something. "…he no more did what he said he did to Arthur than he went to the moon."

"But the Pinkertons…"

"I don't give a shit what the Pinkertons said." She told them. "They might have found Arthur, but they didn't…well…"

She reached into her duster, pulling out Micah's revolver and putting it down on the table. John and Abigail both stared at it, before looking up to Sadie.

"Arthur was holdin' that when I found him." She told them. John picked up the revolver, to a disapproving look from Abigail, turning it over in his hands. Although he'd ridden with Micah for months and could easily have recognised that revolver anywhere, she could see he desperately wanted it not to be true.

"That son of a bitch." John muttered. "He really did it…he…"

Abigail put her hand on the revolver, pressing it down to the table, indicating she wanted John to just let it go. John reluctantly did so, before looking back to Sadie.

"I've…I've been lookin' for them." Sadie told them. "Micah, or any of the others who might know where he went. Bill, Javier, Dutch…"

"You hear anything?" John asked, only for Abigail to nudge him and glare at him. Sadie just shook her head.

"Nothin' so far." She responded bitterly. "A few rumours in slop-houses and shit holes but nothin' that panned out. I keep hearin' they all scattered afterwards, all went their separate ways."

"Arthur had said for ages the whole thing was pretty much done." John agreed, nodding. "It makes sense they all split."

"I will find him." Sadie assured him. "I owe it to Arthur to…"

"Sadie, would you please just stop?" Abigail whispered. Sadie just looked a little stunned by her reaction. "I don't want to hear another word about Micah."

"But he…"

"I don't want to hear another word about Micah FUCKING BELL!" She screamed. "I…I loved Arthur, every bit as much as the two of you did, but he…he told us to go! What he did, he did it so we could go, not so we could turn around and head right back because of that…that…bastard!"

"Abigail, I…I'm not askin' you to…"

"No, you ain't, and you ain't askin' John either." Abigail told her. "And if you have any sense, you won't do anything either."

"Abigail…"

"Micah Bell is a snake, one that's got every level of pain that Hell has to offer comin' his way, but that doesn't mean that we should throw our lives away to make it happen, not when Arthur did everything to get us out!" Abigail told her.

"Micah deserves…"

"What Micah deserves I'm sure he'll get, but this thing is done." Abigail told her. "I think we owe that much to Arthur."

Abigail put a hand on Sadie's and looked to her.

"Sadie, we sent that letter because…because we wanted to offer you a way out too." Abigail replied. "We weren't lyin' when we said we were takin' a boat."

"Where?" Sadie asked.

"The Yukon." John answered. "You probably heard, there's gold out there. Way I hear it, people are pickin' up chunks the size of softballs right off the ground. Abigail said that it'd be just like liftin' it from a train…only without all the guards and marshals and other folks tryin' to blow your head off over it."

"Oh." Sadie said, looking to them. There was a part of her that was disappointed. She was more or less intent on going after Micah alone anyway, but if someone she trusted, if Charles or John was going too, then that would make the whole thing seem like a much smaller mountain to climb. Still, she had promised Arthur that she would see them escape, and in a lot of ways, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to be upset if they chose to take the gift Arthur had paid for with his life. "Well…that's…that's good. I'm glad you're makin' a go of things. I think Arthur would have liked that."

"Sadie, the reason we sent the letter was we wanted you to come too." Abigail told her. Sadie furrowed her brows.

"Go with you?" She asked. "But what about Micah?"

"I told you, I don't want to talk about that…man…anymore." Abigail stated. "Sadie, he'll get his. The papers said Ross has already promised now he's in that new investigation office or…whatever they call it, he's gonna hunt down the rest of the Van Der Lindes, so maybe it's time to just let it go."

"And how long is that gonna take?" Sadie asked incredulously. "Ross couldn't find his ass with both hands tied behind his back and a good guide! If he's the worst Micah has to worry about, he'll die of old age before he swings."

"Sadie, please…come with us." Abigail told her.

"I'm sorry Abigail." Sadie told her, getting up from the table, picking up Micah's revolver. "I appreciate the offer, but…I just…I can't."

Sadie headed out of the saloon, making her way towards her horse.

"Sadie! Sadie!" John called after her as he ran out after her. Sadie stopped by her horse as he caught up to her. "Sadie, please, just come with us."

"I can't do that John, not while he's still out there." Sadie told him. "I just came here to see you were alright, but I already heard someone say he might be down in Tumbleweed, so that's where I'm goin'."

"Sadie…"

"John, this…this is what Arthur wanted for you and Abigail." Sadie told him. "I ain't sure about the Yukon, I mean folks have been out there a long time so I can't be sure how much gold there still is out there, but if there is, you go find it and you and Abigail just be good people. Me, I'm goin' to Tumbleweed."

"And if he ain't there?" John asked her.

"Then I'll go to the next shit hole I hear he's in." She responded. "Then the next, then the next until eventually I find the bastard and put him six feet under."

Sadie was about to get on the horse, when something stopped her. She looked to John.

"You go, you go and you do whatever. Just promise me, if you hear anythin' you tell me." Sadie told him. He just nodded.

"I will." John replied. "And if Micah crosses my path, I promise I'll do right by Arthur, but I ain't lookin' for him."

"I understand." Sadie said, before hugging John. "You go have a good life John Marston."

"If you change your mind…"

"Now, when in all the time you've known me has that ever happened John Marston?" She asked him with a little bit of a smile. John just laughed.

"Yeah, you got a point." John agreed. "But I needed to make the offer. Good luck Sadie."

"You too." She replied as John went back in to return to his family. Sadie got on her horse, and a thought occurred to her. She rode it towards the edge of the dock, looking out over Flat Iron Lake. She pulled out Micah's revolver, and with all the strength she had, she threw it into the lake.

The ride from Blackwater to Tumbleweed was a long and arduous one. New Austin was not the easiest of terrains at the best of times. It was a harsh, unforgiving desert, and those that were unprepared for it would easily fall prey to starvation or dehydration. That was before anyone even considered the cougars or the snakes. Back in 1899 though, those weren't the only hazards. There was a cholera outbreak that had ravaged and devastated the whole state, leaving the town of Armadillo all but completely deserted.

Tumbleweed was about as far from Blackwater as it was possible to get into the territory. It took her days to ride down there, and during that time it became quickly apparent that virtually everything was trying to kill anyone foolish enough to travel there. With resources like food and water being scarce it was little wonder that some of the people who were trying to survive did so at the expense of others. The word lawless had a whole new meaning when the sheriffs tended to stay in their own towns lest they fall afoul of the terrain, meaning some of the few people who did travel the lands were people who knew all too well the law wouldn't follow them. She'd had a few close encounters with some gangs who saw a woman riding alone and saw an easy mark, but those she couldn't out gun, she could definitely out-ride.

She got into Tumbleweed in the middle of a dust storm. She had seen the buildings up ahead just as it was hitting and elected to keep going instead of finding somewhere to shelter and let it pass. She figured it wouldn't be too far to go until she could find some shelter, and after days of the heat, the hard terrain and the opportunistic local outlaws, she figured she had earned a night or two in an actual saloon.

She had her scarf wrapped around her face, and her hat pulled down as far as it would go without completely blocking her vision to keep the worst of the storm out of her eyes. Her horse protested as it struggled on, but she kept giving it reassuring whispers and promises that soon she would put it up in a good stable and give her all the treats she could want. She got into the town, and after finding somewhere to leave the horse out of the dust storm, she started trying to figure out which of the buildings was the saloon. She heard a faint sound over the high winds and turned towards it. She could barely make out the form of a person waving, beckoning her over. They were yelling to her, no doubt seeing a traveller in need of shelter and offering her refuge. She strode over, coming in through the door. It seemed she had found the saloon.

"Good lord, you're lucky to have found your way here, whatever possessed you to travel in this storm?" The man asked her.

"I was already almost here so I figured I'd get here before it got too bad." She told him. "It wouldn't be the first time I were wrong about somethin'."

"Well, thank God you got in out that storm. You want something?"

"Well, a drink would be good." Sadie told him. "And a room."

"I'm afraid we don't have any rooms left." He said, sucking his teeth and looking to her regretfully. "A large party just came in. I do have a barn where guests store their horses but…"

"Believe me, it wouldn't be the worst place I'd stayed." Sadie assured him. "If it's got walls, I'll take it."

"Well, at least let me give you a discount." He told her. "Normally it's a dollar a night so…we'll call it fifty cents, and the first beer's on the house."

"Now those are the magic words." She replied with a grin, shaking off some of the sand as she headed for the bar. "You're a lot friendlier than the folks I ran into out there, that's for damn sure."

"Out there…how long have you been riding?" He asked her. She just shrugged.

"Maybe a week…I don't know, I kind of lost track of the days." She admitted.

"You've been travelling for over a week in Del Lobo territory, and you ride in during a dust storm?" He asked her. "Either whatever you're here for is important or you really do like to take your life in your hands!"

That was the first time Sadie heard the name Del Lobos. She'd soon find out they were a gang that terrorised the territory of New Austin. She did have to acknowledge the barman's assessment of her journey though. She heard some people coming down the stairs, and soon the bar was filled with travellers. All rather well-dressed men for this part of the country, all dressed in fine leather coats and fancy looking suits that wouldn't have looked out of place in Saint Denis. They were all armed, carrying very ornate weapons that further showed off their wealth. Sadie had no idea what a group with this kind of money was doing in this part of the country, but it looked like this was the group that had booked out all the rooms. She just quietly started drinking her beer.

"Barkeep, a bottle of the finest whiskey and keep 'em coming!" One of the men, presumably the leader of the group declared. He was a rotund gentleman, one that didn't look like he missed too many meals, even out here in the desert. He was wearing a garish hat that looked distinctly like an Algernon Wasp creation, with a long plume in it. His clothes looked like they cost more than everything Sadie owned, even before the O'Driscolls burned her home to the ground, and the watch, whose chain was straining across his belly looked like it cost enough to buy the whole town several times over. He had a moustache and a beard that were intricately styled. The bartender went to take them their order, having to make a few trips to ensure they were all satisfied. The entire bar was filled with this entourage, and it didn't look like they were too concerned that there was an unfamiliar face in their midst. By the time she was finished her beer, the barman had only just finished serving the whole room.

"I'm sorry about that, large group." He told her.

"That's alright." She told him.

"So, you mind if I ask what you're doing in these parts?" He asked her.

"I'm lookin' for someone." She told him.

"Mind if I ask who?" The barman asked.

"Micah Bell." She answered. The whole room went silent. Even the large, raucous group behind her stopped talking. "I heard he might be in the area."

"M…M…Micah Bell?" The barman asked. "How…did you know that name?"

"He killed a friend of mine." She told him. "I aim to return the favour."

"You want to go after Micah Bell?" One of the men behind her asked. There were some whispers and she turned around, seeing some childish grins leering back at her. "A fine little woman like you wants to chase down Micah Bell?"

"You know, I don't remember askin' you, so unless you happen to know where he is, I'll thank you to mind your business!" Sadie snorted, turning back to the barman. "I don't know where, but I heard someone say he were hidin' out somewhere around here where the local scumbags hide out…"

"Listen to her, she now thinks she's going to ferret him out!" One of the fancily dressed men chuckled. The others started laughing as well. Sadie just sighed and turned around in her stool, looking at them.

"You got somethin' to say?" She asked.

"Yeah, I got somethin' to say." One of the others told her. "If you're lookin' for Micah Bell, you're too late…because I already killed him!"

"Really?" Sadie asked, looking at him a little dubiously. "You killed Micah Bell?"

"Sure, as I'm sittin' here." He told her as the others laughed. "I put one right between his eyes while he was begging to be let go. It were sad really."

"Really, you got that close, you put one right between his eyes." Sadie replied as she took another beer from the bartender. "I guess that makes you a real tough guy then."

"Toughest bounty hunter in New Austin." He declared. Sadie just took a slug from her bottle.

"That or it makes you a liar." She said coldly. The crowd stopped laughing as the man glared at her.

"What did you call me?" He asked.

"I said you're a liar!" She responded. "You deaf and stupid as well as a liar?"

"Hey! If you wasn't a woman, I'd beat some respect into you!" He barked. "I shot Micah Bell…"

"Micah Bell has a six-thousand-dollar bounty on his head! If you'd killed him you sure as shit wouldn't be sittin' here!" She yelled at him. "Now if you can't tell me somethin' useful, shut up and mind your business!"

"If you was a man…"

"That would make one of us!" Sadie interrupted him. The man strode towards her, clearly enraged by her continued insults. She got to her feet, and before he got to her, she'd already driven the steel-capped toe of her boot into his groin, before punching him in the face, knocking him to the floor.

Another two approached her, the first she dispatched with a bottle straight to his face, while the other grabbed her. She head-butted him, knocking herself senseless, but breaking his nose into the bargain. She grabbed his legs, and drove him down to the floor, quickly clambering on top of him, where she started to rain down punches. She only stopped when she heard about a dozen mechanical clicks that were unmistakably guns cocking. She held her hands clear and looked up.

"They started it." Sadie said, looking straight at the leader, who was aiming a pistol right at her head. "Now, you can all back off and we can all pretend this never happened, or a whole lot of bad stuff is gonna go down real quick and real messy."

The leader considered her for a moment.

"Ma'am…you have almost two dozen guns pointed at your skull right now." He pointed out.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" She asked him. The man thought about it for a moment, seeming to contemplate the woman before him. He then pointed his pistol up, nodding to his men who all raised their guns too.

"So, you're really after Micah Bell?" He asked. "In the middle of Del Lobo Country all by yourself?"

"Yup." Sadie said honestly. The man put away his pistol, before offering her a hand.

"James Langton." He introduced himself. "Tell me, have you ever considered Bounty Hunting?"

"Bounty Hunting?" She asked. "I don't give a shit about the money; I want Micah Bell's head!"

"Well, the fortuitous thing about that is that I want his head too…though I would like to get paid when I claim it." Langton told her. "And the first thing I've found is that the best way to find the scum is to round them all up. Tell me, how long did it take you to hear Bell was down here?"

"I don't know." Sadie said with a shrug. "Maybe two months?"

"I heard a week ago." Langton assured her with a smile. "Between the sheriffs, the marshals and the other rat bastards we put ropes on, we hear the most up-to-date information. People become real talkative once we get our hands on them."

Sadie thought about this for a moment. She really didn't give a shit about money. She would gladly PAY six thousand dollars and work the rest of her life to pay it off if she got to stare him straight in the eye when he breathed his last. Still, the one problem she had was that now without the gang, she was always several steps behind, even with them both knowing a lot of the same people. She'd always been taught by the rest of the gang that the law were useless, that they chased their own tails, stuck to their own areas and spent all their time in their own little nests so much they never even thought to look a couple of towns over. Of course, the new age was coming. Telegrams, mail, hell, there was even talk of soon people having machines in their own homes that would let them talk to each other miles apart. The law were getting wise to the fact talking to each other and spreading information far and quickly meant the crooks had less places to hide. Langton offered her a hand.

"If you really don't care about his bounty, I can always keep your share." He suggested, raising a laugh from those of his men who weren't on the floor nursing wounds. Sadie thought about it for a while before taking his hand and shaking it.

"Just treat me equal, that's all I ask." Sadie told him. "That, and I get to watch the bastard die!"

"I think we can arrange both." He said with a smile, gesturing to his table. "So, how about we discuss the finer parts of your new job Ms…"

"Adler." She told him. "Mrs Sadie Adler."

A/N: Sorry about the hiatus, I had a few things that required my attention, not least finally completing a 100% walkthrough of the game (I will gladly never need to say the words "Small Game Arrows" ever again! LOL!) but rest assured I hadn't forgotten about the story.