Worried by his brothers' failure to return to the cave by noon, Jesus decided to send Alvaro and Jose to search for them. The young men arrived in the pueblo an hour later, to find a crowd of people discussing the day's events in the tavern. A large red stain was still indicating the place where Miguel had died and, after listening to the witnesses' accounts, they decide to return in a hurry to the cave. On their way out the tavern, Alvaro bumped into Don Alejandro, making him spill his glass of orange juice on his shirt.
The two men managed to escape the pueblo without being recognized by the lancers, but, on their way to the camp, Alvaro's horse got frightened by a snake and reared. They were crossing a ravine at the time and the horseman fell on a large boulder, breaking his neck at impact, dying in just a few seconds. Jose hurried to the hideout to inform Jesus about the fate of his two brothers, not even noticing his companion was no longer on his steed, which had been instinctually following him after losing his ridder.
"Miguel is dead!?" Jesus screamed at hearing the news, using all his self-control not to kill de bearer of such bad news with his bare hands. "And Angel?"
"In prison! We didn't know what to do so we came back as soon as we heard." Jose replied.
"Where's Alvaro?" Jesus asked at noticing the absence of the second rider.
"I don't know. He was right behind me!" Jose replied, just noticing the man was not behind him, as he had thought.
"Search the area!" Jesus ordered his men. "Who killed my brother?" He questioned Jose after the others scattered.
"The Alcalde. I heard he had been fighting Zorro but the Alcalde killed him."
"Then De Soto had just added himself to our list!" He noted with pure hatred in his voice. "What do you know about the men we are searching for?"
"Nothing. We haven't seen any of them in town. I am not even sure they are there anymore. They must have known we were coming 'cause they all left."
"Maldito sea ese puelo!" Jesus cursed Los Angeles.
"Maybe we should just take the gold we have and leave, jefe!" Jose suggested.
"Leave? Abandon my brother to be executed? Leave them with the gold? Forget they owe me their lives for what they did? No, Jose! We are not leaving… We are going to make them repent for having ever crossed paths with us!" Jesus stated with such heated determination that Jose felt a cold shiver making its way down his spine.
"Jefe!" Pedro came to inform him. "We found Alvaro. He fell down the ravine and he is dead. His neck is broken."
"Maldita!" Jesus cursed again as he was furiously pacing, now, trying to think up the most excruciating tortures he wanted inflicted on his enemies. Since he had killed his brother, De Soto had moved at the top of his "to kill" list, closely followed by Zorro, the Hernandez, the detective, the magistrate, and anyone else who was stupid enough to cross his path right then. Like Jose, who, decided to annoy him even more, suggested again to leave with the gold they had, thus fully deserving for one of Jesus' bullets to traverse his head moments later.
"Get ready, men!" Jesus shouted while reloading his gun. "We attack now!"
ZZZ
With the Alcalde drunk, sleeping peacefully in his bed after having completely trashed his office, the lancers were rather disconcerted as to what they should do. Since De Soto had not shared with his men all the details Zorro had given him about the Ramirez Brothers and his gang, Sergeant Mendoza thought that the gang was already annihilated with the death of one of the brothers and the incarceration of the other. Therefore, no longer considering them a threat, he had not kept the garrison on high alert for further danger, leaving only two men to guard the cuartel.
Under these circumstances, when they entered Los Angeles, Jesus and the rest of his men encountered no resistance, most of the lancers being either tucked in their beds for the siesta or finishing their meals and their stories in the tavern. Busting through the tavern doors, the gang surprised the few people in the taproom, and disarmed the lancers there before they had the chance to react. Having expected the attack, Zorro was preparing to intervene but hesitated, afraid he might determine the desperados to kill someone if he made a wrong move. As things stood, the people in the tavern were their prisoners, but were still unharmed. Realizing there should be seven men but only five had attacked, he also wondered where the other two were. Believing they might be waiting somewhere for a signal from their leader, he eventually decided to wait in Antonia's room and see what happens.
The first thing Jesus did was having Mendoza order his men to bring Angel to the tavern. Fearing for his life, but also for the lives of the people being held at gunpoint by the perpetrators, the Sergeant gave the order. Soon after, Gomez and Sepulveda released the younger Rodriguez and returned together with him at the tavern.
"Estas bien, hermanito?" Jesus asked him when he entered the door.
Angel tried to answer but could not because of his broken jaw.
"Malditos!" Jesus cursed. "What did they do to you?" He asked, inspecting his brother's wounds.
"Mig…" Angel tried to ask.
"Dead." Jesus answered, suddenly remembering he wanted to kill De Soto. "Sergeant! Where is the Alcalde?"
Mendoza was about to tell him when Antonia intervened.
"He was wounded and there is no doctor in the pueblo. The lancers took him to Santa Barbara." She lied looking intently at Mendoza who realized the reason for her answer and confirmed, signaling the others to do the same.
Angel looked around the room and spotted two tall black-haired men.
"Jos…" He again tried to ask.
"Jose and Alvaro are also dead." Jesus told him, unaware he was, at the same time, informing Zorro there was no backup. "Pedro! Can you see him?" He asked his man.
Pedro looked around and denied recognizing the one they were looking for.
"The doctor and his son! Where are they?" He asked Mendoza.
"They left yesterday for Santa Paula. His son is very ill and he needed a colleague's advice on how to help him." The Sergeant answered.
Jesus cursed again loudly and repeatedly, the extended knowledge of expletives he demonstrated making even the vaqueros present in the tavern blush.
"Detec…" Angel tried again to speak.
At that moment, aware of what was to be the gang's next move, Zorro exited through the window and made his way to the adjacent room, where the 'nuns' were. The bulkier one was closely embracing the slimmer one, both awaiting the probable attack from the men they could clearly hear downstairs. The masked outlaw knocked slowly on their window and, when they opened, he asked them to hide under the bed, while he slowly made his way inside the room, positioning himself near the entrance and unlocking the door.
Meanwhile, Jesus sent three of his men to check the rooms upstairs. Busting open the first door, they searched the room and found no one, so they moved to the next one. Seconds after they entered it, the people downstairs could hear two loud bangs as Zorro bumped together the heads of the two closest to, letting them slide to the floor, before taking out his sword and pointing it to the third bandit's back. Whispering, he asked him to let go of his gun.
"What's going on up there?" Jesus asked when the loud noises were heard.
"Tell him you found the nuns and you need help carrying them." Zorro asked him.
"We found the nuns. We need help to bring them down." The man obeyed.
"Pedro!" Jesus indicated and the man headed for the room just as Zorro was using the pressure points around the other man's neck to knock him unconscious as well, then retreated back next to the wall, waiting for Pedro to arrive.
When the man entered the room, he froze at seeing his comrades lying on the floor and, sensing movement behind him, turned just in time to see a black fist seconds before it clashed with his face.
"Tie them up! Hurry!" Zorro ordered the 'nuns' moments before exiting the door and jumping down in the taproom where only Jesus and Angel were left.
Jesus aimed at him with his gun and shot but Zorro was faster and the bullet missed his head. Hurrying to deliver a well-placed punch aimed at knocking down the gang leader, Zorro stopped when Angel grabbed Victoria with the one good hand he had left and menaced to strangle her.
"Swor…" Angel uttered.
"Drop your sword or the senorita dies!" Jesus voiced his brother's unspoken words.
Zorro studied the two men and decided to obey, slowly depositing his sword on the floor right in front of him.
"Where are our men?" Jesus asked him.
"Taking a nap upstairs." Zorro answered with a grin, studying the two men and pondering his next moves.
"You will pay for this!" Jesus uttered as he took a dagger in his left hand and drew his sword with his right, preparing to attack him.
Right then, Mendoza, who was standing behind Angel, having taken a bottle of wine from a table, smashed it on Angel's head, knocking him down and, thus, liberating Victoria. The young tavern owner hurried by the lancer's side and the two retreated towards one of the tavern's corners. Jesus got distracted for a few seconds, watching his brother fall to the ground and almost gave in to the temptation of attacking Mendoza, which gave Zorro the needed time to retrieve his sword with a fast leg movement that landed it back in his hand.
The two quickly engaged in a vicious swordfight, the oldest Ramirez being renowned for his skill with the sword. Looking to protect as much as possible the people in the tavern, Zorro changed places with Jesus in the heat of the battle, and, as soon as his back was towards the door, he started to retreat, guiding his adversary out of the tavern and into the empty plaza.
The swordfight continued and both adversaries were getting tired. Mendoza made sure to lock the doors to the tavern when they exited and asked his men to tie up Angel again, making sure he would not escape. At that point, most of the people in the tavern decided to watch the fight from the balcony, leaving the soldiers to carry down the rest of the men from the magistrate's room.
While the swordfight was starting in the tavern, De Soto woke up with a very bad hangover. Moving slowly, he started hearing the noises made by the clashes of the two swords in the plaza and they made him feel like his head was about to explode. Upset and barely able to gather his thoughts, he took his pistol, determined to put a bullet in whatever cabron was responsible for the noise.
Exiting his office, Ignacio saw Zorro fight Jesus but, at the same time, he was spotted by the older Ramirez who, frustrated with the length of the fight and filled with hatred at seeing the man who had killed his youngest brother, got out of Zorro's way for a few seconds, enough to aim his dagger at the Alcalde's chest. The masked man had but a split second to react, stopping the dagger just as it took off, but, in doing so, left himself vulnerable to an attack. Jesus took advantage of the opening and was about to thrust his sword through his adversary's heart. At the same time, De Soto, who just needed for that infernal noise to stop, aimed with an unsteady hand in the direction of the two combatants and pressed the trigger.