A/N: Thank you SnidgetHex, GuestM, and Buckhunter for reviewing the last episode!

Chapter 1

Morgana placed her files in her briefcase and snapped it closed, another case wrapped up. She exited the courtroom with everyone else, then stood in the corridor and watched her brother and his Knights give the kid who'd testified against her abuser one of their dragon pins, telling her she was part of the gang for life.

A man abruptly stepped in front of her, blocking her view and startling her with his close proximity.

"Miss Pendragon," he said, a hard edge in his tone. "Do you remember me?"

Morgana stiffened. She did. Liam Resnik was an abusive drunkard who beat his wife and kids. Morgana had helped his wife get away and encouraged her to press charges, and Morgana personally saw to it the man was put away for a long time. She couldn't believe he was out.

"Mr. Resnik," she replied, equally terse. "What do you want?"

"I got early parole for good behavior," he said with slight smugness. "Only, when I went home, I found my house had been foreclosed and my wife and kids were gone. And when I tried to find them, I learned my paternal rights had been severed."

Morgana didn't say anything; she'd had a hand in that too.

"Where are they?" Resnik asked.

"I don't know."

"I know you were behind everything," he pressed. "Convincing my wife to leave me, to take my kids, to say in court that I was an unfit father. So I know you know where they went."

"I don't," Morgana insisted and lifted her chin. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"They're my family," he seethed, eyes flashing dangerously.

"You gave up the right to call them that when you beat them," Morgana rejoined.

Resnik's nostrils flared and he took a step closer in mounting anger, but then Arthur was stepping up beside Morgana.

"Everything alright here?" he asked.

"Fine," she replied.

Resnik sneered at her, but then turned and walked away, and she let herself relax.

"Who was that?" Arthur asked.

"Someone I put away who was apparently just released."

Arthur's mouth turned down. "Do I need to be worried?"

"His wife and kids are long gone and far out of his reach now," she said.

"I meant for you."

Morgana shook her head fondly. "You don't need to be my knight in shining armor, Arthur. But I appreciate the concern. Now, go on and have that victory celebration you all do," she encouraged. "I've got work on other cases to do."

Arthur cast her a reluctant look before nodding and heading back to his Knights.

It was mid-afternoon and so The Apothecary wasn't that full of patrons, which meant it was mostly just the Knights enjoying their post-court appearance celebration. That was, until the front door opened and Cenred and his gang walked in. Everyone in the bar fell silent.

Arthur straightened. "You're not welcome here."

Cenred spread his arms out. "It's a free country. Bartender, my boys and I are thirsty."

Gaius gave the men a wary look but nevertheless started filling their drink orders. Business was business, after all.

Gwaine and Elyan looked primed to start something, so Arthur cocked his head at them to stand down. The bar was big enough, the two gangs could stay on opposite ends.

The Knights tried to return to their festivities, though there was a stiff tension in the air. Arthur and Lancelot started a game of pool, and Percival and Elyan played some darts while Merlin distracted Gwaine with some magic tricks.

Cenred sauntered over. "Care for a game?" he asked Arthur.

Lancelot flicked a look at Arthur, whose jaw tightened.

"I'm in the middle of one," he replied.

"Yeah, but you're not even playing for money. Come on, let's have a real game with a wager. Say…for Smithy's Auto Shop?" he said with a cheeky grin.

Elyan started toward him, cheeks puffing with fury, but Percival shot an arm out to hold him back.

"No thanks," Arthur said curtly.

Leon stepped forward, crossing his arms. "We're having a private party, so beat it."

Cenred smirked and twisted to look back at his guys, who were watching. "Guess the Knights don't live up to their name, too afraid to play a real game and lose."

"Or you're just not a worthy opponent," Gwaine rejoined. "Knights don't stoop to the level of riffraff."

Cenred snorted. "I think you're all pomp and no grit. Peacocks strutting around for show."

Gwaine's eyes blazed and he surged from his seat, but Merlin jumped up in front of him.

"Gwaine," he said in a low tone.

"That's right, hide behind the scrawny one," Cenred taunted. "Your little court jester. Do some magic tricks for us, Merlin."

"Back off, Cenred," Lancelot put in.

Cenred ignored him. "Come on, court jester, show me some magic," he goaded, jabbing a finger into Merlin's chest and shoving him.

Gwaine erupted, grabbing Cenred's wrist and torquing it backwards. Then everyone was moving at once as Cenred's guys launched forward in response and the Knights charged in to meet them.

Arthur still had his pool stick in hand and rammed the tip into someone's stomach as the goon came at him. The guy doubled over in pain and Arthur thwacked him over the back with the long edge of the stick, driving him to the floor. Lancelot also wielded his pool stick against two guys while Percival, Elyan, and Leon utilized their fists.

One of Cenred's larger guys rammed into Percival like a bull, hefting him off his feet and flinging him down on the pool table. Elyan and another guy went brawling into a regular table and breaking it as they crashed to the floor.

Gwaine and Cenred were still going at it, and then Cenred whipped out a knife. Arthur saw and stiffened, but was quickly distracted by another guy coming at him.

Cenred swiped at Gwaine, who had to jump backward to avoid getting sliced. He then grabbed a chair to use as a shield, pushing the protruding legs into Cenred and driving him backward.

One of Cenred's guys managed to get his hands around Leon's throat and was throttling him, so Merlin grabbed a beer bottle and smashed it over his head, then hauled Leon up off the table.

Arthur was about to push his way to Gwaine and Cenred when the sound of a shotgun being cocked preceded a raucous blast in the air. Everyone reflexively froze. Gaius stood in front of the bar counter, weapon raised.

"Get out," he barked at Cenred.

The biker slowly straightened with his hands raised. "You gonna shoot all of us, old man?"

Gaius leveled a severe look at him, then lowered the barrel and fired. The shot hit Cenred in the groin, but instead of blood splattering everywhere, it was white chunks of rock salt. Cenred still howled and staggered backward as he bowed over in agony.

"Anyone else?" Gaius asked, swinging the shotgun around.

Cenred's men started backing toward the door. A couple dared to go help their leader up and take him with them.

Arthur dropped his pool stick on the table. "I'm sorry about this, Gaius. I'll pay for the damages."

The old man harrumphed and lowered his weapon.

"We'll clean it up too," Lancelot added.

"Well, I'd rather have you lot in here than that one," Gaius finally said. "And hopefully they'll think twice before coming back."

Arthur grimaced. Or thrice, with a shot like that. Gaius fought dirty.

The Knights began picking up overturned tables and chairs and sweeping up the glass, their party now officially over.

It was well past six when Morgana finally packed up and headed home for the night. She bid farewell to the night security guard on her way out to her car, then left the parking structure and got on the road. The traffic light was just turning yellow, so she gave her car a boost of gas to get through it before it was officially red. She then eased off to slow back down to the speed limit. The light ahead was red, so she pressed the brake to start slowing down, only nothing happened.

Frowning, Morgana pressed the pedal again and again, then harder with her foot. But the brakes weren't responding, and she was speeding to an intersection with cross traffic going through. Morgana screamed and cranked the wheel, narrowly careening through cars without getting hit. She desperately tried to hit the brakes again, but they weren't working.

Construction lights blinked yellow up ahead, the lanes closed. Morgana torqued the wheel and screamed, her car skidding sideways into an orange construction divider with a crunch of plastic and fiber glass.

Arthur barreled into the emergency room, nearly plowing over the people waiting in line to check in with the receptionist. He pulled up short and waited on pins and needles for his turn. Why were the people in front of him taking so long?

When it was finally his turn, he surged forward to the window. "I got a call my sister Morgana Pendragon was brought here after a car accident."

The receptionist typed into her computer. "Yes, she's being treated right now."

"Can I see her?" Arthur asked impatiently. "I'm her brother."

The woman pushed a button that opened the restricted door to the triage area. "Room three."

Arthur hurried through the doors before they closed and locked again, then quickly made his way through the emergency department, scanning the room numbers. Three was across from the nurses' station, and Arthur found Morgana inside, sitting up at the edge of the bed with a welt on her temple and bandages on her hands and forearms.

"Arthur," she breathed when he entered.

"Are you all right?" he asked in shock, expecting worse yet not expecting this.

"I'm fine," Morgana answered, even as she winced in apparent pain.

Arthur gingerly cupped one of her bandaged arms.

"The airbag burst open when I crashed and I got burned by the explosive chemicals," she explained.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. My brakes stopped working. I couldn't stop the car."

Arthur frowned. His sister may not be a grease monkey, but she knew to take her car in for its regular oil changes and maintenance. Her brakes shouldn't have given out like that.

"I have a friend I want to look at the car," he told her.

"That won't be necessary," a new voice spoke up from the doorway. A man in a suit entered and flashed them his badge. "Detective Evans," he introduced. "Our crime scene techs have already inspected the car and determined the brake lines were cut intentionally."

Arthur stiffened at that. Morgana looked shocked.

"Have you received any threats recently?" the detective asked. "From people you're currently prosecuting, or have prosecuted in the past?"

Morgana shook her head slowly. "No. I mean, there's the occasional angry letter, but no death threats."

"What about that guy who was at the courthouse this morning?" Arthur put in. "You said he just got released from prison, and you put him there."

Morgana faltered. "I don't know…"

"What was this man's name?" Detective Evans asked.

"Liam Resnik."

The detective wrote it down in his pad. "I'll follow-up with him. In the meantime, we've already been notified your office has ordered protection for you."

Morgana sighed in exasperation.

"You could have been killed tonight," Arthur said, equally consternated. "You're taking protection. But my guys will handle it."

"Mr.…" Detective Evans started to argue.

"We do this kind of thing a lot," he cut the man off.

"Arthur," Morgana said placatingly. "It's really not necessary."

"It really is. And you're not going back to work for a few days."

Morgana bristled. "Now, Arthur—"

"You were in a major car accident. You may not be feeling it now, but you will tomorrow. And you've got, what, second-degree burns?"

"I have to agree with your brother, Miss Pendragon," Detective Evans chimed in.

Morgana huffed. "Fine." She pushed herself off the emergency bed with a grimace. "You can take me home now, then."

Arthur shook his head. "Resnik might know where you live, or he could easily find out. You need to stay somewhere safer until the cops catch him."

Morgana started to cross her arms, only to abort the gesture when her bandages touched and her face scrunched up in pain. "He could also easily deduce where any of the Knights live, and it's not a secret how closely I work with your organization."

Arthur nodded. "You're right." A thought struck him. "I have another idea."