"Alright! Out with it, Diego! You are planning something or you wouldn't have agreed to help the very man you've been fighting against almost since he's put foot in Los Angeles." Don Alejandro said as hoofbeats were heard leaving the courtyard.

"You heard him!" He replied, smiling worriedly at Juan and Zafira who just returned to the library. "He's planning to put up a fight, even if the contingent coming here is at least four times bigger than his own unit. It would be a massacre, and I have no intention of allowing the lancers to be slaughtered for the ambitions of one man. So, yes, I am planning something. A way to make sure there will be no bloodshed." He explained. "Where is Felipe?" He then asked Juan.

"In the cave. He's cleaning Tornado's stall." The younger man answered.

ZZZ

The following day it was Sepulveda to bring the news that the Mexicans were coming. The lancers had been on patrol that morning along El Camino Real when they saw the men, so they hurried back to alert their commander.

"At your posts!" De Soto ordered and the lancers hurried to obey him.

The plan Diego had come up with had met his former schoolmate's complete agreement when he presented it. It involved explosives hidden some 80 feet from the pueblo's gate and a large trench the lancers had spent most of the night digging, and it relied, as the caballero had explained, on the lancers all being in one spot, just a few feet behind the gate.

There, while one lancer would light, at the right moment, the fuse to the explosives, the others could pretend to simply be waiting to greet the unsuspecting newcomers, then take aim and shoot as soon as the enemies were in range and the explosives had played their part. In his own kind of madness, De Soto had full confidence in his chances to win the battle.

Of course, he was unaware that Diego truly had no interest in being on his side, nor that Felipe had been in the pueblo just before dawn to implement his father's true plan. With the lancers and the Alcalde too tired to supervise the area – the man left on guard sleeping peacefully against the gatepost – the youngest De la Vega had no trouble cutting the wire to the explosives and leaving a little gift for the garrison.

"Wait until they are in range!" The Alcalde ordered his men, who were positioned at the entrance to the pueblo.

"Now Sergeant! Light that fuse!" De Soto ordered.

His man hurriedly obeyed, yet was astonished to see how not one, but two fuses lit. One of them headed south, towards the explosives they had buried, while the other one headed towards the gate, where the other lancers were positioned. He followed it curiously for a few moments, realizing something was wrong, and hurried to tell his commander, yet failed to arrive in time.

ZZZ

Ignacio opened his eyes, with some difficulty, to stare at the face of Diego, who was looking at him from above.

"Hello, Ignacio! I was getting worried. How are you feeling?" The caballero asked him with a grin as the white-haired man tried to slowly stand up.

"De la Vega?" He replied, more than a little confused. "What happened? Did we win?"

"Win? But you didn't even fight!" The taller man answered. "You didn't really expect to win the battle by lying down, did you?"

"What? What are you talking about?" He demanded to know as he started glancing around, getting worried at realizing he was in one of his own jail cells and the man on guard was not one of his lancers.

"Well… The good news is that nobody died." Diego explained. "The even better news, for us all, you included, is that you're returning to Madrid, where the world might… or might not be your oyster. At this point, I really couldn't tell. Anyway, the best news is that you'll be travelling in select company. The Governor is set to be on the same ship as you, as are several other alcaldes together with some of the lancers in the Monterey, San José, and San Francisco garrisons. Most of the other enlisted men decided to switch sides."

De Soto seemed more worried by the minute as he looked around nervously, failing to find any of his men.

"You! You did this! You are a rebel!" He eventually exclaimed, enraged, addressing the younger man.

"Yes. I guess I am." Diego agreed. "However, Ignacio, in time you might also discover that you wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for me and my rebellious nature." He told him with a grin before standing up and walking through the opened barred door that the guard shut and locked behind him.

ZZZ

The Mexicans allowed the pueblos to choose their own alcaldes, separating the administrative position from the military one, and entrusting the garrison to Sergeant Mendoza, who was soon advanced to Lieutenant.

Consequently, before leaving the pueblo, De Soto was forced to witness Victoria Escalante de la Vega taking office as the first woman elected to be Alcaldesa of Los Angeles.

A couple of months later, on his way home, while he was going through a horrible episode of seasickness brought about by a bad storm lasting a full week, Ignacio remembered that Diego had mentioned a phrase about the world being his oyster which only Zorro had heard him say. His reaction at making that connection was to throw up, before getting utterly drunk and falling off the bridge. His absence was only discovered a few days later, when everyone thought him lost, and he had already seen himself forced to join the pirate crew that had fished him out of the sea.

As for Diego, he never got to live that quiet life both he and his wife said they wanted yet found every possible way to avoid. While Victoria was Alcaldesa, he spent most of his free time making sure she was safe, even fighting bandits, both as himself and as Zorro, when the circumstances forced him to, and acting as her temporary replacement for a few months after she gave birth to their first two children.

When she left the office, some four years after first being elected, about the same time Felipe returned from university with a law degree and ready to take over The Guardian from his adoptive father, his visits to the pueblo were reduced to the point where Mendoza started visiting the hacienda only because he missed talking to his best friend.

They were both old men when Diego finally confessed to him that he was the real Zorro and his friend confessed back that he had known that for many years, since he had first acted as Alcalde instead of his wife and had decided to lead the lancers in pursuit of some very dangerous bandits. And, as it turned out, he was not the only one to know, but just one of those keeping Diego's secret.

By the time the old fox finally confessed the truth, though, times had changed much. Alta California was no longer Mexican, but had joined the United States to become the 31st member of the Union, and it was the time for a new generation to live its own adventures.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

AN: I hope you have all enjoyed this story.

Before I leave you to review it (wink, wink), I just want to clarify a few aspects of it.

Annulments would have taken months (even a year or longer) to get in those times, instead of just weeks. However, that reality didn't fit this story and, in the end, there have always been corrupt officials (including among those working for the Church), willing to bend or break the rules, and I decided that idea would fit better.

Women were neither allowed to vote, nor to take office in those times, at least not in reality. However, the series already established that women can vote as per canon, and it was only the Spanish law prohibiting Vic from taking office. With no rule in place anymore, also according to cannon, she could most certainly replace De Soto (and, in this story, she did).

Until the next story (which will be a new installment for Of Men and Legends series)!