Lot of puzzle pieces in this fic. Pay attention to the times.

"Yeh, gunshot re'ports from hear, and hear. Coupla parents re'portin kids missing… Possible murdah? Kidnappin'? I want to know evry'thang."

Thursday morning and the preliminary investigation team were all slouched around SouthTown Central's Police Department's conference table, nursing their coffees and looking annoyed. The sheriff - who Mary was increasingly suspecting actually ran on re-chargable batteries - was enthusiastically briefing the team on some suspicious activity from Geese's region in PortTown.

"Some evi'dence of ah abandoned warehause. Lotsa' activity at about 4 AM. I want yah team to do a full sweep, undahstood, Ryan? If anything about dat snake Ha'ward, call me!"

Mary had to listen extremely keenly to barely understand the instructions. After an uncomfortable pause, she felt like she got the gist of it, and replied with a tentative:

"... Yes, Sir."

"Ahlraight! Chop-Chop! Dismissed er'yone!"

Mary sighed and motioned to her small crew of 2 as she stood. They filed out of the room with energy reminiscent of a wet-paper bag. Sheriff Blackwell was a new transfer from the backwoods of some hillbilly state. Three weeks ago, the standing Sheriff in Mary's department had been forced to resign for taking bribes from Howard Connection, and the higher ups had apparently decided to replace him with some crazy border patrol cop. The man wore cowboy boots every day for god's sake. He was a character right out of a western movie, and after hearing the disgraceful story of his predecessor, had developed something of an obsession to prove himself of different stock. 'Ah'm gon catch that ol dog, Ha'ward' had become something of his personal motto.

("Fuck man, Blackwell's gonna kill us all... Are we seriously going after Geese?")

("I fucking hope we don't find anything… My girl just turned 6 . The last thing I need is a run-in with that bastard. Remember the shit he pulled 3 years ago?")

("Yeah man… stay safe out there.")

Mary knew as well as anyone how insane the Sheriff's crusade against Geese Howard was. Every officer with any decent experience in SouthTown knew that here, no matter which side of the law you fell upon, you respected SouthTown's Kingpin. If you didn't, you were either too inconsequential, or too dead. Three years ago, cops were dropping like flies in their war against Geese Howard. During that time, Mary had seen many good men come and go. Their families were sometimes targeted as well. The scenes were brutal, men with their heads crushed in vices. People who were set upon by dogs… absolutely inhuman. The things of slasher movies.

Not only were they brutal, but also gutsy as hell. Howard Connection even went after their resident psychopath - Iori Yagami because he wasn't paying protection fees. Mary seriously doubted they actually got him to pay anything, but the thought was what counted. Anyone who thought they could extort Iori Yagami for money was on one hell of a power trip.

Then suddenly, almost mysteriously, the violence ended.

That Monday, the cops were performing their morning routines, calling their relatives to see who had been targeted next, calling the informants to see where the bombs were supposed to go off next…

And it was just quiet.

Everyone was alive.

No bombs went off that day.

The Officers drove about, patrolling, tense as taut wires.

Mary remembered what she did that day… she wrote somebody a speeding ticket. That's it. She was so jittery, expecting something horrible, that when she went home that night without rushing to some bomb-site, she thought the entire day was a dream.

And like a dream, the peace persisted.

And the mayor wouldn't give that peace for anything. Evidently, somebody had cut a deal.

'Geese's Gang' became an officially sanctioned business: 'Howard Connection', and Howard Connection had decided to fight its battles in court with their layers and layers of shell companies instead of bloodying the streets.

To this day, Officer Mary Ryan had no idea what sort of deal had been worked out - but as inquisitive as she was, she had been strictly ordered not to dig. The general consensus was this: If SouthTown police stayed out of Geese Howard's hair, he stayed out of theirs. Over the past years, they had a couple of casualties, accidents, probably - but none of the victim's families pressed charges. They had all been paid off.

It pissed Mary off, of course. That a criminal could run her beautiful city like this, to usurp the powers of law and justice, and just sit atop of it all… but alas. So long as Geese was happy, SouthTown was peaceful. No gang wars. No shootings. No car bombs. Geese Howard ruled SouthTown. There was no question about it. He could turn this place into a hellscape at his whim, and there was nothing anyone could do to oppose him - save, some federal action, perhaps… Perhaps she'd call her cousin? No. Better to make sure they were dealing with geese first.

And now, Sheriff Blackwell was intent on shattering that tentative peace.

And although Office Mary Ryan was also absolutely certain this was a terrible idea, she was under orders. She had a duty to fulfill. She was serving justice, and even if she was about to unleash a shitstorm - she was going to go to this warehouse and do her job.

FYI, Kevin Rian (Ryan) is a relative of Blue Mary.

Marky - according to Canon - is actually the son of Kevin's partner, but I decided to give the name to the Dad.

Also, offically Rian's SWAT, not CIA. but I need the threat of the fed cuz Geese already owns ST