Thanks for your great patience, guys! The slowness lately is due to me getting a job and having a summer internship, and my great Editor going on trips while dealing with her own stuff. Thanks for waiting, and I hope you enjoy this latest chapter.

"Anyone home?" Mickey snapped his fingers, trying to and successfully awakening his friend out of her daydream. It was the very next day after the robbery, and as per the norm, Minnie had come to see her friend and discuss the news by the old fountain. The Scarlet had again gotten hold of everyone's attention, and as Mickey had handed Minnie her paper which lauded the hero, she had gone into quiet thought. Mickey had allowed the pause for many long seconds, since he had also been relishing in that night's encounter. He hadn't been able to hear Ludwig and Gyro no matter what they said for the rest of the night, and his dreams were filled with reenactments of the kiss, though those times he wasn't a frozen fool but instead more than happily reciprocating.

When she heard his fingers, the duchess immediately sat up straighter, almost falling backwards on the marble fountain the two mice were sitting on. Her face turned red with embarrassment, smoothing out her dress, and tried to keep the newspaper on her lap steady. "Y-Yes… I'm sorry. Last night was very… tiring." Where Mickey had slept peacefully in dreams of love, she had been kept awake by confusing emotions. She hadn't exactly regretted the kiss she had given the hero, as that had apparently been the only way to thank him, but her heart had been tossing and turning over the entire affair. It was something marvelous that made her feel awful. It was something terrible that made her feel exhilarated.

"Didn't get much sleep?" He hoped he wasn't smiling as much as he thought he was. No matter what answer Minnie gave, he already knew the truth. She had been nearly robbed by some gruesome thugs, but the Scarlet had saved her, taken her home, and they had even kissed! Granted the last bit was by accident, but that was an unimportant detail. What was important was the impression that was left, and so far, it looked like a good one, if Minnie's sudden shyness was any indication. Even now, she was fidgeting, looking around, and then leaned in close to her childhood friend.

"I know you'll always keep secrets between us." She whispered, perhaps oblivious to his heart stopping as they got close enough for noses to nearly touch, another odd routine the two had of crushing naivety. Since she was still in conflict over what she had done that night, she had faith that her friend would be able to advise her. "And this is a big one. Promise not to tell."

"You betcha. I'm the best secret keeper around." After all, he was keeping the biggest one.

She looked left, right, and then cupped a hand to the side of her mouth, letting it out in a hushed whisper. "Last night… I met the Scarlet again."

Mickey nodded calmly, and then realized this was supposed to be shocking. "Oh!" He quickly faked a gasp, slapping a hand down on the bundle of unsold newspapers at his side. "No foolin'?"

Her shoulders folded slightly into herself, suddenly diminutive. "He saved my life… and you wouldn't believe it! He can run on rooftops, and jump up buildings!" Her voice was having trouble keeping quiet in the face of such exciting details. Her hands went everywhere as she attempted to mimic his sword-play. "He was outnumbered, but he took them down like they were nothing! And he didn't want any payment or anything… he's a real hero!"

"Gee, what a guy." He probably should have sounded more enthusiastic than that, but he was wholly distracted by the sheer delight in his crush's expression. This was absolute gushing, and over him! Well, sort of him. Close enough. His ego began to play with dangerous lines. "Is he really as… charmin'… as they say?"

Minnie hesitated, unsure of just how much she really should say, considering who she was talking to. "… Kind of. I mean, he had some really corny speeches, and I think he's a bit too dramatic." She rolled her eyes upward, trying to think of better descriptions, ignoring Mickey's pride being shredded to ribbons. "… But he really did seem sweet." Her eyes came back down, and Mickey quickly resumed false curiosity. "He really does care about the people. I just wish I could help him somehow." This came with a wistful sigh, and she sat back up. The newspaper's front page was an artist's blurred guess of the Scarlet, and she idly traced what she could make of his face. "I wonder what he's doing right now..."

What he was doing right now was resisting the urge to yell that he was the Scarlet at the top of his lungs and kiss her to high heaven. Instead, he gave an uneasy little laugh, scooting in closer to her. "Aw, I'm sure just knowin' yer okay helps him out plenty… I mean, who knows…" He swallowed, pushing aside common sense and letting foolish courage rise instead. "Maybe he's… closer… than… ya think…" Ludwig and Gyro were probably having complete conniptions if they saw him now. The warnings of putting his loved ones in danger and other important discussions continued to be shoved aside by the still burning memories of soft lips on top of his own. In one night, he had found hundreds of new adjectives to describe his lady love with. Sweet, warm, tender, passionate...

Slowly, she met his gaze, curious, quiet. For a split-second, she could have sworn she had seen his eyes somewhere else, especially the white-hot blaze that was burning through them. As for Mickey, forget Gyro and Ludwig's warnings about revealing his identity – this was an exception! Surely if they were in his shoes, they'd understand! Delicately, he took one of her lacy gloved hands, and drew a breath. "Minnie… or should I say…. My most pre-"

"IT'S THE SCARLET!"

SPLASH!

The sudden shout startled Mickey so much that he fell backwards right into the cold fountain water. Sputtering, he sat on his knees, looking wildly about. Who discovered his identity? How? When? As Minnie tried to question if he was all right, Mickey found the screamer – screamers, apparently, as several young ladies from the lower class were now snatching up his papers and squealing in high pitches. The one who had made the accusatory yell was Daisy, if Mickey was remembering her name right.

"Look, look!" Daisy continued to giggle, having already opened the paper and pointing to a particular page. "I knew it, the Scarlet does love me!"

"You lie!" Another woman snapped, and the other females chatted on top of each other. "The Scarlet obviously meant this for me!"

"Dream on! You never looked him in the eyes like I did!"

"He was looking at everybody! He's romantic like that!"

Mickey took off his drenched hat, and climbed out of the fountain. "What are ya talking about now?" Irritability was clear in his tone, since the mood completely disrupted. But the women ignored him, making their own claims about who the hero truly loved. Minnie sat in her same place, clueless, but trying to find the page they were clamoring about in her own paper.

Daisy gave a snobbish snap of her beak. "Don't you read your own paper, kid? Here." With that, she pushed the page into his hands. Before he read it, Mickey did begin to recall that, early that morning, Ludwig said there would be an extra page he personally put in, to boost the Scarlet's popularity. The paperboy ruse was more than just an easy alibi. Slowly but surely in the course of a few years time, Ludwig and Gyro had created their own newspaper before the school explosion that helped them to vanish, and no one had yet noticed the difference, since it told the same stories as all the other papers. When Ludwig had announced the extra page before today's delivery, Mickey had barely paid attention, as he was still in a dreamy state of happiness over having kissed Minnie. What did Ludwig do that was causing these girls to clamor so?

There, taking up the entire page, was a declaration in red lettering, decorated lavishly with symbols of roses. In elegant cursive writing was a message, which Mickey unwisely chose to read out loud.

"To all my fair ladies of France,
Let it be known that my love for you knows no bounds, and that I fight for each one of you. I swear upon my blade that I shall never let any harm befall you, for you are my spirit, my life, my will. The color I wear is the symbol of my unending love for you, my most precious.

Signed, The Scarlet."

With that, all of the females screamed eagerly again, save for Minnie, whose once affectionate expression was now covered in disdain. Thanks to one little paragraph, she was looking over all her interactions with the Scarlet in a new light. "Most precious?" She repeated slowly, crossing her arms. "I see… so he treats all women of France this way." And here, she had fallen for it! And she'd even given him her sacred first kiss! She had been so caught up in his seductive heroics that she had never thought he could just be another man trying to earn her hand for her connection to royalty.

"No!" Mickey tried to interject, ripping the page in his hands to pieces. "No he doesn't! Really!" How had such a beautiful morning dissolved into the worst day of his life? "This, this is a… it's a…" He looked back and forth between the women, at a loss. How was he supposed to justify his words without proof, and thereby revealing who he was? "H-How do we even know it's the same guy?"

"It must be!" Daisy pressed the remaining pages to her chest, one hand to her forehead. Who needed proof, when you had true love to rely on? "What a wonderful man! I bet if I was alone with him, I could make him all mine!" This caused the other women around her to clamor in the same girly squeals, making petty arguments between them.

"Why should you get him?"

"It says he loves us all!"

"That's only because he hasn't met me yet!"

"I wanna be his Most Precious!"

"Will ya knock it off?" But Mickey's burst of rage was doing nothing to turn off the torrent of fangirling, especially as they went into exact details of they would do to him if they were alone with him. His entire face was turning, of course, scarlet, thanks to the sheer embarrassment of hearing what all of these women wished to do to him, and also due to him wanting to get his hands on Von Drake and throttle him until his fingers ached.

The duchess slid off the fountain, tossing her own edition of the paper aside. "I think I'll go home… I don't feel too well, all of a sudden." Nose up to the air, she began to walk away. She had a lot of thinking to do, and didn't give another thought to why Mickey was so upset. All she could think about was how easily she had given herself away to a man whose real name she didn't know, and she began to loathe herself for such rashness.

Mickey tried to reach out to her, but she was rather speedy in high heels when she was upset. "Minnie! Most Precious! I, wait! Awww, nuts!" With that last howl of frustration, he kicked the stack of remaining newspapers hard, sending them scattering all over the fountain, and stormed off, determined to find a certain duck and turn him into duck soup.

The remaining girls were befuddled by such a display, but easily enough lapsed back into their gossiping and giggling. Daisy gave a toss of her hair. "Jealousy is so unbecoming."

"So is blatant obsession." A female who was not a giggling mess stepped into the miniature crowd, her long black tail flicking back and forth in annoyance. "Did you already forget your assignment, Daisy?"

"… Katarina." Daisy rolled up her paper, wishing she could smack it over the cat's nose and tell her she was a bad kitty. "I haven't forgotten anything. Can't I do anything without you breathing down my neck every five minutes?" The tension between the two of them was thick enough to cut, and the formerly ecstatic fangirls decided to cut the scene before it got worse, grabbing their papers and backing off. "I'll head to McDuck's place right now. Did you want to babysit me through the entire walk?"

"I'm keeping my eye on you, that's all." Katarina walked up to Daisy, and poked a deadly clawed finger right to Daisy's chest. "Until I see proof otherwise, I'm suspecting anyone of being the traitor… and that includes you."

Daisy smacked the finger away, and turned away, ready to walk off. "What's with everyone needing proof today? Why can't you people just have some trust? You just wait and see." She began to walk, hands on her hips to accentuate her curves as she moved. "I'll have that rich boy around my finger, and we'll have everything you need. Then I don't want to hear another word out of you."

Katarina huffed, but didn't add on. She momentarily glanced down at the fallen papers, and it was almost as if the Scarlet was staring straight at her. She stepped on his face as she left, but the unnerving feeling of being watched wouldn't leave her for a long time.

Max was fairly sure he was losing his mind. Ever since he had first met Roxanne, he would go out of his way to walk down the same street where he had seen her, in case she just so happened to come that way again. However, he couldn't find a reason why he was doing this. What was he supposed to say or do if he did see her again? Why did he even want to see her again? After each unsuccessful walk, he'd tell himself nothing good would come of their meeting again, and would resolve not to do it again the next day. The next day, he'd walk down the same path all over again. Teenage hormones, he began to learn, were much stronger than rationality and logic.

This day decided to show mercy, as when he walked down the familiar path, he easily spotted the same fiery nest of hair walking up his way. He stopped in place, at a loss for what to do. Blueprints of conversation appeared in his mind, but his mouth found no way to use them. Utterly helpless, he stood there as she made her way closer until those deep eyes of hers happened to spot him. Impossibly, she smiled, as if she was happy to see him. She suffered none of his problems, proving not only to be mobile as she headed right towards him, but also capable of speech, as she cheerily greeted him. "Max! It's so good to see you again. I've been wondering where you were."

"Hey." Max could only mumble that one word, trying to find a good place for his eyes to rest that wouldn't make her uncomfortable. Even that was proving to be a problem, as every part of her caused him to fidget in place. As he looked her over, he did notice a difference since last they met. "Hey, um… your ears." Though they were almost neatly hidden by her flowing locks, he could still make out round black spots on both of them, dangling on the bottom.

"Oh, you noticed!" She raised a hand up to pull back more of her hair, revealing the entirety of her ears. "I got them pierced the other day… I finally convinced my dad to let me do it. Now I can get earrings for my birthday next month! They just need to heal, first."

"Looks… looks nice." Max nodded numbly, unsure of the proper way to address such a change. He'd always been so flippant of women and their odd gouges to their own bodies, so now he wasn't sure what the right compliment was for this. He knew everything about gears and mechanics, but women were the only thing he could get an F in. But, again – why did he care so much?

Whatever his reasons for his utter nervousness, Roxanne was picking up on them, letting her hair drop. "… Do I make you uncomfortable, Max?"

How could he say yes without it being insulting? His tongue flip-flopped in his mouth as he struggled with an adequate answer. "Well… I, uh… See, I don't really… talk to girls…" That was a flat-out lie and he knew it, considering Daisy and the others in the revolutionaries. "N-No, it's… I don't talk to pretty girls…" That answer just came out of nowhere entirely. What was wrong with him?

His flub may have improved the situation, judging by Roxanne's widening smile. "You think I'm pretty?"

Here was a topic Max was sure he could conquer – stating the obvious! "Well, yeah. That's what I said." His lack of proper etiquette when it came to females was turning things in his favor, oddly enough.

"No one but my dad has ever called me pretty before." She was positively beaming, and seeing her so happy managed to put Max at better ease. It caused him to smile in turn, and it lasted a glorious five seconds, until she followed up. "By the way, where's your dad?"

The mention of his father was enough to cloud his spirits, and he bitterly looked away, amazed that his father could intrude even when he wasn't around. "Working, probably… tripping over something, definitely."

Confusing an insult for a joke, Roxanne chuckled softly. "He seemed really sweet. I kind of wish I had someone like that as my dad. Mine's a little…" Her eyes went past Max, seeing someone come up on the sidewalk. She sighed, and crossed her arms. "You're about to see what I mean."

Max was turning to look, but the father figure helped him the rest of the way by shoving him hard against the nearest building. "Just what do you think you're doing to my daughter!" growled the much older dog, his long nose keeping up a pair of thin glasses. "I'll report you to the police, if you don't want me to handle you personally!" He shook his cane at Max, who felt less threatened and more bewildered at the old dog causing such a ruckus.

"Daddy, please…" Roxanne put a hand on her father's shoulder, trying to pull him away. "We were only talking." Judging by the half-bored inflection in her voice, him threatening her companions was a sadly common occurrence.

"Oooh, it starts with talking!" He now threatened her with the cane, waving it back and forth in the air so much that Max wondered if he really needed it at all, or just liked having a handy weapon. "That's the problem with boys! Especially street trash like this! I know exactly what he's thinking!" Now back to Max, who was dusting himself off and looking nonplussed at the verbal assault. "Listen here, boy. She is a Shyster! She's meant for much bigger things! And if I ever catch you 'just talking' with her again, I'll have you arrested!" Satisfied with his defense, he grabbed Roxanne by the arm, and began to lead her away. "We're going home, Roxanne!"

"Yes, daddy." She was also used to obeying his orders even if she clearly disagreed with them. She managed to wave goodbye to Max before being forcibly yanked along, and Max could hear Shyster continuing to lecture his daughter about talking with trash. Max stuffed his hands in his pockets, and began to go back the way he came. Shyster was acting the way Max had believed all rich people acted, whereas his daughter was the complete opposite. She had turned out entirely different from her parentage, just as Max had with his father. It almost made him smile again.

Her birthday was in a month, and now he knew her last name. As always, when he wanted to learn something, no one could beat how much information he could gain. His fingers rubbed together in his pockets, as an idea began to form.

Some things are easier said than done. This was the lesson Daisy was currently learning as she stood in front of the luxurious mansion of Scrooge McDuck. It was very impressive, and she felt she would have to bend over backwards just to see how tall it was. The security during the day was very lax, so all she had to do was knock on the door. Then what, exactly?

She had never seduced anyone in her life and didn't know where to start. She stood before the intimidating building at a loss, feeling smaller and smaller by the second. Was she just supposed to bat her eyelashes and ask for the combination to Scrooge's vault? Then there was Scrooge himself – he'd probably kick her out the second he saw her. But Daisy couldn't go back to her friends and tell them she didn't even try. Katarina would never let it end, and Max would be severely disappointed. Daisy mulled over her problems, undoing and redoing the ribbons in her hair in an attempt to find what look would make men more willing to talk about their secrets.

The day decided to show mercy on her as well, as a blue-rimmed carriage rolled up the street and stopped in front of the mansion. It turned out she would have been making an embarrassment of herself by knocking on the door and expecting to find Donald, as it was Donald who walked out of the carriage and stopped when he saw her. He blinked once, to make sure he was seeing correctly, and then joy flooded his body, speaking in delighted disbelief. "Daisy! Oh, wow! What are you doing here?" Since they were screaming at each other when they last saw each other, this was so far a vast improvement.

"I'm… here to… here to…" Daisy envied Max's intelligence in that moment, as surely he would have been able to think up something, where she was grasping at straws for any hint of normality. "I'm here to… be your friend!" It was the first thing that came to mind, and she stuck out a hand, regretting it all afterwards. She was here to seduce him, not be his friend! A woman telling a man they were friends was the ultimate form of heartbreak!

Yet Donald couldn't be happier at those words as he grabbed Daisy's hand and shook it wildly with both of his own. "My friend! You mean it? You really want to be my friend? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! My first friend here!" He almost looked ready to burst into tears, and began to pull her toward the door, dancing on webbed feet. "Come on in! We'll have lunch! My first friend!"

Daisy followed him, staring at him as she managed to wring her hand free. "If this is your idea of flirting…" She cut herself off before she could insult him any further, and fortunately the interior of the house was fancy enough to awe her into momentarily silence. Even though she had been there once before as a servant during Donald's party, the massive scale of show-off riches still managed to throw her off. She couldn't believe that any one man in all of France could afford this much.

"I haven't made any real friends since I came here." Donald continued to walk her around, past large paintings, fancy furniture, and the repaired chandelier from the Scarlet's first night out. "There are all these business guys my uncle wants me to get chummy with, but no one's actually come out and said they wanted to be my friend." But even in his unbridled happiness, he had to pick at the loose thread. "What changed your mind?" He was grateful that she no longer wanted to shove bread down his beak, but wanted to know why, so he could keep it up.

"… A girl's allowed to change her mind." It was the only answer she could form that wasn't another insult. "Don't pick at it. The important thing is that I want to be your friend. So, I'll be over… doing… friendly things." The plan was sounding much sillier now that she had to explain it. If Katarina was so confident in this idea, why couldn't she do it? This was all her fault.

Donald decided to leave the matter as it was, and the two entered the dining room where lunch was already being served, thanks to Ducksworth. He didn't even show a blink of surprise to see Daisy there, and stood up straight. "My apologies, sir. I didn't know we were having guests. I'll go fetch more silverware." He cleared his throat, but didn't add on.

Donald caught the meaning of butler's cough, and laughed awkwardly as he turned to Daisy, who was holding up one of the decorative plates. "S-so, uh! Can I… know your last name?"

"Canard." She replied instead of 'none of your business' as she desired to. She turned the plate over in her hands, unable to contain her disgust as she inspected it. "How much did this cost you?"

Donald shrugged, reaching over to grab an apple off of the table. "I'm not sure."

"That's what I can't stand!" Alas, Daisy's hair-trigger temper couldn't be suppressed for too long, and she slammed the plate down on the table. "You people waste all of this money, and you don't even know! You just throw it around for any pretty looking thing you want! Money's not even real to you! There are people out starving in the streets, but you just throw some bills around for matching plates!"

Donald looked to Ducksworth for support, but he was minding his own business as he set up more forks and spoons. Donald swallowed hard, tossing the apple back and forth between his hands. "I… I meant I really didn't know. My uncle bought it." That seemed to thankfully put Daisy in her place as she didn't retaliate right away, and Donald seized up the silence. "I haven't bought anything since I've arrived. Uncle Scrooge bought everything here. I don't think he trusts me with money yet."

Awkward silence hung between them as the ducks were absolutely unsure what to do with one another. Daisy was deeply uncomfortable with the fact that someone was trying to move outside of what she considered normal rich behavior, and in haste, she snatched the apple out of his hands. "Yes, well, I simply must be going." She quickly moved past Donald, who was now juggling air without the fruit in his hands.

"But… you just got here!" What had he done wrong now? He'd been completely honest, and after the hissy fit she had thrown when he had shown off his uncle's money, he thought this attitude was much preferred. She was a puzzle and as his eyes followed her, he began to wonder if she was worth solving at all.

Daisy stopped momentarily at the doorway, running her fingers over her apple. "… I'll come see you tomorrow. And the day after that. And so forth. Just a little bit each day." She took a hefty bite out of the apple, using chewing and swallowing to prevent frustration from appearing on her face. "That's what friends do, right?"

Donald was tempted to ask if she had any friends, given that odd line of scheduling, but who was he to ask? "Uh… sure. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" He offered her a kindly smile, and decided that while Daisy was certainly strange in her likes and dislikes, she was still an enjoyable person to be around. She was certainly entertaining at the least.

Daisy gave a curt nod, a quick "Tomorrow", and then she was gone, hastily chewing her apple all the while. She was suddenly very angry all again, as she was disturbed by how friendly that smile towards her had been. It looked so true and believable that she was almost fooled into thinking someone like him could be sincere. But he couldn't be, no sir! Anyone who had access to that much wealth had to carry just as much darkness within them. She plowed out the front door, nearly knocking over a visiting duck but paid him absolutely no mind. The visitor didn't appear to mind, picking up his fallen four-leaf-clover and putting it back on his vest, and glancing at her in unhealthy appreciative way, before heading back to the McDuck mansion.

Daisy continued to storm through the streets, and eventually tossed her apple core up in the air, declaring boldly "I don't care how cute his smile is! My heart forever belongs to the Scarlet!" Naturally she paid no attention when the core bonked a passing paperboy mouse on the head.

Donald exchanged a thumbs-up with his butler. "I learned her last name!"

"Huzzah, sir."

That night, the Scarlet took to the streets once more to protect as many as he could, but when there was a moment's peace, he sat on the roof of the local church, his grim expression matching that of the nearby gargoyles. He hugged his knees, pouting as he observed the city, and grumbled to his mentors when they talked to him again. "Of course I'm still upset!"

Back at their headquarters, Ludwig was manning the many screens for any signs of trouble, while Gyro was trying to calm down their troubled hero. "We told you that you shouldn't be getting so close to the Duchess… don't you remember what we said about those close to you getting hurt? Ludwig was just trying to help."

"If this is how he helps, I'd hate to see how he hinders." His electronically enhanced voice nearly sparked as he continued to lament his troubles. "Thanks to that stupid sap in the paper, all the women I've saved tonight have tried to paw off my sleeves! I'm the most wanted man in France!" He shuddered to remember the five robberies, three muggings and seven assaults he had stopped – each one had resulted in either the women making a grab for him to become his most precious, or the men making a grab for him as payback for stealing their women. "I didn't get into this job just to have some fangirls assault me after I stopped their assault!"

"I'm sure it'll calm down after a few days," Gyro said gently, but he was ready to become admonishing with his friend. As much as he wanted Mickey to be happy, he wanted to keep Mickey alive even more. "But you gave us little choice in the matter. Why, you nearly spilled the secret to the duchess today, just because of one kiss!"

"… It was a good kiss." A slick smile spread on his face as he once again remembered the best night of his life. How had she learned to kiss like that? She was so small, but the force of her lips had been full of power and strength. She hadn't missed an inch of his mouth, and even though that night had a brisk chill to it, she was radiating warmth, pressing into him with her –

"Oh no you don't! You get back from la-la land!" Gyro snapped his fingers near the microphone, managing to yank Mickey back to reality. By now he and Ludwig had spent so much time with Mickey that they easily recognized the expression Mickey would make when his mind would drift to the duchess. Ludwig had even named it the "Adieu, Mickey" face, because it really felt like he had gone and said goodbye to the outside world. "This is serious! You need to be more in control of your feelings! I know you're made of stronger stuff than this!"

Mickey didn't enjoy fighting with his companions, but his stubborn feelings caused him to stand up, glaring at those who were not with him. "It's not that easy! Neither of you have ever been in love before!"

"That's not true, Mickey. Ludwig was once married!" It was out before he had control of it, and Gyro slapped a hand over his beak, mortified. Ludwig stayed at the screens, his back to his ally. Though the two birds were the closest of comrades, they had certain subjects that were not to be spoken of, and Gyro had just hit one of the big ones. Ludwig was quiet for the moment, unreadable.

Mickey was oblivious to the tension he had helped cause, and in fact was very curious to the fact that had stumbled out. "Huh? Ludwig's married?" He thought he knew everything about his benefactors, but this was completely out of left, right, and middle field! What kind of woman would put up with that level of kookiness? He tried to imagine what kind of woman that would be, and could only conjure up a female Ludwig. The image was hideous enough that Mickey couldn't help but burst into laughter, and he expected Ludwig to join him in hearty chuckles.

Instead, Ludwig used a voice that Mickey had never heard before. "I was married." There was no joy in his inflection, no haphazard use of his accent, no jumble of words in the wrong places. Mickey's laughter died at once as he released the real meaning of the past tense words, and instead heard Gyro softly mumbling attempted apologies. There were a million questions Mickey wanted to ask, but knew he could never even try. Guilt weighed heavily on his heart, as this had done more to teach him than Gyro's lectures and the mishap in the papers. Mickey had nearly ruined Ludwig's hard work and sacrifices, just for the slim chance of being with someone who he was also putting in danger. He faced the direction of the duchess's house, and found more reasons to apologize to her.

"I'm sorry." He uttered softly, casting his eyes downward. He was sorry to Ludwig, to Gyro, to Minnie, and to everyone he could have put in danger for the sake of a sweet kiss. But as he looked down, he became attuned to cries from below, and he furrowed his brows as he concentrated. "Wait… guys, can you look at the bottom of the church? I think something's going down."

The men back at the hideout were more than relieved to get back to work, and Ludwig flew in a flurry of typing to get to the location Mickey was trying to see. "We've got visual!" He was full of life and jest once more, whistling as the crime on screen became clear. "Looks like a mugging! Move your boots, boy!"

"On it!" Mickey jumped off the roof, putting his utmost trust in his helpers as always. His feet touched the outer walls of the church, and the magnets in his boots reacted to the steel, allowing Mickey to run down the wall to get to the streets as soon as possible. Midway there, he could see the trouble. Even in the dark night, what little moonlight there was allowed him to see the figure of a tall horse threatening a maiden cow with a handgun, and he could hear snippets of his angered tone threatening bodily harm if she didn't comply. It was a simple enough crime, and Mickey at this point had faced far worse and far better.

He leaped off from the church wall when he was close enough, turned in the air, and delivered a forceful kick to the horse's chest. The attacker fell on the ground with his weapon tossed to the left, both males grunting as they went down. Mickey stood up on the man's chest, hoping that the woman he had saved this time wouldn't try to reward him with tongue as several others had. "And near a church!" Mickey wagged a disapproving finger at the fallen criminal, who glowered at him in turn. "Certainly your mother raised you better than that. Now, why don't you start on a new lease on life by handing over any other weapons you've got stashed?" He held out a hand towards the horse, confident that he had set a new record in stopping crime.

His victory was short lived, as Gyro was suddenly screaming in his ear. "Scarlet, move!"

Mickey was quick to obey, but not quick enough, as a heavy metal pipe was slammed into the back of his head. He almost went blind with pain, crying out as he fell off of the horse's body. His eyes swam, but despite the horrific echoing hurt all around his skull, he could still hear Ludwig and Gyro giving him orders in high panic. Mickey stumbled as he barely managed to dodge another pipe blow, and when his vision cleared for a few seconds, he saw that the cow he had been trying to save was the one wielding the weapon. He lost his footing just as the horse stood up, picking up the fallen gun and aiming it at the red themed hero.

"Scarlet, or whatever your name is." The horse stood beside the cow, both of them ready to finish the job together. "You're under arrest for assault." He pulled out a small object from his sleeve, and then held out in the moon's lightning, showing off a shiny police badge. "We are prepared to use deadly force if you don't come along quietly."

End Of Chapter Six.