All right, let's keep going. Thanks for reviewing, What'dIMiss, Bloodylilcorpse and yeezynight14. And Lonestarr, thanks for the suggestion, but I have never seen anything related to Superman at all.

Mal's new customer was none other than Alejandro himself, the same judge that had exiled the young man to the other side of the world for nothing. And now, he was in the makeshift salon, asking for an appointment. This kind of opportunity was too good to miss.

Mal neutralized his face carefully. He couldn't let any sign of recognition show. "When would you like to schedule it? Since I'm quite new in town, most of my customers have just come in and have it all done immediately, since I'm not booked up yet."

Alejandro paused, thinking about it, and then replied "Well, I don't require anything too time-consuming." He gave his instructions for what he wanted, and asked "How long should that take?"

Mal cast his eyes over Alejandro's current hair. It was fairly long and slightly shaggy. He just wanted it trimmed so it didn't quite reach his shoulders, which it was brushing now. He had also asked to have his soul patch trimmed. The stubble was getting out of control, and, as Mal darkly amused himself in thinking, trimming that would be a good excuse for the razor to 'accidentally' slip and slit his neck. Then, and only then, he could contact Geoff and ask him to bring Bridgette there. He was so close to seeing his daughter, and all the time it would take was...

"No more than half an hour." he told his customer, as Scarlett slipped out the door and back down to her own business.

"If I'm correct, I have two hours before my next hearing." Alejandro calculated. "So I'll accept the immediate appointment."

Mal may not have been the same man he was before the exile, but he still had that same skill of chatting to the customers. He no longer really enjoyed the social part of his job, but that didn't mean he wasn't still good at it.

"Any special occasion?" he asked in a casual voice.

"Well, no," Alejandro answered in the same casual tone, "But it's mainly for my fiancée. She had some reservations about agreeing to marry me. A collegue of mine told me that your services were very much up to standard."

"I hope I will live up to those expectations." Mal said, knowing full well that even if he did (he intended to), his customer wouldn't live long enough to sing his praises to anyone else, much less impress this girl (he didn't dream for a moment that the girl was his daughter, because surely even a judge who was willing to stretch the law to his will wouldn't be interested in a girl he'd raised who was less than half his age).

The demonic man whistled as he assembled his tools. It was a rather onimous tune, called "In the Hall Of The Mountain King". Luckily for him, no one knew that whenever Mal whistled that tune, he was preparing to damage someone, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

He kept up a friendly stream of chatter as he worked, anticipating the moment when he would end another life. He took his time, making sure everything was just right.

He probably should have just finished straight away and not bothered with the build-up. Just when he was about to finish, another familiar man burst in, not noticing that Mal had a customer.

"I have amazing news! The girl I was talking about – Bridgette – I've finally spoken to her, and she's going to run away, and I'm going to-"

It was Geoff, who should really have said nothing. Alejandro looked straight up at the man as he mentioned Bridgette's name, and recognized Geoff. Sure, he'd only seen the younger blonde once, but when it came to Bridgette, he remembered things like that.

However, he didn't say anything to show it. Yet. "Thank you. What was your rate again?" he asked Mal.

Then he paid and left. But as he passed Geoff, the blonde heard him muttering "I suppose I'll have to find better security..."

Mal had to hold himself back from attacking, or just yelling at Geoff for ruining his chances. He tried hard to calm himself down, and finally managed to ask in a relatively calm voice "What were you saying?"

"I've spoken to the girl I told you about. Bridgette, her name is – we're planning to leave town together next week. Bridgette said she'd send me a letter about when we're safe to go."

Mal paused, thinking about a way to get to see Bridgette first. And as he thought, a plan developed. If he could get Geoff to bring Bridgette back, he could send a letter to Alejandro about it to lure him back, and finish the job.

"It sounds as if you might have some more trouble after that little outburst." Mal said, with a hint of irritation. Will you have to wait until the ship is ready to leave?"

"Probably." Geoff admitted.

"Well, you'll probably need somewhere to wait it out so he doesn't find her before you can leave." Mal reasoned. "You're welcome to come here."

Geoff grinned. "Thanks, bro. And sorry about bursting in like that – I was just so excited. I'll see you later."

Once Geoff was gone, Mal went downstairs to talk to Scarlett.

"Finally!" she said, looking impatient for once. "I wanted to talk to you about what you plan to do about Chris. I know we've got our story for Cameron -" her eyes fell on the young man, still unconscious in the corner of the bakery. "-but what are we going to do with the body?"

Mal shrugged. "Bury him. Point is, things have changed. There's going to be many more to come, so you're going to have to deal with it. Everyone deserves to die, after all. Look at my last customer – a corrupt lawman! He doesn't deserve to live – or to have my daughter. Especially after what you told me he did to my Zoey. And look at Cameron – he didn't deserve to live out his life in servitude to Chris! He'd be better off dead than suffering. And don't think I deserve to live, either. I'm no better than any of them, and nor are you. I might as well make a start on ending suffering for the pure and ending the cruelty of the corrupt."

Scarlett looked a little bit amused, but her voice was deadpan. "Well, that's a good point. But are you sure you want to bury Chris?" Her green eyes were alight, as if she had an idea.

"What else could I do with him?" Mal asked, curious as he saw the redhead's dancing eyes.

"Well," Scarlett said slyly, "I had another idea. I've complained over and over again about the price of meat, and how all I can serve is fat and pastry. And I was thinking, Chris has a lot of flesh. Not the amount I need for even a few days' worth of customers, I can say that, but if you're planning on ending the lives of more of your clients, than..."

Mal's own eyes lit up. "Are you honestly asking me to hand them over to you? You'll put them in your pies and sausage rolls?" He laughed darkly. "I didn't think you had it in you, but it's a wonderful idea. No one will be able to trace that."

Scarlett couldn't help laughing herself, engaging in a little role play. "Today, sir, we have Pageant Queen on special. But we also have Delinquent, Lawyer, Hipster and Figure Skater."

"I think I'll try the Pageant Queen." Mal said, taking a pretend bite. "Southern, yet refined. A bite to the sweetness. Lovely." He chuckled again.

"But my favourite flavour has to be that of Chef." Scarlett joked. "It has just the right amount of spices to it."

The two of them laughed again. Business was going to be taking off very soon.

Couldn't resist putting a few references in with my "A Little Priest" dialogue. And that's the end of the first act, and Scarlett has had her idea! This was the part of the story that always creeped me out. No, wait, it's not the cannibalism – it's the fact that...well, you'll see in the next chapter how everyone reacts!