"Molly's coming. Once you finish tying them up, step away from them and stop talking to them," Trent said.
"Why?" Chris asked.
"That's what Molly told me...he still awake?" Trent replied.
"Uh...yeah. He looks out of it, though. He's bleeding a little," Chris said.
"Well...I'd feel worse except that he pulled a fucking gun on me and Gregg," Trent muttered. He broke his own advice, though, as he looked at Mike while Allen was finishing tying him up. "Why'd you have to fucking doing this!? This is going to be such a big fucking pain in the ass for everyone!" When Mike said nothing, he stepped closer. "Answer me! Why'd you fucking do this!?" he demanded.
"You disrespected me, you punched me in the face, did you seriously think I'd just let that go?" Mike replied, his voice low and pissed.
"You started it! Why the fuck didn't you leave her alone!?"
"You look familiar, kid," Allen muttered suddenly. "What's his last name?"
"Uh...what was it...B...Belter. Mike Belter."
"Motherfucker. You're Stu Belter's kid. I know your daddy. Look kid, I don't know what Molly's gonna do to you but I promise it'll be a hell of a lot sweeter than what I'd do to you. You get home, you ask your daddy about Allen Santello. He'll tell you. Don't fuck with me. I see you in Possum Springs again, I'm gonna beat your fucking lights out. Do you understand me, you'll little punk?" he growled.
"Yes," Mike replied, swallowing.
Trent felt a lot of his own anger boiling away rapidly as listened to Allen. He sounded pretty damn enraged himself, and completely serious. Maybe he was. Trent latched onto the opportunity and tried to calm himself down before he did something stupid. It looked like he'd gotten away lucky with this one, probably.
Allen finished tying them both up and stepped back with Trent, who, after some deliberation, ended up having them set the weapons aside, far out of anyone's potential reach, for Molly to deal with.
"Man, that was intense," Gregg muttered.
"Yeah...should probably call Mae and Bea," Trent replied.
"I should call Angus," Gregg agreed.
"I think Molly'd want you to wait until she gets this sorted out," Allen replied.
Trent sighed. "Probably, yeah."
They didn't have to wait long, at least. Molly showed up with a second patrol car and an ambulance. They blocked off the street, red and blue lights flashing and lighting up the area. She got out of her car and jogged over, taking charge of the situation immediately, directing the two other cops and two medics that had come with her. Trent had to admit, he was impressed to see her in action. She was really on top of everything.
"All right," she said, "Trent, you first: what happened?"
He told her. Then Gregg told her basically the same thing, and Allen a shorted version of that.
"Chris? Why were you out here?" Molly asked.
"I was out for a walk," he replied. "And I saw that asshole with his friends. I overheard them talking about jumping Trent, saw one of them pull out a gun and go hide. I decided to get the drop on him and help out."
"How did you recognize Mike?" she asked.
"I was actually there at the Pickaxe when it happened, when he grabbed Bea. I saw it go down. Well, not at the Pickaxe, across the street."
"All right. You didn't think to call me? Call someone else? When you noticed the gun?" she asked.
"There didn't seem to be time," Chris replied after a moment.
"Hmm. All right. Allen," she glanced back up the street briefly, "you can finish closing down the Pickaxe but please come back down here before you go home."
"I understand, Molly," he replied, getting up and walking back to his store.
"Trent, I need to talk with them, but if you want to call someone for a ride, that'd be fine. I'll need to speak with you again before you go, though," she replied.
He nodded. "Got it."
"Same goes for you two," she said, looking at Gregg and Chris, who nodded. Molly got up and walked away, towards Mike and his friends, who now all sat on the curb with proper cuffs on their hands. They were being checked out by the medics.
"This is weird," Gregg muttered, glancing briefly at Chris.
"Yep," Chris replied.
"I need to make a phone call," Trent said, pulling his phone back out.
"Hey, uh...can I ask a favor?" Chris asked awkwardly.
Trent considered it. "Given what you just did, yes."
"Can I talk to Claire?" he asked.
"Yeah...wait, why don't you just call her?" Trent replied.
"I...want to talk to her in person. This whole thing has me feeling, uh, weird," he muttered.
"All right, I'll see what I can do," Trent said, and called Bea.
She answered after a few rings. "Hey love, what's taking so long?"
"So...I want to preface this by saying that Gregg and I are not hurt," Trent replied.
Her tone changed immediately. "Oh God, what the fuck happened?" she demanded.
"That asshole who grabbed you came back with a few friends and tried to jump us with a pistol and a knife."
"Trent!"
"I said we're okay!" he replied quickly. "It's under control. Molly's here with a few other cops."
"We're coming right now, where are you?" Bea asked.
"Outside of Fat Pocket Pawn. But we're okay, all right? And the street's blocked off so be ready for that. But where is Claire?" he asked.
"She's taking a bath over at Mae's parent's place. Why?"
"Uh...I'll tell you when you get here. Just, don't freak out, okay? Like I said, the assholes are subdued, me and Gregg aren't hurt at all, Molly's here."
"...all right. We're coming. I love you."
"I love you, too." He sighed and hung up. "I expect a mushroom cloud to go off in about thirty seconds when Bea tells Mae what happened."
"So what's up?" Chris asked.
"Your sister just got into a bath, so I figured it'd make more sense to just bring you back with us," Trent replied.
"Oh. Um. Man, this is gonna get weird," he said.
"Yeah." Trent paused for a long moment. He checked the situation. Molly was still talking to the three idiots. Mike was getting checked out now and as he looked, they were flushing his eyes. Allen was coming back from the Pickaxe now. Trent looked back to Chris. "So I'll tell them that, you know, you saved my ass, but Bea and especially Mae are probably going to be openly hostile towards you."
He sighed heavily. "Yeah, of course they are. I'm never gonna live this shit down."
"...no comment," Trent replied.
"Hopefully Angus isn't too worried. I'm sure Bea told him…" Gregg said.
"Yeah, I imagine so. I'm sure he'll be coming along, too."
"Well...we've been through this before. Sorta. I'm a scrappy mofo, so I get in a lot of fights."
"Yeah. I gotta say, with love, you're kinda crazy."
"I'm a short gay man who grew up in the fucking Rust Belt," Gregg replied.
"That's a very fair point," Trent said, and Gregg laughed.
"All right, shop's all closed down, what's happening?" Allen asked.
"Not much. The group's driving over now," Trent replied.
Allen grunted, then looked at Chris, who seemed very awkwardly caught between not wanting to meet his eyes and feeling like he needed to face him.
"Got something to say to me, Chris?" Allen asked.
Chris cleared his throat and turned fully to face him. Trent watched, curious. It took a moment, but Chris finally looked him in the eyes. "Yes, Mister Santello. I'm sorry. For what I did with Bea. And...every stupid thing I did in your store. I was a moron."
Allen looked at him for a long moment, then just grunted, "Fine." He looked at Trent. "What do you think about him? You're the one he pulled a box-cutter on."
"He asked for forgiveness, I gave it," Trent replied.
"Huh. You are unreasonably reasonable. Think I'd be enemies for life," Allen grunted.
"Well...I believe in redemption. Otherwise, what's the point? And, I dunno, hate is toxic. I'm not saying it's wrong in some cases, but...how many times did you wind up getting wicked pissed at someone or hating them, and eventually looking back and realizing, '...I probably should've just let that go'?"
"Mmm...more times than I care to admit," Allen muttered after a moment. "What's Bea think about all this?"
"She...accepted his apology, but didn't forgive him," Trent replied. "She's still, you know, considering it."
"You're just lucky you didn't lay hands on my daughter or we wouldn't even be having this conversation," Allen growled.
Chris's frown deepened and he winced a little. "I know."
"All right everyone," Molly said, coming back over and breaking up the conversation, "time for the big question. Anyone intend to press charges?"
"Yes, I do," Trent replied.
"I'm in," Gregg agreed.
"I kinda just wanna stay out of it," Chris said.
"I'll need you for witness statements at least," Molly replied. She grunted. "All right, then. Let's make this happen."
It didn't take nearly as long as Trent thought it might. Mostly he and Gregg had to answer questions, then Allen and Chris had to answer some. They were almost done by the time Bea, Mae, Ann, Angus, and Candy all rolled up in Trent's jeep and Bea's car. The medics had finished up and they wanted to take the guy who'd fallen and hit his head to the hospital for an x-ray, which Molly okayed. She had the other two put into the back of one of the patrol cars.
"Can they come over now?" Trent asked. His whole group was waiting anxiously on the other side of the street, staring at them. Mae looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel.
"Yeah, we're all done here," Molly replied, waving off the other patrol car. "You can come over!" she called to the group once the ambulance and the patrol car had left the scene.
Everyone began coming over but Mae rushed ahead of them and practically bowled Trent over as she literally leaped onto him.
"Are you okay and what the fuck is he doing here?!" she demanded as he caught her.
"I'm fine, Gregg is fine, we're all fine. And he saved us," Trent replied.
"What?!" Bea asked as she came up.
"Yeah. Third dude had a gun. Chris saw him and snuck up behind him and disarmed him," Trent replied.
"It's true," Gregg agreed. "Hello, Captain."
Angus walked up and wrapped Gregg in a hug. "Bug. You're all right."
"I am," he replied. "Are you?"
"I am now," Angus muttered.
"What exactly happened?" Candy asked, looking uncertainly at Chris.
Trent took the opportunity to give a quick rundown of events.
"Stupid assholes," Ann muttered. "Can't believe they actually came back."
"I can," Molly said. "They're from Mulvey."
"Oh God," Mae groaned. "No wonder."
"Maybe we should be getting everyone home," Candy said.
"Yes, that would be best," Molly agreed. "I might need to call you again sometime soon, all four of you, so keep your phones on. And let me know if anything else happens."
"We will," Trent replied. He looked hesitantly at the others. "So...um...this is awkward but Chris wants to talk to Claire."
"So call her up when she's done with her bath," Bea replied.
"I was hoping to talk to her in person," Chris replied.
"I think, given what happened, it's fair to at least give him a ride to our house and see if Claire is willing to indulge," Trent said.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then they slowly looked to Mae and Bea, who both stared at Chris, frowning deeply.
Finally, Bea sighed. "Fine."
"Fine whatever," Mae said.
"Thanks," Chris said quietly.
"I'll drive my Jeep, Chris can ride with me."
"I'm going, too," Mae said. "And if you fucking try one thing…" She ran a finger across her throat.
Candy sighed. "Mae!"
"He tried to stab us!" Mae snapped.
"Mmm…" Candy murmured, looking at Chris.
"Angus, you good to drive my car?" Bea asked.
"Yes," Angus replied.
"Okay. Me, Trent, and Mae ride with Chris in Trent's jeep, everyone else in my car," Bea said.
"Sounds good, let's go," Trent replied. "I want to go home. I'm fucking exhausted."
"Wait, um, hey dad," Bea said. "I should at least say hi while I'm here. Are you okay?"
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," he replied, accepting a hug when she offered it. "I wasn't here for the main event...probably for the best. Just glad everything turned out all right."
"Me too," Bea agreed. "You gonna make it to the concert tomorrow?"
"Oh yes, rabid wolves couldn't keep me away," he replied. "I'm so curious to hear you sing."
She laughed awkwardly. "Thanks dad. Um...I should go. I'll see you then."
"Yep. Goodbye, everyone."
They said goodbye and split up. Molly hung around in her car, watching them as they left.