Tandy stuck the geneaology scanner out of the side of the building. Such a far away target, it would be tricky to get anything.

“That’s it,” Danton said, pulling out his return key, a metal object that looked exactly like a pen. “We’re done here.”

“What do you mean?” Tandy asked, still trying to get a lock on Mrs Smith.

“What are we supposed to do here? Our cover’s blown and the hostage is actively in danger. We need to go back and call in the team. This guy’s not our fight.”

Tandy shook her head. “No! We’re right here and if we leave, we lose both him and her. We have to stay. You can leave and get the team if you want.”

“You know I can’t leave you here alone.”

Tandy ignored him and concentrated on aiming the scanner. It beeped a few times once it got a lock. Her face immediately drained of all blood. “Shit!”

“What?”

“She must have remarried at some point. She has over 8,000 descendants, including several high ranking ministers in the present.”

Danton’s eyes widened and he placed a hand on Tandy’s shoulder. “We need to leave, NOW! We’ve taken all the risk we can handle. Now we’re endangering people in the present by being here.”

Tandy slid down the wall, staring at the few villagers who dared to stick their heads out of their various windows and doors. She rested her head on the wall, thinking.

“You can’t seriously be considering continuing the operation? It’s done, we’re done,” Danton stated.

If they were going to get this guy, Tandy figured, they needed more firepower. So to speak.

“Come with me,” Tandy said, using Danton’s arm to pull herself up. “We can get some help from the noble.” She walked away towards the mansion in the distance.

Danton was so shocked he almost forgot to follow her. “You do realise I floated that idea minutes ago? And we agreed it was a bad idea even before everything blew up.”

“Yes, and I should’ve listened to you when you said it was a good idea. Look grateful,” She said.

“I have no idea how you can joke around right now.”

“We need to stay calm. I think your strategy of being po-faced about everything isn’t working.”

Danton sighed, then relented. “Fine, let’s sort this out.”

They didn’t get far before stopping at the sound of distant hooves. A procession of around ten knights, clad in blue and black checkered armour, rode towards them. Danton hastily put his gun in his holster and Tandy rested her hand on hers. The figure in the centre was notably chunkier than the rest, clad in the same armour but it very obviously stretched to within an inch of its life. A plume of feathers was attached to his helmet.

The procession slowed and stopped for the two, several metres away. The central figure rode ahead and he looked down at Danton. “Why do you stop in the lord’s way? And what are you foreigners doing in my village?”

“We come with grave concern about the one in the smithy using magic for ill. I am a general of Lord Bathurst’s army…” Thank god for history training, _”…_and me and my wife were crossing here to get supplies. The evil one in the building took a married woman in his possession and fired upon us with evil magic.”

The noble stared for a moment. He looked at the closest guard who shrugged at him and he looked back. “Come with me, I will pay Bathurst for your services.” The procession then moved off, much slower this time to accommodate Danton on foot. Tandy made to follow but Danton waved her off, knowing his ‘general’ story was tenuous at best without a woman around. This whole medieval sexism thing was really starting to rub Tandy the wrong way.

A deathly silence had come over the village. Danton couldn’t even see faces peering out of ajar doors and windows anymore. No screaming. The dirt had settled. For all Danton knew the fugitive could have escaped and taken everyone with him. The sliding of leather and the soft beat of hooves created the only rhythm in the empty soundscape.

Danton motioned the procession around to a nearby house and stopped everyone. There was a clear path to the back door. Danton gathered everyone around in a scattered huddle.

“Okay, I will enter into the building alone—” Before he could say anything more there was bewildered scoffing coming from the troops. The lord held his hand up and turned around to get off his horse. His armour made an unfortunate CLONK sound when he hit the ground. He grunted, readjusted his pants, and walked up to Danton.

“Why do you head in while we all wait? Should we not rush in with the might of my professional army?” He asked.

Danton glanced at the rest of the army, seeing a rough scattering of cheap leather and inexpertly painted coats of arms. “I have more experience with demons of this nature. They fight not just with their magic but with their tongues. It will convince you and your men to turn and leave should it not just kill you on sight. If we are to purge this beast from your lands, I will need to go in and do battle on its terms.”

“What if he flies out the window?” One of the knights chimed in. Danton tried not to look at him in case he literally killed him with his gaze.

“Wise observation,” He said. “But, it should not be a problem. In human form, its wings are restrained.”

The lord pursed his lips and looked around, deep in thought. Danton could see the rusty cogs turning. Do I swallow my pride? Or do I take the glory for myself. It would be great to have that prestige. Although, if we all go in I could possibly die. “You have my blessing,” He said, as magnanimous as ever. Danton smiled and he approached the back of the house, hugging the wall of the town for cover.

A cacophony of banging and yelling came from the top floor. Danton opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind him. When he was sure the door was latched, he sighed and tried to settle himself. No backup, no partner and only token hostage negotiation training. He really was on his own.

He pulled off his tunic revealing the brown suit he had been hiding underneath. The heat from the forge was blaring at him and the tunic was not helping matters. He unholstered his gun and held it at his hip, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The banging had come from upstairs so he followed the curve of the stairs, standing at the far wall to anticipate any danger.

Two doors were lined up on the second floor, and the sound of sobbing was coming from the ajar door closest to Danton. His gun rested behind him. He pushed the door as microscopically as possible to peer in. Mrs Smith was shaking on the ground next to the bed, but was not crying. She noticed Danton but tried not to make it obvious. She purposefully glanced at the bed, the source of the sobbing. Danton nodded and raised his gun.

Opening the door the slightest bit further revealed the fugitive. He was cradling his head in his hands, still holding the gun. Tears streamed down his face and dropped onto his dirty tunic. With how distraught he was, Danton wondered whether he would be able to slap a pair of handcuffs on him without him noticing.

Danton kicked the door in and quick as a flash the fugitive had Mrs Smith back on her feet, using her as a shield. It was so fast Danton couldn’t get a clean shot on him.

“Just let me be…” The fugitive whimpered.

“You know I can’t do that. As long as you’re endangering another person, I’m not going.”

The two remained silent, their guns trained on each other. Danton’s was still and controlled, gently swaying but on target. The fugitive held his with a vibrating white knuckle grip. Danton stepped right, and the fugitive stepped right in kind. Another one from Danton, the same from him. They did this dance until the fugitive was in front of the door and Danton was against the wall.

“Don’t kill her,” Danton implored. “She’ll have a family. She has over 8000 living descendants who’ll be erased. All people with families and loved ones.”

The fugitive tried to hide it but he looked surprised, and then looked sick. Whereas Mrs Smith looked downright confused. Whatever these aliens were saying was going right over her head. “I’m not going to kill her,” He stated. “The only person who’ll hurt her is you.”

“Okay, great. We’ve established that nobody’s going to get hurt. If you just drop—”

“Do you know what they did to me in that prison?” He interrupted. “You kill me, they kill me, there’s no difference.”

With that, the fugitive backed towards the door. Danton followed, matching him step for step. They had backed into the stairwell and the fugitive was awkwardly descending. “Can you at least tell me your name?” Danton asked.

“Does it matter?”

“I want to know the person I’m talking to. Tell me who you are.”

The fugitive stared with scepticism, taking a moment to consider. “I’m…Dave.”

Danton ignored the possibility of a pseudonym and continued. “Okay, Dave. I understand what’s happened to you. But I have sole responsibility on this case and I can sure as hell guarantee you won’t be hurt. I can put you in a nicer prison, maybe even get a few years knocked off.”

“And why should I believe you? You’re just like the rest of them; You’ll lie through your teeth just to get a clean shot on me.”

Dave finally hit the ground floor and the back door was tantalisingly close.

“You should know that the village lord’s army is waiting outside,” Danton stated.

The fire of anger flooded back into Dave’s eyes. “You DO want me dead,” He said, strengthening his grip on Mrs Smith as she let out a yelp.

“No! I want you to make the right choice. It was either I tell them to wait outside or they come here of their own accord and kill you. It doesn’t matter how good you are with that thing, there’s more than enough of them out there to cut you down. Please, I don’t want anyone else to die. Least of all you.” Dave rested his head on Mrs Smith’s shoulder, defeated. Tears soaked into her dress and Mrs Smith looked as comfortable as one could be in this situation. “Come with me, I’ll take you back to the present. It’s that or die here.”

Dave’s gun hand shook, and eventually he released his grip on the hostage. Mrs Smith, the moment she was unhanded, burst out the door and disappeared outside. Dave walked towards Danton and made to lower his weapon. All of a sudden he raised his gun at Danton, and the blue flash of a laser cut him down.

Tandy emerged from the doorway, her gun barrel still smoking. She hurriedly lowered her weapon when she realised she was pointing it at Danton. “Why in the hell did you direct the guards there? Do you know how hard it was to sneak around them?” Danton continued staring at the body, now accumulating blood.

She knelt over the body and scanned it with the genealogy scanner as her partner leaned against the wall. She got back up and slapped the device closed. “We should take the body back to the morgue.”

He nodded. She placed a device on Dave’s chest and lined up next to Danton. “You okay? This isn’t the first time you’ve seen someone get killed.”

Danton didn’t respond. Simply shook his head. “Thought…getting to him…” He mumbled.

“What’s up?”

“I thought I got through to him. I could have killed that woman. I could have killed thousands.”

“HE could have killed thousands.” The device whirred into life, and the matching devices in their pockets did the same, glowing an eerie green.

“Had anything gone differently. If I had taken the wrong shot. If I said the wrong thing. What if we didn’t intervene, couldn’t he have just lived out a normal life?”

“You mean besides the guy he murdered?” Tandy asked, growing more impatient.

Danton shifted uncomfortably. “Why do we think we can police the past like this if the risk is so astronomical?” The device whirred faster and faster now.

Tandy opened her mouth, but thought about it some more. She looked at the corpse pooling blood where they stood. A rare solemn look grew on her face. “If not us, then who?”

And in a flash of light they were gone.