New Sheriffs in Town, Chapter Four

[lonewolfprincess]

The great Bull Demon King… gulped as he kneeled in front of the Bailey siblings.

“Look, perhaps… I was a bit hasty with the whole ‘enslaving your land and everyone in it for all eternity’ thing. Why don’t I just… set up a little fiefdom here and mind my own business? You could be generals among my guards? What do you say?”

“After what you did to my family?” Patrick growled. “Never.”

Jessie spat on the ground. “I’d rather kiss a cottonmouth.”

Clay just gave him that cold smirk. “Looks like no’s all around, Your Majesty.”

The Bull Demon King’s sniveling turned stony.

“Don’t say I didn’t try to offer you mercy, children. You think that banishment will be enough for me? You think I’m the only ally that little bean has? I hope you remember this offer, Xiaolin Dragon of the Earth, because—”

“Ugh, shut up already!” Mia piped up from where the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors were watching, shaking her fist. “Go stuff yourself and the horse you rode in on in a meat grinder, you windbag! No wonder Princess Iron Fan divorced you!”

Everyone blinked at her in shock, and she clasped her hands over her mouth, cheeks burning.

“I am so sorry—”

Jessie cut her off with a cackle, walking over to slap the Moon Dragon on the back so hard she almost fell over.

“You were right, Clay, I like this one!” Jessie grinned as Mia rubbed her arm shyly. “She coming over for Thanksgiving or Christmas?”

“What the—?!” Clay sputtered as his face burned red hot, thoroughly ignoring Patrick’s popcorn-eating grin. “That’s— I— C-can’t we finish banishing the demon first?!”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine…” She screened her mouth with one hand to mutter to a thoroughly blushing Mia. “Shy as a turtle on the interstate, hon… You’re gonna have to do most of the legwork…”

Clay loudly cleared his throat before glaring at the Bull Demon King again.

“Now then… Just in case you forgot, Mr. King, sir, here are the terms. You’re gonna be stuck as a human…”

“What? No!” Bright gold light encased the Bull Demon King, almost crushing him back into human size and shoving his bovine features back into Mayor Bouvier’s form.

“Sent to a location of our choosing…” Patrick cracked his knuckles. “I’m thinking New Jersey.”

“Works for me,” Jessie said with a smirking shrug. “And you’re never gonna return to Texas again. If you do… You’ll have me and my brothers to answer to.”

The bright light burned even hotter as the Bull Demon King struggled.

“Grr—! You brats—! I swear, you haven’t seen the last of MEEEE!!!”

And with that, the Bull Demon King was shunted through the air like a rocket, blazing through the night sky far away from Texas.

Everyone whooped as they ran over to congratulate the Bailey siblings, praises tumbling over each other like water—

“What in tarnation is going on here?!” A gruff voice called out.

Oh. This probably would be a strange sight for Daddy and Ma Bailey to come in on, everyone cheering like the Dallas Cowboys just won the Superbowl in the middle of the destroyed construction site, next to the former mayor’s toppled manor, surrounded by half the town in a daze wondering why the heck they were wrapped up in a fight club. (Well, almost everyone was dazed; Granny Jenkins apparently had the time of her life and was already planning on starting her own fight club at the community.)

“Oh, not much,” Jessie drawled, as everyone else was scrambling for an explanation. “Just getting rid of a big-for-his-britches monster—”

“Jessie, I can’t tell if you’re lying or joking,” Daddy Bailey growled, “but either way, cut it out.”

“She’s telling the truth, Pa!” Patrick forced the words out through the nerves, grabbing his sister’s hand. “And she didn’t do a thing wrong the other night, neither! She was just trying to keep me out of trouble—”

“And mucking that up too, apparently!” Daddy Bailey gestured sharply at the Man-o-Taur’s costume. “What even is this get-up?! Halloween ain’t for another month, son, what are you doing prancing around like—”

“That’s ENOUGH!” Clay slammed his foot to the ground to punctuate the shout, the epicenter of a rippling tremor that everyone barely kept their balance for. He marched up to his father, barely keeping his footsteps from kicking up aftershocks as he stepped in front of his siblings, fists tight and trembling at his sides. “All due respect, sir, you ain’t talking to them like that…!”

Daddy sputtered while Ma just blinked in shock, until the patriarch found his voice.

“Clay Montgomery Bailey, you listen—”

“No, you listen!” Clay cut him off. “You’re wrong about both of them! You always have been! Jessie left home because of how you treated her, literally fought her way to the top of one of the toughest gangs in Texas, left them on her own choice, and is trying to make herself someone better! You should see the papers! And Patrick’s so smart and so dedicated to protecting this town he made himself a real-life superhero! All we did was give him some combat training and a costume, he did all the rest! And all of us just faced down a literal demon trying to take over Texas, and that still ain’t enough for you?! Do you have any idea how close we were to losing them?!”

He hadn’t meant to let that last part slip out, or the tears starting to well, but he was too angry to care about any of it.

“They’re amazing, and even if none of that was true, they’re still my baby brother and sister! And I ain’t gonna let anyone on this green Earth make them feel worthless ever again!” His eyes narrowed in the hottest glare of his life. “Not even you…!”

For a good long while, everyone was too stunned to speak. No one had ever seen Clay this angry before.

“That’s— You—”

“Joseph…” Daisy Bailey cut through her husband’s stammering with a hand on his shoulder, a steely edge to her smile. “I love you very much, but you know he’s right. And bless your heart,” that phrase made every Bailey’s jaw drop with a gasp, “if I have to lose any of my children to you being so bullheaded ever again, I swear I will march on down to the courthouse and tear up our marriage certificate in front of the first judge I see.”

Oh. Everyone blinked in stunned silence. Jessie even had a few relieved tears in her eye.

Daddy took longer to recover, struggling with something deep inside… before sighing deeply, turning to his youngest children.

“I… guess I owe y’all a lot, especially for tonight. Thank you both…” At everyone’s ‘aaand?’, he paused… and sighed again. “And… I’m sorry. For… a lot of things.”

Jessie and Patrick shared a long, questioning look… before Jessie gave a cool nod.

“It’s a start.” After a stubborn moment of her own, she sighed. “I’ve… still got a lot to apologize for myself.”

Ma Bailey smiled warmly. “We can hash it all out over supper. I reckon y’all are hungry after all that adventuring!”

Everyone piped up with hungry clamors as they followed the Baileys to their pick-up truck, Clay walking behind slowly with a deeply peaceful smile… before he felt a lean fist gently nudge his shoulder. His eyes met Mia’s, her own eyes a bit wet even as she smiled fiercely at him.

“That? Was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen you do.”

“I-I uh…” He cleared his throat as he tried to fight down the blush. “I don’t know about that…”

“I do.” Her voice with soft with… a sweet envy, that’s what it felt like. But she was quick to shove it down with a smirk. “So… Monty, huh?”

Clay would’ve blanched if he wasn’t busy blushing… and it didn’t help that Jessie and Patrick somehow appeared right behind them (or maybe they never left), grinning like crazy.

“Yeah, Montgomery,” Patrick snickered, “you were right heroic tonight!”

Clay grumbled. “You sure you wanna go down this road, Beauregard?”

Patrick stammered as Jessie howled with laughter, turning his fluster to her.

“Oh, like you’re one to talk, Maybelle!”

Jessie just grinned. “How about you, Missy?”

“Anna.” Mia smirked. “Joke’s on you; I chose my middle name.”

“Mine’s Eleanora,” Tori piped up, with a coy smile aimed at Jessie, “for the record~ I like Maybelle a lot though!”

Jessie gave a soft huff of a laugh, tipping her hat at the Sun Dragon as she fought down a blush.

“I uh… thank you kindly…” That was all she could get out, with her half-baffled, half-bemused brothers watching.

Just as the group approached the pick-up truck, a large, jade green shape descended from the sky, quickly shrinking to only four feet long as it met the ground.

“Guys, guys!” Dojo called out, frantically waving his arms. “You’re never gonna believe this, there are two new Shen Gong Wu that aren’t anywhere in the Scroll and—” he looked at everyone’s bemused smiles, panic slowly dying, “and… I have a feeling I missed something…”

Clay just smiled and shook his head. “It’s a long story, partner.”




Bouvier glared as the sky lightened over the smog-choked city he now roamed.

“New Jersey…” he mused scathingly… “I can’t even enjoy the cow pun. Hm… although…” He stroked his human chin thoughtfully. “Those brats didn’t say I had to stay in this city. I could amass some resources, travel back to China, and—”

“That seems like a lot of work, though,” a friendly baritone called out from behind him.

Bouvier turned on his heel. Two humans, dressed in black suits and ties perfect for working at a bank. The speaker was a well-built, smiling man somewhere in his twenties or thirties, he’d guess, dark brown hair neatly combed. His companion was a lithe, stony faced woman with a sleek, sandy red ponytail.

Bouvier raised an eyebrow at them. “And you would be…?”

“Ah, yes.” The man held out his hand. “Rivera, sir. This is my partner, Maxwell. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Bouvier. Or… should we say Your Majesty?”

The two of them gave very quick fist-to-hand bows before straightening up. Bouvier’s eyebrows flew up… before he grinned devilishly.

“Well, well… and to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“The pleasure’s all ours. As for why… if you’re interested, our employer would like to meet with you.”

Bouvier grinned. “Well… far be it from me to pass up a dinner invitation.”