A man can make very quick motions. Especially if he practices often. Even if the goal of such training is to kill people.

The key is to be agile, light and persevering.

So imagine if it's an agile, light and super determined assassin bird. His movements would be almost impossible to see.

I said almost because when you value your life, especially if you have just been spared, you would do anything to stay alive.

And we're not going to lie, this is the case for Shelly.
The moment she heard Crow protest, she knew he was going to jump on her.

In the next quarter of a second, the ex-bandit dropped her weapon to grab the bird's wrists. In a violent movement, she turned the bird so that his back was towards her. To do this, she twisted Crow's free arm behind his back and took the hand where he was holding the dagger and placed it under his own throat.

Being agile and light is the best combo to be a good assassin. Perseverance is also important. But you also need to have enough strength to be able to free yourself in this kind of situation. Now Crow, as determined as he was, had never prepared himself to find himself in this kind of situation : immobilized and threatened by his own weapon.

There was another silence.

"Okay" said Shelly. "Are you responsible for his actions or can I make a roast chicken out of him ?"

"Fine, fine ! I surrender" croaked Crow.

"No, I'm serious" she said, looking at the criminals one by one. "Do I really have to go after you when Bull just said we're even ?"

They all seemed to be thinking.
Then Edgar spoke

"Face it Shelly, you will never be left in peace... You have caused too much harm to those around you."

"It's your point of view. But in this case, it was you who galvanized them to annoy me" she said, pointing at the others with her chin.

"Shelly. Here you are protected by Bull but the moment you leave this area, someone else is going to jump on you. If you always watch your back, you will end up exhausted and one day someone will succeed to get you once and for all."

Edgar and Shelly looked at each other for a while.

"I'll be honest but... Shelly... You really couldn't pay your debt to them? So they leave us alone ?" Colt asked.

The ex-criminal would have wanted to glare at him but... Both were right. She would never be at peace and paying them would be enough to have that precious peace.

"Well... okay" she replied. "But I have conditions. I will refund you 40% of what I stole from you. But it's on credit, I don't have the money on me. You leave us alone and, above all, make sure to advertise so that all the others get off my back. And be careful, when I say 'advertise' I mean it like 'Watch out for Shelly, piss her and you'll find yourself 6 feet under' or that kind of bullshit."

"Disagree, 100% no less !" Crow barked.

Shelly tightened her grip and pressed the dagger a little more against his skin.

"You are not in a position to negotiate, fowl."

"S-sixty percent ?"

"..."

"Okay, okay ! Um... 45 ? Pretty please ?"

"... Let's do 45% but nothing more."

And she released the bird which fled behind the counter.

Shelly picked up her gun then she and Colt looked at Bull, Crow, Bibi and finally Edgar.

"Are you going to do the same thing for Tara, Sam and Belle ?" asked the teenager

"I'm not a cash machine!" the ex-bandit said indignantly. "Besides, those who are absent always get the blame. On the other hand, I don't want to see you with them anymore."

"Hmm, as long as I get paid" replied the teenager, shoving his hands in his pockets.

There was a little pause and finally Colt pulled Shelly by the sleeve. They both turned to leave.

"Son !" Bull called.

The redhead turned around, already one foot out of the dinner.

"Come back more often, it's always a pleasure to see you... Even... Even if I don't say it enough..."

The policeman smiled.

"With pleasure... Dad."

And the unlikely duo left the restaurant. While they were at the door, they could hear "You know, you can thank me ! t If we have 5% more, it's cuz of me !" quickly followed by a "Shut the fuck up, Crow"

Colt and Shelly burst out laughing and the redhead walked over to his Vespa to unhook it from the lamp post.

"Oh... Well I'd be damned" said the ex-bandit.

"What ?" said the other, worried.

"I didn't pay attention to your bike. If I had seen it I would have suspected something fishy and we wouldn't have been in such trouble..."

Colt smiled and shrugged while Shelly put her rifle in the redhead's bag.

"Well ! We got through it anyway" he said, getting on his scooter.

"Only thanks to you. If you hadn't burst out in anger, we might not be alive anymore."

The policeman put on a heroic expression to show off.

"Well, it's true that I saved the situation, but hey, it's natural for me, don't thank me! Well, you can, but not too much...!"

"You were sexy when you got angry, back there" replied Shelly to prevent her idiot from being too full of himself.

Immediate result. Colt turned red and began to sputter. She smirked and moved behind the policeman.

"Come on" the ex-criminal continued, putting her arms around her man's waist. "Let's go home."