Chapter 534

In Marvel, the System Works for Me

The third day.

The day Thompson was due to be released.

Geralt checked his gear, then looked solemnly at Nancy. "Ready, soldier?"

Nancy took a deep breath. "Ready, sir!"

The innkeeper cocked an ear. "Young people sure know how to have fun."

He thought Geralt and Nancy were playing some kind of role-playing game.

Storybrooke had no detention center of its own.

Suspects held for extended periods had to be transferred to Paradise Town.

Geralt and Nancy waited outside the police station.

Thompson's supporters and opponents were waiting there too.

The road divided the two groups. They held up signs, each side keeping clearly to its own.

A police transport van pulled up outside the station.

Four escort officers got out first.

Every one of them was armed.

Thompson's opponents immediately began booing, clearly unhappy with the heavy protection he had been given.

Thompson slowly stepped out of the van.

He looked very different from the man Geralt had seen in photographs. He was thinner and more weathered, but his eyes were bright and he stood straight.

Thompson did not hurry inside. He paused, his gaze sweeping over his opponents and supporters in turn.

There seemed to be power in his eyes.

Wherever his gaze fell, the boos stopped. Cowed by his presence, the crowd fell eerily silent.

"Thompson's no ordinary man," Geralt said quietly.

"Hardship changes people," Claire said.

"Maybe." Geralt looked thoughtful.

Thompson said nothing. He walked into the station one step at a time.

There was a bleakness to the scene, but also a quiet resolve.

Once he signed the paperwork, Thompson would be free.

"Thompson, you shouldn't have come back." The police chief looked... well, Claire was lucky she did not take after him.

"You could have signed the