[START] Greer Nelson
Greer Nelson stood in silence and stillness, almost as if she was intentionally matching the quiet environment of the cemetery around her. Her eyes were focused downward at the pale gray stone monument in front of her, upon which had been engraved with the name "NELSON" on the opposite side. It was a single lot at the insistence of her in-laws, who reminded Greer that she was still young and encouraged her to find someone to spend the rest of her life with and raise a family.
A sheaf of flowers wrapped in paper was tucked in the crook of her arm -- an extravagance that she wouldn't have permitted for herself due to her minimal income being need for the necessities of life, but a timely gift from an older street vendor being charming and willing to give them away whereas they would have normally been disposed of to make room for fresh stock.
"I wiah you were still here, Bill," she said, breaking the silence as she addressed her late husband. Greer wasn't expecting a response. However, with the amount of weirdness that had entered her life recently, it wouldn't have surprised her in the least to get some type of sign from beyond.
"You would never believe what's been happening to me, but I hope that you would be proud that I'm following your example by protecting others."
Greer crouched down and placed the flowers along the edge between the monument and the footer. She kissed her left hand and then transferred it to the cold stone surface where she held it as she recalled the many times when they were able to exchange these signs of affection with each other. After taking a moment to compose herself, she stood once again to wish a silent farewell before departing.
....
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Nelson," came from the street. Greer turned to find a police car slowly rolling by, keeping up with her steady determined pace. The window was rolled down and the officer sitting in the passenger seat was leaning out as he attempted to engage her in conversation. It was not someone that she immediately recognized, but could have been one of the many people that she had been briefly introduced to by Bill or one of those who had stopped to offer their condolences upon his loss... a loss that she knew came from one of their own. "Can we offer you a ride somewhere?"
"No, thank you," she found herself nearly snarling back, a trait that seemed to reflect the more animalistic nature that had emerged from her. "I'm enjoying the walk. It gives me time to clear my thoughts." Not to mention, she didn't exactly feel safe riding with any of the police officers in this city. It would be far to easy for them to drive her away somewhere where her body would be found and written off in the local newspapers as another victim of a brutal, senseless killing in this city, especially if they had any belief that officer Bill Nelson had shared any of the details about the Brethren of the Blue Fist with his wife.
"Okay, then... you stay safe now, you hear?" he said kindly but it sounded a little unsettling to Greer as though it was carrying a bit of a warning. The police car began to accelerate and head further down the street, eventually making a turn several blocks down onto a side street.
"Yeah, you might want to watch your backs too," she vowed to herself. It was a little bit unfair to think of those officers this way. There had to be good cops on the force as well, cops just like Bill, but even he didn't know how far this went to be able to do anything about it. That's why it may take someone outside of the organization to reign them in... someone like herself. No. This was something that had to be handled by Tigra.
