Jethro seems less perturbed than might be expected at Cecil's accusation. "I ain't got no personal reason to go on livin'. I've had my life. It was good. An' I dunno if livin's gonna be all that great if this--" he gestures expansively, "--is what it's gonna be like. So walkin' inta that light don't scare me none." He slowly gets up from his seat and stands tall, adjusting his Stetson as he does so. "But this ain't about me. It's about everyone."

He takes a step towards Cecil, looking him steadily in the eye. "I even think ya might be tellin' the truth 'bout what ya saw last night." Here he darts a suspicious glance at Richard. "Ya say that we all know that Jason ain't Controlled. You know, or think ya do. I don't. If y'are who ya say, then mebbe ya even checked on him before an' know at least that he weren't lyin' then. But that don't say he ain't Controlled now. They been takin' over. What a man is t'day ain't necessarily what he was yesterday. Think: ya said yerself that if Jason had even once done right, we'da been safe. Didja think that maybe the reason he hasn't ain't 'cause he's a coward, but 'cause he ain't what he says no more?"

His gaze moves to regard Jason uncertainly. "I got no way to know whether you were ever tellin' the truth. But yes or no, that don't mean you ain't been turned."

He steps back to regard all of the remaining Marked. "An' now I got my own secret. I thought it woulda been prudent t' keep it to m'self, but since we're all layin' our cards on the table, I might as well do the same. Ya might remember that when we first learned 'bout these 'nonterrestrials,' I said that I weren't as incredulous as I mighta been, 'cause of the card. But it was more than that. The night after we became Marked, I heard somethin' in my head. It was sayin' that I'm some sorta bomb. That the first person who tries to kill me will die instead. I thought it was some sorta weird dream. But then these G-men come an' tell us 'bout Them..." He shakes his head. "Suddenly I knew it weren't no dream."

Jethro leans against a wall. "So there ya have it. Ya kill me, ya get Death instead o' Liberty."

Jethro claims to be a Bomb. (The person who casts the deciding vote or a nighttime turning against him will be killed instead.)

Vote: Richard
FoS: Jason

Jason Lies bleeding on the floor of the diner. He's a little pale, but the wound isn't bad, a through and through in the meaty part of the thigh. Those .38's sting like heck, but don't have much punch. Now a 7.62 through the lower abdomen, THAT hurts. The handcuffs are annoying though.

"Sorry Jethro, I'm happy with either outcome."

Vote: Jethro.

"Now somebody grab me a towel before someone slips and really hurts themselves."

"OBJECTION!"

Everybody turns to Richard, who is pointing at them all.

"I've been stuttering and pissing myself through this whole thing like some little sheep up for slaughter. But now I've realized something. Two of you are aliens and one of you is just trying to save your own ass. JASON! Right off the bat, you claim to be a hunter or protector or whatever the hell you are and yet every night you claim to protect yourself. What a fantastic way to make sure you aren't killed! But I don't believe you're an alien. No, if you were an alien, you could've claimed to have protected someone you weren't turning. Being a normal human you had no such knowledge, so if someone you claimed to have protected ended up being one of the Controlled you'd have lost all credibility and probably would've been turned or killed or both. CECIL! You claim to be a spy. A great claim if you want people to vote with you. I've seen it before. Forge evidence to win a case. Nobody's voting for Jason since he's got everyone convinced he's something special and you wouldn't want to sacrifice your own teammate. Of course, who came first? The Cecil or the JETHRO! Your claim to be the bomb is very unlikely to be true since why the hell would the aliens make three people out of six special. No, with such a small group, why would there be such advantages at all! None of you are special roles and two of you are aliens, whom I believe to be Cecil and Jethro. Kill Jethro today, we'll deal with Cecil shortly after."

Richard claims to be the Ace Attorney. (The person who sees through everybody's lies and yells OBJECTION!)

Vote Jethro
Finger of Blatant Accusation Cecil

Jethro finds some paper towels and hands them to Jason to staunch his wound. At Richard's outburt, Jethro turns to him angrily. "Listen, ya little twit," he snarls. "Yer contradicting yerself all over the place. Ya give Jason grief fer protectin' hisself, then turn 'round an' say he has no such power. Yer big argument 'gainst me is that a third special person ain't reasonable, as if reason had anything t' do with this mess, then ya go an' say you don't think anybody's special. I weren't 100% 'bout my vote before, but I am now."

He sits and lets out a big sigh. "Well, two 'gainst two. What now?"

Jason turns to look at Cecil.
"Cecil? Care to change your vote?"

Jones returns with his med kit, and starts working to bind up Jason's wound.

"Looks like it passed through," he murmured, cutting through Jason's pants with a pair of scissors. "Lee's always been good with a weapon..."

"All right, all right," Williams says, waving his hands for silence. "It seems we have a tie. Does anyone want to change their vote?"

"What happens if we don't?" Jethro asks.

"Here, I'll break it down for you. Nobody has a special role. Jason claimed to be the protector to ensure that he wasn't killed by vote. He claimed to protect himself so he wouldn't get trapped claiming to protect someone who was turned. Why are you lying? Because you claimed to be a special person when there are obviously no special roles for a group of six. And since Jason is obviously human since he didn't make claims that required Controlled knowledge. Do the math. Three special roles. One protects a human, one finds the Controlled, one kills it or anybody who votes for it. At least Jason was smart enough to pick a reasonable role to fake. Cecil knows who the Controlled are and you kill the guy that kills you? Gee, the aliens must really like you guys." Richard takes a sip of coffee and adds to the agents, "What's the tie-breaker? God, there better be a tie-breaker."

"For once, I agree with ya," Jethro replies. "So, Cecil? Gonna change yer vote? Nice of Jason to volunteer you to take the bomb blast." He shrugs. "I, for one, wanna wait until we know what the tiebreaker is."

Williams rummages in his pocket, and pulls out a quarter. He stands it on it's end on the counter and lets it go. It rattles around until it lays flat on the counter.

"Don't leave it up to a coin toss," he warns. "Because that's what it'll be."

"I'm a man of my word." says Cecil. "I said I'd vote for Jethro if you would, and so I will."

"Oh, and Richard, the aliens had nothing to do with me being able to identify them. That's all due to perfectly human CIA training. I'm not saying they didn't know about it, but they certainly didn't do it with their little magic robots. And if Jason is lying about his status, then we're dead in any case. And have been since we picked the wrong person on day one."

Vote: Jethro

Williams nods his head. Outside, there's a small boom. A beam of light appears in front of the diner doors, wicking away the rain. The hiss of evaporating water can be heard from inside.

"Jethro, you're up," Williams says. "Any last words?"

Jethro stands up silently, no surprise, fear or anger on his face. He is determined to go out with dignity. He gives each remaining Marked and G-men a firm handshake, then stands before the doors of the diner as Williams and Cox pull them open. Slowly, he draws off his white Stetson and holds it by the crown at his side as he stares unflinchingly at the brilliant light of the beam, the steam of evaporating rain swirling close to the ground.

"You're my witnesses," he intones. "My boy gets everything. I--" The Stetson drops to the floor of the diner, but Jethro doesn't notice. His eyes widen, and the corners of his mouth turn up ever so slightly. "I--I'm happy," he says, his voice tinged with surprise. "I'm happy."

His eyes snap back into focus, staring hard into the light. His hands curl into fists, his face sets with determination, but the smile remains. Without another word, Jethro D. Kinnear charges into the light.

The willowy man appears in the light, smiling his pointed smile.

"Welcome, Jethro," he says as Jethro crosses the threshold into the center of the beam. "Oh, you will be happy with us."

The beam winks out, and there is nothing but a torrent of rain.

"So," Lee says with a small smile. "Jethro was Controlled."

He turns to the last three Marked.

"You men may in fact have a chance."

Williams coughs.

"Right. Men, to your Marked. Escort them where they wish. The rest of you, sleep. Dismissed!"

(OOC: Again, you can play in here until I get Night Roles.)

"Jason." says Cecil. "You can end this tonight. You must cure Richard; cure the last of the Controlled and this is over. If you try to protect yourself, and Richard extends Control to me, then tomorrow you will be outnumbered."

"We have only two chances for survival. Either you must cleanse Richard today, or you must protect the person Richard tries to infect. And the only certain way is to cleanse Richard. It's all up to you now."