In a city where a lot of gangs were active and held a lot of power, it was usually better to take the route of a vigilante than a hero.
The only way for a hero to survive would be for them to lie low or become corrupted.
Any other would likely have to be a rather big hero that could not be touched, and those close to them would be put under much stricter surveillance and protection to ensure their safety.
Each city had limited resources and manpower that they could make use of, so there would always be certain priorities for where they would be put to use.
Anyone lower on the list of priorities would usually be quite vulnerable and left unprotected from a lot of the dangers and influences that existed.
The gang that Butch was still a part of was one of the main gangs located in that very city, which held a lot of influence.
It was no wonder that it had enough attention on it that it could be targeted by others.
Each plot over time that had passed had varied results depending on the situation.
Most of the internal problems and plots were dealt with as a result of Tiffany keeping a close eye on everything to the best of her abilities, but there would always be things that would not be caught by her.
She spotted them, but she was not the one to handle them.
That job was often left to Butch to handle, so he would be the one to choose whether to take action and how to deal with those situations.
Although she was living with a known criminal, she herself was not involved with the things he was deeply involved in.
The only thing that had changed for her in the time that had passed was that she had changed where she was living.
Her funds had been put toward fortifying a place that she could live in while having a safe room and bunker built to fortify herself in.
There were very few reasons for her to be targeted by others, but it was unknown when danger could come to her.
If there was one thing she had learned over the time that had passed, then it was how others saw her within the gang that Butch was a part of.
Some people had plans to target her as a result of her being seen as a weakness for Butch.
If she were captured and used against Butch, then it could be very damaging for him.
It was possible that capturing would not be their main intent each time, especially when they just wanted to hurt Butch rather than use her to threaten him with her.
If he lost her, then that could cause him to lose his rational state and become deeply emotional, leading to becoming far more reckless.
If he kept messing up, then his capabilities would be doubted.
If that happened, then it could be judged that he was not fit to hold the position he was holding.
If he were too reckless, then it could cost him the lives of his people, which could have a bigger effect on how he would be judged and treated.
What would be even worse would be if that recklessness caused him to be killed or if he did something so bad that resulted in him being killed by the gang to set an example to others or to take responsibility for his failures.
It could even be judged that his actions were to be doubted as something like him being a traitor and intentionally messing things up, so it could be imagined what kind of response would come from that.
Tiffany was usually keeping a close watch over the gang, so she had been able to catch such plots before they had a chance to become a danger to her.
Usually, those things started as an idea at first, but they would then be voiced to others, and they would develop from there through planning, unless it was more of a spontaneous thing that resulted in immediate action being taken without any prior planning being done.
Even if there was more of an unplanned attack that could take place, there would always be subtle signs shown that could be used to identify someone who could potentially be a threat.
All that was needed to be done was to not allow those types of people to get too close or to be able to have such freedom to be able to act out such thoughts.
They would not be able to get too close to her if they had been marked as being problematic in any way.
As time had passed by, the people who were anywhere near the true body of Tiffany became far more restricted to the point where she had to keep her protectors as being very small in number.
It was not always easy to fully trust others, especially if their loyalties and duties could be changed through coercion or bribery.
The only constant person who was able to remain close to her besides Butch was Puck.
The relationship between Puck and Butch had progressed quite well since the time that had passed.
The previous events had helped to break down the barriers between them to be able to discover the feelings they had toward each other.
They started out dating at first, but that had deepened over time to the point of them becoming serious about each other.