“Could have picked a better night for this,” Nadir said as we sheltered under an awning, rain hammering down around us.

  “We’ve been cutting our patrols too short,” I countered. “And it’s not like the weather’s going to get better as the season goes on.”

  “I guess,” she sighed. “Just wish we didn’t have to get wet, you know?”

  “We don’t,” I replied, taking my backpack off and unzipping it. With a grunt, I pulled out a black tarpaulin I’d picked up after school. “Got us some cover, should be big enough for all three of us.”

  “Oh, nice,” Nadir said, nodding appreciatively. “Should help us stay out of sight too.”

  “That was the idea,” I said, glancing up and down the road. “Hey where the fuck is he?”

  “I told him the location and stuff,” she said, sounding a little nervous. “Should be—”

  “Yo, yo, yo!” I whirled towards the shout behind us, knife and knuckle raised for an ambush. A guy dressed in black with a blue mask stumbled back, hands raised. “Whoa, be cool, it’s me, Z!”

  “Christ alive,” Nadir groaned, taking a step forward and punching his shoulder hard. He chuckled and rubbed it sheepishly. “Don’t sneak up on capes, dipshit.”

  “It was pretty stupid,” I added, putting my weapons away. “What’d you have done if we weren’t who you were expecting?”

  “Uhhh...cut and run?” Zeke said, tugging down the blue bandanna around his face. “Shit what would you do?”

  “If you were a bad guy?” I asked, getting a nod. “Broken your jaw, nose, or wrist.”

  “Hit you with a gravity blast,” Nadir said simply.

  “God damn,” Zeke said, eyes widening. “You two are hardcore. Oh shit I ain’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Nadir’s friend, Zeke. Call me Z. She told me a lot about you.” He stuck a gloved hand out to me.

  “Amaranth. Heard a lot about you too,” I said, giving his hand a firm shake. “You think you’re cut out for this?”

  “Hell yeah I am,” he said with a wide, confident grin.

  “Then let’s get going,” I said, stuffing the tarp back in my bag and throwing it over my shoulder. “Come on, we’ve got a few blocks to cover.”

  “Shit in this weather?” he said.

  “Hope you’re ready for a fun night,” Nadir said, elbowing him as she turned to follow me.

  Lucky for us, Zeke didn’t seem to be too much of a whiner. With an exaggerated groan, he fell in and followed us silently up the street. The bucketing rain began to lighten after a block at least, so things weren’t too bad. Of course I was already soaked to the bone, no doubt Nadir was too. We were lucky it wasn’t as cold as the forecast had called for or it would have been that much worse.

  As it was, my toes were tingling by the time we reached the area we’d be scoping out tonight; a street corner near the outskirts of town. According to Tattletale, this was another of the main places the lower-level gangsters of the Varangians came to meet their bosses. Tonight I was hoping to confirm it so we could make a move.

  I led us into the mouth of a small sidestreet between two houses. We could see basically the whole intersection and the surrounding houses, perfect. I dropped my bag on the ground and took out the tarp, propping it up on the chain link fence surrounding one of the yards. I held it up and gestured for the other two to get underneath, then followed them under and knelt down, holding it just over my head.

  “Cozy,” Nadir commented as her shoulder pressed against mine. Zeke was squished up on the other side of her.

  “It’s a little like...you know?” Zeke said, shifting in place. “Can’t see shit.”

  “I can,” I said with a shrug, keeping my eyes on the street. “Nadir?” The tarp crinkled as she lifted it above her head and made sure it was still hiding us.

  “Most of it,” she said. “Can you see the houses on the right?”

  “Yeah,” I said, nodding.

  “Then we’re good,” she said. “Sorry Z.”

  He grumbled a little, but soon enough the only sound was from the rain pattering against the tarp over our heads. I was hoping that, to any casual observers, we’d appear to be nothing but a pile of trash. If not...well, we had two capes to deal with anyone that wanted to question our presence.

  It didn’t take long for boredom to set in. It couldn’t have been twenty minutes before Zeke let out a yawn, and Nadir in turn. I resisted as hard as I could, but before long I was yawning along with them. I got a momentary buzz of adrenaline when a car pulled up to the intersection, but it shut off its lights and began idling. Soon it died away, leaving me just as bored as before.

  The car had to be part of it, I figured, but no one got out. Worse, I couldn’t tell what the license plate said, or even what model it was. Part of me wanted to break from cover, but I knew that was an awful idea. Just had to wait here and deal, hoping that Tattletale’s information was as good as it had been last time.

  Nearly an hour into sitting there, cold and with a cramp coming on in my legs, I spotted someone walking up the road. They were across the street we’d come up, heading towards the intersection, a hood over their head. They didn’t even pause to check both ways before crossing the intersection and approaching the car.

  “First customer,” I muttered, narrowing my eyes.

  “Took him long enough,” Nadir sighed. “Can barely feel my fingers.”

  “We gonna get him?” Zeke asked excitedly.

  “Simmer down,” I said flatly. “We’re here to watch. Quiet.”

  At least he could listen and didn’t speak up again. It was only a few minutes until the next person came around. They did the same thing, approaching the car, doing what I could only assume was a hand-off, then disappearing into the dark and rain. Another half hour, and half a dozen visitors later, and the car’s lights came back on and it drove off into the storm. Five minutes after that, I stood from under the tarp and stretched my tired muscles.

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  “Was that it?” Zeke asked as he and Nadir came out from under our cover.

  “Pretty much,” I replied, taking the tarp off the fence and shaking it out before folding it up and stuffing it in my backpack. Stuff would probably get wet, but I’d live. “Nadir, thoughts?”

  “I think they’re a bigger gang than Blood Wolf,” Nadir said, crossing her arms. “This one’s like the others, but didn’t have as many customers.”

  “Others?” Zeke said, cocking his head.

  “We’ve checked out two other drop points already,” Nadir explained. “This was the last one before we make a move, right Amaranth?”

  “Hopefully,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “We’ll go for a walk tomorrow, make our final checks.”

  “Safe houses?” she said, and I nodded. “Cool, hope it’s more chill than last time.”

  “Shit you’re going out again that soon?” Zeke said, sounding surprised. “You work quick. Can I tag along with you?”

  “No,” I said shortly.

  “We’re going to be unmasked,” Nadir added, giving me a look. “Get it?”

  “Oh, yeah, cool, cool,” he replied. “Sorry, just J— I mean Nadir was cool with it, you know? We go to the gym together and shit.”

  “How nice,” I said dryly, like I didn’t know. “You prove you’re trustworthy and maybe I’ll think about it. Til then, you can die curious.”

  “Amaranth come on, relax,” Nadir muttered as Zeke’s shoulders slumped. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, then let out a heavy sigh and approached him.

  “Look, I take this stuff deadly serious,” I said, my voice low. “I got powers a couple days before Leviathan swamped the city, I was picked out by Jack Slash for getting tortured by the Nine, and then…” I trailed off, feeling like a pressure was weighing on me. I shook my head and took a breath. “You get it right? For most of us, this isn’t a game, it’s do or die.”

  “It’s pretty dangerous,” Nadir agreed. “And Amaranth’s been through probably the worst. Just...you know, be cool dude.”

  “Alright alright,” Zeke said, raising his hands. "Shit, didn’t know it was that crazy, you know? Jack Slash is like, the Slaughterhouse Nine leader ain’t he? What’d he want with you?”

  “Entertainment,” I said bitterly. “Come on, let’s go already, freezing my ass off.”

  “What ass?” Nadir said, getting a chuckle out of Zeke as we headed for home.

  “Crazy Friday huh?” Esther said as she sat down across from Amy and I.

  “What?” I said, cocking my head.

  “You know, the...thing,” she said, giving me a look.

  “The attack, dumbass,” Amy muttered, elbowing my ribs.

  “Oh, right, yeah,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Would you believe I forgot?”

  “You got brain damage or something?” Esther asked, arching a brow.

  “I don’t know, probably,” I replied, shrugging. “Amy?”

  “How would I know?” she said.

  “Aren’t you Panacea?” Esther said.

  “No,” we both replied in tandem. Amy sighed and rubbed her temple. “I get that a lot, but no, I’m not.”

  “Huh, okay,” Esther shrugged. “Hey didn’t she go to this school too? What do you guys think happened to her?”

  “Uhh, maybe she ran away when the city got attacked?” I offered. “I mean, god knows I should have.”

  “Probably dead,” Amy muttered, poking at her salad. “I mean, haven’t heard anything about her right? With everything that happened…”

  “Damn, that’s cold,” Esther said. “Hate that you’re probably right. You know she was the only hero I actually looked up to? A real hero, helping people and saving lives and stuff. Rest in peace, I guess.” Esther raised her water bottle in mock toast. I grabbed mine and clinked it against hers, as did Amy a moment later.

  “Lucky there are more heroes,” I said.

  “Yeah but who can replace the living cure-all?” she asked.

  “There’s a new one, isn’t there?” I said like I didn’t know. “Another healer?”

  “Uhhh, maybe? Haven’t looked at the Protectorate’s roster in a minute,” Esther said.

  “Pandora,” Amy said flatly. “They call her a healer but...I don’t know, I don’t think powers work like that.”

  “You some kinda expert?” Esther asked.

  “No, not really,” she replied quickly. “But like, think about it for a minute. Have you ever seen a parahuman that can’t fight with their powers? Even Thinkers and stuff do. Maybe she can heal people, but I doubt that’s what her power is all about.”

  “No shit?” Esther said, leaning in. Her eyes were practically sparkling. “What do you think it is then?”

  “I don’t know,” Amy said flatly. “I’m not Mrs. Redwell.” We all shared a chuckle at the mention of our biology teacher. “Anyway, Lia, class still going okay?”

  “Oh, yeah it’s all good,” I said, nodding at Esther. “I'll actually pass precalc thanks to this one.”

  “Hey you could have done it on your own, all I did was make it a little easier.”

  “I think you’re overestimating my brain,” I said dryly. “Not exactly the sharpest lightbulb in the crayon box.” Amy snorted and wrapped an arm around my waist, giving me a brief squeeze.

  “Dumbass,” she said.

  “Your dumbass,” I replied, kissing her cheek.

  “Hey, quit being adorable, assholes,” Esther said sarcastically. “Swear to god when I get a man I’m gonna drag him over here and start macking on him in front of you, just to piss you off.”

  “The day you find a man is the day I grow wings,” I retorted with a giggle.

  “How rude!” she said with mock offense. “Just for that I’m giving you all the wrong answers for the next test.”

  I laughed, despite myself. There were a million things on my mind, from school, to work, to work, and yet more work. Here though, I felt I could forget them...at least for a minute.

  “So that’s the plan,” I said, crossing my arms and looking between Joy and Lafayette. “What do you think?”

  “Ambitious,” Lafayette said, not taking her eyes off the map I’d laid on the coffee table. A trio of red circles, a few block apart each, highlighted our targets. “And you want to pull this off in one night?”

  “If we don’t then they’ll know we’re coming,” I said. “We hit them all at once and they’ll never have a clue. We know they’re there for at least an hour, so as long as we move quick and make sure they don’t talk, it’ll be no problem.”

  “I think we can do it,” Joy said with a nod. “We’ve been observing these guys for almost a week. Plus the weather’s supposed to get better, we’ll be able to go fast. I think it’s good.”

  “Well it definitely seems you’ve thought it out,” Lafayette said, scratching her chin. “How are you going to keep them from warning each other?” I pointed to Joy.

  “Gonna hold them down until we can secure them properly,” she said slowly. “Hard to lift your phone when your arm weighs a hundred pounds.”

  “I’ll be grabbing them as soon as she’s done,” I added. “Then we call the cops and book it to the next one. Maybe that’s like, less than ideal, but we’re sort of limited by numbers. Got to move fast and hope the police do too.”

  “You could alert the PRT you’re doing this,” Lafayette said. “Get a team on standby for picking up your leftovers.”

  “Not a parahuman gang,” I said with a sigh. “And if I told the cops I’d probably get a lecture about vigilantism again. Started hanging up after I request a cruiser because of that, if I’m honest. Sort of sick of it.”

  “Not like they’re doing anything,” Joy said dryly. “You think they’d be grateful they can sit around eating doughnuts all night.” She and I chuckled.

  “Lia I’m serious,” Lafayette said gravely. “PRT will work with you because you’re a parahuman, not because your opponents are.”

  “They might work with me,” I countered. “I’m not exactly the flavour of the month, am I? Look we can handle this, okay? It’s three hits in one night, we probably won’t even be out as long as usual; trust me.”

  “Fine,” she sighed. “You need backup and don’t want to deal with the force, call me.”

  “I can’t involve you,” I said quickly. “Like I’m already on the outside of the PRT, it doesn’t matter. But if you get involved, you could lose your job.”

  “A job’s a job,” Lafayette said, shrugging. “A friend’s more important.” My cheeks coloured as I looked at the floor.

  “Okay, fine,” I said after a moment. “I don’t think we’ll need it, but if we do I promise to call you first, okay?”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” she said firmly. “Otherwise...this isn’t a bad plan, you’ve done your homework.”

  “Well that’s settled,” Joy said, clapping her hands together loudly. “Just you watch Laffy, we’re going to make the streets of Brockton Bay safe.”