“This feels...weird,” Zeke said as we sat in an alley, a block away from our target. “Shit’s like, chill, you know? It ain’t right.”

  “Calm before the storm,” I said with a shrug, checking my knife and knuckle. “Nadir?”

  “We’re clear,” she said from the mouth of the alley. “Lights on in one house, but dim. One car on the street, but nobody inside.”

  “Z, you ready?” I asked.

  “Yeah I am,” he said, pulling his mask up over his face. He reached behind his back and drew a familiar looking pistol, getting a glare from me. Without prompting he held it out. “Look I know I ain’t a shooter, but you handle this thing like an assassin.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” I said flatly. “You shouldn’t be bringing that. Get a stun gun or something.”

  “Next time, boss, promise,” Zeke said. “For now…” He pushed it towards me.

  “Fine,” I said, grabbing my weapons and holding them out in one hand. I took the pistol and pressed the slide, nodding as I pocketed it. “At least it was safetied.” He chuckled dryly as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and flipped it open. “Go ahead.”

  “Richard of York gave battle in vain,” Brandish’s voice came through the line.

  “All the colours of the rainbow,” I countersigned, rolling my eyes. “We’re in position, it’s quiet here.”

  “Here too,” she replied. “Myself and Flashbang are ready at the distribution house. Lady Photon, Laserdream, and Glory Girl will be striking the grow ops, then backing us up if need be. The PRT has been alerted that we’re operating in the area.” I shut my eyes and suppressed a sigh.

  “Okay, cool,” I said. “We’re a little ways away from you, so probably won’t come to back you up.”

  “Is midnight still the plan?”

  “Unless I get signaled otherwise,” I replied. “Good luck.”

  “Stay safe Amaranth,” Brandish said. “And good luck.”

  The line clicked and I shut my phone, sticking it in my pocket. I checked my watch and nodded, thirty minutes left. I walked to the mouth of the alley and tapped Nadir’s shoulder. She headed back and stood by Zeke while I took watch. She hadn’t been kidding, it was quiet out. Then again, the South End was a relatively nice area. It had plenty of nasty parts, like all of Brockton Bay, but this was a relatively okay suburban neighbourhood. Hiding in plain sight, I guess. My phone buzzed again and I pulled it out, opening it again.

  “L, celery,” Tattletale said.

  “Uhh.” Was that her name or mine? Oh, didn’t really matter actually. “A, grass. We’re in position, ready to move.”

  “And your help?” I winced, of course she knew.

  “I said we’re ready,” I replied. “Midnight still?”

  “Midnight,” she confirmed. “Good luck Amaranth, knock them dead.”

  “Mmm…”

  “Figure of speech, don’t actually kill anyone.” A rush of static came through the speaker as she sighed.

  “Wasn’t planning to,” I said, the pistol in my pocket feeling heavier than it should. “Anyway, good luck Tattletale.”

  “Happy hunting,” she said, sing-song, then the line clicked.

  With ten minutes to go, I joined Nadir and Zeke for our final checks. Both of them had burner phones, just in case mine got damaged...or I did. They seemed excited, or at least less nervous than usual. Frankly I was too. This was a big job, a real operation that we were part of. Not my first, but it was for both of them.

  I was confident we could pull it off though. Only one house to deal with, and there couldn’t be too many people inside. Sure it was an armoury so they’d have weapons, but I doubted they had something that could get through my projection. As long as Nadir stayed behind me, we’d be set.

  My watch beeped twice and I felt my heart rate pick up. Nadir and Zeke looked at me nervously as I told them to follow, but nodded and fell in behind me. We moved at a light jog down the empty street, heads swiveling to make sure we didn’t get caught in an ambush. Ahead of us, the armoury sat quiet and dark. There was a single car in the driveway, so we could definitely expect some kind of company.

  Distant gunfire began to echo up the road, the others were getting engaged somewhere. Whether it was New Wave or the Undersiders was irrelevant, it only meant we needed to move quicker. We got up to the door of the house, and I directed Zeke to wait at the bottom of the driveway; we needed a lookout and he wasn’t exactly bulletproof. Nadir tapped my shoulder twice as she crouched behind me, and I hammered my fist against the door, announcing that the heroes had arrived.

  No answer, an open invitation if ever there was one. I gripped the lock with my fingertips and squeezed hard. It took a moment, but the metal quickly yielded to my hand and I tore it away from the door. It didn’t open right away, but I got my fingers into the inner working and tore out the remains of the latch, then yanked the door open.

  The entrance was clear, the hallway dark, so I carefully stepped through. Nadir grabbed my belt as I moved further in, my head constantly moving, eyes wide. I stopped at the end of the short hall, breathing slowly as I stared into the near-black room beyond, neck prickling. I tapped Nadir’s hand, and she let me go. With one more deep breath, I charged into the darkness, fists raised.

  A sharp ‘crack’ from my left came with a tap on my shoulder. I didn’t stop, taking two more long strides before spinning around in time to see a muzzle flash further into the room. Another flash and I saw the way was shockingly clear, so raced forward with my hand outstretched. A shot struck my projection and I saw a flash of a terrified skinhead before my hand closed around his bicep. I brought my other hand up and grabbed his pistol, tightening my grip.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  He let out a yelp and let his weapon go. It clattered to the floor as I kicked his knee and forced him to the ground. I rose, breathing heavily and delivered a swift boot to his side, making sure he stayed down. I stumbled over to the wall and felt along it until I found a switch, then flicked it up.

  I shielded my eyes from the harsh, fluorescent light that flooded the room. Nadir came in behind me and gasped, and when I lowered my arm I saw why. The room was sparsely furnished, with just a pair of armchairs of to one side. The walls were lined with racks and racks that, if the few remaining were anything to go by, once held a lot of guns.

  As it was, there were just a few hunting rifles and a shotgun left. The center of the room had another rack for rifles, totally empty. I directed Nadir to secure the skinhead, then drew my pistol and made my way through another door to the left. A kitchen. There was a steaming kettle and a pair of mugs sitting on the counter with instant coffee powder in them. Two…

  A shot and a scream from the other room, then a heavy thud as I ran through with my gun raised. I saw Nadir clutching her arm, and a man laying on the ground, halfway in the hall to the entrance. She screamed what might have been curses in a language I didn’t understand and stepped over, kicking the guy repeatedly in the head.

  “Nadir!” I yelled, dropping my gun and running over. “Hey, let my stop the bleeding!”

  “Criss de tabarknak,” Nadir growled as I dropped my bag from my back and tore out a bandage and metal chopstick. “Kill the fucker.”

  “Easy,” I said, keeping my voice level as I wrapped the bandage around her forearm.

  The bullet had struck just above her wrist. I slipped the chopstick through a loop I made and twisted hard until Nadir groaned. I stuck the point through the fabric bandage to keep it in place, then grabbed gauze and pressed it firmly to the wound.

  “What happened?” Zeke asked as he ran into the house.

  “Call the cops!” I barked, then turned back to Nadir as he ran outside. “Hey, keep pressure on this, I’m going to call Pandora so we can get you fixed up.”

  “Okay, okay,” she panted, sweat beading on her face. “Shhhit this hurts.”

  “Sit down,” I said, gesturing to the chairs. “You can body these guys from there if you need to, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah s’fine.”

  I helped her stumble over to a chair and sat her down before pulling out my phone. I dialed Amy and let her know what was going on, and what I’d done for first aid. She gave me the okay and hung up. Thank god she’d told me to rope her in with this stuff sometimes. I retrieved some more gauze and bandages, along with antiseptic, and returned to Nadir, changing the soaked stuff and putting more in its place. I splashed some of the antiseptic on, then tied the bandage around the wound tightly.

  “Gonna get these guys outside, are you okay here?” I asked.

  “Yeah, just hurts,” Nadir said tersely.

  “Pandora’s only a few minutes away,” I said, rising to my feet. “Try to stay awake, or if you feel like you can’t give me a shout okay?”

  “‘kay.”

  Fuck me I couldn’t believe she got shot and— No, I couldn’t focus on that right now, I had shit to do. I kicked the Nazis’ guns away from them, then stepped over the one in the hall and grabbed his ankles. I dragged him out the front door and left him on the step. Zeke ran over and I told him to keep an eye on the guy, then went back in and got the other one to his feet and walked him out.

  “Where are the rest of the guns?” I demanded, kicking the back of his knee and forcing him down. I gripped the back of his neck and squeezed until I felt the muscles twitch under my fingers.

  “I— I ain’t telling you anything!” he said, voice shaking.

  “My fingers can exert ten million pounds of force,” I said coldly, squeezing a little harder until he whimpered. “I can literally turn coal into diamonds.” A total lie, but he didn’t know that. “So you tell me what I want to know, or I see if calcium does the same thing.”

  “W-we been moving them to new places,” he said quickly, practically sobbing. Damn, that was all it took?

  “Where?!” I shouted.

  “I don’t know man I just got told to hold the fort!” he blubbered. “I swear, they just said somewhere more secure, that’s it!”

  “You’d better sing,” I growled, relaxing my grip as flashing lights raced up the road. “Z! Go inside and help Nadir.”

  “Got it boss!” Zeke said, running past me as I pulled the skinhead to his feet and walked him down to the curb.

  After the cops got the skinhead in the squad car, I told them what we’d found inside the house. One of them took my statement as the other retrieved the second gangster from the front. When they asked about what happened to the guy, still unconscious, and told them about him shooting Nadir and how she stopped him. They shared a look and shrugged, as if saying ‘fair enough’, then asked me to take them inside.

  Nadir and Zeke eyed the officers warily, but all the cops did was put on some gloves and place tags on the guns that were left. They told us we could go, and Zeke helped Nadir to her feet, then out of the house. When we got out the door, I saw Laserdream and Pandora standing off to one side, speaking quietly. They stopped when we came over, eyes widening when they saw Nadir.

  “What happened?” Laserdream asked as Pandora grabbed Nadir’s hand and got to work.

  “Ambushed,” I said flatly. “I...I don’t know where the guy came from. Cops have him now. Is everyone else okay?” Laserdream frowned.

  “We…need to talk,” she said.

  “I was worried about that.”

  I sat next to Pandora on the couch at her parents’ place, wringing my hands. We were still in costume, having just come back from the field for a quick debriefing. Nadir and Zeke had gone home, since she’d been shot and him being here would raise uncomfortable questions. I felt the weight of everyone’s gazes as I stared at the floor.

  “This is why you can’t trust villains,” Brandish said, crossing her arms. “Do you know how this looks?”

  “Bad,” I replied. “But not that bad. We found some guns at our place, plus the two Nazis. What was your score?”

  “‘Score’?” Glory Girl scoffed. “This isn’t a game, dumbass.”

  “Oh my god, what did you find?” I said, rolling my eyes. These people…

  “The so-called distribution house had barely twenty kilos of drugs,” Brandish said. “We made two arrests, like you. They seemed to be low-level affiliates, not even full members.”

  “The grow houses were empty,” Lady Photon added. “There was evidence that they had used them recently, but no contraband that we could find in our search.”

  “So we’re all in agreement that these were gang houses, right?” I said, looking between each member of New Wave. “Because that’s what I’m hearing.”

  “Perhaps, but it wasn’t enough to warrant this level of force,” Brandish said coldly.

  “My friend got shot,” I said incredulously. “I’m pretty sure this warranted exactly what we gave it.”

  “Seven heroes for four guys is a lot, Amaranth,” Pandora muttered. I sighed and shook my head.

  “Whatever, pin the blame on me,” I said. “I’ll figure out what happened though, mark my words.”

  “You’d be better to cut your losses, Lia,” Flashbang said. “Let this be a lesson on where you get your information from, but move on.” I eyed him.

  “Fine, whatever,” I spat. I sure fucking wasn’t letting this go, but I could at least offer some lip service. “Sorry to make you guys look bad, just tell people it was my fault, they’ll understand.”

  “We take responsibility for our own mistakes,” Lady Photon said, offering a gentle smile. “As long as you learn from this, I don’t see any reason we couldn’t continue working together.” I took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

  “Sure,” I said, knowing it probably wouldn’t happen; lip service… “Going to get going, it’s late. Thanks…thanks for giving me a chance at least.”

  “Stay safe out there,” Flashbang said, offering a smile.

  We headed for home as anger started bubbling up in my chest. For Tattletale’s sake, I hope she had a good story.