“Here,” I said, leading Dean into a vacant lot in the South End, strewn with all kinds of debris.

  We ducked behind the twisted remains of a shipping container and I dumped my bag on the ground. Both of us pulled on our masks, and I got the plates and their carriers out too. I double checked the medical supplies, making sure they were easy to grab in an emergency. The last thing was my pistol, and I double checked it was still loaded and safe before slipping it in my waistband.

  “Was that what I think it was?” Gallant asked coldly, hands on his hips.

  “Don’t think about it too much,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “I’m carrying it so that someone qualified is.”

  “As opposed to?”

  “Yo, Amaranth, what’s good?” Zeke called as he and Nadir walked up.

  “There’s your answer,” I muttered, then looked over at them. “Quiet down,”

  “Shit, sorry,” he said, lowering his voice as he looked at Gallant. “Hey, name’s Z.”

  “Gallant,” Dean replied, bumping his fist against Zeke’s. Nadir did the same a moment later.

  “Nadir,” she introduced herself. “Amaranth’s partner. You used to be the Ward captain here, right?”

  “You’ve heard of me then?” he asked. Her eyes flicked to me, then back to Gallant.

  “Some,” she said. “Amaranth, how’s it going?”

  “Good, you guys ready?” I said.

  “Should be,” she said confidently. “What about you, boy scout?”

  “Hey, Nadir,” I said before Gallant could respond. “One team. Treat him with the same respect you give me or Z, okay?”

  “I don’t imagine Amaranth’s told you the most favourable stories,” Gallant said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “But I’m here to help you out. I might not have had quite as eventful a career as Amaranth, but I’ve been at this a lot longer. I won’t be your shot-caller, that’s all her; I just want to help her make the right calls.”

  “She’s done pretty good so far,” Zeke said.

  “And I’d like to see her get even better,” he replied easily. “I’d be happy to see another independent team become a force in Brockton Bay.”

  “Won’t let you down there,” I said, punching his shoulder. “Hey, you lose weight?”

  “Oh, nature of being being a desk all day,” Gallant said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Need to hit the gym some more.”

  “Should come by Palooka’s,” I said, grinning behind my mask. “Put you through a real one. Oh, Nadir, Z, got presents for you two.” I bent down and picked up one of the plate carriers, holding it up.

  “Uhh, vests ain’t really my thing,” Zeke said.

  “They are if you don’t want to catch a bullet,” I countered, holding it out to Nadir. She took it and huffed.

  “Heavy,” she commented.

  “They can apparently take multiple AP rounds,” I said. “Should keep you guys safe.”

  “AP?” Zeke asked as I handed his over.

  “Armour piercing,” I explained. “Doubt we’ll be fighting people with that, but I thought it was best to get the best.”

  “Appreciate it,” Nadir grunted as she worked the carrier over her head. “Shit this is really heavy.”

  “Got to get used to it,” I said.

  “Yeah,” she agreed, tapping the front of her vest with her knuckles.

  “Hey, you’re going to need to tighten that,” Gallant said, taking a step forward. “You want a hand?”

  “What do you mean?” Nadir asked, crossing her arms.

  “On the sides,” he replied, gesturing to his own. “It’ll be easier to carry on your body if it’s not bouncing around.”

  “I’ll help her,” I offered. “You can give Z a hand.”

  “Sure,” Gallant said, nodding and stepping over to Zeke. “Hey you’ve got this on backwards buddy…”

  We took a few minutes to make sure both of them were wearing their armour correctly. Tonight wasn’t anything crazy, a regular patrol since I didn’t have any specific targets. We probably didn’t even need this stuff now, but it was better to be safe and get them used to wearing it. The plate carriers were relatively low-profile, just covering their vitals, but it should be enough.

  Once that was done, we got straight to work. I led the team out of the lot and up the road, mentally mapping out where we were going. It was a similar pattern to what we executed before, a series of concentric loops. This time we’d be working our way out from the ‘center’, rather than moving in from the edge; I didn’t want to have to fight our way through more of the city than we needed to.

  “So, I already know your powers Nadir,” Gallant said as we walked along. “But what about you, Z?”

  “Powers?” Zeke scoffed. “Uhhh, guess I’m a damn fine driver. Can throw a mean punch too now, thanks to our uh, our coach.”

  “You mean you don’t have powers?” Gallant asked, sounding surprised.

  “That a problem?” Nadir replied.

  “It...could be,” he said, giving me a look.

  “The PRT is sour on it,” I explained. “Frankly I don’t care. No offense Gallant, but if people want to help it shouldn’t matter whether they sling fireballs or not.”

  “I see your point,” he said. “But you know what they’re going to see and—”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “A gang,” I cut him off. “We’re not doing anything wrong and they know it. I really, truly don’t care unless they’re going to stop me from helping people.”

  “You should be a little more considerate,” Gallant argued. “Not for the PRT’s sake, but your own. I know you don’t enjoy dealing with the admin side of things, and if you work like this they’re more likely to make things harder on you.”

  “What else is new?” I retorted. “Anyway, Z doesn’t talk to them, and we’re not too keen on exposing him. Unless you’re planning on reporting it, this stays between us.”

  “You think they’re not already asking questions?” he said. “You can’t really keep this under wraps if you want to be a major team.”

  “I don’t care about that either,” I said with a shrug. “This isn’t baseball, we’re not playing for a trophy. The only thing that matters is keeping people safe.”

  “And getting paid,” Zeke chimed in with a chuckle.

  “That too for you guys,” I said, nodding. “But mostly helping people. Was actually how Z found out about us, right?”

  “Well I mean, yeah sort of,” he said bashfully.

  “Saved his ass from getting mugged,” Nadir explained. “Like Amaranth saved me from the Nazis. We are heroes, no matter what the cops think.”

  “Okay, settle down,” I said, shaking my head. “Let’s focus on our job.”

  I was starting to have my doubts about this. I knew Gallant would push back on how we did things, it was just too bad. My methods were effective, popularity was a secondary concern, but I didn’t want to alienate him either. As usual, everything would just be easier if heroes were more worried about what they accomplished over their image. That wasn’t a conversation to have on the street though.

  “So we’re doing a show of force, is that right?” Gallant asked a few minutes later.

  “A show, crime prevention, and rapid response,” I replied. “Important they know they can’t walk the streets uncontested yes, but more that we’re around in case something happens.”

  “Do you have a dispatcher then?” he asked.

  “No, why would we?”

  “So, that’s the reason the Protectorate structures their patrols like they do,” Gallant explained. “Having heroes scattered around the city so, when something gets called in, someone is always nearby. If you don’t have that...well we’re kind of just wandering around aimlessly.”

  “It’s not aimless,” I countered. “There have been six muggings in a three-block area around here just last week. We go to hotspots and try to keep things cool.”

  “Nice,” Zeke commented.

  “I see,” Gallant replied. “This is what you do when you don’t have specific targets?”

  “Pretty much,” I said with a nod. “It’s been working.”

  “I don’t doubt that, I just wonder if it’s the most effective,” he said. “Have you spoken with the PRT about intelligence sharing?”

  “Non-starter,” I sighed. “Protectorate wants me to play by their rules and take their supervision, and my PRT contacts aren’t willing to help. Believe me Gallant, I tried to do this right.”

  “I believe you,” Gallant replied. “I do Amaranth, and I want to help you with that.”

  “You think the Wards are all this sappy?” Nadir muttered.

  I let the comment slide as we continued our patrol. Doubts were creeping in about Gallant joining us. All he’d done so far was question every decision I made. I knew he meant well, just trying to keep us on the level, but it was grating. My team wasn’t happy with him either, something I couldn’t fix. All I could do was keep the peace and hope that when shit hit the fan we could put all that aside and win, or at least survive.

  “Hey, you hear that?” Zeke said as we turned down another street.

  “Hear what?” I asked.

  “Shh!” he hissed.

  I heard muffled voices coming a little further up the way, and what sounded like a whimper of fear. From an alley ahead of us, there was a dull, metallic ‘bang’ and the muffled sound of laughter. I made a sharp gesture with my hand for the others to get behind me and started moving, fists raised.

  Rounding the corner, I saw four people; three crowding around another, smaller person. Two of them turned and shouted, and the flash I caught of a knife was enough for me. The one holding the knife advanced towards me, throwing a slash towards my face. I caught it on my forearm, but he withdrew before I could snag his wrist.

  He didn’t escape though. As Gallant’s power lit his face in pale yellow, I gave chase. I lashed out with a fist, catching him in the side as he turned. He stumbled as he tried to run, and I drove my foot into the back of his knee. He fell and I landed on top of him, kneeling in the center of his spine. The others ran past me as I wrestled the man’s arms behind his back and got his wrists cinched together in a ziptie.

  I rose and saw Gallant further on, wrestling another guy to the ground. I could vaguely see Nadir and Zeke further on, still chasing the other guy. Two steps into a charge after them, I stopped and sighed. With a tightness in my chest, I yelled after them to fall back. We had two of the guys, and had saved whoever they were after. That...that was enough.

  “Gallant,” I called, looking over my shoulder. By a dumpster, there was a huddled mass of a person laying on their side, shoulders shaking. “Need a hand.”

  “Got it,” Gallant said, making a beeline over to them. Once Nadir and Zeke came back, I told them to bring the guys we’d arrested to the mouth of the alley and call for the cops. Only then did I go over and join Gallant.

  “Hey, you okay?” I asked. Stupid question but I was chock full of them.

  “Esther just got a little roughed up,” Gallant said gently. “Esther, this is my teammate Amaranth, she’s the team captain.”

  “H-hello,” a scratchy, familiar voice said. A pair of wide, brown eyes peeked out behind a curtain of black curls. She usually wore her hair up, but like this fuck she looked like Skitter. “Um, th-thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said, my stomach twisting uncomfortably.

  “Mind if I ask what you were doing out this late Esther?” Gallant asked gently. “This isn’t a safe part of town.”

  “I-I was on a date,” she said, looking aside. “Turned out to be a setup.”

  “A setup?” Gallant said.

  “Lured you out to jump you?” I said, getting a nod. “Yeah, bet your ass they’re Nazis.”

  “What makes you say that?” he said.

  “I’m Jewish,” Esther said, voice small. “Thought it was too good to be true some hunk was interested. Guess I was right.”

  “You shouldn’t blame yourself,” I said, kneeling down. “This kind of scum may look pretty, but they’re rotten to the core. But, in the future, try and remember the South End is Nazi town; at least until we clear them out.” Gallant gave me a look, but didn’t say anything. “The cops are on their way, are you okay to give them a statement?”

  “Should be,” she said shakily, looking up at me. “You mean that?”

  “About clearing out the Nazis?” She gave me a microscopic nod. “Yeah, I’m not going to stop until they’re gone, one way or another. Been too long.”

  “Come on, let’s get out of the alley,” Gallant said, offering Esther his hand. “We’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.”

  She took his hand and we headed out onto the street. He took Esther a little further down the block while I joined Nadir, Zeke, and our prizes for the night. While we waited for the cops to show, I briefly interrogated the two men we’d captured. Both were Werwolf, and happy to admit it. The other one, the one that escaped, was apparently the pledge who’d lured Esther out. An initiation ceremony. It was all I could do to not punch every tooth out of their grinning faces.

  Finally, the cops arrived. I gave them the rundown of what we’d done, what we’d found, and what the bad guys had told me. They must have been getting used to dealing with me or something, because neither cop was on edge like they usually were. I guess my team was a known quantity now, so when we called them in they knew they were going to be dealing with friendlies.

  It wasn’t long before they threw the suspects in their car and drove off. Esther was left with us, understandably not wanting to wait around for another squad car, and certainly didn’t want to share with the guys who’d assaulted her. Instead, Gallant offered a personal escort home, which she took him up on. Fair enough really, his name had a lot more weight behind it than any of ours. The rest of us started heading out together.

  “You know her?” Nadir asked as we headed for home.

  “How’d you figure that out?” I said, giving her a look.

  “You were looking at her kind of weird,” she replied, shrugging.

  “For the record boss, I just thought you were checking her out,” Zeke chimed in.

  “No, she’s…” I sighed. “Yeah, friend of mine, we go to school together.”

  “Glad we saved her then,” Nadir said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Who knows, maybe she’ll turn out like Zeke and join up.”

  “Hell yeah, squad up,” Zeke said cheerfully.

  “Don’t bet on it,” I said, shaking my head. “Okay, let’s debrief on the way home so we don’t have to waste time. So, let’s start with good points and bad…”