Waiting was the worst part.

  It always had been for me. I was an antsy little freak, always twitchy and agitated. There wasn’t an ounce of patience in my body, and there never had been. But I did it because that was what my job was tonight. I took a moment to check my equipment one more time, making sure I was ready for anything.

  A Glock 20 hung at my hip, with a twenty-five round magazine sticking out of the bottom; a little extra capacity since I’d given up on carrying a carbine. I’d lost three of them so far and really didn’t want to lose more. A pair of grenade jangled on the other side, a flashbang and a stinger, still lacking lethal options there. Finally were my knives, one in my chest webbing, upside down for a quick draw. The other was stuffed in my boot, mostly hidden. If I was down to them, things were pretty bad, but at least they were there. I still wasn’t wearing body armour, but if they used the Bubble Popper, as Whatchamacalit had taken to calling their anti-Me rifle, that wouldn’t help anyway.

  Trinity caught my eye, standing a few feet away, and offered a small smile. He was beside Reese, who gave me a thumbs up, and Wick who was fiddling with his weapon. J-Dog rounded out the squad with a TT, a Teleportation Triagonal, in his hands. It wasn’t just me, everyone was antsy tonight. We all knew how important our job was. A crackle from our radio, carried by Wick, drew all of our eyes; and my heart began racing.

  “Strike team engage now!” Rosa’s frantic voice came through the speaker, tinny and crackling. “They teleported in!”

  Worst case scenario then, again. We’d been pretty sure they weren’t going to use Bifrost, and now we were unfortunately proven wrong. Still, this was what we’d been waiting for, their reinforcements. All of us gathered closer to J-Dog and readied ourselves. I drew my pistol and gave him a nod.

  The world flashed and my stomach flipped as we appeared in the midst of a nasty firefight. While the others on my team ducked for cover, I paused to take in the scene. Incoming rounds from a dozen Werwolf shock troops plinked off my projection as a smile touched my face. The Nazis brought their teleporter again.

  On the ground lay a nearly headless body, wearing a furred mantle I recognized as Bifrost’s. I couldn’t help a sigh of relief; that was a hell of a thorn in our side dealt with. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I whipped my head around, scanning rapidly. My eyes widened and I threw myself to the ground as a scintillating white beam shrieked overhead like a furious banshee.

  I aimed my pistol from the ground, firing a shot towards where the blast had come from. There were silhouettes ducking behind a dumpster, a faint glow painting the pavement below them. I yelled for my team to cover me and ran forward, drawing the stinger grenade from my belt. I pulled the pin, cocked my arm back, and threw it towards the dumpster. The moment it left my hand, I dashed forward knowing I’d be okay.

  The grenade landed, bounced once, then exploded a few feet short of the dumpster as a hand poked out and fired a pistol at it. Victor was a hell of a marksman, I’d give him that much. Even if it was all stolen, it was real. I’d have to get closer, and cook the next one off. But there was no fucking way I was letting him slip through my fingers again.

  My pistol went back in my holster as I ran forward. I took the flashbang from my hip and pulled the pin, holding the paddle down firmly as I approached the dumpster. Twenty feet and bullets struck my hand, making me hide the grenade behind my back. Ten feet and I saw a brilliant flash from behind the dumpster that made my skin prick with sweat. Five and I threw the grenade and dropped to the ground, shutting my right eye. The flash illuminated Victor’s shocked face a split-second before it blinded us both.

  My ears rang as I pushed myself up, only half-blind thanks to my quick thinking. That gave me the edge to charge forward, right into the teeth of a potential death and reset to god knew when. It was worth it if I could get my hands on that rat fuck. His silhouette loomed ahead and I reached out greedily.

  The rifle came up between us, and I reacted in an instant. My hand gripped the receiver, just ahead of the glowing chamber. I grinned manically as I began to squeeze, staring up at Victor as his eyes widened. He reached behind his back and there was a flash, then a tremendous explosion that engulfed us, the dumpster, and the large fence it was backed against. I grit my teeth as heat prickled my skin, and I felt my pistol detonate violently against my leg. Fuck sake.

  It took a few seconds for my vision to come back, and another thirty for the smoke to clear enough I could see that I was intact...mostly. My gear had been totally fried, and I was down to the skintight bodysuit and balaclava I wore under it. I still had my boot knife at least, so I wasn’t totally unarmed.

  Lucky that hadn’t killed me, in retrospect. I figured the rifle worked by focusing an energy blast that was strong enough to break my projection, but unfocused it seemed I could resist it. I shook the remains of the rifle from my hand and stepped out of the shallow crater of glowing asphalt, almost a meter across. Glancing back, there was nothing left of the dumpster, or Victor. Well...lucky me.

  A bullet slapped me in the head, reminding me I could celebrate later. I rushed back into the fight, heading for a small cohort of Nazis firing from behind a traffic barrier. Moving to their flank, I slowed down and breathed deeply, readying myself. A loud pop from the burning drug lab made them turn away from me, and I pounced.

  Bones broke under my hand and gangsters screamed, firing point-blank to no effect. I was vicious, driving my elbows, boots, and knees into tender parts. I was sure they were reconsidering their choice of employment now, in between shrieks of agony. It took thirty seconds of frantic, dirty fighting, but I put the last one down and breathed a sigh.

  The fight wasn’t over though. I snagged a gun from one of the fallen troopers, along with a couple magazines. It was a little lighter than the usual carbine I’d used before, but the controls were all the same. I left the cover of the traffic barrier and moved in on the remaining Nazis still fighting.

  It was a rout. Gangsters ran from behind cover, trying to escape into the neighbouring buildings where more of my forces lay in wait. Others tossed their weapons aside and threw themselves to the ground, out of the fight. After ten more minutes of hard fighting, the gunfire was silenced and my teams began regrouping.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Amaranth!” I heard Nadir call. Turning, I found her jogging over to me with Reese and Wick in tow. “How many—”

  “Just once,” I cut her off. “Hence the sniper. Going to have to pay that bounty…”

  “Ahh, I was wondering about that,” Fidel said as he approached. “You knew they were coming then?”

  “A lucky guess,” I replied, shrugging. “With a target as valuable as this, they had to respond. I was expecting a spare TT or something, not Bifrost.” An outright lie, but he nodded along.

  “Rosa would like to talk to you about the money, when you have a chance,” he added.

  “Tomorrow,” I waved him off. “Gather up the survivors and line them up. We’ll get out of here quick, debrief later.”

  They left to follow my orders and a sigh escaped my lips. Things had gotten a little...crazy, the last few weeks. Werwolf had put some new guy in charge of their shock troops, and he was too damned effective. Between their tactics and frankly insane response times, we’d been nearly wiped out.

  Hell, we’d been nearly wiped out three times. Twice I’d had to stick my gun in my mouth when previous ambushes led to the deaths of most of my teammates. The third, last time, this teleporting ambush got the entire team inside the drug lab killed, then put a hole in my chest with that fucking rifle.

  But coming back, losing days at a time, was worth it. I didn’t enjoy it, and I wanted to avoid further repeats, but my troops were alive and that was all that mattered now. Really I should be happy it was only three times I had to reset. Hardly any time lost, compared to prior threats. Then again, the fact I’d had to reset at all against a bunch of low-tier trash like these guys pissed me off all over again.

  I handed my stolen carbine to Reese and took his pistol, mine having been lost in the explosion of the Bubble Popper. The gathered ANTIFA and RFB forces man-handled the remaining Nazis, herding them to the front of the burning building. I headed over right away. Sirens were growing louder, so I’d have to handle this quick.

  “Listen up!” I yelled to be heard over the inferno. “You’re the lucky ones tonight, because you get to choose your fate; unlike the bodies around here. Let me be very clear, this is your only second chance. Leave this city within twenty-four hours, or we’ll bury your bodies outside the limits.

  “You know who I am,” I continued, walking up the line. There were nearly a dozen survivors, looking anywhere from angry to terrified. I brandished my borrowed pistol to make a point. “You know what I’ve done to the rest of your kameraden. You know I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your head. Keep that in mind when you make your choice.” I strode to the front of the line and pressed the muzzle of the pistol to the first one’s forehead. “Leave or die.”

  “I’ll go, I swear,” the guy panted. I saw he had blood sheeting down one side of his head. Or...no, that was probably real.

  “Good answer,” I offered, moving to the next one. Another one to leave, and another, and another, then…

  “So you’re Amaranth,” the next one in line rasped. He was an older man, with a heavily lined face and faded tattoos creeping up his neck. Heavy bags under his eyes showed a lack of sleep, but he stared at me without fear; without hate too, notably. “Shorter than I expected.”

  “Funny,” I growled, putting the gun to his temple. “What’s your answer?”

  “I’ll leave,” he sighed.

  “Muller what—”

  “Shut up!” he barked, then sighed. “Some of my men may not appreciate your...hospitality. Please ignore whatever idiot things they say and let them leave the city.”

  “They will make their own choices,” I said flatly. “Now—”

  “Amaranth!” a yell from Richard made me turn. I saw green and white lights flickering in the distance, but growing fast. “PRT’s here in two, we need to leave.” I frowned, pursing my lips as I felt a scratching at my boot.

  “Fuckers,” I muttered, staring at the ground and stomping viciously on a spider that was trying to harry me. God dammit, and I’d been doing so well… “ANTIFA and RFB sweep the guns and get out! Terriers with me, we’ll make sure the PRT understands the conditions here.”

  “Are you sure Amaranth?” Nadir asked hesitantly. “They’re not exactly friendly.”

  “We’ll give them a chance,” I said. “I’m feeling generous.”

  Truthfully, I was feeling exhausted. We’d been striking Werwolf almost daily for weeks now, and I was always near or at the front. The PRT and Protectorate had been...well, actually they’d been doing basically nothing. Always showing up after the fighting was over, not bothering to arrest the guys we let go with their lives; though that last one was probably better for the Nazis, since it meant they could get out instead of being caged for us to find one day. Maybe, just maybe, they’d work with me.

  Yeah right.

  “We took fifteen casualties,” Nadir said as we headed to the perimeter, our forces scrambling around us. “All wounded, some seriously. They’re stable but—”

  “They aren’t dead,” I said. “That’s the best I can do, Nadir.”

  “I’m not asking you to go back and try again,” she hissed. “I’m telling you to be more careful. We’re pushing these guys harder and harder, and they’re pushing back. If we keep this up, we’ll run out of steam.”

  “We have fresh forces on the way,” I countered. “The Red Banners arrive tomorrow, that’s another twenty people. If you and the guys are tired though, I’ll tap Three Arrows for the next raid.” Another group, smaller but composed of decently trained, ex-military sorts. I’d only spoken with their ‘commander’ a couple times, but he seemed sharp enough.

  “And what about you?”

  “What about me?” I retorted. “I’m fine, a little crispy, but I’ll live.”

  “You need to rest,” Nadir chided me. “When was the last time you got a full eight hours of sleep?”

  “Last year,” I said dryly. “I’m fine Nadir, seriously. I’ll rest when this is all done.”

  “How long will that be?” she asked as the vehicles of our allies began driving away.

  “I don’t know,” I answered honestly, walking to the curb. A PRT van turned up the road and began racing towards us. “If we’re lucky, not much longer, if not…”

  I trailed off as the van pulled up. Just one, interesting. I waved Nadir off, and she joined the rest of my team by our armoured car, just up the road. Crossing my arms, I waited as a PRT tactical team piled out of the vehicle; all lethal, I noted. They were taking this seriously then, fucking finally. Miss Militia was the last out, and she approached me with a pistol that matched mine in hand.

  “I appreciate you not attacking us,” Miss Militia said with a sarcastic edge.

  “I wasn’t aware you were working with Werwolf,” I snapped. “If you’re not wearing a swastika, you’re not a target.”

  “And the police were just poor bystanders?” she asked.

  “If you mean the Third Precinct, they fought for the Nazis,” I said with a shrug. “You going to do the same?”

  “Definitely not,” she said sharply. “My duty is to protect the people of this city. You’re one of them, so are the members of Werwolf.”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it.” She stared down at me, and I could practically feel her disapproval radiating like a naked nuclear core. I weathered it until she sighed and she shoulders slumped.

  “Somer’s Rock, tomorrow at seven. Do not be late.” I narrowed my eyes at her flat order.

  “What do you want?” I demanded. “We can talk here, if that’s it.”

  “No, we cannot.” Miss Militia leveled a finger at me. “Seven. Come unarmed. If you don’t come…” She just shook her head.

  “Fine,” I said at last. This was at least...adjacent to what I wanted. “Anything else? I need to go shower off all this ash.”

  “Are you hurt?” she asked, her tone flipping to worried in a second.

  “No, I’m fine,” I said, shaking me head. “Crushed Victor’s gun and it blew us both up, I just weather that better.” She let out a soft snort that could have been a laugh. “I’ll see you at Somer’s Rock then.”

  She let me go, and I returned to the car with my team. They were as surprised as I that I’d been let go, but weren’t looking a gift horse in the mouth. As we headed for home, I mulled over the ‘invitation’ in my head. I couldn’t deny I was looking forward to it but…I certainly wouldn’t be going alone, and I was never truly unarmed.

  But that was tomorrow’s problem, tonight I still had to deal with my own…