“Go!”

  My carbine barked and blasted apart the lock, and I burst through the door. I swept left as Nadir came in behind me, moving right. Two shots echoed out as I checked the corner, then policed the closed door to the next room. I glanced over at the rest of my team and nodded. Zeke led Jeep and J through to the next room, Nadir and I taking up their flank.

  More shots, targets down, into the next room, repeat. The blast from our carbines was like a backhand, the flash hider simply didn’t. We burst through into a wide space with half a dozen targets behind cover, and opened fire without pause. Within seconds, all were down, and I called the all clear.

  “Endex!” Fen bellowed, loud enough to hear through the heavy earmuffs we were using. The five of us cleared our carbines and pulled off the ear protection as the mercenary walked up. “Good time. J-Dog, remember not to sweep your team when you’re clearing, too easy to fuck up. Nadir, you got the pace by the second room, but the first is usually most important to get through fast. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive.”

  “Amaranth, we’ve talked about this, you need to command,” he continued, leveling a finger at me. “A nod here or there doesn’t cut it. Be clear, be affirmative, and be fast. Your team needs to know what’s going through your head because at the end of the day it’s your op. Understand?”

  “I’m not a commander,” I countered, panting. “Just the point man.”

  “You need to be a commander,” Fen said firmly. “We’ve talked about what you want, and that’s the only way to get it. Shape up or don’t ship out.” I glowered at him, grinding my teeth.

  “I agree,” Nadir said, making me whirl in shock. “What? You know what you’re doing more than any of us and you’ve picked up on this stuff way quicker.”

  “For real,” Zeke added, nodding. “You were moving like Fen on day one, it was crazy.” My cheeks burned and I looked away. I didn’t want to talk about why it was so easy.

  “Jeep, J-Dog, you okay with her being the captain?” Fen asked.

  “Shit, ain’t she already?” Jeep replied.

  “That’s what I thought,” J-Dog agreed.

  “Sounds like it’s unanimous, captain,” Fen said, turning to me. “So quit bellyaching.”

  “I...guess I’ve kind of been doing it anyway,” I grumbled, slinging my carbine on my back. Nadir came up and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “You’re second Nadir.”

  “What?” She tensed.

  “You’re the next most experienced,” I said, leaning against her. “Got a better head on your shoulders than me too. Besides, I need you to keep me in check, not doing stupid shit you know?”

  “I...fine, if you’re going to be the leader,” Nadir sighed.

  “Okay, clean up and head home,” Fen said. “You’ve come a long way, treat yourselves. No PT tomorrow.”

  He left as we shared a chuckle and got to work. The last two weeks had been intense, as I intended, but more than I’d anticipated. My team and I had been up to it though, and I felt a hell of a lot better dragging them around the city and into the shit. We were armed, trained, and ready to go.

  Was it enough? That was my fervent hope. I’d burned through practically the whole warchest we’d seized, any longer and I’d be dipping into my own funds. Not that that was a problem, but it did worry me. A failed raid or two and we might be seeing that money vanish quicker than we could recoup it from Werwolf.

  At least everyone was in high spirits as we got into Zeke’s car and finally unmasked as we drove home. As they should be, my team was probably one of, if not the best non-PRT group out there. Small, well trained, and well armed, we were going to be a nightmare for Werwolf once we got out there again.

  The size of my team was something I kept coming back to. Sure, Papa knew what we were up to, and E-Z probably did too but didn’t make comments; but I’d rebuffed Zeke and his friends arguing for more of their buddies to join in. Joy had stayed out of the argument entirely. Everyone, it seemed, either wanted us to grow or didn’t want to talk about it.

  There was a seductive potential to the idea of growing my team even further. Being able to hit multiple places at the same time, near guaranteed force superiority, and just the idea of finally getting people to work with me all pulled like gravity. Of course that was a surefire way to get on the PRT’s shit list. But I was already there, if I was being realistic. This new start would piss them off whether it was my team of five or of five hundred.

  Logistically though, it was untenable right now. I just didn’t have what it took to support a larger team, effective or not. At least, I didn’t without going to Tattletale and begging for her help. That was off the table for a litany of reasons, not least of which was that she'd laugh in my face. No, maybe one day if I needed to I could bring in more people, for now this was fine.

  “Man I’m so glad we’re done,” Zeke groaned as we piled out of the car, retrieving our rifles and bringing them inside Papa’s place. “Gonna roll up a hella blunt to celebrate.”

  “You better be sharing,” Jeep said, elbowing him.

  “Hell yeah,” Zeke said with a laugh. “I’m gonna make Papa’s Christmas tree look like a little slim thing.” I grinned and shook my head. Fiends, all of them.

  “I know that look,” Joy said, wrapping her arms around me after I put my gun down. “You’re not getting out of this rotation, fearless leader.”

  “Fine,” I sighed. “I...guess it’s been a while since I’ve had any. But first, we’re all cleaning our guns. Last one done gets last dibs.”

  I smiled as my team scrambled to disassemble their rifles and get to cleaning. Maybe being captain wasn’t going to be so bad…

  “You really need to get a smoking jacket,” Lisa commented as I sat across from her at her café. “Smell like a bong.”

  “Sure,” I said dryly, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. “Because your sense of smell exists in the past, right?”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Lippy today, huh?” she said with a grin. “So how was your little boot camp?”

  “Like Fen wasn’t informing you every step of the way,” I retorted, getting a shrug. “Okay, let’s play pretend then. It went fine, learned a lot.” Remembered a lot more. “Now all that’s left is actually getting out there again and doing what we started this for.”

  “Well I’ve got plenty for you to do,” Lisa said, putting a duotang on the table. “Werwolf’s been busy. Busted out Thurisaz, messing with us in the downtown, and we have a new problem on top of it: a Tinker.”

  “You figured out how they teleported in?” I asked, leaning forward. “Who is it?”

  “From what I’ve got, they’re called Kraftwerk,” she said. “And I’m pretty sure they can copy powers.” I swore under my breath.

  “Well that’s terrifying,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “So now they can teleport because this Tinker copied Bifrost?”

  “And my own guys have encountered Werwolf soldiers with super strength, speed, and durability,” Lisa added, sending a chill down my spine. “There’s a bit of good news, in that this stuff seems pretty small scale. It’s not squads, it’s single guys in them, relatively short ranged teleportation. Not a crisis, not yet anyway.”

  “Do you know where they are?” I asked, grabbing the folder and thumbing through the pages. It was pretty thorough, even including floor plans for some buildings.

  “Not yet, but believe me I’m looking,” she said. “In the mean time, go have fun, and if you find anything you let me know.”

  “These addresses are all downtown,” I muttered, pursing my lips and glancing up at her. “What gives?”

  “Told you they’re pushing us,” she replied with a shrug.

  “So give this to the PRT and send us where they really are,” I said.

  “No,” Lisa said flatly. “Hitting them downtown is going to cause enough trouble. I need time to put together a picture of their whole operation. As long as you’re slapping them around outside their home turf they should get less riled up, make my job a little easier.”

  “I...guess that makes sense,” I sighed. “Is your gang back yet or are you still working shorthanded?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Yeah I’d like to know I’m not you’re enforcer,” I said, crossing my arms. “If I’m just fighting for your turf, I might as well go it alone.” A small frown touched her lips, but only for a second.

  “It’s not our ‘turf’, but we do a fair bit of business there,” she admitted after a moment. “And yeah, they’re cutting into our operations, but they’re also hurting people Lia. You’ve got the power to stop that.” I frowned, considering it.

  “If I come across one of your operations, I’m busting it,” I warned her as I took another look at the intelligence. “Not letting one weed grow so I can pull out another.”

  “If that’s how you want to treat your allies,” Lisa said with a shrug. “Try and focus on the real problems though.”

  “Obviously,” I said, closing the duotang and stuffing it in my backpack.

  “Neck doing okay?” I stiffened and stared at her, getting an exasperated sigh. “I mean that genuinely, Lia.”

  “It’s...fine,” I replied sheepishly. “Nasty scar, but whatever, not like I was much to look at anyway. Doesn’t hurt or itch anymore at least.” Still scabbed in places because I picked at it like an idiot, but that wasn’t really something I could help.

  “Another for the collection, huh?”

  “Wha— Oh, I guess.” I drummed my stubby fingers on the table. “You know I almost lost my trigger finger? That would have been pretty fucked up, though if I had I’d probably still be a hero so...I don’t know.”

  “You think your trigger finger’s the only thing standing between you and being a Ward?” Lisa scoffed.

  “No,” I sighed. “But it’s probably a pretty big factor. Guess it doesn’t matter anymore, that ship’s sailed and sunk.”

  “Eh, they’d probably take you back with a few years probation,” she said, shrugging. “Come on, they take just about anybody.”

  “I wouldn’t go back, obviously,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Left for a reason.”

  “At least you stick to your guns.” For some reason I felt like she was calling me stupid.

  “Well, thanks for the crap,” I said, rising and slinging my bag over my shoulder. “Guess I’ll get to work.”

  “You do that,” Lisa said with a smile. “And hey, Lia? You’re doing good stuff.”

  I left the café, trying not to let her kindness stick too much.

  “So that’s the plan,” I said, leaning back from the coffee table. “Thoughts? Issues?”

  “Seems pretty easy,” Jeep said, staring at the copy of the floor plan I’d marked up. “You really think they’re using it as a trap house though?”

  “I think there’s a good chance,” I replied. “Did a walk by this morning, the neighbourhood is crap and the building looks otherwise abandoned. Seemed perfect if you ask me.”

  “It’s close to the PRT,” Joy commented, glancing at me. “Are they going to be okay with this?”

  “Honestly? I don’t think they’re okay with anything we do,” I sighed. “Which begs the question of why bother worrying, you know? But we won’t be bringing the carbines, shouldn’t need them.”

  “Aww come on,” Zeke complained. “We just spent weeks working with them, least we can do is break ‘em out.”

  “No,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “That stuff is for big fights. If we expect capes or lots of foot soldiers, then we’ll bring them. Otherwise we need to do what we can to keep the PRT at least at arms length. Feel like they’d be more eager to go after us if we’re heavily armed.”

  “And we want to avoid killing people,” Joy added.

  “That too,” I agreed. I still wasn’t sure about that one but for now… “Okay, we’ll execute on this tomorrow night. Get some sleep and meet here bright and early, okay?” Everyone nodded and I leaned back on the couch. “Cool.”

  “You wanna spark up before you go home?” Zeke asked, rising from his seat.

  “Shit you know it,” Jeep said with a grin.

  “Best weed is free,” J-Dog said.

  “Lia?” Joy asked, giving me a look.

  “Well, we’re not doing anything for the next twenty-four hours.” I shrugged and nodded. “Why not?”

  I leaned on her as Zeke went to his room to roll up. It would be fine, wasn’t like Zeke was making something like I’d had Christmas day. Plus I needed the sleep, and if this was what it took then...I guess it was fine. Better than alcohol at least.

  We headed out back, since the front lawn wasn’t safe enough anymore. Zeke lit the joint and puffed on it, then passed it off to me. I leaned back against the bricks of Papa’s house, taking a long drag off the joint. On the second one, I coughed and passed it along to Joy. Nasty, but I could already feel the heady rush from the weed. A buzzing in my pocket tickled my thigh, making me giggle. Oh shit my phone.

  “Hello?” I said as I accepted the call.

  “Amelia, it’s Viola Stanford, how are you doing?” I felt the blood drain from my face and gestured at everyone else to shut up.

  “Hey, Miss Stanford, I’m fine,” I replied, suppressing the urge to cough. “What’s up?”

  “You sound a little hoarse,” she said, sounding concerned.

  “Just you know, winter cold,” I said, clearing my throat.

  “Ah, well I hope you get well soon,” she said. “I’m calling you to schedule an emancipation hearing.”

  “Oh.” Shit I’d forgotten about that with...everything. “Okay, so when is it?”

  “What time works for you?” Stanford asked. “I understand school has started back up, we can work around that though. Do you have time tomorrow or Tuesday?”

  “Uhh, Tuesday should be fine,” I hedged, refusing the joint as it came around. “I can come out of class if I have to, this is kind of important.”

  “No no, there’s a slot at four in the afternoon,” she said. “If that works for you, I can pick you up at your apartment.”

  “I uh, I moved actually.” I grimaced, shaking my head. God dammit why couldn’t she have called before I smoked… “Sorry, can you tell me where it is? I’ll get a ride there.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine, just…” I really didn’t have a good excuse.

  “Alright Lia, I won’t press you,” Stanford replied gently. “You’re still living on your own? Safe?”

  “Yes to both.” A firm lie on the second point. “Okay, well, thanks Miss Stanford. You’ve done a lot for me, and I wish I could pay you back somehow.”

  “Stay in school and take care of yourself, that’s all I need.”

  The conversation wound down and she gave me the address to meet at. I thanked her again and finally hung up, letting out a long sigh. How many lies had I told back there? How many had she actually believed?

  “Hey, looks like you need something,” Zeke said, holding out the blunt. I sighed and took it.

  I really did right now.