It was another week before Joy got to go out with her crew again.

  Things had really quieted down after the first couple raids where the PRT was involved. It seemed that the apparent alliance between them and the Terriers had made them less willing to attack so brazenly, that or the remaining cells were still reorganizing from the blows that had been struck. Either way, the moment there was a report of a cell, they went.

  They weren’t much of terrorists, they weren’t much of anything. A trio of scared skinheads with only a couple tattoos each had been in the building. A sweep had revealed a stash of drugs, which she had her troops piling on the lawn now. Weed, meth, some kind of pills Nadir couldn’t identify. No matter, it was the PRT’s problem to deal with now.

  Speaking of, the flashing green and white lights of the van turned down the road and sped towards them. It halted at the curb and a group of officers got out, along with a heavily armoured hero Nadir didn’t recognize. Still, it was a warmer reception than the first time, the cops didn’t even have their weapons at a high ready. The armoured hero strode up and loomed over her, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “So you’re Nadir,” he said in a rumbling baritone. He glanced at the trio on the lawn, then back to her. “And them?”

  “Werwolf drug dealers,” Nadir replied evenly, gesturing to the pile on the grass next to them. “They’ve got the ink, they’ve got the drugs, it’s pretty simple.”

  “And your peoples’ fingerprints all over them.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

  “Gloves,” she said, holding up a hand. “Look, we’re giving them to you because it’s your job to dispense justice right? So do your job, take them in, take the evidence, and put them in whatever pit is waiting.” She stared up at him, unmoving. After a moment, he sighed.

  “Sergeant, secure the suspects and evidence,” he ordered the PRT officer to his left. “And make sure to look for signs of mistreatment.”

  She didn’t rise to the barb, simply turning on her heel and gathering her remaining teammates. Some of them, mostly from Misha’s group, had left before the PRT arrived. Frankly, Nadir was just happy they’d come at all. For all the issues the Russians seemed to have with the way they were doing things now, they were still willing to fight Nazis.

  “Man this shit’s easy,” Jeep said as she got back into the car. Reese and J-Dog got in the back, Wick apparently sick and unable to come. “Feels like...I mean it kinda feels like back when it was just us you know?”

  “Know what you’re saying,” J-Dog replied, pulling off his balaclava and wiping some sweat from his brow. His hair was pulled back in neat cornrows, something Reese of all people apparently had done for him. “It’s cool though, don’t feel like I’m gonna get my head blown off walking around every corner.”

  “It wasn’t all that,” Reese said, elbowing J-Dog and letting out a deep, rumbling laugh. “These Nazis weren’t shit all, we could’ve handled them without all these commies.”

  “Reese,” Nadir said, her voice low but cold enough to draw everyone’s attention. “Werwolf, at its height, had over two hundred footsoldiers, twelve villains, and a support base that sure as shit beat anything we had. We won because Amaranth was willing to break the rules that even they weren’t, and we followed her lead. We still are, doing stuff like this.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” J-Dog said cautiously.

  “It’s the facts of how we operate,” she said. “We’re the bad guys that pick on worse guys, we’re tolerated only so long as there are worse guys to go after; and as long as we hold back.” It was like the old days, before she had ever thought of carrying a gun to a raid or patrol. Now she always had a pistol on her hip, or concealed in her jacket, ready.

  “No offense Joy, but sometimes you’re kind of a downer,” Jeep said, offering an apologetic grin. “Think you listened to Lia a little too much. We won, this shit— Shit!”

  He swore viciously and stamped on the brakes as two trucks pulled out of an alley and blocked the street in front of them. Her team was on the ball though, and the second the car stopped they all piled out and drew their pistols, crouching behind the armoured doors. She peeked around the edge and narrowed her eyes. Four guys with weapons in hand, but not aimed at them. The headlights turned on and a familiar voice called out.

  “Relax, if we wanted to kill you, we’d have used an IED,” Tattletale said, striding into the light. Nadir rose from behind the door and sighed, holstering her pistol. Not an enemy, probably. “I heard the Terriers are under new management.”

  “I’m not dealing with you, Tattletale,” Nadir replied, hands on her hips.

  “Oh, so you don’t want to know your allies are dealing the drugs you’ve been finding on the side?” The smirk on her face sent Nadir’s stomach sinking.

  “What do you mean?” she demanded, hands balling into fists.

  “I mean those Russians are really more trouble than they were ever worth,” Tattletale replied smugly. “They aren’t happy about not being able to loot as they please, so they’re making their money on the side.”

  Tattletale’s smile grew as Nadir’s face bloomed with heat. She’d thought the pile on the lawn looked a little small for how much they’d seen inside, and Misha’s people had been awfully hasty to get out before the cops arrived.

  “How do I know you’re not bullshitting me?” Nadir asked.

  “One of my people caught and beat up one of your dealers,” Tattletale said.

  “Not my dealers.”

  “Not your dealers,” she corrected herself with a nod. “Fair enough, you’re obviously not involved. What about your friends?” Nadir looked over her shoulder, but only got confused expressions from her team.

  “Man if we could have been slinging we would,” Jeep yelled, smacking the roof of the car. “You shitting me?”

  “So you stopped me to tell me this,” Nadir said, crossing her arms. “I know enough about you to know it’s not free.”

  “Bingo,” Tattletale said, pointing her finger like a gun. “But frankly, you’re already doing what I want, so keep it up. Oh, and don’t set your sights on me once your bullshit is done with.” Nadir narrowed her eyes.

  “And you want…?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Peace,” Tattletale said with a shrug. “At least enough of it to make money without risking my neck. You keep your people off the warpath and I’m happy, unless you decide to muscle in on my business; then we’ll have a nasty conversation.”

  “That won’t happen,” Nadir said darkly. “Well fine, I’ll put a stop to it. You want anything else, or are you just going to keep blocking the street until the cops arrive to clear it?”

  “Good luck with the mess Amaranth left you,” Tattletale said as her men returned to their vehicles. “You’re going to need it.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Nadir muttered as Tattletale got in one of the cars and drove off.

  She was going to need a lot more than luck…

  “Alright, dismissed” Nadir said as the debriefing wound down. It was a little late, she’d had to do a little digging before she could do this, but everyone had been happy enough with the rest. “Commanders, stay behind; I want a word.” Fidel and Rache paused, but Misha and Gregori continued towards the door. “That means you, ruskies.” Both men paused, and Gregori turned his head, a frown on his face.

  “No need for epithets,” Fidel chided her. “Misha, Gregori, come on.” They shared a look, then returned to the table.

  “I’m not going to waste any time,” Nadir said, taking a plastic bag from her pocket and tossing it on the table. A few white pills spilled out and scattered over the table with a quiet clatter. Fidel and Rache looked shocked and glared at her for apparent possession. Misha and Gregori though, they’d paled. Clearly they hadn't expected her to find out about this, let alone find one of their stashes. “If I catch any of your men dealing drugs, I’ll shoot them. Do you understand?”

  It was an extreme solution, to say the least. Fidel and Rache looked stricken, while the Russians looked like they wanted to shoot her. But they needed to get it through their heads that this wasn’t going to become a gang; and if they dared to try, they’d be treated like Werwolf had been. Nadir’s hand rested on her pistol. She could deal with them without it of course, but it was about sending a message.

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  “Why are you so mad?” Misha demanded, face turning from white to scarlet. “Amaranth was—”

  “Shut your fucking mouth!” Nadir bellowed, nearly drawing her pistol. “You’ll obey or I’ll drag you into the precinct tonight. Do you fucking understand?” There was a terrifying, tense moment where she expected them to draw on her, but finally Gregori sighed and put an a hand on Misha’s forearm.

  “You have made your point,” Gregori said, tone humble. “We will destroy any drugs we’ve taken.”

  “And we’re going to watch,” Nadir said, nodding at Fidel and Rache. The latter looked surprised, but Fidel had a stormy look on his face.

  “Indeed we are,” Fidel said gravely. “Lead on, ruskie.”

  The Russians left.

  It wasn’t that much of a surprise, given the ultimatum Nadir had offered. One of their lackeys had delivered the news, and she sent him back with a warning to leave Brockton Bay; she wasn’t making any more of a mess of this city than she needed to. If they didn’t listen, Nadir would deal with them herself.

  But she was hopeful they would. After all, they’d seen what the Terriers were capable of without them. It left them with a shrunken force, but what really hurt was the loss of Gregori’s Spetsnaz and their intelligence gathering. Nadir hadn’t been kidding about not dealing with Tattletale, she had no intentions of following Amaranth’s example.

  No, that would lead them to disaster, it nearly had already. As it was, the only reason they weren’t currently having their doors kicked in by the PRT was Nadir’s effort to pull back and take a softer approach. It made her sick to think about, but in a way the Terriers were better off without Amaranth…

  Without a fresh source of intel, Joy had fallen back on the methods the Terriers used at the start. They’d drawn up a schedule with the remaining members of the ANTIFA and RFB, purchased some night vision devices, and started staking out the South End. It was intensely dull stuff, and the first couple weeks went by with no results. But it helped them narrow things down.

  Cruising through the streets of the South End always made her nervous, even though they’d tamped down most resistance. The signs of their brief war were still apparent. Lots of buildings bore the scars of bullet holes and shrapnel. Glassless windows gaped like wounds, or were covered by plywood and cardboard. Lots of burned out buildings too, scorched to the ground full of drugs or ammunition or gangsters.

  “You think they’re gone?” Jeep asked as they sat in his new car. They were at the end of a cul-de-sac, lights out, engine off. She was sitting in the back, scanning the houses through the green-tinted lenses of a pair of binoculars with night vision.

  “Not in the slightest,” Joy said flatly. “They got their asses beaten, but we’ve already found four cells, a total of fifteen people. That leaves, at bare minimum, fifty plus members unaccounted for, to say nothing of the out-of-towners.”

  “What if they all ran off?” he continued. “I mean, word must have spread pretty quick with what we were doing. No way they’d have stuck around.”

  “Not all of them,” she admitted. “But enough to cause problems.”

  “We ain’t seen nothing,” Jeep griped. “You’re getting paranoid, boss.”

  “No, I’m being careful,” she countered. “Now pipe down and keep watching.”

  With a sigh, Jeep went back to keeping a lookout on the other half of the neighbourhood. He didn’t understand the full picture, maybe he never would, maybe nobody would. Lia had give up a lot more than her freedom. Joy was still worried about the shadowy Cauldron people coming to collect on the debt she owed. Not that it was the Terriers’ problem, but Joy had her doubts they’d care who they collected from.

  Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about that for long. Not because it wasn’t a problem, but because more immediate ones appeared to distract her. At one of the houses, halfway up the street, the porch light came on. Odd, considering it was three in the morning. She dialed back the exposure on the binoculars to cut the glare and kept watching.

  Five minutes later, a car pulled up out front of the house. A minute after that, someone got out and walked up to the front door. It opened and she saw a shadow come out of the house, pass something to the other person, then shut the door quickly. It all took about ten seconds, and as soon as the person got back to their car they drove off. Joy checked her watch, then made a note of the time on her notepad.

  The same situation played out ten minutes later, then another fifteen after that. Three apparent handoffs in less than an hour. No doubt they’d found a dealer, maybe even more than that. Over the next two hours, six more cars pulled up. Each handoff only took a minute at most, and the whole while the porch light burned brightly.

  When it finally went out, the sky was beginning to turn a dull grey. Joy’s eyes felt sandy, and after waiting to see if anyone left the house, she ordered Jeep to head for home. As he drove back, she studied her notes, trying to figure out a pattern.

  If there was one, she didn’t have enough info to put it together yet. Ten deals of unknown substances, with unknown customers, by unknown dealers. There was a damn good chance it was Werwolf, or what was left, considering where they were staking out. Even if not, it certainly wasn’t some mom and pop business selling flowers.

  “Get anything?” Jeep asked as they stopped at a red light, yawning loudly.

  “Maybe,” Joy said with a shrug. “We’ll have to check it out again to make sure, but I think six-twenty-two is dirty.”

  “That’s the one that was lit up all night?” he said and she nodded. “Mm, yeah, smells like a trap house.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, just…” He tapped his nose, cheeks darkening slightly. “I cracked the window when we drove by, smelled like meth.”

  “Really?” She hadn’t noticed that at all.

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Just this funky, chemical smell. Don’t know how else to tell you.”

  “No, that helps,” Joy said, offering a smile. “Yeah, we’ll definitely come back here to make sure. Told you this wasn’t over.”

  “Yeah yeah,” Jeep sighed. “I hope it will be soon…”

  “Me too Jeep,” she replied, gazing out the window. “Me too.”

  Unfortunately, nothing was ever that easy.

  “Get down!” Nadir shouted as machine gun fire blasted out the front window of the house. She ran to the side and hit the deck behind a rhododendron, pulling a grenade from her belt. “Covering fire!”

  Her team responded instantly, fire from multiple angles destroying what was left of the window, chewing up the siding of the house. She sprinted forward and tore the pin from the grenade, then threw it overhand through the shattered window. A series of tremendous ‘bangs’ and brilliant flashes followed, and Nadir leaped through the window the moment it was done.

  There were three gangsters in the room, all reeling from the concussive blasts and blinding light. She drew a three meter circle with herself at the center and flattened them with a millisecond pulse of gravity. She heard the door get blasted open, and left the stunned men in the living room as she swept through the rest of the house, pistol in hand.

  There were no more people, Nadir found, but plenty of contraband. Besides the guns the three gangsters carried, she found two more pistols in a bedroom. A closet in the hallway was packed to the gills with plastic, vacuum-packed bags of drugs. White power that was probably cocaine, green buds of weed, and more pills than she could even try and count.

  “That’s quite the haul,” Fidel said, breathing a little heavily as he joined her. “No tattoos on the suspects, but they’re all white; not hard to imagine who they were aligned with.”

  “Check again,” Nadir said. “Strip them, they might have marks under their clothes.”

  “A step ahead of you,” he said, shaking his head. “Sorry Nadir, but they’re clean, relatively speaking. Still, this tells us they were still criminals and still needed to be taken down.” She sighed and nodded.

  “Yeah I guess,” she replied. “Any injuries?”

  “Nothing serious,” he answered. “Brunel cut his hand trying to copy you, and the suspects are in bad shape but breathing. We’re splinting their limbs before we bring them out.”

  “You should be in charge,” she muttered, holstering her pistol. She started to walk past him, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

  “We still need you,” Fidel said quietly, but earnestly. “This is a team effort, Nadir.”

  “You’ve got ten times my experience,” Nadir retorted. “You’ve been leading a team for a long time, hell you’ve been fighting Nazis alone since I was in high school.”

  “You have powers,” he said simply.

  “That shouldn’t make a difference,” she hissed. “Amaranth was seventeen, she never should have been in charge. Fuck I only just turned twenty, no way I should be in the same position as you.” His expression softened as the grip on her shoulder tightened.

  “I don’t disagree,” Fidel murmured. “But of the parahumans I’ve met, well, you’re often mature beyond your years; to say nothing of your powers themselves. I’ve seen how Lin’s changed, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if he was voted as cell elect when my term ends. Maybe powers shouldn’t make a difference, but the fact is they do.

  “I’m wish you didn’t need to be here,” he continued, letting her go and offering a sad smile. “But I’m glad to have you by my side.”

  “The feeling’s mutual,” Nadir replied, a smile creeping onto her face. As wailing sirens grew louder, she sighed and jerked a thumb at the door. “Shall we?”

  They headed out together, and Nadir knew she was better for it.

  “Hey shit Joy I ain’t seen you in ages!” Zeke greeted her happily, opening the door wide. “C’mon in, I was just about to light up. You wanna puff?”

  “I’ll pass, but thanks,” Joy replied, stepping inside with a smile. She looked around as she kicked off her shoes. “Nice place you got. How much are you paying for rent?”

  “I own this bitch,” he said, flashing a grin. “Needs some work, but it’s mine.”

  “Seriously?” She arched a brow, following him into the living room. “How’d you manage that?”

  “Still had a bunch of money from when I worked with you guys,” he said, sitting down on the couch and grabbing a large blunt sitting on the coffee table. He patted the cushion next to him and she sat down. “Saved up what I was getting from the barber shop, and bam! Just moved in last month, it’s still new, but…” He trailed off, his smile growing.

  “Right, you said you invested in that.” Joy smiled back. “How’s that been going anyway? No trouble with...all the trouble?”

  “Nah it’s no sweat,” Zeke replied, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks darkened. “Actually I uh, I started working there.”

  “No shit?” Her eyes widened.

  “For real,” he confirmed. “The owner made me start just sweeping shit up, but he’s teaching me how to cut hair too. Never thought it’d be my thing but, shit I don’t know, it’s kinda fun.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  Joy’s smile turned down as Zeke lit his joint and took a puff. She’d read him all wrong when they first met. He seemed like a goofy idiot who didn’t take anything seriously enough. Reliable in a pinch, but also a source of trouble. But he’d gotten out when things had taken a bad turn and here he was, no doubt doing the best of the three of them who’d started this whole thing.

  She felt her throat tightening and fought to keep her face from showing it. Zeke was doing well, Joy ought to be happy for him, but all she could feel was a sense of seething jealousy. There was a part of her that wished she hadn’t felt obliged to follow Lia into hell, that wished she’d followed Zeke’s lead and turned her back on things.

  But she couldn’t abandon her friend like that. Her grandfather had understood that though, even praised her loyalty, but it was a bitter thing. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Couldn’t let it get to her, there was still work to be done. Work she didn’t want to do, work she didn’t have any place doing, but it was still hers. Zeke bumped her shoulder and she opened her eyes, glancing at the blunt he was offering.

  “I said I was good,” Joy said.

  “Yeah but I can tell you ain’t,” Zeke replied. “C’mon, it’s chill. We ain’t on the frontlines girl.” She let out an empty chuckle and took the blunt.

  “Fair point.”

  Frankly, she’d rather be high than deal with the bullshit she was left with…