She might have said 'fuck it' but that didn't actually do jack shit to prepare her for the actual act of breaking and entering with intent to do harm. Sure, they weren't planning to actually hurt the guy, just find and relieve him of enough of his drugs to ensure that his superiors in the Iron Patriots would do it for them.

No big deal, right?

Ashe was going to end up in prison, she knew it. People like her just didn't get away with crimes like this, it was the career criminals that got away with shit like this. Criminals like the man they were about to pay a visit. The man whose house they were currently entering the backyard of.

"Ashe," Crystal whispered. "Relax. You're wound up tighter than Robbie when he gets a fresh coke supply."

She paused, eye twitching at the casual admission of illegal drug use, and took a deep breath. Ashe was really regretting the decision to contact Crystal, but she was in too deep to just back out. She would do this one thing, get back at the bastard, then be done with it. Crystal was fun, and she was cute, but goddamn was she proving to be more dangerous than was worth risking.

Ashe hesitantly looked from the fence to Crystal, then watched her put her hands together and offer a boost up without asking. Ashe sighed, then put her foot in Crystal's grip and vaulted the short fence, landing softly on the other side. Her heart jack hammered in her chest, and a cold sweat broke out down her back as she scanned the empty yard for danger. There was a surprising amount of cigarette butts and dozens of broken beer bottles, but not much else of interest.

She was tempted to draw her pistol, but only just then realized it was registered in her name, meaning she couldn't use it without letting police link the ballistics to her. What was once a sensible precaution suddenly came back to bite her.

"Clear," Ashe called out, hesitantly.

Crystal vaulted the fence a moment later, her head on a swivel. "You alright?"

"Peachy," Ashe muttered. "Let's just get this done."

Crystal huffed behind her mask, and then moved through the yard to the back door without hesitation. Ashe wanted to snap at her about being cautious, that they might be seen, but that would defeat the purpose of sneaking. Ashe instead followed behind her until they reached the home. Crystal jiggled the door handle and pushed the unlocked door open.

"That's concerning," Ashe said.

"Not really," Crystal said in a soft voice. "You'd be surprised at how many of the Patriot assholes think their affiliation makes them untouchable."

"Given what he's getting away with, that doesn't surprise me," Ashe grumbled in agreement.

She didn't like it, but couldn't deny the truth of it. The man assaulted her, violated her in an intimate way, and here she was about to get back at him. Anger kindled anew, because she could take action, reclaim some measure of confidence just by acting with a little volition. She didn't like what they were doing, but what other options did she have?

Swallowing heavily, Ashe steeled herself and stepped softly into the kitchen, then almost gasped at what she saw. Crystal was right behind her and whistled softly. The kitchen table was covered in a simple red mat, and atop it were piles of white powder being divided up into little bags. Beside the table were bricks of that same white powder, at least a dozen.

"Jackpot," Crystal said, her whispering voice tinged with excitement. "Robbie is gonna throw one hell of a rager over this."

Ashe seethed through grit teeth, but didn't voice her displeasure about what was obviously going to be done with the cocaine. She was casually throwing away everything her parents had taught her in that moment and she hated herself for it.

Crystal slowly set one of her bags down and began to load the bricks into it. Ashe eyed the loose powder on the table, but decided against messing with it. That stuff was best left as evidence for the inevitable call she was going to have to make, because no matter what Crystal said, she wasn't leaving here without getting the man busted for possession with intent to distribute.

Ashe stepped aside, peeking out the door that led further into the home and listened. She could hear a TV playing some sort of race, but she didn't know enough about the sport beyond the Daytona 500 that happens on the other side of the state. The entire state practically threw a party over that one, then bike week followed and it was just a mess.

Crystal zipped her duffle bag shut and set it by the back door before pulling her phone out and typing in a number. "Robbie, you're gonna love me."

"Can that wait?" Ashe asked in a harsh whisper. "I'm kinda out of my element here and would prefer to be done before someone starts shooting at us."

Crystal rolled her eyes, but put the phone away. "Calm your tits, just letting him know we got some stuff."

Ashe huffed, and began to poke around the kitchen. There were some green bricks, in the dishwasher of all things, and rolled blunts in one of the drawers which Crystal quickly began to pack away with more than a bit of glee. Ashe rolled her eyes, then checked the fridge only for her heart to hammer in her chest when she opened one of the cases of beer.

Cash, and lots of it.

"Holy fuck," Ashe whispered, reaching in and pulling out a wrapped stack of hundreds. She fanned through it, confirming that it was indeed all the same bill. It was more money than Ashe had ever seen before in one place.

"We hit the fucking motherlode," Crystal said, practically bouncing with giddyness. "Get this packed away and we can consider this a damn good haul."

Ashe nodded and began to load the cash into her own bag. It was a tight fit, but she figured there had to be at least twenty grand in there if not more. A check of the freezer revealed more money and that estimate was revised upwards. If it was her call to make, she would have bailed right then and there. When she was finished she found Crystal eying the hall where the sounds of a race could be heard.

Ashe didn't want to keep going, but began to move down the hall on soft steps anyway. It was amazing how one could walk almost silently in combat boots with a bit of practice. A necessity when trying to avoid bullies in empty halls. In the living room, she could see a recliner in front of an oversized TV, and not much else. A person was seated in it, with an overturned beer bottle half spilled on the carpet beside it.

Puzzled, Ashe took a few cautious steps into the room and took a careful look at the occupant. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of his pale skin, and shallow gasps around a foaming mouth. It was the man who assaulted her, no question there, but he appeared to be in the middle of a full on overdose.

"Shit," Ashe said, a bit louder than intended as she hurried over to him. She could see some white powder on his shirt, a small bit of folded paper right next to it. That could mean that the coke was laced, or worse, some of it might not be coke at all. She didn't have time to think about that, however, a man was dying in front of her and she needed to do something about it.

Just as she was starting to pull him from the chair, someone grabbed her by the arm forcefully.

"The fuck are you doing?" Crystal hissed.

"He's dying," Ashe said, pulling free so she could get him lined up on the floor.

"Then let the bastard die!" Crystal said. "He was perfectly willing to see you dead, so why not return the favor?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Because I refuse to stoop to their level," she answered.

He fell to the floor with a bit of a thud and Ashe moved to begin chest compressions. Just as she started, the silver glint of steel broke her focus and she found Crystal's gun pressed against the man's head. Or rather, it wasn't Crystal's Glock, but an oversized Beretta.

"Ashe, he's a dead man no matter what we do today. Just stop. He isn't worth your efforts, or did you forget why we're here?"

"I just wanted him arrested," Ashe said. She could see the life slipping from his glassy eyes, every second wasted increasing the odds that he would die. She then turned pleading eyes upon the woman holding a gun to the man's head. "Please don't make me sit by while someone dies because I didn't act."

Crystal glared at her for a moment, eyes intense but Ashe didn't look away. A huff escaped her lips and the gun was withdrawn. Ashe wasted little time, beginning chest compressions in full.

She set the pace to 'Staying Alive' but another song started creeping in against her best efforts to shut it out and soon the lyrics to Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' were blaring in her head along with each compression. She skipped the rescue breaths however, due to the likelihood of residual powder on his face, or potential vomit.

The minutes seem to tick by, Ashe's breath wheezing from the effort. Ashe was only vaguely aware of Crystal stepping away, muttering something that she missed. She was lost in the compressions, watching the man slip away, the pallor of his skin turning gray and his lips purple. Without any Narcan, she knew there wasn't much chance of him making it, but she had to keep going if for nothing else than her own conscience.

"Hey," Crystal said. Ashe grunted in acknowledgment. "I got the rest of the stuff worth grabbing packed, as well as about ten grand more in cash. If you're done beating up the corpse, let's get the hell out of here."

Ashe was about to protest that when the man coughed. He was alive! He was breathing on his own! His eyes fluttered briefly, looking up as they started to come into focus, and Ashe panicked. He'd recognise her and then she'd be fucked!

Then Ashe punched him.

Crystal barked out a laugh, almost falling over as Ashe shook the sting out of her left hand, thankful she hadn't slugged him with her still healing one. She glanced around and found the man's phone, next to his unconscious form. It wasn't even passcode protected and she was thankful to have picked touch screen gloves. Ashe then pulled up the phone app and dialed 911.

Crystal nearly panicked, grabbing for the phone. "The fuck! They know your voice too well."

"I got this," Ashe said, then cleared her throat. She hated doing this particular trick, but when needs must, she just hoped that Crystal didn't freak out over it. The call went through and the familiar sound of Naomi's voice came through asking the usual question. "Fuck, my buddy took some shit and seized up. I tried to do that CRP shit I saw on TV but it ain't working."

Crystal blinked with a slack jaw at how deep Ashe's voice was, but didn't say anything.

"Okay sir, I need you to stay calm," Naomi said. Ashe still winced at being misgendered. "Do you know what he took?"

"He was bragging about this coke shipment he got in," Ashe said, hating every word as her chest rumbled. Her throat would be sore after all this, but she could deal with it. "He snorted some and I was about to do the same when he dropped."

"I see," she said, keyboard clacking away. "Can I get an address?"

Ashe almost panicked, looking out the window. "Uh, I think we're on McKinney? Place out the window is 572."

Crystal waved her hand, then nodded.

More clacking of keys followed. "Can you step outside to help flag down the ambulance?"

Ashe winced, because she knew she should, but that wasn't an option. "No way, I ain't getting busted for this asshole."

Ashe hung up the phone then tossed it aside even as she deflated. "Come on," she said in her normal voice, wincing at how strained it was. "We need to get out of here."

"Sure," Crystal said, shouldering her bag. "Neat trick. Would have never guessed you were, well…"

"Trans?" Ashe asked as she moved to do the same.

Crystal nodded. "Yeah. Never even crossed my mind. I guess that explains why you jumped straight to punching that guy when he felt you up."

"Yeah, thought I was going to die anyway so I took the 'fuck it' option," Ashe muttered. They moved through the kitchen and Ashe glanced back at the table. "That coke's probably all laced, you know."

"Most likely," Crystal agreed. "Wouldn't surprise me if the IP were trying to move it into Cartel backed areas to kill some people off. They've done it before."

They made it back to Robbie's van, tossing the bags inside before climbing in themselves. In the distance, Ashe could hear sirens. Crystal slammed the doors shut and slapped the side of the van. The vehicle rumbled to life and pulled away, and for several moments Ashe just stood there.

"I think we're clear," Crystal said, pulling her mask off.

Ashe found herself slumping down to the floor of the old van, doing much the same. Fuck, she had just robbed a drug dealer, done CPR on said dealer, then lied to the police about the situation before ducking out. Her heart was still pounding, her breathing heavy as she sat there, the adrenaline finally fading away.

She wasn't quite sure when it started, but a giggle escaped her lips and soon grew into full on laughter. Holy shit, not even the roller coasters at Universal had gotten her blood pumping like that. If crime was always such a rush, it was no wonder people became criminals.

"That first one's always a doozy," Crystal said. "I remember my first break in, I threw up afterwards."

Ashe snorted, reining in her laughter and outright failing. What was wrong with her that she got such an adrenaline high from crime? Thinking it over wasn't helping in the least. Ashe wasn't a criminal, she didn't want to be one. She accomplished her goal and the man wouldn't get off of this one easily, if not with the cops then with the people that supplied him. She should just walk away, cut contact with Crystal and not look back

Ashe watched the woman as she pulled the bandana from her head and fluffed out her blue mane, Crystal excitedly began to sort through the bags, getting especially giddy about the absolute piles of cash. Then Ashe blinked in surprise when a rather sizable portion of that cash was pushed over to her.

"Your cut," Crystal said. "I don't think you want to deal with the drugs and all, so I figure cash would be best."

Ashe eyed the stacks of bills, wondering just how much it was, and more importantly, how the hell would she suddenly explain having at least ten thousand dollars in loose bills to her parents. She was about to refuse it outright when Crystal gave her a pointed look and Ashe's jaw clicked shut.

She hesitantly accepted the offered payment, tucking it into her backpack as she did. Crystal nodded, then went back to sorting the drugs, though she was far more cautious about that than she had been with the cash.

Ashe wasn't sure what to think about it all, but sitting there, looking down at the money she had gotten for less than twenty minutes of effort, she was more than a little sick with herself. Yet, that raised another question, one she didn't quite want answered.

Why did she find herself looking forward to a 'next time' that wasn't going to happen?