“And how do you know that,” Ashe asked, even as Crystal reached for her gun.

Keiko’s jaw worked for a moment, her eyes flicking between Crystal and Ashe as Crystal pulled Ashe’s gun from her waistband and handed it back over. Keiko’s pupils dilated as she watched. “Fuck. I mean, it’s bad, but not like… Why is it so fucking hard to just say it?”

“You tell me,” Ashe said coldly. “I had to murder a good friend because tonight went tits up. Explain yourself before I feel the need to murder someone I thought was a good friend.”

The woman winced, looking towards Crystal for sympathy, only to find a cold gaze looking back. Ashe knew her girlfriend was dangerous, but she had never seen that look leveled upon someone she cared about before. Because, even though they broke up, they remained close friends afterwards. Now, she was learning that Keiko might have sold them out. For as much as that stung Ashe, it had to be hitting Crystal ten times harder.

“Give me one good reason,” Crystal said coldly. “You’ve known all this time what he was up to, and you didn’t think to tell us?”

“I had to be sure,” Keiko said softly. “Something about the pawn shop job rubbed me the wrong way, and then Robbie goes missing, Yessina asks me to keep a close eye on you, and I’m approached by Alejandro that same day. It didn’t fit.” Ashe raised her gun, but kept her finger off the trigger. Keiko held up her hands, sweat visibly running down her face. “Thing is, I was never feeding him the good stuff, and I didn’t pass along our timing for the op.”

“Which means he either had everything in place just in case,” Crystal began.

“Or someone else fed him the information,” Ashe finished, her hand trembling. She really didn’t need this heaped on top of her other problems right now. “Is that why you’ve been scowling at your phone for the last few hours?”

A nod followed. “You’ve got a second spy, and I doubt it’s the two kids.”

“Which leaves Jessica, Rachel, Caralina, and Brie,” Crystal said. “Fuck me rigid.”

“Later,” Ashe muttered absently, barely registering what she had said as the implications crashed over her. “That’s how Alejandro learned who I am… One of them must have told him.”

“It’s very likely,” Keiko said. “Because it wasn’t me. Fuck, I hope it isn’t Caralina. She’s almost seven months pregnant.”

Not to mention that Keiko was sleeping with her, which would make it a real kick in the teeth. Another possibility came to mind, so Ashe had to voice it. “What about Robbie? Would he have given up that information?”

“Always a possibility,” Keiko said. “Which means we might be jumping at shadows. That still doesn’t explain what happened tonight, because I wasn’t the one to call the police in.”

“Why tell us now?” Ashe asked, putting her gun away. “What made tonight so special?”

Keiko scoffed, running her hand down her chest. “The only reason I agreed was because he promised to help me locate Robbie and his fiancé, at least to offer them a proper burial. Getting shot and dropped down a manhole certainly put a damper on things, but more importantly, he lied about what tonight was.”

So, she wasn’t going to reveal herself otherwise, or she was just waiting for the right moment? Either way, did it really matter? Keiko was putting herself at risk to tell them all of this, which meant something. What, exactly, remained to be determined.

“Explain,” Ashe said.

She already needed another nap just to deal with everything being piled on top of her. On the plus side, having a new problem to focus on was helping to keep her spiraling mental health in check.

“He said that he wanted to get another girl in with your group,” Keiko said. “He was supposed to post a few guys that were talking to the cops there… And I may have just explained things myself.”

“He knew they would talk,” Crystal muttered. “So it was a setup, but why was his goon squad there in such force?”

“To execute the traitors,” Ashe said, eyes widening. “It’s how I would have done it. Kill the traitors, leave the cops to find us and the bloody scene. They just arrived sooner than expected.”

“Which doesn’t add up,” Keiko muttered. “Fuck, there’s so much to sift through that we’ll be jumping at shadows for ages.”

“Can we trust you?” Crystal asked. “We need to know for certain that you’re with us if we’re going to continue to work with you.”

“Yeah, I’m all in,” Keiko said. “I might even be able to ferret out who else might be talking to the slimy bastard if I keep feeding him stuff and convince him you flipped on Yessina.”

Banging at the door had everyone jumping, the timing of it all was almost too perfect. This time, Ashe was the one to get up and walk over to the front door. Looking outside, she could see Jessica and Rachel waiting to be let in. The answer to their conundrum probably wasn’t so simple, but she would likely be suspicious of everyone for a while.

At least until she knew for certain that she could actually trust Keiko.

The door swung open and Ashe welcomed them inside. Jason and Todd shared a glance with one another and all she could do was hope they understood just how damn important it was that they watched what they said. What she hadn’t expected was that Rachel would be with her. Actually, they looked a little ruffled, almost as if—

“So, what’s this about you needing to ask Inferno something?” Jessica asked. “Because last I checked…”

Rachel giggled at the poor attempt at the joke, only to cut off when she saw the expressions reflecting back from the others in the room. She swallowed heavily, then looked away, adjusting her shirt as she did.

“Needed cover for my parents if they checked my phone records,” Ashe said, returning to the sofa. This time she did turn the TV back on, and back to a local news station. “My mom wanted information from Inferno off the books, to see what she heard about the officer that was murdered tonight.”

“Wait, who was murdered?” Jessica asked, eyes now much more focused than they were a moment prior.

“A friend,” Ashe said, not elaborating.

Stolen story; please report.

She wasn’t about to mention it was her, not if they hadn’t already figured it out, and certainly not if Alejandro wasn’t already pointing a finger her way. No, Ashe would be playing this entire thing very carefully.

“Text the question and a bit of added info to my work phone real quick,” Ashe said.

Jessica raised an eyebrow, but did as asked.

Ashe typed up a message, then sent it off to Jessica. “Forward that to my personal phone.”

Once again, her personal phone dinged. Ashe then copied the message into her group chat and sent it off. Her Inferno phone then had the battery and sim card removed just to be safe. She knew that the apartment was likely to be compromised sooner than later, but there was no illegal work happening there, and their weapon vault was more than secure.

Ashe waited for her parents to answer. It took less time than she expected.

Ashe: Jessica passed this along from Inferno; “Operation had Alejandro’s prints all over it. My people made sure the girls were picked up, but stayed away once the shooting started. Still investigating potential Viuda collaboration, all but certain, but no proof. Description given of the shooter matches Alejandro’s preferred armor for his personal guard.”

Linda: We were afraid of that. I’ll pass it along, as it does corroborate another report submitted, but contradicts a third.

Catherine: Once the ballistics reports come in, we’ll have a better idea of things. Thank you for doing that for us, despite your history with the girl.

Right, the ballistics. That alone made Ashe thankful for her constant, almost obsessive, need to swap out the barrel of her gun after each and every op where shots were fired. She kept them too, in the event that she ever needed to throw off the evidence further.

Ashe was starting to think she would be holding onto the barrel that she used to execute Kendall, even if all she wanted to do was to drop it into a fucking swamp in the middle of nowhere. No, she might have a use for it in the future, even if she couldn’t think of one right then.

“Well, they’ve got a few theories to investigate, so that’s good,” Ashe said softly. “Sorry to bother you like that.”

“It’s alright,” Rachel said, though she wasn’t making eye contact. “We were just having a chat about prom.”

Right, Prom was fast approaching. She didn’t want to think about it, but soon she would be put on the spot in a very different way. Worse, there was no way Ashe would deny her parents the privilege of helping her get ready and take all the pictures. They adopted her out of the goodness of their hearts, and despite how she was effectively shitting all over that good will, she would at least give them that. They would get their prom photos.

Then she would get to deal with whatever bullshit Gray was going to attempt while also sitting back as Jessica effectively lit everything on fire with her triumphant return to the school. That was half the reason Ashe hadn’t backed out, because that was going to be a show worth watching.

“Just prom?” Crystal asked, her voice sing-songing as she did. “Or did that conversation also include some after prom activities?”

Jessica stuttered for a moment, and Rachel shied back, then Keiko snorted.

“Called it,” Keiko said, snickering. “Hell, I’m starting to think you haven’t recruited a single straight person at this point.”

“It’s not like that!” Rachel whined.

“Sadly, she’s right, I think,” Jessica said with a heavy sigh. “Pretty sure Rache here just isn’t interested.”

“Oh, she’s ace?” Crystal asked.

Jessica shrugged. “Is that the word for it?” She then turned and pulled her friend beside her. “Oh stop being embarrassed. If anyone can help figure you out, it’s this group of well meaning idiots.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark,” Ashe said, a smile creeping onto her face despite everything.

“Understatement of the century,” Todd muttered to Jason.

Ashe flipped them off, subtly while Keiko explained what being asexual meant to a blushing Rachel, then expanded into aro and demi from there. Only the boys would have seen it from how she had her arms crossed. They both laughed at that, so she counted it as a win. It felt wrong to be acting like that, to cut up with her friends so soon after she brutally killed a friend. That didn’t mean that she would let those feelings sour the moment for the others. She was their leader, and she would lead by example. She wouldn’t want her people moping over things, so Ashe wouldn’t do so either.

“Got your dresses picked out?” Crystal asked.

“Rachel does,” Jessica said. “I’m still trying to figure out the exact statement I want to make. I have a couple set aside, and I’m very much looking forward to this.”

“What about you guys?” Rachel asked, her cheeks still a bit red, but her composure seemed to be mostly back into place. It had been weird seeing her be all meek, but the look was kinda cute on her. Yet another thing that Ashe never thought she would think about her former bullies. “Are you still planning on a suit?”

Ashe nodded. “Stupid school rules are forcing my hand, but I did find a bit of inspiration from an anime. Fem King Arthur in a suit was a really appealing look, who knew.”

Crystal whimpered, and Ashe turned to her girlfriend, who was biting her lip as her imagination clearly ran wild. Having worn a hastily altered off the shelf suit for the dinner with the Senator, it wasn’t like Crystal hadn’t seen her in a suit, but it wasn’t the same, was it? That had been a moment of necessity to appease a bigot. Sure, she was wearing a suit to placate another group of bigots, but she was also going out of her way to make it as feminine as possible. There would be no mistaking Ashe for a man at prom, of that she was certain.

“That’s gonna be a sight to see,” Keiko said, grinning as she elbowed Crystal.

Jason grinned. “I’ve seen that show, good choice. Think you could get a set of the armor and a sword too? I happen to know Crystal had more than a few armored muscle girls as her phone background growing up.”

Crystal smacked his shoulder, and he gave a mock cry of pain. “Just like you had a certain red coated blonde alchemist as yours? That blade cuts both ways.”

“Is that why you had me dress as Edward?” Todd asked.

Rachel snorted at the mortified boy. “Oh, that would be a sight, all of us showing up cosplaying anime characters.”

“Admit it, those military uniforms were sharp,” Crystal said before she glanced at Ashe and winked.

It was strange, talking suits and dresses and such with everyone. Hell, Ashe couldn’t even disagree with the idea. Sure, it wouldn’t work for prom, but she wasn’t opposed to the idea if a convention ever came to Jericho in the future. Still, that was a thought for the future. She needed to avoid dwelling on what she had done and keep focused on prom lest she spiral again.

Even Jason and Todd would be there, though neither were bringing dates officially. Jarring was certainly a word for it. Just hours earlier, Ashe had been ducking bullets after painting a sewer with a friend’s brains. The memory came back and her stomach lurched, but she held it back. She’d shot three people point blank in the head now, and a few more at distance. She was growing used to death, and wasn’t that a depressing thought?

Hell, with all the thoughts of prom, maybe she should be considering what to do if the whole thing turns violent. Glancing over at the other girls, an idea did come to mind, but it would be risky as hell to pull off, not to mention put others at risk. It would only work if things got violent in the first place, unless…

Now that was an idea. It was dirty as all hell, but given what she had just done a few hours prior after being set up to be left out to dry, maybe it was time for her to start fighting back however she could? The more she thought about it, the better the idea sounded to her. There would be many variables to plan for, but she had some time to spare, and Keiko was at least largely trustworthy. She couldn’t afford to second guess everyone, and this would be a good test as well as an extension of trust.

Yeah, she was finding it hard to come up with reasons to not go through with it, and it would be nice to stick it to someone that deserved that and more once more. Having made up her mind, Ashe had to admit that she was very much looking forward to her prom.

It would certainly be memorable, if nothing else.