“I don’t wanna know,” Keiko said, looking over the room.

Ashe wasn’t sure what she was upset about, the room was fine, so long as one ignored the random scattering of white fluff from the now desiccated pillow that had somehow exploded about thirty minutes prior. Nope, no knowledge of that at all, though it was absolutely not related to her improved mood. Sure, their world was teetering on the brink of collapse, but that bit of stress relief had helped.

Brie seemed better off too, and Ashe had to wonder just how often she got to be a kid growing up. Seldom if ever, most likely. Which would have explained why she was laughing so much during their pillow fight. For that brief moment, they were just two friends having fun, and they needed that. Now it was back to worrying about the chaos of the city and what might be on the horizon.

“Rachel is getting set up in Jessica’s room,” Keiko continued, picking pieces of fluff off of one of the chairs. “Still haven’t heard back from Crystal aside from the five minute updates.”

Ashe frowned, then nodded. Those messages had actually been what ended the fight, as her mom got the okay to go talk to the Mayor about some things, promising answers to Mother in exchange. That wouldn’t last as an excuse for long, and Ashe was fighting to keep from panicking anew at the thought of another parent learning she was a notorious criminal.

Worse, she feared that it might drive a wedge between her parents if one was supportive and the other wasn’t.

Ashe was more than willing to put that off as long as she was able to do so.

The active fighting seemed to be over, with the police finally getting a hold on the city, or at least, that was what the media was reporting. Ashe knew better. The number of reported arrests meant that most of the active fighters were either dead or decided to keep their heads down and bide their time. Yessina and the Viuda seemed to have escaped the worst of it, which called her own arrest into question.

Had she seen the coming hostilities and decided that surrendering to the police was safer than remaining in her metaphorical castle? Unfortunately, getting answers out of her would prove difficult, and Ashe had bigger problems on her plate that needed to be dealt with first.

“You’re sure that Rachel’s house was being watched?” Ashe asked.

Keiko nodded. “Yeah, but I couldn’t tell who they were. Might have been the cops, might have been another gang. I just know it was none of our people.”

If it was a gang, they might be watching her home as well. Alejandro and Yessina were both aware of who she was, which was a constant Sword of Damocles over her head, though less of one now that her mom was aware of her criminal identity. Now it was a different type of sword.

Ashe continued to thumb through the news reports on her phone, frowning in concentration as she tried to piece together the bigger picture that she was clearly missing. Each gang made a play in the chaos, and on their own, none really made sense. Whoever was pulling the mercenaries’ strings had set everything into motion.

The immediate guess most would make were the Iron Patriots, but that was so on the nose that Ashe dismissed it outright. Theodore Ellington was many things, but even he wouldn’t risk his position without something to gain. His sights were set on a national stage, which was part of why Edward Ellington was secretly feuding with the man.

He didn’t like to see the city that his family sacrificed so much for falling apart at the seams. If she had a leading suspect, it was him. Using the mercenaries to spark the fires that were currently burning and give Crystal a chance to claim the city would be a play a man like him might make, even if he didn’t agree with who his niece was seeing.

Yessina and Alejandro weren’t being discounted as possible suspects, especially with how Alejandro’s personal guard seemed to shop at the same outfitter as the mercenaries. She was keeping the man in the loop mostly to make sure he didn’t just immediately write her off. She didn’t want him as an active enemy, and a cold war using proxy forces was preferred to open war in the streets. He wouldn’t hesitate to light everything on fire and shoot whatever crawled out of the ashes.

Sighing, Ashe pocketed her phone and got up and stretched. She’d taken enough of a breather and needed to be seen. She disappeared into her room and found the bandana now associated with her street name. She tied her hair up, then grabbed the mask. She didn’t really need them around the apartments, her identity was just a polite fiction among her people, but she needed to show the flag. She eyed the tactical vest that Alejandro had gifted her, and reluctantly pulled it on before she slipped a shirt over it.

Finally, she pulled on the leather jacket that Crystal had gotten her months prior. It had been patched in spots, but it was holding up remarkably well. Ashe looked in the mirror, seeing one of the city’s most wanted criminals looking back. She might have been wearing a mask, but she accepted that this was who she was now.

With that thought, she secured the Beretta to her hip holster and departed from the room. Back in the living room, Keiko was lounging on the couch, fucking around on her phone.

“I’m heading out,” Ashe said. “Doing the rounds, you know the deal.”

“Don’t get shot,” Keiko said. “Crystal would be pissed.”

Ashe snorted. “Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t enjoy being shot up.”

“We’ll revisit that stance after your surgery,” Keiko said teasingly. Ashe stared at her, slack jaw hidden behind her mask and Keiko grinned. “I’ve already picked out my congratulations gift, so I hope you enjoy it.”

“I,” Ashe paused, words failing her. “I can’t even right now.”

“Pretty sure you could,” Keiko countered. “Might even help you relax.”

Ashe did the only thing she could and flipped the woman off, though all it did was make her grin widen. Ashe could see the next comment on Keiko’s lips, and decided that discretion was the better form of valor and retreated out the front door posthaste. Shutting it behind her, she took a shaky breath and composed herself. As humanizing as it was for people to see her flustered, right now she needed to be their rock in the turbulent sea they were barely treading water in.

As she walked down the hall towards the elevator, she paused at Jessica’s door, remembering what Keiko had said. Ashe still struggled when interacting with her former bullies, especially when there wasn’t a direct objective in front of her. The bullying was in the past, and she couldn’t keep holding on to the past.

She sighed, then knocked on the door.

Someone on the other side squeaked, and Ashe could hear something heavy hit the floor. Ashe snickered to herself as they ran up to the door and it pulled open, Jessica’s eyes peeked through the cracked door.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“A—Inferno?”

“Hey Jess, can I come in for a moment? Just checking in.”

Ashe hated how hesitant she sounded, but it was still disconcerting to consider two of the girls that had spent years making her life hell, as friends. They really were at this point too. While they weren’t close she could count them as such and that was something she would need to unwrap at a later date. After the dust settled and the city wasn’t on fire.

“Uh, sure?” Jessica said, shutting the door so she could undo the latch and opened the door fully. “Have you been in my apartment yet?”

Ashe shook her head and stepped inside, looking around the spartan apartment. She didn’t know what she had expected, but Jessica’s room had been one of the first that was fixed back up, so it made a bit of sense that it wasn’t all that lived in. Her own apartment was going to be renovated while she was in recovery, and should be move-in ready by the time she returned from New York.

“It’s very,” Ashe started, then realized she didn’t really have anything to say about it that wasn’t a little insulting to her current situation. Hell, it had only been a few hours since Jessica’s parents would have learned she was alive and well. “Did you have any problems at the hospital?”

“Nice subject change,” Rachel teased from the couch. “They got her stitched up, asked her to come back for a checkup in two days.”

“I think she meant if my parents came knocking,” Jessica said with a heavy sigh. “The answer is yes, but they never made it past the front desk.”

“Perk of being eighteen,” Ashe said, letting a small smile come to her lips. “No problems from the police?”

“Your mother apparently told them that the video would suffice for a temporary statement,” Jessica said. “I’ll need to answer further questions at a later date, but they aren’t pushing for it at the moment. Bigger fish and all that.”

“More like too many fires,” Ashe said. “Well, you’re free to crash here as long as we own the place. Just let one of the girls know if you need anything, I’m sure they would be happy to run errands while you guys are one of the city’s hot button topics.”

Jessica immediately put up a hand. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You aren’t,” Ashe said sharply, cutting off any further word of the sort. “We all have roles to play and you’ve been fulfilling yours just fine. Even if you weren’t, I wouldn’t mind you staying here. Not everyone can bounce back after the shit you went through, so don’t feel bad if you take some time to heal.”

Jessica blinked, her eyes shimmering as she did. A single tear fell free and rolled down her cheek and she hurried to wipe it away, but Rachel was there and beat her to it. Jessica’s eyes locked with her friend’s and her cheeks grew red as she did.

Ashe couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ll leave you two to figure that out, if you need anything at all, just ask.”

“Why are you being so nice?” Jessica whispered, and Ashe stopped where she stood. “I don’t get it. We were horrible to you, and you’ve basically forgiven us?”

“I haven’t forgiven anything,” Ashe said, turning back. “I just decided that after everything, you both deserved a fresh start. Trauma hits us all differently, and we are rarely the same person when we come out on the other side of it. New you, new chance to be better, and both of you stepped up.”

“I don’t think most people would be willing to do that,” Rachel said softly.

Ashe chuckled. “I’m not most people and a felon besides. I’m not the same person I was in school either. I’m not a good person anymore. I’ve accepted that. The two of you? You weren’t good people back then. I’d say you’ve done a better turn about than I have.”

Ashe wasn’t sure if that made complete sense, but she elected to step out before she was asked to explain her reasoning or anything. Her phone dinged, Crystal checking in that the Mayor was indeed answering Mom’s questions, but she hadn’t heard the details yet. Knowing that was probably the best she was going to get until they were done, Ashe headed back down to the lobby. At least the elevator was playing one of the local classic rock stations instead of fucking country.

That was one thing she had put her foot down on.

Arriving at the ground floor, she found two girls sweeping up some of the mess from the firefight, and another two standing by the door with rifles in hand, ready to defend their home. Ashe only recognized them in passing, and none were part of the group that she had rescued months prior. She knew the organization was growing, that both Caralina and Brie had been actively recruiting people they met, but to see so many faces that she hadn’t brought in herself.

It was sobering.

She could understand why the police were getting nervous about her growing powerbase and it made her wonder what the actual membership numbers were. Brie would be the person to ask, but it could wait until things weren’t on fire, like the car she could see across the lot.

“Inferno!” Ashe turned, seeing one of the girls looking up to her like she was a celebrity. “You’re going to get the bastards that did this, right?”

Every eye in the room was now on her, there was an expectation there that she wasn’t sure how to feel about. Ashe knew she had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, but it hadn’t really sunk in just yet. It wasn’t just a handful of girls that relied on her anymore.

“Yeah,” Ashe said, looking across the room where everyone was focused on her. “I’m going to make them pay in blood for what they did to our home.”

Cheers rang out, the guards at the door hoisted their rifles as they joined in. It would have been all too easy to bask in that adulation, to let that sort of power go to her head. She’d heard talk of how intoxicating it could be to join a gang, and she hadn’t really understood until that moment, where everyone was looking to her and ready to go into hell itself if she asked them.

This was what it meant to lead others, to inspire them.

Ashe was just a girl in over her head, nobody important, who found herself thrust into the role. She had to wonder, how many famous, or infamous, people throughout history found themselves in similar positions? How would history look back on her? Would she just be another footnote in Jericho’s storied past, mentioned for a few seconds in some special a few decades down the line, or would they dedicate entire episodes to unraveling her rise and eventual fall?

Ashe had little doubt that she would one day be brought down, hell, it might even end up being today. She wasn’t going to let that stop her from doing what she felt was right, to help those that needed her. The entire city was on a precipice, and she knew that her actions would influence which way it all fell.

She just had to make sure that whatever it was, worked out for her people.

Ashe opened her mouth to say more, but she was cut off by the ringing of her phone. Frowning, she pulled it out, seeing Caralina’s number. She hit the answer icon, but left it off speaker as she stepped away from the now energized girls.

“Everything okay?” Heavy breathing came across the speaker and any enthusiasm she felt from the cheers drained away, replaced by frantic worry as she hurried out the front door. “Talk to me, Cara, or give me something to go on if you can’t.”

“Kelsie went for a smoke,” she said, her voice soft, but strained. “I went with her and we got jumped.”

Ashe wanted to curse, she knew not to go anywhere alone, but attacked at the hospital? That was a new low. She knew there was no honor among thieves, the funeral bombings out west were proof of that, but there should be some standards…

“I’ll be there in ten,” Ashe said. “Stay safe, and signal the hospital if you can.”

“Girls need…”

Ashe swore as the call dropped. She threw open the gate to the apartment's garage, where there were now half a dozen cars and vans available if any of the girls needed transport. Ashe wasn’t that good with a car, but there was one thing that she had learned to drive in recent weeks. She stopped at a beat up motorcycle, recently repainted with flame stripes. The very bike that had been stolen from the pawn shop, now repurposed for her own use.

She fired off a quick message to the group chat, knowing that Crystal and Keiko would see it before she straddled the bike. Revving the engine, Ashe was determined she wouldn’t be too late to help them. She wasn’t going to have another Lucy on her conscience, what little was left of it. She was going to save them, and there would be no mercy to be found for whoever got in her way.