Ashe smiled down at her phone, her thumbs dancing away while she waited for the doctor to return. She wasn't feeling much pain after the first injection, and the stitching was thankfully behind her. Now she was just waiting for a doctor to sign off on her discharge.
"That sounds dreadfully boring," Crystal messaged. "Bet those stitches result in some badass scars."
The doctors did mention that scaring was likely, and Ashe was sort of looking forward to being able to tell the story of how she got them. It wasn't every day that one got kidnapped only to fight them off and make it out with some grisly reminders that weren't disfiguring. She was just lucky that none of them were going to be terribly debilitating.
Part of her hand was numb, but the doctors were hopeful that things would heal and she should regain most of the lost sensation. She was lucky in that regard, as even a slightly deeper wound might have left her hand paralyzed.
She didn't want to consider that, but thankfully she found a welcome distraction on her phone in the form of messages from her avenging Valkyrie. Because that was far more fitting than just an angel, and it would piss off some of the racists.
"You looked to have some fun ones too. Maybe we can compare someday."
Nobody had mentioned Crystal to her yet and how she slipped away before being questioned. She didn't expect that to last, but she wasn't about to bring it up if her mom wasn't. Speaking of, she could hear her out in the hall, pacing back and forth as she yelled into the phone. Mother was back at the precinct working with the man that was handed her case. Nepotism only went so far, and neither of her parents could be officially involved with the investigation.
She wasn't worried, they were caught dead to rights, which should make for an open and shut case against them. Ashe knew the system wasn't perfect, her parents explained that in detail when she asked for clarifications on anything they might discuss from work. She enjoyed those conversations, where she got to see what things were like for open lesbians working in a field that traditionally didn't tolerate them.
Ashe planned to go into criminology at college, with the intention of aiming for detective. She loved parsing out crimes, helping sort through evidence and uncover the truth. She would still need to get through the academy and spend some years as a beat officer regardless, not to mention having to wait until she was twenty one to join in most states. That way she could truly say she made it on her own merits.
Her phone dinged and she looked down, massaging the back of her hand as she did.
"Maybe once we know each other better. Some of those stories are rather personal."
"Fair enough," Ashe replied, then sent off a second message. "Hopefully I get some time off from school out of this."
"Oh? Attending college? Where at?" Crystal responded.
Ashe grimaced, because she knew Crystal had a few years on her, but at the same time, she was someone who didn't know her by reputation. She didn't want to run her off, but lying could be the same as entrapment, and Ashe refused to do that to her.
"High school senior, sadly. It's as horrible as it sounds."
A reply wasn't immediately forthcoming, so Ashe tabbed over to her gaming group and messaged them, letting them know she would be unavailable for Raid that night. It was likely the most stereotypical thing she did, playing a catgirl in an MMO. She started playing the game around the time she moved into her parent's home, and kept up with it through the following five years. Two expansions and seven raid tiers, that was how long she stuck with them, and now an injury might rob her of that simple pleasure.
Ashe took a deep, shuddering breath as her hand began to tremble. She set her phone aside and felt a few tears flow down her face. She didn't have much to look forward to in life, but her friends in the raid team were one of them. They all were sending well wishes, but she knew she was likely out of the game for at least two weeks, if not more.
She didn't have time to learn keyboard controls, which would be easier to work around if she never fully regained feeling in her hand. She'd come to rely on those rear bumpers on her overpriced lump of plastic. Her phone dinged a few more times and she wiped the tears away before picking it back up. Crystal finally answered her.
"Huh. I wouldn't have guessed you were under eighteen. No offense, but I'm going to tone down the flirting until you're of age. It's safer for both of us that way, even if it was fun to tease the baby gay. Doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend though, so feel free to keep messaging me, but I'll understand if you don't."
Ashe took a shuddering breath as she read the reply. It wasn't as bad as she feared, but it wasn't great either. She understood that it was the correct answer too, which still stung. She didn't have it in her to reply right away, she needed time to find her words, and maybe clear some of the fog from her head caused by the fun painkillers they gave her.
It was strange how aware she was that she wasn't thinking clearly, how things were in some weird fog yet she still felt as if she was in control. It was deceptive and dangerous and worst of all, she kinda liked the feeling. That thought alone scared her almost as much as the attempt on her life.
Ashe was interrupted from her thoughts when the door was flung open, her mom stepping inside.
"Catherine, this is bullshit and you know it," she exclaimed. A nurse stood behind her, arms crossed, and shut the door once her mom was inside. "You can't let them get away with this. They almost killed our daughter, who knows what else they might have done."
She couldn't hear her mother's answer on the other line, but she could see how the words impacted her mom all the same. Her face fell and she pinched her nose.
"Sorry, I wish I had known she gave a fake name, and I get why she did it," her mom said. There was more on the other side of the conversation then she answered. "I'll see if we can talk her into an official statement. Can you delay them for a few hours… Fuck."
Ashe frowned, trying to figure out what was going on with the back half of the conversation that she was missing out on. That Crystal gave a fake name, that concerned her. What else had the woman lied about in their encounter? Could she actually trust her to be a friend if she was afraid to go on the record?
Abruptly, her mom ended the call and flopped into one of the plastic chairs and cupped her face with an exasperated sigh. Ashe wanted to reach out and comfort her, but the fuzziness of it all was cloying and thick. It would be okay regardless.
"The bastards that attacked you managed to get a lawyer," her mom said after a moment. Her words were muffled by her hands. "A damn good one too that they shouldn't be able to afford. He's arranged for them to post bail."
They were getting out, just like that? Ashe knew that was bad, distantly, but she wasn't feeling the panic she felt she should. Moments of lucidity would break through before the comforting fog would roll back in. She wanted to just curl into that comfort and embrace it.
"What happens now?" she asked.
"They make bail, they get to live their lives as the investigation continues until it goes to trial," her mom said. "Assuming they don't skip the trial, that is, it should happen in about three months depending on the judge's docket load."
"I see," she said.
Her mom chuckled. "Oh how I envy you being on that stuff right now. I promise, we won't take this lying down. Justice may be slow, but it will be had."
Ashe wasn't sure what to say to that, she felt it was important but it seemed too distant a concern right then. So, she smiled and nodded, rolling with it as best she could. It was fitting that the nurse chose that moment to return and give her one last look over before allowing her to go home. She would leave figuring it all out to future Ashe, she seemed like the perfect girl for the job.
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Stolen story; please report.
Ashe awoke to a familiar ceiling in a darkened room. That was all fine and good, she just couldn't remember how she got there. She was very much a side sleeper, and yet she was on her back looking up. Dwelling on the how of it was getting her nowhere, so she blearily reached over to her nightstand, groping for her phone only for searing pain to lance up her arm.
Her eyes shot open, the bandages on her arm serving as the jolt her addled mind needed to piece together the missing details. Right, she was attacked on her way home. She could remember covered faces that stuck terror and intense green eyes framed by blue hair that brought relief.
Groaning, she sat up, wincing at the pain that drove off the last vestiges of grogginess and the cruelty of consciousness asserted itself in full. Right, she got some injections for the pain before they stitched her up, then given her another round before she was sent home. It didn't take long for the evening to turn fuzzy following that.
She remembered her mom coming into the room, but not all the details of what they talked about, she even remembered the car ride back, or at least some of it. She likely dozed off part way home, which helped explain why she didn't remember getting into bed. At least she wasn't wearing her bloodied clothes.
Ashe knew better than to try and speculate on incomplete information, so she grit her teeth and grabbed her phone only for it to slip through her half numb fingers and clatter to the floor. There was a vague recollection there as well as a stab of grief. She did a quick set of finger stretches that she performed before and after each raid night and found that her fingers were functional but she didn't have full sensation from her middle finger to her pinky on her right hand, nor to the back of her hand.
That honestly hit harder than the fact that someone tried to kidnap her off the streets, likely to be sold to some rich asshole overseas as a sex slave, assuming they didn't just kill her of course. Ashe remembered the look on that bastard's face right before she punched him. The dread of that moment, the certainty she was about to die, and her determination to not go quietly.
Bile rose in her throat and she was forced to cover her mouth as she scrambled to untangle herself from the covers and get to the bathroom. Instead she fell from her bed and emptied her stomach right there on her laminated hardwood floors. Her stomach constricted with each heave, bringing more remnants of her lunch up with them. A firm yet gentle hand found her shoulder as a bowl was placed down in front of her. Ashe pulled it close, still heaving. Soothing circles were rubbed across her back and she took solace that someone was there for her.
After a moment, a cup of tepid water was offered. Ashe accepted it, swishing her mouth out before spitting into the bowl. She repeated this once more before coughing and putting on a forced smile.
"Thanks, Mom," she said, gratefully.
A firmer pat to her back was her answer. "Just doing what a mom does. Come on, let's get you to the bathroom and I'll get this cleaned up."
"Sorry," she said in reflex.
Her mom shook her head. "Think nothing of it, Ashe. The doctor warned you might be sick, and I should have thought about having a bowl ready for when you woke up."
"Hindsight," Ashe said with a strained smile.
Her arm was killing her but she needed to get cleaned up. Taking care of that in the bathroom took more effort than she liked, what with how her arm wasn't cooperating with her and all but she managed. Returning to her room, her mom had paper towels and a spray bottle. The mess was largely taken care of and she hated that she left that to the woman that had already done so much for her.
"There," her mom exclaimed, gathering the soiled towels and tossing them into a bag. She wiped her hands clean, then grabbed Ashe's phone and stuck it in her back pocket. At least there it wouldn't get dirty. "Let's see about getting you some chipped ice and settled on the sofa."
"Okay," Ashe answered. "Maybe a rehash of what happened after I got to the hospital too, because that's all fuzzy."
She watched as her mom's face fell before the woman nodded and got to work putting the trash away and chipping some ice from the freezer. Sooner than she would have liked, the pair were on the couch, Ashe nursing on bits of ice while her mom drank a cup of coffee despite it being almost midnight.
Ashe could tell that she wasn't going to like whatever was about to be said, and so she was content to work out the lack of feeling in her hand with the chipped ice. She fumbled pieces here and there but largely managed to make it work, even if she did have to go chasing after an errant piece that fell down the front of her shirt. Even with the hasty retrieval, it didn't prevent her mom from finding some amusement in her plight. Enough so that it earned a stuck out tongue in recompense.
Still, all they were doing was delaying the inevitable. A vague memory floated in her mind along with the distant feeling of dread it elicited in her at the time. Taking a deep breath, Ashe steeled herself for what was to come.
"I remember something about the perps making bail."
Her mom's expression fell, sorrow mixed with a snarl of her lips. "You remember correctly, though your mother is working at the moment to delay their release as long as possible. It being the weekend means there's not enough people to process all the paperwork efficiently."
She smirked at that, but only for a moment as the implications became clear. "How are they managing it? I thought there would be enough evidence to hold them as a flight risk."
Her mother sighed, pinching her nose before taking a deep swig of her coffee. "They would if your mysterious savior actually stuck around for an official statement, or at least gave us her real name. I should have paid attention, because Fairbrooks is not the name that I saw on her ID. Their lawyer is from Tillson and Clark, they know exactly where to press to get their clients out of an extended stay."
Ashe grimaced. That law firm was often the source of her parents' ire for how often they got obvious members of the Iron Patriots out of jail and back on the streets. It only served to confirm her suspicions about who tried to grab her, but the motive remained unclear. Sure, she was openly trans, but they didn't seem to know that, or even who she was for that matter. It didn't add up, which meant she was missing a vital clue.
Worse, she felt a twinge of betrayal directed at Crystal, if that was even her name, because she could have stuck around. She had the woman's number, which meant she could get answers. That her mom hadn't bothered to get the number off her phone and question Crystal directly…
"Why didn't you just call her?" Ashe asked. "You saw her give me her number."
Her mom paused for a moment, blinking slowly as the words sunk in, then she slapped her forehead. "Fuck. That completely slipped my mind. Can you give her a call, or just text her and see if you can get those answers. If not, pass me the number and I'll see what Cat can do at the precinct."
Ashe nodded even as her mom pulled it from her pocket and handed it back. Ashe fumbled to unlock it, her numb fingers struggling with the muscle memory. Once unlocked, she ignored the notifications from her raid team and wasted little time finding the messages from Crystal. Most of them were fuzzy at best or unfamiliar at worst, and so she read them until she reached that final message and realized just how bad it looked that she left it at that.
Grimacing, Ashe began to type before she gave it too much thought.
"Sorry about that, passed out from the drugs and just woke up to bad news. The bastards are posting bail due to a lack of witness evidence."
To her surprise, the answer came swiftly.
"Oh, we can't be having that, now can we? How can I help?"
Frowning, Ashe typed her reply.
"Could you go to the station and make a statement under your legal name?"
"That…" Ashe watched the little dots bounce as Crystal typed for several moments. When the reply finally came, she felt her heart sink. "Doing that would complicate things, I fear. My father would stick his nose in things and you would never see justice."