“He still hasn’t paid?” Ashe asked, sitting back in her temporary apartment.

The construction crew she hired was still hard at work renovating the abandoned rooms, but the real prize was what she was doing to the top floor of the building. The dozen apartments were getting walls knocked out, new support added, and converted into higher quality rooms for her inner circle.

The building was essentially their headquarters, for whatever Ashe’s growing gang would end up calling themselves. She was hesitant to pick something, even if she was coming up on some fifty people in her sphere of influence. She only had a dozen that she directly interacted with, but so it went with most gangs, the rank and file rarely met their leaders.

“No,” Todd said with a grimace. “I’ve tried everything I could think of to convince him, but he’s convinced our backer is without a spine. He thinks he can just get away with keeping everything for himself.”

“How much did you give him?” Crystal asked.

He glanced over, then squeezed his boyfriend’s hand tighter. “About twenty-five worth, give or take. Depending on how much he inflated his rates, he might have brought in double that.”

“Not earth-shaking, but not small time either,” Ashe said, shutting her eyes in thought. “He’s been working with you up until now?”

“That’s the thing,” Todd said, his voice rising. “This was his third shipment, he sold the five and ten shipments just fine and paid up, I don’t know why he picked this one to screw us on.”

Ashe hummed, trying to think what her own reasoning might have been in such a situation. Unfortunately, each scenario she came up with all involved deciding to screw over her supplier and cut ties with them. It was worrying that she couldn’t think of any other plan, and if he really had gone through with that, she would need to take steps that she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to do.

There were lines she still had, especially after she gave a man laced coke and watched him die. She’d said in the aftermath that she wouldn’t kill in cold blood without a damn good reason, and she had to really stop and think, was twenty-five thousand dollars worth of drugs worth a man’s life?

But then, it wasn’t just the monetary value of the drugs, it was her own reputation that was also at stake, and if she wasn’t willing to defend that, then her street name would soon be worth nothing.

No, she had to go through with it, make an example of the man.

“Alright, forward me his information, I’ll take care of it later tonight,” Ashe said.

Even speaking those words left a bitter taste in her mouth, she was all but condemning a man to die. All to protect her reputation. This person was going to die for no other reason than that she decided he needed to die, it was that simple.

Ashe was still struggling to come to terms with what it meant to be a criminal, let alone what she had stumbled into. There was a certain thrill to pulling off a job and securing a haul that was worth a damn. The payday that followed made her blood sing with joy. Rescuing the girls, bringing them all to safety and feeling like a big damn hero for it, that made everything worth it.

Plotting the violent death of some nobody just because he was late on his bills, that didn’t have nearly the same magnetic appeal to her. She almost wished she could go back to just being a simple smash and grab artist who bloodied the fascists that were slowly strangling her city. Those that had apparently been a part of it’s fucking conception.

The history of Jericho was taught in its schools over the course of a week, with several notable events covered, from her founding, to some of the business ventures that led to it being a major center of trade in the south following WW2 and into the next few decades. Now she knew it was all done with the cooperation of another group of Nazis working down in South America, producing the goods that they couldn’t in America, and shipping them to their allies.

The city grew fat off of those imports, and now she was faced with rooting it out. She had to if she wanted to survive in the line of work she had found herself within. The Viuda, the small-time gangs on the outskirts, Alejandro’s growing empire up north… All of them were new additions, none had the staying power that the Iron Patriots had.

If she wanted to be a player, she needed to be willing to get her hands dirty playing the game. Like it or not, she was all but committed at this point, she just had to start following through with that decision.

At some point, Crystal had seen the young couple to the door, but Ashe was still lost in thought even as her girlfriend took a seat beside her and pulled her into a tight hug. Ashe let her, and just let herself enjoy the moment, soaking up the warmth for the short time that she would be able to do so.

If one of Todd’s distributors felt like fucking around, well, it was up to her to make sure that he found out. She would probably need to follow through more than once, at least until word spread enough that she could start leaving that up to her underlings. Not that she wanted to ever delegate someone’s death to another person. She didn’t want to tell someone to kill a person, to order them to do so.

She didn’t want to end up pressuring others into becoming killers.

“You alright?” Crystal asked after some time.

“Just making sure I understand exactly what I’m doing,” Ashe whispered. “Three months ago I was just a girl in over my head, seeking justice. Tonight, I’m going to go out there and kill someone whose only offense was to skip a payment.”

“You’ve no doubt already done the mental gymnastics,” Crystal said softly. “It’s another line in the sand that you’re leaving behind. All because of me.”

“What?”

Crystal shrugged, jostling her a bit as she stared at her girlfriend’s face.

“You initially got into this to ensure that your attackers didn’t get away with it,” Crystal began, her tone somber. “Then you learned that I couldn’t just leave the city like you planned to do, so you decided to stay and help me get away from my father. In the course of following through on that, you got wrapped up in all of this.”

Ashe blinked, wondering where she was going with all that. “Crystal, that was my choice. I wanted to get back at those bastards, and I want to help you, so don’t try to reframe that as your fault.”

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Crystal gave her a tight smile, one filled with such grief that it almost brought her to tears. “I’ve seen how it’s tearing you apart, Ashe. You’re such a good-hearted person, yet you keep having to do things you can’t stand, all in the name of those goals.”

The conversation was going in a direction she didn’t like, it was almost as if she was—

“Some nights I consider just walking away, not because I don’t want you in my life, but because I want you to have a life you can be proud of.”

“I am proud,” Ashe said immediately, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “And don’t you dare go running off on some fool’s errand thinking that it’s for my own good. I would tear this city apart looking for you, I wouldn’t rest until you were safely back at my side.”

“I know,” Crystal said, tears falling freely. “I know and that terrifies me that you care so much, that it’s real and you mean it.”

Ashe pulled her girlfriend into a crushing embrace, the two of them crying into each other’s arms. The life they were stuck with, the life they were being drawn into, none of it mattered, so long as they had each other. Ashe would fight tooth and nail to keep them together, and she knew Crystal would do the same.

She wasn’t sure how long they were entangled, just basking in each other’s presence, but at some point Crystal changed the TV from the news to some show she recognized vaguely from her own childhood. She didn’t pay it much attention, but the ambient noise helped keep her from drifting off with her spiraling thoughts too much. They stayed cuddled on the couch for several hours, just being together, the sunset shining in through one of the windows.

Eventually, however, it was time to get to work. She kissed her girlfriend as she stepped off to gather her gear. She pulled on her leather jacket and clipped her ammo belt into place before tying off her bandana. She was putting on her raiment, preparing to go forth and enforce her will on an unsuspecting world.

“Ashe, I’ll meet you down there,” Crystal said from outside her door.

Ashe sighed, pulling her mask on as she did. She knew she was still hesitating, procrastinating on following through with everything. She didn’t look forward to the day that she actually looked forward to carrying out that sort of grim work, because like it or not, there were parts of the business she loved.

Like torching Nazi holdings, she was finding that arson was a rather exciting hobby and she understood why so many firefighters ended up starting fires themselves. Not that she was making a habit of it, but she did have to admit that it was quickly becoming a go to option. That it helped spread her reputation as Inferno was just a bonus.

Unfortunately, arson wasn’t high on the list of things she was likely going to be doing this evening. No, she just needed to remind people why she wasn’t someone that would tolerate those that didn’t pay their bills.

Knowing she couldn’t put it off any longer, she made her way downstairs, beyond the ground floor and into the basement. Much of the first week’s renovation work went into making sure the structural supports were sound, and from there they finished off several rooms, most of which were then concealed in a way that Ashe was quite familiar with. She’d enjoyed helping with that work, learning how to do several aspects of construction work in the process, and she’d gotten to do it right alongside her girlfriend, which was an obvious bonus.

Crystal was already waiting next to the open door which was tucked away in the boiler room. She patted her girlfriend on the shoulder and hurried inside, knowing that if she stopped to talk she would only be dragging things out longer.

The new armory was considerably larger than Crystal’s original. She’d moved most of the contents into the apartment building’s basement, the construction work being done on the building providing good cover for their own work on the room.

They collected most of the guns from their heists, opting to keep them rather than resell them on the black market. Well, the pistol collection was a bit lacking, but that’s what happened when she had to supply their people with firearms. It didn’t really cost them anything regardless, and at least that way the guns were being put to good use.

Sliding her trusty Beretta into her shoulder holster, Ashe relaxed slightly, the added weight a growing comfort the longer she kept up her dual life. She tried to keep thoughts of school, the coming prom, and her looming eighteenth from her mind as she got ready, but they were still intruding on her thoughts all the same.

She would be free to go into her new life full time, but that didn’t mean she wanted to. For one thing, it would raise further red flags with her parents that she didn’t need. On the other hand, she actually wanted to keep learning and better herself. Crime was not a retirement plan, no matter how lucrative it was turning out to be.

She was winging things like a motherfucker, and her luck would eventually run out. She was already reading up on how to manage a business, learning all she could about distribution and product theory that she could. It was no substitute for proper lessons and classes, but the internet was a great resource when someone was determined to learn something.

Tying her bandana off, Ashe exited the armory and re-secured the false wall. She had to smirk at how clever her girlfriend was for setting that up, and they’d done all the work themselves, which meant there weren’t that many people that knew about it outside of their own little circle.

Crystal was waiting for her just outside in the hall, leaning against the wall. Her mask was pulled down around her neck as she scrolled through her phone. No matter how many times she saw her girlfriend, it was like the first time all over again. Crystal looked up, catching her eyes, then snorted.

Oh, right, she’d been staring. Ashe tried to play it off as she walked up, but a sparkle in Crystal’s eye made her hesitate, never mind the teasing smirk. She tried to be cool and casual, but Crystal wasn’t having any of her bravado and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. She squeaked, not having expected it, then was cut off by a quick peck on the forehead before being released, and pushed down the hall.

“Not fair,” Ashe grumbled, her pout hidden by the mask.

Crystal shrugged, then bumped her hip. “Life isn’t fair, so it’s up to us to make sure it is fair, even if it just means for us.”

“Or just for you,” Ashe teased. “We decide on who we’re bringing with us for this one?”

“Just us, I think,” Crystal said. “Hanabi’s busy with something personal, I think she might have a date.”

Ashe blinked. “And she didn’t tell us?”

“Nope,” Crystal said. “Which is why we’re going to give her absolute hell until she spills all the deets.”

“As is only proper,” Ashe said with a nod.

If it was just going to be the two of them, she wouldn’t be able to rely on numbers for intimidation, which meant she would need to give the man a reason to fear her, reputation only went so far if one wasn’t willing to reinforce it. Ashe would do just that, even if it meant making an example of the man that refused to pay up.

“We probably need to bring at least one girl to drive the van,” Ashe said. “Is Brie available?”

“She’s supervising the girls, and Caralina has the night off,” Crystal mused. “Bets on if Keiko’s little date is with Caralina?”

Ashe snorted. “Keiko going for an older woman? Perish the thought.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t fit her usual style,” Crystal agreed with a snicker. “Plus, Cara’s pregnant, even if those two have been spending an unusual amount of time together, I just can’t see that being the reason.”

“Or they’re plotting treason most foul,” Ashe said with a grin. “Shall we prepare for treachery, dear Caesar?”

The pair devolved into a fit of giggles as they headed off to find a driver, knowing full well that there was bloodshed in the near future. Divorcing the two sides of their life from one another was essential to maintaining their own sanity. So, she would have her moment of levity while it lasted, because it was moments like those that made life enjoyable.