“You colossal idiot!”

Ashe winced under Brie’s continued ire.

She had barely relayed the particulars of the meeting and already she was getting yelled at. She expected it, and Keiko hadn’t said a word beyond a throaty growl on the ride back. Now they were back at Ashe’s private suite, she’d shed her mask, but left the bandana on.

She expected there to be disagreements over the choice she made, not that it was really a choice. The worst part was that she didn’t disagree with the girl one bit. She knew that Alejandro couldn’t be trusted, but saying no was as good as inviting herself to be steamrolled in the coming conflict, and the only other side she could choose from was a complete non-option.

Fucking Patriot Front and their Nazi roots.

“I couldn’t exactly refuse,” Ashe said.

Beside her, Crystal nodded. “We were outmanned, and outgunned. There wasn’t much we could have done if he decided to cross us. Ashe made the only call she could that had us walking out of there without a dozen new holes.”

Brie huffed, turning to Keiko who had so far remained silent. “Do you agree with them?”

Keiko heaved out a sigh. “I understand why she took the deal, even if I don’t like it.”

“I am in no way saying we should trust him,” Ashe cut in before Brie could start another rant. “We got supplies and gear in exchange for being on call for jobs. Doesn’t mean we’ll have to say yes to all of them.”

“Don’t forget our minder,” Keiko said bitterly before spitting off to the side. “You know that fucker had something to do with Robbie, what’s to stop him from pulling the same with us?”

“What’s to stop him period?” Caralina said with a shrug. “He can have us all wiped out on a whim. Making nice might be all we can do for now.”

“At least we aren’t making nice with the Patriots,” Brie said.

Ashe couldn’t help the snort that escaped. “Right, trans girl working with Nazis, that would end well. We will be taking the fight to them as part of this arrangement.”

“Weren’t we going to do that anyway?” Keiko said, rolling her eyes.

“Obviously,” Crystal said. “We’ve been doing that from the start. All the jobs we used to take were all centered around doing just that.”

“That was when we were just a small crew hitting soft targets,” Keiko said. “Now we’re going to be hitting whatever he needs softened up, when he needs it done.”

Crystal crossed the distance and placed a hand on Keiko’s shoulder. “Then we continue to approach things as we always have.”

“Plan out the window and wing it while screaming internally?” Crystal quipped.

Ashe wanted to smack her face.

“You have fun with that, I don’t feel like dying horribly,” Keiko said, moving towards the door.

“He’s going to betray us,” Ashe said, trying to wrangle her herd of cats before the claws came out in full. “We assume anything less, we fucking deserve it. For now, we need to take advantage of all of this and prepare for the worst.”

Keiko paused, turning back. “Worst case being he uses us to start the war, then pins the blame on us and washes his hands and sits back while we get steamrolled. I fail to see any way this works in our favor.”

“I’m not accepting any jobs from him until hostilities begin,” Ashe said. That was one line she refused to cross. “Even he won’t be able to argue with that.”

“He’ll try,” Keiko said softly. “I know I’m not all in on all this, but please be careful. I don’t want to lose another friend.”

“I’ll do my best,” Ashe said.

“See that you do,” Keiko said, and shut the door behind her.

Brie sighed. “Damn it, now my bowing out for the evening is gonna be awkward as shit in comparison. Girl made a perfect exit.” She shook her head and stomped off to the door herself. “So yeah, what she said and all that kaka.”

Caralina left with her, leaving Ashe alone with her girlfriend. It was past midnight and she still had school in the morning. She was starting to rethink the whole college thing just to have mercy on her sleep schedule. Not that she would dwell on something that was months off when she could easily die in the coming weeks.

“Alright,” Ashe said now that there was nobody to posture for. She flopped down on the couch and tossed her bandana onto the table. “Hit me with what you really think of all this.”

Crystal stood stoic for a moment, then wandered off to the kitchen. She returned with two bottles of hard lemonade in hand as well as a rolled joint already smoking between her lips. She passed Ashe one of the bottles, then flopped on the couch beside her, taking a deep hit before passing it to Ashe.

Ashe accepted, mildly amused as Crystal exhaled. If her girlfriend needed weed to calm down before the conversation, that already cast everything in a foreboding air. Figuring it would only help, Ashe took her own hit, the smoke hitting her unexpectedly and she couldn’t hold back a cough. Did Crystal seriously add something without telling her about it? She should have known better.

“What did you add to this?” Ashe demanded, eyes watering as she hacked up a lung.

“It’s got a bit of tobacco mixed in,” Crystal admitted. “Native stuff, so none of the shit additives.”

Well, at least it wasn’t some hallucinogen or some shit like Keiko had given her before. Ashe took another hit, this time prepared for the different feel of the smoke in her lungs.

“Warn me next time,” Ashe said, passing it back. “I still have adverse reactions to when Keiko dosed me.”

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“Fuck, I forgot about that.”

Yeah, and she’d almost snapped over it. At least the weed was already kicking in, her nerves slowly unraveling as she sank deeper into the couch. It didn’t solve her problems, but it did take the edge off, making them less pressing so she could think more clearly.

“Shit’s fucked,” Crystal said after a moment. “Alejandro knows he has us bent over, he’s just taking his time before fucking us.”

Ashe gagged. “I didn’t need that mental image.”

Crystal chuckled, drinking down half her bottle. “Honestly, there wasn’t anything else you could have done, aside from shooting him in the face. Just don’t go soft if it comes to that, because he won’t humor the nervous newbie, he’ll have a hardened criminal put down.”

Right, because Ashe wasn’t a soft little thing anymore. She’d been blooded a dozen times over, she could put a gun to a man’s head and pull the trigger without losing her shit afterward. Normal people weren’t able to do that, she hadn’t been able to do that. She could now, and that said everything about the kind of person she had become.

Maybe she should lean into that, let some of that ruthlessness guide her, no matter how distasteful she found it.

“I want you to arrange something with Jason,” Ashe said, staring into her barely touched bottle. “If Alejandro does stab us in the back, I want Silver Cross informed of who put us up to it and why.”

“What?” Crystal said, her voice without inflection. “We just talked about why we wouldn’t work with any of those fuckers.”

“Consider it the nuclear option,” Ashe said with a heavy sigh. “We need them fighting each other, not us. We can’t afford to not use every tool at our disposal, not with so many people’s lives depending on us.”

Crystal hummed, the joint slowly burning away between her teeth. Ashe was content to let the silence linger, maybe start to relax and drift off. The alcohol certainly wasn’t hurting in that regard.

“If we’re considering that,” Crystal said after a long silence, a length of ash falling from the joint as she finally passed it back. “Then let’s not wait. If we tell Silver Cross that Alejandro hired us to hit the Iron Patriots, but only after hostilities start, maybe that will delay the coming gang war.”

Ashe almost told her that wouldn’t be happening, but a sickening feeling gripped her stomach as she realized she’d missed a piece of the puzzle, one that would make it irrelevant if she went along with the plan to attack them or not. Alejandro could just have someone pretend to be them, and she would catch all the shit for it, and he could wash his hands as the Patriots rolled over her with minimal issues.

“Goddamn it,” she muttered. “You’re right.”

Crystal blinked owlishly. “Wait, I am?”

“Alejandro has us completely at his mercy, he could force us to fight, or just outright frame us. Get the word passed that if we act, it’s under pressure from him, and maybe we can avoid the brunt of it.”

“I’ll make a note to review the plan when we’re both sober,” Crystal said. “Last time I made a plan while high and just acted on it… Well, let’s just say the story behind the downtown blackout was a lot more interesting than anyone thought.”

Well, that was ominous. That had actually happened during her week on the run from her foster family, the police were out in force and Mom had found her scrounging for food in a dumpster. It was almost funny to think that Crystal going on a drunken bender might have just shaped her life in such a meaningful way.

That or it was all just a giant coincidence.

Weed made her thoughts go down weird tangents sometimes, so it was probably best to not chase them off into Wonderland. Crystal finished typing on her phone, then set her empty bottle on the table and stretched. Her shirt was untucked, riding up just enough to show off her toned stomach and just a hint of the tattoos around her ribcage.

Once more Ashe’s thoughts drifted to what her future tattoos might look like. There were probably a bunch of ideas that could wrap around some of her scars, weave them into the designs. The Viuda had artists, but she no longer trusted them, so she would need to find her own artist that would service… Damn, she still hadn’t named whatever it was that her collection of misfits was growing into.

Problems for another day, she supposed.

“I think I’m skipping school tomorrow,” Ashe said with a groan.

“You sure you want to do that?” Crystal asked. “The school will call your moms, and they in turn will call you.”

Ashe blanched as she realized what they would result in. She’d be ordered back home, and told she had to attend, maybe even grounded or given a curfew. Not that it would really stop her if she decided to not heed it, but she still loved and respected her parents. They had broken every oath they swore, just to keep her safe. She couldn’t do that to them, she just couldn’t.

“Tomorrow is gonna suck,” Ashe said, getting to her feet only for the room to spin a bit. She stumbled, but firm arms were there to support her. “Thanks Crystal, what would I do without you?”

“Fall on your ass for one,” she said. “Probably end up a school shooter for another.”

Ashe snorted, even if it was sort of true. “Year’s not done yet, and Gray is up to something.”

“Giving him far too much credit, sweetie,” Crystal said, pecking her cheek with a kiss. “Now come on, let’s get you cleaned up and into some fresh PJs.”

“Yes mistress,” Ashe said, but the last bit came out more like a raspberry.

Crystal just shook her head and moved to support her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back towards the bathroom. “Girl, we really need to get you to where you can hold your liquor.”

Ashe nodded, but that only made the room spin worse. “Not just the lemonade, the Progesterone is also kicking in.”

“Yeah, that would do it,” Crystal said. “Next time, tell me you’ve already taken your meds so I can tell you what a good girl you were.”

Almost nodding again, but remembering what a bad idea that would be, Ashe just let Crystal lead her into the bathroom. She sat her down on the edge of the tub, which was so stained that they would probably need to replace it… Oh, right, they had that on the to do list, somewhere.

“Sit tight for a moment, I’ll grab you a change of clothes and we’ll see what we can do before you completely pass out.”

Crystal hurried off, Ashe more than a little jealous that her girlfriend was so much better with that stuff than she was. Also, she was pretty sure she was floating. She found herself humming along to some tune as she waited, wishing she had something to munch on. It was probably a bad thing that the bar of soap was starting to look inviting.

“Okay,” Crystal said, returning with a bundle of clothes. “Let’s get you out of that, and get a rag to deal with the worst of the day. You can take a shower in the morning before school.”

Ashe stuck her tongue out, but swiftly found her shirt being pulled off. She clutched at her sports bra reflexively which got an amused chuckle from her girlfriend. So it continued until she was cleaned off and in a fresh change of clothes. Then warm covers were pulled over her and her girlfriend was kissing her forehead.

“Alright, I’m going to go take care of my own stuff. You’ll probably be passed out by the time I get back, so sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams,” Ashe answered in kind, rolling onto her side.

Tomorrow would be a new day, or was that today? It was after midnight, which was probably a question far too complicated for the late hour. Oh well, she could deal with that later, but she did have one more thing to say to her absolutely amazing girlfriend before she ventured off into the realm of dreams.

“Loves you.”

She didn’t see it, but she heard the sharp intake of breath. If she wasn’t already dozing off, she might have given that more thought, but she was all warm and comfy and wasn’t about to chase after some mystery, not if it meant she wouldn’t be all snug.

Another kiss feathered her forehead, much softer this time, and the lips lingered close to her ear. She could feel Crystal’s soft breath, and Ashe could have swore she could hear the thundering beat of her girlfriend’s heart. Then, words were spoken, barely a whisper.

“Love you too.”

Ashe smiled, pulling the blanket tighter, and all was right with the world as she drifted off to sleep.