Jason could honestly say this wasn’t the worst situation he had ever found himself in. That honor still went to the first time he and his boyfriend had kissed in his bedroom and Prescott walked in on them. Thankfully the butler didn’t tell his father, opting to instead remind him about family obligations and public facing. What happened in private was just that until it reflected negatively upon the family.

It was why he looked up to Crystal so much, she’d decided to live her life regardless of what their father thought. She had a girlfriend and didn’t shy away from owning that, even if she never said the golden words, it was obvious to anyone looking at them.

He envied her so damn much, but there was nothing he could do about it until he was over eighteen and could leave the country. He knew his father would have Todd killed if he learned the truth of their relationship, he’d had people killed for less. People like his mother.

Nobody could prove it, but it was obvious that their mother hadn’t wanted to be with him, and only did so because of family obligations. She was over a decade younger than him, and kept a childhood friend as a retainer that totally wasn’t her lover. She had killed herself three days after their mother’s funeral, supposedly in the throes of her grief and half drowned in a bottle.

Crystal ran away that same day, living off the streets and doing whatever it took to keep her independence. He was so damn jealous that she could do that, being the eldest, never mind only, son meant that his father was much stricter and controlling than he had ever been with Crystal.

So no, this was not the worst situation he had been in, but it definitely made the top five. Multiple people with guns, and only one expendable security officer between them. She wasn’t even armed, all because his father didn’t trust the security firm to vet their employees properly. His detail would all be carrying at minimum a handgun, but Jason didn’t have personal security most days.

It would only make it that much more difficult to see Todd if he did.

The girl didn’t appear to be much older than he was, likely fresh out of high school and the security gig was pushed upon her by her parents who wished they had a son instead. At least she didn’t seem to be folding under pressure, remaining as composed as she was meant she was probably going to be stupid and get herself killed rather than walking away.

He would feel bad later, after his father ransomed him back then had all the perpetrators killed by his Patriot goons. The Patriots would then hail the dead girl as a hero for standing up to them or some other tripe.

He could feel the tension in the air rising, the gunman looked like he just needed the smallest excuse to start shooting. The girl slowly lifted an arm, putting him firmly behind her in one of the dumbest moves he had seen. Seriously, they wanted him and were going to do what was needed to get him. He wasn’t worth her life, especially not for what was probably just above minimum wage.

“Don’t try to be a hero,” the gunman said. “You already walked away from us once, you can do it again.”

The woman seemed to consider that, then heaved out a heavy sigh. “You know, if it had been literally anyone else you were after, I might have done just that.”

Her husky voice was oddly familiar, he’d heard it recently but couldn’t quite place where. Not that it mattered, given she was about to commit suicide via terrorist. The gunman just shook his head, then put both hands on the gun as he started to stalk forward. He got point blank, gun in her face as he sneered.

“No hard feelings then.”

Next thing Jason knew, he was falling backwards, out the door. The woman had shoved him away just as the first dull thumps of gunshots sounded. Suppressed, less likely to draw attention, especially in a noisy arena. He scrambled back, not wanting to see the woman’s body and forced himself to his feet in a desperate attempt to run from the murderers.

When someone grabbed him, he flailed in a desperate bid to break free.

“Get up,” the woman said, firm hands yanking him to his feet.

As he stumbled, he regarded the woman who now had a gun in her hand, her left shoulder bloodied and grim determination on her lips. He swallowed heavily at the sight of this avenging angel covered in blood, the gun in her hand aimed at the swinging door unerringly.

If he had been straight, he would have been in love.

She backed them down the hall, her head on a swivel even though she never once let the doorway out of her peripheral vision. She seemed far too experienced with violence for someone her age, but the Patriots didn’t attract that many women, especially as fighters. Yet, she couldn’t be Viuda, because he was almost certain that the attackers were working for them. It wouldn’t be the first time the Viuda attempted a kidnapping, but that had been before Crystal joined them.

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They came to a junction and the woman took a moment to clear her corners before pulling him down the hall with a glowing exit sign. She kept glancing over her shoulder as they picked up their pace, then she cursed. She fired shots behind them, shoving him towards a door. He hastily opened it, it led down into the service tunnels and he hesitated.

“Move your ass!” she yelled, using her body to push him inside, her gun firing one last time before she slammed the door shut and grabbed a length of pipe and jammed it into the door and moved down into the poorly illuminated depths with him.

She leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as she checked her arm and let out a self depreciated chuckle. Ripping the bloodied sleeve clean, she got to work tying the fabric around the wound.

“Shot twice in the same fucking spot,” the woman muttered, typing a tight knot as she hissed. “This is my fucking life now, isn’t it?”

He blinked incredulously, barely able to hear her over the noise coming from some of the wider pipes. Just who was this woman to take getting shot in stride like that, as if it was a minor inconvenience to her? That familiarity was still there, but her sunglasses and hat were obscuring her features enough to make it hard to pin down. He didn’t really see all that many girls given his homeschooling, and she sure as hell wasn’t someone from one of his father’s social functions.

“You alright?” she asked, startling him from his thoughts.

He nodded, and moved his trembling hands behind his back. “I think so.”

“Good,” she said, getting back to her feet. “Your sister’s already going to yell at me enough for this, at least I don’t also have to explain how you got hurt on top of it.”

“You know my sister?” he asked. That certainly made more sense than her being a Patriot, but his sister hung out with the Viuda, so why interfere?

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” she asked, her lips quirking into a smile. “Remind me to compliment Brie’s makeup skills. Also, don’t tell anyone that you know me, really not looking to explain why I snuck in here to the wrong people.”

He tried to think of who she might have been, but the only person he could think of was Crystal’s new girlfriend, but she didn’t seem to be the type to pull something like this. He’d asked Prescott to get him some information for his own peace of mind. She was a cop’s daughter. Sure, she was attacked recently, but she wasn’t the sort of person to cause trouble.

If only he knew.

Hell, Prescott said his father approved of the relationship beyond the fact that she was apparently trans. He hoped that the law enforcement ties might even help nip her rebellious streak enough that she may find a ‘proper’ man. Jason knew that would never happen, but that did explain how she was that much of a badass.

Unless she was one hell of an actress.

“Ashe?” he asked.

“Bingo,” she said. Taking a breath before ejecting the magazine and muttering some curse before reloading it. “Well, I’ve got three bullets left and no fucking clue where the hell this leads.”

“Couldn’t you call for someone on the radio?” he asked, pointing at the device on her belt.

She looked away. “It’s a toy, doesn’t work. I just needed to blend in long enough to track down the bastard who murdered my girl.”

Okay, that explained some of it, but why would Ashe risk herself? She was just the sort of person that half the idiots running around would happily kill if given half an excuse, and the media would spin it so that she was a dangerous terrorist looking to hurt all the good people.

Just another year and he would be able to leave all that behind, to get a student visa somewhere safer, like Germany, or Norway. His father would even approve of wishing to find his roots, at least until he realized he had no intention of ever returning. Knowing his luck that epiphany would immediately be followed with an invasion of said country by his burgeoning dictatorship.

God his father was an ass like that.

“Wait,” he exclaimed, pulling out his phone because apparently they were both idiots. “We can just call someone!”

He flicked through his contacts, finding his father, and skipped it in favor of Prescott. He hit call and waited, only to have the call cut off before the first ring. Frowning at that, he tried again, only to get the same result.

“Either there’s too much interference down here, or they have a cell jammer,” Ashe said, tapping one of the small pipes along the wall.

“Of fucking course,” Jason said, shoulders slumping as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“Alright, we should get moving,” Ashe said. “If they’re using suppressors, then odds are good they haven’t alerted anyone that might actually help.” Then the girl snorted. “Look at me, trans girl looking for an Iron Patriot for help. Goddess this situation is fucked.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed.

It was a terrible excuse for a joke, but in that moment it certainly rang true. Standing was a chore, his legs felt as though someone had replaced his bones with gelatin. Right, adrenaline crash. Those were a thing that happened to people.

Ashe barely took a moment to compose herself, stretching out her arms, barely even wincing as she did so with the one that had been shot. What was that woman made of if she could just keep going like that? Certainly sterner stuff than he was. That certainly helped explain how Inferno did the shit she did.

“Alright, that’s enough rest,” Ashe said, stepping further into the dimly lit tunnel. “Let’s get you to safety and hopefully put that bald bastard down in the process.”

He could only nod as he followed along, hoping that he could prove to be less of a burden in the future. If she could be so resilient and strong, then maybe he could too.