We sat there for a second or five, basking in the awkwardness of having talked over each other like that. Then I snorted, and Olivia threw the crumpled wrapper of her burrito at me, though it went wide when the wind caught it. Rather than compete for whoever was going to go first, I gestured for her to talk. For a few seconds, I thought she might have missed it. Finally, she leaned forward and uncrossed her arms, seeming ready to talk.

"I'm still not happy about the whole secret watcher thing," She explained. "But… I'm also not… I'm not up my own ass enough to think that my feelings matter more than you getting an extra edge on being a hero. It's dangerous, and you were on your own when you were just starting out. Keeping some secrets is expected, but… Well, I'm sure you've noticed by now, but I'm a private person. I don't like sharing about myself, and… you're the first person I have ever told about my powers. Finding out that your friend was also around got to me and… Well, I just wish you had trusted me."

"If I had known you were about to unmask yourself, I would have told you. Or at least warned you," I assured her. "I'm sorry it happened like that, and I'm sorry you found out the way you did. I would have liked to have eased you into it in a more personal setting… But I wasn't willing to delay the Farm raid for that. I can't apologize for that, it couldn't wait."

"I wouldn't expect you to. You made the right choice," She said, pulling down her hood so I could see her face. "That was beyond us, beyond personal feelings."

"So… you still want to work with me?" I asked, looking at her. The question made her roll her eyes.

"Yes, I still want to work with you," She confirmed. "I told you I get it. I'm not happy about it, but I'll get over it. You didn't do anything that bad."

"That's great. I missed your company the last few times I patrolled," I admitted with a smirk. "The golems aren't really that talkative, and Alya is usually busy keeping an eye on the area."

"I'm glad I could help keep you from getting bored," she joked before looking around. "I assume Alya is here? Could we talk before we start?"

"Alya?" I asked, looking upward. "Could you pull yourself together for a moment?"

I watch as the elemental coalesced into her corporeal form, sensing a sort of reluctance. Between working with New Wave now, I was getting the picture that she wasn't enjoying the attention very much, something that surprised her. It wasn't quite social anxiety, feeling more like wariness of being seen at all.

"Greeting, Crow," Alya said, giving her a slight bow as she floated slightly above us.

"Hello," Olivia responded, sounding a bit awkward. "I'm not usually someone to do this, but Will trusts you, so I… I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Please don't prove my paranoia right."

"I will do my best to uphold your trust," Alya responded, nodding her head. "I… would like to apologize. I would not take my actions back, as I was working to keep William safe, but I did not wish to upset you."

"Apology accepted," Olivia responded, reaching out her hand toward Alya.

After a long moment, Alya reached out as well, and they shook hands. After a moment, Alya looked back at me with a silent question. When I nodded in agreement, she poofed into a cool breeze and dispersed around us.

"So… where are we patrolling today?" Olivia asked, pulling her hood over her head, her cloak morphing slightly into a feathered, galaxy-decorated covering layer.

"Well… before I heard from you, I was going to do some short patrols before jumping to a specific target," I admitted. "Alya spotted what she thinks is a depot of some kind. Some drugs and some guns, but nothing too massive. Sounds like it's just a minor storage or distribution center. Maybe ten or fifteen goons."

"Finally going directly after the gang, huh?" She asked, sounding interested.

"Yeah… The Farm really pushed me over the edge," I admitted,m shaking my head. "I'm strong enough to take on just about any number of non-cap members at this point, so it's time to start breaking the ABB down."

"Hey, you don't need to convince me," She assured me, punching me in the shoulder. "So, patrol first, then the direct hit. I'm ready when you are."

I whistled for my golems to get close, and Crow stepped closer as well since they knew the drill. As they all hung off of me, I began to chant, finishing the teleportation spell after a few seconds, all of us reappearing deep in ABB territory.

Which would hopefully not be theirs for long.

Once everyone was in place, we started to walk the streets, making a show of our presence as we patrolled. I had very specifically chosen this route as it was very far from our future target, meaning when we teleported close by, it would come from nowhere, hopefully catching the ABB inside off guard.

"So are we just putting on a show until it's go time, or are we keeping an eye out for anything while we wait?" Crow asked as we walked together, flanked by all four of my golems.

"No, we can take care of anything Alya spots," I responded. "No reason not to, especially if she spots something bigger to stomp on. Well, if it's too big, I might hold off so we can include New Wave."

We continue to walk around the area, eventually stopping a mugging. After that, we walked along the line between ABB and Empire territory. It was here that tension was the highest I had felt in a long time, and for obvious reasons. The ABB was, to many in the area, a shield against the Empire, and now that shield was slowly collapsing. People moved around as if they expected the Empire to rush in at any moment, and to be fair, they were not entirely wrong.

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I was pretty sure that the only reason the Empire hadn't pushed forward was because they couldn't get a firm grip on what I had to bring to the table. At first, they probably assumed I was some lowly new cape trying to make a difference. Then I killed Alabaster and took down Rune and Kreig all by myself. Since then, I've been mixing it up nearly constantly, always upping or shifting what I was capable of. Making Troy and other golems, finding Crow as an ally, defeating Lung and Oni-Lee, making metal golems, working with New Wave, giving them their new gear, and then finally showing off that I could teleport anywhere in the city in just a few seconds?

I wouldn't be surprised that my capture or elimination hadn't been on the Empire docket a few times already, only for a new development or ability to put the task back into the planning phase. I could only hope that would hold out until I got another cycle of charges and I could start making allies to protect freed parts of the city.

After the police drove away with the mugger and I healed the victim, We continued to patrol for another thirty minutes. Eventually, I decided enough was enough, and it was time to go after something a bit meatier than muggers and lone drug dealers. We retreated to the alleyway, my golems, and Crow gathering around me as I pulled out my staff and straightened it.

"Okay, so according to Alya, the depot is in an abandoned gas station. We've actually passed by it a couple times during our random patrols. The front is all boarded up, but the back entrance is open, which is how they get in and out," I explained. "Crow, I want you to stealth around back to keep anyone from running while I send the golems in through the front door, boards and all."

"Hard and heavy, nice," Crow agreed. "Will we even need to do anything?"

"Not if we are lucky," I responded with a smirk. "I'll follow in after them to clean up, just in case, but if we are lucky, we won't have to do anything but pick up a little slack if it comes up. We are going to pop up in an alley across the street from it, but hold back for just a second. I'm going to cast that shadow spell for you, and then it's on.

"Fine by me," She said with a nod, reaching out to grab my arm, my golems already holding on.

With my staff out in one hand and my spellbook in the other, I cast the teleportation spell, and moments later, we were in a new, totally unspecial alleyway. As my golems and Crow stepped away. I turned to face the direction of the gas station.

"Not a lot of civilians around," Alya whispered into my ear. "Thirteen armed ABB inside. Most of the drugs are in an old large freezer unit in the back, but the guns are in the basement. They… aren't on alert, but they aren't sleeping either."

"Stop whispering, Alya," I said. "Crow needs to know that too."

"Apologies," Alya responded, now loud enough for everyone to hear, before continuing to repeat what she told me.

Once she was done giving her report, I mentally flicked through the pages of my spellbook, selecting the shadow spell. Before I started to cast, I looked over at Crow.

"The second you can, you should fade out and head around the back," I instructed. "The golems won't be far behind."

She nodded before I started chanting out the spell. Soon, the same billowing stream of shadow and smoke filled the sky, absorbing the sunlight and blanketing the area with shadows. Not long after that, Crow started running towards the street, before vanishing into the darkness just before making it out of the alleyway. I counted to fifteen before ordering the golems out after her.

"Smash through the boarded windows, apprehending anyone who attacks you," I ordered. "Try and keep stray gunfire to a minimum."

All four golems took off at a run, and I followed after them at a jog, stepping out into the street and watching them run under the hood of the gas station. By the time I was crossing the street, all four had slammed through the boarded-up windows to gain access to the interior.

"Alya, go in with them, keep watch, and keep Crow and me in the loop."

I got closer, my staff clunking against the ground as I walked. With a wave and a quick casted blast of kinetic energy, I punched the remaining boards from one of the golem's breach points, letting me step calmly into the building. The lights were on, surprisingly, meaning I could easily see the pair of gangers that lay unconscious nearby, two shotguns neatly bent in half. I slapped them with a knockout and a general stabilizing heal to keep any freak injuries that might have happened through their ass beating.

After dealing with the unconscious gangers, I stepped around the shelves that had blocked my view. It was just in time to see one of my golems throw an old advertisement sign across the open interior, knocking down a handful of gangers. The element of surprise quickly fell apart, and the remaining standing gangers opened fire, bullets pinging off the golems even as I shot blasts of freezing energy across the way, causing guns to seize up, their internals frozen in place.

"Two running towards the back already warned Crow," Alya said in my ear as I fought, letting my coat absorb the damage as I focused on the offensive.

We pushed deeper into the gas station, with three golems going down into the basement to secure the weapons and other equipment that were stored there. Meanwhile, I was with the remaining golem as we made our way to the back of a small food prep area, where a large walk-in fridge would have normally kept the crappy gas station food on sale. We had to take down three more goons before I had the golem tear the door from its hinges since I didn't feel like messing with the several locks that had been bolted on.

Sitting inside the ten or twelve-foot-wide sealed room were four tables. Two of them had a single chair each, with some tools set in front of it, including a scale, a knife, scoops, and baggies. An open brick of cocaine was sitting on one table, with another open brick on the other. I wasn't exactly well versed in drugs, so I could only guess that the other drug was heroin, cut open and ready to be cut into several dozen bags. Each table was carefully set up to dole out and weigh into smaller baggies for distribution.

The other two tables were just as orderly but not nearly as empty.

"Alya…" I said, feeling my elemental partner's focus shifting to me as I said her name. "Just to be clear. This is not a small amount of drugs. This is a fucking shit ton of drugs."

Each of the other two tables were laden with blocks, smaller bags, and several different storage methods. There were at least ten blocks of what looked like cocaine, tightly wrapped and stacked along the back, while the other table had more of what I was pretty sure was heroin. Together, assuming the large blocks were kilos, nearly twenty kilos of cocaine and heroin stacked in front of me.

"This… when all the gangers are down, tell Crow to get in here… She needs to see this… I'll call the cops."

I shook my head as I walked away from the defunct freezer, instructing the golem to stand guard. I needed to check the basement, knock everyone out, and then call the cops.

I quickly dialed Nine-one-one, walking towards the stairs. I couldn't help but laugh when I heard Crow making her way inside, cursing and shouting loudly when she spotted just how much drugs we had found. I knew how she felt. Even with my middling knowledge, I knew that was a lot.

The conversation with the police didn't take long, even though I needed to stay on the line. Once I explained the situation and gave them the address, I got to work, making sure everyone was stunned and asleep. Once I was sure the gangers weren't a threat, I inspected the guns, finding several rifles, a few shotguns, and at least a dozen pistols, all stacked on shelves.

I sent the golems up to the first floor, telling them to keep watch before having Alya spread herself wide over the whole area. This was a significant payload, and if there was any large gang presence nearby, I would not be surprised if they got sent over to try and recover what they could.

I quickly made my way back upstairs, where Crow was already watching through the gaps in the boards, looking for threats and waiting for the police.