Josie circled through the town. A lot of the fighters for the Montrose had been drawn

to fight the fire she had started. That made it easy for her to eliminate the guards on

the enslaved women and free them.

She noted that Fass and his group had cut some of the guards down with their bows.

She doubted the defenders had even known they were under attack before the

adventurers had shot most of them.

She linked up with the group. Fass had the model in his hands. He examined the real

town, comparing it to the representation.

“Some of them made it into the woods,” said Fass. “I sent Lou and Budd after them.

I told them to do what they can but not to chase them too far.”

“I found Emily,” said Josie. “I left her guarding one of the prison houses. We should

ask these women if they have homes to go back to, or if they want to come with us

back to Hawk Ridge.”

“All right,” said Fass. “Everyone we ran into are dead. So we are ready to go as soon

as we search the bodies.”

“Did you find anyone to tell you what the Shemmarians want,” said Josie.

“No,” said Fass. “We were too busy cutting them down to question them.”

“I should have picked one and asked him,” said Josie. “What I need is a long range

seeker missile to kill these guys where they live instead of having to chase them

everywhere.”

“I, for one, am glad that you don’t,” said Fass.

“My reputation is that bad?,” said Josie.

“Other adventurers are scared of you,” said Fass. “Only Sir Harp seems happy to have

you around.”

“I’ll work on that,” said Josie. “I’ll try to care about it a little more.”

“I think it will help you more if you keep engaging with these monsters,” said Fass.

“I have a vow,” said Josie. “I have to keep going until the organization is gone for

good.”

“Lou and Budd are coming back,” said Fass. “It looks like the guards got away in the

forest.”

“Which direction did they travel?,” asked Josie. She checked her watch. It was about

half full. “Get everyone together and take them back to the quinjet. We can stuff them

in the cargo bay and drop them off where they live on the way home.”

“They headed west,” said Fass. He pointed out the direction.

“All right,” said Josie. “I will get them while you get everything together and head

back.”

“Be careful out there,” said Fass. “I know nothing about how your flying machine

works.”

“I will be right back,” said Josie. She checked her watch as she headed in the

direction pointed out.

She could head out there and get the others and then head back in a few minutes. She

thought it was definitely within reach of what she had on the watch.

She changed into Zatanna and sent out a scry bird. Then she changed into Quick and

followed the bird into the trees. She caught up with the two rangers and then followed

the bird to the first fleeing trafficker. She slammed him into a tree at high speed.

Josie looked out into the trees. The men had scattered away from this straggler. She

could send out a bird to mark them, but she didn’t have the time to chase them all

down when she had to get her people out of town.

She changed into Zatanna and boosted her voice so the fleeing guards could hear her

as they ran for their lives.

“I am going to find you,” Josie said. Her voice drifted through the trees. “I am going

to take you apart. I am your judgement waiting to be carried out.”

She thought she heard someone scream in the distance.

That was good as far as she was concerned.

She looked at the one guy she had caught. She took the time to make a book of

knowledge, and then she sent him as high as she could. She used a scry bird to find

her wanderers and teleported back to them.

“I think we can go now,” she said. “We got what we came for, and did a little bit of

damage. We have to fall back and regroup with what we have. There’s not enough

of us to declare an open war.”

“All right,” said Budd. “We were going back anyway.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“That was a nice fire, even if it was green,” said Lou. “I have never seen anything

burn like that.”

“Thank you,” said Josie. “Fass is looting the bodies and getting the women ready to

move back to the quinjet. Your sister was fine the last time I saw her, Budd.”

“She was always better than me,” said Budd. “Don’t tell her I said that. She will lord

it over me for the admission.”

“I think that will be the least of her worries after the last however many days she

has been chained up and carried away from home,” said Josie. “Keep an eye on her

in case she gets night terrors.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for her,” said Budd. “I should have said something about

her going with Markam. I thought she would get tired of traveling with them and

switch to our party. I didn’t think anything like this would happen.”

“She’s safe, if hurt a little,” said Josie. “That’s all that matters. If she needs you,

she will tell you. But until then, she might have to take a break from adventuring

and do something else for a while. Let her do that if she wants.”

“I understand,” said Budd. “Thank you for your help. We would never have found her

before she was killed, or hurt bad enough she couldn’t defend herself, or whatever

other bad fate was on this road if you hadn’t.”

Josie agreed. They never would have found Markam without her. And by extension,

they never would have found this border town either. Now Fass had a book he could

use to take whatever satisfaction he wanted if he wanted to keep destroying outlaw

towns like these.

“Let’s see if we can get everyone home,” said Josie. The counter on her quest had

gone way down. She wondered what would happen when the women returned

home. Would local law and order prevail, or would they see a lot of street

justice and revenge?

That was out of her hands as soon as she dropped the women off.

They walked back to the battlefield. The women were on one side, Fass’s party and

Emily on the other. Neither group looked happy.

Josie frowned. She supposed the women were opposed to going with a group of

rough customers after what had happened to them. She couldn’t blame them. She had

to get them moving so she could go on with her life.

If they had to ride along with Fass’s Fighters, then that was what was going to

happen.

“Everybody, let’s go,” said Josie. She made a move gesture with both hands.

“What happens to us now?,” said one of the combative women. She had armed

herself with a knife, and stolen a dead man’s tunic to help cover her rags.

“I don’t know,” said Josie. “I have a carriage and I am going home to have dinner

with my adopted family and whomever my friend invited over. Fass’s Fighters are

going with me because there wasn’t enough room for horses, but that is just an

assumption because I am sure there are loose horses now that they can saddle and ride

if they want. If you want to stay here, I’m good with that. If you want to be dropped

off as we head home, then I am good with that too. If you have no place to go, I can

take you to Hawk Ridge and I know someone who will help you find work and get

your own place there in the city. What do you want to do?”

“What do you want for this?,” asked the woman.

“I don’t want anything,” said Josie. “But I am not going to stand around all day. I

have a dinner to get to and a partner I have to make sure isn’t burning down the city

while I left him unsupervised. This choice is your choice. I’m leaving.”

“Wait,” said Fass. “This is your money. There is a bounty on lawbreakers, but we’re

not going to be able to collect it the way we did things. But each of you get three

pieces of gold each.”

A wave like are you serious went through the crowd.

“It’s not much, but it’s what we scavenged from the battle,” said Fass. “And you are

entitled to it.”

Fass handed each one of the women three gold coins. He told them to place it

somewhere they wouldn’t lose it and could hide it when they got home.

“These tattooed men are everywhere,” said Josie. “I am slowly doing what I can

to wipe them out, but until I do, don’t trust them if they try to talk to you, be ready to

fight if you see more than one. They are getting paid to take women. They are not

getting paid to leave you alone.”

She led the way into the forest. She transformed long enough to locate the quinjet

where it waited. She needed to talk to Jack about a remote like the Ted Kord Blue

Beetle’s Bug. They could just ask it to hover until they were done, and then pick

them up so they could leave.

She hadn’t seen any armament and didn’t know if Jack had left that out on purpose,

because he didn’t want one of the kids shooting the wall accidentally if they decided

to take the quinjet out for a spin, or there just wasn’t a space in the design for

anything.

Maybe there was weapons and Jack had just not shown her. Did she really want to

poke around and light something up accidentally. Jack would never let her live it

down.

“You remember that time you set fire to the hangar because you poked the wrong

button?,” he would say. “Cause I do.”

She boarded the quinjet and let the others get situated in the cargo bay. She let Fass

arrange things to his liking. He seemed to know what he was doing, and she doubted

Sir Harp would have given him a good recommendation if he was untrustworthy.

She lifted into the air and sent scry birds out to mark where she had to put off her

riders. Most were toward Hawk Ridge so she wasn’t going that much out of the way

to drop them off. When they reached the right spot, the bird would just yank that

person, or group of people to the ground.

She dropped the last one off and headed for home. Fass sat in the co-pilot’s seat.

He held the model and a bag in his lap. She vectored into the Adventurers’ Hall and

landed in the yard.

“These are your share and your model,” said Fass. He handed over the objects before

unstrapping himself. “I will get the others off so we can see this dinner and

meet your friend, Jack.”

“If I have another expedition like this, can I call you?,” asked Josie.

“Yes,” said Fass. “You did most of the work, and everything worked just right from

my side of things.”

“Thank you,” said Josie. She put the case and bag in the co-pilot’s seat. “I’ll see

you at the Hole in the Wall. If you need help, let me know. I will do what I can.”

“I will see you at dinner, Madam Witch,” Fass said. He smiled before turning and

disembarking.

“The name is Josie,” fumed the pilot as she made sure everyone was clear before

taking off and heading back to the hangar. Someone would realize something was

going on eventually but at least Jack had covered up the hole in the ground.

She checked her watch after she landed the jet on its cradle. She made sure everything

was shut down before using the stargate to get home.

The scry bird and teleportation had been a good trick. She was glad she had thought

of it. Now she had to deal with dinner and Bea’s boyfriend. She felt that was going

to be a little bit harder than setting someone on fire.