Be Gay Do Crime

“They can call the police,” Mom said, an air of finality to her words. 

Ashe stopped, glancing at the woman who had raised her.  “The police are already stretched thin, and this city is falling apart.  I can’t just leave them to die.”

To punctuate the point, she checked to make sure a round was chambered and let it snap closed for effect.  It seemed to work as her mom flinched despite knowing guns better than she probably ever would.  It still only took her mom a moment to rally herself. 

“Jessica nearly killed you, however indirectly,” Mom pleaded, her hand coming to rest on Ashe’s shoulder.  “You don’t have to risk your life again.  It’s only been a few hours, why do you have to go out there?” 

“It’s not just her,” Ashe said, pulling away.  “All of the girls that were rescued live there.” 

Ashe didn’t have time to wait for her mom to figure out what she was going to say or do, she grabbed her boots and started to pull them on, Crystal working to do the same.  She was kicking herself for not keeping more weapons on hand in her old room, but it was too risky to house illegal firearms in a home with two cops. 

“I messaged K,” Crystal said.  Ashe almost asked what she meant before she realized that names were best not spoken around her mom.  She nodded, tying off her boot, then moving to the door.  “It’s gonna be ten minutes before they can get a car to us.” 

“Fuck,” Ashe cursed, stopping where she was.  

Both of their bikes were at Crystal’s and they had gotten lifts everywhere that mattered because they weren’t expecting to end up anywhere else but at Crystal’s home at the end of the night.  That was biting her now, and she was already showing too much in front of her mom, but lives came first, they had to. 

“Ashe,” her mom said sharply, drawing her attention.  She had her arms crossed and had adopted the posture of an angry officer rather than a concerned parent.  “Talk to me.  I want to know why my daughter is seemingly ready to ride to war right now.” 

“You wouldn’t like the answer,” Ashe said.  “Crystal, find us a ride, we need to be gone five minutes ago.” 

Crystal nodded, her fingers dancing across the screen.  Her mom scowled, then walked off, towards her bedroom.  She didn’t have time to dwell on that, and was instead messaging Sandra to see if she was available.  Two minutes went by agonizingly slow before the reply came in; Sandra was out of town.  Apparently her brother had managed to reconnect and she was visiting him. 

Ashe was about to head out on foot, consequences for open carrying be damned, when her mom returned.  She couldn’t help but stare at the sight of her mom with one rifle slung over her shoulder, and another in hand. 

“Catch.” 

Crystal barely had a moment before she was grabbing the tossed AR-15.  She performed a check without much thought, then seemed to realize what had just happened as she looked up from the rifle. 

“Umm, Mrs. Hamilton?” 

Ashe had to agree with that question, because she couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening.

“If you’re going, then so am I,” her mom said, her tone brokering no argument.  “Now let’s get down to the car.” 

Watching her mom march on, grabbing her keys on the way, Ashe shared a glance with her girlfriend, who seemed just as confused as Ashe was.  There was no point arguing, her parents were every bit as stubborn as she was.  It was weird though, following someone else after the last two months of being a leader. 

The trio piled into her mom’s silver car, Ashe taking shotgun despite having a rifle.  She would have once laughed at that joke and shared it, but the situation was far too serious to be joking like that.  Mom passed her rifle over, and Ashe checked the safety before propping it on the floorboard. 

“Where to?” Mom asked.  “I have no idea where this apartment you mentioned is.  I need directions.” 

“Sutton,” Ashe said, blinking.  “It’s on the corner of Fifteenth and Weaving.” 

The car was in motion before she had finished speaking. 

“That used to be no-man’s land,” Mom said.  “Let me guess, Inferno claimed it?” 

Ashe was about to answer when she remembered that Crystal actually owned the damn place.  It was in her name, and that would inevitably come up if the police did any digging into the situation or location.  Shit, she needed to do something about that, get away from the subject before their involvement got too out of hand. 

“I own the apartment,” Crystal said. 

Apparently she wasn’t going to try to hide that.  Good to know, but there really wasn’t a way to coordinate their answers that wouldn’t be even more suspicious.  Sure, texting would keep her mom from knowing what was being discussed, but it would strain that already stressed trust between them. 

Her mom was just as caught off guard, though likely for very different reasons. 

“You own…  What the hell?  First a restaurant, now an apartment, and both in Sutton…  Then there’s Inferno being in the tunnels with you, and you’re sheltering girls she saved…” 

It was almost inevitable now, Ashe could see that, though her own identity as Inferno was likely safe after being seen in the tunnel standing close to Keiko.  The same went for Crystal as Riptide.  That had been her intention with that interaction, letting some officers see them in the same place at the same time.  That was the same reason she had sent Keiko on an errand while being stuck in questioning, the police would learn about it and it would leave her in the clear of suspicion. 

“I needed tennants, and she had a bunch that needed a place to stay,” Crystal said casually.  “Not many are willing to pay market rates, even in Sutton where it’s in the toilet.” 

“And Inferno will?” 

“Inferno has kept her word so far,” Ashe said.  “The waitress back at Markson’s was one of the girls, if you were curious.” 

“Part of why she was hired,” Crystal said in agreement.  “Once whatever this turns into is done, maybe talk to the girls before you get all righteous about this arrangement.” 

“I won’t sugarcoat things,” Ashe added.  “I know how illegal some of this stuff is, but don’t forget that these are people that had my back when no one else did.  Brie was…violated by the same man that tried to kidnap me.  He made bail and continued to hurt others.” 

“Christ,” her mom said hoarsely, her grip on the wheel so tight the plastic was creaking.  “Anyone’s faith in the system would be rocked by that.” 

“Yeah,” Ashe mumbled.  “I know you tried, but it wasn’t enough, and after hearing about that…” 

It truly had crushed the last vestige of her belief in the system that her parents had worked so hard to rebuild.  It didn’t matter if there were good people working within it, they were still constrained by what they were allowed to do.  They couldn’t just shoot monsters, yet those monsters tacitly allowed them to shoot innocents as long as they were the right sort. 

She just happened to be of that sort, so her attackers walked, and Ashe was left to clean up the mess that followed.  Ashe felt so strongly for Brie, because they had that connection, that shared trauma, of a sort.

They turned down the road leading to the apartments and Ashe’s stomach dropped.  Smoke was rising, and she could see more than one black van parked up ahead.  Several armored men were spread about, behind cover, and shooting towards the apartments.  There was some return fire, but not nearly enough for her liking.  Of more concern, Ashe recognized the armor as being of the same make that the assholes at the prom were wearing.  Snarling, Ashe dropped the window, leaned out, and brought her rifle up.  She had an acog sight, which gave her a great view of some asshole’s head as she put a round through their neck. 

The brakes locked up, tires screeched, and Ashe was almost thrown from the car.  She was about to yell when glass shattered and the car was thrown into reverse.  Ashe grabbed the window frame with her free arm, keeping the other on her rifle as her mom backed the car around a corner. 

Ashe pulled herself free from the window, landing on her feet with a wince.  Her side was sore as hell, and she would probably need to see her doctor after everything to make sure she hadn’t overdone it. 

“What the flying fuck,” Crystal exclaimed, undoing her seatbelt as she did.  “Where are they finding these assholes?” 

“Mercenaries aren’t exactly hard to find,” her mom said.  “We only managed to identify one of the bodies, but they were a Russian national known to do overseas contracts.” 

“Weren’t some of the assholes that nearly got Ashe also Russian?” Crystal asked. 

Her mom joined her at the corner, and pulled out a reflective mirror.  Ashe stepped back and let her mom do her thing. 

“Two tangos heading this way, the others have re-engaged the defenders.” 

Crystal nodded, then turned to Ashe.  “So much for clocking out early.” 

“That’s my line, kids,” Mom said. 

Mom leaned out from cover, and snapped off several shots, skipping the preamble of demanding they stand down.  It might have been a violation of police protocol, but she was off the clock and these were active shooters.  Ashe was certain she would have to answer for her opening shot, but that could come later. 

“One down, but not neutralized,” she said as several bullets impacted the brick of the older building they were hunkered behind. 

“Got it,” Ashe said, eyeing the street.

There were a few parked cars, not that they made great cover, but she needed to move before her girls were overwhelmed.  Ashe took a deep breath, then rushed across the opening for the nearest car, ignoring the shouts from her mother.  Several snaps told her that she was indeed being shot at, but she didn’t think any had hit her.  She was well familiar with the sensation to know, even with the adrenaline high. 

She looked back, and her mom was clearly furious with her, but knew to leave it for later as she laid down suppressing fire.  She counted down in her head, then Ashe took the opportunity to move to the next car, and smirked when no bullets came her way. 

She’d barely made it to cover when a deafening crash sounded.  Well, someone broke out the .50 cal from the sound of it.  Keiko and Brie knew about the hidden vault, which meant they were back from their errand.  Hopefully they finished it rather than call it off to return to help.  Ashe wouldn’t complain either way, but she could use some good news for once.

Her phone rang, and she slid the green icon. 

“Keiko, you magnificent bitch!” 

“Tongue fuck my ego later,” she retorted.  “Way’s clear and you have overwatch, move!” 

Ashe wanted to sass back, but there were lives on the line.  She stowed her phone back in her pocket, leaving it on speaker for communication.  “Mom!  Move up!” 

She didn’t wait for an answer, ducking low and moving forward towards the next car.  Just as she caught sight of another merc, his torso burst in red mist a hair’s breadth before the retort of the rifle reached her ears.  Okay, she was officially labeling that as the best thing she had ever stolen from a Nazi. 

The pawn shop job just kept giving and giving. 

She kept running, her rifle up as she pushed towards the vans.  There was a flurry of motion, then one of the vans started to pull away with screeching tires.  

“Keiko!” she yelled, hoping that the woman could hear her from her pocket.  “Stop the vans from leaving!” 

Another crack of .50 cal goodness was followed by smoke rising from the engine block of the still stationary van.  The driver’s side door was flung open, and Ashe took aim, putting rounds into them before they could get their bearings. 

She kept moving forward, the other van leaving as well.  She ran up on the downed merc and didn’t hesitate to put another round into the man.  He jerked from the impact, blood gurgled from his ruptured throat, and he fell still. 

Motion drew her eye, so fast she didn’t have time to get her gun up, the barrel of a shotgun coming around towards her when someone slammed into the figure that had emerged from the van.  Crystal wrestled with them, the shotgun discharged into the air, and Crystal used that force to jerk the weapon free, and swung it at the man like a club. 

Crystal attempted to rack the slide, but the gun was bent from the impact.  She tossed it aside with a huff, and reached for a sidearm that wasn’t there.  Damn impounding for evidence laws screwing them over.  That was when Mom stepped up to the man and drew her sidearm and put it to the man’s jaw.  He tensed, his hand drifting down towards a holster on his hip.

“I wouldn’t,” Mom said coldly, pressing the gun to him a bit more firmly.

Ashe blinked, her breathing heavy and desperate.  She’d been a blink away from dying.  She fell back on her ass, desperately reaching for her breathing exercises.  Fuck, no matter how many times she has one of those moments, they still rattled her.  She sat like that for several moments, her mom asking questions of her prisoner, but getting no answers. 

“I think we’re clear,” Crystal said. 

A hand entered her field of view, the fuck around and find out graph visible on her arm.  Ashe had to smile at that, for they were firmly in the find out range right now.  She accepted the hand, and was hoisted back to her feet. 

Ashe turned, surveying the damage.  A couple of their parked cars were riddled with holes, and more than a few burst tires, and the worst of the bunch was smoking.  The front of the apartment building was beaten to hell, with broken glass and half shattered brickwork littering the ground around it.  Which, if she hadn’t known that the broken windows were recently replaced with bulletproof ones, and that even those were cracked up, she might have just assumed nothing was amiss.  They agreed to keep it looking run down on the outside for a reason. 

“Well, this is a fine mess,” Ashe said. 

Crystal chuckled, but it was forced.  “Yeah…  I just hope everyone is okay.” 

Watching the first of her girls poking their head out of the building, the all clear being sounded, she couldn’t help the feeling of dread in her stomach. 

If even one girl was harmed, there would be hell to pay.

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