Looking out the blinds, Ashe confirmed a single police car had pulled up in front of the pawn shop.  She would need to think fast given their van was parked out behind it.  The girls had grown nervous, shifting in place as they watched with growing trepidation.  Ashe did note one of the girls was keeping distant from Jessica, but her hair was too matted to see any identifying features.  Only her eyes, which shimmered with tears.

“Alright, down the steps and back the way you came in,” Ashe said, stepping forward.  “We have a van parked where they dropped you off, get there, get in and we’ll get you away safely.” 

“And mind the dead fascists,” Crystal said cheerfully. 

No sooner than Crystal said that, one of the girls kicked the body of a dead combatant, hard.  Ashe raised an eyebrow at the display, the girl not much older than herself.  Then she looked down at the corpse and her stomach twisted.  She knew that face, Jack Henson.  The man who had molested her during the alley encounter that felt like a lifetime ago.

She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped.  That meant all of those involved were now dead and gone.  They could never hurt her again.  More so, her intervention in this situation was now completely justified.  She’d kicked in the door of an Iron Patriot human trafficking front and come out victorious. 

“Something funny?” the girl snarled. 

Ashe waved her off.  “Not at all, more a manic episode.  This man hurt me too, a while back.” 

She glanced at Jessica from the corner of her eye, the girl doing her best to not be obvious about how much she was paying attention.  Well, if there was anyone that might have figured out who she was, her bullies were certainly high up on that list.  Right beneath her parents, all things considered. 

“Should have killed him sooner,” the girl spat, hocking a loogie on the man’s corpse.

“Hindsight is a bitch like that,” Ashe said with a heavy sigh, but squared her shoulders.  “Enough lollygagging, move your asses!” 

The girls started to move, and Robbie shot her one last venomous glare before moving ahead of them, taking point in their exodus.  Ashe however was staying behind for a moment, eyeing the piles of powdered cocaine that Robbie couldn’t carry off with him. 

“You’ve got another stupid idea, don’t you?” Crystal said softly. 

“Ever play DnD?” Ashe asked casually.  When Crystal shook her head, Ashe smiled.  “Flour can cause an explosion when it is heavy enough in the air.  How much do you want to bet that coke has a similar effect?” 

Crystal blinked, then started to laugh as she pulled a flashbang from her belt.  “Oh, that is going to be hilarious.  How do we set it up?” 

Ashe hurried over to the table, grabbing one of the half open bags and flung it, then another and the room was swiftly filled with heavy powder.  Ashe did her best not to inhale any, but still caught a whiff of it as she pulled Crystal along.  Her leg wasn’t bothering her as much now, but she knew the cocaine was helping out there.  As soon as they reached the door, Ashe gestured for Crystal to toss the grenade in.

She pulled the pin and tossed it, Ashe slamming the heavy door shut as Crystal did.  Ashe moved a few steps down, braced, and covered her ears.  Crystal dropped beside her, then the grenade detonated.  The door blew off its hinges, impacting the wall across from it and she felt the heat and pressure wash over her.  

There were screams down below, and Crystal was helping her up, laughing, not that Ashe could hear it over the ringing in her ears.  Glancing back, the flames were spreading surprisingly swiftly.  One distraction for the police, served hot.

They hurried down, Ashe’s leg still bothering her but the adrenaline high mixed with whatever the hell the cocaine was doing helped her along.  As they passed through the armory, she spotted the M32 still sitting there and grabbed it, the strap being pulled over her neck before loading the two grenades, much to the indignant amusement of Crystal.  They caught up with the girls and Robbie near the exit stairs. 

“What the fuck was that?” Robbie demanded. 

“Made a flour bomb from the remaining cocaine,” Ashe said, grinning maniacally.  “Holy shit that was a rush.  Also, the cops should be distracted enough for us to get away with the girls.” 

“Crazy bitch,” he muttered.  “Fuck it, get moving, we’re out of time.”  The girls hurried up, and Ashe could hear Keiko directing them to the van.  Ashe moved to follow, but Robbie grabbed her by the arm.  “We are going to have words when this is all done.  Both of you.” 

“I couldn’t leave them,” Ashe said, glaring back at him.  Neither blinked as they stared at one another, at least until the sirens in the distance grew loud enough to be heard.  Robbie huffed and moved, and Ashe knew the tension between them wasn’t going to be resolved easily.  Crystal rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she couldn’t help but lean into the contact.  “Thanks.” 

“Anytime,” Crystal said.  “We should go.” 

Ashe nodded and they hurried up the stairs.  She spared a longing look at the motorcycle that sat in the middle of the warehouse, but pressed on, joining the others outside just as the last girl hesitated to climb inside.  Jessica looked back at her, then nodded and climbed inside. 

“Wasn’t that the bitch?” Crystal asked. 

“Yeah.  I can’t help but think she recognized me though,” Ashe said, moving to climb inside.  Just as she did so, another vehicle pulled around the building and the passenger pulled themselves out the window with a rifle in hand.  “Contact!” 

Crystal was quick to react, snapping off shots before the bumbling idiot could level his gun.  She targeted the driver, the windshield splintering from the bullets before it shattered fully.  The vehicle swerved and Ashe followed the flailing passenger and fired three shots in quick succession.  At least one struck true and the man slumped over, the vehicle hitting the side of the building. 

“Shit, that’s going to draw attention,” Crystal said. 

Ashe looked from the now wrecked car to the van and bit her lip.  “I have a really stupid idea.” 

Crystal punched her.  “No being a fucking martyr.” 

“They need to get those girls to safety,” Ashe hissed.  “We can lead the cops away, draw their attention and give them a chance to drive off.” 

“You just want to steal the bike,” Crystal said, her tone accusatory. 

Ashe could only shrug, she wasn’t entirely wrong but it would also serve a purpose and the bike would likely be useless to them afterwards regardless of actions just due to investigations and the registration being lifted from the pawn shop’s records assuming they survived the coming blaze. 

Ashe pulled off her rifle strap, making sure the safety was on before handing it off to Robbie, then passed the man her bag as well.  Crystal huffed, doing the same with everything she had.  The man grumbled, but stored it all in the front cabin, away from the rescued girls.

“We can also give them another distraction,” Ashe said, slapping the side of the van.  “Get ready to go, we’ll catch up!” 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Keiko demanded. 

“Drawing attention,” Ashe shouted back and hurried inside.  The bike was sitting there, and she knew it had gas in it from her earlier inspections.  The keys were taped to the handle.  More important was the jugs of gas sitting nearby.  “Crystal, dump the gas around the office while I get this running.” 

“Are you seriously going to torch the place?” she asked, but was already moving. 

“Damn right we are,” Ashe said.  “Who knows, maybe I’ll get a reputation as a pyromaniac.” 

“How is it that you manage to be batshit insane and cute at the same time?” Crystal grumbled, tossing the empty can inside the room.  “Now what?” 

The motorcycle rumbled to life and Ashe grinned and hefted the M32 onto her shoulder.  “Now, we put on a show.  You’re driving.”

“And where am I driving to?” Crystal asked, taking the front position, grabbing a helmet from the nearby shelf.  Ashe did the same, finding one with flame decals oddly fitting.  “Get us to drive past the police, I’m gonna blow this building to hell and get them nice and pissed off.” 

“You are fucking insane,” Crystal said, a hint of manic laughter bubbling up.  “We are never letting you get near cocaine ever again.” 

“That’s fair,” Ashe said as Crystal brought the bike around and out the back door.  She waved to Robbie and Keiko as they pulled around, though she didn’t get to see their full reactions to the sight of the heavy launcher in hand.  “How much do you want to bet we’re going to be all over the news?” 

“Sucker’s bet,” Crystal said, revving the bike and peeled out. 

They rounded the front of the pawn shop where several other emergency vehicles had arrived, along with several police vehicles which were setting up a cordon around the pawn shop.  Ashe grimaced at that, knowing she could easily be shot by someone she knew.  Their focus was on the burning building that she had set off the explosion in, and seemed surprised by the arrival of the bike. 

Ashe wasted little time, shouldering the launcher and aiming it towards the police who all dove for cover. She grinned and swiveled, this time aiming it into the pawn shop.  She fired through the window, the recoil lighter than she expected, and the weapon cycled to the next round.  The grenade burst inside and Ashe sent the second in for good measure before letting the launcher drop. 

The entire store went up in flames almost instantly and she could only laugh.  She then gripped Crystal tight as the woman gunned it, accelerating at an absurd rate between two of the blocking vehicles. 

They blew past them, and Ashe thought she heard gunfire over the roar of the engine, but she didn’t dare let go to glance back.  They were moving like bats out of hell, blowing through the late evening stoplights and weaving through traffic.  She could hear sirens, but couldn’t tell where they were from her position. 

Taking a moment to look around, Ashe could see the flashing lights in the distance, but none were nearby.  Worse, she spotted a helicopter following along.  She didn’t know if it was a news-copter or police, but she didn’t want to take the risk on an assumption.  There wasn’t much they could do to lose their airborne stalkers on the streets, but if she could break line of sight, they might have a chance.

“Make for the Suwanee!” Ashe yelled.  “It hasn’t rained worth a damn in weeks, we can use the storm drains!” 

The woman nodded, turning down one of the side roads.  A police car pulled out ahead of them, swerving in an attempt to block the road, but Crystal leaned into the turn, pulling them into incoming traffic briefly, weaving around a pickup truck at the last moment.  The car started to pull out, but it wouldn’t be able to catch up. 

Crystal opened the throttle, pushing the bike to nearly a hundred down the straightaway.  The city raced by and Ashe knew they could die horrifically if even one vehicle pulled out in front of them.  It was thrilling, and she could barely feel her heart thundering over the rumble of the engine and the bumps in the highway. 

Risking a glance back, Ashe knew the police were in pursuit, but they were blocks back and falling further behind.  Turning back, Ashe spotted motion up ahead, she tapped Crystal and pointed.  They slowed and turned down one of the streets and Ashe caught a glimpse of a fucking spike strip just as they turned.  That would have killed them had they hit it. 

Three blocks were crossed in seconds and Crystal got back on a road running north, the throttle opening back up as they flew towards the river.  More helicopters were overhead, their bright lights standing out against the black sky.  Ashe held on tight as Crystal turned down the road that ran along the river, she knew there were large drains all along it, but they needed one that was big enough to fit their bike down. 

Crystal seemed to have the same idea as she turned back the way they came just two streets later, the road running along a man-made stream runoff that had been converted into a part of the drain network.  Police cars turned onto the road up ahead and Ashe could hear the heavy cursing coming from Crystal. The bike slowed and swerved, then accelerated as it drove down one of the concrete drain ramps, landing them in shallow water before she took off again, heading up the shallow flow. 

Water sprayed up behind them, leaving a wake in their…  Okay, her vocabulary was failing her, which was fair given that they were darting between a handful of juvenile alligators and the police were stopping on the bridge ahead with their guns drawn.  Crystal accelerated and Ashe saw flashes of gunfire.  Crystal ducked her head a moment later, bullets whistling by.  Ashe pulled her own gun and took aim, snapping off a few shots as they went under the bridge and emerged on the other side.  She was already turned, aiming behind and snapped off several shots.  The officers took cover rather than fire upon them further. 

“We need to get off before the next bridge!” Ashe yelled.  Police were starting to take positions along the drain trench, lining up rifles as they did.  Ashe knew they were fucked if they didn’t get out in time.  She scanned the trench desperately, then felt a flutter of hope as she pointed ahead.  “There!  Tunnel!” 

Crystal slid in the water, bleeding off momentum, water splashed from narrowly missed bullet impacts and one even impacted the rear tire guard as they spun back into motion and took off down the drain tunnel.  Ashe breathed a sigh of relief now that they had some form of cover.  Crystal turned the lights on and took it slower than she probably needed to. 

“You alright?” she asked as they cruised along, taking turns here and there to keep from being easily tracked. 

“I think so,” Ashe said, not noting any new twinges of pain now that she had a moment to take stock.  “How about you?  They were shooting at us a lot back there.” 

“My helmet got pinged by a close call,” Crystal admitted.  “I don’t think it did any damage though.” 

Fresh horror dawned on Ashe as the words registered.  A bullet had come that close to ending Crystal’s life.  There were several close calls, and Ashe knew she was damn lucky the bullet that hit her only grazed her rather than strike deeper.  They needed to look into bullet resistant gear in some capacity, she had money to spare, no doubt more once she got her share from the job they just pulled. 

Then again, she also had just taken in a bunch of girls that she had no idea what to do with.  She could offer them money to make their own way somewhere safer, to seek help somewhere less likely to fuck them over if they sought out law enforcement assistance.  She wasn’t sure how many might actually take her up on that however. 

She could worry about that after they were safely back at Crystal’s home, the tunnels would take them most of the way there if she remembered the history lessons on the city correctly.  The whole building the town above the surface on what was essentially a second story was rather ingenious, but they couldn’t take full credit for the idea despite the propaganda taught at schools, as they only started to do so after Disneyworld broke ground and the method was made public. 

Turned out pointing that out got you a negative score on your essay, but only if one happened to be trans.  Pricks.

The pair stopped some ten minutes later, with Ashe calling Robbie while Crystal sat atop her bike.  Ashe had the call on speaker as she rubbed Crystal’s back, the woman was breathing a bit shallowly, but she didn’t have any obvious wounds and her helmet was only missing a small chunk.  

“We made it to a Viuda safehouse courtesy of Mercedes,” Robbie confirmed.  “The girls are all inside and Keiko is reassuring them that someone will go by tomorrow morning to check on them.  That will be you two since this is your mess.  I expect you to clean it up, and I’m reducing your cut of the haul for the trouble.” 

Ashe winced even as Crystal sighed. 

“That’s fair,” Ashe said.  “I’ll take responsibility for their well-being.  Thanks for getting them out.” 

“I’ve heard some of what they’ve said to one another,” he said a bit quieter.  “I try to avoid getting involved in this shit, but you did right by them.” 

Ashe felt a swell of pride at that admission, and it was almost enough to override the whole pay reduction thing.

“Was there enough food for all of them?” she asked. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted.  “I didn’t check.” 

“Can you do a food run?  You can take it from my pay plus another five hundred for your trouble,” Ashe said. 

“Best Grub-run tip I’ll ever get,” he said.  “Alright little girl, I’ll take care of it.” 

Ashe smiled, some of the tension bleeding out of her.  “Thanks.  You’re an ass, but you’ve got a good heart.” 

“I look out for my own,” he said firmly.  “You proved yourself today, and I know you’d do the same for any of us that you did for those girls.  My respect is not given easily, but you earned it today.  Don’t squander it.” 

The call ended and Ashe let out a shaky breath.  They had seemingly done it, everyone was safe, though no doubt there would be a manhunt for them at the moment which meant the bike needed to be left somewhere it wouldn’t be easily found, or linked back to either of them.  Ashe used her phone flashlight to make sure no blood had dripped on it, and wiped up the small amount from her bandage that had. 

With that done, they hid the bike in an alcove and started walking.  Crystal held her hand tightly as they trudged through the thick muck and Ashe pulled out her personal phone which was currently off.  Multiple texts popped on screen at once, as did missed calls.  Ashe winced, then decided to bite the bullet and called her mother back.

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