“Oh no you fucking don’t!” I shouted, snapping my hand out and snagging the mugger’s belt. His headlong sprint came to a stop violent enough I heard the air ‘whoosh’ from his lungs. I let him go as he bent double and fell to the ground. “Slow ass,” I huffed.

  “All clear Amaranth,” Nadir said, jogging over. “Other guy got away, couldn’t use my power without hitting a civilian.”

  “A bird in the hand,” I said, fighting a note of disappointment. “You see where the victim went?”

  “Hiding down the alley over there,” she said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “Told me to stay back, scared.”

  “No dice,” I said, shaking my head. “Let’s secure this guy, then go check on him okay? We don’t know how badly hurt he is.”

  “Sure.”

  I ziptied the guy’s wrists behind him, then helped Nadir pull him up. She gripped his arm and dragged him into the alley behind us. I could hear the sound of sniffling further in and told Nadir to drop the mugger. She kept him pinned with her power as we moved closer to the noise.

  “S-stay back!” a voice called shakily.

  “Easy, I’m a hero, I’m here to help,” I said, keeping my voice level. “My name is Amaranth, I’m a Ward, it’s going to be okay.” A bit of a lie, but it was probably more calming than telling him I was an ex-Ward with a history of violence.

  “D-don’t want no more trouble.” The poor guy sounded on the verge of panic.

  “Wait, Zeke?!” Nadir exclaimed, twisting her head around.

  “Nadir, perp,” I snapped. She swore and turned her attention back to the guy. I shook my head and sighed. “You know him?”

  “Zeke? Buddy?” she called, keeping her eyes fixed on the immobilized mugger. “Remember me, back from the shelter? Showed me that Dirty Red mixtape?” I heard a sharp breath.

  “J— Um, maybe?” I saw a dark face with wide eyes poke out from behind a dumpster a couple feet ahead. “Shit, you’re really heroes?”

  “Nadir, I’ll get to work on this guy. You want to talk to your friend?”

  “Come on man, I’ll keep you safe,” Nadir said, extending a hand.

  The guy, Zeke I guess, crept out from behind the dumpster and approached. He was only a little taller than me, with wiry, unkempt hair and the faintest wisps of a beard on his chin. He eyed Nadir and I, but followed her out of the alley. Once they were out of sight, I turned on the mugger and knelt beside him, pulling his sleeve up and tutting.

  “You know there are other Nazi symbols besides a swastika,” I said sarcastically. He grunted as I jabbed his side sharply. “Hey, wake up, got some questions for you.”

  “Fuck off pig,” he spat. I clicked my tongue.

  “Not really the answer I want,” I said. “Look we can play a game where you pretend to be tough until I start breaking limbs and make you tell me everything I want to know. Now personally, I’d rather not because it would take a while; can’t answer questions when you’re screaming in pain, get it?”

  “You wouldn’t,” he said, but didn’t sound sure. “You’re a hero, aren’t you?”

  “Sure am,” I confirmed. “Amaranth, you might have heard of me, I don’t really care. What’s important for you to know is I take this a bit more seriously than the Protectorate. So I’m going to ask you some questions, and if I don’t get an answer, it’s going to hurt.”

  “Fuck of bi—” His insult was cut off by a yelp of pain as I gripped one of his bound arms and squeezed.

  “So now we’re on the same page, right?” I said. “So, let’s start. Are you with Wotan’s Wolves?”

  “I’m with your mo—” His voice rose in a shriek as I squeezed harder. I clicked my tongue again.

  “Funny,” I said dryly. “Now the real answer.”

  “I’m not!” he said, panting. I could see sweat beading on his forehead in the moonlight. “I’m not I swear.”

  “Who then?” I asked, keeping my grip painfully tight. “Werwolf?”

  “Varangians,” he grunted, making frown.

  “Why the fuck do people insist on saying shit I can’t understand,” I said tersely. “English, or you’re going to be jerking off with a cast.”

  “It’s the name!” he said quickly, voice rising an octave. “Swear to god!”

  “Varangians,” I tested it out. “Were you affiliates?”

  “Worked in their territory,” he huffed breathlessly. “Paid dues, that shit.”

  “Can’t help notice the past tense,” I said.

  “Their guys haven’t collected for a couple weeks, but that’s all I know,” he said desperately.

  “Are you sure?” I squeezed until I felt the slightest groan of protest from his radius, then backed off just slightly. “Where’s your safe house?”

  “Safe house, wha— No, don’t break my arm, we got nothing like that I swear!” I relaxed my grip and rose.

  “You’re going to tell the cops the whole story,” I said as I took out my burner phone and flipped it open, dialing 911. “Confession’s supposed to be good for the soul or something.”

  He let out a defeated groan as I called for a cruiser. The operator chided me for using an emergency line for pickup, but at least she sent someone out. I dragged the mugger out of the alley and propped him up against the fa?ade of the building, then turned to Nadir who was talking quietly with Zeke a few feet away.

  “—ass isn’t worth it,” I heard Nadir saying as I approached. “Come on dude, you’re smarter than that.”

  “Hey, Zeke,” I interrupted, making both of them turn. “Cops will be here in a couple minutes to bag the bad guy. They’re going to want a statement from you, okay?”

  “Shit, if I have to,” he muttered.

  “It’ll be fine,” Nadir reassured him, patting his shoulder. “Trust me.”

  “You’re a victim, not a criminal,” I added. “It’ll help them put that guy away.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he sighed, scratching his head.

  I gave them a little space while I kept watch over the mugger. He kept his mouth shut and eyes fixed on the pavement. Good, since he didn’t have anything useful to say anyway. I guess I had a name to work with now, though I wasn’t sure how much info I’d get. PHO was probably a bust, since a small-time gang was unlikely to have a parahuman on staff. But it was something, more than I’d had in a while.

  What did it mean though, that the Wolves hadn’t collected their dues? Maybe they really had gone underground to let things cool off, let their affiliates and Werwolf take the brunt of things for a while. Sensible, but annoying if true. I’d have to do more digging...next week, after midterms. Maybe.

  When the cops finally arrived, I turned the mugger over to them with a brief explanation. They spent a few minutes getting our statements, then drove off with the perp in custody. Even though we’d only gotten one guy, we decided to call it on the patrol. Zeke needed an escort home, no way we were letting him get attacked again. It wasn’t too far out of our way, and shortly after we’d parted ways at the shelter he was living in Nadir and I changed and headed for home.

  “Who was that?” I asked as we walked.

  “Uh, Zeke’s a friend,” she replied. “We were living next to each other after the shit. He’s a good guy, kind of dumb.”

  “What was he doing out here?” I said, giving her a look.

  “Booty call, if you believe it,” she said. “Like I said, kind of dumb.”

  “Jesus,” I said, shaking my head. “More luck than brains. Well, at least he was lucky.”

  “Yeah,” Joy sighed.

  “Hey, good work tonight,” I said after a few minutes silently walking along. “Kept the perp down, communicated, you’re getting it.”

  “Thanks,” she replied. “Uh, yeah, I’m trying you know?”

  “It shows,” I said, offering her a smile. “Just keep it up, okay?”

  “Yeah of course,” she said, nodding. “You uh, get anything from the attacker?”

  “Unfortunately not,” I said with a sigh. “He wasn’t a direct member, apparently part of the ‘Varangians’, whoever the fuck they are. Some tiny pimple of a gang, I guess.”

  “So not a Nazi?”

  “I didn’t say that,” I countered. “Lots of these guys are basically like satellite gangs, paying to do shit in the Wolves’ territory, probably doing work for them too.”

  “Fuck sake,” she swore. “Anyone in this town not a fucking fascist?”

  “You, me, Undersiders, Protectorate, Wards,” I said flatly. “Want me to go on?”

  “You know what I mean,” Joy grumbled.

  “Yeah, a little I guess,” I said, frowning. “Probably because they were the most established gang before this, deepest roots. They didn’t crumble when they got outed, didn’t crumble after Leviathan, I’d argue they aren’t crumbling now either. Got to get it at the root, and they never have.”

  “And what’s the root?”

  “Fucked if I know,” I scoffed. “Used to be Medhall and Kaiser, but that wasn’t all of it. These days I think Krieg is leading Werwolf, don’t know much about him except he’s apparently British.”

  “Oh, gross,” Joy made a face. “Well, maybe we’ll have more luck with the next guy.”

  “See if you can dig anything up about the Varangians too,” I said as we paused at a crossroads. “I’m still trawling to try and put together a map of hotspots we can stake out.”

  “Sure thing,” she said with a nod. “Anything else?”

  “Get home safe,” I said, patting her shoulder.

  I turned and headed for home. Tonight hadn’t been terribly productive, but at least we’d done something, more than I could say for the last few patrols. We’d even managed to save Joy’s friend. I tried to push down the disappointment of a job half done.

  By the time I got home, I’d almost succeeded.

  “Come on, keep up,” I called over my shoulder, cutting my running pace just a little. “Only another half-mile and we’re done.”

  “That...far?” Joy panted. Sweat had made loose strands of hair mat to her face, despite the chilly afternoon.

  “We’ll make it our cooldown,” I conceded, slowing further.

  The run became a slightly more leisurely jog towards Fenwick Park, just outside the downtown. It was pretty much between Lafayette’s place and mine, a perfect place to start and stop. Once we got there, we stopped in a clearing to do some stretching, something Lafayette had taught me was as important as the run.

  “God I hate bitch work,” Joy complained when we were finally done.

  “Got to do it,” I said, taking a long, slow breath and holding it a moment before letting it back out. “Might be able to run down a bad guy in the future, when you can’t use your powers.”

  “I...guess yeah,” she said with a nod. “Sucks though.”

  “It’s not that bad,” I countered. “Like, the weather’s pretty nice, even if it’s a little cold. Leaves haven’t quite all fallen, so we’ve still got nice sights.”

  “It’s...yeah honestly,” she sighed. “Sorry I’m being such a downer.”

  “Don’t worry, I get it,” I said, leading her to a bench and sitting down. I passed her a bottle of water from my bag. “I uh, guess I try to look on the bright side when it’s something easy like this. Save the complaining for things that deserve it.”

  “That makes sense,” Joy said after taking a drink. “You know, I kind of feel like an idiot for what I said when we first met.”

  “What’s that?” I asked, cocking my head. She hadn’t said anything that weird.

  “Calling you a kid, that stuff,” she said sheepishly. “It’s like, you know, you are but not really. Got your head screwed on better that half the girls I went to school with.”

  “Then I weep for the future of the local hospitals,” I said, sharing a chuckle with her. “Honestly forgot about that, you never really treated me like one you know? So I guess we’re all good.”

  “Cool,” Joy said, scratching the back of her neck. “Sorry I...know what it’s like, not being taken seriously.”

  “Parents?” I asked, getting a nod. I tutted and shook my head. “Yeah, same story here. Just got to not be like them.”

  “Nailed it,” she agreed. “Want to be like my rakshotha.”

  “That’s…your grandfather?” Joy nodded and I grinned. “See, I can learn.”

  “Yeah, slower than he walks,” she said dryly, reaching over and ruffling my buzzed hair. I batted her hand away.

  “It’s literally another language,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Anyway, what’s he like?”

  “Brave,” Joy replied. “Smart, wise, caring. He uh, he half raised me pretty much. Told me all about fighting in Europe when he was a kid. Beat my ass when I got in a fist fight with one of my friends, but took my for ice cream when I broke the school bully’s nose. Tough, but a good man.”

  “Sounds like it.” Besides the ass beating, but I guess I got spanked as a kid too. “All I got for beating up bullies was a suspension.”

  “I mean, that too,” she said with a snort. “But that’s always going to happen, can’t let it get you down.”

  “Guess so,” I sighed. “Okay, you remember where we’re meeting tomorrow night?”

  “Area B, out by Hudson Way,” Joy said after a moment of consideration. “Eleven, like usual right?”

  “Good,” I said, offering her a smile. “And Area B is…?”

  “Four square blocks, mixed use right? Commercial and industrial?”

  “Bingo,” I replied. “You’re getting better at this.”

  “Laffy’s been a big help,” Joy said. “But honestly...it’s not that hard to remember this stuff. Should have seen the cramming I was doing for my exams.”

  “Should see the cramming I’m doing right now,” I muttered. “Actually, speaking of, I should probably get home.”

  “Okay, good luck with everything boss.”

  Hopefully I wouldn’t need too much of it,

  I rubbed at my sandy-feeling eyes, squinting to try and read the PHO post about a possible new gang sliding into the outskirts of the city. The news was more than mildly annoying, especially since they were muscling into the territory we were working in. No news on anything beyond apparently having some kind of ‘weird’ Tinker running the show.

  The Undersiders and Protectorate were welcome to go after these new guys, they weren’t our primary concern; if they weren’t Nazis they could wait. I clicked away from the thread and continued scrolling, looking for any references to ‘wolves’ or ‘Wotan’ or anything even remotely related.

  “Lia?” I started and twisted my neck around, sighing with relief when I saw Amy sleepily rubbing her eyes. She yawned and squinted at me. “What’re you still up?” she said tiredly.

  “Hey,” I said quietly. “Sorry, got home and couldn’t sleep.”

  “Wanna talk?” she offered, leaning over the back of the couch and wrapping her arms around me.

  “It’s nothing,” I assured her. “Just a slow night, didn’t catch any bad guys.”

  “Sucks,” she murmured, kissing my neck and making me sigh. “Should come to bed.”

  “In a bit,” I said. “Want to actually try and get something done tonight.”

  “It’s three in the morning,” Amy said.

  “I won’t be much longer I just—” I yelped as she nipped my neck.

  “Bed time,” she said firmly, reaching out and shutting my laptop. “You’ve done enough tonight.”

  “I haven’t,” I complained as her hands began wandering. I couldn’t help the slight noise that escaped me as she pulled up the hem of my shirt. “Amy…”

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, breath hot on my ear. “It’ll still be there tomorrow.” Well, she had a point…

  I took her hand and followed her to our room, wondering how much rest I’d really be getting.