"Haven't Flinched/In Too Deep"

The rain continues to pour on Witch-Hazel and I. We paused our make out session, allowing me to actually use my brain. It's clear that my body cannot handle being near Hazel. Any decision about her that I make goes out the window as soon as our bodies meet. 

The fact that it feels amazing doesn't help. We're walking back to the car, but I'm thinking about grabbing her right here and now. She keeps a neutral expression, but I know she's thinking something similar. 

"How will this sleeper sorcerer agent thing work, exactly?" I ask, trying to subvert my more carnal thoughts. 

"I already explained it."

"No, I mean, how are you going to get grown adults to blend into a society they've never been a part of; and more importantly, how are you going to make identities for them?"

"Uhh," is what she offers as a response.

"You'll need birth certificates, social security numbers, or whatever identity thing the country you're gonna go to uses. You need a backstopper," I elaborate.

"What's a birth certificate?" She asks. 

"It's exactly what it sounds like, it's a document to show you were born."

"The fact that you're alive isn't enough proof?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, but I see your point." 

"I was thinking we would start in smaller, isolated towns," Hazel continues. I shake my head. 

"Even little villages have internet and smartphones now. You can't just pop up there and not expect someone to try and check your magicians. Unless you were planning on brainwashing them all."

We both stop walking when we hear bursts of gunshots fly out into the rapidly darkening night. 

"The magical term is called 'glamouring'." Witch-Hazel counters. I think she's gotten too used to gunfire.

"Whatever. My point still stands, you need identities. How are you gonna do that?"

Witch-Hazel holds her chin in thought. We approach the car and I remember I left the top down. We peek into the lake forming in the vehicle. 

If it weren't the nearly divine game of tongue tag I just played with Hazel, I'd probably be really pissed off. I sigh, somewhat annoyed at the sight.

"Get some fish, and you have a solid pond," Hazel observes. 

"Ha," is all I offer as my phone starts to ring. Swiping to answer is hard with the downpour going on. "Hello?"

"Holly, where are you?" the voice of Tamara asks. I answer her. "Good, you're nearby." An explosion comes from her side of the call, Hazel and I hear it from outside. "I'm assuming you heard that?"

"Yeah, what's happening?"

"All-out gang-war. Too many to name. We're huddling up, get over to Dahlia street, ASAP!" 

"Understood."

I end the call and look at the car once more. 

"We're running, c'mon."

"I need the exercise anyway."

It's a three-minute run to the meetup, light work. But Hazel is gasping for air when we spot the others. 

"You good?"

She nods. 

"I…really…need…to run more."

I notice Tamara and Koki'O first, but other Bay Leaves are making their way over. We're meeting at an old castle courtyard turned train station. It's weird seeing battlements with billboards under them, polished red bricks next to steel tracks. But since public transportation in this city has always been dogshit, this spot would've been empty even if it wasn't for the rain. As we gather together, Tamara opens her mouth to say something when she looks at what I'm wearing. She scans me up and down. 

"Now, I've seen everything," she notes. 

"Don't you have an organization to run?" I reply. She laughs a bit as Hazel points to herself as the reason why I'm dressed like this. 

Koki'O has a similar reaction to my state of dress. 

"Hell must be frozen right now," she says. 

"Tamara already said something like that," I inform her. Koki'O turns to the woman in question. Tamara gives an indecipherable look. The omnipresent sunny attitude of Koki'O doesn't reach her as she turns from her without so much as a smile. If Tamara is at all hurt or disappointed by that, she makes no indication of it. 

Koki'O is still mad at Tamara? What the hell is going on with them? 

I'd rather take another bullet to the head than walk into that particular minefield, so I keep my question to myself. 

Most of the Bay Leaves arrive in short order. Kadupul walks up with her arm in a sling. 

"What happened to you?" Hazel asks. 

"Torn labrum from a dislocated shoulder," she answers matter-of-factly. "Need surgery."

"I can fix that for you if you want," Hazel offers. Kadupul scoffs,

"Sure, go ahead," she replies while she shakes her head with disbelief. Hazel moves behind her, placing one hand on her free shoulder as the other hovers over the fucked up one. Witch-Hazel stares at Kadupul's shoulder as if she can actually see the damaged muscle. 

In the darkness of the storm, I hope no one sees the purple smoke that comes from her hand as she presses against Kadupul's shoulder. My fellow Bay Leaf squirms in pain for a second, then relief. She rolls her shoulder with ease several times. 

"Holy shit, that's way better!" She rolls her shoulder faster, moving it in all directions. "How did you do that?"

"Trade secret," is all Hazel offers. Kadupul hugs her all the same. 

"Seems you're out of a job, Digit," Koki'O says.

"Oh yeah, now I'll just be y'all's tattoo artist, weaponsmith, and tech support."

"Enough miracles, listen up," Tamara demands. Everyone, including Hazel, turns to her. "That gunfire we're hearing is an active gang war. Nothing new in this city, sure, but the number of parties involved is cause for alarm. The Rumexs, Sumacs, Purlanes, Wild Vi's, and who else?" She asks Koki'O. 

"The Najas, Vincas, and Tridaxs," she answers without looking at her. Tamara ignores that fact. 

"So, obviously, we've had a lot of skin in these recent shootouts. But with these groups going directly at one another, I don't want any of you shooting at each other. I called you all here to make a plan."

Murmurs sound out from my fellow assassins. We've never had an open plan meeting. Tamara and Koki'O always come up with ideas, so things must be messy for them to do this. 

"You can all speak up, who should we back in this turf war? The best way to keep you all safe is if we're fighting the same fight. Who do you all think will win this?"

✨🔮✨

Hollyhock tenses her shoulders and is the first to say something. 

"Why should we give a fuck about any of them?" She inquires. With that, she quickly grabs everyone's attention. "If they want to shoot each other for who run the drug game next, let them. But the cops aren't gonna step in, and people will die in the crossfire. We need to make sure we contain them to where no one else gets hurt." 

For a split second, I wonder why they'd care about that. But her fellow Bay Leaves begin rumbling their agreements with her. 

"You think we should stick our neck for the people?" Tamara asks incredulously. 

"There's always going to be another gang that'll need us. But do we want them to think we're just for-hire shooters, or do we want them to know who really runs this city? We can put them all in their place so we don't get another DeadNettles situation ever again."

That seems to please Tamara. Seeing their leader pleased, the other assassins more confidently support Hollyhock's proposal. I look around at all of them. Even with this dark storm pouring down on us, they all to light up at her suggestion. 

"Guess we're in agreement: we get to work to rescuing civilians and pushing the battle out of populated areas. Anyone gives tries to fight back, do what we do best," Tamara orders. Everyone unanimously confirms the plan. Koki'O starts divvying out assignments to people, and Tamara makes groups for bigger tasks. The copper haired woman looks at me like I'm a puzzle to solve. 

"Hazel, this is going to get pretty bloody, pretty quickly, I might add. We're going to go about this is a much different than we handled things before," she informs me. "You might want to sit this one out." Eyes turn to see my reaction. I don't hesitate to answer with,

"I haven't flinched yet."

Tamara rises an eyebrow in surprise. 

"I like this one," she says to Holly who, in this moment, refuses to look at me. "Stick close to Hollyhock, and do as she says. Understand?" I nod. "Good, you two head over to Aster Avenue, something is popping off over there. EVERYONE!"

All the Bay Leaves look to their leader for what she's about to say. 

"BLITZ!" She commands. They all nod and start running off to their assignments. Holly is about to move when Koki'O stops her.

"Wait a sec, here." She sheds her jacket and drapes it over Hollyhock. Given their significant difference in size, the sleeves overtake her hands. "Pomaikia'i"

Hollyhock turns to wherever we're headed next, I follow behind as best as I can. 

"What does 'blitz' mean?" I ask, a bad idea while I'm running.

"It means we don't ask twice, we do this as fast as possible. There's a lot to be done in a little amount of time," she explains. We round a corner. "Is this dress bulletproof?"

"It can be, with a little magic."

"Then here, take this." Without breaking stride, Holly takes off the jacket Koki'O gave her and gives it to me. "Don't take this off, understand?"

"Yes," I comply. The jacket engulfs my torso, its weight almost makes me topple over. Not all of it is from whatever chemical process the Bay Leaves put their clothes through, but the things in the pockets. I feel a knife and a gun, among other things.

Hollyhock takes her gun out of her bag and checks it, still not slowing down. 

After another torturous stretch of running, we stop at an alleyway. I'm desperate for air, as Hollyhock is collected as she ever is. In the alleyway some people can be heard, someone's groaning in pain, someone else is laughing. 

"Magic up this dress," Holly says softly. Parsing her meaning through context, I grab hold of the dress and surge a pulse of my magic throughout it. Holly, without testing it in some way, trusts I did it, and steps into the alley. I follow to see the scene. Three people are standing, cruelly smiling at a hurt person on the floor. The person in question is bleeding from their leg. From what I can tell, it isn't a major artery that got hit. 

Hollyhock focuses on those standing, the one with a knife in particular. They all have some shade of red in their outfits. She spares a glance at the person, surmises they're an innocent person, and looks back to the others. 

"Don't you Rumexs have something better to be doing right now?"

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"

Hollyhock rips off the chameleon patch from her shoulder, revealing her Bay Leaf tattoo. The unarmed Rumex move back a little, I go to help the injured person. I focus on stopping the bleeding, tearing some of my shirt to make a tourniquet. This would be much easier with magic, but the basics of first aid are essential. I take the length of fabric and tie it tight above the stab wound. There isn't much bleeding, so they'll be fine. I look at the victim's face and see a scared young man looking back at me. 

"You'll be okay, it looks worse than it is. Let's get up." I sling his arm over my shoulder to help him stand. The Rumexs look at us but don't move since Hollyhock stands between us.

"Shouldn't you be used to a little blood by now?" the knife wielder asks. Holly doesn't respond, choosing to walk to him. As they get close, he jabs with the blade but Holly ducks and punches him in the stomach. The impact is so great that he drops the knife. Holly doesn't stop for a second as she backflips, landing a kick to his chin with her right heel. He falls back, crashing onto the ground, and she still doesn't relent; she jumps up high, grabs the top of her feet to bend her knees.

By the time he realizes what's about to happen, it's too late to do anything about it, as the assassin weaponizes gravity to drive both her knees into his chest. 

A loud, and sickening CRUNCH is released from his rib cage. The remaining Rumexs, understandably, recoil at the sight. Holly gets off him and approaches the others. The man she just pulverized curls and turns to his side, clutching his traumatized chest. 

The last two look at each other to decide what to do. Holly doesn't allow them much option but to fight as she gets closer. The woman on her right tries to swing at her, but she easily dodgers the blow. In one smooth motion, she trips the Rumex and brings her elbow into the side of her head so she falls to the ground with violent speed. The last one retreats as Holly closes in. Seeing no other recourse, he tries to punch her. She deflects, shoving his arm to the side and turning his whole body. Holly grabs the back of his head and slams his face into the wall. He falls like a sack of bricks. 

Less than thirty seconds, and she took them all out. Hollyhock turns to face us,

"You good, kid?" she asks him. He nods rapidly. She takes the wallet from the last guy she knocked out and walks over to us. The woman she slammed into the ground groans as she tries to get up. Hollyhock grabs her left ankle and lifts it up. "You should get medical attention," she informs her. With that, Hollyhock slams her foot into the side of the woman's knee, breaking it. She yells out in pain and clutches her leg. Holly ignores this as she takes her wallet also. She grabs the last one from the man with the crushed chest. 

She quickly takes out some of the money from the pilfered wallets and hands it to the young man I helped. 

"Should help cover expenses, can you walk?" Again, he nods over and over. "Take the money, and don't mention this to anyone, okay? Call for an ambulance somewhere else." Reluctantly, he takes the money and stumbles off. 

"Come on, we have more to do." I follow close behind her. We walk in silence before I have to say,

"Is it weird I thought that was the sexiest thing you've ever done?" She shakes her head.

"J-just… let's focus, aight? We're on the job here." She turns away, hiding an embarrassed smirk that I want to see. 

We hear gunfire nearby and Holly moves her arm to cover me, despite the fact she's the least covered. She looks around for the source and spies something down the block. Some people are engaged in a shootout in the middle of a street; using cars that have people in them as cover. Holly looks me in the eyes.

"Stay low and out of sight, got it?" 

"Copy." She nods and we move closer. At this distance, I can see a family is in one of the cars, terrified at the situation. 

"I'm going to draw their attention, you get these people out of there, understand?"

Part of me wants to fight to disagree and stay close to her, but I know saving the people matters more.

"Yes, I hear you."

🌿💀🌿

I take my pistol out and shoot at the headlight of a car where two Najas cover behind. They jump back and move away. I shoot out the tire from the car with the family inside. The Rumexs using it as cover back up from it. The people inside scream more. Both gangs, seeing each other out of cover, take aim at one another. I shoot faster, putting a bullet through the neck of a Naja. They fall, holding their spilling blood. That gets the attention of both groups as I run around a corner. 

Their bullets harmlessly fly past me as I crouch down. I hear them coming towards me. Hopefully Hazel is getting the people out. 

One of them gets closer to me and I ready my next shot. They're expecting me to be further away, not crouched right at the corner. As soon as I see them, I shoot out both knees. Before they fall over, I catch them with my forearm across their chest. I don't bother dedicating any brainpower to analyzing their face as I put a bullet through it. Their body goes slack, and I fling it to the side as more of them come after me. I'm about to duck into an open door when I see people coming out. I slam the door on them. 

"STAY INSIDE! IT'S-" I'm interrupted by a bullet trying to punch itself through my chest. The dress stops the inertia before it pierces skin, still hurts though. I jump to the side and roll in the street before more bullets find the exposed parts of me. They miss their shots as I slid across wet asphalt. I manage to gain some control over my slide and put two shots through the chest of an unfortunate Rumex. The others take aim at me, but I backflip over an incoming car and disappear into an alley.

"This dress is dope… I hope Hazel didn't hear me say that." 

I refocus on the task at hand. My adversaries make their way across the street to me. I duck behind a dumpster and wait for them. Seems I've created a temporary truce as the rival gang members search for me together. Though, I'm sure given the chance to shoot the other in the back. They get closer, further into the alley, and I prepare myself. They approach the dumpster and I vault over. I shoot one of them in the shoulder right as I arc towards the other one. 

They try to shoot me in the head, but I've already experienced that and didn't like it. I tilt my head out of the way, keeping all of my face this time. I tackle them and pull their arm over my shoulder as we roll on the ground. The Naja I just shot tries to unload into me, thankfully my human shield takes the bullets for me. Without looking, I calculate, aim where they should be and pull the trigger. A second later, I hear a body hit the floor. 

Shoving my cover off me, I stand up to confirm the kill with my gun in hand. I spy the corpse I made. 

"Right between the eyebrows, damn, I'm good," I say to no one. Or so I think as a familiar sound behind me. The hammer of a gun is pulled down. 

"That was some action movie shit, but this is where the credits roll for you." 

Did I really miss one? I must've been too focused on the family to properly count them. 

A ball of frustration rolls into my chest at this situation. With the downpour of rain, I can't get a good beat d on whoever has a gun on me. If they're smart, they're at least four feet from me, that way if I move quickly, they can still get a shot on me. If they're dumb, they'll have the gun two inches from my head. 

I can't risk it.

"Drop that gun," they command. Paying better attention, it sounds like they've got some distance from me. 

Shit. 

Another gun is cocked, and the familiar voice of Hazel says,

"How 'bout you drop yours?"

I turn to see the witch holding a pistol at my almost killer. She's standing three feet away. Smart. The man holding a gun to my head slowly turns, a shit-eating smirk on his face. I grab the gun from his hand. He looks Hazel up and down. 

"Maybe we can work something out," he offers. "You're not repping any colors I recognize. Maybe you don't know who she" he nods at me, "runs with."

"I'm fully aware of who she is," Hazel replies. I'm about to take over the situation when I realize that isn't the unloaded gun I gave her earlier. It must be one of Koki'O's. Which means it's loaded. 

Hazel turns the safety off. This man still retains his cool. Her face is the picture definition of rage. 

"Look, I can tell you're someone that likes to use rare opportunities. Getting to kill a Bay Leaf? That's like winning a lotto ticket for rep! You and me, we see chances like this, and we don't let them slip away."

"We might be similar in that sense," Hazel admits. "But you know the big difference between you and me?"

"What?" He asks, confidence plummeting as he looks into her gray eyes.

"I don't have a bullet in my brain."

I practically see it all in slow motion; Hazel doesn't break eye contact with the man as she pulls the trigger. A flash of light and smoke as the bullet seeks out its target. It burrows a hole through his skull and in an instant he's gone. Dead before he hits the floor. 

I look at Hazel, to see her looking at her hand. 

The Necromancer was one thing; they were a threat to her city, her whole way of life. Killing them was necessary. But this? This was a non-magical human. Who knew nothing of magic, and now, never will. Killing him was something else entirely. She didn't do that for IronHenge.

She killed him… for me.

Hazel is still looking at the hand that just took a life. I'm sure she's feeling remorse, disgust, dread, all mixed into one horrible mess of emotions.

"Shooting a gun hurts your wrist!" She says after a moment. Casually switching the gun to her other hand, she rotates her wrist around. I watch in silence for a few seconds, but the turmoil I expected to see never arises on her face. 

"Hazel," I didn't think of anything to say besides stating the obvious, "you killed him." 

She points those concrete gray eyes at me. Still no signs of regret find home in her beautiful face. 

"The choice was him or you. I chose you. I'd always choose you, Holly."

Shivers roll down my spine.

"Should I not have? Killed him, I mean."

"No," I reply. "He had another strap tucked away. He would've shot you or me the first chance he got. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"It's…" I struggle to find the words I need to put this in the best possible way. It has to be perfect. Hazel narrows her eyes at me, conceivably sensing my turmoil. 

"Holly, you risked your life, and sanity, by fighting to help keep my Arcanium safe. People you've never met," she says while getting closer, stepping over the corpse she made. 

"I did that for you," I admit. Even with this relentless rain pouring on me, my throat feels dry. 

"So it's only fair that I fight for your city and its people," Hazel continues. She produces a small smile. "It's not that complicated."

"It's not, huh?" She shakes her head. 

"When I'm with you, things seem much simpler." 

I sniff. 

"I'm sure that won't last long, we still have more work to do. C'mon." I exit the alley and Hazel follows close behind. 

"Did you get the families out there?" I ask her. 

"You told me to, so I did," she answers. 

"Thank you. But we have a long night ahead of us. Pace yourself."

My initial estimate of how long this would was accurate, the hours dwindle away into the night as we stomp out skirmishes and force the conflicts to less populated areas of the city. It's surprising, given the torrential rain, that anyone wants to still be out on the streets, let alone fight. 

Once we put out the proverbial fires, we all reconvene at the train station, where everyone else looks as exhausted as I feel. I don't know how, but word that Hazel killed someone for me got out; she quickly becomes the woman of the hour. 

My fellow Bay Leaves cheer for her as we walk to Tamara.

Tamara finishes up with someone as we approach.

"So," she says. 

"So?" I reply, while moving wet hair from my face. 

"Heard someone needed a little protecting tonight."

"Wasn't even like that," I try to point out. 

"She's done so much for me, it's only right I do something for her," Hazel says. 

"Seems I owe you another one, Hazel." 

"Actually, I could use your help with something," Hazel requests. 

"If it's within my power, I'll see it done."

"GIVE HER A MILLION DOLLARS!" Kadupul shouts as she saunters over. She throws her arm over Hazel's shoulder. "You're an angel sent from above, Hazel. Holly's been keeping you to herself all this time. Come hang out with us!" She pulls her to the side. Hazel gives me an inquisitive look. I give her a thumbs up, and they go off. My eyes follow them for a moment before I give my attention back to Tamara, who's surprisingly also looking at Hazel.

"What's the favor she needs?"

"She…needs a backstopper. IDs, birth certificates, all that." I briefly think about the birth certificate that was used for me. A baby girl named Coral Bell that died the very same day she was born. I sniff again. 

"Multiple? What for?"

"It's-"

"Complicated," she surmises. 

"... Yeah."

"For here or elsewhere?" 

"I'm not sure. She'll give you the details later."

We both watch her in silence for a while. She's talking with Larkspur and Kadupul. They're under a walkway to hide from the rain. Kadupul lights a spliff and hands it to Hazel after taking a small pull. Hazel doesn't hesitate and takes a long pull from it, drawing a cheer from them both. 

I'm sure to Hazel whatever's in there is like smoking a dandelion.

"I like her," Tamara idly says. "What do you think of her?"

What's with all the left field questions?

"I think I pulled her in too deep," I answer. Tamara scoffs, annoyed. 

"Don't be an idiot, Hollyhock." 

I'm unable to contain my irritation as I turn to her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" My voice is laced with animosity. 

"Do you really think you can make her do something she wasn't already capable of?"

Tamara raises an excellent point that pisses me off even more. Hazel doesn't exactly have an aversion to blood. Her anger completely transforms her. It's honestly, a little terrifying. 

Still, her time with me can't be absolved of any sort of influence. Maybe if we never met, she'd never kill anyone ever. The shadows I operate in are spreading to cover her, too. 

Tamara, detecting my inner turmoil and irked by it, rolls her eyes.

"If she gets me some solid details, I'll get her the IDs and such. Let me know when she gets them. I got some more to do."

"Alright," I reply. She walks away to do whatever it is she has to deal with. I look to Hazel. 

I start to shiver again. 

Ch. 31 End.