"So, how's your week been?" Lisa asked.

"Uneventful," Penryn said. Except for the sleepover with a fugitive. "Yours?"

"You know, same old, same old." Lisa flicked an ant making its way over green tiles.

They were both crouched under a lab table, like the rest of their classmates in biology class. The lights were off and the teacher had placed black paper over the small door window.

The school was in lockdown, as it was required to do whenever there was "dangerous police activity" (a.k.a. a shooter) within several blocks of the institution. The policy was to basically lock all doors, cover up the windows, and sit in absolute silence and darkness.

Because hiding and hoping the danger goes away is always a great strategy.

In any case, this was the third lockdown in the past few weeks. Absolute silence and darkness were suggestions rather than actual procedure at this point. The room hummed with idle teenage chitchat while there was a faint general glow emanating from all the electronics being fiddled with.

The teacher wasn't much better. He was sitting on his desk with his feet up, watching cat videos on his phone.

"You know, I thought the whole point of school was to stop me from ending up on my knees in a dark room with sweaty strangers," Lisa grumbled.

"You can't fight fate, babe." Christian Rockman jeered from under the table next to them. "I've heard you've gotten plenty of practice with Brandon Sykes."

Penryn delivered a savage kick to his shin.

His snickers quickly turned into whimpers of pain as he curled up into a ball on the floor, clutching his leg.

"Psycho bitch!"

"Maggot," Lisa said disdainfully. She bumped her shoulder with Penryn's and raised an eyebrow. "But did such a lowly creature warrant such retribution?"

"Yes. He was talking trash about you."

"Then I thank you for defending my honor. But that's not the only thing troubling my brave knight, is it?"

Penryn's lip twitched up. "I guess I'm a little bit tense."

Lisa clucked her tongue sympathetically. "Job-hunting stressing you out?"

"Yes." Amongst other things.

"Maybe you could put in some more hours at the self-defense studio?"

"I already asked. Unless someone quits, they don't have room for me for more than a couple hours a week. There a liquor store on Margo and Dauphine I might try."

"You work too hard."

"Actually, my problem is that I can't find work."

"No, your problem is that you can't unwind. You need to let loose and have some fun, otherwise you'll keep assaulting every asshole who crosses your path."

"Sounds like I'm providing the world a service."

"Oh you are, but you'll also probably end up in jail. No, I was thinking something equally physical but less violent." Lisa tilted her head and idly twirled a lock of her red hair.

Penryn recognized that look. That twinkle in Lisa's eye only came when she was about to drag Penryn into a misadvised and usually disastrous adventure.

"No."

"I haven't said anything yet!"

"You don't need to. You've got trouble written all over your face."

Lisa gave Penryn a wicked smile. "Me, trouble? Don't be absurd. I was just suggesting a girls' night."

"Well, I guess that doesn't sound too bad." Penryn narrowed her eyes, feeling like she was being lured into a trap. "I think Paige will be sleeping over at a friends' in a couple days, so I might be free..."

"Awesome. My brother's boyfriend's cousin is the new bouncer at a club downtown. He can totally let us in."

"No. Absolutely no way."

"Oh, don't worry, you can totally borrow a dress from my sister."

"Lisa, have you gone nuts? The city is trying to set itself on fire. I am not going to some skeezy club in the middle of the night with all this going on."

"It's totally not skeezy. And I know this neighborhood sucks, but it's not so bad in other places. And we'll take a cab to and from there, I'll completely cover for it. Come on, it'll be fun."

"Don't you remember the last time you dragged me to a club? You ditched me for some college guy."

Lisa waved her hand dismissively. "Folly of my youth. I'm above such errors now."

"Congratulations. Still not going."

Lisa shrugged and studied her fingernails. "Sure, if that's what you want to believe."

Penryn squinted at her best friend. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Oh, absolutely not."


Penryn headed straight for the liquore store after school. The most direct route would have had her pass by the church she had mentioned to Raffe almost a week ago.

She took a five minute detour to avoid it.

To her relief, the cardboard sign with "HELP WANTED" scrawled on it was still up. The door buzzed as she stepped inside. A chubby, bald man with a fat, furry caterpillar of mustache and an unlit cigarette between his teeth stood behind the counter. He didn't bother to look up from his newspaper when she approached him.

The headline splashed across the front page read "CITY ON FIRE. VIGILANTES RUN AMOK." In the corner was an article announcing the plan to transport some inmates from Bay City Prison to ones farther away from the city.

"Um, excuse me?" she said tentatively. The man didn't look up. "Is the store still looking to hire someone?"

Caterpillar Mustache's eyes flickered up from the newspaper and scanned her up and down. Penryn wished she had bothered to stop at home so she could have put on something other ratty, oversized sweatshirt and dropped off her backpack.

He gave a barely perceptible shrug. He reached under the counter and tossed a form in front of her. Folding up his newspaper, he tucked it under his armpit and shuffled off to the storeroom in the back.

Penryn looked at the form. It was pretty standard-basic background and contact info.

Guess she passed the first part of the job interview. She wasn't going to complain.

She found a spot on the counter away from being directly in front of the checkout station and in between jars of candy and old two-dollar watches. She dug out a pen from the bottom of her backpack and got to work filling out the application.

As she was checking off "no" on the box that asked if she had ever been convicted a felony, the door buzzed again.

Absentmindedly, her eyes flickered to the curved mirror facing the entrance. She did a double-take and dropped her pen at what she saw.

Oh, there was definitely a god. And He really didn't like Penryn.


Raphael tugged his hood a little bit more firmly over his head. He hadn't been recognized on the street. The store was almost deserted and he knew the security cameras were just for show. Still, it didn't hurt to be cautious.

There was nobody at the counter but some girl practically drowning in her own sweatshirt, with her back turned to him.

Joseph was probably at the back. Raphael considered going into the stockroom, but knew Joseph would sooner shoot someone before letting them come into his space without his permission, commander or not.

Well, disgraced commander-turned-fugitive. Joseph was one of the few people left in the Brotherhood that he could trust not to stab in the back. He wasn't sure who else might be in Uriel's pocket or brainwashed by him.

He was also Raphael's contact with Michael. Raphael had gone straight to Joseph's store as soon he could. At the time, Joseph could only tell him that last he heard, Michael had left Russia, but that was all he knew. He told Raphael to give him a couple days to get back in contact and relay his message to Michael.

"Don't take any unnecessary risks, Joseph," Raphael had warned. "They'll come after you if they found out you were helping me."

Joseph had dismissively spat on the ground and told him to stay alive until Wednesday.

Raphael tried to ignore the single other customer in the store but something familiar about her kept tugging at his brain. And even with her back to him, he could practically feel the tension radiating from her.

Casually, he went to the front of the counter to pretend to peruse the short rack of sunglasses. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of her face.

Fuck.

It was her.

What the hell was she doing here? The store wasn't exactly on the opposite of side of town, but there were plenty of other places to buy cheap food and booze in between here and her place.

Despite himself, he tried to catch her eye. She seemed determined to pretend he didn't exist. She was doing a shit job at it. She was clutching a pen so tightly that her knuckles had turned white and her eyes were flickering in between the paper in front of her and the exit.

He could read the furrow in her brow and her clenched jaw so clearly that she might as well stick a sign onto her face. If I ignore him long enough, he'll probably leave eventually.

She obviously wanted to bolt, but something was keeping her here. Tough luck. Whatever it was, it couldn't be nearly as important as what he was dealing with.

In any case, it was too dangerous for her to hang around Joseph's store. Too many unsavory characters tramping through here.

He looked at the paper in front of her. Penryn Young. Her full name listed, along with a bunch of other details needed for a job application.

Fucking Joseph. He should know better.

She instantly stiffened when he moved closer, but didn't step back.

Not the type to run away, but stand her ground. Admirable.

And annoying.

Deliberately, he placed his hand over the paper and leaned in close enough to whisper, on the off chance that Joseph was listening.

"Leave," he said. She whipped her head around to look at him. They were almost nose to nose. "And don't come back."

They stared at each other for a beat.

Her lip curled, as if she were biting back a snarl. He saw the fight in her and braced himself.

But whatever she saw in his eyes seemed to be enough. She turned away, swiped the paper away from him, and crumpled it in one hand.

Smart girl.

From outside, he could hear the screech of a car braking.

"It wouldn't kill you to say please," she muttered under her breath as she stuffed the crumpled paper and a pencil bag into her backpack. Her hands shook slightly. She threw her backpack over her shoulder but in her hurry she forgot to zip it closed. The contents spilled out.

He instinctively knelt down with her to help her. She shoved his hands away as she tried to cram everything back in her bag.

"I've got it, leave it alone-"

Joseph emerged from the back. He arched an eyebrow at the scene in front of him. Before he could make a comment, the door buzzed again.

Raphael felt the wrongness of the situation, could almost hear the danger humming in the air, before he even looked up.

Two men stepped into the store. All dressed in black, with skull balaclavas covering their faces. One pointed his gun at Joseph. The other had his weapon aimed at him and Penryn.

Joseph's unlit cigarette fell out of his mouth. His hands immediately went up. Raphael all but shoved Penryn behind him on the floor.

Fuck. This was third time this week he was unarmed and had a gun pointed out it.

It was almost enough to make him believe in a vengeful god.

"You may have everything in the cash register," said Joseph evenly. "You can take whatever you like and leave. We will not call the police."

"Fuck the register," said the gunman in the red skull balaclava. He cocked his weapon. "We want the goods in the back."

"I do not know what you speak of."

"Don't blame games, old man! Either you show it to us now or I'll put a bullet through your fucking knee!"

"Or through their goddamn heads," piped up the man in the white skull balaclava, who had his gun pointed at Penryn and himself. Raphael could feel Penryn trembling behind him.

Joseph pressed his lips together so tightly his mouth looked like a white line.

"I will show you," he said. "Come with me."

"Stay on those two," Red Skull said to White Skull. Red Skull spun Joseph around and pressed a gun to the back, shoving him towards the stockroom.

Raphael watched White Skull cooly from the floor. Twitchy, constantly shuffling his feet, glancing towards the entrance of the storeroom. He didn't seem to know how to hold his own weapon, either holding it too loosely or gripping it too tight.

Clearly not the brains of the operation-that would be Red Skull. Of course, both of them were a particularly dull shade of stupid. They had stormed into the store in masks and guns in the middle of the fucking day.

They clearly weren't from the Brotherhood. But he had no idea how they discovered that Joseph's store often housed commodities of questionable legality. Hell, even he didn't know about all the goods that had passed through this store and he didn't like to think what they could find in the back. Best case scenario, it would be drugs or stolen merchandise.

In any case, Red Skull and White Skull were screwed. Did they think that with all the chaos going on they would get away with robbing the Brotherhood? Not a chance. The Brotherhood would come after them with all the righteous fury of hell. They'd track him down and exact their vengeance.

Raphael should know. Wrath had been my specialty.

Even if these two idiots couldn't figure that out, they had to at least know that they couldn't leave any trace of themselves behind. Which was very, very bad news for him, Joseph, and Penryn.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. Her face was dead white and her eyes were filled with terror. She looked like she was trying hard not to whimper out loud.

Not so fun being on the other side of a weapon, huh? Karma's a bitch.

It was a cruel and unfair thought. She might act tough, but she was a civilian. She clearly couldn't handle this kind of life.

He'd get her out of this.

Raphael heard Joseph yell from the stockroom. His cry was dwarfed by the crack of the gun, echoing throughout the store.

White Skull turned his head to look towards the storeroom.

Good enough.

Raphael sprang up and grabbed the inside of White Skull's arm, dragging him towards him while his free hand reached for the gun. The firearm clattered to the ground. White Skull's fist wildly landed on Raphael's shoulder, right over his still-recovering wound.

Raphael's world went white with pain. He came back just in time to feel White Skull's punch him in gut. It almost brought him to his knees.

Penryn shot up from the ground jammed her fist into White Skull's throat. White Skull staggered back wheezing. She went in for the kill and slammed her knee into his crotch. He doubled over, throat too bruised to cry out.

She fights dirty and mean.

His kind of girl.

Raphael strode forward and sucker punched him in the face. White Skull crumpled to the ground.

Raphael kicked him in the head to knock him out. And then kicked him in the ribs because he was also a dirty, mean bastard of a fighter.

He turned to Penryn. She had picked up the gun.

Their eyes locked.

For a moment, he thought she'd pick up where they started and point it at him. His gut twisted. Maybe this time she'd actually shoot him just for all trouble he had brought into her life.

Seemed only fair.

Instead, she held out her hand and offered the weapon to him.

He took it. His rough fingertips brushed her palm. His gut twisted in a whole new way.

She looked at the door to the stockroom and then back at him. He nodded.

She ducked behind the counter and found Joseph's baseball bat.

The corner of his lip quirked up for a moment. She didn't notice.

They both moved towards the stockroom. The door was wide open. Raphael motioned Penryn to step back, out of sight.

He peered inside. Red Skull was rummaging through a crate with one hand, while his other one . His back was to the door. Moron.

Off to the side, he saw Joseph's body crumpled on the floor, surrounded in a pool of his own blood, creeping out slowly.

He crept forward towards Red Skull. He didn't even notice until Raffe had a gun pressed to his back.

"Drop your weapon now. One wrong move and I'll shoot."

Red Skull twisted, tried to grab Raphael's arm.

Raphael pulled the trigger.

Red Skull's body jerked and then fell onto the crate.

Raphael picked up Red Skull's gun and stepped back, watching as the blood seeped out from Red Skull's back. He had flecks of it on his hands, on the sweatshirt that Penryn had given to him.

Carefully, he pulled off Red Skull's mask. When a man kills someone, he should at least have the decency to remember the poor bastard's face.

"Is he dead?" Penryn stood at the doorway. She wasn't looking at Red Skull, but at Joseph.

No. Joseph had lost way too much blood to still be alive. But he checked for a pulse anyway, for her sake. He shook his head.

Penryn bit her lip and put down the baseball bat. She surveyed the carnage that taken place in that room. Horror, revulsion, misery, pity-he saw it all flicker through those dark eyes.

He thought she would either burst into tears or throw up. She did neither. She just wrapped her arms around herself and stared.

Raphael set the safety back on for both the guns and tucked them both behind his waistband.

"We should go," she said. She didn't move.

He grabbed Penryn's hand.

Raphael led her out the other door in the stockroom and into the miraculously empty backlot. She let him guide her down the street.

Don't run, don't walk too fast-it'll look suspicious. Keep your head down or look at me. Hold on to me. You'll be ok, you'll be fine. Just hold onto me.

Raphael led her to the abandoned church that Penryn had told him about. He had been lying low there for a couple of days, but he wasn't sure why he took her there.

The church was small, but the windows high on the wall and roof that filtered sunlight through made it seem big. Most of the pews were gone or knocked over and the platform for the priest or minister or whatever other type of holy man was completely bare.

Penryn sat down on one of the remaining intact pews.

"Thanks," he finally said. For saving my life. Again. "You did good there."

She looked up at him and nodded. "You, too."

Raphael sat down on the floor across from her, leaning back against the stage.

She handled herself well in a crisis, better than he could ever have suspected. The image of her springing up, eyes blazing and sparring ruthless against an opponent twice her size-that would be burned into his brain for a long time. He had to stop underestimating her. At the same time, there was a limit to what any person could deal with.

Crisis was one thing. The bloody fallout that came after was a whole other beast.

Raphael felt a twinge of regret that she had to learn that lesson.

She finally spoke again.

"They weren't from the Brotherhood, were they? Red Skull and White Skull?"

"No."

"But Joseph was?"

"Yes."

She shook her head and slumped. "You guys really are everywhere."

"That's the goal."

"Why were you at the store anyway?"

He shrugged. "It's none of your concern. Why were you at the store?"

"I needed a job. I still need one. You're not answering my question."

"You got lucky. Joseph would have been terrible boss."

Shit. She looked ready to start crying again.

She fought it, wrestled back control before the emotion took over her.

"You can't leave me in the dark. You need to tell me something."

He didn't need to do anything. He could tell her to get lost, to be grateful that she was still alive. To go back to her home and her family and pretend that all this never happened while the city fell apart around her.

It's what he should do, what he will do.

Instead he said, "Fine. I'll tell you."