A/N: Quick note that I should've done in the last chapter. Now that someone's brought it up on AO3, I might as well note this story is cross-posted on AO3. This used to be an account I shared with a friend and nowadays it's more a testing ground for fics and I never scooted this over to Watson-a-Name92. So either way, all three accounts are mine. No plagiarism is going on. Hope that cleared things up.


Four hours and too many reflex tests later, she got carted off to see Troy, as asked. To her surprise, he had already gotten out of surgery and was more focused on getting out of the place. She walked into the room and he glanced up at her, then went back to poking at the gauze over his arm.

She walked over and flicked his good arm with her finger. "Hey, don't make it worse. Playing with it makes it worse."

"I'm starting to wonder if you and Quinn had it good when you were in a coma in a place like this."

"Ours was in prison in that case too, pal. We still beat you."

"Either way it sucks. Hell, you bailed out the window. Was there a note on your file about that?"

"Gave a fake name and didn't have the same staff," she shrugged.

He snorted. "I won't argue the prison point." She sat on the foot of his bed. "So what's the deal? You gonna have a badass scar?"

"Wouldn't call it badass, and they're offering to let me keep the bullet- don't give me that look, I'm not taking them up on it."

"But that would be so cool!" she objected.

"Yeah, well-" Troy cut himself off when he saw a few people in scrubs run by while leading a gurney. A few purple-clad shoulders showed up a moment later, and he sat back to stay out of sight. "Audrey…" he murmured, then nodded at the doorway.

She had already turned when he looked alarmed and strained to see what was going on. She ran over and flanked the two groups, happy they were too wrapped up in watching whoever was on the gurney to notice her. That alone terrified her. Not again. But what if it was Quinn? It was just desserts but this looked bad. She quickened her pace and managed to catch sight of just who it was when they turned a corner. When she recognized the hair first, she wasn't sure how to process the odd relief and panic she felt. "Oh my God, Johnny?!"

Her friend's torso was drenched in blood to the point where she couldn't even tell where he was bleeding from.

"Audrey?!"

Audrey turned at her sister's voice sharply and spared a glance back at Troy's room's door. She took a giant step back to Troy's door and yanked it shut, and when there was a thud from inside, and she hoped that Troy had just recognized the voice and hit the deck and nothing had gone wrong with his injury or the meds. "What happened?!"

"The Ronin came after us…" Quinn growled. "Aisha's dead."

Audrey was getting sick of how many times a blow like that was going to come when she was so out of the loop. "What?"

"They were waiting for us at their place. They took her hostage. She tried to warn us and got her head half chopped off for her trouble."

Her stomach joined her heart. No. Could they really have been that cruel? She had thought the Ronin had some weird, stretched moral code. Had they really killed her just to even the playing field or get an upper hand? Were they stupid enough to think Johnny wouldn't have gone apeshit if she got hurt, let alone killed? "Wha-"

"We tried to fight them off. We got some of them but then Johnny got a sword to the gut."

"Fuck…" she sighed.

Quinn advanced on her. "The fuck are you doing here, too? Where were you?"

She paused. She couldn't drag Pierce into this because she had been stupid and asked questions first. "Tobias got himself shot. We were going around-" the second part of her sister's questioning fully registered, as did the look of sheer hate on her face. Oh. Hell. No. "This isn't on me. I haven't been around because you chose to solve a fucking problem by stabbing me- you know, apparently what the Ronin did to Johnny, so excuse me for steering clear because it's the smart thing to do. I already told you: I had my own shit to do banged up doing it. Don't go pinning this on me. Neither of us can be in multiple places at once. Blame the Ronin. Use what you're getting at me with and use it with them…" she growled. She heard the gurney turn in the distance. "He gonna be okay?"

"They don't fucking know, and fuck if they'll tell me…" Quinn countered. "I need you with me on this one. Sounds like you still have some… hard feelings about our… disagreement, so if not for me, then for Johnny and Aish."

"Then you'll have me," she replied.

"Good," Quinn growled. "We start planning shit tonight and go after them tomorrow. Be at the beach house by seven." She walked off without another word.

Audrey waited a few moments, then took a step back towards Troy's door. She triple checked the hallway, then headed back into the room. He was back on the bed, sitting like he was ready to jump up and bolt if he had to. She spared a glance at him to make sure she was okay and when he looked at her like he was figuring out what to say she figured that brief worry had been for nothing. She shut the door. "I uh…"

"Aisha, huh?" he asked.

"You heard…"

He sighed. "I liked her…"when the shit hit the fan and you guys all found out… turns out she lived a block away from me. Somehow she found out my address, came by- punched me in the face and left. I still think that's the most stable reaction I got out of everyone but you." He glanced down. "Go."

She perked up. "What?"

"Gat's out of play and your guy Carlos and Aisha are dead. Hell, I want to see these guys pay. Aish… Aish was out. She was home free and these sick fucks just decided to end that because of association? Fuck, I want to get back at them. No one deserves that shit."

"I don't know how long I'm gonna be out, and trying to contact you is gonna be a bitch since I think she's already suspicious…" she trailed off. "You're gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine. I can get the spotlight off'a you guys for a while, too."

She smiled uneasily at that, then hugged him as best she could without hurting him. "We have the most fucked up friendship ever, you know that? I've said it before but I'm pretty sure this just booted the line like, a few inches away as far as the cap on how weird the whole… gang member and police chief friendship can get."

"Don't remind me. Just be careful. And if someone tries to kill you…"

"I'll kill them right back-"

"Nooo, that…" he stopped short. "I can't even say shit because that's our thing from back when I was one of you guys. I-"

"And it'll just be the gangs so I'm doing your job for you. No innocents will be harmed in the making of this revenge play. At least on my end. I can't speak for the others."

Troy sighed. "I knew that wasn't gonna make me feel better. Get outta here before Quinn starts callin' bullshit."

She beamed and kissed his cheek. "Don't get in too much trouble?"

"Without you under my roof? It'll be a nice vacation. And if Johnny… recovers from whatever's up with him and comes after me, it's your damn fault."

"Well, Julius', if you really think about it."

"Point still stands. Now get."

"Yes, sir, Officer sir."


The next morning, Audrey flopped down onto her bed and went through the mental list she had been ticking things off of since that night. It had been a long one, trying to get her room itself back, then trying to figure out what guns hadn't been carted off or stolen when her own people probably thought she was dead. The thing was she was finding it hard to care at that particular moment. She was jostled out of her thoughts when her phone rang. At least she had that back and it was worth it. She didn't know the number, and she went through a weak threat to tell whatever telemarketer was calling before she picked up.

"Hey, Playa'. Ready to talk now?"

She shot upright at Julius' voice and out of instinct looked at the drawer with her gun in it. She wanted to know how the Hell he had found her number since she had destroyed the last two phones she had since she knew him. "How the fuck do you think shooting my friend would make me more open to listening to your bullshit?"

"It was a test for you- to see if you were just yankin' the guy's chain and were really with the Saints or not."

"Yeah, well, I learned how to play both sides from the best."

"I didn't do a kill shot on him, did I? I still want to talk shop. You can spare a few minutes now that there's no threat, right?"

"Speaking of shot, how's that shoulder blade?"

"Fine. I want you to know the offer is still available."

"What… offer?"

"Work with me. Take down the Saints. Get your sister out of power. Run things. If you're still loyal to Troy you guys can work something out." When she was silent, he went on. "You're good, Princess. You're better than your sister in a lot of ways. You could lead without causing disaster. You want as much death as necessary, not a massacre for the Hell of it. You could bring back what the Saints were- what the Saints should be again."

"Fuck you."

"You know, you should be reasonable to the guy who bailed you out of jail."

She went absolutely still at that. Of course. It just figured that it was him. It was so obviously true tht she didn't have it in her to call him a liar. Hell, after seeing him she should've seen that coming. He would play the field as much as he could. She had a sinking feeling that was exactly why he was playing this game. There was something up with this- something he wanted for himself. She scoffed. "Goodbye, Julius." She hung up and tossed down her phone, then sighed. She had more important calls to make now that protected her own people. She called Tobias' number and sighed when there was no response. "Hey, Tobe, it's Aud. Just… stay low for a while and if you have to go out make it looks like moving hurts, will you? I'll explain eventually. See you soon. Love ya." She hung up and the door to her room immediately swung open and she tried to look as casual as possible. She exhaled sharply when she saw it was Pierce. "Hey."

"Hey, sorry, didn't realize you were in here…" he greeted, then sat next to her.

"Didn't realize-? This is actually my room, you little shit. I called dibs when we bought it."

"You've been gone for weeks and the guys have already started bidding on it."

"I'll handle it. Quinn wants to head out now?"

"Mm hm. She's running damage control. She has a few things to do and then she's gonna meet us by that Ronin hideout. We're supposed to destroy a buncha Ronin hideouts. Give them no ground to go to and shit. Also…" he tossed her a set of car keys so they landed in her lap. "Got Lola back again."

She took them and squealed then rolled on her side to face him. "Why aren't you and I married yet?"

"Because I don't bat for your team most of the time and we'd work so well we'd be bored after the first week?"

"Sounds about right."

There was a hollow thud from outside and the pair turned to see Quinn come in the room. She was toting a 44 and SMG. "You fuckers ready yet?"

"Can we go over the final details?" Audrey countered. "Game plan? Positions?"

"Pick a spot and kill all the Ronin you can…" Quinn replied.

Audrey gawked at her, then sighed. "Pierce, give us a minute."

"Bu-"

"Now."

"I'll… go get Lola started…" Pierce suggested and left the room.

When he was gone, Audrey turned to her sister. "You sure you wanna do this today?"

"Fuck yeah…" Quinn nodded. She held up the SMG to examine it.

Audrey sighed. "Look, Quinn, we can't go all out. You're an emotional fucking mess right now, do you really think that's gonna do us any favors?"

"I am better when I'm angry."

"Stop! No! This is gonna fuck you up! I want to get the fucks who did this to Johnny and Aish just as much as you do, but you need to fucking breathe." When Quinn just glared at her, she shoved her sister's arms down in order to grab them. "Look, I know you have a really… weird, fucked up crush on Johnny, okay? I'm not one to judge considering my track record and stop giving me that look, that's not what I'm getting at- point is I know you're emotional as fuck and want to end anyone who almost ended Johnny- and Aish. But you're gonna get sloppy if you keep this up, so breathe first, alright? Give it another day."

Quinn stared at her then squared her shoulders. "Fuck no. Get your rifle so we can get out…" Just like the hospital, she left in a huff.

Audrey watched her, then groaned. This was not at all going to end well.


Closer. Closer. Closer. There.

Audrey watched the Ronin she had been tracking go down after her shot to his face, then went to work lining up the next one. The parking lot was empty, aside from the Ronin. It was wide open, which made her job both worse and better but they needed more people on the ground. Where had Quinn gone? Where was Pierce? Was he really just going to wait around for them in the getaway car a few blocks away? She waited for the second panicked Ronin to hurry into her crosshairs, and when he finally did, the next thing she saw through the scope was a knife fly straight between his eyes. "FUCK!" she jumped back. Well, there was the answer to the first question. She moved the scope in the direction the knife had come from, and sure enough, Quinn was there firing her pistols at some of the Ronin. Something in her twisted when she saw her sister's sadistic smile as she went. She had seen that very thing from varying angles, or had only seen it for a split second in a fight before she had to pay attention to another thing. But seeing it this close, seeing it after not being around that insanity for a while- it was concerning- and a bit terrifying if she was honest. What if Julius was right? She had started to wonder about it and believe it, which was worse, earlier that day but managed to stop those thoughts after a while, but they were still there hanging out in the back of her mind. What if Quinn had gone overboard? Johnny would follow Quinn down any path- if he survived this whole thing, so what if someone had to stop them? It was most definitely going to have to be her and she wasn't sure if she could take the pair of them on. And even if she did and won, she would have to lead. Leading had never been her strong suit. She didn't want so many of her friends under her rule, either. No. She shook her head. She needed to stop thinking that way. That was Julius getting to her and she didn't need that. And the concern was just from hanging around Troy so much. She minded that less, but it was just as annoying. She struggled to catch up with the kills she should've made during that brief crisis, then realized the place was empty.

That meant less spot for the Ronin to run to. Good. She broke down the gun quickly and all but dove onto the fire escape. She powered down the stairs. and powered down the stairs. When Pierce came skidding around the corner in Lola, she stopped short. "Where the Hell have you been?"

"Uh, makin' sure no one else joined the other Ronin? Shit, what else would I be doing?"

"I doubt-"

"No, that's the fuckin' plan," Quinn insisted. "Get them all here and kill 'em all."

The pair turned to see Quinn had joined them. The older woman jabbed her finger down the street. "This is all me now. Get the Hell out of here."

Audrey made a face. "Are you kidding me?! One against an army that's already pissed at you?"

"Well, I'll just have to get them first," Quinn replied.

Audrey stared at her, then shrugged. "Fine. See you soon." She reached over and shoved Pierce's knee down so he gunned the gas pedal and had Lola speed off.

Pierce had merely shrieked in alarm at first, then frowned at Audrey and shook her hand off. "We're just gonna leave her here?!"

"She wanted it, she's got it," Audrey nodded.

"But-" Pierce made a face. "Girl, since when are you one to leave people behind in certain death situation?"

She frowned at him and arched an eyebrow.

Pierce hesitated, then flinched and nodded. "Right, since she did the same thing to you."

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner."

Pierce sighed. "I'm going back for her later."

"She'll be fine," Audrey replied. After a beat, she remembered the look her sister had and her stomach twisted again. It was fucking time. Who the Hell was she kidding? Julius was right- to a point, and damn it, so many people didn't need to die. Her sister was part of the damn problem. The trick was solving it without getting Julius involved. She hated that he had gotten through so easily, but he had and now she couldn't not think about it. She tried not to feel bad when she started hatching a pln.

While she was plotting, Pierce's frown deepened. "Man, what the Hell happened to you lately? Your sister tries to kill you, you disappear for two weeks, then suddenly you're back, no questions asked. Hell, if I didn't know better I'd think you're wearing a wire."

And just like that the rest of the planning went absolutely still and watched him out of the corner of her eye. When he didn't look at her accusingly, she inhaled sharply.

Pierce shrugged. "Then again, it sounds like if that was the case you'd have to choose between your crazy ass sister and the guy who screwed you over, so it's a lose-lose, huh? You ain't one for lose-lose situations."

"Oh, you have no idea."

Pierce nodded. "So… what is with you and the Chief though? Like, you're the only one who hasn't said shit. Everybody else bitches about him."

She paused again. How much leeway could she give the story? Telling too little would be suspicious at this rate. "He was my best friend. He fucked up. There's not much else to say."

"Must be hard then, being that when we're not after the other gangs we're after the cops."

Defensive, then. "It's not. Family- blood or not comes first. What's it to you?"

"Just makin' conversation. Chill."

"I – look, it is. Like I said he was my best friend. He was there when I joined the Saints and we clicked. He looked after me and I looked after him. He dug me out of a bunch of holes, and then shoved me right back into the biggest one when Quinn and I were taking our trip to Hell. I don't like liars as much as I don't like killing for sport, Pierce. Now we're just players on the opposite side of the board…" she sighed. Her insides twisted at how real it suddenly was. As if Stupid Fucking Julius' offer wasn't swimming in her mind enough. "Honestly I wish he and I were better shots so there's a better chance one of us can kill the other just to get rid of the drama that goes with it. I don't… like talking about it."

"… Well that's depressing."

"True though… it'd save me a lot of trouble…"

Pierce laughed. "Oh, so you're assuming it would be you who would take the first shot? Now that's more like it. Now where do you wanna get dropped?"

"How about… Aisha's old place?"

Pierce's head whipped in her direction. "Why?!"

"I need to see this shit for myself."

"Alright, but your funeral. And I ain't gettin' too close."

"I'm not expecting you to. Just get me as close as you can and I'll take it from there."

Pierce shrugged again. "I'll take your word for it."

The rest of the ride passed in silence until they reached the neighborhood. When they did, Audrey got out and with a quick pat to Lola's door and a threat at Pierce to keep the truck safe, she headed towards Aisha's house, and even with the police presence scattered around, she couldn't not bring herself to check out even the exterior, even if it wasn't where she was actually headed. The windows were smashed to Hell, and she caught sight of a spray of blood on one wall and hoped it was one of the Ronin's and not Aisha's. She and the other woman had never really seen eye to eye, but that wasn't to say they weren't civil, and no one deserved to go that way- well, no one that wasn't involved in the gang scene anymore, anyway. She spotted a squad car heading her way and bolted for the nearest yard. It ws just a few jumps over fences to Troy's place now. A matter of minutes and three jumps in the wrong direction, she made it to his place. To her surprise, someone had already fixed the lock again. She picked it, then stepped inside. She headed for the map on its wall, then spotted what she was looking for: the map- and more importantly, the updated potential location of the Brotherhood hideout where Maero was. At this rate, he was her best bet for… whatever she was going to do. She still wasn't sure on the details. That made the next few hours dangerous, but she couldn't just sit around anymore. She went to work folding then tearing the spot on the map, then took it off and pocketed it. She knew Troy was going to kill her for this one. Maybe it was going to be literal, too. At least she could argue her plan was a means for all of them to get along- sort of. That was another thing she needed to work out.

But now she had a sales pitch and a few escape routes to plan, and that was priority number one.

She just hoped it would stay that way for a while.