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The first time Hannah meets Carmina Rye, Carmina nearly kills her.Hannah is catching up with Rush and Nik after getting the note Rush had sent her while she had been finishing up their last job in Washington when she gets the news about the train hijacking. She doubles her own pace, making record time to Prosperity; along the way, she takes care of another ambush being set up, and takes one of their trucks- which she probably should have dumped before driving right up to the front gates, in retrospect. She blames her lack of foresight on her worry for her missing companions.There's a young women in a coat and beanie standing above the gate, gun in hand, who spots Hannah's approach immediately and just as quickly opens fire. Hannah swears as bullets ping the hood, throwing open her door and herself out of it shortly before the windshield shatters under the impact of more bullets. She rolls, immediately seeking cover; she can hear the groan and hiss of an engine that’s just caught fire, and she ducks behind a tree just in time to avoid the worst of the engine block exploding. She doesn’t dare move from her cover as she yells, “What the fuck was that for? Highwaymen don’t travel alone, you dumbass!”“Who are you?” is the sharp reply - and Christ, this girl sounds like she’s barely out of childhood. She’s definitely younger than Hannah’s own twenty-five years.“Hannah Long, Captain of Security under Thomas Rush!” she calls back. “I’m looking for information on Nik Caparelli and Rush.”She can barely make out the sound of someone talking to the girl, and then another woman’s voice - older, more authoritative but no less suspicious - orders, “Walk out with your hands up.”Hannah complies, showing her hands first before she leaves the cover of the tree trunk. She walks slowly, gaze sweeping the walls surrounding Prosperity, before stopping in the road leading to the front gate. The girl who opened fire still has her gun trained on Hannah, but her finger isn’t on the trigger, resting instead against the guard. Beside her, a short-haired woman in a red jacket watches Hannah carefully. “Where were you when Carmina went to meet Rush?” she asks.“I was in Washington, finishing up with a settlement we’d just helped,” Hannah replies immediately. “I was helping reinforce their defenses, doing some final checks before moving on. Nik and Rush had already gone ahead, moving to the next settlement. They sent word back to me about Carmina Rye and her request, told me they were heading for Hope County.”Hannah watches the two on the bannister exchange looks and quiet words, then the woman nods. “Alright, we’re opening the gate. Come in, slowly.”Hannah breathes a quiet sigh of relief, waiting as the gate opens. She lets her hands drop, walking through the gate and then blinking. There’s clearly been progress already made - she recognizes Nik’s handiwork in the reinforcements along the interior of the walls, and she can’t help but smile, relieved. So Nik at least is alive, she thinks. Good. If he’s alive, then Rush probably is, as well.Her attention is caught by the two women approaching her; the older speaks first. “I’m Kim Rye,” she says, holding out a hand; Hannah gives it a firm shake. “This is my daughter, Carmina, who needs to learn to look a bit more carefully before shooting.” Carmina rolls her eyes, and Hannah can’t help a short laugh.“It’s a good thing my reflexes are as good as they are,” she agrees. “I’m Hannah Long, one of the Captains of Security under Thomas Rush. I’m guessing Nik’s already been here?”“I pulled him out of the river after the ambush,” Carmina says by way of answer. “He helped us build up some more defenses before going after Rush. They’re keeping him at Blacklung Mine.”“So Rush is alive, too? Great,” Hannah says, grinning. “And if Nik’s gone after him, the Highwaymen are in for a hell of a surprise. If you can give me directions, I’ll make sure they get away clean.”“I’ll do you one better,” Kim says, looking at Hannah speculatively. “Carmina, go with her. You can give her directions and provide backup; with Rush as a captive, the Highwaymen have probably beefed up security on the mine. You can help if Nik’s in trouble.”“ Mom - ““No, I don’t want to hear it,” Kim says sharply.“With all due respect, ma’am,” Hannah says, interrupting before Kim can continue, “I work better alone. I’m a sniper, I’m used to solo missions. Directions, and maybe a vehicle, are all I need.”Kim considers that for a moment. “Well, Carmina is still going to provide the vehicle and directions,” she decides.“Fine,” Carmina sighs. “Do you need any supplies?”“I’m good,” Hannah says. “Let’s go.”They make it to the mine in time to narrowly miss hitting Rush and Nik on a modified motorcycle, Nik whooping as he guns down the Highwaymen on their tail. Hannah laughs, grabbing her pistol. “After them!” she says gleefully. “Let’s get in on the fun!”Carmina whips the little sedan around, a reluctant grin on her face as she does so. The next several minutes are a blur of action, bullets flying, metal groaning under strain, and Highwaymen screaming. When the hijacked motorcycle finally comes to a stop, Carmina pulls up next to it without prompting. Hannah leans out of her window, jerking a thumb towards the backseat. "Get in," she says, grinning.''Hannah!" Nik cries, expression lighting up."You're a sight for sore eyes," Rush sighs, limping towards the sedan. Nik dashes to the other side, sliding in and taking his own pistol out.''I bet," Hannah says cheerfully as Carmina floors it out of the area, making a beeline for Prosperity. "It's a good thing you left that message for me. Let's get you two back to Prosperity and get some medical attention on that leg, then you can bring me up to speed.”Rush puts on a brave face after his dislocated hip is put back in place, but Hannah has been working with him for long enough to know he's just waiting for a moment alone to indulge in an honest expression of his pain. So, she gives it to him, leaving him alone in the guest bedroom. She finds Nik on the first floor, talking with Kim while looking over a map of the county. He's pointing out several locations, and Hannah moves closer when he mentions the word "outpost.""You planning a party without me, Nik?" she asks, coming around the table so she can get a better look at the map.''Planning one for you," Nik answers. "I'm going North, to talk to the nutjob who used to run a cult around here.”Kim's expression is pinched. When Hannah gives her a questioning look, she explains, "Joseph Seed is responsible for a lot of pain. I hate asking him for help, but Rush is insisting.”''What’s his reason?" Hannah asks; this time it's Nik who answers."Says he saw a bunch of these people with bows and arrows hit the Highwaymen and survive blows that would have killed you or me," he says. ''If they have a - a superdrug or something, then we need it. There's too many of them, and too few of us."Hannah nods. "Alright, so you'll go talk to the former cult leader, and I'll stay here, work on shoring up defenses and finding more specialists and resources.”Nik grins. "I'm also marking down some outposts; they'll be a good source of resources. Plus, that's gonna be one less area they have under their thumb, once you get done wrecking their shit."Hannah laughs at that. “Well, there is that,” she chuckles. “Alright, where do you suggest I start?”Kim taps a circled area to the far east. “This used to be the Moonshine Trailer Park - it’s Trailer Town, now. Sharky Boshaw used to live here, and he’s still in the area. You take this place back, it’ll give you a foothold in the eastern part of the county and a place to start operations over there from.”Hannah nods. “So, Sharky Boshaw? I’m assuming he’s one of the specialists you’ll want?” This last is directed at Rush, who’s just come down the stairs.“Explosives specialist, yeah,” is the answer, followed by a muttered curse as he makes his way to the table. “We still need someone who’s good with weapons, as well as someone for the garage.”“If Nick were here, he’d be your man for the garage,” Kim says, her expression pinched. “He got snatched by the Highwaymen a few months ago. We know he’s alive, working on their cars, but we haven’t been able to figure out where they’re keeping him, much less how to get him back.”“Your husband?” Rush asks gently; when Kim nods, he and Hannah share a silent look. Nick Rye will be a priority target, then. Find him, they’ll get a specialist and strike a major blow to the Highwaymen while reuniting a family. Three for the price of one.“Alright, so I’ll take Trailer Town first, then start looking for Sharky and Nick,” Hannah decides. “You need Carmina for anything around here?”Kim startles, then shakes her head. “She’s been itching to get out, take the fight to the Highwaymen. If you think she can handle it…”“I think I can teach her to,” Hannah says, doing her best to make her smile as reassuring as possible.“If anyone can, it’ll be Hannah,” Nik interjects. “That’s part of why she stayed behind in Washington, making sure the people knew how to defend themselves.”“I’m tempted to think it comes with being a sniper,” Rush adds, putting a hand on Hannah’s shoulder and squeezing briefly. “She’s got good ideas, and good strategies. Knows how to spot weakness and either fix it or take advantage of it, depending on what’s needed. Carmina’s in good hands with her.”“First lesson I’ll teach her is to make sure she knows what she’s shooting at before she pulls the trigger,” Hannah jokes. “Well, glad to see that first impression was wrong,” Hannah says, panting as she bends over, bracing her hands against her knees and catching her breath. “God, I hate skunks. Thanks for killing them without hitting the sacs.”Carmina grins, checking over her rifle. “No problem. You gonna grab the gun for Grace or you want me to?”“I’ll get it, just give me a moment,” Hannah laughs. “You got a hot date waiting for you at Prosperity?”Hannah’s not sure, but in the dim light, it almost looks like Carmina blushes. “No, I just - Grace is an old family friend. She helped us out, so I’d like to return the favor.”Hannah straightens, giving Carmina a smile. “Fair enough. Keep an eye out for any more of those bastards, will you? I’ll see what I can scavenge from here.”The Highwaymen had quite a stash of goodies stored in the derelict trainyard, and Hannah wastes no time in collecting as much as she can carry, making mental notes about the rest to send to the nearest outpost for collection. Grace’s saw launcher is easy to find, and Hannah can’t help admiring it; she wasn’t kidding when she said you didn’t particularly need to aim with it. Hannah prefers to be away from the main action, but it can get frustrating when the person you’re trying to shoot ducks just as you pull the trigger.They give the saw back to Grace, who takes it before promising she’ll head for Prosperity, and then climb back into Carmina’s sedan and continue east. Hannah quickly jabs the power button on the radio, muting the obnoxious station before more than a few notes can drift through the speakers. It’s still dark, getting late, but Hannah doesn’t want to make camp in the trainyard; too big a risk of another batch of Highwaymen coming back in the night.They end up driving for another half-hour before pulling off down an overgrown dirt road, Carmina carefully maneuvering the car in between several trees to take them off the path before she cuts the engine. “You’re not too bad with this old thing,” Hannah says, impressed, as she reclines her seat; Carmina doesn’t answer until she’s slid into the backseat, stretching out and tucking her legs under the back of Hannah’s seat, wadding up an old blanket to use for a pillow against the opposite door.“Dad taught me,” she says quietly. “He was a pilot, before the Collapse. Owner of Rye and Son’s Aviation, changed the name to Rye and Daughter’s after we came out of the bunker. He was working on a plane, before he got snatched. Trying to fix it up so he could fly again; a lot of the planes in the old field were too rusted to use for anything other than parts. Said he had a friend, shortly before I was born, that was a genius with a vehicle, though. Ended up saving Dad and Mom’s lives a couple of times, and they named him my godfather.” She’s silent for a few moments, and then - so quietly that Hannah can barely hear here - she says, “I wish I could’ve met him, just once. Dad never said what happened to him.”Hannah hesitates for a moment before reaching back, laying a hand on Carmina’s knee, and squeezing lightly. She thinks about saying she’s sorry that Carmina never met her godfather, that her father is currently being held captive by the Highwaymen, but that won’t do any good. So she just says, “We’ll get your dad back. Maybe you can ask him then,” before withdrawing her hand and letting them lapse into silence.Carmina learns quickly, to Hannah’s pleased surprise. She’s already an excellent navigator, and she has good instincts, but when it comes to stealth… Well, she was hopeless, but after a couple of days with Hannah, she’s gotten much better. At least to where she doesn’t immediately give away their position as soon as the shooting starts. She’ll never be completely inconspicuous, but Hannah has the sneaking suspicion that Carmina would rather not be completely unnoticeable; she probably doesn’t find that kind of combat preferable.Maybe it was the dynamite that gave it away.Still, they make good time to Trailer Town, and Carmina waits patiently while Hannah sneaks up into one of the Highwaymen’s own sniper perches, using the knife Rush had given her when she’d been promoted to Captain to take care of the sniper there. Once she’s ready and has quietly communicated as many of their positions as she can to Carmina over their scavenged earpieces, Hannah breathes in, out, and then in again -And takes the first shot.She sees sparks arcing out of the treeline from the corner of her eye; by the time the fuse has run out on Carmina’s dynamite, seven more Highwaymen have fallen - four to Hannah’s rifle, three to Carmina’s assault rifle as she blazes a path out of the trees. The rest of them don’t stand a chance - Hannah snipes the one who tries to run for the alarms - and within minutes, they’re the only ones left alive in the place.Hannah uses the zipline to get down to the ground quickly, and joins Carmina in making a thorough sweep of the buildings, look for any potential stragglers or booby traps. They find the main ethanol supply, as well as a few extra barrels stashed behind one of the refurbished trailers, and they drag them back to the center of the newly-claimed outpost.“Let’s see if we can find a radio here, or if we’ll need to hike back to the car,” Hannah says, dusting her hands off. “Nice throw with that dynamite, by the way. Took out two of them at once.”“Thanks,” Carmina says, grinning as she readjusts her beanie. “You were right about the arc, I’ve been throwing it too hard. Nice shot on the one heading for the alarms.”Hannah laughs. “Yeah, figured we didn’t want any more Highwaymen showing up,” she chuckles as they head for the nearest workbench. “Now that we’ve got this place secured, once we get some more people in here we can start looking for your dad and Sharky.”Carmina’s expression turns hopeful. “You think he’s okay?”Hannah doesn’t have to ask which one she’s talking about. “I’m sure he is. After everything you’ve told me about him, he probably has some new bruises from mouthing off, but he probably hasn’t pushed them too far, waiting for a chance to escape and get back to you and your mom.”“I hope so,” Carmina sighs. “I miss him, but I know Mom misses him more.”“She’s known him longer,” Hannah says reasonably. “Come on, there’s a radio over here. Let’s get some more bodies in this place to keep the Highwaymen from taking it back and then we’ll start looking for your dad.”“ Wait, ” Hannah breathes as they approach the Greasemonkey Cage; she can hear shouting, and she has to actually put a hand on Carmina’s chest to keep her from walking forward any farther. Hannah motions to the side, up the hill, and after a moment Carmina nods, following Hannah through the brush. The Highwaymen are too busy with whatever’s going on in the camp to notice any missteps, which Hannah’s grateful for. Carmina’s been antsy ever since they started North from Trailer Town, following hints from the Wikibeania scouts and overheard conversations between Highwaymen stuck beside their broken-down vehicles. If Nick Rye’s at the center of whatever scuffle is going on just down the hill, Hannah’s not sure she can count on Carmina remembering what she’s learned over the past couple of days with Hannah.They crest the hill, the silencer and barrel of Hannah’s rifle parting the grass as she peers down the scope, first finding the two Highwaymen on the outskirts. They’re both facing in, towards the middle of the camp, where there’s an enforcer standing over a prone figure on the ground. Hannah lines up her crosshairs with the enforcer’s throat, already planning to take the shot - that’s not a Highwayman uniform on the ground, that’s a civilian - when Carmina shouts, “ Dad! ” and breaks cover.Hannah swears under her breath, adjusting for the jerk the enforcer had made at Carmina’s outburst, and then squeezes the trigger, rifle bucking in her hand a split second after the blood arcs from the enforcer’s throat. Hannah’s already readjusting, rifle sweeping towards another Highwayman - no helmet, so a quick headshot and the body drops like a stone. The others are moving, converging on Carmina, so Hannah slings her rifle across her back before darting down the hill, pulling her knife from its holster and carving her way through the others.Carmina fights like a madwoman until she’s at her dad’s side - even from here, Hannah can read the panic in the tear tracks cutting down her cheeks - and then she’s on her knees, gun discarded by her side. Hannah double-checks the bodies on her way over, slitting the throat of one Highwayman who was reaching for his gun. When she reaches the Ryes, she drops to her knees beside Carmina, hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got him,” she says quietly. “Hold his head; this is going to hurt.”He was shot in the side - not a gut shot, but close to it, and he’s already dazed, not fully aware of his surroundings. Hannah grabs a medkit from the pouch she keeps around her waist - an expanded fanny pack, essentially, with the end tied around her thigh to help minimize flopping - and after laying out what she needs and sliding her flannel under Nick to serve as a little bit of a barrier against the dirt he’s lying on, she shares a look with Carmina. Carmina still looks a bit panicked, but she nods, bracing her hands on her dad’s shoulders, pressing him to the ground. Hannah doesn’t waste any time.Nick screams when the antiseptic is applied, and swears a blue cloud when Hannah starts stitching. It’s only a few, so she doesn’t bother with any sort of sedative. Carmina manages to keep Nick’s thrashing to a minimum, and Hannah’s quickly tying off the last stitch. “Let’s get him off the dirt,” she says. “Take off your jacket, give it here.” Carmina does as ordered, and Hannah tucks Nick’s arm down against his side, using it as a makeshift bandage as she zips the jacket up around both arm and torso, sliding his other arm through the sleeve.Between the two of them, Hannah and Carmina manage to get Nick propped up against the nearby building. Carmina hovers near him, and Hannah leaves her to it with one last comforting squeeze to her shoulder. She starts checking the Highwaymen bodies, taking any ammo that they can use, as well as making note of any components they might be able to scavenge. She also keeps an eye out for any approaching Highwaymen; they hadn’t had any time to do any kind of recon on this place, and if Nick hadn’t been shot, they’d be gone already, so it wouldn’t matter. But with him being injured, they can’t move until he’s stable.Thankfully, everything’s quiet while Nick regains his senses - and the first indication Hannah has that he’s aware of what’s going on is, “Carmina? What the fuck are you doing here, girl?”“Dad!” Hannah comes back around the corner of the garage in time to see Carmina throw herself at Nick, who grunts.“Careful with our patient, Carmina,” she laughs. “Don’t want to open up those stitches I just put in him.”“Right, sorry,” Carmina says, laughing wetly as she pulls back just enough that Nick can sit upright - but she doesn’t stop hugging her dad, and Hannah can’t blame her. “Dad, this is Hannah Long. She’s a Captain of Security under Thomas Rush.”Nick’s gaze is sharp when he looks at Hannah, who looks back evenly. “How’d you come to be here?” he asks, a bit suspicious.“I followed Rush and one of his other Captains, Nik Caparelli,” Hannah answers. “They came because Hope County asked for their help.” No need to tell him who in Hope County had been the one to brave the journey to the border of Washington state just yet. That revelation could wait until they were safely back in Prosperity. “We don’t have a vehicle, and none of these are in working condition. Can you walk?”Nick grunts an affirmative, getting to his feet with help from Carmina. “I can do you one better,” he says. “Follow me down to the river, I’ve got some transportation stashed down there.”Hannah and Carmina share a confused look, but then comprehension dawns on Carmina's expression. “Dad, you were taking that old plane out - ““The day these motherfuckers got me, yeah,” Nick grumbles. “I kept her running, even if I couldn’t actually drive her. But now you guys can. She doesn’t have wings yet, but she does have a working engine and good quality skids, so she can go on land or sea. We can use her to make our escape.”Hannah just shakes her head when Carmina looks at her, but she’s smiling. “Alright then, Rye, lead the way. Carmina, don’t forget your gun.”Hannah nearly cries when Nick reunites with his wife; she stands off to the side, watching as Nick just takes in the sight of Kim muttering to herself and looking for the tool tucked into her back pocket. The look on his face is like a man starved, and Hannah can’t keep the smile off her face as he steps forward, Carmina following behind him, waiting in the doorway as Nick carefully approaches Kim, reaching out to tug the tool from her pocket with a soft, “Lose something, darling?”Kim whirls, hand clamping around Nick’s wrist, only to freeze when she realizes who spoke, who she’s touching. “Nick?” she asks, barely more than a breath, hope tempered by fear glimmering in her eyes.“It’s me, sweetheart,” he answers, just as softly, arms opening just in time to catch Kim as she lunges forward with a sob.Carmina shifts closer, her hand coming to rest on the small of Hannah’s back. “Thank you,” she murmurs. “I didn’t say it yet, but thank you for taking me with you to find him. Prosperity finally feels like home with him here.”Hannah glances over, offering Carmina a small smile. “You’re welcome. I know how important family is,” she murmurs, then nods to where Kim and Nick are still wrapped up in each other. “Go on, I know you want to join them. I’m going to go run perimeter, let you guys catch up.”Carmina hesitates for another moment, then she throws her arms around Hannah, pulling her in tightly. Hannah makes a surprised noise, stiffening for a moment before she carefully raises her arms and returns the embrace. “Thank you,” Carmina whispers again, her face tucked into Hannah’s neck. Hannah murmurs something that’s not words so much as a comforting noise, her hand sweeping Carmina’s back once before Carmina pulls away, face flushed in the light from the fire as she smiles at Hannah before going to join her family.Heart racing, Hannah makes a quick retreat. She slips through Prosperity with a few absent nods to those who call out to her, and makes her way to the walkway lining the walls of Prosperity. She doesn’t hesitate before vaulting over, landing lightly on her feet and starting her walk there.She needs some time to think about some things.Unfortunately, she doesn’t get much time; she’s barely made one circuit of the property before her attention is caught by the sound of an approaching vehicle. She thumbs the catch of her holster, not withdrawing her pistol just yet as she moves carefully through the brush, approaching the main road. She frowns, squinting slightly to see better, relaxing only marginally when she realizes it’s a single vehicle, not marked with any Highwaymen markings. When it comes to a stop, she straightens from her crouch with a grin. “Nik! You son of a bitch, I almost shot you,” she laughs. “We weren’t expecting you back from the North just yet.”Nik waves, changing course to approach Hannah. “It was easier to find Joseph than I thought. I feel like I got run over by a goddamn truck, though, after his stupid bullshit fruit.”Hannah raises an eyebrow. “Fruit?”“Yeah, called it some kind of blessing or whatever. It’s effective, but God is it rough on your body.” Nik pulls a face, then glances over his shoulder, waving at something - someone, Hannah realizes. “Also, this is the Judge. Right hand man of the Father, or something similar. I didn’t catch the details. Joseph wanted him to come with me.”Hannah studies the man who steps up beside Nik. He’s tall, about as tall as Nik, just slightly taller than her, and broad in a way that suggests it’s not all padding from the furs he wears. The mask he wears is simple - there’s only holes for the eyes, nothing for the mouth, and he holds himself with near-perfect stillness. Something about him seems… off, but Hannah’s not sure which ‘something’ it is that’s pinging her instincts. So all she does is nod, offering the Judge a slight smile. “Nice to meet you; hope you’re as good as the rest of the New Edeners with their bows.”The Judge inclines his head, but doesn’t say anything. Not that Hannah expected him to, if there’s no hole in his mask for his mouth. “He’s pretty damn good,” Nik admits. “How are things here?”“We found Nick Rye, brought him back,” Hannah says. “Rush has been looking over your work - and sighing an awful lot. Did you break his heart or something?” Nik looks distinctly uncomfortable, and Hannah gapes at him. “You did,” she realizes. “You fucking - Nik, what the fuck? ”“Later,” Nik mutters. “I’ll tell you later, alright? Just - Just leave it for now.”Hannah squints at him, but nods. She’s traveled with Nik long enough to consider him her brother, and know him just as well. Pushing now won’t help anything. “Well, he’ll be glad to see you’re back, anyway, and with some new backup. Come on, he’s probably fled the happy reunion going on in the main house.” She turns and leads the way to the main gate, pulling it open for the men to follow her through.They find Rush over by the cartography shed, listening to an eager Bean gush about the latest intel; Hannah clears her throat when Bean pauses for breath, and the relief on Rush’s expression is a bit too pronounced to simply be from getting a break from Bean’s rambling. “Nik,” he says, smiling - a real smile, not a grin, and how the hell had Hannah missed this - “you made it back.”“Course I did,” Nik says flippantly. “I even met with Joseph Seed. He’s still nutty, just so you know. But what he had… Well, it’s pretty damn close to magical.”“Think it’ll give us an edge over the Highwaymen?”“Yeah, it probably will,” Nik says with a laugh. “I might bring Hannah up there; this fruit is… Look, it gets you absolutely high as fuck, but, almost like it’s on command? It’s weird as shit, I don’t pretend to understand it or buy into his religious explanation for it, but it’s real.”“Two people with it will be better than one,” Rush agrees; his gaze flicks over Nik’s shoulder, and then frowns. “Who’s your new shadow?”“The Judge,” Nik answers. “Joseph Seed’s right hand man, basically. He insisted that the Judge accompany me.”“You think we can trust him?” Rush asks; Hannah knows he’s not just asking about the Judge, and so does Nik.“I do. I know what Kim said, I know what everyone else who lived here before the Collapse said, but he’s… weary,” Nik says carefully, clearly thinking hard. Hannah has to resist the urge to tell him not to hurt himself. “Tired. Charismatic as all get out, should’ve seen the way those New Edeners watched him like he was Christ himself walking in their midst. But he loves them; he turned from technology after the Collapse, said he was trying to learn from his mistakes before it.”Rush nods slowly. “Alright. Take a few days, get your bearings, figure out what this… fruit… does, then we’ll see about taking Hannah up there.”Nik disappears the moment Hannah takes her eyes off of him; she lets him have a day before she grabs a pair of his jeans and gives them to Timber to use to track him down. She finds him around the back of the main house, tucked up under the walkway, inspecting some old boards. Hannah ducks under the support, sliding up against the walls. “Hey, Nik. You owe me a conversation, remember?”Nik glares at her. “No, I don’t,” he says shortly, returning his attention to the beam he was studying, but he’s keeping one eye on her.“Sure you do,” Hannah says easily. “Something about going up North? Eating some kind of… what was it, forbidden fruit? Oh, but that was after the conversation about you breaking Rush’s heart.”The glare intensifies. “Leave it, Han. It’s none of your business.”“Bullshit it’s not,” Hannah argues, straightening. “Rush is our damned boss, and you’re my fucking brother. If my fucking brother is fucking our damned boss - and especially if our damned boss is in love with my fucking brother - then it’s most definitely my business.”“I said, leave it, ” Nik snarls, giving Hannah a rough shove before spinning on his heel and marching away. Hannah lets him reach the training camp before she catches up to him, projecting her voice just enough to catch the attention of those standing nearest.“Come on, Nik, let’s talk about your - oof! ”Hannah rolls with the tackle, leveraging her knee into Nik’s side and tossing him over before following, locking her legs with his as the two of them grapple. “You bitch ,” Nik snarls. “Don’t you fucking dare - ““Well then quit avoiding me, you fuckwaffle,” Hannah retorts, ducking the hand he tries to snag in her hair but missing the way he shifts his lower half, flipping them again. She grunts when her back hits the ground, and redoubles her efforts. “If you’d just fucking talk to me - ““There’s nothing to talk about!” Nik insists; by now, they’ve drawn a crowd, but no one seems particularly interested in intervening, even when Hannah lands a solid elbow to Nik’s gut that makes him retch for a moment. Carmina steps forward, but Rush holds out a hand, giving a shake of his head. It’s all Hannah sees before Nik does manage to get a hold of her shirt tight enough to drag her attention back to their scrap.“Oh bullshit, I just spent three fucking days with - Oh you motherfucker! ” she screeches when Nik fucking bites her shoulder , and that’s it, all bets are off. Dust gets kicked up around them so thick she can barely see through it, and Nik may be desperate to avoid this conversation but Hannah is now pissed , and she’s always been just a bit more agile than Nik; it’s the only thing that lets her squirm out of his hold and wrestle him onto his stomach, leveraging his weight against him until she has him on his stomach and is cramming his face into the dirt.“Get off of me, you harpy,” Nik spits, the words mixing with the dirt that leaves his mouth at the same time. “I’m not telling you shit - ““Oh, you’re gonna tell me, even if I have to pick it out of the fucking mud,” Hannah snarls.“Alright, children, enough.” Rush’s admonishment is a weary sigh, but Hannah doesn’t relent her grip on Nik until Rush bodily hauls her off of him. “Jesus, look at you two; no one would think you were any older than twelve. Go patch each other up and make up, for Christ’s sake.”“She started it!” Nik protests, scrambling to his feet, only to splutter when Rush grabs him by the shirt and all but frog-marches the two of them over to the infirmary.“And I’m fucking finishing it,” he says firmly, kicking the door open before throwing them inside. “Don’t come out until you’ve talked whatever the fuck that was about through.” If the door had a lock, it would click - but it doesn’t, so Rush settles for a pointed slam.“I hate you,” Nik complains, but he’s already heading for the first aid kit. “So fucking much.”“Feeling’s mutual,” Hannah mutters, but she sighs and grabs her own supplies. “Seriously, Nik, I know you like to bottle shit up, but it’s not healthy.”Nik snorts. “You’re not going to drop it,” he says - not asks, because after almost a decade working together, they know each other inside and out. “Get over here, let me take a look at that bite.”“You didn’t break the skin,” Hannah says by way of reassurance, but she hops up on the table that Nik gestures to regardless, stripping out of her shirt so Nik can get a look at the bite and the new bruises he gave her. She hisses at the touch of antiseptic, but Nik’s hand doesn’t falter. After a moment, she sighs again. “I shouldn’t have pushed you,” she starts with. “But I’m worried about you - you and Rush both.”Nik’s glare is half-hearted this time. “Look, you know the train got blown off the rails, right?” he asks, turning his attention back to his evaluation. When Hannah nods, he continues, “We managed to gather some survivors, me, Rush, and Barnes. We were running for the river, trying to meet Carmina there, when we ran to a waterfall. The Twins caught up with us, killed Barnes, and then Rush pushed me over the cliff.” He hesitates there, but Hannah doesn’t say anything, just waits. “He said, ‘I love you,’ then shoved me off the cliff,” Nik admits quietly.Hannah takes that in for a moment, considers it. She knew Rush and Nik had been fucking around with each other for almost two years now, but… She hadn’t really thought things had gotten that serious. “I know you don’t like to believe in love for yourself, but… Do you love him?” she asks, not careful or hesitant, but as simply as she can.Nik rolls his eyes. “It’s a fairytale, not meant for people like you or me who stab others in the throat on a regular basis. We don’t get the fairytale, we get fast and furious and whatever we can take.”Hannah shrugs the shoulder Nik isn’t currently working on. “Sometimes we get to take love,” she points out. Nik snorts, pulling away, and Hannah tugs her shirt back on. “Alright, your turn now, Mr Grump.”Nik trades places with her, and Hannah sets to work cleaning the multitude of scrapes across his face and arms. “I know I like him,” Nik says after a moment and a muttered curse when she starts in with the antiseptic. “I know he’s great at sex, and I know he likes me, and what I can do in bed. But anything else? I don’t see why it matters.”Hannah considers that, then nods. “Alright, fair,” she hums. “But you can’t keep being awkward around him, all stiff and formal. It’ll just make him feel worse for putting you on the spot.”Nik hesitates, then admits, “He said it again. Just before I left for New Eden.”One eyebrow rises without Hannah’s consent. “Really? Well, you weren’t being shoved off a cliff that time, so what did you say?”Nik flushes, can’t meet Hannah’s eye as he mumbles, “I said, ‘Yeah, I heard you the first time.’ Then I bolted.”Hannah goes still, and everything is quiet - then she has to put down the bandage in her hand so she can brace herself against the table, consumed with laughter. “ You - fucking - moron, ” she wheezes, tears springing to her eyes. If her bitten shoulder wasn’t the one closest to Nik, he’d probably have slugged her in it. As it stands, he kicks her in the side of the thigh when she doesn’t get herself under control after a minute. “Sorry, sorry,” she says breathlessly, grinning. “I just… God, I can’t even say that I can’t believe you said that, because I totally can .”Nik’s face is beet-red, and he gives her another, gentler kick. “I panicked, alright?” he complains. “I didn’t really think he meant it the first time, but then he said it again, and what the fuck was I supposed to say?”“Nik, I love you like a brother, but even saying something like fucking ‘ thank you ’ would have been better than ‘ I heard you the first time ,’” Hannah chuckles, picking up the bandage to put over the worst of Nik’s scrapes. “Honestly, I understand panicking, but it’s a good thing that Rush knows you’re already an asshole.”Nik sighs, testing the bandage when Hannah steps back. “Yeah, I am. But… I can’t tell him I love him if I’m not sure, Han.”“I know.” Hannah steps forward, pulls Nik into a tight hug. “But seriously, try to behave a bit more normally around him. Otherwise he’s going to keep sighing and I’m going to have to really kick your ass.”“Like you could,” Nik snorts, but he returns the hug just the same.Prosperity is bustling, the sound of chatter and laughter echoing off of the walls and making Hannah smile as she wanders over towards the barbeque, where Nik is teasing Rush like old times. Kim’s flitting around from person to person, and Carmina leaves her dad’s side to come over and join Hannah. “Hey, enjoying the sun?” she asks, grinning; Carmina’s been lighter, laughing easier than ever before since they rescued her dad.“Of course I am, but I’m also enjoying the laughter,” Hannah replies with a smile of her own. “It’s nice to hear people feeling like they can have this.”“Yeah, I know what you mean. We haven’t had a big get-together like this since the Twins showed up,” Carmina says, turning and looking over the hungry crowd. “You, Nik, and Rush have done a lot for us in so little time. We owe you everything.”“Well, maybe not everything,” Hannah demurs. “You guys are determined, and your parents survived Eden’s Gate and the Collapse. You’d have found a way eventually.”“Eventually, but how much would we have lost?” Carmina counters, then shakes her head. “Never mind that, you’re here and you’ve helped. Come on, let’s grab some food and a drink; that food smells so good it won’t last long.”Not wanting to spoil the good mood, Hannah simply follows, grabbing a plate with a hot dog on it and then a beer from a nearby cooler. She’s just taken a sip of her beer after sitting down with Carmina when she catches sight of something arcing over the trees.She knows exactly what it is when it explodes into a thousand sparks. “Highwaymen,” she growls, food forgotten as she jumps to her feet. “Kim! Get the kids inside, stay behind the walls. Caparelli - ““Already here,” Nik says from behind her, voice grim. Hannah doesn’t bother looking at him, already rushing for the gate, Carmina at her side. She wants to tell Carmina to stay behind, but she knows Carmina won’t listen.The three of them rush out of the gate, down the hill, weapons drawn. They don’t have to go far to find a bunch of idiot Highwaymen shooting off fireworks, and Hannah nearly trips when she realizes that those bastards have caught three of the kids. Who the fuck let them out of their sight? she thinks, outraged, but her focus quickly shifts to Mickey and Lou, lounging on the truck by the kids.“Oh, no,” Carmina whispers, coming up beside Hannah as she and Nik stalk forward.“Better put those down,” Mickey calls, standing and hopping off of the bed of the truck, a smirk playing about the corner of her mouth. “Wouldn’t want to scare the kids, now would we?”They comply, and the kids try to rush forward, one whimpering Carmina’s name. Mickey steps in front of them, and before Hannah can grab her, Carmina’s stepping forward with reassurances. “Everything’s going to be okay.”Mickey’s laugh is sharp, mocking - and then she backhands Carmina hard enough for the sound of leather on skin to echo off the trees. “I’m sorry,” she says, faux-sweet. “I just don’t like it when people lie to little kids.”The slap does nothing to cow Carmina; she pulls against the hand Hannah gets on her shoulder, doing her best to get in Mickey’s face as she snarls, “Why are you doing this?”Mickey looks unphased, until her gaze lands on Hannah and Nik. “Because of your heroes here,” she says, face twisting in anger and hate as she advances. Hannah stands her ground, shoulders straight and meeting Mickey’s gaze without fear. “Until you showed up, everything was running smoothly! But you two… You’ve become a pair of fucking problems, taking from us, and throwing everything out of balance.”Lou hops down, tossing something in her hand - a grenade, Hannah’s horrified to realize. “I think we should just kill them,” she calls, flicking the pin out of place with a metallic snap. Carmina’s gun comes up as Mickey whirls on her twin. “ No! ” she says sharply. “Hold on. We don’t want any damned martyrs .” She pauses, glancing at Carmina before turning back to Hannah and Nik. “What we want is to make sure everyone understands that your ‘help,’” she spits the word like it leaves a bad taste in her mouth, “is a curse. Every person you help, every child you inspire, every settlement you build…” She backs up, projecting as she turns, presses a finger against Carmina’s breastbone.Hannah doesn’t resist the urge to yank Carmina backwards, stepping in front of her. “Don’t you fucking dare touch any of them,” she snarls, face inches from Mickey’s infuriating smirk. She hears Nik’s stance shift, knows he’s ready to lunge if anything goes even slightly wrong.“We will take from you,” she finishes, as if Hannah hadn't spoken, voice softer, eyes harder. She moves first, turning back to Lou as Lou closes Danny’s hand around the grenade she’s primed.“Don’t drop it,” Lou says mockingly.“When you’ve got nothing left,” Mickey continues, turning back to cast her gaze dismissively over the three of them, Hannah and Nik in front, Carmina just behind Hannah’s shoulder, “we’ll come for you.” She turns back to Lou as Lou starts tossing and catching the pin, catching it when Lou passes it over. “The only currency in this world… is power. You - You made us look weak, ” she hisses, turning on Hannah and Nik. “That ends now! ” she shouts, the toes of her shoes bumping Hannah’s. “We are going to take everything you hold dear,” she promises, voice barely more than a hiss. “Starting with your home.”“And if we can’t take it,” Lou says from her reclaimed perch on the truck, voice hard, tense as her posture isn’t, “we’ll break it.”Something flickers across Mickey’s face at Lou’s words, but all she does is roll her eyes, huff, and hurl the pin at Hannah, who catches it instinctively. “Don’t be here when we come back,” she warns, turning back to the truck.As soon as she’s out of the way, Carmina’s dropped to her knees, arms open wide. “C’mere, c’mere,” she says breathlessly. “Oh my God, Danny - ““Here,” Hannah says quietly, holding the pin where Danny and Carmina can see it. She approaches Danny quickly, kneeling in front of him and covering his hands with her own as she quickly slips the pin back in place. Even when it’s safe to let go, however, she has to practically pry Danny’s fingers off of the grenade - but once he’s let go, he’s bolting for Carmina, hitting her hard enough that she nearly topples over.Nik kneels beside her as Hannah watches the retreating truck. “Wonder if it would be worth it to toss that damned thing in the back with them,” he mutters darkly, and Hannah grimaces.“They’d see it coming,” she murmurs, her eyes never leaving the Twins as they drive off. “But they’re not getting Prosperity. I’ll wring their necks myself before that happens.”Carmina ushers the kids back up the hill and through the gate, and Hannah and Nik immediately head for Rush, telling him what happened. Hannah sees Rush look at her, concerned, but all she does is give him a terse nod; she’s fine, as fine as she can be, and she knows that Nik is just as pissed as she is. He’s just less likely to rush off and do something reckless about it.“We’ll need to prepare for a full assault,” Rush mutters, gaze distant as he starts planning. “They’ll probably hit soon… Nik, go tell one of the scouts to go keep an eye out down at the road with a flare gun,” he says, glancing at Nik, who nods before turning on his heel and going to do just that. “Hannah, check our ammo supplies. Make sure they’re in easily reached places, we’ll have to make sure everyone can reload quickly.”“Will do,” she says, throwing out a salute before heading for the weapons shed.Carmina finds her there an hour later, sorting through ammo and making piles to distribute throughout Prosperity. Hannah’s first indication she’s not alone is a sharp, staccato rap against the open doorjamb. “Hey,” Carmina says softly when Hannah looks at her. “You okay? You looked… pretty pissed.”“I still am,” Hannah admits, leveraging herself to her feet so she can approach Carmina. She reaches up - hesitates - and tucks a finger under Carmina’s chin, turning her head so Hannah can get a look at her cheek. There’s a shallow cut, probably from the buckle across the back of Mickey’s glove, and Hannah feels the simmering anger in her chest blaze hot again. “You’re hurt.”Carmina’s expression is startled, a bit wary - but she doesn’t move away from Hannah, doesn’t jerk her head from Hannah’s hand. “It’s just a scrape,” she says. “Nothing to worry about, not when we’re about to have bigger problems.”Hannah scowls, stepping back herself so she can sweep an agitated hand through the strands of hair that have escaped her bun. “The Twins,” she spits. “Lou better hope to all that’s holy I don’t ever get my hands on her, because I’m going to cram a grenade in her fucking mouth and shove it down her throat for what she did to Danny.”“Hey, he’s okay,” Carmina says, clearly surprised - but she closes the distance between them again, reaches out to put a cautious hand on Hannah’s arm. “He’s alright, you put the pin back in. Nothing happened.”“Nothing should have happened in the first place,” Hannah snaps, gaze flicking up to meet Carmina’s. To her credit, Carmina doesn’t flinch at the fury Hannah knows is shining through. “The kids shouldn’t have been out there, and Mickey and Lou shouldn’t have felt like they were able to get within a mile of this place without losing their damned heads.”“They’re arrogant,” Carmina says. “But you, Nik, Rush, and me - we’ll show them they’re wrong. We’ll stop them, alright? We’ll protect Prosperity.”Hannah drags in a deep breath, gunpowder and metal sharp in her nose, and then another and another until she feels some semblance of calm. “Kids shouldn’t be involved in war,” she mutters, glancing away from Carmina’s concerned gaze.“They shouldn’t,” Carmina agrees. “But sometimes war leaves them no choice.”“That’s what we’re here for,” Hannah snaps, meeting Carmina’s gaze again. “What I’m here for. I grew up in Portland, Oregon. I was eight when the Collapse happened, and my parents were killed in the rush to shelter. I spent the next seven years fighting for my life until Rush came through and I joined up, then spent the last decade fighting so other kids wouldn't have to go through what I did. Things may have calmed down, but people like the Twins want to bring that chaos back, only to their benefit. I’m not going to let that happen.”“I believe you,” Carmina says, tone gentle as she slides her hand down Hannah’s arm until she can cover the fist Hannah’s unconsciously made, and then slip her fingers in, forcing Hannah to relax her hand or risk crushing Carmina’s. “But you can’t do anything when you’re pissed like this. It’ll distract you, get you hurt.”Hannah makes herself take another deep breath before offering Carmina a weak smile. “I know. But thank you for reminding me.”“Hey, that’s what I’m here for,” Carmina says lightly, smiling. “Keep everyone’s hopes up and looking forward.”Hannah laughs at that. “You’re a bit more than that,” she says without thinking, flushing when Carmina looks at her with a raised eyebrow. Silently, she thanks genetics for her dark skin; doesn’t make the blush nearly as obvious. Before Carmina can ask what she means, Hannah switches the subject. “You ready for tonight? The Twins aren’t going to wait too long to try to make a show of power.”Carmina doesn’t answer for a moment, her gaze intent on Hannah; it takes everything Hannah has not to fidget under the weight of it. Eventually, Carmina shrugs. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she says. “Only so much preparing you can do before you start working yourself up into an anxious mess.”“True,” Hannah laughs. “You come looking for a distraction, then?”“Yeah,” Carmina admits readily. “Rush said you might need some help here.”“I’m almost done tallying up ammunition,” Hannah says, gesturing towards the boxes on the ground without stepping away from Carmina. “But I could use some help getting these to places where everyone will be able to get to it easily when they need to refill and reload.”“I’m your girl, then,” Carmina says. “I know this place like the back of my hand.” Her phrasing seems to finally remind her that she’s still holding Hannah’s hand, and she coughs, flushing. She and Hannah let go at the same time, Hannah unable to hold back a nervous laugh.“Well, I have some ideas as to where they can go,” she says, stepping away from Carmina and towards the first box. “Show me where you’re thinking, first.”They get the ammo stashed without incident, spread evenly throughout Prosperity so no matter where someone is fighting, more ammunition will be close at hand. By the time Rush is satisfied that Prosperity and her people are as ready as they’ll ever be, it’s sunset, almost sundown, and he sends Nik to meet with the scout by the main road, make sure everything’s still quiet.Hannah and Carmina are on the main walkway, Hannah just leveraging herself on top of one of the towers, when the flare goes up. Bright blue against the reddening sky, it’s difficult to miss - as is the distant, growing thump of the bass of the Highwaymen’s music. Rush immediately starts shouting orders, and Hannah grabs her rifle and settles in on her perch; she has a good view of the western side and the front field, and maybe she can pick off some drivers from here.A glance over the side shows Carmina setting up just below her, expression determined, but Hannah doesn’t have time to say anything before the roar of a motorcycle catches her attention. It’s Nik, Judge in the sidecar, and he doesn’t bother parking the motorcycle before throwing himself off of it and disappearing into the brush. Hannah grins then, private and fierce. The Highwaymen will never know what hit them. In the darkening gloom, she can just barely make out Judge scaling a tree, setting up a perch and unslinging his bow. She’s lost track of Nik, but that’s to be expected; he’s always been a slippery little bastard in the dark.The first Highwaymen crest the hill, heralded by their whoops and music, and Hannah takes one last deep breath before drawing a sight on the driver of the closest truck.She squeezes the trigger, and the truck swerves into a roll, sporting a brand new hole in the windshield that’s quickly shattered as the vehicle flips.Shouts go up from the Highwaymen on quads, and Hannah takes out one pair with a single shot when they line themselves up just right. Brakes squeal, tires spin - and then one quad nearly rolls when its driver gets an arrow the neck. In the next second, Nik’s a blur from the bushes, launching himself at the passenger and tackling them off of the vehicle and into the next patch of bushes.Hannah keeps enough of an eye on Nik to be sure that she won’t hit him in the chaos, and settles in for the short siege. Mickey and Lou may like to pretend that they’re different, they’re smarter than other Highwaymen leaders, but sieges on the most productive settlements are a common tactic, one Hannah’s seen many times before and will likely see many times again.She and Carmina work like a well-oiled machine, Carmina’s dynamite flushing Highwaymen out from cover and into Hannah’s sights, and Hannah’s molotovs panicking others for Carmina to pick out. When Hannah calls for a refill of her rifle ammo, Carmina tosses it up without breaking her rhythm, and Hannah spares a second to marvel at how well they work together after so short a time - but then her attention is caught by Nik leaping into the air, higher than the roof of the truck he’s landing on , and tearing open a door with his bare hands.“What the fuck,” she mutters, but doesn’t linger on it; the Highwaymen have moved on to ramps now, and she’s focused on blowing out tires and picking off drivers, keeping them away from the walls of Prosperity. It works - but then they start airdropping the bastards in, and Hannah swears violently. She can’t take out the pilots, can’t risk them crashing the helicopters onto Prosperity, and there’s enough Highwaymen in the air and on the ground that her attention is split.Things devolve into a blur from there, Hannah responding to Rush’s shouted orders when he realizes some of the ones airdropping in are trying to plant bombs on the side of the main house. She swaps her rifle for her pistol, yelling at Carmina to stay put, keep them off the walls, and then she’s jumping from rooftop to walkway to ground, sprinting across the newly-christened battlefield. She tackles the Highwayman by the house, rolling them both across the grass until she rolls off, drawing her pistol, flicking the safety off, and firing off three rounds in quick succession, the woman jerking with each impact before dropping back to the ground from where she’d been trying to struggle to her feet.Hannah runs perimeter then, knife in one hand and pistol in the other, taking out any Highwaymen who make it over the walls. It’s not long before they’re calling for retreat, the ones on the outside of Prosperity gunning the engine on their way out, and the ones inside… Well, she and the others make sure they aren’t disappointed by their comrades leaving them behind for too long.When the dust settles thick in the blood on the ground, there’s Highwaymen and civilian corpses scattered across the yard. Carmina finds Kim attempting CPR on one of the settlers, and Hannah has to look away from the pain on Kim’s face when Carmina pulls her away from the fruitless endeavor.Her gaze lands on Nik, coming in the front gate with the Judge following silently behind him. Nik makes his way over to her, and she gives him an exhausted smile. “You weren’t kidding about that being some superfruit.”“Yeah, it was - something else,” Nik says, shaking his head.“I’ll say,” Rush says from behind them. Hannah startles; she hadn’t heard him approach. “I saw you take that shotgun blast to the chest and keep walking. That was thanks to whatever Joseph Seed gave you?”“Yeah,” Nik says, glancing down at his gunpowder-burned and shredded shirt as if he’s seeing it for the first time. “Yeah, it was.”Rush sighs, looking around, the burden of the dead making his shoulders bow. “Then you need to take Hannah up there, get Joseph Seed to give it to her, too,” he says after a moment. “The Twins have more manpower than we’re used to facing, and Prosperity isn’t strong enough to withstand another attack. We need to go on the offensive, and soon. If you both have those abilities, we’ll be able to more effectively divide and conquer.”Hannah glances at Nik, who nods. “Alright,” she says. “We can leave tomorrow. The sooner we get up there, the sooner we get back.”“Agreed,” Rush says; when she looks back at him, he’s frowning. “I’m going to go do some recon tomorrow, try to get a better idea of how many men they have and where. With that information, we can start really working on a plan of attack.”Hannah nods. “The sooner we end this, the better. I don’t know that anyone here will be able to take another attack like that.”“We do our jobs,” Nik says grimly, “they won’t have to.”The drive north to New Eden is a long one. Carmina stayed behind, opting to help her mom and the other settlers at Prosperity to get a start on rebuilding, and Hannah hadn’t seen any reason to drag her along, not when the mere mention of New Eden or Joseph Seed made both Kim and Nick’s expressions go tight and pinched, their entire beings tense with worry and pain. So instead, all she’d done is offer Carmina a quick, one-armed hug and a reminder to keep up with target practice before they’d left.The Judge is silent in the back seat, his gloved fingers absently working through Timber’s fur; Hannah can almost see the melancholy radiating off of him as he stares out the window. She turns her attention from the rearview mirror to Nik. “So, Joseph Seed. New Eden. Lay it on me.”Nik drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “They’ve decided to forsake all technology,” he starts with. “Ever since the Collapse. Apparently Joseph Seed predicted it, tried to prepare for it with his brothers and a sort-of sister, but there was someone who came through and fucked it all up.”“Deputy Rook Wylde,” Hannah supplies; she’d managed to get that much from Sharky on their way back from the sulfur springs shortly before the attack on Prosperity. “He was here because the Project at Eden’s Gate had gotten violent, turned into a cult.”“Yeah,” Nik sighs. “Joseph admitted as much; said he’d made a mistake, said… He thought he was supposed to be the shepherd, but that God had told him differently, sometime during the years he’d been in the bunker? Said there were supposed to be more than one, that they’d come long after the Collapse, in the time of New Eden’s greatest need. I dunno, man, I still think he’s fucking nuts, but I don’t think he’s really a danger anymore.”The Judge makes a noise in the backseat, and Hannah’s gaze flickers back to him. “You disagree?”“Not nuts,” is the short, rasping answer. “Bad ideas, but good heart.” His fingers tighten in Timber’s fur, the dog shifting closer with a soft whine in response, his head on the Judge’s thigh.Hannah nods slowly. “Well, we can’t really be casting judgement, since we weren’t there,” she points out to Nik. “All we have to go on is survivor stories, and that was all more than seventeen years ago.”“You’re right,” Nik says after a moment. “But I’ve met the guy, and he’s… Something about him gives me the creeps.”“Okay, that’s fair. Especially if he’s claiming to hear God talking to him,” Hannah concedes. “What about the rest of New Eden? What should I be on the lookout for?”“They’re all dressed like our friendly Judge back there,” Nik says with a wave of his hand, getting a derisive snort in return. “Bows and arrows, knives, axes, that sort of thing for weapons. They even train fucking cougars for pets and hunting companions.”“Dangerous in the Bliss,” the Judge hums from the backseat.“The Bliss?” Hannah echoes, raising an eyebrow.“Yeah, it’s a drug that the cult used before the Collapse,” Nik answers. “Was all over the goddamn county before, then when the bombs dropped, it mixed with the radiation. Storms blew most of it up north, from the Henbane area, apparently, but it created some really fucked up creatures. They don’t respect man or beast, and rule the area outside of New Eden, in the fog.”“So, don’t slack on ammunition, got it,” Hannah surmises. “What about the fruit Joseph gave you? Any theories on that?”“Besides it being grown in Bliss-infused radioactive water? Not a damn clue. It’s not like any drug I’ve ever encountered, before or after the Collapse, and I saw a shit ton of new drugs afterwards with Kingsley and his crew.” Nik’s gaze flicks to the rearview mirror then, his tone going odd and emphasizing the name ‘Kingsley’ as he looks at the Judge, who doesn’t look away from the window - but is it Hannah’s imagination, or did he flinch when the name reached his ears?Hannah tucks the question away in the back of her mind for now. “You said that you had to go do some trial thing or whatever with the bunker that Joseph and the Judge came out of. Think I’ll have to do the same?”Nik shrugs. “You’ll probably have to do something. I already brought back the Word of the Father. That was my trial for going up North, to meet Joseph and eat the fruit.”Hannah rolls her eyes. “Lovely. How much you wanna bet they’ll send me to the southern part of the county for something?”They do.Or, to be more accurate, Joseph does. Nik was right, there’s something off about the man, the same sort of something that’s off about the Judge, sets her teeth on edge and tells her not to turn her back on him for too long. When they explain the reason for Hannah’s presence, however, Joseph looks contemplative, but nods eventually. “You must relight our fire,” he says seriously; his fingers twitch like, if Hannah were any closer, he’d be reaching out to lay his hands on her shoulders. “These intruders, these invaders , they doused our sacred fire beneath the crumbled ruins of our statue. You are capable, yes - your company with my Judge and with Nik Caparelli tells us that. But you must prove you are worthy as well as capable, in order to make the journey North.”So in order to go North, the three of them go South, across the Henbane River and through a few Highwaymen ambush points, leaving debris and destruction in their wake. Their orders are to travel to a hill that Joseph says the Judge knows well, to meet some of New Eden at the foot of it and purge the Highwaymen from the location before relighting some kind of sacred fire.Hannah’s not too sure about the plan, but if she wants access to whatever the hell Joseph gave Nik - if she wants to better their odds at saving Prosperity from the Twins - then she has to go along. So she does, not saying anything contradictory until the New Edener they meet asks her to forego the rifle she’s comfortable with for a bow and arrow , a weapon she’s never handled before in her life.“The Father would not… approve of your weapon,” the New Edener says by way of explanation, eyeing her rifle in a distaste that the shadows from his hood and the trees around them can’t disguise.Hannah stares at him for a moment. “The Father,” she says flatly, “can eat my entire ass.” She ignores the way the New Edeners flinch at her words, staring at her in something approaching horror for, presumably, her blasphemy. From her left comes the sound of Nik choking on his laughter, and the Judge thumping him on the back. “If you want to do this with anything approaching ‘efficiency,’ then I’m using my rifle. Nik’s good with a knife, the Judge is good with a bow and arrow, and I’m good with my rifle.”“It is our preferred weapon - “ he tries, but Hannah cuts him off.“The rifle is mine. Now, we can either do this quickly and quietly, saving our energy for the tough fight at the top of the hill, or we can do this with me botching half of the shots and dragging out a fight we can win without resistance, and waste half our energy getting up this fucking mountain.” She stands and waits, content to remain in silence for however long it takes the New Edeners to get over their shock at her crude language and see the logic of her arguments.Thankfully, it doesn’t take long, or else Hannah would have left them behind and started up the damned mountain by herself. The leader gives a stiff nod, and Hannah returns it with a sharp one of her own before leading the way up the clear-cut path. None of them actually walk on the path, instead carefully picking their way through the underbrush lining it. When they reach a group of Highwaymen, Hannah settles in with a good view down her scope, waiting until Nik and the Judge have found their own positions before she eases off her first shot, Nik sliding out of the brush a moment later, the same time arrows embed themselves in the other Highwaymen.They repeat that strategy all the way up the mountain, until they reach the top. Then, they all spread out, waiting until Hannah and Nik give the signal, and then while the New Edens continue using their bows, Nik and Hannah start with their knives and clean up any stragglers with quick pistol shots.Once the last groaning Highwayman is dead, the New Edeners approach Hannah, their leader speaking. “Our sacred fire burned in a cave beneath a statue of the Father that once stood here,” he says. “Long ago, before the Collapse, a sinner pulled it down, but we kept the location in our minds.”There’s a sound suspiciously like choked laughter that comes from Hannah’s right; when she glances over, the Judge’s mask gives nothing away, but his shoulders are twitching.“We kindled the fire that burned for years, until the invaders came and snuffed it out. Now your task is to flood the cavern with the Bliss and rekindle our fire,” the New Edener continues, as if he hasn’t heard anything out of the ordinary. “We and your companions will serve as witnesses to your success - or failure.” Of course. Hannah nods. “I understand,” she says. “Nik, if anything goes wrong - ““I’ll come in after you,” Nik assures her without hesitation. “No way am I leaving you in there unless the place literally explodes.”Hannah laughs. “Alright, thanks,” she says, giving him a grateful smile. Then, she squares her shoulders, takes a deep breath, and turns towards the cave.The Bliss makes her lightheaded at first - but then the lightheadedness is replaced with a headache that only gets worse the more Bliss fills the cave. It’s a relief when she finds the last valve and breaks it open, and can make her way to the entrance of the cave. She takes a deep breath of Bliss-free air, then rustles in the bag she’d left by the entrance, coming out with a Molotov cocktail that she quickly lights before tossing into the gas-filled cave. It takes only a moment for the Bliss to catch, and then there’s a low roar as the fire spreads throughout the cave, a wave of heat hitting Hannah even from where she’s standing several feet away from the mouth of the cave.“There,” she says, satisfied. “You’ve got your fire back.”“So it would seem,” the leader hums. “You performed admirably, even with your… reluctance to use our tools. We will the Father so.”“Great,” Hannah says. “You guys want to ride with us back up the river?”He shakes his head. “No, thank you. We will meet you back in New Eden.”Nik pilots the boat back to New Eden, Hannah taking the opportunity to keep her face turned towards the breeze, letting the rush of air cool her face and ease the lingering headache. “That shit is strong ,” she says, just loud enough to be heard over the rush of water past the hull. “Was it this strong before the Collapse?” The question is directed to the Judge, who inclines his head.“No,” he says after a moment’s pause, presumably thinking. “Strong, but not as strong.” Hannah has to lean towards him to hear the low rasp of his voice.“Well, I hope whoever invented it got what they deserved; I’ve heard the horror stories from before, I bet any hallucinations will be worse now,” she says. The Judge makes a noise she can’t categorize, but she shrugs it off. He’s an odd one, she’s quickly learned, but he’s a good man, even if she’s never seen his face, never truly looked him in the eye and got his full measure. She’s measured enough by his actions in the time she’s known him.“You better prepare yourself,” Nik calls back over his shoulder. “I told you that fruit was grown in radioactive Bliss water. Joseph probably doesn’t want me to tell you too much, but… Well, it’s really fucking trippy, what happens after you eat it.”“Great,” Hannah mutters; Nik knows what she saw in Portland before joining with Rush’s company, and if he’s saying she needs to prepare herself, then…Well, Mama Murphy’s famed inhalers probably pale in comparison.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Do you feel different?”

Nik keeps his eyes on the road as Hannah glances over, shifts in the passenger seat with a sort of aching tenderness to the movements. He can relate, he felt like absolute shit after whatever weird trip that was. It feels worth it, after everything, something else in his blood that’s stronger, more than what he was before.

But that might just be him. Could be different for everyone. And it’s his fault Hannah had to go through it in the first place so he needs to ask...needs to make sure.

“Maybe.” Hannah drums her fingers on the sill and there’s a long moment of silence before; “what the fuck was that?”

“I don’t know.” Nik can’t help but laugh, a giddiness that flows around the car until they’re both laughing so hard they’re swerving on the dirt road. “I don’t fucking know! Oh my god, I’ve tried so much shit and like--bad trip isn’t even the word for that bullshit!”

Timber’s huffing along in the backseat, his own version of doggy chuckles, and Nik glances into the rearview only to sober in an instant. Hannah notices, her own laughter dying down before she clears her throat and twists to address the mask that’s currently staring blankly ahead.

“Don’t suppose you know what the fuck that was?”

Judge shrugs, as quietly unhelpful as always, and Nik cracks his neck as a familiar agitation crawls it’s way up his spine. He’s glad to have New Eden’s help, god knows the Judge is a fucking powerhouse against anything they put him up against, but the quiet...unnerves him. Too close to the cemeteries he wandered into that he should’ve steered clear of after dusk.

Quiet with the promise of something with teeth and claws lingering in every shadow. Threats that whispered because otherwise they would have screamed.

Hannah grunts at the lack of a response, twisting back in the seat and propping a foot on the dashboard. She spreads the map out, glancing around until she looks up over the edge and points out the windshield.

“We’re close to the Island outpost the Highwaymen took over. Let’s go grab that one while we’re here.”

“The island?” Nik’s hands flex on the wheel as Hannah glances over with something too close to a smirk on her lips. “Uh...shouldn’t we get back, though? I mean, I was half dead after that shit. Gotta get Selene to check you out. Or...uh...Carmina?”

“Go to the fucking Outpost.” Hannah folds the map, whacks him in the shoulder with it. “Stop being a little bitch.”

“It’s a fucking island! How are we supposed to get there?”

“Oh no,” Hannah rolls her eyes. “An island. It’s not as though all mammals can, y’know, swim or anything.”

Nik is not about to mention that he can’t, actually, mammalian status be damned. It’s not like he had a lot of opportunities growing up and there wasn’t exactly a swimming pool in the bunker. He’s pretty sure he could maybe tread water if he tried? Enough to keep him alive, at least?

But he also knows from growing up what usually is in water and while there aren’t any gators in Hope County, he’s seen some really nasty looking fish swimming around.

Nik could probably punch out a gator in a pinch. Some kind of crazy irradiated demonic fish?

He would die screaming and probably pissing himself.

But Hannah isn’t really someone he wants to tangle with on a good day, much less when she’s still looking a bit exhausted from whatever her “trial” entailed. Nik’s all good for a fight but there are fights he can win and fights that have the possibility of making him a eunuch. So he cuts through the field off to the side, slows the car on the descent until he can shove it in park near the water’s edge and climb out.

Timber nearly bowls Judge over when the backdoor opens and Nik watches as Judge tolerates it all with the air of someone who is used to the behavior. Like they had a dog before they became...whatever they are.

Little bits of information. All adding up to suspicions. Nik’s practically got a crime scene board in his head, little red strings linking small tidbits of info he’s picked up here and there. It’s not enough for an accusation--Judge had outright told him that Deputy Wylde was dead and Nik’s not going to try that conversation again without some heavy evidence in his corner--but it’s...something.

“Where are you going?”

“Uh...jet-ski?” Nik gestures vaguely towards the waterline. “Boat? There’s gotta be something around here.”

“Have you lost your--” Hannah blows out a frustrated breath. “Do you understand the concept of stealth? How the hell are we going to sneak up on them in a jet-ski?”

“I’m not getting in that fucking water.”

“Oh yes, yes the fuck you are.”

Hannah steps up just as Nik does, both of them staring each other down. Usually Rush has to get in between them, wrapping an arm around Nik’s waist or forcibly inserting himself between their bodies to stop the arguments. Hard-headed little assholes, the both of them.

The point stands. Nik will fight his best friend in the dirt before he swims with demon fish.

The Judge clears his throat, clearly taking up the role in Rush’s absence, and gestures to the thicket of bushes near the shoreline where Nik can just see the colorful edge of a jet-ski peeking out. He takes off for it before Hannah can protest, calling a quick “race you there!” over his shoulder as he goes.

The coward’s way out, absolutely. But Judge climbs onto the back with him and not into the water infested with hell spawn so Nik figures he’s not the only one leery of Hannah’s plan.

Clearing the Outpost doesn’t take a particularly long time, not with the Judge’s arrows hitting targets before Nik can even see them and the soft ground keeping him quietly stealthed until he’s got a knife where he wants it to be. Hannah picks off the stragglers, including one Highwaymen in a boat who nearly gives Nik a heart attack zooming around a corner before he falls dead in a spray of red and a neat hole in his forehead.

Timber just runs around and fetches things from the dead bodies which is mostly disgusting but also saves Nik the trouble of doing it so he is the most valuable member of the team, in Nik’s opinion.

“Can we please go back to Prosperity now?”

“What’s the matter?” Hannah waves to the few people arriving by boat after the radio call went out that it was clear, leaning against the box he’s sitting on. “Getting lovesick for your boy?”

“He’s not my boy. And maybe I’m just horny.” Nik aims a kick at her that’s easily swatted away. “You could help me out, if you were so inclined.”

“Remove your dick and we’ll have a discussion.”

“So all that stands in the way of me and your sweet love is my dick?”

“Your dick and the, y’know--” Hannah makes a broad gesture that encompasses the length of him, “the everything else about you.”

“Right. I couldn’t be yours. I’m not,” Nik sighs heavily, bats his eyelashes and knows he’s fucked when her eyes narrow, “Carmina.”

Thank god he did bring a jet-ski. Because he’s pretty sure that’s the only reason he narrowly escapes getting the shit beat out of him. He does ride in the back of the car and let Judge drive them back to Prosperity once the three make it back across the water, because Hannah has punched him while driving before and he’s not eager to go through that again.

Fair is fair. For all the shit she gives him about sleeping with Rush, he deserves a little teasing of his own. Hannah’s adorable in her little crush on the Rye heir and he knows it’s not as one-sided as she likes to think, though they’re both a little too backwards to come out and say anything about it.

Complications he’s never had to worry about. Even with Rush all it took was a “wanna try touching a dick that isn’t yours?” He supposes there’s something to be said for waiting until Carmina is 18, but when the whole world is trying to recover from a shockwave, what’s a year of difference?

Prosperity is buzzing by the time they all but fall through the gate, the day finally wearing on them both. Hannah’s shoulders are sunk low and Nik swears he sees Carmina make an aborted move towards her when his attention is forcibly yanked away by Kim shouting across the yard.

“Over here, guys! We have visitors!”

Great. Just what Nik needed when he thinks he might legitimately fall asleep on his feet. He’s not a people person by nature, letting Hannah push on ahead with her welcoming and friendly smile. The woman next to Kim doesn’t exactly look like she’s eager for chit-chat though, which might make the situation more bearable.

Well, that and Rush sliding up beside him to hook a finger in his beltloop and whisper a quiet “got a bed waiting as soon as we’re done here.”

His cock isn’t getting hard in the next week or so with how tired he is, but curling up for a small nap with someone else might be nice.

“This is Janet. She came down when she heard about everything happening, she’s willing to lend a hand.”

Nik appraises the militant stance, the harsh angles of her face, the way she holds herself like she’s open to the weighing but doesn’t really care how they find her in the end. Considering all they’ve got is the hodge podge of barely skilled soldiers and people still recovering from the attack, they could use someone like her.

Don’t get Nik wrong, he’s glad to have all the hands that offer help. But he could use a little more of a skilled touch and a little less “hope this works!”

“We’re always happy to accept help where we can get it!” Hannah says brightly, offering her hand for a perfunctory shake as Janet snorts.

“Sounds to me like you guys need it. Wouldn’t be up this way if not for word of the cluster fuck traveling fast.”

“Cluster fuck’s one word for it.”

Nik offers his hand for a shake too, hooking a thumb over his shoulder once they’re separated.

“Name’s Nik. That’s Hannah. We are, unfortunately, the idiots in charge when we’re not in Prosperity.”

“You’re the idiot.” Hannah murmurs with an elbow to his side, Janet watching it all with a strange expression on her face.

Almost wistful?

But, hell, half the damn county wears that look most of the time. Always thinking of better times lost to fire and ash.

“We’re going to have a cookout tonight, you guys can make nice then.” Kim goes into full mom mode with a glance at Hannah’s dirty and exhausted face. “For now, get some rest. We’ll wake you up if everything goes...well, how it went last time.”

Rush doesn’t give him time to protest, tugging Nik along by the elbow until they’re tucked into the small room they’ve been allotted at Prosperity. He leans against the door, surveys Nik up and down, and snorts when Nik offers a flat stare in return.

“Was gonna ask if you were up for something. Still shaking the adrenaline from recon. But you look like you might fall asleep standing up here in the next few minutes.”

“My body is yours to use as a toy.” Nik shrugs as Rush shivers finely. “But if you’re looking for audience participation, let me sleep first.”

He nearly loses the end of the sentence in a yawn, stretching his jaw so far he hears it crack and looks through watering eyes at Rush’s soft smile.

“Hot as that sounds...bed, Cap. Gotta take care of my men.”

“Possessive.” Nik murmurs as Rush chivvies him towards the bed.

“Sleep, Nikolai.”

.O.

“So what did you do before….this?”

Hannah waves a hand at Prosperity while Nik chews his way through his food, tucking his leg more firmly under himself.

Kim wasn’t kidding when she said they’d have a cookout, people are sprawled all over with plates and the smell of BBQ is thick in the air. There’s still something in the back of his mind, a small bit of recognizing similar signs, that has him constantly glancing over his shoulder. Tense and tight even as he revels in the chatting and the laughter around him.

He’s not the only one. He can see Kim doing a constant check of the people around and the children have all been gathered into one place to eat with a few adults sticking close by. Rush is at the grill again, seemingly relaxed, but Nik can read the tension of his body and the way his head is staying on a swivel.

Not again. Not here.

“Army. Was in for a long time before I figured I could help more people out in the world than on a base.”

Nik turns his attention back at Janet’s short answer. She’s not rude but she’s...sharp. To the point. Clearly not the type for idle chit-chat past what needs to be said.

“I think Rush was Army too. And Nik is...Air Force? Technically?” Hannah points her fork in his direction and he shrugs with another mouthful of burger.

“Technically. Things got a little messy when the bombs dropped. But I have a uniform and tags.”

“Air Force?” Janet’s eyes narrow slightly. “Stationed where?”

“Uh...Wright-Patt? In Ohio?”

Nik swears he sees Judge’s shoulders go stiff for a moment. Just out of the corner of his eye. He’s not too close, on the outside of their little group, but he’s on the stairs near the entrance, clearly wanting to overhear at least a little. But Janet snorts and shakes her head, pulling his attention away in an instant.

“Guess you knew King, then, huh?”

“Oh, did he ever!” Hannah crows as Nik resists the urge to dose his flaming cheeks in cold beer.

Make friends, Nikolai.

It’ll be fun, Nikolai.

No man is a fucking island, Nikolai.

Why he ever listens to anyone ever is beyond him. Nik looks around for an out, a way to escape the conversation, and all he gets is Rush peering over at him with a familiar disgruntled scowl. Must’ve overheard then. Rush doesn’t dislike King, but he’s told Nik before if he brings up how cool or smart or controlled King is that he’s going to personally re-route the train to Ohio just to kick his old commander’s ass.

Not that the threat holds a lot of merit because...well, there’s no train to re-route anymore. But still. Clearly Rush isn’t going to save him from this.

“Now that sounds like the start of a story I wanna hear.” Janet smirks, lips curved into something that spells nothing but trouble for Nikolai around the mouth of her own bottle.

“Go on, Nik! Tell her all about,” Hannah flutters her lashes and puts on a frankly offending sort of dreamy quality to her voice, “Colonel Wylde.”

“Shut up.” He hisses at her before stubbornly stuffing another mouthful in. It doesn’t do anything but drag out the agony of everyone staring until Nik’s grinding his teeth on nothing and swallowing harshly. “Fine, fucking--he was my commander. Saved my ass, literally, when the bombs came down. He’s a great man, taught me everything I know, taught me how to be a good fucking soldier.”

Hannah makes an obnoxious “come on” motion with a grin that is so wide it looks like it hurts and Nik flips her off before sighing.

“And yeah, he’s fucking hot. And I might’ve offered to blow him once or twice or a handful of times. Never happened.”

“Gross.” Janet comments, chewing idly. “If he’d said yes, I would’ve stopped your reminiscing there. That’s my cousin.”

Everything freezes in place. Nik feels his heartbeat in his ears as he slowly looks from Janet’s unimpressed face to where Judge is so still he might as well be carved from stone. He doesn’t even look like he’s breathing, but Nik knows he is. Knows he has to be. Because the bottle of water in his grip is trembling finely, a shake that’s sending the liquid inside thrashing about.

“King’s your cousin? So then...you knew Rook?”

Janet’s face slams closed in an instant and she goes white-knuckled on the bottle she’s holding. Nik thinks, for a brief moment, he fucked up. He’s done it before, jumped the gun on asking questions and landed himself with tear-eyed refusals to continue the conversation. Rook Wylde was someone really fucking important to the people of Hope County and if Janet is related...he might have just fucked his one real possibility at answers.

But she sighs and there’s a resigned sort of melancholy to her as she drinks deeply before shaking her head.

“We weren’t as close. He’s younger than me. But...yeah. Still my baby cousin. King lost contact--hell, the whole fucking family lost contact right after he moved out here to be a Deputy. Didn’t find out until I came here and people told me what went down before the bombs, the fucking cult and all that shit.”

Janet tips her head back and her laugh is more of a dry sob, sad and wistful and aching.

“If I know Rook...that helpful little fucker was in the middle of it all. Probably died trying to save people right up to the very end.”

“Do you wish you could’ve said goodbye?” Nik can’t help but poke the bear. He needs to. Because if Judge is going to crack, it’s going to be here and it’s going to be now.

Of course, he should remember this particular bear comes with vicious claws. Janet levels a glare at him that threatens to make his balls crawl back up inside him. But her eyes are shiny and that’s the worst part of it all.

“Of course I--” Her voice hitches and Nik sees the Judge carefully glance over his shoulder, mask giving away nothing but the curl of his shoulders telling him just enough. “Of fucking course I would. I wish I could’ve gotten ahold of him while he was still here. Came and pulled his ass away from all this insanity.”

“A lot of people here are alive because of Rook.” Carmina says quietly, dipping into the conversation from where she’d carefully been on the outskirts. “I know I’m one of them. Him being in Hope County made things a lot less worse than they could have been.”

“That’s real fucking nice but my cousin is dead.” Janet snarls, bottle slamming down alongside her plate as she pushes to her feet. “So I don’t give a shit how many people he saved. How good he made it. I’d trade all that shit just to…”

“I wouldn’t have let you.”

Bingo.

Nik fucking knew it.

Judge stands, turns, and Janet goes so still for a moment that Nik thinks she’s frozen. Catatonic like Carmina and Hannah currently are. He pushes to his feet, backs up when Janet takes a step towards Rook, vibrating with rage in place of the sadness from moments before.

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?”

“I wouldn’t have let you take me.” The Judge’s words sound odd, like they’re supposed to be coming from someone else’s mouth. One hand raises, carefully looses the mask until it comes free.

Rook Wylde isn’t what Nik expects. Going by the stories he was told, the near legends….he expected someone more superhuman. Someone who looked like they could balance the world on their shoulders if need be. Rook looks...achingly human. Nik can see the lines of King in his cheekbones, the jut of his jaw, the determination and steady peace of his eyes.

He doesn’t look like a man who saved a county. He looks...tired, mostly.

“You fucking--You just--”

Janet stumbles and trips over the words until she snaps her jaw shut. Grinds it for a moment, muscles ticking as she stomps forward.

And punches Rook in the face so hard Nik winces and he sees Hannah flinch and take a proactive step forward.

“I thought you were dead.” Janet snarls, hands flashing out to fist in the fur over Rook’s shoulders, haul him into the finely shaking form of her own body. “You fuck. You miserable little son of a bitch. Why?”

“I had things I had to do.” Rook says quietly, the mask thumping to the ground as he wraps his arms around trembling shoulders. “I still have people here who need me.”

“You could’ve called.”

“And to what end? So you and King could have false hope? Drop everything to come help me?” Rook shakes his head, pulls her in ever closer. “Everything changed. But some thing’s didn’t. You both had bigger concerns.”

“You’re family.” Janet whallops him in the shoulder, Rook standing firm like he’s used to this sort of reaction. “You asshole. You’re the biggest fucking concern we have. Especially after--after--”

“I know.” Rook’s voice cracks and then they’re holding each other up, sagging into each other for reasons probably more heartbreaking than he wants to consider.

Lots of people died when the bombs came down. Lots of people got sick, got hurt. And that was 17 years ago. Nik remembers a call coming in to King, one that made him go tense and quiet, all sharply edged hurt. A child’s heartbreak kept carefully hidden behind a shattered mask.

Makes sense King and Janet were so desperate to find Rook--if he was one of the few family members they had left.

Nik watches Kim start over towards them, feels Carmina brush by him in a rush to meet her before she reaches the embracing pair. He glances at Hannah, around at the eyes that are currently locked in their direction. Reunions like this aren’t out of place in Prosperity, they’ve had it happen more times than they can count, especially as word got out that this place was safe, was protected.

But the last thing any of them need right now is an audience.

“I’m gonna--” Hannah makes an aborted gesture towards where Nick has joined Kim and Carmina, staring over with his mouth open, clearly catching sight of just who is standing on the steps. “You guys should go inside. I’ll do damage control.”

“Right. Yeah, it--” Janet seems to recover fastest, slipping from the hold with a quick swipe across her face that Nik chooses to ignore. “Come on.”

Nik stares dumbly at her when she turns and looks at him expectantly. When Rook does the same. He holds up his hands, points to the doors with a sort of desperation.

“You guys don’t need an escort. Just--inside there is fine.”

“You’re still in regular contact with King, right?” All business, nothing like the wild emotions of a few moments before as Janet nods sharply at his confirming grunt. “Then you need to hear everything. He’s gonna need the information.”

“But I don’t want the information.”

“Unfortunately,” Rook places a hand on his shoulder, gently but firmly guiding him to follow Janet into Prosperity’s main building, “our family rarely gives people the option of being uninvolved.”

Nik grumbles but complies. He’s well aware. King didn’t exactly give him the option of staying on base when he heard about the train, all but shoving him out the door with a boot against his ass and discharge papers in his hand. Janet shuts the door behind them, surveys the interior to make sure no one’s lingering around, before she whirls on Rook and Nik hustles out of the way.

“How could you. Years, fucking years Rook. The world was safe 10 years ago and you didn’t do anything? Didn’t call anyone?”

“I called. I called home the first chance I got.” Rook runs a hand over his head, knocks the hood down around his shoulders, scrubs his fingers through salt and pepper like it’s an old habit. “And when I found out--when they told me Ma and Dad were...I couldn’t keep asking.”

“They died not knowing what happened to their youngest son.”

“I know.” There’s a crack and then Rook roughly clears his throat. “I know. And I have to live with that. I have to carry that burden. I just couldn’t risk searching for more news if it was going to be bad, even if it had the chance of being good.”

“But King looked into it.” Nik says, Janet and Rook looking over in tandem. “King called in every favor he had trying to get information on you. And when it didn’t work, he sent me on a fucking train in the hopes that it would make it’s way here eventually. There’s no way that you stayed hidden from all that.”

“Unless you were trying to hide.”

“I wasn’t trying. It was--” Rook looks down, smooths a hand over his chest, over the familiar clothing of New Eden. “I changed. Everything was different. Where I was, who I was with...it was easy to separate myself from the outside world. Easier than re-integrating would be.”

“Is that why you didn’t talk?” Nik demands, thinking of all the times this rough voice wouldn’t come in handy. “Because you didn’t want people to fucking know it was you?”

“I was recovering.” Rook nails him with a pointed glare. “You went through the Bliss. It is harsh, even for moments. And I was far more exposed than you could’ve ever been.”

“What the fuck is the Bliss?”

Nik shares a look with Rook, who sighs and gestures to the pile of cushions in the corner.

“Let’s sit. This is going to be...a very long story.”

.O.

“So this guy leads a doomsday cult. Takes over and wrecks half the fucking county. And you fall in love with him?”

“I wish I could say you might understand if you’d lived it.” Rook rubs the nape of his neck, looking sheepish for once in the nearly two hours they’ve been sitting there. “But I know you. You would’ve shot him the first chance you got.”

“You’re goddamn right I would have!” Janet pounds her fist into her thigh. “Why the fuck didn’t you?”

“You spent seven years in a bunker with Joseph Seed?” Nik breaks in, too thrown to keep the astonishment from his voice. “I spent half an hour with the guy and I felt like he was gonna peel my skin off to look at my insides!”

“That would’ve been a different brother.”

“That doesn’t fucking help.” Nik points out as Janet shakes her head.

“So, what? Now you’re his bodyguard? And it’s still a cult but it’s like some sort of hippie commune?”

“Magic hippie commune.” Nik adds helpfully, earning himself a swat to his arm that he feels he deserves.

“I don’t think anything but death is going to separate us at this point. Not after everything.” Rook admits lowly, voice starting to take on the rough, brutally raw quality after all the talking. “But it was the best way I knew to help. New Eden doesn’t take from anyone except the Highwaymen and they’re worth stealing from. Worth killing.”

“So I understand.”

But Janet still doesn’t look pleased, arms over her chest, leaning into the pillows. She seems to be mulling something around, rolling a question or a statement around in her head, and Nik waits patiently to see what’s going to come out. Janet is smarter than he thought, even while every other sentence cursed Rook to hell and back. Asking questions he never would’ve considered and getting answers he didn’t know he needed.

She doesn’t just look like someone you should listen to, she is.

“I’m staying in Hope County. Gotta help. Not going far from family again.”

“You don’t have to.” Rook immediately counters, before wincing and lowly admitting, “I don’t think New Eden would accept you.”

“Prosperity would. Has.” Janet waves away the words and his concerns. “I’m not abandoning you again.”

“You didn’t--”

“I fucking did. I could’ve come to Hope County. I could’ve made it work. And I didn’t. I figured I had time, didn’t think the fucking world was going to go up in flames.” Janet swallows thickly but her eyes are clear. “I abandoned you. And I’m not fucking doing that again.”

“Janet--”

She lunges across the space and Rook opens his arms, their hug just as desperate once more as it had been. Nik quietly chooses that moment to excuse himself, pushing to his feet and slipping out the front door as they start to talk in hushed tones. So much had come out, so much to sort through, they could use the privacy.

Even from him.

Predictably, there’s a larger amount of people milling around by the front doors than usual. Carmina and Hannah sitting on a bench, both of them leaping from it the second he closes the wood behind him and nearly colliding with Kim and Rush when they step forward.

“What happened--”

“Is that really Rook?”

“That’s really Judge’s cousin?”

“I fucking knew something was up about New Eden.”

“Guys.” Nik holds up his hands, repeating when the questions only keep coming. “Guys! For fucks sake. I’m not Bean, asking me a shit ton of questions is just gonna get you the middle finger.”

Everyone goes quiet, though Kim frowns at him and Rush looks almost hurt by the shutdown. Hannah doesn’t seem bothered, looking around and over his shoulder before she asks one more thing that leaves him shrugging.

“What are we gonna do now?”

“Same thing we always do, I guess. Kick Highwaymen ass.”

“At least we’re good at that.” Carmina grins and Nik nods, cracking a grin.

“That we are. And it sounds like now we’ve got some real firepower in our corner.”

“So Janet is staying after all?” Kim asks.

Nik thinks of the determination in her voice. The way she locked eyes with Rook like she was daring him to argue it. The way her voice cracked and face shattered when she realized who was behind the mask.

“I don’t think even God could take her away now.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Janet’s not the only one who gets an emotional reunion with Rook; she drags him into the room Kim had given her, the two of them talking long into the night judging by the light coming out from under the door, but in the morning Nick Rye knocks and is ushered in. Sharky joins them a couple of hours later, and then Hurk, but Hannah doesn’t stick around to eavesdrop on their conversations. She heads out to the training grounds, running through her exercises after breakfast; Janet finds her there a couple hours later, swinging across the bars in slow, controlled motions, dangling from one hand for several heartbeats before moving to the next.

“Hannah, right?” she says, coming around to lean against one of the poles.

“Yep,” Hannah says easily. “Congrats on finding your cousin. Bet you weren’t expecting that.”

Janet snorts. “Not in the least,” she admits. “I thought I’d find some stories, maybe some photographs. Not

him

. But I can’t say I’m upset about the surprise.”

Hannah laughs, reaching the end of the bars and swinging around so she can hook her legs over one, bracing her shins against the next one and letting herself hang upside down. “I’d also like to apologize for Nik,” she says. “He means well, but he’s an asshole, especially when he gets an idea in his head.”

“No surprise King took him under his wing, then,” Janet replies, grinning. “He’s an asshole, too. They were probably two peas in a pod. Last night was… Not how I pictured my first day in Hope County going, but if he hadn’t pushed, I don’t think Rook ever would have said anything. So I think his meddling can be excused this once.”

“Just this once,” Hannah agrees, stretching. She’s just starting to get lightheaded, which means she can stay upside down like this for a few more moments. “So. Heard you’re sticking around?”

“Yep.” Janet pops the last letter. “From the looks of things, you guys could use the help, after the loss of the rest of your company.”

Hannah sighs. “Yeah, we lost a lot of good men and women in that crash,” she admits. “Mickey and Lou have a

lot

to answer for, and we’re going to make sure they pay for every bit of it. Our biggest problem at the moment is that we don’t have enough skilled people. We have plenty of people who are willing to help and learn - but not enough who already know what we need to them to know.”

Janet nods slowly. “Makes sense. What’s the plan for the moment?”

Hannah carefully sits up, holding herself straight before she lets herself uncurl from the bars and drop to the ground so she can stand and look Janet in the eye. “Rush is heading out to do some more recon tonight; Prosperity was attacked a while ago, he’s been making sure that won’t happen again before we focus on going on the offensive ourselves. We still have several outposts to take back from the Highwaymen, weaken their hold on the county,” she says thoughtfully. “We need to figure out where Mickey and Lou have consolidated their power, then we can hit them where it

really

hurts.”

Janet considers that for a moment, then nods. “Solid plan. So, where do you need help?”

“Depends. What’re you good at?”

“I’m good at a little bit of everything, but I’m best at sniping and interrogation,” Janet says immediately, honestly; it’s not bragging, Hannah can tell by the way she holds herself, but the simple truth. “I can also stand there and look menacing if you need to get someone to back down on something or throw them off balance.”

Hannah considers that for a moment. “I’m a sniper myself,” she says, “but I’m not that great at interrogating people. We don’t have much need for that at the moment, but we can always use another sharp set of eyes. How’s your stealth?”

Janet grins. “I grew up off-the-grid in Montana with my uncle. He was big on hunting for our food. I’d say I’m pretty damn good at stealth.”

“Great, because Jerome could use a partner,” Hannah says with a grin. “His usual partner is on bed rest at the moment - broken leg after a Highwayman cut a zipline he was using - but Jerome doesn’t like sitting idle. He likes taking the fight to the Highwaymen, setting up ambushes and occasionally hunting them down on the road.”

Janet smirks. “Sounds like my kind of man. Point him out to me.”
Hannah and Carmina spend the next week together outside of Prosperity, traveling from outpost to outpost and taking them from the Highwaymen and putting their own people in place to hold it when they move on to the next. Carmina gets better at waiting for Hannah to either sneak in and disable to alarms, or take the first shot on the guy closest to them before she goes in guns blazing. Her driving skills need no improvement, and neither do her people skills; everyone knows Nick and Kim Rye, and most of them know Carmina as well. There’s always someone wanting to catch up with her, and she gives them as much of her time as they can spare.
“You’re quite popular,” Hannah teases her one day as they slide into the coupe that Hannah had…

liberated

from a Highwayman a few days back. “Seems like everyone in the county treats you as theirs.”

Carmina flushes, but laughs. “Well, we spent six years in the bunker with most of the people from Fall’s End,” she says. “I grew up with all of them; I was born like, two days before the Collapse happened. Almost eighteen years ago, now,” she adds thoughtfully. “Jesus, time flies.”

“It sure does,” Hannah agrees. “You guys must have found a large bunker.”

“Turned out John Seed had built one beneath his ranch,” Carmina says. “Mom and Dad found it after Rook and Sharky drove off all the cultists that he’d brought in, and the people of Fall’s End moved in. They found the entrance to the bunker the day that Rook went to go confront Joseph, apparently. Dad went with him.” She goes quiet for a moment, and when Hannah glances over, she looks troubled. “Mom said everyone was really worried,” she says quietly. “They all thought he’d died - the bombs hit just after they finished with Joseph, had him in cuffs, Dad told us later. Mom said he nearly got shot when he opened the door; everyone thought the worst, that some Peggies had found us.”

“Well, obviously that didn’t happen,” Hannah says drily.

“Obviously,” Carmina laughs. “He started swearing when the door didn’t want to open, and then Boomer went straight for him as soon as he could fit his nose through the crack. That was enough to get everyone to at least wait and see; Boomer never did like Peggies, apparently.”

“Boomer… Was he the dog I saw in the pictures over the fireplace? The one with you and your mom?”

“Yeah,” Carmina says with a smile. “Boomer lived to see us come out of the bunker; sometimes, I think he was one of the only things keeping everyone from going crazy, locked up together for six years. Finally died of old age when I was ten.”

“Ever have another dog?”

“Nah,” Carmina hums. “Had some wild ones come and go, but… Not until we rescued Timber. And he’s more your dog than mine.”

There’s a bark from the backseat, and Hannah laughs, reaching back with one hand to ruffle the fur between Timber’s ears. “Nah, he likes you just as much as he likes me,” she says confidently. “You’re the one he lets use him as a pillow, remember?”

Carmina looks pleased at the thought, reaching back to give Timber a scratch herself, her fingers brushing against Hannah’s as she does. “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” she says softly, glancing back at Hannah with a small smile. “But you should probably keep your eyes on the road.”

Hannah’s face goes hot, and she jerks her head around - but she can’t help but smile at the way Carmina laughs.

Christ, she needs to get her head on straight.

“

Shit!

” Hannah swears, jerking the wheel violently, sparing Carmina a quick glance when she grunts from hitting the door. She’s fine, catching herself before returning fire from the Highwaymen on their tail. “Carmina, how many?”

“Two quads and a semi,” she shouts, a burst of gunfire accompanying her words. “Bastard in the semi has a rocket launcher, though!”

“Motherfucker,” Hannah growls, glancing in her mirrors, gauging the road ahead - it’s a fairly straight stretch, and if that idiot Highwayman gets his weapon out the window… “Carmina!”

“

What?

” Carmina asks, pulling her head back inside; there’s a

boom

from behind them, and one of the quads flips, fire spinning off of it and bodies tumbling.

“Grab the wheel,” Hannah orders, not giving her any time to argue before she stomps the accelerator, grabbing her pistol and twisting in her seat so she can aim out the window.

“What the

fuck!

” The car swerves under the sudden directionless acceleration, then Hannah feels Carmina leaning against her, grabbing the wheel and straightening out the vehicle.

Hannah takes in a deep breath, leans just a little further out the window so she can aim with both hands, the windowsill digging into her ribs, and then fires.

The remaining quad spins out of control, flipping off of the side of the road as one bullet rips through both passenger and driver, but Hannah’s already adjusting her aim, searching out the passenger of the semi truck gaining on them, firing once, then adjusting again, slightly to the right, and firing one more time. She pulls herself back into the car, taking the wheel back from Carmina and glancing in the mirror just in time to see the semi’s driver side door open, a body sliding out of it and tumbling into the dirt as the vehicle slows without a driver to keep on the gas.

“There,” Hannah pants. “Should at least buy us some time.” Carmina doesn’t say anything; when Hannah glances at her, she’s staring at Hannah, mouth slightly open, and eyes wide. There’s a flush to her cheeks, and if Hannah didn’t know any better, she’d call that expression…

No, not going there,

she says to herself firmly. Instead, she just clears her throat and turns her attention back to the road without commenting on Carmina’s expression, even to herself.

The only sound in the car is the muted sound of the radio and Timber’s panting for almost a mile before Carmina clears her throat. “Heard from Janet recently?”

Hannah nearly jumps out of her skin. “Yeah,” she says. “Her and Jerome are back in Prosperity; they’re getting along like a house on fire, according to your mom. Nik and Rook are back, too, and Janet and Rook keep going off by themselves. Nik thinks that Janet’s trying to convince him to call King.”

Carmina snorts. “Good luck with that; they both seem really stubborn.”

“There’s been some heated arguments, apparently,” Hannah laughs. “Probably a good thing we’re headed back there; more hands to help defuse the situation if it comes to that.”
The moment she walks through the front door of the main house, Hannah knows something’s wrong. Nik’s facing away from her, standing on this side of the table, Kim on the other, outlined by the fire - but Nik’s shoulders are tense, tight enough that Hannah’s seriously worried that he’s going to pull something. “What’s wrong?” she asks immediately, stepping up between Janet and Nik.
“It’s Rush,” Kim says with a quick, worried glance at Nik. “He went out to do recon a few days ago; we lost radio contact yesterday. Scouts haven’t seen any sign of him today.”

“Where?” Carmina asks, coming around beside her mother to look at the map spread over the table.

“Here,” Janet says, tapping a marked spot. “Near an old fertilizer plant. There’s been an increase in Highwaymen activity around the area, too. We think he might’ve gotten into trouble.”

“Then we need to get him out,” Hannah says without hesitation. “Janet, Rook, you with us? If the Highwaymen managed to get the drop on Rush, they told the Twins, and they’ll be there soon if they aren’t already.”

“We’re with you,” Rook confirms.

“Ready to go as soon as you resupply,” Janet adds. “I don’t like the stories I’ve heard about these two, and I don’t like Rush’s odds if they’ve got him. Sooner we get there, the better his odds are.”

Hannah nods, glancing at Carmina, who gives a single jerk of her head before leading Janet and Rook outside, Kim following them and leaving Hannah and Nik alone. Nik’s coiled tight as a spring, so tense that Hannah’s almost afraid to touch him for fear he might shatter. “Tell me what’s going on in your head,” she says after a few moments’ silence.

Nik draws in a sharp breath. “I’m pissed,” he says, voice low. “At the Highwaymen, at Rush - at myself. He shouldn’t have gone alone… I shouldn’t have

let

him go alone. I’m worried, because you

saw

what Mickey and Lou did, before the attack on Prosperity. You didn’t see the way they looked at Rush on the waterfall, how much they wanted him, his experience. You know how fucking stubborn he is, he’s not going to help them. They might kill him before we get there.”

“They might,” Hannah acknowledges. “He might piss them off, or they might decide not to even ask. Or… They tried to make a power play with Prosperity. They might try to make another one with him. They might rough him up, but keep him alive for something else. And as long as he’s breathing, we have a chance to rescue him.”

Nik offers her a tight smile, one that’s not fully reassured. “And if he’s dead? Or they kill him in front of us?”

“Then I call dibs on Lou,” Hannah says darkly. “I owe her for Danny.”
“You in position?”
Janet’s voice crackles over the comms, and Hannah calls a quiet affirmative for herself and Carmina, Nik and Rook’s coming a moment later. Hannah’s exchanged her rifle for her pistol and knife today, crouching beside Carmina on the hill behind the fertilizer plant. Janet is their ‘eyes in the sky,’ so to speak, and Hannah wishes they had another pair, but there’s already too many moving parts to this dance as it is.

Janet is stationed across the road on top of an old water tower that gives her a good view of the entire front of the plant. Rook is set up on the hill behind it, watching the back, while the other three run perimeter and interior. The Twins had sent out a taunting call over the county-wide radio station, saying they had some of the people of Prosperity - and confirming that they had Rush. Micky had said that Hannah and Nik were going to learn a lesson at the fertilizer plant, but Hannah doubted that, considering none of the Highwaymen even knew they were there yet.

“Remember, our priority is the civilians,” Hannah says over the comms. “Rush is important, but - “

“We can’t let civilians die when we can save them,” Nik finishes. Hannah can barely see him shifting in the shadows on the other side of a silo; she and Carmina are tucked up behind a shed.

“Exactly. Everybody ready?” When the affirmatives come, Hannah takes a deep breath, checks her pistol one last time to make sure the safety is off, and then gives the order.

“Go.”

Hannah can

hear

the fury in Micky’s voice over the radio, and she revels in it. Micky and Lou had clearly expected for Nik and Hannah to show up by themselves as instructed, and it had never crossed their mind that they would bring their own reinforcements. The ‘lessons’ that they had devised were trivially easy with help, and soon enough Carmina is escorting the civilians to waiting vehicles while Hannah and Nik respond to Micky’s furious demand to come meet them in the main building.

“Janet, you have eyes?” Hannah murmurs as she scales the steps.

“Rush is in there,” Janet confirms; she sounds slightly out of breath, like she’s had to switch positions to find a good vantage point. “On his knees, tied to a dolly. Two others, one in pink by the window, one in blue by the door.”

Hannah and Nik exchange a look - Lou and Micky. Micky orders them to come in unarmed, and they leave their firearms outside, but not their knives. And besides, with the Bliss-powered fruit they’ve both consumed, they don’t exactly

need

weapons anymore.

Hannah lays a hand on Nik’s shoulder as he reaches for the door handle. “I’ll go for Lou,” she says quietly, too quietly to be overheard. “Knock Micky out, cut Rush loose, and get the fuck out of there. Nothing else matters.”

Nik frowns. “You - “

“I’ll survive jumping out the fucking window if I have to, but

you

worry about Rush. Let Janet and Carmina worry about me.”

Nik hesitates for only another moment before he takes a deep breath, and then nods. He rolls his head, neck cracking audibly, and Hannah follows suit. The world starts to go yellow and fuzzy around the edges, and her heartbeat picks up, beating louder in her ears, somehow not drowning out the rest of the world, but sharpening it.

They share a look, and then Hannah kicks the door in, ducking and rolling through, heading straight for Lou. Behind her, she can hear Micky’s surprised shout, and then the sound of a fight, but she’s focused on her target, the rest of the world fallen by the wayside. Lou’s helmet is too far away to be of any use when Hannah hits her like the fucking train she blew off the tracks, her skull bouncing off of the concrete wall behind her with a sickening crack.

Lou slumps to the ground, dazed, and Hannah risks a look over her shoulder in time to see Nik fucking

break

a shotgun over Micky’s head; Micky crumples to the floor, eyes shut, blood trickling over her skin, and Nik doesn’t look back as he heads for Rush. Lou groans, and Hannah turns her attention back to the matter at hand, flipping her knife out of its holster as she grins down at Lou.

“You really thought we’d just walk in here unarmed?” she asks mildly as Lou slowly regains her senses, glaring at Hannah and struggling to her feet. “You really thought that we would listen to a single

damn

thing either of you had to say after the stunt you pulled at Prosperity?”

“We have the power,” Lou snarls, hands curling into fists - but she’s unsteady on her feet, wavering, and she makes no move to actually attack.

“Do you?” Hannah asks, amused. “Because from where I’m standing, you don’t have

shit.

Your hostages are free, even Rush - “ She can hear two sets of footsteps behind her, and sees the way that Lou’s expression twists into something even more furious - “and your sister is unconscious after Nik broke a shotgun over her head. If I had a grenade on me, that would be the only thing

you

would have, because I’d have

crammed it down your fucking throat

.” Her voice shifts into a hiss, something a lot harder and a lot less sane than she usually sounds like, but she can’t find it in herself to care at the moment. It has the desired effect, anyway: Lou

flinches

, and the look on her face is one that Hannah will cherish until her dying day.

“You’re not going to have your people or your leader for long,” Lou spits, trying to muster up some bravado, but as her eyes track Nik and Rush’s receding footsteps, Hannah just laughs.

“You’re nothing without your sister to prop you up, are you?” she asks - mocks. Quick as a rattler, she strikes, grabbing Lou by the jacket with one hand and hauling her over to the pair of handcuffs she sees glinting on the floor next to Micky’s unconscious form.

Lou struggles against her hold, but she can’t break it before Hannah’s wrestled the cuffs onto her and slung her up onto a hook conveniently hanging from the ceiling. She smirks at Lou as she backs towards the door, nodding towards Micky. “Better hope she wakes up soon,” she singsongs, hand on the doorknob. “Who knows when your Highwaymen might get the balls to come up here themselves?”

Lou’s furious cursing follows her out the door, until it’s muffled as Hannah shuts - and locks it.
Rush is all but dead on his feet by the time they get back to Prosperity, and Hannah isn’t surprised when Nik immediately sequesters the two of them away. She runs interference, bringing medical supplies and food and water while making sure to keep any concerned well-wishers - even the Ryes, who Rush has grown fond of - at bay.
Nik just had one

hell

of a rude awakening, and Hannah knows that it’s gonna take a while for the two of them, Nik and Rush, to really sort through everything that means.

Carmina fusses over her, and Hannah tolerates it with a bemused - and confused - smile. “I’m fine,” she says for the umpteenth time, catching Carmina’s wrists in her hands when Carmina tries to adjust the bandage around her upper arm again. “What’s gotten into you? I’ve had worse.”

“I know,” Carmina says, blowing out a frustrated breath. “But, I just -

Rush

got captured, okay? And tortured, and who knows what else, for the second time. And you had to go help rescue him

again

, and what if you had gotten hurt? Or what if you had gotten captured? That would be on me.”

Hannah frowns. “How do you figure? Just because you went and asked for help from Rush?” Carmina won’t meet her gaze, and Hannah sighs, shifting on the stair she’s sitting on so that she can press one knee against Carmina’s, shifting one hand to hold Carmina’s and moving the other so that she can tilt Carmina’s head until she’s forced to meet Hannah’s eye. “Rush would have made his way here eventually. The Twins were causing so much chaos, he would have heard about it sooner or later. You just made it sooner,

that’s all.

You aren’t to blame for Micky and Lou’s decisions, alright? Or Rush’s, or Nik’s, or mine, or anyone else’s but your own.”

Carmina swallows thickly. “It doesn’t feel like it, sometimes,” she confesses. “If I hadn’t sought Rush out…”

“Then the Twins would have had a stronger hold on Hope County by the time news reached him, and we would have had a tougher fight on our hands,” Hannah says firmly. “But he still would have ended up here, because Rush is a big goddamned hero, and he is incapable of sitting out a fight or turning away someone who needs help.”

Carmina doesn’t say anything for a while, and Hannah just waits her out; eventually, she nods, and Hannah offers her a small smile. “Thanks,” Carmina says. “I just - It’s hard, sometimes, not seeing this as my fault. But you know Rush and Nik better than I do, and if you say that they would have still come here eventually…”

“We’ve been fighting the Highwaymen for the past several years, going wherever there’s been leaders cropping up,” Hannah reassures her. “Micky and Lou are the latest in a long line of leaders we’ve taken down. They’re the youngest, and some of the most vicious, but we’re still going to take them down, because they’re fucking arrogant and they’re

Highwaymen.

Their people aren’t loyal to them any further than they can be bought.”

“Knock ‘em down a few pegs, and people will start deserting them,” Carmina murmurs, then grins. “You sure knocked Lou down a good bit today.”

“That I did,” Hannah says proudly. “And Nik did the same with Micky. We beat them at their own game, we refused to play by their rules - and we

won.

A lot of the Highwaymen following them are going to be questioning them, now. That’ll make them sloppy, desperate.”

“Easier to take down for good,” Carmina finishes.

“Exactly.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hannah goes on the warpath the day after they get Rush back. She has more volunteers to help than she knows what to do with at first, but it takes only a look at the map with the remaining outposts and strongholds for her to come up with a plan. “We,” she says over the clamor in the main house; she gets near-instant quiet, and all eyes on her, “are going to take the fight to the Highwaymen. We’ve been on the defensive for long enough, letting them pick the battles. It’s our turn now.”“What’re you thinking?” Jerome asks, expression shrewd.“We’re going to wreck as much havoc as we possibly can,” Hannah says simply. “We’re going to disrupt supply lines, we’re going to destroy bases - not just take back outposts, but their little camps, their hangouts, we’re going to burn them to the ground. Highwaymen like to have fun, so we’re going to take the fun out of being in Hope County.”“Now, I’m all for chaos, but we don’t have the manpower to launch a huge attack,” Sharky points out.“We don’t need manpower for what I have planned, because we aren’t attacking like they did,” Hannah explains. “Look, how bad do the bugs get around here in summer?”“Awful,” Carmina answers immediately. “Can’t get rid of - Oh.”Hannah grins. “Exactly. They’re small, annoying, they piss you off - but you can’t stop them, because half the time you can’t fucking see them before they’ve bitten you and vanished. We are gonna be bugs on the Highwaymen’s collective ass.”The people at Prosperity are hesitant at first; the Highwaymen have the better firepower, they have the better vehicles. How can they really make a difference against all that?But the more testimony Hannah brings out, the more stories she tells of times this has worked in the past - even when she has to embellish just a little - the less unsure the people she’s talking to now look. In fact, they’re starting to look eager - Sharky and Hurk’s expressions are actually worrying her a little bit.“Should I be concerned about giving those two license for chaos?” she asks Rook in a low voice when she gets a chance, nodding to where Sharky and Hurk, baby between them, are eagerly conferring about… a flaming missile launcher?Rook laughs. “Probably,” he says easily. “But the Highwaymen should be more concerned.” Something passes over his face then, and he leans in closer. “Hurk told me about his boy’s mom - she’s a Highwayman, wants out, but she’s been put into some kind of death race. You think you and Janet could get her out?”Hannah considers that for a moment. “Is it a derby? If it’s in an arena, we could make sure no one gets too close to her. If it’s on a track, though, that might be more difficult.”“I believe it’s in an arena,” Rook says thoughtfully. “Either way, Gina probably won’t appreciate your help - Hurk never did make things easy on himself. But it would mean a lot to him, and Gina might be have information you could use.”Hannah nods. “I’ll grab Janet and we’ll talk to Hurk, then,” she decides. “Thanks for bringing this up. And thanks for sticking around; I know you’ve seen a lot of shit, but you’ve been invaluable.”Rook shrugs, but his cheeks have gone just a little red. “You needed help,” he says simply. “And Joseph asked me to help you.”“Right.” Nik had said something about post-apocalyptic Stockholm Syndrome. Still, if it’s making them happy and they aren’t hurting anyone, then it’s not Hannah’s place to judge, so she shrugs. “Still, thank you. And, I suppose, thank you to Joseph as well, for that fruit. Not sure we would’ve been able to rescue Rush without it.”A shadow passes over Rook’s face, and he shifts on his feet. “How is Rush?”“Doing better, but still rough,” Hannah sighs. “Nik’s got him tucked away and not letting anyone but me and Kim near the door. I think he’s finally realized he actually loves Rush back.”“Back?”“Rush already told Nik he loved him - twice - but Nik’s allergic to commitment and thought love was a fairytale not meant for, and I quote, ‘people like you and me who stab other people in the throat on a regular basis.’” Hannah shakes her head with a small smile. “Guess he finally figured out he was wrong.”Rook chuckles. “Probably. Nearly dying, nearly having the person you love die… It has a way of making you face the truth.”Hannah raises an eyebrow. “Sound like you’re talking from experience, there,” she observes, but doesn’t push. “I’m going to go talk to Janet; keep an eye on Nik for me while I’m gone, alright?”Rook’s own smile is wan. “I will.” Hannah’s ears are ringing by the time she slides down the ladder and into the wrecked derby arena. She and Janet had stationed themselves on opposite ends of the arena, taking the place of two Highwaymen snipers, and it hadn’t been difficult to figure out that no one was supposed to survive this derby.Gina doesn’t look pleased with their interference, already yelling and cursing as Hannah approaches her, and it takes everything Hannah has - including multiple mentions of Hurk and Blade - before she finally calms down enough to admit that even though she’s good, she still probably wouldn’t have survived everyone in the derby ganging up on her.Hannah likes her fire, but she likes her information even better. As they head back to Prosperity, Gina - with no love lost for the Twins - lays everything bare.Including some information on how to get in touch with one Irwin Smalls, who just might be Hannah’s ticket to getting close to the Twins.Carmina may or may not be pacing, and her mom may or may not have kicked her out of the main house for it. She knows better than to go to the garage when she’s this antsy, or to go try any kind of target practice. Her mind is all over the place, worrying about Hannah and this risky, inside-job type of mission she assigned herself and Janet. Meeting a high-ranking member of the Highwaymen to join a fighting ring so that she could prove herself to that Highwayman and work to get more information out of him? That was a long shot, and everyone knew it.Didn’t mean it wasn’t their best shot at the moment, though.Didn’t mean that Carmina had to like it.She ends up on the outskirts of Prosperity, chucking rocks off the cliff to watch them arc through the air and disappear into the river below for lack of anything better to do. Timber is with her, head on his paws, watching her with his big brown, worried eyes. He’s the first one to realize they have company, his head snapping up, ears perked, a low boof rumbling out of his chest and catching Carmina’s attention.When she glances over her shoulder, she can’t help grinning. “Finally leave your love nest?” she calls, laughing when Nik flips her off.“Yeah, yeah, I was the last one to realize what was going on, you’re all very observant,” he says drily. “Rush is feeling better, thanks for asking.”Carmina’s grin doesn’t lessen as she scoots over on the patch of dirt she’s sitting on, leaving a space for Nik to join her. He does, dropping to the ground with a grunt, shifting around until he finds a comfortable position. “Seriously, though,” Carmina says once he’s settled, “Rush is doing good? I know it’s only been a few days, but - ““Yeah, he’s doing better. Still in rough shape, won’t be in any condition to fight anytime soon, but he’s alive. He’s in one piece, mentally and physically, and that’s the most important thing.” Nik glances over at her, and Carmina’s briefly taken aback at the calculating, thoughtful look on his face - it’s a dead ringer for Hannah’s, and that means whatever he’s thinking? It’s nothing but trouble for her. “Y’know, I’m not the only one who’s been oblivious.”Carmina swallows, hard. “Oh?” she asks, aiming for casual and falling short by a mile.“Yeah. I mean, I think you and Hannah are pretty much tied for ‘most oblivious dumbass in Hope County’ right now.” Nik’s looking at her shrewdly now, and Carmina can’t look him in the eye anymore, face hot as she looks out over the river.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says, going for blatant denial in the hopes that he’ll get the message to fuck off. She really doesn’t want to talk about the frankly pathetic crush she’s developed on Hannah in the weeks since she showed up in Prosperity and Carmina nearly shot her.Nik gives her a ‘you didn’t even try’ look. “Look, Hannah doesn’t do anything serious, because she doesn’t have any plans to settle down for a long time yet,” he says, tone serious in a way that makes Carmina sit up and pay attention. “I’ve known her for almost a decade, and I’ve never seen her act around anyone else the way she acts around you. She does one night stands, she does hook ups, but I’ve never seen her look at someone like she’s thinking about a partnership.”Carmina frowns. “Why are you - ““I’m telling you this,” Nik says before she can finish her question, which, rude, “because you sought us out. Because I’ve seen the way you look at her, and the way you’ve fought for Prosperity. Hannah would never ask you to join the company, especially not after what happened, but she also isn’t going to feel right settling down in Prosperity. If you just want a hook up, then you need to either tell her, or look somewhere else and quit looking at her the way you have been.” Nik’s voice goes blunt, hard, and he looks at Carmina challengingly.She feels herself straighten, looks him in the eye, and notes - in the back of her mind, the part that’s not currently spluttering in indignation - that he’s got a distant look of approval. “I don’t do casual,” she says fiercely. “I like Hannah, yeah - I don’t know if I love her, so I think I’m not quite as purposely oblivious as you were, thank you very much - but I don’t just want to fuck her. I like working with her, we work well together. I like doing this work, protecting people from the Highwaymen and helping them rebuild and protect themselves, and I’ll be first in line to join up with you and Rush when you guys leave regardless of whether or not Hannah and I are together.”Nik’s quiet for a moment, the two of them staring at each other, Nik appraising, Carmina defiant. The moment stretches on for one heartbeat, then two, then another, and then it breaks when Nik laughs. “Great! That’s what I thought you’d say, I just needed to be sure.”“Why, so you can give your blessing?” Carmina asks, bemused.“That, and so I can give you some advice,” Nik says. “And that advice is this: If you want anything to happen with Hannah, then you need to just go for it. Jump her when she gets back to Prosperity, or when you have a moment alone next time you two are out on a mission, whatever. But Hannah won’t be the one to make a move, because she doesn’t want something casual, and she doesn’t want to ask you to come with her when she leaves. If you want that, if you really want it, then go for it.” His grin turns sharp, wolfish. “I promise, if you literally jump her bones, there’s only about a five percent chance she’ll drop you - and that’ll only be because her hand slipped.”Hannah’s feet are dragging in the dirt when she finally comes through Prosperity’s gate. That fight had been rough; knock-down and drag-out, fighting through the waves of hopefuls who wanted to face the reigning champion. In the end, that had been harder than facing the champion himself; he’d been too confident in his shield, unprepared to lose it, and once it was gone, he’d been left off-balance.Hannah gives herself a shake, offering a smile to Nick and Hurk as she passes the garage on her way around the side of the main house, heading for her own room. She wants nothing more than to faceplant onto her bed for a few hours, maybe get a couple of warm clothes on the worst of her bruises, so she doesn’t leave herself open to conversation as she walks.That lasts until she spots Carmina coming through the back gate at the same time Carmina spots her. Carmina’s eyes go wide, her gaze sweeping over Hannah briefly, assessing, before a determined slant takes over her expression and she moves towards Hannah with purpose. Hannah’s own steps slow, bracing herself for whatever that look, that purposeful gait means.She thinks she’s prepared for it to mean just about anything.She’s absolutely not prepared for the way Carmina gets right up in her space, throws her arms around her shoulders, and literally jumps into Hannah’s arms.Hannah makes a surprised noise, managing to catch Carmina, but her knees buckle, wobble, and she registers the surprised look on Carmina’s face a split-second before they topple backwards, Hannah landing on her back and Carmina on top of her, both of them grunting with the impact. “Ow,” Hannah complains, arms locked around Carmina’s waist instinctively. “What the hell, Carmina?”Carmina looks sheepish, bracing herself on one elbow by Hannah’s head, her other hand down by Hannah’s waist. “Um. Blame Nik?”Hannah raises an eyebrow. “I blame him for a lot of things. Why am I blaming him for this?”“Because he told me I needed to just go for this,” Carmina says, expression shifting into something simultaneously unsure and determined as she leans down and presses her lips to Hannah’s.Hannah freezes, her grip on Carmina’s waist tightening without her permission; when Carmina pulls back, Hannah stares at her with wide eyes. “What - You - “ She can’t remember the last time someone managed to render her speechless, but Carmina’s accomplished it.Carmina’s cheeks are flushed, but she meets Hannah’s gaze readily. “I really like you,” she says. “A lot. And I’m pretty sure you like me, too. I think we could have something good, if we gave it a shot.”“Carmina, I - ““Nik told me you don’t do serious,” Carmina says hurriedly. “That he’s never seen you have a serious relationship before. He said you’d never make a move because you weren’t planning to stay, you still wanted to help. And you wouldn’t ask me to go with you.”Hannah scowls. “He shouldn’t have told you that,” she mutters.“No, he should have,” Carmina retorts, “because now I can tell you this: I was going to join Rush after this was over anyway, regardless of if anything happened between us. That’s still my plan. I want to help other people. And I want to see what we can make together.”Hannah hesitates still, until Carmina’s expression starts to shutter. Hannah moves hastily, one hand coming up to curl around the back of her neck, her other arm shifting to wrap around Carmina’s waist. “I - You’ve got me off-balance, here. Literally,” she says with a smile. “I’m not saying no, but… You’re young, Carmina. I know you’ve lived through a lot, but you’re seventeen - ““Just turned eighteen, actually,” Carmina interrupts. “Two days ago. Never liked making a big deal about my birthday because the Collapse happened so soon after, but, yeah.”“Okay then, you’re eighteen - that’s still young,” Hannah says. “And I… I’ve told you some of what I’ve been through. I come with… a lot of baggage, sweetheart.”Carmina grins wider than she should at the statement, and it takes Hannah a minute to realize what she’s just conceded and how. “The world fucking ended,” Carmina points out. “Everyone’s got baggage, even the kids who were born after it happened, after people came out of the bunkers. I’m not saying we get married tomorrow, but I’m willing to see where this goes, maybe have some fun along the way. What do you say?”Hannah just shakes her head, smiling. “I say I owe Nik an ass-kicking, and a thank-you,” she murmurs, drawing Carmina in closer. “C’mere.”Carmina comes willingly, and this kiss is better than the last with both of them participating, even if it only lasts a moment before Carmina seems to remember where exactly they are. “Oh my god,” she laughs. “I totally knocked you to the ground, didn’t I?”“You kind of did,” Hannah agrees. “Not that I really mind, given what happened, but… I was really looking forward to a nap before some more of your mom’s cooking tonight for dinner. Highwayman food is shit.”Carmina makes a face, scrambling to her feet before offering Hannah a hand. “I can go,” she offers, a bit uncertainly, but she smiles when Hannah’s grip on her hand tightens.“You can also stay,” Hannah says. “I am in no shape to do anything other than sleep, but I’d appreciate the company if you want to join me. Besides, if you go back to the main house now, you’re going to have to face your dad and mom's questions by yourself.”Carmina’s blush is a thing of beauty, and Hannah can’t help but laugh when she all but drags Hannah inside.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Hannah wakes up a few hours later, she has a mouthful of hair.Admittedly, whenever she did let herself think about possibly sharing a bed with Carmina, the ugly realities of sharing a bed with someone with long hair never crossed her mind.She spits out as much as she can - and Carmina’s a deep sleeper, even after everything, she notes - and carefully extricates one arm so that she can pull out the last few strands of hair. Hannah lets her hand come back down carefully, fingers gently tracing over the curve of Carmina’s cheek and jaw before her arm settles back over Carmina’s waist and she lets herself relax back into the mattress. She feels a soft smile curve her lips, and honestly… Hannah can’t remember the last time she felt this content.There’s still a lot of shit they have to sort through - the Twins are still a threat, Prosperity is still has a long ways to go before it can really prosper, and Hannah isn’t exactly looking forward to the next conversation she and Carmina are gonna have with Kim and Nick, but she is looking forward to the next time she and Nik are alone - but for the first time in a long time, Hannah finds herself looking forward to more than the next mission.It’s an odd, but not unwelcome feeling.Carmina stirs then, yawning and blinking up at Hannah, who grins down at her. “Hey, sleepyhead,” she says softly, pressing a gentle kiss against Carmina’s forehead.Carmina makes a disgruntled noise. “That’s not a proper kiss,” she complains, reaching up to pull Hannah closer. Hannah goes willingly, laughing into the kiss; they lose several long, lazy minutes to exploring each other, trading kisses as easy as breathing.Eventually, however, Hannah pulls away reluctantly when her stomach growls. “I am starving,” she admits with a laugh. “As much as I’d love to stay here in bed, I really wasn’t kidding about looking forward to some more of your mom’s cooking.”Carmina makes a face, but sighs and leans in for one last kiss. “Mom’s cooking is pretty great,” she concedes. “But you realize that she and Dad are gonna use the opportunity to ask us about what happened earlier, right?”“Yep,” Hannah says candidly. “I’m not worried, though. Well, not about your dad, anyway. Kim, on the other hand… She’ll probably threaten to feed me to the demon fish if I hurt you, or get you hurt somehow.”“Probably,” Carmina concedes with a sigh. “Do you think if we stay here for a while she’ll get bored and give up and we can grab leftovers?”Hannah laughs, giving Carmina a slight shake before rolling out of the bed. “Come on, I’ve only been here a couple of months and even I know Kim better than that. She’d just come drag us out herself.”Carmina climbs out of bed herself, grumbling the whole way, but Hannah notices she doesn’t argue. It doesn’t take much to make sure they’re presentable, and once they’re ready to leave, Carmina stops Hannah just before she opens the door. “One more kiss for good luck?” she asks, grinning.Hannah can’t help but laugh, and give it to her.Nik’s going to end up with potato salad in his eye if he doesn’t quit smirking at her and Carmina like that, Hannah decides.Dinner has been quiet so far - well, as quiet as it can ever be in Prosperity, considering it’s on the front deck with the whole settlement eating at the same time. Everyone’s been too focused on eating after a hard day’s work to make much idle chitchat, but once the initial hunger has been sated, the eyes at the main table immediately turn to Hannah and Carmina.They’re sitting next to each other, which in and of itself, is not unusual - they’ve been doing so for weeks now, after all. What is unusual is the way they’re pressed together so closely they should, by all rights, be bumping elbows with every move, every time they reach for their food or drink, but they aren’t. They share space like they’ve been doing it for years already, and Hannah can easily read the speculation in everyone’s gaze.“So,” Nik drawls, and Hannah knew he’d be the first one to break, “I heard something interesting today when I got back from the rounds with the scouts.”“Oh?” Hannah asks, very deliberately putting her fork down and meeting Nik’s gaze head-on. He pauses, suddenly looking unsure, and she has to hold back a smirk.Still, he soldiers on, and she has to give him credit where it’s due for having the balls to do so. “Yeah. Apparently, you and Carmina were rolling around in the dirt this afternoon after you got back from beating the shit out of some Highwaymen.” He raises an eyebrow, smirks. “Surely she didn’t get the drop on you?”Hannah considers him for a moment before she leans back, stretches - and very deliberately lays an arm over Carmina’s shoulders. From the corner of her eye, she can see Carmina flush, smiling, and Hannah smirks at Nik. “Well,” Hannah says, affecting a dramatic drawl of her own, “turns out, Carmina and I needed to have a conversation. After dropping about a dozen Highwaymen with my bare hands ,” Hannah bares her teeth in a semblance of a smile at that, pleased when he shifts in his seat, shuffling just a tiny bit closer to Rush, “I was a bit tired, and it was just more comfortable to have that conversation laying on the ground than it was standing up.”“And what, exactly, was this conversation about?” Kim asks wryly, in a tone that suggests she already knows the answer but wants to know what answer Hannah and Carmina will give.“About us,” Carmina says; Hannah feels her shoulders tense, straighten beneath her arm, and Hannah gives her a reassuring squeeze. “About the fact that we really like each other.”Kim raises an eyebrow, and Hannah herself straightens, meets her gaze evenly. “Is that so?” Kim asks.“Yes, ma’am,” Hannah says, kicking Nik under the table when he stifles a laugh; she can see Rush grinning when Nik’s laugh turns abruptly into a muttered curse. “I didn’t want to start anything, because frankly none of us were planning to stay around Prosperity for good when the Twins were taken care of, and I didn’t want to ask Carmina to join us just to be with me.”“But I was going to join anyway,” Carmina says, lifting her chin defiantly when Kim and Nick look at her in surprise - surprise that quickly fades into fond resignation. “Rush’s company has done good work, and after what the Twins did, they need everyone they can get. I was going to join anyway, regardless of whether or not Hannah and I got together.”“Well, of course you were,” Nick says, grinning proudly. “You’re our kid, and I’d hope we raised you right! Can’t say I’m not worried, since you’d be going so far away, but… You’d be helping a lot of people.”“She would,” Rush breaks in. “Carmina’s talented, and she’s good with people. What we do, a lot of times that’s a lot better to have in someone than being good with weapons. We’d be glad to take her on.”Hannah gives Rush a small smile, one he returns, before she turns back to Kim and Nick. “I can’t promise anything other than that I care for Carmina a lot, and I’ll do my best to protect her, and make sure that she’s able to protect herself when I can’t.”“And I’m going to do the same with you,” Carmina says firmly. “I’m not some damsel in distress - we’re going into this as partners.”Kim nods. “Good,” she says with a smile. “Now, I know that Carmina’s my only biological kid, but you guys… You’ve all come to be family for us. So I want to take this opportunity to say that if any of you ever hurt your partners in any way, I will not hesitate to feed you alive to the demon fish in that river beneath us.”She gets total silence for a few moments, and then Hannah nods. “That sounds fair,” she says. “And honestly, if I ever did anything to Carmina that would warrant that, I’d probably throw myself into that river.”Carmina gives her a small smile that’s more a quirk of her lips, but Rush is the next one to speak. “Honestly, I would do the same,” he says, looking fondly at Nik, who abruptly blushes so hard Hannah would be hard pressed to tell the difference between his face and a tomato. “And I feel the same; Prosperity has come to feel a bit like home to me, and her people like family.”Kim smiles, pleased. “Good; I’m glad that we all understand each other.”Irwin calls Hannah the next day, says he’s got a way for her to get in close to the Twins. “It’s an inside job,” he says, “you’ll be going undercover. Lots of up-close-and-personal work. It’ll be tricky, but worth it. Meet me at the coordinates I’m gonna send you.”Hannah calls Nik, says goodbye to Carmina - including a goodbye kiss that maybe lingers a little bit, but not long enough to deserve the wolf-whistle that Nik gives - and the two of them load up and head out.Hannah lets Nik drive, taking up her usual position of navigator. She waits until they’ve passed the Refinery, coasting along a straight stretch of grassy road before she reaches out, quick as a flash, and grabs Nik by the back of the head and slams his face into the steering wheel.“ Motherfucker!” he yelps, car swerving as he jerks back in his seat, hand coming up to grab at his now-bleeding nose. “What the fuck, Hannah? What was that for?”“You know exactly what that was for, you meddling old grandma,” she retorts, arms crossed over her chest as she glares at Nik. “Carmina told me what you said to her.”“You weren’t going to say anything!” he argues. “And after all the shit you gave me about Rush, I think I deserved a bit of meddling. Ow, Jesus, I hope you didn’t break my nose.”“Quit bitching, you baby.” Hannah rolls her eyes. “You’ll have a bruise, but you’ll be fine. It’ll help disguise you from Mickey and Lou, anyway.”Nik frowns, sufficiently distracted, though he doesn’t quit gingerly probing his nose. “You said this was going to be an undercover job?”“Yeah,” Hannah sighs. “Which is why I asked you to come. Irwin said it’ll be up close and personal, which means hand-to-hand combat, which you’ve always been better at than me.”“You can hold your own, but you like distance a little too much to excel at it,” Nik agrees. “You trust this Irwin character?”“Enough,” is Hannah’s answer. “I think he’s mostly out to take care of himself, but for right now, our goals align, and they’ll keep aligning for the foreseeable future. He knows what we want, I made damn sure of that.”Nik sighs, abandoning his nose for the moment and returning his attention to the road. “Alright, let’s go see what his plan is,” he says. “You gonna make me eat my steering wheel again?”“Nope, I got it out of my system.”“Good.”“Who the fuck is this?” Irwin demands when the two of them climb out of the car. “I told you to come, Long - I know you, I like you; I don’t know him, I don’t like him. Who the fuck is he?”“This is Nik Caparelli,” Hannah says, stepping up with beside Nik, her arms crossed. “And he’s going to be the man going undercover for you, because he’s better than I am at up close and personal. He’s as good as my brother, and I trust him with my life. That means if anything happens to him, Irwin, I’m coming for you. You saw my performance in the arena. You want a solo show?”Nik has to give Irwin this: He may be a shady fucker, but he’s quick on the uptake. He visibly swallows, shaking his head and taking a slight step back. “No, ma’am,” he says hastily. “I believe you, you say he’s good enough for what I have planned, then he’s the fucking best.”“So what do you have planned?” Nik asks, leaning back with one hip resting against the hood of their car, casting an appraising eye over Irwin. He wouldn’t trust the man as far as he could throw him - Even if I threw him off this cliff and he bounced the whole way, he thinks privately.“Look, you want to get close to the Twins, right? Close enough to count to their nose hairs?” Irwin apparently considers this a rhetorical question, because he barrels on before either of them can answer. “Well, I got a way to do that. Now, normally , I’d just walk you up and introduce you, but I’m… on the outs with the Twins. And you two are kind of recognizable.”“Just a little,” Hannah snorts.Irwin waves a dismissive hand. “Anyway, the Twins are all over this guy Frank, who’s the Warden of their little prison-turned-ammo factory. The Twins made him the Warden because Lou, see, Lou’s got a thing for me, and she wants to make me jealous, otherwise why else would they even talk to that little dickhead?”“Why else indeed?” Nik mutters under his breath.“So part one of the plan is, you gotta kill Frank! Why? Cause he’s an asshole! But also cause Frank is scheduled to drive in their next demolition derby - and after the derby, they have this big fancy dinner for a bunch of important Highwaymen, and the winner of the derby gets an invite.”“So how do you suggest we kill Frank and get his spot as a driver?” Hannah asks, eyebrow raised.“We sneak Nik in as a prisoner, he kills Frank and steals his gear, posing as Frank,” Irwin says excitedly. “The derby’s tonight, so we gotta move fast, but it’s totally doable. Look, when the prisoners are all out in the yard after their shift at the ammo press, Frank likes to have himself a smoke break on the roof. It’s just him and three guards then, and it’s the perfect time to kill him. You kill him, sneak across the roof and the top of the walls back to my truck, Hannah keeps an eye on you through her sniper scope, and we drive off! I drive you to the derby, you win the derby, and then take out the Twins! It’s foolproof!”It sounds a lot less than foolproof to Nik, but it also sounds like the only plan they have right now that has a shot at working; a glance shared with Hannah tells him she’s thinking the same thing, so Nik sighs, nods, and holds out a hand. “Alright, pass over the prisoner uniform you’ve got there,” he says, resigned. “I hate orange, but I guess this once I can make it work.”The world goes blurry and yellow at the edges of his vision as soon as he enters the prison, the sound of Highwayman jeers and dogs barking echoing in his ears along with the sound of his heartbeat. Nik keeps his head down, follows the guard as ordered, makes his way meekly to his assigned station and follows orders until they’re finally allowed out into the yard. Once he’s out in the open he feels a bit better because at least then he knows that somewhere out there, Hannah has her eye on him through the scope of her rifle.Nik wanders through the yard a bit until he overhears one of the inmates muttering about a confiscated shiv, and then he all but feels his ears perk up. From there, it’s child’s play to figure out where the stash of confiscated goods is and take out the single guard. He mulls over the conversation he saw between Mickey and Lou as he does so - they’re trying to figure out how he and Hannah were able to take the two of them out so quickly, he thinks, and they must have figured out that it had something to do with New Eden. He’ll have to tell Rook. He wonders who this important-looking person is that wanted to talk to the Twins, speculates on it as he snags the key and works his way back inside and through the prison, to the roof and then to the section Frank is using.He lets all other thoughts fall to the wayside then in favor of falling into the familiar rhythm of slipping from shadow to shadow, fading in and out only long enough to slip a blade between ribs or across throats before moving on to the next victim. Frank dies quickly, quietly, and Nik tucks his gear into a duffel bag that he slings over his shoulder before making his way around the rooftop and towards the front of the prison, taking out another couple of patrolling guards before using a zipline that drops him right by Irwin’s truck.Irwin manages to save his whoop of victory for when Hannah meets them at an old, overgrown gas station for Nik to swap out his prisoner outfit for Frank’s derby uniform. “Yknow, I think I liked the orange better,” Hannah muses once he’s changed, and Nik casually flips her off, grinning.“You coming with me to the derby?”“Hell yeah I am,” is her immediate answer. “Can’t drive with you, but I’ll use the comms and take a sniper’s nest, help you out from the sidelines.”“I almost pity the other drivers.”Fucking Ethan. Hannah knew Nik never trusted him, and now she knows he was right: He just fucking sold out New Eden, all because, what, he couldn’t fucking get over himself long enough to figure out why he was being denied the superfruit?She can hear the chaos reigning in the dining hall as Nik lays waste to the other Highwaymen the Twins had invited. Hannah’s already thrown herself into her own vehicle though, peeling away and heading for New Eden, on the radio back to Prosperity. “Carmina! Janet! Kim! Damn it, someone fucking pick up already!”There’s a crackle over the radio, and then Janet’s voice comes through, clear and sharp. “Janet here. What’s the trouble?”“Ethan’s a backstabbing traitor! He just sold out New Eden and the fruit to the fucking Twins, they’re on their way there now. Get Rook and Carmina and get over there, you need to evacuate as many civilians as possible,” Hannah orders, swearing as she nearly spins out around a curve in the road. “Nik and I are on our way as well, but we’ll need backup, Mickey and Lou will have brought everyone they have.”“Roger that,” Janet says, tone hard. “We’ll each bring a truck and medical supplies, meet you there.” She cuts out with a burst of static, and Hannah lays her pedal to the floor; she spots a pair of headlights in her rearview mirror, and before she can worry about Highwaymen on her tail, Nik’s voice comes over the radio.“I’m right behind you, bringing extra weapons,” he says grimly. “We’re gonna need them.”New Eden is burning around them as Nik and Rook dance in the flames, Janet and Hannah on two of the still-stable roofs and picking off straggling Highwaymen while the men focus on taking down Mickey and Lou. Eventually, Nik lands a vicious hit to Lou’s ribs that knocks her off-balance, leaving the tank of her flamethrower wide-open for Hannah to call her shot; Rook and Nik dive out of the way, and Hannah fires. Lou dies in the blast, shrieking, and then Mickey dies screaming her twin’s name when Rook grabs her by the head and twists it violently, breaking her neck without mercy.When Hannah reaches them, Janet has a hand on her cousin’s hunched shoulders; nobody says anything until Rook breaks the silence. “Ethan will have gone for the waterfall,” he says gruffly. “That has always been his goal, his denied gift. Joseph will be there, will try to stop him.”“There’s a boat just outside the gates,” Nik says promptly. “We can take that.”They do, making quick time up the river - but they’re still too late to stop Ethan. They reach Joseph’s sanctuary and the tree just as Ethan shoves his father to the side, reaching to take a fruit for himself, eating of that which was not meant for him - only to collapse, writhing, upon the ground, and then struggle to his feet and bolt into the hills.Joseph turns anguished, pleading eyes upon them, Rook on his knees beside him, and Hannah, Janet, and Nik follow in Ethan’s wake. They find a grotesque monster in a cave, the outside of the man finally reflecting the soul inside. Between the three of them, it is easy to keep him occupied and whittle him down until Hannah can strike the killing blow.Joseph appears then, as Ethan shrinks back to his former self. He’s supported by Rook, though he all but throws himself from Rook’s arms to fall by his son’s side as his son gasps wetly for his dying breath. Ethan begs forgiveness, confesses his fear, and Joseph does his best to comfort him as the life leaves his body.Though there is no love lost on their end, Nik, Hannah, and Janet stand quietly to the side as Joseph and Rook stay by Ethan until he breathes his last. They stay just as quiet as Joseph gathers Ethan’s body in his arms and carries it from the cave.Their group makes a somber procession back to the waterfall, where Joseph lays Ethan’s body beneath gently-stirring branches with reverence. “His only fault,” he says, barely loud enough to be heard above the rushing of the water beside them, “is that he was mine.” He is quiet for another moment, the wind rustling the leaves above them. Rook steps up beside him, lays a gentle hand on his bare shoulder, and one of Joseph’s comes up to cover Rook’s - from where she stands, Hannah can see the way his knuckles go white, and knows that the grip he has on Rook, the way that Rook is holding onto him, is the only thing keeping Joseph from flinging himself off of the waterfall at the moment.After a moment, Hannah lays her own hands on Nik and Janet’s shoulders, guiding them towards the path. “We should leave them to their grief,” she says quietly. The two of them make quiet noises of agreement, and make their way back down to the boats, taking one back to the smoldering ruins of New Eden.There, Hannah finds Carmina and several others from Prosperity hard at work putting out the fires in New Eden and patching up survivors; Rush is there, directing the workers alongside Kim. Nik makes a beeline for Rush, and Hannah can’t even make fun of him for it because she’s doing the same for Carmina, catching Carmina around the waist and pulling her into a tight, almost rib-breaking embrace.Hannah figures Carmina doesn’t mind that, though, given the fact that her own embrace is just as tight.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You sure you have the right coordinates?” Hannah calls, cupping a hand over the microphone to make sure that Roger can hear her.“Do I have the - Of course I have the right fucking coordinates!” Roger calls back, outraged. “That right there on the horizon is Wright-Patt Air Force base, surrounded by all the quaint little civilian farms that have been built over the last decade! How dare you question my navigational skills, cherie!”Hannah shares a grin with Carmina and Nik as Roger continues his tirade while maneuvering them towards the landing pad they’re given clearance for. He’s wound down to angry muttering by the time they land, and Hannah leans around his seat to press a kiss to his cheek. “You know I have nothing but the utmost faith in your skills, Roger,” she says reassuringly, “I was just thrown off by the amount of farms around the landing strips. Make sure you get yourself refueled before we leave, too, alright?”Roger gives her a grin and a thumbs-up. “Of course, mademoiselle! You go pick up the errant Wylde family member, and I will take good care of our transportation!”Hannah laughs and returns his thumbs-up before jumping out of the helicopter, joining Nik and Carmina on the tarmac. “So, this is where you spent the first years after the bombs dropped?” Hannah asks Nik. “Nice place.”“I was here for about a year before that,” Nik says. “Grew up down in Louisiana, got shipped up here after I enlisted. King said he’d meet us here - ““Nikolai Caparelli, you son of a bitch!”Nik’s interrupted by an older man approaching them, and Hannah knows immediately who that is - the Wylde family resemblance is strong.Nik may also have spent more than a few drunken nights waxing poetic about King’s jawline and eyes and hair and his general everything before he and Rush got together, too.Hannah doesn’t hesitate to shove Nik under the metaphorical bus and into the literal embrace of his former commander. King’s hug is gruff, affectionate, and probably going to cause problems with Rush if he does it again when they get back to Prosperity. It only lasts for a moment though before King’s holding Nik at arm’s length, eyes narrowed as he looks Nik over assessingly. “You look like shit,” he decides. “Rush working you hard again?”“We’ve been through a lot the past few months,” Nik says with a laugh. “Let me introduce you to some people first, then I’ll tell you more, alright?” He waves to Hannah and Carmina, who step up beside him. “This is Hannah Long - she’s the other Captain of Security, and my best friend.”“Don’t lie, I’m basically your sister,” Hannah says, socking Nik in the shoulder before offering her hand to King to shake. His grip is firm, and Hannah grins; she likes him already. “Gotta say, after everything I’ve heard about you, you seem like you’re ready to live up to the legends.” She dodges the heel Nik tries to drop on her foot with a laugh, backing up behind Carmina.“I take back any claim of friendship,” Nik declares. “The human shield Hannah’s using is Carmina Rye; she brought us to Hope County in the first place.”Carmina shakes King’s hand as well. “I’m Hannah’s partner,” she adds. “Your brother’s the reason I was able to be born safely.”King blinks at that, but it does nothing to disguise the sudden shine in his eyes as he smiles at Carmina in what already seems like an uncharacteristically soft manner. “Yeah, Rook’s always been a helper,” he says, laughing quietly. “Never known when not to extend the hand.”“Yeah, well, it’s about time someone extended theirs to him,” Carmina says with her own smile. “That’s what this is. We’re kidnapping you and taking you to Hope County for a visit.”King blinks again. “Come again? I thought you were just here to visit.”“Nope,” Hannah says with a grin. “I went around you, cleared it with your second; you’re free for the next few weeks to come up to Montana and spend time with your family. And Mabel gave me strict orders not to let you off the tarmac once I told you about this, or you’d get caught up in trying to give orders to take care of things while you’re gone.”King’s mouth gapes like a fish for a few moments before he manages to close it, shaking his head. “And my things?” he asks, amused. “I suppose you took care of those, too?”“Should be coming up right about… now,” Hannah says, checking over King’s shoulder; sure enough, there’s a Jeep coming up the tarmac, driven by a blonde-haired woman who waves at them before chucking a duffel at King’s head.“Don’t you come back here until you’re good and caught up with your family!” she calls after the bag, laughing when King flips her off. “Maybe even think about retirement while you’re up there, old man!” The Jeep’s gone in a squeal of tires before King can do more than splutter, and Hannah and Nik manage to turn their laughter into coughs - but not soon enough, if the glare King gives them is anything to go by.“Alright,” he sighs, defeated - but he’s grinning. “Your bird’s the one up there?”“Still running,” Hannah confirms.“Let’s go, then.”Janet’s overseeing the… slightly tense exchange between New Eden and Prosperity’s leaders when word comes in that Roger and his passengers are almost home from their expedition. “Thank Christ,” she mutters, then thanks Bean for giving her the heads-up before going to go glare Nick into submission again . Honestly, she knows that Joseph royally fucked over Hope County seventeen years ago, she knows grudges like that just don’t fade, but it’s been almost two fucking decades, and Nick’s attitude is threatening the wellbeing of people who weren’t even alive back then, even if they do live under New Eden’s name and Joseph’s guidance now.Rook’s off to the side, slightly behind Joseph’s left shoulder, the same place he’s been during this whole treaty-forming business. Janet remembers well the betrayal she’d seen in Nick’s eyes when Rook had stood there the first day - it had been seventeen years, and Nick may have thought him dead the whole time, but Nick and Rook had bonded quickly and fiercely during Rook’s time in Hope County before the Collapse - Rook is Carmina’s godfather, for fuck’s sake.Still, they’ve been making progress; Kim, at least, has managed to see past the old prejudices enough to recognize that the Joseph before them is not the one they knew all those years ago, and she’s not one to let innocents suffer for old wrongs. She just might be Janet’s favorite next to Nana and Horatio, but Nana can snipe the cigarette out of Highwayman’s mouth and Horatio can knock him into next week, so she’s a bit biased in their favor, honestly.“Alright,” Janet cuts in when it looks like Nick’s getting ready to start mouthing off again. “Look, it’s getting late, and we’ve made progress. That’s good enough for today, so I say we all take this opportunity to let our tempers cool down before we go saying anything we’d regret. Capice?” She looks directly at Nick with this last; Nick scowls at her, but when Kim lays a hand on his arm, he sighs and nods.“Yeah, alright,” he mutters. “I’m gonna go work in the garage for a bit.”“I’ll come get you when dinner’s ready,” Kim promises, leaning in to give Nick a kiss.“I believe I will go take in the view of the river behind your house,” Joseph says with a slight tilt of his head, a peace offering in so many words. He turns to Rook, gives him a smile, one that Rook returns before leaning in and -“I swear to fuck, if you kiss him in front of me, I’m gonna shoot you in the foot,” Janet says, making a face and shoving Rook in the shoulder. “Wait until I get outta sight, Jesus. Don’t nobody need to be seeing their baby cousin kissing anybody.”“ Their baby - Excuse you, I am fifty-one years old!” Rook says, outraged.“And I’m fifty-six, I’m still older than you,” Janet retorts. “You never did learn to respect your fucking elders unless you’re fucking them, did you?”Rook splutters, and Joseph shakes his head, laughing, as Janet walks off. Joseph still creeps her out sometimes, the way he looks at her and everyone else, his quiet intensity, but after seeing his grief at Ethan’s death, after seeing the way he reached to Rook for comfort and the way Rook readily gave it…Well, Janet still doesn’t like the fact that Rook’s bumping uglies with the guy, but if Rook’s happy and if Joseph treats him well, then she’s not gonna get in their way.Janet passes the time until the call goes out that Roger’s helicopter is getting ready to land helping Grace sort through their weapons; she likes the older woman, likes her sharp manner and wit and enjoys trading stories with her.She and Rook stand side-by-side as Roger expertly shimmies La Grosse Patate into position on the landing pad. Rush is one of the first ones to greet the returning troops, pulling Nik into a kiss that makes Janet want to cover the eyes of the nearby kids, but then -“Is that - ““Oh you little shitheads,” Janet breathes, then she and Rook are rushing forward at the same time that King is darting around Hannah, the three of them meeting in a tangle of limbs that should rightfully end with them all on the ground but somehow doesn’t.They’re all speaking over each other, a clamor of voices that loses the individual words in the chaos, but the words don’t matter. What matters is the way they all cling to each other, the way that King wraps his arms around Rook’s ribs and holds him so tightly that Janet sees Rook’s wince, but King winces, too, so it can’t be that bad.“What the fuck are you doing here?” Janet finally manages to ask once the initial shock has worn off. She doesn’t leave the circle they’ve made, pressed tight against her cousins, but for once she doesn’t mind the close quarters.“Nik and Hannah kidnapped me,” King says with a laugh, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to point at the guilty parties who don’t look all that guilty; Hannah beams and waves, and Nik just smirks - until Janet narrows her eyes at him, at which point he promptly scarpers while Hannah laughs. “They didn’t tell you they were coming down to Ohio?”“They just said they were going on an expedition, but usually they come back with Highwaymen supplies, not family members,” Rook says, grinning. “It’s - God, it’s good to see you, King.”“It’s good to see you, too, Rook,” King says, reaching up to ruffle Rook’s hair before smacking him - gently - upside the back of the head. “Why didn’t you fucking call?”“Ow! Damn it, I’ve already had this conversation - ““And I already told you I thought your reasons were bullshit,” Janet points out. “This is nothing less than you deserve. But, King can yell at you later, after we have dinner and he meets your boyfriend.”King’s expression perks up at that, and Rook’s expression promises her a slow, painful death.Janet just smirks.“You think we’ll be that gross when we’re their age?” Hannah asks that night at dinner, watching Janet, King, and Rook press in close together and catch up on everything they’ve been through in the past seventeen years.“No, I really don’t think so,” Carmina says, pointing with her fork at Nik, who currently has egg salad dripping out of the back of his sandwich to dribble down the front of his shirt. “He will be, though.”“Rush is worse,” Hannah says dismissively, pointing at the man in question, whose own shirt has already been condemned as a casualty of war and is now being used as a napkin, covered in barbeque sauce, coleslaw, and egg salad. “But I meant, like, emotionally gross.”“You planning on disappearing on me for seventeen years?” Nik asks, grinning.“Keep eating like that and I might, you pig,” Hannah shoots back, tossing a napkin his way. “Jesus, I know your ass was raised in a swamp, but your mama would be ashamed to see you eating like that.”Nik catches the napkin between his thumb and forefinger before flipping her off. “You love me,” he says confidently.“Yeah, I do, but that doesn’t mean you get to be disgusting,” Hannah says, flipping him off with her own free hand.“You guys are already as gross as they are,” Carmina says with a laugh, knocking her knee into Hannah’s. “Honestly, you almost make me wish I had a brother.”“Stick around and you’ll get him,” Hannah says without thinking. “We’re a package deal.”“Why, Hannah, is that a proposal?” Nik asks, delighted. “And so soon! What happened to taking things slow?”“It was a warning, you jerkwad,” Hannah says, throwing her fork at Nik this time; he ducks, yelping, and nearly falls out of his chair.Carmina laughs again, leaning in to press a kiss to the corner of Hannah’s mouth. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s enough to keep me away,” she confides. “You’re pretty damn enchanting.”Hannah feels her cheeks go hot; it gets worse when Nik coos at the two of them. Carmina’s the one to throw something at Nik this time, nailing him with an unopened bottle of water. “You’re getting the hang of this sibling thing already,” Hannah says, changing the subject.“Unfortunately,” Nik complains. “Why am I the one being abused here?”“Because you’re the one who’s being annoying,” Rush answers as he passes behind Nik on the way for more food. He leans down and presses an obnoxious kiss to the crown of Nik’s head; Nik makes a disgusted noise, but his pale complexion can’t hide the way he flushes.“Whose side are you on?” he demands, honest-to-God pouting at Rush, who just grins at him. Nik huffs. “Fine, no sex for you, see how long you take their side,” he sniffs.“We’ll see about that,” Rush says lowly, raising an eyebrow, and then stares at Hannah and Carmina incredulously when he immediately gets two globs of barbeque pork to the face. “What the - ““Not in front of the kids!” they chorus, grinning. It takes a moment, but when Rush’s expression shifts, his own hand reaching for a fork and some barbeque, Hannah grabs Carmina’s hand and pulls her out of her seat, the both of them laughing.“Run!”