“Hayes, Evans, hang back for a moment.”

  Nicole paused, the commanding voice of Fire Chief Grayson catching her off guard. With Carlos back in New York to help in the aftermath of the test Syn attack on his home turf, she no longer had him to act as a reasonable buffer between herself and the local elements. Thankfully she wasn’t alone, Grace had volunteered each and every day with her, and was doing all the training right alongside her to ensure she was ready to help.

  Moreso, she was concerned about some of the footage that had come out from her recent near death experience and how many people might recognize her when out on the job.

  Then again, most of the department now knew that she and Grace were Rangers, which meant a completely different set of problems. Nicole had caught more than a few of her fellow firefighters staring when they thought they wouldn’t be caught, but at the same time they were a pair of unusually fit girls that could keep up with the best of the boys. She wasn’t sure if it was celebrity worship, or just generic horniness that was to bme there.

  The decision to out herself to the team was a calcuted one, and she stood by it. That Grace made the call to do the same meant she didn’t have to endure the attention alone. Add in the Syn attack that happened immediately after and it no doubt convinced everyone that no, it wasn’t an eborate trick.

  Even nearly a week ter, not one of her coworkers had leaked her identity. That alone was more reassuring than any words that could be spoken, and was part of the reason she trusted them nearly implicitly.

  Nicole might have stood at attention, but she was still winded from her drills and more than a little sore besides. Still not an excuse to be rude, however. “How can we help you, Chief Grayson?”

  Rather than the confidence that Nicole expected, Grayson rubbed the back of his head almost apologetically. “I know you’re busy with the recent attack, but there’s this charity thing coming up that I think you’d be a good fit for. Interested?”

  “That depends,” Grace cut in a bit forcefully. “What will this event entail?”

  Chief Grayson sighed. “It’s a food drive for the victims of the recent Syn attacks. The mayor is asking for various fire and police districts to volunteer some people and you two were the first that came to mind.”

  Which meant he wasn’t asking for Nicole and Grace specifically, but for their alter egos. Better to get the implicit question out of the way before assumptions took over. “Would we be expected to appear in uniform?”

  Of all the reactions Nicole expected, ughter wasn’t it. “Oh no, nothing of the sort. Just wear your usual department tees and some comfortable pants. The biggest headache you’ll be dealing with are a few rich assholes looking for some photo-ops.”

  Grace crossed her arms with a scowl. “That’s still quite the headache, especially for something that is weeks te at this point.”

  The chief let out a raucous belly ugh. “Well, you’re not wrong, but these things take time to organize. Just look on the bright side. The two of you are basically fireproof.” He punctuated that pun with an obnoxious wink. “Even if you were to tell the Mayor and his biggest donors to fuck off, there’s no way in hell I’m sacking you two. You’ve saved too many lives for me to even consider it.”

  Well, that was… Something.

  “Don’t write a check you can’t cash, chief,” Grace said with a chuckle. “Still, nice to hear you have that much faith in us.”

  The chief waved off the comment. “I’ve seen you both in action, it’s hard not to. You’re two extraordinary women with hearts in the right pce. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  Nicole wrapped an arm around her girlfriend, pulling her close. The hitch in her voice had been slight, but Nicole wasn’t about to take any chances when it came to one of the main pilrs of her life. Sure, she might be able to count several pilrs of support holding her life together now, but it was Grace that held that central position.

  Was that healthy? Probably not, but as with most things in Nicole’s life, it was a work in progress. She had reasons to seek out the coming dawn, and no matter what they might be, they were worth it if they saw her through.

  “I won’t let her forget it,” Nicole said, gncing at her girlfriend from the corner of her eyes. Then she feathered a chaste kiss upon Grace’s cheek. “Not now, or ever.”

  With cheeks now dusted with crimson, Grace pushed a snickering Nicole away, but couldn’t hide her soft smile fast enough. Yeah, they were doing all right, all things considered.

  “Ha! You two are adorable, you know that?” Grayson said with a hearty guffaw. He spped Grace across her back, getting a soft grunt from her girlfriend in the process before he leaned in and dropped his voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “Also, if you feel like having your colorful friends drop by, just ask and I’ll make sure nobody catches the ol switcheroo.”

  Nicole avoided sucking in a sudden breath, but it was a near thing. Poker was hardly Nicole’s game of choice, as she could not bluff for shit. Grace was a bit better, having kept her sexuality secret from her southern gospel parents for years, but the sudden tension in her shoulders was impossible to miss.

  It was no wonder their identities were so damn flimsy if they reacted like that around someone who already knew. Nicole shuddered to think what she might do when accused by someone that she absolutely didn’t want to know.

  A heavy thump sounded behind the rather reluctant Ranger as she turned from the counter. There were a bunch of kids that were interested in the fire department, but most of them were over by the trucks. Nicole was working the counter where most of the adults could pay for overpriced die cast trucks for their kids, or drop off donations. It was easy enough work, and all the profits would go towards the charity hosting the drive.

  Nicole tried to ignore that said charity was one of Sincir’s.

  The man himself was present somewhere, not that he had bothered to approach the unimportant girl running one of the donation stands. That hadn’t stopped him from making eye contact the one time he’d been close enough to do so.

  Grace dropped another bag of ice, breaking it apart so it could be added to the tub of water bottles and soda on offer before leaning back with a groaning stretch that was accompanied with a series of cracks and pops more akin to a mess of bubble wrap being destroyed by an enthusiastic toddler. Nicole regarded her girlfriend with a bemused eye, hiding her mirth as best she could.

  Which amounted to piss poorly if the responding pout was anything to go by. Well, she could at the very least extend a peace offering in the form of ice cold fluids.

  With a huff, Grace joined her at the counter, accepting the offered bottle of water gratefully. “You’re lucky you’re adorable.”

  Nicole couldn’t help but turn, leaning back against the counter with an amused smile. “It probably wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t constantly showing up the rest of the boys.”

  “A girl’s gotta show her stuff,” Grace said with a huff, then flexed her arm. Nicole couldn’t help but stare at the coiled muscle rippling across the limb, her mouth going dry to the point she involuntarily licked her lips. “And that’s the other reason I’m doing it.”

  Blinking, Nicole realized she had been set up and spun quickly, resuming her work on sorting the invoices for the donations. Thankfully the food drive was only accepting cash donations, not mass amounts of expired goods that she’d seen donated the st time her school did something even remotely like this.

  Seriously, where did elementary kids find enough expired cans of red beans to fill a pallet full of the things? That had to be someone’s idea of a joke, or they had a retive that worked in a grocery store. If the prize list hadn’t excluded expired goods as contributions, they would have won handily.

  Rumor was that the beans were instead used for lunch ter that week to pad out the chili, but nobody ever proved there was a shred of truth to the whispers. Hell, the lunch crew themselves probably spread it for their own amusement, their own urban legend that somehow made it onto the evening news.

  “I’ll admit, this isn’t what I expected when we volunteered,” Nicole said, trying to put the image of toned muscles flexing with a glistening sheen out of her mind. “At least the rich snobs are keeping away from the volunteers.”

  Grace walked over, and leaned against the counter as she looked across the way. “I still can’t believe you talked the others into showing up in uniform.”

  Nicole turned, letting herself lean against Grace a bit as she regarded the rest of her team. Jeff, Devon, and Kay were surrounded by the majority of the rich and important people in attendance, which was a welcome reprieve. They could deal with Sincir for once, even if he was putting on an act for everyone.

  A little boy stepped up to the counter, escorted by a police officer. Said boy wore a guest pass signifying he would be on the stage ter for the photo op. There were a couple of such kids in attendance as guests, all of them having lost a parent or sibling at the Renfaire or during the battle that tore apart half of Anoka.

  It bothered Nicole that they were doing that, but she understood that publicity helped get money to the victims. That Sincir was matching every dolr donated, in addition to a rather sizable donation of his own was not lost on her.

  “Hey there,” Nicole said, forcing a bright smile even as her heart broke anew once she got a closer look at him. “What can I do for you today?”

  The boy shifted for a moment before the officer sighed. “He expressed interest in a fire truck.”

  “The Bck Ranger saved me,” the boy said meekly. “That makes fire fighters cooler than cops because she is one.”

  The officer ughed. “Yes, I suppose it does.”

  Grace grinned, handing over one of the rger engines. “It’s on the house, little one. Enjoy.”

  The kid’s face lit up as he accepted it, professing his thanks before he ran off towards the actual fire engines, a beaming smile on his face despite everything he had been through. Grace settled in beside her, smiling brightly.

  “There’s some good in the world, despite it all,” her girlfriend whispered.

  “I don’t remember his face,” Nicole admitted with some shame. “Was he the boy that lost his father, or someone I never noticed as I carved through a machine?”

  “Does it matter?” Grace asked.

  Watching the boy, Nicole decided that it really didn’t.

  “I’m not looking forward to the stage event,” Nicole muttered. Granted, she wasn’t sold on the pn, but for now it was working as intended.

  Grace grimaced. “Me either. Like, I get why we need to do it, but I don’t fight aliens for the fame and adution of the masses.”

  No, they fought them because humanity was doomed if they didn’t, and still pretty screwed even if they did. It was a band aid solution, but it was also the best they could come up with until they knew more about why the Syn were attacking. Sincir’s theories were only just that, and it wasn’t like Maraline was opening up about the grand ambitions of the Syn armada currently sitting in orbit of the pnet.

  Would asking nicely actually get answers out of the woman? Nicole wasn’t certain, but until Maraline enacted whatever pn she had to get information to them, she wouldn’t know. It wasn’t worth dwelling on, and Nicole knew she needed to accept that.

  So instead Nicole pushed off the counter and rounded on her girlfriend who was still leaning against it. It wasn’t often that Nicole took the lead like that, but sometimes it was nice to shake things up. Grace’s pupils dited in momentary surprise, then she smiled up at Nicole. Grace was a few inches taller than her, which made the shift in their dynamic all the more electrifying.

  “Hey,” Nicole said, her nose brushing gently against Grace’s.

  Grace pushed forward slightly, their lips brushing gently in a chaste kiss. “Hey yourself.”

  The moment was precious and perfect, which was why she jumped in surprise when something heavy dropped to the counter right beside them. Nicole spun with her harshest gre, only to be met with the shit-eating grin of the Chief.

  “Sorry, did I interrupt something?” he asked completely unapologetically.

  Nicole huffed, pulling away from her girlfriend but not before sending her a look that hopefully conveyed a sense of ‘we will continue this ter’ before finally gring at her cm-jammer of a boss. His grin was unrepentant and the harshness of her gaze rolled off him like water off a damn cobra chicken.

  “Nothing that you haven’t watched a hundred times online,” Nicole snipped.

  It was a bit unfair, but who hadn’t watched lesbian videos? Well, straight girls and gay guys probably didn’t have those sort of numbers, but the point stood.

  “You got me there.”

  And point proven.

  “How long until the presentation?” Grace asked, and thank Sappho for her timely interruption and convenient changing of the subject. “We’ll need to slip away ahead of time to make it less obvious.”

  The Chief just ughed. “All you two need to do is start smooching again then scurry off hand in hand while giggling. Nobody will even question if the two of you are the missing members of the colorful set.”

  That…

  Huh. Would it really be that easy to hide their exit? Gncing at her girlfriend, it was clear she was considering the idea. Nicole shrugged, open to it if she was, and got a beaming smile in return. Well, it looked like they had their exit strategy, now she just needed to get the nerve to actually deal with the politicians, not to mention avoid the temptation to be fashionably te.

  Sure enough, most people watching them go right back to being all lovey had just rolled their eyes when they made to excuse themselves. Those same people had immediately started to whisper excitedly when the Bck and Red Rangers had arrived on the scene. Unfortunately, all the rich snobs and politicians had also noticed their arrival as did the news crews.

  Even Minnesota’s Governor had put in an appearance, and unlike the Mayor, this was a man that she practically despised. That was why she timed their arrival so that they would already be on stage, as were the kids from earlier. She didn’t want to deal with him in a one on one situation out of the way. No, she would confront him in the light where all could see.

  When Nicole’s team made room for her, it stopped most of the proceedings. Nicole was nervous being in front of so many cameras, especially with her makeshift gear on full dispy. It was also impossible to hide the Sincir Industries logo on the breastpte. No doubt the gossip circles would be abuzz, and Sincir himself appeared exceedingly giddy at the sight of his company logo on full dispy.

  “Well if it isn’t the hero of the week,” the Governor excimed, his smile so fake that even a natural twenty couldn’t have saved it from a perception check.

  At least she didn’t have to smile back, what with the helmet that hid her face completely. “It’s a pleasure, Governor Burall.”

  It really wasn’t, he’d only won the election due to his extreme rants about defending against the Syn, and then done nothing in the face of the attack that led to Nicole’s parents dying in the chaos as everyone fled in a panic.

  Sure, Nicole understood now better than most that baseline humans could do little in the face of the invaders, but helping the victims of the disaster should have been their highest priority, not increasing funding for the police that couldn’t even dent the baseline model of automaton.

  He was half the reason Nicole struggled for money, what with how he cut off support for victims of the attacks that weren’t directly killed by the invaders. The aid package was stonewalled in congress, then vetoed by the man when it didn’t include certain things he wanted. It was still in limbo the st time she checked.

  If only she could go off on the bastard for it, but this was hardly the pce. She couldn’t voice those thoughts without risking the entire charity drive, something that Burall wouldn’t normally support if it was government sponsored. Hell, if it were up to him most of the money would end up funneled into a fake charity where one of his kids was making seven figures and only ten cents on the dolr went to help the actual victims.

  So if she squeezed his hand just a bit too tightly, who was she to fault such a mistake? He couldn’t quite hide his wince, but held that false smile though the handshake. Humans were a bit squishy after all and Rangers often didn’t know their own strength in social settings like a charity event.

  “Quite,” he said, a bit strained before he shook Grace’s hand as well. This time he actually whimpered. Now Nicole wished they actually were off somewhere kissing passionately instead of dealing with rich assholes. “Always a pleasure to host our hometown heroes.”

  “It’s the first time we’ve met,” Grace said.

  Oh, how she could just kiss her girlfriend for that opening and Nicole decided to hell with it with the perception and kicked off the pn a touch early. “Second for me.”

  “Oh,” the Governor said, turning back to her and angling himself so he didn’t block the news camera, “when was this?”

  Nicole’s grin inside her helmet was every bit as unpleasant as the bite in her words. “Shortly after my parents died in the attack st year and you swore you would help the victims,” she said, then tapped her chin. “Only that help never came, now did it? Something about a veto as I recall…”

  “Well,” the man said, now visibly uncomfortable. “I’m sure you’re aware of why I couldn’t let that version through…”

  “Oh, I am,” Nicole said. “Something about forcing a provision that would fuck over several people I care about?”

  She could admit that pressuring the guy like this was all too fun, but there were limits, even if she was keeping her voice down. Even the mayor was struggling to keep a straight face at this point and Sincir had given up on trying.

  “Maybe this will serve as a reminder to our elected officials that today’s neglected may become tomorrow’s Rangers,” Sincir said, patting the man on the back. “Something I certainly haven’t forgotten, and I am happy to say that I’ll be doubling my current pledge to show that I can put my money where my mouth is.”

  “Assuming the money isn’t mismanaged,” Kay muttered under her breath.

  The Governor actually had the audacity to scoff at that and gred at the Green Ranger. Nicole only wished she could see whatever expression was on Kay’s face as she pointedly ignored the gring old man and somehow didn’t break down ughing like her boyfriend had.

  “That is very kind of you, mister Sincir” Nicole said cheerfully before turning to face the Governor once more. “Thankfully there won’t be a repeat of my own mess with these most recent victims, now will there?”

  “No, most certainly not!” the Governor decred. “I’ll see to it personally that the funds raised today aren’t misappropriated.”

  Sincir raised an eyebrow, but kept his mouth shut otherwise.

  Well, if nothing else Nicole could use her newfound fame to ensure nobody else in her city was neglected by the system. To punctuate that, she turned and left the Governor’s side, walking over to where the most photogenic of the victims had been instructed to sit on the stage and took a knee right in front of them.

  “Hey kids,” Nicole said, her voice soft. “I know what you’re going through, and I want you to know that I won’t let them treat you like I was. You won’t be forgotten or neglected. That I can promise you.”

  Because Nicole refused to let another kid suffer like she did.

  Pendragoon