ron

As I stared down three of the most dangerous people in the Eighth, the only thing I felt was...a deep calm. A sense of purity. Like...for one of the only times in my life, I’d really, truly done something right. Three sets of eyes were fixed on me with a burning, almost painful intensity. Three bodies tensed as time stood still.

“...If yer gonna shit on us, at least open yer fucking eyes.” Mary Sue Springfield. The older of the Springfield Sisters, the two girls chosen on sight by the Demon in the Garden of Madness, Warmaster Marigold. A rising star in the Vindicares, and one of the magical girls that enlisted about when I did. They said she could pick up a handgun and make a snap-shot at a fly three hundred yards away and nail it every time. Asked her to show me once. She called me a pussy for ‘pickin’ a faggot gun’ and did it with a huge fuckoff revolver instead. Same revolver I was going to be facing down any second now.

“...I trusted you, Wendy. What the fuck.” Annie May Springfield. Mary Sue’s younger sister. One of the Officio’s top Eversors, and Miss Marigold’s spiritual successor. Always had an air of nonchalance to her, but when Annie got serious...when Annie was serious, she’d tear someone’s throat out with her teeth for the sheer violence of it. Whole world around her turned into a bloody Hell that made my worst nightmares look like... ...made them look like some of my better nightmares. ...Not as squeamish as most people.

...The two of them together are almost as frightening as Ol’ Batshit. Even I was a little worried, and until about two seconds ago, we’d been best friends.

...Then there was the third. Amber ‘Magical Guro’ Nakajima, whose smile had turned chilling; her yellow eyes devoid were completely of warmth, and they had an unnatural glow that may have even rivaled Annie’s. Amber was a story we told the FNGs even before she contracted at gunpoint a couple of months ago. Used to be an assassin, and one of the handful of normal humans with the balls to hunt magical girls. Had a reputation for cutting them up. Keeping them alive for days, so she could see how we worked. Never stopped smiling, either. ...Eightball’s got a thing for crazy bitches.

I took a long drag on my cigarette, relishing the tension in the air. I could hear both of the Springfield sisters’ hands on their revolvers as I opened my mouth to speak. To explain what had just happened.

Ron. All terminals. Three dora. With Riichi, that’s-

A gunshot rang out, then another. Then a lot more. I kicked away from the table instinctively as my side of it got the everloving hell shot out of it by .45-caliber bullets. The Springfield Sisters moved in perfect time, each blasting away six of the tiles I’d set out in front of me.

“Well now, I thought you needed thirteen tiles in your hand, Wendy. I only see one, ‘n the one you took from me.” Annie smirked down at me, then blew on the barrel of her gun with entirely needless showmanship before tucking it back into her jeans.

“Don’t even know how ta play Chinese Poker.” And across the table, Mary clicked her tongue, doing the same with a little shake of her head. The two exchanged a look, then leaned in to fist-bump.

Nakajima’s eyes narrowed. Recognized the look, from the few times I’d hung around her for more than a couple of minutes. Something had just clicked in her head. She stood up a little bit, then leaned in, all the way over the table, snatching Annie’s tile away from the shattered remains of my side. She slipped it in with her other tiles, then flipped the whole thing onto the table at once, giggling.

“Ron!”

---

Game night became a weekly Alpha Team tradition, eventually. A way to blow off stress from a week of Ol’ Batshit’s extensive gardening/murder regimen. Wasn’t actually any of Alpha Team’s idea, though; Nakajima came up with it, probably because she was bored. She joined the Eversors right after she contracted, but her reputation – and presumably her on-the-job methods – put anyone off from working with her after about a mission. Started hanging around Alpha Team, since Annie and Mary were the ones that brought her in. Guess you could say she was our fourth member, though Miss Marigold didn’t have any interest in training her. Said she could tell at a glance Nakajima was low-blooded, or something.

We just don’t ask questions when Miss Marigold talks, most of the time. It’s all flowers and crazy incomprehensible Southern bullshit.

...Mahjong was the first thing we tried to play, but it didn’t go over well. I picked it up watching Triads back when I’d just joined the Officio, and I didn’t explain it all that well. Figured Annie’s inner Japanophile would kick in and help, but she didn’t seem to have a good grasp of it either. Poker went a little better, but Nakajima got bored with how much you don’t actually play when you’re playing poker. ...Probably didn’t help that Mary kicked all of our asses at it pretty handily. Mario Kart ended up as a competition between Annie and Nakajima every time we’d pick it up, and Monopoly...

We don’t talk about Monopoly. Fuck Monopoly.

...They were still good times, though. Even if we couldn’t find anything that was fair, exactly. Ended up in a couple of fistfights, but every week, it was a few hours of screwing around with...with my best friends, I guess. Doing normal things. ...Something I hadn’t done in a very long time.

Eventually more people started to join up. Crazy bitches Eightball found. Girls that couldn’t work in normal units. We’d invite them to screw around with us on game night, and slowly, we got to know each other. ...Kind of found each other for missions. Other outcasts to watch our backs. Guess I’d had Annie and Mary since just a couple of weeks after I joined, but...

...We all knew what it was like to be alone. And none of us would have wished it on anyone.