A Child of Russia
Chapter 01
Piece after piece, Hitgirl stabbed the sections of glass into Mother Russia, the adrenaline boost coursing through her system. The burst of speed only lasted for a short moment, but by the end of it, Mother Russia looked like a pincushion of flesh, glass needles protruding all over her front.
Slowly, and with a brief, faltering attempt to right herself, the Russian fell forward to the floor, driving the glass even further into her vital organs as she crashed.
It was only then that Hitgirl heard a singular, desperate scream of "NOOO!" reach across the hall. It was ignored, like all the other sounds of the noisy hall, until a body rushed suddenly into view, going right up to the huge woman's side.
Startled, Hitgirl took a step back from them, before taking in their appearance. It was a young girl, 9 or 10 years old at most, rapidly and quietly whispering "No" over and over in Russian, turning the woman over onto her back. Hitgirl felt dazed, the adrenaline quickly leaving her system with a wave of tiredness crashing through her in its wake.
Why was there a little girl here?
She leaned carefully over them, not really wanting to kill the woman with the child present. Reaching out to pull the girl back, Mother Russia's hand suddenly shot up and grabbed her, pulling her down with an iron-tight grip.
Panic filled Hitgirl, and she quickly grabbed another one of the pieces of glass and stabbed it into the woman's upper arm, but the Russian barely flinched. "Girl," She coughed, blood dripping out of her mouth. "This is my child. You take care of her. This is your task now; you have taken my life, now you are responsible for hers." The grip had steadily weakened until her hand simply fell limp, but Hitgirl just sat there in shock.
Wait, what? She had a child?
She'd just killed that child's mother?
She'd just killed that child's mother. Like her own father had been killed. That was…
Hitgirl fell back. Mother Russia quietly whispered to the child in Russian, who simply sat there listening, crying quietly. She had caused those tears. Her. Hitgirl. Mindy. She'd killed someone's parent.
Oh God, what had she done?
Mother Russia's eyes closed, as her laboured breathing began to steady. After a few more moments it stopped, and the girl crying above her just stared in shock, as though expecting her to wake up again. Tears continued to stream down her face, her eyes wide open.
Something else occurred to Mindy. She had to look after this child now. That was what Mother Russia had said, right? She was responsible for her. She had killed Mother Russia, a name that made her choke even as she thought it, and now she had to care for the child left behind.
She wasn't ready to take care of a child..! She was 15, for God's sake. Children needed… Toys and hugs and things, and… And…
Holy fuck, she'd just killed the child's mother and now she was expected to look after them. If that had happened to Mindy after her own father's death…
She was gonna be dead by tomorrow. Fuck.
Hesitantly, Mindy reached out a hand, before pulling it back again. Better not, she didn't want to lose it after all. Instead she called out to the little girl in Russian. "H-Hey," She began, falteringly. "W-What's… What's your name?"
She didn't like this, not at all. She felt totally out of her depth. Normally she felt so in control, she knew what needed to be done and did it. Now though, it seemed as though everything she thought she knew was wrong.
"Maya." Came the whispered reply. "She said I must follow you now." Maya continued, her voice seeming to barely register what was happening. "Why? Why must I follow you when you killed her?" The girl's voice broke into sobs. She didn't understand. Mindy didn't really understand either, but she felt the warrior in her answer: Mother Russia wanted someone she knew could protect Maya. Mindy was that someone.
"She knew I could protect you." She muttered outloud. Maya's eyes finally left the corpse to stare at her. They were both in disbelief.
Finally, the girl shakily stood up. "I hate you," She whispered, her voice so full of conviction that a chill went down Hitgirl's spine. "But she told me to follow you as I would her, so I shall." She wiped her eyes, the blood on her hands staining her cheeks red.
"What is your name?" The girl asked, standing tall over the sitting Hitgirl. She stared for a moment, uncertain how to answer. It felt as though whatever she answered, would be her final decision. Whether to give her real name or her superhero name, it was a choice of whether to honour her commitment and give up her "normal" life, or leave this little girl and be no better than those that had killed her own father.
Fuck that, she was better than that scum.
"Mindy. Mindy McCready." She said quietly, standing up. Sorry Marcus. She thought to herself, but she'd made her decision. She was gonna help this girl, even if it killed her.
"Better known as Hitgirl." She added, feeling her confidence return even as she spoke. Sure, she may not exactly be ready for taking care of a kid, but she could do anything. And she wasn't going to let anyone else take care of her own messes.
"Very well, Mindy. I am ready." The girl nodded, breathing in and out shakily. She obviously was not ready, but her bravery was something Mindy could appreciate. She decided to give the girl the benefit of the doubt.
The two of them were both covered in blood, but that didn't bother Mindy much. She'd never been too bothered by the sight of blood, and frankly they had bigger things to worry about. She wondered whether she should go and talk to Kick Ass, but after a moment she decided not to. Explaining this would be too much work.
They needed to get out of here and get back to Marcus's house for the moment. From there she could plan ahead on what to do. How to deal with this.
Walking over to one of the corpses she'd left behind, she ripped off a bit of the unstained clothing, and used it to rub off some of the larger patches of blood covering her from head to toe. They needed to clean up a bit before leaving, just to avoid drawing unwanted attention.
Looking over Maya, she leant down and, more gently, began to clean her off with the rag as well. If anyone asked she'd just say they'd been at a Halloween party. Nevermind that it was May, and the little girl wasn't in any particular costume apart from blood.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she began to think. They needed a plan. If at all possible she wanted to keep Maya as secret as possible - if the police found out about her, they'd take her away, and Mindy was point-blank not letting that happen.
That precluded telling nearly everyone. Marcus could be trusted of course, he'd always had her and her father's back. The problem was Dave... She wanted to trust him, she really did, but he wasn't exactly the best at keeping secrets. And lord knows he was awful at anything remotely resembling an actual interrogation. No, she couldn't trust him.
Maybe if it'd just been her life in the balance, but Maya's as well? It was too big and too important a secret for him to be trusted with it, and frankly there was just no need for him to know. She would deal with this herself.
She could leave him a note or something, maybe. Give him some sort of explanation as to her absence.
Something to say why she couldn't be with him.
No time to think of that now. She had to get back to Marcus's. Pulling out her phone, she texted him the emergency code and the word "home", she needed him to get there quickly. This couldn't wait. Looking at Maya, who'd been watching her patiently, she spoke.
"We're going back to my home for the moment. I have a friend who's meeting us there, he'll help us plan."
"How're we getting there?" Maya immediately asked, Hitgirl felt a bit surprised at the question.
"My bike, It's hidden a block from here." She answered.
"Good. Backup plan?" Maya said succinctly. Hitgirl blinked, backup plan? What were they needing a backup plan for?
"What do you mean?" She asked after a moment. Maya stared at her.
"A backup plan. In case something happens and we get separated, or you die. We always had a backup plan." She explained quietly.
Hitgirl rubbed the back of her nervously. Big Daddy had always taken care of things like that, but it was true she was always given instructions for a worst-case scenario...
"So, ah, what was your backup plan for tonight?" She asked, unable to look Maya in the eye as she asked. She wasn't comfortable even thinking about Mother Russia.
"Get out, hide for a time at a Safehouse, and kill everyone that knew about me as soon as possible." The girl said passively, and without emotion. Mindy nodded.
"That's a good plan, stick with it for now. I'll give my house's address. You can trust the person that lives there - A tall black guy, called Marcus. Trust no one else." She said with a firm nod, taking out a small notepad.
"If you get into trouble, this is also my private Safehouse. It's heavily stocked and defended, but only use it in emergency situations if you can help it. And destroy the address after you've remembered it." She said, quickly writing down the two addresses, along with the Safehouse's password. She made a point of giving the safehouse that Kick Ass didn't know about, lest the little girl kill him unwittingly. She didn't want that to happen.
The girl glanced at the piece of paper for a moment, before nodding, ripping it up and putting it in her pocket to burn later. So far she didn't think much of this Mindy girl. She couldn't understand at all why her Mother had told her to follow her. It didn't make any sense to her, none at all.
This was her Mother's killer. Maya should have been taking vengeance not… Not joining up with her. It didn't make sense.
But it was her Mother's dying wish, and she would respect that to the last. Even if she hated it.
She wanted to cry, but not in front of Mindy. She wouldn't let her see. Wouldn't show her weakness.
She wanted her mother back.
So! What do you think? This is a concept piece that I thought up a while back. I find the idea of Hitgirl trying to raise a little girl very intriguing, though I don't really have any idea of where to go with it.
But what do you think? Any interest?