Notes: This story takes place about two years after the movie Kick-Ass 2. It details the meeting between Dave and Mindy after their long separation and immediately precedes my story "Masking the Pain". I hope you enjoy it...please leave reviews!

Chapter 1 – Dreams & Portents

Not that I'm counting or anything, but it's been two years, three months, and five days since she left when I finally nearly have a heart attack that almost sends me plummeting twelve stories to become road pizza.

It starts innocuously enough. I'm on patrol and these days that means staying out of sight, usually running across the tops of buildings and looking for trouble. The days of sauntering down the street and high fiving passers-by are long gone. Heroes are thin on the ground these days, though there are still a few hardy souls out there fighting the good fight. I've decided to take a page out of the Big Daddy/Hit Girl playbook and now try to keep things as surreptitious as possible.

I tend to concentrate my efforts on areas known for criminal activity, usually planning out my attacks based on intel gathered from various sources before making a move, but I still like to do general patrols pretty regularly…I just do them from a more discrete vantage.

I had just made a jump that would have turned my stomach to jell-o back in the day. The thought makes me smile as I remember my awkward escape from Rasul's across the rooftops which also happened to be my first meeting with Hit Girl. Of course the mere thought of Mindy immediately turns my smile into a frown. I wonder for the thousandth time where she is and what she's doing.

"Snap out of it Dave," I mutter to myself, "time to stop being such a whiny little bitch."

I had just shaken my head clear of morose thoughts about my former partner and was crouching on the edge of the rooftop when I see it.

A flash of purple to my left sends a jolt through my nerves that I swear feels like I'm being electrocuted. Of course I immediately turn to get a glimpse at what it is without even thinking of where I am.

By now I'm confident enough with the heights that the sudden shift in balance shouldn't be too detrimental to my equilibrium - except of course for the fact that I am *certain* the flash of purple is *hair*. That literally halts my breath in my throat and stops the hand that I had been reaching towards the ledge for a surer grip. It sounds stupid, but I start to hyperventilate and I swear I can feel my chest constricting. It's like the world is collapsing in on me and everything seems to be happening in slow motion. Thankfully some part of my back-brain realizes that I'm starting to fall backwards towards the pavement below and it's only this that saves me from a broken neck, or worse, as my hand flies out automatically and my fingers manage to grip onto a nearby fire escape before I twist away from the building.

I slam into the side of the fire escape with a loud bang and wince at the pain that starts to blossom along my ribs. As I hang there in midair for a second I try to catch my breath, closing my eyes and forcing myself to breathe. I also try to force myself to think clearly. It's just the damn hallucinations.

For the last couple of months I have been starting to have 'visions' of Hit-Girl, or at least that's how my damn irrational hopes are interpreting them. I only catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, usually just a flash of purple or a petite form that seems to trigger some long buried memory. At first I was overjoyed, but then I started to worry, I knew they couldn't be real and I thought I might actually be going crazy. Over the past week or so I haven't had any 'visions' at all so I was starting to think that maybe whatever demon had been inhabiting my id had finally left. I guess not.

Pulling myself up onto the fire escape I climb back to my perch and scan the horizon, trying to stifle the hope that is once again blooming in my chest along with the pain. Nothing. Yup, just another damn hallucination. I breathe a heavy sigh, uncertain whether it's good or bad that it's not real.

Then I see it again.

This time it's farther away, but unless I am actually at home dreaming or having a full-on drug trip then this *has* to be real. There is definitely someone running across the building tops with practiced ease. In the dim light and distance I can't make out colours anymore and the details are indistinct, but I can tell it's a petite person with a cape and flared skirt.

Before I can even form a coherent thought my body takes over. I'm off and bounding after the receding figure with a recklessness that would give me pause, even with my newly acquired skill with heights, if I was allowing myself to think clearly.

The figure leads me on a merry chase and I can't tell if they are trying to evade me or just like traipsing across the city rooftops with apparent abandon. Either way I have a hard time keeping them in sight and nearly despair once or twice when I lose them in the hazy distance, only to breathe a sigh of relief when they reappear again, slightly farther ahead.

Eventually we end up in a neighbourhood comprised of run down warehouses and industrial sites and are forced down to street level due to the distance between buildings. I drop with a soft thud and scan my surroundings. This is a bad part of town, but there hasn't been any specific criminal activity to draw me here in some time. The relative lack of civilians around here also means that it often gets a pass on my regular patrols.

I can't see the figure I've been following, but I'm certain that I've descended at nearly the same point they had used. Now my job becomes much harder, I have to figure out where they've gone in the maze of buildings and fenced-in lots that surround me.

A cursory scan of the neighbourhood doesn't yield much information. Everything seems pretty quiet and the roads are empty of traffic. I start to walk slowly forward, continuing to scan the area as I approach the nearest building. It is an empty warehouse and a look through the broken windows doesn't reveal anything of interest.

I continue with a quick search of the nearest buildings, but when nothing pans out I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. If this has been simply another mirage produced by my addled brain then it's been the most vivid and consistent one yet. That's enough to add a slight edge of panic to my thoughts - maybe I'm finally losing it.

If it had been real, though! I close my eyes and clench my fists at the possibility that she was real and I've lost her. If only I had been faster! Even if it was real, though, I can't let myself fully believe that I had seen what I really wanted to see, I'm not ready to have that long-held hope finally dashed to pieces, but even if it was nothing more than a copy-cat I have to get to the bottom of it.

Taking a breath I decide to try a different approach. I've made some modifications to my uniform and equipment over the years that I've been alone…without a partner I need every extra advantage I can get. I ended up adding both extra armour for protection and a few gadgets that make life a hell of a lot easier. One of them might come in handy now.

Pulling the thermal rifle scope from my 'utility belt' I quickly scan the area. No one appears to be hiding in the darkness immediately around me, but I pick up some heat signatures at the far end of the scope's range. No telling what they are, but at least it gives me a direction to look in.

I sprint towards the area, but slow down as I start to get close. There's definitely something going on here, but I can't tell if it's just some late night unloading or something more nefarious.

There's no immediate sign of another masked figure, but I do see several guys taking crates out of a truck and leaving them on the loading dock elevator. I pull out my scope again and try to get a look at what they're unloading. There are no markings on the crates and they look pretty generic so I have no idea if this is above-board or not.

I start getting antsy as I wait, trying to decide what to do. I have no reason to think this isn't just a legitimate drop off of cargo and I don't want to completely lose any chance at finding the rooftop runner if I can help it. I am just about ready to get up and look elsewhere when a shadow detaches itself from the far corner of the building and approaches the two men. They have no idea anyone is there and I'm rooted to the spot as I watch the scene.

There is a gleam of light against a blade and suddenly the figure is on them. With two swift twirls and an artful twist the blade flickers in the darkness and the two men drop where they stand. They didn't even know what hit them. I hear a light whistle as the figure quickly twirls the blade in the air and a small spatter of blood hits the wall and then she is inside the building. I say "she" because I know it *has* to be her. There's no one else that can do that, not with the style and ease I just saw.

I finally come to myself and sprint towards the entrance. This is it! This is really fucking it! Mindy is back!

When I plunge into the building everything is chaos. I grin. That's my girl!

When I look around I notice a few crates that had already been moved into the warehouse and opened. They're full of semi-automatic weapons and my eyes widen a little. This is big stuff. Among my other more pressing (and personal) questions I wonder how Hit-Girl knew about it…and why I didn't.

Shaking off my questions for now I move on to where the chaos seems to be thickest. I don't even need to defend myself at this point, so far every thug that had been between me and the action has been taken care of. As far as I'm concerned this just confirms my suspicions about who is here. I guess some things never change.

I pull out my batons and wade into the action. I still can't see Hit-Girl, but I decide it's high time that Kick-Ass makes his presence known.

I lash out at the knees of the thug immediately before me and he drops like a sack of lead. One more bash to his face and he won't be causing any more trouble.

The strangled yell he gave as he fell warns two of the guys who were in front of him and they turn to face me.

"Shit! It's another one, someone get the damn guns out of the crates and put some holes in these fuckers!"

I decide I don't want to give them the chance and throw a baton at the face of one of them while I step in towards the other and smash my remaining baton across his face. His jaw crunches and some teeth go flying and I follow up with a bash to his gut, finishing him with a quick stroke across his neck as he falls.

I crouch and spin, picking up the baton I had thrown and then rise up directly beneath the man starting to recover from the throw and smash both batons across his neck. He gurgles for a moment before dropping to the ground.

I turn to face the rest of the room, but there's not much left for me to do. I can't see any thugs still standing, though there is a significant amount of blood splattered against the walls. I pause as I try to find the petite figure I had followed into the warehouse, my heart stopping for a moment as I consider the possibility, however unlikely, that she is lying among the fallen.

"Better move your ass!"

I look towards the far end of the warehouse where I see another entrance. A small figure wearing an all-too familiar uniform is standing there leaning on a bladed bo-staff and my heart stops as she gives me a cryptic smile.

"Things are about to get hot in here."

With that she turns and races out the door.

"Hit-Girl, wait! What the…?"

That's when I notice the flashing timer she had placed near the door on her way out. Shit. Time to hustle!

I turn back towards the entrance I came in by and make sure I put some distance between myself and the building. Despite the distance I manage to cover I'm still thrown into a stumble as the whole place erupts behind me in an explosion that's bigger than anything I've seen that wasn't in a god damned movie. Turning to look, my eyes go wide. The whole place has erupted into a giant ball of flame, the delivery truck and cars in the immediate vicinity are also caught up in the inferno and trigger their own smaller explosions.

Shit, she always did know how to make an entrance…and an exit.

My thoughts immediately return to Hit-Girl. Where is she? I can't see clearly to the other side of the warehouse against the glare of the flames. It'll also take me a while to circumvent the destruction to get over there. That's when I finally see a shadowy form limned by the flames sprinting away from the inferno in the opposite direction.

It's her. But where the hell is she going? Why the fuck isn't she turning around?

"Hit-Girl!" I scream, but she obviously can't hear me from this distance and over the noise of the destruction still raining down around us. I haul ass and try run so that I'll cross her path, but by the time I get to the other side of site she's nowhere to be seen. The darkness has swallowed her up completely and I have no idea where she may have gone.

I just stand there, dejected and confused. That *had* to have been her. There's no way any copy-cat could have done what she just did…it was flawless. That just leaves me with one question.

What the hell is going on?