Authors Note: This story will be my twenty-second (published) story.

Synopsis: This story is based on the Hit Girl and Kick-Ass characters from the original Kick-Ass movie but exists in an alternative universe. Dave Lizewski is ten-years-old. Both of his parents are dead having been killed in a car crash. He has been in temporary foster care for two months and he is not enjoying himself one bit. His life changes, one day, when an eight-year-old girl moves into the same foster home. The jury is still out on whether the change is for the better!

The Foster Home

Dave was not happy.

The foster system sucked, but he knew there was nothing he could do about that – he would just have to tough it out for another eight years. The home he was in was some kind of halfway house where kids stayed until they had more permanent foster allocations. The other three kids, all boys, were okay, but he generally did not get on with them; he never felt like he fitted in.

That morning though, all was going to change – his life was going to head in a very different direction.

..._...

"Get your fucking hands off of me!"

It was a young girl's voice, full of malice.

"Don't talk like that, young lady; it is not nice and not very lady like..."

That was Grace, the lady who 'ran' the foster home with her husband, Frank. Dave liked Grace, she was nice and Dave had no reason not to like her. Frank was okay too, so he had no complaints. However, Grace did not tolerate swearing or bad behaviour, otherwise their place was comfortable and very homely.

"You may not have noticed, but I am no damn lady!" The girl continued in the same tone of voice.

I peered out of the living room and caught sight of a short girl with blonde hair.

She was maybe a couple of inches over four feet tall, with a slender body form and as I caught a glance at her face, quite cute. She was also raging, which just made her look cuter – at least I thought so!

"Dave!"

Oops, Grace had seen me.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Could you take Mindy upstairs, please? She'll be in the room next door to you. Help her to get settled and then let her know about my rules. Thank you, Dave."

The girl, Mindy, scowled at me, pushed past and headed up the stairs. She was lugging a large pack with her. I followed and found her at the top of the stairs glaring at me.

"Where now, Dave?"

"Err, second on the right – I'm in the first on the right..."

"Great!" The girl growled, pushing open the door to her new bedroom.

I followed her in. The room was small, with just a bed, a built in cupboard, a desk and a chair.

"I've slept in worse places I suppose..." She mused.

"I'm Dave, Dave Lizewski..."

The girl sat down on the bed and then she reluctantly held out her hand.

"Oh for God's sake! Mindy, Mindy Macready."

"Good to meet you, Mindy. First time in foster care?"

"Kind of."

For a moment I thought that I had caught a view through a chink in her armour. There was a vulnerable girl behind all the bravado.

"How old are you, Mindy?"

"More goddamn questions! I'm eight. I'm a girl. My parents are dead. Oh, one more thing – I hate goddamn questions!"

"Sorry!" I said defensively holding both hands up in front of me.

Mindy continued to glare at me.

"Err, rules. No swearing – in bed by nine. Up by seven-thirty for breakfast. Shower at least twice a week. No using up all the hot water. Laundry in the hampers by nine each night. No food in the bedrooms. Err, oh yeah, you must be in the house by seven, each night and you are not allowed to go out until eight the following morning."

"Cool – house arrest!" Mindy said and then stared at me. "Could I have some privacy, please, Dave?"

'One strange cookie!' I thought as I left the new girl to her own devices.

"Hey, Dave!"

It was Carl, a twelve-year-old kid who had been there for about a year.

"Huh?"

"Was that the new girl?"

"Yeah – bit of a nutcase, if you ask me!" I responded.

"What is she, like seven?"

"Eight, apparently."

Mindy never appeared in the dining room at lunchtime, so Grace asked me to take a cheeseburger up to her room.

Food in the bedrooms was against the rules, but Grace often bent the rules for new kids. I gently knocked on Mindy's door. There was a flurry of activity inside the room and then the door opened a crack.

"Yeah?" Mindy asked somewhat defensively and then her shoulders slumped when she saw me and she opened the door. "It's you!"

"Grace asked me to bring you some lunch – you must be hungry."

Mindy actually smiled.

"Thanks. I am a bit hungry."

I turned to leave.

"You... You can stay if you want."

I considered that and decided that I had nothing to lose. What bad could come from getting to know the new girl? She seemed too little and too young to be capable of causing any trouble. I sat down on the bed and watched as she crammed the burger into her mouth as fast as possible – she must have been starving!

In a rare pause between chewing, Mindy asked a few questions and made a few statements.

"Sorry for being such a bitch earlier..."

"Hey, it's your first day!" I replied.

"... How old are you?" She asked.

"Ten."

"Been here long?

"Two months.

"Is the warden okay?"

"Grace? Yeah, she's good."

"That wasn't a bad burger – at last the food seems good here!" Mindy commented when she had finished.

Mindy was thin, but she obviously had a good appetite. She had a typical young girl figure; straight up and down without any hips. It occurred to me that without the long blonde hair, which was currently in a ponytail, she could pass for a young boy.

I picked up her plate and headed for the door.

"See you tomorrow, Mindy, night."

"Night, Dave and thanks."

..._...

As usual I was in bed by nine, as was almost everybody else – including the new girl in the room next door. There was some movement, but then there was silence. I fell asleep quite quickly as I often did.

It was dark when I awoke for some reason. Had I heard a noise? I looked at the clock beside my bed; it was around two in the morning. That was when I heard a noise outside and as I scrambled out of bed to investigate, the new girl, Mindy, came to mind – no idea why. I pulled back a curtain and looked out of the window. There atop the wall at the far end of the backyard, I could see a small shape. I caught a fleeting glimpse of a blond ponytail as the figure vanished into the darkness. Oh well, she had seemed quite a nice girl.

I doubted that I would ever see her again.

The following morning

When I descended the stairs for breakfast, I was considering telling Grace about Mindy.

But as I entered the dining room...

"Morning, Dave!"

Mindy was grinning at me as she helped herself to some pancakes.

"Err, morning, Mindy... You sleep well?"

"Slept like a log, right through," she replied in what was obviously a blatant lie.

"If you say so..."