One week later
Friday, December 4th, 2015
Renton, Seattle
December had dawned and they had their new business.
A Circle-K gas station and store which was located on a busy intersection in the City of Renton, a suburb of Seattle. Sunset Boulevard was constantly full of traffic almost 24-7. Dave and Mindy drove over in their new Ford F150 truck. They needed gas so Dave pulled up and filled the tank before parking beside the store. Dave led the way in, and the pair headed towards the counter. Behind the counter was a large black woman with an enormous smile.
"Hi, folks!"
"You must be Irene," Dave said, holding out his hand. "Dave Lizewski, and this is Mindy."
"You're the new bosses," Irene commented. "Yes, I'm Irene Sandford, and I take the day shift, six till five."
"Pleased to meet you."
"I'll show you both around and then we can talk about the staffing levels..."
That night
New York
"Marcus! We've bought a gas station!"
"A gas station?"
"It's a Circle-K and..."
Mindy spoke almost non-stop for a half-hour before Marcus could get a word in edgeways.
"... I just need to hire another member of staff, maybe a school kid," Mindy finished.
An idea started to form in Marcus' devious mind.
"I hope you find somebody," he said to Mindy.
Two days later
Sunday, December 6th
Boulevard Park
"You look a little stressed out."
"I am – I've got job interviews this morning, which kinda sucks."
"It's gotta be done, Mindy, and you're a good judge of character – just don't go killing anybody!"
"Funny, Dave – really funny!"
Dave was not helping, Mindy thought, but she was glad of his support.
Two hours later
Renton Circle-K
The girl walked into the office – she was number fourteen!
Mindy was almost comatose with listening to people's dreary life stories – she thought her life story sucked... If this girl was no good, then she was going to scream – or kill somebody.
"Hi, I'm Juliette Atkinson."
The girl was tall, maybe about five-foot-five and thinly built. Her hair was dark brown and came down to just below her shoulders where it was currently hanging naturally.
"Welcome. I'm Mindy – please take a seat."
Mindy waited for the girl to sit and get comfortable.
"Nervous?" Mindy asked, smiling and gauging the girl before her.
"A little – I've never had a job before, let alone a job interview."
The girl was refreshingly honest, and she seemed very genuine. Her character was gentle but firm and Mindy sensed that she appeared to be trustworthy.
"Tell me about yourself," Mindy prompted.
"I'm fifteen – sixteen in December. I like sports – mainly some of the martial arts..."
Forty minutes later
"You're hired!" Mindy stated with a grin. "Five till seven, Monday to Friday, and six hours on Saturday. How's that sound?"
"Awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Juliette seemed pleased, but then so was Mindy. She was seriously glad all that was all over as she showed Juliette out and went over to talk to Irene.
"New girl?" Irene asked with a grin as she saw Mindy's pleased expression.
"Number fifteen! Anybody else turns up, tell 'em the jobs gone. Now, I'm going home."
"See you tomorrow, Boss!"
"See ya, Irene."
Southeast 46th Way, Bellevue
The young woman burst through the door with a crash.
"Juliette, calm down! What have I told you about barging around like that?"
"Sorry, Mom – I've got the job!" Juliette blurted out.
"Wonderful, Juliette. I'm really pleased for you. When do you start?"
"Tomorrow evening at five."
The following afternoon
Monday, December 7th
East Marginal Way
Dave unlocked the door, pushing it open.
"Homely!"
The building had two sections while the entrance opened into office space on two floors. Together, they walked down a short passageway and then through a set of double doors.
"It smells!" Mindy commented, screwing up her nose.
Dave laughed and he went to find a light switch. Seconds later, several arc lights flickered to life in the roof. The slowly brightening lights illuminated a large open space. Over to their left and their right were a pair of large roller shutter doors. The place was open plan and had been used as a shipping base for a trucking company.
"A lick of paint here, maybe a grenade there – it'll be good as new!" Dave quipped.
"I'd go for six-pounds of C4," Mindy groused.
"You said the location was ideal; good access to the freeway and the river. Not to mention a direct route into Seattle."
"I did – we'll take it. Safehouse A – Seattle!"
The next morning
Tuesday, December 8th
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Arrivals
"He is going to kill you!"
"Never gonna happen!"
"Dave..."
"Can it, short-ass!"
Dave grinned as Mindy grumbled away beside him – she hated him putting her down, but in the middle of a busy arrivals terminal at an international airport, she could do nothing about it. A few minutes later, a familiar face appeared lugging a large holdall.
"Are you kidding me?" he laughed when he saw Dave's hand-written sign. "Am I never gonna live that down?"
"Doesn't look like it, Batman!" Dave replied, giving his best friend a hug.
"So, you must be Mindy."
"Yes, Marty, I am."
"You look good in the flesh, so to speak!" Marty quipped with a grin. "We never actually met before . . . at school I mean."
Dave saw Mindy go pink, but she said nothing as she just grinned in response to Marty's comment.
Boulevard Park
"Nice place!"
"Thanks, Marty!"
"Mindy, it really is good to see you safe, and as you. Dave was beside himself with worry and I was only too glad to be able to help," Marty said, before whispering theatrically. "I kind of figured out your secret identity, sorry."
Mindy laughed.
"You need anything, ever, from me – you let me know," Mindy stated seriously.
"I will, Mindy."
"I mean, anything, from Mindy Macready, or . . . her."
"I will, Mindy," Marty repeated.
That evening
Renton Circle-K
"Nice place!" Marty exclaimed as they pulled up.
Mindy led Marty inside and straight to the counter.
"Hi, Boss!" Juliette called out from behind the counter.
"Boss?" Marty queried.
"Juliette just started yesterday – I keep telling her to call me Mindy, but whoever listens to me?" she grumbled good naturedly.
"Not me," Dave quipped.
"Juliette, this is Marty, a friend of ours. Please make him welcome and chuck anything he buys, including gas, on my tab. Oh, and please call me Mindy, okay."
"Yes, Boss."
Two nights later
Thursday, December 10th
Lower Seattle
"That fucking hurt!"
Hit Girl rubbed the spot where the bullet had struck as she observed her shooter bleeding out on the black top form the hole in his head. The night had gone well until that moment, too. Kick-Ass had been facing away, checking her back and she had been distracted by the victim. The cunt had pulled out a concealed backup-piece and shot her in the chest. She hated being shot in the fucking chest!
"If that cunt bruised my tit, I'll fucking kill him!" Hit Girl growled to herself and Kick-Ass chuckled.
The victim was a young woman, in the wrong place at the wrong time, a simple mugging gone badly wrong.
"You're safe now, ma'am; he'll hurt nobody else. Don't forget your purse. 'Night ma'am," Kick-Ass said as he helped the woman to her feet.
Later that night
Safehouse A
The place was still a shell, but it at least gave them somewhere to change and hide their 'equipment'.
"We need some better suits – these kinda suck. They've done their job, but we need something stronger," Dave suggested.
"I have to agree. I love my costume, I really do, but it is a part of a previous life, two actually."
Mindy felt herself smiling inside.
"New suits – oh, this is going to be so much fun!"
"I assume they won't be cheap, if we're going for something good."
Mindy's initial excitement drifted slightly at that thought.
"Decent combat suits might cost upwards of fifty grand each, easy," she commented sourly.
"Well, we'll just have to see if anybody would like to donate," Dave suggested.
"Yeah, I like that idea."
The next few nights were spent gathering cash.
They had a safehouse to setup and new combat suits to design and order. Mindy also had ideas for new weapons and they also needed new vehicles, too. Mindy was very pleased to find that there were many willing contributors to their fund. Well, maybe not-so-willing, but as a general rule, dead drug dealers didn't need the cash anymore, nor did they complain! Marty was busy working on the safehouse. He was planning security and a host of computer systems that would make their vigilante lives easier, including advanced communications equipment. All that was going to cost big money, but Mindy had given him a large six-figure budget to play with as he set things up for them. They were determined to do it right and give themselves room to expand. They were going for 'Professional' and not 'Kick-Ass Mark One'. Above all, they had to keep each other alive while on their dangerous nights out. Marty wanted to make a new start for himself as New York was full of bad memories for him, or so he said, although something told Dave that Marty was not telling him everything. Anyhow, he was happy to move from one side of the country to another to be with them and Mindy and Dave were very grateful.
Mindy spent hours, literally, staring at motorcycle websites – Dave was sure she was actually drooling at one stage and he did notice that she changed her panties at least once while she was studying the KTM, Triumph, and Ducati websites. While Mindy was looking for suitable two-wheeled transport, Dave was looking for something with four-wheels. Between them all, they managed to put together several designs for combat suits. Mindy suggested that we should get one for Marty, but he had refused without giving it a moment's thought. He insisted that he was not ready for anything like that, but he would think about it. However, he liked the idea of training with his friends. The new safehouse would have accommodation and storage to allow for their vigilante activities and it would provide security for them in case of emergency. They also allowed for the future and there were facilities to feed and sleep about ten people at most. The majority of the building was given over to training space, vehicle storage, and maintenance. They were planning to have a large two-storey armoury, a command centre, and a briefing space. Dave and Mindy would have their own personal bedroom with attached bathroom. The ground floor office space would not have anything that might give them away; it was a front and was linked to the company that owned the Circle-K. It would give the building a reason for being and also a reason for them to be visiting the place.
It would all take time to assemble, and they knew that it would not be ready before the new year.
Boulevard Park
Mindy was buzzing with activity.
Marty thought it very funny, along with Dave, and they both teased Mindy as much as they dared while she planned and swigged Red Bull by the gallon. The girl was enjoying herself and Dave was genuinely pleased to see a smile on her face, at least during the day. The nights, though, were still a problem. Marty had asked what was going on when he had been awoken by Mindy's screaming one night. Mindy had consented to Dave telling Marty almost everything. By the end of the forty-minute expose on Mindy's attack in Chicago, Marty was shocked, and he had absolutely no idea how to respond.
"Mindy, I... Wow... Jesus... I..."
Mindy smiled and she gave him a hug.
"Thanks to you, Marty, Dave was close by to save me – without you, I would have died there. It was horrible, and even now, weeks later, I'm just glad that I have friends to help me through it all."
"Mindy, I... Anything, I can do to help and... I feel humbled that you entrust me with those events."
"Marty, you know who I am, who I really am. I trust you, and you needed to know what happened as it has affected how we operate. I am emotionally strong; I have been trained to bury shit like that away and carry on, but I am struggling with it and it will take time."
"Did you really bite off that bastard's cock and kill those men, butt naked?" Marty asked.
"Oh yeah!" Dave confirmed with a nod. "It was one awesome sight. I've seen Hit Girl killing many times – but butt naked and covered in blood..."
Mindy was blushing, badly, so Dave decided that they should all go to bed before she killed somebody.
Updated: May 2019
