Greetings dear readers, and a Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who reside in the United States.
Well, a huge apology for the delay in the update, but life has been busy. I've moved recently, necessitating a long commute to work. I'm in the process of looking for a new job, so I can move back to the city and get my own place. Basically...life has been busy. LOL
I batted this out today after I got home from a job interview. I was afraid it'd be on the short side, but it turned out just the right length.
I wrote this because a few people were asking me how Angela and Todd learned of Dave and Mindy's secret identities and how they came to join them in The Mission. Well, this is Angela's story. Todd will have his story done in the next chapter.
I'll definitely try to get updates done more often, but I can't guarantee any set time. Rest assured though, this story is being continued. Slowly but surely, I'm cranking away at it.
As you know, I love and live for reviews. In fact, it was a review today that prompted me to finally get this chapter done. LOL So, every review helps get the next chapter moved forward. :-D
As for White Mage, in case you're wondering, I visualize Ashley Greene in the role...I even hung a lampshade on the fact. LOL
BTW, the Collins Seafood case isn't a coincidence. The Kick-Ass universe definitely exists in the same universe as Dark Shadows. (And my Dark Shadows world also co-exists with Let Me In and True Blood...but that's -literally- another story. :-D)
And awayyyyy we go. :-)
"Stretch it out, Angela." Mindy said intensely. Angela, in response stretched her legs higher in the air, wincing as the straps resisted her movement.
"Three more reps." Mindy demanded. Angela grunted and complied as Mindy counted down. "Three…two…one…and done." Mindy said with satisfaction as her red-haired friend undid the straps and climbed off the Pilates machine. "Not bad." Mindy said with a smile.
"Thanks" Angela replied, taking a drink from her water bottle.
"Cool down time." Mindy ordered, and the two girls, clad only in tanktops and lycra leggings, sat down on the training mats to stretch and cool off from their workout. Mindy looked around. Angela's basement was a far cry from The Lair where she did much of her conditioning training. It also wasn't much like the small weight room Marcus had in their own basement.
This looked pretty much like what it was: a normal basement rec room with a Pilates machine. She and Angela trained here together about once a week. Mindy found it helped her maintain her flexibility and she liked how it stretched her muscles out.
"So, Jessi's going to stay with me when she gets here tomorrow morning." Angela informed Mindy.
"I thought she was going to stay at her aunt's." Mindy said.
"They have other relatives from Philadelphia staying over. So, she's crashing in my room while she's here."
"Will she wonder about you going to the party tomorrow night?" Mindy asked in reference to the Justice Forever Christmas party.
"She has her big date with Dillon tomorrow."
"Dillon works faster than I gave him credit for." Mindy said sardonically, eliciting a laugh from Angela.
"I told her that you and I would be busy tomorrow, so she and Dillon are having their first date then."
"Think there'll be a second?"
"I really hope so. Jessi needs a nice guy for once and Dillon's about the sweetest guy in school."
"I can't disagree." Mindy said as she stood up and reached for a towel. "So…Speaking of dates, with Jessi out with Dillon, does that leave the coast clear for you to bring Todd back here?" Mindy asked with a smirk.
"Mindy! We wouldn't…well…I wouldn't mind…" Angela admitted sheepishly. "Do you think that might happen?"
"Hell, Todd's totally into you. I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later." Mindy said sagely. Angela's eyes lit up at her best friend's words. She waited to see if Mindy would broach the subject of Dave. Angela had long ago vowed to never try and initiate a conversation about that with Mindy herself (she knew that was a bad idea with most girls, and with Mindy even more so) but would definitely put her two cents in if Mindy ever brought it up herself. So far, however, Mindy seemed about as likely to talk about her obvious feelings for Dave as she was likely to openly discuss their secret identities in a room full of strangers –which was to say, not at all.
Angela paused in front of a mirror and checked herself out briefly. Cheerleading practices combined with being one on of Mindy's training partners had left her in top condition. Not that she was obsessed with her body, but she wanted to look her best. Mindy took note.
"You look fine."
"Thanks. I'm not up to your standard yet."
"I started when I was five. Don't try and compare yourself to that. You're doing great."
"Well, I have you to thank for it."
Mindy smiled at her best –female- friend. "You've more than done your part." It was true. Angela worked incredibly hard when they trained and was simply the nerve center for Justice Forever. If Dave and Mindy were New York's answer to Batman and Robin, then Angela was their Oracle. And, on a more personal level, being friends with Angela had given Mindy an outlet for normal activities. Sure, she and Dave did normal stuff like go to the movies, hang out at Atomic Comics and the like. But a lot of times it was just Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl on a night off. And of course, there was the underlying fact that Dave simply owned Mindy's heart, thus adding a bittersweet tinge to their off time together. When she and Angela hung out they seldom discussed "work" and generally did things high school girls did. Together, Dave and Angela had helped complete Mindy's social development.
Angela smiled. "I still remember the night I found out."
Mindy snickered. "Shit, I thought you were going to freak out and not freak back in again."
"Hey, I was surprised." Angela retorted good naturedly.
"That's the understatement of the fucking decade." Mindy replied as she remembered. Overall, Angela had handled it very well when she found out almost two years before….
Two Years Ago
"Mindy, do you want to come over tonight? My mom's out with friends. I was going to have a Glee marathon." Angela asked in her usual genki-girl manner.
"Oh, sorry, I'm, ah, busy tonight." Mindy replied cautiously.
"Again?" Angela replied disbelievingly. She couldn't help but feel a little dejected (and rejected). First Jessi, had moved away with her family. Then, Mindy kept blowing her off. What was up with that? Even after knowing her since the fall, Mindy could still be a real enigma. She was a super athlete but wasn't on any of the teams. She was smart enough to be three grades ahead of her age bracket but didn't act like the classic overachiever. So far as Angela could tell, the only person who really was close to her was her best friend Dave Lizewski. That was another thing Angela couldn't figure out. Dave was a senior who had a small circle of friends but didn't belong to any one "group" of the usual high school cliques…yet his life –so far as Angela could tell- seemed to center around this petite blonde girl who would normally still be in middle school. Angela sighed heavily as she resigned herself to another lonely night in her room with her Glee DVD's.
"Sorry"
"It's ok." Angela said with false cheer. "Call you tomorrow?"
"Sure" Mindy replied as she watched the red-haired girl walk away. Mindy felt a twinge of guilt at having blown Angela off the way she had. Angela was really nice, if a little overenthusiastic about things. She'd invited Mindy to her birthday party –which as an extra touch of awesomeness fell on Halloween- and they'd slowly become friends since then. Mindy worried what her dad would have thought about that. She had a sad suspicion he wouldn't have approved. To Damon Macready, anything other than The Mission was a distraction. As a result, Mindy had grown up without friends or any sort of normal social life. She hadn't minded at all back then. Her dad and their Mission was her life and she accepted it as such. However, since meeting Dave and starting at his school, she'd begun to realize what she had been missing out on. To be sure, her role as Hit-Girl was the most important aspect of her life. It was what she was born to be. It was what brought Dave into her life…It was her calling. However, she now saw that her life didn't have to exclude everything not connected to The Mission that she and Dave had inherited from Big Daddy.
Mindy had begun to enjoy doing normal things as well. She liked spending an afternoon hanging out at Atomic Comics with Dave, Todd and Marty. She liked going to the movies without having to earn it by showing she could stand up to the latest training method her father had devised. And, as much many of her fellow students irritated her by being idiots, she actually had come to enjoy going to school as well. (Yes, this place was an intellectual wasteland and having to balance school and crimefighting was tough…but it gave her a challenge as well.) And she really liked having friends too. Dave was simply the best friend she knew she'd ever have. Todd and Marty were cool –in their own way- but they'd come part and parcel with Dave. Mindy found she did want to have some female friends too. It was a shame that the truth was that in a contest between hanging with a friend and going after drug dealers –which was what that night's work would be- the latter would always prevail. Mindy shook her head sadly and zipped up her purple winter jacket as she headed for the doors. She wanted to get her homework done and catch a nap before suiting up.
Later that night, she and Dave were secluded in the shadows of an alley that adjoined a garage. Sammy the Snitch's information was panning out as he said. He was definitely starting the New Year out on the right foot –and this was after his tip had helped them crack the identity of the Santa Claus Strangler the previous month.
Both Dave and Mindy were shivering with both cold and anticipation. Due to a plethora of road construction in the area, they'd been obligated to leave the Mistmobile behind for their work that night. There was simply no place to park that would allow it stay hidden. So, they'd come over on public transit, with their costumes hidden underneath some cheap sweat pants and jackets, and their masks in their pockets.
Dave grabbed Mindy's arm as there was some movement by the garage. Three men –who could best be described as swarthy looking weasels- emerged. Mindy smiled to herself. Since right after Boxing Day, they'd gotten word of a new type of hallucinogen that was being peddled on the streets. People taking it had led to a near riot at Times Square on New Year's Eve, where it was only due to extreme good luck (and prompt intervention by the NYPD, FDNY paramedics and a few costumed heroes in the area) that nobody had been critically injured. Dave and Mindy had been tracking them since the holidays. They followed their usual methodology of finding street dealers and breaking things on them until the aforementioned dealers gave up the next fish up the stream until they found the distribution centre. Mindy shivered some more at Dave's touch. Ever since she realized her feelings for him, being on patrols together was the agony and ecstasy exemplified. Mindy squeezed her eyes shut to clear such distractions (which, in their line of work were very highly dangerous) from her head. It was time to go to work.
Dave pulled a small flash grenade from his utility belt and tossed it towards the three dealers. He and Mindy then immediately ducked and crouched the other way, with their hands over their ears. Hence, they didn't see exactly where it landed…which set the stage for what followed. Unbeknownst to them, the grenade had fallen into a trash can that wound shielding the hoodlums from most of the blast.
Immediately following the detonation, Dave and Mindy leapt at the three dealers, fully expecting them to be completely stunned by the blast. However, they instantly saw that the threesome, while disoriented and surprised, were still on their feet…and ready to resist.
Dave grabbed the first weasel and nailed him with an elbow across the face. (Dave had started to learn the Keysi fighting method and was finding it was a most useful style that suited him perfectly.) At the same time, he brought his reinforced boot down on the drug dealer's knee. It was bent back with a sickening snap and the dealer fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Mindy observed her partner's work with an admiring eye. The pusher was looking at a good couple of months in the Riker's Island infirmary before he'd be walking again.
It was when they reached the second dealer that things went south. As Dave grabbed the thug and smashed the lowlife's face with a head-butt that the dealer's grabbed something out of his bag and squeezed it in a last desperate attempt to escape the relentless crimefighters. Both Dave and the dealer were enveloped in a cloud of gas. Dave instantly started choking, but maintained the presence of mind to grab the drug dealer and hurtle him face first into a nearby brick wall. The dealer fell to the alley floor, unconscious and bleeding. Dave, however, was standing exposed; clearly affected by whatever he'd breathed in. The third drug dealer was pulling something from beneath his duster. Mindy instantaneously recognized it. It was a sawed-off, double-barreled, 12-guage shotgun…and he was aiming it at Dave's head.
Mindy acted without thinking. In less time than it would take to draw a breath, she had vaulted over the second fallen dealer and barreled into Dave…at less than three feet from the armed dealer.
The twin barrels exploded in a flurry of sparks and a thunderous roar filled the alley. Smoke from the gunpowder –made denser by the hot gases venting into the cold night's air- filled the scene. The twin blasts struck Mindy beneath her sternum. She was knocked back against the brick wall. The lone dealer, thinking he'd finished off Hit-Girl, gave no thought to trying to save his two buddies. He jumped into the FIAT that was parked inside the alley and took off with a roar of the engine. The dealer hit 60 mph as he tore out onto the street. He was so full of bravado following his seeming triumph over the city's most feared crimefighters that he didn't realize the streets were icy from an earlier dusting of snow that had frozen over. His car hit the ice and went into an out of control skid. He was doing fifty when he hit the light post…and had neglected to put on his seat belt. (The responding firefighters noted –as they covered his body with a tarp- that he'd left a very large smear on the wall that he'd been catapulted into following his ejection through the front windshield.)
Back in the alley, Mindy vaguely heard a crash from somewhere nearby. She took a breath and was introduced to a world of pain in her torso. She looked down and saw that her costume had been blown open by the close range blast; however, the Kevlar underneath had done its job and saved her from being shot. What the Kevlar had NOT done was lessen the sheer impact of the shotgun blast. Mindy had taken bullets to her body armour before, but never something that powerful at such close range. She wasn't sure if anything was broken or not, but she did know that she had to have someone look at it soon…
"Hit-Girl!" Dave's voice suddenly registered with her. She looked over and saw Dave blindly trying to sit up. It was like he wasn't able to trust anything his senses were telling him.
"Kick-Ass…Are you alright?" Mindy responded, impressed that Dave had enough presence of mind to not use her real name when they weren't sure who could be listening in.
"No…Whatever that was…Everything looks like it's melting…in different colours…Keep talking though and I'll come over to you."
"Ok…come left a little…a little more…and I'm here." Mindy said as Dave dropped down next to her. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, forcing herself to ignore the pain it caused her.
"Are you ok?" Dave asked
"Kevlar stopped the pellets, but it hurts like hell."
"Can you walk?"
"I don't think I could get far enough away from here, fast enough. How about you?"
"I can walk fine, but I can't trust where I'm going. I could see a cloud coming towards me and it could be a truck about to flatten me."
"We've to get some help." Mindy concluded.
"Yeah, but from who?" Dave responded. She realized that her partner had a point. Marcus had a few days off and had gone ice fishing upstate and invited Caz along. She knew some of the numbers for Justice Forever members, but knew none of them lived –or patrolled- close enough to get here in time to help them.
"Hey" Dave said from next to her. Mindy looked over and saw him propped up against a shipping crate (the alley was bright enough from street lights she could read that the crate was for Collins Seafood of Collinsport Maine, with a smaller notation denoting they'd been canning their own seafood since 1776.).
"What?"
"When we came here earlier, I thought I recognized the neighbourhood. Didn't I drop you off here sometime?"
"What about it?" Mindy asked as she was reaching the same conclusion. She had thought of someone who lived nearby that could help.
"Isn't there someone we can call around here?" Dave sighed as Mindy removed her phone from her belt
"Yeah…But you know what it would mean." Mindy said seriously. They both knew that if she called the number they were thinking, it would mean revealing their secret identities.
"I don't see what choice we have."
"Damn straight" Mindy sighed as she began to punch the numbers.
Angela Sullivan was splitting her attention between Lea Michele's singing and her laptop. On the one hand, the actress playing Rachel Berry had a fantastic voice. On the other hand, she was trying to see if she could hack into Red Lobster's computers to get their recipe for New England Clam Chowder. (She'd once cracked McDonald's computers…and wished she hadn't. She really didn't want to know how they made their food. Although, she did like to be able to do her own Egg McMuffin once in a while.) If she could get the recipe for the soup, maybe she'd try go after something cool.
She gave a melancholic sigh. Very few people knew just HOW good she was with a computer. Her skills –and generally inquisitive nature- had nearly gotten her into trouble a few times. Once, when her mother's work as a civilian defense contractor had taken them to Kansas, Angela had almost gotten caught breaking into the computers at Fort Riley. (Angela's justification was that she was bored. There was nothing to do in Kansas. The only upside of living there was that she'd been able to start learning to drive at a very early age (as Kansas issued learner's permits when one was fourteen). Since they'd moved permanently to New York, things were a little better. (At least she'd convinced her mother to let her attend the nearby Millard Fillmore high school, rather going to an all-girl's Catholic school as her mother had wanted.) But, she still felt there was something really missing from her life. Like as if her abilities with a computer could be put to good use somewhere. If only…Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone ringing. She reached over to answer it.
"Hello"
"Angela" A painfully strained voice sounded on the other end of the line. It took Angela a second to recognize it.
"Mindy?"
"Yeah"
"Are you ok? What's the matter?"
"We need help."
"Who's 'we'?"
"Dave and I"
"What's the matter?"
"I can't tell you on the phone."
"Why not?"
"Because I can't." Mindy said with a strained intensity. "Look, we really need your help. Can you come?"
"Where are you?"
"A few blocks from your house. You know that garage on Bleaker Street, by the donut shop?"
"Yeah"
"We're around there. Can you use your mom's car?"
"What? She'll freak!"
"It's an emergency. I swear it.!" Mindy said tensely.
"Ok. I'll be there in five minutes."
"Thanks. Just pull up in front of the alley and leave the doors unlocked."
"What?!"
"Trust me. You'll understand when you see us."
"I'd better."
"You will." Mindy said as she ended the call and looked at Dave. The dye had been cast. Now all they could do was wait and hope that Angela would come through for them.
Five minutes later, a Toyota sedan pulled up in front of the alley with a screech. Inside, Angela could be seen looking around.
"Ready?" Mindy asked as she put her arms around Dave.
"Yeah…You just tell me where we're going? I could drop us both down a fucking manhole." Dave replied.
"Ok…Go!" Mindy commanded. The two injured crimefighters hurried out of the shadows, across the narrow sidewalk and into the car. Angela's head snapped around as they fell into the backseat. She hadn't even seen them. Her eyes went wide as she took in the sight. Instead of Dave and Mindy –in whatever condition she was expecting- it was Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. What the hell was going on here?! As she her brain began to connect the dots, Hit-Girl yelled at her.
"GO!" The purple-clad heroine shouted in a very familiar voice. Angela's eyes went even wider and her jaw dropped.
"Mindy?"
Hit-Girl, painfully reached up and pulled her purple wig off, followed by her mask, to reveal the blonde hair and features of Mindy Macready. "Angela…drive!" She commanded again.
With shaking hands, Angela complied, pulling the car out into the street. Luckily there was little traffic as Angela definitely could now be rated as a distracted driver.
In the back seat, Mindy had crouched down, pulling Dave (Angela could only surmise that it was Dave beneath the green mask; her suspicion was confirmed as Dave pulled it off.)
"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!" Angela was mumbling from the driver's seat.
"She's freaking, isn't she?" Dave sighed sarcastically.
"About a nine point five out of ten on the freak-out scale." Mindy sighed. "Angela."
"WHAT?"
"Ok, calm the hell down. You know who we are. That means you know we're the good guys. We're not going to hurt you or anything."
"You two…you're…"
"Yes. We know."
"What happened to you?"
"A few complications."
"Are you alright?"
"We're not sure. We need you to take us to see someone."
"Who?"
"Sting"
"STING? He's a superhero too?!" Angela screeched as Mindy realized her words had been misinterpreted.
"Yes and no. There's a hero named Sting, but he's not the one who does 'Fields of Gold'." Mindy said. "Take a left" She directed as Angela began to bubble over with questions.
"How're you feeling now, Dave?" Asked the athletic looking man in scrubs a few hours later.
"A lot less insane." Dave said with a grin as he sat up from the examination table. "What was that anyways?"
"I'm not sure. From your description it sounded some really concentrated form of peyote or maybe salvia. It seems to have worn off more or less on its own. Just rest up for a day or so and you'll be back to normal. I would like to find out what it was though. I may want to add it to my little black bag of tricks." The anesthesiologist who was known also as the crimefighter Sting (due to his preference for using darts tipped with Novocaine, Pentothal and other incapacitating agents) said. "And how's our other patient doing?" He said turning to his other examination table and pulled back the curtain. On the other side, was Mindy, sitting on the table, zipping up a borrowed sweat top with gritted teeth.
"I'm fine" She said. Sting looked at the attractive young woman with the dark hair done in a pixie cut for confirmation of what Mindy had said.
"She'll be fine. Nothing was broken, but you're going to be as purple as your costume for a week or two from the bruises." Said White Mage, a former combat medic (with service in both Iraq and Afghanistan) informed her.
"Thanks Alice." Mindy said. (White Mage was the target of much good natured teasing in Justice Forever, due to her given name and the fact that she very much resembled Ashley Greene in the role of Alice Cullen.)
"Anytime Mindy" Alice said helping Mindy to the floor. "How about your friend?" She gestured to a chair where Angela was sitting, looking like her concept of reality had been beaten like a red-haired stepchild riding atop a rented mule.
"Oh..yeah…Um, Alice this is Angela. Angela, meet Alice." Mindy said.
"Pleased to meet you. Any friend of Dave and Mindy's…" Alice said pleasantly. "Now, if you'll not be needing up any more, Sting-a-ling and I had were going for a late dinner." White Mage said with a gleeful giggle. Mindy noted that Angela actually grinned at that. She had a feeling that the two of them would get to be friends…once the shock wore off of Angela, at least.
"You two…?" Mindy asked in a conspiratorial tone.
"I'm a sucker for a superhero in scrubs." Alice quipped as she and Sting left the room, leaving the three Millard Fillmore students alone.
"So…" Mindy began sheepishly.
"You and Dave…You're Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass…I guess…It fits. I always wondered what the two of you could have in common that made you so tight. I never would've guessed it though."
"We kind of hope to keep it that way." Dave said.
"I swear I'll never tell anyone." Angela said solemnly. "But, I want to know…How'd you two start? How'd you meet?...How…" Mindy cut her off.
"Tell you what…Let's go back to your place and we'll tell you all about it." Mindy said with a smile. "Oh" She said as they walked out to where Angela had parked the car. (It was in front of Sting's townhouse that doubled as his headquarters as well as an emergency clinic for any injured Justice Forever members.) "Alice said I'm off of patrols for a couple of weeks."
"Yeah?"
Mindy sighed resignedly. "Maybe we can do that Glee thing since I'll have some time on my hands for the next little while." She finished with a smile. For the first time since learning their secret, Angela's face broke into her customary broad grin.
The Present
"So, what do you want to do when we do our girl's night out thing with Jessi?" Angela asked after they'd showered and changed clothes.
"I don't know. Maybe we can get dinner or something." Mindy said as she looked around Angela's bedroom. It was much like her own in how ordinary it appeared. The main difference was the amount of computer equipment present. Soon after learning the truth, Angela had offered her services in doing research for Dave and Mindy. As the months went by, her role evolved to essentially running their mission control. In time, other members of Justice Forever had come to rely on her services as well. Oftentimes, Angela would be coordinating and dispatching heroes to locations all across the five Boroughs.
Mindy smiled as she reflected on what had happened. She'd brought Angela into the world she and Dave operated in. As a result Angela had gone from an average high school student whose main extra-curricular interest was cheerleading, to the hyper-efficient eyes and ears of Justice Forever. In the meantime, Mindy herself now found herself doing normal stuff like watching Glee on DVD (she had to admit that although the plots were lame, she thought the singing was amazing) and having girls night out. Angela, in a trade, had helped her into her own world as well and allowed Mindy to develop a real social life outside of being Hit-Girl.
It was, Mindy thought, a most fair trade.
