I try and act normal and as perky as always when I return to school, but the thought of Killa7 possibly being out there planning the next course of torture is always in the back of my mind. Mindi is concerned, not sure what im feeling, I don't talk much, too focused on how I'm gonna kill the fucker.
"Kyle, you okay bro, you're spacing hardcore right now." Sam says.
"I'm fine." I reply dryly. He doesn't say another word though, no follow up questions. He knew I was lying, but he didn't want to push. When the school day ended, the ride back to the Warehouse was bitterly silent, Mindi didn't know what to say, I didn't really want to talk, it was a mess.
"Kyle." She says, as we enter the warehouse.
"Yeah."
"I'm worried for you." She says, bottom lip quivering, "You're a totally different person now."
"Sorry." I reply. She begins to utter something but gives up and sits on the cot, in silence. I sit at the bench and continue thinking of how I'm gonna get this fuck. Then I hear sobbing from the cot, Mindi's sobs. I glance over at her and see her staring at her lap, crying. I get up, walk over and sit down next to her and put my arms around her.
"Kyle, I don't want to lose you."
"You won't" I state.
"But I already am."
"No you aren't." I reply. She says something incoherent then, through her sobs. I kiss her, I needed to keep her from crying, this would only make things worse.
"I love you Mindi." I say, looking into her eyes, "You will NEVER lose me." I add. She waits a second before nodding quickly and leaning in and kissing me,
"I just don't want him to destroy you. He'll get what he deserves, we're gonna get that fucknut." She says, I nod and caress her face, wiping her tears from her cheek.
"You know," She says, laughing a little, "Im usually the one telling people who are crying to stop being such a pussy. I guess even I have to be a pussy sometime." She says, I chuckle before laying another long kiss on her lips.
Mindi and I are suited up and patroling like normal, looking for genuine issues as well as any word about Killa7. It was hard for me to focus on anything more than my hands crushing his windpipe and watching him choke to death, but Mindi kept me in check mostly. Mindi led me to an alleyway where she heard something that sounded like a call for help. Sure enough there was a woman standing in the middle of the alley surrounded by four guys. Without a word we drop down, catching the fire escape railing to slow our decent, before hitting the pavement. I pulled my clubs off my back and readied them,
"Four guys on one girl? Come on boys, thats cheating." I say, one of the guys smirks at my comment,
"Bring it on tinkerbell." He says, I roll my eyes,
"RING THE ORIGINALITY BELLS!" I yell before swiping one of them across the cheek with my club, sending him careening into the side of a dumpster. Mindi sweeps one of them out and goes into a flip, landing a crushing blow on the goons neck with her calf. My second guy threw a wild haymaker at me that I blocked with my left as he threw another that I blocked with my right before driving a hard left hook into his cheek. The guy stumbles back before sending a heel kick into my chest, lifting me off my feet and sending me slamming into the cold and unforgiving pavement.
"Fuck." I wheeze, getting to my feet and catching my breath. The guy rushes forward with a knife, which I deflect upward with both hands before driving my knee into his stomach and and upercut into his chin. He crumples to the floor as I bring my club down onto his forehead, cracking his skull. As he bled out onto the ground, I watch Mindi drop kick the last guy out of the alley and into the street, where a taxi takes him off his feet and soaring through the air before slamming to the ground. We turn around to the woman, who throws a punch at me that I deflect upward.
"What the fuck lady?" I ask her, astounded, Mindi sweeps the woman out before dragging me to the fire escape so we can bail. When we reach the top I see him, Killa7 dressed up in a red and black suit toting a Thompson submachine gun, such a theatrical guy.
"Oh, Hit Girl, Hood, good of you to join us." He says, waving the tommy around.
"Us? I just see you, and us." I say, my teeth grit as hard as possible, thats when I see the lasers pointing to my chest, Mindi's as well.
"See? Us!" He says, giddy, "Now lets get down to business, shall we?" He continues.
"Im gonna fucking tear your-" I begin before Killa7 fires the tommygun right above my head.
"Lets keep the theatrics to a minumum, that alright darling?" He asks, smiling crazily. He paces a little bit.
"What do you want asshole?" Mindi asks, clearly getting tired of his shit too.
"I want both of you taking a dirt nap, I could easily just shoot you both in the face and be done with it, but I'm not too content with that. I wanna have a little more fun than that, I propose a game. Similar to the one I made you play last time, only this time instead of Hit Girl being on the line, key parts of New York, HEAVILY POPULATED parts of New York are. Are we ready to begin?" He asks. I look at Mindi,
"What do you want us to do?" I ask, having to play ball now that people were involved.
"Pretty simple concept, survive. Show up at designated spots around the city and fend off some men. Miss one spot, and well...BOOM." He says, chuckling.
"You're a fucking nutcase, you're gonna waste your own guys just to play a game?" I say to him,
"Oh they've been given...incentive...to conform to my wishes. Lets say their families are on the table too." He says, chuckling even harder.
"You're a sick fuck." Mindi says to him, He throws his head back and full on laughs.
"Says the one dressed up in a purple superhero costume, killing people everynight. Ta Ta kiddies." He says, turning around, "I'll be seeing you soon." He adds, menacingly, before leaving. The laser sights disappear soon after. We approach the ledge to find a cell phone with the words, "We'll be in touch", taped in a slighly extravagant note.
"This is fucking bullshit." I say to Mindi,
"We'll have to play ball, we can't let any of those people get hurt." Mindi says, punching me in the shoulder before leading me away.
Mindi and I enter the Warehouse without a word, I was still thinking about how close I was to him, how ready to kill him I was. I've never wanted to kill someone so badly.
"Kyle..." Mindi says to me, snapping me out of my trance.
"Yeah babe." I say turning to her and giving her a warm smile,
"What happens...what happens if I miss one and people die?" She asks. I caress her cheek,
"Then we'll hunt that son of a bitch to the end of the earth if we have to." I say. She nods, giving me a light peck on the lips and breathing deeply. I grab hold of her hands, they're cold as ice. I bring them up to my mouth and I breathe hot air onto them, smiling at her. She's struggling to hold her smile back but its not long before she lets it slip out.
"Fuck you, thats cheating." She says, shoving me into the counter, but I am still holding her hand so she comes with me.
"Is this cheating?" I ask, kissing her deeply and placing my hands on her waist. She breaks the kiss for a second,
"Yes, but I kinda like this cheating." She says, before diving right back into my lips. The amazing kiss is interupted by a phone ringing, its the phone Killa7 gave us. I glare at it before picking up,
"Hello heroes! Time to begin the game, get to the riverside, where you had that unfortunate incident with the police officer that got shot last year. You'll find a welcoming brigade, you have twenty minutes." is all that is said before he hangs up. I grab a club and we head off.
We reach the riverside, the memories of Mason, having to shoot through him, good times? Anyways, we head onto the sidewalk where the fight took place and instantly two cars hop the curb and empty themselves. There are at least eight guys, each toting baseball bats or other blunt instuments.
"Well this should be fun?"Mindi asks, slight fear surprisingly in her voice.
"Did you bring a gun?" I ask, Mindi shakes her head, which explained the fear. The first guy steps up to the plate, swinging his baseball bat wildly at me, which I duck under before driving my leg sharply into his kneecap. The guy yells out as he collapses to the ground, I grab the bat and toss it headlong into the crowd, scattering them but catching one of them in the face. Two down, six to go. Mindi jumps into the air, transitioning into a back kick that launches a guy off his feet and to the asphalt. She spins around as soon as she hits the ground and roundhouse kicks the next guy in the face before back handspringing away to give ample space. I drop down and sweep the next guy out, pulling my club out and swiping him across the temple. Five down, three to go. One of them pulls out a fucking machete, A FUCKING MACHETE, and swings it at my head. MY FUCKING HEAD. I duck under it before kicking his hand to release the machete into the air. I catch it by the handle and swing it across the guys chest, slicing it open before I heel kick him off his feet and to the ground. I toss the machete to Mindi, who swings it at her guys kneecap, slicing the bottom half of his leg off. She then goes on to throw the machete like a throwing knife, sticking the next guy in the leg on purpose.
"Get the fuck out of here boys." I say, sending them off, we couldn't kill them if they were forced. The phone rings again, I pick it up with haste,
"Well well well, you guys went a little soft on them didn't you?" Killa7 said, chuckling maniacly.
"We did as you asked, how many of your games do we have to play?" I ask him, I hear him laugh on the other line,
"Only two more, don't worry, you'll be home before school tomorrow. Speaking of which, the next is in Times Square, get moving, I'm giving you thirty minutes on this one, best not waste it." He says. I hang up and we sprint off. It takes around 28 minutes for us to reach Times Square but once we do, its already not looking pretty. We've never had to fight in space that open in front of that many people, so many witnesses. This had to be part of Killa7's plan, and I really wasn't liking it. More SUV's pull over, another group of guys jump out, this time toting fire axes and hammers. I can see the progression now, its like a videogame to this guy. The first goon rushes forward with his fire ax and swings wildly at me, I dodge the attack before back kicking him off his feet and catching his ax, I flip it to the flat end and bring it down on his knee cap to incapcitate him before driving it into the next guy's thigh, I can hear the bone crack under the force as he screams out in agonizing pain. I drop the ax and switch to my club, swinging it into my last guys cheekbone, cracking it instantly. While I'm systematically doing all this, Mindi is to my right, flipping over ax swings before delivering heel kicks to the face, followed by wrapping around the last guy and putting him in a tight sleeper hold. I know her sleeper holds, they're hell...unless you're me...anyways. They were all put down quick but every one was taking pictures and videos, this was gonna be on the news in minutes, we had to blow out quick. We take off down the street, before we hear the next phone call, I pick up again,
"Remember the docks where we had that little tussel last time? The one where I shot Hit Girl, left her bleeding on the ground? Last group is there. Have fun." His voice says, sounding like he was enjoying himself too much. I hang up and we sprint off, glad to end this wild chase. I can see Mindi beginning to fatigue, I could feel my own fatigue catching up with me as well but we couldn't stop now. I grabbed her hand, interlacing my fingers with hers and look back at her and give her a nod to let her know it will be okay, I could see her smiling back as I let go of her hand and we continue off to our destination. When we get there I feel my heart drop. There were eight guys with pump shotguns and revolvers, this was meant to be the FINAL stage of the game. This was the big fight, the near impossible Devil May Cry kind of fight. They spot us without a hitch and begin hyping up, afraid to lose their families, afraid their families would lose them. This seemed like a no win scenario. They opened fire at us, we took cover behind a car, feeling it shake with every bullet impact.
"How are we supposed to take these fuckers on?" I ask Mindi, she reaches down onto her belt and grabs a grenade off it.
"We can't-" I begin, before she rolls it around in her hand and exposes the "Flashbang" etched into it. I nod as she pulls the pin and tosses it over the car, we sheild each other's eyes and ears as it goes off. When we emerge from cover I can hear them yelling at each other and looking around blindly as we head into the crowd. I kick one of their shot guns into the air, catching it in my right hand and bringing it around to smash into his face. I pump the shotgun and fire into a guys foot, the majority of the buckshot hitting the dock but causing him to collapse to the ground, I pump before firing the next shot into another guy, hitting him in the calf and sending him to the floor. I pump again and pull the trigger, but im empty. My target turns to me and fires his revolver wildly in my general direction, I dive to the ground and grab the last targets revolver off the dock. I turn and fire into the mans hand before dropping my sights down to his knee and firing to drop him down. Mindi is systematically dropkicking one guy in the face which sends him careening into the guy behind him. She grabs a shotgun from the ground and swings into the next guys face, knocking him out cold. She turns and fires the shotgun into her last guys knee, dropping him screaming to the floor. I am up off the ground and grabbing my last guys gun hand and pointing it up before sweeping his leg out from under him. He crashes into the ground as I bring my hand down into his face. I look at Mindi, who looks about ready to either fall down and sleep, or cry her eyes out. The phone rings, for the final call,
"Good job! I'm surprised you guys survived that last one. Guess you're better than I thought you were. Hmm, well that concludes tonights festivities. Goodnight playes." he says,hanging up. I look at Mindi and nod,
"Its over, for now." I say, grabbing her hand and rubbing it lightly with my own to warm it up a little. We turn from the dock and walk away from the moaning thugs.
We enter the warehouse, locking the door behind us and I flip my hood down and tear the cowl off. When I'm out of costume and walking around in just my boxers, I glance behind me to see Mindi enter the room in her robe, wrapping her arms around me.
"Hey beautiful." I say as I cringe from her leaning against my back, which must have been bruised by the fall I took from the guys kick at the beginning of the night. I turn around to face her and wrap my arms around her as well, kissing her forehead lightly. I can feel her breath deepening as she stands there with me,
"Lets go to bed baby." She says, leading me to the bed, removing her robe to reveal her in her bra and panties. We slide into bed and she turns the lights out, she turns to me and buries herself in my chest.
"I love you." She says quietly, I kiss her lips and bid her the same before she snuggles up closer and falls asleep in my arms.
