Thursday, February 4th, 2016
New York City
They stayed in New York another day, packing a large unmarked van with equipment.
Safehouse C had many boxes of virgin weapons and a shitload of ammunition – all in perfect condition. Mindy would leave a good selection of weapons and equipment in New York – she had no idea if she might ever be back in the city. Safehouse A was still intact – Dave had checked on that; Mindy had not wanted to go back there. She had avoided the place for a couple of years – stupid, but that place had way too many memories for her and not good memories either. Juliette had gone with Dave and she said that she had enjoyed seeing the place where Hit Girl had grown up. Dave himself had commented on feeling more than a little creeped out about being back there again. He also had many, many memories of the place – not all of them good, either.
Mindy vividly remembered almost shooting him with her H&K MP5K that night when her Daddy had died; she had been furious with him at the time.
..._...
Dave drove the van from New York that morning, accompanied by Juliette, while Mindy flew back to Seattle with Jen, who was still traumatised, understandably, by her experience.
Once Mindy had Jen settled at their house and she had checked in with Marty, who had said that he would keep an eye on her, Mindy flew to Minneapolis where she would meet up with Dave and Juliette, the following day.
It was going to be a very tiring few days!
Friday, February 5th
Afternoon
While Dave and Juliette slept, Mindy drove northwest towards Fargo.
North Dakota had to be the most boring state to drive through . . . period! Montana was only slightly better, but Dave drove that state while Mindy took over again as they neared Spokane. Talk about a long drive. It was even more complicated considering what they were hauling – very little of it was even faintly legal and Mindy had it all wired with C4 and thermite . . . just in case. As a result, they slept in the van, which was complicated, mainly for Juliette, but the girl never complained. Juliette seemed to be enjoying herself and she seemed to have enjoyed beating up on Gigante and she seemed a lot happier for it. Marcus had been furious when he had found out, but as he knew the story, he turned a blind eye to the attack. Gigante was, of course, livid, but he never knew who had attacked him and neither had anybody else. Apparently, nobody liked Gigante very much, and Strongbow could have attacked him in Times Square and no cop would have come to the bastard's rescue.
It was very late on Sunday evening when they finally pulled the van into the Safehouse and collapsed into a bed. Jen and Marty had been there to help, which Mindy was very thankful for.
She needed sleep – lots of it!
Monday, February 8th
Afternoon
Safehouse A
They all slept late.
Juliette was the first up and she was met by Jen with a much-appreciated coffee.
"God, you need a shower!" she stated, wrinkling her nose.
"Sorry – a few days in a truck smells like that."
"I suppose I need one, too," Mindy commented as she entered the kitchen. "You like my Safehouse, Jen?"
"Yeah, Marty showed it to me – it's awesome. Thanks for rescuing me and for trusting me."
"We are a team, all of us. Together we are strong, and we will support each other."
"Thanks, Mindy – I owe you a lot."
..._...
Juliette felt a lot more human after a good, hot, and very long shower.
"That's better!" Jen commented with a smirk as Juliette entered the command centre.
Jen was sniffing the air.
"Funny girl!"
"You do smell nice, Juliette," Marty confirmed with a dorky kind of grin.
"Right, girls – we have a truck to unload and a lot of crap to stow," Mindy said as she came through the door, her hair still slightly wet.
"I just got clean!" Juliette complained.
..._...
The armoury looked a lot better once it was full of weapons.
There was nothing more useless, or more depressing in Mindy's mind, than an empty armoury. The two-storey room was not full, not by any means, but it had space for expansion. While Mindy enjoyed cleaning the weapons and placing them in their allotted space, she started thinking about the way her life was going. She had left New York, alone. She had reached Seattle with Dave. Marty had joined them, making them a threesome. Now, they were a team of five – it made things a lot easier, scrapping the secrecy between themselves. Mindy had talked a lot with Juliette, on the long drive back to Seattle. They had talked about her, her life, and that bastard, Gigante. They had also talked about Jen and what training Mindy had given her.
"Marty and I are slightly outnumbered now," Dave had growled.
Mindy had simply told him to shut up and just put up with it.
The following morning
Tuesday, February 9th
Boulevard Park
"You are kidding me!"
Mindy looked up at Dave.
"What's up?"
"You're applying for a concealed pistol licence?"
"Thought it might be a good idea..."
Dave picked up the form and he began to read it through and then he smiled in a very patronising way; Mindy scowled.
"First problem – you need to be twenty-one and you..."
"If you make one comment about my tits or my height... Besides, I have a fake ID," Mindy interrupted.
"You answered number three wrongly: 'Are you the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant from any court for any crime?'. You are!"
"Hit Girl is, but Mindy Macready is not . . . kind of."
"Semantics. Okay – you cannot apply for a CPL if you have committed any of the following: Assault in the fourth degree – yes..."
"Not really – fourth degree is accidental; I have never hurt anybody accidentally – only intentionally."
Dave laughed.
"Moving on... Coercion – oh yeah! Stalking – definitely! Reckless endangerment – been there with you. Criminal trespass in the first degree – assaulting a penthouse should count..."
"You are a funny cunt," Mindy growled.
"Here's another one – 'anyone who is of unsound mind'..."
"You trying to say something?"
"Not 'trying', no... How about: 'anyone who is a fugitive from justice'."
"You can be a real asshole at times, Dave!"
"I learnt from the best," Dave chuckled as he gave Mindy a kiss.
"I have a form for you, too, plus a fake ID saying that you are twenty-one – I'm sure you can pull it off."
Almost two weeks later
Thursday, February 18th
Mount Baker Avenue
It was a major operation moving to a new house.
Mindy never knew – and she never intended to do it again – ever! She would have liked Marcus to have been around to help, and he had wanted to, but he had had to return to New York. There was so much to do before they could actually enjoy their new home properly. It did not help that some . . . well, a good chunk, actually, of their stuff was generally frowned upon and considered illegal in most states of the civilised world.
Now that Juliette knew their secret, she was helping Dave and Mindy to sort things out.
That evening
"Thanks, Juliette – we could not have got moved in so quickly without your help."
"I was happy to help," the tired girl said as she headed out the door.
It felt good to finally have their own place. Yes, they had had one previously, but know they had a proper house with space and a level of luxury. The house was a new-build, to the southeast of Seattle, and not all that far from the Circle-K. The first floor had a garage that held their truck easily. There was an open plan living/dining room to the front of the property and a good-sized kitchen/family room to the rear with a deck. There was also a bedroom which they had converted into an exercise room. Up the stairs, they had a master suite with a jacuzzi in the bathroom. There were three further bedrooms too. At the top of the stairs was a large open area where there were a couple of couches. There was also a basement with a large room which Mindy had equipped as a training area and which opened out onto the back yard beneath the deck. There was another bedroom that they were intending on using as a 'secure' storeroom.
That night, the pair of them tested out the jacuzzi . . . together.
SE 46th Way, Bellevue
Juliette had not had a good chance to speak with her parents since she had discovered that they knew all about their daughter being Strongbow.
For their part, they did not know that Juliette now knew, and they had no idea who Mindy and Dave really were. They had met Jen, but again – she was just another teenager, nothing more. After dinner that evening, her parents sat down in the living room to watch TV as per usual. Only, Juliette was going to upset their cosy evening on the couch.
"Have you two known since the very beginning?" she demanded.
"Known what?" her Mom asked.
"Let me see – that I am a teenage vigilante fighting crime in Seattle, maybe?"
There was total silence as her parents just looked at each other. Then her Dad sighed as he looked directly at his daughter.
"I knew you'd find out; Marcus said it could not stay a secret for ever – I'm sorry; we decided that it may be better for you if we weren't involved," he explained.
"We've been following your activities to make sure that you are safe," her Mom added.
Juliette's anger at them went out of her very quickly – she knew that they cared about her, only...
"You know that I have joined up with another vigilante?"
"Hit Girl and Kick-Ass?" Dad asked. "Yes, we know."
Obviously, they were very well informed.
"Do you know who they are? Their true identities?"
"No – and we don't want to know, either."
Their tone told Juliette that they knew a lot more than they were letting on, but she did not push it.
The next day
Friday, February 19th
Mount Baker Avenue
Dave and Mindy met their neighbours that morning.
They were the Richards family. Dr Grace Richards was a surgeon and she lived with her two kids, Owen and Hollie. Owen was thirteen while Hollie was eleven. They were a very nice, ordinary family, and they made Dave and Mindy feel welcome in the area. One thing that was out of the ordinary was the fact that the family was not American; they were British – but Mindy had no problem with that. Another thing that actually did worry Mindy was that Owen had visible bruises on his skin, and Mindy being Mindy, she recognised them as bruises caused by punches and kicks.
That gave Mindy cause for concern.
..._...
Dave politely suggested that Mindy should keep out of it, but she could not; if that boy was being abused...
Mindy chose to follow the boy to school the following morning – discretely – and she very quickly discovered where the bruises came from. On his way to school Owen was intercepted by a group of other boys, all around his own age, only they were bullies and they punched and kicked Owen, ignoring his younger sister's attempts to help her brother.
Mindy also heard the threats against Hollie and Owen if they dared to tell anybody the truth.
..._...
"I should break those fucking bullies' arms!" Mindy seethed when she got back home.
"No, you won't!" Dave commented strongly.
"Just messin', jeez! You know I..." Mindy stopped there – Dave knew her all too well.
"I know you wouldn't, but you would still rough them up; but we don't do that, do we Hit Girl?"
"No, Kick-Ass – we do not," Mindy growled back, but then she had an idea. "I have an idea!"
"Oh, God – not another one," Dave breathed.
For some reason Dave had learnt to fear Mindy's ideas.
"This one's a good idea."
"Let's hear it..."
"We start a Dojang and teach kids like that young boy how to stick up for themselves."
Dave smirked.
"Not bad, Hit Girl!"
Updated: June 2019
