"Do you think you have enough guns, Dave?" Marty asked, the first one to say anything.
I turned around to look at the walls covered from ceiling to floor with varying types of firearms. "I don't know. She'd probably buy more if she had the room." I answered, turning back to the three of them.
"She?" Brad asked.
"Yeah, this is Hit Girl's place." I told them. Marty's face suddenly changed to one of fear.
"Is it okay for us to be here?" He asked, fearfully.
I laughed. "Yeah, she left it to me. This is an emergency. She'd be okay with you guys being here." I said and walked further into the room. "Come on and shut the door behind you." I commanded them.
They walked fully into the room. Brad and Marty were inspecting the various guns and weapons hanging on the walls, but Ina was immediately drawn to the glass case in the corner holding the Big Daddy costume.
"Is this Big Daddy?" She asked me, pointing at the case.
"Yeah, that's his suit." I told her, coming up next to her. I noticed Brad and Marty did as well.
"Wow." Brad said.
"I wonder if he was any good, I mean no one's ever seen him in action. Only the video where he got the shit beaten out of him." Marty pondered.
Ina looked over at Marty, "Then he was set on fire and burnt alive." She noted and Marty cringed under her gaze.
"Well, yeah. Exactly. He doesn't seem so impressive. But Hit Girl is like a fucking ninja assassin." Brad replied.
"He must have been the shit to work with her, right?" Marty asked, looking at me. All three of them looked over at me and I turned and looked at the costume behind the glass.
"Big Daddy was fucking insane." I said deadpan. No one said anything so I continued on. "He trained his five year old daughter a hundred ways to kill a man."
"Okay, well I didn't say he was in a sane state of mind, but, I mean, he had to be really bad ass to teach her." Marty said.
"He was really frightening." I replied and turned away, taking the bag I knew had Ina's bathroom contents in it and took it into the bathroom, to unload it.
"I wonder if there's any secret passages in here!" I heard Marty say excitedly and I yelled out to him.
"Don't touch anything!"
"You don't have to tell me not to touch anything." Ina replied and went into the bathroom with me to help unpack. Everyone was silent for the entire length of Ina's unpacking.
Finally done, I hopped up on the kitchen counter. Marty and Brad were just looking around at all the weapons, but Ina was looking at me.
"So what are you going to do?" Ina asked me.
I sighed, "I don't know yet." I told her. And slid off the counter and searched for news on the computer.
"Shit!" I yelled out.
"What?!" I heard Marty and Brad say in unison, all three of them rushing over to look at the news on the computer.
"Oh my god!" Ina said softly, clasping her hands over her mouth.
"Oh fuck, man." Brad murmured.
Marty was just shaking his head in disbelief.
I clicked on the video link and the newscaster started speaking. "A devastating loss today as the self proclaimed super villain, the Mother Fucker, has set off two separate terrorist attacks simultaneously in New York. Interrupting a protest march lead by the Superhero Allies Foundation, or SAF as their known, he set off a serious of deadly bombs in Times Square, killing dozens. He commandeered the screens and gave a video message to the public, and one superhero in particular."
The video cut to a section of Chris' speech taped on a shaky cell phone before cutting back to the newscaster. I was sitting in the chair, my arms wrapped around my head in disbelief.
"At the same time as the attacks in Times Square, the super villain bombed JFK airport, killing hundreds of passengers and employees. He also commandeered screens in the airport with the same message." The reporter said.
"Fuck!" I cried out, and turned off the video, pushing the chair back, holding my head in my hands.
"Dude this guy has some major balls." Brad said softly and I heard Ina hit him. She knelt beside me, trying to get in my line of sight.
"Dave?" She said softly.
"What… What if I can't?" I said slowly, looking up at her then looking at Brad and Marty behind her.
"Can't what, Dave?" Ina asked me, resting a hand on my knee, trying to capture my attention.
"What if I can't kill him?" I asked. I felt tired, I wanted to curl up in a ball and just go to bed, to wake up tomorrow and this all to be a bad dream. But I knew that wasn't going to happen.
I had no fucking clue what I was going to do. I had no clue what Chris' plan was, and he had actually succeeded in bombing the city this time.
"Dave, you are a super hero." Ina said, using her therapist commanding voice. "You're going to make this right, it's what you do." She said and took my head in her hands, forcing me to look her in the face. "I believe in you, and all those people in that march today believe in you." She told me. "Where's that passion you showed me that day in my office when you told me you were Kick Ass?" She asked, waiting for an answer.
I looked up at Brad and Marty who were both looking at me waiting as well. "Don't wave a white flag, Dave." Ina told me, letting go of my head.
"I wont. I promise." I told her. I then turned to the computer and opened up my Kick Ass Facebook page.
"What are you doing?" Brad asked me.
"I'm giving the Mother Fucker a return message." I said and started typing.
"The NYPD is in our house?" I asked Nick breathlessly.
Nick nodded and paused before speaking, "You're Hit Girl, aren't you?" He asked me and I actually felt my knees go weak. "Someone found the purple bike we rode on to the hospital. The police guy said it was Hit Girl's."
I snapped my head up and started walking towards the Travis house. I crossed the front yard, seeing the NYPD cruiser parked in front, and shimmied up the drainpipe, climbing on top of the garage to climb into Nick's room. I was getting my stuff and leaving. The NYPD knew where I was. I was walking down the hall towards my room when I heard the creak of the stairs, meaning someone was coming up.
"Mindy?" I heard, and darted into my room. I locked the door behind me and pushed the mattress off, digging inside the box spring to get all my knives and items I'd hidden in there out and into a duffel bag.
I heard knocking on the door and then I could hear Kim's voice calling from the hallway, "What are you doin' in there? You got a visitor." She said.
"Yeah, a visitor I don't want to see." I said under my breath and then the voice from earlier talking to Kim.
"Why don't you wait downstairs, I'll get her out of there." It was a man's voice. "Mindy? Are you packing your things? Did you just climb up the side of the house?"
I stopped what I was doing and stood up, looking over at the door. I walked over and opened up the door. I looked up and smiled.
"Marcus?" I reached out and wrapped my arms around his torso, pulling him into a hug. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?" I asked him, standing back to look at him.
Marcus smiled and I stepped aside to let him in the room. He looked at the sight of my bed, the mattress flung off and the bag full of weapons. He then closed the door behind him.
"I'm here because Hit Girl's motorcycle was found outside of town, abandoned." Marcus said, giving me that typical Marcus look, that he was disappointed in me. "What is all this stuff you brought with you?" He asked, motioning to the weapons in the duffel bag.
"Just, stuff." I said, cautiously. Marcus sighed.
"Look, as far as the police know I'm interviewing locals to see if they've seen anything. I've been cleared of investigation, but I know Gigante has his eye on me, hoping I'm going to lead them to you. That's why he appointed me a part of the investigation team looking for you." Marcus explained.
"So far the consensus is that Hit Girl left her bike here on her way to Mexico, to leave the country." He added. "Let's keep it that way, why don't we?"
I nodded my head and sighed in relief. Maybe I didn't need to leave town. "Of course, I've heard of a new local superhero named Rough Riley who has been taking down a local problematic biker gang. You know anything about that?" He asked me, looking stern.
"Nope, actually the Travis' don't watch the news anymore, so I don't know anything about what's going on in the world." I told him, smugly.
"You don't watch the news?" Marcus asked me.
"No, actually, I'm grounded. So…" I trailed off.
"You're grounded?" He asked me, raising an eyebrow.
"Um, yeah… I uh, snuck out to see my… Boyfriend… In the car you got me for my birthday, so thanks for that by the way." I offered up, hopefully.
Marcus was taken back. "You have a boyfriend?" He asked me smiling, looking pleased.
I looked down at the floor. "Um, not exactly." I looked up to see Marcus' smile fade. "I did! I just don't anymore. I broke up with today." I said, morosely.
"Today? What happened?" Marcus asked me.
"I found out he's actually been cheating on his girlfriend with me, so I kicked his ass at lunch today." I replied matter-of-factly. Marcus sighed, and shook his head.
"You really don't watch the news?" Marcus asked me.
"No, the Travis' are trying to shelter me from news in New York I think." I replied.
"This explains why you're still here." Marcus said, not really speaking to me, but rather saying his thoughts out loud.
"What do you mean?" I asked him, curious. "What's happened?"
Marcus looked at me as if he were debating to tell me or not. I rolled my eyes and just shot him a look.
He sighed, "Okay, if I don't tell you, you can just turn on any TV at this point or go on any news website and find it. I get it." He started. "He's back."
"Who's back?" I asked, sitting down on the box spring.
"That… Mother Fucker guy. He bombed the city, and the airport. If it weren't for the fact that the chief is dead set on you getting caught, none of us would have come all the way down here." Marcus told me.
I sat there for a minute. Chris D'Amico? Alive? Bombing the fucking city? I snapped up to look at Marcus.
"That fucker is on his payroll." I said. Marcus looked confused. "Chris has paid of the police chief to hunt me down. Take me out." I explained. Marcus stood for a moment and then looked as if it made sense to him.
Dave.
"What about Dave? Where is he? Is he okay? What is he doing?" I spewed out all at once, overwhelmed. I felt my chest get tight, fear climbing in.
"Well as far as I know, he's alive. At least the Mother Fucker didn't kill him. He gave a video message for Kick Ass, so I assume he's alive." Marcus responded.
I practically jumped across the room, snatching my laptop, and opened up Kick Ass' Facebook.
"I'm not standing down. You can threaten me all you want, but I'm not backing down. I will fight to protect this city and its people to my last breath. You've started this war, but I'm going to end it."
I read over his post and smiled. He was okay, he was fighting. I looked up at Marcus and sighed.
"Marcus, I know you don't like me being Hit Girl. But it's who I am, and I told you that before. I have to… I have to go to work." I said, and resumed my packing, snapping the laptop shut and stuffing it in the bag. I crawled up in the attic, throwing the rest of my equipment down.
Marcus was quiet for a while as I went about the room, packing my things. Finally he spoke up. "I'll tell Will and Jennie I'm taking you home. That this attack has made me want to keep you close, or something."
I stopped and turned to look at Marcus. I was shocked. "You're… Helping me?" I asked him.
Marcus looked at me and smiled sadly. "You're right, your father gave you a gift, Mindy. What you and Kick Ass do… You do what I can't do. You're the city's only hope against this crazy… Mother Fucker guy. I get that now." Marcus told me.
I smiled and ran up to him, hugging him. "Thank you." I said, muffled against his shirt.
He pulled away from me and held me out at arm's length. "Just promise me you'll be… Smart." He said. I knew he meant safe, but in my line of work I'm never safe.
"Marcus, I'm always smart when I'm Hit Girl." I told him and finished packing. Marcus went downstairs to speak with Will and Jennie, who would both be home by now.
I had everything packed and walked down the hall to Nick's room. He was inside. I closed the door behind me and knelt in front of him. He was sitting on his bed.
"You've been a good side kick. Can you do one last mission for me?" I asked him, looking up at him. He smiled and nodded yes. "Good."
.
.
.
I had left the house with Marcus, after saying my goodbyes. Thankfully Kaylee had stuck around so I was able to give both her and Kim a good firm hug before leaving my first real girl friends behind.
I had Marcus drop me off a few blocks from the house, as per the plan I'd worked out with Nick. After waiting for an hour or so I ventured back to the house and saw that the blinds in Nick's room were drawn, meaning he'd successfully gotten his family out of the house. I smirked before reaching into my pockets for the keys to my Camero, unlocking it and getting in.
I drove back to where I'd left my bags hidden and stuffed them in the trunk. Starting my journey towards New York City. I couldn't actually go back with Marcus in the cruiser since he'd driven down with a partner and if I went back it would look highly suspicious. So Nick was supposed to tell his family when they got home to find the Camero gone that Marcus had come back to drive it back with me.
I was going to have to do something nice to thank Nick for all his help. I thought to myself as I sped down the highway. I came up on the Welder ranch and slowed down, stopping in front of the turn off. I looked over the distance and stayed for a minute before sighing and pealing out.
Alrighty party people! I've been so excited for this chapter, I hope you guys like it :)
I should note that Nick has no idea who Marcus is, so he just thought some random NYPD officer was looking for Mindy and went to warn her. I figure Nick was the first one home, and then his mother got home and he bolted to find Mindy before his mother or Marcus could explain their relation (but felt that writing that in was bulky, and since it's in Mindy's POV she wouldn't know all that anyway).
And honestly Dave's Kick Ass Facebook post is pretty cheeseball, but oh well.
Please leave me your reviews, I love them oh so much and cherish each one lol. Thanks for reading guys!