Two days later
Tuesday
Safehouse C

This was to be the first night out for young Firestorm.

Mindy spent the entire evening making sure Josh was as ready as he could be. I admittedly felt a little sorry for the kid, as Mindy seemed to be pushing the big sister thing a bit far. Josh was very nervous and worried he was going to fuck up. Mindy promised she would have his back and would never be more than a few feet away, this seemed to reassure him a bit. We showed him how to use the comms and how to call for help, if we got separated.

"OK, mother hen, go get suited up," I said to Mindy, so Josh could have a few minutes to himself. Mindy flipped me off, before going to get ready.

"I'm glad she's looking after me. I'm a nervous wreck," Josh admitted, with a nervous grin.

"You'll be fine," I promised.


Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, Night Bitch and Firestorm stood on the rooftop looking towards Manhattan. It was a warm, dark night with a decent amount of moonlight. They dropped down a fire escape and moved from alley to alley.

"Firestorm, we always keep our backs, where?" Hit Girl asked, over the comms.

"To the wall, Hit Girl!" Firestorm replied.

"Hit Girl almost shit herself the night she met me, when she forgot that!" Kick-Ass said with a laugh.

"Well, I was only eleven and I was distracted by this really cute guy in a green wetsuit, waving a gay looking taser at me!" Hit Girl responded.

"I really want to hear that story, Kick-Ass," Firestorm said.

"Stories come at bedtime, Firestorm. Let's focus on the here and now," Kick-Ass replied.

"Have you noticed how Firestorm pronounces 'Kick-Ass' differently?" Hit Girl asked. "He really has such a cute accent!"

"Just because I can speak properly, unlike you Americans. But there is no need to be jealous," Firestorm said, with a laugh.

"Well, I am going to kick your arse Hit Girl, if you don't start concentrating on the job in hand," Kick-Ass said, seriously, in a surprisingly good British accent.

"Sorry Boss!" Hit Girl replied, sounding a little surprised.


This combat suit is quite heavy to wear, it didn't feel so bad when we tried it out in the safehouse, but after walking around for a while on a warm night, you start to feel the weight of the armour and the weapons. I think I can manage though, good work out! I am still nervous as hell, but I feel safe having the comms and yes, I can see the rest of the team at the moment, but that could change in a second. This is actually quite exhilarating.

Hit Girl seems to like my accent, never thought of it as cute before! I do pronounce things differently to them, but I'm proud of my heritage and intend to keep the accent as long as possible, before going native!

I snapped out of my thoughts, when Hit Girl grabbed my arm and pulled me into an alley. I could hear a muffled scream, it was coming from the other end of the long, dark, alley. I really felt nervous now, I also felt fear. The other night I was in a fucked up mood and wasn't thinking about what I was doing, but now...

"Stay here, until I call!" Hit Girl said in my ear, pushing me between two dumpsters. I nodded in acknowledgement.

Hit Girl drew her Katana and followed Dave down the alley. Night Bitch hung back, between the pair of veterans and myself. I pulled my two machetes out and held them ready as I crouched between two dumpsters, looking down the alley towards the sound of screaming.

I could hear every word, as the rest of the team had their comms set to VOX (voice-activated) so we could all hear what was being said, this was so I could hear how the team coordinated, as it attacked.

"Battle Guy, Fusion moving in to attack," Hit Girl called.

"Battle Guy copies Fusion moving in to attack."

I put on my NVGs so I could see more clearly. I could see Kick-Ass moving towards the left side of the alley and Hit Girl moving to the right. Beyond them I could see two men, looking down towards the floor, one man was busy doing up his trousers - rapists. Hit Girl told me that she had a very special place in her heart for rapists, she would give them zero quarter.

"Two men, one girl. Rapists," Hit Girl growled, quietly, almost spitting the last word.

"Who's dying first, you fucking cocks?" Hit Girl snarled louder, as she kicked one man down, before swinging the Katana towards the fallen man. I could not see what the Katana did, but I could see blood spraying across the alley. Kick-Ass took the other man with a savage kick to the throat, which must have crushed the man's larynx, before the kick drove the man, hard, against the alley wall which resulted in another spray of blood.

That did not take long, I was really impressed seeing Kick-Ass and Hit Girl go to work, with no wasted effort. They both seemed to operate on an almost telepathic level, knowing exactly what each other was doing, without needing to make a sound.

I could see Hit Girl reach down and pull a young girl, not much older then Mindy, to her feet. Fucking bastards attacking such a young girl!

"You're safe now!" I heard Hit Girl say, calmly. "They won't be hurting you or anyone else, ever again." There was no emotion in Hit Girl's voice, it sent a shiver down my spine and I was instantly glad I was on her team, Hit Girl scared the shit out of me!

I saw Kick-Ass pull out his cell and heard him contact 9-1-1 to leave an anonymous report, then he requested an ambulance to the alley. Night Bitch came back down the alley towards me and asked if I was OK. I nodded as my throat was very dry. I sheathed my machetes and removed my NVGs.

I was about to say something to Night Bitch, when I heard a yell.

It was coming from behind me, I turned and ran to my end of the alley and peered around the corner. I could see three large men in a circle, kicking another man who was on the floor, trying to protect his head and face with his arms. They were about twenty yards away, on the sidewalk, to the left of the alleyway. I felt Night Bitch behind me.

"What is it?" Night Bitch asked.

"Three men beating the crap out of another, about twenty yards down to the left," I responded, eagerly.

"Stay there, Firestorm," I heard Kick-Ass order over the comms.

"The ambulance is here, go on, you're safe now," I heard Hit Girl say.

I could hear Kick-Ass and Hit Girl running towards my end of the alley. As they approached they slowed down and stopped behind me.

"Go on then, Firestorm," Kick-Ass said, quietly and prodded me forward.

I drew my machetes and stepped out of the alley. My legs were shaking, but I took a deep breath and shouted at the men.

"Oy. Assholes!"

Two of the men turned and one of the men smirked.

"Who's the fucking little shit?" The man said, laughing, but he stopped, suddenly, as I felt Kick-Ass step out behind me and prod me forward.

"Fuckin' hell, it's Kick-Ass!" The other man said as the third man stopped kicking the man on the floor and turned to see what was going on, he blanched and started to back away.

"If he's there, that fucking purple bitch won't be far away," the third man shouted. I almost laughed at that.

"Get the fuck outta here, before Firestorm burns your fucking ass!" I yelled, feeling braver and moving towards the men, holding my machetes out in front of me. The men turned and ran, that felt good. I stopped beside the man being attacked and got my breath back. I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder.

"Good work, kid," I heard Kick-Ass say, behind me.

"Are you, OK," I asked the man on the sidewalk. He was covered in blood, and was breathing heavily, I could hear Hit Girl calling for an ambulance.

"Thanks to you," the man said in gratitude, trying to smile. "Firestorm did you say?"

"Yes. I am Firestorm," I replied positively, looking at Hit Girl and Night Bitch who both grinned back and nodded their approval. I replaced my machetes, while Kick-Ass called in the incident to Battle Guy.


I turned off the VOX on my comms and Dave did the same.

"Josh did very well," I said.

"He was fucking nervous, but he carried it off. I helped, but he scared them off himself, he did good for his first night," Dave replied. "I feel very proud!"

"Thanks for letting him have a go himself, he needs to build his self-confidence. I saw him hesitating, but then I remembered that I felt the same when Daddy sent me out alone for the first few times," I responded and Dave smiled back at me.

"I was a little jumpy my first few times out, too, not to mention meeting a little eleven year-old psycho," Dave commented.

I smiled and felt warm inside thinking back to Rasul's apartment.


We continued patrolling around the dark alleyways for a while before we came across the first drug dealers of the night, as they tended to only appear after eleven in the evening, according to Hit Girl, who also had a very special place in her heart for these criminals, too. She called them her personal ATM, that was quite amusing.

There were six of them, three watchdogs, two runners and a boss. Kick-Ass and Night Bitch went up and over the apartment block to get to the opposite end of the alley, while I stayed with Hit Girl.

I felt safe with Hit Girl, nothing could happen to me.

"Kick-Ass, ready."

"Night Bitch, ready."

"Hit Girl, ready," Hit Girl said, looked towards me and smiled, encouragingly at me.

"Firestorm, ready," I called, smiling back. I felt ready, as I drew my machetes and watched Hit Girl ready her bō staff.

"Battle Guy copies Fusion ready."

"Fusion Go," I heard Kick-Ass say over the comms.

We all moved forward as one, two from each end of the alley.

I could see Kick-Ass beyond the men, with his batons ready and Night Bitch with her bō staff.

Kick-Ass was able to smack one of the watchdogs across the back of the head, before anybody noticed we were even there, then all hell broke loose. Night Bitch thrust her bō staff blade into the stomach of the boss, before swinging around to deal a similar blow to a runner. Hit Girl drove her bō staff blade into the chest of another watchdog before wheeling around for another target.

The other runner ran towards me.

I hesitated for a second, before driving myself forward and swung a machete hard into the man's stomach, pulling the machete back towards me, causing most of his bowels to spill out and the runner collapsed to the floor of the alleyway.

Blood was everywhere, my stomach turned, but I took a deep breath and pushed forward towards the others, suddenly I heard a shout behind me and turned to face a tall, thin man holding a large silver gun and pointing it directly at me, at a range of about twenty yards.

Before I could move, I saw the flash and felt the impact on my chest, before feeling myself flying backwards through the air, then nothing.


I had just finished beating down the last watchdog, with my batons, when I heard a man's shout behind me and turned to look down the alley.

Firestorm was turning away from me, the machete in his right hand was dripping blood.

There was a tall man beyond Firestorm, the man was aiming a gun...

Directly at Firestorm...

Everything started to move in slow motion.

There was a flash and I heard the gunshot, before seeing Firestorm blasted back towards me.

I froze for a second in shock.

Not Josh! Oh, God not Josh!

I grabbed the Glock out of its holster and ran hard at the man with the gun, the man who had shot Firestorm, the man who had shot Josh.

I saw another flash ahead and felt something hit me in the chest and was momentarily pushed backwards, but I regained my balance and surged forward, bringing the Glock up and double tapping the man in the head. He seemed to have an incredulous expression on his face, until the face exploded.

The body fell back and dropped to the alley floor.

I swung around holstering my Glock, looking wildly for Firestorm, for Josh.

I saw him.

He wasn't moving.

"Firestorm is down! Firestorm is down!" I yelled, urgently, into the comms and saw the heads of Hit Girl and Night Bitch whip around in my direction.