The circle which represented the life of Mindy Lizewski nee Macready was finally about to close – one way or another...

Friday, June 16th, 2017

Casa Genovese

02:10 GMT+2 (00:10 GMT June 16th)

The Fight

Hit Girl lay on the floor of the room, struggling to clamber to her feet, but each time she did, she was viciously beaten down.

The thought of so many of her people dead had caused an internal fight over her purpose and if she should continue to fight. Then, she had begun to hear clear voices inside her head – but not the 'Hit Girl has gone wacko' type voices. She could hear one particular voice in her head overshadowing every other voice or thought. It was her Daddy telling her to get up and finish what they had started so many years before. She turned her head to see Kick-Ass pounding the living daylights out of Joseph Valachi while Anthony Genovese struggled to attack Kick-Ass despite blood dripping down his face and exhibiting a damaged left leg as he hobbled. Beyond Kick-Ass, Hit Girl could see Shadow obviously winning her fight against Elena Genovese who was flagging and appeared to be fighting with just her right arm as her left was held close to her body, her face a mask of pain. Hit Girl braced herself as she took a deep breath and then at the very moment a boot kicked her left thigh, she rolled and leapt to her feet as if she had not just spent a dozen minutes having the living shit kicked out of her – and not for the first time either.

Hit Girl turned to face a surprised Vito Genovese. He had considered Hit Girl spent, but he knew her reputation, so it should not have been much of a surprise he realised. It unnerved the man that he could not see her face as he fought her, to see her pain, to see her suffering. He knew that the death of so many of her people would have hurt her deeply – as had been intended. However, there was a problem; Elena was badly hurt as was Anthony, so the fighting had to end very soon. He also had no idea if the catacombs leading to the bunker had been breached – he had heard nothing one way or another which was ominous. He saw Hit Girl flexing her hands and then she came at him. That was the moment he tasted fear for the very first time that night. Her body language was unmistakable – Hit Girl meant business.

One of them was going to die.

..._...

Shadow needed to end the fight and seeing Hit Girl down had galvanised her into action.

Elena was a match, but she was not impossible to put down and Shadow pulled out every trick that she knew or had seen – no matter how dirty. While Fusion often played by rules of sportsmanship and fair play (to a point), the Marquess of Queensberry had no place on Sicily that night. Elena also fought dirty, as had been her own training since she was quite young. However, she was more used to fighting those who could not actively fight back and Shadow steadily inflicted punishment to her limbs causing her to struggle. Then she had screamed out as Shadow had landed a particularly nasty strike on her left lower arm and something had snapped – the arm was agony to move, so the fight had continued one-armed, albeit with a lethal knife, with the increasingly inevitable result.

Shadow was easily able to fend off the knife strikes, even though her body armour could just as easily deflect the blow, but Shadow had learned to look after her equipment (the hard way over the years) and did not want the pristine(-ish) armour blemished. Then Elena made a mistake and Shadow was able to reverse the blade as Elena made to strike. Shadow could see it in her opponent's eyes; Elena knew that she had fucked up and her eyes showed some fear, but also resignation as to her fate. Elena braced up as the blade entered on her left side just below the heart. The pain as the blade punctured her left lung was unbelievable and she then struggled to breath as the lung began to fill with blood. Shadow twisted the blade twice to ensure that the wound would be life ending. Elena slid to the floor, blood oozing from between her lips.

The woman looked over at her husband as she collapsed. Anthony saw his wife go down and he could see her stricken expression which then turned peaceful as her pain eased, permanently. That moment of distraction was all that was needed for Kick-Ass to kick Anthony's already injured left knee, tearing what was left of the cartilage and putting an end to the man's fight. The last thing Anthony Genovese saw was an immense armoured fist driving into his face, smashing his nose, and fracturing the cheek bones. Kick-Ass seized the man by the head as the body sagged and viciously twisted the head around, audibly snapping the neck.

Kick-Ass then turned all his attention to Joseph Valachi who was visibly stunned by the death of his relatives.

Nox, Glide & Rogue
with Stormtide, Tao Wu & Tao Tei

The Bunker

The two younger girls were still fighting – actually, they had no choice but to fight, or they would be dead.

Frank Genovese had seen Anna grievously wounded by the axe-wielding Glide, his anguished bellow filling the subterranean bunker as he ran to help his mother. Anna was doing her utmost to evade the vengeful pint-sized vigilante, but Glide was apparently relentless. She was also in grave danger as Frank ran towards her, waving and yelling for his retained fighters to intervene in the fight. Three men and two women ran towards Glide only to be intercepted by Rogue, the first man losing his lower left leg below the knee as a razor-sharp butterfly sword swung out from behind a chair. The man screamed out in distress as he fell to the ground in a rapidly expanding pool of blood, his colleagues leaping past the fallen man. It took the remaining men and women time to identify the immediate threat, but one of the women spied Rogue, even as the armour-clad vigilante leapt into the air and she brought down her right hand with all the strength she could muster. The woman screamed out in horror, unable to bring her sub-machine gun to bear on the object attacking her. The blade dug deep into the woman's neck, all but severing the head from the torso. Rogue leapt clear of the descending nearly headless corpse but not before she was doused in a volcanic eruption of hot blood which the girl had to wipe from her mask so that she could see her next opponents. The man with the severed leg was screaming and begging for help – presumably; Rogue spoke no Sicilian. But as the remaining two men and a woman turned on Rogue, there was a rallying cry from along the walkway as Nox led the charge with Stormtide, Tao Wu, and Tao Tei.

The two men and the woman were suddenly undecided as to who they should attack even as Frank Genevese bellowed orders while Anna did her utmost to disengage from Glide.

..._...

The two men went down hard as they were targeted by Tao Wu and Tao Tei.

Without so much as a pleasantry, the men were almost cut in half by twin bursts from the MP5K sub-machine guns. Neither man had been able to get off a shot at any of the advancing vigilantes, but the woman did, snapping off three rounds from her .45-calibre pistol at just ten yards. One bullet almost took Stormtide's head off, but instead, the chunk of streamlined lead struck the right side of her mask, catching the heavier sections of armour, but snapping her head back and almost sending her into a backwards somersault. Nox put a bullet into the woman's left temple, shattering the skull and sending brain matter across the concrete wall behind. Two further loud booms erupted out, echoing throughout the underground bunker, and Glide fell back with a muted scream as Frank Genovese shot the girl at close range. The large man grabbed up Anna and he ran towards the far end of the walkway, but he only made it a few dozen feet before Glide sent a throwing knife in his direction which struck mid-thigh and caused severe bleeding to slowdown the brute of a man. Glide was checked out by Nox who dropped to her knees beside the fallen girl, but Glide waved her onward after Frank and Anna. Glide was helped to her feet by Rogue and the pair were handed full magazines for their empty pistols, thus restoring both firearms as functional weapons.

By that time, Frank and Anna were making for the far staircase downwards and both being pursued by Nox, Tao Wu, and Tao Tei – there was no sign of Stormtide. Neither young girl wanted the two bastards to escape, so they followed the pair with their pistols, praying for a straight shot despite the distance and their snub-nosed weapons. Frank stumbled and he fell as bullets from Tao Wu struck him. That just left Anna who was also struggling to run, but then she came out into the open and the two girls looked directly into the eyes of Anna Genovese as she turned to see the two pistols pointed directly at her. The woman leaned to her left and both girls simultaneously expected her to be reaching for a weapon, and even as Anna Genevese straightened up, Rogue and Glide opened fire, only the bullets were already in the air as both girls registered with rapidly unfolding horror that the woman had not produced a weapon; instead, she had hauled out her two greatgrandchildren and used them as human shields.

Death was nothing new to the two girls, but killing two unarmed children in cold blood... Nox had been able to see what was happening from her vantage point, but she had not been able to do more than watch as the two children, Lorenzo Genovese and Teresa Genovese were gunned down by Glide and Rogue. As the two children fell to the walkway, Anna Genovese bolted, but not before Nox put three bullets into her side and the bitch collapsed in a bloody heap. As Tao Tei and Tao Wu ran up, Nox knelt to check the two children – the bullets had torn apart their internal organs and both had died almost instantly – thank God. Rogue and Glide appeared, and their body language told Nox that they were appalled with themselves but that was a subject for another time.

"Where's Stormy?" Nox asked.

As they looked around, they realised that they were not alone as they spied Psyche and Fury making an appearance along with Drift, Rampart, Stripe, and Tempest.

..._...

Stormtide lay on the ground for at least two full minutes before she regained consciousness with people yelling at her via her communications earpiece.

"I'm fine . . . I'm fine," the girl reported.

She looked around and she saw Psyche and Fury running towards her. She moved her right leg in preparation for getting back to her feet, but her leg felt strange. Fury held out her right hand and Psyche her left to help her stand. In response to the gestures, Stormtide reached out with her own arms, only, her brain told her that they had moved, but she could not see her arms moving. She made to lift her right leg – nothing. Fear started to coarse through her and she began to hyperventilate. Then her mind clicked into gear.

"I can't move," she stated.

Fury and Psyche dropped to their knees and they began to check over the fallen vigilante for injuries.

Casa Genovese

02:22 GMT+2 (00:22 GMT June 16th)

Vito Genovese was the very last of his family to die.

He had felt so much anger and sadness as his precious Elena had fallen, then so much more anger and sadness as his son Joseph had had his life cut short before his very eyes. Unbeknownst to the man, and indeed, unbeknownst to Hit Girl and the others fighting, Vito and his son, Carlo, were all that remained of the stinking family. In Vito's mind, his beloved wife, Anna, was alive and well, along with the youngest generation of his family who he knew would avenge his death.

Kick-Ass had made short work of Joseph Valachi. Kick-Ass had been beyond pissed, and he had channelled every bit of his anger into his fists as he had quite literally pounded the eldest son of Vito Genovese to death before his father's very eyes. Kick-Ass did not intervene in Hit Girl's fight, knowing that he would not be welcome. Instead, he had stood to one side with Shadow and they had both watched as Carlo was slowly beaten down by Nemesis and La Coccinelle before he too succumbed to the vicious beating dished out by the two veterans. The man looked over at his father, the old man being the very last thing he ever saw as Nemesis drove a knife through the man's skull and into his brain. Vito's heart was ripped apart at the sight of his eldest son dying before his very eyes. That heart ripping moment gave the Sicilian a burst of adrenalin as he turned back to Hit Girl and he punched her hard in the chest with a swift follow up to the left side. Hit Girl simply grunted as she absorbed the blows, knowing that the old bastard was finished – but at what cost. The potential butcher's bill concerned her greatly, but a successful mission could at least mitigate that bill in some exceedingly small way she knew.

Vito leapt to one side to avoid a strike, but it had been a feint and he soon yelled out in agony as Hit Girl's right boot came down on his left lower leg, snapping the bones. The seventy-three-year-old crashed to the ground knowing that he was finished. Hit Girl could see the man suffering, but she was in no mood for mercy killings, instead, she stepped over to the groaning man and she knelt down. Hit Girl yanked off her mask and she stared into the bastard's eyes. Vito averted his gaze, unable to look into the face of that woman.

"Look at me!" Mindy growled, ignoring the blood which seeped from her mouth and nose.

Vito did as he was instructed, looking up into the face of a younger woman than he had expected.

"Do you know why that bastard, Frank D'Amico, had to die? He killed my mother, before I was even born! I have spent my life seeking vengeance for that act alone. Then that bastard took my father away and he had to die – I only wish his death had been at my own hands. That bastard, Frank, he got blown away by Kick-Ass and his fucking bazooka – God that was fucking awesome! Then came that fucked up twat, Chris – I shot him three times and then chopped his head off; what a fucking wanker he was! Then came that evil bastard, Ralph – fuck me! He almost succeeded in cutting off Shadow's arm, but instead he lost his head – my fault really. Then Shadow blew his head apart – now that was justice."

"You have won, Hit Girl," Vito said as sorrow and pain filled his eyes.

"I always fucking win!" Hit Girl responded as she glared at the man with just seconds left to live before she pulled her mask back on.

Then she looked up as Jackal came running into the room. His head turned to take in the dead and the living, his shoulders sagging slightly when he saw that only those who deserved to die were dead.

"It's done," he stated. "The bunker complex is being swept as we speak – Frank and Anna are dead, as are the children – they were caught in the crossfire."

Vito could not believe how badly he had been beaten, and in his own home.

02:28 GMT+2 (00:28 GMT June 16th)

With all the hatred she could muster, Hit Girl drew her combat knife and she grinned fiendishly as she carefully inserted the blade above Vito's still beating heart.

Then she pushed down ever so gently, letting the extra pain cut through the old man. She pushed and she pushed until the hilt of the knife prevented the blade from going in any deeper. Vito Genovese let out his last ever breath and the Genovese dynasty ended, then and there. She held the knife in place for a full minute before she yanked the blade out doing irreparable damage as she did so. The blood on the blade was wiped off on the dead man's clothing before Hit Girl then sagged to the ground beside the still warm corpse which represented the end of a twenty-year pursuit for vengeance. Unbidden, behind her mask, Hit Girl felt tears flooding from her eyes. Memories from across those twenty-years flashed through her mind.

She could remember a little girl dressed in a pink summer dress, spinning in front of a mirror. She could remember meeting her Daddy for the very first time . . . then had come the separation from Marcus . . . the training . . . the killing . . . the training . . . the killing . . . Kick-Ass . . . the death of Big Daddy . . . the vicious fight in the penthouse of Frank D'Amico . . . Kick-Ass coming to the rescue . . . going back to live with Marcus to lead a normal life . . . yeah, that worked out!

Then had come more recent events and her life becoming filled with people she saw as family – Chloe and Joshua; both of whom had suffered as a direct result of Frank D'Amico. More faces flashed through her mind's eye. Some were alive, but most were dead. Enemies that she herself had dispatched. Then had come the faces of those who had fallen by the wayside, people whom she had fought alongside. One face appeared and changed into all forms of that person: Nightbitch, Miranda Swedlow, Night, Aurora. Then her eldest child came into focus as an extension of Aurora. Mindy saw Stephanie as a fragile broken nine-year-old when they had discovered her, then as an angry killer that day when Aurora had died. Then came the image of Stephanie collapsing before her, the victim of a sniper. The days in hospital. The near loss of someone so close to her. Her tortured mind then conjured up the image of Shadow almost losing her arm to Ralph D'Amico. Joshua almost dying to shield Chloë in that same godforsaken penthouse where Mindy had almost lost her own life. She saw Lucas as he died in Atlanta. She saw those youngsters, count unknown, who had died as a result of a barbaric program run by nation-states across the world. Then those who had died at the behest of FEAR. So many innocent deaths. So much innocent blood.

The circle which represented the life of Mindy Lizewski nee Macready, daughter of Damon and Kathleen Macready had finally closed.

Outside Casa Genovese

Shadow was on hand to guide a slightly stunned Hit Girl out of the building and into the night air.

As others began to appear from deep within the bunker, Hit Girl had that same feeling as when she had stared into the muzzle of Frank D'Amico's pistol and she had known that she was about to die. Instinctively, she stared in the most likely direction, up into the hills, and she stared directly at the sniper who had to be there to ensure that Hit Girl did not leave Sicily alive. There came a flash in the darkness and a split-second later a clap of thunder as a bullet was fired.

A thousand yards to the south, Leon followed the body as it fell from its sniper perch, crashing into rocks as it did so, the shattered body finally vanishing in some crevasse.

"Nice shooting," Songbird commented as she scanned the area for any further snipers.

Hit Girl waved a hand at her protectors and she went back to the business of making their escape.

"Casualties?"

"Apart from Hellcat, we have Glide, and then just Stormtide – nothing serious," Jackal responded.

"Let's get the fuck away from here?" Hit Girl ordered. "Have Calico Quest get underway, and ensure the boats are away – we should have company very soon."

There was a roaring sound as NIGHTSHADE came in low, orbited the area once and then dropped its landing gear as it came in for a landing. Very quickly, the wounded, including Stormtide, and the younger members were piled aboard, many with holdalls and rucksacks of intelligence information. The helicopter was crammed with almost thirty before Scorpion and Goshawk took off slowly and turned towards the Calico Quest from where boats would then take everyone back to their respective vessels once they had all departed the area.

As Hit Girl waited with the remaining dozen or so members of the strike teams for NIGHTSHADE's return, she looked up at Kick-Ass. She knew that she could never have completed her mission without him. Had that actually happened, she wondered? Was her mission complete? As she looked around the combat zone, dead bodies scattered, vehicles burning, dense choking black smoke drifting through the darkness, she hoped that it had all been worth it. Down below, she could see blue lights moving in their direction. The immediate local authorities had stayed clear pending the arrival of heavier support forces. The entire assault had taken less than ninety minutes from initial shots being fired until Vito Genovese had ceased breathing. She turned as NIGHTSHADE returned and came in for a landing, the rear ramp lowered. Then she felt the strong, reassuring hands of Kick-Ass on her shoulders as he guided her up the ramp and inside the helicopter where Chief pointed her to a seat. She was the last to be seated as the giant helicopter rose off the ground and then turned, the nose dipping to build up speed as Scorpion took them out of harm's way, just seconds before the first heavily armed Sicilian police reached Casa Genovese and began to take control of the scene.

With a final glance out of the open rear of the helicopter, Hit Girl then closed her eyes for the few minutes ride to the CALICO QUEST which was rapidly steaming out of Sicilian waters.

Twenty-five minutes later...

OCEAN VIGILANTE

For Mindy, the return aboard OCEAN VIGILANTE via ODYSSEY was spent deep in thought.

Then, as she sagged onto the bed in their stateroom, Mindy stared down at the mask in her hands. She felt herself sliding off the bed onto the floor as she struggled to sort through her racing thoughts.

What was she? She was a skilled assassin who killed criminals.

Why did she even exist? Because her mother had died as a direct result of the D'Amico family. She had been created to rain down revenge onto the D'Amico family and all associated with them.

But they were gone, so what was her reason for being?

Dave sat down beside Mindy and he looked down into her eyes. Her expression was the very same as when she had climbed into his bedroom the night of the date-ditch.

"It's over, Dave."

"It's taken many years but, yes, it's over," Dave agreed.

"I don't know what to do."

"Continue as you are doing now, honey."

"I was created for a purpose . . . that purpose now no longer exists . . . my mission is complete."

"No it isn't," Dave stated.

"What?"

"Your mission changed, Mindy; your mission now, is to protect the city of Chicago . . . not to mention the rest of the planet, it seems. Just because your primary goal is complete, does not mean you need to hang up the mask . . . unless you want to, of course."

"I would love to be normal. I would love to be able to enjoy a life without all the crap which comes with being a vigilante."

"You have everything, Mindy. You have a family. You have four kids who you love and who love you back. You have a lovely home and, dare I say it, the perfect husband."

Mindy laughed, knowing that Dave was right, in just about every damn way.

Somewhere far away, but remarkably close by...

Damon Macready and his wife, Kathleen, had been on tenterhooks for hours.

They had watched their daughter embark on her final mission. Indeed, all the adults had been stunned to watch the incredibly complex operation fall into place. As they had sat down to 'watch' events, James Lizewski had had the most amazing idea, and he had produced popcorn for everyone.

"You are kidding, right?" Jocelyn Reeman had said as she saw Damon digging into the popcorn. "Our children are going into harm's way."

"I give up with him!" Alice Lizewski muttered.

"This is going to be like watching Predator or Commando," Mark Reeman had agreed as he too had taken a handful of popcorn. "The kill count is going to be epic!"

"Mark!" Jocelyn had exclaimed.

Even Cathy had reluctantly agreed that it would be good fun.

"Hell, this is going to be good!" Paul Williams grinned.

"Oh, Paul!" Sarah Williams groaned.

So, for the next hour, the adults had sat 'watching' the Sicilians die at the hands of their children. Then, when it was over and everyone could see that the Sicilians were no more, Damon found himself hugging his wife tightly with tears running down his cheeks.

"She did it," was all he could say.

"Now she can lead a normal life," Kathleen commented, proud of her wayward daughter – and a little proud of her stubborn husband.

Kathleen Macready then surprised herself by giving her wayward husband a hug.

Early the next morning...
Saturday, June 17th

09:02 GMT+2 (07:02 GMT June 17th)

Valetta, Malta

CALICO QUEST

The giant vessel was moored alongside the wharf after a cruise lasting nineteen-and-a-half hours – they had moored alongside at one o'clock that morning.

There was a lot to be done as everything to do with the mission was cleaned and packed in the containers. Some of the containers would be made ready to be shipped back to England for sorting while the rest would be prepared for the next mission. During the voyage back, NIGHTSHADE had been blasted with a water-based chemical solution which had blasted off the black paint to reveal her standard vibrant pearlescent paint scheme with the light grey underside. All traces of an underslung load capability as well as the FLIR nose were removed and stowed along with the weapons pylons. The standard VVIP interior with plush carpets and seats had also been refitted. The only issue was the bullet hole in the left side cockpit window which was patched with a plastic filler until a new window could be delivered from the manufacturers in Italy. The helicopter had been flown off by Keira with David in attendance to the international airport to await delivery of the replacement window.

Meanwhile, over on CALEDONIA, things were not all that good for two teenaged girls.

09:10 GMT+2 (07:10 GMT June 17th)

Valetta, Malta

CALEDONIA

The two girls in question were deep in the bow of the megayacht, peering through an open hatch.

"You are fucking kidding me!" Olivia exclaimed as lights snapped on and she found herself staring down the gaping maw of a twenty-millimetre M621 cannon muzzle.

"It needs cleaned," Cassie grinned.

"And you're making us do it?" Dakota said.

"I thought Olivia might like to get her hands on a real weapon," Cassie grinned.

"That's so low," Olivia growled as Dakota laughed. "She doesn't even like playing with big long..."

"Maybe you could give it a blow job," Dakota laughed. "Your gob's big enough."

"You're such a fucking bitch!"

"Okay, girls, let's put some of that bitchiness into cleaning the Narwhal," Cassie suggested.

The two girls continued to bicker as Cassie left them to their task.

09:20 GMT+2 (07:20 GMT June 17th)

Malta International Airport
{I think you can guess where that is by now!}

THE PHOENIX

Shannon Millar lay on a bunk outside the medical bay.

The fourteen-year-old girl was very scared and worried about her condition. Ever since she had been grazed by that bullet, she had not been able to move a muscle below her neck. That was a feeling which scared her immensely. She had had to endure being strapped into a stretcher and then carried out of the bunker by her colleagues and then aboard the helicopter. Once aboard CALICO QUEST she had suffered the indignity of being undressed by Rachel and Jennifer before being checked over for injuries. Rachel had questioned Shannon relentlessly and it seemed that her fall, soon before the bullet had grazed her, was probably the cause of her paralysis. However, a proper diagnosis would have to wait until Shannon could be properly examined about THE PHOENIX.

Indeed, she had been taken by van, strapped to a backboard, to the aircraft, within minutes of them coming alongside. Jennifer had then X-rayed Shannon from head to toe and identified a minor blemish to her lower backbone which had pinched a nerve and caused the paralysis. For the next few days, Shannon would be classified as a Quadriplegic, however, Jennifer concluded that she should regain use of her upper body within that time, but her legs could take up to three weeks or a little longer to catch up. Shannon had not been incredibly happy at that diagnosis, but she had had no choice but to just live with it. Shannon had insisted on being left alone, even pushing Marc and her family away as she struggled to cope with events. Even a phone call from Taylor in London had not helped the girl.

Finally, Shannon had fallen asleep and she slept well into the early afternoon.

09:42 GMT+2 (07:42 GMT June 17th)

Valetta, Malta

OCEAN VIGILANTE

Cassie walked up the gangway of the megayacht with Kaitlin's hand held tightly in her own.

"Come inside," Mindy said in welcome.

Inside, Cassie found a miserable looking Anne-Marie whose expression almost matched Kaitlin's own morose expression. Neither girl had slept well, and it was time for both to talk about what had occurred in the bunker. Mindy waited until both girls had sat down, then she and Cassie sat facing them both. Anne-Marie spoke first.

"It was like in the movies; everything just slowed down as I brought my pistol onto Anna Genovese. The sights were lined up and the picture was perfect . . . I squeezed the trigger and I kept squeezing the trigger – then they were there."

"The bullets cut into the boy and the girl, ripping apart their chests. They both came out of nowhere and the bullets were already on their way – there was nothing we could do," Kaitlin added wretchedly.

"It's okay," Mindy said. "These things happen – neither of you did anything wrong.

Mindy had been appalled when Eva had related the events surrounding the death of Anna Genovese. For any vigilante to accidentally injure an innocent bystander was bad, but to kill one in cold blood was just unacceptable. However, there were usually mitigating circumstances, as Eva had explained; there was no way that either Anne-Marie or Glide could have seen the two children, nor were they experienced enough to have even considered what Anna Genovese might use her own grandchildren as human shields – an unholy act in itself. For the two girls to go through such an experience at just nine-years-old had upset both Mindy and Cassie; they were their youngest daughters after all.

"The fog of war brings about many challenges which must be overcome, but most of those challenges require experience to comprehend, let alone to figure out a solution to the challenge," Mindy said. "You are both still young, and we are enormously proud of you both for how you behaved last night. Eva told me how well you both fought alone against incredible odds. What you saw, it won't be easy to get past, but you both have us all to call upon when you need to talk, okay?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Yes, Mindy."

Anne-Marie could still see the bullets striking the eight-year-old girl. She could remember the blood spraying out. She could remember the look of stunned surprise on the eight-year-old boy's face which had then changed to one of intense pain – and then nothing. Seeing the bullets strike had been the worst thing ever. As for Kaitlin, despite her background, she had been horrified by what had transpired, and the nightmares the previous night had not been fun. She had ended a life, and not just any life, she had ended the life of a child younger than herself.

"We'll get through it," Kaitlin said as she held Anne-Marie's hand. "Together."

Anne-Marie smiled grimly. Cassie was proud of Kaitlin and even more for sticking by Anne-Marie. The pair got on like a house on fire – actually, Cassie was worried the pair might actually set a house on fire one day – but the pair were firm friends and together, they had a chance to put the trauma of the previous night behind them.

"I know I am probably going to regret this," Mindy sighed, "but I want you two to stick together for the next few days, or for as long as it takes."

"We are going to regret this," Cassie stated for the record.

"Oh, yeah!" Mindy agreed.

Anne-Marie and Kaitlin grinned happily.

Early the next morning...
Monday, June 19th

08:15 GMT+2 (06:15 GMT June 17th)

OCEAN VIGILANTE

It had taken a day to find the information and then another day to put the wheels in motion.

Marty and Eric, with the help of Amber and Lucy, had waded through the masses of information which had been seized from Sicily. As had been hoped, Vito had been involved in quite a bit of what ran the Axis of Evil. Lucy had stumbled upon several pieces of information which indicated a facility of some kind, deep in the Sahara Desert in Africa. Dave and Mindy had immediately started to gather intelligence and coordinate external resources. If some supersecret facility in a desert was worrying, then what was even more worrying was Eric's discovery that the facility had received – via Vito's underground organisation – numerous deliveries of equipment, the type of which was only used in one area of industry: nuclear physics. As well as that African facility, which might be a test or manufacturing facility, Amber had discovered another facility which appeared to have been sending regular shipments – again via Vito's underground organisation – to the facility in Africa. That second facility was, apparently, located somewhere in the Aegean Sea, off Greece.

Therefore, two strike teams were assembled from the combined sixty strong forces of Fusion, Vengeance, and Honneur. The first team would head into the bone-dry Sahara Desert aboard THE PHOENIX and would comprise of some forty-nine individuals drawn from Fusion, Vengeance, and Honneur, while the second team, made up of just eleven individuals – mostly Brits from Vengeance with assistance from Honneur – would head off to the slightly damper Aegean Sea aboard the CALICO QUEST (with NIGHTSHADE) to find out what rested on, or indeed under, the waters.

It was time, everyone had agreed, for the Axis of Evil to start feeling some pain.

End of PART V