*Here's chapter two! Thanks so much for the reviews, you guys are awesome :D. I think this one's a bit longer, and I know that, being a girl, I suck at being Dave, but whatever…review please!*

Chapter Two:

DAVE'S POV

I'm worried about Mindy.

After all this time, after everything we've been through, she has become my sister.

I killed Frank D'Amico for her, and I talked her to sleep at Marcus' places many a night. In return, she saved my life.

Our conversation yesterday scared me. I somehow knew that she couldn't…she wouldn't…stop being HIt Girl forever, but I had hope. That was gone now.

I was worried enough about MIndy to stop by Marcus' place early before school. I found them at the breakfast table, eating French toast and maple syrup like a normal family-albeit one comprised of a badass cop, and an even more badass 11 year old former vigilante who kept a Ring Pop in one pocket, and a balisong in the other.

"Hey Marcus, hey Mindy," I said, dropping the key Marcus gave me into my back pocket.

"Hey Dave!" Marcus said cheerfully, smiling at me.

"Hey, Dave," Mindy said quietly-despondently- this was very unlike her, and she knew I knew it.

I turned to Marcus. "What's with….?" I trailed off, gesturing at Marcus' adopted "babydoll".

He sighed.

"My niece Alicia is moving down here," he said. "She didn't want to miss more school, so she'll be living here for a month or two before her parents come down."

"And Mindy doesn't like her?"

"Well, they've only met once, and only for about an hour, but-"

"She called me cute," Mindy interrupted, now savagely tearing apart a piece of toast. "And she's only 3 years older than me."

Marcus sighed again.

"Give her a chance," he said. "Moving down here might be tough for her."

Mindy stared at Marcus for a second, before getting up, depositing her plate in the sink, and plopping back down in her seat, a surprisingly childish pout set into small face.

Her stubbornness made me realize that there would be no HIt Girl discussion taking place right now.

"Well," Marcus said, in response to MIndy's silence. "We should probably get going. Dave, do you want a ride to school?"

"Mindy!" I ran to keep up with her high speed stride from the Escalade, after she hugged Marcus goodbye.

"So, I got an email," she said, not even bothering to look at me. As usual, I was one step behind her, and she knew it. "Apparently," she continued. "There's gonna be a huge mobster meeting slash dealing at that abandoned tire factory downtown. I say we check it out."

She didn't slow her pace, and the determined set to her mouth made her look years older and miles more sophisticated than she was.

"MIndy," I said, cautiously. "I still don't feel comfortable starting this again-"

"Hey Dave!"

I looked up to see the energetic bounce of Katie Deauxma, my girlfriend coming over, and Mindy groaned.

Despite my best efforts to stop her, Katie refuses to give up counseling Mindy. She just can't understand that MIndy isn't ready or willing to talk about her dad yet. Katie is the only person that I ever told that MIndy is Hit GIrl, and I know now that I shouldn't have.

She'll only continue trying to fix Mindy, and like a cat in heat, Mindy doesn't want to be fixed.

"Hi MIndy!" Katie tried.

Mindy's gaze flipped sharply over to lock her dark eyes with Katie's.

"Hi, Katie!" she said, in a sugary-sweet-sarcastic voice that scared me far more than her usual "wanna play?" death tone.

She turned to me, suddenly serious.

"Dave," she said. "Get on the train, or get off the fucking tracks," she repeated.

And she walked away.

I watched her go, and I winced, thinking of what lay ahead. There was never any stopping Mindy, and stopping Hit Girl would be even more impossible.

"What was that about?" Katie asked slowly.

"It's….its nothing. Come on, we're gonna be late."

MINDY'S POV

I was dreading getting in the car. Dreading playing nice with Alicia, dreading "showing her around" like Marcus said I would have to, dreading "catching up with her"….

That uppity bitch was gonna ruin my life.

Still, i would do it. I would do it for Marcus.

I took a deep breath and opened the car door.

"Hey Marcus," I said, hugging him. "Hey, Alicia," I waved.

She was prettier than I remembered- all dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin- not African, but just tan. There were already plenty of sick high school pervs checking her out through the car. She was going to be fine here.

I didn't fucking trust her.

"Hey!" she smiled. "Its good to see you!"

Yeah. Fucking. Right.

I smiled politely, and faced the window, before turning my phone on to find two new messages from Dave. The first said "MINDY, don't do n e thing stupid!" and then "MINDY! txt me back!"

I sighed, and quickly keyed in a reply; "Don't worry, going 2 b stuck w/ Alicia till about 2 months frm now. HIt GIrl's gonna have 2 wait."

PING.

"Good", Dave had replied. "Want me 2 come unite?"

"Sure," I typed back. "Just don't bring Katie."

I put my phone away, and zoned back into Marcus and Alicia's conversation.

"So how was your flight?" Marcus was asking.

Riveting stuff.

I leaned my head against the window, and tried to sleep.

Four hours later, Alicia, Dave, and I were wandering around NYC at night.

"So where are you from?" Dave was asking her.

I couldn't help sighing- sometimes Dave's voice made even the most innocent things sound fucking creepy.

"Nebraska," she replied. "The shittiest place on Earth. I'm so glad to be out of there. I'm actually pretty stoked that I'm here."

"New York is stoked to have you," Dave replied cheesily, blushing at Alicia's winning smile in reply.

Ugh. There was something about Dave trying to be accommodating mixed with his sometimes creepy-as-shit voice that made me want to throw up. She laughed, though.

It was gonna be a long night.

ALICIA'S POV

I could tell MIndy didn't really like me.

Being the way I am, I find it hard not to be liked, no matter how I feel about the person. I just don't like to be not liked.

Dave was nice, but he talked A LOT, in an easy toned voice that was easy to tune out.

I had plenty of time to think. I thought about school, and New York, and the best friend I left behind in Nebraska. I thought about Uncle Marcus, and Mindy, and the lumpy factor of the huge, heavy duty backpack she was carrying for some reason.

"Alicia?"

"What?" I asked.

Dave looked concerned.

"I just asked you if you got your schedule yet," he said.

"Oh," I replied. "Uh, no. Not yet."

Mindy was laughing. She probably understood the exact zoning out and zoning back in process that I had just undergone.

I caught her eye, and I laughed too- we cracked up, sides splitting, tears streaming, bonding for the first time, for a reason neither of us would remember later. We laughed with abandon, until something that felt suspiciously like…a bullet…whizzed by my ear.

"Fucking shit!" I yelled, looking frantically around.

"Fuck!" MIndy shrieked, as more bullets peppered the air. She shoved us into an alley and behind a dumpster, and emptied her backpack onto the ground, as the shots grew closer.

WIthin seconds, both of them had stripped off their clothes, and Mindy was wearing a purple leather jumpsuit, while Dave was wearing what looked like an incredibly gay green wetsuit. WTF?

"You wore it!" Mindy said happily.

"Just in case."

The backpack had been full of guns. In a flurry of loading and grabbing, Mindy grabbed my hands, and gave me a handgun and what looked like a butterfly knife.

"Please tell me you know how to use these," she pleaded.

"Wait, WHAT?"

The shots were quieting- they were waiting for us to show ourselves before they could get a clear shot, and get my ass killed.

"A guy emailed me about a drug dealing tonight, and I just saw him…shooting at us. It was a setup. He probably works for Red Mist," Mindy whispered, quickly and concisely.

"Works for who? I don't know if I can use this." I gestured towards the gun.

"Alicia," Dave said grinning, somehow. "Get on the train, or get off-"

"NO, Dave…" Mindy snarled. "That doesn't work right now, we are all ON THE FUCKING TRACKS."

She turned to me.

"Just don't get shot, okay?"

And I followed her out of the alley, and into the danger zone.

*I know this wasn't the best chapter. Comments, suggestions? Please review!*