*Hey guys! Here's chapter 7! The reviews have been amazing, keep it up please! Thanks for the suggestions, also. I'll try to do all of that. Hope you like it!*

*Chapter Seven*

MINDY'S POV

As Alicia and I walked home, I noticed a notable limp in her stride- I had, truth be told, clothes-lined her from below several times, but I didn't think it was enough to make her start limping- I had to admit, I was mildly worried that she would tell Marcus about our little session.

As much as I still semi-resented her being here, I had to admit that adding another person to the Dave-and-I team was a good idea, and she was actually doing pretty good. I mean, she sucked balls at combat with or without a gun, but she didn't cry.

That was a good sign, right?
Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to get to a mirror, and thanks to a bloody nose, Alicia's face was a mess.

As we staggered towards the front door- I, admittedly was exhausted too-I was suddenly deathly afraid of her ratting me out.

Marcus knew about Hit Girl- and he would probably be pretty damn upset to find out she wasn't gone quite yet.

"Alicia," I said. "What are we gonna tell Marcus about-"
"Just follow my lead," she said.

Fuck.

That could mean anything.

"But-"

"UNCLE MARCUS!" she opened the door, and burst into the house. He was sitting at the table reading the international news in the newspaper as usual.

"Uncle Marcus!" she wailed again.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Alicia?" he said. "What's wrong?"

He stood, and she threw herself into his arms.

"It was so scary!" she said, looking, dough-eyed up at him.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

"I was-"

Beaten mercilessly by your stepdaughter?

Shot at several times by your stepdaughter?

Sliced at with a bow staff by your stepdaughter?
"-mugged!"

Oh.

"Mugged?" he said. "Should I call the guys in? You're a mess-"
"NO!" she shrieked. "I mean…no. Its okay, they didn't take anything." She was now feverishly wiping at the blood on her face, to no avail.

"But I thought you said-"
"Mindy saved me!"

WTF?
"Mindy did?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah," she said. "They were going ape shit on me, and Mindy….Mindy saved me!"

She hugged him again, "sobbing", and Marcus looked up at me, gratitude in his eyes.

I felt a little bad for Alicia having fooled him so easily, but it wasn't like we hadn't actually saved each other back in the alley.

She was just telling the story a little late.

He held out his arm, and I joined the feverish group hug, shocked again by Alicia.

About ten minutes later, we were done with our little circle of love, and Alicia ran upstairs to clean up.

I started to follow her when Marcus grabbed my arm.

"Mindy-"he said.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill anyone," I assured him.

"-thank you…" he continued.

I suddenly felt like crying, and hugged him for real this time, then followed Alicia upstairs.

I found her in the bathroom, dabbing at the blood caked on her face with a washcloth.

"So…" I announced my arrival, and she looked up at me, pausing to hold her hair back with a headband before dabbing again with renewed vigor.

"..I'm impressed," I said. "I totally thought you were gonna rat me out."
"I told you," she replied, putting down the cloth. "I want to help."

"Well, you didn't do too shitty tonight," I admitted, smiling a rare smile at her.

"Well," she continued. "I'll do even less shitty tomorrow."

"You mean you're actually willing to train with me again? I figured that, like everyone else, you had an aversion to getting your ass kicked."

"I'm not saying I don't, but I really do want to help."

I stared at her for a second.

"Okay," I said, and I left.

I had to admit, I was excited to keep training her.

DAVE'S POV

The day after Alicia's first training session, I met Alicia and Mindy at Atomic Comics again. Truthfully, I was scared to even be in the same room as Mindy here, as she clearly went crazy on Katie last time.

Speaking of Katie….she's not speaking to me.

Thanks to Big Daddy's death being my fault, and Mindy leaning on me to get through it, Mindy and I are connected like brother and sister- we always will be, now. I love her like a sibling, and I can't turn my back on her now, especially when we still need to get Red Mist.

So, my life has been relatively Katie-less.

However, Mindy was about to get introduced to more of the people in my life.

As soon as we sat down, Todd and Marty strode through the doors, looking completely at home here, because, truth be told, this is probably the place where they're most comfortable.

I say this as a valued, card-holding member of Atomic Comics, but yeah…it is nerd central.

"Hey, guys!" Todd and Marty slid into the booth next to Alicia, causing her to have to slide uncomfortably close to the wall.

"Hey," I said. "You guys know Mindy, and this is Alicia, Marcus' niece."
"Oh," Todd said, checking her out creepily. "Well, hey there."

"Hi!" Marty said, like a five year old in Disneyland.

She waved halfheartedly, but, like Mindy, was mostly occupied with watching the extreme kung fu movie playing the flat screen above the coffee bar.

The ninja spun through the air doing a series of beautiful kicks and spins, before landing gracefully to the ground, forcing his blade of justice through the other ninja's back.

"Fuckin' unrealistic," Mindy murmured.

Todd and Marty looked over at her.

"What?" Todd asked. "That shit owns."

"Except its fake, you dumbass," she said, taking Todd aback. "Kicks like that take like fifteen, sixteen seconds to do, and you don't have that time midair, three feet off the ground."

"And how would you know?" Marty asked.

Mindy smiled her scary, scary Hit Girl-smile.

"Want me to show you?" she asked.

"Uh, I don't think this is the right time to do that," I said.

"I can show you," Mindy continued, clearly enjoying this.

"Coffee? Who wants coffee?" I asked.

"Yeah, I want you to show me," Marty replied. "That's badass."
"COFFEE? WHO WANTS COFFEE?"
"Fuck, Dave, shut up," Todd said. "Yes, we all want coffee."

I ran out of the booth to order, hoping to get back before Mindy actually did start "showing them" something.

Thankfully, they had been distracted by something else by the time I got back.

The conversation droned on, and I was admittedly bored, but whatever.

Until Chris D'Amico walked through the door.

He was wearing sunglasses and a hat, and there was something…familiar…about his lips and nose…something that gave me creepy déjà vu.

He looked strangely like someone I once knew- someone who I wouldn't have recognized without his trademark black raccoon eyes and lame ass lightning bolt mask.

"Fucking shit," I said to Mindy and Alicia, who turned to me. "Chris D'Amico is Red Mist!"

*Its long, I know! Hope you liked it! Review, comment suggest etc!*