Friday

The following takes place between Midnight and 2:00 A.M.

West Ridge

It was good to be home.

We were all fucking knackered, but we were also glad to be alive. Once we were in bed, Dave and I started to chat about the night's events.

"We owe Marty and Chloe!" I said.

"Damn straight! But what can we do to thank them? Chloe has proved that she can more than take care of herself and that she can be very useful, as a full member of Fusion and an equal partner," Mindy said. "I'll have to think of something for them both."

"We might be dead right now, without them!" I admitted.

"Anyhow, you looked fucking cool with that machine gun; you really fucking kicked ass!" Mindy said, giggling.

The following takes place between 10:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.

West Ridge

Yet again, we were so tired, we slept in.

Over breakfast, we discussed the previous night's actions. It was a great experience, fighting side-by-side with SWAT and it was the first major gun battle that I'd fought. The Gatling guns didn't count! We also discussed what we expected to be facing next. Chris was losing his hold on Chicago, or at least we hoped so!

Marcus had been on the phone again, wanting to know what was happening, as apparently it had got out that Hit Girl had been injured! Mindy assured him that she was fine, but apparently Marcus didn't believe her, so Mindy threw the phone at me in disgust.

"You speak to the stubborn old git!"

"Hi Marcus! Little Miss Adorable is in good health. She has a small hole in her lower left arm, but nothing serious and she was checked out by a Paramedic at the scene. It was another archer, he fired a bolt at Hit Girl, but only hit her in the arm. Unfortunately she came off her bike and the Ducati was wrecked. She fought well, though; you know how stubborn she can be! She wouldn't let a simple wound get in her way!" I explained, ending with a laugh. Marcus had to agree with that! At least I was able to put his mind at rest about Mindy. Once Marcus was gone, I updated Mindy on the call.

"Marcus says you are a stubborn little bitch, who needs her ass kicked and if you don't behave he'll come and kick it, himself!" I said.

"I'd like to see him try!" Mindy exclaimed, without thinking.

"You'd actually hurt Marcus, to stop him kicking your ass?" I queried.

"Dammit! Of course not!" Mindy grumbled, blushing slightly.

The following takes place between 12:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M.

West Ridge

"Well somebody needed to kick your ass!" I laughed, looking down at Mindy, who was looking very annoyed with herself, as she sat on the mat.

"Thankfully, not very many people can," Mindy groused. "That hurt, cunt!"

"You heal quickly, stop complaining and you're still gorgeous, whether or not your butt is bruised!" I laughed.

"You know what infuriates me about you the most? That I can't stay infuriated with you!" Mindy said, laughing, too.

1:04 P.M.

I sat down and prepared a secure email to that horrible man, The Armourer.

He might make my skin crawl, but he had always supplied the best equipment, which so far, had kept us all alive. I had ordered a new combat suit top for myself, as well as a surprise for Chloe and something else for Marty. I have also taken the opportunity to order a new upper, outer-suit for Dave, as his current armour has taken a lot of abuse and while it does not show any evidence of damage, it would only be able to take so much, before it failed. I would not let that happen, Dave was far too precious to me.

I would rather be penniless, than without Dave!

The following takes place between 2:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M.

The Safehouse

We didn't know it, but the rest of the day would be a roller-coaster ride, with one hell of an ending!

2:34 P.M.

We were at the Safehouse, with Sophia. Marty was downtown somewhere, in Speedy.

The weapons from last night required cleaning; two H&K G36C assault rifles and an H&K 121 machine gun. We also had lots of empty magazines to refill! Just as we were finishing the two G36C rifles an alarm went off in the briefing room.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked, jumping up.

As we entered the briefing room, we could see that the large screen, with the map of Chicago had zoomed in to an area of the City, the area was towards the south of Chicago and south of I-94. There was a pulsing red circle, labelled 'Speedy'; somebody had hit the panic button on the radio in Speedy!

Dave tried to call Marty on his cell. There was no response.

We tried the radio, but again, there was no response. The position was rather strange, it was a Chicago City Auto Pound!

I rang Murphy.

2:58 P.M.

"Murphy! We have a problem. We think one of our team may be in distress, at the Auto Pound near I-94. Could you check and see if anything's happening, down there?" I asked.

"No problem, Hit Girl. Give me five minutes," Murphy replied, then dropped the call.

3:06 P.M.

"Go!"

"It's Murphy. Nobody can get any response from the Auto Pound and strangely we have no units anywhere near it!" Murphy said. "Something stinks!"

"We're gonna head down. Should take us thirty minutes," I said.

"Fellowes and I are leaving now. It'll take us about the same. We'll meet you at East 103rd Street and East 106th Street," Murphy said, before dropping the call.

We rapidly suited up and jumped into the SUV, remembering to take the fake plates to swap later on. We left our masks and comms off, as usual and covered up our combat suits. Our weapons were hidden in the back, with Eisenhower.

3:13 P.M.

Dave was driving and he put his foot down. We headed south west and exited I-94 at the East 111th Street exit. We swapped the plates on the SUV and completed our suiting up. Then we headed north up I-94 and turned off at East 103rd Street. During the trip we tried to call Marty repeatedly, without any success; we were now very worried.

3:48 P.M.

Kick-Ass pulled the SUV over at East 106th Street.

About two minutes later, Murphy and Fellowes pulled up beside us, blue lights flashing. Murphy explained that all communications with the Auto Pound had ceased earlier that morning and that two delivery drivers had complained about being turned away, at the gate.

"We need to go in hard; our team member is in there somewhere!" I insisted.

"We have Eisenhower, to hopefully sniff him out," Kick-Ass said.

Murphy and Fellowes agreed; there wasn't time to get reinforcements there, although they had been requested. They both wore ballistic vests and had AR-15 rifles. They would go in first, as we needed them to smash through the gates of the Auto Pound.

The following takes place between 4:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.

Police Auto Pound

The Police SUV, blue lights flashing and siren sounding, smashed through the locked gates of the Auto Pound, before coming under fire from the watchdogs, manning the entrance.

We accelerated through the gates close behind and stopped the SUV behind some parked SUVs. We immediately jumped out and started shooting at the watchdogs. We had brought the G36C rifles with us, just in case.

4:09 P.M.

The last watchdog fell and I ran forward and checked on Murphy and Fellowes. Fellowes had a small wound to his left leg, but was otherwise okay. I pulled out my cell and pulled up the tracking application.

While Murphy and Fellowes guarded the entrance, Kick-Ass and I got back into the SUV and headed deeper into the Auto Pound, which was enormous.

4:12 P.M.

We followed the dot on the cell and skidded to a halt beside Speedy. I jumped out, only to find that Speedy was empty!

Strangely though, I noticed that the hidden compartment in the rear seat had been opened and that the pair of Glock 17 pistols, normally inside, were gone. I checked the immediate area and found both pistols, with their slides locked back on empty magazines, about fifty yards away behind an impounded Corvette that had several bullet holes in the side. There was evidence of a struggle and I found something else, I held it up for Kick-Ass to see.

"Recognise it?" I asked.

"That belongs to Hawk!" Kick-Ass replied, correctly identifying the short spear.

"It looks like Marty and Hawk had to fight," I said. "How the hell Hawk is involved, I have no idea!"

"Use Eisenhower!" Kick-Ass said.

"Eisenhower, find Marty!" I ordered and let her out of the SUV. Eisenhower ran off in an easterly direction.

"Let's go!" Kick-Ass yelled.

I followed Eisenhower's tracking signal on the cell.

4:16 P.M.

"Next left!" I called. "Third right!"

We caught up with Eisenhower. She had stopped beside a giant car crusher. Four watchdogs were there; we took cover and opened fire. There was a car in the crusher and I could see movement. I recognised the blue of Marty's mask.

"I think Battle Guy and Hawk are in the crusher!" I called to Kick-Ass.

We dropped two of the watchdogs, before one triggered the crusher. That watchdog received a knife to the throat! Kick-Ass dropped the final watchdog with a head shot. I ran forward and shut off the crusher.

"You know how to operate a car crusher?" Kick-Ass asked, a little surprised.

"Long story, but yeah, I've done it before, kind of!" I replied, remembering a yellow Range Rover.

We went over to the car in the crusher and pulled open the door.

4:21 P.M.

"Knew you'd find us!" Battle Guy said, cheerfully.

Beside him Hawk smiled at us.

"I assume the story behind all this will be good!" I said, glaring at Battle Guy.

Both Battle Guy and Hawk looked a little sheepish!

"I saw Hawk being seized by those watchdogs and tried to intervene, without much success. I eventually got her away, but then we were cornered. We managed to wound a couple of them, before we ran out of ammo!" Battle Guy explained, rather weakly.

"Sorry, it was my fault! I should have had my back to the wall; then they couldn't have come up behind me!" Hawk admitted.

Kick-Ass smirked at me and I grimaced back, knowing exactly what he was thinking!

"Now Hit-Girl, we always keep our backs where?" Kick-Ass growled, laughing.

"Funny cunt!" I growled back.

4:38 P.M.

We pulled up beside Murphy and Fellowes.

The two Police Officers were being checked over by Paramedics and we saw that two other Police vehicles had arrived.

"Thanks guys!" Kick-Ass said to Murphy. "Sorry about the mess!"

"Glad we could help. You got your man?" Murphy asked.

"We did, thanks!" I replied.

5:01 P.M.

We pulled over at a quiet point off East 115th Street. Marty was behind us, in Speedy.

"You're safe Hawk. The Police will never know you were there," I said. "If you need us call: 555-1-FUSION."

"Thanks, Hit Girl, Kick-Ass. It looks like I owe you twice, now," Hawk said, smiling.

"You helped us, the other day. We're on the same team, remember," Kick-Ass said.

Once Hawk was gone, we headed back to the Safehouse.

5:45 P.M.

The Safehouse

"Well you had a fun afternoon, Marty!" I said, as we got out of our combat suits, back at the Safehouse.

"Sorry, guys," Marty said. "I should have called you first!"

"Well, you were helping a fellow Hero! No harm done, just more of Chris's watchdogs have now been put down," Dave responded, cheerfully.

The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M.

The Safehouse

We sat down to dinner and chatted about the afternoon.

Marty was still feeling a bit embarrassed by the whole episode, but we reminded him that without his equipment, we would never have been able to find him. Marty also thanked Sophia, for her help.

"Maybe we should put a GPS tracker on Marty," I suggested.

"Funny, Hit Girl!" Marty said, smirking.

"I thought you said that last night was a one off, Marty, you starting to enjoy the action?" I asked.

"No! Just wrong place, wrong time!" Marty said, grimacing.

"I know how you feel!" Dave replied. "Story of my life!"

7:02 P.M.

Dave and I went back to our weapons cleaning, unfortunately we had had to start again!

It took a while, but we finally had some clean weapons and reloaded magazines. We also cleaned the two Glock pistols, reloaded them and stowed them back into the hidden compartment in Speedy.

7:58 P.M.

We got a call.

This time from our new friend.

"Help me!" Hawk said. "I'm in shit again!"

The following takes place between 8:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.

The Safehouse

"What have you done?" I asked, glaring at Marty.

"I got a line on that Chris D'Amico! I followed him and now I'm stuck! He doesn't know I'm here... Yet! I'm in a warehouse, near the terminal," Hawk explained.

"You are running out of favours, girl!" I cautioned.

"Thanks..." Hawk replied, before the call cut off.

"Marty can you get a fix on her phone?" I asked.

"Give me a few minutes and I'll let you know!"

"Dave, we need to head out," I growled. "That stupid, incompetent bitch is in trouble again!"

"Hawk?" Dave asked, smirking.

"Oh yeah!"

"That girl is trouble; kinda reminds me of you!" Dave said, laughing.

I just glared back.

"I have a position!" Marty called. "Not far from that fucking Auto Pound. End of South Stony Island Avenue."

8:12 P.M.

We headed out in the SUV with Eisenhower.

The trip was going to take about thirty-five minutes. We brought the H&K G36C assault files with us, plus as much ammo as we could handle.

8:45 P.M.

Chris's Warehouse

We pulled up without lights, using NVGs and parked behind a row of rail oil tankers.

"Battle Guy, Fusion is moving in," Kick-Ass reported.

"Battle Guy copies Fusion moving in!"

Kick-Ass and I got out, along with Eisenhower.

We readied our weapons and headed towards the warehouse, wearing NVGs. We approached the warehouse and I could see two watchdogs, who seemed to be walking the perimeter. They met up and then turned around, to go back around the building. Once they had separated enough, I moved in and slit one man's throat, while Kick-Ass went after the other guy, with Eisenhower.

Kick-Ass returned stowing his Ko-Wakizashi, with Eisenhower trotting along, happily, beside him.

"Any problems?" I asked.

"Always the tone of doubt!" Kick-Ass responded.

"I... Okay, let's just head in," I said, laughing at Kick-Ass.

"Battle Guy, two down, heading inside," Kick-Ass called in.

"Battle Guy copies two down and Fusion heading inside!"

We found a door and I stared at the card swipe.

"You might need this, Hit Girl!" Kick-Ass said, smirking and holding out a swipe card. "I got it off my guy!"

"A smart-ass Kick-Ass; that's all I fucking need!" I growled, swiping the card.

As soon as the door clicked, I pulled it open and went inside, followed by Kick-Ass and Eisenhower.

9:09 P.M.

The inside of the warehouse was mainly shadows.

There were piles of wooden crates, which blocked out a lot of the illumination from the lights above. The passageways, though, were brightly lit.

"Let's even the odds!" I growled, heading over to an electrical panel and pulling the main breaker.

The building was instantly plunged into darkness and we heard several shouts of annoyance. Our NVGs allowed us to see very well, however.

"Remember, Hawk is here somewhere!" I warned.

"God knows where, though!" Kick-Ass replied.

We headed further into the warehouse, our assault rifles up and ready.

9:16 P.M.

Two watchdogs were coming in our direction, we took one each, two shots to the head.

We started to hear loud shouts, in response to our shooting. We moved forward dropping another watchdog, before Eisenhower started whining and sniffing the air.

"Eisenhower is onto something!" Kick-Ass said, over the comms.

"Follow her," I said.

"Eisenhower, go!" Kick-Ass said.

Eisenhower moved off, slowly sniffing the air and moving in between the crates. She took us deeper into the warehouse, before stopping outside the door of an office. Eisenhower then whined and looked up at me.

9:24 P.M.

Kick-Ass put a boot into the door, sending it smashing into the wall.

I covered the doorway, while Kick-Ass went in and looked around.

"Found it!" Kick-Ass called.

"I am not an 'it'!" I heard Hawk say, indignantly.

"You're a pain in the butt!" Kick-Ass replied.

Kick-Ass appeared with Hawk.

"Can you shoot?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course," Hawk replied.

I passed Hawk one of my pistols and a spare magazine.

"I want that pistol back!" I growled.

We moved back towards the door, that we had come in by. Three more watchdogs fell, two to me and one to Hawk! We made it to the door and were back outside.

"Battle Guy, we've got Hawk!" Kick-Ass reported. "We are outside the building!"

"Battle Guy copies you have Hawk and are outside the building!"

9:42 P.M.

"You have transport?" I asked Hawk.

"Yeah, thanks again, guys!" Hawk replied.

"Just don't make a habit of this!" I replied, accepting back my pistol and spare magazine.

9:55 P.M.

Once Hawk had vanished into the darkness, I turned to Kick-Ass.

"Shall we tidy up?" I asked.

"Why the hell not!" Kick-Ass replied.

The following takes place between 10:00 P.M. and Midnight

We went back into the warehouse and worked our way down the building.

We caught and killed, four watchdogs. I received several shots to my armour, which I shrugged off. We saw two more watchdogs run off, towards another door and we followed. The last two watchdogs ran east, towards another warehouse. We were able to track them using the NVGs, before Hit Girl went down on one knee, aimed and shot both watchdogs.

"I'm curious about where they are heading; they made a point of going in this direction," I queried.

"I'm game, you never know what we might find," Hit Girl replied.

We walked towards the other warehouse and started walking the perimeter. As we approached the first corner, we heard some people coming our way. Suddenly Eisenhower started behaving strangely, she strained on her leash and started growling viciously! Three men came around the corner, a few yards ahead of us.

..._...

Six gunshots rang out and two bodies dropped to the alley floor. Hit Girl did not holster her two pistols, but kept them aimed at the one man, left standing. I was struggling to hold Eisenhower back.

"Oh this is perfect! Are you really that stupid? There's two of us and just one of you! Do you really have a hard-on to die?" Hit Girl growled. "Oh, I forgot, you can't get a hard-on!"

10:34 P.M.

"Chris D'Amico!" I snarled.

"Fuck!" Chris said, assessing his new situation.

"Sorry Eisenhower, he has nothing left for you to chomp on!" I snarled, vindictively.

"You fucking bastards!" Chris yelled.

"I've been waiting so fucking long for this!" Hit Girl growled, savagely, but with an enormous grin on her face. "Three rounds, remember, Red Mist!"

Hit Girl squeezed the trigger, three times.

"Shows over, Motherfucker!"

Chris crashed backwards, onto the ground.

I walked forward, Chris was still conscious and looking directly up at me. I aimed the Glock, at the point between his eyes. I felt zero emotion.

"God, I'm glad I don't have a son like you! Time for a family reunion!" I snarled, pulling the trigger once.

Hit Girl sagged and started to cry, before she fell against me.

"You okay?" I asked, sensing her relief.

"Yeah!" Hit Girl replied.

"Time to go home!" I said, smiling down at her.

"Thanks, Kick-Ass!" Hit Girl replied. "My Daddy... He would have been proud of both of us!"

"You know we have a long walk ahead of us!" I said. "Damn, that jet pack would have come in handy, right now!"

10:42 P.M.

"Hold on!" Hit Girl said suddenly. "Just want to make sure!"

"What?" I asked, as Hit Girl turned around and walked the dozen or so yards back to the body of Chris D'Amico. Both Eisenhower and I stared curiously after her.

Hit Girl drew a Katana and brought the blade down swiftly, severing Chris' head. Hit Girl then calmly cleaned off the Katana and stowed it. She stood staring at the severed head, for a second or two.

"I'm so fucking glad you're dead, cunt!" Hit Girl said happily, before sending the head flying across the ground, with one swift kick.

Blood flew into the air and across the ground.

Hit Girl laughed.

Updated: June 2015