Three days later
Tuesday
Today was strange, very strange.
Chloe and I were held hostage, with interesting results. Results, that I have to thank Marty for!
We were out in Chicago and we intended to go shopping. Due to recent security concerns, I had insisted that all Fusion members should always carry some form of basic comms with them, either a cell or a radio. Now, carrying our normal tactical radios as a civilian, would attract attention, as it was not easy to conceal and were not technically available to civilians! Marty, though, had found a compromise where as long as we were within a couple of miles of a main radio, i.e. Speedy, Beast, the SUV or a safehouse, we could carry a much smaller radio and use concealed communications headsets. This we were doing today, to test the system.
We had parked the SUV in the centre of the City and we were walking about a half-mile away. Marty and Abby were at the safehouse and monitoring the test. Dave was at home, with Sophia, Curtis and Kyle.
The first stop was to be the bank, so we could get some cash. I generally hated using cards, as they tended to leave an electronic trail. I also wanted to treat Chloe to a girls day out. We were chatting happily, as we entered the bank, so I didn't notice anything wrong. We queued up as usual and had been there for only about eight minutes. Marty was telling us jokes over the comms and we had to try and ignore him, so we didn't give the game away. We each had a small transceiver, which was hidden under our clothes, never mind where! In our left ear we each had a small ear bud, which contained a built-in microphone and a very thin wire, that ran down, under our clothes, to the transceiver. Our hair, especially mine, covered the ear bud and wire. I suggested to Chloe that she let her hair grow a little.
Suddenly I heard a commotion behind me and span around to see three security guards being clubbed to the ground by masked men. They were using what looked like leather billy clubs, or saps. Then AR-15 rifles appeared, in the hands of three of the men. Another two men were busy, securing the security guards' hands.
"Don't move! Don't fuckin' move! Put your hands in the air! Put your hands in the air! Put 'em up!" One man, with a gravely voice yelled.
"Get on your knees! Get on your knees!" Another man, with a British accent, shouted.
"We want to hurt no one! We're here for the bank's money, not your money. Your money is insured by the federal government, you're not gonna lose a dime! Think of your families, don't risk your life. Don't try and be a hero!" Gravely Voice said, loudly.
"Get down and stay down! Hey, you, get over here and get down!" British Accent yelled, at several bank workers.
I grimaced. They were idiots, not just for quoting from 'Heat', but following the whole fucking script!
..._...
"Battle Guy, the bank has just been seized!" I whispered, dejectedly.
"Copy that, Hit Girl!" Battle Guy replied.
"Five men, AR-15s. They think the're following the fucking script of 'Heat'!" I whispered, as I got down onto the floor, facing Chloe.
"Cool! Copy five, plus AR-15s and they like movies!" Battle Guy replied, with a snigger.
"Funny cunt!"
I heard one of the men speaking on a cell. He was reading out his demands to the cops, I caught the second demand and actually laughed.
"Like that's gonna happen!" I said, quietly, looking at Chloe, who had heard the same thing and looked at me, with a smirk.
"Repeat that, Hit Girl!" Battle Guy called.
"The idiots have just announced their demands. Demand number two: They want Hit Girl down here!" I said.
"You what? Now that is funny!" Battle Guy said and I could hear laughter from Hal, in the background.
"Better call Jack Bay. He knows who I am, he can cover," I said to Battle Guy.
"Doing it now!" Battle Guy replied.
Oh this was fucking brilliant! Here I am, a hostage and one of the hostage takers' demands is me! Dave is gonna fucking love this and milk it for all it's fucking worth!
"Does Kick-Ass know?" I asked, tentatively.
"He's inbound to suit up, right now!" Battle Guy replied.
Oh fuck!
Okay, think! These guys are complete idiots!
"Battle Guy, Shadow and I are gonna wind these fuckers up!" I said, coming to a decision.
"Copy that!"
..._...
"Hey! Asshole, how long are we gonna be lying here?" I said, sitting up.
"Get down, bitch!" Gravely Voice said, aiming his AR-15 at me. I didn't flinch.
"Big gun, huh! Compensating are we?" I responded and tried to ignore Marty and Abby laughing, in my ear.
"What?" Gravely Voice shouted.
"That big?" I said, holding my thumb and forefinger, about three inches apart and looking at Chloe, who giggled and held up her own thumb and forefinger, about an inch apart.
This seemed to annoy Gravely Voice!
"You fucking bitch..." Gravely Voice started, before British Accent told him to 'shut the fuck up'!
I could hear some sniggering, from other hostages and at least one hostage taker!
Gravely Voice and British Accent were arguing, but they had left me sitting up, so I could now look around. There were approximately sixteen bank customers and about twelve bank workers, lying on the floor. That included me and Chloe.
I had started to lose track of time, when I heard another voice in my ear bud, the one I had been dreading!
"Howdy, gorgeous!" Dave said. "Hit Girl rescued you yet?"
I whispered something vile and obscene.
"You foul mouthed, little bitch!" Dave retorted, laughing.
"Hiya, shadow!" Curtis said, in the most annoying way possible.
"Talk about little dicks!" Chloe muttered and I laughed.
"Be nice! Does Hit Girl know about your 'My Little Pony' panties?" Curtis responded.
"Fucking little... I'm gonna cut his fucking balls off, when I get outta here!" Chloe seethed, going bright red.
I hate to say it, but I laughed and the look I got from Chloe, was anything but friendly! The laughter from the safehouse did not help!
..._...
"Fuck this!" Chloe said, jumping up and turning to British Accent.
"Hey, wanker! I need a piss and right the fuck now!" Chloe said, without fear or shame! I had to admit that it didn't even sound like Chloe or Shadow! By the chatter over the comms, even Curtis sounded shocked.
Chloe was wearing shorts, which showed off her long legs and she was flaunting these and Gravely Voice was looking! Chloe did in fact look older, than thirteen and she actually could easily pass for a fifteen year-old, which really fucking sucked! At thirteen, I looked thirteen! I checked Chloe up and down; I knew that she was carrying a weapon somewhere, but couldn't for the life of me see where!
"Well, I'm waiting limp dick!" Chloe said, angrily.
"Take the slut, to the fucking bathroom!" British Accent said, to one of the other men.
"Go suck a cock!" Chloe retorted, as she was led to the bathroom.
I was trying my best to keep a straight face, but failing and I could hear hysterical laughter at the safehouse.
"Hey, gorgeous! I'm on my way and Curtis is speechless and has gone very red!" Dave called and I heard Beast starting up. "I have your combat suit, with me!"
"Hey, boss! Bay has been on the phone and he's heading onsite, to co-ordinate. He knows you and Chloe are in there and unmasked!" Battle Guy reported.
Chloe came back from the bathroom, a few minutes later, smirking. She came over and sat beside me.
"The bathroom has a window, not big enough to get out of, but big enough to get a combat suit in!" Chloe muttered, having heard the conversation with Dave.
"Nice idea! I'm ten minutes out; Murphy is providing escort!" Kick-Ass said and I could hear a siren in the background.
..._...
"You carrying?" I whispered.
"Stupid fucking question!" Chloe snapped back. I don't think she's forgiven me for laughing at her underwear!
Chloe stood up again.
"Now what, slut?" British Accent asked and got a vicious glare in return.
"Let's just pretend, for a moment that I'm Hit Girl..." Chloe started.
"In your fucking dreams!" I muttered.
Chloe must have heard me, as she hesitated, but otherwise ignored me.
"... Why would you want her?" Chloe continued.
"That bitch killed my brother and I'm gonna kill her!" Gravely Voice said.
"You... You are gonna kill, the most vindictive, the most sadistic and most violent, assassin out there? In your fucking dreams!" Chloe retorted and several murmurs of agreement, were heard from the hostages.
She's trying to apologise, for getting angry with me! She's killing time and distracting the idiots, too! This girl can really think on her fucking feet!
After what felt like only a few minutes, I heard my saviour's voice!
..._...
"Time to use the bathroom, Hit Girl!" Kick-Ass called.
I took a deep breath and stood up.
British Accent came over, looking pissed.
"What the fuck now?" British Accent yelled. "This is turning into a fucking nightmare!"
"I need to use the bathroom," I said.
"No!"
"I'm on my period!" I said, staring directly at him and he seemed to wilt.
"Do you have no fucking shame?" Kick-Ass asked, laughing.
"Look, I'm not fucking bleeding all over the damn floor, cunt!" I continued.
"No!"
"Come on! All I need to do is stick a fucking Tampon in, for fuck's sake!" I said, grimacing and it didn't help that I could hear Dave, Abby and Marty laughing.
"Need a hand, love?" British Accent asked, smirking.
"Need help getting it up, or does your pal, there, help you?" I retorted.
"Go... Jesus Christ! Go hold up a fucking bank, he said, it'll be easy..." British Accent shouted and continued ranting.
..._...
I went into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.
I went over to the window and found Kick-Ass standing outside and below the window, behind him was a cop; it was Fellowes. Kick-Ass passed in my complete combat suit, plus my pistols and my bō-staff, which was a tight fit and had to come in, in it's two sections. I kicked off my clothes and pulled on the combat suit, shoving my clothes out of the window, to Kick-Ass, who passed them to Fellowes. I checked that my pistols were loaded and that the bō-staff was ready, before unlocking the door and stepping out.
"Shadow, Hit Girl is about to attack! Stand to!" I called. It felt strange not to be wearing the throat mike when in the combat suit, but that wasn't really a problem.
I slipped through the open door, into the main area of the bank.
..._...
"Okay you cunts!" I growled, attracting everybody's attention. "Let's see what you can do now!"
I swung my two swords in menacing circles, before nodding at Chloe and throwing myself towards the hostage takers. Before they had had a chance to even raise their weapons, I had stabbed the first two men, through the chest and was moving onto the next pair, flipping onto and over a desk and landing behind the two men, then ramming my swords home, into their backs. The last man fell, as Chloe rammed her balisong into his stomach and almost lifted the much larger man off his feet!
"I am not a fucking slut, bastard!" Chloe snarled, as the man died.
I admit Chloe's behaviour today, was rather surprising.
I reconnected my swords and slung the assembled bō-staff, over my back.
"Kick-Ass, get us outta here!" I growled.
The main door of the bank burst open and Police Officers threw blankets over all of the hostages and took them outside, including Chloe, who was grabbed by Murphy. When I got outside the bank, I found that the hostages were being shepherded to one side and into Police vans, so hopefully nobody would notice that Chloe and I weren't there. I noticed Murphy slamming the back of Beast shut, before wandering away, smiling. I saw Jack Bay and nodded in his direction; receiving a nod and a smile in return. I pulled off the bō-staff, placed it on the back seat and then climbed into Beast, to find Kick-Ass staring at me.
"Back to headquarters, Kick-Ass!" I growled and couldn't resist grinning till it hurt. Kick-Ass accelerated away.
"Welcome back, Hit Girl and Shadow!" Abby called.
"Thanks, Hal!" I replied.
"Yeah, thanks, Hal!" Chloe said, popping her head up from behind the rear seats.
We decided to retrieve the SUV later, but for now we just wanted to get back to the safehouse.
The safehouse
When we pulled into the safehouse, everybody was there!
They all started applauding, as we got out of Beast.
"That had to be the most entertaining morning that I have had in a long time!" Marty exclaimed, with his huge, dorky grin.
"Glad we could be so entertaining!" I said, dryly, pulling off my mask.
"Honestly that was way cool! Marty almost died!" Abby said, giving Chloe a hug.
"You really have a foul mouth, Chloe!" Curtis commented. "And I'm sorry about the panties! You really were cool and scary today, but I did find you a bit embarrassing!"
Curtis ran over and gave Chloe a big hug. Chloe was a bit confused.
"I'm glad you're safe!" Curtis said.
"Okay, I won't cut your balls off!" Chloe replied, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"My Little Pony?" I asked.
"I'll say nothing, about your pyjamas, if you say nothing about my panties!" Chloe growled, with an embarrassed grin.
"Deal!" I replied, feeling my face warming up and Dave was laughing.
After we had returned our comms to Marty and I had dropped off my weapons, in the armoury, I went upstairs with Chloe, so we could both get changed.
Chloe had blood on her from 'British Accent', at the bank and she was shaking a bit.
"You okay?" I asked, as Chloe paused, outside her room.
"Not really!" Chloe replied, looking pale.
"Come on, into our room," I said, puling Chloe into the bedroom, before closing and locking the door.
Chloe broke down onto the bed and started sobbing. I left her there, while I dragged off my combat suit. I knew what this was about. Chloe had killed before, several times, in fact. But always at a distance, or in the dark. This was the first time that Chloe had killed, so intimately, while staring into her mark's eyes. It was also the first time, that she had got blood on her hands, literally. I knew the reaction, I had been there, years ago, but at half her age.
Chloe looked up from the bed.
"I was scared today, but being scared gave me the courage to stand up to those men. But that asshole who called me a slut... That hurt and I felt that I had to do something about it... But...," Chloe ran out of steam.
"I know, but you weren't expecting that rage to build up and allow you to ram that balisong into that bastard and almost lift him off the ground! You weren't expecting to see, what you saw in his eyes, as he died! I've been there, I know exactly what was going through your mind and it is entirely normal. Killing from a distance is very different, to killing face-to-face. You can see a lot of things go through somebody's emotions, as they die and you remember them all. You just learn to push those feelings and memories down deep and bury them. It's not easy and it takes time to learn how to do it properly, but I'll help you get through this, okay?"
"Thanks, Mindy! I'm glad I did it and he deserved it, but I still feel bad about it!" Chloe said.
"You will, but you will also learn to bury those feelings," I said and felt very sorry for Chloe. "You did very well today and I will admit you surprised me, with your actions, which were bang on!"
"Can I come back to your place?" Chloe asked. "I don't want to go home tonight... I... I might need to talk..."
Chloe sounded a bit insecure, but I said okay and I knew Dave would understand.