The following afternoon
Wednesday
Mindy Macready, was now a Landlord!
I now owned two apartment blocks, within Chicago. There was also an agent, to manage the letting of the apartments.
The first apartment block, in Lawndale is the smallest and Marty wants to take an apartment in this block, as it will be closest for when he starts University. I have directed the agent to let a two bedroom unit to Marty, at a reduced rent. I have also provided cash for Marty to secure and equip his apartment, so he would be able to support Fusion from there, if required. Marty was expected to move in, sometime in late August.
The second apartment block, off South Cottage Grove, is a larger block and currently empty, but the agent is working on this. We have taken ownership of one, two bedroom unit on the fourth floor and one, one bedroom unit, on the first floor. Both are intended to become safehouses, in this case B and C, respectively. The current safehouse will become safehouse A. Building work will begin immediately to secure both apartments and equip them for Fusion. The fourth floor apartment has access to the roof, which is flat and it is possible to move across several of the adjacent buildings, over the flat roofs. This would allow covert access to and from, the safehouse.
..._...
On another positive note, we received a call from Jack Bay, concerning the bank yesterday.
It seemed that the only thing the idiots did almost right, was to try and disable the CCTV, but they managed to fuck that up, too! Mindy Macready on YouTube, would not be very useful! The views from the available CCTV cameras, proved to be interesting, when combined with our ball caps and sunglasses. The only people who got a close up look at us, are dead! Apparently, as is often the case, first hand eye witness statements seemed to disagree. Depending on who you asked, Chloe was anything from Chinese to Caribbean, with dark skin! The description for me, couldn't agree on the colour of my hair, either, plus most agreed that Chloe and I were definitely adults and probably 'hookers'! Wearing ball caps, might of helped, but maybe it's time to dye my hair again, I had let it go back to my natural colour, but maybe I could go red...
Anyway, there is an entertaining new YouTube video that had received a decent amount of hits: 'Hit Girl and Shadow, show their attitude!', plus a variant that focused on Shadow: 'Don't mess with Shadow!'. It definitely helped that we used fake voices, when we were winding up the cunts! The video showed everything that happened, from the start of the attempted heist, to the end; with Shadow stabbing 'British Accent'. I had to admit, it was very cool watching myself in action, flipping across the desk and taking down the four men. First time I had ever actually 'seen' myself in action. According to some of the comments, Shadow's stabbing was also very popular.
The favourite quotes, among others, seemed to be:
'Big gun, huh! Compensating are we?'
'Go suck a cock!'
'You are gonna kill, the most vindictive, the most sadistic and most violent, assassin out there? In your fucking dreams!'
'Okay you cunts! Let's see what you can do now!'
'I am not a fucking slut, bastard!'
The audio wasn't brilliant, but you could understand all that was being said.
I was actually very proud of Chloe, who was a little embarrassed and dreading going home! Dave thought it was really cool and yes, he had heard everything that went on, but he liked the video anyway! Apparently he enjoys seeing me flipping around the place!
That evening
Safehouse A
Chloe still seemed insecure, so Dave suggested that he take her out.
I agreed, as I still had wounds to heal and didn't want to over-stress them anymore than I already had! Just for once, I was going to be a good girl! Out of character? Yes, but the sensible thing to do!
At seven o'clock, I grabbed Chloe and took her upstairs to her bedroom.
"Get changed, you're going out with Kick-Ass and you leave in five minutes!" I said.
"Why? I'd rather stay with you," Chloe said.
"I want you to go out and have fun. Remember, Dave has been through everything that you have, admittedly, I was a bit more harsh with him than I was with you... Talk to him and listen to what he has to say," I said.
It was after ten and the evening was warm.
Kick-Ass and I headed towards the water, in Beast.
Kick-Ass parked up and ten minutes later, we were standing on the top of a twenty-seven storey building on the South Shore, looking across at the City of Chicago. It was actually a wonderful sight, all lit up.
Kick-Ass pulled off his mask and sat down cross-legged, with his back against the top of the lift shaft.
I pulled off my mask and sat down opposite him.
"You know, Dave, you look super gay sitting like that!"
"Funny you should say that... Years ago I spent three months pretending that I was gay! Speak to Marty, he enjoys telling that story!" Dave replied.
"I assume you aren't..."
"No, I am not gay, although some people thought I was after I was found stabbed and naked, following my first outing as Kick-Ass, which did not go according to plan!" Dave replied, looking rather embarrassed.
"When did you first see people die?" I asked, tentatively.
"The night I told you about, at Rasul's. When Little Miss Psycho, sliced and diced, showing off to me!" Dave replied. "That really shook me the fuck up! I was ready to quit, right there. I was in waaaaay over my head! Didn't help when I then got a visit, from two fucking nut cases!"
"When did you first kill?" I asked.
"The night when I rescued Hit Girl, with the Jet Pack and Gatling guns. I shot three guys, from a distance, but it scared the hell outta me! Then of course I blew Frank D'Amico out of the window, with a bazooka. There, I was closer and got to look into his eyes, as he saw his own demise. I felt no emotion, at that point, but later on, it hit me. Admittedly, killing with Gatling guns or a bazooka, is not very personal, but both times I did it to save somebody, somebody I owed. At that point, I felt one hundred percent responsible for Mindy's Dad's death, so I felt I had to act, to back her up and save her life... Twice!" Dave elaborated.
"It took me a while to start to come to terms, with what I had done. I never have got over it, really. I always hate having to kill, but in this line of work, it is necessary. Kill or be killed! Some choices suck, big time! Killing eats away at you, but I have Mindy to talk to and she knows what I am going through. I don't even want to think about how many people have died, at Hit Girl's hands and I have never asked, but I believe Mindy remembers every single person, that she has killed. But after ten years of killing, she is able to bury the emotions. She can be a real hard bitch, sometimes, but that is just her way of dealing with things."
"Now, this is between you and me, nobody else!" Dave cautioned. "What shocked me the most, about Hit Girl, when I first met her, was how cold she was, about what she did. Even when her Dad died, she never cried, or showed any emotion, except maybe anger and a desire to kill me! She channelled her anger into revenge and went after Frank D'Amico. She fucked up; she wasn't thinking correctly when she acted in the heat of the moment. If she had stopped, taken an hour to collect her thoughts, then maybe she might have been able to assault Frank D'Amico, without my help. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the time, not very helpful!"
"Any of that make sense?" Dave asked, finally.
"Yeah, it does," I admitted and it did. The more I understand how Dave and Mindy operate and cope with what they do, the more I am able to reconcile myself, when I am forced to kill and take part in unspeakable acts. There are times that Mindy scares me, but I know that she would never hurt me, at least not intentionally!
Have I made the right choice, about being a vigilante? So far, I don't regret it, but the time may come, when I will regret my choices and actions. I have to admit that Mindy has a 'Jekyll and Hyde' personality. She can switch instantly, from being sweet and lovable, to being a vicious, blood-thirsty killer! I aspire to be like Hit Girl; but is that what I want to become? I understand that Damon, Mindy's Dad, was a little unhinged, to put it politely! Mindy only had her Dad, to keep her right, but I have Dave and Mindy and both are doing everything they can to help me. The partnership, we agreed on, months ago, was working. Every time I made a mistake, or I encountered a problem, one or other of them was there to help me. It helps a bit that my Mom knows about Shadow and what I do, but I can't talk to her about this, even though I know my Mom is hiding something from me; something about her past. Dave and Mindy are like a big brother and big sister to me and I feel like I can talk to them about anything.
After forty-five minutes on the rooftop, we headed down and back to Beast.
"Kick-Ass, Battle Guy! Er... Can you come back to the safehouse!"
"Problem?" I asked.
"Possibly!" Battle Guy replied, cryptically.
..._...
Forty minutes later we pulled into the safehouse.
When the lights came back up, I actually considered reversing back out. On the mat were four people. Mindy looked unhappy, Marty looked concerned, Curtis was smirking and Dr Bennett, wow, I felt scared! I pulled off my mask and looked down at Chloe, who pulled her mask off, very slowly. She looked scared, too.
Safehouse A
I think I was shaking; I knew why my Mom was here, I was dead.
My life was over, Mom will probably lock me in my room and wall up the door!
I got out of Beast and moved slowly towards my Mom.
My Mom met me half way, Curtis started to follow, but one look from my Mom and he retreated and hid behind Mindy.
"Where do we start?" Mom began. "'Go suck a cock!' and 'I am not a fucking slut, bastard!'. Do any of these ring a bell?"
"You saw that, did you?" I said, smiling briefly.
"My daughter, the vigilante, was one thing! I know you have taken a life, more than one, in fact. But I never expected to actually see my daughter take a life, on the damn internet!"
I didn't dare say anything!
"I will admit, though, that you didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't your fault, the bank was seized and I did admire your bravery. I also admired the way you stood up to those bastards and considering my past experiences, I can't hold that against you. The bastard deserved what he got!" Mom finished.
"So, I might just live past tonight?" I asked, tentatively.
"If you keep your wits about you, like you did at the bank, then yes, you probably will! Even '...the most vindictive, the most sadistic and most violent, assassin out there...' says you were brilliant!" Mom replied, looking at Mindy, who blushed and Dave laughed.
I ran forward and gave my Mom a big hug. My Mom let something slip: 'considering my past experiences, I can't hold that against you', what did that mean?
"Isn't it past Curtis' bedtime?" I asked, smirking at Curtis, who glared back, quite effectively.