Three days later
Wednesday
West Ridge
Today was Marty's birthday!
Marcus was still with us, due to upcoming anniversaries, so we enjoyed a meal together, which Chloe, Josh and Abby were allowed to attend, despite it being a school night! We had a lot of fun, as it always was when Marty started telling his jokes. I noticed that Marty and Kim were very close now, sickeningly close! But I couldn't fault him, Kim was a very beautiful woman and she seemed to love Marty, especially the new Marty!
It was left to Dave to come up with some embarrassing stories, of which there were a hell of a lot! Those two really got themselves into a lot of shit, when they were young. I'm really surprised Dave lived long enough to even become Kick-Ass!
It was fun to find out more about Dave's past, as it was so very different to my own.
The next morning
Thursday
West Ridge
Today was expected to be a very bad day, as anniversaries go, that is.
Why?
So many bad things happened!
One catastrophic thing almost happened!
But also a couple of good things occurred!
Shall we put the good and bad shit in order then?
Firstly, that complete, traitorous, utter bastard, Red Mist conned Dave. Then I was shot, three fucking times! I really haven't got over that yet; thinking about it just makes me want to hit something! Next, my Daddy was kidnapped and then tortured to death, but not before I was able to kill them all and if not rescue him, I at least got to speak with him, one last time... 'You are the kindest Daddy in the world. I love you too, Daddy. I love you too, Daddy. Sleep tight.'
Dammit! I miss my Daddy so fucking much!
That catastrophic thing? Well that was me almost killing Dave, in the safehouse (that no longer fucking exists). I was mad and at the time, blamed Dave, but he had been badly beaten too. The stubborn bastard actually stayed to help me, too! He saved me twice and killed that bastard, Frank D'Amico; that was the first good thing! The thought of Dave with that fucking bazooka always made me smile!
The second good thing?
It was the best decision that I had ever made: I told Dave my true identity, I told him I was Mindy Macready and shook his hand; we became partners, of a sort and here we are, years later and still together, fighting for good.
"You okay?" Dave asked, hugging me tightly, as I cried.
"Yeah, I have you! I'll always by okay when I have you!"
This time last year I was alone, in this very city. Dave had made contact and I had fucked everything up and almost lost him for good. But he came back. Why does he keep coming back? Because he loves you, you stupid bitch, despite all the fucking shit that you dish out! I hugged Dave tighter, I didn't want to let him go, not now, not ever.
"What have my ribs ever done to you?" Dave asked as he struggled to breathe.
"Sorry!" I said quickly and eased my grip.
"Let's go get breakfast!" I suggested.
..._...
Marcus was in the kitchen, when we got down there.
He didn't look happy, which was understandable, as he had watched his friend and former partner getting tortured, live on the internet!
"How you doing?" He asked.
"Been better; story of my life!" I replied weakly.
"Hi Dave! How you handling it?"
"The nightmares were as vivid as ever! Don't regret a thing! I'm not saying I want to repeat it all, but..."
"I know!" Marcus offered.
"I'd like to think it would get easier as the years pass, but it's the same now as it has always been, but at least I have Dave, this time!" I said.
"I assume there still isn't any sign of any Hit Babies!" Marcus laughed, changing the subject.
My face suddenly felt very hot!
"Not the conversation for breakfast Marcus!"
..._...
We both received a very nice text from Josh and Chloe, as they both knew about what had happened that night, all those years ago. Josh and Chloe had watched that video together and were both understandably horrified! I thanked them both for their thoughts.
They really were great kids.
Marcus was heading back to New York this evening, but it was good that he could be here, during what was a difficult time, for us all. For now, at least, we could support each other and talk about the good old days! It also gave Dave and Marcus the opportunity to swap stories about yours truly! Nothing I could do about it, so I just glared at them both, but they just fucking ignored me! Okay, I've made a few mistakes in my young life, who fucking hasn't! Admittedly most peoples mistakes didn't involve sharp blades and guns, plus the odd item of explosive ordnance!
My life sucks and I hate being a fucking teenager!
The following morning
Friday
"Thank God that's over for another year!"
"Tell me about it!" Dave muttered.
"Okay, back to the rest of our lives!" I said, jumping out of bed. "I have a war to plan!"
"You do that! Wake me when you're done!"
"Lazy green asshole!"
I needed to get my body back into shape, so I took Sophia for a run around the park.
It was painful, but pain is good for the soul, well that's what Daddy always used to say! It was okay when I was little, I didn't feel pain much. Mind you, my body has been through a hell of a lot over the past few years!
First time I was shot, was when? I was nine and my Daddy gave me hell for it, as I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I won't tell Dave this story, 'cause the cunt would laugh himself stupid! I'm half surprised he hasn't noticed the scar! Okay, I was shot in the fucking ass! Left side, very low down and it hurt like fuck, not to mention that I couldn't sit down for over a week, which made taking a piss rather challenging! My Daddy laughed, he thought it was 'piss' funny and said it would teach me a lesson! Mind you, I laugh every time I think about it now!
As I ran around the park with Sophia, I was mentally planning our next assault on the Russian Mafia and that was something I was good at! By the time we had run all the way home, I had a very good plan coming together in my mind, not to mention some fun for this evening! However I had one major gauntlet to run, most possibly worse than the corridor at the D'Amico Penthouse! What was that immense hurdle? Dr Bennett!
Dr Bennett insisted on a full, top to bottom, physical before I would be allowed out. Dr Bennett also assured me that if I avoided the physical, then I would regret it. Normally I would ignore threats like that, but her smile was somewhat disturbing! So I submitted myself to the physical, which I passed, but not with flying colours I might add. Dr Bennett was not happy with my right shoulder, which she said had not yet fully healed. Nor was she happy with my other bruises that were scattered all over my body, as they had not fully healed, either!
I wasn't the only one to endure a physical either! Dave, Marty, Kim, Josh and Chloe also suffered through one too! We couldn't complain; at least we are all healthy and we would also need to be in top condition for the work we did! We were all pleased to hear that Joshua was now almost one hundred percent healed; Dr Bennett said that it must have been due to all that extra exercise Chloe had been giving him!
That evening
Safehouse A
Dave and I were suiting up for a brief trip out.
This was not to be anything special, just a bit of fun! On a more serious note, it was to make sure that I was ready to go back out and into action. Dave insisted that we have a check run and I agreed, which kinda shocked Dave, as he had expected to have a massive argument over it! I agreed because I thought I was finally getting around to understand that people force me into these things because they care about me and don't want me to get hurt. Whether it is Chloe, Dr Bennett, Dave or Marcus, they were not doing it because they enjoyed it, as I might. They were just trying to prevent me from doing something stupid. It actually felt really good knowing that I had lots of people willing to look out for me and tolerate my often wayward behaviour to ensure that I was safe!
I never thought that the Russians were stupid, but one obviously was! The dick had actually reported his motorcycle stolen to CPD. Jack Bay had accidentally lost the report, but I now had the address for the idiot! Marty, with Lucille and of course Kim, had followed the guy to another address. This one was not one of the Russian Mafia locations that we were already aware of!
I had borrowed the Kawasaki from Josh, with his permission of course! We headed out, towards the address of the Kawasaki's previous owner. Kick-Ass was with me, on his Fat Boy and armed with a G36C, in case things kicked off. But we had both agreed that the moment things turned ugly, we would leave.
We arrived at the address stealthily and checked out the area. It was nothing special, just a fairly common residential neighbourhood, so we should be safe and there were also no tell tales indicating a possible ambush.
While Kick-Ass kept watch, I executed some very creative doughnuts, on the road outside the guy's house, before the guy quickly came running out, yelling his head off.
"Hey! That's my fucking bike! сволочи!" ['Bastards!']
"Not anymore, cunt! Легко пришло! Легко идут!" ['Easy come! Easy go!']
I accelerated away and pulled a wheelie as I went! Kick-Ass followed, keeping his G36C visible, to dissuade any retaliation.
"Well that's one way to get their backs up!" Kick-Ass laughed.
"Damn, that was fun! I replied.