Two days later
Thursday night
Western Chicago

I could hear voices.

They seemed far away, but that might just have been my mind which was feeling groggy and my head hurt.

"What the bloody hell do we do with her?"

"Buggered if I know!"

The first voice was a girl's voice, the second a boy's.

"She's got some cutting-edge armour; she's the real deal!"

"You fucking plonker, you clobbered a damn Hero!"

Everything went black again, after that.

The following day
Friday afternoon
Western Chicago

I awoke again.

My head was really hurting now.

Where was I?

I thought back... I remembered seeing two people acting strangely. I closed on them... They separated... Then nothing.

I reached up to my head and felt my hair... Oh fuck!

Sudden realisation struck me; my mask and comms were missing! I rapidly ran my hands over my body; my utility belt and weapons were missing, but I was still wearing the rest of my combat suit. The left side of my face was very painful; it was bruised and swelling. Only now did I realise that I was bound at my wrists, with plastic ties. I moved my feet and found them to be bound too, but at least I was still wearing my armoured boots.

I looked around me. I was lying on the floor of what looked like a derelict apartment and it was daylight outside.

That was not good.

I was not supposed to be here and nobody even knew that I was out; I should have been home hours ago!

Oh fuck!

I was starting to panic now; I'd fucked up big time!

If I didn't die, Hit Girl would fucking kill me herself!

Calm the fuck down, idiot and think!

First, get a good look around.

I flexed the muscles in my arms and brought my elbows down either side of me, fast and hard and with my gauntlets protecting my wrists, the plastic ties snapped. I reached behind me with my right hand, under my rear armour and pulled out a black double-edged knife with a four and a half inch blade.

I cut the plastic ties holding my ankles together and stood up. I looked out of the window, the sun was high and from the south, but angled to the west, so it must have been past midday and I also discovered that I was on the fifth floor. I couldn't work out where I was located in Chicago, though, the view was blocked. The door to the room was wood; I slowly turned the handle and eased the door open. I was a little surprised that the door hadn't been locked or bolted.

..._...

Outside the door was a corridor and from the far end I heard the same voices that I had heard earlier.

I listened.

"Maybe we should ask her for help," The girl's voice said

"After you bloody cracked her with a damn pole!" The boy replied, angrily. "She might turn on us!"

"She's a vigilante, part of the famous Fusion. I think she might be Shadow; there's not much information on these guys. A lot of the websites that purport to have information, on Fusion, are corrupted! They are the good guys, Cam!" The girl again.

"When she wakes up, she may still kill us, Nats! You've heard how violent they can get and look at the impressive weapons she was carrying! I have a feeling that she can cause shit, without those weapons, too! You removed her bloody mask; we can recognise her! I told you not to remove the bloody mask!" The boy said.

"Yes, but what was that you said, when I did remove the mask? 'Fuck she's hot'!" The girl retorted.

I felt myself blushing!

"So what if she is hot?" The boy replied.

"Can't you control your damn hormones for two bloody minutes?"

I couldn't believe that I was listening to two people discussing me, like that!

Then it suddenly hit me!

These two were just kids, not much older than me and they were as British as Josh; the accents were the same. These were the two that Mindy had told us about a few weeks ago; the two British vigilantes!

..._...

What the fuck do I do? The boy was right, they'd seen me without my mask.

Okay, build up information; information is power.

I know their names; Cam and Nats, apparently. That's more than I knew earlier and they both seem scared of me; they also sounded like they regretted having attacked and seized me.

I spent a couple of minutes arranging my thoughts.

Do I attack?

Do I offer help?

Would they trust me?

They knew that I'd be very pissed about them removing my mask; and I was!

What would Mindy do? Answer: She'd never have get herself into this fucking position in the first damn place!

I pulled the door open slowly and slid out, knife in hand and headed toward the voices.

Earlier that day
West Ridge

My cell rang.

"Chloe went out, straight from school last night and she hasn't come home!" Dr Bennett said, sounding worried. "Has she been with you?"

"No, but I'll check with Mindy," I said. "Mindy, when did you last hear from Chloe?"

"Couple of days ago," Mindy replied.

I went back to the cell.

"Mindy's not heard from her either. You called Josh?" I asked.

"Yeah and he's not heard from her and she's not at school, either!"

"Leave it with us, Doc! I'll call you the moment we find out anything!" I said and killed the call.

"Mindy, Chloe's missing! I'm heading down to the safehouse!" I called.

"I'm coming too!" Mindy answered.

Western Chicago

I followed the sound of the voices, along the corridor and came to another doorway which lead to a large living room.

There was one voice, the boy's, but I couldn't hear the girl.

A chill suddenly ran up my back, I'd made a mistake, a big mistake! I span around to find the girl creeping up behind me. She held a large chunk of wood, which she swung at my head. I tried to dodge, but the wood caught me and I fell to the floor, my vision blurred for a short time, then I felt myself being dragged into the living room. I then felt my hands being bound, roughly, behind my back, with rope.

My vision finally cleared and I found myself leaning against a mouldy looking couch. In front of me was a wooden table, on which I could see my mask, comms and utility belt, with my pistol. Leaning against the table, was my bō-staff. The two Brits were looking down at me. I glared back, as strongly and malevolently, as I could. They were both similar in looks; the boy was a little taller than Mindy, while the girl was slightly taller than the boy. I thought that the girl was the natural leader, but that was just my assumption. Both of them were of an average build, like Josh and neither were fat. They both wore black combat gear, with light combat boots. Their expressions were of confusion. I would need to somehow guide them, as they seemed way, way out of their comfort zone! The girl had long brown hair, tied up in a ponytail. The boy also had brown hair, which was short, like Josh's.

"Do you have to keep hitting me with that damn thing?" I growled.

"You're dangerous!" The girl replied.

"To criminals, yes, but not to you," I growled back.

"How do we know that?" The boy asked.

"You don't! But Fusion is about doing the right thing and hurting you, would not be the right thing."

"No it wouldn't!" The girl agreed.

"You have names?" I asked.

The two looked at each other, then the boy answered.

"I'm Cameron and this is my sister, Natasha."

"Hi Cameron, Natasha," I said. "I'm a very pissed off Shadow!"

"Told you!" Natasha said to her brother, with a smug grin.

"Care to untie me?" I tried.

"Not yet, er, Shadow!" Cameron said. "We need to go out and well, we don't trust you!"

"Great!" I growled in frustration.

Safehouse A

"Her armour and weapons are missing! I checked the CCTV and she left about eight, last night, all kitted up!" Dave said.

"Fuck! I'm gonna skin that little bitch, alive!" I yelled. I was livid; what the fuck did that girl think she was doing, going out on her own?

"I've told Marty and Kim and they are on their way to us, now," Dave advised.

"Let's get kitted up and see if we can locate her cell and comms," I suggested.

..._...

By the time Dave and I had got into our combat suits, minus the masks, Marty and Kim had arrived. Marty dived straight in and started to track down Chloe, while Kim went to get into her combat suit.

"Okay! I have her radio, GPS doesn't have a good lock; she must be inside a solid building. Downloading her previous track, now. Her cell is turned off, so nothing from that," Marty informed us.

"Thanks Marty. Can you turn on VOX, so we can hear her?" I asked.

"Can do!"

Western Chicago

"Shadow, this is Hit Girl! You're on VOX, over!"

"What was that?" Cameron asked.

I tried not to look at the radio headset, not three feet away from me that was buzzing. I was sure it was Mindy's voice. Thank God! Cameron picked up the headset and held it to his ear, then dropped it.

"It's Hit Girl, calling for her!" Cameron yelled and he sounded scared.

"What?" Natasha shouted.

"They know where we are; we need to get out of here!" Cameron replied, calming down.

I started to hear voices, elsewhere in the building.

"You have anybody else in the building? I hear voices!" I growled.

"Nobody! Oh God, it's your lot, Shadow!" Natasha said and it was her turn to sound scared.

"No! We use radios, we don't shout when we attack!" I growled back. "Let me go and I can protect you!"

"We can't..."

Then my blood ran cold.

I heard a voice, that voice.

"Keep going! Those little bastards are up here somewhere!"

Safehouse A

We had heard everything that was being said; somebody else was in that building, but then my blood ran cold when I heard what Shadow said next!

"It's Ralph D'Amico!"