The following weekend
Saturday morning
Safehouse A
"Come on! Fight! I'm a girl dammit; I should be a push over! Bet Megan fights better, too!"
"I am fighting, bitch!"
"A bit of attitude! Now that's a distinct improvement; not sure about the language though!"
"Eat dick, cunt!"
I laughed and couldn't stop!
"You're winding me up; that's not fucking fair!" Curtis whined as I fell down onto the mat, still laughing.
"You've developed quite the vocabulary, there!" I commented.
"Just 'cause I don't use it, doesn't mean that I can't!" Curtis replied. "Anyway, Chloe can be very foul-mouthed when her Mom isn't around and she thinks I'm not listening!"
"It's just not what you'd normally hear coming out of a ten year-old's mouth!" I responded.
"And you only started swearing last year, huh?"
"Okay, I've been swearing like a trooper, since I was six and a half!" I admitted. "Doesn't mean it's right, though!"
I had spent an hour putting the kid through his paces and I was impressed! In the three months since I had last seen him, he had learnt a lot and he could flip a balisong, almost as well as I could; I warned him not to let his Aunt Cathy see!
"Okay, clever dick!" I said and sat him down in the armoury, then passed him a Glock 17 pistol. "Take it down!"
I watched as Curtis ejected the magazine, a little clumsily as the Glock 17 was a full sized pistol and Curtis' hands were small; I was being a bitch on purpose, but what's new! He placed the magazine onto the table and then locked back the slide and visually checked that there was no round in the chamber, then released the slide and pulled the trigger after having pointed the gun, safely, at the floor. So far, so good!
Next he struggled a bit, again due to his small hands, but managed to remove the slide and take out the recoil spring and barrel, which he placed on the table, beside the magazine. He placed the frame of the pistol down on the table, too, then he smiled up at me smugly!
"Okay, smart ass! I'm impressed!"
"Thank you!" Curtis replied, again smugly.
Morton Grove
I took Curtis home and followed him in.
"Hi, Chloe!" I said.
"Hi, Mindy! Curtis! You need a shower, brat!" Chloe commented, wrinkling her nose.
"I'm going!" Curtis moaned and ran upstairs.
"Dr Bennett, could I have a word, please," I asked politely, then looked towards Chloe. "In private."
Dr Bennett raised her eyebrows at my unusually polite tone.
"Okay!"
I followed Dr Bennett out to the garden and she turned to face me.
"Curtis wants you to train him. Am I right?" Dr Bennett asked, straight out.
This was not a surprise; not much got past Dr Bennett!
"Yes... He asked me last weekend. I said no, but he kept pushing and eventually I said that I would think about it. I ran him through some stuff today and I have to admit that he is very good, for a ten year-old!"
"Firstly, please start calling me Cathy, Mindy; we've known each other long enough! Secondly, my nephew, my godson; it's difficult, my only daughter already risks her life with you and also out on her own, as past events have shown! He's only ten, but I am also aware that he is as strong willed as Chloe and he might go and try to be a vigilante on his own, like Chloe has done twice and completely fucked things up twice and almost died twice! I trust you Mindy and I know you will do absolutely everything possible to keep my daughter safe. I suppose that I'm going to have to entrust my nephew to you, too. Please look after him, just like you do with Chloe."
"I will, er, Cathy, but he won't be going anywhere for a long time; he has a long way to go before that!" I replied. "Can I tell him?"
"Yes!"
..._...
We went back inside and Curtis was just coming down the stairs, in clean clothes and having had a shower.
"Curtis!" I called.
"That's me!" A grinning Curtis replied.
"All right you little shit, I'm gonna train you, but you 'aint going anywhere till you're done and I say that you're done, even if that takes ten fucking years!" I told him.
"What?" Chloe asked, incredulously.
Curtis' face broke into a huge grin and he ran over and hugged me, then let go and hugged Dr Bennett, who tried to smile but couldn't.
The following morning
Sunday
Safehouse A
"Let's have some fun!"
"Cool!" Chloe said.
"You won't be!"
I think sudden realisation must have dawned.
"No... Please!"
I ignored her pleas and continued.
"It is time to tear Shadow apart, piece by shadowy piece! Lessons need to be learnt and what a great real-life example!"
..._...
We were all sitting in the briefing room.
I was on one couch, with Dave. On the other couch were Chloe, Josh and Curtis. Abby was over at the other end of the room, pounding on the computer.
"Awesome!" Curtis said.
"I'm gonna kill you, boy!" Chloe growled.
"Remember Curtis, Chloe is perfectly capable of carrying through with that threat!" I cautioned.
"Sorry!" Curtis mumbled.
"Now, Chloe... You sitting comfortably?" I asked, in an evil tone. "Then I shall begin!"
..._...
"Rule number one! The inviolable rule number one and the first catastrophic mistake that Shadow made!" I began. "Why should we never go out alone... Curtis?"
"Something really bad might happen that is beyond your control," Curtis said.
"Bullseye!" I said and Curtis blushed with happiness. "Now, who is good enough to go out on their own?"
"You?" Curtis asked.
Little creep!
"No!"
"Dave?" Curtis tried again.
"Dave! You saying Dave is better than me, fuckwit?"
"Probably not!" Curtis replied quietly.
"I should damn well think so! Dave better than me; I fucking ask you!"
"Thanks for the compliment kid!" Dave said to Curtis, who smiled happily.
"Okay, we never go out alone! Even I am not good enough. I am good, I am very good; but we all need to know our limitations. I learnt by bitter experience..."
"The hard way as usual!" Dave interrupted, to general laughter.
"Yes, the hard way! But I want to use my hard won experience to allow you guys to learn the easy way, okay?"
"Yes," Curtis, Abby and Josh said.
"Yes, Mindy," Chloe said and started to look very miserable..
"You sure you got that, Miss Bennett?" I asked again, very seriously.
"Yes, I've got it!" Chloe responded firmly and I think I had got the message through.
"Shall we take a short break, before we continue?" I suggested, seeing how miserable Chloe was getting.
..._...
After a hot drink, we all sat back down again.
"Next comes what I saw as the most unforgivable of Shadow's mistakes. She ignored me completely, she ran headlong into a situation that she had no awareness of and she ignored my advice! I've been doing this shit for over ten years; Little Miss Shadow, here, has not even been doing this for ten fucking months! When I say 'no', it's for a damn good reason and I don't give a fucking shit if you disagree with my decision and the same applies to advice from Kick-Ass. He's been around the block, on and off for nearly six years. I am fucking serious about this, okay?"
"Yes," Curtis, Abby and Josh answered.
"Yes, Mindy, it won't happen again!" Chloe said and sounded somewhat subdued.
"The last of Shadow's mistakes and one which I will hold my hand up to and admit to having made myself... Before that green asshole reminds me of it! She ran out of ammunition; it never occurred to her to take extra! Last time that happened to me, I almost died, but my backup saved me!" I said and leaned across to Dave and kissed him on the cheek.
"Yuck!" Curtis commented.
"Ammunition is heavy, so we can't carry unlimited amounts; unless you're muscle bound like Dave!" I said and smirked up at Dave, while Curtis rolled his eyes. "I recommend at least ninety to one hundred rounds as a minimum, if you are using an assault rifle or personal defence weapon. Luckily Shadow had her pistol and extra magazines, but it all could have ended very badly for her!" I finished.
There was silence.
"Now, I hope that you have all learned something from this!" I said.
"Yes, Mindy," Curtis, Abby, Chloe and Josh said.
"Lunchtime!" Dave said and Curtis, Abby and Josh ran out and upstairs.
Dave and I sat down either side of a very subdued and miserable Chloe.
"Do you understand why I put you through all of that?" I asked.
"I deserved it, I know that," Chloe admitted and she looked really gutted.
"I had to make sure that you really understood your mistakes. I was impressed though, that day, at least in the middle! You had the presence of mind to protect your identity and call for help and above all and most importantly, you admitted to me that you knew you had made a mistake," I said and gave Chloe a hug.
"You did okay, girl," Dave commented.
"You have to admit though that your humiliation was a lot less than mine! When I ran out of ammunition, I had to be rescued by Kick-Ass! Not once, but twice! Now that was humiliating!" I admitted.
"Not funny!" Dave retorted.
..._...
I had a nasty feeling that Marty and Kim were getting closer.
It had been Kim's birthday on Monday, although she had refused to admit how old she was!
"How old are you, now?" I had asked.
"A lady never gives out her age," Kim had replied.
"I give out my age," I had responded. "Kinda!"
"Well, we all know that Hit Girl isn't exactly a lady!" Kim had said.
I was annoyed at that! I could be a lady, just not all the time!
I also had a feeling that Marty and Kim would be the next couple within Fusion! Dave agreed and was expecting Marty to propose by Christmas.