Author's Note: A Merry Christmas to everybody!
The following morning
Thursday
West Ridge
It was very cold outside, but it wasn't snowing.
Of course, it was toasty warm inside, though.
I felt happy, really happy; I loved Christmas!
I turned from the window and looked at Dave; he was still sleeping soundly.
Now, we couldn't have that, could we? But hold on: I did promise him a lie in, though and Hit Girl never lies!
I fucking knew it!
I opened my eyes and found the expected girl with soft amber hair, jumping up and down on the bed shouting, "It's Christmas!"
I looked at the clock... For fucks sake, Mindy!
"It may be Christmas Day, Hit Girl, but you promised me a fucking lie in!" I growled.
"I did and you got one!" Mindy responded, with a laugh.
I looked at the clock again.
"Eight minutes! I suppose that's better than fucking nothing!" I growled back.
"Come on, Dave!" Mindy begged.
I heard an annoyed growl from Sophia, across the room.
"See, even Sophia doesn't like being woken up this early!" I offered.
She's seventeen years-old and can kill a grown man, any one of a hundred ways and without the tiniest of hesitation. But when it comes to Christmas, she's like a normal fucking teenager. Well, I should be used to it by now!
God, Mindy.
I threw back the duvet and sat up. Mindy was wearing nothing... absolutely nothing! I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down onto the bed. She screamed and then giggled.
"Happy Christmas, my gorgeous fiancée," I said, then kissed her deeply, running my hands over her perfect body.
I loved my Dave.
He put up with me being a big kid, every birthday and every Christmas. I knew that he complained about being woken up early, but I also knew he loved me and always would! What the fuck, it was only two days a fucking year!
After a little bit of Christmas fun, it was time to get up. It was also time to wake Joshua... He had confided in me that he was dreading today; his first Christmas without his father.
..._...
"Morning, Joshua!" I called, as I looked into his bedroom.
He was awake and was finishing off getting dressed, pulling on a t-shirt.
"Merry Christmas, Mindy!" Josh said, with his usual cheeky grin.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Josh," I replied and gave him a Christmas kiss, on the cheek. He blushed!
"How sweet!" I teased, then more seriously. "You sleep okay?"
"I think so, I just feel a little bit sad that's all," Josh replied.
"Come on!" I said and headed downstairs, closely followed by Sophia.
..._...
Dave was just putting on the coffee, when I got to the kitchen.
"Merry Christmas, trouble!" Dave said.
"Me?" Josh asked.
"Both of you, actually! Mindy and Christmas are trouble!"
"Am not!" I growled indignantly, but laughed anyway.
"Merry Christmas, Dave," Josh said.
I knew the peace wouldn't last!
"Dave, I love you!" Mindy said, behaving like a fire-cracker that was about to explode. She was holding a very large present that she had 'found' in the dining room.
"Tell me you love me, after you've opened it!" I said, laughing. Mindy ran back through to the dining room and I heard the ripping of paper, in a very violent fashion.
Josh appeared and he looked a little overwhelmed. In each hand was an FN Five-seveN pistol, each one brand new. The pistol was black, with a silver-coloured inlay on the grip and mottled-tan slide. The barrel was also threaded, to allow a suppressor to be attached. The boy was genuinely lost for words!
"You okay, Josh?" I asked, knowing that he wasn't.
"I don't know what to say..."
"Chloe has a custom pistol, so we thought it was time for you to have the same!" I said. I could see tears in Josh's eyes.
"Thanks, Dave... I'll thank Mindy when she's calmed down!"
Right on cue we could both hear squealing coming from the dining room.
Mindy then appeared with a dangerous looking blade, in each hand and with the most enormous smile imaginable!
"I think she likes them Dave!" Josh quipped, heading back into the dining room to put his pistols away.
"Dave, they are fucking perfect!" Mindy blurted out, while I kept my distance.
Mindy was holding two battle-ready swords. One was a Katana and the other a Wakizashi. They were both identical in design, except for their length. These were intended to be displayed on a black sword stand, which I had also bought. The fact that they were battle-ready meant that they could also be used for defence or attack. The set together formed a Daisho.
Mindy vanished back into the dining room.
..._...
When Mindy returned, she gave me an enormous and rather painful hug and kiss. Then she took a large, green-wrapped present that Josh had been holding and gave it to me. It was rather heavy!
I placed the present down on the kitchen side and started to unwrap the green paper, with yellow ribbon. I decided to use more decorum than Mindy, when she had unwrapped her present! Unfortunately my slow pace seemed to annoy Mindy, who was hopping from one foot to another and she looked like she needed the bathroom rather badly!
Once I had removed the wrapping, I found a large black, canvas bag that was approximately three feet in length. I unzipped the bag and opened it out, flat. Inside was a custom Heckler & Koch G36K assault rifle in black and dark green. The 'K', I knew, stood for 'kurz' or 'short'; as in the G36K was the short version of the G36 assault rifle. The G36K was almost five and a half inches shorter than its larger cousin and just over five and a half inches longer than the G36C that we usually carried, as well as being half a kilo heavier, too! The weapon was generally similar, except for the longer barrel.
This was not a standard G36K rifle. It was fitted with a combination laser designator and light, which was mounted above the barrel. Below the barrel was a mean looking AG36 40-millimetre grenade launcher. On top of the weapon was a combination iron and telescopic sight. The stock was foldable and on the end of the barrel was a Rotex-III compact silencer.
Mindy was looking at me expectantly and she looked like she was about to explode, with anxiety!
"It's fucking awesome, Mindy; I love it!"
Mindy must have been holding her breath, because she let it out all in one go.
We had a lot of work to do, this morning.
Christmas dinner would not cook itself!
At about eight, there was a surprise knock on the door, just as I was staring at the enormous turkey and trying to figure out what to do with it! Dave answered the door and I heard a chorus of 'Happy Christmas' welcomes. I recognised Chloe's voice as well as Curtis' and Cathy's.
"You guys are kinda early!" I called from the kitchen.
Cathy came over.
"Considering your cooking skills don't go beyond the microwave... I thought that maybe I should take over!" Cathy said, with an evil smirk.
I scowled and Josh started laughing.
"As I have said before: you are evil, Cathy!" I responded, stabbing the turkey and leaving the kitchen!
Dinner was left in the hands of Cathy and Dave, with Chloe's assistance!
..._...
Marcus arrived, mid-morning.
He looked into the kitchen and found Cathy.
"Thank God!" Marcus said, sounding very relieved. "I was worried that Mindy might be cooking!"
"I heard that!" I yelled and everybody laughed; assholes!
..._...
"Chloe!"
"Yeah, Mindy!"
"Can Josh spare you for a few minutes, or is he like your life support?"
I blushed and nodded that I was coming.
"Now I wasn't sure what to get you… Maybe a Lo-Jack for the next time you wander off alone?"
"Funny!" I replied, with a scowl.
"I then considered a big box of condoms…"
"You are so not funny today, Mindy!"
"Then I considered this…"
Mindy handed me a large, long package that was quite heavy and my hands started to shake. I pulled off the dark blue wrapping paper and found a black, plastic case. It could only be one thing… I opened the case very slowly.
Inside was just what I was expecting to find… Almost! It was an FN P90 Personal Defence Weapon, similar to the normal weapon that I had down at Safehouse A. The difference was that the weapon I now held in my hands, was slate grey, with a navy-blue horizontal stripe down each side of the weapon. On the end of the barrel there was the normal attachment for a suppressor, which I noticed was also in the black case. On the front right of the weapon was a combined flashlight and laser sight. Mounted on top of the weapon was a wicked looking optical sight. I inspected the weapon from end to end. It was totally awesome.
Finally, I placed the weapon back in the case and then turned around and grabbed Mindy tightly. After a minute I heard Dave talking.
"You think they're gonna make out next?" He asked.
I looked up to see a rather bemused Mindy, then let her go.
"Sorry! I love it Mindy, thank you!" I said, then felt my face get very warm, very quickly.
"Thought you'd like it!" Mindy laughed.
"Cool!" Josh said. "You can see mine, if I can see yours!"
..._...
The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent enjoying ourselves, while dinner was cooking.
Finally, we all sat down to dinner and almost immediately, I embarrassed myself!
It was a tight squeeze, around our table, for seven people, but we managed it and then for some reason or other, I started crying! Tears were pouring down my face; I felt intense emotions within me, but at that moment I couldn't explain them!
"Mindy, what's wrong?" Dave asked first, which directed everybody else's attention towards me.
I saw concern on everybody's face, especially Marcus' and Dave's.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me!" I tried and I was getting a little worried now.
It was Cathy that finally figured it out.
"Are you feeling happy or sad?" She asked.
"Happy... I think," I replied, still crying and starting to feel a little panicky.
Cathy looked at Marcus.
"Would this be the first time that Mindy has had a big Christmas, like this?"
"Yes, it would!" Marcus admitted, after a moment's thought.
I looked at Cathy, hopefully.
"Mindy, you're feeling an emotion that you obviously haven't felt very often before, at least not in public, like this. You're feeling overwhelmed, but in a good way; you feel happy about being in such a close setting as this, where you are surrounded by your friends and family. I also know that you have an acute love for Christmas, which you always see as a special time. It's all perfectly normal, what you are feeling!" Cathy explained, with a kind smile.
"Thank you, Cathy... I'm sorry everybody... I guess most of you aren't used to seeing me cry."
"It's not your fault that you are starting to feel real emotions that are not usually related to Hit Girl's normal activities!" Cathy continued. "It just shows that you're human and nobody here is gonna hold that against you, girl."
"Hit Girl is human?" Dave asked. "I suppose anything's possible!"
"Ass!" I replied and laughed.
..._...
We enjoyed a very good meal; Cathy's cooking was good, very good!
At the end of the meal Marcus stood to make a speech.
"It has definitely been an interesting year! My, increasingly wayward, daughter is now engaged to the boy that I once warned her to stay away from... Since when did Mindy ever follow my advice? But the swear jar did pay off my mortgage!" Everybody had a laugh at my expense; what's new! "I am actually very, very pleased that Mindy chose to completely ignore me and continued to see Dave; I owe Dave for finding my daughter and keeping her safe. Over the past year, Mindy has acquired several new vigilantes for her 'Fucked Up Super Hero Club'! Conveniently, both Chloe and Joshua are complete nut-cases, which it seems is an important criteria for joining Fusion!" This got some more laughter and Chloe and Josh sank down in their chairs. "Now, let's raise our glasses to family and friends; especially those family and friends who are absent today and for ever. They stay in our hearts and our minds, we see them in our memories and they will always be remembered..."
Everybody took a couple of minutes to think about those they had lost. I noticed Curtis with tears running down his face, being hugged by Cathy. Josh was being hugged by Chloe as tears ran across his cheeks.
..._...
After dinner we all sat down in the living room, together.
"Mom, can I ask you a very personal question?" Chloe asked.
"You can, but you might not get an answer!" Cathy replied, with a smile.
Chloe hesitated.
"You mentioned... Several months ago, when you found out about me becoming Shadow and once or twice since... You, alluded to something that happened to you and Dad, when you were young..." Chloe said, before tailing off into an awkward silence, when she saw Cathy's pained expression.
"'Alluded'... That's an interesting word, Chloe. Well we have found out new things about Mindy, so I suppose it's time for this story to be told. You sure that you want to hear it, Chloe. It is not a happy story and I'm a bit wary about Curtis hearing it, but..."
Chloe hesitated, then nodded.
Cathy started to talk:
He was the first person that I had ever killed, or for that matter, seen killed.
Since then, excluding Fusion activities, I've killed several people in my life, but all with a pistol, or a rifle and in each of those cases I was in combat. Also they had all been at a distance.
This man, he had died by my own hand, but with his own knife. I had rammed it upwards and into his ribcage and twisted it, until he had died. He had fought me, but I had discovered superhuman strength that allowed me to continue killing that man. He had tried to lift himself up off of the knife; he was almost standing on his toes, but every time that he tried, I had pushed the knife ever deeper into his abdomen. Blood was everywhere; I must have severed several major organs.
It had been self-defence, one hundred percent.
He, along with his brother, had tried to rape me; Ryan killed him, with that man's gun. Ryan and I were only a little older than Mindy is now, but those two bastards were twenty-three. They had coaxed me away from my friends, that night. Lucky for me, Ryan had seen them pushing me into their truck and he had come after me, on his dirt bike. His dirt bike had no lights, so they never knew that he was following us.
The man who tried to rape me, his eyes had seemed black and there had been no emotion in his eyes or face. There was no sign that he was enjoying what he was doing, he never actually said a word to me. He just pulled me out of the truck and threw me to the ground. I was almost paralysed with fear and the knowledge of what he was about to do. I was no virgin, but so far Ryan had been my first and only partner, but by consent.
The man had started to pull down my pants, ignoring my attempts at punching him. I didn't seem to hurt him, no matter what I did, which started to infuriate me. Then I saw it... The knife. It was on the man's belt, I reached for it and grabbed the hilt, reversed it, then drove it upwards into the man's stomach. He screamed and screamed, but I didn't, I couldn't ease the pressure that I had on the knife. I felt the thick, hot blood run over my hands and my body. I stood up, still pushing the blade in, then put both hands on the knife's hilt and drove it deeper into the bastard.
I was momentarily out of control and never heard the yell, from the man's brother, as he ran at me. These two brothers were not the sharpest tools in the woodshed. In this case, the second brother had left his rifle beside the truck, when he had started to run towards me after seeing his brother stabbed. I was finally brought back to reality by a rifle shot and the second brother fell to the ground and I saw Ryan standing there, with the hunting rifle to his right shoulder.
Finally, I let go of the knife and my attacker dropped soundlessly to the ground, dead. I collapsed beside him and the last thing I remembered, was Ryan grabbing me and carrying me to the truck.
..._...
I awoke the following morning, in hospital. I was clean and there was no sign of any blood, but the attack was still there in my memory.
Ryan was beside me, as were my parents. The Police had been and they had got a statement from Ryan, who had witnessed everything. The brothers' bodies had been found and had been taken to the morgue. My attacker had been found with his pants around his ankles, which backed up my story, not to mention the fact that the brothers had been bragging about wanting to rape somebody!
I was quite desirable back then, believe it or not!
Despite my being the victim and Ryan my saviour, we lived in a small community, with some that would not forgive or forget. It was politely, but forcefully, suggested that we both should be sent away, for our own good and preferably separately.
I hate to say it, but I enjoyed killing that man; he deserved it and Ryan said he was fine with killing the other brother, as he knew that the brother was probably gonna kill me! I'm not especially proud of the fact that I killed the man, nor that I seemed to enjoy it, but it had to be done. They were both bullies and enjoyed hurting people. If they hadn't died there, then they'd have probably been shot by Police or ended up in a gas chamber or electric chair!
We all just stared at Cathy, when she finished talking.
Chloe was in tears and even I was shocked.
"Well there you are; that is Catherine Bennett!" Cathy said.
"I'm sorry, Mom," Chloe said. "I should never have asked."
"Don't be silly Chloe. I think my story is very tame, compared to some others. If I hadn't wanted to tell the story, then I wouldn't have," Cathy said, giving her daughter a hug.
..._...
Something had just occurred to me.
"Marcus!" I said accusingly.
"What?" Marcus replied, with a smooth tone and an evil grin. "Took you long enough!"
"You never gave me a present!" I growled.
"I really only expected to be in the door thirty seconds, before I was strip searched!" Marcus commented, then got up and vanished.
Marcus reappeared a few minutes later carrying something very long!
"An extreme gift, for an extreme girl!" Marcus said, handing it to me.
It took me only seconds to remove the wrapping from the object and then I almost dropped it; I was shocked. It was a sword, but no ordinary sword - this fucker was longer than I was tall! It was well over five and a half feet long and quite heavy.
"It's taller than me!" I exclaimed.
"So is your Tanto!" Dave quipped.
I ignored Dave, completely!
"I've heard of these, but never seen one. It's called an Odachi, I think," I said.
"Yes, it is!" Marcus confirmed. "I was shocked when I saw that thing, but thought it was just so Mindy!"
Everybody laughed, but everybody was also very impressed and in awe of the massive sword.
"I cannot believe that somebody actually went into battle with one of these damn things!" I commented.