The next day
Monday

Josh had some new competition at school, but then so did Chloe!

There were a pair of new kids at the high school and guess what? They were both British! Also, from what I had heard, Chloe and Josh's first day back on Monday, had not gone well!

Now, I was not one to gossip, but it was still a funny story.

Lake View High School

Chloe and I had been chatting at lunch.

Kyle was sitting next to Chloe, while Avery and Riley were either side of me. Mike was on the other side of Chloe and sitting next to Ethan. We had all been discussing our Christmas and New Year activities. Currently the subject was Hit Girl and the new vigilantes that had appeared just before the previous weekend. Chloe and I were doing our best to join in, but also to keep our faces straight and not leak any unnecessary information. Avery insisted on going on about her 'hero': Jackal! Mike seemed to fancy Shadow, which was kinda complicated, considering that he was unknowingly sitting right next to her!

Apparently, Kyle thought that Shadow was very hot, too and that she had some very nice curves to her body! I really couldn't work Kyle out... On the one hand I was certain that he knew about Chloe and me, but on the other hand he had never said anything... Or even hinted, for that matter. Then two new faces had halted the conversation, when they came and sat down at the table.

"Hi, I'm Dean!" A boy said, sitting down beside Kyle. The boy seemed to be a bit older than us, maybe in the year above.

He immediately got my attention, because he 'talked like me', as Chloe said to refer to anybody with a British accent.

"Hello!" I replied. "I'm Josh."

"Ah! So you're the other civilised person around here! Somebody mentioned that there was another Brit in the year. Good to meet you Josh! This is my sister, Juno," Dean said, pointing to the girl who had sat down beside him.

"Hello Josh," Juno said, checking me out. She was about Chloe's height and build, but with long, dark brown hair. She smiled at me and it was the sort of smile that would enrage Chloe, if she saw it...

Too late, Chloe had seen it and her eyes narrowed. Kyle saw this too and dived in quickly to defuse the potentially explosive situation.

"Dean, Juno; I'm Kyle. This is Avery, Riley, Mike, Ethan and Josh's girlfriend, Chloe," Kyle announced, pointing out each of us in turn.

Luckily, before things got any more awkward, lunch was over. As I was walking away, I overheard Kyle talking to Juno.

"Stay away from Josh... If you know what's good for you!"

North Park Elementary School

I was a little concerned, well, worried might have been a better word, about starting at a new school, but pleased to be with my best friend.

At lunchtime I sat with Curtis and was joined by his best friends. It wasn't so bad, because Curtis, himself, had only started at this school in the last weeks of last year.

"Guys, this is Megan!" Curtis said and introduced me to Zach, Jake and Nikki.

"Hi Megan, good to meet you. I assume you're just as nuts as Curtis!" Jake said, smiling.

"Not quite as bad!" I advised them.

"You'll do then!" Nikki admitted.

These guys seemed nice, but my mind kept drifting back to my visit to the Safehouse with Mindy. Her life seemed so exciting, but I was stuck here in school. But on the plus side, I knew about Hit Girl, which Curtis did not!

West Ridge

Back to my own troubles!

Those new nutcases, from last night. They were female, which was a change, I supposed. They were well protected, despite the appalling choice in costume. They also had a warped sense of humour for their characters, although I got the idea that they were not entirely serious. Maybe they were just nuts!

That was another potential problem! If they were nuts, then they would be particularly dangerous to everybody. What were they doing here? Why were they here? They were obviously challenging us, or more specifically me! But that just brings me back to the other questions.

I was also very mad about losing these so-called Nightingales last night – nobody outrides Hit Girl on a motorcycle!

I kept replaying the chase in my mind, trying to find how they could have literally vanished from almost directly in front of me. Marty was examining video, from the chase, which while quite cool and a little like a roller-coaster ride, yielded nothing.

That really pissed me off!

The next night
Tuesday

The fight had been joined.

I wasn't exactly sure if we had found the three Nightingales, or if they had found us.

Dusk attacked me with some reasonably advanced martial-arts skills. She was about six to eight inches taller than me and was strong, as well as skilled. So far everything that I had come up with was being defeated. Don't get me wrong, I had landed some good hits, but she had also landed some good ones on me too and those hits had damn well hurt! I could see Kick-Ass fighting Shade, while Hawk fought Night.

Our fight seemed to be at a stalemate, so Dusk drew her sword and we pushed each other back, as we struck forward with our blades. I would definitely need to get hold of a broad-sword, if I was going to be fighting these nutcases.

I had also noticed that the pair of us were steadily moving away from the others, as we fought, which was not good. Dusk then fell backwards and dropped her sword, but I moved swiftly forward so that she had no time to pick the blade back up. Instead she drew a concealed pistol, which I had not seen before. It was a standard issue FN Five-seveN, which was capable of penetrating my body armour. I needed to be careful, very careful!

I stowed my blades and drew my pistols, as I threw myself behind a car to avoid the bullets fired at me by Dusk. I fired back and at least two of my shots hit Dusk, but had no effect, apart from throwing her off balance! I moved out from cover and dove across the street to better cover. But as I did, I felt a bullet impact my back, but low down. I put a hand behind me and found a hole in my utility belt, right where my Comms equipment was mounted. I also realised that my Comms had gone silent.

"Kick-Ass, Battle Guy! I've lost Hit Girl's Comms and GPS. I last had her heading west from your position!"

I took a chance and looked around me, while I was fighting Shade. There was no sign of Hit Girl, nor of the third Nightingale. Shade took my momentary lapse in attention as a chance to push forward her attack. I returned the thought and drove Shade back. Hawk was still fighting Night and they seemed fairly evenly matched, from what I could make out.

I was worried about Hit Girl, but knew that she was more than capable of looking after herself.

I was in the worst possible situation.

I was alone and without any form of communications! I had lost sight of Kick-Ass and Hawk; I really could not believe that I had done something so stupid! Then the situation had just got worse...

I felt two bullets impact my left side, lower down and the pain was excruciating. I struggled to my feet and fired back almost a dozen rounds. I hit Dusk and she cried out in pain, before she turned and ran away from me.

I intended to pursue, but started to feel really strange. I went down on one knee, for a minute and then I realised that the chase was over and that I needed to get to safety as soon as possible, before I collapsed. I looked around me, to get my bearings. I was close to Safehouse C; less than a mile away, to the east. If I could climb a fire escape, then I could cut across the roofs to the Safehouse.

Night and Dusk had suddenly broken off the fight and run.

I had the impression that they had just received a message from their colleague, but I had no idea if it were good news or bad news, for them or us.

Hawk and I clambered into Beast, parked half a mile away and we started searching to the west for Hit Girl.