Later that night
Tuesday
South Cottage Grove

I was bored.

School nights were kinda boring, so I tended to wander around our apartment building and generally be a nosy bitch!

Despite living on the second floor, I regularly wandered around the first and the fourth floors. Why? Because I was very curious about two apartments: 101 and 401. These two apartments had concealed keypads and the doors, although they looked almost normal, were not; they appeared much more solid than our apartment door and no lock or handle was actually visible on the outside of the doors.

Right now I was on the fourth floor, 'patrolling', when I heard a noise at the end of the corridor, a few yards beyond apartment 401. There was a door there that led to some stairs and then the roof of the apartment block.

I fell down the stairs that led from the hatch in the roof and hit the door at the bottom. I pushed it open and crawled along the floor.

The pain and the blood loss, from the bullet wounds were causing me to pass out, but I had to fight it; I had to get to safety. I managed to get to the Safehouse door and then I tried in vain to reach for the keypad. Damn, I should really install a keypad on the floor! I kept trying to reach the keypad, but then I sensed somebody standing close by.

"What's the code?"

I looked up and saw the shape of somebody looking down at me.

"What's the damn code?"

I looked closer; it was Megan! Thank God!

"Six – eight – four – seven – five – two – zero - nine." Just saying the numbers was exhausting.

Megan had punched the numbers into the keypad, as I had said them and the door to the Safehouse had clicked open. Megan pushed open the heavy, armoured door and then she had tried to drag me; but I was way too heavy for her. I used the last of my energy and dragged myself through the door, but then I must have passed out.

Safehouse C

I pushed the heavy door shut and stared down at Hit Girl.

Her eyes were still closed and she wasn't moving. I knelt down and shook her, hard, but she didn't respond. I stood up and flicked on the light switches that were beside the door. As the lights came on, I looked around the room and saw racks of weapons and sharp swords; the room was very much like the armoury at the other Safehouse that I had seen before Christmas. There were two computers and a large TV screen, on the far wall by a window that looked out onto a brick wall. I looked in vain for a phone, but only found what looked like a radio. It was large, heavy and green. I turned it on and pressed the talk button.

West of I-94

We were getting precisely nowhere!

There was no sign of Hit Girl anywhere, but we had found her Ducati by its encrypted LoJack system. I was more than a little concerned to find the Ducati seemingly abandoned! While Hawk continued her search, I took the Ducati back to Safehouse A.

I had just left the Safehouse, on the Fat Boy, when my headset burst into life.

"Fusion... This is… Wildcat... Hit Girl is hurt... I need help... Please!"

Safehouse C

I let go of the button.

Seconds passed, then...

"Wildcat, this is Kick-Ass! Where are you?"

I pressed the button again.

"I'm in a room full of weapons... In my block, on the top floor. Hit Girl is hurt bad and she needs help!" I let go of the button again. I felt tears running down my face; I was scared and worried, my hands were trembling. The radio came to life again...

"This is Battle Guy, VOX is now enabled for Wildcat... Wildcat you don't need to press the button to talk; we will be able to hear everything!"

"Wildcat, I'm on the way to you," Kick-Ass advised. "You are at Safehouse C, but I'm gonna need fifteen minutes or more... Help is on the way!"

The radio went silent, then two minutes later it jumped back to life...

"Wildcat, this is Medic! Can you move Hit Girl?"

"No, she's too heavy for me!"

Silence again...

"Wildcat," It was Kick-Ass again. "Get Lynx... You know who I mean, don't you?"

"Yes, I do!" I replied, jumping up.

I ran out of the Safehouse and down the two flights of stairs that took me from the fourth to the second floor.

..._...

Once on the second floor, I ran along the corridor and then I literally burst through my front door.

"Megan! What are you doing...? What is that on your hands...? Is that blood?" Paige Wilson asked aghast, getting worried.

"No time Mom, I need you to come with me!"

I dragged my Mom up to the fourth floor and punched in the code to the Safehouse again.

"You know the code to this apartment?" Mom queried.

"No time, Mom!" I replied and pushed the heavy door open.

"Oh - my God!" Paige Wilson almost screamed at the sight in front of her and she brought her hands up to her mouth. She looked around the room taking in all of the weapons and then the still form of Hit Girl... Plus the blood on the floor.

I pushed the door closed.

"Medic... I'm back with Lynx!" I called out.

"Huh!" Mom asked, confused.

"Mom, you're Lynx!" I whispered to Mom.

"Lynx, this is Medic! I need you to help me with Hit Girl... Help is on the way, but still about ten to fifteen minutes out. Can you help us?"

..._...

Paige Wilson was shocked, but sorted herself out remarkably quickly.

"Yes! Tell me what to do!"

"Okay, we need to examine Hit Girl... Is she breathing?"

"Yes!"

"Now, take off her mask... You will recognise her, but do not say her name. Understood!"

"Yes, I understand!"

I watched as my Mom gently eased the mask off of the unconscious Hit Girl. Once Mindy's face was revealed, Mom took a sharp intake of breath, when she recognised her boss. I was expecting an outburst, but Mom just said one word...

"Figures!" She said, resignedly and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah... Tell me about it!" Medic replied. "Now, check her face and head; any marks, cuts, blood?"

"Just some bruising around her jaw."

"Now her neck."

"No visible injuries or bumps."

"Next, you need to remove the top of her combat suit; ease it off carefully, over her head."

I helped my Mom to remove the top of Mindy's combat suit. Underneath she wore a thin t-shirt and a sports bra. Mom pulled down the bottom half of Mindy's combat suit, so we could see Mindy's stomach.

"Done... Oh my God! There's blood, lots of blood... Mostly on her left side, but I'm not sure..."

"Look around the Safehouse; you should see a large black case..."

"Found it!" I said and dragged it over; it was heavy!

I watched as my Mom laid the case down and opened it; it was full of medical equipment.

"Okay, put on some rubber gloves and then check the top of the case. Pull out two of the large square packets and open them; you will find sterile gauze pads. Use one to clean around the wounds and another to cover them. Secure it in place with the tape that you will also find in the top of the case."

I passed over some rubber gloves and Mom put them on. She used some special scissors from the case, to cut away the blood-soaked t-shirt. Then I passed over the square packets, which Mom ripped open and she wiped away most of the blood, revealing two circular wounds. Mindy had been shot, twice! Mom then taped gauze over the two wounds.

"Check underneath her, see if the bullets went all the way through," Medic instructed, once Mom had reported the wounds dressed.

"There are no exit wounds, just the two on top."

"No problem... I should be with you in about five minutes."

The heavy door to the Safehouse suddenly flew open and Kick-Ass ran in, followed by Hawk, who closed the door behind her.

Both pulled off their masks, revealing Dave and Kim.

"You know, this answers so many questions!" Mom commented, looking at Dave and Kim.

"Sorry!" Dave said with an apologetic smile and knelt down beside Mindy.

"She's been shot twice and lost a lot of blood," Mom explained to Dave.

A few minutes later Dr Bennett appeared at the door and Dave let her in.

"I need to get those bullets out!" Dr Bennett said immediately.

Five minutes later, Dr Bennett had Mindy lying on a table in just her underwear and had started to operate on her wounds. Kim took me and my Mom into another room, while Dave stayed with Mindy. We sat down in the kitchen and tried not to listen to the sounds coming from the other room.

..._...

Twenty minutes later, Dr Bennett appeared in the kitchen, pulled off her blood-covered gloves and washed her hands.

"Is Mindy going to be okay?" I asked, unable to hide the concern in my voice.

"She'll be fine Megan; Mindy has had much worse. She's resting in bed now and Dave's with her."

"Thank God!" Mom said. "This is all a bit of a shock to me!"

"I can believe that! Thank you for your help, both of you," Dr Bennett said. "You did really well Megan and you too, Paige."

"Megan, you knew about Mindy before tonight, didn't you?" Kim enquired.

"Yes... I did. I figured it out some time ago. Dave, Chloe and Josh, too!"

"You did?" Mom asked, surprised.

"I promised to keep it a secret."

"Well done!" Dr Bennett commented, approvingly.

"Good on you, kid!" Kim said and I started to feel my cheeks getting very hot.

"I always thought that you were trustworthy!" Dave added, coming into the kitchen.

"How's Mindy?" I asked.

"She's sleeping for now. I've tucked her into bed; she'll stay here till some time tomorrow," Dave replied. "Thanks, all of you and especially you, Wildcat!"

I now felt myself blushing wildly!

"I'm really proud of you!" My Mom said to me.

The following morning
Wednesday
Safehouse C

I opened my eyes to find a face staring down at me.

"Morning Hit Girl!"

It was Megan and she looked really, really happy for some reason or another!

"Hello Megan... What are you doing here?" I asked, looking around the room. I recognised it immediately, as Safehouse C and had just realised that Megan should not have been in here and then it suddenly occurred to me that I shouldn't be in here either!

"You were shot, twice, last night. I helped you into the Safehouse," Megan explained, proudly, on seeing my confused expression.

I started to remember things. I looked under the duvet and found that I was wearing nothing but my underwear. I also saw a large dressing on my left side. I tried to move and pain shot up my side and I screamed. Megan looked horror struck.

"It's okay Megan! It just hurts a bit!" I said and I felt a little weak. "Where's err, Kick-Ass?"

"You mean Dave?" Megan asked. "I met the other side of Hawk, too, last night and I'd already worked out Chloe and Josh; not exactly hard!"

"You've figured it all out then?"

"You think I'm that stupid?"

"No, definitely not!" I replied with a laugh, which caused me more pain.

"Dave just popped out and left me to keep an eye on you. He said that you tend to misbehave when you've been injured... It's almost lunchtime and you've been asleep for over twelve hours!"

"That explains why I feel like shit!" I said resignedly. "Now you know about everybody; I suppose I can tell you that Curtis knows all about us all, too!"

"Curtis? He hid that well!" Megan commented sourly. "Asshole!"

"Don't blame him!" I laughed. "He's known about us all, since last summer. He also knows that if he told anybody, even you, then I would chop him up into tiny little pieces!"

Megan started to look a little worried.

"Does that apply to me, then?"

"I trust you Megan. Do I need to warn you?"

"No, you don't... Oh, by the way, my Mom knows, too!"

That was a concern; I hadn't planned on Paige finding out!

"How did she find out?" Mindy asked.

"You were far too heavy for me, so Dave told me to fetch my Mom. Dr Bennett talked my Mom through finding your wounds and treating you, until she arrived. We used our codenames all the time! Mom likes Lynx, by the way and she thinks Wildcat is cute, too!" I explained with a grimace. Wildcat was not supposed to be cute!

There was a knock on the Safehouse door.

"But I didn't give her the code, though!" I added, as I looked at the monitor that showed the passageway outside. It was my Mom. I pressed the button to release the door and my Mom pushed it open, then closed it behind her.

"She's awake!" I said, simply and followed Mom into the bedroom.

"Hi Boss!" Paige said cheerfully, as she came into the bedroom.

"Hi Paige. Thanks for helping me out last night; I owe you a big bonus! I fully expect you to be mad at me for hiding all this from you..."

"Mindy! Stop before you embarrass yourself!" Paige insisted. "I always thought there was something strange about you guys, but I also kinda knew that you guys were for good and not up to anything bad. Illegal maybe, but not bad!"

"Thanks Paige... You're still getting a bonus, though!" I insisted.

"How's the wound?" Paige asked.

"Hurts like hell!"

"Well that's what happens when you gallivant around Chicago fighting crime!" Paige said in a motherly way.

"You sound like Marcus!" I groaned.