The next morning
Sunday
Safehouse A
"Thought that you two would like to see it: The G-Suit!"
"Fucking wow!" Josh exclaimed and received a frown from Isaac.
Beside the other combat suits, in the armoury, there was now another suit. This one was red, with white stripes and the symbol for an atom on the chest. Beside it was what, at first glance, looked to be a metal base-ball bat, but on closer inspection was modified and had three rings of vicious looking metal spikes around the circumference of the bat.
"That is totally awesome!" Chloe added.
"It was a good time, back then – I have a huge respect for what you guys do; I've been there!" Isaac said.
"Thanks Mr Swanson!" Chloe and Josh said together.
"You gonna wear it again?" Chloe asked.
"Not expecting to," Isaac said.
That afternoon
West Ridge
"Ah! Joshua, Chloe!"
I was instantly on guard! When Mindy used my full name it usually meant that I was in trouble. Actually I had not done anything wrong recently; it was Chloe that had got into Mindy's bad books! Crashing her Ducati; rather her than me! I did warn her not to be stupid, but Chloe doesn't always listen to advice: a post jumped out, I ask you!
We went into the living room and found Dave, Mindy, Marty, Kim and another woman. I had seen her at D-JAK the other day, talking with Dave, Mindy and Paige. Kyle had also commented on a certain hot chick, which must have been this woman.
"Hi!" I said, waving a hand. Chloe said nothing, just smiled.
"This is Erika!" Marty said, introducing the very nice looking young woman. "Erika, these are Josh and Chloe!"
"Hi, guys, good to meet you," Erika said.
"Hi!" Chloe said.
"Normally you can't shut them up!" Dave commented dryly.
"Well Chloe is in my bad books for crashing her Multistrada!" Mindy said, surprising both me and I could see, Chloe too.
Mindy just talked about a Fusion motorcycle, in front of a stranger! I looked questioningly at Mindy, who just smirked at us.
"Erika, standing in front of you are Shadow and Jackal!" Mindy said, pointing at us in turn. I was really shocked now and it seemed, so was Erika.
"These two kids are vigilantes?" Erika asked incredulously.
"They are. Chloe's been with us for almost a year and Josh since late, last summer," Mindy explained.
"But they're only about thirteen, or twelve!" Erika said, looking at Chloe and then me.
"Believe it or not, they are both fourteen," Marty said.
"They are a bit like you and Marty were!" Dave said with a smirk and Kim glared at him.
From Chloe's expression she didn't seem to like the newcomer. Yes, she was stunning to look at but I didn't like the way she reacted to Chloe and I being vigilantes. Obviously she knew the others, apparently from way back, but this was still a hell of a surprise!
"We're going upstairs!" Chloe said and she dragged me out of the room and towards the stairs.
"I don't think that they're my biggest fans!" Erika said.
"Ignore them. They can be a bit wary of newcomers. They don't mean anything by it. They're both good kids, when you get to know them and they can fight. They have done, too! Saved my life at least once!" I said.
"People seem to save you quite regularly, it seems!" Erika commented.
"It does happen!" I admitted.
"I don't like her!" Chloe stated.
"I did! She looks, err, nice," I said.
"Boys! A pretty girl comes along and they all drool like dogs!"
"I've seen you drooling over boys before!"
"Would you rather I drooled over girls?" Chloe asked facetiously.
"Didn't know you were into that kind of action, Chloe!"
Chloe just grinned in response.
Two days later
Tuesday
Lake View High School
"I am warning you, just this once: Joshua - is - mine; so stay away from him, you fucking bitch!" I growled angrily.
Juno just smirked at me, from less than six inches away where I had her pinned against the wall of the corridor.
"Or what, Bennett?"
"You touch him, I'll break your fucking fingers, or worse!"
I was about to give Juno a physical reminder of what might happen to her, when I heard a shout.
"Bennett! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
It was Mr Swanson.
"Both of you, get to class!"
"I'm sorry, Mr Swanson." And I genuinely was; I respected Mr Swanson and felt ashamed that he had caught me.
"So you should be, young lady!"
Well I wasn't going to let that bitch upset me, so I put the incident behind me and forgot about it.
Two days later
Thursday evening
West Ridge
I had obtained armour, masks and equipment for Wildcat and Trojan.
This was primarily to protect their most guarded possession; their identity. They would be working with Fusion, but only behind the scenes. However there may be occasions that required them to be out in a public area.
Each kid had a basic under suit in a Type IIA composite material and lightweight desert boots. The masks were of the same material and covered all but their noses and mouths. They each also had a pair of lightly armoured gauntlets. I had had to keep the suit light, as they were both still small and would not be able to carry a large load. Both had a basic utility belt to carry communications and self-defence equipment. They also each had a strap-on armoured jacket, which would protect their torsos from bullet and penetration injuries.
These were not combat suits and were only intended as passive protection.
Wildcat's suit used three different browns to create a mottled effect that worked quite well and her mask had 'ears', similar to those of a real wildcat. Paige actually thought that she looked really cute, before the armour was added! Wildcat was not amused and glared viciously!
Trojan's suit, though, was a combination of navy blue, with a Dartmouth and olive green trim. Again Paige thought that he looked cute before the armour was added! This just made Wildcat laugh, until Trojan punched her, rather hard!
For now the suits would be kept here, at the house. They would grow rapidly over the next few years, so I had kept the suits basic and cheap!
..._...
Lynx also had a combat suit, of sorts.
We used armoured combat suits that could not be used without the armour, Lynx's combat suit could however shed parts of the armour.
The under suit was a mottled collection of browns and was made of the same Type IIA composite material that the other combat suits used. There was a black utility belt that clipped to the under suit and had attachments for the usual Fusion communications and other accessories. So far Lynx was refusing to carry a weapon, but was allowing me to train her in the use of a Glock handgun. The mask was of the same composite material and covered her entire head, except for her nose and mouth. The top of the mask was formed into cat like ears that came to a point, similar to the ears of a lynx and the mask was the same colour as the under suit. On her feet, Lynx would wear lightweight desert combat boots, in a fallow brown colour. Armoured gauntlets were also included and were of the same fallow brown colour, too.
The additional armour was in the form of grieves, thigh guards and upper-arm armour. There were also contoured Type III panels for her chest and back, plus a lightly armoured cover for her head.
I was not expecting the armour to be needed, but it was better to be safe than sorry. We expected that Paige would be acting as chaperone, if we ever used the two kids in action. Again, her identity would be protected, but so would her body. I did manage to persuade her to carry a Taser, so I said that I would obtain a similar one to that which Kick-Ass carried.
"Mom, you look awesome!" Wildcat said, once she had stopped attacking Trojan.
Paige could be seen blushing under her mask.
"Thank you Megan! It actually feels really good. Better without the armour, but..."
"Glad you like it!" I said.
The final problem was getting the two kids to get out of their new suits, which was not easy!