Author's Note: I just watched the new 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' movie this morning. It was incredibly awesome – if you enjoyed the first Kick-Ass movie then this will be right up your street. You may, or may not, have read the graphic novel, but the movie is perfect and the best I've seen of Mark Millar's work, since that first Kick-Ass movie! Will not say anymore, as I know that the other side of the Atlantic has to wait another two weeks – it will be worth the wait! I hope that this may lead to a third Kick-Ass movie – you never know – from Matthew Vaughan and Mark Millar!
The next morning
Saturday
Safehouse W, the 'Vigilante'
I woke up feeling very sore.
We had got back to the Safehouse in the early hours of the morning, as it had been a rather rough, and therefore slow, trip back. We were all exhausted and neither Dave, nor I, wanted to drive anywhere last night.
Dave and I were cuddled up in the amidships cabin of the 'Vigilante' and Sophia was curled up on the couch. Josh and Chloe were as expected, cuddled up in the bow cabin. The twin cabin on the starboard side accommodated several million in US Dollars, Pounds Sterling and Euros. Now, how could I spend all that cash? It would come in useful; Safehouse F had bitten deeply into my cash reserves. Not to mention having to replace items of equipment that I was forced to destroy at Safehouse A! I nudged Dave.
"What?"
"Time to move – we need to get our petty cash to Safehouse F, plus I have to meet somebody later."
"Okay!
That afternoon
Safehouse F
Having arrived in Beast the previous evening, we had to wait for Marty to arrive with the SUV, along with Kim in Speedy. We had loaded up the cash and our equipment before heading back to Safehouse F. Marcus had arranged for us to be shadowed by Fellowes and Murphy for most of the drive, just in case.
"Welcome back guys!" Kim announced.
"This place fucking rocks, Mindy!" Erika announced.
"Thanks Erika!" I replied.
The cash was unloaded and stashed away on the lower level of the Safehouse. Tony Morgan would head down to Safehouse W later today, to service 'Vigilante' for her next mission.
Erika and I were in the armory.
"You did really well, last night, from what Kim says – I'm very impressed!" I commented.
Erika was blushing a little from the praise.
"Thanks, Mindy – I grew up around guns; my Grandfather was a bit of a nutcase and he always had to have dozens of guns!" Erika replied.
"Nothing wrong with a few guns!" I commented. "Okay Erika - we need to get you kitted out. On the table here are some examples of weapons that I think may suit your capabilities."
"Cool!" Erika announced, examining the items that I had laid out.
There were pistols, martial arts weaponry, swords and various other equally lethal objects. I did not want to force Erika into anything and she had showed great promise, at both D-JAK and when she had helped us out at Burnham Harbor the night before. She appeared to be very familiar with firearms, especially rifles and pistols, with the occasional shotgun.
I had let Erika show me how well she could shoot on the range at the Safehouse and she had done remarkably well!
This place was kinda nuts!
The Safehouse was out of this world – but I had heard about what had happened to Safehouse A and what had happened with Red Mist, so I could see why Mindy stopped at nothing when it came to security.
In front of me was one hell of an array of equipment. It had been a little over two weeks since I had offered to help Mindy and she had even measured me up for a combat suit a few days after that! I really liked my hero name too – 'Mist' – it was awesome!
I selected a pistol that I had already fired on the range; it felt comfortable and I enjoyed shooting with it. I also selected a pair of vicious looking dagger like items and one other lethal looking weapon.
"Nice choices, Erika. You think you can handle a pair of those pistols?" I asked.
"I'll give it a try!"
"Okay – start practicing with the weapons that you have selected and I want you back here at ten on Monday morning!"
Two days later
Monday morning
Safehouse F
The place was deserted.
"Thought you'd like some privacy, Erika!" Mindy suggested.
"Should I be worried?" I asked feeling worried.
Mindy thought about it before responding.
"Nah! You'll be fine, Mist!"
I had ordered a combat suit for Erika.
This suit was an evolutionary extension of that which I had provided for Lynx. The basic under suit was a mix of light blue, azure blue and slate grey. On top of this was Type III-A composite armour protection that covered the chest in a contoured plate that had flexible panels, allowing the upper body to twist and bend with very limited restriction. This plate was azure blue and trimmed with slate grey. The upper and lower back were protected with another Type-IIIA composite armour plate in three sections that again flexed like the front and was contoured to the users back. The two plates joined under the arm with almost no gap. The back plate was coloured the same as the front plate.
Armoured pads around the shoulder, which extended with thinner plates down the upper arm to the elbow where another armoured pad protected the joint, protected the arms. Armoured gauntlets extended up to the elbow pads and there was additional armour on the rear of the gauntlets. The gauntlets themselves had lightly armoured palms that were stab proof and could grasp double-edged blades without injury.
The thighs were protected with wrap-around flexible armour up to Type III-A. These thigh plates connected to the utility belt, which in turn connected to the front and back armour. Composite armour pads provided protection around the knees and connected with the lower leg armour and shin guards. Both the thigh and leg armour was azure blue with slate grey highlights. The lightly armoured boots were dark blue.
The mask was of the same colour scheme as the under suit and provided composite armour protection around the back, top and sides of the head. These sections were azure blue with slate grey highlights. The mask covered Mist's face down to and including the nose and cheekbones.
The dark blue utility belt held the communications, spare magazines and other equipment that a vigilante would require, including a pair of Walther P99C pistols in cross-draw holsters that were chambered for nine-millimetre Parabellum and each pistol was fitted with twelve-round extended magazines. Mist also carried a pair of black steel Sais, one on each thigh. Each Sai was a little over nineteen inches in length, thirteen inches of which was a sharp pointed blade. The leather wrapped handles were octagonal in shape. Mounted on the right side of her utility belt was a pouch that held a four-foot long, seven-section chain whip with switchable tips, like the trick arrows employed by the others.
"Wow!" I commented.
"Fucking Wow!" Erika added examining herself carefully in a full-length mirror. "Hit Girl – I love it!"
"Wow!" Marty exclaimed.
"Damn Wow!" I added.
"Fucking hell, Dave – she has some damn nice curves!"
"Marty! If Kim heard you say that, she'd gut you alive!" I cautioned.
We had just come down the elevator and walked into the Safehouse. In front of us was an interesting scene. Two armoured individuals, in strange combat suits that I did not recognize, were fighting it out on the mat. I recognized one of them as being my fiancée – the purple one! I assumed that the blue suited one was Mist and therefore Erika. Both girls were in similar combat suits of a somewhat different design than usual. Mindy had wanted to replace her own combat suit, as it had accumulated a lot of damage, recently.
The girls were also using unusual weapons. They were fighting using what I recognized to be Sais – it rather reminded me of the fight in The Mummy Returns between Nefertiri and Anck-Su-Namun. Both girls were spinning around the mat and you could hear the noise of the Sais coming together as they fought.
"God, watching two girls fight is such a turn on!" Marty commented.
Hit Girl managed to flip her Sai backwards and rammed the handle or Tsuka into the side of Mists armoured mask. The impact sent Mist flying backwards and onto the mat. Mist screamed as she landed and I ran forward.
"Hi Dave!" Mist said as she looked up at me.
"You okay?" I asked, glaring at Hit Girl who shrugged innocence.
"Not too bad! It was fun – thanks Hit Girl!" Mist announced as she got back to her feet.
"Love the new combat suits!" I said, examining Hit Girl's new curves.
"I'm up here, Dave!" Hit Girl hinted, pointing to her face.
"The view down here looks quite good, too!" I replied and Hit Girl chuckled.
"Not bad!" Marty agreed.
"Eyes off my backside or I'll tell Kim!" Mindy warned, pulling off her mask.
"You can stare at mine all you want, boys!" Erika said, with a laugh and pulled off her own mask.
That afternoon
Safehouse F
Okay – Richard Montfort had found his way onto that yacht – it should have been his brother-in-law, William Tait. From what we had been able to ascertain from Montfort's laptop, he had come to Chicago to meet with his brother-in-law. Now, William Tait had been away during our attack – we had had no idea that they were both there – shit happens! Once the attack had commenced, Tait had run to Milwaukee, thinking that he would be safe from attack!
"He's locked himself in that Penthouse, in Milwaukee!" Marty advised.
"Shouldn't be a problem!" I replied.
"Dave, it's a damned penthouse!"
"Oh, did nobody tell you...?" Mindy said with a smirk, before she looked at Dave.
"... Penthouses are our speciality!" Dave finished, with an insane grin on his face.
"No - I don't think they are gonna fly again!" Mindy said to Dave, cryptically.
"But they were fun!" Dave replied, looking a little forlorn.
"Maybe I'll just have to do my elevator thing!"
"What are you two talking about?" Marty asked.
"Dave wants to use his Gatling guns again!" Mindy explained.
"And Mindy has a thing about elevators!"
Three days later
Thursday
Milwaukee
Safehouse T
7:10 P.M.
The pieces were finally in place and this had been quite a challenge, but we had managed it. William Tait had been positively confirmed as being still in the penthouse.
At that moment, Battle Guy, along with Drift and Crimson, were in our second and newest mobile Command Centre: Mia. Mia was an extended-wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter Van in Navy Blue. It was equipped in a similar way to Lucille, but with quite a few enhancements. Marty had been working on her for a few months and she was now ready for deployment. There was the possibility that Lucille had suffered compromise on our last visit to Milwaukee, not to mention that she had a few bullet holes from those damn Nightingales at Burnham Harbor! Mia was located at the junction of East Juneau Avenue and North Cass Street keeping an eye on the Penthouse.
Hawk was guarding a large rented panel van on North Marshall Street, on the other side of the block from Mia. Kick-Ass and Jackal were nowhere near the Penthouse, but they were still ready to engage and provide assistance as required.
I was located with Shadow and Mist on the adjacent building, which was higher than the building of our target. The three of us wore NVGs, as it was very dark. There were four men on the roof of the target building and they would have to be taken out first.
"Overwatch, Hit Girl! Fire when ready!"
Five hundred and twenty-five yards to the southeast
"Overwatch is engaging!" I replied and steadied myself.
"Kick-Ass you are clear!" Jackal said quietly from beside me.
Jackal and I were lying on the roof of a tall building four blocks to the west and one block south. In my hands was a Dragunov OTs-03 SVU sniper rifle. Yes, one of the pair that Hit Girl had seized from the Russian Mafia way back in September of last year. I had spent the past months learning how to use the thing and I enjoyed using it, too! Jackal was my spotter and he would tell me where I needed to shoot.
I looked through the scope and settled on my first target; he was closest to Hit Girl and was about to die. I controlled my breathing and steadied the weapon, then squeezed the trigger.
The roof of the Penthouse
I heard a sound, some ways off and then a clatter on the roof.
"What was that?" I called.
"I have no…" A shape started to reply before his head exploded.
I turned to the other man who was standing just a few feet away from me, just in time to see his head disintegrate.
The final man turned for the stairs, but he only made it a few feet before his own head mushroomed into a cloud and he dropped to the roof.
"Roof top clear!" Jackal called over the comms.
"Copy, overwatch!" I replied, and then looked at Shadow. "You ready to do this again?"
"Why the hell not!" Shadow replied.
"I'm not sure I can do this!" Mist groaned, looking down and across the gap, between the two buildings.
"I thought the same thing in New York – believe me it's over before you have a chance to be scared!" Shadow said.
We had already set up the equipment.
The distance for the line was thirty-eight metres, with a ten to twelve metre drop, though the actual slide would be a just over a quarter of that. Hit Girl had double-checked the faked ropes and the Plumett NS50 silent grapnel launcher.
"Overwatch confirms roof is clear!"
Hit Girl raised, aimed and fired the launcher.
..._...
The grapnel had flown straight and true. It had impacted the elevator shaft and the splines dug deep into the brick structure. Hit Girl tugged on the line, before securing it to the pre-fitted anchor points, fitted to that buildings lift shaft and hauled the line taught. She then fitted three zip line trolleys and double-checked our harnesses, before clipping us onto the trolleys, with both a primary and a secondary strop.
"Remember, one at a time!" Hit Girl cautioned and then looked directly at me. "And no fucking screaming Shadow!"
Five hundred and twenty-five yards to the southeast
I watched as the three girls slid safely across to the target building.
I was very pleased that they had all arrived safely. I was ready for more men appearing on the roof while the girls were at their most vulnerable. I returned to scanning the Penthouse windows while Jackal kept watch on the distant rooftop.
The girls vanished into the stairwell.
Distraction time.
The Penthouse
William Tait looked out of the armoured panoramic windows.
He did not feel safe – not one damn bit!
"Boss, we've lost contact with the men on the roof!" Carl, his bodyguard said.
William Tait felt himself shaking, involuntarily. The attack on the yacht at Chicago had been a nasty shock and he knew that his brother-in-law was most likely dead. He had thought this place safe – oh fuck!
It was supposed to have been an operation to take control of the criminal elements in Chicago, but no, somehow the wrong people had been angered and these people were very powerful and wide reaching. Nobody had much of an idea of who 'they' were, except that they may be vigilantes of some sort. Since when were vigilantes this fucking organized, he had thought!
Suddenly there was the sound of thud's and cracking noises as bullets started to strike the panoramic windows, leaving major cracks and deep impacts. After ten impacts, there was a short pause and then they started again. Finally, one pane gave way in an explosion of glass shards. Almost immediately, the front door was blasted open by an explosive charge, shredding one man.
Three forms burst in firing from short assault rifles, cutting down members of his security force. Anybody near the shattered pane of glass received a large caliber bullet for his trouble from the unseen sniper. Somebody then hit the lights and plunged the penthouse into darkness – whom this actually helped was unknown!
The lights went out, so I dropped the NVGs back into place over my eyes and focused on the different image before me.
I raised my suppressed Heckler & Koch G36C and dropped the first target that came into my vision. Mist was immediately behind me with the same weapon. Shadow was following behind and watching our backs with her suppressed FN P90. I could hear Kick-Ass in my ear.
"No target! No target!"
There was a lot of noise in the penthouse – screaming men, wounded and otherwise. There seemed to be a lot of panic, and then I found myself knocked down when a large person ploughed into me. I did not think it was on purpose, but I fell against what felt like a couch and then I was stampeded by some more feet and I heard some gunshots followed by a scream from Mist, then more gunshots, and a yell from Shadow.
I pushed myself up and yelled out an order.
"Fusion report!"
"Kick-Ass is go!"
"Jackal is go!"
"Hawk is go!"
"Battle Guy is go!"
"Drift is go!"
"Crimson is go!"
There was a pause then: "Shadow is go! Target has left the penthouse!"
Another pause: "Mist is go!"
Fuck! It was coming apart – but we were prepared.
"Fusion – Pursuit Plan! We're coming out!" I called and the team went into action.
Minutes later the three of us were on the ground and running to the other side of the block where we found Hawk ready and waiting.
"Hit Girl! Target is in a red Jeep Grand Cherokee and heading east – tracker is in place!" Battle Guy reported.
"Copy that!" I replied as we got our breath back.
"You guys ready!" Hawk asked.
Arrayed in front of Hawk were three motorcycles.
Hit Girl's purple Ducati Multistrada, Shadow's navy blue Ducati Multistrada and another black motorcycle with light blue highlights. That motorcycle belonged to Mist: her Ducati Streetfighter 848 motorcycle. The Streetfighter was fitted with the same chunky TKC-80 tyres as the other machines.
We seized our helmets and mounted our motorcycles. Once we had our helmets in place, we could see the heads-up display and our relative location compared to our target: William Tait. Battle Guy would feed us navigational information as we rode. We took off with myself leading and Shadow trailing after Mist. Hawk would head west to pick up Kick-Ass and Jackal.