The following morning
Wednesday
I awoke.
I had no idea where I was.
I looked around me and was shocked to see a face that I recognised.
"Hi, Chloe!" Kyle said with a smile.
"What are you doing here – by the way, where is here?"
"You are in Josh's bed at Mindy's house."
"Oh yeah," I replied, looking around properly.
"You took quite a knock, last night, Shadow. I hate to say it but you don't look all that hot, right now!"
"Thanks!" I replied. "Back to my first question; why are you here?"
"Dave called me and asked if I could help while they are fighting D'Amico," Kyle replied.
I ran my hands over my body, feeling for wounds. I suddenly froze.
"I'm naked!"
"Yes, I know," Kyle, replied, blushing slightly.
"You peeked?" I accused.
"No, I didn't!"
"Sorry, Kyle. I trust you. What are my wounds?" I asked.
"You, young lady, have a bruised cheek; a large calibre gunshot wound to your left side and significant bruising to your stomach and left thigh – so no sex for a while!" Mom reeled off, with an evil smirk as she came into the room.
I felt myself blushing and saw Kyle smirking, too! It was no secret that Josh and I were having sex. Several people at school knew about it – including Kyle.
"So I'll survive, then?" I asked.
"Of course! Now, I need to get to work – do not annoy Kyle and stay in bed. Mindy said that she would visit this afternoon."
With that, Mom vanished out the door.
"Just you and me, Kyle!" I said with a smile.
"It was worth a day off school, just to look after my favourite girl!" Kyle quipped making me blush again.
Safehouse F
Chloe getting hurt had me moping about the Safehouse that morning.
I knew that she was okay and that she was at home being watched over by Kyle. Good kid, Kyle – he had jumped at the chance to help. Josh had volunteered but he was far too tired and was currently asleep upstairs.
Finding Shadow, prone and with blood spilling from her armour had really scared me. She had been hit by what looked like a bullet from an AKS-74U. I had seen a masked cunt seize one from a fallen Krysha. Shadow's armour stood no chance at that range, from such a large round. She had also been trampled. Somebody had kicked her in the face and had left a large footprint on her cheek.
Dave had picked her up and rushed her to her mother. The fight was over, so we had all driven back to Safehouse F. Cathy and Erika had seen to Chloe and been able to get her cleaned up. They then took her to West Ridge.
Cathy had just called to let me know that Chloe was awake and in Kyle's gentle hands! Dave was with Tony, checking out the damage to Beast. The windshield was a mess and there were also holes in the bodywork, but the armour had done its job, which was all, that mattered. Iron Hide was currently here too and had four holes in the bodywork, which annoyed me somewhat!
Erika had gone to see Marty and Kim. Marty wanted to know what had happened; he had heard the gunfire and other noises from the mini battle of the previous evening not too far away. Kim had commented that she thought the noise was actually Marty's ministrations!
That afternoon
West Ridge
"Oh crap!"
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked.
"I need to use the damn bathroom," I replied.
"I won't look!" Kyle quipped with a hopeful grin.
"Nothing doing, asshole!" I replied. "Bottom drawer, over there. You'll find a mega size t-shirt."
..._...
Once I had struggled, rather painfully, into the large t-shirt, Kyle had helped me out of the bed. That was another struggle in its self; both moving and maintaining what dignity that I had left. My legs were weak and the bruise on my thigh made walking painful and difficult. However, this was not the first time that Kyle had had his hands on my body, which was something, so I didn't mind his hands on me. Nevertheless, if he touched anything he should not, then he knew full well, that I would slap him – and so would Josh, if he found out.
..._...
When I returned from the bathroom, I heard laughter coming from Josh's room. I recognised Mindy's laugh. I pushed open the door to find Kyle and Mindy sitting on the bed talking and laughing.
"If you two are laughing at me; I'll slap you both."
"Chloe, right now a caterpillar could put you down, and keep you down!" Mindy quipped and Kyle laughed.
"Such a funny bitch!" I growled as Mindy helped me into bed.
"Just rest your mouth for a few minutes, Shadow! You need time to heal. That was a hefty sized bullet that went through your side," Mindy said and could tell by her tone that she felt responsible.
"I'll heal – I have before."
"We'll get a move on, so we can get back to killing that fucker, D'Amico."
"I will!"
Two days later
Friday
There had been no sign of the masked cunts, since the other night. I assumed that they needed to build up their numbers again! Only a dozen seemed to have survived the fight and escaped.
While Beast was down for repairs, I was out with Mist in Iron Hide. This was the first time that it had just been the two of us out on patrol. I was very impressed with Mist – she was good, very good, with her weapons and had fought well that other night. She was also proving to be a crack shot with the P90, too – almost as good as Shadow.
We were driving to the south of Chicago and we were near the water when Mist suddenly called out.
"Over there – that guy, he's covered in blood!" Mist exclaimed.
I drove over to where Mist had indicated and stopped. Beneath a streetlight there was a guy, lying prone, he must have been about Dave and Marty's age. I jumped out of Iron Hide, ran over, and was shocked to see who it was under all the blood.
..._...
"Todd!" I exclaimed. "What the hell?"
Todd looked up at me in a dazed state. He had obvious bullet wounds, in his stomach. He must have been bleeding internally. He grasped my hand with an iron grip.
"Hit Girl, Mindy – D'Amico – boat. I found him for you – told him that I had fought alongside his nephew – Chris D'Amico – he let me join him. Shot trying to escape..."
The words spilled from Todd's mouth, disjointed and difficult to understand. I leant close to his lips where blood was bubbling up from his punctured lungs.
"You'll be fine, Todd – an ambulance is on the way!" I said.
Mist had called into the Command Centre and an ambulance was on its way, although I doubted that it would arrive in time. I felt completely helpless – the bleeding was internal. There was absolutely nothing, I could do to stop the bleeding.
"Tell Dave – I'm... I'm sorry about his Dad..."
"You can tell him yourself, Todd..." I felt tears stinging my eyes; this was heart breaking.
"Tell me his injuries!" Medic called over the comms and I welcomed the interruption as I described the location and type of wounds and Medic pause before replying.
"Keep him comfortable, Hit Girl. Give him morphine from your belt."
I did as instructed. At least I could ease Todd's pain, if nothing else. He was starting to fade from consciousness, but between Mist and I, we tried to keep him talking – to keep him fighting for life.
..._...
However, just as the ambulance could be heard screaming down the street towards us, I felt Todd's grip on my hand falter and I turned to see his eyes close for the very last time. I almost lost it at the moment. Not since I had watched Daddy die in that warehouse, all those years ago, had I had somebody die like this.
The paramedics did everything that they could, but it was all in vain. They were unable to restart Todd's heart and he was pronounced dead, at the scene – there had been far too much blood loss and internal trauma. Mist and I left as soon as we could, before we attracted too much attention.
Before he had died, Todd had passed me a bloodied piece of paper and a USB memory stick. I clutched these in my hand as I got back into Iron Hide. I pushed my emotions down deep inside me, but started planning a special, extra violent, death for Ralph D'Amico.
Todd would be avenged, I swore to that.
Safehouse F
I watched Hit Girl pull Iron Hide into the Safehouse.
What I had heard over the comms had hit me hard. Todd was dead. Todd who I had known for years. Todd was dead. It took time for me to grasp it. Marty and Kim had been at the Safehouse, too. He was shocked at what he had heard over the comms, too. It had all been recorded; all of Todd's dying words, every breath and every scream of pain.
I saw Mindy and Erika climb out of Iron Hide and they both looked dejected, as they pulled off their masks. I saw the blood on their hands. Todd's blood. Marty went to comfort Erika, without any complaint from Kim.
..._...
After a few minutes mourning, it was time to get back to work. We could mourn properly once D'Amico was dead and gone.
Dave, Marty, Kim, Abby, Erika, Josh and I, stood around the large table, with a touch screen interface, that sat in the middle of the Command Centre. I passed over the bloodied paper and USB memory key, without a word.
Marty connected the USB memory key and started examining its contents. The piece of paper was a portion of a map that looked to be a section of Chicago. The blood obscured too much of the detail to be more accurate, but Marty said he should be able to get through the blood.
Todd had hinted at a boat. Was D'Amico hiding on a boat on Lake Michigan? There had been no sign of him in Chicago, but he definitely had had a hand in those masked cunts.
The following afternoon
Saturday
Megan flew across the room, landing hard.
She sat up and glared at me. The girl seemed both annoyed and surprised at the way she was being treated.
She could even be seen to mutter 'bitch', under her breath!
"Don't look at me like that, Megan! You want to be a vigilante – then you need to learn what you're gonna be up against," I said, without pity.
Megan got up and came over to stand ready for the next attack.
"Remember, Megan – you are only a ten year-old girl."
"So were you, once!" She retorted.
"Megan – I... Yes, I was your age once and I killed people. But when I was only a few months older than you are now, I had the shit literally kicked out of me."
Megan's faced showed a mixed expression of surprise and disbelief.
"Frank D'Amico threw me down onto his desk, so damn hard that I couldn't breathe or move for what felt like hours. He then proceeded to ram his fucking fist into my face, twice. My vision swam; I could not focus on anything. Then when I could finally focus, I saw the muzzle of a pistol inches from my face. I was fairly certain that my time on Earth was over – the end of Mindy Macready and the end of Hit Girl."
I looked around and saw that I now had a small crowd of eager listeners. Nobody, except of course Dave, knew about this event.
"Then my Knight in shining armour arrived, well actually a dick in a wetsuit with a conveniently available bazooka!" I grinned apologetically at Dave, who waved it off. "What I am getting at Megan, is that I was only eleven, but I had the body of an eleven year-old girl. Even now, I am seventeen, but I am still susceptible to being fucking snapped in half. Only, Dave, who is built like a fucking battle tank can take tons of abuse and I have to admit that sometimes I envy the asshole for his lack of nerve endings; especially when I am suffering from intense pain during a fight!"
"I'm sorry, Mindy – I didn't mean..." Megan started.
"I know you see me as invincible, Megan – but I am not. I have never told that story to anybody – it was a part of my early life, which I prefer to keep private. However, if it helps you become a better vigilante, then I'm happy to tell you my mistakes, so that you can avoid them – and that includes you too, dipshit!" I finished, looking at Curtis.
"Did you call moi a dipshit?" Curtis replied casually, with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes.
"Curtis, you are too young for that movie!" I commented.
"Oh yeah! How many R-rated movies had you seen by the time you were ten?" Curtis challenged.
I saw Dave smirking at me. I scowled back.
"Where were we?" I said, getting back to the mat and changing the subject.