The D'Amico warehouse
The saw started to cut into Shadow's armoured suit. Shadow screamed and screamed as she struggled against the iron grip of the men holding her down.
I kicked open the door and ran down the walkway. I had just seconds to do something. The roar of the spinning blade, cutting into the carbon-fibre armour was cutting into my senses. Jackal stopped, withdrew his two fighting knives and threw them hard towards the large electrical box that was mounted on the wall immediately behind the industrial disc saw.
The knives penetrated the thin aluminium door and caused havoc in the intricate electrical systems inside. There was a spark, followed by a loud bang and a flash. Then copious amounts of black smoke poured from the electrical box. But above all the shrieking of the spinning saw blade, as it carved into the reinforced carbon-fibre armour of the combat suit, eased and was replaced by the screaming of Shadow.
I leapt from the walkway and reached for a suspended light fitting. Behind me, Mist and Jackal did the same thing. The three of us swung from the light fittings and dropped onto machinery below. I immediately jumped off the machine that I had landed on and spun through the air, firing bullets into the men that surrounded D'Amico. I landed on the saw, itself and was immensely glad not to see a large pool of blood. In fact I could see very little blood, which was something good at least.
Mist appeared and dragged Shadow off the saw table, with the help of Jackal. Shadow seemed unable to stand unaided and seized hold of Jackal and Mist for support.
During this distraction, D'Amico had been surrounded by a dozen of his minions who were doing their best to push him towards an exit and relative safety.
But, it seemed, Ralph was having none of it and he was trying to push forward; back towards me.
"You have failed this City, indeed this country, for the last time, Ralph D'Amico. It is time for your wretched family to be reunited in hell!" I growled, feeling the anger of what he had tried to do to Chloe, build up inside me. "I am sure that that bastard brother of yours, Frank, will be waiting for you, not mention your nephew Chris!"
"You have not seen the last of me Hit Girl. I will return, as I have before – I will avenge my brother and my nephew. You and your freaks, will die!" D'Amico shouted back.
"Not if we have anything to do with it!" A loud electronic voice said from behind D'Amico.
He and his men spun around. Arrayed behind them were Kick-Ass, with Battle Guy to his left and Trojan to his right. Further over were Wildcat and a growling Eisenhower, who both stood beside Marcus and Sergeant Matthews of the CPD SWAT.
Wildcat shouted a single word and all hell broke loose.
"Schwanz!"
Eisenhower bolted forward and ran unerringly for Ralph D'Amico. Ralph screamed and fell back as Eisenhower but deeply into her most prized part of the male anatomy.
I saw Marcus and Sergeant Matthews wince, but they both dived into the final fight. D'Amico was going nowhere, but we all wanted our time with that bastard – we just needed to remove the excess minions.
Wildcat was a surging miniature tornado as she ran and drove her panther claws into thighs and stomachs – whatever she could reach. The floor was getting red with blood, but after several minutes all the minions were either dead or lying on the concrete floor, injured.
Marcus was smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back. We had won and we had won, big time. There being guarded by Eisenhower was the best prize ever; Ralph fucking D'Amico. There was no way that he was getting away from us, this time.
..._...
Shadow came over, being supported by Jackal; she was favouring her right arm and I could see where the saw had badly damaged her suit.
She walked over to D'Amico and kicked him hard in the side, raising a scream of agony. I walked over to her and looked pointedly into the eyes that I could not see, under her mask.
"You do it – for me, Hit Girl – please," Shadow said weakly.
D'Amico was covered in blood. There was a very large amount around his crotch. I hauled the fallen mob boss to his knees and glared into his dark eyes. I looked for some sign that he knew he was about to die, but I saw nothing but darkness. This man was pure evil – there was nothing else inside him but evil.
I raised a single Katana sword, stowing its twin on my back. Everybody took several steps backwards, as I steadied myself and focussed on D'Amico's neck.
The blade flew through the air in an elegant arc, from above Hit Girl's right shoulder and then passing cleanly through the neck, before being brought to a halt.
Ralph D'Amico's head was separated from his body and both the head and the body fell to the ground. Blood spilled across the floor and ran towards the nearest drain where it gurgled away to join the other shit in the drains – very apt, I thought!
There was silence for several minutes as everybody just stared at the corpse, with the head lying a few feet away. That corpse signified the end of a reign of terror that had begun decades before. No more would the D'Amico family reign in Chicago. The family was decimated, wiped out – they were no more. Ralph, Frank, Chris; all were very, very dead.
I looked over at Hit Girl – I had killed the first D'Amico, Hit Girl had killed Chris and she had now dispatched Ralph. She smiled at me, before turning her back on the corpse, for that was all it was now. Ralph D'Amico was gone.
Shadow continued to stare at the severed head for an entire minute before she walked over to Jackal and held her hand out.
"Pistol!" She demanded and Jackal complied without hesitation and passed over his FN Five-seveN.
Everybody watched as Shadow checked that the pistol was loaded and that there was a chambered round. She then walked over to the severed head and raised the pistol and fired off eight rounds, directly into the severed head. The head was initially sent spinning, before it finally exploded after the eighth round. Shadow returned the pistol to a stunned Jackal before she turned to me. She was breathing heavily and was still shaking from her ordeal.
"I had to make sure the bastard was dead – permanently!" Shadow explained, rubbing her right arm.
I put my arm around the young vigilante and pulled her close.
"You'll get no complaint from me, missy!" I whispered back.
We all gathered outside, near the vehicles.
CPD were taking over the scene and there were many happy grins, a lot of them aimed at us. There were a lot of bodies to be scooped up and quite a few injured gunmen to be sorted out, too.
As soon as I came out of the building I took Shadow over to her mother. They both climbed into Titan, for a private reunion. Once inside I pulled the rear door closed and stayed to ensure nobody else came in. Mother and daughter appeared from under their masks. Chloe with tears spilling down her cheeks, then hugged her mother tightly.
I had to admit, to myself that things had been very tight in there and Chloe might not be hugging her mother right now, or at least, not with both arms. Damn, this was getting too close. I would never have forgiven myself if Ralph D'Amico had got his way and maimed that girl. Right now I was glad that my face was hidden behind my mask. I felt guilt like I had never felt before.
Cathy forced Chloe to remove her right gauntlet and to let her check out the damage to her arm. Thankfully, there was just some grazes and cuts; the suit had absorbed the majority of the damage. Cathy cleaned up the wounds and wrapped a bandage around the injured area. Chloe was still much shaken from her ordeal, so I suggested that Cathy take Chloe back to the Safehouse, in Iron Hide, along with Paige and Mist.
Once Iron Hide had departed, I gathered together the team and they all climbed into Titan.
Hit Girl was very quiet. Much more quiet than I would have expected, considering our successes that night. I had a good idea what was wrong, though – but it would have to wait until we were alone.
For now, though, Hit Girl was talking with Vladimir.
"Thank you, Vladimir – you and your men fought magnificently," I said.
"So, will you give us a few minutes head start, before you slaughter us?" Vladimir asked jovially.
"Vladimir, I will give you a lifetime's head start... If you can keep your nose clean..." I replied.
Vladimir looked apprehensive.
"... However, we cross paths as we have before and you will feel my steel and the full force that Fusion can bring to bear!" I finished, crossing my blades in front of me.
I looked into Vladimir's eyes and saw a host of emotions: surprise, shock, fear, respect.
"You are truly a foe to be respected, Hit Girl and you define 'old school', as the saying goes," Vladimir said and held out his hand; I took it and shook it.
"We will continue our current truce; if my men come to your attention – then they deserve to die; however I would advise Fusion to steer clear of our neighbourhoods, and we will steer clear of yours. До свидания, вы былидостойным противником, Хит Девушка!" Vladimir finished and he and his men left the area. ['Goodbye, you have been a worthy adversary, Hit Girl!']
I watched them go, and then headed for Kick-Ass and Titan.
Later that night
Safehouse F
Chloe looked a lot better now that she had showered, but my eyes were drawn to the fresh white bandage on her lower arm, just below her right elbow.
Chloe noticed.
"Mindy! Don't start with the fucking guilt trip – or help me God, I'll slap you one!"
"Chloe – I almost lost you, tonight. You were almost..." I couldn't go on.
Chloe grabbed my hand and dragged me into the range. Then she looked directly into my eyes as she spoke.
"You know what kept me going, while that bastard had me?" She asked. "You! I knew that you'd come for me – I knew I would be rescued."
"Chloe, I..."
"Mind you – you cut it fucking close!" Chloe quipped with a grin, which faltered as I felt tears on my cheeks. "Mindy, please – don't feel guilt because of me. You're Hit Girl for fuck's sake – I became Shadow because of what you represented. I have never regretted a single day, since I met you and Dave. That night I woke up on your couch at West Ridge, was the start of a new life for me. Without you, I would never have found Joshua and he might have died 'again', without me ever knowing that he had been alive. I owe you and Dave everything that I am, today."
"Yes, but..."
"Without your training and the equipment that you provide to protect us, I would be dead – probably months ago during one of my many fuck ups! Please, Mindy – don't feel guilty, because of me."
We both hugged each other for several minutes, until both our tears ceased.
"It's good to know that you care, Mindy – it really is."
As soon as we were all back at the Safehouse, I ensured that everybody was okay.
We all got ourselves cleaned up, had something to eat and then went to bed. I was immensely grateful that apart from bruises, nobody had been hurt. Psychologically though, there were wounds. Principally, Chloe and Mindy; both had been traumatised at that warehouse. In our chosen line of work, we all saw and did a lot of things that gave us emotions, feelings and memories that we had to bury and bury deep. We had all done unspeakable things in the name of fighting serious crime.
I had plenty of memories that haunted my dreams, including many that featured a certain purple menace at various ages! I knew that Mindy must have some whopping great things buried deep in her sub-conscious, from the many years of active vigilantism before we had met that night at Rasul's. Then it had just been her and Damon. Now though, she was running a team of Vigilante's. She was running Fusion – Marcus' 'fucked up super hero club'!
I could tell that she was feeling immense guilt about Chloe being seized and then almost maimed for life. This would be difficult, but we would get through it together, like we always did.
"So, how did your chat with Chloe go?" I asked as I entered our bedroom and closed the door.
Mindy was in bed, looking very sad.
I can't keep anything a secret from Dave!
"Yes, Chloe had a fucking go at me – happy?"
"Yes, actually!" Dave replied, climbing into bed.
I knew that I should not be feeling guilt, but I did. It was a part of me being human, as Dave would put it. Hit Girl was not supposed to have a human side – she was a killing machine. I was trained to bury emotion deep and lock it away, permanently.
But Chloe was different, she was a sister to me and my best friend after Dave. I felt able to discuss anything with Chloe, especially girl type stuff. She always made me feel comfortable, being with her. I could discuss almost anything with Dave, but where I couldn't; I could speak with Chloe. Besides Dave did not want to discuss certain girl type problems!
I wrapped my arms around Dave and hugged him tightly.