The following morning
Sunday
West Ridge
Dave had still been awake by the time I had been able to persuade Megan to get to bed in the spare room. I had explained how she felt and what I had told her.
"She's lucky to have somebody like you to talk to," Dave had commented.
"Yeah – kind of surprises me, sometimes; I'm supposed to be 'Hit Girl' not 'Agony Aunt Girl'!"
Dave and I were in the kitchen when Josh came downstairs, with Chloe behind him.
"Why did I just see Megan coming out of the bathroom?" Josh asked.
"She stayed here, last night – she needed to talk to Mindy about something," Dave said with a meaningful expression.
"Oh – I see!" Josh replied, catching on quickly.
A few minutes later a smiling Megan appeared.
"Morning world!"
"Morning Megan," Josh said politely.
"Morning runt!" Chloe said with a smirk.
"Chloe – be nice!" I suggested.
"Megan can take it – she's a hardened bitch," Chloe replied with an evil grin. "Unless Curtis kisses her; then she melts!"
"Megan! Put that knife down!" I called. "Chloe has enough wounds for now."
"Another fun day at 'The West Ridge Home for Nut Jobs'!" Dave quipped with a grin.
That afternoon
Erika came over and we met two of her friends, Hailee and Toni.
Hailee was a stunning brunette about the same height as Mindy. Her eyes were an attractive hazel colour, which went well with her long hair. She was slim and seemed, well, a little shy. While Toni was, quite literally, all over Erika and could not stop talking! In contrast, Hailee was very quiet and seemed to keep to herself. She also, apparently, hated talk about motorcycles, which Toni and Erika enjoyed immensely. Toni rode a powerful Kawasaki motorcycle and enjoyed telling stories about her and Erika on their motorcycles.
..._...
During the conversation, Josh jokingly suggested that Toni enjoyed cuddling up with Erika. Josh had expected his comment to generate a sarcastic response, but instead he was rather shocked by Erika's reply.
"She's my girlfriend," Erika said brazenly.
Josh looked confused, then his eyes went wide and he coloured slightly.
"You mean…" Josh started.
"Yes, Joshua; we are in a relationship," Erika expanded, reading his expression.
"You mean you are the, um, L-word?" Josh asked, blushing slightly.
"I assume you mean: 'lesbian', Josh?" Toni enquired with a laugh.
Josh was really blushing now!
"I'm actually bi – but currently I'm with Toni," Erika explained.
"Josh, close your mouth!" Mindy suggested.
"Wouldn't mind a bit of that action!" Josh commented, before yelling out as Chloe hit him hard. "I just meant that I wanted to see what two girls would, err, well, do together..."
"Time to leave, Joshua, before your face sets fire to something!" Chloe grinned and dragged Josh upstairs.
It was actually quite funny; Mindy seemed a little uncomfortable with the revelation, too and she actually glowered at me for smirking!
Two Days Later
Wednesday
Lake View High School
"Ah, Miss Bennett; how is your arm?"
"Very good, thank you, Mr Swanson."
"Good, good. Sorry I couldn't make the party last week. I was out of town, but I heard it was entertaining!"
"It was good, very good."
"Chloe!" A voice called – it was Avery, with Riley coming along behind.
"Be good, Miss Bennett!"
"I always am!"
Mr Swanson walked off, with a sarcastic laugh!
That Weekend
Saturday
Safehouse D
"What the hell have you done to the place?"
"Just preparing it for your next training session, young Wildcat!"
"I don't like the look of this!" Curtis moaned.
The warehouse was no longer clear, like it usually was. The small building inside the warehouse, that housed the armoury and bunks, was surrounded with piles of what could only be described as 'junk' that stretched almost to the walls of the warehouse! Titan was parked over by the main door, alongside Iron Hide. In front of me, I had Curtis, Megan, Chloe, Joshua and Erika. Standing beside me, was Dave and sniffing around the warehouse, was Sophia. We were all in our combat suits, but holding our masks.
Chloe had on her brand new combat suit, which was to the same design, but had heavier armour without an increase in weight.
"Thank you, guys – you've done well!" I said to Tony Morgan, Jack Bay and Isaac Swanson.
"It was fun!" Jack said, smiling, while Tony and Isaac nodded.
"Well, let's see what these boys and girls think of your little mess!" I grinned back.
"Now – you guys and girls know how to fight with knives, swords and guns," Dave started.
They all nodded.
"So, what do you do when you have no weapons – or when those that you have, are damaged or otherwise unusable?" Dave continued. "After Shadow's little escapade with Ralph D'Amico, she went through an intensive debrief with Mindy and I. Shadow did not enjoy herself!"
I glanced at Chloe, who looked a little unhappy. Yes, we had taken her through every second of her movements, from arrival, to be being captured.
"Shadow lost the use of her pistol, through no fault of her own. The top of her spare magazine had been dented, which meant that the top round could not be stripped and moved into the chamber. That is an extreme, but you will all learn to fight with what you find around you. Hence, all this shit that you see stacked around the Safehouse," Dave finished.
"Now – you may find some surprises, as you wander around. Some of our friends are here to help today and they will try to interfere – do not hurt them! Now – all of you, remove all your weapons and place them in the armoury," I directed. "Then get your masks on."
"What!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Pistols, knives – armoury – now!"
Chloe was not happy; but she complied anyway, as did the others. Once Dave and I had checked each of them for weapons, we pulled on our masks.
"Okay, you cunts, let's see what you can do now!" I growled.
"You love that phrase, don't you?" Kick-Ass laughed.
"Hell, yeah!" I acknowledged as I killed the main lights, leaving only small lights that were scattered around the warehouse.
Safehouse D: Trojan
I did not like the look of this.
I also knew what Mindy was capable of when it came to training; Mindy's idea of training was only marginally safer than actual combat! I also knew that Mindy would do her best to keep us safe, although she generally saw small wounds as a joke.
It was dark with small patches of light. I could hear movement, scuffling. I had no weapons, except for my suit and my hands. I searched around me for anything that I could use as a weapon. The piles of rubbish and junk had all sorts of miscellaneous items sticking out. I saw a metal clothes pole and seized it. It was about three feet long and could prove useful.
What the hell?
I saw something move and then a shape came towards me. The shape had a baton, which was now moving towards my head. I intercepted the baton with my clothes pole, pushed back, and heard a familiar laugh.
"Brad?" I asked the shape. Then I felt a sharp pain as the baton struck my left arm.
"Don't lower your guard, Trojan!" Brad advised as he raised the baton to strike me again.
Instead, I blocked and then twisted the baton out of Brad's hands. I swiftly put my friend down and hog-tied him with some rope I found close by me. Ignoring the words obviously learnt from Megan, which poured out of his mouth, I moved on.
Safehouse D: Wildcat
I was not scared – I could overcome anything Hit Girl could throw at me!
First thing – I needed a weapon. I started rooting through the crap scattered around me, looking for something useful. There was nothing visible, so I moved through the semi-darkness, hunting.
Suddenly, I heard a crack and I felt something hit my chest; I was pushed backwards by the impact. Fuck it hurt! Then again a few inches from the previous impact! I looked around, almost in a panic and saw a – fuck me, a Fusion shield. I seized it up and heard the impacts of two objects on the shield.
It had to be Hit Girl – only she would fire on me without warning!
Safehouse F
"You got her, good!" I announced.
"Thanks, Battle Guy – I enjoyed that!" Lynx announced with a laugh.
"I can't believe that you would shoot your own daughter!"
"It's only a rubber bullet and her suit's armoured – she's been a bitch lately!"
"My turn!" Medic announced from Safehouse D.
"This should be good!" Hawk announced from beside me.
Safehouse D
I saw my daughter edging through the darkness.
She seemed to be armed, with a sword shaped piece of steel. Shadow was being very careful with her movements and moving like her name. I lay in ambush, armed with a five-foot wooden bō-staff – without blades. Chloe had no idea that I was familiar with that weapon. I had not even let on to Mindy.
Time to see what my new combat suit could do.
Safehouse D: Shadow
Something was up.
This smelt like an ambush. I had been in enough of the fuckers – I had learnt to sniff them out. I came to what passed as a T-junction. The bad feeling was getting worse. At least I was armed; it was only a three-foot long flat piece of steel, bit it would do. I hefted it in my right hand, ready for an attack.
..._...
The attack came from nowhere, as I expected. Whoever it was, they were skilled and wore an armoured suit. The wooden bō-staff swept down and I was barely fast enough to block it before it hit me. I rolled and brought my makeshift sword around and swiped at the attackers legs.
The attacker jumped up and drove one end of the bō-staff into my chest, shoving me backwards. I felt all my breath knocked out of me and gasped for air.
"Shadow!"
It was Jackal appearing from my left. He helped me to my feet and then stood beside me facing the unknown, masked attacker.
Safehouse D: Hit Girl
Fuck me!
The old girl could move and since when, could she use a goddamn bō-staff; that family was full of fucking surprises! She was doing well, so far. She had flattened her daughter and was now facing off against both Shadow and Jackal.
I was standing on a pile of scrap, a few yards away, hidden in the darkness. I stayed there watching the drama unfolding in front of me. Cathy was spinning the bō-staff as if she was born to it. Jackal had a pair of metal poles and Shadow a sword shaped piece of metal. Both were struggling to get past the woman in her early forties, who fought back hard and had laid each kid out at least twice!
I actually winced, each time either Shadow or Jackal received a crack from the bō-Staff. It was a hard hit – maybe Cathy was getting her own back for something!
Safehouse F
"That woman has a serious attitude – remind me never to get on the wrong side of Dr Bennett!" Battle Guy announced.
"Tell me about it – kind of explains where Shadow gets it from!" Hawk admitted.
"Oh! That must have hurt!"
Safehouse D: Kick-Ass
Shadow and Jackal both crashed to the ground – again!
This time, though, they stayed there, grimacing with pain. Medic was a serious badass with that bō-staff! Cam and I had shot rubber bullets at Wildcat, which had just seemed to piss her off. Now, I was looking for Mist.
Others were going after Wildcat!
Safehouse D: Wildcat
I was ambushed!
Fuckers!
I am gonna damn well kill 'em all!
I had been kicked to the ground by what looked like a black-clad ninja. I had never seen the outfit before, so I had absolutely no idea who it was that had attacked me. They were good though. I struck out with the shield, catching the attacker in the stomach; I then followed this up with a kick between the legs. It was a boy!
The boy was not happy and proceeded to attack me with a pair of what looked to be two-foot Escrima sticks. I used the shield to defend myself. One stick caught me on the right upper arm and it stung. Another stick caught me on my left thigh. I managed to kick out and cause the boy to cry out as I hit his right thigh hard, but he responded by using both Escrima sticks together to flip me backwards by levering both sticks under my left thigh.
I landed hard enough to knock the breath out of my lungs. My attacker rapidly vanished into the darkness, leaving me alone.
..._...
"Get up little girl – it's my turn!" Growled a familiar voice, as I saw a non-bladed bō-staff slide across the floor and stop three feet away. "Do you feel lucky, little girl? Do you think you can reach your weapon, before I put you down – permanently?"
Fucking bitch – I'll damn well put her down permanently! I had to make this movement work, or I was dead. That jumped up purple bitch, she needed to be put in her place!
I saw Hit Girl smirk, as I made my move.
Safehouse F
I had zoomed in on Wildcat and I had noticed something – I sat up straight and turned to Hawk.
"The little bitch found one!" I said. "Hit Girl is not going to be happy!"
"Damn! This is going to be awesome – I've not seen Hit Girl go ballistic since she kicked the shit out of me!" Hawk admitted.
Safehouse D: Kick-Ass
Ow!
My ear was hurting.
Hit Girl was using every foul word that she could muster. Apparently, Wildcat had just turned the tables on her. Anyway, I was still searching for the illusive Mist.
I ignored Hit Girl's foul-mouthed rant and headed deeper into the darkened warehouse.
Safehouse D: Hit Girl
I was raging!
That conniving little bitch had the nerve to fucking shoot me; with my own rubber fucking bullets! Okay, I had placed some real weapons in the scrap piles of junk that were scattered around the warehouse. Wildcat had obviously found the Glock 26 and stuck the pistol into her otherwise empty holster, earlier. I had not noticed the pistol sticking out of her holster.
Rather than just diving for the bō-staff, she had drawn the pistol and fired half a dozen rounds into my chest armour. Only then, did she dive forward, grab up the bō-staff and then sweep my feet out from under me!
I was going to kill the scrawny little fucker!
Then I heard Kick-Ass swear, almost as foul as I just had.
Safehouse D: Mist
Kick-Ass was flat on his back and I had his batons, in my left hand and his Glock 17 in my right hand and aimed at his head.
He was not carrying his Ko-Wakizashi swords today, so now he was unarmed. I had been able to come up beside him and kick him down before he had had a chance to react. I was certain that if this had been real, I would be flat on my back, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
Kick-Ass moved, so I prodded him with his batons to remind him who was boss!
Safehouse D
The lights came on in the Safehouse.
"Okay, assholes! Debrief in three hours – Fort Fusion!"