The same evening
Saturday
Safehouse F
Okay, I was mad at them for tying me up.
Nevertheless, in a weird way, I kinda liked it! Marty cut me loose after the team had left in Iron Hide. However, he insisted that I had better behave and pointed to the Taser on the desk beside him. I glowered at him, but laughed.
I knew why they did it and I actually felt a little humbled by it. They all cared about me; sometimes I forgot that. Still, it was absolute hell sitting on the sidelines and watching my team go into action without me. Nevertheless, I knew that I could still stay in contact and help them as much as I could from the Control Centre.
Megan and Curtis were sparring on the mat – tonight was not their night for going out; I was still a little over-protective, where those two were concerned.
"What a good girl!"
I turned to find Cathy smirking at me and I actually blushed.
"Gee, thanks Cathy!" I growled back grinning.
"I'll get you two some food," Cathy said, heading off upstairs.
"Does nobody trust me?" I growled to nobody in particular.
"We trust you, Mindy – we just know you, that's all!" Marty replied, grinning at me.
Time to change the subject.
"Hey, green asshole!" I called over the comms.
"How's my good little girl?" Kick-Ass responded.
"Looking to have the bed to herself tonight?" I retorted.
"Never gonna happen! You never did like DIY!" Kick-Ass replied, starting a chorus of laughter over the comms. I blushed and tried to hide it from Marty – I was speechless.
"Kick-Ass, Battle Guy – err – she may not be wearing purple, but her face most definitely suits her!"
The funny bastards finally got bored of winding me up and got down to what I had trained the cunts for in the first place!
I sat with Marty and Cathy, eating some pancakes and syrup – my favourite comfort food! Just as I had finished my last mouthful, the call that I had been dreading came in.
"Contact! Contact! Contact!" It was Shadow's voice, calm and in control. "Jackal flank to the left with Mist – I'll take the right with Kick-Ass."
Dave and I had decided that it was time for Chloe to start learning some leadership skills and letting her take charge – she had to learn one day!
"Battle Guy – we have six Krysha – we surprised them fucking up a store. Protection racket if ever I saw one!" Shadow reported.
"You go girl!" Kick-Ass commented.
"Enough from you Kick-Ass – get moving!"
"I think command has gone to her head," Cathy commented.
I was listening to everything that went on and doing my best not to intervene. I knew I should not second-guess Chloe – she was the one on the scene and above all, she knew how to keep a level head when everything went to shit. I still found it difficult, though.
"Jackal – on your left!" Mist's voice.
"Oh, yeah – ten rounds plus head equals stir-fry, baby!" Jackal replied.
I laughed and even Cathy grinned.
"We're not going for style points, Jackal – just kill the fuckers!" Shadow pointed out.
"I think I need to have words with Little Miss Bossy!" I whispered to Cathy who simply nodded.
"Four Krysha down – last pair taking cover behind their SUV!" Kick-Ass reported.
"Let 'em go!" Shadow announced, taking Kick-Ass' hint.
I was pleased. Shadow had done well, despite getting herself a tiny bit carried away with being in charge!
"Fusion check in!" Shadow called.
"Jackal clear!"
"Mist clear!"
"Kick-Ass clear!"
"Battle Guy, Shadow – Fusion is clear!"
"Battle Guy copies Fusion is clear. Well done, Shadow – Hit Girl wants a word..."
"Good, Shadow – very good!" I said.
"I'm glad you guys can't see my face – damn it's hot under this mask; I think I'm blushing!" Shadow replied.
I laughed and suggested she get her team back on the road.
"Hit Girl – Fusion is rolling!"
It seemed that the Russians were back to their normal tricks: in this case extortion for protection.
There was a lot of Chicago to protect and we could not protect it all. All we could do was set boundaries and then dare the Krysha to cross them. Well, we could handle the bastards; we had on several occasions before. I was pleased that Shadow was not intimidated by them and was still able to direct her operatives. I knew that Shadow thought nothing about ordering Kick-Ass around! Shadow was very like me – we both saw the opposite sex as inferior to us women and felt that we had a God given right to order them around.
I was also extremely relieved when Iron Hide rolled into the Safehouse and all dismounted without injury.
"Well done Shadow!" I said, as the girl removed her mask; she was blushing badly.
"It was good," Dave commented. "I'm used to being ordered around by over-bearing bitches with a God complex!"
That got a laugh from everybody and had me blushing; I just scowled at Dave in return. We then got serious and spent the next hour debriefing Chloe and going through her thoughts of the evening. Her thought processes had been spot on; I was impressed. In a little over two months, Chloe would be fifteen. She was developing into both a stunning young woman and a front-line vigilante.
Two days later
Monday evening
Safehouse F
There were no patrols scheduled for tonight, but I was busy getting my body back into shape.
Cathy had given me a clean bill of health – somewhat reluctantly! I was pounding the weights when Dave came in with Josh.
"A hot sweaty woman – now that's a turn on!"
"Joshua, that woman you are talking about; she just happens to be my fiancée!" Dave laughed. "But damn it, you're bang on!"
I blushed at the compliments! I was about to make a snide remark, but that was when my cell rang – it was one of our snitches, or rather it purported to be.
"Go ahead!" I growled and was very surprised by the response.
"Same place – I'll be waiting with a package for you!"
Dave studied my expression, after I hung up, for a minute before speaking.
"Trouble?" He asked.
"Kind of – it was Petra!"
Thirty minutes later, we were speeding through the darkened streets of western Chicago.
I was leading, on my freshly repaired Ducati and behind me was Jackal on his 'stolen', Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. The motorcycle had been totally rebuilt, tuned and repainted in Tan. It also sported the licence plate: JACKAL. He was lucky; the motorcycle had been removed from Safehouse A only a few days before the place had been destroyed. Kick-Ass followed Jackal, on his Diavel. Between us, we sported an engine capacity of nearly two and a half litres and over five-hundred horsepower. Thankfully, Jackal was not power-mad like Shadow, so he could be trusted with such a high-performance motorcycle.
..._...
We pulled into White Eagle Woods South, and found Petra sitting calmly on her Honda Fireblade. Petra dismounted and walked over to Jackal. She looked him up and down and checked out his wheels.
"See something you like?" Jackal growled.
"You look, um, very good close up and the wheels are fucking cool!" Petra replied.
"Would you two like some time alone?" I asked, shaking my head.
"Well –!" Jackal started to reply.
"Think very carefully before you say another word!" Shadow growled over the comms. "My knife is very sharp –"
"No thanks, Petra – I'm already spoken for!" Jackal replied.
"Your loss!"
"When you've finished trying to make out with Jackal, please let us know why we are here!" I growled impatiently.
"Oh – sorry!" Petra replied and ran over to some trees and returned a minute later dragging something.
..._...
"Fuck me!" I growled as I recognised what Petra was dragging.
"Hit Girl, I believe you are acquainted with Regina!" Petra announced, dumping her cargo on the blacktop.
The assassin was bleeding from several wounds and seemed to have a broken left wrist, which was crudely bandaged. The woman was grimacing in pain. I looked at Petra, but thanks to the full-face mask, I saw no emotion – was she happy that Regina was banged up? I felt nothing for Regina and felt no emotions as Regina looked up at me with a pleading look.
"I owe the bitch – she killed somebody very close to me," Petra said with a large helping of malice in her electronic voice.
"Why?" I asked simply.
Petra shrugged before replying.
"I want to prove to you that I am on your side; that I am not your enemy."
"I know that dumb-ass!" I replied.
"Just wanted to make sure..."
"So what do you want to do with her?" Kick-Ass asked, directing his question at both Petra and myself.
"Her death means more to you, than me," I offered.
Petra nodded and flexed her hands in her gloves.
"You gonna let her kill Regina?" Jackal asked me.
"Yeah."
Regina looked pathetic; she was shaking. She looked from mask to mask, but since I had changed to a full-face mask, this week, she could see no emotion to support her.
"You can't let her kill me!" Regina begged, reaching out for my boot; I took a step back.
"Get it over with, Petra – Kick-Ass always complains when I play with my prey, before killing it!"
Petra nodded, before circling the ill-fated Regina. Then she drove straight in, attacking the former assassin and kicked Regina in the face, sending her sprawling. Blood flew from Regina's smashed nose and she screamed with the pain. Regina held up a hand, begging for mercy, but Petra drew one of her swords and severed the hand. Then, as Regina held her arm in front of her, staring in shock at the severed limb, Petra swung the blade again and severed the upraised arm at the elbow.
Regina fell back, screaming and next to go were her feet, followed by her lower legs. Regina had passed out by that point and I could hear Jackal in my headset; he was appalled by what he was witnessing. The way that Kick-Ass stood and gazed at me through his mask, said the same thing. Kick-Ass had seen many violent things, indeed many perpetrated by yours truly; but I drew the line at extreme sadism – for most criminals anyway.
Finally, Petra stood back and I stepped forwards to deliver the coup de grace with my .40-calibre Glock 23 Gen 4 pistol. I fired one round through Regina's forehead and ignored the rest of the scattered body parts.
..._...
"You happy?" I asked evenly, turning to Petra.
"Yes – her death puts many things behind me," Petra commented.
As Petra turned to go, I grabbed her arm.
"You are an ally, Petra – never forget that; you helped us when we needed it. I respect that." I handed Petra a cell phone. "You need us, you call us!"
"Thanks – if I need you, I'll call!" Petra said, adding. "You need me – you call, Fusion!"
With that, Petra mounted her Fireblade and burnt rubber out of the parking lot; she had not looked at the remains of Regina, once.
The next morning
Tuesday
West Ridge
"Please tell me that you weren't slicing and dicing, last night!"
"No Marcus, I never used a blade, last night," I replied honestly.
"She's telling the truth, Marcus," Dave added.
"So the single bullet through the head was you, then?"
"Can't a lady have any secrets?"
"When you become a lady, then yes – you can have secrets!" Marcus grinned, heading for the door before stopping short. "Oh, by the way – keep August 29th free!"
"Why?" I asked curiously.
"Wedding bells!"