Author's Note: Please be warned that this chapter includes smut and behaviour that could be seen as indecent and salacious, including words or insinuations of a dubious, unseemly or suggestive nature!
Saturday afternoon
Safehouse F
The fight started slowly.
Initially, the two girls just circled each other, gauging each other's mood. They were each well aware of the other's capabilities. The fight looked uneven, considering that there was a good few inches in height difference and that Shadow had a weight advantage, too. I was hedging my bets and I was secretly rooting for Wildcat.
Josh, of course, was rooting for Shadow and Curtis was rooting for Wildcat. We all stood at the side of the mat watching and I was to be the referee for the little skirmish, just in case things got out of hand; I wanted the girls to hurt each other, but not to inflict any permanent injuries.
Shadow struck first, but it seemed half hearted as Wildcat easily avoided the kick. Then Wildcat landed a kick on Shadow's thigh, which produced an audible intake of breath from Shadow. Wildcat may have been short and slim, but she could hit hard and had very strong muscles for her age and stature.
"Fucking runt!" Shadow shouted as she kicked out with her full force, catching Wildcat in her chest and sending her flying backwards across the mat. Wildcat landed in a heap, but she did not get up.
Well, that fight did not last long!
..._...
"Go help her up then, you heartless bitch!" Curtis said to his cousin from the walkway above the mat, as he headed for the steps.
"Help your, yourself, dickhead!" Shadow spat back. "You're the one who likes the fucking bitch!"
I was partway across the mat when I saw Wildcat stirring. Shadow's back was to Wildcat, so I kept quiet and stepped back. Wildcat started taking deep breathes and I saw her limbs brace up. I looked at Cathy and winked; she nodded her understanding and kept quiet.
Shadow never saw what hit her as Wildcat sprang up and swept Shadow's legs out from under her, followed by sharp jabs to her chest and stomach.
..._...
Shadow screamed with pain and anger, not to mention a little humiliation at being blind-sided. Nonetheless, she jumped up and swung for Wildcat who performed her signature backflip and was quickly out of reach. I could tell by her movements that Shadow was outraged at being put down and I knew that she would not stand for it!
I was right.
Shadow was pissed and she charged at Wildcat who must have realised that she was in big trouble, so she did the unexpected, as she usually did, and charged towards Shadow. However, at the last minute Wildcat jumped up and grabbed hold of the steel walkway, above her, swinging over Shadow, but kicking her in the left shoulder as she went past. Wildcat flipped herself upwards and landed on the walkway. Shadow gazed at the short vigilante and although we could not see her face, her stance showed that she was majorly pissed off and very annoyed at missing her quarry.
..._...
Shadow bolted for the steel staircase and ran upwards; we all leapt out of the way, but moved to where we could follow the fight. Wildcat ran directly at Shadow as she appeared on the walkway and jumped sending her full weight into Shadow's chest, with both her feet. Shadow crashed back against the wall as Wildcat under inertia then cannoned into her. Shadow seized Wildcat's arm and threw her down the walkway, towards the Briefing Room.
Wildcat hit the ground, rolling forwards to absorb the impact, but she sprang up and seized hold of a red fire extinguisher from the wall, emptying the contents in Shadow's direction. Shadow fought through the spray of water and kicked Wildcat in the chest. Wildcat dropped the fire extinguisher, fell backwards before then scrambling back to her feet and diving over the railings, and she fell the ten feet to the mat, rolling as she landed.
"You've got to do better than that, you useless bitch!" Wildcat shouted at the incensed Shadow.
..._...
"How long you going to let this go on for?" Cathy asked, sounding a little concerned.
"Until it's over..." I replied.
Not to be outdone, Shadow also dived over the railing after her target who stood waiting with her hands on her hips. Wildcat waited until Shadow was back on her feet before she moved to attack and there began a whirling maelstrom of colour as the two youngsters fought a seemingly uneven battle.
"Kind of reminds me of the battle between Yoda and Sidious!" Curtis said to Josh.
"You know, you and your girlfriend have caused a lot of trouble," Josh replied. "Can't say you did anything wrong – Chloe can be a mouthy bitch at times."
"So can Megan!"
"The two girls must be tiring by now; it's been twenty minutes and neither are letting up," Josh added, obviously worried about Chloe.
My trained eye could see that both girls were starting to tire; naturally, it was Wildcat, who was making mistakes first. She had a lot of stamina, but Shadow was older and more capable. Wildcat would be a formidable opponent in a few years if she kept it up. Both girls were really pounding on each other; their bruises would be monumental.
Shadow made a small mistake, which allowed Wildcat to kick her hard in the right thigh, which must have hurt as Shadow screamed out. Shadow responded with a swift punch from her right fist into Wildcat's left upper arm. Wildcat yelled out in pain.
..._...
Both girls seemed to collapse at the same time.
Wildcat rested her head on Shadow's stomach. The two vigilantes could be seen breathing heavily after their exertions. Wildcat pulled off her mask first, looked up at Shadow who removed her own mask and grinned.
Chloe grinned back and started to laugh.
"Not bad for an old girl!" Megan said with a chuckle.
"Hey, I'm only fifteen..."
"That's old..."
"You'll be fifteen in a few years, Megan!"
"Jeez, they'll be making out next!" Josh grinned hopefully.
"In your fucking dreams!" Both girls retorted.
"Oh, yeah..." Josh commented dreamily.
Three days later
Tuesday
West Ridge
The door flew open and Marcus stormed in.
"You have gone too far!" He growled with added menace.
"I've done nothing!" I whined innocently.
"Not you; them!" Marcus said, glaring at Dave and Mindy.
Oh, cool!
"What?" Mindy tried, trying to look innocent, but just looking very guilty.
Marcus turned to me.
"Megan, home, now!"
"Ah, come on; everybody gets to see me getting chewed out, why can't I see you chewing them out for change?" I groaned. That was so unfair!
"Megan!"
"I'm going, jeez!" I slipped out the door, leaving one of Marty's discrete micro-camera transmitters on the couch. I hid round the side of the house, pulled out my cell and logged on to the camera.
Dave and Mindy looked a little unhappy.
"Now where do we start with you two jokers?" Marcus began. "The boss is enough of a nightmare without me having to endure a goddamn multi-hour ass chewing!"
"I thought he liked doughnuts!" Mindy quipped with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, he loved that stereotype, but did you have to colour them?" Marcus continued. "Six purple and six green?"
Dave just shrugged.
"But did you two clowns stop there? Oh, no, you left a card with the doughnuts: 'To our pal, all the best, Hit Girl and Kick-Ass'!"
…_...
I was laughing, but doing my best not to laugh too loudly. There were times that I thought of Dave and Mindy as being far too 'straight-laced' to get up to anything like that; the top Cop must have been so pissed!
"Then we come to the source of those doughnuts," Marcus was now in full flow and Mindy was smirking, while Dave was studying the ceiling. "You know, I never knew what the Superintendent's daughter did for a living, but you two did, obviously! That was where you got the doughnuts from; she makes the damn things!"
Mindy was now starting to almost, piss herself laughing. Even Marcus was smiling and Dave was chuckling.
"She was a fan!" Mindy managed to spit out.
"Damn nutcases!" Marcus laughed. "I'm going home."
I then saw him stride towards the front door but he stopped and then I saw his face get bigger and bigger.
"You're busted!" Marcus said into the camera.
Later that week
Friday
New York City
That time of year sucked, for oh so many reasons.
The biggest one of which was Dave; this was the anniversary of his Dad's death. That was the first time, since that day, all those years ago, that we had stood together in that very cemetery.
We gazed down at the gravestone and I wrapped my arm around Dave's waist to comfort him. We could both remember that day, as if it was yesterday. I had felt so much guilt because maybe I could have prevented his Dad from being killed, but...
I was not going there, not at that moment, in that place. I gazed around the cemetery; it seemed so peaceful, so different. Nevertheless, I could visualise the men with guns, the moment of realisation and then my yelling at Dave to get down, then blackness as I was blasted into a statue.
I smiled as I remembered regaining consciousness amongst all the noise and smoke. I remembered seizing Marcus' pistol and running after that damn van.
"Game on cock-suckers!" I muttered to myself.
"Huh?" Dave asked, turning to me.
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to say that out loud!"
"I still can't believe some nutcase chose to fight it out on top of a moving van!" Dave grinned.
I smirked at the memory – it was an awesome sequence of events.
"Somebody said something very profound that day and I have never forgotten it," Dave continued. "She told me: 'Dave, your father loved you... Just like my Daddy loved me, and I know it hurts. But, maybe... Maybe that's the real meaning of being a superhero; it's taking that pain and turning it into something good... Something right'."
I was always amazed that Dave remembered everything that I had ever said to him.
"She also said: 'Remember what you told me? This is your life, you've gotta live it'," I said.
"The crazy bitch then said: 'Now help me find some pliers; I'm gonna make this guy eat his own dick!'" Dave laughed.
"I'm good with words!" I grinned back.
Dave and I had taken the train to New York, early that morning.
Dave had insisted that he could go on his own; however, I had forced him to let me go. I knew that it would be hard on him and I wanted to be there to support him, not least because I felt bad about the whole thing! Not that I mentioned feeling bad to Dave as that would have started the one argument that got us both very angry with each other, so I kept my mouth shut for once!
I also wanted to take the chance to inspect my assets in New York, as it had been a year since I had last been in the City. We also kept our head down, in case anybody recognised us. The first stop was Safehouse C.
Safehouse C, New York City
The building appeared intact.
We approached carefully; we were both armed with concealed Beretta Px4 Storm SubCompact pistols. What no Glock? I fancied a change – so shoot me! We climbed the stairs, which were covered in dust; it did not look like anybody had been there. I was not taking any chances, not after finding Joshua happily installed in Safehouse A the previous year!
Dave punched in the code for the door, while I provided cover. The door clicked and Dave pulled it open so I could go in with my pistol up in front of me. All seemed just, as we had left it, albeit for a lot of dust! Weapons were still on the walls and the alarm system showed no signs of tampering or any other entry since we had left the previous year.
We checked out every room, just to be safe, but all was clear.
"Needs a damn good dusting!" I commented, holstering my pistol.
"Just a bit!" Dave added, holding up a hand with a thick layer of dust on it then smirking. "I don't mind getting a little bit dirty, if you don't..."
"You read my mind!"
Mindy threw herself at me, pushing me down onto the mat in a cloud of dust.
Surprisingly, we did not choke on the cloud of dust. Maybe that was because Mindy was kissing me passionately on the lips. I reached up under her shirt, around to her back and flicked the catch of her bra. The garment fell loose, I ran my hand around to the front of her body feeling the soft, warm skin, and then Mindy froze.
She shuddered as my fingers ran over her pert nipples. I could feel my trousers getting rather tight and wished that I had worn a pair with a little more space. Mindy seemed to have read my mind as her hand reached for my belt and wrenched it open along with the buttons on my jeans relieving the pressure.
I felt Mindy's hand dive down my shorts and I breathed in involuntarily as Mindy grabbed hold of me. Her hand felt soft and smooth as she caressed me. I pulled Mindy's shirt up and over her head, followed by the bra. I undid the button on Mindy's jeans, sliding them off along with her purple panties, which were decidedly damp.
I ran my hands across the firm but soft skin of Mindy's backside. I felt Mindy kicking off her shoes and shrugging off her jeans. I rapidly kicked off my own shoes and jeans and then allowed Mindy to slide off my shorts. I pulled off my shirt and felt Mindy's fingernails digging into my bare chest. I pulled her to me, her soft breasts resting on my chest and I kissed the woman who would very soon be my wife.
..._...
We lay there, on the mat, completely naked for what seemed like hours.
"Brings back some weird memories, being here," Mindy muttered. "Like this."
"You mean that you used to kick the fuck out of me, on this very mat, rather than me just fucking you here?"
"Something like that," Mindy commented. "Has to be the first time that we have ever had sex in this Safehouse."
"Well we weren't banging each other back then."
"Kind of wish we were."
"Marcus would never have approved."
"Marcus would never have known!"