The following morning
Wednesday

West Ridge

I awoke early, showered and dressed before anybody else was up.

The school would provide lunch so I did not have to put together anything, which made life a little easier. At seven, I woke Anne-Marie and Danny, pushing them into the bathroom. Once they were showered and dressed, they had breakfast and by quarter to eight, we were ready to leave for school. I said goodbye to Dave and then called Megan to tell her to hurry up or she was walking!

Once the twins were strapped in the back of the XJR, we drove over to get Megan who quickly jumped in the front, looking more than a little embarrassed. Paige came over to my side of the car.

"Megan had a slight argument with the razor this morning!" She smirked. "She's still trying to get the hang of it."

I laughed and received a nasty glare from Megan as I drove off.

North Park Elementary School

The hardest thing that morning was saying goodbye and there were tears on both sides!

"Any problems you go find a teacher or Megan, okay?"

"Yes, Mindy," both kids replied.

I said goodbye to them at their classroom and said hello to their teacher. Megan rushed off to see her friends, Zach, Jake and Nikki. I felt anxious about leaving the twins, but knew that I would see them again, at ten past three that afternoon.

I hated driving away.

Safehouse D

The first visit of the day was meeting up with Tony Morgan at the Safehouse, so we could assess the damage to vehicles and equipment during our visit to Gotham.

Tony would compile a list of the required replacement parts and equipment, and then I could go shopping! We had a new van to buy for Marty to start with, not to mention all the equipment he and Abby would want to stuff the van with to bring it up to spec. There were more than a few bullet strikes to fix in both Titan and Iron Hide. The motorcycles also had moderate damage from bullet strikes.

Tony was very impressed by Chloe's new motorcycle and I showed him my upgraded mask, including how it worked. Between us, we would be compiling a list of equipment that would be obtained from Lucius Fox.

The trip to Gotham had cost us tens of thousands of dollars, if not much more. It was worth it, though.

I loved shopping!

Later that morning

Now that everybody was back at school, it was down to Hit Girl and Mist to make a high profile daylight patrol.

Battle Guy was in the Command Centre, while we both headed out on our motorcycles from Safehouse D. We wanted everybody to know that Fusion was back in town! We made our way through the City and received many waves of appreciation from civilians and Cops alike.

There was a thrill to riding around in a combat suit during the day. Normally we hid in the shadows, but not that day. I knew we were tempting fate and daylight was dangerous, but it had to be done. I loved it and Mist loved it, too.

After an hour, we were joined by Petra on her graphite-black Fireblade. The three of us made an impressive sight as we cruised the streets and it reinforced the fact that Petra was now an integral part of Fusion.

To help our friendly Cops, we also staged a pursuit where Voight's team and Marcus' team pursued us through western Chicago at speed. It was great fun, especially as both sides knew nobody was going to be caught.

We played it close, though, as we teased the Cops. We purposefully allowed them to get close, but not too close. A few shots were exchanged, but nothing came remotely close to hurting anybody. I actually received a rare smile from Voight as we came face to face at a red light before I accelerated away, pulling a wheelie. The chase raised our street cred no end, but it also showed the Mayor and Commissioner that Marcus and Voight's teams were still actively pursuing those 'bad-ass vigilantes that plagued Chicago'!

Fusion was back!

Safehouse F

"That was awesome!" Hailee yelled as she pulled off her helmet.

We were all dripping with sweat from the morning's action, but all very pleased with the results.

"Well done!" Marty announced, as we stowed our equipment.

Petra now had her own section in the armoury for her equipment. After everything was put away, we all went for showers and fresh clothes.

North Park Elementary School

I was parked close to the school by a quarter to three that afternoon.

At three, I joined the other parents awaiting the end of school. I was anxious to see how the twins' day had gone. Had they enjoyed themselves? Had it all gone wrong? Damn, I was a nervous wreck!

Fifteen minutes later, I was grinning so badly it hurt, as I saw Anne-Marie and Danny emerge. They both ran towards me and almost knocked me to the ground in their excitement. I took them back to the car and waved to Megan who ran over to join us.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

The trip back home was constant chatter from the twins as they explained every minute of their first day back at school. They had loved every minute of it. I felt a wave of relief sweep over me. They had even made friends, which was brilliant. Megan managed to squeeze in a few comments about her own day, but she was generally drowned out by the twins' excitement.

Finally, Anne-Marie turned to me.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"Pretty boring, really," I said, with a wink at Megan. "I don't get to do anything exciting."

West Ridge

While I was putting together something for the kids to eat, I heard screaming coming from the living room, plus an excited bark or two from Sophia.

I ran through expecting a problem, but instead Anne-Marie, Danny and Sophia were staring at the TV. It was the local news and they were showing some Police dash-cam footage of our chase, earlier that afternoon. In the current shot, I could see my purple Panigale with Mist's black and light-blue Streetfighter close behind as we both took a turn at high speed, leaning right over our knees almost touching the blacktop before we came back up again, accelerating away. The Police SUV pursuing us skidded into the turn and I recognised Murphy's voice; he swore as he fought to keep the SUV on the road and then trying to keep up with the speeding motorcycles.

I laughed.

"They are so awesome!" Anne-Marie exclaimed, looking around. "That's what I wanna do when I grow up."

"Really?" I asked, trying to sound unconcerned.

"Hit Girl is the best and I love purple!"

"She does too," Danny confirmed. "Me? I hate purple!"

"Vigilantes are bad people..." I said.

"No they aren't!" Anne-Marie countered. "They help people, like they did in Gotham..."

I could not think of anything else to say, so I headed back into the kitchen, just as I saw myself pulling a wheelie as I pulled away from Voight.

At least I now knew what the twins thought about vigilantes and more specifically, Hit Girl!

That night

Once the twins were in bed and asleep, Paige babysat, while Dave and I went out on the town.

By 'out on the town', I meant riding through the darkened streets side-by-side with Kick-Ass. It was great for it to be just the two of us for a change and in relative safety. It gave us time to talk and plan. Abby was on command duty, monitoring us from her home in northwestern Chicago. The streets were annoyingly empty, but it allowed us to talk which was useful.

We talked about anything and everything. New combat suit designs, incorporating the new lighter, more flexible armour from Lucius Fox. The new command van. Upgrades for 'The Vigilante'. The twins. We even talked about the 'boot camp' for Bruce and Selina, which was due to commence the coming Monday when they arrived in Chicago. I had some great ideas, none of which Bruce or Selina would enjoy. I had enlisted Hailee and Erika to lead the training. Dave and I would help, as would Megan, Chloe and Josh.

I loved to be a bitch – I lived to be a bitch!

I was itching for some action.

Nothing serious, but something we could get our teeth stuck into! It was quite a shock going from Gotham to Chicago. It was like night and day. I was glad to be away from that cesspool too. I was even more pleased that we had all survived and come back in relatively one piece.

Hit Girl and I talked about the following week's 'boot camp' that we were preparing for Bruce and Selina. I was a little concerned that Mindy might go too far and I hoped that Hailee and Erika would be able to keep control.

We discussed possible superhero names for Bruce and Selina. Actually, Selina was relatively easy: 'Cat...' – something – maybe 'Catgirl'! Hit Girl came up with several, some unrepeatable, selections for Bruce, but the theme that seemed to have a good ring to it was 'Bat...' – something – although 'Batboy' sounded crap! Then Abby got in on the game and started sending images through to our head-up-displays of possible 'Catgirl' outfits.

"Absolutely not!" I called out as one image popped up. "Too much leather and way too much skin! Less porno, more hero!"

Hit Girl, though, with her sewer system mind thought it would be fun to suggest some of the sexier outfits to Selina. Something told me that Selina would most probably slap Mindy if she saw them!

..._...

Our reverie was interrupted as a destination flashed onto our visors and Hal ordered us into action.

"Police radio call. Rape underway Addams Park, two-point-two miles from your position. No units are able to respond at this time."

We both accelerated to over sixty miles per hour, heading south down South Ashland Avenue. We separated at the intersection of West Roosevelt Road. Kick-Ass went straight ahead, while I turned left at speed and then made another high-speed right hand turn down South Laflin Street. I slammed on the brakes and cruised slowly into the darkened park. My head-up-display showed Kick-Ass joining from the west side of the park.

I triggered the external sensors mounted on my helmet that allowed me to hear what was going on around me and the loudest sound was a scream. My visor showed me the direction to the scream. Not far ahead of me was a kid's play area. I stopped the motorcycle, dumped my helmet and ran into the darkness.

The screaming was getting louder. I did not have my NVGs with me, but I could see what was happening as if it was day. A man was riding the screaming woman, down beside a kiddie-slide. Rapists were the scum of the earth; I despised them more than I did murderers. What rapists did was worse than murder for the victims.

"Bastard!" I growled and the man turned. His eyes grew to the size of a dodge ball before he leapt up and began to run. He managed to run only a couple dozen yards before he was caught in the glare of a blazing headlamp and then Kick-Ass flattened the man with a well-aimed punch as he rode past.

While Kick-Ass saw to the bastard, I turned to the woman. She was desperately trying to cover herself up. The screaming had stopped, but the woman shook from head to toe and could not speak.

I knew we were less than half a mile from the nearest firehouse and I could hear the sirens as they approached. Abby had called them. I stayed with the woman as the ambulance drove straight onto the grass and headed towards the play area, now lit by the headlights of mine and Kick-Ass' motorcycles. The bastard was trussed up with plastic ties and lying face down on the grass a dozen yards away. Kick-Ass watched him.

Two female paramedics jumped out of Ambulance 61 and ran over.

"What you got for us, Hit Girl?"

"Rape, Sylvie," I growled, recognising the Paramedic.

"You got him?" Sylvie Brett asked, as she began examining the woman.

"Oh yeah!" I replied, nodding towards Kick-Ass.

"Outstanding!" the other Paramedic, Gabriella Dawson, replied as she opened her bag.

Minutes later a pair of Police cars arrived and with profuse apologies from the Cops for the delay, one car left with the bastard, while the other remained to take a statement. Nobody touched us or came near us, but we were asked to give our side of the story.

"They're never gonna believe this," the young officer said as he took my. "Taking a statement from Hit Girl!"

"In case they don't believe you," I said and handed over one of my 'HG' cards. I saw Kick-Ass shake his head in exasperation; he hated my 'calling cards'.

There was a gathering crowd building as we left to rousing cheers. We rode off, following the ambulance out of the park.

Later that night

West Ridge

"I see that Kick-Ass and Hit Girl had a busy night!" Paige commented as we arrived home.

"Did they?" I replied innocently and Paige just pointed to the late night news on the TV.

I could see images of Kick-Ass and Hit Girl talking to the Police, as the victim was loaded into the ambulance.

"I just wish..."

"I know," Dave said, knowing that I had desperately wanted to kill that bastard, but I knew that I had to let justice have its way.

"Any problems?" I asked.

"Not a one; they're still asleep."

"Thanks, Paige, we owe you one."

"No you don't. You brought my daughter back to me; that's enough."

We tiptoed past the sleeping twins and crept into bed.

"I need you, Dave!"

"I need you, too!"

Dave ran his hands across my chest, my breathing started to increase and Dave's touch was encouraging the feelings between my legs, which I loved so much, and then his hands moved gently across my stomach and down to my...

"Mindy?"

I bolted upright, covering my chest with the sheet. It was Danny. Dave chuckled – asshole!

"I had a bad dream..."

I felt my shoulders slump and I allowed the sensations that had built up in my crotch to subside. Dave passed me an oversize t-shirt and I pulled it on.

"Come on!" I said, allowing Danny to crawl under the duvet between Dave and me.

"Night, Danny!" I said feeling slightly annoyed.

"Night, Mindy," he replied. "Night, Dave."

"Night, Danny," Dave said with a laugh.