The following morning
Saturday
North Avenue, Chicago
"Where are we going?"
"Where are we going?" I repeated, in answer to Stephanie's question and smirked at Megan in the seat beside me. "You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"
"Very funny, Mindy!" Stephanie laughed.
We parked on the rooftop parking lot and then headed towards the elevator.
The second floor
As we exited the lift, Mindy turned left and we joined a mass of people before we passed by 'Express' and 'J. Crew', before we reached 'Victoria's Secret' and I had to pull Megan away from the entrance. That shop was just wrong in oh so many ways!
"Chloe gets stuff from there, mail order," Mindy commented.
"Dirty bitch!" Both Megan and I said together.
We continued around the corner until Mindy stopped outside some double glass doors, beyond was darkness. She unlocked the locks top and bottom with some keys before pushing the door open. A loud beeping sounded – the alarm. Mindy walked over to a glass panel set into the wall to the right and placed her hand against a designated area that looked squishy. Within a second, the beeping stopped and a green message appeared on the glass: 'ALARM DISARMED – ACTIVATING SYSTEMS'.
"That panel will take a handprint, but not leave one – so nobody can dust and lift – cool huh!"
"Awesome – where are we?" Megan demanded.
"Welcome to D-JAK..."
Lights set into the ceiling and along the walls began to snap on, illuminating the room. To the left was a large area dedicated to changing rooms, toilets, showers and lockers. To the right was a large reception desk with three large, wall-mounted TV screens mounted one above the other behind it. Beyond the desk was a large open-plan area. In the central area was a large training mat and located between the reception desk and the central mat, were two smaller mats for separate classes. Behind and to the left of the reception desk was a private area with an office and a room equipped with soft chairs and couches. There was also a small kitchen.
At the far end of the space there was an area dedicated to exercise machines, punch bags and some other, similar, equipment. At the far right, was a staircase, which led to the lower entrance of D-JAK. Mindy led us both into the room with the couches, we all sat down, and Mindy turned serious.
..._...
"Megan," she began. "I want to talk to you about the other night. I will get personal, so if you want Stephanie to go and play – then she will leave us."
"No, Mindy. Stephanie is my friend and my partner, she has also stayed by my side since Mom was shot and she has helped me through this. She stays."
Mindy then turned to me.
"No interrupting, Steph. Just listen, okay?"
Stephanie nodded.
..._...
"You got a little carried away the other night, Megan – then again, I did let you. You did surprise me, though."
"I had a lot of issues to work out of my system."
"Why'd you want those men naked?" I asked.
Megan blushed slightly.
"After Gotham, I thought it would be a good way to show that I was in charge. Clothes denote power; I take the power away..."
"Interesting logic... It surprised me that you were comfortable with seeing naked men."
"I was not comfortable with it – by no stretch of the imagination... The sight was disgusting and I was revolted, but it had to be done."
I looked over at Stephanie.
"What about you?"
"I've seen a naked adult man before – I can't say that I liked what I saw, but the human body can't be avoided; it is what it is. Men have a weakness – their 'family jewels', so why not exploit that!" She responded.
"I like you Stephanie!"
That night
Central Chicago
The man had not deserved to die, but no matter, he had still been eviscerated by the triple claws of Wildcat.
"What did you do that for?" Shadow demanded.
"I felt like it, I suppose…"
Shadow paused, as if she were about to say something, but then seemed to think better of it and just walked away from the younger vigilante.
"She's going too fucking far!" Battle Guy complained as he looked down at the dead body.
"Tell me about it," Kick-Ass added sourly. "But she's not the only one..."
"I know," Battle Guy replied as he looked over at Trojan.
Shadow chased the two younger vigilantes across the roof, catching up with them as they stopped to talk.
"This has to stop, you two!"
"Well it's not going to, so get the fuck used to it Shadow," Trojan growled before heading off into the darkness.
"Listen to me! Hit Girl is not going to stand for this. A bit of advice from somebody who cares? Calm the fuck down and follow the rules."
"Fuck you!" Wildcat retorted. "Or you will get these..."
Wildcat deployed and swung her claws. Shadow took a step back to avoid the lethal claws as Wildcat stalked off into the darkness without another look, following Trojan. Shadow found herself on the edge of the building and try as she might, she could not regain her balance and fell backwards into the void.
The Edwards Apartment
Lizzie Edwards gazed out at the night, looking past the fire escape outside of their bedroom.
"Nothing ever happens here..."
"What?" Lizzie's big sister, Lauren, asked sleepily.
"This place is so boring!"
"Go back to sleep, Lizzie..."
Lizzie continued to gaze out into the night.
"I want something to happen..."
Suddenly something big and heavy dropped out of the night and landed on the fire escape with a crash.
Lizzie jumped back with a start and Lauren sat bolt upright in bed.
"Lauren – there's something on the fire escape..."
"God, you so annoy me!" Lauren responded as she reluctantly scrambled out of her warm bed.
Lauren looked out onto the fire escape.
"There's nothing... Oh my God; it's a vigilante!" Lauren breathed.
Lizzie slid the window open and leant out. Prodding the armoured form.
"Lizzie – don't touch!"
Lizzie ignored her sister and touched the edge of the vigilante's mask. There was a flash and a crack. Lizzie screamed as she jerked her hand away.
"That hurt!"
There were a dozen bright flashes as Lauren snapped a dozen high-definition photos of the seemingly unconscious vigilante. The vigilante's head turned toward us.
"Am I gonna get a copy of those?" Shadow growled, rubbing her head with her right hand.
"Sorry – don't hurt me... Shadow."
"I won't... You recognise me?"
"You helped rescue me from the basement of some hellhole when I was kidnapped a few months ago," the older girl replied.
"Now I need your help... err..."
"Lauren and this is my little sister, Lizzie."
I froze for a second. I thought I had recognised the voices; I taught both girls at D-JAK!
Shadow made to sit up.
"Oh, wow, my head hurts and so does my back..."
The words came out a little slurred, but I understood what she was saying, then she continued talking, but not to us.
"Fusion, this is Shadow – I need an extraction... I'm a little woozy, but I can walk, I hope... Copy that; I'm on my way down..."
Shadow turned to face me.
"Goodnight Lauren, it's time for me to go."
I watched as Shadow slowly got to her feet; she looked awesome as she steadied herself before starting down the fire escape and I lost sight of her as she vanished into the darkness below.
The following morning
Sunday
Glenview
"You doing okay, Chloe?"
"Yeah, thanks, Mindy – I'm just a little bruised on my back and my ass, but I'll heal!"
"Bit of a coincidence landing on that fire escape, huh?"
"Just a bit!"
As I put the cell down, I started to consider the reasons behind Shadow dropping off that building.
The next day
Monday
Lake View High School
I was a little fragile, but I was still able to attend school.
The first period was peaceful and I had Josh to fuss over me. Due to the painkillers that Mom had given me, I was a little hazy, which was not much use when I was walking down a corridor between lessons. As I turned a corner, I saw a crowd of kids gathered by a noticeboard
"Chloe, you gotta look at this!"
It was a very overexcited Avery, who ran over and pulled me through the crowd. There beside the noticeboard was Lauren and on the noticeboard were some A3 size pictures. My eyes went wide at the high-resolution images of a certain blue-clad superhero.
"She's awesome; isn't she?" Riley exclaimed and Avery looked like she would explode.
I had always known that my friends thought Shadow was awesome and most of the boys in the school who had reached puberty fancied the pants off her! I froze, my drug fogged mind unable to figure out a response that would not reveal my secret.
"I am... I mean she is..." I mumbled receiving a strange look from Lauren and Riley.
"Where did you get them from?" Riley asked Lauren.
"It was awesome – she landed on the fire escape outside my bedroom and she allowed me to take some pictures."
I had no memory of ever giving my permission, but there I was in vivid colour, weapons and all.
"Can we get copies?" Some of the boys asked.
"I could do that," Lauren replied.
"I want some of those!"
I turned to find Josh grinning down at me. I glared back.
"You fancy Shadow over me, do you?" I demanded facetiously.
"Now you mention it..."
I glared at my boyfriend.
"Shadow has a very different figure to you, Chloe – she's much more curvaceous and her tits are bigger too."
I actually had no response to that so I just shrugged.
That evening
Glenview
The four kids were in the pool.
While Paige was still in hospital, Megan was staying with us. I had no problem with that as it also allowed me to keep an eye on the girl. At that moment, watching the kids playing, you would have never known that two of them were cold killers. I was supposed to be worrying about Stephanie and her mental stability, but instead I was worrying about the mental stability of Megan and Curtis.
I was alone with the kids, apart from the very pregnant Sophia. Yes, Sophia was pregnant – three weeks! After her episode with Rex, we had taken her to the vet for a routine check-up and... Therefore, somewhere around the middle of January, next year, there should be some puppies – anywhere up to ten or so apparently!
Dave and Erika were out on the streets – Shannon and Tony had been having some trouble down at the bar they ran on North Ashland Avenue and West Bryn Mawr Avenue.
The bar was called the Edgewater Lounge.
The Edgewater Lounge
The normal clientele were behaving remarkably well that evening.
Usually they were a bit rowdy, but never out of control. However, for the past couple of weeks there had been some trouble, so Shannon had reached out for a friend or two to visit.
"Holy shit!" Harry growled at the sight of who was sitting, chatting away to each other, at one end of the central bar.
"Evening, Harry – just some friends who have decided to make this their regular watering hole," Tony offered nonchalantly.
"Okay – bourbon, neat!"
..._...
The trouble arrived, as usual, a few minutes before nine that evening.
"My favourite bar..." The man drawled to his three companions. "Move along – I want those seats!"
Four men seated on stools at the bar, ignored the man.
"Hey, fuckers, I..."
"I think it is time for you and your compatriots to leave!" Shannon announced strongly.
"You gonna make me?"
"No..."
"But we will!"
The man turned to find himself face to face with two armour-clad vigilantes. The green and yellow armour of Kick-Ass towered above the other vigilante who was clad in light blue and was known as Mist.
"You go easy, or you go hard..." Mist drawled in her electronically enhanced voice, staring at the man.
The man glared around the bar.
"There's better fucking places than this fucking dump – let's go!"
The men stormed out of the bar.
"Hey, asshole – get outta my face!"
"Did you just threaten me?"
"Yes, I fucking did, you black bastard!"
There was a pause, followed by a scuffle. Kick-Ass led a small crowd out of the bar and to the sidewalk outside.
"Captain Williams!" Kick-Ass growled.
"Just tidying up the streets – nothing to see here people!" Marcus grinned as the four men were cuffed and pushed into a pair of waiting Police cars. "Goodnight!"