The following morning
Sunday
That morning was bad for so many reasons.
We were all in pain, which accounted for many of the reasons, not to mention the disturbing information that had cropped up the previous night. The D'Amico family was still fucking us about and that pissed me off, big time! However, there was another reason. Stephanie had regressed into a feral state. What had caused it?
Miranda.
The scene had not been pretty!
Dave and I had known ahead of time what was about to happen, so we were prepared. We had agreed that Miranda should break the news and we would be there to assist as necessary. Dave was convinced that Stephanie would freak out – in a major way – and he was not wrong!
Maybe Dave was somehow tuning into how nutcases like us worked.
Safehouse F
Miranda was very uncomfortable, twisting her fingers together as she tried to prepare herself for what had to be done.
She was standing alone in the briefing room, at least until Dave and I appeared with a somewhat confused Stephanie. The young girl was perceptive and I noticed her body language changing as she went on guard.
"Miranda? What is it?" Stephanie asked her voice fearful of the response.
"Stephanie, I'm leaving – there are some things that I must do..."
Stephanie frowned and her eyes narrowed.
"No – you are not leaving me!"
"I have to – Dave and Mindy will look after you..."
I could see emotions sweeping across the nine-year-olds face. Fear, panic, apprehension, anger, hurt.
"You promised that we would stay together, always!"
Stephanie was shouting now and I could tell that she was on the verge of losing control.
"Please, Steph, please. I know how hard this will be on you, but these are good people; I've known for a while Dave and he's the best there is..."
"No, no, NO!"
I nodded at Dave and I felt so bad about what I was doing, but I had to go. Dave seized Stephanie in a bear hug from behind, easily lifting the skinny nine-year-old off the ground. She fought, she struggled and she swore – badly!
"You can't leave... You bastard, Dave, get the fuck off me or I swear to God, I will fucking kill you!"
I turned away from Stephanie and tried to block out the screaming that was rapidly turning borderline hysterical. I headed down the stairs towards the exit and the elevator. The screaming rang in my ears as I felt hot tears of sadness and shame, flood down my face.
Even after I had left the Safehouse, I could still hear her betrayed screams in my head.
"You shitty fucking bastards; you are all going to pay for this!" Stephanie screamed, still struggling against Dave's iron grip.
She kept trying to smack the back of her head into Dave's face and she kicked everywhere that she could reach but Dave still held onto her for what seemed like an hour, but was more like ten minutes. Finally, she calmed down, just a bit and sobbed into Dave's shoulder, hugging him tightly.
Half an hour later, Stephanie appeared to have calmed down, at least enough for Dave to let her go.
"I'm sorry," Stephanie said quietly.
"It's okay," I replied gently.
"I need to go clean up."
"Yes, you do. I'll come with you."
"Why do females all go to the bathroom together?" Dave asked.
"It's a woman thing!" I grinned in reply as we headed to the bathroom across the way that was reserved for girls.
..._...
While Stephanie washed her face, I pulled out her hair bobble and brushed her hair; there were always a few hair brushes lying around in the bathroom. Once properly brushed, I put Stephanie's blonde hair back up into a pony tail, ready for the next bit of action that I knew was coming.
"You feeling better?" I asked, knowing the response.
"Like bloody hell I am!"
"Oh?" I enquired innocently.
"I'm bloody pissed to fuck!"
"So do something about it..."
"Like what?"
I pulled the girl out of the bathroom and out onto the walkway, pulling her around to face me.
"Hit me, if you think you can..."
Stephanie bristled at that, but otherwise she did not move.
"Show me what you can do, dig down deep for all that anger, use it. Show me what Stephanie Walker is capable of, show me what Psyche can do."
"I... I can't..."
I slapped the nine-year-old on her left cheek. For a moment I thought that she was about to burst into tears, but no.
As I watched from the other side of the Safehouse, I saw the two girls reappear from the bathroom.
Stephanie looked better, at least her hair was neat and tidy as usual. Then after a brief exchange, Mindy slapped the girl. That surprised me, for all of two seconds, before I remembered who my wife really was!
At first Stephanie just stood still, but then she tensed up and threw a punch at Mindy, which of course missed. That seemed to tip Stephanie over the edge as she launched into a vicious attack, using everything she possessed including some of her newly acquired skills from D-JAK and Megan.
Mindy kept dodging before she ran down the steps to the mat.
"Come on you fucking British bitch – you're a fucking pussy!"
Stephanie was kicking and punching, trying her utmost to catch Mindy. Only Mindy was too good for her, naturally, and dodged everything, goading the young girl without mercy. I could see Stephanie getting more and more enraged by Mindy's treatment of her. Mindy, though, was smiling which was only making it worse.
"You sure about this?" Marty asked as he joined me on the walkway.
"I got it!" I replied with a grin, showing Marty the green and yellow X26P Taser in my hand.
"Who is that for?" Marty asked, showing me a black X2 Taser.
"Which ever bitch gets out of hand first!" I laughed.
Stephanie was able to land a few strikes on Mindy, but nothing that did anything. The young girl was going all-out, but Mindy was barely breathing hard. I decided that it was not fair; it was time to even the odds.
"Marty, watch 'em for a minute..."
I saw Dave vanish below, but ignored the irrelevance.
My opponent was raging and her anger was aimed at me; which was good. I wanted her to throw everything she had at me and to do that she had to be so mad, so pissed. Then I found out where Dave had vanished to – the evil cunt!
He sauntered past the mat and threw a three-foot Bokken towards Stephanie who deftly caught the wooden training weapon and smirked happily as she started to attack me with it – quite successfully too!
I threw Dave a scowl that said, 'I hate you' and 'I'll fuck you up for that', all in one!
"Mindy doesn't seem to like your change!" Marty commented with a chuckle as I re-joined him.
"What's new!" I laughed back.
Stephanie handled the training weapon well, much to Mindy's obvious disgust! My wife moved speedily and nimbly to escape the painful weapon, dodging several good strikes.
"It's not a fucking tampon – start fighting with it, not waving it around like a soggy sausage!" Mindy taunted with a smirk.
"Fuck you, bitch!" Came the enraged reply.
Stephanie deftly stepped inside of Mindy's next dodge and jammed the end of the weapon into Mindy's side eliciting a scream of pain. If Mindy was not pissed before, she was now and she was raging – almost as much as Stephanie. I had to watch out or Mindy might actually kill the nine-year-old!
However, Mindy just took the strike in her stride and lazily kicked Stephanie in the chest, sending her flying backwards onto the mat. Mindy's insults followed as the girl struggled back to her feet.
"Get up, you useless fucking shit!"
"You fight like a bloody used tampon!"
"Dave was better than you when he first started being Kick-Ass – before he got stabbed and knocked down by a car, that is!"
..._...
Marty burst out laughing at that last one...
"Low blow, bitch!" I yelled down, only to receive the middle finger of Mindy's right hand in return.
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" Stephanie yelled back, her face red with her exertions, but she was not giving up.
She bolted forwards, brandishing the Bokken and laying into Mindy who seemed to have been taken by surprise! Mindy fended off the strikes with her arms, before seizing the Bokken and throwing Stephanie across the mat where she landed hard enough to scream in pain.
"Enough!" Mindy said strongly as Stephanie regained her feet a little shakily.
"No fucking chance!" Stephanie growled and launched herself at Mindy.
Mindy fought off the rabid younger girl. Every time that Mindy put Stephanie down on the mat and then released her, the girl jumped up and struck again, only to be put down, again!
Talk about a bitch in heat!
Mindy was never that bad. Stephanie was out of control; she was going to hurt herself. The only option was to restrain her before something bad happened. I ran down and while Mindy distracted Stephanie with an attack, I seized the wild girl around the waist and then pinning her to the mat on her back.
"Mindy said, enough!" I roared at Stephanie before roughly flipping her over onto her front and securing her wrists with flexi-cuffs behind her back.
Surprisingly, Stephanie never said a word while I secured her. After a minute of being face down on the mat, she spoke.
"I'm sorry. I freaked out a bit. You can take the cuffs off..."
Mindy nodded and I removed the cuffs. Stephanie peered to her right before jabbing out with her right fist and catching Mindy on the side of her jaw. Mindy reacted with a jab to Stephanie's side, causing Stephanie to scream out in agony and I replaced the cuffs before anything else happened.
"Let's talk, shall we?" Mindy suggested with a smile, rubbing her jaw as I helped Stephanie get back to her feet.
That evening
Glenview
"Megan?"
"Yeah, Steph."
"Mindy suggested I should ask you something..."
"What?"
"She said that if I wanted to be a bitch then I should ask you about what the consequences might be?"
I saw Megan's eyes go wide and then a pained expression appeared on her face.
"Believe me when I say: don't be a bitch!"
"Why?"
"It's way too humiliating; trust me, partner..."
Later that evening
I heard laughing and giggling as I walked past Anne-Marie's bedroom.
They were watching a movie and I recognised the tune, but I could not remember the movie and then as I peered around the door, I remembered: Mulan!
"Hi, Mulan – err, Mindy!" Megan laughed.
"You'd make a great warrior, Mom," Anne-Marie said seriously with a big grin on her face and Danny nodded his agreement.
"Thanks, but that's not me," I grinned in response with a wink at a smirking Stephanie.
The following afternoon
Monday
West Columbia
"Mom!" Megan yelled excitedly.
Megan ran to her Mom and hugged her.
"Careful, Megan; I'm still a little sore," Paige warned, having only left the hospital an hour earlier.
"You doing okay?" I asked.
"Yes, Mindy, I am and thanks."
"For what?"
"For looking after that temperamental hand grenade that I have for a daughter!"
Megan blushed.
"I loved looking after her..."
"You're not a good liar, Mindy," Paige laughed. "Marcus told me what you did for Megan, keeping her on the right road. Thanks to you, I still have a daughter..."
"I..."
I had no idea how to respond. Instead Paige gave me a hug and a kiss. I felt my face getting very warm.
"I'm very proud of you, Mindy," Marcus added.
That was it, my face exploded and I suddenly felt very embarrassed – but in a good way. I put an arm around Megan and hugged her close.
"You taking her back, then?" I asked.
"Only if we have to!" Paige replied and Megan's mouth dropped open in shock.
When I awoke, something felt strange, but I could not figure it out.
I stretched and realised with a start that I was not in my own bed and as I looked around me, I found myself in Sophia's dog bed! I sat up quickly and studied my surroundings; I was in the kitchen at Mindy's. Why? I had gone to bed at home. Then I felt something around my neck, it was a dog collar! What the fuck was happening to me... It had to be Mindy!
I tried to take the collar off, but I could not undo the buckle. I stood up and swore under my breath; I was naked! I made a move for the door to find some clothes and a mirror to get a better look at the damn collar, so I could get it off. It had to be Mindy; I would not have put it past her to have taken me from my bed, stripped me and then put the collar around my neck and left me in Sophia's bed!
I had taken maybe three paces and I was in the middle of the kitchen, when I heard voices; I froze. I felt like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights as Mindy appeared in the kitchen; she looked me up and down and grinned. Next came Anne-Marie, Danny and Stephanie; they all stopped dead and stared at the scene before them. Close behind was a grinning Dave and I noticed that he had something in his hand – a dog leash!
..._...
Anne-Marie, Danny and Stephanie started laughing and pointing at me as I stood there completely naked, except for the damn dog collar.
"Time for your walk, Megan," Dave commented with a sly grin as he walked over to me and casually attached the leash to my collar.
"What?" I exclaimed as the reality of my situation finally took hold and my face exploded with intense embarrassment and humiliation. "You can't... I'm naked... How...?"
"No time for questions, walkies!" Mindy said cheerfully as she took the leash and led me towards the front door.
"No!" I screamed, my panic growing as I considered being taken outside, naked, but everybody just laughed. Danny ran ahead to open the door and a minute later I found myself standing outside in the freezing cold, the front door being pulled shut behind me.
..._...
"Shouldn't she be on all-fours?" Anne-Marie asked as she took the leash from Mindy.
"Yes, she should," Mindy agreed before turning to me and saying sharply, "Megan, down!"
For some strange reason, I found myself complying and there I was being pulled towards the grass by Anne-Marie. I was on my hands and knees, still naked, with my ass sticking up in the air and on a leash. I thought that it could not get any worse.
Then it just got worse!
"Now, Megan, time for you to pee!" Anne-Marie chuckled gleefully. "If you need the other end, you'll have to use the flower-bed."
I was blushing fit to burst, but again, I found myself following commands and squatting down on the grass where much to my disgust...
..._...
I awoke with a jolt – I was in my own room, at home; it had all been a fucking dream or should that be a nightmare. Thanks a bunch, Mindy, for putting that fucking shit in my mind and for giving me a goddamn freaky nightmare!
I struggled to get back to sleep.