Tuesday evening
Safehouse E
Level 4
"Fucking ouch!"
I dropped to the floor from the air vent.
"You okay?" Mindy called.
"Like you give a bloody shit! I think I scratched my backside."
"Are you in?"
"Yeah, uncaring bitch, I'm in!"
"We'll check your butt later – mission first!"
"Okay, okay!" I grumbled as I took in my surroundings. "You got lights in Hit Girl's fun house?"
"Find a card swipe and swipe your card – Marty says!"
"Great, just fucking great! I'm fumbling my naked backside around a dark and very smelly bunker!"
"Did you say, 'naked'?" Mindy demanded. "I thought you had knickers on?"
Shit!
"They got caught on something in the vent and I had to err, abandon them!"
Fuck me if I was not blushing and the laughter in my ear did not help!
..._...
"Ha!" I yelled as I swiped the access card and lights began to come on all around me.
Thanks to the lights, I now felt very exposed in the long concrete corridor. I also felt very cold all of a sudden, as the heating was most definitely not on!
"It is fucking freezing in here!" I complained.
"I would suggest you head for the armoury and stores then, and get your bare butt dressed," Mindy suggested. "Unless you enjoy running around butt naked!"
"Funny slapper!"
..._...
I ran down the corridor, my bare feet echoing on the cold concrete. I suddenly skidded to a halt as I saw a sign on a large steel door: STORES. I swiped the access card through the reader and the door lock released.
"Awesome!" I exclaimed – imitating Chloe's accent.
"You should find something close to your size on the right," Mindy advised.
Ten minutes later, I had pulled on a black t-shirt, black joggers and some trainers. I left the stores and made my way further down the corridor before stopping outside a large steel door: ARMOURY. Again, I swiped the card and the door released.
"Fuck me..." The door was fucking heavy!
"No thanks!" Mindy quipped.
"You remember what I said earlier, Yank? Shut it, before I come over there and fucking shut it for you!"
"Bitch with attitude – cool!" Mindy laughed then got serious. "I promise to shut up now."
"Like that's ever gonna happen!" I heard Chloe laugh, followed by a slapping sound and a, "Fucking ouch!"
"You do that, Mindy – 'cause you gonna pay, purple bitch!"
..._...
I entered the armoury. Wow! There must have been a thousand firearms in there.
"Which war is all this for?" I quipped.
Mindy did not reply.
I pulled out the smallest vest I could find and started adding weapons. Once I had loaded myself up, I headed out into the corridor again.
"Where next?" I asked.
Mindy did not reply.
"Mindy, you there?"
I was alone.
Glenview
"Echo?" I queried as I read the display on my cell.
Why was I receiving a call from Safehouse E? Oh yeah – Mindy!
"Dave, its Stephanie and things suck!"
Stephanie sounded a bit stressed and worried.
"What is it Stephanie?" I asked seriously.
"Megan and Curtis have gone rogue and taken over the Safehouse – I escaped and Mindy sent me to a nearby bunker. However, I've lost all communication with Mindy... Please help me."
Stephanie sounded very worried and a little scared.
"Hang in there, Stephanie; I'm on my way."
I hung up the phone and called Cathy, followed by Hailee and Erika.
Safehouse D
Fifty minutes after Stephanie's call, we were gearing up.
No combat suits, just body armour and non-deadly weaponry, such as Tasers. I sent Cathy to the entrance of Safehouse F, while I took Hailee and Erika towards the entrance of Safehouse E.
"Are we about to enter another one of HG's fun palaces?" Hailee asked with a little apprehension.
"Err, yeah!" I replied.
"Any chance we're going to live through this?" Erika added.
"Hey, it's Mindy!"
"Yeah, that's what worries me!" Hailee grimaced.
I laughed and continued towards a building that looked like it was a garage or a workshop. Both Hailee and Erika looked dubious about entering, but I just grabbed them both by the arm and shoved them through the door I had just opened.
It was different!
I looked at Dave and then Erika. We were in a smartly laid out workshop. In the centre of which was a 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am in gloss black. Okay, I was a fan!
"Ignore that – Tony has a fetish with it and Mindy is funding it!" Dave commented as he headed for the pit beneath the car and headed down some concrete steps.
There in the floor was a large steel hatch. Dave pulled open a small steel door in the side of the pit that was almost invisible amongst the oil, grease and grime. Inside, was a keypad – Dave punched in an eight-digit code.
The hatch motored open slowly, revealing a cavernous black opening.
"Here we go!" I growled.
An hour and a half earlier
Safehouse E
Level 4
I decided that heading up would be my best option.
The place was still cold, despite my clothes, so I started jogging which wasn't easy with the weapons I had added. I found a door that led to some steel stairs. I swiped the card, releasing the door. The stairs vanished upwards and downwards. I noticed a sign: 'CIC'. It pointed up, so up I went.
On the next level was another corridor, but not as long as that on the level below. I had heard nothing over my ear-piece for quite a while, which worried me. What might Boris and Natasha be up to in the other Safehouse?
Wow, my life was going in some strange directions! I stopped in front of a large steel door and swiped my trusty swipe card...
"Oh, wow!"
I could not help myself; I was in awe at what lay before me. The room was enormous and spanned two levels. I was on the top level and I could see down onto several computer consoles. The equipment was old, in most cases, and there was a lot of dust! The place must have been cool when it was in operation waaaay back before I was born. Over in one corner, something was different, the equipment was newer. I ran down a set of steel steps and over to the corner.
..._...
There were several very modern computers and some large flat-screen displays. Marty had been there. I also found a modern phone – all the others in the facility that I had discovered were old and dead. I tentatively picked up the receiver and held it to my ear...
A dial tone!
I quickly got Dave's mobile number from my own mobile and dialled.
Safehouse D
Level 1
"So where is she?"
"I don't know, Erika, but I think the only working phone is in the CIC on Level 3."
"This place stinks!" Hailee moaned, wrinkling her nose.
"Sorry, Petra; I should have cleaned before we came!" I growled back and received a nasty glare in return.
We pressed on, passing several closed doors as we followed the concrete corridors.
"The décor sucks," Hailee commented.
"Are you gonna moan the whole freakin' way?" Erika complained.
"Hey, bitches – you can make out later – let's just find Steph, okay?"
"Not a bad idea..." Erika grinned.
"One track mind her!" Hailee laughed.
A few minutes later I found what we were looking for.
"Here we are, stairs heading down..."
We went down two levels, coming out onto Level 3. After a short corridor we found a steel door. I swiped my access card, but nothing happened. I punched in an override code and the door opened. The lights were on, but otherwise there was no sounds of movement. I brought up my weapon and we all moved forwards in silence.
I caught three flashes off to my right and then felt three painful impacts on my body armour which pushed me backwards.
Then there was movement.
"Whoops!" Stephanie announced as she revealed herself.
The Glock 23 pistol was held in both hands and now pointed at the floor.
"Sorry, Dave – I just reacted!" The embarrassed girl apologised.
"Are you alright?" I asked, ignoring the pain from the bullets. The girl looked very frightened.
"This place gives me the creeps!"
One hundred feet beneath Chicago
We had left the CIC and we had made our way to the entrance of Safehouse F.
There was an enormous steel door, that took all four of us to open. After a short walk and some interesting booby-traps, we found another, identical, door. We edged it open just enough for us all to get through. We came out into the engineering store. We prepared ourselves and then ran out of the store, into the Safehouse.
I was steeled for a fight, however, my mouth just dropped to the floor at the sight before me. Arrayed on the mat beyond the glass shield were quite a few people. Mindy, Marty, Abby, Josh, Chloe, Cathy and the two Fusion 'Most Wanted' were standing out in front!
As I walked through the open gate in the glass shield, everybody started clapping. I turned to see a smiling Dave, with Erika and Hailee on either side; both were clapping and smiling at me.
Then it fucking clicked!
"It was all a fucking put up job!" I exclaimed, my anger rising steadily.
"Some of it," Megan exclaimed. "The grilling was mostly real – we were both in shit and the tears were real too. Mindy forced us to trick you into thinking we had taken over the Safehouse. Which, by the way, we would never do... Period!"
"Anyway, you fucking passed, you bitch!" Mindy said with a big smile and my anger faded – slightly.
"Despite being forced to crawl through ventilation ducts and Safehouses naked and dodging bombs, I can see why you put me through that... I'm just glad the bombs were not real!"
Mindy looked a little sheepish.
"Oh, the bombs were very real!"
"What!" I yelled out. "You used real fucking bombs for training? What sort of fucked-up psycho would do that?"
"Yeah..." Mindy began without a hint of shame.
"You get used to it, Steph!" Dave admitted with a grimace.
I just scowled before I then turned to Chloe.
"I still haven't forgotten about us having a little girl to girl chat, Chloe..."
Chloe grinned.
"I'm looking forward to it, immensely, dear Stephanie!" She replied in a good attempt at a British accent.
Then I turned back to Megan and Curtis.
"I'll talk to you two, later and it won't be pretty!"
I turned to the grinning bitch.
"Now, Mindy – if I am not mistaken, you and me have an appointment with a very big stick..."
I grabbed hold of Mindy's blouse and dragged her towards the armoury.
"Dave, you gonna save your wife from mortal danger?" Mindy grinned.
"Nah, you're on your own!" Dave laughed.
"Hit her hard, Steph – she deserves it!" Chloe yelled after Mindy.
The next afternoon
Safehouse F
"Please tell me that this is not another crazy test?"
"No, Steph, you are safe from any of my bombs!" Mindy grinned.
I scowled at Mindy's attempt at humour.
"Steph, we have a surprise for you," Mindy said carefully. "I am entrusting you to Megan; she will sort you out."
Megan grabbed hold of me by the hand and almost dragged me up the steel stairs and into one of the bedrooms.
"Strip!" She ordered the moment she had closed and locked the door.
"Come again?"
"Get your clothes off..."
"Hey, Megan – we may be a team and you're a nice girl; I like you. Okay, you did try to fuck me yesterday, but I am not a bloody lesbian..."
Megan laughed.
"Well, neither am I; I leave the pussy munching to others – so get stripped... Your new combat suit awaits..."
"Oh!" I exclaimed sheepishly and started pulling off my clothes as Megan whipped a sheet off the bed, revealing an array of multi-coloured body armour.
"I would advise you to just wear your knickers and a thin t-shirt under the suit," Megan suggested, then she smirked. "A sports bra too, once you get tits!"
I scowled and considered slapping her, but I decided to let it slide.
..._...
First, I pulled on the padded undersuit which consisted of two parts. The jacket, which zipped up the front, was a dark royal blue in colour and actually very appealing. The trousers were a deep royal red, which I liked too.
"The undersuit is bullet and stab resistant to Type IIA Standards..." Megan monologued as I changed.
Next, I was handed sections of contoured modular body armour. The armour sections were in the same red and blue as the undersuit and clipped onto the undersuit and together to form a semi-rigid Type IIIA armour that protected the important parts of my body. I was surprised at how light it was – it was still heavy, but I would be able to manage it.
"... The armour is like mine and ultra-flexible to allow for maximum agility when in combat..."
Embossed onto the chest plate was a large gold symbol, Ψ, much like a trident. Megan saw me looking down at it, upside down.
"... The Greek letter 'Psi' – it denotes psychology..."
"Nice!" I commented approvingly.
Megan then handed me a pair of red boots that came up my legs and connected with the armour on my thighs. The boots had stab-resistant soles and were amazingly light and comfortable to wear. In the top of each boot was a slot, although I had absolutely no idea what the slot was for.
"Try this..."
I took the gold-coloured utility belt and with Megan's help attached it to the top and bottom halves of the combat suit. On each side was an empty pistol holster and around the back, pouches for other equipment which included a section for the communications equipment. Attached to the belt was a short, deep royal red, skirt which went as far as midway down my thighs.
"Now to cover your face, your very distinctive hair and that cute little Brit accent..."
I scowled at Megan as she grinned back. I was handed what looked like wig, well actually a brunette, shoulder-length wig, only the wig was attached to a mask. Megan took hold of my ponytail and with the help of some hairclips, secured it up and out of the way. I pulled the mask and wig over my head. The inside of the wig was padded and very similar to the mask that Megan wore. I realised that beneath the hair was armour to protect my head. What was visible under the hair, was blue. The mask protected the sides of my face, back of the neck and covered the area around my eyes and down the bridge of my nose. My forehead, and jaw were still visible.
As I was changing, I watched my metamorphosis in a mirror – each step was awesome to watch. Megan took the fingers of my right hand and moved them to my mask and under one side where I could feel three buttons.
"The first, here, enables the comms, the second enables the voice alteration technology and the third activates the anti-lift tech..."
After pressing each button in turn, Megan picked up a handheld radio.
"Psyche, this is Wildcat, over..."
In my mask I could hear Megan's voice quite clearly. She pointed to the left of my chest and I pressed my hand there.
"Receiving, over..." I responded, letting go of the Push-To-Talk button.
I heard my own voice coming out of Megan's radio, but an electronic sounding voice was heard in the room. Megan saw my smile.
"Cool, huh!"
"Awesome!"
Megan showed me how to activate the hands-free or VOX mode on the communications equipment and then she handed me a pair of dark royal red gauntlets which extended up my forearms and joined with the armour a few inches below my elbow.
"Those gauntlets will protect you from knives and other blades. You have built in knuckle-dusters and they are weighted to improve your punch – we can ditch those as you get bigger. Your fist will also be protected when you pound somebody, or something."
The final item, which I thought was bloody awesome, was a plain cape, the same colour as my skirt. The material was strange, but light and fluid.
"Bullet resistant and fire-proof, among other things..." Megan explained as she attached it to my collar.
The cape came down as far as the backs of my knees.
"Okay, Psyche – Armoury!"
..._...
Megan led me out of the bedroom and down to the Armoury where I found Mindy and Josh. I felt shy and I blushed as they checked out my new combat suit.
"Way to go, Psyche!" Josh said approvingly.
"Her face almost matches her cape!" Mindy laughed.
"Funny!" I growled, hearing the same electronic voice again.
"Nice voice, too – very manly!" Josh quipped.
"Can I hit him?" I asked Mindy.
"Later..." Mindy replied as she led me over to the main, central, table. Mindy began indicating items. "Your weapons – a pair of Heckler & Koch P30SK nine-millimetre pistols and six magazines – two for the pistols and two spares for each pistol; ten-rounds per magazine. Suppressor for each, plus combined flashlight and laser sight. Two throwing knives – a combat knife and a pair of custom Sais."
Josh helped me load up: the loaded pistols into the holsters, the spare magazines into their pouches on my utility belt, the knives into slots on the same belt. The Sais latched into the slots in the top of each boot.
I felt a little weighed down, once I was done!