Late Friday night
"Seriously!"
I was livid as I pulled over to the side of the road. The marked CPD SUV with flashing blue lights pulled in behind me. I had not been speeding! I rolled down my window and awaited the CPD clown who had pulled me over.
"Licence and registration, Hit Girl!"
I laughed as I turned to look at the two CPD clowns.
"Fucking assholes!"
"That's no way to talk to the Police, young lady…" Murphy chuckled.
"We deserve respect; I believe..." Fellowes added with a smirk.
I was not in the best of moods, considering the night I had had, so...
"Well, guys, Hit Girl is fresh out of respect – eat this!" I growled as I dropped the car into 'Sport' and put my foot to the floor, spinning the large rear tyres of the Jaguar XJR and leaving the two cops in a cloud of tyre smoke.
Saturday morning
"It is not called that..."
"But it's such a cool name!" Danny persisted.
"I agree with Danny..." Anne-Marie added.
"They have a point," Stephanie interjected reasonably.
Dave just chuckled.
Minutes later, the two kids' eyes went wide as the XJR finished curling down the circular concrete ramp and we stopped beside Iron Hide under the bright lights of Safehouse F as the door closed behind us. I jumped out and opened the back door, letting my two daughters out. Dave did the same for our son and before long the twins' eyes were darting around so fast that I thought their eyeballs might spin around or drop out of their heads.
"Cool!" Danny breathed.
"The Hit Cave!" Anne-Marie exclaimed.
"It's... We don't..." I turned to glare at the grinning Joshua. "You see what you've done!"
It was both exactly as I had expected and nothing like I had expected.
I had expected awesome and it was awesome, but it was so much more – I had dreamed about being part of Fusion for ages. Now it was all coming true... I was struggling to take it all in. Steph was grinning at me and I felt pangs of jealousy; she had known about all this for weeks. Not only that, she was a vigilante – Psyche.
Mom had tried to explain to me that Stephanie was 'different', but I hadn't really understood and I could tell that there was stuff that Mom did not want to go into. Danny was actually drooling, which was disgusting!
Megan pulled me over to a room full of computers and there I found Marty and Abby. The computers and the big screens were amazing – it was like Star Trek, only way better...
My brain was overloading...
It was... It was awesome... The roof of the Safehouse towered above us... I was speechless...
"Danny – please stop drooling; it's really embarrassing!"
My sister scowled and passed me a tissue.
"I love it... Almost worth you getting yourself kidnapped..."
"Ow!"
My sister could punch hard when she wanted to!
I dragged the two overawed kids upstairs and into the Briefing Room.
They gazed down into the Safehouse and across the mat. I directed their attentions over to the photographs and they were both mesmerized.
"At the top there are my Mom and Dad and next to them, Dave's Mom and Dad."
"They're all dead?" Anne-Marie asked.
"Yes, they are – below them is me and my Daddy – actually Hit Girl and Big Daddy."
"You look awesome, Mom – and I love the pink belt."
"I loved that belt – I still have it somewhere; it was my favourite colour..."
"Other than purple!" Josh quipped.
"Other than purple," I confirmed with a smirk.
"That was how I first met Mindy – she was wearing that getup," Dave said with a shudder.
I laughed.
"I think I scared him back then."
"Who are they?" Danny asked, looking at the next picture down.
"Justice Forever!" Marty said quietly. "That's me, the dork at the front – Battle Guy. Kick-Ass with Miranda..."
Stephanie actually leant in closer to Dave at the mention of Miranda's name.
"... Night Bitch. Insect Man, Dr Gravity and..."
"My Mom and Dad," Tommy added with a smile. "Remembering Tommy."
"Last but not least: Colonel Stars and Stripes. She's not there, but Sophia was a member, too – Eisenhower."
"Even the damn dog is a vigilante!" Anne-Marie laughed.
"Language!" I growled and Anne-Marie smiled sweetly focussing on the final photo.
"Who's the guy in the cool looking uniform?" She asked.
"That's my Dad," Josh said. "With my Mum."
"Those photos are a memorial to the fallen – many of those on that wall, they fell while fighting the worst scum on earth. They died for us all – doing what was right," Dave said as a reminder to us all.
While Marty and Abby showed the twins around further, Dave, Josh, Chloe and I took Megan aside into the galley and had a quiet chat about our newest vigilante, Psyche, and her behaviour on the island.
Once we had finished talking, I went to find Stephanie. She was downstairs in the dojang with the twins and Abby. I asked Abby to take the twins upstairs and closed the door after them. Stephanie looked worried as I waved for her to sit down on the mat.
"This is difficult for me, but we need to talk about what occurred on the island... You enjoyed yourself – didn't you?"
Stephanie smiled.
"I won't deny it – I did enjoy it, which shocked me, just a bit..."
"You were very good and it was the first time we got to see what Psyche could really do when let out on your own...
"But..." Stephanie interrupted.
"But... Some had concerns over your behaviour – now, you did beautifully and without your participation, Anne-Marie may have died. I will also owe you for taking part in her safe return. At the time I did not care how many died, or how they died. Dave said that you reminded him of me when he first met Hit Girl. I was cold, calculating and without remorse.
"The two of us are different to the others – we are not normal and we never will be. That is part of the reason for my adopting you; I want to help you have as normal a life as possible. Now we are back in Chicago, things are different. You cannot kill indiscriminately, nor can you cause collateral damage. As I said, on the island everybody was fair game. However, I was a little concerned by you dropping that woman in the kitchen."
"She hurt Anne-Marie, so she deserved to die..."
"I know, only she was unarmed and she was surrendering. I turned a blind-eye to it at the time, considering the circumstances and the fact that we were not taking any prisoners. Please, think before you kill – it's bad enough that Anne-Marie and Danny know about who we all really are, but for them to see us killing..."
"I promise to control my emotions in future – I let my emotions run wild and that was why I killed that woman. It won't happen again..."
"It mustn't; but I did the same, back when I was eleven and my own emotions almost got me killed – twice! Dave rescued me both times – Hit Girl is not infallible and I know that you aren't either."
I stood up and Stephanie followed suit. We hugged for a minute before we were interrupted by a visitor.
..._...
"You two finished, or are you going to make out..." Josh inquired with a dirty grin as he came into the room.
"Can I hit him?" Stephanie asked.
"Feel free..."
Two seconds later Joshua was on the mat, Stephanie having sent a flying kick to his head. Chloe came in just then and glanced down at her boyfriend.
"What did you do this time?" She asked with an exasperated tone and expression.
"Just 'cause I'm on the floor, why do you always assume it's something that I've done?" Joshua complained.
Josh looked up at the three icy glares from the surrounding females.
"Christ – okay...!" Josh growled.
"Here..." Stephanie stepped forwards and helped Josh back to his feet.
"Thank you, Steph – nice kick, by the way."
"Thanks," Stephanie replied, smiling at Josh. "Hope I didn't hurt you."
"Oh, little Stephy has a thing for Josh..." Chloe grinned. "I have a competitor..."
"Have not!" A furiously blushing Stephanie retorted.
That evening
Safehouse F
While Stephanie and Joshua embarrassed themselves, I had gone back to see Marty who had been examining Lauren's camera.
He did not seem sure where to start and looked a little embarrassed, so he just showed me her photos. There was a mixture – typical of a teenager with a camera. Photos of her friends at school, photos of her younger sister and her mother, photos of parts of Chicago and then...
Holy fuck!
There were images of Lauren at the apartment – in the first few she was dressed, but then began a selection of degrading photos showing more and more skin before almost forty images of the girl completely naked and in some very unflattering positions... I was furious and very pleased that both men were very, very dead – although I would have liked to have made 'Bert' suffer more!
"It shocked the hell out of me when I saw them – the poor girl..." Marty stammered.
"That fits in with what the surviving cunt said – they must have been for blackmail or something similar – destroy those photos, keep the genuine ones..."
"Will do!"
As I was walking out of the Command Centre, I had an idea.
The following morning
Sunday
Eastern Chicago
I was back home after being allowed out of the hospital.
Mom had brought me some fresh clothes and I had been very glad to get home. I was uninjured, apart from some scratches and bruises. After cuddles from my very worried younger sister, I retreated to my room where much to my surprise, I found a box sitting on my bed. Tentatively, I opened it and was very surprised by what I found inside; it was my camera!
Along with the camera there was a purple card, on one side was embossed, HG, while on the other side was a simple message: 'Stay out of trouble!'.
..._...
I turned on my camera and checked my pictures – they were all there...
Huh – I never took those!
I was seeing images of Fusion: Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, Shadow, Jackal, Petra, Wildcat, Hawk, Trojan and Mist. I had no idea where they were taken, but it was obvious that whoever had taken the images had been very careful about what was captured. There was a photo of Hit Girl posing beside her purple Panigale. Another had Kick-Ass standing next to Titan with Jackal and Shadow. My favourite was a photo of the two leaders together: Hit Girl and Kick-Ass side by side.
I had no need to follow Fusion anymore.
Two days later
Tuesday evening
Emily Edwards looked up as she heard the knock on the door of their apartment.
She was not open to visitors – it had been a trying week, what with her eldest daughter being kidnapped and then raped. However, the knock sounded insistent and she was more than a little surprised to find out who was standing outside her door...
"Good evening, Mrs Edwards..."
If Mrs Edwards was shocked to find two female vigilantes at her door, she did not show it. She stood back and waved them both in before closing the door.
"Sorry for the intrusion, but we wondered if we could speak with your daughter, Lauren," Hit Girl said.
"You are welcome any time – Fusion has saved the life of my daughter twice..."
"I am only sorry that we could not have helped her sooner..." Shadow said.
"She's upstairs with her sister... Lauren!" Mrs Edwards called, but there was no response.
"Lauren!"
No response.
"Lizzie!"
A young girl appeared at the bottom of the stairs and she seemed very anxious about something.
"Where is your sister?"
The girl stared at the floor before bursting into tears.
"She went out – she said that she needed closure and had to find out more..."
"What?" Mrs Edwards exclaimed.
"Shadow, stay with them – I'll go find Lauren," Hit Girl ordered as she headed out the door.
I knew exactly where I might find the girl and I wasn't a moment too soon.
Lauren was heading down the same alley where we had found her, only a man was headed towards her with a smile on his face. I came up behind Lauren and raised my pistol.
"I don't think you want to be here tonight..." I growled.
The man stopped and raised his hands.
"I don't think I want to be here tonight..." The man said as he turned and ran.
Lauren span around.
"What are you doing here?"
"Saving your ass again, Lauren."
"I can look after myself – I need to look after myself..."
"Okay – I know when I'm not wanted."
"You don't know what it is like to have everything taken away from you and to be forced to do bad things..."
I did, but now was not the time.
"I have never experienced what you experienced the other night and I am really sorry that we could not have helped you sooner."
"You killed the other man, didn't you – I wanted to do that..."
"Yes, I killed him..."
"I need some sort of closure – they violated me, they made me pose..."
"I know – I saw the pictures... I destroyed them."
"Thank you."
"What you went through will take time to heal... A lot of time. But you have to stop doing this – your Mother is so worried about you."
"What the fuck would you care?"
"I care – more than you know..."
"Why?"
"Because you are a strong young woman and I think you will go far – you may be a bloody nightmare, but I intend to help you every way that I can."
Lauren began to sob and I held her tightly for several minutes before she sorted herself out.
"I have something to show you, if you are willing..."
I pulled Sentinel over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.
"Why have we stopped?" Lauren asked.
"With the information that I obtained from that other man – this is happening..."
I waved at a building several dozen yards down the street. Several black-clad men were moving down the sidewalk before smashing down the front door of an apartment block and rushing inside. There was an explosion of noise and at least three gunshots. Then a man bolted out of a side door and ran towards us up the sidewalk.
"Lauren – get ready to open your door... Now!"
Lauren pushed open the heavily armoured door and the runner slammed into it very hard before falling to the street unconscious.
"Awesome!" Lauren laughed as she pulled the door closed.
Within minutes we saw the Police reappear and bring out men in handcuffs along with several young women in various stages of undress. They were rapidly wrapped in blankets as ambulances began to arrive. A Cop ran towards us, took a glance at our vehicle and dragged the unconscious man back down the sidewalk without another look.
"I know it won't mean much, but those girls are safe thanks to the information I acquired the other night."