Two days later
Thursday
Chloe and I hijacked Mrs Edwards when she came into D-JAK that evening with her two daughters.
"We heard about Lauren's attack – we're very sorry about what happened," I began, once we had sat down in my office with a coffee each.
"It has been a very tough couple of weeks, but she has a lot of friends to help her, both at home and at school. However, I think she needs more..."
"That is why we asked you in here – I think that we can offer your daughter more... A challenge as a distraction from what happened to her. We can also teach her to defend herself to a high level."
"That would be good."
"We can also offer your daughter a lot more, besides," Chloe added before changing the target. "You were in the Army, I believe."
"Yes – having Lauren cut short my career. I was a Chief Warrant Officer 2 in Armament Systems Maintenance."
"What do you think about the vigilantes that currently operate in the city?" I asked tentatively.
Emily Edwards' eyes seemed to light up at that question.
"You mean: do I believe in what you two do for the city when you are out at night?" I asked, watching for a reaction from the two young women sitting before me on the couch.
There was no outward reaction; the two girls would have made awesome poker players!
"I am behind what you do, one hundred percent," I went on. "You are offering to make my daughter a member of your team?"
Again, no outward reaction, so I continued.
"I believe that Lauren would be overjoyed by your offer – however, there would be non-negotiable conditions. Lizzie does not get involved – she does not even know about her sister being a vigilante. Lauren will be fully trained before she goes out on operations. Also, I want to offer my services..."
"You are very astute, Mrs Edwards..." Mindy commented.
"Emily, please."
"Emily – we could definitely make use of your talents – Chloe, here, well she breaks weapons on a regular basis..."
"I can believe that..." Emily commented as she chuckled at Chloe's hurt expression. "Does my daughter have a name?"
"Yes, she does: Nightmare..."
"I like that. Me?"
"Welcome aboard, Athena!"
The following evening
Friday
"Where are we going, Mom?"
"Mindy is taking us on a little visit, Lauren."
Lauren did not seem to believe her Mother's reply – but it was the truth and she had no choice but to accept it. Her younger sister, Lizzie, was spending time with Megan and Curtis, while we headed towards southeast Chicago. Lauren began to smell a rat as I turned into a very grotty looking salvage yard before then turning sharply into a rusty looking warehouse.
The girl actually screamed as I drove directly at a concrete wall which sank out of sight in a blink of an eye and we began to descend sharply into the ground. Lauren span around in the backseat to see the concrete and steel barrier rising upwards to close off the primary vehicle access ramp to Safehouse F.
..._...
"What is going on?"
Lauren received no reply; I was keeping silent, but her Mother was stunned into silence as we kept turning and turning, dropping down and down before we finally burst out into the bright lights of Safehouse F and the large armoured door rapidly lowered into place and locked.
Emily and I climbed out of the XJR and I opened the rear door for Lauren.
"Come on!" I chuckled.
The stunned teenager climbed out of the car and just stared around her, unable to talk. I led her through the glass partition and onto the mat where she just spun around trying to see everything at once. Emily just turned slowly taking it all in.
Then Lauren found her voice and she turned towards me, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
..._...
"You're her!"
"Yes, Lauren, she is..."
Lauren span around to face a smirking Chloe.
"You!"
"Hello, Nightmare," Chloe replied with a friendly smile.
"Nightmare?"
"Your new name – if you want it..." I said in reply.
Lauren turned to her Mom in disbelief.
"Mindy wants you to be part of her team – why she would want that, I have absolutely no idea!"
Lauren scowled.
"Shall we get a coffee, Emily," Paige suggested walking up. The two women knew each other from D-JAK and I smirked as Emily scowled at Paige.
"It all becomes so clear!" Emily laughed as she took in Joshua and Dave standing above us on the walkway along with Hailee and a grinning Stephanie.
Safehouse F
My brain was struggling; I was overloaded as my mind could not process everything that I was seeing before me.
I recognised Mindy... I recognised Chloe, Dave, Paige, Josh, Hailee and Stephanie... They were all vigilantes... Oh my God! I turned to Chloe.
"That was you on my fire escape!"
"Yes, it was; you enjoyed the photos, I assume..."
"I can't believe that you are all superheroes and I've been spending time with you guys..."
I turned to Mindy.
"You..."
Then to Dave as he came down the steel staircase beside us.
"You picked me up out of the snow; you took me to the hospital... You both saved my life... Thank you..."
"You're a special young lady and you deserve more from life than what those bastards did to you..."
I smiled at the confused girl as she struggled to make sense of everything around her. I put an arm around the kid's shoulders to reassure her.
"Fancy a tour, Lauren?"
"With Hit Girl?" Lauren replied hopefully and I laughed.
"With Hit Girl."
While Lauren was talking with Chloe upstairs, I headed down to the Command Centre at the behest of an eager Marty.
"I've found her – she was buried in those files that Miranda brought us after we acquired short ass..." Marty began.
"Marty, I would hate to have to hurt you..." Stephanie growled. Marty winked at the girl as he continued.
"... The description matches a girl who went by the name of 'Foxtail' and here she is..."
Marty brought up a screen with an image of a young girl about ten-years-old and her vital statistics which appeared more up to date than the photo.
...+...
Codename: Foxtail
Sex: Female
Height: 164cm
Hair Colour: Dark Brown
Eye Colour: Blue
Date of Birth: April 27th 2001
Scores
Weapons Training: 98%
Martial Arts: 87%
Surveillance: 92%
Counter-Surveillance: 91%
Field Skills: 88%
Notes
Noted skill with accents and physical agility.
STATUS: PLACED INTO ACTIVE SERVICE
DATE: August 8th 2015
...+...
"The bitch shares my fucking birthday!" Stephanie groused – I had noticed that too.
"She's highly skilled," I commented.
"And I'm not?" Stephanie bristled.
"Stephanie, I have no complaints with what you can do and you have proved yourself; you have nothing to prove to me or anybody, understand..."
"Yes, Mum..."
"I think you're awesome, Steph!" Marty said, ruffling Stephanie's hair.
Normally, she hated anybody doing that – apart from Dave, but instead she just smiled and went slightly pink in the cheeks. It was good to finally have some information that we could act upon, especially if it would help keep our team alive.
"Okay, Lauren – we need to have a little talk and we may touch on some not so happy subjects, so please bear with us," I said calmly as Lauren sat in the briefing room while Chloe, Josh and Dave sat beside me. "You know us all, in one way or another. You go to the same school as Chloe and Josh – which brings us onto the harsher side of life as a vigilante."
"We have let you into a secret, a large secret..." Chloe said, taking over smoothly. "By letting you into our secret, we have put ourselves at risk – one word from you in the wrong place and you will put many lives at risk... It is no stretch to consider that given a choice of one person dying or many – you can understand the obvious choice."
Lauren went a little white.
"I understand and I can promise you that I will never say a word to anybody..."
"Not even to your sister, Lizzie... You will never discuss us, or anything to do with Fusion when at home – understand?"
"I do..."
"Your Mom knows about us and she understands the need for secrecy. From this point on – you will never use our vigilante names when we are not in costume and conversely you will never use our real names when we are in costume. I know this is a lot for a thirteen-year-old to take in, but we have both been there, Josh and I, and it can be done."
"We will support you and we will help you," I went on. "Everybody in Fusion has a unique background and some of us have very traumatic backgrounds that brought us into Fusion. You will learn this as time goes on and you meet everybody properly. Most of the faces that you will see around you will seem familiar, but you have only seen one side of us all.
"If you have any questions or problems, you can talk to any of us at any time. Fusion is a family and we support one another in whichever way we can... There are many more rules to learn and we will come down on you hard when you break them and you will break them. We will always explain where you went wrong and we will guide you as long as you are willing to accept that guidance. Some..."
I looked directly at Chloe.
"Some chose to ignore guidance and advice, going their own way – they may choose to embarrass themselves and tell you their stories; if they do, learn from them as they have. You will be starting out at the bottom and working your way up – there is a lot for you to learn before you find yourself out on the streets of Chicago. You still wanting to join us?"
Lauren smiled.
"Just try and stop me!"