Early Monday morning
Glenview
I could not sleep.
It was the first night in my new bed, which was not helping. Not only that, I had also pissed off Mindy. The ride back in the car had been quiet and subdued – Mindy had not said a word as she drove. However, once back home she had taken me upstairs to my new bedroom and helped me into a hot bath. My body ached and I was covered in bruises, which thankfully were the worst of my injuries.
Despite Mindy helping me wash and then helping me get into bed afterwards, she was obviously still mad at me. We had talked a little, but I sensed that Mindy was just happy I was still alive and that was a feeling that I was growing to enjoy. It had been years since anybody had cared about me, in any way.
After Mindy had gone to bed, I had just stared at the ceiling and considered Mindy's final comment as she had left the room.
"We all make mistakes – just learn from them, okay?"
I hated to make mistakes – I was better than that, or so I thought!
Later that morning
"My God! What is that smell?"
I ignored my little sister and continued eating my toast. I was feeling annoyed with myself and the last thing I wanted was a seven-year-old getting on my nerves.
"Why do you like toast so much? It's dry and kinda tasteless... What's that black stuff on it?" Anne-Marie persisted.
I nudged the jar towards the ever-inquisitive girl. She seized it and read the label...
"Yeast extract? What the hell is yeast extract?"
"Something that I will use to wash out your mouth, if you use bad language, young lady!"
"Sorry, Mom!"
"Mindy calls it 'gun grease'," I admitted with a smirk.
"There's nothing wrong with Marmite – try some..." Mindy replied.
Anne-Marie tentatively reached for the small piece of toast that I held out to her. She took a bite and then I heard Mindy sniggering as Anne-Marie's face screwed up and she spat the toast out onto the kitchen side before running over to the sink and sticking her mouth under the running tap.
I burst out laughing and saw my little sister's wet face going very red. Finally, she turned off the water and turned around, water having soaked the front of her t-shirt.
"Very funny – you both tried to poison me! Stop laughing; it's not funny!"
I couldn't reply; I was laughing too hard and it hurt... Mindy tried to reply, but she was crying with laughter and finally, Anne-Marie simply stormed off and we heard her stamping her way up the stairs. Once we had both stopped laughing and pulled ourselves together, Mindy smiled at me.
"We all make mistakes, Steph, even me and I shouldn't have shouted at you last night. We still friends?" Mindy asked.
"No – you're my Mum, which is so much better..." I replied, finishing off my toast and Marmite.
..._...
"What's up with her?" Danny asked as he entered the kitchen and watched his sister storm out and up the stairs.
"Stephanie tried to 'poison' her with Marmite," Mindy laughed.
"Cool – I like Marmite; Josh gave me some the other day and it wasn't too bad."
"Chloe will really hate you!" I warned him.
That was when I had a thought – Chloe!
"I need to go out, Mindy – can you give me lift?"
South Cottage Grove
After Mindy had dropped me off, I walked upstairs and knocked on the door.
"Steph!" Chloe exclaimed as she opened the door.
"I need to talk – can we?"
"Of course, come in."
I saw Joshua and felt uncomfortable. Joshua, though, was his usual perceptive self.
"Chloe, I need to pop out for about an hour, see you both later..."
I smiled a thank you as he headed out the door, he waved it off. Chloe handed me a Pepsi Max and we sat down on the couch.
"What's up?"
"I feel like I've let Mindy down and..."
"Well, you've come to the right place, Steph; I've fucked things up more times than I care to remember – Mindy even kicked me out of Fusion, once..."
"Woah, when did that happen?" I asked, a little shocked.
"A little over a year ago, it was November 2014 and I was fourteen-years-old. I thought a lot of myself back then and thought that being the great Shadow meant I could do anything and that I was all but invincible...
"That notion vanished fast when Josh threw himself in front of me, taking three bullets, two of which passed straight through him and then into my right shoulder – you've seen the scars. That was Ralph D'Amico – he shot me with my own pistol and that really pissed me off and left me baying for his blood. The bastard also took my pistol – that pistol was very special to me; Dave and Mindy gave it to me for my fourteenth birthday.
"Well, we began to have some trouble with a pair of vigilantes that had just shown up in Chicago. Turned out they were British – you'll meet them at some stage, Cameron and Natasha; you'll like 'em. I made the decision to go out on my own, one Thursday night, turned out to be the worst decision that I had made to that point and it was also the first time that I was actually scared of Mindy and what she might do to me. The two British vigilantes somehow got the drop on me and I awoke in their 'Safehouse', my mask had been removed and I was tied up."
"Wow – you were fucking stupid!" I commented.
Chloe blushed and nodded.
"That's an understatement! I knew I was in deep shit and I had no idea how to escape, but I eventually got out of my bindings with the help of a knife that I kept hidden in my combat suit – even Mindy never knew I carried it. They knocked me out again! Then we had company in the building we were in – it was an old building awaiting demolition. It was him..."
"Ralph D'Amico?"
"Yeah – I was angry, scared, and a whole host of other emotions. Remember, I didn't have the luxury of your training, nor Mindy's – I was a stupid fourteen-year-old wannabe and I was about to die, and I knew it... I heard his voice and it scared to my core – I persuaded Cameron and Natasha to let me go and give me back my mask. I was never so happy to hear Mindy's voice – she didn't bollock me, she just old me to focus and finish the mission.
"To cut a long story short, we escaped, but so did D'Amico. Fusion had arrived to cut off his escape on the ground. He ran back into the building to get to the roof and a helicopter. That was when I made a few more mistakes. I bolted off after D'Amico – I never stopped to get extra ammo for my P90 and when Hit Girl told me to stop, I told her to 'fuck off'!"
I gasped and Chloe looked embarrassed.
"I ignored all radio calls and ran after D'Amico with Hit Girl hot on my heels. By the time she caught up with me, I was pinned down on the roof with no ammo left... Hit Girl kept the helicopter at bay and I managed to chop off D'Amico's arm and retrieve my pistol, but he escaped. Fact was, if I had taken extra ammunition, he may not have escaped and I would not have almost lost my arm a few months later..."
"Your arm?"
"D'Amico captured me and tried to cut my arm off with a circular saw – the blade had cut through my combat suit and was cutting into my skin when Jackal destroyed the power distribution board. After D'Amico escaped, Mindy told me she didn't want me around and sent me home for good. I had never felt so low, or ashamed. I got hell from my Mom and Josh refused to talk to me for a week."
"Your Mom's scary!" I commented honestly.
"Yeah – tell me about it! Dave then cooked up a plan to get me and Mindy together – we made up and it was all history. Mindy and I have something special between us. Other than Dave, I am the only other person who can control Mindy. I don't know why, but we connect on some level. When Dave found Mindy in Chicago, after she escaped New York – she was all but feral in her behaviour. Only Dave and I seem to able to keep her 'normal', if there ever is anything normal about Hit Girl – you are the same and I think Josh and Dave are your people who keep you 'normal'."
"I'm sorry if I..."
"Stephanie, Mindy has a saying: 'talk like a bitch, get slapped like a bitch' and it hurts! I trust you with Josh – besides Josh is a tit man and you ain't got anything for him to play with. You're still young Steph and I wish I had the training you had, just not the experiences – you never completed your training, so you will be expected to make mistakes. Hit Girl makes loads of 'em – and you are only nine, so enjoy your childhood while you can."
"Thanks, Chloe."
"Anytime, Steph – I will always be here for you, if you need me. Josh too, he really cares about you – maybe because you like Marmite! Mindy has high standards and we all struggle to keep up with them, but those standards keep as all alive. Mindy rants like a bitch on heat, but all she wants is for us all to come back alive. Besides – she's your Mom and she really cares about you, so expect her to go overboard when you put yourself at unnecessary risk."
"Hello, girls – all done?" Josh asked as he came into the living room.
"Yeah, all good, thanks, Josh."
"Anytime, Steph, anytime."
One week later
Saturday
With them both being female, I might normally have put off their stroppy behaviour to 'time of the month' type stuff.
However, both girls were years away from any of that shit and they both actually had good reasons for being irritable, cantankerous (nice word), grumpy, sulky, uncooperative, generally unhelpful and argumentative (another nice word). All of those moods were fairly standard for Mindy and she was generally demonstrating at least one of them on most days – but rarely all at once!
For the past week, both Anne-Marie and Stephanie had been going out of their way to cause trouble and even Mindy was getting annoyed. Danny and Sophia kept well out of the way of both girls for their own personal safety!
For Anne-Marie, it was the experience of her kidnapping coming back to the fore. For Stephanie, it had been the revelations of Bourne and her scrap with Foxtail.
..._...
On the plus side, the puppies were now heading on for two weeks old and their eyes and ears had opened. Kiara had been first at the beginning of the week, followed by her siblings, with Josie being the last on Thursday afternoon.
It was another landmark in their young lives.
That night
I was awoken by sobbing.
I immediately sat upright in bed and turned on the bedside light. There were two very miserable looking girls standing beside the bed and it was evident that both of them had been crying, although Anne-Marie was still crying. I grabbed hold of Stephanie and swung her over to the middle of the bed where she climbed in between Dave and me while Anne-Marie snuggled in beside me.
"Okay, who's gonna tell me what's going on?"
"Anne-Marie had a bad dream," Stephanie began. "She came through and climbed into bed with me; she was crying her heart out and was very scared. She eventually calmed down and we both fell asleep... Are bad dreams contagious?"
"Not that I know of..."
"Well, I awoke with a fright, all cold and clammy..."
"She screamed, and it woke me up..." Anne-Marie chimed in.
"We were both crying and scared, so we came down to find you..." Stephanie finished and she sounded a little embarrassed.
"What were the dreams about?" Dave asked gently.
"For me, it was Foxtail and the CIA..." Stephanie replied, cuddling into Dave.
"I saw myself back on that island and Foxtail was there, but none of you were there and my Daddy was there and..."
Anne-Marie began to cry again, so I hugged her until she calmed down. Finally, she looked up at me and smiled.
"You said that you would never keep secrets, when you brought me and Danny to Chicago. I know that you had to keep Hit Girl, Kick-Ass and Fusion from us; I understand that, but I have a question and I want you to tell me the truth."
"Always," I replied with a smile.
..._...
"I now know that you were both in Gotham to destroy the gangs there. I remember Fusion operating and putting down the criminals. I remember when you both came to visit our Daddy and you talked about stuff... Did... Did you get my Daddy killed?"
"Before I get to that, let me tell you something. I used to play the 'what if' game for years and Dave still catches me doing it even now... Don't get sucked into it; it will eat you up inside. I would ask myself if I had helped my Daddy die – what if I had got there just a minute sooner? What if I had shot quicker? What if...?"
"I had the same questions about events in my life..." Dave cut in. "My Dad might be alive if I had made a different decision, but decisions get made and we have to live with them. Yes, your Daddy worked for some bad people. We were targeting those bad people. He tried to help us; he knew the risks and that was why he made Mindy and I promise to take care of you if the worst happened."
"The worst happened. Maybe, if Josh and Dave had gotten to you a few minutes earlier..." I explained. "I regret what happened to your Daddy and what you lost. On the other side of the coin, I will never regret taking you and Danny on – Stephanie's another question entirely, however!"
"Funny, very funny, Mum!" Stephanie laughed.
Anne-Marie laughed too.
"In answer to your question – yes, we put you and your Daddy at risk. It was unavoidable and I can't stop you from holding that against us." I said.
..._...
Anne-Marie pulled herself out from under the duvet and climbed on top of me, staring into my eyes.
"I am going to say this only once and you had better remember it, Mom – I do not hold it against you and neither does Danny. I just needed to hear your version and I respect you for telling me the truth."
I smiled at my daughter.
"There's more to you than meets the eye, girl!"
"I know – fear it..."
Stephanie seized Anne-Marie around the waist and dragged her off me.
"Little runt!" She growled.