The following morning
Sunday
The Farm
"That really hurt!"
"That was quite spectacular, sis!" My brother laughed.
I felt a large pair of hands seize me around the waist, hauling me out of the mud where I had been lying face down after coming off my new motorcycle. The laughter still rang in my ears! The same hands span me around and then wiped the mud off my visor.
"Hi. This is supposed to be a motorcycle lesson, not a flying lesson!" Dave quipped.
"It got away from me and then..."
I felt tears of frustration in my eyes, but then I felt Dave's reassuring arms as they wrapped around me. I loved hugs; they always made me feel better. I hated to be laughed at, but I always seemed to screw things up; two wheels were definitely harder than four!
Dave looked into my eyes.
"Take your time – I say that to Mindy every now and then, not that it makes any difference."
I saw the smile on my daughter's face – there were still a couple of gaps where teeth had not grown in yet. She was just like Mindy – full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes! I lifted the pink Honda CRF70F motorcycle out of the mud where it had lain on its side. The engine was still ticking over, so I helped Anne-Marie back onto the machine and she sped off to join her brother who was riding around the field on his own, identical, blue Honda.
I turned as I heard the sound of motorcycles approaching.
..._...
Mindy appeared on her KTM 690 Enduro R dirt bike, she was covered in mud, as was the rider following behind. Stephanie rode her yellow Honda CRF125F motorcycle which was as dirty as my eldest daughter's mouth. They pulled up beside me and cut their engines.
"You both seem to have had fun – is there any mud left in the state of Michigan?"
"It was just awesome!" Stephanie said with an enormous grin on her face.
The same grin was duplicated on Mindy's face.
"How are they doing?" She asked, turning her head to watch the twins.
"Well – one of them has been in the mud more than on the saddle..."
"Not a surprise!" Mindy chuckled.
While Dave and Mindy talked, I looked over at my brother and sister.
Not surprisingly, my sister was covered in mud, from head to toe, while my brother only had mud where it had splashed up from the tyres. Anne-Marie would never learn! Mindy had taken me on an off-road ride, as I could ride a bike without any problems, thank you very much! It had been challenging, but I had survived everything that Mindy had thrown at me, including a lot of mud!
"My God!" Chuckled Jack Bay as he walked over.
"I had fun, Uncle Jack – it was awesome..."
"Glad to hear you having fun, Stephanie, not bad for a nine-year-old."
"I'm almost ten, Uncle Jack!"
"Yes, you are, young lady..."
I was very proud of what Mindy and Dave were doing.
They had three awesome kids and I knew that both Damon and Kathleen would be so proud – Dave's parents too, I was certain. I was very aware of the circumstances that had occurred in Gotham and had resulted in the orphaning of Anne-Marie and Daniel. They were both wonderful kids and I greatly enjoyed having them over. Stephanie was something else entirely.
The nine-year-old was another Mindy – the young girl's childhood had been ripped apart, through no fault of her own. Looking at the short, thinly built young girl with flowing blonde hair to below her shoulders, you would see her for what she was – a happy girl enjoying life. It was only when you looked into her grey-blue eyes that you saw death looking back at you. Mindy had explained exactly what the girl was capable of, including a description of her actions on Buck island during the rescue of Anne-Marie. Stephanie was able to kill without any thought – just as Mindy could. It was not that the girl scared me, but what she represented did.
Mindy had been very disturbed by Anne-Marie taking a life on that island. At the time, she had not thought much about it, but in the clear light of day, she regretted allowing Anne-Marie to kill that man. I was amazed how strong the seven-year-old was, considering what she had suffered. She was always smiling and laughing as were the other two kids. Daniel was the only innocent in that family, but I was not there to judge.
Fusion were a key part of order in the City of Chicago as they assisted the Chicago Police Department. Fusion had saved many lives over the years that they had been in the city – they had also taken many too.
Three days later
Wednesday morning
Glenview
"Come on – you're going to be late for school!"
"Yes, Mom!"
I was giggling as we played with Razor and Kiara – both were trying to walk around, but they kept falling over! They were the first of the pups to actually succeed at standing on four legs for more than a few seconds. We all spent many hours laughing as the seven pups attempted to navigate the 'nest' on all four paws. I was sure that Sophia was amused too, as on several occasions I saw her purposely knock a pup over and then look all innocent!
"Move!" Came the yell down the stairs.
"Come on, Anne-Marie, time to go before Mum goes all Hit Girl on us!"
That afternoon
I took the normal shortcut that I always did, down the alleyway – only this time, I had Anne-Marie with me.
Mom would meet us at the usual place, just as we always did after school. Megan was in detention and Danny was at an afterschool club, so it was just the two of us. Normally, if it was just me, I would take the alleyway, but never with Anne-Marie. Only, today we were late and Mum hated it when we were late.
"Come on, Anne-Marie!"
"I've got shorter legs than you!"
"Well, move them faster..."
"Not helping..."
I chuckled and slowed my pace – which was lucky or I might never have seen the flash of light to my left as somebody jumped down from a fire escape, blocking our route. It was the worst possible place to meet her and I was not alone, nor was I in my armour.
..._...
"Who is it, Steph?" Anne-Marie asked and my heart sank.
"Thank you, kid, for identifying my mark and confirming her identity for me... The hair was a nice touch, Walker!"
"Walker?" Anne-Marie echoed.
I ignored my sister's confusion – if she couldn't remember the name I had before I became a Lizewski, then tough.
"Foxtail!" I growled, dumping my school bag and shoving Anne-Marie behind me.
I had no idea what was happening, but I had heard Mom and Stephanie using that name: Foxtail.
I also knew that the name was bad news and that she was not there for our health! Then something Megan had said the other day came to mind – shelter – I needed shelter, I looked around and saw a dumpster; I dived behind it and reached into my school bag, grabbing my cell.
I remembered the lecture from Marty barely a week before.
...+...
"Right you two, these are special phones – do not lose them!"
"Cool!" Danny had muttered.
"On the main screen is a red icon – see it? Press it and hold it for five seconds and an app will appear; you will have ten seconds to press that orange button before an alert is sent out from the phone. That alert will go out to Fusion and help will be on its way – okay?"
"Yeah..." I had replied, never expecting to actually use the feature...
...+...
I activated the cell with my fingerprint and held my finger down on the red icon. Five seconds later a black screen appeared with a single orange button that had a countdown.
I shoved the phone into my pants and prayed.
"Two bitches for the price of one – hope you enjoyed what life you've had, little girl!"
Foxtail was sneering at my sister, who I was glad to see had retreated behind a dumpster, but her head was sticking out!
"Don't you dare threaten her, you fucking bitch!" I declared as forcefully as possible – burying my fears as I gauged my moment.
My heart sank even further as Foxtail drew what appeared to be her signature weapon. The twin butterfly swords reflected what light there was in the alleyway. I was unarmed, but I remembered my training and my eyes darted around me searching...
With Anne-Marie out of the way, I was free to act and I dove forwards the moment Foxtail moved toward me and rolled beneath the twin blades, reaching for the item I had seen on the ground. I came back to my feet and swung the two-foot piece of aluminium scaffolding at Foxtail's legs, missing but causing her to lose her focus and jump over me.
I was not going to make it easy for her – no bloody way!
"Where the hell are they?"
"They're not late yet!" Paige laughed.
"I hate waiting..."
"I hate it when you're on your period – talk about bitchy...!"
Paige was cut off by my cell. I picked it up, stared at the screen for a moment and then I suddenly felt cold, very cold – it was happening again...
"Mindy? What is it?" Paige demanded in a worried tone.
"Anne-Marie!" I replied simply as I sent the position of the alert to the satnav in the Jag.
I burned rubber as I accelerated away.
As I watched from behind the smelly dumpster, I saw Stephanie fight the bigger girl.
Stephanie had a length of metal pole and she was able to fend off the blows from the two swords that the other girl wielded. I knew it could not last and I was fairly certain who the loser was going to be...
Something caught my eye off to one side. Just across from me and a few feet back from the fight, I saw something glinting – it was in a small alcove. I took a chance when Foxtail was facing the other way and ran toward it.
I was curious – so sue me!
This was not going to end well.
I caught sight of Anne-Marie running back down the alleyway but then vanishing – what was she up to? Foxtail had not seen her, so I continued fighting. I was tired from a day at school and not ready for a fight against the odds...
"You fight well for somebody that never completed Phase 2," Foxtail commented.
"Better than somebody who completed Phase 2!" I replied with a smirk as I flipped backwards, just missing a blade by an inch.
I left the alcove, just as I heard running feet from up the alleyway and I saw Megan charging down the alleyway, a pistol in her right hand. Megan pushed me roughly out of the way, brought up the pistol and fired off three rapid shots, none of which came close, but that seemed to be the point.
I felt relief surge through me.
The gunshots had come out of nowhere, but I hoped that they were friendly.
I dove to the ground, clearing myself from the shooter's line of fire. Three more bullets flew past and I heard Foxtail scream and then a thud as she landed on the ground followed by the clatter of her swords landing beside her.
I crawled towards Anne-Marie and looked up at Megan who had a small pistol in her hands pointed downrange.
"You okay?" She demanded.
"I'm fine – you okay, Anne-Marie?"
"Yeah!" She replied indignantly.
Then there was the sound of two more sets of feet pounding down the alleyway from the opposite direction and I looked behind Megan to see Mindy and Paige come to a halt, each with a pistol raised.
"What happened?" Mindy asked.
"It was her..." I started to explain, pointing at where Foxtail had fallen.
Or rather, where Foxtail had fallen... She was gone, along with her swords.
..._...
We had just reached the XJR when I noticed Anne-Marie behaving strangely.
"What's up?" I asked. "It's all over, thanks to Megan..."
Megan grinned and I hugged my little sister.
"I did something bad..."
"Huh?" Mum asked.
"I saw something in the alleyway, in a kind of alcove..."
That was when I heard a motorcycle engine start and then move away at speed.
"You found Foxtail's motorcycle?" I asked gently.
"Maybe..."
"Fuck!" Megan exclaimed. "Why didn't you say when we were back down the alleyway?"
"I'm sorry..."
Anne-Marie was almost in tears at the rebuke.
"Sorry, Anne-Marie," Megan said calmly with a grin. "Tell us what you did."
"I lost my cell – I jammed it under the saddle on the motorcycle..."
"Fucking genius!" I exclaimed, clapping my sister on the back.
I looked up at Mum.
"Can we?" I asked.
"Hell yes!" Mindy replied, grabbing her cell.
West Ridge
I was watching Anne-Marie's cell going north at sixty-five, only, all the others were barely moving.
Something was not right – my cell rang – it was the boss!
"Battle Guy – I have Rogue for you..."
Huh?
"Battle Guy," Rogue announced. "Track my phone – it's currently on Foxtail's motorcycle."
Awesome!
"Yes, ma'am!" I chuckled in reply. "I've got her – she's as good as tracked, boss!"
"Hit Girl says I need a new phone – sorry..." Rogue finished.
"On its way, Rogue, Battle Guy out!"
"Thanks, Battle Guy!" Hit Girl said.
"Is...?"
"Everybody is fine, thanks for asking."
"Is everything okay?" Kim asked.
"It is now..."
The following afternoon
Thursday
As usual, I dumped my school bag and ran down the stairs to check on the seven new hounds.
The walking attempts had coincided with tails beginning to wag and the two boys, Hercules and Razor beginning to play fight, with Kiara and Piper being the main targets. I noticed that Josie could hold her own against the two boys, which was good.
"Anne-Marie!" Came the below from upstairs. "Homework before puppies!"
"Yes, Dad!" I yelled back and said goodbye to each pup in turn.
The pups were now allocated.
Kiara was to be mine and Dave's. Hope belonged to Marty and Kim. Josie's home would be with Hailee. Layla had been adopted by Abby. Megan had Piper, while Stephanie had Razor, which left Hercules for Chloe and Joshua. Anne-Marie and Danny were happy to keep Sophia as their dog.
I now had a training regimen to put together for the seven handfuls.