February 17th, 2016
Wednesday
The puppies were now four weeks old!
All seven were walking around relatively normally and we had introduced them to some soft food which was very amusing as it took several attempts for most of them to eat the meat – Layla was having none of it and it was a couple of days before she joined her siblings. It was also a difficult time for Sophia as most of the pups now had a full set of teeth. It was very obvious that Sophia was not keen to have that many sets of teeth anywhere near her nipples – I knew what she was feeling as I often had to warn Dave about his teeth quite often!
I had to admit, I was very pleased not to have had to breast-feed anything.
That night
Western Chicago
"Hey, Jackal – over here!"
My partner for the night strolled over and I pointed down at the body I had found. He took a moment to examine the body.
"Awesome tattoo on her neck," Jackal commented.
The woman had a spider-web tattoo on the left side of her neck, which showed beneath her long black hair.
"Is that a dog collar?" I asked.
"Looks like it, munchkin – you should be familiar with those!"
I felt myself blushing – would that dog collar thing ever go away?
"Look, Jack, my name is Wildcat – not fucking 'munchkin'!" I growled.
"A girl gets boobs and she gets an attitude thrown in!"
"You wanna restart puberty?" I growled, deploying the claws on my left gauntlet, and the fucker laughed. I got no fucking respect!
..._...
The woman had long black hair, currently in two pigtails. She was dressed all in black, and apart from the dog collar, she also wore cool wristbands that bore skull and crossbones motifs. The woman was lying on the floor of the alley and she looked to have been knocked out, with a blow to the head.
Something told me not to just call an ambulance.
I found her purse and dug through a load of crap, before finding some ID. The woman's name was Abigail Sciuto and apparently, she worked for the Federal Government, specifically as a Forensic Scientist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. I pulled out her cell phone, it was locked, but I inserted a special device that Battle Guy had provided into the USB connection and the phone unlocked after a twenty-second pause.
I found the most dialled number – it said one word: 'Gibbs'.
Washington D.C.
The cell rang.
It was late, so the man was tempted to ignore it as he watched his black and white western on the old television set, but on checking the name on the screen, he accepted the call.
"Abby!"
"Afraid not!" A strange voice replied. "Are you Gibbs?"
"I'm Gibbs; what are you doing with that phone?"
"I've just found the phone's owner – she's currently unconscious and lying in an alleyway in Chicago."
"Chicago?"
"Chicago."
"Who are you?" NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs asked.
"My name is Jackal!"
Early the following morning
Thursday
Washington Navy Yard
"Hey, Boss – it's a bit late!" NCIS Special Agent Anthony 'Tony' DiNozzo moaned.
"Abby is in trouble – we're on our way to Chicago..."
"Chicago?" NCIS Special Agent Timothy 'Tim' McGee echoed.
"Is there an echo in here?" Special Agent Gibbs complained.
"No, Boss," Special Agent DiNozzo replied. "And here is the final member of our little team..."
"Sorry – traffic!" NCIS Special Agent Ellie Bishop replied.
"At one in the morning, Bishop?" Special Agent Gibbs enquired. "Grab your gear – wheels up in fifty."
That same time
Chicago
My head hurt!
I remembered venturing into a bar near the south side of Chicago, I had been looking for tattoos and I had found one – at least I had thought so... Ow, my head hurt... I sat up and looked around me. At first I thought hospital; there was a lot of activity and I saw a woman facing away from me who wore a white doctor's coat. The hospital image rapidly vanished once I stood up, ignoring the pain in my head. There, standing a few feet away was a Chicago Vigilante in full body armour – she wore blue.
A name popped into my head: Shadow.
..._...
"Well, this ain't no hospital!" I commented.
"No – you are at the Fusion HQ, Miss Sciuto," Shadow growled.
They knew my name!
"You're awake!" The white-coated doctor, commented.
The doctor was wearing a mask of her own, white, in colour scheme. It covered her full face, so I could not see anything, but I was certain that she would be smiling.
"You, would be Medic!" I stated.
"You, would be right," Medic replied.
"Am I a prisoner?"
"No – we found you lying unconscious, well Jackal and Wildcat did... They decided to bring you back here..." Medic advised. "Jackal also called your Boss – a guy called..."
"Gibbs!" I filled in.
..._...
I walked unimpeded over towards a guard rail and I was stunned by what I saw below me. To my right, I saw a glass-enclosed facility that looked way more advanced than MTAC back in Washington. Behind the glass, I could see four people – all wore masks. One wore purple – that had to be the intrepid vigilante, Hit Girl. Another wore green and yellow – Kick-Ass!
Was I a fan of those vigilantes? A little, yeah! They did good, despite being criminals and mass murderers.
"What are you doing in Chicago?"
I looked over at Hit Girl as I drank my Caf-Pow – apparently Hal and Battle Guy had a thing for it too!
"I wasn't supposed to have come up for another day, but I decided to travel up early – you know, see the sights. I got antsy and wanted to start working on the case – a bad habit of mine..."
"You have some intriguing body-art and as for the collar..."
"Thanks..." I replied.
"Why don't you come downstairs and meet Hit Girl – she would like to know what NCIS is up to..." Shadow requested, although I sensed that it was not actually a request, but I was not being forced either.
Falls Church, Virginia
Warrant Officer Jennifer 'Jen' Coates entered the office of the Judge Advocate General for the United States Navy.
It was empty and it had been cleared, pending the arrival of the new JAG. Her Boss was due any moment. It had been many years coming, but well worth the wait. She was to run the office that she had once served as a lowly Petty Officer. So many years and so many happy and sad moments since that time she had been caught stealing and thrown in the Brig at Christmas. If it hadn't been for one man…
That same man now almost flew in the door.
"Morning, Coates!"
"Morning, Admiral!"
Rear Admiral Harmon 'Harm' Rabb, Junior, Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Navy, took his seat behind the capacious desk and smiled up at Coates.
"It's good to be back, eh, Coates."
Ten years as the Force Judge Advocate, Naval Forces Europe in London, had served them both well. It had also served his new Executive Officer well, too. Colonel Sarah 'Mac' MacKenzie, Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Marine Corps, was very pleased with herself as she entered the office and sat down across from her husband. Despite marriage, 'Mac' had retained her maiden name for professional reasons, but she was still very proud to be Mrs Harmon Rabb.
..._...
Within minutes, two more Naval Officers entered the office and one stood at attention facing the two senior officers.
Twenty-seven-year-old, Lieutenant Mathilda 'Mattie' Grace Rabb, United States Navy, was fresh off the boat – literally. She had departed the USS Ronald Reagan less than two days earlier and had then flown across the Pacific and the US from Yokosuka, Japan. She was a qualified F/A-18F Super Hornet pilot and she had been serving with VFA-2 aboard the Reagan.
The other officer was another JAG old hand and very familiar with the office and desk before him. Lieutenant-Commander Bud Roberts, Junior, Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Navy, sat down alongside the Colonel.
"Mattie!" Harm announced with a laugh. "At ease, for the love of God!"
..._...
After a few minutes small-talk, there was a knock on the door and a yeoman whispered into Coates' ear.
Admiral Rabb raised an eyebrow at Coates' expression and was eager to find out what had caused the confused expression.
"You have a call, Admiral – a Mindy Lizewski..."
Admiral Rabb did not miss a beat, sweeping up the phone as it rang.
"Mindy! Long time, girl – congratulations on your marriage..."
"Thank you, Harm. I believe similar congratulations are in order, Admiral Rabb!"
"Thank you, Mindy – I never thought I would achieve Captain's rank, let alone gain a flag! Anyway – your call..."
"What can you tell me about a man called Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS?"
A wave of painful memories swept through my mind.
...+...
"So, what makes you think that I would be involved in any other way than professionally with Lieutenant Singer?"
"You're more comfortable asking questions than you are answering them, huh?"
"I guess I'm not used to being a suspect."
"Suspect? Who said you were a suspect? Have I read you your Article 31 rights?"
"No, you haven't. Which means you're playing a very risky game, Gunny."
"I'm not smart enough to play risky games with a lawyer of your calibre, Rabb."
"That's 'Commander Rabb' or 'Commander', or 'Sir', Gunny. I believe, as a reservist, you're still technically in the Marine Corps."
"I am an NCIS Special Agent, and I don't have to salute you, or 'sir' you, or give you any military courtesy. But you know that. So who's playing the games here?"
...+...
"How long you been doing this, Gibbs?"
"Nineteen years."
"Can you tell somebody's lying by looking them in the eye."
"I can."
"Well, look into mine. Ask me. Ask me!"
"Would you kill for your brother?"
...+...
"Gibbs? Now there's a painful name from the past... He tried to pin a murder on me, many years ago – he's sound, though. You can trust him – he has his own rules, much like you do and I suppose as I do, at least that's what my wife keeps telling me. I'll vouch for him – you have any issues, get him to call me and I'll vouch for you."
"Thank you, Admiral – give my regards to Mac and Jen. Hope to see you, if you're ever up our way."
Later that afternoon
It was a risk, but I had decided to help NCIS.
Abby had given me a description of those I was looking for and also their cell numbers, so finding them had not been especially hard. They had booked into a Ramada on the 1600 block, northwest of the O'Hare airport. I had watched them leave in two rented Dodge Chargers.
They were relatively easy to follow as they moved around the city. They were obviously searching for their colleague. As darkness began to fall, I decided to put them out of their misery.
..._...
The car with Gibbs and DiNozzo in pulled up near to Columbus Park – the other car was several miles away to the east. Both Federal Agents split up and began to examine the area. I knew that Gibbs was Marine, so I had to be careful.
Once DiNozzo was far enough away, I closed on Special Agent Gibbs.
"I wondered how long it would take before one of you guys found us," Gibbs drawled.
"Don't move!"
"I had no intention of moving – Hit Girl!"
I kept my pistol aimed.
"You have somebody that belongs to me."
"Yes... Sort of..."
"You will release her, or so help me God, I'll..."
"Slight problem – we're not exactly holding her..."
"Then where is she?"
"She won't leave!" I replied.
Special Agent Gibbs laughed.
"That's Abby!"
Gibbs had called back DiNozzo and then called the other car to meet them. That was when I was joined by Petra in Hound. In the rearmost seats were Wildcat and Trojan. Out of professional courtesy, I allowed the four Federal Agents to retain their firearms, but I passed out blindfolds.
"Non-negotiable!" I commented before holding out a Faraday bag for their cell phones.
We drove to Safehouse F, via a circuitous route to put them off our exact destination, but finally pulled into the rubbish strewn warehouse that led to the main pedestrian entrance of the Safehouse. We dropped them off and then drove off, but not before pointing out the open elevator.
By the time we had parked within the Safehouse, they were in the catchment area.
Safehouse F
"Nice bunker!" Special Agent DiNozzo exclaimed.
"Thank you..." I replied. "Please leave your firearms on the shelf before you... All of them – knives too."
Once the NCIS Agents were disarmed, I allowed them out of the catchment area and into the Safehouse where Gibbs was jumped upon by Miss Sciuto.
"Gibbs! You got to see it – this place is so awesome!"
"All in good time, Abby!"
..._...
I knew what NCIS was looking for, so I put out a request to my snouts – I wanted to hear about a raven tattoo.
"Thank you, for helping us, Hit Girl," Gibbs said.
"A good friend of mine, Admiral Rabb, said that I could trust you..."
Gibbs looked a little bit shocked and so did DiNozzo.
"He did?" Gibbs enquired.
"I gather you two have a history, but Harm seemed to respect you – therefore, so do I.
Gibbs was able to persuade Abby to leave the Safehouse – there was a struggle with Special Agent McGee when he saw Marty's setup in the Control Centre, but we said he could come back another day...
Two days later
Saturday morning
We were at D-JAK, just the two of us.
"Let's try this again, shall we?"
"I didn't put up much of a fight the last time..." Saoirse said dejectedly
"Jeez, don't go all sentimental on me!" I retorted. "I want to see what you can do, personally."
"Didn't she tell you how I fought?"
I grinned, fiendishly.
"She said you fought like a pussy..."
Saoirse frowned and sent a strong kick in my direction as I baited her into action. It was the first time that we had fought, since that night a week ago. To be honest, Saoirse seemed a little scared of me and generally she had been trying to avoid me all week, but I had had enough of that and had dragged her down town. Maybe it was something to do with my almost killing her...
"Come on! You're no bloody use to me if you can't damn well fight... Okay, I almost killed you – get over it – the British short-ass was right; you are a fucking pussy!"
Ouch! That kick of hers connected, and it hurt... Time to see how far I could push her before she snapped... I kicked back and forced Saoirse across the mat. I kept pushing, I tripped her and she fell hard onto her back. I gave her no space, pushing forward and kicking her in the side as she quickly scrambled to her feet. I never let her catch a breath, spinning her and throwing her hard towards the wall, but she flipped over backwards and came at me, anger growing in her eyes.
She went for my neck, trying to incapacitate me, but I dodged just in time – when pushed, she was good! Maybe, by almost killing her, I had damaged her confidence...
"Fucking worthless pussy!" I growled as I dodged again. "Did I break a nail?"
"Fuck you, Hit Girl..."
Saoirse flew at me in a fit of rage and caught me around the neck, pulling me down to the floor where she began to kick and punch me – it hurt too. I let her punch me for a minute before I flipped her over onto her back and pinned her down to the mat, my right forearm across her throat. I was hurting her as I pushed down, but that was the point. I could see fear growing in her blue eyes, just the same as the other night and she froze instead of fighting back...
"Fucking wimp!" I growled.
"Get the fuck off her!"
The angry voice had been unexpected as I had no idea anybody else was in D-JAK!
I then felt a sharp kick to my right side which drove me sideways and I hit the mat hard with somebody on top of me. That somebody punched me in the side of head and for a moment I saw stars, but quickly shook them away. I knew who had attacked me and I suspected why, too. I kicked the girl off me and sent her flying onto the mat.
"What are you doing here, Stephanie?" I asked as I lay on the mat, breathing heavily.
..._...
"I knew you'd take things too far – push her till she snapped!" Stephanie growled, putting herself between me and Saoirse.
Saoirse rose to a sitting position and looked shocked by the turn of events.
"You protecting her, Stephanie?" I asked gently.
"Damn right...!"
"I don't need protection from a little cry-baby, thanks..." Saoirse cut in, but she smirked at Stephanie who laughed.
The three of us went into the kitchen and I handed Saoirse some water, grabbing one for myself and a Coke for Stephanie.
"I'm sorry it I pushed you too far, Saoirse – I was worried about you..."
"I needed it. You scared me, last week and I was scared to be in the same room as you – I felt like you might..."
"Kill you?"
"Yes – but I know you wouldn't – unless I provoked you..."
"You fight really well – don't let a bully like me stop you fighting like you are able to – turn your fear to good use, turn it against your enemy..."
"You are no longer my enemy, Mindy, and neither are you, Stephanie..."
That afternoon
Glenview
My worries about Anne-Marie and her fascinations with everything vigilante appeared to be valid.
On that Saturday afternoon, I walked past the girl's bedroom and I stopped dead at what I was hearing through the barely open door.
"Try it again…" Stephanie insisted.
"Show's over motherfuckers!" Anne-Marie growled.
What the fuck?
"No – like this... Show's over motherfuckers!" Stephanie growled in a much better imitation of the younger me – but with a British accent, which sounded kinda weird.
"Show's over motherfuckers!" Anne-Marie growled again – that time better.
My curiosity overflowed and I pushed open the door. There, standing in front of the full length mirror of the sliding wardrobe door were the two girls, about a foot apart and each was standing sideways, facing away from me and each with their right arm raised and with a pistol aimed at the mirror. Beside the two girls was a laptop with a freeze frame displayed on the screen – me about to shoot out the camera in the burnt out building.
"Show's over motherfuckers!" I growled.
"Damn, that was realistic..." Stephanie said spinning around. "Oops; busted!"
"What the hell are you two doing with pistols – real pistols?" I demanded, glaring at Stephanie.
"I wanted to add to the realism – I keep them under my mattress; you know, just in case..."
I seized the pistol from Anne-Marie's hand and noticed that there was no magazine in the butt of the Heckler and Koch USP Compact pistol. I was still madder than hell and the younger girl shrank before my glare. I turned to Stephanie.
"I'll talk to you later..."
I hauled Anne-Marie out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
..._...
I paused at the bottom of the stairs and spun Anne-Marie around to face me.
"You ever swear like that again; you'll be eating soap for the next year! You ever touch a gun without the express permission of me or Dave, then you will really be sorry..."
"It wasn't even loaded..."
"Who said you could talk?"
Anne-Marie's expression was stormy and she glared back as viciously as she could. I grabbed her arm and dragged the girl downstairs and into the basement.
"Stand there and do not move..."
I walked over to the Armoury, err Panic Room, punched in a code and pulled open the heavy steel door. Once inside, I pulled a Glock 26 off the wall, ejecting the empty magazine. I double-checked that the magazine was indeed empty before selecting a small cardboard box containing ten 9-millimetre rounds. I triple checked the markings on the box and the rounds themselves before loading all ten into the magazine.
I walked back out to the basement, pulling back the slide and walking over to Anne-Marie who rather than looking worried, was seething with rage. I glared at her for a moment before moving into her personal space, a mere foot away from her – I leant down to her level.
"You think you're ready to become a vigilante... Hit me!"
The young girl just stared up at me – I slapped her. The slap was nowhere near as hard as that which I had used on Dave, but it still stung. She glared and I could see her struggling not to cry. Her small fists flexed as she struggled with her emotions and I could see the anger building inside her.
"Hit me!"
Slap!
Her face was red both with my slaps and her emotions.
"You're just a little girl, a scared little girl!"
"I am not!"
With that shout, Anne-Marie rammed her fist, full force, into my chest. It barely hurt, but Anne-Marie had put all her emotions into it.
"You are not ready!" I shouted back, emptying all ten rounds rapidly, five either side of the screaming cowering girl.
"I hate her!"
I studied my little sister for a moment. I had heard the gunfire from the basement and was keen to know what had taken place.
"Tell me what happened."
"She is doing everything possible to stop me becoming a vigilante – she's horrible to me..."
Anne-Marie was very angry – worse than I had ever seen her! She explained everything that had happened and I began to smirk as it all came out.
"So – you think Mum is trying to prevent you becoming a vigilante by not training you?"
"She tried to kill me!"
I shook my head and gave my little sister a very patronising look.
"The meanest, most vindictive vigilante the world has ever seen, tried to kill a seven-year-old girl and failed! Think about that for a moment... That same person who refuses to train you, just taught you to take every emotion you had and turn it into a solid punch. She tried to kill you with blanks, Anne-Marie – blanks!"
"How...?"
"I recognised the sound – they are very different to live rounds, trust me."
"I'm an idiot, aren't I?"
"You're young is what you are. Get your coat – we're going for a walk..."
..._...
"What are we doing?"
It was the tenth time that she had asked and she was getting increasingly annoyed and annoying! We had walked a carefully planned route. Despite what Anne-Marie thought, both she and her brother had been receiving training almost since the day they both found out about Fusion.
"Tell me about the man who just passed us – don't look..."
"It wasn't a man, it was a woman and she had blonde hair and was on her cell..."
"Is anybody following us?"
I grinned as I saw Anne-Marie glance sideways into the glass front of a shop.
"Not that I can see... Woah, hold on... What did I just do?"
"It's called counter-surveillance and we've been training going you and Danny for weeks."
"Who?"
"Me, Megan, Dave, Mindy, Chloe, Josh... Just because we didn't tell you, does not mean we weren't testing you each and every day since we got home from our pleasure cruise in the Caribbean."
"Every day?"
"Why do you think you knew to look out for things when we were attacked by SD?"
"Sorry... I need to apologise to Mom, don't I?"
"Without question!"
"Anybody ever tell you that you talk funny?"
"I could say the same thing about you..."
"Hey...! By the way – we're being stalked..."
"Who by?"
"Hi, kids!"
"Saw you a few minutes back, Mom!"
Two days later
Monday evening
Turned out we had another vigilante in town!
She was called 'Raven', apparently and as I kept track of what went on in New York City, I also knew that she originated from there... What was a New York City vigilante doing in Chicago? I suppose I could ask myself the same question!
As if that wasn't enough on top of everything else!