Sunday Evening
Chicago Police Department
District 21
"Okay – it's obvious that the little girl has been framed... She obviously couldn't operate a gun, let alone have contacts to go buy a dozen of 'em."
"Hey, old guy, I am not little!"
"Who are you calling old?" Special Agent Fornell growled as Special Agent Gibbs smirked.
"For the sake of argument; Fornell – you aren't old, Miss Lizewski – you ain't little," Special Agent Gibbs chuckled before he turned to Voight. "Can the girl get bail?"
"Of course," Lieutenant Voight confirmed and he waved for the cell to be opened.
Stephanie ran straight out and gave me a hug.
Glenview
"So you finally made it to jail . . . not surprised, really."
"Hey, it was not my fucking..."
"Stop it, you two – Anne-Marie, leave your sister alone; she's done nothing wrong!" I growled, making my point very clear and the younger girl flinched, then ran for the stairs.
I then turned on the other two girls who physically stepped backwards away from me.
"As for you two... I applaud you both for wanting to protect the nine-year-old gunrunner..."
"Hey!" Stephanie exclaimed indignantly.
I ignored her.
"You two know better than to attack the Police . . . yes?"
"Yes, Mindy – I'm sorry," Chloe said and she did not look sorry.
"We just reacted," Megan explained. "Sorry..."
"You're both lucky that we have friends at the 21st and I hate to think what Marcus is gonna say when he finds out that his daughter was arrested for attacking a cop..."
Megan grimaced at the thought of her impending fate.
Ramada Hotel
"What you got, Abbs?" Special Agent Gibbs asked as he looked into his laptop's camera.
"The video is an obvious fake . . . but I think you already knew that – somebody put together a remarkably good scam. It was almost impossible to identify the gaps between frames, but impossible is what I do and if I can save an innocent life..."
"Abby!"
"Sorry, Gibbs – it's a classic frame up; no more, no less."
"Thanks, Abby."
"Abby seems happy, now she's back in her lab, in Washington," Special Agent DiNozzo commented.
"Forgot to mention, DiNozzo – I saw a friend of yours, earlier, Special Agent Keates, ATF; ring a bell?"
DiNozzo frowned at the name and there was a brief look of pain which came and went surprisingly quickly.
"Not funny, Boss...
Safehouse F
"What you got, Abby?" I asked as I entered the Command Centre.
"The video is a fake . . . but I think you already knew that – somebody put together a remarkably good edit. It had almost unidentifiable gaps between frames, but I'm Hal – nothing gets past me!"
"You better be careful girl, or your head and ego won't both fit in the elevator!" I laughed.
"It has to be your friends."
"My friends – the fucking CIA are not my friends!"
"Hey, just winding up Hit Girl..."
"Not a wise idea, Hal!"
"You're just a big softy at heart..."
"Moving on..." I growled as I watched the video again as it was the core piece of evidence. "Stop it, right there..."
I recognised Stephanie, but she seemed younger, from way before Dave had found her. The CIA had obviously used footage from some previous mission or something. However, what had caught my eye was a later scene, after the key section – there were a pair of young kids and the way they stood and carried themselves reminded me of two other kids – Stephanie and Saoirse...
Then it occurred to me – why was the scene in there anyway?
Oh, shit!
"Abby – get me the locations on Stephanie and Saoirse..."
Abby tapped away and then two dots appeared on the large screen as the map of Chicago zoomed in to a part of the City, close to the Naval Pier.
"Did the girls see this?"
"Yeah – they were both down here, earlier, and then they took off..."
"Oh, shit!" Abby groaned as realisation hit her.
"Who's close?"
"Dave and Kim are just down the road..."
"Scramble them!" I yelled as I ran to get suited up.
Navy Pier
We were both off the reservation – well off the reservation.
Nobody knew where we were, and I was well outside the usual bounds set out for me by Dave and Mindy. Saoirse, of course, had no bounds but Mindy would still be pissed with her. We had both agreed to go after the two kids – what we would do with them when we found them, we had not decided. It would depend on how they both reacted.
We had split up and we were searching the area; the video clip was a plant and it most probably a trap, but I wanted to see an end to the crap that had been the last few years of my life.
..._...
I noticed SD heading back towards me and she tipped her head to her left, indicating that she had seen something. I followed the nod and saw two kids talking – only to my trained eyes, they were not ordinary kids; they were Urban Predator. The boy was about a year or so older than me, maybe eleven. The girl was a little older, maybe twelve. Both were dark haired and could easily pass as siblings, which was probably the idea.
To a normal person, they were just normal kids having a day out by the Lake – however, to a pair of CIA trained assassins, they were a pair of CIA trained assassins...
..._...
As easily as we had identified them, they would have identified us just as easily, too. There was not much point in continuing with the charade, so I moved towards them.
"Hi, I'm Stephanie – you looking for me?"
"Brazen bitch, isn't she," The girl said with a grin as she approached me.
The boy kept a distance from his partner; their training was good – but so was my own.
"So, how is this going to play out?"
The girl smirked.
"Catch us – if you think you can?"
"Huh?"
The two kids took off running, heading west away from the pier. I looked over at Saoirse, who just shrugged and we both bolted after them.
..._...
They were fast, too.
We were a dozen or so yards behind them as they ran. They took a left underneath Lower North Lake Shore Drive. After crossing the water and running another hundred odd yards, both kids jumped over the railing into Dusable Park.
"In for a penny, in for a pound..." I commented to Saoirse as I followed.
I dropped a dozen feet onto the grass below and I was quickly joined by Saoirse a moment later. We all drew our pistols at the same time. The two ex-products of Urban Predator faced the two active products. It was a no-win situation between us four youngsters as four pistols were in play. The only outcome was mutually assured destruction. Maybe there could be another outcome...
"Look at us," Saoirse said, indicating herself, Stephanie and them. "Look at what they make you give... Do you really want to be a cold-blooded killer, or do you want to make something of your life?"
"Talk about a rip off!" Stephanie growled.
"Hey – it worked on me, right?" Saoirse replied.
I noticed a change to the boy's eyes first – he was listening and taking in what was being said. I could almost hear the cogs whirring in his brain.
"We have no choice but to obey."
"He's right," the girl added.
"No – look at us, we're free," I stated.
The boy smiled and pointed his pistol at the ground. As the boy began to lower his pistol, the girl did the same – there was hope growing in their eyes. It was working – not only had I freed Saoirse, but I had rescued two more from those bastards...
Out of nowhere, there was the crack of a gunshot; the boy's head exploded. Another crack and the girl's head exploded and I felt wetness on my face. Everything seemed to slow down as Saoirse reacted first, throwing me into cover. I saw the two almost headless young bodies drop to the ground.
I could feel myself screaming, but I heard nothing.
I could hear the bullets striking the ground around our cover as I quickly came back to reality.
Saoirse was returning fire with her pistol, aiming high toward the top of a building, but she was well out of range. I heard the squeal of brakes as Hound screeched to a halt beside us. I heard feet running and heavy gunfire as Kick-Ass fired off his H&K MG5 A2 machinegun toward the sniper. I felt hands seize me very roughly under my arms and then throw me into the backseat of Hound – almost immediately, Saoirse was thrown on top of me and Kick-Ass climbed into the front passenger seat. I looked past Saoirse to see a pissed off looking Hit Girl climbing in.
"Go!" She growled at Hawk, who was driving.
Safehouse F
The trip back had been almost silent and we were both dragged out of Hound and then almost thrown onto the mat.
I knew the look – Hit Girl was almost speechless with rage. For a moment I almost laughed at the thought that the last time I was in so much shit, Foxtail had been involved then, too. Almost – if I had laughed, Hit Girl would have probably ripped my head off right there and then!
"I am not going to say anything right now – let's move on and I hope you both learnt something from today," Hit Girl said quietly before she stalked off toward the armoury.
"I thought my life was about to end..." Saoirse commented and I could see her shaking.
"So did I," I replied.
The following morning
Monday
Glenview
Nobody said a word to either of us over breakfast, so we just ate and got ready for school.
Neither of us had slept well, my mind kept replaying the boy's head coming apart. I had spent quite a while in the shower, cleaning off the girl's blood from my face and it had been in my hair too. Were Saoirse and me going to be the only survivors of Urban Predator?
It was going to be a difficult day.
That night
Glenview
As I did each night, I went to check on the kids.
Danny was fast asleep, sprawled across the bed as he usually was. I tucked him back under his duvet before I walked through the bathroom and into Anne-Marie's room. The young girl was asleep, tucked deep down under her duvet, only the top of her hair was visible. Her breathing was steady and she was safe, so I moved on.
Across the landing, I pushed open the door to the girl's room.
"Stephanie!" I growled.
The young girl was asleep at her desk, her head resting on her arms on top of piles of books and paper. Some of the books were her math – sorry maths – homework and the rest were various books on firearms. I had warned her about burning the candle form both ends – but it was partially my fault.
When she was not running around protecting the streets of Chicago as Psyche, she was busy with several other activities. There was training; at the house, at D-JAK or at Safehouse F. There was also her training of the newer potential vigilantes, namely Danny, Anne-Marie and Lauren. Finally, there was her school homework. The girl was simply exhausted and no matter what I said, she would still push herself to get everything done – like me, she would never allow anything to get the better of her. I knew from bitter experience what it was like to push yourself till you collapsed.
I turned around to find the other girl, this one teenaged. Saoirse was asleep on the bed, books and paper beside her. She was the same as Stephanie – she would push herself all day long. She had her 9th grade homework to do, as well as her training for Fusion.
The girls were in their pyjamas, which for both was just an overlarge t-shirt. I cleared away the books and paper from the bed and carefully shifted Saoirse under the duvet. She was obviously tired as she did nothing more than moan as I moved her. If it were me being moved, I would have leapt up and attempted to strangle the person moving me! Next, I manoeuvred Stephanie into the bed too. She opened her eyes for a moment and smiled at me.
"Night, mum..."
Then her eyes closed again.
The next evening
Tuesday
54th and Cermack
He was tired.
It had been a very long day, which had dulled his senses and he never noticed the Police cruiser until it was too late. The lights came on, followed by the siren, so he slowed. Then all hell broke loose as vehicles seemed to appear from every direction.
Everybody was yelling and he heard half the alphabet being shouted at him.
"CPD!"
"FBI!"
"ATF!"
"NCIS!"
He was hauled out of his car by two plain-clothed Federal Agents with 'NCIS' on their body armour.
"What's going on?"
"Hank Myers, you are under arrest..." Special Agent DiNozzo replied and continued with the Miranda rights.
"I've done nothing..."
"Murder – multiple counts..." Special Agent Gibbs commented.
"More murder – across state lines..." Special Agent Fornell added.
"We also have a case of a dozen M4 Assault Rifles..." Special Agent Keates finished.
"I know nothing about any guns..." Myers bleated.
"Gotcha! You never denied the murders..." Special Agent DiNozzo commented.
Glenview
Morgan, along with her Aunt Emily and Uncle John, were over for dinner when my cell rang.
"Special Agent Gibbs . . . you have news?" I growled.
"We have him."
"That's very good to know. May we see him?"
"Yes, you and Miss Hella, or should I say, Raven, can see him if you promise not to kill him."
I was silent for a moment. I had expected Gibbs to work out the connection – how much more had he worked out? After a brief talk about a time and place, I dropped the call and saw Morgan looking at me expectantly.
"Raven and Hit Girl have an appointment," I said simply.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
I was nervous.
I had never expected the day to arrive when I would have to actually confront the man who killed my parents and who had almost killed me. I was going into the room as Morgan Hella, not as Raven; I wanted him to see my face. Mindy would be with me as Hit Girl. I had promised not to kill the man and as such, I was unarmed.
Hit Girl pulled open the door and I went in. Then man looked up at me. I froze as that night played again in my mind and I saw him again, I saw my parents...
"You fucking bastard," I growled.
The man grinned.
"So you are the girl I missed..."
"I'll be right back..." Special Agent Gibbs said as he walked out of the room and the man's smile vanished as the door click shut.
Fifteen minutes later
"I miss something?" Special Agent Gibbs asked as he came through the door and took in the man's swollen and bloody face.
"He slipped," I said as innocently as I could.
"Fair enough."
The man was more scared than he had ever been in his life.
"You said they would not kill me..."
"I did – they will not kill you," Special Agent Gibbs confirmed with a grin. "I said nothing about roughing you up a bit..."