The following week...

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014

West Ridge

Chloe did not turn up that evening.

It was just Kyle.

Apparently, Chloe was grounded for the next twenty years!

Kyle explained that Chloe had gotten into a fight at school which had put another girl and two boys down hard. The girl had a concussion and of the two boys, one had a broken arm and the other had two broken ribs.

Mindy inquired about Chloe.

Chloe, Kyle advised, had a black eye, bruised jaw, and bruising to her chest and stomach.

Mindy asked who had started the fight.

It was the other girl. It was something to with the fact that Chloe was more interested in athletic activities, rather than fitting in socially. The girl smacked Chloe across the face, but Chloe did not react. So, the two boys joined in, one of whom gave Chloe the bruised jaw when he slapped her, very hard.

Chloe had then fought back.

Mindy was worried and she tried to call Chloe, but her cell was turned off, so Mindy decided she would visit Chloe at home later that day when she was finished with Kyle.

Morton Grove

Mindy pulled up outside Chloe's home, got out, and went up to the door.

She knocked and Dr Bennett answered the door.

"Mindy," Dr Bennett said, waving me in and closing the door. "I wondered if you might appear."

"I heard about Chloe and was worried," Mindy said.

"Thank you for your concern, Mindy," Dr Bennett said. "She's upstairs, second door on the right."

Mindy went upstairs and knocked on the relevant door.

"What!" Chloe called, angrily.

Mindy pushed open the door and went in. "You don't sound very happy," she said, smirking.

"Mindy!" Chloe yelled excitedly, getting up off her bed and giving her friend a hug.

"Careful," Mindy warned when she saw Chloe grimace as she was hugged.

"I keep forgetting about the bruises," Chloe complained. "I can't even wear a bra, for God's sake!"

"Bet Kyle'll enjoy that," Mindy teased.

"That is not funny, Mindy!" Chloe declared with a strong glare but she blushed anyway.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Mindy half apologised. "How are you feeling?"

"Very sore and very annoyed for letting my guard down and getting into that fight," Chloe explained. "I'm grounded till I'm twenty-one, too."

"What did the school say?"

"They said that although I had acted in self-defence, I used 'excessive force'," Chloe responded, with an exasperated tone. "I'm also suspended, for three days."

"It could be worse," Mindy pointed out. "You don't look too bad."

"The bruised jaw makes it sore to eat, but my chest makes it sore to breathe," Chloe explained, and she showed Mindy her bruised chest and stomach. The whole of her front, from just below the neck, down to just above her waist, was bruised.

"No broken ribs?"

"None, thankfully."

"Will your mom let you come over on Saturday?" Mindy asked.

"I hope so; you can ask. Slight problem from Sunday. The little cunt is back for eight weeks; most of summer break! With these bruises I can't kick the shit outta him."

"It looks like the bruises will heal, soon." Mindy said. "I'll talk with your mom and hopefully see you on Saturday. Just you, not Kyle, okay?"

"Okay," Chloe replied, looking confused.

"See ya!" Mindy said as she headed back downstairs.

Mindy managed to persuade Dr Bennett to let Chloe come over that Saturday and to let her stay the night.

Four days later...

Saturday, June 7th

The Safehouse

Mindy had received all the new equipment that she had ordered and was sorting it out, down at the safehouse.

She had driven down in SPEEDY and Dave would follow with Marty and Chloe, once Chloe arrived at West Ridge. Dave had his new armour which, according to The Armourer, was tougher and should absorb more of the shock, causing less bruising. Mindy's new combat suit top was a good fit and had a little more give around her chest, which seemed to have expanded. Dave had noticed that she had bought new bras and said that he thought things were slightly bigger. Mindy actually felt quite pleased as she always felt a little self-conscious around women with larger breasts. The items she had ordered for Chloe and Marty were also there. Chloe would be the first to receive her new gifts. Mindy was secretly looking forward to handing these over as it would allow her to reconnect with her past. She had not told Dave about the gifts for Chloe and Marty so they would be a surprise and she knew that Dave would have a bit of fun at her expense, too.

Mindy turned as she heard the garage door go up and the SUV pull in and park.

"Hi, Chloe! How you feeling?" she asked.

"Not so sore," Chloe replied.

"Able to wear a bra now?" Mindy asked, with an evil grin.

"Yes. I'm wearing a bra," Chloe replied sharply as she blushed slightly.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Mindy said. "Chloe go sit over on the mat; I'll be over in a minute."

Chloe looked a little confused, but she went over and sat down in their 'chatting corner' nonetheless.

Mindy took Dave to one side and explained that she had presents for Chloe. Dave nodded and they both went over to sit down with Chloe who looked a little apprehensive. Marty headed into the briefing room and his computers.

"Don't worry Chloe," Mindy said, sitting down. "You've coped with worse."

Chloe grinned, still looking apprehensive.

"Okay. You've proved that you are a capable member of the team. You've proved that you can be trusted. You've proved that you can follow orders, at least, most of the time. But we've all lapsed there, at some stage or another," Mindy said.

"Some more than others," Dave quipped as he looked directly at Mindy.

"Funny, Ass-Kick!" Mindy growled.

"We've decided that you have now earned yourself a permanent position on the team. You are now the third most senior 'operator' in Fusion. By 'operator' we mean those who go out and fight. Marty and Abby are not operators; they are our technical support," Mindy explained.

Chloe looked a little stunned. "Thanks, Mindy," she said slowly.

Mindy got up and went into the briefing room where she picked up Chloe's presents and returned to the mat.

"I have some presents for you; look at them as are your graduation presents," Mindy said before she looked at Dave. "And no smart-ass wise cracks from you!"

Mindy passed the first present over to Chloe.

"Wow!" Chloe said, sounding a little overwhelmed.

"That is a bō-staff. I used to use one before I got my Katana blades," MindyI explained as she saw Dave wince.

Mindy had bought a custom made bō-staff, very similar to her own. It was made from a reinforced composite material, which would resist a strike from a katana. The twin blades at each end of the bō-staff were made from a reinforced steel, similar to a katana blade and were a foot long with extremely sharp, pointed blades. The entire bō-staff was almost five feet in length and the main section was a dark blue. Mindy showed Chloe how the bō-staff separated in the middle and became two swords.

Chloe was speechless but looked very excited and Dave just looked a little worried.

"What do you think?" Mindy asked expectantly.

"It's cool! I'll need a lot of practice to learn how to use it without cutting myself in half," Chloe replied.

"Now, you won't be able to use it properly until those bruises are healed on your stomach," Mindy went on. "But until that happens you can learn to use these."

Mindy passed over a small wooden box which Chloe opened slowly.

"Wow!"

"Those are a pair of custom Butterfly Knives or Balisongs, to use the proper name," Mindy said as she ignored Dave's groan.

"I am starting to get some very nasty flashbacks," Dave complained.

Mindy ignored him.

The knives were very similar to her own that she had received for her eleventh birthday, all those years ago. The overall length of the weapon was 9.4-inches, with a 4.2-inch blade. The handle was made from titanium, with the blade being made from strengthened steel. The two knives were identical in every way.

"So that you can train without losing most of your fingers, you can use a training Balisong," Mindy advised as she passed over a training knife.

"I really don't know what to say, Mindy. I'm overwhelmed," Chloe stammered.

"Dave and I... We just want you to feel part of the team and we want to thank you for all your help," Mindy explained. "Including what you did at Chris's headquarters."

"I agree," Dave acknowledged.

Mindy then showed Chloe the basic movements to use when flipping the Balisong. She flipped both blades, very fast, one in each hand. Chloe looked mesmerised but Dave appeared pained.

"Problem Dave?" Mindy asked with an evil smirk on her lips knowing exactly what the problem was.

"You know full well what the problem is," Dave replied with a smirk of his own.

"Am I allowed to know this big problem?" Chloe asked curiously.

Mindy looked at Dave, but he waved her on.

"Okay. Dave first met me when I was eleven and I was a bit of a show-off. I saw what I did as a kind of 'game'. Dave, or rather a very inexperienced Kick-Ass, got himself into a bit of a situation and was about to be killed, so I stepped in to help him. For some reason, I thought he had potential and I kinda had a minor crush on him, although it was almost a year later before I actually realised it was a crush. When I was eleven, I didn't understand those feelings, but I still wanted to get to know him," Mindy explained.

"Anyway..., I was shitting myself and then suddenly Rasul, the owner of the apartment stopped advancing on me; he had a blade sticking out of his chest. The blade was removed, Rasul fell, and I saw Hit Girl for the very first time - a very short Hit Girl. You wanna say it?"

"Why not! I stared down at Kick-Ass and the people in the apartment before saying: 'Okay you cunts... Let's see what you can do now'," Mindy growled as she tried to sound a few years younger.

"Creepy!" Dave admitted. "Then, Little Miss Assassin proceeded to slaughter everybody there; about six or seven people, using her bō-staff and a Balisong: 'Hey, I got one of those'!"

Mindy laughed at Dave's impression of her.

"Yeah..., the little bitch smiled her way through the entire slaughter. She was like a damn Angry Bird, bouncing around the apartment, killing everything in sight and all the time showing off to me. Then her perfect plan went wrong, and she almost got killed while commenting on my choice of taser, except Big Daddy used his sniper rifle to kill the last man and then she got a mini lecture from Daddy," Dave said as he smirked at Mindy. "'Now Hit Girl, we always keep our backs where?'"

"'To the wall Daddy, I know. Um, it... it won't happen again. Nice shot, by the way'," Mindy said slowly, thinking back.

"Sorry, if I brought back old memories," Dave said quietly.

"Not to worry, they were parts of my life, when Daddy was still alive, and I like remembering them. In this case they were also the time that I first met the man I love," Mindy replied. "Sorry, Chloe. I'm getting all soppy, not very Hit Girl!"

"You have nothing to apologise for, Mindy. It just feels good to know that you both trust me enough to talk about such personal and private events right in front of me," Chloe said as she bit her lower lip while she looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"You are a part of our little family, our inner circle, if you like. We trust you one hundred percent and I only trust three other people as much: Marcus, Dave, and Marty. We five are the inner circle. Nobody else knows this intimate information about Hit Girl's life. To tell you the truth, even Marcus doesn't know everything but that's only because he doesn't want to know," Mindy explained as she smiled at Chloe. "Plus, we know you won't tell anybody else."

"Thank you, both of you," Chloe said before she burst into tears.

Mindy got up and hugged her tightly.

..._...

Next, Mindy gave Dave his new armour which he was really impressed with.

"You trying to keep me alive or something?" Dave asked facetiously.

"Asshole!" Mindy responded.

"Marty, I have some kit for you, too," Mindy said as she ignored Dave's hurt look.

"For me?" Marty asked in surprise.

"Yes, Marty," Mindy replied. "You, I definitely do want to keep alive!"

Mindy handed Marty a mask, similar to Dave's original mask, in that it covered the entire head except for around the mouth. It was black, but with a large blue strip which ran around the head at eye level. The eyes were covered in impact resistant lenses, that replicated Marty's eye requirements. This meant that he would not require his glasses when in costume. The mask even had Battle Guy's white, five-pointed star in the centre above the eyes.

"Fucking wow!" Marty exclaimed.

"That is awesome," Chloe added.

Mindy handed over the rest of Marty's kit. It was a complete SWAT outfit, except that the suit was made out of the same composite material as the combat suits. Mindy had also bought a slightly non-standard set of body armour for Marty to wear over the suit.

"That should make you safer when you are out with us. Once you are trained, we can customise the suit further," she advised.

"Thanks, Mindy. It is really cool," Marty commented.

Two days later...

Monday, June 9th

Afternoon

West Ridge

Curtis came around.

"Hi Mindy! Hi Dave!" Curtis called out with a smile.

"Hi Curtis," Mindy and Dave replied.

Chloe looked none too happy about Curtis being there but apparently Chloe was supposed to be keeping an eye on him. Curtis was still not a big fan of Sophia who kept following him around and staring at him.

"Remember, Sophia, no eating Curtis," Chloe said and laughed at Curtis' discomfort.

Chloe could be a nasty bitch when she wanted to be, but Dave supposed that made two of them.

Updated: May 2024