Two days later...
Wednesday, June 11th
The Safehouse
"Guys! We have a problem," Marty declared.
Mindy scowled.
"A stalker. He has appeared each evening for the past two nights," Marty explained. "Dead on eight-forty each evening!"
"Well, we'll just have to set up a surprise for him," Mindy decided. "Tonight!"
That evening...
The Safehouse
They were all ready and in their combat suits for eight that evening.
Marty and Abby would stay in the briefing room and lock the armoured door. Shadow and Hit Girl would be ready just inside the side door, while Kick-Ass was outside in the darkness from where he would step out and grab the stalker the moment that he reappeared.
Dead on eight-forty, Marty called out that the stalker was there, standing by the side door. Kick-Ass was already outside, hiding in the darkness.
"Go!" Hit Girl snarled.
Kick-Ass moved forward out of the darkness and grabbed the stalker with one hand across his mouth before the side door clicked open and he dragged the stalker inside. The stalker seemed familiar, up close, Kick-Ass thought as he dragged him onto the mat and threw him down.
"Ouch!" Curtis yelled.
"Curtis!" Shadow exclaimed. "you little rat!"
"What ya gonna do, bitch!" Curtis retorted.
"Kick you so damn hard," Shadow started angrily.
"I know your shadow-y little secret!" Curtis interrupted, with a smug look on his face.
"And who are you going to tell?" Hit Girl snarled viciously. "Before I rip your tongue out!"
Curtis tried to back away, but Hit Girl suddenly appeared behind him. I think the combat suits scared him, as I was sure that he knew who we really were.
"I'm sorry Hit Girl, I won't tell. I promise," Curtis said quickly.
The boy was actually starting to cry.
Kick-Ass stood Curtis up, he was shaking, and looked over at Shadow.
"Do I look like I care?"
"You can't hate him that much?"
"Can't I!"
"You're okay Curtis, don't worry," Mindy said as she pulled off her mask and smiled down at the boy, before she glared at Shadow.
"It's really dangerous out there at night, Curtis," Mindy said. "Not very clever."
"I got a cab," Curtis explained. "I wanted to see where the evil bitch was going each night."
"Well, I know where the evil bitch is going with you," Shadow said as she advanced towards Curtis who hid behind Mindy.
"Enough!" Mindy called out. "Leave him alone!"
"Okay!" Chloe said, somewhat reluctantly as she pulled off her mask.
"You look really cool, you know," Curtis said as he smiled up at his cousin.
"Thanks, rat!" Chloe said with a forced smile.
"Abby, Marty, you can come out now," Dave called as he unmasked.
"You tell anyone. You even dream or think about us, I will kill you," Mindy said seriously, and Curtis looked like he was going to cry again.
"I would never do anything that would hurt my Chloe, never!" Curtis said as he hugged a reluctant Chloe who seemed a bit lost for words.
"Can I please set Eisenhower on him, just once?" Chloe begged.
"No, evil bitch, you can't," Mindy laughed.
..._...
Chloe was really pissed off.
Curtis had had no fucking right following her, she thought. Abby was bad enough, but that was two people she had led to Dave and Mindy. Only four days previously, Dave and Mindy had said they trusted her and then she drew Curtis to them. She was really feeling low, at that moment. Chloe was sitting in the Kitchen, while Dave and Mindy had a quiet chat with Curtis, in the briefing room. She felt physically sick, she really did, and she would not have blamed Dave or Mindy, if they had kicked her out of Fusion. She heard voices on the stairs and a smiling Curtis appeared, behind him was a smiling Dave.
"Chloe, Mindy wants ya," Dave said with a smile.
Chloe got up and headed downstairs with her mask in her hand.
..._...
Mindy was in the briefing room, and she turned as Chloe walked in.
She had a big smile on her face which vanished as soon as she saw Chloe.
"Mat, move!" Mindy ordered.
Chloe turned and walked over to the mat as Mindy followed.
"What's up with your face, Chloe?" Mindy asked.
"I just feel bad about Curtis following me; that's two people I've led to you now," she said, somewhat weakly.
Mindy slapped Chloe.
"What the fuck!" she exclaimed.
Mindy slapped her again, harder.
"Act like a bitch, get slapped like a bitch!" Mindy snarled. "Remember?"
Chloe looked horror struck.
"Get your fucking mask on, bitch!" Mindy growled as she ran over to the armoury and grabbed two training bō-staffs.
When she returned, Chloe had her mask on, but she still looked uncomfortable as Mindy threw a staff at her before she pulled her own mask on and prodded Chloe with the bō-staff.
"Fight me, Chloe, before I slap you stupid," Mindy growled.
"I let you down, Mindy," Chloe said.
"For fuck's sake, Shadow! If I winged like a bitch, every time I let Dave down...," Mindy said in an exasperated tone.
"But...," Chloe started.
Mindy had had enough. She moved forward and swung the bō-staff hard at Shadow's head, but seconds before it hit, another bō-staff intercepted Mindy's bō-staff. This time Shadow's lip had curled. She pushed back on the bō-staff, hard and Mindy let Shadow push her back. Shadow was actually rather good with the bō-staff, which annoyed Mindy just a bit. Mind you, the bō-staff was very much like the jō that she usually used. She would just need to learn how to use the blades. To kill.
They continued to spar for another few minutes. Mindy had inserted a few flips, into her fight to avoid Shadow's bō-staff and noticed that Shadow had copied her movements, to avoid her bō-staff. She was getting too good, so Mindy flipped Shadow onto her back with her bō-staff as she noticed that she had attracted an appreciative audience: Dave, Marty, Abby, and Curtis. Curtis was wide eyed, and he appeared amazed. Mindy pulled Shadow to her feet, and Chloe pulled off her mask. She had an enormous grin on her face.
"Thanks, Mindy," Chloe said.
"That was totally wicked!" Curtis blurted out, causing Chloe to blush.
"You enjoyed that, did you?" Mindy asked.
"Chloe is awesome! Not as good as you, but then nobody is," Curtis said, and that time Mindy felt herself blushing.
"You're so sweet, Curtis," Mindy replied.
"Like fuck he is!" Chloe stated but she laughed and gave Curtis a hug which made him blush.
"Damn!" Chloe complained as she rubbed her jaw. "You slap hard, Mindy."
"Don't I know it," Dave quipped as he ignored the glare coming from Mindy.
Two days later...
Friday, June 13th
Evening
The Safehouse
They geared up, ready for a night of fun.
Abby and Marty were in the briefing room getting their kit ready. Dave, Chloe, and Mindy were in the armoury putting on their combat suits. Eisenhower was dozing on the mat, beside BEAST. That night, Hit Girl took along her bō-staff, as did Shadow so that Hit Girl could show her protégé how to use the weapon in combat. Hit Girl also retained her Tanto and one katana. For transport, they covered the blades of both bō-staffs to protect each other and the interior of BEAST.
That night they were heading out to a part of Chicago that was well known for various illegal activities. They had only been out once, since the so-called 'week of hell' and they needed some good working up 'on the job' so to speak. They had met up with Fellowes and Murphy; Fellowes had recovered from his leg wound and was fully fit again. Thay had also learnt that The Archer had never made it into custody. The man had apparently vanished on the way back to the nearest district which was no real surprise to anyone as he had killed thirteen people, including three police officers. It was nice to know that he was now dead, and it was also useful to know that the Chicago PD had its own internal justice system.
They drove out and headed towards the northern part of central Chicago. It was after ten o'clock and fully dark when they parked BEAST in a secluded alley where Shadow and Mindy removed the covers from their bō-staffs and started their patrol along with Kick-Ass who had Eisenhower on her leash.
Their first catch of the night walked straight into them and made the mistake of attacking with what looked like a large machete. Mindy executed a perfect sideways stab with her bō-staff, piercing the man through the chest. She pulled back the blade and let the man fall to the ground, dead.
"That was smooth," Shadow commented as Kick-Ass picked up the machete and examined it.
"Fresh blood; somebody just died," he growled angrily.
Eisenhower was sniffing in the direction that the man had come from, so they headed in that direction, following Eisenhower. After they had walked about two hundred yards, they found a body. It was a young woman and most of her clothes had been ripped off and there was blood everywhere from multiple wounds which seemed to match the machete. Hit Girl had no sympathy for the dead man, but she called Battle Guy and advised him of the situation and suggested he make an anonymous call to the police with the location of both bodies.
They moved on.
..._...
About forty minutes later, they hit pay dirt.
There were a pair of alleyways that intersected about halfway down. They crossed perpendicular to each other, and the cross-section was the private refuge of a certain drug dealer. Everybody knew to keep away from those two alleyways. The police generally kept away because it would be a kill zone. However, Hit Girl rarely turned down a challenge, although in hindsight, maybe she should have walked away.
They scouted out the cross-section. There were twelve men visible of which two looked to be 'bosses' while the rest were just hired help, although one or two may have been runners. Naturally they all appeared to be armed.
"Battle Guy, we have twelve targets, and we are engaging," Hit Girl called.
"Battle Guy copies twelve targets and Fusion engaging."
"Shadow, you stay with me," Hit Girl cautioned.
"What about me?" Kick-Ass asked.
"You're big enough to look after yourself," Hit Girl replied.
"Oh well, I suppose I get a bitch and so does Shadow," Kick-Ass retorted, patting Eisenhower.
Hit Girl heard a laugh from Shadow, but she had to smile as it broke the tension. Well done Kick-Ass, she thought.
The plan was for Kick-Ass and Eisenhower to advance from the south where there was only one watchdog. Shadow and Hit Girl would advance from the east. They hoped to remove the first three watchdogs without alerting the other watchdogs.
They all moved together.
..._...
Shadow and Hit Girl advanced forward, their bō-staff blades ready to quickly and cleanly remove the two watchdogs.
They both stabbed together, the blades severing the men's hearts in two, killing them instantly. They removed their blades, letting the dead men sink to the floor of the darkened alley. It was just after midnight and Saturday morning.
"Hit Girl and Shadow have two down," Hit Girl reported.
A second later.
"Kick-Ass has one down."
It seemed that the watchdogs were guarding the northern and western alleyways more than the other two. Fusion now had a direct line to the two 'bosses'. There were two SUVs in the alleyways and the 'bosses' were beside one at the cross-section. The other SUV was parked in the northern alleyway. So far, nobody had noticed the deaths of the three watchdogs.
"Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, and Shadow are ready to move on the 'bosses'," Hit Girl called.
"Go!" Kick-Ass directed.
Hit Girl moved forward and came up behind the first boss and pushed him against the wall with a hand over his mouth and a blade of her bō-staff to his throat.
"Not a sound!" she growled, and the man nodded.
Hit Girl saw Kick-Ass place a ko-wakizashi to the throat of the other boss and heard his growl, "Not a sound!"
Shadow covered Hit Girl's back while she watched both bosses as they were pushed down behind the SUVs and their hands were bound with plastic ties. Surprisingly, nobody had noticed the 'bosses' vanishing from sight, yet. Eisenhower stood guard over both bound 'bosses' who seemed very afraid of the large dog clad in battle armour.
Then all hell broke loose!
Somebody must have spotted them from vantage point as a voice suddenly shouted through the darkness.
"Get them, you idle bastards!"
The remaining six watchdogs all advanced on the SUV that Fusion were hiding behind. That was not good, Hit Girl reasoned as she saw Kick-Ass pull out his Glock and she nodded in response, slinging her bō-staff onto her back and drawing both of her own pistols. Shadow did the same, slinging her bō-staff and she drew her pistol. Hit Girl looked into Shadow's eyes which showed worry and she smiled in support.
"Don't worry Shadow, all will be fine."
The firing started.
..._...
Kick-Ass started firing at the watchdogs, none of whom seemed to be wearing body armour.
That of course helped, as he watched the nine-millimetre bullets ripping onto his targets. He saw a runner being taken down by a bullet from Shadow and he watched as all of the watchdogs collapsed, either dead or dying, onto the cold concrete of the alleyway floor. Silence descended on the alleyway, and Kick-Ass could hear sirens in the distance. He reported in to Battle Guy, that the targets were down.
Quickly, they searched the alleyway and SUVs, recovering a large amount of cash. They left any drugs that they had found and with a large holdall full of cash, they headed back towards BEAST. The two 'bosses' had inadvertently received injuries during the battle and died. None of their wounds had been inflicted by Fusion; all were from bullets fired by the watchdogs.
..._...
Fusion was only a hundred yards from BEAST when they heard men approaching.
They were being chased; they all started running, fast!
When they reached BEAST, they threw the hold-all full of cash into the back and Eisenhower jumped in beside it. Shadow climbed into the back seat and just as Hit Girl and I were climbing in, four men burst into the alleyway and started shooting. Hit Girl pulled her door shut and Kick-Ass started BEAST. He put the armoured 4x4 into gear and accelerated away.
Several rounds impacted the rear door.
Updated: May 2024