A little over a week later...
Monday, July 7th
Morton Grove
Chloe woke up with very mixed feelings.
Today would have been his fourteenth birthday. But he was dead. His death was the reason that she was now in Chicago. She missed him so much it hurt. Days, like his birthday just sucked. At least she had others to be with that day and she knew that she could talk to Mindy later.
'I miss you, Josh,' she thought to herself.
West Ridge
When Chloe got to Dave and Mindy's house, Dave was out with Marty.
"Curtis, go amuse yourself with something sharp, I need to talk with Mindy," she directed.
Curtis glared; the little shit had been learning how to glare properly, by watching his cousin before he went through to the living room and started watching TV.
"You need to talk?" Mindy asked, sounding a little apprehensive.
"Yeah, privately," Chloe said, looking towards Curtis.
"Come upstairs," Mindy said.
They went upstairs to Dave and Mindy's bedroom and sat on the couch. Mindy closed the door after Sophia had come in and curled up on the bed.
"What's the disaster?" Mindy asked.
"I need some advice, about guys," Chloe replied, feeling a little embarrassed.
'Oh fuck!' Mindy thought.
"I am not the best person, for that!" she replied, blushing.
"Why?"
"I only got interested in guys, properly, last year... And well, I've only been involved with one guy."
"So, before you got interested in guys, you were interested in girls...?" Chloe asked with a smirk.
"Do you really want to die?" Mindy growled with menace.
"Sorry, just askin'!" Chloe responded.
"Chloe, you are a friend and a partner, so I will let that implication slide. I am not, nor have I ever been, a fucking dyke!" Mindy pointed out.
"Shame," Chloe said, somewhat shamelessly with a grin.
"What!" Mindy exclaimed.
"Just fuckin' with ya!" Chloe assured Mindy.
"Okay," Mindy said slowly, not entirely convinced. "Getting back on track..."
"Dave was your first?"" Chloe asked.
The conversation was getting a bit personal, Mindy considered, but it was Chloe and Mindy liked to act like a big sister for her, when needed.
"Yeah, Dave was my first kiss, last year. I kissed him, minutes before I left New York," Mindy explained.
"I... It... Today, would have been Joshua's fourteenth birthday. I miss him," Chloe said.
Ah, finally, the reason behind the weird conversation, Mindy realised.
"I honestly have nothing to relate to, on that subject. I have only ever lost my daddy; I never knew my mother. I suppose I came close to believing that I had lost Dave after I left New York; I kinda went a little bit nuts," Mindy explained, feeling slightly embarrassed.
It was different, Mindy realised. She talked to Dave, but not about girly things. Somehow, she felt comfortable talking to Chloe who seemed to feel comfortable talking to her. It kinda felt good inside. Mindy was not a people person; she killed people; she did not bond with them. At least, that was the way it was, when she was with her daddy. He had never allowed Mindy to have friends and he did not like the way that she talked about Kick-Ass. Now though, she had a friend and a partner: Dave. She also had Marty and Chloe, not to mention Sophia, Abby, and she supposed, Curtis and Kyle. That is a significant increase, over just a few years previously.
"By 'a little bit nuts', I assume you slaughtered people, violently," Chloe stated with a laugh.
"Actually, yes," Mindy replied, feeling a bit embarrassed with the admission. "I lost control of my emotions and let Hit Girl control me which was not good for certain low life scum in Chicago."
"And it took Dave to bring you around," Chloe stated.
"It did, again!" Mindy replied. "I owe Dave an awful lot."
"I hope I find somebody as amazing," Chloe said, blushing.
"You will. I did, although I did have to kick him into shape first," Mindy acknowledged.
..._...
The two girls went back down to the living room and were very surprised by what they found: Curtis was flipping Chloe's training balisong and he was actually quite good with it.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing with that?" Chloe exploded.
"What does it look like?" Curtis retorted. "You said: 'go amuse yourself with something sharp'."
"He's actually rather good," Mindy commented.
"What?" Chloe responded, angrily.
"He's been watching you and learning; bright kid," Mindy pointed out as she glared at Chloe who got the message.
"Okay. Just don't mess with the real ones. I don't want you mutilating yourself; only I'm allowed to do that," Chloe growled. "Besides, you'll probably cut your own dick off."
"She's right, Curtis. Touch a real balisong and I'll cut your fucking hands off," Mindy said seriously.
"When can I get a knife?" Curtis asked.
"Come back and ask me again once you've started puberty," Mindy suggested.
..._...
There had been one other issue raised since the attempted bank heist: with the new YouTube video appearing, the old ones were dug out, too.
Everybody watched Kick-Ass, on his début outing, getting his ass kicked, but otherwise getting the job done. Plus, that immortal quote: 'I'm Kick-Ass!', that brought him to the attention of the world. And Mindy. That was the night she first saw him, and her Daddy had coined the name 'Ass-Kick'. Mindy had to smile at the memory; it was a happy memory. 'That doesn't even make sense!' Mindy could remember myself saying that to Damon.
Unfortunately, with that video came the other one. The one that neither of them liked very much. Mindy had to admit that she was appalled when she watched it and saw how Kick-Ass was being beaten, but also how Big Daddy was being beaten. She had always avoided watching that particular video, but she felt that she had to now, so they watched it together, just the two of them. She felt Dave flinch every time Kick-Ass was hit. Mindy flinched every time Big Daddy was hit. She vividly remembered the warehouse and the killing with Big Daddy helping her, even as he burnt. By the end of the video Mindy was shaking and Dave was holding her tight. That night was not fun as all the nasty nightmares came back for the both of them.
Dr Bennett had, of course, seen these other two videos. She thought that the Kick-Ass début was amusing Mindy had to laugh and Dave just scowled. Then Dr Bennett mentioned the other one. She was appalled with what she had seen and said she was very sorry about Mindy's daddy. Dr Bennett said that she understood why we were pursuing the D'Amico family; they were pure evil.
What ever happened, Mindy would never let anyone betray them again; there would not be another 'Red Mist' episode, ever!
Updated: June 2024