(A/N: This was supposed to be one of those chapters at the end of a book that's technically just a tease for the next book, or like a Marvel movie stinger I guess, but I'll be damned if this just didn't want to be a full chapter. I was tempted to stop this at the halfway mark and leave it at that but I knew that I would at the very least finish this chapter. The problem of course is that this is also what would be the first chapter of the TLID sequel when I get around to writing it(ironically, I've already written two chapters of non-canon smut set in the AU of that story even though I haven't written the actual story yet). So, part of me hates the idea of posting a half chapter and the other part hates the idea of having this chapter as an epilogue as well as the first chapter of the story in question.

Eventually, I just said, fuck it and when I post the TLID sequel, I'll just post two chapters at once and make it clear that if you're going from TLID to that story then you don't have to read the first chapter. Some of you might be saying, but Marx, why don't you just leave this chapter as is and start with chapter 2 of that story? My answer is that someone is probably going to read the sequel without reading TLID, and I don't want to be a jerk to that person. This chapter's kind of important. So yeah…enjoy!)

Chris was a tricky little bastard. They just hadn't gotten the right goon with the right information yet and it was not for their lack of trying. But this was the best lead they'd gotten so far. Apparently, he came to this small building they were currently staking out somewhat frequently. However, the two heroes slightly disagreed on what to do with the information after the first no-show.

Dave wanted to keep staking it out and when Chris dropped by, snatch him up. And while Mindy agreed to a point, she thought that if Chris kept coming there, then there might be something of value in the building and they should check it out beforehand. Dave thought going in the building was too risky. As far as they could see, it was one way in and one way out, and the information could have been a trap.

They reached a weird pseudo-compromise where Mindy brought a bag of explosives and would place them around the building as they looked through it. She was pretty sure he had to be coming there for a reason and being able to blow it up gave them some leverage. Dave wasn't exactly happy with that plan either since they'd be inside the building too in theory, not to mention that if it was already rigged to blow, there wouldn't be anything left of them to even identify.

"Stop being such a pussy." Hit Girl flashed Dave a grin, knowing that no matter how much he argued, if she wanted to go in then he was with her.

"I'm not. You just want to blow shit up. I'm being practical." Kick Ass grumbled.

"I know. It's cute. But I want to know what's in there. Just watch my back." Mindy replied with a grin

"And your front." Dave leaned forward giving her a kiss.

"That's for later tonight." Mindy grinned, kissing him back before hopping off the ledge and by one of the barred windows. They'd been watching the building long enough that they knew no one had entered or left. As far as they could see from the window, no one was inside either. It was dark but they could still see stacks of boxes.

"I guess we're going in?" Kick Ass muttered.

"Something good better be in those boxes." Hit Girl growled back. The duo went to the door as Mindy picked the lock while Dave kept a lookout until he heard the telltale click and heard the door open.

Despite seeming a little too eager to get into the building for Kick Ass's liking, Hit Girl was very cautious in how she opened the door and entered the room looking for any cameras or traps, pulling out her flashlight and having her partner following suit. Dave followed her gazes, knowing roughly what to look for but not quite where to look. As Hit Girl moved more easily through the room, Kick Ass realized what seemed so off.

"Chris throws Cunts at us like candy usually. If this is so important to him, why isn't anyone guarding it?" Dave whispered.

"That's why I want in here. This is either a wild goose chase, a trap, or something so important that he doesn't want anyone, even his own people, to know about it." Mindy whispered back, looking into one of the boxes. Even in the dark, Dave could see Mindy's eyes widen and darken in quick succession as the light from her flashlight went from inside the box to the floor. "Or…he's just an egotistical idiot…"

Mindy's expression made Dave look into the box as well. It was just full of comics. Red Mist comics to be exact. The box was all copies of the third issue. "You've got to be fucking kidding me…" Dave grumbled.

Mindy threw the box over and started looking into one box after another. They were all different issues and alternate covers. "I'm going to set this shit on fire out of principle."

"Weren't you planning on blowing up the building anyway?" Dave asked with a smirk.

"Don't get cute with me." Mindy threatened. "I can do both." At least that explained the lack of guards. Nobody would steal this shit.

"Maybe there's something else." Dave suggested, looking past the boxes to see if there was anything else that wasn't as obvious.

"God, I hope so. If Chris doesn't show up and all we have to show for this is burning his shitty comics…" Mindy muttered, placing explosives along the wall in irritation.

Both heroes stopped as a weird metallic clank sound echoed through the room. Mindy's eyes darted to Dave, where the noise originated. Dave stepped on the floor again and the same noise echoed. Shining his flashlight on the floor, he grinned. "Door."

"There's a basement?" Hit Girl exclaimed, rushing over to him.

"Looks like it." Dave nodded, getting off the door. "Am I the only one worried that his porn collection is down there?"

"Oh God…" Mindy groaned. "I just threw up in my mouth a little." Despite the nausea, the two heroes lifted the door and glanced down cautiously. No one appeared to be there either so they headed down, Kick Ass going first this time. This room seemed even less eventful than the last. It was just a small desk and another door on the far wall.

"Huh…" Mindy said over Dave's shoulder, noticing the papers on the desk. Once the light was shown on them, they both knew what they were. They'd both done plenty themselves. Costume designs. Drawings upon drawings of costume designs.

"Not bad…" Dave muttered begrudgingly at the one on top. "Maybe Chris is thinking of having a sex change." He showed the picture to Mindy, who snickered at first.

"Or maybe he has an imaginary girlfriend." Hit Girl scoffed at the female version of his old Red Mist costume.

"Psycho Girl." Dave repeated the name under the design. "A bit on the nose, but it fits."

"I'm genuinely scared that there's a life size sex doll in that costume through that door so he can literally fuck himself." Mindy muttered.

"Now I'm the one who threw up in my mouth a little." Dave rolled his eyes and opened the door. This room was dimly lit but even that was more than the others, since they had specifically not been turning on the lights just in case.

"Hit Girl…" Dave gasped as he made out what was under the light, but getting her attention was unnecessary as she was already seeing what had worried him so much.

There was a young girl inside of the cell who looked up lazily at first but she immediately sat up in shock, clearly not expecting the two of them. Her unblinking eyes were on Hit Girl and didn't leave her. The girl's hair was bright blonde, very short and awkwardly cut. She appeared to be wearing nothing but panties and a tank top that hung loosely over her petite, skinny form. She cocked her head to the side in confusion and spoke with an accent Dave wasn't quite familiar with. "He found you?"

Dave noticed pretty quickly that Mindy and the girl were just staring at each other like some weird twisted mirror. "Hit Girl…um…shouldn't we-?"

"How long have you been here?" Mindy suddenly asked the girl. She didn't answer, but it was doubtful she'd have known the answer anyway with the lack of windows in this room or even so much as a clock.

"What's your name?" Mindy asked more forcefully this time.

The girl backed up slightly from the bars, fear clearly on her face as she looked between Mindy and Dave. She visibly gulped as her lips parted to answer after a few non-starts. "H…Hit…Girl…?"

"No!" Mindy snarled, making the girl step back a little more. "That's my name! What's yours?!"

"Hit Girl…calm down…" Dave put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Mindy growled back at Dave with a glare. "Don't you get it? Don't you get why she's here? Why there are drawings of me on the damn walls? What he was probably doing to her?"

"I…I get that." Dave said calmly, not liking this situation any more than Mindy but knowing that one of them needed to be calm. Apparently, it was his job this time around. "But it's not her fault."

"Look at her!" Mindy snapped. "She even looks a little like me! And that son of a bitch-"

Dave hugged Mindy suddenly and whispered in her ear. "Mindy…calm down. This is what Chris wants. To throw you off your game."

Mindy finally took her eyes off the girl and faced Dave. "When we find him, it is going to take days before I let that piece of shit actually die."

Dave grinned, tempted to kiss her forehead but this wasn't time or the place. "That's my girl. Now what's the plan?"

"Get her out of there. I'm blowing this whole goddamn place to kingdom come." Hit Girl snarled, reaching in the backpack again.

Dave's eyes bulged. "We're not waiting for Chris?"

Mindy grinned wide, flashing her teeth almost ferally. "Oh, I'm going to kill him, but not tonight. I want him to know that I know what he did here. I want him to know how personal he's made this. I want him to be scared shitless wherever the fuck he's hiding." And with that, Mindy started setting more charges.

"Does he have a key somewhere?" Dave asked the girl, cautiously going to the metal cell door. The girl just silently stared at him, clearly not sure of what to make of all of this. It made him wonder she'd been tricked into thinking she could be free before and was trying to figure out what the game was this time. Dave snapped to get her attention again. "Hey! Whatever your name is! Key!"

The girl's eyes bulged and she looked in the far corner. Dave looked in that direction and saw hanging on the wall, a gun, a pair of sais and a key, the way out and weapons always within her sight. Mindy was closer so she tossed the key to Dave and went back to what she was doing.

Dave stuck the key into the lock and gave the girl a look. "We're not going to have any trouble out of you, are we?" He asked, still only getting a blank stare in response. "Good talk." He muttered to himself with a sigh, carefully opening the cell door

"Is she…really Hit Girl?" The girl asked, watching Mindy intently again.

"Yeah, she is." Dave answered, motioning for the girl to leave. "This isn't a tri-"

It happened very quickly. If Dave hadn't been looking right at her to see the signs, he might have missed it. Her eyes bulged widely and her lips pulled back from her teeth like an animal as she immediately lunged for Mindy, forcing Dave to hold the girl back tightly from behind, his arm around her throat and his other arm pinning both of hers to her sides and holding her firmly against himself. "IT'S YOUR FAULT! ALL OF THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She shrieked through Dave's grip. "EVERYTHING HE DID TO ME WAS BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Mindy stopped and looked back at her. There was an eerie calm in her especially after the way she initially reacted to the girl. She knew Dave had her so she took her time walking up to them. "No. This is Chris's fault. It's his. All of it. And I know this won't mean much to you right now but I promise you I will make him pay for everything he did to you. And it will hurt."

Dave noticed as the girl went limp and stopped struggling. Mindy's eyes narrowed. "Now I am not blowing up this place with you in it. Are we going to have to knock you out and carry you or are you going to behave?"

The girl stared silently back, enraging the pint-sized vigilante once again. "TALK!" Mindy yelled.

Dave swore that the girl actually tried to merge with him to get away from Hit Girl's fury. He didn't budge but it wasn't for her lack of trying to move back. It let him feel just how frail she really was despite appearances. "I'll…behave…" She finally squeaked out.

"Good. Then both of you move your ass!" Hit Girl growled as she stormed out of the room.

"She's not mad at you. She's mad at him." Kick Ass stated, cautiously loosening his grip.

The girl turned around when she was let go, her eyes wet with the beginning of tears, her quick rant clearly taking a lot out of her. "Will you…really kill him?"

Dave smiled warmly back at her. "It's what we do. We're superheroes. I'm Kick Ass."

"I know." The girl responded, numbly. "He wants Hit Girl dead but that's a game. A challenge. He hates you."

"WHAT PART OF MOVE YOUR ASS WAS NOT FUCKING CLEAR?!"

Both Dave and the girl jumped at the sudden yell from upstairs. Kick Ass chuckled. "Let's go before she blows us up."

"Bianca."

"What?" Dave asked in confusion.

"My name." The girl said, moving towards the door. "It's Bianca."

"Nice to meet you, Bianca. Wish it were under better circumstances." Dave said, honestly.

Bianca stopped at the door and walked to the corner and took the pair of sais. She noticed the look that Dave was giving her. "He…taunted me with them. Said I could kill him if I could ever reach them."

Dave shrugged and let her have them, leading her to the ladder upstairs. "Why didn't you want the gun then? Because it doesn't have a clip?"

Bianca stopped at the first rung of the ladder. "He didn't…need bullets… He used it on me…in other ways…as an object…and then made me clean it… I…don't want it..."

"Fuck…" Dave groaned at the mental image that put in his head as he watched Bianca climb the ladder and then the gentleman in him immediately regretted it. Someone needed to get that girl some pants.

"Took you two long enough." Mindy growled, clearly waiting for them, raising a skeptical eyebrow as she noticed the sais. Bianca moved quickly but took time to look around as if she'd never seen the comic room before.

Dave stopped outside the door and looked back at Bianca and then to Mindy. "Er…I think I have to carry her."

Mindy's eyes bulged as she looked away from the weapons. "Why the fuck do you have to-?" And then she noticed how not barefoot friendly the sidewalk was, as well as the street for that matter. "Goddammit, whatever!"

Dave chuckled slightly at Mindy's reaction and turned to Bianca again. "Do you mind?"

Bianca looked blankly at Dave and shrugged. "Whatever."

"Is it cool if I hold your sais for a bit? Not like you have any pockets." Dave offered, inwardly happy to have a legitimate excuse to get the weapons away from her without seeming suspicious.

Bianca glanced at the sais in her hands and very hesitantly handed them over. "I guess…"

Dave slid the weapons under his belt before kneeling down, and soon he was crossing the street after Mindy, with Bianca riding piggy back. "Fuck, she's light." He commented to himself.

"What are you trying to say, Kick Ass?" Mindy growled at him, threatening Dave to say anything but the right answer.

"Nothing!" He quickly recovered realizing how close to the gates of Hell he was. "Just…she could probably use some food…that's all."

"I don't think her norishment was Chris's objective." Mindy muttered. "She needs a lot of things…"

"Like pants." Dave mumbled as he climbed after Mindy to the roof of a far-off building far enough away to avoid any shrapnel.

"I am a little cold…" Bianca murmured, mainly to herself.

"I noticed…" Dave muttered under his breath. He felt the gates of Hell all over again from Mindy's gaze and set Bianca down on the roof, turning his attention away from anything that would be indicating her supposed coldness. "Ready?" He asked his partner.

"Psh!" Hit Girl scoffed, pulling out a device and a push of a button later, the sky lit up from the massive explosion, leaving what was once a building and a jail into a pile of rubble.

"Holy shit…" Dave gasped, looking at the wreckage. "What did you do? Use all of it?"

"You see my backpack anywhere?" Mindy growled. "This is a message."

"I like it." Bianca mumbled, looking over to the wreckage.

"So…what do we exactly…er…do with her?" Dave asked, breaking the awkward silence and turning to Mindy. "Logic would say police, but-"

"But we're wanted by the police and they'd probably just deport her anyway?" Mindy replied, glancing back at him.

"Would that necessarily be a bad thing? I'm sure she has family or something…wherever she's from…" Dave pointed out.

"I don't." Bianca commented, still looking at the fire and apparently not minding them talking about her like she wasn't there. "I was on the street when he found me. He…seemed nice. Funny. He had money. I didn't…do that sort of thing…but…when he invited me to his hotel, I thought…maybe if I did a good job, he'd keep me…take me to America. Technically, I got what I wanted…"

Kick Ass faced Bianca and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You…know that none of this is your fault, right?"

Bianca finally turned from the fire and just looked…tired. "You seem nice too. What do you want from me?"

"More than anything?" Dave looked intense, seemingly oblivious to what she'd implied. "For you to have some goddamn pants. And…shoes."

"Suppose we should get her some food too. Here." Mindy grumbled, taking the skirt off her costume and handing it over. "We're roughly the same size. That should fit you until we get you something else. Come on guys. I hear sirens. Let's get out of here and hunt down some grub…and pants."

TO BE CONTINUED