The Descent Chapter 12: Hallowed Be Thy Name Part 2

Full Novel Synopsis: Sequel to 'The Spiralling', itself a sequel to the Kick-Ass (2010) movie. However, this novel can be read on its own. After Big Daddy died, Mindy was driven mad, subdued by Dave, and locked away in an Institute after killing all who she deemed responsible but Dave. Will she recover? What will happen next to a New York without her nor the Motherfucker? Elements of the Kick-Ass 2 (2013) movie and comic series will be taken in.

The Descent

Chapter 12: Hallowed be thy Name Part 2

19 June, 2011, Sunday

It’s church day! It was somebody else saying a ‘testimonial’ on stage though, not Sal Bertolinni. It was a woman whose cancer stopped. I’m glad for her. She said that it happened after the pastor prayed for her. Maybe I should get the pastor to pray for me so that I could remember everything from before the bus accident. When I asked Dave and Dad about it, they told me that I shouldn’t. Dave said that I was remembering things quickly, and that I shouldn’t ask God for help.

But I don’t think I’m remembering things quickly. I don’t remember my life with Dave and Dad very well before the accident. I could only remember the things they told me.

I met Sal again after the service. He was sitting far away, so I couldn’t see him until then. And when I tried looking around for him while the pastor was talking on stage, Dad stopped me and said that it was rude, so I stopped.

We didn’t talk a lot. We said hi to each other and ask about what we did the previous day. I told him about the fair, and he told me that he’d been helping the sick and the poor. He’s a nice guy, a lot like Dave.

A funny thing happened. Dave had only met him today, but they both went aside and spoke for a while. At first, I was a little sad that I didn’t get to talk to Sal more, but I’m happy in the end. Dave and I had another friend together.

Dave took me out for a jog later in the afternoon. I could finish running a mile! But it was tiring! I couldn’t breathe by the time I finished!

He said that I was doing well, that I looked a lot better than how I used to. He said I had more colour and energy, more like how I used to look. When we got home and I looked into the mirror, I saw that he was right. I have never really paid any attention to my reflection, but when I did, I was so different.

My hair’s getting long. I remember getting a haircut before Dave visited me in hospital. When I asked Dave for a haircut, he said that I shouldn’t get one, because I’d look more beautiful with longer hair.

…

Mindy was beginning to worry me. First, she’d developed an explosive temper that even the Mindy of before had never shown before. The only upside was she didn’t remember her past self and start brutalising me. I still couldn’t decide if the way she exploded was just a childish lack of control, as scary as it was, or a sign of her relapsing. I was hoping for the former. Dr Paul had asked me to use the sedative in case it was the latter, but I didn’t want her back in an asylum. For the whole day, she’s had me so worried and feeling lousy. I thought it was the end, that I’d brought about her relapse – the ordeal ended only when Mandy went out of her way to forgive me.

Secondly, she’d developed a worrying habit of sleeping with me in my room. Her reason? She said that she felt safe with me, and that I’d protect her from the nightmares. I’m inclined to believe her, considering that she hadn’t woken up screaming with blood all over her face during the weekends. Other than what others might think if they found out, it gave me a huge privacy problem. I would have to be a real ninja every time I had to get out at night as Kick-Ass. I’d leave my house with my costume in a bag, go to a safe alley I knew to change up – but with Mindy in my room, I’d be risking her waking up and following me, finding out that I was Kick-Ass.

When dad told me that she went down to the basement despite me telling her not to, I knew that the risk was even bigger than I thought. So on Monday morning, I woke up much earlier than I was supposed to. I’d slept early to make sure I wouldn’t oversleep. I’d gotten in bed alone, only to wake up with Mindy curled up beside me, using my shoulder as a pillow. It felt all wrong on multiple levels. Dad’s paedophile jokes returned with a vengeance in my mind, then there was the idea of Mindy snoozing beside me – I still couldn’t help but to think of her not as Mandy Lizewski, but Mindy Macready – Hit-Girl. And this little assassin was sleeping beside me, curled up, looking peaceful and happy rather than spouting profanities and frowning.

I tried to be stealthy. Gently, I replaced my shoulder with a pillow, and got changed as quietly as I can. I couldn’t help but to feverishly keep an eye on her – it would royally suck if she woke up with me naked in my underpants. It was an episode of superman without his powers, but still trying to be superman. Even getting ready was a problem.

Surprisingly, I didn’t set her off in any way. At least for the day. Going down to the basement where I’d moved my Kick-Ass gear, all stored in a luggage with a combination lock, I took the luggage and headed out. I’d decided to take all my Kick-Ass business elsewhere, and I’d decided on one of Mindy’s closest safehouses, Safehouse F. Once upon a time, before Big Daddy was killed, it was so close and yet so far – it was right within the neighbourhood, about 15 minutes of hard pedalling to get to, just that I didn’t know about it back then.

It was also the newest and most poorly stocked safehouse. It was obvious, being Safehouse F. It was located in a well-locked apartment room that looked like it was falling apart. The apartment itself seemed deserted. More than half the letterboxes had no names, and the floor the safehouse was on – the top floor naturally, had only a few names. It was ideal for the superhero business – fewer prying eyes. While it was leaking rainwater in the corridor, however, upon going into the safehouse, I found it well-maintained, if only a little dusty.

Walking in, there was a desk in the middle. A Mac computer was on it as usual. The walls had no guns. Instead, there was a picture of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, in costumes. He was holding an assault rifle, what looked like an M4, while Hit-Girl was posing with a pair of pistols close to her face, pointing safely up, stylish. The bad ass family photo caught my attention for a good while, before I decided to move on and set my things down in the storeroom, which also happens to be where they kept their weapons. There weren’t many, but their standard of ‘weren’t many’ was about a couple dozen. In the storeroom, the floor was lined with ammo boxes while the shelves held pistols, rifles, shotguns, all manner of swords and blunt killers. They were collecting dust.

I was feeling down and out because of the family photo, so I decided to check out the rest of the apartment, oddly enough. It felt like I was self-destructive, destined for the mental hospital. Why else would I stay and get myself even more upset?

In the facilities owned by Big Daddy, there weren’t exactly separate rooms. They were all together, performing one function, and that was to get him and Hit-Girl ready ASAP. The kitchen had no doors, and it wasn’t just a kitchen. There were lockers and chairs in there. The lockers were huge, unlike the tall and thin kind found in school, or in the gym. All the better to store their gear and weapons.

The keys to the locker were easy to find – they were right in a drawer beneath a counter. Big Daddy must have either considered the safehouse impossible to find and breach, or unimportant if it was found.

Upon opening the lockers, I found their costumes inside along with a full loadout each. Everything was dusty, as if the apartment itself was trying hard to remind me that times had changed, and so did Mindy…

A purple bob cut wig hung at the top. I took it out, and immediately, I was sneezing because of the dust. I put it back accordingly. Next, I took out her purple tights, and couldn’t help but to think that it would still fit Mindy in her current size. They were a little stiff with age, and still dusty, though not as much as the wig. A mere wash and dry would put it back into full working order, I couldn’t help but to think. The gloves and boots too, stiff. The skirt was actually in very good condition. Like a national guardsman, Mindy could easily be out there in the streets within the hour – my mind wandered, but I stopped myself there. It seemed real in the moment, Mindy being back to who she was without the threat of the Demoness Complex relapsing, but in the end, it was pure fantasy… I returned her purple tights back on the rack inside.

After locking everything up, turning off all the lights in the apartment, I returned home. I was later than I was supposed to be, me being prone to remembering the past biting me in the ass. Dad and Mindy were already having breakfast at the kitchen. “Oh hiya, buddy. What were you up to? I was getting worried about you.” Dad greeted as I came in through the living room.

“Nothing, I was up earlier than expected, so, uh, I cycled around.” I lied with Dad’s understanding and Mindy’s gullibility in mind, though with Mindy’s sudden explosion on Saturday, it felt like her gullibility had just as much an expiry date as her meekness.

“Maybe I could cycle with you next time!” Mandy offered, happy to see me, “I’ve been learning hard how to cycle. I could do it without the training wheels!” I was taken aback – she’d learnt how to cycle within the week. It was either she was extremely smart and talented, or that she’d remembered how to do so, which means she could be relapsing. I didn’t want her in the asylum, so I preferred to think that it was just her wits or that it wasn’t an indication of a relapse – although, face it, I could be delusional. But really, would you send your little sister back to an asylum?