The name's Mindy. I do what I want when I want. I also protect all your lame asses from danger and you don't even realize it. But... that's what being a superhero is all about, I guess.
Every minute felt like an eternity. At least when Mindy was in her advanced algebra class. It wasn’t that she wasn’t good at mathematics. In fact, she was an A student across the board. It just bored her on an unimaginable level.
Having finished her equations earlier than her classmates, she now sat and doodled some new costume designs in her sketchbook. She hadn’t made many changes to the suit since the last time Big Daddy upgraded it. It was almost like she was reluctant to undo what he’d done out of fear that it’d be one last thing of his that she’d have to hold on to.
With the four year anniversary of his death approaching, Mindy was learning to let go. It’s what he would have wanted, she concluded. Just as long as she never let his memory and the things he did die, that would be enough.
The bell of freedom finally rang and she stuffed her belongings into her messenger bag and hooked the strap over her shoulder before heading out.
Outside was wet and dreadfully cold. Just past fourPM but you couldn’t tell by the serious lack of sunlight. Within minutes, she was thick in the heart of New York City, trudging along towards the comic shop.
Looking Mindy over, Dave realized yet again how small his partner was. She really was a misleading person. A lot of punch bundled up in a frame that barely hit 5’4.
Frowning, he had a moments worth of second thoughts, feeling like somewhere this was illegal to attack a sixteen year old. However, his desire to improve overcame it all. His first punch was weak, testing Mindy’s strength behind the shield. He wanted to make sure she was secure before trying anything serious. Although he trusted her to stand her ground, he was almost six foot. Skinny, but still bigger.
After he stabilized himself, his fists sailed at the shield in a rhythm. They built up momentum and power, soon packing a lot of weight behind them. Dave might not always be serious, but he was earnest in learning more and becoming a better superhero. He only hoped that it showed.
At first, Mindy was frustrated. His rhythm was horrible, he had no flow. Worse than that, he was hesitant with his movements. Which was sure to send her into a frenzy if he didn’t right himself soon. But then the blows started to actually cause the shield to jerk back towards her and his pace became more even. Pressing her feet against the mat a bit more firmly, she gripped the straps of the shield tighter and held it up closer to her chin.
It was easy enough for him to hit an immobile target. But what about one that moved? With no warning, she abruptly dodged out of the way of one of his attacks. And no matter how much she wanted to, she didn’t laugh at the expression he gave her. For once, she wasn’t interested in getting a rise out of him. She was really wanting to help.
When he adjusted his stance to strike at her again, she dodged once more swiftly and then jabbed him in the side with the bottom point of the shield. Now it was time for him to try and hit a moving target.
One to the stomach. He clapped his arms around his midsection, a loud grunt emitted. Was she trying to ruin his life? The room spun a little as he regained composure.
Fiercely glaring, he coughed a few times. Dave reproachfully frowned at her once he straightened, one hand resting on his abused stomach. “Jesus fucking Christ, you need therapy.” He groaned dramatically and hefted a sigh.
“Fine, god.” Then in a laughable attempt, he raised his arms, gloves almost covering his face in a defensive stance. His elbows were jerked out like wings and he peered at her through the space between his gloves.
”I feel like Rocky Balboa.” He hummed the theme song and jabbed the air a few times. His physical recovery rate might be slow, but true to form, his sense of humor never faded.
Mindy ignored Dave entirely until he was able to stand upright. “Okay, this should be easy enough to start with. Just some simple jabs and hooks for now. Then we’ll work up to combos and maybe integrate some kicks later.” There was no telling when they’d actually get to that point. It would all depend on how focused Dave could keep himself.
Taking two small steps back, she got into a defensive stance. The arm fitted with the shield was held securely in front of her, knees bent and feet planted firmly. “Alright, you should know your stance by now at least. Go ahead and throw some jabs.”
She just really hoped he wouldn’t make the mistake of going easy out of fear of hurting her as he did last time. He paid for that dearly. Hopefully he hadn’t forgotten.
He rolled his eyes. “That is bullshit and you know it.” It did make sense but he didn’t want to admit it to her, considering the embarrassment was still fresh.
Catching the gloves, he eyed them before slipping onto his hands. They swung awkwardly by his sides as he clambered into the ring. He clearly had no idea how to box, nonetheless get into the ring. Clumsily, he straightened and planted his gloved hands onto his hips.
“What are we doing?” He hoped that they wouldn’t be fighting, he really didn’t think he could handle anymore humiliation of getting his ass kicked by a girl seven years younger than him. Smacking his fists together, he blinked and dumbly scanned the room.
Mindy waited until that exact moment… a moment she knew well. It was when Dave completely lost himself to his thoughts and a vacant look graced his face and eyes, She wondered what it was. Katie naked, meeting Iron Man, saving a truck load of orphans on their way to an outing… what was he fantasizing about this time?
In the end, she knew she didn’t care. Securing the shield on her forearm, she drove it hard into his abdomen, knocking the breath out of him for sure. “Well, for starters, you could actually pay attention. Might prevent something like that from happening again.”
When it took him longer to recover from that than she expected, she rolled her eyes and exhaled a heavy, annoyed sigh. This was going to be a long night.
“Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah.” He muttered to himself with a proud grin. Hey, he was pretty good at this. Working out to the song in his head, it wasn’t until a familiar giggle reached his ears that he paused.
Oh.
No.
With a slow turn, the handles slipped out of his hands. “Noo.” He weakly moaned, catching eye of his young friend. Of course, her tiny hands were wrapped around her phone. She didn’t even try to hide her laughter at him. Horrified, he tried to jump off but his foot caught in the stretchy grips and he fell forwards. His face smooshed against the ground. Not. His. Day.
“Ugh-oof, fuck.” He jerked to his feet and hurried towards her. “MINDY!”
The embarrassed superhero swiped the phone out of her hand, holding it high above her head as he desperately searched to see who she had sent it to. The real answer was who hadn’t she sent it to. Another low groan escaped him, full of humiliation. “Fuuuuuuuck.”
Rubbing his face, he tried to force the beet red color staining his face away. “You are such a bitch, Mindy. What the fuck. Everybody is going to see that. No one’s gonna want Kick Ass to save them after this.”
That had to be the single greatest thing that had happened all week. And Mindy couldn’t be bothered to care when Dave snatched the phone and went through it furiously. He was too late. That’s all that mattered.
When she had finally calmed herself long enough to catch her breath, she crawled to her feet and sloppily brushed the hair from her eyes. Letting out a breathy laugh, she stood tall and pried her phone from his grip. “Are you kidding? If anything, people will love Kick Ass even more now. Your first viral video was way more embarrassing than this.” With a shrug of her shoulders, she stuffed her phone back in her pocket and headed over to the small little area that she roped off as a makeshift boxing ring.
“Who knows,” she said, reaching for a pair of MMA gloves. “It may even help you out a bit. All the bad guys will see that video and be like, ‘That guy is the world’s biggest pussy. I could totally fuck him up.’ And then they meet you and you kick their ass. Why? Because they underestimated you.”
Her brows furrowed slightly as she tossed the gloves over to him. “And, of course, because you’re being trained by me.” Heading over to grab the shield and slip it on her arm, her voice dropped to a barely audible tone as she spoke mostly to herself. “Although I’m probably not going to admit that until you stop sucking so bad…”
He set his bag down. The room was dark, air conditioned. The lights flickered on at his entrance and he glanced around.
Whoa.
When Mindy had told him that she had her own training room, he’d been amazed. But she hadn’t told him that it was a gym shoved into a small room. He gazed around at all the machines in awe, picking the wedgie the suit always gave him. Seeing as he was trying to buff up for his crime-fighting alter ego, he figured it was best to get in character, so to speak. With another sneaky glance, he inched towards a strange machine.
Placing his feet on the offered steps, he gripped the stretchy handles and yanked. Instantly, the steps sunk and rose and he almost fell over. “Fuck!” He grunted, adjusting his position into awkwardly bent knees. He tried again, feeling a bit of a strain as he pulled. Soon, his hips were moving side to side as he adapted to the machine. This was kind of fun. Painful, but fun.
Mindy had been sucking down a protein shake after a good work out. It wasn’t the best tasting thing in the world, but it helped the muscles after all that strain. In the midst of her cool down, she heard Dave trudge in and the sound of one of the machines moving along soon after. “Hmm…” Hopping off the counter she was sat up on, she set her shake down and tugged her phone out of her pocket. Her fingers glided over the touch screen until it came to life and she immediately found the video recorder.
Dangerously quiet, she crept into the room at the most ideal angle. Dave’s back was to her. And there he was on the twist stepper. He lacked grace, poise, form and rhythm. But he made up for it by his exaggerated and obnoxious movements.
With a wide grin, Mindy hit record and began to capture the entire scene. It didn’t take long before a swell of giggles rose in her chest and she clasped her hand over her mouth to contain them. This would go down in history as one of her favorite Dave-is-a-dumbass moments. And there were quite a few by this point.
It wasn’t until he began to really roll his hips and find his flow that she burst out into a fit of laughter, almost doubling over as she stopped the recording. On the floor at this point, she checked off all her contacts and mass-sent the video to everyone she knew. ‘Sassy gay superhero’ was the title.
